#also can we talk about the fact that they want war with China? I don't want a 3rd world war thxxx

[midnight-soulless-system]

"This book, this agenda, the entire Project 2025 is a plan to unite the conservative movement and the American people against elite rule and woke culture warriors."

-Project 2025

Reblog if you're a woke culture warrior.

[rainbowsky]

Award nominations - my thoughts

There has been a lot of uproar about the Magnolia Awards nominations. Here are my thoughts.

Disclaimer: I'm going to preface this by talking about a life lesson I refuse to learn (to the dismay of those closest to me). The lesson is, "Don't make yourself a target." That can often mean, "Don't speak your mind if your perspective differs from popular opinion" or in this case, "When people are upset, don't put yourself in the position to become the outlet for all their anger."

But I respect diversity of opinion, and that means I want to hear from a variety of perspectives on an issue and I suspect some of my readers do as well. So I hope everyone can remain open to hearing things they might not agree with, and respect each other's views. I also want to add that everything I say here is about me and my views - not a commentary on anyone else or their views.

I also think it's important that I make clear that I have not yet seen War of Faith. I'm relying on reviews and on reports from other fans, from my friends, and from my sister for my understanding of the drama and the performances actors gave.

A bit of background

For those who aren't aware of this issue, I'll try to outline the broad strokes of it all.

The Magnolias are prestigious drama awards in China, somewhat on par with the Emmies. For months now there has been a lot of buzz building about the possibility of a nomination for GG and The Youth Memories, and/or for DD and War of Faith.

The nominations came through today, and there was just the nomination for War of Faith for Best Drama. DD was not nominated, but Wang Yang was nominated for Best Leading Actor.

A lot of fans and even a few passers-by have been very vocally upset about this, saying it's a snub to DD and his excellent performance. Some have even characterized it as a huge betrayal of DD to nominate Wang Yang, who was really only a supporting actor, over DD, who was the real leading actor.

There have been claims that DD wasn't even put forth for the award by the producers, which has made fans even more angry. Many are attacking the producers, speaking out against DD appearing in a proposed season 2 of the series, and threatening backlash if the producers celebrate the nominations the drama received.

Checking the facts

As far as I can tell, here's what we know for sure:

The drama was co-billed with three leading actors: Wang Yibo, Li Qin and Wang Yang.

While DD's character was the protagonist of the drama, he wasn't billed as the sole male lead for the series.

All three leading actors gave solid performances.

We do not know for sure whether Li Qin's or Yibo's names were put forth for the awards. I personally can't think of any reason the producers would hold back on submitting everyone they can for the awards. The more nominations and wins the drama gets, the better for everyone involved.

Edit: according to a document purported by fans to be the official record of the names put forward for awards, Yibo, Li Qin and Wang Yang were all put forth as leads, which is in line with the billing each had in casting.

Fans are treating this as damning evidence that the producers unjustly put the supporting actor forward as a lead actor, but we have to keep in mind that there are likely contractual and legal considerations here. If somebody is cast in a leading role, then they have rights to be billed and promoted as such. We know that Li Qin and Wang Yang were both billed as co-leads.

Edit 2: The studio and producer have released statements where it was confirmed that all the lead actors were put forth for the awards.

My thoughts

I understand the disappointment fans feel when one of our boys is passed over for accolades and recognition. We're all invested in their well-being and success. However, I don't think it does any of us - and especially not DD - any kind of service to get upset and up in arms over something like this.

There are some really good reasons to believe that DD would not be thanking people for reacting the way they have:

It is an insult to Wang Yang and the performance he gave, which from what I understand, was outstanding. DD would not want his colleague's successes to be in any way diminished by the behavior and attitudes of his fans. It's not the kind of person he is.

It's disrespectful to the project as a whole. As I've said before, "A rising tide lifts all boats." The fact that the drama was nominated at all is to DD's great benefit. Turning something positive into a negative doesn't serve any productive purpose.

This makes DD look really bad, frankly. We shouldn't fail to recognize the irony of burning down the internet with cries of, "DD's being treated like a traffic star rather than the great actor he is!!" "He was snubbed!" "What a betrayal!" Nothing makes DD look more like a traffic star than fans behaving this way. This is classic fan culture behavior. We want DD to be recognized as a serious actor, but we simultaneously rely on traffic idol data and numbers to try to 'push his case', and claim he's 'being used for traffic' rather than ourselves respect his serious role in this drama.

This type of awards entitlement is not DD's style. Quite the contrary. He is an extremely humble, hardworking guy who likely cringes at the idea of people being outraged on his behalf in a situation like this.

Everything good that happens for this project, whether it's directly connected to DD or not, benefits DD. Everything bad that happens - every bit of bad publicity - harms DD.

This is a propaganda drama that's of significance to the ruling party. This type of fan behavior in relation to it has the chance of really harming DD and his career. Just like the whole debacle with GG's fans and their reaction over Ace Troops, this is not the kind of thing people should be doing.

From what I've learned about the Magnolias, these awards are given to established career actors. Young actors and newer actors do not tend to get nominated for these awards.

Like it or not, DD is a newcomer with a career that's still in transition. He has a lot of talent and some great successes under his belt, but he is still pretty green as an actor. Wang Yang has a career that goes back 20 years. DD has only been a serious actor for maybe a quarter of that time. It was unrealistic for fans to expect the tiger to change its stripes just for him.

This is not some nasty conspiracy against DD, this is just the reality of the industry he is in. Major awards tend to go to established career actors - both in China and globally. We should know this by now.

As far as I can tell, DD isn't being 'singled out' in any way. He's being treated like any other newcomer; being expected to 'pay his dues' just like everyone else.

DD is young, he has his whole career ahead of him. He is so talented and hardworking - he WILL win major awards. The fact that almost every project he's involved with gets nominations and awards is a very good sign, and ensures he will continue to get solid opportunities to show his skills. He's clearly picking good projects and performing well in them. Directors and producers will take notice of that and want to work with him.

He is on a normal - even exceptionally strong - career trajectory. Given his successes we should be very happy for the trajectory he is on. He will continue to work hard, get good roles, perform well and grow his audiences and his credibility among those audiences.

On a personal level

I love DD so much. He has something truly special about him. I want to see him do well, and for others to see and recognize what's so great about him.

He deals with an outrageous level of hatred and slander from antis, some of it truly makes me sick to my stomach. Nothing would make me happier than to see him be in a position to slap those assholes in the face with prestigious awards and recognition for his talent.

Of course I was dismayed when he wasn't nominated, just as I was dismayed that GG wasn't nominated.

However, I recognize that for what it is - a personal emotional reaction. Ultimately nothing that has happened here appears to be unjust or underhanded. Disappointing, perhaps, but not a conspiracy, not a betrayal.

Quite the contrary. DD's drama was nominated for 5 awards including Best Drama! We should be celebrating. There are probably hundreds of dramas that hope for this type of recognition every year, and DD's was one of those chosen among the very few nominated.

It makes me sad to see something positive being turned into a negative in this way. For all the reasons I outlined, I think it's misguided and could come back to bite DD hard in the ass.

Just my opinion. Hopefully once everyone has simmered down a bit we can all take a second look at this and find another perspective. One that is more worthy of DD as the humble human being he is.

[mrooops]

ok guys, no jokes, but what the fuck?

i want to touch a really really serious topic in pink floyd fandom rn and i want you all to listen to me at least once. i would really appreciate it if you spread this information. thank you

if you're the type of person who writes "well, waters is still better than gilmour", then just please unfollow me forever the fuck out

but it's ok i'll explain you why

well, a little backstory

while many believe that roger's political views are now quite correct, i want to remind you that he supports an aggressive invasion of the country where i live (Ukraine). if you are still interested, then yes, the war in Ukraine is still going on even if in the west now no one wants to pay attention to it anymore. for your understanding, on average we have 100 air raids in the city per month, at least once a week i definitely hear explosions and, yeah, i don’t live in a hot spot. and this guy just goes out and does an interview where he openly says that he supports the aggressor country. yeah, that's right, he was also allowed to speak at the UN council, where he said that the conflict was provoked. very smart. the same guy who said a couple of days before the war that those who believe that it will start are “out of their minds”

ok ok, but how does this relate to gilmour?

very simple. his daughter-in-law is Ukrainian. and her mother lived in a city that was one of the first to be attacked by the russian army. if you have never seen footage from Kharkiv in the first days of the war, then believe me, it was a terrible sight, people tried to help each other as best they could

and it is still going on

i don’t think it's cool to talk shit about one person who supports israel but then turn a blind eye to how another openly says that Taiwan should belong to china and Ukraine to russia and say "well, he is based", "he's better than gilmour"

if you have any other information about gilmour, you can share it with me.

i know you all really like young waters and i see a lot of positive things in him too, but i really can't stand the fact that now people only really look at how he feels about Palestine, even if i see a lot of articles and posts from adults, who say his support for Palestine is also twofold. don't wanna say anything bad about that because i haven’t studied this topic, but i think you can google them yourself, they always just come up

don't get me wrong, i'm not stopping you from sending pictures of him or drawing him, i'm just asking you not to write that he's better than someone else at something when he's not

oh yeah and one last thing...

if you are a supporter of communism, then get the fuck out too, because communism led to the fact that in the 60s in my country they killed almost all the poets who did not write something in support of the state. in history they were persecuted and killed because they wrote in their native language and mentioned Ukrainian culture. communism led to three great famines in our country, when people had so little to eat that they resorted to cannibalism. it's very scary, but it's true. this is what the government has led to when it wants to bring communism to life

communism is not a cool thing. it's cool in words, not on practice, read history

thank you for your attention

[hetalia-has-a-secretary]

How would the German Brothers, France, England, Russia, and China react to their American s/o (who recently moved countries to move in with them) dealing with extreme homesickness?

