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yasmine-arslan · 4 years

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( melisa pamuk, female, she/her. ) — see yasmine arslan (murray) ? that’s the broken bird of fairview . the twenty-nine year old has been a resident on wisteria lane for four years and currently works as a registered nurse (rn). yasmine confided in rose with the death of her son and grew close enough to her to help her cope with the his loss. since the news broke, any progress they’d made toward yasmine becoming a person again has sent her into regression. her returning-optimism has seemingly been replaced by a dark, cynical sense of humor cracking under the surface. maybe it’s the fact that a dark cloud in the form of one or two secrets is hanging over their head. they are described as smelling of ysl’s black opium, having a bronze-glow with enticing eyes and dark, long tresses with full lips and being able to save a life just as quickly as they can take one. // (jessy, she/her, twenty-four, cst). + disciplined, resourceful - cunning, perfervid

tw: child death, miscarriage, depression.

short version:

yasmine arslan comes from a wealthy family, primarily involving the shale or oil companies they own. she didn’t want to follow in her four older siblings’ footsteps (with yasmine being the youngest) and continue delving into the family business. she joined the military at a young age and became a medic for the u.s. marines with her family’s full-support.. it was meeting adrian that encouraged her to wrap up her contract and become honorably discharged from the marines seeing as fraternizing was forbidden. however, her devotion to helping people didn’t cease and she accepted an offer as an rn in the hometown they decided to settle into.

it came to little surprise to either of them, even after a miscarrige, when yasmine became pregnant with their little boy, josiah. those around her were shocked to see her excel at being a mother seeing as she seemingly didn’t possess a single maternal bone in her body, but motherhood changed her. she adored her son and josiah was absolutely adored to bits by both of his parents.

adrian had been in the military a lot longer than yasmine and had a lot more blood on his hands than she did. he had a harder time adjusting to the civilian lifestyle than she had and ultimately decided to cope by becoming a mercenary. he was a loving husband and father by day, but a killer, gun-for-hire by night. all of the killing began to take a toll when he sloppily allowed one of his marks to get away. he didn’t think it would come back to haunt him until it did. their four-year old son was killed in cold-blood in their arms, forever changing their lives and their marriage.

yasmine was never a warm person, by any means, but she lived for her son and her family. his death forced herself into a recluse unable to do much other than autonomously meander throughout life.

instead of separating, the family moved to wisteria lane to try and start over and discuss the idea of trying for another child. despite her cold demeanor, nursing is her passion. she seldom shows her emotions and really only allows adrian in long enough to get a glimpse of a person beyond her beautiful, bronzed, cold demeanor. she doesn’t know her husband is responsible for the death of their son because heaven forbid. when she isn’t in her nurses scrubs or work uniforms, she’s seen in designer attire. very little people know of josiah’s existence because no one is allowed in their home. those who are hardly make it far enough to see his room or any lingering pictures of him.

statistics:

TW: Miscarriage, PTSD, Drug and Alcohol Usage, Child Death, Divorce, Infertility, Depression

Basics:

☾ ━ Portrayal By: Melisa Pamuk ☾ ━ Full Name: Yasmine Arslan-Murray ☾ ━ Nicknames: Yas, Yaz, Yazzy, Mina, Arslan. ☾ ━ Age & Birth Date: 34 / 17 April 1993. ☾ ━ Sex & Pronouns: Female / She & Her. ☾ ━ Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual. ☾ ━ Marital Status: Married (Complicated). ☾ ━ Current Location: Fairview, Illinois. ☾ ━ Place of Birth: Ankara, Turkey. (Central Anatolia Region). ☾ ━ Hometown: Corpus Christi, TX, USA. ☾ ━ Ethnicity: Turkish & Italian. ☾ ━ Race & Nationality: Middle Eastern & Caucasian / Turkish (birth) & American (naturalization). ☾ ━ Languages Spoken: Turkish, English, Italian, and Spanish. ☾ ━ Religion: Non-practicing Muslim. ☾ ━ Occupation: Assistant (previously) / Registered Nurse (currently) / Medical Assistant (formerly). ☾ ━ Education: High School Diploma / Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. ☾ ━ Affiliation: Unapplicable.

Relationships:

☾ ━ Parents: Nina & Yousef Arslan. ☾ ━ Siblings: Yousef Arslan (brother; 39), Zayn Arslan (brother; 40), Maha Arslan (sister; 19). ☾ ━ Significant Other: Adrian Murray (husband; on-again, off again). Yasmine met Adrian in Corpus Christi while she was still in nursing school. (Insert their complicated history/timeline here). Eventually the duo became married, and had a son together. Later, after their son’s death, she attempted to separate herself from him after being unable to look past blaming him for Josiah’s death, but can’t seem to be without him. ☾ ━ Children: Josiah Zayn Russel-Arslan. Adrian (an ex-military, gun-for-hire mercenary) and Yasmine lost their son brutally for reasons unbeknownst to her, though Adrian knows who is responsible and why. They’d meant to shoot her or Adrian, but their son got caught in the cross fires. He died shortly before his fifth birthday. ☾ ━ Pets: 3 Coy fish, 2 dogs (Lilly; pitbull) & (Saguaro; german shepherd), 1 snake (Rose; mud snake). ☾ ━ Familial Ties: ☾ ━ Others Worth Mentioning: ☾ ━ Height: 5”4’. ☾ ━ Weight: 119lbs. ☾ ━ Eye Color & Shape: Deep brown & almond shape. ☾ ━ Hair Color & Style: Dark brown; naturally wavy with thick curls. Usually worn either curly, straight, up or tied back with two braids and loose tresses. ☾ ━ Complexion: Golden-bronze. ☾ ━ Distinguished Features: Two small beauty marks on the right side of her chin and cheek, prominent jawline, big, sultry eyes, a subtle accent. ☾ ━ Style: When she wasn’t wearing her military or nursing attire, Yasmine is found wearing any series of designer jeans or other bottoms including skirts and pants. Silky camisoles, satin blouses, plain tees, oversized sweaters, and over-the-shoulder shirts dominate her closet. She also wears dresses, sundresses or bodycons and anything in between, and even dual-utilizes her blazers as dresses. Yasmine can also be found wearing her ex-husband’s tees and jackets when she isn’t wearing her own cardigans, denim or leather outwear, or workout gear. Bralettes are always fashionably seen poking out of her shirts. She mostly wears neutral or minimalistic hues such as black, white, nude, baby pink or blue, gray, and any variations of these shades. Her obscene shoes are a vast collection of chunky booties, long boots, heels, wedges, and flats, mostly black with the occasional color. She can always be found wearing a designer bag and accessories. Her ears only wear one singular set of diamond earrings, while she wears a small cross around her neck that she interchanges with a lock that consists of a photo of her son, Josiah. She still wears her wedding bands and no other rings. ☾ ━ Physical Description: Barely standing at five and a half feet and a little over a hundred pounds, Yasmine can be described as petite. She is often underestimated as she can put anyone on their ass before they can anticipate it. Her go-to makeup look consists of a natural look unless she’s purposely going for a subtle glam look. Either way, her lipstick choices are subtle nudes, pinks, browns, and the occasional red. Mostly, she sticks to matte lips or clear glosses. Her lashes are thick and long without mascara, but she piles it on to accommodate her thick eyebrows and full lips. Now that she is no longer in the military or nursing, she can be found wearing black pants, booties or heels, and blouses. When she’s summoned to aid one of the Bianchi members or associates with medical attention, she will wear her nursing outfit if she can, but she always keeps her nursing bag handy that she mostly substitutes with her handbags. ☾ ━ Tropes: The Healer, The Grieving Mother, The Vengeful. ☾ ━ MBTI: ENFJ (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging). ☾ ━ Temperament: Choleric ☾ ━ Zodiac: Aries - The Ram. ☾ ━ Alignment: Chaotic neutral. ☾ ━ Element: Fire. ☾ ━ Sin: Wrath. ☾ ━ Hogwarts House: Slytherin. ☾ ━ Greek Goddess: Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom. ☾ ━ Negative Traits: Impatient, moody, short-tempered, impulsive, aggressive. ☾ ━ Positive Traits: Courageous, determined, confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, honest, passionate. ☾ ━ Personality: She hadn’t had an easy childhood and it hardened her from an early age. Although she’s a nurse, her personality doesn’t fit the bill of a healer. She’s cold to nearly anyone initially other than her patients and her son before his death, and her ex-husband pre-divorce. She has a cold, dry sense of humor that consists of sarcasm and beration of others. She is easily set off and has been known for her violent outbursts, none of which she’s ever lost because she’s underestimated. While she can come off as neurotic and moody, Yasmine can be loyal to a fault and always puts the physical wellbeing and needs of others before her own. She was born from a wealthy family and has always chosen to help others in need, despite her lack of compassion. Losing her son only made her more aggressive and passionate, closed-off and even malicious. Few get to see past the fortress she’s created around her heart. ☾ ━ Fixations (Likes): ☾ ━ Aversions (Dislikes): ☾ ━ Vices: Red or white wine, tequila, the occasional cigarette, prescription anti-anxieties and opiates. ☾ ━ Medical History: Two pregnancies (one unsuccessful via miscarriage, one successful), fertility issues, a broken arm, two bullets in her shoulder, chicken pox, occasional seasonal allergies. ☾ ━ Psyche: Yasmine was diagnosed with a mild case of PTSD following her two tours overseas, but was easily cured with therapy and an antidepressant. She despised taking medications until she was diagnosed with a slight case of postpartum before giving birth to her son instead of after birthing him. Josiah was the light of Yasmine and Garrett’s lives, completely curing her of any depressive state she might’ve been in as she had always considered herself mentally strong. Since his death, she’s been unable to recover from the pit of despair and meanness that consumes her life. The only person capable of even coming close to making her feel a sliver of emotion is Garrett. She abuses prescription drugs, especially opiates, to cope with the loss. Occasionally she becomes roped into a state of mind where she seeks comfort in Garrett and sleeps with him, subconsciously trying for another child despite her aversion to exposing another child to their childhood.

Other:

➤ Yasmine was born in the country of Turkey into a strict household that consisted of three additional siblings (two older brothers, one younger sister), four including herself. Her parents own a shale corporation within the country and gave their children trust funds to jump start their educations and futures. For a better chance at a future, she was sent to live with an aunt and an uncle who raised her in Texas. They’d always envisioned their daughter as a doctor, but nursing was her passion. They were proud of her for graduating with honors and still continuing to work her way up the ranks in the medical field.

➤ She spent the entirety of her career easily surpassing the people around her at every milestone and every skill while healing those around her. She witnessed death until it desensitized her and tried to heal anyone, enemies and allies alike.

➤ Yasmine met Adrian Murray early-on in her nursing schooling career. He was infamous, more than a man but less than a God as far as other soldiers were concerned. After years of despising men and swerving them at every turn, she became infatuated with him despite the differences in their age. Garrett Russell was a Force Recon Marine, Scout Sniper, 2nd Lieutenant, and was a Silver Star recipient, with over a decade and a half of military experience under his belt. He reciprocated his feelings for her and chose to continue their relationship after he retired. Not shortly after she graduated, Yasmine became a nurse at a local hospital in Corpus and they began to see each other.

➤ After many false positives, difficulty with their fertility, and a miscarriage, Adrian and Yasmine successfully conceived a son, Josiah Zayn Murray. He was the best parts of his parents, the only good thing either of them were capable of. Adrian became a mercenary to support his family, even though Yasmine had her trust fund to keep them living a comfortable lifestyle. Regardless, he chose to funnel his energy and skills into something he was good at rather than let the trauma of his experiences as a soldier consume him.

➤ Their family was the epitome of picture-perfect, of happiness. It was enviable to watch a beautiful family live such a quaint, charmed life, despite Yasmine’s opposition to her husband’s occupation. She tried to focus on being a good mother and a supportive wife, but often found herself resenting him every time he’d come home covered in blood, smelling of gunpowder or burnt flesh. He was an attentive father, but became lost in the bloodlust aspect of being a mercenary and it eventually came back to haunt them.

➤ Shortly after completing a job, Adrian inadvertently left a loose end behind, or so she assumed.. Said ‘loose-end’ eventually found his family and remorselessly attacked them, spraying their home with bullets, leaving both of them unscathed. Their son, however, was shot repeatedly and died immediately and gruesomely in their arms. It took her awhile to figure out he was to blame, despite having her suspicions, but she resented him beyond her ability to remain married to him. They became separated because she couldn’t see him without thinking of Josiah, the spitting image of Adrian, but she refused to officially divorce him..

➤ Eventually, they moved to Fairview at the recommendation of a family friend and settled into the quaint neighborhood of Wisteria Lane, hoping for a chance at a fresh start where they could hopefully work on their marriage and try for another child.

➤ She doesn’t allow anyone to publicly see her grieve, choosing to break down on her own or amid her husband’s presence. Her coldness only amplified and she’s recently become more violent, hitting Adrian and throwing anything at him while purposely instigating so he’ll defend himself against her.

➤ She purposely finds and puts herself in situations that could cost her her life, unafraid of death and the morbid possibility of meeting her son soon.

#wisteriaintro #x. biography #tw: child death #tw: miscarriage #tw: death #tw: ptsd #tw: drugs #tw: alcohol #tw: infertility #tw: depression

5 notes · View notes

blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years

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Anonymous asked: My granddaughter is 16 and in the us navy sea cadet program here in the USA. She hopes to become a naval aviator. She love reading military books. Any recommendations for her. Her mom says she reads anything military from equipment to history. I could use advice on a reading list to buy books for her. William Law

Thank you William for sending me this. It’s certainly one of the most interesting asks I’ve ever had the pleasure to reply to because it involves my love of Classics and also being a former military aviator.

So I put some thought into it because I can sense a kindred spirit in your grand daughter. She must be a remarkable young girl if she is as focused and committed as you say she is in terms of her life goals. If I may say so she is also blessed to have a grandfather like you who recognises the value of reading books to aid her and inspire her.

I have tried to confine myself to the narrow parameters of recommending books that can appeal to a precocious teenager that have a connection to naval and maritime themes (rather than the landed military) and have a general connection to women in the navy or as aviators. So the list is broken into personal memoirs, naval and maritime history, fictional works, and finally a select Classics list.

If you will indulge me I have included the Classics because I firmly believe a grounding in the Classics (from as early age as possible) is so culturally enriching and personally rewarding. In my experience the wisest military leaders and veterans I have ever had the privilege of knowing were grounded in the Classics.

To my mind Classic history, literature and poetry belongs in any library relating to maritime affairs. It provides a flavour of sea life, helping strategists understand this alien element. Just as important, it enlivens the topic. As you will know, ships and fleets do not make history; people do.

It is by no means a comprehensive list but something to start with. I’ve decided not to give you a bullet point laundry list but add some notes of my own because I found it fun to do - and in doing so I found myself looking back on my teenage years with equal icky amounts of embarrassment, regret, foolishness, fun, and joy.

1. Personal memoirs

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

‘Poetry in flight’ best describes this 1942 memoir from aviatrix Beryl Markham of bush flying in Africa and long-distance flight, which includes her solo flight across the Atlantic. Lyrical and expressive her descriptions of the adventure of flying continue to inspire generations of women pilots, including myself when I learned to fly.

Markham was a colonial child and was raised by her father on a remote farm in Njoro, British East Africa (present-day Kenya). After a tomboyish childhood spent roaming the Kenyan wilds, she moved upcountry to Molo, becoming a racehorse trainer. There she saw her first plane and met British pilot Tom Black, who became her flight instructor and lover. Soon Markham earned her commercial pilot’s license, the first woman in Kenya to do so, and began to freelance as a bush pilot. Much of West With the Night concerns itself with this period in Markham’s life, detailing her flights in an Avro Avian biplane running supplies to remote outposts or scouting game for safaris.

Since airfields were essentially nonexistent in Africa at the time, Markham’s flights were particularly dangerous, punctuated with white-knuckle landings in forest clearings and open fields. In fact the dangers of African flying claimed the lives of a number of aviators. Markham eloquently describes her own search for a downed pilot: “Time and distance together slip smoothly past the tips of my wings without sound, without return, as I peer downward over the night-shadowed hollows of the Rift Valley and wonder if Woody, the lost pilot, could be there, a small pinpoint of hope and of hopelessness listening to the low, unconcerned song of the Avian - flying elsewhere.”

