#Prevent Child Abuse America

[mybelladonicbeauty]

OH MY GOD they are reading the diaries - her private thoughts backstage its all going to come to a head

[shini--chan]

May I request 2p allies making their s/o mute as a punishment for trying to run for help.

⚫〰️⚫ Thank you

Alright, as the ask indicates, it is not a never family friendly post that awaits you up ahead. Excluding 2p Canada this time, since I had difficulty coming up with another form of mutness other than those described via the other characters.

This came out later than planned due to time management issues on behalf of the author. Nevertheless, enjoy!

Trigger warnings: body horror, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mutilation, misuse of medical procedures, drugging, malnutrition, dark magic

Yandere 2p! Allies - Silence is Gold

America

Allen would loathe to admit it, but he had come to like you when you were quiet. Aside from that, you looked so cute with your neck bandaged up. And those glares and petulant expressions you made! Oh, if he had known how agreeable you’d become after losing your voice, he would have done this far sooner. 

That being said, it had been an accident - he hadn’t wanted to punch you in the throat, but you just had to jump in the way, when he was busy teaching that bastard a lesson. Therefore, he had had no choice but to cut open your throat to ensure you could continue breathing. 

When you leaned down to take his plate, you purposely bumped his shoulder. Yes, you were still very upset with him about what had happened. However, the feeling was mutual. He slapped your arse when you straightened up again. 

It caused you to perform a little jump and then glare at him. 

“If I had known that you’d look so sexy with something around your neck, I would have bought you a set of chokers long ago, dollface. Don’t worry though - you look good with the bloodstained gauze as well”, he slyly complimented you. Oh, how it infuriated you. 

You had tried to talk a few times these past days, causing the wound on your neck to reopen and weep plasma and blood everytime you did. As it was, you were lucky that you had gotten antibiotics, or else Allen would have been far stricter with you. 

Petty as you could be, turned your back on him and flipped the bird as you marched back to the kitchen. At this, Allen could prevent himself from laughing. 

Allen actually wouldn’t want to rob you of your voice, since half the fun in having you is that you talk back. However, he would discover the benefits of muting you after he would have to do it in some shape of form. Once doing so, he would find this experience refreshing and seek to replicate it multiple times in the future. Here, you would really be in danger of losing your voice permanently if you aren’t able to curb his … preferences. 

The problem here is that he would find your muteness and the injuries connected to it to be unbelievably arousing. In ways, your life would biome harder than it already is thanks to that.

China

Could you really be blamed for panicking in a situation such as this? The rush of hysteria made the binds tying you down to the table seem even tighter than they were, and you felt like you were suffocating, no matter how fast you breathed. The air was too hot and your clothes too scratchy, with the latter made all the worse by the fact that you were coated in grim and your own dried sweat.

To your left, you heard Zao approach you. Since your head was fastened to the table, you only could see him once he appeared in your periphery. There was a horrid grin on his face, that stood in complete juxtaposition to what he said.

"My heart, this is really something I don't want to do, but you leave me with no choice."

You wanted to retort, but thought better of it just in the nick of time. He had a brown glass bottle at hand, and you didn't like all the warning labels on it, nor how close it was to your mouth. 

"But give in and swallow, I promise to help you with your recovery if you comply", he told you in a sickly sweet tone as if he was talking to a child. As much as you wanted to shake your head, you couldn't. By now, you were trembling. 

Two fingers pinched your nose firmly. After a few seconds, you started to become lightheaded and you heard and felt your blood pounding. Opening your mouth wouldn't be an option, since the bottle would immediately be emptied into your mouth if you did that. So instead, you opened the corner of your mouth and tried to breathe as discreetly as possible. 

To no avail. The fingers that were on your nose went for your mouth and pried your lips apart. As valiantly as you struggled, the bottle still went in. The fluid caused your throat to burn, and when you accidentally breathed some of it, you let out a hapless scream of pain. 

His method of muting you would be more permanent - rendering your vocal cords and throat useless by forcing you to drink acid or poison. This would either be the response to a multitude of transgressions, or him being particularly ticked off by an escape.

A side effect of this would be that you would be unable to swallow food or drink. But he would be there to help you, either by feeding you through a tube, an IV or by supplying you through your back door (i.e your rectum). This would serve as an extension of the original punishment. Additionally, you would be helpless and reliant on him. 

England

When you finally woke up, you felt groggy and heavy, each of your limbs made of lead and your mouth full of cotton. Sleep drunk, you opened your eyes and eased yourself to a more upright position. 

Not that it was more comfortable - there were kinks and knots in your back that only a professional massage could relieve you from. Why the hell had you fallen asleep here of all places? You were seated in an old dentist car, the once royal red faded. The contraption creaked ominously whenever you moved.

This was getting weirder and weirder by the moment. The twilight of the room you were in didn't help.

Your mouth felt dry and slightly numb, and your lips subsequently cracked. You parted your lips and wanted to run your tongue over the dried skin only to discover that you didn't have a tongue anymore. 

Cold shock made you bolt upright and all at once, the world shifted into sharp clarity. Once again, you tried to stretch your tongue out only for nothing to move, not a stump. That was when you started to panic.

Lungs heaved as you tried to explain the situation to yourself. There was absolutely no pain, you weren't feeling weak. The taste of blood was absent, and the bitter sting of iodine or saline solution wasn't present either. 

In your panic, you opened your mouth and stuck your fingers inside to feel for your tongue. It had been completely removed down to the root. There wasn't even puckered skin where the muscle would have begun. Tears started to leak from your eyes and you tried to force a few miserable sounds out of your mouth. 

"Now, now don't engage in self-pity. You did bring this on yourself, my rose bud."

The blood in your veins turned to ice, and you halted your frantic movement. Despite the dim lighting of the underground room, you could clearly see Oliver Kirkland. He was seated on a red satin loveseat, and in the jar he had balanced on his knee was your tongue. 

Oliver would use magic to completely remove your tongue from your mouth, aiming to insite as much panic in you as possible. As such, you'll only find out what he has done after completion of the procedure. 

Instead of helping you to deal with the situation, he would mock you relentlessly. Furthermore, he would place the blame on you - it was you that ran away, it was you that forced his hand; everything that went wrong is your fault. The jar with your tongue in it would be placed in a spot that you'd have a hard time overlooking. A taunt, and a reminder that the amputation is only temporary. You just have to play being a good spouse for long enough and then he'd give you your tongue back. 

France

Putrid pus stained the sheets as he pulled them away. Yesterday the colour had been yellow, but now it had a slight green tint to it. Francois brushed his fringes out of his face and tied his hair back to a sloppy ponytail. 

With a soft sigh, and placed the bandages and tincture bottles on the bed next to you and tilted your head towards him. Sickness and the corresponding fever made your sleep deep, unlike it usually was. You didn't even stir when he lifted your head onto his lap. 

At this point, it was up for debate what was sealing your lips more - the rough stitches or the infection. The swelling had distorted your mouth, so much so that it was beginning to block your nose and hinder your breathing. 

Cursing softly under his breath, he set out to drain the pus from the needle wounds. He shouldn't have used the expired saline solution, yet you had given him no choice. You had been so busy thrashing and screaming around when he had sown your mouth shut. 

Francois still didn't understand why you had put up such a fuss. The punishment was deserved and it made your resistance all the more pathetic. Seriously, had you really thought he would take you escaping lightly? How could you delude yourself into thinking he wouldn't take all those vile words that you had uttered upon being brought home to heart?

The pus drenched bandages were thrown into the bin, and he proceeded to down the injured tissue with iodine. You groaned in your sleep, and tried to open your mouth. A noticeable tremor ran down your body, and you stopped straining against the stitches. 

Perhaps it was better that you were lost in a haze. It gave your captor more time to think and calm down. 

Francois would elect to make your muteness temporary, but with some caveats. You'd wear scars around your mouth for the rest of your life and the mental and physical trauma would haunt you for years to come. Such a situation would have a high potential of arising if you poured your heart out to somebody else and incited them to help you escape. 

Russia

This was getting more tiring by the hour. Slowly, you were asking yourself if this really was a punishment, or if it was one of Victor's loathsome social experiments.  loathsome social experiments. They both tended to be alike, so it was hard to tell on a normal day. 

“If you keep glaring at me like that, your face will distort to a permanent frown”, the man in question remarked. The knife repeatedly scraped over the wood in his hand, causing shavings to fly with every stroke of the blade. He didn’t even look up from his whittling when he said that. How rude. 

Feeling petulant, you knicked a stone in the river. It was a nice day to be outdoors - the spring air was filled with the sweet smell of flowers, and the sun was shining through the birch tree. Though, you couldn’t bring yourself to be happy, not when he had brought you to the spot where he had captured you a mere week ago, picnic basket at hand. 

You had difficulty swallowing every other bite, and also keeping it down. Now that bastard even insisted on staying a bit longer to enjoy the alleged peace and quiet that the forest offered. 

With how frustrated you were, you opened your mouth in order to say something, only to receive a smack to the face with the flat side of the knife the second you opened your mouth. In shock, you quickly closed your mouth again and looked at him aghast. 

This time, he was even meeting your eyes. 

“You know the agreement, so don’t break it by talking now.”

Mutness wouldn’t even be the intended punishment at first - it would be offered as a second, milder option to a harsher punishment. Victor would have a habit of giving you an option of choosing between two or more punishments. It would be to give you an illusion of power over your own fate and an opportunity to assuage your character. Mind you, he would never give you the full details of the punishments that you can choose from. 

In this case, he would enforce a “voluntary silence” upon you. You would have to refrain from speaking for a certain time interval, or else suffer a harsher punishment. This is one of his games with you, that would be designed to mould your personality to his liking. Also, this would be a form of discipline training for you. 

