#2025 Pay-Per-View

[jeshaisabookworm]

We Got R-Truth!

It has been a rollercoaster of a week for us fans. First with R-Truth being released from WWE that got the “R-truth” chants going duing Raw & Smackdown to now where R-Truth comes into the ring at the John Cena & Logan Paul vs Jey Uso & Cody Rhodes match. The excitment of the fans can be heard when the masked attacker of John Cena clad in all black and a ski-masked removed his covering to reveal…

[thesportswarriors]

Fatal Fury Fight Night: Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez Predictions You Need to See!

Fatal Fury: City of Wolves – Fight Night Breakdown and Predictions The Road to Times Square In an unprecedented move, the world of boxing sets the stage in the heart of Times Square for Fatal Fury: City of Wolves on May 2, 2025. Years of rivalries, comebacks, and upsets have led us here. Ryan Garcia, once seen as the face of boxing’s new generation, faces his redemption arc after a stunning…

[castielsprostate]

it's the year 2025, misha collin's new book "things i can now tell you" hits the shelves detailing all the homophobia behind the scenes at the hit cw show supernatural. the cw building is set on fire, eric kripke and rob singer are strung up in protest outside nextar media group as bedlund is raised into the sky as king. jensen ackles and misha collins go balls deep in each other by pirating the cw channel in shitty amazon dean and cas cosplays

the cw sniper is caught, the reveal is livestreamed behind a 10$ pay per view wall on twitch. the mask gets ripped off revealing none other than jared padalecki who grits out, "you fags will never live up to sastiel!" he gets mind exploded by taylor swift singing the gay anthem

[vixensdungeon]

Oh no, the dastardly No-Good Gang has ambushed crowd-favourite wrestler Joe Punchfist while he was promoting his upcoming charity match. He's outnumbered and getting pummeled in the middle of the ring while the officials look on helplessly. Will Joe be able to wrestle his match at next week's Renaissance Slayre pay-per-view, or will those poor orphans end up on the street? But wait! The crowd goes wild as a song starts playing and running out of the locker-room area comes…

Okay so before our valiant wrestler can run into the ring to save Joe's hide, we must create them. And we'll be using the WWF Basic Adventure Game for that!

The game assumes you'll be creating several wrestlers plus a couple managers and even a referee or announcer for each player, but we'll just be making one wrestler. This post is really long so click to see the rest of it!

First we pick a sex for our wrestler (this game was made in the early 90s so you'll excuse it if the terminology isn't up to 2025 standards). We'll be making a girl. For a name I just go to a random generator and get Weronika Sandström. She started wrestling out of high school so for random age we roll 1d10+17, getting an 18.

Then we determine our weight class. We could just pick, but that's not how we do it down in the Vixen's dungeon, so a random roll it is! A d% roll of 63 lands us in the lightweight division (sidebar: because this game is based on WWF in the early 90s, you can't actually make someone like Rey Mysterio in the game, because according to the designer's research there were no male wrestlers in the super lightweight category). Then we roll another d%. A 67 tells us that our weight is 225+1d6 pounds, 231 in our case. This gives us some game stats. Our maximum for the Aerial Tactics attribute is 90, and we get a +5 to whatever number we later generate for it. We have a -5 modifier for lift, meaning that our opponents need to roll 5 less than normal to lift us. Our maximum stamina is 90.

Next are our attributes. There's three ways to generate them: rolling random numbers and then assigning them as we see fit, using points to purchase them, or rolling them in order. And you know how we do it in the dungeon! For Brute Strength (STR) we roll a d6 on a chart and get a 6, which means a 50. Technical Ability (TEC) is 35, Brawling (BRA) is 45, Martial Arts (MAR) is 45, Aerial Tactics (AGI which is short for Agility rather than Aerial Tactics) is 30+5 for 35, Perception (PER) is 45, Stamina (STA) is 45, Business Skill (BUS) is 30, and Constitution (CON) is 45. Our lightweight girl is more of a powerhouse than you might expect!

Then we get to Advantages, which are miscellaneous qualities our wrestler might have, at the cost of lowering our basic attributes. And would you look at that, there's an option to roll them randomly! We get to roll twice and get 98 (Resistance to Attack) and 70 (Winning Appearence). We have to lower four attributes by 5 for the first one, and two of them for the second one. I choose to lower my TEC, BRA, AGI, and BUS, and then BRA and AGI again (I couldn't have lowered the same attribute twice to pay for the same advantage so I had to do them separately like that). This character is kinda starting to resemble the one I made in AEW Fight Forever, who is built entirely around kicking, although she is a heavyweight. For Winning Appearence I choose to be good-looking, and the neat thing about this advantage is that even if I had chosen to be ugly, the effect would be exactly the same and depend on whether the wrestler is good or bad. It says something about how our physical qualities are perceived depending on how our nature is perceived. For Ressitance to Attack I pick Martial Arts, which will halve the amount of stun those kinds of attacks deal against our wrestler. Your kung-fu is weak!

There's also disadvantages, so we get to roll some more, yippee! 50 and 45 would give us the same one so we re-roll one of them and get 39. We have Title Lust and Personal Vendetta. A second roll (69, nice~) means our lust is for the Intercontinental Title, meaning we can't wrestle for the World Title or the Tag Team Title. For Personal Vendetta I'll pick some bad character to feud with, probably someone from the No-Good Gang! We get to raise two and one attributes, respectively. I pick STR twice and STA once.

