#the first woman president of the usa

[caluski]

i was 10 going on 11 in 2006 and i remember how fucking freaked out we were, me and my friends and classmates, about 6th of june. about that dumb thing going around about the antichrist being born that day lol. we were scared and also excited at the same time. do these things still happen? i feel like no one cares anymore about prophecies and myths and whatnot. even just for fun

[batfamfucker]

What About The Kens?

I'm already seeing guys complain about the Barbie movie end, how they wanted Kens to be equal in Barbieland but were only given a small part on the Cabinet.

That's the point.

You're meant to feel bad for the Kens. Believe me, women aren't partying over the 'Returns to Matriarch' ending. Some will be, but the ones who also clocked the meaning behind it won't. Most women will also feel bad for Kens. Because it's an exact parallel to how women are treated in reality.

Men, you're meant to be upset. You're meant to question it. Because you're meant to feel it, and feel what that is like, so you can finally understand women. You're upset at seeing it in a movie, now imagine living it in reality. That's being a woman.

Kens were shit on so you could feel what it was like for women this entire time. Kens were being used as a placement so you could see yourself in a woman's shoes. A world dominated by the opposite sex. When Ken leaves, and sees male presidents (All men) for the first time, men being doctors and lawyers, etc, realising he is more than just a prop for Barbie, that was on purpose. Because that is the feeling that Barbie gave to women. It's why you cheer for him at first before he goes a little overboard.

It's exactly why the real world was an exaggerated Partriarchy and Barbieland an exaggerated Matriarchy. Neither wins. Neither is equal. None of them change for the better. It's why you should want women in the real world to be respected, and Kens in Barbieland to be respected.

The thing is, women also didn't win. Not in the real world. In Barbieland, yes, but not anywhere else. The real world didn't change. But you didn't notice, did you? That Gloria (The mother that helped Barbie) also didn't get a position on the Mattel board? It was still all men? Her idea was ignored until it made a profit, and the men will likely get the credit? She'll still just be the receptionist? The women representing the real world didn't get anymore opportunities, neither did the men in Barbieland.

I was hoping that Gloria would be offered a position on the board, and that the Barbie Cabinet would introduce another entire Cabinet to represent the Kens, but neither happened. They're complete mirrors.

But which one did you actually notice? Which did you actually care about? Now tell me again the ending was unfair. Because it was. For both parties. That's the point.

The difference is, Barbieland is fictional. You will walk out of the theatre with the reassurance that at least it's not real. Women won't. Women can't. Companies not giving women equal opportunities or voices isn't fictional, and that was just one example. There are no women presidents (USA at least) for us to go look at in the real world. We don't have somewhere to go to realise it could be different for us like Ken did. Barbie and make believe is all we had when we were kids, or even now.

You're supposed to be mad, just not at the movie.

[manorpunk]

1️⃣

In the White House press briefing room in the year 2069, the presidential lectern was alight for the first time in decades. On the dais, hidden behind thick blue curtains, a series of lenses came to life, powered by thrumming machines the size of cabinets. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea, The light from the lenses reflected along an array of precision mirrors, engineered down to the nanometer, reflecting and warping the light, directing every beam to a spot just behind the lectern. A shimmering orb of color began to grow and take shape. It was a hologram, the first of its kind in quality and fidelity, but needing time to form. With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me… The hologram grew, like a multicolored egg, until it took the shape of a body - a woman’s body, thin but not too thin, tan but also pale, tall but not too tall or too short, a work of perfection as delicately engineered as the machinery that created it. The Mary Jane shoes, the pleated skirt, the puffy blouse with Juliet sleeves. The cherry-red hair with a big white bow on top. The baby blue eyes with little white five-pointed stars for pupils. For better or for worse, the USA’s decades-long interregnum was drawing to a close. As He died to make men holy… With a thrum of light, the hologram was now displaying at one-hundred percent fidelity. The first president of the American League, a rough and discordant coalition of states that had emerged from the fall of the United States federal government, newly embodied with vague and untested powers in the transition out of provisional government, was an anime girl vtuber. Let us die to make men free, While God is marching on! She smiled. It was a wide, sharp smile, like the letter v, brimming with barely-concealed pride, the smile of someone who was always up to mischief, but never too much. She turned her head, letting the cameras see it from every angle, waving and winking as the booming chorus of Glory, Glory, Hallelujah faded into the background. “And we’re back, folks!” she said. Her voice was light and airy, like a rich pastry or a strong dose of anesthetics.  “In case you’ve been living under a rock for these past few years, I’m Sunny Roosevelt: winner of Miss Vtuber North America 206X, named ‘America’s Cloth Mother’ by the GLN Worldwide Weekly, and now, your president!” The ‘living under a rock’ comment wasn’t a rhetorical gesture; a non-negligible amount of people in the former USA had spent the past few years under some form of rock, whether that was an apocalypse bunker, abandoned basement, or literal rock. “Folks, I know it’s been a rough couple decades for America. There was mass infrastructure failure, natural disasters, zombie COVID, falling real estate prices, and I’m pretty sure most of Florida’s still underwater. But that - ends - here!” she thumped her fist on the podium. “Because I love America. I love America so much I am kissing America with tongue. To all my loyal voters, followers, and subscribers, my promise to you, now that I’m here…” her eyes narrowed and slanted sharply as she gripped the podium and leaned closer. “...big things are coming.”

[qqueenofhades]

-Quickly skitters into the inbox, with a boom box and an increasingly bass boosted version-

🎶I PUT MY HANDS UP THEY’RE PLAYING MY SONG THE BUTTERFLIES FLY AWAY-🎶

- Party In The USA anon, on the recent glorious news

Look. LOOK. I know we've had technically bigger fish, but the Georgia case is a Big Fucking Deal. Because:

It is a MAJOR indictment both in terms of scope and seriousness of charges. Not just Trump, but *eighteen* of his allies and cronies got charged with RICO (anti-racketeering, often used against mob bosses) felonies, including Rudy Giuliani (I repeat, HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA), Jeff Clark, Mark Meadows, and other high-profile Trumpworld enablers

No Lindsey Graham (at least yet) but I guess we can't have everything

It encompasses both in Georgia and other states where Trump illegally tried to alter election results (Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania), as those activities related to a conspiracy centered on Georgia/Fulton County

This is the big whopper: TRUMP CANNOT CANCEL THIS INVESTIGATION EVEN IF HE GETS RE-ELECTED. He can shut down the federal Special Counsel investigations run through the DoJ, but this? Bupkis. And Georgia governor Brian Kemp, another of the Republicans who dutifully continues to defend Trump even as Trump slanders him up and down, CAN'T PARDON HIM.

That drives the Republicans NUTS. So nuts that they were, you guessed it, already on Faux News whining about how they should make Georgia change that law.

Boo-fucking-hoo, you absolute fucking wankers.

Also: we need to remember that Trump rose to political prominence by being wildly racist and xenophobic about America's first Black president. He has coddled and exalted white supremacists and white supremacist rhetoric at every turn, it has been the central defining feature of his campaign, and his election subversion efforts were chiefly aimed at canceling the votes of heavily Black cities (Atlanta, Philly, Detroit, etc.)

Trump also won in 2016 thanks to the Electoral College, itself designed as an element of structural racism, by defeating probably the most qualified and beyond any doubt most historic candidate there has ever been, after it was revealed that he was a serial sexual assaulter and after he screamed for months about LOCK HER UP (every Republican accusation is a confession, etc)

All that said, with Trump's vile, derogatory bile spewed at everyone, but especially a) Black people, b) women, and c) powerful Black women, it is a Big Fucking Deal that a powerful Black woman, aka his worst nightmare, pulled this trigger on him.

Don't get me wrong. I deeply appreciate me some Jack Smith. But he is also a white male special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice, and who used to work for the Hague prosecuting war crimes (true story). It's in his brief to do this.

Fani Willis is a county district attorney AND a Black woman, as Trump's nonstop shitgibbering on Truth Social just can't help himself from pointing out. This kind of sprawling, country-wide investigation against a wildly corrupt ex-president and his cohort of equally corrupt cronies is not something she is, in the normal course of things, ever expected to do, but she did it.

