#anti-dumping duties

[news-line-today]

Government Cracks Down on Dumping Practices, Impacts on Domestic Industries

In recent years, the Indian government has taken stringent measures to curb the influx of dumped goods, particularly from China, into the market. Notably, over one-third of the anti-dumping duties (ADD) imposed by the Finance Ministry in the past three fiscal years targeted goods produced either by a sole domestic producer or by just two producers, with a significant focus on the chemical industry.

In the fiscal year 2023, the number of concluded cases dropped by half to 25, out of which 24 ended with a recommendation for ADD. However, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) accepted only 10 of these recommendations, with three cases exclusively concerning goods from China and four involving goods from at least one other country.

A significant portion of the ADDs, approximately 60 percent, targeted goods solely from China, while 26 percent targeted goods originating from China along with another country. This indicates a concentrated effort to address dumping practices originating primarily from China. Moreover, there has been a notable increase in the Finance Ministry’s acceptance of ADD recommendations from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, rising to 86 percent in FY24 from 42 percent in previous fiscal years.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), India’s trade watchdog under the Commerce Ministry, played a pivotal role in recommending ADD in numerous investigations over the last three fiscal years. Approximately 33 percent of these investigations covered goods produced by either a sole domestic producer or at most two producers, primarily highlighted in proceedings by the DGTR. CBIC, in response, levied ADD on goods covered by 46 of these cases, representing 50 percent of the recommendations received from DGTR.

The impact of these anti-dumping measures on downstream users, who often benefit from cheaper imports of raw materials, is a significant consideration in the government’s decision-making process. The Finance Ministry carefully evaluates the evidence presented in DGTR investigations before deciding on the imposition of ADD. Notably, in some cases, ADD recommendations were not upheld, such as in the import of viscose staple fibre (VSF) in 2023, following representations from user industries.

The debate surrounding the imposition of ADDs often revolves around the balance between protecting domestic industries and fostering competition. While some argue for the necessity of ADDs to ensure a level playing field, others question their impact on downstream industries and the broader economy. Nonetheless, the imposition of ADDs remains a legitimate trade remedial measure under WTO rules.

Looking ahead, there are ongoing cases targeting goods produced by sole producers, with a particular focus on products from China. These measures reflect the government’s commitment to safeguarding domestic industries from unfair trade practices while promoting a more competitive market environment.

In conclusion, as India navigates the complexities of international trade, addressing dumping practices remains a key priority to ensure the sustainability and growth of domestic industries.

[technologylawyersinvietnam]

How Products could Enjoy Exemption in Trade Remedies?

The scope of the exemption applies primarily to both provisional and formal trade remedies. For goods subject to investigation for application of trade remedies, if falling into one of the following cases, organizations or individuals that import/use such goods will be allowed to submit an application for exemption. The importer or manufacturer could consult with international trade lawyers in Vietnam to present the case to the authority to submit application for exemption if meeting the conditions as regulated by laws.

After the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management was promulgated with a more comprehensive and comprehensive system of legal provisions on trade remedies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT in order to provide specific and detailed regulations in this field, including content of the scope of exemption from application of trade remedies. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 of this Circular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only given four (04) exemptions.

After considering the actual situation, on November 29, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade replaced Circular 06/2018/TT-BCT with Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, which stipulates all six (06) types of goods which are exempted from trade remedies. Specifically, Article 10 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT allows the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider exemption from application of temporary trade remedies and official trade remedies for a number of goods. Imported goods are subject to trade remedy measures in one of six (06) cases.

First, goods cannot be produced domestically.

With this addition, it is understandable that Vietnamese law, in addition to protecting the domestic manufacturing industry, also considers allowing Vietnam to import important goods that cannot yet be produced on its own, in order to ensure to fully and promptly meet the development needs of all aspects, especially the economy and society of the country. The granting of a trade remedy waiver for goods that cannot be produced in the country may initially be seen as preventing the formation of a domestic industry producing the goods. However, the introduction of a new product into the Vietnamese market is a test for the tastes and needs of customers, through which the importation can assess the development potential and profit of that industry in Vietnam, thereby stimulating the investment and production of domestic manufacturers.

Second, goods have distinctive characteristics from domestically produced goods that cannot be substituted for domestically produced goods.

The exemption from trade remedies for different goods that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods also ensures the supply of special goods, prevents the scarcity of goods, the supply of goods and the supply of goods that cannot be replaced enough demand in the market.

Third, goods are special products of like products or directly competitive goods produced in the country.

Special products are products with the same physical and chemical characteristics as like products or directly competitive goods are domestically produced but have some characteristics, appearance or product quality that are different from those like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country. Basically, this explanation also causes some confusion with the above-mentioned case of goods with differences that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods, making it difficult to determine the exemption case. However, only goods that fall into one of the six cases can apply for an exemption, so the applicant only needs to prepare sufficient evidence to prove that the goods they import/use in a case that satisfies the condition for an exemption.

Fourth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country are not sold on the domestic market under the same usual conditions.

Normal conditions directly affect the quality, efficiency of use, etc. of the goods. Therefore, the difference in normal conditions has brought special features to goods from abroad that are imported/used into Vietnam, which is the basis for exemption from trade remedies, in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

Fifth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country do not meet the amount of domestic use.

With the priority criteria for the development of the domestic manufacturing industry, acts of importing/using foreign goods that cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the domestic industry will be investigated and applied for defensive measures commerce. However, in cases where the domestic industry cannot meet the demand for like products, the relaxation of trade remedies is essential to ensure supply and market balance.

Sixth, imported goods are included in the total amount requested for exemption from regulations for research and development purposes and other non-commercial purposes.

With this regulation, it can be seen that in the future, the goals of science and technology development, technical level development, research and non-commercial purposes will be increasingly focused and encouraged instead of just economic goals as before. Therefore, it can be understood why state agencies allow the import/use of goods for research, development and other non-commercial purposes, even though they are likely to negatively affect the economy domestic production.

Accurate identification of cases where imported/used goods are exempted from trade remedy measures is extremely important and has great significance for foreign importers and manufacturers. Therefore, before submitting an application for an exemption, it is necessary to base on the above provisions and consult with international trade lawyers in trade remedies to accurately determine the scope of the exemption, in order to avoid wasting time and money.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, an Anti-dumping law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

Source: ANT Lawyers

[businesslawyersinvietnam]

How Products could Enjoy Exemption in Trade Remedies?

The scope of the exemption applies primarily to both provisional and formal trade remedies. For goods subject to investigation for application of trade remedies, if falling into one of the following cases, organizations or individuals that import/use such goods will be allowed to submit an application for exemption. The importer or manufacturer could consult with international trade lawyers in Vietnam to present the case to the authority to submit application for exemption if meeting the conditions as regulated by laws.

After the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management was promulgated with a more comprehensive and comprehensive system of legal provisions on trade remedies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT in order to provide specific and detailed regulations in this field, including content of the scope of exemption from application of trade remedies. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 of this Circular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only given four (04) exemptions.

After considering the actual situation, on November 29, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade replaced Circular 06/2018/TT-BCT with Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, which stipulates all six (06) types of goods which are exempted from trade remedies. Specifically, Article 10 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT allows the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider exemption from application of temporary trade remedies and official trade remedies for a number of goods. Imported goods are subject to trade remedy measures in one of six (06) cases.