Now our attributes stand at STR 60 (the maximum for a starting character), TEC 35, BRA 35, MAR 45, AGI 25 (the minimum), PER 45, STA 50, BUS 25, and CON 45. We can now determine our secondary attributes. Our Power Bonus (PB) is the number of extra stun points we inflict, in our case 3/2/1/0 (I'll explain the slashes later). Our Stun Points (STN) are determined by cross-referencing some charts based on our STA and CON, which ends up giving us 200/140/92/46.

Next we determine our build. I want our girl to be of the Large variety (with some curves), so cross-reference a chart and find that at 231 lbs. our wrestler is 5' 8". Then we choose handedness. I try to roll for ambidexterity but fail, so I make her a righty like myself. As my finishing move I pick Bearhug, because isn't it nice to just cuddle your opponent into submission? Based on our AGI, our Movement (MOV) is 2/2/2/1. Based on CON, our Recovery (REC) is 4/4/3/3. Our Fan Support starts at 0, but our good looks will help in raising it! Finally we multiply our BUS by 5 for 125, giving us $125 because it's that kind of game. I'll buy a bandanna, some jeans (cut into jorts), a tank top, kneepads, and a sweat shirt, leaving us with $4. Hopefully we can make some money so we don't have to wrestle barefoot anymore!

So what's with the slashes? To illustrate, here's our final lineup of attributes.

STR 60/54/48/42 TEC 35/32/28/25 BRA 35/32/28/25 MAR 45/41/36/32 AGI 25/23/20/18 PER 45/41/36/32 STA 50/45/40/35 BUS 25/23/20/18 CON 45/41/36/32 PB 3/2/1/0 MOV 2/2/2/1 REC 4/4/3/3 STN 200/140/92/46 So you see how all our attributes actually have four values? As we start out at STN 200, they're all in that left-most value. But as our Stamina Points wear out, all our attributes start dropping!

Anyway, back to our exciting scene from earlier. "Sandstorm" by Darude starts playing as newcomer Weronika Sandström runs in to save the day!

As you can probably tell, this is a very silly game. And that's what makes it great.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ilana Berger at MMFA:

As President Donald Trump’s administration orders mass layoffs and cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, local meteorologists and influencer storm chasers — including some weather experts who previously claimed to avoid politics or expressed right-leaning views — are speaking out in support of federal employees and the essential information provided by the agency. 

Trump’s funding cuts and layoffs will hobble NOAA and the National Weather Service, potentially restricting access to a vital public good that costs taxpayers very little

NOAA and its subsidiaries, including the National Weather Service, employ thousands of scientists, engineers, and other experts to conduct vital research that is shared with the public. NOAA’s products and services range “from daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce.” The NWS estimates that the critical information it provides costs just $4 per U.S. resident per year. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, accessed 3/14/25; The New York Times, 2/8/25]  

Project 2025 — the right-wing plan for a second Trump administration organized by The Heritage Foundation with over 100 conservative partner organizations — called for NOAA to be “broken up and downsized” and urged the National Weather Service to “fully commercialize its forecasting operations.” Weather experts across the country have expressed alarm at Project 2025’s plans to dismantle NOAA under the new administration. Project 2025 architect Russell Vought, who now heads Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, has promised, “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected.” [Media Matters, 5/31/24, 9/27/24, 2/28/25; ProPublica, 10/28/24]  

Starting on February 27, the Trump administration has laid off more than 800 NOAA employees, plus another 500 who resigned if the agency promised to pay them through September. According to The New York Times, “The two rounds of departures together represent about 10 percent of NOAA’s roughly 13,000 employees.” On March 12, NOAA announced in an email to its staffers that the agency would be laying off another 1,029 employees, or roughly 10% of the agency’s remaining workforce. [The New York Times, 2/27/25, 2/28/25]  

The Associated Press: “After this upcoming round of cuts, NOAA will have eliminated about one out of four jobs since President Donald Trump took office in January.” “This is not government efficiency,” said former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad. “It is the first steps toward eradication. There is no way to make these kinds of cuts without removing or strongly compromising mission capabilities.” [The Associated Press, 3/12/25]  

The NWS’ National Hurricane Center has made great strides in tracking dangerous storms, but Trump’s layoffs are threatening that progress. A February preview of a report from the National Hurricane Center concluded that for the first time, the center managed to “explicitly forecast a system that was not yet a tropical cyclone (pre-Helene potential tropical cyclone) to become a 100-kt (115 mph) major hurricane within 72 hours.” However, experts fear that funding cuts and layoffs at NOAA’s Office of Aircraft Operations will impact the ability of the agency’s specialized “Hurricane Hunters” to collect data used for tracking and predicting destructive storms. [National Hurricane Center, 2/24/25; Yale Climate Connections, 3/6/25]

Meteorologists and storm chasers of all political persuasions issue dire warnings that the Project 2025/DOGE-inspired cuts to the NOAA and the NWS threaten public safety and forecast accuracy.

[tatarstani]

Official statement by the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in an interview

30 May 2025

Question: Russia has submitted materials to the UN International Court of Justice. They provide evidence of the acts of genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime against the people in Donbass. What served as a basis for these claims? And is there a chance that these materials will be reviewed in an impartial and unbiased manner?

