#killing trump won't solve everything

[coldgoldlazarus]

I hope he doesn't see a single day of peace. I hope the prior assassination attempts were just a warmup. I hope there will be people in the right place at the right time, with the will and the firearms, to keep on trying to shoot that orange fuck in his fucking face.

And they better not fucking miss this time.

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

If the Democrats lose its because they failed to garner the support of their base, rather than the base's moral failing to turn out to a vote they're completely alienated from. The Democratic Party has moved away from universal healthcare (they literally removed it from their platform) and in particular the Biden administration has moved right on immigration to try (and fail) to siphon Trump voters. You can talk about how important the election is, but at this point there's no victory for the American people no matter who is elected. The Democrats are just secular moderate Republicans at this rate.

Better secular moderate Republicans than Nazis. It's been heading this way a long time, since LBJ. He wasn't wrong when he said he just lost the South for at least a generation by signing the Voting Rights Act.

No party can win with their base alone. The math isn't there for either side. The more you turn out your base the less you need to bend to the middle, but mathematically you will still have to bend -- the GOP does too, why do you think we haven't seen blanket abortion bans since Roe was overturned despite decades of rhetoric? Bc it cost them the midterms at the idea. Obamacare stood despite every Republican running against it, bc they didn't all vote to repeal it bc of the voter backlash at the idea.

Sometimes there is no good option, only less bad. The core of the trolley problem is something people miss -- will you let 5 people die so you can be a bystander and feel good about your moral superiority, or will you save them, and live with knowing that you had to kill one to do it? You can't change the conditions without losing the heart of it, which is the sane as whether you vote -- do you want to be smug while the world burns or do you want to try your best even if you know it's not good enough bc it's better than nothing? One is easy on your conscience "not my fault, I didn't do it" but it's a lie bc you were complicit. The other requires some accountability and responsibility and weight on your shoulders but it also SAVES LIVES.

We aren't losing anything with Biden. We're not gaining a lot either but we don't lose ground. With Trump we could lose everything.

Also... y'all need to learn some patience. Do you know how long it took for women to get the vote? How long it took for women to get work place rights? How long it took to make spousal rape a crime?

Do you know how long it took to abolition slavery? Then to get desegregation? Then voting rights (in as much as we have them)?

Rome was not build in a day, yet you're all out here yelling bc your issue isn't solved in a few years! Do you realize HIV was running rampant for almost a decade and the President wouldn't even say the word bc who gave a shit if queers died? Or that DOMA was around for 20 years? And that was damn fast progress.

The fact universal Healthcare isn't on the platform BECAUSE THERE ISNT A FUCKING PLATFORM YET -- those get vote on at the convention. And also bc it does not have the votes to pass and it won't after Inauguartion day either.

You need to focus on eliminating the technical filibuster so straight votes can be called instead of put off forever, which will mean it only takes 50 votes -- that's the path the universal Healthcare. But no you don't want to think it through, the long hard fight of wins by inches over years and decades. You want to jump the line and get your way now, and are throwing goddamn tantrums like children when you're told that's not how it works, it never has been, not anywhere on the fucking planet in any civilization.

So go pout if you want to, but if you abdicate responsibility for making the choice of lesser evil then you also lose the right to bitch, bc literally no one in power gives a fuck about those who don't show up.

[the-firebird69]

Atlantic 2-Day Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook

There are still six ships here and out at the storms and several people are very pissed off about it. And Hera is one of them. Were sending in specialists because these guys won't move. Idiots won't move either. It doesn't make any sense. It is an experience where the higher-ups just cling to him and Tommy f is and he's telling him get off me your stupid you want to lose everybody everything and the guy is stuck there being huge f****** f****. And doesn't agree and her son says you're threatening me and you losing everything you don't get it are you stupid and it's writing a higher ups and they're all going after you I wonder if you're mentally damaged. He was thinking about this afternoon then he stopped we're going to get in the hell out of here a lot of people are and the guy has to be moved by force and we are about to apply the screws. There is a buildup of ships around these five ships or six ships and they are eliminating all of the ancillary chips and there were 20,000 they're down to like 5,000. They intend to draw him loose and get on board and pull them out anyway that they can. They have only 20 million Black ships left and some real huge ones and they're fighting them and they have only 30 million stone chips and they went in for the kill they're very close and they're hitting a lot of them and fairly soon it's going to be all over. You still have an add up as a side note for the USA military and they are not in the military okay there are no more lock in the military if you go in there you go in there and you won't come out there's probably three 400 million each small base and you people don't have the numbers to do anything but they're going to try and go into the military they say they put the ad on and their son and daughter say good for you don't let the door hit you in the ass don't ask us any questions if you don't do anything we say you could say that Tony Allen but every time you do something your people die and we hate you now we want you out of here you're a problem. And we are solving it. Pretty soon you're going to be expelled because you don't have any people left because you're a swine like Tommy f this guys are moron we didn't mention the size of his base and I'm told it's 25% the size of the USA down about 15% from when we last said earlier this afternoon. And the clones keep saying they're retreating to the ships it's actually true and the base is falling too fast there's a lot of people who noticed it

Hera

We're getting ready for a war here in Charlotte county in Florida and it is between the max and McDonald's people the max are coming in and taking their place and McDonald's said not to and sunset I thought they were not coming in that much and just trying to give me up there and we interviewed some and no so McDonald's is now fighting the max and the Mac morlock Well they are trying to align and it's not working. And we're going ahead and fighting each other and it's a huge fight.

