#the coming storm over the supreme court

[reasonsforhope]

"The Supreme Court said Monday [January 13, 2025] it won’t hear an appeal from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change.

The order allows the city of Honolulu’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies to proceed. The city’s chief resilience officer, Ben Sullivan, said it’s a significant decision that will protect “taxpayers and communities from the immense costs and consequences of the climate crisis caused by the defendants’ misconduct.”

The industry has faced a series of cases alleging it deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change. Governments in states including California, Colorado and New Jersey are seeking billions of dollars in damages from things like wildfires, rising sea levels and severe storms. The lawsuits come during a wave of legal actions in the U.S. and worldwide seeking to leverage action on climate change through the courts.

The oil and gas companies appealed to the Supreme Court after Hawaii’s highest court allowed the lawsuit to proceed. The companies include Sunoco, Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and BP, many of which are headquartered in Texas.

The companies argued emissions are a national issue that should instead be fought over in federal court, where they’ve successfully had suits tossed out.

“The stakes in this case could not be higher,” attorneys wrote in court documents. The lawsuits “present a serious threat to one of the nation’s most vital industries.”

The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, said declining to hear the Honolulu case now means the companies could face more lawsuits from activists trying to “make themselves the nation’s energy regulators.” [Good!!!]

The Democratic Biden administration had weighed in at the justices’ request and urged them to reject the case, saying it’s fair to keep it in state court at this point — though the administration acknowledged that the companies could eventually prevail...

Honolulu argued it’s made a strong case under state laws against deceptive marketing and it should be allowed to play out there. “Deceptive commercial practices fall squarely within the core interests and historic powers of the states,” attorneys wrote."

-via AP News, January 13, 2025

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

We sat down with Jair Bolsonaro. Facing prison, he’s pining for Trump.

Jair Bolsonaro was surrounded by his own image. It graced most available surfaces at his party’s headquarters, from the walls to the coffee mugs. There was a large painting of Bolsonaro wearing his presidential sash. Photos of Bolsonaro before thousands of supporters, arm reaching into the sky. A golden bust of Bolsonaro, grim-faced, placed before a painting of an even-grimmer-faced Bolsonaro.

But none of these was the image that Bolsonaro wanted us to see.

Bolsonaro, who was awaiting trial before the Brazilian Supreme Court on accusations he plotted to assassinate his rivals and stay in power after his 2022 election loss, pulled over a thick coffee-table book written and gifted to him by President Donald Trump.

“I didn’t pay anything,” said Bolsonaro, 70, twice. “Look, he even signed it.”

On page 305, beside a letter Bolsonaro had written to Trump — “You’ll always have a friend in Brazil” — he found a large photo of himself alongside Trump, and another on the next page. He lingered to admire the photos, reliving his political apex, his moment of greatest proximity to a figure he had long sought to emulate. Then he closed the book and returned to a present and very different moment:

Out of power. Unable to run for office until 2030. Facing the prospect of four decades in prison. Soon to undergo emergency surgeryand a lengthy recovery. Prohibited from leaving the country.

“I couldn’t go to [Trump’s] inauguration,” he mourned. “My passport had been apprehended.”

I’ve been reporting on Bolsonaro for six years, from his rise to power through the darkest days of Brazil’s devastating coronavirus outbreak, from his electoral loss to the storming of the capital by thousands of supporters in protest of the result. But our interview last month was my first time sitting down with him. Walking into a conference room at the Liberal Party headquarters with Post reporter Marina Dias and photographer Dan Agostini, I expected to find the brash, aggressive Bolsonaro I’d come to know from his public persona.

The Bolsonaro who had mocked the coronavirus. Inflamed calls for a military takeover. Clashed with the Supreme Court. Alleged without evidence that the electoral system was rigged against him. And made a vulgar campaign slogan out of the Portuguese word “imbrochável” — something like “never flaccid” — to tout his supposed virility.

In many respects, we found that Bolsonaro. Six feet tall and broad-shouldered, he was physically imposing, irreverent, charismatic, paranoid. Quick to laugh. Quick to anger. He never broke eye contact. He asserted he was “stronger than ever” politically, claimed the “system” wanted him dead — possibly by sniper attack — and falsely asserted that the coronavirus vaccine, which he said he hadn’t received, “isn’t scientifically proven” to be effective. He said he saw a narrow path back to power: Galvanize mass support for another presidential bid and pressure the electoral authorities into overturning his political disqualification.

“There is a popular appeal behind me,” he said.

But we also saw a man reckoning with his own downfall, scared of prison and death, trying to reconcile how he had quickly gone from perhaps Latin America’s most powerful politician to a criminal defendant facing decades of incarceration. He vacillated between expressing certainty that he’d find a way back to power and moments of doubt.

“I’m not anything,” he said at one point.

Continue reading.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

The constant response to anyone that doesn’t just fall over themselves for her is that you’re not a smart intellectual or empathic person. And I think that’s really unfair, that people romanticize her mindset far too much in a way that speaks to staying in that place.

Anon, normally I don’t respond to these kinds of asks because I try to fall back to kindness and if I can’t be kind I don’t want to perpetuate negativity.

But on this I’ll say: what do you feel you’re getting out of coming to fan blogs and arguing an opinion you know they won’t agree with because they see things fundamentally differently than you do? I am not saying this to snark, I just genuinely don’t understand what you hope to get out of arguing with people you know won’t agree with you.

As I believe one of Jaime’s anons once put it, this is not the Supreme Court, we’re all just fans and we all have our biases. We don’t have to “see all sides” and it’s natural that we are going to feel empathy for an artist we follow and have gotten to know on a public level as fans. (Of course with the understanding that we do not know her personally, so we are taking our cues from what is shared publicly, namely her music.) if you don’t agree with that, then you can just scroll on or unfollow. I am a big believer in protecting your peace on social media, so if you find that people who express opinions like these are unfair, then remove them from your orbit. I do the same.

But more than that, imo the place I am coming from is compassion. I’m sorry you see that as “romanticizing” a mindset. You’re entitled to your opinion, and if that’s how you see it, then fine. I see it as a reflection of a mental health crisis that was deserving of empathy, compassion, understanding, and treatment and support. The fact that she was able to speak that story and process it is exactly how she got herself OUT of that place. I don’t think anyone can argue she’s in the same rut she was two or three years ago. And her NOT processing or sharing those experiences is how she got stuck so far down in that rut. You don’t have to like it, I guess, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t allowed to share it. And by you coming into other people’s inboxes to argue about it, you’re opening the floor for people to disagree with you.

So I’m sorry, but we just have fundamentally different world views and experiences. I have experienced soul-shattering grief from loss that changed how I viewed the world entirely (though not in the way Taylor has). I have been by my loved ones’ sides as they experienced the dissolution of long term relationships that were planned for forever and lives and had to pick up the pieces, sometimes complete with the immediate rebound from hell. Taylor’s experience, in my experience, is incredibly normal, just on an absurdly heightened level because of her position. I cannot imagine judging friends for going through these things, especially because once they’re out of it they understand why it happened. But they don’t in the eye of the storm, and that’s the whole point.

I don’t think people who disagree lack intelligence at all and I never said that. I do think we just live very different lives and have far different experiences, perhaps including with the expression of mental health challenges or crises but I won’t make assumptions on your experiences either. Nobody I know has romanticized any of what happened — and least of all Taylor — but everyone I know has just felt incredibly sad for what she went through and how she had to go through it.

[donnadiddadog]

a storm is coming pt 1

Summary: Kairav came across the Wall with Feyre and Tamlin and is like a brother to her. But after Amarantha, he is extremely different - more powerful than Rhysand can comprehend. Now, the Inner Circle finds out why. And there is an entirely different new level of conflict between Hybern and Prythian. A new danger for the very fabric of their universe.

Word Count: 1.6K ish

Warnings: None really.

a/n: OC’s name is Kairav and he was Feyre’s friend in the Village when Feyre was taken by Tamlin; he decided to come with her and Tamlin agreed. He comes with Feyre to the Night Court during the bargain and everything. Also, he and Azriel going to be very gay for each other, I promise. This is also going to be very mythological - I am adding a new level of gods and stuff to this so expect this to be a whole-ass series! Drop your ideas in the comments for any more gods' abilities or magical plots!

30th Jan 2025, Writing 4

“Wait I’m confused, so you are like the Mother?”, Cassian asked, his eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to comprehend what was happening. Here was his friend, a person he knew for as long as Feyre since he came across the Wall with her and Tamlin; now he’s saying something that makes sense and at the same time didn't?