German Brothers + Allies with a homesick S/O

(I made this for a S/O from anywhere in the world since America already lives there and he must be included. Everyone loves that greasy bomber jacket blonde lol)

German Brothers:

Germany:

He understands what homesickness feels like. Between the wars from the past, and the meetings for the future he usually upholds, he is rarely at his nice clean home.

He does his best to console them, and buys them stuff from their home country.

One day he was talking with Italy, and was shocked when Italy suggested to just have more meetings in their home country and bring them with when they start to miss it.

He starts to do just that.

Makes extra time to take them to nice resturants or their hometown and to visit as much of their family and friends as possible.

He realizes having them as a traveling companion helped his stress levels so now they're his emotional support S/O!

Now at least when they miss their home, they won't be alone in that.

Prussia:

Man is retired, and LOVES to travel and learn stuff.

Has no problem sneaking his S/O away to their country.

Movie nights with subtitles will happen frequently. He's not even paying attention he's just so happy his Jewel is happy.

Also cooks a lot of food from their homelands as well as gifts and tacky tourist gages just to make them smile.

Allies:

America:

Doesn't fully understand at first since he couldn't WAIT to break free from England.

Doesn't stop him from bringing his S/O to all the themed resturants in America.

Even has pinned down all the cultural museum spots from their Homeland.

Has an endless knowledge about S/O's heritage of cryptic and ghouls.

Loves seeing them happy and will fly them out, even if he can't go with due to restrictions.

Will help make an album of photos and magazines and newspapers and all that good stuff with them.

Also expect a LOT of imported snacks from their home country as well.

England:

We will pretend he thinks museums don't exist, and that his country doesn't have any major art works.

This will be the ONLY time it's a good thing because now his S/O can ramble off what all the foreign words are.

Laughs when he learns the British museums didn't realize a relic was NOT in fact used to make biscuits.

He won't be able to go with them, but sends a friend of theirs to go with and gives them an allowance to go on a shopping spree and eat at the highest quality of resturants/food markets.

Bring him back a teacup, or pottery piece and he will fight tears over the fact they thought of him just as much as he did of them.

France:

HUGE advocate for getting to travel with his S/O.

Unless there's a riot outside his window he will drop everything to go.

"It would be unfair to give up your life completely just for me, non?"

Showers them with romantic evenings and maybe a get together with friends and family.

France has an amazing wifi connection so he will set up a place to video chat with their friends.

After all even just friends can bring you back home.

Will have random people send postcards so his S/O can make a picture map of their countries best sight seeing places.

Even if he does most the work.

China

He's not too keen on traveling there, and rarely let's his S/O go back

But when they do its not a small trip. We're talking a couple months, or until they had enough.

He will try his best to incorporate foods from the other country and enjoys the process.

He has also shipped out many books and movies to China for them.

Though he will evidently receive chinese rip offs, and gets agitated and apologetic.

He knows it's an issue, they guy is trying his hardest!

Russia

He gets a little sad, thinking they just don't want to be with him.

Even so that in itself is understandable, but decides to go on a trip with them anyway.

Look out if it's a nice and sunny beach like country (or has any beaches regardless)

He will become a very happy sunburnt Russian. Sunscreen? What's that?

His S/O will have to fight with him ti actually go back home because how their home is him new home, da?

Have fun with your summer stays!

[nachoaveragejoe234]

Since I had to block a bozo who defends the hate of Russian civilians, (redjaybathood), here is proof of anti-Russian sentiment towards civilians, it's not propaganda and you ain't a tankie for calling it out.

OK, so I have to respond. Firstly, my criticism doesn't mean "I think Putin's behaviour is the right thing."

Let me ask you something. Why don't you lame Chinese civilians for their government? Why don't you call them names? Their leader is also a communist who threatens other countries. Why aren't Chinese civilians considered tankies? Why don't North Korean civilians get treated like they're part of the problem? Cherry picking.

Next, you're literally doing what the OP and many other people are calling out. Hating the civilians for existing and living in a dictatorship.

And since you freaked that I didnt send the links even though you can look it up yourself (meaning you're lazy), fine. Here we go. Now let's see if you try to accuse me of lying. This is the sentiment that lead to the Japanese internment camps which everyone agrees were wrong, but I know people would cheer for Russian ones. There's a LOT of Russia-bashing, believe it or not.

And serious actual hate crimes and attacks. All called "propaganda" by bigots.

That's arson if you don't speak German.

If a foreign minister needs to call you out, it's not propaganda.

NOTE: Dubs being put on hiatus, Russian non politial products like snacks and drinks being removed or given WARNINGS in stores, none of that happens to other "evil" countries like China. Selective outrage? I'd say so. And literal paragraphs about hate from the Wiki page.

All of these are civilians who are being treated like shit on the ASSUMPTION that if you're Russian, you must hate peace. Dictators are not the people. People are brainwashed. You don't have the right to judge the peopleof a dictatorship because they aren't born evil, they're taught to obey the dictator. It happened with Hitler. It happened with Stalin. It happened with Mussolini. It happened with Pol Pot. It happened with Milosevic. It happened with Hirohito. It happens with Xi. It happens with Kim Jong Un. Why is it that when it happens with Putin, and ONLY with Putin, are the civilians suddenly just as problematic as the leader? You can't judge an entire nationality based on a select number of people you've seen who agree (or pretend to agree, as many may not actually agree but pretend. If all you view them as is cowards, but you don't hold the same values to other citizens of dictatorships, you are in fact, a BIGOT and it's not problematic or propaganda or false to say so. I made myself very clear. If you still disagree that's your problem and you are a toxic person. Jesus fucking Christ)

Tell me again how being Russian automatically makes you a bad person and how civilians aren't victims just because they are living in a corrupt country. You judge the entire population based on what fringe nationalists and some brainwashed people say. Blanket statements about an entire nationality or race are NOT okay. Peoplewho criticizes this aren't automatically pro-tyranny. Not that you care or believe that.

As a bonus, let's talk about how America and Canada (my country) used to HATE UKRAINE, and they had Ukrainian internment camps.

Your reaction to this should NOT be "I don't think Ukrainians deserve peace". BOTH RUSSIA AND UKRAINE DESERVE PEACE AND TO BE FREE FROM HATE. THE HATE GOES IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THAT'S THE REASON WAR IS A THING. PUTIN NEEDS TO STOP FIGHTING. PEOPLE NEED TO STOP JUDGING CITIZENS OF A DICTATORSHIP FOR BEING FROM A DICTATORSHIP. THE MORE RUSSIANS THAT CALL OUT PUTIN ANY WAY THEY CAN THE BETTER. ALL OF THESE STATEMENTS CAN AND SHOULD CO-EXIST AND I YOU DON'T THINK SO, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. "BUT THEIR LEADER!" "BUT I'M UKRAINIAN" "BUT LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY" "SHUT UP TANKIE" "ORC/RUZZIAN AREN'T SLURS THEY'RE TRUE". ARE NOT EXCUSES. The orcs and Ruzzians are Putin and his lackeys, not the people who live in said tyrant's cities. Obviously people should help Ukraine, that's absolutely fine. But people should not do or say anything the people above have said. It's pretty easy to find out of touch comments on Twitter and Quora that blanket the entire population as the same "evil commie tankie orc zombies". People calling out this stuff aren't trying to make a competition of "who has it worse" when in fact war harms EVERYONE.

That's all I can say. Don't like this? Then you should really think.

[madamspeaker]

There is a certain hit dog/hollering predictability when it comes to Nancy Pelosi saying something and how the far-left react to it. Firstly it is important to make clear that during her CNN interview on Sunday she said "some" pro-ceasefire groups should have their funding investigated. Some, not all. Of course that distinction immediately got lost in the hoopla of faux outrage that followed from some quarters of the internet. She also said that there are large numbers of people out there who are sincere in their concern and their protests. You wouldn't know this though from the storm that followed.

Let's be clear, only a naive person would believe that there aren't some nefarious outside parties using the current situation in the Middle East as a wedge among Democrats. It's a pattern that we have seen before - notably in 2016 and again in 2020. It makes perfect sense to assume that it will happen again in 2024, and indeed is already happening. If it hadn't been the issue of the Middle East, then it would have no doubt been something else. 

Israel/Palestine isn't a new conflict, in fact it is very old indeed - but the sheer number of new groups popping up in the last new months should raise red flags as to what their exact concerns are. Another red flag is that only Democrats are targetted. Now you might counter that a Democrat is President, but given the GOP control the House (and in turn the money), and that Israel is one the very few issues that most Democrats and Republicans agree on, you would assume that the GOP should be getting some of the flak from protest groups too. I have yet to see one GOP member get yelled at or protested on the issue of Gaza. Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be sailing through life without so much as a whimper in his direction from the ceasefire contingent. Trump sure as hell is. I have yet to see one person ask him to call for a ceasefire, and he a) besties with Netanyahu, and b) running for the job that so many of the protestors say they don't want Biden to have anymore because of the current situation. Red flag number three is that some of these groups have infiltrated Dem fundraiser events. Those events aren't cheap to attend. A seat at a dinner, like the one that Nancy attended on Saturday in Seattle, and that she was interupted repeatedly at, is at least a couple of grand per person. How many protest groups do you know that have that kind of income to hand to just use on stunts like the one at the weekend?

