#National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

[ablackwomansurvivingrape]

On a typical day, domestic violence hotlines nationwide receive over 20,000 calls.

#DVFACTS

SOURCE: NONFATAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. 2003-2012(2014)

NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NCADV

[authornewliz]

Gaslight

What About Gaslighting? Where does the term come from? Are you being gaslighted? Where can you find help?

            In 1938, the title of a play added a word to the English dictionary.” Gaslight” is a thriller by British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton. Set in 1880s London, the new husband of a young woman plots to steal from her. It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t simple at all. The husband in the play, Jack Manningham, sets about driving his wife, Bella, insane to inherit her fortune.…

[intersectionalpraxis]

"Under a Missouri statute that has recently gained nationwide attention, every petitioner for divorce is required to disclose their pregnancy status. In practice, experts say, those who are pregnant are barred from legally dissolving their marriage. “The application [of the law] is an outright ban,” said Danielle Drake, attorney at Parks & Drake. When Drake learned her then husband was having an affair, her own divorce stalled because she was pregnant. Two other states have similar laws: Texas and Arkansas."

"Missouri is particularly restrictive when it comes to reproductive health and autonomy. It was one of the first to ban abortion after Roe v Wade was overturned in 2022, including in cases of rape and incest. Research shows that abortion restrictions can effectively give cover to reproductive coercion and sexual violence: the National Hotline for Domestic Violence said it saw a 99% increase in calls during the first year after the loss of the constitutional right to abortion."

"Advocates are currently trying to gather enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would make abortion legal until fetal viability, or around 24 weeks."

"In Missouri, homicide was the third leading cause of deaths in connection with pregnancy between 2018–2022, the majority (75%) of which occurred among Black women, according to a 2023 report by the Missouri department of health and senior services, which examines maternal mortality data. In every case, the perpetrator was a current or former partner. And in 2022, 23,252 individuals in the state received services after reporting domestic violence, according to the latest reporting from Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, which compiles data from direct service providers in the state."

The dystopia we speak of -across many of issues that women and marginalized folks face is HERE already. This is terrifying.

[mariacallous]

In recent days, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has capitulated to the far-right anti-immigration agenda of Marine Le Pen. In July, in an electoral pact with the left, he sought a firewall against her. Now he has turned rightwards, giving her an effective veto over prime minister Michel Barnier’s new government.

By the end of the month, the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ), founded by two former members of the SS, Anton Reinthaller and Friedrich Peter, is expected to form an anti-immigration,pro-Russian government. It will cement a new hard-right axis across Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, and more importantly, Italy, where step by step the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni (who met Keir Starmer on Monday), is accused of taking control of the press and the judiciary.

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has just won the east German regional elections in Thuringia and came second in Saxony. This is despite Germany’s domestic intelligence agency listing the AfD in three states as an “extremist” organisation, reflecting concerns about the Holocaust denial and links to far-right political violence of some of its members – and their invoking of banned Nazi slogans, for which the party’s Thuringian leader, Björn Höcke, has twice been found guilty in German courts.

But while Germany’s centre-right opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, who last year supported coalitions with the AfD in local government, has now refused to enter any national or regional coalition with the AfD, he has come closer to much of its anti-immigration agenda. He now wants “to talk about the issue of repatriation” of existing residents.

Now Höcke is openly mocking what he calls the “dumb firewall” against him, forecasting that it will not last. And last week the German coalition government reacted to the AfD’s success by tightening control of its bordersin an effort to curb irregular migration.

Another lurch rightward came with the decision last month by the Dutch health minister, a member of Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party, to refuse requests from African countries for urgent help in the fight against mpox, even when the Dutch stockpile runs to 100,000 boxes of unused vaccines – many of which will pass their use-by date next year.

The spectre haunting Europe is not communism, as Karl Marx once wrote, but far-right extremism. And not much is left of the cordon sanitaire that was to keep out the far right. Europe now has seven governments with hard-right parties in control or in coalition, with Austria likely to be next, as once-immovable barriers to contamination are swept aside by centre-right appeasers.

“Breaking point” was the slogan on a poster that Nigel Farage deployed in 2016 during the Brexit referendum campaign, portraying bearded and dark-skinned migrants appearing to march in droves towards us. The exact same photograph was later replicated in Hungary, with the caption changed from “Breaking point” to “Stop”.

Similar slogans include “Stop the invasion” (“Stop invasione”), used by Matteo Salvini’s Italian League party; and “Close the borders” (“Grenzen dicht”), adopted by German far-right groups the AfD and Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West).

A few years ago, when the now-imprisoned former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon attempted to form a global coalition of anti-globalists, he managed to herd together a number of Europe’s rightwing leaders, from Nigel Farage to Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. He was involved in setting up an “Academy for the Judeo-Christian West” in Italy. And Trump’s “America first” Republican party is now one of many to adopt the “my country first” slogan.

Spain’s far-right Vox party has used “Primero lo nuestro. Primero los españoles”; Italy’s League, “Prima gli Italiani”; Hungary’s Fidesz party, “Nekünk Magyarország az első”; Germany’s AfD, “Unser Land zuerst”; Austria’s FPÖ, “Österreich zuerst”; and the Swiss People’s Party, “Die Schweiz zuerst”.

Outside Europe, “Önce Türkiye” (“Turkey First”) is promoted by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party. The far-right Japan First party marches under the banner of “日本第一” (“Japan first”). “India first” has been adopted by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party.

Variations on this theme include “Polska dla Polaków” (“Poland for Poles”),used by nationalists in Poland, Vox’s slogan “España viva” (“Long live Spain”), and “Brasil acima de tudo” (“Brazil above everything”), used by Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro.

In all, about 50 countries have already gone to the polls in 2024. “Fears that this year would reflect the global triumph of illiberal populism have so far been proved wrong,” Francis Fukuyama, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy and the author of the End of History and the Last Man thesis, has concluded. “Democratic backsliding can and has been resisted in many countries.”

He can, of course, point to the return of Labour in Britain, the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, the shift away from the far right in Poland and the setback for Modi in India. But the Polish and Indian results tell me no more than tolerance of rightwing extremism can ebb when the electorate finds out that the nationalist demagogues are good at exploiting grievances, but bad at eradicating them.

And so we must not forget what has happened in countries from Indonesia to Argentina, the knife-edge fight for power in the US and – what Fukuyama misses in Europe – the insidious surrender of the centre to far-right prejudice.

Of course, there are ways to frustrate the onward rush of rightwing populists. Not only did the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, defeat the right in national elections last year, but he has skilfully engineered a split between Spain’s centre-right People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox over the fate of vulnerable child migrants. Until July the two were in coalition in five key regions: Valencia, Aragón, Murcia, Extremadura and Castilla y León.

