#apparently I'm a political blogger now

[may-shepard]

I'm seeing a lot of tariff talk on my timeline. This is the most lucid explanation I've seen of what's at stake and why the threat of tariffs between the three biggest North American countries will be difficult to implement. (That's right, consult your atlas: like Canada and the US, Mexico is in North America, as are a host of other countries including Guatemala, Panama, and others).

I am no political expert, but as far as North American trade goes, tariff talk is likely to be a prelude to some form of renegotiation of USMCA (The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), or as we call it, CUSMA (The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement), or as it's called in Mexico, T-MEC (Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá), which the Trump administration implemented after negotiation with Canadian and Mexican governments in 2020. His claims at the time were that it was a major renegotiation of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Here's what an expert had to say:

“USMCA is 95 percent the existing NAFTA agreement,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “There are provisions in there that cover things like e-commerce and digital services, but with regard to the manufacturing sector, for instance, there’s very little change.”

I am willing to bet that, as far as North America goes, tariff talk will end with a clown car horn sounding and a minor set of revisions to USMCA/CUSMA/T-MEC that will be presented as a big win to those who don't care to do their own research.

tl;dr your bananas, avocados, coffee, and car parts are likely to be okay.

[ered]

in case you've missed it, and I'm assuming most of you have, we're having a presidential election here in Finland. First round is currently going on, so I thought I'd give you a quick run down of our candidates!

(in alphabetical order, party in parentheses)

Mika Aaltola (independent): Has mainly worked in academia and apparently has experience in international politics, which is good for the job. I honestly know next to nothing about this dude, but he seems to positively radiate Just Some Guy energy. What would be interesting about him winning: I have no idea. Chances of winning: Ehhh - but it wouldn't be the first time we get a president from outside the daily politics.

Li Andersson (Left Alliance): current leader of the Left Alliance, former Minister of Education. What most people seem to say about her: "she's clearly the best choice, but has no chance of winning so I won't be voting for her." What would be interesting about her winning: first Left Alliance president Chances of winning: Unfortunately slim. Left Alliance is a small party and half of the country still seems to think they're Evil Communists.

Sari Essayah (Christian Democrats): she's also the leader of her party. Most known for being a former racewalker and religious. What would be interesting about her winning: How the hell did it happen??? Chances of winning: zero.

Pekka Haavisto (Green League): Former Minister of the Environment, International Development, and Foreign Affairs (three different terms, not all at once). He was born in 1958 and hasn't done much beyond politics. He's been in the presidential race twice already too, both times losing to our current president, Sauli Niinistö. What would be interesting about him winning: first gay president. Chances of winning: he made it to the final round twice already, so maybe third time's a charm? He has been polling first this time around.

Jussi Halla-aho (Finns Party): a prominent rightwing blogger, a Slavic linguist by education, and the current Speaker of the Parliament. He's "immigration critical" in the same vein "gender criticals" tend to be. He's is considered something of an intellectual in the rightwing circles despite having the vibes of an anthropomorphic raisin, and has amassed a cult following - who literally call him Mestari (master, but in Finnish the vibes are more a master of a trade and not some dude who spanks you in the bedroom. What would be interesting about him winning: finding out if I can immigrate to Denmark. Chances of winning: none if I can help it, but like I said, he does have a very solid fanbase.

Hjallis Harkimo (Movement Now): best known for being the owner of an ice-hockey team or something. His real name is Harry and for some reason he has been elected into the parliament twice. I assume it's the famous allure of a "successful businessman" or because he's something of a celebrity? Who knows. What would be interesting about him winning: How did it happen? Chances of winning: slim.

Olli Rehn (Centre Party): Served as the Minister of Economic Affairs for like a year under our most fuck-witted prime minister in recent history. Not much else to say about it. Somehow seems older than Pekka Haavisto tho he's actually younger. What would be interesting about him winning: absolutely nothing. He's so dull it's almost offensive. Chances of winning: who knows? Maybe he'll be a dark horse if all other candidates fall flat.

Alexander Stubb (National Coalition Party): Former Prime Minister, and former Minister of Finance. He's ehhhhhh not the worst possible option, honestly, and is on the more liberal side of the Rich Getting Richer party. What would be interesting about him winning: how will he be different from our current (National Coalition Party) president, I guess Chances of winning: last I checked, he was polling second, so I guess it's a possibility?

Jutta Urpilainen (Social Democratic Party): Former Minister of Finance. Social Democrats are one of the biggest parties we have, but they took a while deciding on who to pick. She's alright. Social Democrats are usually fine, and she'a long term Social Democrat. What would be interesting about her winning: uhh... possibly the first president to have released a Christmas album? Chances of winning: I just don't think she's that popular, to be honest. But she might make it into top three at least, like I said, it's one of the biggest parties behind her.

[ingravinoveritas]

Just popping by to say how much I appreciate you. Thank you for always keeping a level head. Even when you're disagreeing or calling out bullshit, you still manage to stay diplomatic and respectful. And of course, you always focus on the important things, the main one being that Michael is David's #1 fan (and vice versa)

Aw, thank you so much for this! I can't tell you how nice it was to get this message in my inbox (and apologies for not replying sooner, as I've been entirely swamped and am now trying to catch up on my Asks).

Given that this was from two weeks ago, I'm going to guess that this is mainly in response to the whole situation with David's BAFTA nom and some of the reactions that have occurred as a result. I think a lot of people have said a lot of clumsy things (looking at you, Neil) and while some may not have meant to take away from David's big moment, that still seems to be what's happened. I absolutely believe David is more than deserving of the nomination and it is long overdue at this point. He should've been nominated for Des, or even before that, his role as Alec Hardy in Broadchurch, but I am so glad he's finally gotten a nomination now.

I think the reaction a lot of people had was borne out of how tied together David and Michael's performances are as Aziraphale and Crowley, and the thought that if David were to be nominated for that specific role, then one hopes that Michael will also be nominated for his role as Aziraphale at some other point in the future.

