#this is what america did in korea. this is what america did in vietnam. this is what america does in the caribbean.

[radical-revolution]

Bowing to Reality

When I was young, I tried to escape the madness of my world by imagining a better future. Now that I'm old, I seek that refuge in nostalgic memories of the past. It still doesn't work. I can dwell in the present for hours on end while practicing meditation, but when I turn on the evening news I just want to cry. How pathetic we are... how laughable... we sing about the angels, but we are programmed with the law of the jungle.

I wonder how many of us would be content to just earn a decent living, raise a family, and give our kids a good education? Most of us, I think... but throughout all of history we have been cursed with a ruling class that is never content... never satisfied! No matter how much we give them, it is never enough.

In colonial America, we fought a revolution to escape that sort of tyranny... but then we turned around and stole an entire continent from its native inhabitants. It seems to me our revolution was a fraud... we merely replaced a royal aristocracy with a corporate aristocracy based on tobacco, alcohol, cotton, and slave labor. We threw the King's tea into Boston Harbor, and then picked a president who used slaves to brew Rye Whiskey. Our founding fathers were so proud of their drug trade that they decorated the Capitol Dome with tobacco leaves.

Somehow our Christian forbears convinced themselves that their genocidal transgressions were God's gift of 'Manifest Destiny'. Not even Donald Trump could have imagined such a scam! We signed treaties with the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminoles, and then marched them off to die on the Trail of Tears. Some of us took asylum in Texas and then stole it from Mexico. We pretended to fight a Civil War to emancipate the slaves, but only gave free black men a fifth of a vote! Then we allowed Jim Crow slavery to flourish for centuries. Our wives didn't even get a fifth of a vote until 1917.

We created puppet dictators in Central America to enslave the native 'Indios' so our corporations could grow cheap bananas, sugar cane, and pineapple. Those illegal Indios are still harvesting our fruits and vegetables in the Imperial Valley even as Trump plans to deport them. And what has all that hypocrisy accomplished for us? Unsurprisingly, we have all become the economic slaves of a few elite families holding 90% of all the wealth in the world. And yet we go on telling ourselves that we live in a democracy where all men are created equal!

And how many American boys and girls have been sacrificed on that altar of false freedom? In 1917, we killed 116,000 of them in a war between Queen Victoria's relatives because one of Kaiser Wilhelm's submarines sank one of George V's ocean liners that had some Americans on board. In 1941, Roosevelt got the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor so he could declare war on Germany over the objections of America's isolationist majority. That war killed over 400,000 Americans, including my dad. In the 1970s, we killed fifty thousand more American boys while losing a war with Vietnam, and fifteen years later our corporations were making bluejeans and computer chips on those very same killing fields. In 1992, we gave Saddam Hussein chemical weapons to kill his Iranian enemies, and in 2006 we killed him over weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist. That Iraqi meddling cost us a trillion dollars and thousands of lives over a period of twenty-five years.

So many misadventures... there were the Philippines, and Israel, and Samoa, and Diego Garcia, and Afghanistan, and Lebanon, and Panama, and Cuba, and Sudan, and Yemen, and The Congo, and Nigeria, and Nicaragua, and Cambodia, and Korea. Oh, don't forget Korea... 36,000 dead Americans there, and another 24,000 guarding that no man's land to this day. And remember the Marshall Islands? No? Well, we claimed that territory after WWII without bothering to consult the native islanders. And how did we treat them? Well we removed the entire populations of Bikini and Enewetok so that we could test our atomic bombs on their Polynesian paradise. That's American democracy for you.

And despite all that death and destruction, America has not actually won a war since 1945. Only America's corporations can be said to win wars. They profit even when we surrender. Today, you and I are paying withering taxes so that America can maintain over 600 military bases around the world, and the military industrial complex pockets it all: $895 Billion more scheduled for 2025. Think what America would look like if we spent that on education!

And what is the corporatocracy planning for us now? They are being subsidized by our taxes yet again to build giant computer centers that will house an Artificial Intelligence Network so superior to our human networks that we will have absolutely no ability to resist our enslavement. Elon Musk predicts that our streets will be full of self-driving cars within two years, and shortly afterward our homes will be full of R2-D2 and C-3PO style humanoid robots. He predicts that these robots will become the defining product of our time, with each human owning several, and industry employing billions. And with so many robots building our world and doing our work, we won't need to earn money anymore. So much wealth will be generated that every human will have a universal basic income, and humanity's standard of living will surge beyond our wildest dreams. Well... certainly Elon's wealth will surge, but I'm not so sure about the homeless folks sleeping in the streets!

And because the robots will be smarter, faster, and stronger than us, Elon foresees humanity living in 'retirement'. Any activities we take up at that point will be in the nature of hobbies. We won't need to work anymore because it will be so much easier to tell the robots to do it. And you won't even need to speak your commands aloud. You won't even need a remote control. Musk is working on Neuralink Technology to connect those computer devices directly into your brain. Three human test subjects are already connected. So... if you really want to match wits with the robots, you will just need to use Elon's Neuralink so that your brain cells can tap into the robot's super-intelligence. Won't that be fun?

And there is yet more... Musk expects to send the first robot-crewed spacecraft to Mars in two years, with human-crewed ships to follow soon after. His goal is to build a self-sustaining colony on Mars, so that if some catastrophe wipes out humanity on Earth, our species will still survive. Of course, this begs the question; if robots are so superior, why bother to save a human? In fact, the most likely catastrophe on Earth will be the Armageddon brought on by robotic warfare. Every military on Earth is even now building AI and robotics into their weapons of war.

Back in 1942, Isaac Asimov published his famous 'Three Laws of Robotics'.

First Law: A robot cannot injure a human or allow a human to come to harm.

Second Law: A robot must obey human orders, unless those orders conflict with the First Law.

Third Law: A robot must protect itself, unless that protection conflicts with the First or Second Law.

One wonders how Asimov ever came up with such a ludicrous scenario. In a world ruled by Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Ali Khamenei, Benjamin Netanyahu, Kim Jong Un, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump, our robots will never be programmed with compassion. Like their makers, our robots will be programmed with the unvarnished law of the jungle. As I said... when I turn on the evening news, I just want to cry.

Not all who wander are lost,

༺ Ŧoƞpa Ɉoƞ

[txttletale]

i'll actually in a limited capacity defend the overwatch league's regional teams gimmick but the execution was bad. having regional teams could have been hype. like--during astralis' 2018-2019 csgo run, danish esports fans went fucking insane for them. and like of course they did. there's inherently something exciting about having a team you can in some way 'identify' with. and geography does create natural sports rivalries and pre-writes your stories.

there were two glaring bad problems in the dumb way blizzard did this though. one is forcing teams to come up with brand new branding. this was a horrible idea. it forced well-established esports organizations with strong fanbases across different games like cloud9 and optic to try and build new brands up from scratch. they realized this with their call of duty leage where they let teams play as 'atlanta faze' and 'optic texas' but yknow. kind of too little too late

the other one (and this is also the glaring fatal flaw in the overwatch league's entire silly, silly business plan) is the idea of a global league. now if you don't know much about esports you might think 'wait whats wrong with that. its gaming you can do it online players can be anywhere'. however that's not true! first of all, esports--well esports doesn't make money, esports when managed correctly is essentially a loss leader for the game it's an esport for--but esports makes a lot of its money on live events. yeah, people go to see esports games:

much more importantly, ping is a huge factor in esports. the higher the level you're playing at, especially in a game like overwatch that's full of twitchy hitscan aiming, the more a 10ms latency difference can make or break a game. you need to be running in-person events in order to have a competitive esports league and to make a good chunk of your revenue.