[sapphilore]

I think it’s time for me to break my tumblr silence for Pride Month.

I was a child raised in a conservative Christian household in Texas, I was also homeschooled with a Christian program known as ACE from K-12. All of my friends were homeschooled up until 15 years of age

I was allowed no social media access at all until I was 16 (except Pinterest at 13-14)

I preface with all of that to say that I grew up on the rhetoric that

“homeschooling Christian families are oppressed”

“you could risk being arrested and your children being taken away”

“false child abuse claims are rampant”

“Being Christian in America is dangerous”

“the government is trying to take away our human rights to educate our children at home”

In the state of Texas homeschooling was legalized in 1994. CPS could not take away their children because of homeschooling. The government has not threatened their right to educate.

I have personally witnessed in my years of being in such a community:

A sweet 11 year old girl who could not read a single letter off a page but she damn well knew how to recite verses in the Bible. She had no mental incapacities that would prevent her from reading

A boy my age who failed every one of his classes regularly and as punishment was told to tend the gardens and receive spankings from a belt.

Girls who could only wear dresses and were not allowed makeup at any age.

There were so many of instances with young children like these it’s too many to name

To this day in many conservative households I was associated with still acted like the right to home educate was an important issue that hadn’t been resolved.

IT HAS BEEN 30 YEARS

Let me also take this moment to remind you that in my state you cannot legally have a sex change surgery or receive treatment related to it under the age of 18.

Parents who assist their children in this process can be arrested and charged with child abuse.

This is in 2024

No matter whether you think this is right or wrong for minors to receive gender affirming care

I think it’s important that we recognize that the conservatives believe that because they “gave us marriage” that we should sit down and shut up.

Conservative Christians claim to be a community who care about children but they sure as hell mistreat their own

This is not me hating on all Christians, but please, please try to talk some sense into these people.

[lambtotheslaughterr]

When The Bough Breaks : Epilogue

A Rafe Cameron Mini Series

[THIS STORY WILL CONTAIN THEMES OF NON-CON/DUB-CON, MENTAL-EMOTIONAL-PHYSICAL ABUSE, ETC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. 18+. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT]

WC: 2.3k

Dividers provided by @firefly-graphics

FINALE | MASTERLIST

            You felt far away, Rose’s voice a distant mumble in the background. She prattled on beside you to the employee behind the counter. She picked out a couple onesies & insisted on getting them customized with the name of your unborn child, a feature the maternity store offered. But you felt nothing, could feel nothing. Only time you did is when the baby kicked or hiccupped. You wanted to feel ecstatic, lose yourself in the memories & joy from your first pregnancy. But the man who kissed your nearly full term belly at night & whispered to it good morning was far from who you would’ve picked to be a father.

            Rafe had spent the last nine months of your pregnancy being the doting husband & affectionate father he prided himself to be. You couldn’t believe how seemed to be completely removed from the reality of the situation—that from the beginning you were an unwilling party. Yet there you were. Shopping for more baby clothes with Rose. You had plenty already, enough to clothe the children of America, but Rose never took no for an answer.

            The only relief your pregnancy brought you was that Rafe stopped trying to sleep with you. One night, in the midst of your second trimester, you had woken to blood soaking the sheets. Rafe panicked, sure that the baby had been lost. But the doctor was happy to announce to the both of you that the baby was fine & healthy. However, she did say that sexual activity should be reduced to a minimum, if at all, to prevent any more scares. That’s how often Rafe fucked you.

            You dreaded having the baby, not only because it would forever tie you to Rafe, but it meant Rafe would have at you as much as he pleased. You feared another pregnancy. Never before had you prayed for menopause to come early.

            “_____.” Rose gently shook your shoulder, her manicured nails piercing you through your sweater. “Have you two decided on a name?”

            You mean has Rafe decided on a name, you wanted to say, wanting absolutely nothing to do with this pregnancy. You bit your lip & shook your head. The employee behind the counter frowned, but it wasn’t a hard one. It was almost like she sensed your misery. Rose chuckled awkwardly, “I suppose I’ll ask the father.”

            “Ask me what?” Rafe appeared behind you, an arm wrapping around your middle. His hand placed at the center of your swollen belly. He kissed the side of your head.

            “The name!” Rose chirped, “I want to get a couple onesies customized.”

            “It’ll outgrow them fast, Rose, really it’s not necessary.” You responded, feeling caged in by Rafe & Rose.

            “’It’?” Rose sneered but kept the same bright, forced smile on her face, “You two are still insisting on not knowing the gender, I don’t understand.”

            It was Rafe who spoke for you, “It’s a surprise. For the both of us.” He brought you into his chest, as if you had a say. You didn’t care what it was. It’d be a monster like it’s father.

            “Charlie.” Rafe announced jovially. You glanced back up at him, your brows creased.

            “Charlotte if it’s a girl, Charles for a boy.” Rafe held your stomach, “Charlie.”

            “Oh, that’s lovely.” Rose turned to the employee, “Charlie it is.”

            Rafe pulled you away then, wanting you to join him as he browsed. You didn’t understand why you had to be here. You never suggested any ideas: clothing, names, the nursery theme. It was all Rafe & Rose. Even the outfit you wore was courtesy of Rose. She had said that she never had a pregnancy & wanted to spoil you with maternity clothes. You were positive it was just a way to humiliate you, she dressed you like a Floridian grandmother.

            “How much longer?” You questioned once you were a decent distance from Rose.

            “Why, are you feeling sick?” Rafe asked but there was no amount of concern in his voice.

            “Sick of all of this, yes.” You glared at him. He only smirked in return.

            Then he cupped your face, bringing his face in to kiss you. To anyone, you may look the happily married couple, sharing in the enjoyment of their little bundle of joy, but it was all an illusion. Rafe stayed closed to you as he whispered, “You’re stuck with me, _____. Or did you forget our wedding?”

            You tried, often, to forget that day. It was a beach wedding. Less than 100 people were in attendance but none of them your friends or allies. It was a day for Rafe to lay claim to his property, not to profess your undying devotion to one another. The whole day was a blur. It’s how you preferred to keep it. Because Rafe was right, you were stuck with him. For better or for worse.

            “Now smile.” Rafe dragged a finger under your chin, “You’re too beautiful to frown.”

            Rose joined the two of you then, holding up three onesies, “What do we think?”

            Charlie Cameron, Daddy’s Little Girl, & Mommy’s Little Boy.

            “They’re great, thank you, Rose.” Rafe spoke for the both of you. You ignored the onesies.

            “My pleasure.” She grinned, stuffing them into a bag & handing it to you.

            You reluctantly took it.

            “Now, we must be off.” Rose checked the time on her phone, “We’re meeting your father for lunch remember.”

            Ward. If getting pregnant & marrying into the Cameron family was the deepest pits of hell, Ward Cameron was the devil himself. He was the only one that wasn’t trying to fake anything, at least in front of family. In public, he was proud to show you off—the mother of his first grandchild. But in private, he made it no secret that he held you to a certain standard, to remember a certain threat.

            Leaving the maternity store, the outlet mall was bustling. It was peak tourism season. Rafe kept a hand on your lower back as he walked at your pace. This pregnancy was incredibly more uncomfortable than your first. With Jesse, you were in bliss & your body responded well to the changes. This one however, your feet were swollen beyond recognition, you suffered indigestion, & your post-partem depression was already settling deep into your bones. The thought & feel of it all made you break into a sweat. You were beginning to feel dizzy.

            “I need to sit.” You announced quietly, moving towards a nearby bench. Rose appeared mildly annoyed but gave a tight smile, “Oh, alright.”

            “Do you need anything?” Rafe sat beside you, his hand holding yours.

            A glass of wine & bottle of pills, but you pushed the quip away, “Water, please. Cucumber water.”

            The cucumber was an excuse to send him away, hopefully both of them. Rose sighed but pulled out her phone, “Well go on, Rafe. I’ll call Ward, let him know we’re running late.”

            She stepped a few feet away to make the call. Rafe glared at her back before facing you, “God, she’s annoying.”

            It was the first time you managed a genuine smile, even if it was small & short-lived.

            “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.”

            “Like I’d get far.” You mumbled. Rafe cocked his head but smirked, “I’ll chase you down. Always.”

            That was a promise, you knew. But thankfully, Rafe left you. For the first time in what felt like weeks you breathed a sigh of relief. Cracking your neck, you ghosted your fingers across your belly, feeling for any movement. It was sleeping. It liked to sleep most often during the daytime, choosing to keep you awake at night. You had a nagging feeling that once it was born sleeping habits would remain the same.

            You had your eyes closed, focused on your breathing when you heard footfalls approach you. Initially, you assumed it was Rose, but she had a discernable stomp in her heels. Slowly, you pried your eyes open, perhaps expecting to see a friend of the Cameron’s. But who you saw made you gasp.

            “Moses.”

            It was really him. He was wearing a powder blue button down tucked into a pair of jeans. His face was clean-shaven, a look unlike him. You stared at one another, though his clearly exhausted eyes were aimed directly at your belly.

            “So, it’s true.” The sound of his voice brought tears to your eyes. It was really him! After the divorce was finalized, you never saw or heard from him—only in your dreams. His eyes shifted to the ring on your finger, “That’s not the one I gave you.”

            Instinctively, you covered your hand. You wish you could hide your belly but there was no attempting that at the size you were.

            “No, I—” But words failed you. What could you say? There was nothing.

            “What are you doing here?” You changed focus.

            Moses finally looked you in the eyes & your heart ached. It was the same heartbroken expression he carried the night you told him you wanted a divorce. You recalled he had asked you if there was someone else. You had lied. But your lie was on full display now.

