#also tell twitter i say hi op

[itsscaredycat]

i’m not asking for anyone’s forgiveness, only their understanding that people can— and do— grow and change and learn

no matter how old you are, in 10 years time you will not be the same person you were, and both you and the world around you will change (hopefully for the better!)

some things never really leave us or even get rekindled later on, like my love for gravity falls and how it inspires me to create (just like any media i enjoy), but the fandom and even the source content for gravity falls is VERY different now compared to 10 years ago! so are my opinions on certain ships.

i’m not going to “leave the fandom” because a stranger on the internet told me to. please just block me if you don’t like seeing my stuff. problem solved! you don’t have to see me and i don’t have to see you.

[jacksintention]

I'm leaving here another piece by this artist (and the sketch!)

  Day 30 - found

[trexiejan]

I have a theory that Tom Taylor copied/took a lot of inspirations from Dickkory.

I may or may not be wrong but I just can't help but notice the timing and the similarities. A lot of things in dickbabs relationship are not very original at all. Most of the time they just steal concept from other couples.

Now going back to Tom, I suspect he was in a lot of social media apps (twitter, reddit, instagram etc) and secretly lurked in nightwing fandom groups and have read their posts and conversations etc. including about dickkory.

1. The concept of visiting his parents' grave

This panel of Kory and Dick showing up in his parents graveyard was shared in the Nightwing subreddit 1 month ago. How come 1 month later Tom wrote a similar thing for Dick and Babs?

Also notice Dick told Kory "You shouldn't be here" but Tom wrote Dick telling Babs "Thanks for coming here" it seems to me Tom really saw the kory comic and wanted to make the dialougue different for dickbabs to make them look better.

2. The concept of wearing each other's superhero costumes.

This fanart of dick and kory exchanging costumes was created by Laurarts on March 4, 2024, it went viral on twitter and it was also shared on the nightwing subreddit.

How come 1 month later Tom Taylor wrote that Dick and Babs wear each other's costumes too in Nightwing #113 that was published in April 17, 2024. 💀.

3. The concept of being freaky

Now my suspicions of Tom stalking and copying Dickkory content was solidified when he literally posted this gif of Dickkory from the DCAMU, notice how Dick and Babs started acting horny and freaky in his run after he tweeted this and Babs started teasing Dick and making sexual jokes to him like Kory does to Dick in the dcamu. 💀💀💀

4. The concept of A crowd of heroes watching them.

I remember a year ago I posted this screenshot of an article discussing the original plan for dickkory in reply to a thread where Tom Taylor got tagged by the person i was talking to. The person was a dickbabs shipper who insisted NTT dickkory was bound to fail, I told OP it's not true, i showed her this screenshot of the article that discussed the original wedding plan for dick and kory and where it also says a crowd of heroes would watch Dick and Kory. How come a few months later Tom Taylor wrote this dickbabs wedding scene in his run and made a crowd of heroes watch dickbabs too??? 💀

5. Wally being a shipper

This panel of Wally in Teen Titans Academy #9 being a Dickkory shipper was published in December 14, 2021, how come a few months later, Tom Taylor wrote Wally being a dickbabs shipper in Nightwing #91 (April 19, 2022). Wally felt ooc because he never once talked about dickbabs before tom wrote him in his book💀

6. The concept of a woman teaching Dick to be more than just a hero

Seriously, Kory already taught him this 😭 She was literally the reason why he didn't become a Batman 2.0, He already learned the whole "you can be more than just a hero and be in a happy relationship" lesson from Kory.

But Tom Taylor just had to bring him back to square 1 so he can make Barbara say this to him too, making her act like Kory 💀 it's funny cuz Barbara never acted like this before, don't forget she was the one who keep rejecting him and making him feel bad for trying to be happy before 💀💀💀

So yeah sorry if i'm being annoying about this, I might be wrong but even if i'm wrong it still doesn't make dickbabs original since dickkory writers and fanartist did these concepts first.

and tom taylor is known to be an obsessed dickbabs shipper who tried to have beef with dickkory shippers on twitter so copying dickkory content as a form of secret revenge sounds like something he would do 😬

[magicalmanhattanproject]

so the union just has not bothered emailing quackity

For context, Mathis Benguigui is the leader of the union that's been trying to go after the QSMP. By tweeting at Quackity. They claim he has been ignoring their contact requests so they're threatening to sue.

[ID: Twitter conversation between two users and Mathis Benguigui. op says "hiiii! i was just wondering if there's been any attempt at contact him via his email? recently he stated his email is the best way to contact him so I thought I'd pass that information along in case you didn't know" Mathis replies "It's up to him to contact us" A second person replies "wait so you just haven't contacted him properly?? i agree he needs to be held accountable but he doesn't use twitter you need to actually email him so he KNOWS to contact you he wont see this /gen"

Mathis replies "He's a CEO, if he wants to save problems he has to go forward."

The second person replies "that doesn't change the fact that he needs to be contacted by you in order to know about needing to get in contact with you specifically though, if he doesn't use twitter requesting it on twitter is unfair, you need to email him. just posting it here where he won't see it is unprofessional"

Mathis replies "He's CEO of a company, don't tell me nobody has advised him about our public press release for 16 days now. It's his responsability." End ID]

[ID: Twitter conversations between Mathis Benguigui and another user. Mathis says "We can also be reached by email, we gave it twice."

The other user asks "Are you saying you emailed them twice?"

Mathis replies "No, we gave our email address twice. It's up to him." End ID]

[supernaturalconvert]

Fandom bullying & Misha Collins

After the dust on the weekend has settled, I want to share my thoughts on it hopefully in a bit more collected manner. I am sure I will be accused of creating drama or being biased towards Jared & his fans and frankly I don’t care tbh coz in my book Misha Collin and his gang of bullies don’t deserve any grace. It’s been given for too long and it’s happened too many times to be a mistake. It feels malicious.

I will however say that there are a gang of his fans or supposedly J2M fans who are much more decent than the drama stirrers and they have actually played a positive part in drama not escalating on that side since we know how bad it can get. Of course there were death threats from the fringe (Mark, his sock & the other gang members) but I definitely saw so many of them being called out. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

It was also nice that we were able to piece together evidence of Misha’s lying through the years. Thanks @laf-outloud for it. I saw several people share it on twitter and I am sure some of the hellers if not for anything didn’t say anything after that was shared with them. I am sure that counts for something if we are able to tell as many people as possible that Misha lies. He has gotten away with these things for a long time.

I firmly believe that Misha is the biggest bully and shit stirrer in this fandom. It’s likely that he thought that the fandom was peaceful so may be he should take this opportunity to try and create drama yet again. I don’t put this past him at all. I very much think whether subconsciously or even consciously this might have been his thought. With Jared’s comment he has communicated to Collins that he notices these things that he fosters and if this still happens, then I am sure Jared is going to take action against him in his own way. I personally want Jared to stop doing any photo ops with him for starters. That’s going to hurt him enough to grasp that this bullying gang of his won’t work anymore.

[airbenderedacted]

No, I know! I was referencing the same video in my reply. (I was the person in the chat he was responding to when he got on the subject.)

Again, the facts that he shipped them and that it majorly influenced his writing doesn't mean that he wrote Dominator as crushing on Sylvia when that would contradict a major part of her character. WOY is a show that always hits you over the head with it when a character is written as having a crush on another. If you think you're seeing subtle implications that one character is into another, then you know for a fact that it ain't canon because the word "subtle" would never apply if it were. The show kinda has a rule about never writing the main characters as having anything romantic going on between them & another character because it's "not that kind of show." It's all about friendship. Every signficant, positive relationship that involved a main character was canonically platonic.