and that means that a global esports league runs into the exact same problem a global normal sports league would run into and the reason why that doesn't exist, which is travel logistics. the overwatch league has a london team, a san francisco team, and a chengdu team. these cities are very far away from each other [citation needed] and although overwatch league people will often blame covid for ruining their plans, i honestly think it actually saved them by preventing the horrible idea they had for how the league would work from actually happening. imagine all the problems that travel causes in a league like the NBA--jet lag, exhaustion, the obvious budgetary expenditure. now imagine that the travel itinerary also includes flights across the atlantic and/or pacific.

that's not even all! the thing about esports is that, because practicing for ten hours a day doesn't physically destroy your body like it would for regular sports, esports players and teams... do that. if you spend seventeen hours on a plane from paris to hangzhou for a match that's seventeen hours where you're not practicing. when you arrive, you can't just stay at a hotel--you need to be able to practice in the days leading up to the match too, especially because it's esports, which means the game can change. if you miss some practice as a sports team, you're gonna be rusty--if you miss some practice as an esports team, the rules of the game might have literally changed since your last practice session.

the result of this, by the way, is that the london and paris teams have never been actually based in europe--and that right now the dallas team is based in korea. it is very silly. every other multinational esport ever invented has created regional leagues--league of legends has a league for korea, china, europe, north america, pacific, vietnam, brazil, japan, and latin america. but blizzard entertainment are god's special little gamers and they weren't going to let something like 'the ocean' get in the way of their global league dream.

and ultimately this means that the entire local team concept was pointless. most of the teams aren't locally based. and even if they were -- the madcap way they play against each other mean that those city affiliations don't matter. when manchester united play liverpool f.c., even if you are not a big football fan, if you're from manchester you presumably have an opinion of liverpool and liverpudlians, and vice versa. there is an emotional hook to latch on to. if manchester united were to play khon khaen united, you would probably say 'where the fuck is khon khaen'. for the localisation to work, the overwatch league's london team needed a manchester or glasgow or dublin or amsterdam or brussels team (etc.) to play against. if you're invested in the esport itself and the players, you can get invested in a philadelphia-london or chengdu-houston rivalry--but the localisation aspect of it isn't doing the work it should there.

tldr: the overwatch league was a bad idea ever since the moment it was announced. people are too harsh on the team localization idea but the way it was executed was hot garbage and it's no wonder this entire venture failed badly

[darkmaga-returns]

Doug Bandow

Nov 7, 2024

The United States exited the Second World War both rich and secure. The U.S. homeland was essentially untouched, and Americans remained almost invulnerable afterwards. No war was likely to come to our shores. 

Unfortunately, the peace offered little wealth and security to everyone else. So Americans joined other nations’ wars, patrolling the globe during the Cold War, which sometimes turned scorching hot. Taking on this burden imposed a measure of humility even in Washington.

Despite persistent demands for intervention, U.S. presidents painfully learned their limits. For Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower there was an unsatisfactory stalemate in Korea. Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson refused to battle the Soviet Union to liberate Hungary and Czechoslovakia, respectively. Johnson also left the USS Pueblo’s 82 surviving crewmembers in North Korean captivity for nearly a year. 

There was an even more painful surrender of Indochina by Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Rather than deploy additional service members to South Vietnam or drop nuclear weapons on North Vietnam, they ultimately left friendly Vietnamese atop the U.S. embassy forlornly waiting for rescue. After making a desultory effort to free America’s captive embassy staff in Tehran, Jimmy Carter gave up. In 1981 Ronald Reagan did not oppose the Soviet-inspired crackdown in Poland; he later abandoned Lebanon’s civil war after a bombing killed 241 Marines.

Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and hawks and doves all realized that there were limits to American power. Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and the humiliation of communists worldwide. Washington perceived an entirely new world, reflected by George H.W. Bush during the first Gulf War when he announced, “What we say goes.”

[the-queerview]

The Substance

2024

by Coralie Fargeat

My dear readers, it's been a while since I decided to post. It was a long summer, ending with me visiting North Korea, just kidding, i just saw North Korea, which is already pretty amazing and frightening. Unfortunately my experience was disrupted, since a few week before my arrival some American tourist ran into North Korea and got shot, rest in peace idiot. They say never judge a deceased and in retrospective, i can't since those tours are literally disneyland trader joes tourist traps kind of, but lets not roast on peoples buisnisess here, lets roast the films, that take us on rides in our grey existence.

I would like to start by saying, that it's a pretty good year for babes and a pretty good year for horror film. We had Brat summer and soon there will be Nosferatu Autumn, with Lily Rose Depp starring in Nosferatu (102 years after its first release). We have Hunter Schaefers first cinema film, where she is not there for like 5 minutes like in Hunger games or entirely Naked for a few minutes like in Lanthimos kinds of kindness. Not to hate on nudity here, but we have a quite problematic history with women* and nudity. I highly recommend here Linda Nochlins representing women, on womens representation within western art history paintings, which is till todays core a major influence on cinematography. Which brings me to start today with a Portrait by Gericault, titled : Monomaniac of Envy (Monomane de l’envie) from 1822.

The Substance is a film following Elisabeth Sparkle ( Demi Moore), a former Oscar winner now aging TV -Starr with an aerobic ( I assume) show. (We might be remembered here of Jane Fonda, who indeed was an actress and the figure for aerobic in the 80s, when american propaganda preached they can't control the world in post vietnam war america and they only thing they can control is the BODY.) Elisabeths nasty boss is firing here for being to old, sad and isolated as she is, we don't learn so much, about her inner world. They cinematograpghy is resembling a distant, almost, stretched, lets say overdrawn perspective, probably similar to the characters inner world. Everything is clean, but not personal. Theres a giant photograph of Elisabeth in her almost comic looking loft. It reminds me somehow of older sowiet films, where a picture of Lenin would hang on the walls or some shit, so I thought, damn, the main dictator in Elisabeths Life is probably herself. And turns out right. Long story short, I try not to spoiler the grande scenes here, but one word, the billboard scene.. Elisabeth gets in contact to an anonymous note by an anonymous person, after some tragedy, and orders the SUBSTANCE. She will pick it up, inject it, and after some alien shit, which you see in the first picture, a second version of herself, that is herself will crawl literally out of her back. This version is young, hot, and will fuck Elisabeth up. Her name is Sue ( Margaret Qualley) and the rule is, that Sue got 7 days, and Elisabeth got 7. If one breaks the rule, they basically both fucked.

So the movie itself, is literally like, when popstars get the chance, like i dont know, rihanna doing superbowl singing all her bangers. kind of this vibe, So for horror film nerds, and i m sure i didnt guessed all but we have of course, david lynchs twin peaks and pretty sure wild at heart. we have suspiria by dario argento, especially the soundtrakc and BLOOD, we have some cronenberg body horror, and crazy camera like in gaspard noes enter the void, but all in all, i guess, what i was missing in the film, is that the first half was literally fucking amazing. it had it's own signature, it didn't need the references from my part, like yeah those dude directors did important work, i wish Fargeat would trust herself maybe more, that what shes doing is the right thing to go for. Also I literally loved ALL THE DETAILS. Like i could start analyzing so many bits of it.

I loved, that it was dealing with Envy, fear or aging, MISOGYNY, and comparison in such a smart way. The first half of the film, felt like an entire advertisment, which is the core to all evil, as we know. We literally spent actually years of our lifes watching advertisments.

The second half of it, reminded me to much of 80s body horror, it had its campy moment. And here I m being unfair probably. I did my research and Coralie Fargeat is born 1976. She was a a child in the 80s, and this was a time, that formed her culturally and therefor aesthetaically to a certain degree... or did you never noticed that fashion designers usually end up designing clothes, that they loved to wear as kids/teens? I feel like, if Coralie Fargeat felt like working in this 80s rubber stuff was important for, fuck , let her do it. Also in the 80s there weren't many female filmmakers around, especially not in the dudy dude horror scene. So whatever.