Markham’s memoir shies away from personal details - she is rumoured to have had an affair with an English prince - and straightforward chronology, instead focusing on vivid scenes gathered from a well-lived life. Rarely does one encounter such an evocative sense of a time and place as she creates. The heat and dust of Africa emanate from her prose. Anyone interested in aviation, in Africa, or in simply reading an absorbing book will find much to like in its pages. Ernest Hemingway, a friend and fellow safari enthusiast, wrote of Markham’s memoir, “I wish you would get it and read it because it really is a bloody wonderful book.”

It is a bloody brilliant book and it’s one of the books closest to my heart as it personally resonated with my nomadic life growing up in foreign countries where once the British empire made its mark.

I first read it on my great aunt’s Kenyan tea farm during the school holidays in England. I got into huge trouble for taking a treasured first edition - personally signed by Markham herself - from the library of my great aunt without permission. My great aunt - not an easy woman to get on with given her questionable eccentricities - wrote a stern letter to the head teacher of my girls’ boardng school in England that the schools standards and moral Christian teachings must be in terminal decline if girls were encouraged to pilfer books willy nilly from other people’s bookshelves and thus she would not - as an alum herself - be donating any more money to the school. It was one more sorry blot in my next school report.

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O’Brien

For pioneering pilots of the 1920s and 1930s, the challenges were enormous. For women it was even more daunting. In this marvellous history, Keith O’Brien recounts the early years of aviation through a generation of American female pilots who carved out a place for themselves and their sisterhood. Despite the sensation they created, each “went missing in her own way.” This is the inspiring untold story of five women from very different walks of life - including a New York socialite, an Oakland saleswoman, a Florida dentist’s secretary and a Boston social worker - who fought and competed against men in the high-stakes national air races of the 1920s and 1930s — and won.

Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly and deadly pursuit. The derisive press dubbed the first women’s national air race “The Powder Puff Derby.”

It’s a brisk, spirited history of early aviation focused on 5 irrepressible women. Florence Klingensmith, a high-school dropout who worked for a dry cleaner in Fargo, North Dakota, and who trained as a mechanic so she could learn planes inside and out but whose first aviation job was as a stunt girl, standing on a wing in her bathing suit. Louise McPhetridge Thaden a girl who grew up as a tomboy and later became the mother of two young kids who got her start selling coal in Wichita. Ruth Elder, an Alabama divorcee was determined to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. Amelia Earhart was of course the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled. Ruth Nichols who chafed at the constraints of her blue-blood family's expectations of marrying into wealth and into high society.

In 1928, when women managed to get jobs in other male dominated fields, fewer than 12 had a pilot’s license, and those ambitious for prizes and recognition faced entrenched sexism from the men who ran air races, backed fliers, and financed the purchase of planes. They decided to organise: “For our own protection,” one of them said, “we must learn to think for ourselves, and do as much work as possible on our planes.” Although sometimes rivals in the air, they forged strong friendships and offered one another unabated encouragement. O’Brien vividly recounts the dangers of early flight: In shockingly rickety planes, pilots sat in open cockpits, often blinded by ice pellets or engine smoke; instruments were unreliable, if they worked at all; sudden changes in weather could be life threatening. Fliers regularly emerged from their planes covered in dust and grease. Crashes were common, with planes bursting into flames; but risking injury and even death failed to dampen the women’s passion to fly. And yet their bravery was only scoffed at by male prejudice. Iconic oilman Erle Halliburton believed, “Women are lacking in certain qualities that men possess.” Florence Klingensmith’s crash incited a debate about allowing menstruating women to fly.

And yet these women still took off in wooden crates loaded with gasoline. They flew over mountains, deserts and seas without radar or even radios. When they came down, they knew that their landings might be their last. But together, they fought for the chance to race against the men - and in 1936 one of them would triumph in the toughest race of all. And When Louise Thaden became the first woman to win a national race, even the great Charles Lindbergh fell curiously silent.

O'Brien nicely weaves together the stories of these five remarkable women in the spirit of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff who broke the glass ceiling to achieve greatness.

Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot by James Stockdale

Thoughts on issues of character, leadership, integrity, personal and public virtue, and ethics, the selections in this volume converge around the central theme of how man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity- lessons just as valid for the challenges of present-day life as they were for the author’s Vietnam experience.Vice Admiral James Stockdale, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, served in the U.S. Navy from 1947 to 1979, beginning as a test pilot and instructor at Patuxent River, Maryland, and spending two years as a graduate student at Stanford University. He became a fighter pilot and was shot down on his second combat tour over North Vietnam, becoming a prisoner of war for eight years, four in solitary confinement. The highest-ranking naval officer held during the Vietnam War, he was tortured fifteen times and put in leg irons for two years. It’s a book that makes you think how much character is important in good at anything, especially being a thoughtful and wise leader in the heat of battle.

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life And Maybe The World by Admiral William H. McRaven On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university's slogan, "What starts here changes the world," he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.

Admiral McRaven's original speech went viral with over 10 million views.

Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, McRaven now recounts tales from his own life and from those of people he encountered during his military service who dealt with hardship and made tough decisions with determination, compassion, honour, and courage.

The book is told with great humility and optimism. It provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.

Service: A Navy SEAL at War by Marcus Luttrell with James D. Hornfischer

Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell is more known for his other famous best seller Lone Survivor but this one I think is also a thrilling war story, Service is above all a profoundly moving tribute to the warrior brotherhood, to the belief that nobody goes it alone, and no one will be left behind. Luttrell returned from his star-crossed mission in Afghanistan with his bones shattered and his heart broken. So many had given their lives to save him-and he would have readily done the same for them. As he recuperated, he wondered why he and others, from America's founding to today, had been willing to sacrifice everything - including themselves-for the sake of family, nation, and freedom.

In Service, we follow Marcus Luttrell to Iraq, where he returns to the battlefield as a member of SEAL Team 5 to help take on the most dangerous city in the world: Ramadi, the capital of war-torn Al Anbar Province. There, in six months of high-intensity urban combat, he would be part of what has been called the greatest victory in the history of US Special Operations forces. We also return to Afghanistan and Operation Redwing, where Luttrell offers powerful new details about his miraculous rescue.

Throughout, he reflects on what it really means to take on a higher calling, about the men he's seen lose their lives for their country, and the legacy of those who came and bled before. I did rub shoulders with the US special forces community out on my time in Afghanistan and whilst their public image deifies them I found them to be funny, pranksters, humble, brave, and down to earth beer guzzling hogs who cheerfully cheat at cards.

The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles A. Lindbergh

Being one of the classics in aviation history, this well written book is an epic aviator’s adventure tale of all time. Charles Lindbergh is best known for its famous nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1927 as it changed the history of aviation. “The Spirit of St. Louis” takes the reader on an extraordinary trans-Atlantic journey in a single-engine plane. As well as provides insight into the early history of American aviation and includes some great fuel conservation tips!

20 Hrs. 40 mins by Amelia Earhart

How can any woman pilot not be inspired by Amelia Earhart? Earhart's first transatlantic flight of June 1928 during which she flew as a passenger accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot Louis Gordon. The team departed from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland, in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m on 17 June 1928, landing at Pwll near Burry Port, South Wales, exactly 20 hours and 40 minutes later. The book is an interesting read but I much prefer her other book written in 1932 The Fun Of It. The book is Earhart's account of her growing obsession with flying, the final chapter of which is a last minute addition chronicling her historic solo transatlantic flight of 1932. The work contains the mini-record of Earhart's international broadcast from London on 22 May 1932. Earhart set out from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland on 20 May 1932. After a flight lasting 14 hours and 56 minutes Earhart landed in a pasture at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland. The work also includes a list of other works on aviation written by women, emblematic of Earhart's desire to promote women aviators.

2. Naval and military history

The U.S. Navy: A Concise History by Craig L Symonds

Symonds’s The U.S. Navy: A Concise History is a fantastic book from one of the doyennes of US naval history. I cannot think of any other work on the US Navy that provides such a thorough overview of American naval policy, navy combat operations, leadership, technology, and culture in such a succinct manner. This book is perfect for any reader - young or old - just wading into the waters of naval history and not knowing where to start, or for someone who wishes to learn a little bit about each era of the navy, from its founding to its modern-day mission and challenges.

His other distinguished works are more in depth - mostly about the Second World War such as the Battle of Midway and the Normandy landings - but this is a good introduction to his magisterial books. His latest book came out in 2019 called World War II at Sea: A Global History. I have not read this yet but from others who have they say it is a masterful overview of the war at sea.

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian W. Toll

Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military became the most divisive issue facing the new government. The founders - particularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adams - debated fiercely. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect from pirates or drain the treasury and provoke hostility? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.

From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliff-hanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of Founding Brothers and the narrative flair of Patrick O’Brian.

The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson by Roger Knight

The starting point of Roger Knight’s magnificent new biography is to explain how Nelson achieved such extraordinary success. Knight places him firmly in the context of the Royal Navy at the time. He analyses Nelson’s more obvious qualities, his leadership strengths and his coolness and certainty in battle, and also explores his strategic grasp, the condition of his ships, the skill of his seamen and his relationships with the officers around him – including those who could hardly be called friendly.

This biography takes a shrewd and sober look at Nelson’s status as a hero and demolishes many of the myths that were so carefully established by the early authors, and repeated by their modern successors.

While always giving Nelson his due, Knight never glosses over the character flaws of his heroic subject. Nelson is seen essentially as a "driven" personality, craving distinction in an age increasingly coloured by notions of patriotic heroism, traceable back to the romantic (and entirely unrealistic) depiction of the youthful General James Wolfe dying picturesquely at the moment of victory in 1759. Nor does Knight take Nelson's side in dealing with that discreditable phase in 1798-99, when he is influenced, much for the worse, by his burgeoning involvement with Lady Hamilton at Naples and Palermo. Knight accepts that this interlude has left an indelible stain on Nelson's naval and personal record. But he traces the largely destructive course of Nelson's passion for Emma with appropriate sensitivity.

Nelson was a shrewd political operator who charmed and impressed political leaders and whose advancement was helped by the relatively weak generation of admirals above him. He was a difficult subordinate, only happy when completely in command, and capable of great ruthlessness. Yes he was flawed, but Nelson's flaws, including his earlier petulance in dealing with higher naval authority - only brought fully under control towards the end of his career - pale before his remarkable strengths. His outstanding physical and moral courage and his inspired handling of officers and men are repeatedly and effectively illustrated.

1812: The Navy’s War by George C. Daughan

When war broke out between Britain and the United States in 1812, America’s prospects looked dismal. British naval aggression made it clear that the ocean would be the war’s primary battlefield - but America’s navy, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British fleet of more than a thousand men-of-war.

Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews managed to turn the tide of the war, besting the haughty skippers of the mighty Royal Navy and cementing America’s newly won independence.

In 1812: The Navy’s War, award-winning naval historian George C. Daughan draws on a wealth of archival research to tell the amazing story of this tiny, battle tested team of Americans and their improbable yet pivotal victories. Daughan thrillingly details the pitched naval battles that shaped the war, and shows how these clashes proved the navy’s vital role in preserving the nation’s interests and independence. This well written history is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America’s future. Daughan’s prose is first-rate, and his rousing accounts of battles at sea will certainly appeal to a popular audience.

I was given this book as a tongue in cheek gift from an American friend who was an ex-US Marine officer with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was obviously trying to rib me as good friends do. But I really did enjoy this book.

Among the most interesting insights is Daughan’s judgment on the effect of the American invasion attempts in Canada; all ultimately defeated. Demanded by enthusiastic War Hawks unencumbered by knowledge or experience who predicted that the Canadians would flock to U.S. banners, these incursions became the groundwork for a unified Iraq Canada - Ha!

What I liked was the fact that Daughan places the war in its crucial European context, explaining in detail how the course of the Napoleonic Wars shaped British and American decision making and emphasising the North American theatre’s secondary status to the European conflict. While they often verbally castigated Napoleon’s imperial ambitions, American leaders were in the uncomfortable position of needing Napoleon to keep winning while they fought Britain, and his defeat and (first) exile to Elba prompted an immediate scramble to negotiate a settlement. Despite its significance, few historians have bothered to systematically place the War of 1812 in the context of the Napoleonic Wars, and Daughan’s book does exactly that.

Empires of the Seas: The Siege of Malta, The Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Centre of the World by Roger Crowley

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, the great Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic clash between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world.

In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiralling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar.

Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality.

Empires of the Sea is a story of extraordinary colour and incident, and provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilisations.

One hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander by Admiral Sandy Woodward RN

Written by the man who masterminded the British victory in the Falklands, this engrossing memoir chronicles events in the spring of 1982 following Argentina’s takeover of the South Atlantic islands. Admiral Sandy Woodward, a brilliant military tactician, presents a complete picture of the British side of the battle. From the defeat of the Argentine air forces to the sinking of the Belgrano and the daring amphibious landing at Carlos Water, his inside story offers a revealing account of the Royal Navy’s successes and failures.

At times reflective and personal, Woodward imparts his perceptions, fears, and reactions to seemingly disastrous events. He also reveals the steely logic he was famous for as he explains naval strategy and planning. His eyewitness accounts of the sinking of HMS Sheffield and the Battle of Bomb Alley are memorable.

Many in Whitehall and the armed forces considered Woodward the cleverest man in the navy. French newspapers called him “Nelson.” Margaret Thatcher said he was precisely the right man to fight the world’s first computer war. Without question, the admiral’s memoir makes a significant addition to the official record.

At the same time it provides readers with a vivid portrayal of the world of modern naval warfare, where equipment is of astonishing sophistication but the margins for human courage and error are as wide as in the days of Nelson.

3. Fiction

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk

The majestic novel that inspired the classic Hollywood film The Caine Mutiny with Humphrey Bogart. Herman Wouk's boldly dramatic, brilliantly entertaining novel of life-and mutiny-on a US Navy warship in the Pacific theatre was immediately embraced, upon its original publication in 1951, as one of the first serious works of American fiction to grapple with the moral complexities and the human consequences of World War II.

The Sand Pebbles by Richard McKenna

It’s a fantastic novel that inspired a Steve McQueen film of the same name. Watch the movie if you haven’t, but read the book. It’s impossible to do a story of this sweep justice in two hours, even with the great McQueen starring.

Naval friends tell me The Sand Pebbles has been a fixture on the US Chief of Naval Operations’ Professional development reading list, and thus all mariners should be encouraged to read. And it’s easy to tell why. Most American seafarers will interact with the Far East in this age of the pivot, as indeed they have for decades.

Told through the eyes of a junior enlisted man, The Sand Pebbles recounts the deeds of the crew of the fictional U.S. Navy gunboat San Pablo during the turbulent 1920s, when various parties were vying for supremacy following the overthrow of China’s Qing Dynasty.

It’s a book about the mutual fascination, and sometimes repulsion, between Americans and Chinese; the tension between American missionaries and the sailors entrusted with protecting them; and China’s descent into chaos following the collapse of dynastic rule.

How do you separate fact from fiction or myth when writing a historical novel. Wisely, McKenna lets the reader to conclude there’s an element of myth to all accounts of history. Causality - what factors brought about historical events - is in the eye of the beholder. The best an author of historical fiction can do, then, is devote ample space to all contending myths and leave it up to readers to judge. Sailors, missionaries, and ordinary Chinese get their say in his pages, to illuminating effect. Authors report, the readers decide.

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by P.W. Singer and August Cole

The United States, China, and Russia eye each other across a twenty-first century version of the Cold War, which suddenly heats up at sea, on land, in the air, in outer space, and in cyberspace. The fighting involves everything from stealthy robotic–drone strikes to old warships from the navy’s “ghost fleet.” Fighter pilots unleash a Pearl Harbor-style attack; American veterans become low-tech insurgents; teenage hackers battle in digital playgrounds; Silicon Valley billionaires mobilise for cyber-war; and a serial killer carries out her own vendetta. Ultimately, victory will depend on blending the lessons of the past with the weapons of the future.