It's too big to detail now but we're going to publish an update in a few

Thor Freya

Zues Hera

I'm sorry I ruffled so many feathers I had no idea you cared about this area so much and of course this is a place where he is and he says for me to get the hell out of here stupid and I'm losing my entire Army but you'll all pay and we have to get our ships out I didn't see something I should have followed his suggestions care less about talking to me cuz I'm so f****** stupid some of these idiots next door for a stuck to him since they're like Jesus Friend drug addicts it's not easy to say but we're stuck here and addicted to what we're doing we thought it was working and that's the way it is usually people are saying it doesn't work that way and so reverse

Tommy f

It's really a badass words the way it comes out it's backwards the math has changed now we're doing it wrong and we're all refusing to acknowledge it does not mean it's going to work

Trump

You two are pain in the ass it was important for you to listen and you did not and you s*** all over everybody Tommy f we've got to foul mouth Trump and you're a huge loser you didn't listen to anything I said I didn't really want to tell you you couldn't tell what I was saying and I was under duress a little you're so f****** lame it hurts I have machines and stuff I'm saying for the wrong reason it don't even look at it and you're f****** losers okay you're solid losers now in a big huge fight against my own people because of you and what you did to us earlier I got to tell you I have to get rid of you you too you stupid f**** have to die both groups of you trumpsters and Tommy f you're horrible people and you're stupid you can't talk about this stuff you got ruined it's not even proofing off you're so goddamn dumb you're saying you understand it above in 5 minutes you won't get it you're just going to sit here like a piece of s*** waiting to be flushed

Mac

You two are retarded Tommy F and Trump you don't know your limitations you don't know the real math even at the end of the line you can't figure it out how wonderful now people have to teach it to you so they get harmed because you're so gosh darn stupid

Zues

Hahaha true too you two are really dumb you deserve each other you need to be in the movies together and show people how freaking stupid you are you're in the future doing things he used to do and still expecting it to work and you'll get all the reports and you seen all your people die you're heavenly is so dumb

Hera

We're going to publish but the guy next door is such a loser you can't even understand what we're saying we think

Olympus

[omegangrins]

Chibnall, Children, Choice and Consequence

Allow me to introduce a companion piece to A Treatise on the Doctor:

It's pretty simple:

Chibnall knows what he's doing and is playing a long game to show how the Doctor needs to take more responsibility.

Let me start off with my favorite examples. That's right, plural.

Every single villain 13 faces is never defeated, merely pushed away from causing them any immediate problems. Tim Shaw being the prime example.

1&10. Seriously, Tim Shaw. Her plan was to use his own bombs on him and then teleport him off the planet. Even without Ranskoor Av Kolos, the Doctor should have thought to check in on him. Especially after The Ghost Monument showed the Stenza were a greater threat than she knew. She still hasn't even checked up on WHAT THE HELL THE STENZA ARE! They sound worse than Daleks but naw, let's go rain-bathing in the upper tropics of Canstano instead.

2. Ghost Monument. We saw the END of an interuniversal race. What the fuck is the beginning that got them there? Who is Illyn and how and why did he orchestrate a super race?

3. Krasko. Sent back in time. Really, Doc? Not gonna take a look at the device and see where Ryan sent the prick so you can double check that he's not gonna cause anymore damage?

4. President Trump analog. Ooooo, you looked at him menacingly, Doc, that'll show him!! Not like he's gonna KEEP DOING ILLEGAL SHIT LIKE THIS.

5. The Pting. She literally shunted it off ship to be dealt with by someone else BUT DOESN'T GO BACK TO BE THAT SOMEONE ELSE ONCE SHE HAS HER TARDIS. That's like leaving a living nuke floating around after sweeping it under the rug while you fly off to Paris.

6. The Pakistani-Indian conflict still happens and millions still die. Not her fault but still....

7. Kerblam. Sure, Charlie's terrorism was solved but not the underlying problem that led to it. Humans still can't work because corporations like profits over people.

8. Similar to the Punjab, how you gonna solve sexism, classism and all the -isms?

9. WHY WAS THE SOLITRACT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE??!! It's been around since before the universe. Why'd it decide to come back now? It's a whole universe trying to hug our universe to death. Maaaaaaybe we should check out why.

11. She's gets a pass on the Dalek. Fucking impossible to eradicate them.

12. The Master!!! Finally she checks up on something after the adventures... and it's horrible. With everything gone to shit in her absence. Seeing a pattern yet?

And Barton? And the Cassaven? They didn't disappear into smoke.

13. Multiple Earths being multiply fucked. Remember when I said the Doctor couldn't solve racism, classism, sexism, or any of the other -isms? Starting to look like she needs to TRY.

14. The Skithra FLY OFF after getting hit by a laser beam. That kind of thing tends to piss people off. Even if they're idiots using other's technology.

15. Jack. The Judoon. The Ruth Doctor. All things I'd start checking out if I had a time machine BUT

16. WE CAN'T cause the TARDIS emergency alert is going off and we need to hurry up and run and solve this problem before we run out of time in our TIME AND SPACE MACHINE. Leading to another problem the Doctor could help solve but won't. Plastic and over-consumption.

17. Oh yeah, let's trap two Eternals from another universe in the same place. There's NO WAY that could ever turn out bad.

18,19,20. And again. Cyberium. Pushed off Shelley onto herself and onto Ashad and onto The Master.

That's almost 20 "enemies" the Doctor still needs to deal with.

Oh, not to mention that they let UNIT go defunct because they didn't have the forethought to ask if they needed any money in their alien fighting budget. After asking for an office, a desk, and a job. Kinda funny that way, aren't they?

I hope by now you've gotten the idea that this is VERY deliberate. This is Chibnall laying down some very heavy pipe to smack the Doctor like a clothesline. There isn't a one of these situations that can't come around to bite her in the ass.

Barton, Roberts, Skithra. These are all very loose strands for a time traveller like the Doctor to get tripped up on. Chibnall's past episodes prove it. They're all about the Doctor learning how to take responsibility.

42: The Doctor almost gets Martha killed and almost gets himself killed trying to fix it.

The Hungry Earth: The Doctor (a thousand year old "adult") tells Elliot (a 10 year old kid) that "Sure it's totally fine to go get your headphones while we prepare for an approaching unknown alien force." And 11 rightfully gets his ass chewed for it by the child's mother when the kid goes missing because OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS, JACKASS!

Cold Blood: I could write an entire essay about the Doctor's guilt over the Silurian/Human conflicts they've witnessed, but I don't need to. Because every single Silurian centered episode written in the new era is from Chris Chibnall. And you can feel the sad knowledge of Classic Who spill through. He KNOWS how many times the Doctor has fucked up with the Silurians (about 8 times in television format. And it's rough everytime. Rough.) and he writes those episodes like an apology on behalf of the whole human race. And the Doctor. You know why people are put off by Warriors of the Deep? 5 releases a gas that melts the Silurians. And though it's cheesy, the idea and execution is still horrible.

