#this post is not politically viable

[stronghours]

skim/read that Harpers article The Painted Protest by Dean Kissick, mostly about how identity politics have subsumed and destroyed contemporary art - found that article when I checking out an author's twitter profile because he's publishing a book I probably want to read, his praise along these lines: "an evisceration of ID politics, a eulogy for postmodernism's cannibalistic bulimia, the amputation of a mother's legs" - this author is being published by Expat Press, a publisher that seems to collect and and generally rub shoulders with other writers/publishers (hobart, etc) that have been vocal about or against the domination of the id politic in art spaces - I go to the Expat contributors page out of curiosity (well who else is there, who are they, what are they making) and I end up clicking on this guy listed, Sterling Bartlett - I scroll a little to see the output - he retweets a guy who posted "crazy that the balding guy with hair look has gone away because no one has testosterone anymore" - I go to that guy's page (not affiliated with expat to be fair, joe nobody) and his little 'about' box just says, pardon, "Retard Strength America"

[doomdoomofdoom]

When I said "Vote Blue now so you can vote Third Party in the Future. Because if you don't vote Blue now, you may not be able to vote in the future at all", I wasn't exaggerating.

[breithenua]

Some thoughts on our voting system, 3rd party voters, and my internal struggle between my understanding of 3rd party voters frustration, and my red-hot anger at them for splitting the Democratic vote when we have literal *FASCISTS* running within the other party:

Going to start this by saying I literally do despise people that ignore the dangers of the spoiler effect. But I also understand being frustrsted with both parties. I don't like Biden *that much*. I don't hate him, but I'm constantly frustrated by his refusal to be harder on the other side, and play hardball. I'm tired of him doing things that don't work when the other party is literal fascists, and right now we do not need a compromiser, we need a *fighter*. But that being said, we don't have any choice other than him atm, because either Trump or DeSantis will be the Republican nominee in 2024. And a similar situation of milktoast Democrats versus literal Fascist Republicans will be the case in future elections as well. That's just the reality of things. But that doesn't mean I don't have an idea for a solution to the problem. It just means my solution isn't something that we can accomplish by voting 3rd party in the short term.

To start with, while I hate that we have to vote for the lesser of 2 evils, the solution to that is (just to stress that earlier point even more) a bit more complicated than just voting for a 3rd party. Unfortunately it's very hard to overcome the 2 parties in a First Past the Post voting system. There's a lot we need to change, our voting system included (and not just the Electoral College, but *fuck* does that need to go). We need to adopt a Ranked Choice voting system to make it more competitive for 3rd parties, without such a massive risk of creating a spoiler effect.

Problem is, neither of the 2 major parties wants to do so, and voting for a 3rd party has that spoiler effect risk. So what's the solution that's most likely to work? You build support for Ranked Choice inside not just 3rd parties, but even more so inside both major parties, til even the politicians running in said parties can't ignore it. It's a solution that takes longer, but it's a much safer option that's more likely to work, without people risking an Election of 1912 scenario in which someone wins the Presidency that nearly 60 percent of the population doesn't want them to win. People don't want a plan that takes patience, and they want something right now, but that's the only real way to get rid of the 2-party system.

Sure, it's possible for a 3rd party to win elections on a massive scale and end up winning the Presidency, but that always comes after one of the 2 major parties becomes so badly divided that it offshoots into a 3rd party that most of that said major party joins, and also enough of the other major party, and it results in the dissolution and replacement of the first major party. And then the cycle of the 2-party system repeats.

In conclusion: You can't get rid of First Past The Post *permanently* just by voting 3rd party, and more often than not that tactic just backfires in your face. Build support for Ranked Choice within the entire populace on both sides of the aisle and within both major parties til politicians on both sides have no choice but to support it to win their primaries and the parties themselves have to add the adoption of ranked choice to their overall platforms, and it's much more likely to change our voting system to one which favors 3rd parties in the long run. The "lesser of 2 evils" voting will never cease to be a thing unless we get rid of our First Past The Post voting system itself, and what I described above is what I believe to be an actually viable solution.

P.S. I am really not looking to be ganged up on by 3rd party voters and people that *really support* one of the 2 major parties, and will probably turn off notifications on this post (if Tumblr has that feature). This is just a solution that I believe is the only viable one available to us. I realize my wording on despising people that ignore the spoiler effect will make some of you angry, but try to look past that part and think about the logic of my solution itself. Call me an asshole if you want, that's fine, just consider the idea itself too.

