#Minister Mex

[gospelhotspot]

[DOWNLOAD] Most High - Minister Mex

US-based gospel artist, singer, and songwriter, Minister Mex, returns with a brand new single titled “Most High,” available now on all major music streaming platforms. This comes highly anticipated as it marks his first new music this year following the well-received “More’ released in 2023. Minister Mex, known for his spirit-filled sound imbued with African American influences, has once again…

[hotrodangelsinthepromisedland]

In preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix I feel I must give my ranking of my top 10 on the Grid as some way to soothe the frustration that I have no way to watch the race.

Carlos Sainz Vazquez de Castro Cenamor Rincón Rebollo Birto Moreno de Aranda de Anteriuga Tiapera Deltun absolute king of my heart and the reason I got into this sport. The prince charming of Spain who's so classy and gracious and just such a good teammate no matter where he is at. With his powerful tractor beam big brown eyes. Long live the smooth operator! Vamos Carlos!

Esteban Ocon. Am I aware that this is like loving the problematic lead in a film or book just cause he has babygirl energy? Yes. Is that gonna stop me? Hell naw! I like his backstory, disarmed by his squishy little face, and I vowed to defend him from all harm like the minute after I watched him analyze Cars as being an accurate depiction of various racing aspects. Plus he's from the same region of France as where my family originates. So while Carlos is my F1 husband Estie is like my F1 baby bro. I will call him "teapot" it's a long story feel free to send me an ask about it. I will also call him Esteban "Can Do No Wrong" Ocon. Yes I'm fully self aware of how delulu I am about this man having no flaws (he does I've just elected to ignore them in favor of being charmed by the innocent face)

Daniel Ricciardo - I'm from Texas, I'm an extrovert, I'm legally obligated to stan this man to the moon and back. The Honey Badger is my spirit animal. Not the actual creature, just chaos gremlin Daniel. His energy is infectious and he brings the party and he loves my state. How could I do anything but support him?

George Russell - he was probably the second crush I got in F1 and I kinda love how in spite of his posh model energy he actually isn't from some moneyed or legacy background and he's so delightfully clueless at times "goat, sorry?" And the videos of him with kiddos he's so sweet and attentive to them

Checo - the Mexican minister of Defense. The down to earth friendly dad energy. He's just so solid and sweet and I love what he does to help mellow Max just by ya know being the chill dad Max never had. Also he an authentic Mexican, endorsed Tex-Mex so obvs I'm gonna love this man and wanna get tacos and drinks. He has that approachable energy and given the US's one driver might not even have a seat next year I gotta support our neighbor Mexico's driver cause I sure ain't supporting the Canadian nepo baby

Fernando Alonso - this mainly has to do with sex appeal let's be real. He's got that edgy bad boy kinda external vibe in some ways but then he's backstage arranging flowers and it's like "I could fix him and make him settle down" he's got charm style and is basically an immortal and foxy as hell. Let me try to domesticate this man please!

Charles Leclerc - sweet, I would vote him most likely to be true even while he's traveling abroad being swooned over and having fans handing him marriage licenses. He's just a little too type A for me to love him like I do my golden retriever energy chaos creatures and chill guys of the previous 6. But he's great and it's because of him and Carlos in the C² videos that I got roped into this sport so he's gotta make it. Plus after all the loss he's experienced he's a real inspiration in staying kind in spite of the pain of life

Max Verstappen - speaking of inspirations my traumatized ass can't help but support one of my own. He's an icon of breaking cycles. Yes he's definitely had his issues but he's matured in some ways and while I don't care if he wins or not on the track I'm very invested in him winning at life which him being a doting stepdad to Penelope is the kind of healing that helps me heal too. Children of hard ass dads who didn't realize their childhood was fucked up, unite! Plus he's an absolute goofball and that's endearing

Logan Sargent - I'm american, independence day is literally my favorite holiday, I have to have this man in my top 10 and I genuinely do think he's a classy guy (especially considering he's from Florida) and I can't help but love how the one American driver is just so painfully American looking. He looks like Captain America fucked an apple pie. He looks like scientists designed an American in a lab. He looks like the Beach Boys had a grandson with the descendants of Betsy Ross. He looks like a team scoured frat parties for a year to find the most American looking guy in the country. He is Logan Sargent and he is Kenough.

Valterri Bottas - his absolute self confidence and zero fucks given. He does not take himself too seriously and he is wholesome AF. He also has practical guy energy. Like if I hand to rank drivers on Most Likely to Pull Over and Help You Change a Tire he's definitely in the top 3. He seems like getting his hands dirty is something he's not too good to do and he seems like a good dude. Plus he's hilarious. He's as chaotic as Daniel in some ways he's just a little less boisterous about it. Calm chaos vs 5 year old given 16 energy drinks in an hour Ricciardo energy

[quirkymarshmallows93]

The westernization of Poland as exemplified by flagship fast food restaurants

Hi everyone! It's time for a full-on blog post, I'm talking paragraphs and shit. This will be another then and now comparison post, also set in Warsaw, Poland, now with multiple sections.

The First McDonald's

On June 17, 1992, McDonald's opened its doors for the first time on Polish soil. That day, the taste buds of 45,000 Varsovians would discover the hyperstimulative combination of the Big Mac, French fries, and fountain Coca-Cola, the American counterpart of a traditional meal of kotlet mielony (frikadelle), ziemniaczki (potatoes), and kompot (homemade juice). At 8 AM, the ribbon was cut by Jacek Kuroń, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, who was asked to be present in exchange for a donation from the company to the impoverished children of Poland. Also in attendance were cultural figures such as the coach of the Polish soccer team, Kazimierz Górski, and poet Agnieszka Osiecka. The opening and the fanfare surrounding it was as much a celebration of Polish culture as American culture. The building which housed the restaurant was located on the facade of the Sezam department store, a staple of the communist era, providing a juxtaposition of life in the Soviet Bloc and in the West.

Above is the restaurant the day of its opening, and below is the modernist building shortly before being demolished and after its shuttering in 2014.

The location of the fast food joint is at the corner of Świętokrzyska and Marszałkowska streets, two main thoroughfares in midtown Warsaw. Following the closure of the seminal McDonald's, a new restaurant was opened just slightly east of its forebearer. Below is a comparison of the locations, with the emblematic Palace of Culture and Learning in the background of both photos, the latter photo being taken in May 2023.

The department store was replaced by an L-shaped high rise building visible to the right of the present-day McDonald's, with Sezam still occupying the ground floors. The replacement McDonald's is not as grandiose as the original; however, these days one can walk several hundred meters in any direction and come across another one of the company's franchises, which now number 517 in Poland.

