#high cut december 2017

[svtcrus]

December || gojo satoru x gn!reader

ANGST | Hurt with no comfort

a/n : I legit wrote this after going through an eventful moment of sadness from watching the recent episodes of the new jjk season.

NOTE : HEAVY jjk spoilers -> includes the events of volume zero. mentions of death. big old gojo angst (he's written pretty miserable). reader is implied as a sorcerer

synopsis : what happened after december 24th, 2017 ? what happened to you and your lover, gojo satoru?

"let's end this relationship."

it was december 27th when he told you.

it was december 27th when your heart broke.

[spoilers begin after the cut, read at ur own risk]

you knew how much his best friends death altered him, how much pain he was hiding inside. ever since geto fled jujutsu high. ever since he left this cruel world. everyone changed around you. it's not like you had also changed. you've become more wary for your students, even more attentive to satoru's mental wellbeing. but you didn't change as much as satoru did.

when satoru came home that night, he ignored you. heading straight into your shared room. he hasn't come home ever since the 24th.

the night of the 27th, you remember hearing the quiet sniffles in the bedroom as you packed the cold food he never ate. you could sense how broken he was inside, despite putting a happy demeanour every school morning. despite him acting all cheery and idiotic during a time when it was okay to grieve.

but for gojo satoru, he doesn't have the time to grieve.

he's the strongest sorcerer after all. he's always needed, the higher ups don't care if a former sorcerer has passed. even if that very sorcerer was such a prominent one of their time. even if it was satoru's best friend. that's nothing to them when gojo satoru can easily accomplish their deeds for them.

you wondered just how much he was hiding inside that brain of his.

you wondered just how much of that happiness he was displaying for your students was actually true?

so you followed him into the bedroom after putting away his cold platter.

the moment you had set foot into room was when he had dropped the bomb on you.

"w..what?"

but you had never wondered. envisioned. or even spared the thought that his misery would lead to the end of another "we."

"after all, we're the strongest!"

"after all, we're together! of course I love y/n!"

these two sentences rung not only in your head, but also his. what had taken him 3 days of long thought, a thought which scoured ever inch of his brain was you.

what he never told you that day was why.

why? he could never explain the indescribable feeling he was going through. every reason on why he was letting go. but he knew at least this one thing.

gojo satoru never stopped loving you. but love has become the most scariest thing to him in the world. as love is the most twisted curse of all. so, he took a step back. for he can't come face to face with the fears of losing another person he loves so dearly. for love has ruined everything around him. and love is something he believes gojo satoru does not deserve.

gojo satoru cannot come to terms with the potentiality of losing another best friend. his lover. you.

gojo satoru didn't wanna break you like how he's breaking himself from inside. like how he broke his best friend. for you are too good to be true. you are too good to him. and though he is seen as the greatest amongst all. for him? you were his angel while he was the devil.

"it's for the sake of you y/n. I love you. please never forget that. "

every ounce of love he had left was poured onto you. he hopes you will cherish it greatly like how he cherishes yours.

if only infinity could also stop the sadness that drowning him from within. only then could he grieve.

"how could I ever forget you 'toru?" your pleads were left unanswered. the love of your life leaving you there in the room where your love once blossomed. the same day he had came back, he left you all alone once again.

ever since the day he had ended your relationship, gojo satoru slowly begun distancing himself from the world. specifically a world full of truth and love. building up a facade of fun to cover this darkness that was slowly engulfing him. for he will continue to show a face of happiness for the sake of others.

because youth cannot be taken away from young people like how 3 years of his own youth was slowly taken away.

just like how nearly 10 years of youthful teenage love was quickly taken away from you.

@svtcrus || 07.30.2023

©️ all rights reserved. do not copy / plagiarize or use my work.

[boa-h]

【Geto Suguru】 I Used to Love Him

I haven’t had a dream about my past for a long time.

In my dream, the sky was as blue as always, and everyone was happy. I dreamed about my high school years with my best friends and lover. We were walking back to our dormitories after school while joking around, I think it was an afternoon during our first year. I remember walking past the track field, and Satoru challenged Suguru to a race, Shoko and I watched from afar. I forgot who won, but summer was hot, Gojo Satoru was sticky when he came to hug us, Shoko and I shoved him away.

In my dream, I saw the day Geto Suguru asked me out. It was winter where days were shorter. I walked out of the dessert shop I used to go to, and I bumped into him. He said he wanted to take me somewhere, so I went with him. We ended up on the seashore, the wind was blowing extra hard, both of our noses and cheeks were red due to the cold. I could barely hear him.

“I like you! Please go out with me!” He says.

It was a very simple sentence, there was no mention of the past nor promises of the future, but I’m sure I still said yes. Because when his chapped lips touched mine, I felt happiness.

The summer of 2006 was a mess, and so was the summer of 2007. Curses crawled on earth like maggots and the only reason I didn’t kill myself was because I was still too in love with Geto Suguru. He said he would take me to Paris after graduation, we would go to the Eiffel Tower, we would go café hopping, and then we would kiss on the streets of Montmartre. But he couldn’t make it to graduation. He didn’t take me with him.

Geto Suguru met every one of his past friends and acquaintances after his defection, including Shoko and Satoru and even Nanami.

But he never once came to see me.

In my dream, everyone was happy. We went on picnics during sakura season, we went to the beach during summer, we went pumpkin carving on Halloween and we had sleepovers during Christmas.

In my dream, Geto Suguru quit being a Jujutsu Sorcerer along with me after we graduated from Jujutsu Tech, and he took me to Paris like he promised, and we went boating in Bois de Boulogne and we kissed under the sunset.

I opened my eyes. I haven’t had a dream about my past for a long time.

I checked my phone, it was 04:28 AM, December 24th, 2017. It was a little chilly in my room, I must’ve forgotten to turn on the heater. I sat up from my bed and yawned, then I found my window opened. The sun has yet started to rise, my eyes met the purple gaze I haven’t seen in years, and I stared at him.

I imagined a lot of ways of our reunion, I thought I might see him on the streets, or at the beach, or inside a village that he just finished rampaging in. I thought that I might cry, or go hug him, or shout at him and demand an explanation. But I didn’t.

Geto Suguru sat on my windowsill, he didn’t have any cursed spirits with him, nor did he plan on summoning any. He just stared at me like how I stared at him.

I didn’t cry.

I didn’t go hug him.

I didn’t shout and demand an explanation.

I just looked at him. His hair got longer than the last time I saw him, his eye bags became more noticeable, his eyes contained some emotions that I couldn’t read anymore.

I tried to figure out what he might be feeling right now. Is he sad? Or happy? Did he regret killing all those people? Or maybe did he regret not bringing me along with him on his journey?

“Yo! Long time no see.” My thoughts were cut off by his energetic greeting.

Ah. Right. It’s all alright.

Everything is fine.

Because I still love him.

And that was the last time I ever saw Geto Suguru.

[yurimother]

Long-Running Yuri Series 'Adachi and Shimamura' To End with 12th Volume

Released in Japan on Friday, the 11th volume of Hitoma Iruma's long-running Yuri light novel series Adachi and Shimamura (Adachi and Shimamura) revealed that the series will conclude in the subsequent and forthcoming 12th volume. There is, at the time of writing, no official release date for the final volume, although, considering the series previous release schedule, readers can likely expect its release in late 2023.

Adachi and Shimamura is a slice of life romance series following high school students Sakura Adachi and Hougetsu Shimamura. After running into each other one day while cutting class, the two run into each other and form a friendship. However, over time, Adachi realizes that she has come to develop romantic feelings for Shimamura. Their relationship and eventual romance grow throughout the series as the girls gather the courage to open up to each.

Adachi and Shimamura is written by Hitoma Iruma and illustrated by Non. It began serialization in Dengeki Bunko Magazine in 2012 until the magazine ceased publication in 2020. ASCII Media Works publishes 11 volumes of the light novel in Japanese under its Dengeki Bunko imprint. Seven Seas Entertainment licenses the light novels for English publication and will release the 10th volume digitally on December 22 and in paperback on January 23.

Although the series' early volumes received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism aimed at its early story and side characters, Adachi and Shimamura is incredibly popular and one of the most successful Yuri series of all time. Later volumes generally received more positive reviews, with praise for the development of its title characters and their relationships.

Adachi and Shimamura spawned multiple adaptations, including a television anime adaptation in 2020 directed by Satoshi Kuwabara at Tezuka Productions. The anime is dubbed in English and available to stream internationally on Crunchyroll.

The light novels are adapted into two manga series, the first of which, illustrated by Mani, was serialized on Gangan Online from April 2016 to December 2017. The series ended with three collected volumes published by Square Enix. A second manga adaptation, illustrated by Moke Yuzuhara, began in Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh in May 2019. Four volumes of this manga are published in Japanese by ASCII Media Works and in English by Yen Press.

You can check out Adachi and Shimamura today in English and get caught up before the release of the 12th and final volume: https://amzn.to/3FHSBR8

Reading official releases helps support creators and publishers. YuriMother makes a small affiliate commission from sales to help fund future coverage.

Source: Adachi and Shimamura Volume 11 (Japanese Release)

[thehopefuljournalist]

According to a new survey, lawmakers are playing an increasingly important role in holding corporations and governments accountable for failures to tackle the climate crisis.

The research was done by Columbia Law School, and was commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It revealed that the number of climate-related court cases has more than doubled since 2017 and is steadily rising around the world.

Their report confirms a trend highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023, which claimed that individuals and environmental organizations were, more and more, turning to the law, as it became clear that the pace of transition to net-zero emissions was too slow.

“Climate litigation is increasing and concerns about emissions under-reporting and greenwashing have triggered calls for new regulatory oversight for the transition to net zero,” the Forum report said.