Ughhh ok, I'm gonna start this off by saying that I am all for more queer rep, especially in kid's shows. Ok? Ok. Now, Nate wanting to make Lord Dominator lesbian was such a dumb choice. So, basically in one episode "The Night Out" Nate said it was his intention to show Lord Dominator as a lesbian in that episode, by implying she has a crush on Slyvia...d-does he HAVE to add a toxic lesbian romance in whatever show he touches? First we have Catradora, now he's trying to make Dominator and Slyvia a couple, when they both HATE EACH OTHER, and when Dominator attempted to KILL SLYVIA showing no guilt. Dominator just very clearly has no romantic feelings towards Slyvia. Also Slyvia's a literal horse sooo...I don't get what his obsession is with toxic sapphic romances, but he has got to stop.

[r0semultiverse]

Where in Beyond Canon is Arquisprite?

Took inspiration from the above post by @pastabaguette and decided to expand upon it due to The Plot Point update as well as some stuff seen even before Vriska’s arc started in The Point.

Let's examine some stuff that may tell us where Arquiusprite is at this time, seeing as we seemingly have only one chapter in The Point left. I think we've got a lead on his whereabouts already.

We've got horses and horse-adjacent creatures.

We've got a robot that looks like it's literally ripped from Equius' hive with a notable missing horn hole and a dent in the head.

There's also this twitter response from James Roach which could be interpreted as suggesting Equius' return in some way at some point in the future.

OP, I'm not saying you're right, but I am saying that if Dirk were to consult anyone on horses, it would probably be a mashup of his AI & Equius. Also Void player behavior apparently! Also Dirk has narrative reality warpy powers & we aren't sure as to the limits of those yet!

Below are some reddit notes about classpects that also lead credence to the idea that Arquisrpite is on Deltritus with Dirk at this time. Outside of the obvious fact that we haven't seen him in The Plot Point or the bonus comics with Jasprosesprite at all as of the Davepetasprite^2 feather chapter release.

Are the robots in case Terezi goes ultimate? Are they backup bodies for Rosebot? A metal body for Arquisprite? Who knows, maybe all three! 🤷‍♀️ Robots are being made by someone though (for some purpose) and they have troll horn slots on their craniums. The exact style robot that Equius used to make back on Alternia; so, make of that what you will!

Also maybe they just need a sprite to kick off whatever makeshift sburb/sgrub copycat they're trying to get running and seeing as Arquiusprite is a splinter of Dirk, it's fitting that he would accompany him. Plus the sprites can kind of just seem to be wherever & whenever the story needs them to be? Seeing as how Jasprose kidnapped Jane in the meat timeline, but in the candy timeline the sprites just kind of seemed to not do much or be absent entirely after a certain point.

There's at least a guaranteed non-zero chance Arquiusprite is on Deltritus.

[kremlin]

An earnest call for your support: Help me determine if there is a gas leak in my house.

for a long time now, I have been reading and hearing about This Guy on the news, and have been reading all the articles and stories about him:

Above: Sam, tenting his weird-ass fucked up fingers like a real Wall Street Guy might do in a movie he saw

Yep, you already know this guy, his name is Sam, I'll be referring to him as Sam, as that is his first name, and not by his initials, which is what I imagine a pod person might do in an attempt to emulate human behaviour. Whatever. You already know him and what he did, I won't waste your time. Listen. Pay attention. This is not a post about this guy or what he did. That shit is boring as fuck. This is a post about a potential gas leak in my house. We'll get to that in just a bit. Remember.

I've read all the articles and all the op-eds and everything. About Sam. Let us explore the entire spectrum of media coverage of Sam and Sam's Big Ass Problem, starting from the bottom, with the worm-food-tier jackasses: What do people like Jim Cramer and Shark Tank Guy have to say about him?

Above: CNN's "Mad Money" Jim Cramer also doing a weird hand gesture while he tells your alcoholic cable-news-addicted uncle to put his money in some dumbass shit

Above: I think this is the Shark Tank guy? I don't remember his name. Could have sworn his suit had dollar signs and not question marks (?)

I'll summarize their conclusions: "Sam is a boy genius who is super duper smart and can move objects with his massive brain due to knowing about Tech, FinDom FinTech, and computer money, specifically Money Coding. Unfortunately Sam committed massive fraud and will get his ass fucked in federal court".

Moving on from the worm-food-tier to the mediocre-tier: The totally nameless basic bitch journalists at the New York Times or Bloomberg. What do these assholes have to say?

Above: Jim Fuckface, associate financial correspondent for Bloomberg. Jim enjoys winding down on a Friday afternoon by sipping a Bud Lite Lime and wearing his baseball cap backwards, which bears the logo of his local professional sports team.

Above: Kate Fuckface, columnist at the New York Times. Kate enjoys spending her time chatting and interacting with her friends on Social Media Platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as purchasing items on Etsy

I'll summarize their conclusions: "Displaying the characteristic awkwardness of incredible technical and financial genius, it was clear to me during our interview that Sam's depth of knowledge truly knew no bounds. Unfortunately Sam committed massive fraud and will get his ass fucked in federal court."

Finally moving on to the people that might actually have a clue about what they're talking about. Sam Levine and Michael Lewis:

Above: Matt Levine, author of a comedy email newsletter named Money Stuff that is 95% financial information by weight and somehow still usually funny as fuck.

Above: Michael Lewis, author of a bunch of really good books you haven't read that were made into pretty decent movies you have seen: Moneyball and The Big Short.

I'll summarize their conclusions: "Sam sure is a smart kid and seems to know a whole lot about economics and this digital currency, and I mean a whole lot, and even more about business, accounting, and finance. Bright kid! Unfortunately Sam committed massive fraud and will get his ass fucked in federal court."

A pretty goddamn clear consensus across the board on both counts.

I listened to the interviews the entire spectrum of people listed above conducted with him -- the ones during which they unanimously concluded how smart he is. I listened to many hours of ad-hoc, unscripted Twitter Space calls he participated in, where he fielded questions about his fraud and his business with complete strangers. I listened to them very carefully. And here is my problem! I came to a different conclusion!

Sam is a fucking moron. I am not talking about solely his intellect, or solely his decision-making abilities, or any specific criteria. I am talking about all of them.

There are two possibilities:

(A) I am correct and, somehow, literally everyone else is incorrect, most of whom know vastly more about these topics than I do

(B) There is a fucking gas leak in my house and I have completely lost all cognitive abilities, suddenly and unwittingly, and exist in a cartoon reality inside my skull that would allow me to reach such a wildly different conclusion from the same evidence.

The likelihood of (A) being correct is very nearly 0%. I mean, come on. I am not fucking around when I tell you how troubling this is for me. I wrote earlier that this isn't a post about Sam or his bullshit. This is a post asking for your help in determining whether I have lost my god damn marbles.

I'll give Sam one thing -- he has some nominal ability to bullshit. If he's writing a Tweet, or making a short statement, he can finesse his words that, on some level, mask how much of a dimwit he is. He absolutely can't do that through about six hours of unscripted interviews. Listen to that shit. Listen.

I am going to go check all the joints in the gas lines in my house as well as the ports on my stove and heater. I'll come back and write a follow-up post on outlining exactly why I think homeboy is an idiot. While I do that, please, go listen to the interviews and tell me what you think.

[minniiaa]

Sorry if this seems repetitive but I haven't been active on social media in yearsss

Is it true that there's a lot of lawlu hate on tiktok and Twitter? I'm so confused because there used to be so much love for the ship back in 2017/2018 from my perspective (Amino era).

The short answer: yes and no. Let me start by saying I'm not the best person to answer this since I purely consume on twitter. I made my personal twitter in 2007 like it's everyone I've ever known irl and has nothing to do with shipping or hobbies and I follow approx 0 accounts related to anime, manga, or lawlu. I just looked up lawlu a few times and browsed and suddenly it's my whole fucking timeline and there’s no going back and now I have a lawlu twitter (This makes me very happy).