The book’s title, Ghost Fleet, comes from an expression used in the U.S. Navy that refers to partially or fully decommissioned ships kept in reserve for potential use in future conflict. These ships, as one might imagine, are older and naturally less technologically sophisticated than their modern counterparts. Singer and Cole cleverly use this concept, retiring older ships and weaponry in favour of newer versions with higher technological integration, to illustrate a key motif in the book: while America’s newest generation of warfighting machinery and gear is capable of inflicting greater levels of punishment, it is also vulnerable to foreign threats in ways that its predecessors were not. The multi-billion dollar, next generation F-35 aircraft, for instance, is rendered powerless after it is revealed that Chinese microprocessor manufacturers had implanted malicious code into products intended for the jet.

I’m a huge sucker for intelligently written thrillers and I found Ghost Fleet to be a page-turning speculative thriller in the spirit of Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. The debut novel by two leading experts on the cutting edge of national security, it is unique in that every trend and technology featured in the novel - no matter how sci-fi it may seem - is real, or could be soon.

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (Aubery-Maturin series)

This, the first of twenty in the splendid series of the famous Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship’s Irish-Catalan surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of a life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson’s navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.

I have the first editions of some of the series and I have treasured them ever since I read them as a teenager. I felt like stowing away on the first ship I could find in Plymouth. The Hollywood film version by Peter Weir with Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey is a masterful swashbuckling film and perhaps a delightful way into the deeper riches of the other novels in the epic series.

Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester (Horatio Hornblower series)

Horatio Hornblower remains for many the best known and most loved of these British naval heroes of Napoleonic Age. In ten books Forester recounts Hornblower's rise from midshipman to admiral, during the British navy's confrontation with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. For readers, the books work as a window into history because of the outstanding details that appear in these books. Through this singular series, according to critics, C.S. Forrester - like Patrick O’Brian - has contributed his own uniqueness to the confluence of fact and fiction.

They are above all ‘ripping good yarns’, with fast-moving plots, stirring battle scenes, lively dialogue, and vivid characters, but they also offer a picture of the British navy during the period; and Hornblower himself is an original and memorable literary creation as fictionally charismatic as James Bond.

Young Hornblower is introspective, morose, self-doubting. He is crippled by the fear that he does not have the qualities to command other men. He is harder on himself than anyone else would dare to be – and is, simply, one of the most complete creations of character in fiction. This is why many teenagers love Hornblower because they can see something of themselves in his adventures from from chronic self-doubt to soaring swashbuckling self-confidence. Hornblower is much more relatable than the brooding seasoned Jack Aubrey for instance.

I recommend reading the books in the order they were written rather than chronologically. In the first written novel, Beat to Quarters (also published as The Happy Return), we find Hornblower in command of a frigate in lonely Pacific waters off Spanish Central America. He has to deal with a mad revolutionary, fight single-ship duels with a larger vessel, and cope with Lady Barbara Wellesley (who provides a romantic interest to the series).

In A Ship of the Line Hornblower is sent into the Mediterranean, where he wreaks havoc on French coastal communications before plunging into a battle against the odds. Flying Colours is mostly set in France: in it Hornblower escapes captivity and returns to England a hero. In The Commodore he is sent with a squadron into the Baltic, where he has to cope with the complex politics of the region as well as helping with the siege of Riga. And in Lord Hornblower a mutiny leads to involvement with the fall of Napoleon — and brings him to prison and a death sentence during the Hundred Days. Forester then went back and described Hornblower's earlier career. Lieutenant Hornblower is perhaps my favourite of the Hornblower books.

Piece of cake by Derek Robinson

It’s an epic tome covering the opening twelve months of World War Two, from the phony war in France to the hasty retreat back across the Channel and then the valiant stand against the might of the Luftwaffe in what became known as the Battle of Britain.

The book follows the exploits of the fictional Hornet squadron and its members, a group of men who work hard and play harder. Though fiction, this immaculately researched novel based on an RAF Hurricane fighter squadron in 1940 highlights the ill-preparedness of Britain in the early stages of Word War Two.

Its British black humour is on full throttle with its nuanced observations of class politics and institutional ineptness. The manic misfits, heroes and bullies of Hornet Squadron discover that aerial combat is nothing like what they have been trained for. The writing sears the reader’s brain and produces some of the finest writing on the air war ever put to paper.

Be warned, though, this story isn’t about one specific character or ‘hero’. Indeed, just as you get to know a pilot, they are either chopped or killed; such is the nature of war in the air. Even though this is initially frustrating, you soon come to realise just how authentic Robinson’s storytelling is, and that this is exactly what it must have been like to be part of an RAF squadron on active service, never knowing who of your comrades would be alive from day to day. And, although the war proper for Hornet squadron doesn’t start until late in the book, when it does come the rendition of the dogfights in the air are so gripping that you’ll feel like you are actually there, sat next to the pilot in his cramped Hurricane cockpit, as Messerschmitt 109s scream by spitting death from all points of the compass.

All in all, this is a thoroughly entertaining (and educational) novel, and a must read for anyone interested in the RAF and how so few stood against so many. It has the dark humour of Heller’s Catch 22 but with a very distinctive British humour that can be lost on other foreigners. I recommend it as a honest and healthy antidote to anyone thinking of all pilots and the brave deeds they do in some deified light when in fact they are human and flawed as anyone else. Anyone who’s ever been a pilot will recognise some archetype in their own real life in this darkly comic British novel.

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

Lord Jim has it all. It's not just a novel of the sea but a work of moral philosophy.

Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In my humble opinion the greatest aviation fiction book ever written. It made the celebrated French aviator famous and Antoine de Saint-Exupery would go on to write the timeless classic The Little Prince.

Saint-Exupéry, though born into French nobility was always the odd one out as a child. Portly but jovial, he had bags of courage and curiosity to match his thirst for adventure and travel. He doggedly pursued his dream of becoming a pioneering pilot. In the 1930s he was an airline pilot who flew the north African and south Atlantic mail routes. During the long lonely hours in the cockpit he had enough time to accumulate experience and reflections which could be fit into Night Flight.

The novel itself narrates the terrifying story of Fabien, a pilot who conducted night mail planes, from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay to Argentina in the early days of commercial aviation when it was dangerous and pilots died often in horrendous accidents. The book romantically captures the danger and loneliness of these early commercial pilots, blazing routes in the days before radar, GPS and jet engines.

Night Flight is a good gateway into his other aviation themed books. Each of them are magical in capturing the austere feelings of seeing the world and its landscapes from above. Southern Mail, The Aviator, and Wind, Sand and Stars are fantastic reads.

Night Flight is inspiring for every pilot by sharing a unique magic of piloting an airplane.

These books changed my life as it inspired me to fly as a late teen. I still re-read Saint-Exupery’s writings sometimes as a way to tap into that youthful joy of discovering the wonders of flying a plane and when the impossible was only limited by your will and imagination. I cannot recommend his novels highly enough.

4. Classical

The Odyssey by Homer translated by Emily Wilson

Homer should the read at any age and for all seasons. I’ve chosen Emily Wilson’s recent translation because it’s good and not just because her publication was billed as the first woman to ever translate Homer. Wilson is an Oxford educated Classicist now a professor of Classics at Pennsylvania. Every discussion of Emily Wilson’s Odyssey is prefaced with the fact that hers is the first English translation of the poem by a woman, but it’s worth noting that Caroline Alexander’s Iliad (Ecco 2015) was also published as the first English translation by a woman to much less hoopla (to say nothing of Sarah Ruden’s Aeneid, Yale University Press 2009).

While a woman translating Homer’s epic is certainly a huge milestone, Wilson’s interpretation is a radical, fascinating achievement regardless of her gender. Disregard the marketing hype and the Wilson’s translation of Odysseus’ epic sea voyage home still stands tall for its fast paced narrative.

Compared with her predecessors’, Wilson’s Odyssey feels more readable, more alive: the diction, with some exceptions discussed below, is straightforward, and the lines are short. The effect is to turn the Odyssey into a quick-paced page turner, an experience I’d never had reading this epic poem in translation.

The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians by Thucydides translated by Jeremy Mynott

This is the classic treatise about what is essentially rowboats and spears of one of the most important and defining wars of Western civilisation. A long story of people killing one another, cynically justifying their cruelties in pursuit of power, making gross, stupid and fatal miscalculations, in a world devoid of justice. It's a long, drawn out tragedy without any redeeming or uplifting catharsis. If you are not already an extreme pessimist, you will lose all illusions about the inherent goodness of human beings and the possibility of influencing the course of events for the better after you read this book. You will be sadder but you will be wiser. Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between Athens and Sparta “a possession for all time,” and indeed it is the first and still most famous work in the Western historical tradition.

People look at me in a shocked way when I tell them that you can learn 90 percent of what you need to know about politics and war from Thucydides. Maritime strategy falls among the remaining 10 percent. If you want to read about the making of strategy, Clausewitz & Co. are your go-to works. If you want big thoughts about armed strife pitting a land against a sea power, Thucydides is your man. Considered essential reading for generals, admirals, statesmen, and liberally educated citizens for more than 2,000 years, The Peloponnesian War is a mine of military, naval, moral, political, and philosophical wisdom.

Finding the best and most accessible translation (and commentary) is key otherwise you risk putting off the novice reader (especially the young) from ever taking an interest in the Classical world e.g. I would never give the Thomas Hobbes translation to anyone who is easily bored or is impatient with old English. There are many good modern translations to choose from and here you have Strassler, Blanco, and Lattimore that are more used in America. Richard Crawley’s is the most popular but also the least accurate.

My own personal recommendation would be to go for Jeremy Mynott’s 2013 work which he titled The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. Mynott was a former publishing head at Cambridge University Press and emeritus fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, as well as a leading expert on birds and natural history. Mynott’s aim is to re-introduce Thucydides to the reader in his “proper cultural and historical context”, and to strip back the “anachronistic concepts derived from later developments and theories”. Hence the name of the book: The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, not, as it is usually called today, The Peloponnesian War.

But what is in a name? In this case, a great deal, since it contains Mynott’s mission statement in miniature. He has dropped the conventional name for the work, for which he correctly says there is no evidence from antiquity, in favour of a less one-sided title derived from Thucydides’s opening sentence. This is just one example of the accretions which Mynott’s edition aims to remove, so that the reader can come closer to being able to appreciate Thucydides’s work as it might have been received in classical Greece. In my humble opinion it is a minor miracle that Mynott has achieved in conveying in modern English the literary qualities of this most political of ancient historians.

The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

I’m deliberating ignoring Victor David Hanson’s book on the Peloponnesian War (A War Like No Other) not because it’s not good (because it is in parts) but because I prefer Prof. Donald Kagan’s book. Professor Kagan at Yale is one of the foremost scholars of Ancient Greek history. He has written a concise but thorough history of the Peloponnesian War for a general audience It's not the least bit dry for those with an interest in ancient history. The book’s an easy read. Kagan’s writing style is clear and straightforward.

Like any scholar worth his salt, Kagan is conversant with the scholarly consensus, with which he is for the most part in step, though he occasionally offers alternative scenarios. Much of the book is simply riveting. Like when the Spartan general Brasidas retakes Amphipolis, or the naval battle fought late in the war for control of the Hellespont. Woven throughout is the longer story of the Athenian turncoat, Alcibiades. Kagan’s analysis of the tactics and strategy of the conflict always seems on target. Interestingly, despite their reputations, the aristocratic Spartans usually come across as vacillating and indecisive while the democratic Athenians are aggressive and usually seize opportunity with successful results. Kagan refrains from drawing analogies to modern politics, although there’s certainly plenty of opportunity for it.

Professor Kagan preceded this one-volume history with a four-volume history of the war that took him around 20 years to write. That four volume series is a much more detailed and academic consideration of political motives and military strategy. But with this single volume, Kagan was able to produce a fast-moving tale, full of incident and colourful description easily readable for the general reader.

Lords of the Sea by John R. Hale

This book spans the history of the Athenian navy, starting with its founder, Themistocles, and carrying the story through to the fall of Athens - its real fall at the hands of Alexander the Great, not the brief unpleasantness at Spartan hands - in 4th century B.C. Along the way Hale furnishes a wealth of details about naval warfare in classical antiquity. Lords of the Sea profiles Athens' seafaring culture fascinatingly, probing subjects on which Thucydides remains silent. An invaluable companion to Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, and a rollicking read to boot.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. Some of it was written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia, because internal notes tell us that the second book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron) and the third book was written at Carnuntum.

It is not clear that he ever intended the writings to be published, so the title Meditations is but one of several commonly assigned to the collection. These writings take the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs.

When US Vice-Admiral. James Stockdale was shot down and became a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he attributed his survival to studying stoic philosophies, particularly Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.” Aurelius, the Roman emperor, wrote his simple rules for living by candlelight and they have been a source of strength for the thoughtful man of arms or the cultured citizen ever since. I also think teenagers would gain a lot from reading Meditations than endure reading angst-ridden nihilism of many tacky teenage books out there.

SPQR by Mary Beard

Anything by Cambridge Classics professor Mary Beard is worth reading. Everyone loves Mary Beard, fast becoming one of Britain’s national treasure. I’m not just saying all this because she was one of my teachers at Cambridge. I think SPQR is a wonderful book. Ancient Roman history is so very dense and intricate that it can be difficult to teach and learn about. Mary Beard makes it accessible- and she goes through it all, from the early days right up until the present day.

Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a "mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war" that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy? Mary Beard provides a sweeping revisionist history to get to grips with this thematic question.

‘SPQR’ is just four letters, but interwoven in those four letters are thousands of years and pages of Roman history. Cicero used to talk about the ’concordia ordinum.’ He said there was a harmony between all the orders in Rome. It’s like a pyramid hierarchy structure. At the top you have the ′senatus′ or the Senate—the aristocrats, the rich men who make decisions. Underneath that you have the ’equites’ who we don’t talk about as much , but they have their own spheres of power. They’ve got a bit of money and are a lower level. And underneath that you’ve got the ’populus’ or the people. SPQR is the harmony between the senatus and the populus and how they work together. That’s where Rome comes from: it’s not just about the Senate. The Senate can’t work without the people and vice versa. So ‘SPQR’ is basically a four-letter summation of the Roman constitution. It’s what it should be, though often isn’t. One of the reasons why - and she writes about this very well - Rome falls apart is because that relationship of harmony and hierarchy does fall apart under Caesar and Pompey in the 1st century BC.

Imperium by Robert Harris

This is one of my favourite novels, even if it weren’t classical, because like all Harris’ books it’s written like a smart thriller. I’m a huge Robert Harris fan. A lot of Robert Harris’ books are quite similar: they have a protagonist and you see the story - all the machinations - through his eyes. In Imperium we see the life of Cicero through the eyes of his slave, Tiro. We know Tiro was a real person, who recorded everything Cicero wrote.

The late Republic is one of my favourite periods of any period of history ever. You get all the figures: Cicero, Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, Octavian, Antony and Cato. Robert Harris paints compelling portraits of these people so nicely that even with Crassus, say, who comes up every so often, you get a sense of who he is. There are actually two more books in the trilogy: Lustrum and Dictator. Once you get to Dictator, you know who Julius Caesar really is, you know why he’s doing it.

#ask #question #books #reading #naval #maritime #classics #literature #fiction #history #personal #war #military #antiquity

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badasscaptain · 4 years

Text

Mariska Benson’s Story

Captain Mariska "Mar/Mari" Benson heads up the Manhattan Special Victims Unit. Mariska is fluent in several languages, which include English, Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Italian, Irish Gaelic, Czech, Scottish Gaelic, Hungarian, Latin, Portuguese, Basque, Danish, Chinese, Japanese, Bulgarian,, Slovenian, Dutch, Hebrew, latin, german, Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovan, Greek, Filipino, Belarusian, Turkish, Swedish, Polish, Slavonic Languages(Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, Porto-Slavic, Eastern-Slavic, Southern-Slavic, Western-Slavic, Slovak), Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian, Gagauz and Sign Language.