Answer: “Ukraine initiated proceedings in the UN International Court of Justice in February 2022, right after the start of the special military operation, as per the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. However, it turned to the Kiev regime’s disadvantage.

The International Court of Justice issued its preliminary objections under this case on February 2, 2024. In this document, it rejected all the claims made by Ukraine alleging that Russia violated the Convention. The court went on to rule that further proceedings will focus on whether Ukraine committed acts of genocide in Donbass. Therefore, the Kiev regime filed the lawsuit only to become a defendant in this case.

On November 18, 2024, Russia submitted its main pleading document, the so-called Counter Memorandum, as part of these proceedings. In fact, this is the first time since the Nuremberg Trials that Russia de facto assumed the role of the prosecution in an international tribunal. But there are even more parallels with the Nuremberg Trials. Just as during these trials, we are dealing with a Nazi regime which was targeting civilians with mass atrocities on racial, ethnic and national grounds.

In fact, Russia’s Counter Memorandum can be viewed as an indictment containing evidence of the Kiev regime’s involvement in genocidal practices, including acts of genocide, as well as failing to prevent genocide, encouraging it, and refusing to hold others accountable for perpetrating these crimes.

The document’s main part is 522 pages long. It also includes over 10,000 pages in annexes setting forth evidence regarding over 140 instances of targeted efforts to kill civilians in Donbass, as confirmed by official testimonies from about 300 witnesses and victims, expert probes and other materials from the corresponding criminal files investigated by the Investigative Committee of Russia.

There are elements of genocidal intent in what the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Nazi armed groups did. They wanted to eliminate Russians and Russian speakers in Donbass, citizens of the DPR and the LPR, adepts of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and people in this region in general as an ethnic, religious and national entity. The Kiev regime’s neo-Nazi nature and the fact that it relied on a criminal ideology of the bloody Ukrainian nationalist movements and the Third Reich were exposed. The paper also sets forth evidence of far-reaching ethnic and linguistic discrimination against Russians and Russian speakers, as well as Kiev’s commitment to erase the Russian language and Russian culture, while also destroying the historical memory regarding the victory over fascism, glorifying Nazis and their accomplices who were guilty of committing so many acts of genocide, from Petlyura’s pogroms to the Holocaust.

Our goal as far as international law is concerned is to hold the perpetrators accountable. We must attract as much publicity as possible and ensure that the entire international community pays attention. At this point all the materials pertaining to these proceedings, including Russia’s Counter Memorandum, are confidential as per the ICJ rules, but we will make sure to release them to the public once the oral arguments on the merits of the case begin.”

[vimse]

Ah wow it’s almost 2025, which means it’s time for the yearly art recap. Time flies when you’re struggling through your thesis, but I’m very pleased to scrounge up at least one Tech drawing per month. I’ll do a (not so) short reflection about my 2024 art under the cut if you’re interested, but for now, I’d like to express my greatest gratitude for everybody who has stuck around and shared my art. Hoping that 2025 will be a more productive art year. Byeee 🧡

Tl;dr under the cut: ramblings about my struggle in school, 2024 highlights, hopes and dreams next year

—

Let’s look back at last year’s summary:

What's next in 2024?

More Tech. Some things I'd like to explore in 2024 is character drawings beyond portraits, anatomy, simple backgrounds, OCs, storytelling through short comics, TBB band au, and maybe some commission work

Well, safe to say I didn’t get too much of that done haha. The reason for that is I’ve been really struggling with my undergraduate thesis work in chemistry. I don’t really know the root cause of it, but I just can’t bring myself to finish it and I’ve been procrastinating badly, so much that I’ve missed two presentation opportunities. The third opportunity is within 2 weeks and I’m nowhere finished or ready. It has been a constant source of stress and anxiety throughout 2024. I got burned out by the end of May and went to the school counsel to hand in my resignation notice, but got convinced to stick around but to finish it at a later date, because this is literally the last thing to do before I get my degree. Then afterwards I decided to go back to my old job full time, which has been very tiring and took a long time to adjust to. This is very obviously reflected in the amount of full illustration produced during July to October, especially September when I couldn’t bring myself to draw anything beyond Tech’s hand lol.

If I don’t finish my thesis in time for this round, I think I’ll finally throw in the towel for real. Maybe I’ve doomed my future or something but…this experience has made me feel incredibly (and constantly) bad for a whole year, and it has affected every aspect of my life. I’m very tired of it. And although my current job is very tiresome and probably detrimental to my health, it pays well and the colleagues are wonderful. Additionally, it is a niche job that I have years of experience in, with good connections, so I’m not currently worrying about my future job at all. And it’s still within the chemistry industry, so all the time I spent in school isn’t going to waste. In regard to my future, I’m more worried about wasting all of it on a conventional 7-16 job, of which I don’t think a degree in analytical chemistry would help me avoid anyways.

Okay, I’ve rambled enough. If you’re still here, thank you. Now, let’s look back to some positive highlights in my art year of 2024:

I think I’ve finally reached the point where I’m content with how I draw Tech. As evident by the picture above, it’s sort of consistent too, which is a bonus.

I joined my first zine!! It’s the Pabu Days zine and I can’t wait for everyone to get their copy of it. Everybody’s pieces are amazing. I wish I did better/more, but the creation period was during the worst time of my year, mental health-wise, and I have to accept that it was the best I could do at the time.