So if anyone else has an opinion on this that is more in the community, please feel free to comment away. Otherwise, below are my observations.

First off, there IS a ton of love for the ship. Most of what I see is beautiful art (they got the nsfw ayo), memes, fanfics, and headcanons just like tumblr. There are tons of comments of people swooning over these posts, Lawlu IS one of the most popular OP ships after all.

There's just a vocal minority that are very against the concept of shipping and in that subset there are those who are very against Lawlu. There people out there that will literally list accounts to block that ship lawlu or write lawlu DNI in their bios. The same can be said for other ships, it's not just this one it’s any they deem a ‘pro ship’ (problematic ship) and Lawlu is generally considered one of these. Below as is an example:

The biggest issues I’ve seen with Lawlu are the following 1. luffy is aroace and cant be shipped period 2. law groomed luffy and the age gap is gross. IMO I think most of these people are just infantilizing Luffy as some goofy autistic kid that doesn't know what love and sex are when in reality he's very self-aware and happy does not equal stupid. Also he's 19 he’s not underage. He met Law twice when he was 17, one of which was saving his life as a doctor and Luffy was unconscious most of this time. Let's not forget Luffy's a war criminal kicking the asses of people 4x his age in a pirate world, age doesn't really work the same as irl.

BUTTT Not that any of this matters because you can ship whoever the fuck you what because guess what? It's ~fiction~. I could rant about how people can ship whatever the hell they want all day but I'll save my breath for now. (my opinion of course)

Also there are just mentally ill people who enjoy telling others to kys if you like something they like do. Lawlu shippers are just their chosen target demographic. Creators get foul messages in their inboxes, rude comments, just general hater behavior. Twitter is just a firey cesspool and all fandoms have 'fans' who do nothing but hate. We live in an age of negativity where being a hater is the cool thing to do.

HOWEVER, I see more people posting about why those people are wrong and stupid than the actual negative tweets but maybe that's because I actually support the ship and the algorithm sees that. Not sure how twitter works, nor do I want to know about that dumpster fire there's a reason I came over to tumblr.

As for tiktok, I don't really consume a lot of tiktok so I can't speak on it besides seeing cosplayers and cute animations/art. I'll leave that to the tiktok people to look into.

For argument's sake, I went through the lawlu tag and picked some lovely tweets to share with you so you can see the toxicity for yourself. Sadly only 10 images per post but I think you get the point. Thanks for the ask hope this was informative. :)

[amongsnot]

template by @/le__lex on twitter!

anyways i want to reread some of my favorite nu fics, so i figured i would do it while simultaneously recommending them at the same time :)

[DISCLAIMER] some of these fics are locked to guests! please keep that in mind when clicking a link :)

The Neutron-Turner Family Memory Book by TheBlossomingFox (teen | oneshot ) : this fic is adorable! it’s an aged up jt fic where the author explores their dynamic as parents. it’s adorable and funny and one of the best slice of life fics i’ve read :)

2. Another Day in the Future by JesterJazz (gen | oneshot ) : this fic is definitely one of the funniest fics i’ve read in this fandom. following jimmy and timmy when they accidentally time travel to the future, landing in the house of their future married selves. it's jimmytimmy focused, but it highlights their friendship and fun bickering really well.

3. twin fantasy by nousernamesorry (teen | 4/? ) : jimmy receives a message telling him that he's needed in space, and he quickly leaves. only, he doesn't come back, and timmy has to learn to heal. i'm going to be completely and fully honest when i say that this is the fic that got me into writing for the nicktoons team. op has a writing style that is incredibly heartwrenching, and the small amount of fluff before the latter chapters completely breaks me everytime i read it.

4. more than cartoons; battle of the bands by anonymous (gen | oneshot) : spongebob squarepants is putting together a band for the annual school contest! with his makeshift team of muscians, he has to beat the syndicate before they win the tournament! this fic is SO fun! it's definitely my favorite of the author's oneshots, and it's amusing and charming and just aljewfwabkfd

5. only have a moment before it's all over (a burning desire that cries again) by whisper_into_my_heart (teen | 14/50 ) : i have to be completely honest, i was REALLY late to the party with this fic!! mpreg (and preg in general) really is not my jam, but i instantly fell in love with op's oc hannah, and the dynamic between the girl andher parents. im not exactly caught up with the story (no spoilers please :3) but i am SO excited to finish the next few chapters and then for the rest of the story to be completed!!

6. We're Perfect Punting Height by CrystalMarbles (teen | drabble ) : this fic is a drabble, but i think it's pretty funny!! it's about the gang having a conversation with each other discussing the syndicates less than evil traits. like plankton's height, or crocker's obsession with finding fairies. definitely a good short funny read!

7. Rewinding the clock by Pastacurls (not rated | 7/? ) : (grabbing onto your shoulders and shaking you) SECOND PERSON!! I LOVE SECOND PERSON. anyways there's barely any three word fics in this fandom that i could find. i know this is hypocritical of me but im going to say it anyways. this fic is my JAM though. amnesiac timmy after his eighteenth birthday, stumbling through the remains of his life as he loses his fairies and his friends. i could talk about this for hours.

8. new phone who dis by rbt_lvr ( teen | 9/? ) : the old fandom is rottmnt. unapologetically. they're technically nicktoons so it counts in my book. plus, this is genuinely my favorite fic that ive read like uh ever. it's a silly chat fic where all of the turtles are gaslighting each other into thinking that they are normal people. donnie makes a mom joke that never fails to make me laugh. leonardo's raised by the gay hippo and worm. they treat lou jitsu like taylor swift fans treat taylor swift. it's absolutely insane. 10/10.

9. lead single by nousernamesorry (teen | 2/2 ) : if nousernamesorry has 100 fans im one of them. if they have 10 fans im one of them. if they have no fans im dead. i love all of their works and every single one makes me swoon. lead single is KIND of cheating with this prompt because most of the setting takes place on a beach. and it's also kind of during the summer. but it's about jimmy and timmy spending their birthday's apart, and the setting makes me wild. like the vending machine intro and the beach ending to the first chapter. like all of that screams summer to me idc idc.

10. The Art of Cooking and Cleaning by AbsoluteFooling (gen | 1/1 ) : GUYS IM SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS FIC WITH YOU!! i love this fic so muchh oh my god. i had the priviledge of reading it before it was put on ao3 and oh my goddddd. makes me insane. it has spongebob and timmy dynamic (which we need MORE of) and its just. its just glorious i cant explain it in words. its about timmy questioning his self worth, and spongebob helps him. and its OUGH cant even put it into words. please go read it. if theres a fic i want you to read on this list its this one.

11. Are you Satisfied with an Average Life? by Anonymous (not rated | 3/? ) : i was really surprised by the lack of fics with lyrics as their titles... guess ill have to write more in order to continue doing my part. OKAY but this fic is REALLY GOOD. i absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE anything that relates to timmy's amnesia. this fic focuses on the main nicktoons as they help timmy recollect his memory, and timmy immediately hits sbsp in the head with a baseball bat and it is GREAT and the writing style is GREAT and i do think this is a necessary read. i really hope the author updates, but it has been a while, so i'll treasure the chapter's we have!!

12. Bad at Flirting by ShippingMyWorld (teen | 1/1 ) : because im cool and unique and whatever the kids are talking about with that demure stuff the other ship is tigerghost. which i KNOW is cheating considering i wrote a tigerghost fic, but i main jimmytimmy and its important to me that you know that. this fic is a fluffy, silly little fic where danny and manny talk about manny's love for cheap and cheesy pick-up lines (established relationship). shippingmyworld ALSO has a really cool tumblr account AND a bunch of other cool ao3 tigerghost fics so this is my absolutely desperate plea for you to go check them out.

