#and that is illegal in germany so yeah

[hanarchy]

i ordered take out for 20 bucks and got delivered a 80€ sushi order instead AND got a refund now

[barksbog]

i know i don't talk much about my pets (who aren't leon) here but after keeping reptiles and amphibians for a decade i might finally get into breeding them and i'm so excited!!

[bunny-banana]

firmly convinced the whole Button House unit was generally Aware of the particular vibes between their commanding officers but nobody could be arse to care about that frankly.

so maybe it is technically illegal, okay, but tonight is Cocktail Society night so that's actually more important at the moment.

And yeah they'll do their duty and eventually report them alright. just.. next week they're playing the RAF lads in cricket and they really do need both Havers' talent and the Captain as referee and, and also!! Nazi Germany is advancing so we honestly have bigger fish to fry here anyway

[alpaca-clouds]

I learned an important lesson yesterday: Lawyers are fucking magic. They wave their "make your problems go away" stick and your problems go away.

It turns out that the family of one of my work colleagues entirely works in medical law. So, I talked with them on the phone yesterday. And in the end his dad called the hospital yesterday in the afternoon. And he was just like: "Gentle reminder: Not treating your patients is in fact illegal. If it turns out your diagnosis is wrong and you hence treated it wrongly, there is no fault. But if you have a diagnosis and do not treat it, that is actually malpractice. Do you need this in writing or will this phone call surfice?" And I kid you not, 15 minutes later I finally got the corticoids I have been trying to get for 8 fucking weeks.

Moral of the story: I will get myself legal insurance now. Because it allows me the ability to go: "I will call my lawyer."

In Germany there is the saying: "There is a difference between having a legal right and being able to use a legal right." And I am afraid this difference is called having a fucking lawyer.

And given how many times some companies already pulled shit like: "You gotta pay XYZ" because they know that a lot of people will simply pay up... Yeah... I so far always took myself a lawyer, who then just replied: "No, I do not think my client will pay that." To which the companies would always react with: "Oh. Okay. I guess."

There was a case once where one of my phone providers suddenly came out of nowhere like: "Oh, you did not properly end our contract with us. Now pay up 3000€ for the last three years." And I had the presence of mind to just go to a lawyer. And the lawyer was like: "I do not think my client will pay it. But we will be kind and pay for six months, which would be 120€." And the phone provider was liek: "Oh. Oh. Yeah. Uhm... That is fair."

[moonmoonthecrabking]

🐺haicofalltime Follow

i can't believe that some beings think it's okay for monsters to hide their monster identity. it's 2024. GROW UP.

💋bloodsuckermarkzucker Follow

are you serious? actually? what goes on in your brain? has transforming into a wolf every month made you dumb like an animal? for one, i know witches who remember the witch hunts. so many people in the vampire community have experienced fetishization and expected they'd die by stake and not sun. second, some of us weren't born monsters and live in human families. monsterphobic families. i have, personally, moved in with human roommates thanks to college and lied about who i am so they didn't stake me. and don't even get me started on anti-monster (particularly anti-vampire and anti-succubus/incubus) legislation. what are you on?

🌑mysteriousasacoursingriver Follow

move out then. it's dangerous for humans to live with beings who can kill them.

🧜🏾‍♀️screamsingsaltwater Follow

fucking land, humans aren't alwasy victims of monsters???? not all monsters are dangerous??? loving the demonisation of monsters and infantilization of humans. and some people are alienated from monster communities. stop being an ableist separatist wolfie.

🎟bubblegumbittytitch Follow

and, again, SO many monsterphobic laws. even in the us, vampires can get imprisoned in penitentiaries with forced sun exposure if they're caught as anything other than a model minority. fae in singapore are tested with iron before entering the workplace every day. at best, our human (and some monster) co-workers ignore us and make "subtle" digs. at worst, our employers look for reasons to fire and report us to the law. and those are better countries. have you travelled to germany recently as anything other than human? if you're not a prepared liar, or crossed the border illegally, you can't.

🐺haicofalltime Follow

wow. love the use of an anti-werewolf slur. especially from a moby who doesn't even get hunted.

🧜🏾‍♀️screamsingsaltwater Follow

sorry, didn't know w****** was a slur. that was uncalled for, but you're a hypocrite. don't call any sea-dweller a moby unless that's their name or you have express consent (bewitching doesn't count).

mermaids??? get hunted??? like constantly??? that's been a defining stereotype in human media??? and yeah, stereotypes are bad, but that one is kinda true

🎆shineyourshoeswipeyour-face Follow

a reminder that the block button is free!!! so many people in this thread are not worth it!!! (particularly op, she believes vampires should ("deserve to") die if they can't drink ethically sourced blood)

👗humanminorityontumblr Follow

okay but now i kinda lowkey want a fic about two monsters pretending to be human in front of each other............

[crplpunkklavier]

there is something to be said about how i really barely feel disabled anymore once i'm in a truly accessible space. because the space is no longer disabling me.

so, we went to see the @montereybayaquarium for our honeymoon. we didn't make it through the whole aquarium on our first day, so we went twice. on day 1, i came to the ticket desk with my cane and said i'd like to have a wheelchair. on day 2, i didn't bring my cane, and once again requested a wheelchair. there was absolutely no difference in the employees' reactions: i didn't have to ~look disabled~ to be immediately met with a nod, and a wheelchair that 1) was my size and 2) i was able to move myself.

this is going to seem like a list of things that clear a very low bar, and i suppose it is. but i have been to bookfairs that attempted to take my cane from me because they didn't believe me i needed it, as if cane users carry cane prescriptions around with them (NOT A THING.), and who only let up when my friends and i explained to them (not reminded. explained) that what they were doing was illegal. the cologne zoo only has visitor wheelchairs that can be pushed by a companion, not wheeled by the user themselves. the art museum needs me to bring my own. so, you see where i'm coming from.