Add to that if the Doctor hadn't stopped to check the crack, then Rory wouldn't have waited and been around to be shot then absorbed by the time crack.

Power of Three: An entire episode about how the Doctor has a problem slowing down and really taking account of the lives of their companions.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: The Doctor actually tries to be responsible and pick the right people for a job. For once. But gets angry when they realize it's too late and there's another bunch of Silurians they failed to save. Classic!

Like I said, if you can't see the pattern, you're not paying enough attention to your responsibilites.

Which leads me to the why.

When you fly around time and space for thousands of years, you develop a few duties of care along the way. In every situation, you're the oldest. Technically the only adult in terms of experience. You have a responsibility to act a little less rude and be a bit more aware than needing cue cards to tell you that you should be sad about things around you. And that's the purpose of 13. She's unlucky but learning. Like 12 telling himself something with his face he couldn't say out loud, 13's instincts are leading her to a new place for the Doctor: being a caring, responsible person. Not so much laughing hard or running fast, but being kind. It's the one thing they recognized as a problem in themselves when seeing 1. Being a Doctor is about being kinder than that. Just because you HAVE to saw someone's leg off, that doesn't mean you can't wait a little and comfort them before you do it.

You wanna know what gave me every faith in Chibnall showrunning Doctor Who? 13 staying for Grace's funeral.

Do you understand how unprecedented that is? This is the same person who never said Goodbye to Jo Grant as she got married and fucked off into the night. The same Doctor who said, "I don't do domestic.", did it with Rose a regeneration later, and then closed himself off to everyone but a married couple he felt guilty about who ended up birthing his wife. Have you any idea the number of funerals the Doctor should have the common decency to sit through? This many.

So for 13 to stay around for the death of a woman she has only just met and not only that, BUT call out Ryan's father for not doing the same, it shows tremendous character growth. It's taken millennia but they're still changing.

Something similar happens with Rosa and The Witchfinders. Realizing that there a lot of companions who have been in situations that are sometimes worse than aliens, but they still manage to make it through. So she needs to buck it up and persevere for everyone else.

That's where her anger comes from, and really it's one of my favorite traits on her. It reminds me of 7. Someone impossibly old and impossibly kind saying to hell with it and at least having some fun with the evils who drag us through the universe. And just like Cartmel planned for 7, 13's past will come to haunt her.

That's where children come in. Most of us are crying babies to the Doctor.

There's this thing you notice most in British shows about answering the question directly as asked. Someone says "Are you sure?", you answer "Sure". That's a direct acknowledgement that you heard the question, understood it, and processed it enough to respond in a manner directly correlating to the question asked. Yas and Graham got it and said "Sure" but Ryan missed it and said "Deffo". This is like Elliot with the headphones. The Doctor should have immediately been like, "Okay, Ryan, it's obvious that you're still dealing with the trauma of your grandmother's death and probably not processing things on a logical level. I said "Are you sure?" Not "Are you deffo?" Because we are most definitely not deffo, Ryan. Graham, you wanna help here?"

I'm being sarcastic for points sake but you understand the idea. The Doctor knows better and has a responsibility as such. She should've really sat down with Ryan and Graham and seen if there was a better way to process their grief.

Because I'm fairly certain that "Deffo" is gonna lead to Ryan's death and Graham's cancer resurging as time cancer (I don't know what time cancer is. I just know it's bad.)

And that is gonna piss Yas off. Which will give you all that character you think she's missing (she isn't. Her character is in her subtleties and silences.). That's WHY her character is a police officer (like how does no else see that the man who wrote Broadchurch wrote an inspector character companion?) Imagine you're Yaz and you see the Doctor flying around in a big, magic box that says POLICE. As a fellow officer, you're gonna expect some basic safety protocols.

Like do a background check on everyone flying in the TARDIS to know whether they're stable enough (mentally, physically, emotionally) for time and space travel. It's no picnic. These people are going to go through hell. A little vetting and planning like Time Heist or Dinosaurs on a Spaceship goes a long way.

Secondly, full fucking disclosure.

"Oh. I can't die because I change my body. Oh. I have arch enemies that will try to kill and torture us any chance they get. Oh. My home planet is full of the biggest assholes in the universe and I'm including my arch enemies."

Third, police like to do this thing called "check-ups" where they go back to the scene of the crime in order to see if there is any more information that can be gleaned which you might not notice when you are busy running around trying not to be killed... Like, the Doctor has the perfect machine to do this with, but nope. Adventure done, run to the next place!!

These are all things you'd expect any reasonable person to do and say when taking others flying off into time and space and "helping". Even if they are an idiot passing through and learning. Especially when you consider the Doctor is vastly older and more experienced than everyone they encounter. They SHOULD know better. And they've got the lifespan to slow down. It's not like they need to be in a hurry because they're going to die at any moment like humans. The Doctor could easily stay for tea and it would be less than a drop in their lifespan.

Now, as usually is the case when I make these theories, I have a parts 1,2,3,4 and 6. There's allways this 5th piece I miss but I manage to get at the end.

But the 6th piece is the Timeless Child. The Doctor isn't a Time Lord anymore. They're not beholden to those people and ideas anymore. Even moreso, those people basically raped her childhood for their own gain so it's not like you'd really listen to them and their "policy of non-intervention".

I'm sensing a coming Trial of a Time Lord season (even believing these two seasons are the opening statement and preliminary evidence of the trial itself) wherein the Doctor finally gets the turnaround 6 deserved. A Trial of the Time Lords, if you will.

"In all my travels through time and space I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilization: decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core! Power mad conspirators? Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen — they're still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power: that's what it takes to be really corrupt!"

This is what it's all coming down to. Chibnall's takedown of the Time Lords. And The Master is going to play the most crucial role of all.

They're going to be revealed as an Ux alongside the Doctor and show how the only constants they have in this universe are each other and it's about damn time they work together and tell these high collars to eat Schitt while they explore every star and planet they can find.