13. but he's got a gun in his hands, and a burden in his heart. by Anonymous (teen | 1/1 ) : hi yes its me hello. totally anonymous user here. why havent you guys yelled at me to make my fic titles shorter omfg that's like an entire essay within itself. it's REALLY hard for me to choose one of my fics, because they all hold a special place in my heart for a different reason, but specifically the ending of this fic makes me break everytime. i won't spoil it but i love the metaphors. anyways this fic is BASICALLY just a bunch of timmy and (sort of) danny whump. check it out if you're interested :D

14. Of Memory Loss and Manipulation by EepyTheSleepy and @c0dydoesntknow (teen | 4/? ) : hello YES this fic is really great and it definiely falls right in line with my other interests. as soon as somebody says timmy amnesia fic i am GONE. the plotline in this fic is great, and the characterization is even BETTER. like you guys need to go support these two because they are amazing people and even amazinger authors!! their story is about the evil nu gang gaslighting timmy into thinking that the og nu gang is evil, which is GREAT because timmy just ends up being really confused the whole time

15. When rain falls, love blooms by 23ster (gen | 1/1 ) : kissing in the rain is SO romantic guys when is some girly gonna come and do it with me? this is a friend to lovers fic by the all time BEST person ever 23ster, and it perfectly conveys the idiots that are our favorite characters jimmy and timmy. from the trope of there is only one bed, to the all best ROOMMATES, and then the romantic yearning love confession(slash argument) in the rain. this fic ruins you, but its so so so great i swear.

16. So... Zinnias? by suluswife (gen | 1/4 ) : guys idk what kind of fics you want from me for this one i gotta be honest,, i love nala and all that he does (and i know the second chapters in production!! it also writes ninjago fics please for the life of me go check them out) and this fic just. IT JUST FITS THE PROMPT!! i read this at 3am!! it has the conversation at midnight and that writing that just FLOWS you know?? it's a platonic jt fic (im trying really hard to find nicktoon fics in general, i pinkie promise) with a soulmate au! jimmy and timmy are both idiots in this, but they have a conversation on the roof while staring at the stars so its a great fic by all standards.

17. best two out of three by dhe20 (gen | 1/1 ) : theyre so funny in this fic i love them so much.. if youve looked at my reblogs you know that i love it when they say just the stupidest shit ever, and this fic DEFINITELY fits the bill. it's so funny it kills me every time! plus the way the author writes converys the battle scene well, and im so happy that this fic has a number in the title so that i could convey my love for it here!

18. Healing Hands by Crossovers_R_Us (teen | 1/1 ) : ough i love this fic. i think my favorite part about this fic is how they act like teenagers?? (and ofc how they love each other but i think that part goes unsaid) it's just. manny is so so so sick and danny is willing to lie with him even if it means getting sick. timmy teases the two of them. there's no life-ending mission it's JUST fluff omg omg. im such a sucker for sickfics because they're SO soft and the author does a great job conveying it with their writing!!

19. It's never too late for you (I told you, you can stay) by FlowersandMiel (gen | 1/1 ) : oh my GOD i read this the other day and like. ough. out of this list there are maybe four that i would truly really beg everyone here to read (2, 3, 10) and this is DEFINITELY one of them. it came out a few days ago but it has so very little attention and idk what to say you just need to read it. like genuinely. like this fic changed my life. like please read it. like now. it's about timmy turner moving in with jimmy neutron and getting sick in the middle of the night, thus prompting him to get jimmy to help. timmy thinks he's in trouble (he's not). GENUINELY if you like well written fics PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check this one out

[parkminijiminie]

This fandom is fucked now. No one comes forward to correct anything about the translations. I do believe that op was lying about the translations now. People told her in comments too that she was changing the subtitles 2 days later and lying but it just irritates me so much that no one comes forward to give the exact correct translation who knows Korean too...lol she wasn't even coming forward by herself to tell those who are saying she is lying to confront them. If she's lying... someone should come forward to tell us that who wants to know and don't understand the language. That op was also a jkkr. There is no one on twitter on any social media who is ot7 and a true person who can give us the correct translation without any manipulation?? It sucks. No one you can believe really. They all are manipulators according to who they ship and it makes you feel like a puppet when you don't know the language.

( i just wanted to know bcz I'm curious otherwise I don't think it's gonna change anything when jk also said...."we wouldn't met either if it's not for this show..." So I don't think a line will change anything when he literally said this next)

I agree on this. I have many asks in my inbox about the translation, but I don't know what to tell you guys. I don't know who to trust, and I am not a Korean speaker.

The official translation was: "When you were busy and I was free, you never called me. When I was busy and you were free, I never called you. " Which means they didn't meet up because both of them didn't put the effort. To which JM replied: "I called you."

Since JM said he did call, that led people to believe it was actually JK who didn't stay in touch, which makes JK's previous statement like he was trying to make it seem like both of them were at fault when in reality it was more him.

Now, if we are to believe people that the translation is wrong, things do change somewhat.

People are saying JK actually said this: "When you were busy and I was free, you didn't call me. When I was busy and you were free, you didn't call me. " It sounds a little bit confusing and like he is repeating himself, but in fact he is trying to point out that whether JM was busy or free didn't matter, in either case Jimin didn't reach out to him.

This translation actually makes a lot more sense in the context of everything else we saw at the time - JM working and hardly mentioning JK. JK alone at night and always mentioning JM.

Both translations mean that they didn't look for each other a lot, but in one case, it was a mutual fault, maybe more on JK (because JM said he called) and in the other case, JM was the one to blame. I am sort of inclined to believe the new translation as it makes more sense with everything else. It would explain JK's body language and attitude in the car. He makes sense for him to be more abrasive if JM had put him on the back burner for months. He seemed a little bitter.

One more thing that sort of proves it to me is the fact that JK said with a serious face that they were supposed to meet up for a drink, to which JM replied with a laugh "staff like this happens". It leads me to believe there was, at some point, an arrangement to meet up, but for whatever reason, JM canceled it, and it never happened. If you look at JK's face at that point in the conversation, he definitely looks peeved. More than once, he sounded accusatory to JM. It seems like JM called from time to time (JM said that he did), but not enough for JK and it didn't lead to anything more.

When JK said, "we wouldn't have met if it wasn't for the show." Everyone took it as confirmation that they didn't want to hang out with each other, or JK didn't at least, but why would JM travel across the world for a little weekend if this was true? Why would JK agree to it this proposal so out of the blue amidst his crazy schedule unless he wanted it (or was forced by someone, but JK is a guy who can't really be forced into things)?

To me, when JK said they wouldn't have met, it sounded more like he meant given the schedule he knew was ahead of him and JM's own ignorance of keeping in contact. I think both of them realized this physical distance wasn't doing them any favours, and since it was JM who was maybe more at fault for it, if we believe the new translation, it was also him who decided to resolve it by taking a chance and going to NY.

When JM said the "this is why I came", I believe he meant exactly this. He knew it was time for him to do something or they would have drifted seriously apart. Especially that by this point in time, JK shedules were just beginning and MS was coming up, and even if they were already thinking about enlisting together at that point, which is debatable, they didn't know for sure. From JM POV at the time JK was getting busier, MS was approaching where they could be separated for 2 years and their relationship was in danger, so the first chance he actually had and was free, he acted.

And it seems this was exactly what JK was waiting for. That's why he responded with "I know. You're here. You're here. You're here. Finally".

[ohmuqueen]

231031 levinchk instagram update Taemin ‘GUILTY’

So I want to talk about the various reactions I've seen to the people Taemin is interacting with in the MV trailer, MV teasers, and the MV itself.

I'm actually surprised that anyone would be stunned that this moment above in the MV is Taemin touching a man, not a woman. Everything leading up to the MV had Taemin being touched and surrounded by men (to my eyes, younger men or men around his age). As these tags by @jaythajujubae say, everyone Taemin is intimate with in the MV is male, while he mainly dances with women. (very bicon of him I agree)

And in this analysis on twitter (I shared the whole thread here) saying that Guilty is the prequel to Advice, op points out something very telling -

Here op is saying that in MV teaser #1, Taemin is looking at a younger version of himself, which is a view I saw others echo - that this person here is a younger Taemin, and that this scene reflects the innocence he had in his early years in the idol industry - the entire concept of Guilty is heavily focused on corruption of innocence.

