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agiar2000 · 4 years ago

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Resistance to Violence

I just saw this video, and I found it very intriguing and impactful, intellectually. It actually did get me thinking differently about the main issue therein. https://youtu.be/YJSehRlU34w

When this video was published, I was probably already quite convinced of the virtue of non-violent resistance.

In recent years, however, I have seen more and more of how non-violent protesters have not only been subjected to oppressive violence in retaliation, but have also been publicly blamed for the violence being done to and around them, so that the corrupt media has successfully managed to redirect the sympathy that ought to be conferred on those who are bravely and peacefully standing in the face of violence and oppression, and twist it into even more support for the oppressive system. I have seen how violent regimes are perfectly willing to brutalize peaceful people just to assert and demonstrate their dominance, and then I see them getting praise from large swaths of the population who support that oppression.

On the other hand, I have also been thinking more about situations where violence was the catalyst to finally make progress for equality and justice. The Confederate States of America, the Nazis of Germany, and the various unconscionable horrors they wrought were not stopped by people protesting peacefully, by seeking common ground, by seeking to understand them better and make them comfortable. They were stopped by a sufficient opposing army slaughtering them until they ceased to be willing and able to pose a continuing threat to humanity.

It's also helpful, I think to contrast the end of the Confederacy with the end of the Nazis. Starting with the Confederacy: While slavery and white supremacy were certainly overtly stated goals of the Confederacy's rebellion, the Union was (and still is) hardly an anti-racist country, and it has been noted that their goal in fighting the Confederacy was more about retaining the Union than about ending slavery. In the end, when the Confederacy surrendered, there was an attempt by the victors to ease the feelings of the erstwhile rebels, to allow them to retain a great deal of "Southern pride". For that, we get the Daughters of the Confederacy whitewashing and rewriting history, the Ku Klux Klan continuing to wage terror across the country, and many of the various monuments and other dedications to honor Confederate leaders. The meaning of these symbols is clearly white supremacy, and not merely "Southern pride", as evidenced by how they're used. Many of these monuments were erected in the former Confederacy as part of the backlash against the civil rights movement in the 20th century, and some people even outside of America proudly wave the Confederacy's navy jack flag. Why would non-Americans wave that flag? Because they want to wave a flag for white supremacy, and they can't legally wave the flag of the Nazis.

The Nazis, by contrast, were obliterated. They were not allowed to retain "Nazi pride" after the fall of their heinous regime. The symbols of their monstrosity were banned. A standard of basic human decency was granted greater priority than the "freedom" of terrible people to do horrible things. Nazism was destroyed, not simply because it opposed other powers that wanted to control them, but because they were evil, and they needed to be stopped for the good of the world. The result is that now, less than 8 decades after the fall of the Nazis, Germany is a far more decent, pro-social democracy than the former Confederate states, which continue to stand for right-wing oppression, even over 15 decades after the surrender of the Confederacy.

Another example, though less of a dramatic one, is that of the Stonewall riot. The LGBTQ community did not start gaining rights and freedom from a horrifically oppressive regime because they were kind, nice, and peaceful, gently appealing to the better angels of their murderers and oppressors, making the effort to try to understand them and to meet them in the middle. What kicked off their victories at this time was Black trans women of color throwing bricks at police.

Considering all that, I found Chenoweth's presentation difficult to reconcile. When the oppressive regime has control over the media, when they make every peaceful protester look like a violent, dangerous terrorist, and they convince large portions of the population to be willing to fight for fascism, convincing them that it is actually "freedom", and that efforts for justice are actually an attack on their very identity, how can one possibly proceed? When those in power do murder peaceful protesters, do you keep showing up to protest peacefully? If you see someone going around shooting people left and right, do you stand there and demand verbally that the shooter stop?

So, what to do? We live in a violent society that has normalized routine violence against the poor, minorities, people of color, and all of the most marginalized and vulnerable in society. We only need 3.5% of the population to actively resist? Already 5.8% of the American population is in deep poverty, with 9.2% in poverty, generally. Globally, these numbers are even more horrifying, with 9.2% in deep poverty and nearly 17% in a state of being "multidimensionally poor", and nearly half living on less than the equivalent of US$5.50 per day. Couldn't we count on those people, at the very least, to oppose their own oppression? No, we cannot, partly because part of being so oppressed is being kept so weak and powerless that you don't have the energy to resist and being provided just enough that you're terrified to lose what little you have by daring to stand up, but also because so many of them have been brainwashed and corrupted into voting against their own interests and being willing to fight against the people who are trying to help them, and blame the even more marginalized among them or phantoms of foreign powers for all of their problems. Maybe if they knew what was really going on, we would have won long before now.

Now, regarding the topic of the video, the success of non-violent resistance, I very much appreciate that Chenoweth's presentation relied on statistical data from studies of hundreds of events rather than the mere anecdotes that were foremost in my mind when I started watching, and I also appreciate that she started by talking about the mindset from which she started, which closely resembled my own, including good examples of violent revolutions that ended corrupt regimes. I don't know exactly how the data she used to reach her conclusion were gathered and classified, and I retain some skepticism, but I would very much like to believe that her data are, in fact, representative, accurate, and actionable. I would very much like to believe that we can, in fact, win freedom and justice through peaceful means, though I have a hard time really being confident in it. I want to believe that she's right because otherwise, I see very little hope at all. We are very close to a point at which total environmental collapse is inevitable, with the majority of global power still putting the pedal to the metal to drive us off that cliff as fast as possible. The most aggressive policy proposals to save the planet involve easing up on the gas slightly, far too little far too late, and even those are being defeated by the regressive death cult of neoliberals, conservatives, and fascists. At this point, it is hard to see how any future can exist that does not involve tremendous destruction. Either the forces of evil win outright and destroy everything, or the forces that oppose them are forced to wreak so much destruction in order to stop them that they might as well have lost anyway. It's hard to imagine sometimes that we have not already completely lost, that the world is not already completely doomed, and all that is left is to watch as the monsters responsible for it just keep making things worse until the very end.

I guess the answer is just to have faith and to do whatever we can to give humanity the best possible chance, and that means two main strategic goals: 1. Motivate and influence enough people to reach that 3.5% threshold to actually resist for the change that we all need. 2. Determine an actual action plan for those people to carry out that will have the desired effect with a minimum of collateral damage and harmful side effects.

Sadly, I have no idea how to do either of those things, and anything I can think of still feels either depressingly small and insufficient or worrying for its potential to cause unintended harm.

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foxrp · 4 years ago

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timeline

fallout breaks off from the canonical storyline on jan 1st, 1979. the site is primarily focused on the socio-political climate of the wizarding world, within the confines of britain and ireland, admist the rising of the dark lord, voldemort.

as we start right before the height of the wizarding war, events such as the trelawney's prophecy, lily's pregnancy, peter's defection, and regulus' death have yet to occur. as we are an au site, we will continue to update the timeline with any site-specific canon developments or divergences.

( and of course, here’s a preview picture of our timeline via a screenshot of our guide! )

1940'S

13 JUNE 1943

tom riddle opens the chamber of secrets; several students are attacked, and myrtle warren is killed by the basilisk. with the murder of myrtle, tom riddle transforms his diary into his first horcrux.

AUGUST 1943

tom riddle murders his father, tom riddle sr., and his grandparents, thomas and mary riddle, and transforms marvolo gaunt's ring into his second horcrux.

JUNE 1945

albus dumbledore defeats gellert grindelwald in what is thought to be greatest duel ever fought between wizards. grindelwald is subsequently incarcerated in nurmengard prison, isolated high in the austrian alps.

2 SEPTEMBER 1945

the second world war ends in the muggle world.

C. 1947

the werewolf register is introduced by the ministry of magic to maintain records of all lycanthropes in the british isles.

C. 1948

tom riddle murders an albanian peasant while retrieving rowena ravenclaw's diadem, which he later transforms into his third horcrux.

C. 1949

tom riddle forms the knights of walpurgis, the predecessors to his death eaters.

1960'S

C. 1961

tom riddle murders hepzibah smith and takes her two most valuable treasures, salazar slytherin's locket and helga hufflepuff's cup. he later murders a muggle tramp and transforms the two objects into his fourth and fifth horcruxes.

C. 1962

nobby leach becomes the first muggleborn minister of magic.

C. 1967

hogwarts welcomes albus dumbledore as its new headmaster.

C. 1968

while visiting hogwarts to apply for the position of professor of defense against the dark arts, tom riddle hides the horcrux crafted from ravenclaw's diadem in the room of requirement and curses the defense against the dark arts professorship, never again to be held by one person for more than a year.

C. 1969

minister leach dies from a mysterious illness, possibly the result of a malicious plot by abraxas malfoy. leach is succeeded by eugenia jenkins. she inherits a political climate of extreme unrest, including squib rights marches and pureblood riots, but handles the situation well.

1970'S

C. 1970 - NOW

voldemort's rise to power begins, and the ensuing reign of terror wrought by his death eaters leads to widespread discontent, destruction, and several mysterious disappearances - this is the start of the first wizarding war.

C. 1973

the order of the phoenix establishes its headquarters at the leaky cauldron pub on diagon alley in london, hidden on an invisible top floor kept concealed by a fidelius charm. its secret-keepers are albus dumbledore and minerva mcgonagall. a network of order-allied, fidelius-charmed safehouses begins to form, connecting all corners of the britain and ireland as well as western continental europe.

C. 1975

minister jenkins is forced from office after she is unable to deal adequately with the threat of voldemort. she is replaced by the hard-lined harold minchum.

C. 1975

after lucius malfoy joins the ranks of the death eaters, lord voldemort establishes a new wartime headquarters for himself and his death eaters at malfoy manor in wiltshire, england.

C. 1976

the ministry passes acts that allows bartemius crouch sr., head of the department of magical law enforcement, to send suspected death eaters to azkaban without a trial. this begins a wave of tightening restrictions for the wizarding world, in order to keep them safe from the new threat.

C. 1977

bartemius crouch sr. gives aurors the authorization to use unforgivable curses on death eaters without warning.

C. DECEMBER 1977

the coalition is put into place in the uk following bartemius crouch sr.'s authorization order, something that signals to the rest of the world the state of the british ministry.

C. AUGUST 1978

an anonymously written, ether published article on the pros and cons of tainted blood makes waves in its publication, being used as both pro and anti rebellion propaganda.

C. OCTOBER 1978

reports find that the rates of those being turned into creatures such as vampires and werewolves have steadily increased, much to the worry of the ministry.

#foxrp #timeline #previews #updates

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fanyiyimdzs · 5 years ago

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Mo Dao Zu Shi: Chapter 7

Masterpost

Previous chapter

In the end, after caressing his ring for a time, Jiang Cheng forced his hostile emotions down.

Though he was very unhappy, he was a Clan Chief and had to consider the repercussions of his actions. He couldn’t be impulsive like boys such as Jin Ling. The decline of the Qinghe Nie Clan had left only Three Great Clans remaining, and among them, the Lanling Jin Clan and the Gusu Lan Clan were the closest due to the deep personal bond between their two chiefs. On the other hand, Jiang Cheng controlled the Yunmeng Jiang Clan alone, and his clan was relatively isolated. Hanguang Jun Lan Wangji was a highly distinguished figure in the cultivation world, and his elder brother, Zewu Jun Lan Xichen, was the Chief of the Gusu Lan Clan. The two brothers had a strong, harmonious relationship—if Jiang Cheng didn’t need to destroy his standing with them, it was best not to.

Moreover, Jiang Cheng’s sword Sandu1 had never truly met Lan Wangji’s Bichen in battle, thus the final outcome of such a clash was unclear. And though he had the mighty ring “Zidian”2 around his finger, Lan Wangji’s “Wangji”3 qin also had a fearsome reputation. Jiang Cheng couldn’t tolerate being at a disadvantage—without complete assurance of his victory, he wouldn’t consider fighting Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng stopped stroking the ring and slowly withdrew his left hand. It seemed Second Master Lan was intent on intervening, so continuing to play the villain would cause him trouble. For now, he would simply remember this incident. Done weighing the pros and cons, Jiang Cheng turned and saw Jin Ling still angrily covering his mouth. “Just accept Hanguang Jun’s punishment this one time. After all, the opportunity to discipline another clan’s disciples is a rare one indeed.”

His tone was sneering, but it was unclear who he was sneering at. Lan Wangji never opened his mouth in response to such provocations—he merely acted as though he hadn’t heard it. Jiang Cheng’s next words were wrapped in thorns. “Why are you still standing there? Are you waiting for prey to rush toward you and stick themselves on your sword? If you can’t capture whatever’s living in Dafan Mountain, don’t ever come see me again!”

Jin Ling shot Wei Wuxian a venomous glare, but he didn’t have the courage to glare at Lan Wangji, the one responsible for his forced silence. Placing his sword back into its scabbard, he made polite goodbyes to the two seniors opposite him and retreated with his bow in hand. Lan Sizhui said, “Chief Jiang, the Gusu Lan Clan will of course return the exact number of spirit-binding nets that were destroyed.”

Jiang Cheng smiled coldly. “No need!” He chose to reverse course and take a leisurely stroll down the mountain. His disciples followed behind him silently, their faces miserable and marked with anxiety, knowing that when they returned, there would be no way to avoid their Clan Chief’s wrath.

Once their silhouettes disappeared in the distance, Lan Jingyi said, “How could Chief Jiang act like that?!” Only once he finished did he remember the House Lan’s prohibitions against speaking about someone behind their backs. Scared, he glanced at Hanguang Jun, closed his mouth, and shuffled backwards. Lan Sizhui smiled slightly at Wei Wuxian and said, “Young Master Mo, we meet again.”

Wei Wuxian pulled on the corners of his lips. But Lan Wangji opened his mouth and issued a command. It was clear and concise, free of any ornamentation. “Complete your task.”

