iparenthesis

[freakin-nightmare]

theory vs cody???? alright.....kms

[fletcherfluid]

GO BOBBY BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THEORY

[tyedyebaby]

man if I were michael cole id have s much trouble biting my tongue like errmmm theory I don't think you should be yelling at people to get out of ur dms...!!!

[slythereen]

sometimes i get the delusional notion that ferrari is actively prioritizing carlos in new and horrifying obvious ways to have stronger justification for replacing him asap because truly cannot understand how they are just That Bad at respecting their driver otherwise…

[wrestlezaynia]

I take back every nasty thing I've ever said about Theory, the guy is a decent wrestler. Ever since Logan arrived in WWE I've gained so much more respect for him. Thank you Theory for opening my eyes.

[milesworld96]

No. No. NONONONO WHY ARE THEY ASSOCIATING THEORY + GRAYSON W LOGAN

GET THIS SHIT OUTTA HERE,

NOOOOOOOO FUCKING KO LOST TO THAT DUMB SHIT WHAT THE FHCK. HE SHOULD HAVE WON FUCKING BITCH

[axelwolf8109]

Austin, Grayson, you both are WAY WAY better than that thing! Don't do that

[anexperimentallife]

JD Vance Just Blurbed a Book Arguing That Progressives Are Subhuman

As I keep pointing out, anyone who has studied 1930s-40s German history will tell you that today's GOP is cribbing directly from the Nazi playbook. Even their "support" of Israel's genocidal colonialist settler state (and lip service "support" of non-Israeli Jews) is primarily rooted in a combination of antisemitism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia. (Gift link at the bottom of the article excerpt.)

Michelle Goldberg writes:

---

In a normal political environment, there would be little need to pay attention to a new book by the far-right provocateur Jack Posobiec, who is probably best known for promoting the conspiracy theory that Democrats ran a satanic child abuse ring beneath a popular Washington pizzeria. But “Unhumans,” an anti-democratic screed that Posobiec co-wrote with the professional ghostwriter Joshua Lisec, comes with endorsements from some of the most influential people in Republican politics, including, most significantly, vice-presidential candidate JD Vance.

The word “fascist” gets thrown around a lot in politics, but it’s hard to find a more apt one for “Unhumans,” which came out last month. The book argues that leftists don’t deserve the status of human beings — that they are, as the title says, unhumans — and that they are waging a shadow war against all that is good and decent, which will end in apocalyptic slaughter if they are not stopped. “As they are opposed to humanity itself, they place themselves outside of the category completely, in an entirely new misery-driven subdivision, the unhuman,” write Posobiec and Lisec.

As they tell it, modern progressivism is just the latest incarnation of an ancient evil dating back to the late Roman Republic and continuing through the French Revolution and Communism to today. Often, they write, “great men of means” are required to crush this scourge. The contempt for democracy in “Unhumans” is not subtle. “Our study of history has brought us to this conclusion: Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the unhumans,” write Posobiec and Lisec.

One of their book’s heroes is the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who overthrew the democratic Second Spanish Republic in the country’s 1930s civil war. The authors call him a “great man of history” and compare him to George Washington. They quote him on what doesn’t work against the unhuman threat: “We do not believe in government through the voting booth. The Spanish national will was never freely expressed through the ballot box.”

Nakedly authoritarian ideas like this one are not uncommon in the dank corners of the reactionary internet, or among the sort of groups that led the Jan. 6 insurrection. “Unhumans” lauds Augusto Pinochet, leader of the Chilean military junta who led a coup against Salvador Allende’s elected government in 1973, ushering in a reign of torture and repression that involved tossing political enemies from helicopters.

Pinochet-inspired helicopter memes have been common in the MAGA movement for years. And as the historian David Austin Walsh wrote last year, there’s long been a cult of Franco on the right. Nevertheless, it’s extremely unusual for a candidate for vice president of the United States to openly align himself with autocratic terror.

Vance provided the first blurb on the “Unhumans” book jacket. “In the past, communists marched in the streets waving red flags. Today, they march through H.R., college campuses and courtrooms to wage lawfare against good, honest people,” he wrote. “Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec reveal their plans and show us what to do to fight back.”

Other endorsements come from Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr., a key figure in his father’s presidential campaign. The foreword is by Stephen Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist.

Now, it is always possible that Vance recommended “Unhumans” without actually reading it, a practice that’s not unheard-of in book publishing. But unless and until he credibly distances himself from it, we should take him at his word that he shares the book’s analysis. After all, some of the language in “Unhumans” resembles his own rhetoric.

“The great American counterrevolution to depose the Cultural Marxists must occur on all terrains of society they currently possess and on those they aim to seize,” write Posobiec and Lisec, adding, “It is achievable but only with the resolve of Franco and the thoroughness of McCarthy.” (They mean Joseph McCarthy, another of the book’s icons.) Compare that to what Vance said on the alt-right podcast “Jack Murphy Live” in 2021, when he argued that Republicans, upon taking power, should purge their opponents the way Iraq’s government once purged members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.

