#just like a lot of Russian people don’t support what their government is doing

[aperfectphantom]

I know this is just Eurovision but I guess it’s important to mention it’s not really a shock how much europe sucks up to israel. Like it was surprising to me in the moment (I felt that their song was average) but when you think about it… Europe did everything for israel. Like it wasn’t israel on their own taking palestine and fucking up those existing communities and stealing their land. And it’s still not just israel committing horrible crimes against Palestinians now. Europe has always had involvement in the Middle East and especially palestine. Israel would not be a thing without them. And they continue to give israel support so they can continue all this violence against Palestinians. Europe does not see palestine like they see Ukraine. They are so far removed from the horrors that Middle Eastern people experience. They speak about peace and then fund and supply israel with anything they need. Not to mention a lot of Israelis are originally European. And this doesn’t just apply to Eurovision, but also any competition or event israel is invited to. Everyone was so quick to boycott Russia from everything… surely israel should get the same treatment.

[faetthorn]

Probably my only contribution to the Pathologic fandom

Some important words below, if you're a patho fan take the time to read them

TW: pedophilia, SA, grooming, racism, colonialism

So I got into pathologic in july and almost instantly got hit with a post about the allegations from back in 2021 against Nikolay Dybowski, game creator and founder of Ice Pick Lodge. He’s groomed several girls ages 15-18 and inclusively has used his position as a member of HSE University in Moscow to do so. 3 years on and people have all forgotten this and are happily cheering for the bachelor route like nothing ever happened 

Yes I know you all wanna forget abt the uncomfortable situations, after all "what can we do" right? I wish I could just pull a switch in my brain and forget too, but I'm a victim of SA and child grooming, and I can't play this game without remembering what its creator did. The worst part is that the characters mean a lot to me. I got into pathologic while suffering from ptsd related nightmares and Daniil, Artemy and Clara brought me a lot of joy and comfort. Even now they and some elements of patho’s story mean the world to me. It hurts to be constantly reminded that everyone is against you, no matter how much you appreciate their work, no matter how much time and money you put into doing it.

I'd properly join the fandom and start calling for a boycott and for these allegations to be discussed and reminded of again but I just know it'll never happen. I'd be ignored or get a thousand replies "oh but the employees, they have nothing to do with it!!" "it's just a game!" "it'll get you nowhere!" “age of consent is x y or z in this country!” "stop being a vindictive little bitch!" "*insert rape threat here*" I expect to receive 0 support on this post and I'll block anyone I need to. Just wanted to let this out of my chest even if nothing will change: Petitions don't work, they never did and they never will. Passivity and politeness never got ME shit, at least.

DOXA, the rus student newspaper investigating these allegations was raided by police (1, 2) and recently considered an undesirable organization by the government. The courts and police would never do anything about this and they’re clearly more invested in persecuting student groups that have even the most basic feminist goals. A victim of Dybowski's has allegedly tried to denounce him to HSE University and the charges were dropped so as far as we know Dybowski wasn’t even fired. Not only is he the creator and chief writer of the games but he's also the head of the studio. Spreading awareness and boycotting is the only way justice can be made (at least in a way non-russians can participate). If you’re considering playing pathologic i cannot recommend it and i don’t want to be the reason someone gives more money to Dybowski. You don’t need more harmful shit when you have 2 games, a dlc and wonderful fandom content the game would never make canon. Hell, PIRATE all the games if you really need to. When the bachelor route comes out the IPL employees will have already been paid for it. Also, let’s not forget that WE DON’T KNOW where the profits we give will go. They might go to CP.  

I wonder why it's so easy for you all to rightfully call to boycott anything related to zionism without making excuses but then when it's a pedophile with countless cases of grooming and very probably rape you all stay quiet and do nothing just because it's your precious little interests. It's almost like it's all performative

In the same vein, there needs to be a discussion about how violently racist this game is because this art came from anger and sadness. I’m not indigenous but i’ve followed native activism for years and i wouldn’t have the beliefs i have today without the opinions of indigenous people. I know feeling betrayed by the art you use to cope with how horrible reality is is tough. Not only does this game have extremely racist stereotypes and portrays natives as a monolith, but it’s also unsurprisingly misogynistic in an extremely colonial way (need i remind you of Willow, the entire concept of the herb brides and the way they are dressed or the fixation with portraying steppe people as woman-sacrificing brutes). Not to mention the extreme cruelty of patho 2’s endings. Which is way more insulting when it’s directly tied via the in-game use of Buryat language and inspirations to the native peoples of Siberia who Russia colonized and whose culture is still actively repressed, at a time when the weight of colonization (environmental catastrophe, poverty, sexual violence and more) makes indigenous people commit suicide at a way higher rate than any other ethnicity in many countries, and this includes the native people of Siberia who this game “pays homage” to (1). This fandom in general needs to start being way more critical and checking their own racism too. And to any native patho fans i’m obviously not here to tell you how to feel abt patho’s racism

Well, there it is. I have no hope left to ask anyone to boycott the bachelor route or the other projects Dybowski's created but if this makes you think about the things you throw money at it’ll be something

Edit: I apparently need to clarify something since certain people have been pestering me about it. I'll keep standing behind the part where I say the profits (not the money used to pay the employees, the PROFITS) might go to CP. We're talking about a guy who has been sexually abusing underage girls since allegedly at least 2012 with full impunity. And let me repeat once again: we are not responsible for the IPL employees' well-being and payment. Dybowski is.

[mariacallous]

An air raid alert has just started when Victoria Itskovych joins a Zoom call from Kyiv. “It’s, like, a usual situation,” she says. “But really, it’s not usual.” February 24 will mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For nearly two years now, Kyiv has been under bombardment. Some weeks, people have to trudge to their shelters night after night, checking text alerts and Telegram channels to figure out where the missiles are falling and when it’s safe to come out—although, it’s never really safe.

That relentless stress, and the trauma of losing family, friends, and colleagues on the front, has taken its toll. A poll by the city government last year found that 80 percent of residents reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has exposed the whole of Ukrainian society to battle shock. “We’ve all suffered from this,” says Itskovych, who is director of the Kyiv City Council’s IT department. “Almost every person has somebody who was injured or died during the war, or lost their home or lost their health.”

In the face of such widespread injury, the Kyiv government has turned to Ukraine’s now-famous civic tech infrastructure for help. As the war enters its third year, the municipal government is starting to build a citywide system for providing mental health support to citizens. It’s a vast challenge, but also a unique opportunity—the first time that such a mass-trauma event has happened to a society that has already built the tools of digital government. Dealing with the mental health impacts of the invasion will be absolutely vital to keep society resilient, functioning, and committed enough to repel the invaders. It’s also the key to Ukraine’s postwar recovery, laying the groundwork now for a society that can rebuild itself physically and psychologically from the horrors of war. “This is the future of our society,” Itskovych says. “We are building the basis for the resilience of the community itself.”

At the heart of the plan is the Kyiv government’s digital platform, Kyiv Digital, which it launched in 2017. Before the invasion, it was largely used to manage parking and public transport, and to notify residents of disruptions to services such as road closures or power outages. When the war began, those notifications became more urgent: incoming attacks, the locations of bomb shelters, and the safest routes to reach them. Like other parts of Ukraine’s civilian technology, the city pivoted its tools to keep people safe and support the war effort, bootstrapping and rewiring the systems at pace.

“The first changes to the notifications we did in hours,” says Oleg Polovynko, adviser on digitalization to Kyiv’s mayor. Since then, the digital teams have been engaged in a constant cycle of innovation, trying to figure out what services they can bring online. The war has pushed them to act more quickly, to adapt tools they have and invent things that don’t exist.

They’ve expanded tools for civic participation, letting citizens vote on petitions, send feedback to the city government, and ask for help, such as financial support to repair bomb-damaged homes. And they’ve collected a lot of data, which is how the Kyiv government has been able to measure the scale of the city’s distress—and people’s reluctance to seek help. Of the 80 percent of residents who show signs of trauma, “40 to 45 percent are afraid to have contact with doctors who can help,” Polovynko says.

But this is only half of the problem that needs solving. For those who do want to seek treatment, there simply aren’t enough resources to help them. Clinical psychologists are supposed to limit the number of patient consultations they do in a day, so they don’t burn out. Before the full-scale invasion, Inna Davydenko saw a maximum of four patients daily. Today, Davydenko, a mental health specialist at the City Center of Neurorehabilitation in Kyiv, sees twice that number. When we speak, she’s just finished a video call with a soldier stationed near the front, whom she’s helping cope with stress and anxiety.