the aquarium was fully accessible. (at least for me as an ambulatory wheelchair user - i of course can't speak for people with different disabilities.) there was no exhibit i was cut off from by stairs, because all of them either had reasonable ramps (not too steep), or elevators that were quick and roomy enough not to make me feel like i was missing out. every exhibit was at a height/level that someone sitting down could still see. some of the active touch exhibits (like getting to pet certain animals or feel kelp) were trickier, but staff always came forth unprompted to ask me (not forcibly, just ask) if i could reach everything okay, and if i couldn't, they leaned down and over to help me get where i wanted. there was a walk-through bird enclosure where a staff person followed us, and explained that the doors need to open and close somewhat quickly, so she'll just stay around us while we're there, and as soon as i'm ready to exit through the door i was to let her know. she was fully in the background while we were in there, and at no point did i feel like i was under any pressure to get out soon, or like i was inconveniencing her.

literally the only difficult thing about going through the aquarium with a wheelchair was that at the very end of the day we weren't entirely sure where to give it back. the only difficult thing about going through the monterey bay aquarium with a wheelchair was getting rid of the wheelchair!

am i just advertising the monterey bay aquarium in this post? maybe. yeah. they're good in general and i'll give them as many free ads as i want. they were just also a really good example for accessibility that made me feel like a completely normal aquarium visitor. like i wasn't disabled, because the place enabled me to visit it.

and it's on my mind now that i'm back home in germany, because yesterday i had to take a train from a station that had me crawl up 4 flights of stairs with a cane and a suitcase around crowds of people that didn't help. and it wasn't that the elevator was broken or anything. it's that plenty of train stations even in large cities like cologne simply are not accessible for anyone who can't climb stairs.

and the aquarium was a good example for how it's not just things like ramps and available wheelchairs that are necessary, but how their staff also clearly knew what they were doing. there is an etiquette to learn for people who had never worked with disability before (you will at some point!), and they'd learned it. my needs never stumped them. and i got to spend my honeymoon feeling like an easy customer and only ever weeping because i got to see the ocean.

[fairuzfan]

The problem with the Schengen discussion is that everyone (Europeans) are taught the benefits and only the benefits of it and don't really realise the downsides of it until something like a genocide witness gets blocked and barred in a single airport with no way to go anywhere. And even then the extent of such a ban isn't realised. What isn't realised is that the great freedom of movement they have also has the ability to become the greatest blockade for those who can't apply themselves to the privilege of being a European citizen BECAUSE the European countries have decided that they have shared autonomy on the topic and no more national sovereignty.

Something Americans understand very well if you view the EU (and the Schengen, which isn't the EU but covers it and more) as the federal government and the member states (countries) as the states of America. States/countries need to give up their authority/sovereignty. So that argument someone made is invalid as well.

It is in the same way that 'Brits being baffled' at how many 'privileges' they lost was because the same Brits voted for more autonomy on the entry of refugees. Supporting my earlier point that people are simply not understanding the two sides of a coin that their rights and privileges come with.

Not an EU-hater and I am happy for the Schengen Agreement (treaty) to exist, but it does stand for some criticism.

I hope Ghassan Abu Sitta manages to leave the airport and the country and isn't forced to be stuck like Mehran Karimi Nasseri for eleven years (at the same airport even!!! For shame!)

Yeah, I was thinking that this sounds like a federal system vs a state system in which the state can decide the federal system laws. Like in the case of for example, Alabama, just because Alabama made abortion illegal does not mean it imposes their laws onto other states.

But in this case, the country does not give up authority to the larger Schengen agreement, which is why that's so odd to me. Maybe this is because I grew up in the US but the idea that one country can enforce onto other countries different rules by enacting a rule within that country, seems so odd to me. Maybe that's an oversimplification, relating it to US states? I don't especially care either way, its not an area of interest beyond the enforcement of colonialism that has occurred within the last few decades (remember, the Mediterranean is a mass grave because so many European countries refused to accept refugees), but it's a viewpoint of someone from outside Schengen looking in, considering the political histories of these individual countries and how none of them, including Germany, really reckoned with their hateful pasts.

[stephensmithuk]

The Boer War (1899-1902)

If the 1897 Diamond Jubilee is seen as the zenith of the British Empire, the Boer War is arguably the start of its collapse.

There are two conflicts with the name "Boer War", of which the second is by far the better known.

"Boer" is Afrikaans for farmer. The two wars are known as "the Freedom Wars" in the Afrikaans language and "the South African War" in the country itself.

More specifically, the Boers were Dutch farmers who emigrated from the Dutch and then British-controlled Cape Colony north and east into the Transvaal region that is now north-east South Africa, to get away from what they saw as an oppressive government. As well as the fact that the British abolished slavery, which they wanted to keep. So yeah. They were more specifically known as "Trekboers" or travelling farmers. Trek is of course where we get the term Star Trek from.

The first conflict from 1880-1881 started after a farmer refused to pay an illegally inflated tax, had his wagon seized - and his friends then assaulted the auction.

The Boers, better equipped, better trained and far more experienced at shooting than their British opponents, managed to defeat the latter in three major engagements. Unwilling to become engaged in a major conflict, London negotiated a peace deal that gave the South African Republic effectively full control over internal affairs, although the British retained control of external relations. This was the first time the British had lost a war to rebels since the American War of Independence.

Then gold was found in the region and an influx of immigrants, mostly British, turned up, seeking their fortune. Johannesburg emerged as a major community overnight. This caused a lot of tensions, even more so when the government in Praetoria (the SAR capital) denied the 'uitlanders' civil rights.

In 1896, Cape Colony Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes authorised Leander Starr Jameson to conduct a raid into the territory with the aim of triggering a revolution. The raid was badly botched, failed and caused massive embarrassment to the British government, especially when Kaiser Wilhelm II sent a congratulatory telegram to the SAR government... and telegrams showing Rhodes' involvement were found. Jameson, while lionised in the press, spent 15 months in Holloway for the raid.

Shortly after this, the Second Matabele War saw the British have to deal with an uprising by the Ndebele and Shona peoples in what is now Zimbabwe. They defeated it, but with many losses on both sides.

