#Indian Offices of Google

[4seohelp]

List of Google Offices in India | Indian Offices of Google

Google is the most popular web search platform around the world, utilized by many individuals. In India, Google has four workplaces in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Gurgaon. These workplaces handle Google’s marketing, paid ad services, and product upgrades. They recruit individuals for different jobs like product management, software development, operations, sales, account management,…

[impossibledial]

some interesting things i’ve noticed upon rewatching last christmas and paying particular attention to clara’s dream with danny.

first thing to note; in the dream, clara and danny seem to be living together. not only that but in a house i don’t recognize — correct me if it is in fact, clara’s apartment.

(i now notice that the lamp is the same in both of these scenes but the rest of set looks completely different to me.)

second; when clara predicts the gifts that danny has brought her she mentions tickets to the indian orient express. when was the last time clara was on a replica of the orient express? with the doctor.

she also mentions a painting they saw in paris. over the course of series 8, there is no indication that danny and clara had ever traveled or even spent a holiday together.

third; when the doctor intrudes on clara’s dream he points out that clara has made danny a fraction taller. the doctor is only about an inch taller than danny as you can see from the screencap above.

i’ve also googled and peter capaldi is an inch taller than samuel anderson.

(i am fully aware that i may be looking too much into the details on this third one.)

fourth; when danny tells clara to move on, he says, “do as you’re told.”

the only time that phrase was uttered before this was by the doctor or clara. every time it was said, it was them saying it to each other.

danny never said do as you’re told. i believe it would go against his character to say such a thing - hating officers and all. this could be a sign that danny is a figment of clara’s subconscious, her subconsciously making dream danny closer in personality with the doctor, or both.

[srbachchan]

DAY 5760

Jalsa, Mumbai Nov 24, 2023 Fri 11:15 PM

... and here we are in time for the date of the DAY today .. what a wonder ..

😳

each day is a learning and the learnings remain imbedded within .. when and where they shall come out , it is never known .. not known because the recent events of this morning are forgotten or difficult to remember but what transpired ages ago come out in the fluency of a Google response ..

Google response ??

😂

the World it changeth .. and has adopted many that never were imagined .. now a general pass word ..

so the learning was from a very senior Officer of the Indian Navy, who spent some time explaining the workings of an Aircraft Carrier and all the encumbrances it faces in its operations ..

a wonder really .. and some day there will be need to explain this phenomena to them that seem to not give the deserved attention, our Navy deserves .. !

but of that later .. suffice to say that their presence in protecting our region , surrounded on three sides by water is a massive exercise, unimaginable to the general mass ..

for the moment its the convenient imagery of the self on work :

sleep and rest well ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[myemuisemo]

It's week 3 of Letters from Watson, and there is an elephant in the room.

We're going to feel the elephant's trunk, but first I want to crawl into the mindset of a contemporary 1887 reader. It's been a long time since I watched the Jeremy Brett versions of Sherlock Holmes, so if my impressions are shaped by that experience, it's in an indirect subconscious way.

Holmes' explanation of how he spotted the courier as a retired sergeant of Marines indicates that he's storing a good deal of trivia about military services in the lumber room of his mind.

Gregson and Lestrade, the best of Scotland Yard, are blessed with the Victorian compliments of being "quick and energetic." Watson, in his rush to order a cab, is also implied to value quickness and energy over whatever thought processes Holmes is about to introduce. When not humored in his rush to be useful, he falls into a sulk.

Gregson is the whitest of whitely white guys, from pale face to flaxen hair. The fact that he's not the slightest bit red-faced suggests both that he rarely sees the sun (well, London fog) and that he doesn't drink. There's very likely a teeny bit of a joke here in calling him Gregson, since Watson would certainly have been aware of the work of Joseph Gelson Gregson, the Baptist preacher and Army chaplain whose mission in the 1860s-70s was to convert British Indian Army soldiers to total abstinence from alcohol. Will our Gregson turn out to be zealous and self-righteous?

If Gregson did not arrive in a cab, and Lestrade did not arrive in a cab, then likely there are some specific sort of tire marks in the mud.

Now, the house at 3 Lauriston Gardens came close to baffling me. Obviously, when I first read the Sherlock Holmes stories as a mid-sized child, I knew only sprawling ranch tract homes, so the description of the 3-story vacant house was just "ooh, creepy!"

That numbering really suggests its an attached rowhouse, though. That would be consistent with development down Brixton Road in the mid-19th century. There are so, so many terraces of identical attached houses in yellowish brick. Here's Google Maps demonstrating 3-story terraced rowhouses on Handforth Road, just off Brixton Road. These are a little too new, dating from the 1890s, so we've got to imagine a Brixton Road area that's still far less developed -- things that look "old" to us weren't there yet.

These remind us that as London built outward, the rowhouses usually did not have two features that Lauriston Gardens has: a front garden and a center hall. The front garden suggests that the intent of the four dwellings composing Lauriston Gardens was to be a little more suburban and bucolic than the typical urban terrace. Its general aura of mud indicates that it has failed at this promise.

But move on down Brixton Road to the 300 block, and here we are with that garden! These are 3 stories, have a yard, have pillars suggested Greek Revival (1850s-60s), and are depressing af.

Maybe it's my years in the Albany-Troy (NY) area speaking, but these are exuding "we are holding onto middle class by our slipping fingernails." I think that is actually the impression Doyle intends to give: Lauriston Gardens was never quite perfectly respectable, even in its heyday, but it was trying.

That center hall still troubles me. A middle-class rowhouse typically has a side hall, which holds the staircase volume. The parlor is then either narrow (one window) or wide (two). Lauriston Gardens is built with a center hall (pointing to a more lavish lifestyle) but only one "reception" room deep. It has "offices" (butler's pantry or whatever) and a kitchen on the main floor, not in the basement.

Something like this, a titch further out Brixton Road, might be a fit if it weren't for the extra wing on the side. I think the dormer floor is a modern addition. These super-plain houses with only the pillared doorways look so grim, especially compared to the more ornamented Victorian styles.

If the reader is meant to feel uneasy at the mismatch between 3 Lauriston Gardens' pretensions and its actuality, we're there! In any case, the carpet has been pulled up (as was common, you took it with you when you moved), the florid older wallpaper is peeling, the fireplace mantle is a faux finish (yep, aspirations above our proper class), and there is a body on the floor.

Our body is wearing a frock coat, which was the formal daytime wear of a gentleman but on its way out of fashion by the 1880s. Broadcloth of the era had a felt-like feel and was known for durability. So our corpse is respectable, practical, probably conservative in habits, and possibly punching a bit above his social class.

And he has a "simious and ape-like appearance," which worries the heck out of me in a modern 2023 sense. Watson, as the late Victorian everyman, refers to common notions of facial bone structure indicating character. Simian is never good; it's an indicator of primitive, uncouth nature. I'm going to hope hard that we are solely being set up to see the dead man as representative of the worst sort of grasping, self-centered, profit-minded, uncouth American. We're definitely supposed to "get" that, as the house is failing at its pretentions, so too is the dead body trying to be something above its class.

I am nervous for next week, and I'm determined not to look ahead. I'm going to sit with my discomfort like a proper serial-reader, so don't spoiler it for me!

[labbaik-ya-hussain-as]

*Farewell* *to* *Modi.*

You will be shocked to see how India has changed in last 5 years

*1.* India is now suffering from Highest Unemployment Rate in 45 years _(NSSO data)_

*2.* All Top 10 most polluted cities in world are now in India _(WHO data)_

*3.* Number of Indian Soldiers Martyred is highest in 30 years now _(Washington Post)_

*4.* India now has Highest Income Inequality in 80 years _(Credit Suisse Report)_

*5.* India has become world's worst country for women _(Thomas Reuters Survey) _

*6.* Kashmiri youth joining militancy is highest in 10 years _(Indian Army data)_

*7.* Indians Farmers suffered Worst Price Crash in 18 years _(WPI Data)_

*8.* Highest ever Cow related violence and Mob Lynchings on record after Modi became PM _(India Spend Data)_

*9* India is now World's Second most Unequal Country _(Global Wealth Report)_

*10* Indian Rupee is now Asia's worst Performing Currency _(Market Data)_

*11* India has become World's Third Worst Country in Environment Protection _(EPI 2018)_

*12* First time in history of India, foreign funding and corruption is legalized _(Finance Bill 2017)_

*13* Our current PM is the Least accountable Prime Minister in 70 years _(First PM to give 0 press conferences)_

*14* First time in history of India, CBI vs CBI, RBI vs Govt, SC vs Govt fights happened because Modi wanted control of all democratic Institutions

*15* First time in history of India, 4 Supreme Court judges gave a press conference to say _”Democracy is in Danger”_

*16* First time in history of India, top secret Defence documents stolen from Defence Ministry office _*(Rafale)*_

*17* Intolerance and Religious Extremism is highest in 70 years _(Personal observation because no data for this exists)_

*18* Indian Media is now Worst in 70 years _(Personal Observation)_

*19* First time in history of India, if you criticize our Govt, you will be labeled *Anti-National*

Biggest proof for this - Try to forward this message on WhatsApp and Modi Bhakts around you will call you Anti-National.

But we must not fear. None of what I said in this message is a Jumla. All the data given above is *100% verified FACTS*. You can verify them yourself by doing a google search on any point. *This is the reality of what has happened to our India. *

*Modi Govt is the Worst Govt India has ever had in last 70 years.*

Some people say that 2019 elections are the last elections that will happen in India. Because if Modi wins this time, he will desperately want to control all institutions of our democracy and we will become a *dictator ship.*

Do not fear, share this message.

Save our Democracy. Save our India.

[qnewsau]

Lesbian influencers call of wedding after cheating scandal

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/lesbian-influencers-call-of-wedding-after-cheating-scandal/

Lesbian influencers call of wedding after cheating scandal

Popular lesbian influencers Anjali Chakra and Sufi Malik have announced their split just weeks before their planned wedding. 