Prior to becoming a cop and working for the NYPD/ At SVU. Mariska severd in the US Navy for 16 years. from 1981-1997, when she retired and came home to the states that December of 1997. She joined the Navy and enlisted after high school at the age of 17, in May of 1981. She also worked her ass off in high school and got a full scholarship to Cornell University , took it and while in College and enlisted in the Navy , fighting a broad and serving her country / protecting the USA from threats, Mariska multi-tasked and simultaneously studied during her time in the Navy and attained both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the same time, and triple majored in criminal justice, law enforcement and Ballistics & Technical Sciences, with minors in several languages, history, literature and creative writing - poetry. She later graduated from Cornell , while still in the Navy , after only three years studies in May of 1984, a few months after her 20th birthday, while still abroad and fighting in the Navy and serving her country at the same time.

She is a decorated US Navy Veteran, with multiple Awards and Honors. Mariska exited and retired from the US Navy and military life, in April of 1997 at the age of 33, after serving her country and a Navy- Military career of 16 years, and upon retirement from the Navy was a Vice Admiral. During her time in the US Navy , Mariska was a part of the Navy's elite special forces team , known as SEAL TEAM 6. Upon retiring from the Navy in late May of 1997.

Mariska came home and returned to the states, and attended the New York police academy and took their program to become a cop within a few short months, after graduating early from the NYPD academy in July of 1997, a few months after studying to be a cop at the NYPD academy that same year. She first began her law enforcement career as cop, that July after her graduation not long after independence day 1997.

In the beginning of her law enforcement career as a cop , with the NYPD, Mariska started out low in the ranks, and was transferred quite a bit during hr first two years with the NYPD, working in serval different department, before she made Detective 2nd grade in the winter of 1998, just a few short months before joining SVU ing March of 1999 and being transferred for the last and final time , while working for the NYPD.

Prior to taking over SVU, Mariska worked as a SVU detective and to this day is still partnered with Det. Elliot Stabler, they've been partners for over 12 years. After Elliot's leave of absence for a year. Mariska partnered primarily with Nick Amaro, before his return to SVU in 2013 after about a year of being away due to having to handle issues with his family and personal affairs. The year after that, in 2013 Elliot was forced to retire from SVU due to hurting Mariska again, as he had done in the past. This time Fin caught him sexually assaulting her in the nap area of the SVU precinct, used by SVU to rest, now and again when they get tired and can't think straight, during precinct lockdowns, while they're working huge complex cases.

Shortly after he returned, they became partners once again, before Cragen the old SVU captain , her ex boss retired after the Lewis case in late 2013... he fired Stabler's crazy ass and the NYPD took his shield for good, in the early summer of 2013. Which Stabler hated, never getting his way, though any one who has a brain and common sense, knows you don't always get your way, and or aren't always right all the time, or perfect.

In late fall of 2013 after the lewis case was wrapped up, and Mariska and all his other living victims were safe. Mariska became a Sergeant and took over the SVU unit from Captain Donald Cragen in late October of 2013. Coincidentally at the same time her co-worker of several years John Munch, also announced his retirement as well from the NYPD in late October of 2013, the same Cragen announced he was retiring from the NYPD. Then after being a Sargent for about 7 months after Cragen's leaving SVU and putting her in charge.

she took the Lieutenant's exam and aced it, and became the Lieutenant of the SVU Department. She continued to be the head of SVU after she became their Lieutenant. She stayed as a Lieut. As Lieutenant and the head of SVU for some months, Then in late 2019 Mariska was promoted again, this time to Captain of SVU. Mariska does her best to head up and keep her squad a tight knit bunch and working well together, with little to no issues as possible.

While balancing in time with her son Noah Porter-Benson, comes ahead of her job and love life. She does the best she can, to balance her job, family, friends and dating, Although she is still in love with one particular woman, but she has no idea if she'll ever come to see it or not, so she tries to push through the pain and move on without him as best she can and focus on the positives in her life.

Early Life and The Beginning of her Career with SVU

Mariska and her identical twin sister Olivia were born, Mariska Renée Benson and Olivia Margaret Benson, On January 23, 1964, Nassau County, Long Island, New York. Mariska and her identical identical twin sister Olivia "Liv" Benson, were the products of the rape of their mother Serena Benson in 1963 by a food salesman named Jacob Holmes, who later committed suicide. At the time of the rape, Serena had been working in the cafeteria of Columbia University.

Mariska's mother, Serena was an alcoholic who tossed aside her one daughter Olivia, Mariska's identical twin sister away and left her daughter Olivia in the adoption/foster care system as a baby, to grow up there. Meanwhile Serena decided to keep and raise her other daughter Liv's twin sister Mariska, as a single mother, and also emotionally, physically, mentally and verbally abused Mariska throughout her childhood, adolescent years growing up. Her mother Serena even went as far, to hide from Mariska, that she had a sister out there, being raised in the system, not just any normal type of sister... but an identical named Olivia.

Mariska for most of her life, was always suspicious that there was more to her story , of how she was conceived and brought into this world by her mother Serena, then what her mom Serena lead her to believe for all those years, when she was growing up, even after joining the Navy after high school, as she did. Then after her exiting the Navy after a 16 year stint in the service, and Navy life.

She knew in her gut, that there was more to the story of their family, then what her mom Serena told her, however back in the day, it was much harder to prove or dig up stuff about those in the system, and long lost relatives, plus kinship analysis was stiff a very new DNA test the law enforcement and health care fields had just developed. Mariska though, continued to question her life, and formative years growing up in long island as she did as well as, her mother Serena’s secrets.

That is until Serena passed away not long after, Mariska joined svu as a 2nd grade detective years ago. Serena died from injuries sustained in a fall when she was drunk, in early 2000, After which it left Mariska still questioning the feeling in her gut, that she had more family out there, she didn’t know about all her life, and she wanted answers. Mariska did want to know if she did have siblings out there, or any cousins, etc.

So she asked her then boss Captain Don Cragen, and her trusted coworkers during those days, her early ones at SVU as a detective.... to help her get and run a kinship DNA analysis test on her. Which they helped her do an keep hush hush, the kinship DNA test, came back positive and did show results that she had a sibling out there, not just a sibling, but a sister. However the records of her name were sealed and closed, the only other thing that the test results showed was the sister, also grew up where Mariska did in Long Island, and that she grew up in the system.

Which left Mariska more curious, and anything to find out, who this sister was, she had, her name, etc. At the same time the passing of their mother Serena, left Mariska, even more deeply angry, as well as, a bit saddened, due to the fact that she never got closure with her mother Serena before she passed away, never got to tell her crazy mom how she felt, how much she had her hurt, etc.

While investigating a case called (Payback) in 1999, Mariska and Serena seemed to care about each other a great deal. Serena was worried about Mariska working in the Special Victims Unit. Then also months later in (1999) while investigating a case labeled Wanderlust, Mariska said to her good friend ADA Casey Novak, that her first love was an older woman and that she "couldn't have loved her more".

Then months later while investigating a case called Taken (2000) Serena dies as the result of a fall down the subway stairs across from a bar. Mariska says Serena was a drunk. Then later that same year also, while investigating an Abuse case in (2000) Mariska becomes involved with a child who was neglected by her parents that way Mariska felt neglected by her mother.

Then while investigating a case labeled ; Intoxicated in (2005) Mariska tells Casey Novak about an incident when she was 16. An older student of her mother asked her to marry her and when she told Serena that she was leaving, her mother who had been drinking flew into a rage and went after her with a broken bottle.

During her brief visits to Philadelphia and Florida (2007) Mariska finds out about the man who raped her and her twin sister Olivia’s mother, and others. He knew about his daughters and kept track of them both. He once tried to call Mariska but got Serena instead. Mariska Graduated from Cornell university. She admitted to her SVU teammates in 2007 while they were investigating a case then , they labeled (Stalked).

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demivampirew · 4 years

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Don’t judge a book by its cover chapter 4

A Cap. Syverson story.

Triggers: Heartbreak (and mention of drugs and gangs)

Synopsis: Rebeca is an Argentinian girl who a few months ago moved to the USA (Washington D.C) to study in university thanks to a scholarship that she was granted. She’s lonely. People don’t treat her well. Some could be understood but most of them just hate her for being a foreigner. She meets Syverson because he’s a man from the South and she has not had a good experience with people from there, but she may find out at the end that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Tag: lunedelorient

Only 15 minutes left on her shift. Rebeca was anxiously checking the time; she couldn't wait for her workday to finally be over so she could go have dinner with Sy. Christina, one of the owners of the store, was already in there getting ready to take her place as soon as she leaves. The woman was looking at the street through the shop's window and seem worried. - Darling, bring me the phone. I think I'll call the police.- she asked Rebeca. - What's going on? - the young woman replied worriedly. - There's a man in a car parked across the street. He's been there since before I got here 20 minutes ago and he's looking at the store. I think he's planning to rob us. - Christina explained as Rebeca got close to her with the phone on her hand. She took a look outside and then sighed in a sign of relief. - It's ok. It's a friend of mine. He's waiting for me because we are going to eat something after my shift ends. He must have confused the time that my shift ended, that's all.- the lady said, calming down her boss and the woman sighed as well. - Thank God. I was afraid something bad was going to happen and Charles didn't make it yet. - Charles was the woman's husband. Both stayed together the hours left after Rebecas departure until closing at midnight. - So, you're going to dinner with that man. - Christina repeated her employee's words in the form of a question, smirking. - Yes. - replied Beca, blushing as she understood what the woman was trying to imply. - Be careful, sweetie. He seems older than you, and sometimes men are pigs. - she warned her. - I know, but don't worry, Sy is not like that. He's very sweet and protective. He's the one who saved me from my classmate when he tried to hurt me. - Oh, it's great that he was there to save you. But, still, try to be careful, ok? - she pleaded at the girl and she nodded. She was good to her and cared a great deal about her. Christina and her husband had a teenage boy, but they always wanted a girl, so they treated Rebeca as if she was their daughter and looked after her. - It's time.- Rebeca announcing that her shift was over. - Do you want me to stay with you until Charlie arrives? - she asked - No, no, go have fun, honey. He'll be there shortly, so don't worry about me. - she encouraged her to leave. - Ok, call me if you need anything. - Rebeca said and then she waved goodbye and left the store.

As soon as Syverson saw Beca go out of the store, he got out of his car to open the door for her. -Hi! -she greeted him, tucking a lock of hair behind her ears. - Hi! Ready to go? - he asked her as he opened the car door. - Yes - she replied, smiling. - Great! - he told her as she entered the vehicle. Then, he took his place in the driver's seat and began the travel to the dinner place. - How was your shift? - he asked her after a few moments on the road. - Normal. Today wasn't super busy, so I got to do a lot of reading for college, so that's great. - That's good. That means that you gain yourself some free time. -he replied grinning - Nope, that means that I gain more time to read for another signature. - she replied sighing and laughing. - You study way too much, I think. - I study enough to get high scores. I need them to be able to keep studying at this University. - Oh, right. - he remembered that Rebeca needed it to be on the top of her game to maintain the scholarship, otherwise, she'll have to return to Argentina. - Well, if there's anything I can help you with. - he offered - Did you go to college? - she asked him curiously. - Yes.- he admitted. - Really? - she asked him surprised. - What? Don't I look smart enough for college? -he teased her - No, it's not that. It's just, I thought that you probably skipped college and went straight to the military. - No. I went to college and became a History teacher. I taught for two years and then I joined the forces. - he explained, looking at her with a smirk. - Why did you join? - Like I said before, I wanted to serve my country and help people. Besides, when I was a teacher, I worked in a school with lots of kid's that were trouble makers. I wanted to help them, but they rejected all my attempts to help them. It hurt me to see young men and woman wasting their lives on drugs and getting in gangs. So that's why I decided to quit teaching and just become a military man. - And now you're Captain. You must be really good.- she implied, she sounded both impressed and proud of him. - Yes, ma'am, indeed I am. It didn't take me a lot of time to raise to a high position. I was good in the field, but I was even a better leader. That's why when I'm not in the war zone, I'm teaching new cadets. My superiors trust me to help them become great soldiers. - I'm sure of that.- Rebeca agreed and he smiled at her. They went into a restaurant and had a great time at dinner. They talked about her family, her desire to become a suspense and thriller writer and his job at the academy teaching young men how to be good soldiers and survive in the battlefield. When the check arrived, she grabbed her bag and started to pull out bills when Sy looked at her like saying "what the hell are you doing?". She tried to pay, but he insisted and won. After that, he drove her to her house and before she got out of his car, he asked her if she wanted him to drive her to work the next day. She assured him she was ok with walking but agreed to accept a beer from him after work if he wanted to since she was leaving earlier and had some free time. He told her that was a great idea and that he'll wait for her the next day to drop by his house. The morning shift was a busy one, so she did not have enough time to read, but fortunately, she didn't much leave to read. Since she worked from early morning, the store owner's allowed her to leave early in the afternoon. She followed the map's instructions to Sy's home and she made it there without problems. She knocked at the door and Sy opened the door with a cold beer on his hand, ready for her to drink. It has been a while since she had the occasion to drink a beer. Since she came into the states, she didn't want to drink alcohol, because she felt the need to be at the top of her mental capacity to be able to study hard as she needs it to. She took a look at his place. It was neat and homie. He was nothing like she imagined him to be at first. He was smart, charming, polite and nice. And he was good locking. At first, she didn't want it to admit that, but now that she finally admitted to herself that she liked him, she could clearly see how attractive he was. Say got up of the couch after being in there after a long talk about their lives and was heading into the kitchen to grab another beer. She asked him to wait a minute, that she had something to tell him. - Remember our conversation about the guy that I liked? - she questioned him - Yes, I do. - Well, I think he likes me bad. He hasn't told me that, but I fell that's the case. - Oh...that's great! - he replied to her - I decided to follow your advice and tell him about my feelings. -she said as she got closer to him. He went silent, looking at her. She looked into his eyes, and slowly, got close enough to kiss him and did exactly that. After a few moments, she realized that he wasn't kissing her back and then he grabbed softly her arms and delicately pulled her away. - Beca...look... - he began and she felt a lump in her throat and how the air was starting to run out. Her chest started to ache as she realized that she made a mistake. He didn't reciprocate her feelings and he was about to reject her. She felt so ashamed and embarrassed. She wanted to disappear from the earth. - Oh, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I'm really, really sorry. - she said as she walked backwards. She continued to apologize as she grabbed her bag, went to the door and scaped. She could hear him calling her name as she ran away as fast as she could. She could barely see anything because the tears were covering her eyes. She could even taste the saltiness of the liquid coming from her eyes. She finally reached her place after some time and went straight to her bed. She dropped her body into the mattress as she cried for hours until she fell asleep, completely ignoring her phone that continued to ring as Syverson was trying to talk to her.

#cap sy #captain syverson #captain syverson fanfic #henry cavill #demivampirew

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jkottke · 4 years

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Today Is Juneteenth, the USA's Second Independence Day

Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that started in Texas that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. From Vox's Juneteenth, explained:

A portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth," Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when a group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally learned that they were free from the institution of slavery. But, woefully, this was almost two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation; the Civil War was still going on, and when it ended, Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger traveled to Texas and issued an order stating that all enslaved people were free, establishing a new relationship between "former masters and slaves" as "employer and hired labor." As much as Juneteenth represents freedom, it also represents how emancipation was tragically delayed for enslaved people in the deepest reaches of the Confederacy.

And freedom was further delayed, but the holiday stuck. From What Is Juneteenth? by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.:

When Texas fell and Granger dispatched his now famous order No. 3, it wasn't exactly instant magic for most of the Lone Star State's 250,000 slaves. On plantations, masters had to decide when and how to announce the news -- or wait for a government agent to arrive -- and it was not uncommon for them to delay until after the harvest. Even in Galveston city, the ex-Confederate mayor flouted the Army by forcing the freed people back to work, as historian Elizabeth Hayes Turner details in her comprehensive essay, "Juneteenth: Emancipation and Memory," in Lone Star Pasts: Memory and History in Texas.

Those who acted on the news did so at their peril. As quoted in Litwack's book, former slave Susan Merritt recalled, " 'You could see lots of niggers hangin' to trees in Sabine bottom right after freedom, 'cause they cotch 'em swimmin' 'cross Sabine River and shoot 'em.' " In one extreme case, according to Hayes Turner, a former slave named Katie Darling continued working for her mistress another six years (She " 'whip me after the war jist like she did 'fore,' " Darling said).