Even before the war massively increased the number of people dealing with trauma, depression, and anxiety, Ukraine’s medical system suffered from an underinvestment in mental health provision. “In most hospitals, you have maybe one psychologist. In good hospitals, it’s maybe two,” Davydenko says. “A lot of people need psychological help, but we can’t cover everything.” There is simply no way that the current system can grow to match the enormous jump in demand. But, Davydenko says, “almost every Ukrainian person has a smartphone.”

This is exactly what Polovynko and Itskovych want to exploit, using Kyiv Digital’s platforms and data to digitize mental health support for the city, and so close the gap between need and resources. Their project will focus first on those they’ve identified as being most vulnerable—war veterans and children—and those most able to help others: teachers and parents. The next six months of the project will be a “discovery stage,” Polovynko says. “We need to understand the real life of our veterans now, of the children, of the parents, what’s their context, how they survive, what services they use.”

The project will track people through the process of recovering from trauma, monitoring the treatments they ask for and the ones they receive, their concerns as they move through the mental health system, and their outcomes. Once the team has a detailed map of services and bottlenecks, and data on what’s working and what’s not, they can match individual needs with treatments. A full roll-out is scheduled for early 2025.

“It doesn't mean that the whole chain of the service will be absolutely digital,” Itskovych says. Some patients may be directed to group therapy or one-on-one meetings with psychologists, others will be given access to online tools. The aim, she says, is to create efficiency, to close the service gap, but also to provide comfort, meeting people where they are. “For a big part of our clients, there is more comfort with getting the service online, in different ways. Some people are not comfortable meeting a specialist one-on-one; they prefer a digital way to get the service.”

The project is being supported financially and operationally by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a charitable organization created by former New York mayor and Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg. James Anderson, head of government innovation at the organization, says that the project comes at a critical time for Kyiv, where people continue to suffer even though global attention has shifted away to other crises.

“There's always a tremendous amount of attention when the immediate crisis hits,” Anderson says. “But mayors continue to have to deal with the human costs of crises, long after the newspapers have turned to new subjects. That’s certainly what we sense and see in Kyiv.”

The size of the challenge in Kyiv is clearly daunting. But, Anderson says, there are reasons for optimism. Cities have got better over the past two decades at responding to common crises, such as Covid-19, which also required rapid, mass digitization of services. “Every crisis is distinct and different, and awful, in its own way,” Anderson says, “but there are lessons learned.” The Kyiv government, and Ukrainian society more widely, have demonstrated a capacity for rapid innovation to meet urgent needs, and Anderson hopes that success in this project could see it replicated internationally. “This is not the last war. This is not the last crisis,” he says. “I think Kyiv has lessons that they can share with cities around the globe.”

For Kyiv, and Ukraine, the crisis won’t end when the war does. “Psychological health is the number one problem for Ukraine,” Davydenko says, before correcting herself. “Number one is Russia, number two is our psychological health,” she says. “PTSD is our future.”

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Sky Full of Stars - Chapter Twenty Four.

Apologies for missing last week's update, guys! Thanks as ever for your continued support. You are all beautiful people :)

Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty One Twenty Two Twenty Three

Tag list - In the comments

Words - 3,595

Warnings - 18+ content throughout. Minors DNI!

Monsters of Rock, Moscow, 1991. It had been one of the largest ever live music festivals to date, with a staggering estimated 1.6 million rock fans descending on the Tushino airfield in Moscow. The year two thousand and sixteen heralded its return, but with a slightly smaller audience.  

This time around, the organisers were arranging a push of eight hundred thousand tickets, all of which had virtually sold out by April, the performance due to take place on July seventeenth. Bands such as Motionless in White, Queens of the Stone Age, Lamb of God, Machine Head, Slipknot, Korn, Sepultura and Marilyn Manson had been signed on to perform on the day. 

The headliners? Seventh Gate. 

For one Sunni Balakrishnan, this meant stress. A lot of it.  

“Right, before we start filling our faces, let’s get down to the details, ladies,” their powerhouse tour manager spoke, sitting with the five in a restaurant in the SoHo area of Manhattan. “Now, we all know that Russia is a volatile climate to play in. We’ve toured there before, but Monsters of Rock is an entirely different animal. There’ll be no contracted security for a start. The entire event will be overseen by the police and Russian miliary, and I am saying this to you all now, and fucking clearly. There will be no fucking around and finding out.  

“They will likely get heavy with the fans, baton use, pepper spray. If you see it, you will not intervene, or you will be arrested. Katie I am specifically looking right at you here,” he spoke, pointing a finger at the guitarist. She didn’t even bother trying to look innocent, her grin spreading devilishly. “There will be none of you opening a can of Brooklyn whoop ass. None. You will be clubbed; you will be cuffed, and you will be thrown into a cell I likely won’t be able to negotiate you being released from.  

“Jade, you will spout absolutely no propaganda, feminist, religious or otherwise while you are on that fucking stage, or you will be arrested. You cannot play Holy War, Kill your Masters, Fallen God, Temple of the Whore or Rise Up. You will be arrested.” 

“What the fuck?” Jade spluttered, Sunni begging to gesture with his hand wildly, eyes almost out on stalks. 

“You bloody, bloody, bloody won’t do it! It’ll be seen as defiance, or incitement, and Russia do not mess around there!” And people said Jade could be wound tighter than a watch spring when under duress.  

“But we near enough always close our set with Kill your Masters! It’s one of our most famous songs!” 

“Yes, because it’s basically one long battle cry against oppressors, of which the Russian fucking government very much are! For fucks sake, the music video alone showed you personally beheading an overload, holding up said severed head and instructing thousands of enslaved people to break their chains and do the same! Shall we talk about how many countries it was banned in?” 

Jen couldn’t help herself, snickering into her hand. “Sunni, that vein in your head is popping hard, homeslice.” 

“Jennifer, I feel like I’m on the verge of a heart attack and we haven’t even landed on Russian soil yet!” The wild gesturing continued; his arm flung around as he pointed at all of them. “Trying to manage you lot is like attempting to herd wild lions! Please, just work with me and bloody behave yourselves!”  

“I don’t enjoy being censored,” Jade muttered, Sunni’s eyes fixing upon her sharply. 

The finger was pointed, waving, his brow beading with sweat. “You. Will. Not. Do. It. I am not even going to risk it, because you know Russia doesn’t play. As I have plainly stated, if you fuck around, you will find out. There will be no provocations, no lewd gestures, no inciting of riots, and for the love of god will you please tell me that Adrien will be accompanying you, because if there’s one man you’ll behave for, it’s your husband!”  

Her smirk had the girls falling into mild fits. “Not all of the time.” Oh, their poor, dear Sunni. He honestly looked like he was about to birth his own spleen out of sheer stress. “Yes, Adrien is coming with me. He’ll be there for the other five festival dates, too.”  

With no album release that year, their only touring obligations were to six open air shows, one in the UK, two in Germany, one in Sweden and one in France all prior to Monsters of Rock. It was shaping up to be a nice, sedate year. Both she and Adrien had little in the way of work, deciding to take a very well-earned break from filming commitments, the latter only just home again after leaving her almost straight after the Oscars for a month-long stint in Bulgaria, shooting his only movie that year. 

As it would turn out, both would discover that the timing of their break was orchestrated quite perfectly.  

After eating, Jade used the restroom, ready to head back to their apartment, Jen already having to leave on account of her and Nick getting ready to take a two-week vacation back to Scotland to visit with his family, Jess out the door rapidly to meet up with her new boyfriend, leaving just her, Katie and Charlotte after Sunni had also departed.   

“I need a favour from one of you,” she spoke, sitting back down at the table, her girls looking at her with curiosity. “Can one of you head into the drugstore down the street and buy me a pregnancy test, please? Obviously, I don’t want even a sniff of this leaking to the press or general public, and if I get pictured buying it, it’ll be all over the fucking media before I’ve even had chance to piss on the damned thing.”  

The faces before her lit up, Charlotte gently flapping her hands in exclamation. “Oh my god, yes! Do you really think you might be, then?” 

Sipping her sparkling water, she nodded. “My period is now nine days late, and that never happens with me, as you both know.”  