In coordinated Instagram posts on Monday, Anjali and Sufi told fans that they had made the decision to split after Sufi cheated.

“I made an unrecognisable mistake of betrayal by cheating on her a few weeks before our wedding,” Sufi wrote.

“I’ve hurt her tremendously, beyond my own understanding. I’m owning up to my mistake and will continue to do so. I understand the gravity of the situation and can only ask relentlessly for forgiveness, from Anjali and Allah.”

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Sufi Malik (@sufi.sun)

In her own post, Anjali also acknowledged the infidelity.

“What we have shared has been so full of love and nothing short of magical — I will choose to remember it this way.”

“Since the beginning, your outpouring of love and support has played such a special part in our journey and we will continue to carry that love with us moving forward.

“This may come as a shock but our journey is now shifting. We have decided to call off our wedding and end our relationship due to infidelity committed by Sufi.”

However, she also write that she wishes for “absolutely no negativity to be shown towards Sufi,” and for her followers to “respect this difficult decision.”

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Anjali (@anjalichakra)

Who are Sufi Malik and Anjali Chakra?

The couple first gained a following back in 2019, after a photoshoot for a South Asian designer went viral.

A tweet that photographer Sarowar shared of the shoot received over 42,000 likes, with people celebrating the photos’ depiction of a queer, South Asian, interfaith love story — Sufi is Muslim and Pakistani, and Anjali is Hindu and Indian.

A New York Love Story pic.twitter.com/nve9ToKg9y

— Sarowar (@therealsarowar) July 28, 2019

The couple went viral again in the same year after sharing their one-year anniversary photo shoot.

“When we first started dating I used to let go of Sufi’s hand a few blocks before my office when she walked me to work because I was scared people would find out I was queer,” Anjali wrote.

“Fast forward a year and we spent our anniversary at my cousin’s wedding, where she met 50 members of my extended family who loved her!

“Here’s to many more years of growing in our love, together.”

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Anjali (@anjalichakra)

With their follower base extending beyond the states, the couple were among the queer influencers invited to attend World Pride in Sydney last year.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Sufi Malik (@sufi.sun)

The dramatic end to the popular influencer couple has shocked fans who have taken to social media.

@nidpatt_ thats it no more of this i cant take it pls #sufiandanjali #browngirltiktok #desi #browntiktok #anjalichakra #sufisun ♬ original sound – nidhi

sufi and anjali breakup is the desi queer community’s try guys scandal except with geopolitical ramifications

— redacted daily updates (@wamenarentfunny) March 25, 2024

planning a trip w my friends for 2 months from now and we’ve already set space in the schedule for deep diving into the anjali sufi breakup

— jim (FHJY spoilers) 🌙🇵🇸 (@muracommie) March 28, 2024

Anjali Sufi breakup is first celebrity couple demise that I am actually sad about wtf

— Kaafi Historian (@TurbulentTamizh) March 24, 2024

IN OTHER NEWS: 

Brisbane comedian Mel Buttle marries her partner

Guns, sex and mullets in Kristen Stewart’s queer thriller

Sam Kerr is officially the most Googled Aussie in 2023

Aussie design influencers Josh and Matt are engaged

  For the latest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) news in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[hellpuppetswithfleshymembers]

All poking fun at captain dipshit and his dumb song aside, this is a good read that takes a real look at what’s been happening for a long time in our nation’s real small towns.

I didn’t know why people kept mentioning “small towns,” but assumed it was a pop culture reference I was missing.

So, I googled it.

Jason Aldean, a country singer I've never heard of and will probably never think about again after people stop talking about him, recently released a song called, "Try That in a Small Town."

The song, if you've not heard it, threatens violence on people who do various things like car jacking, stomping on a flag, “cussing out” a cop, or robbing a liquor store at gun point.

A friend of mine pointed out that Aldean is from Macon, Georgia, with a population of over 150,000.

That’s… not a small town.

I’m from Logan, WV. Population is 1,400.

I came from Chauncey, WV, a coal camp in Logan. Population is 283. I am actually from “Chauncey Holler” (Hollow). Population is probably fewer than 100 people.

I’m from an actual small town.

I’m descended from the Hatfield/Vance clan of Hatfield and McCoy repute. I’m cut from the Shawnee resistance to the Indian Removal Act. My ancestors were freedmen. My ancestors mined the coal that kept the pacified middle class warm and cozy in their domesticated complacency.

And yes, if you come to an actual small town as an outsider and do things that seem threatening to insiders, they’ll handle it internally.

That much is true.

What Jason Aldean is talking about isn’t anything like what people from actual small towns would say. In fact, you won’t hear from them at all because it is not in the ethos of people from insular, isolated communities to try and posture with the outside world.

They don’t think people are actually going to come there and try to burn their crumbling infrastructure and rob their single-wide trailers and their dead grandma’s house they squat with duct tape and cut up trash bags for windows.

No city person is traveling to the middle of nowhere to steal your Aunt Gert’s Buick Skylark, Jason.

They don’t carry enough jugs of oil and coolant to pull over every few miles and top it off because they have not been waiting on that black lung settlement for over a decade to get their car fixed.

Noey (Noah) Mullens, the town mechanic, passes everyone’s car inspection because no one cares about regulations. The police would not ticket Aunt Gert, either, because when most everyone is that Poor, the police know better.

The police don’t “cross that line.”

No one is afraid of getting caught or being reported because no one is looking.

No one cares. No city folk care. No suburban country music singers care.

They’re invisible.

Police do not have much of a role in small towns. People do handle things on their own. No one is spitting in a cop’s face in a small town because Officer Joe Sias and his brother Don aren’t patrolling.

They probably never fired their weapons on the job at anything other than a rabid raccoon or coyote, and they’re considerably less armed than the average citizen. No one calls the police to report crimes.

But in a small town, you are very likely to be robbed by your neighbor’s adult kid with a meth or oxycontin addiction. They’ll steal your grandparents’ cancer and hospice meds and your tube TV.

And no one riots in a small town because they can’t afford to reach the power structures that left them so poor.

At nights, people steal the flood grates around small towns for scrap metal. They loot abandoned houses and businesses for copper wire and metal pipes to scrap. No one is ever going to revitalize those structures, so people just look the other way. By day they pick up beer and soda cans on the side of the road— for scrap.

Anything to avoid the mines.

Aldean’s video shows b-roll of protests, property destruction, violence, and generally unrelated incidents in big cities.

Nobody in those videos cares about what’s happening in somebody’s small town. This is the suburbanite white dude fantasy version of Scarface. It’s the product of having no sense of personal identity and appropriating some ill-imagined mixture of actual generational Poverty culture (which is not a white phenomenon) and a wholly American mythos of having a closed culture that worships assimilation.

They often don’t think they’re racist because they often do genuinely like their Black and Brown neighbors who fish and hunt with them and go to their churches and whose kids are on their kids’ little league team.

They have a vision of living in community that they can’t bring to reality because things have changed since the boomer generation's good hand. They have dreams of being financially successful if they just work hard enough, but those dreams are not coming to fruition because they’re an American myth.

They’re trying to hold on to a sense of grandiosity characterized by surviving struggles they never experienced and by having values they don’t understand or have no connection to.

They are angry at anyone defying the order because they cope with the loss of hope for a mythical future by trying to blame people being crushed by the systems that are also eroding the white working class (at a slower rate).

The rate has been so slow, they don’t realize their sentimentality about how great this nation is came from lies they were told and an identity that is as empty and illusory as the history they learned in school.

It’s the equivalent of trying to be the proverbial “golden child” to an abusive parent, maintaining the illusion that the truth-telling “scapegoat” is actually the problem.

That’s the “great again” that people like that bank on. The proverbial “New Jerusalem.”

Is the song racist?

That’s the wrong question, because it’s oversimplified.

Is the song a mediocre by-product of a mass delusion that white settlers have agreed to maintain because they too had their identities stolen by colonialism, so that they are also defined by Uncle Sam’s toxic legacy as the golden child who is too cowardly to ask questions, hear the truth, accept accountability, or fight back?

Yes.

This peacock of a song is a blatant and pitiable attempt at being unable to accept that they only get a pass from Uncle Sam when they assimilate into a fictional character that upholds the colonial ego of Big Daddy Nationalism and Mama Manifest Destiny.

Unpacking that everything you’ve ever been told is a lie is hard work, and they’re not cut out for that because they’re not actually workers.

They aren’t the cheap labor they benefit from. Their “small town” fantasy is as sincere as their “honest worker” fantasy.

They need to consult their ancestors, and not just the ones who got free [stolen] land.

My “small town” ancestors shot the sheriffs and the deputies, they burned whole towns to the ground, and they led the most violent uprisings in the history of Uncle Sam’s invasion because they did not see the people upholding the status quo as “their own.”

Jason Aldean has no idea who “his people” are. They’re not “small town” people. They’re the middle mass, the embodied entitlement that one inherits when they come from a legacy of settler colonialism, slave trading, and evangelical purity culture that justified genocide.

They’ve been convincing themselves they’re fighting for something noble for so long, they see the loss of that illusion as a threat to the only identity colonialism left them with— generic whiteness.

What he can’t handle is that he’s not a “good ol’ boy,” he’s just a bully doing the business of an abusive parent to preserve the illusion of the “pillar of community.”

If he knew how to be in community, he would not be building a cult following on nationalistic propaganda.

[ladyimaginarium]

okay so. i'm& not even doing my& usual formatting w/ this. here's the statistics in relations to mmigw2s & other native issues i've& been meaning to post but couldn't for mental health reasons; the last few days have been really hard on me& and us& as a system collectively for trauma reasons. all of it is under the cut. nonnatives don't derail.