Also I was tbh in shock about the violence. Like many times, my partner had to close my eyes in the cinema, cuz i was hella scared of the intense violence. Maybe Kira Muratova ( an amazing ukranian filmmaker, that I truly adore for insane films) was right, when she said, women make harder films. I wonder if it has something to do with being in pain every month, of the injustice of the binary patriarchal world, or the violence transwomen experience?

There was for sure a very insanity level of violence, but at the same time, the most stunning portrayal of envy against a version of yourself, that you might never see. I loved that it also reflected so much the world in a sense, the decadence of the west, hollywood, glamour, age, ozempic, comparison, starving for youth vs the isolation of those from the current wars in the middle east, the starvation in Sudan. The proatogists were isolated in every scene almost. The Bathroom was the scenery of the crime, similar to the way we use this room to get ready for the outer world. The only real personal details in the film I experienced in the notes, those handwritten notes, that would always appear. I kept thinking about them for days. They became almost a metaphor for me, that different then then all the advertisments, the substance delivery typography, all those for Elisabeth Sparcle seemingly important objects, where not personal, thou its about her,about her body. while those handwritten notes by the strangers, seemed more personal, then the things that surround her, since trough the handwriting they are proof of a human life. Turns out, they were a signifer of what is missing in her world, the way she experience having the body, its no intimate, not adressed.

Also Demi and Margaret were so fucking amazing, i 'm literally blown away. Like i WISH i could like scream and hug them and be like. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. I bet all their friends and family are proud like crazy. This shit was insane, playing that? Insane. They did so good, like not many ppl can read a script like that and be like...mhhh yup. So GRANDEUR APPLAUSE !!!!!!!

All in all I highly recommend checking out the Substance, I m sorry if I spoilered to much. Big trigger warning for violence, also some scenes are literally gross, depending on you, bring a friend or a lover, and watch it in the cinema, if your socio cultural situation allows you to, i can imagine this film being censored, otherwise just be illegal literally. Like we live in hell.

but dont watch it alone, only if you are freaky deaky i guess.

love to my readers.

the queerview

ps: Also I did watch blink twice by Zoë Kravitz. a queerview will follow, but its so hardcore to watch blink twice and p.diddies freak party assault stuff. mentally i cant go down that road, but Kravitz did literally on time...

[mx-post-stuffs]

i keep seeing about atomic bomb that america did. What can i say is japan wasnt morally good(I mean, they did human experiment and colonialism.) but it don’t justify the atomic bomb. For those who wanna talk about innocent korean could die more if the amazing USA didnt do that. We korean did warcrimes in Vietnam war with USA. And before korean war...American military with Korean goverment started killing people in Jeju island at 1948! Cuz “Arrgh there can be communist spies!” So...I don’t think the heroic USA did that to free anyone to end the war for peace.

I know I spoke more about korean than japan but so many korean think they are always innocent victim when we aren’t really that great. What japan did back in the day was atrocious and the japan goverment should compensate and apology and thats not enough. The Comfort women shit was horrible. But I dont think korean can be forgiven for the crimes we did because someone else did it worse.

Also it’s kind of funny that when there is problem in south korea, america is always involved(and they are part of problem). So we should remove american military bases in south korea.

[universal-casey]

thank you for the confirmation, and again i apologise if the amount of questions i have is annoying, but i've been thinking about $wap au & $wap!sovime all day, lol. i also found the on-tumblr lore after sending the previous ask, so i am working with more material now! :D

is sovame (the ship) in any way canon to this au, or was mexico misreading what soviet & america were talking about? (https://www.tumblr.com/universal-casey/657186645842558976/speaking-of-the-wap-au-i-drew-mexico-i-didnt)

did the chernobyl incident happen in california? if so, was there specific reactions that were different to how europe reacted to normal chernobyl? (https://www.tumblr.com/universal-casey/707456447888474112/wait-whats-wap-ukraine-and-ussrs-relationship)

why does soviet become more reclusive after america's death/collapse?

does anything change within the countries made in the cold war (east & west germany, north & south korea, north & south vietnam)? are the countries that allied themselves with either side flipped as well, or do they keep their personalities/ideals?

since america is the USCA, is soviet's official name more similar to normal!america's name? and are their birthdays flipped, since their birth years are? is the russian empire dead, and the uk alive, or vice versa (or something else)?

why is soviet an archer?

who wins space race in the cold war, does the cuban missile crisis change at all?

we already know where soviet's nose scar comes from, but may we know where any of the others (for either of them) come from?

i'd love to ask more, but i feel like i'm overshooting with the amount here already? apologies again. feel free to take as long as you need/want to reply.

— 🎶 anon. (if i may claim a sign-off ^^).

Of course! *cracks knuckles* Time to get writing.

SovAme is canon in the $wap AU. $oviet's kids are actual children here, so no RusAme. Also, they have a fun dynamic together!

The Chernobyl incident did happen in California. Known as the Sacramento incident, as it happened in Sacramento (wow, really?). One big difference in the reactions is that $am was able to hide it way better since California isn't adjacent to any other countries. Though the incident was later discovered by the greater world as irradiated air traveled to Japan through the jet stream.

$ov becomes more reclusive because he's still processing $am's death. He's already lost his wife, and then lost his (unofficial) boyfriend. He's also grappling with the idea of his own hypocrisy.

The countries allied with either side are either flipped (North and South Korea, for example. South is now the absolute nutjob), or joined the opposite side (Cuba became allied with $am, rather than $oviet). Japan and the Philippines also fall under the latter category in terms of who they allied with. China is still pals with $oviet, but Mexico has now taken the modern China route.

$oviet's relationship to his countries is more akin to the EU of modern times, so his name is actually simply the "Soviet Union". Their birthdays are not flipped! $am's is still July 4th, and $ov's is still December 30th (man imagine your boyfriend dying a week before your birthday). Both the UK and the Russian Empire are actually dead, since Soviet could not exist without RE being out of the picture. He does wish that it didn't have to come to that, though.

He's a hunter! He likes to hunt with bows :)

The Space Race is entirely flipped. So $am made the most "firsts" (at the cost of a lot of lives due to carelessness), but $oviet ultimately won by getting to the moon first. Some UCSA apologists like to state that $am was the "true winner", but $oviet always reminds them that $am's casualties were in the hundreds. As for the Cuban Missile Crisis, I want to keep it relatively similar. Though I'm not sure where exactly $ov would put missiles for $am to respond to (since Cuba is aligned with $am in this AU)

A lot of $ov's scars are from hunting, though he's got quite a few from the scuffle with his father. And some from WWI and WWII. $am has a lot of scars, and I mean a lot. But he hides most of them (especially the ones on his face) with makeup. I don't think I ever posted $am's updated ref, so that might be the next post. He's got a cannonball wound that went clear through his left side from the final battle with the UK.

Also don't be afraid to ask more questions lol. I'm wanting to start to draw them again!!

[twig-tea]

A question for you because you seem like one of those people who has watched everything: how did you get started watching bl, and what are your ultimate favorite shows?

Double-barrelled! I'm honoured.

How did I get into BL?

The short answer is that ~2016 the YouTube algorithm served me up Lovesick and I immediately went EXCUSE ME WHAT IS THIS and looked up everything else available and watched literally everything I could get my hands on (which at the time was easy because there was only a handful compared to today, but it still felt like a wealth of content to enjoy).

