#Canada Sues United States

[ranmagender]

I like how everyone is acting like Sherlock Holmes just became public domain in general. Sherlock Holmes has been public domain for a long while now, especially in places like Europe and Canada which have different copyright laws. What happened yesterday is that the last works still under copyright became public domain in the united states which was the subject of that attempted lawsuit by the conan doyle estate to sue Netflix for the Enola Holmes movie because Sherlock Holmes showed emotions which they believed was a characterization exclusive to those works they still had the copyright to. Idk, just felt like clarifying.

[strangerqueerthings]

Working on a Mungrove Werewolf!AU bc @weird-an is a horrible enabler ♥

Working title (for now) is Thicker Than Water.

"The blood of the pack is thicker than the water of the womb"

Posting some brainstorming below the cut.

Plot:

Billy Hargrove knows he's different. His father treats him like a ticking time bomb, and after an odd instance where he had a collapse and what felt like a full body migraine after a particularly bad encounter with Neil, the entire family is dragged across the country.

Eddie and Wayne Munson are werewolves, and have established a loosely connected, unofficial pack with other werewolves in Hawkins and the surrounding area. They lie low, knowing there's families in Hawkins who are members of a known Anti-Werewolf hate group, but they have no idea that it's all about to get worse, because the Hawkins lab is experimenting with their kind, to create super soldiers for the US military- and that those experiments are going to create a lot of problems for humans and lycans alike.

It all gets worse when a new family moves in- not only does Eddie peg the new boy his age as another werewolf the instant he sees him, but he learns this new lycan doesn't even know what he is.

Now, Billy is going to have to accept the fact that he's not human in order to find the family- and possibly the partner- he's always wanted, as well as a purpose in life that doesn't make him feel like a walking disaster waiting to happen.

--

Overview:

→Werewolves are a thing, but were nearly hunted to extinction by the early 1900's. A clandestine treaty between the remaining packs and heads of various governments established an addendum to the Geneva Convention that includes werewolves as a protected group.

→The United States, Romania, Brazil, Canada, parts of Russia and Serbia, South Africa, parts of India, and Australia are declared safe haven territories for werewolves- where killing them is considered the same as killing a human being.

→There are still hate groups underground that are devoted to eradicating werewolves, and though their existence is declared "urban legend," and "on par with the Illuminati" as far as proving their existence goes, they indeed exist, and they view werewolves as less than human, as well as a threat. (Many of them are also racist against non-whites and use the group as a front for their hate crimes- and their group members look the other way.)

→ The main hate group calls themselves "The Sons of Cain," referring to their twisted view of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, wherein Cain slew Abel because he was born with the curse of beast blood- and Eve thanked Cain for erasing the mistake she had borne, with Seth, her third son being a replacement for the aberration.

→ The Sons of Cain see themselves as modern day descendants of Cain, slaying descendants of Abel- which they call "The Spawn of Abel" so that the son of Cain and Seth may replace them.

→ A group of humans related to, or in close connection with werewolves who were killed or affected by the crimes of the Sons of Cain formed a group to protect them, called the Werewolf Liberation Front.

→ The WLF assists werewolves in legal matters, provides financial support, or assists werewolves in escaping areas that have become dangerous due to local government and/or law enforcement becoming embedded or overtaken by SOC.

→ Instead of MK-Ultra, the Hawkins Lab is experimenting with werewolves and their offspring to create telepathically linked super soldiers to fight Russia.

→ El is the penultimate result of these experiments.

---

Werewolves:

Eddie Munson

Wayne Munson

Jim Hopper

Billy Hargrove

Gareth Hemming

Sue Sinclair

Erica Sinclair

Patrick McKinney

Robin Buckley

Argyle Ochoa

99% of the Bingham family*

Yuri Ismaylov

MK-Ultra Werewolves:‡

Henry/One

Jane/Eleven

Kali/Eight

Sons of Cain:

Phil Callahan

The Carver family

Larry Kline

The Harrington family**

Werewolf Liberation Front/Werewolf Allies

The Byers family

Bob Newby

Murray Bauman

Charles Sinclair

Lucas Sinclair

Sam Owens

Barbara Holland

Chrissy Cunningham

Jeff Armstrong

Dustin Henderson

Max Mayfield

Scott Clarke

Heather Holloway

Blissfully/Willfully Ignorant:

The Wheeler family***

Tommy Hagan

Carol Perkins

Tom Holloway

Janet Holloway

*The only non-werewolf in the Bingham family is Mr. Bingham- he does his best to control his pack of werewolf children while his wife is at work, but Eden and Suzie often do most of the heavy lifting, as he's woefully incompetent at getting his (nearly) feral children to listen to him as a human parent.

**Steve is not a Son of Cain, and while he struggles with actually taking a side in the "Sons of Cain vs the Spawn of Abel" debate because he risks being disowned, he can't get behind joining a literal hate group- but due to being raised by a Son of Cain... he needs helps unlearning his prejudice against werewolves.

***Once Nancy and Mike learn about werewolves, they want to support them. Karen, on the other hand, tries calling Billy a predator, and tries to rile up the entire town against him, saying he tried to seduce her, and is a danger to the children of Hawkins. Ted calls her out on her bullshit, asking why a 17/18 y/o boy would try to seduce a married woman, and asks why he's a threat if Holly- a notoriously skittish child- adores Billy as a swim teacher.

‡: These are the ones I am including as characters in the fic- the rest are included by default, but will be background characters, or mentioned in passing.