The Stillborn Taco Bell

A while back I posted photos from the 90s of an ultra-rare combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell/KFC restaurant in the center of Poland's capital. These are likely the only images, on the surface web at least, of the lone Taco Bell which operated for merely a few months in the country, according to PortalSpozywczy.pl. Evidently, the chain's offering didn't quite align with the market's tastes. Still, memories of the restaurant's presence live on online, with a dormant Facebook group pleading for its return to Poland. A Reddit post links to an article about Taco Bell's unsuccessful entry into Central Europe, with commenters reasoning that currency exchange rates in a nascent free market economy made fast food a luxury for consumers, and that the Polish customer simply deemed Tex-Mex adjacent food too exotic, especially when compared to the already unfamiliar offerings of hamburgers, pizza, and fried chicken by competitors.

While visiting the city for a few days, I decided to photograph the site to contrast between 30 years ago and now, as I did with the site of the first McDonald's. Below on the left is the restaurant pictured in 1993, while in the center, the site in 2023. I tried to take the photo on the right from the same vantage point as the 90s image, but the frame isn't quite identical since the lens of my iPhone SE camera doesn't have as wide of an angle. Also, it appears that the restaurants’ signs have been moved back, rendering them not visible from where the photographer was standing in 1993.

Below on the left is the second of the two rare photos, showing the northwest corner of the building. On the right is my recreation.

For some context, the restaurants only occupy the ground floor of the building. It was built as one of Warsaw's handful of pavilions, which were meant to showcase cultural exhibits and provide a space for various expositions. Built in 1968, the complex bears the name "Zodiak", and remains a venue for architectural exhibitions and events, itself a post-war modernist structure. The astrological theme is currently slightly subdued, as the original pavilion featured a neon map of constellations on the building's facade, and a cosmic-inspired mosaic, which was replicated in the renovated building as pictured below.

Back to the fast food chains. The most obvious difference is the erasure of the Pizza Hut and its replacement with a Starbucks café. The pizzeria was relegated away from the street and toward the interior of the block. Gone are the branded trash cans and tiled enclosures, which were cleared to make way for Starbucks' tables and umbrellas. It's clear that Pizza Hut was running the show here thirty years ago, having prime frontage and dominant branding in the complex. Burger King has also invaded Yum! Brands' former fort, now nestled between the still-strong KFC and the Pizza Hut that let itself go. Today, just like thirty years ago, this site is still an example of an old order public institution, here an exhibition space for architecture and design, coexisting side by side with iconic American foodservice brands.

Communism to Capitalism: the Failed Attempt to Convert a Socialist-Nationalist Symbol into an Outpost of America's Largest Export

A similarly famous pavilion to Zodiak in the capital is the nearby Cepelia, which was constructed in 1966 to house a gift shop with the purpose of "solidify[ing] the rural identity of [Poland as] a socialist nation." That's a tall order for patterned mugs, kitchen towels, and woven baskets, but the store was a staple of Warsaw until May 2019, when it closed as a result of the building being sold. The ownership of the building was privatized following the creation of the Third Republic in 1989, and the company which owned the pavilion had been in a state of bankruptcy ever since, while the company which operated the store became the spiritual successor to the brand Cepelia in a schism of sorts, still profitably in charge. Before the closure even took place, McDonald's proposed the construction of a new restaurant in honor of the original vision of Cepelia's architect, Zygmunt Stępiński, after the land's change of hands to a new developer. The fast food giant went as far as saying that the design would go beyond this dream, because building technology had advanced between 1966 and the modern day in such a way that even more remarkable architectural features could be added. However, in 2022, it was announced that the redevelopment into a McDonald's would not take place at the request of the Masovian voivodeship's historical commission. The future of the pavilion remains unclear; meanwhile, McDonald's has not had a true flagship location in Poland since 2014.

Above, from left to right: Cepelia pictured in 1971 in the evening, Cepelia pictured in 2019 with its architectural elements obscured by advertising, and a rendering of the McDonald's which was to replace the pavilion while replicating its original distinguished design.

Fast Food Ephemera: Taco Bell's Free Drink Coupon

Back to Taco Bell. While researching more about its Polish presence, I found a photo of a coupon for a free medium drink with the purchase of any combo posted by a Reddit user.

I figured I could exclude it from this deep dive into the world of Polish fast food, as it didn't add much value to the analysis. That is, until I looked at the bottom of the coupon and noticed its expiration was at the end of March 1997. This shattered my view of the world, to put it hyperbolically. It was my understanding that Taco Bell was only around for a few months in 1993! This is the historical consensus at least. The only explanation for this could be that the coupon was simply valid for a few years instead of the standard few months, as the chain saw a bright future ahead for itself in Poland. Also, since we're here already, it's interesting that, at least in this promotional material, the brand emphasized its vegetarian offering, perhaps since all of its competitors served beef or chicken as their core products. This is the only piece of ephemera I could find online for Taco Bell's Polish presence, but the failure of Taco Bell in the 90s reminded me of the double failure of Dunkin' Donuts (now just Dunkin') in Poland. Buckle in for some more franchise lore.

Dunkin' Pączki?

The coffee chain operated in Poland not only from 1996 to 2002, but also from 2015 to 2018, when the company attempted to reenter the market. When searching for traces online of the company's first presence in the country, I could not find a single photo of a Dunkin' Donuts branch, but something arguably more interesting: a dormant Blogspot blog devoted to a similar mission as this post. Its author posted four entries, all in 2006, and one of them was of ephemera from 1999 that advertised DD's offerings.

Clockwise, from the top right, we have three pamphlets side by side advertising the chain's seven locations in the city of Warsaw, a brochure featuring photos and detailed descriptions of the product offering, complete with pronunciation tips; a flyer which brags that because the donuts are made with vegetable oil and not butter, they contain 40% fewer calories compared to traditional Polish pączki (quite bold of them); and an ad showcasing frozen coffee through iconic 90s graphic design. 14 years after closing its doors in Poland, Dunkin' Donuts came back, making the same mistakes, so I've included below a photo of a storefront with signage proclaiming its grand opening for August 11, 2016, in the city of Łódź, and below it a tweet from the company's Twitter account, stating, "We're coming back, and for good this time! :)" Foreshadowing at its finest.

My take is that Dunkin' Donuts did not have the correct marketing approach when coming to Poland. In other European countries, the chain was able to succeed despite, or likely because of, its emphasis on donuts, since in those cultures, there was room for a novel pastry, and the rest of the shop's offerings - coffee and sandwiches, mainly - could complement the American-style donut. Dunkin' begged Poles to understand that their pastries are unique, but we just saw them as shitty pączki. When the core item, already disliked by the average consumer, is in the place's name, it's no surprise that the rest of the product range didn't catch on and that customers weren't coming in. Perhaps if Dunkin' makes another comeback sans-donuts, it may be more fruitful given the company's shift to a "beverage-led" strategy in recent years. As they say, third time's a charm.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I'd like to acknowledge that this shit took me literal hours to conceive of, research, do my own field work for, write, edit, and publish. I was almost late to my great aunt's apartment for dinner because I took those pictures of the old Taco Bell! I know my worth, and what I'll say is that this quality content that you bitches get for free on here should be behind a $500 paywall on ScienceDirect, I'm just so philanthropic I could cry. Now give me my honorary history, marketing, and sociology PhDs. But seriously, I don't know which niche of the internet this sort of thing fits into, but that's the beauty of Tumblr and its randomness. For the most part, I'm just writing this for myself, to put my thoughts into words and try to make sense of capitalism and globalization.

