#ban woke nonsense

[pomefioredove]

boop

summary: booping them + their reactions type of post: headcanons characters: third years additional info: is short, platonic or romantic, reader is gender neutral author's note: this would've been good to post for the tumblr april fool's event but I missed out so you're getting it now instead!

𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

hmm... okay!

trey often navigates his interactions with other students based on his interactions with his siblings

there's an order to human behavior, after all

especially with the underclassmen shenanigans (he's really seen it all at this point; don't ask)

none of his siblings, however, have walked up to him unannounced and booped his nose

not yet, at least?

it seems to make you happy though, so he just smiles

half of his job as vice housewarden is "going along with it"

he's pretty used to nonsense

𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝 ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

he's editing something on his phone the first time you try and doesn't even notice it

...and the second time, and the third

it becomes a sort of routine for you

tentatively trying to see how many times you can get away with it before he finally notices and says something

and it only spirals from there, of course

you'll up to him while he's talking to someone else, boop him, and walk away

(much to the other person's confusion)

does he notice? yeah, of course

do you need to know that he notices? ...maybe not

he likes the attention, just let him have this one

𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫 ⋆˚⸙˖°༄✩⊹

he gnaws your hand off

okay, not really. too messy for him

(and the consequences would be such a headache to deal with...)

but he is all grumpy because you woke him up for that

"What was that supposed to be? -_- Don't do that again,"

rolls over and goes back to sleep

you're lucky he reacted as nonchalantly as he did tbh, lions don't like being pet, and he could've kicked you out of his room in a heartbeat for that

(maybe you get a special pass to be annoying)

note to you: don't do that again

𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 ˚⊹˚₊🕊 ˚✧ ₊

boops you back right away

does he necessarily know what that means? no, but he'll find out soon enough anyway

and based off your body language and expression it seems like a gesture of affection

...which he's all too happy to return

(he's so excited to be touching you affectionately he could explode)

now every time you see each other you end up going back and forth for hours

"boop!" "boop!" "boop!"

that's one sure way to give Vil a headache

(you may or may not end up temporarily banned from Pomefiore for disturbing the peace)

𝐕𝐢𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐭 ˚⊹˚₊🕊 ˚✧ ₊

you'd assume he gets annoyed, right?

well, he's a little surprised at first (people just don't go around touching him, after all)

then he just smiles

"Remember what we said about asking before touching, hm?"

you're lucky he thinks you're cute

(if not a little strange)

like, so lucky

congratulations on being the only human on earth who gets away with casually touching his face like that

𝐈𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 ₊✩‧₊˚⊹༄˚₊모‧₊

well. what do you expect

his eyes widen and his face (and hair) go pink and he internally freaks out (but externally just stands there)

"Um... What was that for?"

Idia might be a little more familiar with the conventions of a boop than anyone else

it's what you do to adorable little animals, right? like kitties and puppies?

so... why are you doing it to him?

if you say you "just felt like it" he might believe you

if you say it's because you think he's cute he will be avoiding you for the rest of the month

good luck!

𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚 ✩⁺₊°⊹ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ☽｡°⊹

blinks.

has zero clue what you meant by that

but you seem happy with yourself so it couldn't have been a bad thing, right?

"I'm unfamiliar with that gesture. Is that a greeting from your home?"

you explain that it's a sort of affection you show towards cute things

"Oh, well... you're quite brave. I'm honored,"

he's definitely all sunshine and rainbows for the rest of the week

he's all but giggling and kicking his feet back and forth

no one really questions him

and he doesn't really explain

(if Sebek finds out you booped the heir to the throne of Briar Valley as if he were a kitty cat he will gnaw your hand off)

𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐞 ✩⁺₊°⊹ ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ☽｡°⊹

pleasantly surprised, doesn't even question it

he is adorable, after all, he can't blame you for wanting to be affectionate with him

boops you back, of course

after all, aren't you just the cutest thing too?

if you try to walk away after booping him he will find you to return the favor

will somehow make it a competitive sport

waiting for you around corners, hiding in every nook and cranny so that he might catch you by surprise and boop you

(he is totally keeping count of who's ahead)

it makes the school a warzone for like a solid week before Silver's pleas to "please be normal about the prefect" finally work

(AKA Lilia gets bored of it and finds another way to be close to you)

[i-dared-myself]

ATEEZ x Ninth Member Headcanons

ATEEZ x reader

Slightly NSFW for but not so much so that I’m marking this 18+

Requested by anonymous: OMG YOU TAKE REQUESTS???? YOUR BLOG IS SO PERFECT Ahem- sorry, I got excited !!! Could I please request an ATEEZ 9th member au headcanons??? I've seen the skz one and now you made me want to see the idea with Ateez too!

Ahhh I’m so sorry to people who made requests before this one! I promise I'm still working on those ones, I just got really excited about ATEEZ!!!

•Hongjoong welcomes you to the group with a warm smile. He leads you to meet the others, and you know it will be chaos when you see them.

•You never feel out of place for a moment. They all make you feel welcome, and you try your very best to return that enthusiasm as you settle into the group.

•Your room is off from the others. Sometimes you like it that way, other times you don’t. It really depends.

•You like it on days where San is looking for someone to bother and Seonghwa isn’t around. You don’t like it on the nights that you have terrible dreamst leave you sobbing into your pillows when you wake.

•When that happens, you push your door open and wander down the dark hallways. Wooyoung is always ready to comfort you, usually by using his body warmth to soothe you to sleep. And he’s not going to say anything if he gets a free cuddle out of it.

•Jongho stays up with you. You don’t mention what happened in the dreams, and he doesn’t press for an answer. Eventually you fall asleep and he doesn’t risk waking you, instead leaving you in his bed.

•Yeosang is always a bit unsure of himself. But then he remembers there’s no cameras around and you need him. So he mutters words of assurance to you and awkwardly pats your back.

•Hongjoong brings you to the kitchen with him. He either makes you a hot chocolate or a tea, depending on your mood. He lets you snuggle up to his side on the couch as you drink it, telling you about his day.

•Seonghwa immediately tugs you into his bed. He covers you in his blankets and coos about how brave you are. Sure it’s a bit ridiculous to be coddled at your age, but you soak up the love regardless.

Yunho listens as you blabber on about whatever it is. You cry into his shoulder as he rubs circles on your back. Eventually you can’t even remember what it is that woke you and doze away in his grasp.

•San groans as you poke him until he wakes up, but is fast to sit up. His brain is too foggy with sleep to really understand what’s happening, but he tosses you over his shoulder before depositing you in your bed and returning back to sleep right there on the floor. It’s the thought that counts, and that helps you.

•Mingi mutters about how he can take your nightmares in a fight, which makes you giggle. He rambles nonsense about how he’s tougher than whatever it is you’re kept up by. He’s silly and makes you laugh when you need it most.

•When your birthday comes around, you barely make it out with your life. You do your live as you were supposed to, and it goes by smoothly. No hiccups or cakes being smushed into faces.

•Then Yeosang calls you into the kitchen, and you’re awestruck by the pile of gifts on the counter, next to the worst cake you’ve ever seen.

•It’s hideous. Your name is scrawled out messily across the top in a colour that absolutely doesn’t match the frosting on the rest of it. There’s a huge crack down the centre, and you’re pretty sure you’re about to cry.

•“I told you it was fucking ugly!” Wooyoung hisses to Yunho, smacking his arm.

•You whisper that you love it, much to their surprise. Hongjoong cuts you a slice before putting it out in front of you. They sing happy birthday to you before you take a bite.