The longer answer is that I used to be really involved in GL (I was the secretary at the first Yuricon in North America in 2002 or 2003) and then BL manga fandom (was in a scanlation group for awhile) through ~2006? so its extra hilarious that this wasn't my route in; I apparently took a break right before they started making live action versions in Japan. But when I got into Thai BL it was fun rediscovering these tropes in a new medium and through the lens of a new-to-me culture, noticing how they differed and how the genre had matured (and how it hadn't), and on catching up on the stuff out of Japan, seeing some of the manga I read over a decade ago come to life! So I mention this history because it's definitely a part of why I stayed (and probably why the algorithm found me relatively quickly).

I only started tracking things in a spreadsheet in 2020 (and it's not nearly as comprehensive or useful as @absolutebl 's), but I did try to backfill the highlights of what I've seen and I have over 550 rows on there, fwiw. I'm a completionist so I do try to watch everything, though that's getting more and more impossible these days.

Ultimate Favourite Shows

This question is so hard. I know you didn't even give me a limit but you have to understand @lurkingshan, I can't choose favourites, I have a draft top ten list that has been blank for 3 years because I can't commit. Okok. I'm just going to list shows as they come to me (not in any particular order):

Thailand: Until We Meet Again, He's Coming to Me, Diary of Tootsies, WhyRU, Ingredients, Not Me, Secret Crush on You, I Told Sunset About You & I Promised You the Moon, Triage, You're My Sky, Make it Right, La Pluie, My Ride, Bad Buddy, My School President, Laws of Attraction, Moonlight Chicken, Dear Dr I'm Coming for Soul, To Sir With Love/Khun Chai, The Eclipse, Midnight Museum, Lovely Writer... Grey Rainbow [ducks, hides, runs away]

Japan: Doushitemo Furetakunai (no touching at all), Kinou Nani Tabeta (What did you eat yesterday?), Our Dining Table, Takara-Kun and Amagi-Kun, Old Fashioned Cupcake, 7 Days (mon-thurs & fri-sun), His (miniseries & movie), I Want to See Only You, Kieta Hatsukoi/My love mix-up, the Cherry Magic Movie, Life~Senjou no bokura/Love on the Line, 180 Degrees Longitude Passes Through Us, Given (anime is my fave version), Tokyo in April Is..., Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese, Utsukushii Kare/My beautiful man

Korea: Our Dating Sim, Semantic Error, The Lover [BL side], Color Rush, Blueming, Cherry Blossoms After Winter, Love Class 2, Made on the Rooftop, Discipline Z, Light on Me, To My Star (yes both seasons), Strongberry (faves are Long Time No See, Confidential Coffee Break, and A First Love Story), Sing My Crush, Just Friends?

Vietnam: Goodbye Mother, Hey! First Love, Nation's Brother, You Are Ma Boy, Follow My Sunshine, FOOLs, Tien Bromance: My Small Family, Love Bill

Philippines: Gameboys, Gaya sa Pelikula, Boys Lockdown, Cheat [warning: horror], Your Home, Better Days

Taiwan: Be Loved in House, My DNA Says Love You, We Best Love (1 & 2), HIStory (Crossing the Line is my fave, and second fave is...Make Our Days Count [ducks, hides, burrows into ground]).

Other: Summerdaze (short from Singapore), Stay Still (Hong Kong), HeHe and He (Hong Kong, final season in progress but s1&2 are so funny) and the bromances/difficult to categorize: Scumbag System, Word of Honor, The Untamed, Guardian, Coffee Prince, Bromance (Taiwanese), Great Men Academy, Mr Queen, Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, SCI Mystery

*deep breath* ok I'm stopping lol narrowing it down any less than this gives me pain so I won't try. Also I'm sure I forgot something obvious (and Tumblr was eating drafts of this at various points). All I can say about this list is it's under 100 and that's the best I could do.

Thanks for the ask, and to anyone who made it this far thanks for reading!

[demontruth]

I was this many days old when I figured out why the US spends 13.3% of our federal budget on defense or, in easier terms, $820 billion.

It's simple we're the world's police force and military. It's true we all know it. We may not acknowledge it or like it, but we know it. The UN is famous for sending the US to conflicts all over the world. I remember clearly as kid asking my mom why they did that. There was no answer forthcoming, and that was in the 80s. But the Smurfs love calling us in because of weapon strength. Have US aircraft carrier just roll into neutral water that just happens to be off whatever small country shores that UN is having issues with. Well that usually enough of warning to get that country to knock their shit off. There was always a convenient excuse as to why the US aircraft carrier just happened to be here.

It's the same with the US getting involved in conflicts in Vietnam, Korea, Cambodia, Laos and rest of that area. They did exactly the same thing in South America in the 80s, and before the 80s. In South America alone the US interfering started decades before.

Question becomes do we still need to spend that much on defense? Would we be better if the US stayed out of other countries' conflicts? What if the US had stayed out of other countries' conflicts of the past, would the world be a safer place now? How would some of those conflicts turned out? What if the US refused the UN to basically be the world's police and military from get go? What do think the world would be like now because of that decision?

[sataniccapitalist]

U.S. pundits are literally starting to say it out loud: for "good" to triumph, we must be evil.

"Good" of course here being defined as the preservation of the Rules-Based Order, aka U.S. hegemony.

That's literally the argument here, he writes "the only way to protect a world fit for freedom is to [...] engage in impure acts."

Such impure acts, he writes, as backing Israel: "Biden has rightly framed the Israel-Hamas war as a struggle between a flawed democracy and a tyrannical enemy seeking its destruction. There is strong justification, moral and strategic, for backing a U.S. ally against a vicious proxy of a U.S. enemy, Iran."

This is a sign we're going back to the very worst times of the cold war, which, contrary to popular belief, wasn't bloodless at all.

In fact anyone reading a honest account of the period - like @Vinncent's "The Jakarta Method" - will conclude that the side that prevailed, far from being the most moral one, was the one most willing to kill the greatest amount of people for that purpose. The book is called "The Jakarta Method" because of what the US-backed Suharto military dictatorship did by killing around 1 million communist sympathizers in the country. A method applied in countless other places: Chile, famously, but also Brazil, Malaysia, Argentina, Guatemala, Taiwan, etc. And I'm not even mentioning America's genocidal wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Korea, etc.

That's the article, don't read it if you've just eaten 🤢: foreignaffairs.com/united-states/…

[thefallenangelsgang]

ahhh the Supreme Court

what a load of horse shit amiright? (dont cry dont cry dont cry dontcry dontcrydontcrydontcry)

Here's your local History Major who just took a course on the politics and workings of the Constitution coming at you with some takes on the Supreme Court that no one asked for or wanted:

(My certifications are I just sat through 6 weeks of torture debating what every word means in the fucking constitution. The air force is unconstitutional and we haven't been in a legal war since WWII. My brain WILL melt if I don't use this information)

SO the Supreme Court has to go right? Well, it can... But you are about to bring down the whole system of government with it. Which may be exciting for some but I raise you this:

The issues you have with the government have absolutely NOTHING to do with the government as laid out by the Constitution.

They more have to do with abuses of power taken by people in office that have created "norms" in our government.

Like i mentioned above we haven't been in a War since WWII. You want to know why? A President ages ago took a step too far in one direction and his successors have been pushing the limit ever since. In a simplified domino effect it looks kind of like this:

America announcing it will protect it's interests in the western hemisphere (The Monroe Doctrine) -> One of the fucks deciding that means Policing the Western Hemisphere (it was one of the ones before Teddy Roosevelt or Teddy himself) (Spanish American War) -> Teddy Roosevelt taking "Protecting America's interests" to mean show off the navy to the world (Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick) -> Needing to desperately take down communism in post-WWII because it impedes our "interests" (Red Scare/Cold War) -> General MacArthur wants to keep warmongering in the pacific post WWII (Korean War) -> Congress refuses to declare war formally and at some point signs off to allow the president to make war-like military actions without the need of congressional approval (I can't find the exact Law off the top of my head but this breaks the system of Checks and Balances in place to stop one branch from acting above it's station) Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan remain Military actions despite two of them being referred to as Wars and Vietnam utilizing the fucking DRAFT

Peachy, right?

