#the crackpots and these women

[bookofjudith]

the scene in the crackpots and these women where Josh is standing in front of a target listening to Ave Maria talking about how he doesn’t want to be saved while his friends aren’t. When he will in fact be targeted when his friends are saved and he will be so traumatized from nearly dying that he will associate music with sirens and nearly have a breakdown listening to another piece of classical music. Aaron sorkin when I find you.

[blood-orange-juice]

New headcanon: Childe isn't a reincarnation of Ajax/Tuzannou/Parsifal, he's a reincarnation of all the lovely blue-eyed maidens these people loved.

One hailed from a land of snow, another sang to whales and the last one was unmatched in her skill with a spear and blamed for things she didn't do.

It all makes sense now.

[lavender-0-menace]

it’s always “oh we need more complex female characters!” okay?? y’all couldn’t handle any of the atla women without immediately reducing them to a one note stereotype

[nursc]

all my comfort wes.t wi.ng episodes are the ones where josh has ptsd

[sm-baby]

Weiss’ gif is so badass! Also, what does Weiss think of Mei-Lyn, and Mei? Since they’re different people in his eyes………

(Mushy, don’t let God or Humanity’s Daughter hear this, but… what if Weiss and Mei-Lyn get nasty? Like, getting all sloppy and messy together? I ship Meiss/Weilyn too much. 😔)

He finds Mei-lyn (advisor) endearing! Because to him she's just another servant of the castle, and he loves fighting for the oppressed and the underdogs. Not to mention, she's such a wet cat! He admires how ambitious she is and respects her as a person.

He dislikes Mei-lyn (clown) cuz he's read ALL about her and her work suppressing other women, and he does NOT like oppressors. he finds her funny and respects her work, but CANNOT get over the bad things she's done. not to mention, she herself is pretty passive aggressive towards him. he's trying to expose her work after all.

i cant blame him for not knowing the difference. because the interactions with there are so night and day

Lyn: " Yeah i'm thinking about watching a play later"

Mei-lyn: " HEY CRACKPOT, EVER HEARD OF A SHOWER?!"

Lyn: " I think women are so unfairly presented in today's society"

Mei-lyn" FUCK YOUR MOTHER AND FUCK YOU TOO"

Lyn: " I'm so happy that they got married!"

Mei-lyn: " YOUR HUSBAND CHEATED ON YOU"

Lyn: "I want to change the world"

Mei-lyn: " WANNA WATCH ME DOWN TWO WHOLE BOTTLES AT ONCE?!"

[daddysboydean]

my crackpot theory about why other dudes love jared so much is that jared’s traditionally masculine physique disarms them because he looks like a mans man, and then he gets ‘em with his puppy boy golden retriever touchy feely nature. and they love it bc so many dudes can’t be emotional with other dudes. (really they can’t be emotional with women either, it just manifests as sex because they’re repressed, but whatever. also i am most definitely generalizing here) so when this 6’5 tank is openly affectionate with them it gives them the ok to be openly affectionate back. am i making any sense. it’s part of why jensen “there’s no manly way to drink out of a straw” is so obsessed with him. 

[sparkofthetelling]

okay, finished the video! I do talk about some of the stuff she describes at the end, most importantly how she addresses his documented abuse. Watch it (if you have time, of course), it's a very good video in terms of dissecting his... oeuvre, and for reasons I think it's something that's really important to understand.

I have more opinions that I'm sure I'll reblog this with later TW: Abuse and more generalized misogyny

I think it's the most nuanced take I've ever seen discussing him, and I really appreciate that someone took the time to discern what is him and what is mythologizing.

There's some relatively recent videos shown from the guy who wrote Surely You're Joking and its sequel, that truly make me just feel sad for both the actual person the mythological image was crafted around, and the man who is still like that about him.

The last ~40 minutes are where she attempts to disentangle an actual framing of who he is, which I think is very important to do, especially as someone who's always had a sort of awkward picture of him. Not much time is spent on the abuse, because frankly, I don't think there is much to say there. She makes it clear that it's unacceptable, says this isn't a redemption for him after all, puts forth a message in support of abuse victims, and continues onward.

[There's other conversations about if these actions are redeemable, but I think the fairest thing to say is that while he was clearly acknowledged as, in outward appearances, good to his other two wives and family, and supported his sister and daughter about as much as one seems to could hope to, plus supporting Jenijoy La Belle's tenure, I think I can reasonably say that he never condemned his previous actions, as I believe Dr. Collier would have found that if it was somewhere reasonably stated, and considering the broader picture, he undeniably has a shitstain on his legacy that needs to be mentioned, for reasons further enumerated below.]

I think the harm continually brought up throughout the video done by people wearing a sort of 'garb' of this Feynman-persona to women in STEM fields (because I frankly doubt it's just physics) truly is what makes his personal history so important to address. The video does an excellent job of unpacking how the layman perception of Feynman is essentially crafted, and as he struggled with cancer for the last 10 years of his life, I truly wonder just how different it would be had he actually written a book, especially considering that he died only two years after the first of the litany of books mentioned in the video was published.

To pivot a bit, my perception of Feynman has always been complicated, because I actually was (thankfully) never bought the "misogyny is cool 101" book as a child 'interested in physics'. Most of my knowledge formed about him through awkward pop culture osmosis, and as I learned more about him, much of it was in the context of my undergraduate Quantum/GR/QFT professor who had an appreciation for him. He openly acknowledged that he definitely wasn't the best, but my professor is somewhere in his 50s, went to grad school the first time for String Theory, hated it, went and taught high school for 8 years, and then came back to graduate school. The last portion (about the physics) of that video is so very important to me for this reason, because it really clarified to me why he views Feynman the way he does. A lot of the scientists I know are interested in communicating science to the public, and he's well-known for his passion. It's this which is why I think I've been compared to him in the past, and this really helped my own understanding of why I might be compared to him, because when it comes to some of those traits, especially as Dr. Collier describes them, I do see why someone would find that mapping.