“I tend to think that we should seize the institutions of the left and turn them against the left,” said Vance. “We need like a de-Baathification program, but like a de-wokification program in the United States.” He argued that “we don’t have a real constitutional republic anymore,” suggesting that Donald Trump need not be limited by the norms of republican governance. Trump, said Vance, should “fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people.” And if the courts try to stand in his way, Trump should “stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say: ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”

You can and should laugh at Vance’s melodramatic self-importance and creepy subcultural fixations. (On “Jack Murphy Live,” Vance respectfully references Curtis Yarvin, a right-wing blogger popular in reactionary Silicon Valley circles who calls for replacing democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy.) It’s good that Democrats have found, in the epithet “weird,” simple language to describe the 4Chan side of the Republican Party. But in the Venn diagram between “weird” and “dangerous,” there’s a lot of overlap.

“Much like the United States founding fathers, Franco and his fellows saw themselves as rebels intended to overthrow a corrupt, tyrannical government that aided and abetted murder and rape as well as other repugnant sins,” write Posobiec and Lisec. We should take seriously the possibility that Vance and his fellows see themselves the same way.

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/opinion/jd-vance-fascism-unhumans.html?unlocked_article_code=1.A04.-t6I.Jie2a3Abas5a&smid=url-share

[starlightsreigns]

talk that talk | a. theory

summary: monroe jay and austin theory are the it couple, well, only when the cameras are on. but it's time for that to change.

warnings: none, fluff

word count: 1.1k

author's note: as usual, excuse my lower case tendencies, I'm literally just a girl. still working on the anti one shots! so this is just a fun little work to hold ya'll over. x

austin theory and monroe jay are a formidable duo. no one can deny the energy they exude when they step out on the screen. monroe is a powerhouse but doesn't wrestle (at that moment) so she acts as his valet, securing win after win for him. it just works, and it wasn’t bad that they both found each other attractive; they’d never cross that line though. why ruin something that is going so well with romantic feelings? 

in the ring, austin is resting his back against the turnbuckles with monroe leaning back on his chest. they pretend to be asleep, bored by kevin owens’ entrance. monroe’s fingers are intertwined with austin’s, playing up the relationship for the cameras like they usually did. 

after the entrance and placing a good luck kiss on austin’s cheek, monroe rolls out of the ring to watch the match. she rests a hand on the apron, impatiently waiting for her time to attack kevin. when he gets close, she grabs hold of his ankle, ignoring the boos in the stadium as he looks down at her trying to shake her off of him. 

the ending of the match includes monroe causing a final distraction so austin could pick up the pinfall. she slides through the bottom rope, carefully runs to him in her heels, and jumps into his arms. she lifts an arm into the air, sticking her tongue out at the haters who are booing. austin holds her hand tightly as they retreat backstage, blowing kisses to the crowd. 

“i like this dress on you,” austin spins her around, taking in the tight blue dress that matched his gear. “icy blue.” 

monroe bites her lip, “stop flirting with me, blue eyes.”

“nah, you’re flirting with me.” 

she rolls her eyes playfully as they enter media. austin pulls her to the side as they wait for their turn. he wraps an around her waist, peering into her eyes making monroe look away sheepishly. he knows she gets nervous with intense eye contact, but he uses a finger to move her head back towards him with a smile. seeing her like that was his favorite thing, it just means that she can’t deny those feelings they both share. 

“and whose the one flirting now?” monroe teases. 

austin shrugs his shoulder, “i don’t know what you talkin’ about, roe, just talkin’ to my friend.” 

monroe raises an eyebrow, looking down at the lack of space between them. austin leans close to her ear and she can feel the butterflies in her stomach fluttering a million miles per second. 

“unless you wanna be more than friends,” he whispers in her ear. “you can say the word.” 

her brown eyes widen, but then a smile takes over. monroe wraps her arms around his stomach and looks up at him shaking her head. austin squints his eyes and then holds her close to him, resting his chin at the top of her head. they stay like that for a while as she listens to his heartbeat, cheek pressed against his bare chest. 

“you love me, you know it.” austin murmurs, making monroe giggle, smacking his back. 

the rest of the night moved at a snails pace. the pair rarely left each others side on a normal night. they sat in catering, watching the rest of the show with monroe’s legs laid across austin’s thighs. when it was time to go, she took her rightful place in the passenger seat while he loaded the trunk and started the semi-long trip to the next city. 

it was always the same for them: spend the entire night at work together, travel to the next city while talking and sharing new music they discovered, and sleeping in their separate rooms just to wake up the next day and do it all over again. the routine didn’t  bother either of them. it’s what made the most sense for them. so, for the past four months, that’s what they’ve done. 

“why won’t you let me take you out?” 

monroe groans at the question, resting her back against the elevator. it’s not that she didn’t absolutely want to tear his clothes off, actually that was the problem at the core. they’ve worked something out that worked for them and getting together was sure to fuck it all up. there’s nothing worse than sleeping with a coworker and making it awkward, especially the coworker that you spend literally every second with. 

“we’ve talked about this, austin.” monroe points a finger. “imagine how bad it could end.” 

“i didn’t take you for pessimist.” 

monroe gasps, “i’m not a pessimist, i’m a realist.” she explains. “we spend so much time together and it works because there’s nothing else to be careful about.” 

austin nods, “so, you don’t like me?” 

“is that what i said, sir?” she laughs. 

“so, you do like me but you don’t wanna be with me because… it’s hard?” austin raises an eyebrow. 