The Supreme Court did the exact same thing except fucking immediately after our first justice was instated. John Jay (who famously wrote only 5 of the Federalist Papers and set a precedent for group projects that has outlived him) was our first chief justice and IMMEDIATELY just came up with Judicial Review during Marbury v. Madison (1803). SCOTUS's ability to just say shit is unconstitutional is made up.

THIS IS ALL OF SCOTUS's POWER IN THE ARTICLE 3 SECTION 2 OF THE CONSTITUTION:

"The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;—to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;—to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;—to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;—to Controversies between two or more States;—between a State and Citizens of another State,—between Citizens of different States,—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed."

Judicial Review- the ability of the Court to declare a Legislative or Executive act in violation of the Constitution (from uscourts.gov) DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE CONSTITUTION

THE VERY ACT OF IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

anyways for those that have stuck around:

The Air Force is unconstitutional because the powers of Congress ONLY mention raising and maintaining an Army and Navy. The Air Force was under the Army but has become it's own branch now. Unfortunately the founding fathers didn't plan for us to launch each other in the air at mach jesus.

also unfortunately, an argument can be made that the raising and maintaining of an Air Force falls under the necessary and proper clause.

This has been History Facts with Jericho

Good Luck, Godspeed, Gangnam Style, and all that jazz

Punch a Fascist for me <3

(this took 2 hours to write)

[thaissa1918]

Dear Jeremy: For over six months now i Have some stalker hacking into and destroying everything I do on the computers. He also can shut off my two cell phones whenever he wants to and almost murdered me over this past weekend. He can hear very ell what I say. I was having chess pains from the stress this person is constantly terrorizing me daily He heard me say "I am having chest pains from his stress, and I need to call either an ambulance and/or doctor. When I went to pick up my phone to call my cardiologist the man shut off my cell phone service on both my phones and I had a heart attack right here in the apartment. Last week when I felt suicidal, I went to use my cell phone to call my psychologist. When I picked up the cell phone this bastard whomever he is stopped my cell phone service for over 8 hours to try to murder me by letting me have a heart attack and not being able to call anyone. I found him on my cell phone recording my voice to murder and having an album cover .He is trying to murder me using the same type of murder weapon's my father and the mafia uses as a regular hobby. He has all types of head and screen shots of me. He is putting in what he 2was in a file called my last words and DIE/ARY called "DIERY QUEEN<" he has recorded all the shit things I have said about the mafia and you and I being in danger from the mob etc etc and his album cover even has my photo a photo of my head. He calls it his furze "art work: He has files calling them "CL/ASS/WORK KILL ASSSASSINATION WORK. My father taught me the assassination contracting business since I was born and I have killed and assassinated everyo0ne from Africa President to being a child soldier in Africa and was also a soldier with Daddy in Vietnam etc.. so I know what I see and am saying is right. He plan's to murder you too #jeremypaxman Last night I threatened to take a hit out on him and I did with Al Qaeda. Then he started showing me unfinished album covers with your photos on it and songs with your voice on them meant that he was going to kill you too. Be careful AND IF YOU WANT TO TALK MORE JUST CALL ME love Jilly

PS: I am always on your side Paxo I WAS WRITING TO YOU MORE AND THE MAN SHUT OFF MY KEYBOARD PLEASE HELP ME JEREMY. JILLY He can stop my keyboard my cell phone and he plans t murder and I have no where to go and no help from law enforcement To hell with probation. I just want peace and the human right to life and in the USA I dont even have that right. Arnold A Stark told me and I used to have a recording of it saying "I have never seen more egregious human rights violations against any US citizen but you in America it is jus like you have been living for years in North Korea right here in Passaic County. TRUTH. I I took hits out everywhere

to remove as many La Cosa Nostra members as possible since i get mine for free they came to over 2000. Since my father is ready to drown all of Brooklyn with a 8,.0 Ramapo Fault line earthquake to "tie up all his loose ends (he kills all his contractors that is how he taught me he got to be the BIG SHOT HE IS by taking care of those old contractors before they get caught by the FBI and talk ," Now he is coming for all his old acquaintances in Brooklyn." How? He has two low grade atomic bombs in the Hudson River to go off and set off the Ramapo Fault Line which runs from NYC right down to nearly touching Langley and Fort Detrick biological Warfare base. When that goes off those two bomb's Irv Starr says "It will move the systematic plates of the Atlantic Ocean cause an 8.o earthquake (Ground Zero) United Nations NYC. He says every single President will drown on that day because all presidents will be in NYC at the UN for some special occasion on that particular day. I don't know the date and Irv Starr you can cook dinner and grind him to death, and he will never tell anyone that date no matter what torture anyone puts him through. I was little but I asked my father I asked "and we were standing in Bloomingdale NJ at the time. I said "Dad, how fast will the wave be when you make it?" Irv Starr said "It will be at least 5000 miles an hour and it will wipe out the entire Bloomingdale NJ Police Station...

I then asked Daddy," Daddy, how high will the waves be IM scared?" Dad replied "They will be as high as the lights by the Bloomingdale Police Station that light up at night." I then started shaking and said "DADDY! IF I AM STILL AROUNF BLOOMINDALE NJ AT THAT TIME HOW DO I KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME TO LEAVE?!" Daddy responded by saying this: "Jill when the first two systematic activities take place on the Ramapo Fault line one being a 3.2 and the other a 2.7 (to the best of my memory) run like hell away from Bloomingdale NJ and keep running from NYC all the way to Middletown NY where Aunt Joyce lives because that Tsunami is going to kill everyone in its path up to Middletown NY where your Aunt Joyce lives. ." I said "Why are you going to do that Daddy?" Irv Starr replied "Because I am retiring the richest man in the world Jill, and no one is going to have a chance to be arrested to start singing about me and the ICA and my contracting business to ruin that for me they all have to die and Treetop are where the majority of my contractors are in this area and the Tsunami will reach Nick and Dora Los Gatos in Syosset where the other majority of my contractors are Jill.," Then I have to take out Harry J Shortway from Nam (Vietnam) so the Tsunami has to take out Susses and it will end before my sister Joyces house in Middletown." Then I said What about Paxman are you going to kill him too?" Irv Starr said," He is one of the biggest lose ends I have besides you Jill. if I have to I will blow up all of Buckingham Palace, Mi6 and all the BBC just to murder Former Mi6 Director General Sir Howard Andrew Parker." We used to work at Babcock and Wilcox you remember him dont you Jill from there?" I had to tell him "Yes." It is true.

[a-tale-never-told]

Historical Events and Questions

//Greeting everyone, Mod Sam here. Today, I'm doing something different compared to my other methods. As you know, one of the main themes of this story blog is history and how it can significantly alter our modern world as we know it. Unfortunately, given the key factor that the majority of my audience doesn't know what history even is, I took it upon myself to fix that with some... unique solutions.

//First, I tried to make two Google Docs explaining the main topics about the Stasi and the Soviet Union, but since they did rather... poorly, I've felt as if I needed to stop focusing on the worldbuilding for now and channel the rest of the writing into the characterization and dialogue in order to improve the story, which is still my main objective. However, I wasn't just going to let the historical aspect disappear into irrelevancy, though it would be less focused on untill we get deep into the story.

