#january ziegler

[greyvvardenfell]

gimmie 31 for mr. weird eyes and pronouns, and instagram vampire

31. What’s your favorite part of playing your PC? 

Verian "Weird Eyes and Pronouns" Magri

Love doing his accent and playing with his fucked up view of the world that is equal parts backstory and me not knowing lore 💖 also he's a sad wet autistic transmasc arbalist bird guy so really what's not to like

January "Instagram Vampire" Ziegler

She's mean! She is mean to everyone and that's fun to do within the safe construct of a tabletop rpg!

[femalestunning]

MADDIE ZIEGLER Marie Claire Mexico | December 2023 / January 2024

[onlydylanobrien]

Dylan O'Brien, Maddie Ziegler, Normani, Jane Schoenbrun and Justice Smith at the Variety & The Golden Globe Awards Breakthrough Artists Party Presented by Adobe during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. (January 19, 2024)

[shinyillager]

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[runawaywhorses]

Maddie Ziegler – Deadline Sundance Portraits January 2024

[coochiequeens]

A TIM sexually assaulted a girl and a teacher who told a grand jury the truth about another incident of sexual assault was fired. At least someone in the school was more concerned about the truth then perverts or maintaining a woke image.

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — A jury of six women and one man on Friday found ex-Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler guilty of using his position to retaliate against a teacher for cooperating with a grand jury investigating how the district handled sexual assault.

After a four-day trial plus a day of deliberations, the jury found that Ziegler wrongfully fired a teacher who had disclosed to Virginia investigators about mishandling of sexual assault in her classroom. Ziegler was convicted of using his official position to retaliate against someone for exercising their rights, and acquitted of punishing someone for testifying to a jury, both misdemeanors.

Ziegler could face up to 12 months in jail, a $2,500 fine, or both. Sentencing in the trial will occur on January 4, 2024, Judge Douglas Fleming Jr. said. Ziegler’s victim, former special education teacher Erin Brooks, clasped her hands in front of her mouth in emotion after the verdict was read.

Prosecutors appointed by Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, said that after they began investigating the school district’s coverup of a bathroom rape, they spoke with Brooks, who disclosed an unrelated instance of mishandling of sexual assault by school administrators. Brooks was then fired by Ziegler for cooperating with the special grand jury.

Out of all of LCPS’ 15,000 teachers, Brooks was singled out for firing by Ziegler at a school board meeting in June 2022, prosecutors said. Ziegler told board members he fired Brooks for giving private information to a conservative activist, and for giving private information to the grand jury, school board member John Beatty testified.

Ziegler’s alleged claim that Brooks had given information to a conservative activist turned out to be false, and it would be illegal to punish her for telling the truth to a jury she’d been subpoenaed by, prosecutors argued.

At trial, school board member Brenda Sheridan, a Democrat who was chair during the gender-fluid rape coverup, was asked under oath about Ziegler’s closed-door statements that amounted to a confession. She did not deny Beatty’s version, but instead refused to answer, saying that because division attorney Robert Falconi was in the room during the discussion, she believed she could invoke attorney-client privilege.

Ziegler, who was wearing earrings and nail polish, did not testify at trial.

Falconi convinced the board to drop their questions about Brooks that June night by falsely saying she could simply appeal.

LCPS, often through its then-attorney Falconi, repeatedly attacked, tried to shut down, and obfuscated to the special grand jury, which Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin promised to convene following the Daily Wire’s October 2021 expose of a “genderfluid” rape coverup.

The grand jury previously said it would have indicted Falconi for witness tampering because of his central role in the rape coverup, but were hamstrung by the fact that Virginia doesn’t have a witness tampering law.

Though Ziegler’s defense attorney Erin Harrigan said in opening arguments that she would show that Ziegler fired Brooks for invading the privacy of her student assailant, she failed to produce evidence that private information was shared or that a policy was violated. None of the witnesses could point to a policy that Brooks violated.

Prosecutors laid out a devastating timeline of retaliation against Brooks, who was trying to get administrators to do something about the fact that a student with intellectual disabilities was grabbing the genitals of her and her teaching assistant Laurie Vandermeulen dozens of times a day, while making crude motions with his tongue. Administrators offered the educators a piece of cardboard called “no-no hands,” and told them to hold it in front of their groins. They also offered to buy them dog groomer aprons to wear to “slow down penetration,” they said.

