#and also remember that death penalty is bad and no one should be a victim to extrajudicial killing . lmfao

[apopcornkernel]

"jason was right to kill blah blah blah it was a good thing that he murdered blah blah blah" ok quick question. whats ur stance on the death penalty.

[positivementalaxolotl]

In the US, if someone commits the most HEINOUS crime you can think of, they almost always get to live their lives. The death penalty is not only INCREDIBLY controversial, but also almost never actually used. Since the 80's it's averages about 50-ish people per year, and the last several years has been closer to 20-ish. Remember- this is out of the approx. 1440 (in 2018 according to Pew Research Center on the analysis of the federal judiciary) yearly that are convicted of a crime (Please also keep in mind that of the calls made about a crime only 2% of them actually make it to court, but of that 2%, 90% are found guilty.) People who are given the death penalty are less than 2% of the less than 2% convicted of a crime (No that was NOT a typo) When we put people in jail, we do so in hopes that they will become better people. (Or at least that's what we're being told the reason they are is) People who do bad things CAN turn themselves around. They just need to be given the resources to do so.

So why in the hell is the fucking USA saying that killing 3 times the amount of people deemed as okay? Not only killing, but without a proper jury and fair trial? Why in such a HORRIFIC way? Bombs? Mass Shootings? Stopping resources at the gates? This is absolutely NOT what the US should be standing for: We are suppose to be working under the belief that EVERYONE deserves a fair trial, regardless of any beliefs, evidence, or witnesses at the crime scene at the time of the crime. Even if a thousand people saw the murder of a man in person without the ability to hurt anyone else, that murderer would be given a fair trial. There are tens of thousands of people being murdered in Palestine. Why are more CHILDREN dying than the alleged original attack against Israel? Why are men with no evidence of affiliation with any terrorists being ripped away from their families and used as human meat shields? Why are so many people being starved, dehydrated, bombed, shot, and displaced instead of being brought to a fair court room? Israel got the rights to a fair hearing, yet their victims have not.

This is all also assuming that everyone in Palestine is guilty! The VAST majority of people in Palestine are not terrorists. The majority of the deaths in Palestine have been children, that's more children specifically that are recorded dead than Israel has claimed died during the attacks in early October. There is no possible way that the infants, toddlers, and young children that have died could have been a guilty member of a terrorist group. They would be victims as well, not deserving of being killed. And yet here we are.

I cannot express my deep sorrow for those in Palestine. I cannot even begin to imagine what it's like being displaced, starved, and bombed as I watch my loved ones pass away and kidnapped. However, I hope I'm able to convey my hope. My belief that everyone in Palestine will be free. Please, contact whoever you can in the US. I don't care if it's only your neighbor, a representative, or Genocide Joe himself. Please Free Palestine.

[weareuniqueandimportant]

Crazy Reality: Attack Of The Paraphilia Woman...

Pure Woman: I HATE YOU!! I'M YOUR VICTIM!!

Sexy Woman: Why...? What Did I Do...?

Pure Woman: YOU KISSED ME... THIS IS ILLEGAL... MY FATHER SAYS SO HE IS POLICE...

Sexy Woman: DON'T TRUST THEM... THEY WANT TO KILL ANYONE THAT ISN'T A FASCIST NAZI...

Pure Woman: Omg... I Think So Too!! Maybe He Isn't Really My Father...

Sexy Woman: Yes... So... Do You Like Me Now <3...?

Pure Woman: Sure :)... But I Don't Want To Kiss You... I Think You're Scary...

Sexy Woman: Come On... There's Nothing To Be Afraid About... My Mommy Always Told Me That Is Sexy To Be Scared... FROM A YOUNG AGE I WOULD ALWAYS WATCH THE 2 PLAY INTERESTING PLAYS TOGETHER... I LEARNED FROM A YOUNG AGE THERE IS NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT FROM YOUR SEXUALITY WHATEVER THAT IS... AND WHOEVER YOU ARE THERE IS A PLACE FOR YOU...

Pure Woman: Wow... Do You Think There's A Place For Me Too...?

Sexy Woman: YES. KISS ME.

Pure Woman: I'm Sorry Sexy Woman... I Don't Need To Kiss Someone If I Don't Want To...

Sexy Woman: But I Wanted To Kiss You 😔... I Love All Little Ones...

PURE WOMAN KISSES SEXY WOMAN IN THE CHEEK...

Pure Woman: That's Okay... This Is What I Want Though...

Sexy Woman: You Have Betrayed My Feelings 😡... I Hate You 😡... I Want You 😡... This Is My Calling 👿... My Revenge Will Be Insane 👿...

Pure Woman: OMG I'M SORRY... BUT I HAVE SOMETHING TO CONFESS... I... I'M A 4CHAN USER!! DO YOU STILL ACCEPT ME?!?!

Sexy Woman: OH MY GOD. THIS IS DISGUSTING. NO FUCKING WONDER YOU THINK THERE'S NO PLACE FOR YOU. THIS IS DISGUSTING. JUST DISAPPEAR LIKE I DRANK SOMETHING WEIRD AND ERASED YOU FROM MY MEMORY. I CAN'T BELIEVE I KISSED YOU. THIS IS DISGUSTING I AM TRAUMATIZED.

Pure Woman: I Knew You Wouldn't Accept Me 😭😭😭😭!!!!

Sexy Woman: Fuck Your 4channer Feelings... I Wish A Bad Day Torwards All 4channers... And Femboy Fans...

Pure Woman: You're So Mean 😭😭😭😭!!!!

Sexy Woman: You Started... Why Must You Be So Sexy... I Wish I Didn't Love Every Single One Like You... The Second I See You...

Pure Woman: Waahaa 😭😭😭😭!!!!

Sexy Woman: That Is I Who Should Be Crying... I Have Been... Traumatized 😥!!!!

Childish Woman: Hii Mommyy!! I've Missed You!! I Enjoy Being Your Little One...

Sexy Woman: That's Awesome... You Will Never Guess The LOSER I Was Abused By Today...

Childish Woman: Omg!! What Could Possibly Be So Awfull!!

Sexy Woman: SHE'S A... 😥... 4CHANNER...

Childish Woman: EEWWWWW!!!! I WAS ABUSED BY 1 TOO... SHE'S A NERD... I HATE HER... I'M SUCH A VICTIM FOR BEING EVEN FORCED INTO THE SAME ROOM WITH HER 😭😭😭😭!!!!

Pure Woman: Hi My Wife...

Sexy Woman: Omg... That's My Wife The BETTER PURE WOMAN... THAT IS MY AGE BUT JUST A LITTLE YOUNGER GIVING US A SEXY SEXY GAP... I MET SOMEONE THAT WAS JUST TRYING TO BE YOU TODAY... THIS WAS HARMFULL... I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS PAIN...

Pure Woman: Omg... I Can't Believe This!!

Childish Woman: Am I Your Wifey Too Mommy?!

Little Woman: And Me!! I Have Been Badly Abused!!

Sexy Woman: Yes... Yes Honey... Yes Darling... Ooh... This Is Soo Sexyy To Say To Someone Soo Cuutee... That Should Be Illegal To Be This Cute...

Little Woman: That Is!! I Have Been Locked In Prison!!

Pure Woman: Aww...

Sexy Woman: WE ALSO HAVE CHILDREN VERY SEXY!!!!

Illegal Woman: Hi Mom!!

Sexy Woman: Awesome...

Attractive Woman: Yes...

Pure Woman: Omg... I Have The Best Daughters!!

Childish Woman: Where's My Children 🥺...

Little Woman: And Mine!!

Sexy Woman: This Will Be Someday... I Promise...

Childish Woman: Yay!!

Court Woman: I Don't Accept This!! In My Domain The Evil Court Of Abuse... This Is Criminal!! You Face Death Penalty!!

Gay Woman: Omg!! So Illegal!!

Sexy Woman: You're Literally Doing The Same Thing... You Just Like Your Money... Remember... That Is A Fact... All Cops Love The Thing They Oppose 200fold... They're Just Taking Everyone Elses Right Away From That Thing. This Is A Police Fact. God Himself Told Me.

JUDGE WOMAN TAKES A HUGE HAMMER SEXY WOMAN ATTACKS WITH AN AXE ILLEGAL WOMAN STRIKES WITH A LANCE PURE WOMAN ACTIVATES A SHIELD AND GAY WOMAN SHOOTS WITH A GUN AND LITTLE WOMAN TAKES A BUNCH OF BOMBS!!!!

JUDGE WOMAN GETS BLASTED OUTSIDE!! SEXY WOMAN GETS ON TOP OF HER AND BEATS HER!!!!

Sexy Woman: THAT ISN'T ILLEGAL TO BE SEXY!!!! YOU'RE JUST A FASCIST EVIL!!!!

Judge Woman: NO!! I HATE YOU!! THAT ALONE MAKES YOU CRIMINAL!!!!

SEXY WOMAN STRANGLES JUDGE WOMAN...

Judge Woman: GO AHEAD... FINISH THE JOB...

Sexy Woman: I WILL...

JUDGE WOMAN ESCAPES AND RUNS AWAY!!

Sexy Woman: What A Coward... I'm So Horny...

[okinawa-division]

Evelyn's Thoughts on Katsushika Division

Akihisa Mashiro

"Acey looked, like, really shocked when he saw this man's picture. I have to admit, he looks, like, really familiar, but I don't know where." The former cheerleader thinks really hard, looking at the photo of the hitman until it hits her. "Oh yeah! Now, I remember! This guy, like, is the one responsible for killing the former president, I think! Man, his face was plastered everywhere on the news. I remember Acey telling me that, like, everyone in the White House wanted him arrested, but Japan said 'no'. I don't know much about it, though."

"...Truthfully, he doesn't seem, like, such a bad guy from looking at him. But I wonder what caused him to become a killer..."

Touya Kisaragi

"Ohh, this guy is really, like, cute! But Acey and Rashaad said I should be careful if I meet him. When I asked 'why', they said its cause he's a murderer! I almost, like, didn't believe it! But... from what Acey told me, he carves his victims' hearts out of their chests, which is gross! I wonder why he would, like, do something like that." Evelyn looks at his picture.

"Looking at him, he seems sweet, but also a little sad. You can, like, kinda tell he hasn't had a good life. But still... taking people's hearts out is just... icky! It reminds me of biology class in high school when we, like, had to cut open frogs' bodies and..."

Evelyn suddenly turns green as bad memories come to her mind, making her sick. She suddenly runs off camera and vomiting sounds are heard.

Rintaro Himura

"This guy is, like, a very bad man! I can tell that right off! Apparently, he likes to, like, bomb buildings for, like, no reason! That's, like, just stupid! Why would you want to bomb buildings with people inside? Do you think that's like cool seeing a building go up in, like, flames or something? He should, like, count himself lucky he's not in the U.S.! He'd get the, like, death penalty, for sure!"

Death Row Block

"So, like, all these guys are like criminals, right? So then... why are they like competing in a tournament? Did they get let free or something? Or are they fighting to earn their freedom? Anyway, Acey and Rashaad said to, like, avoid them at all costs. I don't know about the bomber guy, but I'd really like to get to talk with the heart guy and the hitman, just to find out more about them. Maybe I will!"

[mahou-furbies]

Closing thoughts on Time Stranger Kyoko

It's a short series, so I ended up rereading my first ever magical girl manga. I remember not really liking this back when it came out in the 2000s (or actively disliking it with the strength of a teen pissed at a piece of media), and if now was the first time I read it, I'd probably find it middling at best due to its many flaws. However now I surprisingly liked it a lot more than I expected, because I do have some nostalgia for it, and it’s not quite as bad as what I wanted it to be back then.

The story is about princess Kyoko, who gets the power to control time. Her mission is to gather 11 other magical girls and boys to help her move a giant clock, which should wake up her twin sister who has been in an enchanted sleep since birth. Let's get the obvious complaint that every TSK review must mention out of the way first: the manga was cancelled, and the ending is incredibly rushed (Kyoko finds one Stranger in the first volume, three in the second, and the third begins by introducing six of them in one page). There's really nothing that can be said about it other than that it's incredibly awkward when several volumes worth of story is crammed into four chapters.

Then there were a lot of shall we say wacky story elements I don't think I really paid attention to back when I originally read this. Like how Kyoko's BFF is in a relationship with an adult man whose only characteristic is "sells underage girls in human auction", and after things implode, the end note of this arc is "it's a shame things didn't work out for her". And then there was the mermaid girl who was a homophobic brocon. And this one guy sexually assaults Kyoko while she's sleeping because he knows he'll get a death penalty for it, which guilts Kyoko into lying that their feelings are mutual, and in the end he's just forgiven for everything (including a little mass murder he committed earlier). There's a lot packed in these three volumes I tell you!

In addition to all this buffoonery TSK also contains my least favourite Tanemura trope. Which is when a bad guy is revealed to secretly have been a good guy all along (like they were just acting and always had the good guys' best interest in mind, or deep in their heart never stopped loving a main character). Or alternatively this comes up in scenarios where a character reveals that they did something terrible that hurt someone really bad, only for this victim to reveal that they knew all along and made peace with it a long time ago. In both cases it's like, first you set up a conflict, and then reveal that the conflict wasn't there to begin with? I hate this trope, giving the characters a second chance is fine, but I'd much rather read about them working to earn forgiveness than speedrunning to the happy ending.

That is a lot of complaining, but as I said in the first paragraph I actually had a fairly good time. The premise is intersting and the characters are fun, and most importantly it turns out I like Kyoko a lot. She is delightfully assertive, adaptive and confident, and actively goes out her way to move the plot forward. And! Reading the wikipedia it turns out! This was the reason the series got canned! """Kyouko wasn’t accepted, because she was maybe too headstrong""" my ass... Japanese girls have terrible taste it seems.

Finally a shoutout to series Best Boy, Widseek, who is this honorable thief/lovable rogue type character, he was a lot of fun. And also another shoutout to the flip phones the characters use in the 2900s.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Why is Pablo Hasel justifying and praising terrosist groups??

I’m not sure if you’re asking why Pablo Hasél is accused of praising terrorist groups or why he said what he said. So I’ll answer both things lol.