First, goods cannot be produced domestically.

With this addition, it is understandable that Vietnamese law, in addition to protecting the domestic manufacturing industry, also considers allowing Vietnam to import important goods that cannot yet be produced on its own, in order to ensure to fully and promptly meet the development needs of all aspects, especially the economy and society of the country. The granting of a trade remedy waiver for goods that cannot be produced in the country may initially be seen as preventing the formation of a domestic industry producing the goods. However, the introduction of a new product into the Vietnamese market is a test for the tastes and needs of customers, through which the importation can assess the development potential and profit of that industry in Vietnam, thereby stimulating the investment and production of domestic manufacturers.

Second, goods have distinctive characteristics from domestically produced goods that cannot be substituted for domestically produced goods.

The exemption from trade remedies for different goods that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods also ensures the supply of special goods, prevents the scarcity of goods, the supply of goods and the supply of goods that cannot be replaced enough demand in the market.

Third, goods are special products of like products or directly competitive goods produced in the country.

Special products are products with the same physical and chemical characteristics as like products or directly competitive goods are domestically produced but have some characteristics, appearance or product quality that are different from those like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country. Basically, this explanation also causes some confusion with the above-mentioned case of goods with differences that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods, making it difficult to determine the exemption case. However, only goods that fall into one of the six cases can apply for an exemption, so the applicant only needs to prepare sufficient evidence to prove that the goods they import/use in a case that satisfies the condition for an exemption.

Fourth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country are not sold on the domestic market under the same usual conditions.

Normal conditions directly affect the quality, efficiency of use, etc. of the goods. Therefore, the difference in normal conditions has brought special features to goods from abroad that are imported/used into Vietnam, which is the basis for exemption from trade remedies, in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

Fifth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country do not meet the amount of domestic use.

With the priority criteria for the development of the domestic manufacturing industry, acts of importing/using foreign goods that cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the domestic industry will be investigated and applied for defensive measures commerce. However, in cases where the domestic industry cannot meet the demand for like products, the relaxation of trade remedies is essential to ensure supply and market balance.

Sixth, imported goods are included in the total amount requested for exemption from regulations for research and development purposes and other non-commercial purposes.

With this regulation, it can be seen that in the future, the goals of science and technology development, technical level development, research and non-commercial purposes will be increasingly focused and encouraged instead of just economic goals as before. Therefore, it can be understood why state agencies allow the import/use of goods for research, development and other non-commercial purposes, even though they are likely to negatively affect the economy domestic production.

Accurate identification of cases where imported/used goods are exempted from trade remedy measures is extremely important and has great significance for foreign importers and manufacturers. Therefore, before submitting an application for an exemption, it is necessary to base on the above provisions and consult with international trade lawyers in trade remedies to accurately determine the scope of the exemption, in order to avoid wasting time and money.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, an Anti-dumping law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

[vietnamlawyers]

How Products could Enjoy Exemption in Trade Remedies?

The scope of the exemption applies primarily to both provisional and formal trade remedies. For goods subject to investigation for application of trade remedies, if falling into one of the following cases, organizations or individuals that import/use such goods will be allowed to submit an application for exemption. The importer or manufacturer could consult with international trade lawyers in Vietnam to present the case to the authority to submit application for exemption if meeting the conditions as regulated by laws.

After the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management was promulgated with a more comprehensive and comprehensive system of legal provisions on trade remedies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT in order to provide specific and detailed regulations in this field, including content of the scope of exemption from application of trade remedies. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 of this Circular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only given four (04) exemptions.

After considering the actual situation, on November 29, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade replaced Circular 06/2018/TT-BCT with Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, which stipulates all six (06) types of goods which are exempted from trade remedies. Specifically, Article 10 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT allows the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider exemption from application of temporary trade remedies and official trade remedies for a number of goods. Imported goods are subject to trade remedy measures in one of six (06) cases.

First, goods cannot be produced domestically.

With this addition, it is understandable that Vietnamese law, in addition to protecting the domestic manufacturing industry, also considers allowing Vietnam to import important goods that cannot yet be produced on its own, in order to ensure to fully and promptly meet the development needs of all aspects, especially the economy and society of the country. The granting of a trade remedy waiver for goods that cannot be produced in the country may initially be seen as preventing the formation of a domestic industry producing the goods. However, the introduction of a new product into the Vietnamese market is a test for the tastes and needs of customers, through which the importation can assess the development potential and profit of that industry in Vietnam, thereby stimulating the investment and production of domestic manufacturers.

Second, goods have distinctive characteristics from domestically produced goods that cannot be substituted for domestically produced goods.

The exemption from trade remedies for different goods that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods also ensures the supply of special goods, prevents the scarcity of goods, the supply of goods and the supply of goods that cannot be replaced enough demand in the market.

Third, goods are special products of like products or directly competitive goods produced in the country.

Special products are products with the same physical and chemical characteristics as like products or directly competitive goods are domestically produced but have some characteristics, appearance or product quality that are different from those like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country. Basically, this explanation also causes some confusion with the above-mentioned case of goods with differences that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods, making it difficult to determine the exemption case. However, only goods that fall into one of the six cases can apply for an exemption, so the applicant only needs to prepare sufficient evidence to prove that the goods they import/use in a case that satisfies the condition for an exemption.

Fourth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country are not sold on the domestic market under the same usual conditions.

Normal conditions directly affect the quality, efficiency of use, etc. of the goods. Therefore, the difference in normal conditions has brought special features to goods from abroad that are imported/used into Vietnam, which is the basis for exemption from trade remedies, in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

Fifth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country do not meet the amount of domestic use.

With the priority criteria for the development of the domestic manufacturing industry, acts of importing/using foreign goods that cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the domestic industry will be investigated and applied for defensive measures commerce. However, in cases where the domestic industry cannot meet the demand for like products, the relaxation of trade remedies is essential to ensure supply and market balance.

Sixth, imported goods are included in the total amount requested for exemption from regulations for research and development purposes and other non-commercial purposes.

With this regulation, it can be seen that in the future, the goals of science and technology development, technical level development, research and non-commercial purposes will be increasingly focused and encouraged instead of just economic goals as before. Therefore, it can be understood why state agencies allow the import/use of goods for research, development and other non-commercial purposes, even though they are likely to negatively affect the economy domestic production.

Accurate identification of cases where imported/used goods are exempted from trade remedy measures is extremely important and has great significance for foreign importers and manufacturers. Therefore, before submitting an application for an exemption, it is necessary to base on the above provisions and consult with international trade lawyers in trade remedies to accurately determine the scope of the exemption, in order to avoid wasting time and money.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, an Anti-dumping law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

[fuck-customers]

I'm the anon who sent in an ask abt accidentally co-ordinating a mass call out, saw a lot of ppl wanting the know the aftermath so here's your updoot :>

All 3 of us did end up calling in (during the early morning, so we never had to directly talk to our boss, but the manager on at the time) plus another random 4th person, who wasn't apart of the original group and is just a regular sickie chucker. When my boss did see the emails that morning, he came to my station and had a mini freakout/breakdown to the opener. Ended up not being able to cover the midshift with a proper staff member who works in our department, so no prep was done or topped up all day; the opener was in on what we were doing and also didn't like the staff on that night so her attitude was very much 'sounds like a them problem'.