Katie squeaked quietly, bouncing in her seat. “You are. I can feel it.” Turning then to her wife (she and Charlotte had finally gotten hitched two years before on their eighteenth anniversary) her eyes widened. “We’re gonna be aunties!”  

“Shhh, walls have ears!” Jade shushed her with gently, putting her arms around her and kissing her cheek. “But yes, I think you might be.” With one clandestine rush to the drugstore four blocks away, Charlotte reached beneath the table to slip the paper bag containing the rest into Jade’s hand with a wink, the latter tucking it into her large, slouchy boho style leather bag before getting up to hug them both warmly before leaving, deciding to take the twenty-minute walk back to her apartment rather than jump in a cab.  

On the way back, she collected a loaf of fresh sourdough from the local artisan baker, an armful of flowers and some tomatoes she intended to snack on with the large ball of fresh mozzarella in the fridge for lunch, a bunch of basil purchased, too. All the way home, the test seemed to burn in her bag, her excitement reaching overload by the time she stepped foot in her apartment.  

“Bug, where are you?” she called, Adrien appearing from the kitchen and pointing to the phone in his hand, moving to give her a quick kiss before absconding again, taking the bags from her with a smile and a wink. She quickly steered herself in there to fill four vases with water, leaving him to it and arranging the flowers she’d bought. The calla lilies went on the table in the hallway, the roses and stargazer lilies on the coffee table, and the peonies into the remaining two vases at opposite ends of the lounge.  

Once done, she grabbed the test, heading down to the bathroom. While she knew that for accuracy, it was best to take a it in the morning, she’d asked Charlotte to buy two. The waiting would likely kill her, so one would be taken right away and the other in the morning to be certain. One quick pee onto a stick later and she was pacing a circle, her heart thundering as she waited the required time. Was this it? Had it happened for them? Reaching for the test, she saw the definite answer right there on the display. 

Pregnant. 

Clasping her hands over her mouth, the test was dropped into the sink with a small clatter, Jade jumping up and down as she squealed quietly. She had to be quiet, as on her way home she’d thought of the most adorable way to tell her husband if she did happen to get a positive result, wrapping the rest in a heap of tissue and stuffing it into the bin before hiding the second one.  

Come 7am the following morning, the display read the same again. She was elated.  

And so began her little plan to tell Adrien, calling up Amazon on her phone and ordering exactly what she needed in order to let him know he was doing to be a daddy in just over eight months' time. It wouldn’t arrive until the following day, and it almost killed her to keep the news a secret. The poor Amazon delivery guy almost had his arm ripped off in her haste to grab the package with thanks, shutting the door and scurrying into the kitchen, opening the boxes to pull out the gift as well as the sheet of wrapping paper she packaged it in. 

Walking into the lounge, she placed her phone against one of the vases of flowers, already recording so that they had the moment he found out immortalised forever. “Honey, here. A little gift,” she spoke, handing it to him where he sat in the corner armchair, placing down the book he’d been reading. 

His face was a picture of curious as he took it from her. “Thanks, Moo. What is it?” 

“Open it and find out, silly!”  

Tearing the paper with a smile, he wondered what on earth occupied the small, rainbow paper wrapped square, pulling out a tiny t shirt and reading the slogan printed across the front. His heart all but jolted into his throat. ‘If you think I’m cute, you should see my dad.’ 

“You’re fucking kidding,” he spoke, his face stunned as his eyes began to well up. “Really? You really are?” 

“Yep,” she grinned, watching him shake his head. 

“I’m gonna be a dad?” 

“You are, baby.” 

“Oh my god.” Placing the t shirt down, they were both in tears as he stood to lift her into his arms, hugging her tightly. “Oh my god!” Happy laughter filled the space, Jade wrapping her legs around him as they hugged, kissed and cried, stroking his face, her heart bursting. “I’m so happy, and stunned, and shit, if that wasn’t the cutest way you could have told me!” 

“I’ve been bloody bursting for the last day and a half! I found out when I came back from the band meeting, but I wanted to be sure, so took another test yesterday morning but then had to wait until today for the t shirt to be delivered!” 

His eyes widened a little. “Shit, that’s some restraint right there, not caving in the meantime. Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”  

Placing her back down, he gave her another kiss, Jade racing to retrieve her phone, explaining she’d recorded it. He thought that was just as lovely, too. “I really don’t know how the hell I didn’t crack, or that you didn’t notice that the alleged Jack Daniel’s I drank yesterday was actually iced tea! I had to bloody think fast, there!” 

Sitting back down in the armchair, he pulled her onto his lap with a look of comic trepidation. “Oh god, you without alcohol for the next nine months. I’m scared.”  

Barking a laugh, she stroked his chest, resting her cheek against his head. “I hereby promise to try not to be living hell.” She thought a little longer. “Oh fuck, I can’t have coffee either! I’m going to be resigned to shitting decaf!” 

“Okay, I’m moving out for the duration. I’ll stay here, you go back upstate,” he joked, guffawing at the narrowed eyes he received. She then looked thoughtful for a few moments, hand still idling circling over the centre of his chest. 

“I have to bring my performance A game while being just over four months’ pregnant. That’ll be interesting,” she mused, Adrien nodding.  

“You still going ahead with that, then?” 

“Gotta do it, innit? We’re contracted in, and as long as I’m completely healthy still, it shouldn’t be a problem. My life can’t just stand still because I’m pregnant, but seriously, how well did we time this break we’re taking from work?” 

“Perfectly. I have psychic sperm, evidently.”  

His words had her in soft fits, hauling herself up to go and prepare some lunch while he went back to his book. He didn’t remain long. 

“Excuse me, Mr. B,” she spoke, Adrien wrapping his arms around her as she sliced tomatoes. “You are hampering my making of salad caprese.”  

His hands moved to her tummy, stroking it lovingly. “There’s a baby in here.”  

Oh, he was so adorable. “It’s probably only about the size of a peanut right now, Bug,” she spoke, finishing her slicing, slapping his hand when he stole a piece. “No stealing! She needs to be marinated!” 

He shrugged. “To use a Jade-ism, calm your tits.” he was elbowed away, but it didn’t keep him from once again wrapping her in his arms. “And I don’t care how big it is, it’s my peanut. I’m fucking thrilled. God, my ma is gonna howl. Full on ugly cry when we tell her. And yours will probably deafen us. You definitely get your volume from her.” He paused then, Jade feeling him shaking with laughter. “What if this child inherits their mother’s lungs? Oh man, we’re screwed.” 

“You, you,” she began, turning to wave her finger at him. “You’re just adamant to piss me off today, aren’t you? Fucking wanker.” 

“But I’m not wrong,” he chuckled, his abs hurting from her spluttered reaction. 

Her lips tightened, softly kicking his leg. “Get the fuck out of my kitchen!”   

“No, I have things to ask you,” he spoke, batting away her foot, “like when are we gonna tell people? Twelve-week scan, is that when they say you should?” 

“Hmm, well since Charlotte and Katie know of what my suspicions were – it was Charlotte who went to buy the test for me, save I be photographed – we might have to tell them and swear them to secrecy.” She then looked conflicted. “But that means leaving Jen and Jess out, and I don’t feel comfortable about that. Then if we tell them, of course I want to tell our parents. Aw, hell. I think we should wait, though. Not to jinx anything, but when I’ve been pregnant before and sadly lost it, I want to double make sure that everything is okay this time around.”  

He hadn’t even thought of that, his features softening as he reached to stroke her cheek. “I think Jen will understand, given the circumstances. Same as everybody else. And try not to think about what happened before, even though I know you will. Doesn’t mean it’ll happen this time, does it?” 

It didn’t, but just as he predicted, it was on her mind right up until the moment the sonographer told them everything was fine twelve weeks on from them, both overjoyed to see the small smudge that was their first child and hear its rapid heartbeat for the first time. Armed with a few of the sonogram pictures, they then put the cute idea on how to reveal it to their mothers into action, heading over to Queens first... 

Lois was in the middle of wiping down her kitchen when she heard her doorbell buzz, the dogs doing their usual routine of dancing and barking. “Move it, boys, lounge!” she spoke, Ginsberg and Bukowski scampering off at speed, poking their heads up at the front window. Opening the door, she was puzzled for a few seconds to see nobody there, until her attention was caught by a large bouquet of sunflowers, her favourite blooms sitting there on the step.  

