#Embassy of Italy

[theodoreangelos]

Vilnius at night – Gediminas Castle Tower, Neris River, Mindaugas Bridge, Embassy of Italy by the architect Boleslovas Balzukevičius (1906) Naktinis Vilnius – Gedimino pilies bokštas, Neris, Mindaugo tiltas, architekto Boleslovo Balzukevičiaus Italijos ambasada (1906 m.) Вильнюс ночью – башня замка Гедиминаса, река Нярис, мост Миндаугаса, посольство Италии работы архитектора Болесловаса Бальзукявичюса (1906 г.) Vilnius bei Nacht – Gediminas-Burgturm, Fluss Neris, Mindaugas-Brücke, Italienische Botschaft des Architekten Boleslovas Balzukevičius (1906) Vilnius dans la nuit – Tour du château de Gediminas, fleuve Neris, pont Mindaugas, ambassade d'Italie par l'architecte Boleslovas Balzukevičius (1906)

[germanpostwarmodern]

British Embassy (1960-71) in Rome, Italy, by Basil Spence, Anthony Blee, Roland Paoletti and Christopher Libby. Photo by Henk Snoek.

[optikestrav]

signage, Italy

© optikestrav

[metamorphesque]

I'm writing this with total disbelief and fury.

On April 10 (20225), Armenians of the world witnessed yet another betrayal unfolding — this time at none other than the Pontifical Gregorian University in the Vatican — an institution meant to "uphold truth and academic integrity". Instead, it hosted a shameful, state-sponsored propaganda event titled “Christianity in azerbaijan: History and Modernity”, orchestrated by the azeri embassy and affiliated organizations.

Let that sink in: while azerbaijan is in the midst of erasing an entire indigenous people from their ancestral land, violently depopulating Artsakh of over 100,000 native Armenians, destroying centuries-old churches, cemeteries, and khachkars — the Vatican provided a stage for their narrative to be laundered as truth.

This wasn’t a conference. It was a well-funded performance — a deliberate act of historical revisionism dressed up in scholarly robes. Representatives from across the globe (turker, Italy, France, Georgia, Germany, Russia, Poland, South Korea, US, etc) gathered to discuss Christianity in a nation that has systematically bulldozed medieval churches, ravaged sacred monasteries and ethnically cleansed the indigenous Christian Armenian population of Artsakh only 2 years ago.

The Armenian side was made aware of this so-called "conference" only post-factum. Armenian scholars, those most qualified to speak on the region’s Christian heritage, were of course excluded. Silenced. Erased. Instead, centuries-old Armenian monasteries like Amaras, Gandzasar and Dadivank were paraded as so-called “Caucasian Albanian” monuments; it's a narrative long-pushed by azerbaijan, ignoring the Armenian inscriptions that plainly speak for themselves.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t academic discourse. This is a deliberate strategy — not only to legitimize azerbaijan’s modern territorial ambitions against Armenia, but also to erase the presence of far older civilizations. azerbaijan’s propaganda machinery is desperately trying to fabricate a false historical depth for its young petro-state.

Events like this are calculated attempts to erase the historical presence of Armenians and the Armenian Apostolic Church from the intellectual memory of the global academic community.

By providing a stage for such tomfoolery, Vatican is making itself complicit in weaponizing history against an indigenous Christian people.

It’s a battle over memory, heritage and survival. What we are witnessing is the erasure of Armenian history in real-time — under the indifferent gaze of those who claim "to safeguard Christian civilization".

The Vatican should be ashamed. The world should be outraged.

[nmakii]

somewhere in the crowd, there’s you.

— happy birthday, @itoshiluvbot. sweet sixteen, but you’re sweeter than fiction.

— celebrating your birthday alone was pretty depressing, but sae decided to surprise you.

part 2 in the sae fic? heh.. chat, this might be it.. IM NOT GAY I SWEAR!!!!! HUGS AND KISSES XOXO ps: j cant stop ending my sae fics the same way its so addictive but also so lazy

you knew that your boyfriend’s job caused him to travel a lot. he’d be all over in italy, america, and even japan, competing in different leagues. and even when he was in spain, he’d always be training.

it was hard to work with, but he made it worth it

stress the fact that it’s hard to work with. what with him always being busy, the media always trying to get into your business, sae’s own emotional constipation, and the hard work of just being a generally functioning person, your relationship with sae was… strained, to say the least.

you couldn’t deny the fact that you love him— that’s more than just fact. and there’s no doubt amidst journalists that sae is truly infatuated with you, what with his off-handed mentions to how you use the delicate touch of your thumb to wipe off a bit of egg caught on his lip when the two of you cook breakfast in the morning together. or, the way he listens intently to whatever it is you’re rambling about again; how the paparazzis stalking another one of your dates perfectly captures the sight of sae’s cheek resting in his palm, fighting back the urge to smile at the way you talk with your hands.

there was just no denying it.

but while it all was true, you couldn’t help the inkling feeling you had. that small part of your heart that wishes that you had a normal boyfriend with a regular job. you always felt guilty whenever you wished for it, but you always wished that sae wasn’t a football player at times.

“amor, ill be back in a week. the embassy is taking a while to renew my visa…” sae sighs through the facetime. by the looks of it, it’s about 7 PM in japan. it looks as if the temperature is almost subzero from the look of the snow that falls on sae, melting and dampening his reddish-brown hair.

unlike there in japan, it’s only noon. and while it is cold outside, the warm kiss of the spanish sun shines bright on the surface of barcelona.

“a week..?” you frown, “but, ah… my birthday’s in 2 days though…” your eyes trail away from the camera. sae’s eyebrows crease at your disappointment— he can hear your little heart breaking, even while he’s continents away. “i know…” his downturned eyes show his evident disappointment. “i’ll send you ten thousand euros, and buy yourself something. okay?”

“ten thousand euros..?! sae, that’s way too much!” your widened eyes yell out to him. “it’s your birthday gift. and considering that it’s supposed to make up for my disappearance, it’s not enough.”

you’d try to argue with him about it, but you’ve already known sae long enough to learn that it’s easier to accept his gifts, rather than fight him over it. “i… alright…” you sigh in surrender, “but, you really don’t have do all of this.”

“but i want to.” is all he says back. “so, just accept it, okay? treat yourself to something nice, amor.” he smiles.

“i wish i could be in japan with you, sae…” you sigh, a big pout visible. sae only hums and responds, “i know, but it’d be a hassle for your work schedule. i shouldn’t bother you to travel with me.”

his reasons are solid enough, but it doesn’t stop you from being upset. sae can see it in your face, so he tries to fix it. “hey, what about… i take you to japan during the off-season? ill even take you to mt. fuji.”

his offer sounds quite enticing, and it gets you out of your slump. “really?” you smile. and he nods back, “really. i promise you. so, stop frowning. it’s not a good look on you.” he teases, yet still in his ever so flat tone, it’s hard to tell he’s joking.

the rest of your call isn’t too different from all your other long-distance travel calls, you call him until sae has to go to sleep. and, you leave the call feeling slightly disappointed. stupid embassy… keeping sae in japan on your birthday…

you roll your eyes from the thought, before a notification catches your attention. it’s from your cash app.

