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path-of-my-childhood · 4 years ago

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Taylor Swift: Pop Star of the Year

By: Jonathan Dean for The Sunday Times Date: December 27th 2020

Rather than hunker down, the singer put out two albums in 2020 and won over new audiences. She’s the pop star of the year.

Taylor Swift met Paul McCartney in the autumn for a big interview in Rolling Stone. The two would have headlined Glastonbury this summer. Who knows if they will do that next year. Anyway, both recorded albums in lockdown, working from home like the rest of us. When they spoke, though, Swift had a secret. As well as Folklore, released in July, she had a follow-up record in the pipeline — Evermore, which was released this month.

Swift noted that the former Beatle was still so full of joy. “Well, we’re just so lucky, aren’t we?” he said. “We’re really lucky,” Swift replied. “I can’t believe it’s my job.” And she is right. Being a pop star is an extraordinary way to earn the living she does. But rather than accepting luxury and letting this tough year tumble on, Swift is also keenly aware what music means. Sad songs soothe, happy songs make us dance, but as fans of most artists waited for something — anything — this year, this 31-year-old released two albums that broke chart records, were critically adored and introduced her to people who once thought that she wasn’t for them.

“I’m so exhausted!” she said to the American chat show host Jimmy Kimmel, laughing, a few weeks ago, when asked if she had a third new album planned. “I have nothing left.” In addition to Folklore and Evermore, she filmed a TV special and even started rerecording her back catalogue, after a volatile dispute over who owns her work. By October I’d just about cobbled together my first sourdough loaf.

A decade ago Swift moved firmly into the limelight thanks to a squabble with Kanye West entirely of the rapper’s own making. In 2009, when Swift — then a nascent country music star — won the best female video award at the VMAs, West stormed on stage, grabbed her microphone and said that Beyoncé should have won. Swift was 19 — West was 32 — and she looked scared. This wasn’t just about her biggest moment yet being stolen, but also about her position in the pop hierarchy being questioned, very publicly, from the off. She stood there as that man bullied her. Apparently she left the stage in tears.

Years later West released Famous, with its infamous lyric “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch famous.” The alt-folk singer Father John Misty also wrote about sleeping with her. Every time that sort of thing happened, a powerful man in Swift’s industry was reducing a successful, talented, younger female to the level of a sex object. It was back-in-your-box belittling — as it was when a TV host groped her. (She successfully sued him.) While Swift herself would retort to West, as her music became less country, more slick pop, such retorts felt forced and gave the rapper too much of her oxygen. A nod to him on Folklore comes with the “Clowns to the West” line, but it is a sideshow now, not a headline.

Not that Swift’s life is entirely her own. She’s been one of the world’s bestselling female artists for a decade, coupled with curiosities such as a well-orchestrated relationship with Tom Hiddleston that kept her in the spotlight. Like many twentysomethings, Swift spent her youth apolitically, only to receive flak for staying silent during the 2016 US election. This year she endorsed Joe Biden, but what if she had wanted to stay quiet? Would the media have let her? She is under so much scrutiny that, after she made an innocuous hand gesture in a recent TV interview, similar to one women make to draw attention to domestic abuse, this headline ran: “Some people think Taylor Swift is secretly asking for help in her latest interview.”

Like many at the start of the pandemic she felt listless. The world we were used to was a wasteland, and we could only find the energy to watch Normal People. Swift’s ennui, though, was, well, swift. Stuck in LA, she emailed Aaron Dessner of the beloved beardy indie band the National to see if he fancied writing with her. No fool, Dessner said yes and, mere weeks later, the duo — with help from Swift’s regular collaborator Jack Antonoff as well as Justin Vernon, from the beloved beardy indie band Bon Iver — released Folklore. The gang just carried on working and, five months later, gave us Evermore.

Creativity is not on tap. Indeed, this year is not one for judging what others may or not have achieved. However, the silence of many big pop stars is striking because they know that even a single would make someone’s day; distract for a while.

Everyone needed to adjust to working from home, but Swift was one of the only musicians who did and, by eschewing the arena pop of recent albums for something more subdued, organic and folky, she gave the sense that she was letting fans in more than ever. She was at home, like us. This is who she is, and the first single from these sessions was so cosy, it was even called Cardigan.

“I just thought, ‘There are no rules any more,’” she told McCartney. “Because I used to put all these parameters on myself, like, ‘How will this song sound in a stadium?’ If you take away the parameters, what do you make? I guess Folklore.”

Maybe it is tedious, for a deft writer with a career of varied, brilliant songs — Love Story, I Knew You Were Trouble, Blank Space — to find respect from some people only when artists who appeal to middle-aged men start to work with her. On the other hand, pop has never been particularly welcoming to many until it sounds like something you are used to and, with delicate acoustics and gossamer-like piano, Swift’s two new albums recall, sonically, Nick Drake or Kate Bush. Thematically, lyrics seem to come from anywhere. Daphne du Maurier, for one. Even the Lake District and its poets.

Some songs are personal. She is dating British actor Joe Alwyn, and on one track she sings, “I want to give you a child.” Make of that what you will. But these records’ highlights are not about herself, but others. “There was a point,” she told Zane Lowe on Apple Music, “that I had got to as a writer, [where I was only writing] diaristic songs. That felt unsustainable.” Instead, she does what the best writers do and mixes subjective with objective. The Last American Dynasty is a terrific piece of writing about the socialite Rebekah Harkness, who lived in a Rhode Island house that Swift bought and was, by all accounts, a bit scandalous. Swift tells her story almost with envy. Imagine, she seems to say, that freedom.

“In my anxieties,” she said in Rolling Stone, “I can often control how I am as a person and how normal I act. But I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and if they follow our car and interrupt our lives.”

Then there is Epiphany. The first verse is about her grandfather, who fought in the Second World War; the second about frontline workers in hospitals now. Sung in a high register, it is suitably choral. Marjorie, on Evermore, is even better. It is about her grandmother, an opera singer who died in 2003. “What died didn’t stay dead” is the repeated line, and it is eerie, gorgeous. Swift sings how she thinks Marjorie is singing to her, at which point some vocals from the latter’s recordings waft in. Touching, but the real power is in Swift writing about vague memories of a relative who died when she was young. “I complained the whole way there,” she sings. “I should’ve asked you questions.”

In person she is warm like this, and funny. When Kimmel told her there were far more swearwords on Folklore and Evermore than previous records, she replied: “It’s just been that kind of year.” She is also odder than people realise. In the way pop stars should be. Obsessed by numerology, she wrote, on the eve of her birthday when announcing Evermore: “Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards.” When I turned 31 I just wished to be 13 again, with all that youth, but then, maybe, she is just joking. “Yes, so until I turn 113 or 131, this will be the highlight of my life,” she said. “The numerology thing? I sort of force it to happen.”

Swift, of course, is far from the first pop star to become public property, or have a close bond with fans. This year, however, she was one of the few to show that such adoration is not one-way. She is, simply, a fan of her fans — from planting secrets in her artwork and lyrics, to recording two albums of new music as a balm for them when real life became too deafening.

“One good thing about music,” sang Bob Marley. “When it hits you, you feel no pain.” The 80.6 million who streamed Folklore on its first day will attest to that idea. So will the four million who bought it. Swift is pop star of the year, no doubt — leaving her peers in her wake, on their sofas, rewatching The Sopranos.

#thanks to anon who brought this to my attention!#🖤#taylor swift #the times #article #about taylor #folklore album #folklore era #evermore album #evermore era #twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1342959069792002050

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oh-mother-of-darkness · 4 years ago

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Hello. I am, as you know, an American. I turned eighteen in 2014, voted in my first presidential election in 2016, and voted in my second presidential election last week via early voting in the state of Texas.

I’m reflecting right now on the difference between those experiences. This is going to be a very self-indulgent essay.

The 2016 election was in my third and final year of undergrad at Texas A&M University. At the time, I was living with a roommate who grew up in a town of 2,000, all of them members of her church. I loved her very much, but she was the most sheltered person I’ve ever met.

I was only a few years ahead of her. My home growing up was deeply liberal about many of the things that counted, but deeply conservative on equally important things. For me, leaving for college was a radicalization speed-run.

I, a good Memphis girl, moved to Texas and encountered for the first time in my life white homogeny and everything that comes with it. I made most of my friends at A&M through a Christian orientation camp that I attended, then worked at. I went to school at a history department that was overwhelmingly male and war-obsessed.

My second semester, I was randomly sorted into a writing seminar on the American Civil War and Reconstruction. There were eight other students in that class, all of them Texans. By day two I had gotten into a open fight with one of my classmates after he used the phrases “one of the humane parts of slavery” and “the secession declarations are moving and beautiful appeals, if you read them,” and “well I’m not going to criticize my own state.”

We got into at least one yelling match per week from that point forward. It was a formative experience for me-- not just him but the seven other students that took his side every time because they just couldn’t conceptualize anything outside of their own experiences, and frankly, I couldn’t either.

It rocked my world to be surrounded by people who told me, among other things, that their high schools flew the Confederate battle flag or Lee was their all time role-model (because he actually didn’t want to secede! He didn’t believe in it, but Virginia did, so he put his own qualms aside and served his country, and that’s what we all have to do). I ran a survey once by knocking on every door in a dorm hall and asking the two people inside why the Civil War happened.

I feel like you can guess the most common answer I got. Only two said slavery. Six didn’t know what the Civil War was.

The last week of the semester, my class read a collection of recorded oral accounts of freed slaves during Reconstruction. My nemesis told me that he “didn’t realize black people actually had it bad.” At the same time, I was struggling with my sexuality, my relationship to my religion, my relationship with my parents, and a handful of newly-diagnosed but long-existing mental illnesses. I wasn’t having fun.

