#Proclamation No. 60

[mariacallous]

 Our Nation has made tremendous progress in advancing the cause of equality for LGBTQI+ Americans, including in the military.  Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of LGBTQI+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Many of these patriotic Americans were subject to a court-martial.  While my Administration has taken meaningful action to remedy these problems, the impact of that historical injustice remains.  As Commander in Chief, I am committed to maintaining the finest fighting force in the world.  That means making sure that every member of our military feels safe and respected.

     Accordingly, acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to persons convicted of unaggravated offenses based on consensual, private conduct with persons age 18 and older under former Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as previously codified at 10 U.S.C. 925, as well as attempts, conspiracies, and solicitations to commit such acts under Articles 80, 81, and 82, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. 880, 881, 882.  This proclamation applies to convictions during the period from Article 125’s effective date of May 31, 1951, through the December 26, 2013, enactment of section 1707 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66).

     The purpose of this proclamation is to pardon only offenses based on consensual, private conduct between individuals 18 and older that do not involve any aggravating factor, including:  

     (1)  conduct that would violate 10 U.S.C. 893a, prohibiting activities with military recruits or trainees by a person in a position of special trust;      (2)  conduct that was committed with an individual who was coerced or, because of status, might not have felt able to refuse consent;      (3)  conduct on the part of the applicant constituting fraternization under Article 134 of the UCMJ;      (4)  conduct committed with the spouse of another military member; or      (5)  any factors other than those listed above that were identified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in United States v. Marcum as being outside the scope of Lawrence v. Texas as applied in the military context, 60 M.J. 198, 207–08 (2004).

     The Military Departments (Army, Navy, or Air Force), or in the case of the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, shall provide information about and publicize application procedures for certificates of pardon.  An applicant for a certificate of pardon under this proclamation is to submit an application to the Military Department (Army, Navy, or Air Force) that conducted the court-martial or, in the case of a Coast Guard court-martial, to the Department of Homeland Security.  If the relevant Department determines that the applicant satisfies the criteria under this proclamation, following a review of relevant military justice records, the Department shall submit that determination to the Attorney General, acting through the Pardon Attorney, who shall then issue a certificate of pardon along with information on the process to apply for an upgrade of military discharge.  My Administration strongly encourages veterans who receive a certificate of pardon to apply for an upgrade of military discharge.  

     Although the pardon under this proclamation applies only to the convictions described above, there are other LGBTQI+ individuals who served our Nation and were convicted of other crimes because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  It is the policy of my Administration to expeditiously consider and to make final pardon determinations with respect to such individuals.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

[shcmook]

THE STAR BEAST

Is about the RTD era. It’s set in dimly lit London streets. The Doctor avoids going to UNIT directly. Queer identity is at the center of it. The Metacrisis DoctorDonna comes back. He meets a woman named Rose. The plot is moved by strange unexplained coincidences. The Shadow Proclamation is invoked. There’s a big obvious spaceship crash that wasn’t an accident like in Aliens of London. There’s alien law enforcement hunting a real villain like smith and Jones. The Doctor is separated from Donna by a clear barrier like he is from Wilf in end of time. But instead of losing her, he gets her back. She remembers him. Journey’s End is undone.

WILD BLUE YONDER

Is about the Chibnall era. We’re separated from the TARDIS like in Ghost Monument, facing creatures beyond our universe like in It takes you away, Can you Hear me? And Flux. We’re on a spaceship nearly outside of the universe, failing to get as far as Tecteun wanted to go. We’re reminded the Doctor isn’t from this universe. Of the destruction of the Flux that the Doctor failed to stop. And the Doctor refuses to let Donna in, to tell her how badly this is affecting him, just like 13 didn’t let Yaz in. He even almost chooses the wrong Donna near the end. In a different way, 13 also didn’t choose Yaz.

We’re scratching the surface of the Doctor’s trauma but the Flux isn’t the real problem. She’d been keeping her companions out since before that. Why? What happened to the doctor in between Donna and the flux?

THE GIGGLE

Is about the Moffat era. There’s great emphasis on how old the Doctor is, that is the same old Doctor we met in the 60s. We’re reminded how the Doctor lost Amy, Clara and Bill, and the Doctor’s focus is on protecting Donna and Mel over the actual planetary stakes. Time is rewritten. There’s a too-good-to-be-true happy ending. There’s a lot going on.

The Doctor hasn’t stopped moving since losing Bill. Really, he hasn’t stopped since long before then. But the Bi-generation gives him a way to stop without depriving the universe of the Doctor. Amy, Bill, and Clara didn’t just die. They got second chances at life, with their own chosen companions (Rory, Heather and Me) . And at the end of his short journey, 14 gets that same fate. He dies, but finally gets a happy, restful life. Meanwhile 15, already feeling the benefits of his past self’s rest, journeys on.

[follow-up-news]

President Joe Biden is expected to pardon US veterans who were convicted by the military over a 60-year period under a military law that banned gay sex, three US officials told CNN. The pardon proclamation is expected to be announced on Wednesday and one official said it is set to affect roughly 2,000 people. The granting of pardons won’t automatically change convicted veterans’ records but allows those impacted to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits. The pardon, which CNN is first to report on, specifically grants clemency to service members who were convicted under former Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 125 — which criminalized sodomy, including between consenting adults — between 1951 and 2013 when it was rewritten by Congress. It also applies to those who were convicted of attempting to commit those offenses.