[worldwithoutmiracles]

Voting As A Fire Extinguisher by Kyle Tran Myhre

When the haunted house catches fire: a moment of indecision.

The house was, after all, built on bones, and blood, and bad intentions.

Everyone who enters the house feels that overwhelming dread, the evil that perhaps only fire can purge.

It’s tempting to just let it burn.

And then I remember: there are children inside.

Do something small. Do something actionable.

[the-paris-of-people]

Just FYI- I wholeheartedly support the end of Israeli occupation of Palestine and the end to the horrific genocide in Palestine.

[geminidark]

Just in case it's unclear.

The full video is great, but from this point for a while is where you should see. I'll likely regret linking this but after that disaster of a debate I don't care right now.

[idiotwithanaccount]

apparently theres a UK party whos entire thing is being transphobic?? im actually scared about the state of this country. at least theres the small mercy that my constituency has so many right wing candidates she doesnt stand a chance. but also theres so many right wingers bc i live in a fucking tory safe seat so im probs gonna have to vote for sir kid starver and his genocide gang

[glass-clown]

[FIRST ID: A screenshot of a Facebook post by Jane Friedman that says, "As of today, there are about half a dozen books being sold on Amazon, with my name on them, that I did not write or publish. Some huckster generated them using AI, hoping to make a quick buck from people who don't realize I'm not the author. Unforuntately, these scam books were also added to my official Goodreads profile. I don't think the larger public understands that author don't directly control what books appear on their profile. They are automatically added via Amazon and/or submitted by users. To get them removed is not an easy process. [in all caps] A brief update [end caps]: After going back and forth a few times with Amazon on this issue, I was notified these junk books would not be removed based on the information I provided. Since I do not own copyright in these AI works and since my name is not trademarked, I'm not sure what can be done." Attached is an image of a rusty dumpster with fire and smoke coming out of it. Above the screenshot is a Tweet by Gabe Hudson @ gabehudson.bsky.social that says, "Dear god what fresh hell is this for writers?" /END OF FIRST ID]

[SECOND ID: A screenshot of a message conversation between @jenovacomplete and an Amazon customer service member whose name has been blocked out. The first message is by jenovacomplete, set at 10:49 pm, that says, "Ah, I haven't ordered from them. I just wanted to see if there was any way to report their fraudulent reproduction. If there isn't, that's fine! Thank you for your time!" At 10:54 pm the customer service member replies, "Okay. Thank you for been on online, The product from Amazon are genuine and correct . You can order from Amazon. No worries from shopping amazon." /END OF ALL IDS]

-

I found an interesting excerpt in an article about this case:

""All this time, public outcry over the case from other authors and observers mounted on Twitter. Finally, on Tuesday morning, Amazon reversed its decision and removed the titles from its platform. A company spokesperson sent Gizmodo a statement explaining its decision.

"We have clear content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale and promptly investigate any book when a concern is raised," Amazon spokesperson Ashley Vanicek told Gizmodo. "We welcome author feedback and work directly with authors to address any issues they raise and where we have made an error, we correct it. We invest heavily to provide a trustworthy shopping experience and protect customers and authors from misuse of our service."

Amazon declined to comment further when asked to elaborate on what particular rule or policy was violated that led to the AI-generated content being removed. Friedman said she's confident the growing backlash on social media contributed to the ecommerce's reversal. That's good news for her, but will come as little solace to other, smaller writers who lack her same level of prominence.

"I do think it was the public outcry," the author said. "Obviously you shouldn’t have to raise a shitstorm in order to get them to do the right thing."" — "Amazon Removes AI-Generated Books That Spoofed an Author's Byline" by Mark DeGeurin on Gizmodo

[ettle]

I still can't get over the number of people who doubted the mass russian psyop deletion on Tumblr because "they all had leftist political posts and Black in their bios!" Yes. That was the psy part of the op.

[gacorley]

There’s some common threads I see in the anti-voting posts going around, and I feel like I need to discuss some of them. Let’s start with the biggest one:

Voting to punish evil. I see lots of variations of this. Biden is supporting Israel, therefore we can’t vote for him. Is there any viable candidate who would stop the genocide? I don’t think the anti voting crowd actually cares. They are appealing to moral feelings rather than political strategy, because strategically, you have to realize that voting is not going to change foreign policy, and that change has to be pushed by other means. It’ll probably be something in the long haul.