As for the “masterpiece” of 2024, my most proudest work is the CX-Tech piece I did during the height of TBB season 3. I’m incredibly happy with how the rim lights turned out and the overall mood of it. Also the texture on the armour turned out sooo good, I can’t believe I was the one who painted it lol. I wish I could personally show the picture from my monitor, because all the details seem to disappear when viewed on tumblr. Below is the illustration I’m talking about, along with a side by side comparison to the picture I referenced the lighting from + some closeups. Looking back at it now, I wish I added a stronger frontal light source, so that the picture isn’t so dark.

Also, extra shout out to the back study series. I am traditionally not a painter (just grew up as an anime weeb) so making these this was an incredible accomplishment.

With that, I’m wrapping this very long post (sorry) with some 2025 hopes and dreams. Basically it’s the same things I wanted to do in 2024: improve anatomy, more background, work on OC, work on AUs. I want to try very hard to make commissions happen next year, if people are still interested. Something else I want to do that isn’t strictly art related is to connect more with people, especially with those who are still hyperfixated on TBB as I am. I find it hard to socialise on tumblr, but I try to be more social on bluesky. Idk, I think it would be fun to find a small active community that is maybe more focused on clones and oc stuff.

Okay, that’s all! If you’ve made it this far, thank you thank you thank you. Have a happy holiday and may your 2025 be a wonderful, wonderful year.

🧡 vimse

[evidence-based-activism]

Patriarchal Culture Masterlist

To make my resources more accessible, I am now going to have separate posts linking to each of my feminism subcategories. These are intended to catalog my resource posts, not every post on my blog.

This is the masterlist for my #patriarchal culture tag, which includes (but is not limited to) posts on economic inequality, abortion, gender stereotypes, and the beauty industry.

Most of these posts are mine, but I will include the occasional resource from others.

Please see my main masterlist for other topics.

This post will be edited to include further resources, so check back on the original post link for updates. (Last update: 03/2025)

Prevalence and Impact of Patriarchy

Misogyny causes the loss of millions of women per year.

Around the world, many men endorse misogynistic beliefs and behaviors.

Economic Inequality

The gender pay gap still exists and is driven by the sexist structure of the workforce.

As women move into a field, the pay for that field drops, which is driven by devaluation of women and the sexist structure of the workforce.

Women do the majority of unpaid labor and their work is devalued and disregarded.

Women are equal or better corporate leaders than men.

Men still hold most economic power in the Western world.

There is substantial gendered economic inequality around the world.

Social and Legal Systems

Criminal justice:

There is not a criminal sentencing gap caused by sex.

Women who commit sexual assault do not get lighter sentences because they are women.

Marriage:

The benefits of marriage are much weaker for women than men, and may be eliminated by other social support networks.

Women’s career success is associated with divorce if the couple endorsed traditional views on gender or the woman is dissatisfied with the marriage, but not otherwise.

Men are more likely than women to leave their severely ill spouses.

Children/custody:

Child support and alimony are not discriminatory against men; they are simply extensions of the social contracts you agreed to.

Children raised by both parents, just their mother, just their father, or same-sex parents all have similar outcomes once adjusted for socioeconomic factors and life transitions.

Custody courts are not biased against men.

Politics:

Men still hold most political power in the Western world.

Women are equal or better political leaders than men.

There is not a sudden rightward shift in young men’s politics; men have simply always been more conservative than women.

Feminists opposed the male-specific draft.

The 4B movement is a female separatist movement, not a sex strike or political lesbianism.

Many countries have yet to ratify CEDAW: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Other:

There is not a boy’s education crisis.

People generally find women equally or more qualified than men to lead.

In the developing world, patriarchal religions are strongly associated with misogyny and homophobia.

Women’s mobility around the world is severely restricted either formally or informally.

Beauty Industry

Women are impacted more by body image issues and sexualization in society.

Misogyny has restricted women’s diets for millennia.

Young girls' clothes are sexualized.

There is a general attractiveness advantage for both men and women, except in some industries where attractiveness may actually harm women’s outcomes.

Women experience a general advantage when wearing makeup, except for in some male-dominated environments where it harms them.

The “choice” to wear makeup is simply acceding to the path of least resistance.

Makeup perpetuates capitalism, racism, sexism, and necessitates harm to the environment and animals.

Gender Stereotypes

Women are better drivers than men.

Women are better drivers even after adjusting for driving time/conditions.

Men do not have higher IQs than women.

Men are not better at mathematics/coding.

Men’s greater performance on cognitive tasks is eliminated when the stereotype threat against women is eliminated.

Men do not feel more sexual attraction than women.

Men’s and women’s sexual responses are more similar than commonly suggested.

Medical Misogyny

Abortion:

Abortion should be available because women have a right to bodily autonomy.

Access to abortion should not be restricted to women who have the “right” attitude about it.

There is much greater public support for abortion access now than in the past.

Forcing women to have children does nothing to address systemic issues in society.

Other:

Women are harmed during menstruation around the world.

Sexual Behavior

BDSM/Kink:

Roles in kink are heavily gendered, and men are generally more likely to engage in kink.

Submissiveness is associated with reduced sexual arousal in women.

Sexual dominance is not "biological," and such arguments are irrelevant anyway.

Sexual violence is common in BDSM.

The way society talks about sex often positions penetration as an act of dominance and being penetrated as submissive.

Consent:

Men understand nuance in consent; they simply find it convenient to pretend not to.