[random-brushstrokes]

Nasta Rojc - Self Portrait with a Rifle (1912)

Nasta Rojc, one of the first academically educated female painters in Croatia, was born in 1883 into a wealthy family. Her father was Croatian politician Milan Rojc, a former Minister of Education. From a young age she didn’t fit the stereotype of a young girl so, after many quarrels with her family, she persuaded them to let her peruse her true calling – painting. She was mentored by the prominent Croatian painter Oton Iveković thanks to whom she became skillful enough to continue educating herself in Vienna and Munich, alongside some of the most exquisite artists like Miroslav Kraljević and Josip Račić. She excelled at portraits and landscapes, but although she was often present in various galleries, her work was frequently overlooked. In order to obtain a better status in society her family talked her into an arranged marriage with her friend, a colleague painter, Branko Šenoa. Their marriage was based on friendship – there was neither romance nor intimacy. Nevertheless, Nasta stayed legally married to Branko until his death in 1939, even after she met her one true love.

Because of her poor health, Nasta took a trip to England, just after the end of World War I. Through one encounter she managed to heal her physical and emotional health. She met Alexandrina Maria Onslow, an officer of the British army, famous for her bravery on the war field that brought her medals of honor. Alexandrine was an exceptional woman, famous for testing the boundaries of femininity, thus opening Nasta up to her true nature. Nasta and Alexandrine traveled throughout England and Scotland getting to know one another and becoming deeply infatuated with one another; luckily, this love and infatuation lasted a lifetime and beyond. On that trip, Nasta painted the first painting of an automobile in Croatian art history, making a precedent once again, merely by her extravagantly bold life choices for that time. The two lovers returned to Zagreb together and started living together in a house that Nasta designed herself, along with a well-known architect Hugo Ehrlich, in a famous area of Zagreb, Rocco’s park.

Unfortunately, not everything went smoothly for the couple. Nasta and Alexandrine supported the partisans and after the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941 their home was confiscated and though both of them were ill (at that time age 60 and 75), they were arrested, but soon released on account of insufficient proof. The stress was unbearable for Alexandrine, who started to fall ill more frequently, until she eventually died in 1949, leaving devastated Nasta alone. Nasta spent most of her time in the rose garden, reminiscing of her departed partner, allegedly barely painting. She died forgotten and poor on November 6, 1964, on the date of her birth. She was buried next to her beloved Alexandrine Onslow on the Mirogoj cemetery. (source)

[thisisnotthenerd]

Notes on the Bylaws of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy

We've had some revelations in this episode, so I thought it might be a good time to go back to my Musings on the Greater Solisian School District.

Before this season, we had learned a few things about the Aguefort Adventuring Academy's Bylaws from Fantasy High, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year and the Seven that are ambiguously canon:

Adventuring Parties are established on the first day of freshman year so that the party can graduate together and begin working as an adventuring party. The party is expected to participate in activities together such that they might go forth and be violent lunatics enforcing their will upon the world.

There are a variety of reasons one might leave an adventuring party--the one that applied to the members of the Seven was severe injury, incapacitation, or capture to the point of losing more than a semester of school. By technicality, the Bad Kids circumvent this by virtue of going to jail as a group for ~2 months towards the end of their freshman year--not enough to cause them to repeat the semester or break the party.

The Crowning of a Prom King & Queen was prohibited due to the prophesized return of Kalvaxus, Emperor of the Red Waste, given that Kalvaxus was in fact working as the Vice Principal in the form of a dragonborn named Goldenhoard.

Arthur Aguefort keeps numerous magical artifacts in his office and in various locations around the school, this includes objects like Watches and Wards, an abjurative ward that can only be affected by Arthur Aguefort and the Elven Oracle [Adaine Abernant], the Crown of the Nightmare King, and the Bylaws of the Greater Solisian School District.

Presumably, beginning in sophomore year, an adventuring party attending the Aguefort Adventuring Academy must complete a quest that accounts for 60% of their grade for that year. It is unclear whether this rule is universal or whether it applies to specific parties who have direct involvement in larger quests, i.e. the Bad Kids tracking down the Crown of the Nightmare King, the Seven Maidens going to the Red Waste to eliminate the remainder of the Cult of Kalvaxus. This ties into a later application of the bylaws regarding the Last Stand Exam.

Parties can have members in different grades, however, graduation and further work can cause the disbandment of the party.

To acquire a GED diploma from the Solisian School District, an adventurer/adventuring party must get the signature of the Superintendent of Schools of the Solisian School District and complete a class A, B, or C quest [reference my previous meta for more discussion of this]

Now, at the halfway mark of Junior Year, we have some more bylaws and school rules to consider.

Administrative

In the absence of the Principal of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy [Arthur Aguefort] the Vice Principal [Gilear Faeth] is the Acting Principal of the school and carries out all administrative decisions thereof.

In the absence of both the Principal [Arthur Aguefort] and the Vice Principal [Gilear Faeth], administration of the School falls to the Principal's appointed emergency staff: Principal [Interim Emergency Backup Principal Grix] and Vice Principal [Jace Stardiamond]

The bylaws of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy in particular are based on a combination of written and oral proclamations from Arthur Aguefort; thus some bylaws may be contradictory in their application, given the man's proclivity for bits and exaggerated speech.

The election of a student body president typically occurs around the end of a given school year, with students in their junior year competing to be president in their senior year. There is no indicated option for a vice presidential position, though there are other administrative positions such as treasurer.

Thus, when all options for administrative staff have been exhausted e.g. all appointed candidates have passed or are absent, the role of principal falls to the student body president, who presides over the Academy as a democratically-run educational institution.

Academic

Generally, students are expected to progress in the class in which they first joined the Adventuring Academy. While leveling can differ based on extracurricular achievement as well as background, the existing hypothesis places students in tier 2-3 starting in Junior Year*. Currently the Bad Kids are exceeding the hypothesized levels, but given their extracurricular achievements in adventuring, this is to be expected.