He got sentenced to jail because of different verses from his rap songs and some tweets. To be precise, the judges have considered that he published 64 tweets that were either against the Spanish monarchy (yes, “offense against the Crown” is a crime in Spain) or praising the armed organisations GRAPO and ETA. These are the tweets that caused more scandal:

“Los parásitos de los Borbones siguen de trapis con los decapitadores de los homosexuales”: “the Bourbon parasites are still doing business with the ones who decapitate homosexuals”

This is a reference to the fact that the Bourbon family (the dynasty of the Spanish monarchy) are, in fact, doing business and being friends with the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, where human rights are not respected at all.

It is a fact that Saudi Arabia condemns homosexuality as a crime: gay people caught for the first time are flogged or jailed and if the “offense” is repeated they are sentenced to death penalty (source). It’s also a fact that King Juan Carlos I has had a long friendship and business relation with the Al Saud dynasty. In 1979, the Saudi monarchy gave Juan Carlos I a yacht as a gift (which he accepted and used for his holidays for years), when the king Fahd of Saudi Arabia died in 2005 the president of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (from the PSOE party) declared a national day of mourning for the Saudi king as was suggested to him by the Spanish monarchy, in 2008 king Juan Carlos I received 100 million euros from Saudi Arabia, in 2007 Juan Carlos gave Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (brother of the current king of Saudi Arabia) the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece (the highest chivalry honour that the King of Spain can give), in 2011 Juan Carlos intervened to the king of Saudi Arabia to get the contract of the high velocity train to Mecca (which is valued in 7,000 million dollars) assigned to a Spanish business, in 2019 the Panama papers revealed an offshore foundation that the Saudi monarchy had used to give the Spanish monarchy 100 million euros... Just a few examples that prove this relation. (Source). And now Juan Carlos I is living in the United Arab Emirates, another country with harsh punishments for homosexuality (among other human rights violations).

So Pablo Hasél was just stating the facts in that sentence.

“El mafioso de mierda del Rey dando lecciones desde un palacio”: “the fucking mafioso King giving lessons from a palace”

Given the many cases of corruption that the king has been involved in, as well as his intervention in the economy (such as profiting from big businesses that had profited from Franco’s dictatorship) and pressure in politics, it’s not so crazy to call him (and his family clan) a mafioso. In fact, the French TV news literally called Juan Carlos I a “gangster” once.

As for the “giving lessons from a palace”, that’s what he does in his Christmas speech or any other time he addresses the citizens, as if we all had it so easy as living and owning multiple palaces with hundreds of maids and not having to work while getting all kinds of luxuries payed for with public money. Not just Juan Carlos, Felipe VI is the same (remember when he went to Cuba to give them lessons on democracy, but then pretended everything was perfect in the visit to Saudi Arabia?).

Once again, Pablo Hasél was not being far from the truth.

“Guardia Civil torturando o disparando a emigrantes”: “the Civil Guard [Spanish military police force] torturing or shooting migrants”

The Civil Guard literally shoots rubber bullets at migrants who are trying to get on Spanish soil in Ceuta (source). By shooting them rubber bullets, the migrant people fall back on the water, and many drown. The Civil Guard murders and tortures migrants. And everything that takes place inside CIEs (migrant detention centers) can also be called torture with no doubt.

Again, these are facts.

Those were posts on social media, he has also been sentenced because of the lyrics of his songs. Here are some sentences from his song “Juan Carlos el Bobón” (the title is a pun with the words "Borbón”-Bourbon- and “bobo”-stupid-).

“Me cago en la marca España explotadora y casposa”: “the exploiter and braggart brand Spain can go fuck itself”

That’s self-explanatory. A personal opinion you can agree or disagree with, but given the things we’ve mentioned in this post and so many more, it’s perfectly understandable that he would feel like this. And he should be free to say it.

“Si Froilán se disparó en el pie siendo menor de edad igual ahora que es mayor de edad va a disparar a toda la Familia Real”: “if Froilán shot himself in the foot when he was underage, maybe now that he’s an adult he’ll shoot the whole Royal Family”

For those who don’t know, Froilán is the son of Infanta Elena, and so the nephew of the current king Philip VI. This line is a reference to 2012, when he was shooting in one of his parents’ possessions and he accidentally shot himself in the foot. It was illegal for him to be shooting in the first place, because Spanish law prohibits kids under 14 years of age to hold firearms, but of course nothing happened to his parents for doing illegal things because they’re the royal family.

Unsurprisingly, this line is considered “offense to the Crown”. It’s not a threat from Hasél, it’s just wishful thinking that I’m sure many people share.

And lines from other songs by Pablo Hasél:

“Siempre hay algún indigente despierto con quien comentar que se debe matar a Aznar”: “there’s always some homeless person awake with whom to talk about the need to kill Aznar”

José María Aznar was president of Spain between 1996 and 2004 with the right-wing party Partido Popular (PP). He was a shit president, during his presidency the labour rights decreased and left thousands of workers with way less protection than before, he focused a lot of his work as president on making the economy more neoliberal and left thousands of workers with unfair salaries and harsh working conditions by allowing the owners to fire and decrease pay at will. He also gave support to the USA in the occupation of Iraq, even when the population had been protesting against it (I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time and even I remember one of the general strikes against it).

“¡Merece que explote el coche de Patxi López!”: “Patxi López’s car deserves to explode”

“¡Que alguien clave un piolet en la cabeza a José Bono!”: “Someone stab an axe on José Bono’s head!”

“No me da pena tu tiro en la nuca, 'pepero'. Me da pena el que muere en una patera. No me da pena tu tiro en la nuca, 'socialisto'. Me da pena el que muere en un andamio”: “I’m not feeling sorry for the shot in the back of your neck, pepero [member of the PP party]. I feel sorry for the ones who die in dinghy boats. I don’t feel sorry for the shot in the back of your neck, socialisto [member of the PSOE party]. I feel sorry for the ones who die in a scaffold”.

“Prefiero grapos que guapos”: “I prefer GRAPOs to handsomes” (a pun). GRAPO was a communist and anti-imperialism armed organisation.

“Mi hermano entra en la sede del PP gritando ¡Gora ETA! A mí no me venden el cuento de quiénes son los malos, sólo pienso en matarlos”: “My brother goes in the PP’s headquarters shouting ‘Gora ETA!’. They won’t sell me the tale of who are the bad guys, I’m only thinking of killing them”

“Es un error no escuchar lo que canto, como Terra Lliure dejando vivo a Losantos”: “It’s a mistake to not listen to what I sing, like when Terra Lliure left Losantos alive”. Terra Lliure was a short-lived communist organisation that wanted to fight for the independence of the Catalan Countries through armed struggle. Jiménez Losantos is a fascist radio host who tells all kinds of lies and manipulates information to spread right-wingism, hatred towards national minorities, homophobia, etc.

“Los Grapo eran defensa propia ante el imperialismo y su crimen”: “GRAPO were self-defense against imperialism and its crime”.

“Quienes manejan los hilos merecen mil kilos de amonal”: “those who pull the strings deserve 1000 kg of ammonal”

“Pienso en balas que nucas de jueces nazis alcancen”: “I think of the bullets that would reach the nazi judges’ back of the necks”

None of these sentences are serious threats / plans at the moment. On the contrary, when the politicians he mentions make policies that directly cause deaths (of migrant people at the borders, suicides in migrant detention centers, of workers in their workplace, of people whose heat and gas is cut off or who are evicted, of women murdered by their husbands because they didn’t have anywhere to go for help, etc), now those are real crimes, aren’t they?

Pablo Hasél has been very vocal about being a communist. So I’ll copy-paste Friedrich Engels’ definition of “social murder”. I don’t know what Pablo had in mind when writing those lyrics but I think this fragments helps understand where he’s coming from.

When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live — forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence — knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains. (Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England, 1845)

So we can agree or disagree with Pablo Hasél and what he says or his way of saying it, but that doesn’t mean he should be jailed because of it. And it’s incredibly hypocritical to consider saying (not doing, just saying!) that “there’s always some homeless person to talk about the need to kill Aznar with” is violence, but to ignore that Aznar’s involvement in the Iraq helped kill thousands of civilians (for a lie, because Iraq did NOT have weapons of mass destruction!) and caused the misery and indirectly the death of so many workers.

If your question was why did Pablo Hasél say these things, I think two of the sentences we said sum it up:

“I’m not feeling sorry for the shot in the back of your neck, pepero [member of the PP party]. I feel sorry for the ones who die in dinghy boats. I don’t feel sorry for the shot in the back of your neck, socialisto [member of the PSOE party]. I feel sorry for the ones who die in a scaffold” and “GRAPO were self-defense against imperialism and its crime”. Pablo Hasél was highlighting how the current situation we live in is already violence. Violence inflicted by capitalism, imperialism and hatred, so he would consider his words self-defense.

[chibimyumi]

Kuro 159 Summary & Thoughts

その執事、 配送 : 碧落を射抜く、梟の瞳

That Butler, Delivery: Penetrating a thousand miles, the eyes of the owl

In the previous chapter (158) Rin’s friends were disposed of as excess, while Rin herself was taken by the Mafia to work as their tool for evil. Rin was but a young child, and we knew of her future encounter with our protagonists. But how their encounter would take shape was anyone’s guess.

This chapter shines more light on the transformation from Rin to Meyrin.

Rin has now officially become a member of the Chinese mafia, and her gift is being made full advantage of.

“Our next objective is the leader of the Elders Brothers Society, a man named Yang,” the mafia don instructs his sniper. He explains that the Elders Brothers Society has trespassed his own territory, and is selling drugs without their permission. If the Society were to find out that the don attacked however, the situation would develop into a full-fledged war,” the don believes.

They take Rin to the rooftop of a building, and the don asks her whether she can see what is happening on the top floor in the building across, to which Rin replies positively.

Rin reports that she sees a bald man with a young woman. A fellow mafia member criticises the man for having too much fun, while the don jests about how he’ll let the man have some enjoyment for it will be his last night on earth.

The don throws a rifle at Rin and offers her two choices: “I’ve already made you practise right? You have but two options: use that rifle to blast a whole in that old geezer’s head, or refuse and follow your friends.”

Rin remembers the desperate and frightened expressions of her deceased companions very well, the fear in her ringing through her entire body. 'Two choices’,  the don said, but it really was an impossible decision.

For better or for worse, the decision was already made for her, as the don lifted the rifle in her arms, whispering false reassurance into her ears.

“Don’t worry, the target is bigger than earrings this time. Just take your time to take aim, and press the trigger, that is all.” And with that a deafening bang pierced through the peaceful night.

10 years have passed, and we are brought to what seems to be a Chinese district in Limehouse - London. The Chinese district appears to be home for both comfort and decay, for business and addiction. The ultimate place where merchants thrived on the misery of victims.

Behind the scenes of a certain opium den, two members of the mafia are enjoying their break. One man complains about his fatigue for his hard work, but the other thinks the complaint is undue. “You are merely responsible for driving right? It was the owl who did all the work. She finished off five targets today!” To which another man praisess in kind: “The ultimate hawkeye is what people often call her. The infallible precision regardless of distance brings me in awe.”

“Right, Owl?” The man turns, and we see Rin sitting against the wall with fatigue and lifelessness in equal measure in her eyes. We don’t need to see the events of what had happened in the past decade to know that nothing but misery occurred in Rin’s life.

Rin’s eyes told the tragedy of an orphan who used her gift to get a living, transformed into a tool for spreading further suffering. It is anyone’s guess what Rin was thinking, but if one day she would decide that this empty carcass of hers is no longer worth preserving in exchange for other people’s lives, it would not have surprised me.

“Hey, you should eat too, it’s an incredible treat,” the man invited rin as he offered Rin a plate.

She was hungry after all, and decided to accept the man’s kindness. Only when she took a bite however, did she realise she had been had.

“Gyahahahaha, this one really was gnawing on my shoe, she really can’t see anything up close, huh!”

Rin was quite upset, but knew better than to be disappointed. What levels of lowness had she not witnessed before, after all?

The don of the mafia was less eager to join the laughter and put a stop to the teasing. Not out of compassion or anything as it seems, but simply because his mood had already been sullen for quite a while, as it appears.

As it turns out, the restrictions on opium and prostitution had tightened, and the profit turned from this business was only half of what it used to be a decade earlier.

“Bastard!” the don curses. “England is obviously profiting from its sales of opium to the entire world, ‘but now the world is changing, the circulation of opium must also be decreased’? How dare he say such ridiculous things with a straight face...? Damn the Queen’s dog!” He exclaims as he clenches his wrist around a letter with the Phantomhive logo printed on it.

When it seemed like the don’s mood could not sink even deeper, a henchman comes to deliver additional bad news. “Don, a message came from our fatherland, saying they are sending in another manager. It is a man who was originally in charge of the Bund in Shanghai, named Lau.”

“That lad who uses any means possible to climb upwards? I alone am enough to handle this business in England.” Being denied by both the English law as well as the decision makers in China, the don cannot help but feel his position threatened.

He blames the tightened regulations, but before he even finished his sentence he came to a new realisation. “No, it is ‘his’ control, and if that is the case...”

The don orders for his owl to set out for her next prey. “And what is that?” Rin asks. “The Queen’s Watchdog’s head of course! Finish off Earl Phantomhive!”

At last we return to our protagonists in the Phantomhive mansion.

“Young Master, a letter has arrived for you,” Sebastian announces. “From whom?” the young boy asks.

“My, from your dearest of course.”

With the roads between the Phantomhive household, Rin and Lau connected, this chapter ends.

I personally feel a level of excitement I have not felt in a long time reading ‘Kuroshitsuji’. The previous chapters build up towards an excitement, but none of them really hit that glorious button for me.

Chapter 159 however, managed to hit the button right on its head!

So far, Rin is probably not really used to being met with much resistance as her victims would never even have suspected her eyes had already been set on them before meeting their sudden demise. The Phantomhive household however, is clearly different.

How will Sebastian prevent the head-shot aimed for his master? Will he snatch the bullet from midair, or will he notice Rin’s presence even before she pulls the trigger?