From what I heard of the close, it went about as well as I expected; a massive shitshow. The one coworker who I really don't like our of the 3 stooges ended up being forced into doing the close, and boy did she fuck it up. That next morning the place was a total trash heap- with shit still being dirty, equipment not being turned off, and just looking like crap in general. According to another coworker who was there briefly it wasn't even bc she was busy, she just never bothered to even START her closing duties or clean and let everything build right until the end. The opener was so mad they went and got my boss to come down and look at the place the morning after and he pulled lazy coworker into a meeting about it that night, saying there was no reason she had to stay back an hour past her clock out time and still leave the place looking like a dump. I had to work with her that next night and she was being really passive aggressive to me abt it, kept saying things like 'yeah it was so bad, if only SOMEONE didn't call in on us' (like get fucked, maybe if you didn't suck I wouldn't have had to prioritise my mental health).

There was an hour wait time basically all that night (something that shouldn't have happened, I saw the sales the from the night and it wasn't even that bad, they're all just that slow) and a shit ton of people complained about either not receiving their food, or the food they did get being cold/not cooked properly. The managers on that night had to get called over a bunch to do a lot of voids and refunds. One of my regulars who was in that night said things didn't even look busy, the person on close just spent more time leaning around or freaking out then actually doing anything.

As for myself and the 2 others who called in, we all had a really good day off. The midshift was telling me how they spent the day relaxing and even got themself a little spa day, I ended up catching up on some chores work had severely pushed back and the other chick just relaxed at home all night. No one walked out and the place didn't burn down, so it's a little anti-climatic ik, but oh well. Good day for us, not so good for the others :3 It was nice at least that they got a taste of what we have to deal with whenever they're on.

Posted by admin Rodney

[eatmangoesnekkid]

One thing I struggled with when I was in my 20s during my coming-of age-story of blooming into Goddess spirituality as taught by one of my mentors/muses was how semen was healthy for the female body. This is a common way of thinking with those who practice tantra, kama sutra, divine union, ancient temple arts, etc., and what is pushed in "Goddess- centered" and of course heteronormative patriarchal women spaces. However, the most disciplined, healthy, regenerative, mentally-clear men will always practice semen retention, which means that they would NOT release their semen into a woman's body during sex, and would circulate it internally throughout their own body to increase their organs' vitality instead, unless both parties were desiring to procreate a child. The thinking that semen was generally healthy for the female body as also taught in one of my favorite books "The Sexual Secrets of the White Tigress (a book I obviously don't completely agree with but helped to expand my consciousness) never fully added up with me and no one could ever answer my inquiry that "if semen is so healthy for the female body, why do the healthiest, strongest men have to practice semen retention....why would the divine be so cognitive-dissonant..lol?" I would not be surprised if our Western world had a centuries-old, clandestine operation to weaken both the female and the male body so that neither one of us would know our full power and magical potential. And I know many women whose pH balance and vaginal biomes gets out of wack after having penetrative sex with their male lover. There is so much division and anti-male propaganda out there, and that's not what I'm up to nor is it a conversation or line of thinking I would ever participate in. I'm more interested in women and other female-bodied people coming into our full alive power and magic—softening and strengthening our bodies and life force energy, expanding our minds, integrating our shadows, and birthing real authentically beautiful lives of rest, nourishment, regeneration, adventure, and ease that shift the collective energy forward into more love and life-giving resolutions. I wrote this to encourage those with female bodies to question everything, including me, because the "truth," whatever that means, will also influence your entire physiology overtime. What I know is that most of what we have been taught are lies and made up by men and patriarchal-centered women, for the benefit of men. Many of you have asked me private questions around working out and getting back active and strong in your body, but also express how tired and inflame your body is, could this be why? Because what I also know is that there are plenty of men who dump their stress, disappointments in life, rage, anger, and the like into women's bodies when they ejaculate therefore women have to be more intuitive and mindful in choosing lovers. But there is so much unlearning that every human must be willing to do in order to live healthier more emotionally-intelligent lifestyles thereby be awake enough to not continue to make a series of bad decisions in life. Because there are plenty of healthy, dutiful, deeply loving men out there to choose from if/when you are interested. May the veil of conditioning be lifted from the inner eye so that you begin to know who you truly are. Elevate your frequency so that you CAN be more grounded, centered and clear in your choosing. And what's also true is there is valid nuance as well that I won't be able to go into here on this blog at this time. -India Ame'ye, Author

[katherinearandez]

I don’t think Tessa is one of the good guys

I have a lot of questions about Tessa. What are her goals? Is she really on copper 9 for the reasons she told us in episode 6? Does she have hidden motives, and if so, what are they???

The lines of “morality” in this show are super squiggly, so by “good guy”, I mean an individual with positive or helpful intent toward the main characters - in this case, drones. The concept of Tessa bearing ill-intent for drones as a ‘species’ seemed contradictory at first: after all, she’s so nice to N, V and J, right? We’re talking about someone who, as a kid, saved zombie drones from the dump(cough, mass grave, cough) where their human owners left them to rot after creating them by means of improper disposal. Why would she want to kill drones? Especially in the same callous, procedurally improper ways that created the threat of Cyn to start out with?

Well…

Let’s not forget about the evil AI that massacred her family and the guests of their gala. AFTER Tessa took her in as an act of kindness, against her parents wishes. Parents who did seem to look down on her pretty severely, regularly chained her up in her room as punishment(you don’t install heavy duty, floor anchored chains for the occasional time out) and possibly kept her socially isolated???

That last point is pretty speculative, since a lot about the earth of N’s flashbacks screams post-apocalyptic vibes. Maybe there just aren’t a lot of humans left for Tessa to socialize with. Tessa’s dad reinforces this idea in his speech by listing “currently being alive” as an attribute the Elliots are known for. It could just as well be a meta joke(since they are killed in the next few seconds), so lacking more context, I hesitate to extrapolate from this point alone.

Anywho, back to Tessa’s callous drone murder. Even if her parents were crappy by the usual standards, she clearly didn’t want them/the other gala guests to die. She tried to save them by “murdering her a robo-child”. Idk, does this blacked out redacted image of Tessa in the aftermath of the massacre seem upset??

Reasonable assumption. So adult/older teen Tessa has changed the way she feels about drones after these traumatic events. Maybe she doesn’t outright hate them, but she views them from a colder, more pragmatic angle than she did in her younger years. Does she still feel empathy for them and the horrible mistreatment they suffer at the hands of humans? Probably. But she’s now aware of the danger they truly pose and has good reason to eliminate them to ensure the absolute solver mutation no longer has a pool of hosts in which to spread and evolve.

So why the callous drone murder at the end of episode 3? We know you’re supposed to follow a 2 step procedure for decommissioning drones. Software death via lethal injection of a kill program(sounds fun!), followed by hardware death via “core removal” to ensure the decommissioned drone doesn’t reboot with corrupted software and an “increased chance for future errors”.