But to your comment about my keeping a level head, I find it interesting that, in the midst of all the theories flying around about why Michael wasn't nominated and questions I got to that effect, this post showed up in the tags the same day you sent me this Ask (blog name is cropped out):

This was very obviously in reference to this Ask that I received and had answered just prior to then. This person didn't even have the nerve to mention my blog by name, but had no problem calling me an "rpf fucker" (really nice...). The question pertained to whether Michael's lack of a BAFTA nom could have been because of Anna's off-putting social media posts prior to the announcement, and I indicated in my response that I did not believe this was the case. I am not about to place blame on Anna for something that she had no part of--which I suppose this person was hoping I would do, to give credence to their ludicrous claims of sexism--and I made my position on the matter clear.

So to your comment about me disagreeing, this was exactly what happened...and yet this person had to twist what I wrote so far around (to the point of lying by omission) just to make their point. And yes, I took that Ask seriously, as I take every Ask/Anon that I get seriously, even the ones that attack me (which is also why it takes me for-freaking-ever to answer the questions in my inbox). According to the above blogger, however, instead I should've responded to the person who sent the Ask by mocking them and telling them how ridiculous and stupid they are. Because just politely disagreeing while still allowing someone the space to share their thoughts is so horrible, but telling someone to fuck off is apparently the height of discourse. Ugh.

In any case, I am very much grateful for this message, and for you and everyone else who follows my blog and has been so lovely. It's your encouragement and kindness that gives me the drive to keep posting, so thank you! ❤️❤️

[justalia]

hi, i hope this isn't a stupid question, but how is it that dominant states don't manifest like most bloggers used to preach that and now apparently they claim that it isn't true, like if that were the case why would me falling out of a state cause my manifestation to slow down, or how does what i want materialize if dominant states don't manifest? like don't i have to go back to the state every time i think of it to make it a home/dominant? (i rly hope this doesnt come off as rude, i'm just politely confused)

it’s okay to be confused.

the basic principle of the law is that SELF gets expressed constantly and continuously.

the reason why i never related to the whole “dominant state manifests” it’s because i’ve seen my state get reflected instantly even right after i was crying about my circumstances.

the dominant feeling neville talks about is the feeling of I Am which is more dominant over the feeling of I WILL be.

i think that got lost “in translation” but the point is that SELF is constantly reflected, if you frequently get back to the state of having your desire (bc why wouldn’t you? you actually have it and it makes u feel good) that is how your desire gets materialized.

[alephskoteinos]

So something, uh, interesting happened while I was asleep last night. At 3am GMT, the Facebook page of my blog, Aleph's Heretical Domain, was sent a message by a woman named Jennifer Mezzetta, otherwise known as Jennifer Crepuscolo, the apparent leader of the Union of Italian Satanists. It seems she saw my article about her organisation, and was none too happy about it. So she sent me this:

And just for posterity this is her:

This all started when Vice wrote an article covering the Union of Italian Satanists, see below:

And then I noticed Queer Satanic had a thread on that article in which they explored some content from the USI's website that the Vice article, for some reason, did not see fit to cover. Among those things is Jennifer's apparent support for National Socialism (Nazism) and the USI's belief in "the noble Gentile race" as the descendants of Satan.

This lead me to decide that I should do my own research and cover the subject in more depth in my own article, "Italian Nazis In Black: An analysis of the Union of Italian Satanists":

This is what Jennifer thinks is "dishonest" and could "lead to slander". The thing is, though, this is just on its face nonsensical. First of all, it looks like she's not even accusing me slander, rather she's accusing me of saying things that "could lead to slander". That is surely not a legal charge. And second, it's only "slander" if I made up what I wrote about and what I say is false.

You know, I would have assumed that someone like Jennifer Mezzetta Crepuscolo would be just fine with people exercising their freedom of speech, but I see that perhaps she and her circle aren't tough enough to handle criticism. Put it this way: they write about being persecuted by Christians. Now I would think that someone writing a blog post discussing things that they actually said on their website would be far less pressing than the ongoing persecution of Satanism.

And I may be unfamiliar with Italian law on the subject but I am very certain there is no case to be had here. It's only slander if I made it up and it's false. It is not. How would they prove otherwise? They'd have to prove in court that their website does not say what it says. And let me just show you some screenshots from their website from Queer Satanic's thread.

I doubt Jennifer is reading this post, but is the Union of Italian Satanists prepared to prove in court that these examples for instance are a mistranslation, or that the text itself was somehow manufactured by her critics? And that's not all. My article has discussed far more about their website than just these screenshots. Any serious case is going to have to hinge on Jennifer and her organisation proving that they did not write what we have seen them write. I also believe that this means that, if there is any case at all and it is performed to any degree of confidence, then it will probably devolve into an argument in court about Jennifer's political opinions, which means that she could be expected to justify her support for National Socialism, or forced to answer for any attempt to deny that support.

So, what do you think is more worthwhile for Jennifer: leaving some rando blogger be with his time writing about things, or being made to answer for her positive opinions about Nazism in public? At the moment I'm expecting nothing, but I want it known and on record that this is nothing more than a weak and obscure organisation going out of their way to try and intimidate Satanists into silence for criticizing their statements. I would very much like to see their efforts come to nothing and be shown for the petty repression of dissent that they are.

[orossii]

hi! first of all, love you blog and your artwork is wonderful! secondly, i don't really have anyone to discuss this with, so i thought, i might as well bother a stranger on the internet. i recently came across dmitry orlov, a russian-american analyst-writer-blogger. while i disagree with him on a lot of things, he has rather sharp humor (the title of this post alone sure is something) and a strong conviction that the us is going to collapse a-la the soviet union, probably even worse. such predictions are usually met with an eye-roll, and i made a "pfft" sound and rolled my eyes as well. but then i come across an article stating that 50% of the respondents in the us expect no less than a civil war (!) in just a few years. where did this come from? is it just uber-maga people or what? along with other things, this type of info makes me scratch my head. what do you think?

thank you so much for the kind words and this ask @haissitall! i'm always open to messages and questions, though I can be a little spotty when it comes to answering sometimes. i'm unfamiliar with dmitry orlov but what i'm seeing of his work is very interesting so i'll try to backread some of his articles and keep up with his work going forward.