To Multi-class and effectively take both classes in which the student has interest, they are able to utilize the MCAT, upon given the consent of the class instructors for both courses. Reference previous meta for more information on the MCAT.

Measures of success in each class varies significantly; a wizard is not graded on the same curve as a sorcerer. One of the more extreme examples of this is the conditional pass of the rogue class; upon finding the rogue teacher, the student passes the year and no longer has to attend class.

Pass-Fail and Conditional Examinations

If a member of an adventuring party leaves for any given reason: irreconcilable differences, severe injury/incapacitation, capture or other forms of imprisonment, death, etc., the entire party is shifted to pass-fail for the entire year, and is thus prohibited from extracurricular activities.

If the faculty member/instructor of a particular class passes away during the school year, the entire class is shifted into pass-fail. This can have further effects on the adventuring parties of those students, since they are shifted into pass-fail along with their allies in the given class. The most recent example of this is the death of Yolanda Badgood and the shift of the Cleric class to pass-fail.

If a student, for whatever reason, has had difficulty throughout the year with academic success, especially due to systemic barriers, they may be eligible for a exam called the Last Stand, which is taken later in the year, and replaces the student's transcript. This exam can be taken as a party, or individually, depending on the students' needs.

*Tier 1 = Levels 1-5, Tier 2 = Levels 6-10, Tier 3 = Levels 11-15, Tier 4 = Levels 16-20

[bullet-prooflove]

Great! I didn't want to be rude and request for Peter stone if you were not writing for him!!! If you can, I wanted to request Peter stone x reader with Taylor swift's midnight prompt 60)  She had the envelop where do you think she got it from?

Tagging: @Plaidbooks @malindacath @misscharlielulu @queenslandlover-93 @Storiesofsvu

Peter doesn’t know where you got the envelope but he recognises it the moment he sees it clasped in your hand. He know what it contains, the power it holds.

“You posted this through my door last night when you were wasted.” You tell him as he sits at his desk, his heart pounding.

“Did you read it?” He asks you, his gaze flickering up to meet yours.

You have, he can tell from the expression on your face. When he’d written the letter it was never meant to be proclamation of love, it was a way of venting his feelings, of channelling the news of your engagement. He knows you don’t love Mike Dodds, if you did you wouldn’t be fucking him.

“Peter…” You begin and he shakes his head because he knows that tone and he despises it.

“Don’t tell me that you don’t feel it too.” He says as he raises to his feet. “Don’t tell me you don’t think about me when you’re with him, that you don’t spend the night touching yourself remembering what it feels like when I’m inside you.”

Your cheeks color as you look away and Peter knows he’s won. He steps around his desk until he’s in your proximity. You can feel the heat from his body warming your skin through the silk blouse your wearing as he tips your chin up to meet his gaze.

“Don’t marry him.” He says as he looks into your eyes. “Marry me instead.”

Love Peter? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Interested in supporting me? Join my Patreon for Bonus Content!

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[reading-writing-revolution]

President Joe Biden is expected to pardon US veterans who were convicted by the military over a 60-year period under a military law that banned gay sex, three US officials told CNN.

The pardon proclamation is expected to be announced on Wednesday and one official said it is set to affect roughly 2,000 people. The granting of pardons won’t automatically change convicted veterans’ records but allows those impacted to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Haley Britzky, Oren Liebermann, and Natasha Bertrand at CNN:

President Joe Biden is expected to pardon US veterans who were convicted by the military over a 60-year period under a military law that banned gay sex, three US officials told CNN. The pardon proclamation is expected to be announced on Wednesday and one official said it is set to affect roughly 2,000 people. The granting of pardons won’t automatically change convicted veterans’ records but allows those impacted to apply for a certificate of pardon that will help them receive withheld benefits. The pardon, which CNN is first to report on, specifically grants clemency to service members who were convicted under former Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 125 — which criminalized sodomy, including between consenting adults — between 1951 and 2013 when it was rewritten by Congress. It also applies to those who were convicted of attempting to commit those offenses.

Anyone who was convicted of a non-consensual act such as rape will not be pardoned. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Separately, the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed by Congress in 2011, but not before thousands of service members had been discharged from the military.

A service member’s discharge status can determine what kind of Veterans Affairs benefits they are eligible for. A bad-conduct discharge, for example, given under general court-martial, can make someone ineligible for services including a VA home loan military pension, and education benefits. The pardon is separate from the Pentagon’s ongoing review of military records for those who were discharged based on their sexual orientation, which one of the officials said did not apply to convictions under the UCMJ. The Pentagon launched a new outreach campaign last September to reach more veterans who believe they “suffered an error or injustice” to have their military records reviewed.

[...] The certificate of pardon does not automatically change someone’s discharge status. If a certificate of pardon is issued, the service member will then have to apply to their respective military department’s board of corrections to have their military records corrected.

President Biden is expected to issue pardons to US veterans convicted by the military under UCMJ Article 125 that banned gay sex until 2013. This is yet another step in the right direction for our LGBTQ+ troops who served in the military.

[300yearschallenge]

Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4 I Part 5

"My God!" Charles Elias said. "That's awful! The poor girl..."

"Oh, yes, yes," the maid said, "Very tragic. But to see a troll! Could you imagine? There's whispers she might be cursed, troll-touched as she is."

"Are you done?" A voice rang out across the kitchen and a bolt of ice ran down Charles Elias' spine.

"Oh, Laura!" The maid said. "This young man here was waiting for you."

"I can see that," Laura said, glaring daggers at the maid, "You didn't think to come fetch me?"

"Oh, no," the maid said, "I was sure you would turn up soon enough. Besides, the poor man ought to know what he's getting himself into, don't you think?"