Only then did the flock of juniors remember why they had come to Dafan Mountain. Placing any other thoughts at the back of their minds, they reverently awaited further instructions. A few moments later, Lan Wangji spoke again, “Try your hardest. No recklessness.”

His voice was low and magnetic. The heart of anyone standing near enough would undoubtedly tremble upon hearing it. The juniors obediently followed Hanguang Jun’s orders and walked deeper into the mountain forests, too afraid to linger. Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan were truly completely different people, Wei Wuxian thought. Even the advice and the warnings they gave their juniors were completely contrary. As he was pondering this, Lan Wangji suddenly gave him a slight, almost invisible nod, and Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but become slightly dazed.

Ever since he was young, Lan Wangji had been so serious and deadpan it made Wei Wuxian’s head hurt. He was grave, inflexible, and seemed like he had never had a spontaneous moment in his life. Defects of behavior were like grains of sand in his eyes; he couldn’t stand them. Thus, he had met the news that Wei Wuxian had taken up demonic cultivation with the harshest disapproval. But Lan Sizhui should have already informed Lan Wangji about Mo Xuanyu’s suspicious behavior at Mo Manor, yet the senior Lan had still nodded in greeting—most likely to thank him for helping the Lan juniors with their earlier trouble. Without thinking, Wei Wuxian returned the greeting. But when he lifted his head again, even Lan Wangji’s shadow had disappeared.

After a pause, he turned around and began to walk back down the mountain.

No matter what kind of prey was lurking around Dafan Mountain, he couldn’t pursue it. If Wei Wuxian was going to fight anyone over it, he wouldn’t fight Jin Ling.

It had really been Jin Ling.

Wei Wuxian had not expected that, of all the Lanling Jin Clan’s disciples, he would happen to run into Jin Ling. If he had known, how could he have used words like “you weren’t raised by a mother” to mock the boy? If someone else had said such a thing, he would have made them understand exactly what “bringing disaster upon yourself” meant. But the one who had spoken them was Wei Wuxian himself.

After a moment of stillness, he lifted his hand and slapped himself in the face.

The slap resonated inside his skull, and his right cheek stung from the force of it. Suddenly, the bushes beside him rustled. When Wei Wuxian glanced at the source of the noise, a donkey’s head emerged through the leaves, and, for once, the donkey shuffled towards Wei Wuxian’s hanging hand out of its own free will. He pulled on its long ears and laughed bitterly. “You wanted to save the pretty maiden, but forced me to play the hero.”

As the donkey whined and grumbled, a wave of cultivators crested over the mountain slope, heading directly towards them. Once every one of the four hundred spirit-binding nets had been cut by Lan Wangji’s flying blade, all the cultivators who had originally loitered around Fojiao Village began surging up the mountain. All of these people could be considered Jin Ling’s competitors, so Wei Wuxian briefly considered forcing them to retreat again. But in the end, he quietly let them pass.

Dressed in a random assortment of house colours, the crowd of disciples grumbled loudly as they climbed. “Both House Jin and House Jiang spoil that Young Master Jin rotten. Even at his young age, he’s already so arrogant and tyrannical. In the future, if the Lanling Jin Clan falls into his hands, it’ll only end in upheaval and rebellion. We might as well die!”

Wei Wuxian slowed.

A soft-hearted female cultivator sighed.“But how could they not spoil him? He lost both his mother and father at such a young age.”

“Ah, sister, you can’t talk like that. So what if both his mother and father are gone? The world is full of people who’ve lost both their parents—if everyone acted like he does, it would be a catastrophe!”

“Wei Wuxian sure went after whoever he wanted. Jin Ling’s mother was none other than Jiang Cheng’s sister by blood, and the one who had looked after him since he was small.”

“Jiang Yanli was so unlucky to have raised such an ungrateful, wild dog. Jin Zixuan had it even worse. Look at how horribly he ended up, just because he and Wei Wuxian once had a few petty feuds.”

“It seems like everyone had some kind of feud with him…”

“Exactly. Other than the crazed wolves he raised, have you ever heard of him having a good relationship with anyone? He has enemies everywhere—he’s pretty much despised by all of the earth and the heavens! Even Hanguang Jun and him hated each other on sight, like fire and water.”

“Speaking of which, if it hadn’t been for Hanguang Jun today…”

Wei Wuxian walked for a while, when suddenly, the soft sound of a running creek streamed into his ears.

He hadn’t heard this noise when he had walked up the mountain. Only now did he realize he had forked off onto the some other route on his way down.

Holding onto the donkey’s reins, he approached the creek. The moon shined through the branches overhead, on which not a single leaf hung to offer cover. The water in the middle of the creek was choppy and frosty white. Glancing at his reflection, Wei Wuxian saw a face that changed unpredictably with the flow of the water.

Viciously, he slapped the surface with his open palm and shattered his absurd, comical visage. Raising his dripping hand, he began rubbing off the powder with the creek water.

It took only a few scoops. When his reflection appeared again, he saw a very elegant and handsome young man. Now clean, his face looked as though it had been bathed in moonlight. His brows were relaxed, his eyes clear and bright, and the corners of his mouth were upturned into a slight smile. But as he was bowed over the creek, intently examining his reflection, the beads of water decorating his lashes seemed like endlessly falling teardrops.

This face was young and strange. It wasn’t the face which had once drowned the earth and overturned the heavens, nor the face that caused foul winds to blow and hot blood to pour from the skies above. It wasn’t the Old Yiling Master Wei Wuxian’s face.

After staring at this face for a long while, Wei Wuxian rubbed it again a few more times, massaged his eyes, and thudded back onto the shore.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t endure others’ harsh tongues and nasty words. After all, when he had first made his decision, he had understood perfectly clearly the kind of road that lay ahead. His mind had long reminded him: remember the motto of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan—“attempt the impossible.”

Only, he had believed his heart to be an unmovable stone. Yet, in the end, humans were not rocks or vegetation.

The little donkey seemed to recognise his low mood and, for once, didn’t impatiently moan and bray. After a moment of silence, it whipped around and began walking away. But Wei Wuxian continued sitting by the creekside, displaying no reaction, so it glanced back at him and stomped its hooves. Still, Wei Wuxian ignored it. Angry, the donkey could only return, bite down on the front of his robes, and drag him away.

Leaving or staying, either was fine to Wei Wuxian, but since the donkey was now pulling him with its teeth, he figured he might as well follow. The donkey hauled him beneath a few trees, then paced in circles around a patch of vegetation. Within the underbrush, a qiankun4 bag was quietly hidden. A ruined golden net hung above his head: some unfortunate cultivator had almost certainly dropped the bag as they struggled free of the trap. Wei Wuxian picked it up and took a look inside. It contained quite a few miscellaneous items, such as gourds of medicinal wine, talismans, little fae-reflecting mirrors, and so on.

After digging through it for a while, he grabbed a talisman, which suddenly burst into flame in his hand.

The talisman had a yin-ignition seal written on it, which, as the name implies, automatically ignited upon contact with yin energy. The stronger the yin energy, the bigger the fire. Since it started burning as soon as Wei Wuxian had removed it from the bag, there had to be a dark spirit nearby.

As soon as he had seen the firelight, Wei Wuxian’s attention became concentrated on guarding against the spirit. Lifting the talisman, he tried waving it around in different directions. Turning east, the fire dimmed, whereas turning west, the flames suddenly jumped up higher and higher. He walked a few steps in that direction and saw a stooped, white figure emerge under a nearby tree.

Ashes fell from Wei Wuxian’s fingertips as the paper burned completely up. The figure was an elderly man with his back turned on him, muttering.

As Wei Wuxian slowly drew near, the old man’s mutterings became clearer.

“Ah, it hurts, it hurts.”

“Where does it hurt?” Wei Wuxian asked.

The old man replied, “Ah, my head. My head. It’s my head.”

“Let me see,” Wei Wuxian said.

He walked a few steps to the old man’s side and saw a bloody red hole in the middle of his forehead. This was a dead soul, and the murderer had probably killed him by smashing some kind of weapon into his skull. He wore burial clothes of high quality material and strong craftsmanship, which meant he had already been properly interred. This wasn’t the lost soul of some living person.

But this kind of soul shouldn’t be appearing on Dafan Mountain.

It defied all logic, and Wei Wuxian couldn’t come up with any explanation. But it was anything but reassuring. He hopped onto the donkey’s back, slapped its hindquarters, gave a holler, and spurred it onwards towards the place where Jin Ling had gone up the mountain.

Many cultivators dithered around the old burial mound, intent on waiting for their prey to show up on its own rather than taking decisive action. Some of them had bravely raised a yin summoning flag, but it only attracted a swarm of spirits who did nothing except wail so loudly all of the earth and sky could hear them. Pulling on the donkey’s reins, Wei Wuxian glanced around and asked in a clear, bright voice, “Excuse me, could you please tell me something? Where did the little Masters from House Jin and House Lan go?”

Now that he had washed his face, one of the cultivators responded promptly. “They left this place and went to the Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden.”

“Shrine of the Heavenly Maiden?” Wei Wuxian said.

After the family of cultivators he had saved heard about the destruction of the spirit-binding nets, they quietly snuck up the mountain again, and were also among the people who had gathered to patrol the old burial grounds. The middle aged man, seeing Wei Wuxian’s clothes and his toothy donkey, thought Wei Wuxian was probably the lunatic who had rescued them earlier. Quite embarrassed, he pretended nothing had happened, but the round-faced young woman pointed and gave directions: “Over there. It’s a shrine inside a cave in the mountain.”

Wei Wuxian questioned her more closely, “Which divinity was the temple built for?”

The round-faced young woman said, “I think—I think the statue of the heavenly maiden appeared naturally.”

Wei Wuxian nodded. “Thank you very much.”

He rushed to the shrine at once.

The marriage of the lazy bum, the lightning strike that had split open coffins, the fiancé who had been bitten to death by wolves, the successive loss of the souls of a father and daughter, the beautiful burial clothes…they were like matching pearls finally strung together. No wonder the evil wind compasses hadn’t picked up anything. The yin summoning flags were even more useless. They had all underestimated the thing on Dafan Mountain.

It wasn’t at all what they thought it was!

_________________

1 “Sandu” (三毒) literally means “three poisons.”

2 “Zidian” (紫电) literally means “violet electricity.”

3 “Wangji” (忘机) literally means “above earthly concerns.”

4 “Qiankun” (乾坤) literally means “heaven and earth.”

Masterpost

#mo dao zu shi #MDZS #wei wuxian #wwx #lan wangji #lwj

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Canada unveils largest economic relief package since WW2 (BBC) Canada's federal government will spend C$100bn ($77bn, £58bn) to kick-start the country's post-pandemic economy. It is "the largest economic relief package for our country since the Second World War", Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Monday. The spending will bring the deficit to a historic C$381.6bn by March 2021. The wide-ranging plan includes targeted relief for hard-hit business sectors, investments in long-term care homes and distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Study: Students falling behind in math during pandemic (AP) A disproportionately large number of poor and minority students were not in schools for assessments this fall, complicating efforts to measure the pandemic’s effects on some of the most vulnerable students, a not-for-profit company that administers standardized testing said Tuesday. Overall, NWEA’s fall assessments showed elementary and middle school students have fallen measurably behind in math, while most appear to be progressing at a normal pace in reading since schools were forced to abruptly close in March and pick up online. The analysis of data from nearly 4.4 million U.S. students in grades 3-8 represents one of the first significant measures of the pandemic’s impacts on learning. But researchers at NWEA, whose MAP Growth assessments are meant to measure student proficiency, caution they may be underestimating the effects on minority and economically disadvantaged groups. Those students made up a significant portion of the roughly 1 in 4 students who tested in 2019 but were missing from 2020 testing. NWEA said they may have opted out of the assessments, which were given in-person and remotely, because they lacked reliable technology or stopped going to school. The NWEA findings show that, compared to last year, students scored an average of 5 to 10 percentile points lower in math, with students in grades three, four and five experiencing the largest drops.

Coronavirus emerged earlier than thought (WSJ) The new coronavirus infected people in the U.S. in mid-December 2019, a few weeks before it was officially identified in China and about a month earlier than public health authorities found the first U.S. case, according to a government study published Monday. The findings significantly strengthen evidence suggesting the virus was spreading around the world well before public health authorities and researchers became aware, upending initial thinking about how early and quickly it emerged. Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found evidence of infection in 106 of 7,389 blood donations collected by the American Red Cross from residents in nine states across the U.S., according to the study published online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Brazen gun battle in Brazil bank heist leaves cash scattered on road (Reuters) Bank robbers in southern Brazil blasted explosives and fired high-caliber weapons at police late on Monday, in an audacious heist that injured two people and left reams of cash in the streets to be pocketed by locals. The robbery began just before midnight on Monday in the southern city of Criciúma and lasted nearly two hours, according to a statement from military police in Santa Catarina state. Terrifying images shared on social media showed armed men firing automatic weapons on the city streets, taking hostages and then making their getaway in a fleet of cars. In their wake, the robbers left cash strewn across the streets. Residents soon spread out to snatch up the notes, television footage showed. Authorities have located 810,000 reais ($152,660), police said. Local media reported that there were 30 robbers involved in the heist. Brazil has a long history of bank heists, and major lenders have struggled with a wave of violent robberies in recent years as criminals have mastered the use of explosives to access cash.

Scottish independence (Foreign Policy) Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called for an independence referendum “in the early part of the new parliament,” ahead of Scottish parliamentary elections in May. Sturgeon made the remarks in an address at a Scottish National Party (SNP) conference. Although Scottish voters rejected independence by a 55-45 percent margin in 2014, recent polls show a majority in favor of secession, likely due to the strong support for the European Union among Scots. Westminster would have to give Edinburgh permission to hold another referendum, and Sturgeon has said she will take the British government to court if they block a vote.