“our sexual tension is fine without us having sex.” monroe steps out the elevator when it opens on her floor. 

austin follows, “imagine our sexual tension afterwards.” he whispers from behind her. “you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off of me.” 

monroe glances back at him as they get closer to her room, “i already can’t keep my hands off of you.” she mumbles. 

when they’re standing in front of her room, austin cuts in front of her to block her door. he runs his fingers through her hair, taking a deeper breath. monroe let’s go of her suitcase and swallows hard. 

“monroe, be straight with me.” austin pleads. “what’s scaring you.” 

“what if we try it, and it’s not what we thought it would be and we lose something so good between us? i really like you austin, and god knows i’ve thought about you more than i should, but losing you would kill me.” she whispers. 

austin steps up to cradle her head in his hands, “you’ll never lose me.” he leans down, pressing their lips together. 

it was everything and more. it was cliche but she felt the fireworks that people write about, the electricity coursing through the both of them. monroe gasps when the separate, resting a hand on her lips trying to fight off the stupid grin that was spreading on her face. to her surprise, austin’s face was bright red, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 

“holy shit,” she laughs, crouching down on the ground to breathe. “holy fucking shit.” she repeats, looking up at him. 

“yeah,” austin smiles, crouching down in front of her. “give us a chance?” 

monroe nods slowly, biting the inside of her cheek. finally, she leans in again to bring their lips together. 

holy shit.

:) i don't think there's enough theory on this app, so here we are. x

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lois Beckett at The Guardian:

Attacks targeting American public schools over LGBTQ+ rights and education about race and racism cost those schools an estimated $3.2bn in the 2023-24 school year, according to a new report by education professors from four major American universities. The study is believed to be the first attempt to quantify the financial impact of rightwing political campaigns targeting school districts and school boards across the US. In the wake of the pandemic, these campaigns first attempted to restrict how American schools educate students about racism, and then increasingly shifted to spreading fear among parents about schools’ policies about transgender students and LGBTQ+ rights.

Researchers from UCLA, UT Austin, UC Riverside and American University surveyed 467 public school superintendents across 46 US states, asking them about the direct and indirect costs of dealing with these volatile campaigns. Those costs included everything from out-of-pocket payments to hire to lawyers or additional security, to the staff member hours devoted to responding to disinformation on social media, addressing parent concerns and replying to voluminous public records requests focused on the district’s teachings on racism, gender and sexuality. The campaigns that focused on public schools’ policies about transgender students often included lurid false claims about schools trying to change students’ gender or “indoctrinating” them into becoming gay. This disinformation sparked harassment and threats against individual teachers, school board members and administrators, with some of the fury coming from within local communities, and even more angry calls, emails and social media posts flooding in from conservative media viewers across the country.

In addition to the financial costs of responding to these targeted campaigns, the study revealed other dynamics, the researchers said. “The attack on public officials as pedophiles was one I heard again and again, from people across extremely different parts of the country: rural, urban, suburban. It speaks to the way that this really is a nationalized conflict campaign,” said John Rogers, an education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the study. The frequency with which both school board members and school superintendents were “being called out as sexual predators – it was really frightening”, Rogers said. Superintendents from across the country told the researchers how these culture battles had affected their schools, and cut into resources they would have preferred to spend on education.

[...] While disagreement, debate and dealing with angry parents are a normal part of local public school administration, the researchers noted, the political campaigns that schools have faced in recent years have been anything but normal. Many of them have been driven by “a small number of active individuals on social media or at school board meetings”, and fueled by misinformation. The school-focused campaigns, which started with claims that elementary and middle schools were harming white students by teaching critical race theory and later shifted to attacks on schools’ policies for transgender students, were nationally organized, with “common talking points” that could be traced back to conservative foundations and rightwing legal organizations, and were intensely amplified by rightwing media coverage, Rogers said.

Public schools across the US burned up nearly $3.2BN worth of money fending off right-wing culture war items such as book bans, anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, anti-student inclusion, and anti-racial equity policies.

See Also:

The Advocate: U.S. public schools lost $3.2 billion fighting conservative culture wars: report

[freakin-nightmare]

i wish i could just enjoy grayson but him being stuck with theory is unbearable....it sucks

[saturniandevil]

2024 Important Dates

AKA my notes on The Astrology Forecast's 2024 Year Ahead Forecast, hosted by Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. After the overview and January forecast, I'll put the rest of the year under a readmore. Overall, this year heralds technological innovations, and is a stepping stone into bigger developments in 2025 and 2026.

Overview

This year would be dramatic on its own, but with bigger shifts ahead in this decade, serves as a preview for even more dramatic changes in 2025 and 2026.

Pluto in Aquarius We only got about 6 weeks of Pluto in Aquarius in 2023, but this is will it where be for most of 2024 and the next 20 years. We're also getting the last of Uranus in Taurus (7-year transit) and Neptune in Pisces (14-year stay). These outer planets are wrapping up while Pluto starts something new.

Austin predicts Pluto in Aquarius will be a relief to those of us who've been suffering from Pluto in Capricorn. Historically, Chris traces the development of gunpowder, its refinement and transmission from China to Europe with Pluto in Aquarius. Warfare changed with these developments, particularly the strategies of siege. We should expect to see new technologies & applications in warfare now, particularly anti-drone weapons and uses of AI. Near-future science fiction stories from 20 years ago will look incredibly familiar, especially the "cyberpunk dystopia" and man-machine interfaces changing significantly. The first paper shop was set up in Baghdad in 793 under Pluto in Aquarius, and this technology spread around the world under different Pluto in Aquarius periods, with wide-ranging effects on mass communication. Technological espionage is also a theme of this placement--think AI uses, and the US trying to compete with Chinese microchips. This will also form an opposition to natal Pluto for baby boomers (1940s-60s), a transit that rarely occurs within a human lifetime. We'll see the culmination of this generation's power in the world, where figures like Biden or Trump or their contemporaries may have one last bid for power before they have to hand it to someone younger.