“In a way, yes I am. The Mother is just a way for the Fae to comprehend the concept of the Celestials. Yemari was the name of the last Celestial and she is what you call the Mother.”, Kairav tried explaining to them once again. “The world is composed of magic, that much is obvious. Each court has its own specific magic power. Each fae of that court is therefore born with that power type or a variation of it. Eris can manipulate fire and his brother can manipulate smoke because they are from the Autumn Court whose magic is fire. So on and so forth.”

He moved to the head of the table, to sit down at the chair, “But there are seven individual who are Eternals. Supreme lords in their own rights, of particular powers such as fire, earth, air, etc. that are way more powerful than high lords can ever be. Think of them as guardians of the power, the very representation of the power on this plane. But to rule them all there is a Celestial. To keep them in line and to maintain order. An eternal can be killed by a Celestial but not the other way around. They draw their power from me. I am their existence and I am their decimation. I am not a wielder of magic, I am magic.”

Kairav chuckled to himself as he tried to not sound as dramatic as he did but there was no other way to say it. This was the truth - he was the composite power of all elements, of all entities. He could create and destroy worlds. The elements would bend their knee if he stood in front of them, and the Eternals would follow. But there was one tiny caveat he hadnt mentioned yet, didnt know how to mention it.

“That’s what you are then? A Celestial?”, Mor asked rubbing her head.

“I had heard of them in stories when I was a child. Powers greater than everything we had combined a hundred times over, that maintained the world order, silenced those who were evil and maintained those who were good. Who could remove high lords in a single blink of an eye, create worlds and destroy cities. Fumacari, they were called.”, Rhys spoke as he tried to understand the situation better. This was a different crisis entirely, one that he wasn’t prepared for, one that he could never prepare for and more importantly one that wouldn’t even concern him. He was a pawn in a chess game, no more the king.

He was nothing in this fight, a mere weakling compared to the Fumacari. The Starter and Ender of Worlds. That title was spoken with respect and fear by the Royal and Lesser Fae families of Prythian. He had never even met a Mentacari, the Eternals, they were mentioned in the stories as the guardians of each court, the reason why the land chooses the next royal to be the high lord and not the royal family itself. The reason why Calanmai must happen or Starfall is respected. Mentacari. The guardian of all that is magical.

Another legend was that speaking that name would lead to the resurrection of those who ruled the world. Apparently, it was true because the Fumacari stood in front of him. He would have to apologise to his mother for laughing at her when she spoke in hushed tones about those “stories”.

“When did you become the Celestial? Were you born with it or?”, Azriel asked, curious. This was never mentioned to him in the hundreds of late night conversations that him and Kairav had on his bed throughout the past few months. He felt betrayed frankly but knew that now was not the time for his emotions.

“When Amarantha finally snapped because Feyre finished her three tasks and the curse was lifted, I was the one who finally confronted her, knowing that I was going to die. Rhys was nice enough to prevent any torture from happening to me but I did spend those three months in a dungeon and I was ready to die. I didn't want to live anymore.”, Kairav scratched his scalp as he tried to calm his nerves, the memories of that red haired witch coming back. Azriel places his hand on Kairav’s shoulder and slowly pushed down to apply pressure to remind him that he was alive and safe; Kairav continued, “Before she attacked Feyre, she killed me. She broke the bones in my body, ripping them out of my skin and I screamed in pain. Then she snapped my neck and I died. Died and left this world.”

Rhys looked like he was about to vomit, and Kairav reached his hand out to tell him to not blame himself. Speaking to him mind to mind, It wasn't your fault. He looked deep in his eyes, his purple eyes losing a bit of their glamour, I should have protected you, done more to help you. I was distracted by Feyre, ensuring she was safe that I forgot to ensure that you were safe too. I am sorry. Please dont hate me.

Kairav reassured him that he didn't hate him, could never. He knew that what had happened, had happened because of Amarantha, there was no blame to give to anyone because it all belonged to her and her only. Nothing more, nothing less.

He continued with the story,”Then, I remember a white, a completely white world. It was just white everywhere, I was floating. And a voice spoke to me. It asked me a few questions, I answered. I just assumed that this was heaven or something - maybe even a judgement before I went to heaven or hell. But thats what it was right? It made sense like that.”, I held onto Azriels hand a bit and played with his fingernail. “The voice had a conversation with me and it felt like hours or days had passed. It finally asked me you know if I was interested in going back. And I said yes, I want to go back, to live my life. And the voice showed me the workings of the universe and the future. And it asked me again, do you want to go back? And I said yes”

He closed his eyes. The voice stopped talking after that and his eyes fluttered open on that muddy ground and he saw everyone again. Feyre gasping as he opened his eyes, Tamlin looked shocked as all of his wounds closed and bones set themselves and then the massacre begun. He hadn't ripped Amarantha’s throat out because Tamlin demanded that that was his right. He honoured the High Lord of Spring’s right.

“He was the one who killed all of that bitch’s soldiers, before they could even pick up their weapons. Whatever power was present in Amarantha was sucked out by him and thats why Tamlin was able to kill her so easily. I felt his power and it was…out of this world. Now we know why.”, Rhys added, rubbing his chin. Remembering how those bolts of dark energy flew out of Kairav’s palms killing those men. How he had seen Kairav’s neck snap in a morbid angle and then, he was alive and doing feats no human should be able to do. He wouldn't forgive himself for failing him that day.

“So why are you here now? I mean is there a purpose for why you…returned? I am sorry I do not know how to talk to you. I mean you are like my brother and I am now talking to someone completely mythological.”, Feyre tried speaking, constantly stuttering in between. Kairav felt bad and tried giving her an apologetic look. This was not an easy situation to digest.

Kairav spoke,”I am here because the war with Hybern is no longer a mortal conflict. It is no longer a fight between the King of Hybern and Prythian’s High Lords. It is no longer just a fight, a war. It is now a mythological conflict, a fight for the existence of the world.”

“You mean that the world could be what? Destroyed?”

“In a way, yes.”, Kairav takes in a deep breath as he lets out his little secret. “Every cycle of the world requires the Fumacari and Mentacari to fight, to choose sides when the world has become so polarised that it now creates two sides. But they are two sides of the same coin in the end. That conflict determines which side wins. However, one side in the conflict always wants to preserve the world.”

“The other wants to destroy it?”, Azriel interjected.

“Yes, the other one wants to destroy it. That is what is happening right now. This is not conflict about the destruction of the Wall or the subjugation of humans. This is a fight for the way you live but more importantly, for the plane on which you live. Fumacari can destroy planes. Now that depends on who wins. Is it going to be Hybern or Prythian? Is it going to be the back or the front of the coin?”, Kairav absent-mindedly played with the cloth between his fingers. “The conflict’s resolution will be either this world dissolving into nothing or this world preserving and continuing on. It depends on the side.”

Feyre stopped pacing and looks up, with innocent hope in her eyes, “What other side? Celestials can kill an Eternal so just the end the war by destroying them. We have you and the King of Hybern has an Eternal with him, on his side, so just end the war. They can’t kill you anyways! There’s no need for this war or for bloodshed.”

“How foolish can you be girl? He is a Celestial, if it was an Eternal on the other side, he would have gone and killed him before we even woke up. There are two of them - that’s why they can kill each other. Catch up with the conversation. The bigger question is where is the other one?”, Amren remarks as she stares down Feyre with an annoyed expression.

“What other one? Wait, what other one are you talking about, Amren? ”, Mor adds on, confused as to why Amren is so snappy today. More than usual.

“She’s talking about me.”, a cold, female voice spoke from the back of the room.

Kairav straightened his back and smiled, she was here. The cat’s out of the bag.

“Hello, sister-self.”

I have always wanted to do some mythological world-building. FR wanna make gods that use the cauldron like a literal air fryer rather than "a magical item that controls the world" or whatever - that's how dangerous they have to be.

Also then make them gay? for our cute ass shadowsinger? yes, please!

Also special mention to @be-your-coffee-pot for the name of the new OC. shout to you, girl!