Tensions between the British and the Boers continued to grow after the Jameson Raid; the uitlanders did not see their rights improve, the Boers mistreated the African population, and a lot of the British establishment thought it would be an easy victory. The generals, for their part, did not.

The SAR had acquired high quality weaponry from Germany and France, including bolt-action Mauser rifles. The British Army for its part was in dire need of reform.

The war broke out in 1899 after an ultimatum from SAR leader Paul Kruger for the British to withdraw their forces from the border. The SAR had allied with the Orange Free State by this point.

The Boers had formed civilian militias called "commandos". They launched an invasion of the Natal and Cape Colony, soon putting British garrisons under siege. One notable such siege was at Mafeking, where the British commander was one Robert Baden-Powell, whose use of scouting, along the deception to make his defences look better than they were allowed his force to hold out for 217 days until relieved. He would later use his experience in scouting to form, well, the Scouting Movement.

After a series of major reverses, it was clear the British were going to need to send major reinforcements, recruiting a lot of volunteers - the biggest overseas force Britain had sent to date. They also removed their local commanders and put new ones in.

The sieges were lifted and Praetoria was captured on 5 June 1900 - at which point the Boers (along with foreign volunteers) moved to guerilla warfare, something that they were very adept at, in stark contrast to the British. However, harassment is not the same as taking and holding ground.

Both forces tried to minimise the involvement of people of colour due to fear of what would happen if they armed Africans, but personnel shortages meant they ended up being involved anyway, usually in supporting roles. Mahatma Gandhi, who was a civil rights activist there, formed a corps of volunteer stretcher bearers from the Indian population.

Realising that they were only controlling the territory that they were physically in, the British changed their tactics.

Firstly, they built fortified blockhouses and armoured trains to control their supply routes.

Secondly, the British adopted a "scorched earth" policy; they rounded up Boer and African civilians, placing them in concentration camps, while also systematically destroying farms, crops etc. that the Boer forces could use to supply themselves.

The Spanish had used concentration camps in Cuba earlier in the 19th century, but this was a much wider use. With little or no soap, along with dirty water, disease swept through the overcrowded camps, with over 46,000 dying in them, including a quarter of the Boers in them - African numbers interned were not properly counted. Emily Hobhouse exposed the horrific conditions, and the matter was taken up by domestic politicians. A government commission led by Millicent Fawcett then recommended major improvements, which were largely implemented and brought down the death rate, but the damage had been done by this point.

The brutal tactics were sadly effective; the Boers were beginning to give up. However, the British themselves were running out of time and money, so gave them a generous settlement in the 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging; while the SAR and Orange Free State would be absorbed into the British Empire, Dutch could be used in schools and courts, there would be a general amnesty and reconstruction aid would be given.

Self-government was also promised and granted; it was decided that the issue of black enfranchisement would not be discussed until then - and full enfranchisement would not come until 1993.

The war was controversial in the UK; it was opposed by the opposition Liberal Party. Lord Salisbury called a snap election in 1900 and won with a slightly reduced majority. The next election in 1906 was a massive defeat for them though.

The conflict also exposed the dire state of British public health - with up to 40% of volunteers for the war being rejected on health grounds. This spurred the creation of the National Insurance system.

Arthur Conan Doyle volunteered for military service in the conflict; but was turned down due to his age. Instead, he served for three months in a field hospital and then wrote two books about the conflict. The second one, defending Britain's involvement in the war, was felt by Doyle to be the work that got him his knighthood in 1902.

The war was also notable for one journalist who after being captured by the South Africans, managed to escape from behind enemy lines, using the publicity to get into Parliament on his second attempt. His name was Winston Churchill.

At 2022 values, the war cost Britain over £19.9 billion.

They had also had 26,092 soldiers killed to the Boers 6,189. As with all wars at this time, disease was the biggest killer.

[dsireland86]

There is Beauty in the Pain: Chapter 3 Pt.2

"Cause your love is fire warm I'll be the calm babe, before the storm You got me fallin' in love, in this bad dream" -bad dream- Nerve

TAGS: @lma1986 @nyxthedestroyerofworlds @missduffsblog

Noah:

Early on in life, I came to terms with knowing all people have a darkness about them. A darkness so deep that it usually took someone or something to help them fight it because fighting it alone always ended in failure. But I was never meant to be that for anyone, instead I was the one always needing that someone or something and I found myself alone a lot because of it. The family we’d created during the whole set up and process of the band had become the only "real" family I'd ever known. Losing so much as a kid and having a lot of instability didn't make a great start to adulthood, but somehow, maybe because of God even though he and I had a lot of issues with each other, I managed to get by and succeed better than I'd dreamed when I was younger.

I wish I could say the same about Sophie. She was broken. So much of life had been cruel to her and to see her the way she was now  shattered what little hope I still had in humanity. It wasn't fair for people like her to go through the fucked up shit they were forced to and that’s why I had so many issues with God. If he cared, then why did he allow so much suffering?

The silence that fell over the bar after Folio posed his question. "Were you raped," was so deep that if it weren’t for the pitiful sounds coming from Sophie I would have said it was deafening. While Alex held her, quietly telling her things were going to be okay and that she was safe, I started to wonder if he was right or not. Was she safe? Folio didn’t hesitate to help. I watched how he interacted with Sophie, loving cupping her face and raising it to look at her, gently drying her tears with his thumbs. Her shoulders relaxed as he spoke softly to her and whatever he said made her smile appear. He seemed to make her feel at ease; safe. I was floored by it all.  It was a side of Nick that, in all the years I’d known him, never seen before, and I could tell by the looks on everyone else’s faces I wasn’t the only one surprised.  

"Sophie wasn't raped; I'd know if she was," Alex assured Folio. “What do you mean you’d know? Has this kind of thing happened to her before?” His voice raised a little higher than he meant for it to, but if abuse was a common occurrence in Sophie’s life, then why hadn’t it been stopped? Neither one of them answered Folio so I took their silence as a yes and apparently he did too. He scoffed, taking his hat off and running his hand through his hair, his frustration very evident. 