Chris actually used AI to help summarize his notes on this transit. With Pluto representing transformation and control, and Aquarius indicating the innovator and the rebel, some general themes are:

Major shifts in how technology shapes society, both empowering people and destructively.

Information warfare and control, especially among governments. Monopolies and censorship attempts will increase.*

Technological leaps. Breakthroughs from both internal research and external sources like cultural exchange or encounters with "that which is foreign/alien."

Science vs ethics: moral dilemmas, tension between curiosity & caution

Globalization on edge: the interconnected world may face challenges, but the exchange of information is crucial to progress. World trade and supply chains spanning the globe will change as countries shift certain sectors to more local production.

*history note: Pluto was in Aquarius during the Renaissance & Scientific Revolution, and the Church tried to censor this new information because it posed a threat to Papal power. Monarchs took state power from the church under Pluto in Aquarius, and the French Revolution under this placement showed the bourgeoisie really challenging the nobility under this placement. Most of the US constitution was written under Pluto in Aquarius--in fact the last Pluto in Aquarius period was during the late 18th century, so prepare for those paradigm shifts & revolutions to shift and revolt once again. New developments in physics and cosmology around dark matter and string theory, increased uses of AI, and new space probes may all prove to shake our ideas of where we stand with the rest of the universe.

Saturn conjunct Neptune Saturn prefers structure & the real world, while Neptune is a realm of imagination and illusions. In 2016 these planets squared each other and the political sound byte "fake news" was important. We no longer trust sound and video in addition to images, especially with advances in AI. Previous Saturn-Neptune contacts include the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the HUAC/McCarthy era in the USA. We'll be asking ourselves, "is this real?" We'll need to balance skepticism with imagination.

Another Saturn-Neptune in Pisces theme is pervasive feelings of despair and collective sorrow over water-related disasters, such as tsunamis or the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The first Saturn-Neptune conjunction of the 20th century was 1916-1919: disillusionment, skepticism, muddy trench warfare and chemical weapons. More positively, empathy, compassion, and service can come from those who fight for a better world despite hardships. However, Neptune will conjoin Saturn in Aries as well, which will have a much less compassionate flavor. This upcoming Pisces conjunction occurs right as Neptune is leaving the sign--which Piscean developments will get the Saturn stamp of approval and last beyond this decade? Neptune in Pisces has brought us an increased interest in the occult matters and psychedelics, ranging from tarot and astrology to modern cults to therapeutic uses of hallucinogens. Some of the skepticism we see will be the result of having been burned by Pisces Neptune events. Another related topic is augmented reality displays--Austin predicts that since it's been around for so long, if it doesn't take during Neptune & Saturn in Pisces, it probably won't take at all.

Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus This conjunction goes exact in April. In the material sign of Taurus, what sudden developments (Uranus) is Jupiter enabling? In one such application, AI technologies can help advance the field of materials science by designing new compounds & predicting their uses. There are a lot of technological developments bottlenecked by a single limitation, such as limited battery capacity, which if resolved would prompt an explosion of impressive new technologies. Quantum developments, Heisenberg's additions, different political revolutions, the sexual revolution & the Moon landing were under Jupiter-Uranus alignments, as were some of the earliest biology works in the Renaissance era. April will breakthroughs getting supported and confirmed. These come about every 13 years: in 2010 in Aries, 1990s in Aquarius. In 1941 we saw scientific breakthroughs as well, though Saturn's presence fittingly brought a much darker tone. Which house is Taurus in your chart? This transit can bring sudden insight & broaden your horizons in this area (A/N: timing techniques like progressions, Hellenistic profections, and zodiacal release can help you determine if Taurus will be especially "activated" for you around this time).

On the flipside, take care not to indulge in excessive naivete, uncritical embrace of rule-breaking in the name of progress, or getting caught up in fleeting euphoria. Once Uranus leaves, what will stay? What gets truly confirmed by Jupiter? Austin predicts major developments in cryptocurrency, which was not invented under Uranus in Taurus but did rise to prominence under this transit. Taurus also tells us to appreciate the material comforts, and this conjunction may show us a new approach to appreciating these things (like an AI snuggy that helps you sleep!). The potato chip and chocolate-chip cookie were also invented during Uranus in Taurus. More niche items have become more widely available (lab-grown meat, perhaps?), though food and energies has also become disproportionately more expensive/volatile during this transit. Taurus also signifies nature, botany, and ecology--we may see major developments in response to climate change. This is the last year of Uranus in Taurus--perhaps the cottagecore trend will have its last blows. Uranus in Gemini (A/N: 2025) will have us going back into the mainframe...(organic computers?)

Jupiter in Gemini This transit will be about a year long. Immediately upon entry to this sign Jupiter will trine Pluto, and later in the year he'll square Saturn. This will be a big shift, not just by sign, but because Jupiter goes from cooperating with Saturn to fighting him. Light-footed, fast, clever Gemini Jupiter clashes with deep, slow, heavy Pisces Saturn. Their sextile in January/February indicates the economy will likely seem to move in a good direction as the year begins, but the leviathan in the deep will stop us short.