NINETEEN DEFENDANTS, Y'ALL. Including Trump. On 41 different charges. That's a hell of an indictment, and she knows it puts a target on her back, while (as noted) she doesn't have the resources and protections of the federal government/DOJ to do it.

Let's hear it for Fani Willis (and Judge Chutkan, who informed Trump the other day the more he runs his mouth, the faster she will proceed to trial) y'all.

Black Women Get Shit Done.

[zoi3e]

"call me later?"

- how you meet.

Requested by: no one

Warnings: mentions of suicide(Dazai), implied Mori's weird ass shit (Dazai), light mentioning of drugs (Dazai), mentions of kidnapping (Tetchou)

Charecters: Atsushi, Osamu, Chuuya, Ryuunoske, Ranpo, Kunikida, Poe, Fukuzawa, Sigma, Nikolai, Fyodor, Tetchou, Jouno,

Nakajima Atsushi

• you both met when Kyouka ran off one time while they were buying crepes.

• Kyouka kinda scared you as she stared at you bluntly while you just nervously smiled back before Atsushi found her and apologized profusely for her in-politeness.

"I'm so sorry! She uh... isn't very good with manners.."

"Oh, it's alright...'"

"YES! Uhm, I'm Atsushi Nakajima and this is Kyouka."

• He insisted on buying you some crepes in apology. You said no, but he really insisted.

• I geuss Kyouka was a wing woman.

Dazai Osamu

• Unfortunately, you two met through Mori.

• Mori at the time had found you before he got Dazai after his suicide attempt. He took you in at a time of weakness and you just wanted someone to give you attention. You'd later regret it.

• You worked alongside Mori when Dazai was given to him after his suicide attempt.

• You basically watched over him while Mori was in meetings, making sure he ate, and took his pills.? You were dead silent most of the time until after a few weeks and you warmed up to him.

"Uhm..."

"..."

"What was your name again?"

"... (name)..."

"Cool name! I'm sure you already know mine. Thanks for taking care of me I geuss. Mori Sensei's pretty weird...."

"...Agreed."

• From then you two beame friends and you usually patched him up after missions and Mori's weird shit.

Nakahara Chuuya

• You also trained under Kouyou when he came to the Port Mafia so you two met from her.

• He believed you to be a polite and calm person compared to other people he's met. COUGH COUGH DAZAI COUGH! Pardon me!

• You were actually squealing in your mind of how pretty you thought he was compared to your calm demeanor of what he saw. (ITS TRUE)

• You two and Kouyou would have tea often.

• Somehow you and Dazai were really close which blew his mind from the polar opposite personalities between you two.

• You 3 would often get put on missions together.

Akutugawa Ryuunoske

• You two met through Chuuya.

• Chuuya thought Akutugawa needed someone to be around and one of his subordinates (you) was perfect!

• And plus, you were good friends with Gin!

• Akutugawa was sort of angry at first but after a bit, he calmed down and you two just got fig tea together at a local tea house in Yokohoma.

• He sort of ghosted you after but you both worked on missions together from time to time.

• He'd get closer to you through Gin and your's friendship. Other than that, originally, he wanted nothing to do with you.

Edogawa Ranpo

• You were from the guild. (RAHHHHHH 🦅🇺🇸🍻🇺🇸🦅 MY PRONOUS ARE USA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🍻 WHAT THE FUCK IS A KILOMETER?!?!?!??🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅)

• Poe would talk about you like a all mighty being and he'd talk about Ranpo the same way to you. So you both were really interested in eachother.

• One day, Ranpo came into Poe's house unexpectedly while you were there.

• You both looked at eachother up and down, tilting your head to the side at one another before introducing yourself to one another. It was sort of like the interaction between Nezuko and Muchiro before Hantegu showed up.

"So.... You are (Name), right?"

"Yes, I am. And you must be Ranpo Edogawa, correct?"

"Of course I am! I'm the best detective in the world, you must know me!"

"Poe said you enjoy sweets. I brought some chocolate-chip muffins over if you'd like some."

"That would be great!"

• Poe and Karl kinda just watched in silence before Karl followed you and Ranpo into the kitchen to try and get some crumbs that Ranpo would drop while eating.

Doppo Kunikida

• You two met in high-school, actually.

• He was a literal delinquent at the time and you were the student council president and you had to tutor him in math, algebra. (Lmao it's what he taught before the ADA if you didn't know.)

• You hated him a bit in the beginning.

• You both bonded over your abilities you two had that no one else.

• You two got out of high-school and didn't stay in touch.

• You ended up at the ADA and than boom! He was there after a few years too!

• Which rekindled a few things both of you thought you buried deeper than Oda.

(I have a headcannon that Kunikdia used to be a delinquent in highschool but got some big reality check that made him how he is now.)

Edgar Allen Poe

• KARL THE WINGMAN ! !

• Karl saw you in the book store while with Poe and for some reason really liked your scent. So while Poe was distracted, he ran after you which lead to paniked Poe and a racoon running after you because you had a danish in your pocket.

• Karl ran after you into 2 different stores until you sat down at a cafe and he jumped into your lap, breathing in your scent like it was cr@ck.

• Anyways, Poe put a tracker on Karl because of how much he runs off (lmao) so he found him at the cafe you were at.

• You were frozen because a racoon was just chilling in your lap.

"Karl! Kar- Oh, there you are Karl!"

"What?"

"I-I'm so sorry Mx, t-this is Karl and he must have chased after you, ple-please forgive me for h-his behavior..."

• He was litterially a blushing mess talking to you because he thought you were really pretty/handsome.

Fukuzawa Yukichi

• Yall met durring his training when you were younger.

• You, him, and that fossil man (Fukichi) became a friend group and you'd sneak out of your fancy private school that was across the street from their training building to go out on the Town.

• Later on, the school found out, and they told your parents so you were sent back to Tokyo away from them.

• So no more Yukichi.

• Until one day, you were working at your little bakery and then a man and a younger looking boy came in.

• The younger one ordered like half of your store but the older man caught your eye. It was like you've seen him before.

• And then you overheard the younger boy talking to the older man and said the name "Fukuzawa!"

• I looked over in curiosity and while the two paid I asked:

"I-is that really you Yuki?" (Nickname lmao)

"(N/N)? Is that you?"

"Ew get a room you two...."

• Anyways you two exchanged numbers and decided to talk more later

• It made him really happy lol

Sigma bbg

• You are Nikolai's bestie ofc.

• However, he liked you because you'd annoy everyone except him. Wonderful!

• Anyways you two met when Nikolai and him first met so (just a hc) they met at a meeting for the Decay of Angels

• You were honestly playful with him while he was a literal school basketball; sweaty.

• You realized that you should be a little more calm while Nikolai didn't give one shit. That motherfucker was all up in his face and crap like a Spirt Halloween animatronic..

• Anyways you two became friends because you liked card games!

Nikolai Gogol

• So you work at the Sky Casino and for some silly little reason Sigma left for "business" and left the manager position to you! (You don't know about the DOA yet lol)

• One of the workers while you were on break came and said that someone was cutting through the roof from the top of the building

• So you were like "mkay fuck you I'm on break give me a second." And by the time you got there he was already goofing around and there was a square cut out to the outside on the roof where he cam in.

"Uhm, sir, you could have used the door."

"Oh, but it's more fun."

"Sigh, fine. Just don't do it again, and your gonna have to pay for the roof fixing by the way."

"Just put it on Fedya's bill!"

"Who?-"

• You then learned when Sigma came back that he was banned the first time he came here a few years ago and does this about every week. The roof gets broken every time.

• So now he breaks in and tries to get to you while Sigma cries in a corner bc he got pranked by Nikoali.

Fyodor Dostevesky rat man

• jsjsjsjs okay so to sum it up you and rat man met bc you and Nikolai were siblings and Nikolai wanted to go back to Ukraine for you

• Nikolai one day sort of just disappeared from backstage at the curcis you both worked at together. You were like wtf where'd did his goofy ass go??

•You two were like Lyney and Lynette from Genshin Impact btw lol

• While you were backstage alone you were pulled into a more secluded area of the circus where you saw a man and your brother together

"Koyla?! W-where have you been?"