Over the next three years, I tried my hardest to humanize the people that said disgusting things about minorities, poverty, and me personally. I barely won on that one, and I’m actually really proud that I did, even if it took me a few years. I can trace the biggest change in me directly to my nemesis from the history department, the kid that made me so mad that I started arguing back. I was too scared to do that before.

By 2016, I was in full existential spin-out-- a very suddenly liberal kid fighting my whole family, all of my classmates, and most of my friends in an explosive political climate, the first I had ever participated in.

I voted by Tennessee absentee ballot in 2016. On election night, I ordered takeout for me and my roommate, who I knew had voted red. Confident, like pretty much everybody, that Clinton would win, I was trying to show her that I didn’t hate her. She went to bed after dinner, also so certain that Clinton would win that she didn’t bother to stay up.

I sat in front of my laptop sewing a birthday present for a friend (Kenza, actually), while the votes came in. I wasn’t super alarmed when the map turned red. I just figured the blue states hadn’t finished counting yet.

The map didn’t get any bluer. By 1am, I knew what was about to happen. They called it an hour later, while I was sobbing on my floor. I threw up in the bathroom out of pure anxiety. I got two anonymous messages telling me the asker was going to commit suicide. Neither of them responded to my replies. I don’t actually know what happened to them.

I remember riding the bus to class the next morning and distinctly seeing that most of the racial minorities there had swollen eyes from crying. The girl with the pride stickers all over her laptop didn’t show up that day, and I’m kind of glad she didn’t, considering the way some of our classmates in the back were loudly talking about “the gays.” Hope she’s okay.

My roommate came home completely unaware that Clinton lost. I was crying in my room when that happened. I remember showing her a demographic map of who voted which way. She got visibly upset when she figured out what races how. I think she really did feel guilty.

That Thanksgiving, one of my cousins tweeted, “I can’t wait to go argue with my liberal cousin today. The wins. Keep. Coming,” an hour before he walked into my house. Inauguration day was January 20, 2017. I decided to go to law school a week later, the day the president signed the Muslim ban. That’s when I figured out for the first time just how much power the courts have. The last three years have only enforced that.

I got angrier and angrier during law school, egged on by a few friends but more than anything just... finally conscious of exactly how the American system works and exactly who’s behind it. I still live in Texas, farther west now, and I’m working my first legal job. I’m going to be a licensed attorney next week.

I went back and forth for months about how this election was going to shake out. I knew there wasn’t going to be an overwhelming red majority this time, but my big fear was an election close enough that the Supreme Court could take it. That fear doubled last month, at RBG’s death.

I was hoping for a blue enough victory on election night that there wouldn’t be a week of uncertainty, but that was unlikely, and it didn’t happen. I obsessively refreshed my election map all of Wednesday and Thursday, aware that at least some states would flip after mail-in ballots came in, but unsure which would.

Again, my great fear was a blue victory held down by only one state. Given (I would say “any” chance here, but I don’t mean “any” chance because genuinely jurisdiction or facts or legal merit don’t matter to the Supreme Court) an opportunity to make one (1) decision that hands over a red election, please know that a conservative supermajority would take it. I cannot emphasize enough how true that is and how important it is for all of us to grasp that.

Watching Georgia flip was one of the best experiences of my life, and it’s a little hard for me to articulate why, but I’m going to give it a shot here. I’m southern. I’m from the South, and for this conversation it’s really important that I’m from Memphis, a black city and a center of black music and culture.

When people think about the South, they think of the white South, and on some level, they should. It is absolutely essential to understand the white South in order to understand American history. Let me be 100% clear here. That is not a good thing. American majority history is not good. We are not a good country.

It’s near-impossible to understand why that’s true without knowing exactly what happened in the white South and exactly what is still happening there now. With that, however, is another truth that most folks don’t get.

The SouthTM is white and needs to die. The South as it actually exists is partially white yes, but it is also everyone else that lives here, particularly black folks. Southern culture is black, not white. Georgia flipped because the people that have always, always been there finally got to crack apart the conservative machine holding the South hostage.

That’s amazing. It’s fucking mind-blowing. I watched it happen at 3:30 in the morning days after Election Day, and holy shit holy shit, Georgia flipped. Atlanta won. Holy fucking shit.

I would be terrified right now if only Georgia flipped, because SCOTUS would have found a way to throw out a few thousand votes. Inevitable. Absolutely certain on that one.

With a few states of buffer, I don’t think that’s going to happen. I really do think it’s over.

I came home after work on Friday and immediately went to sleep because I hadn’t really done that since Tuesday. I woke up at noon today, checked the map, checked my messages, and saw what happened while I was gone. After that, I went back to bed until 5:30pm. I’m really just getting up now, after most of 24 hours asleep.

I don’t know if I would say that I’m happy right now, but I am overwhelmingly relieved. I’m under no illusions that a Biden victory will solve everything, but I also do think this is a real thing to celebrate. I’ll take suggestions on how to celebrate right now, actually, since I’m finally awake.

I’ll be angry forever, I think, but this is a good thing, and I’d like to enjoy it. If you’re happy right now, hey, tell me about it. I’ll be thrilled with you. I want to hear it. Congrats to all of us. Love y’all.

#that's me rambling thanks and gig em #there are some things to tag here huh #uspol #politics #suicide #this would be a good time to remind everybody that i am white #so take that into account re: Georgia #personal i guess #not comics sorry

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ahnsael · 3 years ago

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I’m happy about Biden’s vaccine mandate that would require employers who have 100+ employees to require vaccines.

I’m not so confident that it will hold up through court challenges, though.

But when you sign your kid up for kindergarten, you have to show proof of vaccines for smallpox, polio, measles, and other preventable diseases. How is this different?

I had to throw a guy out of the casino last night because the third time I asked him to put his mask on, he got belligerent with me. He said that being six feet away from others was good enough, but the state mandate is that if you are indoors in a public space in Nevada (at least in most counties), you must cover your mouth and nose with a face covering.

My brother-in-law, as far as I know, is still in the hospital. If he was released yesterday as planned, my sis didn’t say anything about it. But he went in because of the effects of him having COVID.

I have had two coworkers catch it (one was gone for a month and is back, the other tested positive about a week ago).

So I wasn’t having this guy’s attitude. I told him to cash out and leave, and he kept playing. I told him to cash out again, and he said “once I finish my beer.” So I took his beer out of his hands (I was kind of surprised he didn’t tighten his grip) and told him that he WAS done with his beer, and that it was time to go.

He cashed out and handed me his ticket, so I took it to the nearest cash-out kiosk and brought him his money so he could get out. The ticket was for $54.95 so I gave him the $54, then when I tried to give him the coins, he said “keep it.”

It’s the first time I’ve ever been tipped by someone I threw out, even if it was only 95¢.

I’m DONE with the people who I call “maskholes.” And my boss has told me that he will back me up if I have to confront them so many times that I feel the need to show them the door (I even told the guy when my boss would next be in so that if he had a problem with me being the “mask police,” he could take it up with my boss). Because we get fined TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for each person not wearing one.

I despise being the mask police, but...I read a post on Facebook from someone this morning, where their dad had a terrible illness (not COVID) but no hospital could take them because they were full of COVID patients, after a couple days found an out-of-state hospital with an open bed, but it was too late to save them, and this person who posted this lost their father because of all the people who won’t get vaccinated or wear a mask.

And just to be clear: a vaccine is meant to PREVENT a disease; it is NOT a treatment for the disease. Once you have it, it’s too late for the vaccine. The first coworker who got it begged for a vaccine and the doctor told her “it’s too late -- you already have it. The vaccine is not a treatment, it’s a preventative measure and it’s too late to prevent what has already happened.”

And my brother-in-law, while improving but not out of the woods, is still in the hospital, and the family who is with him feels very fortunate that he was able to get help.

I’m SO done with selfish people who not only won’t get vaccinated (my sister and brother-in-law weren’t vaccinated, and she now wishes she had been, but I don’t know how her husband feels about it now that he can barely roll over in bed without getting exhausted), but these people also do everything they can to get around wearing a mask. Whether it’s keeping a drink nearby that they suddenly start drinking when the see me (they are supposed to wear the mask between drinks but know that if I’m coming by and they have a drink handy, the act of drinking it means I can’t say anything) or the chain-smokers, who cough a LOT, always keeping a lit cigarette handy so that if they see me coming, they suddenly decide to take a drag so I can’t say anything -- and these people TICK ME OFF because I know they’re just doing it to get around wearing a mask because they’re selfish jerks who don’t care how many people they could infect).

If they want to take their chances, fine, but they are in a public casino and CHOOSING to put other people at risk. And I just cannot take that anymore.

I thought about quitting over it, but any place where I work with the public, in this area, would just be more of the same. I deal with some of the most selfish people I’ve ever met (and I worked at Disneyland, where the “me-first” attitude is strong). I would have to find some place that actually enforces it (I can’t get swing shift employees, INCLUDING MANAGERS, to wear their masks half the time when I come in, and if they won’t wear their masks properly, and don’t say anything to guests who aren’t wearing them, then how am I supposed to enforce it with guests who see our own employees not wearing them?), and I go to the supermarket after work and see employees not enforcing it, our Sheriff refuses to enforce it because he’s an idiot, so I don’t know where I could do any better without the stress of being fined by OSHA or the Gaming Control Board.

I’m SO frustrated right now. And I don’t know how much longer I can take it.

The “Greatest Generation,” as I believe is a term coined by Tom Brokaw, had gasoline rations, saved grease, and bought war bonds for the WWII effort. This generation can’t handle a vaccine, or wearing a piece of cloth over their face, to save lives.But the thing is that I cannot pin this on a single generation, unless I blame baby boomer Republican politicians for spreading misinformation. But as for the general public, I have people from 21 to 80 refusing to do their part (the older of which are making me question the “greatest generation” tag that they have). At this point, I’m almost to where I feel like “let the unvaccinated and unmasked pay the price for their choices and let the rest of us wear masks and live our lives without having to babysit grown adults.” Wearing a mask is not hard, and most of the people I see speak against it are just wimps who can’t handle a little cloth over their mouths. If I can wear one 8 hours a day, you can wear one for whatever time you’re out and about (and obviously you don’t need to wear one while driving). I have zero empathy for people who complain about masks when the alternative is more people on ventilators.