Incels make a choice to identify with a movement that encourages and perpetuates violence against women.

Sexual violence is not a sex act that is violent but a violent act that is sexual.

The responsive model of sexual attraction raises concerns about sexual coercion.

Other:

Men’s desire for a virgin partner is hypocritical.

The response to male and female victims and perpetrators is similar.

Birth control is more effective nowadays but still existed in history; motherhood is not a requirement of womanhood.

Commentary on the power differential in heterosexual sexual intercourse.

Biology vs Culture

There are no major differences between men’s and women’s brains.

A recent study using machine learning does not prove the idea of brain sex.

Biology does not explain gender stereotypes.

It is unlikely male sexual selection drove sexual dimorphism in humans.

History

There are many theories on the patriarchy’s origins, none of which are confirmed.

Men were not the sole builders of civilization, and such characterizations are misogynistic.

Men have erased women’s contributions from history.

Other

There is not a male-specific loneliness crisis, just a general loneliness epidemic.

Men commit suicide more often, but women attempt suicide more often; this difference is largely driven by differences in methodology.

Male circumcision is not equivalent to female genital mutilation.

All same-sex attracted people experience homophobia.

There is still child marriage in the USA.

[jeshaisabookworm]

Jacob Fatu Turns on Solo Sikoa | WWE Money in the Bank

Finally! After months of teasing a split Jacob Fatu has finally plunged the knife on the back of his former leader. The tension between the two can be felt ever since Solo lost the right to call himself Tribal Chief and Jacob stopped saying his catchphrase of ‘I love you Solo’ but for a brief moment when Solo got Jacob the chance to qualify for money in the bank all seemed to be well. Jacob and…

[hauntedparaclassics]

‘Ghost Adventures’ Star Aaron Goodwin’s Ex Victoria Appears in Court for Alleged Murder Plot

By Caitlyn Somers - March 25, 2025

Ghost Adventures star Aaron Goodwin’s estranged wife, Victoria Goodwin, attended her hearing after allegedly hiring a hitman to murder him.

Victoria, 32, appeared in court on Tuesday, March 25, wearing a prison jumpsuit with her hands cuffed to a chain around her waist. According to a local NBC outlet, Victoria’s attorney, David Brown, told the judge that they would waive Victoria’s preliminary hearing. A separate appearance is now scheduled for April 8.

On March 6, Victoria, who had been married to Aaron for nearly three years, was arrested on charges of soliciting to commit murder and conspiring to commit murder, per inmate records in Clark County, Nevada.

According to an arrest report obtained by Us Weekly, Victoria had been messaging a Florida prison inmate, Grant Amato, about her desire to leave her marriage. One of her alleged text messages read, “Am I a bad person? Because I chose to end his existence. Not divorce.” (TMZ was the first to break the news on March 10.)

Victoria allegedly provided information about Aaron’s location and filming time while he was shooting Ghost Adventures in California. The report claims that Victoria set aside $11,515 to pay Amato in October 2024, and they had communicated about a $2,500 upfront payment.

The police reportedly learned of the alleged murder plot after corrections officers found and seized Amato’s phone at the Florida prison. Victoria allegedly denied wanting to have her husband killed, noting that she didn’t remember sending the messages and she believed the money was for cell phones. She added that she and Aaron were experiencing marital woes.

Shortly after the news broke, Aaron filed for divorce from Victoria on March 12, per records viewed by Us.

In the filing, Aaron sought to maintain his separate property and have their community assets divided equally, however, he did want to have the costs of the community assets reimbursed. He also sought to have his single status restored along with requesting that alimony not be rewarded to either him or Victoria.

“The views, tastes, likes and dislikes of husband and wife have become incompatible to the extent that it has become impossible for them to live together … in marital harmony,” the docs read. “There is no possibility of reconciliation.”

After filing for divorce, Aaron amended his initial filing, accusing Victoria of negligence and false imprisonment.

According to the petition exclusively obtained by Us on Wednesday, March 19, Aaron sought punitive and exemplary damages totaling more than $10,000 after Victoria was allegedly negligent in her marital actions. He also accused Victoria of assault and false imprisonment and claimed that she made him “feel apprehension of harmful or offensive behavior.”

Aaron requested that the court grant a divorce because Victoria reportedly committed a “concert of actions,” which is defined in the motion as acting “with another … to commit a tort while acting in concert or pursuant to a common design.”

Amid his divorce and legal issues, Aaron shared that he is grateful for the public’s support.

“Thank you everyone for all the love and support through this emotionally trying time,” Aaron wrote via Instagram on Monday, March 24. “It has really helped a lot and I appreciate you all.”

Source: US Weekly Magazine

[ifuckinglovedinosaurssomuchjesus]

Walking With Dinosaurs (2025)

First off, it really should have been called something else. "The Daily Life of Dinosaurs" or something. Calling it WWD not only sets it up to being unfairly compared, it's also just not the same type of show. Half the screen-time is dedicated to Paleontologists in the desert pointing at bones, and while the show-runners have tried to give an explanation for this decision, these scenes really don't give the information or context they should. Several minutes of looking at pollen under a microscope to show how scientists know forest fires happened in dinosaur times is nice, but it destroys any sense of pacing or flowing narrative and really doesn't give us any more information than the narration could.