Democrats should run someone else. First of all, this is a shit strategy. You don’t primary your president in the second term unless your party is falling apart. This may come from people from countries where replacing the head of government is easier, but the POTUS is the de facto party head. Also, going to the lack of thought to the goal — do you know someone willing to primary Biden and able to win who would do the things you want?

Biden hasn’t done anything anyway. This is just a way to bat away pro arguments. There’s plenty of lists of progress on lots of things. Student loans, insulin price caps, regulations, anti-trust.

Putting the entire Palestinian genocide on Biden. I’m not saying there’s not culpability there, but understand that the entire US government is in support of Israel, on both sides. It was a miracle we got a handful of Senators to call for investigations. We should cut off aid, absolutely. Who’s running to do that? And keep in mind that Israel chose to engage. US officials would have liked a more limited response, not out of care for Palestinians, but because they know from experience that it will come back to bite Israel in the form of newly radicalized Hamas recruits.

Liberals just have no hope for change. This is a new one. Just some idea that people are stuck in a rut and that’s the reason the two party system exists. The two party system is a mathematical consequence of the way we vote. There is reason to hope for change. The change, though, whatever means you choose, will take decades. Keep working at it. The hope is not that this election will fundamentally change things. The hope is that many small political actions over the years will push things forward.

Funnily enough, I haven’t seen a whole lot of third party promotion, just lots of this rhetoric aiming to punish. When voting, ask yourself:

Is this problem I have with this candidate something that the other candidate would be better on?

Are there other political actions I can take that will help?

What things can change with a different President or Congress, and what needs to be pursued by other means?

Withholding your vote as a punishment isn’t really going to help. Biden doesn’t know who you are or why you are not voting for him, and there is no one with a chance of winning that will do everything you want. But you have other means. Protest, organize, donate, build up alternatives, advocate for a different system.

Vote to give yourself space and get a little bit. Do other things to keep things moving.

[prozach27]

As someone who has had posts supporting Kamala Harris in the 2024 election receive an influx of attention, I think it’s worth mentioning that this leads to a number of accounts 1) sending me copy and pasted, word for word indictments of her not letting Palestinians speak at the DNC, and 2) reblogging the post to state that people who support democrats are racist because democrats “support genocide” - despite my post arguing that democrats shouldn’t be trusted to have our best interest in mind and that they’re complicit in genocide but more likely to capitulate to demands than a Trump administration. Interestingly, those who reblog to talk about how white democrats supporting Kamala are racist also have never offered a single alternate option, have no candidates they’re recommending, and offer no ways to support Palestine during their critique.

I am BEGGING you all to recognize election interference when it is this blatant. Do you know who is most likely to become concerned about voting based on this messaging? White liberals in their teens and 20s who make up a significant portion of the Democratic voting population. Do you know who falls victim to people concerned about how “Harris won’t let Palestinians speak” at the DNC? Liberals who care about Palestine, which is DEMONSTRABLY the largest portion of the voting base. We will never have a viable candidate for president who presses for everything we want against Israel since they’re one of our closest allies for decades. Regardless, voting for president isn’t about voting for who’s the best person - it’s about voting for the enemy you want in office to fight against in meeting your demands. You have Trump, who has told Israel to finish the job, and Harris, who has repeatedly discussed ceasefires and resolutions. If your politics see those two positions as no different, tell that to the Palestinian lives who will be saved in a ceasefire brokered by the US.

Tumblr is once again home to election interference, and I am asking you to please recognize the signs that accounts are preying upon potential Democratic voters to get Trump in office and make things exponentially worse. Question why someone is railing against Harris while offering no alternative. Ask yourself, “who is it this person is telling me to support in the election, how viable is their preferred candidate to win, and why do they think they’re better?” If a post tearing down Harris can’t meet these basic requirements, assume it’s election interference and report it. Better yet, reblog this post and tag blogs who continually fail to meet these requirements so people can block them. We need to be aware that this is happening. It’s time to combat it as a community.