NATO Searches For Meaning (Foreign Policy) Foreign ministers of NATO member nations meet today for a two-day conference to discuss the future of the alliance as the organization searches for relevance ahead of the impending Joe Biden presidency. The alliance has spent the last two decades finding purpose in its Afghanistan mission, but with U.S. interest waning, and troops departing, it’s in search of a new raison d’être. The group appears to have found its motivation in a challenger thousands of miles from its borders. A new report due to be reviewed at today’s meeting calls for fresh thinking on dealing with a rising China, including deepening ties with Asian allies and increasing technological capabilities.

Animal attacks taking their toll in Kashmir (AP) Amid the long-raging deadly strife in Indian-controlled Kashmir, another conflict is silently taking its toll on the Himalayan region’s residents: the conflict between man and wild animals. According to official data, at least 67 people have been killed and 940 others injured in the past five years in attacks by wild animals in the famed Kashmir Valley, a vast collection of alpine forests, connected wetlands and waterways known as much for its idyllic vistas as for its decades-long armed conflict between Indian troops and rebels. The Himalayan black bear is at the heart of this trouble. Experts say over 80% of the deaths and maulings are due to attacks by black bears. Nestled between mountain peaks and plateaus, Kashmir has witnessed a rapid change in how people are using the land. Vast paddy fields have been converted into mostly apple orchards. New neighborhoods have popped up around wetlands and forest areas. In turn, experts say, animals are approaching human settlements in search of food and shelter, leading to a sharp increase in attacks.

Angry Farmers Choke India’s Capital in Giant Demonstrations (NYT) Mewa Singh said he wasn’t going anywhere. On Monday afternoon, Mr. Singh, who farms a small plot of land in northern India, sat in the back of a mud-splattered farm trailer, heaps of rice, lentils, fresh garlic and other spices piled around him, blocking one of the main arteries into India’s capital. Part of an army of thousands of angry farmers who have encircled New Delhi, Mr. Singh vowed to keep protesting for however long it takes for India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to reverse recently passed agricultural policies. “Our land is our mother,” said Mr. Singh, growing emotional as he talked about the new policies, which he saw as part of an effort to hand farmers’ land over to big business. “It was passed on to us from our parents, who got it from their parents, and now Modi wants to acquire it and give it away to his rich friends.” Even though Mr. Modi’s political party firmly controls the government, the growing farmers’ rebellion seems to have rattled his administration. In India, more than 60 percent of the population depends on agriculture to make a living. Farmers are a huge political constituency.

In Asia, Pro-Democracy Forces Worry About Biden (NYT) Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong are championing President Trump’s claims of an electoral victory. Human rights activists and religious leaders in Vietnam and Myanmar are expressing reservations about President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to keep authoritarians in check. It might seem counterintuitive that Asian defenders of democracy are among the most ardent supporters of Mr. Trump, who has declared his friendship with Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un of North Korea. But it is precisely Mr. Trump’s willingness to flout diplomatic protocol, abandon international accords and keep his opponents off-balance that have earned him plaudits as a leader strong enough to stand up to dictators and defend democratic ideals overseas, even if he has been criticized as diminishing them at home. As President-elect Biden assembles his foreign-policy team, prominent human rights activists across Asia are worried about his desire for the United States to hew again to international norms. They believe that Mr. Biden, like former President Barack Obama, will pursue accommodation rather than confrontation in the face of China’s assertive moves.

China lands a spacecraft on moon for third time (Washington Post) China landed a spacecraft on the moon Tuesday on a mission to mine rocks and soil and return them to Earth, the latest in a series of lunar missions demonstrating the country’s emergence as a force in space exploration. The landing, without a crew aboard, was China’s third on the lunar surface since 2013 and came almost two years after China pulled off a historic first—landing a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. If China’s Chang’e-5 mission succeeds, it would mark the first time a nation has retrieved samples from the moon since the United States and Soviet Union did it several decades ago. The mission, which includes a lander, an ascent vehicle, a service capsule and a return capsule, was launched Nov. 23 on China’s powerful Long March-5 rocket. On the lunar surface, the probe is expected to dig about seven feet deep, collecting as much as 4.5 pounds of rocks and lunar soil into the ascent vehicle, which would then meet up with the service capsule in lunar orbit and return to Earth.

Nike ad showing racial discrimination faced by Japanese girls provokes backlash (Washington Post) A Nike advertisement highlighting racial discrimination faced by schoolgirls in Japan, and suggesting they can overcome it through sports, has provoked a fierce debate and backlash in a nation unaccustomed to openly discussing such issues. The video showing three young soccer players is based on the “real life experience of athletes,” Nike Japan said, conveying how they “overcome their daily struggles and conflicts to move their future through sports.” The ad has been viewed about 25 million times across Twitter and YouTube. It has been shared or liked nearly 80,000 times on Twitter, but negative reactions accelerated this week, with likes only outnumbering dislikes on YouTube by a few thousand. Japan’s national identity is based partly on a myth of itself as a monoethnic country. This has fueled the marginalization of the indigenous Ainu people in the past, and discrimination against ethnic Koreans and Chinese, biracial Japanese people and immigrants.

Radioactive water (Hakai Magazine) Radioactive water is accumulating at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant as workers have pumped water into the destroyed buildings to keep the site cool for the past ten years. After coming into contact with the reactors, the water has to be stored, and while operator Tokyo Electric Power Company has built tanks for this exact purpose, there are over one million tonnes of water in those tanks as of this year. By 2022, they believe they’ll run out of room for new tanks. There are potentially 62 radioactive elements in that wastewater, and as of 2018, some particularly gnarly isotopes were still exceeding safe levels, even after cleaning. The Japanese government will eventually have to decide what to do with this waste, which could include slowly dumping it into the ocean. That’s banned by the London Protocol, and the United Nations International Maritime Organization will likely have some very strong feelings about any such plan.

#headlines #news

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berniesrevolution · 6 years ago

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CATALYST JOURNAL

Viewed by many as the most promising development for the global left in decades, the Pink Tide is in retreat. To understand its decline, this essay compares its rise and achievements to the rise of the region’s classical left, which emerged following the Cuban Revolution. Whereas the classical left’s accomplishments were rooted in the structural leverage of industrial labor, the Pink Tide has been based on movements of informal workers and precarious communities. The Pink Tide built its base from a social structure that had been transformed by two decades of deindustrialization and industrial fragmentation. This had two critical implications — it gave newly elected governments far less leverage against ruling classes than the earlier left, and it also inclined them toward a top-down, clientelistic governance model, which turned out to be self-limiting. In the end, Pink Tide regimes were undone by their own constituents, whereas the classical left was toppled by the elites that it attempted to dislodge.

The new millennium unleashed a wave of popular rebellions in Latin America, which propelled a number of left governments into power. These governments came to be known as the Pink Tide, and while they have not pursued full-blown “red” policies, they received enthusiastic support from radical quarters, including from some of our leading thinkers. Noam Chomsky, for instance, praised the achievements of the new reformers in the areas of democracy, sovereign development, and popular welfare.1The ability of these countries to soften neoliberalism’s worst effects, empower popular sectors, and stand up to US domination mark a welcome rebound from the prior “lost decades” of market fundamentalism and social exclusion. In the global context, the Pink Tide contrasts starkly with full-blown neoliberal continuity in the capitalist core and the discouraging outcomes of the Arab Spring in the Middle East.

Yet the tide is receding, and unlike daily coastal ebbs, the decline of the region’s left is a longer-term retreat of reform governments. After Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999 as an outsider populist-nationalist, Lula, the historic leader of the Workers' Party, was elected president of Brazil in 2002, followed by Nestor Kirchner in Argentina in 2003, Evo Morales in Bolivia a year and a half later, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador one year after that. They and their successors enjoyed impressive runs. But beginning in 2015, key losses initiated a reversal of the Left’s fortunes. That year, elections took down reform Peronism. Then followed a “constitutional coup” that toppled Dilma Roussef in Brazil. Rafael Correa’s coalition in Ecuador is crumbling after his reform candidate just eked out a win. Although Morales’s hold on power remains firm, when Nicolás Maduro goes in Venezuela, bringing down with him what remains of the Bolivarian Revolution’s accomplishments, the cycle will be complete.2

How should we evaluate the Pink Tide? What is its true record of achievements and failures? What undercut its promise and reversed its ascent? Interestingly, most assessments, from friends and foes alike, point to avoidable mistakes made by politicians and their parties. From the Right, analysts divide Latin American reformers into good and bad lefts, arguing, unsurprisingly, that Pink Tide shortcomings emanate from their original populist sin. There, while natural rents could buy popular allegiance, such patronage corroded stable republican institutions, irreparably polarized political and civil society, and inevitably led to fiscal disaster. Others from the Left, mostly radicals, point not to its demagogic overreach, but to the reformers’ docility and acquiescence to elite power. Here, reformers are scolded for not going far enough; indeed, even the “wrong” strategies scorned by conservatives confined themselves to limits “permitted” by business elites, seeking to restore neoliberal legitimacy.3

Such critiques of the Pink Tide reformers share a curious commonality. Both adopt voluntarist approaches to assessing the region’s left turn. Resurrecting a hobbyhorse of revolutionary socialists — notably pounded by those who argue that revolutionary opportunities have routinely been squandered in absence of “correct” leadership lines4 — they focus on the decisions made by those in charge of the reform process. But they ignore, or give scant attention to, the opportunity structure in which these forces operated. Assessing the tactics of officials and activists in this fashion makes for, at best, an incomplete analysis. However much we sympathize with their programs, we need to understand how the circumstances of their rule substantially constrained their choices. The region’s contemporary left can best be evaluated only by situating its record within contemporary structural conditions.

A structural perspective that corrects for the voluntarist judgements of the Pink Tide urges us to move from a focus on the will of reformers to their abilityto affect change. After all, how can we thoughtfully assess left governments’ willingness to challenge elite power without first mapping the contours of what was feasible? The international left, both allies and critics of the Pink Tide, needs a capacity-based assessment to generate a more solid appraisal of the accomplishments and limitations of the post-2000 left turn in Latin America. More importantly, placing the Pink Tide in its proper context offers invaluable lessons for new popular struggles currently taking shape in the region. Without an understanding of the structural conditions in which radicals operate, it will be impossible to design a strategy to overcome the failures of a left surge that seemed so promising. To do so, this paper proposes a comparison between the Pink Tide and the region’s classical postwar left.

What Once Was and What Might Have Been

The excitement and expectations awakened by the Pink Tide’s emergence was directly proportional to the deep pessimism that had engulfed radicals and socialists after two decades of defeat and surrender. The scope of the Left’s retreat had dimmed the memory of the tremendous achievements of popular classes in the previous era. Beginning in the late 1950s, a new wave of radical movements, labor upsurges, and left parties either took power or succeeded in forcing the ruling class to make significant concessions. In many ways, this radical left realistically put socialism on the region’s agenda — both in terms of democratically planned economic development and genuine popular rule. Reviewing the bases of the pre-neoliberal left’s gains will help us better understand how the changed context of the 2000s constrained the Pink Tide and contributed to its decline.

LATIN AMERICA’S CLASSICAL LEFT

Latin America’s prior radical surge culminated between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s.5 Although its defining characteristic was the militancy of workers and other popular urban sectors, this left cycle originated with the 1959 Cuban Revolution and closed with the demise of the Central American campesino-based insurgencies. The classical Latin American left did not replicate the Cuban Revolution’s distinctive dynamics and features, but the barbudos’ triumph was instrumental in opening a new radical path.

For one, it broke with Moscow-dominated Communist Parties’ Popular Front orientation, which hinged on alliances with modernizing capitalists. The key characteristic of the new left was its forceful rejection of subordinating working-class organization and demands to the requirements of a so-called bourgeois-democratic stage of development. It relied instead on militant class struggle to achieve decisive influence over, rather than remaining subsidiary to, the ruling class. And reflecting the radical policies implemented by the Cuban revolutionaries, this generation of the Left adopted a program of expanding and deepening the structural transformations unleashed by bourgeois modernizers. These involved comprehensive land reform, a thorough nationalization of key productive sectors, and the decommodification of vast swaths of social provision. In addition, the classical left proposed a profound democratization of political and economic affairs.

Of course, this more radical agenda sometimes created fissures between the forces leading the militant movements and their representatives in the state — as witnessed in the debates that wracked Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government in Chile — but overall the classical left agreed that state power was a lever to push forward their transformative agenda. In the postwar period, this agenda was pursued via two distinct routes: labor insurgency in the growing manufacturing sectors of South America, and, a decade later, agrarian insurgency in the countryside of Central America.

The first strong challenges from the Left emerged from the rising militancy of Southern Cone labor movements. Though workers’ socialist parties only came to power in Chile with Allende’s 1970 election, militant labor movements shaped state policies throughout. Alongside a growing agitation among rural masses for land, Brazilian unions took the initiative to break through the bonds of estado novocorporatism, pushing the Goulart government to adopt pro-labor reforms in the 1960s. Meanwhile, militants within the Argentine labor movement began to exert ever-greater influence, and, in alliance with radicalizing Peronists, led a labor insurgency that repeatedly forced military governments to abdicate power. Similar pressures pushed a nationalist military government in Peru in progressive directions. By the early 1970s, most major Latin American economies confronted the specter of widespread working-class revolt and, along with it, the imprint of significant social and institutional reforms.

When South American labor’s assertiveness was beat back, the region’s radicalism was not yet totally defeated. With the urban working class in the most industrially advanced countries in check, rebellion spread across Central America with seismic force. When mass movements for democracy and basic social rights for plantation labor and peasant communities arose and collided with landed oligarchies’ recalcitrance, new people’s armies emerged from organized rural communities and armed insurgency engulfed Nicaragua, El Salvador, and, to a lesser extent, Guatemala.6 Soon, these rural and mass revolutionary movements lost their effectiveness. The Sandinista revolution was brought to its knees by US-organized military intervention and a ferocious blockade, while stalemates and negotiated transitions weakened the other two insurgencies.