Did she hastily kill this random drone to keep her arrival on copper 9 secret, foregoing procedure for the sake of urgency? If so, who is she keeping her presence secret from? Is it the remaining drone population of copper 9, who Cyn used to collapse the planet core and kill all humans there? Possibly, Uzi is a prime example of anti-human sentiment, and during Mr Doorman’s parent-teacher conference he mentioned being on a “kill all humans kick when he was her age”. Perhaps Tessa assumes all the c9 worker drones are hostile to humans.

When you start making assumptions about what characters are assuming, it’s generally a good time to stop and just accept you don’t have the answers 🫠 so that’s where I will cut that line of questioning short. That being said, I’m not quite done yet…

What’s with this shelf of small human skulls in Tessa’s room? Why are the trash robots she “rescues” her only friends? Do her parents chain her up in her room because they suck? Or… do they have reasons not yet revealed to us, the audience?

Tessa’s perception among most of the fan base is fairly positive and on the surface there’s good reason for this. She’s presented as peppy, compassionate(except toward that one worker drone, lmao), ~tenacious~ and resilient. Actions like salvaging drones from the dump and perceived displays of affection and warmth for the disassembly drones leave viewers with the impression that she’s a good, kind person.

There is, however, another light in which to view her actions, and it casts a shadow on the motives we may have assumed were pure up to this point.

While it’s easy to parse Tessa saving drones from the dump as an act of altruism, it can also be interpreted as sinister. It could be an example of a character with a savior complex; a power dynamic wherein the “savior” exerts control over those they “rescue” by taking advantage of their gratitude and using it in manipulative ways. If this is the case, Tessa’s motives take a sharp left turn, flipping from selfless and kind to egotistical and controlling.

The show actually gives us direct evidence of Tessa using manipulation to get her drones to do her bidding.

“It wants paid time off…”

This instance of her using corporate buzzwords to drive J into a rage strong enough for her to bite through metal chains. Or how about her outright lying to the drones at the start of episode 6? Asserting that her intention was to “burn to the ground” labs Cyn was interested in, while later that same episode revealing to N that her “true” purpose was to obtain a list of drones infected with the absolute solver?

Preeetty manipulative. She manipulated and/or coerced Doll as well, in order to obtain the keybug. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if come episode 7, she switches it up yet again, revealing a new manipulation or perhaps, finally, her real mission.

Tessa’s manipulation of the drones she supposedly cares about isn’t the only hint that she might have a savior complex or similar egocentric tendencies. She’s also shown that she’s not very respectful of the drones autonomy, another red flag that can signal a propensity for narcissism and the controlling behaviors associated with it.

N is the example this time.

Tessa’s signature greeting for N, which is to grab his face and swing him around with excitement that borders on aggression. Maybe it’s just me, but his expression doesn’t suggest it’s mutually enjoyed. Looks more to me like he’s uncomfortable and only humoring her pep because he feels like he has no choice… after all, none of Tessa’s “dumpster pets” want to let down their saving grace.

We see this same kind of contact again throughout episode 6, with Tessa grabbing N’s face as a greeting again, and also playing with his hair on the way down to cabin fever labs. The way Tessa interacts with the drones(J and V as well as N) shows that she sees them as objects in her possession, rather than friends, peers or their own individuals with unique thoughts, wants and feelings.

Uzi even calls her out on this very mindset at the end of episode 6 after Tessa asks her sardonically to “don’t date my robot, please.”

Granted, I’ve got no solid backing, just observation, speculation and a suspicious mind. Tessa could be a great person… “good” or “bad” though, she’ll definitely try to kill our main character sometime soon, so… yup. Killing even an anti-hero typically slots you into the bad guy category, even in a show where the moral lines between good and evil are so artfully blurred.

TLDR; I think there’s more to Tessa than meets the eye, and even though Cyn is still probably Murder Drones “big bad”, I feel like Tessa has an element of villainy to her that I hope will be further explored in canon.

[bonefall]

How would the cats get rid of the bile to prepare a prey item for food? The liver is one of the best items to use for gravy--my family uses our roasted Turkey's liver as a gravy base every year and to have to throw it out cause someone fucked up while on kitchen duty would suck.

Not all animals will actually have gallbladders, but removing one from the liver is as easy as just chopping it off when you get to the processing part. It'll be down on the bottom of the liver, usually pear-shaped, and a dark greenish color. Sorreltail, a sapient cat with her great sense of smell, could tell it apart from the surrounding meat with her eyes closed.

I do have to stress, though, you CAN eat bile. You don't have to have the cats toss that, that is a thing they can eat. Again it's not nail polish remover like the Erins think it is. It's bitter, but it's used in human food. You just balance out the bitterness with spice and sweetness.

This is papaitan, from the Philippines, made with tripe and bile,

Bile is also said to have anti-inflammatory effects and be a generally healthy food, too. I can see ShadowClan in particular really liking to cook with this, especially for a sick cat. They like bitter and spicy tastes a lot more than other Clans. Their version of chicken noodle soup.

Also; a lot of animals do not have gallbladders. Here's a short list of common prey animals and their gallbladder status;

Rabbits = No

Rats = No

Mouse = Yes

Shrew = Yes

Deer = No

Pigeon = No

Quail = Yes

Carp = Yes BUT DO NOT EAT THESE CARP GALL BLADDERS CAUSE FOOD POISONING. ALL species, everywhere. This includes goldfish. Your cat will live if they swallow a goldfish or eat a gallbladder once or twice, but it will make them sick. Process this fish before a Clan cat eats it.

(Side note: It's actually kind of funny how carp keeps coming up as The "Fuck You" Animal in all of these. They're full of seizure-causing anti-nutrients, their gallbladders are poison, what am I going to find next?)

The gallbladder in fish is really easy to find btw, they're usually massive, round, and dark green. If you gut fish regularly it's like... right in the "chest." Also you can poke it open and soak little paper squares in it and then they spin around in water, it's very cool

Bile is for the breakdown of fats, and a gallbladder is for the storage and concentration of bile. Generally, herbivores are more likely to lack gallbladders, because their liver just dumps the weak bile they have directly into their intestines. The mystery of why rats don't have gallbladders has actually vexxed scientists for like 100 years, btw.

Some herbivores (deer especially) have a very tiny "pouch" for bile called a diverticulum. But unlike the gallbladder, it doesn't concentrate it, just stores a little extra. Some hunters will nick this and think they tore open a gallbladder, but they did not.

[muder-boner]

Yoo supp

Tws for my blog : sh, mentions of fighting , a lot of venting bcuz I hate my life, cigarettes etc

NO CREEPS, PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF 20 I AM A MINOR AND I'M NOT LOOKING FOR ANYTHING LIKE THAT (ifykwim)

TW UNDER THIS READING THINGY- BRIGHT COLORS AND GIFS !!

Hallo !! I'm looking 4 friendz, here iz my info dump

I'm Romanian , yet idk shit abt Romania, or do the whole "tradition" thing,

➤ Music Genre

➤ Emo rock, Death Metal, Nu metal, Metal

➤ Artists and Bands

KoRn , Green Day , Weezer, Tokio Hotel, Mitski, Eminem, Deftones, Steve Gabry, Your Favorite Martian, The Smiths, Epic Rap Battles Of History, Pink Floyd, BabyMetal, Gorillaz, The Strokes, LMFAO, Arctic Monkeys, JT Music, IC3SPEAK.