This fic is actually going to be a challenge to myself- I don't like Steve. (St/eddie fans have realllllly made me wary about him, and I have YET to be in a Mungrove related discussion/community etc where a Steve fan didn't try to make it about Steve or include him somewhere... so needless to say, he irritates the fuck out of me because I can't get away from him.) This is a challenge to me to write him having better character growth that the show doesn't really do well enough for me to like him- and hopefully grow to like him in at least ONE iteration. That being said- no, there won't be any ships involving Steve in this. Focusing on Mungrove ♥

[psychic-refugee]

Here is some speculation on my part.

Another reason why PHW hasn’t made a statement yet, is because they are not only on the defensive but the offensive. The defense includes interviewing PHW and his knowledge of the accusers and the accusations. That takes time because memory can be spotty, especially if you’re overwhelmed with the fact that you’ve been accused of heinous things.

What will work on PHW’s side is that he has been consistently working for YEARS. He probably has a good record of WHERE he’s been and WHEN. They establish that first, and then match up the time line compared to what is being asserted. Whatever they can establish that he wasn’t where they said he was, then that’s all part of the defense. Whatever happens to overlap, that’s when they start to research other ways to refute the accusations.

It also takes time to do legal research. Unless they so happen to have an attorney whose niche specialty is social media accusations that happen in Toronto/Saint John between persons 15-21, AND there so happens to be a lot of established caselaw of this exact situation, then they have to look up as much caselaw that at least shares similar facts and had the outcome they want.

Even if the attorneys are working around the clock, and they are because they want those billable hours lol, all of that takes time.

Even if the accusers don’t plan to sue, PHW's team have to prepare as if they would.

Then there’s the possible suit they want to launch against the accusers. They allegedly release nude photos of him, some might be for when he was under 18. That’s possible CSAM and Revenge Porn, all on top of whatever he can prove they’re lying about if anything.

If he’s lost jobs, then we’re looking at damages. Not to mention the attorney fees that have probably piled up in five figures already.

If we look at the timeline of events, I heard the story on 20/1 GMT morning. Not sure when PHW heard, but let’s assume right as it broke so about 6am CET in Paris. Lets say he spent Friday flying back to Canada to deal with this, that’s a whole day just traveling, including all the time to book an early flight etc...

Then working with attorneys all weekend to make sure their defense is airtight and possibly also working on an offense.

We should also consider that courts aren’t open on the weekend. To properly sue someone in the United States, you have to “serve” them with court papers. The suit doesn’t start until the court gets notice that the defendants (the accusers in this case as they aren’t the ones suing) have been properly served. Normally this means a process server or a sheriff who can sign an affidavit that they not only found the defendants, but they were given paper copies of the suit. I figure that Canada has some similar rules.

The lawfirm might also be working on finding out exactly who these accusers are and where they live in order to properly serve them.

Silence in this instance is not only smart and strategic, it’s simply a matter of they’re still in the process.

[albertonykus]

Thoughts on the English Translation of the Doraemon Manga on Kindle

When I wrote about where to find Doraemon media in English, I didn’t have much to say about the English translation of the manga that is available on Kindle in the United States and Canada. This was mostly because I hadn’t had the chance to read any of it at the time. I’ve since been able to sample some chapters from the Kindle version, so I’ll take the opportunity to share some thoughts and observations.

Something that stands out is that all of the manga chapters have been colorized on Kindle, which is noteworthy because most of them were originally published in black and white.

When it comes to the translation, there’s some localization of terms here and there. Most obviously, the majority of the characters use their “English-sounding” names from the anime English dubs (except, for some reason, Shizuka, who is still Shizuka here instead of “Sue”). However, unlike the US dub, there's apparently no attempt to alter the original Japanese setting.

Somewhat surprisingly, there seems to be no censorship. The Doraemon manga contains depictions of nudity and attempted suicide that almost certainly wouldn’t fly in American children’s media nowadays, but these scenes are all kept intact in the English translation from what I’ve seen.

It might be interesting to compare the Kindle version with a different official English translation of the manga, the bilingual English–Japanese volumes that have been released in print.

(English Kindle version above, bilingual print volume version below)

Overall, the dialogue in the Kindle version likely reads a bit more naturally to English speakers, whereas the bilingual print version is probably more strictly faithful to the original Japanese. (Notably, the bilingual version doesn’t bother to come up with “English-sounding” names for most of Doraemon’s gadgets, instead just transliterating their Japanese names.) Even so, I generally don’t find the the minor changes in the Kindle version too intrusive, and it still captures the spirit of the original, for most part. (NB: I am not fluent in Japanese, so I can only comment based on my limited knowledge of the language and cross-referencing Chinese translations.)

The Kindle version also covers a much larger selection of the Doraemon manga. Roughly 230 manga chapters (out of over 1300 in total) have been published in the bilingual print format by my count, whereas if the list on the fanmade Doraemon wiki is to be believed, nearly all of the original manga stories are available in English on Kindle. This even includes some chapters that are not in the original Japanese 45-volume print compilation nor the 6 volumes of Doraemon Plus (a series compiling stories excluded from the 45-volume release). Additionally, English translations of the first 17 volumes from Doraemon’s Long Tales that the original manga author worked on (and served as the basis for the early Doraemon movies) have been released on Kindle. In fact, other than the Doraemon volumes in the Complete Works of Fujiko F. Fujio series (which have not been released in English), this may very well be among the most complete collections of the Doraemon manga ever published.

On the whole, if we only got one official English translation of the Doraemon manga, I’d be reasonably satisfied with the Kindle version... except for the fact that it’s so darn inaccessible to most of the world. If you’re not a Kindle user in the United States or Canada (or living in Southeast Asia where a few of the English Kindle volumes have apparently been released in print), chances are you’d still have better luck getting copies of the bilingual print volumes, as long as you’re willing to pay for shipping.