“Open this before you go into the house.” she read aloud, pulling the card from the little holder and opening up the small envelope. Reading what was inside, coupled with a sonograph picture, her jaw practically unhinged.  

‘Congratulations on becoming a grandma!’ 

“Mother of pearl! Oh, my goodness!” she cried, her eyes then caught by her son and daughter-in-law popping up from behind her car where they’d been hiding. “Are you fucking serious, Adrien Nicholas Brody? Doing this to me on the doorstep!!” 

They doubled over with laughter, making their way up to the house, a very tearful Lois pulling them both into a hug. “I am thrilled for you both! Oh my god, this is wonderful. Wonderful!” she exclaimed, kissing their cheeks in turn as she continued to shed a storm of happy tears, ushering them both inside. Patrick was home, too, and of course had some unique words upon hearing he was going to be a grandfather. 

“Well, this is exceptional news. It’s been six years; I was almost certain you were firing blanks.” Adrien was about to admonish him for such, but couldn’t, seeing his dad swiftly remove his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes welled. “I’m so damned happy for you, son.” Pulling him into a huge hug, he kissed his cheek, clapping his hand upon his back a few times. “It’ll be the best thing you ever do. Trust me on that, because it was for me.”  

Those tender words from his father had him choked up, Adrien kissing his forehead fondly. They spent a little time there at the house before jumping into a cab and heading to Harlem, phase two of their plan put into action. As a chronic hay fever sufferer, the only flowers allowed within Gemma’s home were of the faux variety, Jade having the perfect idea how to surprise her after visiting a small giftshop.  

Opening the door to her brownstone, Gemma was confused at the sight of a pile of helium balloons there in a little arrangement, a note affixed to one of them that instructed, ‘pop me before you go back into the house.’ There was a pin sellotaped to the note that she carefully unpicked, bemusedly doing at instructed. It sprayed confetti everywhere, as well as a little card that had been carefully placed into the balloon prior to it being filled, with the same message as the one that had greeted Lois. 

“I’m... oh!!” Instantly she began to cry, her eyes scanning the immediate surroundings of the frontage of her home. “Jade Lucia!” she boomed, clasping her hands over her mouth for a moment, “come out from wherever the hell you’re hiding!”  

Up she and Adrien popped from behind the wall at the front of the house, ready for round two of the joy they felt at finally being able to share the news with their parents. “Get up here right now and let me hug you both! Oh my god, I am shocked to my bloody bones, buba!” Gemma’s joy in life were her grandchildren, and now she had a third on the way, she couldn’t have been happier. As was Steven, who luckily wasn’t on shift. Yes, Jade had checked in a clandestine way earlier in the week after phoning her mother.  

“Well, would you look at that?” he spoke, holding the sonograph picture, his other arms wrapped around his daughter as he laid a kiss upon her head. “First you get the little gold fella, and now a little baby. I’m absolutely thrilled for you, monkey.” 

They stayed for dinner there before heading back to their apartment, content to curl up on the couch and watch a film before going to bed. The next day, Jade visited both Jen and Jess to tell them her news, calling her brother and sister too before they boarded a flight home. With a few more close friends told later that day, as well as their management teams to field off the likely incoming median questioning reaching out for comment when Jade inevitably began showing, they’d told everyone they were ever going to.  

There would be no “official” announcement made, the pair not the kind of people to make statements about their private life in such a way. Their baby was their business, and they loved every second of their journey into parenthood.  

“Baby, quick. Come see this,” Jade called softly, Adrien entering the lounge to a heartwarming sight. Usually, Juno would only curl up with him, very much his cat, but on that evening, the big puddle of pale grey fur was lying contentedly with his wife, her paws softly kneading against the tiny swell of her tummy. “She knows! Look at her!”  

Crouching by her knees, his smile crinkled his eyes, rubbing Juno’s head. The cat purred and drooled, her tail swishing contently, continuing her kneading. They weren’t the only ones excited that in just over six months, there’d be a brand-new member of the family arriving, it seemed.  

[thyinum]

Hey, I saw one of your posts talking about people liking Russian things and media and how that negatively impacts you because of the (indisputably traumatic and unfair) hardships of being Ukrainian rn. As someone who has made friends with people who are both Ukrainian and Russian and who believes the war to be undeniably bad and cruel (ESPECIALLY for Ukrainian people), I don’t quite understand why the culture or people or even the place itself is the bad thing. Many Russians hate their government, and the culture/people themselves aren’t inherently evil or selfishly cruel. It’s a good example of a horrible GOVERNMENT literally all of my Russian friends who have even managed to be online safely using VPNs chastise for being awful and frequently wish to leave.

I don’t understand why you would feel so negatively towards the act of somebody else even LIKING anything remotely related to Russian in name or origin, when it isn’t the common people or the culture itself that are bad. You shouldn’t have to endure the hardships you are enduring right now, but I fail to see how that makes all Russian people and things evil. Please explain, I’m a little confused and genuinely want to hear how you feel. Apologies if this comes off as being rude or is triggering.

Now imagine saying all of that about Germany to some Jewish person during WWII

Like I said in the comments to that post, culture is created by people. Russians literally have a cult of war and it's not a joke. Lots of them are happy about deaths of Ukrainians. I personally recieved death threats from some russians. Here are some screenshots with the reactions of common russians:

Ukrainian culture always was oppressed by russians. More than hundred official bans of our language during 18-20th centuries, lots of poets, writers, musicians, artists were exiled to Siberia or just executed. Common people were either deportated or killed and they were replaced by russians, that's why so many people in Ukraine use russian language. You may say again that this is all government doings, but it formed an imperialistic views in generations of russians. Thats why lots of them think Ukraine is a part of russia and Ukrainian language is just a rural dialect. We are just little silly brothers to them. And this is how Ukrainians are depicted in A LOT of russian media, this is what they translate to the world through their media, and by spreading that propaganda people are just doing a lot of harm to Ukrainian people and culture as well as to other oppressed nations. By romanticising ussr's and russian aesthetic and culture people are romanticising or most likely ignoring all the harm those regims did and do to oppressed nations. It feels like we all are just a joke to the world.

Btw it's literally 90 years from the biggest genocide of Ukrainians and Kazakhs in 20th century — The Holodomor. And we, Ukrainians, are going through the genocide onse again.

And don't say that russians can't do anything with their government when there are so many brave Iranians fighting and dying for their freedom right now.

Hope now it's better for you to understand why spreading and supporting russian culture isn't a good idea right now. If not, well, we will never be able to understand each other.

[mamaspidershit]

FROGGY can you please info dump about a character you like

you cannot ask me to do that parker…

but since you did,,, FUCK YEAH LETS TALK ABOUT NATASHA MOTHERFUCKING ROMANOFF

so. she is such an interesting character. she starts out a bad-but-not-really-bad-guy who basically was brainwashed into working for the KGB/Russia (which is expanded on in later comics) who first manipulated clint and then fell in love with him (ew), which help convince her to switch sides. what most people don’t actually know is that she started off as a very naive, bushy-tailed, bright eyed character. she wanted to help people for the sake of helping them. it’s honestly really sweet, and i kind of miss that characterization of nat. as we learn later on throughout the years, nat was basically fully brainwashed by the KGB to believe she had been a dancer, but instead had been raised in the red room to be a russian assassin/child soldier. what’s pretty interesting is that when she reached adulthood she didn’t deflect, but actually worked for the KGB/Russia for decades. nat was actually born sometime in between the two world wars, as she had fallen in love and gotten pregnant during WW2 (she ended up miscarrying in one of the saddest nat comics i’ve ever read). she was trained by ivan petrovich and wolverine (who she calls “little uncle”) (side note: wolverine kept adopting girls. bro needs to chill lmao). she then gets married to alexei shostatov, but the russian government later fakes his death via rocket explosion to ensure nat’s loyalty to the regime.

when she defects, ivan goes with her to the US. i don’t like him, and you’ll understand why. but in her earlier comics he was a solid support/father figure to her but it turns out. the whole time. he wanted to have. a relationship with her. this girl he raised since she was a baby. ughhhh 🤢

but ignoring that.

as time goes on (she leads the avengers for awhile which was cool) you can slowly see that sort of naivety she previously had slowly fading, and by the time Secret Empire rolls around, she’s become much more world-weary and like the nat we all know from the mcu.

some other things to note is how her and daredevil (matt) had a relationship, and while she was in his run was when she finally started to get some of her own characterization past the soap opera boo-hoo-ing over relationships and finally became the badass nat we all know and love. i personally loved them together, but they just clashed a lot, but they are still besties to this day, which is something i find super cool and sweet.