In sum, the post-Cuban Revolution Latin American left was founded on the mobilization of the working class and popular sectors. It strove to displace the ruling class from power and aimed to advance toward some kind of socialism and radical democracy. It is ironic, then, that the classical left acquired a reputation for having a narrow, class-reductionist approach in its demands and cultural priorities. Without a doubt, it raised the material standards and improved the livelihoods of all subaltern groups. But the classical left’s impact went far beyond “mere” economic improvements for working masses. No other political force in the region’s history contributed as much to democratizing political and social life across the board as the postwar left. Besides elevating popular sectors into forces to be reckoned with in national political arenas, the breadth and depth of the classical left’s reform program had enormous impacts on gender and racial equality. Indeed, we owe the completion of democratization in Latin America to that generation of radicals.

(Continue Reading)

#politics #the left #catalyst #catalyst journal #jacobin #brazil #latin america #socialism #democratic socialism #social democracy

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tisthenightofthewitch · 6 years ago

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German interview with Tobias.

Crime scene Berlin. Thursday, June 7th. Local time: 1:30 pm, a young (cough, cough) Stormbringer editor sits in front of a high-end hotel and after four hours of sleep drinks his eighth coffee black and is slightly nervous.

For several reasons: 1. I appreciate GHOST very much. For years, I find the band not only because of their music, but also because of their live shows and all the trappings awesome. What if Tobias Forge is a good contemporary? A disgusting? 2. Due to my "normal" work I have not spoken a word of English for several months - will the interview by the language barrier be a fiasco? 3. Are my questions interesting anyway, or will Mr. Forge fall asleep at the interview, since he has already answered such questions 666x? 4. If the interview takes place at all - I have been guaranteed 20 minutes, but GHOST is the band of the hour and constantly come to any "important" magazines, as well as radio and TV stations. 5. It's my first interview with a really big band.

Finally, the German promoter comes and brings me to the interview room. I'm waiting and I think, "Dude, you've been through so many unsafe things, you can do it ...". The promoter takes me to a bigger room and lo and behold - Tobias Forge is incredibly friendly, offers me something to drink and also volunteers his place so I can hook both recorders to power (I'll never rely on batteries again!) ,

As he sits there, I would never have imagined the mastermind. Although I knew photos from the Internet, I have never heard or heard him speak without a mask.

He looks much younger than he says according to information and seems to me very straight and disciplined. But now and then the rascal boy comes out of it.

First of all, I have to congratulate for the new album. It really has become a masterpiece.

Thank you very much!

It seems like this release will take you to the next level of success. You can see it in the social media channels, as more and more people react to you, the tour in the US is going very well and the media are turning over with hymnic reviews to the new album. Likewise, you now have eight musicians on stage and can really play everything live. So it works for you.

95% are live now! Except for the intros and outros. It feels very organic, which is a huge boost to the past. I always wanted to have it like that, but, you know, sometimes you just do not have enough possibilities for "manpower" or "womanpower".

So are you very happy with the situation right now?

Very happy with the situation? Yes, and very satisfied at the moment.

We've just started the tour, upgraded many things, the show is better than ever, but it's still a work process.

The tour in the US is technically a "warm up" tour. Between now and the concert in Austria in .... (sorry, may not yet be revealed) is still a bunch improved. People who read the interview do not know yet what else is going to happen. Everything is still in my head. So, wherever it all starts, but I'm, frankly, never completely satisfied. Everything we've done so far sometimes feels like a mistake - like a B version of what I had in my head.

Supposedly, you play most of the instruments on the albums themselves.

When I write a song, I also write all the instruments. For example, I do not just write the guitar part and then have a drummer come in to drum in his part, as he thinks it's good for the song. I write everything.

BUT I can not play a saxophone for example. I can hum the melody - I can hum the sax solo, but I need someone who can play it. I've already composed songs on the piano, I play a bit of piano, but it's better I compose and someone comes into the studio who can really play piano well.

So you have all the music in your head and tell people how to play their part?

Likewise, the piano player on the album is a prodigy, for example. The song is written - eg "pro memoria" - I play him the demo, how his part should sound and he refines it.

It's like a dialogue writer in a movie - I write what the actor should say, what I want to express - a lousy actor makes a very bad dialogue, a good actor something wonderful.

If you were to play the guitar for my music - I can tell you exactly how to play it and decide whether it fits or not, as I can play the guitar myself. Not at the piano - that's the big difference. That's why I recorded all the guitar part and bass parts on the new album, because I wanted the parts exactly as I had in mind.

So you have the entire album in your head before you go to the studio. But when you're in the studio, is there a lot of change?

It's like a movie .... (thinks) .... Many directors shoot a scene and when they look at them they often think "OK, I should change something here and there". And that's how I work when I record pre-production and recordings. If I do not like something that much, I change it. There is nothing done until it is done.

You've already played some new songs from the new album on the US tour. People did not know the songs yet. How were the reactions for example with the saxophone solo? Was it more like "Hey, great" or "what the hell is that supposed to be?"

Generally speaking, I would say that it was one of the highlights.

I remember hearing the album for the first time in the gym during practice and when the sax solo came and I was really cheering. It was a real "wow" effect. It was also a breaking down of walls that the metal police set up "You can not, and you can not do that" - a big "fuck 'em all" - this part fits in perfectly with the song. "

It's unbelievable what you can do with a saxophone (laughs)

Rules are there to be broken. That's rock n roll! It's funny how puristic the metal community is sometimes. Not all are like that, but some show up, like frustrated old men. People who say "that's how it is and not otherwise!"

It's like the masons. The boss says "So and so does the wall plastered. And no way different. "Look, I can plaster the wall with a big pile of shit. It may not look so good, but the wall is plastered.

It's funny, like rock n roll with all its categories, heavy metal, speed metal, thrash, whatever - it always had something to do with rebellion, breaking out of the status quo. That's rock n roll.

Funny as a sax solo can be a revolutionary thing. It makes the song really good and it really is one of the best moments of our live shows.

So you get the best reactions on this part of the show?

This part makes everyone smile, cheer, clap. That is the point.

I knew the A-side on the album was going to be heavy and it took a moment for people to laugh and exhale.

And then they put the B-side - "where are we?" - and then comes "dance maccabre". The sax part is a cleansing part.

Do you like Shushi?

Sometimes

It's the same effect as when you eat ginger in between shushi food. He cleanses the taste buds. You feel fresh again.

When you started up with GHOST, did you have a concrete vision, a master plan, how everything should go, or did many things happen by accident?

Both - it's like writing an album. You can not plan - you can not plan every detail. I think one of my strengths as a band leader or director of the whole is that I can work with what I have, what I get.

I can use everything to my advantage. The situation now .... I could not imagine anything like that ten years ago.

If I had told someone about my plans to be friends with METALLICA, for example, people would have stared at me like an idiot. You know, many things have happened ....

For example ... Over the years I have met quite a few bands. And I always had the clear agenda .... (he hesitates) You know "the devils blood". Selim and I were friends (he seems very serious and depressed now) . In 2010 they were still active and just on their rise - and we were also in this wave. Selim was sometimes very, very strict in his way - "I want it that way, I want it that way ..."

I am also very strict in my life - but there was a clear difference between Selim and me. I always said "we only want to play in the dark". In my imagination, in my mind GHOST always play in the dark. Just! And I still believe in it.

But the only way to get there is to be ready to play on the daytime list. And we always argued and argued "you should not perform at festivals a day. It's a sell-out of you ... .. "

But I thought "if we are not ready to play at festivals in the afternoon, we will never play in the dark. "We will never headlining Wacken, or Nova Rock." You MUST first play in the light to get there. It's like gravity.

It was a small detour of my original plan to play only in the dark. But you have to accept something like that. Like a general on the battlefield. You can not plan every part of a battle, you align your pace with what your opponent does. Do you see my point?

This is executive. This is strategy that you are able to change your plans depending on the situation. But you stay or are on your planned path. Yes, still on my way. Like "I want my country so big, or soooo big and if I just conquer a hill for the beginning - Fine"

THAT was the big difference between Selim and me. And I think many people think similarly.

I have NEVER strayed from my path.

That is something very important. School of Rock.

Last question: When you read fairy tales to your children in the evening and there comes the evil monster who kidnaps the beautiful princess, there is cheered and raged at your home and then when the beautiful, radiant hero shows up and frees the princess and kills the monster - will then shouted "Buh"?

(laughs) No, no. It's normal for us. They do not boo when the hero wins. For example, I hate "Omen III". The end is terrible.

For three films they showed that the devil should be the winner and then God's hand comes down and puts an end to the evil. WAAASSS ???? What a fucking joke!

It's ... (laughs again) We rejoice and boo in the same places as "normal" people in Western civilization.

We thank you for the interview

In the evening, an acoustic session of GHOST with subsequent autograph session is planned, but unfortunately it can not take place because all the paraphernalia have got stuck in Paris.

Master Forge wants to save the evening and presents himself UNMASKIERT on the stage and answered patiently and with a lot of humor the questions of the moderator and the fans.

Then he leaves ALL ANY fans in his wardrobe and gives autographs.

All thumbs up for this action.

May GHOST still be so great and Hr. Forge allegedly an egomaniac - on that day was absolutely nothing to notice and I personally found this action more than terrific.

Source

#Tobias Forge #Ghost #The Band Ghost #Ghost Band #Cardinal Copia

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umatleta-blog · 10 months ago

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Revolução na corrida - Mizuno lança 2 supershoes que aliam Biomecânica e Tecnologia

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#mizuno #Wave Rebellion Flash 2 #Wave Rebellion Pro 2 e o Wave Rebellion Flash 2

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deadlymaelstrom · 5 years ago

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AHL: Timeline (Post-Reaper War) [Work in progress]

This is a timeline for the Mass Effect: A Hero's Legacy, recording the Milky Way galaxy's recent events after the Reaper invasion. All dates are in BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era).

Timeline of Galactic History

2186 CE

December 2: The Second Battle for Earth ends when Commander John Shepard of the Systems Alliance utilizes the energy of the Crucible to effectively destroy the Reapers, but the resulting explosion also renders almost all synthetic life across the galaxy to be inert before severely damaging the mass relays and the Citadel as well.

December 8: John Shepard is declared missing in action by the Alliance.

The SSV Normandy SR-2 successfully navigates its voyage back to Earth.

Members of the allied forces and Earth Resistance begin search and rescue operations.Plans for relief efforts across Earth officially begins, along with a massive effort to restore the mass relays and the Citadel; Allied forces personnel estimates an approximate 12 years before the galaxy-wide reconstruction efforts are completed.

Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett is named interim Prime Minister of the Alliance. He pledges to serve until new elections are held.

Tensions between surviving non-human soldiers and civilians briefly rise due to a shortage of available food, water and medicine. A deal is brokered to avoid further escalations.

December 21: The bodies of Admiral David Anderson and the Illusive Man are recovered from the wreckage, though volunteer forces report that they have seen no sign of John Shepard.

The Citadel Councilors are found by C-Sec Commander Armando-Owen Bailey.

Terminus forces under Aria T'Loak make preparations to return to Omega.

Rescue crew announce they have found John Shepard and confirmed that, despite being in critical condition (eventually falling into a coma), he is still alive; news eventually spreads, from celebratory hurrahs to an emergency medical team rushing to the scene.

2187 CE

John Shepard attains the rank of Admiral.

Ashley Williams is promoted to the rank of Captain.

January 5: Waves of a new political revolution developed by anti-Council sentiment begins to take shape, causing several clashes with C-Sec and pro-Council supporters. Rioting eventually spills onto the streets and are put down, often violently.

The events of Mass Effect: A Hero's Legacy occur. John Shepard regains consciousness.

With Urdnot Bakara's help, Clan Leader Urdnot Wrex unifies all warring clans of Tuchanka under his banner to create a new krogan empire, with himself ruling as the new Overlord―the first since the Krogan Rebellions. Although the rest of the galaxy was nervous about what to expect next, to everyone's amazement, Wrex extended his hand of friendship to the Primarch of Palaven.

The role of turians remained largely unchanged; they began rebuilding almost immediately after the war's conclusion. Their attitude towards humans, however, changed dramatically―humanity's role in the Battle of the Citadel in 2183 and during the Reaper War showed the turians that humans were capable of sacrifice for the good of all and are regarded as comrades-in-arms and equals.

Dalatrass Linron, leader of the Salarian Union, faced monumental political repercussions for withholding resources and endangering the war effort. Soon afterwards, through reasons unknown, Linron was removed from office.

John Shepard is discharged from the hospital. However, due to a sudden increase in brain wave activity and change in behavior, he opts to retire from the Alliance military. Command of the Normandy SR-2 is transferred to Ashley Williams, with James Vega assigned as executive officer.

An anonymous leak revealed evidence that the Asari Republics withheld Prothean technology from the other Citadel races. Having lost much of their leadership, the asari had their backs to the wall in defending their actions. While they managed to retain their Council seat, the role of the asari was greatly diminished.

The Batarian Remnant is formed.

February 7: An anonymous leak to Alliance News Network announces John Shepard and Ashley Williams' engagement.

The Citadel Council censures the Asari Republics.

The Migrant Fleet is reorganized into the Quarian Conclave. Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch is appointed as the quarian ambassador to the Citadel, the first since the end of the Geth War.

Garrus Vakarian is granted the rank of General and becomes Primarch Adrien Victus' senior advisor.

Steven Hackett announces Alliance elections will take place between early- to mid-November.

Facing several backlashes and the threat of political fallout, representatives from the Citadel Council and opposition leader Alejandro Guevara agree to negotiate reforms.