I don't think there's too much more I could say that's not just me sort of rephrasing what's said in the video, but again, go watch it if you can.

I'm only 20 minutes into this and will report back later after finishing it because it was released an hour ago and is 3 hours long

[lookninjas]

@penroseparticle, this one's for you.

Pick a country (for occasionally loose definitions of "country") song from a bad description! You do not need to recognize the song from the description, although one of them is very very very very very obvious this time. Go by the vibes. Go for what makes you chuckle or sounds intriguing. Follow your heart.

At the end of the week, I will post a playlist with all the songs in order, from the song with the least amount of votes to the song with the most amount of votes. If you would like to hear the playlist but don't want to put a lot of effort into it, leave a comment or put it in the tags on your reblog and I'll tag you. If you really just need to know about a specific song and don't want to wait, shoot me an ask and I'll answer.

And please reblog! It's time to make your mutuals listen to some straight-up (maybe not that straight) country music for a change. Especially that one. You know the one.

[qqueenofhades]

I bought your 'Empire' the other day (which I am excited about; I haven't started it yet), but somehow completely missed that you had written historical fiction, and about the Plantagenets, my favourite historical dynasty, so I'll be jumping on that.

I was wondering if you had recommendations for historical fiction set during the Plantagenet reign? I've tried Sharon Kay Penman and unfortunately didn't get on with her writing, which is a shame as I've heard good things about her series. I know Philippa Gregory has several novels set during that time period, but her books seem to be verging on bodice rippers, which isn't what I'm looking for. Was just curious if you had any suggestions for well-researched fiction set during the Plantagenet reign.

This ask has been sitting in my inbox for several days (my apologies) largely because I was trying to think of a more helpful answer for you. Medieval historical fiction is VERY hit and miss for me, not least because it is often written by people who, uh, are not historians and thus have Certain Ideas (TM) about what the medieval period is like. Or they want to use various aesthetics, or they want to make some (usually questionable) point about how women were treated in the past, or they just go whole-hog on total nonsense. As an example of all of these things at once, let us all stare in horror at this recently-released book description together:

(The book is called the Stone Witch of Florence, by the way. I took one look at this and ran screaming. WHY.)

A stone witch?? So she channels the power of gemstones like a modern-day Instagram healing crystals influencer??? BUT ZOMGZ WITCHCRAFT. In the middle of the Black Death. "Unorthodox cures" you say. But they also need holy relics for protection, and I totally trust the author to understand about medieval hagiography/cult of the saints. Totally. We definitely won't get some half-baked comparison between Sekrit Women Magical Gems Which Really Work and Dark Ages Church Superstition Holy Relics Which Are A Fraud, or.... something??? And our nobly mistreated protagonist will super definitely be a real physician if she gets these and never ever accused of witchcraft (which LET US ALL SAY IT TOGETHER IS AN EARLY MODERN THING!!!!) Because medieval medicine was just a bunch of gemstone vibes anyway! Makes total sense!

...my head hurts.

Anyway, while not all examples are this egregious, the point is: I love historical fiction, but I almost always can't read it when it's set in the medieval era. I read Sharon Kay Penman a while ago and enjoyed her stuff at the time, though I have assorted gripes with it on a stylistic/historical level. While Philippa Gregory does have real academic credentials, she likewise has gone totally down the bodice-ripper alternate-history crackpot theory Secret Women Magic version of things, which is... fine if that's your jam, but just like you, it is not mine. I thus have to read fiction which is set in other periods or which I know less about or where at least I am more capable of turning off my brain and accepting things for the sake of the story. So as you see, I unfortunately don't have many useful suggestions for you in this field, since the kind of medieval historical fiction that I like to recommend is, say, The Name of the Rose. Which is terrific and written for someone of a professional medievalist's level of knowledge, but is not exactly everyone's cup of tea when they just want something fun and easy to understand.

I am, of course, happy to give other book recommendations if you'd like to broaden your request, and I'll do my best to think -- but yes! As I said, I wish I could be more helpful here. I shall persist.

(Also, of course: thanks for buying EMPIRE! I do hope you enjoy.)

[wilwheaton]

The crackpot fundamentalist judge in Texas did us one service — he revealed a crucial truth. This isn’t about “states rights” at all. This is what they want for every American. He wasn’t happy just taking Texan womens’ rights away. He took all American womens’ rights away. Texas’s population is almost 30 million. America’s population is 330 million. His impact was ten times greater than what the GOP assured us wouldn’t happen, coddling Americans with the Big Lie that this wasn’t fascism, this was just about “states rights.” Americans fell for it, because, like I’ve pointed out, their media does a pretty terrible job, with a few exceptions (thank you, Washington Post and ProPublica) discussing any of this in serious or realistic or historic ways. Think about what it means that one man can take rights away from more than 300 million women.

Americans Are Now Experiencing the Everyday Reality of Authoritarian Collapse

[blood-orange-juice]

Crackpot hc: Childe's emotional support whale is the princess from the battle pass cutscene.

[novaksupremacy]

The Backseat of My Car- Casey Novak x Alex Cabot

soooo, a little Friday morning smutty treat for my loves. ❤️ I was told part 2 of This is My Office was needed and since it'll be a while before I even get to this chapter, here's a present 😜 consider it a peace offering that it may take me a few days for Chapter 7 😅 (also if someone could teach my goofy ass how to format so that things indent properly, I'll love you forever!)