At a loss for what to do, Vandermeulen asked a frequent speaker at school board meetings, Ian Prior, to read a letter to the school board expressing that there were two teachers who were being sexually assaulted in class and needed help.

Vandermeulen also sent a record of the assaults she was facing to her personal gmail after fearing a coverup was afoot, which Ziegler’s attorney initially tried to portray as “smuggling” private information, but ultimately failed to show that Vandermeulen violated any policy.

On March 22, 2022, principal Diane Mackey gave Brooks a glowing evaluation. That night, Prior made the speech, which contained no identifying information about the student, the teachers, or even the name of the school. Prior didn’t know any details about the student and Vandermeulen asked him not to use any names. He only said that teachers had filed a Title IX complaint on a certain date that he hoped the school board would look into.

Mackey saw the school board speech and the student was moved out of Brooks’ classroom the next day, but Brooks became the target of ruthless animus from school administrators.

Soon after, Brooks asked Mackey for a day off to testify to the grand jury, and Mackey demanded to see the subpoena. Ziegler asked HR whether Brooks was a probationary employee, meaning she would be easy to fire. Mackey spoke to Ziegler about Brooks, then falsely testified to the grand jury that she had not, she acknowledged this week, chalking it up to a memory error. Mackey also spoke about Brooks to Falconi, the attorney who prosecutors said was Ziegler’s “right-hand man.”

In May, Mackey wrote a negative evaluation and letter to Ziegler recommending that she be fired. Ziegler used the letter the same day to have her fired, suggesting he was waiting on it.

Prosecutors said the year-end evaluation of Brooks showed that school officials had “fabricated” the allegations retroactively to justify Ziegler’s desire to fire her, given that she had a stellar record and had been named Special Ed Teacher of the Year the prior year.

The evaluation focused squarely on the student who was the subject of the trial, saying she had failed to manage his behavior and failed to implement “plans” like the cardboard. It, and Ziegler’s attorney, suggested that Brooks had caused the student to sexually assault her by making him frustrated by refusing to give him an iPad.

The year-end evaluation posed a major timeline problem for the defense: The student never set foot in Brooks’ classroom in between her glowing March evaluation and negative May one. Yet the May one was full of allegations involving her handling of the student that were absent from, or outright contradicted by, the earlier evaluation.

“She made it up after the fact. Isn’t it brazen how she did this?” prosecutor Brandon Wrobleski asked. “‘We can’t have more sexual assaults coming out. Anyone who brings sexual assaults to public attention is gone.’ That’s what happened here,” he said. “Look a how well the Family works together when a dissident speaks out. She goes from Teacher of the Year to fired,” he said.

Ziegler’s attorney Harrigan explained the discrepancy in closing arguments by saying that in between the two evaluations, Mackey had seen that the student supposedly did not assault his new teacher, leading to a conclusion that Brooks and Vendermeulen must have been to blame for their own assaults.

Prosecutor Theo Stamos said the defense had offered no “motive” why Brooks and Vandermeulen would voluntarily cause themselves to be sexually assaulted or deprive him of an iPad communication device–Brooks was actually such a proponent of the communication aid for disabled students that she led a training on it.

The defense’s evidence that she had caused the assaults by failing to implement administrators’ “plans” or not provided him an iPad was based on fleeting observations from a handful of administrators who had stopped in Brooks’ class for a few minutes, and whose testimony at trial suggested that the defense had overstated or misrepresented their observations.

Harrigan emphasized in closing arguments that the law about an employer punishing someone for jury testimony talks about punishing them for being absent. Ziegler was found not guilty of that charge, perhaps because jurors believed he was retaliating against Brooks for what she said to the grand jury, not for taking a day off work to do it.

A month after his January 4 sentencing, Ziegler will face a separate trial on a final misdemeanor charge that was at the core of The Daily Wire’s 2021 story: His false statement at a school board meeting that there had been no sexual assaults in LCPS restrooms–part of a screed denigrating parents who were concerned about a transgender policy being discussed–when in fact he knew that a skirt-wearing boy had anally raped a ninth grader in the girls bathroom just weeks prior.

Harrigan said she plans to file a “somewhat legally complex” “motion to set aside the jury’s verdict.”

[crascet]

Recent Comics I've Read Pt. 1 (Marvel-616)

Alright, now that movies and art are out of the way, I can now go into comics. As someone that wants to be a comic writer and artist, I first started getting really into them back in January as a way to study how those writers and artists do them. I technically started reading comics way before as well as having some information on certain story events thanks to Comicstorian (RIP Benny), but now I'm starting to collect them.