Notable figures born under Jupiter in Gemini & Saturn in Pisces include Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, bringing us new communications systems. Bell developed the telephone partially as part of efforts to help his mother and other deaf people, while Edison himself had major hearing issues and focused on visual phenomena. However, we have ethics questions too: Bell had issues patenting the telephone as the same day as another inventor--who got there first? (A/N: many of Edison's patents were invented by others with property rights surrendered to him.) Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails also has these placements, and he's gone from applying electronic music in rock to films in recent decades. Also born under Pisces Saturn & Gemini Jupiter: Moby, Björk, Alfred Pulitzer (known for pioneering both human interest stories and sensationalism).

Other Jupiter in Gemini keywords: speaking many languages, verbosity, versatility & adptability, self-education, many short experiments, and having a knack for or good luck in new machines. However, Jupiter is considered in exile/detriment in Gemini: this light sign may interfere with Jupiter's desire for deeper understanding. The first decan of Gemini is ruled by Jupiter, and the bound of Jupiter is early in the sign as well, (and Jupiter is a triplicity ruler for Gemini!) so we can actually have quite a strong Jupiter in the beginning of this transit. Pluto in Aquarius trines Jupiter at the start of this transit, and Jupiter will gladly go to work for Pluto's agenda. Expect major technology & information related developments in April-May. This also foreshadows Uranus's entry into Gemini, where he'll trine Pluto thrice.

During this time, all the planets in Gemini are also combust (so close to the Sun we can't see them, figuratively getting burned), so beware of burnout. Another Jupiter in Gemini native is Lana Wachowski (one of the creators of The Matrix). Her coming out story also inspired many, and Jupiter in Gemini is a good place for variety in gender expression. Unfortunately, concepts from her movie were also coopted by right-wingers ("redpilled"). Also under this placement is JK Rowling, initially known for writing increasingly verbose fantasy books, though in recent years has focused her resources on stopping the advancement of trans rights. Jupiter in Gemini is fast, but not always ethical.

Eclipses

In April we'll have an eclipse that's visible over much of the United States from Texas to Maine, occurring on an election year. In the Indian dasha system, the US entered a Rahu (North Node)-ruled time period 8 years ago, making it especially sensitive to eclipses. There won't be another total eclipse visible in the US until 2045, marking momentous changes. This is also a continuation of the Libra/Aries eclipse story, most recently from the Libra eclipse in October. In both our personal lives and world events we'll see a turning point in the spring. The eclipses this year are in March-April, and September-October (remember, eclipses always come in twos--one lunar, one solar!). The March/April eclipses will be especially chaotic with Mars-Saturn and Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions affecting the equinox. The fall eclipses will begin shifting towards the Pisces/Virgo axis, and the major renewals will shift focus from one area of our lives to another (check which house(s) contain these signs for you).

Comets 2024 will have two comets that may be visible to the naked eye--both during eclipses! The Pons-Brooks comet will be visible in April around the time of the Aries eclipse (and Jupiter-Uranus & Mars-Saturn conjunctions). This indicates a very important time in world history. The comet, which may become visible as the sky darkens, will pass right by the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. Chris's ancient sources say whether a comet is a good or bad omen depends on its color, brightness, and visibility once it gets here, but he's hopeful its contact with Jupiter-Uranus will be helpful to us. Austin points out it'll be difficult to distinguish the comet's specific effects from everything else going on at that time. The second comet visits us in October, right before eclipses and the US presidential election. "Hopefully we won't get the Game of Thrones Season 2/War of Five Kings comet," says Austin. Chris is going to publish an episode soon analyzing both ancient sources & doing his own historical research on comets, which have connections to wars, regime changes, and religious or political leaders being born.

Mars Austin points out that there will be consistent stelliums in the first half of the year (visible around the eclipses) before returning to more regular dispersal. Mars is also going to make volatile contacts to outer planets as well, really bringing military connotations, mostly earlier in the year and then picking up again at the end of the year with an opposition to Pluto & a retrograde. In fact, Mars enters Leo, the sign of his upcoming retrograde, 2 days before the US presidential election.

US history & election: Mars goes retrograde in the same sign every 79 years, shifting by about 4 degrees every time. Mars did this same retrograde back in the late 1700s when US states were ratifying the Constitution (Pluto was in Aquarius then like it will be in '24, and some other transits are the same as well). The next recurrence was during the passing of the 14th amendment after the Civil War, an amendment forbidding anyone who led an insurrection from entering office. Most recently Mars retrograded in this cycle in 1945-6, during the end of WW2 and stationing just before the birth of a certain controversial recent president. This upcoming Mars retrograde will occur in the same part of the zodiac as these other events.