“YOU HAVE RECEIVED €15,000 FROM S*E IT***I”

‘happy birthday, amorcita. i love you, i’m sorry. 💗’

your jaw is slack from the egregiously large amount of cash, not to mention the fact that he added in an extra five thousand euros. but when sae tells you to spend his cash, you can’t tell him no. it’s something he won’t accept.

the next day; saturday, came about, and you went out on the town. a hang out with all your friends, going about and doing whatever, and spending the €15,000 sae had generously given you.

the day ended by 11 PM. your friends had insisted that you hang out until your birthday at 12. but without sae, all you really wanted was to be alone. maybe if you were lucky, you could call him before the clock strikes.

your luxury apartment felt sadder than usual. your basket of laundry on the table, waiting to be put away. sae’s arrangement of soccer cleats and rubber shoes by the front door, as well as the awkward space by the door in which his luggage typically fills. you miss him.

you take a shower, and change into your pajamas. 11:43… should you stay up? you might as well, it’s only about 15 more minutes.

you waste some moments scrolling on tiktok in the dark. until that constant flashing from the window start to annoy you. your complex is filled with tons of celebrities, so it’s not a surprise. but, it’s still annoying nonetheless.

you move to the window, thinking ‘oh, great. who is it this time?’. you internally roll your eyes at the swarm of paparazzi’s blocking your view, until you see who it actually is.

sae?

but, he was supposed to be in japan, right?! he can’t legally be in spain..!

you put on a cardigan, and run to the elevator. waiting to reach the bottom felt like forever! you anxiously paced the enclosed space, wondering if it was really sae, or if what you saw was even real!

when the elevator door finally opens, you’re greeted with sae who was impatiently waiting for the elevator. his frown suddenly ridding itself from his face when he sees you.

“so, you were the one holding it up.” he scoffs, his accusatory tone holding no actual malice. and you didn’t know what else to do, but just hug him.

the hug wasn’t expected, but it wasn’t unwelcomed either. he paused for a moment to process, before reciprocating your hug. his left hand resting at your waist, the band of his watch pressing itself on your back, while his right hand cradles the back of your head with his soft palm.

his posture softens as he rests his jaw on your head. he raises his left arm to check the clock on his watch. it’s 12:00.

“happy birthday, amorcita.” sae mutters, kissing the crown of your head. your phone starts blowing up in the pocket of your coat, all of your friends greeting you happy birthday. but, the only greeting that mattered right now was sae’s.

“…thanks.” you mumble back. the hug lasts for what seems forever. all of the subtle movements or gestures being a silent ‘i missed you’ or ‘i love you’

and, when you finally pull away, you notice that there’s a strange lump in sae’s team jacket. sharp and edged, you can’t help but wonder what it is.

“you said you wouldn’t be back in until next friday..! why are you here?!” you question. sae looks to the side, not even trying to hide the cheeky smirk on his face. “i.. lied. the embassy renewed my visa just in time. but, i wanted to surprise you.” he admits.

“huh..?! for what..?” your eyebrows scrunch, trying to comprehend the mysteriousness of his words. “…it might be too early for that. but, i promise you’ll know in time.” he promises.

“for now, this’ll have to make up for it.” he opens the width of his suitcase, and reveals the treasure of gifts he bought for you. a big stand-out being the large, traditional incense holder. it looks to be made of tin, as well containing a miniature replica of mt. fuji’s view.

he seems to have noticed that you saw the incense holder, so he says, “i can’t exactly bring you to mt. fuji right now. so, i brought mt. fuji to you.”

the line was incredibly corny. nothing sae would typically say. it was such a bad line, you started laughing into your palm. “hah..! were you waiting to say that line?”

“…” he pauses, hesitant to answer.

“…just a bit.” he admits, and that’s the punchline that really gets you to laugh.

you grab on to the suitcase, trying your best to stabilize yourself, but nothing you do can stop the tears of laughter dripping from your tears ducts.

sae notices your tears, the redness of your face from laughing too much, the wrinkles in your shut eyes, and the way your lips strains to contain your smile— and is a victim to that funny feeling in the pit of his stomach of butterflies; the lump in his throat being swallowed and caught in his heart as it attempts to stretch and make way for all the love he has for you. it spreads like a wildfire to the rest of his body as he has the urge to hide his face in embarrassment

sae was never the type to get nervous or embarrassed. but everything hit different when he was doing it in front of you. at games, he’d abandon his midfielder post and try to score his own goals in order to show you how capable he was, and on your first date, he wore his sunday’s best and brought roses. and now, when you’re clinging to his suitcase for dear life, red in the face and tears in your eyes, laughing at his expense, he’s wondering how he got so lucky.

a girl who’s willing to stick with him even when it’s hard, and a girl who balances out his no-nonsense temperament with her fun-loving and charismatic personality. he’s serious about you.

he knew it from the moment he picked out that ring for you.

a pink diamond engagement ring, a gold band gracefully enclosing the diamond in its center, and both your’s and sae’s initials delicately carved on the inside. it was perfect for you.

but with your busy life, and sae’s schedule, he knew that now wasn’t the right time. he’d probably have to wait a few more years, when you’re both ready.

his train of thought is stopped when he notices you’ve gotten up from his suitcase, and switched to grabbing on to his shoulders, and cry-laughing into his chest.

“…it’s not that funny, don’t laugh…” he huffs, frowning like the sore loser that he really is. “it’s not..! but, it’s funny cause you said it..!” your body shakes with laughter, and it makes sae pout more than he already had.

he sighs, letting you laugh freely, subtly moving his jacket pocket to the side and making sure that your body doesn’t feel the sharp edge of the engagement ring box, a sable black velvet casing the box which contains your ring.

“right…” he frowns, his nostrils flared from frustration.

your laughter finally ceases, and you move to kiss sae, a feeling he’s missed. the soft plush of your lips pressing against his, and your hand below moving to intertwine with his as his other uses his thumb and index finger to lovingly pull your face up. oh, how he loves you.

when you finally pull away, his eyebrows scrunches in annoyance. but manages to soften when you run your hands through the short silky strands of his hair.

“i love you.” you whisper to him, and he smiles. “happy birthday, amorcita. now that you’ve had your fun with your friends, i get you all to myself now, right?” he asks, hopeful in his tone.

you giggle at his question, but nod nonetheless. “yeah. today, i’m all your’s.” to which sae hastily moves to kiss you once again, leaning over to press the elevator button.

the kiss catches you off guard, but once the elevator doors open again, he pulls away. “good. i didn’t plan on letting you sneak away from me today.”

his hand resting at your waist pulls you forward into the elevator with him, and pressing the button to your floor. you lean to rest on his side, checking all the messages from your friends. while sae looks down and simply admires you.

how he’d go to the ends of the earth to return to you couldn’t even be described with the most detailed of words in the world. every day in japan that he’d wait for that damned jeweller to complete the perfect ring for his more than perfect girl was as if his skin was on fire. sure, japan was his home country. but how could he think that any other place is home, when he’s got a girl on the other side of the world waiting for him to return?

he turns his head, and he can see your thumbs rapidly moving to text your friends. and his heart warms and twists, seeing what you’ve texted…

OMG HE LIED TO SURPRISE ME

IM GONNA SRSLY MARRY THIS MANNNN 😻😻😻

and though to sae, it sounded like a joke; another one of your unserious declarations, you really meant it.

even though it was hard, he made all of it worth it.

[seat-safety-switch]

There was simply no way we were going to get out of this one alive. Biscotti Alfresco, Italy's number-one pastry chef and number-two assassin, was hot on our heels. It had been so long on the run, that I could barely remember what started this whole thing. Had something to do with pizza, I told my taxi driver, who was too busy trying to run over every moped and scooter in Rome to listen to my story.

In case nobody has ever told you, let me be the first. It is incredibly difficult to enjoy your family vacation when a trained killer stalks you across the entire country. A couple times now, he's gotten close. We were hanging out at the Trevi Fountain when a little old lady in the crowd threw a knife at us. You guessed it: just a normal person angry at our abuse of their cultural norms, but it could have been Biscotti.

Really, the prudent thing to do would be just to leave the country. That's what the embassy told us to do, right before Mr. Alfresco burst in through the window and fought a bunch of security guards. This kind of advice does make sense, but our plane tickets are not refundable and our travel insurance explicitly does not cover "incensing a trained assassin by disrespecting a national dish," which makes me wonder how often this kind of thing happens. Right there in the fine print. I felt like such a dumbass for not noticing it before.