The thing is, much like Cassandra of Greek myth, and indeed Hillary Clinton of modern times, Nancy Pelosi knows what she is talking about but frequently pisses off people who don't like to hear what she has to say. She has been around long enough to know that causes get corrupted, used, taken over by forces that couldn't give a fuck about the issue, but instead seek to create chaos and division. She has seen it for 17 years on her own door step in the form of Code Pink - a supposedly anti-war group that is actually funded by the CCP, and who among other things take the view that the Uygurs are absolutely fine in China, that the war in Ukraine would just end if the US and the rest of the West stopped giving them money and let Russia win, and that Iran should be allowed to build missiles because the US has them. Incidentally, Code Pink were the group in the clip that did the rounds yesterday. For the record, none of the women in that clip are Asian, it was from a couple of months ago (some brazenly claimed it was from this week), and Nancy was again hitting the nail on the head when she said they should go back to their headquaters in China - because, as verified by the New York Times, that is indeed where their money is coming from - the CCP. If China can so easily fund a group in the US like Code Pink, then it stands to reason that other countries are doing the same. It makes perfect sense to question how some groups can afford to pull off stunts costing several thousand dollars. Where is the money coming from? Why are they only targeting Democrats? In a Presidential election year, in which the choices are a guy that Putin hates or a wannabe dictator who does his bidding, it's not unreasonable to ask the question as to how some protest groups can afford to do what they are doing. Asking that question doesn't undermine legitimate protests.

[fantasyinvader]

L'État, c'est moi – Attributed to Loius XIV

I am the senate – Emperor Palpatine

I feel that this is a core part of Edelgard's character, that she views herself as the state.

First off, Edelgard is identified as a hegemon. Hegemony is different from your typical evil empire, though still a form of imperialism, and even predates feudalism by over a thousand years. Considering that Edelgard wants to put the world back the way it was, this could be intentional on the creators part as it signifies that Edelgard's government is based on even more ancient history, but even in Japan during it's feudal era it was a hegemony where vassal lords pledged their alliance to the Emperor (ancient China as well). It's even still used today by critics of world superpowers like the United States.

In hegemony, the idea is to use soft power to make people want to be your friend. You bring them to you, you attract them, and then you use that attraction to dominate them and make them your puppet be they nobles, states or even countries that are supposed to be independant. Hard power, military force, is reserved your those oppose you.

Worth noting that the Japanese name of Edelgard's route is Safflower, a flower that symbolizes attraction. Edelgard's weapon Aymr features the Crest of Maurice, tied to the devil arcana suggesting people allow themselves to be corrupted by voluntarily being around some devil figure, which would also mark her as an Antichrist figure as well as it's also known as the Crest of the Beast. This would also tie into the Buddhist symbolism surrounding the Nabateans, with Edelgard meant to attempt to try and sway Byleth away from enlightenment with her failing to do so being represented in Byleth's flag, the save icon for Silver Snow and the game's actual Fire Emblem according to the devs.

As a hegemon, Edelgard tries to attract people to her side. She has the Agarthans believing that she'll grant them the salvation they seek, the commoners believing that they can elevate their own status through her reforms, while the nobility will hold onto their lands and titles if they support her, and for the player she tries to go the route of being the love interest. She generally tries to make herself out to be the lesser evil in light of what she is an accomplice to as well. She makes her reforms out to be the only thing that can save Fodlan, but various media make it clear she doesn't know what form her reforms will actually be.

All she does, in the Japanese script, is increase her own power.

But here's the other part, hegemonies use hard power against those who oppose them. Coercion, indoctrination, sabotage, or just plain brute strength all work here. And we see this in Hubert's endings, where any threats to Edelgard's rule dance with the Bert in the pale moonlight, while he also spies on those same people to find those threats. Freedom this is not. But the fact is, to be an enemy of Edelgard isn't simply to belong to the Church, Alliance or Kingdom. As she puts it in Hopes:

I've set out to unite all of Fódlan. I've started a war over it. That means destroying any who oppose me and protecting all who stand with me. If you believe in me and share my ideals, I will never abandon you.

This sums up hegemony quite well to be honest. But look at what is said here. If you don't stand with her, she'll destroy you. If you don't believe in her or share her ideals, she will abandon you. This war is so that she might unify Fodlan, while earlier she talks about how devoted she is to her ideals. Hopelessly, in her own words. But this also means that if you don't believe in what she believes, it'll be taken as a sign of opposition and she'll destroy you like we get in Hubert's endings. She also conquers through direct military force, her army said to kill anyone who doesn't surrender to them as they take no prisioners. We also have both Houses and Hopes saying she conscripts people to fight as well, with the former saying that those who resist are killed.

Yet, Edelgard makes herself out to be benevolent. Also, if the farmers are upset at Edelgard taking their farmhands for her army... yeah, they're not going to be going up through the ranks. Ditto the commoners who opposed the war.

Edelgard is reshaping society based on her own beliefs. The nobility aren't meant to serve their people, they're meant to serve her. The Church is meant to serve her. Those who serve her will be rewarded, those who oppose her face their own destruction. And this is Edelgard representing hadou, a leader who rules for themselves rather than for the people. And we know from interviews that Hadou, the path of supremacy or military rule, is what her path is supposed to lead to.

But if you think about this further... this is Edelgard copying the Agarthans. We know that they gave power to Nemesis and the Elites, with notes indicating that they viewed the Agarthans as gods with Nemesis's genocide of the Nabateans being a holy mission from them. We also know that Nemesis persecuted his power, likely to remove Nabateans beliefs at the behest of Thales, and people followed his example rather than rebelling against him. But at the end of the day, Nemesis was a bandit drunk on the power he had been given, while the Agarthans paint this era as one where the world was ruled by humanity... and they believe surface dwellers aren't human. They made Ionius their puppet, and had him pass on their version of history to Edelgard which inspired her to act while expecting to still work with Edelgard once she conquers Fodlan and kills Rhea.

The Agarthans view themselves as the hegemon, Edelgard their puppet but as Cornelia notes when dying in the Japanese text, they are really dancing to Edelgard's tune.

Plus, there's the FEH comic again where Edelgard talks about finding more puppets, while Hubert refers to Ingrid, Felix and/or Sylvain as tools to use against their families in Flower.

Edelgard is a would-be puppet master, and the game paints rejecting her control as the good option. Of course the game is going to constantly try to make her look good, because that's what she's supposed to be on the surface, a waifu that may attract players to her cause. But at the same time, when we get to really know her as per Verdant Wind's moral, we clear up the misconception and are expected to see her for the tyrant she really is. Because, like Seteth says, Edelgard isn't your normal tyrant. It's through this that she can get people to betray their countries, forget the injustices she's visited upon them, and ultimately die for her.

Edelgard is a hegemon with a crunchy hadou-flavored core. That is her character.

[talkingpointsusa]

The profound laziness of Dave Rubin

No, but you posting a video about it for clicks is. (source: Rubin Report on YouTube)

Dave Rubin is a pretty regular source of truly insane and stupid takes and today is no exception. This was the episode he put out on January 31st and as usual it breaks new ground in the realm of stupidity. Lets get into it.

Dave starts off by declaring the theme of todays episode, or lack thereof.

01:24, Dave Rubin: "The theme of todays show is there's an awful lot happening in the world right now. This WW3 situation seems like it's ramping up a bit. I'm gonna try to cool the jets as everyone loves talking about 'Oh my god WW3 is happening and oh my god the civil war is happening and oh my god the alien invasion is happening.' Sometimes, maybe we can have some calmer heads prevail so we'll do a little bit of that. But what I wanted to start with that'll kind of prime everything is that Jon Stewart-"

Brief pause, so what's the theme? If the theme is WW3 related stuff, how on earth is Jon Stewart even remotely related to that?

01:51, Dave Rubin: "Jon Stewart, I guess former comedian. I don't know what we call him at this point, he's basically a progressive activist now."

"Yeah, imagine being a former comedian who became a political activist. Man, I can't even imagine. That's so sick."

First of all, the sheer lack of self awareness is stunning. Second of all, watch that video in full if you want to get an idea of the sheer lack of talent that Dave brings to the table. It's three minutes of Dave being a complete moron constantly trying to do crowd work and getting absolutely no laughs out of anyone.

02:18, Dave Rubin: "Jon Stewart left the Daily Show, what was it? About six years or so ago. Ends up bringing a new show, The Problem With Jon Stewart onto Apple TV and he just goes all in on the crazy leftism."

Jon Stewart is back at the Daily Show for a limited time and Dave Rubin isn't gonna take it! He's only hosting on Monday nights to cover things related to the election cycle.

Jon Stewart was always a pretty big leftist. Here's him absolutely demolishing fellow blog favorite Tucker Carlson all the way back in 2004. I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy in Dave's coverage of Jon. Jon also stood up for his free speech, something that Dave should love, by walking away from his show on Apple TV when they told him he couldn't talk about AI and China.

Dave doesn't even understand the most basic facts about this story...like the fact that Jon isn't the only person hosting the Daily Show or the fact that they are making more than the Monday episode.

02:30, Dave Rubin: "But the machine is bringing him back now, putting him back at the Daily Show at the chair on a weekly show not a daily show. So the Daily Show's going to weekly, alright they're going to struggle with that."

Here's what happened, Dave read some headline somewhere about Jon Stewart returning to the Daily Show and instead of trying to learn the facts about the story that he's trying to cover, he just barged in and started talking about it on his show.