Hardly the recipe for a celebration -- which is what makes the story of Juneteenth all the more remarkable. Defying confusion and delay, terror and violence, the newly "freed" black men and women of Texas, with the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau (itself delayed from arriving until September 1865), now had a date to rally around. In one of the most inspiring grassroots efforts of the post-Civil War period, they transformed June 19 from a day of unheeded military orders into their own annual rite, "Juneteenth," beginning one year later in 1866.

From the NY Times' collection of articles to mark the Juneteenth holiday, Veronica Chambers writes:

"Recently, I heard Angela Davis talk about the radical imagination," Ms. [Saidiya] Hartman said. "And a fundamental requirement is believing that the world you want to come into existence can happen. I think that that is how black folks have engaged with and invested in and articulated freedom, as an ideal and as an everyday practice."

I couldn't agree more. As someone who has celebrated Juneteenth for a long time, I think we need it now -- not in lieu of the freedom, justice and equality we are still fighting for -- but in addition, because we have been fighting for so very long.

The elemental sermon embedded into the history and lore of Juneteenth has always been one of hope. The gifts of the holiday are the moments of connection, renewal and joy for a people who have had to endure so much, for so long.

Gina Cherelus shares how folks around the country celebrate, past and present -- This Is How We Juneteenth:

Kenneth Timmons, who works for a federal government agency in Houston, said the first thing he usually does before every Juneteenth is take the day off work. Mr. Timmons usually invites friends over to cook and eat together.

"My co-workers know why I'm off, I tell them I don't work Juneteenth," Mr. Timmons, 47, said. "I don't work on my Independence Day."

Born and raised in Lufkin, Texas, a town more than 100 miles northeast of Houston, Mr. Timmons remembers attending community Juneteenth celebrations as a child, where he would watch rodeo shows, pageants, eat barbecue and participate in calf chasing contests.

"Even though the United States celebrates July 4 as their independence, we were still considered slaves," said Mr. Timmons. "So for us, that is the day that our ancestors were finally released from servitude and slavery and could escape the South."

Calls for Juneteenth to be a federal holiday have grown over the past few years. Here's the case from the staff of The Root and Danielle Young -- Juneteenth Is Finally Entering the Mainstream American Consciousness. Now Make It An Official Federal Holiday.

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Forget the 4th of July! Juneteenth is the day that should be celebrated by all as a pivotal point in America's freedom story.

93-year-old Texas resident Opal Lee is working to get Juneteenth recognized as a national holiday. You can follow her efforts here and sign her petition.

And finally, here are some ways to get involved in the movement for Juneteenth, including educational resources, events & protests, suggestions for how to invest in the Black community, places to donate, volunteer opportunities, etc.

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pandemiclaughter · 4 years

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Random thougths that keep me from sleeping

I’m still in shock that this is what I have for presidential candidates.

I still live in the USA, right?

Do people stiil want to grow up and be president?

How is it possible that these are my choices to represent my country, our country?

Seriously, how did we get to this? Why does it seem each election we comes to this?

I previously thought if the GOP really wanted to win in the past--they would put Colin Powell & Condoleezza Rice on a ticket. Ok, I may have thought that for a long time. He’s now probably too old to be there---I don’t know where I got this notion.

So, America seems to be ok voting a celebrity in the White House? How about Neil deGrasse Tyson? I would vote for a Condoleeza Rice, Neil deGrasse Tyson ticket 100%. We have got to have some other brilliant political minds we could bring forwards. I would even be interested in a strange ticket like James Carville and Mary Matalin.

(Can you tell I’m older? I don’t even know who the new and upcoming greater minds are. I’m sure there are better modern-day suggestions.)

I realize I need to give up hoping for others to have on my ticket—again. (this seems to be a recurrent feeling when I go to vote—even at my local level—I’m tired of seeming like I have no good choices).

I did take a moment to learn more about these current candidates again. Wow! I am much more intrigued by Biden after taking the time to go learn more about him. Not just what I have heard and seen through the mainstream media (and how is it that I didn’t take the time to learn more about him when he was Vice President---oh, I’ve forgotten to look up and learn about Vice Presidents before—oops.)

I’ve done my research on the other guy—I’m still shocked he was able to run last time with the notion he was not a politician after he lost his previous running for President. If I run for president, I would consider myself a politician. He ran for president before; he just didn’t win. He tried to create new political parties—also didn’t work. He is was a failed politician, (because if you don’t remember he didn’t win when he ran for president the first time). But somehow much of the public didn’t remember this and just went on with letting him push on as just a businessman coming to politics---“not a politician”—not that I just couldn’t get elected for things when I tried before. It is interesting what people will believe. And if I’m still stuck on being shocked on something he did before he got into office, I have a lot of things to work through still. (I still feel like somehow we are stuck in Oz and we haven’t gotten to the point where someone says--don’t look at the man behid the curtain.)

What is it about having this perception of people? I mean I really don’t know much about my hopeful candidates (that never ran). I “feel” they would be good. (I do think they would be good leaders.) Matalin and Carville together don’t agree politically but still get along. That is an ideal we need to see more. That would be good to see the example of that leading our country—how we can disagree and still get shit done, without screwing people over.

I’m glad I took a moment to stop and research Biden more, I’m not hating my options as much. I’m more impressed with him. So I feel less bummed than before.

I hate having mostly a two-party system. I agree with the concerns of John Adams--"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."-- John Adams, Letter to Jonathan Jackson

Our division continues to grow in every aspect of our lives—wealth, politics, education, healthcare and more. History is full of revolutions and war from great divisions. What societies have said—hold up, wait a minute, let us fix this without war. Because strangely as divided as we are, we seem to agree that we are divided and broken.

I feel we are starting to get close to showing how divided we fall. Part of me just wants to scrap everything now. Maybe not scrap—but put a pause on everything. Put our current system on hold for the next four years. We can gather a group of the greatest minds to help “fix” parts of our current systems. Our current system is not working. We can all vote in representatives from different walks of life medical, teacher, philosopher, creative representative, military, and more. Have them discover positive changes.

Maybe vote in a second and possible third group of brilliant minds to come up with new proposals. They can focus on some important matters including the electoral vote, how we are represented, tax rate, possibly reducing money in politics, education, healthcare, and more. Then after the new plans are agreed upon from their groups, then we vote on them.

Maybe there is another way to unite us?

Let’s take all the lobbyist out, let’s take all the businesses out, let’s take the power of money out, let’s shake it up and find new and better way to do things. I have watched the power of money too long. It rarely benefits--we the people. We can keep our founding roots and modernize our governement to function better. Our current representatives could choose to join and for those who really don’t work before, they can just take a break and go back and do their non-work from their hometowns.

Then maybe we can start fresh in 2024. And no, Kanye. No.

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contra-dic-tion · 4 years

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( Marie Avgeropoulos, Thirty-two, Female, She/Her ) Was that Echo? I heard a rumor they work for the O’Shea family, but who knows for sure ? They can be a bit Hostile & Vicious, but I also heard they can be Calculating & Dependable. You’ll usually find them at Skyfall in their spare time, when they’re not being an BoneBreaker. You may want to keep an eye on that one !

Name: REDACTED

Goes By: Echo

Age: Thirty-Two

Birthday: September 6th

Birthplace: Victoria, British Colombia

Gender: Female

Orientation: Bisexual

Affiliated with: O’Shea’s

Occupation: Ex-Canadian Marine, Bonebreaker

For the most part, Echo’s childhood was fairly normal. She was born into a Military family with one other brother and a younger sister. Her father was a Marine and her mother was in the Navy. She knew from a very young age that she was going to follow in her parents footsteps. They didn’t ever force her but did encourage her to go into the Canadian forces as it was a long standing family tradition. One that her and her other siblings kept alive. As soon as she could decide for herself what she wanted to do, she hit the ground running with her military training. Which included getting a head start by going to a boarding school run by the military. The school was mostly for youth who needed structure but they allowed Echo a spot because of her families background. Because of this head start she finished her basic training by the time she was Eighteen and actually enlisted. Form there her formal training began. She wanted to be a Marine more than anything. Following her fathers footsteps was her dream form a young age and nothing was going to stop her. Echo was quickly picked out as being driven, stubborn, fast-learning and leadership material. It took her two tries to pass her qualifiers to get into the Canadian Marines but she did get in. It was then that her life really began. Or at least that’s what she’d tell you if you asked her.

Her first tour was in Iraq. There in the heat of battle, Echo got her first taste of what real work was like. What war was like. She knew it was probably not good to enjoy it so much but she did. Not only that but she thriver, no, excelled, in an unrelenting and merciless environment. Yes, at the start of everything losing friends and mentors was hard but over time, Echo learnt not to attache herself to anyone. She allowed pleasantries but never close ties. Especially when she started to make her way up through the ranks while on the front lines.

Things escalated quickly as most wars do and Echo spent the next nine nears of her life in Iraq with a few gaps for leave. Although she was never gone for more then a month at a time. While on leave she found herself restless, and out of sorts without a fight to attack. She realized quickly that nothing about being away from base appealed to her and that war was becoming her home.

People came and went all of the time. They replaced squads and moved them around without much explanation sometimes and for that reason Echo has met a lot of people in her time. Some she got along with and others she hated. However, when Echo finally got her own Platoon to look after, things changed. Her birth name was written out of history and from the day she became a General Major, she was known as Echo. Her second in command was Tango and Bravo rounded out her chain of command. She was never put down by her men or made to prove herself because she was a woman. All those below her knew that she was leading them for a good goddamn reason. She had earned it.

Things got more interesting for Echo over time as more Militaries from around the world began to mix with each other and work together. Her involvement with the USA military ate a good portion of her third tour in Iraq. She lead some of them, and was lead by some of them. In her mind they were, in reality all the same. This was war, after all. If you were with them than great, if not-

Echo’s military history is long and sorted. Her stories range from the insane to months of nothing but drills and target practice. She would have stayed in the Canadian Marines till the day she died if she hadn’t been Honourably discharged after a particularly brutal event. One that left her diagnosed with PTSD and unable to serve any longer. Going back home, however, wasn’t something Echo was interested in. Two weeks into being back in Canada, and she was going crazy from sheer boredom. Two months in, she was ready to kill herself just to get out. Two years away from war and Echo found a new one to fight.

It started with a call that her father had been killed in action. The news was horribly hard to grasp but she did grasp it. If there was one thing Echo was familiar with it was the weight of death. She went home to Victoria to help her mother clear out some of her fathers things when she came across some old letters between her father and a man named Mason O’Shea. She went through them in detail and found that her father had been smuggling military grade weapons across the boarder for Mason O’Shea’s gang down in Chicago for years. Not only that but Mason had bailed her father out years ago when he’d come under investigation for these crimes. That bail out had gone un-repaid.

Gathering all that Echo could find on the O’Shea’s she took to tracking down Mason. Who was also dead by the time she found out how to contact him. Thankfully, she did find enough information on Richard O’Shea, the new leader of the gang, to contact him. She sent a letter as well as all the exchanges between there fathers that she could find and explained that she wished to clear her fathers dealt with work. It was sudden but within a week, Echo moved down to Chicago to start her new role as Bonebreaker with the O’Shea gang.

#echo #history

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cardamomoespeciado · 4 years

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Didn't you tell the victims of comfort women that you knew that the Korea-Japan agreement was 1 billion yen?

Ju Heyeon

Yuka Mika "I was contacted the day before, but there was no core content."

Four allegations surrounding Mr. Yumika Yun who was claimed by 50 groups of victims of forced mobilization in Japan

Yoon, anti-American advocate, but daughter is studying in the US ... Husband receives money from pro-North Korea group

Advertisement on the internet media operated by my husband ... Justice Memory Solidarity "I do not execute advertising expenses"

More than 50 groups of victims of forced mobilization by Japan ran as proportional representative candidates for “Citizen's Party” in the general election of parliament last month and demanded that the elected Yun Mihyang be withdrawn. Made a statement. These groups visited the party's headquarters (Seoul, Yeouido) together with the ruling party "Democratic Party" and protested, "I absolutely oppose the shameless human beings entering the Diet. I demand that the Diet members resign." did.

When a 48-year-old office worker washed his head with "carbonic acid" ... he had hair even though he was an uncle! "The time to wash your head with" carbonic acid "" Tecateka, 48 years old → Become a beautiful man! I set it with wax after a long absence! I have to do it!

Seiseidou

Click here for details

On the same day, Japanese surrender co-operatives for victims of forced mobilization of the Japanese Emperor (Chairman Lee Ju-sung) and others raised four allegations over Mr. Yoon. The first suspicion is that "a few comfort women were softened and used on the opposite day." In connection with this, Lee Yong-soo, a victim of comfort women, said on the 7th, "I knew that 1 billion yen came from Japan at the time of the 2015 Korea-Japan (comfort women issue) agreement. It was only Yoon ’s representative. ” Mr. Yoon was the representative of the Korean group “Korea Corps Corps Countermeasures Council” (present: “Justice Memory Solidarity for Solving Japanese Military Slavery Problem”, hereinafter “Justice Memory Solidarity”) in 2015. Regarding the main content of the comfort women issue agreement, he said he had not told the victims of comfort women while listening to the Korean Foreign Ministry's prior explanation.

However, immediately after the 2015 agreement was announced, Mr. Yoon replied to the media interview that "(the government did not consult). The victims' intentions were not heard at all." This is in contrast to the current claim that Japan knew in advance that Japan would contribute 1 billion yen. In connection with this, several sources familiar with the negotiation process at the time said, "The Korean Foreign Ministry explained the main contents to Mr. Yoon before the announcement of the agreement." In response to this, Yun explained in an interview with the media, "I received the contact the day before, but the core content was missing."

The second suspicion was that officials of a group of victims of forced mobilization by Japan said, "Youn had his daughter study abroad in the United States, even though he was at the forefront of anti-American and anti-Japanese movements up to the bones. "I'm saying that. Yoon's daughter A is currently studying at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Music Department in Los Angeles, USA. The school's annual tuition is said to be around $ 40,000 (approximately 4.3 million yen) for non-citizens. Mr. Yun, who was at the forefront of the anti-America, opposed to the US Army's terminal high altitude defense missile (THAAD) deployment, made his daughter study abroad in the United States "Nero Namburu" (put yourself on the shelf, The criticism of the people concerned is that it is to blame others.

As a third suspicion, Yoon's husband Kim was once again focused on his previous history of being involved in the "spy incident." In 1993, Kim was sentenced to four years in prison for violating the National Security Law during the so-called "brother-sister spy group." He was alleged to have handed over military secrets to his pro-North Korean group in Japan with his sister and received the work money. Twenty years later, a retrial was held, and some charges were acquitted.

Fourth, it should be noted that the Internet media run by Mr. Kim posted banner advertisements and numerous publicity articles of the Korean Council on Measures against Korean Corps Problems, which Mr. Yoon had been representing for more than 10 years. Are gathering. For this, former co-representative Kim Sung-Sil said, "I have heard that there was no execution of advertising costs such as banners on the homepage," in an interview with the newspaper.

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thephilosopheroftheboudoir · 5 years

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Grim History

The Crime of Being Ethnic: Japanese-American Concentration Camps During World War II

Racism and hatred of immigrants has been a disease ever since the founding of the United States of America. Every immigrant group not originating from northwest Europe has suffered persecution from a small minority of ignorant citizens who think of themselves as the only true Americans. At the time of World War II, when Japan joined forces with the Axis powers of Germany and Italy, ethnic Japanese people gained first hand experience of the bigotry and hate that remains a chronic sickness in American society to this day.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Meiji era Japan opened its doors to international trade and commerce in a bid to modernize their kingdom. An economic recession resulted and many Japanese people fled to America in search of work and economic opportunity. Most of them were peasants and farm laborers and the majority of them relocated to Hawaii and California. The Japanese immigrants were highly successful as agriculturalists and businessmen; farmers in California brought with them a new irrigation technique that made raising crops in difficult terrain much easier. They lived in quiet communities, spoke their own language, and practiced their own traditions. The white farm owners, many of which were less successful financially than the Japanese immigrants, were not happy about their presence on American soil.