[vanilleandclove]

rings of fire | chapter one

ser erryk cargyll x targaryen! reader | chapter one: heir for a night, heir for eternity

As the tourney begins, Ser Erryk takes up the princess's offer of wielding Blackfyre for a day. To much behest of both the townsfolk and the court, as there were whispers of the princess's perhaps affections of the knight, a kingsguard no less. Princess Y/n Targaryen, the woman of the kingsguard, the woman of Westerosi politics. The tournament thus begins at the announcement of your mother's labors; to fuel your own concerns, your mother's labors were never easily taken care of.

word count: 2.6k | warnings: mentions of childhood abuse, the reader is put through the ringer omg, also reader has bush ok!, erryk you are a fucking g, unprotected sexual intercourse, oral sex (female receiving), descriptions of violence, aemma :( | author's note: ok i wildly enjoyed writing this chapter! song for this chapter is definitely: forwards beckon rebound by adrianne lenker.

previous - next

"Princess, I may sound crude, but I believe your breasts to have grown once more" your handmaiden, Hana, spoke up as she attempted to tie the strings of your corset tighter, noting the spillage of your breasts from your dress, cleavage leaving little to nothing to the imagination. You smiled at her as you looked into the mirror, the smile was both of amusement and question, you were nearly a woman, a near adult, your mother always said women stop growing when they reach the age of six and ten.

"It may just be near my bleeding" you shrugged, attempting to fix your breasts so your father wouldn't be vehemently against you attending the tournament, even if you were the one to send ravens to all the great houses, urging to send their best participant in the games. As Hana finished the tying of your corset, you stepped away from the clothing platform, taking one last look at your braided hair, you kept it simple for the tourney, a singular loose braid.

As you exited out of your chambers, looking to both of your sides just to not see a singular knight at your post before remembering most of them were representing their houses in the tournament, a smile grew on your face before you hastily looked down to your feet to not raise any suspicion on your thoughts and memories of last night occupying your emotions and bodily function.

During the late and dark hours of night, you heard a light knock on your chamber doors. In your mind you silently prayed it was Erryk or Rhaenyra; the day made you tiresome, unable to interact with the people of your father's court once more. Getting up from your bed, fixing the light lace, near transparent, nightclothes that clung to your body, your nipples and bare skin exposed for view. Though you did not care, hiding behind the door as you answered it. Being met with the gaze of Erryk, smiling as you both locked eyes, opening the door wider as an invitation.

The knight was stunned by your choice of apparel and lack thereof, "I do consider this offer both generous and noble my princess, but I am for certain if one were to find us like this… your father-".

"Would probably have your tongue, or behead you" you chuckled, walking across your room to your firepit, Blackfyre being placed idly on the mantle, "You mustn't worry Ser Erryk, I would wildly defend you before my father even laid his arse on the throne to decree". As you grabbed Blackfyre from the mantle, turning your front to the knight, body on complete display, with little to nothing being hidden from the knight's gaze. Locking eyes with the knight before dropping your gaze to the man's lips, stubble growing lightly below his nose, signaling his manhood is close ahead.

"I would prefer to keep my tongue, as it is a viable organ" Erryk told you, almost sinfully as his gaze told a different story. "Princess I-".

You almost immediately cut him off with a kiss, albeit throwing yourself at the knight, his hands draping themselves along your waist, hands holding you securely, the knight burned. They say Targaryen's have fire flowing in their veins, that Targaryen's are not easily able to succumb to burns; exemplified as dragon's breath only warms us; not sears our skin. The knight's body was searing into your, his armor making a slippery occlusive against your oiled body. Your hands finding themselves in his hair, Erryk was taller than you by a landslide, your ankles and calves burned lightly from the constant pressure of being near en-pointe. Suddenly, you found yourself thanking your mother for pressuring you and Rhaenyra to learn the art of contemporary dance when you both were children.

Breaking the kiss, Erryk fought for his breath, his face now burning from his own conscious. His forehead rested on yours as you returned to your normal height. Only before you found yourself hungry for more than a kiss, "I lost my maidenhead when I first mounted Nymeria at three and ten. The saddle was too rough" you whisper, "My father refuses us to have a bedding ceremony if and when I am wedded" continuing before teasingly putting the straps down from your nightwear.

"Princess, I have an oath…" he shook his head, his hands betrayed him as they squeezed your waist, his cock hardening by the minute, straining his breeches.

