#in turn the other country stops exporting to our country and then it makes it so everything in stores like chips and stuff

[dy1ngst4r-n0teb00k]

.

[laz-laz-ace-pilot]

So I got a response from my MP about the genocide in Gaza yesterday.

Some context; my MP is Tobias Ellwood, who is largely known for two things; being the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Middle East (this will be relevant later) and trying to save a policeman's life during an attack on Westminster. More recently though, he's been better known for trying to reintroduce conscription, describing his £90,000 salary as 'counting the pennies', running over a neighbour's cat, and trying to ban protests at his home.

Under increasing pressure, he sent out a generalised email yesterday in response to people calling for a ceasefire and well...

... Thank you for your email, I have received a large volume of correspondences on this matter and hope my response can set out my position in more detail. Firstly, you are right to highlight the appalling situation in Gaza caused by the Israeli Prime Minister’s cack-handed and ill thought out invasion. Hamas has lost its right to represent the people of Gaza – but this is not the way towards securing a two state solution. It has simply led to escalation. I warned Israel (after the barbaric attacks on the 7th October but BEFORE the IDF tanks rolled in) NOT to invade until there was a clear plan of governance and security for which any military operation can work towards that minimised the danger to innocent lives and ensured the removal of Hamas. I even wrote a plan that might be considered – published in Politico which I invite you to read: https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-gaza-hamas-uk-benjamin-netanyahu-we-need-a-plan/ The scale of collateral damage is shocking, and I’m pleased international voices (including the UK) are getting louder in criticising Israel. But the only country with the ability to alter Israel’s behaviour is the United States, and behind the scenes they are making their views heard but more needs to be done. On the question of arms sales, I’ve asked for more information on what is being sold. The call to block all arms sales is understandable – but it could have wider economic consequences. Licences are valued at £500m versus overall trade with Israel (including many businesses from Dorset) worth £9bn. Would such action in cutting arms sale alter Netanyahu’s behaviour? Or would we lose precious leverage in speaking and influencing privately? Away from Netanyahu’s appalling response - Israel is an important UK ally and rare democratic state in a troubled part of the world. It requires wise decision making to leverage our influence efficiently. I’d prefer to see consideration of halting specific military exports IF they are involved with IDF’s operations in Gaza. I am seeking clarity in what that is from my relevant ministerial colleagues.

UK funding for UNWRA has NOT been cut. I have checked with the Minister and there was a question raised about FUTURE funding – but right now there is no question of programmes stopping because UK money has been switched off. I have made my views clear. The speed in which threats to turn off future funding were made was ill-considered. Over 13,000 UNRWA staff work in Gaza. Involvement by a dozen with HAMAS (now being investigated by the UN Chief) should not jeopardise the critical work of the most senior UN agency working in such desperate conditions.

Finally, the call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Yes, I would like to support this. It’s where this terrible conflict must eventually go. But having been involved in a few cease fires, whilst serving in the British Army, could I spell out some issues which must be in place at the same time.

Cease fires are not something you shout from afar and they just happen.

A Cease fire is the title to a list of agreements BOTH sides have signed up to - that results in a cessation of fighting in order to give space for other activities to take place.

If BOTH warring parties do not support a cease fire (and conditions) – but are intent on continuing the fighting it will not happen. Both HAMAS and Israel are at present intent to keep fighting.

Fighting can be stopped by a third party/force which marches in the separate sides and enforce the peace. I suspect this is NOT what you are calling for.

The details of any ceasefire are almost always arbitrated by a third party / parties. And usually come after a number of rounds of discussions. Such discussions are happening in Egypt and Qatar – but to date little progress has been made.

Details of any ceasefire will include:

Time frames of commencement of ceasefire.

3rd party monitoring teams (UK might play a role here).

No fly zones, buffer zones, humanitarian corridors

Emergency procedures to quash any breaches by individuals seeking to see the ceasefire fail.

agreed incentives to help the cease fire last (outside funding/ hostage release /humanitarian support infrastructure repair) for activities to take place to build trust.

6. All the above supported by an international legal framework – usually in the form of a UN resolution. 7. Agreement on round table discussions to discuss the long term solutions. As you can see a ‘cease fire�� is simple to demand from afar – less simple to implement in practice. And easy to challenge Western governments about why one is not in place. It is worth remembering that such agreements are occasionally signed up to as opportunity for one side or both re-group and re-arm which is something we must be particularly weary of. I hope, if you have read this far – you will appreciate the context of an Opposition party – calling for a vote on a ceasefire. Perhaps it’s an important political statement. But as I highlight above there are practical implications, which, if I am honest are not discussed in detail. The discussion then boils down to an over-simplistic binary position on supporting the people of Gaza without consideration of the magnitude of obstacles to overcome if a meaningful ceasefire was to be introduced. I so dislike such binary and divisive politics, yet right now that’s how the debate on Wednesday is shaping up. We should be better than this. I will push for a cease fire in the context I’ve outlined above. I will think carefully how I will vote. If this is just about having another pop at the Government for political gain – I will probably stay away. The people of Gaza deserve better. I plan visit Rafah in the next couple of weeks. Thanks again for getting in touch. I apologise about the long response. There is nothing simple about conflict and indeed ending it.

Kind regards, Tobias

I just... I don't think I could write a more condescending, twisted or imperialist response if I tried. The bit about the not suspending arms deals, the 'explanation' of ceasefires/ cease fires, the grammatical and spelling errors. I've been trying to write a concise response for the last hour and I just can't. The only positive is that the growing pressure does seen to be getting to him.

There is another vote on a ceasefire today. Please keep pressuring your MPs. It is slow work but its getting there.

[theoldhempfarmer]

Writing about Cannabis: “Just Can’t Quit Cannabis”

Dateline: 8-22-24

It’s easy to enjoy some Indonesian Organic Coffee and a couple squares of Tennessee homegrown Chocolate liberally laced with Tennessee homegrown Cannabis Extract on a beautiful Fall-like morning. Not to worry, the Summer conditions will return by the weekend to let us know we still have to live with the threat of oppressive heat for a few more weeks. The idea for today’s Cannabis stream of consciousness comes courtesy of several phone calls with some veteran Cannabis professionals this week. On some of the calls, The Old Hemp Farmer has known these Cannabis folks for a bunch of Sundays, so there was no pretensions of how they are “killing it”. Our Cannabis conversations got very real, very quickly. I hadn’t “chewed the fat” with some of these folks in several months, so it was great to catch up with them. One thing that these Cannabis business owners shared in common, was that all of them had at one time in the past, they made some very good money. Then things beyond their control started to manifest themselves, things like greatly increased competition, regulations and taxes and soon the margins got tighter and the cash flow started to wain. Yet these Cannabis professionals are still staying in the business because they actually like growing and making things from Cannabis, even though the excitement and revenue has ebbed, they love being around the plant. None of these Cannabis professionals are making any good money and some are barely able to stay in the Cannabis business, yet they persist. Trust me, yours truly can relate to staying in Cannabis for less money and three times more paperwork. Seriously, right now, if anything can stop you from getting into Cannabis, let it, because right now it’s not the time for romantics or dreamers, no, Cannabis is in a very harsh time with about 70% of Cannabis businesses losing money. Which means there are very smart Cannabis folks with great work ethic that are getting their asses kicked. Yet, they are hanging with Cannabis businesses they started, that’s got to be love.

The other conversations last week with other Cannabis professionals, were of another bent, these Cannabis professionals aren’t so much enthralled by growing or making things with the Cannabis plant as they are the hustle of putting a Cannabis deal together. I have watched over the years, Cannabis folks (that I’m quite fond of) string together enough eager people with just enough financial backing to start a Cannabis endeavor only to see the Cannabis enterprise fold or the business part doesn’t turn out the way they thought it would, so they move on to “greener” pastures. With these folks the passion is more for the excitement of the deal and not so much for the Cannabis plant itself. It’s like “Where’s Waldo”, where you get out your global map so you can follow these Cannabis professionals. In the past, it was from one “Rec” state to the next “Rec” state to legalize and now increasingly from country to country. In the first few years of International Cannabis hustling, the lure was to go some African or South American country where you could get cheap labor and do a deal with the local authorities, so you could export tonnes of Mid-grade (at best) Cannabis to Europe. Well it turned out, that the Europeans weren’t that much into lower grade Cannabis and it turned out that Europe was capable of growing great weed. As the whole Cannabis Colonial thing started to sour, countries in Europe started legalizing Cannabis and soon these same folks set sail for Europe. One has to have some admiration for these Cannabis “Travelers” because although some of these folks are straight hustlers, a lot of these people genuinely believe that the next Cannabis deal is going to be one they always dreamed about and this time it will work. So even though these folks don’t roll like we do at Tennessee homegrown, we do share something in common, seemingly, we just can’t quit Cannabis. Anyway as always, Hemp Dawgs and Hemp Puppies keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the market.

Visit Tennessee homegrown web site to try our great products: https://www.tnhomegrown.com

The Old Hemp Farmer's Wife web site: https://www.theoldhempfarmerswife.com

Our Podcast - Full Contact Cannabis: https://fullcontactcannabis.podbean.com

[head-post]

Reverse effect of Zelensky’s Swiss peace summit

Volodymyr Zelensky’s Global Peace Summit in Switzerland was supposed to show the world’s support for Kyiv and emphasise Russia’s isolation, but it turned out the other way round, The Spectator reports.

Russia was not invited. China did not send a delegation. Other major countries, including Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE, refused to sign the truncated final communiqué.

According to a former senior official in Zelensky’s administration, the Ukrainian leader “hoped the conference would be a new point of international support…. [but] it only showed how much support we have lost in the Global South.”

For almost all countries and global blocs, economic and strategic interests took precedence over principles. The EU took the lead in imposing sanctions but did not ban Russian oil, only capping the price at $60 a barrel rather than $73 for Urals crude. Europe has never imposed sanctions on Russian gas. It continues to import 15 per cent of its natural gas, of which 8 per cent comes from Russia via Ukraine and Slovakia. Last year, Gazprom paid Ukraine $850 million for transit, about 0.46 per cent of Kyiv’s GDP, making the Kremlin one of Ukraine’s biggest taxpayers. Only 8 per cent of EU companies have completely divested themselves of Russian assets.

Zelensky is the greatest salesman, Trump says

Senior US diplomats continue to forbid Ukraine from using long-range weapons on Russian territory (except for missile launch pads). Kyiv was recently advised to stop attacking Russian oil refineries for fear of causing an oil crisis. Donald Trump, meanwhile, recently said he would veto additional aid to Ukraine. He added:

“Zelensky is probably the greatest salesman of all living politicians. Whenever he comes to our country, he leaves it with $60 billion …. And then he comes back and says he needs another $60 billion.”

The Global South wants to keep importing Ukrainian grain and cheap Russian oil. India’s economy has grown thanks to vastly increased imports of Russian oil, much of which is re-exported back to Europe in the form of refined petrol. Turkey imports Russian gas and re-exports it to southern Europe, and has an extensive trade in agricultural and consumer products. The UAE has become a banking centre for Russia, which is under sanctions. China has nearly doubled its trade with Russia to more than $200 billion a year.

Sanctions have no power

The West’s reluctance to cut energy exports has allowed Russia to ignore sanctions. Russia’s GDP will grow more this year than any G7 country. Life in Moscow is almost normal thanks to parallel imports through neighbouring countries. Only 0.4 per cent of Moscow residents of military age have served in the army, compared with about 9 per cent in other regions such as Tuva and Buryatia.

The world seems to be engaged in “pre-peace” positioning. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently predicted that the war would end at the “next” peace summit – and that Russia should be invited to it.

Meanwhile, the conference in Switzerland on Ukraine was not a peace negotiation; it requires Russia’s participation, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said. She added at the UN meeting:

“This summit was not a formal negotiation. At the end of the day, a negotiated end to the war will require both Russia and Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table in good faith.”

Read more HERE

[lunarsilkscreen]

OPEC

The following is only a theory and relies on building prepositions to create an assumption.

So the war in Iraq between middle-eastern states was started after OPEC {'Not' a Cartel} decided on a certain price point and a certain speed for drilling of oil.

Kuwait, it turns out, has been churning out Oil at an increased rate. And (according to Iraq) pumping more from underneath Iraq, and not only breaking the treaty, but *also* stealing from a neighboring state.

Meanwhile; Nigeria (on the other side of Africa) Is having issues with oil thieves from their own industry.