"Ehe, sister, meet Fyodor. He's going to help us be free!"

"What? But...."

"No! No! We're going with him."

"O-okay...?"

• Anyways Fyodor was interested by you and that's why he let Nikolai come back for you instead of just letting you die or something.

• From then, Fyodor burnt the circus down and brought you two back somewhere. Imma geuss Russia.

Tetchou Suehiro

• You were a hostage.

• Yes. Superman babygworl.

• Basically your like rich person's child (NOT FITZGERALD) And some rival people took you and your parents called Fukichi (the fossil) for help.

• He's sent Tetchou and Juono to go and bring you back safely

• By the time he and Juono came to the building you were being held hostage at you were stumbling out before fainting with a giggle.

"I geuss aunties lessons helped...." *BANG*

"Did you see that Juono?"

"I'm blind you dumbass."

• Anyways Tetchou carried you while Juono complained of how loud your heartbeat was.

• You woke up, looking around confusingly.

"U-uhm..."

• You three stopped at a coffee shop and you saw his strange soy-sauce-coffee.... yeah.... 💀

Juono Saigiku

• Juono felt like a full on third-wheeler, making snarky comments here and there about you and him.

• Fukichi invited you over for one of their fancy military annual parties and introduced you to Juono

• Though he couldn't see your face, he liked how calm your presence was and thought that your breathing and heartbeat wasn't as annoying as others.

• Until someone infiltrated the party.

• You were bait by the fossil. That's the whole reason.

• Anyways the group threatened everyone until sort of holding you with a knife to your neck.

• Still, Juono sensed how you were still calm which for some reason made him... worry...?

• Anyways you beat the shit out of the guy which was cool ig

• He liked your methods so he stayed in touch just in case you wanted to help him in torture time for criminals. :)

[palipunk]

I've been sent a few asks regarding the Golda Meir movie, my thoughts on it, how she is being treated as some kind of icon by white feminists, and all I can really think about is this segment in Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts - Feminism and Inter/Nationalism & Palestine by Nada Elia:

The denial of the long-standing Palestinian presence in our homeland is best illustrated by former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who, in 1969, infamously claimed that the Palestinians simply "did not exist." Meir was responding to a question by a British reporter, who was curious to know how she, as a self-proclaimed caring political leader, felt about the Palestinians who were dispossessed during the creation of Israel. Her answer: There were no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country from them. They did not exist. In 1972, a New York Times reporter quoted that statement to Meir, asking if she had since changed her mind. Her response: "I said there never was a Palestinian nation. The people who formerly lived in Palestine then lived for 19 years as Jordanian citizens. There were Palestinians in Gaza after 1948 but the Egyptians wouldn't give them Egyptian citizenship?" The Eurocentrism that pervades the Israeli politician's answer, again, recalls that of the early European settlers and colonists who came to the Americas, and claimed that it was theirs for the taking, because they did not recognize the familiar trappings of a European nation-state in the Indigenous people's attachment to their ancestral lands. If it takes "an independent nation-state" rather than a very deeply rooted attachment to the land, for a people to "exist," then the Indigenous Americans also did not exist. And since they did not exist, as a European-style nation-state, then in their resistance they became "merciless savages," attacking the settlers on the settlers' frontiers.

Interestingly, Golda Meir, Israel's only female prime minister to date, was voted "most admired woman in America" in a 1974 Gallup poll, placing her before then First Lady Betty Ford, with Pat Nixon, wife of former President Richard Nixon, in third place. The New York Times reporter who interviewed Golda Meir in 1972 describes her as "the most formidable woman I have ever met." Frequently described as the Iron Lady of Israel and referred to by David Ben-Gurion as "the best man in the government," Meir consistently distanced herself from the Jewish Israeli women's movement. Having climbed up the political ladder of an aggressive masculinist military state, she could not be bogged down by such trivial matters as equality for women - not even Jewish women. Yet, even though her political agenda never concerned itself with women's issues, she remains a feminist icon for many white feminists, a sad illustration of the fact that Western feminism is about personal advancement, not collective empowerment. Meanwhile, the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women notes, soberly:

She was, in current parlance, a "queen bee," a woman who climbs to the top, then pulls the ladder up behind her. She did not wield the prerogatives of power to address women's special needs, to promote other women, or to advance women's status in the public sphere. The fact is that at the end of her tenure, her Israeli sisters were no better off than they had been before she took office. But hegemonic white feminism is imperialist at its core, hence the admiration this white colonizer continues to garner among women in Europe and the USA.

[skippyv20]

Notes about The Diana Award

Hi Skippy & Friends-This year’s Legacy Award marks the start of The Diana Award’s 25th Anniversary year –20 exceptional young people, from across the world, were acknowledged. Taking place every two years, The Legacy Award is the most prestigious accolade a young person can receive for their social action or humanitarian work.

All the Legacy Award recipients – who come from the UK, USA, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, UAE, Oman, Romania, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Australia - have had a huge impact on society. Independent judging panel was chaired by Baroness Doreen Lawrence- the title sponsor, Gilead Sciences Alex Kalomparis, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs.

My thoughts after taking a peek, is the award winners have been actually WORKING hard in the trenches of their societies to help very impoverished woman, children and families. They are doing serious heavy lifting, unlike the ones who strut on stages spouting word salad, wearing designer outfits (trying to at least) acting all so regal and intelligent. She would not last one hour with any of these winners IMHO.  Check out The Diana Award site and read all about them-they are the ones to know about!

By the way, we watched the latest Canadian/Dev Patel produced award winning documentary film called “To Kill a Tiger” which is incredible! It is the real-life story, filmed as it happened, (without them there covering this families awful legal battle it would not have made international news) fighting for justice for the gang rape of their 13-year-old daughter-the first time EVER in India a father has demanded a judgement??! It is riveting and you will be amazed at how fast it engages you…we were shouting at the screen from the get-go, at the insanity of what they had to deal with! The community, the legal system, the brutal beliefs, all make real life drama that had us on the edge of our “sofa” rooting for this very loving, intelligent father, who said this would be like trying to kill a tiger.

So, I hope this type of work by young, bright people will begin to help transform archaic behavior and reduce human suffering. I think the Joker Prince showing up on the screen as if they were at a local bar/pub, calling them “guys” sounding terribly sophomoric…was a downer to the importance of their awards. The real prince had left the building. Over and out for now. Pilgrim

Thank you dear Pilgrim!  Great post!❤️

[writingmia]

Okay I just had an idea and I *had* to share it. I don't even ship Valgrace but this was too good not to think about. A Leo Valdez/Jason Grace 'Red, White & Royal Blue' AU.

Note: English isn't my first language, so please keep that in mind

Leo Valdez, who is half-Mexican, the son of the first American Latina female President, the one and only goddess amongst women, Esperanza Valdez. Leo, who always wanted to fix things and decided to follow his mother's footsteps in politics as a way to solve the issues he sees in his country. Leo, whom the public loves because of his sense of humour, quick wit and charm, who becomes America's sweetheart almost immediately when the elections first started.

And then you have Jason Grace, who has been born into the Royal Family and has had those duties and expectations on his shoulders from such a young age. Jason, who knows he will become a leader at some point, because his older sister, Thalia, is a rebel who refuses to conform to his family's expectations and ran away and abdicated the second she could. Jason, who is loved by his people, who is the white boy of the month every other month.

Zeus is the king, because of course he is. His Majesty, who doesn't really approve of the USA's election of Esperanza, because he sees her as lesser.

Leo and Jason who start off at the wrong foot because of something Jason unintentionally said, something that was his father's opinion and, of course, it was offensive to Leo, who immediately figured that Jason was a racist, privileged white guy who couldn't see past the tip of his nose.

Jason who's the one wearing glasses when he's at Kingston Palace and Leo who's caught off-guard by how casual he looks with them, how relaxed, not like the heir to an entire empire with a history of blood and slavery.

Leo, whose best friend is Piper McLean, the daughter of Tristan McLean, whose gaydar is immaculate and she's the one to open Leo's eyes that maybe Jason is gay, but isn't allowed to show it.