MMIGW2S Carrd

Land Back

Indian Residential School Survivors' Society

Google Doc of MMIGW2S/MMIP Resources Including Things For Settlers To Be Aware Of

Strong Hearts Helpline

Hope For Wellness Helpline

Idle No More: Defund The Canadian Police ( "Honor all of the lives lost to the Canadian State – Indigenous lives, Black Lives, Migrant lives, Women and Trans and 2Spirit lives — all of the relatives that we have lost. Use our voices for MMIWG2S, Child Welfare, Birth Alerts, Forced Sterilization, Police/RCMP brutality and all of the injustices we face. We will honor our connections to each other and to the Water, Land, and Sky" )

Violence Against Native & Alaska Native Women & Men (PDF)

Natives are killed in police encounters at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet rarely do these deaths gain the national spotlight.

For every 1 million Natives, an average of 2.9 of them died annually from 1999 to 2015 as a result of a “legal intervention,” according to a CNN review of CDC data broken down by race. The vast majority of these deaths were police shootings. But a few were attributed to other causes, including manhandling. That mortality rate is 12% higher than for African-Americans and three times the rate of whites. 

Natives more likely to be killed by law enforcement than other racial or ethnic groups

Natives are killed in law enforcement actions at a higher rate than any other race or ethnicity, according to CDC data from 1999 to 2015.

The data available likely do not capture all Native deaths in police encounters due to people of mixed race and a relatively large homeless population that is “not on the grid, and are thus horrifically underreported.

As November 1, 2021, there were 71 First Nations communities under drinking water advisories, 17 out of which had at least two water advisories in place.

97% of Indigenous peoples have experienced violence perpetrated by at least one non-Indigenous person.

Natives are the largest group per capita in the prison system and are more likely to be affected by police violence than any other racial group, The low proportion of Natives may contribute to a lack of media attention for cases of police brutality against them, this is affected by the portion of Natives living on reservations; however, media presence on reservations is low, which results in instances of police brutality against Natives going unrecorded.

An Indigenous person in Canada is more than 10 times more likely to have been shot and killed by a police officer in Canada since 2017 than a white person in Canada. Indigenous Canadians are 11 times more likely than non-Indigenous Canadians to be accused of homicide Indigenous Canadians are 56% more likely to be victims of crime than other Canadians. In 2016, Indigenous Canadians represented 25% of the national male prison population and 35% of the national female prison population.

Though Natives are killed by police at disproportionately high rates, their deaths are not widely known. Cheryl Horn said she thinks nonnatives don't know about brutality against Native people because they "don't experience the same trauma." Schools don't teach about Natives, we aren't in media, television, film or entertainment. For many, we are out of sight, out of mind, so, we don't exist. But the issue is that this invisibility could be a matter of life and death. It's because people aren't paying attention," she said. "This information is out there and readily available. It's time non-Native people start paying attention. So much of this nation's wealth has been built on the theft of Native lands and the enslavement of Black people.

Nearly 1 in 3 Natives (29.2%), over 1 in 4 African Americans (27.2%), 1 in 4 Hispanic/Latinos (23.5%), 1 in 10 Asians (10.5%) and 1 in 10 non-Hispanic whites (9.6%) live below the federal poverty line.

Suicide rates vary depending on region and tribal affiliation but rates are particularly high in the Southwestern United States, the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, and in Alaska, and in the Arctic. High suicide rates are often correlated with substance use disorder, alcoholism, depression, and poverty, widespread in many Native American reservations. Studies have shown that early substance use can lead to higher homicide and suicide rates among a population group. Risk factors for suicide often include a sense of hopelessness, alcohol use disorder, depression, poverty and a triggering conflict or event which can include conflict or loss. Among 77% of males that attempted or completed suicide had incomes of less than 10,000 dollars and 79% were unemployed. Native American youth also report higher rates of exposure to violence and sexual and physical abuse, both correlated to suicide rates. Other possible contributing factors include the mother's age at delivery, family conflict, and financial instability. Additionally 20% of all individuals who attempted or completed suicide had a parent who had also attempted or completed suicide.

In 2015 the National Congress of Natives found that an estimated 40 percent of women who are victims of sex trafficking identify as Native, or First Nations.  

Why seek Natives? “We’re associated with fetishes,” such as long hair, exotic looks that sex patrons perceive as Asian or Hispanic, Imus-Nahsonhoya says.”We could look like anything.”

Sex traffickers prey upon young girls and women they perceive as vulnerable. Labor traffickers look for boys and young men, as well as girls, to labor in oil fields, sweatshops, “man camps” and as domestic help. The high rates of poverty and hardship in tribal communities; historical trauma and culture loss; homelessness and runaway youth; high rates of involvement with child welfare systems, including entry into the foster care system; exposure to violence in the home or community; drug and alcohol abuse; and low levels of law enforcement all add up to a community rich in targets for traffickers. Imus-Nahsonhoya says that she learned most of what she knows about trafficking from survivors of this degrading and often dangerous life. “One trafficked woman showed me a list of services and her daily quota,” says Imus-Nahsonhoya. “From age 14 to 17, she had to make $600 a day. But she never saw a dime of that.” That’s why sex trafficking is said to be a $12 billion business.

One in three Native women will be sexually assaulted or raped in her life. Statistics say about 86% of these assaults are committed by non-Native men. While part of this is due to non-Native men preying upon Native women because they’re unlikely to be prosecuted because of tribal sovereignty policies and jurisdiction laws, how we’re viewed is also a factor. The over-sexualization of Native women objectifies us. When we are fetishized and exotified to the point that we lose our humanity, violence ensues.

Natives die due to police violence at a rate 12% higher than other populations. The suicide rate among Natives is the highest of all demographics in this country (22.1%, or 8 percentage points above the overall rate). Childhood poverty (29.2%), teenage pregnancy (29.4%), domestic violence (48% for native women, 41% for native men), and the high school dropout rate (10.1%, 2 full points above Hispanic youth and 4 points above black youth). Natives account for 2.3% of prisoners in this country out of a nationwide total population of approximately 5 million. I’ll let you guess who leads in homelessness.

The crude rates of suicide were highest for Natives, Non-Hispanic males (33.4 per 100,000) and, followed by White, Non-Hispanic males (29.8 per 100,000). Among females the crude rates of suicide were highest for Natives, Non-Hispanic females (11.1 per 100,000) and White, Non-Hispanic females (8.0 per 100,000). The status dropout rate varied by race/ethnicity in 2018. The status dropout rate for Asian 16- to 24-year-olds (1.9 percent) was lower than the rates for their peers who were White (4.2 percent), of Two or more races (5.2 percent), Black (6.4 percent), Hispanic (8.0 percent), Pacific Islander (8.1 percent), and Native (9.5 percent).

Many tribes have their own criminal justice systems, but a convoluted jurisdictional muddle  prevents them from holding non-Native offenders accountable. As a result, many non-Native offenders are virtually immune to prosecution and the lack of jurisdiction over nonnatives is particularly problematic, because:

• Approximately 2/3 of Native women who are sexually assaulted are attacked by non-Native men.

• 59% of Native women report being in relationships with non-Native men.

• In 71% of sexual assaults against Native women, the victim knew her attacker.

• The rate of interracial violence experienced by Natives and Natives is far higher than the rate experienced by Black or White victims.

Native and Native women experience assault and domestic violence at much higher rates than women of any other ethnicity.

• Over 84% of Native women experience violence during their lifetimes.

• Natives are 3 times more likely to experience sexual violence than any other ethnic group. Over half of Native women report having experienced sexual assault.

• 55.5% of Native women experience physical intimate partner violence in their lifetimes; 66.6% experience psychological abuse.

• 17% of Native and Native women have been stalked compared to white Americans, Natives are 2x as likely to die in a car crash, 3.5x more likely to die as a pedestrian, 2x more likely to die in a fire, and 3x more likely to drown (some credit alcohol as a primary cause of this, though access to emergency care is also a contributing factor), Indigenous people are 10x more likely to be shot and killed by police in Canada, 1 in 3 Native women will be assaulted in her lifetime, though specialized studies on more rural reservations/towns have shown that that rate can actually be 12x higher than that (this is due to a ‘culture of lawlessness’ made possible by lack of tribal sovereignty in prosecuting these cases & settler gov’t apathy on the issue, coupled by severe underfunding of community programming and law enforcement; not to mention of course the obvious sexualized racism and colonial sexual politics that inform the systematic rape of Native women at the hands of settlers).

Alaska Natives & Native Americans are 5x more likely to die of tuberculosis (in comparison to white Americans; this is due to low vaccination accessibility & inadequate health care, though there is also a history of purposefully giving Native Americans TB both in “the colonial period” and in residential schools)

Native Americans are more likely to commit suicide than any other ethnic/racial group in the US, though this rate can fluctuate based on demographics—young Alaska Native women, for example, are 19x more likely to commit suicide than any other women their age. (this is largely credited to intergenerational trauma, poverty, sexual assault, domestic abuse, limited health care & mental health services, chronic unemployment, incarceration, lack of opportunity, racism, cultural disconnect, & substance abuse)

American Indians & Alaska Natives have the highest rate of diabetes, out of all ethnic groups in the US; the Pima people have the highest rate of diabetes in the entire world (this is largely due to lack of ability to subsistence hunt and gather traditional foods, the foods that are made available through commod rations, and the lack of affordable healthy food available to low-income communities)

“We are the sickest racial, ethnic population in the United States,” said Irene Vernon, a professor at Colorado State University who specializes in Native American health.

Then there’s the issue of care. A large minority of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live on reservations in rural areas, mostly serviced by clinics, often a lengthy drive to a hospital, and usually strapped for funds. “The money we get for health is less than the money given to prisoners,” Vernon said. “It’s shamefully small, per person.”

More Native Americans die by injury by the age of 44 than any other cause, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Compared to white Americans, Native people are twice as likely to die in a car crash, three and a half times more likely to die as a pedestrian, twice as likely to die by fire and three times more likely to drown, according to the Indian Health Service. According to Vernon, alcohol likely plays a role, as does pure distance from emergency care. But scattered reports suggest a downward slide in the numbers, except for suicide and deadly assaults.