[captain-crackship]

Canadians! Listen up and reblog! This could very well save lives!

Petition to allow trans and nonbinary folks right to asylum in Canada, even those from so-called Western democracies.

If you are Canadian, I strongly urge you to sign this and share it with other Canadians. I am a nonbinary person living in the rural American South. I don’t feel safe here and if the conservatives in my country get their way, I won’t be safe anywhere. This isn’t just the reality for me, this is the reality for thousands of others like me in the United States and the United Kingdom. Canada may not be much better but it’s the best and frankly only option we have at the moment.

Article from The Mary Sue for more context.

[ya-world-challenge]

Challenge progress

Stress levels have been super high lately and I haven't been reviewing here as much, but I'm still reading ('cuz one has to escape sometimes). I'm up to 36 finished now, newly finished are in bold.

My up next list are the rolls from the randomizer that I haven't read yet. It's been determined to keep me in Europe lately (straying a little to Azerbaijan), plus there are two African countries I've been putting off because I have to buy them. :/

36 of 208 countries/regions

🇦🇫 Afghanistan - One Half from the East, Nadia Hashimi

🇦🇷 Argentina - Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez

🇧🇸 Bahamas - Facing the Sun, Janice Lynn Mathers

🇧🇴 Bolivia - Woven in Moonlight + Written in Starlight, Isabel Ibañez

🇧🇼 Botswana - Entwined, Cheryl S. Ntumy

🇨🇦 Canada - This House is Not a Home, Katłıà

🇨🇫 Central African Republic - Beasts of Prey, Ayana Gray*

🇨🇳 China - Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan

🇨🇿 Czech Republic - Torch, Lyn Miller-Lachmann

🇪🇪 Estonia - The Man Who Spoke Snakish, Andrus Kivirähk

🇫🇯 Fiji - The Wild Ones, Nafiza Azad

🇫🇷 France - Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow, Faïza Guène

🇬🇷 Greece - Tina’s Web, Alki Zei

🇬🇱 Greenland - Last Night in Nuuk, Niviaq Korneliussen

🇬🇩 Grenada - Sugar Money, Jane Harris

🇮🇳 India - Lioness of Punjab, Anita Jari Kharbanda

🇮🇪 Ireland - All Our Hidden Gifts, Caroline O'Donoghue

🇯🇵 Japan - Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Mizuki Tsujimura

🇱🇹 Lithuania - Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepatys

🇲🇾 Malaysia - The Weight of Our Sky, Hanna Alkaf

🇲🇦 Morocco - Thorn, Intisar Khanani*

🇳🇬 Nigeria - An Ordinary Wonder, Buki Papillon

🇲🇰 North Macedonia - A Spare Life, Lidija Dimkovska

🇵🇸 Palestine - Travellers Along the Way, Aminah Mae Safi

🇵🇱 Poland - When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb

🇵🇷 Puerto Rico - The Wicked Bargain, Gabe Cole Novoa

🇷🇴 Romania - And I Darken, Kiersten White

🇷🇺 Russia - Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko

🇼🇸 Samoa - Telesā: The Covenant Keeper, Lani Wendt Young

🇬🇧 Scotland - The Library of the Dead, T.L. Huchu

🇸🇬 Singapore - Sofia and the Utopia Machine, Judith Huang

🇸🇪 Sweden - The Circle, Sara B. Elfgren & Mats Strandberg

🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago - When the Vibe is Right, Sarah Dass

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates - Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson*

🇺🇸 United States - Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe - All That It Ever Meant, Blessing Musariri

*inspired

Currently reading: 🇵🇹 Portugal - Mariana, Katherine Vaz 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan - The Orphan Sky, Ella Leya

To read: 🇲🇹 Malta - Eight Pointed Cross, Marthese Fenech 🇸🇳 Senegal - No Heaven for Good Boys, Keisha Bush 🇸🇹 São Tomé & Príncipe - Native Dance, Gervásio Kaiser 🇱🇺 Luxembourg - The Elf of Luxembourg, Tom Weston

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: FLOYD PEPPER

Asked by @princesssarisa

@fragglesesamemuppetz2 @thealmightyemprex @softlytowardthesun @moonbeamelf @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @silverfoxstole

Favorite Thing About Them: He is a rebel, fun, energetic, with a witty and sarcastic sense of humour, as well as a sensitive performer, very passionate about music who, also, sometimes gets into introverted reflexions about his feelings and the meaning of his existence.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: How the writers of the 2015 ABC series the muppets. made him a paranoid conspiracy theorist and a machista who was so posessively jealous of Janice that he got into a ridiculous fight with Dr. Teeth because he didn't told that he used to date Janice before she even met Floyd.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

*I enjoy blues, jazz and rock and roll music.

*I also like performing plays in the theater.

*I can get very hard on the sarcasm.

Three Things I Don't Have In Common With Them:

*I don't have a long red hair and mustache.

*I'm not a member of a rock band.

*I'm not cool and hip like he is.

Favorite Line:

From The Muppet Show

"If I didn't know I was a genius, I wouldn't listen to the trash I write."

"Hey froggious amphibeous, don't forget today is pay day."

"Kermit, you are talking to Floyd Pepper, the hippest of the hip! I mean, I have a room for life at the Home for the Chronically Groovy!"

"I must be gettin' old; I'm startin to get to gigs on time!"

From the same series, giving information to a stranger in the street:

"Stranger: Hey, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?

Floyd Pepper: Practice, man, practice!"