I’m sick of these daily anxiety/panic attacks because not only do people not give a darn about their fellow humans, but they are JERKS about me trying to tell them not to be jerks to their fellow humans.

#COVID-19 #coronavirus #work things

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josephloegering · 3 years ago

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Many Hebrew sites went down with Facebook

Warning: The US and NATO and Zionist State Medias are run by Antisemitic Democratic Communist, fake Christians and fake Jews and fake Muslims, Criminal Stalkers and Computer Hackers, violating US and NATO and Zionist State Court and Doctors Orders, and force vaccinating and force drugging their Victims with everything on their Allergy Lists, screaming that they have no legitimate Medical or Religious reason, to reject their Mandated Toxic Poison Vaccines, and Toxic Poison Drugs on our Allergy Lists, as all the the Medias lie saying is Misinformation, saying that we must suffer the consequences for telling the truth against their Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminal and War Criminal Soviet Communist Atheists and Homosexuals, lying claiming to be Jews and or Christians and Muslims, to mass murder the Religious Abraham's, like the Antisemitic Democratic Left Wing Soviet Communist USSR Orthodox Russian Maccabees had done, attacking us unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jews and Samaritans in Warsaw, trapping us in between them and the Antisemitic Democratic Wing Wing Fascist Nazi German Maccabees Catholics and Lutherans

The Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminals and War Criminals on the Antisemitic Democratic Facebook and in the Mainstream US and NATO and Zionist State Medias, say that I did not follow Facebook's Standard or Hate Speech, for telling the truth against their Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminal and War Criminal Soviet Communist Atheists and Homosexuals, lying claiming to be Jews and or Christians and Muslims, to mass murder the Religious Abraham's, like the Antisemitic Democratic Left Wing Soviet Communist USSR Orthodox Russian Maccabees had done, attacking us unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jews and Samaritans in Warsaw, trapping us in between them and the Antisemitic Democratic Wing Wing Fascist Nazi German Maccabees Catholics and Lutherans, and like in Nazi German and Soviet Communist Pogroms, they refuse to arrest and try their Federal and State and Privately Funded Antisemitic Hate Crime and War Crime Criminals, and refuse repeatedly to Redress our Just Grievances, like the Antisemitic Democratic Dictators Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler

Repeatedly the US Police and FBI, seeing the Death threats sent through Facebook Chat, and sent to my Desktop by Hackers, sent from the Antisemitic Democratic Facebook's and CNN's Criminal Stalkers and Hackers, that set me up to be force drugged, and disabled, and or murdered, on US Soil, because the letters were written in multiple languages, the US Police and FBI, deliberately repeatedly lied to me, saying Call Interpol, saying that they had no Jurisdiction over Foreign Terrorists, not with more death threats from the US and Zionist Governments' and Medias' International Criminal Terrorists, Interpol says:

"Report a crime

Criminal activity should be reported to your local or national police. INTERPOL does not carry out investigations or arrest people; this is the responsibility of national police."

https://tinyurl.com/38d9nbxt

The Antisemitic Democratic Soviet Communists run the 13רשת that hijacks your links, and computer, if you are an unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jew or Samaritan repeatedly trying to download Software, don't download it, it will hijack your enter Network for the Soviet Communism Ransom ware Criminals, nd CNN and Facebook had them lock me up, disabling me repeatedly, forcing upon me everything one that allergy list, and when I asked for a Hebrew Tanakh to read while force drugged and disabled me repeatedly for 9 months, saying that were Jewish Rabbis, they blocked me from Hebrew Jewish and Samaritan Scriptures, screaming, "What, you want a Hebrew Tanakh to Read? It would coast us tens of thousands of US Dollars, just to get you a Hebrew Torah to read", and they said that were not under Michigan State Court Jurisdiction, that an Ann Arbor VA Neurologist had order them not to give me any of the Vaccines or Drugs, so who is the Antisemitic Democratic Fake Jew Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminals and War Criminals?

Someone Hacked Facebook, and was targeting Jewish Scriptures Teachings, for the Communists in the Mainstream Medias, my Computer that runs in Hebrew, was hacked at the same time, now as Facebook is down, as a cover for their Antisemitic Attacks, many Hebrew sites are down, and may other sites no longer display Hebrew.

Many of Family Members and Neighbors were disabled and murdered by the Mainstream Medias' Flu and COVID Vaccines, that have no positive benefits, they are fraud Vaccines, that block none from getting infected by any Virus, like the real Vaccines for Mumps and Measles and Smallpox and Polio do, and the Antisemitic Democratic Communist run Medias and Corporations gave Jews no Medical Rights or Religious Right to reject their Toxic Poison Vaccines, that cause Autoimmune System like malfunctions, destroying diverse body organs, as the eventually just fail, because the Mandated Toxic Poison Fraud Vaccines.

The ICIJ – an International Criminal Antisemitic Democratic Network of Reporters and Journalists, and International Criminal Antisemitic Democratic Media Organisations, and the International Criminal Antisemitic Democratic Mainstream Medias, and their Criminal Vigilante Computer Hackers, that took the Laws into their own hands, and without a public trial, saying that there must be consequences for People that threaten their Democratic Rule, and destroying the Free Speech, and the Right to the Free Press, of Multinational Peoples, the afore mentioned International Antisemitic Democratic Criminals installing the Communist Dictatorship, took down Facebook and many Websites, to silence Multinational Peoples Freedom of Speech, to force up us the Antisemitic Democratic Communist Dictatorship, that we voted not for, and gave them no consent to rule over us.

According t the Antisemitic Democratic Mainstream Medias, they took over Facebook because of the Whistle Blower, and they obviously abused the Powers as Criminal Stalkers, targeting us unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jews and Samaritans, that they repeatedly disabled and or murdered, with the Toxic Poison Vaccines and Drugs, that lie calling Safe and Effective, to attack all that don't want in the Anti Religion Antisemitic Democratic Dictatorship State, that we voted not for, and gave no consent to rule over us.

None of the Antisemitic Democratic Journalists are Jewish, they are Antisemitic Democratic Soviet Communists, forcing upon us unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jews and Samaritans their Antisemitic Democratic Dictatorship that outlawed the King mine Yahweh, and the throne mine David's as Antidemocratic like Democratic Nazi Germans and the Democratic Society Communists, bot did

As their Toxic Vaccines caused the rise of Autoimmune diseases and many other Toxic Vaccine and Toxic Drug and Toxic Food and Toxic Drink caused Diseases, are on the rise among 9/11 victims, and the first responders, and the General Public, but the Deadly dangerous Psychotic US and NATO and Zionist Governments, which runs the health-care programs hasn't acknowledged a link, preventing the Masses access to the things necessary to live among the Living, preventing the Masses access to Life, Liberty, and pursuit of happiness."

As Whistleblower against the Criminal Stalking and Antisemitisim done by the Mainstream Medias, controlling Facebook to repeatedly do their Antisemitic Hate Crimes, and blocking our Posts, violating our Rights to the Freedom of the Press, to hide their Antisemitic Hate Crimes, as they arm against us unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jews and Samaritans, as they arm our Soviet Communist fake Jew, and Al Qaeda and Taliban and ISIS enemies against us, refusing to Redress even one of our Just Grievances, like the Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminal and War Criminal former Vice President Joe Biden that gave our Medical Records and Treatments to our Antisemitic enemies, and paid them to repeatedly lock us up without a Public Trial, to force drug and disable and or murder us like Nazi Germans

Mr President Joe Biden

I am Joseph R Loegering, the King Israel's, the Torah's Messiah

Mr President Joe Biden, you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, are hereby under arrest, for your Internal Antisemitic Hate Crimes, and for your Internal War Crimes

You as Vice Prescient failed to Redress even one of Just Grievances, failing to get our Medical Records and Treatments, out of the Hands of our Antisemitic Enemies

We are unarmed Hebrew Torah and abiding Jews and Samaritans, with all just Issues being still blocked from the US and Zionist State Medias, as like my Jewish and Samaritan friends, and again Mr President Joe Biden, like when you Vice President, I am being Criminally Stocked by your Antisemitic Criminal Allies, and my 1st Amendment Rights are being Violated by an Antisemitic Democratic Fraud Jewish Maccabees Government allied with US President Joe Biden, that repeatedly Blocked my sound pure Science Posts and Religious Posts from Facebook, to set up and mass murder my Jewish and Samaritan friends, like Maccabees Nazi Catholic Hitler, and Nazi Germany had done, and we demand that the Nuclear and WMD and Heavily Militant Armed US and Zionist State Government Disarm and Resign from Power, and report the Hague for Trial

Warning: We will not choose death, by Vaccination, nor will we choose death by the Communist Left Wing's Government's Mandated Vaccines, from the Minority 48% that want to force death upon us Unvaccinated that cannot take their Toxic Poison Vaccines, with their Communist Left Wing's Government's Mandated Vaccines, like Left Wing Communist forced death upon us, by Soviet Communist forced Medications, nor will we choose death by the Fascist Ring Wing's Business Mandated Vaccines, from the Majority 52% that want to force death upon us Unvaccinated that cannot take their Toxic Poison Vaccines, with their Fascist Ring Wing's Business Mandated Vaccines, like Right Wing Fascist Nazi Germans, forced death upon us, by Nazi German forced Medications, and we demand all that necessary to keep the Uninfected Unvaccinated and the Uninfected Vaccinated from getting infected, by the Infected Vaccinated infecting the Uninfected Unvaccinated and the Uninfected Vaccinated, with their new Mutant Stains that the Vaccinated are Producing, because like the fully Vaccinated with two Pfizer COVID-19 Shots, in Zionist State, with Heart inflammation, and Swollen Lymph Nodes, and damaged Kidneys, and Shingles like Rashes, caused by as their Toxic FDA approved Pfizer Vaccine and Drug Additives, as the fully Vaccinated are being Hospitalized with Breakthrough Infections, and Dying in escalating numbers, because they were Vaccinated wearing their scientifically proven failing ineffective Masks, and were Vaccinated with FDA approved Toxic Poisons, vaccinating them with their scientifically proven Toxic Poison unsafe and ineffective Toxic failing COVID-19 Vaccines, and failing Toxic Booster Shots, and their Toxic FDA approved scientifically proven Toxic Poison unsafe and ineffective and failing Drugs, and their Toxic FDA approved scientifically proven Toxic Poison Foods, and their Toxic FDA approved scientifically proven Toxic Poison Drinks.