Chris usually shies away from predicting election results outright because he considers himself too invested to be objective, but he gives us a rundown. Like 2016 this election occurs under a Saturn-Neptune conjunction, foreshadowing the us of AI in political propaganda. If it does end up being Biden vs Trump, Chris says as of now there are indicators for either side winning. For the past 30 years, every presidential election winner has had an eclipse in one of his angular houses (1/4/7/10) shortly before winning. The Aries/Libra eclipses don't fall in angular houses for either, but the Pisces eclipse in September occurs in Biden's 4th house, and the 10th of his running mate Kamala. In Trump's favor is zodiacal releasing: he's starting a 19-year peak period releasing from spirit (career/aspirations) in 2025 just after the election. (This is one of the things that threw Chris off in the 2016 election, since a president elected for 2 consecutive terms then wouldn't be in office anymore in 2025.) This peak period activates the sign of Leo for him, the first house, and contains his natal Mars, bringing fighting and difficulty to the foreground. (A/N: Mars is also entering Leo around the time of the election, so whether he wins or not, we'll be seeing a lot of him.) That's a basic overview, and Chris will discuss other factors as the year progresses. Austin points out we have a perfect Mars-Pluto opposition the day before the election, and Mars stations in Leo right as the electors meet to officially vote. This election is heavily tied to the Mars retrograde, which continues until a few months into 2025. Pluto will take Mars's significations to bigger extremes as well as hidden power plays. Taking place January 20th at noon, Inauguration Day always takes place at the beginning of Aquarius season with the Sun in the 10th house, but Pluto's going to conjoin the Sun as well this year, which Chris predicts will start a new era of American history. Two of the debates fall on eclipse days, and Chris predicts these will have a dramatic effect on the election. Regardless of specific candidates, we know the US is entering a crucial phase of its history with Uranus entering Gemini (same placement as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and entering WW2). Austin wonders if the Saturn-Neptune conjunction will delay the rise of historic leadership, as his research so far proved inconclusive.

Month-by-month

January

Mercury stations direct immediately, helping us start things off definitively. Mars in Capricorn colors most of the month. He's very strong & effective in this sign, further supported by a trine from Jupiter in Taurus. With Venus and Mercury copresent Mars in Capricorn, we have an opportunity to practice living how we'd like to before things get crazy. The clichés of "starting your the year off right" are worth following this time around. A Jupiter-Saturn sextile in the first six weeks of the year further supports our efforts to get organized. Take advantage of Jupiter in Taurus to make the growth and expansion you seek permanent. We'll need a set pattern to weather the upcoming storms.

Chris and Leisa's auspicious election for the month is on January 12th, 2023 at 8AM local time with Aquarius rising. This means the Ascendant ruler Saturn receives a helpful sextile from Jupiter (orb of 5 degrees).

After a conjunction with the Sun and the light's ingress into Aquarius, Pluto re-enters that same sign on the 20th, anchoring what's most interesting about February. Chris points out it's exactly one year from the US presidential inauguration and will be an interesting omen.

February

February has a pileup of planets in Aquarius. From the 5th to the 16th, Mercury, Mars, and Venus all conjoin Pluto. This rapid succession of initial conjunctions will start to show us what this new Pluto era will look like for each of the faster planets. We go from having 4-5 planets in Capricorn to having 4-5 in Aquarius through this first half of the year. What does overwhelming weight in these signs look like for you? The Mars-Pluto conjunction on the 14th will be pretty dramatic. This connotes the use of excessive force, and generally will likely show us what kinds of dangers to expect from Pluto in Aquarius. The Venus-Mars conjunction at nearby degrees will connote future relationship patterns.

March

This month marks the beginning of eclipse season as well as a pileup of planets in Pisces. After the equinox, we have an eclipse, making the spring very dramatic. Mars sneaks up to a conjunction with Saturn, who rules the April Libra eclipse, and all the while Mercury is retrograde. We have multiple indicators of major world events here, which Chris compares to early 2020. And if that wasn't enough, we've got a comet! The lunar eclipse in Libra heralds back to its sister eclipse in early October.

April

The Mars-Saturn conjunction will punctuate difficulties of Saturn's transit--the last Mars-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius aligned with the intensifying lockdowns in March-April of 2020. This time the conjunction is in a water sign, so think naval warfare or threats from aquatic creatures. January was a good time to plan; this is not. We'll be adapting to rapid changes and doing what needs to be done. The Aries eclipse will be visible over much of the US, bringing major developments to the nation. Once we get out of eclipse season, we'll have to deal with the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction going exact on the 19th. Chris hopes that this will divide the month in half, from chaotic early on to more hopeful in the second half, especially as Mercury stations direct. Austin is less optimistic, as we'll have Jupiter, Uranus, and Venus all in Taurus. At the end of the month, Mars enters Aries and joins Rahu there, igniting the very point that was just activated by a total eclipse. Regardless, the pace of technology and communications will explode during this month and May.

May

Once Jupiter enters Gemini, lots of other planets follow him to that sign. This has strong implications for the advancements for communications. Austin says the Taurus developments in the early month indicate financial developments before the technological ones. All the planets in Taurus are looking to its ruler Venus for support, but she's combust (close to the Sun & invisible), so we'll feel something missing from our material comforts.

June

The Jupiter-Pluto trine is twofold: Jupiter expands Pluto's Aquarian pursuits, while Pluto exponentially magnifies Jupiter's expansion of communications in Gemini. We get a Sun-Venus cazimi in Gemini, resetting her cycle, with Mercury a few weeks after. Some of the Jupiter-Uranus discoveries and inventions may not be visible until later, as the Gemini planets themselves are invisible & passing through the Sun during these few months. There's a spaceship with recreational implications set to be launched next spring, fitting with the expansion of leisure that Jupiter in Taurus connotes. Mars entering Taurus on the 9th will mellow out for awhile after such intense movements. Saturn's retrograde station in Pisces brings him as close to Neptune as he's gonna get this year.