"You swore to the entirety of the royal family, I included" you challenged him, "There is no one here Ser Erryk" you kissed his neck, sucking on his pulse point. Your teases led to Erryk picking you up with ease and placing you on your bed. Only once before in your life you felt this level of anxiousness. Once when your father yelled at you for the incident of your 15th name day, his voice bouncing off the stones and ringing in your ears, you feared he strike you once more.

Now, your heart thumped beneath your chest as the knight looked at you with both lust and love in his eyes. Retaining the eye contact before removing the panties that clung to your cunt from the slick, only then did you remove your lace gown. Erryk's mouth salivated at the sight of your fully bare body, the way every curve moved as if it were the ocean, the scar just under your breast from the time you swung Blackfyre too swiftly and without armor, the hair that wrapped around your cunt, the way your breast laid in opposite directions before you moved your arm to almost shield yourself, only earning a shake of the knight's head. His actions spoke before his words as he removed his armor skillfully, attempting to minimize the noise that would ring through your room and potentially spill into Rhaenyra's.

As his armor was placed on your bedside, the knight's underclothes were hastily untied and removed, his bare body was the work of the gods incarnate. His chiseled body, burning red cock, the scars that littered his body as a testament to his training and battles fought, the hair that trailed to his pelvis, the way his veins were prominent throughout his body. You laid with your legs in a right position, the knight could faintly see the lips of your cunt from the gap between your thighs, opening your legs with his hands before he delved into pleasuring you with his tongue.

His tongue haphazardly found its way to your nub, sending jolts of pleasure to your blood. Not knowing how to contain yourself whilst being bedded, your moans echoed throughout your room. Your torso giving out as the knight held onto your legs to stay in their stagnant position, ravaging your cunt. His left hand found its way to your breasts, squeezing them before toying with your nipples for extra stimulation.

"My princess tastes of sweet and salt almost" he muttered, his voice muffled by your heat, "Beautiful and precious woman you are my princess" you loved how he took possession over your title, praying to the gods that you could just stay here forever being pleasured.

Your climax came rather quickly, leaving a slick trace on the knight's stubble, "Take me, please" you whined, Erryk was stunned wholeheartedly, fearing he would overstimulate you. Though he in the end gave you your wish. As the knight used your cum as lubricant, situating the tip of his cock to your hole, teasing ever-so-slightly. Your nails grazed his back, leaving crescent marks along it. Only before he entered you, did your nails grip tighter, almost breaking skin. You felt his cock pulsating in you, rocking your hips to match the tempo of him fucking you. He toyed with your clit with his fingers, relishing in the feeling of your walls becoming wetter, the sweat of your bodies colliding together as chemicals. Your body glistened in the light, his shined. Your tits caught his eyes as they bounced, though he immediately looked back at your face. Noting the gleam in your lavender irises, kissed by winter flames almost. Feeling yourself come undone once more, you begged for him to finish inside you. As ropes of his cum flooded your cunt, the warm seed breeding even more heat in your body, you felt your body go slack as he laid kisses on your body to calm you.

Laying together the knight spoke up as his hand scratched faintly the creases of your muscle cladded back, "You deserve a husband, a life of love and one that would not require you to break all of these rules princess".

"I do deserve all of those things, though I fear the gods are not the kindest to me" you answered, "Your seed flows through my body Erryk, you may call me Y/n and talk to me plainly as much as you like" you then chuckled before embracing his lips in another kiss, "I do not wish to marry, the moment I laid eyes on you, all the courtships seemingly stood no chance. I must say the rules my ancestors placed were meant to be broken and contested".

"Your father-".

"I love him, but he is not the hearsay of my life, nor was he ever" you interrupted, "As his council uses his name to consecutively use his tongue- with the exception of Beesbury- my father is a near vassal to Otto Hightower". Erryk heard your rants as cries for help, only then did he kiss your forehead.

"I fear I cannot stay the night with you princess Y/n" Erryk sighed before explaining "Come find me after the tourney tomorrow, perhaps we can rendezvous wherever you please".

You smiled at the thought of leaving the Keep's grounds, only until you realized one key detail, "My mother's labors may prohibit our plans".

"Any time you want princess, I am all yours".