The UNEP report catalogues a number of high-profile court cases which have succeeded in enforcing climate action. In 2017, when climate case numbers were last counted, 884 legal actions had been brought. Today the total stands at 2,180.

The majority of climate cases to this date (1,522) have been brought in the US, followed by Australia, the UK, and the EU. The report notes that the number of legal actions in developing countries is growing, now at 17% of the total.

Climate litigation is also giving a voice to vulnerable groups who are being hard hit by climate change. The report says that, globally, 34 cases have been brought by children and young people, including two by girls aged seven and nine in Pakistan and India.

Here are five of the climate breakthroughs achieved by legal action so far.

1. Torres Strait Islanders Vs Australia

In September 2022, indigenous people living on islands in the Torres Strait between northern Queensland and Papua New Guinea won a landmark ruling that their human rights were being violated by the failure of the Australian government to take effective climate action.

The UN Human Rights Committee ruling established the principle that a country could be in breach of international human rights law over climate inaction. They ruled that Australia's poor climate record was a violation of the islanders’ right to family life and culture.

2. The Paris Agreement is a human rights treaty

In July 2022, Brazil's supreme court ruled that the Paris climate agreement is legally a human rights treaty which, it said, meant that it automatically overruled any domestic laws which conflicted with the country’s climate obligations.

The ruling ordered the government to reopen its national climate mitigation fund, which had been established under the Paris Agreement.

3. Climate inaction is a breach of human rights

Upholding an earlier court ruling that greenhouse emissions must be cut by 25% by 2020, the Netherlands Supreme Court ruled that failure to curb emissions was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The December 2019 ruling stated that, although it was up to politicians to decide how to make the emission cuts, failure to do so would be a breach of Articles 2 and 8 of the Convention which affirm the right to life and respect for private and family life.

4. Companies are bound by the Paris accord

Corporations, and not just governments, must abide by the emissions reductions agreed in the Paris climate treaty. This principle was established by a 2021 ruling in the Netherlands brought by environmentalists against energy group Royal Dutch Shell.

The court ordered Shell to cut its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 bringing them in line with Paris climate targets. The judge was reported as saying there was "worldwide agreement" that a 45% reduction was needed, adding: "This applies to the entire world, so also to Shell”.

5. Courts overturn state climate plans

Up until now, three European governments have been defeated in the courts over their climate plans.

In March 2021, Germany’s highest court struck down a climate law requiring 55% emissions by 2030 cuts, ruling it did not do enough to protect citizens’ rights to life and health. The same year, the French government was ordered to take “immediate and concrete action” to comply with its climate commitments. And in 2022, the UK’s climate strategy was ruled unlawful for failing to spell out how emissions cuts would be made.

[kdjojo]

I rewrote what I would've wrote for Suguru's death scene in Jjk0!

Warnings!

Romance, some kissing, angst, and spoilers! It isn't that traumatizing for romance for angst.. KINDA-

It was 2017, December 24, the day when Suguru Geto declared war in front of Jujutsu High (or tech idk). He was just beaten by Yuta Okkotsu and Rika Orimoto. Suguru was leaning against the wall for support as he was tightly gripping on his shoulder, which was dripping with blood. His arm was cut off by Yuta, as his other arm was still there. Suguru slowly drops to the floor, looking up at Satoru. A weak smile slowly appears on his lips.

"You're late as usual.. Satoru.." Suguru says in a hoarse but soft voice.

"I'm not the type to get to places early. But you're an exception." Satoru speaks softly

"Is that so?.." Suguru chuckled before speaking again. "I'm glad.."

Satoru noticed the trail of blood on the wall because of Suguru's missing limb. Satoru looked down at his one and only. Suguru was and still is Satoru Gojo's one and only from his perspective. He gulped quietly. Satoru managed to say something he dreaded saying to his own best friend.

"Take this Satoru.." Suguru throws Satoru Yuta's student card to him.

Satoru looks at the student with Yuta's face imprinted on a small corner.

"Was the elementary school your doing too?" Satoru asked.

"Yup." Suguru answered his question

"Tricky bastard.." Satoru muttered.

They both pause.

"Any last words, Suguru?" Satoru asked

Suguru's lips slowly part before speaking. "Whatever anyone tells you... I still hate those damn filthy monkeys." He states, "But..." He pauses. "I never hated or held anger to those in Jujutsu High..." Suguru breaks eye contact with Satoru. He looks back up at Satoru.

"Curse me till the very end... Satoru Gojo!.."

Satoru's ocean blue eyes widen at his words. He knew exactly what he meant.

"Love is the most twisted curse..." Those exact words that Satoru said were in his mind. His lips trembled. Something overwhelming was telling Satoru to do something or he would regret it for the rest of his life. Satoru slowly crouches down to Suguru's height when he was sitting down. He softly grabs his chin and leans his face forward to Suguru's. He gives Suguru a quick passionate but soft kiss on the lips. That action took Suguru by surprise but he didn't resist. They both pull away.

"Bastard.." Suguru chuckles softly.

"I have something to tell you." Satoru said.

"Hm?.." Suguru tilts his head to the side.

Satoru spoke about what he needed to say to Suguru. His eyes widen in surprise but slowly return back to normal.

"Heh..." Suguru laughed softly with a red hue on his cheeks. He tilted his head to the side still amused.

Satoru slowly stands up and looks down at Suguru. His bright ocean-blue eyes glistened in the reflection of the setting orange sun. His thumb held down his middle finger while the other fingers were free. He was about to kill Suguru Geto.

"I-Im... doing this for the better Suguru... I don't want you to be captured by those old geezers!" Satoru yells. He was talking about the Higher-ups taking Suguru.

"I understand. Satoru.." Suguru said with a smile on his lips.

Satoru Gojo finally killed his one and only... Suguru Geto..

Satoru looks at Suguru's lifeless body. A couple of tears run down his cheeks. He sits beside Suguru's body and wraps his arms around him. He buried his face into the crook of his neck.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry.." Satoru kept on repeating those words. He tightly kept Suguru's body to keep his warmth to himself. Tears roll down Suguru's neck. He kept on snuggling with his body for a while until Shoko walked up to the two of the men.

"Satoru." Shoko spoke. She took a drag from her cigarette

"We need to dispose of the body.." She stated

"Shoko.." Satou finally spoke. "Can you leave me alone for a couple of minutes?.."

Shoko stayed quiet and waited for Satoru.

A couple of days later.

Both Satoru and Yuta were walking through snowy paths in Jujutsu High.

"Here." Satoru hands the student card to Yuta

"Eh? You found my student card??" Yuta questioned with a surprised look on his face.

"Nah. Not me." He paused "My best friend did. My one and only really." Satoru chuckled to himself.

Satoru looked up at the cloudy skies thinking about his and Suguru's youth when they were younger thinking about how they could've been.

[officiallordvetinari]

Another Wikipedia featured article poll, but it's hand-curated this time. Links and summaries below the cut.

A History of British Fishes is a natural history book by William Yarrell, serialised in nineteen parts from 1835, and then published bound in two volumes in 1836. It is a handbook or field guide systematically describing every type of fish found in the British Isles, with an article for each species.

The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushed a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC, during the Second Punic War. The battle took place on the north shore of Lake Trasimene, to the south of Cortona, and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.

Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) is an extinct sirenian described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741. At that time, it was found only around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia; its range extended across the North Pacific during the Pleistocene epoch, and likely contracted to such an extreme degree due to the glacial cycle.

The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safety deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, on the night of 11 September 1971. A gang tunnelled 40 feet (12 m) from a rented shop two doors away to come up through the floor of the vault.

On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the waters of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastating the Richmond district of Halifax.

The nature fakers controversy was an early 20th-century American literary debate highlighting the conflict between science and sentiment in popular nature writing. The debate involved important American literary, environmental and political figures.

The Spaghetti House siege took place between 28 September and 3 October 1975. An attempted robbery of the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, went wrong and the police were quickly on the scene.

Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18.

In July 2017, the municipalities of Mahwah, Upper Saddle River, and Montvale in Bergen County, New Jersey, in the United States, opposed extension of an eruv within their borders. An eruv is a land area surrounded by a boundary of religious significance, often marked by small plastic pipes (called lechis) attached to utility poles.

The Makassar kingdom of Gowa emerged around 1300 CE as one of many agrarian chiefdoms in the Indonesian peninsula of South Sulawesi. From the sixteenth century onward, Gowa and its coastal ally Talloq became the first powers to dominate most of the peninsula, following wide-ranging administrative and military reforms, including the creation of the first bureaucracy in South Sulawesi.

[likeadevils]

which albums do you think took the shortest amount of time to put together? i think that evermore was very quick (only two or three months?), am i right in thinking that lover and folklore were pretty quick too?

evermore was super quick! there were about five songs written from october-december, but about 12 songs were written in about a month, between mid august and mid september. which is just crazy. like that’s more songs than the standard edition of debut like that’s insane

the bulk of folklore was written in two months, between may and june, though the jack songs were mostly written between march and april, with some pre pandemic songs (my tears in dec 2019 and trying in jan/feb 2020)

midnights was a bit more spread out— high infidelity and would’ve could’ve should’ve were written in march 2021, i believe bigger than the whole sky and snow on the beach were in early 2022– but still the bulk of it came together in november/december 2021, making it a year in total but mostly done in two months.

rep took almost exactly a year— she starts writing it in september 2016 and finishes in september 2017. the bulk of the album was likely finished by july 2017 though, so it goes was just a super last minute addition.

lover was recorded in about four months— the bulk of the album was between november 2018 and february 2019. there are some exceptions, like death by a thousand cuts in late april and likely london boy in early june, and maybe a few jack songs throughout 2018, but we don’t know for sure which. she was also probably stockpiling songs a bit before jumping into the studio, but we don’t know for sure.