"Don't beat yourself up, that was a tough case." Casey consoled her girlfriend as they walked through the parking garage, "you know there's always the possibility that a juror will be sympathetic towards one of these crackpots."

Alex was seething mad, "Langan's just lucky I don't feel like spending the rest of my life in jail or I'd have him strung up by his testicles!"

The redhead's lip curled in disgust. She stopped walking and grabbed Alex's hand. "Babe I would really rather not think about you anywhere near that man's testicles, or any man's testicles for that matter.

"Sorry," the blonde frowned, "he just makes me so mad I could spit. I can't believe I ever went on a date with that man." She went to start walking again.

The younger ADA stopped again and pulled Alex back towards her, "Okay, what? I don't know what's worse, you, talking about his nuts or the fact that you went out with him.

Alex chuckled, "It was one date, we never made it passed the bar. I really just needed info on a case."

Casey smirked, "Ah yeah because that makes it better." She giggled and pulled her closer, "Just remember who you belong to, Alexandra Cabot."

"How could I ever forget," the Bureau Chief leaned in and kissed her girlfriend.

The redhead rested her free hand against the blonde's thigh. Her eyes lit up when she realized she was still strapped from earlier. "Babe? Your windows are tinted right?"

"Darker than they should be actually, I have to put the DA placard in the window just to avoid getting ticketed. Why?" Casey shot her a look that could only be construed as mischievous.

 "Oh. OH. Backseat." Alex said excitedly.

Both women slid into the backseat of the BMW and Casey closed the door behind them. She wasted no time tossing the blue eyed beauty's glasses into the front seat and grabbing her around the neck, pulling her in to a messy, heated kiss.

Alex chuckled as she started unbuttoning her shirt.

"What's so funny?" the redhead mused, laughing if only because Alex was.

"I feel like a teenager." This was the most relaxed the Bureau Chief had been in as long as she could remember, being with Casey felt-- effortless. "In a good way that is" she said reassuringly.

"Oh yeah? Is this what Alexandra Cabot was like in high school? Riding in cars with boys?" Her girlfriend said teasingly. "I don't know about this then, I like mature, collected, no nonsense ADA Alex Cabot Bureau Chief extraordinaire."

The blonde grabbed Casey by her collar. "The only person who's going to be riding anything is you riding me in a minute and don't worry dear, I know what it is you like." She whispered as she kissed the redhead with force, she was starving for something only Casey could satiate.

"Fuck," Casey sighed. "Alex do you have to be so damn sexy constantly."

"Do you want me to stop?" She smirked as she ruined the second one of Casey's shirts today, buttons scattering to the cars floor mats.

The younger ADAs breath hitched, “No. Don’t. Stop.” She whispered playfully pausing between words as she pulled open Alex's belt and fly. She bit her lip hard, "mmm I want to try something okay? But don't think I'm weird."

Alex's blue eyes look into her hazel green ones with curiosity. "Baby if I ever thought you were weird, ever, in the time I've known you, I meant it as the highest compliment." She leaned back against the car door.

Casey put her hand against the blondes open fly and exposed the strap she was still wearing from their earlier encounter. The ginger sat up for a minute and pulled her hair back and tied it there with a ponytail holder she had around her wrist. She leaned back down and brought the strap into her mouth and began to suck.

 The golden haired adonis' eyes grew wide. "Baby that's not weird, that's hot." She whimpered as she brought her hand to the back of her lover's head pushed down lightly while she ran her other hand through her own hair. The ADA never breaking eye contact as she went to town on the toy, running her tongue up to the tip, and then taking the whole thing into her mouth.

After a minute or two she sat back up, licking her lips, and grabbed Alex by the hips pulling her flat on the backseat. "So,” the redhead blushed, “you liked that?"

"Very much so," the blonde said panting.

"Mmm, good to know." Her devilish grin plastered across her face. With a little maneuvering and a few giggles, she was able to shimmy her way out of her suit pants and on top of her girlfriend. She steadied her balance and brought herself down on top of the strap letting out a small moan, her body shuddered as she leaned down to kiss Alex. The angle making the toy hit her just right as the blonde slowly pushed her hips up, both women groaning softly.

"Fuck that feels good." Casey mewled beginning to roll her hips against Alex.

"I bet it does," the blonde cooed thrusting her hips up slow and deliberate. Copying her lover's expression as her lips parted and she let out a soft gasp of pleasure.

The redhead pushed back against the toy holding one hand to Alex's chest and the other to the window behind her head. "Alex," she whimpered, her body craving more, "I can't take much more teasing."

“Is that so? You sure you don’t want it nice and slow,” She thrust her hips slowly, holding Casey by her waist and guiding her up and down against her body, fucking her at a torturously slow pace, continuing to mimic her facial expressions has her mouth fell open and tiny gasps and moans emanated from her throat.

“Alex,” the redhead whispered, “Fuck, Alex.”

“Well obviously if you can remember my name, I haven’t tortured you nearly enough.” The blonde smirked. Casey brought her hand to her own clit, but Alex stopped her, “Ah, no cheating baby.”

The redhead whined. She started pushing herself down harder against her girlfriend, “Alex I want you to ruin me.” She moaned as she ground her hips down.

The blue eyed beauty’s pupils dilated as she took tight hold of Casey’s hips and began thrusting. She picked up her pace a little at a time until she was slamming into Casey, who was rolling her hips, leaning over Alex whimpering in her ear.