Because there are a lot of them, I will just divide the books I've read in parts by company and in alphabetical order.

Starting with main universe Marvel:

Deadpool #1-5 (Ziegler/António): A pretty good series that covers Wade starting his own merc business with Taskmaster and his blood symbiote dog daughter named Princess and trying to be a father to Ellie. Good moments of Wade being a dad to Ellie and Princess, and I really like the coworker relationship between Wade and Tasky. Death Grip is pretty much a death cult leader cliche with an obsession over Wade's healing factor and this isn't the first time Wade had his healing taken from him. I also tried Ziegler's Miles run with #20, but I didn't get into it as much as these DP issues.

Fantastic Four #10, 14-17, 19-20 (North/Fiorelli/Mortarino/Gómez): A nice collection of sci-fi stories featuring the four in some way. Highlights goes to the two-parter with Metamind's creation, sentience, and slow cruel death in 14 and 15, the noir-style story in 19 which I enjoy as a massive noir fan, and 20 being my favorite in showing the relationship between Johnny and Ben as well as having my favorite cover by Alex Ross. I have #23 now since I skipped 21 and 22 since they're tie-ins to Blood Hunt, which is the recent Marvel comic event at the time I'm writing this, and I don't have an interest in it. I am, however, missed a storyline that involve the 4 going into a superhero-dinosaur dimension against Doctor Doom and his variant which is a freaking T. Rex, so I am very disappointed that I didn't get those issues. Maybe when the trades get released, I can get those. If anyone know those issue numbers, I highly appreciate it!

The Spectacular Spider-Men #1-6 (Weisman/Ramos): I am a huge Spider-Man fan since I've seen the first two Raimi films when I was 5 and I have loved him for all I can remember. So, you can imagine the absolute anguish I felt when I heard about his current run by Wells and how horrible the entire run is. However, when I heard that Weisman, who previously made Spectacular Spider-Man, which is an animated Spider-Man series that I highly recommend, I was cautiously optimistic about the whole thing until I got it, and it was great! Definitely felt like a sorta continuation of the series, now with Miles there. I heard there was some problems with pacing mostly with the first issue, but the second issue actually imples about it. I do like how the first arc uses transitionals with Meanwhile... and Now... and how it goes into the plot. I also really liked the villains being some that aren't used as much.

X-Men: From The Ashes #1 (MacKay/ Stegman): I only have the first two volumes of X-Men during the Krakoan era done by Hickman since the only reason I had interest was because of him. However, I'm not sure if I would like the second half since Hickman left X-Men after Inferno, so I missed out on the whole thing, with the only information I got was "Mutant kind had an island nation... and then lost it due to humans (Orchis) and themselves." I'm not sure if that's all of it, but that is what I thought. So, for this post-Krakoa era of X-Men, I enter it with well... X-Men and I've really enjoyed it! The team layout is nice with a combination newer and older mutants and as well as fan favorites. Scott leads as usual, love him. Psylocke and Magik are here and they're pretty cool here. Temper is new to me, but I like her ability to use both fire and ice. Surprisingly, Juggernaut is a member which is strange since to my knowledge, he was never a mutant in the first place, only getting the powers due to the Stone of Ciamarrat, unless they retconned him into being a mutant and that flew out of my radar. Like the friendship between him and Magik. And then there's Quentin Quire aka Kid Omega, he is a shithead... and I love him. I also like the callbacks to the Morrison era, which is nice I'm also reading that in my library. I have #2 now and I hope it'll still be great (especially with Quentin).

Uncanny X-Men: From The Ashes #1 (Simone/Marquez): Also released during the post-Krakoa era, UXM got my attention with Simone writing. I never read anything from her before, with only hearing that DC's Secret Six being one her best works and she did a great job here. At first, the issue gives a fantastical feel that would come from the titles previous years during the Claremont era, until it hits you with an emotional gut punch during the second half (iykyk). The prologue gives a very worrying and haunting feel with Warden Ellis making a mutant prison from the remains of the X Mansion, and with the forced help of a certain psychic mutant, which is even more messed up. I like this more than XM and I can't wait for issue 2.