But it was not the centre-right PP that abandoned the extreme-right Vox; it was the extreme right that walked away from the centre right. And as long as the so-called moderates continue to play with fire – believing that by keeping their opponent close, they can eventually tame the beast – they will continue to lose. Sooner rather than later, the far-right poison will have to be countered with a progressive agenda focused on what matters to people most: jobs, standards of living, fairness and bridging the morally indefensible gap between rich and poor.

[koboldkurios]

THUNDEROUS - THE ROLAN ZINE IS OPEN FOR PREORDERS!

As I announced a couple months back, I've been working on art for a Rolan themed Zine, well…

THUNDEROUS - THE ROLAN ZINE IS OPEN FOR PREORDERS!

THERE ARE 4 (FOUR) TIERS AVAILABLE WITH FUNDS BEING SPLIT IN TWO AND GOING TO HELP THE FOLLOWING TWO CHARITIES:

🇵🇸 - Care for Gaza (Palestine Relief)

💗 - National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (nonprofit, we picked this one because of relevance to Rolans story with Lorroakan)

THERE IS SOME ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ART AND WRITING IN THE ZINE SO IF YOU ARE ABLE, PLEASE HELP US RAISE SOME FUNDS AND SAVE SOME LIVES WHILE CELEBRATING OUR FAV GRUMPY WIZARD FROM BG3

PREORDER PERIOD WILL CLOSE ON 8/31/24 at 11:59pm CDT ALL ITEMS ARE PREORDER SLOTS WITH AN EXPECTED FULFILLMENT OF 1-3 MONTHS ALL QUESTIONS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO @ThunderousZine ON TWITTER OR ThunderousZine (at) gmail.com

HERE'S SOME PROMO OF THE TWO PAGES I DID IN THE ZINE

AND THE ONE I DID FOR THE DIGITAL WALLPAPER

[mezmer]

Let's go!

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury in women in the United States, resulting in more injuries than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined (National coalition against domestic violence: NCADV)

1 in 3 women experience some form of physical violence by a partner, and 1 in 4 experience severe physical violence by a partner in their lifetime (NCADV)

Children who witness domestic violence are more likely to experience behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, and PTSD (American academy of pediatrics)

Women who are pregnant, disabled, or are of minority race are at higher risk of experiencing domestic violence (NCADV)

The national domestic violence hotline reports that on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the US. (Would like to know stats of people who aren't reporting the abuse or rates in other countries, likely impossible to record)

1 in 3 women who are victims of homicide are killed by their former or current intimate partner (NCADV)

In 2019, 1,877 women were murdered by men in the US, and 92% of them were killed by someone they knew (National network to end domestic violence)

[redditreceipts]

women's rights in Palestine

Women in Palestine face a double burden: first, from the islamic patriarchal society they live in, and second, from the Israelian occupation. According to the recent UN report, the main factors are:

Palestinian women’s rights organisations are hindered in their activism as they get labeled "terrorist organisations" by Israelian authorities.

Because of the focus on Israeli occupation, the political climate in Palestinian society makes it so the women’s liberation movement in is considered of secondary importance. 

The Gaza blockade has an especially heavy toll on women and girls by limiting their access to essential services and increasing their care burden.

The difficult living conditions make women more dependent on male family members and vulnerable to gender-based violence.

Violence outbreaks and economic insecurity in Palestine are responsible for a stronger adherence to gender and patriarchal norms, as is observed everywhere in the world. 

Women’s access to quality health services is undermined by Israeli policies restricting the movement of people and goods, for example medical staff and supplies. Also, hospitals in Palestine are frequently bombed, so the construction of a solid health infrastructure is near impossible. While men face direct injury more often, women are vulnerable to the indirect consequences of the conflict, such as lack of access to reproductive medicine. This leads to a higher rate of maternal mortality: from 2019 to 2020, the maternal mortality rate rose by 43 percent. Pregnant and lactating women are especially vulnerable to malnutrition because of their lack of access to nutrient-rich foods. The lack of healthcare services disproportionately affects women, because oftentimes, they are the ones carrying the burden of caring for sick family members. 

Destroyed hospital in Gaza. (source)

The patriarchal Palestinian society also burdens women with high rates of gender-based violence. This is exacerbated by the lack of a stable justice system, so many cases of domestic violence, rape and femicide don’t get reported. The lack of access to employment makes women dependent on their husbands, which also increases the rate of gender-based violence and makes women unable to leave their abusive partners. 

Living conditions in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. (source)

Also, women’s rights campaigns in Palestine suffer from the Israeli occupation. In October 2021, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees was one of six Palestinian organisations labelled a “terrorist organisation” by the Israeli Government. Other organisations such as the National Women’s Coalition for the Implementation of the CEDAW Convention, which is a coalition of human rights and women’s rights organisations and trade unions, are under fierce attack of conservative Palestinian forces such as clan leaders and right-wing political forces in Palestine. 

Khitam al-Saafin, chairwoman of the Union of Palestinian Women's Committee, was sentences by Israeli authorities to three months in "administrative detention" without trial or charges. (source)

The United Nations’ report concludes: “[A]s  long as the Israeli occupation, policies and practices, including violence against Palestinians, continue, the enjoyment of rights by Palestinian women will remain unattainable.”

Women in Palestine should not be the ones to suffer from religious patriarchal oppression from Palestinian society nor from Israeli occupation. A stable and just democracy is crucial for women’s emancipation, and for that, the Israeli occupation and the blockades, as well as the patriarchal oppression from their own society, have to end!

(source)

[pronoun-fucker]

(Open letter linked below)

“More than 130 people, including Gloria Steinem, and organizations in the field of women’s rights advocacy and domestic violence and sexual assault awareness have signed an open letter to support Amber Heard, who lost a defamation suit this year brought by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, for an op-ed in which she said she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”

The letter, which was exclusively shared with NBC News ahead of its public release Wednesday, was signed by groups like the National Organization for Women, the National Women’s Law Center, Equality Now and the Women’s March Foundation. It was written by a group of people who identify as domestic violence survivors and supporters of Heard.

Heard filed a brief last month laying the groundwork to appeal a seven-person jury’s decision in Virginia’s Fairfax County Circuit Court to award Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in June. Heard, who had countersued, was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages but nothing in punitive damages.

Although The Washington Post essay never mentioned Depp by name, Depp’s attorneys said it indirectly referred to allegations Heard made against him during their 2016 divorce. During the trial, she testified in graphic terms about a sexual assault she alleged, as well as allegations of incidents of physical abuse. Depp denied all allegations of abuse.

The letter, which denounces the “rising misuse” of defamation lawsuits to silence people who report domestic and sexual abuse, is one of the biggest public shows of support for Heard after months of silence from many groups after the verdict.

Representatives for both Depp and Heard declined to comment.

