#Parrot Abdication of responsibility

[tiktokparrot]

Explore the fascinating world of parrots, from feathers to flight! Discover insights into parrot keeping, behavior, and the evolving practices in this insightful article.

[solxamber]

Omg, uh sorry if this is filling up your inbox! You can take your time with this anytime! Pls take care of urself if u feel sad (Romantic btw :3)

Savanaclaw and Scarabia with a silly reader who owns a circus and stuff— they act all innocent and stupid and silly, but are actually really good at being mature and responsible and smart (emotionally and intelligently). And, They always have some extremely shocking stories to tell, like that one time where they and Falena are friends and how their family has some history with the al-asims.. oh the list can go on!...

can u see what I see ☹️☹️

Savanaclaw, Scarabia with a Silly but mature! reader

i think i see your vision anon 🫡 Thank you for the request!

also the inbox is open for all requests, there's no need to be sorry!

Leona Kingscholar

Leona was lounging under a tree, as usual, his eyes half-closed as you plopped down beside him. You had that mischievous smile again, and he braced himself for whatever nonsense you were about to spout.

“Leona, did I ever tell you about the time I accidentally declared myself queen of a lost kingdom? Oh yeah, I was leading a parade for my circus when we stumbled upon this hidden city in the desert. They hadn’t seen outsiders in centuries, and for some reason, they thought my outfit meant I was royalty. Long story short, I ruled for a day—had a crown and everything.”

Leona cracked an eye open, staring at you. “You? A queen?”

“Yep. But don’t worry, I abdicated the next morning. Told them it wasn’t for me. Too much responsibility, you know?” You laughed, completely at ease, as if you hadn’t just described one of the most ridiculous situations ever.

Leona groaned. “You’ve gotta be making this stuff up.”

“Nope! 100% true. I even have pictures of the royal llama they gave me as a parting gift.” You winked, leaving Leona wondering whether you were serious or just really good at telling tall tales.

But later that day, a real problem cropped up in Savanaclaw. Some of the younger students had gotten into a fight, and it was escalating fast. Leona, grumbling, was about to step in when you, with a surprisingly firm tone, intervened.

“Hey! Knock it off!” you commanded, standing between the feuding students with a calm but authoritative air. “Fighting’s not going to solve this. You need to talk it out—what’s going on?”

To Leona’s surprise, they actually stopped. You took each of them aside, patiently listening and guiding them to a resolution, diffusing the situation before it could spiral. Once things calmed down, you turned back to Leona with a smile, as if nothing unusual had happened.

“See? All it takes is a bit of patience.”

Leona stared at you, genuinely impressed. “You’re... not as dumb as you act, are you?”

“Only when it’s convenient,” you replied, your grin back in full force. But there was a warmth behind your eyes, a quiet confidence that made Leona’s chest tighten. For once, he didn’t have a sarcastic comeback, just a lingering thought that maybe you were a lot more than you seemed.

Ruggie Bucchi

Ruggie was used to your wild stories by now, but every time you shared one, it still left him shaking his head in disbelief. Today, you were telling him about one of your most outlandish adventures yet.

“So, Ruggie, did I ever mention the time I accidentally joined a pirate crew? My circus got shipwrecked on this random island, and before I knew it, I was swabbing the deck of a pirate ship. They thought I was this legendary thief, and I just rolled with it. Spent the whole month trying to convince them to switch to legal trade—pretty sure I turned them into a merchant fleet by the end.”

Ruggie almost choked on his snack. “You? A pirate? No way.”

“True story! They even gave me a parrot. Named him Biscuit.” You grinned like this was the most normal thing in the world.

Ruggie shook his head, laughing. “You’re somethin’ else, y’know that?”

But not long after, a real problem popped up. One of the younger students in Scarabia had been short on money, and there was a mix-up with their scholarship. The kid was panicking, unsure how to fix it. While Ruggie was good at hustling, this wasn’t his field of expertise. He figured the situation was about to get messy.

Then you stepped in, calmly talking to the student. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. Let me help.”

You guided the student through the bureaucratic mess, making calls, filling out forms, and working things out with Scarabia’s administration. By the end of it, everything was sorted, and the student left with a grateful smile.

“You handled that like a pro,” Ruggie commented, impressed. He hadn’t expected you to know your way around serious issues like that.

“Sometimes life throws you curveballs, and you’ve gotta handle them with a cool head,” you said with a wink. “I’ve got practice from managing a circus, after all.”

Ruggie chuckled, but the admiration in his eyes was clear. “You’re full of surprises.”

“Good surprises, I hope?”

“The best kind,” Ruggie grinned, feeling his heart skip a beat. You might act goofy, but there was something about you that kept pulling him in.

Jack Howl

Jack was used to your carefree attitude by now, but your stories never failed to catch him off guard. Today, you were regaling him with a tale so absurd he didn’t even know how to respond.

“So, Jack, did I ever tell you about the time I accidentally tamed a dragon? It’s true! I was performing in a mountain village when this dragon showed up, all angry and roaring. Turns out, he had a thorn in his foot. Once I pulled it out, we became best buds. He even gave me a ride back home.”

Jack slowed his jog, staring at you incredulously. “You’re telling me you... tamed a dragon? Just like that?”

“Yep! He was actually really sweet once he wasn’t in pain. Kinda like a giant puppy.” You laughed, completely unfazed by how insane the story sounded.

Jack shook his head, half-impressed, half-baffled. “You’re something else.”

But later, when a real problem cropped up—a couple of first-years lost their way in the forest near campus—your goofy demeanor melted away, replaced by a calm, focused attitude. Jack was ready to run in headfirst, but you stopped him.

“Wait, Jack. If we charge in, we might get lost too. Let’s think this through.”

You took a moment to assess the situation, coming up with a plan that involved splitting up into small, safe search parties. You helped guide the students back, your calm leadership reassuring everyone involved.

Jack was impressed. “You... really know how to handle things when it matters.”

You smiled softly, shrugging. “I guess when you’ve been through enough crazy stuff, you learn how to stay calm.”

Jack couldn’t help but admire you. You might be goofy, but you had a strong sense of responsibility underneath it all. And, more than anything, he liked that you didn’t lose your lightheartedness, even when things got tough.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Jack muttered, a little flustered.

You grinned. “Just doing my best. But thanks, Jack.”

Kalim Al-Asim

Kalim was always delighted by your stories, and today, you had another one to tell that had him practically bouncing in excitement.

“So, Kalim, did I ever tell you about the time I accidentally became the head chef for an underwater banquet? We were traveling with the circus near a coastal city, and somehow, I got mistaken for a famous sea chef. Next thing I knew, I was cooking for a bunch of merfolk. It wasn’t too bad, except for the fact that the main course was supposed to be jellyfish. Do you know how hard it is to cook jellyfish?”

Kalim’s eyes went wide with fascination. “No way! What did you do?”

“Well, I just winged it! Turns out, jellyfish isn’t that bad if you deep fry it. The merfolk loved it, though I think one of them might’ve cried because I didn’t use enough seaweed seasoning.” You giggled at the memory, and Kalim burst into laughter beside you.

“That’s amazing! You always have the best stories!” Kalim grinned from ear to ear, completely charmed by your carefree attitude.

But later, as a group of students caused a commotion in Scarabia over some miscommunication regarding event planning, Kalim started to get overwhelmed. The party plans were a mess, and everyone was panicking.

Before Kalim could start spiraling, you placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Kalim, it’s okay. We can fix this.”

You quickly took charge, calmly directing people, assigning tasks, and helping resolve the confusion with remarkable ease. Despite the chaos, you remained collected and responsible, ensuring everything got back on track. By the end of it, the students were thanking you for saving the event.

Kalim watched you in awe, his heart swelling with admiration. “Wow, you’re amazing at this! I didn’t even think about half of the things you just did!”

You smiled, a little sheepishly. “I’ve learned a thing or two from managing my own circus. Keeping things organized is important when you’ve got that many moving parts.”

Kalim beamed, his admiration growing even more. “You’re incredible! I love how you can be so fun and carefree but also super responsible when it matters.”

You laughed. “Well, I can’t have you stressing out, can I?”

Kalim’s heart fluttered as he realized just how much he adored every part of you—the goofy, lighthearted side and the calm, mature side that always seemed to have everything under control.

“I��m lucky to have you around,” he admitted softly, his face turning pink.

You grinned, nudging him playfully. “And I’m lucky to have someone who enjoys my stories. We make a good team.”

Jamil Viper

Jamil wasn’t one to get distracted easily, but you had a way of getting under his skin, especially with the wild stories you told so casually.

“So, Jamil, you know how everyone has a weird family tradition? Mine is... accidentally kidnapping a sultan’s pet tiger. Oh, it wasn’t on purpose, of course! The circus was performing in this palace, and I thought it was part of the act. Turns out, it was the sultan’s favorite tiger. Had to smooth things over with a five-course apology dinner. But hey, I got to keep a gold plate as a souvenir.”

Jamil blinked, his expression somewhere between disbelief and amusement. “You... kidnapped a royal tiger?”

“Yep! Accidentally, though. I gave it back!” you laughed, completely unfazed by how wild the story was. “But I did manage to calm the sultan down. Turns out, I’m pretty good at apologizing.”

Jamil shook his head, exhaling a slow breath. “I don’t know how you manage to stay so calm in situations like that.”

“Well, when you run a circus, you learn to roll with the punches,” you winked.

Later that evening, when a situation arose with a group of students causing chaos in Scarabia, you stepped up before Jamil could even lift a finger.

“Hold on, I’ll talk to them,” you said, stepping forward.

With a calm but firm approach, you quickly diffused the situation, guiding the students to settle down and offering solutions to their grievances. You did it all without raising your voice, just being patient and understanding.

Jamil watched, impressed at how you handled everything so smoothly. Once the students dispersed, he approached you with a newfound respect in his eyes.