As for other X titles, Exceptional may have some interest from me, but I never read anything from Eve L. Ewing, although I think they're related to Al Ewing who I know did Immortal Hulk and currently doing Immortal Thor. X-Factor is a mild interest for me since it has Angel, Havok, and Pyro, but I ended up not getting it this week.

[alternateworldcomics]

A daily newspaper comic strip version of Dragnet distributed by the Los Angeles Mirror Syndicate ran in newspapers from June 23, 1952, to May 21, 1955

Written by Dragnet scripter Jack Robinson (uncredited) with art by Joe Sheiber (June 23, 1952-Sept. 20, 1952), Bill Ziegler (Sept. 22, 1952-January 9, 1954) and Mel Keefer (Jan. 11, 1954-May 21, 1955). Comics historian Ron Goulart, in his book 'The Funnies' states the frequent turnover of artists on the strip was due to Webb's desire to find someone 'who could draw him as good looking as he thought he ought to be.'

While "Dragnet" never made it into comic book form in America (seems like a natural for Dell's Four-Color Comics) there was a five issue comic book published in Australia made up of the newspaper strip in 1954.

[tveitertotwrites]

Intros to some other MC's

Hey everyone. This is a post for MC's that I won't write for, but I will answer questions for/use for book clubs (if I decide to do them).

High School Story: Lillia Thompson

Name: Lillia Jade Thompson

Birthday: April 26, 2002

LI: Michael Harrison

FC: Jules Leblanc

High School Story: Class Act: Olive Karagach

Name: Olive Amelia Karagach

Birthday: January 12, 2005

LI: Rory Silva

FC: Raegan Revord

Open Heart: Emilia Anderson

Name: Emilia Noelle Anderson (Some of you who have been following me from the beginning might remember her)

Birthday: October 14th, 1993

LI: Bryce Lahela

FC: Florence Pugh

Platinum: Daniella Warren

Name: Daniella Isabella Warren

Birthday: April 16, 1997

LI: Avery Wilshire (Female)

FC: Harriet Caplan Dean

Queen B: Lauren Caldwell

Name: Lauren Elizabeth Caldwell

Birthday: May 28, 1999

LI: TBD

FC: Meg Dixon Brasil

Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance: Izi Arnold-Wilson

Name: Izi Marie Arnold-Wilson

Birthday: February 29, 2000

LI: Colt Kaneko

FC: Mackenzie Ziegler

Rules of Engagement: Aspyn Brooks

Name: Aspyn Elisabeth Brooks

Birthday: February 12, 1984

LI: James/Bartender (Default name is Dean)

FC: Sutton Foster

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: Briar Boleyn

Name: Briar Faith Boleyn

Birthday: November 2, 1985

LI: Drake Walker

FC: Emily Blunt

Again, I will most likely not write for these books but you can ask questions for these MC's as you may see the if I decide to join one of the book clubs. If there are other books I decide to create MC's for, they will be placed here.

[noseysilverfox]

January 2021

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Capitalism: trickling down bootstraps since the Industrial Revolution.

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 6, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

DEC 7, 2023

In the Washington Post today, Marianne LeVine, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Josh Dawsey reported that the Trump camp is eager to get people to stop focusing on Trump’s authoritarian talk, noting that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says the presidential candidate was just joking when he said he would be a dictator on the first day of a return to the White House. While the Republican base appears to like Trump’s threats against the people they have come to hate, two Trump advisers told the reporters that “recent stories about his plans for a second term are not viewed as helpful for the general election.”

Republicans have also moved quickly to cut ties with Florida Republican Party chair Christian Ziegler, who is under police investigation for rape. Ziegler’s wife, Bridget Ziegler, co-founded Moms for Liberty, an organization that has focused on removing from schools books that they find objectionable, generally books by or about racial or ethnic minorities or LGBTQ+ people. Often Moms for Liberty members have implied, or even claimed, that those trying to protect school libraries are sexual predators or “groomers.” Ziegler herself has been active in shaping anti-LGBTQ+ policies in the state.

But the police and court documents about the case revealed that the Zieglers and the woman Ziegler allegedly raped had participated in a three-way sexual relationship in the past. The rape allegedly occurred after they had set up another encounter that Bridget could not make. The woman then canceled, telling Ziegler “I was mainly in it for her.” He went to her home anyway.