“Mmm baby, like that,” she nibbled on the blonde’s ear, causing her to sigh, “Oh Alex, Alex. Mmm, I love the way you fill me up.” She whispered with a smirk, knowing if her hot breath kept hitting her face as she did, that Alex would cum for her before she even finished.

The Bureau Chief slammed into Casey holding her hips down tight to hers and rolling them towards her. Casey cried out as Alex did this a few more times, smacking the redheads ass each time and then grabbing a fistful of supple skin and holding on.

The redhead was getting louder, “Ahh, Alex, fuck me! Just like that, don’t stop. Don’t stop baby.”

Alex spurred on by Casey’s cries also started moaning loudly. “That’s it baby, scream for me.” The blonde loved when Casey got loud and all the little noises she could get her to make as she fucked all the right spots. Alex felt her insides flutter as Casey hit a note that she was fairly sure only dogs could hear as her juices came spilling out around the toy and onto Alex again. As they both climaxed the redhead collapsed against her girlfriend leaning up just enough to stare into her crystal blue eyes. The blonde went to sit up.

“Not yet,” the ADA whimpered, “stay inside a bit longer?” Alex obliged and began stroking her girlfriends back.

“You okay darling?” she asked, checking in.

Casey nodded, “More than okay. Just trying to come back down.” Her body shook as she had another small aftershock.

“I’ve got you baby, I’ve got you.” Alex whispered bring her into a yielding, tender kiss.

They hadn’t been kissing exceedingly long when there was a knock on the window. The women looked at each other, frozen in fear, “Cops?” Casey mouthed.

“No, this lot is run by CCTV” Alex whispered, “who would’ve called it in?”

There was another knock, this time slower, more annoyed.

Casey went to press the window down much to Alex’s protest, only to find Liz looking back at her.

The Judges face was more stern than either of them had ever seen on her worst day. Alex jerked her head around, still inside Casey, both of them half naked, Casey’s shirt completely undone.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Liz said through gritted teeth. “What the fuck is wrong with the two of you?” She put her hand up in protest, “Don’t answer that. And Casey don’t get up lest I see more of you than I want to.”

Alex tried to protest and say something, but Donnelly stopped her before she could even get a single syllable out. “Alexandra, I don’t want to hear it. What is this? Some sort of midlife crisis? Can you not fuck at home? What are you afraid the cat is watching?”

“Judge Donnelly, we’re” Casey tried to apologize.

“Not another word Novak, you’re lucky this lot is not owned by the city. For God’s sake you both work SVU, you know how bad an indecent exposure charge can get! Have you both stopped taking your medication?”

“Liz why does it sound like you’re scolding teenagers?”

“Lena, I” but before Liz could say anymore Judge Petrovsky had already approached the car window, Alex and Casey staring at her from a very compromising position.

“It would seem it’s because apparently you are. Ah, Ms. Novak it appears that your reoccurring nightmare has finally come true. Charming. Ms. Cabot, make sure you put some concealer on all of that before you get to my courtroom in the morning. I’m late for poker. Goodnight Elizabeth.” She put a hand on Donnelly’s arm and walked off towards the street.

Liz looked at the two ADAs in disbelief, “I am washing my hands of the both of you. Please fuck each other’s brains out, before you get to work tomorrow? For everyone in the building’s sake?” With the click of her heel, she walked off towards her car hidden away in the far corner of the parking lot.

Casey side, “And she wonders why those kids said she had a broom up her butt.” She rolled up the car window, and gently removed Alex from inside her, trying to maneuver enough to get her pants back on.

Alex furrowed her brow, “Wait, what?”

“Elliot tells it better.”

“Elliot?” the blonde didn’t think she could be more confused, but here she was, for the second time today, covered in Casey, just having been yelled at by Judge Donnelly, how did they get to Elliot?

They both climbed into the front seat and Alex put her glasses back on and the key in the ignition.

“Did that,” Alex started, “Did that really just happen?” she chuckled even though her hands were shaking.

“I guess we need to be more discreet at work,” Casey grimaced.

“I don’t take it back, I would take a thousand censures to here you say my name like that.” Alex said, lust dripping from her words, “I just need to stop leaving the office door unlocked or answering window knocks unless they identify themselves as the police.”

Casey raised a finger.

“Police who are not Elliot.”

Casey raised her finger again.

“Or Olivia.”

“There it is.” The redhead nodded.

[gamora-borealis]

hi callie i was wondering if you had any theological thoughts about phan vs jedus, im ex-catholic and kinda agnostic-atheist but i genuinely find your perspective on religion and christianity to be refreshing :)

oh thank you it is an honor to be asked 😭💖 this got really long so my answer is under the cut:

I had to go look the story of judas up again to refresh my memory on certain details because I feel like I'm mostly familiar with the simplified sunday school version in my head (I love theology/philosophy but sometimes the nuances of all the different tellings from each gospel get mixed up or forgotten in my head lol). If you want like, in depth info on the differences in the stories or arguments among biblical historians/academics about the historicity of his story I would recommend reading the Wikipedia article about Judas because it goes in pretty good depth and gives lots of citations and quotes like actual credible scholars that I read and not crackpot evangelical "historians" who try to claim that everything that happened in the bible is somehow 100% true and try to make all the gospels fit together when they actually contradict each other lol.

but essentially the main reason people even ship jedus is because in the text judas gave jesus a special greeting kiss on the cheek in front of the romans who were looking to arrest jesus to show them which guy they were looking for (he accepted a bribe for this). like I think it's more so a modern invention to make the kiss seem homoerotic or something, which like be my guest I guess lol I love making shit gay! some gospels claim he was possessed by satan, some claim he was just in it for the money, but I think it's agreed that he regretted it afterwards and didn't actually want jesus to die and so he killed himself (or had an accident after being very distraught).