“You’re... more capable than you let on,” he admitted, glancing away.

You smiled, not smugly, but warmly. “I just know when it’s time to be serious. Someone’s gotta keep the peace around here.”

Jamil’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe there was more to your lighthearted nature than he initially thought.

Masterlist

[patricia-taxxon]

i think where im at regarding the conflict between allyship & tokenism is this. i cannot rely on myself to form a coherent view on oppressions i do not face, but i must not abdicate myself of the responsibility in choosing which voices to listen to and engage with. i must never do the white queer thing of finding a particular clique of POC and parroting their words while presenting myself as having "listened to POC." i listen to my trusted friends, and my decision to trust their input is my own. i expect my own allies to do the same with me.

[rvengefulobster]

It is deeply cool to have found out there's an antizionist synagogue spinning up in my city.

But what's even cooler is that they aren't grounding their community in just rejection of Zionism. Because to build yourself around what you aren't is to still define yourself by it. What they are building their community around is: diasporic Judaism. Here-ness.

The idea that wherever we are is our homeland and we should make it better.

I think this is a necessary idea at a time when the president of the United States is parroting the Israeli line that Jews won't be safe without Israel. Which, what a fucking abdication of responsibility. Claiming the safety of AMERICAN JEWS is dependent on a foreign nation is a fuckin' WILD stance for the guy whose responsibility is the safety of Americans (at least, assuming we take a utopian / non-cynical view of what his job is).

[vaspider]

#for real#been seeing a huge influx of right wing esque propaganda being parroted but wrapped in liberal wording lately#really echoing 2016#and some of this is such obvious stuff like just slow down and use an ounce of critical thinking please….#politics#important

Okay, so, I'm not picking on you, and I'm not yelling at you, but there's something in this line of thinking that it's really important that we stop, just as much as we need to stop just mindlessly reblogging stuff without checking it:

All of the examples that I anonymized above? Those were things which were posted by long-time known leftists, and I came to know about how the stories are circulating because I heard the stories repeated by an extremely left-wing family member of mine as absolute fact.

When I say 'you are not immune to propaganda,' yes, I mean that we do have an issue with actual Russian disinformation bloggers on Tumblr -- like, that's a thing that happened in 2016, we know it -- and there are people who sneak their regressive politics into progressive spaces -- again, we know it happens & TERFs who wrap their bioessentialism in progressive language have been caught out time and time again...

... but I also absolutely mean well-intentioned leftists fucking flying off half-cocked after they read a newspaper article which has been tweaked in its headline and its lede to piss people off, because people are hungry for attention, for clicks, and for ad revenue. I absolutely mean people who don't check what it is that the Houthis are yelling or have on signs and forward on as praiseworthy messaging that includes the words "curse the Jews." I absolutely mean people taking the word of a politician from another country who has his own agenda as iron-clad proof of what Biden said decades ago without even so much as asking, "What does this person stand to gain from framing things that way? Was there anybody else there? Can someone corroborate what was or was not said?"

Part of not getting led down the garden path by people requires you to realize that your side has an agenda too, and that because of that, people will frame things to benefit their agenda, regardless of whether or not they're perfectly true. A lot of the time, people don't even do it on purpose. We just ... do that. We frame things to fit the narrative we desire.

It is poisonous to think that '"our side" has a Good agenda' means '"our side" is presenting things from a totally objective position and any bad information must be coming from Outside.' Not only does that make it easier for you to incorporate incorrect information into your worldview, because you won't be looking as closely at information coming from an established left-wing blogger, but it's a sort of abdication of responsibility. "Well, if there's any bad information, it's coming from Them, not Us." (And no, person whose tags I am not saying you are directly saying this -- I'm saying that this is the end point of that line of thinking, and that's really really dangerous.)

I have seen people presenting as unique evils to Biden things which have been part of regular US government function for longer than I've been alive, and doing so because they read an article on a well-regarded newspaper which presents those actions as though they are illegal or as though Biden is doing them differently from other presidents before him. I have seen people saying 'Biden can just -- ' about things that are absolutely not within the President's remit, things he can't just do on his own, and saying that because a popular left-wing blogger or YouTuber said that the president can absolutely just... I don't know... set a maximum house price per city, or allocate money in the federal budget, or whatever. I don't know if they say these things because they just want them to be true, or because someone else told them and they believed it, or... I don't know, maybe what the YouTuber said was something like 'the President should put political pressure on Congress until they reallocate this money, because it's the job of Congress to blah blah blah."

Whatever the case, this bad information gets out there, and it stays out there, and it continues to bounce around the internet. Whether or not it's malicious -- and some of it surely is, and some of it surely isn't -- doesn't really matter. What matters is that in this environment, you owe it to yourself if to no one else to slow the fuck down and ask yourself, among other things:

Does this confirm something I already believe to be true? Might that be why I am quick to take it on board?

What are the consequences if I'm wrong?

What are the potential biases of the person telling the story?

What other motivations (like driving traffic to the paid ads on their news site or pleasing bosses or other authorities) might they have to present material in a certain way? That is to say...

What are they going to get out of invoking a particular reaction in you? What does that reaction benefit them?

Can I find this story presented by a totally different source?

Can I independently verify the history or backstory behind this situation? For example, if this is about how something gets done in the US government, can I find information easily about what that procedure is, how long it's been around, and who's in charge of it? (There are some very complete Wikipedia articles which have a lot of good sources explaining how a lot of the US government's basic functions work, for example.)

Does this person maybe carry some unexamined bias that they're pushing into the conversation? Even the best-intentioned of us carry baggage, and we're human, so a lot of us are varying degress of good-intentioned. There are plenty of dirtbag leftists who are incredibly misogynistic, for example, or are really transphobic.

Yes, it is absolutely crucial to be wary of right-wingers trying to propagandize in progressive spaces. As Patton Oswalt points out really clearly in Talking For Clapping, it's very easy to dress up regressive talking points if you know the right words to use, and the words to not use. It's also crucial to realize that even the best, most progressive person you know has unexamined biases, has agendas, and when they talk to you, when they convey things to you, they want you to come away with a particular thought in your mind. They wouldn't be talking to you about what the fuck is going on in the world if they didn't want to convince you of something. Speech is for communication. That is its sole purpose. Even the babbling of an infant is an attempt at communication. We don't talk unless we're trying to say something to someone about something.

And it's crucial to realize and admit that someone can be not-right-wing and have shitty opinions. It's crucial to realize and admit that not all shitty opinions are right-wing opinions. Not all theory is good theory, not all praxis is good praxis. I sure as fuck am not right all the time, and I sure as fuck have my weak points and my biases. I have not always been the kind of progressive that I want to be, and I know in the future I'm going to disappoint myself again, because I am a human being.

Regardless of whether or not I'm correct, the things I say contain my point of view. They cannot do otherwise. I cannot communicate with you in a perfectly objective way. That is completely impossible, and to believe that a human being can communicate any complex concept in a totally objective way is the absolute height of hubris. The minute you believe that anything about current events or politics can ever even be communicated fully objectively, you open yourself up to someone taking advantage of that and pushing their agenda on you.

Also, before someone jumps in and says that saying this is irresponsible because people can spiral about it, or whatever -- look. This is the truth: nobody ever communicates fully objectively. It's impossible. I'm sorry if that is scary, upsetting or triggering to worry about. That doesn't make it untrue.

Be reasonable amounts of suspicious, and if you have trouble determining what a 'reasonable amount' is or find yourself repeatedly spiraling over fears that people are trying to overtly manipulate you in everything they say to you? Please address that with a mental health care professional so that you can build up a toolkit of coping strategies and create a network of supports for yourself, including, perhaps, someone you can check in with if you're worried that your thoughts are becoming unreasonable.

I am begging everybody, fucking begging them, to slow the fuck down and fucking look things up. Right now, there are a lot of people who are making money off of creating headlines that are meant to make you mad, and it's going to get worse as we get closer to the election.

If someone tells you that there's a secret conspiracy to [do a thing you don't like] and that it's unique to Biden, you better fucking look that thing up, because chances are you're going to find that it's been happening under every administration for the last 50 years. Is that good? No! Should you want to change it? Probably! Is it a unique crime to Biden? Nope!

"Biden said [bad thing] [X] years ago." Well, this bad thing he said happens to be true, but it looks like it was 45 years ago, and he changed his stance 40 years ago. "Biden said [other bad thing] [Y] years ago." What's the source on that? So there's one person who says he said it? And nobody else who was there has corroborated that account? Who posted the story?

These are all random examples of things I've seen over the last couple of weeks, with the details slightly changed from the Tumblr posts and news articles I've seen, because the point isn't the details of the particular story, so I don't want to get bogged down in particulars that don't matter to the point I'm making.

The point of this post isn't the specific things I'm referencing but the fact that in each of these cases, the reality was not what was initially presented. Either the reality was wildly different, or this story can't be corroborated and was told by someone with a clear and very well-known agenda of their own, which means that at the very least, the story should be treated with extreme suspicion.

And on that note, please don't believe that because you're a leftist that you can't be radicalized in the same way that right-wingers are. You aren't immune to propaganda either. I'm not saying you have to like, or should like, any particular politician or political entity. I am saying, however, that you should view a lot of the news with a gimlet eye, and that goes double for anything that makes you real fucking mad.

You need - need - to stop and read the whole article and ask yourself if you can verify the claims and who benefits from this making you mad.

Please. For the sake of the people around you who have to patiently explain to you that you've gotten fucking bamboozled again by propaganda if for no other reason. We're all very tired of you thinking that leftists can't be propagandized.

[robertreich]

Trump’s Presidency is Over

You’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J. Trump is no longer president of the United States.

By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office.

He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV, and tweeting.

How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nine minutes as he was handcuffed on the ground?

He has incited more police violence. Trump called the protesters “thugs” and threatened to have them shot. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose words spurred race riots in the late 1960s.