            “You look…” He started. You finished the sentence in your mind. I look horrid, ghastly, monstrous, an infidel, a whore.

            “Beautiful.”

            Tears spilled from your eyes as he looked you over. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t angry. You knew him well enough to know. He was simply sad. Deeply sad.

            “Moses, I. I don’t know what to say.” Your voice shook.

            He gave a half-hearted smile, “Are you happy?”

            No! You wanted to scream it, to beg him to whisk you away. In a second, you imagined a life with Moses with another man’s baby. Maybe you could love your unborn baby then, if Moses was the one to raise it alongside you.

            But you said nothing in response. Moses nodded in minor understanding, “That was rude of me. It’s not my business.”

            “No, it’s okay.” You went to stand but he threw out his hand to steady you as you wobbled, adrenaline coursing your veins. “What are you doing here?”

            Moses frowned but faked a courtesy smile, “Had some last minute business to finish before moving to my next location.”

            “Oh? Where to now? Back home?” You imagined him back in the city, amongst friends & family, all the people there to support him.

            “There is no home.” It was an instinctual response, one that you knew wasn’t meant to be said out loud, but you winced still.

            “I mean, I am taking a couple years off. Going to travel. See the world.”

            A dream the two of you shared. With Jesse.

            “That’s…” Awful. “..amazing.” You gulped, “Where are you off to first?”

            “Amsterdam.” Moses said faintly, but his eyes could only take you all in as you stood before him.

            “Moses, that’s—”

            “_____!” You jumped at the sound of your name. Spinning around, it was Rafe, holding a plastic coffee cup with water & floating cucumbers.

            “No.” You whispered it so lowly, only you could hear it.

            Rafe looked murderous. His eyes strained directly on your ex-husband. But Rafe hid his animosity as best as he could, joining the two of you, his arm draped across your shoulders. Moses pressed his lips together, a deep frown forming.

            “Rafe, this is—”

            “I know who it is.” Rafe smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He held out his hand, “The ex-husband. We’ve actually never met before.”

            “Only once, actually.” Moses replied, the same feigned kindness in his voice, “You were flirting with my wife in the backyard when we came over for dinner long ago.”

            They shook hands. You watched as Rafe tightened his hold on Moses’ hand, “My wife now.”

            Moses half-scoffed, half-chuckled, lowering his hand, “She’s an excellent one.”

            “I know.” Rafe’s voice hardened, likely annoyed that Moses was unfazed by his attempt to assert dominance.

            “I’m sure you do.” Moses peered at him suspiciously but finally looked to you, “It was nice seeing you, _____.”

            “You, as well.” It took everything in you to not spill the truth about everything. But picturing him behind bars stopped you. It always did. Now you were only strangers.

            “You’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

            An inaudible sob escaped you. You brought your hand to your mouth to keep from crying uncontrollably.

            “Thank you.” Rafe answered for you, his eyes never leaving Moses. But Moses didn’t give him any more attention.

            “Well, goodbye.” Moses took a step back. You went to mirror him, follow him, but Rafe tightened his hold on you.

            “Goodbye, Moses.”

            Tears skipped down your cheeks as you watched Moses walked away from you.

            Rafe exhaled loudly, heavily. He stepped into your line of sight, cutting out Moses entirely.

            “That was…eventful.” His hands smoothed your hair before wiping at the tears on your cheeks, “But it’s time you move on. We have our own adventure waiting for us.” A hand fell to your belly. Rafe smiled proudly.

            “Whatever you say.” You mumbled.

            Rafe kissed you on your cheek before bringing his lips to your ear, “Smile, _____.”

            He pulled back to look you in your eyes. Your stomach kicked.

            “It’s the beginning of the rest of your life. And I will always be by your side.”

            And you knew it to be true.

            But you decided then, in that exact moment, that you were going to be everything Moses said you were. You were going to be a wonderful mother. If not for yourself, but for the sake of the life inside you. The baby couldn’t help who it’s father was, but it could benefit from having you as their mother. You swore, you promised.

            Rafe had won. You couldn’t be saved. But your baby could. And you’d dedicate your life to protecting & loving the life within you.

and that is the end. WTBB is officially over. this is by far my proudest work to date, & it's a major thank you to all my readers & supporters who have given me so much feedback to this series. so thank you to all of you!

as always, comment, reblog w reviews, talk to me. i'm excited to hear everyone's thoughts!

thank you for reading

oona<3

Requests are currently CLOSED.

Read this post on why doing more than liking a tumblr writers work is essential to our content creation.

[my love language is words of affirmation, it would make my day if you could comment your thoughts, reblog with tags, or drop an ask that shows your support. thank you for reading tumblr writers, we appreciate you]

taglist: @jsrafesgirl @bunnycvnts

if you want to be added to a tag list, comment whether you want to be tagged for a character, a series, or in general, otherwise it will be dismissed. you must also be following my blog & interacting with the works you want to be tagged in, otherwise you will be removed from them.

[wildissylupus]

A personal evil theory of mine is that the US Government or UN was funding those mega farms Cassidy worked on. In theory it would have a FDR Great Depression-like approach, boosting the economy and giving jobs to humans instead of robots? Great! Awesome for the recovery of America after the crisis!

Excepttttt for the child labor. And work conditions.

I think after a while these mega farm programs were shut down, maybe due to Overwatch influence. Despite Overwatch’s faults I can’t see them letting that slide especially in their Golden Age.

As much as I despise the UN I don't think they would involved with the Mega Farms especially since unlike Vishkar, who hide their child labor crimes behind the idea of an academy, the Mega Farms child labor is very explicitly stated in Declassified. Meaning to me that those crimes where likely public knowledge in the same way that the public talked about it but nothing was done on the government side of things.

Which speaks volumes considering if the child labor was public knowledge, what wasn't? It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Omnic slaves where also a part of the illegal shit these Mega Farms were doing. That being said the US government definitely knew at the very least.

As for Overwatch I could definitely see them cracking down on a few Mega Farms after Cassidy joined since his account could be used as evidence, cause something to remember when it comes to farms is that teens can work there. It just the type of work and the amount of pay these kids were given that likely made them count for using child labor. Some farms likely also hired teens in order to give them some sort of living after the Crisis while also not abusing them. This factor likely preventing Overwatch from interfering until Cassidy joined and gave his account.

[gatheringbones]

[“Pressurized focus on forgiveness can be a very convenient way to reinscribe existing power structures. The employee should forgive the donor who sexually harassed her because that would be convenient for the people whose job it is to raise money. The adult child should forgive the sibling who abused them for the sake of keeping the peace over the holidays. The Latino scholar should forgive the white university trustees who publicly dragged out his tenure process because they didn’t like his research on for-profit immigration detention centers.

And this demand often comes in the form of a guilt trip—as though the perpetrator can’t possibly get free until the victim offers them blanket absolution. But we already know that this isn’t the case—the penitent must cross that bridge, must do the humbling, hard work of trying to make things right, and if they are willing to approach the victim enough times in a sincere enough way, they can be discharged of their obligation to continue doing so. None of this depends on the victim—that is to say, the penitent can free themselves of their obligations even if they are never forgiven.

And the withholding of forgiveness truly does have the potential to upend a status quo or two, especially in situations where there is reluctance to hold the perpetrator fully accountable for their actions. Over the course of 2014 and 2015, as the news media began to devote more coverage to the police killings of unarmed Black people, the white historian Sharrona Pearl was struck by how often, immediately following the death of a sibling, a spouse, a parent, or a child, reporters asked family members of the victim if they forgave their loved one’s killer. The question struck her as “grotesque,” so she decided to do some tracking. She created a database of 106 of the higher-profile police shootings that occurred from 2013 to 2016, and she found interviews of family members in 74 of those cases. In a whopping 25 percent of them, family members were asked if they forgave their beloved’s killer. And these questions were usually asked either immediately after the shooting, on the day that a grand jury chose not to indict the police officer responsible for the death, or immediately following another event that might prove very emotional for the family—times when they were in shock, grieving, taking in loss. And at that moment, the media put them on the spot.

In none of the cases that Pearl tracked did the killer apologize in direct and clear language to the family of the person whose life they took. The Black writer Chauncey DeVega, looking at this phenomenon, observed that questions like these were not asked of the families of those killed in mass shootings, like those at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and they weren’t asked of the families of those killed in the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. When the victims are primarily white, the question simply doesn’t come up. As DeVega put it, “Forgiveness for racist violence is a given, an unearned expectation of White America.”

Our white supremacist society has conditioned itself to demand this forgiveness because it depends on it in order to proceed as it always has. According to Pearl, the families of those killed by police are “asked to grant forgiveness to someone who has not asked for it but [are] really being asked to absolve the system—the institution of the police, and maybe the state as a whole—that produced the individual shooter.”

The request for forgiveness is, functionally, a request to not name an injustice as an injustice; it is a request that the families of victims not demand amends, recourse, or the kind of systemic change that might prevent the same kind of harm in the future.”]

rabbi danya ruttenberg, from on repentance and repair: making amends in an unapologetic world, 2022

[mariacallous]

He wasn’t kidding. Donald Trump really does want to rule as an extremist strongman, with contempt for the planet, for America’s allies and for the rule of law. He’s made that crystal clear this week, announcing one bombshell appointment after another, each one a declaration of intent. Few things tell you more about a president than their hires – personnel is policy, as they used to say in Ronald Reagan’s White House – and Trump is telling us exactly who he is.