This dialogue exchange that he has with Fozzie Bear:

"Fozzie Bear: You see, my problem was my need to tell jokes!

Floyd Pepper: Yeah! That was our problem too!"

This dialogue exchange that he has with Melissa Manchester:

"Melissa Manchester: Do you like blues music?

Floyd Pepper: Only when I'm depressed.

Melissa Manchester: You get depressed often?

Floyd Pepper: Only when I play the blues.

Melissa Manchester: You're weird.

Floyd Pepper: I may be weird, but you're beautifull."

Reacting to Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker's giant rock in The Muppet Movie:

"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"

From the TV Special The Muppets at the Walt Disney World, reacting to the conversation between Kermit the Frog and Mickey Mouse:

"Uh-oh. They're starting to argue philosophy."

brOTP: Annie Sue Pig, Fozzie Bear, Scooter, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Animal, Zoot, Lips, Janice, Slim Wilson, Lubock Lou, Crazy Harry, Dolores (Trumpet Girl), Clifford.

OTP: Janice, Zoot.

nOTP: Miss Piggy, Dr. Teeth.

Random Headcanon: Floyd Pepper was born in England, having worked in a bookstore and studied Arts and Theater. This was how he becamed familiar with beatnik poetry and american music, before travelling first to Canada and finally to the United States to come into contact with the craddle of jazz, blues and rock.

Unpopular Opinion: I feel that Floyd Pepper is the one who should be considered the leader of the Electric Mayhem band instead of Dr. Teeth, because he is the one who would take steps in making professional demands to Kermit and the person who has the hardest job of the band: to keep Animal in line.

Song I Associate With Them:

Mr Bassman

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

On the Bench

Ain't Misbehavin

Sunny

New York State of Mind

Wave

In The Good Old Summertime

Searchin

Favorite Picture of Them:

Playing the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland

Posing with his bass

Being performed by Jerry Nelson (with Richard Hunt performing Janice)

With Janice, rehearsing their instruments and in the theater balcony

With the whole Electric Mayhem

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.12 (after 1900)

1914 – World War I: The United Kingdom and the British Empire declare war on Austria-Hungary. 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Halen a.k.a. Battle of the Silver Helmets a clash between large Belgian and German cavalry formations at Halen, Belgium. 1944 – Waffen-SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema. 1944 – Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people are killed indiscriminately or in mass executions. 1944 – Alençon is liberated by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces. 1948 – Babrra massacre: About 600 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are shot dead on the orders of the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province, Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri, on Babrra ground in the Hashtnagar region of Charsadda District, North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan. 1950 – Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre: Seventy-five American POWs are massacred by the North Korean Army. 1952 – The Night of the Murdered Poets: Thirteen prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union. 1953 – First thermonuclear bomb test: The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4) using a "layered" scheme. 1953 – The 7.2 Ms  Ionian earthquake shakes the southern Ionian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 445 and 800 people are killed. 1960 – Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched.x 1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies. 1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside. 1976 – Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War. 1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. 1977 – The Sri Lanka Riots: Targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed. 1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released. 1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster. 1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota. 1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. 2000 – The Russian Navy submarine Kursk explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew. 2015 – At least two massive explosions kill 173 people and injure nearly 800 more in Tianjin, China. 2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 2018 – Thirty-nine civilians, including a dozen children, are killed in an explosion at a weapons depot in Sarmada, Syria. 2021 – Six people, five victims and the perpetrator are killed in Keyham, Plymouth in the worst mass shooting in the UK since 2010.

[mikijamcf]

Remembering Vicki Sue Robinson on the day of her birth, theatre and film actress and singer, closely associated with the disco era of late 1970s pop music; she is most famous for her 1976 hit, "Turn the Beat Around",( written by our dear friends, Pete and Gerald Jackson from the group, Touch Of Class).

In 1975, Robinson was providing vocals at a New York recording session for the album Many Sunny Places by Scott Fagan, a singer with whom she had performed in Greenwich Village clubs. Warren Schatz, a producer/engineer with RCA Records, was struck by Robinson's voice and saw her potential as a disco-oriented artist. Schatz invited Robinson to cut some demos including a remake of the Foundations' "Baby Now That I've Found You" which became Robinson's first solo release. Despite that track's failure, RCA green-lit Schatz's producing Robinson's debut album Never Gonna Let You Go. The title cut, a Schatz original, became a #10 disco hit but another album track, "Turn the Beat Around," began to build "buzz" and was expediently released as a single, topping the disco charts on March 20, 1976. "Turn the Beat Around" broke on Top 40 radio in Boston in May, almost immediately topping the charts there. Despite failure to crack the major market of Los Angeles, "Turn the Beat Around" reached the U.S. Top 10 in August, spending around six months overall on the Billboard Hot 100 and propelling the Never Gonna Let You Go album to #49. "Turn the Beat Around" would chart internationally, reaching #14 in Canada, #44 in France, #11 in the Netherlands and #12 in South Africa. The track would earn Robinson a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

In 1976, Robinson toured across the United States promoting her hit tune, "Turn the Beat Around." She performed on all the major TV shows such as The Midnight Special, Don Kirshners Rock Concert, The Merv Griffin Show, Mike Douglas, American Bandstand, and Soul Train. She also performed at the top venues around the country such as the Boarding House in San Francisco, The Starwood, in Los Angeles, The Bottom Line, Felt Forum, and Carnegie Hall in New York. The original touring band consisted of Dan Pickering on trumpet and flute, Bill Cerulli on drums, Wendy Simmons on bass guitar, Nacho Mena on percussion, Vernie "Butch" Taylor on guitar, and George Pavlis on keyboards. George Pavlis would be later replaced by Joey Melotti on keyboards. The touring band members recorded four tracks on Robinson's second album, Vicki Sue Robinson.