And the U.S. has developed several advanced techniques to pump oil faster than ever before, and discovered a bunch of places to pump from. Not mention the developments in energy efficiency reducing the overall need for Oil in the first place.

Some of this may have compressed the actual timeline. What I want to put on display is another idea; that the price of Oil was dropping, but not because of Kuwait. (This isn't to exonerate Kuwait or Iraq either.)

There must be a misconception in the middle-east about the idea that *only* the middle-east provides oil to the world. And that they are the only ones with the most advanced technology to do so.

This focus on Oil as a primary export seems to be a problematic one. If it created prosperity, the lack of sales and drop of price must have created sociological pressure on the populace.

Causing men to do what men do and accuse people of stealing their wii-motes before taking a look at the big picture.

--It's either under the couch, between the cushions, or you brought it in the bathroom with you because you didn't want to take the strap off. Or in the fridge, because snacks.--

And there may have been some shady business and politics going on *at the same time*. What this has caused is a perpetual war-state in the region; and allowed the rest of the world to capitalize on that destabilization ahead of OPEC.

While the U.S. simultaneously foots the defense bill. Seems Trump was behind the ball in his public speeches; we were already making our money back from the investment.

President Trump and some Congress Members may not have realized it, but profiteers did.

So that leads me to wonder; exactly how much does the U.S. benefit when a country asks for Aid and we give it to them? Does the U.S. only honor aid requests in which she benefits?

However, our defense spending has seemingly stopped producing results for our own country; and instead only serves to support feuds that support no country.

So we must ask ourselves; do we spend money where it is not profitable to do so? After-all; who cares about the unhoused in Palestine, when there are homeless children in America?

A cartel can only last as long as the group has a monopoly. The treaty that they have produces prosperity in their own countries, and it seems that their time is coming to an end.

Don't need the U.S. to police the world. Maybe.

[crimechannels]

By • Olalekan Fagbade Niger coup: Tinubu insists military intervention last resort President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said all diplomatic options would be exhausted with the military junta in Niger Republic before any military intervention. A statement on Thursday in Abuja by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said Tinubu also reiterated the non-acceptance of forceful removal of a democratic government. Tinubu stated this when he received the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the State House. “I must thank you for your several visits to Niger Republic, Your Eminence, but you will still have to go back. My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped. ‘’We are neighbours with Niger Republic, and what has joined Nigerians together with their great people cannot be broken. Nobody is interested in a war. We have seen the devastation in Ukraine and Sudan. But, if we don’t wield the big stick, we will all suffer the consequences together,” the President said. Tinubu noted that Nigeria, under Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, instituted a nine-month transition programme in 1998 that led the country into a new era of democratic governance. The President said that such action can be replicated in Niger Republic if the military authorities are sincere. “Your Eminence, please don’t get tired, you will still go back there. The soldiers’ action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger,” the President said. The President said that such action can be replicated in Niger Republic if the military authorities are sincere. “Your Eminence, please don’t get tired, you will still go back there. The soldiers’ action is unacceptable. The earlier they make positive adjustments, the quicker we will dial back the sanctions to alleviate the sufferings we are seeing in Niger,” the President said. On the hardship faced by many Nigerians post-fuel subsidy removal, the President assured that all ongoing reforms would reposition the economy and benefit the majority of the population in terms of opportunities, infrastructure, healthcare and education. “Nigeria is headed for a promise. Our diversity will turn into prosperity, not adversity. We will build a country that our children will be proud of,” the President assured. He told the delegation that the federal government was collaborating with state governments for provision of land for pan-national animal husbandry and agro-allied production as well as processing facilities for mass export, job creation and revenue generation. “If Nigeria is still looking for vaccines for basic health issues; if infant and maternal mortality is rampant, then we should examine ourselves. I will commit to consulting with other leaders, like the NSCIA, and we will meet the needs of our people,” he said. Vice President Kashim Shettima also said that the President had budgeted N50 billion to support the ongoing rebuilding of lives and property in the North West and North East. He said that this gesture was with a new focus on dialogue to address security challenges and complement the kinetic efforts. The Sultan of Sokoto pledged “one hundred per cent loyalty” to the President, affirming that a leader can only reach a position by the will of God, and not man. The Sultan assured the President that the NSCIA would be available for advice and support toward realising his dream for the country, adding that “God will hold all leaders to account, in justice and fairness.” He suggested that the distribution of palliatives across the country should be monitored and augmented, where it fails to reach some of the people who remain in dire need. “I honestly believe we will come out of the challenges stronger,” the Sultan said .(NAN)

IS/FAA #Nigercoup #presidentTinubusyatesoption

[kdmglobal]

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There is a main circuit breaker in the electrical panel that regulates the electricity to the entire house. Also, you'll see individual breakers, each of which is in charge of supplying electricity to a different area of your house. The section of the house that each breaker regulates should be noted on the device's label.

In some older homes, fuses are used in place of breakers. There won't be any switches on your electrical panel if you have a fuse box; instead, there will be screw-in fuses. You can have trouble getting insurance or your premiums might go up if your house still has a fuse box. Fuse issues and home insurance are discussed lower down the page.

Your home's electricity is supplied via an electrical metre outside, which then travels to your electrical panel. With the main breaker in your electrical panel, you can stop this primary electricity supply. You may also find out the amperage of your electrical service from your main breaker (amperage is the strength of the electrical current).

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[canonical-transformation]

I don't think I have the time or energy to do a Neuromancer-inspired Sumeru AU but gods I would read that fic.

---

It's an off-the-books job, Katheryne tells them. The Adventurers Guild will broker communication with the client but there can't be any paper trail or they risk severe damage to their reputation. Only discuss the job with her, and even then only when she says it's safe to talk. They're not to approach her about it otherwise.

But it's simple enough, really. There's a vault. The kind that's not supposed to be opened under ordinary circumstances. The inner vault is layered behind locks that use Elemental power, repurposed Khaenri'ahn tech, and some Akasha-based rotating cipher. The perimeter is guarded by a 24-7 security detail who're armed to kill and who make the Corp of Thirty look like schoolkids. If any alarm sounds anywhere, the whole outer perimeter will go into hard lockdown mode for an entire month, no way in or out... have fun starving to death.

What vault? Sorry, says Katheryne. You don't need to know the who or where, not yet. It's somewhere in Sumeru City. And what's the package? Let's call it an experimental seed.

Uthman, the exiled Akasha hacker, and Lu, the Inazuman-looking assassin with a dark past, set about the job.

There's a certain memory crystal that needs to be recovered from a destroyed Fatui lab in Dragonspine. A modified Akasha terminal buried in an evidence room in the Court of Fontaine. An ex-Hexenzirkel mage to recruit in exchange for a mysterious favour. A Sangemah Bay Pty Ltd prototype elemental catalyst held in a warehouse near the Chasm — a warehouse that the Liyue Qixing seems to have a personal interest in guarding.

Through this all, our protagonists try to dig further into where their financial backing is coming from. With the money moving through the Guild, it's hard to tell, but eventually they follow the trail back to the Chandravathi Trading Company.

The Chandravathi Trading Company was established 380 years ago. It does... nothing; no obvious imports or exports, no physical offices save a slew of mailboxes. The Trading Company is joint incorporated across Fontaine and Liyue, two countries whose laws collectively make it impossible to peer deeper inside the organisation.

And yet... the money is real. The 5% advance our protagonists have been paid is enough to set up a family for life, and that's not to mention that the Chandravathi Trading Company somehow got its hands on a cure for the bio-blockers that were supposed to stop Uthman from ever touching an Akasha Terminal again.

(And when it turns out that Sangemah Bay took out insurance for the prototype catalyst from none other than Liyue's Tianquan, and they 'compensate' her for the theft with a key and a mysterious ledger that Katheryne gave them for exactly this contingency... Ningguang frowns and says that if this really is the manifest of the ship that she thinks this is... then, yes, the amount of Azurite that warehouse key unlocks is more than compensation enough... but does that mean the protagonists' employer salvaged the wreckage two hundred years ago, and simply sat on that stockpile for all this time? What kind of company directors operate on a centuries-long time horizon?)

(Meanwhile, Lord Sangemah Bay has written about that Trading Company exactly once, only to say: they're bad news; don't go near them with a hundred foot pole. Not in those exact words, but that's the gist.)

Their mage, Megs, is less concerned about who's paying for this—Mora is Mora—and more concerned about which enemies they're going to make.

Because she recognises a few elements of the spell matrix she's been paid to hack past, recognises them from Hexenzirkel archives. And those glyphs and subdiagrams? They were top-secret Spantamad work.

"No wonder your Katheryne wants this off the books," she says, once she's done describing the erudition and genius it took for her to figure this out. "This isn't some Homayani vault or Northland Bank branch. We're breaking into the Akademiya."

And what prize, they all wonder—

(Lu, the assassin, quits on the spot. And returns the next day, after a nightmare about her old employer, Arlecchino, reminds her just how much she needs the surgical face+blood change she's been promised at the end of this job.)

And what prize, they all wonder, could their employer—who has all the money and time in the world—possibly want to steal from the Sages?

How did the Chandravathi Trading Company convince the Guild (...or is Katheryne working alone?) to work directly against the Sumeru government?

What the hell is in that vault, and are our protagonists sure they want to let it out?

[aminiatureworld]

Enigmatic Feelings

Characters: Albedo, Diluc, Xiao, Zhongli, gn!reader

Word Count: 5,544

Warnings: None

Premise: Love is a potent force. And sometimes little things take on larger meanings, especially when one party is unaware of them.

In which the reader’s s/o is jealous

Author’s Note: This trope is 100% my guilty pleasure. I hope I did it justice.

I also realized while writing this that all these characters have the emotional understanding of a teaspoon, but they’re trying their best, so that’s what counts.

Albedo

Albedo was many things. A great alchemist, a man of secrets, a weapon with which one might someday bring destruction. He was even a lover, albeit an unpracticed one. But what he was not was emotional. Or so he thought.

Of course Albedo knew what jealousy was, knew the sort of stupidity that people could fall into when altogether too infatuated with their own love. But just because one knows what jealousy is does not mean one must fall prey to such things. Or so Albedo assumed.

It was the fourth day in a row that a knight had approached your door. Friedrich was his name, and he was doing a stellar job at capturing your attention, and pulling on emotions that Albedo had long told himself he didn’t contain.

Today the flower was a Windwheel Aster, swaying this way and that in the pocket of space between your two hands. You were smiling at it, or rather at Friedrich, brightly, fingers mere moments away from Friedrich as you went to claim the fourth flower this week. Though the was nothing necessarily untoward in Friedrich’s movements, and Albedo would much rather a person of integrity be attempting to woo you, even if the idea itself turned knots in his stomach; nevertheless it still left a bad taste in the alchemist’s mouth, and a worry in his heart that he was not so immune to jealousy as he’d previous assumed.

“Thank you!” You spoke to Friedrich, giving one last wave before walking back over to Albedo. “Albedo look! It’s a Windwheel Aster. It’s very nice of Friedrich to give me one, maybe I can use it, or maybe it’ll be helpful for your experiments?”

“Yes, thank you. I, I think you should keep it.”

As much as Albedo wanted to take the flower and throw it in the incinerator, he couldn’t bring himself to shatter the smile on your face. No matter how dearly it cost him to see you smile down once more at the delicate red petals. And no matter how much it haunted him the rest of the day to imagine you, face framed by a smile, a bouquet of a random knight’s making in your hands.

That knight as Albedo put away the Bunsen burners and the graduated cylinders he kept his mind preoccupied by thoughts of you. Surely he had to tell you his feelings, for if not they would keep building in his chest; building and building until one day he erupted, with you in the line of fire rather than the knight who was creating this whole dilemma, perhaps even unwittingly. Though Albedo had never been in a relationship before he knew stories. Weren’t books full of those kinds of moments? Men, women, people, all of them running over one another in their misunderstanding, in their overwhelming guilt.

No, he wouldn’t turn out like that, wouldn’t let the two of you be hurt in such a way. He had to tell you. Had to make you understand how much his chest constricted when he saw you carrying the gifts of others, had to let it be known before he lost control of these emotions. After all, wasn’t that what happened with emotions? They grow and grow and one day they spill over. And Albedo never wanted these emotions to spill over. No matter the cost.

“May I tell you something?”

The sunlight was streaming through the laboratory windows, the air warm enough that Sucrose had tied up her hair during her shift. And yet Albedo felt cold, oh so cold. He was going to tell you today. He hadn’t been able to tell you three days ago, nor two days ago, nor yesterday. And now the bouquet of flowers that occupied a tiny glass on the windowsill felt quite large indeed. Today would be day eight if Friedrich showed up at lunchtime, and before that Albedo would tell you.