[1americanconservative]

@CaptKylePatriot

BREAKING: SCOTUS HANDS TRUMP TOTAL POWER — EXECUTIVE PURGE BEGINS NOW! The Supreme Court just obliterated the Deep State’s final line of defense — granting President Trump FULL authority to fire the heads of “independent” federal agencies. No more delays. No more red tape. No more protection for unelected traitors. The court declared: Trump is the Executive Branch. Period. Gwynne Wilcox (NLRB) and Cathy Harris (MSPB) are the first to face removal. Behind them, a long list of Biden operatives await the axe. The administrative state is collapsing in real time. This is not a “legal clarification.” This is an all-out constitutional reset — ripping power away from shadow bureaucrats and returning it to the man elected to wield it. Article II of the Constitution — restored. Trump is no longer fighting with one hand tied. He can now terminate every disloyal bureaucrat, dismantle fake oversight boards, and vaporize the swamp creatures who’ve worked for years to sabotage America First from inside the system. The ruling sends shockwaves through the Deep State: • No more court interference • No more Congressional shielding • No more “independent” excuses Every agency now answers to Trump. The strategy of the Left — to bury Trump in legal warfare and block him with slow-walking loyalists — just detonated in their faces. Their lawfare fortress is in ruins. The SCOTUS decision cuts off the Deep State at the neck. The Fourth Branch has fallen. This is the legal decapitation of the administrative coup that’s hijacked power for decades. What comes next? Terminations. Restructuring. Loyalty enforcement. Trump is set to unleash the largest purge in American political history. Those who’ve betrayed the republic from within will no longer hide behind titles or obscure agency walls. The President now holds the sword — and he’s swinging. A top Trump insider put it bluntly: “This ruling doesn’t just restore executive power — it clears the battlefield.” Every traitor in federal government just got marked. The days of unelected tyrants mocking the will of the people are over. The mask is off. The time for war inside the system is here. And Trump just got the green light to take them all down. Buckle up. The storm just got teeth. The purge begins NOW. The fight continues! Join me now!

[thesupreme316]

hiiii I’m backkkk

so I was wondering how the Aew boys react to they losing their short s/o In big crowds when they aren’t looking

AEW Stars React To: Losing Their Short S/O in Big Crowds

Pairings: Max Caster x Reader, Eddie Kingston x Reader, Santana x Reader, Kenny Omega x Reader, Ricky Starks x Reader, Hook x Reader

Word Count: 1K

Supreme Speaks: hi sorry for not posting, it's been a long two days. i hope you are well. thanks to anon for requesting again, i really do appreciate it. please remember that you are loved and appreciated.

Warnings: talks about big social crowds, not proofread, GIFS AINT MINE

Taglist: @wwenhlimagines @sheinthatfandom @cassie0sstuff @triscillal @eddie-kingstons-wifey @hooks-martin @hookerforhook

Max Caster (Concert):

He was there doing a concert as a special guest

As he was performing onstage, he saw you in the crowd and was immediately giddy

He was smiling and started to perform harder as he saw you were enjoying yourself

Max walks away for a second, entertaining the other side of the crowd, comes back, and doesn’t see you

Confusion takes over his face it is then replaced with fear

The crowd was a lil rowdy so he was afraid of you getting squashed or trampled; He damn sure didn’t want or need you hurt/uncomfortable

As he was about to ask the crowd to scoot back so he could see you; you were raised above the crowd screaming along with the lyrics

Max looked closer to see you were sitting on the shoulders of best friend, Anthony

He smiled and instructed the crowd to let you two come up onstage

“Let my baby up here….oh you can come too Y/N!”

Santana (Times Square):

YES MY BABY DADDY RETURNED SO I SQUEEZED HIM IN

You guys were walking around in Times Square and as Santana turned around to look at a pair of shoes through the window, you were gone

He immediately started panicking as there was a big crowd and New York itself is a dangerous place

Santana started pushing through the crowd looking for the top of your head while saying your name

Like Eddie, Santana doesn’t allow you to walk by yourself; but he doesn’t know how you slipped away from him

He finally found you cornered by some men (ew) and he scared them off

“Y’all betta back away from my significant other or I’ll stick my foot up your ass”

As y’all hug, you tell him that you were pushed by the incoming crowd and then cornered

“Aw mi cara, you don’t ever have to worry; I’ll protect you.”

Take extra precautions (not to Eddie’s extent) such as interlocking fingers and pulling belt loops

IMAGINE GETTING PULLED BACK BY THAT FOINE SPECIMEN

Kenny Omega (Tokyo Subway IT WORKS I PROMISE):

Okay for Kenny, you get off at a stop in Tokyo and you immediately get carried off the train

Kenny is going crazy at one minute you’re talking and the next minute he can’t find you

He’s constantly asking people if they’ve seen you

“Have you seen a person who’s hella short, has a cute face but an aura of a jackass? Possibly has different colored hair depending on their mood?”

People are looking at him like he’s crazy as he starts pushing people aside (politely)

Eventually, as the crowd diffuses, he sees you standing by yourself just like a ray of sunshine over a storm

He picks you up, glad to see you, smiling from ear to ear

That lasts until Kenny sternly tells you to never do that again

“Next time, I’m gonna put you in my pocket….little Polly Pocket.”

Hook (Mall):

He was looking at shoes in Foot Locker and he lost you

Yes, just like that

But he always managed to find you

At H&M, at Hot Topic, and even at the food court; Hook would always get back to you

After noticing this, you decided to play a game called “Is Hook a mind reader or is he just extremely observant?”

So you quickly lose him in a department store, but he finds you

Hook finds this activity to be quite funny and endearing

When he couldn’t find you he would text you with a smile on his face”

“Alright, you won…even though I see you at Spencers…whatcha getting?”

Overall, he’s never concerned he always will find you, no matter what

Eddie Kingston (State Fair):

I feel like that this is a trick question; that man would not allow you to walk by yourself as he takes your height under consideration all the damn time

So if he loses you; you and everyone is getting their ass cussed out

He would also cuss himself out as he feels responsible (cause he wasn’t watching you like a hawk)

“Damn it, you should have gotten that damn human book bag leash shit for their Sonic Hedgehog ass.”

But he has your location because of you running off like this and he finds you (in this case in line for turkey legs or lemonade)

IMO he would wait until you got your stuff to drag you to the parking lot (good thing you rode all the rides) to give you a “lil talk”

“I swear to god if you walk away from me without any words or warnings again, I will rain hellfire on your little flash ass. I TOLD YOUR SMALL ASS TO STAY STILL AND WHAT-“

He doesn’t mean to yell but he wants you to understand that he’s concerned for you

Does in fact get you the leash book bag from earlier; will never take his eyes off you

Ricky Starks (Basketball Game):

Ricky lets you walk away cause you’re a free person but sometimes you like to roam around

You walked away to get something to drink with him knowing

But because you were taking too long, Ricky got concerned (mildly not Eddie concerned) and he went looking for you

He tried calling you but you left your phone with him since your outfit didn’t have pockets

I also think he would be very calm cause you always come back, but he was starting to worry

Ricky had to keep calm but the thought of you being trampled or swooned by an NBA player was taking over

“What if they meet someone who’s better than me? More handsome, more ch- Nah, they could never.”

Walks back to find you laughing with Jade; and hugs you tightly

Ricky: I thought I was gonna lose you to an NBA player.

Jade: Well they did get Domantas Sabonis’ phone nu-

Ricky: Yeah well you can delete that cause Stroke Daddy is here

[ashs-cardboard-box]

Precious Treasures

~ King!Dragon hybrid!Erwin Smith/Male Concubine!Wolf hybrid!Reader

~ Fluff (Day 11)

~ Secret Romance

~ 2k words

Royal + Hybrid AU :3 Size and rank difference mentioned and welcomed. No TW (unless you get upset by they/them Hange ??)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the expansive nation of Paradis, there lies a castle among the vast lands, run by hybrids from all sorts of species. Yet, for centuries, the dragons reign supreme, of course. Being a dragon was widely associated with strength, wealth and status, typically only seen in noble bloodlines. Whereas on the other end of the spectrum, most prey animals like rabbits or mice were what normally controlled the “lesser fortunate”. Everyone had their respective places, but you were the odd one out.

Usually, the wolf hybrids were deemed fitting for knighthood, regardless of background or gender. Their inherent need for a pack proved useful to past rulers in the instance of war or tragedy. Yet you were different. You were dubbed a concubine. Odd, yes..but to add insult to injury, you were the only male concubine in the palace.

King Erwin knew he had to have you the minute he laid eyes on you during an outing, spotting you whilst you were a squire, training to earn your rightful title as a wolf. His father before him, and his father before him, so on and so forth, they’d had many concubines, all women. But you? You were special to him. He’d requested you change your path from knighthood to be his concubine with no consequences. But surprisingly, you obeyed without the usual fear or defiance others would have.

He cared about you more than any noble should for a mere worker. He’d even gifted you the shiniest jewels from his hoard, dressing you up in them to really make you gleam. Shiny golden necklaces, bracelets, anklets, belts–purposefully avoiding any rings–all with his precious stones inside. In any other circumstance, he’d cut the arm off of anyone who tried to reach for his stash, but he loved you.