but like, if you want to get real gay, john the apostle is referred to as the disciple "that jesus loved." although I have seen it pointed out that this is a bit biased considering that line is from the gospel of john which was written down by john's followers like a hundred years later. but still, also john was the only one of the 12 disciples at Jesus's crucifixion (along with Mary Magdalene who basically was a disciple but the church has tried to cover that up because she's a woman, and his mother Mary, and some other family friends who were also named Mary lmao). so like why jesus x judas and not jesus x john?? it kinda seems like childish "hehe judas kissed him GAYYYY" over like. the actual close relationships jesus had lol.

to be fair I don't think I've ever seen jesus christ super star or any other jesus inspired musical that may or may not have contributed to this ship being popular. but at least there is probably a narrative or subtext there that leads you to want to ship them, whereas in the straight up bible I'm like. idk lol.

but real talk like. dan and phil are so very like, drawn together by the universe coded (which in the kind of non-standard theology I ascribe to, God is the universe!) and are such an uplifting entertainment duo that bring joy and hope to so many people I'm like. If God and/or Jesus had to chose, would they choose this beloved real couple or the guy who betrayed Jesus and helped get him crucified??? Like please.

(also I could write an entire treatise on why theologically god is not homophobic lol I won't get into that, but whether that includes Jesus the historical guy who existed? idk he never spoke on that - though some people think he was accepting of a roman soldier who maybe had gay relationship with a servant but that interpretation is a bit iffy - but jesus did go against a lot of gender norms at the time by being a single nomadic teacher who hung out with single women and told men to leave their families and follow him and if we think of him as theologically supposedly being at the right hand of God in heaven nowadays then they would be on the same page lol).

To get actually theological about Judas though, there are people who believe that Jesus's crucifixion was a necessary in some kind of weird sacrifice for our sins situation (academically known as penal substitutionary atonement theory) which I just don't buy into that at all lmao even though it's very popular in Christianity, especially among evangelicals. so like some people might be like "well judas had to betray in order for Jesus to die which was a good thing" but I just straight up think that's a crazy thing to accept like why did God have to violently crucify a supposed version of himself and/or son in order to forgive people of their "sins" that is such a weird convoluted way of thinking but that's what happens when people insist on believing God is all powerful and then try to justify bad things happening. Whereas I'm a fan of the movement to replace the term "omnipotent" with "amnipotent" meaning God isn't all powerful but is all loving (and there are some better translations that actually support this there is a recent book about it by Thomas Jay Oord) and be like well sometimes bad shit happens that God doesn't support but God's gonna just keep trying their best!!! so like I don't think Judas had an excuse per se but also maybe Jesus was bound to be crucified anyways not because God wanted it but because he was like, building a movement to challenge the Roman Empire even though it wasn't necessarily a violent one (more like mutual aid, dual power type stuff rather than a direct, violent revolution - which some jews at the time understandably supported although it unfortunately didn't work out for them). But this is looking back at it from modern times. At the time you could say Judas sold out Jesus to the equivalent of the CIA or FBI or something, like even if he felt bad afterwards why are we shipping them... I guess people might be like "Judas had to do it for the plot it's tragic!!!" but for what other reason are we shipping them besides the betraying kiss on the cheek that was in a different culture lol

I did see some interesting arguments in the Wikipedia article about how most historians think Judas was real but some think he could have been an antisemitic invention by Christians, there's a very big messy history of Christians, like even in the scriptures, blaming Jesus's death on the Jews in a way that is just very antisemitic and probably not true so that's another interesting aspect to this as well.

Anyways this is my perspective as someone into queer, existential, process theology/philosophy that is ultimately pretty protestant despite me being a practicing anglo-catholic episcopalian who likes saints and catholic worship and some other catholic-y things lol (episcopalians are like the bridge between protestant and catholic lol). hope this big rant made sense, I got kinda hyperfixated and haven't had addedall today and have been procrastinating eating since before I started writing this so I better go do that now 😂

[contemplatingoutlander]

This is an excellent NY Times interactive article, so the above link is a gift 🎁 link so anyone can read the entire article, even if they don't subscribe to the NY Times. Here are some excerpts.

Upending the outcome of a free and fair presidential election is no minor endeavor. It requires time, energy, money and, especially, an awful lot of people willing to do the wrong thing — or at least go along with it. The network of people who allegedly helped Donald Trump try, without success, to stay in power more than two and a half years ago may seem hopelessly chaotic, but there was a method to the madness. American elections are, by design, entrusted to the states and therefore decentralized. To meddle in them requires national masterminds working hand in glove with plotters at the state and local levels — a tangle of conspirators, enablers and indulgent bystanders as messy and sprawling as our democracy itself. And while it can be tempting to downplay or dismiss the entire nightmare as the pathetic machinations of crackpots and fringe figures or even to wave it off as ancient history, that would be a mistake. Those who worked to overturn the 2020 election are the same kinds of people and groups Mr. Trump would surely surround himself with if elected to a second term: unscrupulous or timid federal and state officials, ethically flexible lawyers and Republican yes men and women. Except that in 2025 those figures would have a better sense of how to dismantle the guardrails that once stood in their way and how to exploit the fault lines and weaknesses in our electoral process. [emphasis added]

Below is the final graphic in the article that shows all the people connected with Trump's coup attempt, including some who refused to go along with it:

This interactive article is well worth reading, and I invite you to use the above gift link to do so.