i found his article where he outlines the indications that the US is close to collapse and agree with them completely. the one i found was published in 2018 too, before the ukraine proxy war and the economic devastation and political polarization that exploded during COVID had even happened yet. i don't make the claim that i'm a geopolitical or economic expert by any stretch, but from my sort of above average level of understanding i think the US is absolutely in a state of free fall that i can't see taking much longer than another couple of years or so to really become fully apparent domestically. i'm going to put this reply under a cut because it ended up being pretty long. sorry for the text wall, this is just something i've wanted to put into words for a while now and you gave me an excuse to do so lol

so. the US dollar has been, up until recently, the world's reserve currency, meaning that much of international trade is reliant on a country having large amounts of US dollars in order to buy and sell goods internationally. from what i understand, this means that the US can leverage predatory loans against the global south via the IMF, whose terms entail that they agree to devastating economic austerity measures and buyouts of their national industries if they're to survive. this means that the US can plunder these countries for its own financial gain while also outsourcing domestic labor for a fraction of the cost. as a result of the US's heavily financialized imperialist economy, industry (and the skilled labor jobs that accompany it) have largely left the country, and our domestic economy now revolves around finance

to put that another way, americans that used to benefit from well-paying industrial jobs found themselves growing rapidly poorer as the reagan era delivered the death blow to labor unions and the subsequent flight of american industry to the global south made the domestic economy increasingly reliant on jobs in disposable, low-paying unskilled labor positions in the service industries, tech, and non-productive professional-managerial positions like doctors, office workers, and teachers. this means that the US working class had less economic power over the means of production, effectively crushing most of the working class's leverage to demand reforms or wage revolution against the ruling class of capitalists who derive their income from finance

this new, defanged working class is entirely dependent on the ruling class for their day to day survival. the cost of living is dramatically disproportionate to the income of most american families, so in order to pay for things like houses, cars, healthcare, education, and various day to day expenses, we have to take on predatory loans with high interest rates. this, in turn, allows the big banks to extract much of the meager wealth earned by the working class in order to enrich themselves exponentially. due to the endlessly greedy nature of capitalism, every year the working class grows poorer and more disenfranchised as the cost of living increases and the ruling class devises new ways to squeeze pennies out of people who are already largely a missed paycheck or two away from not being able to pay their bills

part of this form of capitalism's leverage over the working class is what's referred to in marxism as the reserve army of the unemployed-- this is a pool of unemployed workers that can be selected from at the ruling class's leisure in order to quickly fill vacancies in these poorly paying unskilled or low-skilled job positions. when workers are easily replaceable they'll do whatever they can to hold onto employment even if it means tolerating poor working conditions, low pay, and insufficient benefits. homelessness and incarceration is the implicit threat that keeps this neo-feudalist engine oiled and the people obedient

when a large proportion of the population is poor and the standard of living declines every year for people of the so-called middle classes, you naturally have a lot social instability that emerges. which is where the culture war comes in. i don't think it's a coincidence that the race to more deeply distinguish the cultural ideologies of the republican and democratic parties coincided with american de-industrialization. the ruling class needed to create a sort of good cop-bad cop dynamic for the people to project their angst onto. if you're a democrat, you're expected to blame the republicans for your ever-increasing misfortune, and the inverse is true of republicans. they advance intentionally divisive and increasingly drastic cultural positions that are guaranteed to repel a certain target subsection of the population while pairing that position to the core belief system of another subsection of the population. races are decided by where politicians stand on cultural issues such as abortion or gun rights, and while those issues are of course relevant to public consideration, both parties are united in advancing the economic interests of the imperial rent-extracting finance capitalists that fund their campaigns in relatively equal measure, depending on who is currently in power

there's a strong incentive to deepen the culture war every year, because the same messaging doesn't work forever. they have to create new fronts and inflame rhetoric more and more in order to hold peoples' interests. as a result, you end up with a population that's extremely individualistic, highly ideological, and loaded with contempt for other people within their class. they're so busy calling the other side fascist that they fail to realize that they're already living in a fascist country that's upheld by neo-feudalist and neo-colonial rent extraction policies as well as non-stop war and political interference abroad. in congress, neither side is able to concede to one another or agree on anything of substance so the only thing that really gets passed is funding for the US war machine

this is the domestic context the US is working with at the same time it started to realize that new economic rivals to its hegemony were starting to emerge. china in particular is set to surpass the US as the wealthiest country on earth within five years or so because of the unprecedented buildup of their productive industrial capacity that the US itself invested in because of the immediate promise of cheap outsourced labor. russia is a massive oil-producer with enough oil supply to easily provide europe with an alternative to more expensive US-owned oil, which was the purpose of the now-destroyed nordstream pipelines. iran is rich in a number of resources including oil and natural gas and serves as a military counter-balance to US domination over the middle east

the US, being almost completely de-industrialized and totally reliant on extraction from its imperial subjects in the global south for its industrial production, absolutely 100% can not under any circumstances tolerate the existence of a competitor to its highly aggressive foreign trade strategy. china and russia aren't without fault of course, but they've historically engaged in relatively straightforward, equitable trade with the leadership of the global south. they bring in affordable commodities while investing heavily in local infrastructure in order to increase domestic industrial capacity by providing them with resources and education on how to build and maintain their own factories and railways. they also don't meddle in their political affairs with assassinations and media manipulation, impose unpayable debt on developing nations, or use the threat of military intervention to coerce them into unfair trade deals. russia even helped syria, a key russian trade partner, militarily fight off US-backed forces seeking to overthrow its government, which would have happened were it not for their assistance

in the 20th century the US employed a divide and conquer strategy to pit the soviet union and china against one another to prevent them from forming a bloc, but by targeting russia, china, and iran all at the same time, they've catapulted all three into an iron-clad alliance that the US has no way of disrupting. the supremacy of the US dollar is falling rapidly as the neocons that run our foreign policy realize that they underestimated russia's economic resilience that comes with being an industrial power. the sanctions they imposed after goading russia into a military intervention in ukraine only hastened the emergence of a new multipolar world order that is already serving as a far more attractive counterbalance to the mafia-style US-led international order