•You’re the only one to eat any of the dessert, because apparently they already ate two entire cakes. They screwed up the others even worse than the one they presented to you and didn’t know how else to discard of the evidence.

•They apologize for not just buying you a cake, and you ban them from ever buying you one. It becomes a yearly tradition for them to bake you one from scratch, and each cake gets better than the last.

•Probably because the first one gives you food poisoning. They apologize numerous times from your hospital bed, but you assure them that you’re fine.

•Your water bottle is covered with stickers. Whenever you travel in the world for a tour, Wooyoung buys you a sticker to remember it. You cry when you lose the bottle, and Hongjoong purchases you a new one.

•The rest of them pitch in to get you a bunch more stickers, until your water bottle is unrecognizable.

•Your room itself was plain when you moved in. The walls were white, the closet was empty, and the curtains were a depressing beige.

•Now, everything is slathered with your favourite colours. Mingi and San help hang the new curtains, while Yeosang and Seonghwa paint the walls. Jongho whines as he pinches his finger putting your new bed together with Hongjoong, and Yunho proudly displays glowing stars on your wall.

•It feels like home in a way you can’t describe, especially when Wooyoung trips and puts a hole in the plaster of your room. Everyone yells at him, and you don’t repair the dent.

•The day Mingi finds a bloody pad in the bathroom garbage is perhaps the most stressful day of your life. Even more so than your auditions and exams.

•He sprints into the living room, waving his arms around. He (thankfully) left it in the bathroom and didn’t touch it. “Someone here is dying!”

Hongjoong jumps to his feet, eyebrows pulling together in concern. He demands to know which member of the group has a deadly disease/alien parasite living inside them.

•You quietly admit it’s your period, and they all freeze. In all their time living with you, it hadn’t occurred to them that you went through cycles. Logically you did, but they never put two and two together.

•Seonghwa (again) coos about what a poor thing you are. You just want to curl up and die as he lifts you onto his lap and announces to the others that you’re so strong and brave.

•To which you tell him you’re not a child and stomp away to your room, slamming the door shut.

•The irony does not escape you.

•They all knock on your door, murmuring about how Seonghwa is an idiot. They promise to make him cook dinner, and anything you desire. Waffles do sound pretty good, so you open your door.

•Seonghwa is shoved closer and says how deeply sorry he is for offending you. San scratches his head and adds that you are so brave and strong.

•They all grown as you slam the door in their faces. They scold him insistently, before Seonghwa and San defend themselves.

•“I’m just saying I would be terrified to find blood coming out of me one day!” San exclaims. Seonghwa murmurs agreement. You peek out of your room hesitantly. He continues, “And having to just go on with your normal life? Yikes.”

•So you forgive them. The waffles you eat that night are fluffy and delicious.

•It’s well-known that ATEEZ is… freaky. They’re wholesome and sweet, but they’re a bunch of nasty freaks (Endearing term). You were shocked the first time Mingi used a microphone as a pretend-dick and jerked it off. That first time San kissed Wooyoung on the lips? You were horrified.

•You’ve grown used to it. You don’t even bat an eye when Jongho thrusts into the air. You’re not quite up to their level, but your face doesn’t heat up at their lewd actions, anymore.

•Although you do get flustered when they drag you into it. You cover your eyes with your hands as Seonghwa’s eyes roll back from where he’s straddled beneath you. You shriek as Yeosang slaps a hand on the wall next to your head, and nearly pass out when Hongjoong’s fingers curl around your throat.

•All of this is part of skits (You’re fairly certain of this, at least) and carefully thought out and planned ahead of time. For the days afterwards, you stay off of social media and ignore your mom’s calls.

•The time you nearly drown is a harrowing event. You take a short walk near the site you’re filming a vlog. You promise Yunho you’ll take security with you before you grab a jacket and follow a trail.

•You’re standing at the edge of a river when you realize your personal guard went on a lunch break. You sigh and turn to return to the group, not wanting to be out without protection.

•Then the dirt beneath your heel crumbles as you tumble into the rushing waters. A scream is ripped from your throat as everything is turned upside down and sideways and-

•You’re pulled onto the riverbank and gasp for air. Your eyes struggle to open, and you hear the panicked cries of the other members.

•“Who’s giving her mouth to mouth?” Yeosang shouts. The others fall into an eerie silence as you try and gather the words to tell them to back the fuck off.

•You manage to peel your eyes open, just in time to prevent San’s mouth from lowering to yours. You push him away before vomiting to the side.

•Hongjoong refuses to do any other filming that day, and brings you back home. Seonghwa cocoons you in blankets and curls up on the couch next to you. Mingi makes you a warm drink while Wooyoung runs his fingers through your hair.

•Jungho is the one to turn a movie on to distract you from your racing thoughts. Yunho dumps a bag of chips into a bowl and places it in front of you, but you’re arms are wrapped up too tightly for you too eat them.

•So Yeosang is the selfless hero who consumes the snack, telling you about how bad they taste and not to worry. When you point out that he could just feed them to you, he conveniently goes deaf from San yelling in his ear.

•And when you have nightmares that night from almost dying, you know you have plenty of people to go to.

Taglist:

@velvetmoonlght

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Conservatives are fringe outliers - and leftists could learn from them

The Republican Party, a coalition between Big Business farmers and turkeys who’ll vote for Christmas (Red Scare obsessed cowards, apocalyptic white nationalists, religious fanatics, etc) has fallen to its bizarre, violent, noisy radical wing, who are obsessed with policies that are completely irrelevant to the majority of Americans.

As Oliver Willis writes, the views of the radical right — which are also the policies of the GOP — are wildly out of step with the US political view:

https://www.oliverexplains.com/p/conservatives-arent-like-normal-americans

The press likes to frame American politics as “narrowly divided,” but the reality is that Republicans’ electoral victories are due to voter suppression and antimajoritarian institutions (the Senate and Electoral College, etc), not popularity. Democrats consistently outperform the GOP in national races. Dems won majorities in 1992/6, and beat the GOP in 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. The only presidential race the GOP won on popular votes since 1988 was 2004, when GW Bush eked out a plurality (not a majority).

But, as Willis says, Dems ��act like it is 1984 and that they are outliers in a nation of Reagan voters,” echoing a stilted media narrative. The GOP’s platform just isn’t popular. Take the groomer panic: 71% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage. The people losing their shit about queer people are a strange, tiny minority.

Every one of the GOP’s tentpole issues is wildly unpopular: expanding access to assault rifles, banning immigration, lowering taxes on the rich, cutting social programs, forcing pregnant people to bear unwanted children, etc. This is true all the way up to the GOP’s coalescing support for Trump as their 2024 candidate. Trump has lost every popular vote he’s ever stood for, and owes his term in the Oval Office to the antimajoritarian Electoral College system, gerrymandering, and massive voter suppression.

Willis correctly points out that Dem leaders are basically “normal” center-right politicians, not radicals. And, unlike their GOP counterparts, politicians like Clinton, Obama and Biden don’t hide their disdain for the radical wing of their party. Even never-Trumper Republicans are afraid of their base. Romney declared himself “severely conservative” and McCain “put scare quotes around ‘health of the mother’ provisions for abortion rights.”

The GOP fringe imposes incredible discipline on their leaders. Take all the nonsense about “woke capitalism”: on the one hand, it’s absurd to call union-busting, tax-dodging, worker-screwing companies “woke” (even if they sell Pride flags for a couple of weeks every year).