______________ The text of this article is by Michelle Cottle; the graphics are by Taylor Maggiacomo and Norman Eisen.

[homely-lunatic]

believing that cobel is gemma's mother is a full time job and brother I've NEVER called in sick. I asked who wants to hear me go into excruciating detail about this and like 20 people answered and that means it's THEORY TIME!

first off I did already post this on my reddit — and I feel like I summed things up pretty cohesively there, so here's the link in full if you're interested in seeing it in its original form (there's also some great ideas in the comments too!)

I'll also copy/paste the main body of the post under the cut here if you'd prefer to read it on tumblr.

Note that I'm going to be referencing some minor spoilers (if you can even call them that) from the pre-season reviews. This includes: a very very small uncredited role in episode 7 and the subject matter of episodes 7/8. These are spoiler tagged on the og reddit post if you want to avoid them!

okay, crackpot theory below. sorry it's like the length of a dissertation. please don't kill me:

In season 2 episode 2, we learn some crucial information about Gemma's car crash. We now know that her body, as it was identified by Mark, was burned. This deviates pretty substantially from the popular theory that Gemma was brain dead or comatose, and that Lumon just happened to pick her up at random under the guise of something like organ donation (or whatever). Ms Casey appears relatively physically unharmed for someone who was supposedly in a fatal car crash, especially one in which her body supposedly burned. For this reason, I'm going to assume that the body Mark identified was notactually Gemma.

Whether Gemma was actually in an accident and was swapped with a burned body, or if the accident was entirely staged from the start and Gemma was simply kidnapped by Lumon remains to be seen — but either way, Lumon going to the extent of faking her death and providing an entire dead body to be identified implies that this was not just a chance acquisition.

The second thing we learn is that Lumon REALLY needs Mark to refine Gemma's (current?) file, Cold Harbor, to the point where they're willing to pretty much give in to whatever demands his innie has as long as it keeps him working.

So the way I see it, these two major revelations leave us with three possible paths:

1. Gemma is somehow significant to Lumon. Lumon recongized her significance, faked her death, and spirited her away to the testing floor. Her file being completed is crucial to the company in some way, and they recognize Mark is necessary for this.

2. Mark is somehow significant to Lumon. They fake-death kidnapped his wife with the intention of luring him to work there. They need him there because he is somehow important.

3. There is something about Mark and Gemma's connection that is significant to Lumon. We've already gotten a few hints that Mark's "Freshman fluke" was a big turning point in the way that files are refined. Something about the way that Mark in particular is able to refine Gemma's file is crucial to Lumon's endgame, and they absolutely need him there.

IMO, it's a mixture of the first and third options: Gemma was already significant to Lumon in some way, leading to them faking her death and bringing her on to the testing floor. Mark being able to refine her file so quickly marks some kind of breakthrough in the work Lumon is doing.

So how exactly is Gemma significant to Lumon? Here's where we get into the meat of the theory. Hear me out:

Lumon is conducing a program in which they produce children for the express purpose of being test subjects. Gemma was one of these children. Cobel was her birth mother.

Gemma, as an individual, was not initially important to Lumon — she was one of many, many test subjects all serving the same purpose. Her significance is retroactive — she only becomes a particular subject of interest after Mark refines her file.

How is Lumon regularly producing children? Barring the idea that they're being grown lab-style, Lumon would need a group of women willing to give birth to their test subjects. I think they've been getting them from the Myrtle Eagan School for Girls. I think it's also very possible that the students at the school are made to care for the babies after they're born — perhaps before becoming mothers themselves — hence Cobel's skills when caring for Eleanor.

The children born into Lumon's baby program are immediately separated — quite literally severed – from their birth mothers, but are otherwise raised within the program and indoctrinated into the Kier-worship mentality. Gemma is a notable exception to this. Cobel intentionally circumvented this rule to ensure her daughter was kept away from Lumon, and adopted by a normal family. Gemma escaped a Lumon-centric upbringing. Gemma's adoptive parents — the people Mark know as her parents, to whom he had to deliver news of her death — are not affiliated with Lumon at all.

In line with this, the protesters Mark and Alexa encounter in season 1 bring up the controversy of Lumon "severing children," and it would also serve to expIain Ms Huang's odd presence on the severed floor.

As an adult, Lumon identified Gemma as one of the children that "belongs" to them , and subsequently faked her death via car crash in order to recollect her. Slight spoiler for future episode subject matter/casting:Reviews for season 2 episode 7 have stated that this is a Gemma-centric flashback episode, and an actor has been credited on IMDB as playing a blood drive worker.

Throughout season 2 so far, we've seen quite a bit of imagery relating to red circles — off the top of my head, there's one in the "Kier Pardons his Betrayers" painting, one above the MDR team when they have their talk in the break room, and the one in Ms Huang's little water bubble ring game. Others have posited that this could be a reference to blood cells, which I think is pretty much right on the money

The reocurring red circles are foreshadowing the importance of blood cells. Specifically, there is something distinctive and recognizable about the blood of children born through Lumon's baby program. Gemma's participation in a blood drive is how Lumon finds her again as an adult

Gemma is one of many test subjects being refined, but because of Mark's involvement, her file currently shows the most promise. Whatever purpose children born of this program are meant to serve — and I'll get more into that later — Gemma is currently the closest to serving this purpose. They need Mark to keep refining her file. If he quits, they lose whatever lead they have in working on Gemma.