Your relationship with King Erwin was kept a secret. It had to be, even if you didn’t necessarily like it. No matter how obvious it was, just by the way your tail wagged each time he beckoned you into his chambers to fulfill your duty, it had to be kept silent. If the rumors were to be confirmed true, Paradis could fall to shambles with the knowledge that their king was courting not only a male concubine, but one out of his species. The King’s right hand, a black panther named Levi, strongly advised against it. He knew about your bond, albeit extremely grudgingly. He tried to stay out of it as much as possible…for his own sake.

During a particularly dreary morning, storm clouds overhead with the preparation for a heavy rain, your attention is pulled away from the window and over to the door as you hear a particularly chipper knock pattern, followed by a very familiar giggle.

Hange was the King’s stewardess, a hyena. There was talk that they’d made a deal with Erwin on his coronation that if they helped him out, they’d be allowed in the dungeon with the executioner for “experiments”, but no one could confirm nor deny. They didn’t even dare ask.

“I’m clothed, Hange. You can come in.” You call, turning just enough to face the door. Dressed in a lovely purple silken robe, gifted to you by Erwin himself, having just woken up after an absolutely restless night's sleep. Your room was one of many guest rooms inside the kingdom, since Erwin decided he couldn’t have you riding all the way back home in the middle of the night, especially if the people knew who you were to him. Each time you left, he kept himself up, sick with worry, before ultimately making a decision. One he knew would keep you safer in the long run.

It was a nice room, you had to admit. Probably larger on its own than all of the rooms in your entire house combined. Most of your personal belongings were taken from your residence and put into your new room with the help of a few cadet soldiers, who complained and dragged their feet, but you appreciated them anyway.

The large oak doors are pushed open with force, with Hange’s much smaller frame standing between them. Their tail was puffed up and wagging excitedly, causing any loose fur to fly off. “Y/N!” They beam, their voice carrying throughout the space, creating an echo that makes your ears twitch.

“Hi, Hange..” You grumble as you reach up to brush your hand over your ears, as if you could physically feel the tinnitus starting to blare. Your other hand remains around the strap that keeps your robe tied shut, not exactly wanting to flash them. “The King asked for you.” They inform, straightening themselves out despite the dramatic entrance. Their eyes locked onto yours over the rims of their glasses, a look you know that means “do this immediately”.

With a sigh, you nod, accepting your task and probably the punishment you know you’re going to receive. Watching Hange leave and close the doors behind them, you decide to head out as soon as possible, fully expecting a punishment for something you either did or didn’t do. Admittedly, dragon hybrids were a bit unpredictable, even worse during mating season; thank gods it wasn’t…you didn’t think.

Slipping your feet into your slippers by your door, adjusting your robe to make sure it’s completely covering your modesty, you pull open your door and step out into the grandiose corridor.

The long hallway stretched on both ways for what felt like hours, even if that wasn’t remotely true. The walls were made of various minerals like white limestone, with lovely marble flooring that Erwin likes to keep spotless and shining. Your room was fairly isolated from the others, since it was easier for Erwin to sneak in and out to see you without getting caught. Some of the castles’ daily keepers had their own spaces, with others needing to return back home for their families, but they weren’t nearly as grand as yours.

The king’s room was a floor above everyone else’s, heavily guarded by both experienced knights and soldiers, and less experienced squires and cadets. Usually, you had to shyly explain what you were wanting to enter Erwin’s quarters for if you weren’t being summoned, but to your surprise, the king was standing right outside the door. His arms folded over his chest and his spiny, scaly tail slowly swaying behind him. His face was a mask of indifference, as always. It was something you could respect. You found yourself having to grab your own tail just to stop its wagging from time to time.

“Your Majesty.” You greet, simultaneously calling attention to yourself. Stopping right in front of Erwin, you tuck your tail between your legs and bow your head, staring at Erwin’s feet. You could barely contain the grin spreading across your face, biting down on your inner bottom lip. You could feel the guards’ eyes on both of you, even if they tried to remain nonchalant about their eavesdropping.

“Y/N.” the king grunts, a plume of smoke leaving his mouth with an exhale, indicative of a dragon's irritation. Your ears flatten subconsciously. Part of you hopes he’s just keeping up the charade to take suspicion off of your relationship, the other part is rapidly racking your brain for any and all events you possibly could have missed.

“Come.” Without waiting for a response, Erwin steps past you and heads back down the hallway you just came from, tucking in his wings to prevent from accidentally hitting you with them. You follow along like an eager puppy, which technically, you were. As soon as you were out of eye and earshot of the soldiers guarding Erwin’s room, you let your ears perk up and your tail wag freely, if not a bit hesitant.

“You seem tense…sire…” You comment sheepishly, walking a bit faster to catch up with Erwin. You steal a brief glance up towards him, catching a sly look on his face underneath thinly veiled irritation.

“There’s just something I would like to show you in the garden.” He softens, glancing down at you momentarily before facing forward again. Despite Erwin’s softening demeanor, you tense immensely. You had planted an assortment of flowers that you’d purchased from the village market, just for Erwin. They were supposed to be a surprise for his upcoming birthday.

“Something?” You muse, your ears flattening again. You didn’t want to give away the surprise if Erwin hadn’t found out–you’d paid the gardeners to keep your gifts a secret–and found something else entirely.

Erwin hums in confirmation with a curt nod. His right wing expands just enough to curl up around you, keeping you as close as possible, discreetly taking your hand in his. Even if you two were a secret, he didn’t want any of his staff getting any funny ideas with you. Walking right through the throne room in silence, then out the open archway, right along the path into endless fields of land, just up the hill from the nearest Paradis village.

“Here– look!” He beams, his stoic demeanor crumbling entirely as he drags you along with him. Mentally complaining about your slippers getting dirtied from being outside, but it wasn’t like they couldn’t be cleaned. His tail begins to wag alongside yours, only slightly slower due to the large size difference.

Tugging you into the greenhouse, holding the door open for you, of course, he triple checks to make sure no one else is inside before ushering you over to the bed you’d tried to keep secret from him.

“Just look at them!” Erwin grins, sharp teeth on display. Kneeling down to gently caress the snowy white petals of a ghost orchid, his other hand interlaced with your own. “I can’t recall ever asking for the assortment, but they’re just beautiful.”

“Actually, I got ‘em for you..” You explain sheepishly as you slowly kneel down beside the king. With a brief glance down at your robe to make sure you’re not exposing yourself, you continue.

“Jade vine,” You point to a curved, bright turquoise legume. “Ghost orchid..” You pause on a bright red bunch of fire lilies. “I wanna say chile-something..” Erwin nods with a small huff of a chuckle, gesturing for you to continue regardless. While he was interested in your supposed gift, he also just wanted to hear you talk.

“Parrot’s Beak,” You wave towards an crimson “beak shaped” bud, followed by a turn to point at an unblossomed cactus flower that you also couldn’t quite remember. “That one blooms rarely at night.” You inform, returning your eyes to the king’s, only to realize he’d been staring at you all along.

Clearing your throat nervously, you give his hand a gentle squeeze as you stand back up, out of the curve of his wing. “I- uh.. I bought ‘em at the market a bit ago for your birthday… hadn’t really planned on you finding them before then.”

Erwin is silent as he copies you and stands up, pulling you into a sudden embrace, burying his nose into your hair. “Thank you.” He rumbles, his wings curling around you protectively as his tail begins to wag.

Slowly, you wrap your arms around him tightly, your face pulled right up against his chest. “You like ‘em?” You question, earning a slow nod that makes your own tail wag. “I love them..and you.” The king mumbles into the top of your head, hardly quelling the urge to bring you back into the castle and hoard you into his pile of jewels and gems.

“Love you too..” You whisper, just enjoying the warm embrace that you’d been craving all morning. You felt like you couldn’t get enough of Erwin, even if your surprise had been revealed a few weeks too early. “There’s also bismuth and garnet in my bedside table.” You add with a quiet chuckle, feeling the king’s muscles stiffen with excitement.

“Flowers and new additions to my hoard?” Erwin grins, picking you up with extreme ease and walking right out of the greenhouse with you in his arms, a bit dazed by the sudden move. “You treat me so well, my shining star.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ive been craving to write a hybrid fic and this is my excuse 10/13 edit: I JUST REALIZED TOMORROW IS ERWIN'S BIRTHDAY </333 i've made a terrible mistake forgive me Commander happy birthday old man </3 Return to masterlist

[under0-0s]

New York County Supreme Court, 60 Centre St, New York, NY 10007, United States.

________________________ (listen to the music to improve the reading experience.)

_________________________

The doors swing open, and the world erupts.

Cameras flash like a thousand tiny explosions, each one a desperate attempt to capture the shot. Microphones lunge forward, voices pile up on top of each other, tripping over their own urgency. The air is thick with questions—some shouted, some barked, all demanding something from me.