“So, this Perry, he’s your ex, right?”

“Yes, he very much is now,” Sophie’s nasally voice laughed nervously. “At one time we were together; happy,,” her voice tailed off. "They were together for about three years before he left for Germany. His job sent him there, right Soph?” Her head bobbed up and down. “Yeah, that was a little over a year ago. During that whole time, how many times do you think he contacted her?” Alex posed an odd question. What did it matter? “A handful,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders. He shook his head. “None.” My mouth fell open in shock. “What? What do you mean none?” “I mean none. Didn’t call her, didn’t text her; nothing.” 

“So let me get this straight. You were in a relationship with this guy for over three years, and then one day he decides to just leave you or dump you to go to Germany and never speak to you again?” He looked at Sophie and Alex, expecting his understanding, and mine as well, to be correct. “Yeah,” Alex huffed, leaning against the bar counter. “Unfuckingbelievable. Why didn’t you call the police? Have his ass thrown in jail?”

“Because, Perry has certain guys on the police force that he's bought. He's kind of a powerful guy. No matter what he does; cheat, abuse, steal, do something illegal, he’ll always get away with it.” Alex’s face twisted into a disgusted look. It was clear he’d tried many times to help Sophie find a way out of it all, but it never made a difference.

“Yeah, I made the mistake of calling them the first time he hit me.” Sophie scoffed. “He was so angry at me; threatened me in all kinds of ways. It was the first time I questioned myself why the hell I was staying him. But by the next morning, he acted like nothing ever happened, but I was still really afraid of him. Out of the fear and love, or what I thought was love, I had for him, I stayed.” After giving Sophie’s hand a quick squeeze, Folio came and stood beside me, dragging a hand down his face. 

"You good, man?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder. Nick closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them giving me a heavy look. He shook his head before walking away. Something was seriously up with him and I told myself I would find out later, but at that moment, Sophie needed my attention.

Sophie sat down, letting Alex clean up her wounds with the stuff he had brought over earlier. Matt, Jolly, Nick, and I gave them some space, but I continued keeping an eye on them. "This is going to hurt like hell, but I've got to do it," I heard Alex tell Sophie. Sophie sucked in a tight breath and grimaced when he applied the cleaner to the deep gash on her cheekbone and the small ones around her mouth and on her cheeks as well. Her red, puffy eyes stared into mine, silently calling out for me to come to her, so I did. Kneeling in front of her I saw all the damage that had been done to her for the first time. It was rough. A dark bruise was forming around her left eye with colors of deep purple and blue covering the entire right cheekbone where Alex was cleaning. Welts from long fingers lightly covered her pale cheeks, the redness of them serving as a stark reminder of just how cruel humans could be to each other. It made me sick to my stomach, thinking about Sophie being in such a horrific situation and how scared she must have been. A strange urge to protect her washed over me, making me feel a little possessive about her. 

 "Soph, do you think you can tell us what happened," Alex asked, wiping the dried blood in one spot and then moving on to another one. Sophie’s eyes were heavy with exhaustion, and I worried for her. She needed rest before she would pass out from the overwhelmingness of the last few hours. Her hand reached down for mine, and I gave it to her, sighing when I felt the warmth of her small one slip into mine, locking her fingers around mine. She was trembling. I was sure her body was still in so much shock. 

“I left the concert as soon as I could to try and avoid the huge crowd. Thought that if I slipped out, I wouldn’t be stuck in a room packed with so many people who were drunk or at least nearly there.” Well, there was the explanation I wanted. I immediately felt like a fucking asshole for thinking and feeling all the things I did. She sucked in another breath as Alex moved on to the last cut, cleaning it just like the others ”When I got to my front door, I noticed it was unlocked and instead of calling you like I should've done, I decided to be the stupid head that I was and go in. I did have nine-one-one on speed dial, though.” She glanced at Alex who, by this time, was scowling at her, scolding her choice. Sophie shrugged her shoulders and continued. Folio returned from wherever he had retreated to, sitting down next to Jolly with another beer in his hand. His face was still grave.

“After a few moments of waiting, I assumed all was good until Perry came walking out of my bedroom.” “What the fuck was he in there for,” Alex snapped. He sat the bottle of peroxide on the counter and folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t know, and I’m not sure I want to. I’ll probably have to burn my bedsheets when I get back.” I chuckled, knowing what Sophie was implying. “Anyway, things were okay for a bit, but it didn’t take long for him to get all aggressive and controlling. He would calm down and put on this stupid endearing act that made me think for a second that maybe he was being honest, but then moments later he was right back to hurting me and I just hated myself more each time.” 

My forehead creased. The motherfucker sounded like a literal psychopath that got pleasure out of hurting her. He was a danger to her and deserved to be locked up. “I don’t know what went through his mind, Alex. I mean, one minute he was apologizing and really thought we were getting back together, and the next, he was just cruel. couldn’t understand why I was refusing to start over with him.” Taking a moment to wipe her face, Sophie licked her lips and continued. “There was a moment between us, in my kitchen, where I actually thought maybe he was serious about his apology; he was so convincing. But then he shoved me, pushed me so hard against the wall that pictures fell and broke, and that’s when shit went downhill.” I laid my hand on her cheek, cradling the side of her face, grinning when I felt her press in on my hand. “I didn’t think I was going to make it out alive, Noah," she quietly confessed, bringing her hands up to wrap them around my arm. Her words almost made my heart stop. A hard pain hit my chest, making it seriously feel as if my heart was breaking. “But you did, Sophie,” I reassured her with a small smile. “You did, and you’re safe now; I promise.” She took a deep breath, wincing as she did, and nodding a little before closing her eyes and taking another one. “Alex. I can't… I don't want to…," but she couldn't finish her sentence without choking back her tears, trying to be brave. I moved, letting Alex take my place to console his friend, and went back over to the table where my friends were. “This is some fucked up shit, Noah,” Matt stated. I nodded, rubbing the back of my neck. Folio sat quietly, jiggling his leg, staring down into nothing. “Hey,” nugging his shoe with the tip of mine.” He acknowledged, but didn’t look up. “What’s wrong with you? Are you okay?”Jolly asked, leaning in closer. “It’s nothing,�� Folio sniffed. “I just a, I just don’t like seeing women get hurt like this; that’s all.” Jolly seemed to buy his excuse, but I didn’t.

