#at least for now cause its the netherlands so it can change in a second

[alittleplanttherapy]

Today we walked around town, grabbed a coffee and ate delicious ravioli at De Plantage 🌿

[weirdestbooks]

Secret States Chapter 6

Reincarnations

Netherlands POV

I stared at the American state who just claimed to be the reincarnation of my long dead son. I looked over to Sweden and the Nordic countries, who had the same look of shock and disbelief. I turned back to the American state, New York, who shot me a half grin. America rolled his eyes.

"I think we broke the countries." Hawaii remarked. The other new state, the one who claimed to be New Sweden, Delaware, snorted.

"Texas and Liberia already did that when they revealed we existed." He replied. California popped their gum.

"So we what? Double broke them?" Florida questioned. New York smiled.

"If only I could do this to Masshole. I guess kicking his ass in baseball is all I can do now." New York remarked. Delaware and America shot him a look.

"York, what have a told you about calling Mass Masshole?" America asked him. New York sighed and rolled his eyes. Who was Mass? Why didn't New York like him?

"Oh come on Dad. You let Hamp call him Taxachusetts." New York argued back. I wondered who Hamp was. I didn't know of any states called that, but it could be a nickname, as the states seemed fond of calling each other nicknames.

"Re-reincarnation? That's not possible. Reincarnation isn't real, is it?" England stuttered out. That was my problem with this story. Reincarnation couldn't be possible. This was just a trick! My son. He was long gone. Another causality in the British Empire's conquest for power. I missed my son dearly, but I couldn't believe the words or these states without proof.

"Yeah well it is. At least we're like 98% sure. It's the only explanation for why New York and I can remember memories that we never made. I remember dying, and as you can see, I am not dead. So obviously we have memories that weren't made by us as the States of Delaware and New York, but as someone else." Delaware explained, New York nodding along.

"But...how?" Sweden asked. Delaware shrugged.

"We don't know how. We know that it happened." New York commented. America smiled.

"Trust me, it surprised me just as much as the rest of you when I finally figured it out." America explained, fond smile on his face. The states began snickering, along with Liberia. Delaware's face turned bright red.

"Oh come on are we seriously still hung up over that? That was like fifty years ago!" Delaware protested as the states snickering grew louder, "Jag önskar att jag aldrig hade syskon.  Ni är alla hemska små varelser."

The change to Swedish, or what I'm assuming is Swedish based on what Delaware told us about his heritage, surprised me. I had thought America, and his states, could only speak English, as it was the official language of his country, but seeing all the different languages they know changed my mind on that, although I was still a bit confused on why they decided to learn a bunch of new languages.

"Why do you speak languages that aren't English when your official language is English?" Vietnam asked from next to me. I'm glad we all seemed to have to same question, because that question had been confusing me every since we first met the adopted states and they began speaking in languages that weren't English. America, however looked confused at that question.

"Who told you my official language was English? I don't have an official language." He said, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't?" UN asked, finally speaking up after being unusually quiet through the introduction. America nodded.

"I have no official language. English is just the most widely spoken language in my country, so its the de facto language. Although my people have been making new signs in both English and Spanish recently, to help immigrants from Latin America and Mexico." America explained. That doesn't explain why America knows more languages than English though.

"That doesn't explain why you know more languages than English." Haiti said, asking my question.

"Yes it does." Australia said. Australia's family gave him a weird look. America smiled.

"I forgot you lacked an official language as well. We can be buddies! Who else is in the club? I know Sweden is." America remarked. I was still confused though. How did lacking an official language make it so America could speak-wait.

"Does lacking an official language make you able to understand all languages spoken in your country?" I asked America as I realized what America lacking an official language could mean. America gave me a thumbs up, signaling to me that I was correct.

"Wait, you guys can speak every language spoken in your country?" New Zealand asked Australia and America.

"Yep. I can speak over 200, but they're mainly Creoles and indigenous languages." Australia said. New Zealand started freaking out, while France, Canada and the British Isles looked shocked.

"I can speak approximately 350." America said. America can speak 350 languages? No wonder he knew Spanish and Swedish. And Australia knowing over 200! This was insane! I wonder of this meant America knew Dutch?

"I though it was 480?" New York asked. America shook his head before looking confused. There was a chance America knew more that 350 languages? That was a lot, this was confusing. I was confused and a bit overwhelmed by everything happening all at once.

America had kids, some adopted. Reincarnation is real and my son was reincarnated as one of America's children. America knew over 300 languages. This was a lot.

"Somewhere in between those two numbers, I guess." America settled on after thinking over the two numbers he had, "Although a large number of languages that are spoken in my country are the languages of the Native Americans."

"Why are we just learning a lot of new stuff about you?" Germany asked.

"You can look all of this up on the internet it's not like it's some big secret. You're just oblivious, and maybe, you're even idiots." California replied, pulling out their phone and beginning to type on it.

"I...I don't have an argument for that." Germany replied, "Aside from the fact that I have no reason to look up the governmental structure and official language of America."

"Yeah, that's true. Anyway we got off topic. Reincarnation is real, such a ginormous shock. Can we stop playin' twenty questions and play talkin' to people we are related to?" Texas asked, seeming done with the multitude of questions coming from the confused countries.

"Let's do that. I know some of you want to make or fix relationships. I want to go home and do anything but this." Louisiana said, shooting a glance at France. After hearing about the complicated and strained relationship between Louisiana and France, that made sense.

"I am goin' to play catch up with Madre." Texas said, before going grabbing California's arm and dragging them towards Mexico.

"Hey! Let go of me!" California said in protest, attempting to break Texas' grip on their arm.

"Texas." America said. Texas let go of California's arm and began protest about how he just wanted to make sure they at least tried talking to their mom while California scowled at him.

"Pa, come on. I just want to make sure Cali give takin' to Madre a chance. They're convinced that not talkin' to Madre is best, but they haven't even talked to Madre once!" He protested, making exasperated motions with his arms.

"Tex, come on. Just let Cali do it when they're ready. We're all in unfamiliar territory at this point and we're all nervous, especially because some of us haven't met our biological families before. Let them do it when they are ready." Delaware told him, taking control of the situation, causing America to shoot him a grateful look.

"Alright, how about you guys talk to whoever you feel is best to catch up with or meet while I get interrogated by my family." America said, "And no trying to declare war on other countries, Texas no claiming you can leave the Union, because everyone knows its not true, and Florida, please make sure your snake doesn't send anyone to the hospital."

The states nodded, with some eye rolls thrown in, before they split up and began making their way to countries scattered though out the room. New York walked over to me, looking nervous, which is what I felt as well.

What if New York hated me now that he was an American state? Did he blame me for his death as New Netherlands? Would he be very different from New Netherlands, or similar? These questions plagued my mind as New York sat down next to me.

"Hallo. Ik weet niet hoe ik dit gesprek moet beginnen, dus je kunt gewoon vragen stellen als je wilt, hoewel ik ze misschien niet wil beantwoorden." (Hello. I don't know how to start this conversation, so you can just ask questions if you want, although I may not want to answer them.) New York told me.

"Ik weet ook niet waar ik moet beginnen ... Heb je enig idee hoe je terugkwam?" (I don't know where to start either...Do you have any idea how you came back?) I questioned, hesitantly, not wanting to bring up bad memories, and not wanting to lose this second opportunity to be with my son.

"Nee, dat weet ik niet. Niemand van ons heeft dat ontdekt. De beste gok die we konden bedenken is dat aangezien onze staten zijn gelegen waar Nieuw Nederland en Nieuw Zweden waren, hun geest werd overgebracht naar de staat, Del en ik, die daar was. Ik weet dat het cheesy klinkt, maar er is geen andere verklaring die we kunnen vinden." (No, I don't. None of us have figured that out. The best guess we could come up is that since our states are located where New Netherlands and New Sweden used to be, their spirits got transferred to the state, Del and I, that was there. I know it sound cheesy, but there isn't another explanation that we could find.) New York explained.

"Herinner je je alles over Nieuw Nederland zijn?" (Do you remember everything about being New Netherlands?) I asked him next. I know that Delaware said he and New York realized they were reincarnations when they started gaining back memories of their first life. New York sighed and shook his head.

"Niet echt goed. Ik heb moeite met het herinneren van mijn tijd als Nieuw-Nederland, en wat ik me herinner is normaal gesproken een pijnlijke herinnering. Goede dingen zijn moeilijk te onthouden. Het spijt me, maar ik weet dat ik nooit de zoon zal zijn die je bent kwijtgeraakt. Er is te veel veranderd." (Not very well. I have trouble remembering my time as New Netherlands, and what I do remember is normally a painful memory. Good things are very hard to remember. I'm sorry, but I know I will never be the son you lost. Too much has changed.) New York said, sounding sad and dejected.

I was upset, not with New York, but with myself. I know I didn't have much I should feel guilty about, but maybe if I had just tried and fought harder in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, New Netherlands could of survived. Then I wouldn't have to meet his reincarnation who didn't remember anything good about his past life and blames himself for not being New Netherlands.

"Geef jezelf niet de schuld dat je geen Nieuw Nederland bent. Gewoon weten dat een deel van hem in jou leeft, is oké. Je kunt gewoon New York zijn. " (Don't blame yourself for not being New Netherlands. Just knowing that a part of him lives in you is okay. You can just be New York.) I told him. New York nodded.

"I just don't want to disappoint you by claiming that I'm the reincarnation of your son, and then not being your son. I'm the reincarnation of New Netherlands, but I'm not him." New York said after a brief pause. There was a lot of uncertainty in his voice, and after a brief mental debate with myself, I leaned over to hug New York.

"Het spijt me als ik je onder druk zet. Dit is onbekend terrein voor mij, maar ik zal ervoor zorgen dat ik je behandel zoals de persoon die je bent in dit leven, niet je laatste. " (I'm sorry if I put any pressure on you. This is unfamiliar territory for me, but I'll make sure I treat you like the person you are in this life, not your last.) I told him.

I had been really happy to learn that my son was still 'alive,' but after hearing it from New York, I understood that he was not my son. He was a different person that my son, but I could still see aspects of New Netherlands in New York. His want to not disappoint others, the way he spoke, he way he held himself.

New Netherlands was gone, but New York was still here. I won't be able to get my son back, but that doesn't mean I can't befriend his reincarnation.

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Sweden POV

New Sweden. The colony I created in the New World. My son. He died to Netherlands, to soon. Countries live for a long time, and losing my son after seventeen years was like a human losing a toddler.

And he was back. I watched as New Sweden, Delaware, seemed to help America manage the other states. Delaware was a lot more professional, and strict than I remember New Sweden, but then again, New Sweden was technically still a child when he died. Delaware wasn't a child. Delaware walked over to me after the America decided the states needed to talk to their biological families, and smiled.

"Hej Sverige. Det är bra att träffa dig, åtminstone som Delaware. " (Hello Sweden. It's good to meet you, at least as Delaware.) He said, holding out a hand to shake.

"Du kallade mig Sverige. Varför? Är du inte min sons reinkarnation? " (You called me Sweden. Why? Aren't you the reincarnation of my son?) I asked him. Maybe because he was adopted by America, he doesn't want anything to do with me.

"Reinkarnation skiljer sig från att väcka någon till liv igen. Jag delar samma själ som Nya Sverige, men jag är inte han." (Reincarnation is different from bringing someone back to life. I share the same soul as New Sweden, but I am not him.) Delaware explained, giving me a sad smile.

I felt crushed. I had gotten my hopes up that my son was alive, but he wasn't. Delaware reminded me of my son though. He had the same smile my son did, the smile he would always give me whenever I spent time with him. It had been centuries since New Sweden's death, but seeing Delaware, and him confirming he wasn't my son brought all of the pain back to the surface.

"I'm sorry. I wish it could be different. But the dead can't come back to life. I'll go if you want me to." Delaware said, making movements to walk away.

"Don't. Please." I said, not wanting to lose this opportunity to speak with Delaware. I wondered why he was walking away. Did he not want to talk to me because I wasn't his father, just the father of his past life? Delaware looked surprised.

"Okay. I though you wouldn't want to talk to me after learning I'm not your son." Delaware said, wringing his hand as he sat down on the table. I guess we both are insecure about talking to each other.

"I though you didn't want to talk to me because I'm not your real father." I explained. Delaware frowned and began stammering.

"Well I-I just...America is my bio-biological dad...at least in this life. I-I still remember you. Faint memories from when I was...when I was New Sweden." Delaware stammered out, looking down and refusing to make eye contact. It was clear he was incredibly nervous about talking to me.

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked. Delaware had been helping America deal with the states, and from what I was told yesterday, Delaware normally helps with that. He seemed he would have to be confident and have a commanding presence. So why was he nervous now?

"I just feel like I'm a disappointment to you, and I'm...just...this is very new to me. I don't really know how to have a conversation with you. I...I just...don't know what to say." Delaware explained, wringing his hands together.

"Well, what are you interests? That's normally a good way to start a conversation." I said. Delaware smiled.

"I really like peaches. Georgia and I-" Delaware began before I cut him off.