But when I first saw MV teaser #1, I had these thoughts that I posted on 10/27:

The person who may be the object of Taemin’s affection in the MV teaser seems to present in a genderless way, and I feel like that’s purposeful… especially based on what we see in the trailer (everyone has short hair, 3 are dressed similarly to Taemin in the beginning shot when they’re playing in the water, and some are petite, making it difficult to say if they’re male or female)

Because to me, this person looks more female than male, and I believe a point is being made here (again I will link to this video about the sexualization and feminization of Taemin, detailing what he went through all through his career as an idol, including when he was a minor - what he did with Move was pivotal to how he perceived himself as an artist, reclaiming what others had tried to dictate for him):

After reflecting a little, and seeing how others took the younger person above as a young Taemin, the phrase "object of affection" lingered in my head. Whether this person represents young Taemin or someone Taemin cares for and later feels guilt about, the meaning is the same. Corruption of innocence. The character Taemin represents in this comeback is both someone who has been corrupted and someone who has ruined others. As we see in the MV trailer and also the MV, he is forced to shoot a gun at someone begging for mercy - from an authority completely indifferent to both their suffering.

Going back to the twitter thread about Guilty prefacing Advice, in MV teaser #1 Taemin could be looking back at a younger self surrounded by older men, whereas when he is forced to commit violence in the MV trailer, he is dressed as if he is younger than he is and surrounded by younger men. To me, the first scenario reflects a view of his younger self in the idol industry, and the second scenario reflects a view of his recent self during his military conscription.

Another speculation, what if the person he is being forced to shoot represents his younger self? We aren't shown that person's face on purpose. They are representative of a bigger concept - loss of innocence, and loss of that self who possessed such innocence. Just like the quote (the first line which is on Taemin's insta), from Hermann Hesse:

"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”

And now theories of this quote being personified by Taemin in the MV (put out on twitter and reddit, which I shared here) have been proven true by the Guilty MV's director - 231030 Guilty MV director Byul Yun instagram update:

credit to @nso-csi for sharing this here!

So ultimately, I think Taemin choosing to be intimate, sometimes manhandled, by men in the MV is a choice that makes a profound point. The moment in the MV that's being shown in the first picture on this post, Taemin sings this line: "Give up, you’re trapped inside me". I believe in parts of this song, Taemin is speaking of himself. Parts of his identity that society used to deny him to express that he gives free reign to now, through this lens of exploring the border between what is provocative and what is disturbing.

I haven't even gone into more imagery the MV provides us plus the lyrics. But the opening scene itself gives a hint that this concept also touches on the idea of forbidden love, i.e. queer relationships.

These are the opening lines of the song:

Poison apple Spellbound, you wanna take a bite Hand outstretched In danger, sinking deeper

During the last line "in danger, sinking deeper", we get this shot:

If you look closely, I am almost sure the person on the left is the same person Taemin is focused on in the pillow fight scene in MV teaser #1. And the person on the right looks female. To me, that person on the left appears genderless, or nonbinary. Taemin himself has said he embraces a genderless expression in his art. Just like with Advice, I think with Guilty he is saying that he embraces an identity that goes against societal expectations for male idols (and male music artists in general). With Guilty I think he's also embracing a love that makes the audience feel guilty (something I also talked about in rambling not-really-an-essay here, after the second MV teaser photos came out).

How exactly Guilty links to queer relationships is a deeper conversation than I can manage (and this post is already very long), but I hope someone does, because I think the potential for such a connection is there.

I do not think Taemin is giving queerness itself negative connotations. I feel that he is drawing a parallel between queer love and a relationship with the (queer) self. I think a lot of concepts are coexisting in Guilty, and the fact that this comeback has resulted in so many theories and interpretations is proof of that.

This verse that Taemin named as his favorite in the song keeps standing out to me:

I want you to lose yourself That’s what’ll make our love easy Just doing things my own way The bigger the pain, the sweeter it remains

~

Edit (November 2, 2023):

I'm just gonna leave these here:

[chaikachi]

I think we can possibly get rg crumbs with Neo teasing Ruby as Oscar even more🙏 let's pray for the crumbs 🙏 it's been 84 years 🥹

I literally JUST wrote an analysis of this and threw it on twitter like 2 days ago. I had been meaning to put it on my personal blog but you, dear anono, have given me incentive to put it here instead.

The Interesting Pattern of People Using Oscar Against Ruby

This kicks off primarily in v7, which makes sense since Oscar and Ruby are thrown into conflict as early as episode 2. The conflict is a result of Ruby lying to Ironwood in an attempt to protect him and the rest of their team... But it's clear from the start not everyone agrees with that decision.

Of those that don't agree, the loudest seem to be Oscar and Yang. The latter of which - who is our first example - chooses to bring it up with Ruby in front of their whole team when they're on their first mission with the Ace Ops. Except Yang doesn't just voice her own thoughts or feelings, she makes a point to to ask Ruby how Oscar feels about it. Which was not the fairest way to go about it if you ask me. Especially seeing how Ruby reacted. It's also VERY INTERESTING how that scene directly parallels what it transitions into: Oscar posing those same concerns to her. Except unlike Yang, he found Ruby when she was alone so they didn't have an audience to witness their conflict.

From there, we have a slightly more subtle example: Ironwood. And by 'subtle' i just mean he doesn't say it as directly with his words or actions as the other examples we're discussing here. We do know that their conflict for this volume is centered on their disagreement of what to do with Ironwood... and the show reminds us of that by constantly framing the two separated by him.

Whether it was Ironwood's intention or not, he did manage to drive a wedge between the two of them. And while this conflict does keep them apart for a while... it doesn't work as well as it could have. The first example of this is in episode 7 where Oscar and Ironwood are having their talk near the winter vault.

Ironwood: Do you believe in me? Oscar: I do believe in you. But not only you.

It is very clear Oscar is talking about the other leader in this situation: Ruby. Showing that despite their disagreement, he still does stand by and respect Ruby's decision. Even in this photo, while they are still separated by Ironwood, they are agreeing with each other about what to do:

That scene is then directly followed by the infamous "Schnee Manor Fumble" where the the two finally agree to tell Ironwood the truth and regain some trust in each other.

And as much as I would love to analyze this scene in even more depth, it will have to wait for another post.

For now the next example: Cinder

In V8 when she sabotages their portal plan, it's literally the first thing she says and I still don't know why. Cinder saw the vision of them making this plan, but it was a group endeavor. And the only things we saw Oscar say were the technicalities of how Atlas would fall when using the staff... So what exactly was she referring to? and why did she mention his name specifically?

And then last, but certainly not least: Neo.

We saw this back when the v9 teaser clip first dropped however long ago and it was a topic of BIG DEBATE. Many argued there was no significance behind why she chose Oscar of all people to turn into... but I have to disagree.

In tandem with all these other examples, there is a narrative pattern formed of people specifically using Oscar as a way to twist the knife at Ruby. Yang, Cinder, and - depending on if you view his contribution as intentional or not - Ironwood. Which makes Neo the 3rd or 4th person to do this.

Neo has a vendetta against Ruby. We know this. We know that Yang was an easy choice to hurt her because they're sisters. We know Penny is a good choice because they're close friends and Ruby already lost her once. But Oscar? Why Oscar?

Why did she pick him first? And why did she specifically use a mirage of him when he's covered in bruises and burn marks when she has seen him cleaned up multiple times? To that I have two answers.

The first: because she was there at the Schnee manor and saw them interact in the entryway.