➤ Fandoms : Call Of Duty, Cry Of Fear, My Little Pony, The Walking Dead, Shameless, Deathgasm, Sally face, Err can't really thing of anything else man.

➤ Moviez : Fight club, The virgin suicides, FNAF Movie, The Mario movie, Coraline, Studio Ghibli movies, Deathgasm

➤ Fave colorz: Green pink blue and of course, the best shade ever, Black

➤ Favorite pony from main 6 : applejack

➤ Favorite pony from all series: BIGMAC💗💗

➤ Favorite sanrio: pompompurin or sweet piano

➤ Favorite Twd character: Carl (i cosplay him!!!) And / or Beth (and many more lol!!)

➤ Favorite Sally face character: Travis Phelps (he's so relatable)

➤ Favorite people : @agirlfr0msomewhere, @0r1sw0rldxp, @kornyblu, @s1l4s-1ng3sts-t0m4t03s, @idiotic-cats-inc, @wh3nth3pawn , @rainydayzxd, @maggot-sperm I LOVE MY OTHER MOOTS 2!!!

DNI: - homophobia, racism, sexism, anti furry, anti therian, over 20 , people who want donations, I don't have money, plus I have nothing to do to help. all bad stuff etc

Everyone else is welcome !!<3

I like to think that I'm kind and caring,i love taking care of people, so yes slide in my DMS if u're lonely,im always down to make new moots and friends on here !!

[determinate-negation]

your vietnam post reminded me of this article: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/tom-dispatch-trump-iran-anti-war-protest-vietnam/

my fave part was this:

"To engage in a futile act of war protest, as my friend did then, was still to have refused to be fooled. It was to have done something. As he steered a lumbering dump truck into that Pentagon mixing bowl, I and countless others like me, whether out of hope, fear, or mere exhaustion, were busy detaching ourselves from an unfinished business, an unfinished duty: to actively resist the unjust violence being perpetrated or threatened in our names (and not just in Vietnam either)."

it's a good read!

thank you, heres the link for everyone

also the way imperialists continue to target hospitals

[dresden-syndrome]

Political offender classification: Class 1

"Class 1 offense is a minor isolated societally harmful act which undermines or has the possibility to undermine the authority of the East European Socialist Union government and its social or political order.

Class 1 offenders are otherwise loyal citizens committing stated offenses during peacetime without a deliberate anti-socialist intent or attitude.

Most class 1 offenses result from lack of ideology and law education among offenders themselves as well as the general population, insufficient measures of political control and poor quality of life."

Notes: 

Can be applied to minors aged 14 and older 

Cannot be applied in martial law times (with exceptions, mostly to minors age 14-17)

Applies for isolated & unorganized offenses only

Class 1 units can be also used for questioning without convicting in cases of suspicion (like being out past curfew without permission at emergency times)

Offenses: 

Non-reporting of less serious political crimes 

Illegal region border crossing (from April 1960)

Failure to register/unregistered living

Religious propaganda 

Demoralizing rumors & casual propaganda

Evasion of labor duties 

Evasion of political duties 

Pro-capitalist side leaning

Contribution to class 2 crimes

 Penalties: 

Disciplinary warning

Job rank/position demotion 

Disciplinary note in the Party membership card

Corrective labor for up to 6 months 

Protection status: 

All constitutional rights are legally and actually protected

Further restrictions: 

Political literacy courses after detention

No further restrictions applied

Life prospects: 

Back to freedom after detention 

Back to normal life after serving penalty 

Rehabilitation possibility: 

Fully rehabilitated after finishing courses 

Class promotion/demotion possibility: 

Promotion (charge dropping) with recovery in rank/position 

Demotion to class 2 for repeat offenders 

Demotion to class 2 if aggravating circumstances or further offenses are found during investigation/detention

Prisoner use methods: 

Cheap unskilled labor within the offender’s registered location 

Cheap labor in the offender’s skill field within their registered location 

May be used as voluntary unofficial informants

Legal documentation: 

No changes in personal documents 

A note in State Security archive personal files

Picture: Václav Veverka and Šarka Němcová on the second month of political literacy courses. PUR Czechoslovakia, 1961.

Art tag: @painful-pooch @prismpanic @generic-whumperz @suspicious-whumping-egg @onlywhump @whumpedydump @whumpthefifth @monarchthefirst @sunshiline-writes @project-xiii

Lore dump tag: @sweet-lost-husbands

[skaruresonic]

Honestly, as fun as it was to go "Jesse what the fuck are you talking about" at the absurdity of fandom tourists who refused to engage with canon in good faith, it still felt like people explaining the nitty-gritty of how and why Freemance "didn't count" as pedophilia were giving the antis too much ground. Like they were implying there was a point that any given HL ship could be considered too problematic to defend.

As someone who ships Valhoun, which could arguably be considered more problematic than Freemance in this system of moral checks and balances by mere virtue of Barney actually being in his forties or so (although even that is debatable tbh), as opposed to Gordon's Schroedinger's Creepy Old Man Status, needless to say, I found the whole thing ridiculous.

To me it doesn't really matter even if Gordon was 47, because Half-Life exists in a context where real-life social mores don't apply as stringently. Humanity is on its last legs and Eli wants grandkids, yo. I have argued in the past that age gap squicks would likely lessen out of necessity following the Combine's breeding suppression. People need to procreate in order to repopulate the species, after all, and beggars can't be choosers. Kleiner said "get busy fuckin' or get busy dyin'" for a reason.

However, I'm not terribly keen on Freemance because Gordon's blank-slate status means I'd have to make up his characterization in my head, and it just doesn't seem worth the effort. I always feel like I'm shipping a dozen different versions of Gordon rather than Gordon himself. He also... just doesn't react to Alyx, making their chemistry incredibly lopsided. At least Barney goes "Eugh" when Alyx teases him about "not being an animal person"; Gordon just presumably stands there like :I when she cracks her Zombine joke.

Despite lifting somewhat in recent years, fandom has an ironclad "Barney is Alyx's uncle/big bro" fanon, which is just as annoying as "Shadria is incest" because it basically sprang out of nowhere. Canon seems to imply that Barney and Alyx are acquaintances at best, not terribly familiar with each other outside of their faintly overlapping social circles. Kleiner is honestly their only link. Barney, in fact, has less reason than most other older male characters to be considered one of Alyx's honorary uncles. At the very least Alyx suggests the possibility Gordon may have seen her once as a child; no such equivalent exists for Barney. The idea he babysat her is also hilarious considering he never even directly addresses Eli in HL2. On top of that, there's the issue of infantilizing Alyx, which I could rant about for hours. Yes, Valhoun may be just as "fanon" as Uncle Barney headcanons, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking in terms of the series' overarching context. I view Valhoun as a sort of push-pull dynamic between Barney and Alyx, duty stifling love and placed inside a pressure-cooker of sexual repression. Hot. Plus, there's that forbidden fruit aspect of rebel/Metrocop lol. And while I would in a perfect world like to see the two be together, given HL's bleak world, realistically, I don't see it working out. Not even in an "Alyx dumps his ass for Gordon" kind of way, necessarily, but in a "they break up out of fear for each other's safety but there are still lingering feelings if they gaze in the other's wake for too long" kind of way. I have also argued that all three major HL ships bear imbalances. Valhoun does not suffer the experience gap that Freemance and Freehoun would; Barney and Alyx would have shared roughly the same life experiences under Combine rule that Gordon lacks.