The development that ultimately hyped me up is the introduction of Lau as the replacement for the obstacle O!Ciel was succeeding in removing. As we see from the flashback, he wore his hair in the traditional Qing Dynasty style: the queue.

Hair is something considered a sacred symbol full of emotional significance in traditional Chinese culture. Cutting the hair is one of the ultimate taboos; a blasphemy almost.

Cutting the hair bore many terrifying meanings as long hair stood for a person’s legitimacy and familial legacy. Cutting off one’s hair was a penalty for minor crimes, for example. Cutting your own hair however was an altogether different taboo, as it signified breaking off all ties with your family, to even cursing your parents to death. (Yes, though so epic, that scene where Mulan cuts her hair was one of Disney’s biggest mess-ups ( ´艸｀))

When China was forced to westernise and adopt the ‘civilised short hairstyle for men’, it was the greatest humiliation for many.

What happened to Lau that he would cut off his queue, and wear his hair in a short crop for the current timeline? Was his hair cut by someone else, or did he take the scissors in his own hands? Did he do so on his own volition, or was he forced to do so to prove a point?

How did Lau feel about his cut hair, and how did that change him?

I am very thrilled to find out both about Rin’s encounter with the Phantomhive household, and Lau’s backstory.

I signed up for Meyrin’s backstory, but am I going to get Lau’s as a bonus?

[rabbitsparklez]

Explaining the red rocks + Eugene’s and Rapunzel’s TRUE worst fears 

I was rewatching Be Very Afraid and I developed a headcanon about the red rocks and characters' worst fears. 

I am not a writer of this show, nor is my logic infallible, but I put together my theory on how the red rocks read people, and the possibility that they can misread people

This is my longest post yet, so grab some snacks.

Rapunzel said that her worst fear was the things Cassandra could do to Corona, and losing her as a friend, but unlike everyone else, she didn't actually see visions of her fears and wasn't screaming in terror, as Eugene observed and pointed out. Maybe the rocks only work when the victim chooses to acknowledge their fear, and if they choose to avoid thinking about their fears, the rocks won't sense their feelings.

In the previous episodes, we see that Rapunzel is obviously trying to push her thoughts about Cassandra to the back of her mind so that she can focus on her life in Corona. She's clearly still upset about it all, but she has always had the tendency to be optimistic and cheerful, even when she's upset or scared. Rapunzel chooses not to acknowledge her feelings, but others do, like Varian and Lance. Of course Varian was having visions of losing his father because of his recent traumatic experience, and he chooses to acknowledge that fear, having every reason to be afraid. Not to mention, being a teenager, Varian must think about his emotions and feelings a lot, and the rocks could easily sense that. What would be giving him nightmares and swarming his mind every day more than losing his father again? Throughout the episode, Varian had tried to keep his mind off of that so he could focus on helping Rapunzel, and mostly it worked. He didn’t see anything related to his fears until he and Rapunzel reached the chamber where the rocks originated, and he had to use the amber to eliminate their power. Varian was scared of the amber because he knew what it was capable of doing, and it was in that moment that he started seeing his fears. We see another example with Lance. He showed that he had stage fright and fear of clowns and spiders, and while he didn't openly admit that, he didn't try to push it back into his head either. When Lance decided to stop letting his fears overcome him, they shrunk and ran away, because he no longer had that fear. It appears that the person doesn't need to confess that they are afraid, but all they need to do is allow themselves to be afraid, and let those negative emotions stick in their minds.

Realizing this, I became very incredulous about Eugene's worst fear.

 The episode said that it was a cowlick, but......No. No way. Why do I think that Eugene's biggest fear wasn't a cowlick if that's what he saw? Because he allows himself to make a fuss about the way he looks. He acknowledges the fact that he hates imperfections in the way he looks, and doesn't try to push that away. His true, deep emotional feelings, on the other hand, are a different story. A while back, @timid-izzie wrote an essay that went over the possibility of him having post-traumatic trauma and the fact that he tends to hide his own fears and negative emotions, covering them up with humor. Eugene doesn't acknowledge his negative emotions and fears, and I think, similar to how Rapunzel wasn't seeing visions of Cassandra, the rocks didn't sense any of Eugene's greater fears because they are pushed into the back of his mind. Deep down, Eugene has very unbearable fears, but pushes them so far back that he doesn’t realize how badly he has them. 

A few people have compared his worst fear, being a cowlick, to the scene from “The Quest for Varian”, where he mentions the fact that he had a cowlick before Rapunzel hit him with the frying pan and it was fixed after the blow. Basically, the fact that he doesn’t have a cowlick signifies the fact that he met Rapunzel and became a better person. I agree that this theory makes sense, and it doesn’t exactly disprove what I’m saying, because the cowlick is also related to imperfections.The writers wanted a cheap way to brush him out of the picture so they can focus on Cass, so why not use vanity as an excuse to do so? With or without the significance of the frying pan, the rocks could easily sense Eugene’s discomfort regarding imperfections. But they only show his reflection, not anything related to the origin of having that fear. The rocks sense his “fear of cowlicks” as a vanity-associated thing, because they can’t read the rest of the story. They don’t know why he hates cowlicks, but only the fact that he does. Considering this, I believe that Eugene has more deep fears than just the cowlick. 

What are the rest of his worst fears, then? There are many things that Eugene has likely had negative feelings about that might be a lot worse than what he convinces himself to believe. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. He spent a good 23 years trying to find himself and escaping his identity, having no family, no friends, no home, and no money  - until he started stealing. There are many things that can go wrong there. When he grew older, he made a lot of enemies and must have gotten into a lot of conflicts. He worked with and for very bad people who wanted to use him, and almost married an abusive and manipulative girl who only wanted him for his thieving abilities (Not to mention was way to young and naive to get married). Several notably traumatic things happened to him only in the last three years. In one day, he was sentenced to be hanged, witnessed the abuse of the woman he loved, and was stabbed and killed. No matter how much you think of others, there’s no person who can thoroughly escape such horrific events that happen to yourself. I think that Cassandra's taking the Moonstone was just as traumatic for Eugene as it was for Rapunzel, but in a different way. Remember that Eugene’s ancestors dedicated their entire family legacy to destroying that stone because it killed people, including his own mother. The Moonstone is directly the reason he was sent to an orphanage, became a notorious criminal, and received a death penalty. He forbade Rapunzel from entering the castle because he was so afraid for her safety that he didn’t want to risk losing her. Minutes after he built up the courage to let her grab it after remembering his faith in her, Cassandra took it like a piece of candy and ran away with it. He turned his back on the woman he loved to protect her and felt terrible about it, only for the stone to be stolen by someone who resented and wanted to kill her. Later, the unseen events or “No Time Like the Past” apparently forced him to stop resenting her because “friends don’t leave friends behind” (which, let’s face it, completely abolishes Flynn Rider’s persona and I hate it). But no matter what happened in that episode, I highly doubt Eugene immediately came to forgive Cassandra. The objective was to show that Cassandra was still redeemable, but it was poorly written, as a comment in “Flynnpostor” about Flynn Rider leaving people behind basically confirmed that either the events of “No Time Like the Past” never happened, or that he came back to his senses. Either way, there is no way Eugene’s (completely justified and understandable) resentment towards Cassandra just disappeared. 

It should be clarified that Eugene was not completely okay in season 3. He wanted to support Rapunzel and keep her hopes up, but logically, he would have serious problems deep inside.

 We get an example of this in "Return of the King", when he's irritated at Edmund for suddenly wanting to be part of his life after abandoning him. I've seen a lot of people point fingers at Eugene and call him rude for his hostility toward him in that episode, but honestly, I don't blame him. That was the first time he'd seen him since "Destinies Collide", and in his defense, Edmund didn't exactly welcome him with loving fatherly arms. When Eugene met his father, the first three things he had to do were accept his tragic backstory and identity crisis, dedicate himself to destroying the moonstone, and break his beloved girlfriend's heart. In actuality, Edmund is really a sweet and loving father, but Eugene didn't see that at first and it's not his fault. It wasn't until he found out that his father had kept track of him by reading his favorite books and bringing his childhood toys home that he realized just how much his father thought about him. In the finale, he admitted his resentment and confusion towards him, but that he had come to understand his motive. Until that cursed episode “No Time Like the Past”, he was very worried about Rapunzel’s behavior and the fact that she was thinking about Cass despite the fact that she almost killed her. The point is, Eugene is not immune to having emotionally painful feelings, and the writers didn't fool us when they claimed that his worst fear was a cowlick. It's an absolute pity that in a show where one of the morals is "you should never bury your feelings", one of the main characters has no story whatsoever relating to his very much real trauma.

If my theory about the rocks misreading peoples' feelings is correct, based on my observations, I don't think Rapunzel's worst fear is what she claimed it was either.

 It was not losing Cassandra as a friend. You might say I'm contradicting myself by saying this, because my original point for this theory was based off of that, but remember that Rapunzel generally does not express negative feelings. I believe that the rocks couldn't read Rapunzel's fears because she didn't allow herself to think about her fears. Perhaps losing Cassandra as a friend is one of her fears, but not her worst fear. Although she thought a lot about her, she thought in a hopeful sense rather than a miserable, negative sense.

In “Cassandra’s Revenge”, Rapunzel seemed to be completely over Cassandra, wanting to settle down and appreciate her surroundings. I’m not going to elaborate, but I’ve always regarded Cassandra’s and Rapunzel’s relationship as unhealthy, and it was especially bad for Rapunzel to keep wanting Cass to be back because Mother Gothel, her former abuser, was the motive. I saw this episode as a way to show that she was over her - she even painted over the pictures of her on her wall. But afterward she still seemed to care a lot about bringing her back, and even sang a song about wanting to do anything for her (which I don’t believe, seeing that she would use an incantation on her to save Eugene, showing that she wouldn’t give him up for her). Part of me sees this as another poorly written, contradictory scene that tried to cram in Cassandra’s potential to be redeemed, because, for her own mentality, Rapunzel should be over her. But I don’t think all of that was thought out in that way. Rapunzel still continued to pine onto Cassandra and bringing her back, but that came from her compassion for her rather than a deep and serious emotional feeling. The entire “Cass is still redeemable” arc was aimed to show that Rapunzel has compassion for everyone and won’t give up. It was not a matter of having a truly passionate fear of losing Cassandra, and I highly doubt that that was Rapunzel’s worst fear.

Similar to Eugene, I believe she has certain trigger fears that are buried deep down inside of her.

 I'm specifically thinking about "Rapunzeltopia", when Matthews controlled her dreams. According to Matthews, the things that he showed her were her worst nightmares. She saw Mother Gothel restraining her, Corona acting hostile, her fear of touching the rocks, and.... Cassandra. But it was not in a "afraid to lose her as a friend" sense. Cassandra was attacking her and blaming her for her problems. She tried to kill her and take revenge for getting her arm burnt. These visions must have had a more valid representation of Rapunzel's fears than the rocks did, because Matthews had entered and taken control of her mind. The rocks (again, if this is correct) merely read peoples' visible feelings; Matthews went inside her head and brought out her traumas, her true fears. A lot of people seem to think that Rapunzel has completely forgotten about Mother Gothel and what she did to her, but that is not true. I believe that Rapunzel’s fears are masked by her positive attitude, and this precisely was why the rocks couldn’t see through her, similar to Eugene. When she saw Mother Gothel keeping her in the tower, she was chained up. There was one time ever when Mother Gothel chained Rapunzel up. That was the day Rapunzel found out her life was a lie, was almost buried in a dungeon for life, saw the love of her life get murdered before her eyes (and might have partially thought it was her fault), and experienced other dramatic changes in her life - especially the part about losing Eugene. Throughout the series, Rapunzel has shown a particular weakness whenever she thought she would be separated from Eugene or lose him. He is her first friend, aside from Pascal, and an infinitely close and beloved one. He was the first person to ever show compassion towards her and care about her, which was the thing she never received from Mother Gothel. Whether she’d realized it or not, she had always craved that sort of attention and love, and Eugene gave it to her. She holds him especially close, not just as her lover but as a friend, because he repaired her life. Whenever his life was at risk, Rapunzel became especially desperate: He was what sparked her to use the Reverse Incantation on Hector to defeat (and possibly even KILL) him. Similarly, she used another potentially dangerous incantation to fight for him when Cassandra threatened to kill him (proof that she would not give anything for her). She stopped and dropped in the middle of a fight with Zhan Tiri because she saw him lying on the ground, possibly thinking he was dead (True, anyone would be concerned for someone they love if they saw them on the ground, but I can’t help but notice they were in a very similar position that they were when he died) Eugene has always been Rapunzel’s #1 priority, and I have a strong feeling that besides loving him above all else, she has the fear of revisiting that traumatic moment in which she lost him. Maybe she even felt responsible for letting that happen to him, especially since Mother Gothel made everything her fault.

I believe, among the other things she saw in that episode, Rapunzel's true worst fear was that day - that fateful day in which she found out her life was a lie and lost the one person who truly loved her.

Well I might be seriously overthinking this and be completely wrong, but from my POV it makes sense. People take trauma in different ways, depending on how seriously affected they are, who they are as a person, and their capacity to rise or fall from their demons. I truly believe that despite their natural optimism and resilience, both Rapunzel and Eugene have deeper fears and traumas than what is focused on in the show. We know as a fact that this show isn't afraid to let the audience know that characters suffer mental afflictions, such as Frederick and Varian, so why wouldn't characters like Rapunzel and Eugene, who have been through so much, suffer the same?

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if not I thank you anyway.

Note:

I’d love to hear what you think, but please, if you have any questions or comments regarding this theory of mine, do not message me with the chat. I will not be active on Tumblr for a while. (You may use my ask box)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralist, your daily link-dose: 22 Feb 2020

Today’s links

Tax Justice Network publishes a new global Financial Secrecy Index: US and UK, neck-and-neck

What Marc Davis lifted from the Addams Family while designing the Haunted Mansion: Amateurs plagiarize, artists steal

ICANN should demand to see the secret financial docs in the .ORG selloff: at least it’s an Ethos

Wells Fargo will pay $3b for 2 million acts of fraud: they shoulda got the corporate death penalty

This day in history: 2019, 2015, 2010

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Tax Justice Network publishes a new global Financial Secrecy Index (permalink)

The Tax Justice Network just published its latest Financial Secrecy Index, the leading empirical index of global financial secrecy policies. The US continues to make a dismal showing, as does the UK (factoring in overseas territories).

https://fsi.taxjustice.net/en/

Both Holland and Switzerland backslid this year.