But on the other hand? The GOP leadership have actually declared war on the biggest corporations in America, to the point that the WSJ says that “Republicans and Big Business broke up”:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-corporations-donations-pacs-9b5b202b

But America is a two-party system and there are plenty of people who’ll pull the lever for any Republican. This means that when the GOP comes under the control of its swivel-eyed loon wing, the swivel-eyed loons wield power far beyond the number of people who agree with them.

There’s an important lesson there for Dems, whose establishment is volubly proud of its independence from its voters. The Biden administration is a weirdly perfect illustration of this “independence.” The Biden admin is a kind of referee, doling out policies and appointments to its competing wings, without any coherence or consistency.

That’s how you get incredible appointments like Lina Khan at the FTC and Jonathan Kanter at the DoJ Antitrust Division and Rohit Chopra at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureat — the progressive wing of the party bargained for these key appointments and then played their cards very well, getting incredible, hard-charging, hyper-competent fighters in those roles.

Likewise, Jared Bernstein, finally confirmed as Council of Economic Advisers chair after an interminable wrangle:

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-06-16-team-biden/

And Julie Su, acting labor secretary, who just delivered a six-year contract to west coast dockworkers with 8–10% raises in the first year, paid retroactively for the year they worked without a contract:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/14/statement-from-president-biden-on-labor-agreement-at-west-coast-ports/

But the Biden admin’s unwillingness to side with one wing of the party also produces catastrophic failures, like the martyrdom of Gigi Sohn, who was subjected to years of vicious personal attacks while awaiting confirmation to the FCC, undefended by the Biden admin, left to twist in the wind until she gave it up as a bad job:

https://doctorow.medium.com/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband-4ce1ffb16dc5

It’s how we get key roles filled by do-nothing seatwarmers like Pete Buttigieg, who has the same sweeping powers that Lina Khan is wielding so deftly at the FTC, but who lacks either the will or the skill to wield those same powers at the Department of Transport:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

By refusing to stand for anything except a fair division of powers among different Democratic Party blocs, the Biden admin ends up undercutting itself. Take right to repair, a centerpiece of the administration’s agenda, subject of a historic executive order and FTC regulation:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

Right to Repair fights have been carried out at the state level for years, with the biggest victory coming in Massachusetts, where an automotive R2R ballot initiative won overwhelming support in 2020:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/13/said-no-one-ever/#r2r

But despite the massive support for automotive right to repair in the Bay State, Big Car has managed to delay the implementation of the new law for years, tying up the state in expensive, time-consuming litigation:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/26/nixing-the-fix/#r2r

But eventually, even the most expensive delaying tactic fails. Car manufacturers were set to come under the state right to repair rule this month, but they got a last minute reprieve, from Biden’s own National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who sent urgent letters to every major car manufacturer, telling them to ignore the Massachusetts repair law:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7bbkv/biden-administration-tells-car-companies-to-ignore-right-to-repair-law-people-overwhelmingly-voted-for

The NHTSA repeats the car lobby’s own scare stories about “cybersecurity” that they blitzed to Massachusetts voters in the runup to the ballot initiative:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

The idea that cybersecurity is best maintained by letting powerful corporations gouge you on service and parts is belied by independent experts, like SecuRepairs, who do important work countering the FUD thrown off by the industry (and parroted by Biden’s NHTSA):

https://securepairs.org/

Independent security experts are clear that letting owners of high-tech devices decide who fixes them, what software they run, etc, makes us safer:

https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2022/01/letter-to-the-us-senate-judiciary-committee-on-app-stores.html

But here we are: the Biden admin is sabotaging the Biden admin, because the Biden admin isn’t an administration, it’s a system for ensuring proportional representation of different parts of the Democratic Party coalition.

This isn’t just bad for policy, it’s bad politics, too. It presumes that if some Democratic voters want pizza, and others want hamburgers, that you can please everyone by serving up pizzaburgers. No one wants a pizzaburger:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/narrative-warfare/#giridharadas

The failure to deliver a coherent, muscular vision for a climate-ready, anti-Gilded Age America has left the Democrats vulnerable. Because while the radical proposals of the GOP fringe may not enjoy much support, there are large majorities of Americans who have lost faith in the status quo and are totally uninterested in the Pizzaburger Party.

Nowhere is this better explained than in Naomi Klein’s superb long-form article on RFK Jr’s presidential bid in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/14/ignoring-robert-f-kennedy-jr-not-an-option

Don’t get me wrong, RFK Jr is a Very Bad Politician, for all the reasons that Klein lays out. He’s an anti-vaxxer, a conspiracist, and his support for ending American military aggression, defending human rights, and addressing the climate emergency is laughably thin.

But as Klein points out, RFK Jr is not peddling pizzaburgers. He is tapping into a legitimate rage:

a great many voters are hurting and rightfully angry: about powerful corporations controlling their democracy and profiting off disease and poverty. About endless wars draining national coffers and maiming their kids. About stagnating wages and soaring costs. This is the world — inflamed on every level — that the two-party duopoly has knowingly created.

RFK Jr is campaigning against “the corrupt merger between state and corporate power,” against drug monopolies setting our national health agenda, and polluters capturing environmental regulators.

As Klein says, despite RFK Jr’s willing to say the unsayable, and tap into the yearning among the majority of American voters for something different, he’s not running a campaign rooted in finally telling the American public “the truth.” Rather, “public discourse filled with unsayable and unspeakable subjects is fertile territory for all manner of hucksters positioning themselves as uniquely courageous truth tellers.”

We’ve been here before. Remember Trump campaigning against a “rigged system” and promising to “make America great again?” Remember Clinton’s rejoinder that “America was already great?” It’s hard to imagine a worse response to legitimate outrage — over corporate capture, declining wages and living conditions; and spiraling health, education and shelter costs.

Sure, it was obvious that Trump was a beneficiary of the rigged system, and that he would rig it further, but at least he admitted it was rigged, not “already great.”

The Democratic Party is not in thrall to labor unions, or racial equality activists, or people who care about gender justice or the climate emergency. Unlike the GOP, the Dem establishment has figured out how to keep a grip on power within their own party — at the expense of exercising power in America, even when they hold office.

But unlike culture war nonsense, shared prosperity, fairness, care, and sound environmental policies are very popular in America. Some people have been poisoned against politics altogether and sunk into nihilism, while others have been duped into thinking that America can’t afford to look after its people.

In this regard, winning the American electorate is a macrocosm for the way labor activists win union majorities in the workplaces they organize. In her memoir A Collective Bargain, Jane McAlevey describes how union organizers contend with everything that progressive politicians must overcome. A union drive takes place in the teeth of unfair laws, on a tilted playing field that allows bosses to gerrymander some workers’ votes and suppress others’ altogether. These bosses have far more resources than the workers, and they spend millions on disinformation campaigns, forcing workers to attend long propaganda sessions on pain of dismissal.

https://doctorow.medium.com/a-collective-bargain-a48925f944fe

But despite all this, labor organizers win union elections and strike votes, and they do so with stupendous majorities — 95% or higher. This is how the most important labor victories of our day were won: the 2019 LA teachers’ strike won everything. Not just higher wages, but consellors in schools, mandatory greenspace for every school in LA, an end to ICE shakedowns of immigrant parents at the school-gate, and immigration law help for students and their families. What’s more, the teachers used their unity, their connection to the community, and their numbers to get out the vote in the next election, winning the marginal seats that delivered 2020’s Democratic Congressional majority.