“Mr. Stark! Are you refusing to cooperate with the government?” “Do you believe you alone should control this technology?” “Doesn’t privatizing world peace make you—”

I tune them out.

Not because I don’t hear them. Oh, I hear them. I just don’t care.

I adjust my cuffs, take a slow breath. Let them feel the weight of silence. People underestimate silence—it’s powerful. Give a man too many words, and he’ll drown himself trying to use them all. But hold a moment, stretch it just long enough, and boom—they start scrambling.

They want a soundbite? Fine.

“I have successfully privatized world peace.”

It’s been, what, ten minutes since I said it? Feels like an eternity. But I can still see the way it landed. The way they blinked, how the room hesitated for a beat too long. The government wanted to strong-arm me, turn me into their personal weapons dealer. They thought they could own me. My tech. My mind. My future.

And I said no.

They’re still trying to process it, still trying to figure out how I just walked away, how I refused to play by their rules. Simple—I don’t do their rules. I don’t take orders from men who think in straight lines when I see the entire board in 4D. They wanted to chain me to a system built on war, to hand my work over to the same kind of people who once put my name on missiles.

Not happening.

And that terrifies them.

Because for the first time, they don’t control the future. I do.

I could smirk—tempting, really—but I settle for something quieter. Sunglasses slide into place, classic move, lets them panic in their own questions while I take my time stepping forward.

This feeling? It’s electric. It’s like standing on the edge of a new world, one only I can see. It’s the hum of an arc reactor, the pull of gravity before a free fall, the sharp inhale right before taking off in the suit.

It’s infinite.

I know what they’re thinking. That I’m arrogant. That I’m reckless. That I’m playing god. But let’s get one thing straight—I didn’t build the problem. I fixed it. They just don’t like that I did it without them.

The questions keep coming, the cameras keep flashing, but it doesn’t matter. Because I already won.

I step into the storm, and like always, I walk through it untouched.

Untouchable.

[dreadark]

Fresh Snow

some drabbles of kim dokja's company during a snow day, before the story of orv starts

-

One could say Kim Dokja was lucky for reaching his apartment before the snowstorm truly picked up. Another could say he was unlucky for the storm happening exactly on the night he meant to go grocery shopping. And the first would argue with the second, saying if he’d just checked the weather forecast a day earlier he wouldn’t even be in this situation, so that couldn’t be called bad luck, only a lack of forethought…

…Damn it, he really was hungry.

It was lucky he had time to eat lunch during work today, and unlucky he had literally nothing left in his fridge or pantry now for dinner. Clear proof that trying to cut himself off from instant noodles was a mistake.

The cold was worse than the hunger, though. Kim Dokja knew this building had terrible insulation, but now he was feeling the lack of it seep into his bones. Wasn’t it some building code violation to let the temperatures indoors drop this low? Of course, having the time or money to do anything about that was out of the question, but he could daydream taking his bastard landlord to court anyway.

For now, he just had to bear it. If the Iron-Blooded Supreme King Yoo Joonghyuk could withstand being plunged into the coldest depths of Poseidon’s ocean, then Completely Average Salaryman Kim Dokja could definitely triumph over a particularly cold Seoul night…!

Before he could cringe himself to death over that thought, a notification popped up on his phone. A new chapter of Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World? tls123 had announced another hiatus earlier this week, which from previous experience would last a couple days longer, so he hadn’t expected an update today. Maybe, they’d come back early just to save him—?

>> lol there ws rly smn like this… s5gir antis r so sad

Unfortunately, it was only a reply to a comment he’d made years ago. Specifically, one on a chapter of SSSSS-Grade Infinite Regressor pointing out how obviously “Yoo Joonhyun” was ripping off his Joonghyuk-ie…

The person who replied had probably assumed his account was old enough to have been abandoned, especially with how much backlash his comments had gotten then. So they’d surely be in for a shock if the original commenter shot back with definitive proof of this so-called author’s plagiarism.

…Kim Dokja was twenty-seven now. Having graduated university despite all odds he now “contributed to society” by going through the motions of a meaningless QA job, so he would definitely be considered an adult. Definitely too old to participate in flame wars online. Definitely too mature to start typing up a cool reply (carefully composed, he couldn’t seem like he was letting emotion get to his head) on how much evidence he’d collected to support his point (all saved to a draft on his personal email account, so he could access it wherever) and how they should at least apologize to tls123-nim in place of this pretentious “writer” who still refused to…

And really, ‘s5gir’? With an abbreviation that clunky, no wonder they had to copy someone. Couldn’t even come up with a decent title.

Only after posting the reply did Kim Dokja realize he’d completely forgotten about the cold while typing.

read the rest on ao3 here

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Andy Craig for The UnPopulist:

Donald Trump built his political brand on the idea that he is an outsider to Washington who is singularly suited to draining “the swamp,” crushing “the deep state,” dismantling “the uniparty,” and burning down “the establishment.” Trump got a lot of political mileage out of the idea that he is not a politician and that his movement represents an uprising against the elites. It’s a narrative that powered Trump’s ascent to the presidency and fuels his continued dominance over the Republican Party. But the reality of Trumpism today tells a different story: with Trump himself back in the White House, the GOP in control of both houses of Congress, and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, Trump and his movement are not the rebels storming the gates—they are the establishment.

Trump’s party has become the political home of entrenched interests determined to tilt the playing field even further in their favor. It has behind it the world’s richest men, a massive propaganda machine, the world’s most powerful political party, and now the entire United States government. Liberals cannot defeat Trumpism by pretending these dynamics don’t exist, nor by meekly defending a broken status quo. The response must be a bold, radical liberalism that takes on entrenched corruption and incompetence with an unapologetic agenda for fundamental change. Liberals must flip the script. Trump’s populist style ensures he will always try to project himself as the outsider on a crusade against “the establishment”—but as his party’s nominee in the last three presidential elections, and as a winner of two of them, he has no business portraying his movement as the rebellion when it is actually the empire. It’s time liberals made that clear by embracing an underdog spirit befitting liberalism’s new underdog reality.

Reclaiming Radical Reform Over Stagnation and Nostalgia

Liberalism’s greatest achievements have always come from challenging entrenched power and pushing bold reforms—not defending the status quo. The abolition of slavery, the expansion of suffrage, free markets, civil rights, and open trade were victories of a liberalism that embraced its radical reformist roots. But today, Democrats too often retreat into uninspiring technocratic centrism or flirt with discredited socialist schemes that alienate voters. Neither approach offers a way forward. What is needed is a reformist liberal agenda that breaks from the paralysis of the past. America’s housing crisis, for instance, cries out for a YIMBY revolution. Blue states and cities dominated by Democrats have become poster children for dysfunctional zoning laws and permitting systems that protect wealthy homeowners while pricing out young families and workers. Instead of defending these failed policies, liberals must lead the charge for deregulating land use, building more homes, and making housing affordable. Immigration policy is another example where Democrats have failed to lead. Instead of offering a clear defense of immigration as an economic and moral good, Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris both accepted the underlying premise of their opponent’s anti-immigrant position by promising to enforce a closed border more effectively. Liberals must pivot to a pro-immigration message that unapologetically celebrates America as a nation of opportunity and growth, not walls and fear.

[...]

Uncompromising Opposition to Trump’s Authoritarian Agenda

The liberal response to Trumpism cannot be accommodation or appeasement. Trump’s authoritarian tendencies—his attacks on free speech, political opponents, and the press—are fundamental threats. Liberals must reject the idea that these policies are “populist” in the sense of being aligned with ordinary Americans’ interests and desires, rather than “populist” in the proper sense of being driven by us vs. them, zero-sum conflict. Trump’s economic nationalism, including tariffs and protectionism, doesn’t help workers—it raises prices, fuels inflation, and makes the country poorer. Not only are tariffs “injurious to the U.S. economy,” as Steve Chapman noted, “but also to its liberal democracy because he will use them to reward friends and punish enemies”—the very essence of corrupt rent seeking. Trump’s war on free speech and civil liberties, under the guise of combating “wokeness,” is not anti-elite but profoundly authoritarian, silencing dissent and intimidating critics. Instead of trying to co-opt elements of Trumpism or cede ground on his talking points, liberals must offer a principled alternative that promotes openness, accountability, and the rule of law. Trade and immigration should be celebrated as engines of growth and opportunity, not scapegoats for economic anxieties. Free speech and pluralism must be defended against the creeping trend towards censorship and intimidation. Foreign policy should reflect competence, diplomacy, stability and, above all, a commitment to human rights and liberal values—not bellicose saber-rattling and reckless unpredictability. The liberal opposition to Trumpism must be resilient, not reactive. It must not retreat into fear but articulate hope. And it must make clear that liberal democracy, not populist authoritarianism, is the only system capable of meeting America’s challenges and securing its freedoms.