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern;

I am Joseph R Loegering, the King Israel's, the Torah's Messiah

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern; you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, outlawed our Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures' Dwelling and Hospital and Financial Systems, and replaced them with your Antisemitic Hospitals and your Antisemitic Usury Bankers and your Antisemitic Usury Bankers' Owned Dwellings, and Business, and Hospitals

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern; you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, violated and outlawed both the Pagan Democratic State's US Constitution's Gold Standard, and violated and outlawed Hebrew Jewish and Samaritan Torah's Silver's Shekel Weight monetary system, with your allied Antisemitic Democratic States' Paper Federal Reserve Notes and fake Jew counterfeit Paper Shekels call the New Israeli Shekels

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern; you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, outlawed our seven seventh year releases from Debts, and our Fiftieth Year's Jubilee's, and you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, violated and outlawed our Mishnah our Hebrew Calendar and Records, and our 49 Mishnah from our Mishnah seven sevens years, and our Jubilee's Census Mishnah done every Fiftieth Year since Adam as year one, in the Garden Eden, that your outlawed and replaced with your false Prophet Antisemitic Antichrist Maccabees Catholic Popes' Julian and Georgian Calendars

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern; you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, outlawed our Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures' Schools and Apprenticeships, and our Fuels and Trades, and replaced them with your Antisemitic Evolutionist and Alchemist Public and Private Schools, and your Military Complexes' Antisemitic Evolutionist and Alchemist Schooling

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern; you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, have reduced us to an absolute state of despotism with your Antisemitic polarized opposing politics, and have repeatedly caused us more, and more, and more harm and or death, because you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies, have repeatedly refuse and failed to hear, and repeatedly refuse and failed to Redress even one of our Just Issues, on our many, and repeated Just Petitions

Mr President Joe Biden, and Mr Jens Stoltenberg, and to the NATO State Rulers, and to Mr Isaac Herzog, and to whom it may concern; you and your US Government and your NATO and Zionist State Allies have repeatedly disarmed, us unarmed Hebrew Torah Abiding Jews and Samaritans and the Muslims, and have repeatedly armed against us our enemy Antisemitic Taliban and Al Qaeda and ISIS and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and have repeatedly armed against us our enemy Antisemitic Democratic fake Jew Maccabees Soviet Communist Zionists, and have repeatedly given our Names, and Ranks, and Birth Dates, and our Social Security Numbers, and our Medical Records and Treatments, and our Private and Public Records, to our Foreign and Domestic Antisemitic Democratic enemies upon US Soil, and upon all the Soils of all Nations abroad, and keep repeatedly refusing and failing to adequately, and to timely Redress even one of our Just Grievances

Mr President Joe Biden: You as Vice Prescient failed to Redress even one of Just Grievances, failing to get our Medical Records and Treatments, out of the Hands of our Antisemitic Enemies

Warning: While the Warmongering US Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Left Wing and Right Wing Politicians, and their Allies, and their Satan's synagogue Warmongering Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Left Wing and Right Wing Medias are in Power Struggle, saying that must survive the Midterm Elections that we vote not in, because our Hebrew Torah outlawed voting for Rulers that are not Yahweh's chosen and anointed and appointed King upon the throne mine Abraham's and David's, and the US Antisemitic Hate Crime and War Criminal Government and Medias and the Allies, are still deliberately failing to hear, and deliberately failing to Redress even one of Just Grievances upon our Many, and repeated Petitions, for Redress of Grievances, we demand that the US Warmongering Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Left Wing and Right Wing Politicians and Allies, and their Warmongering Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Left Wing and Right Wing Medias, be removed from Power, and Arrested, and we demand that they stand Trial in the Internal Courts, for their repeated Antisemitic Hate Crimes, and for their repeated War Crimes, and for their repeated their Crimes against Humanity

Warning: The Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Left Wing Maccabees Catholic President Joe Biden, is responsible for spreading the COVID-19 Pandemic using the Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Right Wing Fascist President Donald Trump's fraud COVID-19 Vaccines, that do not block People from getting infected by the COVID-19 Virus like a real Vaccine would, and the Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Left Wing Maccabees Catholic President Joe Biden and his Satan's synagogue Medias, are responsible for the Deaths caused by the FDA approved Additives, causing people to develop Cancers, and Heart Disease from the Heart inflammation, and Swollen Lymph Nodes, and Shingles like Rashes, caused by the Toxic FDA approved Toxic COVID-19 Vaccine Additives, as their Toxic FDA approved Vaccine and Drug Additives cause all the Leading causes of Death upon the whole Globe

The Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminals and War Criminals Joe Biden and the Democratic and Medias, criminally stalking, and setting up. targeting and force vaccinating and force drugging unarmed Jews and Samaritans like the Nazi German Maccabee, as they go deeper in War Debts, making all Slaves to their Antisemitic Democratic States National Party's Debts, as they destroy the Global Markets for their own Political and Economic Gains at our expense, don't hesitate to arrest them, if and when enter your City, spreading the Pandemic with their Political Campaigns, and their Political Protests and Riots, at our expense, as they hide the truth, that all the Maccabees abuse of Children, was done by the Anti American Antisemitic Democratic Communist Maccabees Catholic Homosexuals, that Maccabees Catholic Antisemitic Democratic Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminals and War Criminals in the US and NATO and fake Jew Maccabees Catholic Antisemitic Democratic State and their Medias armed against us unarmed Hebrew Torah abiding Jews and Samaritans and Muslims

Warning: Don't let the Criminal Vaccinators say that failing Banks and falling Wall Street were caused by the Unvaccinated, the Warmongering the Nuclear and WMD and Heavily Militant armed Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Murderer Tyrant Vaccinator Dictators caused them to crash

Here in North Dakota, with only 31 Unvaccinated Hospitalized out of 971 Unvaccinated Infected, and 130 Vaccinated with one shot Hospitalized, out of 3, 297 Vaccinated with one Shot, that Poisoned and Disabled them, and got them Infected, besides the ones the Fraud COVID Vaccine Shots Killed, the US Government and CDC and FDA, and Medias are deliberately lying to the Public, to mass murder their Religious and Political Rivals, to force upon us the Antisemitic Democratic Dictatorship, like Nazi Germans and the Soviet Communists did

4,268 New Infections, 3,279 Vaccinated New Infection, only 971 Unvaccinated with a New Infection, making it so that if you take the Shot, you are more likely to get infected, because the Toxic Poison Fraud COVID Vaccines poisoned your Immune System, as out of 4,268 New Cases, the Hospitalized is 161, minus the 130 Vaccinated Hospitalized, equals 31 Unvaccinated Hospitalized, and out of the 4,268 New Cases, 3,279 are the Poisoned Vaccinated, that were Infected, because they were Poisoned by the Deadly dangerous Psychotic Vaccinators, trying to open their Societies for their own Political Economic Gains at our expense, as the Deadly dangerous Psychotic Vaccinator Politicians, and Journalists, and Doctors, and Sports Athletes, and Hollywood and Bollywood fallen Stars, block from the Unvaccinated what we need to keep from being Infected by their deliberately Poisoned and Infected Vaccinated

My Brother had serious Adverse Reactions to the J&J/Janssen Vaccine, and my Mother had serious Adverse Reactions to Pfizer Vaccine, because the Antisemitic Hate Crime Criminals say that we have no Medical or Religious Rights to refuse their Mandated Vaccines

Along with many they call Jews, many of the Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Right and Left Wing Soviet Communist Russians and Antisemitic Antichrist Democratic Right and Left Wing Soviet Communist fake Jew Zionist, were poisoned by the Toxic US FDA approved Toxic Additives in the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and in the Pfizer Fraud COVID Vaccine and un the Moderna Fraud COVID Vaccine

With all the Politicians and Medias and Sports Athletes having everyone that they might have contact with, both Tested and Vaccinated, while blocking us that cannot take their Fraud Toxic Poison Vaccines that don't stop any Virus, blocking us from what we need to keep us and our Families from getting infected by their extremely contagious COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections, and their extremely contagious secondary Contagious Pathogen infections, while they only reveal a few of mass numbers of Breakthrough Infection, that they get and spread with non essential activities, of spreading and forcing upon us the Antisemitic Democratic Politics and Dictatorships, like what infected the Fully Vaccinated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for a COVID-19 Breakthrough Infection. like what infected Brazil's health minister Marcelo Queiroga, that tested positive for COVID at the U.N. General Assembly in NYC, Infecting both Vaccinated Diplomats and Vaccinated US Vaccinated and Unvaccinated New Yorkers, with a Strain from another Country, is another example of the none essential activates spreading their extremely contagious COVID-19 Breakthrough Infections, and secondary extremely Contagious Pathogen Infections