The jury’s decision was a legal vindication for Depp, who lost a libel case in the United Kingdom two years ago over claims that he had physically abused Heard. Justice Andrew Nicol ruled against Depp in 2020, saying a British tabloid had presented substantial evidence to show that Depp was violent against Heard on at least 12 of 14 occasions.

After the June verdict, activists called out other groups, like Time’s Up, asking why an organization that had championed victims at the height of the #MeToo movement was now silent. Many who did speak out in support of Heard, including the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, were met with ferocious backlash from Depp’s supporters online.

A spokesperson for the group behind the letter, who asked to remain anonymous because of the online harassment she has faced for posting in support of Heard, said she believes that after the trial “individuals were afraid to speak out because they saw what was happening to the few who had.”

The letter says the “ongoing online harassment” of Heard and her supporters was “fueled by disinformation, misogyny, biphobia, and a monetized social media environment where a woman’s allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault were mocked for entertainment.”

The vilification and harassment of Heard and her supporters were “unprecedented in both vitriol and scale,” the letter says.

Kathy Spillar, the executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said her organization signed the letter after it observed what she called a “growing backlash” against women who speak out against perpetrators of sexual assault, domestic violence and intimate partner violence.

“If this can happen to Amber Heard, it will discourage other women from speaking up and even filing reports about domestic violence and sexual assault,” Spillar said.

The letter says the verdict and the online response to Heard “indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of intimate partner and sexual violence and how survivors respond to it.”

In addition to two dozen feminist organizations, more than 90 domestic violence experts and survivors’ advocates from around the world signed the letter to “condemn the public shaming of Amber Heard and join in support of her.” They include doctors, lawyers, professors, authors and activists.

Others who signed the letter echoed their concerns that reaction to the trial on social media was harmful to everyday victims of domestic violence.

“They see the environment that this has created, and they feel even less safe than before to come forward and speak out about the abuse they suffered,” said Elizabeth Tang, the senior counsel for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center.

Tang said abusers can use defamation suits to “silence their victims” or as retaliation against their victims for speaking out.

Tang said that among the “reasons we felt it was very important to join this letter” are that “when courts do not dismiss these defamation suits in early stages, it creates a lot of trauma for victims to have to go through a very long, drawn-out and invasive process just to prove that the things they said are true or that they did not defame the person they reported.”

Christian F. Nunes, the national president of the National Organization for Women, said she hopes the letter is a reminder that the court system should never be used to strong-arm victims to recant statements about their abuse.

“We cannot silence victims by using courts and lawsuits as a way to retraumatize them, because this is what’s happening,” Nunes said. She said she hopes the letter raises awareness of new tactics some abusers use against their victims, such as social media campaigns.

Since the trial, there has been more public support for Heard on social media, the spokesperson for the group behind the letter said. She and other anonymous Heard supporters had been “working to combat disinformation for months” when they joined for the open letter initiative.

Experts said they had a unanimous message they hoped to send to survivors who read the letter.

“It is also a way to speak to all survivors and tell them, ‘You are not alone,’” Tang said.”

Article Link | Archived Article Link

Open Letter Link | Archived Open Letter Link

[xialing-gf]

What We Think When We Think About Love: A Glass Animals Fanzine

“What We Think About When We Think About Love” is a Glass Animals digital fanzine inspired by the release of the band’s 4th studio album “ILYFSM.”

This open-call fanzine features over 60 pages of art, photography, writing, and more created by fans who want to show their love for the band.

The zine is available for free with a pay-what-you-want option. All proceeds will be evenly split between the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

We hope you enjoy the zine as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

download the zine here!

[angelsaxis]

i revisited this article that states this:

Text:

"Different Name, Same Dynamic

What Nicole describes is a classic pattern of domestic abuse, one that is often associated with a male abuser and his female victim. But intimate partner violence (IPV) happens in same-sex relationships, too, and — like in heterosexual relationships — the abuse is categorized by a pattern of behavior in which one partner seeks to gain power and control over the other. A 2013 report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) found that lesbian women are more likely to experience physical violence from a partner — and they accounted for 19% of IPV homicide victims. (This is a staggering proportion considering that only 1.5% of women in the U.S. self-identify as lesbian and 0.9% as bisexual.)"

And bases the entire article, which talks about IPV in wlw relationships, off this source. The articles main point is to talk about how women are can and do abuse other women in relationships.

And maybe I'm misreading something but this cited source does not actually talk about lesbians or queer women in general as perpetrators of either IPV or IPV resulting in homicide...like at all. "Lesbian women are more likely to experience physical violence from a partner" does not mean "Lesbian women are more likely to abuse their (presumably women) partners". You can't make that kind of logical leap. Why?

Because closeted lesbians date men. And those men abuse them. Bisexual women date men. And those men abuse them. Queer women date men, and those men abuse them.

I searched the study the article cites to see where this particular statistic could be. I found:

Hate violence survivor and victim demographics. Lesbians make up 19% of hate violence survivors and victims. This says nothing about being perpetrators, yet the entire article is about women as abusers.

There's another section in the study that does talk about perpetrators/offenders demographics, and these are the categories it covers: gender identity, racial and ethnic ID, age, total number of offenders, relationships (as in, landlords, family, coworker or employer, etc), and site. Not sexuality (which I was honestly surprised at).

People often say lesbians are the biggest abusers of the LGBT+ community, and then they use that to justify being lesbophobic and misogynistic, but that 19% statistic doesn't remotely support this claim.

I did some Googling and can't seem to find anything supporting the claim that lesbians are perpetrators of IPV more than any other gender + sexuality combo. This isn't to say lesbians never abuse or are never abused, but....there's just no numbers to support the claim. The one thing I can find is that according to the CDC, about two thirds of lesbians surveyed reported only having female perpetrators against them. Note that "female" does not denote a sexuality. Also note that the overwhelming majority of bisexual women are victims of IPV from male partners.

Reading this reddit thread also brings to light some other issues with the idea that lesbians are the biggest perpetrators of abuse in their relationships. They cite a CDC survey, I believe.

I'm just endlessly frustrated by this idea that lesbians are uniquely violent in the LGBT+ community. I'm too tired to get into why this belief sucks, or why people are even willing to believe such an unfounded stat in the first place. It's obvious.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sanjana Karanth at HuffPost:

A coalition of press freedom, civil liberties and human rights organizations sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday to call on the Biden administration to make public an upcoming report on whether foreign countries — including Israel — are using U.S. military aid in ways that break international humanitarian laws. For months, members of Congress have been demanding assurances that Israel, which receives U.S. military aid, has complied with international and U.S. law — which prohibits violence against civilians and efforts to block aid — in its war in Gaza. In response, President Joe Biden in February issued a memo known as NSM-20, which requires federal U.S. agencies to submit a report to Congress on whether countries that get U.S. military aid are in fact obeying the law. The report’s initial deadline was May 8, though it is currently unclear if it will be ready to submit by Wednesday. The Biden administration has not said explicitly if it will make the report publicly available.