No longer knowing what to say, think, or even fucking do, I dropped myself down in the chair next to Jolly, suddenly very exhausted myself. It was evident I didn’t need to get involved any deeper in the situation, and choosing to drag everyone in the room into it wasn’t a good idea either. But between Folio’s behavior and the unsettling feelings I had, it seemed that choosing to back out now was a little too late. Sophie stood up to stretch a little, wincing again. A slight cry escaped her mouth. “You alright,” I asked, concerned. She threw me a quick nod. 

“Alex, I need tylenol or something. Can I get some with some water, please?” "Absolutely. I'll be right back." He smiled, walking away. Sophie turned her back to me and leaned against the counter of the bar. I walked over, taking a spot next to her. Neither one of us said anything at first. “I liked the way you flirted at the concert. It was cute.” Sophie said, breaking the silence between us. She turned and looked at me. “You have an incredible smile, Noah.”

Her confession made my insides want to explode, and I showed her that smile just because of the way she was making me feel. “Yours is just as infectious,” I admitted with my heart racing. We both went quiet again. “You know, whatever you felt back there, I’m pretty sure I might have felt it too.” Both of us looked at each other, eyes locking together. “When you came down during that last song and touched my face, it was like my whole entire world exploded. And when you came back out after the show was over and reached for me, I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world.”

Sophie was such a simple, warm-hearted girl, and everything about her was beautiful. Being around her was like lying in the grass on a summer day or by a roaring fire when the snow was piled high outside. It made me feel peaceful. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her. She made liking her, and quite possibly loving her, easy. Even though my body responded to her in a sexual way, my mind was attached to her for other reasons too, and now that she was under my skin, getting her out was going to be difficult.

“You made me feel so special, Noah. Thank you.” She reached over and laid her hand on my chest, and out of impulse, I placed mine over it. The twinkle in her eyes made a lump form in my throat. The butterfly feeling in my chest wasn’t helping either. And fuck… the sound of my name falling from her lips made my cock so hard and twitch that I had to clench my legs together to control it. “Here Sophie, I brought you, oh,” Alex paused as he came up to us from the other side of the counter. I cleared my throat and stepped away, giving Sophie some space. Alex’s eyes bounced from me to Sophie, whose head was lowered. Alex grinned, handing Sophie the medicine and water, and I couldn't keep myself from staring at her, mesmerized by all that she was. Why was I suddenly afraid of leaving her? What was it that made the dreaded feeling sink to the pit of my stomach and scare me. And then it hit me. It showed when Alex said something that made her chuckle, and that genuine smile spread over her lips. It was that smile. The first time I saw it, I knew I wanted to see it for the rest of my life. 

The atmosphere relaxed a little, and I went back over to the table, striking up a conversation with Nicholas. My eyes may have been on Nick, but my attention was completely on Sophie. The longer she was awake, the more she looked like she would faint. Sitting my drink down, I began to make my way over to her as she stood up and her eyes met with mine. Trying to keep her balance, Sophie put her arms out beside her but couldn’t hold herself up any longer. Rushing over, I threw my arms out under her, catching her body as it fell into me, almost knocking me over.

CHAPTER 3 PT.3

[thedirtiwalkoniswet]

I love ao3 as the next person, but I'm on germanys side when they banned it, because of the sheer amount of child pornography on the site. (Mind you they distinguish between child (under 14) and youth pornography (14-18), so we're talking VERY young)

I do appreciate that there's a space for people to write freely about whatever they want, and the tags do allow you to avoid fics you don't want to read about, but I still feel sick about what some people write about.

Because why, why are people writing about 4 year olds getting r/ped in graphic detail? Why are people READING about that? What made you look at the tags and think "oh yeah, THAT'S entertainment" ????

Like, sorry, but the only possible reason I can think of is that the people behind it are actually sick and read this because it's arousing to them.

Nowhere on the internet can people post cp so freely, without it literally being illegal.

The fact that tags like "extremely underage" are widely used, is SICKENING. And I know that the site was literally created for writing sick shit, but where does this cross a line? Is it impossible to cross a line on this website?

[herrlindemann]

KERRANG! - 2005 - Interview with Till Lindemann

Till Lindemann is metal’s most enigmatic star. Speaking with unprecedented candor, the Rammstein frontman opens up about porn, punk rock and his subversive past…

Till Lindemann never gives much of himself away in interviews. But judging by his band’s penchant for storming, industrially-tinged rock’n’roll, you’d assume the hulking, inscrutable voice of Rammstein was just as scary as the music he makes.

Guess again. Right now he’s sat within the plush executive suite of London’s ultra-swish Sanderson Hotel. A German to English translator sits next to him. Very quietly.

“Oh, hello,” says Lindemann, rising to extend a bear-trap handshake. “Have a seat. Would you like some coffee?” Sure. You could probably use some yourself — you’ve got a busy press day ahead.

“Oh, but we don’t mind,” he says in baritone English, cracking a faint smile. “We’re a German band so how we’ve had any success is still a mystery to us.”

But what’s ‘German’? You grew up in East Germany — a socialist country.

(Through the translator) It’s true. Life before the German reunification (in 1990) was a major influence on us. Our world got much bigger when the wall came down.

Did you grow up jealous of the West?

Oh yeah, it was all about blue jeans and Matchbox cars, but that wasn’t the worst of our deprivation. Sometimes we could pick up radio stations from the West, but we felt so cut off because it was forbidden. We’d secretly tape the radio but what we were doing was very illegal. There was a black market for albums from non-socialist countries but they’d cost an entire month’s salary.