The story of a key anti-LGBTQ+ activist engaging in same-sex activity as part of a threesome sent Moms for Liberty hurrying to say that Bridget Ziegler was no longer on their board (although both Zieglers were still on their advisory board) and purge her name from their website. And though no charges have yet been filed, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has called on Christian Ziegler to resign from his position at the head of the state Republican Party. 

The Zieglers helped to tie the Republican Party to Moms for Liberty shortly after the organization formed in January 2021, and DeSantis was very much on board, apparently seeing their message of taking the war against “woke” to the schools as a political winner. But, as Amanda Marcotte pointed out in Salon, the 2022 midterms revealed that most voters did not like the extremism of that group and that it was a political liability. 

The fact that DeSantis is dropping his former ally Ziegler so fast suggests that DeSantis is eager to divorce himself from both the story and from the extremism of Moms for Liberty. 

The Trump Republicans took another hit today as well, when a grand jury in the state of Nevada charged six people who falsely posed as electors in 2020 in order to file fake electoral votes for Trump to replace the state’s real votes for now-President Joe Biden. The six Republicans charged with filing false documents include the chair and the vice chair of the Nevada Republican Party. If convicted, they face up to nine years in prison and $15,000 in fines. 

Nevada is the third state to charge the fake electors with crimes. Georgia and Michigan have also done so. 

Ten fake electors in Wisconsin today settled a civil lawsuit over their own participation in Trump’s false-elector scheme. The settlement involved correcting the historical record. The ten agreed to withdraw their paperwork with the false information, explain in writing to the federal offices that the filings had been “part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results,” and acknowledge that Biden won the 2020 election. Going forward, they agreed never again to serve as presidential electors in an election in which Trump is running. 

But while there are signs that even leading Republicans recognize that the extremism of the Trump Republicans is unpopular in the country, Trump Republicans are tightening their hold on Congress. Today former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that he will resign from Congress at the end of this month. Far-right MAGA Republicans ousted McCarthy from the speaker’s chair in October.

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC), a McCarthy ally who took over as acting House speaker after McCarthy’s removal, announced yesterday that he had changed his plans from earlier this year and will not run for reelection.    

While hardly moderates—both refused to work with Democrats either to pass legislation or to elect a speaker—they appear to be ceding ground to the MAGA Republicans. 

Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone reported today that one of those MAGA Republicans, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), spoke freely Tuesday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., at a celebration for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. Although the address was being livestreamed, Johnson apparently believed he was speaking privately. He told the audience that the Lord called him to be “a new Moses.”

Johnson, an evangelical Christian, told the audience that the U.S. is “engaged in a battle between worldviews” and “a great struggle for the future of the Republic.” He said he believed far-right Christians would prevail. 

The influence of Trump is also evident in the Senate, where there is broad, bipartisan support for supplemental funding for Ukraine, but where Republicans are refusing to pass such a measure without attaching to it an immigration package that overrides current law, replacing it with Trump’s immigration plans. Such plans could not pass on their own, as Democrats would stop them in the Senate. But by attaching them to a bill that is imperative for national security, Republicans hope to force Biden into it.

Democrats have repeatedly called for new immigration legislation, but their refusal to remake immigration policy as the hard-right wants has made Republicans balk. Now Democrats are still offering to negotiate a reasonable package, but as Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said earlier this week: “I think there’s a misunderstanding on the part of Senator Schumer and some of our Democratic friends…. This is not a traditional negotiation, where we expect to come up with a bipartisan compromise on the border. This is a price that has to be paid in order to get the supplemental.”

In a speech this afternoon—just a day after Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) finally permitted the Senate to fill 425 senior positions in the U.S. military and while he is still preventing 11 top-level positions from being filled—President Biden called it “stunning that we’ve gotten to this point…. Republicans in Congress…are willing to give [Russian president Vladimir] Putin the greatest gift he could hope for and abandon our global leadership not just to Ukraine, but beyond that.” 

“If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there,” Biden warned. “It’s important to see the long run here. He’s going to keep going. He’s made that pretty clear. If Putin attacks a NATO Ally—if he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO Ally—well, we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory. Then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops—American troops fighting Russian troops if he moves into other parts of NATO. 

“Make no mistake: Today’s vote is going to be long remembered. And history is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause.”

“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies,” he said. 

Biden reiterated that he and the Democrats are eager to pass new immigration legislation, but “Republicans think they can get everything they want without any bipartisan compromise.  That’s not the answer.... And now they’re willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process.” He begged Republicans to get past partisan divisions and step up to “our responsibilities as a leading nation in the world.” 