We've only got about seven more days in the country. Even with the extra stress, we're having a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure that by wearing disguises, changing up our train reservations at the last moment, and never going anywhere near a pizzeria for the rest of our lives, we'll be fine. Hey, who are you anyway? Why are you wearing that crazy mask?

[blueiscoool]

Roman Emperor Caligula's 2,000-Year-Old Garden Unearthed Near the Vatican

The gardens overlooking the Tiber river in Italy once belonged to an infamous Roman emperor.

Construction workers in Italy have discovered a 2,000-year-old garden that once belonged to a Roman emperor.

The travertine walls of the garden overlook the banks of the Tiber, a river that cuts through Rome and sits east of Vatican City. The ruins were unearthed as workers constructed a new overpass at Piazza Pia, according to a translated statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture.

As archaeologists removed debris, they found a lead water pipe with the following inscription: "C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici." Researchers determined that the engraving referred to Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula (aka "little boot," a childhood nickname given to him by his father's soldiers).

Based on the inscription, researchers think the garden likely belonged to the infamous Roman emperor. Not only was Caligula known for being a tyrannical and ruthless leader, he was also a sadist who humiliated his senate. Caligula assumed the throne in A.D. 37, and in A.D. 41 the Praetorian Guard — the officials who were supposed to protect him — assassinated the emperor.

This conclusion is supported by a passage in the ancient text "On the Embassy to Gaius," penned by Egyptian philosopher Philo of Alexandria. It describes how Caligula had met with a representative of Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, at a large garden along the Tiber, according to the statement.

At that time, Jewish Alexandrians and the Greek-Alexandrian population were in a "crisis that had manifested itself with violence, brawls and episodes of religious intolerance." However, Caligula rejected the Jews' requests for religious autonomy, instead siding with the Greeks.

Alessio De Cristofaro, an archaeologist at the Special Superintendency for Archaeology, Fine Art and Landscape, a government agency in Rome, said the find is significant because Piazza Pia is in the same area as the "Horti Agrippinae," the garden of Agrippina the Elder, who was Caligula's mother.

The pipe is also similar to another one, found in the early 1900s, that's inscribed with the name Iulia (Julia) Augusta, the second wife of Augustus and the grandmother of Germanicus. Researchers speculate that the property was inherited by Germanicus and later passed down to his wife, Agrippina the Elder, before going to Caligula.

In addition to the pipe, archaeologists found slabs of Roman-era pottery and terra-cotta figures of mythological scenes that would have decorated rooftops.

By Jennifer Nalewicki.

[crepesuzette2023]

List of class-conscious mclennon fics for these trying times please and thank you xoxo

This is a great question, put to a person (me) who's probably not the best at answering it: First, I'm a non-Brit, and probably missing many class-related cues, and second, I'm not a very classy person in general (strikes Paul's toothpaste grin pose).

This is just to say: if anyone can think of a story to add—please feel free to do so!

Here are some stories I love that are hopefully relevant to your ask:

the best of times, the worst of times (@crumblingcookies). 1964. The Beatles are treated like zoo animals at the British embassy in Washington, DC.

Sunday Driver (@boshemians). 1966. Paul takes John to a party at Tara Browne's and his friends. John POV—say no more.

Paul/Robert Fraser opens up a nice collection of stories that, to me, (clears throat) felt class-conscious:

Ambrosiano by bookofapril. Robert takes Paul on a trip to Italy. They get close, and observe each other closely.

meet the velvet mafia series by @scurator. It starts when Robert takes Paul to Paris and teases him about John...and continues when John finds out about Robert and Paul. Robert's POV is so interesting and well done.

The Spirit of Compromise by @scurator. Prompt fill: "John overhears Groovy Bob and one of his friends very graphically talking about what they'd like to do to Paul and he becomes very protective..." After Robert's take on John, enjoy John's take on Robert...internally ranting inside a toilet stall at a party.

Let's not forget about Brian:

billet doux by @scurator. 1967. A newly confident Paul reacts after receiving a pining love letter from Brian.

Or the Ashers:

Lay Lady Lay (@aquarianshift). Paul and Jane lady/stable boy roleplay—with a big dose of reality sneaking into Paul's nervous overthinking mind.

still mates (@pauls1967moustache): I keep reccing this, because it keeps on giving on so many fronts. Paul's role within the Asher family, seen through Peter Asher's eyes, is forever fascinating. The mutual needs and projections...!

Tell You Something (@louiselux). Songwriting in Margaret Asher's music room, aka Paul's personal utopia. John is the bad influence Paul needs him to be.

Early days:

ode to the silver beetles (@stonedlennon). The first meeting between Jim and Mimi. Regarding their sons and the band.

AU's:

only a northern song (@stonedlennon). 1963 Liverpool. Music-loving teacher Paul and poetic dockworker John meet and fall in love. From the summary: let me take your hand and explain to you a concept: revolutionary john, standing on a picket line, chanting "solidarity!"

eclipsed by the moon (@dailyhowl). Retrofuturistic AU in which Paul and John are among an elite collection of students that have been tasked with creating technology to aid a new world’s formation as earth begins to perish. Paul is an overachiever from a working lass background, who seizes the opportunity for his family; John is the resident infuriating genius who accidentally puts their future at risk. (Happy ending)

[criminalmindsgonewrong]

how I percieve Hotchniss:

as requested by @em-prentiss

emily:

tropes: action girl, blue blood, lady in a powersuit, back from the dead, brainy brunette, dark and troubled past, honour before reason, sarcasm personified, reckless and sexy

she/her

libra sun, scorpio moon, leo rising

bisexual 

born 12th october 1970

chaotic neutral

ENFJ personality type

cat person

only child - and very much gives only child energy

red is her favourite colour

body count: "private, thank you very much!"

her favourite movie of all time is 'Carrie' - but she can't resist a good old mystery novel

has some secret skills she doesn't really talk about or use until she needs them; plays the piano, did ballet until she was 15, can horseback ride.

her favourite book of all time is 'Jane Eyre'

dog ears her books to save her pages - either that or uses literally anything as a bookmark. argues that it makes her books look 'loved'

her favourite meal is a good cheeseburger (although she'll tell you its some kind of fancy pasta)

chews her nails when she's stressed

grew up in multiple embassies across the world including: UK, Iraq, Russia, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, and Egypt.

mommy issues galore although she'd never admit it

daddy issues, too, while we're at it.

absentee father who was 'working' all the time - only 'working' meant having affairs and avoiding their home as much as possible

her parents only put on the show of a functional, happy marriage for elizabeth's career, a charade emily was also expected to play a part in. she did so until she went away to college

her dad died when she was 23

nomadic lifestyle all her life due to her mom's job - finds it hard to settle down as a result

has a little box of mementos from each of the places she's lived, trinkets that would be of no value to anyone else but mean a lot to her

has a few small, discreet tattoos

multi-lingual but not a show off about it - sometimes dreams in italian

is also multilingual in sarcasm and often uses it to diffuse tense situations.

had an abortion when she was 15 - doesn't regret it but has always wondered. marks the day each year, even if it's just with a prayer. it's the only time she prays

✨️ religious trauma ✨️ 

rebelled against her mother as a teenager and their relationship has never really recovered

spoilt, privileged lifestyle 

likes her luxuries as a result and doesn't shy away from them 

never had too many close friends growing up - due to the moving around a lot

bit of a wild girl at college, there's not really a sexual position or an illegal substance she hasn't tried at least once (except the ones you inject, she's not insane)

still sneaks the occasional cigarette

cannot abide by any rule she considers arbitrary

loves a good horror movie, the gorier the better but the supernatural ones freak her out

has a secret passion for classical music when she’s stressed - particularly beethoven and bach

emily has a love for fine wine and is something of an amateur connoisseur, able to tell the difference between a good vintage and a cheap bottle. she and rossi bond over this.