"Georgia's a country in Europe. I thought we knew all of the countries that knew about you and the rest of the states?" I questioned, confused as to why Georgia would know. I didn't even know she and America were friends, although Cuba did know, so I guess friendship wasn't a requirement. Delaware laughed.

"Not Georgia the country. The State of Georgia. Named after King George the Second, created back when Dad was just the Thirteen Colonies." Delaware explained.

"So there is a state that just has the name of a country. Georgia the country doesn't actually know?" I asked, still a bit confused.

"Yep, a state and a country have to same name. Georgia the country found out when the rest of you did." Delaware said smiling, "Don't worry, I know it's confusing. Anyway, the State of Georgia and I are both "Peach States" so we bound over that. I also like blue hens. They're my state bird and are really cute! One of my people, Caesar Rodney, was also the reason that Congress could say the vote for independence was unanimous."

I listened as Delaware ranted on, talking about peaches, blue hens, and his beaches. Delaware was very proud of his role as the first state, although he complained a lot about how the people from rest of the states had trouble remembering him. He also talked about his siblings a lot.

"Minnie and North would find meeting you really cool. They are states with a lot of Scandinavian people. A lot of the states that aren't adopted want to meet the countries that has the greatest cultural influences on them. Penny wants to meet Germany, and Mont wants to meet Canada and France." Delaware explained.

That was any other thing I found weird, not the state's having cultural influence from other countries, but the fact that the states seem unwilling to call America's family their own. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they've never, or never as America's kids, met them. Maybe it had something to do with the complicated history between Britain and America. Whatever the reason was, I found it odd, although reasonable for some states like Louisiana. France may be kind now, but she had a bloody history.

Although who doesn't?

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Denmark POV

Danish Virgin Islands was alive. When I sold her to America, I didn't expect her to live. I was upset and kept apologizing before the purchase was finalized. Now I realize what an idiot I was being. I should have only been concerned about V's death if she became a state. Philippines was the same person he had been before becoming a part of America and after. And it made sense. America's territories where the same thing as colonies, and colonies always had countryhumans.

If only I had realized this, then I would have been able to spend time with V. Maybe the other territories could of met the other countries, as everyone's met, or at least seen the territories/colonies of Britain and France, among others.

"Are you okay Far? (Dad)" I heard V ask. I smiled.

"Just thinking about how I was an idiot not to realize you would have been alive. You're an American territory!" I explained. V laughed.

"True. Although the relationship between the territories and Dad's government has always been weird. While the other territories and I have to follow the US Constitution and are American citizens, American Samoa doesn't because he's an unincorporated territory. Although everyone agrees that his unincorporated status is stupid and needs to be fixed." V explained.

"American Samoa? Is he related to Samoa?" I asked V as I recognized the familiar name. V's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"I'm not to sure. American Samoa joined us when the local tribes of his islands ceded the islands to Dad. American Samoa didn't have a personification before then. So we're pretty sure he's biologically Dad's, although I don't see it outside the realm of possibility for him to be related to Samoa." V explained.

"That seems...confusing." I said. I was a bit uncomfortable. As happy as I was to be reunited with V again, a lot of time has past. V definitely has changed. I knew the Danish Virgin Islands, but how much did V change since living with America?

"Everything involving America is. Things happen so fast it's hard to keep track of them. Like those murder hornets that appeared for like, a week, and then everyone just stopped talking about them."

"Wait, murder hornets?" I asked, worried after hearing about the murder hornets. V made a dismissal gesture.

"Yeah, don't worry about it though." She said, waving off my concern over the fact that there were murder hornets in America. What did murder hornets even mean? It was a very vague and concerning phrase.

"You said murder hornets and expect me not to be worried?" I asked.

"Yeah. So, anyways, how have things been for you?" V said, changing the subject. I pushed the topic of murder hornets to the back of my mind. That was something to worry about later. Right now I was going to catch up with my daughter.

"Good. How are you? It's been a while since we talked." I said. V smiled.

"Yeah, it really has. I've been good. I love all of my siblings. They've been really nice, if reluctant to give me and the other territories statehood. I fine without it, although D and Rico have been making pushes towards statehood." V said.

"I'm glad you like having siblings. Do you like staying with America?" I asked. I wanted to make sure V was happy in her life with America.

"Yes! Dad is very nice, and while he does get busy with the more troublesome states and paperwork, he tries to make time for everyone. He is very good at listening to us about our problems, and is good at meditating through our disagreements. Although he's gotten very annoyed at 'Hio and Michi for arguing over everything. Even York and Mass can get along every once in a while." V explained.

I didn't recognize the names of any of the states, aside from New York, although I didn't know much about America geography, so that was to be expected.

"Who's Michi? And Mass?" I asked, curious about V's new siblings. Mass had been mentioned by New York and America, which made me curious as to who he was.

"Michi is Michigan, and 'Hio is Ohio. They're basically sworn enemies." V explained. I recognized those names from the reveal of America's states yesterday.

"America mentioned them before. Something about a war?" I asked V, curious if two of America's  states actually went to war. Would that count as a civil war then, or something else? V's lips curled into an amused grin.

"The Toledo War. Not so much a war as a political dispute. I don't know much about it though. You're better off asking Dad." V explained.

"And Mass?" I asked, curious over what states seemed to be disliked by other states.

"Massachusetts. He and New York mainly dislike each other because of baseball. Baseball season is never fun in our house because of that. So is football, although football rivalries are way worse. Honestly, the whole United part of Dad's name is a joke. The states have rarely been united on anything." V said, letting out a little laugh.

That made sense to me. Even though I was a part of the EU, that didn't mean I got along with all of the countries in the EU. I only makes sense that the same would apply to the states in America.

"Do you all disagree on everything because of sports?" I asked. V shrugged.

"A lot of disagreements are about sports, but some states will look for any excuse to hate the others. Jersey has claimed time and time again that he hates everyone and likes no one. But we all know he secretly likes us, even if he pretends he doesn't." V said with a smile.

"Jeg er glad for at du er glad." (I'm glad you're happy.)I said, sad that I had been stupid enough to believe my daughter was dead, but happy as she was alive, and I could spend time with her again.

"Det er jeg også." (So am I) V responded, giving me the smile I always remembered her having. Her face my have changed, her home may have changed, but she hadn't. And I was so thankful for that.

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This Line Break will take you to Alaska's conversation with Russia and the others. That just means we're going back a  bit.

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Russia POV

I had an Uncle who was an American state. This wasn't something I ever expected to hear, but it was true. Did this mean I was technically related to America? Блядь. I didn't know how to feel about this, and I'm not sure if any of my siblings felt the same way.

Alaska was staring at us after he sat down. I saw Texas introducing another state behind him, but I wasn't paying attention to that.

"Добры дзень." (Hello) Belarus said, smiling. Alaska nodded his head at her.

"It's nice to meet you. I don't have the best experience with your father and grandfather, so forgive if I'm a bit suspicious about anything." Alaska said. I nodded, thinking back to what Alaska had said about being neglected by my grandfather. I have never known my Дед (Grandfather), but my Папа had never said anything good about him.

And the deal America had mentioned having with my Папа, that they wouldn't hurt each other's states to protect their own states. Palau had mentioned that America wanted to keep the states secret to protect them from enemies, but my Папа knew. Did that mean that some of the states were unaware of the deal?

America had always been someone who was hard to figure out, but everything I learned something about him, he just made less sense.

"I'm sorry about anything our тато did." Ukraine said. Alaska gave a sad smile and shock his head.

"Don't apologize for things that aren't your fault. My biological dad was horrible to me and my Anax̂, and USSR was determined to keep me out of the family because I was an American. It's not your fault they're idiots." Alaska said. Kazakhstan frowned.

"Is your aнам, your mom, still alive? You talk about he like she's still alive, but wouldn't she be dead since your a part of America?" Kazakhstan asked. That was a question that confused me. Alaska made it sound like his mother was one of the native tribes in America. But they would be dead since America was the entire country and consisted of all the native people and tribes as well, right?

"No, a lot of the native tribes have survived, mainly because Adax̂ recognized a lot of the tribes as being their own nations and the tribes are in charge of the land on their reservations. There is over 300 tribes who have their own reservations, and Adax̂ recognizes over 500. My Anax̂ is still alive because of that, although she has a different name." Alaska explained to us.

There were countryhumans for over 500 of America's native tribes? America probably isn't related to any of them because he is Britain's son, and not the son of one of the native tribes. The fact that they're were alive was surprising. While colonized countries would have native people who live in their country, I've never heard of one having the countryhumans of the native  people alive.

I was young though. Even though I spent a long time as a soviet state, I had only been a country for twenty-nine, almost thirty years. Did the older countries like Norway or Spain know about countries have countryhumans for their native people. Was this just another weird American thing, or was it like this for all of the countries that had native people. Did they hide the existence of countryhumans for native people to protect them?

"Are you serious? Can countryhumans for the native people of other countries be alive too?" Belarus asked. Alaska shrugged.

"I know the American ones are alive, but not any others. Amtal." He said. Two states burst in through the doors and introduced themselves. I turned to face them just to hear the say something about reincarnations.

"Oh great. Del left the states unsupervised. I really hope D, Mont and Ginny are there, otherwise I won't have a home to go back to." Alaska muttered. Who were those states that Alaska mentioned and why did they influence were he lived?

"I'm confused. What does Del have to do with where you live? And who is Del?" Ukraine asked. Alaska rolled his eyes and pointed to one of the states that had barged in, who had a yellow diamond.

"That's Del. Short for Delaware. It's mainly a joke based around the fact that he, along with Vermont, Virginia and DC are the only states that can break up most fights between other states. And since fights between states can get dramatic, something will end up destroyed. Like my house for one." Alaska explained smiling.

"It sound chaotic there." Kazakhstan said.

"It is. But I wouldn't have it any other way. It would be too weird." Alaska said before sighing, his face falling. He looked to be in deep though.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Alaska gave me a look.

"I'm fine. I'm just nervous. Like I said, I don't have the best experience with your family." Alaska said.

"Why'd you say your family? Aren't you a part of our family as well?" Belarus asked. Alaska shook his head.

"Not at the moment. I have no intention of claiming Российская империя as my father, not after what he put Anax̂ through. As for USSR, when he died, we were on bad terms, and I don't want to forgive him at the movement, not until I have proof he was sorry for what he did. My family is Adax̂ and all of the states and territories that make him up. I'll accept you as family, but only once you prove I can trust you." Alaska explained.

"You have trust issues." I said. Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan all sent me looks that said to shut up. Alaska laughed.

"Aren't you offended?" Kazakhstan asked. Alaska shook his head.

"Wait until you meet my siblings. Trust me, they are all incredibly blunt and will never give up an opportunity to tell you something they dislike about you. My favorite sibling is Washington." Alaska said, laughing a little bit more.

"Siblings. There one job is too annoy you." Belarus said. Alaska snorted, rolling his eyes.

"You have no idea. If I hear Tex say he is the largest state one more time, I'm going to kill him. I'm bigger than, like, half of the United States." Alaska complained. Kazakhstan's wings spread out a bit as he gigged at Alaska's sentence, knocking Ukraine's flower crown off of his head.

"Серйозно Казахстан? Вам довелося це збити? Ви намагаєтесь довести свою аргументацію? " (Seriously Kazakhstan? You had to knock it off? Are you trying to prove a point?) Ukraine asked as he picked his flower crown up.

"Жоқ. Жоқ. Бұл өте нашар уақыттағы апат болды. Кешіріңіз."(No. No. No. It was an accident with really bad timing. I'm sorry.) Kazakhstan responded. I looked over to Alaska to see him looking confused.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Alaska looked at me and nodded.

"I don't understand what they are saying. Russian is the only language outside of my official  languages that I know. I'm going to have to try and learn the basics of their languages." Alaska said as he gestured to my siblings.

Alaska seemed like a kind person, but there was something about him that I couldn't figure out. I didn't really know what to make of my Uncle. He was hard to figure out, and as much as he wanted to avoid calling us family, he had a happy look in his eyes whenever he talked to us. I think Alaska wants to accept us as family, but he's scared.

And if we're being honest, I am too.

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Mexico POV

"Madre meet Cali. They're a bit weary of meeting you for some strange reason." Texas said. Seeing mi hijo again was amazing. I though he has died, but he was alive. And I had another child!

I was crushed to learn that California didn't want to meet me. Just because I hadn't been in their life before doesn't mean that I wouldn't want to be now. They had only been a country for veinticinco días (Twenty-five days)!

That's not enough time to establish diplomatic relations with other countries, especially after your two neighboring countries just got out of a war. If I had met California before they became a state, would they have wanted to meet me?

"Hola. ¿Como estás?" (Hello. How are you?) California asked after staring at me for a while. They had a calm expression in their face, but their eyes betrayed nervousness.

"Bien. ¿Y tu?" (Good. And you?) I responded California bit their lip. Texas rolled his eyes.

"No matter how much you want to say you didn't want to meet Madre, we both can tell that you're nervous about it, which means that you probably wanted to." He said California shot him a glare.

"Fuck off Tex. You don't know anything about me you asshat." They said. Texas put his hands up in a surrender motion.