The following day he encouraged more police violence, gloating about “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” awaiting protesters outside the White House, should they ever break through Secret Service lines. On Sunday he again resorted to incendiary tweets, instructing “Democrat Mayors and Governors” to “get tough” on the “ANARCHISTS.”

Trump’s response to George Floyd’s murder has debased the presidency and squandered whatever moral authority remained. 

Trump’s response to the last three ghastly months of mounting disease and death has been just as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a “Democratic hoax” and muzzling public health officials, he has punted management of the coronavirus to the states.

Governors have had to find ventilators to keep patients alive and protective equipment for hospital and other essential workers who lack it, often bidding against each other. They have had to decide how, when, and where to reopen their economies.

Trump has claimed “no responsibility at all” for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new “plan” places responsibility on states to do their own testing and contact-tracing.

Trump is also AWOL in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

More than 41 million Americans are jobless. In the coming weeks temporary eviction moratoriums are set to end in half of the states. One-fifth of Americans missed rent payments this month. Extra unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July.

What is Trump’s response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 said “the worst is behind us” as thousands starved, Trump says the economy will improve and does nothing about the growing hardship. The Democratic-led House passed a $3 trillion relief package on May 15. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate without taking action and Trump calls the bill dead on arrival.

What about other pressing issues a real president would be addressing? The House has passed nearly 400 bills this term, including measures to reduce climate change, enhance election security, require background checks on gun sales, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and reform campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell’s inbox. Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of any of them.

There is nothing inherently wrong with golfing, watching television and tweeting. But if that’s pretty much all that a president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he is not a president.

Trump’s tweets are no substitute for governing. They are mostly about getting even.

When he’s not fomenting violence against black protesters, he’s accusing a media personality of committing murder, retweeting slurs about a black female politician’s weight and the House speaker’s looks, conjuring up conspiracies against himself supposedly organized by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and encouraging his followers to “liberate” their states from lockdown restrictions.

He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, “overruling” governors who don’t allow places of worship to reopen “right away,” designating anti-fascism activists as terrorists, and punishing Twitter for fact-checking him.

And he lies incessantly.

In reality, Donald Trump does not run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos.

His advisors aren’t truth-tellers. They’re toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.

Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.

But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.

Trump’s nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.

He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better.

[hypnobyl]

Hi friend!!! ❤️ if you’re willing, some J7 during The Void when Janeway is isolating herself from the crew?

Isolation was something that Seven could define perfectly and in several languages. She could list famous works from hundreds of species that dealt with being alone, and she could parrot off a laundry list of potential negativity side effects of social withdrawal. But knowing was hardly experiencing, and she’d spent the majority of her life with millions of other minds conjoined with hers, so when Captain Janeway withdrew from the crew and duty, Seven found herself at an impasse.

There was so much about being human that she simply could not fathom, and now one of those things had taken her support away from her. The Doctor warned her that she was being selfish, seeing only her own loss rather than the captain’s pain, but this was confusing. The Borg focused on self-perpetuation, and humans were supposed to, by their very nature, care about individual needs. Was she not simply being human by addressing the matter in this fashion?

Tom laughed when she argued with Chakotay on the bridge and pulled her aside before the second-in-command could dole out any form of rebuke for public insubordination. Like the Doctor, he talked about the captain’s emotional response to the lack of stimulus that the Void represented—although he insisted on using more imprecise language like “She’s not feeling great right now” and “It’s a lot of dark space out there, and maybe she feels like she’s got a lot of dark space in here, too.” He used so many words to say nothing, and she only sat through his attempt at an explanation for a few minutes.

When Tuvok halted her exit to tell her that humans often appear to lack sufficient emotional control, she couldn’t help but release some frustration. He listened patiently while she expounded at length before remarking that she might be dealing with the symptoms of isolation as well.

This stopped her tirade.

She hadn’t considered her own response to being alone. Regardless of where the ship was in space, she’d always had Janeway nearby, so it seemed the Void had found a way to isolate them both. The obvious response, then, was to relieve the source of her anxiety, which led her to the captain’s quarters. She awaited permission to enter for only so long before meddling in the system and forcing her way inside.

“Captain, I require your assistance.”

Janeway sat on the couch in casual garb, an open book on her lap. Her attention was out the viewport, at least until Seven entered the space and drew her gaze. A finger slipped down the open book, marking her place as she closed the cover and leaned forward.

“I don’t recall saying you could come in.”

“I have been informed that humans require sufficient social interaction for mental and emotional well-being.”

Janeway set the book on the low coffee table before her. “That’s no reason for you to break into my quarters. I’m fine—”

“I am not here on your behalf. I am here because I am selfish.” Seven stepped closer and glanced at the book’s title. The Wild Greens, a book of early 23rd century poetry of Terran origin. “I am here to tend to my own needs.”

“I see.” Janeway’s tone remained nonplussed, although she seemed less inclined to shoo Seven away now.

“I have come to rely on you,” Seven said evenly.

“Have you?”

“I would not have spoken otherwise.”

Janeway’s brow crept up her forehead. “I’m certain someone else would have been available to—”

“Everyone else on board is available, yes, which has led me therefore to the conclusion that it is your absence that affects me in this way. I am irritable—”

“Aren’t you always?” A familiar, warm humor finally entered Janeway’s voice. She even allowed a small smile.

“I have noted substantial changes in overall mood, as well as lower chemical levels within my system. These symptoms started shortly after you abdicated your post.”

“That’s a strong way of saying I needed a bit of time for myself.”

“I am not here to argue about semantics.” Seven gingerly sat on the couch beside Janeway. “Please, allow me to fill my quota for social interaction.”

[gunnerpalace]

The Hueco Mundo Arc was Bad and the Beginning of the End for Bleach

(I am here lumping the Arrancar and Fake Karakura arcs into Hueco Mundo because they all sort of form a set, whereas the Early Karakura and Soul Society arcs are just Soul Society.)

Since I have now completed one of my magnum opuses by explaining how seemingly nobody has really read the Hueco Mundo arc correctly for like... 10 years... I want to generalize some observations from it about how people also take away the wrong things about the characters too.

Chad is... a Chad. He is Ichigo's bro for life. but he’s also frankly kind of a bad friend and person as a whole. He'll go and die for Ichigo, but he doesn't believe in what he's dying for. He does it out of obligation because he doesn’t really believe in Ichigo either, as both the Xcution and TYBW arcs make very clear. He does this over and over again throughout the series and you’re left with the sense he’s really just kind of purposeless and nihilistic. He is almost looking for a cause to die for.

Renji is also a Chad. Also sort of a puppy. He basically does the same thing as Chad, except for Rukia. And much like Chad does nothing to really build Ichigo up or support him, Renji does nothing to really build up or support Rukia. He’s just there. And he’s driven by his guilt over Rukia and his own attendant sense of obligation. He’s self-loathing and also seems to basically be looking to die to atone for his sins against her.

Orihime is incredibly selfish. I previously linked it, but @hashtagartistlife​ has already done a great write-up on this. Orihime inserted herself into Ichigo’s affairs for selfish reasons (to get close to Ichigo), she went to Soul Society for selfish reasons (to “protect” Ichigo when he never asked for it), she allowed herself to be taken to Hueco Mundo for selfish reasons (same), and she goes on being selfish in later arcs. She does not learn. She does not advance. She does not improve. She ultimately does everything for her own sake.

Ichigo is also incredibly selfish. Sera also has done a write-up on Ichigo, but I will take a somewhat different (if related position). She characterizes Ichigo as self-centered rather than selfish, and I feel that is painting with too broad a brush. I would say that Ichigo becomes “merely” self-centered by later in the series. To begin with, he is also selfish. His desire to protect is for himself as much as it is for those he wants to protect. He is always trying to make up for the death of his mother and his inability to save her, but on his terms and his terms alone. At first, he wants to protect only when it is convenient to him (and tells Rukia as much). Later, he wants to protect even those he shouldn’t (who are trying to kill him). It is only much later, in the Xcution arc, where he will compromise his values and desires for others (by killing Ginjou). I would say that even rescuing Rukia was as much for himself as it was for her (and he admits as much, with his “I made a promise to my soul!” line that Renji parrots to Byakuya). It is only the events of the Hueco Mundo arc and fighting Aizen that cause him to grow up and behave maturely in the Xcution arc.

Rukia is selfless to a fault. She will blame herself for things that are not her fault (e.g., Kaien’s death, Ichigo’s suffering during the Soul Society arc) and give effusively charitable interpretations and leniency where it isn’t deserved (e.g., to Orihime for her role in her rescue). At the same time, she is also scarcely less prideful than Ichigo and will likewise make equally dumb decisions in the name of it, as Sera points out, if for different reasons.

Uryuu is the only one whose priorities are fairly well-adjusted. He tried to save Rukia from Renji and Byakuya because it was the right thing to do (despite his posturing about hating Shinigami). He went to Soul Society to save Rukia. He went to Hueco Mundo to save Orihime. He generally did his best in the Xcution arc. But he is also a loner self-sacrificing dumbass who tries to take on too much, as he demonstrated in both Xcution and TYBW, he too has his fair share of pride like Ichigo and Rukia, and his well-adjusted priorities are sometimes a poor fit for the crazy situations he winds up in (almost getting him killed by Full Hollow Ichigo Zangetsu for showing mercy when he shouldn’t, among other things).

They are, all of them, idiots.

And the whole point of the Hueco Mundo arc was to show you that, and to show you how their idiocy could go wrong. Their idiocy worked for them in Soul Society through luck (read: deliberate narrative construction) and then when faced with an eerily similar (read: deliberate parallel) situation in Hueco Mundo, everything went the other way (read: deliberately deconstructed).