Image Sources

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 31, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 1, 2023

Tonight the House passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling for two years, enabling the Treasury to borrow money to prevent a default. More Democrats than Republicans rallied to the measure, with 165 Democrats and 149 Republicans voting in favor, for a final vote of 314 to 117. Seventy-one Republicans and 46 Democrats opposed the bill. Now the measure heads to the Senate. The votes revealed a bitter divide in the Republican Party, as the far-right House Freedom Caucus fervently opposed the measure; Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) for example, called it a “turd sandwich.” Florida governor Ron DeSantis also came out against it, saying it leaves the country “careening toward bankruptcy.” The far right insists the measure does not provide the cuts they demand. Last night’s nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office scoring of the bill offered them ammunition when it said that the additional work requirement imposed on able-bodied people aged 18–54 without dependents to receive food benefits is outweighed by the expansion of those benefits to veterans, unhoused people, and children aging out of foster care. The CBO estimates that the measure will add 78,000 people a month to food assistance programs, adding $2.1 billion in spending over the next ten years. Despite their fury, though, the far right in the House appears to be backing down from challenging Representative Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) speakership. Their angry news conferences seem mostly to be performances for their base, and to answer them, McCarthy today said on the Fox News Channel that he was creating a “commission” to “look at” cutting the budget that the president “walled off” from cuts, including the mandatory spending on Medicare and Social Security. But, as Josh Marshall pointed out in Talking Points Memo today, the Republican base no longer seems to care much about fiscal issues. Instead, they are pushing the cultural issues at the heart of illiberal democracy: anti-LGBTQ laws, antiabortion laws, anti-immigration laws. Former president Trump is making those themes central to his reelection campaign. Yesterday he released a video promising that on “Day One” of a new presidential term, he would issue an executive order that would end birthright citizenship. Our current policy that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, he claims, is “based on a historical myth, and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders advocates.” He promises to make “clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship.” Trump is picking up an idea from his presidential term that immigrants are flocking to the U.S. as “birth tourists” so their children will have dual citizenship, but the estimate from the immigration-restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies that birth tourism accounts for 26,000 of the approximately 3.7 million births in the U.S. each year has been shown to be wildly high. Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship is an attack on immigration itself, echoing people like Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who insists that immigration weakens a nation by diluting its native-born people with outsiders. Trump’s attack on the idea of birthright citizenship as a “historical myth” is a perversion of our history. It matters. In the nineteenth century, the United States enshrined in its fundamental law the idea that there would not be different levels of citizenship in this country. Although not honored in practice, that idea, and its place in the law, gave those excluded from it the language and the tools to fight for equality. Over time, they have increasingly expanded those included in it. The Republican Party organized in the 1850s to fight the idea that there should be different classes of Americans based on race—not only Black Americans, but also Irish, Chinese, Mexican, and Indigenous Americans faced discriminatory state laws. Republicans stated explicitly in their 1860 platform that they were “opposed to any change in our naturalization laws or any state legislation by which the rights of citizens hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.” In 1868, after the Civil War had ended the legal system of human enslavement, the American people added to the Constitution the Fourteenth Amendment, whose very first sentence reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Congress wrote that sentence to overturn the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that people of African descent “are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.” The Fourteenth Amendment legally made Black men citizens equal to white men. But did it include the children of immigrants? In 1882, during a period of racist hysteria, the Chinese Exclusion Act declared that Chinese immigrants could not become citizens. But what about their children who were born in the United States? Wong Kim Ark was born around 1873, the child of Chinese parents who were merchants in San Francisco. In 1889 he traveled with his parents when they repatriated to China, where he married. He then returned to the U.S., leaving his wife behind, and was readmitted. After another trip to China in 1894, though, customs officials denied him reentry to the U.S. in 1895, claiming he was a Chinese subject because his parents were Chinese. Wong sued, and his lawsuit was the first to climb all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to the government’s recognition that with the U.S. in the middle of an immigration boom, the question of birthright citizenship must be addressed. In the 1898 U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark decision, the court held by a vote of 6–2 that Wong was a citizen because he was born in the United States. That decision has stood ever since, as a majority of Americans have recognized the principle behind the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as the one central to the United States: “that all men are created equal” and that a nation based on that idea draws strength from all of its people. Over time, we have expanded our definition of who is included in that equality. Now the right wing is trying to contract equality again, excluding many of us from its rights and duties. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision makes women a separate and lesser class of citizen; anti-LGBTQ legislation denigrates sexual minorities. Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship makes that attack on equality explicit, calling equality a “myth” and attempting to enshrine inequality as the only real theme of our history. The concept of equality means we all have equal rights. It also means we all owe an equal allegiance to the country and that we all should be equal before the law, principles the former president has reason to dislike. Today, Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid, and Kaitlan Collins of CNN broke the story that federal prosecutors have an audio recording of the former president admitting he kept a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran. The material on the tape, which was recorded at his Bedminster, New Jersey, property and appears to indicate that the document was in his hands, shows that Trump understood he had taken a classified document and that he understood that there were limits to his ability to declassify records. The recording also appears to suggest that at least one of the documents Trump took when he left office had enormous monetary value. As former Senior Foreign Service member Luis Moreno tweeted: “You can bet that if the TS/SCI dox involved military action against Iran, there would be a couple of countries willing to pay a king’s ransom for it.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[kazifatagar]

Bye TnG? 12 Highway Concessions To Have Open Toll Payment System.

A total of 12 highway concession companies have agreed to implement an open toll payment system that will start this September. Public Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi says DUKE, LDP, SPRINT, KESAS, SMART and MEX are in. Consensus Company “So far, this is a consensus company that has agreed to implement an open payment system, the others are still being negotiated. We hope that…

[naijagospel]

[VIDEO & AUDIO] “Big God” – Minister Mex Ft. Mike Abdul African-American Gospel music artist, Emeka Okpala known as Minister Mex releases a groovy praise anthem titled "Big God", featured prolific Gospel artiste, Mike Abdul.

[okaywavesentertainment]

Minister Mex - Big God Feat. Mike Abdul

Minister Mex – Big God Feat. Mike Abdul

Prolific Gospel music artist, Minister Mex drops a groovy praise anthem titled “Big God”, featuring prolific Gospel artiste Mike Abdul.