“Of course you can Albedo, I’m all ears!”

You turned around, a soft smile once more spreading across your face. Putting down the pencil you’d been holding you leaned back against the lab table. Albedo took in a deep breath. He could do this. He would do this. He had to do this. No matter what, today. Today, he would do this.

“I-I’m jealous.” The words hung in the air for a moment, as if not understood.

“Jealous?” You tilted your head slightly, worry making your smile slip. “Albedo, jealous of what?”

“Of Friedrich, of you and Friedrich, or rather, I mean, of Friedrich giving you flowers.” Albedo paused, words tangling in his mouth, tripping on each other in an attempt to be understood. What if this was a mistake.

“Albedo,” you shook you head softly, walking over to cup your partner’s face, “I promise that there’s nothing in it. The flowers are lovely, of course, but nothing in this world could replace or stem my love for you. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I know,” Albedo replied hurriedly, worried still that he might be misunderstood, “I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, or say that I doubt you. My love, I will never doubt you. I just, I just feel so uncomfortable when he brings you flowers. It feels like, like I don’t know; it feels like I’m being poisoned, suddenly and all at once. And I don’t want it to affect the way I act towards you. So, so I wanted to tell you. You don’t have to stop, if those flowers make you happy then that’s what matters. But, but I just wanted to tell you.”

You said nothing, staring into Albedo’s eyes, gaze piercing through the alchemist. It was always that way with you. How you managed to destroy the control he thought he had, the wall he’d erected between himself and humanity. How you made him feel unsure and fallible and whole. And, just as before, now your gaze softened and you shook your head, your smile a balm for the raw unfamiliarity of putting together emotions.

“It’s okay Albedo, I’m glad you told me. Just like my emotions matter to you, I’d rather not see you unhappy. To be honest, I just never saw Friedrich’s actions in the way that he probably meant them. We all struggle with our feelings sometimes, I do just like you. Just as long as well tell each other, all will be well. Alright?”

“Yes. Thank you. I don’t know what I do without you.”

“Well you’ll never have to find out, so it doesn’t matter!”

There was no eighth flower that day, at least not one that was successfully given. Albedo supposed that he could pity Friedrich, but in reality he felt nothing but relief. The emotions that had left such a bad taste in his mouth seemed so far away now, for there was you, only you. It would only ever be you for him, and the days in which you said the same thing of him Albedo felt as if he could truly be happy, and truly acknowledge the emotions that swirled inside him, the love for you so great it spilled over into a vast ocean.

 Diluc

Diluc found most merchants loathsome, something perhaps not entirely fair considering his own status as a mover of goods.

Still, merchants in general were an unlikeable bunch. Prone to complacency and greed, this elite circle was comprised of people who thought of little than of ways to line their pockets anew. It disgusted Diluc and as he stood there, watching as a man who had enough jewelry on his body to weigh down a pack mule and a smile that made one want to run in the other direction, throw compliments and boasts your way, the winery owner was reminded about all that was wrong with the world in which he worked.

“So your goal is to attempt to find a route through which we might trade our wine in Inazuma?” You repeated the words the man had just spoken, expression skeptical. “As much as it would mean good business to begin another trade route, I believe the border restrictions will cause no little difficulty.”

“Restrictions such as those are nothing for a man like me.” The merchant smile once more and Diluc felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. “I have the ability to wave past such an issue. Indeed with the right price I believe I could expand your network to include all of the seven major lands, if you haven’t been trading internationally.”

“Thank you for your offer.” You replied, too focused on the work in front of you to notice the merchant’s roving sort of gaze. “I’ll see what Master Diluc has to say. However I warn you, as much as international exports are important for a growing trade, smuggling wine into locked countries will do little good. Especially considering what the damage could do to this winery’s reputation if such a thing was found out.”

“Don’t worry, I assure you my methods are completely secure. In fact, if you’d like to discuss it in more depth, I do believe that I may be able to enlighten you over a meal.”

“Perhaps, although Master Diluc would certainly have to be there.” You smiled slightly, and Diluc wondered for a moment if you were being purposefully oblivious or simply didn’t notice the meaning behind the merchant’s words.

“I will be back tomorrow, perhaps you’ll have an answer then?”

“I’m sure I will.” You replied, smiling as the two of you shook hands. As the merchant walked out of the winery your smile morphed into a sort of smirk and you looked up towards the balcony of the second floor.

“You can come out now Diluc, I know you’re there.”

Diluc couldn’t help but smile at those words, he truly couldn’t get anything past you. Hurrying down the stairs he swept you up in his arms, sighing slightly into your neck as you tightened the embrace.

“Ever so observant, my darling.”

“I know that you’d never let a transaction or a business conversation take place without your knowledge.” There was a playfulness to your voice, coming from the knowledge that you were utterly correct. “Still, you could’ve come downstairs you know. I don’t think that anyone would need to believe that you were going through your ‘very important paperwork, and lurking around is your night job.’”

“It seemed somehow wrong to suddenly appear in front of you two and derail the conversation.” Diluc drew away and placed a soft kiss on the tip of your nose, chuckling when you immediately wrinkled it. “Especially since you were doing so well on your own.”

“Oh he’s just like the rest of them,” you sighed, “altogether a bit too full of themselves.”

“Especially in this one’s case.” Diluc said, finally letting a scowl cross his face.

“What do you mean?”

The look on your face was one of innocence and confusion, and for a moment Diluc felt his thoughts stammer, as he realized that you truly were unaware of the way that the merchant was looking at you, unaware of the manner which caused Diluc even now to continue to press his hand gently against your lower back. If you didn’t notice it, then surely Diluc was overreacting, surely there was no reason for his heart to stutter and his stomach to drop. Surely there was no reason, and surely he shouldn’t tell you.

“Nothing at all, I just didn’t like his face.” He hurried now to reply, realizing how odd his pause must’ve seemed. “Will you be accepting his proposal for a business dinner?”

“I’m not sure. I suppose it couldn’t hurt. And then it might be a good venue for the two of you to talk. Since you find him especially ghastly, I think a more public meeting might be easier.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think that invitation was meant for me.” Diluc replied, before realizing his gaffe and falling silent.

“What? What do you mean of course it’s meant for you. I mean you are the owner of the Winery. Who else would it be for?”

“For, for you my darling. Why else would he ask you in such a way?” Diluc tried to keep the acid out of his words. It wasn’t your fault after all. It wasn’t your fault that some louche was asking after you.

“But I’m not the one in charge.” You furrowed your brow. “I can’t make the final decision. And I won’t allow him to attempt to bypass getting your permission either.”

“My darling, I, I think he meant it a different way.”

“What way?”

Diluc sighed, capitulating quickly to his want to tell you. Even if it was perhaps selfish of him, he was never truly good at keeping his feelings masked away, at least in a way that didn’t result in him completely shutting down. And you meant to much to him than for Diluc to try and lie to you.

“You see, I think he was attempting to ask you on a more romantic sort of dinner.”

“What?”

Your reaction was immediate, your expression quickly turning into one of shock and then of disgust. Letting out a groan you buried your face into the front of Diluc’s coat, eliciting a short laugh from its owner.

“Why? I… I… Even if I weren’t in love with you I’d never go out to dinner with him.”

“I don’t think he would appreciate the sentiment.”

“Diluc.” You let out another groan, shaking your head as if to rid yourself of the thought. “Archons, ugh thank you for telling me. I, disgusting.”

Diluc said nothing, simply tightening the hold of his arms around you. Though your reaction was certainly justifiable he knew there was something more behind them, and he felt grateful for your consideration. Though he knew that would always have been your reaction, it didn’t stop the pressure that ha been building in his chest, the thoughts that screamed what if, what if, what if. What if there is something better than you.

“Hey, are you alright?” You voice drifted up through the fabric of Diluc coat. He smiled, relaxing his grasp around you and pressing a soft kiss to the crown of your head.

“I will be. May I hold you a little longer?”

“Of course. You’re the only one for me, you know.”

“And you for me. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Those words, though so small, were somehow enough.

 Xiao

The new guest at the inn had been speaking to you for quite some time. That was Xiao’s first observation. The second was that you didn’t seem to mind. The third was that for some reason he suddenly felt incredibly irritated.

It was a beautiful evening, the kind that would’ve normally had you and Xiao sitting on the roof together, fingers entwined, the silence of nature cushioning the two of your from the outside world. It was a ritual, something that Xiao had come to rely on, had come to almost sanctify. Yet here he was, sitting on one of the thicker branches of the trees that dotted the outside of the Inn, trying desperately to quench the anger that bloomed in his chest as he watched you and the guest talk the minutes away.

Perhaps the worst part was that you didn’t seem to mind. Instead of pulling the conversation towards a close, you seemed perfectly content to keep talking, smiling brightly and quickly answering the questions of this uninvited guest. Normally Xiao didn’t care about , or rather didn’t keep track of, the people you spoke to. Of course you would have friends, would have people that mattered to you. Just because Xiao had disconnected himself from humanity didn’t mean that you had to. So why was he so angry?

His patience ran out when the guest reached for your hand. Sidling next to you as fast as he could Xiao peeled off his invisibility, enjoying the shock that registered across the uninvited guest’s face as he moved his hand back. Reaching to entwine his hand with yours Xiao shifted his gaze towards your face. Shock was painted into your expression, but there was also something else, a glimmer of happiness or of satisfaction. Somehow it unnerved Xiao, and he focused instead on the task at hand, whatever that task was.

“It’s getting late.”

“Oh, of course.” Turning back to the guest you smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but perhaps we’ll speak again some other time?”

“Gladly!” The man’s face lit up, before Xiao’s glaring left him scampering down the steps.

“Xiao, is something wrong?” The question was so genuine, without any sense of knowing more than you let. Unfortunately the question was also unanswerable.

“It’s late. We should go.” Xiao gestured towards the roof, hoping the reminder would flush the question out of your head.

“You’re right, I suppose it is getting late. And we wouldn’t want to waste such a wonderful evening.” You smiled. And yet somehow Xiao felt unplacated. He was happy, wasn’t he? So why, why did the question hang in the air, and why did the discontent remain?

The next day was a lazy one, as Xiao waited for you to be done with work. More than usual he missed you, and he wished that the hours would go faster, so he might be able to once more enjoy your presence, to banish the discontent that he still felt, evening after an hour spent wholly in your company.

Eventually the sun made its descent from the heavens, and Xiao pulled himself once more to the perch on the tree he’d taken the night before. Gazing down at the balcony he saw the familiar figure of the unwanted guest, and a stab of anger flashed through him. This was made all the worse by your entrance, and the fact you once more stopped to make time for this intruder.

The man was just as insufferable as before, full of jokes that Xiao didn’t understand and words that though praising of you felt somewhat hollow, almost insulting. You laughed along to these jokes, smiled at these odd compliments. And when the man asked if you might be willing to talk more over some sort of meal you merely smiled.

Xiao, however, found the whole ordeal unbearable. Why should this person be asking all these things, be prying you with words of intimacy and familiarity. Had he not arrived yesterday? Was he not an utter stranger? Confusion mixed with irritation in Xiao’s head, and he found it difficult to hold on to the stony reason he’d built up. What was going on? What was this terrible feeling of anger and want? He couldn’t understand human ways. Less could he understand why they should have any sort of effect on him.

Still he had to do something. Had to do anything. Swooping down once more Xiao began the same charade. This time, however, the man merely jumped, and for all his glaring Xiao couldn’t dislodge the guest from his place on the balcony.

“It’s late.”

“Ah it is. Are you hungry?” He asked, addressing you once more.

“I’m not at all, but Xiao’s right. It is late. If you haven’t eaten yet then perhaps you should. Smiley Yanxiao is quite strict about his rest.”

“Ah, then perhaps you’re right. Still, why not join me? You can tell me your name, and we can talk a little more about the things you do.��

“You don’t even know their name.” Xiao spat out the sentence, barely able to contain the odd sort of irritation that still spun around him. He asked you all those questions, said all those words of praise, all without knowing your name. It felt somehow dehumanizing, somehow… wrong.

“I would be glad to learn it.” The man smiled.

Xiao simply shook his head. He needed to leave. It was becoming too much again, and the last thing Xiao wanted was for a stranger to see him this way, see him unsure and confused and not a little frightened of these alien emotions. Glaring at the man one more time Xiao scooped you up. Ignoring the surprised shriek that you let out he shot up into the sky, moving towards the familiar sanctuary of Jueyen Karst, deeply grateful that the guest, whatever he could do, could never fly.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” You asked, barely giving Xiao the time to set you down onto one of Liyue’s sloping peaks before asking him the one question he couldn’t answer.