Laura and the maid both turned to look at Charles Elias at once, and he desperately wished for the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

"I see..." Laura said. "So he's a gossip too, then? That's good to know."

"A gossip, hah!" The maid laughed. "He seems perfectly fine to me. Don't you agree, young man?"

"Uh--"

"Oh, forget it!" Laura snapped. "Come on, Mr. Park. We're leaving."

Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4 I Part 5

Summary of Part 3:

The maid told Charles Elias about an incident in Laura's childhood. Her and her mother and father had been traveling by wagon back home when their horse startled and the wagon fell off a cliff. In the aftermath only Laura survived, albeit wounded, and when she was rescued she told people that what had startled their horse had been a troll.

Historical Info

Let's talk about trolls and superstition!

Art by John Bauer (1882 - 1915)

So the troll in Scandinavian folklore/superstition is a creature of the wilderness. There's like a quintillion different troll stories and their appearances and behaviour can be quite varied from place to place, story to story. Sometimes they're hostile, sometimes they're friendly. Sometimes they're human-like, sometimes they're very not.

In The Genre of Trolls by Camilla Asplund Ingemark, she summaries the varied views of trolls based on location in the following way:

"The Central Swedish trolls dwell in mountains, those in Southern Sweden inhabit mounds, and Norwegian trolls live in the high mountains. The looks of the troll may be pictured in various ways, but its ugliness is a common feature. In Central Sweden the troll can be of human height, whereas the Northern and Western parts of the country favour huge trolls (Hartmann 1936: 60–65)"

Since there's a lot of research that has been done into folklore by smarter minds than me, I won't make any further proclamations on the workings of trolls as a whole. Other than to keep in mind that views and stories were varied and different, but the throughline seems to be that trolls are often to be feared and avoided.

In the story of what happened to Laura's family we have a horrific and traumatising accident attributed to a troll. Obviously trolls aren't actually real (although Laura and others believe them to be) and so whatever she truly saw was most likely twisted by trauma and injury into something she had heard of in stories.

In my pictures I chose to have the troll look like a mix between a goat and a man, inspired by the following quotes from the previously quoted text:

"The ambiguity between human and animal characteristics is an important one"

&

"One troll from the Åland Islands shows itself as a he-goat with terrible horns and a beard enveloping the entire hill where it lives (SLS 59: 48–49)"

It intentionally looks almost like very typical depictions of the Devil, since after Sweden became Christian "the troll was assimilated into the image of the Devil"

Now you may be wondering why Laura is being treated so poorly when she was simply the victim of a horrible accident (and supposed troll encounter).

Partially this is just basic human cruelty. Laura, for one reason or another, was seen as an acceptable person to mistreat.

It is also a matter of people fearing those who have had encounters with trolls. People surviving a troll encounter can be viewed in a few different ways. Sometimes they are simply victims of unfortunate circumstances, other times they are transgressors who get punished.

Often in the stories mentioned by The Genre of Trolls the people who have encounters with trolls where they survive (relatively) unscathed are in some ways tied to the trolls. Whether it be a troll expecting a future favour or gift, or wishing to re-capture a previous victim. Sometimes in stories where someone has a non-deadly encounter with a troll they may be gifted a "second sight" of sorts, allowing them to see through troll-made illusions or tricks. In these cases the people are "trapped between different versions of otherness, first a supranormal otherness, then a socially defined alienness".

In Laura's case she is not quite thought to possess any supernatural abilities, but the people in the village see her as someone who could be at risk of either a repeated troll encounter (which could put others at risk) or someone who could unknowingly owe the troll something since she lived when others didn't.

In essence her being mistreated by others is them seeing her connection to trolls as a sort of 'otherness', and as we all know many people in the past and now don't appreciate those who do not fit in.

[thespoliarium]

NEVER FORGET. NEVER AGAIN.

On the 21st of September 1972, 51 years ago, Proclamation 1081 was signed. This would become the deadly start of the Martial Law.

However, the masses only realized that it has started on the 23rd of September. How did this happen? An ambush against the then Minister of Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile on the 22nd of September.

The Marcos regime is anti-NPA, or New People's Army, sometimes called CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army)

Now, let's have some facts about the Martial Law.

1. 107,240 people are primary victims of the HRVs during Martial Law. - 70,000 are arrested. - 34,000 are tortured. - 3,240 are killed by the military police. 2. 464 media outlets were closed - 8 major English newspapers - 18 vernacular, Spanish and English dailies - 60 community newspapers. - 66 TV channels (including ABS-CBN) - 20 radio stations - 292 provincial radio stations. 3. 11,103 of these people are victims of human rights violations. - 2,326 were killed or disappeared. - 238 were r*ped and forcibly abducted - 217 were m*tilated, abused sexually, including minors. - 1,467 were abused mentally, psychologically, emotionally. - 182 were subjected to inhumane treatment - 699 are in arbitrary detention (more than 6 months) - 1,417 are detained between 15 days to 6 months - 1,239 are detained from 36 hours up to 15 days - 579 were in involuntary exile involving violence and illegal takeover of business - 2,739 were in involuntary exile involving intimidation and physical injuries

This remains a dark stain in Philippine history. And with another Marcos on the high seat, we voice out: NEVER FORGET. NEVER AGAIN.

Sources: Fast Facts: The Marcos martial law regime | Inquirer News https://twitter.com/indiohistorian/status/1485997495587151877

[dwellordream]

“...Among the Iroquois, women were the farmers. They produced the corn that was the mainstay of their people’s diet and supplemental crops of squash and beans. Women also raised tobacco to smoke and herbs for teas and medicines. To add variety to their diet, they gathered fresh fruits, nuts, and insects such as grasshoppers. …The Iroquois had no concept of private land ownership. A woman might work a particular piece of land, and as long as she used the plot, it was considered hers. But when the village moved to another location, as it did from time to time, she no longer held a claim to her old fields.