//Then, one of the anons came to me and suggested that I do a similar strategy for worldbuilding by organizing it into a separate tab for each key piece of worldbuilding, which is ironically enough what I originally planned to do when I had time, but I didn't because since Nagito appeared, I got flooded with asks related to him, so I didn't have time to make it.

//But now, I'm ready to answer these important, vital questions that you all have honestly been waiting for since we started this story, so I'll be going into this in question format, answering the questions that are massively relevant to this blog and the plot as a whole. So, without further ado, let's begin.

'What is the Cold War? And how does it affect the story?'

//The Cold War was essentially a worldwide conflict fought between two superpowers. On one side, you had the United States of America, coming off of their absolute victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan after the Second World War, with them being the only nation that had their homeland basically unscathed or damaged during the conflict (Unless you count Pearl Harbor) and being the champions of democracy, and the other major superpower in this world was the Soviet Union, aka Russia, who pretty much suffered the absolute worst amount of damage and casualties of all countries that were involved in WW2, but had rapidly rebuild themselves to become on par with the US, in terms of military power and influence.

//The thing that made the Cold War unique was that both America and Soviet Russia never fought one another, instead deciding to channel their international, ideological influence through wars in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, supporting the participants on opposing sides, as well as a massive nuclear arms race, and what most people remember the most when it comes to the Cold War, espionage. If you have ever seen a James Bond film, you know what I'm talking about, except it was far more difficult and complex than Bond.

//The Cold War began shortly after the end of WW2 and lasted untill 1991, when the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc collapsed and formed the modern Russia we all know and love today, leaving the US and NATO as the sole victors of the conflict. Notable conflicts and events of the Cold War era include Korea, Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Angola, the Arab-Israeli Wars, the Iran-Iraq War, and numerous more conflicts I can't even mention here. So in short, this conflict is a major part of the story and plot.

'What is the Soviet Union? And why do they matter?'

//The Soviet Union is a complicated topic to get in itself, as I did a whole Google Doc explaining why, but if you want a simplified short version of it, they were essentially a political entity formed out of what remained of the former Russian Empire (Yes, Russia was an empire back then.). But it wasn't just Russia, it was anywhere the Russian state shared a border with, with a few exceptions. Countries that joined the Soviet Union besides the Russians were Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic States, and several others.

//By 1917, Russia was on the immediate verge of collapse, as constant losses to the Germans, abysmal tactical command, and incredibly poor supply issues both at the front and at home caused an immediate collapse of the country. Riots broke out over food shortages, police clashed with protesters, and even with military soldiers who had mutined and had now come to join their fellow civilians in the streets. Eventually, Nicholas II resigned as tsar (Or the king) of Russia, a temporary government made up of several Russian politicians, who came together to stabilize the situation and try to control the rampant amount of anarchy and chaos in the city.

//However, they weren't able to hold onto power for long. A Russian political communist by the name of Vladimir Lenin, a hardline Marxist, who also rocked the mother of all goatees, eventually led a revolution against the government, overthrowing them with relative ease and installing himself along with his political faction, the Bolsheviks, essentially a group of radicals that were tremendously just as bad, if not worse than Lenin.

//After a brief and particularly bloody civil war, and a period of state violence known as the Red Terror, Lenin passed away in 1924, giving the reigns of power to Joseph Stalin, who is basically history's version of Maverick Storm and Junko Enoshima combined, and would become one of the most tyrannical and monstrous dictators and men that ever lived. Stalin essentially transformed the Soviet Union down a different path, at the cost of millions of deaths in the span of decades, but that's a really lengthy story for another time.

'Explain the racist system of Apartheid. How does it affect the society of South Japan?'

//Apartheid South Africa is certainly a very interesting topic in history, as it is the absolute dark reality the American state could've been if just a few awful decisions had been taken. Considering that Apartheid is a really underrated villainous part of history that doesn't even get mentioned as much as other parts of racism and bigotry, I decided to use that as the basis of South Japan.

//Apartheid was an institutionalized version of racial segregation across South Africa when the minority white population enslaved the majority black, African population and segregated them in basically every part of society imaginable, as well as dominated the culture, society, and politics of South Africa from 1948 to the early 90s. For example, there was a law that forced black Africans to be removed from their homes and forced into segregated neighborhoods, and laws made it illegal for South Africans to pursue sexual relationships across racial lines.

//Imagine if Hitoshi and Kaori never married due to the existing legislation law banning relationships between racial boundaries or if the Owaris were evicted from their household due to being African-Japanese, so that's one of the numerous examples of Apartheid. Think of the American South in the 1960s with segregation, except abysmally worse. In fact, most of South Japan's policies when it comes to racism and sexism are based off of South Africa's. Apartheid officially ended in 1991, when the legislation was repealed and elections were held in 1994 that elected Nelson Mandela, a prominent opponent of apartheid, as the first black African president of South Africa.

//In short, Apartheid lives on throughout this alternate version of Japan, as you have all been shown with Hope's Peak.

'How is Japan divided in this AU? Explain.'

//Well, the division of Japan happened due to Operation Downfall, the planned, amphibious invasion of Japan during WW2. While in our timeline, the nuclear bombs prevented any such invasion from happening due to the American government not wanting to waste more lives to take the islands, in this AU, the invasion goes underway resulting in almost the entire Western and Southern portion of the nation taken by the Americans and British, and the Russians take the Northern side of it, and the island of Hokkaido as well. Naturally, it was divided along the same lines as Germany was, with Britain and the US getting the Southern portion, while the Russians gained the rest of the North to themselves.

//Naturally, to the Japanese public, this didn't particularly sit well, as they feared being occupied and seeing almost half their culture and national identity being stripped away by foreign powers, especially Russia. But in the end, the partition was signed and Japan was officially divided amongst the three powers.

//Fun fact, China was originally supposed to get a portion of the nation in the middle of the country, but due to the Chinese Civil War and China falling to communism in 1949, they were denied that position.

'What is the Stasi? How do they matter?'

//The Stasi are essentially the foreign and domestic intelligence network of East Germany, similar to the Kgb. Formed during the 1950s, and located in East Berlin, they served as one of the most effective spy agencies of the Cold War, and the most feared.

//If you were caught by the Stasi, you are significantly screwed, as they would psychologically manipulate their victims and literally make them go insane, all the while disguising their involvement in the manipulation themselves. Think of abuse stories, and child abuse, incredibly toxic relationships, and the Stasi would certainly use such tactics to their advantage. It is disgusting yet effective to them at the same time.

//They maintain their information through an extensive network of civilian informants, only extending their reach to unprecedented levels. About 1 of every 63 East Germans was a Stasi informant, and they possibly have agents in the millions in the state, and abroad. They also financed several Neo-Nazi groups to discredit the West and spread disinformation about HIV and AIDs that the US created the diseases, and even tried to assassinate the pope. In short, they are probably the most degenerate group of individuals that we have on this blog so far, and it's saying something when we have people like Junko Enoshima and Junya Utsugi, who are scumbags on their own.

//So, I'm going to stop here for now. I'll be sure to update it when I can since this post is taking an incredible amount of time to create and post, as well as the fact that I don't want to bore you all with this, as I just felt like these were the most important topics to address so far. Obviously, this is not the end of the lore tunnel, as I'm making sure to update the lore constantly whenever I'm not occupied with the story or as the plot and the story goes on, and I do intend to explain more, just in different areas that simple posts like these cannot explain.

//I seriously hope you enjoyed this lore post, and I will post a link to it in the tab, in the Lore/Worldbuilding section. Otherwise, I hope you all have a great day, and I'll see you shortly!^^.