As I wrote in my review of MacAlevey’s book:

For McAlevey, saving America is just a scaled up version of the union organizer’s day-job. First, we fix the corrupt union, firing its sellout leaders and replacing them with fighters. Then, we organize supermajorities, person-to-person, in a methodical, organized fashion. Then we win votes, using those supermajorities to overpower the dirty tricks that rig the elections against us. Then we stay activated, because winning the vote is just the start of the fight.

It’s a far cry from the Democratic Party consultant’s “data-driven” microtargeting strategy based on eking out tiny, fragile majorities with Facebook ads. That’s a strategy that fails in the face of even a small and disorganized voter-suppression campaign — it it’s doomed in today’s all-out assault on fair elections.

What’s more, the consultants’ microtargeting strategy treats people as if the only thing they have to contribute is casting a ballot every couple years. A sleeping electorate will never win the fights that matter — the fight to save our planet, and to abolish billionaires.

If only the Democratic Party was as scared of its base as the Republicans are of their own.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/16/that-boy-aint-right/#dinos-rinos-and-dunnos

[Image ID: The title page of Richard Hofstadter's 'Paranoid Style in American Politics' from the November, 1964 issue of Harper's Magazine. A John Birch Society pin reading 'This is REPUBLIC not a DEMOCRACY: let's keep it that way' sits atop the page, obscuring the introductory paragraph.]

[caprifiles]

a little bit of hopium from me to you:

this p2 was really good, really really good. these 18 points will be crucial when (if) mclaren will be eventually banned. amen 🕯

max is the goat. like he will fight like a lion in any car and we forget about it sometimes.

yeah, streak is gone but we all knew this would happen in a few first races + plus he HOLDS the record, it's not like somebody broke it.

there's no such thing as mclaren dominance. call me a fool but i personally don't believe in this utter woke nonsense.

it's hard to say about the pace now, so let's wait for china. and even after that i'll be on hopium til race 9.

[bikiniarmorbattledamage]

So, naturally we had to, now the game is actually out, bingo the CENSORED outfit in Stellar Blade. Credit to HarryNinetyFour for showing all seventy-four outfits, and Kotaku for this article where they propose that Eve is at her sexiest when she's got more on.

Okay... maybe not that but...

Seriously, if you're playing to fap - this game has you covered. But it also has a few really interesting, covering outfits that seem to reflect fantasies of fashion and comfort.

The only thing that's really not present is any sort of actual military like BDUs or combat jumpsuits. That's kinda weird, even Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain let you put BDUs on Quiet.

And that bit is weird is, based on what I've seen people who've been playing the game saying - there is really a story about her being a soldier and fighting for a cause there. But you'd never know that based on the ongoing outrage.

The outrage is weird and sad

So as you can probably guess, the continuing riot of "censorship" here is pretty absurd. It's got to the point where they even bullied the Stellar Blade's X/Twitter account to un-repost the Kotaku article that praises the game.

But here's the thing, in all the years I've had to deal with brodudes doing this kind of nonsense in various online platforms etc, I have never seen one that is happy.

YouTuber Moon Channel did a two part (1, 2) series on a different drama in South Korea involving a Gacha game that dared not to be pointlessly horny, but here's the general take away.

English speaking brodudes in this situation are imagining that Stellar Blade is some sort of iconic work coming from the anti-woke wonderland where everyone is happy. The reality is:

South Korea has a deeply hierarchical society which essentially tells young people they are to obey and not to speak up

The economy and nepotism is such that unless you are born into a rich family, your employment prospects are downright depressing

Many young men in South Korea develop a lot of resentment toward women primarily because they are told that in order to enter a (heterosexual) relationship they will need to demonstrate they have the ability to be a great provider, and then are denied those opportunities by the economy and nepotism

On top of all this, the government takes a "we know whats best for you" approach to the extent that not only is porn banned but you will be expected to supply your identity information if you want to look up basic sexual educational materials

They would find it to be an absolute nightmare realm.

The reality is that in the "woke" world that brodudes fear, we'd probably see a lot more eroticism in art, including games, and it'd be of the more focused, sincere variety rather than that directed by creepy marketing guy.

All we really need to do is accept each other as people, appreciate each other's humanity and boundaries. Then we can both enjoy a sexy paradise, but also unite and deal with the assholes who keep oppressing us economically and socially.

Wouldn't that be nice?

-wincenworks

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lisa Needham at Public Notice:

During the 2024 election, Donald Trump made no secret of his plan to close the Department of Education (DOE). That hasn’t happened yet, though an executive order that would functionally dismantle the agency is in the works. In the meantime, Trump is already exploiting it to dehumanize and harass marginalized groups.

The administration is busy using the department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to attack trans kids while shuttering nearly every other type of civil rights investigation. It’s a complete abdication of the federal government’s role in protecting students from discrimination and a grim example of how Trump is weaponizing the federal government. Conservatives have wanted to shutter the DOE for decades, saying that education policy is best set at the state and local levels. The problem with that argument is that education policy is already set by states and localities. There is no such thing as a federal education curriculum, and the federal government can’t tell schools what to teach. But what the DOE can do is investigate schools for failing to follow federal civil rights laws. While conservatives might assume that the DOE’s civil rights investigations are all about imposing woke ideologies on red state parents, most complaints to OCR are about schools discriminating based on disability. Given that Trump is mounting a full-scale attack on accessibility, it isn’t surprising that the DOE has simply stopped investigating the thousands of disability-related complaints that were already in process.

Most of these types of complaints are filed by students, their families, or legal advocacy groups. ProPublica found that when Trump took office, there were roughly 12,000 investigations in the pipeline, around 6,000 of which were disability-related. About 3,200 complaints were regarding racial discrimination, and around 1,000 related to sexual harassment. Now, all of those complaints are on ice, with ProPublica reporting that investigators have been barred from communicating with the complainants. Instead, the DOE has opened about 20 investigations based on rightwing culture war grievances. It’s a clear statement about the administration’s priorities and a clear threat to any school or organization that won’t fall in line. One week into Trump’s second term, OCR opened an investigation into Ithaca City Schools in New York over their yearly summits for students of color. The complaint came from the Equal Protection Project, which was founded by Cornell University Law Professor William A. Jacobson and exists solely to attack affirmative action programs. The OCR investigation sends a message that it takes nonsensical allegations of anti-white racism seriously and that affinity groups and events that simply allow students of color to gather will be considered discriminatory.

[...] But the administration doesn’t believe in local control. It believes in imposing, by any means, the conservative viewpoint on blue states. That’s why, last week, it opened investigations into the governing bodies for high school sports in California and Minnesota. Both states allow trans students to participate in high school sports in conformance with their gender identity. According to the administration, this conflicts with Trump’s executive order banning trans women from participating in women’s sports. But an executive order isn’t a law, as much as Trump would like to think it is, and both California and Minnesota have actual laws on their books requiring protection of trans athletes. California’s education code says that students are allowed to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity and Minnesota’s anti-discrimination law forbids discrimination based on gender identity. In other words, neither state could bar trans students from playing high school sports without running afoul of their own laws. It will ultimately be up to the courts to figure out if Trump’s executive order can functionally overrule state laws, a depressing thought given the conservative stranglehold on the federal courts. In an incredibly cynical move, the DOE also opened investigations into five universities for antisemitism. The five schools — Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern, and Portland State — are all under fire for pro-Palestinian protests that occurred on campus. Conservatives were furious that the Biden administration didn’t shut them down and are now praising Trump for “taking action to protect Jewish students.”