The storytelling and animation are also all a step down from the 1999 original even if the models themselves have better detail and are more accurate. I can't imagine people walking away from this with as much reverence or attachment to Clover or Sobek as they do with the Ornithocheirus or Big Al. In terms of vibes, this series feels more in-line with the likes of Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure or Dinosaurs Alive! than the lighting in a bottle that the original series was.

As for the show itself, separated from its name, it's a good but not amazing documentary. The narratives are cute and the science is sound, but it mostly plays things safe, the usual predators chasing things and herbivores migrating in herds. They didn't set out to shake the boat and it suffers a bit from that. I feel like, in the next few decades, this will be completely overshadowed by Prehistoric Planet when people reminisce about the Dino Docs of the 2020s.

The show also really suffers from fear of showing any blood or death, there always seems to be a convenient stump to block the view or the animals just mouth at their meal without breaking skin, it's pretty jarring and something I've noticed more and more in paleo-docs recently.

Unfortunately the show is only available in the UK at the moment, to watch it I had to pay $10 for a VPN and then suffer through the BBC's terrible "iPlayer" app which couldn't stop itself from crashing two or three times per episode. It'll apparently become more widely available next month, but for now it's a hassle to watch for any non-britbongs.

For my thoughts on the specific episodes:

The Orphan: Bit of clickbait having the Triceratops be the main character if you're just going to spend the entire runtime talking about T. rex, though the ending had a moment that felt pretty nice for all the herbivore lovers out there.

The River Dragon: Cute, with a dad Spinosaurus leading his kids across the dry scrub-land to get to a fish spawning ground. My favorite bit was the Alanqa in the forest, they leaned all in on the horror movie tropes which was a lot of fun to see an Azdarchid take part in.

Band of Brothers: At the end I realized the ankylosaurs and raptors were being depicted as in a gang war of sorts, which just did not come across very well in the episode. That combined with the juvenile and adult Gastonia models being the same and the dry and wet seasons also being no different despite both transitions having major plot significance kind of highlighted how much the storytelling in this series is lacking.

The Pack: The story of the runt of a pack of Albertosaurus proving herself lends naturally to good drama. The focus on theropod communication through biting and touch was great and it's probably the first ever piece of paleomedia where a hadrosaur kills a tyrannosaur.

The Journey North: A herd of Pachyrhinosaurus migrate north, get attacked by a Gorgosaurus pack, then drown in a flash flood. Not much here that we haven't seen a dozen times before, even the Gorgo is just the last episode's Alberto model reused without even a new coat of paint.

Island of Giants: Absolutely my favorite episode, the story of an old bull sauropod losing his mate and building up the strength to take his revenge and get her back, with some fun behaviors like osteophagy and infrasound showcased. Take this story and inter-cut some smaller moments of other Portuguese dinosaurs and you'd have something that actually would fit great in the original WWD.

Overall, the show was fine, not amazing or groundbreaking but nowhere near terrible and it has its great moments. I was a bit harsh in this review and I do think the collective opinion of the internet paleo-fandom will soften on it over time, but yeah... definitely should have called it something else.

[eretzyisrael]

by Mike Wagenheim

The U.S. Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has been stripped of its legal immunity.

The decision was taken as part of a case filed last year in which families of victims of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sued UNRWA for its ties to terrorism. Israel has said that at least 18 UNRWA staff members took part directly in the assault across the Gaza border into southern Israel.

The plaintiffs also allege long-term fraud and corruption in handling financial aid routed through UNRWA into the Gaza Strip—$1 billion of which critics say has fallen into the hands of Hamas and other terror groups.

“The complaint in this case alleges atrocious crimes committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, and its factual allegations, taken as true, detail how UNRWA played a significant role in those heinous offenses,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York wrote to the U.S. district judge Analisa Torres. 

“Previously, the government expressed the view that certain immunities shielded UNRWA from having to answer those allegations in American courts,” per the filing. “The government has since re-evaluated that position and now concludes that UNRWA is not immune from this litigation. Nor are the bulk of other defendants.”

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The claim by the U.S. attorney’s office added that UNRWA is not legally considered an affiliated organ of the United Nations since it was formed and continues to hold its mandate as a result of a resolution by the U.N. General Assembly. The U.S. Justice Department said the General Assembly may have lacked the authority to create the agency.

Former President Joe Biden’s administration held that the United Nations and UNRWA were immune from the lawsuit.

If found not to have immunity, UNRWA, its leaders and employees—and perhaps the United Nations at large—could be ordered to pay large compensation to victims and their families.

Stripping diplomatic immunity from UNRWA might also call into question the future of U.N. headquarters in New York and could impact the Knesset’s decision, effective this past January, to ban UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory.

The office of António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, told JNS that “we have seen the letter filed by the U.S. Department of Justice with the court. We will review it carefully.”

“The position of the United Nations is longstanding and clear. UNRWA is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and, as such, is entitled to immunity from legal process under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,” the secretary-general’s office added. (An UNRWA spokesperson sent JNS the same statement.)

“This issue is before the federal district court in New York, and through our counsel, we will continue to set out the basis for our position before the court,” the secretary-general’s office told JNS. “We will consider whether any other action is appropriate with respect to the letter.”

[supakixbabe]

My AEW Revolution Theory:

March 9th, 2025 is AEW Revolution and Kenny Omega is facing Konosuke Takeshita for the International Championship. Two things could happen: One, Kenny successfully defeats Takeshita, the Young Bucks music hits and distracts Kenny as Jack Perry attacks him from behind, issuing a challenge for that International championship at the next pay-per-view. Or two, the Young Bucks return and cause Kenny Omega to lose his match.