Come on, the episode is called The Timeless "Children". If it was just the Doctor it'd be called "The Timeless Child". The Master says as much with the misdirect line, "built on the lie of the Timeless Child." since we see two kids playing in that flashback.

"Since always. Since the Cloister Wars, since the night he stole the moon and the president's wife, since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie, can you guess which one?"

Now we know which one was a lie, we know the Master HAS known the Doctor since they were a little girl. THAT little girl...

But this is all just speculation. It's not like Chris Chibnall could have been thinking about this for the past 40 years and was given a blank slate to do whatever he wanted for five years on his favorite TV show. If y'all want to think he took those reigns and is choosing to make things worse...

Well then you don't know much about responsibility.

I'll let the man himself tell you about it.

"Very early in my career,” says Chibnall, “someone told me that you learn more from a failure than you do from a success. And then I lived out that phrase for a year in Los Angeles. I learned that I would not work that way again or be put in that situation again.” The essential lesson was: “You either have to be in total control of a show or working with people who share your vision and will work with you to achieve it. Also, never work with 13 executive producers.

“Camelot was the classic case of too many cooks. It wasn’t a harmonious set-up and I think that does manifest itself on screen.

“I had a fantastic cast but you have to be free to tell the story you want to tell in the way that you want to tell it. What ended up on screen was not what I wanted and so it is a blemish on my CV.”

Credit to @thirteenthdoc

“You immortals - so entitled, so spoiled. You never clear up after yourselves and you always leave stuff lying around.” - Thirteenth Doctor in Can You Hear Me?

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

I didn't want Biden to be the nominee, but he is, and I think there are many, many lives which will be saved if he can win over Trump? This is gonna seem niche because I do come from an environmental science background, but I really think there are so many lives Biden will save. The clearest reason is the EPA, which is fully within the president's control because it falls under the executive branch - it's not like under Obama the environment was treated amazingly, but the EPA did somewhat exist, and the number of regulations which have been eliminated by Trump is appalling. Pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, and lowers the quality of life of many more, but more than that it's racist, it's classist, it's the most vulnerable who live near motorways in states which will loosen their vehicle emissions standards in line with Trump, because you know the rich folks on the east coast and California don't let the air quality get bad near them. Air quality deaths don't make the news but that's because they're so normalised, that doesn't mean they're not worth trying to save. There's also stupid little things like hurricane warnings - there's a reason we keep saying Trump should go to jail for falsifying a federal weather map, that's really dangerous, and I'm sure fewer lives could've been lost in Hurricane Maria. Is it minor? Yes. Is it the only way this election could potentially save any lives? Also yes. For those few thousand lives which won't be lost to environmental racism under Biden which would've been under Trump, this actually will feel like everything. So I'm willing to vote for Biden to save those few lives - and then fight in other ways for all the many, many lives which can't be saved just by voting for Biden.

I don’t think pollution or anything environmental is niche. It affects us all and long term is going to kill huge numbers of people, I agree. It’s not quite what you’re talking about, but long term, climate change is obviously the biggest problem we are facing.

The thing is, I don’t actually think problems of pollution or any sort of environmental issue can really be solved under capitalism- it might be that you’re able to tinker with things, as with vehicle emissions, but there will be a trade off somewhere else- many large corporations can’t cope without continuing to exploit the environment.

One of the major solutions is surely state subsidized public transport? In my opinion, acting like individual car use can just continue indefinitely is part of the problem.

I just think all the energy that is being pushed into encouraging people to vote and vote specifically for a right wing, neo-liberal in what is likely to be a rigged election anyway could be better spent elsewhere. Although, if Trump dies, I guess all bets are off, so here’s hoping.

[warriorlid14]

Omfg it is so clear that this series was written by a white woman.

Yes, absolutely that is the take of the series. But just because that's the thesis doesn't mean that Suzanne Collins is right.

Yes there are arbitrary divides within the districts. Some may be better off than others but they are all oppressed (and btw Gale is the first one to bring up that this is by design). But the Capitol? Particularly those in power and the wealthy? That division is called being a fucking oppressor.

Gale isn't mad at the prep team because they're Capitolites. He hates them because they participated in the oppression of the districts and were complicit in their games. Because they lack such empathy as to watch kids die and prepare them for slaughter and not give a flying turd.

I hate hate the idea that Snow is the cause of everything bad that happens in the hunger games. Snow is a result of the system. Even if they had only killed Snow, the system that created the hunger games and the slavery of the districts would still be in place. (No, Trump wasn't some once in a life time Big Bad, Trump was a culmination of corruption and prejudice and classism and grabs for power and he won't be the last one as long as our systems are the same.)

Snow was the tip of the iceberg. The Capitol is also the problem. And the solution wasn't killing all of them sure or denying them human rights but no amount of radical love was going to fix the system when those in power benefitted from it. The districts were enslaved by design. And a lot of capitolites just didn't care because the status quo benefitted them. And they were the problem too.

The war was absolutely necessary. Does that mean everything goes? Absolutely not. But can we please stop pretending that hugs and kisses solve everything? Sometimes you need to take down the bitch that is putting kids in the kid shredder machine.

i get why a lot of people don’t like reading mockingjay as much as the rest of the trilogy, but i think it’s actually so essential to understanding the central thesis of the entire hunger games series.

the whole point of the hunger games is this: all human life is valuable, and artificial divisions between people keep them weak. and the only way out is radical love.

and this is something that is literally echoed again and again in the books. take, for example, gale. why is gale such an interesting, complex, and yet reprehensible character? yes, it’s because at the end katniss cannot separate his bomb from prim’s death. but it’s deeper than that. why does gale build the bomb in the first place? it’s because gale doesn’t see every human life as valuable. gale is willing to kill people and to deny them their humanity simply because they are his “enemy.” so, there’s the obvious example of his willingness to blow up the nut with everyone inside and his disregard for the human casualty. and the people in the nut aren’t even from the captiol, he just wants to do it because the stereotype of that district is their allegiance to the capitol, and gale hates that.