A Liberal Future Worth Fighting For

The future of liberalism depends on reclaiming its radical heritage as a movement for reform and progress. To counter Trumpism, liberals cannot be content defending the status quo or hiding behind empty, uninspiring technocracy. Nor can they fall into the trap of offering discredited socialist experiments that voters rightly distrust and have relegated to the ash heap of history. Instead, they must offer a bold vision—one that confronts corruption, breaks down barriers, and expands freedom. This means leading the fight for housing reform, immigration liberalization, electoral democracy, and an economy freed from inbuilt structural advantages to dominant interests and connected elites. It means taking on entrenched interests and failed policies, even when doing so challenges Democratic leaders and allies. And it means rejecting Trump’s authoritarian agenda with confidence and clarity, offering voters a real alternative to corruption, chaos, and division.

Andy Craig wrote for The UnPopulist explains that liberalism works best when not defending the status quo

[belladonnabefore]

Im coming back to Tumblr, and as much as it's not important to anyone, the reason is actually socially and politically interesting and i wanna explain it.

So, some context before anything, im Brazilian, grew up a Tumblr kid in from 2016 to about 2018, left for a good while, then i got a Twitter ( i refuse to call it X ) cause of Animation School during 2022, and now im migrating back to Tumblr, and it's cause Brazil is actually banning Twitter, giving a 8,912 dollar fine to anyone who uses a VPN to acess it and to top it off blocked Starlink's financial resourses in Brazil, the reason being justified and absolutely nuts that it happened too, at least in my conception.

So, from 2018 to 2022 the Brazilian president was Jair Bolsonaro, basically the dummer and more openly facist Brazilian version of Trump ( and that's a whole can of worms that im not gonna get into cause this post is already bound to be massive ), and on the end of 2022 presidental elections were held and Bolsonaro lost to Lula, a left leaning guy that will 100% sacrifice his morals for money and power ( but ended up being, sadly, the least worst option on that election, kinda like Biden ). So Bolsonaro started discrediting the electoral results on the internet with the help of other far-right politians and surprisingly ( or not ) Elon Musk. Following these series of inflamatory accusations from Bolsonaro and the far-right there were a few riots and then his following ( and most recent facist movement of Brazil ) stormed the Capitol in January 8th 2023 with enabling from the Brazilian police and military forces ( which sadly kinda work as it's own conservative cell seperate from the government due to Brazil's badly resolved Military Dictatorship issues ), politicians were evactuated before they entered, but when they did they tore down and stole priceless diplomatic gifts and works of art all over, but since it was mostly elderly people they were detained and jailed pretty quickly, even with the police's unwillingness allowing tons of them to escape.

And a huge investigation was open to see if the Coup was organized by political figures or not, led by supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes. And well, from the involvement of the police force blocking highways so rural and poor communities couldn't vote, to a general testifying that Bolsonaro presented him papers detailing a organized planned Coup that didn't happen ( that were later found to be in a liutenant-colonel's house ), to Musk stepping in himself to discredit a deny Judge Moraes' requests to ban the accounts of people involved in the coup and in spreading missinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines back in the pandemic, it was obvious political figure's were neck in deep in shit, and Musk's box-shapped visage was no different.

So, cause of his involvement in this crazy mess, various personal attacks on Judge Moraes and the fact that brazilian facist cells are finding refuge on Twitter without any sort of reprimanding from the plataform, Judge Moraes threatened arresting Twitter's Brazilian representative. Elon Musk's response was to completely shut down Twitter's offices in Brazil, leaving them as a rougue agent with no representative on the eyes lf the law, and so Moraes responded by blocking Starlink's financial resources here and threatening to shut down Twitter for good in Brazil if Elon keeps disrespecting and delegitimazing Brazilian democracy and law, Musk responded to this by throwing more anti-democratic tamper tantrums and posting edited pics of Moraes as Darth Vader or someone of the sort ( i don't watch Star Wars ) like the little facist troll he is. And that's why Brazil ( Twitter's 6th biggest userbase ) is just gonna vanish from there today or soon enough, and why im here now again! And let me tell you something, not having character limitations and being able to say "FUCK YOU ELON MUSK" without getting kicked to the curb is absolutely FREEING.

So, prehaps expect a influx of Brazilians even though most will go to Bluesky, and don't expect me to cover politics anytime soon, maybe expect me to cover history though.

Thanks for reading. ♡

[mariacallous]

A symbol affiliated with former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” fallacy was on display at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s house in 2021, a New York Times investigation found Thursday.

The symbol in question was an upside-down American flag, which supporters of Trump’s stolen election conspiracy theory began displaying after he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. Neighbors who saw and photographed the flag confirmed to the Times that it flew on Jan. 17, 2021. The conservative justice admitted it but said it was his wife’s doing.

“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” he said in a statement to the paper. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”

The Times found in interviews with neighbors that Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, was having an ongoing argument with neighbors who’d put up an anti-Trump sign with an expletive on their front lawn.

You can see a photo of the flag in question in the Times’ story.

Jan. 17 was a little over a week after Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the ceremonial counting of electoral votes that gave Biden the presidency. More than a thousand people involved in the riot have been charged with crimes associated with that day.

While the flag was up, the Supreme Court was deciding whether to hear several cases about the integrity of the 2020 election. Alito was in favor of hearing the arguments but was ultimately on the losing side. Currently, the court is set to rule on two cases related to the Capitol riot, including one that could give Trump presidential immunity from some of the dozens of charges he’s facing.

The Supreme Court’s code of ethics calls for the justices to avoid making political statements or sharing opinions on matters that might come before the court.

Take Back the Court, a group opposed to the conservative swing the court has taken in recent years, said this incident is proof Alito doesn’t belong on the court.

“Sam Alito has disqualified himself from legitimate service on the Supreme Court. It’s hard to imagine a more blatant f-you to the American public than proudly displaying a vestige of a failed coup attempt on the country you’re supposed to serve, right on your front lawn,” the group’s president, Sarah Lipton-Lubet, said in a statement.

Alito’s wife isn’t the only Supreme Court spouse to get caught up in an election conspiracy scandal. Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, promoted and attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House that preceded the Capitol insurrection. Her husband has refused to recuse himself from cases related to the attack on the Capitol.

“If the wife of one sitting Supreme Court justice helping incite an insurrection wasn’t enough for Congress to issue subpoenas to these extremists, perhaps another sitting justice proudly displaying memorabilia from that insurrection will be,” she said.

[newstfionline]

Sunday, May 18, 2025

The Mess at Airports Is Part of a Larger Pattern (The Atlantic) On this much, there is bipartisan agreement: The Federal Aviation Administration is in a bad mess. After years of exceptional safety, the U.S. air-travel system has recently been beset with near misses and, in one horrifying case, a collision. Air-traffic-control towers are badly understaffed, and controllers have now twice lost—for about 90 seconds and 30 to 90 seconds, respectively—the ability to track flights coming in and out of Newark. Lots of people saw it coming. Regulators, pilots, controllers, airline executives, and outside observers all warned for years that the system was falling behind and running on outdated technology. Yet successive presidential administrations and Congresses didn’t act. The pattern of neglect observed at the FAA can be seen across the federal government. Other physical infrastructure, including bridges, dams, power lines, and highways, are in a serious state of decay.

Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to resume quick deportations of Venezuelans under 18th-century law (AP) The Supreme Court on Friday barred the Trump administration from quickly resuming deportations of Venezuelans under an 18th-century wartime law enacted when the nation was just a few years old. Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The high court action is the latest in a string of judicial setbacks for the Trump administration’s effort to speed deportations of people in the country illegally. The president and his supporters have complained about having to provide due process for people they contend didn’t follow U.S. immigration laws.

At least 21 people dead and widespread damage in the wake of severe Midwest storms (CNN) A violent, tornado-spawning storm system tore across the central US, leaving at least 21 people dead in Missouri and southeastern Kentucky as it cut a path of destruction across several states. The 14 deaths in Kentucky come on the heels of fatalities reported hours earlier on Friday in the St. Louis area, which saw widespread destruction. Seven people were reported dead in Missouri. In all, large tornadoes have been reported in Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. The storms damaged homes and downed power lines across the Midwest and Great Lakes, leaving more than 700,000 homes and businesses across a dozen states without power.