And what she saw convinced her that the two of them were close. Close enough that using Oscar's face against Ruby - especially one battered and bruised - would be an easy way to hurt her.

I'm not trying to use this argument to say that Ruby has feelings for Oscar. I think in canon she is largely too preoccupied with the weight of the world on her shoulders to think about that right now. But we DO know that Oscar feels some type of way about her.

And that even if it's not established in canon as romantic yet, Ruby and Oscar are close. That they do have a relationship built on mutual trust, respect, and understanding for being in similar situations. As clearly displayed in show as well as backed up by Miles in this cameo.

But at the end of the day, there is a very strong emphasis on her connection to Oscar since his debut, which characters within the narrative are noticing! (just look at Nora's face here)

But that brings me to my 2nd point as to why Neo chose the characters she did: Because the writers wanted us to see that.

Animation is expensive and so much meticulous detail and intent goes into everything that we see. They wouldn't have just chosen those characters arbitrarily. They chose those three characters on purpose and I think it largely has to do with how those characters relate to Ruby's arc for Volume 9. So lets go down the list in more detail:

Yang

Once again, it is a bit self explanatory. Her and Ruby are sisters with unresolved conflict that has been building for a while now. Some of it from their upbringing, but a lot of the more recent struggles being Yang's habit of calling Ruby out or disagreeing with her in front of groups of people. It was mentioned at the start of this post, but there are two other examples that come to mind. The beginning of v8 and more recently, v9e3.

In the first, she is arguing with Ruby in front of a room full of people and they all get to see her leadership called into question. The second, we see Ruby's patience around this habit starting to wear thin. I'm not trying to say Yang is wrong to express these things, but the way she goes about them is often not very considerate of Ruby's feelings. Especially her feelings tied to leadership, which is a big theme for this volume.

As mentioned in the v9 trailer, someone says "You seem to be carrying a rather large burden". However, we can see very clearly Ruby's not carrying it well at all and that she is well on her way to breaking under that pressure. A pressure and insecurity that Yang has unfortunately contributed to even when she's trying her very best to be supportive.

Two brief side notes:

Blake and Qrow are also guilty of hurting Ruby in this way unintentionally, but I don't want to touch on them in this post so it will have to wait for another meta

VERY INTERESTING that right before this shot, Yang says "My plan for mantle didn't work out either... but we got Oscar back". Which is a very nice callback to the last time she brought him up to Ruby at the beginning of v7.

But back on track to the next illusion Neo uses:

Penny

We know this one is a big one. The two have always been very close and Ruby is quite protective of her in light of having already lost her once. We saw Ruby admit to this for the first (and pretty much only) time on screen when speaking with Oscar in the Dojo during v5. (yet another scene I would like to dissect more in detail in a later post)

Ruby: When Beacon fell, I lost two of my friends. Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. (...) Ruby: Pyrrha... Penny. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt. That I didn't think about them every day since I lost them.

We also see Ruby passes out when she hears that Penny didn't survive the fall. Then later she gives a eulogy of sorts over the sword that she got from Jinxy. So this plot around Ruby's grief towards Penny is going to be very prevalent this volume.

And lastly:

Oscar

Why him when he didn't fall with them? Well, because we already had a parallel setup between him and Ruby in relation to "The Girl Who Fell Through The World".

Oscar: She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest. Oz: I recognize that. The Girl Who Fell Through the World. Oscar: I shouldn't be surprised you're so familiar with fairytales. Oz: I've lived through my share of them. How are you holding up? Oscar: I thought the idea of falling through Remnant into a new world was... exciting. I never understood why she was so sad when she finally made it back home. But now it makes more sense. Oz: She wasn't the same girl anymore.

Oscar relates because of how he was thrown into this adventure and how it's changed him... and the same can be said for Ruby. Except instead of the call to adventure choosing her, she chose the path herself and then fell into that fairytale first hand. Literally. Into an arc that seems to be telling her that in order for her to grow, survive, and to rise up from the fall she just had: she needs to change. Just like Alyx did. Just like Oscar did.

Unkown Voice: What if you could leave Ruby Rose behind? Shed like an old coat. What might happen... if you don't?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's all i've got rn. there are so many crumbs i have built myself a damn loaf of bread, my friends. and i have very few doubts that Neo won't try and use a mirage of Oscar against Ruby again. if you got to the end, thank you for reading and let me know if you'd like to see more of this stuff or if you'd prefer I keep it on my non-art blog @gatheringkeepsakes. Until then... RG CANON OKAY BYE.

[bi-dykes]

hi I'm genuinely curious as a teenage bisexual what are all the different like bi flags/names I've seen some but like I'm curious to know more. You don't have to go super into detail if you don't want id just like to know the different terms. Also sorry if I'm not phrasing any of this right I'm always nervous sending asks and I'm just genuinely so curious to learn more about bisexuality as a young bisexual

Hello hello! Thank you so much for this ask!

First things first, you do not need to apologize! There is nothing to be sorry about! You phrased this beautifully- and get this: I know you are young and have wonderful intentions to learn more, so in the chance that you do phrase anything wrong (which you didn’t! you did great!) I would merely gently correct you and we would move on 🌈🐬✨ you never need to be afraid to ask me questions!

second of all, you said I don’t need to go into detail, well hehe, get rektd :3 /lh

An important thing to know is that anybody- literally anybody- can make pride flags. There’s no knowledge you need first, you can just post them. This is both a blessing and a curse bc we’ve seen many beautiful bi flags and terms by bisexual ppl, but also, anyone with, heh, brainless behaviour or malicious intent can make one and post it, such as superstraight and semibisexual. You do not need to look at either of these unless you’d like to, they’re just as off putting as they sound.

So if you are looking for new bisexual flags and/or bisexual terms, you might come across a post of someone coining a harmful or brainless notion, like the two I listed above. So if you see a neat new pride flag, check the description the OP wrote of it, and other posts made by the OP!

Onto the flag definitions!

The original bisexual flag was made by Michael Page in 1998! It’s older than you or I! A common misconception is that the pink means “attraction to girls”, the blue means “attraction to boys”, and the purple means both. But, that’s ppl looking at the colour pink and blue and assuming genders to it (IMO green is a woman’s colour), because the pink shade for same genders attraction, blue for opposite genders attraction, and purple for both! So essentially attraction regardless of gender! (that is a bisexual phrase, not solely pansexual, don’t let anyone tell you differently!) This post by the Trevor Project explained it perfectly

In 2020, @dykenotdeer made the Bi Dyke flag!

It is for bisexual women/bisexual sapphics who reclaim the slur dyke! There is a misconception that only lesbians can reclaim dyke, so this post explains it well that all sapphics can reclaim it!

Side note: Sapphic is an umbrella term for all women who love women (and nonbinary folks if it encompasses them), it stands for lesbians, bisexuals women, pansexual women, trixics, etc. (Trixic means nonbinary loving women.) So women-loving-women is shortened to wlw, and nonbinary-loving-women to nblw. I say “bisexual women/bisexual sapphics” a lot bc sapphic is a way to encompass nonbinary folks who are womanhood aligned, and it is quicker than saying “bisexual women loving women and bisexual nonbinary folks loving women” OOF that’s a wordy sentence lol.

Which perfectly brings us to our next one…

Selenic is a term for bi women and bi sapphics!

Made by @ LUV4SAPPHICS on Twitter!

Sidenote: I have made a bi men/bi nblm version of this called khonsic! I was inspired by the beautiful stripe pattern and the name being derived from a moon deity!

Camellian is selenics who choose to only date sapphics! So while there is still attraction to men + attraction to all genders, camellian means acknowledging attraction to men, but rejecting them. Still very much bisexual because sexual/romantic orientation are not something we can switch off like a light switch or “become lesbian not bi” when we choose to not date men, but camellian is solely sapphic within who you choose to date!