her passion for coffee, however, is much more lax and she can drink even the roughest of instant crap. 

can also whip up a mean martini

she’s a cat person but never had a pet growing up due to all the moving around.

emily’s guilty pleasure is reality TV—she finds it oddly comforting and a way to unwind from the seriousness of her day-to-day life.

often doodles when she's on the phone—her notebooks are full of random sketches.

loves an indoor plant but finds it incredibly difficult to keep them alive

fucking loves technology and is slightly addicted to TikTok. has to limit her own screen time.

speaking of TikTok, she's totally on BookTok and loved the ACOTAR series.

loves spicy foods - often challenges herself to try the hottest dish on the menu.

bit of an adrenaline junkie, whether in her home or professional life. overly impulsive sometimes as a result

what she wears:

aaron:

tropes: badass in a nice suit, stoic leader, chronic hero syndrome, highest kill count, death glare, grumpy to her sunshine, deadpan snarker

he/him

scorpio sun, taurus moon, virgo rising

heterosexual

born 2nd november 1965

lawful good

ISTJ personality type

dog person

bodycount: 2

favourite colour is navy blue

eldest son, his brother, sean, is 11 years younger than him

his favourite book is 'one hundred years of solitude'

prioritizes his fitness and likes to take on fitness challenges to keep himself healthy

lonely childhood even though he had a little brother

abusive, drunk for a father

emotionally absent mother who was trying to deal with her own trauma

his mom died when he was 25

his dad is still alive out there somewhere but they're not in contact, and aaron has no intention of being

had to be the strong one for his little brother

comes from a pretty poor background, has built himself up to be and have everything he is and has 

always felt like more of a father than a brother to Sean because of their age gap, and the fact that he practically raised him

loves to go camping and be in the wilderness

a morning person - likes to get up and out of the house as early as possible

a very neat person - you'd be forgiven for thinking he was in the military (he never was) by the way he makes his bed and stacks his clothes

collected coins as a kid, something he never grew out of. has a very well organised collection he values greatly

keeps his books neat and tidy - always uses a bookmark

loves an old western, likes an action movie, horrors make him uncomfy and he's a secret sucker for a rom-com

reluctant green thumb and often ends up taking care of the plants that emily brings home and gives up on or gets distracted from

has a soft spot for old-school jazz and sometimes listens to it when he needs to decompress.

he's a surprisingly good cook, which is a skill he honed while having to take care of his brother, although the recipes were a lot more basic back then

still has his parents wedding rings, a fact about himself that he wrestles with since he doubts they were ever in love

prefers handwritten notes to digital reminders, is a very tactile person. never really fell in love with his phone.

hums softly when he's concentrating, a habit he's more often than not completely unaware of, and emily finds it adorable

keeps a stash of chocolate in his drawer in the office - stocks it with emily's favourites

wears his grandfather's class ring. it's the only family heirloom he has, and sometimes he feels guilty for not giving it to sean

has a collection of old vinyls from the 70s

visits the same diner every saturday for breakfast. after getting together with emily, the visits become less frequent but they still go now and then. aaron says they have the best eggs. emily thinks they're just ok, but she likes to see him happy

aaron isn't a big drinker; he'll have a few beers on a night out, or a whiskey after work occasionally, but he very rarely engages in any binge drinking. emily's only seen him really drunk a handful of times throughout their relationship.

he is, however, partial to the occasional cigar and although emily sneaks her own cigarette now and then, she can't stand the smell of them.

what he wears:

Hotchniss:

the only time hotch is not a morning person is when emily is in his bed, then he never wants to leave the comfort of the covers and the warmth of her body

hotch will watch a horror movie with emily with a straight face, but hate it the whole way through. emily will pretend to be into his action movies, and doesn't let him know she's actually bored out of her mind. their middle ground is a good western or a rom-com.

their first big fight is over a clash between their idea of 'tidy' - emily is laid back, doesn't mind a bit of clutter. aaron is...borderline ocd. they fall out over her having left a towel on the floor...again.

they are very well matched at chess, and often their games can go on for weeks in between cases and life. currently emily is winning by two games.

aaron would rather to repairs around the house himself, where as emily is used to throwing money at a problem and making it go away. they try to compromise but they're away so often for work that more often than not, emily wins because aaron just doesn't have the time, but when he does take on a project he loves the manual labour, and emily loves to sit back and watch x

it was his dream to restore a classical care so emily bought him one for his 50th birthday and its his pride and joy. he painted it red just for her

emily reads before bed and aaron does the crossword, with his glasses perched on the end of his nose and emily thinks it's the cutest thing.

emily's love of spicy foods means that more often than not aaron has to resign himself to buying her two meals when the spiciest dish on the menu is just 'a little too spicy' - he doesn't mind, really

they're both incredibly competitive. emily gets sweary and loud when she's in competition, aaron gets smug and smirky and that drives emily up the wall. their second biggest fight, ever, was over a game of monopoly. it's been banned in their household ever since.

emily takes aaron to a ranch for one of his birthdays - to celebrate his love for an old western, and because she thinks he'll love it! turns out aaron hotchner is terrified of horses. emily spent the first day riding and trying to convince him to do the same, and after that they just enjoyed the views and each other's company, and the horses, but from afar.

emily often teases hotch about his love for organization and can’t resist occasionally hiding a few items just to see his reaction. he pretends to be frustrated but secretly finds her antics adorable.

surprisingly, when they go on vacation, it's emily who wants their days planned down to the moment so that they don't miss anything, and aaron who just - finally- wants to relax and 'go with the flow'. emily finds this version of her husband disconcerting.

emily loves to surprise hotch with impromptu weekend getaways. he pretends to grumble about the lack of planning and the expense of it all but secretly enjoys the surprises and the thought she puts into them.

financially, aaron and emily grew up in two very different places. aaron watched his mother scrimp and save every penny to try and provide for him and sean, when she was lucid. when she wasn't, he had to figure it out himself. he's worked since the age of 14. emily had everything in life given to her on a silver platter and, even now, occasionally spends out of her trust fund. aaron gets frustrated by spending that he sees as frivolous and emily has to remind him that they're well off - she still has her trust fund, even if neither of them were working. it's infrequently a source of contention between them, though.

they dated before emily's 'death', before paris. he visited her in paris, where their flame sparked again but when she came back to the team nothing happened. then beth happened. then emily left again.

they stayed in contact while she was in london and eventually realised they were miserable without each other. emily moves back to the states, returns to the BAU and they get back together.

they marry that same year. it's a really small ceremony, attended only by the team, jack and sean. neither of their surviving parents are invited.

they started a two-person book club where they choose a book to read each month and discuss it over dinner. they always donate one copy - whether to charity or a friend. sometimes both if they agree that the book sucked.

they create the 'hotchner cup' which is a trophy that they play for every family game night. it's an old, tarnished badge of hotch's with 'Hotchner' written across it super-glued to an old ballet trophy of emily's. it's currently in emily's possession...due to the chess situation.

emily's a cat person and hotch loves dogs. as a compromise, they have one of each.

when emily has their kids, they share the position of Unit Chief at the BAU and alternate shifts, so someone's always at home with the kids. it's their one rule; the kids never get left alone.

they have three kids together, ava, livvy and alex. jack is aaron's son from his previous marriage to haley, and emily loves him like her own.

they share a home office and walking into it is hysterical; there are two desks and it's immediately obvious whose is whose because aaron's is meticulously organised and emily's is a mess.

aaron always dreads his weeks 'on' at work, because he knows he's going into his desk being an absolute mess. emily is the same because she says whenever he cleans up, he puts her stuff away and she can't find anything. she prefers her 'organised chaos'.

even though emily is a luxury resort kind of girl, aaron forces the family to take an annual camping trip. every year, emily complains about it; alex and ava follow her suit. jack and livvy love the camping trip like their father. even though emily and the kids complain, they also secretly love it.

they take an annual family photo during every camping trip

every year they all celebrate haley's birthday together with a special meal; homemade lasagne followed by apple pie and ice cream, both favourites of haley.

when it comes to parenting, there's no doubt who's the strict parent. emily definitely takes a more relaxed approach than her husband.

however, when it comes to bullying or the kids being in danger, emily has to be kept in check. more than once she's threatened to pull her badge on a kid - or parent - at school. more than once, she's had to be talked down by her husband, and sometimes the kids.

when aaron eventually retires early, he takes up teaching at the academy. they still have lunch together most days.

after aaron retires, emily takes on the role of unit chief by herself and eventually progresses to section chief, which is more of a bureaucratic role than she ever imagined for herself, but it means she gets home to her family every night.