but there’s another scene, also in mockingjay, that i think goes under-discussed which is his view of katniss’ prep team. when katniss finds her prep team literally imprisoned in 13, she’s horrified and upset by the conditions they are in. but gale isn’t. and he’s confused about why katniss would care for them! her response is to say that it’s because they cried when she went to the quarter quell. and gale is like, “sure, but they’re still from the captiol.” and this argument is so important. because katniss argues that the prep team deserves to be treated as human beings, and when he presses her on why, she basically says because they treated her as a human being. but gale can’t see that–all he can see is that they’re from the capitol, and he’s confused about why katniss should care.

and this is, so crucially, what katniss learns in the hunger games. she realizes that she doesn’t want to kill the other tributes just because they are from the other districts. she hates the fact that they have turned her against people who are, in their core, just like her. frightened children who have been manipulated to kill other children against their will, all selected based on their district, a social divide that has literally been invented and imposed on them.

and another just absolutely essential thing to understand here is that peeta knows this all along. we talk at length about how peeta’s defining trait is his kindness. but what’s so important about peeta’s kindness is how it transcends any boundaries of social class or social division.

when peeta gives katniss the bread, it’s important to note that just before he does that, we hear his mother talking about “seam brats pawing through her trash.” peeta’s mother buys into the social divides in district twelve–she views herself as better than someone from the seam simply because of her standing as a merchant, and reinforces these class divides by refusing to extend the simplest humanity to a child from the seam. she literally refuses to feed a starving child on the grounds of a social divide, within a world that already has divided them into districts. but peeta doesn’t see it like this. peeta refuses to deny katniss food just because she’s from the seam. peeta gives her kindness. peeta gives her humanity.

and he does the same thing in the games! his entire first interview, the dramatic king focuses, not on the games, but on his genuine love and adoration for another tribute. how radical! to refuse to subscribe to a system which asks him to hate her? to want to kill her? and to instead confess his love for her? sure, katniss ends up being the mockingjay. katniss might have held out the berries. but peeta in that moment is the one who sets the rebellion in motion. peeta is the one who refuses to engage in the senseless hatred of someone who “should” be his enemy. instead, he reaches out in love.

and it all culminates at the end of mockingjay, when katniss votes for the capitol hunger games to gain coin’s trust. and peeta is utterly horrified by this. because he can’t understand how she could have been through everything he has been through and not understand that continuing to senselessly kill human beings (children!!) for some kind of revenge just reinforces these binary modes of thinking. but the thing is–katniss DOES see that. and when coin proposes it, that’s when she knows she has to stop her. because coin, like gale, like peeta’s mother, and like so others many around her, is still buying into these divides. is still viewing the captiol as the enemy. is still viewing a human life as expendable. 

and there’s a quote in mockingjay that i think lays this out pretty explicitly. katniss says, after she kills coin and is recovering, point blank: “they can design dream weapons that come to life in my hands, but they will never again brainwash me into the necessity of using them.” she’s realized the crux of the entire hunger games–that manipulating us to hate and kill our fellow humans, that drawing up divisions between people because of where they live and what they produce, that believing that hating someone on the basis of any of these is justification for their death, is all a farce. it’s all a distraction. it’s all pretend. she says, in the same chapter: “no one benefits in a world where these things happen.” not the districts. not the capitol. not the victors. no one.

the entire arc of the hunger games is really just about katniss catching up to what peeta has known from the start. katniss overcoming all the manipulation from those around her, all the glitz and glamour, all the artificial social and class divides to see what peeta has seen clearly from the start: love.

[dippedanddripped]

Currently, brands around the world are reckoning not only with the reality of police brutality, but with inequality, injustice, and racism at large (often in terms of how they relate to their own business practices). But for Tremaine Emory and his label Denim Tears, justice and social change have always been front and center, and a part of the brand’s DNA. In fact, Emory has spent the last few years further proving that education and social justice are not independent of “hype.” In 2017, following the death of his mother, he released T-shirts to benefit Every Mother Counts, an organization dedicated to providing health care to mothers around the world.

In 2018, he collaborated with artist Brendan Fowler on up-cycled T-shirts given away to kids who proved they voted. Earlier this year, for the brand’s first big collaboration, he released a capsule with Levi’s that referenced the cotton African Americans were forced to pick under slavery. In short, they became an instant classic. (If you want a pair of the jeans today, they’ll run you $3,000 on eBay.)

So in this moment of immense unrest, in which arguably more Americans than ever are discussing police brutality and thinking of ways to create a truly equitable society for all, Emory’s first move was to drop a T-shirt, the proceeds of which will benefit Know Your Rights Camp. But, as you might expect from his previous work, he’s not stopping there. On Friday, he took to Instagram to announce his latest collaboration—a take on the classic Converse Chuck Taylor—that is inspired by David Hammons’ iconic “African-American Flag,” an artwork first released in 1990 that depicts a red, black, and green version of the U.S.A.’s stars and stripes.

The announcement came with a major caveat: Emory will not allow Nike (Converse’s parent company) to release the shoes until he feels the Swoosh has done more to help—and more to bring about lasting change—than its $40 million donation to black community organizations, which he dubs a “very expensive band-aid.”

Here’s what Emory is looking for before giving the green light on the shoes: 1) Nike must stop supporting the Republican Party as long as Donald Trump is the party’s leader 2) Report how many people of color and women work for the brand versus how many they sponsor 3) Report how many people of color and women have leadership roles at Nike and 4) Nike must aid in helping defund police departments across the country.

Below, we spoke to Emory about the sneakers, what inspired this line-in-the-sand moment, and his vision for the future of black creatives in America.

Was this a project that you had been working on with Nike before this? Like, are they aware of this project or is this just something that you decided to take on now and just like put it out in the universe before they even knew about it?

No, no, they paid me a design fee. So it’s been in the works for like a year, six months.

Was the project always going to look like this, or has it changed over time? Just tell me a little bit more about it.

Nike first reached out and was like, we want to do a shoe with you and Denim Tears, with some other designers of color, for Black History Month. It was supposed to be like last year and then, I think it got pushed, but, I’m not sure about the timing, it was like me and a couple of other designers. And then, things are happening, things are happening then they’re like, “Oh, we’re going to put it out”. It was supposed to come out this summer, and then due to COVID, it got pushed to 2021, which was fine.