Real name Emeka Okpala, Minister Mex is an eclectic, multilingual singer songwriter/producer, as well as an accomplished music director, who creates music with a strong blend of African American influences as inspired by the holy spirit.

Minister Mex – born and…

[coghive]

Minister Mex - BIG GOD Ft. Mike Abdul

African-American Gospel music artiste, Minister Mex releases groovy praise anthem “Big God”, featuring prolific Gospel artiste Mike Abdul. Real name Emeka Okpala, Minister Mex is an eclectic, multilingual singer songwriter/producer, as well as an accomplished music director, who creates music with a strong blend of African American influences as inspired by the holy spirit. Minister Mex – born and raised in Jos, a city in the northern part of Nigeria.From an early age he always found himself strongly attracted to music (especially traditional African Contemporary). getting to the United states, he has worked with great gospel artists in the likes of Samsoft, Sammie Okposo, Mairo Ese, Clebiane and lots more. He has recorded several songs like “Super”, “Only You”, “Will You Be Ready” and other popular songs. Sharing the inspiration behind his latest single “Big God”, Minister Mex said; “Big God is a song that came from the lowest state of my life. When I went through that moment of trial, all I did was continue to praise God letting Him know that I trust He will get me out of that situation. At the end of it all, we need to understand that even when things look impossible, He is there walking side by side with us. I serve a very BIG GOD”!!! “Big God” was produced by Phate – E – Production https://youtu.be/qhg_fPJGe6k https://coghive.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Minister-Mex-Feat-Mike-Abdul-Big-God-.mp3 Read the full article

[gmlyrics]

[Music] Minister Mex - Big God ft. Mike Abdul

[othercat2]

fic: two for mirth 37/?

They’re in the Leones System for almost two weeks. Two interview programs, a number of public speaking engagements, some introductions to local dignitaries and tours of the various refugee communities. Karkat talks about the Empress’ reform efforts, trade and cultural exchange. He talks to various leaders in the refugee communities on Fatima and various stations in the Leones System, one of whom had made contact with Dave.

Jake English is tall for a human, with dark hair and green eyes. He belongs to a cultivar of the Christian religion and is a minister. He is also involved with an organization that shelters the homeless (many of whom are repatriated). English invites Dave and Karkat to speak at his church and to dinner at his home afterward.  Security is minimal, and unobtrusive.

At the church, Karkat ends up mostly talking about his books in a mix of Alternian, English and a little Spanish. He also talks a little bit about how Dave came to be living with him. (Dave interjects with comments about the books and the classes he’d been taking before the book tour that had led to the cultural exchange mission.) The dinner is more of the same, with some political discussion mixed in. Jake asks a lot of questions about the mission, offers advice and the names of people Karkat might want to contact. “One of them is my cousin Jade Harley,” he says. “She’s a minister too! I think she’ll especially want to speak to you, though she mentioned there might be legal difficulties.”

Karkat thinks about that for a second. “Your cousin is a Preceptor of the Signless Cult?” he asks in Alternian. “How did that happen?”

“Jade was raised by her Grampa a mechanic owned by the Chief Engineer of our AGRI-Station,” Jake says. “Though when I say raised by her Grandfather, she was mostly being raised by the Chief Engineer’s lusus and taught within the Signless Cult by the Chief. When the repatriations began, the Chief sent Jade along with our family. Gram English wasn’t happy that Jade was raised Signlessist, but the Signless Cult was at least respectable by her lights, so it wasn’t hard at all to let Jade go her own way, especially since an argument between Gram English and Jade would’ve been a battle between the unstoppable force and immovable object for certain.”

Jake smiled. “We had one hell of a time with the lusus though! The silly beast wouldn’t be parted from Jade, and we had to jump through all sorts of hoops to take Beck with us. The Chief was no help at all, ‘Dad adores her, and she needs someone to keep her out of trouble. ’”  

“The lusus was allowed accompany your cousin?” Karkat asks.

“I think we ended up being one of the precedents for dealing with lusii that’ve bonded with a human,” Jake says. “I don’t think it could be the same as the relationship between a Troll and their lusus, but Jade and Beck certainly seem like two peas in a pod!”

“Huh,” Karkat said. “What kinds of lusii usually bond with humans?” He asks curiously.

“Oh, usually the small to mid-sized pseudo-mammals,” Jake says.  “I’ve met a few people with avians of one type or another though. Generally the smaller ones.” He laughs. “That’s a bit of a tangent. Jade was able to get a scholarship to study comparative religions, met up with other Signlessists and became a bit of a globe trotter. I think she wants to get in touch with you, but there are legal reasons why she might not be able to?”

“I’m banned from speaking about the Signlessist Cult, or about the Signless,” Karkat says. “Not from speaking to individual or groups of Signlessists, as long as I don’t speak about the Cult. I’m, I guess you could say I’m ‘abdicated’ from any responsibilities associated with my alleged Ancestor.”

“Like Jesus’ Second Coming being building ships,” Dave says in English. He pronounces “Jesus” as almost “Zhaysh,” and there’s a lot of dropped consonants and broadened vowels. (John refers to Dave’s accent as “half Tex, kinda Mex and a lot of Alternian phonemes.”)

Karkat is a little bit worried that Dave might have committed blasphemy of some kind, but Jake laughs. “Well, He was a working man as much as a teacher,” Jake says. “If He wants to work in a shipyard, who would tell Him no? Your situation about your ‘alleged Ancestor’ seems to be a little different though, Mister Vantas. How did the legal restriction come about? Or is talking about it restricted?”

“No, that part isn’t restricted,” Karkat says. “The seeds started around the time my moirail and I went to confront the previous Grand Highblood.” Who had had a completely unexpected reaction to their presence in his throne room: instead of a confrontation followed by a battle, the Grand Highblood had immediately declared his support for the Heiress. (After laughing so hard he’d been barely able to stay on his throne.)

He talked about living with the Church of the Two Messiahs while Gamzee was being trained for his position. He talked about the debates and conversations between the previous Grand Highblood and the new Empress, and about the negotiation that had led to Karkat’s abdication. “They worked out the restrictions, and I made a speech that was mostly about rejecting the destinies other people made for you, and not being tied to completing the mission or purpose of your Ancestors, which had its own problems that the Empress had to make a series of sermons about later. It was recorded and broadcast, and for a while there was trouble from splinter groups, but eventually things calmed down, mostly because the Signless Cult wasn’t forbidden anymore.”

“See?” Dave asks Jake. “I’m right, aren’t I?”  

“No,” Karkat says, and Dave smirks.

Jake English snorts. “If Christ came and wanted a working vacation instead of the Last Trump, I’m sure no one would complain about it. Though I doubt He’d need to go through all that rigmarole to achieve it!”

They talk some more, Karkat making a tentative agreement to contact some of the people on the list (including the cousin) and then they head back to the ship. Dave gets buried in his bubblr mailbox for most of the night and Karkat ends up in a discussion with Egbert and Lalonde about the visit the next evening for “sociological research purposes.”