Important to remember that “bad governance” scandals in poor countries (like the multibillion-dollar Angolaleaks scandal) involve rich financial secrecy havens as laundries for looted national treasure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/19/isabel-dos-santos-revealed-africa-richest-woman-2bn-empire-luanda-leaks-angola

As Tax Justice breaks it down: “The secrecy world creates a criminogenic hothouse for multiple evils including fraud, tax cheating, escape from financial regulations, embezzlement, insider dealing, bribery, money laundering, and plenty more. It provides multiple ways for insiders to extract wealth at the expense of societies, creating political impunity and undermining the healthy ‘no taxation without representation’ bargain that has underpinned the growth of accountable modern nation states. Many poorer countries, deprived of tax and haemorrhaging capital into secrecy jurisdictions, rely on foreign aid handouts.”

Talk about getting you coming and going! First we make bank helping your corrupt leaders rob you blind, then we loan you money so you can keep the lights on and get fat on the interest (and force you to sell off your looted, ailing state industries as “economic reforms”).

The Taxcast, which is the Network’s podcast, has a great special edition in which the index’s key researchers explain their work. It’s always a good day when a new Taxcast drops.

https://www.taxjustice.net/2020/02/20/financial-secrecy-index-who-are-the-worlds-worst-offenders-the-tax-justice-network-podcast-special-february-2020/

What Marc Davis lifted from the Addams Family while designing the Haunted Mansion (permalink)

It’s always a good day — a GREAT day — when the Long Forgotten Haunted Mansion blog does a new post, but today’s post, on the influence of the Addams Family TV show on Mansion co-designer Mark Davis? ::Chef’s Kiss::

https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-addams-family-and-marc-davis.html

It’s clear that Davis was using Addams’s comics as reference, but, as Long Forgotten shows, the Davis sketches and concepts are straight up lifted from the TV show: “Amateurs plagiarize, artists steal.”

Some of these lifts are indisputable.

“Finally, it’s possible that Davis took a further cue from the insanely long sweater Morticia is knitting in ‘Fester’s Punctured Romance’ (Oct 2, 1964), but in this case I wouldn’t insist upon it.”

Likewise, from the TV show, “Bruno” the white bear rug that periodically bites people was obviously the inspiration for this Davis sketch for the Mansion. Long Forgotten is less certain about “Ophelia,” but I think it’s pretty clear where Davis was getting his ideas from here.

Davis was an unabashed plunderer and we are all better for it! “We’ve seen many other examples of Marc Davis taking ideas from here, there, and anywhere he could find them, but not many other examples of multiple inspiration from a single source.”

ICANN should demand to see the secret financial docs in the .ORG selloff (permalink)

ISOC — the nonprofit set up to oversee the .ORG registry — decided to sell off this asset (which they were given for free, along with $5M to cover setup expenses) to a mysterious private equity fund called Ethos Capital.

Some of Ethos’s backers are known (Republican billionaire families like the Romneys and the Perots) but much of its financing remains in the shadows. We do know that ICANN employees who help tee up the sale now work for Ethos, in a corrupt bit of self-dealing.

The deal was quietly announced and looked like a lock, but then public interest groups rose up to demand an explanation. Not only could Ethos expose nonprofits to unlimited rate-hikes (thanks to ICANN’s changes to its rules), they could do much, much worse.

If a .ORG registrant dropped its domain, Ethos could sell access to misdirected emails and domain lookups – so if you watchdog private equity funds and get destroyed by vexation litigation, Ethos could sell your bouncing email to the billionaires who crushed you.

More simply, Ethos could sell the kind of censorship-as-a-service it currently sells through its other registry, Donuts, which charges “processing fees” to corrupt governments and bullying corporations who want to censor the web by claiming libel or copyright infringement.

Ethos offered ISOC $1.135b for the sale, but $360m of that will come from a loan that .ORG will have to pay back, a millstone around its neck, dragging it down. Debt-loading healthy business as a means of bleeding them dry is a tried-and-true PE tactic – it’s what did in Toys R Us, Sears, and many other firms. The PE barons get a fortune, everyone else gets screwed.

The interest on .ORG’s loan will suck up $24m/year — TWO THIRDS of the free money that .ORG generates. .ORG is a crazily profitable nonprofit – it charges dollars to provide a service that costs fractional pennies, after all. In response to getting slapped around by some Members of Congress, the Pennsylvania AG, and millions of netizens, Ethos has made a promise to limit prices increases…for a while. And they say that they’ll be kept honest by the nonbinding recommendations of an “advisory council” whose members Ethos will appoint and who will serve at Ethos’s pleasure.

In a letter to ICANN, EFF and Americans for Financial Reform have called for transparency on the financing behind the sale: “hidden costs, loan servicing fees, and inducements to insiders.”

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-seeks-disclosure-secret-financing-details-behind-11-billion-org-sale-asks-ftc

Wells Fargo will pay $3b for 2 million acts of fraud (permalink)

Wells Fargo stole from at least two million of its customers, pressuring its low-level employees to open fake accounts in their names, firing employees who refused (refuseniks were also added to industry-wide blacklists created to track crooked bankers). These fake accounts ran up fees for bank customers, including penalties, etc. In some cases, the damage to the victims’ credit ratings was so severe that they were turned down for jobs, unable to get house loans or leases, etc.

The execs who oversaw these frauds had plenty of red flags, including their own board members asking why the fuck their spouses had been sent mysterious Wells Fargo credit cards they’d never signed up for. Though these execs paid fines, they got to keep MILLIONS from this fraud (which was only one of dozens of grifts Wells Fargo engaged in this century, including stealing from small businesses, homeowners, military personnel, car borrowers, etc). Some of them may never work in banking again, but they’re all millionaires for life.

Now, Wells Fargo has settled with the DoJ for $3b, admitting wrongdoing and submitting to several years of oversight. That’s a good start, but it’s a bad finish.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51594117

The largest bank in America was, for DECADES, a criminal enterprise, preying on Americans of every description. It should no longer exist. It should be broken into constituent pieces, under new management. There would be enormous collateral damage from this (just as the family of a murderer suffers when he is made to face the consequences of his crimes). But what about the collateral damage to everyone who is savaged by a similarly criminal bank in the future, emboldened by Wells Fargo’s impunity?

Wells Fargo is paying a fine, but will have NO criminal charges filed against it.

https://newsroom.wf.com/press-release/corporate-and-financial/wells-fargo-reaches-settlements-resolve-outstanding-doj-and

If you or I stole from TWO MILLION people, we would not be permitted to pay a fine and walk away.

“I’ll believe corporations are people when the government gives one the death penalty.”

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago: Kottke goes full-time https://kottke.org/05/02/kottke-micropatron

#15yrsago: New Zealand’s regulator publishes occupational safety guide for sex workers: https://web.archive.org/web/20050909001954/http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/pdf/sexindustry.pdf

#10yrsago: Principal who spied on child through webcam mistook a Mike n Ike candy for drugs: https://reason.com/2010/02/20/lower-pervian-school-district/

#10yrsago: School where principal spied on students through their webcams had mandatory laptop policies, treated jailbreaking as an expellable offense https://web.archive.org/web/20100726204521/https://strydehax.blogspot.com/2010/02/spy-at-harrington-high.html

#10yrsago: Parents file lawsuit against principal who spied on students through webcams: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/pennsylvania-school-webcam-students-spying/story?id=9905488

#1yrago: Cybermercenary firm with ties to the UAE want the capability to break Firefox encryption https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/cyber-mercenary-groups-shouldnt-be-trusted-your-browser-or-anywhere-else

#1yrago: Fraudulent anti-Net Neutrality comments to the FCC traced back to elite DC lobbying firm https://gizmodo.com/how-an-investigation-of-fake-fcc-comments-snared-a-prom-1832788658

Colophon (permalink)

Today’s top sources: Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/).

Hugo nominators! My story “Unauthorized Bread” is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

The Future of the Future: The Ethics and Implications of AI, UC Irvine, Feb 22: https://www.humanities.uci.edu/SOH/calendar/event_details.php?eid=8263

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC’s Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, “The Canadian Miracle,” for MIT Tech Review. It’s a story set in the world of my next novel, “The Lost Cause,” a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I’m getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I’ve been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world’s prehistory.

Currently reading: I finished Andrea Bernstein’s “American Oligarchs” this week; it’s a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I’m getting really into Anna Weiner’s memoir about tech, “Uncanny Valley.” I just loaded Matt Stoller’s “Goliath” onto my underwater MP3 player and I’m listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/02/10/persuasion-adaptation-and-the-arms-race-for-your-attention/

Upcoming books: “Poesy the Monster Slayer” (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we’re having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

“Attack Surface”: The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

“Little Brother/Homeland”: A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

[sebastianshaw]

Rando Munday ramblings! For new followers, on Munday sometimes I just post a bunch of personal stuff I normally wouldn’t. Not usually anything intimately personal, more like random thoughts and news that just isn’t relevant to the blog in any way, not related to X-Men or RP or writing in general, etc. ....there’s a lot of Hannibal today, sorry, I’m rewatching it.

- I definitely wanna have a pair of critters named Hannibal and Hasdrubal at some point, maybe if there's a third I'd name him Hamilcar. I know everyone will think I named them after Hannibal Lector but actually these are really common names from Ancient Carthage. Like if you look at Carthagian history and records, everyone is Hannibal, Hasdrubal, or Hamilcar, it's like John, James, and Jim. I'd prefer the pair, though, since Hannibal and Hasdrubal were a pair of brothers and famous historical figures, so it would feel much more like a "set" that way (whereas they did not have a brother called Hamilcar) - Speaking of Hannibal Lector, I knew he was based on a real person, but I did not realize that person was a gay Mexican man. That’s...an interesting example of gay history, for sure. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Thomas Harris (the writer of the books that the films and later the TV series were based on) based Hannibal on a surgeon he met while interviewing an inmate at prison for another novel. This surgeon was so intelligent and charismatic that Harris implicitly assumed that he was a doctor in the employ of the prison. Nope---the doctor was an inmate himself. Harris was so shaken by the encounter that it inspired him to create Hannibal Lector, who, in contrast to the typical media portrayals of serial killers as uncontrolled lunatic slashers like Michael Myers or Leatherface, is a charming, culture, charismatic intellectual. To protect the man’s identity, Harris called him “Dr. Salazar” in interviews, so that was always how I knew him. I just now learned not only was his real name Alfredo Balli Trevino, but his victim was Jesus Castillo Rangel, his male lover. Harris describes him as a small, lithe man with dark red hair and, unsurprisingly, “a certain elegance about him”. Though Trevino was given the death penalty for his crimes, his sentence was commuted to 20 years and he was released in either 1980 or 1981. He died in in 2009 when he was 81 years old. He reportedly spent the last years of his life helping the poor and elderly, and he expressed deep regret for his “dark past”---which I suppose makes sense, since his crime was that he killed a lover in a fit of rage during an argument, whereas Hannibal simply killed people in cold blood whom he had no attachment to because he liked eating them (something Trevino never did) and to punish them for rudeness. - I’ve decided to stop buying silk, unless it's from a thrift store and thus my money won't go to supporting sericulture. Ahimsa silk isn't an option either, the bugs aren't technically killed but they're not treated well either. I know it might seem weird to eat meat and wear leather and yet not want to purchase something that hurt moths and larva, but...I have to eat meat for medical reasons, and my leather purchases is limited to boots that I then keep for YEARS AND YEARS so it's very sparing. There's really no such thing as a cruelty-free diet or lifestyle, whether that cruelty is suffered by animals or by other humans, but I can still make choices that at least lesson some small aspect of harm. I need to eat meat, I don't need real silk. ...Haven only wears bamboo silk for this reason and when this came up with Shaw, he absolutely thought she was fucking with him, like even SHE can’t be THIS insane, NO ONE ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT BUGS WTF - The books nearest to me right now are “Women Who Run With The Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype ” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, “X-Men: The Legacy Quest Trilogy” by Steve Lyons, two  horror anthologies, the script for “M. Butterfly” by David Henry Hwang, “The Spanish Riding School of Vienna: Tour of America 2005″ book I got from when I went to see the Lippizanner horses perform, and a big beautiful leatherbound English translation of “The Flowers of Evil” by Charles Baudelaire. This is...this is a summary of my whole personality, sans rodents. Also god I need to clean my room. - Something I've noticed is that many sci-fi horror films that do the whole "science went too far against nature!!!" thing....don't actually have the problem result from the lack of ethics involved or because the scientists did something "unnatural", it happens because they didn't follow basic safety precautions, lab protocol, common sense, etc. "Splice" for instance, is a really good example---the problem isn't that they made a part-human hybrid, that's not why shit goes wrong, shit goes wrong because the two scientists act like idiots, adopt the creation as a child, hide it in their barn instead of a sterile controlled environment, and then one of them HAS SEX WITH IT. Or in "The Fly" the problem isn't that Brundle invented a teleporter, it's that he tested it ON HIMSELF while he was ALL ALONE. Even in "Jurassic Park" the issue is less that dinosaurs are breeding and more the result of a disgruntled worker who was given way too much power over being able to run things, and thus shut them down when he wants to. So many "science gone wrong!" movies end up not really being condemnations of science itself, so much as depicting scientists as utter dumbasses. Which, on the one hand, I do like, because I dislike the notion of condemning scientific progress just because it seems icky or creepy or "goes against nature" (so do vaccines, I still like those!) But on the other hand, the movies don't FRAME it as "this is the result of failure to practice science safely and sensibly" they frame it as "they should never have attempted such an unnatural thing and this disaster is punishment for a moral sin" even though the issue doesn't happen because what the scientists did was "wrong" it happens because they do something DUMB. - Bringing it back to Hannibal, I reached the episode where Margot Verger first appears, and if I have one big disappointment about the Hannibal series, it's Margot. In the books, she's a huge butch lesbian, literally and figuratively. In the TV series, she's a pretty femme fashionista like all the other women, and she fucks Will in order to get pregnant. At the time this came out in 2013, I tried to be all resigned and fair-minded about this. I was like "ok, well, they didn't want to be offensive with a stereotype, and I guess that's fair, I guess not hurting people matters more to me than getting the horseback-riding bulldyke hearthrob of my high school years on-screen at last" but you know what? No. Firstly, butch lesbians deserve representation too. How many have you ever seen onscreen, let alone in a mainstream media production? Sure, it's a stereotype, but it's not an inherently negative one, they just get treated that way in media because society sees it that way. But the way to handle butch lesbians and femme gay men and so on isn't to erase them from the screen, it's to start writing them as human beings and not caricatures or jokes or monsters. Margot is a fleshed-out human being, she's nuanced and twisted and hurt like everyone else in this series, she would be PERFECT for that. She wouldn't be just a butch lesbian, she'd be a CHARACTER who just also happens to be a butch lesbian. I don't really think she was changed to avoid "hurting" lesbians, I think she was changed because the director, gay man or not, clearly has a way he wants the women in his series to look (they're all fashion plates, all have long hair, all very sophisticated, etc) and book Margot didn't fit his aesthetic, his design if you will. Because god forbid we just make her a DAPPER dyke, right? Back to having sex with Will, which most certainly did NOT happen in the books...that's not bad itself in a VACUUM, fucking men to get a baby is something real-life lesbians do, I had a friend in college who was actually conceived that way, but like...no media exists in a vacuum, and there is very little depiction of lesbians in media that doesn't feature them fucking men for SOME reason or another. They want a baby, or they start the story with a boyfriend, or they're actually bisexual, or they're even raped, but there's always SOME reason we have to watch a guy fucking them and it's frankly distressing. Like, remember Irene Adler in BBC's Sherlock? It's a pattern. And I'm not saying lesbians who have had a sexual past with men, or who were the victims of sexual violence by men, don't deserve representation, I would never say that, those are very common experiences, I'm not saying "gold stars only", I'm saying that there is a strong pattern in media where it seems almost obligatory that a lesbian has to have sex with or be attracted to men at some point, while comparatively the opposite case, where a lesbian is depicted as exclusively and only attracted to and "with" other women, is seldom there. And it's just kind of a kick in the nads for me, as I think it was for a lot of other lesbians, butch or not, that a gay director took an opportunity like Margot Verger and turned her into just another attractive lipstick lesbian that is okay with having sex with the male protagonist as a treat tee hee (Spoiler: She does end up with Alana though, which I appreciate)