Hotchniss tropes:

grumpy x sunshine rich girl x poor boy he's her boss mutual pining will they/won't they jealousy trope friends to lovers 'touch her and you die'

Photos Aaron takes of Emily:

Photos Emily takes of Aaron:

Joint camera roll:

How Hotchniss text:

Hotchniss playlist:

[cheriladycl01]

So, you lied to me? - Lando Norris x Tourist! Reader

Plot: Going on a travel year you end up in Monaco, the plan wasn't too fall for the man who helped you to the British Embassy and gave you a place to stay when someone stole everything from you ...

You took a gap year before university and decided to travel you'd started off the New Year on a flight from London, to Qatar to New Zealand. You travelled around New Zealand and Australia for the majority of January, before moving on to Papa New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa.

You then travelled round the South Asian countries, like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines and Taiwan all throughout February. You then moved onto China, doing both Disney Parks while you were there and sight seeing. You did South Korea and Japan.

Coming into April, you moved onto Sri Lanka and India, and The Middle East, doing Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrian, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Afterwards, now having done 2 continents, you moved onto Africa, you spent the end of April and the majority of May travelling here, before leaving for Europe.

A nice 2 weeks island hopping around Greece, before a week travelling up the boot of Italy.

It was when you drove to Monaco in a rental car that things got difficult.

You were walking along the harbor where all the expensive yachts were docked wishing that one could be yours. You didn't have all your bags on you, the larger ones left behind in the hotel room you'd booked for the night. But you had your important stuff on you, like you passport, your drivers license and all your travel documents.

You were taking a picture on your nice Canon camera of the yachts and the street that had weird red corners rounding it that you put down to being measures to just help drivers slow down round the corners, but they were definitely an eyesore.

Every time nice cars drove by there was whistles and claps that made you look at what car it was, you could never tell what model it was but they looked nice and you guess you could say sporty.

As you were distracted taking your pictures a guy comes up to you with a small, parcel cutting knife in his hand. He slit the straps of what you thought was a really sturdy bag and the weight notifies you to the loss of the bag. You let your camera drop as you turn to see the guy now holding your bag and starting to run away with it.

"Hey! Stop" you shout before running after him.

"Aide, Aide" you shout as you continue to follow him, your minimal French not helping as people scold you for being a bustly tourist.

You aren't really looking where you going and you loose him at a busy intersection of people, you spin round looking at every possible direction he could have gone in.

"Shit!" you whisper to yourself quietly tears coming in your eyes. You spin round a little to quickly, bumping into someone who drops the bag that they were holding.

"Désolé, mon erreur" you try looking at the young gentleman you'd bumped into in a hoodie and jeans. He looks at you with a confused look, a smirk coming onto his face.

"Oh sorry, tu ne parles pas français? Maybe Italian, erm fuck scusa, parli italiano?" you ask with again the bare minimum of Italian you know.

"I speak perfectly good English" he smiles, laughing a little as your expression turns to shock.

"Oh! Oh I'm so stupid. Hello!" you smile looking at the very attractive man in front of you, you blushed a little looking up at him.

"You look panicked what's wrong?" he asks.

"I was tacking pictures of the harbor and some guy took my bag. It has everything in of mine and I don't know what to do" You say to him looking a little more panicked.

"Everything as in money ... because I can help with that" he says placing a hand on your arm.

"I don't care about the money, but he has all of my documents. My passport, my drivers license everything" you cry a little.

"Oh! Erm, I have a friend who was born here, and let me get him and he can help us file a police report. Then mmm the British Embassy is all the way in Paris and you cant get a flight so we'll have to drive there..." he starts to rant and your face turned shocked.

"We?" you ask, confused as to how this guy has just inserted himself into your life drama's.

"Oh yeah, I've gotta help you out now. You got that whole damsel in distress thing going on right now! Any way damsel, what's your name?" he jokes and you look over at him offended.

"I am not a damsel in distress! And Y/N" you retort.

"You so are, the tear stains, the wide, helpless eyes, the guppy fish face your pulling right now, the butchered French and Italian to a strange man who actually is British... Y/N" he laughs making you pout and push him a little.

"I don't even have a place to stay after 3pm today and I cant check in anywhere without ID" you say rubbing your head, looking around as if the man would randomly pop back up and hand you your bag back before saying how sorry he was.

"You can stay at my place, I have two spare bedrooms" he smiles and you look at him in shock.

"You live here, in Monaco ..." you ask.

"Yeah, I moved here a few years ago, for ...work" he offers, he phones his friend walking off for a few seconds alone before he pulls you along one of the side streets and too a quiet cafe he went to, to keep under wraps.

"Okay, Y/N this is my friend ... er Percy" he says pointing to Charles, so far you hadn't shown any signs of knowing who he is and he didn't want you to catch wind of that.

"Hello Percy, its nice to meet you" you smile and he looks at you with a vacant yet confused expression.

"Oh and whose this you are beautiful" you compliment looking at the girl behind him.

"Y/N this is my girlfriend Alex" Charles indicates to Alex behind him who smiles and pulls you in for a kind hug that you definitely needed. You could hear both of their strong accents as they introduced himself.

"Oh, I never got you name, what's your name?" you ask turning to look at Lando, who freezes for a second.

"Erm, my names Robert, but you can call me Bob" he smiles and you raise and eyebrow at him.

"Hmmm, you don't look like a Robert... or a Bob. Interesting choice" you voice your opinion making everyone awkwardly laugh.

Charles, Lando and Alex took you to the nearest police station in Monaco, Charles translated what they were saying and you answered to which he and Alex would help translate back.

Charles explained that they were escalating it because you are a tourist in need, but you picked up some words that made the sentence not sound like that at all.

You were asked if you had a place to say and Lando explained you'd be staying with him until everything was sorted out.

The Monegasque police got in contact with the Paris British Embassy for you, they explained that the police had sent over you information and if you wanted to hold off on a new passport for a few days to see if it would turn up you were more than welcome, but right now your passport was on lockdown.

And that was how you ended up spending the end of July and all of August with Lando, it was strange really. For a man who had and extremely nice collection of clothes and a very large apartment he didn't go to work often. There was one room you weren't allowed in which is where he often went, you assumed it was a man cave or gaming room where he played with his friends because you heard lots of shouting and aggressive banging.

He'd been so sweet, he took you on dates from going out to dinner, to picnics, to going swimming and lots more. It felt like more than a summer fling. Especially once he asked you to be his girlfriend, which you immediately said yes too.

But he got a lot more twitchy after he had.

Eventually, Lando or Bob as you knew him took you to Paris so you could get your passport. He explained that he travelled a lot for work and he would need to leave soon and you explained that before you bumped into him you'd been on a gap year travelling the world.

"Baby, why don't you come with me?" he asked randomly as you were both lying on the sofa, cuddling while watching a film.