Of course, this administration has no intention of protecting Jewish students. Not only is Trump dismantling civil rights protections across the board, but both he and JD Vance have consistently been openly, wildly anti-semitic. Trump has accused Jewish people of insufficient loyalty to America and trafficked in the antisemitic trope that Jews control all the money. JD Vance has invoked the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which says that Jewish people are behind a scheme to replace white Americans with immigrants who will always vote for Democrats. Vance has also cozied up to AfD, the far-right antisemitic German party. These are not people who are genuinely interested in ensuring that Jewish students are not discriminated against on college campuses. Instead, these are people who are willing to weaponize allegations of antisemitism. It’s also a way to signal that dissent on college campuses will not be tolerated. While the administration is busy using OCR as an attack dog, actual complaints about real discrimination are not being investigated.

[...]

Upside down world

The future of the Department of Education isn’t clear at all. Trump has waffled about whether he thinks he can get away with (illegally) eradicating a cabinet-level agency with the stroke of a pen, but in any event he has a compliant Congress that may be willing to get rid of it for him. GOP Sen. Mike Rounds, from South Dakota, introduced a bill to eliminate the department before Trump even took office. Over in the House of Representatives, Rep. Thomas Massie has done the same.

The US Department of Education, and especially its Office of Civil Rights division, has become a MAGA enforcement agency. The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights is being used to subvert trans rights and actual claims of discrimination, especially disabilities-related.

[sheepwavehdg]

[Nonfiction/serious, CW recount of online sexual harassment] So, holy fuck. Last night someone developed an introject/fictive of one of my characters, Sally Fable from Good Sensory. It went poorly.

This person was barely more than a total stranger to me and had been sending me some just plain nonsensical DMs on discord, so I just muted them for 24 hours because I didn't care or feel like dealing with it. I was about to be enjoying some Substances™, and I just told them I wasn't gonna be avaliable.

Fast forward a few hours later and my very pleasant high is interrupted by the notification that someone is calling me on discord. I tab over, and discover hundreds of messages calling me mistress, begging me to punish them, sending me partially nude photos, asking for reassurances that because they're Sally Fable, I wrote Good Sensory for them too (more on that in a moment)

I block them as soon as I understand what's happening, and then I think I started getting notifications of them pinging me on the HDG discord, bypassing the block via pluralkit(???) so I left the discord (I am unsure of this and can't find any supporting evidence of it now that Ive rejoined, I was high and confused, but it's what I thought was happening in the moment anyway which is why I left) and got to have the lovely experience of learning how much worse a panic attack hurts when you're high and every sensation has "reverb" on your body.

This felt so particularly violating because Sally is not some character I made up whole cloth, her personality and appearance is specifically modeled on two of my partners. This is not a secret, it's in the chapter notes. I know this person read those, because some of the hundreds of messages they sent me referenced it and asked if this meant I wrote it for them too.

I made the discord staff aware of what was going on and they did a great job of both handling the situation on the server and lots of them reaching out to me and making me feel like I wasn't alone and they had my back, which meant more in that moment than I can even put into words. 😭

Anyway, I just woke up a few hours ago from a nightmare where this person sent me a suicide note via the comments on Good Sensory, which unfortunately is well within the reasonable possibility space of a thing that happens when someone fixates on you and you block them and they are banned from their community. (I have had stalkers in the past! Yay!)

So yeah I was very much not calm to see this when I woke up

I got a friend to check over the comments before I looked, and fortunately it was just normal comments. I've been absolutely blown away by the reaction to Good Sensory in particular, and I love reading peoples comments. That I was made to feel scared of something that would normally make me flap my hands in joy (sixteen new comments overnight is not unheard of for me, but it's still not typical) feels so shitty.

I also feel horribly guilty even tho I know it's irrational for me to feel anything but violated by this having happened. Like there's a reason I identify with the affini, I can't see someone in distress and not want to help. I feel bad that what I assume was a vulnerable trans woman clearly in some kind of psychosis state is going to have to wake up from it and find out they blew up their own social life yesterday.

But yeah, god, fuck, what a thing that happened. I had to write this just to proscess this experience. It doesn't feel like it was real but like it was. I'm going to be shaken by this for a bit most likely 😓

[bunji-enthusiast]

helloo hope you're having a good day!! valentines is tomorrow and I'm wondering if you could do a valentines day one shot with Lancelot! maybe it's his first time celebrating it and he wants to make it special for the both of them but he's not too sure what to do so he tries looking around or maybe even asking Tristan for help??

This was unexpected.

For the first time in his life, he was genuinely perplexed. He had no answers or quick timed solutions to a seemingly horrific incoming incident.

This was none of that, it was something else entirely.

It was Lancelot’s first Valentine’s Day, and he was determined to make it special for you. Despite his usual confidence and skills in battle, this was a completely different kind of challenge. The young prince of Benwick, who had been raised with tales of chivalry, strength, and honor, had never once given much thought to the traditions of love. And now, here he was, pacing nervously in his room, wracking his mind for any possible ideas.

"What should I do?" or "Should I?..."

All of those questions and thoughts seemingly wracked the prince's mind, and he actually didn't know what to do.

Lancelot had heard whispers about Valentine’s Day from Percival and the others, but none of them had seemed to know exactly what to do. It was clear to him that it was a time for affection, perhaps even for a grand gesture, but what that meant, he had no clue. His first instinct had been to ask his father, Ban, who was always quick to provide advice with a mischievous smile and a twinkle in his eye. But, knowing his father’s chaotic way of thinking, Lancelot was unsure if it would be helpful or just an overwhelming display of nonsense.

He's seen some of the stuff in the mind of his father, and half of the stuff certainly wasn't appropriate. Though it was fortunate that his father had since then learned to block his mind from being read unknowingly.

He had then turned to King, his uncle, who was usually wise in his mannerisms but was notoriously out of touch with anything romantic. By no means he was insulting his uncle's ability to perform romantic gestures, that was reserved alone for his aunt. He did, however, suggest a gift, which seemed like a decent enough idea. But what kind of gift would be fitting for someone like you?

Things he knew, but not enough to find a decent fitting gift for you.

Damnit.

Frustrated, Lancelot had asked Tristan for help, knowing he had perhaps some experience. The conversation hadn’t gone quite as expected.

Tristan had raised an eyebrow and leaned back, a smirk forming across his face.

Lancelot grumbles at the incredulous notion that is forming in the conversation, raising an arched brow at the being sitting across from him.

Tristan just nods his head. "Valentine’s Day, huh? You want to make it memorable for her? That’s noble, but don’t expect me to give you some sort of magic answer."

"Come on." Lancelot narrows his eyes, searching Tristan's face.

"Surely you have some kind of insight," Lancelot insisted, his face burning slightly as he thought of you. "What should I do to make it... special?"

Tristan had shrugged casually, giving him a nonchalant grin. "Well, if you want to impress her, it’s all about the little things. Think about her, not just on the outside but what makes her happy. A little surprise, maybe something personal, something that shows you put in the effort. It's not about grandeur; it's the thought that counts."

At first, Lancelot had been confused by Tristan’s lack of a grand suggestion, but the more he thought about it, the more the advice began to settle in. It was personal, not some staged act, not an overwhelming display of affection, but something genuine. He could do that.

The next morning, Lancelot woke up early and dressed in his finest attire—a red tunic that matched the color of your favorite flower. As the sun began to rise, he made his way to the forest surrounding Liones. There, he collected flowers—small wildflowers with hues of purple, blue, and yellow. He carefully wrapped them in a simple ribbon and tied them together, smiling at how beautiful they looked.