But the Japanese people remained. Then on December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and public sentiment turned from quiet resentment to open hatred. Fearing the possibility that the ethnic Japanese community would rise up to fight the USA on its own shores, possibly even building espionage networks to assist their Asian ancestors, became a fear of the American military. The government began a clandestine investigative committee and surveillance program to spy on the Japanese people and assess their level of loyalty to the United States. The committee found that they were deeply committed to their adopted nation with little to no sympathy for Japan. No anti-American propaganda was found in their communities, no pro-Japanese sentiment was heard of, and no spy networks were uncovered. Despite these positive findings, the military leaders insisted that Asian people were incapable of being true Americans and in the end their loyalty would go to the Japanese aggressors. Empirical evidence counted for nothing and racist hatred counted for everything. When it came to bigotry in politics, nothing could penetrate the thick fog of stupidity that clouded the vision of white Americans of that time.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, long considered a champion of the poor and oppressed people of the USA, passed Executive Order 9066. The forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese-Americans had begun. At first, zones of exclusion were drawn up. Territories in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona were demarcated on maps and Japanese people were informed that they were not, under any circumstances, allowed to leave those areas. Next a curfew that only applied to Asian people was put into effect, making it illegal for them to be outside their homes after dark. Then the military ordered all Japanese people to voluntarily bring whatever they could carry to the train stations; they were put on trains, and transported to redistribution centers in the desert northeast of Los Angeles. Finally they were transported to concentration camps located throughout the country; all of them were on the most inhospitable land in deserts, swamps, and Indian reservations. People who were thought to be potentially dangerous were sent to a high-security facility in Nevada.

About sixty percent of the detainees were legally naturalized American citizens, mostly second and third generation people who were born in America. The government defined a Japanese-American as anyone being 1/16th Japanese, meaning having one great-great-grandparent of Japanese ancestry qualified the individual as being a potentially criminal ethnic minority. Elderly Japanese people as well as little children and the mentally disabled were deemed too dangerous to be allowed to live freely in American society. Ethnic Korean and Taiwanese people were also imprisoned because the Japanese had once conquered and colonized those respective nations, thereby making them potentially suspicious communities.

Obviously, life in the internment camps was not easy. Most were located in high desert regions and the weather was hot and extreme in all of them. Surrounded by barbed wire fencing and monitored by guards armed with rifles, the barracks style houses were cramped and uncomfortable. Hastily constructed, they were little more than mosquito-infested wood boxes with tarpaper roofs. Families were kept together but 25 people were forced to sleep in houses that were made to hold only four. The beds were small cots and having so many people crowded together in small confined spaces led to outbreaks of illnesses and disease. Physically-fit adults were put to work doing manual labor to maintain the camps; they were paid 49 cents a day so that they could buy food from their captors to feed their hungry, malnourished families. Children and teenagers were forced to go to school where conventional curriculum was not taught; instead they were force-fed a steady stream of pro-American propaganda making the schools look uncomfortably like the communist re-education camps that were later to be set up in China and Vietnam. In the evening, men and women were forced to play baseball in an attempt to use the sport to make them more “American”.

Some of the Japanese prisoners were given chances to prove their loyalty to their country, even though none of them had ever been anything but loyal. Questionnaires were distributed asking the people their opinion about how much they loved their country. Being worded in complicated and confusing ways, some people, especially those who were only moderately fluent in English, had trouble answering the questions correctly. Some, infuriated over their unnecessary imprisonment, sarcastically answered that they felt no admiration for the USA. Those who gave the wrong answers were shipped off to the high-risk concentration camp and eventually deported back to Japan. Many of them were old or uneducated people who did not understand what they were doing. But some young people who proved themselves to be intelligent were sent to progressive colleges on the east coast. Others were allowed to enlist in the army; these Japanese soldiers formed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and went on to become some of the most decorated fighters for America in World War II since they assisted in the liberation of Dachau and were involved in a major operation to disrupt trains taking Jews to concentration camps in southern Germany.

Very few prisoners tried to escape. The ones who did were either shot and killed or sent to the maximum security camp in Nevada.

In 1944, World War II began to wind down. The Japanese-American prison camps were starting to closed. Most inmates were given $25 and a train ticket to return to their former homes. Most of them found their houses and possessions to be stolen or vandalized. Some of their property was burned or destroyed. Many American citizens treated them with hostility and contempt. A group of white supremacists petitioned the government to permanently remove all people of Asian descent from California. Otherwise Americans mostly remained silent on the issue for many years.

Then during the 1960s, young Japanese-American college students, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, began agitating for reparations. Eventually both Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter gave speeches condemning the internment camps. By the 1980s bills were passed through Congress with bipartisan support and the Civil Rights Act of 1988 was ratified by Ronald Reagan, giving $20,000 in reparation money to the survivors of the concentration camps. The disbursement of the money was overseen by both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton during their terms of office. Bush gave a speech proclaiming that the forced imprisonment of innocent ethnic minorities will never be allowed to happen again. As we pass into the 21st century, it is obvious that some Americans have refused to learned this historical lesson.

Ultimately, reparation money and the building of monuments is fine. However, one has to ask if these gestures are really enough to heal the psychological damage that has been done to American society because of sadly idiotic mistakes made in the past.

References

Kelly, Edward H. and Harbison, Winifred A., The American Constitution: Its Origins and Development. W.W. Norton & Company, 1946.

Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, Revised Edition. Back Bay Books, 2008.

https://grimhistory.blogspot.com/

#grim history #asian american history #american history #japanese american history #world war II #wwII

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mybookplacenet · 5 years

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Featured Post: Full Force: First Novels from the World of Iniquus Romantic Suspense Mystery Thrillers by Fiona Quinn

"About Full Force: First Novels from the World of Iniquus Romantic Suspense Mystery Thrillers: USA Today Best Selling Author Fiona Quinn writes smart, sexy, suspense in the World of Iniquus where ex-special forces security teams live, work, and love in a tightly knit family. Here are the first novels from the first five Iniquus Series: Weakest Lynx - the Lynx Series What she wanted was a simple life. What she got was simply terrifying. A madman forces his way into Lexi's home. Her survival means she is the only one who can identify the stalker. Lexi becomes the critical witness who holds the key to stopping the serial killer, terrifying Washington families. Striker Rheas, an ex-Navy SEAL, and his team of expert operators are charged with protecting Lexi. Striker knows Lexi is keeping secrets and protecting her is not going to be an easy task if he's missing vital information, and losing his heart to her. With her psychic antennae tuned in, time is running out. WASP - Uncommon Enemies Zoe knows the secrets, now they're coming for her. The enemy will stop at nothing to get to Zoe and the military secrets that could change everything. What Zoe knows is getting people killed. Is she next? Gage is a hardened Marine special forces operative with only one soft spot: Zoe. Her desperate screams echoing from inside her home switch his instincts from lover to guardian. To keep America safe, to protect the love of his life, Gage is coming full throttle. Take a thrill ride, weaving through an intricate plot that puts Zoe’s scientific mind and Gage’s battle-hardened skills to the test. With the safety of the US at stake. In Too DEEP - Strike Force Sometimes Trust Can Get You Killed Retired Marine Special Operator Deep Del Toro watched the newscaster play the video of the woman he loves fighting off the FBI agent and escaping from a murder scene the night before. Now, Lacey's turning herself over to the police. What Deep’s practiced eye saw in the video was a highly-choreographed crime. But somehow Lacey had thwarted the professionals’ plans. She is in imminent danger. Enmeshed in a mystery that includes the FBI, the CIA, and a tangle of interconnected international crimes, Deep and Lacey work to discover who plays the good guy and who plays the bad guy in a gray world where right and wrong easily overlap. Lives depend on them. Mine - A Kate Hamilton Mystery Novella A sleepy town in southwest Virginia wakes up to a nightmare of untimely deaths. Not safe at home in Boston, science teacher Kate Hamilton seeks refuge in the small Virginia town where she was born and raised. Scarborough is no longer the bucolic village that she remembered. Pleasantries are only skin deep as big city issues and the politics of the world roil just under the surface. A string of untimely deaths has the whole town grieving. Kate is determined to solve the puzzle and save lives, especially her own. Open Secret - FBI Joint Task Force 280 characters can destroy a nation. Avery Goodyear, a romance editor from the suburbs, becomes a player in an international game of psychological warfare. Russia is playing mind games. The FBI watches the attacks unfold in real time. The enemy’s strategy: win hearts and minds to destroy American unity. The FBI focuses their secret weapon, ex-Army Ranger Rowan Kennedy, at the crisis. With a PhD in propaganda, Kennedy risks his life to expose the wealthy oligarchs and high-powered schemers threatening our way of life, and to protect Avery. Targeted Age Group: 18-50 Written by: Fiona Quinn Buy the ebook: Buy the Book On Amazon Author Bio: I have a philosophy. Actually, I have many philosophies and am glad to, with very little encouragement, wax poetic on any one of them. Subjects I know about, subjects I know nothing about -I'm an equal opportunity philosophizer. One of my favorite philosophies is that education should be a life-long endeavor and should look like a toolbox. You’d think this image was pretty funny if you knew me. I am awkward at best if you put a tool in my hand. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t give it a go. It’s just to say it might not be the most graceful display that you’ve ever seen. Living life directed by the Toolbox Philosophy means I'm acquiring new skills so that whatever life hands me, I have something at the ready to tackle the projects or emergencies that arise, and it explains a lot about my resume. I’m world traveled; I’ve ridden camels across Egypt, an elephant in Prague, and eaten horse in Moscow (sure wish I had Google Translate back then!) I’ve danced the jig in an Irish castle, hula-ed in O'ahu, and did some weird techno thingy in East Berlin (when there was still a wall). I have degrees out the yin-yang. I have B.A.s in History, Foreign Language, Psychology, (almost Art History), and an M.S. in Counseling from the Medical College of Virginia. I’m a Reiki Master/Teacher and Second Dan Tae Kwon Do Black Belt qualified. I am a certified archery instructor and shoot my Springfield 9mm in a very Zen fashion with much deep breathing and bulls-eye accuracy. I've restored an 1887 shotgun house and successfully trained a medical alert service dog for my daughter who has Type 1 diabetes. My paid jobs have been as far reaching as being a governess and model in France to bridal florist. Marketing for the symphony to suicide/homicide intervention for the court system (although those might be closer together than farther apart). I've even been paid to scream - but that's a different story for another day. Right now I’m writing a book series: one part romance, two parts suspense, with a twist. As I read that over, it sounds like the recipe for a cocktail. I promise you, this is no Happy Hour. Of course my heroine was raised as an unschooler under the Toolbox Philosophy. She’s a pretty cool chick. I’m having tons of fun! Canadian born, I am now rooted in the Old Dominion outside of D.C. with my husband and children. I homeschool, pop chocolates, devour books, and tap continuously on my laptop. I use my background to volunteer and give back to my community CERT - Community Emergency Response Team/FEMA Medical Reserve Corps - mental health support PSAR - Search and Rescue Proud Member of Sisters in Crime Follow the author on social media: Learn more about the writer. Visit the Author's Website Facebook Fan Page Twitter Instagram Read the full article

#fiction #Medical #military #mystery #psychic #PsychologicalThriller #romance #Romanticsuspense #terrorism #thriller

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janiedean · 6 years

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“Can’t wait till these two children’s cartoon characters fuck” yeah not creepy at all

Today, I will talk to y’all about what’s honestly one of the creepiest questions that has haunted me since I was twelve years old, specifically: how the fuck can people ever have thought that Born in the USA is a patriotic song in 1984 and how can’t they still understand it now?

Honestly, I have no idea, and in this essay I will walk you through it so it’s exceedingly and clearly explained how it’s in no way, shape or form a mindlessly patriotic song but, on the contrary, is a sharp, angry, vitriolic satire which criticizes the US government and its stance on the Vietnam war to Hell and back.

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Born in the USA is the title song of the eponymous 1984 record which turned my good old pal Bruce into a world superstar, but it had originally been written for 1982′s acoustic masterpiece Nebraska. It was then reworked into an electrical version whose music is probably what makes people thing it’s patriotic since it sounds happy and singing-inducing, except that if you listen to the original:

youtube

You can notice that the famous one is just the upbeat version of the hauntingly, frankly anxiety-inducing acoustic that does certainly not work to sing out loud, but admittedly isn’t as good to sing in a stadium.

After having made this clear, we can finally move on into analyzing the lyrics.

The song opens with:

Born down in a dead man’s townThe first kick I took was when I hit the groundYou end up like a dog that’s been beat too much‘Til you spend half your life just coverin’ up

Now, here we have the first iconic question of this evening, as in: how in the hell a song that opens with born down in a dead man’s town // the first kick I took was when I hit the ground can ever be taken for mindless praising/patriotism?

I have no fucking clue except for ‘people only listen to the refrain’. Anyhow, from this opening which is literally a kick in the teeth we learn that a) the narrator was born in a dead man’s town ie somewhere small without many options nor many people, b) his life has been shit since the early beginning since the first kick he took was when he hit the ground, which is fortified by the following two lines in which he compares himself to a ‘dog who’s been beat to much until he spends half his life just covering up’, a sentence that makes a hell of a lot more sense if you listen to the rest of what he has to say later.

For now, we have the immortal refrain:

Born in the U.S.AI was born in the U.S.AI was born in the U.S.ABorn in the U.S.A

In which the narrator informs us where he comes from, except that if we take the first stanza into account… the USA don’t sound really idyllic, now, don’t we?

Anyway, stanza two:

Got in a little hometown jamSo they put a rifle in my handSent me off to a foreign landTo go and kill the yellow man

And here we can finally see what’s the problem: our guy is a Vietnam veteran. However, things aren’t so easy. What we surmise from these short, extremely packed with information lines, is that:

the narrator wasn’t drafted;

the narrator was coerced into going by a method that was pretty common back in the day - people who ended up in bar fights or such altercations were given the choice of going to jail or go to Vietnam and of course if they had to support a family/needed money they’d pick Vietnam, but it’s still coercion and he certainly didn’t want to go;

which is why he says they put a rifle in my hand - it’s they running the action, not him;

and they also sent me off to a foreign land ie they/the army sent him to a place he doesn’t know (foreign) to go and kill the yellow man (vietcong) even if he didn’t want to.

And then we’re again informed that he was born in the USA, and that means he a) was born in a crappy place, b) was sent to Vietnam for a menial fight (a little hometown jam), c) was sent to kill people when he didn’t want to by higher powers who give zero shits about him.

Doesn’t seem like a compliment to me.

However, there’s more!

Come back home to the refineryHiring man says “Son if it was up to me”Went down to see my V.A. manHe said “Son, don’t you understand”

Our narrator comes back home to the refinery (compare with what I said before in the Youngstown analysis - that one also went to Vietnam and came back to a job at the steel mill he didn’t have anymore, so they both had highly stressful jobs that would take a toll on their health sooner rather than later) and the hiring man doesn’t hire him and shrugs like hey I wish I could but I can’t. So he goes to the VA who asks, don’t you understand, which in this case means that there’s no place for him in this context.

Which ties to the fact that Vietnam veterans were treated like shit and generally ignored because the war was lost and people didn’t want to think about it, except that at the same time they were the first to actually vocally come together and ask for help and actually they were the first who recognized the importance of treating PTSD and ran free clinics in which also WWII and Korea veterans could come for treatment, but hey, let’s send people to fight wars we know we’re losing and then let’s not help them, why not?

But no, son, don’t you understand.

And then he informs us again that he’s born in the USA, a country where after being sent to war without wanting to he’s not wanted anymore after he comes back.