"You wont even tell me what you do for work Baby! And besides I had a schedule that I'm already behind on. A week ago you said you didn't mind going our separate ways for a little bit until Christmas and then you'd come to England with me" you say playing with his curls.

"Okay, I'm going to be honest with you now... my name isn't Bob" he says shyly and you sit up at the speed of light turning to look at him.

"I knew it! So you lied to me?" you exclaim laughing.

"So, what's my boyfriends actual name?" you ask looking him dead in the eyes, he leans up on his elbows before sitting the full way up.

"Lando, I am Lando Norris" he smiles.

"Hmmmm, Lando... Lando. I could get used to that" you smile.

"You aren't mad?" he asks looking over you, brushing you hair back and tucking it behind your ear before kissing your cheek.

"I knew you weren't being completely honest when we first met... but I also knew you had your own reasons" you offer.

"I think its going to be easier if I just hand you my Instagram" he admits with a gulp as he hands you his phone. The first thing you notice is how many followers he had, there was around 10million and he had nearly 2,500 posts.

You look at the friends list, and one peeks your interest. Charles Leclerc, who looked exactly like Percy who Lando had introduced you too.

You then go back and look at his bio, that told you his actual job.

"So, I'm dating a super famous athlete?" you ask looking up at him away from the phone to see his head down in his hands. He turns to the side to sneak a look at your expression, his eyes a little glossy.

"To be specific, a Formula 1 driver" you ask again and he nods.

"You are such a muppet, my god" you laugh before pulling him into a hug.

"How aren't you upset with me?" he ask unsure.

"Well, I agreed to date you, because you are you. I doubt you change into Mr Hyde when you become a what was is Porsche race-car driver? I fell in love with you, not Bob, not Lando, you. So whether that is Bob, who kindly helped a crying lady on the street who just had her passport stolen from her, or Lando a cool and amazing race-car driver. Whoever you are is the person I love" you grin and he pulls you into a hug.

"So you want to join me for the last few races? Or you want to finish this world trip of yours?" he asks.

"Well, looking at your calendar, I can actually meet you at the rest of the races, While travelling. I'll continue to do Europe until you have the Netherlands, and ill go back to Italy, just for you. I'll miss Azerbaijan and Singapore because I did that, but I'll knock out some of South America, I'll meet you for Austin, then we can do Mexico and Brazil together, then we can do Vegas together! And by that point I can call it done with my trip!" you exclaim and he looks like he considers it for a second.

He's shocked, he cant remember the last time a girlfriend tried so hard to link up their schedules like this, and proved that they'd be able to work despite some potential scheduling issues.

"I love you. I fucking love you" he grins pulling you back down onto the sofa kissing all over your face making you giggle.

A/N: I've been doing a lot of Lando recently, I don't know if you can tell but I love writing about him, he's my fav to write about right now.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @viennakarma

[girlactionfigure]

THURSDAY HERO: Giorgio Perlasca

Giorgio Perlasca was an Italian fascist and emissary of Benito Mussolini who had a change of heart and used his diplomatic status to save 5,218 Hungarian Jews from the Nazis.

Born in Como, Italy in 1910, as a young man Georgio became a fervent believer in fascism, believing it was the best system for achieving societal safety and prosperity. Dedicated to fascist ideology, he joined the Italian army to fight prime minister Benito Mussollini’s war of aggression against Ethoipia (the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935-37). Italy invaded Ethiopia and sent leader Haile Selassie into exile in 1937. Still a committed fascist, Giorgio pivoted straight from Ethiopia to Spain, where he fought on the side of Franco’s Nationalists against the defenders of the Spanish Republic. 

Giorgio went back to Italy in 1938, and that’s when his world was rocked and his personal belief system made a 180 degree turn. Just as he was returning to his native land, the Nazi-allied fascist government adopted the Italian Racial Laws, which persecuted and segregated Italian Jews and African immigrants from the Italian colonial empire. The first law banned Jews from working with the public or attending college. Books by Jewish authors were burned. The next set of laws confiscated Jewish property, prohibited them from traveling, and finally arrested and imprisoned them. Italian newspapers were filled with vicious anti-Jewish propaganda and hideous caricatures.

Giorgio Perlasca, the man who’d spent the last decade fighting for fascism, was horrified. Perhaps he’d been in north Africa and Spain for so long, he wasn’t aware of the extent of Nazi persecution of the Jews. He’d joined the fascists because, young and naive, he thought they had answers to societal problems. But he never signed up for the Nazis’ “final solution.” He believed in human rights, freedom and tolerance and therefore realized he had to reject fascism.

Ironically, just as he was rejecting Mussolini’s ideology, he was rewarded for his service by being granted diplomatic status and sent to Budapest to represent the interests of the Italian government. As an emissary, Giorgio’s most urgent mission was traveling throughout Eastern Europe to purchase large quantities of meat for Italian army soldiers fighting on the Russian front. Despite his political shift, he remained committed to what he felt was honorable work procuring food for Italians who’d been drafted into the army.

On September 8, 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allied forces. Diplomats like Giorgio had a choice to make: pledge allegiance to Mussolini, or join the Allies. Giorgio switched sides and instead of returning to Italy he was arrested and detained with other diplomats sympathetic to the Allies. After several months in captivity, he used a medical pass to leave the facility. He went straight to the Spanish embassy, which was being run by Angel Sanz Briz*, a diplomat who was secretly saving Hungarian Jews. Sanz Briz enabled Giorgio to claim asylum as a veteran of the Spanish war. Giorgio called himself “Jorge” (the Spanish version of Giorgio) and as a nominal Spaniard, was untouchable by the Nazi-allied Hungarian authorities since Spain was officially a neutral country.

Giorgio Perlasca during the war.

Giorgio immediately teamed up with Sanz Briz to save Jews from the Nazi death machine, which was systematically massacring the Jews of Hungary at shocking speed. He later said, “I couldn’t stand the sight of people being branded like animals… I couldn’t stand seeing children being killed. I did what I had to do.” Giorgio convinced diplomats from neutral countries to shelter Jews in their embassies and homes. He created “protection cards” that identified Jews as being under diplomatic guardianship and therefore impossible to arrest. In November 1944, Sanz Briz was transferred from Hungary to Switzerland, and he urged Giorgio to go with him. However, instead of traveling to a safe country, Giorgio put his own life at risk by staying in Hungary so he could continue saving Jews from the Nazis.  

The Hungarian authorities got wind of what Giorgio was doing, and they used Sanz Briz’ departure from the country as an excuse to order the Spanish embassy building and residences to be emptied and shuttered. In response, Giorgio made a bold move. He announced that Sanz Briz would be returning shortly, and he’d been appointed consul-general in the meantime. This bought him enough time to continue saving Jews, providing them with sanctuary and vital supplies. He also issued fake transit visas based on a 1924 law giving Jews of Sephardic heritage Spanish citizenship. The law had expired in 1930 but Giorgio managed to keep that part secret. 

In December 1944, Giorgio stood up to high-ranking Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann – architect of the genocidal “Final Solution” – who was about to force two Jewish children onto a freight train headed to a death camp. Swedish rescuer Raoul Wallenberg later described watching Giorgio boldly defy the vicious Eichmann and rescue the Jewish boys.

Around this time the Nazi-aligned Hungarian government known as the Arrow Cross set up a squalid ghetto in Budapest for the city’s 60,000 Jews. As “acting Spanish consul-general” was privy to top-secret information, and he learned that the Arrow Cross was going to liquidate the ghetto – which meant murdering the men, women and children who lived there. Giorgio demanded – and got – a private hearing with the Hungarian interior minister Gabor Vajna. He threatened the high-ranking government official with severe repercussions against the “3,000 Hungarians” currently living in Spain. Unless the government backed down on destroying the ghetto, those Hungarian expats would be harshly punished financially, legally and professionally. The fact was, there were nowhere near 3000 Hungarians in Spain and the real number was a fraction of that. That bold threat, combined with a promise to help Vajna and his family escape the advancing Soviet army, prevented the Budapest ghetto from being liquidated, saving thousands of lives.