…Iroquois women also maintained social stability through tightly knit female relationships. The mother-daughter bond was particularly strong. The Iroquois considered it more important than any other relationship, including that between a wife and husband. …Traditionally, large Iroquois dwellings, known as longhouses, sheltered as many as 50 or 60 people, all descendants of one elderly woman. By the mid-18th century, however, smaller houses had become common. They often lodged only a single family or a mother and one daughter with her family.

…After reaching right or nine, boys came less directly under female control. At this time they began to imitate adult male behavior by forming hunting gangs that roamed the woods in search of small game. …Older girls, meanwhile, remained with their mothers in the village compound, where they performed traditional women’s work: farming, preparing animal pelts, caring for younger children, making baskets and pottery, and gathering, preserving, and cooking food.

…White observers commented on the passionate love Iroquois women felt for their children and noted the mothers’ refusal to strike or restrain them. Scholars believe the Iroquois avoided physical restraint and blows out of respect for their children. The Iroquois believed that children could be insulted as easily as adults, and parents wanted their offspring to remember them with love and respect, not fear and resentment.

…Love, sexual attraction, and rejection were of great importance to the Iroquois. They readily consulted medicine women and men or even witches about problems in their relationships. Rejected spouses were usually encouraged to find new mates and accept the new unions of their former wives or husbands. Retaliation against a former spouse was discouraged largely because men’s absences made easy divorce and remarriage a social necessity.

…Traditional Iroquois ways gave both women and men the right to decide when to go to war. In Iroquois politics men did the public speaking and announced the decisions of the tribes in great meetings, but women freely exhorted the men to action or delay. The influence of individual women varied according to the persuasiveness of their arguments and their personal status within the tribe.

…The English government recognized that without great effort it could not control the vast new territories it had acquired from France. Rather than risk continual warfare with the native inhabitants, it forbade English settlement in these areas. In theory the English proclamation was an effort to prevent conflict until better arrangements could be made for the native inhabitants. In practice the idea was unworkable from the beginning, as many whites had already moved into the forbidden areas.

…Between 1760 and 1775 more than 125,000 people fled poor economic prospects in the British Isles and Germany to settle in British America. Adding to this surge in white immigration was the forced migration of at least 85,000 Africans, who were brought to the colonies primarily as agricultural laborers. The transportation of Africans and voluntary immigration of Europeans together resulted in a 10 percent increase in the colonial population in just 15 years.

…The lands already were inhabited by indigenous peoples, but this fact meant little to the colonists. They regarded Indian culture as barbaric, Indian religious beliefs as contemptible, and Indian use of the land as wasteful. White settlers believed that the Christian God wanted them to occupy the lands of the interior, just as they already had settled the coastal areas.

…By the time white settlers began to move west of the Appalachian Mountains in large numbers, Native Americans understood their ways well. They knew the whites would demand exclusive ownership of lands they farmed, generally fencing in their land to make the point absolutely clear. They also knew that the whites would pay only nominal sums for the areas they claimed and that they would destroy traditional hunting grounds without regard for the Indian way of life.”

- Marylynn Salmon, “Tension on the Frontier: Iroquois Women Face a New World Order.” in The Limits of Independence: American Women, 1760-1800

[variousqueerthings]

I think -- sexism aside for a moment -- that the big thing that frustrates me about m*ffat's era of doctor who, and something I hope doesn't continue into chibnall or rtd2, is that it feels like there's never a plan for where things are going

and technically one doesn't need to build an era with an overarching idea as such, classic!who seems to be taking it season by season (or even serial by serial, since it's the 60s-80s an season-long arcs and character developments weren't the big thing they are today)

but then he keeps teasing that there is a plan for where things are going. there's a big prophecy, it spans across the galaxy, look an alien bar with a bunch of callbacks to doctor who and new, cool aliens, look, the shadow proclamation throwing out cool words like "suicide moons," look a religious cult with big plans and all these things are leading us... somewhere...

outside of standalone episodes I feel like I'm watching a bunch of concepts for a completely different show, thrown together in a montage (yes, another montage is happening, if I'd remembered it was so many, I would have counted them, and it's always a montage showing how cool the doctor is or how someone is looking for the doctor because of how dangerous and cool the doctor is)

and I know it's not going to go anywhere

the thing so far that has gone the most somewhere was teasing the return of the Master via Michelle Gomez (which, I had other problems with how that was done if I ever finish my rating of the s8 finale, but it wasn't with the idea of the Master's return itself or with Michelle Gomez' portrayal outside of some of the dialogue this poor woman had to make work) and that worked because it wasn't some big prophecy about anything, it was the Master popping out of their box again going "notice meeeee!" which is, yeah, that's a thing that happens on dw a lot, and I quite like some of the way it spells out a bit of the quiet part of their relationship (although we have Questions about Pacing amongst other things)

but nearly every season some random alien has been introduced going "ooooh the doctor, we've got personal beef" and it's cut together like a star wars sequence (side-sweep transition and all) and I know it's meaningless random set-dressing

people worried about how having too much money might affect rtd2, but to me the worst use of dw money has already been, because it created a show that wasn't so much dw as it was hanging onto the coattails of other scifi series without knowing how to build its own identity, so it just threw money at designs and explosions and wrote quippy dialogue spoken too fast to fool you into thinking something was going to happen eventually

and so you wait and wait and wait and then it ends

[tomorrowusa]

Thousands of LGBTQ+ veterans who were discharged from the US military with less than honorable status and who were convicted under now obsolete laws because of their sexuality are getting pardons from President Biden.