The flowers were delicate, and it took him a while to arrange them just right, but it felt perfect. No one would appreciate something as simple as these wildflowers like you would, he thought.

As the day went on, he couldn’t help but feel the flutter of excitement in his chest. He hadn’t realized just how much he cared for you until this moment, and with every step, he could feel himself getting more anxious about how you’d react. Would you like it? Would it make you smile? Would it make this day as special as he hoped?

Finally, evening arrived, and the moon began to rise in the sky. Lancelot found you in the courtyard, your smile lighting up his entire world. His heart raced as he approached, holding the bouquet gently in his hands. 

"Happy Valentine’s Day," he said, his voice slightly softer than usual. He held out the flowers to you, the slight nervousness in his eyes betraying his calm exterior.

You blinked, clearly surprised but touched, as you took the bouquet from him. The flowers were more beautiful than you had imagined, and you couldn’t help but smile.

"Lancelot, they’re beautiful," you said warmly. "Thank you so much. I didn’t expect this."

Lancelot’s face flushed slightly at your response, but he was pleased nonetheless. “I wanted to make it special... for you.”

He fidgeted for a moment, clearly unsure of how to continue. But just as quickly as the anxiety appeared, it faded. In that moment, he realized he had already done the most important thing—he had put thought into it, and it was something that came from the heart. No need for grand gestures, just sincerity.

"I’m glad you like them," Lancelot said, offering a small smile. "I was a little unsure of what to do, but... I wanted to show you how much you mean to me."

You stepped forward, taking a moment to let his words sink in before you placed your hand gently on his arm. "I think it’s perfect."

And there, under the moonlight, with the wildflowers in your hands and the warmth of Lancelot’s presence surrounding you, it was indeed a perfect Valentine’s Day. For the first time, Lancelot understood that love wasn’t about what was grand, but what was genuine. And in that moment, it was just the two of you, sharing something quiet, sincere, and true.

Lancelot would never forget this Valentine’s Day. It had been his first, and it was the beginning of something new, something he had never anticipated. But as he stood there with you, his heart felt fuller than ever before.

[mastermark1960]

I am once again so disappointed with the leftist demonazis constantly spewing nonsensical drivel every time they don't like someone elses opinion. Demonazis are so far to the left that they agree with and use the propaganda tools of the two worst extreme right ass holes that ever walked the earth. Hitler and Stalin both treated their own people with such disrespect and callousness that they created concentration camps and gulags to silence any opposition to their rule.

The following information comes from the holocaust encyclopedia. I wrote comments that are not after bullet points.

• The Nazis were skilled propagandists who used sophisticated advertising techniques and the most current technology of the time to spread their messages.

Think of CNN, MSNBC, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, all other "news outlets" for example the New York times, Boston globe, and Washington post are but a few. They don't report the news but continuously give us their opinions on everything. The 5ws are desperately needed to stop their propaganda. We can include the woke organizations like Disney and Hollywood movie makers for spreading propaganda for the demonazis.

• Once in power, Adolf Hitler created a Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to shape German public opinion behavior.

▪︎Nazi propaganda played an integral role in advancing the persecution and ultimately the destruction of Europe’s Jews and all political Dissidents. It incited hatred and fostered a climate of indifference to their fate.

Think of how the demonazis allowed the likes of BLM and ANTIFA to destroy many cities. No action was taken by those in power to stop the destruction or prosecute the perpetrators. Then remember the hissy fit they had when they allowed, yes demonazis allowed, Republican protester into the capital. The demonazis prosecuted 100s of peaceful republican protesters. If the republican protesters were acting like BLM and ANTIFA the Capitol would be a smoking ruin.

• The Nazis wanted Germans to support the Nazi dictatorship and believe in Nazi ideas. To accomplish this goal, they tried to control forms of communication through censorship and propaganda. This included control of newspapers, magazines, books, art, theater, music, movies, and radio.

• When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the German constitution guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Through decrees and laws, the Nazis abolished these civil rights and destroyed German democracy. Starting in 1934, it was illegal to criticize the Nazi government. Even telling a joke about Hitler was considered treachery. People in Nazi Germany could not say or write whatever they wanted. 

Examples of censorship under the Nazis included:

• Closing down or taking over anti-Nazi newspapers; 

• Controlling what news appeared in newspapers, on the radio, and in newsreels;

• Banning and burning books that the Nazis categorized as un-German.

• Textbooks are a good example of how propaganda and censorship worked together in the Nazi regime. The Nazis used both propaganda and censorship to control what students read in school. Nazi censors removed some textbooks from classrooms. New textbooks taught students to obey the Nazi Party, love Hitler, and hate Jews.

The demonazis took over education with the creation of the Department of education in 1979.

The Higher Education Act of 1965 introduced federal student aid and loan programs. These give away programs allowed higher education to run amuk with ever increasing cost of degrees. This needs to stop now.

Demonazis try to stop the political middle and right from voicing their opinions by controlling who can and can't post on many social media sight. Censorship at it worst. Thank God Elon Musk bought out Twitter and turned it into X. No more censorship there. Of course the demonazis scream foul.

We The People who love the United States of America must stand by her in her hour of desperate need. If we don't our great country is doomed. I know this is a long winded post but I felt it was necessary to explain how dangerous the deep state and New World Order are. This is why I call the democrats demonazis as the word fits perfectly.

Thank you for reading this post. If you like my post please repost it and start calling the democrats exactly what they are, demonazis.

[stopthewoke]

BIOLOGICAL MEN CANNOT BECOME WOMEN, NOR VICE VERSA.

[heylavellan]

Happy Friday! How about "Almost confessions" for Handers?

passed out and woke up with some toxic handers.

@dadrunkwriting

baby im a giver

rating: m

words: 1166

additional notes: rivalmance type relationship. hawke is a bad person, what can i say?

In Augustus' hands sits a pouch, containing a contraband amulet. If only his fingers were less sticky, he wouldn't be dealing with this... predicament. The amulet probably isn't worth much coin, so he needs another way to get rid of it. His treacherous mind screams at him that this is something he can give to Anders, that he might even like it.  But that means seeking him out and speaking to him. After their last argument had them banned from the Hanged Man from a few weeks, they truly haven't spoken. He lights the hearth with a spark of magic, tosses the pouch onto the coffee table, and collapses into the sofa with a sigh.

---

Every moment with that damned apostate is impossible. It -- whatever that feeling is -- churns his stomach in ways he's never felt before, foams up in his mouth to thicken each word that comes out. Carver and Augustus used to fight over everything growing up, but talking to Anders unlocks vitriol he didn't know he was capable of. Staying away pisses Augustus off more, because Maker knows what inane nonsense that abomination got up to in his absence.

He feels like a lunatic. Bothered when Anders is there. Bothered when he's not. Thinking about him because that demon in his head keeps telling him what to do. Replaying the memory of killing a girl he claimed he wanted to save. Arguing with Anders in his head when he isn't there and never using those arguments because he can't think straight around him.

Augustus sighs, raking his fingers through his hair. He spies a gray hair and laughs dully. Of course. Nothing stays fixed in Kirkwall. He rises out of the sofa and swipes the velvet pouch of the table. Fine. He'll give the cursed thing to Anders. And if he tells himself that he's making sure that Anders hasn't gone full demonic, maybe he can justify to himself that deep down he wants to see him.

Descending into the cellars of his estate does nothing to assuage the rising turmoil in his stomach. Not anger, not worry, not passion.