[kneedeepincynade]

⚠️ LIZ TRUSS, ENNESIMA POLITICANTE ANTI-CINESE, SI È DIMESSA DALLA CARICA DI PRIMO MINISTRO DEL REGNO UNITO ⚠️

🎊 Oggi, 20 ottobre, Liz Truss - Primo Ministro del Regno Unito - ha annunciato le sue dimissioni.

📉 Il suo è il governo più breve nella storia del Regno Unito, e rappresenta l'ennesimo fallimento di un paese occidentale nel tentare di continuare sulla via del fallimentare neo-liberismo e del più sfrenato atlantismo anti-russo e anti-cinese.

🇬🇧|⚔️|🇨🇳 Ancor prima della sua effettiva nomina, si era schierata con fermezza contro la Cina a favore dell'Australia, ma a rappresentare il più limpido e chiaro esempio di politica anti-cinese è stata una sua intervista alla CNN, dove aveva affermato che il Governo Unito intendeva collaborare attivamente con tutti gli alleati per "difendere" e "proteggere" il regime-fantoccio di Taiwan.

💬 "Tutti i paesi alleati devono garantire che Taiwan abbia l'opportunità di difendersi, [...] Stiamo lavorando con i nostri alleati, con il Giappone, con gli Stati Uniti, con il Canada. Ne ho discusso con il Presidente degli Stati Uniti e continueremo a lavorare insieme", ha affermato Liz Truss.

🇬🇧|⚔️|🇨🇳 Liz Truss, che aveva apertamente dichiarato di essere disposta ad utilizzare armi nucleari qualora la situazione lo richiedesse (❗️), aveva deciso di prendersi un posto in prima linea, al fianco degli USA, nel violare il Principio "Una Cina"

🤮 Nel breve periodo di governo del Regno Unito, Liz Truss ha promosso una serie di politiche atte ad arricchire il 2% che detiene già la maggior parte della ricchezza del paese, colpendo duramente la gente comune e coloro che si trovano in condizioni di povertà.

🇬🇧 In Gran Bretagna, il 22% della popolazione - compresi quasi 1/3 dei bambini e 1/5 degli anziani vive in povertà. I salari più bassi sono rimasti stagnanti, e il governo ha perseguito attivamente politiche neo-liberiste che hanno prodotto e produrranno una sempre maggior povertà, cercando di dare nuova linfa ad approcci classisti screditati da anni.

❗️Forse, se Liz Truss, al posto di lanciare una serie di attacchi anti-cinesi, anche per mezzo del Direttore del Government Communications Headquarters, si fosse concentrata sulla risoluzione degli enormi problemi interni del Regno Unito, tra cui la povertà e la criminalità in aumento, le cose sarebbero andate diversamente.

🧾 Fonte

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/20/uk-prime-minister-liz-truss-resigns-after-failed-budget-and-market-turmoil.html

🖼 Meme dell'autore di questo Canale Tumblr, che riposta i contenuti del Collettivo Shaoshan.

🌸 Iscriviti 👉 @collettivoshaoshan

⚠️ LIZ TRUSS, NTH ANTI-CHINESE POLITICIAN, RESIGNED FROM THE OFFICE OF UK PRIME MINISTER ⚠️

🎊 Today, 20 October, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation.

📉 The di lei is the shortest government in the history of the United Kingdom, and represents yet another failure of a Western country to try to continue on the path of failed neo-liberalism and the most unbridled anti-Russian and anti-Chinese Atlanticism.

🇬🇧 | ⚔️ | 🇨🇳 Even before her actual appointment, she firmly sided against China in favor of Australia, but the clearest and clearest example of anti-Chinese politics was an interview with her on CNN, where he stated that the United Government intended to actively collaborate with all allies to "defend" and "protect" the puppet regime in Taiwan.

💬 "All allied countries must ensure that Taiwan has the opportunity to defend itself, [...] We are working with our allies, with Japan, with the United States, with Canada. I have discussed this with the President of the States United and we will continue to work together, "said Liz Truss.

" A China "

🤮 In the short term of UK rule, Liz Truss has promoted a series of policies to enrich the 2% who already own the majority of the country's wealth, hitting ordinary people and those in poverty hard.

🇬🇧 In Britain, 22% of the population - including nearly 1/3 of children and 1/5 of the elderly - live in poverty. Lower wages have remained stagnant, and the government has actively pursued neo-liberal policies that have produced and will produce ever greater poverty, seeking to breathe new life into classist approaches that have been discredited for years.

❗️Maybe, if Liz Truss, instead of launching a series of anti-Chinese attacks, including through the Director of Government Communications Headquarters, had focused on solving the enormous internal problems of the United Kingdom, including poverty and crime in increase, things would have turned out differently.

🧾 Source

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/20/uk-prime-minister-liz-truss-resigns-after-failed-budget-and-market-turmoil.html

🖼 Meme of the author of this Tumblr Channel, which replies the contents of the Shaoshan Collective.

🌸 Sign up 👉 @collectivoshaoshan

[dancingtothesurfacenoise]

TODAY IN HISTORY Today is June 21st, 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. It is the first day of Summer and also the first day of National No Pants Week.

5400 BC - Prehistoric Druids create early pornography out of large stones on the Salisbury plains of England. Dance around dumpsters wearing no pants. They wish they had Ben New's new single "Summer" to dance to. (Without the music the culture failed.)