The latest name added to the roster is a storied one: Robert F Kennedy Jr, now lined up for the role of health secretary. You may have known of Bobby Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy may be a hero of yours. But, boy, his son is no Bobby Kennedy. Once an admired environmental campaigner, now he is an anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist who promotes treatments that don’t work – such as hydroxychloroquine for Covid – and rails against those that do, spreading the long-debunked claim that childhood vaccines are linked to autism and opposing fluoridation of water to prevent tooth decay. Apparently unchastened by the pandemic, Kennedy believes US public health officials have been too focused on infectious diseases. Or as he memorably put it: “We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.” If deadly pathogens could lick their lips, they would.

At least the RFK nod was not a surprise: Trump had long said he wanted to let Kennedy “go wild” with the nation’s health. More of a jawdropper is the new president’s choice for attorney general, the most senior law enforcement officer in the land: Matt Gaetz. For two years, Gaetz was under federal investigation for child sex trafficking and statutory rape. (No charges were brought.) Until this week, his fellow members of the House of Representatives were running their own ethics committee inquiry into Gaetz – handily halted, thanks to his resignation just days before they were about to report – examining, besides the allegations of underage sexual abuse, accusations that he engaged in illicit drug use, displayed to colleagues, on the floor of the House, nude photos and videos of previous sexual partners, converted campaign funds for personal use and accepted gifts banned under congressional rules.

Some wonder if naming such a man as head of the US justice department is a diversionary tactic, designed to distract attention from the clutch of other nominations that are scarcely less outrageous, in the hope that those will look reasonable by comparison. In this view, Trump knows that Gaetz will never be attorney general, that his nomination will be blocked in the Senate where, even though the Republicans have a majority, too many will balk. Gaetz is chum, thrown into the water to satisfy the piranhas, so that Trump can quietly ensure his other nominees get through. And what a rum bunch they are.

As director of national intelligence, overseeing 18 separate intelligence agencies including the CIA and NSA, Trump has turned to Tulsi Gabbard, a fringe Democratic congresswoman before she defected to the Republicans, best known for meeting Bashar al-Assad while the Syrian dictator was busy slaughtering hundreds of thousands of his own people, and for parroting Kremlin talking points.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Gabbard was swift to blame the west, even repeating the Moscow propaganda line that the US had stationed secret biolabs across Ukraine. One of Vladimir Putin’s mouthpiece TV channels took to referring to Gabbard as Russia’s “girlfriend”. When asked if she was, in fact, a Russian agent, the talking head on the Kremlin-backed network replied: “Yes.” Now consider that at the core of the US relationship with its allies – including Britain – is intelligence-sharing and ask yourself whether the likes of MI6 could in all conscience share what they know with such a person.

Her proposed counterpart over at the Pentagon, set to be in charge of the mightiest, richest military in human history, is the weekend host of Fox News’s breakfast show, Pete Hegseth. Admittedly, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan – and as a prison guard in Guantánamo Bay – but Hegseth has never run a whelk stall, let alone one of the world’s biggest organisations, employing close to 3 million people. His rank inexperience would be worrying enough, until you become familiar with what he believes.

He’s covered in tattoos, including symbols favoured by the Christian nationalist far right, among them the slogan Deus Vult and the Jerusalem cross, which celebrates the medieval Crusades when Christians earned their spurs slaughtering infidel Muslims and Jews. These days, he backs the ultra-right Jewish fundamentalists who seek to rebuild the ancient temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the site revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, a move so incendiary it’s a byword for triggering holy war.

Hegseth will find company in Trump’s choice of ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas governor and evangelical Christian Mike Huckabee. Like Hegseth, Huckabee is against a two-state solution, insists on calling the West Bank by its biblical Hebrew name – Judea and Samaria – and is adamant that “There’s no such thing as an occupation.” In 2008 he said, “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian”.

All of which makes you wonder how those many Arab and Muslim American voters in Michigan and elsewhere, persuaded that Trump had to be a better option for the Palestinians than Kamala Harris, feel now.

We’ve barely got to Lee Zeldin, Trump’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, despite having repeatedly voted against clean water and clean air legislation, and having expressed doubts over whether climate breakdown is “as serious a problem” as people say it is. Or to the self-confessed puppy killer who will head the Department of Homeland Security. Or indeed the man who will lead the new department reviewing government contracts, including, in an arrangement open to spectacular corruption, contracts with his own companies: namely, Elon Musk.

Still, you get the picture. How, then, to make sense of these choices? Some hope it’s no more than an opening bid by Trump, the arch-negotiator: offer the Senate something obviously unacceptable, then haggle from there. Others wonder if it’s part of a dark, deliberate strategy, by which Trump, the agent of chaos, appoints those who are not so much disruptors as wreckers, men and women who can be relied on to make the agencies they lead collapse in failure. When the federal government is a smoking ruin, then all power will have to reside in the single man at the top.

My own view is simpler. At the heart of it is the quality all would-be strongmen value most: loyalty. Trump knows that a character as tawdry as Gaetz, despised by his own colleagues, would owe everything to him. As attorney general, he would do whatever Trump asked, working his way through Trump’s enemies list, prosecuting whoever had crossed his boss, delivering the retribution Trump yearns for.

What’s more, Gaetz and the rest are a kind of test, one that Putin deploys often. You push your allies to defend what they know cannot be defended, to make concessions they would once have considered unpalatable. As the analyst Ron Brownstein put it this week, “Each surrender paves the way for the next.” It is, he says, “a cardinal rule of strongman dominance”.

So now it is up to the Republicans in the Senate. Will they abase themselves yet further, and nod through this parade of ghouls and charlatans? Or will they at last find their backbone and say no to the would-be autocrat who has taken over their party and now looms over all three branches of the US government? After all we’ve seen these last eight years, what do you think is the answer?

[url-is-url]

Okay so in the US, at least where I've lived, courthouses are for the whole county and they're located in the county seat.

I want a courtroom drama set in/around Amity Park. Imagine the shenanigans.

Option A: Amity Park is the county seat. Out of towners have to deal with ghost fights closing the courthouse. You show up to fight a traffic ticket and the guy in front of you argues that he HAD to make that illegal left turn to avoid somebody named Johnny 13's magical bad luck aura AND THE JUDGE IS TAKING HIM SERIOUSLY?! You're convicted of a crime and two weeks into your sentence, your lawyer informs you that you get a free appeal because the judge was possessed by a ghost while sentencing you. When you go do your appeal, there’s a scary glowing guy in a pinstripe suit with a skull face, and the bailiff informs you that the spooky guy is the ghost bailiff, to prevent any more possessed judges. You're a defense attorney and you think you have a rock solid case for why your client didn't murder that person, and then THE VICTIM'S GHOST is called to testify. You just want to schedule a custody hearing but a ghost is suing their own grandchild for not adhering to their will.

Option B: Amity Park is not the county seat. You're a judge in a medium-large town and you have a very normal boring caseload, unless anybody involved is from Amity Park, then you ask your secretary for an extra pot of coffee. Defense attorneys argue that actually their client was possessed by a ghost and cannot be held responsible for a crime someone else committed using their body. Prosecuting attorneys perform seances when their witnesses are called to testify. The lawyers glow a little when they get really into it. Jury selection is a nightmare, because can people from Amity Park really count as "peers" in the sense of "jury of your peers" to everybody else? An orphaned child and their dead single parent are both insisting to you that the parent can still, well, parent despite being dead. If the spooky guy with the skull face shows up you break into the secret alcohol stash, because you need a drink to get through whatever case requires a ghost bailiff.

Tbh the presence of Phantom and Walker could lead to some interesting cultural differences around law enforcement. Amity Park might be the one city in America where the cops aren't bastards, because Phantom and Walker can and will kick their asses for the slightest abuse of power, and if that doesn't work Phantom's goth friend has enough money to eviscerate the police in court.

[obsidianpen]

The whole scene with Liam using his Veela magic to get past Hermione’s memories was so creepy, and then him stealing a kiss 😫 Liam, no consent is never okay boi! But then you also revealed Liam experienced abuse due to his creature magic, which is so flipping complex and fantastic character development/choices on your part. Like him doing that is not black and white. And that sure af does not justify him mentally diving into Hermione mind, kissing her while she’s under his influence, but it adds weight to his decision. Ahhhh shades of grey all the way down! I love your writing Pen

thank you anon! Been getting lots of comments on the Liam portion of the last chapter, so I’m just gonna address a lot of them here:

I think it’s interesting how very up-in-arms angry a lot of people are over that specifically. Yes, of course it was morally Bad and it’s totally natural and legit to be super pissed that Liam would do that…. But I also think it’s worth looking at things from his perspective. Is it assault to interrogate a criminal like that in wizarding Britain? I’d say yes (legally in the magical world idk, probably very gray area; it would depend on if there are specific laws in place barring part-creatures from using their abilities on detained criminals… unclear, when things like veritaserum are okay, so yeah idk), but there’s a lot going on in the background that we (you? Hermione? The readers?) aren’t seeing. The real negotiations are happening between Madison and Dumbledore while the minister is out of commission. They’re both willing to ignore a few laws to get what they want because - here it is - they think they are doing the right thing.

well, okay, Madison’s being compelled by the MACUSA too, but he also thinks he’s doing the best thing for hermione by saving her from a trial in Britain. Isn’t even wrong really.

but Dumbledore - easy to see him as evil rn, but remember, he suspects riddle of murdering a poor innocent child! He thinks (correctly!) that riddle killed Myrtle and got hagrid to take the fall. He sees an opportunity to right that wrong, to clear Hagrid’s name, and to prevent someone like riddle - a murderer - from being free in the world and killing again. Because he will. And does, canonically. Dumbledore doesn’t even know about the fact that he killed his dad and grandparents yet!

so enter Liam - he honestly cared about hermione; she helped him get this job he’s been wanting, he thought she was long-time friends with his bestie… he believed all of it and thought they’d have a future as fun colleagues at the very least. Then she suddenly vanished with this creepy (to him - and he’s not wrong) guy who shows up out of nowhere and then he learns not too much later that she attacked Walt, fucked with his memories, and then lied to all of them; Walter gets fired, and then when they track her down, he learns that she also attacked and modified the memories of some witch and her house-elf in Britain (oh and she nearly killed the minister and two other people in her escape attempt)…

From where he’s standing, hermione is not a good person. She’s assaulted and modified the minds of several people, she’s stolen and used some old lady’s gold and name and affluence, she’s invented an entirely new fake identity…

so, when Albus Dumbledore and Lester Madison, two of the most powerful wizards he knows of (one of him is now his boss) asks if he can get these memories from her using a bit of his special brand of magic… what is he supposed to say? When it would, in the end, conceivably save both her (by getting her back to America) and put away a much more sinister wizard (if Dumbledore is correct and this creepy dude that whisked hermione away is actually a killer… and he is!). He may not have been jazzed to do it - he never tried to seduce her in America before, after all, and never would have - but one doesn’t say no to your very adamant new boss and freaking Dumbledore, the guy who defeated Grindelwald, especially not when the ends really do seem to justify the means (to them, at least). And all of this is not even touching upon the very vague hinting at Liam’s personal history with abuse.

anyway, kind of a rant, just had to put it out there because yeah, what Liam did was icky and nonconsensual but what hermione has done to people many times was also icky and nonconsensual and arguably a whole lot worse (imo, of course, but everyone is entitled to think differently there!).