A group of quarian Special Projects personnel led by Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh plot to disassemble the inactive geth and bring in "volunteers" to be used as live experiments in order to further Xen's goal of AI advancements. The plot fails and Daro'Xen is arrested before she could turn more people into test subjects along with almost all of the conspirators.

John Shepard marries Ashley Williams.

The Leviathans, seeing an opportunity, attempt to take over the galaxy. However, anticipating their motives beforehand and with a firm understanding of indoctrination, the Alliance creates a countermeasure against the Leviathans' thrall attempts and forces the ancient aquatic race back to 2181 Despoina, effectively confining them to the planet. The Leviathans bitterly resigned themselves to never again being the apex race.

April 25: After months of tense negotiations, the Citadel Council is officially reorganized into the Interstellar Republic following the signing and ratification of the Citadel-Guevara Accord.

Contact and diplomatic relations with the raloi are re-established.

Selius Orodas is elected First Minister of the Interstellar Republic. The Galactic Senate and Supreme Court are each formed respectively as the new galactic government's legislative and judicial branch. Meanwhile, the Republic Defense Fleet, Special Operations Force, and Intelligence branch are formed respectively to act as the galaxy's largest military and intelligence agency.

May 14: Mass Relay network is restored to each major homeworld.

November 18: Kaidan Shepard is born, the first child of Ashley Williams and John Shepard.

With the batarians' truce with humanity over and unwilling to follow Governor Grothan Pazness, Ka'hairal Balak forms the Revolutionary Order of Khar'shan to seize control of the Batarian Remnant and wage his own war against humanity on his own terms.

2189 CE

March 4: EDI is reactivated as an AI neural implant in secrecy. A main server bank is installed aboard the SSV Normandy SR-2 within the AI Core while John Shepard himself is fitted with a neural implant, allowing him to sync fully with EDI.

The Systems Alliance begins gathering resources to officially begin construction of Arkaios Station as the Alliance's second headquarters, intended to replace the destroyed Arcturus Station. Jon Swart, a retired Alliance admiral, is hired to oversee the project.

2190 CE

Arkaios Station is formally inaugurated.

April 27: David Shepard is born, the second child of Ashley Williams and John Shepard.

2193 CE

May 8: Ethan Shepard is born, the third child of Ashley Williams and John Shepard.

2196 CE

February 14: Carolyn Shepard is born, the fourth child of Ashley Williams and John Shepard.

2197 CE

February 18: The yahg emerge onto the galactic stage, beginning the Cold War. Tensions rise sharply between the Yahg Empire and the Interstellar Republic.

September 6: The Cold War ends when the Yahg Empire launches a military offensive in their quest to conquer the Milky Way, effectively beginning the Great Galactic War.

2198 CE

Yahg forces attack the Citadel and kill most of the Cabinet of Ministers, including First Minister Linariley T’eavius. Republic personnel repel the invasion. John Shepard succeeds T'eavius as the new First Minister.

The Great Galactic War ends.

2201 CE

Construction of Arkaios Station is completed.

2205 CE

November 22: Whilst attending college, Kaidan Shepard is recruited as an agent for Alliance Intelligence.

2798 CE

March 17: Alan Shepard is born.

2804 CE

Fueled by speculation of what lies beyond dark space, multi-billionare businessman Julianus Boff and volus banker Jiklu Kol organize Project Pulón―a privately-funded multi-species endeavor―to establish a gateway between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. The assignment is dubbed "Exodus Rift." The Interstellar Republic appeared to be neutral, but unofficially supported their actions with providing additional funding and a scientific research team.

2819 CE

Construction of the Exodus Rift is completed.

2820 CE

The events of Mass Effect: Horizons begin. After being falsely accused of the Ontarom bombing incident, Alan Shepard is arrested. With the aid of the Shadow Broker, Alan escapes from military prison and joins the Blue Suns, becoming a bounty hunter and mercenary.

Following a confrontation with Alliance soldiers on Illium, Alan and the crew of the Poseidon plot a course to the Andromeda galaxy via the Exodus Rift.

#mass effect #timeline #bioware #long post #text post #shepard #my stuff #queue

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believexfanzine · 5 years ago

Photo

Francis David of LOVE FROM HATE RECORDS/DISTRO

(Pampanga, Philippines)

March 2015/Believe Fanzine issue #4

[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/lovefromhatepampanga

Believe: You seem to be very attached to the local Kapampangan Scene and I would say you’re one of the busiest if not, the most Notorious (hehe) guy I know in the Philippine HC-Punk Scene. Tell us how it all started.

Francis: Ahahaha Notorious talaga. It started when I met Marc Liwanag at Pampanga High School back in 1992. I saw his band Holocaust playing “Friday I’m in Love” by the Cure and “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols. My two cousins Jaybee and Jude Pangilinan lend me their new wave and punk rock cassette tapes but Marc opened the door for me to discover the UK Punk, US Hardcore Punk, TRC and early 90’s punk scene in our country. I got interested in searching those aforementioned eras and learned they’ve all done it DIY. I started playing with Istukas Over Disneyland in May 1994; playing cover songs from seminal bands. After reading Oi Banger zine, I decided to make a zine with my friends; covering the active punk bands in San Fernando, interviewed the bands, wrote a scene report, reprinted articles of Punk Scene in the US from magazines until Notorious fanzine reached 10 issues. Now my new fanzine called Eksena Lokal has two issues and currently working on the third issue which is already long overdue ahahaha. You know, I see to it that I will write a scene report of Pampanga every year for you guys to be updated on what’s going on with our scene. I met this French guy Sebastian Gonnot and he encouraged me to run a small distro and share the music of bands from Italy, France, UK, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hungary, Nepal, Czech Republic since buying them abroad is expensive. That was the time I don’t have my own PC. What I do is record them on my cousin’s desktop and sell them for a cheaper price – the cost of photocopy of lyrics and covers and the CDR. Every records sold will produce new titles from bands abroad. Ah yeah I remember I also distributed dubbed tapes of Brigada Flores Magon and Les Partisans (France) using hi-tech and betamag blank cassette tapes. The name Love from Hate was taken from Klasse Kriminale “Mind Invaders” 7”EP. I’m thinking of writing a newsletter so probably this May for the 21st Anniversary of the Pampanga Notorious Scene, my fingers are crossed.

Believe: Being that you run a record label/distro, make a zine, organize shows, help out on a radio show, play in 3 bands and you have a job on a graveyard shift; have you ever thought that it’s a bit overwhelming? Why / Why not?

Francis: Indeed it’s overwhelming but of course it takes a lot of patience, effort, responsibility and understanding. I remember this guy asked me “Are you committing suicide?” and I replied no, I just love what I’m doing and no one will do it for me but myself. I always say “Buhay pa tayo, madami pang oras at Bawal mag reklamo sa ginagawa mo na nagpapasaya sayo”. Let me tell you about my life with these projects; Love from Hate – every release has special memories for me like the Bad Omen LP, I went two times to Cruz Paper Craft to follow up the layout of the Bad Omen LP since Jon was in Indonesia that time and when he came back, the artist has not worked on the layout. Ang comment pa sa akin nung caretaker e masungit daw ako nung nag follow up, I mean we’re meeting deadlines and following up for the second time is too much ahahaha. Jon found an artist to work on the layout of the LP and we always meet in Cartimar, Recto to provide the details of the artwork, record label’s logo, and poster. We then learned Cruz Paper Craft is outsourcing the job of the positives of the layout, cover and poster. Jon and I went to the artist just to fasten the work for Cruz Paper Craft since there are personal issues with the printing press owners. It was a stressful experience but at the same time I discovered and learned about the in and out of printing press business/industry. Cruz Craft Papers is the cheapest printing press in Quezon City if not, the whole Philippines since most of the major label companies print their releases there. Eksena Lokal fanzine – Dyey Punk is helping me out with the layout, of course we have our misunderstanding in terms of the outcome of the zine but most of the time siya nasusunod ahahaha. Most of the typing are done here in the office when I have spare time then I’ll email the content to Dyey and he’ll run the lay out. It really takes months before I email him the details especially the interview, columns, reviews and other stuffs I wanted to include on the zine. Organizing shows – Marvin Zapata, Ching Pangilinan and Toie Lustre are the current organizers right now in San Fernando. I’ll be responsible for the May 16 (in cooperation with Maximum Rock and Roll) and May 30 (21st year anniversary of the Pampanga Notorious Scene) and I thank Ching for helping me book the venue and the instruments for these shows. In the recent gigs, the budget for the instruments is our main problem. The cheapest sound system/instruments in San Fernando right now is 8 thousand pesos. We’re lucky because we have Popo and Dexter who give us money to pay the instruments and somehow we manage to save money from the tickets but on the previous gigs we have to pay damages like the fly boards the guys of Peste Boys mistakenly used for their vert ramp, we paid the Giant Lantern Committee who owns the fly boards 7 thousand pesos. Ang hirap magpa gig ano? Eksena Lokal Radio – my job is collating the playlist for the month, review the songs, provide information of the songs and the bands and advise the bands we’ll play their songs, review fanzines and gigs, search for upcoming gigs, look for a scene reporter and instruct them on what to report and do on air. My deadline is every Thursday and I send the details to DJ Lia where she then formats the show. Playing with my bands – actually I play for 4 bands but The Holiday is taking time off for now, I play drums for the band and I hope in the coming months they’ll make a comeback and record their new songs. Graveyard Shift – yeah everybody needs to pay the monthly bills.

Believe: What keeps you excited in this Scene that we’re in?

Francis: Discovering punk rock in other places and getting new contacts. It always cracks a smile on my face when learning there are bands, fanzines and distros in obscure places in the Philippines. When Bane came to the Philippines for the second time, I was so happy to meet Pam of Dienasty from Cagayan De Oro, I mean when we discuss punk in the Philippines, Manila comes to mind but punk went regional and I was so glad he handed me their demo and played “Apoy sa Sarili” on air at Eksena Lokal Radio (Bright FM 91.9) last March 6, 2015. On that gig, I was able to meet Siak from Davao who’s going to host the tour of Istukas Over Disneyland, Holy Cow and Monthly Red on March 21, 2015. I got to see again old contacts/friends like Maricar of Plug N’ Play zine, Grey of Thought, Weigner of Shrapnel/Gardo/Left of Center all from Cebu City; Mae of Refuse from Baguio City; Raymond and Neil of Unforce from Pagbilao, Quezon Province; Randy Rayos of Outcry; Papao and Raymond of Feud. We only get to see each other during gigs and catch up with our individual lives. When Bad Omen toured in Santiago City, Isabela, I was so excited learning there are punks in that city while Jayson and Regy of Revolution X Department invited my band to play in their City and nailed it last December 20, 2014. It leads to Love from Hate in releasing “Freedom” split CDR with Revolution X Department and State of Rebellion (Santiago City, Isabela). It’s great to know these people are supporting their own scene and when they organize gigs, they don’t charge at the gate and entrance is free knowing the cost of instruments are expensive. I also met the guys of Death My Hombre from Ilagan, Isabela and got their demo, The Plunders and the people from Nueva Vizcaya and Tuguegarao. Back in 2010, I went to Cebu for vacation to visit my friends and got excited learning Toxic Orgasm, Minority Blocks, One Man Down, The Deviants and Hard Feces are scheduled to tour Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. I was their roadie on that tour ahahaha and met Jedd of Oppressor, Oro of Demos Against and Ricson of Pedro Bruno. It’s nice to have new contacts away from my comfort zone because of punk rock. I then learned Insomyaks from Surigao playing Punk Ska and featured them on Eksena Lokal issue #2 while Egg of Declaration of Purity and Left Hand Path Press handed me over the Domestic Airport Violence demo and learned they’re from Mexico, Pampanga. Kent Cee and Jarred, two awesome hardcore kids from Lubao, Pampanga and the Turnips from Angeles City playing TRC repertoire. My friend Marvin of Provoke once told me Philippine Violators toured San Fernando City, La Union so I hope there are few there who are listening/appreciating punk rock. He also mentioned there is a punk band in Ilocos. If that’s true it will be a killer. I failed to search for local bands in Bohol when I was there last January, I know there are local reggae bands and their songs are played on air. I wonder about that band from Bohol when Piledriver played in Cebu this year. What do they play Gin? Do they have a demo?

Believe: Doing Record Label over the years, what’s your stand on this digital age with free download of music from the Internet and at the same time Vinyl Records started to increase its demand?

Francis: For me it’s okay as long as the artist and consumer respect copy right. We all know the internet has its pros and cons. For example, I asked help from DJ Lia to download for me the Veills and Nonentities demos and played them last March 06 at Eksena Lokal Radio. I also asked her to download the new album of Brixton Cats (France), RVIVR and Punch (USA). I also wanted her to download the Chin Chin’s “Sound of the Westway and We Don’t Wanna be Prisoners” and Tappi Tikarrass – Bjork’s punk rock band from Iceland. I admit I’m a technophobe and I don’t know much about computers and the internet ahahaha. Emman told me there is this one guy who uploaded the Underground Asia CD on the web and we’re very excited knowing the fact the compilation was sold out from our record labels. He also told me if someone wanted to distribute the compilation he can always send them copies of the covers/layout which is amazing. Me, I love buying original records from labels or bands and even though I have them on MP3 format, I would love to buy a copy for myself. Vinyl and cassette tapes are gaining grounds since CDS have no value anymore in my opinion, I mean the demand of vinyl and cassette tapes is great knowing the fact that people are buying original records but sad to say we don’t have any more pressing plants in the Philippines to produce these records, only compact discs. Let’s just support the bands who have releases may it be on CDR, CD, Vinyl or Cassette Tapes for them to continue releasing new records.

Believe: It’s always stated that Kapampangan’s cooks the best dishes in our country. So for you, what is Pampanga’s best? (Best in food) Plus, what makes Pampanga’s Scene worth checking out?