"Come on Cali, don't you think that's a bit harsh? Here I am, your big bro, who just wants you to stop pretendin' you never wanted to meet Madre." Texas said, clenching his jaw.

"Patahimikin mo tanga. Palagi kang kumikilos tulad ng alam mo kung ano ang ginagawa mo. Ayaw mo! Wala sa atin ang gumagawa! Kaya't tigilan mo na ang pag-arte tulad ng alam mo ang lahat Tex. Pagod na ako dito." California said to Texas, in a language I didn't recognize.

"That's just mean Cali. Now talk to Madre and stop yellin' at me." Texas said, annoyed with whatever California had told him.

"California. I know I never got to be a mother to you, but if you would let me be your mother, I would be glad to take up that position. Por favor (please). Let me have a spot in your life California." I told them, hoping that California would accept my offer.

I love Texas, and regardless of the bad blood between us when he joined America, I was heartbroken at his 'death.' If I had know California was alive when they joined America, I would have mourned them just as fiercely as I had mourned my son.

I wanted to be a mother to my children. Texas had forgiven me for the events that happened during the Texas Revolution, and I hoped California could accept my offer of peace.

I may not have known California during their days as a country, but that didn't mean I don't want to be a part of their days as a state.

"I...I never needed a mom. I don't know how to have one. Besides, I never knew you and you just met me, and I already have a Padre, so I don't think it necessary." California explained.

Dios, (God) that hurt. My child had just basically disowned me. I felt tears prick in my eyes as I though back to Texas declaring independence. All the heartbreak and the pain that came from me gaining a son, just one that hated me.

"Really Cali? You're graspin' at straws for an excuse to avoid Madre. What the fuck are you so afraid of?" Texas angrily demanded, causing some of the Latin American countries that had been talking to Puerto Rico and the other American states that were children of my father.

"I'm not grasping at straws Tex. You have no clue what you're talking about! It's a legitimate excuse. Why can't you see that?" California accused, pushing their sunglasses up their face from where they had slid during their exclamation.

"Do you two get into an argument over everything?" I asked. Texas and California seemed to dislike each other a lot. America said they were political opposites, so they probably have conflicting viewpoints.

I was nervous about having to manage my children if they argued a lot. I never had the best relationship with Texas with it came to solving problems. I also didn't know enough about California to know if I was offending them instead of fixing the problem.

"We argue because there are many differences between us." California said, their tone harsh as they shot a small glare towards Texas, who scowled.

"One thing we have in common is our mom. Just talk to her Cali! This is literally the first time you've met her and you're basing your opinion on the fact she didn't know you were alive. You were a country for twenty five days! That's not enough time to met every other country. Stop being stubborn and just give her a chance!" Texas said, putting his hands on California's shoulders and looking them in the eyes.

I saw America had looked over from his conversation with his family to look at Texas and California. He had a thoughtful look on his face. Canada tapped on his shoulder and America turned around.

I wonder what America did that for. Was he afraid that Texas and California were going to have another fight? They did already have a fight today and America made it sound like that was a normal occurrence.

"Fine. Hello...You can call me Cali. I don't really know what to say to you." California-no Cali said. They looked very nervous.

"Well, what are your interests?" I asked. I wanted to learn more about Cali. They smiled.

"I have the home to Hollywood, so I'm really into filmmaking. I also really like making new tech, mainly because of Silicon Valley. I do that with Washington, the state, since he also has a ton of tech nerds." Cali said. I smiled.

"That's cool. Is there anything else you do?" I asked. I wanted to know as much as I could about my child.

"Get set on fire!" Texas called. I shot Cali a horrified look. They get set on fire? Are they okay? Cali rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on. It's not usually this bad." Cali protested. Cali usually gets set on fire?

"¿Usualmente te prenden fuego? Cali, ¿estás bien?" (You usually get set on fire? Cali are you okay?) I asked, standing up as my concern for my child grew.

"Don't worry about it. Wildfires happen in my state a lot. I'm used to it." Cali said.

"And you make the rest of us deal with it." Texas muttered under his breath.

"Would you rather me be on fire?" Cali asked Texas. Texas rolled his eyes. I laughed. Cali and Texas may not act like they get along, but it was easy to tell that they cared for each other.

"Maybe." Texas said.

"TEX YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Cali yelled.

"WE HAVE THE SAME MOM! SHE'S RIGHT THERE!" Texas yelled back, gesturing to me. I began laughing. The relationship between my children was weird and hilarious.

"Oh right. Sorry Madre. Normally you aren't around so I can cuss out Texas without it being awkward." Cali explained.

"You need to stop cussing out Tex. You guys are reaching 'Hio v Michi or York v Mass levels of arguments." Delaware said, crossing his arms. America nodded.

"Del's right. You two need to stop fighting over any small thing you can disagree over." America said.

"Oh come on Pa. We ain't that bad. You've seen 'Hio and Michi. How can we be that bad?" Texas protested.

"I dealt with the Toledo War firsthand. I know how bad 'Hio and Michi can be. Michi wasn't even alive when the Toledo War happened." America protested.

"Yeah, so how are we that bad?" Cali asked.

"Four fights in less than an hour. That's more than 'Hio and Michi on a bad day. They can keep it under two." America explained.

"That's because we have a group of states-"

"The Midwest"

"Yes the Midwest. Anyway they're in charge of keepin' those two apart." Texas finished after the being interrupted by New York.

"Fair enough, but if you guys don't stop turning every conversation into an argument, we'll have to do the same for you." America told them. Texas rolled his eyes.

"Alright Pa we get it." He said before turning back to me and Cali.

"America and Delaware are right. You guys do fight a lot. I don't know the other states they mentioned, but you do turn most conversations into a fight. Can I have a conversation with you without it turning into a fight?" I asked. Texas and California exchanged looks.

"We can try." California said.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Texas asked. I began asking them questions about their lives and what they were interested. I was glad to be reunited with my son, and I was glad that I have another child. I just hope Cali will be able to accept me as family.

[dailybeastarsthings]

Chapter 4 - Can This Day Get Any Worse? 4.1. It's Not Easy Being A Bunny

The school’s cafeteria is one of the main areas where all students can meet with each other without any boundaries. The area was designed to be able to serve all kinds of animals regardless of their species and sizes. The main area was dissected into three larger levels, which looked like platforms. They were bordered by wooden walls planted with succulents and tiny shrubs to create a greener atmosphere. The roof was made out of glass to ensure that natural light can always get inside. In the four corners and the middle of the cafeteria, there were large oak trees planted with decks on multiple branches. This served as the dining area for smaller animals, such as mice, squirrels or songbirds. The tree was specially developed so its leaves would rarely fall, in order to avoid any accidents.

The cafeteria was packed for dinner, as usual. Students lined up at the kitchen ladies, who served them the food. The meals were specially chosen and prepared to satisfy both herbivore and carnivore students. Each day, there were separate meals for carnivores and herbivores. Today, carnivores were given steamed soy beans, egg salad, black bean pastries and milk, while herbivores were given vegetables boiled in soy milk, fruit parfaits and orange juice. Of course, if a carnivore student preferred something from the herbivore menu, they could change their meals and vice versa.

In the mass of animals, there was a small Netherlands dwarf rabbit girl. Her name was Haru. Her fur was pure white with no marks or any other colors. Her eyes were pitch black. One could easily get lost in them, wondering what thoughts were being kept secret behind them. She was quite short even for her species so she wore shoes with thicker soles to add to her height. As she walked along the line, her uniform was flowing in the air.

Today’s dinner is my favorite, I just can’t wait to eat it!” she thought. “Now I just need to find a place to sit.”

She paced the area for free seats and found three tables with free seats. First, she walked up to a female mongoose student.

“I’m sorry, may I sit here?” Haru asked.

“Umm… Sorry, but I’m waiting for my friend” the mongoose replied.

Next, Haru walked up to a feline student, who didn’t even pay much attention to her. It seemed like she recognized her and since the situation was too awkward for her, she just went back to eating without saying anything.

Haru was a bit annoyed, but she still had one option, a group of rabbits.

“Hey, may I sit with you, please?” Haru asked them.

But they were so busy chatting they didn’t even hear her question. Haru’s ears drooped but she wasn’t the type of girl to get upset over a situation like this. She walked outside and sat down on the stairs to enjoy her meal.

“Oh well, I’m sitting alone behind the building but at least the food is delicious” she thought as she was eating her meal in silence. She suddenly heard another student calling for her. It was her roommate, Sally.

“Haru! There you are.”

“Oh, hey, Sally. Are you heading back to the dorm?”

“Well… umm… yeah. Why are you eating your food alone in this place? Don’t you think it’s too dangerous for a small herbivore like you to be alone after the incident?”

“Well… It’s better than eating alone in the cafeteria. Anyway, if you’re so worried about me, why don’t we have dinner together?”

“Oh… Sorry, I can’t. I can’t be seen together with you. Everyone in the school knows what you did.”

“Well, that figures” Haru sighed. “Everyone’s been avoiding eye contact with me for two days now…”

“Mizuchi is really mad about it. Take it from your roommate, okay? Try to act less resilient.”

And with that, Sally walked off without saying goodbye, leaving Haru by herself. Haru lost herself in her thoughts…

“Is it just me? When an animal is as small as I am, their body will sometimes shake uncontrollably from the pressure of their own heartbeat. If I were to just follow my instincts, I would just keel over and never get back up.”

Haru sighed. For the first time, she felt lonely. Yet she was determined to not allow it to get to her and stand up from this situation even stronger. She finished her meal and went to the main building. She still had some homework to do for tomorrow and wanted to finish it in the library. As she was going up the spiral stairs for small animals, a walnut shell fell down in front of her. And then a couple others followed, but this time, they landed straight on her head.

“What the…”

“Oops, my bad! My hand slipped” said a high-pitched voice.

“Did you get hurt?” asked another one.

“Oh, you’re probably fine, aren’t you? No doubt some boy will come running to save you!” a third added.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m fine” Haru replied. “Nothing you do can hurt me.”

Haru continued her walk up the stairs, trying to ignore the laughs of the other three girls, but she suddenly came face to face with them. It was Mizuchi and her two allies, a black cat and a raccoon. Mizuchi was a harlequin rabbit and a pretty popular student in Cherryton. If anyone, she could completely destroy someone’s reputation with a gossip in just a few days’ time.

“I guess all of your friends are ignoring you…” she said. “And yet, you’re still holding out quite well. But you do understand your situation don’t you? No one wants to deal with you” she said with the most satisfied smile on her face.

Haru didn’t mind the harsh words Mizuchi threw at her just now. She picked up one of the walnut shells and threw it at her.

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t have time to deal with you or your little friends so bye” Haru said while passing the others without even looking at them.

“Hey! I’m not finished with you!” Mizuchi yelled.

“If you’ve got enough time to spread rumors about me, you surely have enough time to make up with your boyfriend.”

“You have no right to say that! You’re the one who split us up in the first place!”

“I’m sorry, but he’s the one who kissed me. I don’t know what you were told and I don’t really care either” Haru said while turning around with a smug look on her face. “Still, a buck who’d get infatuated over a little kiss isn’t worth much if you ask me.”

And that was it. Right then and there, Mizuchi was destroyed and she knew it. The frustration caused her two-toned face to turn completely red. She picked up the janitor’s water bucket and threw the water at Haru, who fell to the ground.

“Listen well. We were a harlequin rabbit couple. Harlequin rabbits are an endangered species. We’re on a completely different league with obvious pedigree. And yet you, a plebian dwarf rabbit, went and destroyed that couple! How dare you! We’re going to spread rumors that you’re messing with other male students as well.”

Haru was not surprised by Mizuchi’s reaction but she was still a bit upset. Her clothes and fur were dripping wet and the other three were laughing at her.

“Let’s go girls” Mizuchi said. “You should really pick yourself up from the floor, Haru. Or don’t. It suits you anyway.”

And with that, the terrible trio was finally gone. Their footsteps echoed in the corridor for a few moments but with each passing second, they became quieter. Haru stood up and looked at herself. Her clothes were dripping wet. Fortunately, the water didn’t get into her bag, so at least her schoolwork was safe. She looked for the nearest restroom and walked inside. She went inside one of the stalls, closed the door and hung her dress on the door. She sat on top of the toilet seats and started the rest of her homework.

“Well, it’s not the library but at least no one should bother me here” she thought.

It didn’t take Haru to finish her school work. She completed an essay and two multiple choice exercises and was ready to go. She reached out for her uniform, which was almost completely dry. She got dressed, exited the stall and washed her hands.

“I don’t want to go back to the dorm yet… I’ll just spend some time around the back of the gym” she thought.

She looked in the mirror and took a good look at herself.

“When males see this face, they start to approach me thinking »I want to help her« or »I want to protect her«… But when they realize that I’m different from their fantasies, they use me and eventually leave. Right… The winners of this world are the animals who live by their feral instincts. I was destined to be a loser. I lived a life of being used as fodder for other animals.”