(Karkat makes an elaborate point that no one tried to buy Dave from him at the church or at the dinner. Dave: “Master, stop going black for your translator.”  Rose: “Since I’m already auspistizing for Dave and John, I don’t want to break my club.” Karkat: “I’m not flirting. I’m just pointing out the shocking lack of offers to take Dave off my hands.” John: “No one is flirting with anyone! Shut up Dave!” Dave: “Hahahahah. You’re not my master. I do what I want.” Karkat: “Dave stop going black for my translator.” John: “Argh!”)

Overall, the trip in the Leones system is successful, and the mission moves on.

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[okaywavesentertainment]

Download Big God By Minister Mex Feat. Mike Abdul

Download Big God By Minister Mex Feat. Mike Abdul

Gospel music artist, Minister Mex drops a groovy praise anthem titled “Big God”, featuring prolific Gospel artiste Mike Abdul.

Real name Emeka Okpala, Minister Mex is an eclectic, multilingual singer songwriter/producer, as well as an accomplished music director, who creates music with a strong blend of African American influences as inspired by the holy spirit.

Minister Mex – born and raised in…

[patronsaintofprincesses]

I was tagged by @barnsburntdownnow @silver9mm love you ma’am! :D

A - age? 20 B - biggest fear? i‘m not real C - current time? 15:43 D - drink you last had? water E - every day starts with? wanting to stay in bed longer; putting on pants F - favourite song? Ever? Hm. Probably Both Sides Now- Joni Mitchell G - ghosts, are they real? maybe? There are more things on Heaven and Earth Horatio, than blah blah H - hometown? Batesville, Texas! I - in love with: yournamehere J - jealous of? yournamehere K - killed someone? who wants to know? O-O L - last time you cried? last night M - middle name? Eva N - number of siblings? 09 O - one wish: retroactive eidetic memory or total amnesia, I’m not picky P - person you last called/texted: called my mama and texted my campus minister                                                                                      ❁    Q - questions you are always asked: why do you talk so much? ¯\_(ツ✿)_/¯ R - reasons to smile: it’s lovely S - song last sang: Star of the Show--Thomas Rhett T - time you woke up: 11:00 U - underwear colour: grey with teeny white polka dots V - vacation destination: the rodeo here in San Antonio!!! it’s nearly a month long!!! W - worst habit: blocking memories/sleep-walking/singing badly X - x-rays you’ve had: teeth, stomach Y - your favourite food: TEX-MEX *grabby hands* black beans, brown rice, cheesy everything, tortillas de maiz, avocado, tomato, melon, papaya, chocolate drinks f u c k i n g mexican soda toronja, naranja, manzana, durazno, pina, tutifruti, mango, mandarina, fresa, limon!!! @-@ I don’t normally drink soda but i will sell my s o u l for Jarritos and quesadillas Z - zodiac sign: Virgo sun/Taurus moon/Libra rising and Mercury/Cancer Venus and Mars :D

[dmndsave]

why do I feel like the Dawn Valley churches are equally staffed by people who have lived there all their lives and know what kind of bullshit happens and people who have NO idea and got suckered into taking the position and now they can't leave

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:17

A town the size of Dawn Valley can only support a few small churches, which are most likely lead by ‘pastors who know’At least one of the Baptist’s who lead out of an old converted grocery store, swears up and down against demons but no one really minds himHe’s a good preacher though and is good with the youth, so his church is popular

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:18

https://undertaker-gifs.tumblr.com/post/188198876049

oh cute...

Tumblr

Undertaker gifs

Undertaker gifs

yeah there are a couple small ones

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:19

There’s of course the old Methodist which has been here since everyone’s great-great grandma

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:19

there is at least one legit catholic exorcist living in town and you can't change my mind

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:19

there's one that's not too too far from the edge of town where the home is run by pastor reidand ironically his youngest daughter Sandy was friends with the spooks when they were little

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:19

You know all the pastors and priests would regularly deal with the Undertaker because of the funerals

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:20

YUP

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:20

And it’s a small town so probably with an aging populationBut everyone is kinda cool with the weird stuffIt’s background noise at this pointAt least one of the old ladies still pinches Taker’s cheeks if she sees him

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:21

there's actuallya couple generations backmaybeeeee 150-ish yearsone of the New Pastors decided to kick out the spooky family because they didn't like "witches" in their town(not witches, dear, but nobody listened)and the spooks at the time just went"alright. children, we're going to your aunt rabekkah"town lasted a weekthen it was "please come back there are coyotes in the school" "i'm not sure how we can help" "THEY'RE SPEAKING LATIN" "oh, alright, but only if you ask nicely"

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:23

one day a new priest from outside the area is gonna get suckered into taking over and the previous guy is going to have some STORIES for them

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:23

"HELL IS REAL""i know""NO LISTEN--"

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:25

No, no, priest is Catholic, this guy doesn’t care if they’re demonic so long as they participate in holy communion and confess ever Sunday—The minister can be a real nut job though and was very upset when Kane explained hell in detail to him

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:25

"The new guy quit again. He didn't even meet the Undertaker. Where are you GETTING these guys?"

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:26

the last time anyone asked the brothers when their last communion was they both jsut started laughingtaker managed a "you're new here" and kane struggled out a "welcome to the valley" and then they just left

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:27

Kane and Taker area little odd but most of the valley doesn’t mind ‘em

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:27

they usually keep to themselves

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:28

Also idk Texas’ hunting season but it must be Big Important

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:28

and when there are things the sheriff can't or won't deal withpeople go to them

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:29

And honestly since it’s such a small town, 90% of problems are resolved before the police are even calledEveryone knows everyone and that includes for grandma—

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:29

you cannot send young priests to death valley, they see one hairless cat that speaks in tongues and suddenly they're abandoning their vows to live in isolation somewhere in norway like that'd help anything

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:30

Oh right it’s close to the border isn’t it?