Brazil has a scorpion problem (The Week) Scorpions are “taking over” Brazil’s cities, scientists have warned. And with these infestations comes a huge rise in stinging incidents, some of them fatal, and often caused by Brazilian yellow scorpions, known for their extremely toxic venom. More than 1.1 million scorpion stings were reported in Brazil between 2014 and 2023: with a 155% rise in reports over that period, according to a study published in Frontiers in Public Health. The surge in numbers is “driven by rapid, unplanned urbanisation”, said The Guardian. The sprawl of “high-density housing” encroaches on scorpions’ natural habitats in the wild, and “poor waste disposal” creates new environments where they can “thrive”. This “rampant urbanisation” also “scares away scorpions’ natural predators, such as lizards and birds”, and “boosts the number of available cockroaches”, which make “tasty meals” for the arachnids, said Phys.org. As a result, scorpions have become “the most lethal venomous animal” in Brazil, with 152 deaths from scorpion stings last year, compared to 140 deaths from snake bites.

Britain’s police are restricting speech in worrying ways (Economist) The police arrived at Maxie Allen’s door at midday on January 29th. None of the six officers seemed to know much about why they were there, recalls Mr Allen. But they read out a list of charges and searched the house, before arresting him and his partner and taking them to the police station, where they were held for eight hours. The couple’s alleged crime? Disparaging emails and WhatsApp messages about their daughter’s primary school. Free speech in Britain has been put under the spotlight. J.D. Vance, America’s vice-president, frequently cites cases involving religious activists. Elon Musk, a tech mogul, has claimed that thousands are being locked up for social-media posts. It would be nice if Brits could simply dismiss such attacks as ill-informed and staggeringly hypocritical from an administration that now strives to stifle dissent. Yet the Americans are right in one crucial respect: Britain does have a serious problem. Speech is being restricted, particularly online, in alarming ways and at an increasingly alarming rate. The number of arrests—more than a thousand a month for online posts—shows this is no longer about a few rogue cases. The root cause can be found in the country’s speech laws, which are a mess and ill-suited to the digital age: Brits are prosecuted for the sorts of conversations they would have had in the pub. Many who are arrested have simply said something that someone else considers offensive. Of all the recent cases, it is Mr Allen’s that best captures the careless erosion of a crucial liberty. At one point during his questioning, Mr Allen’s partner asked for an example of a WhatsApp message that constituted “malicious communication”. The detective had to stop and Google the crime.

In Spain, a homelessness crisis unfolds in Madrid’s airport (AP) Every morning at 6 a.m., Teresa sets out in search of work, a shower and a bit of exercise before she returns home. For around six months, that has been Terminal 4 of Madrid’s international airport. Teresa, 54, who didn’t want her full name to be used because of safety concerns, is one of the estimated hundreds of homeless people sleeping in the Spanish capital’s airport amid a growing housing crisis in Spain, where rental costs have risen especially fast in cities like Madrid, the country’s capital, and Barcelona. She and others sleeping at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport—the third-busiest airport in Europe in 2023, according to Eurostat—described a situation where for months, authorities have neither helped them find other living arrangements nor have they kicked them out from the corners of the airport that they have occupied with sleeping bags unfurled on the floor as well as blankets, shopping carts and bags.

As political theater took center stage in Turkey, the war went on in Ukraine (AP) Since U.S.-brokered talks began in March, Ukraine’s strategy has been to convince the Trump administration that Vladimir Putin is unreliable, and that Kyiv is serious about peace. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has few options, analysts and officials say, but to draw U.S. President Donald Trump’s ire against Putin while depending on the united and stalwart support of European allies. But the political theatrics are underscored by stark realities on the ground. In this war of attrition against Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s position is poised to grow weaker as time goes on, unless powerful sanctions are imposed against Moscow and the U.S. continues arms deliveries. For Ukrainian soldiers fighting along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, the theatricality of the week’s political developments stood in harsh contrast with the grinding war. “Better to call it a circus,” said a Ukrainian drone operator.

Fighting India Helps Revive the Pakistani Military’s Popularity (NYT) Pakistan has been mired for years in overlapping political, economic and security crises. But right now, it is feeling like a winner. Its government has declared victory in Pakistan’s most expansive military clash with India in more than 50 years. Political parties and ordinary Pakistanis have staged rallies to celebrate the armed forces’ performance. In analysts’ eyes, the four-day fight was closer to a draw. Pakistan suffered some blows it cannot hide. But by holding its own against its more powerful neighbor, it has for now pushed its dire problems into the background. A renewed, if fragile, public confidence in the state and in the military, Pakistan’s most dominant institution, has begun to emerge. “It feels like we’ve won something. We’re not a failed state,” said Hafeez Siddiqui, a bank accountant in Karachi, the country’s largest city.

Indians urge Turkey boycott amid regional tensions (BBC) What began as public calls to boycott travel to Turkey has now escalated into a broader rupture, with India severing links with Turkish businesses and universities. On Thursday India barred Turkish firm Celebi from operating at its airports, citing national security concerns—an allegation the company denies. Several Indian universities—including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Maulana Azad National Urdu University- have also suspended academic ties with Turkish institutions. Deadly fighting broke out between India and Pakistan last week after Delhi launched airstrikes on its neighbour, saying it was in response to the deadly Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan has denied any involvement in the incident. Turkey and Azerbaijan were quick to back Pakistan after India’s military action—Ankara warned of “all-out war”, while Baku condemned Delhi’s strikes. The fallout sparked a wave of backlash, with boycott calls against Turkey—and Azerbaijan—gaining traction on social media and being echoed by senior political leaders. The boycott gained momentum after reports emerged of Turkish drones being used by Pakistan against India.

From guns to gardens: Former gangsters fight hunger in Kenya (AP) Joseph Kariaga and his friends once lived the “gangster life” in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, snatching phones, mugging people and battling police. But when Kariaga’s brother was shot dead by police, the young men took stock. “We said, ‘We cannot live like this. We are going to lose our lives.’ Many of our friends had died,” said Kariaga, now 27. “I reflected on my life. I had to change.” Now the men are farmers with a social mission. Nearly a dozen of them founded Vision Bearerz in 2017 to steer youth away from crime and address food insecurity in one of Kenya’s poorest communities. Despite challenges, Vision Bearerz makes a modest but meaningful community impact, including feeding over 150 children at lunches each week. Some residents praise the group and call the men role models. Kariaga still feels the pain of his brother’s death, but is proud of his new job. “Farming can change the world,” he said.

In Big Cities, Peace and Quiet Is Becoming a Perk Worth Paying For (Bloomberg) If Yu Kusuda hadn’t met his neighbors, he might not know they were there. The 71-year-old singer-songwriter, who also works as a human resources consultant, lives in an 86-square-meter (283-square-foot) apartment in Tokyo, marketed by its developer Livlan as soundproof. For five years, Kusuda has been hosting online seminars at home, blasting movies at full volume, and playing electric guitar. No one complains, and neither does he. “I have never heard any sound from my neighbors,” Kusuda says. Livlan started exploring soundproof apartments in 1987, and there’s now a waiting list of 6,000, despite higher than average rent. Neighbor noise is a common problem in Japan, where a government survey shows it accounts for 43% of all neighbor complaints at apartments. Chris Berdik, author of Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back (W.W. Norton, May 25), says there’s been “a massive increase in people’s desire for quiet,” pointing to silent airports and the rise of quiet travel. As the world grows noisier, and digital distractions proliferate, our brains burn energy sorting through various signals to find what matters, he adds. The global market for noise-canceling headphones is projected to reach $41 billion by 2031, according to KBV Research, up from $15.9 billion in 2023.

[beardedmrbean]

April 8 (UPI) -- Elon Musk called for a judge on Brazil's Supreme to quit or be impeached after Justice Alexandre de Moraes launched an inquiry into his X social media platform in an escalating row over misinformation dating back to the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia in 2023.

In a post on X on Sunday, Musk, the owner and chief technology officer of the company, said court decisions forcing X to "block certain popular accounts in Brazil" along with a gagging order preventing X from talking about the action were unconstitutional and that the company would no longer comply.

"Coming shortly, X will publish everything demanded by de Moraes and how those requests violate Brazilian law. This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached," Musk wrote.

"These are the most draconian demands of any country on Earth!"

But in a response to a late Saturday night post by Musk threatening to unblock the accounts, Moraes announced Sunday he was adding Musk to his ongoing investigation of "digital militias" and the opening of a fresh inquiry into Musk to "prevent the eventual practice of obstruction of justice, a criminal organization and incitement to crime."

Accusing Musk of mounting a disinformation campaign against the Supreme Court, he imposed daily fines $19,775 for each profile reactivated by the platform.

X's Global Government Affairs team said in a post that many of the details supporting the action had been obscured.

"We do not know the reasons these blocking orders have been issued. We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the law. We are prohibited from saying which court or judge issued the order, or on what grounds. We are prohibited from saying which accounts are impacted. We are threatened with daily fines if we fail to comply," it wrote.