It was already late when Haru exited the main building. It was really quiet all over the school and only a few lights were on in the dorms. A thin layer of mist was resting lightly on the ground, deterring from Haru’s way as she took her steps towards the gym. It almost felt to her like even the mist didn’t want to touch her anymore. She reached the gym and headed towards the fountain in front of it.

Haru was always mesmerized by the dancing water. She didn’t know why, but she enjoyed looking at it for hours, enjoying the sight of the little drops being painted into colorful gems by the surroundings or silver tears by the moonlight. It was a place where she could calm herself down in all cases – exams, arguments, family life… But the peace and harmony didn’t feel the same this time. She felt as if someone was watching her. She heard a rustle from the gym’s entrance.

“Someone’s here. But who could it be? Do they know who I am? Do they want to hurt me? Or… can it be the one who killed that alpaca?”

She heard the rustle once again… The other one moved closer to her… Tears started to flow from Haru’s eyes. Her legs were trembling. She wanted to run but her legs wouldn’t move – they were heavy as stones.

“I’ll let you have me… But please… Just once in my pathetic life…Give me a reason to run away in fear… Give me a reason to cry in fear… Give me a reason to value my life…”

With all these thoughts in her head, she started running towards the arches. She couldn’t even make two steps though when she could feel her body being grabbed by large hands with sharp claws… She was trapped. And yet, she felt completely calm.

“Could you understand what valuing your life is?” she thought. “He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t have to. I can feel that his desires resonate with mine. I’m just glad they are not here to see me like this…”

[mcnypieces]

     A month later and at last I come bearing an update once again. It’s bound to be incredibly lengthy as life has not been its most placid, but I am here nonetheless.

     TL;DR for those also struggling with their time recently: Life stressful, Bun scare, WoW fun but friend/Mythic+ group is a mess due to losing a friend to toxicity, I will likely be remaking this multimuse blog and starting fresh there to give me more incentive to be around to write comfortably in a fresh, happy, non-cluttered place, complete with a new Birkan OC I talked about some months before now. Though I haven’t technically decided and was going to ask opinions, I will likely still be remaking, as everything here is a mess. Lulu’s blog will remain as is for now, as I am attached to it and has retained more activity from me ( not much more, however ), though I have also considered moving her with everyone as well to keep everyone in one place and maybe make my mind feel more focused in a collective space. I’m still very much on the fence about it. Thoughts on that are welcome.

     There was a bit of optimism at the beginning of my break to play WoW. However, a little less than a day into the launch, I noticed something off about the youngest of my rabbits. Hazel, a netherland dwarf gifted to me by a neighbor down the way during Christmas a couple years ago so she had friends and wasn’t alone during the day, developed a head tilt. It was enough to be noticeable, but nowhere near the cases most see posted in pictures. Head tilt in rabbits is often a very serious thing, as it can cause permanent damage and even death if not treated immediately. Anything from an injury to unkempt ears to a common parasite ( which is technically classified as a fungus ) to neurological troubles - the range is about as vast as self-diagnosing with WebMD. Torticollis in rabbits has a bunch of different causes, very few of which are relatively mild.

     I was - to say the least - in absolute hysterics. She was off balance, tripping over herself, curling up into herself trying to keep footing. To somebody that’s never seen it in person before, it looks like you’re watching an animal on the verge of passing from something neurological. I had no idea what was going on. To be frank, I was absolutely terrified. It was 1AM and very few vets were 24-hour, especially in this crisis, much less ones that could look at rabbits. I steeled myself to call the closest one for recommendations on what to do and where to go. Naturally, I was told there was nothing this place could do besides euthanasia ─ which, in my very emotional state, I was incredibly offended by the mere immediate suggestion of. Hazel had been acting completely normal up until then, and she still had her energy. She was trying to climb all over the place despite having no balance, and she showed no other symptoms of anything besides just tilting and falling over herself. At this point obviously I know they were simply stating that was the only thing they could do as they don’t take exotic pets, but in the moment, being offered it as the first and seemingly only solution made me upset. I’m sure that would be anybody in that situation. So, of course, I refused, and they told me of other places that would be able to at least see her at that time and give me more sound options.

     I find a 24 hour emergency pet clinic about thirty minutes away. There’s a place that for sure takes exotics, but it’s 2 hours away and closed at this hour. Okay, fine, I don’t have time to wait with this. I call the 24 hour clinic. They tell me they do see exotics and can treat the basics but they don’t have the equipment to properly diagnose anything for certain. Unfortunate, but I don’t have any other options at this point. They say they will take her and monitor her behavior to figure out where I should go from there. I take her there. I try not to break down again on the ride there, I try not to break down as they take her padded comfy box from me. They tell me they have another, more serious case they have to see to immediately but will monitor her and do a basic check-up. It will take them an hour at minimum, and I was welcome to stay in the parking lot. I decide against it, go home to clean up and prep a space for her while trying to steel myself more. It takes a couple hours for them to call back. 

     Lo and behold, they have no idea what’s wrong. As stated when I called, aside from the head tilting, she is acting completely normal. Eating, going to the bathroom, has her energy, no leg or eye issues that are common with the usual problems that lead to head tilting. What tests they can run are absolutely normal. They gave her what they referred to as “a bunny feast”, and she delighted herself in it with no problems, and they even brushed her down for me ( I didn’t get the chance yet, her winter coat was just coming in ). She just has a head tilt all of a sudden, out of nowhere. This is great news, but it’s also upsetting, because I still have no idea what’s going on. They give me medication for an infection and Metacam for the potential pain she could have been in, and sent me on my way to monitor her at home. If anything changed for the worse, I would take her to the vet in Raleigh two hours away to have actual tests done. 

     Okay, so I’m still in the dark on what’s wrong, but I have medication. Great. I watch her for two weeks, give her the infection medication every 12 hours and the pain medication the first 4 days. And, in time, her head tilt begins to disappear. That tells both the doctor and I that it was either 1) an ear infection, which was now cured, or 2) an injury. My mind has me leaning towards the latter, if only because I know how fast she runs all over the place and Jolyne, my cat, does play with her. They have done so for years now without issue, often times Jojo will be running away from Hazel rather than vice versa. Hazel will do loops back and forth and then suddenly charge at her in an attempt to catch her off guard. I have not let her out with Jojo since then in case roughhousing was in fact the cause, but Hazel is back to running around like the crazy thing she is. I’m still watching her every day, and all the rabbits will hopefully be getting new, large hutches for Christmas. Hazel’s has been ordered. To this moment, I still have no idea what caused her head tilt. What I did learn, however, is that there are a lot of rabbits that get euthanized due to head tilt, when most of the ailments - if caught early enough and with lengthy TLC - can be cured. Rabbits can even live happily with the tilt should it become permanent ( which it can be! ). Here is a happy bun who lived a wonderful life with a permanent head tilt. Much worse than the way Hazel’s was, but the common bad tilt nonetheless. I called to tell them the great news, how grateful I was they could do anything at all, and they were ecstatic to have me call them back. Things in that regard are now back to normal, but I keep an eye on her as per usual. Definitely not the kind of scare I was expecting out of nowhere, but one I received nonetheless.

     During the time I monitored her and kept her close at my side in her hutch ( I went out of the way to move her hutch in with me when I cleaned it, because why wouldn’t I? ), I enjoyed the launch of Shadowlands. My main WoW friend group, A/B/C/D/E, were all playing and content with what was happening. We even were talking to old friends, thinking about raiding, had two new friends coming to learn to play the game. It was great! But then base Mythics came out, and things went sour out of nowhere. 

     One of our long time friends in our original Mythic+ group became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. We’ve all had our disagreements and issues with said friend for some time, as he has been very negative the past few months and a hamper on the friend group even before launch. Everyone knows things are at an all time low, and the world is not in its best state - but we come to play games to get away from the realities of things. We’re here to have fun and kid around, not to mope. This is not to say we’re not here to be supportive if something is genuinely wrong, or that sadness just isn’t allowed ever. That would be silly. We’re always here to support each other in rough times, and such is the reason we’re as tight-knit as we are to begin with. Always has been the case. 

     However, this was not your typical sad sort of negative. This was the permanent “Glass is Half Empty” mentality. Everything had to be negative. Win a BG match? He didn’t have fun because he got targeted down one time when he was alone on a caster. Clear base Mythics for the first time of the expansion? No time to celebrate, because he didn’t get a piece of gear out of it, or he didn’t do the burst he wanted on a trash pack because we didn’t cater to his pull plan. During the second week of Mythics, he was constantly complaining about not getting gear drops to the point it was making other members upset. No one likes doing eight dungeons, getting one or two drops, and both being pieces you don’t need. Hell, I did Mythic+ this entire week since it came out and I still have a Heroic neck on my body because it has a socket and great stats and I’ve not gotten another drop since. But to complain about not getting a drop and dunking on people who are getting the upgrade ─ which, in turn, betters the group ─ is just ridiculous. This was not exclusive to just WoW, either. Everything they played together when I was not present, he acted the same way ─ negative, upsetting, and very, very defensive whenever someone would tell him to knock it off. He’d pull the “oh you don’t care about me” card. He constantly felt like people were coming after him, even when nobody ever was, and that everyone just had something against him and we kept him there out of sheer pity ─ which was infuriating to all of us, the people who still considered him a friend and cared about him to tolerate the toxic behavior and try to work through it. He’d pretend to be a victim if you tried to call him out on bad behavior, acting as if he was being singled out, while also bad mouthing other people and poking fun at them and then disguising it as a joke ( or in his case, “a meme” ). When you’d do the same back, he’d pull the whole “dude that’s not cool, I get you’re joking but it’s not funny” attitude every time. He had to be right all the time, and if you tried to tell him he was wrong, he’d fight you on it until the bloody end, even when proven wrong earlier. He wanted to be catered to and, if things weren’t going the way he wanted, he was negative. If he wasn’t having fun, nobody else was allowed to have fun. 

     Friend A, who is essentially our leader that brought everybody together and often makes calls for the group ( though in reality we’re all just an aimless bunch of friends messing around and having fun ), has known Friend C for a longer than any of us. He considers him his best friend, and they have been close for many years since Cataclysm. We’re all friends, of course, but A and C have been close for a very long time. They are very supportive of one another, regardless of what happens, and always have been. However, even Friend A is getting very frustrated with Friend C’s behavior. Friend C has not always been like this. In fact, he used to be the complete opposite. He loves the guy to death and back, but the other members, particularly Friend D, is getting into mini verbal fisticuffs during dungeons disguised as friendly fun being poked and forth almost every night. Friend D complains about Friend C behind his back ( which he has been asked to tone down and, some nights, has been agreed with based on the issue at hand ). A new coworker of Friend A who is also a very chill, cool person had her own reservations about him when she joined due to his behavior and it kept her from joining voice calls. Hell, I got into an argument with him a week before launch due to his behavior, to which he tried to invalidate my argument by claiming I was “coming after him” and therefore my side was automatically invalid because I had a “personal vendetta” against him and me “shit-talking” him while making my points “comes off a certain way” ─ when the point I was making had absolutely nothing to do with him personally. Again, the same “I’m being attacked” mentality, when no such thing was happening.

     Eventually one night while he was complaining about loot, Friend A had a talk with him about not complaining about not getting loot anymore, as it was wearing on everyone’s nerves. Mythic+ would come out soon, loot would be flowing in, and everyone would eventually be geared, including him. This wasn’t the first time he was talked to in regards to the way he’d been acting in general. He agreed to tone it down, and that was that. But guess what? That didn’t happen. The next night we finish up our Mythics, and he has to physically stop himself from making a comment and covers it up with “nope, I promised I wouldn’t complain about loot” with a tone that sounds like someone is struggling really, really hard not to say something and is holding back. Normally this would be something nobody cares about and is part of the process but this isn’t the first time he said something about it. He then proceeds to complain anyway, spends night questioning the tank’s ( Friend D at the time ) pulls and complaining about being beat in DPS every other pull because “oh I don’t have gear cause the game hates me so-” when he’s not even doing his AoE rotation properly ( found this out later after everything fell through ). His attitude is so negative it’s affecting the way he plays and, to put it bluntly, he’s playing and acting like shit.

    So Friend A sits him down. Again. At this point he’s still trying his absolute best to work things out with him, but his foot has come down. His behavior for months has been toxic. People are getting fed up. He’s bringing down group morale. Everyone is worried his attitude is going to make the new people who are trying to learn the game quit because he’s constantly shit talking the game and pretending the world is ending in voice. Friend A tells him he’s here for him still and how he’s always here to talk if life is a mess and Friend C is still welcome, but he needs to get his shit straight. By the end of the chat, Friend C claims “that’s just how he is” and he can’t do anything about it ─ which is just such bullshit. We know good and well how he really is, and this ain’t it. He’s just too lazy, full of himself, and down on his luck to acknowledge he has a problem. He says it’s shitty of us not to “accept him for who he is” and how we all know his life is shit and that he’s justified. Friend A essentially tells him he doesn’t want somebody like that in his group. Friend C takes this as “oh I don’t want you here period”, essentially says “well I don’t want to be in a group that just pities me and takes me along because they feel bad and not because they’re actually my friends”, leaves the discord group, removes Friend A from discord, removes friend A from Battle.net, then blocks him in both places. Out of nowhere. Friend A then comes to announce that Friend C will no longer be a part of our group. This is a TL;DR, since I wasn’t there for the conversation and it’s been a little bit since I’ve asked Friend A exactly what was said and feel it inappropriate to ask for specifics again since it’s all behind us now and that night still upsets him to this moment.