Edmonson’s run honestly pulls all these dangling threads together and gives my honest favourite characterization of nat of all time. if you read any BW comic, let it be that one. it deserved about 75 more issues.

now after she was killed in SE (don’t ask) and then resurrected by the red room by using a telepathic bear called ursa major to restore all her memories into a clone body (again, don’t ask), she goes a little. well. crazy. not in a bad way though! 2019’s BW run was gory and satisfying in all the best ways. She goes and investigates this guy who had been torturing children for p*rn content online and just fucking kills him. it’s great.

honestly, nat is such a fascinating character, and has a lot more depth to her and her backstory than most people (even a lot of writers!! *cough cough* kelly thompson *cough cough*) realize!

and honestly, that’s why i love her so much

[jewishbarbies]

I feel like people see or hear Jews saying that Israel is important and assume that means support for the Israeli government, 100% and 24/7, on all problems and issues and everything they’ve ever done, instead of what it actually stands for. You can love a place, especially one as significant as Israel is for the Jewish people, without loving or supporting the actions of a modern government. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

We’re able to separate civilian love and loyalty to their homelands when it happens to Americans or Europeans. We don’t hold them responsible for shitty things their governments do. We support them in protest. We don’t celebrate terror and war bc we don’t like another country’s government. But when it comes to Israel, what’s happening is okay and if you’re Jewish and are rightfully hurt by it, you’re awful. If you feel connected to Israel, you’re terrible and scum and you should suffer too... all because people don’t like the Israeli government (which is valid!!!). Make it make sense.

literally caught a bit of a cuomo interview where he said “people are concerned for Israelis but personally I’m worried more about palestinians” and like. you should be worried about both. it’s not hard. thousands of Israelis were murdered and thousands injured. it’s okay to worry about them? when i see russians gather in protest on the streets of russia, i worry for them because i know what that means. I know what’s going to happen to them. I worry for soldiers who surrender after only fighting with the threat of death to their loved ones. that doesn’t make me a putin fangirl. all these people care about is how it looks to stupid people.

this whole situation is about lack of care for human life. regardless of what side it’s on, what color it is, how warm and fuzzy it makes us feel, or how much social praise it gets us, human life will always be more important than imaginary sides in a conflict largely inflated by opportunistic terrorists (whether they’re a Hamas operative or a politician), and anyone who can’t understand that has no real morality. there’s going to be ignorant people from both factions, but the majority of jews, Israelis, and palestinians all want the same thing - and it’s NOT more violence.

(a lot of american leftists lean into antisemitic dual loyalty tropes when it comes to jews and Israel specifically, and I believe that heavily influences conflating love for the land with love for the government but specifically with Israel. a lot of them believe jews in Israel still have citizenship from european countries and can therefore just up and leave whenever they want but are CHOOSING to stay and “colonize”. leftist antisemitism is going mask off right now and it’s all shit we’ve been pointing out for many years.)

[skiplo-wave]

Am I wrong for thinking that there’s a link between cancel culture and pro censorship? I don’t know… the whole thing of, ‘if you say or do the wrong thing, your career or life will be ruined and destroyed’ is quite disturbing to me. And yes, I understand that there’s nuance to it. E.g. someone like Trump or Weinstein or R. Kelly should probably not be in the same vicinity as most people because they pose a danger to the public and their employees (who could get raped or some shit. Trafficked maybe). Or someone like that lady from Baby Reindeer should be “cancelled” because she actually harms lots of people.

But society has created this culture of making individuals feel scared of saying the wrong thing in fear of their lives getting ruined. People wonder why more celebrities don’t speak up about the genocide in Palestine, well maybe it’s because if they say what people have deemed is the “wrong thing” they’ll lose their livelihood? It’s a double edged sword.

If they are pro Palestine, the pro Israel camp will crucify them and they’ll lose endorsements. If they’re pro Israel, the pro Palestine camp will crucify them and they’ll lose endorsements. So most choose to remain silent. But they’re crucified for that as well.

The Israel/Palestine issue does have nuance, it’s not as black and white as people say and I’m saying that as someone who is very pro Palestine. I was HORRIFIED at the amount of antisemitism thrown at Jewish people for mourning their loved ones and their loved ones’ loved ones on the 7th of Oct. Bullied people into absolute silence using antisemitism. But I’m also simultaneously horrified at the Islamophobia and anti Arab sentiment being spread around.

People tried to cancel Hozier because his statement wasn’t pro Palestine enough, same with Lewis Hamilton. God forbid someone shows compassion towards CITIZENS (not the government but CITIZENS). Same with Neil Gaiman, a literal Jewish man. God forbid he show compassion towards JEWISH PEOPLE.

[and yes, I’m aware that Judaism ≠ Zionism, but 73.6% of Israelis are Jewish people and majority (not all) of Israelis are Zionists, so are Jewish people abroad not allowed to feel sad about the deaths of other Jewish people?]

And reducing people to one statement is horrible. If someone is pro Israel, I don’t think that makes them a bad person overall just because of their one opinion. Someone could be pro Israel and a stand up guy. Someone could be pro Palestine and a bully towards everyone in their life, does them being pro Palestine erase the fact that they’re a horrible person? Does someone being pro Israel erase all of the good things they’ve done in their life?

Idk man, to me, cancel culture and censorship are two sides of the same coin. Censorship is done by corporations and businesses while Cancel culture is done by society. Both the same thing though.

And side note, if people think that all Israelis are sick and evil people, does this logic apply to Russians when it comes to Ukrainians? Or Chinese people when it comes to the Ughyurs? Or the Turkish when it comes to Armenians? Or Dominicans when it comes to Haitians?

Is every single Israeli/Russian/Chinese/Turkish/Dominican/etc a sick psychopath while every single Palestinian/Ukrainian/Ughyur/Armenian/Haitian/etc a wonderful soft and delicate fairy?

Is Obama a pure and good man simply because he supports Palestine? What about all of the Arab blood that he has on his hands? Is Zelenskyy an evil man for supporting Israel? What about all that he’s done and has been doing to support the Ukrainian people, his people? Which action are you going to reduce them to? The good one or the evil one?

My point is that black and white thinking will be the death of this earth as we know it.

And to reiterate, I am pro Palestine and do not support Zionism.

That’s just current culture with rise of social media and everyone having to be in everything ( regardless if it effects or about them)

I’ve seen people get upset at YouTubers for holding Starbucks cup in frame of their video. Followed by comments going “ how could you support them!!!?” Followed by said youtuber having to explain “ hey that’s old cup I reuse etc etc I’m not in loop but I support xyz”

That type of knee jerk reaction is very (??) cause on global scale YouTuber with 100k subscribers having product that supports a certain group ain’t really helping the main cause.

[legilimensims]

i know i have been *very* vocal about my support of ukraine during the current russian invasion, and pretty much silent about what’s happening in palestine and israel. the reason being: i have ukrainian friends, my mother has ukrainians friends and colleagues, and i feel i am much more educated on the matter to comfortably have a strong opinion and a strong position to defend, no hesitation.

one thing i’ve noticed since october 7th being online most of my time, being a member of community notes on twitter (x…whatever) and fact-checking a hell of a lot of stuff, trying to educate myself, is…how quickly narrative spins. how quickly misinformation spreads. how quickly one nation is labelled the victim, then the aggressor, and vice versa. how quickly and promptly acts of immeasurable, atrocious violence were justified - some sort of perverse “well she was wearing a skirt so she brought it on herself, she deserved it” - and called it “resistance”. how quickly antisemitism escalated (like, don’t even deny this), jews around the world experiencing hate crimes, stuff we thought was left behind after ww2. how quickly palestinians as a whole are called terrorists, and actual terrorist supporters gleefully celebrate beheadings whilst in the comfort of the democratic countries in which they were born in or found refuge. how quickly a country can be accused of fabricating/staging video evidence of atrocities just because of its flag and preexisting hate.