Jason, whose best friends are Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo, who also happen to be his cousins on his dad's side (yes, it's pathetic that his best friends are his cousins but he didn't really get many chances to be social growing up, okay?!), who are both incredibly chaotic in their own ways. Percy, who immediately gets along with Leo and the two exchange sassy comments and send each other memes constantly. Nico, who knew Leo was bi before Leo himself knew, and fed into Jason's delusions until he had the balls to kiss Leo on his famed New Year's Party.

Thalia, who would be in the picture occasionally, but is mostly busy touring the US with her rock/metal band called 'The Hunters', whose first album was inspired by Greek Mythology and specifically the myths surrounding Artemis, which is so what they titled their debut album.

Annabeth, who is Piper and Leo's genius best friend and the only keeper of the singular braincell in their trio, who has been wanting to become the youngest woman to ever hold a Senate seat ever. Percy, who is completely enamoured by her the second he sees her and the two start their own romance on the side.

I'm obsessed with this idea, I think it has so much potential.

I wrote that very quickly and I've barely proof-read it, but I just felt like the idea had to get out of my head because it deserves to be shared with the fandom. If someone wants to continue developing this, I would love to read more. If someone has alr written something like this and I'm not the first genius to think of it, please let me know!

- mia

[mariacallous]

The Arizona primary is today, and there have already been allegations of voter fraud. Last month, a woman from Arizona who works with the right-wing group Turning Point USA posted a picture to X (formerly Twitter) of two mail-in ballots along with two early voting packets for the primary.

“Maricopa county at its finest, my first time ever voting in a presidential preference election and I received not one but two mail-in ballots” Aubrey Savela wrote in the accompanying caption, suggesting the situation was proof of voter fraud in Arizona.

Savela’s post would likely have been lost in the flood of election conspiracies posted on the platform had she not added another line: “Thank you @stephen_richer.”

Stephen Richer is the Maricopa County Recorder and is responsible for the administration of early voting and mail-in ballots for today’s primaries and November’s election. Richer, a Republican, responded to Savela quickly on X: In just 178 words, Richer laid out exactly why Savela had received two ballots. It turned out that she had changed her voter registration on the final day of allowed before the election, and her original ballot had already been posted. Richer also explained that it wasn’t voter fraud, as Savela claimed, since the first ballot automatically becomes redundant when a second ballot is issued and would not be counted even if used. His tweet has been viewed over 3 million times and has received 55,000 likes.

“We always research it,” Richer tells WIRED from his office in Maricopa County. “I had my suspicions, and my suspicions turned out to be exactly right, which was that this person made a last-minute voter registration change and that the system worked exactly as it did, and then I just spent maybe two minutes typing out that explanation.”

The replies were ecstatic: “This Richer guy is an assassin,” one of many positive responses reads. “I’m hiring him to tweet [at] all my ex boyfriends. Be better, Aubrey.”

This isn’t the first time Richer has done something like this. From his very first days in office in January 2021, Richer has tackled disinformation about the voting process in Arizona head on by using X to directly debunk conspiracies and respond to posts on the platform. Richer also shares updates about how many people have voted in elections, posts information about voting dates and locations, and even keeps his DMs open, as he believes the people of Maricopa County should have the opportunity to ask him questions directly.

Richer’s work seems necessary, as Arizona has been ground zero for election conspiracists ever since the 2020 election when the bogus recount run by Cyber Ninjas found that President Joe Biden did actually win. Since then, election deniers have become household names in the state, like former TV star Kari Lake, who failed to win the governor’s race in 2022 but continues to claim the election was stolen. Lake is now seeking the GOP nomination to run for Senate—and has been floated as a possible vice presidential pick for former president Donald Trump. Lake is joined on the ballot by Wendy Rogers, a member of the Oath Keepers who is running for reelection to the Arizona state senate, and Mark Finchem, who lost his secretary of state race in 2022 and is now seeking reelection to the state senate. Rogers and Finchem, like at least 38 elected officials across the state, have both claimed that Trump won the 2020 election.

Election conspiracists haven’t quit since the election, either: A Maricopa Board of Supervisors ended in chaos last month after a group of election conspiracists rushed the dais at the end of the meeting shouting that a “revolution” was underway. Board members had to be ushered out a side door by security guards. Threats and harassment from Trump supporters have driven hundreds of election officials to resign, and thousands more to go silent over fears of being attacked.

This all makes Richer an outlier. Richer has continued to speak out against allegations of election fraud and insecurity, despite ongoing threats and harassment. Richer does it, he tells WIRED, because he still believes he’s best-placed to counter disinformation being spread online. And Richer has thrown his hat into the ring once again and is seeking reelection for Maricopa County Recorder in November. In the Republican primary, Richer faces Justin Heap, a state representative who has been a vocal critic of election administration in Maricopa County and is aligned with numerous election deniers.

“Going online and engaging on Twitter does open you up to a certain amount of return fire, which might not be something that some people want to have in their lives,” Richers says. “Our approach in Maricopa County has been to put out as much information as we can in lots of different mediums, and then hope that some of it yields dividends.”

He also knows he has an uphill battle ahead of November. Recently, a survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center found that just 18 percent of Americans look to local election administrators for information. “This is a notable decline,” the report states.

“I do find myself often reflecting, what am I doing here? Am I doing it to correct the record? Am I doing it to win an argument?,” Richer said. “I need to keep in mind is winning an argument is not the same as persuading people.”

Richer, a former corporate lawyer, was elected Maricopa County Recorder in November 2020 following his defeat of Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes, who is now secretary of state. As Maricopa County became ground zero of the newly emerging election denial movement, Richer became the focus of attacks, despite having nothing to do with the administration of the election.

After criticizing the so-called election audit approved by the Arizona senate, Richer received a death threat via voicemail, and in 2022 a Missouri man was indicted on federal charges linked to the call. Richer received scores of threatening calls during this period and says the threats came from people in half a dozen states. Many of the callers, he adds, have been arrested for making threats, including a man from Alabama who was arrested just last week.

The accusations of election fraud weren’t just anonymous, however: In 2022, Lake accused Richer of sabotaging her campaign for governor by incorrectly printing 300,000 ballots that were subsequently discounted. Richer sued her; Lake’s lawyers tried to get the lawsuit dismissed in December by claiming their client’s comments about Richer were simply “her opinions about the facts” and therefore protected speech.

Despite this, Richer continues to speak out and continues to tweet. Not everyone hates him: In 2021, he was named Arizonan of the Year by the Arizona Republic. In the same year, The Phoenix New Times named him the Best Republican Politician of the Year for his willingness to speak the truth about the integrity of the state’s election processes.

And he often thinks about what allegations of fraud are worth responding to and amplifying. “At what point do you engage and then risk promoting it to a larger audience? Or do you just let it die a natural death in another four or five hours, because most of the stuff has a pretty short shelf life on social media,” Richer tells WIRED. “The calculus for [responding to Savela’s tweet] was that she's a political actor who works with a political organization that was seemingly trying to spread this to try to hurt people's confidence in the system, so that's why I chose to engage.”

[maplewoodstreet]

The Pro-Palestine Self-Immolation of Aaron Bushnell

CONTENT WARNING: extreme, self-inflicted violence

Self-immolation is an extreme and brutal form of protest in which the protester purposefully sets themselves on fire. The act is excruciatingly painful and can result in death.

The Self-Immolation Protest Event

On 25 February 2024 at around 1 p.m., a 25-year-old active US Air Force serviceman named Aaron Bushnell dressed in military fatigues doused himself in flammable liquid and lit himself on fire outside the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. This act of self-immolation was done to protest Israel's genocide of Palestinians.

Before the event, Aaron Bushnell had emailed several left-wing news outlets saying he will "engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people". He also posted on Facebook a Twitch link with this caption: "Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now."

As he was livestreaming the event on Twitch outside the Embassy, he said, "I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. And I will no longer be complicit to genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers—it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal." After lighting himself on fire, he repeatedly shouted "Free Palestine!" until he collapsed.

Meanwhile, a police officer aimed his gun at the man as he was on fire. Another policeman said, "I don't need guns, I need fire extinguishers!"