July

Saturn & Neptune stationing in Pisces blur the lines between what's real and what's not, what's true and what's false... An exlposive, unexpected Mars-Uranus conjunction occurs on the 15th. Furthermore, it's on top of the star Algol, a very ugly configuration that has historically coincided with devastating warfare and weapons. This isn't the tone for all of Mars in Taurus, but it's something to try and steer around if possible. Mars in Gemini brings us to August.

August

Mercury stations retrograde on the 5th, backtracking through both Virgo and Leo. This year Mercury retrogrades occur mainly in fire signs:

Mars in Gemini puts him in contact with Jupiter right as the benefic is squaring Saturn in Pisces; the smaller planet will likely exacerbate these issues. Excessive heat and speed clash against excessive cold and slowness. This is a real slowdown for Jupiter's fun and social trip through Gemini. Mercury stations direct by the end of the month, taking us into September.

September

By this point the planets have stopped moving in a giant pack, spacing out the energies a little. Pluto retrogrades back into Capricorn for the very last time this month; when he enters Aquarius at the end of this year he'll stay there for the next 20 years. Uranus gets as late into Taurus as he's gonna get this year before stationing retrograde as well, trining Pluto within 2 degrees of exactness. Chris charts these planetary contacts over the past few decades:

Uranus conjunct Pluto in the late 1960s saw major social changes as well as the first computer mouse. A sextile in the mid-1990s heralded the emergence of the Internet as we know it. In the early 2010s, smartphones became more and more ubiquitous, and now we're entering the next phase of new widely used technologies. The 2010s also saw revolutionary movements like the Arab Spring, and similar political developments will be foreshadowed around this time.

Mars enters Cancer, the sign where he'll retrograde. It's not very comfortable, but we'll have to get used to it all the same. Notable degrees are the retrograde beginning at 6Leo10 and ending at 17Cancer01:

We also get the first hit of the Pisces eclipse series this month. Though its companion eclipse is back in Libra, the September eclipse is foreshadowing for 2025-6.

October

The height of election season in the US coincides with the height of eclipse season celestially. We'll likely see prominent figures suddenly sink to the bottom or rise to the top around this time--jumping way ahead or falling way behind. Mars enters the shadow of his upcoming retrograde days after the eclipse. It's already hard to see clearly, and the eclipse supercharges all this. The Libra eclipse on the 2nd is the final of its series, wrapping up whatever was initiated in October 2023 (i.e. a new chapter in certain Middle Eastern conflicts). The first lunation free of an eclipse provides no relief, with the Full Moon tightly squaring Mars (♋) and Pluto (♑). This forms a difficult cardinal grand cross with the Sun, Moon, Mars and Pluto. Power plays, manipulation and intrigue abound.

November

Mars enters Leo, the sign of its retrograde, on the 3rd. Although he's in his pre-retrograde shadow period earlier, this ingress will bring it dramatically forward. He opposes Pluto, who's been stationing since mid-October, bringing paranoia, power struggles/plays, obsession & confrontation, and hidden motives or manipulation from behind the scenes. In opposite signs we'll see tension in opposite approaches to things, such as direct power versus hidden agendas, excessive force and even extermination. Mars only needs to win the battle, but Pluto blows things out of proportion. His station on December 6th is notable. The last Mars retrograde in Cancer was in 2007-2008, so look to this time in your life for an idea of what will happen. We can also look to the Mars retrograde in Leo 15 years ago (12/20/2009-3/10/2010). (This retrograde is mostly in Cancer, but stations in Leo). 2 days after Mars enters Leo is election day in the US (Nov. 5th), shining a light on all the controversies.

Venus is way ahead of everyone in Capricorn, while Pluto reenters Aquarius for good (the next 20 years). Mercury also stations retrograde at the end of the month, bringing us to December.

December

Mars stations retrograde right after Mercury's own halfway point through the retrograde, bringing miscommunications into Martial clashes, conflicts, and severing/separation. It's during the height of his retrograde that Mars is at his closest to Earth and is at his brightest for the longest (basically all night every night).

Mars retrograde shows us that no battle plan survives first contact. Excessive heat or conflict will linger for much longer than you expect. Mercury stations direct under a Full Moon on the 15th, and Jupiter squares Saturn exactly on the 24th. Our questions about growth versus boundaries will come back into focus. Meanwhile the rest of Mars retrograde awaits us in 2025, continuing a smoldering conflict into the next year.

[tyedyebaby]

betcha theory's gonna have a mugshot too by 27

[maaarine]

The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think (Joanna Thompson, Quanta Magazine, Jan 26 2023)

"A literature review that appeared in Molecular Psychiatry in July was the latest and perhaps loudest death knell for the serotonin hypothesis, at least in its simplest form.

An international team of scientists led by Joanna Moncrieff of University College London screened 361 papers from six areas of research and carefully evaluated 17 of them.

They found no convincing evidence that lower levels of serotonin caused or were even associated with depression.

People with depression didn’t reliably seem to have less serotonin activity than people without the disorder.

Experiments in which researchers artificially lowered the serotonin levels of volunteers didn’t consistently cause depression. (…)

Although serotonin levels don’t seem to be the primary driver of depression, SSRIs show a modest improvement over placebos in clinical trials.

But the mechanism behind that improvement remains elusive.