After the war, Giorgio Perlasca returned to Italy where he lived a quiet life as a businessman, married and raised a family. and didn’t tell a single soul about his heroic actions during the war. Meanwhile, a group of Hungarian Jews saved by Giorgio searched for him for decades. They knew their rescuer as a Spaniard named Jorge and it took 42 years for them to finally locate him. In 1987 Giorgio’s wife, children and community were utterly shocked to learn that this unassuming man had saved the lives of a documented 5,218 Jews and probably many more. The famous rescuer Oskar Schindler saved a quarter as many people as Giorgio Perlasca did.

Once Giorgio’s heroism was known, he became famous in Italy and a source of national pride. Giorgio Perlasca was the subject of a bestselling biography, “The Banality of Goodness,” which was made into a popular movie. He received many honors, including Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem, the Wallenberg Medal, the Hungarian Star of Merit, the Spanish Knight Grand Cross, the Italian Gold Medal for Civil Bravery, and many others. Noted Israeli composer Moshe Zorman wrote an orchestral piece, “His Finest Hour,” about Giorgio. There is a statue of Giorgio Perlasca in Budapest and a high school named for him, and he was featured on an Italian and an Israeli stamp. 

Giorgio died in Padua, Italy in 1992. 

For saving thousands of lives, and proving that people can change, we honor Giorgio Perlasca as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[vento-di-fata]

To all my American friends, from an Italian who has been raised steeped in "love your country" bullshit.

Be selfish, and do what you can to save yourself. Do your best to bring as many loved ones as possible with you, but do not compromise your safety for the sake of a country and people who have turned against you.

If you decide to move away please don't let anybody try to convince you that you're 'abandoning' your country or your people. You are saving yourself and your loved ones, and can't help anybody else if you're dead and/or in jail. Protesting and fighting is good and all, but after a certain point, you must also think of your own safety. You are not a coward or a traitor. The only people who will tell you that are the ones who are not risking their life and livelihoods. Please do what it's best for yourself and your families.

Patriotism and community won't save you when police shoot you in the head for protesting.

Europe immigration portal

As an European and afaik I would say Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Germany are your best bets to move to because they have the best immigration and integration programs, as well as welfare and other necessities.

If you're lgbtq+ the best bets for you are Germany, Spain, Norway, Sweden. They all have same-sex marriage, adoptions and most of them allow gender self-identification. Italy is not safe for lgbtq+ people because we have no rights whatsoever. Civil unions are a lie.

All the countries I have mentioned should have a specific page on their government websites for immigrants to let them know the resources they provide for you and the documentation you need. Language courses are often offered as part of the immigration resources, but there are also plenty of schools and independent courses you can attend.

I hope everything doesn't go to shit. But in any case please ensure you have safety plans to move states or countries if you need to.

Renew your passport, gather all important documentations, save money for a quick getaway and contact the embassies of the countries you might want to move to.

Please all keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

Help each other, support each other, but at the end of the day everyone will fight for their own life. Senseless altruism will lead you to your grave. Don't lay down your life for a country that hated you since the moment you were born.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

What a front cover...

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 6, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 07, 2025

This morning, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke of Reuters reported that the Trump administration is preparing to deport the 240,000 Ukrainians who fled Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and have temporary legal status in the United States. Foreign affairs journalist Olga Nesterova reminded Americans that “these people had to be completely financially independent, pay tax, pay all fees (around $2K) and have an affidavit from an American person to even come here.”

“This has nothing to do with strategic necessity or geopolitics,” Russia specialist Tom Nichols posted. “This is just cruelty to show [Russian president Vladimir] Putin he has a new American ally.”

The Trump administration’s turn away from traditional European alliances and toward Russia will have profound effects on U.S. standing in the world. Edward Wong and Mark Mazzetti reported in the New York Times today that senior officials in the State Department are making plans to close a dozen consulates, mostly in Western Europe, including consulates in Florence, Italy; Strasbourg, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Ponta Delgada, Portugal, as well as a consulate in Brazil and another in Turkey.

In late February, Nahal Toosi reported in Politico that President Donald Trump wants to “radically shrink” the State Department and to change its mission from diplomacy and soft power initiatives that advance democracy and human rights to focusing on transactional agreements with other governments and promoting foreign investment in the U.S.

Elon Musk and the “Department of Government Efficiency” have taken on the process of cutting the State Department budget by as much as 20%, and cutting at least some of the department’s 80,000 employees. As part of that project, DOGE’s Edward Coristine, known publicly as “Big Balls,” is embedded at the State Department.

As the U.S. retreats from its engagement with the world, China has been working to forge greater ties. China now has more global diplomatic posts than the U.S. and plays a stronger role in international organizations. Already in 2025, about 700 employees, including 450 career diplomats, have resigned from the State Department, a number that normally would reflect a year’s resignations.

Shutting embassies will hamper not just the process of fostering goodwill, but also U.S. intelligence, as embassies house officers who monitor terrorism, infectious disease, trade, commerce, militaries, and government, including those from the intelligence community. U.S. intelligence has always been formidable, but the administration appears to be weakening it.

As predicted, Trump’s turn of the U.S. toward Russia also means that allies are concerned he or members of his administration will share classified intelligence with Russia, thus exposing the identities of their operatives. They are considering new protocols for sharing information with the United States. The Five Eyes alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the U.S. has been formidable since World War II and has been key to countering first the Soviet Union and then Russia. Allied governments are now considering withholding information about sources or analyses from the U.S.

Their concern is likely heightened by the return to Trump’s personal possession of the boxes of documents containing classified information the FBI recovered in August 2022 from Mar-a-Lago. Trump took those boxes back from the Department of Justice and flew them back to Mar-a-Lago on February 28.

A CBS News/YouGov poll from February 26–28 showed that only 4% of the American people sided with Russia in its ongoing war with Ukraine.

The unpopularity of the new administration's policies is starting to show. National Republican Congressional Committee chair Richard Hudson (R-NC) told House Republicans on Tuesday to stop holding town halls after several such events have turned raucous as attendees complained about the course of the Trump administration. Trump has blamed paid “troublemakers” for the agitation, and claimed the disruptions are part of the Democrats’ “game.” “[B]ut just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION,” he posted on social media, “it’s not going to work for them!”

More Americans voted for someone other than Trump than voted for him.

Even aside from the angry protests, DOGE is running into trouble. In his speech before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, Trump referred to DOGE and said it “is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight.” In a filing in a lawsuit against DOGE and Musk, the White House declared that Musk is neither in charge of DOGE nor an employee of it. When pressed, the White House claimed on February 26 that the acting administrator of DOGE is staffer Amy Gleason. Immediately after Trump’s statement, the plaintiffs in that case asked permission to add Trump’s statement to their lawsuit.

Musk has claimed to have found billions of dollars of waste or fraud in the government, and Trump and the White House have touted those statements. But their claims to have found massive savings have been full of errors, and most of their claims have been disproved. DOGE has already had to retract five of its seven biggest claims. As for “savings,” the government spent about $710 billion in the first month of Trump’s term, compared with about $630 billion during the same timeframe last year.

Instead of showing great savings, DOGE’s claims reveal just how poorly Musk and his team understand the work of the federal government. After forcing employees out of their positions, they have had to hire back individuals who are, in fact, crucial to the nation, including the people guarding the U.S. nuclear stockpile. In his Tuesday speech, Trump claimed that the DOGE team had found “$8 million for making mice transgender,” and added: “This is real.”