Because of the Diverse Types of Contagious Pathogens, that they are spreading by their non essential activities, because they made a five to seven week lockdown essential to Isolate the Infected, from the Infected, because their non essential activities kept spreading their Diverse Types of Contagious Pathogen Infections, and because they are still doing their non essential activities, and are still Spreading the COVID-19 Pandemic, and their Diverse Types of Contagious Pathogen Infections, for their own Political and or Economic Gains, at our expense, because they are non essential activities, non essential to surviving the Pandemic, and because they are activities that spread the Pandemic, across the entire Globe, disabling and mass murdering Multitudes, during the Rest of the Pandemic, to stop people from being infected and disabled and or killed by the infections, from their non essential activities, any Politician traveling from City to City, for his or her Political Campaign, and any Political Activist traveling from City to City, for his or her Political Rally, and any Protester traveling from City to City, for his or her Protest, and any Soldier from the lowest to the highest Rank, traveling from City to City, for his or her War, and any Medias' Media Journalist, traveling from City to City, for his or her Story, and any Star traveling from City to City, for his or her Show, and any Sports Participant traveling from City to City, for his or her Sports event, while you Isolate the Infected from the Uninfected in your City, those participating in those non essential travels from City to City, they must be blocked from entering your City, and must be arrested, and be jailed in Isolation Prison and Trail Camps, outside your City Boundary, and they must be charged, and be tried, and be hung, for their Mass Murders that they did by spreading the Pandemic, across the entire Globe

#חיבלילה YourBodyYourChoice USA Подмосковье Россия Россия1 Russia Ukraine Ил112В Jews Jewish Samaritan Muslim Israeli Zionist

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stephenjaymorrisblog · 3 years ago

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The 50’s Are Back!

(Metaphorically)

July 3, 2021

Stephen Jay Morris

©Scientific Morality

It’s the day before the 4th of July, but I don’t feel very festive. It has been raining for two days now and I am not feeling very well. My obsessive/compulsive disorder is still with me. I have this compulsion to keep my half-acre lawn nicely cut, but my lawn mower has broken down. Each day, I look out the window and I see the grass getting longer and longer. Being a neurotic, my brain won’t shut the fuck up about it! Plus, I am becoming more forgetful lately and that scares the shit out of me! I’m afraid it might be early stages of dementia.

I think I have some masochistic tendencies. I am a news junkie. It always upsets me but, I watch anyway. The media is evil, but not because it leans Left or Right; it is because they are greedy, money-grabbing pigs who adhere to that proverbial slogan: “If it bleeds, it leads.” Bad news sells energy drinks; good news loses money and ratings. That is why the schmuck who used to be president is still in the news, constantly. The former host of a reality TV show has become a one-man reality show himself! Consumers just love the anti-hero, from Jesse James to Al Capone to Donald Trump.

Yeah, dudes! “The Fall of the Donald.” It is a very old, American fable. He couldn’t get wealthy the Horatio Alger way, or via the methodology of the Protestant Work Ethic, so he schemed and cheated throughout his life just to show his daddy he’s not a loser. How many fucking times do we have to repeat this story!? It makes the commoner feel happy when somebody at the top fails. That is why we have celebrity gossip.

Well, Conservatives, you got your wish! The 50’s are back! Well, not quite, but close. In Biden, we have another Eisenhower in office. The McCarthy era is upon us again. QAnon is the new John Birch Society. The gamers are the new Beatniks.

One glaring thing that doesn’t match up, however, is American culture. I don’t know why there is a so-called “culture war,” when there is no culture to begin with! Movies are practical and dull and formulaic. Sex and violence, though a boring cliché to me, may have a kick to a young kid. And, music...yeah, music is lame. Once in while, there emerges a novelty song that pisses off the good Christian folk, like Cardi B’s “WAP,” or Lil Naz X’s, “Call Me By Your Name.” Otherwise, there is nothing remarkable there.

Fashion is a mishmash of the past. A God damned tee shirt is the only “new” fashion statement you can make! Men’s hair styles look like the haircuts given to prisoners in the 1930’s. Women’s hair styles are simplistic, except for the unnatural bold colors seen over the last few years. Automobiles haven’t sported any notable design since the 90’s. Petropolitics has been over taken by Neo-Liberal scumbags. The way they cling to fossil fuel, you’d think gold was becoming extinct! They keep trying to rebrand it as “energy.” This is not Western Civilization, this is the White Capitalist American Empire dying! Like I said, now does not mirror the 1950’s exactly, but it is pretty similar.

I always wanted to do charity work, but I haven’t achieved my original mission. What is that, you ask? I can’t tell you; it’s personal, though not illegal or immoral. Doing charity work is egotistical however, it is positive egotism. Negative egotism is the Trump story. The ego cannot be eliminated, but it can be controlled and modified of one’s own volition. If you resent someone that is selfless, then that reflects your inferiority complex; i.e. you are resentful because you’re feeling guilty about not being a good human being.

My Aunt Norma said to me that everyone was neurotic during the 1950’s. Mental illness was hidden—a dark secret. If you had anxiety, you kept it to yourself. If a member of your family was mentally ill and living in the basement, your lips remained sealed.

America, today, has a screwed up attitude about mental illness. Most don’t really know what it is. Is it demon possession? A lot of people have this moronic concept of mental illness; they think it is equivalent to being eccentric. They will poop out platitudes like, “Everybody is a little crazy!” Mental illness is a diseased brain, not a behavioral condition. You know?

Let’s not go back to the 1950’s. Let’s go forward into the 21stCentury!

#woke #babyboomer #poets of tumblr #stephenjaymorris

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lanwinograd-blog · 3 years ago

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Topic:Men's RIghts Movement

During the very late hours of November 8, 2016 and early morning November 9, 2016, I sat in shock along with the rest of the country. The most qualified person to ever run for President had been defeated by a bumbling, sexist, clown. How did this happen? What actually happened? I spent a lot of time dissecting the election, and of course I ended up looking at whether or not gender played a role. Four years later Biden would pretty easily defeat the clown. The 2016 election was so close I wondered “if Hillary were a man, would she have won? How many people voted against her just because she was female?” While I watched the Trump supporters (of the asshole variety) gloat on Facebook, I would occasionally see people post “A win for men! A woman can’t be President. The Men’s Rights Movement Survives!” It goes without saying that anyone who said that repulses me…but “men’s right’s movement?” WTF is that? It sounded like a White Power thing…something that would repulse me…however, I had to do my research, to prove to myself it was nonsense…and, spoiler alert…for the most part it is, but not completely.