i was utterly shocked by how little time it took for one-time US lapdogs turkey, india, and saudi arabia to start jumping ship and turning toward the eurasian axis. the EU and NATO states (aside from Turkey) have proven themselves to be total puppets to the interests that rule the US empire and are voluntarily de-industrializing themselves by cutting themselves off from russian oil all at once, and de-militarizing themselves all at once by sending all of their military infrastructure to ukraine to be blown up by the russian military. this is utterly catastrophic for the US. the global south is oriented more and more toward the russia-china-iran axis the longer the US drags out this unwinnable proxy war that it paradoxically can't afford to lose

europe is going to collapse without the russian oil needed to keep its industry and the US will be close behind. the US empire's capacity to maintain the hundreds of expensive military bases that pepper the globe will decrease dramatically when it can no longer rely on a constant inflow of imperial rents from a newly industrializing global south. the eurasian and eurasian-aligned countries will benefit from cheap and abundant energy while the european and american people will face a full scale economic disaster. people will freeze to death in winter, lose their houses and life savings, struggle with rampant food shortages. i feel like the US will probably try to re-industrialize, it seems like biden's nodding in that direction, but it would be impossible to do so in time for a collapse that in my largely uneducated opinion will probably be here in the next three to four years, if that, given how already pushed to their limits the people were at the start of this thing. no idea what happens from there. it'll be a total fucking nightmare but will ultimately, in my view, precipitate the re-industrialization and gradual socialist development of the west. i'm not looking forward to it but it needs to happen, the US empire is well beyond its expiration date and the slaughter has to end

if you'd like to read more about this from people i keep up with, i'd start with michael hudson and garland nixon. the above is a poor articulation of their analysis along with various others, so if you want to get it from the source, i'd start with them. i remember being profoundly impacted by this piece by michael hudson when i was still getting my bearings re: the ukraine proxy war, i think it's a good jumping off point

[mystacoceti]

okay I actually finished Beautiful Where Are You like a week ago. significantly better book than i felt previously. What changed is that all the seemingly nonsensical modulations in style, the ironically bad but still plain bad prose and the inconsistencies in character finally clicked into place and I saw the pattern. I'm still not sure I'm particularly impressed by its aesthetic and political points but I am absolutely certain of its cohesiveness and Rooney's ability, which I now realize is much more than I have been able to say about a lot of contemporary novels

most interesting thing about the book far and away is how carefully constructed around The Rooney Phenomenon the book is, which either Rooney the actual person uses to try to lull or infuriate you depending on your opinions about her public perception, and in doing so hides her actual aesthetic and thematic preoccupations. for Rooney I assume this means she can now pheonix out of her bloated public reputation, like the unharmed insides of burnt marshmallow.

for me what it means is I went looking around at other reviews to see what people made of the book and found out that apparently nobody managed to catch the subtext that completely changes the meaning of the text of the book and I mean fucking nobody but another blogger rando like myself. there must, of course, be other people, but (apparently! apparently!) that doesn't include most professional reviewers, working fiction writers and even some (ivy league!) English professors. sitting in the calm after the absolute lightning strike of the revalation of the meaning of the book, I walked around the factory floor wondering what it even meant that all these people weren't even capable of close reading and were just copy-pasting their general complaints and praises about either an author or an author's public reception. who knows which

[angelsaxis]

13 were shot. Ten are dead and three have non fatal wounds. The white supremacists who commit these atrocities are always radicalized online now, but everyone and their mother will pretend like this was an isolated event that has no bearing on the prevalence of white supremacy in society and no connection to online radicalization.

Even the way people are radicalized is approached in an extreme way that I'm convinced is meant to purposely frustrate any attempts to do something about white radicalization online. Everyone thinks a white kid just suddenly dives into these mysterious white supremacist circles and comes out a little bit later willing to murder Black people because of the color of our skin.

It starts with All those 4chan sites and subreddits and that do that """ironic evil""", all those jokes from edgelords where apparently it's okay to dehumanize Black and Jewish people as long as they're being """ironic""" about it. Entire TV shows where Black people and Jews' pain is just a punchline or a gag. These people are desensitized to everything we've suffered through and the real kicker is that lots of y'all on here or twitter or Facebook or fucking Pinterest refuse to just admit that the edgelord humor, the """ironic""" shit, all lead to white supremacist enclaves online where white boys are then exposed to shit like the great replacement and incited to act violently because they believe that Black people Jewish people immigrants and everyone who dares not to be white and Christian is coming to steal their land steal their babies and murder them in their beds.

Because the amount of planning and foresight it takes to attack and murder Black people who live hours away from you is something that's created online. It starts with the dehumanization of Black people for shits and giggles. He attacked Black people in a grocery store in a food desert, knowing that the long term effects wouldn't just be the the deaths of those community members, but also the fear of Black people across the country to even get out of our fucking homes. I'm seeing Black mutuals on here talking about how they don't want to leave their homes until things die down. We're going to try and create nets of solidarity and those attempts are going to be frustrated any number of ways and the shooter knows this because he spent probably a third of his life just going through online treasure troves describing all the ways he could make Black people suffer.

And the worst part is that with the sheer complexity and efficiency of the surveillance state, none of those eyes will be on those white supremacist safe havens. They'll fucking be on Black people regardless of what we're saying, regardless of whether what we're trying to do is politically motivated or not. We're the ones who are silenced and shut down and ignored and actively censored in favor of upholding white supremacy in all its forms. Remember when Black bloggers on here were accused of being Russian spies and had their accounts deactivated, but neo Nazis on this site were and still are able to exist with no problem? Are any of you aware of the sheer number of times a Black blogger is deactivated on this site alone for not being nice in how they talk about racism, but the white supremacists who harass and stalk them are allowed to have as many victims as they want? It's like this on all social media. Twitter, Facebook, probably even fucking Pinterest. It's not difficult to trace or find where white boys go to become raging terrorists but all the energy by the corporations and the state and normal fucking people online is dedicated to silencing Black people in any way possible.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Countdown to MegFlix

Who would have thought that many of the "theories" we heard about Meghan Markle would sooner or later turn out to be true? I realize that there are a handful of you "OG" Tumblr bloggers who "called it" from the beginning, but honestly I'm still shocked.