Except it’s not. The mice in question were not “transgender”; they were “transgenic,” which means they are genetically altered for use in scientific experiments to learn more about human health. For comparison, S.V. Date noted in HuffPost that in just his first month in office, Trump spent about $10.7 million in taxpayer money playing golf.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo pointed out today that people reporting on the individual cuts to U.S. scientific and health-related grants are missing the larger picture: “DOGE and Donald Trump are trying to shut down advanced medical research, especially cancer research, in the United States…. They’re shutting down medicine/disease research in the federal government and the government-run and funded ecosystem of funding for most research throughout the United States. It’s not hyperbole. That’s happening.”

Republicans are starting to express some concern about Musk and DOGE. As soon as Trump took office, Musk and his DOGE team took over the Office of Personnel Management, and by February 14 they had begun a massive purge of federal workers. As protests of the cuts began, Trump urged Musk on February 22 to be “more aggressive” in cutting the government, prompting Musk to demand that all federal employees explain what they had accomplished in the past week under threat of firing. That request sparked a struggle in the executive branch as cabinet officers told the employees in their departments to ignore Musk. Then, on February 27, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that the firings were likely illegal and temporarily halted them.

On Tuesday, Senate majority leader John Thune (R-SD) weighed in on the conflict when he told CNN that the power to hire and fire employees properly belongs to Cabinet secretaries.

Yesterday, Musk met with Republican— but no Democratic— members of Congress. Senators reportedly asked Musk—an unelected bureaucrat whose actions are likely illegal—to tell them more about what’s going on. According to Liz Goodwin, Marianna Sotomayor, and Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post, Musk gave some of the senators his phone number and said he wanted to set up a direct line for them when they have questions, allowing them to get a near-instant response to their concerns.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters that Musk told the senators he would “create a system where members of Congress can call some central group” to get cuts they dislike reversed.

This whole exchange is bonkers. The Constitution gives Congress alone the power to make appropriations and pass the laws that decide how money is spent. Josh Marshall asks: “How on earth are we in this position where members of Congress, the ones who write the budget, appropriate and assign the money, now have to go hat in hand to beg for changes or even information from the guy who actually seems to be running the government?”

Later, Musk met with House Republicans and offered to set up a similar way for the members of the House Oversight DOGE Subcommittee to reach him. When representatives complained about the random cuts that were so upsetting constituents. Musk defended DOGE’s mistakes by saying that he “can’t bat a thousand all the time.”

This morning, U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. ruled in favor of a group of state attorneys general from 22 Democratic states and the District of Columbia, saying that Trump does not have the authority to freeze funding appropriated by Congress. McConnell wrote that the spending freeze "fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government." As Joyce White Vance explained in Civil Discourse, McConnell issued a preliminary injunction that will stay in place until the case, called New York v. Trump, works its way through the courts. The injunction applies only in the states that sued, though, leaving Republican-dominated states out in the cold.

Today, Trump convened his cabinet and, with Musk present, told the secretaries that they, and not Musk, are in charge of their departments. Dasha Burns and Kyle Cheney of Politico reported that Trump told the secretaries that Musk only has the power to make recommendations, not to make staffing or policy decisions.

Trump is also apparently feeling pressure over his tariffs of 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% on imports from China that went into effect on Tuesday, which economists warned would create inflation and cut economic growth. Today, Trump first said he would exempt car and truck parts from the tariffs, then expanded exemptions to include goods covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) Trump signed in his first term. Administration officials say other tariffs will go into effect at different times in the future.

The stock market has dropped dramatically over the past three days owing to both the tariffs and the uncertainty over their implementation. But Trump denied his abrupt change had anything to do with the stock market.

“I’m not even looking at the market,” Trump said, “because long term, the United States will be very strong with what’s happening.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[whenthewavehits]

EMERGENCY - gaza freedom flotilla under attack:

at 00:23 Maltese time today, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel was hit in a drone attack. The front of the vessel was targeted twice, resulting in a fire and a breach in the hull. The ship is currently located in international waters near Malta.

An SOS distress signal was sent out, to which only southern Cyprus has responded by dispatching a vessel. No other countries have responded. The drone attack appears to have specifically targeted the ship's generator, and the vessel is now at risk of sinking with 30 international human rights activists on board.

source: @gazafreedomflotilla

urgent actions you can take now:

email the Maltese government NOW to demand an emergency rescue, before it's too late: bit.ly/flotillarescue, list of email scripts in various languages & addresses

call and email your embassies in turkey, cyprus, greece, egypt, spain, france, italy + humanitarian orgs such as UN OCHA, UNCHR, ICRC, MSF

call the following numbers in addition to your embassy + line for overseas emergencies

prime minister of malta: +356 2200 2400

armed forces of malta operator: +356 2249 4202

rescue coordinator centre: +356 21 257 267

[pwlanier]

Venetian school, Reception of a Venetian embassy by the governor of Damascus, Italy, Venice, 1511. Oil on canvas

Courtesy Alain Truong

[royalty-nobility]

Teresa, or Teresia Sampsonia, Lady Shirley (1589–1668)

Artist: Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Flemish, 1599-1641)

Date: 1622

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Trust Collections, United Kingdom

Description

Teresa Sampsonia (born Sampsonia; after marriage Lady Shirley, 1589–1668) was an Iranian-English noblewoman of the Safavid Empire of Iran. She was the wife of Elizabethan English adventurer Robert Shirley, whom she accompanied on his travels and embassies across Europe in the name of the Safavid King (Shah) Abbas the Great.

Teresa was received by many of the royal houses of Europe, such as English prince Henry Frederick and Queen Anne (her child's godparents) and contemporary writers and artists such as Thomas Herbert and Anthony van Dyck. Herbert considered Robert Shirley "the greatest Traveller of his time", but admired the "undaunted Lady Teresa" even more. Following the death of her husband from dysentery in 1628, and due to impediments from grandees at the court, and the authorities, during the reign of Abbas's successor and grandson Safi (r. 1629–1642), Teresa decided to leave Iran. She lived in a convent in Rome for the rest of her life, devoting her time to charity and religion. As a pious Christian, and because of her love for her husband, Teresa had Shirley's remains transported to Rome from Isfahan and reburied; on the headstone of their mutual grave she mentions their travels and refers to her noble Circassian origins.

Thanks to her exploits, Teresa has been described as someone who subverted patriarchal gender roles common to the Muslim and Christian cultures of her time. Due to their hybrid identities and adventures, Teresa and her husband became the subject of several contemporary literary and visual works. Nevertheless, the story of Teresa as an important woman of the 17th century has been largely overshadowed and obscured by the tale of her husband Robert and his brothers.

Together they made two extended voyages across Europe. In 1611 they travelled to England where Teresa gave birth to their son, Henry. In 1613 they returned to Isfahan on an East India Company ship. The Shirleys continued to travel over the next decade to India, Portugal, Spain and Italy. They went to Rome in 1622, and this picture and the pendant portrait of Robert can be dated to Van Dyck's first visit to the city.

Van Dyck’s training with Rubens had sharpened his eye for the enriching effect offered by sumptuous garments such as those worn by Lady Shirley. Van Dyck had also recently begun to absorb the lessons of Titian and the other great Venetian colourists.

Teresa was a gifted linguist and spoke more than half a dozen languages. Historian Bernadette Andrea recounts how she saved her husband’s life on at least two occasions: ‘once as they set off on their first journey when his Persian enemies sought to kill him, which earned her the accolade "a true Amazon" and again when the couple encountered hostile Portuguese traders on their way to Goa.’ (See the entry for 'Lady Teresa Sampsonia Sherley' in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

After Robert’s death, Teresa was accused of the capital crime of apostasy and her property was confiscated. She became a fugitive, hiding in an Augustinian church in Isfahan and an Armenian convent just outside the Safavid capital. She received a special permit to travel, went to Istanbul for three years and then on to Rome where she settled and remained for more than three decades until her death in 1668.