This admittedly sounds a little far-fetched even as I'm typing it, but there are a few crucial pieces of evidence that I think make it a little more plausible:

The overarching baby theme: as I covered extensively in my theory post from last year, there are a lot of thematic connections to babies, pregnancy, and general parenthood (to tl;dr it: Cobel as the lactation consultant, Gabby Arteta being severed to give birth, the general existence of Eleanor, Alexa being a doula, Mark and Gemma being unable to have children, Dylan's kids...). Most importantly, though, I think that the process of severance is analagous to having a child, and then being separated from that child. Both scenarios involve bringing another person into the world without their permission, and then quite literally "severing" yourself from any connection or interaction with the person you've created. All of this is to say that it's a deliberate choice to draw so many parallels between pretty much every single character and the baby/pregnancy/parenthood themes and to have the central technology at the heart of the show arguably be a metaphor for having a child. The idea that a program exists within Lumon that is somehow tied to producing babies would fit well within the other themes and plot points we've seen. 

The new theme song features a Kier (?) baby, possibly pointing towards the involvement of babies in whatever Lumon is attempting to achieve, and linking this involvement back to Kier and the Eagan family.

The presence of Ms Huang, and the talk last season of Lumon severing children, implies a literal connection to children rather than simply an allegorical or thematic one.

The baby goats. As much as I'm tired of all the goat speculation, I do think that it bears some significance here. The goat man tells Mark and Helly that they can't take the goats because "they aren't ready yet." Is it possible that this is a program parallel to the one Lumon is conducting with children? The goats are born and raised at Lumon, then at a certain point when they're ready, they're taken away (to be tested on)? Children are born and raised at Lumon, then at a certain point when they're deemed ready, they're taken away to be tested on?

Season 2 Episode 7 is said to be a Gemma-centric flashback episode, while episode 8 will be a Cobel-centric flashback. Generally speaking, flashback episodes centering almost entirely around one character usually tend to (at least somewhat) disrupt the pacing of the rest of the story. To have two back-to-back to me strongly implies a connection between the flashbacks we will be seeing. I believe E7 will cover Gemma's backstory and ultimately lead to the reveal that she was part of this baby program. E8 will cover Cobel's part in it, and reveal that she was Gemma's birth mother.

So to summarize? Lumon has been regularly producing their own crop of babies, born for the express purpose of being test subjects down the line. The birth mothers of these babies are girls who have been raised in and/or heavily indoctrinated into the Lumon cult mentality through the Myrtle Eagan School for Girls. Gemma was one of these babies. Her death was faked so that she could ultimately fulfill her purpose of being a Lumon test subject. Cobel was her birth mother. 

To go further into this with some additional ideas:

The separation of mother and child can be read as a parallel to severance. An outie severs themselves to create their innie, a person whose sole purpose is to be of service to Lumon. A mother within the baby program gives birth to a child who is separated from her, creating a person whose sole purpose is to be of service to Lumon.

Cold Harbor is Cobel's hometown, and also where Gemma was born. This is the source of her file name. This one seems to have been disproven in S2E3 — although it still would be pretty cool

Cobel is actively attempting to get Gemma to reintegrate autonomously. In S1E5, we see her bringing Ms Casey onto the MDR floor to spend the day with the others, with the intention of "trying something new" with Ms Casey. In S1E8, she observes Mark and Ms Casey interacting in his last wellness session. She appears happy when Ms Casey initially seems to break out of her robotic list spiel to have a real conversation with Mark, then appears upset when Ms Casey returns to rattling off the list. This is one of many attempts at trying to get Ms Casey to autonomously break out of whatever severed state she's held in.

Cobel is involving herself so deeply in Mark's life and his family's life because she is using him as a gauge for whether or not Gemma's reintegration is working. We know that she is regularly observing Mark and Ms Casey's interactions with one another. We also know that Ms Casey/Gemma is perpetually kept on the testing floor when she's not working. If Cobel is not able to regularly access Gemma's outie (whatever state she might be in), then it stands to reason that she would use the outie who she can gain regular access to to gauge whether or not her personal experiments are working. If oMark is showing signs of remembering Gemma, then oGemma might also be showing signs of remembering her life outside the testing floor. 

Potentially, there's also an element of her wanting to get so close to these people because of their closeness to Gemma — living vicariously through them.

Lumon is aware of Cobel's connection to Gemma, but initially believes it to be inconsequential until they discover that she's been inserting herself into Mark's life. Much like how the board is unwilling to recognize reintegration — a sign that the brain chip severance process can fail — they are equally unwilling to recognize that the process of "severing" a mother from her child is not successful in completely erasing the emotional connection that mother has to her child. 

Milchick is also aware of Cobel's connection to Gemma, and in season 1 recognized that it was potentially going to be a problem. In S1E5, when Cobel tells him to keep her "trying something new" with Ms Casey only between the two of them, Milchick doesn't seem to approve. Later, in E8, he actively assures her that Mark and Ms Casey not remembering each other is a good thing, that it means the chips work, and that it is a win for Lumon that they do. He's aware in this scene that Cobel wants Mark and Ms Casey to recognize each other. He knows that Cobel has an emotional investment in her daughter — even though she shouldn't — and is gently trying to remind her that Gemma not resurfacing is ultimately a good thing for the company.

Cobel resents Lumon, but is willing to turn on a dime to get back into their good graces, because ultimately she needs to be working for them in order to help Gemma. She is unwilling to take their offer of a promotion in S2E2 because she needs to remain on the severed floor.

Cobel's attempts at getting Gemma to resurface thematically run parallel to oMark's attempts at uncovering Lumon's secrets in season 1. Both are trying to save a person they are responsible for bringing into the world. Both spend a long amount of time being aware of this person's existence, before becoming aware of something bad that is happening to them and being spurred to help. Neither of them personally know the person they are trying to save, but feel an intrinsic connection to them anyways.