But the letter’s signatories — including Amnesty International USA, Defending Rights & Dissent, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the National Press Photographers Association, the Radio Television Digital News Association and Reporters Without Borders — said that the “process established in NSM-20 suggests” that the report to Congress should be unclassified. “The public and the press have an especially strong interest in understanding how the U.S. has assessed the assurances provided under NSM-20 by all countries that receive U.S. defense articles, and particularly those in areas of armed conflict,” read the letter. “Your administration has pledged to ‘bring transparency and truth back to the government,’” the letter continued. “We urge you to adhere to this commitment by releasing the … report to Congress under NSM-20 to the press and the public.”

The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment, while the National Security Council referred the question to the State Department. The State Department did not immediately respond to HuffPost. The Biden administration is facing growing pressure both domestically and from the international community over its continued diplomatic and military support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7. While Hamas agreed this week to a proposal that would include a cease-fire and the return of hostages, Israel rejected the plan. As Israel is poised to invade the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah — despite allies like the U.S. warning against it, due to the city’s large civilian population — lawmakers and humanitarians have are increasingly concerned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has committed war crimes.

A coalition of human rights groups, press freedom, and civil liberties urge the Biden Administration to make public a report whether foreign countries-- including Israel-- are using US military aid in ways that break international humanitarian laws.

[authornewliz]

Gaslight

            In 1938, the title of a play added a word to the English dictionary.” Gaslight” is a thriller by British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton. Set in 1880s London, the new husband of a young woman plots to steal from her. It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t simple at all. The husband in the play, Jack Manningham, sets about driving his wife, Bella, insane to inherit her fortune.…

[zvaigzdelasas]

Andersson, from the opposition center-left Social Democrats, suggested Thursday to Swedish outlet Aftonbladet: “Surveillance performed by police officers could be carried out by the military. In addition, there is technical know-how with the military that they could assist with.”[...] Sweden could also ask Norway, Denmark or Finland for additional police support, Andersson added. Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, from the center-right Moderate Party, finds the idea of deploying the military an “interesting thought,” public broadcaster SVT reported.[...] Defense Minister Pål Jonson, also from the Moderates, said deploying the military was not currently on the agenda. “There are no such plans currently,” he said.

28 Sep 23

After an explosion was reported yesterday in Uppsala, a city 70 km (43 mi) north of Sweden, which killed a 25-year-old woman, the prime minister gave a speech responding to several murders in Sweden. The prime minister, Ulf Kristersson of the center-right Moderate Party, said that gangs are responsible for these continuous murders. He said that the government would change its legislation to address gang violence, via stricter migration and surveillance policy assisted by the Swedish military.[...] Kristersson said the government’s “naivety” and “cluelessness” are the causes, which he said they would correct by denying more migrants entry into the country. “While immigration increases to Europe, it decreases to Sweden,” Kristersson said.[...] Starting on October 1st, Kistersson said there will be a preventive wiretapping measure instituted in Sweden. By the prime minister’s words, it seems as if the police will be able to listen to domestic calls. We were not able to provide more details on this new policy at the time of writing.[...]

On July 1st, 2023, Sweden passed laws doubling the sentence for gang-related crimes and added a law against recruiting children. The prime minister said the government was going to create “search zones” as well, where people will be searched for weapons. He said he had summoned the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to assist the police in these programs. Assisting in internal conflicts is not necessarily a part of the Armed Forces’ duties, which are usually more focused on assisting in international conflict, “to defend Sweden and its territories against armed attacks,” and “safeguarding national sovereign rights and interests in areas outside the territory.”[...] Currently, Sweden is governed by a right-wing coalition majority formed by Kristersson’s Moderate Party and two other right-wing parties. The party with the largest number of votes in Parliament is the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party that wants to “keep organized crime out” via a strict migration policy and is “not afraid to challenge the status quo,” according to their website. The government needs the Sweden Democrats to get a majority in the Riksdag.

29 Sep 23

[mariacallous]

The nation’s attention has been understandably focused on the political whirlwind of the past three weeks’ unprecedented events. From the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump to the chaos and ultimate end of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, there has been little oxygen for any other news story. And while Vice President Kamala Harris’s race toward becoming the new Democratic nominee will likely continue to drive the news, this week will also feature another major moment in Washington, D.C., that will put one of the biggest news stories of the year, the crisis in Gaza, back in the headlines. On July 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will once again visit Congress to speak to a joint session. He’ll do so with the likely result, if not the intention, of undermining the sitting president of the United States and the brand new candidacy of his vice president as she tries to succeed him. 

With some Democrats already pledging to skip the speech in protest, the question remains: How will the majority of Democratic lawmakers navigate this moment? It’s worth taking a step back to realize just what is happening here—and why the stakes are so high. 

This isn’t the first time that Netanyahu has dived headfirst into U.S. politics. Back in 2015, as then-President Barack Obama was rallying domestic and international support for the nuclear agreement that his administration—along with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China—had reached with Iran, Netanyahu came to Congress in a last-minute attempt to undermine the accord and damage the president. 

Outrage was high at the time, and 58 members of Congress boycotted a speech that was seen by many as a blatant attempt to influence domestic U.S. politics and the result of Netanyahu’s long-standing personal disdain for Obama. The speech was ultimately a failure, as the nuclear agreement went into effect, but it did help lock in a level of Republican Party opposition that resulted in Trump later walking away from the deal and creating the very challenge that Biden now faces from an unconstrained Iranian nuclear program. 

Thus, in the long run, Netanyahu got what he wanted and what was good for his personal politics, regardless of the fact that it was bad for U.S. national security and went against the clear wishes of people in the United States, according to opinion polling. 

Now, nine years later, he’s trying to pull the same trick. 

Today, the issue at hand is not Netanyahu’s opposition to a nuclear agreement, but his ongoing deadly war against Gaza. While this current crisis began with Hamas’s horrific attacks and taking of hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, the ensuing nine months have seen Netanyahu unleash a massive wave of death and destruction on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 38,000 Palestinians. Throughout the conflict, negotiations have ebbed and flowed over possible deals for a cease-fire and the release of hostages, breaking through for an initial deal in November last year and falling short multiple times since then, leaving the violence to rage on. 

It’s important to note just how much trouble the Israeli prime minister is facing. Netanyahu’s government has been teetering on the brink of collapsing for months. Following years of an unprecedented electoral stalemate that saw Netanyahu alternate in and out of the prime minister’s chair as Israel’s political parties struggled to form a viable governing coalition, Netanyahu ultimately pieced together the farthest right government in Israeli history, empowering a handful of extremist parties and their leaders. Once back in office, he tried to use this right-wing coalition to jam through radical judicial reforms that appeared to many, first and foremost, to be designed to keep him from landing in jail as his yearslong corruption trial made its way to court. That effort resulted in months of some of the largest protests in Israel’s history. 