I distinctly remember the moment when I laughed out loud at a breaking news report (via my radio) that Prince Harry was dating an American actress (a name I'd never heard) and she was hopping on a flight to the UK blah blah... I laughed and said to myself, "...American actress, I don't think so!"

Then there was the engagement announcement/interview. I exercised my right to free speech in the comments section on YouTube by sharing that they seemed "fake/artificial" because authentic couples just don't need to claw and paw one another like that in public. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I felt they were trying too hard to sell the relationship. The blow back for my dissenting comment was swift. I was warned that Prince Harry was reading and reporting every critical comment. I thought, "grow up!" Slowly but surely a few content creators began to point out the crimson red flags flying in that interview . I commented on one creator's video that the entire relationship seemed fake, to which the content creator replied, "it's a fraud, we just don't know why." That video, like so many videos and websites (created by people who intimately knew her), was swiftly removed.

I typically don't follow celebrity culture, so I couldn't figure out why I was motivated to do my own research on this unknown woman. I have long respected the BRF, but I also think it was the loss of my mother during my own childhood that created a sense of genuine concern for the family. I now realize that she triggered those of us who have experienced even the smallest doses of narcissist abuse.

Meghan and Harry have made many mistakes, but if I had to pick 1 major miscalculation--- it was their juvenile obsession with the everyday critic. We were not allowed to dislike Meghan Markle, period. If we expressed our dislike about anything related to Meghan Markle, we were categorized as "haters who must be de-platformed and destroyed."

Little Meg never learned that people are allowed to reject her and also to reject anything and anyone she offers to the world. No one can be made to like a person, including the unlikeable actress named Rachel Meghan Markle.

Meghan's inability to tolerate criticism and her use of brass knuckle "PR tactics" of intimidation and bullying (including doxing innocent people in the Daily Mail) only caused critics to become more outspoken and more creative in the exercise of free speech rights that Harry deemed "bonkers."

There is still so much more to their "story" that just doesn't quite add up. Tomorrow we will get the final tranche of Meghan's slickly produced clapback-gram. This lady definitely doth protest too much.

Harry's having a ball in materialistic California and Meghan is living her best life pretending to be a Disney princess named CopyKate. She must have a book of Catherine photos that she uses like carbon paper to plan out her own photo and video shoots. Imitation might typically be the highest form of flattery, but Meghan crossed the line between the sane and insane a long time ago. It's now apparent to the entire world that she doesn't know the difference between fantasy and lies.

The Hollywood and political backers egging them on are not friends. Sure they can provide shelter, "character references," a few gigs, even business loans, but the world still has a right to critically analyze the product and reject it. Meghan has been resoundingly rejected on the world's stage, but she will never change because she will never accept that her harddrive is defective. Unless she's prepared to accept that she has psychological problems that include narcissist sociopathies, it will always be more of this:

If only she had the discipline and integrity to go far away and be very quiet, return all the titles, and live her life attached to the only title that (supposedly) matters to her. Unfortunately we are about to be invaded with markle social media campaigns because she's an image addict. She'll never learn that everyday people are not like her. We understand that Instagram and Hollywood are NOT real life. No matter who you marry or what kind of cosmetics you choose to wear, a new name or brand names only serve to amplify the unlikeable personality.

So, as we reach yet another major turning point in the destiny of this duo, I'd like to document a few things we once "heard" from someone (a male friend) close to their megxit. We may never confirm or deny, but it's still a thought provoking list:

1-He (Harry) is her (Meghan) victim.

2-The UK surrogate did not want to release her custody privileges. (Who could blame her?)

3-They don't have a "traditional" marriage but they are together.

4-Harry is with Meghan in her efforts to hurt his family. They are united in these efforts.

5-Harry needs the hard fall.

6-He is trying to get her set up in California.

Let it never be forgotten that Meghan Markle threatened to murder Harry's baby in retaliation for the humiliation she suffered at Royal Albert Hall through a public booing, followed by Harry's refusal to hold her hand at the exact moment she felt needy.

From the Comment Section:

[jackalsprey]

hey, disabilities (canon or head canon) aren't fucking angst fuel for your fan works, asshole

Hooray! My first hater ask! I MADE IT GUYS! I'M A REAL TUMBLR BLOGGER!

Ok, in all seriousness, I need to know: who the hell is this about: Toby? Or Henry?

Listen, if you're the person who made the rant on the ableism in the TTTE fandom regarding Henry then...congratulations. Guess what? You actually touched me. You made me change my mind. But also guess what? My Henry IS a lot more than his PTSD and past issues. And I'm sorry if I haven't made that apparent yet in the stories I've posted. Just today, I made a list of story ideas involving Henry to showcase more of his personality: his badassery, his sharp tongue, his kind nature, of course his love for the forest, and his relationships with all the others in the railyard. I plan to post a lot more in the future, just not now as I am in the middle of a huge personal change in my life.

Now, if this is about Toby...well, here's the thing. TOBY IS ALSO MORE THAN A DISABILITY IN MY WORLD. ALL PEOPLE, REAL AND FICTIONAL, WITH DISABILITIES ARE MORE THAN THEIR DISABILITIES. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HAVING A DISABILITY IS ALL MY TOBY IS. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO HIM; him being in a wheelchair is a minor part of his character. In the end, it's just he gets around. I have no plans to turn it into a angsty, character arc. Yes, in the post where I discussed Toby's muscular dystrophy, I did phrase it in a way that makes it seem like a big angsty part of him. And I apologize for that. If you'd like, I can even make a whole separate post on this, explaining my headcanons for this wheelchair and how it affects Toby, albeit in the most MINOR of ways. I apologize for the way I depicted Toby's muscular dystrophy in that post, and I have every intention on explaining it more clearly if people want.

Thank you, my dear Anon. I don't know who you are, but thank you for bringing my mistakes to my attention. I will try my hardest to fix them in future posts. But please, do not use any more insulting words to describe me. If there is a serious issue about my character headcanons and AU that is problematic and I do not realize, please let me know in a polite way. But all the same, thank you.