If Dave actually read about what he's trying to talk about the subject he's talking about, he'd know that Jon is only hosting on Monday’s and that other people are hosting the show on all the other days of the week. It's also only for the election cycle.

Dave plays some clips of CBS for him to react to.

03:36, Dave Rubin: "We're doing PR, we're owned by the same people and we have to tell you he's really great. Yeah, ok! So you guys get how the whole machine works, right? There's no reason for CBS News to be covering that on their nightly news program."

At the end of the clip he plays, the reporter discloses that CBS and Comedy Central are both owned by Paramount, in short disclosing the conflict of interest. Should they have maybe not covered this? Yeah, I wouldn't have because it's a conflict of interest. But they did disclose it.

03:51, Dave Rubin: "And the damn shame about Jon Stewart and we'll illustrate this in just a moment is that at least for the first couple of years at the Daily Show he was doing something kind of new and poking and prodding at the media the way I kinda do on this show."

Dave Rubin and Jon Stewart have one key difference; Jon is funny and insightful and Dave is well....Dave.

04:07, Dave Rubin: "He's sort of gone off the deep end, or I don't even need to qualify that, he has completely gone off the deep end when it comes to progressive politics and I would say become everything that he probably once despised."

Just to recap some of Dave's career; Dave started off at the Young Turks, a progressive news outlet, and ended up starting a conservative news show after leaving the Young Turks. His sudden pivot to conservativism coincidentally dovetailed with receiving money from the Koch Brothers.

So who has became everything they once despised here?

Dave plays a clip of Jon confronting a Republican attorney general about gender affirming care for minors. If I were Dave I really wouldn't have played that clip as Jon does a really good job dismantling the Attorney Generals arguments. Dave does cut the clip and this was his takeaway.

06:51, Dave Rubin: "And it goes on and on, what an absolutely smug unlikeable person he became for the cool one million plus per episode he was making on that now defunct show."

More of Dave describing himself. Seriously, take some time to watch a Dave Rubin episode if you have time. He talks in this really slow and condescending way that's near unbearable to listen to.

07:10, Dave Rubin: "Jon Stewart, if you are watching this you might want to read Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier, thank you, who wrote an incredible book about how so much of what's happening to our children is a social contagion. Particularly when it comes to young girls thinking they can transition and become young boys."

Abigail Shrier is one of those right-wing grifters who has made a cottage industry of spreading misinformation about transgender youth. Blog favorite and professional sociopath Matt Walsh is another example of that. Shriers book is filled with massive amounts of misinformation and outright falsehoods.

Also, the idea of Jon Stewart even knowing of Dave Rubin's existence is laughable. You just know if Jon stepped foot on Dave's set, Dave would be tripping over himself to get Jon a beer and a pillow for his feet.

08:04, Dave Rubin: "No you cannot take a boy and actually make them a girl, that's just not reality."

Say it with me; absolutely nobody is giving transgender surgeries to small children. Dave's entire framework is simply denying the existence of transgender people.

I've said this before but I find the fact that Dave is a member of the LGBTQ community and still has hopped onto the right-wing transphobia bandwagon really infuriating. Years ago his ilk would be trying to make his marriage illegal and guess what? They still want that! It's so frustrating to watch this guy run defense for guys who hate who he is.

And talk about "smug and unlikeable". Dave hasn't even bothered to meet up with the families of trans youth like Jon has and is handwaving legitimate medical treatments because "my billionaire sponsors don't like it".

Anyway, lets move on before my head explodes. Dave plays another Jon Stewart clip, this time him interviewing Gavin Newsom. Dave then plays some clips from the Daily Show when Trevor Noah was hosting it. Dave proceeds to call a transwoman a "creature" and I want to throw my laptop out the window. I'll elaborate on this in the conclusion, but I'm starting to realize that Dave Rubin is a profoundly lazy content creator.

14:22, Dave Rubin: "Now the reason I'm showing you all this and starting the show with this Jon Stewart thing and everything else is because the Daily Show became this cultural touchpoint. 'More young people get their news from the Daily Show than anywhere else.' So when you wonder how did this all happen? That so many kids are confused about their gender. How did it happen that being not racist made you racist? It's because this is the crap that Hollywood pushes on us."

"The Daily Show is turning people trans" is an argument that I never thought I would hear and yet here we are. The median viewership age of the Daily Show in 2024 is 63 years old by the way so this argument makes even less sense in this day and age.

Dave plays another Daily Show clip. This time it's one of the guest hosts talking about migrants.

15:54, Dave Rubin: "Illegal people are here illegally. Even if there are jobs for them then what you do is you have them come legally and you figure it out."

Except that the pathways to legal immigration are borderline impossible to fulfill. If Dave is saying that we should loosen those pathways, I agree. But that's not what he's saying so this is just him being an obtuse idiot.

Dave does an ad for Tax Network USA and then he expands on his broader point.

18:10, Dave Rubin: "What I'm trying to lay out to you, and that's all well and good, is that all the ideas that we just talked about there are the things that get into the culture and you wonder why everything is wrong, why our politicians suck, why we don't know up is down and up is up and down is down and all these things."

Dave Rubin: Master Orator strikes again.

"Up is down and up is up and down is down", truly profound stuff right there. Seriously, who the hell watches this unironically?! How does this guy have 2.14M subscribers?! At least guys like Ben Shapiro have certain airs around them that make them seem like intellectuals to people who don't know any better.

18:25, Dave Rubin: "But now I want to drive this a little further into the cultural piece of this because Law & Order where a white woman is raped by a black man but doesn't want him to go to jail. Take a look at this."

Dave then plays the clip from Law & Order. Again, this a ridiculously stupid thing to talk about, especially since Dick Wolf seems like a pretty conservative guy from what I can tell.

19:40, Dave Rubin: "Could we do a road trip after the show? Would you guys be interested in doing a road trip after the show? Drive cross-country, go to Hollywood, bomb the place?"

Law & Order has been filmed in New York for a million years.

Also, the episode ends with the rape victim testifying against the rapist so this whole story is a complete load of nothing even if we follow the parameters that Dave laid out.

20:11, Dave Rubin: "The messaging that they are sending to the brains of young people and I guess middle age people who watch Law & Order, everything is freaking backwards. They have taken art and made it activism."

Does....does Dave not realize that art and film has been a form of activism since its inception. Also, I love how he realized in the middle of his sentence that young people tend not to watch Law & Order and threw that "middle aged people" in there at the last second. Nice save.

Dave talks about the Disney Snow White remake. This is such an insanely old story. Ben Shapiro even announced a "competitor" version that will be hosted on the Daily Wire what feels like a century ago. Old news and an immediate skip.

21:21, Dave Rubin: "I do wanna back up for just a second. I don't condone or call for terrorism in Hollywood or anywhere else. I didn't mean bomb the place, I meant like glitterbomb it, you know what I mean? Just go there and pour glitter all over these people, that is what I meant. Lets be clear about that because Media Matters I'm sure is watching every moment of this 'Rubin just called to bomb Hollywood.'"

I've got bad news for Dave, he's not even important enough to get clipped by Media Matters. He's been mentioned by them in passing but the last time he got clipped was February of 2023. Really the only people criticizing him are a Twitter account called "Dave Rubin Clips" on Twitter, his own subreddit, and me.

Dave plays a clip from SNL. He does an ad for the Wellness Company, it's the same company that makes those emergency kits that Charlie Kirk was hawking in our last episode.

Now, its time to get serious. Dave wants to talk about the news...it involves playing more stupid freaking clips. He plays an MSNBC clip and here are his thoughts.

26:11, Dave Rubin: "Ok, I'm only showing you that because these people that they put on there, they just offer them the red meat. And of course their kind of brain damaged progressive audience eats it up."

"And then I play a clip of it so that my audience can eat up my commentary on it"

Also, the brain damaged comment was stupid as all hell. Anyway, Trump lost the defamation suit against E. Jean Carroll and Dave comments on it the only way he can...by commenting on a clip he plays from The View.

28:13, Dave Rubin: "It really, it's so horrible. And watching the women applaud. If they all felt like this woman really got raped, again rape is pretty bad, they wouldn't be celebrating today, right? Like, it wouldn't be a day of celebration. It would be kind of a somber like, 'Oh there was a verdict in the defamation thing related to the rape and Donald Trumps gonna have to pay up.' But they know it's all bullshit, it's all a show."

"Woah, a rape victim celebrating finally getting justice?! That makes no sense!"

This argument makes absolutely zero sense. Imagine if you got raped and the court forces your rapist to pay you millions of dollars. You'd be pretty damn happy. Does Dave think that after you get raped you are incapable of feeling anything outside of sadness?! And what's more, if you manage to score a win against your rapist you are still going to be sad.

Lets play a game. Do you think that Dave is going to;

A): Offer insightful and nuanced commentary on the verdict that considers the evidence and leads to an informed conclusion.

B): Play another stupid clip and then say something stupid.

The answer is A....just kidding! This is Dave Rubin we're talking about, of course it's going to be B! Dave rolls a CNN clip and mumbles about some stupid shit.

30:20, Dave Rubin: "If she got raped, which Donald Trump was not convicted of, would you want to make a show of all of this?"

The guy was extremely wealthy and that was before he became president. She's celebrating getting a form of justice against an extremely powerful adversary.

Also, Trump was found liable of sexually abusing Carroll which is commonly understood as rape. So he didn't even get that part right. Again, laziness.