The bridge, though, gives us even more interesting info:

I had a brother at Khe Sanh fighting off the Viet CongThey’re still there, he’s all goneHe had a woman he loved in SaigonI got a picture of him in her arms now

This stanza has an inane amount of info we can unpack in a handy checklist:

the narrator wasn’t the only person in his family to go - he had a brother in Vietnam, too;

the brother not only died but most likely died during the khe sahn battle which is admittedly one of the fucking dumbest decisions ever taken by the US military in their entire history and which was a defeat from the US even if they don’t like to admit it and prefer the ‘withdrawn’ excuse, which places him at the most recognizable and famous point of the Vietnam war for the casual listener/student;

the viet cong he and his brother fought are still there, he died, so = the US lost the war;

BUT the brother was in love with a Vietnamese woman (in love ie a serious thing) and the narrator has a picture of the two of them together, which suggests that neither he nor his brother hold the Vietnamese any ill-will and actually most probably dislike the US government more than the people they were supposed to fight.

We have no refrain after that, just the solo, but I don’t think he needs to say again how he was born in the USA for us to assume that when he says that, he’s being extremely sarcastic and not proud of it whatsoever.

Anyhow, we’re finally at the last stanza:

Down in the shadow of the penitentiaryOut by the gas fires of the refineryI’m ten years burning down the roadNowhere to run ain’t got nowhere to go

Again showing how good he is at packing info in a short space while providing the listeners with info about how it sucks for his character, he paints a fairly bleak picture with two lines: the shadow of the penitentiary suggests how he comes close to being arrested and the out by the gas fires of the refinery suggests that he’s out there inhaling the toxic gas but not working there, so he’s basically left to himself without any help.

Also, he’s ten years burning down the road, which means that he’s been back for that long and no one’s helped him since then, and then he has nowhere to run and nowhere to go, so even if he wanted to leave, he literally can’t because he has no other option than his dead man’s town (most likely because he doesn’t have the means and the money and he most likely has untreated ptsd, so he’s stuck there), and that is how his country left him. And now the last refrain changes:

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A., I’m a long gone daddy in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.Born in the U.S.A., I’m a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A.

Because now not only he’s born in the USA, but we also know that he has a kid (I’m a long gone daddy + cool rocking daddy) and both definitions contrast with each other - long gone is the exact contrary of cool rocking, which suggests that the latter is as sarcastic as the rest of the refrain (the long gone pairs exceedingly well with the ten years burning down the road) and if we take LONG GONE at his word, he hasn’t seen his kid in ages because he can’t work or has ptsd or both.

So hey, being born in the USA for the narrator meant:

being left without options except the refinery in his town if he wanted to work;

being sent against his will to vietnam;

losing a brother in there, too;

(also, out of the two of them, the brother ie the one who found love there died while he who has nothing in either ‘nam or the US survived);

losing his job;

being rejected by everyone including most likely his family/his child;

being left on his own even by the VA as in the office supposed to help him;

risking going to jail;

being unable to change his situation or crawl out of it because all of those circumstances make sure he can’t literally do it;

all this while he’s probably hearing rhetoric about how great his country is everywhere.

So, that is why the refrain is not mindless patriotism but pure vitriol - it’s like, ‘hey, if you listened to the thing, everything sucks but hey, I was told being born in the USA is great so hey, I WAS! AMAZING, RIGHT? /sarcasm’, not ‘OH MY GOD HOW GREAT THE US IS I LOVE IT UNCRITICALLY’.

Admittedly, the fact that Ronald Reagan thought it was a patriotic song that might resonate with his audience:

youtube

Shows exactly all the reasons why Reagan was a complete idiot without a shred of text comprehension, and too bad people remember Reagan’s opinion more than the mythical, amazing, unreachable slam Bruce gave that speech not long later:

TLDR: this is not a song about mindless patriotic US drivel and it’d be frankly obvious from basically listening to the lyrics, but then again listening to the lyrics is the same thing as reading something with a modicum of using your brain, and from what I see reading while using 0,05% of someone’s brain capacity on tumblr is basically asking for the impossible.

Anyhow, I think anon’s time would be better spent thinking about how creepy is it that I see people on youtube commenting on American Skin (41 Shots) with ‘omg Springsteen is a leftist now I’ll go burn my copy of BITUSA’ when it’d be obvious from that song that his politics haven’t changed from then than about how people shipping things is apparently creepy.

:’)

#bruce springsteen for ts #anon hate saga #lmao #have another #I HAD SO MUCH FUN!#pls send me more dumb anon hate for more bruce essays #i'll be glad to provide :))))))#Anonymous #ask post #bruce meta

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sanantonioswebdesign · 5 years

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30 Fun things to do in San Antonio

1. It Ain’t Texas while not A Rodeo Rodeo - Things to try to to In urban center

If you aren’t in city for the urban center Stock Show and Rodeo in February—one of the most important rodeos within the country—that doesn’t mean you have got to miss out on seeing this urban center tradition. The Tejas Rodeo holds events from March through Nov. Giddyup!

2. trying to find one thing Spookier? Take A Ghost Tour!

In a town therefore wealthy with history, there ar inevitably lots of urban center ghost stories, too—discover them 1st hand with butchery town Ghost Tours or the Sisters Grimm Ghost Tour. Check them out… goodbye as you don’t scare easily!

3. Become a part of The “CSI” Team At The Witte depository

maybe it’s additional edu-tainment than academic, however the Witte Museum’s CSI: The Experience—created in cooperation with the CBS show—will be a success with fans of the series. And if “CSI” simply isn’t your issue, the Witte features a rotating choice of exhibits regarding science and history, particularly Texas history.

4. Get In Some Historic Drinking Why can’t all history have happened during a bar? The Menger edifice Bar is, famously, wherever President Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders whereas the Buckhorn Saloon boasts of being the oldest saloon in Texas—though the Menger would argue it’s the oldest unceasingly operated saloon. Visit the Menger for a cultured cocktail and therefore the Buckhorn—which is, as delineate, stuffed with a good assortment of horns, looking trophies, and alternative exhibits—for kitsch.

5. Visit The Exotic life At The urban center installation If you’re trying to find one thing additional exotic than the ducks and squirrels that inhabit the remainder of Brackenridge Park, venture into the urban center installation. Nearly a hundred years previous, the installation options over three,500 animals together with lions, tigers, and bears—oh my!

6. investigate associate degree E-Book At The Country’s 1st All-Digital Library Bexar County’s BiblioTech may be a library while not one physical book, providing solely digital books and audiobooks. however the power itself is price a visit, with a large number of e-readers, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers on the market to use throughout your visit.

7. Get Some searching In At La Villita And mart There ar countless places to buy in urban center, however none quite just like the La Villita Historic Arts Village—in the oldest a part of the city—or the outside, Mexican-style marketplace of mart. once you’ve exhausted your case searching, each have events throughout the year—not to say nice people-watching. You won’t notice something like them outside San Antonio!

8. Go Spelunking In one in every of San Antonio’s several Caves If you’re bored with all of the outside and recent air, and ar desire one thing a touch additional brave, head underground to explore one in every of the area’s several caverns. Natural Bridge Caverns, Cascade Caverns, and Cave while not a reputation all supply some spectacular sights.

9. For Above-Ground Excitement, Ride The Coasters At fete Texas If you’re trying to travel air sure, you can’t do higher than Six Flags fete Texas that options many high-octane roller coasters just like the Iron Rattler. however if you don’t have a style for thrill rides, there ar lots of milder rides and family-friendly diversion on supply, too.

10. Take Special wants Friends and Family to go to Morgan’s Wonderland Morgan’s Wonderland may be a completely different quite common, designed and designed to be utterly accessible to youngsters and adults with psychological feature or physical challenges whereas being a fun expertise for all guests.

11. See urban center From higher than At The Tower Of solid ground

Sure, metropolis likes to brag regarding its house Needle, however at 750 feet, San Antonio’s Tower of solid ground is taller. It’s the tallest building in urban center—and one in every of the tallest in Texas—and it provides you a stellar read of San Antonio and therefore the close Texas hill country.

12. Play holidaymaker At The watercourse Walk (Even If You’re A Local)

Yes, the watercourse Walk may be a holidaymaker destination, however it’s a holidaymaker destination for a reason—it’s an attractive place to spend associate degree hour, a day, or an entire day. absorb the sights, grab a bite to eat, and simply get pleasure from the city district.

13. See the most important assortment Of Asian Art within the South You wouldn’t extremely suppose to go to urban center to examine Asian art, however the urban center depository of Art on the north finish of the watercourse Walk has an intensive collection—as well as works from solid ground, Europe, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The crazy juxtaposition of east and (south)west is well-worth seeing.

14. See trendy Art In Spanish Colonial vogue The first trendy art depository within the state of Texas, the McNay Art depository is found within the former home of Marion Koogler McNay, a Spanish Colonial Revival mansion located on twenty three acres of improved grounds. even though trendy art isn’t your jam, the grounds ar an excellent place to wander and explore.

15. Skip The Museums And notice Some Street Art Instead For all the museums we’ve mentioned, you’ll notice art in urban center while not ever setting foot in one. We’re notably keen on F.I.S.H. by Donald Lipski, that options fish floating over the watercourse Walk below the I-35 flyover close to metropolis Street. If you retain your eyes open, you’ll conjointly notice murals everywhere the town.

16. Cheer On the house Team At A Spurs Game If you’re in urban center you’re responsible to root for the house team—and four-time NBA Championship winners, the Spurs, can provide you with masses to cheer for!

17. Brush informed Your Texas History At The butchery

nothing says Texas—or San Antonio—more than the historic butchery. And tho’ we’ve all detected the story, it’s price taking the time to go to. over simply the long-lasting facade, the butchery may be a four.2 acre complicated of gardens and exhibits—and ideal for a stroll before or once a ride down the watercourse Walk.

18. And investigate San Antonio’s alternative Historic Missions, Too Though the butchery continuously gets advert, urban center is home to over simply the one historic mission. Missions Conception, San Jose, San Juan, and Espada form up the urban center Missions park situated on the urban center watercourse.

19. wish to examine It All? Bike The Mission path From The butchery A hike and bike path runs from the butchery all the approach right down to the south Mission Espada. Rent a “B-cycle” from urban center B-Cycles and revel in the ride!

20. See The Nation’s Oldest Cathedral Built in 1750, the Cathedral of San Fernando in downtown urban center is that the oldest cathedral within the United States—and remains the middle of Catholic life within the town.

21. absorb Military History At Fort politico San Antonio features a massive military presence—enough to nickname the city “Military town USA.” Still a full of life military base, Fort politico is home to many museums and a grasslike, animal-filled quadrangle ideal for defrayment a day feeding the (rather demanding) birds.

22. Visit A Historic Homestead (Or 2 Or Three) Architecture lovers are in heaven. urban center is packed with historic homes, from the eighteenth century Spanish Governor’s Palace to the Steves Homestead and Villa Finale within the King William District.

23. See geographical region Fall colours while not confronting The weather condition

Texas might not be glorious for the dynamic seasons, however that’s solely as a result of not everyone’s visited the Lost Maples State Natural space west of urban center. There, you’ll notice over two,000 acres of Bigtooth Maples and Texas Red Oaks that provides a sensible show each fall.

24. get pleasure from The Country while not exploit city The Lost Maples ar a touch of a drive, however Brackenridge Park offers 343 acres of out of doors diversion right within the heart of city. You’ll notice birds to feed, methods for walking or biking, playgrounds for the children, a links, and even a miniature railroad.

25. And Take Your Dog on Phil Hardberger Park - Things to try to to in urban center

Dogs ar allowed on-leash in Brackenridge Park, however at the 2 dog parks within Phil Hardberger Park , your hirsute friend will burst off the leash to run and play with alternative dogs.

26. notice Your Zen At the japanese garden For a touch additional Asian culture within the heart of urban center, swing by the japanese garden in Brackenridge Park wherever you’ll watch the swimming koi, relax by the water, or simply stroll the garden.

27. See Some ocean Life At SeaWorld SeaWorld - Things to try to to in urban center

You don’t have to be compelled to trek the 250 miles to town to examine marine life, as a result of the world’s largest marine park is correct in urban center with SeaWorld. make certain to catch up with Shamu and friends at the One Ocean show and take a swim with the stingrays at Aquatica!

28. Take A Spin At woman Bird Johnson Skate Park OK, therefore the town of urban center solely calls it woman Bird Johnson Park, however there’s a sizable—and free—skate park on the property. what percentage alternative 1st girls have their own skate parks? we tend to can’t consider any.

29. Entertain And Educate At The urban center Children’s depository San Antonio Children’s depository - Things to try to to in urban center Source: urban center Children’s depository

This kid-friendly—and, as a result, parent-friendly—museum focuses on interactive exhibits and learning through play. With 3 floors of show house, the urban center Children’s depository is bound to be a success with the miscroscopic ones.

30. Catch A Show At The butchery Drafthouse Or The Majestic Theatre The butchery Drafthouse Or The Majestic Theatre - Things to try to to in urban center

You can’t return through urban center while not catching a show. For recent run movies, strive the Texas original butchery Drafthouse Cinema, that serves up movies, food, and drinks tired identical place. For theater and alternative events, the historic Majestic Theatre is wherever you must go.

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spoiler2010 · 6 years

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The Wealth Of Nations and 21st Century Socialism

If we were to seriously consider the socialist prerogatives suggested by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her supporters in New York City, we would stand on Adam Smth's Wealth of Nations as a platform in refuting and ridiculing the notion that a capitalist nation such as America could change its historic course as a paradigm of free trade, division of labor and national productivity. Ocasio-Cortez supports progressive policies such as a government-controlled medical industry, tuition-free public college and trade school, federal job guarantees, guaranteed family leave, the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the privatization of prisons. They would also be a revision of gun control statutes, and an energy policy relying on 100% renewables. She also plans to use Modern Monetary Theory as an economic strategy to provide funding and enable implementation of these goals. In this discussion we shall examine the absurdity of these goals and the historic and economic precedents that condemn these notions to futility.

The arguments against a government-controlled medical industry are overwhelming. For starters we must ask why the best and brightest scholars from around the planet come to America to realize their destinies. In most cases it is not the aesthetics of our modernized nation or its bill of rights. Rather it is the opportunity to be rewarded for their genius and the opportunity to find a rewarding career. A lifetime of contribution in socialist nations such as China and Russia provide little more than improved housing, extended social privileges and exponential material rewards. The State sets ages and rewards according to its need, and anything sought by the applicant exceeding the standard will be arbitrarily rejected by the bureaucracy. Once Cortez's State controls are in place, the engineers, technicians and physicians will head to greener pastures, in all likelihood the European Union or Israel.

Once the American medical industry has become lobotomized, the socialist government will join those at the international auction block seeking the cheapest prices for products and services. No longer will American citizens benefit from state-of-the-art equipment, the world's best facilities or the latest pharmaceutical discoveries or medical treatments. Those who have devoted their lives to research and development will not seek compensation according to a socialist pay scale.

Skeptics will do well to consider the medical industry in Canada or the government-controlled Veterans' Administration in America. Canadian patients find themselves shortchanged by voucher systems, unable to schedule appointments at overbooked facilities, or obtain needed products and supplies at local facilities. American military veterans find themselves in similar predicaments in the majority of cases. Legislation in certain states has provided out-of-network services for veterans that allow them to seek medical aid outside of the government system. Otherwise they find themselves victimized by identical State-run institutions on both sides of the border.

Tuition-free public college and trade school are also a socialist pipe dream. All scholars know that the upper-level paper trail starts with the thesis essay. At this juncture they know that their success is precipitated by their writing skills. On the doctorate level, they are required to submit an essay that is deemed worthy of publication. From thereon, their acceptance as an associate professor at a college or university will require them to publish on a regular basis. Here they realize that their work can earn money on the open market. Only in America can a scholar hope to bring his credentials from his homeland and possibly receive a million-dollar signing bonus.

Obviously every scholar coming to the USA cannot expect a major score just by accepting a position at a major university. Yet he can continue to publish and hope that his dreams will be realized. During that time, his track record at his workplace gives him the authenticity he needs in order to pursue his goals. This allows American colleges to reap the benefits as these unsung innovators await discovery. If these opportunities were not available, these pedants would seek broader horizons. An entry-level socialist wage would never attract the kind of scholar that American colleges do now.

Let us digress to the dawn of man when primitive tribes of neanderthals were bartering as their villages expanded to where their proximity became too close to ignore. A tribal chief bringing a sack of potatoes to the border would expect his counterpart to bring him a bag of carrots of the same size. When a third tribe makes its presence known, they will accept his offering of wheat. Only the day comes when his offer shifts, and this is where socialism fails.