[whatisonthemoon]

LA Times: Philippine Vigilantes Reflect U.S. Strategy for ‘Low-Intensity Conflict’ (1987)

by Peter Tarr October 11, 1987

NEW YORK —  Some weeks after retired Army Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub told the Senate-House Iran- contra committees about his fund-raising activities on behalf of the Nicaraguan “freedom fighters,” I went to the Philippines to research that country’s communist insurgency.

My travels in the southern islands of Negros, Cebu and Mindanao turned up evidence that the counterinsurgency strategy advocated by Singlaub and other private American citizens on the far right for use in Central America now had taken firm root in the Philippines.

The tactics are used in what Pentagon strategists call “low-intensity conflict” or LIC. They emphasize an “integrated” approach in the fight against communism combining rural civic action and humanitarian aid programs with methods of “unconventional warfare” that Singlaub and others--including the U.S. government--have covertly employed in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Singlaub’s credentials in “unconventional operations” are well known. A former chief of the Joint Unconventional Task Force in Vietnam, he participated in “Operation Phoenix,” the CIA’s notorious assassination program that resulted in the murder of an estimated 40,000 supposed Viet Cong sympathizers. More recently he served on President Reagan’s Special Warfare Advisory Group, to offer recommendations regarding LIC strategies.

There remains much speculation throughout the Philippines about the purpose of his several recent visits, spanning a period from July, 1986, to this past February. The former commander of U.S. forces in South Korea insists that he went to the Philippines to search for buried treasure. A number of his critics say the general’s real mission was to help organize civilian militias to be employed in the fight against guerrillas of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Many questions have yet to be answered, but one thing is certain: Vigilante justice has captured the imagination of the mass of Filipinos. It is a development that has disturbing implications.

In the theory of low-intensity warfare, the establishment of paramilitary groups is a key element in the battle for the sympathies of people living in rebel-contested areas. Their proliferation is thought to deprive communists of “mass-base” support, and thus contributes to a broader effort to isolate and demoralize insurgent forces.

Several commanders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) assured me that most vigilante groups were unarmed. But at every turn I saw deadly weapons: M-16 automatic rifles, fragmentation grenades, homemade pistols and shotguns and a bewildering variety of machetes and bolo knives. And at every turn, the men, women and children who wielded these weapons were eager to tell me that they were “prepared to die” to defend themselves against communism, which many of them called “the godless ideology.”

On a street in downtown Davao, a sprawling city of 1.2 million on Mindanao’s southeast coast, the bolo-toting “Midnight Attack Commandos” of the “Far Eastern Democratic Restoration Bureau” boasted about dismembering captured communist guerrillas while one of their leaders supplied me with leaflets published by an evangelical ministry in Arkansas that posed these burning questions: “Are the IRS, FBI, U.S. Dept. of Labor, the Mafia and labor unions part of the Vatican? Is the Pope the superboss of all government agencies as well as the Vatican?”

How did this literature get to Davao, 10,000 miles from its point of origin in Alma, Arkansas? Did the vigilantes have American contacts? Were they acting in concert with the Philippine military, or on their own? Where did their weapons come from? What were their sources of financial support?

Lt. Col. Franco Calida, police chief of Davao and the acknowledged “godfather” of the first and most successful vigilante group, the Alsa Masa, insisted that his and other paramilitary groups had arisen spontaneously. Their popularity, he said, reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the communists’ urban terror campaign conducted in the city between 1981 and 1985. Indeed, Davao had been the “murder capital” of the Philippines in those years, a city where more than 5,000 people had met violent deaths. Many of the murders were “insurgency-related,” although the activities of criminal gangs also accounted for a good deal of the carnage.

Alsa Masa, which in the local dialect means “Masses Arise,” was organized by the leader of one of those gangs early in 1986. But the movement went nowhere until Calida assumed his Davao command in July, 1986. It was at that time that Calida received a visit from Singlaub. They “chitchatted,” Calida said, but did not discuss Alsa Masa. Nevertheless, in the months following Singlaub’s visit, Alsa Masa grew exponentially. It now claims 10,000 members. “The Alsa Masa was never a CIA project,” Calida told Filipino journalists several months ago. “It is the product of abuses of the communist New People’s Army. The people were left with no choice but to band together to protect themselves.”

In Davao, virulently anti-communist radio announcer Jun Porras Pala admitted that the vigilante groups lumped together all manner of riffraff, from members of criminal gangs to adherents of fanatical religious cult groups.

In Negros, Cebu and Mindanao there were ominous signs that anti-communist fanaticism was putting innocent people in danger. In Davao, the houses of people who did not join or make financial contributions to Alsa Masa (a practice one member called “extortion for democracy”) were marked with the letter X. Anti-communist broadcasters threatened supposed sympathizers over the airwaves.

In all three islands, liberal members of the Catholic Church had been threatened both by vigilantes and military officials. During my stay in Negros, 35 clerics and newsmen were accused of being NPA sympathizers by a local military commander, and had received death threats in the mail. A similar scenario was simultaneously unfolding in Cebu. And in Davao, the Redemptorist Church was strafed from a passing truck late one August night. Earlier, Catholic members of the congregation had been called “redemterrorists” by broadcaster Pala. Redemptorists in Cebu had been similarly branded.

Why did President Corazon Aquino, an uncommonly religious woman, agree to endorse the vigilante movement? The answer lies partly in a meaningless distinction she makes between armed and unarmed vigilante groups. Aquino favors the mobilization of unarmed citizen patrols, called Nakasaka, that warn the military of NPA activity. She favors these groups, but does not proscribe the activities of armed groups.

American officials may have influenced Aquino’s policy. On March 16, 1987, she ordered a government-trained militia, the Civilian Home Defense Force, “and all private armies and other armed groups” to disband. The CHDF, with 70,000 members nationwide, had been active since the 1970s in the fight against the NPA, but its ill-disciplined members had been blamed for many of the military abuses committed against civilians in counterinsurgency operations.

A phase-out of the CHDF was mandated in the new Philippine constitution, adopted in February. But soon after Aquino issued the order to disband paramilitary groups, she rescinded it. The Philippine military, led by Gen. Fidel Ramos, was lobbying hard for retention of the CHDF. So was Local Goverment Secretary Jamie Ferrer, slain in August. Aquino and her military had been repeatedly lectured, directly and indirectly, by high-ranking U.S. officials on how to fight the communists. One such lecture was delivered on March 19, 1987, by Richard L. Armitage, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. He offered a blunt critique of AFP tactics in testimony before the House subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Armitage’s remarks clearly indicated American impatience with Aquino’s policy of reconciliation, in effect during her first 12 months in office. Even after the failure of peace talks with the radical left and the collapse of a cease-fire in the AFP-NPA war that had held for only 60 days, Aquino continued to offer an olive branch to the left. On Feb. 28, she proposed amnesty and rehabilitation for rebels who would lay down their arms, in the interests of “healing the wounds of our nation.”

On March 18, a time bomb exploded at the Philippine Military Academy. It was apparently intended to kill Aquino, who was to address the academy’s graduating class four days later. When commencement day arrived, the Philippine president unveiled a new strategy--one that might have gratified Singlaub himself. “The answer to terrorism of the left and the right is not social and economic reform, but police and military action,” she said, turning her back on a philosophy she had espoused since coming to power.

It was in this climate that Aquino rescinded her order to disband the paramilitary groups. In keeping with her new policy of “total war” against the communists, and in light of her growing reliance on Ramos, who repeatedly put down attempts by disgruntled AFP officers to take over her government, Aquino found herself, by the end of March, implementing the very counterinsurgency policies she had resisted for more than a year. She was now prepared to wage low-intensity warfare.

Her shift to a hard-line policy is likely to encourage a similarly militant response from the radical left. But even more important, the legitimation of vigilante “justice” will most likely serve to accentuate a culture of violence that has prevailed for decades in the Philippine countryside. At the core of the vigilante movement are incompetent CHDF commandos, religious cultists and members of private armies that flourished during the Marcos years.