From ignition to extinguishing, Bushnell was burning for approximately 90 seconds. After fire extinguishers were used, Aaron was transported to the hospital and at 10:06 p.m. was pronounced dead.

A censored version of the video can be found on Twitter.

This is the second pro-Palestine self-immolation performed by US citizens. The first was by an unknown woman performed outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia on 1 December 2023.

Reactions to the Protest

An unofficial group of White House administration staffers created a statement calling for a permanent ceasefire and criticizing President Biden for not using his power to prevent Israel from committing genocide.

Bernie Sanders responded to the self-immolation saying, "It's obviously a terrible tragedy, but I think it speaks to the depths of despair that so many people are feeling now about the horrific humanitarian disaster taking place in Gaza, and I share those deep concerns. Children are starving. People are dying—29,000 Palestinians have died, two-thirds of them women and children. The United States has got to stand up to Netanyahu and make sure this does not continue. We are increasingly isolated. The international community understands that what Netanyahu is doing is a humanitarian disaster. It is a horror, and we continue to be one of the very few countries in the world that stand by Israel, and I think that is a terrible, terrible mistake. And as you may know, I'm doing everything I can to make sure that the United States government does not send another nickel to Netanyahu to continue this terrible war." Despite outcry from his followers, Bernie Sanders still has not supported a ceasefire.

Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein responded by saying, "May his sacrifice deepen our commitment to stop genocide now."

News outlets like FOX News, USA Today, Reuters, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN neglected to include the reason for the self-immolation in their headlines.

There have been vigils held throughout the United States. A vigil in New York City had NYPD officers with riot helmets and batons ready one hour before the vigil started.

There is speculation that Aaron Bushnell may have been a closeted transgender woman and used the name Lilly. Aaron's Twitch username was LillyAnarKitty. The "AnarKitty" could also be a play on words for "anarchy". The profile picture for this account was of the Anarchy symbol.

Various Internet User Reactions:

The Most American Thing That Has Ever Happened by Caitlin Johnstone

BabyHilton

Rayne Fisher-Quann

MaxBluementhal

MicahinATL

TroyTheCatfish

Sean McCarthy

[readyforevolution]

Facts about Liberia That Makes it Intriguing🇱🇷🇱🇷

1. Liberia is Africa's oldest republic founded in 1821 and the second oldest Black republic in the world after Haiti.

2. Liberia was created for freed slaves and was one of the only two African countries not subjected to colonialism.

3. Liberia has produced the only African to win the FIFA best player of the year.

4. Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first woman to be elected an head of state in an African country, she won the Nobel Peace Prize 2011

5. Liberia is a Latin word which means 'Land of the Free'.

6. Liberia's capital Monrovia, was named after James Monroe, the fifth president of the USA and supporter of the colonisation of Liberia by freed slaves.

7. Liberia’s flag is modelled on the USA’s. A single star symbolises Liberia’s status as the only independent Western-style state in Africa. The 11 stripes represent the number of men who signed the Liberian Declaration of Independence.

8. Liberia has one of the youngest populations in the world with the median age of its citizens just 18 years.

9. According to Liberia's constitution, you have to be Black to be a citizen.

10. Liberia has her airline bànned from all European countries.

11. In 1960 Liberia became the first black African country to be elected to the Security Council of the United Nations.

Guys let's get our YouTube channel (YT: Historical Africa) to 80k subscribers. Kindly click on the link to subscribe. 🙏 https://youtube.com/c/HistoricalAfrica

[polarisbibliotheque]

About the time a guy was being creepy to me on a professional setting and my gut feeling told me "GET OUT NOW"

Ok, so hi! This post has to do with a reblog recently here in my blog, on one of my fics regarding Dante and Vergil with an s/o suffering from being hit on without their consent. I write Devil May Cry fanfiction and that was my way of coping with a CREEP being, well, a creep.

Who would've known, fanfic is therapeutical

My answer got so big, I decided to make a separate post about it - and I'm talking like this because, if this gets out the DMC sphere and other people read it, they'll understand the fandom talk a little bit. This is not just for the fandom, but everyone out there.

Including men. All of us are prone to being targets of creeps - even if I'll be telling about my experience as a woman, take this advice to your heart NO MATTER your gender.

When this episode happened in my life, I was 27 y/o, I think...? I got pushed into such a stupid corner by this guy who kept messaging me with "work related" stuff... And my family wasn't validating my "this is weird" feeling.

So... What happened?

(TW: I mention the words "rape" and "sexual abuse" but none of that has happened. It was a red flag and I want to talk about avoiding it like the plague and how people might dismiss your gut feeling when something is wrong. I write with brutal honesty, curse words and don't censor anything, because I'm here to tell people how it is not curating content to go viral on clean ~family friendly~ social media. This is honest advice I'd give someone else, so it's just a heads up. I'm a little jaded with all the censoring of "forbidden words" when you have to discuss serious subjects like this nowadays hahahaha)

First context, I'm a Lawyer. Hi. I know it doesn't sound like it Second context, I'm from Latin America. Hi again!

Well, in my country, we have to vote every couple of years for the National Lawyer Association President and Vice-President (for my USA people, it's like the BAR association for Lawyers - meaning only lawyers who have passed the BAR and are, indeed, full-fledged to the association and with a lawyer permit can vote). I hate it, but it is what it is, I have to vote every time for one of those posh speaking clowns or else.

This much older guy stopped me at the entrance to the voting building to do some political propaganda of one of the candidates. Expected. They weren't the ones I was gonna vote 'cause their agenda didn't fit what I wanted for the Association - nevertheless, I smiled and was polite. Guy wouldn't shut up, but that's a lawyer thing. Kept being polite, dismissed him kindly and went inside to vote.

As I came back, guy is there and stops me. I had called my mom to give me a ride home - by that time, I had been broke and without a job for 2 years up until that point, trying to get back into the ~lawyer business~ and recover from a very bad burnout, so paying a ride back home was a big no. I had my phone on my hand and kept chatting because, you know, networking. You never know.

Now, mind you. I'm about to celebrate my 30th birthday this year, but people seriously think I'm underage wherever I go. I have to literally show them my credentials and ID so they can believe a single word I say. This guy, must've been around his 50s or something - and I look like a teen or, at best, 20 years old. I graduated when I was 22, so that's the most he could've imagined I was.

As we're talking, dude is flexing his career so hard I start to do the same. He says he has known the President and influential people in politics (back then, far-right government, so red flag already waving in the horizon), he has an office both here and in New York and Miami, he has worked with the FBI (we're in Latin America, the USA stuff is a flex for far-right people). I say I have worked as the Labor Lawyer in a huge worldwide known multinational company, coordinated with people in the USA and UK, had around 100 cases to manage monthly and keep the company in order when the directors were not around.

Guy is impressed and asks for my contact on LinkedIn. I'm down for it, I'm looking for a job and he could be one hell of a way to get back on business. Dude mentions he's in digital law and, heck, I wanted so bad to get into digital law! It was like he was put in my way by the angels to help me get back on my feet!

He asks for my resumé and my cellphone number, so he can have me in his office to have a cup of coffee. I am soaring by now. "That's it!!" I think "That's my ticket back to being a lawyer, to having my own money, to breaking the cycle of unemployment and having my career back!" - so I do it! I give him my number!

hello, workaholic aunt here speaking, my career was everything to me, I'd do everything for it

After I got back home, told my mom everything, and everyone was so happy. That's when he started sending me messages - asking for my address so he could send me some lawyer magazines and such... Even though he had asked when we were talking before and I changed the subject. I didn't give him of course, but instead sent him my resumé.

So, next day he asks me about that coffee and I said we can make it happen... Even if he got my name wrong. I have a pretty exotic name in whatever country I go, so it's a common mistake, known to happen, no one can pronounce my name right if I don't teach them how to, so yeah. I'm willing to gloss over that.

I'm assuming he read my resumé, saw how smart, capable and hardworking I am, and wants to talk business. Wants to offer me a job. I'm super ready. I'm taking my business clothes out of the closet, I'm cleaning my high heel black boots, I'm checking my references and vocabulary so I don't screw up. Guy sends a message saying he wants to take me out for lunch.