Francis: I would say Pork Sisig and Burong Babi (Tocino). My mother is originally from Orion, Bataan but she cooks good food especially her kakanins and pastries but there are a lot of great cooks/chefs in Pampanga like Aling Lilian of Cucina and the owner of Everybody’s Café who serves exotic foods. Would you like to try our local cuisine like Tinolang Palaka and Fried Kamaro? Funny because I told Maricar of Plug N’ Play if she’s in town, I’ll treat her for a bite of Tinolang Palaka and Kamaro even though I don’t eat these dishes ahahaha. I guess the hospitality; I mean the guys in our scene in Pampanga will treat you like you are in your own home even though they don’t have the money, still they find ways to welcome you in their homes.

Believe: I get pissed off every time I hear parents telling their kids that boys who cry are gay and that’s not cool or not tough. I keep telling my nephew that it’s okay to cry if he’s hurt and crying will make him feel better. But some kids are too afraid to cry and someday I don’t want my kid to feel that way. Too afraid to express how they feel because of peer pressure. It made me ask you this question, when was the last time you cried and why?

Francis: I knew this question is peer pressure ahaha. I don’t know if you can call it crying or shedding of tears but when I talked to my supervisor last week about what I felt when my team mate who’s also her friend disrespected her position. I mean sometimes it’s easy to say but it’s hard to do and most of the time I shed tears while saying what I really feel. I don’t know, maybe because you don’t want the person to be offended or telling the truth will hit her/him in the face. Filipinos are known to be brave and our elders took the tradition and pass it on to generations. It only meant for the kid to stop crying but deep inside their elders are hurt too when they see their kid crying. There is no harm in bursting out in tears, baka ikamatay mo pa yan kung hindi mo ilalabas

Believe: I get really excited every time you release in any of your projects! What should we look out in the near future?

Francis: Thank you Rann. I just finished cutting the covers of Holy Cow/Monthly Red/Istukas Over Disneyland “Minda-Now” tour 2015 CDR we’ll be releasing the CDR this coming March 20 & 21 in Polomolok, South Cotabato and Samal Island, Davao. The CDR contains the first demo of Holy Cow, Monthly Red and Istukas Over Disneyland songs taken from their releases. The tour CDR is limited to 35 copies for both gigs, I invite you to purchase it to help us during the tour. I want to take this opportunity to thank Dyey Punk for wasting his time constructing the layout of the Tour CDR, he did not sleep just to finish the lay out, I harass the guy that’s why ahahaha. The split 7”EP of Random Violence/Value Lasts will be available soon in the Philippines, a collaboration from Still Ill Records, Delusion of Terror Records, Aklasan Records, Left Hand Path Press, Get Up and Go Records, Love From Hate and the people from RV and VL. I invite you to purchase a copy and support RV and VL! I personally dedicate this release to Denver of Value Lasts. As of now, I have projects lining up but they’re still on the dark side so I’ll let them stay there for a while before they see the light of the tunnel. I just don’t want to spoil the bean that’s all. Thank you Bram Ibrahim for the logo!

Believe: Maraming Salamat Kuya Francis! Where can we check out your distro and releases?

Francis: Maraming salamat din Ate Rann for your interest and support. You can email us at [email protected] or the ever popular social media FB, just search for Love from Hate. I have not updated the page but will be in the next couple of days. Buy Believe fanzine and support your locals

#lovefromhaterecords #hadcorepunkphilippines

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foreverrj · 5 years ago

Text

Star Wars Episode 9:Restored Hope: Part 1(Chpt 9)( Fan Fic to finish right)

Act 3.A-3

The surviving leaders of the resistance along with Ahsoka and Lando, Rey, Jacen, Poe, and Finn, at a table, discussing the attack and how to proceed and what to do next.

Lando says “ Ahsoka you clearly know what those things were. They Destroyed the entire resistances! That was It! So many lives! We were there for one last battle. That was an unseen massacre, how do we stop that if they can stop our ships and weapons. What is going on?”

Ahsoka says “They are the Yuuzhan Vong. After leaving the Rebellion at the Fall of the Empire and after Helping Luke find new students. I went to the Unknown Regions, beyond The First Order to find my Friend Ezra.” Jacen interjects “ My master.” Ahsoka Continues and says “ When I found him, the region was in war and devastation. He made an Alliance with our former enemy Thrawn and his people known as the Chiss. They gathered what surviving systems to Fight the Vong. The Vong is unfazed by the Force our lightsabers and the weapons from the Chiss where the only thing effective. We put our differences aside and had Fallon a student of Snoke joined us he had knowledge of fighting them as well. We gained knowledge of a Force artifact, that gives and takes the ability of the force to beings. We wanted to use it against the Vongs, we wanted to stop there conquest.” We sent Jacen to Jakku to find Rey and help Luke with the new Jedi order.”

Rey says “This timing is off, and the new Jedi order is being rebuilt after’s Ben betrayal to Luke and his order, now those things are here in our region of the galaxy.”

Ahsoka says “ Before my arrival, they found our base and ambushed us. Ezra and the others sent me to come but I was attacked on my way and my ship was damaged.” Lando then asked, “ So Ahsoka you brought them, you lead them here?” Asoka answers “ They were coming here regardless.” One of the Resistance leaders ask “What do we do now?” Lando then says “ That is the million credit question. We have no fleet, we made the First contact to a hostile race and our weapons our ineffective.” Jacen then says “Not to mention Fallon is on his way with Knights of Ren to find the force artifact. Lando replies “ And there’s that.” Everyone looks at one another with worry and concern. Ahsoka says “ Rey, Jacen come with me to mediate as we ask the force for clarity.” A Jedi student asks “ Shall we come, what would you like us to do?” Rey responds “ Keep among yourselves, make sure the others are ok.” Jacen then follows “These times are trying on all of us, take this time to consider it as trails for your place in the galaxy as peacekeepers, we are what is left. Do your part help them and wait for our return.” Ahsoka, Rey, and Jacen leave the command room.

Finn and Poe walk over to Lando, Poe says to him “ We are what's left as well, we can’t just wait around. There has to be something.” Lando says to them “ We got blindsided, lost everything, right now this is the safest place I know. You guys know me, I have a plan for everything this time I don’t. By the way, Finn deep within my being it is great to see you after losing you. Poe right now the force is the only constant thing and we have to trust it. Poe and Finn are looking perplexed and Lando leaves the table and exits the command room. Poe says to Finn “ I’m formulating a plan.” Finn ask what percent of a plan?” Poe answers “12 percent, it’s loading and it will be worth it just be there for me.”Finn says “ You got it.” Poe then says “ We need to talk to Rey”. The two of them exit the command room.

Finn and Poe a arrive at the room where Jacen, Ahsoka, and Rey are meditating standing outside the door. The door automatically opens. Finn and Poe are both nervous hesitant to walk through they wait for a moment seeing the Three Jedi in a deep meditative trance. Poe knocks firmly on the trim of the door, Jacen looks at them annoyed, Ahsoka just opens her eyes and stares at them. Rey looks over at them surprised. Poe says “ I’m sorry to interrupt but may we speak with Rey?” Ahsoka does a simple head nod of agreement. Rey gets up and walks over. They step in the hallway, the door closes behind them. Finn asks her “ How is the meditating?” She answers “ We just started, no answers yet. How may I help you two?” Poe says “ Rey we need to barrow the Falcon. It’s the only working ship we right now and the fastest. What I have planned will give us a fighting a chance but nothing will happen with us waiting on a plan. It’s being proactive.” Rey then asks Poe “ Didn’t Leia want you to be less impulsive?” Poe answers “She did, and all the lessons she taught me I have applied, and having a spark of hope and being one is her greatest lesson that I’m applying.” Rey then says “ I understand we need hope right now, You’re the best pilot, go.

Lando comes around the corner sees the three of them talking. He walks up to them and asks “What is this conversation here?” Poe steps to him and puts his arm on his shoulder and says “ We’re taking the Falcon to make things happen.” Lando being frustrated says “ Wait one crinking minute! Fleet of ships or not I am still General of this outfit and you two are my subordinates under my command. I need you here and I forbid you from taking my ship!” Rey, Finn, and Poe are taken back by Lando’s forcefulness. Rey says excuse me, General, but that ship has been in my overall possession in the last five years I trust these 2 to take care of it.” Lando rebuttals quickly “ Her” Rey questions “Excuse me?” Lando says “ It’s not an it but a her she is a special ship that deserves special treatment.” He asks her “ You said the ship just started after the blackout on it’s own correct?” She answers “ It did.” Lando Replies “ Well it runs on its own unique operating system off a wonderful droid known as L3. She always knew what to do find her own her way. Respectfully master Jedi, you just took a long detour to bring her home, Han stole it from me anyway.”

Lando beings to point at Poe and Finn “You and you and the falcon are staying here that is a direct order.” Finn walks up to Lando and says in a gentle tone “ Lando this is bigger than nostalgia and hurt feelings, this is about the fate of the galaxy, we aren’t the resistance right now, we are refugees and we have to go to save what we can. Poe and I are going.” Lando says you are all I have left the both of you, after this attack, I’m tired of loss.” Poe says to him “ We have to go to gain.” Lando says “ Fine bring HER back in one piece.” Rey smiles pleasantly and says to Lando “ Thank you.” Lando pats her hand and pats Poe and Finn on their shoulders and then walks off. Poe waves Finn to come on, Finn raises one finger up telling him to hold on. Poe walks off, Rey and Finn are in the hallway he walks up to herm they are standing face to face, they are looking deeply into one another's eyes. Finn says to her “ It seems that we part so much, I want to us to reconnect in a peaceful way.” Rey says to him “We have to bring peace to let that happen, go and we’ll connect later.” While looking in her eyes and he nods in agreement and then walks off. Rey watches him with care in her eyes walks down the hallway out of her sight. She smiles slightly and returns to the room with Jacen and Ahsoka.

Poe sees Chewbacca sitting down wallowing in his feelings.

Poe walks over to him and asks Chewie “I need you to come and fly the Falcon with me, you are the most important in this endeavor, would you come.?” Chewbacca stands up quickly and makes a series of growls in agreement and excitement.

Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca are in the Falcon. Poe gets into the main pilot chair and sits for a moment and allow the experience to resonate with him. They click and levers and push buttons and the Falcon lifts off.

It flys off fast and goes into hyperspace. Poe and Chewbacca are excited Finn is filled with worry on Poe’s piloting on an old object but doesn't express it.

Lando goes into the jail of the base where Kylo is being held, He says to the guards “give us a minute.” One of them says “ You sure sir?” Lando nods yes, they exit the jail.

He sees Kylo sitting in his cuffs with the expression of pain and misery on his face.

Kylo asks Lando “ What makes you think I won’t kill you where you stand? Lando answers “Because I see a broken man. I’m not worth the rage to be killed right now.” Kylo scuffs with a smirk then straightened out his face with anger and conviction and says to him “You left me uncle Lando like everyone else. The stories of the great generals of the rebellion and the new republic were all delusions. My parents, Luke and yourself were around for everyone else but me. Snoke took an interest in me when my own family didn’t.”

Lando Replies “ We weren't Jedi. Your parents did the best they could sending you to your uncle the greatest and only Jedi at the time. Your force abilities manifest no older than four. We wanted you to be the new branch of hope and peace for the galaxy. I didn’t live a lifestyle for a child but if your parents would've asked me would've taken you in.” Kylo interjects with tension in his voice and asks “ Did any of you considered what I wanted?” Lando answers “ Your parents thought what was best for you. What did you want?” Kylo answers “ For my family to be together.” Lando replies “ Your rage won’t ever allow that.” Kylo than asks “ Where does this leave us, uncle?” Lando responds “ I wish I knew.” Kylo says “ Currently I have no remorse. I have made my decisions, but I can help in fighting those things that attacked. If you come to a decision let me know.”

Lando leaves the jail the guards enter in soon as he leaves. Lando is in the hallway and leans against the wall with one hand covering his eyes weeping over the lost soul of his nephew.

Fallon and the Knights of Ren approach Coruscant.

Mission Control transmits a message to Fallon and the Knights. Mission controls says “Frist order is not strictly prohibited in Coruscant space. State your business or prepare for termination.”

Fallon replies “ We are in Frist Order ships but we do not represent them or affiliated. Our business is only recreational. May we land?” Mission control responds “ You may enter. You will be greeted and escorted by authorities upon your arrival for questioning.” Fallon responds “ Very well”.

Fallon looks back at the Knights and say “ Let me do all the talking stay silent.” They nod in agreement.

Fallon and the Knights of Ren are greeted by Coruscant authorities.

They get escorted to the police station. Moments later Fallon and the Knights exit the police station. One of the Knights ask Fallon how did you get out so soon?” Fallon answers “ Mind trick. Time is of the utmost importance. We are going to the old temple. There will be security there, execute with extreme prejudice when we get there.”

On the perimeter of the Temple, Fallon and the Knights of Ren infiltrate stealthfully around and into the temple. They quickly kill unsuspecting guards behind their backs. They make their way into the temple covertly on the move. A set of guards see find the dead guards and radio in the fact of intruders. The alarm goes off. Fallon and the Knights are surprised and begin running in the temple. They are spotted by guards and they being a pursuit and firing their blasters. The Fallon and the Knights defend themselves using their training, the force, and their weapons.

They massacred everyone in the temple. Leaving a path of lifeless bodies. The only thing that can be heard is the footsteps of Fallon and the Knights echoing throughout the temple.

Fallon is holding the campus it slightly glows leading the way to what he is looking for. One of the Knights asks Fallon “ Master why are we here, why were these people here? The Jedi haven’t been here in decades” Fallon answers “ You are correct, after the Jedi purge and the rise of the Empire, Darth Emperor Sideous Sheev Palpatine however pretentious he was, refurbished the temple and made it his castle for the sake of narcissism. After the fall of Empire, it’s just a monument now, nothing more than an attraction for the system.