Kenny had said on the latest episode of AEW Collision that it was time to show the world that Kenny Omega is still the best or Kenny Omega never challenges for an AEW title again. Whether that is being implemented as a stipulation is still unknown — but it is a statement that should be kept in the back of our minds.

PAY ATTENTION.

Ps. It could also be Okada depending on how his match ends.

[bopinion]

2025 / 11

Aperçu of the week

"Power to the people, right on."

(John Lennon - nothing more to add here)

Bad News of the Week

I must already assume that the decline of the United States of America under Donald Trump will dominate my bad news this year. Not because there is a lack of other bad news that enlightened people have to deal with. It's simply because so much is going so wrong in our former role model country that it seems more monstrous than so much else. Even in a week in which the civil war in Syria is rearing its ugly head again, the ceasefire in Gaza is becoming more fragile and the Kremlin is still destroying Ukraine.

Donald Trump resembles an ancient god of vengeance who arbitrarily punishes anyone who does not pay him proper homage or question his genius. He clearly suffers from narcissism, which is a serious mental disorder and not just a strange self-image. In his infallibility, he assumes that anyone who doesn't see his personal standards, which are unfortunately anything but democratic, as the ultimate, is simply too stupid. Or malicious or ungrateful. And so he throws his lightning bolts from the Olympus of the Oval Office down on unworthy earthlings.

He is so predictable that he can easily be instrumentalized by those close to him. For example, Elon Musk, who persuaded him to promote Tesla, which was of course not a personal favor, but merely an underlining of the economic policy dogma that a good American must of course drive an American car. Or from JD Vance, who remarked that he had not yet received enough recognition that day and was therefore able to throw Volodymyr Selensky under the bus with a single perfidious sentence about his alleged lack of gratitude. After just two months in office (although you can't really say that about Musk), both of them have been certified as puppet masters.

It is now completely unclear whose interests are behind three seemingly harmless trifles that Trump has initiated in recent days. He puts Bhutan, a tiny peaceful Buddhist country in the Himalayas, on the list of red states, from where nobody is allowed to enter the US - just besides Afghanistan and Yemen. He invokes the Alien Enemies Act from 1798 to deport hundreds to El Salvador - despite a federal judge ruling a restraining order against it. He puts words like “climate crisis” or “indigenous people” on a list of 200 terms that federal authorities are no longer allowed to use. These three bizarre details stupidly represent three fundamental views that are highly questionable.

The example of Bhutan illustrates that literally anyone can be caught in the crosshairs without even suspecting it. While a travel ban for North Corea or Iran is still understandable, it is not for the “Land of Happiness”. Some sources suspect visa overstay rates and security vetting concerns behind that decision, according to recently published Department of Homeland Security data. The fact that this is enough to be lumped together with Libya shows frighteningly clearly that proportionality is not exactly being cultivated in the White House at the moment.

The example of the Alien Enemies Act illustrates that the separation of powers is obviously no longer respected. The law, which has only been used three times in history and most recently during the Second World War for the temporary internment of Japanese in the USA, is per se difficult to reconcile with the rule of law. It is inconceivable that a judicial decision is simply ignored in the process. And when the collaborator in this breach of the law, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, posted the court order with the comment “Oopsie... too late.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio also reposted it. Not even Viktor Orbán has ever allowed himself such a shrugging attitude towards the legal system.

The example of the speech ban illustrates that dissenting opinions no longer even have the right to free expression. Just like the banning of the Associated Press from the White House briefing room - because of the continual use of the term “Gulf of Mexico” - nothing other than censorship is happening. As already practiced in school libraries in Republican-leaning states (where classics such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin were banned because they “put slavery in a bad light”), a cancel culture from the right is taking place here. After the demonization of self-determination, inclusion and diversity, in which woke became a dirty word, there is now an arch-conservative furor. This no longer has anything to do with the “land of the free”, but rather with Myanmar.

All in all, this leaves me with a stale aftertaste. And even if Trump and his MAGA heads don't destroy everything in the world because they stay in NATO and don't invade Panama, the damage to the country itself will be immense. With a divided society in which racism and sexism are resurgent, more environmental damage and climate change consequences, an abolished Ministry of Education, a down-top distribution of money, a health minister who recommends cod liver oil against measles, a dysfunctional administration, alienated neighbors and much more - as mentioned: it's not even two months yet. That leaves 46. Ooph...

Good News of the Week

Angela Merkel's comparatively quiet 16 years at the head of the German government were based on four foundations: cheap energy from Russia, outsourcing security policy to NATO and the USA, reduced infrastructure maintenance and the fetishism of the so-called "debt brake". Today we are in dire straits, as the first two foundations no longer exist and the last two are currently blowing up in our faces. In principle, I appreciate Merkel, who has done a lot of things very right. But she also has done some things very wrong.

We now have the energy crisis more or less under control. Thanks to an increasing proportion of renewable energy sources and a significant increase in imports of liquid gas (mainly from Qatar and Norway, but also from the USA). This has caused prices to rise considerably, both for private consumers and for industry. While the former “only” hurts, the latter has become a real location issue. This is a veritable problem, as many industries in which Germany is strong - such as chemicals or mechanical and automotive engineering - are very energy-demanding. Together with high wage costs and social security contributions, this presents us with a fundamental problem that needs to be tackled.