And then came Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 attacks. The Israeli public—shocked and outraged by the killing of more than 1,200 people and the taking of roughly 250 hostages—largely halted the protests, and Netanyahu’s biggest rivals joined in a unity government, something that is not uncommon in times of war. Biden even accepted an invitation from Netanyahu to make a historic wartime visit to Israel mere weeks after the attack. 

In the ensuing eight months, U.S. public support for Israel’s retaliatory war on Gaza has significantly decreased as Netanyahu’s war machine unleashed an almost unimaginable scale of death and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza. The U.N. reports that since the start of the Israeli military’s war on Gaza, in addition to the more than 38,000 Palestinians who have been killed, more than twice as many have been injured. And for nearly everyone else in Gaza, most of whom have been displaced multiple times by fighting, Israeli government policy has resulted in famine or near-famine conditions as the supply of food and other basic necessities for living have been dramatically and severely reduced. 

The world has responded with outrage. The International Court of Justice has twice made rulings urging Israel to change its behavior in Gaza, allow in more aid, and, most recently, halt its offensive in Rafah. Netanyahu’s government has refused to comply, according to human rights groups. Even more severely, the lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has requested that arrest warrants be issued for both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role in alleged war crimes in Gaza. (He also requested similar warrants for Hamas’s leadership.) And at the United Nations itself, the United States has found itself a very lonely defender of Netanyahu’s government, which has faced overwhelming condemnation of Israel’s war by both the General Assembly and the Security Council. 

Now, as Netanyahu prepares to once again come to Washington, Biden has made it clear that there is a deal to be had—one that would halt the fighting, release the hostages, and create a realistic pathway to a sustainable peace. That path forward isn’t necessarily easy, but it is possible. Which begs the question: Why, of all moments, is the Israeli prime minister coming to Congress now? 

The answer is clear: politics. First and foremost, there’s the politics of Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who has seemingly made it his nearly singular goal in running the House to try to divide Democrats over Israel. He’s forced members to take multiple votes on legislation that has zero chance of becoming law, but every chance of highlighting the divisions within the Democratic caucus. By unilaterally announcing his invitation to Netanyahu, Johnson successfully trapped Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who bewilderingly agreed to co-sign the invitation after only weeks earlier publicly calling for new elections in Israel. With Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell already on board, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ultimately added his name to the invitation, too. 

If Schumer and Jeffries were simply falling victim to Johnson’s political ploy to embarrass Democrats, it would be bad enough, but the reality is far worse. Republicans and Democrats are constantly forcing one another into compromising political positions, and while this kind of trap should have been avoided by the Democratic leaders, these kinds of things do happen. What’s more maddening here is that the clear drivers of this whole incident seem more likely to be the personal politics of Netanyahu, his desperate attempt to cling to power, and his likely desire to see a Trump victory in November. 

Meanwhile, U.S. support for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, a policy opposed by Netanyahu, is overwhelming and bipartisan. Looking deeper at the views of Democratic voters, the view is even starker; a majority believe that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and oppose sending Israel any more military aid. All of this has led to historic demonstrations of opposition to continued unconditional support for Israel by congressional Democrats. 

If his government’s policies are unpopular on the global stage and in the United States, in Israel, Netanyahu himself is increasingly personally unpopular. After an initial, common rally-round-the-flag surge, Israeli public opinion has turned once again decidedly against the prime minister, with his approval rating hitting a mere 32 percent in May. Families of the hostages held by Hamas have joined protests condemning the possibility that Netanyahu’s war appears to have killed more hostages than it has rescued. (Axios reported in mid-June that some Democrats are working to organize an event with families of those taken hostage to “counter-program” Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.) 

Israeli political leaders on both Netanyahu’s left and right have routinely threatened to bring down his government. And all the while, he remains actively on trial for corruption—the very indictments that he sought to avoid through his radical judicial changes that spurred massive protests last year. 

If Israel held elections today, it is highly unlikely that Netanyahu would remain prime minister. 

So, with Netanyahu deeply unpopular at home and opposed around the world, why is he being afforded one of the highest privileges that the United States has to offer—a speech to a joint session of Congress? He is desperately fighting for his political survival, which he likely views as his path to avoiding both domestic and international criminal accountability. Biden himself recently pointed out that there is “every reason” to believe that Netanyahu is actively prolonging the war for that exact reason. 

Rank and file Democrats must make a choice on whether they will reward Netanyahu’s craven self-promotion or instead build on the message that many of them sent nine years ago by once again skipping his speech. 

The public’s eyes have largely shifted away from the horrors in Gaza over the past few weeks. As Netanyahu steps to the Capitol’s rostrum, that will likely change, at least for a moment. At a moment of political turmoil, congressional Democrats have an opportunity to show their constituents’ widespread revulsion at Netanyahu’s appalling record. Let’s hope that they use that moment to remind everyone watching that saving countless lives is more important than saving one man’s political future. 

[tervencherries]

was asked by someone on instagram to compare violent crime rates between “cisgender” women and trans-identified individuals. here was my response:

“the Office for National Statistics states that from 2013-2023, there were so few violent crimes against transgender people that there is no possible way to have statistics on it. they also state that there are statistics only available when there are more than 3 violent crimes in a time period. however, according to the UK Parliament, trans-identified males are found to be over 6 times more likely to be convicted of an offense than female counterparts, and 18 times more likely to be convicted of a violent offense. the rates between trans-identified males and other males were found to be the same.

according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), 33% of women have experienced some physical form of intimate partner violence (IPV). 14% of women been injured by an intimate partner. 10% of women have been raped by an intimate partner (however, according to Spectator News, 97% of women have been sexually assaulted). 14% of women have been stalked by an intimate partner in their lifetime. i attempted looking for transgender rates of stalking, but multiple sources (Columbia University, The 19th News, Florida Institute of Technology) only talked about LGB men and women—there was no mention of transgender individuals anywhere.

according to UN Women, 133 women and girls are murdered by someone in their family every day. however, in 2022, (according to the Human Rights Campaign) a total of 41 transgender individuals were murdered across the world. only ten of these individuals were murdered by an intimate partner, a friend, or a family member.”

i’ve linked my sources in each citation. go ham.

[sharonisthebettercarter]

Billy and fucklander had opportunities to change and didn't take them. Ryan will have an opportunity to change and will try to change... only for his deadbeat dad and/or billy to take it from him because billy is at a point of no return and deadbeat is a life ruiner. Will any of this excuse some of Ryan's future involvement/behaviors? No... But it makes him more sympathetic than spermdonor and Billy combined.

goddammit anon. you're killin' me here. seen a couple of these answered by other folks in fandom so i'm guessing you have your thoughts written somewhere and then copy/paste them into people's inboxes?

i mean, i get the havin' thoughts lmao (i do~<3!!) but if you have so much to say/rant on and want specific people to respond, why not make your own posts and tag people about it? don't get me wrong, i don't mind answerin' a ramble or two here and there but sometimes it gets a lil excessive. 6 asks in one go is a lot, *especially* when the topics are *stressful* instead of *fun*.

scratch that, getting *ONE* of these asks can be a lot.