Hours later, Senate Republicans voted against the supplemental aid package.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[greyvvardenfell]

👗 from the Moodboard Meme, for an OC of your choice (or multiple, if that calls to you)

👗 for a moodboard about my muse’s fashion style

ough ok several of my OCs have very strong sartorial sensibilities so one from each(ish) fandom gets to share:

astrid hawke (dragon age)

ven norden (when the night comes)

sterling everstone (the arcana)

january ziegler (TTRPGs, specifically Monsterhearts)

resdayna indarys (elder scrolls)

dimi ankov (twin coves)

[coulsonlives]

If you didn't already know: calling certain kinds of art 'degenerate', 'gross', and/or 'sick' is a nazi/fascist dogwhistle, and it's related to their pro-eugenics narrative.

Here's the deets:

From wikipedia:

The Degenerate Art exhibition (German: Die Ausstellung "Entartete Kunst") was an art exhibition organized by Adolf Ziegler and the Nazi Party in Munich from 19 July to 30 November 1937. The exhibition presented 650 works of art, confiscated from German museums, and was staged in counterpoint to the concurrent Great German Art Exhibition.[1] The day before the exhibition started, Hitler delivered a speech declaring "merciless war" on cultural disintegration, attacking "chatterboxes, dilettantes and art swindlers".[1]Degenerate art was defined as works that "insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill".[1]

Hitler's rise to power on 30 January 1933 was quickly followed by actions intended to cleanse the culture of so-called degeneracy: book burnings were organized, artists and musicians were dismissed from teaching positions, and museum curators were replaced by Party members.[2]

From the holocaust encyclopedia:

When the Nazi Party assumed control in 1933, its leaders began a campaign to align German politics, society, and culture with Nazi goals. This process of Nazification was widespread. The effort became known as Gleichschaltung, the German word for “coordination” or “synchronization.”

The Nazi regime disbanded organizations of every kind. It replaced these groups with state-sponsored, Nazi professional associations, student leagues, and sports and music clubs. To qualify for membership, a person had to be a politically reliable citizen and able to prove “Aryan” ancestry. All others were excluded from these groups and increasingly from the rest of German society.

In September 1933, the Nazis created the Reich Chamber of Culture. The Chamber oversaw the production of art, music, film, theater, radio, and writing in Germany. The Nazis sought to shape and control every aspect of German society. They believed that art played a critical role in defining a society’s values. In addition, the Nazis believed art could influence a nation’s development. Several top leaders became involved in official efforts on art. They sought to identify and attack “dangerous” artworks as they struggled to define what “truly German” art looked like.

The Nazis also claimed that the ambiguity of modern art contained Jewish and Communist influences that could “endanger public security and order.” They claimed that modern art conspired to weaken German society with “cultural Bolshevism.” According to Nazi ideology, only criminal minds could be capable of creating such so-called harmful art. The Nazis called this art "degenerate." They used the term to suggest that the artists' mental, physical, and moral capacities must be in decay. At the time, "degenerate" was widely used to describe criminality, immorality, and physical and mental disabilities.

The campaign to define and control art was shaped by disagreements among leaders. Officials competed for influence within the party and government. In this case, chief Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg clashed with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels led the Reich Chamber of Culture. As a young man, he had admired prominent avant-garde German artists. He even hoped that a form of “Nordic Expressionism” could become an official Nazi style of art. Rosenberg led a more conservative faction called the Combat League for German Culture. This effort was more aligned with Adolf Hitler’s tastes. Hitler prefered more realistic and classical styles of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Goebbels won this clash with Rosenberg by conforming to Hitler's tastes.

The regime attempted to clarify what “truly German art” looked like in summer 1937. The first annual Great German Art Exhibition opened in Munich at that time. Hitler reviewed selected artworks the month before it opened. He furiously ordered the removal of many examples of German avant-garde art. Goebbels witnessed this outburst and began making hasty plans for a separate exhibition. He intended to define and mock the types of art that the regime considered "degenerate." Hitler approved of the plan. The Nazis began confiscating thousands of artworks from German museums.

Roughly one third of the most valuable confiscated artworks were ultimately sold to enrich the Nazi regime. Another third of the artworks disappeared. Some have reemerged over the years. With few exceptions, none of the works were returned to the museums from which they were taken. German museums have not received financial restitution. In rare cases, some art from private collections was returned to its rightful owners. Several European and American museums still possess artworks taken by the Nazis.