Dave comments on a joke Carroll made to Rachel Maddow that she would "buy her a penthouse". It was a joke and apparently Dave is pissed about it. Whatever. Dave plays more clips of Carroll and then plays a Megyn Kelly clip. Again, letting others make his arguments for him.

35:16, Dave Rubin: "This is why Megyn is just so consistently great. I don't know what happened, you don't know what happened, Megyn Kelly doesn't know what happened."

So the bar for trusting a rape victim is if you know for sure what happened? That's ridiculous! Plus the evidence was clearly compelling enough that Trump was found liable for sexual abuse.

Also, wasn't the theme for today supposed to be about WW3? "Cooler heads shall prevail" and all that?

37:03, Dave Rubin: "But now I wanna connect that to something that's happening in the world and show you Trump at his absolute best. Because these are the moments that we could use a real leader in this country and I think he has an interesting opportunity. And as I've been telling you for the last two weeks, I wanna nudge him to be the best Donald Trump if possible."

Oh yeah, that's gonna happen. I can just see Trump now;

"I was gonna make this decision but Dave Rubin said that would be a bad idea! Guess I'm not gonna do that!"

Anyway, Dave's next story is about the drone-strike in Jordan that took the lives of 3 US soldiers. He reads some stuff from the Daily Wires website (and here I thought he was going to play a clip of Ben Shapiro, he's evolving!) and then launches into his take;

38:44, Dave Rubin: "So now you might be wondering 'Dave, what does this have to do with the E. Jean Carroll thing?' Well, Donald Trump issued a statement on this and I think he nailed it."

Dave reads out a Donald Trump post that he very clearly didn't write (not enough random all caps). Again, Dave can't really make content of his own capably and just relies on everybody else to do the heavy lifting. Also, I love how quickly he switched over from being a Ronnie D simp to being a MAGA moron. Those boots need a lickin'!

40:20, Dave Rubin: "Look, I don't know if Donald Trump wrote that himself. It's obviously irrelevant, they have speechwriters and everything else."

It's relevant when you spent the past four minutes hyping this post up as "the Trump we need" and "Trump at his absolute best". If Trump didn't write it then it isn't Trump. Unless you are saying that Trump is at his best when he isn't in control, in which case me and Dave might have more common ground than I thought.

40:26, Dave Rubin: "But the clarity, the moral clarity, 'peace through strength'. The reality of the fact that three, four years ago, when Donald Trump was still president, especially pre-COVID, that the world was peaceful and Middle East peace deals were being signed left and right. The Iranians were doing absolutely nothing."

It may have seemed more peaceful compared to right now but it's important to remember that the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for way longer than October 7th. The Abraham Accords, which I assume is what Dave is talking about when he mentions about peace deals, was brokered between countries that weren't engaged in conflict and did nothing to impact Israel and Palestine. Also, nothing happened with Iran? Remember the assassination of General Suleimani that nearly pushed the US and Iran to the brink of war? That certainly didn't help peace in Iran.

41:30, Dave Rubin: "The first thing that Donald Trump did when he got into office was drop the mother of all bombs, the MOAB, the mother of all bombs, dropped it. People didn't even know why he dropped it but it made it seem like he was kinda crazy so don't mess with this guy."

So Dave's brilliant foreign policy strategy is acting like a complete lunatic?

41:43, Dave Rubin: "He killed Suleimani, right? And everyone was like 'this is gonna start World War Three', actually it caused Iran to not do much of anything while he was president."

The reason we are seeing so much action from Iran is because of Israel/Palestine, a conflict which finally boiled over after decades. Blaming Irans increased action on Biden is stupid.

Again, I don't think Biden is faultless. His continued funding of the genocide in Palestine is awful and I fundamentally disagree with it. But criticizing him for stupid made up reasons is well...stupid.

Conclusion:

Ok, so Dave playing a lot of clips and not adding a lot of original ideas to his commentary took me off guard the last time that I talked about him but this time I was ready for it. This episode didn't break a lot of new ground but I felt that it would be a good opportunity to talk about something about Dave that needs to be said and it's that his content is so deeply lazy.

Think about it. Your average Dave Rubin episode is just him playing television clips completely out of context and then saying a two second conservative culture war related soundbite after it. Dave Rubin basically gets mad at TV for a living.

Even when he's trying to make an argument, he just mumbles something that doesn't really make any sense and then lets someone more articulate like Megyn Kelly pick up the pieces. It's to the point where I would be willing to wager that a good 50% of his show is just clips of other people talking.

This is because Dave Rubin is a grifter who doesn't really bring any new ideas to the table outside of "I'm gay and I'm also conservative". I feel like a big part of him realizes that when he talks for long periods of time he usually ends up making a fool of himself.

And it's not just the clips either, he barely researches what he's talking about. Take for example, the Daily Show coverage. With a five second Google search I knew more about the story than Dave did and as a result was able to point out his inaccuracies and make him look like a complete idiot. Same thing with him not realizing that Trump was found liable for sexual abuse. This is basic shit that you need to know when you are trying to act like the authority on a subject. But Dave doesn't even look into it because he's too busy clipping NBC and being deeply lazy.

Anyway, cheers and I'll see you in the next one.

[lingshanhermit]

Lingshan Recluse: "Nader and Simin: A Separation" - Those honest, terrible ordinary Iranians

You should watch this film before reading this article. Otherwise you may not know what I'm talking about. I promise this is not a movie that will make you fall asleep.

This is the best Iranian film I've ever seen. To be precise, this is the second Iranian film I've seen. The first one was "Persepolis," which was all black and white animated characters. If "Escape from Tehran" also counts as an Iranian film, then this would be the third. This film allowed us to understand the lives of Islamic adherents living in Iran. Previously, your understanding of Islam was limited to the endless violent incidents. For Iran, we are all too familiar with Ahmadinejad, their covert nuclear program, Iranian women in black veils, and topics like when will the US and Iran go to war. You had never understood ordinary Iranians before. From this film we can see how they live, how they balance cause and effect.

To be honest, the prudence towards cause and effect of the female housekeeper who does nursing work in the film puts me to shame - although she may not understand too much about cause and effect. Growing up in a country full of lies, even as Buddhists, sometimes we still habitually tell some lies. You will feel very uncomfortable seeing those honest, terrible, rigid ordinary Iranians in the film. Their piety and seriousness towards religion far exceeds ours. When she was unsure if changing the pants for an elderly paralyzed man of the opposite sex would violate Islamic doctrine, she even called to consult religious experts if doing so would be a sin. Of course, Buddhists would say such a religion is too rigid. We would say: they lack wisdom. But their seriousness towards faith is really something we Buddhists can learn from.

In their world, the Quran is like a prophet. If you speak in front of the Quran, it's equal to speaking in front of the prophet, and people around have no reason not to believe you. They don't believe anyone would dare to lie before Allah. I don't think many Chinese Buddhists would refrain from lying just because there's a copy of the Avatamsaka Sutra nearby. Even with their hand on the Diamond Sutra, many Chinese Buddhists can still lie without blushing. In China, lying has almost become a necessary survival skill.

I don't know how many Chinese people can understand such a film. In a country without faith, you would find them too rigid. You might even mock them. When I was very little, people around me already found it unbelievable that in the TV dramas made by Hong Kongers, people would not lie in court after swearing on the Bible. In a country lacking in faith, people generally do not understand the need to be responsible for their body, speech and mind.

At the end of the film, Nader and Simin decided to settle with the other party through monetary compensation, but they wanted the other party to swear before the Quran: her miscarriage was caused by being pushed by the employer. But the other party chose to give up the compensation. Because they feared the consequences of lying before the Quran. Although in some ways, her miscarriage was indeed related to the employer - she was hit by a car while protecting Nader's father - but it wasn't because of his push, so she couldn't say that. She couldn't lie before Allah. She feared the consequences.

I recommend all Buddhists watch this film. I think you can see from it how far you still are from deeply believing in cause and effect. And deeply believing in cause and effect - this is just the minimum standard for Buddhists. I know most Buddhists are only close to being Buddhists - even being close to Buddhists is still very distant. In fact, if I say someone is close to being a Buddhist, that is almost praise to me. If after studying Buddhism for ten years, you become close to being a Buddhist, you can almost be proud of it. I feel most Chinese Buddhists (especially some who claim to practice Vajrayana) their goal should not be attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime, they should set becoming a Buddhist in this lifetime as their highest goal. Becoming a Buddhist means you accept the four seals. Although this sounds not difficult, in actuality, it is a very high level requirement. Very few Buddhists truly accept the four seals. Most Buddhists neither understand nor accept the four seals, so when something happens they say: How could this happen? Why did this happen? This is not understanding the four seals.

If you watch this film, if you see those honest, terrible ordinary Iranians - how they speak plainly without exaggerating, occasionally telling a lie would cause them severe psychological barriers - and don't feel the slightest shame afterwards, then you must be amazing - either you're already doing as well as the people in the film or better, or you completely lack a sense of shame. Only these two kinds of people would not feel ashamed.

In China, many people can tell lies without any psychological barriers at all, many people can casually make promises they never intended to fulfill. Such people, from children to adults, are everywhere in China. The result is you don't dare trust anyone except parents and family. When someone tells you something, our first reaction is: Really? You're not lying to me right? Chinese Buddhists, growing up in such an environment, are also inevitably influenced. Thus, I especially recommend Chinese Buddhists watch such films.

You can watch this film through downloading, but if you like it, please go to the theater again and pay to watch it once more. Or purchase the official DVD. The reason is simple. If we all just watch films this way, then theaters will have no business, theaters with no business means creators have no money to eat. Creators with no money to eat will have to switch professions, like go wash dishes. They will no longer create. Then we won't be able to see their better works. This is cause and effect. Therefore, please respect other people's intellectual labor.