104 – Pliny the Younger is dismayed that his appointment as superintendent of the banks of the Tiber involves a lot of mud and not much handling of piles of coins.

325 – The original Nicene Crud is adopted at the First Council of Nicaean Gunk.

451 – Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun in a steel cage match carried by Tiberius Network Television.

533 - Belisarius sails from Constantinople to vacation in Africa, via Greece and Sicily

524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians, moves his throne to to his Mountain Chablis.

1138 - First Volvo dealership opened in Durham by Viking invaders.

1568 – The forces of Mary Queen of Scotch are defeated by Irish Whiskey freedom–fighters.

1914 - Mark Twain declares the Hokey Pokey to be what it is all about.

1915 - Supreme Court of the United States rules that Oklahoma cannot deny some of its citizens the right to vote. The Chief Justice then proceeds to insult Woodrow Wilson over his attempts to allow women to have a voice beyond choosing what's for dinner.

1940 - WWII: France surrenders to Germany

1941 - WWII: France surrenders to Germany again, for good measure.

1942 - WWII: France celebrates the anniversary of their surrender to Germany and the establishment of the Vichy government with parades, parties, and a third surrender to make sure the message was received.

1959 - A rare hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence, destroying vast sasquatch habitat and postponing the National Curling Championships.

1964 - The Beatles record " Sgt Pantsless".

1982 - John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of batshit insanity for trying to kill President Reagan; Hinckley dedicates his win to Jesus.

1994 - Figures released by the University of Cambridge showed that 80% of those born under the star sign Cancer actually obtained cancer, whereas 112% were infested with crabs.

1995 - Figures released by Harvard University showed that 93% of Cambridge students were unable to properly add percentages.

1996 - Figures released by Cambridge say "Bite me, Harvard". Harvard declines comment.

1997 - Harvard purchases Cambridge and changes it to an automotive maintenance and bar tending school.

1998 - The Republican Party declares itself a terrorist organization, Democrats immediately cave to their wishes fearing a threat of a filibuster.

2002 - The WHO cures polio. They go on to do an encore with "Magic Bus" and "Pinball Wizard".

2006 - Stupidity collapsed to a singularity.

The universe is observed to be composed of a stupidity so dense that no intelligence can escape.

2006 - Scientists find that Pluto has two moons.

2007 - Scientists find that Pluto is not a planet.

2008 - Scientists find that Pluto never existed in the first place.

2009 - Pluto sues science for defamation of character.

2010 – Scientists release research confirming anchovies are more at home in tomato sauce than water.

2011 – Syria and Israel sign an accord to resolve the hostilities over who gets first dibs on Kojak re-runs.

2012 – Bono loses the thing he's looking for now.

2016- World ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

2017 - No one notices.

2024 - The world, now an undead zombie demands the 10 commandments be inscribed in a Comic Sans font on some concrete slabs and that every one must be beaned by the thing.ome concrete slabs and that every one must be beaned by the thing.

[channeledhistory]

There is an obscure mechanism by which fossil fuel companies maintain their global domination even as their products are destroying our futures. Most rank-and-file climate activists haven’t heard of it and most news media rarely discuss it in great detail. It is a tool that has its origins in colonialism and advantages corporate power over democracy. The technical term for such a tool is “Investor-state dispute settlement” or ISDS. And while it sounds boring and technical, it is crucial that we familiarize ourselves with it in order to dismantle it.

The Global ISDS tracker, a newly launched online database, describes these as “secretive corporate tribunals.” When nations enter into trade agreements with one another, they usually include a clause on using the benign-sounding ISDS to resolve corporate disputes with national regulators. In other words, if a corporation originating in one nation sees its profits threatened by regulations or nationalization in another nation, it can sue that second government.

When applied to curbing carbon emissions in order to save our planet’s ability to sustain life, one can see that such tribunals can be extremely problematic. Country A decides to transition away from the oil and gas industry toward green, renewable energy. However, an oil company based in Country B sues via an ISDS agreement to extract its lost profits. That’s precisely what is happening, to the tune of $327 billion, according to the Global ISDS Tracker. “[F]ossil fuel cases… can devastate public budgets or even bankrupt a country.”

For example, Nigeria is currently facing a massive set of damages determined by an ISDS tribunal to be paid to a UK-based company for a gas project to the tune of 30 percent of the entire nation’s foreign exchange reserves. And, foreign mining companies are demanding $30 billion from the Republic of Congo using ISDS tribunals. That’s twice the amount of Congo’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Former UN climate envoy and former Irish President Mary Robinson, who said she was “outraged” when she found out about oil and gas companies using ISDS to extort nations, explained that “if countries do the right thing on climate, they have to compensate fossil fuel companies.” Where did ISDSs come from and how are they remotely justifiable in an era when society broadly agrees on democracy as the best form of government? Former U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration explained in the context of the 2016 free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that “ISDS is specifically designed to protect American investors abroad from discrimination and denial of justice,” and that it is a “more peaceful, better way to resolve trade conflicts” compared to the “gunboat diplomacy” of earlier eras. […]

According to a 2023 report by David Boyd, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, “[o]f the 12 largest ISDS awards to date, 11 involve cases brought by fossil fuel and mining investors.” The $95 billion they extracted from nations using ISDS “likely exceeds the total amount of damages awarded by all courts to victims of human rights violations in all States worldwide, ever,” wrote Boyd.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning media outlet Inside Climate News prefers to call ISDS “economic colonialism,” especially given that “the majority of cases have been filed by corporations from the United States, Europe, and Canada against developing nations.” Colonialism is a fitting descriptor. Gus Van Harten explained in his 2020 book “The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection,” that ISDS treaties “originate in the efforts of former colonial powers and international organizations, especially the World Bank, to constrain newly independent countries.” In other words, ISDS is a means by which to extend colonialism after the end of physical occupation.