What groups did you covet?

Kiss was a big one, and one of the most exciting moments in my life was when Rammstein supported them. Growing up they were such a totally forbidden group with all that blood, and then they made the ‘SS’ in their name look like the ‘SS’ that Nazi officers would wear — a huge taboo. People would secretly carry little pictures of them which was a huge no-no (laughs).

So they were an influence?

(Suddenly speaking in fluent English) Of course. That’s because of what they meant in East Germany. (Switching back to German) In the States the average American has absolutely no clue about history so they don’t understand how provocative ‘SS’ or Nazi helmets can be. It’s their total inability to know anything about history, to have any idea what that’s really saying. For them it’s just a prop.

So Rammstein is about provocation?

(Shaking his head) It’s not so much provocation. It’s breaking taboos in order to have an impact. That’s punk rock. Banding a spoon on a table is provocative in a country where that’s prohibited. Punk rock’s about risk and it’s all relative to where you are.

So you had to avoid authorities growing up?

It was very bizarre in those days. If you were in a band you’d have to appear before a state committee and play your entire set for approval, after which you’d get a licence to play exactly that and nothing else, no improvisation or else you’d get into big trouble. Even what you’d say between songs needed approval, so speaking politics was out of the question. You could chatter with the audience, but anything else was untouchable.

But you played in a Punk band, First Arsch, before the wall came down…

Yes, and it was incredibly fun but it smacked of danger. We’d find abandoned buildings outside the city or empty factories and set our equipment up on a trailer so if we got discovered we could get out in a hurry. There’d be word-of-mouth news on the day that there was going to be a gig wherever. You’d set up spies and lookouts for police and remember, we didn’t have mobiles in those days so it wasn’t easy. (Smiling nostalgically) We’d give ourselves 90 minutes to set up, play and then fuck off in all directions.

You must find playing rock boring now that it’s legal.

No, but it’s all very different today. A lot get bounced around about provocation, but that sense of excitement and tension doesn’t really happen in a culture that accepts what you’re doing. Green Day are a really good band, but that crackle just isn’t there.

(In English) The true spirit of punk is gone. It died with the Sex Pistols and now it just doesn’t have a soul because there’s no resistance to it.

Were you ever arrested?

No, but we were very smart about it. We’d go to the Cultural Department saying we wanted to do a big artistic event with movies and paintings and some music to camouflage it as a multicultural event. They were like, ‘Ooh, culture, good’. And then we just got a bunch of bands together and let them play three songs. That subversiveness had a big effect on what I do now.

But your father was a poet and your mother a writer — surely that was also a factor…

Yes, but at a much earlier age. My original plan was deep sea fishing, so my dad very gently told me, ‘Do you want to think about this? Maybe do some studying, look at art…’. He was really pissed with me. His power of observation, the fact that he’d leave notebooks all over the house or he’d disappear into the woods for inspiration — I wasn’t interested in it at the time. But it stayed with me. I told him I could always go back and be an author. In a way I did.

You were a champion swimmer but got thrown off the team. Some say it was a torn muscle, others something more sinister…

(note: true reason he stopped swimming here) We were at the Junior European Championships in Florence and we climbed down the fire escape in the middle of the night to look for these little sex shops to find porno magazines. For an East German boy that was a dream, to see some porno magazines because they were prohibited (laughs). The coaches weren’t at all happy about that.

Did you locate the porn?

No, which was a huge disappointment. In the village I grew up in there was this kid who had the one and only porno picture. It looked like the map from ‘Treasure Island’ (he rips a page out of our translator’s notebook and crumples it up). This bit of paper that had been folded over, touched, felt, and fingered by countless boys. It was so faded you had to hold it up to the light to get anything and it was kept in this little plastic folder. And he was always like, ‘You want to look? Okay, buy me a lemonade. That’s too long, now give it back.’

[mypookiewookiebear]

Hetalia characters, high (pt.2)

same concept as the last one, featuring north and south Italy, Germany, Japan, Prussia, and Spain! (axis powers + friends)

TW/CW: drugs, mostly weed, i curse like a sailor, i make a couple hippie jokes, I have chronic tiktok humor, I abuse emojis

AN: someone reblogged part 1 so I had to rush and make part 2. Also i apologize if this is bad (y'know what they say about sequels)

N. Italy

Cannot handle weed for the life of him, zero tolerance.

Not a bad thing of course, just a general observation.

Also cannot smoke, at all…

So in the event he decides to get high, he just takes an edible.

Boy oh boy does he go through some shit.

It makes him… deep? Very introspective, and hungry.

MAJOR munchies, fiending for pasta

He opens his eyes, sees the world and shit, probably hallucinates his grandpa

Overall: bad trip, a lot of munchies, and he saw grandpa again!

S. Italy

Bad tolerance, just like his brother. On the bright side, he can smoke!

I think this is how he actually relaxes. Like I don’t think he’s ripping a fat hit from a bong on the daily or mass amounts of edibles.

I think he rolls a little joint and smokes it outside in the sun, probably in the countryside with his old lady garden.

(probably grew the shit himself, cause i bet he gardens all the time)

Overall: smokes to wind down, and garden, because he is a hippie grandma

Spain

Kinda like S. Italy, like he would smoke to relax and be one with nature, (or whatever you get my point, they’re hippies)

BUT! He is down to do some stupid shit, with his threeway bromance!!!

I can see it, Prussia brings in strong ass edibles, and dares Spain to eat one.

Spain, (never one to refuse a dare) takes it a step forward, and eats two

Yeah that did not end well. It’s fine they’re immortal who cares about consequences 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Anyway, I can see him in the kitchen cooking up a storm while high, (if he isn’t super high lol)

Overall: also a hippie grandma, can be dared to do stupid shit

Germany

He’s on my nightmare blunt rotation list, no.1 D.A.R.E. enthusiast.

Well with the right amount of peer pressure from N. Italy he would try it

It gives him so much energy, he tries to take everyone out for a run, and fucking speeds past everyone.