The further they go down into the leaves temple the more decrepit and depressing the architecture is of the damage from a time once before.

They make it down to the lowest of the temple. It is dimly light and they walk to arrive to the end of the hallway with a door with carvings on it.

A Knight of Ren asks Fallon “What’s this?” Fallon responds in a smug tone “ A door.” Fallon continues “ After the Thousand-year war between Sith and Jedi, the Jedi won and built this ostentatious monstrosity on top of a sith temple. Palpatine knew this and left what we needed when he resided here.” Another Knight asks “ What is what we need?” Fallon says “The answer to our dominance and destiny. Real power.” Another Knight asks “How will we get through the door?” Fallon roles his eyes in annoyance and answers “With a key.” Fallon pulls a medallion out of a pocket on his belt.

Fallon extends his arm holding the medallion to the door. He beings chanting under his breath an unknown language. The key begins to glow soon after the door. Moments later it opens to a main entrance wat of the Sith temple.

As they continue to walk through the temple they make their way into a tomb.

Fallon proceeds to follow the guidance of the compass towards the statue of the tomb which is a sarcophagus. At the base of the tomb is a carving holding a dagger wrapped in red maroon cloth. Fallon reaches for it and unwraps it. Fallon and the Knights of Ren gaze it in awe.

Fallon grabs the dagger and cuts the blade across his hand and allows his blood to drip on the sarcophagus which has deep carvings and symbols and the blood makes its way through.

Fallon’s blood makes it all the way to the center of the emblem. The atmosphere of the tomb gets freezing cold. The knights grab their shoulders acknowledging the cold. Then a major gust of wind speeds through the temple coming to their location. Smoke escapes out of the sarcophagus.

The smoke moves wildly and begins to take the shape of a male being.

The figure becomes a cloud a smoke once again and consumes Fallon. The Knights of Ren are unable to see him.

The smoke clears and they see a figure bent over with smoke coming off of his body and he stands slows, It seems that Fallon's appearances has changed but the Knights are unable to make out what they see. One of the knights ask “ Master?” He turns around slowly holding the dagger to reveal who he is to them and he replies “ I am.” The Knights of Ren are alarmed and unaware of who or what he is.

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bisexualsatan-blog · 7 years ago

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Your turn! The companion ask with your favorite inquisitor/warden/hawke :D

Oooh yay! Thanks! I actually have an ongoing headcanon in which all of the origins in all of the games exist, just in different roles. So I’m going to do my Trevelyan from that universe.

Character Name: Sabine TrevelyanRace / Element / Class / Specialization: Human Mage, prior to the events of the Conclave she was somewhat of an artificer, interesting in creating practical magic for daily use, including things that could be used even by those without magic. After the explosion of the conclave, she is one of those who devotes herself to studying the Rift and it’s relationship with the Fade.Gender Identity: Woman

Short bio: Sabine Trevelyan was born to a devout, dutiful family, who planned to send her to serve in the Chantry before her magic was revealed. The quickness with which her family sent her to the Circle and cut off all ties save those necessitated by maintaining their image was enough to make her question what she’d been taught, and the reality of Circle life solidified her belief that the Chantry was a cruel failure. But she still had the ambition of her Trevelyan blood, and the knowledge of how the Chantry and nobility worked, so she did everything she could to establish herself outwardly as a good, loyal, devout mage. In time, she was able to levy her bloodline and the connections she herself had established into becoming magical advisor to the Divine, a similar position to the one Morrigan held in Celene’s court.

Recruitment Quest: When the Circles rebelled, Sabine stayed at the Divine’s side, helping with reaching out to her fellow mages for the Conclave. She was attempting to reach out to her family for aid when Corypheus attacked. She presents herself at Haven after the Inquisitor returns from their first journey to the Hinterlands and offers her services.

Where they can be found in your headquarters once recruited: At Haven she is found with Minaeve, studying the materials you bring back. In Skyhold she is down in the Crafthold with Dagna.

Side Missions (eg: fetch / gather / kill quests): You can use her to gain connections with her family in the Freemarches for influence points; she also has knowledge of several small groups of mages who can be recruited, and caches of magical tomes and artifacts, but these will only be revealed if the Inquisitor sides with the mages.

Personal quests:

Quest 1: Available upon recruitment is a fetch quest to recover a forbidden tome with collected legends regarding Andraste being a mage, rather than or in addition to being chosen by the Maker. The tome is located in the Fallow Mire, and requires defeating several waves of undead. Extra approval will be gained if Sabine accompanies you on the quest.

Quest 2: There is a couple that Sabine has helped before, a Chantry Sister and a mage from her circle that took advantage of the rebellion to flee together. She receives word that they are being hunted by a group of Red Templars and asks the Inquisitor for help rescuing them. If the Inquisitor refuses, all potential romance and further friendship is cut off although she will remain with the Inquisition. If the Inquisitor agrees and brings Sabine along there is a large approval gain and this can trigger a romance. The Inquisitor has the option to recruit the mage and the Chantry Sister as agents at the end of the quest.

Quest 3: Sabine’s family, thanks to her position with the Divine and now the Inquisition, has invited her to a ball they are hosting in Orlais. Sabine invites the Inquisitor if romanced or on friendly terms. The Inquisitor can decline which, depending on dialogue, will result in an approval drop but not the romance ending. If the Inquisitor attends, there is a potential duel, some stolen kisses (if romanced), and the opportunity to compliment or insult Sabine’s parents. Both result in approval gains.

Things that raise their affinity with the player: Siding with mages, helping those in need, insulting Orlesians, criticizing the Chantry, pursuing every quest related to gaining magical knowledge, asking Sabine’s advice, supporting Leliana as divine, and politically motivated decisions during Judgments

Things that lower their affinity with the player: Siding with templars, refusing to help people, agreeing with the Chantry’s actions, agreeing with Cullen, insulting Sabine, putting Gaspard unilaterally on the throne, overly harsh decisions during Judgments

Are they romanceable? Yes, by women only.Can the relationship become sexual? YesAre they open to polyamory? Yes.If they can be romanced and are not, will they begin a relationship / relationships with other character(s)? If so, who? If the Warden did not romance Leliana, and the Inquisitor does not pursue a romance with her, there will be clues that Sabine and Leliana have formed a romantic partnership, one that will continue after the game if Leliana becomes Divine. If the Warden romanced Leliana, Sabine and Josephine will be often seen together.

Which other characters are they friendly towards? She would get along with all the mages. Her and Dorian are the ultimate in wlw/mlm solidarity and love to have wide ranging magical debates. She respects Solas and finds him fascinating, asking endless questions of his knowledge of magic and history. While she, at least internally, has a lot of disagreements with Vivienne in regards to the role of mages and magic in society, she very much respects the other woman personally, and her political finesse, and regards her as a valuable ally to cultivate. She and Varric get along well, and often discuss the political situation of the Free Marches while sharing a bottle of whiskey. She secretly loves the way Sera pulls Nobles noses, and is always friendly with the other woman although Sera’s clearly wary of her magic and noble birth. She knows Cassandra from her time serving the Divine and while they are not particularly close, they get along fine and she respects her.

Which other characters do they not get along with? She avoids Cullen at all costs, but speaks civilly to him when circumstances require it, although the Inquisitor can walk in on a heated argument between them after the Mages or Templars are recruited. She has little interaction with Blackwall, and is wary of Iron Bull given how the Qunari treat their mages and his apparent belief in the rightness of the Qun. She finds Cole fascinating and very sweet, but tends to avoid him because the idea of her personal thoughts being spoken aloud is one of the worst things she can imagine. Privacy is very important to her after life in the Circle.

Opinions on other races? Other elements?

She doesn’t know much about elves, dwarves, or Qunari, but doesn’t trust Chantry doctrine on them, and much like Leliana in Origins, will correct her behavior if called out on racist speech or actions. Her friendship with Dagna, and her own interest in artificing, has made her deeply curious about the relationship dwarves have with lyrium and magic and she intends to study it further, particularly after the revelations regarding the Titans.

How do they feel about magic / religion / the government?

Sabine is very pro-mage, and anti-Chantry, but also believes that the Chantry is too big to be destroyed and so must be reformed from within, willingly or not. She admires Anders actions and believes the rebellion was necessary, but ultimately thinks it requires someone like Leliana to step in and force the hierarchy and system to change, and thus being to alter the opinions of the people who believe in the Chantry.

Something guaranteed to make them leave the party: If the Inquisitor has gained no approval with her and recruits the Templars instead of the Mages, she will leave the party, believing the Inquisition to be an ineffective tool to accomplish her goals

#sabine trevelyan #women of consequence #i need to work more on the overarching universe she belongs to #thank you!!!#this was a lot of fun #aspartame-addict

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sackface93 · 6 years ago

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NHS GPs to prescribe 800 calorie 'liquid diet' of shakes and soups to tackle type 2 diabetes - The Independent

Thousands of NHS patients are set to be prescribed a “liquid diet” of soups and shakes which limit them to just 800 calories a day in a bid to address soaring rates of type 2 diabetes.

Very low-calorie diets will be available with a GP referral for the first time as NHS bosses say they are “ramping up” action to prevent hundreds of thousands of obesity linked diseases.

NHS England’s pilot will see 5,000 patients offered the diet, which substitutes all meals with nutritionally balanced drinks for three months before gradually returning to a regular diet with support to adopt healthier eating habits.

Experts told The Independent that around one in eight patients offered the diet could “reverse their diabetes” and reduce the risk of amputations and other complications.

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However, it is not an option that is attractive to everyone – and while it appears to be more effective than other diet trends, patients’ ability to keep weight off longer term is still being reviewed.

“This is not for Mr Joe Bloggs who is a bit overweight and doesn’t have diabetes,” Professor Naveed Sattar, an expert in metabolic medicine from Glasgow University, told The Independent.

“This is for people with diabetes who have a strong incentive to lose that weight.”

Mr Sattar was part of the initial trial that showed the scheme can induce diabetes remission and said that while it isn’t cheap – the drinks cost around £40-50 a month and there needs to be significant support from staff – it was “definitely cost-effective for the NHS”.

“If this works it might end up reversing diabetes in one in eight, that’s a best-case scenario, but it does work in people who are motivated and want to take it up.”

The escalation of the NHS fight against type 2 diabetes comes as a group of doctors and researchers, including Mr Sattar, said the government is not doing enough to counter the obesity epidemic.

In the same mould as the sugar tax, they called for more legislation to force food manufacturers to reduce fat and label calories in takeaway meals, and challenged “conspiracy thinking” which is causing a boom in high fat diets.

One consequence of rising obesity is that diabetes rates have doubled since 1998. The condition now affects 3.7 million people in the UK and nine in 10 of these patients have type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked to weight and diet.

leftCreated with Sketch. rightCreated with Sketch.

1/50 29 November 2018

Waves hit the British coast as Storm Diana approaches, in Portreath, Cornwall

StuCornell/Twitter/Reuters

2/50 28 November 2018

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge stand with Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (left), the son of Leicester City's chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and his mother Aimon watched by Leicester City players (right) as they pause after laying flowers during their visit to the King Power Stadium in Leicester, to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the October 27 helicopter crash at the stadium. The chairman was among five people killed when his helicopter crashed in the side's stadium car park moments after taking off from the pitch

AFP/Getty

3/50 27 November 2018

A demonstrator wearing a mask of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg poses outside Portcullis house to question the refusal of Zuckerberg to give evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee investigation into disinformation and fake news at the Houses of Parliament in London. Facebook boss Richard Allan is expected to be among a number of officials giving evidence to an "international grand committee" on disinformation and fake news

AFP/Getty

4/50 26 November 2018

Artist Joseph Hillier and his sculpture - Messenger, depicting "a young powerful woman", which will be unveiled next year for Theatre Royal Plymouth. The sculpture, spanning seven metres high and nine metres wide, is too large to be put together at Castle Fine Arts foundry, near Oswestry, so it's being made in sections with 30 master craftsmen to weld them together

5/50 25 November 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May gives a press conference at the end of the European Council meeting in Brussels. The leaders of the 27 remaining EU member countries (EU27) have endorsed the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement and approved the draft political declaration on future EU-UK relations in a special meeting of the European Council on Britain leaving the EU under Article 50

EPA

6/50 24 November 2018

Environmental activists gather around a mock 'coffin', with "our future" written on it, on the green in Parliament Square during a demonstration organised by the movement Extinction Rebellion, calling on the British government to take action on climate and ecological issues. After a week of protest action disrupting the traffic on bridges in central London over the Thames, the social movement Extinction Rebellion, planned a 'funeral march' to highlight what they describe as a climate and ecological emergency. Extinction Rebellion demands that the UK government reduces to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and creates a citizens assembly to oversee changes in environmental policies

AFP/Getty

7/50 23 November 2018

England batsman Jonny Bairstow celebrates after reaching his century during Day One of the Third Test match against Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo

Getty

8/50 22 November 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May joins a parent and baby group during a visit to the Kentish Town Health Centre in London

Reuters

9/50 21 November 2018

A crashed car, with an object protruding through the windscreen, sits abandoned on the A628 in the Peak District, as a blast of snow hit the north of England

10/50 20 November 2018

Waves crash over Seaham lighthouse near Durham as the cold and wet weather continues

11/50 19 November 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May speaking at the CBI annual conference at InterContinental Hotel. Ms May, speaking at the CBI conference, said it was “important” that the UK had escaped EU rules by the 2022 election, but did not give a guarantee

12/50 18 November 2018

England's Harry Kane celebrates with team mate Jesse Lingard after he scored the winning goal against Croatia, after coming from 0-1 down during their Nations League match at Wembley Stadium. The win means that England process to the semi-finals of the new competition and relegate Croatia

AFP/Getty

13/50 17 November 2018

Demonstrators on Westminster Bridge in London for a protest called by Extinction Rebellion to raise awareness of the dangers posed by climate change

14/50 16 November 2018

Environment Secretary Michael Gove speaking outside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs offices. He confirmed he will remain in post and thinks it is important to continue working with Cabinet colleagues to ensure the best Brexit outcome for the country

15/50 15 November 2018

Theresa May chuckles at a press conference in Downing Street after a tough day in which multiple cabinet members have resigned and a number of MPs have tabled votes of no confidence in her leadership

Reuters

16/50 14 November 2018

Pro-European Union, anti-Brexit demonstrators hold placards and wave Union and EU flags as they protest outside of the Houses of Parliament. British and European Union negotiators have reached a draft agreement on Brexit

AFP/Getty

17/50 13 November 2018

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab leaves Downing Street. Prime Minister Theresa May today faced her divided ministers as negotiators scrambled to secure a divorce agreement with the European Union and anxiety mounted over the risk of a no-deal Brexit

18/50 12 November 2018

Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller (centre) welcomes Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena (left) and London Mayor Sadiq Khan at City Hall in Berlin. The three city leaders are meeting to discuss common challenges, including the consequences of Brexit, immigration and the growth of right-wing populism

Getty

19/50 11 November 2018

Prince Charles, and President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier face the Cenotaph during the Remembrance Sunday ceremony on Whitehall in London. On the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice, the day's events mark the final First World War Centenary commemoration events hosted by the UK Government

AFP/Getty

20/50 10 November 2018

Fans, players and staff pay tribute inside of the King Power stadium as a silence is observed in memory of Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha prior to their Premier League match against Burnley. The first time a match has been played in the stadium since the owners helicopter crash

Getty

21/50 9 November 2018

Transport Minister Jo Johnson has resigned in protest of the Government's Brexit plan and called for a Final Say referendum

EPA

22/50 8 November 2018

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt delivers a speech at the British embassy in Paris. Britain's foreign secretary says Brexit negotiations are in "the final phase" and that he is confident that an agreement will be reached with the European Union.