“Just because aspirin relieves a headache, [it] doesn’t mean that aspirin deficits in the body are causing headaches,” said John Krystal, a neuropharmacologist and chair of the psychiatry department at Yale University.

“Fully understanding how SSRIs produce clinical change is still a work in progress.”

Speculation about the source of that benefit has spawned alternative theories about the origins of depression. (…)

Repple warns, however, that another explanation for the effects his team observed is also possible: Perhaps the depressed patients’ brain connections were impaired by inflammation.

Chronic inflammation impedes the body’s ability to heal, and in neural tissue it can gradually degrade synaptic connections.

The loss of such connections is thought to contribute to mood disorders.

Good evidence supports this theory.

When psychiatrists have evaluated populations of patients who have chronic inflammatory diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, they’ve found that “all of them have higher-than-average rates of depression,” said Charles Nemeroff, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of Texas, Austin.

Of course, knowing that they have an incurable, degenerative condition may contribute to a patient’s depressed feelings, but the researchers suspect that the inflammation itself is also a factor.

Medical researchers have found that inducing inflammation in certain patients can trigger depression.

Interferon alpha, which is sometimes used to treat chronic hepatitis C and other conditions, causes a major inflammatory response throughout the body by flooding the immune system with proteins known as cytokines — molecules that facilitate reactions ranging from mild swelling to septic shock.

The sudden influx of inflammatory cytokines leads to appetite loss, fatigue and a slowdown in mental and physical activity — all symptoms of major depression.

Patients taking interferon often report feeling suddenly, sometimes severely, depressed.

If overlooked chronic inflammation is causing many people’s depression, researchers still need to determine the source of that inflammation.

Autoimmune disorders, bacterial infections, high stress and certain viruses, including the virus that causes Covid-19, can all induce persistent inflammatory responses.

Viral inflammation can extend directly to tissues in the brain. Devising an effective anti-inflammatory treatment for depression may depend on knowing which of these causes is at work.

It’s also unclear whether simply treating inflammation could be enough to alleviate depression.

Clinicians are still trying to parse whether depression causes inflammation or inflammation leads to depression. “It’s a sort of chicken-and-egg phenomenon,” Nemeroff said.

Increasingly, some scientists are pushing to reframe “depression” as an umbrella term for a suite of related conditions, much as oncologists now think of “cancer” as referring to a legion of distinct but similar malignancies.

"And just as each cancer needs to be prevented or treated in ways relevant to its origin, treatments for depression may need to be tailored to the individual."

[wrestlezaynia]

The only way WWE will ever make me like Theory is if he faces Logan *cringe* Paul, because as much as I despise Theory, I hate Paul with every fiber of my being.

[kayfabesource]

* BANNED WRESTLERS LIST !

a researched list of problematic wrestlers and wrestlers who do not wish to be rped that you should implement in your rp groups. since i’ve seen a lot of these faces pop up in rp recently, reasons as to why they are banned are listed alongside their names as reminder – potential tw for mentions of things like abuse without going into deep detail. last updated: 03/12/24.

billie starkz: highly recommend to ban anyone under 21 from being rped

nick wayne: highly recommend to ban anyone under 21 from being rped

charli evans: does not wish to be rped

chris brookes: does not wish to be rped

ciampa: doesnt not wish to be rped

deonna purrazzo: does not wish to be rped

skye blue: does not wish to be rped

austin theory: accused of sexual assault, sending inappropriate messages to a minor

blair davenport: accused of taking part in a female wrestler being blacklisted after making allegations towards another wrestler, who was a friend of davenport’s partner at the time

brian pillman jr: sent messages harassing a fellow wrestler’s sexual abuse victim

brock lesnar: ongoing lawsuit

chase owens: history of sexual misconduct

chris jericho: multiple allegations of misconduct

darby allin: accused of emotional, mental, and sexual abuse by previous partner

david crist: accused of sexual assault by his ex-girlfriend

david starr: first wrestler accused in the speaking out movement, accused of sexual abuse by a former girlfriend

jay lethal: multiple accusations of sexually harassing women while ROH covered it up 

jd mcdonagh: accused of physical abuse by a former partner

jimmy havoc: accused of emotional and verbal abuse by former partner, later released by AEW

joey ryan: eighteen different allegations of misconduct against him

kimber lee: made racist remarks 

ligero: accused of indecent assault, sending inappropriate messages, and engaging in inappropriate conduct

logan paul: multiple controversies

logan stunt: accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior

marty scrull: accused of taking advantage of a 16-year-old girl who was inebriated

matt riddle: accused of sexual misconduct by a female wrestler

michael elgin: accused of midconduct, arrested for violating a protection order filed by his ex-fiance

nia jax: anti-vax, argued with fans on the topic 

ronda rousey: transphobic comments, comments denying sandy hook

sammy guevara: made a serious rape joke on a podcast, was temporarily released by AEW to undergo extensive sensitivity training

saraya: doxxed her exes abusers and encouraged her followers to attack them

teddy hart: accused of abuse, multiple sexual assault charges involving two women

tessa blanchard: racist comments

travis banks: accused of emotional abuse by former student 

trent seven: accused of manipulating a group of underage girls

velveteen dream: accused of having inappropriate communications with minors

will ospreay: accused by a former female wrestler of having her blacklisted after she made allegations towards another wrestler, who is a friend of ospreay's

click here for a copy/paste-able list!