While the state can only create the framework conditions in which companies and entrepreneurs can then operate when it comes to the necessary restructuring of our economy, it is itself the actor when it comes to security policy, infrastructure and the relevant financial budget. It is therefore a major plus that the two probable coalition partners in the next German government - the conservative CDU/CSU and the social democratic SPD - have already addressed this issue in the initial exploratory talks. And as much as I hate to admit it to the future Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whom I consider to be simply from the day before yesterday, he is doing a pretty good job of it.

The first decisive step was the realization that yes, Germany has to spend a lot of money on the necessary investments in security and infrastructure. Which is only possible with debt if you don't want to make massive cuts to the welfare state. However, in order to be able to incur this debt, the debt brake must be reformed, which sets strict limits on financial policy and makes it practically impossible to take on more debt. This is a point that has been under discussion for some time - mainly because Germany can afford it. For comparison: Japan has a national debt of 261% of its gross domestic product, Italy 145%, the USA 122% and Germany 67%. So there is no reason to stand on the brake.

The second decisive step was pragmatic logic: as the debt brake is in the Basic Law (our constitution) you need a 2/3 majority in parliament to change it. The Bundestag elections at the end of February ensured that the far-right AfD and the Left Party represent more than 1/3 of the new Bundestag, i.e. they have a blocking minority. And both do not want the debt brake to be relaxed, albeit for completely different reasons, as they have nothing in common politically. This means that the Greens would have to be persuaded to participate in the amendment to the Basic Law in the old parliamentary composition, in which the Social Democrats were not yet so massively weakened.

This has now been achieved. Since the Greens are still a fundamentally pacifist party, but not idiots who ignore the changed reality. This is why the Greens are now supporting the party alliance that will replace them in government - for the greater good. At the same time, they have negotiated perfectly sensible aspects into the plan. For example, the topics of intelligence services and cyber security in the financial package for defense. Or that sustainable aspects and climate neutrality are not neglected in the infrastructure, which not only includes railroads, highways, bridges, energy grids and digital, but also daycare centers, schools and healthcare.

There are still a few hurdles to overcome - such as the approval of the federal states - but it seems feasible. If you want to put a negative spin on it, you could call Friedrich Merz the biggest election liar in history. After all, he has now slaughtered the sacred cow of the debt brake during the election campaign even before the official coalition negotiations. But on the altar of pragmatism. Germany is thus demonstrating its ability to act in Europe. Which fits in well with the fact that his party colleague and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also becoming clearer in her tone when she refers to Europe not just as an economic area, but blatantly as a geopolitical power. It looks like we've got the message.

Personal happy moment of the week

My Canadian wife and I were at the immigration office again after years. What an awful experience: facilities from 30 years ago, lots of forms, the charm of a hospital with security gates, unfriendly staff... You just don't feel comfortable. Nevertheless, there was one highlight: instead of a date and in line with our wedding vows, we entered “forever” in the “planned duration of stay” field. A small but heartfelt moment of happiness that even elicited a small smile from the strict official behind the glass.

I couldn't care less...

...about the Norwegian ski jumping cheating scandal. If secretly reinforcing seams in a suit really has a significant impact on performance, sprinters should also be banned from eating beans on the eve of the race - after all, they could fart illegal jet propulsion.

It's fine with me...

...that there are sometimes pretty fashionable allusions on the world political stage. First King Charles III wore a Canadian military uniform and then the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas wore the Canadian national colors at the G7 summit in Québec (!). Both wanted to send a stylish message to the USA that they should drop their colonial claims. Baerbock's smug question to Marco Rubio “Do you still enjoy your job?” fits in with this.

As I write this...

...there are snow flurries in Munich at zero degrees Celsius. While at the same time it's eleven degrees plus in Montreal in the middle of the night. Crazy. Yet both my cities can count themselves lucky that they are only suffering from capricious weather and are neither burning nor being flooded.

Post Scriptum

All the media hyperventilation about the USA, Ukraine and Russia as well as the USA, Palestine and Israel, not to mention Europe and Germany, has allowed some things worth mentioning to slip through the cracks. After a lot of posts in the North American media, I actually had to go searching to discover some great news in the German media, namely a courageous uprising for democracy and pro-Europe, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets. No, not in Berlin, Paris or Madrid, but in places where precisely these values have had a hard time recently: in Romania, Serbia and even (drum roll please) Hungary!

This gives me hope, as Poland has also managed to leave a rather dark era behind it and has clearly bought a ticket to the future. In Donald Tusk, our eastern neighbors now have an avowed European as head of government who is increasingly less held back by the shackles of the past. I am therefore very sure that our new Federal Chancellor's first three trips abroad will be to Brussels, Paris and Warsaw - in whatever order. This welcome development was rounded off by similarly oriented demonstrations in Italy and even Georgia. Europeans are fighting not to lose democracy and freedom - or to get them in the first place. A momentum that makes me proud.

[jeshaisabookworm]

The Disheartening Result of Women's Royal Rumble 2025

The 2025 Women’s Royal Rumble has ended. We have a winner. The match was a good 8 in my opinion with predictablity but solid work from the women. If you have not seen it then I would suggest you to skip this post. You have 5-second to close this. Continue reading The Disheartening Result of Women’s Royal Rumble 2025