[onewomancitadel]

Does it ever grind your gears when you read a fanfiction and the author writes Cinder as a power hungry idiot? It almost kills my enthusiasm to read their stories, not gonna lie.

Well let me give you some context for the sort of R/WBY fan I am:

Started watching during V1

Cinder and Jaune early favourites. Weiss as well because I love fussy princesses. Though ironically I actually take issue with Weiss and her bigotry against the Faunus more than I do the killing on Cinder's part, because I can tolerate villainy, but villainy with honour and respect

A Cindemptionist as early as V4

My absolute favourite volumes are V4-V8

I stopped reading the R/WBY subreddit after V5 because of the way so many users celebrated Cinder's 'death'

I stopped reading a lot of R/WBY blogs because they take Cinder's death as a foregone conclusion, either through redemption (atonement = death I guess) or because she's a useless bitch. This was even when I went on blogs not to do with Cinder at all, like for other pairings I had an interest in

So I put the question to you: how much of fandom do you think I get along with?

I can say off the top of my head in terms of personal positive experience, there are some bloggers I can think of that I still read and during V8 I still visited even if I had some disagreements about surrounding stuff, otherwise they're cool and also had good Cinder opinions. So I'm not special and there are lots of other people with good opinions too whom I agree with.

I am also aware though that most of those bloggers don't ship Knightfall so I try to, again, stay in my corner doing my own thing. I don't want to annoy anybody.

I don't know, I don't read much fic habitually for R/WBY, I prefer writing. I sort of do one or the other in fandoms I'm in so that contributes to things. I also have my particular takes on things, and again, I prefer the recent volumes so I'm not into Beacon-era characterisation.

I think it's unfair of me to comment on fanfic when I am a fic author. If they choose to write her a certain way that's their prerogative, and like I can write the things I want they should write what they want.

I already feel really self-conscious shipping Knightfall, especially when Jaune/Pyrrha is so predominant or taken for granted, or Jaune/Weiss, or Jaune/Ruby, so like, I don't want to piss on someone else's parade.

I do think that there are frankly misogynistic renderings of Cinder I'm not interested in reading. Bad writing is one thing, actually irredeemable gender politics is not.

I have my reading of the canon though and I think that her power-hunger has always had a degree of nuanced motivation as well as desperation. The desperation is the key part. Why would she be desperate? Why does she not get along with Salem's other underlings? Why is Tyrian pivoted as being worse than her? What do you do with your main baddie when a worse one is revealed? This was everything apparent back in V4, this is why I was on the Cindemption choo choo train early on.

I do think there is some change in perception of her character after V8 did the backstory reveal (which many Cinder fans patiently awaited for many years) so that's only going to be influencing recent fic now.

Is that a tempered enough response? I'm a weirdo in the corner, if anything I'm the aberrant thing here. I don't want to be mean.

[oriana-la-fay]

"Wait! Before you shoot, don't I at least get to know what I've done to deserve to die?!" I ask desperately grabbing the door frame in an attempt to steady myself as I nearly faint with panic.

Harry pauses, appearing to consider as he eyes me wearily, the gun remaining steadily pointed at my head. Apparently deciding there's no harm in keeping me alive a few extra seconds to tell me, he says, "You make a post on social media complaining about overpopulation and the effect it had on Earth's resources, siting reasons why the population needs to decrease and giving a few ideas on how to go about it. Your post sparks The Massacre as the survivors now know it as. After your post, groups begin to form, achieving massive support, taking over the debates in politics and spreading across the globe. Slowly, leaders and supporters of these groups take over their respective governments, waiting until there are enough of them in power and then striking. Only 20% of the Earth's population survived. Society collapsed. Wars over resources began, women became second class citizens again, disease runs rampant, the population is slowly dwindling. The human species is predicted to die out. All over a post you so thoughtlessly made."

My first reaction is disbelief. How could I, a blogger with a mere 150 followers, start something so devastating? Disbelief turns quickly to anger as my temper rises upon hearing history blames me simply for making a single post that I'm sure I never expected to be noticed, much less start something such as The Massacre, and I physically bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming at Harry bloody Potter standing in front of me while he holds a gun to my head of all things. With a deep breath in through my nose, I push the anger away and quickly try to think of a way out of this situation. The moment the thought of, "Making sure that post never happens is really the easiest way to make sure The Massacre never happens," I suddenly understand. Well, I don't quite. Not about why it's Harry Potter at my door and he's holding a gun instead of a wand and that I'm apparently a book character, but I understand why he's there and why he's going to shoot me.

Instantly, a calm acceptance of some sort starts to seep through me as my eyes shift from the muzzle of Harry Potter's gun to his bright green eyes and nod once to him, as both a thank you to him for explaining and letting him know that I understand. I watch as his eyes harden and see his finger slowly tighten around the trigger before the world goes black.

One day, you get a knock on your door. When you open it, you see the protagonist from your favorite book standing there, wide-eyed. “I know you won’t believe me,” they say, “but you’re the main character of my favorite book. I know how it ends and I’m here to change it.”

[thestuckylibrary]

I just finished a fic that unexpectedly ended up demonizing my career for no apparent reason, so I'm kind of in a funk. Do you know any fics where either of the boys, but preferably Steve, is a journalist and actually loves his job? Even a freelance writer. I've already been through your author! tags so not those, please. I know I've read some where Steve was a political journalist / blogger and was really good at it, but I can't find any now!

here are some journalist/reporter!stucky recs for you

Off The Record by Brenda

“This is a serious coup, James. Steve Rogers has never sat down with a member of the press and given an interview. Ever. Do you know how rare that is for the fourth-string star on a cable reality show, much less the biggest movie star in the world?”

Embracing the Beast by llenorion

Five years ago the heir to Barnes Genetics returned home from war after being tortured for several months. Among the citizens he was considered the ‘Prince of New York’ due to his wealth, charm, and adoration of the upper and lower class who lived there. Once a charming, reckless, musically gifted young man, the Prince had become a recluse at his large home in the Hamptons. Rumors spread that he had been disfigured and lost his mind. For five years the Prince had refused to speak to anyone other than his close staff. Until last week when freelancing journalist Steve was presented the opportunity by a cryptic guy with an eye patch write the Prince’s story. What Steve initially saw as a chance to launch his career would become a search for redemption, love and hope.