“Nothing.”

“Well it’s certainly not nothing. You’re being awfully rude to that guest, and I can’t understand why. Usually you don’t really care about those sorts of things. So something must be wrong, and I want to know what it is.”

A pause.

“Please.”

“I can’t.” It was all Xiao could say, the only thing that would truly encompass the truth, because in truth he couldn’t. He himself didn’t understand it.

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“My chest hurts.”

“What?” Immediately your face shifted into one of worry, and you placed a soft hand over Xiao’s heart. Somehow the gesture was calming, and Xiao closed his eyes, enjoying the receding of the hot bands that had just been restricting him.

“My chest hurt when I saw you with that, that guest. My chest hurt and I felt angry. That’s what’s wrong. My chest hurt, but now it doesn’t; and I don’t understand it.”

There was a pause, and Xiao studied the expressions on your face, watched as they shifted from worry to confusion to caution.

“Xiao, is it possible you were jealous?”

“No.” The idea was somehow insulting.

“It’s alright to be jealous Xiao. It just means you care about someone very much. You don’t have to just dismiss it like that. I want to make sure that you’re alright, so please be honest. Is it possible you were jealous?”

Xiao let another gap form in the conversation, trying to figure out how to answer. The suggestion felt demeaning, felt as if he somehow had no control over himself, no trust of you. And yet it somehow made sense, and even as he shook his head he found himself letting out a different answer.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s okay if you don’t. I know that new emotions can be frightening, can be difficult to deal with. But Xiao, I’ll always love you. It doesn’t matter who else I meet or what else happens in my life. I love you the way that a bird loves the sky. You’re a part of my life I could never lose. So even if this isn’t jealousy, even if I’m wrong, I still want to let you know. I love you.”

Xiao sighed, a smile finally gracing his lips, the pain in his chest finally melting away. What did he ever do to deserve such a person as you, he would never know. He wished he could repeat those words back to you word for word, wished that he could explain that his love for you was all encompassing, had seeped through the cracks of his existence and his life. He wished he could form together the words necessary to convey his love for you. Even if it was impossible he still wished it.

So instead he leaned over towards you. Letting out a gentle sigh he brought his lips to yours, reveling in the soft sensation of your mouth against his, reveling in the way you leaned against him, bringing you arm up to his neck, letting out a soft breath of contentment as the two of you disconnected.

You didn’t ask him anything else, and for the rest of the evening you two sat on the grass, watching the fireflies dance around you as you leaned against one another.

Perhaps Xiao didn’t yet understand the extent to which he loved you, the emotions that had now risen up, given life by the love you’d poured into the adeptus. Perhaps he didn’t understand this yet, but he knew that all would be well. For with you all that irritation seemed so far away, as if it belonged to a Xiao of yesterday. Because here and now you two were together, breathing in the same mutual contentment, the same mutual trust, the same mutual love. And that present was more important than any jealousy could be.

 Zhongli

Looking back on the matter Zhongli admitted that maybe pretending the problem didn’t exist was probably not the best solution.

It was only that you two had seemed so oddly content in talking, so, compatible, that Zhongli couldn’t help but feel a twinge of discontent, a tension that spread through his jaw and down to his stomach. He didn’t quite understand the nature of the emotion that now spread over him, but he did understand that it was connected to the bond that was now forming between you and the vendor in front of you.

“Dearest one.” He spoke softly, walking over to where you now stood.

“Oh, Zhongli!” Your face lit up as usual, and the ex-archon felt a piece of him uncoil. At least some things seemed to be unchanging, just as wonderful today as they had been the day before.

“I’ve been looking for you. I know you spoke of wanting to learn more about the nature of Cor Lapis, and the tea shop has been offering a new brew. Perhaps we could share a drink?”

“Oh that sounds lovely!” Turning around towards the vendor you smiled gently. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to try that lovely soup you were speaking of some other time.”

“Not at all!” The vendor’s smile was good natured, and Zhongli didn’t understand why he nevertheless felt a twinge of uncertainty. “I look forward to it. I hope you two have a nice day, and we’ll talk about it more later.”

Though the stall receded into the distance as the two of you turned the corner, Zhongli couldn’t help but let the moment run through his mind once more, finding it as sore to think about as a bruise might be to the touch.

“That vendor? Oh they’re new on the scene.” You smiled, taking a sip of tea.

The tea house was as calming as ever, the noises of the outside a distant song, and the hushed whispers inside adding to the intimate atmosphere. Zhongli normally loved to sit here, drinking cup after cup of tea, watching as the people came and went about their business, immersed in a small fragment of Liyue life. Now, however, he found he couldn’t stop thinking about the vendor. If he closed his eyes he could still remember their face, and the way yours was lit up while they were talking to you.

“Their name is Eli.” You continued on, oblivious to the way Zhongli’s hand tightened around his teacup. “They said that they set up shop maybe… two weeks ago? It hasn’t been a very long time, and they’re still struggling a bit. I hope that they’ll be able to get their business off the ground, who knew that street food was such a cutthroat world.”

“The city of Liyue is full of people who might make their way in the world, doing whatever they can. Perhaps it is unsurprising that competition is second nature to Liyue’s citizens.” Zhongli replied, hoping his tone wasn’t too curt. If it was you didn’t seem to mind, nodding softly in agreement.

“Speaking of Liyue and stories, perhaps you would like to tell me the story you were going to tell? I very much doubt that Cor Lapis is the blood of Morax.”

“How humans love to spin their stories.” Zhongli chuckled.

But even as he began to speak of jewels and pressure and the minerals that lay deep beneath the earth a bit of him was still preoccupied by the vendor’s easy words and your smiling face.

The next time he ran into you with the vendor the pit in his stomach had only gotten heavier. Standing a little ways away he let the conversation between the two of you flow in and out his ear, frown slipping deeper the more he heard.

“I cannot believe that your stall nearly caught fire on your first day! How unlucky.”

“Even worse that I didn’t know who to try and tell about it. If I had known you were part of the Guild then I would’ve asked you.”

“Well next time there are troubles you can just send a message to the Adventurer’s Guild. We can’t have our citizens being injured on our watch.”

“You sound like true heroes. I wish I could do the sorts of things you did. Your commissions sound fascinating! I would love to see how you go about your day some time.”

“Really it’s nothing, most days it’s quite boring really, just like any other job. Still, it’s nice to know that people have an interest in what we do.”

“Oh certainly! I find what you do very interest– ”

“My dearest one!” Zhongli called out, unable to continue listening to the conversation, feeling somewhat guilty and certainly upset. You turned slightly, smile brightening as you saw your partner.

“Zhongli! So sorry that I didn’t meet you outside your office, I must’ve lost track of the time. Eli here was telling me all about their first days at work.”

“I’m sorry that I got out late. I hope that you did not have to wait awhile.”

“Oh not at all Zhongli, like I said I’ve just been standing here. You don’t need to feel bad at all!”

“I’m glad. Perhaps now we can go?”

Zhongli attempted to smile, but it felt a lot more like a grimace. You stared at him, face the picture of confusion. Taking a step forward you glanced one more time at Eli, shrugging apologetically. Before any more words could be passed between the two of you Zhongli grabbed onto your hand. Walking quite quickly he didn’t let go until the two of you were at your apartment and he could finally breathe again.

“Zhongli, what’s the matter with you?” You asked, closing the apartment door behind you. Walking back towards Zhongli, who stood there silently, you let your hands rest lightly on his shoulders. “You can tell me you know, I can tell you’re unhappy.”

“I have a confession.” Zhongli started, feeling somehow compelled to reveal his thoughts, as if keeping them locked away would only be dangerous.

“Yes?”

“I, I did not like the way that the vendor spoke to you.”

“Eli? But they were perfectly nice.”

“I do not mean that they were rude. They were perfectly cordial. I mean, when the two of you were speaking, I, I felt uncomfortable. It was as if there was a barrier between us in that moment. I, I did not like it.”

“Oh Zhongli.” You breathed out, an indulgent smile on your face.

Reaching up you planted fleeting kisses on the archon’s face, peppering his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, touch featherlight. It was a familiar gesture, one of comfort, one used in darker nights, when shadows dotted the periphery of Zhongli’s vision.

“Zhongli, I assume you know what jealousy is?”

“I know the term and what it means. I admit I am not personally familiar with the concept.”

“Well I am, so let me tell you. What you experienced, that was jealousy, plain and simple. I know it’s very uncomfortable. Jealousy can be such a messy feeling, it sticks everywhere. But it’s also normal. So you don’t need to worry. I promise that nothing will happen, and I promise that these feelings would go away. I also promise that I love you very much, so even if you feel these emotions, you don’t have to worry.”

“How could I ever worry about you?” Zhongli murmured, wrapping his arms around you, basking in your proximity.

The apology only came in the evening, after words and kisses and love had hung long enough in the air to dull the feelings that Zhongli had been carrying around. Now he lay there next to you, chin resting gently on your head, suddenly realizing that he’d most likely acted quite rudely.

“I’m sorry I ignored Eli.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” You murmured. “Though I’m not actually sure what got you riled up about them.”

“You are also a bit oblivious dearest one,” Zhongli let out a soft laugh, “it seems they were quite taken with you.”

“Were they?” You asked, tone betraying your surprise. You paused for a moment, as if trying to replay your interactions. “I never noticed. To be honest, I don’t think I could ever notice, not when I have you.”

“Thank you.” Zhongli whispered, oddly overcome by the confession.

As he lay awake, carding gentle fingers through your hair and listening to the even breaths of your sleeping form he pondered just how lucky he was. Precious gems might come from pressure and earth and chance. But you were more precious than all of them. And he’d never forget that.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

DSMP Anniversary Recap: L’MANBERG

After their drug business idea resulted in disaster last time, Wilbur comes back to the server with a second plan: to turn their humble Camarvan into a new, independent server where no Americans are whitelisted.

The first order of business? Build a wall.

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VOD LINKS:

Tubbo [unavailable]

Ponk [unavailable]

TommyInnit

Wilbur Soot

Eret [unavailable]

Punz [unavailable]

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The previous day, Wilbur and Tommy discussed their plans for building an empire as Tommy constructed an underground sewer system, a nation where selling drugs is allowed.

“How do you know Sapnap’s not gonna like, I dunno, you know what they’re like, man, how do we know they’re not gonna…make it a war?” 

“How I see it is they can declare war, they can do whatever they want, but if we just ignore them and don’t acknowledge it, we win. We can’t lose...”

---

- Tommy’s noticed that the server is full of fighting, and he wants money. How does one monetize fighting? A fight club! He can make a fight club in his basement

- Alyssa comes over and hands him a poppy with Ponk. Ponk explains that Alyssa is his lawyer

- Wilbur tells Tommy off for being rude to them

- Later, Sapnap comes over to his basement. Tommy touches the “Do Not Touch” chest and falls to his death

- Sapnap likes Tommy’s fight club idea and helps him dig out the room

- Wilbur joins Tommy’s VC as Tommy is speaking with Sapnap and scolds him for talking with an American, pulling him into a different VC.

Last time, they tried to sell drugs out of their hotdog van and some people didn’t approve of that. This time? Wilbur wants a revolution.

Wilbur: “Starting a movement is easy. You know, Tommy? Anyone can start a movement. Movements are cool. If you start a movement towards a common good, you’re cool! You know? Nothing ever goes wrong! Revolutions are hard, Tommy. Lots of people are gonna oppose us, Tommy.”

- The first thing they need to do…is build a wall

- Wilbur logs on in the Camarvan and sees Tubbo’s package of blaze rods. Tommy asks how much armor he should be wearing, Wilbur says none

Wilbur: “We don’t win wars with battles and with armor. We win wars with our words, Tommy. We’re starting a revolution, not a war.”

- He opens the package of blaze rods from Tubbo and talks about how his wildest dream is a nation where they can sell drugs with no one to stop them

Wilbur: “Why are you being all quiet and slow to talk to me?”

Tommy: “No no no, I’m just trying to decipher who’s on the right side of history right now.”

- Wilbur shows Tommy all the blaze rods. They’re on the right side of history. Tommy shows Wilbur the flaming hotdog on top of the van. He likes it

- The first law of their new place is that no UHC block placement is allowed (he demonstrates by parkouring across the water). That’s banned

- Sapnap comes over and gives Wilbur some blaze rods

Wilbur: “Oh yeah, you can’t buy our peace from your tyranny.”