The wheat offerer brings loaves of baked bread, and here is where the discourse changes. We now have the labor cost of the bakers who produced the bread. It is doubtful that the chiefs will reject the offer of bread, so now the bread chief will have the opportunity to name his price. And so it goes. The only option for a socialist system will be for the villages to join together to make the bread as equal a trading option as the produce. The bread chief would be a fool to agree. And only by violence could he be forced to submit.

As Adam Smith pontificates, there is no point where a sovereign body will acquiesce to their detriment. They will demand reciprocation for their contribution. Paradoxically, this is the opposite of what America has done since the turn of the century. We have given excruciatingly more in building empires and propagating democracy than any nation in history. The only reciprocations have been political: we expect our allies to vote our way at the United Nations and provide access to trade routes or staging areas for military operations. Only we have gotten less and less in return over the decades. Finally Donald Trump has come to collect some old debts. Cortez wishes to maintain the status quo for everyone but Americans.

Federal job guarantees will do nothing more than assure Americans of greater sub-standard government agency service than ever. Since the end of World War II, Federal and State agencies have been increasingly filled by those seeking job security and, in many cases, permanency. It has long been a standard maxim that, once acquiring a government job, one is set for life. The benefits are guaranteed for as long as the government exists. The starting pay is competitive; however, the annual raises leave much to be desired. As a result, most move on to the private sector in time. Those who remain do so for lasting job stability.

This results in an overabundance of workers unable or unwilling to achieve higher stations in life. Added to such ranks are unemployed workers conveyed directly into the application process. Many have failed in previous endeavors and were expecting to receive benefits before being siphoned back into the workforce. In both cases, their attitudes are reflected in their level of customer service. Most citizens needing government assistance will minimize their contact with such personnel, leading to a lighter burden for the agencies to bear.

This endemic philosophy of the bureaucracy has plagued the greater socialist nations such as Russia and China. Their citizens grow desperate in seeking government assistance only to find little or none forthcoming. It is little wonder why the black market thrives in such conditions, or unlicensed providers are able to flourish. We can also invoke Adam Smith's principles in citing the need for overachievement in the private sector. An enterprise that does not seek to compete or improve the quality of its products or services is doomed to failure. Workers who have no tangible interest in the success or failure of their employer soon become disenthused. Soon they grow mechanical in satisfactorily completing their daily assignments. If Americans are dissatisfied with government bureaucracy at this point, under Cortez it may well become far worse.

Guaranteed family leave is a Pandora's Box that, included with socialist policies including pro-choice agendas, might well result in profligation by way of the most sinister of ulterior motives. It is well known that socialists in the US are advocating the most extreme policies, including the abortion option at any point up to the time of delivery. This disregard for the sanctity of human life is further reflected by discussion as to whether or not a mother and her physician could agree to withhold life sustaining treatment. In essence, this means leaving the newborn alone to die. This can be legitimized by any possibility of risk to the mother's health, either physical or mental. A woman fearing post-partum depression can exercise the right at will.

We cannot rule out the possibility of recipients taking advantage of this system. A female could well plan a pregnancy to be termed in advance, filing a claim for paid leave of absence. Most doctors will agree to recommend extended time off for the patient to recuperate. This conveniently allows one to carry the fetus up to a planned time, in which they can have the abortion before taking leave.

The abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement seems to be in conjunction with the New World Order's objective of establishing a globalist system. Without a Federal enforcement agency in place to prosecute immigration law offenders, it overburdens an already overwhelmed bureaucracy. In essence, it creates a porous border system that has already been proven relatively ineffective in preventing the ongoing alien invasion. Repeat offenders routinely include drug smugglers, human traffickers and career criminals. According to Adam Smith, our inability to protect our workers and our industries of these hazards will inevitably result in unsustainable loss.

One of the greatest dilemmas facing agriculturalists is that of illegal immigration. For over a half century, farmers have been able to employ undocumented workers en masse to meet market demand and lower their operating costs. One factor is the reluctance of Americans to accept arduous labor jobs for minimum wage. Another is the economy of paying workers off the books in cash for a set price. Most workers are glad to receive enough cash to provide for their families, and the employer is relieved of having to comply with legal obligation. If the socialists succeed in disrupting the system, it may prove disastrous to the entire agriculture industry.

What Cortez and her associates fail to realize is one of Adam Smith's basic concepts. The merchant must always factor in his overhead costs in order to generate a reasonable market price. The labor costs, material costs and all other opportunity costs are taken into consideration. When the merchant is able to compete on the open market, it is reasonable to assume that his costs and prices are similar to those of his competitors. If his prices exceed those on the market, his options are extremely limited. He may find a remote area free of competition. He may rely on his reputation and customer allegiance for a short time. Other than that, he may well be forced out of business.

When the floodgates are open and aliens are granted citizenship status, they will be able to rely on equal opportunity laws to improve their wages. This will force agriculturalists into compliance, greatly increasing their labor costs. This would result in a reciprocal increase in prices, which is eventually passed on to consumers. If the farmer experiences a 25% rise in overhead, the cost of a basket of peppers may go from a dollar to $1.25. This may cause griping but little ado among customers. However, when the cost of a gallon of milk goes from $3 to $4, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth across America.

Needless to say, it will be impossible for merchants to provide health insurance for field workers. This places an incalculable strain on the government-controlled health insurance system being promoted by Cortez. Millions of aliens may well apply within the first year of a socialist takeover. The impact on lower-class families depending on health care might well be catastrophic.

Regardless of the health care scenario, the spike in agricultural costs would have a ripple effect across the American economy. A rise in crop prices would create a surge in the livestock industry. Although cattle ranchers would not be immediately affected, the cost of pork and poultry would escalate along with the cost of feeding the animals. Even the fuel industry would feel the pinch as the increasing use of ethanol would be affected by a sharp rise in corn prices.

Abolishing the use of privatized prisons would have a seismic effect on the government budget as well. It is estimated that nearly 15% of US prisons are privatized, representing a 50% increase since the turn of the century. The number of unemployed workers would be the least of Cortez' problems. Of greater concern would be the number of prisoners that would be injected into the Federal and State penal systems. A recent estimate shows as many as 125,000 inmates would be displaced.

The immediate problem would be the overcrowding effect as the prisoners are redistributed to facilities across the country. Most penologists would concur that overcrowding is one of the main contributing factors to prison violence. The quick fix solution offered by leftist State administrations over the decades has been an early release for inmates to reduce the prison population. Often this has been granted to violent felons who have demonstrated a pattern of good behavior. If this policy was extended to those showing borderline behavior, the possible consequences of releasing recividists could be grievous at best.

The revision of gun control statutes would pose a significant challenge to citizens' Constitutional rights. In cities such as Chicago and New York where regulations are among the strictest, it has been said that the only ones bearing arms are the cops and the criminals. For decades NYC had a law that provided for residents to possess rifles in their homes. The thought of a person having to bring a rifle to bear in the event of a home invasion is as comedic as it is pathetic. Gun permits are available, but the requirements are so stringent and the process so tedious that few even bother to apply. The bottom line is that the socialists want to remove as many firearms from citizens' possession as possible.

What is perceived as ambiguity in the Second Amendment has been debated by pro-gun and anti-gun activists for decades. It seems inconceivable that no amendment has been made or a ruling by the Supreme Court to clarify the law. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Polemicists have been dissecting this poorly-worded sentence for over a century. To most, it seems clear that 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed'. To others, the 'well-regulated militia' is the key phrase, providing for those active in the militia to be scrutinized by authorities.

Therein lies the conundrum. For National Rifle Association advocates, the right of all citizens to bear arms is inalienable. For anti-gun lobbyists, 'regulation' opens the door for arbitrary restrictions as determined by State (and eventually Federal) governments. Convicted felons and mental defectives have already been prohibited from owning firearms in many states. If the socialists ever seize power, there will assuredly be more categories and situations to follow.

When we view this from Adam Smith's perspective on a microcosmic scale, we see the inherent risks and perils with the socialist line of thinking. If a merchant, or a community of merchants, is subject to robbery and burglary that threatens his merchandise, his lives or property, there is an obligation by one and all to resist the predatory force. In the case of the American colonies being victimized by authorities, the option to resist becomes a matter of survival. It is hard to imagine Adam Smith standing alongside socialists in restricting the rights of merchants to defend their property.

This brings us back to a previous argument concerning socialists' position on open borders. Ranchers along the southern border have dealt with rampant trespassing issues as aliens have violated their perimeters and crossed their property. For these citizens, they may well have their lives and those of their family and their animals placed at risk by Cortez socialists. Do we doubt that traffickers facing lengthy jail time (until further alterations are made by Cortez) would not use deadly force to avoid capture? If these criminals sought to use private property as a shortcut to their inland destinations, the land would be repeatedly violated with no chance by the homeowner to interfere. They might reach out to ICE, but under Cortez, that option would no longer exist.

The energy policy relying on 100% renewables is something Adam Smith could not foresee. One of the major battlegrounds is West Virginia, where an area the size of Manhattan is being cleared for a solar energy plant. Thousands of acres of woodland are being chopped down to make room for this project. The elimination of refuge for wildlife is the least of the socialists' concerns. They feel it will create a milestone for other states on their path to clean energy. As for West Virginians, they are already being impacted by the streams and other bodies of water that are being polluted, diverted or dried up. Once the actual construction begins, they can only expect things to worsen. We know of the nihilistic maxim: one must destroy in order to create. Adam Smith would ask: what is it that the State has the right to destroy at the expense of society?

The bottom line as regards Cortez's Modern Monetary Theory is simple. The State's budget is dictated by the amount it invests in the public sector as opposed to the money it receives by means of taxation. If it spends more than it taxes, there is a deficit as is common for Republican administrations. This indicates that more money has gone to bank accounts in the private sector than to the Treasury. If it taxes more than it spends, a surplus is created. This is common among Democratic administrations as we last saw under the Clinton regime. Cortez has already announced plans to increase taxes in her New York dominion up to 70%. This may work well for NYC millionaires, of which only a small percentage of their income is taxable. But what of the rest of America that may disagree with socialist policy. Adam Smith may point to a quote from the American Revolution: taxation without representation is tyranny.

In summation, history shows that a socialist government had never achieved a noteworthy stage of security and solvency. If millenials and illegal voters are able to carry Cortez down that slope, Christian Americans will be the ones to blame for the consequences. Let us hope that the Moral Majority will be able to save the day. Otherwise, Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith may, like the Bible, be another prophetic book we chose to ignore.

#American politics democratic socialism #alexandria ocasio-cortez #adam smith wealth of nations #christian america

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/thy-kingdom-come/

Thy Kingdom Come

FCGCT Commentary: Mother of All Creation was Jesus as one of her last incarnations in her attempt to ascend the planet. All religious texts and scripture flipped this so that all energy would be sent to a masculine figure, a further representation of how the Cabal has attempted to write the feminine, Mother God, Source, out of their teachings.

Thy Kingdom Come

By Alison Dhuanna via Mahala’s Astrology

There has been so much incredible transformation of consciousness within humanity in the past few years it has at times been difficult to capture it in writing. Alongside these big shifts have been challenging events in Britain threatening to tear families and communities apart which have been some of the most challenging issues in terms of what to do or not do. This has mirrored the election of Trump in the USA and marks a turning point in history. It is in many ways a time to allow ourselves and others to grieve for lost worlds and ideals as we approach the Pluto Saturn conjunction in 2020.

What has been central in my world has been anchoring the 7th Violet Ray of the Atmic body (the auric ‘Thou Kingdom Come’) into the physical body – when this occurs it brings a deep sense of peace, purity of heart and stability and the more spacious thoughts of higher consciousness are able to permeate more and more of daily life.

Energy gathers around the heart centre and it becomes easier to let go of the things bothering or agitating the mind and emotions. Many people are experiencing this already and this will be accelerated at this New Moon 3rd June by the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ movement of billions of people across the globe praying for peace

At this New Moon at 12 degrees Gemini there is an alignment to Aldebaran one of the four Royal Watcher Stars. You may recall the extraordinary story of Saul who was a persecutor of the followers of Jesus and a military leader of the corrupt Roman State which had just executed him. On the road to Damascus Saul experienced an epiphany which threw him to the ground from his horse and left him blind. His healing three days later describes “scales falling from his eyes”. This is what this New Moon offers, the clarity which flows through the ‘Eye of the Bull’.

The north node is aligned with Juno, Goddess of the Sacred Marriage in watery Cancer. There are many dimensions to understand Juno, and an important one for now is to perceive her as a core energy opening the Seventh Seal of Solomon. As we approach the Mayan Day Out of Time this year it is a year of special significance for the number 7, and also there are important movements of Venus this year which resonate to the number 7 (see below for more on this)

In the past few years you will have heard me say many times that I perceive the opening of the Holy Grail codes through the conjunction of Astraea (Spear of Fire) and Hygiea (Grail Cup). Today however I want to refer to them as the energy of Communion, as an understanding and embodiment of the mysteries of the Eucharist and a profound experience of abundance and togetherness as One Body of life which transcends all religions, nations or even our planetary consciousness. At this New Moon Venus lies in Taurus between these two Goddess asteroids bringing a dancing, creative feminine energy and enhanced experience of Gaia’s profound beauty piercing our collective numbness. Together they are aligned with the Pleaides, the Seven Sisters.

Revelation 2.1–7

‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

This is a profound moment in time where the divine feminine really makes her mark, and to illuminate the way in which the Creator unfolds the great mystery I’d like to return to the story of Paul.

Having had his momentous experience, Paul sets out to be a very unexpected but effective apostle of Christ. He was a military man, so no doubt he had a very well thought out plan for the spread of these teachings across the world. Let us just remember for a moment the revolutionary nature of these teachings; every cultural norm from women’s’ position to cleanliness had been challenged by Jesus.

Paul’s plans though were changed after he had a dream and was sent instead by God to Macedonia in Greece. There by the river he met Lydia, a woman of substantial wealth and independence who traded in purple cloth. She, with her sisters regularly worshipped by a river. When Paul told her his story and that of Jesus, she became the first Apostle of the Western world in what must have been a most holy of places (there is still a church there to this day). Lydia’s story really moved me because she embodies so much of what I have come to know through so many years of struggling to embody these incredible Goddess Asteroid energies. Her sovereignty, royalty and wealth are very much resonant with Juno. Her independence and devotion very much resonate with Vesta the Priestess (in Aries at present moving into conjunction with Uranus). Her ability to take the ideas out into the world with such ease and grace really resonates with Pallas Athena (in Libra at the moment). It is not the first time Jesus takes his teachings first to women Apostles – think of Mary Magdalena at the tomb. Its quite astounding that women have been excluded from some areas of ministry for so long – though I am happy to say there is pretty much a gender balance now in the Church of England. When the male and female work together with dignity and respect miracles happen and this it seems from the story of Lydia, was always God’s plan. We have been wondering around in the desert for a long time figuring that out it seems. The Goddess Asteroids are the heavenly bodies which in some mysterious way transmit these ways of being to us.

Time as we know is fractal and holographic, and I feel a great deal may be learnt from how things have unfolded before and these patterns repeat themselves down the ages. Christ consciousness is here among, it is the Communion and feeling of deep belonging in the web of life.

In this next week as part of the Global Thy Kingdom Come movement, I would like to invite you to pray for 5 people every day who you would like to know the compassion and true nature of the Creator; for the scales to fall from their eyes. We can create amazing synergy in this way in the web of life and praying for others is one of the best ways I have experienced of truly connecting with the suffering and experience of humanity, and not getting too caught up in our own emotional turmoil. These prayers may be body prayers or art works, poems or stories.

Above is a painting I did of Lydia’s baptism with her sisters and the second painting below that was swimming in an Iodine infinity pool recently and feeling a complete sense of surrender and the Aqua ray of this feeling of “communion”. I’ve heard of a few others experiencing this Aqua ray recently and I feel it is very much connected to this new level of energy anchoring heaven to earth, all around and everywhere in the web of life. The number of Christ Consciousness is 33, another number which may pop up for you this year.

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