*SIX (6)* at one time is too fucking many, i can be overwhelmed too. i'm not just a place for you to dump these and expect a response, i'm a fucking living breathing entity behind this screen (who instead of being friendly, *can* delete and ignore them, need i remind)

do not abuse my kindness or patience, do not mistake either for weakness.

i'ma need a LONG ass break after this. leik. 666 months long cause holy fuck. gotdamn. gimme a breather. also still queuing shit so asking more shit and or bombarding me with asks *isn't* gonna make it come any faster.

it comes when it comes, i put it in the queue and shuffle.

you know the drill, you don't get 6 separate answers, i'm condensing into one and usin' italics and bold for the asks

anywho~ not true.

yes for billy, he is aware of his actions, his plight, and knows better, but he chooses to do worse. (altho i do recognize first hand how difficult addictions are to deal with, and billy is absolutely an addict.)

literally no for homelander. people who are victims of grooming like homie are kept in a state of childlike dependency/belief so that they *can't* leave their abuser, have no choice or 'oPpOrTuNiTy' to leave them, *OR* will only go from one abuser to the next because they've been *conditioned* to expect the abuse.

i feel like you keep saying that but i'ma be point blank this time. it's ableist, victim blaming, and completely undermines the situation homelander went through/is still going through. repeating it won't make it true, it's wrong, always was and will remain wrong. all you're doing is ignoring what his actual situation is and what has actually happened to make yourself feel better about hating him.

and that's not even to say you can't hate him or that his actions should be excused. literally no one is saying that and i don't think i've ever seen anyone actually say that unironically (not saying it can't happen but i'm guessing it's pretty rare to come across (at least outside of the maga chuds) since most people just hate him) but you should at least be fucking honest/aware about his situation/*NOT DISMISSIVE*.

i'm including another post i added resources to that debunk this gross (and very ignorant) claim. please give legitimate psychology the time of day before you go around repeating ableist/victim blaming talking points.

*even billy* to certain degrees, should get his addiction acknowledged, instead of denied or *enabled*, because addiction in *all forms* is a debilitating, life destroying THING that is fucking difficult to fight. it's like it's own form of battle with an abuser, except the only other person is *you*. becca alone should be example enough that empathy and compassion can *help* in ways people downright *refuse* to give the time of day (even if i do lament billy using her like his 'new' addiction... the cunt--)

seriously. i'm not kidding, take the time to educate yourself instead of just being angry (at fiction i might add) all the time. that stress can't be good for you, *anger is proven to make people dumber*, and otherwise the only response you'll get from me is going to be, 'actually you're wrong, here's why--*linked resources*'.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

you repeat ableism and victim blaming? i'm going to call you out on it (if i don't just delete it, bitch i am TIRED--), you will not get a different response from me, i will always try to correct misinformation or disinformation when i can, however that may come.

*you* have a choice, but you keep *choosing* to ignore the resources i provide because they make you confront your own biases, but i ain't playin' on these subjects.

that is a no go in this court.

ryan will need someone to show him he has a choice and that he is worthy of love no matter where he goes or who he's with. again, this goes back to psychology but ryan is still only a child. his brain is literally not developed enough to make these decisions himself/be immune to influence (which just realistically, absolutely no one is regardless of age)

i feel for ryan, i *worry and hope* for him far more, but the trauma faced here is not a contest. please do not do that, that is super fucked. and even if it were--

homelander. homelander would win and take all the fuckin' prizes, there is literally *no one* in this series that has had shit worse than him (he was literally fucking tortured from the second he was created and then fucking groomed leik wut the fuck--)

honestly, it's kind of a fuckin' miracle he didn't turn out *worse*.

*and even then*, what homelander faced would be neither excuse nor reason to dismiss any of the trauma any of the characters have faced, even and especially as a result of him, and vice versa. sympathy overall is subjective. people generally sympathize most with characters they personally relate to.

i tend to sympathize most with the characters who have been through/currently going through the worst of it. (and obviously all the trauma is valid, but my brain tends to prioritize people in immediate crisis dependent on the crisis, which honestly i do feel we should normalize and apply on a global scale just for humanity's sake but i digress, generally this means it depends on the story and where it is in a given moment. but it doesn't mean my sympathy for the other characters has gone away.)

*you* *sypmathize* most with *ryan*, and i get that. that's valid, but it's also personal and subjective, not objective here. it's also subject to change depending on how ryan turns out i'm guessing...

but you're equating people with their actions when--those are two *separate* things.

UGH okay next ask--

That Billy and starlight getting along scene was rushed, like.....there was no build-up to it nor was is a slow burn. Also, starlight and Billy should've started throwing hands at each other or at least curse each other out. Truce my ass, people who hate each other in real life, do not get along all of a sudden, especially if someone they care about is hospitalized. Also, starlight should've chose violence when she and bitchy butcher met a 2nd time. If I saw the person who needlessly, shot my ass again, I would've started to curse their asses out and have them catch these hands.

... what the fuck, first off.

'getting along' is a stretch to describe what happened and this is kinda fucked anon (i will get to that cause you're making me worry)

things *were* tense when they met again, they were literally hurling insults at each other while hughie had to mediate. butcher literally called her 'chum' for shark infested waters, and starlight called him out on his bullshit bigotry with 'i know a guy just like that, he's got a flag for a cape'. hun, where the hell were you when they *were* literally silently seething and fighting *ON SCREEN*???

what *actually* happened was that they took a moment to *set their differences aside* because someone they *both* loved/cared for was in literal danger of *DYING*.

at that point, it didn't matter how *they* felt. hughie was in *crisis* so *HUGHIE*, NOT THEIR FEELINGS, became *priority*.