Now, let me get something out of the way right now…there are many hateful organizations that cloak themselves are fighting for “Men’s Rights.” Incels, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, etc. I always assumed that anyone who supported even examining “Men’s Rights” was filled with hate. Well, I’m not filled with hate. I’m a feminist…and I don’t identify that way in an effort to get laid…cause well, although I’m not an “incel” I’m incel. (get it…hahaha). As I started my research I was lead to the “documentary” titled “The Red Pill.” Great…a documentary making some stupid Matrix analogy. Before I watched it I did a little research on it…it was funded by Prager University and Milo Yiannopoulos. Greeeattt…a movie funded by an organization I hate with a passion, and a person I hate with a passion. Ohh, and the person interviewed the most was Paul Elam…(male backwards…coincidence? mmmmm) who is quoted as saying “P---- is the only real empowerment women will ever know. Put all the hopelessly wishful thinking of feminist ideology aside and what remains is the fact that it is men and pretty much men only who draw power from accomplishment, who invent technology, build nations, cure disease, create empires and generally advance civilization. Women whether acknowledging it makes us feel warm and fuzzy or not, depend on men for all of that and the only tool they have at their disposal to have any sort of influence on any of it is the power of p---- and p---- is powerful indeed…Sexual robotics may well prove to be the best thing that ever happened to women from the standpoint of their humanity.... what would that do to the vast majority of women who would suddenly have to prove their worth as human beings beyond simply being the owners of said p——." I was not excited to watch this but I had to if I was going to write about it…however much I thought the whole concept was nonsense. So, as promised, I watched it, and yes, most of it was not reality based. Making dumb points that “Women and children are always brought to safety before men in an emergency” and “women should make less than men cause they live longer.” Honestly, I don’t even see how one had bearing on the other…and that “men are victimized in domestic violence situations almost as much as women.” Wait…is that true? The first two were opinion and the third was an actual statement of fact. Now, I wasn’t going to trust anything this movie said so I had to do my research. The answer surprised me…of course it was no…women are the victim quite a bit more, but the number of male victims was not as low as I originally had thought. “The crime survey’s stats also showed that 3.8% of men (equal to 786,000) and 7.5% of women (1.6m) were victims of domestic abuse in 2018/19. As ManKind points out: ‘For every three victims of domestic abuse, two will be female, one will be male.’”(National Domestic Violence Data Base). However while this is true, there is only one domestic violence shelter for men in the entire United States. This also can be misleading because the majority of DV shelters are unisex. Now, the movie pretty much had the thesis “someone cannot be a feminist if they admit males are disadvantaged AT ALL.” I disagree with this whole heartedly…because just looking at certain statistics…males are disadvantaged. Keep in mind, I identify as a feminist. Now, it goes without saying that if you take list and write the ways women are discriminated against the way men are discriminated against, you might have a mile high list for the women, and half a sheet of paper for the men. But the half a sheet of paper is not zero. It’s those things I would like to discuss. Now, let’s get some faulty statistics out of the way…you know, the ones the movie pushes. 93% of work places deaths are men…true but out of context…men typically have more physical jobs due to genetic makeup and women have just recently been taking part in these jobs. The movie states that 90% of the homeless population is men…that is just a flat out lie…it is 60%. The movie states that 90% of suicides is the United States are men. While that is not true, the number is 78%. Why this disparity. The only conclusion I could come up with is that men, throughout history have been taught to hide their emotions or they will come off as “a p—-.” I even have examples in my own life where I held back true emotion under fear of being ostracized. One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the movie but has always bothered me from observed experiences is false allegations against men. Whenever someone comes out against a politician or celebrity and accuses them of rape and/or sexual assault men are asked to fall in line, and not voice any other opinion other than “the woman is telling the truth.” I have encountered this twice in the past year. The first time was when I posted that Aziz Ansari did nothing wrong and the I did not believe the claims of Tara Reade against Joe Biden. Holy hell did men and women come after me like I was a woman-hating chauvinist pig. I pride myself in not being that; however I was called things I will not mention in this rant…but they were bad. Before I get myself into too much trouble, let me say that I believe every sexual assault allegation should be taken very seriously and thoroughly vetted by the police and any other agency that looks into it…however, that doesn’t mean they are all true. I will often times be told…only 8% of rape accusations end up being false…so the numbers speak for themselves. Actually, it’s 5.9% but I do believe that number is out of context. That number (5.9%) are rape allegations that are proven…100% to be false by either a confession of the woman, DNA showing it was another man, or proof that the man accused was in another state or country. However, the amount 44.9% of rape accusations are not handed over to the prosecutor. That number can also be misleading because prior to the #metoo movement…there was the ethic that “boys will be boys”…and I’m happy that is dead because it is offensive. I do predict the number of rape accusations handed over to the DA office will go up, but the amount not handed over will never be as low as 5.9%. Also, if a man and a woman are both blacked out drunk and have sex, the likelihood of the man getting arrested is much higher than the woman. The one place, and yes, only one, where I believe the woman has every advantage over the man is in Family Court. First, I am as pro-life as they get. Once a woman is pregnant is totally her choice whether or not to keep the baby…the man had a choice when he choose to have sex and put himself in that position…and that is probably 99% of the time…however, what about that 1% (these aren’t actual statistics). There are two types of men that have to be looked at here…married and unmarried. First, lets look at unmarried men. If an unmarried man is the father of a woman’s baby, he must pay child support…no questions, with only two exceptions (unless the woman doesn’t want it or another man adopts the child). However, would you believe that “sperm stealing” is actually a thing? I honestly though it just happened on lawyer shows and cop shows. Examples of this really are limited to a woman telling a man she is on the pill (probably cause of the heat of moment) while she is not. The movie quoted a Nigerian Story where a hotel maid took a condom out of the garbage and impregnated herself. Well, upon further research…that ended up being a satirical story with no truth to it. The movie also claimed that women use other “sexual techniques” to get the sperm, and than impregnate themselves with it…I could not find any examples of such. However, female on male rape is a real thing, admittedly much rarer than it’s counterpart, where once the woman gets out of jail, she can fight the man for custody…assuming she did not put the child up for adoption and the man is the sole custodian. When it comes to married men, their are much sadder stories. One thing the movie showed that I thought was insightful (and there weren’t many), was a woman on “The Wendy Williams Show” saying she wanted to have another child but her husband didn’t, so she was going to “trick him” and THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE clapped with approval. Here are some statistics that really made me think…and I’m still thinking: Fathers are granted custody only 18.3% of the time Mothers are awarded child support nearly 2 times as often as fathers are Fathers are awarded nearly 10% less, on average, in child support Fathers receive less of the awarded child support than mothers 69% of people surveyed believe that having two parents in the home is essential to a child’s happiness More than 25% of fathers live apart from their children Only 10% of nonresident fathers help their children with their homework Nearly 60% of fathers who do not get custody, speak to their children on the phone 4 times a month or less Over 25% of fathers who do not get custody, have zero in-person visits with their children each year Nearly all (97%) of the fathers surveyed agree that the rewards of being a parent are worth the costs/work that go into it. (National Institute of Divorce and Custody) Believe it or not…their are some good men out there. Men who want to be in their child’s life…I would actually say that is probably the majority; but being the woman holds the baby for nine months, it would appear she is preferred once those nine months are over. One of the saddest issues is false paternity. In all 50 states, when a married woman gives birth, the husband is legally deemed to be the father. However, what if he isn’t? What is the woman had an affair? Irrelevant. It is also illegal to perform a paternity test on a baby without either the mother’s consent or a court order. In these situations there are two male victims. First is the husband, who could be raising a child that is not his…and if he finds out the child is not his, he will be on the hook for child support anyway and has already formed an emotional connection with the child. The second victim is the biological father who will have NO LEGAL rights to a child that is biologically his. While asshole men might see this as a blessing…I have personally met men who have become suicidal over this. In conclusion, I am not a Men’s Rights Advocate…I am a feminist. However, I enjoy ranting on issues that people don’t talk about…all the way from porcupines to men’s rights…that doesn’t mean I fall on any side. I believe that in order to gain equality we have to work on and focus on how females have been discriminated against over the years; but to just ignore the (albeit few) ways men are discriminated against is irresponsible.

#Men's RIghts Movement

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dokkaebiking · 4 years ago

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Pass the happy! When you receive this, list 5 things that make you happy and send this to 10 of the most recent people in your notifications!

Considering how 2020 has gone, this shouldn’t be a hard list to make as there’s not a lot that’s made me happy this year. I mean, this has been sitting in my inbox for far too long, simply because The Depresso™ has robbed me of the energy to do much of anything these days. However, Biden won the election, and although that cursed cheese ball shit bag currently in the White House is trying to undermine democracy, at the same time I know he ain’t gonna get away with it, so I feel lighter than I have in months, and I’m finally getting to things I’ve held off for too long. Not gonna tag anyone, but if you want to be tagged then I’m attacking you with psychic powers right now and tagging you spiritually >:D

1. Trash of the Count’s Family! I cannot overstate how much joy this Korean webnovel has brought me this year. I read the manhwa first, by chance, when I was cruising the “Isekai” tag, and after reading so many where a woman got sent into another world/was reborn in another world/took over the body of a side character in their favorite game or book or whatever/or otherwise transmigrated into a place that’s Not Here (and lucky them, amirite)...I was happy to see it happen to a guy. Not only that, but like the first chapter, aside from the prologue, was filled with so much fanservice of just this one guy that I was pleasantly surprised at the tables being turned. Especially since Isekai is very well known for it’s trashy female fanservice and gross harems that make no sense. CUE CALE HENITUSE COMING TO SAVE THE ISEKAI GENRE!

He not only has no romantic interest whatsoever in the story, which is fantastic (doesn’t stop us fans from shipping left and right, but I love it when this type of protag just does not do romance at all), but he builds a harem that’s purely platonic and god damn it I’ve never seen Found Family done so well I wanna cry just thinking about it. Plus, Cale’s whole philosophy of “gotta create world peace so I can live as a slacker” is hilarious, considering how he just keeps being a Hero™ and hating it, but his dumb ass can’t stop. Also, there’s a baby dragon that he saves, sets free from a terrible torture chamber it began its life in, and rather than running off it decides to follow Cale around and basically Cale becomes a father of three kids, one being the dragon, and the other two being two precious (and very dangerous) cat kids. This story refuses to let the good guys die, which after GoT is refreshing as hell, but isn’t afraid to take bloody revenge on the bad guys, which is also hella refreshing. I’ll go on forever if I don’t stop here, but just look it up if you get the chance and any of this appeals to you—you won’t regret it.

2. KakaIru, easily, has been the stable foundation for me this year. The friends I met through the fandom before this year have only become closer, and more dear to me, and the new friends are just as lovely; these people are the only things keeping me sane, let me tell you. The @kakairuzine “Intertwined” was a big project that I was delighted to help mod for, and participate in as a merch artist, and I’m so thrilled that we reached all of our stretch goals, and then some! The @the-umino-hours server has brought me much joy during the year, as well as the forum @kakairu-rocks, participating in the @kakairu-mini-bang was a blast (and I’m working on the second part to that fic right now tbh), now I’m a mod (and participant) for the @kakairu-big-bang and am so excited for it. KakaIru has been with me since I was a kid, and it’s just so lovely that it’s still a fairly active part of the fandom, and still makes me as happy as it did when I was 14 (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡

3. Spooky boys, like cryptids and folklore and eldritch horrors, are always a delight, but in a year that’s more horrifying than any of them could ever dream to be, it’s oddly cathartic to indulge in the monsters we imagine while surrounded by real monsters of our own making. Also, ever since I wrote my KakaIru fic Want Me Down to the Marrow I’ve had such a soft spot for the Gashadokuro, and still laugh at “Bone Daddy”. You’ll have to pry that title from my cold, dead hands.

4. “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!” It was honestly this otome anime that led me down the path that eventually brought me to “Trash of the Count’s Family”. So I owe a lot to this series, and really the series in and of itself is such a delight. I bought the light novels on Bookwalker because I loved it so much~♥ Katarina (aka Bakarina), thank you for your service. Because of you I looked up other series of a similar strain as your story, and found the manhwa “Beware the Villainess!”, which is a fucking delight, and thus kept looking into that genre and eventually found my way to Cale Henituse’s whacky adventures.

5. “The Rising of the Shield Hero” has made me happy from the first time I watched it, but I rewatched it this year, and the announcement for the second season’s release came just like...last month I believe, so that spike of serotonin was highly appreciated. I have the light novels for this series up to volume 17, and let me tell you, the story just gets better and better and I cannot wait for it to be animated. Naofumi, I love you you cinical little shit~♥

#asks #hades-bitch #thanks for the ask meme!#and thanks for waiting a millennia for me to reply to it~!