Hueco Mundo was designed to tear our protagonists down through the exact same mechanisms by which Soul Society built them up. It was designed to undermine them. In some cases they grew from it as characters. (Ichigo, Rukia definitely did, Uryuu and Renji sort of did, and Chad and Orihime did not at all.) But this is why I characterize Hueco Mundo as a “dark mirror” of Soul Society. It was designed specifically to subvert everything Soul Society showed, by inverting the results. (Compare with “subverting expectations” for the sake of it, a la The Force Awakens vs. The Last Jedi, wherein things were not inverted but simply discarded, for good or ill. This is much more “stylistic” in comparison, and is designed to serve a point beyond itself.)

So... why?

I recently said this in response to another one of Sera’s meta posts:

I would argue that Bleach is only superficially more cohesive [than Naruto]. It starts with Ichigo as a nobody who tries to change things (to save Rukia) because nobody else will, and ends up with him being shoehorned into everything by everyone else as the chosen one while they all abdicate any real responsibility or role. It completely inverts itself in almost every capacity for no real meaning or reason.

Bleach really only makes cohesive sense to me as Kubo longform refuting the Monomyth in various ways; at first by splitting up his protagonist, then by inverting and mirroring the first effort, and then finally through this weird repudiation and assassination of his characters. “Fuck your hopes, beliefs, and dreams,” is one of the few arcs I can discern to the whole series.

Let me unpack that second statement.

The monomyth, or the hero’s journey, is a template of framework for understanding tales. The most commonly cited form was developed by Joseph Campbell in 1949 in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It has a structure sort of like this:

There are some variations (e.g., Campbell puts the Gift of the Goddess much earlier). Let’s use Campbell’s structure and see how it fits early Bleach:

The call to adventure: Rukia's arrival.

Refusal of the call: Ichigo refuses to do her Shinigami duties.

Supernatural aid: Rukia turns him into a Shinigami with her glove. He goes on to learn the basics with her at his side, using various supernatural tools.

Crossing the threshold: Rukia's abduction by Renji and Byakuya (the guardians of the threshold). (Yoruichi is the helper, Kisuke is the mentor.)

Belly of the whale: the dangai and the kotetsu, and the entry into Soul Society

The road of trials: Ichigo running around Soul Society, then fighting Ikkaku, Renji, and Kenpachi.

The meeting with the goddess: Literally Yoruichi, Flash Goddess, giving Ichigo the flying wing and later the cloak, and also later his tenshintai training.

Woman as temptress: again, also literally Yoruichi, in the nude and tempting him.

Atonement with the Father/Abyss: Literally Ichigo fighting with “Old Man” “Zangetsu” to learn bankai.

Apotheosis: Learning bankai.

The Ultimate Boon: Rescuing Rukia.

Refusal of the Return: Staying in Soul Society for a week, not really wanting to leave Rukia there.

The Magic Flight: Having to run back through the dangai.

Rescue from Without: Kisuke saving them from plummeting to earth.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold: Ichigo going back home.

Master of Two Worlds: Taking his body back.

Freedom to Live: Having summer break.

Well, would you look at that? It’s basically beat-for-beat a perfect match. (You could interpret 12-17 a bit differently but you would get essentially the same overall result.)

If it’s such a perfect match, then how do I claim this is a refutation of the monomyth? Because Ichigo is only one half of the protagonist. Rukia is the other half. This hero’s journey... is really the journey of two people, and it is really a quest to find self-worth. That alone makes it a subversion of the monomyth.

Then we have the Hueco Mundo arc, which subverts and undercuts all of this. Not only was the victory incomplete but the journey will be repeatedly darkly, “first as tragedy then as farce.” As I said, all the behaviors that worked in Soul Society fail in Hueco Mundo.

The point is to drive home that having 16-year-olds save the world is stupid. Relying on teenage child soldiers is stupid. They got lucky the first time. Because teenagers are idiots. (Rukia and Renji, despite being somewhere between about 70 and 150 years old, certainly don’t act their age, so they can be counted too.)

Now, lest you think I’m being ageist here, it is rather obvious that Bleach is unreserved in its criticism: adults are idiots too. (Real life certainly bears this out.) But it’s harder to see that in the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo arcs unless you actually pay attention and think about it.

The arc that makes that explicitly clear is the Xcution arc, where we are again relying on 17-year-olds (whom almost entirely fail) and a bunch of absentee adults who shirk their obligations and responsibilities only to be pretty stupid when they do finally engage and continue to refuse to accept responsibility. (Isshin is a fine example, but by no means the only one.)

Then we have more of the same with TYBW, and it ends with nobody getting any satisfaction and everyone doing what they hate, in direct contradiction to their stated desires and their characters in general. (I could find many more analyses of this by myself and others but I can’t be bothered at the moment.) Literally everyone’s character was assassinated, including Aizen’s, Isshin’s, and Ryuuken’s.

So, we have a subversion of the monomyth through splitting the protagonist, we have a dark inversion of the monomyth to undercut it, and then we have the thorough destruction of our protagonists and authority figures which ultimately ends with them all being absolutely and completely compromised.

Add this on to my constant observations (the most recent being in a post on Yoruichi) that no one is allowed to be friends in Bleach, that no romantic relationships are allowed to exist in Bleach without death, and that family structures are always strained and estranged within Bleach, and what do you get? A treatise on the absolute and total breakdown of all bonds and connections, and the forsaking of all ambitions and dreams. Bleach is not a heroic tale, but a cautionary warning to make your peace with your lot in life, as everyone in it does.

It is the anti-shounen. It is the anti-monomyth. It is The Big Downer Series. It is designed, very carefully and thoughtfully, to make you feel bad, mistrust authority, and give up hope. No one and nothing is reliable, not even yourself: the world will betray you until you betray yourself too.

That... is the only consistent and persistent theme of Bleach as it actually exists as a whole. It was Kubo spending 15 years telling you to go fuck yourself.

And it really started terminally on that trajectory with the Hueco Mundo arc. It didn’t have to be that way. The Soul Society arc’s clever subversion of the monomyth could’ve been just that: a clever subversion and nothing more. Hueco Mundo is when Bleach started to suck because it’s when Bleach became about beating its readers down and making them feel bad. Surprise, it’s also when the readership started to drop.

(Now you could still save Bleach after Aizen’s defeat, but it’s messy because you’ve got that much more baggage again to deal with. But it ends sufficiently abruptly that you can do it, which is the whole point of like, Demons of the Sun and Moon, even if my thinking at the time I started that was not so explicit and clear as it is now. The question is: why would you want to when you can just cut back to earlier?)

tl;dr Bleach from the end of Soul Society onward is just Kubo increasingly desperately jacking himself off onto the rest of us about how much the world sucks, and everything from Hueco Mundo onward is compromised shit designed to push that agenda ahead of everything else, including telling a good story.

[takingcourage]

Five O’Clock Shadow

Pairing: Liam x MC

Word Count: 3,330

Summary: Liam faces his worst nightmare as the lives of his wife and child are threatened. Miles away and powerless to help, he considers the fate of his future.

Note: I’m not sure where this story came from. I had a very uncharacteristic panic attack a couple of weeks ago and it made me start thinking about what drives characters to their breaking points. Poor Liam is the target of my thought experiment. As such, this is a fair bit angstier than my typical work, but I promise all is resolved by the end. I blame PB for making Liam repress so much in canon. 

Anyway, this story can be read independently, but follows Three Questions and 4:00 AM. Feel free to groan at the atrocious sequence of titles. I know I have...

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Growing up, he’d heard the platitude. He’d adopted it as a kind of mantra years ago, especially after his brother’s abdication had signaled his impending doom. On days when he’d struggled to come to terms with the responsibilities of being king, he’d used the words to drive out fear. Repeated them over and over in his head until repetition led to understanding -- the understanding that he was just one in a long line of kings. His forebears had served. Now, it was up to him.

But to Liam, the crown had never felt heavier than that night. He couldn’t make sense of why, for the accident had nothing to do with his status. Perhaps it was because the event felt all the more cruel in light of the measures he had taken to prevent any harm from coming to his wife and child. After redoubling security and insisting on additional training for members of the guard, a car accident came like a punch to the gut. It was senseless. Commonplace.

It had upended his entire world.

In what now seemed like another lifetime, he’d been in his office drafting a speech for the opening of a new tourism center in the capital -- an addition that had become increasingly necessary since his marriage almost three years ago. Visitors had been flocking to the small country in the wake of the royal wedding, especially American tourists who had been charmed by Eliza’s tale of rags to riches. In large part, they had Maxwell’s book series to thank for the influx of attention.

It is my great honor to give my blessing…he faltered over the words for a moment, considering his choices. It is a tremendous privilege to be here with you today... Liam wasn’t certain that was right either. With his fountain pen, he scratched a line through the second attempt. He was just shifting his hand to the blank space below when he heard his cell phone ring. Mara.

“Your majesty, there’s been a car accident. The queen is alive, but she’s being taken by ambulance to Lythikos Medical Center.”

A vice clenched his stomach. For the space of several moments he forgot to breathe as a sudden nausea suppressed all else. “I’m on my way,” he responded finally, voice steady despite the frenzied beating of his heart. As the phone dropped to his side, the palpitations became even more pronounced, echoing against the cavity of his chest. Erratic. Uncertain. Beyond his control.

Liam stood, shoving his phone into his trouser pocket as he wrestled with the loafers he’d kicked off an hour before. Forgetting his speech, he flew out the door -- his mind occupied with one task only.

“Your majesty,” Bastien’s voice halted him as he rounded a corner in the hall. 

At the preoccupied nod from his king, he continued, “I’ve heard the news. Your car is being brought around as we speak.”

“Flying is out of the question?” His target defined, Liam kept walking, making his way toward the circular drive in front of the palace.

“With the storm system that’s brewing, it’s inadvisable. Driving is the most certain way of reaching her without further delay.” Bastien matched Liam’s stride with ease.

Liam swallowed, mouth thickening at the thought that he was still hours away. It was already well into the evening, and by the time he reached Lythikos it would be the wee hours of morning. “I’ll leave right away.”