Certainly not passion. That isn't a thought Hawke should entertain. Especially not sober. It crossed his mind a few times after long nights at the Hanged Man. And the time he bought the services of Osric at the Blooming Rose. It's easier to argue and ignore anything he feels because that has a proven track record of killing those around him. And he sort of values having a healer on hand with all the shit he's cleaning up because Kirkwall is inefficient.

He hates Anders. That's what he mentally reminds himself as he grips the pouch and steps out of his property and into the dingy streets of Darktown. He turns the corner and strides into Anders' clinic, seating himself at Anders' desk. Hawke fiddles with the pouch in his pocket. One of the few things that the two men can agree on is the importance of healthcare. So he waits.

"How many times have I asked you to knock before coming in? It's like you want me to be caught by the templars," Anders complains, already irritated before they begin. Perfect. This won't go poorly at all.

Hawke shoots him a smile and leans back in Anders' chair, kicking his legs up on his desk. "If I started knocking now, you'd wonder if I'd been possessed," he replied, tossing the pouch to him. "That and I like to keep you on your toes."

His throw lands squarely in Anders chest, the pouch tumbling out of his fingers and onto the ground. "So now you come by to throw things at me? No 'Hello, how are you doing?'" Anders grumbles, plucking the pouch off the ground.

"Found something. You'll get more from it than me," is all he can manage in explanation. His mind is focused on Ander's fingers, nimbly undoing the unholy amount of knots he'd tied into the drawstrings. How easily those fingers could untangle the loose knot of his leggings and shove them to the floor. How-- he hates Anders. Right. He hates him.

He tunes back in to making some flippant comment about there being some Marcher holiday he'd never heard of. Before Augustus can retort snidely, Anders finally opens the pouch. "Of course you would give me something that will get me killed," he spits. "Let me guess, you'll have the templars marching in soon to have me hanged."

"Please. If I wanted you dead I'd snap your pretty neck before the templars got here," Hawke replied stiffly, standing up. "Mages aren't locked up in Tevinter. If you don't want it, I'll take it back." He awkwardly puts his hand out.

"No- I..." Anders sighs. "I didn't expect this from you."

Hawke withdraws his hand, rubbing his elbow. Don't look into his eyes. Don't say something sappy. Something angry. Maybe... "It's not a nice gift," he reinforces. Probably more for himself than Anders.

Anders frown doesn't take up his whole face. He hates that he knows that. "Just help me put the damn thing on and then stop bothering me," Anders says.

Hawke struggles with the clasps. He'd always been too shaky to help with Mother's or Bethany's jewelry. Carver always had steadier hands. It doesn't help that Anders is holding up his hair, leaving his bare neck for Hawke to see. He wants to bite it. Maybe kiss it until Anders is incoherent. See if they can agree on some carnal facts.

He's standing far too close. Some of the baby hairs on Anders' neck to move as he breathes. His fingers brush the nape of the abomination neck as he struggles to get the clasp into the chain. And somehow, both of them are resisting the urge to comment on his failure here.

Maybe he should throw caution to the wind. Tell him that it's easier to argue than admit that he was wrong. That agreeing with him meant all the work his family had done would be for naught if all the mages were free.

He finally closes the clasp, but he lingers for a moment. It's nice, however briefly, to not be fighting. Even if in a few minutes he'll lie to himself and say that he didn't like this at all and he is deluding himself. When he finally releases the amulet, Anders drops his hair again and quickly stuffs it beneath his robes.

"You, uh-" Hawke begins, but a series of knocks saves him from making a fool of himself. From spilling his guts and trying to kiss him.

Anders hurriedly steps away, cheeks flushed. "Thank you. But please go. Let's not cause a scene," he says, inhaling sharply.

"Right," Hawke agrees, slipping out as Anders welcomes the patient into his clinic.

When Hawke lays in bed that night, he's replaying every moment of putting that amulet on him. And he hates that he wants to be that close to Anders again.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Kataang is a ship that dared to be different. Not sure why people think Kataang is a sexist ship when Katara and Aang both protect and support each other and neither is the damsel and the hero in the relationship.

And yet people think ZK is better than the average M/F ship when the reason why ZK is so damn popular is because of annoying overdone hetero-normalic tropes. To the point where people think Zuko taking a hit for Katara is romantic coded (and apparently me and my peers are """delusional""" for not seeing it as romantic coded) and that ZK fanfics are such romantic fantasies of Zuko saving Katara and Katara being such a meek little girlfriend for the badass chad fanon!Zuko. (As if the ZK fanbase is aware that Zuko and Katara are both pure yang energy and they have to make Katara meek to make the ZK ship work.)

I mean yes I am annoyed Z/tara is as popular as it is but Kataang is canon and ZK is dipping in popularity and it feels like the bulk of the ZK fanbase is just annoying ass middle aged women who get pissy at a kids show for not being the adult show they want...

Just food for thought...Especially considering ZK shippers act immature trying to 1-up people by saying their ship is popular (I mean, are they unaware Zukka topped Z/tara?) And again, popular doesn't automatically mean good...Especially since Z/tara is only popular because it hits all those hetero-normalic beats that people adore so much.

Guys, come on, let's be serious here. I LOVE kataang, with all my heart, BUT best friends to lovers is as cliche as enemies to lovers, main guy dates main girl is as cliche as hero falls in love with the villain who changes side. To quote my best friend @dragomer "A knife is cliche. It's still what you use to cut shit with."

The problem with Zutara fans is not the they prefer the more "traditional" romance, or that it's cliche, or that it's smutty, or that they sometimes make it a toxic dynamic, or that it's not a "progressive" ship. The problem is they feel entitled to push their preference as the only correct one - it's the same issue that made the fandom for Zukka, an actual non hetero ship, so hated by everyone else. No one likes the people that think only they are allowed to have fun with fanon. No one likes the people that expects them to disregard canon for the sake of their prefered fanon.

And speaking as a bisexual woman: we gotta stop with this nonsense of labeling straight ships "non-hetero normalic" for basic shit (and the reverse of it, the "hetero-normalic gay ship" that is literally just the age old homophobic question of "But which one of you is the woman?" with woke language attached to it). It doesn't matter if Kataang is "heteronormative" or not, because:

1 - All that matters in fiction is if something is WELL WRITTEN AND ENTERTAINING, not if it's progressive or more on the traditional side, if it's cliche or "subverting expectations".

2 - What media you find entertaining has nothing to do with your politic views and real-life sexual preferences. Liking one of H.P. Lovecraft's stories doesn't make you a racist, disliking Freddie Mercury doesn't mean you're homophobic (though it does mean you have shit taste in music), liking the most traditional straight romance ever doesn't mean you're straight yourself.

3 - In the case of Avatar in particular, lets be fucking real: no way two straight writers back in 2005, while working on a kids show in a network that had a long history of banning episodes of shows that tried to hint or full on talk about homosexuality, were thinking "How do we make this straight ship less 'hetero-normalic'?" They were just writting whatever felt right for the characters and story - that's why Avatar, while flawed and a product of it's time, aged WAY better than many shows of the time that had "be progressive" as the goal, it avoided forced narrative choices that were only made to beat the audience over the head with the moral lesson of the day.

[beardedmrbean]

A California middle school student suspended for allegedly wearing "blackface" to a football game in October 2023 had his record expunged in a settlement with the school after he said he was simply wearing eye black, a common practice in many sports.

Daniel Ameduri sued Muirlands Middle School in La Jolla, California, on behalf of his son, J.A., over the Oct. 13, 2023, incident that resulted in a two-day suspension as well as being banned from attending district sporting events.