The Philippines needs more than civic action and “humanitarian” aid programs carried out by civilian and military authorities waging low-intensity warfare. The country needs structural reforms, the most important of which is land reform. As Aquino often noted during her first year in office, the insurgency has economic and social roots. It will continue to flourish--no matter how many vigilantes are mobilized--unless the root causes are addressed.

Source: LA Times

Links and notes below

Moonies Support Vigilante Violence in the Philippines Around 1986/1987 - excerpts from Belina A. Aquino’s “The Philippines in 1987: Politics of Survival”

Marti found that the Reagan administration sought the help of CAUSA International to support US policy in Nicaragua. It might be mentioned that the Moonies and CAUSA have conducted expense-paid seminars and conferences in Washington, D.C.; Manila and other places, inviting well-known names in academic, religious and political circles. Among the CAUSA’s top brass are Cleon Skousen, a Mormon Church leader, Douglas MacArthur II, and Bo Hi Pak, the chairman who has acknowledged CIA funding. This is just another form of counter-insurgency, but it tries to minimize direct military intervention in favor of small “grassroots” efforts combining socio-economic, civic action, psychological & political objective.

In 1985 the Washington Times sponsored a fund for the Contras who committed atrocities, and trafficked drugs to the US The WACL and CAUSA’s Role in the Ruthless Violence of US-Philippines Counterinsurgency

CounterSpy: Moonies Move on Honduras (1983)

The UC should be held responsible for supplying weapons that killed young Filipino activists

How has the Moon network played a role in the post-9/11 U.S. Imperialist strategy?

The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak The Unification Church and the KCIA – ‘Privatizing’ covert action: the case of the UC The Broad Counterinsurgency Strategies of the US in the 80s, and a Glimpse into the UC’s Role

[oldblackhat]

Give money for people to escape: https://gazafunds.com

Go to protests and rallies

Call your senators

Tell pollsters you’re not voting for Biden (even if you will but they don’t need to hear that)

Call him genocide joe and talk about how awful Americas support of genocide is and how it needs to stop

But not telling people in America to stay home November 5th.

“Don’t vote” is how Trump won last time

The GOP is in support of the genocide

And Trump will do a whole bunch of additional terrible things

Like the Muslim ban. Furthering restricting access to safe abortions. Treating illegal immigrants inhumanely. Getting into pissing masses with North Korea & practically sucking Putin’s dick (sorry for that image), letting Agent Orange be used as a pesticide, and so so much more.

Also he has basically admitted he wants to be a dictator if he ever gets elected again - and his people have been quietly getting themselves into positions of power since 2016

America is a shitty country but powerful - it will be a very very bad thing for the entire world if Trump did actually become a dictator

The idea that not voting in protest will show them only really works if American democracy continues long enough for another election cycle to happen

Here’s the thing - “the lesser of two evils” is like

Jimmy Carter v Reagan

Clinton v Bush

Al Gore or John Kerry v Bush

Obama v John McCain or Mitt Romney

Trump is a whole other animal from Reagan, Bush, McCain, Romney

Because all those republican assholes I just listed weren’t trying to become dictators (this isn’t a defense of them; it doesn’t make them good; it’s actually just the bare minimum we ought to expect from politicians)

This is the last two Republican nominees before Trump:

And both of them strongly publicly went against Trump in various ways.

This is what the Republican Party used to be like.

And they were bad and the Democrats were marginally better and so many of us held our nose and voted Democrat.

And many others of us criticized the “lesser of two evils argument” and abstained or voted third party

But Trump is different; Trump is a whole other animal from the Republican presidents (and candidates) we used to know - he is so much worse

And he would be going into this second term having had 4 years to strategize and set things up for what to do next time. and getting his supporters into positions of power

The first year of his first term was kind of a shitshow. Trump 2.0 will have way more strategy and preparation before he even takes the oath on January 20th

the Romney article’s clarifies he’d pardon Trump to make himself the bigger man and Trump the “little guy”. Which might be a cover for Republican spineless but anyway look at the other things Romney also says about Trump (again not a defense of Romney):

I have no love for McCain or Romney. But like pre-Trump when you’d say “I don’t agree with the ‘lesser of two evils’ argument - I’m going to stay home or vote third party” like this is the quality of human you’d be declining to vote against

I'm just going to leave this here, because this woman said what I've been trying to articulate for ages much more effectively and succinctly than I've been able to

[universal-casey]

Hey! I wanted to say that I love your art, your style is beautiful, and your AU too, i have questions!

How are East Germany and West Germany doing? Was the Berlin Wall never broken? Did they unify? Same with South Korea and Vietnam? And how did America lose the cold war?

I'm so sorry, it's too many questions because I'm more curious about your wonderful AU!

Aww thank you!! And no worries! I’ll happily answer them!

Germany reunified, he’s now one person. The Berlin Wall fell just a year before America was taken over. It’s part of what spurred Soviet into action.

Korea in this au has not split apart yet. He does have his sons, North and South Korea, but they aren’t full countries yet.

Vietnam had unified in 1976, long before the main events of the Sovime AU even started. So he’s pretty solid with himself. He holds resentment toward America still.

America lost the Cold War through a series of assassinations that began in the 70s, whilst he was concerned with the Vietnam war he was rapidly losing. It all culminated into a final push through Washington DC with Soviet’s troops, where the president was killed and America was taken hostage.

I hope that answers everything! Lmao

[ceekbee]

An open letter written by a Florida judge about the CANADA/USA relationships & history.

By Robert Meadows (Circuit Court Judge, Florida).

Here is one American’s take on the growing trade war with the US and Canada.

"Have you ever stopped to consider how lucky we Americans are to have the neighbors we have? Look around the globe at who some folks have been stuck sharing a border with over the past half century:

North Korea / South Korea

Greece / Turkey

Iran / Iraq

Israel / Palestine

India / Pakistan

China / Russia

"We’ve got Canada! Canada. About as inoffensive a neighbor as you could ever hope for. In spite of all our boasts of “American exceptionalism” and chants of “America first,” they just smile, do their thing and go about their business. They are on average more educated, have a higher standard of living, free health care, and almost no gun problems. They treat immigrants respectfully and already took in over 35,000 Syrians in the last two years.

"They’re with us in NATO, they fought alongside us in World War I, World War II, Korea, the Gulf War, the Bosnian War, Afghanistan, the Kosovo War and came to our defense after 9/11. There was that one time when Canada took a pass on one of our wars: Vietnam. Turned out to be a good call.

"They’ve been steady consumers of American imports, reliable exporters of metals and petroleum products (they are the biggest importer of U.S. products from 37 states), and partnered with NASA in our space missions.

"During 9/11 many aircraft were diverted to Newfoundland, an island province off Canada's east coast where Americans were housed in people's homes for two weeks and treated like royalty. In return for their hospitality, this administration slapped a 20% tariff on the products of Newfoundland's only paper mill, thereby threatening it's survival.

"And what do Canadians expect of us in return? To be respected for who and what they are: Canadians. That’s what I call a good neighbor.

"But the King of Chaos couldn’t leave well enough alone. Based on his delusions of perpetual victimhood, out of the clear blue, he’s declared economic war on Canada. On CANADA! And he did it based on Canada being a national security risk to the US! For no good reason, other than the voices in his head that told him it was a war he could win. So why not do it, then?

"Again, we’re talking about Canada. Our closest ally, friend and neighbor.

"On behalf of an embarrassed nation, people of Canada, I apologize for this idiotic and wholly unnecessary attack. Please leave the back channels open. We the People of progressive persuasion stand with you."