[the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf]

I love your fic “When the cat's away...”! ♥️💙 Now I really wanna know how they got together after Spider man into the spider verse

Masterlist

Requests open - here

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Here's the fic which you should probs read first When the cat's away...

Soooooooo.

In the comics Spiderman and the black cat have a very flirty relationship and always end up hanging out when they're both on duty, the difference being Cat is more of a vigilante and anti-hero. They also have an on/off relationship with Cat being the main instigator.

After him and MJ got divorced, he started using his Spiderman persona more because he felt his real self was too pathetic. So he starts going off on more jobs and stakeouts. He actually finds himself looking for Cat and following her to find out more about her (ik this sounds creepy but hey ho). And he finds himself falling for her.

*skip the portal opening up and him finding Miles*

When he's talking to Miles he finds himself asking about Cat...

"So in this universe, do you have a black cat?"

"There's one that lives on the roof I think--"

"no no. The Black Cat. The vigilante."

"No? Is that someone I should look out for? Am I gonna get my own?"

"Yeah, just when you meet them...have fun." (I'm using 'them' because Peter B. wouldn't know what gender Black Cat will show up as in Miles' universe.)

*Aunt May's house*

When Aunt May sees Peter B. she immediately goes to the door and brings out a letter addressed to this universe's Peter that he didn't get a chance to open before he died. The envelope has 3 distinct claw marks slightly scratched into it. He smirks knowing it was you, well this universe's you.

He opens the letter and reads...

"Hi Peter. I'm sorry it's been a while but I thought MJ wouldn't appreciate you always hanging out with me, so I took myself out of the equation. I'm truly happy you found someone and that you like your life with her. But because I don't plan on seeing you again I have to tell you. I love you. I'm in love with you. That's all. Have a great life. And remember, you promised to name your child my suggestion:............Y/n Y/l/n (meow) xoxo"

His eyes well up when reading. How did he never know? You'd always been flirty and you'd both kissed a little (more like a lot), but this was love. Maybe it was something about seeing your name for the first time or seeing you speak sincerely without the need for flirtatious teasing. But something changed inside of him.

*talking to the other spider-people*

"so do any of you guys know a y/n y/l/n?"

"The Black Cat?" "Black cat?" "The cat?" "cat?"

"Wow. So who are they to you?"

There's a pause whilst the spider-people consider.

"She's my partner in crime. I'd be lost without her on my side." Noir goes first.

"He's my best friend. I love that guy!" Porker chimes in.

"I never got to tell them how I felt." Peni solemnly whispers.

They all look to Gwen waiting for her. She takes a moment. Then she looks up at Peter B.

"She's the love of my life." Gwen begins to smile. "And I didn't realise that until I was here. And she wasn't."

*coming out of the Portal*

Peter B. is dumped unceremoniously back into his New York. Despite the free-fall and his sore limbs and ass (juicy) from when he fell, he feels good. And he smiles, genuinely for the first time in years.

He jumps back up and swings throughout New York city, trying to spot the familiar icy locks and black catsuit (God he's thought about her in that catsuit a lot).

He meets her on a rooftop, high above the city.

"Hey spidey! You've not been around a lot? Did you go grovelling back to MJ on your knees like a kicked puppy?"

"No, actually. Believe it or not I was in another universe. And do you know what I found out about those other universes."

"What? I'm all earssss." you hiss into his mask covered ear.

"That you love me." You panic and try to swing away. But he grabs you first and holds you in his arms.

He takes off his mask revealing his scruffy beard and salt and peppered locks.

"My name is Peter. But can you still call me spidey cause it makes me sound super-cool, like a super-cool biker." You giggle even though tears are streaming down your face. You'd dreamed of this and actually the face under the mask was more beautiful than you ever imagined.

He leans into your face. "Peter, what are you doing?"

"A leap of faith."

You join together in a passionate kiss. When you eventually pull away you hug him tight and bury your face in his chest whilst tears are still streaming down your face. He whispers in your ear "Honey, I'm home."

*after the birth of their first child*

"She's so beautiful."

"I don't think I've ever seen anything as perfect as her. I never want to let her go."

"Honey, you do have to let me hold her sometime." you hold out your waiting arms.

"No. Did not agree to that."

"Anyways what should we name her?"

"How about Mayday?"

"I love it! Where did that come from?"

"Just from this thing I once read." He winks at his baby Mayday. Knowing one day he'll tell her all about the letter, the multiverse, Miles, and how he realised her mum was the one.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

[poindexters-labratory]

Hurricane William Afton Lore Dump Part 2

CW: discussion of the Vietnam War, American cultural conflicts, nihilism, moral injury, and mentions of drug use

Henry and William continued to work on Fredbear (Fred renamed) and Bonnie, planning out the course of the next few years of their entertainment/restaurant business, William learning business and economics from books (he didn't need to go to an expensive school to learn what he could learn in books he could find at the library for free (well, the library card was about 25 cents)), Fredbear and Bonnie were slowly coming to life. However, the world kept spinning around them.

History Bit: July 28, 1965, President Johnson would send out a national televised speech that he would send 50,000 American troops to South Vietnam. American troop occupation would peak in Vietnam in April of 1969, with over 540,000 troops present.

Henry knew at some point he would get called out to fight, but never knew how to bring it up to William. There was never a right time. Even when he eventually did get his draft call in 1967, he still didn't know how to talk about it, but he had to. William did not take the news well and they had a nasty fight about the frightening situation.

Will thought it was absolute bullshit that Henry had to fight in a place he had no business being in and potentially die, and Henry's only choices were fight in a war or imprisonment. Henry desperately tried to get it through William's stubborn English skull that this is what it meant to be American, and it was his duty and loyalty to his father and grandfather who were veterans to defend his country in whatever way he could, and if he died, then that's what happened. William couldn't do anything to change that.

William joined the anti-war movement soon after and Henry left to be deployed in Vietnam for a year. Whenever Will missed Henry, he worked on Fredbear and Bonnie by himself, so he was in that workshop just about every day.

William does not like things being out of his control. Restrained and infantilized is how he's lived his entire life up until now and his best friend may get taken from him, and he's still leaving him stranded in a strange place for a year. America was a scary place to be in the 60s.

A London teenage boy/young man in the 1960s could live a completely different lifestyle than his post-war era father and they could still have pleasant interactions. William watched people physically fight on the news over "destabilizing American traditions and values" because of the various movements taking place at that time.

(Timeline's video called "1967: The Counterculture Year That Changed the World" covered what was happening in the 60s between America and the UK and the differences between the two countries. That video really gave me a lot of information and insight. It's a 40-minute-long documentary.)

There's something interesting to say about William being English during the height of this cultural divide in America. This is a topic I don't see people in the FNAF fandom talk about other than the odd British joke. William Afton not being American should be a bigger deal than it is in this fandom. He doesn't hold the same values that the American population does around this time. English traditions didn't hold water to the intense American conservatism relating to patriotism, consumerism, and family values. He just so happened to find himself in rural, conservative Southern Utah.