[thatdebaterguy]

Your abortion opinion is dogshit. “Just have safe sex. No child is unwanted” tell me you’re middle class and sheltered and you’ve never done any research without telling me. Childbirth, if you’ve never had any experience with it, is an extremely long, painful, traumatic, and dangerous experience. If a pregnant individual at any point decides they do not want to experience this, they should be allowed to terminate the pregnancy. Are you really going to make a full grown thinking feeling ADULT unwillingly go through +12 hours of agony and potentially a fucking massive surgery while conscious (if you don’t know what a c section is) to prevent the termination of a fucking fetus that doesn’t even know it’s alive and has no capacity to suffer?

“No child is unwanted” you fucking idiot. Is your idea of the worldwide foster system limited to Annie the Musical? Not everyone has a loving family who can accept the child. Foster systems are rife with abuse. Almost nobody who ages out of the foster system has had a good childhood. And that’s only talking about places like North America and Europe. What about places with no nationwide foster system? Do you know about post partum depression?? Do you know about the research done about the mothers that just straight up do not love their babies or their children and regret not aborting them?

Look at me anon. I don’t care if it’s physically impossible for you, thought experiment here, would YOU undergo 9 months of pregnancy symptoms (weak bladder, swollen ankles, morning sickness, baby kicking, etc) and then go through hours of agony followed by a multi-hour cesarean section surgery for which you are conscious. Just to have a baby. Starting right now. I don’t care if you don’t want it I don’t care if you don’t have the money. Right now. “No child is unwanted,” right? Also the baby you have has a 100% chance of being sexually assaulted within the foster care system and becoming a drug addict who dies of an overdose at a young age. Still doing it?

What exactly are you trying to prove? My mother was well into her 40s when I was conceived, I was premature by about 2 weeks, and I was a c-section. She happily reminds me of the pain she went through just to make me exist, but isn't that the miracle of life, of birth, of families? Millions and millions of women go through such hardship and turmoil, 9 months of their lives, to bring life into this world, and will quite frequently then do it AGAIN, and will cherish their children graciously with no regrets. Not everyone has a good family, a good relationship with their mother, not everyone even knows their mother, but they get to experience life, to experience the world, no matter how shitty it gets, they always have a chance at pulling through, reaching happiness, having their own family. Of course it's not as simple as 'just have safe sex' but you see so many abortions are due to those not ready for motherhood yet failing to have protective sex. Personally, I believe if you're willing to have sex, you should be mindful of the consequences, and being horny and immature isn't a plausible excuse for terminating a life. Since my first formulation of an opinion on abortion, I've given it time to think, and have come to somewhat of an idea. Life truly begins once the heartbeat begins within a human child, and conscious existence begins around 25 weeks. The cut-off for abortion should be 25 weeks at latest, as that's when consciousness begins. However, at the development of the heart would also be ideal or acceptable in my eyes.

But of course every family isn't perfect, of course many people don't have a family, I grew up with an absent father who was more invested in booze than my life, I know many people who grew up in foster homes, and sure yes of course it's better to have a supportive family, but growing up adopted or in a foster home doesn't make your chances of a happy life impossible. And every child is wanted. By someone, somewhere. In America alone, there are 2 million couples on the adoption waiting list. Those are 2 million couples who'd greet any child with open loving arms, who'd try their best for that child. Being unwanted by your biological parents is a painful fact that could haunt you for life, but it doesn't negate from the value of life and the countless amazing experiences it has to offer. It just poses a greater challenge for you to overcome, and the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Knowing you've overcome being unwanted by your own family by building your own loving family is genuinely one of the greatest achievements in life, and if you've taken lessons from your parents to better your own parenting skills, to learn from their mistakes, to give someone a father when you didn't have one, then shoutout to you. Shoutout to mothers, to my mother, to single fathers, to loving parents, to orphans, and to those enduring through the hardships of life. We're all proud of you.

[mycatsaidwhat]

things i’ve heard college students say pt. 27

-if you hit it raw, why are you voting red? 

-if all he does is smoke and give you meat, you’re dating a barbeque grill sis 

-being horny is a feminine trait, you should be thinking about war

-lord, we thank thee for the food before us *grocery store sushi, sponge bob fruit punch, pokemon-themed fruity pebbles* 

-why does the aftertaste of coke zero taste like blood 

-suck it up, you’re an American, you can do anything with god and Nixon on your side

-i’m too drunk to pray for god 

-if I’m ever in a coma, just show me that meme of Georgia as a state backslapping the Republican elephant and I will bolt upright 

-“Academic weapon” and “alcoholic” both begin with A

That they do, Braden, that they do

-My Little Pony? More like My Big Pony

That did psychological damage

-turning right on red is the greatest civil liberty we have left in this country 

-well as of 1989, dueling does not prevent you from running for public office, so props to you 

-he walks like he got pegged

-if I’m ever throwing up on the side of the road and I text you that I’m drunk, you don’t have to come get me. I always find my way home. Like a pigeon. 

-being in a relationship will NOT solve your problems. Happiness comes from substance abuse 

-I wrote down all the reasons we should do shots tonight. For context I have an essay due tomorrow. 

-I want you to take a picture of Quintin Tarantino in person because he simply CANNOT look that weird in real life 

-you’ve got like 50 feet of intestines, right? You could definitely do a couple laps around a tree with them 

-*is making an alignment chart of writers that we’ve covered in class and whether we could take them in a fight and if we’d feel good about it* 

-i wanna kill everything or die, I don’t know, I’m sad 

-he seems like the kind of professor who would make us fill out the course evals in class 

-he has abs, what do you think we were doing? 

-Here in this house we stand for the flag. The flag being Bucky Barnes in the first Captain America movie, greasy and sweaty and freshly tortured

-I’m just trying to enjoy my shitty Busch light and you bring me Charles LeClerc with his legs spread 

-if I got cancer my private snap story would become an inspirational story and that sounds like a lot of pressure 

-college is just progressively caring less about people seeing what you’re doing on your computer in class. I’m texting, I’m on Doordash, I’m on Shein, I’m on Tinder, I do not give a fuck 

-got stacks on stacks on stacks, baby I clear the racks 

Nice, Dr. Suess, get it! 

I was referencing a rap over Gimme More by Britney Spears, but sure  

-if doing drugs and fucking raw in pools in front of everyone is what adult producers think eleventh graders are up to these days then someone needs to tell them 

-I’d fuck to the Gravity Falls theme 

-you missed the professor’s Coin Jar Day and his annual discussion of child marriage 

[bootyduke]

why the movie "the sound of freedom," is bullshit we need to keep an eye on

i need yall to know that the sound of freedom movie is being called qanon shit because it perpetuates qanon lite and holds up the pipeline to average people. it's only in theaters now rather than years ago when it was produced, because qanon has created a fervent audience for it. the fervent audience is now a counter to the fact that the studios involved in its production were swayed from releasing it by experts in child trafficking who informed them of the misinformation it would spread. this movie not only sensationalizes child trafficking, it also simplifies what leads to child trafficking in a way that creates a false perception of how it happens at all, especially by depicting children exclusively being kidnapped by strangers rather than the more common situations where kids trust their abusers and come to depend on those who exploit them in exchange for housing, food, and drugs that traffickers often force their victims into dependency. it even fails to acknowledge the fact that most (67%) child trafficking victims are between 15 and 17, most often queer kids kicked out of their homes by parents, with a majority of young child victims being sold into slavery to pay off debts or in exchange for drugs by their own parents. sound of freedom turns perpetuators of child trafficking into anonymous villains and implies complicity in government, especially liberal government figures, rather than focusing on the parents who kick out their kids or neighbors who groom those parents and take in their troubled teens and send them somewhere no one cares enough about to investigate until they're completely missing. "raising awareness" of child trafficking is a noble goal, but relying on the terrifying shock of toddlers being assaulted rather than dissecting the systemic ways children are coerced and exploited muddies the waters and makes us directionless and afraid, with mysterious figures implied to be the real source of the problem (hint: when a movie has vague, powerful monsters instead of the real villain being the deeply entangled web of multi-system failures, there's a 50/50 shot the audience will stumble into "its the jews fault," while attempting research outside the conventional sources films like these say are controlled by "the media, re: the jews again." that's the whole point of the vagueness and instilling mistrust in reputable news outlets and academia.)

furthermore, the film is based on and vindicates tim ballard, a guy who quit his effective but not-so-action-packed work against child pornography with the cia, to go to south america and document himself "saving" people from human sex trafficking in colombia and haiti. ask anyone who works in trafficking prevention and they'll have some THINGS to say about this guy, they fucking HATE tim ballard! "but why?" you may ask. the answer is that he thinks things stop existing when not in direct line of sight. mr. ballard failed to think about how the extenuating circumstances surrounding these survivors, such as debt, drugs, poverty, and housing. as such, almost everyone tim "rescued," from trafficking wound up right back where they were within a handful of years. tim is also a proponent of the qanon conspiracy theory and fully believes that children are being molested and drained of blood by a secret kabal of wealthy elites to harvest their adrenochrome. this conspiracy theory has deep roots in one of the longest-standing antisemitic conspiracy theories on earth about jewish people stealing away christian/white children to drink their blood or use it for dark magic, aka blood libel.

this movie is designed to make its viewer fall down the rabbit hole of disinformation and qanon. its star, jim cavizeel (aka jesus from passion of the christ) has completely fallen down that rabbit hole since filming the damn thing, and cites the sound of freedom as the lynchpin in his journey there.

the sound of freedom is not worth your time, but it is worth your time to learn why this movie is sensationalized propaganda so that you can refute it.