"We believe that such orders are not in accordance with the Marco Civil da Internet or the Brazilian Federal Constitution, and we will challenge the orders legally where possible."

The accounts in question are thought to be connected to posts on X by far-right activists and figures that may have helped fuel the January 2023 storming of Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace by thousands of rioters supporting former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Moraes is also investigating Bolsonaro and his supporters for their alleged involvement in an abortive coup to overthrow the result of the October 2022 presidential election that brought President Lula da Silva to office.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

The January 6th riots were obviously a national embarrassment. The January 6th theatre we’ve witnessed since is a global, historical, unadulterated farce.

Yesterday’s partisan committee hearing on January 6th was nothing short of a national embarrassment. No doubt the January 6th riots were, too. Had pipsqueak Pence done his job, the country would look far different today. But two wrongs don’t make a right. How Democrats continue to abuse their power for the partisan persecution of their political opponents will remain a stain on America’s body politick for generations to come.

The most humiliating moments – especially for the audiences watching from around the world – saw all four “stars” of the “show” crying for the television cameras.

Crying over havoc.

Harry Dunn, Adam Kinzinger, Aquilino Gonell, and Adam Schiff all boo-hooed on international television, signaling nothing but weakness to America’s adversaries. But why should they care? These men are more concerned about climate change activist shaman than they are about the Chinese Communist Party. More on that, later. Schiff, recall, was once the latest in a string of purported titans who were set to “take down Trump,” in the failed impeachment proceedings. Yesterday, he reverted to his natural state of sobbing little manlet, keen to play up his “human” side for the cameras. A crock, if ever there was one. ‘The Worst Attack EVER!’

The narrative has suggested that January 6th was “the worst attack” on the United States since, like, ever. The moderate position appears to be that it was the worst attack since my people (the British) burned the White House down. And yet, anyone with even a cursory knowledge of American history would righty guffaw at such claims. Hell, anyone with a functioning memory should be able to see through the pantomimish postulation. Consider 1954, when four armed Puerto Ricans took positions in the gallery overlooking the chamber of the House of Representatives and opened fire. They wounded five Members of Congress: two Republicans and three Democrats. It was a pretty heinous attack. Of course Jimmy Carter commuted the terrorists’ life sentences later on.

Or how about in 1971, when a left-wing protester planted an actual bomb that actually exploded outside the Senate.

“The Congressional reaction was generally restrained,” the New York Times reported at the time. No such luck this time.

Or consider 1983, when a massive blast tore through the Capitol building, luckily killing no one, but leading to the modern identification requirements needed to enter the building. In a way, this attack killed the openness of America’s legislature, which had been almost totally open to the public prior. The culprits – Laura Whitehorn, Marilyn Buck, and Linda Evans – were all radical Marxists.

Whitehorn served 14 years and is now a lauded figure on the left. Buck served 25 years before being released to die from cancer a month later. Evans served 11 years, got parole, and then had her sentence commuted by Bill Clinton.

You could also take the 1915 bombing, carried out by Harvard University professor Frank Holt aka Eric Muenter. Or perhaps more contemporaneously, the storming of the Senate by hundreds of left-wing activists intent on stopping the confirmation of a Supreme Court judge.

Over 60 Secret Service personnel were assaulted and injured when far-left activists descended on Trump’s White House in 2020, frustrated at the then-President’s seeming cruise to re-election. Shortly after, Democrats would abandon plans to “storm” or “besiege” the White House and fixated their efforts on changing election laws around the country, as The National Pulse originally reported. Of course, there are a number of similar incidents, none of which attracted the condemnation nor the committee hearings as January 6th.

(Hat-tip to Yossi Gestetner on Twitter for assembling this list of incidents).

Friends in High Places.

Much like some of the Marxist revolutionaries who found comfort in the arms of Carter and Clinton, some of yesterday’s characters have friends in high places, too.

Police officer Harry Dunn, who spent a not insignificant amount of time in yesterday’s hearing ragging on America and “racism,” appears to be represented by long-time Democrat lelgal creep Mark Zaid.

Zaid, if you recall the name, is the guy who very much enjoys frequenting Disney Land alone, as a grown man. His YouTube contained videos such as “Top 10 prettiest disney channel stars” and “Selena Gomez from child to women.”

(Zaid’s creepy YouTube page.)

Zaid – who once declared that a “coup” against President Trump was underway – is one of the most critical lawyers in Democratic Party circles. But he’s nowhere near as important as Dunn’s other mates: Nancy Pelosi and Jamie Raskin.

Raskin was another of the Democrats’ failed impeachment managers, against Trump. Pelosi, we all know, is drunk Satan.

Crooks and Dunn.

It boggles the mind how lawmakers and police officers can cry about feeling threatened during a committee meeting, but then make their partisan preferences so abundantly clear. No Republican on Capitol Hill could possibly feel safe again, after yesterday’s display. Not least because Dunn appears to be an ardent support of a Marxist movement, linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Black Lives Mao-tter.

Dunn’s Twitter page is adorned with BLM propaganda.  He doesn’t even try to hide it.

The same group that terrorized Washington, D.C. including the Capitol Hill neighborhoods Dunn is supposed to concern himself with is one of Dunn’s faves.

After they burned St. John’s Church, besieged the White House, lay waste to businesses across the Capitol, and injured and killed dozens across the country, Dunn endorsed BLM. Who’s the real danger to America?

(Dunn and daughter pose at ‘BLM Plaza’.)

But Dunn’s links to the group aren’t just concerning given their recent, domestic terrorist activities. BLM is a front organization for radical communists inspired by and working with the Chinese Communist Party. In other words, hostile foreign actors now have guns on the ground on Capitol Hill. Refresh your memory, if you need to, about the hardline Marxist authoritarian goals of the group: from praising mass murderer Mao to launching blatantly genocidal attacks on Israel. Forget just Republicans feeling unsafe around Dunn. Jewish Members of Congress and staffers on the Hill should probably watch out, given his subscribed ideology and thought leaders. Critical race theory proponents have also been on Chinese Communist-sponsored trips, as reported by The National Pulse.

Crying-on-Crying-on-Crying.

Naturally, in response to my live online commentary about the farcical nature of yesterday’s events, left-Twitter went mental. Again. Especially Luke O’Brien – himself a Chinese Communist-linked researcher who attempted to intimidate me by giving away where I like to drink in Washington, D.C., which is hardly a secret but O’Brien was obviously dog-whistling to his violent followers. In other words, their response to the children crying on television yesterday was to cry at me some more on Twitter. Truly a meta-pathetic American altercation. I hesitate to say it since this country has been so kind to me, but folks, the whole world is now laughing at you. From your Women’s Soccer Team celebrating a 3-0 loss, to your athletes winning awards for dropping out of the Olympics, to your elections being an evident farce, to your lawmakers and elected officials crying on television. This isn’t the America anyone from abroad falls in love with. This is a national and international embarrassment. And it’s only just the beginning. Full Fraud Farce.

We know the full fraud farce is coming into full effect. As I posted to GETTR at the unreasonable hour of airport-o-clock this morning, “One of the most deeply concerning parts of the political establishment’s stupidity-arrogance complex is how easily fooled they’re going to be when nefarious actors and foreign agents plant fake, malicious “evidence” about political adversaries writ large. The state will rush to deny their own citizens the most fundamental rights. Trump/Russia was a very basic test case and US institutions totally failed.” Not only are Democrats willing to take the knee – even when they’re draped in the cloth of literal slavers – they’re willing to use the apparatus of state to aggressively and violently persecute the opponents of foreign, Communist, hostile powers.

China doesn’t need to start a war with the United States. They’ve started a war within the United States.

In search for intellectually unachievable omnipotence, Democrats are more than willing to fight it for them.

The January 6th riots were obviously a national embarrassment. The January 6th theatre we’ve witnessed since is a global, historical, unadulterated farce.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.23 (after 1940)

1940 – Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city. 1940 – Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later. 1942 – World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales. 1946 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. 1947 – The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act. 1951 – The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched. 1956 – The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa. 1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career. 1960 – The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world. 1961 – The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force. 1967 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference. 1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren. 1969 – IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry. 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins. 1972 – Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds. 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale. 1985 – A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo, killing two and injuring four. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard. 1991 – Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America on the Sega Genesis platform, beginning the popular video game franchise. 1994 – NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center. 2012 – Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials. 2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope. 2013 – Militants storm a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, killing ten climbers and a local guide. 2014 – The last of Syria's declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction. 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%. 2018 – Twelve boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand are trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18-day rescue operation.