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:30

the entire town's just at a gateway to hell, Weird Things Happen There

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:30

Yeah the one Catholic Church in the area is supported by the local Hispanic population and they can take anything

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:30

most if not all of the really dangerous stuff is kept inside the yardbut weird shit's the norm

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:30

One of the demons is going to get hit with a sandal

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:31

all the catholic priests are either old guys who used to be exorcists in rome, local tex-mex lads with brujah aunties or kids who grew up close to the yard in general and have Seen Some Shit and aren't afraid of anything

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:31

"Abuelita, the statue out front is singing again!" "Tell it to shut up, my soap opera is on!" "Senior Statue, Abuelita says to be quiet. She got new shoes." (statue stops)

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:32

Yeah that’s itYou got itIt’s the Calvinists that you gotta worry about, every time there’s a new minister he can get uppity but usually he gets over it pretty quick

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:33

the fuckin' dudes from rome add an interesting flaire to the local culture and accenttaker's only demand is they keep their dove(s) away from his ravens

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:33

At least one of the priests is Taker’s drinking buddy and will come out to the yard for a beer or two

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:34

taker actually likes hanging out at one of the only local biker-aesthetic bars if he's looking for a drinking partnerit's called the Rattler and it's owned by his dad's best friendincidentally, the only local who went to baby adam's funeral aside from paul

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:34

one of the old romans has a dog that can recite the lord's prayer in the voice of a child if you give it a milk bone but he generally encourages people NOT to do that

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:35

Jesus said ‘drink wine’ and the Catholics said ‘if you insist’ and never looked back

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:35

the weirdest thing is he can't remember if it always did thator if it's a new thing since coming to the valleyOH and then there are the druids

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:38

the local stray cats can reliably tell you the time of day but they will be able to prowl around in your dreams for a week after

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:39

I wanna dream about kiddies :VMaybe they can help Xion sleep :/Also what is with all the talking animalsAlso I wanna submit that the town Librarian has seen it All and cannot be fazed at this pointIf you ask her for dark magic books she’ll point you to the back right corner

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:40

animals make convenient hosts for entities because they don't have higher thought and can be overwhelmed easily

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:40

It works great until the cat you possessed gets distracted by a laser pointer

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:41

cats are an exception because they can see and touch all planes and do harm to spirits

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:41

that's one of the reasons kane chose therapy catMAN NOW I WANNA WRITE UP A LIST OF WEIRD SHIT IN THE YARD AND TOWN BUT I HAVE DRAFTS

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:42

some dogs are bred from guardian stock and can perform similar actions but its hard to find one cause of diluted bloodlines

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:43

i also need you all to know that when taker came back to life fully after the ministryred hair and more relaxed and vocal than normalit took weeks for the locals to realize it was the same guy

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 15:43

HA

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 15:43

And also for some reason he doesn’t sound like he gargles rocks

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 15:43

another week for them to debate about whether or not he as possessedand a day to decide "eh"

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:33

if you see this dog, DO NOT ask it to speak

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 17:35

OH A GOOD BOY

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:35

THE BEST BOY

Gina (´-ω-`)Last Saturday at 17:35

jay and i would not survivebut we would pet the dogso who wins?

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:36

i've been dead inside for years it's no dif

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:36

pet dog: finebut be careful what tricks you try and get it to do

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:38

whats his name

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:39

probably something like "angelico"

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:39

toddbot how gucci is angelico

ToddBotBOTLast Saturday at 17:39

Angelico is 26% gucci.

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:40

fuck you todd

ToddBotBOTLast Saturday at 17:40

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:40

no respectfallout76 sucks

ToddBotBOTLast Saturday at 17:40

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:40

hey todd

ToddBotBOTLast Saturday at 17:40

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:40

new vegas was the best game

ToddBotBOTLast Saturday at 17:40

https://i.imgur.com/fK7zKeq.jpg

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:40

i love angelicodoes he bork

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:41

very delicately

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:41

:o

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:41

polite smol bork

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:42

if i ask him to speak what he do

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:43

tells you that hubris will be the downfall of man

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:45

he's not wrong

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:45

the church of st peter is an empty box! god's eye has turned from man!

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:45

taker: i'll drink to that (throws him jerky)

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:46

angelico has an amputated tail but he will do a full body wiggle for jerky

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:46

where him tail go :(

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:47

probably got cut off for medical reasonshe strikes me as a dog who got hit by a car once or twice

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:48

D:poor baby

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:54

he's probably happy and healthy otherwise

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:54

did one of those car hits happen in the valleyor did he just start talking with likeno cause

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:57

UNCLEARbut he is a happy goofy dog otherwiseand his owner adores him

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 17:58

AS HE SHOULD

84% CURSE BY VOLUMELast Saturday at 17:59

well loved by the whole neighbourhood but REAL weird to run into at times for obvious reasons

MilkshakeLast Saturday at 18:04

Hi i would die for angelico

Convicted BirdererLast Saturday at 18:04

taker does in fact give him a treat whenever he sees himhe lovs doggos....

[bountyofbeads]

Warnings of 8-Foot Storm Surge From Hurricane Dorian https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/us/hurricane-dorian-updates.html

Hurricane Dorian Updates: Category 3 Storm Rakes the Carolinas

The Carolinas were being buffeted by heavy rain and strong winds from the outer bands of Hurricane Dorian. Forecasters warned of storm surge of up to eight feet in places.

By Richard Fausset | Published September 5, 2019 8:25 AM ET | New York Times | Posted September 5, 2019 8:50 AM ET |

Hurricane Dorian was about 70 miles south-southeast of Charleston, S.C., with winds of up to 115 m.p.h.

Flooding is a possibility in several coastal states.

Much of the Carolina coast was being buffeted by heavy rain and strong winds from the outer bands of Hurricane Dorian on Thursday morning, as the storm continued to creep on its parallel path north along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, guaranteeing trouble for coastal residents even if its center stays offshore.

The storm had strengthened to Category 3 late Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning it was about 70 miles from Charleston, S.C., according to the National Hurricane Center. Its hurricane-force winds were extending as far as 60 miles from the center, with tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 195 miles. Forecasters said storm surge waters could flood up to eight feet in some areas.

Though the storm’s eye has remained offshore on its move up the East Coast, the National Hurricane Center’s models now show it could possibly make landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Friday.

On Thursday morning, Dorian’s rain bands were whipping cities from Savannah, Ga., to Wilmington, N.C., and places along the coast could receive as much as 15 inches of rain before the storm departs. The storm has already knocked out power for about 183,000 customers in South Carolina, as well as 12,800 in Georgia.

With a hurricane warning in effect from the Savannah River north to the North Carolina-Virginia border — and thousands of residents cleared out of coastal areas after mandatory evacuations — there was little to do on Wednesday night but wait for those rescue personnel and stragglers who remained in the coastal communities in Georgia and North and South Carolina.

In Charleston, there was evidence that warnings were met with both seriousness and insouciance.

At about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, an emergency alert went out to area cellphones: “EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. HURRICANE DORIAN BEGINNING TO AFFECT AREA.” But many tourists and residents were already gone, and the streets of the historic downtown were mostly empty as the first heavy rain bands began soaking the city.

Still, on trendy King Street, sushi and gourmet burgers could be found in a handful of open restaurants. A Tex-Mex place called Juanita Greenberg’s Nacho Royale was completely boarded up. But next door, the bartenders at Proof were slinging cocktails for those seeking other means of escape.

Four hurricanes later, the ocean’s allure stays strong.

A first-person account from Chris Dixon, an author and journalist.

I engaged in a grim ritual with my neighbors on Wednesday, sweating and cursing under a broiling Charleston sun while draping sheets of plywood across the windows on my house. For the fourth time since 2016, I was preparing for a hurricane: Matthew, Irma, Florence and now Dorian.