[bklynmadman]

I grew up with Men like this.....PART III

Well, I've noticed I picked up some followers. Thanks to all you 3 people. I love you!

That being said, I'm honored to have readers. It's always nice. I just hope you like my stuff. I tend to write stuff that's somewhat depressing, but I'll try to be a bit more lighthearted despite the circumstances. I do want to stress that this current situation is terrible shit, and this was meant more of a diagnosis than a warning, but it wound up being both.

This is also for you people who thought it was a good idea to vote Donald. To you, I say, You don't realize how fucked you are yet.

Anyway, I hope you read on, and prepare yourselves.

ECONOMY

Let it be known that Donald J. Trump, for all of his time spent in the private sector has ZERO KNOWLEDGE of the Economy or how it works. He has ZERO knowledge of how world markets work, nor does he care to know.

He is also a business failure. How he got the image of being "good at business" is beyond me. It probably has to do with the "Wealth Worshipping" we do in this country. (HAS TO STOP)

He is still very much that spoiled child who likes to torture others simply for the attention, and LOVES more than anything else, having power over people to be able to do so. It's not so much about being in charge for Donald, it's the attention that goes with it. He loves being adored, and wants to be recognized for his lack of business acumen as if he is "Mr. Wall Street". Donald, like other white rich dudes, likes the role of gatekeeper. That's why he says when you ask him something directly "I may do it. I may. We'll soon see." He doesn't know much but he does not how much being publicly indecisive hurts other people's lives, as to whether or not he'll enact a policy that directly threatens a group of people's way of life. He LOVES the fact that he's being talked about right now around the world, doesn't matter if it's good or bad, he's in it for the attention folks and to be gatekeeper to our freedoms well, that is one surefire way to get attention.

Back to his failure of business, I would go into all of his business failures, but I don't have enough room. I will mention them briefly. (Trump Steaks, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump Water, Trump Board Game, The Trump Taj Mahal and Casino, Trump Tower Casino, and Trump Marina and Casino of Atlantic City.)

SIDENOTE: HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE MONEY OWNING THREE CASINOS???? Not many can except for the Donny Rapist Man!

He was once quoted in his first term as president (Yuck!) when asked how he will manage the National Debt, he said "“People said I want to go and buy debt and default on debt, and I mean, these people are crazy. This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money, I hate to tell you, OK?” That alone should share the shit out of you for he truly believes if you print more money, you'll manage the debt. A basic understanding of economics would prevent him thinking this way, but then again, Donny fucktard doesn't do thinking!

Anyway, He has promised to apply tariffs across the board on all foreign goods coming into the United States. He promised a universal Tariff on all foreign goods, and a 60% tariff on all Chinese goods. He's proposing this for he wants to get the other nations "in line" that he feels abuse the US market. So he thinks the tariffs will do that. Only, once again, a basic understanding of economics would show that the cost of Tariffs are always passed onto the consumer. That means, All Clothes, Items, Goods, Foods, imported here from other countries will be getting a lot more expensive for everyone. (REMEMBER AMERICA MAGAMORONS, you voted for this. I'll be closing on you in a minute.) If there are any doubters that are reading this, check your current shirt. Let me know where it was made. I'll put odds it was made either in China, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, or even Vietnam. That's just clothes imported into this country. Let me ask you this? You think GAP INC, or HANES, or a majority of Clothing Companies are going to pay that 60% tariff just because Trump said so?

A LITTLE MATH/BUSINESS LESSON (You can skip this if you aren't interested)

On one pallet, (meaning one shipment of t-shirts) you can fit about 2,160 t-shirts total. In one container, you can fit about 20-22 pallets (which depend on the goods and how they're packed but let's just say this for arguments sake.) That means in one 40 foot container, you can have up to 45,360 T-Shirts. (My memory as a former wine importer is getting jogged as I write this. I stopped doing that business officially in 2016 so I'm sure prices have changed and I know prices are different on clothes.)

Before that pallet gets to America, the cost per shirt is about 50 cents. So the total cost of the entire container before the shirts get here would be $22,680. Once it arrives in customs, that's when customs charges begin. Two charges are levied on containers containing "Textiles" which is the category the T-shirts fall under. Those charges are MPF (Merchandise Processing Fee) and Import Duty  The MPF is calculated as a percentage of the shipment's value, with a minimum and maximum amount. For informal entries (under $2,500), the MPF is a flat fee of $2–$9. For formal entries (over $2,500), the MPF ranges from $30.66–$595.35. So, since the cost of goods (Keep this in mind, these are cheap t-shirts found at WalMart) in that one container is $22,680, the total MPF would be the max, at $595.35. For Duty, which only applies when goods imported are valued above $800. (which this would be) that means a 5.63% tariff would apply, adding $1,276.88 to the cost.

Here is a lesson in Business, as these fees are added on to import your goods, those are costs that you tack onto the product when you sell it, because you have to lay it out to get it into the country, so you MUST make it back or your company will lose money. (Something else the Orange Fuckwad doesn't understand.) So, those incurred costs before it leaves customs would tack on a total of 3 cents to each T-Shirt, making the total cost of each shirt before it gets to your warehouse or store 53 cents. The cost of the truck that will pick up your container, depending on where your warehouse or store is located will vary, but let's go on a average, which would be anywhere from $500-$3000. It varies on distance. For this argument, let's go with $1800. That would add a total of 4 cents to each t-shirt. Now, each t-shirt landed cost is 57 cents. Stores charge anywhere from 30-40% to make a profit. They charge that because usually 100-400% mark up covers your rent (if you have any), bills (Electric, Gas, Water), Employees, Taxes (Payroll, Income, Federal, State, and City Taxes) So, the total cost that is known to the owner of the store is $2.28. They usually mark it up to maybe $5-$8.00 per shirt, and will do deals like buy 2, get one free or buy 4 and get one more. The profit on one shirt sold would be $4.43 per shirt. Remember, the landed cost is 57 cents.

The Trump tariff would charge an extra 60% to your container if it came from china. So, take 45,360 t-shirts in a container, which is valued at $22,680. Tacking on the usual costs

22,680 + $595.35 + 1,276.88 + 1,800 = 26,532.23 x (.60) = 15,919.34

(Total Cost before Customs) (MPF) (DUTY) (Shipping) + (Trump Tariff)

Take that number and add it to the total cost (26,532.23) = 42,451.46 total cost per container now.

Divide that cost by the amount of t-shirts in the container = 0.94 cents per shirt landed. A total added .37 cents onto each shirt.

This may seem like small potatoes but when you're selling t-shirts in bulk, you are not about to lose .37 cents per shirt. That would dip into your profits, and if you have backers or board members, that .37 cents will eat into your profit margins should it not be tacked onto the cost of the product. Backers and Board Members of a corporation don't do charity, and they will want to see that cost reflected into the sales.

Now, I know what many will say (if you got this far, bravo) BIG DEAL! It's small cents. In business, small change adds up A LOT! And this is just bargain Walmart T-shirts. Never mind graphic t-shirts, or designer t-shirts, or other clothes. And apply that to all GOODS.

This will be hurting Americans, not helping them. Donny Moron doesn't understand it, nor does he want too.

BACK TO TARIFFS

Economists have predicted that Trump's Tariffs will cost the average American family an extra $1700 per year for goods. To those MAGA morons who screamed and voted for "Lower Grocery Bills" will see those prices jump slightly higher now. Companies have already began to announce higher prices in retaliation to Trumps' Tariffs. Effectively erasing the work that President Biden has done to lower the effect of inflation. But Donny won't stop there. Oh No! What he's about to do tax wise is what got him donations from Billionaires like Elon Asshole Musk and Miriam Alderson (Widow of Casino Magnate Sheldon Alderson)

TAX CUTS (A BIT, NOT A LOT)

I went over this in some of my previous posts, and if you want to learn more about Tax Cuts and how they work, you can look back in my previous posts from 2015 and see what they are.

Trump is going to give Tax Cuts to the Wealthy and Corporations. He's going to say he's giving Tax Cuts to everyone. But the devil will be in the details. The IRS collects about $2.56 Trillion Dollars in Federal Income Tax alone per year. This money funds government services, and investments. Trump is proposing to lower the Corporate Tax from 21% to 15%, and proposes that those households who make over $400,000 will get a tax cut of about $60,000 roughly a 15% tax cut. So, if you make 1M per year, you'll receive a tax cut of $150,000. on $3M it's $450,000. On 1 Billion Dollars, it's 150M tax cut. A tax cut for those who don't know, are taxes you don't have to pay on your earned income. This is before deductions and Tax Loopholes that the super rich and Corporations have been doing for years. Just to recap, the following corporations paid ZERO in Federal Income Taxes.

Amazon

Google

Coca-Cola

Facebook

Nike

Tesla

3M

and many more. In fact, if they report losses, they take advantage of a Tax Deduction in which they don't have to pay on those, lessening their tax burden.

It will be the time of record profits for Billionaires and Big Corporations, and meanwhile the rest of us will see tax cuts like $500-$1000 that we wouldn't have to pay. The super poor will see none of these benefits, and New Yorkers know that $500 doesn't do much in a month or offer much breathing room. Meanwhile, fat cats like Elon Musk, who's net income is 1.4 Billion last year will see a 210M tax cut. The rest of us will have to pay our taxes however.

That's what this is mostly about. It's about Money, and the Rich, Like Don the fuckwad and his cronies, feel that they should have more control over their tax money and where it goes.

This will add onto the national debt, and the government will not be able to sustain itself for each tax cut given, that's less money going into the government. Less for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other government services.

So, enjoy your tax cuts middle class, the wealthy will be enjoying theirs. And they'll sell it through their usual promise of "Trickle Down" Economics, which is been proven to not work a BILLION TIMES OVER.

Also, don't tell me that bullshit either of Rich People need those tax cuts to create jobs. They dont. Never have. Trump presided over the WORST PERIOD OF JOB CREATION in this country since the Great Depression in the 1930's. THE WORST. So, don't tell me these tax cuts are going to automatically start working and start creating jobs. They haven't since they've been getting them under Trump's first term. And Where did all that money go? Stock Buybacks. Made themselves richer, while at the same time putting it out there that no one wants to work anymore.

UNIONS

The other thing Donny is going to do, of which I will NEVER FORGIVE THE TEAMSTERS UNION.

He's going to attempt to destroy Unions, and get rid of Overtime Pay.

Unions are the only check against large corporations and big businesses. Unions offer Medical Insurance to it's members, and also collective bargain with employers for wages.

The Orange Rapist has said during a live conversation with Elon Dumbfuck Musk on Twitter (I will not call it what he wants me to call it. Fuck him and his money) has praised Elon for firing Tesla workers who voted to Unionize. He has expressed that workers conspiring to unionize should be fired. He also said in that same convo, that he "hated paying workers overtime." and that "He'd never pay it."

What to expect from this conman during a second term...

Trump changed the rules about who qualifies for overtime pay, making more than 8 million workers ineligible and costing them over $1 billion per year in lost wages during his first term as president.

You Trumptards think that in the past 4 years of dodging court dates and indictments, he suddenly found a heart??? If you think that, you are gravely mistaken.

He will repeat his actions with regards to labor again, only this time, go to more extremes to make it stick.

He has talked about replacing overtime, and giving workers Comp Time, which cheats workers over Overtime laws embedded in our Constitution. 1 BILLION in overtime pay in 2019 to be exact.

Hey TEAMSTERS, no more overtime pay for you. He thinks you're not entitled to it. And apparently, so did many of your members. Enjoy that shit when it's enacted under a GOP controlled House and a GOP controlled Senate. Scabs will be taking your jobs if you refuse, and you know what? Shame on you, because your membership wanted to support Donald.

Trump will also do the following.

Trump will continue to PACK the courts with anti-labor judges who have made the entire public sector “right to work for less” in an attempt to financially weaken unions by increasing the number of freeloaders.

Trump will stack the National Labor Relations Board with anti-union appointees who side with employers in contract disputes and support companies who delay and stall union elections, misclassify workers to take away their freedom to join a union, and silence workers.

Trump will make it easier for employers to fire or penalize workers who speak up for better pay and working conditions or exercise the right to strike.

Trump promised to veto the PRO Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, historic legislation that will reverse decades of legislation meant to crush private sector unions and shift power away from CEOs to workers.

I can't wait when the Teamsters start complaining about "scabs" being allowed to work due to Trump's push of "Right To Work" policy, which effectively emboldens Scabs or picket line crossers to work for companies for less pay than the union would allow them too. Some of these idiots think that wont happen. To that I say....Just wait.

The next time I hear of Teamsters Picketing, they can go fuck themselves as far as I'm concerned for failing to come out to support Kamala Harris, a president that would've protected their Union and advanced Pro-Union Policies. I hope the Teamster Union breaks, and I say that as a UFT member knowing full well that Trump and his merry band of assholes will try to dismantle my Union too. (They already are trying too with Charter Schools. If Governor Hochul had any balls, she'd pull funding from Charter Schools to embolden UFT and pro-union policies. But this is about the Spoiled Boy-King, not NY governor Hochul.)

ABORTION/ IMMIGRATION

On this, Trump will demonstrate his extreme cruelty for he gives neither a fuck for Immigrants (Even though his family was once an immigrant from Germany) nor women (see the 32 Civil Court Cases when 32 different women across this country accuse Donny of Rape and Sexual Assault.) He won this election on getting others to hate Immigrants.

It's a big pet peeve of mine whenever a fellow American Italian hates on the "Hispanics and Mexicans coming over the border." To which I remind them how their family came here, and the adversity that they faced. This convo usually ends with "Well, my family pulled through" but what they don't seem to understand is We're supposed to make things better, not worse for the next guy. It's also what some of my fellow pisans consider retribution. "Well, I came here legally. They can too." Well, they can't. Imagine how desperate they must be to come over illegally. It's not to skirt laws or get away with something.

The thing about Immigrants that many don't understand is the following.

Illegal Immigrants make up for a good portion of our workforce. About 8.3M Illegal Immigrants are currently in the United States Workforce. They are hired by their bosses, who know full well they aren't here legally, and take advantage of that by paying them much lower than they would have to pay an American worker.

Check out the Kitchens of the Restaurants that you frequent. Who is making your food back there?

Also, who is building your houses? Take a good look at the majority of those building private housing. Let me know what you find.

Another thing about Ilegal Immigrants is that they don't mostly Bring Crime, Drugs, and are Rapists. (I always found it funny that a Rapist calling a group of other people Rapists especially when he's a known rapist and pedophile. When Jeffrey Epstein is your best friend...) Ilegal Immigrants make our economy go round!

The Food Industry, the Construction Industry are very very dependent on Illegal Immigrant labor.

Illegal Immigrants are less likely to commit a crime for fear of being deported. So they're mostly law abiding citizens.

Illegal Immigrants pay MORE taxes that Amazon, and Coca-Cola combined. (Yes, they file and pay while freeloaders like Elon and Donny pay nothing.)

Illegal Immigrants make up about 12% of sales for Telecommunication companies (i.e. Cellphone purchases.)

They rent apartments, spend for food, open bank accounts, and California was trying to pass a law that would've made it easier for them to obtain a mortgage regardless of Immigration status.

When he does send ICE and Immigration agents to do a mass deportation, he will be adversely affecting these industries. That is on the way, and I've read one economist suggest that the "mass deportation" that he has promised his fans and fellow racists will total 315 Billion Dollars. Will Donny want to pay that? Sure, why not? The money isn't his, and he'll be dead soon enough so why should he have to worry? Thats a problem for us to figure out later when he's gone.

That's another thing Richers do that Donald likes to do. He loves to spend money when it's not his to spend. Donald is a notorious cheap skate, and has stiffed many people who have done work for him in his hotels and casinos. However, that will go away now that Donald has the United States Purse strings. The next time I hear a Republican preach about Fiscal Conservatism, it will be very hard for me not to deck them in the mouth.

Again, Donny loves being Gatekeeper. He adores it. It doesn't matter if it's cruel, or if he is doing the wrong thing. He is directly responsible for separating 6000 kids from their parents at the border. 6000. And he put them in cages and didn't even bother giving them blankets. He gave them what amounted to aluminum foil for a bedsheet. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???? WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE???? Every single parent should've been outraged with that regardless of political spectrum.

Also any real Christian should've had an issue with that, and those who don't are not real Christians nor do they deserve to be called one. They deserve to be called what they truly are, CRUEL HYPOCRITES WHO WORSHIP SATAN'S COCK.

I had a convo I had with a Trump sympathizer about this once, and the other person had the balls to say "Well, they shouldn't have been there." Talk about the most Victim Blaming Bullshit I've ever heard. As if they brought about that cruel treatment upon themselves when they got caught on the border.

WARS IN GAZA AND UKRAINE

Trump gives a fuck about one thing and one thing only. He's cited it many times in his first presidency, and it's his biggest motivator.

His image.

Trump is such a textbook classic narcissist that his main drive is simply to protect and project his image. He wants to be that "Suave, Smart, Debonair, Wealthy, Strongman who is beloved by all, and everyone fawns over him and his every word while his enemies retreat in cowardice." Trump's self image, like much of anything he says, is not rooted in reality.

He's a wimp, and like all bullies, once someone stands up to them, they run and hide and tell the teacher on you. Trump would run and hide from anyone formidable and run and tell fox news how "unfairly mistreated" he was.

Keep in mind, Donald is still a Russian Asset. The reason he jocks guys like Putin is because he wants it like that. He wants to make American into the Dictator Image. Absolute Power. Absolute Fascism. We know Donald can't read, but he has probably watched a Hitler Speech or two, and realized how Hitler came to power. His path to power is very similar to Hitlers, in fact almost mirror image.

He couldn't care less about what happens in Israel. He couldn't care less about what happens in the Ukraine. He will do what he is told, which the super wealthy are tired of giving aid and money to these two countries.

Also, Putin will tell his bitch to bend over and let him have Ukraine. Trump will do so. He will claim "He made a great deal" but the deal made will be something along the lines of the following.

1.) No Admission to NATO for Ukraine.

2.) Russia will get to keep most, if not all of their occupied territory.

3.) Ukraine will have to enter a trade agreement with Russia over the oil pipeline and they'll maybe do some share. 10 years Russia will have it and then turn it over to Ukrainian control.

Ukraine will do all of this under Trump duress, or Trump will withhold any and all aid to Ukraine, of which that will stop immediately once Trump takes office. So the good news is, The war will end. The bad news is, the war will benefit Russia grately, and Russia will have an open way to take Europe if it feels like it.

Trump will say "Look how great I did. And Look, I ended the war." But in the real world, Trump will only have given Putin what he asked for, which is the part of Ukraine with the resources as a part of Russia. Also, there will be no NATO presence in Ukraine forever, or at least while Trump is president.

As for GAZA...

Many Gen Z people were upset, and rightfully so, over the mass genocide in GAZA by the Israeli government. If they were upset of Former President Biden's lack of action, then they're really going to hate how Trump handles this situation.

I'm sorry to say, but the Palestinian people's numbers will be greatly REDUCED once Trump is in power, and he will not only continue to do nothing diplomatically. He will also side openly with Netanyahu, and praise his actions. He'll even get a bigger contrat, and sell more bombs, guns, and ammunition there. He'll say "What a great deal for America" but what he means is "What a great deal for Smith& Wesson" "Raytheon", and L3Harris Technologies." because last I checked, the American people in general don't own stock in any of those companies, only a select few do. (Trump is one of them by the way. He owns some stock in Raytheon. Conflict of Interest much? Sure, but we wont be able to talk about that for much longer.)

CONCLUSION

So, this is where this series ends. There will not be a 4th installment. I've pretty much said all I needed/wanted to say. I know many are upset over this tyrant returning to the White House.

There has got to be some hope at the end of this fucked man and his deranged policies. It's almost comical how he's in a "Race for the Worst". To predict what can happen, just picture a worst case scenario for each situation, and that is the baseline that Trump is so thirsty to beat. He will also fuck the environment as well, and turn the planet back on Global Warming, why? In the name of money.

So, fellow trumpers, I hope you enjoy the world while it lasts. I hope there isn't another deadly pandemic waiting in the wings, because Donald will handle that one just as well as he handled the 1st one. The one where he got over 1.8M American's killed, and suggested as a cure to inject bleach into your veins. He was also the guy to Poo Poo Masks, and put doubt into the vaccine, despite himself getting it.

But whatever, RFK will be in charge of our health from now on. You know, because he's qualified and believes in Science. But that's talking way too much.

Brace yourselves everyone. Enjoy this last holiday season of peace. We are in for a reckoning.

(So much for a weekly post. I just blogged 3 times in 4 days. But man, does it feel good to write again.)

[letsdocuboutit]

- Let's Docu 'Bout It -

Episode 26: Athlete A

In this episode I recap and talk about the documentary Athlete A, which focuses on the gymnasts who survived USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar's abuse and reporters who exposed USAG's toxic culture.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts!

Spotify - Apple - Amazon - Castbox - iHeartRadio - Google - Podcast Addict

Photos: Rachael Denhollander during Larry Nassar's trial, Maggie Nichols in competition, Jamie Dantzscher as an Olympian and now, Martha and Bela Karolyi holding USOC flags, Indianapolis Star article about Larry Nassar

Prevent Child Abuse America

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)

[dsaf-confessions]

wanted to leave a longpost of some of my henry/miller family hcs here! I've written some fic on the man, but haven't published much. I think his character is extremely interesting, especially in regards to childhood and the way he was raised. I think his mother either passed away in childbirth, or alternatively, passed away shortly after Henry's birth due to either a disease or possibly botched lobotomy (I'm really interested in the history of lobotomys in mid 1900s america). Henry would of had to grow up quick, and I want to say in a similar fashion to how Dave had to as a homeless child. This is due to his father being an alcoholic and Henry having to work to support both himself and buy his fathers medicine. Of course, very different situations, yet that idea of having to grow up quick is still there, and I head canon that Henry is autistic due to the fact I think it works well in my characterisation of him and I'd say that also contributes to that need to grow up fast, combined with masking. I'm gonna kind of be jumping around with my thoughts so forgive me, but I think it's important to consider the idea of Henry not being ontologically nor entirely evil, as I believe in the story of dsaf that idea of a 'big bad' only works well when writing from the perspective of his victims, instead of a birds eye view of the whole narrative. Henry is an intelligent, hurt, and determined man, yet of course, he's still deeply flawed. His pain dosent justify his actions, he is strong willed, and he's smart enough to have a good bloody look at himself and realise that he's not a good person. So, I think that that should be used when writing him. Henry in my eyes is flawed, and deeply guilty, and agonised, and I think viewing him as just evil is a disservice to his character. Something else interesting to me is thinking of how hed treat martha and david if they lived. I think he was deeply in love with Martha and was ready to be a father, and I think due to the fact of his father drinking, Henry would have been maybe a tad too protective. I don't think he would of been incredibly personable to his own child, but of course love him, and protect him and such, and i don't think that the Millers lives would of been a bad one. Flawed as everything is, but not abusive. Just a side tangent, I think that Martha was a very cut-throat woman, she was a woman engineer in a very misogynistic America! She fought tooth and nail for that! And that's something I think would have worked well with Henry, this sharp and loud yet also understanding woman to drag him out of his head's echo chamber. Another small thing, I hc that she's from new Orleans because I love new Orleans so so much and hope to fly there one day desperately and I love jazz. Anyhow, back to psychoanylysing Henry, I think that idea of being stuck in an echochamber of his own thoughts and traumas is something to consider after his wife and sons death. That tunnel vision drove him crazy, bring back your family, and do whatever it takes to do so. Imagine your favourite person in the world, what lengths would you go to keep them? I think with the mental state of Henry's, with his childhood trauma, most probable mental illness, and war trauma, I would do horrible things to bring them back. Something to always keep in mind with characters is not saying something would be out of character, but saying what would it take to do that thing (I stole that off a tumblr post). With Henry, you sort of have to work backwards with his actions. Imagine young Henry, dressed in his Sunday best, delivering newspapers around town like a loser, what would it take for that little boy to destroy lives in his adulthood? The loss of everything dear to him, alongside the trauma of the American war machine, of course. I've always liked the idea of Henry as a preventable tragedy.

-the pink anon (if I can claim that)

.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group D Round 1: #D8 vs #D1

#D8: Singer idol android goes back in time to save humanity

When highly evolved AIs set out to eradicate mankind, the carnage that ensues fills the air with the stench of fresh blood and burning bodies. In a desperate bid to prevent the calamity from ever occurring, a scientist bets everything on a remnant from the past.

Turning the clock back a hundred years, AIs are already an integral part of human society, programmed with specific missions meant to be carried out for their entire course of operation. Vivy, the first ever autonomous AI, is a songstress tasked with spreading happiness through her voice. In a theme park where she hardly ever gets a proper audience, she strives to pour her heart out into her performances, bound to repeat it day after day—that is, until an advanced AI from the future appears before her and enlists her help in stopping a devastating war a hundred years in the making. With no time to process the revelation that flips her world upside down, Vivy is catapulted into a century-long journey to avert the violent history yet to come.

#D1: Prohibition era Mafia revenge story

As a child living in the town of Lawless, Angelo Lagusa has witnessed a tragedy: his parents and younger brother have been mercilessly slaughtered by the Vanetti mafia family. Losing everything he holds dear, he leaves both his name and hometown behind, adopting the new identity of Avilio Bruno. Seven years later, Avilio finally has his chance for revenge when he receives a mysterious letter prompting him to return to Lawless. Obliging, he soon encounters the Vanetti don’s son, Nero, and seeks to befriend him using the skills he has quietly honed for years. Set during the Prohibition era, this show tells the story of Avilio’s dark, bloodstained path to vengeance, as he slowly ends each of the men involved in the killing of his family.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#D8: Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Propaganda:

Most first think that this anime is an idol show. I promise you, it is NOT. Quite far from it. Vivy is regrettably underrated despite having great animation—just watch the fight scenes. It has the best of songs that will get stuck in your head for a long time. Character growth for characters - you will adore them. It even won some recognition from anime awards, yet no one talks about it. You have to watch it at least once and appreciate how this anime is made with love as it talks about experiences that make us human. You will be surprised how well the storytelling is.

Trigger Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Suicide

#D1: 91 Days

Propaganda:

This series has character designs by the art director of Baccano. In fact, the setting of it being in the early 1920s in America is sort of reminiscent of Baccano. However, the story is much crueler and more grounded than that other famous series, even if it involves a similar amount of guns and blood.

The anime follows a broken and traumatized young man fueled by revenge. It’s a tragedy and a thriller and a Mafia series. We see the lengths Angelo Lagusa goes to avenge his family, whom he’s the last living survivor of. He changes his name and leads a double life, getting close to the Vanetti family, who killed his birth family. But in the process of trying to do this, he gets adopted into this Mafia family.

He must wrestle with his morality as he keeps on the bloody road of revenge. People that don’t deserve to be hurt get hurt or killed because of his actions—even dying by his hands.

It's an anime that shows just how far someone is willing to go for revenge, willing to break everything in his path for it. And considering the Prohibition era came to an end in history, was all the trickery and killing even worth it?

Trigger Warnings: Animal Cruelty/Death, Cannibalism, Emotional Abuse, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Suicide, Alcohol and Smoking.

This entire series is a mob story so there's lots of guns, blood, and killing. There is an assisted suicide of an important character. Also the family dog dies when the main character's family is massacred in the first episode.

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.