Did they have an issues with the design?

They didn’t like my box. They didn’t want to use the coffin [as the shoe box]. I told them the coffin represents every black person’s plight, that’s died since the beginning of slavery to now. And they felt it was offensive to the US military, even had a problem with me using the flag in general. Then they were finally cool with that, but they felt the flag on the coffin was offensive to the military, which I’m like, it’s the pan-African flag and no disrespect to the US military. It’s based on David Hammons’ flag and Marcus Garvey’s flag. To all the blacks, blacks, people of color that have suffered since the beginning, the dawn of this nation.

And now that we’re in this moment, are you hopeful that they’ll change their opinion on all things you just mentioned?

The sneakers are on roll to come out. I have a marketing budget and everything. My thing is like the $40 million [donation] isn’t enough. Think about it. Kanye gave two million and he’s one person he’s worth $1.3 billion. How many billions per quarter does Nike make? 40 million isn’t enough. And also even if they gave a billion dollars, if they don’t position that money to change the institutionalized white supremacy and racism in America, the money’s a waste. It needs to help defund the police that brutalized people of color, women, gays, everyone across America. Help defund the police. Help make it so the police do not have immunity.

And it’s not enough for LeBron to be safe because he slipped through the cracks of white supremacy through his hard work, talent and some luck. And through his mother raising him. Every kid needs to be protected. You know?

Absolutely.

Nike cannot support and donate money to the Republican party whilst Donald Trump is running for president. It’s fine. I don’t have no problem with people choosing to be Republican or Democrat. It’s a choice. But Donald Trump has vitriol that he spits. He didn’t mention George Floyd once until the protest started. Not once. “Looting means shooting.” Nike’s going to give money to that man’s campaign? To his party while he’s their front runner?

So you’re looking for a lot more transparency there in terms of who Nike actually is supporting both politically and with their products at the local level.

It’s what Ben & Jerry’s said, that level of white supremacy is institutionalized and keeps the foot on us. Anything less than what Ben & Jerry did [is not enough]. And anything less than them, not just putting money, but helping change policies in America, for people of color, the LGBT community, and women. Anything less than that, there’s nothing. And me personally, I can’t control any of my peers, what they do, but I can control what I do. And the third thing is I need to see the percentage of people of color, LGBTs and women comparatively to the percentage of people of color, who Nike sponsors. I’m not just talking about LeBron and Travis Scott. I’m talking about the little kid who lives in Jamaica, Queens that plays on a CYO team, that has a jersey, that has a Nike check on it.

When did you learn that Nike is such a big supporter of the Republican Party?

It’s easy to look into the donations. Just look for yourselves, see if I’m right or wrong and look where they donate most of their money.

Is that as a company or are those individuals who work for the company? I’m worried about the company. That’s as a company.

Let’s talk about the design of the shoes. Can you talk a little bit about David Hammons and what he means to you and why you decided to reference that in the sneakers?

David Hammons is an artist who I’ve been seeing his art for a long time floating around. And then, I got formally put onto him by my friends, Virgil [Abloh] and Acyde. And we’ve been talking about and sharing his artwork for years, you know, longer than I’ve known those guys.

He’s just one of my favorite artists. When I first found out about him, I was a bit upset because why did I only know about Basquiat? I felt I hadn’t been searching enough. And then also the art world had not shown me him the same way they show me Basquiat, who’s incredible in his own right. But they just gave us that one token. And there’s so many great artists of color, of both genders that don’t get exposed, He’s become one of my biggest inspirations.

What does Hammons’ flag mean to you? We don’t have a flag as my OG says. The Africans that were taken as slaves from Africa, we’re no longer Africans. We’re mutated. We’re mutated from our ancestors into black Americans. And David made our flag in 1990 based on Marcus Garvey’s flags. Marcus Garvey’s thing was about us going back, but you know what? We built this country and I want what we deserve. What do Native Americans deserve? The Asians, Chinese deserve that built the railroads, that sat in internment camps. The Japanese. Everyone, the Jews, all the minorities based on their skin color, the gender and the economic status to get what we deserve. And the power needs to be equally distributed. America is run by corporate, Fortune 500 companies and they lobby the politicians.

It’s not just the politicians. We need the corporations to step up and squeeze the politicians to get it. Look at the NRA. All the school shootings that happen and the NRA still has guns. Don’t just say it will be solved. They lobby so that they are no matter how many kids will kill in school. So I need Nike and all these other corporations that make money off of people of color and women, the LGBTs, to lobby for us. So we are protected as the NRA is.

In terms of referencing David Hammons, are there any initiatives on your side to formally collaborate with the artist or the estate?

I would love to work with David Hammons, but his work just speaks for itself. So honestly, that’s why I didn’t want to reach out to him. I just wanted to interpret his flag because I wouldn’t want to take it. His vision is pure. His artistry’s pure. The way he, as far as I know is pure. So I wouldn’t want to taint it with…this is what I’m going through with Nike and everyone’s going through it.

What’s your assessment of the lengths that companies in general are going to at this moment or that they need to get to in the future? Particularly other brands in the fashion space.

Take Balenciaga, who said they’re donating annually to the NAACP. I need them to make it so a Black kid or a Mexican kid or Asian kid, or a trans kid, can intern at Balenciaga or anywhere in the fashion industry, because why is the fashion industry mainly upper class white people? Because when you get out of fashion school, if you can even afford it, get a scholarship to make it as a minority. Can you do the internship that you don’t get paid for? That’s systemic change. That’s changed the institution of white supremacy across the world, across the Western world. So I need them to dig deep, deep, not a fancy expensive band aid.

How do you feel about how all these other corporations tend to give people of color these sort of collaborations in certain moments, as opposed to all year round? You mentioned in the very beginning that the speaker was intended as a Black History Month collaboration.

I think it’s counterproductive to long term change. Bring people soup when they’re sick, not flowers to the funeral, literally.

White supremacy and capitalism have been working for 400 years just in America alone. So, it works every day. I need Nike and every other billion dollar company to work every day, to change it for women, for black people, Mexican people, for everybody. That’s what I need.