Violent crime on many reservations has skyrocketed in the last decade, even as its dropped across the country. too few tribal officers and federal police, and deeply underfunded tribal courts, have created a pervasive sense of lawlessness. For some tribal nations, brutal murders have become a normal part of life. Last year, the Department of Justice completed a two-year crime-fighting initiative on a handful of reservations modeled after the Iraq War surge. 

We are the victims of violent crimes at rates 250% higher than Whites.

• On some reservations in the United States, the murder rate of Native women is 10 times higher than in the rest of the nation.

• Native children experience PTSD at the same rate as combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Native and Native women experience extremely high rates of domestic violence, physical and sexual assault, and murder. Many women do not report violence for a variety of reasons. Many tribes have inadequate or no law enforcement to report these crimes to. In small, isolated communities, victims often fear retribution from perpetrators’ friends and family. Many Native women also never speak of their abuse because they see it as futile; they believe no one can or will help them.

American Indian and Alaska Native men also have high victimization rates. More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native men (81.6 percent) have experienced violence in their lifetime (see Table 2). This includes 27.5 percent who have experienced sexual violence, 43.2 percent who have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner, 18.6 percent who have experienced stalking, and 73 percent who have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner. Overall, more than 1.4 million American Indian and Alaska Native men have experienced violence in their lifetime.More than one in three American Indian and Alaska Native men (34.6 percent) have experienced violence in the past year. This includes 9.9 percent who have experienced sexual violence, 5.6 percent who have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner, 3.8 percent who have experienced stalking, and 27.3 percent who have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner. Overall, more than 595,000 American Indian and Alaska Native men have experienced violence in the past year.

American Indian and Alaska Native men are 1.3 times as likely as non-Hispanic white-only men to have experienced violence in their lifetime. In particular, American Indian and Alaska Native men are 1.4 times as likely to have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner and 1.4 times as likely to have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime. The other estimates are not significantly different across racial and ethnic groups.

16.4 per cent of Indigenous people live in a home in need of major repairs compared to 5.7 per cent of non-Indigenous people and 17.1 per cent of Indigenous people live in crowded housing.

Indigenous children make up more than half of all children in foster care but only account for 7.7 per cent of all children 14-years-old or younger. Rates are higher in Manitoba, where advocates point to an over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system as a factor in many of the social issues people face.

More than 237,000 people speak an Indigenous language. While the number of people who use one as their first language has been in decline, there has been growth in the number of Indigenous second-language speakers, the census said.

• High poverty rates, especially on reservations, can exacerbate domestic violence trauma.

• Alcohol and drug use on tribal lands is rampant and is associated with domestic violence perpetration. On one Montana reservation, 40% of reported violent crime involved alcohol or drugs.

• Although the federal government recognizes 566 tribes in the US, there are only 26 shelters nationwide providing culturally-specific services to Native and victims/survivors.

Although there is much popular and media attention given to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and justly so, the documented murder rate of Indigenous men in Canada is actually higher than that of Indigenous women. Both the Toronto Star and APTN have had stories reporting on Statistics Canada’s figures of Indigenous murder victims between 1980-2012. StatsCan documented 745 Indigenous female homicide victims and 1,750 Indigenous male homicide victims. That’s 14 and 17 per cent of all female and male homicide victims, respectively, despite the fact that, as of 2011, only 4.3 per cent of Canada’s population self-identified as Indigenous. The female figure of 745 Indigenous female homicide victims differs from the 2014 RCMP report of 1,017 murdered and 164 missing Indigenous women since 1980. (The RCMP has yet to provide such a figure for murdered and missing Indigenous men.) Regardless, these figures still show a disparity between Indigenous and settler Canadians’ experiences of violence. Such violence scars communities all across Canada. Lydia Daniels, whose son Colten Pratt has been missing since November 2014, told APTN that “we also wanted to make a statement that we also have murdered and missing men in our communities.” Sandra Banman, whose son Carl was murdered in 2011, stated “In balance and unity with our people, we also need to think about our men. We don’t love our daughters more than we love our sons, so when our sons go missing or are murdered, it hurts the families just as much.”

[tahitiwoke]

032.   a quiet hospital room  👀

ACN: THIS IS BREAKING NEWS COMING OUT OF DALLAS, TEXAS WHERE MULTIPLE SOURCES ARE REPORTING THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS BEEN SHOT. WE GO LIVE TO OUR MAN ON THE GROUND, STEVE, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US?

he had been in a meeting. the mounted television on the wall had been running a ticker tape of some twitter stream about a plane crash in the indian ocean; the meeting had been boring, something that really could have been an email, with a congressman who wanted face time with the president and when she couldn't get that, settled for face time with veep and when she couldn't get that? well. here's phil. doing the work of his deputy and -- the tv had caught his attention.

ACN: IT'S CHAOS HERE RIGHT NOW, ELLIOT, THE PRESIDENT WAS ABOUT TO GIVE A SPEECH ON THE NEW GUN CONTROL MEASURES AND A SHOOTER CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. NO INFORMATION HAS BEEN GIVEN AS OF YET, THE SECRET SERVICE ARE UNCLEAR IF IT WAS A SNIPER OR SOMEONE IN THE CROWD.

it takes eleven days for him to make it to dallas. the schedule is incredibly tight; there is so much to do and say about the twenty-fifth, there's a lot that needs to be parsed out, a lot that needs to be changed over. to his credit, carroll march does a stellar job at pretending like he is in any way equipped to be the president of the united states and provides as stable look to the resolute desk; don't get comfortable, motherfucker. the news is in frenzy, trading on the stock exchange is suspended for two days until claire wakes up, and phil doesn't text or call. at least, not claire. he calls chris.

their first conversation is very short and the ones following over the next ten days are shorter; it's updates, work, professional. phil cannot tell if this is something he prefers or not but he'd like to think over the course of the little while they've known one another, they have built some sort of rapport. maybe. or maybe not.

phil pointedly asks how is the president not claire. if he thinks too hard about her in personal terms, he'll go insane, he'll drive to fucking texas if he has to, and he can't afford that sort of weakness. he's got to be the good man in the storm right now and he'd rather get shot in the face than let her down.

so it takes eleven days.

( you ever leave this place? march asks one night. it's the fifth consecutive evening phil has slept on his couch. he showers in the white house locker room; his suit is wrinkled, his shirt is one he borrowed from the back of a door in chris's currently vacated office, too small in the cuffs and the shoulders. go home, pal. sleep in a bed. we'll still be here tomorrow. )

the nurse argues with him for fifteen minutes, threatens him with security after another five when he tells her to just fucking google me! the yelling attracts the attention of the secret service; of meechum, of scott. phil is only a little smug when they let him through. gets less smug when he sees the state of chris. they stand out in the hallway, both unwilling to make the first move inside where they know she's asleep.

ACN: PRESS SECRETARY CHRIS BRADY SPOKE TO REPORTERS EARLIER TODAY WEARING THE PRESIDENT'S BLOOD - DOCTORS ARE CURRENTLY OPERATING AND EARLY REPORTS SUGGEST PRESIDENT HALE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. FROM ALL OF US AT ACN, MA'AM, GODSPEED.

chris looks worn to the bone. hunched and empty and small when the man has never been small, not for as long as phil has known him; he looked stretched thin. have you slept at all? he asks and chris just shrugs, the answer obvious. have you eaten? another noncommittal movement. i can stay here for a while if you want to go and sort yourself out. you should really get a shower and try to calm down a little. it's advice a million and one people have given him in the past, when emotions are high and every action feels like a reaction to something else, when running on autopilot is starting to falter.

after the longest time, chris does eventually nod and shake phil's hand and isn't there when phil emerges a few hours later.

[the-sound-ofrain]

another big firm being dominated by Indians continued with TESLA appointing Vaibhav Taneja as new CFO ( Chief Financial Officer ).

I hope you've heard about SATYAM SHIVAM SUNDARAM ruling the world since 2015.

Satya Nadella - CEO of Microsoft

Shiv Nadar - Chairman of HCL

Sundar Pichai - CEO of Google

[maasbesttiffinservice]

What is Tiffin?

What is Tiffin? A tiffin is a lunch box that holds a variety of foods. Tiffins are typically made of stainless steel, which helps keep the food hot or cold. It also contains a handle for easy carrying.

Tiffins are not made to be used on the stove or in a hot oven, as the heat can warp them. Our tiffins are made of food-grade, non-leaching stainless steel and are BPA- and phthalate-free. Many peoples are searching for Indian tiffin near me on Google.

In South India, tiffin means a light snack between breakfast and dinner or a tea-time meal at about 3 pm consisting of typical tea-time snacks like cutlets, idlis or vadas.

Outside of South India, the word tiffin mostly refers to any packed meal or snack and is sometimes a name for the food carrier itself: tiered stainless-steel containers with lids that can be locked together and clamped down on the sides or top.

The containers were originally made of brass but are now often aluminium or stainless steel and can be found in any size from tiny to gargantuan. In the UK, Many peoples searching tiffin service near me on Google.

On any weekday in Bombay (now Mumbai), tiffins, or dabbas, can be seen stacked up on handcarts or bicycles being pushed along the busy streets by dhoti-clad men called tiffin wallahs, or dabbawalas.

These workers operate a complex system to ensure that thousands of tiffins are delivered daily to their intended recipients, often office workers. You can get food delivery Slough, UK.

Tiffin service is the perfect option if you want to enjoy home-cooked meals without having to cook. Quickly offers a huge selection of Indian tiffins in Manhattan, delivered right to your doorstep.

What is Punjabi food?

Are you looking for Punjabi food near me in the UK? Even non-vegetarians will yield to their cravings when it comes to Punjabi cuisine. From appetizers like Chola Bhatura and bread pakoras to dinner items like Sarson da saag and Makki di roti, the food of this region is a delight for every palate.

What is the Mildest Indian Curry?