Lingshan Recluse wrote this on December 14, 2012.

Copyright Notice：All copyrights of Ling Shan Hermit's articles in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, English, and other languages belong to the natural person who owns "Ling Shan Hermit". Please respect copyright. Publishers, media, or individuals (including but not limited to internet media, websites, personal spaces, Weibo, WeChat public accounts, print media) must obtain authorization from Ling Shan Hermit before use. No modifications to the articles are allowed (including: author's name, title, main text content, and punctuation marks). We reserve all legal rights.

灵山居士：《纳德与西敏》——那些诚实的可怕的伊朗普通人

[faroreswinds]

There's a part of me that's worried that FE is going to lean into the "imperialism is good actually" mindset given how popular 3H was but given 3 Hopes' mixed reception and backlash especially in Japan, I don't think we have to worry too much about that. Thoughts?

Hmmmm. Hard to say. I have seen some comments from the Japanese fandom that has equated Edelgard's war with Ukraine's situation, and I have also seen comments about how worried they are that the West will think Japan loves imperialism in general.

Historically, Japan's history with imperialism and unification is... mixed. Japan was a bunch of warring states for a long time before Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu essentially conquered the other warring states at the turn of the 17th century, and then Tokugawa Ieyasu took all control himself.

You have to understand that in the 16th century, the country was in a near state of constant civil war. Like, it was really bad. The many lords that lived during that time were fighting for power and land constantly, until the three big dudes strolled up and ended it at last. They were determined to make sure that the country never experienced that again, so they promoted order among their people.

This is all very basic and spark-notes, so I won't get too deep into it, but essentially this unification allowed for Japan to finally stabilize and lead itself into the modern age. It was a major turning point for the country, and is looked back upon fondly.

But Japan also has a bit more history with imperialism and that goes into more recent times which is.... not looked upon favorably. At all. If you know your history, then you know I'm talking about WWII and Japan's attempts to spread their empire. The things they did to China, Korea, and the small islands like Saipan is absolutely heart-wrenching. Chilling. I've been to Saipan and we did a little history tour. Look up Suicide Cliff in Saipan.

They don't really teach that stuff in school though. It's not entirely swept under the rug per say, but it's not really fully taught about that time in their history. It is very uncomfortable to admit that your homeland did some pretty awful things (I know, because I have a hard time rectifying that myself).

So combine the elevation of unification with the downplaying of their imperialism and you get a sense that unification of any kind is pretty good. Especially if it leads to stability and prosperity.

I'm not going to sit here to say that all of Japan favors imperialism though, because that certainly is not true. But I can understand why some might be ok with the idea.

Heck, even I think there are times where unification is good! History isn't black and white, morality does not exist on a binary.

However....where I think Houses, and Hopes, fails for me on a message on "unification is good, actually" is thanks to the worldbuilding

Foldan is a continent but the game treats it as if it's a single nation

The three nations are not in a constant state of civil war with each other. In fact, they have been pretty peaceful with each other for 300 years.

Edelgard is not trying to create a world of stability from a state of constant war. She actively started a war to change the world in her image

Now while Hopes had backlash, Houses really didn't. Houses was honestly a big success for them. Despite being the bad guy, Edelgard is loved by many and still regarded as a hero (heck, even by other devs *looks at Three Hopes*).

So will the new narrative be "imperialism is good, actually?" Well, I wouldn't say to worry about that quite yet. KT really wanted to basically tell the story they are good at (Three Kingdoms) versus the story IS is good at (underdog good lord rises against big bad conquering nation). But I would be more worried about seeing the integrity of a narrative being undermined by marketable waifus.

But I do find it concerning that Hope's dev say Houses as a unification event, almost as if he saw it similarly to Japan's own unification event. He does say in his interview that he saw Edelgard as a unifier, rather than an imperialist.

If we get another game where imperialism is praised (or the Genealogy remake is rewritten somehow to praise unification and shit)... then I would really start to worry.

[traegorn]

Oh boy, here's a doozy.

Things have shifted far enough that Trump/Vance is actually more left than the alleged left

This is easily verified as untrue, but let's see what ridiculous points you try to use to back it.

what with their aims of ending war in Ukraine (thus derailing the current gravy train the military-industrial complex is riding)

Their solution to "end the war in Ukraine" is to withdraw aid and allow Russia to invade. It's literally pro-Genocide. So we're already starting out with the dumbest take possible. Not looking good for you.

introducing tariffs against China and, in time other popular outsourcing havens to bring manufacturing home (because of both security issues and the fact that an economy comprised of unskilled labour service jobs is going to generate anything but poverty in an economic race to the bottom as your domestic consumption dies) *and* he pinned the blame correctly on the bankers and international corporations for a lot of fuckery that is afoot, rather than the usual Republican rhetoric about pesky neo-marxists.

Tariffs are just going to make things more expensive for the working class and no one else. That manufacturing isn't coming home. It'll just move to countries other than China where it's still more profitable for major corporations and the supply chain.

Look, I can break this down further, but it's clear we're dealing with someone who has fallen down right wing talking points so badly that any discussion is useless. They think the GOP, the party where folks want to remove bodily autonomy and are mad about women voting, is somehow "left."

Whether you agree with me or not, if you believe a word this person says, I don't know how to talk to you.

I've said this before, but no one moves left in the general election. When a block of voters says they're not going to vote for their candidate, Democrats tend to believe them. So they decide to go court the people who they think will vote for them. That's why you've seen the Harris campaign trying to court moderate Republicans who might be iffy on voting for Trump a third time.

Leftists don't win by allowing extreme right wing candidates to win the White House. Instead you keep pressuring Democrats during their term and it works. Like Biden is continuing to work on forgiving student debt even though he doesn't have an election ahead of him. Because they know that what he does reflects on the future of the party. To really move the party left you need to focus on local and state based races -- get involved with your school board, city council, and state level governments. Get leftist candidates to run, and get them into office. That's how you drag a party over politically, and how you reform it. It's also how you move the national political discussion towards your cause.

We know it works because that's exactly what the Republicans have been doing for 50 years.

Voting doesn't end this game, it's the start of it.

And don't listen to weirdos who try to tell you Donald "Finish the Job" Trump and JD "Incel Couchfucker" Vance are somehow leftist.

This is the thing with the "I won't vote for Harris" supposed leftists.

None of them will tell you how allowing Trump to be elected helps.

Because they don't have an answer.

Because they don't really care about anything other than how they personally feel.

Actual leftism involves making pragmatic moves. The public will for revolution doesn't exist, and we live in a two party system. If you want to fight that system, great. There are things like ranked choice voting and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact we need to be fighting for. But those are fights that have to happen year round, at the state level, and not just in an election year.

And in the meanwhile, you vote defensively and strategically, in an attempt to save as many people as possible.

Saying you aren't voting for Harris isn't taking a stand against genocide. It's putting your head in the sand and admitting you care more about your own comfort than making a difference in the world.

Why aren't you getting involved in your local politics? Why aren't you running leftist candidates at a local level, so you can move them up in the system and eventually move the political discussion left. You want to know why politics have moved right? It's because the right wing has been doing that for decades.

Your refusal to participate won't save a single life.

It only means you're abandoning everyone else.

[rainbowsky]

Hi RB! I’m sure you must have come across a melon rumour about yizhan potentially attending the same event 👀. It’s unconfirmed and any one of them can change plans last min and choose not to attend so not getting my hopes up BUT still there’s a little bit of excitement hopefully it’s not a vcr type thing 😭 anyways I wanted to ask ‘if’ they both do attend the event do you think they will still act like strangers and avoid each other? What sort of interaction do you expect from them and what seems sensible in your opinion?

Hi Anon! 😊

Yes, there are many rumors that Tencent and Weibo night are coming up, and that both GG and DD will be attending. Those are pretty safe melons to write, considering those events usually happen this time of year, and GG and DD always attend.

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

It's impossible to know what's going to happen. There are still a lot of covid lockdowns in China, so it's possible that if the events do happen they might not be the typical galas we'd all most like to see. It's also possible that - due to the covid situation - quarantine or lockdowns in their regions might prevent some artists from attending who would otherwise normally be there.

Plus GG is in ADLAD this winter, so that will be a factor as well. He might not be able to risk being caught up in a covid lockdown, for the sake of the theater production that needs him to be available.

If GG and DD do both attend it's unlikely the structure of the events would give much opportunity for them to interact publicly. They would mostly be onstage at different times, they'd be hitting the red carpet at different times, etc.

IF they both attend and IF there is an opportunity for an interaction, it's possible they'll interact in some way, even just a nod or something, but that's a very thin likelihood. Like I said, the structure of the events is such that they're unlikely to cross paths in front of the cameras (although they'd be able to spend time together backstage).

It's impossible to predict what will happen. They might interact, they might not. One thing we can be sure of: they'll do what's best for them. I think as fans we need to respect that and understand that if they aren't interacting publicly it's because it's in their best interests to not be seen interacting.

An important reminder to fans: How GG and DD behave toward each other in front of the cameras has absolutely nothing to do with their relationship behind the cameras. They will do what they can to maintain the image they need to project. That's entirely separate from how they feel about each other or how close they really are.

I know a lot of antis and toxic solos make a big deal about the fact that GG and DD haven't interacted publicly in a long time. Just block and ignore them.