What do you mean when you say it’s counterproductive?

We have to song and dance and do a version of a minstrel show for these corporations to pay our bills. And you know what, I’m not dancing no more. Like I was able to pay my bills and have fun with my friends and live happily when I was a stock guy at Marc Jacobs. And I’ve been building up to this and I’ve had so much support from my friends and my ancestors and the books I read and the movies I’ve seen, and the conversations we have, I’m going to do my best. And I will not be perfect. People were finding flaws in my movement, but I don’t want to dance anymore in any major company that I work with and collaborate with. I have to see that they have women, LGBTs and people of color in positions throughout all levels of the company. And I need to see that these companies are fighting against white patriarchal supremacy that affects women of all colors, affects LBGT, poor people in general and people of color. In the Western world, North America specifically. And that’s what I’m, I’m going to try and hold it. Maybe it doesn’t cost me anything, maybe everything, maybe not, I don’t know.

We work in fashion, so when we criticize capitalism, some people tend to say, “Well, if there was no capitalism, then you wouldn’t have those fancy clothes and fancy sneakers that you like so much.” How do you respond to that kind of comment?

That’s called Stockholm syndrome. And people who make those comments are suffering from it. At the end of the day, I can only speak for myself. My ancestors were brought here as slaves. So I’m here and I’m fighting it out and I’m rumbling. I got family members that got Crohn’s disease that need help with insurance. I got a grandmother who’s 92 years old that needs financial help. I got another one that’s 93 year old that needs financial help. I got to pay my rent. So I still live in reality. Because you see what happens when we go full throttle, Black Panther— they wipe you out. So I’m in the system, building a system next to the system, but I will no longer do the Trojan Horse method, which I’ve done, where you creep in and then you try to bring in a couple with us.

You can’t try to outsmart racism. You cannot try to outsmart capitalism. People will say, like, “Oh you, but you, but you got a Rolex.” Martin Luther King had a Rolex too. And he also had a bullet in his head on the balcony of the Lorraine. You know what I mean?

[the-firebird69]

Current events are making Max very arrogant and they're trying to have my son turn on people and it's not working so good they're in trouble too they have a similar psychosis that Trump has and they're going to fall for it and foreigners keep pushing it and I think we have nothing without trying we polished off Trump but they don't know what to make of it they think it might be Mac so they're going after Max too they should anyways but heck

Trump is on his knees now and doesn't seem to know it we're going to push him around to make him do stuff all day and all night until we get what we need and want and our son has stuff also going to run them around and get rid of the remnants of his idiot race. There's going to be frequent attacks until they're nothing in the until they're nothing in the Midwest on the mega bases our son predicts it's already begun one octillion here two septillion there they take a smaller group with a special that looks like us can get by the security and so forth they've been trying the whole time but now they're going to keep trying it over and over and over and they keep saying it's because of that group of stopping us and they look behind them and they pass it on so far today 10 octillion died doing that and groups ranging from two septillion to one Octillion. It's true of all the other areas and things they're trying to go after they keep sending these groups out to the iron thinking that they're hidden cuz they're smaller and they try and infiltrate others and they can't and they get wiped out then another one goes and says it was our own and they keep doing it there is about 200 octillion have died this morning after the major chunk of them left and it's going on solidly

Here in Florida 300 octillion an hour are dying trying to get here and mostly the whole place is empty of Trump no they keep filling it up somehow they're getting in and people are not blocking it it's a problem and it should be solved and we're going to have to handle it he says cuz I don't want people getting the goodies which are at the end of the line of theirs and we get that too I'm going to put the order out now

In Washington DC they're losing about 100 octillion an hour and Trump doesn't realize he's almost gone and our son says we should show people that he's weaker at least and have us to pay flipping up and down when I was talking and him not paying attention to people and getting angry at them for trying to mention the toupee things like that work actually I'm going to try it but really 100 octillion an hour is a lot but some thinks it'll increase and we do too I think it's going to go up to about 500 and by the afternoon it's going to start going down 200-300 and then rapidly because there are no more big groups and they won't be able to get ships and he'll think they just can't get chips when they try to get chips they'll be dead so I'm going to try for small fast ones and spaceships and they're going to be getting killed rapidly this afternoon is is their end and the timing is right this week so we'll not see you next Tuesday Trump

Thor Freya

Zues Hera

Olympus

Goodbye Trump farewell and good riddance I wish you were never born you're so bad at it

Bja

We don't need you Trump get lost oh you already are and don't know it we know it we see all of you dying do you know why well we're the ones killing you

Bg

Without captured yet you stupid a****** Trump you're such a dumb prick you fall for everything do a massive search for me you're an idiot you hardly know who he is all the time you don't know what he's made of or what he does we need to die actually do

Jason and I know where my stuff is you took Trump and I'm going to take it back now tons of people are but doing so we're going to throw another shrimp on the barbie

I guess we're checking out and no one cares we wrecked the hotel is why I got to tell you it just keeps happening we say stuff we think it's a good idea and we go ahead and do it and then it's done and we can't stop it you say it's my name you didn't change the name and you're hooky piece of s*** I tried to cancel out the character it didn't work and you're right that's what John Candy is and it's the max you all better watch out for that BG and bja the initials mean stuff

Trump

We know you're right we know you tried to take a big chunk out of us and that's the problem he's trying to fight the max with you and it was working you turned on us and it ruined you and us that's why we don't care and we know the max are having to do it but we still don't care because you did it

Bg

Yes we're wrong and where the wigger here and we apologize for that but we tried to get stronger and it didn't work

Trump

We're watching all this wondering what's going on now we saw you do all this Trump and you're a loser a fact I'm going to get my stuff now

Garth

I'm tired of you people using the n word and forcing my son to use it all the time but that's what you people are you explained it to me that you don't listen to wigger and he doesn't want to call you the n word but really you have a response to it that's unique and it motivates me and he knows it I keep stopping him so he's tried not to use it for quite a while but you people are horrible you're nasty nasty people and you need to really feel the pain and you need to leave you too Mac Daddy you ruined our son's personal life and you don't think it's any business of yours or his or ours or whatever you're nuts okay you're stupid you need to check out and you're going to very soon