Never again

Prussia

I think if I tried to smoke with him while Germany was young (y’know, in ye olden days) he would crucify me 💀

Nowadays, he is much more chill, and took himself off of the nightmare blunt rotation list!

He always brings snacks, also kind of an enabler? 

Like if I talked about “this edible ain’t shit” he would just tell me to take another one. 

(bad advice kids, never take another till the first one hits)

If he’s super high he is really funny, laughs at everything and makes funny jokes

Overall: Redeemed himself, good snacks, an enabler…

Japan

Uh he doesn’t smoke a lot because its fucking illegal at his place 💀

I looked it up, any amount is at least five years in the yard…

Kind of a shame because it naturally grows there… unfair

They use meth more often than weed lol

In the scenario he does get super high, I think he hops on fortnite with the boyz.

He is THE alpha with the cold heart, just on the grind set

Probably watches some trippy anime, like Saiki k

Overall: gamer, also a criminal technically, but whateva

not my tiktok!

ok gn guys

if this gets likes i will write more hetalia/weed content ‼️‼️‼️‼️

[animanightmate]

Legions of Doom

Yeah, so my country’s leaders have decided to double-down on the anti-immigration rhetoric that they shamefully manipulated then rode to get them into power. You know, because that worked so well for Brexit. Let’s keep pushing that classic. One of the first things our newish PM, Rishi Sunak (note: a son of immigrants), did was to announce that they were going to be cracking down on the “small boats” - i.e. the ones that desperate people use to reach these shores. Pretty despicable, right? Don’t worry, our “anti-woke” Tory Party in charge has barely got started.

You may already have heard about the plan headed up by Suella Braverman (another child of immigrants), UK Home Secretary (reinstated after being fired for being a security risk) to deport “illegal immigrants” to Rwanda, an expensive (and apparently illegal) notion that hasn’t really got off the ground yet, and you might be thinking: there’s no lower they can sink. Hold onto your life jackets.

The Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, decided that the lobbies of the children's asylum centres were too welcoming, with their colourful, cheerful murals of famous cartoon characters, so ordered the walls to be painted grey; like a dull, battleship grey.

Then it was revealed that the asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants who were currently being housed in hotels (rather than, you know, having their applications to live here properly processed so they could earn money, house themselves, and contribute to society) were costing us too much money. So, you’re going to process them? Oh, no, you’re going to put them on a barge.

But not just any barge… the Bibby Stockholm is special. It’s been the place to house folk temporarily for a few decades now, in various parts of Europe, including homeless folk and asylum seekers in Germany and the Netherlands, plus oil rig and off-shore windfarm construction workers, and is currently moored off the Dorset Coast in the south of England. It’s designed to house about 200 people. It’s been retrofitted to fit 500. Yes, you read that right. And not by enlarging so much as putting bunk-beds in. I’m sure that won’t make anyone feel like they’re being housed in a floating prison… It’s got, you know, a multi-faith prayer room and a gym and catering and medical facilities. And inhabitants will get day release. And 24 hour security.

So it’s safe, right? It’s got extra fire escapes now and… no? No. It’s been assessed and there are some severe worries about how fire safe it is (when professionals start using the term “death trap”, it does tend to make one think, you know?), and how 500 people in there are likely to not be able to get out in case of a fire. Also that any outbreak of disease is likely to spread like wildfire. Ironically. But it’s not like you’re going to put people at risk like that, huh? Oh, and there’s a lot of standing water in the system because it’s not been inhabited or sorted out for a good long while, so you’re going to check for things like mould and legionella bacteria, right?

Wait, you’ve asked for legionella tests but you’re going to start putting people on the thing anyway, before the results come in? That’s… bold.

And… wait, you’ve now put a man on board who has tuberculosis? And you’re threatening people who don’t comply with being put on board that they’ll get no benefits? Even though they’ve been advised that they’re allowed to refuse to go, legally? But the Tory Deputy Chairman went on record to tell people who didn’t want to go that they could, and I quote, “Fuck off back to France.” So that's okay then. Problem solved.

And now you’ve found legionella in the water on the barge. Oh, three days ago? Uh, haha, that seems odd. So… you’re evacuating, right? Well, look; there’s a bar you’ve finally managed to clear. It’s somewhere in Hades, but sure… Have a gold star.

I’m sure there’s something I’ve missed, but that’s the crux of it. I’m not saying, you know, death camps, but, if anything, I might well be saying… death camps…

Oh, and then there’s the whole thing with the hotels where over 100 asylum seekers who are unaccompanied children have been kidnapped in the last year. Nothing to see here. Our coasts and waterways are filling with raw sewage, but everything’s fine. All part of the plan.

[blue-bec]

Excuse me while I get all pedantic on this, but the ending of The Van Gogh Job (Leverage S4:4) really annoys me. Background, I have a Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies (which I studied because I was bored) and so I have spent time looking at repatriation of objects and artworks.

See my essay here for starters:

https://blogs.bluebec.com/essay-it-belong-to-them-lets-give-it-back/

Plot synopsis is:

On the trail of a lost Van Gogh, the team learns the painting was the center of a World War II love story between a black soldier and the white heiress he was forced to leave behind.

So the painting is found and Nate suggests to Charlie Lawson that he consider donating it to the Boston Museum (we won't delve into that one too much)... and just fucking no.

The art was looted by a Nazi (sure he saved it from a fire in a gallery/museum/safe-location for the collection of the (now) Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg). The art has an owner. Charlie Lawson is not the owner of the artwork and it should be returned to the Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg.

Sure it sucks, but the US Government has been instrumental in leading conventions and practices to ensure that looted art is returned, even when they suffer economic loss from it. The Boston Museum, or any other US Museum/Gallery who this artwork might be donated to would ask how it came into Charlie Lawson's possession and then would flatly refuse to accept the donation unless it was to return it to Germany.

The only way it would make sense for Charlie would be to sell it to a private bidder, and so the team have effectively left him in the same dangerous position. He has his art, and he can either have it stolen from him by someone with more power, return it to Germany, or illegally sell it.