Red flag. My instincts flare up and I'm just staring at the screen. I start reviewing everything. I mean... Business lunches are ok, right? I had lunches with my manager and director plenty of times back in the day and it never got weird. So... Why was I feeling weird now...?

Guy says we can go out for lunch and then back at his office so he can show me around. I was like "hmmm... ok? shouldn't be weird. this is normal." but nevertheless I went to check with my mom and my sister.

Both said it was fine. I was feeling weird because it's a guy and me and I shouldn't be feeling uneasy - it's my social anxiety/workplace trauma talking. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. I shouldn't screw up.

I keep talking to him. I ask where we should meet up for this lunch and he tells me to give him my address, so he could pick me up and we can go to "a nice place to have lunch" (his words, not mine).

Red flags are dancing around my head. I keep thinking "have I lead him on something????" and going mad. What was I wearing? Only work clothes, that's all - suit pants, black high heel boots, dark silk shirt and only a nude lipstick so my lips wouldn't get chapped. My shirt didn't even show cleavage.

It's ridiculous how I feel this is a thing I should add 'cause heaven forbid the cleavage

What about what I've said? Did I accidentally flirt?? 'Cause that's been known to happen - I'm a clueless ace who can't for the life of me notice when people are flirting or not or notice when people think I'm flirting with them. And usually when they are not flirting or being attractive, that's when the magic happens for me! So... What gives?! Did I do something wrong, that sent the wrong message?

I mean, I was nice, yes. But you're supposed to be nice to people. I'm not gonna be rude just because most guys can't keep it in their pants.

I go over the messages. I didn't do anything strictly not business like. I'm very good at that. I have only worked responding to men as bosses in my life, had four male bosses before him, all different ages, marital status, star signs, backgrounds, lives. The best colleagues and co-workers I used to spend hours having coffee and laughing with were men. So I know how to keep professional and not mixing things up. It wasn't a slip up from my side.

Well, then there's always the chance I was going crazy and overreacting, soooo... I go over to my mom and sister. They think it's weird, yes, but they do think that's exactly what's going on: I'm overreacting and my social anxiety/workplace trauma is blocking me from pursuing this opportunity that can help my career - and make me have a salary again so I can help at home.

Ok. I though up and go back to talking to him. I tell him fine but I'll go to the place myself, so he can tell me where he's thinking about having lunch. Guy tells me nothing and keeps insisting I give him my address and he will give me a ride so we can "get to know each other better".

My GODS I've never felt so uncomfortable. Not even when I had to stay ONLY with my boss working until 1 am, only the two of us in the company building, every light out except the one in the room we were in, him being around 15 years older than me and very confident, with the two of us having one of the best work chemistry I had in my LIFE.

He could've done ANYTHING to me, but we only talked strictly work. We were tired, he waited for my mom to pick me up at 1 am outside so nothing bad would happen to me, both of us under an umbrella, he apologized to my mom for having me stay at work so late and then went back home to his wife and kid. I NEVER, at ANY moment felt unsafe around him. He was my mentor, he was my boss, he was a good colleague and even somewhat of a friend.

So why on EARTH was I feeling SO UNCOMFORTABLE with this guy I had only met ONCE face to face in my life?

I start to voice my concerns. My mom and my sister think I'm only saying that because I don't want to go back to work. That I want to throw my career away because I can't control my anxiety and my feelings. We fight a couple of times and a couple of days. My mom tells my aunt about it. My aunt goes full FBI and does a background check on this dude.

That's when she told my mom some things weren't adding up. His LinkedIn profile was a little too weird and he had no ties whatsoever with the elected President of the Lawyer Association - was he really someone in their team for propaganda? Nevertheless, he did have an office and did work with digital law, both here and in the USA. I shouldn't let this opportunity slip.

I got so mad. SO MAD. To the point my sister decided to ask her boyfriend for his opinion on all of it and he was like "hey... your sister is kinda right. guy wouldn't offer to take ME to a nice restaurant to have lunch and go to his office later for a coffee, would he...? I mean, this never happened to me" - and sis' boyfriend is on the business meetings and negotiations/selling part of the spectrum. He knows what he's talking about.

So now I finally have a man validating my concerns.

I take the decision to shut the whole thing down. I go "very well, I will NOT meet him, I will NOT maintain contact with him, he's treating me like a whore he picked up on the street". At this point, I am FUCKING FUMING. But still, my sister and mom gave him the benefit of the doubt and made me feel like I was doing something wrong.

So I decided to marinate him for a while.

I should note that all his messages were sent close or around midnight, not at working hours. And I only answered at working hours. Since I was taking a while to respond, my dude just goes like, and I kid you not, "ooooh she's not answering, she's ignoring me, I don't like that *sad emoji*" LIKE A FUCKING 13 YEAR OLD (no offense, 13 y/o peoples, but this dude is a FULL GROWN ASS MAN).

I am offended, I am flabbergasted and I wish I could suplex him to oblivion.

I show my mom the message. She just stares at me in awe. She FINALLY is like "yeah, ok, this isn't very professional". ALL THIS TIME, I never really told her what I was thinking and what was really worrying me. And then I break her the news that, what I'm really afraid of, is that this guy is going to rape me in his car. Or he's going to drive me somewhere I can't fight or scream and then he'll rape me. Whatever the scenario, it ended up with me being raped and I was scared. SO. FUCKING. SCARED.

My mom goes into Sphinx mode - that's when she doesn't answer and doesn't even look at me and just ~thinks~. It's a brutal reality she doesn't like and I don't like it either, I mean, it's my safety we're talking about here.

I shut down the guy completely. I tell him there's a family emergency and I couldn't continue to give him any attention nor I could go out for that lunch and I couldn't talk anymore. He SUDDENLY goes cold and "I am sorry if any of my messages seemed inconvenient. Do answer when you have the time so we can make an appointment." And that's it. No more messages. He's done in my book.

My mom tells my aunt. Aunt goes Sherlock Holmes mode this time and, lo and behold, they find an website of this guy's office. My mom is shocked at how 90's internet it looks for a guy who works with digital law. She then recognizes the address of the office but the doesn't remember of any office building in that street - so she Googles it.

His "office" is actually a residential building - meaning, it was his home address. She shows it to me and I want to cry - out of rage, shame, fear, sadness. I go like "yeah, this is the place he wanted me to go, to his home. What was he going to do to me there, huh?" - and I think the answer is pretty obvious.

Later, speaking to my sister, she's like "I dunno why you're so mad" and I'm like "WELL MISS I just got PICKED UP LIKE A WHORE outside of an OFFICIAL EVENT for the NATIONAL LAWYER ASSOCIATION while I was DRESSED UP PROFESSIONALLY and looking for PROFESSIONAL opportunities and I COULD HAVE BEEN RAPED. I think I have all the right in the FUCKING WORLD to be FUMING."

That's when we diverged some more. She just said like "hey that's how the world works: women are treated like whores - you weren't the first one to have this happen to you and you won't be the last. What are you gonna do about it? Get over it."

Oh. Boy. I looked at my sister's eyes. I saw her just staring at me weirdly. A storm was approaching. The skies darkened. Bury the Light started playing in the background. Vergil's doppelgänger was standing behind me like an angel of death. (All DMC references for my non-DMC peoples)

"Well. I wanna have power. So much fucking power in this world that no one ever even thinks about treating me like that again. So much power they will fear standing in front of me and saying those words - they will look into my eyes and shut up. So much power I will never be afraid to walk on my own again and I will never have to doubt my feelings when I'm feeling unsafe because some lowlife pitiful little shit decided I should be a whore to satisfy him. I want to have power so I will never be this helpless again."

Cue in my sister just sitting there with butter in the slice of bread in her hand, staring at me like "wtf man... do you need a hug...?" and me doing a dramatic exit back to my room to, well... Write the fanfic in question.