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girlbossgaslightguillermo · 4 years ago

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fuck the US. fuck yall. fuck your country and administration. fuck you so much. India is having such a terrible crisis people are fucking dying at insanely high rates. there’s no fucking oxygen our govt is trash Twitter has become a Covid helpline I cannot fucking explain to you how bad it is here. I really fucking can’t. It’s so fucking bad. it’s so bad. I’m so angry at first world countries, genuinely fuck you if you choose to ignore how the US oppressed other countries. fuck your pro American propaganda. today I saw someone’s plea for donation because they lost multiple working members of their family. they have no fucking source of income. someone I know lost two people to covid within the week. a few days ago, 200 people waited for the oxygen to run out in a Delhi hospital and thankfully were saved but so many hospitals are just running out of oxygen and everyone’s just waiting for it. knowing they’ll die when it happens. two doctors had to go back to work immediately after burying their relatives. being Indian and seeing how my country is suffering hurts. it really fucking does.

and the worst part? there’s going to be no outrage abt this. American media won’t talk about this. Americans don’t even know about how bad it is here. if ur American and you’re seeing this, please speak up. talk to your friends. educate yourself about how the US oppresses “third world” countries. you should be angry on our behalf too. it won’t do much. the situation is so hopeless right now. I’m not even asking you to donate (DM me if you want to though) I’m just asking for an acknowledgment and some reflection. If you glorify Biden Harris or think the US can be reformed just educate yourself because it really can’t. I can’t tell you how jarring it is to follow Americans rn because you guys are getting vaccinated and going back to normal and meanwhile everyone in my country is dying. it isn’t the fault of individual citizens, you are allowed to be happy about getting vaccinated. but please remember that while things are getting back to normal for you, countries like mine are suffering and your country is a part of that. don’t glorify the US for vaccinating y’all either. you have the best fucking vaccines in the world and surplus for no reason.

just. idk. this is just me ranting. I’m just so fucking angry.

#death tw #tw death #Covid tw #tw covid #rant #okay to rb though

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royallyprincesslilly · 4 years ago

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I’m in literal tears right now. He sent me this long ass text defending himself. He doesn’t even like trump, but he dislikes Biden more so that’s why he’s voting for him. But I just don’t understand. Yes I love him but it’s not his rights that could be taken away. He’s a white cis straight man

😔Woooow. Hunny I'm so sorry.

I can imagine how you're feeling.

So he's voting over a like of a person over critical stances such as healthcare, women's reproductive rights, economy, environment such as global warming and the degradation and pollution of the oceans, etc?

So his vote won't impact him but can and will affect you and millions of others, and it is still about a like and or dislike for people?

If that were the case, I wouldn't vote, period, but that is not an option here.

Damn. I don't have the words to say to lighten this blow, and I wish I did. I also wish I could tell you to let go of this friendship and love them from afar, but I can't.

This is tough, and this truly is and has always been a country divided. It is just in plain sight now.

I'm praying for your peace of mind and happiness.

I am sorry for what I'm about to say I honestly cannot keep this in.

He can choke on a 🍆. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Disclaimer: ANYONE WHO FEELS BIG, BAD ABD BRAVE TO COME IN MY MESSAGES, ASK BOX OR COMMENTS WITH BULLSHIT WILL GET DEALT WITH ACCORDINGLY.

I AM NOT THE ONE!!!

THIS BLOG DOES NOT SUPPORT TRUMP OR HIS IDEALS!!!! UNFOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT. 🤷🏾‍♀️

#ask lee #lee answers #politics

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teachingtales · 4 years ago

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Hey so what’s your opinion about Biden bombing Syria before giving out covid checks, and the fact that there’s more kids in cages at the border now than in the worst part of the Trump presidency

Personally? I think that sucks in ways that require me to use profanity to fully explain the depth of my anger. Even more angering was letting Saudi Arabia get away with literal murder. I’m sick and tired of the USA supporting Saudi Arabia. They’re killing people in Yemen. They oppress many groups. They still execute “sinners”...people breaking a “moral” law that actually causes no harm. Just another reason to push for renewable or nuclear energy, and energy independence.

Note: I’m not sure about the note on “more kids in cages”. While the detention centers were reopened for processing, they are alleged to be kept to certain health/safety standards. I do not know if they are telling the truth about this. I am not saying your comment is false, only that I cannot verify its accuracy at this time. If you have more info, I’m very happy to read it!

As a history teacher? It was to be expected. Politicians in many places, including the USA, are basically the same elite fools pretending they play on different teams to give the illusion of choice. We have seen in history when kings and emperors give their people something to do, be it court life (old time nobility social gatherings) or increasing taxes so the workers work more and can’t afford to take a day off to fight back.

In the case of the USA, it’s literally manufactured a media circus. The pandemic is a good example. While many other developed nations simply responded to the threat, those in the USA got an overly-sensationalized “ALL OR NOTHING!!!!??!??!!!” type of experience. The big problem is once the people felt lied to about the scale, many also assumed the safety protocols were also lies. That was an incorrect assumption, but honestly I cannot blame them too much for that. When your system sets itself up to be unreliable, they can’t act surprised when people stop accepting it.

Keeping the people busy with a false enemy (in this case, the other major political party) means the elite can maintain their dealings unchallenged. My students asked me what I thought would happen if Trump won in 2020, and I said there could be a rebellion because many of the items on the Rebellions In History checklist are marked off...but perhaps it will happen under a Biden presidency. Maybe it is more of a randomized BINGO card than a checklist.

The idea is that Biden should get away with bombings and Saudi dealings because he is “less extreme” than Trump was. This would be like if your previous teacher graded everyone so harshly that your entire class failed, so when a new teacher gives you barely passing grades, you’re grateful...but in reality, you deserve great grades for your hard work. If your boss slaps you three times a day, you welcome a boss that slaps you only once per day...but in reality, you shouldn’t be slapped at all.

Biden may not be able to hide this, though. People seem critical of him now because big promises were made and there’s a HUGE mess to clean up. It seems that right-leaning news outlets are hyping up the wrong things, though...like how ugly Biden’s dog is or how they blame “cancel culture” for the fact the Dr Seuss preservation folks voluntarily and without outside pressure decided to no longer publish six books due to racism. Those are not actual issues, but if we focus the people’s attention on the absurd, they ignore the tragic.

If we focus the people’s attention on the absurd, they ignore the tragic.

I repeat this because it’s important. If you see something on social media or hear something from a person that sounds TOO sensational, TOO extreme, TOO ridiculous...it likely is and was manufactured (deliberately overblown).

I saw this in the Marine Corps. I briefly worked in Intelligence. Nothing “high up”, but we had our interesting briefings that I still am not allowed to repeat. What changed my view of the news forever was an event that wasn’t. We were told it was nothing, we aren’t worried at this time. It was two sentences. Then, a few weeks later, the news started reporting it as “we heard but can’t confirm” and made it sound scary. Over the next several weeks, analysts and experts were featured as this story got bigger and scarier. People were whipped into a frenzy. When I told family not to worry, they called me “brainwashed by the military”. Then, the media revealed that wow, golly, we are all safe!! Thank goodness!! But people were long-term angry and distrustful of the target even some 15 years later.

I was shocked. THIS WAS NOT REMOTELY AN ISSUE, and by the time they reported it, the information had been weeks old! How could they do this and call it news? So I don’t read news from the US anymore unless I’m doing it to see how a story is distorted. Of course, other media can be faulty. It’s best to read reports, documents, studies, research papers...not the news. The news can give you an idea of where to start, but do the reading yourself.

#teacher #teaching #student #students #classroom #class #history #student life #study #distance learning #biden #usa #us president #us presidential election #politics #political ideologies

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for-your-therapeutic-smile · 4 years ago

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They Never Teach You How to Stop

Rarely do I lack the words to express myself. Perhaps this reflects my failure to maintain my journal consistently throughout 2020. Here goes an honest attempt to capture and document my mental state and the fatigue of Covid, the inertia of this shelter-in-place, the anxiety of this political crisis we face as a nation, the pressure of being a 1L in law school against the backdrop of civil unrest and Justice Ginsburg��s death, coming out - my dad told me he was disappointed -, the possible erosion of my relationship with someone I love, and this feeling of absolute dread and resentment for a system that continuously fails my and future generations (robbing us of a social contract that promised life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), among many other things I’m too tired to consider. When did we accept a $0 baseline as the American Dream? Oh, to be debt free - free from this punishment for having pursued an education. Stifling the educated to prevent them (myself included) from organizing and mobilizing the masses so we can supplant this system with a better one is the overall objective of the oppressive class (read: Pedagogy of the Oppressed); it’s the conflict between the bourgeois and the proletariat. The proletariat has swallowed the middle class, leaving only the ruling class. I am essentially on autopilot, forcing myself to go through the motions so I can survive another day. I know others join me in this mental gymnastics of unparalleled proportions, one social scientists and medical researchers will soon study and subsequently publish their findings in an attempt to explain the unexplainable. Despite a lack of air circulation, we are breathing history; the constitution, like our societal norms, must adapt accordingly. Judge Barrett: there is no place for originalism. While I seldom admit weakness or an inability to manage life’s curveballs, this series of unfortunate events seems almost too much to bear.

And yet somehow I continue to find the energy to submit assignments due at 11:59 p.m., write this post at 1:38 a.m., “sleep”, wake at 7 a.m. so I can read and prepare (last minute!) the assigned material leading into my torts or contracts class. I find the energy to text my boyfriend (or ex-boyfriend) so I can attempt to salvage the real and genuine connection we have, cook elaborate meals to find some solace, wrestle with whether or not to hit my yoga mat (I don’t), apply to a fellowship for the school year and summer internships, prepare my dual citizenship paperwork, manage a campaign for two progressive politicians, and listen to music in an attempt to stay sane . . . ~*Queues John Mayer’s “War of My Life” and “Stop This Train”*~ . . . I realize I have to be kinder to myself, give credit where credit is due. I hate feeling self-congratulatory though.