23/50 7 November 2018

Captain James Pugh places a figure among artist Rob Heard's installation Shrouds of the Somme, which honours the dead of the First World War, at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. 72,396 small shrouded figures, representing soldiers who died and were never recovered from the Somme battlefields, have been laid out by volunteers and members of 1 Royal Anglian Regiment

24/50 6 November 2018

Adrian Lester, Sir Lenny Henry, Ade Adepitan, Nadine Marsh-Edwards, Marcus Ryder and Meera Syal, as they deliver a letter, signed by a string of stars, to 10 Downing Street, calling for tax breaks to effect change and boost diversity behind the camera

25/50 5 November 2018

EU nationals, living in the UK take part in a demonstration along Whitehall. Three campaign groups, 'the3million', 'British in Europe', and UNISON came together to form a human chain from Downing Street to Parliament Square and lobby MPs

Getty

26/50 4 November 2018

The Leicester City team with Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (centre in white uniform) son of Leicester City's Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha while they pay their respects during the second day of the funeral ceremony at Wat Thepsirin Buddhist temple in Bangkok. Players and staff from the club arrived in Bangkok to attend a mourning rite for the club's chairman, whose death last week in a helicopter crash stunned the Premier League club

King Power/AFP/Getty

27/50 3 November 2018

The Edenbridge Bonfire Society celebrity guy, Boris Johnson, is set on fire in Kent

28/50 2 November 2018

Wreaths reading 'THE BOSS', for Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, left by Leicester City players outside the King Power stadium. Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, was among those to have tragically lost their lives on Saturday evening when a helicopter carrying him and four other people crashed outside the stadium

29/50 1 November 2018

Google staff stage a walkout at the company's UK headquarters in London as part of a global campaign over the US tech giant's handling of sexual harassment. Hundreds of employees also walked out of their European headquarters in Dublin, as well as, other offices in different parts of the world

AFP/Getty

30/50 31 October 2018

Protesters block Parliament Square in London as the environmental group Extinction Rebellion launches a mass civil disobedience campaign demanding action on climate change

31/50 30 October 2018

British Prime Minister Theresa May, right, listens to Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, center, flanked by Lithuania's Health Minister, Aurelijus Veryga at the Oslo Cancer Cluster for a summit to discuss the role of health technology. Speaking from Oslo, May says this week's austerity-easing British budget does not signal an impending election

NTB scanpix via AP

32/50 29 October 2018

Chancellor Philip Hammond holds his red ministerial box outside 11 Downing Street flanked by Treasury colleagues (left to right) Robert Jenrick, Liz Truss, Mel Stride and John Glen, before heading to the House of Commons to deliver his Budget

33/50 28 October 2018

Supporters pause to look at floral tributes outside Leicester City Football Club's King Power Stadium after a helicopter belonging to the club's chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha crashed outside the stadium the night before. It was confirmed late on Sunday evening that the charismatic Thai chairman died alongside four other people in the crash

AFP/Getty

34/50 27 October 2018

Glenn Hoddle is taken to hospital after falling ill at the BT Sport studio

Getty

35/50 26 October 2018

A man has been arrested for the attempted theft of a copy of Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral, one of the four remaining originals of the historic document of English liberty

Reuters

36/50 25 October 2018

Retail business man Sir Philip Green has been named in Parliament for sexual harassment of staff

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37/50 24 October 2018

The Daily Telegraph today reports that they were subject to a gagging order to prohibit them publishing the details of a leading businessman who is facing allegations of sexual assault and racial abuse

38/50 23 October 2018

Thousands of female workers have today taken to the streets of Glasgow over an equal pay dispute with the City Council

39/50 22 October 2018

Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe who has called for an "urgent review" of the evidence around legislation of cannabis. Hogan-Howe, who has always supported tough laws on cannabis, investigated the issue for Channel 4's Dispatches programme.

40/50 21 October 2018

The Red Funnel car ferry, Red Falcon, which earlier collided with several small boats due to bad weather, passes the mast of a submerged yacht as she leaves East Cowes on the Isle of Wight bound for Southampton

41/50 20 October 2018

Anti-Brexit campaigners lowering a banner off Westminster Bridge in London before taking part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum

42/50 19 October 2018

Members of a grooming gang who abused vulnerable girls in Huddersfield have been jailed for a total of more than 220 years. Three trials at Leeds Crown Court this year heard how at least 15 victims were groomed and raped in the West Yorkshire town between 2004 and 2011. They were aged between 11 and 17 when they were "deliberately targeted" by older men and trafficked across the region

West Yorkshire Police

43/50 18 October 2018

Theresa May leaves after a news conference at the European Union leaders summit in Brussels

Reuters

44/50 17 October 2018

Police officers with a bomb disposal robot on Victoria Embankment opposite Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London after emergency services were alerted to reports of a suspicious package

AFP/Getty

45/50 16 October 2018

Scottish Power will become the first major UK energy company to generate the entirety of its power from wind after selling its remaining gas and hydro stations to Drax in a £702 million deal

Getty

46/50 15 October 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May peers into a hot water urn during a meeting at a social group in Vauxhall from a charity working to combat loneliness at the launch of the first loneliness strategy. Launching the strategy, May confirmed English GPs will be able to refer lonely people to community and voluntary activities by 2023, as she paid tribute to murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, who had campaigned to end loneliness before her death

47/50 14 October 2018

Jeremy Hunt hosting eastern European Foreign Ministers at the Foreign Secretary's official country residence ahead of tomorrow's meetings at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg where chemical weapons sanctions will be formally adopted

48/50 13 October 2018

Police stop a breakaway from the main Football Lads alliance march, as they attempt to get close to a rival anti-facist demonstration in London

49/50 12 October 2018

Waves hit Cawsand, Cornwall as Storm Callum arrives to the UK

50/50 11 October 2018

Former Prime Minister John Major has spoken out against the launch of Universal Credit (the Government's new benefit model). Claiming that it will hurt families of "already meagre living standards", he suggested that the policy could be similarly damaging to Theresa May as Poll Tax was to Margaret Thatcher

1/50 29 November 2018

Waves hit the British coast as Storm Diana approaches, in Portreath, Cornwall

StuCornell/Twitter/Reuters

2/50 28 November 2018

AFP/Getty

3/50 27 November 2018

AFP/Getty

4/50 26 November 2018

5/50 25 November 2018

EPA

6/50 24 November 2018

AFP/Getty

7/50 23 November 2018

England batsman Jonny Bairstow celebrates after reaching his century during Day One of the Third Test match against Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo

Getty

8/50 22 November 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May joins a parent and baby group during a visit to the Kentish Town Health Centre in London

Reuters

9/50 21 November 2018

A crashed car, with an object protruding through the windscreen, sits abandoned on the A628 in the Peak District, as a blast of snow hit the north of England

10/50 20 November 2018

Waves crash over Seaham lighthouse near Durham as the cold and wet weather continues

11/50 19 November 2018

12/50 18 November 2018

AFP/Getty

13/50 17 November 2018

Demonstrators on Westminster Bridge in London for a protest called by Extinction Rebellion to raise awareness of the dangers posed by climate change

14/50 16 November 2018

15/50 15 November 2018

Theresa May chuckles at a press conference in Downing Street after a tough day in which multiple cabinet members have resigned and a number of MPs have tabled votes of no confidence in her leadership

Reuters

16/50 14 November 2018

AFP/Getty

17/50 13 November 2018

18/50 12 November 2018

Getty

19/50 11 November 2018

AFP/Getty

20/50 10 November 2018

Getty

21/50 9 November 2018

Transport Minister Jo Johnson has resigned in protest of the Government's Brexit plan and called for a Final Say referendum

EPA

22/50 8 November 2018

23/50 7 November 2018

24/50 6 November 2018

25/50 5 November 2018

Getty

26/50 4 November 2018

King Power/AFP/Getty

27/50 3 November 2018

The Edenbridge Bonfire Society celebrity guy, Boris Johnson, is set on fire in Kent

28/50 2 November 2018

29/50 1 November 2018

AFP/Getty

30/50 31 October 2018

Protesters block Parliament Square in London as the environmental group Extinction Rebellion launches a mass civil disobedience campaign demanding action on climate change

31/50 30 October 2018

NTB scanpix via AP

32/50 29 October 2018

33/50 28 October 2018

AFP/Getty

34/50 27 October 2018

Glenn Hoddle is taken to hospital after falling ill at the BT Sport studio

Getty

35/50 26 October 2018

A man has been arrested for the attempted theft of a copy of Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral, one of the four remaining originals of the historic document of English liberty

Reuters

36/50 25 October 2018

Retail business man Sir Philip Green has been named in Parliament for sexual harassment of staff

Getty

37/50 24 October 2018

38/50 23 October 2018

Thousands of female workers have today taken to the streets of Glasgow over an equal pay dispute with the City Council

39/50 22 October 2018

40/50 21 October 2018

41/50 20 October 2018

42/50 19 October 2018

West Yorkshire Police

43/50 18 October 2018

Theresa May leaves after a news conference at the European Union leaders summit in Brussels

Reuters

44/50 17 October 2018

Police officers with a bomb disposal robot on Victoria Embankment opposite Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London after emergency services were alerted to reports of a suspicious package

AFP/Getty

45/50 16 October 2018

Scottish Power will become the first major UK energy company to generate the entirety of its power from wind after selling its remaining gas and hydro stations to Drax in a £702 million deal

Getty

46/50 15 October 2018

47/50 14 October 2018

48/50 13 October 2018

Police stop a breakaway from the main Football Lads alliance march, as they attempt to get close to a rival anti-facist demonstration in London

49/50 12 October 2018

Waves hit Cawsand, Cornwall as Storm Callum arrives to the UK

50/50 11 October 2018

Treatment and complications of diabetes account for 10 per cent of the NHS budget, and the health service predicts the disease will contribute to 39,000 heart attacks, 50,000 strokes and a host of cancers by 2035.

To curb this NHS England is doubling the size of its diabetes prevention programme, which the 800 calorie diet is part of, and will offer 200,000 people who are obese and at risk of diabetes weight loss support.

Diabetes UK was one of the funders of the DiRECT trial, which helped established the benefits of the very low-calorie diet, and said it was “delighted that NHS England have been inspired by this work to pilot a type 2 remission programme through the NHS”.

The trial showed that around a quarter of patients were willing to try the diet, and half of those achieved remission of their diabetes – while a quarter lost 15kg or more over the year.

NHS England will evaluate its own pilot findings after a year before deciding on whether to expand the scheme.

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“The NHS is now going to be ramping up practical action to support hundreds of thousands people avoid obesity induced heart attacks, strokes, cancers and type 2 diabetes,” NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said.

“What’s good for our waistlines is also good for our wallets, given the huge costs to all of us as taxpayers from these largely preventable illnesses.

“However, this isn’t a battle that the NHS can win on its own. The NHS pound will go further if the food industry also takes action to cut junk calories and added sugar and salt from processed food, TV suppers and fast food takeaways.”

This echoes the words of Professor Christine Williams, a specialist in human nutrition at Reading University, who told a briefing in London that on average the public under-report the calories they consume by 34 per cent.

“It’s quite extraordinary. We’re fooling ourselves – if you want to be polite,” she said.

“Calorie labelling on food eaten outside the home is a really important measure, and they [ministers] need to get on with it.”

She said people were increasingly being given the impression that fats were healthy, despite containing pure calories and there being good evidence that saturated fats, in dairy and meat, are linked to heart disease.

“People almost want to hear the opposite of what they’ve been doing is true,” she said. “It’s like a conspiracy theory.”

Mr Sattar told the same meeting there “needs to be legislation to change food formulations”, and called for a taskforce to be set up to address this.

“The food and drink companies want to make a profit, they’re making huge profits, they’re not going to take advice to change formulations,” he added.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/diabletes-liquid-diet-calories-weight-loss-remission-nhs-gp-prescription-a8660051.html

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