To address the counterpoint of Charlotte Cobel's involvement: Probably the most popular theory I've seen on here pertaining to these ideas is that Cobel is invested in Mark and Gemma because her own mother, Charlotte, is in a similar position to Gemma. I'm not particularly against this theory — in fact, I think it's probably the most obvious option. If this crackpot thing doesn't turn out to be true, I'm assuming that the Charlotte theory will be. 

That being said, the reason I keep returning to the Cobel/Gemma mother/daughter theory is because there is a consistent display of emotional investment in Gemma and Mark from Cobel. We see it in her genuine(?) concern for Mark as she watches him from her window. We see it in S1E8 when she watches the last wellness session go awry. We especially see it in the end of S2E2 when Mark asks her if she has information about Gemma — as others have pointed out, she looks genuinely heartbroken/guilty before she tries to run him over.

Is it possible that her desire to get her mother back is so strong that it's manifesting in how she interacts with Mark and Gemma? Possibly, but as we get more information about Gemma's status, it seems like there are more and more instances where Cobel seems personally attached to the Mark/Gemma situation.

To be clear, I do think that Charlotte is going to be important in some way — we wouldn't have seen the breathing tube if she wasn't —  I just don't necessarily think it's because she's being held on the testing floor.

To wrap things up, this leaves a few open ends/unanswered questions:

What purpose do the files serve to Lumon? Consciousness transference? Brain mapping? A mixture of both done with the intention of reviving Kier or immortalizing the Eagans? I've seen all of these and more mentioned, and I don't have any particular opinion on which is the most viable option. I could see any of them working.

Is Gemma severed in the same way that Mark and co. are, or is there something different about her severed status? My guess for this would be that she is severed in the traditional way, but the repeated refining of her severance chip/file has impacted her personality. Perhaps the "taming of the tempers" that comes about thanks to the number work results in such an even distribution of the four tempers that it reduces someone to a perfectly balanced blank slate?

Are all children born into the baby program subjected to the same tests as Gemma (i.e. having a file refined, getting kept on the testing floor) or are there a variety of posts they take on? I could see this going either way; there seem to be a lot of files just in the branch we're focused on, and then we know there's MDR departments in different branches, which would imply a lot of files, and therefore a lot of test subjects. On the other hand, if we take Ms Huang to be an example of another child born into this program, its also possible that they just kind of put them wherever they're needed. Perhaps the program is more about having a concentrated supply of workers to fill positions when needed. Or, maybe the testing floor is inevitably where Ms Huang will end up. 

[asgardian--angels]

I don't talk about this much but I'm just going to say it now.

there's something uniquely vile about being the daughter of a father who is a trump supporter. and not just a casual supporter, a full drank-the-kool-aid moon-landing-was-fake deep red neonazi maga crackpot. because I had to watch that change happen over the last decade. my father, an intelligent, introspective scientist, whose brain has essentially turned to mush and critical thinking skills shriveled up and died thanks to that orange rapist.

He has always loved me, supported me to be whatever I want to be, given me the most opportunities he could in life. He taught me to be kind, and forgiving, and to remember that we are all in this together. And now, while still claiming to feel that way, he vehemently, and viciously, spews hateful rhetoric and vitriol against women, against climate change, against democrats, against all the things I am, against the field of study I've dedicated my life, my soul to. We can no longer even have a regular conversation because all he does all day is sit online and watch trump rallies, listen to 'patriot' podcasts, and troll people on forums. He has nothing else to talk about, and cannot be negotiated with. Him and I used to love having sparring matches of wit, picking topics to debate in good faith. Now, any hint of a challenge and he becomes enraged, petty, and belittling. He somehow maintains this hypocritic fallacy in his mind that he is a good person, that he does everything to make my life better, and that humankind must come together to make a better future. Just, not *those* people, I guess, not them or them or them who aren't even people to him.

And I must occupy some gray area in his mind, Schrodinger's political prisoner. Because even though he knows I am a democrat, that I am a woman who will be affected by these laws, that I study climate change in the work that he supposedly supports, I must not be to him, one of 'those' people. I'm not like 'those' democrats, 'those' women, 'those' climate change cronies. Except when I am, because if we argue, if we discuss policy at all, I am just a girl, under his roof, and I have no idea what I'm talking about - because I'm young, because women aren't capable of understanding His greatness, because Elite Academia has brainwashed me into being a liberal. That my mom and I are ganging up on him, constantly, to paint him as the villain when he's only the victim. He's going to elect the man who will save us all, whether we want it or not. Our say doesn't matter, because we just don't understand.

I miss the father I knew. He was always petty, always ready to poke and prod - he hurt my feelings plenty, but I could deal with it. But I felt he was genuinely good at his core, that he tried his best. Now, I don't know him. I don't recognize him anymore. I've imagined so many times what I would say to him if I could give a speech, or write a letter, where he could not talk back and just had to listen. I don't know if I'll ever get that chance, or take it. But I know he has truly no idea how hurt and betrayed I am, and he wouldn't believe me if I told him. He knows no shame, and he does not apologize.

I'm not looking forward to spending the winter at home with him every day for two months. I don't see how I can look him in the eye. And how dare he look me in the eye after fucking me over.

I love my father, no matter what, and that's why it hurts me so badly to see him change into a stranger, and wonder if there was anything more I could have done to change his mind before this transformation completed. Knowing that it's not my responsibility to argue with him to try and make him see reason when he's too far gone and all it does is make me feel like shit, and yet.

I'm sorry to everyone who may relate to this within their own families. It's probably going to get worse. These men will feel empowered to speak their minds and force you to hear it. They try to provoke you, just so they can say you're hysterical or overreact as women do, when you get reasonably upset. Know that you're not alone in this, Trump has truly torn families apart in ways that I don't think will ever heal.