This culture shock was tremendous and terrifying. Being a teenager in London meant being free from having the sort of national responsibility that William's father had thrust upon him in the 40s, and although Edward was bitter about this generational freedom, he wasn't opposed to William having fun and being stupid. Sure, there was conflict between generations, but this was violent. London was bright for the first time in years, hopeful, and the closest he's seen to this kind of fighting was between mods and rockers in the streets.

History Bit: Mods and rockers were an English subculture. Mods (short for modernist) wore suits and were very clean, listened to a variety of music, such as jazz, soul, blues, etc., and rode scooters. The rockers were the rival subculture of the mods, a biker subculture, or a greaser in North American culture. In 1964, there was a national moral panic involving these two subcultures clashing in physical fights within Southern England. William may or may not have been involved in one of these physical conflicts.

Suffice to say, William was a hippie in the 60s. He's always been rebellious, and hey, the hippie community was very accepting, the music was great, and the drugs, fantastic. He grew his hair out, started dressing more androgynously, and the year Henry was gone, he got even taller and matured, now 20 years old, almost 21. He started getting very close with Henry's younger brother, Quincy, who was his age. Michael was three and developing well. Everything was going okay, but he still worried about Henry every day.

Henry was not very pleased with him when he came back, spring of 1968. Having a bunch of people who have never been to war, shaming the efforts he made to stay alive everyday was not great to begin with, now his best friend seemingly agreed with them and looked like them and talked like them. This strain almost broke everything apart, but they held onto each other. They cared about each other, and the massive hug William gave him, crying tears of joy that he came back alive was an experience he wouldn't trade for the world.

Of course, there were still massive differences between the two friends, but it wasn't like they were anything alike in the first place. The differences made them endear the other. But there were some problems, especially concerning Henry's outlook on life after returning home.

Before his deployment, he tended to look toward the brighter side of situations. It's one of the reasons William stuck around for so long while he was facing his "teenage blues". Henry was logical, but he wasn't a cold person. Humanity was a logical positive Henry would always turn to whenever William was drowning in pessimistic dread, pulling him to the other side while his mind lied to him.

But war put Henry in a more nihilistic mindset if anything. Nothing truly mattered in the grand scheme of it all. War made him feel like the smallest possible thing on Earth. His entire life he's held a passive view on the world around him, that he couldn't possibly make a difference because he's just one nobody guy from New Harmony, Utah. His involvement in the Vietnam War made these feelings worse as he watched disaster unfold in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it.

William told him that maybe he couldn't make a difference to the rest of the world. But he did make a difference in Will's life.

Together, they worked in making Fredbear and Bonnie come to life, William charmed (and scared the shit out of) the bank's loan officer, bought and renovated a building in town, advertised, attended business and robotics conferences (and the odd art festival), watched Michael grow up and get a baby brother, there were setbacks and accomplishments, and finally, the day came. Summer of 1971, Fredbear's Family Diner was opened.

Intermission of William Afton Fun Facts!!

William's liking for rabbits came from having an imaginary anthropomorphic rabbit friend when he was little that looked like a shadow with very white eyes and teeth. It disappeared whenever someone came around. Probably unrelated.

He's always wanted to perform either in a circus or in ballet

One of his legs is longer than the other, causing some discomfort while running that got worse as he got older

Will knows how to tumble some, taught by Claire, who was a gymnast. Don't let him anywhere near a trampoline, he'll overdo it. This almost means he's done many backflips off the Diner's stage. Some have been unsuccessful, but most of the time, he lands them.

William can play guitar by ear. Very well.

He is very high energy, under-stimulated most of the time, so he is almost as rambunctious as his children. Making him a great dad to play with.

He listens to a wide range of music, having an insane amount of music selections. Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aretha Franklin, Three Dog Night, Janis Joplin, ABBA, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, The Animals, James Brown, The Mamas & The Papas, Jimi Hendrix and a whole lot more. He loves music. (Projecting)

His favorite movies Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Monty Python skits, 101 Dalmatians, West Side Story, Aristocats, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease, The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, The Fox and the Hound, and The Sword in the Stone (he's a Disney adult)

Part 3 ->

[mental-mona]

A Letter to Non-Jews re: Israel

Jonathan Jaffe

22h

·

A Letter to My Non-Jewish Friends,

Dear Friends,

Please forgive me as I act so boldly as to speak for our collective Jewish community. I am writing in the fear that you may not know what your Jewish friends are currently going through. Surely you have heard the news of violence in Israel and some of you have even been so kind as to express your condolences. In this very lonely time, I cannot thank you enough.

Your Jewish friends and neighbors have spent the weekend in shock, misery and mourning. We are traumatized. Our families are under attack; some are missing and feared dead. Saturday morning began in dread and from there cascaded into frantic WhatsApp texts, panicked calls and constant scrolling through social media. We are not Ok.

If you are accustomed to receiving your news through the heavily sanitized Western media, please know that you are not living in the same world that we currently inhabit. You are not seeing what we are seeing: kidnapped children, naked bodies massacred and dragged through streets, parents murdered in front of their children, the elderly dumped into the back of pickup trucks; pages and pages of images of missing young adults, feared dead or taken hostage in Gaza to be tortured and paraded in the streets. Many young adults were attending a “nature party” music festival, as if Coachella was suddenly infiltrated by dozens of masked gunmen, arriving on machine-gun laden trucks, motorcycles and descending in hang gliders, thirsty for blood. Parents are posting pictures of their children, asking if anyone has seen them to please call them. There are dozens and dozens of such posts. You have not seen the video of the frightened Jewish young boy, mocked, abused and taunted for fun by his terrorist captors. You have not seen people dancing in the streets and handing out candy to celebrate the news of Jewish blood. You missed the Tik Tok videos and live streams of armed gunmen slaughtering parents in front of their children. You don’t know about the houses set afire to burn alive the families huddled within their safe rooms. We have seen all of it. And we know those who filmed it wanted us to see it and shared it with glee. And there is a world in which these videos are distributed in joyful celebration.

Moreover, you might not understand the historical lens with which we receive these images, a history of mutilated Jewish bodies and killing Jews for sport. To say that Saturday was Israel’s Pearl Harbor underestimates the sorrow and rage of the moment. At least the Japanese attackers had the dignity to focus upon military targets. They did not celebrate the animalistic torture of children and families. Candy was not passed out on the streets of Tokyo when the news of dead Americans was received. To see these images of tortured Jews invokes ghosts passed down from our great grandparents and beyond. We bear both the guilt and shame that it has happened again.

Our friends in Israel grieve. I can say without a doubt that there is not a single Jew in Israel who is not connected somehow to someone who was murdered over the weekend. The same goes for many Jews here in the US. Our Israeli contemporaries have been called into reserve duty, to put their life on the line once again. I received a picture from a friend of mine, a 50 year old father of four, with a sheepish look as he once again donned his military fatigues. My nephew is currently sitting on the border, somewhere under a bush, waiting for the enemy to come. Our family is heading into war. We pray for their safe return.