As Laena sat next you on your left, Rhaneyra on your right, and Alicent on Rhaenyra's right, gossip was only bound to be shared amongst you. Alicent was older than you and Rhaenyra, you often wondered if she was not the daughter of the Hand of King, if she'd be in yours's and your sister's circle. Laena was your cousin; she would have a place on both of yours's court without question. Though both you and Laena had your suspicions on the Hightowers in Targaryen courts, whispers flooded the Keep deeming Otto a usurper almost, worse than the likes of your uncle Daemon and how he craved the crown or even the position as heir.

"You seem… hidden, sister" Rhaenyra whispered to you, taking a glance at the nape of your neck before noticing the light bruising, "Lovebites?".

You swatted her hand away at the note only before signaling her to hush with your index finger meeting your lip, "Pray tell sister!" she chuckled before you craned your neck to whisper in her ear.

"I do not kiss and tell" you told her, seeing her eyes glimmer in the realm of secrecy. They say twins had telepathy almost, you only hoped your sister could see right through you just to save yourself from the eating of guilt that rose from your feet to the top of your head.

It was true, that twins always know, especially that of sisters. As you both viewed the Cargyll twins take mount on their horses for the opening ceremony, she noticed the blood rush to your face at the sight of Erryk- just as Arryk noticed the straightening of Erryk's back at the sight of none other than Princess Y/n Targaryen.

Soon after your father announced the tournament to begin, maesters caught your father's ear, leading him to leave the tournament for once. You noted the look on your father's face only leading your stomach to turn. You excused yourself before Alicent spoke up in an accusatory tone.

"Is Ser Erryk wielding Blackfyre?!".

As the entirety of the court laid eyes on your just as you were about to make leave, you noticed the stingy and albeit piercing gaze on you. Otto and Alicent in particular judging, Rhaenys and Corlys intrigued, Laena and Rhaenyra maintained composure only their eyes told a story of knowing. You cleared your throat before answering, straightening your posture, "I loaned it to the Cargyll twins for the tournament, they are of great service to my mother and my sister and I. I only felt indebted to their protection to allow them to wield the great sword. If it must concern you. Alicent".

Hastily taking your leave and making your way to your mother's chambers. As you ran through the Keep, you quickly felt yourself nearly tripping on your dress and the skirts that were beneath it, gripping on the material and running faster through the halls and up the stairs. Hearing your mother's screams and wails impale themselves in your ears, everything faded to the background. As you reached the doors and flung them open, only to be met with your father talking to the maesters.

"It is decided, your grace" the maester nodded, your father looking to you in confusion before the maesters drunken your mother on more milk of the poppy.

"What is decided?" you questioned, eyes prickling themselves with tears, hearing your mother's groans and seeing the blood coat and cake on her bedding, "Speak!".

Your father quickly snapped at you as he did years upon years of your childhood, only this time, he drew blood, instead of bruises. As he smacked your face, his signet ring leading to cut your own skin. The impact of the smack leading your nose to drip of blood. "Get back to the tourney, you are not needed in your mother's aid for her labors-".

"Mother's aid is not being treated as aid for her own!" you spat back, blood splatting onto your father's face just before you further argued, "You are celebrating the miracle of birth with wanton violence, for what father? A fucking heir? You cast away Rhaenyra and I- better yet Daemon- for a fucking heir to the throne because you cannot stand the idea of a woman or another "Maegor" that you much rather put mother through another painful and dreadful birth than deal with your own hypocrisy and Otto Hightower's piss poor judgement of your own kin".

Your father's eye twitched, noting the loss of words your father held just before he spoke in reply, "Return to the tourney, now".

Making your way back to the tournament after cleaning the blood from your face. You returned to the box just to see your uncle Daemon challenging a Dornishman. An unsettling pit remained in your stomach as images of your mother clouded your memory. Not knowing an ounce of peace as the screams pulsed through your eardrums. The tourney came to a close as Daemon surrendered, only then did the defeater as for your sister's favor. Just then, a maester delivered news to Otto, the look of death was all that was seen on the maester's and Otto's face. Only confirming your greatest fear.

Queen Aemma Targaryen, now lay dead due to her labors. Due to your father's greed for a son.

taglist: @wolvestitches @callsignwidow @majoso12

[justacynicalromantic]

In early 2014, Ukraine was a neutral country, with a pro-Russian president, and with 70% of Ukraine's population against NATO membership. Yet Russia bluntly violated Ukraine's neutrality and annexed Crimea, then launched a covert invasion of Ukraine in the east.

Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election later in 2014 having promised a settlement with Russia, keeping a special status of the Russian language in Ukraine. He was initially sceptical regarding NATO accession, underlined Ukraine must rely on its own strength to provide security.

Did Putin meet Poroshenko halfway? Not at all. The regular Russian army entered the Ukrainian territory in mid-2014 to fight the Ukrainian troops, which led to the Minsk-1 agreement signed in September 2014.

Further text - down under the cut, or you can follow the Twitter link to the original post:

Few weeks later, Ukraine's parliament adopted a law that would guarantee the then Russia-controlled part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions additional economic, financial and cultural powers.

How did Putin react? Russia staged sham local elections in the occupied Donbas, and then sent the regular army again to Ukraine in early 2015, which led to the Minsk-2 agreement signed in February 2015.

Zelensky was even more sceptical regarding NATO accession. Asked about NATO, he once famously said he never pays anyone a visit if he has not been invited. He won the presidential election promising to compromise with Russia - to stop shooting, sit down with Putin and talk.

Did Putin meet Zelensky halfway? Not at all. He actually raised the stakes by issuing the Russian passports on the occupied territories of Ukraine even before Zelensky assumed the office, putting him in a difficult political position since the start.

Zelensky was ready to drop Ukraine's NATO bid in an exchange for the Russian troops withdrawing from Ukraine. The talks were held already before 2022. What did Putin do? He launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the first weeks of the invasion, Zelensky was yet again ready to drop Ukraine's NATO bid. But he wanted to obtain international security guarantees. What did Putin do? He demanded that Russia must be consulted before any aid would be given to Ukraine in the event of aggression.

To sum up, Ukraine has consistently tried to reach a deal with Russia over the last decade, and was open to giving up on its NATO bid in exchange for the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine. Russia never reciprocated, never showed a good will, kept raising the stakes.

Both Poroshenko and Zelensky were initially sceptical regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO. Both wanted to get a deal with Putin. And Putin himself pushed both of them to seek NATO membership out of no other viable alternatives.

Up till now, Putin has shown absolutely no willingness to compromise with Ukraine. His war aims remain maximalist - subjugating Ukraine and changing its regime. He seeks Ukraine's partition, and will turn what is left of Ukraine into Russian protectorate.

Russia's imperial self-conception is that of Russian elites at large, and not just Vladimir Putin. The Russian leadership simply cannot reconcile with the existence of a sovereign Ukrainian statehood.

Therefore any sustainable Ukrainian-Russian compromise is currently not possible unless the Russian cost-benefit calculus changes. Only credible risk to the stability of the Russian regime would impact this calculus. The easiest way goes through defeating Russia in Ukraine.

[fromorigintofinality]

i dont post on here a ton but i gotta say the growing attitude on tumblr that voting in the US is somehow useless is really concerning.

just recently i saw this post that was basically making fun of people saying that voting was the way to change the system, and that's just.. wrong? like seriously, how do you think roe v. wade got overturned? its because despite everything, republicans are smart voters and know how to play the long game.

but leftists as of late have lost that quality i feel. instead of advocating for people to vote, they advocate for some "revolution" they think will solve everything. among the people in the post mentioned earlier being glorified as revolutionaries were mao zedong and stalin, and when asked why the poster was glorifying these horrific figures, they said, "yes. Mao freed my family and stalin defeated the fascists. Get with the program sugar"

do you notice anything about that? do you notice how it sounds like the way a child describes the world? "stalin defeated the fascists" like he's some hero who defeated the evil horde of thieves? the way things like the red guard, struggle sessions, all of that, are completely ignored on the side of Mao? how this person, despite having a trans flag in their pfp, is ignoring how the utterly homophobic state of the Chinese government at present is the fault of Mao? how they ignore horrific things such as the Gulag on side of Stalin? this person cannot think, and the only way they believe that the world can move forward is a revolution, and revolution's don't work when the people advocating for them do nothing.

maybe one could argue that this was just a one off type of thing, and that all of the thousands of people liking and reblogging this post are just weirdos. but whether or not thats true, this growing sentiment of praying to a revolution that will never come is indeed growing. and its not just like these people stay in their lane, they actively encourage and probably will cause people to not vote.