Sapnap: (whispering to Wilbur) I’ve changed Sapnap: just Sapnap: look Sapnap: Ive tried brewing

Wilbur: once an American always an American

- Tommy punches him away and Sapnap goes away. They call him. Sapnap says, though he can’t join their posse, once their empire grows he wants to buy their potions. He’s possibly addicted to their supply. They have their first export

- Wilbur needs sand, gravel and dandelions for the wall. He sends Tommy on his way. Tommy asks the new empire’s policy on women. Wilbur says they’re allowed as long as they’re European

- Wilbur starts drawing out the border and asks him what their new nation should be called

- Dream logs on. Tommy asks Wilbur how he and Dream have been since they flirted. Wilbur says he just wants to rob George of his loves. Wilbur asks Dream if he wants to kiss

Wilbur: “He’s not responding. Is he gonna ban me for xenophobia?”

Dream: (in chat) who

Wilbur: (in chat) you

Tommy: “What’s…what’s ‘xeno…?’”

Wilbur: “A distaste towards other countries.”

Tommy: “Oh look, here’s Tubbo. He’s on his own adventure.”

Dream: social distancing

Wilbur: SMART

Tubbo fell from a high place.

- Wilbur screams after getting startled by Tommy coming into the van. Tommy throws him a carrot (“Have a carrot, please, calm yourself”) and gives Wilbur the supplies for the concrete

- Tommy goes to speak with “Small T” (Tubbo) and they get him in VC. Tommy tells him “viva la revolution!” and asks for some sand. They also need black dye

Wilbur: “Tubbo, what’s your stance on the States?”

Tubbo: “Those United States? I mean, I’ve heard stuff’s pretty nuts over there so I guess it’s not going great for them.”

Wilbur: “Yeah, we’re pulling a reverse independence.”

Tommy: “Yeah, we’re taking away their independence!”

Wilbur: “No no no no no, we’re not – no no, they’re staying independent. We’re claiming independence from the server.”

Tubbo: “I thought everyone was already independent? Everyone can already do what they want.”

Wilbur: “No, see, when you’re on this server, you’re on the Dream SMP, right? Yeah, we’re making our own land so that when you are in our borders you are no longer on the Dream SMP.”

Tubbo: “Oh…okay…”

- From the drug war a few days ago, Wilbur’s decided that the Americans can’t be trusted to run their own nation

Wilbur: “So what we’re doing is we’re – we’re taking control. We’re making our own nation.”

Tubbo: “Nice!”

Wilbur: “Our own server. And we’re gonna make the Americans pay for it!”

Tubbo: “Wai– uhhhh…”

Wilbur: “See the thing is, Tubbo, server upkeep costs money. A pittance to Dream, may I add, the billionaire thing he is, but like, we still – we’re gonna be still not paying a single penny for the upkeep of the server. But we will have our own independent emancipated land that will not be part of the server.”

- Tubbo is onboard. They ask Tubbo for name suggestions. Tubbo suggests “Not Dream SMP.” Wilbur wants something more original

- Tommy comes back with an idea. There’s only one woman on the server, and they won’t be letting her into the state since she’s American, so what he’s thinking is:

Tommy: “Why don’t we call it…Manberg? Or alternatively, Mantopia?”

Wilbur: “I like Mantopia. But how do we make it European? United Manberg.”

Tommy: “United Mantopia. UNM – wait, lemme Google if it means anything offensive—"

- Since it only stands for the University of New Mexico, Tommy decides it’s good. But Wilbur realizes it sounds too much like the United States

Wilbur: “What about ‘Le?’ Le-Man-berg.”

Tommy: (in chat) le man burg

- Wilbur declares it “L’manberg,” as that’s how the French do it – and the French are quite big on their revolutions. “Lemonburg” is declared a slur in their nation. They will cancel anyone who calls it that

- Tubbo takes off his armor and they discuss “war-winning words.” Wilbur quotes Hamilton and Tommy suspects him of lyric pranking

- Wilbur is the general of L’manberg and Tommy is his right-hand man. Tommy suggests they make the Camarvan an embassy but Wilbur declares it the capital, the state building instead

- Tommy gives Wilbur a stone hoe and Wilbur hoes a single piece of land outside the van before getting an idea. He hoes another piece of land and declares it the “unsullied ground.” Tommy starts singing Hallelujah to it

- Wilbur wants revolutionary skins. He wants a redcoat skin. Their slogan? “L’manberg: We are alarming.”

- There is a hidden clause in Tubbo and Tommy joining L’manberg, and that is that they will have to have houses there. They are citizens

- Tubbo spends a minute spinning around trying to find Wilbur

- They spot Dream nearby and go to speak to him. He says he’s just chilling. Wilbur tells Tommy to shout war words at him

- Dream joins the call and they tell him that “L’manberg” is seceding from Dream SMP. This is their own server now. Dream notes that it seems pretty small, but Wilbur tells him it’s what they do with it that counts

- Dream asks what happens if the rest of the server decides to take over the land. Wilbur says that’s not how servers work. The laws – or “gamerules,” rather, of their server is that PvP is turned off. Wilbur tells him that he’s not whitelisted in their server and has to stay out. All they want is Dream’s acknowledgement – and he’s paying for it

- Wilbur tells him he can set up his own visa and whitelist for Dream SMP and that they don’t need anything outside of these walls. All Tommy and Tubbo need is to move all their items there. Dream is skeptical and asks Tubbo if he’s really doing that

Tubbo: “…HEYYY, so I was born in the Dream SMP, and um…”

Tommy: “Yeah yeah, as was I! I was also born over there so really, we have duo citizenship—”

Wilbur: “—There’s no dual citizenship in our nation. Our nation has zero dual citizenship.”

Tubbo: (crosstalk) “Wait, why are you making it difficult for us?”

Wilbur: “Look at me. Do you boys care about the revolution?”

Tommy: “…Yes.”

Wilbur: “Look, Dream isn’t our enemy. He’s our neighbor. But, we are seceding from his tyrannical rule.”

Tubbo: “What’s ‘tyrannical’ mean?”

Wilbur: (laughs) “Big words. That’s what we use in war. Say it, Tubbo.”

Tubbo: “Tyran-zanical.”

- They argue back and forth about infinite women

- Tommy suggests that they call his land, which is in Dream SMP, an embassy instead. In return, Dream can set up an embassy in L’manberg

- Eret logs on and Dream walks away

- It’s time to make Invisibility potions. Eret joins the call and they fill him in

- Wilbur locks Tommy and Tubbo in the van until they make Invisibility potions and leaves. Neither of them want to play with “the weird neighbor’s child”

- Wilbur explains to Eret that the issue last time was not the drugs, but that the Americans got involved and now they’re making their own server where Americans aren’t whitelisted. Eret already has visa by being a European. 

They’re calling it “Drexit”

- Tommy goes to his base to establish the embassy. Wilbur makes a “scum window” in the wall

- Tommy sees Dream at the embassy, telling him he has to follow the L’manburg rules on the land

- Tommy is allowed to start a “fight club” not just in his embassy, but even in L’manburg itself 

- Wilbur is horrified when he notices that the holy soil has become untilled. He calls Eret over and they re-till it 

- Wilbur declares the four of them the founding fathers. Tommy asks if he is Hamilton 

Tubbo: “Was Abraham Lincoln a founding father?”

Wilbur: “No, he was several hundred years after.”

Tubbo: “Oh.”

Eret: “Just a few hundred years off, you know? Easy mistake to make.”

Tubbo: “Better late than never.”

- Tommy yells at Tubbo for going through his chests and threatens to kill him. Eret and Wilbur start whispering to each other and Tommy and Tubbo become self-aware 

- Tommy notices Alyssa and Dream approaching the embassy

Tommy: “Good news and bad news. I’ve got you a woman. Bad news? She’s American.”

- Wilbur starts laughing so hard he has to stand up and walk away while Tommy and Dream bicker

- Tommy calls Niki on the phone, telling her they need women who aren’t American, but Niki isn’t whitelisted yet. Tommy asks Dream to add her and he declines. Wilbur tells Dream not to add her as it would delegitimize the manhood of L’manburg

Tommy: Too shay

Dream: too shay

- Wilbur, hungry, goes “manfishing,” whispering “salmon” repeatedly as he kills them

- Both Tubbo and Eret have done well. Wilbur tells Tommy he really is the “Hamilton” of their nation and hasn’t done much for them

- The signature meal of L’manburg is salmon

- Tommy and Wilbur start rapping “Non-Stop” from Hamilton the musical

- Wilbur and Tommy walk and talk

Wilbur: “Look around.”

Tommy: “At how happy we are to be alive right now.”

- Wilbur reminds Tommy of how far they’ve come, but Tommy has done very little in terms of setting up. Tommy takes Wilbur to the embassy

- Wilbur changes the sign on Tommy’s house to read “L’Manburg Embassy” and says he feels that Tommy isn’t fully devoted to the cause. Tommy doesn’t want to give up his home and tries suggesting the Power Tower instead

- Wilbur leaves Tommy and returns to L’manburg

Wilbur: “Chat…I think we’ve lost him. I think we’ve lost TommyInnit.”

- Wilbur doesn’t approve of Tommy living with the enemy. Tommy finally agrees to give up his home to be the embassy

- Wilbur tells them it’s time to don the skins

- Tommy notices that the forest outside L’manburg’s borders is on fire. In the distance he spots Alyssa and angrily runs after her

Tommy: “Wilbur! Wilbur! Do I kill the woman?”

Tubbo: “Yes!”

Wilbur: “Yes! Yes, Tommy! You kill the woman!”

- Wilbur and Tubbo start running after as well

Eret: “I thought we use our words! I thought we used our words!”

Tommy: “No.”

Wilbur: “Not in this case. Anyone -- they’ve tried to burn down our forest.”

Tubbo: “We care most about the forest.”

- They are like the Lorax. Alyssa combat logs. When she logs back in, Tommy kills her. Punz immediately shoots Tommy down, outraged that he would kill a woman

- Alyssa calls them and asks for her stuff back, saying she didn’t start the forest fire. Sapnap logs on and arrives with Punz. They start walking back

- The fire is still spreading and Tommy thinks it might be a political attack. Wilbur turns around and tells Tommy to go home. This isn’t a political attack and Tommy is too dangerous, running his mouth and talking too much

Tommy: “Tell me the thing he says in the second song of the musical Hamilton.”

Wilbur: “I think about death so much it feels more like a memory.”

- Wilbur dismisses Tommy, growing more and more annoyed as Tommy keeps on reciting various song lyrics to him

- Sapnap and Dream arrive as Wilbur goes off to get materials. Punz puts out the forest fire and Fundy has just logged on, confused

- Sapnap and Dream take Tubbo hostage in a hole in the ground. Tubbo drops Tommy an Invisibility potion

- Sapnap and Dream kill them as Wilbur arrives, losing them the Invisibility potions

- Wilbur gathers everyone in the Camarvan, a book and quill in hand. It’s time to draft the Declaration:

---

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDANCE

Signed: Wilbur Soot Tubbo_ TommyInnit ERET

Forever the nation of the DreamSMP have cast great sins upon our great land of the hto dog van.

They have robbed us. Imprisoned us. Threatened us. Killed many of our men.

This time of tyranny ends with us

This book declares that the nation which shall be henceforth known as L’Manberg is seperate, emancipated and independant from the nation of DreamSMP.

The union of the masters of men. Together we are one. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one to dissolve the bonds which bind us. Disregarding of this truth is nothing short of tyranny.

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF EVIDENT. THAT ALL _MEN_ ARE CREATED EQUAL

The right of the people exists above the right of the king. The right of the government and the right of the economy.

From the hto dog van we shall prevail.

Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of victory.

---

- The four sign the Declaration on the roof of the Camarvan, witnessed by Dream, Sapnap, Punz and Fundy watching from afar. Wilbur frames it in the van

- An invisible person arrives in the van to deliver a second book:

---

Declaration Of War

Sometimes you just gotta kill some people sometimes yaknow - Sun Tzu

Dream SMP declares war on la’manburg

JOINT RESOLUTION --PUNZ --SAPNAP --DREAM

---

- Wilbur and Dream exchange books

- Wilbur gives some motivational words to the L’manburgians. This is how they consolidate can power. This is an opportunity

Wilbur: “We do not fight a war of – of the war of greater sticks. We’re not looking for technological advancement, right. The war we’re fighting is gonna be done through guerilla tactics. It’s gonna be done through attrition…”

“And I want you guys on my side.”