(For my DMC creatures: I never even thought of Vergil when I said all of this, I just noted that thought later in my diary and reading it a couple of days later I was like "omg I have become my worst enemy, fuck you Verge" because I kid you not, I used to hate this man with all the fibers of my being - hence where my longfic Nemesis came from. I realized I lived long enough to become my worst enemy - and maybe I hated him because Vergil made me look at the part of myself I didn't like and didn't want to admit existed *I'm laughing while writing this, I do find it weirdly amusing*)

DMC things aside, this WHOLE episode made me feel so frustrated. I never had anyone to validate me, only people doubting me or asking me if I lead him on, or what was I wearing, or if I smiled too much, if I was being too nice, if I said something inappropriate, and so on. I had to get it all off my chest and I thought maybe, juuuust maybe, Dante and Vergil would've been more supportive regarding that.

Because, you know, they know trauma and they are protective as fuck. They can have all the red flags and mental issues in this world, but I don't think they would EVER dismiss their partner - especially a woman - feeling unsafe and fearing being abused or raped. In order to trust, you have to give the person and opportunity and room to open up to you without judgements - and I do think they aren't very judgy people.

I mean, they are demons, for fuck's sake. They can't judge anything especially Vergil

Also, I don't blame my mom nor my sister (even if I got really mad at her). In the end, both of them wanted what was best for me, they thought it was an opportunity and wanted me to get my career back. Truth is, no woman knows how to act when this happens. And they didn't know how to act as well. They didn't want to think of the worst: just like I was doubting myself and my own feelings, they were doubting theirs as well. We ALL had to be validated by a man to admit something was wrong and we weren't hysterical.

Ok, ok, storytime over. But I felt like sharing this because people, you are ALWAYS valid in your concerns - and there's no clothing, no smile, no attitude, no NOTHING that JUSTIFIES abuse. If you're abused or feeling like someone wants to take advantage of you, especially sexually, YOUR FEELINGS AND FEARS ARE VALID. Don't shrug it off or water it down just because people are saying you're overreacting - if I had listened to everyone around me instead of my gut feeling that something was REALLY wrong, only the gods know what would've happened. But I'll tell ya, it probably wouldn't have been good for me.

At best, I'd be mad this guy would want to pick me up like a whore and I'd have to turn him down and take a ride home. At worst, he would've raped me - in his car, at the "restaurant", at his "office". We don't know, but I didn't want to "give luck to bad luck" as we say where I live.

I didn't have support, so I wrote a story to feel supported by the fictional characters I look up to - I wished SO bad I was dating someone, especially a man, who'd tell me he'd go through hell and back to keep me safe and wouldn't allow anyone to hurt me and validate my feelings. Someone who would make me feel safe and I wouldn't have to only rely on myself.

cue in V saying he too wanted to be loved and protected, I tell you, all this time I thought I hated Vergil when I had only found my nemesis in a mirror

So, don't ever doubt yourselves. Don't ever doubt your gut feelings. We might want validation and someone to keep us safe, but sometimes we don't have that and have to rely on our survival mode. It sucks, but there's a reason why that thing is called "survival": it keeps you alive. It keeps you going.

And no one, NO ONE has the right to say you're overreacting, you're being hysterical, you're reading too much into it, you're just trying to find the easy way out, you just don't want an opportunity because you're lazy, you're crazy and deranged, etc, etc.

If your gut is flapping red flags all around, then overreact. Be hysterical. Read too much into it, find the easy way out, be lazy, be crazy and deranged. Be the villain. Be the bad person. You're not perfect. You're not a princess. Be comfortable with people telling you you're bad - but never NEVER let go of your gut feeling when your safety is on the line.

That fucking thing WILL save your life. Being too nice, though, might not. Listen to yourself, be TRUE to yourself, and, again, don't be afraid to be bad.

Someday you might just find your half-demon man who will support you, protect you and treat you as an equal powerhouse, but until that day, keep on conquering your self-esteem and unwavering will.

I'm just saying all of this now because:

1 - I was too scared to talk about this for a looong time afraid the guy in question would find this, know it's me and my safety would be on the line again

2 - Just now I'm getting comfortable with the concept of being "seen as the villain" and being "seen as bad". My whole life I have been dancing around this because people always said I had a "difficult" personality. I watched Cruella recently and it hit home so hard. We do have things to learn from villainous characters and maybe this is just who I am. People are going to see me as bad so, who cares. Even if I'm not, it would do me good getting used to that idea - I can be more assertive to my boundaries and not allow any of this to happen again. So, there you go. It's an exercise everyone should do. Are you comfortable defending your ideas, your boundaries and your integrity even if people are mad you're not being a pushover/perfectly polite?

It's something I think all of us should think about ;)

Also

thanks for coming to my TED Talk :')

[fredseibertdotcom]

Behold, the king of online cartoons

Ex-Hanna-Barbera whiz Fred Seibert blazing a trail with YouTube network

A couple of times over the years, then-USA Today’s entertainment and tech reporter (and photographer) Jefferson Graham was nice enough to feature me in an article about the cartoons I was producing. First time was in the late 90s with “Oh Yeah! Cartoons,” but in 2015, with streaming video finally reaching the mainstream press (Channel Frederator actually started in 2005) and Graham’s animator son joining our network, he revisited.

Thanks to animator Michael Hilliger, who sent over his copy of the article in 2024.

By Jefferson Graham USA Today July 17, 2015

LOS ANGELES — Fred Seibert wants you to have his card.

And his phone number. He even won't mind if we print his fred@frederator.com e-mail address right here in USA TODAY.

Seibert, 63 is the online toon king, with 400 million views monthly to his Channel Frederator network on YouTube, but he's never sure where his next hit will come from.

So he's always out there looking, at schools, industry gatherings, book signings. You name it.

Next weekend, he'll be at the Vidcon convention near Los Angeles, a gathering of folks who make their living off YouTube, which is where most folks see his online `toons.

"I have no ideas," he says. "But I recognize talent."

That's for sure. Seibert, then president of Hanna-Barbera's cartoon studios in the 1990s, is credited with discovering Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the Family Guy, fresh from college, when he hired him to work on Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

For Seibert's "What a Cartoon!" series for the Cartoon Network, Seibert hit ratings gold, signing up the creators who churned out hits like "The Powerpuff Girls," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Johnny Bravo." Their series debuted as shorts for first for Seibert's series.

He still serves as executive producer of "The Fairly OddParents," a TV series he began producing in 1998 when it debuted on his "Oh Yeah, Cartoons," series. It's been running ever since on Nickelodeon.

Seibert's biggest audiences, however, have come from online, to the tune of some 1.9 billion views for 'toons like the Bee and PuppyCat and Bravest Warriors.

We had Seibert as a guest on our #TalkingTech podcast in June. At the time, he was averaging 300 million monthly viewers to the Channel Frederator network. Now he's already up to 400 million monthly viewers, and predicts he'll top 700 million by year's end, and 1 billion by 2016.

The reason for the massive growth is that unlike before, when animation was targeted just to young kids, either for Saturday morning TV, and kid-based cartoon TV channels, anyone of all ages can view `toons online.

Seibert's Cartoon Hangover, a Frederator section where he shows the best of his `toons, bills itself as the channel for "cartoons that are too weird, wild, and crazy for television."

“Bee and PuppyCat,” about a young woman with a hybrid dog-cat, is written by Natasha Allegri, a woman in her 20s, about a character in her 20s, and thus, obviously not targeted to the traditional animation crowd.

"No matter what your interest online — whether it be anime, or science fiction or comedy cartoons, there is a place for you," Seibert says. "TV has a tough time supporting the sub-genres. Online is all about sub-genre."

Channel Frederator is what's known as a multi-channel network. Cartoons run on YouTube, but his network promotes them, sells ads and distributes the proceeds to some 2,000 of his video makers.

Through Frederator, the channel makers learn about which color to make their thumbnails to find larger YouTube audiences (he recommends yellow) and which keywords to use in the descriptions ("funny" always works, he says.)

"We give them the tools to grow their performance," he says.

Dominic Panganiban, a 24-year-old animator from Toronto, joined the Frederator network in November, and has seen his subscriber base grow ten times since.

He had been working with Full Screen, another multi-channel network that works with YouTube creators to help them monetize their videos and attract larger audiences.

"Frederator was a better fit, because they cater more towards animation channels," Panganiban says. Because Frederator attracts folks who enjoy cartoons, "I have more potential here."