Edit: To the pro-censorship antis who are reblogging this, congrats on missing the point COMPLETELY.

[onlydylanobrien]

Dylan O'Brien, Maddie Ziegler, Normani, Jane Schoenbrun and Justice Smith at the Variety & The Golden Globe Awards Breakthrough Artists Party Presented by Adobe during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. (January 19, 2024)

📷©: variety Instagram Story

[twwpress]

Weekly Press Briefing #84: January 28th - February 3rd

Welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from January 28 – February 3. Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing! 

Challenges/Prompts:

Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote or know of one we’re missing? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

@thefinestmuffin and @JessBakesCakes are hosting the 3rd Annual Josh/Donna Rom-Com Fest. Anyone can prompt or claim, and the fest reveals on February 14. Details here. 

This Week in Canon:

Welcome back to This Week in Canon, where we revisit moments in The West Wing that occurred on these dates during the show’s run.

Season 3, Episode 12: The Two Bartlets aired on January 30, 2002.

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from January 28 - February 3:

Allison Janney posted a photo of herself with some of her Palm Royale castmates, including Laura Dern, Jayme Lemons, and Leslie Bibb. 

Amy Landecker posted a photo of herself with Brad and Randy Rainbow. 

Josh Malina posted a video compilation of himself as David Rosen in Scandal.  

Marlee Matlin posted a reel of herself advocating for open captions at all times at movie theatres. 

Melissa Fitzgerald posted a photo of author Laura Dave and herself with Melissa and Mary McCormack’s upcoming West Wing book. Melissa Fitzgerald posted a photo of herself with Elmo in honor of his birthday (Elmo is 3 and a half). 

Rob Lowe posted a video of himself on the Howard Stern show talking about casting for The Outsiders. 

Rob Lowe posted a photo of himself and his son Johnny from the set of their show Unstable. 

Donna Moss Daily: January 28 | January 29 | January 30 | January 31 | February 1 | February 2 | February 3

Daily Josh Lyman: January 28 | January 29 | January 30 | January 31 | February 1 | February 2 | February 3

No Context BWhit: January 28 | January 29 | February 1 | February 2 | February 3

@twwarchive: January 28 | January 29 | January 30 | January 31 | February 1 | February 2 | February 3

@twwgifs: February 3

Editors’ Choice: 

This week in 2002, The Two Bartlets aired for the first time. We're recommending fics set during or after that episode!

the defect at the heart of every promise by joshatella (shuuuliet) | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | Donna catches Josh brooding about his canceled trip to Tahiti with Amy. Also, no one in the West Wing is entirely sure what the word "brooding" actually means. Missing scene to 3x12: "The Two Bartlets". Big Pajamas by TheBreakfastGenie | Not Rated | Amy Gardner/Josh Lyman | Complete | "Should I change?" "Into what?" "I remember a pair of big pajamas." Josh tries to explain why he has pajamas that are too big for him, which means explaining some other things, too. Post-The Two Bartlets. Just Like June by Kansas J. Miller [archived by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist] | Rated T | C. J. Cregg/Sam Seaborn | Complete | CJ and Sam take some time for themselves. S3 E12 The Two Bartlets by JDPostEpisodeChallenge | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | Written by SeaDog11 Red Shoes, The by Marguerite | Rated T | No Pairings Listed [Ed. note: this is a C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler fic where the pairing was not tagged] | Complete | "Why do we do it? Because we can't stop."

Fics:

Presenting your weekly roundup of fics posted in the tag for The West Wing on Archive of Our Own. 

Josh/Donna

Locus Amoenus by spooky_spacegirl | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | In Progress

Come Back, Be Here by MatthewsMary | Rated E | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete [Editor’s Note: While this fic is listed on AO3 as complete, it has continued to update and appears to be a WIP]

Those Small Moments by wootcanal | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete

Other Pairings/Gen Fic

it started off with a kiss... now it ended up like this by imawkwardlysoc | Rated G | Sam Seaborn/Original Female Character | In Progress

why they lost their minds and fought the wars by JediAnnieScrambler | Rated E | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | In Progress

it is very cold… in space by themysterybox | Rated G | C.J. Cregg/Donna Moss | Complete