Depending on your point of view, I am lucky or unlucky enough to live on a tidal creek near Folly Beach, S.C. When hurricanes and tropical storms strafe our coast, their winds roar across the several miles of harbor and normally placid marsh that separate our neighborhood from the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse. As the tides rise, these winds pile seawater into wave-driven surge and batter the homes in my neighborhood.

Yanking a splinter from my thumb, I asked myself, Why do I live here?

I should know better. When I was young, my great-aunt Ethel told frightful tales of Hurricane Hazel’s 1954 destruction of the Carolina coast. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo upended my life by destroying my home in Surfside Beach, north of Charleston. Two years ago, I gasped as the tides from Hurricane Irma casually carried a foot of marsh into my house while sweeping tons of my yard out to sea. And last year, while covering Hurricane Florence for The New York Times, I spent many tense hours among people who were in the process of losing everything.

So why do I choose to live in this slowly drowning port city? Why endure the annual stress of possibly losing everything? Why constantly check computer models before frantically hauling everything inside, boarding up, driving for safety and then waiting for interminable hours while glued to The Weather Channel?

Because the ocean is my family’s life and my livelihood. My wife grew up in Dana Point, Calif., with the Pacific in her backyard and saltwater in her veins. I grew up in Atlanta but had the great fortune of spending my summers along this Carolina coast — sailing, fishing and, eventually, having my life taken over by surfing.

It sounds cliché, but when your entire life comes to revolve around the ocean, it becomes almost impossible to imagine living any other way. You come to define life not by the hours on the clock, but by the ebb and flow of the tides and the rhythm of the winds and swells. You become deeply enmeshed in a culture of shrimpers, crabbers, divers and surfers. You watch your kids come to revere the ocean and respect its moods and its power. You manage to make a living writing about the ocean. You catch a perfect wave from a hurricane-spawned groundswell at your local break.

In the Bahamas, homes were turned to matchsticks.

The pilot was anxious to help: He had gathered generators, diapers, tuna fish and other supplies. The people living on the islands in the Bahamas devastated by Hurricane Dorian needed them, immediately.

But he wasn’t sure if there was anywhere to land.

Flying over the hardest-hit areas — the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama — the pilot saw homes turned to matchsticks and boats piled in heaps.

Harbors, supermarkets, a public hospital, airport landing strips — all had been damaged or blown to smithereens, frustrating rescue efforts.

Hurricane Dorian, which made landfall on Sunday as a Category 5 storm and then lingered for days, not only left many residents in the most damaged islands without jobs or a place to live. It also stripped away the services required to meet their most immediate needs — like fresh water, food and medical care.

“It’s like a bomb went off, honestly,” said Julie Sands, who lives in Cherokee Sound, in the Abaco Islands.

In the Bahamas, with floodwaters receding, the trail of devastation was slowly becoming clear as residents began tallying their losses. As of Wednesday, according to Dr. Duane Sands, the minister of health, at least 20 people had been confirmed dead and the toll was expected to rise.

Florida escaped a direct hit from the storm.

Last week the storm was inviting comparisons to Hurricane Andrew, which ripped through the Miami area as a Category 5 monster in 1992, causing widespread damage.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida declared a state of emergency last Wednesday afternoon, and advised residents to have seven days’ worth of supplies on hand. There was a run on gasoline and bottled water, and the attorney general’s office was investigating hundreds of complaints of price gouging.

[With an altered map, President Trump insisted he was right on Dorian heading toward Alabama.]

By Friday, Hurricane Dorian had become a Category 4 storm over the Atlantic Ocean with winds of 130 m.p.h., and Mr. Trump approved an emergency declaration for Florida.

In the end Florida was largely spared its wrath.

But one Florida resident had died while preparing for the storm, The Associated Press reported. A 56-year-old man who was knocked to the ground from a tree Monday evening as he trimmed limbs with a chain saw in an Orlando suburb.

Bahamians in Miami are lending a hand.

The ties could not be stronger between Miami and the Bahamas, an archipelago less than 200 miles east. Bahamians settled in South Florida decades before Miami was born, building bridges and railroads and raising children who would become some of the region’s most prominent leaders. This week, their descendants, many veterans of devastating hurricanes, gathered across South Florida to lend a hand.

“When we were desperate, people came to our rescue,” said Charles Bethel, 68, a retired state juvenile justice administrator who lost his home in south Miami-Dade County to Hurricane Andrew, another Category 5 storm, in 1992. “The community pulled together. There was no sense of division. Now, we are doing the same.”

Miami owes its very beginnings to residents from there. Bahamian laborers worked in construction and agriculture, creating the city’s infrastructure and teaching white settlers unfamiliar with the tropics how to build with coral rock, till the soil and plant tropical fruit, said Marvin Dunn, a retired college professor who chronicled local history in his book “Black Miami in the Twentieth Century.”

Bahamians started to arrive in the 1880s, following an economic downturn on the islands, Dr. Dunn said. Many went to work in pineapple fields in Key West and then migrated north to Coconut Grove, which they called Kebo. Bahamians also settled in the Miami neighborhood of Overtown and in Carver Ranches, which is now part of the city of West Park, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale.

On Wednesday in Miami, volunteers gathered in houses of worship, dripping with sweat as they sorted through heavy boxes and bags. Stacks of water bottles. Heaps of diapers. Baby formula. A chain saw. So many donations came in that Christ Episcopal ran out of pallets.

Reporting was contributed by Patricia Mazzei, Nick Madigan, Kirk Semple, Frances Robles, Rachel Knowles and Elisabeth Malkin.

[fxcryptotraders-blog]

Mex FM: Unrevealed part of Mexico-US deal is a discussion on migrants involving Brazil, others

Mex FM: Unrevealed part of Mexico-US deal is a discussion on migrants involving Brazil, others

Comment from Mexico’s foreign minister Donald Trump hinted at a part of the deal with Mexico that wasn’t announced in a series of tweets yesterday: Importantly, some things not mentioned in yesterday press release, one in particular, were agreed upon. That will be announced at the appropriate time.