*after* the crisis was averted, they had a moment of playful banter about the person they just made sure was *safe* and would *survive*. the tension of the crisis was gone, and they could take a breath. that they happened to be around each other was just a fact of the matter. but *hughie* was still their priority and common ground.

so i guess you could say it's rushed, but the situation was rushed over all (of course it was, time crunch with a fuckin' crisis, hellooooo???) but what the hell were you expecting, for them to fight and argue in the *hospital* and potentially kill hughie with their stress and anger instead of letting him rest easy????????

what happened during those scenes is genuinely, a completely normal and very human reaction for people to have. prioritizing *crisis* over animosity. i.e. being normal ass rational people who don't let their hatred/anger take complete control over them.

annie (very obviously) is *not* one of those people and never has been.

for butcher, it *depends* on how he's feeling i guess, but there's clear implication that he leans on people *like hughie* or becca to *pull him back* from that place. in that moment, his worry for hughie outweighed his hate boner for supes. that happens sometimes.

and i gotta gotta gotta be clean with you on this hun, cause jesus fucking christ was this one loaded.

if you *genuinely* feel that *fighting* and *hatred* with someone you dislike should take *priority* over someone you both *love* fucking *DYING* right next to you?

you *NEED* to seek help, *anger management* (if you have the resources and i hope you do, sincerely)

from a *real* therapist, who can *actually* help you. (NOT ME)

or at least, idk, look up a couple videos maybe??

and listen, i'm not saying this to hurt you.

but i am getting strong STRONG bad *BAD* 'billy butcher'/'homelander' levels of toxic masculinity and irrational aggression from you here (not necessarily towards me i mean, just in general, dial it back, hun)

anger does not make you better, right, or stronger. anger *DOES NOT* solve problems.

*anger* makes you *stupid*, and going with the first knee-jerk angry response that pops into your head is a sign of *weakness*. it is an example of the *lack of impulse control* that many can and often do struggle with (society is fuuuuuuuucked...)

there are *healthy* outlets that can help you let off steam and cope productively, and i guarantee you it will lengthen your life and allow you to live happier the quicker it gets addressed!

shit, you can even try out something as simple as playing harvest moon--any of them! my darling friennnnn~<3 suggested it to me and whoopdi-fuckin'-do, it's actually *HELPING* me~!!

you seem to love to hate butcher and homelander (and i'll be fair, i do too! even if i love them just as much lmao) but i'm starting to get the vibe that it's more so because you see some major parts of *yourself* reflected in them.

it is *okay* to have fight in you. it is *okay* to feel angry. that's *natural*.

it is *not* okay to use that anger as a means to *only* be destructive, whether internally or externally. that is the whole point of what makes butcher and homelander wrong, but you are stuck and determined to commit the same error or see it committed by others, like ryan.

it's okay to have spunk and spirit, be a little assertive, live your life, enjoy yourself.

but giving into your anger at the drop of a hat?

i promise you (from fucking experience) it will only *RUIN* YOU and your life.

OR

at the *very least*, learn to recognize the most obvious factor here.

you are not other people.

other people are not you.

just because *you* would have a certain reaction to something (or believe you would because we never really know until it happens to us), *does not* mean *others* would have the *same* reaction to the same thing.

*OTHER PEOPLE* reserve the right to their own thoughts, feelings, experiences and appropriate *reactions* to whatever the situation may be.

**and regardless of what those may be, they are no less or more valid than you or yours for it**

actually, if i'm being completely real here, choosing *violence* over civility is what *should* be frowned upon. but you are *literally* making a complaint about them choosing to be *civil* instead of violent.

what the fuck.

NEXT--

I think had Becca survived season 2 in it's entirety, Ryan would've grew to be a caring and generous person, but comes from a religious family, which might make him unpleasant at times. It's possible he would be raised with the concept of gender roles (I mean, it's possible that Becca didn't get an abortion is because she's religious, why else would that st. Nick necklace would imply that). Though, I could be reaching because we did see her gouge a nazi's eye out

wut?

WUT???

just... honestly wut?? not leik in a bad way. but WUT???

this one is weird. i do think you're reachin' here because *just* because someone is 'religious', doesn't mean they're anal and obnoxious about it.

case in point, *ANNIE*

she's religious (and still religious tho not as strongly/has obviously struggled but accepted the cross from her mom at the end of s2) but she's not a bible-thumper or puritan, and feels uncomfortable about those sects of religion.

you also seem to underestimate the *severe* penchant for violence many *many* religious people have.

do the crusades not ring a bell to you? the nazis cited religion as their justification for their actions more often than not.

but religion itself or being religious is not an inherently bad thing (i'm critical because of how it's used/what i personally went through because of it), overall, it's just a tool that many normal people just use to have hope or make their lives a little easier stomach.

it give the placebo effect, if you will.

it's in the same boat as money. money itself is called the 'root of all evil', but in reality, it's just a tool that holds no moral weight one way or another. (it's the *people* who are moral/immoral or use it in such ways)

morality itself is subjective depending on the time period and the values that society holds at a given time. humankind is still in the process of trying to reconcile and rationalize a globally acceptable form of morality that prioritizes humanity as a whole rather than one specific group, and it's been... not great? very slow going lmao but i digress.

religious *text* is a bit of a different story, most bibles/written stories are fuuuuuuuuuucked one way or the other. but again, then you're looking at who's a bible-thumper and who isn't.

i will say that if becca had survived, things would def probably be a lot better for ryan. but it would be a different tense situation with either them in hiding/trying to find a new safe place (i like to think they'd leave the country) or with her *in* the safe place raising ryan.

and either *begging* billy to come home (cause she always believes in him :((((((((((((((() from his revenge rampage, or billy being there and raising ryan--while seething because 'homelander'...

this is dark, but i get the feeling it would eventually lead to an altercation, either where billy leaves to go after homelander and the above happens, or billy murders the kid in front of becca/finds a way to sell him back to vought (like becca had said he would and both knew he'd try again) to supplement the bottled in rage that had been slowly chipping away at him...

leik. s3 alone gave a perfect example of a seething billy/what his violence withdrawal does to him. and that was with him *still* getting the little bits sprinkled in here and there so--

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

Ryan's life has consisted of nothing but hardships. He was isolated and sheltered from the outside world, living in a compound for a good majority of his childhood. He lost his rarely saw her real mother, and Grace served as his primary maternal figure afterwards. Got gaslighted by Billy because billy's connection to underages is too damn weak. Homelander, the only biological parent that he has left, sees him as an extension of himself, and treats Ryan more like a pawn than a son. Shitlander is going excessively control Ryan's life, manipulates, and gaslight him constantly when ryan displeases him. Spermdonor won't even view Ryan as his own person - to him, Ryan is a pawn that's his property to use in any way he wants, so he plays with Ryan's emotions to have the upper hand. Even though Spermdonor will treat him like dirt, Ryan will desperately try to please his deadbeat, and garner any sort of attention from him. If Ryan finally escapes the clutches of spermdonor and Billy to find others who will help him rather than hinder him, he'll be content and genuinely happy. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if his happiness is stripped violently from him when Homelander or billy take that away as punishment for ryan "betrayal". I wouldn't be surprised that down the line, Ryan snaps and becomes a hostile, hateful, bloodthirsty, and vengeful supe at the end of the series because Billy didn't bother to ask Marvin for help in terms of handling children and Homelander is a life ruiner.

some incoherency here, but i mean... that is history repeating itself??