[chromecausation]

why atla’s ending is bad

so this post has likely already been made before, but I’m new to tumblr so what the hell. I recently finished watching atla, and I thoroughly enjoyed the series. This post is in no way about how the series itself is bad; I really did enjoy the series. Rather, it is about how the ending does a grave disservice to aang and the philosophical theories in question.

One of the reasons I love atla is that it is willing to ask the hard psychological questions: the scene in the library about how everybody thinks their war is justified? That is an amazing scene, it recontextualizes the entire series up until that point and forces us to ask: is fighting the fire nation really as justified as we claim? This question is brought up even more as we actually meet people who live within the fire nation: we see that they are not taught history as it actually happened and they are often ruled by fear. They are not the monsters that they seem to be. However, and this is the huge however, atla refuses to actually address the biggest question of the series: is it morally correct to kill someone in the service of a greater good? 

Up until this point in the series, atla mainly avoids this question by making all forms of bending essentially the same: sure, they all have different animations and such, but at the end of the day they all serve as different ways to knock people backwards until everyone is far away enough that they seem defeated. Obviously, this is a children’s show, so it makes sense that they would do this. But, while its ok to knock around enemy henchmen, no one (even kids) is going to buy that one of the greatest firebenders of all time is properly subdued by a kid, especially when aang is shown to be clearly weaker in some of the bending forms than he would like. So, the philosophical question of killing has to be brought to the forefront. However, while the writers seemed to get that killing had to be brought up at some point, they narratively structured the story to prevent the question from actually being brought up at all. 

At the core of this question is the push and pull between consequentialism and deontology, the two major schools of thought on what defines a moral action. Consequentialists (broadly speaking) argue that an action is right if the consequences brought about by that action are right. Deontologists argue (broadly speaking) that an action is right if the action itself is right, regardless of the consequences. This post is not going to go into a full-throated analysis of either philosophy, but will simply state that despite what everyone on the internet likes to claim after having read the trolley problem briefly, there are some legitimate benefits to deontology (and consequentialism can often lead to some things that we would think of as morally dubious.) 

Anyway: suffice it to say, aang is a deontologist. He is focused on doing right actions because they are inherently right, and he doesn’t believe in bending his principles just because it would be convenient or because it could lead to a better outcome in that specific instance. Principles are principles for a reason, goddamnit, if you bend them all the time, how useful are they? And despite the fact that a lot of people here on tumblr would definitely describe themselves as consequentialists, we applaud aang throughout the series for his decisions to be morally upstanding, even when it makes his life harder. 

Here’s the issue though: deontology, even though it has some serious benefits (I am somewhat of a deontologist and pacifist myself) it also has some serious downsides. Sometimes, when you stick to your principles, bad things will happen. Sometimes, those bad things will happen because you weren’t willing to stop them. And while there is a larger argument that can be made about how sticking to what is right leads to a better world overall, that doesn’t help the fact that in the moment, deontology can seem like a really sucky philosophy.

The writers of the show never actually make aang face that issue with deontology, and they trivialize it as a philosophy. Throughout the second half of the third season, aang is portrayed as not having the stomach to kill ozai, or not wanting to do what needs to be done. It is implied that aang is weak for his beliefs, that he must overcome his weakness and pacifism to become the strong avatar the world needs to undo the horrible damage of fire nation imperialism. The issue with this, though, is that it never confronts the actual issue at play? What if (ignoring energy-bending entirely for a second) aang is entirely right to not want to kill ozai? 

I posit that a non-murdery approach to the final battle is the actually correct decision for the world. The fire nation has been steeped in fear and anger for over a century, and their leaders have based all of this division and fear and nationalism on the idea that might makes right, that if you are strong and just and powerful enough, it is your right to spread this glory to the rest of the world. If aang were to beat ozai handily and murder him, all that he would prove is that the firelords were right all along: it is the right of those who have power to control those who are powerless. Aang killing ozai just proves that ozai was right all along. The only way to break the fire nation cycle of fear is to prove that there are other ways to approach conflict, to prove that a non-violent approach is not just preferable to killing someone, but is actually what is necessary for the world to heal and grow?

It is at this point that the readers who have read this far into this abominably long post say, “but wait chromecausation, aang didn’t kill ozai. That was the whole fucking point of the final episode!” And to those of you still reading: kudos, you have my gratitude. My issue is not actually with the ending of the story (despite the title of this piece) but the way that it was presented. 

Because I just recently watched avatar (and I had seen some spoilers earlier on tumblr so i knew that something called energybending was coming), I realized that energybending was introduced AS A CONCEPT in the last 2 episodes, and it was explained as aang was using it to defeat ozai. This is literally the definition of a deus ex machina, a plot device that solves a previously insurmountable problem that arrived out of basically nowhere. I really really hate that the entire conflict of the series is solved through deus ex machina. It cheapens all of the struggles, and it makes the conclusions of the story that much weaker. 

Think of how all of the arguments aang had with sokka, zuko, katara, the other avatars, and like a billion other people would have gone if it were known that energy-bending were a possibility. Instead of being “hey I don’t want to kill the firelord because it is morally wrong, even if that is a more dangerous path to take, but I think it will be better for the world as a whole” it becomes “hey instead of killing the firelord, I would like to take this equally easy option to not kill him but subdue him instead.” (The reason I say equally easy is because killing the firelord is shown to be fucking difficult to do). The existence of energy-bending renders the whole point of the argument moot, because of course in a vacuum it is better to not kill people. (I say of course here because the moral discussion at play is not whether retributive punishment is better than rehabilitative punishment, or whether the death penalty should exist. Those moral discussions rest on the premise that the victim is helpless and we in the position of power must decide their fate. The moral question here is whether aang should try to kill the firelord, because if he tried to hold back with bending so that he didn’t kill ozai, aang might actually lose the fight). Energybending does not exist with enough screen time for us to learn if it has drawbacks or is difficult to do. We are told that it is difficult, but so is killing the firelord during sozin’s comet; we need to actually see it in action first or discuss it ahead of time to actually know what the stakes are. Instead, with it being presented at the last minute, it seems like aang is given a cheat code out of his moral dilemma. He is never forced to confront the actual consequences of pacifism, and is never given the chance to prove why it is a good idea to stick to your principles even when you don’t have a deus ex machina up your sleeve. 

I believe that aang was right to not kill the firelord, but because the mechanism was energybending, it means that aang is never forced to confront the idea that pacifism and deontology require a difficult route and that there is a good chance he will not succeed. Conversely, he is never given the chance to prove how his way of thinking is better for actually breaking the fire nation cycle of fear. Imagine, instead of energybending, aang was forced to learn all of the techniques taught to him by his teachers. When fighting ozai, he must take a heavy blow that he must heal through waterbending he is taught from katara. He is only able to dodge attacks because of the seismic sense from toph, and he must become comfortable enough with fire that he can redirect ozai’s lighting, as shown by zuko. This techniques are shown to be incredibly difficult, and by clearly setting up a path where aang is forced to take the more difficult route in order to stick to his convictions, it would strengthen the moment when he actually does, as well as provide a nice way to remember the journey along the way. If it were shown that aang had a way to kill ozai and chose not to, instead choosing to rely on his skill, it would show that he is committed to his convictions. Instead, the use of energybending almost implies that all of the knowledge up until this point was useless. What is the point of learning to bend if the only way to defeat ozai is through energybending?

Finally, I will say this: aang needed to defeat ozai in a way that did not rely on murder so that he can finally join the ranks of the avatars before him. When conversing with the previous avatars, it is clear that they think that aang should kill ozai. However, the actual words they speak matter too: aang must make a decision, he must serve justice. The other avatars do not actually speak on whether or not aang should kill ozai, but rather they speak to his conviction. Up until this point, aang is a kid who has the world thrust upon his shoulders, and he is trying the best he can, but at the end of the day he is still a kid. He doesn’t want to kill people because the monks told him it was wrong, and while he feels deeply that he wants to uphold that, he also doesn’t want to kill people because he is young and it would scar him. I choose to see the meetings with the avatars not just as them arguing for aang to kill ozai, but them also having a meta discussion with aang: he must make an actual moral commitment, and stick to the path he has chosen. In order to claim the mantle of avatar, he must strike out on his own and become an independent person with independent beliefs who is willing to talk to the avatars as an avatar. When aang walks back from the battle with ozai, he is able to talk to the other avatars on an equal level because he has committed to his own path and succeeded. He is no longer dependent on guidance; even though he is young, he is a fully realized avatar. By introducing energybending, the writers rob aang of that ability. They prevent him from joining the ranks of the avatars as someone deeply committed to pacifism even when there are no more tricks up your sleeve, and this is a damn shame. 

[je-suis-clarisse]