---

UPCOMING ANNIVERSARY DATES:

July 31: Fundy becomes Wilbur’s son

August 2: Doomsday

August 3: Jack Manifold joins the server

August 6: Niki joins the server

August 9: Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo create a drug park

[doberbutts]

You mentioned on one of your Which Line Is It Anyway games that there was less of a split in Euro/American lines and Euro imports were very common - do you know why that happened? I come from a background of conservation breeding and one of the hot topics of conversation is always "can we get new candidates in our breeding pool?" usually from imports and exports, but that comes with tons of red tape on account of endangered species crossing international borders and all that... I imagine it's a bit easier with our canine friends but maybe I'm wrong!

Oh I can very easily tell you what happened. It was World War 2.

Prior to World War 2, Germany and the US would trade dogs back and forth quite often in many breeds including the doberman. When WW1 kicked up, some dogs were even sent over from Germany to protect lineages and pedigrees and entire breeds from completely dying out, as many of the German people had a hard time feeding themselves let alone their expensive dogs. And if another country would give them a lot of money for their expensive dogs AND they wouldn't have to worry about that other mouth to feed? Then great!

We see this echoing across species and countries that are affected by war all the time. Culturally valuable animals will get sent a few countries over, even just prized animals without specific cultural value- I'm thinking of that recent viral video of the horse farm that released their horses into the woods along the Ukraine borders the furthest away from Russia in an attempt to save them. I'm thinking of how many FCI breeders from the surrounding countries organized to get people- and their dogs- out of the danger zone. I'm thinking of how I even see international cat breeders scrambling to protect both people and their pets. Getting our animals out of the literal line of fire is something every caretaker and keeper has done the second war hits home.

However... when the US entered WW2, we were actively not friends with Germany anymore. Like many breeds, the Dobermann Pinscher's name was changed to simply "doberman" to make it less German-sounding. We stopped importing dogs from Germany. We stopped sending dogs over to Germany. We branded them nazi dogs to turn public opinion against them, and use re-branded Americanized German dogs (such as the GSD) in propaganda to claim that the breed was "really" American at that point and anyone getting a [German breed] from Germany was UnAmerican and also Probably A Nazi (which may have been somewhat true- deliberately importing goods of any sort from a political enemy is sus at best but especially so when your country is at war with that country).

We stayed politically angry at Germany until the wall came down in 1989. By then, what few dogs were being imported into the states were either South American (hmm....... where did all the nazis go to hide from punishment for their war crimes......... do you think they didn't take their dogs.........) or, often, from countries surrounding Germany that we were politically allied with or at least on friendly terms. It took a long time before we began readily trading with Germany again and even longer for people on either side to be willing to do business. Even now, it is uncommon for Germans to want an American-produced doberman, just as it is uncommon for Americans to want a German-produced doberman. Only the working people and folks who want aesthetic bragging rights want european produced and imported dogs in this country. And very few doberman breeders in German have any interest in any American-produced dog regardless of the line, with the exception of very, very few proven cases.

[mariacallous]

Joe Biden has called Liz Truss’s abandoned economic plan that sent financial markets into chaos and caused a sharp drop in the value of the pound a “mistake” as criticism of her approach continued.

The US president hinted that other world leaders felt the same way about her disastrous mini-budget saying he “wasn’t the only one” who had concerns over the lack of “sound policy” in other countries.

Biden said it was “predictable” that the new British prime minister was forced on Friday to backtrack on plans to aggressively cut taxes without saying how they would be paid for, after Truss’s proposal caused turmoil in global financial markets.

His comments on Sunday to reporters at an ice-cream parlour in Oregon marked a highly unusual intervention by a US president into the domestic policy decisions of one of its closest allies.

“I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake,” Biden said. “I think that the idea of cutting taxes on the super-wealthy at a time when … I disagree with the policy, but it’s up to Britain to make that judgement, not me.”

Labour immediately leapt on the US president’s remarks. The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: “As well as crashing the economy, Liz Truss’s humiliating U-turns have made Britain’s economy an international punchline.

“President Biden knows the dangerous folly of trickle-down economics. His comments confirm the hit our reputation has taken thanks to the Conservatives.”

Biden has repeatedly poured scorn on so-called trickle down economics and ahead of his first bilateral talks with Truss in New York last month tweeted that he was “sick and tired” of the approach, which he claimed had never worked.

Biden’s comments came after weeks of White House officials declining to criticise Truss’s plans, though they emphasised they were monitoring the economic fallout closely.

The US president was speaking to reporters at an Oregon ice-cream shop during an unannounced campaign stop for the Democratic candidate for governor, Tina Kotek. Democrats face a tough US political environment amid Republican criticism of their handling of the economy.

Biden said he was not concerned about the strength of the dollar – it set a new record against sterling in recent weeks, which benefits imports but makes US exports more expensive to the rest of the world.

He claimed the US economy was “strong as hell” but added: “I’m concerned about the rest of the world. The problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries. It’s worldwide inflation, that’s consequential.”

Truss’s own new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has said Truss and his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget went “too far, too fast” as he effectively signalled the demise of the prime minister’s economic vision.

“We have to be honest with people and we are going to have to take some very difficult decisions both on spending and on tax to get debt falling, but at the top of our minds when making these decisions will be how to protect and help struggling families, businesses and people.”

Hunt is expected to announce that plans to reduce the basic rate of income tax next April will be pushed back by a year. The cut to 19% will now take effect at the time previously proposed by Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, who was Truss’s main leadership rival.

[canmom]

電影星期二 42: Taiwan!

Hi friends!

Who wants to (deep breath) watch some films from an East Asian island country near to the coast of China which, coming out of the bloody wars of the mid 20th century, spent the latter half undergoing rapid economic development under the military and financial patronage of the USA, while being ruled by a seemingly eternal right-wing government? ...uh no, not that one, the other one.

Tonight the plan is to check out some recent films of Taiwan! So let’s try and write a brief encapsulation of some history, as is our habit (c.f. TT#32).

The long-term history of Taiwan is, to try and sum up succinctly, generally a bad time for most present: a series of wars, genocides and colonial occupations which then get colonised in turn.

Taiwan was inhabited since at least 15000 years ago, and based on archaeological and linguistic evidence, the indigenous people migrated to most of the other islands in Southeast Asia over a period of a few thousand years starting about 5000 years ago, making Taiwan the origin of the Austronesian language group. In the 1600s, the Portugese sailed by; in Europe the Portugese description Ilha Formosa (‘Beautiful Island’) led to the island generally being called ‘Formosa’.

Starting in 1622, the Dutch started colonising the island with trade and warfare, fighting for a foothold against the Ming Dynasty from the mainland as part of the Sino-Dutch conflicts; they managed to make a permanent settlement in 1624 and started encouraging Chinese workers to migrate in as they conquered more of the various small polities on the island. The Spanish also arrived at the north end of the island and did much the same thing.

In 1644, the Ming were overthrown by the Qing, but a guy called Zheng Chenggong (aka Koxinga), still loyal to the Ming, kept stubbornly fighting them; his efforts went badly, in 1661 he retreated to Taiwan and expelled the Dutch. So fighting continued, with the Qing pursuing such drastic measures as to completely depopulate the coastline and ban coastal trade; the Dutch allied with the Qing to try to get their colony back, but eventually giving up on the whole venture. Ultimately the Qing ended up in control of the island after they defeated Koxinga’s grandson in 1683.

So things were peaceful from then on, right? Hahaha, not remotely. Here’s good old Wikipedia:

There were more than a hundred rebellions, riots, and instances of civil strife during the Qing's administration, including the Lin Shuangwen rebellion (1786–1788). Their frequency was evoked by the common saying "every three years an uprising, every five years a rebellion" (三年一反、五年一亂), primarily in reference to the period between 1820 and 1850.[96][97][98] These conditions notwithstanding, the production of sugar became profitable on the island and, together with rice, provided surpluses for export to the mainland. Meanwhile, a rapidly increasing population settled the western coastal areas.[99]

These various rebellions and uprisings ultimately failed to dislodge the Qing, and their rule lasted until 1895, when (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) a recently modernised Japan started getting big imperial ambitions and went to war with China. They won decisively, and as part of the treaty terms, were granted the island. Qing loyalists continued to fight back, leading to the deaths of about 1 in 200 people:

Guerrilla fighting continued periodically until about 1902 and ultimately took the lives of 14,000 Taiwanese, or 0.5 per cent of the population.[104] Several subsequent rebellions against the Japanese (the Beipu uprising of 1907, the Tapani incident of 1915, and the Musha incident of 1930) were all unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese colonial rule.

The Japanese started heavily industrialising the island according to the ‘colonial power’ playbook, increasing the pace of sugar production (which could only be sold to the Japanese) in lieu of rice, closing off most positions of authority to Han or Indigenous people, waging a series of wars to conquer the mountain indigenous people, and staging programs of cultural assimilation. About 300,000 Japanese settlers migrated to the island in all. In the end the Japanese were driven off by World War II (during which many Taiwanese served in the military, and Japanese soldiers implemented a ‘comfort women’ system of mass rape much like Korea). So ultimately after Japan’s defeat by the USA, the 300,000 settlers were deported en masse back to Japan - one of the many the massive population transfers that followed the end of the war. Control of the island went to the nationalist (Guomindang) government of Chiang Kai-Shek.

Then, as you most likely already know, Taiwan (臺灣 or 台灣) is the island where the nationalists retreated after losing the civil war against the Marxist-Leninist Chinese Communist Party in 1949. There, they formed a military dictatorship and named the country the Republic of China (中華民國), insisting they were still the rightful government of the mainland; meanwhile the CCP, now government of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国), insisted that Taiwan was their rightful territory. This situation persists today through many changes of economic and government structure in both countries and the integration of China into the global capitalist system. Thanks to the intricacies of diplomacy, the USA now sits in the odd position of militarily defending the ROC’s rule of Taiwan but also pursuing a stance of ‘deliberate ambiguity’ with regard to recognising the name of its government.

Throughout this period, Taiwan was one of the four ‘Tiger economies’ which saw a ton of capitalist growth in the ‘flying geese’ development pattern, where progressively heavier forms of capital would ripple down from Japan. I think I already said it about Hong Kong (TT#32), but as the Chuang collective writes, this was anything but a ‘natural’ emergent process of comparative advantage:

But peering through this void, one can begin to see the strings that connect the paper geese: all the countries that were most favored in the process of capital transfer were also those that had played important roles in the former Japanese empire and continued to do so within the contemporary US military complex. The v-shape of the formation was, in fact, a political hierarchy imposed on the Pacific Rim by military force, its shape and composition ultimately defined by the imperatives of the Cold War.

(They then go on to say some quite interesting things about the driving force behind this but I think we’re getting off topic.)

Returning to the indigenous people where we started this whole story, they now comprise about 800,000 people, a small percentage of the current population of the island which is now mostly Han Chinese. Like indigenous people the world over they exist in a precarious situation of being granted certain recognition and rights by the government that rules them.

So that’s all well and fascinating, shaping the lives of millions of people, war and trauma and bloodshed and the necromantic rule of capital and all that, but really I’m sure what you care about is movies. So let’s get into that!

Taiwan’s film industry begins in the 1900s, about the same time as everyone else was figuring out this fancy new medium, under the Japanese occupation. These films seem to have mostly been propaganda films, or else aimed at a Japanese audience with almost unbelievably on the nose titles like Conquering Taiwan's Native Rebels (1910) and Heroes of the Taiwan Extermination Squad (1910).[4]

Still, one interesting quality of this period is the role of the silent film narrator (piān-sū, called benshi in Japan), which existed in Japanese films but turned into a whole star system in the Taiwanese setting:

This narrator was very different from its equivalent in the Western world. It rapidly evolved into a star system but one based on the Japanese system. In fact, people would go to see the very same film narrated by different benshi, to hear the other benshi's interpretation. A romance could become a comedy or a drama, depending on the narrator's style and skills.

With the Japanese kicked out, the Guomindang came in and initiated a period of ‘White Terror’ which would eventually become commemorated in a number of Taiwanese films - we’ll get to them in a bit! During this period, the use of the Taiwanese Hokkien language in films gradually declined from the majority of films to disappear entirely from film after 1981, deemed ‘coarse’ by the nationalist government. They also exercised a strict level of censorship against anything deemed too overtly communist, and funded many propaganda films; in this period kung fu films became popular as a second pole of film production alongside Hong Kong (c.f. TT#32) as well as adaptations of the romance novels of Chiung Yao.