Ever looked at a curry menu at an Indian restaurant and not sure which dish is mild? Or even medium spiced? Some popular mild Indian dishes include butter chicken, tikka masala, dal makhani, and chana masala.

Don’t worry; there are plenty of options out there. From the classic Korma to the north Indian Pasanda (as seen above), here are a few of our favourite dishes that are perfect for those with a low spice tolerance.

What is a Balti Curry?

What is a balti curry? A balti is a curry that comes with lots of vegetables, and it is loose in texture and quite tangy. It is the ideal curry for vegetarians as meat usually takes a back seat.

It is a very popular curry in the UK, particularly in Birmingham, known as ‘the balti triangle’. It is normally served with naan bread to mop up all that delicious sauce!

Indian Home Cooked Food Delivery In the UK

Are you looking for the best Indian Home Cooked Food Delivery Near Me? We are all about serving honest, home-cooked, good food. Our meals are delivered in tiffin boxes (more like milk pails) and are chilled so that they can be eaten cold or heated up later when you are ready to eat.

What is Desi?

People with the name Desi are believed to be creative, independent, and spiritual. While a person’s personality traits may not be entirely determined by their birth name, they do play an important role in identity formation.

What is Desi Meaning? Desi is a term that describes someone with Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi heritage. It isn’t a derogatory phrase and can be used to describe both men and women.

[nimblermortal]

I love Indian movies

Protagonist 1: Akhtar, shepherd of the Gond people, in proper Muay Thai fashion (though this is not a Muay Thai movie) he has left his peaceful village folk in order to retrieve the cultural relic girl artist who was stolen from them by the governor. His clever plan for infiltrating the governor’s house is to seduce his white woman crush... but he doesn’t speak English.

Protagonist? 2: Raju, the Perfect Policeman. When the governor was warned that the Gond shepherd would come, he bribed Raju to find him with the promise of his one dream as reward: to be made a special officer despite Racism (TM). The catch? They have literally no information on the Gond shepherd, except that he might exist probably.

The two meet when they conspire to rescue, in the least efficient way possible, a boy from drowning/blowing up by train crash. They are InstaBros and we get a Bro Montage where they weight lift each other. They also run around town trying to help each other with their missions - Akhtar is certain he can find Raju’s suspect if he can just see the police drawing, and Raju helps Akhtar get his game in true Perfect Policeman fashion by translating for him throwing nails in the road so her tires will be punctured.

Update: Love how you can tell how important a character is by the strength of his moustache game. (Those weak British officers don’t deserve our lady love, their moustaches are patchy.) (Also, in the original audio, by the depth of the character’s voice - the original audio is a lot deeper for our protags, and the British accents are a lot more British than in the English dub.)

Update 2: This coordinated dance scene definitely brought to you by Raju trying to save his friend’s date from the British, and is not gay in any way, much like the Muscle Bros montage.

Akhtar: When you stand there and give dance challenge, [Raju,] lot of energy come from inside.

Not gay. Could men with moustaches this thick possibly be gay.

Update 3: I would be more engaged by the punching-walls scene if I didn’t know someone whose brother went through a wall-punching phase as a teenager, and the family just got a stack of drywall patches and followed him around fixing the wall.

(I should perhaps be more impressed anyway, since the Indian philosophy about dishes implies their walls might be more impressive than American ones.)

(I am wondering if Raju is in fact the right name, as many people chant Ram, and I have a hypothesis that -ju is a diminutive suffix. That said, I’ve met someone named Viju and googling turned up a man named Ram Raju, so Japanese Shrug Emoticon.)

Update 4: Akhtar: I swear on my mother, I have done nothing wrong

Akhtar, thirty seconds ago: Drove a truck through the gate to the governor’s compound and released dozens of enraged wild animals into the white people party

[historyhermann]

What the World Thinks of "Velma"

A compilation of some headlines about Velma from various publications since the series debuted in January 2023, showing different views of the series.

Since its debut on HBO Max on January 12, 2023, Velma, the mature animated mystery horror comedy series has made the rounds either on social media platforms like Tumblr, Facebook, and Tik Tok, or in rants by YouTubers, who are hate-watching the series while trying to monetize off people's anger. The series reception has been mixed, with reported "overwhelmingly negative" reviews from the audience, if the show's Wikipedia page is to be believed, with reviewers focusing on issues with the show itself.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the twenty-sixth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on March 9, 2023.

Reviewers have argued that the audience reception of Velma is negative, citing audience scores from Rotten Tomatoes, commentary by people on Twitter, low ratings on IMDB, Metacritic, and Google. However, none of those scores are a reliable measure of whether a series, film, or other media is worthwhile to watch. In fact, there is the phenomenon of review bombing, which is undoubtedly the case with Velma, as it was with High Guardian Spice and Magical Girl Friendship Squad. It is when a small group of people give a series, film, or other media, low ratings, causing the overall rating to plummet.

This is further evidenced by the fact that RWBY, a captivating young adult animated series which recently began its ninth season/volume this year, has only about 6,500 ratings on IMDB, while Velma has over 70,000. Over those "users", about 87% gave the rating of 1 star. Furthermore, the fact that Velma has tens of thousands more ratings than Steven Universe or She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, both of which ran for multiple seasons, makes it clear that people review-bombed the series.

One of the many reviews of the series came from Parade magazine. The publication declared that the series premiere "fell flat" with fans, citing Twitter users who called it a "disappointment", and stated that the show downplayed the #MeToo movement. It also noted that some on the social media platform claimed the show had a writing style of making "brown girls that hate themselves," portraying Indian girls as "losers", made Velma a self-insert for Mindy Kaling (who voices Velma), and called it "vulgar". To add to this, on the show's official account, in tweets possibly written by Kaling in the tone of her character, Daphne is described as a character who will be known "for much more than being hot", implying that Velma has feelings for her. Additionally, Velma expresses jealousy that Daphne has two "hilarious moms" and describes them as "Daphne’s police officer moms".

While there is no doubt that the comedic writing of the series isn't always the best, it admittedly flew over my head at times, I don't believe there are any self-hating characters. While Velma seems that she is "self-hating", in reality, she gets more depth as the series moves forward. No character is, by the end of the first season, shown as a loser. In terms of vulgarity, it is important to remember that vulgar means "of the common people", and it can be a charge leveled against LGBTQ+ people (and content).

In contrast, Ed Power of The Telegraph, a conservative British tabloid, claimed that the series "sexualized" teens, has "juvenile humor" and treats Fred as a stereotype. He also said the series is not "clever or subversive", but it rather an "accumulation of bad decisions", and claimed that the "left" and "right" united against the series. He also declared that some online had taken issue with Kaling's political views.

While I'm not sure about her exact political views are, apart from speaking out against White producers, it is important to remember she is only an executive producer of the series and is not even the series creator (that's Charlie Grandy). So, it seems wrong to say the series is "hers". Otherwise, Fred is no stereotype, as his character somewhat grows over the course of the series.

As noted earlier, some people have criticized Kaling's views, including when she liked a tweet of transphobe J.K. Rowling at one point. However, she is only part of the crew, as there are many other people working on Velma. In any case, it is better to examine the show's positives and negatives instead of just on the views of one individual.

Furthermore, other than the shower scene in the first episode (which seems to be a reference to similar scenes in horror films), it does not appear that the series sexualizes anyone. Velma has nothing like the ecchi-esque themes in My Dress-Up Darling, cringe-worthy scenes in Akebi's Sailor Uniform, sexual assault in Citrus, or the protagonist of The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, Jahy, who wears a dirty long t-shirt and shorts (and a revealing outfit after she transforms into her demon form for temporary period of time). All of these series have fan service up the wazoo. In contrast, Velma does not have that.

As for being "clever" and "subversive", I would argue that Velma was never attempting to do either. Nor is the series a complete waste of time and energy as Nadria Goffe of Slate argued. I disagree with Goffe's claim that the show is misogynist, based on actions in the series by female characters and the fact that some (like Velma's stepmom) are toxic. At the same time, I agree that "race-swapped rebranding" can be good, when its done well.

One of the more interesting aspects of Velma is how many of the relationships of the protagonists with their families are rocky, and unhealthy. There are too many series, especially in animation, which portray families as positive and without problems. While that is the case for some people, it isn't the case for many others. One example of this is how Velma doesn't always get along with her dad, and even less with her stepmother, and another instance is how controlling Fred's parents can be of his life. This contrasts with Norville, who remains supported by his parents through it all.

It also differs from the relationship Daphne has with her two detective moms. The series bucks the trope of finding your "real" parents, since Daphne believes that she is reconnecting with her birth parents (Brenda and Darryl), who are members of the Crystal Mines gang,. But, it turns out they are just manipulating her. Even so, the reunion of Velma with her two moms afterward cannot compare with the heartfelt revelation of Turanga Leela's two parents in the fourth season of Futurama.

Goffe states that they don't know who the show is made for. I'd presume that the series is made for Indian-American women, and other adults, but that's just my guess. I also disagree with the argument by Shirley Li, of The Atlantic, that the series punishes its audience for being invested in the characters. In fact, I would argue that the series does reward viewers to some extent, as Daphne and Velma, especially, become more relatable, despite their personality flaws, in some regards.

Aysia Iftikar of Pink News noted that fans have relentlessly criticized the series, citing the show for "perpetuating stereotypes against South Asian women...poor attempts at self-aware comedy and...losing the essence of what people love about the Scooby Doo gang." She also stated that some took issue with the "crude" adult humor and said the show "annihilated" the character of Velma in previous iterations. Those are of Indian descent would have a different view of the series than me, as a White man, so I can't, personally, speak to any possible stereotypes in the series when it comes to South Asian women. On the other hand, I agree with those who argue that Kaling is being held to an "impossible standard" as compared to other producers and creators.