Checking In, Checking Out by LittleBlackaPony (crossover with Forever Knight) | Rated G | Dolores Landingham, Don Schanke, Nicholas Knight (Forever Knight), Natalie Lambert (No Pairings Listed) | Complete

Requited, Actually. by OhhMyy | Rated E | Toby Ziegler/Original Female Character | Complete

End Racism in the OTW – Tommy Boy by DestielIsDestiny | Rated G | Jed Bartlet & Sam Seaborn (No Pairings Listed) | In Progress

This Season of Peace and Joy by thedaisyfairy | Rated G | Josh Lyman & Toby Ziegler (No Pairings Listed) | Complete

Unwriting the pages by AlasPoorCesario | Rated G | Jed Bartlet (No Pairings Listed) | Complete

Multiple Pairings

What Sons Do by kcat1971 | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss, Helen Santos/Matt Santos, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Ainsley Hayes/Sam Seaborn, Zoey Bartlet/Charlie Young | In Progress

THE WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING TEAM CAN BE REACHED VIA THE FOLLOWING METHODS:

Twitter: @TWWPress

Email: weeklypressbriefing@gmail.com

Feel free to let us know if we missed something, if you have an event you’d like us to promote, or if you have an item that you’d like included in the next briefing!

xx, What’s next?

[scotianostra]

Peter May the multi award-winning author and screenwriter was born on December 20th 1951 in Glasgow.

From an early age he was intent on becoming a novelist, but took up a career as a journalist as a way to start earning a living by writing. He made his first serious attempt at writing a novel at the age of 19, which he sent to Collins where it was read by Philip Ziegler, who wrote him a very encouraging rejection letter. He went on to work with The Scotsman and the Glasgow Evening Times.

At 26 he published his first novel, The Reporter, which he was asked to adapt for TV, it became a 13 part series, The Standard, dealing with an ailing Scottish newspaper in 1978.

After The Standard he penned another series called Squadron about an RAF Rapid Deployment Squadron.

May worked on STV’s flagship soap (Take the) High Road, personally writing 200+ episodes and was story & script editor for over 12 years. He continued working for STV on Machair a Scottish Gaelic television soap opera which ran for over 6 years.

It’s astonishing to think that  ‘The Lewis Trilogy’ was turned down by all the major British publishers, The Blackhouse, the first book in , was published first in May’s adopted home of France in French translation at the end of 2009. It was immediately nominated for several literary awards in France.  The Lewis Trilogy has sold more than a million copies in the UK alone.

May’s books have sold more than two million copies in the UK and several million internationally.

April 2020 saw May publish  Lockdown, although it was written 15 years earlier. The story takes place in the city of London during a lockdown resulting from a global pandemic. May stated that the book was not published at the time because British editors thought the idea of London under siege from a virus “was unrealistic and could never happen”.

I’ve read five or six of May’s books now, and just about to start another, Runaway, which is set in Glasgow and London over a 50 year period. While I enjoy his books I really think he overuses long obscure words. Now I like to think of myself as quite learned, but for example words like  lugubrious have me scrambling to google to find out what it means, it’s looking or sounding sad and dismal, who knew, aye probably some of you, but me thinks he is just showing off.

Anyway he has been in the news a couple of times in the past month or so,  in November he said he was   left “horrified” by proposals to cut library services in East Renfrewshire. The council warned that funding could be withdrawn from school libraries, with public libraries also under threat. 

“Libraries – particularly school libraries – are the foundation of learning,” said the former Eastwood High pupil. “If you take away the school library, then the chances are children will not get into books.“Unless they are exposed to the joys of reading at school, it is a failure of the education system.” he also fears a lack of access to libraries would lead to a dumbing down of educational standards.

On a brighter note Stornoway’s new  Gaelic community centre  An Taigh Cèilidh opened it’s doors on Saturday, May donated £5,000 towards the project. The centre will have a book and gift shop, and it will serve refreshments. Most items will be sourced from Lewis and Harris, including a selection of local books not available elsewhere. The centre will also offer incentives to use Gaelic, such as 10% off your drinks if you order in Gaelic. So if you are ever on the Outer Hebrides and drop in just say “Cupan cofaidh mas e do thoil e” andd you’ll get your discount! 

As I said I do enjoy the books, if you fancy reading them keep an eye out on Amazon as they sometimes go down to as little as 99p. His latest novel,  A Winter Grave, set around  Kinlochleven is due out on January 19th.