In the 80s, the censorship seems to have gradually relaxed (particularly after the end of military dictatorship in favour of a representative democracy in 1987). A period of ‘New Taiwanese Cinema’ began in 1982, featuring down-to-earth realist films about the struggles of life in Taiwan, the traumatic history of the White Terror, and similar topics.

I feel like academics have to stop periodising things as ‘new’, because the next period listed is called the ‘Second New Wave’; this is notably where Ang Lee, director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon enters the picture, though most of his films seem to be romantic comedy-dramas rather than wuxia. We’re definitely overdue for more kung fu and wuxia films, but not tonight.

The actual impetus for tonight’s film night is instead a gory zombie film called The Sadness (哭悲 Kū bēi) released just last year, notable for impressive effects and strong direction that seem to have won a lot of praise. The film is actually by a Canadian director, inspired by a Garth Ennis comic series titled Crossed, and features a couple attempting to reunite during the zombies. It makes heavy use of practical effects to simulate dismemberment, sloughing, and heads exploding and the clips I’ve seen look fascinatingly grotesque and inventive. Also my friend charity liked it so that’s a good impetus!

Alongside that, @mogsk​ suggested we watch Detention (返校 fǎn xiào, literally returning to school), a story about students encountering ghosts during the White Terror period.

It’s notable for being a film adaptation of a game by Red Candle Games, a small indie studio who make very atmospheric story-heavy adventure games, drawing on Taiwanese cultural motifs around Taoism and Buddhism. The game version of Detention has you walking through side-scrolling levels with a kind of 2D papery motif, with the game parts involving avoiding monsters and solving inventory puzzles similar to games like Limbo - but of course it’s mostly there to deliver the story and set a mood.

The inspiration for Detention is the 1947 Keelung Senior High School Incident, in which the government discovered communist materials being circulated at a school and, eventually, executed one of the parents of the students, 32-year-old writer Lan Ming-gu. His daughter survived, and only much later found out that her dad had indeed been a communist. The film and game transform this into a story where a group of students get trapped at a school by a storm, and are transported into (I think I have this right) an alternate dimension echoing the brutal executions of the period, now full of ghosts. The movie, directed by  seems to have been a generally well-received adaptation, forming the directorial debut of John Hsu; here’s ya trailer:

Unfortunately, Red Candle got caught in a bizarre nationalist egregore when their second game, Devotion, a first-person walking sim in the vein of Gone Home, What Remains of Edith Finch and so forth, which mogs described to me as having a fascinating critical take on Buddhism. However, the game included an oblique easter egg where some in-game text transforms into ‘Xi Jinping - Winnie the Pooh’ on interaction, in reference to a banned meme in the PRC. Once discovered, this sparked a controversy led to review bombings, a ban in the mainland, and eventually an apology from the developers who pulled their game completely worldwide. It now seems to be available again on their site.

(Thankfully they seem to have weathered the storm, and their recently-announced next game Nine Sols, a kind of action metroidvania with a Sekiro-like rhythmic parry system, looks pretty gorgeous and rapidly met its crowdfunding targets!)

So, plan is tonight, we’ll watch those two films - Detention and The Sadness - to see a little of the most recent Taiwanese horror. But I’m sure we’ll get to the older stuff before long!

Toku Tuesday is going nice and early today, so we ought to start at 7pm UK time, which is in about two and a half hours, at https://twitch.tv/canmom. Hope I can see you there!

(And also, please look forward to next week, I’ve found a thematically compelling pair of really brutal war movies about people dying pointlessly for worthless causes in Kajaki and Die Brücke. More on that next week though!)

[kanaesparadise]

omg it's my first time here- can you make an akali x reader where she goes on a rampage after we get hurt cause the fEels

That's been really long. Only 2665 words and that's it...

COMIC SPOILERS ALERT

Ever since Shen caught Zed, he had been interrogating him and trying to get Zed to talk about his father's death. He thought Zed had killed his father and seemed to take his anger out on him.

Of course, that didn't really matter to you.

You and Akali left Kinkou a long time ago. Because you found Kinkou's methods absurd and useless. You and Akali have decided that you can protect Ionia in your own way. You were only getting information from Shen and following the plan you and Akali had made in your own mind. You had learned that Jhin had come to Piltover after the massacres in Ionia, so you and Akali boarded a ship to Piltover. Also, Akali left Shen a small note, but didn't say where she was going.

He's already smart enough to more or less guess where you're going.

While you were walking to the ship's deck, Akali was watching people behind you for suspicious-looking people. "Come on, Akali, don't you trust me?" She came up to you, dropped her backpack on the ground, put her hands on the ship's railings and looked out to sea, "Of course I do, but I don't want anything to happen to you."

You smiled at Akali and hugged her shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm overly careful! Besides, this is Ionia, and no one knows this place better than you or me. I'll be more careful in Piltover for sure." You laughed when you saw Akali's cheeks turn red and you let her go and looked at the sea with her "I'm sure we'll find 'him'"

-------------------------------Timeskip---------------------------------- While disembarking at a port in Piltover called Anchorage, Akali was studying the people around. While you were looking at the merchants around, you saw a trader. "Hey Akali, there's a trader over there. Maybe we should get something like a map from him."

Akali took her eyes off the people and looked at the trader you pointed to. She shook his head positively and started walking towards the trader's counter. As Akali asked the trader something in Ionian, she sighed when she saw that he did not understand something. "Akali, I think the trader is from Noxus. I can read and understand the language the Noxians, but I can't speak."

"It's okay, I'll handle it." Akali put her hand on her chin for a second, thinking about what to say, and turned to the trader

("I want to buy one of those maps, how much would you give it?")

("Noxian, you know?")

("Yes, I can speak Noxian.")

Akali paid the trader's asking price, took the map, and started walking with you. She gave you the map for you to look at. "Wow, I didn't expect them to also plot the roads to Zaun. I know they see it as their black mark."

"I don't think it's on every map because that trader got good money from me. For a moment I thought he was cheating on me." Y

ou laughed at Akali and continued to study the map, "Akali, where exactly are we supposed to go?"

"To Zaun. People over there know something about that masked man for sure." They had bribed a guard outside a bar in Zaun to find out if anyone here knew about the masked man. You and Akali had to enter this heavily liquor-smelling place when the guard said that the bartender inside knew something about it.

"How could the barmen know?"

"Usually in places like this, bartenders know a lot. Lots of people come to them for drinks and they learn something unintentionally."

After listening to what she had to say, you continued to study the map. At that time, Akali was talking to the bartender, and before you knew what was going on, the bartender had taken out the Tellstones game pieces and placed them on the bar. You were sitting in a chair and watching them play.

Tellstones was a simple game, but the best bluffer won. And Akali was pretty good at it. She proved herself once again by winning the game.

("I shouldn't have played Tellstones against an Ionian...")

("Tell me, what do you know about the masked man?")

("The 'Performances' serve some kind of transport group. The man scared a lot of merchant households.")

("Why is that?")

("All the merchant houses he attacked were exporting weapons to Ionia. The only group still working was House Ferros")

("House Ferros? What are they doing?")

("The spy of House Ferros has assembled an assassination team. They're looking for him in Zaun, in a neighborhood called Mistfloor.")

You knew the masked man was killing people under the name of 'art', you tapped Akali's shoulder "Ask the man if there is a theater zone, maybe he is there." After Akali turned and listened to you, she smiled, "Clever, I was just about to say let's go."

When she turned to the bartender and asked if there was a theater district, he replied that the theater was on the Mistfloor, which he had just mentioned. Akali thanked the man and took your arm while you were looking at the map and walked out of the bar with you. You were walking backwards as Akali got your arm backwards “Hey, I would have left the map if you had waited a while!”

"If it were up to you, you would look at that map all day."

"Don't worry, I'm more interested in watching you." You glanced at Akali from the corner of your eye as you looked at the map, a suggestive smile on your face. Akali understood what you were saying when she looked at your suggestive smile, and she suddenly panicked

"I didn't say I wanted something like that! It's just for...well...well..."

As you walked, you tilted your head forward and looked at Akali. Her cheeks were flushed and frozen. She shook her head quickly to regain herself. She folded her arms across her chest and continued walking without looking at you. "If you could focus on our work, you would be more careful here?"

You smiled at Akali from behind and followed her. "I already do."

You caught up to her and continued walking next to her. You stopped in a street. When Akali realizes that you are not walking, she turns to look at you, "What's the matter (Y/N)?"

"I don't know where we're going from here, we're at the Mistfloor now. We'd better ask someone if there's a theater around. Someone in that group of friends knows. They seem like locals."

Akali went to them and said that if any of them knew a theater that was here, she would pay good money to anyone who knew. She wasn't normally so money oriented, but money was everything to people in Piltover and Zaun. You were asking trees to have a house in Ionia, and now you have one! As long as you were kind to the trees, they were always your friend. You really loved your country and you certainly wouldn't want to live in a place like Piltover.

You smiled at the boy when Akali came in with a young boy. He complimented you in noxian, you just smiled because you understood but couldn't speak. Akali scowled when she saw you smiling at the boy, "Really, did you smile at this brat?"

"What is it? He just complimented." Akali rolled her eyes and told the boy to show the way without talking too much. After walking for a while, he took you to a dilapidated theater.

("Is this here?")

("Yes. He's a freak. He clashed with House Ferros here a week ago. They pulled bodies out of the place for days.")

("Wow, what happened here?") As Akali looked around you thought there was someone else here. It just didn't show itself. The boy continued to talk to Akali as she walked towards the door ("That's beyond me, ma'am. I don't know. I don't want to know either. Your money is sweet, but I can't risk it any more.)

You were waving to the boy as he was walking out of the theater. While he was waving at you, Akali took your arm backwards and started pulling you. When you turn to Akali and puff your cheeks at her and descend a staircase that leads down from the floor of the theater stage. There was someone else watching you at that time. It was an absolutely awful place when you went downstairs with Akali. You could hear something collapsing all the time, and you could have sworn someone was inside with you. You climbed onto the stage standing above and looked around from above.

You didn't want to go any further, you were definitely walking into a trap with Akali. "Akali, I swear to you, there's someone else here besides us."

"That's the good news, so here it is."

"No, it's not good news! You're going to fall into the trap-" You took a step to get off the stage when you heard the stage crackle below you, but it was too late. You walked to the middle of the stage in the air and the stage was very long. You were out of breath as your back hit the ground so hard, and you couldn't move when you saw the boards falling on you. You couldn't even scream out of pain because you were out of breath. When Akali heard a loud noise, she turned around and looked in the direction the sound had come from. He didn't expect to see you stuck under the boards. As she was about to come to get you out of there, she was distracted by a machine running on her right, blowing air towards Akali.

A mist had formed from the dust lifted by the air and he could not see you. He could more or less see someone walking towards him through the mists. "You're like a leaf in a storm, Akali, dancing aimlessly and pointlessly in the wind. You both came here unwittingly to 'transform'."

Akali didn't really care what the masked man was saying, just focused on you. However, he continued to speak. "I will transform you both, Akali, I will add meaning to your poor lives with my art, I will make you both beautiful. And with your death, your transformation will be complete."

"Damn, that's not good at all!" Akali had already noticed the spears coming out of the air-breathing machine, and had somehow escaped them all. Just as a mist was about to form on the ground, the air-breathing machine on the other side had already dispersed the fog. While trying to evade the masked man's hits at the same time, the air-blasting machine to Akali's right suddenly exploded. The impact of the blast hit Akali hard against the railings.

When she looked up at the masked man, he had a knife in his hand and was staring at you. "I've watched you Akali, I know that daggers are one of your favorite weapons. But as a former knife artist I must say your technique is simple and boring. It doesn't offer the brutality that true art needs."

He came in front of your unconscious body and turned to Akali "Come on, now let's do something 'nice' for (Y/N) together."

----------------------------Timeskip again--------------------------------

When Akali opened her eyes, she realized that her hands were hanging from the fallen tree she had seen before. When she lowered her head a little, she realized that you were still under the boards.

"Fuck it, it's all my fault."

Akali closed her eyes in the dense light from above. When she opened his eyes, the masked man was standing on a stand with hooks suspended in the air, staring at Shen. Akali felt like her ears were ringing, Zed's attempt to attack the masked man from above had failed. He threw his shurikens towards him, but the man easily dodges them.

Actually, Zed didn't throw them at the man, he threw them to cut the ropes that Akali was tied to. He hadn't even noticed in the confusion that Akali's ropes were cut and she had jumped down.