Made by my beloved mutual @bi-sapphics! There’s 3 versions of this flag, one with no flowers in the centre, one with one flower in the centre, and one with two flowers in the centre that I showed above! That version’s my favourite

The bi4bi flag is for bisexuals who date/prefer to date fellow bisexuals! Any bi4bi couples, whether they’re male/female, female/female, male/male, nonbinary/female, nonbinary/male, and nonbinary/nonbinary- whatever the gender the ppl in the relationship are! If they are both bisexuals, they are a bi4bi couple!

Made by @ flirtyshybisotd on Twitter!

Bi Femme and Bi Butch flags are made by @disasterbisexual-moved ! The red-pink-purple is the bi femme one and the blue-yellow-navy is the bi butch one!

Akin to bi women/bi sapphics reclaiming dyke, there are many misconceptions that femme and butch are lesbian only terms. This post by my beloved mutual @bisexual-coala (who is a bisexual butch!) explains it perfectly!

Bihet is an insult to bi women and bi sapphics, also to bi men and bi achilleans as well even if it’s, to my knowledge, not as often. It’s ridiculing bisexuals, saying that we’re “not queer enough”. @femmebis made a bihet flag reclaiming this insult, and @asepride-archive made a bihet flag reclaiming it as well!

The top one is made by @femmebis and the bottom one is made by @asepride-archive !

I would also like to toot my own horn and show you the Bisexual Feminist flag that I made!

(for bisexual feminists of any gender! We should all be feminists and support women’s rights!)

The Bisexual Women flag I made!

(as I said earlier, I see green as a woman colour :)

Pastel Bisexual flag I made!

The meaning remains the same as the OG bi flag, just that I wanted to recolour it :)

I have made many bi flags so feel free to check them out if you want! And I have more in my drafts <3 Thank you again for the ask! 💖💖 And don’t hesitate to reach out if you have more questions!

Have a bisexually day! 🩷💜💙

The bi divider is made by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

[originalleftist]

Musk hired spies to surveil his critics and girlfriend.

Highlights:

"One of those critics is Vernon Unsworth, who sued Musk in 2018 for calling him a "pedo guy" on Twitter. A new Tortoise investigation reveals that the scale of surveillance used against Unsworth was greater than previously known: Musk used at least two sets of private investigators, both of which used deception to try to gather information."

"Musk deployed private investigators to follow a Tesla employee "24 hours a day". A former security operative at Tesla alleges the company also hacked into the employee's phone. Other whistleblowers also allege that they were followed."

"Unbeknownst to Unsworth, Musk's tam then paid about $50,000 to a private investigator called James Howard-Higgins to dig up dirt on Unsworth. Howard-Higgins promised that he would go through Unsworth's bins, pose as a charity worker to get information, and infiltrate his partner's Facebook page.

No due diligence. A Google search would have revealed that Howard-Higgins was a fraudster, jailed in 2016 for stealing from his own company. As the US trial, which Musk won by portraying his Twitter comments as a joke, his team portrayed Howard-Higgins as a one-off. In fact another investigation firm called Orion was also tasked with getting information on Unsworth. Emails show how Orion emailed one of Unsworth's friends, telling him, incorrectly, that they were "working on behalf of Vernon"."

"Musk allegedly placed his former partner Amber Heard under surveillance in Australia having become suspicious that she was cheating on him.

Around the same time a local newspaper received an anonymous tip that an Aussie Rules footballer was "spending many nights at Amber Heard's house" and "leaving early in the morning looking like the cat that swallowed the canary".

The paper traced the message to SpaceX, one of Musk's companies.

When one of its reporters spoke to Musk, he accepted that someone close to him had sent the tip but claimed it was done without his knowledge.

"My personal belief is that [Musk] definitely sent it," says the reporter, Sally Coates."

I've seen other outlets claim that Musk used infrared technology to spy on Heard's home and detect any movement inside, but can't confirm this from a source I consider credible.

Anyway, reminder that Muskrat is a serial domestic abuser and sexual predator as well as a fascist, that his supposed support for "free speech" (as always with the Right) just means "freedom for me to say whatever I want with no consequences, and no one else has freedom to disagree with or criticize me", and that how he conducts himself in his private life and in his businesses is mirrored in his goals for society as a whole.

Also, that this "genius" is so incompetent that he couldn't even use Google for two minutes before hiring a convicted con man.

(Addendum: I know a lot of people have accused Tortoise Media of being part of some grand Right-wing/transphobic conspiracy, but so far as I've found that's mostly desperate Neil Gaiman fans trying to make out that the accusations against him by multiple unconnected women, that he partly admitted to and others in the industry corroborated, are a vast Conservative conspiracy to frame him for being pro-trans. In other words- ridiculous and misogynist. Tortoise has some credibility issues of being fairly new, without much of an established track record and, like many major media outlets, having big business money behind it. But also, far Right psy-op outlets probably aren't inclined to write detailed exposes on Elon Musk and the Saudi Royals.)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The press vs democracy

July 3, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

The media has latched onto the Joe Biden debate performance and has anointed itself as the kingmaker of Democratic politics. They have concluded that Joe Biden is out of touch and unable to focus. They are telling the American people what to believe because—of course—we should believe the press, right? When has the press ever been wrong before? They want Joe Biden out of the race—damn the damage to democracy!

For example, please read the following description of the president and then wait for the reveal at the end:

“For a smart man, President Biden professes to know very little about a great number of things,” said Dana Milbank in The Washington Post. Biden’s problem is not that he’s disengaged; it’s that a lot of his aides are doing lousy jobs, and he won’t fire them. “Those aides seem to tell Biden very little,” said Hendrik Hertzberg in The New Yorker. Peter Baker in The New York Times said, “But if Biden keeps saying, “I didn’t know,” people will begin to wonder “Just how much in charge he really is.”

Sound familiar? It should. It is from an article about President Obama in 2015. See The Week (1/8/15), “Obama: Is the president out of touch? (I replaced “Biden” with “Obama” in the above quotes from the article.)

Here’s my point: The thrashing that the media is giving President Biden was also administered to President Obama. On Tuesday, stories with nearly identical language were circulated among the Trump-curious outlets and then dutifully repeated by major media outlets based on reports from anonymous “senior aides.”

The media is whipping itself into a self-sustaining nuclear reaction of disinformation—because they can smell the increase in profits just over the horizon if they can force Joe Biden out of the race.

As Jason Karsh wrote on Twitter,

The political press seems dug in. The trade-off they seem to want is, ‘Give us a brokered convention—or at least another nominee so we can cover the chaos or we’re going to ignore the Republican effort to end democracy all the way through November. Your choice.’

Karsh’s words hit the mark. Today, the NYTimes wrote about Biden’s challenges and then buried this gem 20 paragraphs into the story:

Mr. Trump, 78, has also shown signs of slipping over the years since he was first elected to the White House. He often confuses names and details and makes statements that are incoherent. He maintains a lighter public schedule than Mr. Biden, does not exercise and repeatedly appeared to fall asleep in the middle of his recent hush money trial. His campaign has released only a three-paragraph health summary. Voters have expressed concern about his age as well, but not to the same degree as Mr. Biden’s.

This is “But her emails” all over again. The Times’ obsessive and unfair coverage of a non-story about emails handed the 2016 election to Trump. The Times now seems hellbent on repeating the same mistake. The Times has not only put its thumb on the scale to disadvantage Trump's opponent (again), but has also removed the scale and said, “Trust us. We know better than you.” The day we surrender our political judgment to the New York Times is the day we lose our democracy.

There is some pushback (noted below), but the fecklessness of Democratic leaders is beginning to hurt Joe Biden. Jamie Raskin was the first to suggest that Joe Biden will “at least” be the keynote speaker (not the nominee) at the Democratic National convention; Nancy Pelosi has had to walk back two sets of clumsy remarks about Joe Biden; Jim Clyburn said he will meet with Joe Biden this weekend to give him “an assessment” of where things stand. And Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine published an op-ed that said Biden will lose, Trump will win, and “I am okay with that.”