"The false allegations of blackface on J.A.’s permanent school records could have haunted him for decades, affecting both his education and future career opportunities," Karin Sweigart, J.A.’s lawyer and Dhillon Law Group counsel, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The court approved the settlement Feb. 24, which permanently expunged J.A.’s two-day suspension. As part of the agreement, no district official or employee will refer to the suspension in any communications with others.

"It’s a relief that the school district has finally corrected this injustice," Sweigart added. "No student should have to fight to clear their name over baseless accusations, which is why organizations like the Center for American Liberty exist—to ensure fairness and protect fundamental rights."

J.A., now a freshman in high school, was in 8th grade when the incident occurred. He joined "Fox & Friends" on Jan. 17, 2024 with his father, saying nothing was out of the ordinary about what happened.

"I used to go to a lot of football games when I lived in Texas, and I used to play football, and sometimes we put that on if one of the kids brought it," he said.

J.A.’s father said he was "shocked" days later when his son was called into the principal’s office and subsequently suspended.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Mark Trammell, Center for American Liberty executive director said, "We are so proud of J.A. and his family. When students and parents stand up to this woke nonsense in schools, they win. Let J.A.’s win be a lesson to students and parents everywhere."

[dragoneyes618]

When Karim Kahn, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, applied for arrest warrants in May to be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, I commented on X that the warrant application was “proof positive that the powers that be in the world cannot stand the Jewish people defending themselves against terrorists hellbent on destroying them.” Now that the court has issued the arrest warrants, there can no longer be any doubt that this is the case.

The moral emptiness of the court’s actions is matched only by its legal frivolity and the danger of its potential impact.

Israel is not a member of the ICC. Israel has an independent and robust legal system. There is no evidence that Israel is committing war crimes by intentionally targeting civilians or using starvation as a tool of war – quite the contrary. All reliable evidence points to Israel’s extraordinary efforts to avoid civilian casualties and to provide as much food as needed to the people of Gaza. Moreover, it is known, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Hamas is operating from within civilian infrastructures, using civilians as human shields in contravention of international law. Hamas continues to steal most of the aid that goes into Gaza and is using it as a tool of repression against its own people. Yet, based primarily on Hamas’s own propagandized news reports, Kahn and his cohorts at the ICC have brought these baseless charges and arrest warrants. The reason is clear: The world’s institutions will do anything to stop Israel from defending itself from the terrorist regimes that surround the Jewish state.

It is worth noting that the Palestinian Authority managed to be admitted to the ICC as a member “state” in 2015. This comes despite the fact that there is no “state of Palestine” and that the P.A., Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are dictatorial terrorist entities that should be given no shelter in international institutions, such as the ICC. In fact, to become a member state of the ICC, the country must ratify the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty. This is laughable for the Palestinian leadership for various reasons, including that the Rome Statute reaffirms in its preamble that “all States shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any [other] State.” But no one ever accused the ICC of being intellectually honest. Mahmoud Abbas, the dictatorial leader of the P.A. joined the ICC with impunity as a platform from which to openly launch lawfare attacks against Israel. Abbas has achieved his goal. The ICC has become the useful idiot of the P.A. and Hamas and has created immense pressure on Israel and the West through these dangerous actions.

Of course, no trial will ever occur. No country is going to arrest Netanyahu or Gallant despite grandiose statements by woke leaders such as Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. There will never be an adjudication of these nonsensical claims. The entire process is simply a charade of the left, although the danger posed by the position taken by the court cannot be understated. The ICC, which was only established in 2002, is done. It has revealed itself as a puppet of the far-left and of Islamist regimes, much like the United Nations. The court has only brought 32 cases since 2002 and has convicted just 11 people. The court was meant to be a court “of last resort” for crimes against humanity and genocide, where local courts are corrupted and are not prosecuting these most grave crimes. Kahn’s move may be the end of the ICC.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13928 authorizing asset freezes and family-entry bans against International Criminal Court officials for their threats to assert jurisdiction over the United States, which is also not a member of the ICC. The sanctions worked, and the ICC dropped its investigation into the United States. President Joe Biden inexplicably revoked the sanctions on April 2, 2021. But Trump is back and so will the sanctions. All indications are that this time, the sanctions will be taken to the next level. The United States should, and likely will, pressure its allies to do the same.

Even if the case goes nowhere, there will certainly be a lasting negative impact of the ICC’s actions. Remember, the war launched by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Islamic Republic of Iran against Israel will not be the last. In the next war launched by a terrorist regime against a sovereign Democratic Western nation, be it in the United States or Europe, the supposed guardrails the global community had built through the walls of the United Nations, and later the International Criminal Court will be nowhere to be found. Terrorists will continue to use the Palestinian’s playbook, which has proven to be effective in Western pseudo-intellectual institutions: Attack civilians, kidnap civilians, hide behind civilians and cry foul when those you attack launch a responsive war in response. In the end, we all lose.

I hope that this bell can be unrung, not just for Netanyahu and Gallant, but for all leaders in the Western world.

[thecurrator]

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @tigreblvnc

Your sibling is…Charles Chevalier!

This mischievous and playful boy is the perfect candidate to be your younger brother! You're laid back, analytic and something of a contrarian yourself. Growing up, he instinctively idolized you and ended up copying many of your personality traits.

It was probably a weird experience for you, seeing the little boy who would often follow you around and do everything you asked grow up into a brat that talks back and refuses to fulfill reasonable requests like do his own dishes. He hasn't grown out of his idolisation for you though! He just made the decision to hide it because being attached to one's older sibling is cringe (in his teenage opinion) and you also don't like clingy people, so he learned eventually that following you around and bothering you for attention isn't the best way to get you to like him.

Take this how you will, but there isn't anything about you that he doesn't like. The love he has for you is truly unconditional. He intergrated a lot of your personality traits into his own, so he doesn't see any problem with them. What about bad traits like being bossy? Impatient? His school teachers are worst. You snap at him because he was being too close or annoying? You just do that sometimes. Or maybe you're having a bad day. Things you do that he normally gets peeved at when others do it gets a pass simply because you're his older brother. He cannot comprehend a world in which he doesn't (secretly) love you wholeheartedly.

He likes a lot of the things you like as well! His favourites among your likes are having fun, joking around and cats and dogs. Though you especially like bigger dog breeds, he prefers the smaller breeds because they tend to be furry little balls of anger (he finds it funny). His favourite memory of you is probably when you took him on a short road trip with no destination in mind (just for the sake of driving and exploring) for the summer holidays, playing hit songs and letting him snack in the car. He suggested that you both sleep in the car for the first night but carbon monoxide poisoning is real so you responsibly checked into a motel.

He loves your cooking hobby and will unashamedly ask you to cook him a portion of whatever you're making every time. He won't help you. In fact, he'll make things harder by trying to steal a bite of the ingredients or taste the batter you're working on with his finger. You have banned him from the kitchen multiple times.

He's the type to ask you the weirdest questions at random times. He even woke you up one time at 3 am when he was younger to ask you "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?". When you aren't half asleep and angry at being woken up, your interest in philosophy and reinventing the world allows you to provide entertaining answers to his nonsensical questions. After all, he likes things that people think have no sense. He doesn't want the actual answer, he wants a good story.

Growing up with you, someone who doesn't follow social conventions much and allows him to be himself, he was quite disappointed to go out into the world and discover that the majority of people tend conform to some unwritten rules of social conduct. That's why he was so excited to meet someone like Shidou in the NEL and made sure to introduce him to you eventually. He's sure you both will hit it off instantly and hopes to be able to hang out with you both sometime.