“Let me drive. Even if we weren’t driving into the dead of night, you’re in no condition to be behind the wheel for hours straight,” the older man insisted.

“I can’t lose any time, Bastien.”

“You have my word.”

The twisted roads to Lythikos were treacherous, even when it wasn’t the middle of the harshest winter Cordonia had seen in a decade. Bastien navigated capably and with as much speed as prudence would allow, but Liam still felt as though the journey was taking far longer than ever before.

Useless, Liam alternated between refreshing his phone screen, mouthing silent prayers, and taking deep, deliberate breaths. Sometimes he disrupted the rhythm to do all three at once. He was desperate for some notification to light up the pitch blackness that surrounded him -- aching for any update about Eliza’s condition. He’d worried for her safety many times before, but he had never felt so powerless. In spite of their haste, he knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do to correct what had happened. He couldn’t fight it, couldn’t call in a royal favor to amend the past. This was set.

A shaky breath passed his lips as he stared out at the darkness. Tremors vibrated his chest, seizing and releasing in a sporadic tattoo. Trying to even his breaths only made the racing of his heart more pronounced.

Uneasy, uneasy, uneasy… The word became a revolving loop -- no longer a mantra, but a taunting reminder that he was not in control.

“Your majesty?”

Bastien’s voice was collected despite the inclement weather and the hour of the night.

Liam cleared his throat with a low cough, pressing the button on his phone again. “Yes, Bastien?” The device in his clammy hand remained blank.

“You seem ill. Are you all right?”

Liam resisted the urge to curse. He was ill. He felt certain he would remain so until he was satisfied that Eliza was well. “Just take me to her, Bastien.” He uttered finally, afraid that saying more might lead to further delay.

“Of course. Your majesty?”

Liam’s eyes flicked upward at the rising intonation and he met Bastien’s gaze briefly in the rearview mirror. The man was intent on his task, but there was a level of concern that Liam hadn’t seen in years.

“We should be moving within range of a phone signal shortly. Perhaps you’ll hear something then.”

Liam’s heart flipped, and the accompanying thud resonated through his sternum. He wanted -- no, needed to know what had happened to his wife. More than that, he needed her to be okay. She had been alive three hours ago when Mara had called, but that was all he knew.

If the worst had happened, how would he go on without her? It was a horrifying prospect, but one that he probably should have considered before now. Having seen his father experience the same kind of loss, perhaps he ought to have done more to protect his own heart from that particular strain of vulnerability. But he’d given himself to Eliza completely. For three years now, she had been working beside him, encouraging and helping him to be a better king as she shared his dreams for the future.

Their future. Inhaling sharply through his teeth, Liam realized that Eliza was not the only one in danger.

It was entirely possible that their baby’s health could still be threatened even if the accident had caused his wife no permanent damage. He didn’t know a lot about the specific risks that car accidents posed during pregnancy, but he did know that even at thirty-eight weeks, the baby was still extremely defenseless.

Uneasy. This time, the word was punctuated by a pit that shot through his stomach like a dart. With it came the image of his wife weeping in Bossina Cathedral at the sight of a tiny closed casket.

“No!” he whispered forcefully, refusing to allow his mind to travel that path. He tried to counter the image with the memory of two nights before. He’d lain beside Eliza in their bed, one of his large hands pressing back against emphatic kicks from his son.

“He’s quickly outgrowing my stomach,” Eliza had told him, eyes alight with anticipation.

“I can’t blame him for being eager to meet you,” he’d replied, rubbing a gentle hand against the stretched skin.

“I’m even more eager to meet him.”

“Three weeks.” He knew she hardly needed the reminder. They’d taken great delight in counting down the time together. 

“Unless he’s late -”

Liam had become too absorbed in his thoughts to notice that several minutes had passed without checking his phone. When the blue light suddenly assaulted his eyes, the meaning took some time to register. With a frantic finger, he unlocked the screen, jabbing at the voicemail notification as soon as he was able.

“You have 2 unheard messages.”

The first was from an unfamiliar number. As the automated voice parroted back the date and time, Liam’s heart climbed his throat until it nearly choked him. He uttered an unintelligible sound as the message started:

“Liam, I love you. I want you to know that I’m okay. Our baby is too. He’s so beautiful, Liam. He’s perfect.” There was a sort of hiccuping choke before the message continued. “I know you’re on the way, but I can’t wait to see you, my love. I need you here.”

Click. “Next message.”

The phone fell to the floor as a hot flush stole over Liam’s arms and chest.

She’d had to do it all without him. His blood boiled at the thought of everything she must have gone through. Head pounding furiously, he thought of their planning and all of the practicing they’d done over the past months. Even now, he could hear her giggling at his fervent attempts to perfect Lamaze breathing techniques. One finger moved subconsciously to his breast pocket and the small folded paper that he’d been using to write down affirmations to encourage her with. He’d been collecting them as he thought of them over these last weeks.

He had done everything he could to prepare, but it hadn’t even mattered in the end.

There was a strange, muffled noise coming from his feet. In a daze, Liam lifted the device to his ear, barely able to discern Mara’s voice in his jumble of thoughts. He only made out fragments of her message: placental abruption...the accident...emergency C-section.

In less than a minute, he had shifted from prospective devastation at the loss of his wife to the revelation that he was now a father.

“She’s fine,” he muttered to Bastien hoarsely against a thick tongue. “They’re both fine,” he corrected, feeling an unmistakable prick at his tear ducts.

“We should be there within the hour.”

Liam was out of the car before his bodyguard had even come to a complete stop under the canopied entrance. The stunned looks on the tired faces he passed in the surgery waiting room did not register in his mind at all. In a fog, he turned the corner and saw his destination. From her place beside the door, Mara tipped her head in recognition.

“Good morning, sire. The queen is still under observation, but they’re hoping to move her to the postpartum ward soon if all continues to go well. She may still be awake after the shift change a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you, Mara.” He offered a strained smile, but said no more. Instead, he lifted a knuckle to rap on the door before turning the handle and stepping inside.

The room was dark, save for the lights of the parking lot, which filtered through the cream-colored curtains. Liam latched the door behind him purposefully, trying to discern whether his wife was awake as his eyes adjusted from the brightly lit hallways. The attendant at her side looked up and quietly inquired, “Shall I leave the three of you alone?”

Three. His whole body warmed at the word.

“Thank you,” he articulated quickly, stepping forward to get a better view of his wife. Behind him, the door clicked shut -- a stark contrast against the quiet of the room.

“Liam!” Eliza was barely awake, but still very much alive. In two strides, he was beside the bed, clasping her hands in his and drinking in the sight of her. Tears spilled as he pressed her fingers to his dry lips.

“I missed you so much,” she whispered, turning one hand to cup his jaw. He looked up at her face, still the loveliest sight he’d ever seen in spite of the nasty cut that spanned her forehead, part to eyebrow. Lifting a finger, he gingerly moved the hair away from her eyes so that he could see her clearly.

“I haven’t even seen the scar yet. Is it bad?”

“It will heal,” he promised, relief filling his throat with tears. “I was so worried for you.”

“I’ll be fine -- just the cut and quite a case of whiplash. Besides, I’m on so many drugs at the moment that I hardly feel anything. But I was terrified for our baby, Liam. I knew something was wrong as soon as the car stopped. I’m just so glad they were able to get us here in time.”

“As am I.” He spent much of the past several hours agonizing over the alternatives. He didn’t want to think of them any longer.

“He’s perfect, Liam. Is he still sleeping?” With great effort, she lifted herself enough to look into the bassinet to her other side.

Liam’s gaze followed hers, falling on the tiny baby across from him. “He’s so small.”

“I know,” was her whispered reply. “If he’d come any earlier, there could have been all sorts of complications. But he’s perfectly healthy -- just not quite as big as we were expecting.”

Liam had seen so many pictures of newborn babies over the past months that the reddened, wrinkly appearance came as little surprise. He’d been warned  that the baby might look like a wizened old man, but it was not this quality which captured his attention. Watching his son for the first time, he took in the the perfectly formed lips, parted and full as the air slipped between them in an even tempo. Hypnotized by the rise and fall of the baby’s chest, the beating of his own heart settled and slowed for the first time in many hours.

Looking further, he could just make out the wisps of fine hair that shot out from under the loosely-woven cap. One little hand was held beneath the chin, fingers tightly curled in the smallest fist he’d ever seen. This was his baby. His and Eliza’s. Liam’s heart threatened to burst at the thought.

“You can hold him,” Eliza suggested, tenderness evident in her voice.

Liam stood reverently and removed his jacket, his eyes still on the bassinet. Moving toward the sink, he unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and rolled the sleeves to his forearms. He scrubbed his hands and wrists under the water thoroughly, catching his appearance in the mirror as he reached for a paper towel. Choosing not to dwell on the circles under his eyes or the dark shadow across his jawline, he went instead to his son’s side.

His wife’s eyes were on him as he regarded the sleeping child. Lifting his gaze to meet hers briefly, he was startled by the sudden appearance of tears. At the furrowing of his brow, she shook her head. “I’m fine, Liam. Just relieved.”

She didn’t add for now, but he knew that she must feel it. The night had been hellish for both of them, and he expected it would be at least a matter of weeks before either of them was truly fine. Still, he flashed her a heartened smile and turned his eyes back to his son.

He hated to wake the child, but the urge to hold him close was overpowering. With an exaggerated slowness, he lifted the swaddled baby into the crook of his arm. The tiny face contracted at the change, and eyelids fluttered open cautiously to reveal gray-blue eyes. Liam settled his son against his chest, struck by the expressive yawning that was taking place before him.

Feeling Eliza watching him again, he peered over to catch her staring. “I just can’t believe he’s ours,” she whispered through a tired smile.

“And I can’t believe how calm he is after everything he’s been through in the past several hours. It doesn’t seem to have fazed him at all.”