Much of the aforementioned criticism seems to stem from the fact that Velma is a stark contrast from its predecessors. There is no rule that reboots or revivals have to be the same as the original series. To give an example, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is different from The Proud Family, as it is more glitzy than its predecessor. So, it is no surprise that Velma would not have the same structure, humor, or plot than those Scooby-Doo series that came before it, which were aimed at all-ages, rather than adults. This is especially the case since Scooby-Doo is not part of the series, which is an understandable decision.

Comments by the above-mentioned reviewers pale in comparison to Taylor Henderson's review on Pride.com, which states that Velma doesn't "live up to the hype" and is a "crude, cliche, self-aware...incoherently violent...thinking mess of a series". He adds that bisexual energy from Velma and Daphne doesn't "save" the series. The latter sentiment was echoed by Heather Hogan of Autostraddle. While there is undeniably "hype" around the series, and it surely is crude and cliche, and even self-aware, I have to laugh at the comment about "incoherent" violence in the series.

The series is much tamer, in its violence, than the Indian Tegulu blockbuster film, RRR, which includes a scene of British colonists mauled by wild animals, the extreme violence in Akiba Maid War (especially in the first episode), the blood-filled scenes throughout The Legend of Vox Machina, or the occasionally gruesome scenes in gen:LOCK, especially in the last season. Perhaps Velma is a mess, as Henderson points out, but it has some merits.

Joshua Alston of Variety magazine posed similar arguments, calling the series "irreverent to a fault", designed to be "labeled a childhood-ruining travesty", and said while Velma centers Velma's queer identity, it is not groundbreaking. Alston also says the characters are "unpleasant" to spend time around, notes the number of pop culture references and referential jokes", and asks why the show needs to exist at all.

Alston makes good points, in terms of the number of reference to pop culture or referential jokes, and the fact that the show isn't groundbreaking, considering the recent LGBTQ animated characters in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, RWBY: Ice Queendom, Dead End: Paranormal Park, and Star Trek: Lower Decks, to name a few. At the same time, I would argue that the characters are designed to be unpleasant and not-all-together likable. I see a likeness to the Never Have I Ever protagonist Devi Vishwakumar. She is not the most likable person, and can be a jerk to people, with her behavior said to make her a "real person" in the eyes of some.

Angie Han, TV critic for The Hollywood Reporter, takes a different tact. She says that the series employs many common tropes, is extremely self-aware, is like Riverdale, and states that the characters are "joke-delivery machines" rather than individuals. She further says that Velma doesn't lose sight of the affection for the heroine, has thoughtful and emotionally honest moments, and criticizes the emphasis on "snark over heart," noting that is something the show could "stand to consider for itself."

In terms of the reviewers I noted so far in this post, I agree with Han above any of the others because she is more fair and less negative. One of the show's weaknesses is that it falls in line with the same tropes in shows like Riverdale, just as Wednesday does repeatedly. But, Velma does not include the harmful anti-Black underones that Wednesday has, in part because Black characters are not villains in this series. The jokes can be stale and the pop culture references will mean little if it is watched a few years from now, just as similar humor in Futurama doesn't land as well now as it did when it aired. On the other hand, the show's emotional honesty and thoughtfulness at times are some of the strongest moments.

There are a few more reviews I'd like to mention before ending this post. One of those is from Liz Shannon Miller in Consequence. She argues that there is "too much jammed into this series" and that there is "no clear focus". She also states that the series feels toned down as compared to mature animation currently in development, while truing to be "super-edgy".

On the other hand, Miller praises the voice acting and the "bright, poppy, and fun" animation, and criticizes the writing as inadequate. I'd have to agree as the writing can be lackluster, but would say that although the show's focus can be disparate, it is be strongest when Velma or Daphne are solving mysteries of their own, whether about birth parents (in the case of Daphne) or an evil scientist switching brains (in the case of Velma).

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times and Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly said the same thing as Miller. Roeper criticized the jokes and humor as exhausting, the writing as subpar, while praising the casting as diverse. Franich described the show as a "new bland, a deconstructed canonical bonanza pulled right off the corporate assembly line" and stated that Harley Quinn, also on HBO Max, is better constructed, and stronger, an argument with some merit. This is undoubtedly the case as Velma does try and poke at storytelling methods, like flashbacks and callbacks, but Harley Quinn does the same more effectively.

The views of Roeper and Miller are aligned with what is stated on the show's Rotten Tomatoes page: that the show has "plenty of attitude and style" but does not have the "first clue for how to turn its clever subversion into engaging fun." For one, I would argue that the series is more dramatic than funny, although it's writing can be lacking, it is not bland. It is different than previous iterations, but is not "subversive". Kaling, herself, never described the series that way.

In an October 2022 review, she told Entertainment Weekly that it was fun to voice Velma, that she and Charles? Grandy were "inspired by Into the Spider-Verse", said that with animation they could do anything, and stated "the essence of Velma is not necessarily tied to her whiteness...I identify so much as her character...so many people do...[so we decided,] let's make her Indian in this series." She further said that Velma is the hart of the show, that she is a "big fan of Scooby Doo," and that Velma felt like the best character "to handle a scarier environment" similar to Veronica Mars and Riverdale. In addition, Grandy said the idea of the series is not to "completely replace" previous shows, but just to be a "one little weird ice planet in the Scoobyverse."

In his article, Toon4Thought puts it well. He argued that he didn't mind changes to characters or get behind the "visceral hatred" for Velma Instead, he criticized the show's writing and praised the actual mystery as "engaging enough". He added that the writing for the characters feels "very haphazard" and more like Family Guy than a dramatic character-driven story. Even so, he argued that the show could use a rewrite to fix inconsistencies in characters and balance humor, but  said that people were disingenuous with approaching the series, especially with claims it was a "franchise killer". He concluded by saying that, overall, the show was a letdown, with clumsy and unfocused writing, and said that while an audience can demand better and rip media to shreds, "we also can and should not be assholes about it."

I have to agree with Toon4Thought, even more than others I've mentioned in this post. Before Velma, I've watched shows strongly disliked, by a core group of people, such as gen:LOCK and High Guardian Spice, and especially enjoyed watching the latter. However, Velma was nothing like either of those series. Sometimes, the show made good points, like in the seventh episode when Velma crossdresses as a guy named "Manny", everyone appreciates her worst qualities, and the series makes fun of how a guy can "do anything" and their male power. In addition, there is a social commentary in the final episode about human experimentation, corporate power, and even hypnosis. However, the latter is not as evocative as that in Jordan Peele's well-known horror film, Get Out, where the protagonist, Chris Washington, is hypnotized to purportedly "cure" his addiction to smoking.

This brings me to two reviews from CBR. In the first of these, by Sean Migalla, argued that the series "struggled" through the first season, with a "lack of commitment" to plotlines, but can "find its footing" in a second season. He also said the second season wouldn't be under the microscope as much as the first season. The second, by Joshua M. Patton, argued that the show is indicative of an "identity crisis" among new owners of HBO Max (Warner Bros. Discovery), calling it a "callous remixing" of Scooby-Doo which would do better if it was family-friendly. He concludes that it pushed boundaries in "desperate reach for an edge" and is formulaic in contrast to Harley Quinn.

Part of what Migalla and Patton are talking about is indicative in episode 8 of Velma, which appears to make fun of flashbacks and their use in storylines, with the flashbacks of each of the main characters intersecting with each other. That same episode further reinforces their arguments, as there are many intersecting plotlines, callbacks to the original series, and romantic drama. Patton is right that the show tries to be edgy. For example, in episode 9, Norville makes fun of Teddy Roosevelt as a murderous imperialist, but never expands upon his one-off comment. The new owners of HBO Max may be in a bit of a crisis of identity over the company's new CEO, David Zaslav, engaging in a content purge, angering many animators.

Apart from these reviews is an article by Kate Francis in Digital Spy. She notes the "abject disappointment" of fans over Velma, and hopes that the series can take in the feedback of fans and "come back swinging with fresh Scooby content soon." While I have my criticisms of the series, I hope that what Francis is talking about happens, and the second season of the series allows the show to blossom, coming back even stronger than before.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

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What Is a Tiffin Box Indian, Tiffin Service?

In Tiffin Box Indian is a lunchbox used to carry a simple Indian meal. They are usually carried or transported to a workplace or school but can be found in homes as well.

Traditionally, a tiffin box consists of three or four stainless steel compartments that are stacked on top of one another and clamped down from the sides or top to hold all the food. They have a lid and side clip to prevent spillages, a handle for carrying, and are easy to clean. If you are looking for Indian tiffin then you should search tiffin service near me keyword on Google.

Tiffin boxes became the ideal way of transporting home-cooked meals in a time when restaurants were rare and hotels scarce. They kept flies away, kept the food warm, and allowed for a full thali-style meal.

The term tiffin is now applied to any home-cooked light meal, such as lunches prepared for working Indian men by their wives or school children by their parents. The word is also used to describe tiffin centres, which are restaurants serving these meals. You can get Indian tiffin service in London.

Dabbawalas, a network of dhoti-wearing tiffin wallahs in Mumbai, provides a vital service of speedily delivering piping hot home-cooked lunches to office workers in the city. The dabbawalas use a complex system to get thousands of tiffin boxes from people’s homes and deliver them to the offices of their customers close to lunchtime. Today, tiffin service offers a variety of cuisines including Indian, Chinese, and even continental dishes.

In many parts of India, it is still a common practice to carry a tiffin for lunch. However, the advent of delivery apps such as Zomato and Swiggy has made it redundant. As a result, some Indians may be wondering what to pack in their dabba for lunch. You can get tiffin service in Slough, Berkshire UK.

What Is Punjabi Tiffin Service?

Are you looking for a Punjabi tiffin service near me in the UK? Punjabi tiffin services are a great way to get delicious Indian food delivered straight to your door. These services are perfect for people who don’t have the time to cook themselves or don’t want to eat boring meals.

What is Vegetarian Tiffin?

Are you looking for a vegetarian tiffin service near me in the UK? Vegetarian tiffin is an English term that refers to a light meal or snack taken between meals. It is usually served at restaurants, catering companies, or in a home setting. Typically, these tiffins contain a combination of vegetarian dishes and non-vegetarian foods.