baby, this one coulda been your own post. half time i ain't even really sure what you want me to say with these??? sometimes i feel like you're just throwing shit out to see if you can trigger me?? but that's the general paranoia talkin' (or at least i'd like to think i know myself well enough to say that)

but i gotta be honest, sometimes ya say stupid shit--(which fair enough, we all do at one point or another myself included~), but leik...

i hope this isn't too much to ask but...

maybe *think* before you *act*??

a lot of these read like impulse and like they're not thought out very well, but maybe if you took a moment/step back to make your own post/think about the thoughts you put into them, you could idk, make more sense of them i guess?? better organize it??

what do you mean with the first part??

ryan was in a compound, but he wasn't purely isolated/sheltered or in a lab. yeah, still not great (as no interaction with other children/general city life has given him some anxiety and that much is clear). but that can also happen when kids move from rural areas to cities in general. his real mother (becca) was also his *primary* caretaker, almost *always* with him unless she dropped him off at tutors/had to step away for a moment.

leik what's going on here, are you confusing baby homelander with ryan??? cause the baby they showed us in a lab and the kid getting experimented on was *young homelander*, NOT ryan.

but generally speaking, before homelander showed up, that kid was fuckin' happy, just livin' his life? that's what makes homelander's sudden appearance so fucking traumatic. the kid didn't really want or need saving at the time, but now he legit does.

homelander actually... sees ryan as an obligatory way to gain affection/love. you have to understand, homelander functions almost entirely on the belief that he is unloveable/people will abandon him/call him a monster/hate him/etc.

that's why he defaults on instilling fear to make them 'respect' him or *fear leaving his side* no matter how badly he mistreats them, that's clear enough when his relationship with stormfront starts and he threatens her for lying to him.

homelander has never had real family or love and is very desperate for both. he doesn't have a full understanding of it either. but ryan fits with the 'idea' of both. because blood family is 'supposed' to 'love unconditionally' and ryan is 'blood'.

on the flipside, ryan is very intelligent/quickly learning how to use his powers and what he can/can't get away with--due to who his father is. don't underestimate the kid, because homie is so stunted and ryan is still clearly very *special* to homelander (if for the wrong reasons), i think he can and will use that to his advantage.

ryan already hits all the tickers for *being* what homelander *wants* him to be, mostly by existing.

a boy

has powers

aaaaaaaaaaand that's pretty much the end of homie's list lol. and we can see at the end of s3 that *this* alone is *enough* for homelander to *actually* listen to and be manipulated by his son, not the other way around (ryan gets him to leave rather than killing billy)

you're under the impression that homelander will be a controling parent, and i think in some ways, he *could* be. but most of what we *have* seen is implying something *very* different will happen.

apart from the roof scene, he hasn't really mistreated ryan. he actually did really good with ryan's anxiety/has shown general patience but it's clear he's trying to gain ryan's trust/affection so i guess we could technically interpret this as the love bombing phase?? still, most of what we're shown was him mistreating *becca* or others, but not ryan specifically (he def does set some monumentally shitty examples tho)

either way, homelander *still* wants love and approval, *even* if and *especially* if it comes from *family*/his *son*. he's also a victim of grooming that still hasn't grown from the dependency that made him have on his abusers. believe it or not, that actually leaves him open/vulnerable to *ryan* being the one to control and manipulate him. granted ryan is a child. but 'he knows not what he's done/capable of' and all that jazz.

don't get me wrong, i do picture it's gonna be a fucked dynamic and homie will get 'controlling' to a degree. but don't think the kid is so damn helpless there.

we're more likely to see complete minilander spoiled brat ryan and full blast karen 'my kid can do no wrong/*HE* can do whatever the fuck he wants!' homelander than anything else.

ryan *may* try to desperately please homelander, but homelander *will* try to desperately please ryan. it's likely to create a very toxic and enabling 'we only have each other' dynamic because that is the point both have been driven to.

but again, history repeating itself

anywho~<3

The man who threw a can at Ryan back in season 3, is the same reason why people throw shit like rocks or just plainly spit at offsprings of tyrants.

i think it was a cup/soda?? but that's not really the point.

i'll be blunt here.

**the sins of the father are not the sins of the son**

just because people react like animals and blame innocent kids for what their parents do, doesn't make them right. i'd say it makes them dead wrong and very fucking stupid actually, because the kids *have no choice* of the family/blood they are born into, or even what they're initially taught to believe.

that man was a fucking moron. i won't say he deserved to die for something that didn't actually hurt ryan, they could have pressed charges for assault of a child on him and made a public spectacle of him and ruined his life (*that* would be rightly deserved)

but that was a *WILDLY* stupid thing of him to do, *knowing* homelander's powers, supposedly being a starlight supporter (which means he would believe homelander is evil) and *knowing* that this was his fucking *child*.

only the weak, childish, and stupid take aim at the innocent for the actions of a tyrant.

play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Not only Ryan looks the most like spermdonor and is said spermdonor's son, but a painful reminder of what happened to Becca. Billy is going to despise/resent Ryan more nonetheless. No thanks to Billy's weakass connection to kids either. Besides, Billy already started showing signs of deflection after season 3, episode 3.

billy's been a cunt from before the story began, where have you been lmao?

billy already resents ryan more so for what he is (a supe freak), but i would def say who he's related to probably doesn't help. still, despite it, ryan is also the last remnant of becca that he wants any connection to (since he's absolute dogshit to her other family but still mainly for his promise to her).

the thing is, ryan is still a useful tool/something to hold over homelander's head, and that, albeit fucked up, makes him worth something in billy's fucked up head. if he hadn't made the promise to becca, ryan would probably already be dead.

i do think he will look for excuses to give into his urges/hatred and break his promise to becca (as nearly the whole of s3 was~) if not use ryan as his trojan horse and be the first person infected with that virus and send him back to homelander--

ANYWHO--

next time this ask bug bites you, for the love of satan, take a moment to take a step back and gather your thoughts, and maybe make your own post/rant on your own blog for it instead of sending literal barrages of asks to people (idk if you do this to others or how many/often, but if they don't answer 'em there might be a reason for that.)

or at least compile it neatly enough into *ONE* (SINGULAR) minimally semi-coherent ask.

of course i care about the serious stuff and make psas, i don't even mind answering asks, even the crazy ones~ ;))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

but i do actually wanna have *fun* in fandom (leik C'MON i obsess over shitty men fucking/impregnating billy butcher!!), not be stressed out all the time or stuck on the hard topics trying to explain things to someone i don't even know is actually willing to listen.

leik i literally had to keep randomizing my queue because it was filled with so much negative shit at one point and *i* was overloaded just by looking at it.

i especially don't wanna be dealin' with fuckin' ableism and victim blaming in my ask box. that shit is rank, and i'm tired of it

get smart or just stop, my answers on that shit ain't gonna change.

but you can even post it private if you want. just

LET ME HAVE A FUCKIN' BREATHER--

preferably... 666 months~<3