so i want to remind everybody. elections are not a moral choice. joe biden is complicit and actively funding a genocide, but not voting for him, third party or not (if you still think third parties are viable please look into the history behind them), will make it more likely that trump will win, and that things in palestine and other things that joe biden has failed in will get 1000x worse. candidates in elections are a bus stop to the real goal, and treating them as such is smart voting, republicans proved this with the overturning of roe v. wade.

please do not be selfish. this last bit may seem out of nowhere, but i need to say this. this type of thinking is selfish. it is selfish and almost impossible to detect as such for the people who believe in it. if you are the type of person who believes in this style of thinking, you have created a completely arbitrary moral code, and care more about your conscience than real political change. you believe yourself to have completely good morals that are universally good, and for the consequences of following these morals, you don't consider the real change that will occur, just your conscience and peace of mind. as for what happens because of that moral code, you will always find a way around looking inwards to how you contributed.

this election season may be the most important yet, please learn to take the practical route instead of the "pure" route.

[gentleralts]

not to be a downer but while i agree with the sentiment of what the "death note AU where hbomberguy solves the kira case while investigating light yagami for something unrelated to the murders" post is trying to go for, it gets a bunch of stuff fundamentally wrong about light as a character and of how the death note itself works, and as a noted Light Yagami Hater™ i feel like i should set things straight here:

light was top of his class in high school and got into one of the most prestigious universities in his region. he does his research pretty thoroughly and would not even consider plagiarizing anything, especially with how unreliable it would make you look if you got caught. this "light would probably be a plagiarist if he was a youtuber" bit seems like it's there just because the james sommerton video is so fresh in our minds; if that post was drafted like a year ago there'd probably be a bit in there instead about light straight up lying about his accomplishments and how his mother is very proud

"light would have unhinged right-wing political takes if he was on youtube" there's a pretty significant possibility that he would, although not intentionally. light would brand himself as more of a center-left intellectual debater type and gets popular going up against people who are so right-wing that his points seem progressive by comparison (on top of him being conventionally attractive), and that would make stuff like his misogyny and pro-cop stances and "there are some types of people the world would be better off without" sentiments stand out when comparing him to more leftist youtubers. hbomb's initial investigation into light likely started out with the thesis of "light yagami can get away with saying shit like this because he's an extremely fuckable twink"

the thing about that post that stood out to me as its most egregious mistake though was the insistence of legal names being the ones you need to kill someone with the note. you've probably seen joke posts going around before like "if you write a trans person's deadname into the death note it kills you instead," and that's built upon one of the rules of the death note:

[id: The names you see with the eye power of a god of death are the names needed to kill that person. You will be able to see the names even if that person isn't registered in the family registration.]

a name doesn't have to be legally registered for it to work, and a legal name might not even work in some cases. granted a change of a legal name could still be a viable defensive strategy to throw off someone trying to research what your name is, but outright saying "i've legally changed my name to something you won't be able to find out so you can't kill me" will not protect you from the death note at all.

in my opinion, i believe the point in which hbomb spots the thread leading to his conclusion of light yagami being behind the kira murders is around the end of the yotsuba arc. he'd be able to intuit the first, second, and third kiras being separate entities by the types of people they kill, and the situation of "this guy i've been looking into has dropped off the face of the internet for like two months and the kira murders are suddenly different" would probably be too interesting of coincidence for him to ignore

[shadysubject06]

Ahahaha....trying to ease back on politics related posts but uuuuuhhh....really, really funny how all the Trump people are crying about being cut off by friends and family members after years of

1) Not getting vaccinated and putting other people at risk (both vaccinated and not)

2) Verbally and digitally harassing people for everything from not being bigots to correcting lies spread by Trump's campaign

3) Being just...so misogynistic to both to Clinton and Kamala (doesn't matter what your opinions on them are, attacking a person for anything but their morals means you have no ground to stand on)

4) Calling Gay and Trans people pedophiles

5) Just being So Racist

6) Not knowing anything about a woman's body/healthcare and every time someone brought up a procedure that was labeled as an abortion but was only performed on a non-viable fetus they would brush it off saying "well that's different"

7) Starting fights because they wanted to say the most heinous shit about people and then trying to play the "well we're still family/friends/politics is just opinion" as if being passionate about not being a bigot makes YOU the unreasonable aggressive one.

I was friends on Facebook with my 1st grade music teacher until he started leaving threats on posts of families loving their trans kids. Cut that shit off. Why would you lead a rabid dog into your home if you loved your pets?