Steve Marose, a former US Air Force officer who was discharged for being gay and who served prison time for consensual sodomy, said he had long hoped that one day he would be pardoned. "I can pretend that 'Oh, I'm resilient,' you know, 'I got this,' but in the end, it's trauma," Mr Marose told the BBC. He is one of thousands whose convictions were overturned on Wednesday, after US President Joe Biden announced that he would pardon those found guilty of crimes under a military law that banned gay sex for more than 60 years. Mr Biden described the pardon as "righting an historic wrong". "I'm just glad the day has come," said Mr Marose. He and other veterans were convicted under a provision of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which criminalised sodomy from 1951 to 2013. The US Congress had repealed the portion of the code that outlawed consensual sodomy in 2013.

Strictly speaking, those were felonies and the Biden pardons will eliminate those from the veterans' records.

In a statement on Wednesday, President Biden said he was "using [his] clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves". "We have a sacred obligation to all of our service members - including our brave LGBTQ+ service members: to properly prepare and equip them when they are sent into harm's way, and to care for them and their families when they return home," he said. US media reports that some 2,000 people could be granted clemency under the president’s proclamation. [ ... ] Mr Marose said his conviction in the late 1980s affected his life in many ways. "It is a felony record," he said, adding that it once cost him a job at a police department despite scoring very highly in his interviews. "They do background checks every time I've changed jobs, and I have to dig it all up again and show them this is what it was, this is what the charges were, this is the outcome," Mr Marose said. "It kind of just hangs over me in that regard."

Just for comparison...

Trump Accountability Tracker | GLAAD 213 attacks ON LGBTQ PEOPLE

[babyonboard]

unplanned pt. 1 | joel miller x f!reader

summary: against you and joel’s wishes, you’re pregnant. part 2 coming soon.

warnings: angst, pregnancy, talk of abortion, Joel is lowkey prolife???

word count: 2k

The radio static was almost overtaking the song that was playing. It was a 60s song, a happy one. You loved to listen to old music and imagine how happy the people were who used to listen to it. Almost like you were living vicariously through them. You hummed along, curled up in a ball on the couch underneath a frayed knit blanket. Joel sat beside you, his head laid back with one hand rubbing your back and a glass of whiskey in the other. Even though it wasn’t late, you could hardly keep your eyes open. You had felt sick all day, which is why Joel was rubbing your back.

It wasn’t quite like him, back rubbing and such, but when you got home from work late, almost in tears from how sick you felt, he immediately sprung into action, getting you a blanket and some water, turning on your favorite radio station, and laying with you on the couch.

You stood, causing Joel to snap out of his daze and look up at you. “You okay?” He spoke slowly.

“Yeah, just tired. I’m gonna go to bed.” You wrapped the blanket around you and started walking towards the bedroom.

“What? You just got home… It's early.” Joel said.

“I don't know…” you rubbed your forehead “I just don’t feel good. Can’t keep my eyes open.” He nodded in response. “Goodnight.”

You disappeared into your shared bedroom. You can’t quite put your finger on when his bedroom became your shared bedroom. The days when you would sleep on that old, torn up couch were long gone, thankfully. Sometimes you felt bad about it, the way that you sort of became Joel's responsibility when he found you on the way back from Bill and Frank's house, and how he literally let you share his entire life with him. I mean, you would have died without him, it was a miracle he found you when he did, your stab wound would have killed you if it was any longer. But he did find you. And at the time he couldn’t believe he was doing it, but he helped you. He practically carried you back to the QZ, he took care of you until you were healed, and he kind of just let you keep staying at his place.

It was a night when you both had been drinking his old whiskey that the feelings of love, or lust, or fondness, or whatever feeling it was that you two shared had come to light. From there on out, you were his, and he was yours. No label, no extraordinary proclamation of love, just a shared understanding that you were together now.

Joel took care of you. He provided you with his home, he got you all set up with work in the QZ, he even took you to Bill and Franks once. He lets you use all of his stuff, he gets you medicine when you need it, he has definitely broken a jaw or two for you. It’s not every day a young, beautiful girl stumbles into the Boston QZ. He protects you. And you owe him everything.

But you take care of Joel, too. You cook him actual meals, you make him smile, you make him laugh, you bring a light into his life that he hasn’t seen in a long, long time. You hold him at night and kiss him goodbye in the mornings. Joel would do literally anything for you.

You tried to think about the fact that he would do anything for you as you laid in bed. Staring straight up at the ceiling, you were now unable to fall asleep. Dead tired, but too anxious to do anything about it. You had pushed the thought away for so long because it scared you, but it was at the forefront of your mind now: You think you’re pregnant.

All your life, your periods have been regular. Being 28 years old now, you knew when they were coming. You tried to ignore when your period was 2 days late, then 6 days late, then 2 weeks late. But here you are, 4 weeks late, and you can’t ignore it anymore. You’re always dead tired, you feel nauseous all the time, you're cramping and your back always hurts. It makes your stomach twist to even think about the possibility. But, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Condoms were sparse. You don’t just have an endless supply of them. When you have one, you’ll use it, but most of the time you have to rely on Joel to just pull out. Which he does. Most of the time.

A million thoughts were running through your mind that night. You didn’t sleep a wink. At around midnight Joel came to bed. He climbed under the covers and exhaled loudly when he was settled. The thought of pregnancy had been tormenting your mind for weeks now, but you never said anything to Joel. You knew about Sarah, you knew how it tortured him. You also knew that it would be cruel to bring a child into this world. But this isn’t the type of thing you can hide from him. He knows you. He knows your mind and he knows your soul.

“What’s been botherin’ you?” He spoke into the darkness, sensing you were awake.