    Since then, Friend C has come back to try and make amends to everyone, especially the group, as he dropped without telling anybody out of frustration and essentially said “fuck you” to the entire group because he was upset at his best friend. Friend A was very emotional about it after it happened as, like said, this was his best friend who essentially just claimed he didn’t care about him at all and just pitied him despite doing everything he could to try to keep everybody happy and even catering to Friend C at times against his better judgement. Despite that, however, Friend A has stated multiple times he would not even take Friend C back as a friend unless he had a life evaluation first. Friend A and Friend C sat down to have another talk after the dust settled so Friend C could apologize, as Friend C reached out supposedly to do so, but he still acted as though he didn’t do anything wrong. He swore constantly on his dog-who-he-loved-dearly’s ashes he didn’t say the shitty things he said to Friend A that night. He didn’t own up to anything he said or did, only apologized for leaving immediately and dipping on everyone else, as he worried he’d “burned the bridge”. Friend A did not welcome him back with open arms but told him his doors were still open to talk and were never closed to begin with ( Friend C closed them himself by leaving suddenly, after all ) and that he could talk to him again when he figured everything out. Everyone is at least on speaking terms again, but he has not rejoined the discord nor the game group, and wasn’t even playing for a time. Now he’s supposedly playing and having fun again on his own terms and doing things we haven’t. Supposedly. So our Mythic+ group had a gap in it, which was filled by one of the new friends who just started playing. Both new players in our group are learning fast, but it has slowed our progression down, which we accept. People have swapped around classes to find accommodations as well, with Friend A now tanking and Friend D healing as they did before, delaying progress further. But now with things decided and in place, we will begin to push again. After all, it’s only the first week of Mythic+. We haven’t really lost any important progress.

    Friend A was very upset and felt like there was more he could’ve done, but everyone in the group has told him day in and day out there was nothing else he could’ve done. Friend C still has a lot to sort out and has seemingly taken absolutely nothing from this situation.

    Both of these situations, on top of the seizures the person I consider a second mom to me still happening ( which she went in for today to be looked at again while she’s being treated for something else ), has made writing nigh impossible. I have been having a lot of fun playing WoW and the issue with Friend C, while a big hamper on things in the moment, hasn’t stopped me from enjoying it as is. Both the major hospitals near me have recently announced they are at full capacity on virus patients and will no longer be accepting more of them and, so long as there’s no immediate reason to do so, have asked people to stay inside as much as possible because of it. With Hazel’s emergency making me miss my dad’s small Thanksgiving as I was up all night that night and it was the next day, this means I will also not make it to his Christmas. I did not go to my mom’s get-together for Christmas either, as it was at her restaurant where she works and the number of people there made me nervous. She was sad, but there’s nothing I could really do to justify the risk. The fact people still want to have any kind of gathering even for the holidays blows my mind.

     That all being said, things have calmed down enough for me to consider making another attempt at writing again and retuning to the blogs I have missed dearly. The breaks are always nice, but I’ve had to take far too many of late, and struggling with the energy and mindset to write for months is really starting to get under this bun’s blue fur. In the time I’ve been away I’ve thought about remaking this blog, as it’s a complete mess and riddled with old things that are no longer a part of it. My tags are messed up, my info is all over the place, and I feel as though a fresh place filled with friends who are still active might speed up the process of getting me back on track. In addition to that, I’ve thought more about the OC idea I brought up some time ago and will be adding said OC to the roster once things are set-up, assuming I go through with the idea. I’ve also considered adding Lulubelle to the multimuse as well to keep everyone in one place, but as I’m attached to her blog and hers is more organized, I’m reluctant to do so. It is a thought and consideration, nonetheless. It will all take some time to do, but afterward, assuming it goes as expected, activity will resume once again.

      It will take some time, but hopefully things will be back to the way they were soon enough. ♥

[daddyiluvhim]

The Problem Is Ignorance: Curbing Maternal Mortality in the United States

The United States is well known for its striking maternal mortality rates - meaning the number of American women who die during pregnancy or because of it. More accurately, maternal mortality is defined as death while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration or site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes, and is recorded using a device called a “maternal mortality ratio”, or MMR. The MMR is the number of maternal deaths that result in 100,000 live births. In 2018, the United States’ MMR was 17.4, and that is an average of all of the rates, between economic and racial status, which vastly affect the statistics. Maternal mortality, like many health issues, is sometimes inevitable. But for the most part, it’s simply an injustice, like in Serena Williams’ case.

On September 1, 2017, the famed tennis player gave birth to her daughter via cesarean section. The next day, she was having trouble breathing and feared a pulmonary embolism, or a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries, which are connected to the lungs. They are often caused by blood clots, with the main symptoms being shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing. The nurse to which she expressed her concern dismissed Williams’ worry as confusion from pain medication, even after Williams exhibited more than one symptom.

The nurse was wrong - there were several blood clots in the tennis player’s lungs. Williams’ fear wasn’t irrational. It wasn’t a postpartum symptom or a hormonal defect. She had, in fact, suffered multiple pulmonary embolisms more than 6 years before which had almost cost her her career and her life, and now is hyper-aware of them. It was only after her demands to her doctors that a CT scan revealed the clots and she was put on a heparin drip to thin her blood. Multiple surgeries later, she is still very much at risk for blood clots.

Medically, the causes of maternal death are mainly bleeding or infection, which usually occur postpartum, pre-eclampsia or eclampsia, many times characterized by high blood pressure during pregnancy, and complications from delivery or unsafe abortion. But these are all conditions that are preventable and treatable, yet so many women are dying from them.

Most women who go to the hospital and entrust their healthcare providers with their’s and their baby’s life aren’t experts at what is happening to their body. That is why we have doctors, nurses, midwives, and other healthcare professionals to assist. But what happens when the patient can’t communicate what they are feeling correctly is ignorance. Serena Williams was extremely fortunate to have had that previous knowledge about herself and her past medical conditions. That is not the case with the majority of women. There are, of course, pre-existing conditions that raise one’s rate for maternal death, but many of the aforementioned common causes of maternal death happen to perfectly healthy women who died because their healthcare professional didn’t realize they were bleeding out after delivery.

Take a moment to consider the word hysteria. A noun defined as a psychological disorder whose symptoms include conversion of psychological stress into physical symptoms, selective amnesia, shallow, volatile emotions, and overdramatic or attention-seeking behavior. This word is derived from the Greek one “hystera”, meaning uterus, or the womb in which a baby grows inside of its mother. And so through time, misogynistic views have categorized hysteria as a side effect of pregnancy, childbirth, or the mere possession of a uterus. And this is how and why medical professionals like Serena Williams’ nurse get away with ignoring their patients and denying them attention or care. While Williams’ condition wasn’t particularly common among postpartum women, she expressed her concern for what she thought was happening, yet she was ignored. The horrific stereotype of women being crazy makes the community mistrust what they say before they say it. You can see that explicitly in fields such as science, math and politics, ones which men have dominated for centuries. And it’s worse for women of color. 

They are placed in the position of “least important” in American society, they face injustice even before they are born, with their mothers. The maternal mortality ratio for Black women is 37.3, three to four times the rate for white women. This is not only because of the natural risk they face, but also that they are blatantly ignored. Continuing with the theme of athletes, who would be less likely to suffer consequences from pregnancy or birth: Simone Biles, who is Black, or Aly Raisman, who is white? Both members of the Final Five, Biles is the world’s best gymnast and a 25-time Olympic medal winner and Raisman is a silver medalist who has captained the United States Women’s team in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. They are exceptional athletes who have led their teams to victory in more than one Olympic competitions, yet Raisman would still have a better chance of a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy and birth.

Not because of anything they did, but because of the barriers, norms, and bias that have been placed in society and in the medical community. If we cared, we would do something about it. But we don’t care, so we don’t do anything.

The United States is ignorant of and unresponsive to the needs of women, and has been since before its official beginning. Our country sits among the most well developed countries in the world yet still fails at maternal healthcare. In 1990, Norway’s maternal mortality ratio was 3; in 2015 it was 4, with countries such as Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Australia following suit. 

So what are they doing better than us?

For starters, the health of their people in general. Aforementioned pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity make a pregnancy more risky, and in the United States it’s much more common for people to have one of these conditions. 1 in 5 American women report having one of these pre-existing conditions whereas it’s 1 in 10 or more in Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia. 

But much of the weight falls on our maternal healthcare workforce itself. In the countries with the best MMRs, midwives are more common than obstetrician-gynecologists or physicians, which promotes natural birth and a simpler process. When medical personnel are involved, the chance of having to perform surgery or use other complex procedures is higher. Additionally, using physicians for every natural birth makes them less available to focus on the more high-risk pregnancies that require specialized attention and care. And midwives aren’t just there for simpler delivery - they are specially trained to care for mother, baby, and family, providing postpartum support physically and emotionally. Lack of communication and trust between the mother and her care providers provokes more situations such as Serena Williams’. 

Subtracting the medical causes of maternal death, the social issues are evident: we haven’t placed enough focus on maternal healthcare and women as a whole to prevent and stop maternal mortality.

So we know what the problem is. What is the solution? After education, first trying to minimize the rate and improve the likelihood of mothers suffering complications, and second, reducing risk of maternal death.

The United States needs to refine its postpartum care system. Postpartum care is essential for mothers and babies. Not only does it give the new parents the much needed assistance from a professional who can help them with whatever they need, the midwife can provide care to the woman who may not know everything that is happening with her body, which is changing from day to day. Scheduled checkups by a maternity nurse or midwife for a set number of days or weeks after the woman and her baby go home are covered by national insurance in Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia where rates of maternal death are at a record low, and here in the United States, postpartum care coverage varies depending on your medical insurance, and only a portion of new mothers can afford a service such as a postpartum doula. Since 52% of maternal deaths in the United States occur postpartum, we should be providing this type of care that seems to improve maternal health in other countries with the best rates.

Once the chances of maternal mortality are lower, we need to lower the risk of more people dying from pregnancy or birth, and a segway to that is to lower the rates of unnecessary or unwanted pregnancy.

A big factor is contraception, or lack thereof. There are two main groups that suffer from an insufficiency in contraception. Firstly, low-income communities where people lack easy or affordable access to contraception have higher rates of maternal mortality because with each pregnancy a woman has, her risk increases, and controlling birth rates can help to control maternal mortality. 

Secondly, a woman’s risk of maternal mortality not only increases the older you are, but also the younger you are. Females within the ages of 10 and 20 are more likely to suffer complications so encouraging and providing contraception at a younger age will not only lower the number of teen pregnancies, but improve the likelihood of adolescent maternal death. 

The vast majority of maternal deaths are preventable, treatable, and completely unavoidable. But the finding a medical solution isn’t the first step. The root of the issue isn’t that doctors aren’t trained to handle these types of scenarios. It’s that they aren’t taught from the beginning, that there is a solution. They are taught that other patients are more important, that pregnancy complications aren’t the most valuable area of study. And the government and medical community need to be held accountable for disregarding what is plainly and simply just sexism, and the icing on the cake is the misogyny within our society that stalls the attention that pregnant women and new moms need and deserve. Maternal mortality, pregnancy, and female reproductive health as a whole shouldn’t be put at the bottom of the pile. It is a severe healthcare issue that accompanies many other women’s rights topics. 

And the denial is impossible to disguise. Remember that postpartum commercial that was banned from being aired during the Academy Awards broadcast last year because it was “too graphic”? It would have reached millions of awards show viewers of all genders and sexes, but network executives, mostly men, reject these types of topics because they feel they are not what they think is family viewing material. Yet unabashed advertisements about erectile dysfunction air on the nightly news networks that play on televisions around the country every day. And what’s so sad is that there are only a fraction of people who are aware of this. Everybody, not just women and girls, needs to be taught about the struggles that females face every day with healthcare and other issues. 

Ignorance starts at the beginning. Solving maternal mortality starts with bringing attention to these problems, and only then can we make efforts to stop the deaths that occur every day unnecessarily. It only gets harder to fight the stigma once people have the idea that maternal health isn’t that big of a deal, that it’s just another radical, made up idea. So we need to educate our community and bring awareness to this, and after that, work towards fighting what is completely inexcusable.

So what would happen if we actually cared? If the entire world held the maternal mortality rate of the European Union, 11,000 women would succumb to maternal death each year in contrast to the six-digit figure that it unfortunately, rounds up to be. 11,000 is still tragic, but it is something, and right now, we need to be anywhere we can. 