i don’t think i’ve ever witnessed this much hate around the world, it’s…abhorrent. people (again, from the comfort and protection of their democratic, free countries) wishing others to experience pain and suffering and being remembered as murderers for stating an opinion and supporting a specific side? like what. the. hell. we’ve reached a new low as a collective.

i have a lot of opinions, but to comment on the latest happenings i think that the blame of this current escalation solely lies on israeli politicians currently in charge, they were just waiting for the opportunity to level gaza to the ground and no foreign government could’ve done a thing - i saw how fast some are pointing their fingers at the usa especially and, speaking as a staunch biden supporter, i firmly believe that, naively and stupidly, nobody expected that by following international law, the right of defence, the israeli president would commit genocide as a retaliation to a terrorist attack. i expect the usa and the rest of the world’s democratic governments to firmly condemn this.

speaking of, it is also my belief that the perpetrators of the attack against israeli civilians backed by other dictatorial countries, absolutely 100% knew what they were doing. they knew israel would retaliate, and they knew this situation would create disagreements among nations - look at the hate towards biden, only him as usual. somehow the decisions of other countries' presidents are always magically his fault, damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. you just have to thank your gods biden is in the white house right now and not puZZin's puppet the orange tangerine, elections are next year and you have to pray he wins 2024 and not only because he's the best, most succesful president the usa have had in fucking years and yet americans are too stupid and ungrateful to see it; if you are american and are like "nah i'm not voting him because blah blah" you ARE NOT in the position to have a 3rd party candidate, if you don't vote biden you ARE handing the victory to extreme far-right politicians - don't you dare come crying & blame the other side when republicans obliterate your rights, your medicare, your social security, they WILL impose a christian theocracy on you, if biden is not the democratic candidate or if he loses you are fucked. YOU. ARE. FUCKED. and the world's gonna be even more disastrous. i won't hear any arguments on this.

destabilizing and undermining global democracy is the point of the two most prominent current wars and in the end it’s always the innocents who pay the hardest price.

to conclude this world salad…idk. it’s all so overwhelming, and discouraging, and i feel in conflict with myself for “sympathizing” with both sides, to a degree.

i just want people to live in peace.

[justtryingtovibe69]

american social justice ppl are so fast and loose with supporting the terrorist attack in israel and “resist colonialism at all costs” and i actually think it’s sociopathic to shrug at a mass death like that. like ok what if indigenous ppl shot u while u were at coachella do u deserve that too? no!!! (but i actualy think a lot of online social justice white ppl r so lost they genuinely think they in theory deserve to die for being white settlers so who knows) it just feels crazy to see ppl justify an innocent persons death for doing the exact same thing they’re doing (existing in a colonial country) like maybe this is just crazy of me but i don’t think me or anyone around me deserves to die for living in the US and not organizing to overthrow the government but a scary amount of leftists are like “u get what u get” and shrugging at these deaths in israel which are brutal and should be disgusting to people just on a human level. there was the same rhetoric about russians just for living in russia and now in israel just for living in israel and i always am like ok u r throwing this stone from the most glass house ever maybe think about what ur saying. that being said free palestine, as a ukrainian i empathize with the struggle for statehood, self determination, and international recognition, plus their death count will likely be tenfold what just happened and they don’t have electric power right now and i’m genuinely scared for what will happen to the civilians there. this whole situation is such a mess it’s heart breaking every time it escalates and you just know that the vast vast majority want to just coexist and go to the grocery store and hang out with their family. i just want to cry and lay on the floor all day. the callousness of EVERYONE on social media either supporting israel killing civilians or hamas killing civilians is making me lose the will to live

[darkmaga-returns]

Today, speaking with Danny Davis, Doug Macgregor presented in clear terms his view of what’s endangering America today. This, is of key importance in light of the reckless regime escalation into a direct war on Russia.

Mountain of Lies in Ukraine Russia War w/Col Douglas Macgregor

Once again, this has nothing to do with Ukraine. This is a small group of people who've hijacked our government and they're not going away, necessarily, on 20 January. [They] want to harm Russia. That's it. And you've got a portion of that group that is just as interested in destroying Iran, sadly. So I see nothing good happening, and given what's happened in Ukraine thus far I cannot imagine that the Russians will back down one inch from supporting Iran, or Syria, or--for that matter--the Turks if they decide to weigh into this.

We can be an engine of prosperity for the world--that's what we were a hundred years ago. We can be that again, and that's where we should focus. But this this demands change in the way we look at the world. Right now this small group of people want us to see the rest of the world through a lens that suggests everyone is hostile to us--there are threats everywhere, everyone hates us. Well, a lot of people don't like us, but that has a lot to do with what we've been up to for the last 30 years.

The mystery in this seems to be, Who is this “small group of people”? For all the world, Macgregor’s words reminded me of a recent post of mine, called Empire of Hate. This was a very long post, but in the last third or so I quoted extensively from an interview with economist Michael Hudson. Michael Hudson was there at the founding of a core Neocon think tank, The Hudson Institute, founded by Herman Kahn (read the post for fuller background on all that). The Hudson Institute was heavily populated by Zionists, including Uzi Arad (again, please refer to the previous post). In the interview, Hudson provides his recollections of his days there, and especially of the world view of that “small group of people”. Michael Hudson, in his earlier life was very close to Trotskyite circles in the US—the same circles from which the Neocons arose. Notice the mentions of Jewish hatred for Russia and the desire to use the United States to exact revenge:

On one occasion, I’d brought my mentor, Terrence McCarthy, to the Hudson Institute, to talk about the Islamic worldview, and every two sentences, Uzi would interrupt: “No, no, we’ve got to kill them all.” And other people, members of the Institute, were also just talking continually about killing Arabs.

I don’t think there were any non-Jewish Americans that had that visceral hatred of Islam that the Zionists had, or also the visceral hatred of Russia, specifically for anti-Semitism of past centuries, most of which was in Ukraine and Kiev, by the way.

Well, that was 50 years ago, and these sanctions that Jackson introduced … became the prototypes for today’s sanctions against all the countries that the Neocons viewed as adversaries. Joe Lieberman was in the tradition of the Jackson Democrats … the pro-Zionist Cold War hawks with this hatred of Russia, and that made Israel the cat’s paw for these Cold Warriors.

[therubymuse]

Where The Fuck Have You Been?

When I realize that in the last year and a half I’ve written maybe four, maybe less, bodies of words, I feel like shit. No, it’s not all my fault, and no shame doesn’t help things, but I feel like shit anyway. I have been oscillating between enjoying my time on social media, connecting with other queer people and having constructive discussions on our oppression, and dreading opening the apps, knowing that if I dare show my face on a public post or comment there’s a very good chance some asshole will pop up and call me a man in a dress. It’s like existential nightmare whack-a -mole, and the powers in charge of these spaces don’t care to clean them up, because hostility and engagement drives clicks and advertising revenue, regardless of how atrocious the content is. 

So when I say it’s been hard to write recently, what I mean is there’s been a two ton millstone around my neck for over a year keeping me from the keys. And the owners of that millstone no doubt have names and addresses. 

You would think it would be easy to just turn it off and go touch grass, but there are multiple levels to this anguish, not all of them based in the exaggerated hyperbole I see daily. Under the cover of Internet clowns and bigots half of whom could be Russian conspirators, there is actual harm being done. Trans people are losing their right to health care, to hormones, to bathrooms, and to exist. I could sit here all morning regaling you with the latest on these attacks. Because like a train wreck, I can’t look away. It’s actually even more anguish to try to ignore it. 

Amid the chorus of “don’t worry about it, it can’t happen here” I find myself wondering how I’m going to safely visit my brother next summer. He lives in Edmonton, and this week, the UCP of Alberta will be meeting to hammer out legislative goals for the party. One that’s being pushed rather loudly is to ban all trans women from “biologically female” spaces. So not only bathrooms and changerooms, but shelters, gyms, and any other “female” spaces, because of the baseless accusation that we are somehow a threat to cisgender women. And there’s nothing conservatives love more than a baseless accusation. It’s very effective at distracting the electorate from the awful shit they’re doing to the people of the province. 