Liam looked up again to see that his wife had not been so fortunate. Although she tried to hide it, her strength was fading fast. She made an admirable attempt to stifle a yawn, but he’d seen similar displays often enough not to be fooled. “If you’re able to, you should rest while you can,” he encouraged, walking back to the chair at her side. He’d seen enough of hospitals to know that they would be afforded little time without interruption, especially as long as she remained post operative.

“I don’t want to,” she insisted, fighting back a second yawn.

“We’ll still be here when you wake up. I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, leaning forward to meet her lips in a kiss. Her skin was cool and chapped beneath his, but he savored the intimacy in the gesture nonetheless. 

Yet again, her presence had brought him back from the brink of uncertainty and despair. More than just possibility, she was the fulfillment of everything he’d ever needed in a wife. He pressed a tender kiss to the hair at her crown. “I’m so proud of you, Eliza."

Liam sat down on the firm cushion of the chair, shifting his weight so that he could lay his son down on the flat surface of his thighs. The child was awake and still plagued by incessant yawns, although they had grown less frequent.

“Liam?” the question came through the croaky voice of sleep and he turned his focus once more to his wife.

“Yes, my love?”

“Next time Olivia wants my help planning an event, I’m doing it over Skype.”

He chuckled in spite of himself, “I’m sure she’ll understand.” In truth, he had no intention of letting her out of his sight for quite some time.

“Good.” This final word was scarcely audible as Eliza’s heavy eyelids sank with sleep.

Silence prevailed for several moments. Liam was lost in thought, his mind running over the events of the past five hours. He wasn’t sure how something which had been so excruciating only an hour before could feel so perfect now, but his joy in meeting his son had quickly struck all other experience from recent memory.

The baby grew increasingly active, fighting the constraints of the tight blanket with growing agitation. “You don’t like being trapped, do you?” Determining to solve his son’s dilemma, Liam drew one hand away from the child and began unfastening the buttons of his shirt until his chest was exposed. Then, with slow, careful movements, he tugged the outer corner of the blanket and began the process of unwrapping the tightly-bound cloth that held the baby in place.

“I’ve been waiting so long to meet you,” he confided in hushed tones. The unfocused eyes regarded him seriously as he pulled away the final layer of fabric. “If I’d known you were coming tonight, I’d have at least put on fresh clothes and shaved this day-old stubble.”

The bowed legs extended to stretch as they were freed from the confines of cloth. Smiling at the jumble of activity, Liam paused in his own movement. “Still, you don’t mind seem to mind seeing me this way.” His son gave no answer, but cocked his head to one side, staring upward. “And that is a very good thing. I don’t usually look such a mess, but you should know what you’re in for.”

He lifted the baby to his bare chest, leaning back so that the infant could rest at a comfortable angle against him. By the time he’d pulled up the blanket to cover them, the child had become content with the new position, stilling his movements as he relaxed against his father’s skin.

Liam cocked his head to see that the baby had returned to sleep, his even breathing barely perceptible against his chest. He rubbed a steady circles against the child’s back, inhaling the strangely alluring scent of downy hair.  

Tears welled in his eyes, not for the first time that night. “Sleep well, my son.”

Uneasy. The word came back to him in the quiet of the night, but it no longer had any staying power. Here, with his wife resting beside him and his newborn son respiring steadily against his skin, Liam was lulled into peaceful sleep. 

[parentheticalreference]

THIS. Abdicating responsibility for your own beliefs isn't liberatory. If you are "listening to marginalized voices" to get a single definitive right answer, that's actually pretty dehumanizing.

Listening doesn't mean uncritically adopting and parroting whatever someone says. When I encounter someone from a group that is historically and presently marginalized who strongly believes that our society has no such oppression, I listen closely and lean into curiosity to understand what in their lived experience is driving that perspective; I want to understand their personal truth even if I don't agree with all of their assessment.

Also, and I'm looking particularly at fellow white lefties right now, please stop pointing to people of color who agree with you and playing "we need to listen to people of color" as some sort of trump card. There are Black people who want more police funding and police presence in their neighborhoods, and even if we disagree we can at least have the decency to acknowledge they exist. (This is a particular dynamic I'm critiquing. Adjacent things that are great: acknowledging the lineage of your ideas, intentionally following the leadership of particular people of color rather than trying to lead, and checking your own perceptions with people who are more directly impacted.)

obviously you should always take into account the viewpoints of people more affected by an issue than you are before forming an opinion on it, but there are two important caveats to this:

no group is a monolith with identical views on everything. it is always possible to find two people from a given group with opposite and incompatible views on any given subject.

at a certain point you have to actually form your own opinion. if you try to be Woke by serving as an uncritical mouthpiece for minorities then you're going to look like an idiot when one of them shows up with the aforementioned opposite and incompatible view.

you should hold opinions because you sincerely believe them and have researched the relevant facts and, yes, consulted with members of minorities affected by them. you should not hold opinions because you're "listening to [x] voices" and nothing else.

[mastcomm]

Donald Trump not president of America

US president Donald Trump: Is he nonetheless in control of America?

By Professor Robert Reich

You’d be forgiven should you hadn’t observed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, however Donald J. Trump is not president of the USA.

By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his workplace.

He isn’t governing. He’s {golfing}, watching cable TV, and tweeting.

How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the homicide in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for 9 minutes as he was handcuffed on the bottom?

He has incited extra police violence. Trump referred to as the protesters “thugs” and threatened to have them shot. “When the looting begins, the capturing begins,” he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose phrases spurred race riots within the late 1960s.

The next day he inspired extra police violence, gloating about “probably the most vicious canines, and most ominous weapons” awaiting protesters exterior the White Home, ought to they ever break by way of Secret Service strains. On Sunday he once more resorted to incendiary tweets, instructing “Democrat Mayors and Governors” to “get robust” on the “ANARCHISTS.”

Trump’s response to George Floyd’s homicide has debased the presidency and squandered no matter ethical authority remained.

Trump’s response to the final three ghastly months of mounting illness and dying has been simply as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a “Democratic hoax” and muzzling public well being officers, he has punted administration of the coronavirus to the states.

Governors have needed to discover ventilators to maintain sufferers alive and protecting tools for hospital and different important employees who lack it, usually bidding in opposition to one another. They’ve needed to determine how, when, and the place to reopen their economies.

Trump has claimed “no accountability in any respect” for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new “plan” locations accountability on states to do their very own testing and contact-tracing.

Trump can also be AWOL within the worst financial disaster for the reason that Nice Despair.

Greater than 41 million People are jobless. Within the coming weeks momentary eviction moratoriums are set to finish in half of the states. One-fifth of People missed lease funds this month. Additional unemployment advantages are set to run out on the finish of July.

What’s Trump’s response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 stated “the worst is behind us” as hundreds starved, Trump says the economic system will enhance and does nothing concerning the rising hardship. The Democratic-led Home handed a $three trillion aid package deal on Could 15. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate with out taking motion and Trump calls the invoice useless on arrival.

What about different urgent points an actual president can be addressing? The Home has handed practically 400 payments this time period, together with measures to scale back local weather change, improve election safety, require background checks on gun gross sales, reauthorise the Violence In opposition to Ladies Act and reform marketing campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell’s inbox. Trump doesn’t appear to concentrate on any of them.

There’s nothing inherently incorrect with {golfing}, watching tv and tweeting. But when that’s just about all {that a} president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he’s not a president.

Trump’s tweets are not any substitute for governing. They’re largely about getting even.

When he’s not fomenting violence in opposition to black protesters, he’s accusing a media persona of committing homicide, retweeting slurs a few black feminine politician’s weight and the Home speaker’s appears to be like, conjuring up conspiracies in opposition to himself supposedly organised by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and inspiring his followers to “liberate” their states from lockdown restrictions.

He tweets bogus threats that he has no energy to hold out – withholding funds from states that broaden absentee voting, “overruling” governors who don’t enable locations of worship to reopen “straight away,” designating anti-fascism activists as terrorists, and punishing Twitter for fact-checking him.

And he lies incessantly.

In actuality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the federal government of the USA. He doesn’t handle something. He doesn’t organise anybody. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t learn memos. He hates conferences. He has no endurance for briefings. His White Home is in perpetual chaos.

His advisors aren’t truth-tellers. They’re toadies, lackeys, sycophants and kin.

Since shifting into the Oval Workplace in January 2017, Trump hasn’t proven an oz. of curiosity in governing. He obsesses solely about himself.

But it surely has taken the current set of crises to disclose the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his complete repudiation of his workplace.

Trump’s nonfeasance goes far past an absence of management or inattention to conventional norms and roles. In a time of nationwide trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and obligations of the presidency.

He’s not president. The earlier we cease treating him as if he have been, the higher.