We just need to remember that it’s possible.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Pandemic aftershocks overwhelm global supply lines (Washington Post) One year after the coronavirus pandemic first disrupted global supply chains by closing Chinese factories, fresh shipping headaches are delaying U.S. farm exports, crimping domestic manufacturing and threatening higher prices for American consumers. The cost of shipping a container of goods has risen by 80 percent since early November and has nearly tripled over the past year, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. The increase reflects dramatic shifts in consumption during the pandemic, as consumers redirect money they once spent at restaurants or movie theaters to the purchase of record amounts of imported clothing, computers, furniture and other goods. That abrupt and unprecedented spending shift has upended long-standing trade patterns. “It’s crazy. Prices are at record highs. Multiple things are happening all at once,” said Phil Levy, an economist with Flexport, a San Francisco-based freight forwarder. “People work off of expectations. But now there’s just so much uncertainty.” At the Port of Los Angeles one day last week, 42 ships were anchored offshore, waiting to unload their cargoes, even as every warehouse within 60 miles was already full. A shortage of dock workers amid California’s worsening coronavirus outbreak is further complicating operations; inbound cargo volumes in December were more than 23 percent higher than one year earlier. “Some areas of the supply chain need to be sharpened,” Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director, said. “People are a little bit on edge.” It’s a global problem, and it may get worse before it gets better.

Destructive protests by anarchists and extremists signal divided left as Biden administration begins (Washington Post) The hundreds of far-left and anarchist demonstrators who gathered in protest mere hours after President Biden swore the oath of office Wednesday signal a fracturing on the left that could become a scourge for the new administration, political leaders and experts say. Some activists are carrying their destructive tactics into a new administration to voice rejection of centrist ideologies they believe will do little to address existential worries over climate change, economic inequality, foreign wars and racism. The vandalizing of the Oregon Democratic Party headquarters by extreme-left demonstrators on Inauguration Day has split Portland liberals, and federal agents’ launching of tear gas at crowds that descended on the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters produced scenes reminiscent of similar summer standoffs ordered by President Donald Trump. In Seattle, a march organized by anarchists and the city’s Youth Liberation Front branch roved through neighborhoods, chanting expletives at both Trump and Biden, some breaking windows. James Ofsink, president of Portland Forward, a local advocacy group for liberal causes, said the growing tension in Portland’s progressive circles is emblematic of a larger tug of war happening in the nation. “Portland is going to continue to be a microcosm of the political divides, especially among the left, that we’re seeing across the country,” Ofsink said. “The idea that middle-of-the-road Democrats can say with a straight face that we need to take things slowly or do things in a very deliberate way rubs a lot of people the very wrong way.”

Trump’s coming impeachment trial aggravates rift among Republicans (Reuters) The coming second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol has aggravated a rift among his fellow Republicans that was on full display on Sunday. At least one Republican, Senator Mitt Romney, said he believed the trial, which could lead to a vote banning Trump from future office, was a necessary response to the former president’s inflammatory call to his supporters to “fight” his election defeat before the Jan. 6 attack. Ten Republicans joined the House of Representatives in voting to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection. But a significant number of Republican lawmakers, concerned about Trump’s devoted base of voters, have raised objections to the impeachment. Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached after leaving office. Senator Tom Cotton, another Republican, said the Senate was acting beyond its constitutional authority by holding a trial. “I think a lot of Americans are going to think it’s strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,” Cotton told Fox News on Sunday. “I think the trial is stupid,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday, saying he would vote to end it at the first opportunity. “I think it’s counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it’s like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.”

Ununited Kingdom (Times of London) The UK is facing a constitutional crisis that will strain the Union as new polls reveal a majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland want referendums on the break-up of Britain. A four-country survey we commissioned, based on separate polls in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales, also found that the sense of British identity that once bound the country together is disintegrating. And in another significant move, the Scottish National Party (SNP) announced that it is prepared to call a wildcat referendum of its own if Boris Johnson refuses to grant one himself—a move that puts the two governments on a constitutional collision course.

Riots explode across Netherlands over covid restrictions (Washington Post) Dutch rioters who attacked police and destroyed property over the weekend while protesting new coronavirus measures are “criminals,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday, as law enforcement officials warned that the violence could last for weeks. The unrest across the Netherlands, some of the worst in decades, had “nothing to do with protest,” Rutte, who resigned last week following a scandal, told reporters outside his office in The Hague, news agencies reported. Protesters had gathered in defiance of lockdown orders in at least 10 towns and cities Sunday, looting stores and clashing with police after authorities imposed a new nighttime curfew — the first in the Netherlands since World War II. The violence continued Monday night in several cities, including Amsterdam and The Hague. The curfew, from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., tightens an already-strict lockdown aimed at curbing coronavirus infections and comes amid fears that a new, more contagious variant, first identified in Britain, will cause a surge in cases.

In France, growing alarm over students’ well-being as pandemic pushes some to the brink (Washington Post) he hardships of university students during the pandemic have now reached the attention of the highest levels of the French government, with President Emmanuel Macron promising to provide more assistance. “You haven’t been forgotten,” he said this month. But students protesting de facto campus closures, seeking psychological support and lining up for free food handed out by private donors have come to a different conclusion. In a country that prides itself on having one of the world’s most generous public welfare systems, student food banks have become the most visible display of the economic impact of the pandemic on young people. After 10 months of varying degrees of isolation and restrictions, a less visible but increasingly worrisome mental health crisis is taking form among students, too. Some have been confined for months under lockdown or curfew in 97-square-foot dorm rooms off campus. New measures by Macron last week indicated growing alarm among French officials that financial distress and mental health are increasingly intertwined and are fueling one another. Students have written open letters asking French ministers for more support. Mental health hospitals have expanded their offerings to cope with a surge in demand among high school and university students. Some professors have themselves requested psychological support after finding their students in distress.

Navalny Protests Sweep Russia (Reuters) Russian authorities have attempted to deflect attention from Saturday’s nationwide street protests—the largest in years—by accusing the United States of interfering in the country. On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the U.S. embassy in Moscow of fanning the flames of dissent by publishing protest times and routes (as part of a notice to avoid such gatherings) on the embassy website. “What was that: a setup or an instruction?” Zakharova told the Russian news agency TASS, adding that if the Russian embassy in Washington had done the same during U.S. protests “global hysteria” would ensue. The government’s rhetorical counters came after thousands of Russians across roughly 100 towns and cities protested amid freezing winter temperatures on Saturday, heeding a call from detained anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny to take to the streets to demand his release. Over 3,500 people were arrested during the protests, according to the monitoring group OVD Info—the most arrests the NGO had ever recorded in one day.

Angry farmers drive thousands of tractors into New Delhi (AP) Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day. They waved farm union flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence. Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones. Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest. For nearly two months, farmers have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government. They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialize agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are under pressure as never before (Washington Post) Millions of Syrians have sought safety in Lebanon and across the region since the Syrian uprising began nearly a decade ago. Now they are stuck between untenable options: ongoing instability and violence back in Syria as President Bashar al-Assad consolidates control, and deteriorating conditions in cash-strapped Lebanon, where politicians are pressing refugees to leave. Syrians have long struggled in Lebanon, where about a million refugees make up some 20 percent of the population. But 2020 brought a new cascade of problems. The country’s financial system collapsed, and the prime minister resigned, ousted by protesters fed up with endemic corruption. Then the coronavirus hit, followed by the devastating Beirut port explosion, of which many Syrians were among the victims. In less than a year, the currency depreciated by more than 80 percent. Communities across Lebanon are hurting, especially Syrians, amid mounting competition for resources, said Elena Dikomitis, advocacy adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon. “The landscape of needs in Lebanon has changed dramatically over the last year,” she said. “There are a lot of increasing tensions as one can expect over access to jobs, to aid, to basic services.” In October, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated that nearly 90 percent of Syrians in Lebanon lived below the extreme poverty line, up from 55 percent the year before. Already legally excluded from many jobs, 90 percent of Syrians reported losing their income or having salaries reduced, the agency found in July. [Many Lebanese want the refugees to go home. Syria, however, remains a very dangerous homeland.]

Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea (Reuters) Pirates are stepping up attacks on ships in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, defying regional navies. On Saturday, pirates off Nigeria kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship and killed one. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea kidnapped 130 seafarers in 22 separate incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized at sea worldwide. The pirates come from Nigeria’s turbulent Niger Delta, experts say. The region produces the bulk of the nation’s petroleum, but is woefully underdeveloped, scarred by pollution and has some of the highest unemployment in the country. Bands of men desperate for money engage in a variety of illegal but lucrative activities, including kidnapping, stealing and refining oil, and piracy. Last year’s oil price crash and Nigeria’s second recession in five years worsened unemployment and economic hardship. Saturday’s attack, which took place 200 nautical miles offshore, reflected increasing sophistication, as vessels further from shore are less likely to have naval protection.

Satellites (Space.com) SpaceX launched a record 143 small satellites into orbit on Sunday, the most ever on a single rocket. The launch was the first mission where SpaceX ferried lots of satellites up rideshare-style along with 10 of its own Starlink internet satellites. In 2019, the company announced that at various points in the year smaller satellites could hitch a ride at launch for $1 million a pop. Among the payload was a South Korean military communications satellite, two Taiwanese satellites which will improve navigation, a payload called Celestis 17 containing cremated human remains, three Hawk 2 radio satellites and a cargo capsule for the space station. The team successfully recovered the Falcon 9’s first stage in the Atlantic, which was the 73rd recovery of a booster for the company.

[smileymoth]

Hatari: Visualising the end of the world may be a healing process.

by Jaane Tomps. Published 19th September 2019 on Müürileht.

Anti-capitalistic performance art group Hatari has often turned their communication with media into a joke, but according to the founder of the group, Matthías Haraldsson, this conversation includes 0% humour.

[So here it is. I tried to translate it as correctly and as true to the base text as I could. If there are any grammatical errors or weird phrasings; my apologies, English isn't my first language. :] The interview has been translated from Estonian to English and because Tumblr hates everyone, links don’t show up in the tags, aka I can’t link the original. 

Interview is under the cut!]

Hatari, who represented Iceland this year during Eurovision have certainly been one of the more controversial participants this year, yet they haven't finished with Europe. Haraldsson, who caused a lot of politic-trouble when waving around the Palestinian flags in Israel, said that destroying capitalism is going according to plan ─ they just can't lose hope now!

How far are you with the plan to destroy capitalism?

"Everything's going according to plan. We just destroyed some capitalists in the Netherlands and soon, of course Estonia, and other northern countries, will be waiting for us. We're doing well, but next year we will try turn up the tempo a lot more. We are hoping to give out an album soon and as you probably already know, we're heading for a bigger European tour. Due to Klemens just turning into a father for the second time, we can't be as efficient as we'd like; we have to learn how to fuse destroying capitalism with our own family lives. "

The situation in the world is pretty bad, has it made reaching your goals harder?

It really has, indeed. The climate collapse is one of the bigger ordeals, with which humanity has had to deal with and I think that the governments should be more active in those fields. We can't always put all the pressure on individuals, even if they can do a lot by themselves. The situation isn't to be praised right now, but we stay hopeful and trustful to our plan.

Do you enjoy the attention you received after the Eurovision song contest or would you rather leave it all behind?

To be honest, I would love to hire a duplicate of myself for concerts and tours, so I could write more. But no, the adventure and the leap we have taken, has been partially because of Eurovision, which gave us more attention. I wouldn't like to take it all back, but it is a lot of hard work and responsibility.

Has the local music scene started to treat you any differently after Eurovision?

I think so, yes, but at the same time, we have never fit into the places we've been invited to play at. We stepped up at a festival in the Netherlands and among the metal and hardcore artists stood us, that band from Eurovision. During other events, however, are we the hardcore band. We have learned to adapt. Eurovision introduced us firsthand to a lot of people and understandably, it has changed our image.

What's the story with your anger in actuality? I dare to believe that your stage-persona isn't reality...

For sure, my stage-persona is an outlet through which I meditate and manifest the anger with, which I would usually keep inside me. I usually manage to find great balance and I don't get angry a lot in my private life. I prefer to keep my emotions repressed inside me rather than speak or show them.

Which human values are overrated in your opinion?

We live in a very individualistic society. I'd say that ambitions connected with oneself, aka a person's immature ego, are overrated. I despise petty people who can't see things from an another perspective.

What is your depiction of the most fulfilling happiness?

Happiness is to be accepted and to accept others. To feel safe in a creative and an encouraging atmosphere ─  that the concepts would be respected and that it would celebrate differences. And overall,  destroy capitalism in a family friendly atmosphere.

One local schoolgirl said in a video, which recently went viral, that "The world is an empty and a useless place and people should go extinct, because climate change along with every single politician sucks." Do you agree?

Yes. That concludes it perfectly. At least that's what we try to depict. Being in denial about problems doesn't do us good, but I believe that even in the most empty places, where there are the worst politicians, it is possible to find something, about which to be hopeful about. I believe that after crashing to the bottom we can only move upward, but while being hopeful we shouldn't forget to be realistic.

What do you think the end of the world is going to be like?

I'd prefer that the world didn't end. However,  I do think that just visualising it can be a healing process and we should all do it.

Is Hatari's long-awaited album the end of the beginning of something?