It's disingenuous for them to claim that the lack of public interaction is a sign they dislike each other or aren't together. That's utter BS. Top stars in that industry go to great lengths to hide their relationships and connections. The industry trades on fantasies of romantic availability, and any hint of a relationship can be a career killer. It's idiotic for toxics to pretend GG and DD have any choice but to be private about any connection they share.

If anything, their lack of interaction aligns with what we'd expect to see if they really are a couple.

To be clear: the fact they don't interact publicly is not 'proof' of anything, nor is it a candy, but it's definitely not inconsistent with the BXG belief of BJYXSZD.

And that's all before we even talk about the ongoing fan wars between the three fandoms - GG solos, DD solos and turtles. That adds an element of risk to anything GG and DD do, and I'm sure fan behavior always comes into consideration when deciding how best to approach practically every aspect of their public life.

Fans fight like cats and dogs - especially XFX and MTJJ - and with the 'Clear and Bright' internet rules, fan wars come with serious consequences to the artists. If GG and DD and their management teams deem it too risky due to fan wars, they'll not interact.

So solos trying to rub it in our faces that GG and DD aren't interacting publicly are just being ridiculous. Don't take the bait.

TL;DR - I do think it's likely they'll both be at both of those events. I can't guess whether they'll have any opportunity to interact publicly, or whether they will do so given the chance. Whether they interact publicly or not has absolutely no bearing on how they really feel about each other, and isn't 'evidence' of anything except the type of image they want to project. Ignore antis and toxics who try to rub it in your face or make it seem important. It's really not.

More on GG and DD interacting publicly here.

[animeraider]

Project 2025 will kill you. Yes, you. Sections 6-10 (of 30)

So I've been reading Project 2025 so you don't have to, and I'm going to report on everything I find that is alarming, which is a lot. Part One can be found here.

Section 6 - State Department

First of all they want from day one to have all political appointments start their jobs before they are confirmed. The confirmation process exists for a reason.- to investigate and vett the people filling the positions. Vetting would be bypassed. Only if rejected by the Senate would anyone not get the job. Also, they would place political appointees in positions that do not require Senate confirmation. No one in a leadership position on the morning of January 20 would hold that position at the end of the day.This means zero transition/training. 

There is a whole section entitled "Reboot Ambassadors Worldwide". Again, this would mean no transition period and no people holding offices as placeholders. That happened during the last Trump administration and it was a disaster.

Order an immediate freeze on all efforts to implement unratified treaties and international agreements. Realign the entirety of the State Department to implement the administration policies, not review them. Defer (the exact phrase is "radio silent") to the White House when it wants to take the lead on specific issues. You should really see the part of the last couple of episodes of The West Wing when Santos offers the Secretary of State job to Vinick. The arguments against this approach are striking and well thought out.

Put The State Department on WAR FOOTING when it comes to China. Strictly enforce the doctrine of reciprocity when issuing visas to all foreign nationals - they want to travel here? We have to be allowed to travel there on the same terms. Or we adjust to the terms you use. Suspend the issuance of visas to individuals from any country that does not take back persons expelled from the U.S. Reimplementation of the Remain in Mexico policy. 

Realign the student visa program to align with specific national security interests.

China, along with Iran and Venezuela, are to be considered enemies. Ukraine is to be considered a corrupt regime and only defensive military support should be given. It does acknowledge that Russia's invasion is unlawful, which is the only bright spot in the whole document.

Denuclearize North Korea with direct engagement. Negotiations in person.

Project 2025 declares Mexico as run by Drug Cartels and not any form of Mexican Government, and that a new government must be propped up/established. In the previous posting of this series I talked about the military plan to invade Mexico. I see that supported here.

Exert our influence over South America.

As for the Middle East, despite how it reads Project 2025 is pretty much the same policies that the last 15 Administrations have had: Protect Israel and allow them to protect themselves, deter Iran by any mean necessary, build up friendships with countries that have oil. The document states that this is not what Biden is doing, but in fact it is. He's not quite a blatant about bowing to the Princes and Kings as Trump is, but it still winds up being the same policies.

Leave funding in Africa to the free market. Accept the split of Somalia into two countries (I admit my personal knowledge is weak in this area). Eliminate Boko Haram and similar groups. Stay out of the way when African countries implement laws against the LGBTQAI+ community (this involves a lot of killing) and do not tie aid to policies regarding them or abortion policies. 

Intensify trade with EU countries, but at the same time implement policies that prevent the UK for re-entering the EU.

Greater cooperation with India and accept that Pakistan has issues (Taliban related) that are impossible to overcome. 

Here's a big one: Make the United States' continued participation in NATO reliant upon NATO recognizing that the Arctic Circle is part of the area it must defend. Insist upon open a free-trade routes through the Arctic region, defend from Chinese and Russian Aggression, and run the mission from the Embassy in Nuuk, Greenland. 

Another big set: Withdraw from, or terminated funding for, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and the WHO. Doing only a small amount of that last one under Trump the first time around is what led to COVID. Eliminate Human Rights as a litmus test for what international organizations we fund. Make certain that any funds do not go to groups that fund abortion or any non-"family oriented" goals. 

Come up with a Cyber-space version of "Voice of America". That one's kinda vague, but it's there.

Section 7 - Intelligence Community

I've read this entire section and the most that I can tell you about it is that it's the same horseshit as all the previous secgtions. Make certain posts not require Senate Confirmation, Stop all intelligence missions by the previous administration within 60 days, and reign in a ton of stuff that isn't actually happening but did happen under the previous Trump Administration.

The President directs who gets the daily briefings, and how narrow their focus must be. If he says ignore a situation, it must be ignored. It also demands the immediate use of etechnologies that don't yet exist, like 6G and Quantum cryptography.

And oh yes, more spy satellites. Lots more.

Section 8 - Media Agencies

Turn Voice of America into Fox News or worse. Reinforce the Office of Cuba Propoganda. Turn the MIddle East Broadcast Network into Fox News. Same for Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia. Shut down the Open Technology Fund.

Put up a censorship "firewall":on all stories generated through the United States Agency for Global Media. In other words, turn it into a political mouthpiece. Cut it's budget by nearly 20%. Restrict access visas for foriegn journalists. Reinvestment in short-wave radio. You know, the ham radios militias use.

Take away the journalistic independence of all agencies and put them under the perview of the NSA and the State Department.

One more thing. Eliminate the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Reduce its budget to zero.

Section 9 - Agency for International Development

This is the part of government that oversees international aid. When we send money to help disaster victims anywhere in the world, this is where it comes from. FEMA is for the US, but the AID (also known as the DFA - Directorate of Foriegn Aid) is for the rest of the world. It is meant to be non-partisan and to help those who need it on an as-needed basis.This is also where the country invests in business all over the world.

Changes here would eliminate all consideration of climate change when investing in other countries. Africa runs on 80% coal and it should stay that way. Any diversity issues are to be ignored. Any civil rights issues should be ignored. Re-emphasis on families at the expense of other agendas, especially those founded on specific religious principles that many people in this country would consider racist, sexist, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQA+.

No funding is to go to any agency that in any way whatsoever supports a pro-abortion agenda, even if they don't offer the service themselves. The Helms amendment is to be expanded to cover all foriegn aid. Specifically promote their own specific religious agenda. 

The office of the head of disbursements is to become a political appointment. Ignore grift by AIDs disbursement organizations in Africa. Focus on family-oriented aid instead of specific disease focused aid. Privatize health care aid in Africa. Take over the World Health Organization.

Tie humanitarian aid to any and all countries to the political agenda of the conservative administration. Farm out aid management to private organizations. Focus aid to countries that allow more American Businesses to establish footholds in their countries. Focus aid on undermining China's influence in southeast Asia. 

The Trump administration took the position that it "solved" the issue of Isreal and that thinking would return. The primary focus would become Iran. Use programs already established by (American) churches in the region to funnel aid through them. 

As for South America, lots of language about free markets and so on, but mostly it's all a disguise for "Fuck Venuzuela". 

The ultimate focus of all of this is to turn all international aid and investment into a political arm and an economic truncheon for the policies of the administration. Some fo that already does happen, but this would become the overriding and only guiding policy to be followed.

There is one thing I find funny in all of this section - it's a specific call out that Japan has invested $30 Billion in Africa in an effort to counter China. That's actually only kind of true. That $30 Billion is for a single project - a high speed rail in Saudi Arabia. Face it, Japan does this better than anyone.

Section 10 - Department of Agriculture

First off, eliminate any consideration of climate change issues in any and all policies within the DofA. Craft a new mission statement that focuses on the "removal of barriers" in terms of delivering food to the public. We're talking about safety regulations.

I know that regulations can be a pain to deal with. But take a look at ANY food regulation. Any of them. The reason it exists is because of a reaction to some people DYING. Policies up through thr Trump administration have all been a reaction to somethning terrible happening. After a few years people forget this happened and Republicans want that regulation gone.

The regulation always returns after people die again.

Defund any and all efforts to push sustainable agriculture (which is the reason people spend less of their income on food, by the way). Eliminate regulations that can have any impact on the cost of food. That's just about every regulation from pesticide levels to wages to working conditions to how much cockroach is allowed in your twinkee. 

The Commodity Credit Corporation is to be used only for farmers and ranchers. During COVID discretionary funds were used to stockpile various foods, which kept people from starving when various food production operations stopped. The ability to do this would be eliminated.

Repeal many of the farm subsudy programs that currently exist. Some of those are the only things that keep small farmers afloat in hard times. Reduce the amount that taxpayers pay in these programs by 20%. That burden would shift to farmers. 