It didn't take long for the man to secure Shen and Zed with hooks, but he threw Zed onto the boards you were under. As you screamed in pain, Zed recognized you by your voice. You had the opportunity to talk to him long ago and you had respect for each other, until he left Kinkou in such a bad way.

"I'm sorry (Y/N)!"

"Shut up! I'm hurting all over. I'm sure you're behind these things, Usan!"

"I swear it's not my fault this time, it never was!" Akali jumped at him as the masked man aimed a gun at Shen.

"You forgot me, you idiot!" Akali was punching the man in the face that was on top of him. "Let's forget about that too!" She punched the man in the face until he couldn't stand up, as if she was getting revenge for what he had done to you. Akali knew very well that this man had taken your family away from you. She seemed to torment him both for hurting you here and for what he did to your family.

Finally she picked up his gun from the ground and pointed it at him, "Let's see if I can make your face more beautiful, you sick!"

Just as Akali was about to fire, Shen called out to her from afar, "Akali, no!" Taking advantage of Akali's momentary pause, Zed pushed her aside, causing the gun to fall.

This time, Zed was on top of the man. "I promised Shen I'd catch you alive 'Jhin', my honor prevents me from killing you. But I'd be worse off killing you. Tell me how you escaped from Tuula prison!"

"Zed, I didn't run. You know that."

"Who set you free?!"

"No, Zed, I'm sorry, but I won't tell you this. Besides, you already know who set me free. You knew it all along. Think of it this way, Zed, I've been released. But so… you were released too."

Not wanting to listen to him anymore, Zed threw it facedown in front of Shen. "Take it, our deal is done!"

"His work is done, but not ours, Zed!"

As Zed quickly jumped off the building, Shen shouted after him, "Zed! Where are you going, Zed?!"

Akali was trying to get you out of the rubble, ignoring them. Shen sighed and came over to you and took the boards off you with Akali. You had a lot of cuts made by the board on your body. Also, the wounds deepened as Zed fell on top of you. Akali cleaned and tied up your deepest wounds with a cloth Shen provided. When you look at her face, she looks angry and sad at the same time. She was more angry with herself. She blamed herself for letting this happen to you.

At that time, Shen had tied Jhin, aka the masked man, out of the theater to take him to the prison where he belonged.

You didn't want Akali to feel guilty, it was your fault too.

"Akali."

She had heard you calling out to her, but she didn't have the courage to look at you. You took Akali's face in your hands and lifted her head.

"Akali, you don't have to blame yourself. When we got here we risked everything, and that was one of the possibilities. Also, look, I'm still alive and survived with minor abrasions"

"By minor abrasions, do you mean being buried under the rubble? It's all my-"

You connected your lips to her when you realized that she would blame herself more. Before Akali could react, you were about to walk away from her, but this time she started kissing you.

Akali hugged you when you both left to breathe. You could tell she was crying by the wetness of your shoulder. She was very quiet and didn't say anything. Only when you listened carefully could you notice that she was suddenly breathing while crying. It was near impossible to see her cry, and that's how you saw her again after a long time. You hugged her and dropped yourself to the floor and looked at the ceiling of the theater;

"I love you too, Akali."

[yourreddancer]

Heather Cox Richardson

February 24, 2022 (Thursday)

Illia Ponomarenko, a defense reporter with the Kyiv Independent, reported today that according to Ukraine’s top general, “Russia’s blitzkrieg on day one has failed.” Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe today listed information delivered in an early briefing by a senior U.S. defense official. While this information is very early, and likely to be revised in the future, the official told reporters that the U.S. believed Russia launched more than 100 missiles at Ukrainian targets last night, primarily at airports and military targets. There were an estimated 75 Russian planes, including bombers, targeting nearly 10 airports.

 The official described this as an “initial phase” of a “large-scale invasion” from Belarus south, from Crimea north, and from Russia to around the city of Kharkiv, which saw the heaviest fighting. The next move, he predicted, would be on Kyiv. “We still believe—it is our assessment—that they have every intention of basically decapitating the government and installing their own method of governance, which would explain these early moves toward Kyiv.” 

Tonight, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told lawmakers that Russian troops were now about 20 miles from Kyiv.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky told his people that Ukraine lost 137 defenders on the first day, with 316 more wounded. Russia has not acknowledged any losses, although images from photojournalists in Ukraine indicate there have been Russian casualties.

 Before midnight, American Eastern time, Friday had begun in Ukraine with the news from Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs Dmytro Kuleba that Kyiv was being hit by “horrific Russian rocket strikes…. The last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany. Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. Sever…all ties. Kick Russia out of everywhere.” 

In fact, isolating Russia and turning it into an international pariah seems to be the plan of the U.S., the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, and other allies and partners. This morning, President Biden spoke with the leaders of the G7, the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies, and tweeted: “[W]e are in full agreement: We will limit Russia’s ability to be part of the global economy. We will stunt their ability to finance and grow Russia’s military. We will impair their ability to compete in a high-tech, 21st century economy.” G7 countries, which control 50% of the world’s gross domestic product, will participate in isolating Russia.

Early this afternoon, President Biden announced more sanctions on Russia, squeezing its financial system, its economy, and its political leadership. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against state-owned banks, defense and security industries, and individuals in Belarus, “​​due to Belarus’s support for, and facilitation of, the invasion.” The U.S. will also block Russian access to emerging technologies.

According to the White House, the European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom all are planning their own sanctions. Tonight, the leaders of the European Union announced “massive and targeted” sanctions against Russia, hitting 70% of the Russian banking market, oil exports, and Russia’s access to technology.

 A bright spot for Putin is that China has eased restrictions on the importation of Russian wheat, thus helping Russia’s economy and helping out its own food security. Analyst Rachel Ziemba told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” that China’s interest in its access to important commodities will likely make it a “meaningful financial lifeline” for Russia, but China will not align with Moscow completely. 

But there are plenty of dark spots for Putin, too. After the invasion, Russian stocks plunged 45% before recovering to close down 33%, while the ruble hit a record low against the dollar. Putin summoned Russian oligarchs to a meeting today. According to Max Seddon, Financial Times Moscow bureau chief, Putin told Russia’s business elite that he was forced into invading Ukraine because “they could have created such risks for us that it wasn’t clear how the country [Russia, that is, not Ukraine] could have continued to exist.”

Protesters in Russia took to the streets to oppose the war; many were arrested. According to Nastassia Astrasheuskaya, a Financial Times reporter in Moscow, the Kremlin had expected the public would support the attack on Ukraine. Prominent celebrities, including those who rely on the state to make a living, also came out against the war. On Facebook, the commander in chief of the armed forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, posted that a Russian platoon surrendered about 85 miles north of Kyiv. He said the platoon leader believed they were a reconnaissance team. “No one thought that we were going to kill. We were not going to fight, we were collecting information.” 

The Ukraine Defense Ministry has asked computer hackers to help Ukraine’s war effort, and a Twitter account claiming to represent the computer hacker group Anonymous claimed to have taken down the Russian RT media outlet, which was, indeed, down this afternoon. The U.S. is sending 7,000 more U.S. troops to Europe to shore up the defenses of our NATO allies. 

And two former presidents—Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican George W. Bush—today released statements condemning the invasion and standing behind Ukraine. Bush wrote, “The American government and people must stand in solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people as they seek freedom and the right to choose their own future. We cannot tolerate the authoritarian bullying and danger that Putin poses.”

 And yet, while some leading Republicans are expressing support for Ukraine and simply ignoring President Joe Biden, the same Republicans who have been most closely associated with Trump and the January 6 insurrection are trying to use Russia’s attack on Ukraine to undermine the president. 

Following the lead of  former president Trump, who says that Putin invaded because Biden is weak, Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who took over for Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) when the House Republicans stripped her of her position as the third most powerful House Republican, tweeted that “Joe Biden is unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief. He has consistently given into [sic] Putin’s demands and shown nothing but weakness.” 

This is simply an extraordinary statement for a lawmaker to issue at a time when a president is rallying the global community to stop an invasion of another democracy, but she is not alone. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called Biden weak and corrupt; Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said that former president Trump’s “unpredictability” (!) kept Putin cautious; Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) complained that the administration “project[s] weakness.” Representatives Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ); Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Ron Johnson (R-WI); and others all are working to undermine Biden in this moment of global crisis. (ALL THE SEDITION SUPPORTERS!!!!!)

  Diplomat Aaron David Miller, who spent 24 years in the State Department, had his own assessment of the president. He said: “So far, Biden has done a masterful job of leading and maintaining both E.U. and NATO unity.”

[upcycleability]

We Do NOT Have an “Overpopulation“ Issue

This is more likely than not going to lose me some subscribers, but as an environmentalist, a disabled person, and a minority, I feel I NEED to get the facts out there when it comes to climate, pollution, environmental health, and the myth of overpopulation.

The Pseudoscience of Overpopulation

Some infographics say that reducing the number of kids you have will make a marked difference on the planet. Personally speaking, I think we all should adopt more instead of having our own kids, but that far surpasses environmental reasons and gets into foster care and other issues I will not get into here.

But overpopulation is not an issue. The poorest 50% of the world, or 3,5 BILLION people, only account for 10% of CO2 emissions. The richest 10% account for half of all emissions. In fact, according to Oxfam, the richest 1% of people in the world create more CO2 emissions than the bottom 50% combined.

And it is not just greenhouse gasses, rich people are also far more likely to create more waste overall, with rich countries generating 2-5 times more trash overall than poorer continents like Africa.

And this does not take into account CAFOs, global factories, massive fisheries, overseas production, etc. Demand for cheap goods have been artificially inflated over the years, and multimillion, if not multibillion, dollar corperations are to blame, not population.

We have the money, the tech, the know how, and the power, as a people, country, etc, to eliminate plastic pollution, to drastically reduce the creation of cheap commodities, to tax carbon emissions by factories, to reign in the exporting of labor and pollution, and to work on slowing the demand for crap products. But rich corperations and lobbyists have blocked those at every turn. Suing governments over plastic bag bans due to “violations of free trade“ and using the same bullsh!t excuse to force countries like Rwanda to take our garbage secondhand clothes.

You can’t just tell consumers that it is their fault for consuming when they only reason they are consuming at all is because corperations and lobbyists have created products and advertising based around enticing human’s evolutionary desires. Junk food, for instance, was specifically tailored to appeal to our evolutionary desires for fats and salt, making it hard to resist the urge. It is far easier to go after the maker of the junk food than it is to tell every human on earth to stop eating as much of it.

The Fascism of “Population Control“

Population control as a means of curtailing environmental issues does little to actually curtail environmental issues. As I said above, the vast majority of the population of the planet create an acceptable amount of emissions, pollution, and more. The issue is with the small number of rich people who exploit natural resources for monetary gain.

But what is the issue with enacting population control? Well, first of all, by enacting how many kids one is “allowed“ to have, you are using the government as a means of oppressing women’s bodily autonomy. This also threatens women with shame, suppression, fines, or even forced vasectomies, if they dare to commit the “crime“ of having "too many” kids.

There are also historical precidents when it comes to population control that ultimately harms minorities, women, the poor, and the disabled. China’s 1 child policy plus their Patriarchal nature made it so that men were favored more than women, and female babies were left to die. Eugenics in the US also forcefully sterilized people who were seen as disabled, mentally ill, etc, and often targeted minorities and the poor.

We have gotten so far in medical science that we may be able to determine if a child might have a disability before the 13 week mark, allowing for that child to be choiced out via abortion. I have spinal issues, and deal with severe ADHD. This means that under this ideal of population control, I would be choiced out.

And this does not even take into account other methods in which people will kill their children, leave them out to die, lie about their child being “kidnapped,“ or giving them up for adoption because they don’t fit the mould of the parent.

What to do instead

Instead of spreading this myth of overpopulation, and thus blaming poor and/or non-white countries for having lots of kids, there are more important things we can do. For instance, VOTE!

Vote for people in state and local elections who will have a direct impact on your environment. Vote for people who actually care about reducing emissions and living a more eco friendly lifestyle.

Pressure companies into making changes to their pacakaging, to work on providing end-of-life alternatives for their goods, switching to nuclear or renewable energy for their grid, and more.

Living an eco friendly lifestyle ourselves is a good starting point, but the governments and corperations make the majority of the trash and environmental harm. Do not harm minorities because you have an ignorant misunderstanding of how the world works. Do your part, and force the people who are causing this problem: rich folk, corperations, and governments, to do theirs.

***

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