Mostly, I am too afraid of the repercussions if I stop moving at a mile/minute, that I can just work away the pain and be the superhuman who numbs himself from the low-grade depression and nervous breakdown. My body tells me to slow down, as evidenced by the grinding of my teeth, but I take on more responsibility because people rely on me. I must show up. I am a masochist in that way. This is what I signed up for and I’ll be damned if I don’t carry through on my promise to do the work. Pieces of my soul scattered about like Horcruxes, though they’re pure, not evil, so I hope nobody resolves to destroy them.

My mind rarely rests. It’s 3:08 a.m., one of the lonelier hours where night meets morning; it’s the hour for and of intense introspection. It makes you consider pulling an all-nighter, one you reserve for an “important” school or work deadline. We always put our personal lives on the back-burner. 3 a.m. sets the tone for a potentially awful day. But that doesn’t matter right now. I’m letting some of my favorite albums play in the background: Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Mac Miller’s Circles, Rhye’s Blood, Alicia Keys’ ALICIA, Coldplay’s Ghost Stories, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Miley Cyrus’ Dead Petz in addition to other playlists, Tiny Desk performances, and tracks (I unearthed last week, like When It’s Over by Sugar Ray). I need to feel something. I need to feel anything. I need to feel everything. We experience such a broad spectrum of emotions throughout the day that we lose track of if we don’t pause to absorb them. Music reinforces empathy; it releases dopamine.

I spent the past two hours reading through old journals and posts, as scattered as they were, on a wide range of topics: poems I had written about falling in and out love, anecdotes about my world travels, and entries on personal, political, and professional epiphanies. The other night I found one of my favorites, a previous post from my time living in Indonesia, centering on the dualities of technology. It resonated with me more than the others. To summarize, I wrote about my tendency to equate the Internet with a sense of interconnectedness (shoutout to Tumblr for being my digital journal; to Twitter for being a place of comedy and revolution; to Instagram for curating my *aesthetic*; to Facebook where I track my family’s accomplishments and connect with travel buddies displaced around the globe all searching for a home). And yet I feel incredibly lonely and disconnected whenever I spend too much time using technology, so much so that I set screen time limitations on my phone recently to curtail this obsession with constant communication and information gathering. Trump and Biden admitted that it’s unlikely we’ll know the results of the election on November 3rd during their first presidential debate. Push notifications don’t allow us to learn of trauma within the comforts of our own homes. I’m already fearing where I will be when that news breaks.

This global pandemic and indefinite shutdown of the world (economy) undeniably exacerbates these feelings. This is some personal and collective turmoil. But I was complicit in the endless scrolling and swiping of faces and places long before Covid-19. Instead of choosing to interact with my direct environment (today’s research links this behavior to the same levels of depression one feels when they play slot machines), I am still an active on all these platforms, participating the least in the most tangible one: my physical life. I am tired of pretending. I am tired of being tired. I am tired of embodying fake energy to exist in systems that fail me. I am tired of the quagmire. Like Anaïs Nin, I must be a mermaid [because] I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living. This particular excerpt from that 2016 entry was difficult for me to read: “The fantasy of what could have been if a certain plan had unfolded will haunt you forever if you do not come to peace with the reality of the situation. I hope you come to terms with reality.” I am not at peace with my current reality. But is anyone?

It’s a bit surreal for my peers to have suddenly started caring about international relations theory. It’s transported me back to my 2012 IR lecture at Northeastern: are you a constructivist or a feminist? Realist or liberalist? Neo? Marxist? The one no one wants you to talk about. Absent upward mobility, this is class warfare. But I cannot be “a singular expression of myself . . . there are too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers” . . . It feels like America’s wake-up call. But I know people will retreat into the comforts of capitalism if Biden wins and, well, we all enter uncharted waters together if the Electoral College re-elects #45. For those who weren’t paying attention: the world is multipolar and we are not the hegemon. Norms matter. People tend to be self-interested and shortsighted. Look to the past in order to understand the future. History, as the old adage goes, repeats itself. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Taxation without representation. Indoctrination. Welcome to the language of political discourse. Students of IR and polisci have long awaited your participation. Too little too late? Plot twist: it’s a lifelong commitment. You must continue to engage irrespective of the election outcome or else we will regress just as quickly as we progress. Now dive into international human rights treaties (International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights), political refugees, FGM. No one said it wasn’t dismal. But it’s important. We need buy-in.

While I am grateful for the continuation of my education, for this extended time with family, for this opportunity to be a campaign manager for two local progressive candidates (driving to Boston to pick up revised yard signs as proof that the work never stops), it would be remiss of me, however, not to admit that I am lonely: I am buried in my books, in the depressing news both nationally and globally, and in precedent-setting Supreme Court cases (sometimes for the worst, e.g. against the preservation of our environment). In my nonexistent free time I work on political asylum cases, essentially creating an enforceability framework of international law, for people fleeing country conditions so unthinkable (the irony of that work when my country falls greater into authoritarianism and oligarchy is not lost on me). I am fulfilling my dream of becoming a human rights lawyer which stems back to middle school. I saw Things I Imagined (thank you Solange). I have held an original copy of the Declaration of Independence that we sent to the House of Lords in 1778 and the Human Rights Act of 1998 while visiting the U.K. Parliamentary Archives as an intern for a Member of Parliament. This success terrifies and exhausts me; it also oxygenizes and saves me. Every decision, every sacrifice, has led me to this point.

“It’s the choosing that’s important, isn’t it?,” Lois Lowry of The Giver rhetorically asks. This post is not intended to be woe is me! I am fortunate to be in this position, to have this vantage point at such an early age, and I understand the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. My life has purpose. I am committed to the work that transcends boundaries; it is larger than life itself. It provides a unique perspective. But it makes it difficult to coexist with people so preoccupied in the drama they create in their lives and the general shallowness of the world we live. It feels like there is no option to pump the brakes on any of this work, especially in light of our current climate, and that pressure oftentimes feels insurmountable. Time is of the essence. It feels, whether true or not, that hardly anyone relates to my experience, so if I don’t carve out this time to write about it, then I am neither recording nor processing it.

Tonight, in between preparing tomorrow’s coursework, I realize that I have an unprecedented number of questions about life, which startles me because typically I have the answers or at least have a goal in mind that launches me into the next phase of life or contextualizes the current one. These goals, often rooted in this capitalistic framework, in this falsity of “needing” to advance my career as a means of helping people, distract me from asking myself the existential questions, the reasons for why we live and what we fundamentally want our systems to look like; they have distracted me from real grassroots community organizing until now. They distract me from the fact that, like John Mayer, I don’t know which walls to smash; similarly, I don’t know which train to board. Right now feels like we are living through impossible and hopeless times and I don’t want to placate myself into thinking otherwise despite my relatively optimistic outlook on life. As we face catastrophic circumstances – the consequences of this election and climate change (famine, refugees, lack of resources) – I do not want to live in perpetual sadness. I am searching for clarity and direction so I can step into a better, fuller version of myself.

It’s now 3:33 a.m. Here is the list of questions that I have often asked myself in different stages of life, but recently, until now, I have not been willing to confront for fear that I might not be able to answers them. But I owe it to myself to pose them here so I can have the overdue conversation, the one I know leads me to better understanding myself:

Are you happy? Why or why not?

What do you want the future to hold? What groundwork are you going to do to ensure it happens?

What does your ideal day/week/month/year/decade look like? Why?

With whom do you want to spend your days? Why?

Who do you love and care about? Have you told people you care about that you love them? Does love and vulnerability scare you?

What do you expect of people – of yourself, of your partner, of your family, and of your friends? Should you have those expectations? Why or why not?

What do you feel and why?

What relaxes you? What scares you? What brings you joy?

What do you want to improve? Why?

What do you want to forgive yourself for and why?

Does the desire to reinvent yourself diminish your ability to be present?

Do you have a greater fear of failure or success? Why?

How do you escape the confines of this broken system? How do you break from the guilt of participation in it and having benefited from it?

How do we reconcile our daily lives with the fact that we’re living through an extinction event? This one comes from my friend (hi Jeanne) and a podcast she listened to recently.

How do you help people? How do you help yourself? Are you pouring from an empty cup?

How will you find joy in your everyday responsibilities, in the mission you have chosen for yourself? What, if any, will be the warning signs to walk away from this work, in part or in its entirety? Without being a martyr, do you believe in dying for the cause?

So here are some of the lessons I have learned during this quarantine/past year:

“I’ve Got Dreams to Remember,” so do not take your eyes off them. Chasing paper does not bring you happiness.

Be autonomous, particularly in your professional life.

Focus on values instead of accolades.

Do everything with intention and honest energy.

Listen to Tracy Chapman’s “Crossroads” & Talkin’ Bout a Revolution for an energy boost and reminder that other revolutionaries have shared and continue to share your fervent passion . . . “I’m trying to protect what I keep inside, all the reasons why I live my life” . . . When self-doubt nearly cripples you and you yearn a few minutes to run away when in reality you can’t escape your responsibilities, go for a drive and queue up “Fast Car” . . . “I got no plans, I ain’t going nowhere, so take your fast car and keep on driving.”

With that said, take every opportunity to travel (you can take the work with you if absolutely necessary). Go to Italy. Buy the concert ticket and lose yourself in the moment. Remember that solo excursions are equally as important as collective ones. But, from personal experience, you prefer the company. Find the balance.

Detach from the numbers people keep trying to assign to measure your personhood.

Closely examine the people in your inner circle and ask them for help when you need it.

“And life is just too short to keep playing the game . . . because if you really want somebody [or something], you’ll figure it out later, or else you will just spend the rest of the night with a BlackBerry on your chest hoping it goes *vibration, vibration*” (John Mayer’s Edge of Desire) . . . so love fiercely and unapologetically.

Be specific.

Go to therapy even when life is good.

#reflection #covid #quarantine #late nights #music #revolution #diary #politics #john mayer #alicia keys #tracy chapman #love #dear diary #travel #writing #personal #mental health

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