However, because of this, I’m weighing whether or not it’s safe for me and my partner to visit him at all. I am an anxious person and I need public washrooms, and my only option will be to use the mens’ facilities, where I’m at greater risk of assault, abuse, or harm. So when stuff like this appears at your door, how do you go touch grass? Do I just shut off the emotional response to being discriminated against entirely and put on a happy face so y’all keep seeing my Facebook posts? Every year I think, Americans are insane, and that level of discrimination and hate can’t happen here, right? Not in the same Canada I grew up in that valued multiculturalism, or legalized gay marriage twenty years ago. But it is here, now, and it continues to grow into a force to cause considerable harm to me and those I care about. British Columbia has earned a temporary reprieve from the onslaught of trans culture war bullshit by electing, by a hair, an NDP government that has supported trans people and expanded our access to healthcare. But, it’s a fragile majority, with no margin for error, and the rabid dogs of our conservative movement are at the door and willing to pull the government down the first chance they get so they can start attacking trans kids, adults, and our rights. A solid 43% of citizens who voted either want that to happen, or don’t care what happens to us. And that’s a lot of people. Out beyond the Lower Mainland there is a sea of blue ridings, so fuck Alberta, am I even safe to travel in my own province? I’m not even sure. I can feel the algorithm sucking me back into fights and arguments with these people based on the content it drops into my feed. And I really do try to help myself, because I’m aware that feeding those arguments will do nothing. Nobody is having those discussions to have their minds changed, they’re doing it cause they’re finally allowed to be open about their bigotry and hatred. And arguing with them, or reporting their hate speech and actions, does nothing. My voice and my safety is not as important as next quarter’s profits and growth at Facebook.

So, to me, there is no great mystery about where my apathy and lack of energy comes from. It’s from being constantly on the defensive, constantly vigilant in public spaces, and always steeling myself for the next piece of awful news before it arrives so it doesn’t shatter me. Is this what it means to be resilient? To be strong? Why is it that the reward for surviving another day in our late capitalist hellscape is simply another day, and not my safety or my peace? Cisgender women experience a lot of the same emotional trauma that I face, but they still have washrooms to shit in and changerooms to change in. Soon, in Alberta, trans women might have neither. And it’s beginning to feel like inevitably, neither will I. My life has been made immeasurably better for being transgender. I was not a happy person trying to live life as something I wasn’t. And I’m grateful there were systems and healthcare in place to help me become who I really was. That access is being stolen from our trans siblings in red states down south seemingly every other week. And the conservative-aligned powers that be here in Canada want to see the same happen here. When I am made to disappear, I will be gone for good. Without rights, without hormones, and without health care or my identity that I fought decades to finally discover? There will be nothing left of me. Being trans is such a big part of my life because your gender and your sexual orientation makes up so much of the basis of our existence, you’re just not made to feel like that’s unusual if you’re cisgender and heterosexual. So if these forces succeed in destroying what remains of us, they will destroy me too. There are so many trans women out there that feel the same way, and so many we haven’t heard of that we have lost to suicide and violence that our systems and media don’t care enough to say anything about. Some of us will be resilient enough to outlast the next couple decades, but some of us won’t be. And that’s never a choice we should have to make. 

So that’s why you haven’t heard from me. This takes up so much space in my head on a daily basis that I’m losing my ability to do or think about much else, and my art and hobbies feel pointless, like they’re just there to kill time, or that increasingly, they could just be replaced by an AI. The words I pour into my laptop may not even mean anything anymore when they’re simply drowned out by automated content. 

My raison d’être is under constant attack. And I’m torn. Some parts of me are like fuck these people, fuck everyone, make art, be happy, do it while you can. And other parts are like oh my god how are we going to even survive the next twenty years. If I pay too close attention it consumes me, and if I pay not enough, I get scared. A lot of these words are words that will resonate with other trans people, my community and siblings. I think we all feel it in some way or another, to a greater or less extent. The existential dread of living in a time of such uncertainty, and increasingly, violence. Maybe there’s still time, but we’re cutting it awfully close. 

[exoid-the-locomotive-monarch]

American Politics in a nutshell:

“Young man, the leap year is upon us, you must choose the two paths, each lead by a great thinker. One is the suited man. He wishes to give every one a shot, he wishes to allow any one to enter this great land and to demand the wealthy return their prof”

“Oh excuse me excuse me, nonononononononono, I do not want to let anyone in, we need to keep the bad guys out, we need to hold the cartel men and their wives and children at hold until we find out they’re not, and kick them back to where they came from!”

“Um, I would like to voice my issue, the suited man doesn’t seem to have a real solution to immigration and crime? Shouldn’t we treat crime as an international issue or a social issue? And why shouldn’t we relax the border customs, we’re the refuge for the hopeful, yes?”

“Wellllllll certainly I have had critics, who support me demand this reform, buuuuut this may offend the… neutral voter, they are very important to me that I negotiate and recognize the neutral voter as their opinions to be valid and their policy measures to count!”

“But you’re not recognizing the critics”

“Ohhhhhh but I do! I want to increase taxes on the wealthy and nationalize healthcare, but only when the neutral voter wishes to do so with my supportive critics!”

“But I feel like the neutral voter would appreciate the policy more if you passed it and tried it?”

“Now now boy don’t rush politics, running a country is delicate!”

“So do you actually support the critics or do you just appeal to them as you tout the neutral voter.”

“I am the mediator! A little bot of representation for my critics, and the rest go to the neutral voter, I am the man for safety, responsibility, and equality!”

“I don’t feel safe around the police though”

“Excellent criticism! I will add more to their budgets and run a surplus by decreasing spending on infrastructure and environmental protections!”

“But underspending public education and hostile environments leads to crime.”

“That’s why we have the police my boy! And the army for overseas policing”

“But we spend 1/3 our yearly budget on the army”

“DO YOU WANT RUSSIA CHINA AND TERRORISM TO WIN?!”

“Nonononononono!!!”

“Good! Another $118 billion out from our public schools, and to Israel and Ukraine it goes!”

“Oh yeah what’s your position on Ukraine and Israel?”

“Bomb the enemy until it goes away.”

“THAT DOESN’T STOP TERRORISM OR WAR!”

“Well my boy the point isn’t peace, it’s victory! We must dismantle the Russian state, the Seeseepee and Kamash to liberate the peoples under a new era of warlordism, and reap their resourves and politicians for the unipolarity of NATO!”

“Besides, if we called a ceasefire in Ukraine now we’d lose a lot of gas for a new EU member state.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna help Ukraine, and Israel isn’t fighting a UN recognized government, so that’s a harder battle to fight”

“Nonsense boy, we’re just about to secure eternal peace and democracy! Just a few more weeks and then thousand more heads!”

“Hey pathfinder the suited man talks nice but has a very violent and faustian way of leading the path, who’s the other guy?”

“Well my boy! You’re just in luck! The other path is led by the father! He preaches the good word and the liberation of the oppressed!”

“Did someone say my name? Boy? Is that you boy? Oh you poor child let me hold you, it almost got you!”

“What got me?”

“THE DEMON! It wants to manipulate you, it will TRICK YOU and lead you to the path of damnation! It is trying to mutilate your children and turn your schools racist!”

“Oh my God what?!”

“It’s true”

“Really?”

“I have read the books of the father and they are true! The books are written by fine men who talk firmly!”

“You must guard yourself from the demon! It dyes its hair in pretty colors, and tell your children how to have sex up the butt and how to change their names and cut off their genitals!”

“Wait, no! That doesn’t happen in schools, what are you talking about?!”

“THE DEMON DECIEVES AGAIN! Read the book child, see the signs!!”

“This is peddled nonsense, you don’t even have leadership skills!”

“Fool! I shovel out reward only to those who deserve it, and punish those who work for the demon! The lazy and the salacious and the wrathful have come for us! To degrade our proud heritage and gospel for pleasures and chaos!”

“Who deserves reward? Who follows the demons?”

“You boy are so clearly deserving of the reward, look at how rough your skin is, and yet how smooth tour face looks, the demon preys on the ugly and makes them their servants”

“Holy shit, this guy just wants to kill people he thinks are ugly and pride himself as a perfect samaritan, unquestioned and untaxed! Is there anyone left”

“The third path is a cardboard cutout that agrees with you”

“God damnit”

*the voter walks with suitman into the future*

“Suitman, I hope you understand I joined you out of fear for the Father, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Will you change your ways and respect my voice equal to the neutral voter”

“Heh, no. But one day as the winds change, soon the path will wind and turn until it follows where you walk, then I will follow you.”

“And those who criticize my path?”

“Well they get a pinch of direction, but I only stay on the treaded path, the one grazed… by the neutral voter.”