What Makes a Good Tiffin?

The key to a good tiffin is to make sure that the base of the dessert is made from the correct ingredients. These ingredients should include butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and raisins. You can tiffin menu on the website.

If you are looking for a delicious, easy-to-make traybake, this chocolate tiffin recipe is perfect. It is dairy free and only four steps are required to turn this no-bake fridge cake into a scrumptious chocolate tiffin that everyone will love. You can get Indian home cooked food delivery near me according to your location.

Tiffin recipes are a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth without sacrificing any of the nutrients that you need for a healthy lifestyle. They are also easy to make and make the perfect edible gift for any occasion.

What Can I Add to My Tiffin?

I often use a mixture of shortbread cookies and digestive biscuits in my tiffin recipes as they are both low in saturated fat, high in fibre, and easy to crush. Crushed graham crackers are also fine, though they will not have the same level of fibre as shortbread. You can get Indian tiffin service in London.

To start, melt the vegan butter in a saucepan with maple syrup and cocoa powder. When it is melted, stir in the crushed shortbread cookies and raisins. Transfer to a lined 9x5 loaf pan (sprayed with non-stick spray) and place in the fridge for about 2 hours to set. You can order Indian tiffin online from the website.

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Hridayam 2022 sinhala subtitle| හදවත 2022 සිංහල උපසිරැසි සමඟ

Hridayam 2022 is an Indian Malayalam language film and the film is divided into Dramatic Romantic and Coming-of-age categories. The story of the film is written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. He is an Indian Malayalam film actor, playback singer, film producer, director, lyricist, and composer and has won numerous awards. Hridayam is produced by Merryland Cinemas and Big Bang Entertainment, co-produced by Noble Babu Thomas, and co-produced by renowned filmmaker and distributor Visakh Subramaniam. Hridayam is edited by Ranjan Abraham, a well-known Malayalam filmmaker, and directed by Viswajith Odukkathil. The music director of Hridayam is Hesham Abdul Wahab. He is an Indian music director, music producer, and audio engineer, and is best known for composing the album Qadham Badha by Sami Yusuf, a British singer, and songwriter. The 172-minute film was distributed through Merryland Cinemas for screening on January 21, 2022, with a production cost of Rs. 60 million and a box office gross of Rs. 560 million. The film also stars Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan, and Darshana Rajendran in the lead roles. Hridayam received an IMDB rating of 8.6 / 10 and a Google rating of 96%.

The story of Hridayam 2022 is a memoir of a young man in his early thirties, from a young age to his higher education as well as his married life. Arun Neelakandan is coming to KC Tech Engineering University in Chennai from Kerala with the aim of completing his higher education. From the moment he sees her, he falls in love with a girl named Darshana whom he meets early in his university life. But the two first become friends through a series of incidents in which Arun is harassed by seniors. Following the complaints of Arun and Dharshana, several senior students were expelled from the university. When Arun and Darshana split up due to a later incident, Arun becomes mentally disturbed and begins to get used to drinking while messing up his university life and falls in love with Maya, a newcomer to the university. Meanwhile, Arun escapes from his wasted friends and misdeeds and moves to another hostel. A friend named Selva meets him and helps him to succeed in his studies. Selva dies suddenly in a car accident.

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Hridayam 2022 ඉන්දියානු මලයාලම් භ���ෂා චිත්‍රපටයක් වගේම මේ චිත්‍රපටය නාට්‍යමය සහ ශෘංගාර සහ Coming-of-age වර්ගයට වෙන් කර තිබෙනවා.චිත්‍රපටයේ කතාව ලියමින් අධ්‍යක්ෂණය කර තිබෙන්නේ Vineeth Sreenivasan අධ්‍යක්‍ෂකවරයායි.ඔහු ඉන්දියානු මලයාලම් චිත්‍රපටය නළුවෙක් මෙන්ම පසුබිම් ගීත ගායන ශිල්පියෙක්,චිත්‍රපට නිෂ්පාදකවරයෙක් අධ්‍යක්‍ෂකවරයෙක්,පද රචකයෙක්,සංගීත රචකයෙක් වැනි නොයෙක් ක්‍ෂේත්‍ර ගණනාවක නියැලී සිටින පුද්ගලයෙක් මෙන්ම විවිධ සම්මාන රාශියක්ම දිනාගෙන තිබෙනවා. ඒ වගේම Merryland Cinemas සහ Big Bang Entertainments නිෂ්පාදන සමාගම් යටතේ Hridayam චිත්‍රපටය නිෂ්පාදනය කර තිබෙන්නේ  ප්‍රකට චිත්‍රපට නිෂ්පාදකවරයෙක් මෙන්ම බෙදාහරින්නෙක්ද වෙන Visakh Subramaniam මෙන්ම සම නිෂ්පාදනය සිදුකර තිබෙන්නේ Noble Babu Thomas නමැති නිෂ්පාදකවරු දෙපලයි.Hridayam චිත්‍රපටයේ සංස්කරණ කටයුතු මලයාලම් සිනමා ක්‍ෂේත්‍රය තුල ඉතා ප්‍රකට Ranjan Abraham නමැති සංස්කරණ ශිල්පියා සිදුකර තිබෙන අතර සිනමාරූපනය  Viswajith Odukkathil ද ,Hridayam චිත්‍රපටයේ සංගීත අධ්‍යක්ෂණය Hesham Abdul Wahab සිදුකර තිබෙනවා.ඔහු ඉන්දියානු සංගීත අධ්‍යක්‍ෂකවරයෙක්,සංගීත නිෂ්පාදකවරයෙක් සහ ඕඩියෝ ඉන්ජිනියර් කෙනෙකු ලෙස  කටයුතු කරන පුද්ගලයෙක් වගේම ඔහු වඩාත්ම ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්ව තිබෙන්නේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය ගායකයෙකු මෙන්ම ගීත රචකයෙකු වෙන සාමි යුසුෆ්ගේ Qadham Badha ගීත ඇල්බමය නිර්මාණය කිරීම නිසයි.මිනිත්තු 172 ධාවන කාලයක් සහිත මේ චිත්‍රපටය 2022 වසරේ ජනවාරි 21 වෙනිදා ප්‍රදර්ශනය සඳහා බෙදාහැර තිබුනේ Merryland Cinemas ආයතනය හරහා වෙන අතර මෙහි නිෂ්පාදන වියදම ඉන්දියානු රුපියල් කෝටි 6ක් විදිහටත් මෙතෙක් ඉපැයූ බොක්ස්ඔෆිස් ආදායම් වාර්තාව ඉන්දියානු රුපියල් කෝටි 56 ක් විදිහටත් වාර්තා වී තිබෙනවා.ඒ වගේම මේ චිත්‍රපටයේ ප්‍රධාන නලුනිලියන් විදිහට Pranav Mohanlal වගේම Kalyani Priyadarshan සහ Darshana Rajendran රංගන දායකත්වය ලබා දී තිබෙන අතර Hridayam චිත්‍රපටය සඳහා ලැබී ඇති IMDB දර්ශක අගය 8.6/10 ක්ද  ගූගල් පරිශීලක අගය 96%ක් ලෙස සටහන් වෙනවා.

Hridayam 2022 චිත්‍රපටයේ කතාව දිවයන්නේ තිස්හැවිරිදි වියේ මුල භාගය තුල පසුවෙන තරුණයෙකුගේ කුඩා වියේ සිට සිය උසස් අධ්‍යාපන දිවිය මෙන්ම විවාහක දිවිය දක්වා ගත කෙරූ කාලය පිලිබඳ මතකාවර්ජනයක් විදිහටයි.අරුන් නීලකන්ඩන් කේරලයෙ සිට චෙන්නායි වල KC ටෙක් ඉංජිනේරු විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයට පැමිණෙන්නේ සිය උසස් අධ්‍යාපනය සම්පුර්ණ කරගැනීමේ අරමුණ සහිතවයි.සිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාල දිවියේ මුල භාගය තුලදී ඔහුට මුණගැසෙන දර්ශනා නමැති යුවතිය සමඟ පෙමින් බැඳෙන්නේ ඔහු ඇයව දුටු මොහොතේ සිටමයි.ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා මුලින්ම මිත්‍රයින් බවට පත්වෙන්නේ අරුන්ට ජේෂ්ඨ ශිෂ්‍යින් විසින් නවක වදය ලබා දීමට යෑමේදී ඇතිවෙන සිදුවීම මාලාවක් සමඟයි.මෙහිදී අරුන් සහ දර්ශනාගේ පැමිණිලි කිරීම් හමුවේ ඒ ජේෂ්ඨ සිසුන් කීප දෙනාව විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයෙන් නෙරපා දමනවා.පසුකලක ඇතිවෙන සිදුවීමක් නිසා අරුන් සහ දර්ශනා වෙන්වෙන විටදී මෙයින් මානසික වශයෙන් බිඳ වැටීමකට ලක්වෙන අරුන් සිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ජීවිතය අවුල් ජාලාවක් කරගනිමින් මත්පැන් පානයට හුරුවීමට පටන් ගන්නා අතර සරසවියට පැමිණෙන නවක ශිෂ්‍යාවක් වෙන මායා සමඟ පෙම් සබඳතාවක් ඇති කරගන්නවා.ඒ අතරතුරදී අරුන් සිය මිතුරන්ගෙන් සහ වැරදි ක්‍රියාවන් වලින් මිදී වෙනත් නේවාසිකාගාරයක් වෙතට මාරුවීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඔහුට මුණගැසෙන සෙල්වා නමැති මිතුරා ඔහුව යහමගට ගනිමින් අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු සාර්ථක කරගැනීම සඳහා ඔහුට උදව් කරන අතරතුරදී රිය අනතුරක් සිදුවීම නිසා හදිසියේම සෙල්වා මිය යනවා.