By being part of the Frederator network, Australian animator Sam Green says he's learned about how to better promote his cartoons, and gotten access to a database of free music and sound effects to use in his cartoons.

He too has seen a spike in traffic.

Being with Seibert "helped me move from my mother's garage to affording my own apartment in the big city," he says.

How did the traffic for both creators go up so dramatically?

Seibert promoted the cartoons to his audience. With 2,000 cartoon makers, that's a lot to choose from. He says he'll plug as many of them as "show an interest" to growing their audience. He looks for people who post new work regularly, stay in touch, and ask "what we can do to help them more."

And despite the massive online audience, Seibert isn't making money yet, and doesn't think he will for another three years. 

"Our cartoons are 3-4 minutes long, and the average American watches 6 hours of TV a day," he says. "We have a long way to go to even that out."

Photography by Jefferson Graham, July 2015

[coochiequeens]

Two more cases for SheWon

ByReduxx Team August 20, 2023

Two trans-identified male cyclists took the top spots at events in Washington and Switzerland this week, with one beating out two teenage girls, and the other depriving his competitors of $550 cash prize.

This Saturday, in Switzerland’s largest city of Zürich, Kiana Gysin took first place at the women’s fixed gear racing final as part of the Zuricrit event that was being held in the middle of the city.

Gysin, a biological male who identifies as a woman, had also seized first place in the women’s heat event.

Gysin, who was awarded prize money totalling 500 Swiss Francs, equal to $566.86 USD, edged out the second placed American Dani Morsehead, by beating out her best lap time by a single second, according to the official race results. As a result of Gysin’s participation, Morsehead received the second prize of 300 Francs, equal to $340.58 USD.

Despite his participation, Swiss national paper Tages-Anzeiger boasted that the race had attracted international talent, “and more female riders than ever before.”

The day prior in Richmond, Washington, another male cyclist took home a women’s title — beating out two teenage girls to become the 1/2/3 Women’s Northwest Elimination Champion at the Jerry Baker Velodrome.

Amazon software engineer Claire Law, 35, defeated a number of junior female racers on Friday, August 20, at the women’s elimination race. An elimination race involves the last-placed rider who crosses the finish line each lap dropping out, until only one person is left.

In a livestream of the event, Law was seen crushing his teenaged opponents.

As the third place rider Lucy Dorer, 15, was eliminated, second place rider Lucy Scoville, aged 17 can be seen completely dropping back for the last lap, and not even bothering to compete with Law, who sailed ahead to what appeared to be an easy victory.

“Law is just such in overall strong form, that the contest won’t be there,” the commentator noted during the competition.

The Independent Council on Women’s Sports, a network of women athletes who advocate for female protected categories in sports, noted that Law has “appeared on women’s podiums consistently for years and joins over 50 men competing in women’s cycling in recent years.”

In July, the world governing body for cycling, UCI, banned transgender athletes from participating in any of their events if they had gone through male puberty. UCI determined that the previous barrier, restricting testosterone levels, was not “sufficient to completely eliminate the benefits of testosterone during puberty in men,” their statement noted.

“Given the current state of scientific knowledge, it is also impossible to rule out the possibility that biomechanical factors such as the shape and arrangement of the bones in their limbs may constitute a lasting advantage for female transgender athletes,” the statement read.

David Lappartient, the president of UCI, said that the governing body had a “duty to guarantee, above all, equal opportunities” for all competitors in cycling competitions.

“It is this imperative that led the UCI to conclude that, given the current state of scientific knowledge does not guarantee such equality of opportunity between transgender female athletes and cisgender female participants, it was not possible, as a precautionary measure, to authorize the former to race in the female categories,” he explained.

British Cycling had introduced their own policy two months prior, creating an “open” third category where anyone of any gender identity and sex would be allowed to compete. The female category would be restricted only to biological women, including those who identified as transgender, but who had yet to undertake hormone therapy.

As the Independent Council on Women’s Sports noted, USA Cycling had not adopted these new stricter policies that prevented biological males from competing with and beating women and girls, which permitted Law to take the championship on Friday.

Gysin, who also became the fixed gear bicycle female world champion in June, had in fact protested against the UCI’s decision as part of FemMess, a Zürich cycle club that “promotes … intersectional feminist discussions” in cycling.

“We from FemMess CC strongly condemn UCI’s decision to essentially ban trans woman from competitive cycling, this decision has no basis in scientific findings and has only been implemented because of the current transmisogynistic political climate and pressure from trans exclusionary organizations. We won’t be attending any event that follows UCI Guidelines as we won’t financially support organizations like this,” the group posted on Instagram, where Gysin can be seen in a photo.

“We stand for an intersectional feminist approach to the sport and bio essentialism is dangerous for everyone, they won’t stop with trans woman. F**k UCI!” the group concluded.

[batcavescolony]

The Concept of this issue(the 300th issue) is, 'What if Superman landed in 1976'. it was the middle of the Cold War so there was a fight between USA and Russia over who got the pod

Obviously USA won

Poor baby Clark's first food on earth was 1976 Military food, and then he was raised by the US Military! 😬 (also it looks like baby Clark stole Garths old Aqualad outfit)

That's certainly something, also he's skyboy. ...But anyway lets see what people in 1976 thought the future was gonna be like!

A dome around the White House, strato-jets(?), Eco friendly super-sonic air craft that lands in sea ports, The Empire State Building becomes 1mile tall, the USA has base with lasers on the moon, a Woman is President, Tri vision TV's (?) and hovering chairs.

We don't have a single one of those things and this is what they thought the 1990s was gonna be like.... Sorry 1976 comic writers we let you down.

[cozyaliensuperstar7]

Racism? So they're racist against CC too?

Jennifer Marie Rizzotti 

A retired American collegiate and professional basketball player, and former Division I coach at George Washington University. She is the president of the Connecticut Sun. Rizzotti was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

This is the Olympic Head Coach:

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve

Jealousy? These are all accomplished women in the sport. Dawn Staley is a legend. She just coached a team that won the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships. Her 3rd Championship.

Just because you're newbie WNBA fans and CC fans who just started recognizing women's basketball 2 years ago doesn't mean you know why CC isn't on the Olympic team. Actually y'all barely know anything about basketball. And the more y'all make posts like this, the more y'all showing your ignorance.

Once again, Catilin Clark is not a victim.

And at this point you CC fans are making it hard for people root for her.

Rookies that made the Olympic Team:

Rebecca Lobo in 1996

She helped lead the Huskies (UConn) to the 1995 National Championship with an undefeated 35–0 record. In her senior year, Lobo was the unanimous national player of the year, winning the 1995 Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, the AP Player of the Year award, the USBWA Player of the Year award, the Honda Sports Award for basketball, and the WBCA Player of the Year award. She was awarded the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup for 1994–95, presented to the athlete "most deserving of recognition as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year"

Diana Taurasi in 2004

She led the team to three consecutive NCAA championships (UConn). She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award (2004), three WNBA championships (2007, 2009, and 2014), a historic five Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020)

Candace Parker in 2008

On February 21, 2008, Parker announced that she would forgo her final season of eligibility at Tennessee in order to focus on the 2008 Olympics and pursue a professional career in basketball. On April 8, 2008, despite having suffered a dislocated shoulder in the regional final, Parker led the Lady Vols to their second straight NCAA women's title, the eighth championship for Tennessee and the last for legendary coach Pat Summitt. She was also named the Most Outstanding Player for the second consecutive NCAA tournament, joining Cheryl Miller, Chamique Holdsclaw, and Diana Taurasi as the only female players to have done so.

Breanna Stewart in 2016

In her college career Stewart won 151 games and lost 5, which included four straight national championships. She is the first NCAA basketball player ever to tally 400 assists and block 400 shots. She was one of only six Huskies with at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Stewart finished her career second on UConn's all-time scoring list at 2,676 career points, fourth with 1,179 career rebounds, and first in blocks (414). USA Basketball named Stewart to the squad that played at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She won a gold medal with Team USA in 2016,

Sure there have been rookies selected for the team before and all have won NCAA championships and all of them are all around players. And look 3 out of 4 are White so there goes your race argument.