Paris. December 1791. It appeared to be like any other night in Paris. The Jacobins and Monarchists were each at their respective meetings making plans for the future of the country, which was in the beginnings of a revolution. Inspired by the Americans, the French had taken the spirit on. And on ths particular evening, the small figure of one the Opera Garnier's ballerinas was climbing out of one of the large windows. She wasn't hungry, but she wanted to feel the cold air and just wander about. Clarisse du Volde had spent the last three years in the Irish Countryside. She wanted to be in the heart of the city again, to feel its pulse. Even though she wasn't entirely certain of what she was going to do. Wriggling out, her stockinged legs exposed for the world to see, she jumped down, smoothing out the folds of her dress, glad no one had seen her. Adjusting her hat, she took off down the streets, walking about quietly, offering a few coins to a hungry mother and child when she came upon them. She had been saving it for a new pair of boots, but perhaps next month. The Legislative Assembly had issued a decree ordering the émigrés to return to France, so it was a wonder that she was here. Though Clarisse had left at sixteen because of her marriage, she felt it best to rush home. If she was going to die, she intended to do so where she felt somewhat safe. Those who didn't return by January 1, 1792, would be suspect of conspiracy against France for which the only answer was the death penalty. She did consider not coming back, but the guillotine was harsh and she had no desire to listen to crowds cheer as the ax dropped. They were bloodthirsty, often dipping handkerchiefs in the fresh blood of some hapless victim. She had been reading the newspaper and the libelles, saddened by the vitriol and hatred whipped up for the Royals. Listening to people speak as she made her wonder why they were so cruel. She remembered meeting the queen at Versailles as a child. The woman had been the milk of kindness. She didn't imagine it to be an act. She still has the necklace the Queen has given her since it matched her eyes so perfectly. Sitting at a cafe table, Clarisse contemplated her desire to remain on earth dwindling more and more. She had wanted to die since her dear son's stillbirth. The one thing she had wanted most--to die--had been denied her in the cruelest way. She didn't want to kill to survive, even though she'd proved rather adept at it. Brushing her fingers over the place where Colin's fangs had pierced her porcelain flesh, she sighed. She should be back at the opera house. Safe within, she could be awake during the day and worry little about the sun. There were no windows near the stage. The ballet corps teacher had also seen to Clarisse getting a room with no window. It had once been a costume closet, thus it wasn't too small. It wasn't hard to slip back inside. She knew the entire show by heart. Yet...would she even be there? The idea and yearning for a peaceful end plagued her. A few moments in the sun and that would be it. She would be ash. And if there was a breeze, it would spread her everywhere. She would be no more. And beside her brother, she didn't think anyone would care. Perhaps that strange man she had befriended. But she didn't even know his first name; only caldwell. He'd come to visit unexpectedly a number of times. Once, he had let her out of the gun closet, having heard her cries. But she had begged him not to visit anymore once she found out she was with child. "You look like you have the world on your shoulders," a male voice broke the silence that had lingered in the air and Clarisse looked up slowly at the dark haired male. There was some familiarity to him and yet, she couldn't place him. Perhaps she had seen him in the audience? She was quite certain they'd never met. He was looking at her in such a way that she half felt the need to plaster a smile she didn't feel on her face. The newly turned vampire still wore her misery for all to see. She didn't care what people thought of her yet, she felt that she should care. With the world going mad around them, she was but a face in the crowd. But she let her eyes dart up and she met the gaze of the man before her. "You could say that," she spoke hoarsely. Clearing her throat, she motioned for him to join her if he so chose. She hoped he didn't order anything to drink because she couldn't afford it. "What's your name?" He asked, with an unfamiliar accent peppering his words. 'Clarisse. Clarisse O'Call--du Volde." "O'Call-du Volde? That's an odd one." "That was my married name. I'm not married anymore. It's du Volde. Clarisse du Volde." "You got a story, Risse?" Eyebrows lifted at the shortening of her name, lips curving faintly into something resembling a smile. "Everyone has a story," she began. " Mine...it seems stupid to complain. I'm newly widowed and I miss my son." "Sorry 'bout your husband. Where's your kid?" The question sent the young woman into a state of tears. Her body seemingly paralyzed by grief as she began to weep before this stranger. It was just a month ago that he had left this world and come into it. The memory of his perfect little body in her arms, still and calm. His face had been serene as she had gazed upon him. He truly looked as though he were asleep. His hair was black as coal, just as his father's hair was. He had strongly resembled his father except for the gentle curve of his nose and his fingers were long. She had thought to herself that someday he might play piano or violin like herself. Maybe he'd be a painter. All of these thoughts flooded her mind and struck her heart repeatedly like a dagger. Clarisse tried to keep it together, but a sob escaped her and she began to weep openly, glad of the night and dim lights surrounding them as they sat together. "I'd give anything to join my boy," she whimpered, thinking of all the pain she'd felt. She was tired of feeling worthless, useless. She was tired of the pain and of her loneliness. She wanted friends and yet, when she tried to make them, the other women laughed. She was too short, too curvy, too poor. (For now. Her inheritance would be hers when she turned 21.) But the loss of wee little Padraig, the pain of that was sharper than anything she had ever felt before. "From the day I was born, my mother made it known she didn't want me. She thought if she didn't push, I'd suffocate. She tried to do so with a pillow a number of times, she tried to starve me, she beat me. My one sister beat me up daily. My eldest sister died when I was eight. My brother is in Rome, as a priest. My husband, that bastard, beat me. Raped me. Locked me in his gun closet. Shared me with his friends. I have few memories of a good life. I thought being a mother would change my life because there would be someone I could love. My son...he was perfect. I felt him within me. I felt him move. I felt him kick. I saw his foot press against me and I could see the very outline. Five perfect toes and a small little foot that I hoped would someday leave a big imprint in this world. But he was a big boy. And I'm small as you can see. The cord wrapped about his neck. My labor was long and there was nothing the midwife could do." She gasped for a breath as she looked to the man across from her. "And he's alone now, buried in an unmarked grave in Ireland. I plan, when I get my inheritance, to get him a good headstone. I know exactly where he is. And I know that my former husband...I don't think he's dead. But I tried. I threw a lantern at him." She felt amazing once she let it all out. But Clarisse was in pain still. "Besides my brother, there isn't a soul on this earth who cares if I live or die." Her companion said nothing for a short while, simply sitting with her. Clarisse was, admittedly, surprised. No one ever really listened to her when she "blubbered" as her mother used to call it. Crying was a waste because eyes got puffy and her nose turned red, rather it used to. "I'm sorry. You don't want to hear this," she apologized. Reaching for her handkerchief, she wiped at her eyes and nose, trying to gather herself again. Yet, her companion didn't seem bothered. Rather, he seemed calm and collected, understanding that sometimes one had to cry. At least he didn't scream at her. It was hard for her to realise that wasn't the proper reaction. "I don't bullsh*t people, woman. I'm not going to do that to you. People have treated you like sh*t most of your life. And you've gotten a really f***ing bad end of things. It's not pleasant." He began, his dark eyes alight with a fierceness that she had never seen. Clarisse looked at him, awestruck that he would speak this freely to her. Most men tried to speak gingerly and politely, but not this fellow. She appreciated his candor. "I can't tell you how sorry I am that your son died. I've lost people too. And it hurts. A mother's pain though? I'm never going to say I understand that. But you wanting to die? That's not going to solve anything. Death is a very permanant solution to momentary pain. And you're a vampire. So this time period is really short. You being turned might have been a catalyst." "A cata-what?" She asked, embarrassed for her lack of schooling, not even questioning how he knew that she was a vampire. "It's the beginning," he reiterated for her, giving her hand a pat. "This could be the beginning of a whole new life. You can do what you want. You can BE who you want. That's the ultimate f*** you to everyone who ever hurt you. They expect you to give up but don't. Don't give them the satisfaction. F*** them. All of 'em. Except for your boy. I bet he'd want to know you were living your life and kicking ass while doing it." He sat back in his seat, ordering two hot chocolates. They were all the rage. Dropping the coins in the waiter's hands, and ignoring as she attempted to give him the coin for hers, he continued. "Life is precious. You get one chance. Be it long or short. You're young. You're what? Nineteen? You're a baby. Yeah, you've faced hell, but you're a kid. And you're just getting started. Take it from someone who knows Death really well. take this second chance." Taking up the mug, she inhaled. She hadn't tried human food since her death and so she took a sip, savoring it. Mon Dieu, this was bliss and as she listened, her interest was piqued as she noticed his hands fiddling with a book. Something told her not to press to ask what he was reading. His words were truthful. How better to spite everyone? Yet, was she strong enough? Perhaps she ought to try. "This has been rather...illuminating," she mused as she rose to leave once they had each finished their beverage. She looked towards him again, taking note of the fact that he wasn't wearing a cockade. "Here," she spoke, unpinning it from her hat and putting it on his jacket, leaving him no time to object. "The Jacobins will be less likely to bother me without one. You take this one; they would try to imprison you without it." Leaning in, she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. "Maybe we shall meet again someday. And I will buy you supper. Be well, mon amie." She looked to a small group wandering down the street drunkenly, rolling her eyes. "And be careful," she added, turning around and blinking. He was gone. "Mon Dieu..." she laughed, for the first time in weeks. If for no other reason, she had to know what and who he was. What was with men not telling her their names lately? It was peculiar, but honestly, her life would never be normal again, would it?

[mintchocolateleaves]

The concrit i meant

Well, before you read this, I want you to know that I really enjoy your writing style. Most of my concrit comes from the fact that, despite your research, a lot of what you wrote is very…. western.

Avoid reading this unless you are in the mood, and avoid taking it into consideration if it stresses you out. I don’t want to put rain on your parade, let alone discourage you from writing.

Here we go.

First of all, Japanese courts use the Ley Judge system (your court had no jurors and they didn’t have a say in the matter), and also have a standard for sending someone to the death sentence. It’s called the Nagayama Standard. It has nine parts, which are all taken into consideration before giving the death sentence, which is… really hard to get, and Shinichi wouldn’t have gotten based on what you had him be charged for.

Degree of viciousness

Motive

How the crime was committed; especially the manner in which the victim was killed.

Outcome of the crime; especially the number of victims.

Sentiments of the bereaved family members.

Impact of the crime on Japanese society.

Defendant’s age (in Japan, the age of majority is 20).

Defendant’s previous criminal record.

Degree of remorse shown by the defendant.

‘Since May 2009, district courts try capital cases using the lay judge system, where three professional judges sit with six randomly chosen citizens. Five votes of nine-member court, including at least one professional judge, are required for issuing a conviction and any punishment, including death.’

(more info here)

Another thing is mentioned above, the age where you’re considered an adult in the eyes of the law in Japan is 20, not 18. There have been cases where several people have been given the capital punishment at 18~19, but it’s rare and often done because the criminal felt no remorse, and the manner of death was grotesque. I won’t go into details bc said kids did something very gross (one of which was killing five elementary schoolers in a very brutal way and calling it poetic), but onto another thing.

When given the death sentence, generally it’s after 10 years of confinement. It’s not done immediately, or any day, and the schedule can actually even be pushed back.

Next, I will discuss the imprisonment of people with the Capital Punishment… and those without. Japanese prisons often focus on rehabilitating the prisoners, not punishing them, as is part of Japanese culture to form part of society. As such, recovery being the focus, the prison cells are actually quite nice and the prisoners get pretty good accommodations. This cannot be said of people who have the Capital Punishment on their head, who are often placed on a separate building, completely separate from prisons. They also lack most rights other people do, only allowed three books in their cell, and said cell is constant solitary confinement.

'Those on death row are not classified as prisoners by the Japanese justice system and the facilities in which they are incarcerated are not referred to as prisons. Inmates lack many of the rights afforded to other Japanese prisoners. The nature of the regime they live under is largely up to the director of the detention centre, but it is usually significantly harsher than normal Japanese prisons. Inmates are held in solitary confinement and are forbidden from communicating with their fellows. They are permitted two periods of exercise a week, are not allowed televisions and may only possess three books’ (more here on their treatment)

The jail not being punishments comes to the next part, it is Japanese belief that people going to prison is not punishment for their crimes, but reformation so that they may one day return to society. Shinichi’s very own beliefs are not that people must be punished for their deeds, but that they must make up for it in the eyes of the law and those involved in the crime. It felt very off for you to write his belief to be 'punishment’ and not 'reformation’.

That’s all I can remember at the moment, and if you don’t want me to say more I will not. Sorry for this massive text post fhjdfd

Ahh, my bad dude :(

It’s going to sound kind of stupid saying it now, with all this information thrown at me, but when I started researching I couldn’t actually find a lot about the Japanese judicial system (which is probably my poor researching skills over anything else really) so I kind of started writing with a basic outline of what I could find.

It’s been pointed out to me about 20 being the age of majority since I started writing this, which, I kind of got muddled in my head because I saw those cases of the death penalty being given at 18 to Takayuki Fukuda (once again, my fault entirely, I don’t place enough importance on the actual research).

Shinichi’s belief of punishment over reformation is a more western approach, yes. There was a reason behind it, that it’s a complete opposite to how he normally is (he feels like he’s being punished, because he doesn’t need to be reformed, as he’s innocent, and so he’s displacing that onto others), but it probably didn’t come off that way...

I definitely need to find a way to make this story more Eastern, and stop throwing my own Western beliefs and understanding into things - it’s actually my first fic based in a different country to my own, so... I should probably have spent more time researching culture etc...

I am taking this into consideration, and I’ll definitely use this information when I writing fics in the future. (and when it comes to revising CoF, when it’s finished).

Don’t apologise for the massive text post! It’s fine. I should probably apologise for making all these mistakes!

[nightshadehoney]

Can we talk about how mainstream cape comics push this “no killing” thing despite it being at odds with what most people actually believe. And by “mainstream cape comics”….I’m pretty much talking about DC. I’ve seen people who hate Jason Todd (my sweet baby) and think he’s completely evil and irredeemable because he *gasp* kills people. So like…just the average protag of most action-based media? Only in the context of DC “no killing ever!” land is he the type of character who the audience is meant to find reprehensible. I believe most people think not killing someone is a good and virtuous things to do, but on the other hand, they’re not really going to hold it against a character if they kill the bad guy. In fact, sometimes they prefer that they do. I think it’s telling that the two big Batman film series both depict Bats killing the villain in the first installment—(and yeah, leaving a dude to die in fiery inferno is clearly murder in comic!Batman’s book. He actually does a very similar thing in A Death in the Family and he’s not shy about his bloodlust in that one). It’s because that’s sort of what the audience wants to see.

This is for Batman, mind. I was always under the impression that Batman and Superman are really the only big superheroes that really care about the whole “zero murder” policy and everyone else just sort of goes along with it because it’s easier not to fight them on it. Superman is a god-mode Boy Scout, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t’ kill his enemies. That’s why Superman straight up breaking a dude’s neck in Man of Steel rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. But from our Dark Knight? It’s kind of what the people want. That’s why Man of Murder earned ire that I’ve not seen directed at Batman 1989 and Batman Begins. It’s not “I am kindness and understanding. I am the night”   Superman might be our model of what’s morally correct, but Batman represents our ideal of justice—and to a lot people, most people, that’s retributive.  

So there’s this weird thing I come across in when I’m reading Batman comics (and sometimes other DC stories) where there’s a story where someone kills a villain and we’re all supposed to think it’s bad, but the story still makes the issue about something other than murder. Like during Knightfall, Azbats lets Abattoir (google him; freaky dude) fall into a vat of molten metal to his death. Like he didn’t even actively do anything to him; he just thought too long about whether he should save him or not and the dude fell. In any other story, Azrael would probably be the hero. Abattoir is weird gross serial killer who people are not sorry to see go. But in order to make what Azrael did unambiguously wrong, they have to add the part where Abattoir’s death results in one of his victims dying a slow, horrible death because the police had no way to find his secret torture chamber. If even the text can’t make the case for its own moral stance, it’s ridiculous to expect the audience to buy into it unquestionably.

As a dedicated Jason Todd wife, I spend a fair amount of time wondering whether Jim Starlin’s portrayal of Jason as “unlikeable” being unintentionally sympathetic was an intentional attempt at nuance or just shitty writing. Like did Starlin honestly think having Jason maybe push an unrepentant serial rapist off the roof would make people dislike him? Did it actually work!?  This storyline ends when Felipe Garzona’s father coming to Gotham and kidnapping Commissioner Gordon and he wanted to kill Batman and Robin or something. Blah blah blah, guy gets crushed under some cars, Batman explains to Robin that his actions have Consequences (title drop), and Jason learns his lesson.  But what was the lesson? The lesson wasn’t “killing people is wrong” The lesson was “next time you push a guy off a roof, prepare ahead of time for the person who is going to come after you for it”. If Felipe Garzonas had been some dude nobody cared about instead of a diplomat’s son, everything would’ve been fine I guess.