*Robert Reich is Berkeley professor, former Secretary of Labour and Co-founder Inequality Media

*This text was first revealed by Uncooked Story a U.S. On-line newspaper

Associated

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[sweatygardencollectorblr]

A pandemic unabated, an economy in meltdown, cities in chaos over police killings. All our supposed leader does is tweetYou’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States.By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting.How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for minutes as he was handcuffed on the ground?Trump called the protesters “thugs” and threatened to have them shot. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose words spurred race riots in the late 1960s.On Saturday, he gloated about “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” awaiting protesters outside the White House, should they ever break through Secret Service lines. > In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anythingTrump’s response to the last three ghastly months of mounting disease and death has been just as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a “Democratic hoax” and muzzling public health officials, he has punted management of the coronavirus to the states.Governors have had to find ventilators to keep patients alive and protective equipment for hospital and other essential workers who lack it, often bidding against each other. They have had to decide how, when and where to reopen their economies.Trump has claimed “no responsibility at all” for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new “plan” places responsibility on states to do their own testing and contact-tracing.Trump is also awol in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.More than 41 million Americans are jobless. In the coming weeks temporary eviction moratoriums are set to end in half of the states. One-fifth of Americans missed rent payments this month. Extra unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July.What is Trump’s response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 said “the worst is behind us” as thousands starved, Trump says the economy will improve and does nothing about the growing hardship. The Democratic-led House passed a $3tn relief package on 15 May. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate without taking action and Trump calls the bill dead on arrival. What about other pressing issues a real president would be addressing? The House has passed nearly 400 bills this term, including measures to reduce climate change, enhance election security, require background checks on gun sales, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and reform campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell’s inbox. Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of any of them.There is nothing inherently wrong with golfing, watching television and tweeting. But if that’s pretty much all that a president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he is not a president.Trump’s tweets are no substitute for governing. They are mostly about getting even.When he’s not fomenting violence against black protesters, he’s accusing a media personality of committing murder, retweeting slurs about a black female politician’s weight and the House speaker’s looks, conjuring up conspiracies against himself supposedly organized by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and encouraging his followers to “liberate” their states from lockdown restrictions.He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, “overruling” governors who don’t allow places of worship to reopen “right away”, and punishing Twitter for factchecking him.And he lies incessantly.In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos. His advisers aren’t truth-tellers. They’re toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.Trump’s nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2MbzimG

[sneaksite]

A pandemic unabated, an economy in meltdown, cities in chaos over police killings. All our supposed leader does is tweetYou’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States.By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting.How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for minutes as he was handcuffed on the ground?Trump called the protesters “thugs” and threatened to have them shot. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose words spurred race riots in the late 1960s.On Saturday, he gloated about “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” awaiting protesters outside the White House, should they ever break through Secret Service lines. > In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anythingTrump’s response to the last three ghastly months of mounting disease and death has been just as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a “Democratic hoax” and muzzling public health officials, he has punted management of the coronavirus to the states.Governors have had to find ventilators to keep patients alive and protective equipment for hospital and other essential workers who lack it, often bidding against each other. They have had to decide how, when and where to reopen their economies.Trump has claimed “no responsibility at all” for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new “plan” places responsibility on states to do their own testing and contact-tracing.Trump is also awol in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.More than 41 million Americans are jobless. In the coming weeks temporary eviction moratoriums are set to end in half of the states. One-fifth of Americans missed rent payments this month. Extra unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July.What is Trump’s response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 said “the worst is behind us” as thousands starved, Trump says the economy will improve and does nothing about the growing hardship. The Democratic-led House passed a $3tn relief package on 15 May. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate without taking action and Trump calls the bill dead on arrival. What about other pressing issues a real president would be addressing? The House has passed nearly 400 bills this term, including measures to reduce climate change, enhance election security, require background checks on gun sales, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and reform campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell’s inbox. Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of any of them.There is nothing inherently wrong with golfing, watching television and tweeting. But if that’s pretty much all that a president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he is not a president.Trump’s tweets are no substitute for governing. They are mostly about getting even.When he’s not fomenting violence against black protesters, he’s accusing a media personality of committing murder, retweeting slurs about a black female politician’s weight and the House speaker’s looks, conjuring up conspiracies against himself supposedly organized by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and encouraging his followers to “liberate” their states from lockdown restrictions.He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, “overruling” governors who don’t allow places of worship to reopen “right away”, and punishing Twitter for factchecking him.And he lies incessantly.In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos. His advisers aren’t truth-tellers. They’re toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.Trump’s nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://news.yahoo.com/fire-pestilence-country-war-itself-050003433.html

[batenchantingcollectorsong]

A pandemic unabated, an economy in meltdown, cities in chaos over police killings. All our supposed leader does is tweetYou’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States.By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting.How has Trump responded to the widespread unrest following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for minutes as he was handcuffed on the ground?Trump called the protesters “thugs” and threatened to have them shot. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted, parroting a former Miami police chief whose words spurred race riots in the late 1960s.On Saturday, he gloated about “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” awaiting protesters outside the White House, should they ever break through Secret Service lines. > In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anythingTrump’s response to the last three ghastly months of mounting disease and death has been just as heedless. Since claiming Covid-19 was a “Democratic hoax” and muzzling public health officials, he has punted management of the coronavirus to the states.Governors have had to find ventilators to keep patients alive and protective equipment for hospital and other essential workers who lack it, often bidding against each other. They have had to decide how, when and where to reopen their economies.Trump has claimed “no responsibility at all” for testing and contact-tracing – the keys to containing the virus. His new “plan” places responsibility on states to do their own testing and contact-tracing.Trump is also awol in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.More than 41 million Americans are jobless. In the coming weeks temporary eviction moratoriums are set to end in half of the states. One-fifth of Americans missed rent payments this month. Extra unemployment benefits are set to expire at the end of July.What is Trump’s response? Like Herbert Hoover, who in 1930 said “the worst is behind us” as thousands starved, Trump says the economy will improve and does nothing about the growing hardship. The Democratic-led House passed a $3tn relief package on 15 May. Mitch McConnell has recessed the Senate without taking action and Trump calls the bill dead on arrival. What about other pressing issues a real president would be addressing? The House has passed nearly 400 bills this term, including measures to reduce climate change, enhance election security, require background checks on gun sales, reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and reform campaign finance. All are languishing in McConnell’s inbox. Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of any of them.There is nothing inherently wrong with golfing, watching television and tweeting. But if that’s pretty much all that a president does when the nation is engulfed in crises, he is not a president.Trump’s tweets are no substitute for governing. They are mostly about getting even.When he’s not fomenting violence against black protesters, he’s accusing a media personality of committing murder, retweeting slurs about a black female politician’s weight and the House speaker’s looks, conjuring up conspiracies against himself supposedly organized by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and encouraging his followers to “liberate” their states from lockdown restrictions.He tweets bogus threats that he has no power to carry out – withholding funds from states that expand absentee voting, “overruling” governors who don’t allow places of worship to reopen “right away”, and punishing Twitter for factchecking him.And he lies incessantly.In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos. His advisers aren’t truth-tellers. They’re toadies, lackeys, sycophants and relatives.Since moving into the Oval Office in January 2017, Trump hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in governing. He obsesses only about himself.But it has taken the present set of crises to reveal the depths of his self-absorbed abdication – his utter contempt for his job, his total repudiation of his office.Trump’s nonfeasance goes far beyond an absence of leadership or inattention to traditional norms and roles. In a time of national trauma, he has relinquished the core duties and responsibilities of the presidency.He is no longer president. The sooner we stop treating him as if he were, the better. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US

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[whoisashleya]

10 Things You Need To Stop Doing In Your 20s If You Want To Be Happy In Your 30s

Never assume anything in your teens – they’re a magical time when anything is possible. Your twenties, on the other hand, can be pretty dang formative, especially when your prefrontal cortex develops and you start to make habits to last you a lifetime. It’s never too late to start over, but it’s also great to give yourself a head start.

1. Stop hanging out with people you don’t like. Start accepting your own company is sufficient.

Seriously, haven’t you better things to do on a Saturday night than put on a pretty face for a bunch of “friends” you hate? Why are you still parroting nonsense you don’t subscribe to in order to please this lot? You’re not in high school anymore, and hanging out with a bunch of assholes who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire is no longer necessary for your survival. In fact…

2. Stop dropping good people because they’re “not cool enough.” Start attracting the kind of friends who will look out for you.

Being cool is overrated, and easy. Being genuine, honest, and loyal? That takes guts, because it usually means spending copious amounts of time on your own. Fact: when you surround yourself with the vacant and the casually cruel, you’re driving away anybody who might actually be by your side when you need them.

3. Stop acting like “fairness” has anything to do with it and seek justice instead.

The older you get, the more often you will encounter situations that are wrong. You’ve got two choices – you can get hung up on how “fair” or “unfair” it all is, gnash your teeth and stomp your legs and demand that all be set right in this world without actually making an effort… or you can roll up your sleeves and set it right yourself. One choice means abdicating all responsibility and waiting passively. The other means taking charge and trying to make a difference. Which kind of person would you like to be in your 30s?

4. Stop settling—you deserve better.

See point 3 for more clarification. You think it’s only fair that the people in your life use and abuse you? You think you’re the kind of rotten person that does not deserve loyalty, kindness, or basic human decency? Life is not fair. Nobody else can make you believe in your own worthiness, and it will take you a hell of a long time if you keep putting yourself in a social circle that constantly undermines you. Do yourself a favor and find people who will speed up the process – your older self will thank you.

5. Stop destroying yourself with excesses and start listening to your body.

When does a good time turn into a bad one? Where does a person stop exercising their right to unwind and let off steam, and lose all control of themselves? It’s not an easy question to answer, but usually, your own body will start to tell you when something stops feeling good. I have no idea what your life is like, but a good rule of thumb is: when your body starts to tell you something is wrong, listen to it and stop doing the thing that’s destroying you.

6. Stop putting off necessary things.

Dental checks. Physical exams. Flu shots. Taxes. Nobody likes being told to do something, but the longer you make a habit of avoiding and putting off necessary aspects of life, the more difficult it is to start changing them later in life. If you make a big deal out of having your teeth cleaner, it’s going to be a big deal every time you get a reminder from your dentist. If you treat it like a quick item off a to-do list, it loses its power to terrify you, and you get it done faster.

7. Stop treating money as a big, confusing thing. Get to know it instead.

The sooner you educate yourself about money, the better. Price of living per geographic area, additional costs of travel and transport, size of debt, interest rates, what is realistic to pay off, what is not, when’s a time to look for a better job and when’s it more appropriate to keep at it and shoot for a promotion. Follow Amanda Steinberg’s advice, wake up from the money coma, and for the love of all that’s holy, don’t just let someone else manage your checking account.

8. Stop avoiding responsibility. Be the person who knows how to apologize.

You know what you did wrong. Learn to take responsibility, apologize, and make amends, so that you enter your 30s with confidence. You’re human – chances are you will fuck up in your lifetime – but knowing that you can do the right thing when you do gives you power that cowardice does not.