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winning economist, prefers even harsher terminology. He called ISDS mechanisms “litigation terrorism,” because they “instill fear of environmental regulations, climate regulations because you know that it’s going to be costly” for governments.

British commentators had pressured the UK government to exit from treaties such as the “Energy Charter Treaty” (ECT) that require ISDS tribunals. In February 2024, the UK announced it would quit the ECT, following in the footsteps of France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. Most recently Members of the European Parliament also backed a proposal to end its ECT membership. It was called a “historic” vote against a treaty seen as a “climate killer.” It’s time for the U.S. to do the same. Last November, hundreds of climate justice and civil society groups signed on to a letter urging President Joe Biden to end ISDS mechanisms built into a trade agreement with nearly a dozen Latin American and Caribbean nations called Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. The signatories explained that ISDS was “a global governance regime that prioritizes corporate rights over those of governments, people, and the planet.”

This was followed by a similar letter in December 2023 signed by more than 40 lawmakers from the Senate and House urging Biden to remove ISDS provisions from all trade agreements. The signatories, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse, lauded Biden for his “powerful action when he shut down the Keystone XL pipeline project, preventing the construction of a tar sands oil pipeline,” and pointed out that “TC Energy (formerly known as TransCanada)—the company behind the now-defunct pipeline—has filed an ISDS claim for billions of dollars to be litigated not in an American court, but in a shady international tribunal.”

What good does it do Biden and the U.S. for him to be a climate champion if any steps he takes to undermine fossil fuel domination are countered by a powerful and secretive corporate weapon? Momentum against ISDS provisions is growing. In April 2024, hundreds of academics in law and economics also wrote to Biden urging him to “eliminate ISDS liability from existing agreements,” and offering valuable expertise on how it can be done. Biden had said in 2020 that he was against ISDS provisions—in spite of his role as Vice President to the pro-ISDS Obama. In a letter to the United Steelworkers union, he said “I oppose the ability of private corporations to attack labor, health, and environmental policies through the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process, and I oppose the inclusion of such provisions in future trade agreements.” But what about current trade agreements? It’s troubling that multinational corporations from the U.S. launched the highest number of ISDS cases worldwide. The U.S. is currently the top producer of crude oil in the world. U.S. oil and gas companies are reaping extraordinarily high profits while taking advantage of billions of dollars of public subsidies in the form of tax breaks. The least Biden can do to curb a deadly industry that is threatening our entire species is to take action against ISDS provisions in existing trade agreements.

[personal-reporter]

Gli altri sport: Bobby Jones

Uno dei più grandi golfisti di tutti i tempi… Robert Tyre Jones jr, detto Bobby, nacque  ad Atlanta il 17 marzo 1902 e da piccolo accompagnava spesso il padre, buon golfista, in campo, al punto che  partecipò al suo primo torneo all’età di 6 anni e lo vinse. Nel 1916, a 14 anni, Bobby vinse  il Georgia Amateur Championship e la United States Golf Association. lo invitò allo United States Amateur, dove arrivò sino ai quarti di finale. Dopo che si qualificò per gli US Open nel 1920, Jones venne accoppiato al leggendario Harry Vardon per i primi due giri, inoltre  rappresentò con successo gli Stati Uniti in due gare internazionali, battendo il Canada nel 1919 e nel 1920 e vinse il Southern Amateur nel  1917, 1920, e 1922. Jones vinse il suo primo US Open nel 1923 e tre anni dopo si aggiudicò in una sola stagione US Open e British, prima volta in assoluto nella storia, w fu l’unico giocatore a vinse il Grande Slam, nello stesso anno. Nel 1930 Bobby vinse all’Old Course di St Andrews in Scozia (Amateur Championship), il Royal Liverpool Golf Club a Hoylake (Open Championship), l’Interlachen Country Club in Minnesota (Us Open) e il Merion Golf Club, in Pennsylvania (US Amateur). La partecipazione sia nei tornei amateur che in quelli professionistici era possibile perché Jones rifiutò sempre di passare pro, infatti partecipava come dilettante alle competizioni amateur e si iscriveva nello stesso ruolo ad US Open e British Open, noti per una serie di gare di qualificazione riservate agli amateur. Jones ha rappresentò gli Stati Uniti nella Walker Cup cinque volte, vincendo nove delle sue dieci partite e svolse il doppio ruolo di giocatore e capitano della squadra degli Stati Uniti nel 1928 e 1930 Ma Bobby non fu solo un grande campione di golf ma anche un esempio di grande sportività e lealtà dato che in due occasioni, nel giro finale di tornei importanti, si auto-inflisse una penalità, dichiarando che la palla si era mossa. Dopo il suo ritiro dal golf competitivo nel 1930 a 28 anni, Jones intraprese la carriera di avvocato, ma il fascino del golf era troppo forte e continuò a farsi promotore di iniziative, infatti grazie a lui fu realizzato ad Augusta uno splendido campo da golf coprogettato con Alister MacKenzie, aperto nel 1933 e un anno dopo vi venne giocato il primo Augusta Masters Tournament. A Bobby Jones nel 1948 fu diagnosticata la siringomielia , una grave malattia che lo accompagnò fino alla sua scomparsa, avventura il 18 dicembre 1971. Read the full article

[ya-world-challenge]