[mariacallous]

On Feb. 3, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked Wikipedia nationwide. In its statement before the ban, the PTA said the online encyclopedia had refused to remove “sacrilegious contents” from the website. In 2020, Pakistan had threatened legal action against Google and Wikipedia for “disseminating sacrilegious content,” regarding Islamic beliefs held by minority Muslim sects. And while the ban on Wikipedia was overturned three days later, there’s an evident surge in Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy policymaking targeting Muslim minorities, which in turn is further emboldening Islamist vigilantes.

On Feb. 11, a Muslim man was lynched by a mob in the eastern city of Nankana Sahib over allegations of desecrating the Quran. The victim was killed inside the local police station, with the law enforcement authorities being hapless bystanders. Often, local police are complicit in victimizing individuals and communities once Islamist thugs conjure the accusation of blasphemy. And this thuggery has the backing of the state, which is now expanding its already notorious blasphemy codes.

The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was co-opted after Partition in 1947 from the Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860, with Sections 295 and 298 dedicated to desecrating worship places and outraging religious sensibilities, respectively. The IPC under British rule added Section 295-A to curtail “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.” The original sections, identically present in the IPC, are equally applicable to all religions. In the 1980s, under the Islamist military dictatorship of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan added Islam-specific clauses, defining violent penalties over blasphemy against Islam alone.

Last month, the National Assembly passed amendments to the PPC to expand its blasphemy laws. One of those amendments, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, ups the penalty from three years to life imprisonment for “disrespecting” the companions (including the caliphs), family, or wives of the Prophet Muhammad. The PPC criminalizes any sacrilege against the Quran and the prophet, with penalties including capital punishment.

While Pakistan is yet to execute anyone for sacrilege, its blasphemy laws continue to encourage mob violence; at least 93 people have been killed extrajudicially since 1947—including the most recent victims—and more than 1,500 have been imprisoned since 1987, the year after the death penalty was introduced for heresy against Islam in Section 295 of the PPC. The most high-profile victim of the blasphemy laws was one of their staunchest critics, former Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, who was gunned down by his security guard Mumtaz Qadri in 2011. Taseer’s killing silenced debate on the blasphemy laws and turned Qadri, executed over terrorism charges in 2016, into a saint, with his tomb turned into a shrine.

Last year, a teacher was attacked and killed by her colleague and students in an all-girls school, a mentally unstable man was stoned to death by a mob, and a man born without arms was drowned, in separate incidents of blasphemy killings.

Last month, a Muslim man threatened to incite mobs against a Christian security officer working at the Karachi airport by accusing her of blasphemy against the prophet after the woman had denied his acquaintance entry into the premises. The brutal killing of Sri Lankan business professional Priyantha Kumara illustrated the menace of Pakistan’s murderous blasphemy laws nearly 15 months ago.

While the blasphemy laws have disproportionately and overwhelmingly harmed non-Muslims in Pakistan, many of those victimized have been Muslims themselves. Sometimes these are individuals targeted for personal vendettas; however, many are Muslims who espouse beliefs deemed divergent from those sanctioned by majoritarian orthodoxy. The man killed for blasphemy in October was killed for expressing devotion at the graves of Sufi saints, a significant tenet of Barelvi Islam that the vast majority of South Asian Muslims have traditionally adhered to.

The ideology of takfir, or excommunicating Muslims, is based on outlawing divergent beliefs and penalizing those deemed guilty per Islamic law, or sharia, with punishments for apostasy that include execution. The takfiri ideology fuels murderous sharia codes and jihadi groups alike. Outfits such as the Islamic State and its Pakistani Taliban affiliates have bombed Sufi shrines over the years, deeming the mystic practices heretical. The Islamic State-orchestrated 2017 bombing at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan, killing at least 90 people, remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s history.

The Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban have similarly targeted Shiite mosques across the country, dubbing Shiites, comprising the second-largest sect of Islam, collectively guilty of sacrilege. And the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, passed last month, is the systematization of this anti-Shiite narrative, which borders on codification of the entire sect’s excommunication.

The new amendments to the blasphemy codes were introduced by Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party that espouses radicalism against, among others, Shiite Muslims across South Asia. In the bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons, Chitrali argues that the current penalty for sacrilege against Muhammad’s companions, unlike the capital punishment for blasphemy against the prophet, is insufficient deterrence, citing the Quranic verse that upholds fitna (mischief or deviance) as “worse than murder.” Following the amendment, Section 298-A of the PPC, which heretofore upheld lighter penalties for any sacrilege of Muhammad’s companions, will henceforth make it a nonbailable offense punishable by life imprisonment.

The amendment passed by the National Assembly is an extension of a bill passed by the Punjab Assembly in 2020, albeit still awaiting the governor’s signature. These laws, in effect, outlaw Shiite beliefs by enforcing Sunni theology and tradition across the population, in turn playing judge, jury, and executioner over a 1,400-year-old Sunni-Shiite split in Islam.

The Sunni-Shiite divide has been militantly fanned by the Saudi-Iranian proxy wars over the past half a century, with Islamabad doing Riyadh’s bidding from the onset. This proliferated Salafi and Deobandi madrassas and propped up the correlated jihadi militias, including anti-Shiite outfits such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). While these groups have militarily gravitated toward the Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban, their political wings have allied themselves with major parties, especially in Punjab.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has historically dominated Punjab, has done so with the help of SSP and LeJ affiliates such as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. The PML-N’s rival, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and its allies have all backed the anti-Shiite legislation designed to uphold Sunni supremacism in Pakistan by making “respect for the caliphs” a rallying cry to woo the sectarian vote bank.

Sunni Islamists strong-arming veneration for their caliphs is an extension of the general Islamist intimidation over any critique of Muhammad, which even Barelvi jihadis have weaponized.

The idea that even those who do not believe in Islamic figures should be coerced into, at the very least, silencing their views so as to not offend the believers is, at best, an antediluvian notion that represses freedoms of belief, conscience, and expression; at worst, it is a tool of bloodthirsty ethnoreligious cleansing. And in Pakistan, this radical Islamist superstructure of jurisprudential takfir, blasphemy vigilantes, and state-sponsored jihad is founded on the fall of the first excommunication domino: the constitutional apostatizing of Ahmadiyya Islam.

Just as Shiites today are being compelled into shunning their beliefs so as to be accepted as Muslims in Pakistan, Ahmadis were forced to do the same vis-à-vis their belief in their sect’s 19th-century founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, via the Second Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution in 1974. The official declaration of Ahmadis as non-Muslims was followed by Sections 298-B and 298-C a decade later, banning the community from “posing as Muslims,” including referring to Islamic literature or expressions, thus making Pakistan the only country in the world where an individual can be imprisoned for reciting the Quran.

This veritable apartheid against Ahmadi Muslims over the past four decades has seen members of the community killed, their mosques vandalized, and graves desecrated. Ahmadis have to be declared non-Muslims for individuals to obtain a passport, exercise the right to vote, or even get a marriage certificate. Among the Wikipedia contents flagged by the PTA are pages on Ahmadiyya Islam.

While Shiites and Ahmadis are subjugated owing to their beliefs, another Muslim minority is targeted owing to their nonbelief: nonbelievers. Fast-growing atheism, agnosticism, and deism among Pakistani Muslims has been met with a state crackdown, especially online. Atheism and apostasy, as an extension of blasphemy, are punishable by death in Pakistan.

Following the enactment of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act in 2016, the state initiated a war on nonbelief, sending official texts nationwide asking users to notify any form of blasphemy. In 2017, the state promoted a crackdown on dissident bloggers deemed to be posting anti-Islam content online, with the “Pakistani Atheists and Agnostics” Facebook group among those highlighted by the Federal Investigation Agency. With the country’s blasphemy laws going digital, the new expansive codes are going to further stifle online expression in Pakistan, as exemplified by the Wikipedia ban.

The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 aims to do precisely that: restrict the religious discourse and intimidate Muslim minorities against expressing any contrarian views within Islam, just as non-Muslims have long been silenced into submission over Islam. This, in turn, will encourage vigilantes to expand their hunt for so-called blasphemers, whether in Islamic congregations, university auditoriums, or private WhatsApp chats.

Within a month of the Punjab bill being passed, 42 blasphemy cases were lodged, predominantly against the Shiite community, including against a 3-year-old. The toddler, Syed Fazal Abbas Naqvi, was taken into custody along with his father and uncle, with all of them facing terrorism charges before being released on bail. The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 has been followed by a spike in Shiite killings in the town of Dera Ismail Khan.

While the financially motivated Arab states that historically spread radical Salafism worldwide are now embracing moderation—even if not free thought in Islam—Pakistan appears to be wholly invested in being the bastion of Sunni fundamentalism and plunging further into takfiri jihadism. With Saudi Arabia expecting Pakistan to toe its line of significant geopolitical moves, such as normalization of ties with Israel, it can ill-afford Islamabad to be bogged down by radical Islamist mobs, which are also expressing condemnations of Saudi Arabia’s ostensible liberalization.

The United States, despite its withdrawal from the region, wouldn’t want a Pakistan that spirals further into radical Islamist disintegration at a time when the Western powers are still mulling the fate of the jihadi takeover in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s devastating economic crisis can further push the United States to condition any economic support to human rights advancements.

The Saudi and U.S. petrodollars that helped sustain Pakistan’s jihadi superstructure in the past are no longer on the table, with barely two weeks’ worth of foreign currency reserves to cover imports currently in the central bank. Global institutions, including the European Parliament, are mulling sanctions over Pakistan’s human rights abuses, especially its grotesque blasphemy laws. Any government expanding these codes in a way that risks increasing global sanctions is clearly not invested in Pakistan’s economic well-being.

Self-sustenance for the country is only possible through a purge of radical Islam at all national tiers, from the constitution to governance to the masochistic security policy. And Pakistan will only truly signal a departure from its jihad-infested past when it sounds the death knell for its blasphemy laws.