Here in America, your Jewish friends are under siege. Many of us spent the High Holy Days dealing with bomb threats. Did you know that many synagogues had to be evacuated last month? And that this happens to us all the time? Did you know that Anti-Semitic attacks are soaring by double digits each year, with a 36% increase just last year? Do you perform regular bomb sweeps of your preschools? We do. Are you forced to employ professional security teams to protect you around the clock? We do. And each time we do, we need to find the resources or cut from our programming to find the proper funding. Sometimes, it's not enough and we have to call in the police as well. When violence erupts between Russia and Ukraine, neither Russian nor Ukrainian churches must solicit professional protection for fear of attack. But we do. We are threatened by the far left and the far right, those who hearken to Hamas’ call for the destruction of world Jewry and those who march alongside the Proud Boys. We have seen our synagogues attacked and our congregants killed. We do not feel safe.

Today in New York City, those demonstrating in support of Israel were met with a fierce counterprotest of those celebrating Jewish murder. This happened today, in 2023, in our country. Nazi signs were held aloft. Last week, a speaker was invited on to my child’s high school campus, to spout Anti-Semitic tropes of Jews killing Palestinian babies and perpetrating genocide. Many of our political representatives offer infuriating words of moral equivocation in defense of murdering Jews. We hear the whataboutisms and the disinterested shrugs for a region inconveniently stained with blood. But worst of all, so many of our representatives remain utterly silent. Surely a raucous outcry will come when Israel inevitably defends itself. But when Jews are murdered for simply being Jews, and when we American Jews are targeted for the same, the silence is deafening. There are certainly those who have spoken out with empathy and clear denouncement of such cruelty. We are thankful for the light they provide in this time of darkness.

I wish I was in the mood for peace - but I am not. How can one talk peace as children are murdered over Tik Tok? In this moment, we are reminded that unlike our ancestors, we live in a time in which Jews have gained the ability to defend themselves. This power was not given to us but was won through blood. We no longer need to beseech the local feudal lord nor prove our worth to the ruling monarch. We will do it ourselves. On Saturday morning, the UN neatly packed up its tanks and vacated the northern border, lest they come under untidy fire from Hezbollah.

The Jewish state is now beginning to surely, unapologetically defend itself. Vanished is the false security that a racist, ruthless threat can be endured through the occasional skirmish. You cannot make peace with those who distribute candy to children in celebration that yours have been murdered. And now, Israel will act like any other country would if it was invaded by a blood thirsty neighbor and its citizens murdered, tortured, kidnapped and mutilated. It will do whatever it needs to make sure this can never happen again. And when the world inevitably protests the Jewish use of force, we won’t care. We will sadly disappoint those who long for the centuries of meek, defenseless Jews. We are no longer looking for the world’s approval and a condescending pat on the head.

If you want to demonstrate your support, you can simply ask us how we are doing. And if we don’t feel like speaking at the moment, you can sit with us in silence and we will know that you are here. Just know that we are experiencing trauma and that the sights we have witnessed will never be forgotten. We pray that all is done so that such things are never seen again.

On behalf of a mournful Jewish people,

Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep1: Night

First ep of a new season! Not the end of a cliffhanger either, so we're dropped into an entirely new situation: Voyager is flying through a region of space with no stars, planets or anything, just empty blackness that the crew nicknames 'the Void'. They've been in it for weeks, and everyone is going a little stir crazy- some are bored, some are agitated, some are depressed, but no one is doing well.

This is definitely one of those places where last season's excessive nastiness undermined the storytelling here- having them snipe at each other and pick fights would be a more effective way to show that people are having a hard time if they hadn't had them all randomly doing those things for no reason so much last season. (And the anti-Klingon crap especially makes my blood boil, because there's no excuse for that in any context. The whole point of Star Trek is that people are supposed to be better in the future, so having Starfleet people say shitty racist stuff to someone who's their friend and colleague is not okay, and even more egregious when she's sensitive about her Klingon heritage because people used to be so shitty to her about it growing up. Having people casually drop mean racist microagressions, and then never addressing it, is not progressive. Giving it to Tom here is the absolute worst, because he knows how she feels about it- even at his worst, Tom's never been intentionally hurtful to anyone, even people who treat him badly, and I have no idea why they would make him say something so shitty. I can't imagine anyone in the crew being that shitty, but they give it to almost all the characters at one point or another, and it's just like wow. ok Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky, tell me you wish you could be racist and get away with it without telling me you wish you could be racist and get away with it! How bigoted must they be to think that giving characters these kind of lines isn't tearing down the characters or offending the audience??)

The Captain has isolated herself in her quarters since they entered the Void, retreating into depression over her guilt for stranding everyone in the Delta Quadrant. The crew misses her, and Chakotay goes to talk to her to convince her to come back to duty, but she says no and sends him away.

Just when everyone is at their wits end, unknown ships attack them, and use a dampening field to cut Voyager's power so they can sneak aboard in darkness. All of Voyager's lights going out in pitch black, starless space is pretty darn scary, ngl. Neelix is pretty much having a panic attack when Chakotay finds him in the dark corridor, and Chakotay actually being helpful and supportive to Neelix is an awfully refreshing change amid all the obnoxious behavior we've seen of late. As the crew tries to get power back online, Tom and Seven encounter one of the aliens, who stuns Tom, then Seven stuns the alien. (And this episode is the first time we see Tom's Captain Proton holoprgram, which he ropes first Harry, and then Seven, into playing with him.)

Another, larger ship comes by and chases the little alien ships away, and the larger ship's captain says that the little aliens are dangerous and attack his transport vessel all the time, but won't explain why. Janeway, who's come out of her quarters finally, is suspicious. She wants the other alien's side of the story, and goes to the alien in sickbay, and finds out that his people, who are indiginous to the Void, are being poisoned by radioactive waste being dumped from the larger ship. Janeway wants to help, and offers the waste transport ship's captain recycling technology so he'll stop poisoning the aliens in the Void, but he refuses, saying he'll lose all his profits.

Janeway and the crew know they can't just leave and let the Void aliens be poisoned, but if they destroy the wormhole the garbage ship uses to get in and out of the Void quickly, it means two more years of the Void for Voyager. Janeway, wracked with guilt, doesn't want to put her crew through more hell again, and tries to sacrifice herself to stay behind and destroy the wormhole after Voyager gets through. The crew, however, flat out refuse to let her, in a very touching scene where they all refuse to follow her order to leave her behind. They tell her they'd rather spend two more years in the Void than go on without her. Outnumbered, Janeway is forced to stay, and together they figure out a plan to go through the wormhole and destroy it behind them. With a little help from the Void aliens, they destroy the garbage ship, get through the wormhole, and close it behind them. The space battle looks really cool, Janeway has one of her ridiculous 'Die Hard'-esque one liners that she manages to deliever with such conviction it actually seems badass and cool, and, in a rare display of raw emotion on the bridge, the whole crew looks about ready to cry when they finally see stars on the viewscreen again on the other side.

A top-notch episode in almost every respect, the storyline was really strong, and there were lots of good character moments, but it was undercut by having characters treat each other so poorly. From season 4 on, watching Voyager was like spinning a roulette wheel to see if I would get to see the characters I loved in that episode, or mean-spirited caricatures that just upset me. The mean stuff in this one upset me enough to dampen my enjoyment of the good stuff, unfortunately.

Tl;dr: A really strong storyline for Janeway, with great spooky elements, and an environmentalist message. But the emotional impact was undercut for me by the crew being rude to each other again, particularly some shockingly mean lines they gave to Tom, which shouldn't have been in there in the first place, and upset me enough to detract from what was otherwise a superb episode.