🌟 Challenge progress time! 🌟

24 of 208 countries/regions

Here is the updated progress list! I’m going back and forth between using the randomizer and just picking up books off my wishlist that go on Kindle sale (which is where I got Furia... which so far is really good!) I want to click the randomizer again, but I already have 3 to read... *resists the shiny button* I have more reviews to finished, but it’s more fun to read...

bold are newly finished

🇦🇫  Afghanistan - One Half from the East, Nadia Hashimi 🇧🇸 Bahamas - Facing the Sun, Janice Lynn Mathers 🇧🇴 Bolivia - Woven in Moonlight, Isabel Ibañez 🇧🇼 Botswana - Entwined, Cheryl S. Ntumy 🇨🇦 Canada - This House is Not a Home, Katłıà 🇨🇫 Central African Republic - Beasts of Prey, Ayana Gray* 🇨🇳  China - Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Sue Lynn Tan 🇨🇿  Czech Republic - Torch, Lyn Miller-Lachmann 🇫🇷  France - Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow,  Faïza Guène 🇬🇷  Greece - Tina’s Web, Alki Zei 🇬🇱 Greenland - Last Night in Nuuk, Niviaq Korneliussen 🇬🇩  Grenada - Sugar Money, Jane Harris 🇮🇳  India - Lioness of Punjab, Anita Jari Kharbanda 🇯🇵  Japan - Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Mizuki Tsujimura 🇲🇾  Malaysia - The Weight of Our Sky, Hanna Alkaf 🇲🇦  Morocco - Thorn, Intisar Khanani* 🇳🇬  Nigeria - An Ordinary Wonder, Buki Papillon 🇲🇰  North Macedonia - A Spare Life, Lidija Dimkovska 🇵🇱 Poland - When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb 🇷🇺  Russia - Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko 🇼🇸 Samoa - Telesā: The Covenant Keeper, Lani Wendt Young 🇬🇧 Scotland - The Library of the Dead, T.L. Huchu 🇦🇪  United Arab Emirates - Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson* 🇺🇸 United States - Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger

*inspired

Currently reading: 🇦🇷 Argentina - Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez 🌍 North Africa - Waking Fire, Jean Louise

To read next: 🇱🇹 Lithuania - To Fang, With Love, Rufi Thorpe 🇸🇳 Senegal - No Heaven for Good Boys, Keisha Bush

[whatsonmedia]

New trade deal poor for workers!

CPTPP trade deal will allow corporations to sue governments over policies affecting profits, unions and campaigners warn. Multinational corporations will be able to sue any British givernmnet which introduces policies deemed detrimental to their profits. The new trade deal signed today by the Tories, warned by the unions. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) could jeopardise decisions such as increases to the national minimum wage. The agreement was signed by Tory business secretary Kemi Badenoch during a visit to New Zealand where she announced that it would "deliver billions of pounds in additional trade". The government's own estimates showing that it will add only 0.08 per cent to the size of the economy over 10 years. Pros and Cons of Trade What is government aiming for? The government has been desperately scrabbling for trade deals following Britain’s breach with the European Union and exit from the single market. It has thus far failed to secure a much-vaunted free trade deal with the United States. Britain is the first to sign the CPTPP in 2018. The treaty also involves Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Why is it Poor for Workers? The agreement proves to bad for the workers at home and abroad. Once again, Conservative ministers have turned a blind eye to egregious human and workers' rights abuses in their pursuit of trade deal. Workplace exploitation is widespread in the countries involved in this agreement. The multinational corporations have the right to sue the UK government in secret. This is for introducing policies which threaten their profits-this could include an increase in the minimum wage or bringing energy companies back into public onwership. Uk trade strike Poor for workers What should government do? The government should be using its international influence to promote decent work, deliver green jobs and protect our public services. Also not treat treade deals as publicity tools. It’s time to meaningfully consult with unions and listen to our concerns. The deal still has to be scrutinised by Parliament and will be subject to legislation. Trade policy critiqued by Environmentalist The agreement was also criticised by environmentalists. World Wildlife Fund-UK director Angela Francis said the government was “knowingly enabling trade in products that are wreaking havoc on our natural world.” Other critics stated that the agreement wil be limited, with official estimates of  just £1.8 billion a year to the economy after 10 years. Read the full article

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.12 (after 1940)

1944 – Waffen-SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema. 1944 – Nazi German troops end the week-long Wola massacre, during which time at least 40,000 people are killed indiscriminately or in mass executions. 1944 – Alençon is liberated by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces. 1948 – Between 15 and 150 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are killed by Pakistani police. 1950 – Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre: Seventy-five American POWs are massacred by the North Korean Army. 1952 – The Night of the Murdered Poets: Thirteen prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union. 1953 – First thermonuclear bomb test: The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4) using a "layered" scheme. 1953 – The 7.2 Ms  Ionian earthquake shakes the southern Ionian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 445 and 800 people are killed. 1960 – Echo 1A, NASA's first successful communications satellite, is launched. 1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country's racist policies. 1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside. 1976 – Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War. 1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. 1977 – The Sri Lanka Riots: Targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed. 1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released. 1984 – An infamous brawl takes place at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres. 1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster. 1990 – Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota. 1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. 2000 – The Russian Navy submarine Kursk explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew. 2015 – At least two massive explosions kill 173 people and injure nearly 800 more in Tianjin, China. 2016 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 2017 - The Unite the Right rally occurs in Charlottesville, Virginia, leading to the deaths of 3 and injuring nearly 50 more. 2018 – Thirty-nine civilians, including a dozen children, are killed in an explosion at a weapons depot in Sarmada, Syria. 2021 – Six people, five victims and the perpetrator are killed in Keyham, Plymouth in the worst mass shooting in the UK since 2010.