I’ve seen people claim that Batman doesn’t kill because he has some fundamental philosophical objection to taking a life. Some writers try to write him that way. But that is BS. He works with the cops and they kill people all the time. He’s subservient to a criminal justice system that executes people and a government that kills people through military operations. He seems pretty okay with all that. Batman doesn’t kill criminals because he sees it as the point of no return re: fascism. Because if he makes a mistake he can’t undo it and he doesn’t think he should have that level of authority. That’s fine. But the whole issue is often framed like it’s something that it’s not.

And there is a character in the universe that is actually anti-killing: Cassandra Cain. Anyone else remember the Batgirl issue where Cassandra Cain kidnaps a murderer about to be executed because she just that dedicated to the principles of not killing people? And then the mother of the killer’s victim tells her that the fact that people can change doesn’t un-murder her child. And that’s somehow a convincing argument against not wanting to kill people? I’m not saying I dislike this issue. It’s much more about Cassandra’s personal relationship to her past than it is about capital punishment. All I’m saying is if there was somehow a plot where Cassandra says “Batman, why are supporting systems that murder people? Shouldn’t we be trying to save lives?” I would be 110% on-board. Because Cassandra actually is what we’re supposed to pretend all the other superheroes are. She doesn’t kill because she has an actual moral objection to taking a human life. It’s not because you can’t question a dead person, or because the dead person’s family will be sad, or because she might make a mistake and kill an undercover cop.  It’s because she has seen and felt the fear and suffering of a dying person and it is wrong. It’s on argument based entirely on empathy, which---imo—is all you need.

Now does it bother me that Batman doesn’t practice Cassandra Cain’s radical empathy? Not at all. But as someone who actually is a bleeding heart anti-death penalty pacifist liberal pansy, I take exception to a comic pretending it’s making a moral argument that it isn’t in the same way I object to “I don’t not like capital punishment—but I don’t mind it happening to [insert specific reprehensible person here]” (protip: then you are pro death penalty). This is especially true in a world where I’m feeling increasingly like I’m being vilified for not wanting X despicable person to be dead and I see people consistently have to justify the position with some retributive justice nonsense like “I want them to suffer in prison instead.” But enough with my semi-related pet peeves…

Look comics, we all know that it’s actually because you don’t want to constantly be killing off recurring a villain characters. That’s why comic adaptations get away with it all the time.  You don’t have to cynically have writers preach a message they don’t really believe in to an audience that also doesn’t really believe in it. Just be real, dawgs. Not that I’m reading many comics these days…I’m just saying.

[readbookywooks]

I was soon introduced into the presence of the magistrate, an old benevolent man with calm and mild manners. He looked upon me, however, with some degree of severity, and then, turning towards my conductors, he asked who appeared as witnesses on this occasion. About half a dozen men came forward; and, one being selected by the magistrate, he deposed that he had been out fishing the night before with his son and brother-in-law, Daniel Nugent, when, about ten o'clock, they observed a strong northerly blast rising, and they accordingly put in for port. It was a very dark night, as the moon had not yet risen; they did not land at the harbour, but, as they had been accustomed, at a creek about two miles below. He walked on first, carrying a part of the fishing tackle, and his companions followed him at some distance. As he was proceeding along the sands, he struck his foot against something and fell at his length on the ground. His companions came up to assist him, and by the light of their lantern they found that he had fallen on the body of a man, who was to all appearance dead. Their first supposition was that it was the corpse of some person who had been drowned and was thrown on shore by the waves, but on examination they found that the clothes were not wet and even that the body was not then cold. They instantly carried it to the cottage of an old woman near the spot and endeavoured, but in vain, to restore it to life. It appeared to be a handsome young man, about five and twenty years of age. He had apparently been strangled, for there was no sign of any violence except the black mark of fingers on his neck. The first part of this deposition did not in the least interest me, but when the mark of the fingers was mentioned I remembered the murder of my brother and felt myself extremely agitated; my limbs trembled, and a mist came over my eyes, which obliged me to lean on a chair for support. The magistrate observed me with a keen eye and of course drew an unfavourable augury from my manner. The son confirmed his father's account, but when Daniel Nugent was called he swore positively that just before the fall of his companion, he saw a boat, with a single man in it, at a short distance from the shore; and as far as he could judge by the light of a few stars, it was the same boat in which I had just landed. A woman deposed that she lived near the beach and was standing at the door of her cottage, waiting for the return of the fishermen, about an hour before she heard of the discovery of the body, when she saw a boat with only one man in it push off from that part of the shore where the corpse was afterwards found. Another woman confirmed the account of the fishermen having brought the body into her house; it was not cold. They put it into a bed and rubbed it, and Daniel went to the town for an apothecary, but life was quite gone. Several other men were examined concerning my landing, and they agreed that, with the strong north wind that had arisen during the night, it was very probable that I had beaten about for many hours and had been obliged to return nearly to the same spot from which I had departed. Besides, they observed that it appeared that I had brought the body from another place, and it was likely that as I did not appear to know the shore, I might have put into the harbour ignorant of the distance of the town of - - from the place where I had deposited the corpse. Mr. Kirwin, on hearing this evidence, desired that I should be taken into the room where the body lay for interment, that it might be observed what effect the sight of it would produce upon me. This idea was probably suggested by the extreme agitation I had exhibited when the mode of the murder had been described. I was accordingly conducted, by the magistrate and several other persons, to the inn. I could not help being struck by the strange coincidences that had taken place during this eventful night; but, knowing that I had been conversing with several persons in the island I had inhabited about the time that the body had been found, I was perfectly tranquil as to the consequences of the affair. I entered the room where the corpse lay and was led up to the coffin. How can I describe my sensations on beholding it? I feel yet parched with horror, nor can I reflect on that terrible moment without shuddering and agony. The examination, the presence of the magistrate and witnesses, passed like a dream from my memory when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched before me. I gasped for breath, and throwing myself on the body, I exclaimed, "Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims await their destiny; but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor - " The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions. A fever succeeded to this. I lay for two months on the point of death; my ravings, as I afterwards heard, were frightful; I called myself the murderer of William, of Justine, and of Clerval. Sometimes I entreated my attendants to assist me in the destruction of the fiend by whom I was tormented; and at others I felt the fingers of the monster already grasping my neck, and screamed aloud with agony and terror. Fortunately, as I spoke my native language, Mr. Kirwin alone understood me; but my gestures and bitter cries were sufficient to affright the other witnesses. Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents; how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb! Of what materials was I made that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture? But I was doomed to live and in two months found myself as awaking from a dream, in a prison, stretched on a wretched bed, surrounded by jailers, turnkeys, bolts, and all the miserable apparatus of a dungeon. It was morning, I remember, when I thus awoke to understanding; I had forgotten the particulars of what had happened and only felt as if some great misfortune had suddenly overwhelmed me; but when I looked around and saw the barred windows and the squalidness of the room in which I was, all flashed across my memory and I groaned bitterly. This sound disturbed an old woman who was sleeping in a chair beside me. She was a hired nurse, the wife of one of the turnkeys, and her countenance expressed all those bad qualities which often characterize that class. The lines of her face were hard and rude, like that of persons accustomed to see without sympathizing in sights of misery. Her tone expressed her entire indifference; she addressed me in English, and the voice struck me as one that I had heard during my sufferings. "Are you better now, sir?" said she. I replied in the same language, with a feeble voice, "I believe I am; but if it be all true, if indeed I did not dream, I am sorry that I am still alive to feel this misery and horror." "For that matter," replied the old woman, "if you mean about the gentleman you murdered, I believe that it were better for you if you were dead, for I fancy it will go hard with you! However, that's none of my business; I am sent to nurse you and get you well; I do my duty with a safe conscience; it were well if everybody did the same." I turned with loathing from the woman who could utter so unfeeling a speech to a person just saved, on the very edge of death; but I felt languid and unable to reflect on all that had passed. The whole series of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality. As the images that floated before me became more distinct, I grew feverish; a darkness pressed around me; no one was near me who soothed me with the gentle voice of love; no dear hand supported me. The physician came and prescribed medicines, and the old woman prepared them for me; but utter carelessness was visible in the first, and the expression of brutality was strongly marked in the visage of the second. Who could be interested in the fate of a murderer but the hangman who would gain his fee? These were my first reflections, but I soon learned that Mr. Kirwin had shown me extreme kindness. He had caused the best room in the prison to be prepared for me (wretched indeed was the best); and it was he who had provided a physician and a nurse. It is true, he seldom came to see me, for although he ardently desired to relieve the sufferings of every human creature, he did not wish to be present at the agonies and miserable ravings of a murderer. He came, therefore, sometimes to see that I was not neglected, but his visits were short and with long intervals. One day, while I was gradually recovering, I was seated in a chair, my eyes half open and my cheeks livid like those in death. I was overcome by gloom and misery and often reflected I had better seek death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with wretchedness. At one time I considered whether I should not declare myself guilty and suffer the penalty of the law, less innocent than poor Justine had been. Such were my thoughts when the door of my apartment was opened and Mr. Kirwin entered. His countenance expressed sympathy and compassion; he drew a chair close to mine and addressed me in French, "I fear that this place is very shocking to you; can I do anything to make you more comfortable?" "I thank you, but all that you mention is nothing to me; on the whole earth there is no comfort which I am capable of receiving." "I know that the sympathy of a stranger can be but of little relief to one borne down as you are by so strange a misfortune. But you will, I hope, soon quit this melancholy abode, for doubtless evidence can easily be brought to free you from the criminal charge." "That is my least concern; I am, by a course of strange events, become the most miserable of mortals. Persecuted and tortured as I am and have been, can death be any evil to me?" "Nothing indeed could be more unfortunate and agonizing than the strange chances that have lately occurred. You were thrown, by some surprising accident, on this shore, renowned for its hospitality, seized immediately, and charged with murder. The first sight that was presented to your eyes was the body of your friend, murdered in so unaccountable a manner and placed, as it were, by some fiend across your path." As Mr. Kirwin said this, notwithstanding the agitation I endured on this retrospect of my sufferings, I also felt considerable surprise at the knowledge he seemed to possess concerning me. I suppose some astonishment was exhibited in my countenance, for Mr. Kirwin hastened to say, "Immediately upon your being taken ill, all the papers that were on your person were brought me, and I examined them that I might discover some trace by which I could send to your relations an account of your misfortune and illness. I found several letters, and, among others, one which I discovered from its commencement to be from your father. I instantly wrote to Geneva; nearly two months have elapsed since the departure of my letter. But you are ill; even now you tremble; you are unfit for agitation of any kind." "This suspense is a thousand times worse than the most horrible event; tell me what new scene of death has been acted, and whose murder I am now to lament?" "Your family is perfectly well," said Mr. Kirwin with gentleness; "and someone, a friend, is come to visit you." I know not by what chain of thought the idea presented itself, but it instantly darted into my mind that the murderer had come to mock at my misery and taunt me with the death of Clerval, as a new incitement for me to comply with his hellish desires. I put my hand before my eyes, and cried out in agony, "Oh! Take him away! I cannot see him; for God's sake, do not let him enter!" Mr. Kirwin regarded me with a troubled countenance. He could not help regarding my exclamation as a presumption of my guilt and said in rather a severe tone, "I should have thought, young man, that the presence of your father would have been welcome instead of inspiring such violent repugnance." "My father!" cried I, while every feature and every muscle was relaxed from anguish to pleasure. "Is my father indeed come? How kind, how very kind! But where is he, why does he not hasten to me?" My change of manner surprised and pleased the magistrate; perhaps he thought that my former exclamation was a momentary return of delirium, and now he instantly resumed his former benevolence. He rose and quitted the room with my nurse, and in a moment my father entered it. Nothing, at this moment, could have given me greater pleasure than the arrival of my father. I stretched out my hand to him and cried, "Are you, then, safe - and Elizabeth - and Ernest?" My father calmed me with assurances of their welfare and endeavoured, by dwelling on these subjects so interesting to my heart, to raise my desponding spirits; but he soon felt that a prison cannot be the abode of cheerfulness. "What a place is this that you inhabit, my son!" said he, looking mournfully at the barred windows and wretched appearance of the room. "You travelled to seek happiness, but a fatality seems to pursue you. And poor Clerval - " The name of my unfortunate and murdered friend was an agitation too great to be endured in my weak state; I shed tears. "Alas! Yes, my father," replied I; "some destiny of the most horrible kind hangs over me, and I must live to fulfil it, or surely I should have died on the coffin of Henry." We were not allowed to converse for any length of time, for the precarious state of my health rendered every precaution necessary that could ensure tranquillity. Mr. Kirwin came in and insisted that my strength should not be exhausted by too much exertion. But the appearance of my father was to me like that of my good angel, and I gradually recovered my health. As my sickness quitted me, I was absorbed by a gloomy and black melancholy that nothing could dissipate. The image of Clerval was forever before me, ghastly and murdered. More than once the agitation into which these reflections threw me made my friends dread a dangerous relapse. Alas! Why did they preserve so miserable and detested a life? It was surely that I might fulfil my destiny, which is now drawing to a close. Soon, oh, very soon, will death extinguish these throbbings and relieve me from the mighty weight of anguish that bears me to the dust; and, in executing the award of justice, I shall also sink to rest. Then the appearance of death was distant, although the wish was ever present to my thoughts; and I often sat for hours motionless and speechless, wishing for some mighty revolution that might bury me and my destroyer in its ruins. The season of the assizes approached. I had already been three months in prison, and although I was still weak and in continual danger of a relapse, I was obliged to travel nearly a hundred miles to the country town where the court was held. Mr. Kirwin charged himself with every care of collecting witnesses and arranging my defence. I was spared the disgrace of appearing publicly as a criminal, as the case was not brought before the court that decides on life and death. The grand jury rejected the bill, on its being proved that I was on the Orkney Islands at the hour the body of my friend was found; and a fortnight after my removal I was liberated from prison. My father was enraptured on finding me freed from the vexations of a criminal charge, that I was again allowed to breathe the fresh atmosphere and permitted to return to my native country. I did not participate in these feelings, for to me the walls of a dungeon or a palace were alike hateful. The cup of life was poisoned forever, and although the sun shone upon me, as upon the happy and gay of heart, I saw around me nothing but a dense and frightful darkness, penetrated by no light but the glimmer of two eyes that glared upon me. Sometimes they were the expressive eyes of Henry, languishing in death, the dark orbs nearly covered by the lids and the long black lashes that fringed them; sometimes it was the watery, clouded eyes of the monster, as I first saw them in my chamber at Ingolstadt. My father tried to awaken in me the feelings of affection. He talked of Geneva, which I should soon visit, of Elizabeth and Ernest; but these words only drew deep groans from me. Sometimes, indeed, I felt a wish for happiness and thought with melancholy delight of my beloved cousin or longed, with a devouring maladie du pays, to see once more the blue lake and rapid Rhone, that had been so dear to me in early childhood; but my general state of feeling was a torpor in which a prison was as welcome a residence as the divinest scene in nature; and these fits were seldom interrupted but by paroxysms of anguish and despair. At these moments I often endeavoured to put an end to the existence I loathed, and it required unceasing attendance and vigilance to restrain me from committing some dreadful act of violence. Yet one duty remained to me, the recollection of which finally triumphed over my selfish despair. It was necessary that I should return without delay to Geneva, there to watch over the lives of those I so fondly loved and to lie in wait for the murderer, that if any chance led me to the place of his concealment, or if he dared again to blast me by his presence, I might, with unfailing aim, put an end to the existence of the monstrous image which I had endued with the mockery of a soul still more monstrous. My father still desired to delay our departure, fearful that I could not sustain the fatigues of a journey, for I was a shattered wreck - the shadow of a human being. My strength was gone. I was a mere skeleton, and fever night and day preyed upon my wasted frame. Still, as I urged our leaving Ireland with such inquietude and impatience, my father thought it best to yield. We took our passage on board a vessel bound for Havre-de-Grace and sailed with a fair wind from the Irish shores. It was midnight. I lay on the deck looking at the stars and listening to the dashing of the waves. I hailed the darkness that shut Ireland from my sight, and my pulse beat with a feverish joy when I reflected that I should soon see Geneva. The past appeared to me in the light of a frightful dream; yet the vessel in which I was, the wind that blew me from the detested shore of Ireland, and the sea which surrounded me told me too forcibly that I was deceived by no vision and that Clerval, my friend and dearest companion, had fallen a victim to me and the monster of my creation. I repassed, in my memory, my whole life - my quiet happiness while residing with my family in Geneva, the death of my mother, and my departure for Ingolstadt. I remembered, shuddering, the mad enthusiasm that hurried me on to the creation of my hideous enemy, and I called to mind the night in which he first lived. I was unable to pursue the train of thought; a thousand feelings pressed upon me, and I wept bitterly. Ever since my recovery from the fever I had been in the custom of taking every night a small quantity of laudanum, for it was by means of this drug only that I was enabled to gain the rest necessary for the preservation of life. Oppressed by the recollection of my various misfortunes, I now swallowed double my usual quantity and soon slept profoundly. But sleep did not afford me respite from thought and misery; my dreams presented a thousand objects that scared me. Towards morning I was possessed by a kind of nightmare; I felt the fiend's grasp in my neck and could not free myself from it; groans and cries rang in my ears. My father, who was watching over me, perceiving my restlessness, awoke me; the dashing waves were around, the cloudy sky above, the fiend was not here: a sense of security, a feeling that a truce was established between the present hour and the irresistible, disastrous future imparted to me a kind of calm forgetfulness, of which the human mind is by its structure peculiarly susceptible.