Me + You by mambo (/others)

High school was a waking nightmare for Steve Rogers, whose one highlight was meeting a mysterious guy at the end of his senior year. Years later, he’s asked to go back to high school on a journalistic assignment. He doesn’t expect a familiar face to be teaching his math class.

(A Never Been Kissed-inspired AU that you do not need to know the source material for, and which aims to be less creepy than.)

If We Are Ready To Make This Something by EllaWinchester24

The AU I’ve been dying to write- protective!cop!Steve, twink!reporter!Bucky who loves to take risks like personally meeting criminals in disguise for his stories. When the two meet, something definitely ignites. In the best way.

Investigative Journalism by GoodbyeBlues

When gossip reporter Bucky Barnes is tasked with finding out more about a rumoured engagement for one of the famous Rogers brothers, he jumps at the chance to spend a week with Steve Rogers when the opportunity falls into his lap (or, actually, when Bucky falls into the opportunity. Literally.) Unfortunately, the more time he spends with Steve, the less he seems to want to write his exposé. Especially when his tell-all would be devastating to his new ‘boyfriend.’ …But those feelings are just pretend, right?

Blue and White and Read All Over by aurilly (WIP, /others)

Mild-mannered reporter by day, superhero by… other parts of the day.

The one where Captain America has a day job, Bucky spends most of his time with superheroes and supervillains, and nothing is quite as normal as it seems.

[ecotone99]

[MF] I'm an old man.

I’m an old man.

Okay, I’m not that old. I’m only seventy-five. I’m being dramatic. They say that the seventies are the new fifties. But, I’m entitled to being a little grumpy at my age. I’ve earned it.

When I was younger, birthdays earned you new privileges, like buying tobacco (albeit I hate the smell and only occasionally smoke a cigar, which even then I still find it mildly revolting), getting married, joining the military, voting, alcohol, and cheaper car insurance.

But now the doctors inform me that, based on my age and my insurance provider, I’ve earned the privilege of undergoing another test for some disease that’s sure to end my life miserably. Every year I go in for my physical, and every year the doctor runs a complete battery; cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, hearing, prostate, bone density, and on and on.

I see a dermatologist annually owing to my fair complexion; a trait I inherited from my mother who had strawberry blonde hair and a spattering of freckles that ran up and down her cheeks. And every three years I have to drink that God-awful Crystal Light and apple juice concoction, shit my brains out for two days, and then get little cameras inserted up my ass and down my throat. If it wasn’t for the drugs, I’m not sure I’d enjoy it much.

Or would I? When you get old, sometimes you wonder about these things. I’m not gay (and I don’t have a problem with it, mind you), but these thoughts run through my head on occasion as I get older.

What if I actually enjoyed it?

Maybe I would have when I was younger and a bit more open to those kinds of things. Apparently, the prostate, that little walnut-sized gland near your bladder, is also called the “male G-spot.”

All I know is that on occasion, when the doctor sticks his fingers up my rectum, I get a little chubby. It’s kind of embarrassing, but if it weren’t for the sterile formality of it all, maybe I’d relax enough to enjoy it.

You see, I never considered these things before.

Just like every time I get some new test. It gnaws away at my mind’s ability to ignore the fact that my time on this earth is coming to an end, something my younger self never once considered as a real possibility. Where death was something that happened to other people, each phone call from my specialist inches me closer to the realization that I’m not a spring-chicken anymore, and I’m one rotten biopsy away from the grave.

So, when the doctor says “you’re as healthy a twenty-year-old,” I always respond (still a little slick between the cheeks), “that’s just great, Doc.”

But who am I fooling?

They say that the seventies are the new fifties, but on Tinder I am old. I’m old, and I’m creepy. At least, that’s what all the young girls tell me.

Swipe right, swipe left? I don’t know how we matched, because I can barely text my wife without transferring my life savings to an African prince. I joke, because they all end up in my spam folder anyway, along with my daughter’s e-mails … why can’t you just call me on the phone like a normal human being, or God-forbid, visit once in a while? I know you have a family of your own and live a couple thousand miles away, but would it hurt to bring them down to get to know their Papa before he chokes?

Online dating is as foreign to me as Ching Chang Chong. Or is that too pejorative of an idiom these days? One thing I’ve also realized is that the older I get, the more bigoted and wrong about the world I am, at least that’s what everyone keeps telling me.

But let me be clear, Chief, it wasn’t me who changed; it was the world.

When I was a kid, these things didn’t have the same context. People weren’t so sensitive. I grew up in New England, for fuck’s sake. If you don’t recall, we fought to end slavery during the Civil War. We championed equal rights, and I even marched to end segregation, and now I’m a bigot? Please, spare me.

I don’t want to get political, but there’s a reason Trump won. I don’t care much for the man, with his gold-plated shit palace and orange skin, but he appreciates what being American used to mean. In a lot of ways, those were the gold-old-days. Those were the days before Twitter, Facebook, and Insta-whatever. Things were simpler: you sent a letter in the mail and then you waited. And when you waited you learned patience. Kids don’t have patience these days. They want everything now, now, now.

The world has changed, and maybe I’ve stayed the same.

A few years ago, we decided we were going to audit an ethics class at a local community college. Being that we are retired and didn’t have to work for food, we thought it would keep us engaged with the world that seemed to be changing daily. At any rate, the professor, some snotty, high-falutin’, thirty-something who couldn’t commit to a PhD, decided he was going to lecture me about objective moral values.

Objective moral values? What’s so objective about values these days when a man can decide to be a woman, and a woman can decide to be a Furry? A Furry. One interesting thing I learned in class: an employee filed an equal opportunity complaint because she not only believed she was a cat, but that she was being discriminated against because there weren’t any litter boxes for her to shit in.

Can you believe that?

Did the world go crazy, or am I going crazy?