Gu Oya

You're going to die many times over and over your brain Mac Daddy fully we don't care about your transplant you don't know anything anymore you gave it all up we had to get the Intel you're just a piece of sopping s*** and you're ruining our son's life and we don't appreciate it so we're going to walk all over you he's got so much money and so many things and he can't get any of it because of you and your assini and cronies who wrecked your entire realm you're a p**** okay you let these people do it to you and you're ruined we don't respect you at all

Olympus

I don't give a darn no this Trump guy's got to go if I'm going down these people have to get out and know that they failed and they failed the entire realm

Mac

I do understand something if we keep them around they're going to ruin stuff they're over here trying to take ships some people just kind of f*** around with them and they end up dying

Claudia

[the-firebird69]

Let's explain it because he's stupid private you are taunting him for months in the house in Port Charlotte and you still are when he goes there he says dan you better get the f*** out of the way and you hide in your room we know why you come out there and trying to solve them and he kills you gives you a heart attacks does all sorts of things to you cuz you won't shut your face is the same thing is Joe Big Joe has killed you about 20 times but this guy is not supposed to be able to kill you and you got killed and disappeared you had pneumonia and the card you out now we don't know where you went and it's probably horrible and our boy here says Trump set you up knew they had to regain his fleet and he had you fight me as you said by having stand fight me I mean Trump fight me in Stan which was ridiculous so we did figure it out and Trump didn't do it to you and he is paying for it and you can't have an outsider fight as Trump and you keep doing it and you keep doing this crap s*** and the bug s*** and practically everything that ruins society and everything else and everybody should be after you and we are again she have stashes and cashes of our stuff all over the world still and you're small it's like one septillion of you you need to be wiped out they say they having trouble because they can't be identified as a party doing it even the cage you are always said to be ours it's not really true but we should really leave the way in this I'm suggesting that we do

Mike tew

We're going ahead and having a meeting about Dan and Trump your massive blasphemy it's not just them there's a group of them here and they're all these crazy people following him around having to do stuff he wants to it's A heartache he's just sitting there killing you and it's killing all of your people cuz you're stupid

Mac daddy and yeah Dan it was accidental you were there you really use the right palm or nothing is just pushing you it's your fault cuz you're weak you're heavy and fat and your ribs couldn't take the power of the punch or the push or whatever it was the other one that did it on purpose okay is it right the stand is ground you should go to jail for that we're starting to fight and for showing up here in fact I'm sitting in charges against you the threatens him too that's why

Mac

We're going to block you like we have been cuz we know he died it's involuntary manslaughter and you're the one saying it Mac Daddy now he's going to start blabbing it and we're going to get rid of him no body no person no evidence then they'll blame us for his death he says it's perfect that's what Tony soprano does several times doing and others up there like Jason she's got a winning game right... She sure does

Bitol and Goddess Wife by the way we submitted several lawsuits they're going very well huge numbers of witnesses came out giant giant numbers of witnesses and they all want to testify against you schmucks here ruining everything I'm going through the crab real fast since I grab these idiot crabs feed them to these Godzillas and get it over with well I sound upset because I'm stuck here no prisoner of war and what I'm saying is logic needs to be checked these there's too many crabs they're out of control and they nasty havoc on massive machines that are very deadly and actually stood their ground a little with our Galactus and Galactica I want them gone we're going to use them and we use them up and we're going to get them ready and feed and big numbers and it's working

Our son said that last part and he had to break in. The reason why is because he needs a cage out and it's perfect perfect timing cuz these people are attacking the crabs and his son orchestrated the attack said geez there are too many there's tons of them says he can you fry them and just pull them out and use them feed him the show turns kind of crunchy if you fry it but really it turns weak and he's right you can fry these things like Japanese food feed them to the kju it's way too many of them I'm having Hera the order these people are going to go after the crabs anyways cuz if Trump and Dan. You going to play again if you keep talking harassing me little baby with your stupid computer well f****** idiot you should be running for me like you come here and I take out your clan take all your stuff it's such a f****** dick. Now you guys are smarter than you really should be it's amazing how sharp you are you ran off to the UK and jumped in with a whole bunch of crabs and died that is just stellar stuff

Our son said that again and Stan chimed in and said you're so weak that it hurts and it's real and he's been saying it too get those pile of s*** away from me I don't want to convince him his fleet s*** I don't want to talk about all this stuff on the open and this moron is constantly inciting me and angry me I'm running me around all day long bothering me a bunch of f****** love sick hounds you're completely delusional he has no people his clan doesn't do anything all this stuff is wrong so I asked me to leave Stan says you don't leave in a force you out too I'm sitting there buttering me up and you were on the phone threatening me I heard the threats and I wrote it down and sending it into the court tomorrow morning any other open and Stan please it's a just a huge clusterfect that breaks out and he's right you write s*** about him and everyone gets on you you're worried about you and hardly anyone gets on me and your people disappear Dan so did Trump and he says it's what we did together cuz we had to he's a rebel and he was coming after rebels and he's no good and you're no good is there a fat cork is a piece of dog s*** now stands on a Mac but his people could be actrors say the max are still around.

I asked way my grandfather who runs China about it and he says it's a real job we're going to say we wiped them out.

So soon and I sued tons and tons of lawsuits went out today for here are you heavy breathing losers copying my son you like dead zombies horrible like the same dude this Dan is a freak he got killed by her son and he's sitting there laughing about it all day long I'm going to kill you so he blocked Sherry from doing it and she says okay this is why and he was attacking me and he really deserves to be dead or in jail not around me it's constant stupid stuff like this it's destroying you guys so she looks up and says what am I supposed to do he keeps telling me what's wrong so we go to Mac and say this guy is ruining everything we're trying it's as I know I can't seem to shut him up or stop him so going after his fleet again even though little b**** is crying they're hiring Tom Cruise to do it too it's a pain in the ass you need to just knock the whole thing out this won't shut up until it's gone besides and it's becoming a radiator and it's really neat the ships are getting irradiated and it's because they're doing it on purpose

Bitol and Goddess wife