So yeah, I loved the episode, but hated the ending because just no. Nate would know all this too. He's an insurance investigator, which as we know includes a lot of art knowledge by him. He would never have recommended donating it. The rest of the team would have offered to fence it for Charlie Lawson.

Return the art to the rightful owner or sell it on the black market.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Ha, Germany is nothing. People in France are literally outraged when they don't have their government overreach.

Case in point, Pierre Palmade : Famous french actor is rushed to the hospital in critical condition after being in a car crash, drugged out of his mind, with 2 more people (his dealers I think ?) inside the car, who fled the scene and were arrested shortly after. iirc, a few days later, someone anonymously comes forward and claims Palmade showed him CP at a party. I'm not sure those claims were ever proven, it stopped getting media attention before reaching a conclusion and I never followed up.

What was the debate centered about ? In one sentence, "Why didn't the government do more to prevent this ?"

So a man took drugs (already illegal), drove under the influence of said drugs (very illegal !), and then crashed his car into another (even more illegal !), and the public's response was... that it wasn't illegal enough. Let that sink in. So of course the government didn't miss this opportunity and is talking about reinforcing sanctions for DUIs, and increased police budget.

I have so many examples of behavior like this. One time I mentioned the story of magnet fishing in France (guy fishes old ww2 landmines, alerts no one (already illegal), and then takes them home to proudly expose them (even more illegal), and thus contaminates his whole home & car, and his whole family has to be treated for phosphorus poisoning. Government sees very illegal thing and decides to shadow-ban magnet fishing, which now requires permission from the département, something that they have absolutely no reason to give and therefore never do), in a room full of seemingly not completely stupid people, and everyone looked at me like I was crazy and wanted to blow everyone up with land mines. The most sympathetic opinion from the ensuing debate was "That should definitely require a license of some sort, maybe like a driver's license where you need to do it with a certified professional for 20 or 30 hours". Great, so this popular hobby where you throw a magnet tied to a rope into a river, where the biggest thing you'll probably pull out is a stolen bike, should now be illegal unless you spend thousands of euros on a piece of paper that changes absolutely nothing ? Yeah that's a normal position to hold.

Jesus. That's next level brainrot. How do they cope with people being allowed access to the air outside without needing a license and 20 hours of breathing training under a government certified expert? Seems like something that would cause them great anxiety.

[jacensolodjo]

Speaking of "yeah but people cheered during Operation Barbarossa" I think people are like... completely missing the whole reason WHY anyone would think being invaded from the West was going to be a GOOD THING for them.

They were under SOVIET RULE. The Soviets were killing people en masse so of course if you have people claiming to be your liberator from THAT you're going to at first think it's great. Remember, there was very little info coming into the Soviet Union about the Holocaust. This was on purpose on some level BY THE SOVIET UNION. Because they were allies with... Nazi fucking Germany. Y'all keep forgetting this and I'm tired of it. What do you think happened to Poland? Do you somehow not even know about the Pact that bisected Poland?

It's the absolute start of the whole 'there's soviets then there's everyone else but we're not gonna say that we're just gonna say either you're Soviet or you're a fascist". That was the absolute. You're either a comrade or you are a fascist. There is no middle ground. And the only one pushing that line was... Soviets. Once Barbarossa happened, it was no longer censored about what was going on re: Holocaust.

The funniest part though is people claiming that is what happened during the Donbas shit and then the new invasion since 2022. When it wasn't. At all. NO ONE has been suffering under 'Ukraine rule'. There was never ANY anti-Russophone action like there has been for those who speak Ukrainian. For centuries speaking Ukrainian was a killable offense. People act like Ukraine then turned around and made speaking Russian illegal. None of that has happened after making Ukrainian the state language of... Ukraine. Russian was never made illegal, it just isn't being used for schools and government and such.

People want so badly to be persecuted and they simply aren't. Persecution is what russia is good at. You had folks in the eastern Ukraine area who may have collaborated but it wasn't a wholesale thing like russia has been pushing in their propaganda. And we actually have been getting people stepping forward and admitting they were WRONG to think anything was going to be good for them when russia invaded.

Here's a little secret: Nazis didn't like Slavs either. In fact, Nazis wanted to add a little 'e' after the 'v' for Slavs. They wanted a nation of slaves. There was an entire secondary plan for Operation Barbarossa to make this happen. You section out all the volk from the icky Slavs and then you send the icky Slavs to camps, often camps that are already occupied by enemies of the soviets that you've just taken over.

A lot of people found this out the hard way, sadly. But it was NEVER a whole bunch of people being FOR Nazism. It was them being AGAINST communism. And there IS a difference. Remember, there is no absolute binary of fascist and commie. Yes, there were Ukrainian SS divisions. But they were small. Guess what other countries had SS divisions. Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, etc.,. Overall you only had 500,000 non-German SS soldiers. Out of tens of millions of people. Out of all of those different countries. Romania above all was the most eager to join and did.

In fact, every other SS unit HATED the Polish and Ukrainian units. 53,000 people tried to sign up in Ukraine in 1943. Only 12,000 were accepted to a final number of 23,000 by the end of the war. And yet now you have people acting like Ukraine has been a nation of nazis. Why do all the other collaborator countries get a pass? Hell, everyone knows what Switzerland did and yet it's just peachy keen now. The nordic countries were downright rabid in their antisemitism but it's Ukraine that is the evil one.

You are not immune to Russian propaganda. You claim to be antifascist and yet you support fascists. The russcists ain't gonna fuck you. Russia and the US being at loggerheads is not a binary of supporting one (russia) over the other (US). With Ukraine somehow being viewed as a satellite territory of the US hence supporting President War Crimes. Or just the general binary of "we support everyone who isn't the US" even when the people of the countries you 'support' tell you point blank to stop it because their country has done bad shit too that they have been trying to hold people accountable for and your blind support isn't helping (notably north Korea and China but the list does go on).