One of the advantages of age is that it provides some perspective. A disadvantage is that facts about the world that one picks up in one era may not apply in a subsequent one. It’s not that the facts weren’t facts, but that those facts were time sensitive. What used to be true is not true now. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.

I’m time sensitive these days. I’m sensitive to the fact that I’m not getting any younger.

But eventually, you have to move on. You have to give new things a try. You have to embrace—and I hate to sound so callous, but at seventy, you appreciate the time you had and you appreciate the time you have left—change. It is hard to move on, but, sometimes, the world changes and you just have to hang on for the ride.

So, when Judith messaged me (not sure if it was through Our Time, Zoosk, Elite or Silver Singles, or whatever dating app I ended up contributing practically my entire 401k towards), it was a bit unexpected. I have to admit, it was hard. It was hard to carry on a conversation through my keyboard to some stranger in the internet ether. Hell, for all I knew, she was some Russian hacker trying to steal my e-mails.

I’m kidding.

We decided we’d meet at a local café. We’d have some coffee, maybe some breakfast, and we’d simply talk. That sounded great, honestly.

Because another thing about growing old is that everyone you know is constantly dying. When you’re twenty, it’s one wedding after another. When you’re seventy, it’s one funeral after another. Your address book gets smaller and smaller over time, and conversations become few and far between. You find yourself talking a bit too much to that clerk at the grocery store, or the telemarketer who’s trying to sell you a timeshare.

I give my daughter a hard time, but she has a career, a husband, and children, and I feel a bit guilty expecting anything from her beyond a call on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a wonderful daughter. She’s always trying to get me to move back to Maine, but I’ve grown accustomed to the Southern climate. They keep going on and on about climate change and saying Florida will be sucked into the ocean one day, but that won’t happen until long after I’m dead and gone. I keep telling her not to worry about me, and while she does, she knows I’m too stubborn to leave. But, daughters have a way of softening even the most hardened assholes like myself.

I showed up at the Waffle House a bit earlier than we agreed. Sitting at the booth I was reminded about how nervous I was when I was a kid.

But seventy is the new fifty, right? One thing I appreciate about technology is that it opens doors (both figuratively and non-figuratively). When I was a kid, you had to muster up the guts to approach a girl at the bar, an ice cream parlor, a diner, or the library. You had to introduce yourself while her and her friends pretended not to notice, but which made you even more nervous and uncomfortable. You had to invest an inordinate amount of time and resources into the act of dating that, probably, would be a waste of time in the end. It was a shot in the dark. You’d discover something about her personality, her values, her parents, her outlook, three or four dates into it, and you’d be back at square one.

Luck. That’s what it took to find the right one.

The great thing about online dating is you can weed out all those people you know aren’t cut out for you, that don’t share your worldview. It opens up the pool of dating I didn’t have when I was a kid. It’s simple math; the wider your net, the more chance you have of making the catch.

Sitting there I realized I still had my wedding ring on. I hadn’t taken it off for nearly fifty years.

In the bathroom, with a great deal of soap, I worked the ring backwards and forwards. The once smooth band was now sharp and cut into my finger that had grown a size (or two) larger than it was when I had first gotten married. The ring refused to budge over my knuckle. No matter how much I yanked, the damn thing wouldn’t come off. And the harder I pulled, the more I smiled and the more those crow’s feet, winkles, and loose skin scrunched up into an adolescent grin ear-to-ear as I realized I hadn’t taken it for nearly fifty years.

Judith ordered black coffee, two eggs sunny-side up, turkey bacon, and wheat toast. From her purse, she pulled out a shaker of Morton Salt Substitute, and that’s when I saw that she hadn’t taken her ring off either.

submitted by /u/TheTimespirit [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2JbTkMR

[actualaster]

Update about the shooting, other deaths 1/7/2021, posted around 8:50pm CST:

It seems the woman shot was one of the invaders and was shot by police.

[CNN, Reuters, FOX News, AXIOS]

She does NOT appear to be an innocent victim killed during the terrorist attack.

She seems to be a 14-year Air Force veteran and adamant pro-Trumper who may have been descending into political conspiracy theories.

Of the other 3 deaths:

One was a heart attack, from a man who had high blood pressure--likely the excitement of the event was just too much for his heart to handle. He was also a pro-Trumper.

One was a stroke, but I'm not seeing much specific info beyond that right now. Also a pro-Trumper.

The third apparently was crushed during the breach, I'm having trouble finding any other info as of right now.

Also looks like a cop injured has now died

Additionally, Capitol Police made like 13 arrests. DC police claim they've made like 64--the two forces are not the same. That will account for differing numbers people are seeing. I figure that might be useful to know because the different numbers confused me at first, so I'm betting others will also be wondering about it.

I'm brining up the deaths specifically because I think having an idea of what actually happened is extremely important here.

The right will absolutely make martyrs of them, say they were unjustly killed for defending their beliefs. This is inevitable. I've already seen a few people trying to do so.

However I'm also seeing a few people on the left claiming they were unfortunate victims murdered by the invaders. This... doesn't actually seem to be the case (as of right now).

And as you can imagine the narrative of what happened changes rather notably depending on which view you take--or if you take a different view altogether.

I'm not sure if the circumstances of the deaths will end up being super important, but I have a feeling it will at least be semi-relevant since I'm already seeing it impact the arguments on both sides which is why I'm updating specifically with what I've been able to piece together about them.

(As always, double check info yourselves because I'm just a personal blogger trying to keep track of the mess going on in my country, not an experienced reporter and also new info could contradict this in the coming days--hence the blatant date/time info for easy reference)

Holy fucking shit @ whats happening at the Capitol

Uh, so, if you haven't been seeing the news and you're in USA/feel impacted by our politics

Pro-Trump supporters seem to have successfully stormed the Capitol building where congress are formalizing the electoral vote results

2 buildings across the street were evacuated, there was a threat of a pipe bomb that seems to have gotten the all clear though. Other people were taking shelter in their offices under a shelter in place situation

A group did manage to get into the capitol building itself as well (but not far enough to access the reps? Its confusing), it seems they're armed, possibly? Not sure though

This is still developing and its hard to keep track