9. Stop taking the blame when it’s not yours to handle. You deserve to have some boundaries.

Recognizing what blame is yours and what isn’t takes practice. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should apologize for everything just in case it’s your fault. Yes, being able to say sorry is important; but so is knowing when someone is trying to make you feel bad about something you have no control over.

10. Stop waiting for people to change. Be the change you want to see.

Relying on someone else to suddenly morph into the kind of person you need – a friend, a parent, a lover – means to give them all control over your own happiness and well-being. It’ll be nice if this person suddenly realized what was missing from their life and making active changes to do better, but that drive can only come from them – you can only change yourself.

Realizing that – how little power you have over other people, how much you hold over yourself – does not make your life perfect but it does allow you to move through your years with more certainty. It helps you make decisions when to stay in someone’s life and when to walk away.

It keeps your mind healthy and your boundaries strong. It’s a good building block for happiness at any age.

[republicstandard]

The Archbishop of Canterbury is in Denial on Islam and Immigration

It is quite strange watching our leaders wrestle with difficult concepts in public. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England, is no exception. When evidence is considered, the very idea of endorsing open border policies becomes laughable, but for one reason or another it is more common to ignore the blindingly obvious in favour of a comfortable abdication of responsibility. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury has one hand on the truth, but the other is clamped firmly over his eyes to prevent him from seeing it. Fumbling around like a blind man, he attempts to describe problems facing British society using only what he can feel with his fingertips.

On the 23rd of February 2018, Welby contradicted his predecessor, Lord Williams, by stating that Sharia Law could not be incorporated into British society. Justin Welby said the Islamic rules are incompatible with Britain’s laws, which have developed over 500 years on the principles of a different culture.

He added that high levels of immigration from Muslim countries can:

"have an impact on the accepted pattern for choosing a partner, on assumed ages of maturity and sexual activity, and especially on issues of polygamy".

Th Archbishop is quite correct here. In his remarks, he recognizes that demographics dictate policy and social norms. He recognizes in his own book that large volumes of Islamic migration to the United Kingdom have led to challenges for the British norms as migrant populations seek to impose their own values. As I wrote in these pages a week ago,

Civic nationalism, the very societies around us, are intrinsically linked to the ethnicity of the people who described those common civic values.

Welby is still ruminating on this simple truth.

"The problem is reimagining Britain through values applied in action can only work where the narrative of the country is coherent and embracing. Sharia, which has a powerful and ancient cultural narrative of its own, deeply embedded in a system of faith and understanding of God, and thus especially powerful in forming identity, cannot become part of another narrative.

‘Accepting it in part implies accepting its values around the nature of the human person, attitudes to outsiders, the revelation of God, and a basis for life in law, rather than grace, the formative word of Christian culture."

The Archbishop recognizes that Islamic values are rooted in the people of that faith, just as British values are rooted in Britons. He knows by his own proclamation that reconciling Sharia with the British legal system is utterly impossible. He recognizes that the Muslim cultural norm of marrying children and possessing multiple wives cannot be simply argued away by adherence to British values of tolerance and politeness. Still, he stops short of suggesting the logical next step; that in the United Kingdom polygamy is illegal and therefore such Islamic recognized marriages should not be considered legal by the state. He does not suggest that, perhaps, people who live in the United Kingdom should be forced to obey the law when it comes to the legal age of marriage as defined by Britons themselves.

Welby sees the problem but refuses to say anything coherent about the solution. Worse, just two days later in an article in the Daily Mail, he reverses his position almost entirely to be one that parrots what are essentially socialist talking points about migration and economics.

"Welcoming strangers to our country and integrating them into our culture is important. We must be generous and allow ourselves to change with the newcomers and create a deeper, richer way of life. We also need to support strongly those poorer communities that have had high levels of immigration."

Archbishop Welby, could you explain to us more about how we should not allow Sharia Law in Britain, but also allow ourselves to change with the newcomers?

What deeper, richer way of life are you referring to? What does this deeper and richer Britain look like? What values are we adopting from other cultures? What values of our own are we giving up? There are so many questions that you are leaving unanswered because you refuse to engage your considerable intellect.

The Anglican Inter Faith Commission, in Cairo for their first meeting, had the honour of meeting both His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and His Eminence Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, to learn from their experiences#AnglicanInterFaith #AnglicanNews #Anglican #Anglicans pic.twitter.com/vn5FgflCL4

— Anglican Communion (@ACOffice) February 21, 2018

The Archbishop also recognizes that throughout the Western world immigrants concentrate in urban areas leading to fragmented and ghettoized communities divided on ethnic and religious lines. He says nothing about how those communities should be supported through their process of becoming culturally enriched, as the indigenous population is replaced and in many places becomes a minority or even absent entirely. What support can be given to working-class families who are driven from the places their ancestors have lived for centuries? Should we just tell them that they are actually experiencing a richer way of life now that their neighbors don't speak the same language or accept that women have rights?

The Archbishop calls for a "re-imagining" of Britain in the wake of Brexit, which he calls divisive. He rails against the lack of progress in the construction of new homes - a problem exacerbated by nearly a quarter of million new migrants arriving every year, and high birth rates from polygamous Muslim families. Is there such a need for new construction to house the Britons, whose birth-rate is in slight decline? No- the need for new houses is driven by the newcomers and their children. Why do we need the newcomers? To prop up the ailing neoliberal system which demands endless growth.

The Archbishop talks about cuts to the NHS, austerity and the creaking education system. He places the blame for this woe at the feet of the wealthy, who should pay more to support the infrastructure. Blaming greed and economics, he said

"In economics we welcome growth and disciplined and properly behaving markets. Equally, human dignity demands that economics is made for people, not people for economics. Unfettered greed is not merely distasteful, it can wreck lives and whole economies, as we have seen.

Jesus spoke of God’s love for the poor, and of woes for the wealthy and complacent. We are a country that can meet our needs and be generous on top to the rest of the world."

Without overtly endorsing the lunacy of the Labour Party, this is an endorsement of socialist economics. Disciplined and properly behaving markets that demand wealth redistribution? Interesting indeed, that it emerges that Jesus was a communist with a firm understanding of Marxist economic theory. It is true that it is the nature of British people to be polite and helpful and this has, to some extent, been the downfall of our nation as we have become so meek that to complain about being replaced in our own lands appears unseemly. Archbishop Welby correctly notes that the NHS, welfare and the education system are struggling but appears to believe that through a wave of the Holy Writ loaves and fishes will rain across the land emancipating the poor, so long as we raise taxes.

Cutting the UK foreign-aid budget to punish #Oxfam would be a ‘tragedy’ and a retreat, warns Archbishop of Canterbury @JustinWelbyhttps://t.co/TT6o6NYfMR

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 24, 2018

Strange then it is to inform the Archbishop that The Telegraph reported five years ago that each migrant to the United Kingdom -averaged across both EU and non-EU migrants- costs around £8000 each to the taxpayer.

"On average, each migrant consumes between £5,050 and £8,350 per year in state services, including benefits, healthcare, schooling and social services, the Home Office report found."

We know that migration from the continent of Europe proves to be a general net-gain for the country, so is it impolite to suggest that the ballpark figure of £8000 is in fact much higher for non-European migrants? Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that conflating Europeans in the UK with migrants from the Middle East and Africa serves only to obfuscate the issues at hand? Everything the Archbishop worries himself with -education, housing, healthcare- are parts of the British social infrastructure that are driven to breaking point by immigration. His solution is to tax the British people more to pay for the new arrivals- because we lack common British values, evidenced, in his mind, by the fact that a majority of Britons who could be bothered to vote want to leave the European Union. I did not know that British values include bending the knee to Guy Verhofstadt and Angela Merkel.

"Today in Britain we are suffering from a lack of such common values – values that have deep roots in our nation’s Christian history.

There will be great changes regardless of whether they are based on those Christian values or whether we just let things take their course.

But if it is the latter, then the consequences for the poor and needy will be dire, our pride in our country diminished and our contribution to the world stifled. We must use hope to heal for the future. We must be a warm, welcoming nation. We must never crush the new diversity and freedoms.

It is the duty of the Church and of all us to reimagine what it means to be this remarkable nation in the 21st Century."

What new freedoms would they be, Archbishop? The freedom to not be ourselves anymore? The freedom to hate ourselves for everything we are or were? The freedom to welcome our annihilation? That sounds like a suicide cult to me. If we truly are remarkable, is it not the case that there is something about British life that is worthy of protection and conservation for the generations that follow us? If we are led by this church into a reimagining of Britain, then that future is open-borders, socialist in economics and Islamic in faith. The British culture that was passed to us -this centuries old, imperfect but beautiful culture- will not survive this current century to be argued about by our descendants as we argue about it today.

Archbishop Welby knows that demographic changes are reshaping the nation, but he says nothing about the right of the British people to remain as they are and have been for centuries.

One of the truly great British values is the idea of leaving your fellow Briton alone to do as he wishes. It has been part of our social compact that in exchange for a few tokens, Britons live as they wish without molestation. That centuries-old idea, which predates Locke and Rousseau, rooted in the Magna Carta, is now tossed aside. Instead of his role in society being contingent on his skill and willingness to participate, the Briton is forced to pay more for services that do not function and to support migrant populations who exploit his infrastructure, hate his faith and laugh at his values.

In Britain, we are ruled by a monarch who is styled

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Where is the shield now? Where is our faith? The leader of the Anglican faith knows that demographic change is the fundamental issue facing not just the British but all Europeans, but he looks away. It is a sin that he prefers the easy answers posed by the globalist left, to make the people pay more because they will not complain too loudly. It is rank disdain for our people and our ways that he says they must change to fit with the newcomer, rather than they with us.

The Englishman has as much right to exist as any other race. It is not xenophobia to say that you do not want to overturn everything that is true about yourself. Justin Welby would do well to recognize that.

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