Implement work requirements for Food Stamp and "Snap" aid recipients. Put in requirements for lunches and breakfasts for children in school that would eliminate about 50% of all children currently on the program. Also, move all of this to the Department of Health and Human Services and out of the DofA.

Eliminate funding for leaving land fallow for crop rotation purposes. I guess these people don't actually know farming. Hell, even I know this one and I'm a city kid. Allow farming and ranching in wetlands and federally protected lands. Eliminate Federal food inspections for foods sold accross state lines. 

Eliminatge all "checkoff" programs, which are meant to promote certain food industries and restrict monopolies by large corporations on specific commodities. This is meant to squeeze the small farmer out of business in favor of corporate farming.

Eliminate funding for trade promotion for foodstuffs to other countries. I find this one quite strange and very un-Republican. I don't understand it.

Promote an increase in Genetically Modified Foods. Repeal the federal mandate that genetically modified foods must be labelled. Promote Bioengineering of food as a policy.

Eliminate the funding of Dietary Guidelines. This includes the recommended calorie amounts per day, the food pyramid and even the "four food groups" I had as a kid. These things will no longer be taught.

The Forest Service is under the Agriture Department. Right at the top of the list for this department is increased logging anf forest harvesting to prevent forest fires. In fact that's the only thing they discuss in the document. The solution to forrest fires is to have less forrest. 

Next posting will cover the Department of Education, The Department of Energy, The Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

[genxcommonsense]

1st Amendment

I figured for my first one, I will start with an easy topic: the first amendment. This is a very important right that we have that many other countries do not have. Because of this right, people can say how much they hate this country, burn the flag, disrespect the national anthem (the real one, not the black "national anthem"). The main thing to remember is that speech that you hate is not hate speech. Understand that I will fight with you for your right to disagree with me. There are people stating that our speech should be censored. What those people do not understand is that kind of action will cause us all to be affected. For example, if you say the word retarded should be censored, then it affects other people. Now you say you met a typical Italian. Now Italians are offended and that phrase "typical (add nationality or race)" will need to be censored. In reality, nothing can be said without someone being offended. As I stated in my introduction, I use the word "chic" when referring to a female and "dude" for males. Probably no one will care about dude and quite a few younger ones will be offended by chic. However, those refer to biological males and females. This does not refer to people with gender dysphoria. I generally use the phrase "dude-chic" for them because they are one but think they are the other.

I can almost hear the keyboards smoking from the comments that are going to fly my way. Just so all of you haters or trolls or whatever you are referred to as know, you are wasting your time if you are going to try to offend me with comments. The truth is that it is damn near impossible to offend me. I will read all the comments and reply back to the ones that have a little more thought to them than "You're stupid" or "you are a racist/ bigot/ homophobic/ transphobic" or whatever else you can come up with. I will let you know I am not homophobic or transphobic. Those words mean a fear of whatever the beginning is referring to. I am not afraid of gay people or trans people. However, extremely flamboyant personalities or someone who is obviously doing it all for attention just annoys me.

While people like the hosts of "The View" are annoying because of the lack of facts they spread. I believe they have the right to say stupid phrases like "The AR-15 is a weapon of war" or "The AR-15 would obliterate a deer, which is why it cannot be used for hunting them." As ignorant as that is, they still have the right to say it and the people who watch that dumpster fire they call a talk show are allowed to believe the lies, if they so chose.

I don't truly believe these people understand how hard life would be if they lived somewhere like North Korea, China, Russia, etc where the people cannot speak without the fear of the government arresting them. All the bullshit people spew out is not great for our country, but they have the right to say it. Musk now has X (Twitter) the way it should be. Everyone has the right to say to what they want and everyone has the right to say their opinion back to that person.

Let's use another example. If someone here in the U.S. says that they hate Jewish people and they should all die. Should they say that? Obviously not because no one race or nationality have everyone who is evil and need to be eliminated. These people still have the right to say it and should be allowed to express their opinions.

No different than people who kneel for the National Anthem. I believe you should stand with your hand on your heart. I have raised my children to show the same respect. When I see people kneel, it makes me angry for the disrespect for this country, but I also know they are allowed to do this under the first amendment. Once I start to say these people should be arrested, then that means that other people may want to have the same done to me if I protest against an idea I disagree with. From there, it is just a snowball that can never be stopped.

Remember, when people talk about subjects you do not like or agree with, you can always walk away from that person. If you do not like what you see on TV, change the channel. If you do not like what you hear on the radio, change the station. It is this easy for us all to become more tolerant of other people and maybe lower the violence.

Stay Informed, Stay Free.

[merulast]

It's all about the routing baby!

(Weird Al - It's all about the pentiums -- Great song ^^)

When I first started to plan this "road trip" I had various options and decided to go the straight way be following the E40 (european lane 40) to almost the borders and China. Of course by then I had no Idea that this would never be possible later on. Why? Lets have a short dive:

Source: Wikipedia E40

We don't need to talk about the fact that this road is crossing the Ukraine. The whole situation is simply terrible.

Had you ever wonder why tools like google maps route planer and others don't offer routes crossing the Chinese border? It's simple - You are not allowed to cross it by car. Not even the international driver license is valid in china. Except for some special areas. And except for you to hire some 'people' that make it 'possible'. The Overland travelers do this aaalot this days but be warned: That's NOT official! You will be stuck to the 'guides' and this is NOT legal. It is simply not. For you driving there will be illegal. The police just let you pass for 'reasons'.

You might get an full chinese driving license and import and re-register your vehincle on the borders. Anyway.

So Obviously this whole route is out of scope by now. Let's come to the public transport routes. If you want to plan routes, have a look at www.rome2rio.com - More on them later.

(yes, this picture again)

With the Ukraine as something you don't want to cross there is no alternative but to avoid it. But besides of war there is also an second thing that you would like to avoid. Visas. They may come in very difficult to get. Thats why, for example, I decided to also avoid Belarus.

The red Line

Germany -> Poland -> Lietuva -> Latvija -> Estonia -> Russia -> Kazakhstan

With avoiding of Belarus there is no big hassle on the first parts of this route. All EU Members share the same Visa rules, mostly the same money and the same ATM zone. So if you have a western credit or debit cards you wont even notice any issues at all. The only negative point is, that it's expensive to travel and stay there. At least compared to the other route.

With the Russian border this will change. Now you need a Visa. You can most likely get an E-Visa that is valid for 2 weeks and cost 50€ if you fill out the form by yourself. But because of certain 'things' you might get in trouble obtaining money. As least in most parts of the EU its not possible to obtain the Russian currency. Booking is not listing Russian Hotels anymore. And you never know if any credit card will still work in the urban areas. Henche. I would not even expect anyone to take electronic cash on the countryside anyway. With other words. This is, political stuff aside, a pretty red Flag.

Im not sure about Kazakhstan at the Moment. I also was not able to obtain Tenge anywhere in central europe at the moment. But I think that there will be no issue with visa and mastercards....

The blue Line

The original plan was to drive up to the Black Sea just by Flixbus. For me no Visa or money-changing issues ha been visible. You can relay on the Credit Card system and most of the time even on the european debit card systems.

I for myself decided to travel by

Germany -> Bavaria -> Austria -> Hungaria -> Romania -> Bulgaria -> Georgia

I wanted to also have a stop on Serbia .. But Flixbus had changed its traveling times to be as much overnight as possible. And this brings us to another thing: Never Travel more than 8 hours a day! We will spend an entire Month on transports. DO NOT exhaust yourself too much! Thats why I will take an sleeper train from Budapest to Bukarest.

Another negative point comes into count if we speak about the black Sea. I would love to cross it by ferry! More space to walk, to sleep and to watch dolphins. How could you not love to travel by Ship? But be aware: Black Sea Ferry Companys are .. special.

I would not need any Visas for the entire blue route. Thats a big plus, of course.

Anyway!

This post already had been MUCH longer then planed. Time to End it. The blue route it is. Next time we talk about preparing stuff that need to be done in before-hand.

Bye!

[187days]

Day One Hundred Twenty-Three

I started my day in a PLC meeting with the other ninth grade advisors, which went so well that we finished in half an hour, and I got to spend the remainder of the time getting my grading done. Then I had my prep time do parent contacts, talk to Mrs. C about one of her students, and get a bit of lesson planning done.

That was nice.

Two out of my four sections of Global Studies were also nice- students read their books, we discussed their historical context, I fielded questions, everything was good. As for the other two sections? One was actually all right, I've just got a student who's taken to coming in everyday and announcing that he hates my class, which doesn't really hurt me but it does bring the mood in the room down. I've been ignoring it because what he really wants is a response, but I'm not sure if that's what I should continue to do. I definitely couldn't ignore the fourth class because a fight almost broke out at the end of the block. There were a handful of friends picking on each other, one of them crossed the line and said something that actually made another angry, various people stormed out actually getting made at each other- so I yelled really sharply (and effectively, since I so rarely raise my voice) for them to stop and separate, and then stood between them until the bell rang.

Whew!

APGOV was a welcome relief from that. I had one student who'd been absent, so she presented her project today, and then we went back to studying policymaking. I asked them about the articles they'd read for homework (related to economic policy). Then I pivoted to explaining national security policy: what it is, who has the power to do what, etc... They're reading about sending weapons to Ukraine, and about the US-China trade war.

Fun fact: every time I teach this stuff, I'm amused because students are fascinated by tariffs and subsidies. I don't know if it's because they're sweet summer children who never thought about how markets can be manipulated, or something else, but they always have a ton of questions. Can't complain about that, though!