“But he who walks first lays the path”

[mariacallous]

I know a lot of them are just Russian bots running psyop campaigns, but I wonder how many of the people refusing to vote for Harris because of Gaza realize that they're doing exactly what Netanyahu wants them to do. He clearly wants Trump to win and knows that Gaza supporters aren't going to vote for Trump, so the best he can hope for is for them to not vote at all (or vote for Jill Stein, which is functionally the same as not voting given that she polls at 2% on a good day).

There are two candidates with a chance to win. One of them clearly doesn't care about Gaza and would be advised by people like Jared Kushner, who talks about Gaza's valuable "beachfront property." The other cares at least a little about Gaza and would be advised by at least some people who care a lot about it. I think it's safe to say who the people of Gaza would rather see win.

And that's not even mentioning the West Bank, where the Biden administration has placed sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers over the loud objections of hardliners in the Israeli government, something that would almost certainly be maintained and maybe even expanded under Harris but would probably be undone under Trump.

Voting for Jill Stein or refusing to vote isn't helping Palestinians, it's letting Russian trolls trick you into doing Netanyahu's bidding.

A lot of them don’t care, or at least say they don’t.

[kivino]

Why "russians dni"? The people did nothing wrong, their government did. Russians are trying to boycott the war in Ukraine but are actively being silenced and punished for it. They don't like what's happening any more than you do.

first - i’d like for you to understand that the question you’re asking is none of your business, actually! block button exists for a reason, use it.

second - who even are you? i haven’t posted in a hot minute, so you intentionally seek out my blog to do what, exactly? ask me a personal question all while not coming off of anon? the fact that you even asked implies that you think you’re entitled to your daily dose of struggle porn, which i’m not going to provide to you. with that question you also show once again that the invasion of my country didn’t teach you - as a spectator, anything. bet you also think we should give up our lands for peace with colonisers, huh?

but regardless, i’ll explain. after centuries of being an empire they, what a surprise, have an imperialistic mindset that is hard to get rid of unless they are directly faced with that fact and genuinely wish to work on themselves. even the russian freedom fighters that you’re being so concerned about, instead of supporting actual victims. they also have surprisingly a lot to say for people who are being silenced.

case study 1 - famous russian comic who’s supposedly against the governments and lived in kyiv making a joke at one of his shows about the name of the town (izyum) where russians committed war crimes.

case study 2 - famous russian opposition politician who died recently, referring to russian-occupied crimea peninsula “not a sandwich to be passed around”, bluntly saying that once he’d have been in power, he would not have returned the lands back to ukraine.

and that’s just what i can remember from the top of my head and not counting all the times our language, culture and anything about us was ridiculed by people who did nothing wrong, according to you.

they don’t see that the problem is not only in the fact that people they pay taxes to and put in power in the first place are committing acts of genocide and war crimes, no. they refuse to see the fact that it lies deeper - that we want to speak our own language, be our own people and separate from their cultural space, instead of being looked down upon as “the younger brother”. i wish everything was as simple as you think it is, but it’s not. it’s centuries of history and bad blood, not only wih ukraine but also with many other countries that russians occupied and destroyed. i understand you might be not aware of all the details, but frankly, it’s not my job to educate you.

maybe there are russian people who see their empire for what it is, understand everything and genuinely try to make it right. i haven’t seen them yet and i don’t care enough to find out if there are people like this, because as a victim, i just want to be left alone, which you have a problem with, for some fucking reason.

if there were truly so many people who “boycott the war” (and how do you even do that? their taxes go towards it regardless of what they have to say about it) then they’d take everything into their hands and change the situation in their country by overthrowing the government who’s full of old imperialist oligarchs. but they can’t, because the pressing majority of population either supports it outright or is “neutral” which is the same fucking thing as supporting!

russians dni is because i don’t want to interact with someone who will automatically switch to russian instead of even trying to conceal the fact that they think we’re not different. russians dni is because it’s not my job to educate them and lead them by their hand through every point of why occupying territories that do not belong to them is bad. russians dni is because i don’t want to hear what they have to say about the ukrainian artists they claimed as theirs. russians dni is because i’m tired of living with inferiority complex.

hope this helps, and have a day you deserve. if you wish to argue, then save your breath - i’ll delete any asks with that kind of content.

[qnewsau]

Discover Daria Kasatkina: Russia's gay anti-war tennis star

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/discover-daria-kasatkina-russias-gay-anti-war-tennis-star/

Discover Daria Kasatkina: Russia's gay anti-war tennis star

The gay, anti-war Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina chats to QNews ahead of the Australian Open.

Daria Kasatkina is the opposite of what many expect from a Russian athlete.

She is outspoken against the war and she came out as gay with her partner in 2022.

Both of these didn’t go down well with her government and a return home is currently off the cards.

However, a lot is going right in her life.

Dasha (as she is better known) is in a relationship with Estonian-Russian figure skater Natalia Zabiiako who won a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The pair have a successful YouTube channel where they show their lives behind the scenes of the glamorous but gruelling tennis tour.

Dasha has been ranked as high as no.8 in the world and will be competing at this month’s Australian Open.

We asked her about coming out, her life with Natalia (who also uses Natasha) and her hopes for the future.

You came out last year, what has the response been like from players and fans?

The response was better than I could ever imagine. I was ready for the worst reaction but instead, I’ve received so much support and love. And after that, I feel so relieved, it was the best decision I could make.

It seemed like your coming out was partly because of your partner Natalia, tell us about your relationship.

Natasha is the best person I could ever ask for. I’m often asking myself “Am I really deserving it?” I would say that being in a relationship with her and feeling all her support, pushed me for a decision to come out, because I felt ready and being with the right person.

You both have your fantastic YouTube channel, why did you decide to share your lives together so publicly?

We made this decision together. Natasha had her YouTube channel before and she wanted to keep going.

So we were just thinking of the concept for the channel and we came up with the idea of our life on the road, showing the behind-the-scenes of the tournaments which we thought could be interesting for fans.

She really enjoys filming, and editing and she does everything by herself. It’s not an easy thing to do, I’m really proud of her.

Has there been any challenges with the channel?

We were not sure where we can film and where we cannot, especially at the beginning. Because we didn’t know the policies of the tournaments and how people around going feel about it, but now we feel more free.

Of course, we always respect other people’s spaces and never filming when it’s inappropriate. Also challenging thing is to come to the players for an interview, especially for the ones who don’t know about our vlog, but in the end most of the time it ends successfully and we have fun interviews.

You’ve been living in Dubai, what has that experience been like?

I like Dubai, it’s a very modern city which develops so fast. I like the vibe and it’s a nice place where you can live, practice or have vacations.

Plus you can fly there from any part of the world, there’s always a direct flight from anywhere. And my friends and family can easily get there which in our circumstances is a huge plus.

You are coming Down Under for the Australian Open in Melbourne as well as the Brisbane tournament, do you enjoy visiting Australia?

Australia is an amazing place, people are amazing, it’s very modern. The only problem is that is so far away!

But I always enjoy my time in Australia and I was actually missing Brisbane for the past few years. To be honest most of us, we like Australia, it’s a really great place to be.

What are the fans like here in Australia compared to the rest of the world?

Fans in Australia are so nice! They give you the energy, it’s so important for the athletes.

They also know the culture of our sport and how to behave. I really appreciate them.

You’ve obviously had an incredible career so far, what are your goals for 2024?

My goals are simple: to stay healthy and enjoy the process.

All I want from myself is to be able to give 100% every day and be grateful for everything I have. I want to grow and improve as a person and as a player.

I really believe that that’s the way to achieve the things you want to.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Daria Kasatkina🐬 (@kasatkina)

As someone who has opposed the war in Ukraine and is out as gay, do you still find yourself being judged for being an athlete from Russia?

Tough to say. I want to be judged by my actions and the person I am, not by my passport.

If someone is judging me only based on my passport it’s completely their problem, not mine and says everything about this person. All I can do is try to be a better version of myself every day.

You’ve said before you would feel unsafe returning to Russia, are you hopeful you could go back one day?

Of course. You always have to hope and believe for the best. Doesn’t matter how it goes.

What do you hope for LGBTQIA+ people in Russia in the future?

I just hope that one day they can be themself without fear.

You can follow Dasha and Natasha on their YouTube channel @zabiiakokasatkina

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.