[racingtoaredlight]

Opening Bell: April 12, 2019

In December, widespread protests and demonstrations arose in Sudan in response to spikes in the price of bread and fuel. The protests were large, well-organized, and the Sudanese military—long a bulwark supporting the rule of President Omar al-Bashir—did not attempt any serious intervention. Over time, the protests grew and evolved into a general airing of grievances against the reign of Bashir, which had persisted since 1989 when he gained power with the support of the military. Bashir’s grasp on power become even more important in 2009 and 2010, when the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Omar al-Bashir based on actions carried out by Sudanese troops in the restive Darfur region in the western part of the country, including massacre and rape of civilians. In recent weeks, protestors accumulated around the Sudanese army’s headquarters in the capital of Khartoum and an attempt by the National Intelligence and Security Service to break up the protests was forcibly prevented by Sudanese soldiers. The tipping point was finally reached yesterday, when the military acceded to the demands of the demonstrators and announced that a two-year transitional government would be formed under the defense minister, ending the three decade rule of Bashir. While a civilian transitional government was sought by protestors, the military’s role as kingmaker made the unlikely. Sudan, with the third-largest population in Africa, though stands at a crossroads for the first time in 30 years, and if the military follows through in good faith in its caretaker role and allows civilian elections to occur in two years, it would represent enormous progress for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Eight years ago, Swedish national Julian Assange was accused by the U.S. government of conspiring with former Army Specialist and intelligence analyst Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning with attempt to gain access to classified data. In 2011, seeking to avoid a Swedish arrest warrant based on a sexual assault allegation, Assange ended up in London, knocking on the door of the Ecuadorian Embassy. Ecuador was, in 2011, led by President Rafael Correa, an avowed socialist who opposed American influence in South America in general and Ecuador in particular. Correa, as a means to prevent Assange from being arrested in London on the Swedish arrest warrant and then potentially extradited to the United States on potential charges stemming from violations of the Espionage Act, ordered that his embassy in London admit Assange and give him asylum. International law protects embassies around the world, requiring that host nations treat embassy and consulate grounds as the soil of the nation that occupies it. If British police officers had attempted to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy to arrest Assange, it would have caused an international incident. Instead officers of Scotland Yard held a 24/7/365 vigil outside the embassy, watching to make sure that Assange, who had been granted Ecuadorian citizenship, could not slip out of the embassy and get a flight out of Britain. With the election of a new president in Ecuador, one more amendable to American policy, Assange’s status appeared as though it would change. In recent weeks, the Ecuadorian government of President Lenin Moreno stripped Assange of his citizenship and, shortly after a formal request for extradition by the United States—based on a newly unsealed indictment by a federal grand jury—and Assange was removed from the embassy and arrested by Scotland Yard. The end of one seven year drama is here, but the story of Julian Assange is far from over. The next big event: his actual extradition to the United States and his first appearance in federal court.

Late yesterday afternoon/early evening, the Washington Post broke a story in which it showed that the Trump administration attempted to pressure officials within USCIS to release detained migrants in so-called Sanctuary Cities as a means to seek revenge on political enemies of the president. Sanctuary Cities get their name because local law enforcement—either city police departments, country sheriffs, or both—adopt a policy of not turning over illegal migrants who are detained for unrelated reasons to USCIS for deportation proceedings. The Trump administration has attacked this policy and the cities who adopt them, saying, without evidence, that they allow dangerous criminals who would otherwise be deported, to remain in this country. The emails, obtained by the Post, from Trump administration officials to immigration authorities suggest that migrants who were part of the so-called “caravan” headed to the U.S. border in November 2018, be bused to other cities before their release. One such city mentioned was San Francisco, a well-known subscriber to Sanctuary City doctrine and which is encompassed almost entirely by Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s congressional district. These allegations, which are limited to the incident in November and another in February of this year, are limited in their occurrence, but they nonetheless amount to an unprecedented attempt to place political pressure on what should be a non-political consideration, and for the worst reasons.

In July 1947, a rancher outside of Roswell, New Mexico discovered a tangle mess of equipment on his property, which appeared to belong to the military. He called the local sheriff, who in turn called the commander of the local Army Air Force Base. Somewhere along the way, a reporter for the town’s newspaper called Roswell Army Airfield’s public relations office and was told something about a “flying disc,” being recovered, which subsequently made its way into headlines the following day. This caused a buzz which was notable but quickly waned. The case of the “Roswell Flying Disc” crash become nearly forgotten until two decades later, when a renewed interest and enthusiasm into investigating the existence, source, and depth of government knowledge of UFOs and aliens—the two should be distinguished as UFOs are simply unidentified phenomena stemming from eyewitness recollections—led to the creation of MUFON, or the Mutual UFO Network. MUFON remains the largest and best organized group seeking to uncover whether UFO incidents amount to alien visitors to our planet and, concurrently, the degree to which the government knows of and conceals this visits. In recent years, however, a split has emerged in MUFON, as more outlandish stories have been brought forth by so-called “whistleblowers” who make claims which border on the absurd, the more scientifically inclined members of MUFON have come to openly wonder if these individuals are themselves government plants, meant to undermine what credibility organizations like MUFON have. This summary barely scratches the surface of this conflict and, whatever your own beliefs, I encourage you to read this.

In 2007, a foot, cleaved of its constituent human body, but still nestled within the athletic shoe which its wearer laced up prior to his or her demise, washed up on the shore of British Columbia. The body of water which carried the foot ashore, the Salish Sea, which encompasses Canadian waters and those which make up the Puget Sound that lap at the shore of near Seattle, is one of the largest inland seas in the country. This foot was the first of what has become, as of January 2019, 21 that have washed ashore; 15 on Canadian beaches and 6 on American. Ten of these feet have been paired up, but the rest remain single reminders of a life lost in mysterious, perhaps unknowable, circumstances. Foul play in the form of a new serial killer has been ruled out, and no major airplane crash or shipwreck in the northern Pacific Ocean has gone unreported. The Salish has brought ashore thousands of interested and banal items over the thousands of years that humans have resided nearby, but none so interesting in such a short period of time as the 21 feet clad in sneakers that have done so over the last twelve years. This is a meditation not just on the floating feet, but on the Salish Sea and the infinity and eternity of the Earth’s oceans.

Buffet restaurants have long been considered an absolute expression of Americana: any one person can go to a series counters with heating trays piled high with food: fried chicken, crab legs, rice, bacon, roast beef, prime rib, soup, salad, breadsticks, etc. It is empowering to walk up to what a buffet offers, knowing that you and you alone can decide what combination of foods end up on your plate. This breaks the mold of other restaurant designs, which focus invariably on one type of food: Italian, Mexican (or more accurately Tex-Mex in most places), BBQ, Americana (think Chili’s or Applebees), or even Indian (often famous for having buffets of their own). But in the last decade, buffet style restaurants have, with one notable exception, been failing in this country. There have been health scares to be sure, but many of the failures can be connected to the economic downturn of 2008-2011, during which time individuals ate less at restaurants. This Vox article—an outlet which I am usually loathe to post for a variety of reasons—is much deeper than I expected.

Much as in 2016, where Republicans fielded a large array of candidates all eager to take on the legacy of Barack Obama, Democrats have fielded a now equally large field of candidates hoping to upend President Donald Trump and make him the first incumbent president in nearly two decades to not win a second term in office. There are dangers in having such a large field. One needs only to look at how the opposing personalities of the Republican 2016 field cancelled each other out and gave space for Trump to move to the forefront. But the Center for Politics analyzes how and when a Democratic forerunner could emerge.

 Welcome to the weekend.