[dixonministry]

If I Ruled The World

The world would be quite a bit different if I were its supreme dictator. Oh yes, I am in favor of a dictatorship, as long as that dictator is me! And here's how it would go. 

A few disclaimers before we begin: 1) Keep your expectations low when you read this. You won’t like everything I list but you won’t hate it all either. This is due to me being neither a liberal or a conservative solely but rather bits and pieces of each. 2) I am making this rant for my own entertainment and the entertainment of the few people who enjoy it when I rant. I am not making this in hopes of starting a debate on what is right or wrong, stupid or smart. If I sound like an idiot to you, cool. Let me sound like an idiot in peace! With that said, keep your lame ass argumentative comments out of my inbox. Thanks. Ok on with the rant!

First of all, I'd have to setup a single worldwide government. The current rulers of all current nations would become representatives of their respective countries on my World Senate. Of course, being a dictator I don't really need a Senate, but it's nice to have. As long as they know that anything they decide can get shit-canned by me, then it's all good. Not Bush though. And definitely not T.rump. I would pass a law that no-one in the Bush/T.rump family is ever allowed to enter politics ever again. I'd make 0bama the President again so he could be the American Senator, cuz I liked him.  It goes without saying that I'd first pass all sorts of Youth Rights laws. Every age-based law would be abolished and replaced by laws that actually make sense. For example, the driving age would get axed and be replaced by a more rigorous driving test. In fact, we have way too many stupid drivers out there as it is, so the WHOLE driving test would have to be retaken by everyone. I would bring back beheading as the favorite execution style. Lethal Injections are for pussies. What the fuck is scary about getting a shot that puts you to sleep? Fuck no, if you did something bad enough that you deserve to die, you're gonna lose your head, bitch! Murderers get the death penalty, period. No life imprisonments for assholes who kill people. You kill someone, you die, that's all. (Note: DP would however only occur with a substantial amount of concrete evidence) Rapists get the death penalty. If she said no, then it's NO, motherfucker.  If you beat your kids, you get put in chains in the middle of Times Square and people can pay $1 for one punch or kick. The beatings stop when someone draws blood (cuz we don't wanna kill your ass). On the 3rd offense, an angry mob gets to beat your ass into a coma. If you come out of it, your kids can decide whether you should live or die. If you molest a kid, whatever part of your body touched them gets painted with acid. Then you go to the chopping block! If you steal from someone, you lose your rights and freedom for 1 year and become your victim's endentured servant. On the 3rd offense, you will work until you have paid for 10 times the value of the item stolen or for 5 years, whichever comes first. Marijuana is legal in Salt’s World. It will be tightly regulated and heavily taxed, because if you're gonna be a pothead, you're gonna fucking pay for it. Growing your own shit or selling it without a license will be considered stealing from the government and you get the punishment for theft (see above). Drunk drivers get no chances. First offense of drunk driving means you lose your license for life, in theory. I say "in theory" because it will work sort of like a life sentence in prison works. You can be brought up for "parole" and a committee will assess whether you deserve to get your license back. Such assessments will occur once every 10 years. If you beat your wife, I annul your marriage and place a restraining order against you. I don't care if she gives me that brainwashed crying bullshit "but he loves me, he didn't mean it, really he doesn't abuse me." You hit her, you lose her, and that's final. I will have my government scientists figure out an alternative to abortion that everyone can live with. Preferably, I'd like to see us be able to remove an embryo and continue to grow it in a lab. People who're trying to adopt always want babies and they always have to wait years for one. Not anymore. Furthermore, it seems that adoption is frowned upon due to it being so difficult to get approved and those who do get approved have a predisposition for choosing pretty, white INFANTS. Under my control, a new process will be drawn up to make it not only easier to adopt regardless of sexuality, marital status, etc but make it so that people don’t get to “select” which child they want. First come, first given, end of story. If you really want a child, you wouldn’t be that gdamn picky anyway. If you don’t want your child, that’s fine and well. We will literally take it out of your stomach (same concept as aborting) and grow it for you. Real abortions will only be allowed if a health risk to either mother or child comes up. This is how I would attempt to find middle ground, a compromise if you will. My government will fund cloning research. I want to be able to clone stem cells and body parts. If this can be done, maybe sick and dying patients won't have to wait year after year for suitable donors. In a world where everyone is part of the same government, there's not much need for massive armies. A global police force will be instituted as the next step above Federal officers. So, it would go, local cops, state cops, federal cops, global cops. Without an army to feed, clothe, etc. a shitload of money would be freed up to make people's lives better. There won't be anymore fucking hunger in my world. Every single farm worldwide will be required by law to give 5% of their yearly output to the government for distribution to the poor. They will, of course, receive a humongous tax break for doing this and any farm that voluntarily gives in excess of 15% will pay no taxes at all. Yes, I know this will make the cost of food rise globally. Too bad. You pay a dollar more for your T-bone and you can just cry about it, but at least some little Ethiopian can have some fucking potatoes that night. And in retrospect, under my administration, the percentage of poor people in the world should lower dramatically if not disappear altogether if you play your cards right. But until this global shitshow is corrected, that’s what would have to happen. Medicine will no longer be big business. All wealthy citizens under my rule will see a tax increase, which will pay for everyone's healthcare. No more private insurance companies, it's going government-issue, baby! And, by the way, under my rule the words "government issue" won't be a synonym for "piss poor." No one should be groaning about this because the minimum wage will also see an increase to an actual living wage proportional to the cost of living that will make workers and their families happy and also boost consumer sales, thus increasing the profits of businesses everywhere. The lack of insurance plans employers now have to provide for their employees will free up some of that extra cash. We're dismantling nuclear weapons and using their radioactive components as fuel. What the fuck do we need nukes for when all the world is united under one government? I will pass a law stating once and for all that all sentient life on this planet is entitled to equal treatment and protection under the law and that no law may be passed which contradicts this. Gay marriage: Legal. If you file a stupid lawsuit, we throw you in jail for 3 months. This includes suing the tobacco industry when you're the one who lit up 50 times a day for 30 years, moron. You also can't sue because you're fat. Watch what you eat and exercise if it bothers you so much! I will force Microsoft, Apple, and all those Google people to work together and create "The Uber OS." It'll run Windows programs and Mac programs (all versions) and Google programs (all flavors). All the drivers will work interchangeably. They will all be told that if the OS ever crashes, they each lose a family member! Mwahahahahaha. (kidding obvs). Every citizen will be allowed to carry a sidearm, as long as the sidearm is worn in plain view (like the old west). Every citizen carrying a gun had better remember the price they'll pay for murder. Unless it's self defense or defense of another's life, don't pull that gun! Significant resources will be diverted to build subway systems. City-wide, State-wide, Nation-wide, and World-wide systems will be built. Any system that is Interstate or beyond must be supersonic. The World-wide system must reach speeds of Mach 2 or greater (don't try standing up on the train, bitch!). The purpose of this subway network will not only be to facilitate free travel across the globe, but also to provide countless millions of new jobs that should adequately handle our planet's homelessness and unemployment problems. I should've mentioned taxes earlier, but here it is. The worldwide tax brackets will be as follows: everyone making 10k or less will owe 12% (you can omit the extra 2% with a financial hardship exemption form but it should be noted that no full-time adult worker should be making that much under my leadership so this should be doable without a person’s quality of life taking a hit), everyone making between 10,001-99,999 will owe 15%, everyone making $100k-$200k will owe 30%. Everyone over 200k will owe 50%. Surely you don't think the money for all these great improvements is just gonna fall from the sky? Recycling will become mandatory. We throw away far too much shit. Why chop down a rainforest when there's enough paper in a city dump to fill a library 10 times over?! We will also have to become far less dependent on fossil fuels. I'll work out a timetable for eventually outlawing fossil fuels in favor of electric, solar, and nuclear power. Go back to that city dump and imagine how many atoms are sitting their going to waste when we could be smashing them and reaping the benefits. Prison overcrowding? No problem! Legalizing weed and making drugs a medical issue instead of a criminal one should take care of this problem for the most part and as for the rest, well, Antarctica is just sitting there not doing a damn thing, it's time we put it to use. Remember the penal colony "Rura Penthe" from Star Trek VI? Yup, it'll be something like that. No guard towers, no fence, nothing. If you wanna escape, go ahead. You'll just freeze to death, idiot. Otherwise, you'll stay right there in prison and serve out your sentence. Imagine how many new jobs a prison that size will create? And the cost of feeding them will be negligible. They'll have giant heated greenhouses for growing everything they eat. They don't work to grow it, they don't eat. In other words, a prison sentence means you serve your time as a farmer in the middle of frozen fucking nowhere. Jon Stewart will be appointed as my press secretary. At least all my press releases will have the whole world laughing their asses off. Minimum Wage will be increased to $12.50/hr. I think Ronald McDonald can afford to buy used overhauls for a while so that his employees don't have to shop at the Salvation Army. Corruption in government would be gone. No one is allowed to spend more than $500 on their election campaigns. They can put up a fucking website and do grassroots shit. That way there's no big corporate donations and shit to deal with. Plus, politicians are gonna become like preachers: We give them a place to live and a minimal salary, that's it. No big bucks, no fancy cars, nothing. It's not gonna be about the money. All the money we cut from politicians can go to teachers, cops, firemen, etc. Y'know, the government employees who actually fucking DO something worthwhile and give back to society. Pro Athletes get capped at $90,000/yr. None of this being a rich bastard because you play a fucking game. Maybe then, only people who LOVE the sport and DON'T corrupt it will find their way in. Just like with the politicians, when it's not about the money only people who actually give a fuck will want the job. Ninety grand a year is still a damn good salary. It's not like they'll be poor. The RIAA and MPAA will be told once and for all to shut the fuck up about Peer-to-Peer. They should've jumped on the bandwagon when it got rolling, now they can just suck it up. By the way, musicians and actors are capped at $60,000/yr. They can still have the royalties on their music, movies, concerts, commercial deals, etc. Wouldn't be fair to take that away from them. However, the industry will still be encouraged to develop better copyright protection methods so that all the true geeks can still enjoy the immense thrill of breaking a copyright protection scheme only days after it's implemented. They've gotta have something to do on a dateless Saturday night. Wouldn't want to rob them of that. We'll be having a government-sponsored betting pool on how long it takes the industry to figure out that copyright protection is fucking useless (they spend years developing some new state-of-the-art system and once it's released, a 13yo breaks it in 2 days... get a clue). SPAM will be made illegal! The punishment for spamming is 5 years in the Antarctic Prison Colony! I think that just about covers the basics. Of course, I could probably go on all fucking night with this shit, but if I kept going I'd never get this rant posted. Just know that there's like a billion more cool things I'd do. I might just have to make a sequel to this rant. Until then....... Salt for president 2020.