You were silent for a moment, stomach doing flips. Mind working in overdrive, you couldn’t find the words to say it.

“Hey.” He turned on his side to look at you as you stared straight up. “What's ‘a matter?”

It was silent again for a moment. “My period is late.” You said quietly.

You heard him take a sharp breath in through his nose, almost like a gasp. He stayed still. “How late?”

You couldn’t look at him. “4 weeks.”

As soon as the words left your mouth he sat straight up. “God damn it!” he shouted. “You didn’t tell me for 4 weeks?” He was appalled.

Finally looking at him, you felt a lump rising in your throat and tears stinging your eyes. “I didn’t want to upset you if it wasn’t true.”

He covered his face with his hands. Quietly, not moving an inch, he sat there. You weren’t sure what to do either, tears already covering your cheeks. It was quiet again.

You sat up next to him. “I'm sorry.” You mustered.

He shook his head. He kept shaking his head back and forth as his shoulders started shaking.

“Joel.” You whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Delicately and slowly, you reached for him. The exact moment your fingertips touched his shoulder blade, he reached for you, almost knocking you backwards onto the bed from how intensely he hugged you.

This was the first time you had ever seen Joel cry. After knowing him for over a year, the most emotion you had ever seen from him was anger. But this was different. He sobbed into you, speaking incoherent words that strung together through his cries.

“Sarah.” He cried. The single name came out as a sob. “I’m scared. Y/N I’m scared. I’m scared.”

You almost feel guilty at the way you were barely able to comfort him as you cried yourself. You held his head against your shoulder and he hugged you tightly.

You cried together. For a while. Until it was silent again.

“What should we do?” You whispered

Joel sat up to look at you, keeping his hand on the side of your neck. His eyes were puffy and his cheeks were flushed. “They don’t got epidurals or shit like that around here, but I’m sure I could get some oxys… or somethin’ like that… and we could go to Bill and Franks. You could do it there. I bet they-”

“Joel…” You cut him off. “Joel, we can't bring a kid into this world.”

He looked stunned. “Y/N I don’t know where you get off thinkin’ I’d let you get rid of it.”

Eyebrows furrowed, you shook your head. “And I don’t know why you think that's something you can decide for me.”

He sighed and looked down. “I think… I think it’d be okay Y/N. They’ve got schools now, I mean by the time that kid, our kid, is old enough they could have a real life of their own. Maybe a good one.”

“Do you…” You looked off into the distance, shaking your head. “Do you even want that with me? A family?”

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate to answer. The two of you stared at each other for what felt like minutes on end.

You shook your head and sat back in the bed, the confliction in your soul was thick. You did not want to keep the baby. But the fact that Joel wants a family with you, it was almost enough to convince you. You wanted more than anything to have a normal life with Joel, and while you couldn’t exactly get that now, a family would be the closest thing to normal.

“We could have a family, Y/N. A child of our own.” He said sternly.

“This is world isn’t safe. Not for a baby.” You said, your hand coming to your face to rub your forehead. “I can’t Joel.”

“Baby.” His voice got soft and he moved to be closer to you. “I would go to hell and back to protect that kid. They would be safe with me. With us.”

You were starting to cry again. “You need to think about what you’d be putting me through. This isn’t some second chance for you to make up for what happened.”

He froze. The second you said that, you knew you shouldn’t have. He stood up, and you followed him, rolling across the bed to get up next to him.

“Joel-“

“You don’t even know what the hell happened. So I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I’m just sayin’ that we could be happy. And you’ve got to bring up something you have no business talking about.” He said. His fists were clenched and he couldn’t even look at you. “You didn’t know Sarah. You never will. Don’t ever bring her into this.”

“I’m sorry.” You croaked. Defeated, you sat back on the bed. “I’m scared too, you know.” You whispered.

He sighed. “I want a family.”

Unable to grasp the reality of a family with him, just the thought of a child with Joel made you want to cry. With joy, with emotion, you weren’t sure.

The rest of the night was mostly silent. Joel was mad that you wanted to get rid of it, he was scared, and he was sad. You were maybe even more scared than he was.

The next day neither of you were scheduled to work. Joel went out early in the morning to get a test for you. It was a cheap, tiny strip of paper that was shipped into the QZ in a truck of supplies a few times a year. “It cost more cards than it damn should '' Joel grumbled as he walked in the door.

There is something about thinking you are having a baby with someone that creates an unconscious bond between the two of you, and you could already feel it as Joel stood with his back against the bathroom door and his arms crossed, watching you. You were on the toilet, and you stood when you were done, setting the thin strip of paper on the bathroom counter. Neither of you said a word as Joel walked over to you, but you could hear his shaky breaths. Within 30 seconds, an unmistakable bright pink second line appeared.

You let out a breath, your hand coming to your mouth. “Oh my god.” You whispered.

“Fuck.” Joel pushed off the counter and walked straight out of the bathroom.

You couldn’t pull your eyes away from the counter, your hand stuck over your mouth. By the time you walked out into the living room, Joel was in the bedroom with the door shut. You sat down on the couch, your hand instinctively coming to rest on your stomach.

You aren’t sure how long you sat by yourself, holding your stomach. At some point, you laid down and pulled your frayed knit blanket to cover your body.

When it was later in the morning, Joel finally emerged from the bedroom. He would never admit it, but he had been crying. You both had. Silently, he came to sit next to you on the couch. He lifted your legs and set them across his lap. It was silent for a while.

“We’ll be okay, Y/N.” He rubbed his hands along your legs. You stared straight forward. “I love you.”

You closed your eyes at his statement. That wasn’t something that either of you had ever said to each other. Undeniably, you have loved Joel ever since you've known him. And now that you’re pregnant with his baby, you felt it even more. “I love you, Joel.”