It is both. I believe, that every end is the start of something new and the album has undoubtedly been a milestone for the creation that circles around Hatari. At the same time, it is also a big relief to get it off our shoulders, because after releasing that, we can focus our attention on something new. Those things always take time. We have been planning to release the album for months now, but we want to do it when we feel that it is completely ready. But it will come one day.

What's the overall conception of the album?

In the centre of its attention is corruption and the confrontation of it. Power and powerlessness. Individuality versus collective thinking. Hopefulness and hope.  Domination and surrendering. It will bring the listener to think about death, the world, and the end of all humanity as we know of it now. It will bring people to discover their deepest fears and anguish and hopefully inspire them to dream of a better future.

How do you understand that an idea is fully complete?

You don't, actually. You could work on it forever. But at a certain point you have to say, that that's the story and if we worked on it for more, it would sound differently, but it's good even in its current shape. The end result is, sometimes, also in the hands of others, because I work on the lyrics and vocals. Klemens and Einar are the ones defining the tracks.

I liked one of the interviews, where you brought up Britney Spears as one of the inspiration sources for Hatari. In which ways does she inspire you exactly?

She's a great artist and an icon of her generation. Her lyrics overcome the word-for-word understanding of a text; it's a greater level of consciousness, where we and art are the same. And her music is also very catchy.

You'll soon be performing in Narva. How much research do you do before stepping to the stage? Are you aware of the situation in Estonia right now?

Actually, my art school teacher is from Estonia. We often discuss about the current situation and usually the locals are worried about horrifyingly similar things as everyone else. They worry about the populist rhetoric and conservative and nationalist rulers, who don't take problems with the current climate seriously. I've heard, that in Estonia's government there are climate change deniers, which is an extremely serious and a worrisome topic.

You haven't visited Estonia before, right?

I've been to Tallinn once. I sang in the choir during high school. We performed in a beautiful church. It was very cold. The old town was very beautiful and I remember the guide, who had impressive knowledge of the middle ages. I remember as well, that singing in the choir wasn't exactly my thing. My high school friends were in a jovial mood and sang Icelandic national songs disgustingly loud, while I was googling Arvo Pärt in my hotel room.

I take that you're a fan of Arvo Pärt then?

Yes, he's probably one of my most favourite composers. It would be incredible to do something together with him. We have done a collaboration with one Icelandic composer and during that time, during a concert in Reykjavík, we included him within the choir. Maybe, if I sent some texts to Arvo Pärt... We would be honoured, if he created something with us for the choir or perhaps something abstract ─  it doesn't have to be lyrical, it's his own free will. If Arvo Pärt wants to contact us, then he can always write to us on the address capitalism@hatari.is. No matter which type of a collaboration he'd wish for ─ we are very open to ideas!

[fashiontrendyclub]

Nine change makers in the Netherlands making fashion more sustainable

The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter on the planet, responsible for around 10% of all global carbon emissions and tarnished by a reputation for sweatshops – but it doesn’t have to be this way. DutchNews.nl shines a light on nine innovators in the Netherlands helping to make the sector more sustainable. Consumers in the Netherlands discard about 210 tons of unwanted clothing and textiles each year, two-thirds of which is incinerated; while the Dutch fashion industry has an annual surplus of around 21.5 million items of unsold clothing, often produced by poorly treated workers and not built to last. Each garment produced has an average carbon footprint of 20kg. Changing practices in the clothing industry is crucial to meeting the country’s emission targets and improving the industry’s human rights record. Here are nine change makers in the Netherlands leading the way. Loop.a life Knitwear brand Loop.a life has abandoned the wasteful model of regularly changing, seasonal collections and focuses instead on creating long-lasting essentials for men and women. The cotton and wool garments are created from recycled knitwear and denim using an entirely circular, closed-loop process. Removing the need to cultivate the raw materials saves around 500 litres of water per sweater for wool and between 5000 and 15,000 litres for cotton. Founded in 2016 by Ellen Mensink, Loop.a life were the first Dutch company to use 100% recycled yarn, most of it sourced in the Netherlands. Similar colours are carefully selected and combined with industrial waste and Eucalyptus wood fibres, which means no dye is needed. Arch & Hook It’s not just textiles that the fashion industry wastes. When garments are transported from factories to stores and hung on branded hangers, the plastic placeholders are discarded, condemning an estimated 85 billion single-use hangers to landfill each year. Since 2015, Amsterdam-based Arch & Hook has sought to change this by producing high-quality hangers made from sustainable materials. Previous collections have included bespoke hangers for clients such as Karen Millen and Harrods made out of FSC® certified wood, and last year, supported by Roland Mouret and the British Fashion Council, the company launched BLUE®, the first ever hanger made of upcycled ocean bound thermoplastic. ‘​At Arch & Hook, we strongly believe that we are in the early stages of a new industrial revolution,’ says CEO and founder Sjoerd Fauser. ‘Cleaning up what humanity has caused is crucial before eliminating plastics entirely.’ Amsterdam-based &Wider Examining the whole chain of production is crucial to making fashion more ethical. Amsterdam-based &Wider has been helping businesses bridge the data gap on working conditions in the clothing industry since 2014 by providing actionable results to drive material improvements in workers’ lives and in the businesses that employ them. Through their online platform, buyers and employers can gather anonymous data direct from workers, and use this information to implement changes in labour practices along the supply chain. ‘The fashion industry cannot work ethically without hearing from workers themselves,’ spokesperson Sesihle Manzini told DutchNews.nl. ‘The design of our system allows us to hear from vulnerable workers: those who we often hear about, but rarely hear from.’ MUD jeans Mud, a natural, endlessly recycled material, inspired the name behind this sustainable jeans company headquartered in Laren. Founded in 2013 by industry-insider Bert van Son, who had seen first-hand the unethical practices in the sector, MUD has taken a different tack by producing garments made from up to 40% recycled materials and coloured with Cradle2Cradle dyes. 95% of the water used is recycled through reverse osmosis, reducing water use to about one third of the industry standard. Clients can rent or buy jeans, repairs are free, and they can get reductions on loans or purchases by cashing in any brand of old jeans with at least 96% cotton content. The Fabricant Thanks to Amsterdam-based digital fashion house The Fabricant, the digital dress is now a fact – and sold last year for $9500. The assertion that the clothes with the least environmental impact are those which do not exist is hard to argue with – even if it requires a total rethinking of how we promote fashion. The Fabricant specialises in 3D fashion design and animation, offering an alternative to physical concepts such as runway shows, sample sizes and photo shoots. The potential to try clothes on our digital selves, or create a digital advertising campaign can only cut carbon costs. United Wardrobe Founded in 2014 by three students from Wageningen with a mission to make second-hand clothing the buyer’s default, this online marketplace has over 4 million subscribers. From its headquarters in Utrecht, United Wardrobe has now opened its doors to France, Germany and Belgium, allowing users to buy and sell everything from designer shoes to onesies for newborns. ‘People are way more conscious than six years ago,’ co-founder Thijs Verheul told DutchNews.nl. ‘We have already people of age 12 selling and buying secondhand clothes, not because it is cheap for them, but really because they love the sustainable factor.’ Renoon ‘I was so fed up with opening dozens of windows in my browser to find sustainable alternatives that matched my style,’ says Iris Skrami, who co-founded Renoon to fill a gap in the market for a curated one-stop online shop for eco-minded style seekers. The app and website, which launched in 2019, feature new and pre-owned items with emerging brands such as Fisch and PANGAIA listed alongside established designers such as Stella McCartney and Filippa K. ‘There are so many brands and products already in the market that we should have easier access to,’ says Skrami. Fast Feet Grinded Fast Feet Grinded are urban miners, seeking out wasted resources that gain new value when repurposed. In this case it’s our discarded trainers. Globally, an estimated 12 billion pairs of trainers are produced each year, of which at least 90% will end up in landfill. The Limburg-based company employs workers with a distance from the labour market to upcycle rubber, foam and fibre from unwanted trainers to make spongy surfaces for playgrounds, athletics tracks and sports fields – or materials for new trainers. This contribution to a more circular economy in sportswear has attracted partnerships with brands such as Decathlon, ASICS and Intersport. RE LOVE FASHION by RE LOVE Foundation Three-year-old creative agency RE LOVE FASHION is an anomaly in the sector: its mission is to reduce consumption. Fronted by the striking blue-haired Antoinette van den Berg, a trend-forecaster and stylist known in fashion circles as the Lady in Blu, the Amsterdam agency is forging a new path in a polluting industry by promoting what she describes as ‘joyful alternatives to enjoy fashion: reuse, retouch, restyle, repair and repeat’. ‘If we really want to reduce the pollution of the fashion industry, the most effective solution is to consume fewer new clothes,’ she told DutchNews.nl. ‘How nice is it to wear something that you know didn’t pollute?’ Source Read the full article

[mutantsrisingrpg]

Congratulations NICO! You’ve been accepted as KERBEROS.

Nico, Luca is a character very much integral to the chaos that goes on here in Chicago, and you brought her to life! I love the motivation you gave her, how she’s set out to prove everyone right, since she can’t seem to prove them wrong. You dug into her background as more than just a mutant and used that to further her identity as a person and her motivations that carry through to current day. Also #justiceforMaddie. I can’t wait to see what hell you and Luca cause on the dash!

Welcome to Mutants Rising! Please read the checklist and submit your account within 24 hours.

Out of Character Information:

NAME/ALIAS: Nico

PRONOUNS: they/them

AGE: 27

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY LEVEL: GMT+1, I think Kay can now vouch for me, I write like a robot and I will be online every day.

In Character Information:

DESIRED ROLE: Kerberos - Luca Mendoza

GENDER/PRONOUNS: female, she/her

DETAILS & ANALYSIS:

Luca is intensity. She will burn with fire and create chaos because all her life she has tried to fight what people thought of her just because of her heritage, and then tried to not become what they wanted her to become as a mutant. But with everything that was happening, she knew she should let go. Let it all go and be exactly that which they wished of her: a monster. A creature who fought and stole and cussed and bled, all because of expectations.

BIO:

Tw: discrimination

Growing up in a small almost rural town in the south of the Netherlands, Luca was supposed to grow up with all the liberties of a socialist capitalist state. Health care was taken care of, education was cheap enough to be affordable, and the people were liberal. But she wasn’t sure when, but very early on in life, Luca learned that despite how much a country said it was ‘good’, there would always be misunderstanding towards certain social minorities. She called it Historical Opinions, based on a misunderstanding of the Romani people that outdated most of the people in her surroundings, yet continued to follow her. Luca learned it through the word ‘tokkie’, which was supposed to be a bad name for anyone growing up in the trailer parks at the edge of cities. She came to accept the term without being able to fully grasp its meaning. No matter where she went, or who she was with, once anyone found out where her family lived, she was a ‘tokkie’. It became a term that followed her through all of her childhood. She remembered so many of the moments vividly.

She understood and was angry at this image of her family and everyone who lived in the twenty trailers around her. Luca tried not to think about it too much, but she saw it in every layer of her life. She played soccer, her hair tightly put into a bum, she was aggressive, according to her coaches. She went to school, and despite how smart and self-aware she was, her teachers didn’t want her to be held apart from her friends, her ‘own kind’ thus put her always together with them, even if they were louder and more present than the other kids.

Her mother would comb her hair at night, and do her nails. Her father would sit on the couch in front of the tv, watching a soccer match while his fifth beer of the day disappeared in one big gulp. Someone once tried to explain to her that lower-income families were often forced into these kinds of situations. The situations the person meant was her family always having to buy their clothing at Zeeman, the cheapest store in the city. How their food was often from the MacDonalds because it was cheaper than a home-cooked meal, and how she would, one way or another, end up exactly like everyone else in the trailer park, because they would never get the chance to prove themselves.

Luca wasn’t sad about this future, instead; she was angry. If she was with her family or her friends, nobody took her seriously. They thought she would steal from them, or cuss, or fight. They had expectations that she never even fulfilled. So she became fascinated with the history of her people, she wanted to know why and where these expectations came from. She knew they weren’t true. Her mother never cussed, her father never fought, her brother never stole. But that did not bring down the rumors. The people who walked by the trailer park either stared or they looked away because the sight of these ‘low-income’ people was too much for them to bear.

To her luck, unknowingly, the Netherlands was a fairly liberal country when it came to Mutant laws as well. For the time being at least. Luca grew up slightly oblivious to these kinds of problems because they either never made the news, or they were not made a big deal of. The government decided to keep it mostly under wraps, to say as little as possible, and offer ‘help’ to the mutants that were discovered. Luca was unaware of her own power, because she had never faced off against anyone with actual powers. Or so she thought.

Her first encounter with her own ability was a strange sensation, and it didn’t really start where normal mutant abilities started.

Her name was Madeleine, everyone called her Maddie. She was gorgeous. And by third year of high school, Luca knew she loved girls. Madeleine was exceptional: she played soccer too, but in a different team, she had the lower body of a goddess, and always wore large jumpers that weren’t flattering. But her long blonde hair curled like crazy, and her blue eyes were always smiling. When Luca fell, she fell hard.