Joe Biden deserves better treatment from party leaders, lifelong friends, and congressional colleagues, regardless of their views on his ability to continue. If they have something to say to Joe Biden, they can say it in private. Making qualified, hesitant, or cryptic remarks in public is shabby treatment for the best president of the last 75 years.

But not everyone is giving up. Stuart Stevens wrote a stirring defense of Joe Biden in The Atlantic, The Absurdity of the Dump-Biden Uprising (accessible to all, and I ask you to read the whole article in fairness to Mr. Stevens and The Atlantic after my lengthy quotation below):

Stevens writes,

The Democratic Party held 57 primaries and caucuses; voters in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories had their say, as did Democrats abroad. Joe Biden won 87 percent of the total vote. He lost one contest, in American Samoa, to the little-known Jason Palmer. Suddenly, there are cries in the Democratic Party that, as goes a single territorial caucus [American Somoa], so should the nation. I worked in five presidential campaigns for Republicans and helped elect Republican senators and governors in more than half of the country. For decades, I made ads attacking the Democratic Party. But in all those years, I never saw anything as ridiculous as the push  . . . to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. For many in the party, the event raised genuine concerns about the incumbent’s fitness for a new term. But a president’s record makes a better basis for judgment than a 90-minute broadcast does. Biden has a capable vice president, should he truly become unable to serve. The standard for passing over Democratic voters’ preferred nominee should be extraordinarily high—and has not been met. The fundamental danger of Donald Trump is that he’s an autocrat who refuses to accept the will of the voters. So, [is] the proper response is to throw out millions of votes, dump the overwhelming choice, and replace him with someone selected by a handful of insiders? What will the message be: “Our usurper is better than your usurper”? What is it about the Democratic Party that engenders this kind of self-doubt and fear? At a moment when Democrats’ instinct should mirror what Biden declared in a rally the day after the debate—“When you are knocked down, you get back up”—some in the party are seized by the urge to run, not fight. Think about how this would look: Hey, I guess Donald Trump is right; our guy isn’t fit to be president. We’ll give it another shot. Trust us, we’ll get it right eventually. Madness. Trump is the candidate of chaos, uncertainty, and erratic behavior. Democrats can win a race against him by offering Americans the opposite: steady, calm, and confident leadership. Joe Biden has provided that. His record is arguably the most impressive of any first-term president since World War II. My advice to Democrats: Run on that record; don’t run from one bad debate. Show a little swagger, not timidity. Forget all this Dump Biden nonsense and seize the day. Now is the worst time to flinch. Your country needs strength. You can crush Donald Trump, but only if you fight.

Worth repeating: We can crush Donald Trump, but only if we fight!

In response to the uproar over the debate, Pro Publica published an unedited, twenty-minute interview with Joe Biden from a single camera angle (to prevent claims of misleading editing). The interview took place in September 2023—ten months ago. If you doubt Joe Biden’s competency and want to replace him (even if you don’t), watch the ENTIRE twenty minutes. Joe Biden is smart, coherent, knowledgeable, and truthful. Unedited: ProPublica Interviews President Biden, September 2023. In the interview, President Biden discusses fine points of the Constitution—a document Donald Trump has never read and attempted to overturn on January 6.

To similar effect is Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, who makes the compelling point that the election is now about Donald Trump and the extraordinary powers granted to the president in Trump v. US:

The election is about Donald Trump and the Supreme Court, the two forces working to overthrow the American republic. That’s the subject. It’s not Joe Biden. So, both substantively and politically it makes all the sense in the world. The Court has done us all the favor of not always being as aware as it might be of the political and electoral dimensions of the justices’ bad acts. Yesterday’s ruling is a helpful if disastrous reminder of what the election is really about.

I also urge you to watch this four-minute video by the Lincoln Project: Democrats: Stop Panicking.

But . . . there are millions of Democrats who believe President Biden should step down. I feel like I have corresponded with most of them over the last four days. After many unsuccessful, pointed, and heated discussions, I am now focused on process and unity. At the end of the day, Democrats must be unified. Tearing the party apart over this discussion is exactly what Donald Trump wants. We can’t give him that gift.

So, here are my observations:

If you want Joe Biden to resign, you should do everything in your power to promote a realistic path to victory. “Joe should resign” is not a path to victory, nor is “An open convention.” Get behind a competitor, play by the rules, and work your ***** for your chosen replacement to emerge as viable candidate to beat Trump. The convention will be too late. That’s a heavy lift, but if you want change, it’s up to you to bring it about.

Don’t demean and belittle Joe Biden in an attempt to convince him, or others, that he should resign. Some readers have made vile, disrespectful, mocking statements about Joe Biden in attempt to dissuade me from my support for Biden. He doesn’t deserve that. And, at least as importantly, if you adopt the tactic of attacking Joe Biden, you offend the millions of Democrats who love and respect Joe Biden, and who have worked their tails off to help elect him. At the end of the day, you need them, and they need you to defeat Trump. Don’t create divisions or grudges in your effort to persuade the party that a different path is the only way to victory.

Don’t attack those of us who believe Joe Biden is the best candidate and only viable option. We disagree with your view. Don’t accuse us of “gaslighting” you or being “rigid” or “unthinking” in our support. We hold our opinions in good faith. At the end of the day, you need us, and we need you to defeat Trump. Don’t create divisions or grudges in your effort to persuade the party that a different path is the only way to victory.

My final plea is this: Don’t let the media tell you what to believe. The media has lined up in lockstep to hound Joe Biden out of his candidacy. Over the last seven years, we have seen with our own eyes that the media is biased, cowardly, greedy, short-sighted, and inaccurate in its coverage of Trump and his opponents. They have not magically put all those faults behind them and suddenly become paragons of truth and justice.

No, they are up to their old, hackneyed attacks—just like the similar attack on Obama in 2015. With very few exceptions, they are in it for the money, clicks, and fame. Do not allow yourself to fall victim to the media’s campaign against Joe Biden and democracy. That is what Trump wants; that is what Fox wants; that is what Rupert Murdoch wants; that is what the WSJ wants; that is what NewsMax wants; that is what Leonard Leo wants;—and sadly, sadly, sadly that is what the New York Times wants.

Make up your own mind, based on everything you know about Joe Biden and apply your common sense about what it takes to run and win the most expensive campaign in history. Polls are not elections; political insiders are not voters; television pundits are entertainers; and the media prioritizes profits over truth and democracy.

Voters will have the final say, so stop obsessing over what the media is saying and work to convince the 80 million “Did Not Vote” voters of 2020 that they must show up in 2024. That is the most productive use of your time.

Heather Cox Richardson on Trump v. US

Many news organizations are attempting to minimize or soft-pedal the implications of the holding in US v. Trump. Heather Cox Richardson gave a tour-de-force smackdown to the GOP spin that “There’s nothing to see here, move along.” See Historian discusses Supreme Court's immunity decision and shift in presidential powers (youtube.com).

HCR’s discussion is six minutes long but worth every minute. I assume 100% of my readers also subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson, but if you don’t, you are missing out on an essential voice defending democracy. Check out HCR’s Substack here: Letters from an American.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes gets it right

The Supreme Court considered two cases this term that dealt with constitutional provisions that affect the president. The first considered the Disqualification Clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibited Trump from appearing on the Colorado primary ballot. The second dealt with Trump's defense of presidential immunity.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes commented on the disparate treatment of those two constitutional questions as follows:

Grimly hilarious to compare the textual foundation for disqualifying Trump for insurrection (right there in the 14th Amendment) and the foundation for absolute criminal immunity for official acts (nowhere to be found in the Constitution despite explicit grants of other forms of immunity).

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]