Later that day, Joel dragged you out of the apartment to go get groceries with him, insisting that you needed to eat. At the small store, the two of you stood in line to pay. In front of you there were two small children and their parents. An unsaid understanding settled between you and Joel as you watched the family interact. The father picked up the younger kid and held her. Joel slipped his hand into yours, and you had to repeatedly swallow the lump in your throat. You leaned your head on his shoulder.

“We’ll be okay, baby.” He whispered into your hair, then kissed your head. “We’ll be okay.”

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

Found a saved copy of this ask from a few years back, before my original tumblr got nuked for no reason. Still stand by it:

______________________________________

Anonymous asked: Do you believe all feminists are hateful? I use the word but I just want equality, and that includes standing up for trans people, male rape victims, etc

-----------------------

No, I believe the great majority of people who identify as feminist are otherwise rational, concerned, well-meaning people who have been hoodwinked and peer-pressured into supporting a hateful, bigoted and appallingly destructive ideology by having it sold to them as a force for good through a relentless campaign of hysteria-inducing propaganda and brute force attempts to corner the market on the word ‘equality’.

On the other hand, I think the great majority of radical feminists are either profoundly damaged or sociopathic individuals seeking to project their own internal uglinesses onto the rest of the the world, people we would all avoid like the plague if they did not have this ‘we just want to help the poor defenceless women, you don’t hate women, do you?’ mask to hide behind. And the problem is, all feminist theory (’The Patriarchy’, ‘rape culture’, ‘the pay gap’, etc) originates only with radical feminists - yes, becoming more diluted as it reaches the mainstream, but still exclusively rooted in the same unhinged, irrational, ideology.

Radical feminism is not fringe feminism but core feminism: the ‘why can’t we all just get along’ feminists don’t write the books on feminist theory taught to young, impressionable minds in gender studies classes around the world, or teach those classes, or draw up the petitions to lobby for anti-male legislation, or organize feminist action groups, etc. The feminists who make a life of it (and a living off it) are all RadFems, and the proclamations pretty much every single one of them make about ‘MEN’ would sound like the most unmistakably horrific genocidal hate speech to everyone overhearing them if they were only talking about any other group of people on planet earth. If you don’t believe me, just try mentally inserting the word ‘black’ or ‘gay’ in front of the word ‘men’ the next time you read any feminist text or listen to one of them rant.

If you want equal rights and treatment for all people, there are other words you can use to describe yourself rather than ‘feminist’ - such as ‘egalitarian’ - which are far less loaded with hateful bigotry and accompanying crazed ideological assumptions about the world. You don’t need 60 years of hysterical conspiracy theories to say you don’t want women or men to be discriminated against, all you need to do is say what you think.

So my recommendation for you would simply be to express what you think and believe on your own and in your own way, without being forced to adopt the ideological framework and scaffolding of a hateful political movement with its many accompanying agendas.

Distrust the hive mind. Be yourself.

[albertfinch]

EMBRACING THE FIGHT OF FAITH

We must not look at the pressures of our times as though they were obstacles set to restrict us. For in the hands of the Almighty, these are the very tools He is using to perfect us.

But the same Spirit that predicted the perilous conditions at the end of the age also forecasts that, in spite of difficulties and battle, the Gospel of Christ's love will be proclaimed worldwide to all nations (see Matthew 24:14). The Lord also said that the "crop" of last-days Christians will reach full stature (see Mark 4:28-29), and that those who know their God will be strong, do exploits, shine like the stars and lead multitudes to righteousness (see Daniel 11:32; 12:3).

WALKING AS OVERCOMERS IN OUR DESTINY

In every age God requires that we walk as overcomers. To position ourselves as overcomers we must ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7) until we come to understand and begin carrying out God’s purpose for our life. We are not to surrender the vision that God has put in our heart to advance and bear fruit that remains for His Kingdom (our Christ calling)), regardless of whatever temporary setbacks we may face.

We must ask ourselves, is our focus upon the enemy's flood?

Or are we bearing fruit that remains for His Kingdom, in the midst of the onslaught of evil, through moving from glory to glory in His calling on our life?

We don't forget that even when darkness covers the earth and deep darkness the peoples, the promise of God is that His glory shall rise upon us and His presence shall be visibly seen through us!  The  Lord promises that, at the end of the war between light and darkness, "nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (see Isaiah 60:1-3).

THE FIGHT OF FAITH IN GOD'S PROMISES

Our fight is the fight of faith: Do we believe, affirm, and meditate on what God has promised to build up our spirit each and every day? Our war is against principalities and powers: Do we believe the report that Christ shall "sprinkle [that is, cleanse, and bring forgiveness and transformation to] many nations" - (Isaiah 52:15) as we co-labor with Him to advance His Kingdom in the earth?

His Word is not just a comfort to us in times of trouble but a sword that we wield in times of spiritual war.  His faithful Word is what we proclaim over our Christ CALLING, our family, our church, our city and our nation!  Consider His proclamation: "So will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it" -  (Isaiah 55:11). No matter how the battle rages, God's Word shall not return to Him void.

Consider also His commitment: "I am watching over My Word to perform it" (Jeremiah 1:12).

"The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' – that is, the Word of faith which we are preaching" -  (Romans 10:8).

CREATING THE FUTURE

The Lord does not want us worrying about the future; He wants us to create it through the knowledge of His will for our lives (our Christ calling), through the vision He puts in our heart, through the proclamation of His Word, and through our yieldedness to the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.

And then He promises, "Whoever believes in [Me] will not be disappointed" (Romans 10:11).

He assures us, "All things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23). Let's break the bondage of a passive spirit. Let's take up the sword of the Spirit and embrace the fight of faith!

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY