#spike cohen

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

We recently talked to political activist and Libertarian funny man, Spike Cohen about Julian Assange's recent release and the chilling effect his plea deal means for the future of journalism.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guest-spike-cohen-why-assange-is-free-trumps-5-d-chess/id1439014279?i=1000660801816

Spotify: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guest-spike-cohen-why-assange-is-free-trumps-5-d-chess/id1439014279?i=1000660801816

[peer2peace]

Embracing Individuality: Breaking Free from Fear and Division

Each one of us is unique, a miracle of statistical improbability with thoughts, opinions, feelings, and life experience that differs from every other person who has ever lived. At the same time, we are all tied together as members of the human race, with a communal bond in our shared individuality. We are bombarded by messaging designed to make us feel anxious, powerless, afraid, and…

[brightlotusmoon]

[toakatdot]

Five Celebrities Who Are Mets Fans

Once upon a time, in the land of New York, there was a beloved baseball team called the Mets. They were known for their loyal fans and enthusiastic spirit (Because Fuck the Yankees!). The Mets had an interesting following, not just among the average Joe, but also among celebrities. Yes, you read that right. Celebrities are not just fans of the glitz and glamour, but they also take their sport…

[mariacallous]

Updated vaccines against Covid-19 are coming, just as hospitalizations and deaths due to the virus are steadily ticking up again.

Today, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized new mRNA booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer, and a panel of outside experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to recommend the shots to everyone in the United States ages 6 months and older. Once Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Mandy Cohen signs off on the recommendations and the vaccines are shipped, people can start getting the boosters.

The recommendation is projected to prevent about 400,000 hospitalizations and 40,000 deaths over the next two years, according to data presented at the meeting by CDC epidemiologist Megan Wallace.

This year’s mRNA vaccines are different from the 2022 booster in a key way. Last year’s shot was a bivalent vaccine, meaning it covered two variants: the original one that emerged in China in 2019, plus the Omicron subvariant BA.5, which was circulating during much of 2022. This fall’s booster drops the original variant, which is no longer circulating and is unlikely to return. It targets just the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, which was dominant throughout much of 2023.

Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines work by introducing a tiny piece of genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, that carries instructions for making SARS-CoV-2’s characteristic spike protein. Once it is injected, cells in the body use those instructions to temporarily make the spike protein. The immune system recognizes the protein as foreign and generates antibodies against it. Those antibodies stick around so that if they encounter that foreign invader again, they will mount a response against it.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus has acquired new mutations in its spike protein and elsewhere. These mutations result in new variants and subvariants that diverge from the original virus. When enough mutations accumulate, these new versions can more easily evade the antibodies created by previous vaccine doses or infections.

The constantly evolving nature of the virus is the reason health regulators decided last year to update the original mRNA vaccines, which were designed against the version of the virus that first appeared in 2019. This year, once again, the virus has changed enough to warrant an updated booster.

In June, an advisory committee to the FDA recommended that this fall’s booster be a monovalent vaccine—targeting only the then-dominant XBB.1.5 subvariant.

At that meeting, committee members reviewed evidence suggesting that the inclusion of the original variant may hamper the booster’s effectiveness against newer offshoots. “The previous bivalent vaccine contained the ancestral spike and thus skewed immune responses to the old spike,” says David Ho, a professor of microbiology at Columbia University whose research, which is not yet peer-reviewed, was among the evidence the FDA panel reviewed. “This is what we call immunological imprinting, and it results in lack of immune responses to the new spike.” He thinks taking out the old variant should optimize the immune response.

But over the past few months, even newer Omicron offshoots have arrived. Currently, EG.5.1, or Eris, is the dominant one in the United States, United Kingdom, and China. Meanwhile, a variant called BA.2.86, or Pirola, has been detected in several countries. Pirola has raised alarm bells because it has more than 30 new mutations compared to XBB.1.5.

Even though the new boosters were formulated against XBB.1.5, they’re still expected to provide protection against these new variants. “The reason is, while antibodies are important in protection against mild disease, the critical part of the immune response that’s important for protecting against severe disease is T cells,” says Paul Offit, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania and member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee.

These cells are a different part of the immune response. Unlike antibodies, which neutralize a pathogen by preventing it from infecting cells, T cells work by eliminating the cells that have already been invaded and boosting creation of more antibodies. Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines produce long-lasting T cells in addition to antibodies.

It’s why, Offit says, when the Omicron wave hit in late 2021 and peaked in January 2022, the US didn’t see a dramatic increase in hospitalizations and deaths even as cases rose significantly: People’s T cells kicked into gear, even when their antibodies didn’t recognize the Omicron variant.

“In some ways,” says Offit, when it comes to vaccine booster development, “it almost doesn’t matter what we pick to target” because the coronavirus has yet to evolve away from T cell recognition. “Everything works.”

Scientists think T cells are able to protect against severe Covid because they’re recognizing parts of the virus that have remained unchanged throughout the pandemic. “I suspect that as we continue to vaccinate, there are some conserved regions [of the virus],” says Jacqueline Miller, Moderna’s head of infectious diseases. “So even with the accumulation of mutations, we’re still building on previous immunity.”

People who have hybrid immunity—that is, have had a Covid infection and have also been vaccinated—seem to have the best immune responses to new variants, she says, which suggests that previous exposure shapes and improves immune responses to new variants. Preliminary studies show that antibodies generated by previous infections and vaccinations should be capable of neutralizing Pirola.

Earlier this month, Moderna issued a press release saying that clinical trial data showed that its updated booster generated a strong immune response against Pirola, as well as the more prevalent Eris variant.

In a statement to WIRED, Pfizer spokesperson Jerica Pitts said the company continues to closely monitor emerging variants and conduct tests of its updated monovalent booster against them. Data presented at Tuesday’s CDC meeting showed that Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated booster elicited a strong neutralizing antibody response against both Eris and Pirola.

The FDA expects that Covid-19 vaccines will continue to be updated on an annual basis, unless a completely new variant emerges that requires a different approach. “We will always be a little behind the virus,” says Ho. “In this instance, we won’t suffer too much, but that might not be the case going forward. Surveillance is imperative.”

[kaijuno]

My name is Spike Cohen, and I ate 10 pounds of food.

Last Sunday, I went to a hibachi restaurant with my wife, my mother and my cousins to celebrate Mom's birthday.

If you've ever been to a hibachi restaurant, you know that they give you an insane amount of rice.

I usually eat a keto diet. This day would be an obvious exception.

I hadn't eaten all day, so I decided to order extra scallops, in case the laughably large amount of food they give wasn't enough.

My wife doesn't eat rice, so I got her portion too. I knew that going into this struggle.

She also had them give me her shrimp. That, I hadn't anticipated.

But I'm a man, and that really doesn't excuse any of this but I'm going to say it anyway.

When my cousin Sherri asked the chef to give me her rice portion as well, I knew that I was in danger.

As the food continued to pile onto my plate, I had to form a mesa of sorts with the rice, so that the shrimp, scallops, and vegetables wouldn't fall off.

Because God forbid I neglect to eat any of it.

A pile of food would come. I'd eat it, and then get back to chipping away at my Rice Mesa.

And then another pile of food would come.

And then another.

I felt like Sisyphus, except his task at least made him more fit.

Mine put me at serious risk of hospitalization.

Nevertheless, I persisted.

My cousins said that I could take the rest to go and eat it later.

My wife informed them that I would be eating all of this food tonight, because I have a problem.

Minutes turned into hours. Not that I could keep track of time.

Nothing felt real anymore.

What we call "reality" stripped away from what was left of my consciousness.

Nothing existed but me and the endless pile of food.

At some point, the rest of the family was getting bored and wanted to leave, so I had to pack my leftovers into a to-go container.

To put it in perspective, less than half the food was left, and it barely fit into a full size styrofoam clamshell container.

As I packed the food in, my wife and mother insisted that it wouldn't fit.

My own wife and mother.

It hurt me to know that they didn't believe in me. In retrospect, I was probably a little overly emotional because my blood sugar was somewhere north of 800.

But Mark believed.

"It's rice", we both said, almost in unison. "You can really pack it in there."

And we were right.

You can really pack rice in there.

My family pleaded with me, "please Spike, please don't eat the rest of that food tonight. We are worried that you will die."

I said "of course I won't eat the rest of it tonight. I've had more than enough."

But my wife said "he's going to eat this before it gets cold."

"No no" I insisted. "This will make a great lunch for tomorrow."

She continued looking at my family.

"He has a problem."

My own wife.

First she didn't think I could pack that rice into the container. Now she thinks I'll eat the leftovers, when I insisted that I wouldn't.

I was heartbroken.

How could the woman I had pledged my life to, my Queen, my very rib, plucked from me and formed as I doth sleep, have so little faith in me?

It was a long and quiet ride home.

I felt alone, betrayed even.

At this point my blood sugar was hovering somewhere around 1200.

I'd estimate that I consumed roughly 600 grams of carbs, and 43,000 mg of sodium.

(I didn't bother calculating the protein and fat, because counting the macros of this meal seemed like a mockery of God and His creation)

All of this would have broken a weaker man.

But not me.

Unlike many lesser Jews, I am stronger than my addiction to Asian food.

My name is Spike Cohen, and I ate the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's recommend weekly allowance of calories in one sitting.

This is my story.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive (Daily updates!)

mRNA vaccines and infection miss the mark with your long-lived plasma cells (Aka the library of the immune system). That means you need to 1. keep up to date on your mRNA shots for best protection 2. switch to a protein-based shot (such as novavax) if you can. The protein delivery method seems to not have this same issue with long immune memory.

By Jon Cohen

Neither vaccinations nor immunity from infections seem to thwart SARS-CoV-2 for long. The frequency of new infections within a few months of a previous bout or a shot is one of COVID-19’s most vexing puzzles. Now, scientists have learned that a little-known type of immune cell in the bone marrow may play a major role in this failure.

The study, which appeared last month in Nature Medicine, found that people who received repeated doses of vaccine, and in some cases also became infected with SARS-CoV-2, largely failed to make special antibody-producing cells called long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs). “That’s really, really interesting,” says Mark Slifka, an immunologist at the Oregon Health & Science University who was not involved with the work. The study authors say their finding may indicate a way to make better COVID-19 vaccines: by altering how they present the spike surface protein of SARS-CoV-2 to a person’s immune cells.

Durability is an age-old bugaboo of vaccine designers. Some vaccines, particularly ones made from weakened versions of viruses, can protect people for decades, even life. Yet others lose effectiveness within months. “We really haven’t overcome this challenge,” says Akiko Iwasaki, a Yale University immunologist who is developing a nasal COVID-19 vaccine she hopes can be given often enough to get around the durability problem.

Just how long a shot can protect against SARS-CoV-2 is hard to assess because variants of the virus, able to evade existing immunity, frequently emerge. And new infections muddle attempts to assess vaccine durability because they provide a “boost” that keeps immunity from waning. Multiple immune actors also provide protection, including antibodies, T cells, and natural killer cells.

To get a clearer picture, the new study examined LLPCs, which are responsible for durable immunity to some other viruses. These cells, the offspring of B cells, primarily reside in the bone marrow. For some viruses, vaccination or infection generate LLPCs that can survive for decades, steadily producing “neutralizing antibodies” that can thwart new infections.

But not so with SARS-CoV-2, the new work indicates. Emory University immunologists Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, Doan Nguyen, and their colleagues enrolled 19 people who agreed to have their marrow aspirated, a procedure that carries little risk but can be painful because it means piercing bone. All had received between two to five doses of messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines—which code for SARS-CoV-2’s spike—during the preceding 3 years. Five reported having had COVID-19, as well. The study subjects had also been vaccinated recently against influenza and had booster shots for tetanus, a bacterial disease.

Lee and her colleagues found that nearly all participants had LLPCs in their bone marrow that secreted antibodies against tetanus and flu. But only one-third had plasma cells generating the same defense against SARS-CoV-2. Even in those subjects, just 0.1% of the antibodies generated by their LLPCs were specific for SARS-CoV-2, an order of magnitude less than for tetanus and flu. “The paper is very informative,” Iwasaki says.

An earlier study of bone marrow from 20 people who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 but never vaccinated against it also found that they were “deficient” in LLPCs specific to SARS-CoV-2 compared with those for tetanus. The new results “were really consistent with what we found,” says Mohammad Sajadi of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, whose team reported the data in the 25 July issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. “The big question is why?”

SARS-CoV-2’s surface features may offer an answer, Lee and her co-authors say. LLPCs emerge after “naïve” B cells encounter a virus or a piece of it, such as the spike protein. As B cells mature, they make more refined antibodies that better bind to the invader. After the initial infection, memory B cells continue to patrol the blood and a subset differentiates into plasma cells. Some of those cells migrate to the bone marrow, which provides safe haven for their long-term antibody production.

B cells carry Y-shaped receptors that attach to viral surface proteins when they identify a pathogen. If both branches of the Y bind to the same pathogen proteins, they trigger a phenomenon called “cross-linking,” Which spurs B cells to transform into LLPCs. But electron microscopy of SARS-CoV-2 shows its spikes are about 25 nanometers apart, too distant for a single B cell receptor to readily bind to two at once.

Spike doesn’t just appear on the virus itself; it also protrudes from infected cells and cells stimulated by mRNA vaccines. Electron micrographs don’t show the proteins and their spacing, but immunologists suspect the SARS-CoV-2 molecules are widely spaced on these cells, as well. As a result, Lee and her co-authors suggest, B cells don’t become cross-linked, and LLPCs don’t develop.

Other kinds of vaccines might present spike more effectively. Slifka points to an approved vaccine against human papillomavirus, which consists of a “viruslike particle” (VLP) made from surface proteins of that pathogen. Those proteins self-assemble into something that resembles a soccer ball. “That’s a very rigid structure with great spacing and it induces incredibly durable antibody responses,” Slifka says.

Martin Bachmann, an immunologist at the University of Bern, has argued that VLPs for SAR-CoV-2 could space spike molecules more closely—about 5 nanometers apart—than the virus itself. “I am personally convinced that viruslike particles are the best platform,” says Bachmann, who published his proposal in a 2021 npj Vaccines paper.

Given the dominance of current shots, bringing a new one to market won’t be easy. Indeed, Medicago made a spike-based VLP vaccine for COVID-19 that regulators in Canada authorized for use in February 2022, but the company stopped making it a year later because it lacked a market and went out of business.

The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine approved in the United States and some other countries uses insect cells to produce spikes that link together and form “rosettes,” which might offer tighter spacing of the protein and therefore durability benefits, but Bachmann doubts the rosettes work as well as VLPs. “Such poorly organized structures are clearly inferior to highly organized surfaces,” he says.

Lee would like to study the bone marrow of Novavax recipients for the long-lived plasma cells, “but there weren’t a large number, and it’s very hard to get patients to donate marrow,” she says.

Other COVID-19 vaccines in development use nanoparticles that display tightly spaced portions of spike. Neil King, a University of Washington biochemist whose team has developed one such COVID-19 vaccine now in human trials, says they do not have data on LLPCs or durability. “Spacing definitely matters, but it’s very difficult to set up controlled experiments,” King says.

Structural biologist Pamela Bjorkman at the California Institute of Technology, who has a similar nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine in development, is more skeptical that spacing has a significant impact on vaccine’s durability. Influenza virus has tightly spaced surface proteins, she notes, and infection with it doesn’t lead to durable immunity.

Nguyen, however, thinks his team’s sobering findings require follow-up. “The bad news is the failure of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines themselves—with or without natural infections—to induce LLPCs in the bone marrow,” he says. “The good news is this failure itself provides a research opportunity to find a way to change the fate of short-lived vaccines.”

[yandere-paramour]

I know Ata is strict about alcohol consumption but I cannot stop imagining her getting absolutely sloshed a la Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper on New Years eve.

Like she's at some kind of ball drop in the city as a special guest and doesn't realize the punch is spiked. Next morning there's a dozen clips of her with her suit jacket off and tie flung somewhere mumbling about how much she loves her wife.

This would RUIN her reputation, Noelle would absolutely come over to the penthouse bright and early to lecture a still-hungover Atalanta, intentionally making it as cutting and harsh as possible. And Ata would just have to sit there and take it because she knows she fucked up. Noelle doesn't mind, she loves lecturing and she knows she'll get a thousand bonus for doing damage control.

Atalanta will severely cut down on drinking for a while (not that she drinks that much already), which means you're going sober too. Hope you enjoyed your single bathtime glass of wine and your occasional party champagne because there'll be no more of that nonsense anymore. It's grape juice and sparkling cider for the both of you from now on.

[evermore-grimoire]

The Evermore Grimoire: Slayers

India Cohen was called as a Slayer in 1993 while she was living in Japan where her father, a submarine commander, was stationed. Together with her Watcher, named Christopher (Kit) she traveled all over Japan slaying vampires. India witnessed Spike and Drusilla during this time, but they never encountered India directly. Over a few years, India and her watcher, fell in love, but had to keep it a secret from the Watchers Council. He brought her a dog, which she then named Mariposa. In 1996, India and her family returned to America and went to California. There, wanderer mummies attacked and tried to steal India's soul. India fended them off, but they captured her Watcher and Mariposa. India sacrificed herself so that she could save her only family. The Wanderer killed India and released Kit and her dog. It was her death that then awakened the Slayer, Buffy Summers.

[amagi2000]

"Chevron Deference" Struck Down by SCOTUS

Rolling Back the Regulatory State

_______________________________________________

For those who don't understand what Chevron Deference is, and why SCOTUS ended it, here's the long and short of it:

A family fishing company, Loper Bright Enterprises, was being driven out of business, because they couldn't afford the $700 per day they were being charged by the National Marine Fisheries Service to monitor their company.

The thing is, federal law doesn't authorize NMFS to charge businesses for this. They just decided to start doing it in 2013.

Why did they think they could get away with just charging people without any legal authorization?

Because in 1984, in the Chevron decision, the Supreme Court decided that regulatory agencies were the "experts" in their field, and the courts should just defer to their "interpretation" of the law.

So for the past 40 years, federal agencies have been able to "interpret" laws to mean whatever they want, and the courts had to just go with it.

It was called Chevron Deference, and it put bureaucrats in charge of the country.

It's how the OHSA was able to decide that everyone who worked for a large company had to get the jab, or be fired.

No law gave them that authority, they just made it up.

It's how the ATF was able to decide a piece of plastic was a "machine gun".

It's how the NCRS was able to decide that a small puddle was a "protected wetlands".

It's how out-of-control agencies have been able to create rules out of thin air, and force you to comply, and the courts had to simply defer to them, because they were the "experts".

Imagine if your local police could just arrest you, for any reason, and no judge or jury was allowed to determine if you'd actually committed a crime or not. Just off to jail you go.

That's what Chevron Deference was.

It was not only blatantly unconstitutional, it caused immeasurable harm to everyone.

Thankfully, it's now gone.

We haven't even begun to feel the effects of this decision in the courts. It will be used, for years to come, to roll back federal agencies, and we'll all be better off for it.

And that's why politicians and corporate media are freaking out about it.

- Spike Cohen

@RealSpikeCohen

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

Spike Cohen, one of the most popular Libertarians on social media, recently debated gun control advocate David Hogg. We spoke with Spike about the debate, and he shared one of the most misconstrued perspectives in the entire discussion.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guest-spike-cohen-why-assange-is-free-trumps-5-d-chess/id1439014279?i=1000660801816

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7KktLs8WSzmXwl3zEG03Zm

[darkmaga-returns]

Introducing the top ten stories they chose not to tell you this week.

The Vigilant Fox

Dec 22, 2024

#10 - Drug regulators BUSTED hiding COVID jab risks.

Internal emails reveal that the TGA (Australia’s FDA) KNEW that, yes, foreign DNA from the COVID shots really could integrate into the human genome—despite repeatedly assuring the public it was impossible.

Rebekkah Barnett dropped the bombshell report exposing what TGA staff were saying behind closed doors—and it’s nothing like the rosy picture they painted in public.

In one email, a TGA staffer debunked Dr. Paul Offit’s claims that DNA from the COVID shots couldn’t integrate into the human genome without an enzyme called integrase. The staffer wrote:

“Foreign DNA can integrate into chromosomal DNA in the absence of an integrase in mammalian cells. This comes from the DNA damage/repair literature where breaks in DNA are repaired through processes called non-homologous end joining or homologous recombination.”

This directly contradicted the TGA’s official narrative, which repeatedly denied that such genomic integration was even possible.

Another email revealed that the TGA wasn’t even aware of studies to back up their public denials. A senior staffer admitted:

“I would be uncomfortable with that [statement about plasmid DNA entering the human genome] as I am unaware of studies which have tested this.”

So, behind closed doors, they had serious, unanswered questions about DNA contamination and the potential for genomic integration. But to the public, they said, “Everything is fine.”

This isn’t how things are supposed to work. Regulators like the TGA are meant to protect people, not withhold critical information.

This is yet another shocking example of how the so-called “experts” prioritized controlling the narrative over presenting the facts.

Adding to the alarm, new research from Yale has found spike protein lingering in the blood years after individuals received their last COVID shot, making concerns about integration with human DNA even more plausible.

Senator Gerard Rennick from Australia joins the show to discuss these damning revelations.

Join 100K+ Substack readers and 1.4 million 𝕏 users who follow the work of Vigilant Fox. Subscribe to Vigilant News for exclusive stories you won’t find anywhere else.Subscribe

(See 9 More Revealing Stories Below)

#9 - Joe Biden Targets Pelosi and Coup Leaders in Stunning Act of Revenge

#8 - Michael Cohen Turns Heads on CNN: Trump Is RIGHT About Media Lies

#7 - CNN Reveals "Troubling" Poll, Showing American Trust In Vaccines Is Plummeting

#6 - The Wall Street Journal drops a bombshell report, exposing Biden’s mental decline from the very START of his presidency.

While you’re here, don’t forget to subscribe to this page for more weekly news roundups.Subscribe

#5 - Pennsylvania Woman Charged with Registering Dead and Non-Existent Voters

#4 - Pfizer mRNA ‘Vaccinated’ Children Significantly More Likely to Get COVID-19 Than Unvaccinated Peers – New Study

#3 - "Stop Squinting at me!" Tim Pool BLASTS Liberal Guest on January 6 LIES

#2 - New Study Finds Hydroxychloroquine Safe with No Evidence of Cardiac Complications

#1 - Biden and Harris Rush Back to White House, prompting speculation that something big is coming.

Share

BONUS #1 - BUSTED: ‘The View’ Co-Host May Face Criminal Investigation

BONUS #2 - The Meat Upgrade You Didn’t Know You Needed

BONUS #3 - Will Most Pregnant Women and Babies Who Get Bird Flu Die?

BONUS #4 - How to Get Ivermectin, Z-Pak and More

BONUS #5 - Outrageous: Homeowner Ends Up in Jail After Calling Police to Evict Squatter From Her Own Home

[brightlotusmoon]

Answer to Why are you a Libertarian? by Ke'Aun

"I feel like I’ve spent a long time insulting Libertarians, so I thought it might be a good idea to explain why I’m Libertarian… ish."

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Hello. I watched the show the haunting of hill house on Netflix recently. And I am really impressed with Oliver Jackson-cohen and then I remember he was a popular fancast for moonknight. he lowkey looks like Smallwood's MK and he's a great actor and he's Jewish. What are your thoughts on him as Moon knight?do you think he can do better than Oscar Isaac? Most of comic mk fans who doesn't like the mk show prefers him than Oscar isaac.

So I have not watched Haunting of Hill House and know nothing of Oliver Jackson-Cohen except what I just looked up. He looks alright. I'm sure he's amazing.

When they announced Oscar Isaac, I was skeptical because I only knew him from Star Wars as Poe, which I enjoyed very much, but I didn't know the man's range.

I've mentioned many times that I am always skeptical of any Moon Knight media until I can take it in for myself (Marvel has hurt me far too many times).

I think for the story they told, Oscar did an outstanding job and his need to do his own research and advocate for certain groups was amazing.

I am… Mildly... miffed that Marvel has put Oscar in other roles. (Don't get me wrong. I adore him as Spider-man 2099 Miguel. And he was in that role first before he was Moon Knight). What annoys me about it is that the re-use of an actor is taking away from someone else of that culture to get exposure, work, and representation.

Oscar Isaac is of mixed Latino descent and fits the Latino Miguel role nicely. He can use his accent and his Spanish! Full love!

Now, here's the problem. Was Marvel going to cast someone Jewish to play Moon Knight?

Did they cast someone Jewish to play Magneto? What about Billy Maximoff?

What about upcoming Ben Grimm? Arguably THE most Jewish Marvel character they have?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach is an American Jewish actor from New York (I am not going to get into any patrial lineal arguments). Baruch Hashem! It can be done!

They gave a Jewish role to a Jewish actor. THE most Jewish character they have (I'm not going to argue about Magneto here but I feel like Ben Grimm and Magneto are their own different sides to the same coin. ask me more about that later).

I feel like Marvel bit off a lot of attempted representation with Moon Knight and jumped in half cocked.

Grief stricken, Traumatized, PTSD former soldier, D.I.D,, Jewish, Avatar to an Egyptian Moon God, Autistic, anger management problem… I'm sure I'm missing a few…

If they gave this role to a Jewish Actor, it would have been purely by accident.

Moon Knight was SO underrated in the Marvel universe I just about had a heart attack when they said they were going to give him a live action series!

So now they had to take a VERY unknown character who has a history of being seen as "The Crazy face ripping off Egptian God Worshiping guy" and make people want to watch the show. People who probably didn't even read the comics as well as die hard comic fans.

How do you do that? You give them a well known and well liked Actor who will draw people in just to see that actor.

And it worked.

The number of people that started watching the show who had never done ANYTHING Marvel before SPIKED thanks to Oscar. It was a VERY smart play.

What I am VERY happy they didn't do? Cast some white guy.

Oscar Isaac's casting opened up the possibility of Sephardic Moon Knight. Comic Moon Knight is VERY Ashkenazi jewish Orthodox. Up until this point, there were people who had no idea that there were other types of Jews! Hispanic Jews? Whhhhaaaaat?!

I think that is an amazing conversation to have! And man I wish they had explored THAT prospect! Make my Moon Knight Sephardic! Heck yeah! See my boys getting down to Ladino music! A little Salsa in the club and a little gefilte fish veracruzana on Friday night!

So, yes... we could have had more comic accurate Moon Knight... But is it more important to get a guy that looks like the character or someone that can play the character and open new doors?

I would love to see Ladino Jake. The sass. The attitude. The swears.

But back to the original question: Moon Knight played by an actual Jewish Actor. I'd love to see it. Again, I don't know anything about Oliver, but I'm not a comic purist and don't need the characters to LOOK like the characters. As long as they can show up and make me believe they are the character, I'm happy.

Did you know they invented Marvel Ultimate because of Sam Jackson? White Nick Fury was so ingrained and popular in 616 that when Sam Jackson got the role, and was GOOD at it, they immediately went "How do we marry the comics with MCU so we can have Sam Jackson comics without going "Ignore all that white guy stuff"?!? And now we have Marvel Ultimate Universe.

I plan to watch the Haunting series someday (I started the other one but had to stop because life happened and I never got back to it), so maybe I'll be sad they didn't cast Oliver. But I'm not sure his role would have fit in with the style of what the show was trying to do. Maybe if they had put out a Moon Knight movie, it would have needed a different guy.

[coraniaid]

I know India Cohen is a character who exists in the sort-of-canon tie-in books that were being published while the show was still on the air, but I think it's a shame that we never had any sort of flashback to or mention of the Slayer immediately before Buffy on the show (whether that was India herself or if they invented somebody else).

Was Buffy never at all curious about her predecessor? Even before meeting Kendra or Faith we know Buffy wondered a bit about what would happen if she was killed ("I know the drill: one Slayer dies, next one's called. Wonder who she is."), and we know she looks at the past Watcher's diaries and talks to Spike about the Slayers he killed. So then why the lack of curiosity about the girl whose death directly led to Buffy's own calling? What better place to start learning about what it means to be a Slayer than from her?

And was there nobody that previous Slayer knew who might have crossed paths with the Scooby Gang in the present day? If Buffy had died for good in Prophecy Girl, Angel and Giles and the rest of the Buffy's friends wouldn't have just stopped fighting evil on the Hellmouth entirely. Eventually, they'd have met Kendra (who would still have come to town as she does in What's My Line?) too. If Kendra had died, maybe they'd have met Faith too. Nikki Wood had a Watcher who mourned her and a son who grew up to avenge her. Didn't the Slayer before Buffy have anybody like that?

Imagine some vampire or demon or monster of the week showing up in Sunnydale because they have unfinished business with "the Slayer" and they've finally been able to track her down, only to learn that the Slayer they're looking for isn't Buffy but somebody long dead. Imagine an episode in Season 7 where we at first think we're seeing another Potential being attacked by agents of the First, only for her to reveal herself as the Slayer and the show to admit that this is a flashback to the distant past of 1994 or 1995. Imagine Buffy having to finish something that earlier Slayer started; getting a sense of what it must be like to be Kendra or Faith after spending time with people who remember the girl who died so that Buffy come become the Chosen One.

I mean, I sort of understand why the show never did this: it would be kind of depressing and involve introducing a lot new characters for a single episode (which is something the show really shied away from doing after the first three seasons). I know they probably left that to the expanded universe material for a reason.

It just feels a little strange that, watching the show, you could almost convince yourself that Nikki Wood was the last Slayer before Buffy (and indeed, that would have been a lot more consistent with the show's stated premise that there is exactly one Slayer "in every generation" than the later take that a new Slayer is called the instant the last one dies turned out to be).

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