1989 was another stockpiling album— she did this love in 2012, a couple songs jan 2013, and then that aforementioned stockpiling period while she’s on tour, and then a big rush in oct/nov 2013, and then another rush in jan/feb 2014. it sounds like now that we don’t talk came fairly late in the process though, possibly as late as fall 2014, which would make it a two year long writing period, but as far as the original album goes, about a year and a half.

red was also about a year and a half— we have all too well being finalized in march 2011 (after being started in dec 2010), and then 22 and i knew you were trouble in june 2012. there are probably some outliers— stay stay stay might’ve been as early as summer 2010, some stuff on the vault might’ve gone up until september 2012– but that’s at most about two years of consistent writing and recording.

if we’re counting sparks fly (halloween 2006) then it took four years to write speak now, but excluding sparks fly georg the earliest song we know for sure was if this was a movie in april 2009, and then it ended with the story of us in june 2010, which is a little over a year. she was likely writing songs for speak now earlier in 2009 though, making it her standard year and a half, but we just don’t know for sure. the recording process was also spread out throughout both years— the first session for the album was in march 2009, and the orchestra sections were the last thing recorded, in july 2010.

fearless had two big recording sessions, in december 2007 and march 2008, so recording wise the album came together super quickly. that being said, if we just take the first and last songs written for the album, fearless has a pretty big stretch— she had stuff from the vault from like 2005, and then come in with the rain in september 2006, and white horse in december 2006. and then the last song is similarly up for interpretation, with forever and always in late september 2008, and mr perfectly fine in march 2009. so even though it came together very quickly once she got in the studio, counting the vault it was four years to write it, making it one of the longest timeframes, but standard edition is still a fairly long two years.

and then debut! i’m a bit more hazy on debut’s timeline, but a perfectly good heart was written sometime in 2003, and should’ve said no was the last thing written and recorded, on august 10, 2006, making it about three years.

so it’s pretty much an exercise in counting— the earlier and album came in her career, the longer it took her to make it, until we get to post pandemic where she’s busting out almost complete albums in two month periods (ts11 looks like it’s bucking that trend though, so let’s see!!)

[corneliushickey]

how long have you been growing out your hair? looks gorgeous! planning to grow out my own but i keep foiling it with trims because of split ends

unbelievable to me that i opened my tumblr app to see a kind stranger asking about the only thing in the world that actually matters to me: how long my hair is.

i'm going to give you a needlessly detailed response but if you don't wanna read all that: 7 years 8 months and it (as of today!) brushes my tailbone

i grew my hair out as long as i could in high school and it got to almost my waist. i shaved it all off in summer 2013 and started growing it out from a buzzcut in summer 2014

when it reached the ugly soccer mom bob stage i got an undercut from ear to ear around the back of my head/nape of my neck, like this:

random pic off pinterest btw idk who that is

i shaved that undercut for the last time in very late december 2016 and kept my hair at shoulder length for a while waiting for the undercut to catch up

so basically since jan. 1 2017 i have been growing out my hair from bald 👨‍🦲

in 2022 i shaved the sides from my ear forward like this

very skrillex. i loved it. i had been day dreaming about this kind of sideshave for well over a decade. at this point my hair was just past my waist.

then in 2023 i extended the side shave all the way to the nape of my neck again like a death hawk. like this:

the last time i got that sideshave touched up was 12.29.24 so it's been growing out for 7 months 12 days

i do not plan to cut the rest of my hair short to match the sideshave until it reaches like... actually idk probably my waist? but the thought of having to chop my hair back to my waist makes my entire body clench painfully so maybe not who's to say

my hair grows extremely slowly. more slowly than anyone i've ever met, actually. most people in 7 years can grow their hair down to classic length (the bottom of your butt/top of your thighs) or even longer.

i think trims can be very helpful if your hair grows quickly, if you have a lot of split ends, or if you have bleached hair. actually if you have bleached hair trims are mandatory and unavoidable. for me, i prefer to do "seek and destroy" haircuts where i just bought myself a pair of sheers and i snip off the individual split ends i find whenever i find them. is this foolproof? no definitely not. will any hairstylist tell you that trims are necessary? yes. and they probably know what they're talking about. for me, my hair grows so slowly and i want it to be long so badly that idc about splits. if i noticed my ends THINNING i would get them trimmed for sure, but otherwise i am really reluctant to let anyone cut my hair.

i had a reliable stylist who i went to for years and i trusted her to give me barbie princess layers and not take any length off. she moved out of state and i'm thrilled for her but i cannot imagine trusting a stranger with my hair. especially since the last time i did so (in july 2023) i ended up having to chop 6" off my hair because she thinned out the ends so much. SIX INCHES. that's like over 2 years of growth for me.

what i really want rn is a little itty bitty undercut around my ears like this (but with no bangs):

and with how fucking annoying my grown out sideshave is i have literally been parting my hair to do this 3-4 times a week. but i am NOT allowed to get another undercut until i grow this one out for a full year 😤 which is a rule i made up for myself because otherwise i would immediately lose the will to keep at it and just do the skrillex thing again.

also if you happen to be here from my asoiaf sideblog i can tell you that i do still play the game where every time a character's hair length is mentioned i compare it to my own hair. the two people who have me beat are khal drogo (his hair in an intricate multi strand braid reaches his thighs) and aeron greyjoy i think altho i might be misremembering aeron.

TY FOR YOUR QUESTION THERE IS NO WAY YOU WANTED THIS MUCH INFORMATION XO MWAH

[josephtrohman]

I don't know who else to express my conern to, but... it seems to me that Joe hasn't been wearing his wedding ring lately? I first noticed it in the China pics and thought maybe he just forgot it at home or something, but I did a quick look through 2ourdust pics and it seems to be missing then, too??

i was going to answer this when i saw it in my inbox yesterday but tbh i genuinely got too high last night to type coherently LMFAOOOO. BUT this is the RIGHT PLACE to express this concern because i actually am a slightly insane person who pays like TOO MUCH attention to wedding rings due to the fact that they make me Feel Ways, so i actually have a lot to say about this!!! i am the co-president of the joe trohman hands and ring committee after all (shoutout ash)…however, tldr: i would say that him not wearing his ring is not a bad sign to ME bc of the evidence on this matter. and i’m putting it under a cut cuz i kind of typed a lot here 😭

joe didnt wear his wedding ring almost at all on tourdust or eurodust either (there’s the joe coffee run picture that he’s wearing it, but i believe that was taken in la, and he lives in la, so he could have just dropped it off at home or whatever lol), but it actually goes much further back than that! iirc joe started first inconsistently wearing his wedding ring in 2017 or so, and he and his wife had a baby the next year, so it is not necessarily the sign of a split or anything that he is not wearing it :-)

there could be many many reasons that he doesn’t wear it while touring/playing. it may be the case that he doesn’t like to travel with it for fear of losing it, especially considering his ring was upgraded recently ish it seems. see the pics below, left picture=2019 or so i believe, right picture=early 2023 from the hmlag shoot. as you can see the new ring has a different design, there’s some carving or maybe there’s even like diamonds in the band idk it’s hard to see fully, but it really could be the case that it’s a much more expensive ring, thus not wanting to travel with it because of the cost to replace if he lost it

there are also other personal reasons he may choose to not wear it: it could be for fluctuating finger sizes due to medical reasons or weight changes (i am not implying it looks like he gained or lost weight lol it doesn’t seem that way, but even small weight changes that are invisible to us can impact your finger size, or a high-sodium diet can contribute the fingers swelling more, so on and so forth), it could be the case that it’s become uncomfortable to play in (as an example, there’s that one video from 2013 or so of an acoustic performance where patrick removes his wedding band because of the slide sound it’s making on the neck of the guitar, so it’s not inconceivable that a wedding ring could get in the way/be uncomfortable for playing in), or SOOO many different reasons that he stopped wearing it that we may not know about (and that’s ok!!)

during their last show (or maybe one of their last shows? i can’t remember for sure but def a december 2023 show) he brought out this lil number which appears to be a silicone ring. and he only used this for one show and hasn’t brought it back since, but it just may not have been an alternative that worked for him. i know for example my uncle had a bad allergic reaction on his hands when he tried to switch to a silicone wedding band, so maybe something similar could have happened to joe with this silicone band, or just not liking the feel of it, etc

another piece of evidence that i think should soothe you as well, he was wearing his real ring during his christmas video, even if he wasn’t wearing his ring almost at all during 2023 tour :)

as well, i’m not going to include the pics (but you can find it easily on meredith’s reel lol), but marie was at andy and meredith’s wedding too, just another lil piece of evidence that im not concerned about the state of their relationship :)

lastly, its important to know that he has marie’s initials tattooed on the inner part of his ring finger (the m is covered up by his wedding band in these pics but i can’t find others where it’s more visible lol), so even when he’s not wearing his wedding ring, it’s like she’s always with him :-) and i bet that’s part of the reason that he doesn’t seem overly concerned with finding an alternative band, because functionally the tattoo still shows his commitment to her <33

aside from all of this even, im not worried about their relationship; joe has been head over heels for her from the moment they met, so i think they will be together forever and ever 💖 (and well god forbid if they do ever split i may have to cermet soup of side bc i love them so much…yes im a crazy insane joegirl yes i like rpf BUT ALSO yes i love marie and their relationship in general WE EXIST. do they need a third or perhaps another dog i can bark etc etc)

[malaismere]

2022 AO3 Stats - Vox Machina & Mighty Nein

(for previous stats check out my ao3 stats tag - most relevant are my end of c2 m9 ship stats)

Behold! The top ships! Marvel at the tangle of lines! These are in 3-month intervals to keep it at least somewhat legible, and I'm sorry to say that you'll probably need to really zoom in to make sense of it, so I can't do a full text description. I will point out where they break 200 fics, however - Perc'ahlia at the end of 2016, Widomauk in mid-2018 (following Molly's death), Shadowgast and Beaujester in early 2019 (with the Essek reveal), Beauyasha from October 2020 through June 2021 (canon, end of Campaign) and Shadowgast from April 2021 to end of 2022, and Laudna/Imogen from July to December 2022 (following Laudna's death).

Additionally: the only C1 ship to be in the top 5 ships while C2 aired was Perc'ahlia, and it only reached it occasionally; throughout C3 Shadowgast has yet to drop below 2, and both Perc'ahlia and Beauyasha have consistently been in the top 5.

Looking closer at each campaign below the cut!

These charts are also in 3-month intervals, to at least try and pretend they're legible. Initial work was done in 2020, so fics deleted before that aren't included, but fics deleted after that may be (depending on how big a time gap there was between posting and deleted). Because of that, these aren't 1:1 with what you'll see on ao3 today but are very close.

Vox Machina

Overall, the Top 10 ships are:

Perc'ahlia

Vaxleth

Vax/Gilmore

Perc'ildan

Pikelan

Vexleth

Keyleth/Vax/Gilmore

Zahra/Vex

Polymachina

Grog/Vax (tie)

Percy/Pike (tie)

Grog Strongjaw

So, the fewer the fics, the messier the chart. Grog doesn't really have a clear dominant ship. The two that stand out are Grog/Vax, which is prevelant from late 2016 to the end of C1, and Grog/Keyleth, which picks up steam and is the dominant post-C1 ship. Altoug, interestingly enough, Grog/Keyleth has fallen out of the way since end of 2020, leaving Grog/Vax to be dominant in 2022. The only other fic to get more than 2 fics is a single Grog/Pike peak in late 2016.

Keyleth

Vaxleth is the big boy here - spiking to 52 from July 2016 to March 2017 (yes, there were three 52s in a row) and 73 in January 2022 as Legend of Vox Machina came out. It was up and down but overall pretty consistent and has never not been Keyleth's top ship.

...althtough Vexleth comes close, only one fic shy in April-June 2022, reaching an all time high post LoVM. Other than that, its been the constant number two - Pikeleth beating it by 1 fic in April-Jun 2017 as the exception that proves the rule. Percleth and Pikeleth are strong during C1 but drop off after; Grogleth is the main pos-C1 but all of them fall to the side aftertheir late 2020 peak, with only Percleth seeing a very small LoVM resurgence.

Percival de Rolo

Perc'ahlia breaks the axis with 182, 256, and 138 fics from July 2016 - March 2017 and a 120 fic LoVM resurgence in early 2022. It had a later start than Vaxleth but quickly outshown it, and has been in and out but fairly constant during C2. The combo of C3 cameos & LoVM has kept it at it's C1 highs and that's only expected to continue once S2 drops.

Perc'ildan is the constant number 2, save for a small peak of Percy/Tary following his introduction in 2017 and Percy/Pike beating out with 5 fics to Perc'ildan and Percleth's 4 in late 2020; nothing else breaks 5,

Pike Trickfoot

So, during C1 things were a bit of a mix. Pikelan started strong, but Percy/Pike is the top in July-September 2016, and Pike/Vex and Pke/Keyleth for Femslash February 2017. However, Percy's the only one of these to really have much to show post-C1.

Pikelan is highest at the end of C1, and then is pretty constant. It did see a spike for LoVM, but not a very significant one.

Scanlan Shorthalt

Pikelan dominates and always has with a Vaxlan exception for the end of C1 / The Wish. Everything else is in the minor leagues - Vaxlan has a showing, the rest are only 1-2 fics and hard to interpret.

Vax'ildan

Vaxleth is the big boy here - spiking to 52 from July 2016 to March 2017 (yes, there were three 52s in a row) and 73 in January 2022 with LoVM. However, unlike Keyleth, Vax is way more even - Vaxmore beats out Vaxleth in late 2020, and Perc'ildan in April-June 2022. Vaxmore was prety constant, dropping only slightly post-C1; Perc'ildan had a mre significant drop, but then a more signficant LoVM resurgence.

Vax/Grog and Vax/Scanlan are pretty comparable; Vax/Scanlan peaks in late 2017 with the Vecna stuff, but Vax/Grog is the bigger ship post-C1. Both still only broke above 5 for the end of C1.

Vex'ahlia

Perc'ahlia breaks the axis with 182, 256, and 138 fics from July 2016 - March 2017 and a 120 fic LoVM resurgence in early 2022. Same as Percy, there's only one other ship of note - Vexleth, which hits a high following LoVM but never breaks 25.

Pike/Vex hits a Femslash February high in 2017, as does Zahra/Vex (which is at Vexleth levels for 2016) but everything else is dead quiet.

Taryon Darrington

Unsurprisingly, Tary's pretty quiet. Post-introduction there's a Percy/Tary high; after that, there are occasional Percy/Tary and Tary/Lawrence fics, but oly in the 1-2 range.

Mighty Nein

Overall the top 10 ships are

Shadowgast

Beauyasha

Widomauk

Widojest

Beaujester

Fjorester

Widofjord

Fjorclay

Clayleb

**Blumentrio**

Widobrave

Fjord

So, Widofjord started out the top ship, and stayed that way through early 2019 before slowly dropping to the wayside. Fjorclay took over after that and has one of the sharpest declines ever, currently sitting at like 2/year. Fjorester, always a top but secondary ship, bursts up to a 160 peak with the end of C2 and them being canon, falling back down to average levels albeit the top ship. Fjorester gets a small bump for the M9 Reunion.

Also notable: Fjolly starts strong but fades out following Molly's death; there's a peak in Avantika/Fjord during the pirate arc that trails off, and we have two Fjord/Nott peaks in late 2019 and early 2021 coinciding with peak Nott bullying Fjord moments.

Beauregard Lionett

Beauyasha is the top ship, with a peak of 343 in the end of C2. Beaujester takes over during 2019 following the Zuala reveal and Beau revealing her crush on Jester, but falls off during the Hiatus as Beauyasha become canon. The Ot3 is really the only secondary ship, aside from a tny peak of Beau/Keg after they fucked - there's no similar Beau/Reani peak.

Caleb Widogast

Widomauk dominates in 2018, htting a high with Molly's death, and then slowly but steadily declines after that. Widojest makes a valiiant attempt in 2019, and is pretty strong during tthe hiatus, but Shadowgast over takes, with its first peak in early 2020 with the Treason Reveal, and then a 677 fic peak for the end of C2 (the highest of Any Ship Ever).

Widofjord was the second ship but fell off after Essek's introduction; Clayleb was briefly popular in early 2019 but fell off as Fjorclay grew. Widobrave gets an alltime high with Veth getting her body back in early 2020, and is at simlar levels with Widofjord for the rest of C2, but falls off more sharply after. Blumentrio is similarly low but gets peaks in 2019 with the Scourger introduction and at the end of C2 with the Eiselcross arc, and has been pretty constant after.

Nott / Veth Brenatto

Nott/Yeza is the big ship with its high point following Yeza's introduction/rescue, and stays a pretty constant ship. Widobrave takes over with the ritual to get Veth's body back, and they're close for 2020 but Widobrave falls off faster, and doesn't get a resurgence with M9 Reunited as Nott/Yeza did.

Other than that....there's some Nott/Jester in late 2018, some Nott/Cad in early 2019 I think was just one person, and Fjord/Nott, which peaks in late 2019 and early 2021 with peak Nott Bullying Fjord moments. post C2, it is the only other Nott ship. Like. At all.

Jester Lavorre

Fjorester starts out at the top, but slowly declines through 2019 until the Eiselcross arc and end of C2-canon. Even then, it never its the highs Beaujester or Widojest do as they battle for dominance in 2019/2020. Both have fallen down to be closer to the levels seen by Jolly, Yashter, and the Beauyashter ot3.

Mollymauk Tealeaf

Widomauk. It exists. Widofjord used to exist. It doesn't, anymore. A few people wrote Jolly, and that's not really a thing. You can start to see people writing Molly/Essek. They're doing so because Shadowgast is popular, although the ot3 tag isn't super prevelant/comparable.

More seriously, you can see a peak following Lucien's return but it then drops off with no real end of C2 spike because...well, Kingsley. Hard to say whether it's hit a constant or if it'll continue to decline.

Yasha Nydoorin

Beauyasha had it's heyday in post-Hiatus C2. It's since dropped back to early levels, still far and away the top Yasha ship. Yashter & the Beauyashter ot3 are the only others that really compare, save a small Zuala peak after the backstory reveal that gets occasional fics. Even these have fallen to the wayside post-C2. Only Beauyasha remains.

Caduceus Clay

So, with Caduceus, he's the replacement for Widomauk in late 2018 to early 2019, before Fjorclay takes the stand, with a 120 fic peak during the 2020 hiatus. It then immediately falls down to nothing, as does the brief fling with Cadwulf, since Taliesin went on Talks and confirmed that Caduceus was Asexual. Since then...things have been pretty quiet, never getting a full 0 ship fics, but also never getting more than 5.

Kingsley Tealeaf

So, in the immediate post C2, we see some Caleb/Kingsley, comparable to Widomauk, with some Essek/Kingsley because ot3.

Fjord/Kingsley is perfectly hidden behind Jester/Kingsely, as their distribution is identical: because it's actually Fjord/Jester/Kingsley, which is actually the #2 ship.

[taylor-on-your-dash]

could you list the very first and the very last song which taylor has written for each album? just curious to see any changes in her songwriting, especially of the earlier albums. i got the ones for red and fearless cause i read your timelines (awesome work btw) but im missing the ones for the other albums

THAT'S SUCH AN INTERESTING QUESTION ANON, THANK YOU

DEBUT

First song:

A Perfectly Good Heart - Autumn 2003

Last song:

Should've Said No - August 10, 2006

FEARLESS

First song:

White Horse - December 2006 (if we count the main album)

Come In With The Rain - September 2006 (if we count Fearless Platinum)

That's When/You All Over Me - early 2005 (if we count Fearless TV) The 2005 Vault songs are the most vague but I think that the other two, Don't You and We Were Happy, are for Drew, so written after he left for college in September 2005.

Last song:

Forever & Always - September 22, 2008 (if we count the main album)

Mr. Perfectly Fine - March/May 2009 (if we count Fearless TV)

SPEAK NOW

First song:

Sparks Fly - November 2, 2006

Sparks Fly was technically edited in 2010, so if you think that it shouldn't count, your next bet might be:

If This Was A Movie - April 2009

Last song:

The Story Of Us - June 16, 2010

RED

First song:

Stay Stay Stay - either early 2010 or late 2010

Last song:

I Knew You Were Trouble - June 2, 2012

Technically Trouble began in January 2012, but it was finished on June 2nd. So if you think that it shouldn't count, the next song is:

22 - June 1, 2012

1989

First song:

This Love - October 17, 2012

Last song:

Style - February 19, 2014

REPUTATION

First song:

Gorgeous - September 2 to 19, 2016

Last song:

So It Goes... - September 2017. The song was a last-minute addition to the album and it messed up the tracklist on the reputation magazines. EDIT TO ADD AN EXPLANATION HERE

LOVER

First song:

Daylight - 2017/2018

Last song:

Death By A Thousand Cuts - April 2019

(I'm actually not 100% sure about the Lover timeline and I haven't seen anyone talking about it but Taylor said that Daylight was the first title of the album but she changed it after she wrote Lover, and Lover is also a pretty early song (Taylor posted a quote from the song on Instagram in July 2018) so Daylight could've potentially been written in early 2018 or late 2017)

FOLKLORE

First song:

my tears ricochet - Late 2019

Last song:

the 1/hoax - Late May 2020

EVERMORE

First song:

dorothea - summer 2020, around July or August

Last song:

right where you left me/happiness - November 2020, both written just before the mastering process

MIDNIGHTS

First song:

High Infidelity/Would've Could've Should've - March 2021

Last song:

You're Losing Me - maybe written after Midnights dropped?

I haven't researched Midnights in depth yet (but I actually don't think there's much to research, we can just speculate)

[foreverlogical]

A Washington-based married couple's challenge to an obscure provision of the 2017 Republican tax law has the potential to become "the most important tax case in a century," with far-reaching implications for federal revenues, key social programs, and Congress' constitutional authority to impose levies on income.

That's according to a new report released Wednesday by the Roosevelt Institute and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

The policy groups estimated that if the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in Moore v. United States—which the justices are set to take up in December—nearly 400 multinational corporations could collectively receive more than $270 billion in tax relief, further enriching behemoths such as Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Google.

The Roosevelt Institute and ITEP also found that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito own stock in 19 companies that are poised to receive a combined $30 billion in tax breaks if the judges strike down the 2017 law's mandatory repatriation tax, a one-time levy targeting earnings that multinational corporations had piled up overseas.

But the case could have impacts well beyond a repeal of the repatriation tax, which was projected to generate $340 billion in federal revenue over a decade.

Depending on the scope of the justices' decision, the new report argues, the Supreme Court could "suddenly supplant Congress as a major American tax policymaker, putting at legal jeopardy much of the architecture of laws that prevent corporations and individuals from avoiding taxes, and introducing great uncertainty about our democracy's ability to tax large corporations and the most affluent."

"At the best of times, blowing a $340 billion hole in the federal budget would be catastrophic," Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at ITEP and a co-author of the new report, said in a statement. "And if the court invalidates the transition tax in its Moore decision, that's exactly what would happen: possibly the costliest Supreme Court decision of all time. And it would be hard to identify a less deserving set of tax cut beneficiaries than the companies that would reap at least $271 billion from repealing this tax."

"The Roberts Court could decide with the stroke of a pen to simultaneously forgive big business decades of tax dues."

Charles and Kathleen Moore brought their challenge to the repatriation provision after they were hit with a roughly $15,000 tax bill stemming from their stake in an Indian farm equipment company. As the Tax Policy Center recently observed, the Indian firm is a "controlled foreign corporation (CFC), or a foreign corporation whose ownership or voting rights are more than 50% owned by U.S. persons who each own at least 10%."

The Moores' cause has been championed by billionaire-backed organizations and corporate lobbying groups, including the Manhattan Institute–which is chaired by billionaire hedge fund mogul Paul Singer—and the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"That such a case involving such modest sums would make it all the way to the high court indicates that there is much more at play than a single family's tax refund," ITEP's Gardner and Spandan Marasini and the Roosevelt Institute's Niko Lusiani note in the new report.

The plaintiffs' legal team argues that because the Moores' shares in the Indian firm were not "realized"—they did not sell or receive a distribution from the company—they should not have been on the hook for the repatriation tax.

"The government, on the other hand, argues that almost a century of tax law precedent has established Congress' broad authority to decide when and how to tax income, even without a specific realization event," the new report explains. "What's more, the income was clearly realized by the corporation, which is sufficient for income taxation of shareholders under various provisions of the existing tax code."

While it's possible that the Supreme Court will rule narrowly on the specifics of the Moores' situation, the report authors cautioned that the justices "could also issue a broad decision that taxing income—of an individual or a corporate shareholder—requires realization, and that income taxation on multiple years of accrued income is unconstitutional."

Such a sweeping ruling could preemptively ban a wealth tax—an outcome that right-wing supporters of the Moores have explicitly advocated.

"This case presents the court with an ideal opportunity to clarify that taxes on unrealized gains, such as wealth taxes, are direct taxes that are unconstitutional if not apportioned among the states," the Manhattan Institute declared in a May amicus brief.

A broad ruling by the high court could also imperil key elements of the existing tax code, according to ITEP and the Roosevelt Institute.

"One of the most established of these pillars is known as Subpart F, which was enacted in 1962 to prevent American corporations from avoiding taxation through offshore entities or controlled foreign corporations," the new report says. "Provisions related to Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI), the branch profits tax; tax treatment of corporate debt; and others could be uprooted by five justices."

"The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax—enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to create a basic corporate tax floor—as well as international efforts to curb international tax avoidance could be made constitutionally invalid," the report adds.

The analysis stresses that the consequences of a broad ruling in the upcoming case would be profound, affecting more than just a handful of corporate tax provisions.

"In Moore," the report warns, "the Roberts Court could decide with the stroke of a pen to simultaneously forgive big business decades of tax dues, increase the federal deficit over the long run, jeopardize future public revenue and essential social programs, escalate these multinational companies' already sizeable after-tax profits, and further enrich their shareholders."

[possum-dyke]

I'd love to share with you all my undergrad honors thesis! Warning, it's a long read but well worth it, especially if you're into harm reduction

Why do Chronic Pain Patients Use Opioids Outside of the Realm of Prescription?

December 21, 2022

Nadiya 

With the guidance of mentors David Frank, PhD and Noa Krawczyk, PhD

Macaulay Honors College Public Health Honors Project

AbstractThis exploratory review aims to summarize the reasons why chronic pain patients have been using opioids not as prescribed. Review and analysis of Reddit posts revealed people’s reasons for not using drugs as prescribed, and yielded meaningful anecdotes about their stories. Results showed four overall themes, with one theme being patients not getting enough supply, either through underprescription, no prescription, or getting cut off prescriptions; one theme being issues with withdrawal, often linked to lack of information or various reasons for patients to DIY the process; one theme being blocked communication between doctors and patients, specifically focusing on stigma in the medical community against drug users; and the last theme focusing on the negative effect of national, state, and practice-based prescription guidelines. These can be summarized by one overarching theme of disconnect between patients and doctors. Recommendations can be made to improve guidelines and to train doctors better.

Background/Introduction/LiteratureThe use of opium as an analgesic can be traced back to the times of ancient Sumer, with references to it written on a clay tablet of medical preparations (Norn et al., 2005). Since then, opium and increasingly stronger opioids, including synthetic opioids, have been used in a widespread manner, primarily for pain management and for recreational use, as opioid euphoric properties hold similar levels of power as analgesic properties (Norn et al., 2005). Although there had been previous opioid “epidemics” such as the high level of Opioid Use Disorder following the Civil War, the most currently thought of opioid “epidemic” is the one that occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, whose dangerous aftereffects we are seeing today with the advent of fentanyl (Jones et al., 2018). A perfect storm of the medical institution starting to briefly acknowledge the importance of pain and the invention and widespread marketing of preparations like OxyContin, as well as the willingness of many physicians to prescribe of opioids, caused an increase in the rates of opioid use, unfortunately leading to dependence and overdose in some cases (Jones et al., 2018). These negative consequences caused a shift in the pendulum in the complete other direction, with more crackdown on prescribing doctors, crackdown on users, and low rates of prescription of opioids (Marchetti et al., 2020). By now, the CDC has put out federal guidelines about opioid prescription for doctors (2016 guidelines dealt with how much opioids can be prescribed and what risk factors can be considered in prescription) (Bohnert et al., 2018). Furthermore, states have set up their own guidelines to try to curb causing dependence (Soelberg et al., 2017). Also, private healthcare companies often have blanket rules or limits that either they won’t prescribe opioids or no more than a limited dose of opioids (Webster & Grabois, 2015). In theory this was to cut down on pill mills, where anyone could claim any injury for a prescription they could get multiple refills of (Kennedy-Hendricks et al., 2016).When reading this paper, it is important to note the different kinds of opioids mentioned.OxyContin, Norco, Lortab, and tramadol are all available by prescription but also on the street; in the US, heroin is only available on the street. Methadone and suboxone are forms of medication-assisted treatment (MAT); suboxone, which was mentioned more often in this research, is a partial opioid agonist which also often includes naloxone, an antagonist, in its preparation to block users from getting high on other opioids (Velander, 2018). Although mostly obtained via prescription, suboxone can be acquired on the street (Hswen et al., 2020). Kratom is a plant with opioid characteristics that while still often used for pain or euphoria, is most frequently associated with assisting with withdrawal symptoms or tapering off stronger opioids (Eastlack et al., 2020). It is not legal in all states or countries, but where it is legal, it is typically sold in headshops or online; it is never prescribed (Prozialeck et al., 2020).Another important concept that received several mentions in patient posts was withdrawal, which requires explanation. After some level of dependence, an opioid user will start developing withdrawal symptoms when they stop using (Kosten & Baxter, 2019). These will worsen over the duration of use (Kosten & Baxter, 2019). Symptoms include an agitated/anxious mental state, insomnia, sweats, chills, flu-like symptoms, cramps, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting (Kosten & Baxter, 2019).

MethodologyIn this exploratory review and analysis, Reddit posts were analyzed to answer the question of why current chronic pain patients use opioids in an illicit and/or non-prescribed way to manage pain. The social media forum Reddit, through its subreddit r/opiates, was used to sort through posts that might be of relevance. The search term used was “chronic pain.” Inclusion criteria used when considering posts for analysis incorporated posts consisting of at least 5 words in the body, and if there was repeat posting, only first posting in order of the algorithm was counted. Non-prescribed use had to be present or heavily implied in the content of the post. The project defined non-prescribed use as use beyond the scope of a prescription, encompassing everything from using drugs bought on the black market to doubling the dose of a prescription or using non-prescribed supplements. At this point, 50 posts that matched criteria were collected.The posts were coded on Google Sheets using the following list of categories, which were picked after thematic analysis of the topic.Can’t obtain a prescriptionAlready dependent from previous prescriptions or non-prescribed useWant more after prescription but can't getPrescription too lowRan out of prescription earlyRaised toleranceOff label use of prescriptionAre using for recreational reasonsDon’t want to go to a doctorCan't afford a doctor/doctor doesn't take insuranceReceived shared pills from othersWere already using pre-pain,Want the high from a stronger drugAvoidance of dopesickness/withdrawal symptomsUse vs suicideNo illicit use mentioned (still not using as prescribed)On medication-assisted treatmentUse of kratom,Different route of administrationRelief from dopesickness/withdrawal symptomsFear/avoidance of painUsing from non-prescribed supply on top of prescriptionUse of non-opiate drugs mentioned,Doctor lowered/took off scriptNew or worsening chronic pain after withdrawal/abstinence (post-acute withdrawal syndrome)Use of heroin.Each category was given a code and these codes were marked next to posts that pertained to them. Then important quotes were gathered and several themes were identified, some stemming from criteria, and some from analysis.Limitations include the fact that posters could use other terms than “chronic pain” to describe their pain, and the fact that posts were shown in the order of Reddit’s proprietary algorithm. Another limitation is the lack of inclusion of “should I” posts, or posters who haven't yet made the jump but are asking about using their prescriptions in a different way or trying new substances. Another limitation involves the fact that this study does not take into account the people who would not be using Reddit to talk about their experiences, including, notably, many elderly individuals who may be a part of the target demographic.

Results

Quantitative AnalysisOut of 50 data points, here’s how many were counted positive for each category:Category Count

Can’t obtain a prescription  13

Prescription too low  11

Use of heroin  10

Are using for recreational reasons  9

No illicit use mentioned (still not using as prescribed)  9

Using from non-prescribed supply on top of prescription  8

Different route of administration  7

Want more after prescription but can't get  7

Off label use of prescription  6

Use of kratom  6

Use of non-opiate drugs mentioned  5

Raised tolerance  5

On medication-assisted treatment  5

Relief from dopesickness/withdrawal symptoms  5

Ran out of prescription early  4

Fear/avoidance of pain  4

New or worsening chronic pain after withdrawal/abstinence (post-acute withdrawal syndrome)  4

Use vs suicide  3

Doctor lowered/took off script  3

Don’t want to go to a doctor  2

Received shared pills from others  2

Were already using pre-pain  2

Avoidance of dopesickness/withdrawal symptoms  2

Can't afford a doctor/doctor doesn't take insurance  1

Want the high from a stronger drug  1

Already dependent from previous prescriptions or nonprescribed use  0

Qualitative AnalysisAnalysis of the Reddit posts revealed four umbrella themes:1. Patients aren’t getting enough medication to manage pain.2. Patients are dealing with issues related to opioid withdrawal/dependence/tolerance.3. Patients are not consulting with their doctors about their opioid use.4. Guidelines for prescription of opioids are not serving patients well.

Umbrella Theme 1: Patients aren’t getting enough medication to manage pain.Multiple Reddit users found that although they were getting prescriptions, the prescriptions were insufficient to their levels of pain. Some patients feel their doctors aren’t understanding their pain, and are acting out of a fear of overprescription.One poster described their frustration at not being prescribed opioids.“and what got me so pissed off, was when I talked to one of the docs he was saying “we really don’t want to use any narcotics as they’re dangerous and we want to keep you safe, if you have excruciating pain, you can have a small dose of norco once a day.” ”Self-management of pain medication is a strategy many use to allow for their low prescriptions. Here, one patient described using dietary changes to make their dose have a higher effect, in this case using grapefruit juice to potentiate the effects of opioids. (Nieminen et al, 2020)“It's gotten so bad that I've begun to starve myself most of the day and drinking mostly grapefruit juice to have my limited dose hit as hard as possible.” Others, like the next two posters, stretch their limited prescription, finding themselves in a conflict to take multiple doses to alleviate pain versus risking having nothing left to deal with a potential flare-up.“Try to keep it in the 15 - 30mg range per day so I don't max out my script in one week.”“I hate that so far today, I've taken 75mgs of oxy [Oxycontin], yet my back is still screaming at me. I hate that I only have one 15mg pill left, and I'm trying so hard not to take it just yet.”Many users found themselves unable to take prescriptions at all: “cant get doctors to help me for shit have to self medicate.”In some of these cases it is clear that the patients have already sought extensive care but still can’t get a prescription.“There's so much scaremongering about doctors overperscribing (sic) opiates, but I'm out here with a super fucked up back (dont want to get into specifics but its gnarly) and the xrays and MRIS to prove it and i still can't find a doctor to prescribe me anything stronger than naproxen.”“I've had a torn miniscus (sic) tendon for the past 7-8 years and none of the doctors I've been to will do anything about it. Doctors refuse to send me to pain management, their excuse is that I don't need it. I've taken it upon myself to medicate with the only pills that seem to work for it. (Oxy, Lortab)” For at least one patient, only mild or highly improbable solutions have been given.“every single doctor I've been to just gives me shitty NSAIDs and tells me to exercise”In some cases, doctors are cutting patients off their medications. One patient has been told that there is no cure and is therefore scared of being cut off their meds.“I’ve been told this “is it” for me, as after 6 years of treatment/surgeries there’s nothing left to do but treat symptoms, and I’m terrified I’ll be cut off my meds this year, it’s terrifying…..”This patient’s story shows a direct link between being cut off and buying on the black market.“I was prescribed quite a bit of opioids but I was cut off because it was just a general doctor and I had to go to the streets which eventually led me to suboxone [an opioid partial agonist used for withdrawal]” 

Umbrella Theme 2: Patients have issues with withdrawal/dependence/tolerance and the way interactions with doctors about these topics have gone.One patient was worried that trying to taper off legally with suboxone would affect other prescriptions, and was crowdsourcing information instead of telling the doctor their fears.“I’ve bought subutex [same as suboxone] before and managed to get myself off it but I can’t get it this time. Would a doctor allow you to be prescribed subs  while your already on other opioids prescribed?”Another patient is trying to crowdsource answers to their problem; they started off using legal kratom, but it wasn’t enough for the pain.“Now i tried to just come off morphine and jump on to kratom but my habit is too big and the kratom wasn't holding me plus it wasn't really putting a dent in my pain. I'm so fkn lost, i really don't know what to do at this point this seems insurmountable and i've just been crying all day.”One person feels they made a mistake telling their doctor. There are steep costs associated with suboxone for them, and they consider heroin to be more pleasant and cheaper.“Doctors refuse to help me. Even with my medical history , I made a horrible mistake of going for help in my most desperate moments of withdrawal, tried to get on subs [suboxone, an opioid partial agonist used for withdrawal], But said fuck it when I realized they wanted $16 every single day to dispense me a sub [suboxone] strip 6 days a week with only 1 take home for sundays. My dope [heroin] habit I could maintain on for only a little more money and it felt way better so why the fck would I get on maintenance?”Two patients likely weren’t given enough information about withdrawal. Withdrawal is seen as a “junkie” thing, so doctors don’t want to give their patients the impression they’ll get it (or don’t know much about it themselves), and patients don’t think it will happen to them so they don’t research it. (Rieder, 2017)“Only today it dawned on me what an odd coincidence it is I feel sick when I don't take it but I'm fine when I do. I've been using it continuously for the past couple days and today I woke up feeling like complete shit.”“Now my tolerance is so high I haven’t been taking as directed and taking the max dose. I ran out almost 3 days ago now. I am so tired, my legs and my arms hurt if I don’t move them, have the shits [diarrhea], headache, and all over feeling terrible [typical opioid withdrawal symptoms]. I’m assuming this is withdrawal but I feel so fucking awful.”

Umbrella Theme 3: Patients are not consulting with doctors about pain and opioid use.Patients were often found to be deliberately withholding information from their doctors for various reasons:“Like I said I hid it from my doctors, so I never really got to find out exactly what that pain was”At least one patient was scared that doctors would think they were lying for a prescription.“I tried to hide it from everyone. I was scared that doctors would think I was phishing [committing fraud/lying] for pain pills, and/or that my family would doubt my sobriety because of my behavior.”Rehab facilities often don’t let patients take any psychoactive drugs, and this person was rightfully worried that if she entered rehab, her meds could be taken from her.“She says she can't go to treatment because they'll take her meds for her illness (she collects SSI for her disability) and they could fuck with that as well.”There are often lengthy processes associated with trying to get specialists that put people off.“I've been thinking of trying to get a referral by my regular doctor to the nearest chronic pain center, to see a specialist and psychiatrist for specific pain-related treatment. In this country the doc has to write up my medical history, explain the current condition in a referral letter, mail it to the pain specialist, and if he deems it legit he'll mail me a form to fill to evaluate my pain levels. Which I have to mail back to expect a call back about a first appointment. You can understand that this is so convoluted it doesn't even make me wanna do it.” Doctors are often wary if a patient asks for a specific opiate, thinking they are trying to commit fraud.“As of now I have been to two docs who pushed me aside giving me 800mg Tylenol, it didn't do shit but I remember I had gotten a script of trammadol (sic) for a root canal and it made everything painless and easy but as soon as I said that to the doctor he immediately wrote another 800mg Tylenol script without hesitation and sent me on my way.”Many patients were scared of being marked as addicts due to withdrawal symptoms, other prescriptions, or being honest about recreational drug use. “Doctors see the addict mark on my history and treat me like a piece of garbage.”One patient regrets honesty with their doctor, who won’t prescribe to a heavy drinker. Although alcohol and opioids are synergistic, this patient is still in a lot of pain. (Cushman, 1987)“I went to the doc my sister goes too (sic) and told him about my drinking habits and the pain, he told me he won't prescribe any opiates for "fear of additional addictions" occurring.”Here, the patient knows they are labeled dependent, so they are scared that the “addict mark” will not let them request extra of their prescription.“And when I go in for my next appointment, if I mention that the 10mg dose is preferable do you think I'll run into any trouble for suggesting that now that I have been labelled as dependent?”The patient feels they can’t be honest about illicit use without fear of being cut off from their meds.“If I go to my doctor and come clean that I’m using oxy’s {Oxycontin] and heroin will the (sic) blacklist me from the prescription I’m on?”This poster is worried that coming clean about their opioid usage will cause their psychiatrist to stop giving them benzodiazepines.“I have no intentions of telling my psychiatrist because knowing her, she'd most likely just take away my benzo [benzodiazepine] prescription away and think the problem is solved. I'm almost 100% if I tried telling anyone else I wouldn't get taken seriously either, just like with all my other both physical and mental health issues, and it's not that dangerous of a drug anyway. I don't want to make the situation even worse for myself, like it's always happened before when I mistakenly trusted people, despite it being their job to help me”This poster is worried that if suboxone is on their record, they will be blacklisted from future pain medication prescription and is wanting to try to self-medicate withdrawal with kratom instead.“I’m thinking about using kratom as a substitute for suboxone. I don’t want to take subs [suboxone] because 1. i don’t want my family to know 2. i don’t want that on my health record as i struggle with chronic pain and it would hinder some medical treatment for sure”In this case, a doctor’s beliefs about marijuana use are getting in the way of evidence-based care; the patient has essentially been cut off after admitting to marijuana use and exhibiting vague symptoms.“Now when it comes to my doctor. I feel like the stigma behind my marijuana use has greatly affected my care. He thinks I’m addicted to marijuana which is absolutely ridiculous. I’ve had panic attacks before in the hospital (I’ve dealt with anxiety far longer than I’ve been using marijuana) and he attributes them to “marijuana withdrawals” like wtf. And more recently he’s completely cut out any opiate use in my care. I’ve had multiple times where I have bad chest pain episodes and I need to go to the ER but the only thing they will give is toradol and Tylenol which does jack shit. This has forced me to start going to my local hospital ER whenever I have bad pain cause I know it can be treated there properly then I could be transferred to my normal hospital.”

Umbrella Theme 4: Guidelines for prescribing opioids aren’t serving patients.In this case, the patient is unsure but thinks state or healthcare company regulations are applying a rule that results in insufficient care.“Idk if doctors in California specifically at kaiser [Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare company] can even still prescribe monthly pain meds I don’t care about being high anymore I want this pain to end.”Here, a GP is prescribing an insufficient dose because of fear of crossing guidelines, which could impact their licensure.“My doctor (not pain management doc, normal GP) won't go over 50 MME [morphine milligram equivalents] a day because they're scared of the 2016 CDC Opioid guidelines bullshit.”Many practices have pain contracts, which require opioid-receiving patients to give their word to do certain things to keep getting their prescription (Payne et al., 2010). Here, a patient is scared that because they will have six less than needed if they didn’t use extra, at their next count they or their doctor will get penalized.“My doctor does pill counts now, the amount I’m supposed to be coming in with is 12 and if I’ll only be left with 6, am I gonna be fucked [low counts might look like abuse or dealing]? I’m not abusing them in any way, and I’m scared that I’ll look like I am and fuck up my prescription or get my doctors narcotic license taken away or something. I’ve only failed one drug screening when I wasn’t taking my medication because (TMI sorry) I hadn’t shit in a week.”

Discussion In analysis of these posts, the most common overarching theme was patients feeling disconnected from doctors, from not being able to convey their level of pain and having it met, to being prescribed medications they don’t understand, to not sharing issues with their doctors for fear of judgment or non-prescription.. All four themes — insufficient prescription, withdrawal issues, patients not consulting with doctors, and prescription guidelines — often come down to issues with the medical institution or individual doctors. However, this is such a widespread problem among individual doctors that change must be made on the systemic level, for instance, during education.Insufficient prescription stories in the data can be narrowed down to three categories: patients with prescriptions who experience more pain than their prescription can help, patients who cannot obtain a prescription for opioids, and patients who are cut off from their prescriptions. In all of these sub-categories, there is a common theme of frustration with doctors not meeting patient needs. There is also a theme in the already-prescribed sub-category of using other strategies to make a prescription have more power, some of which are risky. Using other substances to potentiate the drugs, especially benzodiazepines and alcohol, can lead to overdose, and doubling up on doses to then run out can lead to a cycle of withdrawal (Knopf, 2020). In the never-prescribed subcategory, it is becoming clear that many patients who are seeking extensive medical attention are not getting the medications they need. In the cut-off category, getting cut off or tapered down without permission can precipitate withdrawal. In all, this umbrella category shows a pattern of denial of a patient’s agency in their own pain management process, and doctors should find better ways to monitor people’s pain and not assume the least effective methods will do the trick.Multiple issues come up with withdrawal precipitated by running out of opioids and self-precipitated withdrawal due to the desire to taper off. For instance, it is hard to obtain suboxone and when people do, it can be quite expensive (Hswen, 2020). Kratom can also run quite expensive, and oftentimes does not treat withdrawal symptoms effectively (Eastlack et al., 2020). In a lot of cases, patients aren’t able to utilize detox programs because they would have to be free from opiates, but either doctors aren’t providing helpful ways to get patients off opioids, or patients don’t feel comfortable approaching the subject with their doctors (Timko et al., 2016). Additionally, many patients are not adequately educated on withdrawal; it can take a while for them to catch on to the fact that they don’t have a nasty flu, they are instead in withdrawal from the prescribed opiates they take (Kearney et al., 2018). This would imply  that in long-term opiate prescriptions, doctors need to do a better job of describing the near-inevitability of withdrawal, the signs and symptoms, and when to seek help.Patients are also often scared to seek help from their doctors, often preferring to seek answers from nonprofessionals on sites such as Reddit instead. There is fear that doctors would think they are lying. This is especially true when patients want to ask for a specific opiate, as this often makes doctors wary (Lagisetty et al., 2019). Instead, self-research about medications should be encouraged and not seen by doctors as grounds for a scam. Additionally, strict rehab policies and lengthy processes to get specialists are turning patients off (Mehrotra et al., 2011). The specialist issue is not unique to pain management, but should still be improved (Mehrotra et al., 2011). Rehabs or other drug treatment centers should also have less all-or-nothing, more harm-reduction centered approaches, especially ones that match the reasons why a person might be taking a specific drug.There is also a heavy stigma against drug users of all kinds in the medical profession (Ahern et al., 2007). Although it can be understood that a provider would be wary to prescribe an opioid to a self-disclosed drinker or benzodiazepine user, as these can cause dangerous combinations, there has to be some way to balance this. Otherwise, we have a system where patients lie to their doctors about their drug and alcohol use and therefore are not properly counseled and can succumb to these consequences. Doctors should take extra care if there is a Substance Use Disorder (SUD), but still prescribe, maybe with mandatory counseling, as more than anyone, people with SUDs can find these drugs on their own. In this system, posters are reporting lying so they won’t be cut off any prescriptions and even withdrawing by themselves so they are not marked as an addict by records.In the wake of the 2000s “opiate epidemic,” doctors were given more stringent prescription guidelines. In many cases, patients aren’t aware whether they are being affected, unless their doctors told them directly, but patients are aware that some great changes have been made, either from their past medical experiences or that of the people they know. Private practices have also instituted blanket rules against prescription, mandatory pain contracts, drug urinalysis, and pill counts, which can lead for one “slip-up” or double dose in a patient’s pain regimen to get them in trouble (Tobin et al., 2016). These policies should be reexamined as they are mostly working just to deter and punish chronic pain patients (Tobin et al., 2016). State and federal guidelines also need to be loosened, as doctors should have more freedom over their prescription choices, making patients’ lives better.

Hope you like this and feel free to share!

[thirdrowcentre]

2 years ago I decided I should watch at least two movies I’d never seen before a week. That year I managed 278 films. This year I have 346 first-watch-films, and so many more still to see. These are ones that stood out, in no particular order other than the order in which I saw them. Movies are magic, history and humanity, and how lucky are we to have them.

2022 FIRST WATCHES – STANDOUTS

January

Career Girls (dir. Mike Leigh, 1997), 4 January

Titane (dir. Julia Ducournau, 2021), 8 January at Prince Charles Cinema

La Chienne (dir. Jean Renoir, 1931), 18 January

Panique (dir. Julien Duvivier, 1946), 20 January

Undine (dir. Christian Petzold, 2020), 21 January

An Angel at my Table (dir. Jane Campion, 1990), 23 January

Drive My Car (dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021), 29 January at Prince Charles Cinema

February

Parallel Mothers (dir. Pedro Almodóvar, 2021), 7 February at Rich Mix

Life is Sweet (dir. Mike Leigh, 1990), 18 February

March

Accattone (dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1961), 5 March

In the Cut (dir. Jane Campion, 2003), 6 March

Phoenix (dir. Christian Petzold, 2014), 10 March

Outer Space (dir. Peter Tscherkassky, 1999), 16 March

Cleopatra (dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963), 20 March

Inside (dir. Bo Burnham, 2020), 31 March

April

Scenes with Beans (dir. Ottó Foky, 1975), 5 April

High and Low (dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1963), 9 April

Una Mujer Fantastica (dir. Sebastian Leilo, 2017), 13 April

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (dir. Pedro Almodóvar, 1988), 19 April

May

Chungking Express (dir. Wong Kar Wai, 1994), 2 May

Zazie dans le metro (dir. Louis Malle, 1960), 5 May

Three Colours: Blue (dir. Krzysztov Kieślowski, 1993), 11 May

La 317e Section (dir. Pierre Schoendoerffer, 1965), 28 May at Christine 21

La Collectionneuse (dir. Eric Rohmer, 1967), 30 May

June

Remorques (dir. Jean Grémillon, 1941), 1 June

Orphée (dir. Jean Cocteau, 1950), 17 June

Les plages d’Agnès (dir. Agnès Varda, 2008), 20 June

La belle et la bête (dir. Jean Cocteau, 1946), 21 June

Moonage Daydream (dir. Brett Morgen, 2022), 25 June at Showroom, Sheffield

July

Endless Summer (dir. Bruce Brown, 1966), 2 July

L’une chante, l’autre pas (dir. Agnès Varda, 1977), 12 July

Junior (dir. Julia Ducournau, 2011), 17 July

The Big City (dir. Satyajit Ray, 1963), 23 July at BFI Southbank

Andrei Rublev (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966), 24 July at Prince Charles Cinema 35mm

Flee (dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen, 2021), 24 July

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975), 30 July at Prince Charles Cinema 35mm

August

Blood and Black Lace (dir. Mario Bava, 1964), 4 August

Happening (dir. Audrey Diwan, 2021), 9 August

Nope (dir. Jordan Peele, 2022), 15 August at Castle Cinema, 29 August at Vue Islington

Brute Force (dir. Jules Dassin, 1947), 16 August

Naked City (dir. Jules Dassin, 1948), 30 August

September

Gaslight (dir. George Cukor, 1944), 1 September

The Red Balloon (dir. Albert Lamorisse, 1956), 5 September

A Valparaíso (dir. Joris Ivens, 1963), 8 September

Raw Deal (dir. Anthony Mann, 1948), 10 September

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (dir. Werner Herzog, 1997), 25 September

October

The Killers (dir. Robert Siodmak, 1946), 8 October

Foolish Wives (dir. Erich von Stroheim, 1922), 9 October at BFI Southbank (London Film Festival)

One Fine Morning (dir. Mia Hansen Løve, 2022) at Odeon Luxe West End (London Film Festival), 14 October

Orlando (dir. Sally Potter, 1992), 19 October

7 Days in May (dir. John Schlesinger, 1964), 22 October

Seconds (dir. John Schlesinger, 1966), 28 October

November

The Rider (dir. Chloe Zhao, 2017), 1 November

Los Huesos (dir. Cristóbal León, Joaquin Cociña, 2021), 10 November

Fire of Love (dir. Sara Dosa, 2022), 13 November

Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells, 2022) 19 November at Castle Cinema

The Draughtsman’s Contract (dir. Peter Greenaway, 1982) 26 November at BFI Southbank

December

Sullivan’s Travels (dir. Preston Sturges, 1941), 3 December

Victim (dir. Basil Dearden, 1961), 8 December

Le Pupille (dir. Alice Rohrwacher, 2022), 16 December

The Queen of Spades (dir. Thorold Dickinson, 1949) at BFI Southbank, 30 December

Honourable mentions

Barry Lyndon (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1975) at la Filmotheque du Quartier Latin, 8 May. I don’t like Kubrick but I think I liked this. Titane at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris with Ducournau Q&A, 16 May. Top Gun Maverick at the Vue Leicester Square, 6 June, with my best friends. Jane (2017) at Sheffield DocFest, introduced by Brett Morgen. I had literally had 10 minutes sleep the night before. 26 June at Showroom, Sheffield

Moonage Daydream at BFI IMAX, while the Queue was ongoing. 17 September. Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (Anthony Fabian, 2022) at 11am on a Sunday at the Vue Islington. 29 October. Glass Onion (Rian Johnson, 2022) at the Rio Cinema in Dalston on a very uncomfortable date. 25 November

And rewatching The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) for the first time since I wrote my dissertation on it, six years ago.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Can Lula fix Brazil’s fiscal mess?

Reform of the world’s most complicated tax system will cut businesses’ costs—if lobbies permit it

In Brazil an overhaul of consumption taxes passed by Congress in December has been called “historic”, “revolutionary” and a “miracle”. “Nobody believed this would be possible,” boasted President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, to a standing ovation in Congress. For once, the superlatives are not misplaced. More than 30 years in the making, the reform will simplify the world’s most complicated tax system. But can Lula’s government withstand the pressure from special-interest groups in order to fully implement it?

The tax overhaul is the latest and most significant in a series of structural reforms in Brazil. In 2017 labour laws were modernised under Michel Temer, a centre-right president. Under Mr Temer’s right-wing populist successor, Jair Bolsonaro, Congress approved a pension reform that raised the retirement age. The flurry of reforms is happening because “frankly, the state ran out of money,” says Tatiana Ribeiro of the Competitive Brazil Movement, a research and advocacy group. A deep recession in 2014 was made worse by fiscal profligacy, and prompted giant protests in Brazil’s cities.

To understand why the tax reform is considered revolutionary, consider the current system. The constitution, enacted in 1988, gave all three levels of government—federal, state, and municipal—the power to levy consumption taxes. This makes Brazil an outlier. Of the 174 countries that have value-added taxes (VAT), the most common consumption tax, the vast majority collect them at the national level. Brazil is unique in how it allocates responsibility for taxation of services to municipalities, and the high degree of freedom it gives them. As Brazil has 27 states and 5,570 municipalities the country became “a madhouse for taxes,” says Maílson da Nóbrega, a former finance minister.

This chaotic system has generated copious litigation. In 2019 the World Bank estimated that it took companies 1,501 hours a year to comply with Brazilian tax law, compared with a global average of 234. Many businesses are unsure which taxes they must pay, and to which entity. The value of ongoing cases in Brazilian courts involving tax credits is over 5trn reais ($1trn), equivalent to 75% of the country’s GDP.

Continue reading.

[offender42085]

Post 0485

“let that sink in” -- Judge

Trevor Alan Teets, Ohio inmate A722459, born 1995, incarceration intake in 2017 at age 22, sentenced to Life; subject to parole consideration as of December 2032

Murder, Involuntary Manslaughter

Trevor Alan Teets, who was found guilty of the murder of Alicia Marie Pentecost-Salyers, was sentenced to 18 years to life in Pickaway County Common Pleas Court.

Teets, of Circleville, shot Alicia Marie Pentecost-Salyers, 19, at Woodview Estates on South Court Street on Feb. 1, 2015. Teets was found guilty of murder, involuntary manslaughter and a charge of domestic violence.

Before Judge P. Randall Knece delivered his sentence to Teets, Teets’ attorney, Jo Hans-Kaiser, asked the judge to consider Teets’ past. She said Teets just turned 22 this month and has lived in Circleville his entire life. He graduated from Westfall High School where he participated in band, wrestling, football and was often on the honor roll. He had no criminal history.

“He moved in with a girl and things were going well and then they weren’t,” Hans-Kaiser said. “Two lives were forever changed.”

Hans-Kaiser went on to say that the event that occurred would likely never occur again and it was a set of circumstances gone completely wrong and Teets has shown genuine remorse for his actions.

Against the advice of his attorney, Teets decided to speak to the courtroom because he felt it was the right thing to do.

“I do love Alicia,” Teets said. “I will always love Alicia. She comes to me in my dreams at night and tells me it’s okay and she loves me. I feel for her everyday. I don’t hurt for myself, I don’t feel the pain through myself. I feel the pain for all these people here.”

Teets turned to Alicia’s family and asked for forgiveness.

“I would never do this, I didn’t,” he said.

Teets went on to say he wanted to do things in his life that no one in his family had done and wanted Alicia by his side.

“Things got out of hand and I don’t know what happened,” Teets said. “All I know is I am here and Alicia is gone.”

Judge Knece cut him off and said the family had been put through enough.

Knece made it clear that his hands were tied in the sentencing because of the state statute and that Teets would get 15 years to life with an additional three years added on for a gun specification. He then explained to Teets that the parole authority can hold him for the rest of his life and what Teets said in the courtroom would be typed up and sent to the parole board so they can see how arrogant he is and the lack of remorse he has.

Knece said that he would also write a letter to the parole board for when his time is up for parole. He told Teets to “let that sink in” and that he committed a “selfish act.”

2d