It was during research for her project on Romani people during the Second World War - she was by then known as the ‘Romani research girl’ - that Madeleine sat opposite of her, researching her own thing. She was smiling again, and Luca tried not to blush with the extra attention. Suddenly the girl suggested for the two of them to go to the loo together. It was an odd request. But Maddie had a secret, one she only wished to share with someone who didn’t know her. One she only wished to share with someone who knew what it was like to be the odd one out.

She could breathe fire.

Two months later, and so could Luca. But only when they were close together, and the way things were going, Luca and Maddie were very close very often. They didn’t know any other powered people, however, so despite how badly Maddie wanted to find out what more Luca could do, there really was no way.

Life was great for a while, as Luca grew older, and Maddie stayed at her side, loyal. Her soccer-playing, jumper-wearing disaster wife. She could ignore the words people threw at her for her family history all the more easier when she was walking hand in hand through the school with Maddie.

Then one day, Maddie didn’t come to school anymore.

She was not the first to disappear, and she certainly wouldn’t be the last. At first people just thought healthy, soccer-playing, jumper-wearing Maddie was ill. But after a week, Luca began to worry. Finally not even the news nor the government could ignore the disappearances. As Luca was crying on the couch, just shy of her eighteenth birthday, the liberal stance of the Netherlands towards the testing and prosecution of Mutants fell. And with it, Luca’s last hope of being reunited with Maddie.

She held on for a little longer, bitter, scared, angry. Her family felt her distance and tried everything they could to pull her back. But they knew too, they had always known. Her brother was taken first. He had managed to keep it a secret from her, but not her parents, that he could breathe underwater. She wondered if there was any significance about these two individuals so close to her both having something that involved breathing as her mother came into her room and told her to pack her stuff. She was angry at first, raging that she didn’t want to go, that this was unfair, that people shouldn’t think she was something just because she had a power nobody wished to understand. But eventually she gave in.

She moved around for years. For the first time understanding, after having dived so deep into the history of her people, what it must’ve been like for them. Not completely, she could never, she hadn’t lived through most of what they had lived through. But she too had to avoid major cities, she too knew that she wouldn’t be accepted as a full human, she knew the shame she would feel if she connected to anyone and brought them trouble. Her mind spun during those years. Sometimes she found like-minded souls, people who were running from something but had long since forgotten what they were running from. Most days, she missed Maddie.

Slowly, the grief and the bitterness turned to rage. More than before she began to see what fear did to those who were feared. They slowly turned into monsters.

Luca turned into a monster. Perhaps not one who would kill and rage and flung themselves to harm those in their way, but she became something that too often bordered on rage. Rage to prove everyone wrong, yet, to also prove them right. If they wanted her to be what they thought she should be, then she would. No longer would she try to prove them wrong, she would be what they wished to see in her, and she would be more than just that.

She came to Chicago knowing nothing. Traveling and good education had taught her English, but she clearly had little knowledge of this new country, and she tried to blend in as quickly as possible, while also trying to stand out as much as possible.

So when she heard of the Jem Family, she felt like they were like-minded, she felt like there her rage would be embraced rather than feared. So she made it her mission to seek them out and win their favor. It wasn’t hard. Not once they knew what her power was, not once she learned she was incredibly dangerous if she wanted to be. And she wanted to be. And she became the monster.

EXPANDED CONNECTIONS:

Angela Ramone: It took a while for Luca to get to the bottom of their jealousy, to understand why she felt what she felt. She had never really wanted power, but she wanted to change the world. She wanted for the world to understand that the mutants were there, and they were going to fight for their rights. But she didn’t think Angela was the person to do it, she didn’t believe for one moment that Angela could encompass the vision that was needed to ensure this new time, this new reign. This better place. Where people like her, like Maddie, could be safe. Feared and safe, where nobody dared to take one of them away, or ignore their rights.

JACKSON RAEMERS: Jackson reminds her of Maddie. Not that Maddie was a man with a beard and who could shape-shift, but he did have that careful nature about him. He was kind, and most of all, he was there for her if she needed it. And she had forgotten over the years how badly she craved normal human contact that wasn’t all about being a mutant and being on the run and surviving another day or fighting for others. He made her feel human for a little, made her feel like she was appreciated for something other than the chaos she sought to embody.

Derek Park: Derek and Luca were absolutely meant to be friends. There really wasn’t any way around it. From the moment she met him, she knew that they should generate chaos. They had to, as if some unspoken promise forced her to stand at his side. She knew it was deeper than that. She just wanted to be able to manipulate fire again. It might not be through her breath, but it was something that brought her a little closer to Maddie, if only in spirit. Not to mention the level of destruction the two of them can create: that is chaos, that is power. At Derek’s side, Luca can be the monster she craves to be. At Derek’s side, she can raise hell and show everyone that nobody messes with them. So whenever she is given the chance, she will try to push Derek to his limits, because his limits allow her to learn, and in learning, they can become stronger. If anyone deserves to burn their enemies to the ground, it is them.

EXTRA: 

Luca is Dutch.

She exclusively loves girls.

She can tell you anything about the Romani people in the Netherlands and Germany between the end of the 1800s and post-WWII.

Despite having lived in the US for the past couple of years, Luca is still oblivious to a lot of American things.

She’s grown up thinking the US was a failed state, but now she hates her own country more for betraying their liberal ideals.

[mrkjhnwht]

The Cruyff Turn 45 years on: a juxtaposition of genius and simplicity

It seems somewhat harsh to relegate any human being down to one moment: one particular time on one particular stage. Ultimately though, it's easier to remember someone with one shining image. Diego Maradona fist-pumping the heavens. Andrea Pirlo nonchalantly chipping a penalty. Zinedine Zidane's mad headbutt in the heat of a World Cup Final. Or Johan Cruyff bamboozling a defender in a single sleight of shin.

The Cruyff Turn is 45 years old this year. You've seen it a million times. Cruyff shapes up to pass the ball from just outside the box with his right foot. He instead tucks the ball behind his standing leg and switches direction by 180 degrees. He carries on with his dribble and gets the ball into the box.

The decibel level erupts. This is the first time that the Westfalenstadion crowd, or anyone watching from the comfort of their front room, had ever seen such a thing. Your dad is impressed. Your little brother can't believe it. The style, the audacity, the simplicity was breathtaking. For a split second, Johan Cruyff, with his chic slightly-longer-than-a-Beatle haircut and catwalk model frame is a magician, revealing to the audience that the card you chose from the deck was tucked away up his long, orange sleeve the whole time.

Perhaps though, the strangest thing about the Cruyff turn is that maybe, just maybe, it was nothing special. It's almost sacrilege to suggest out loud.

But Johan Cruyff temporarily leaving his marker in a heap was the only noteworthy event in a 0-0 group game: it's not as if it led to a goal or even a big moment in a decisive match. For years, you may have assumed that the defender was an Italian by the royal blue of his shirt. It wasn't. It was Swede Jan Olsson, in his country's change strip. Of course, this doesn't matter per se, but the unconscious assumption that Johan dumbfounded an Italian – a nation we have always associated with defensive rocks – certainly gives the moment more gravitas than hoodwinking a 32-year-old capped just 17 times in his entire career.

Yes, it was the first time that anyone had seen the Cruyff Turn, but let's play Alan Hansen on this moment. Should Olsson being doing better there? Arguably. He commits his body and suffers the consequences. It's hard to imagine a modern defender being quite so naïve and gangly. These were the days before players were labelled “frauds” by internet trolls, though.

Then there's the aesthetics of the shot. The 1974 edition was only the second ever FIFA World Cup broadcast in colour, and whoever shot the moment Cruyff turned, caught it at the optimum angle. It was perfectly framed, the camera focusing vertically to where Cruyff changes path. Zinedine Zidane was never so fortunate to get a perfect stage and camera angle when he pirouetted on the ball and made “the Marseille Turn” his own: not in the way that the stars aligned when he volleyed the iconic winner against Bayer Levekusen in the Champions League final. Pele was behind the rainbow flick, but in an age in which it didn't look as good on screen. Every time Mesut Ozil scores, it takes a slow-motion replay to reveal if he's applied his now-trademark cushioning of the ball against the ground.

It seems odd that the moment that followed Cruyff for the rest of his life was nowhere near the most amazing thing he did in his career.

This was a man that won three consecutive European Cups with Ajax, managed Barcelona to their first and whose name is splashed across almost everything he touched. The Cruyff Turn was a 24th minute whim in a group game. It's similar to how an artist as enduring and vocally talented as Michael Jackson became associated so strongly with the moonwalk. Did we really reduce such a visionary to a technically simple move?

That's exactly why the Cruyff Turn has stood such a considerable test of time, though.

You've probably seen the Cruyff Turn performed against better defenders; no doubt by considerably less talented footballers than Johan Cruyff. Marc Pugh was known for it at AFC Bournemouth, for example. It's something that most children learn when playing football in the street.

The Cruyff Turn is the most ordinary of all the extraordinary things you can do with a football. It doesn't require a deft touch or an eye for an angle. It just needs timing. The turn is an evasive football move: it gets the performer out of congestion and into space. It doesn't boast like a stepover does and it's not Ronaldinho-level in its wizardry. It's not like a rabona: you don't see it coming until the last second. One second you're about to pass: the next you're not. It's that basic.

Whilst most tricks in football rely on what you can do with your feet, the Cruyff turn is more about what you do with your body. The satisfaction of the Cruyff Turn is that it subverts your expectations. Cruyff offers you something with one hand before taking it away with the other in a smoother manner than Jay-Jay Okotcha or Cristiano Ronaldo has ever managed with their trademark turns and chops.

In this respect, perhaps only Cruyff could have invented the Cruyff Turn: or at least brought it to the masses. It seems like an urban myth waiting to be uncovered that a modest Eredivisie winger practised the move first, only for a more famous Dutchman to pilfer it, like a blues melody for a rock and roll song.

Johan Cruyff was a rockstar and a complex man at that. A legend whose name still reverberates around the Ajax academy, yet he left them in a fit of rage towards the end of his playing days for rivals Feyenoord. Cruyff was fiercely individual, idealistic and driven by the philosophy of freedom of expression, yet governed himself by the idea that the sum of a team was greater than his own ability. Cruyff was frequently labelled as hellishly arrogant, yet omitted his own name once when asked to comprise an eleven of the greatest footballers ever. He could have easily walked into the theoretical side, too.

The Dutchman assumed the classic squad number 14 by mistake and apparently stuck by it as an act of rebellion against the Netherlands' Football Association. He refused a move to Real Madrid on the basis of their association with Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, and in defiance against Adidas – Cruyff had a deal with rivals Puma – would only wear a special orange jersey for the Netherlands that ripped one of the brand's legendary three stripes from the shoulders.

A rebel, often with an idyllic cause, the idea of him turning 180 degrees just to avoid doing the ordinary is idiosyncratically Cruyff. That he should do it so beguilingly, is fitting. Perhaps the greatest innovator in the history of the sport, it doesn't really matter whether it was Cruyff that invented his turn: he was the one that brought it to the spotlight.

Just as Total Football was based on mad, mad movement off the ball, the Cruyff Turn exploited space. It's apt that players all over the pitch, from ball-playing centre-backs to strikers in a tight spot, use the turn as a “Get out of jail free” card: in Total Football, Cruyff could've pulled out that trick anywhere on the pitch. Yes, the Cruyff Turn is simple, but it's quintessentially Cruyff. Not the greatest thing he ever did, but a single move that summed up the fire in him, the showman in him, the team player able to give the on-rushing men in the box a cross, even in a sticky situation.

And yes, Johan Cruyff's defining moment is one that we all learned before the age of ten. Not a Maradona-slalom of a run into the England penalty area or an Henry zig-zag through the beating heart of Real Madrid's imperious back four. But Cruyff made us fall in love with football in a different way to such physically gifted men. A boy from humble beginnings in Amsterdam, he showed the world a rich brand of the sport, not just through his ability, but his vision.

The Cruyff Turn makes children of all of us: sometimes world class defenders and seasoned analysts alike can't see it coming. Only Cruyff, the man with the greatest vision in football, could. And at its core, the Cruyff Turn is as complex as its master. Simple, unpredictable, rebellious, showing off and yet not showing off for the sake of it. In 45 long years, we've still not seen a trick like it.

[yashalex]

crash and burn, baby. crash and burn   [Chapter 10] Previous chapter is here It’s not a problem when your best mate finds a new crush and forgets about you. It’s the problem when his crush takes an interest in you and you don’t really mind. Or: Lucas Lallemant, a new guy in the school, attracts Eliott’s best mate attention… and not just his.

Chapter 9 Eliott and Lucas finally have a lot of time to spend together.

“So… parallel universes. What do you think?”

Lucas and Eliott were lying on the bed in Lucas’s room with only boxers and t-shirts on. They came here hours ago, being absolutely soppy, their teeth were chattering with cold. Still, they both couldn’t stop smiling. Lucas’ father was off on a business trip again, so his house was the obvious place for them to go. And all this time they were doing nothing but kissing, hugging, touching and exploring each other’s body as if they were the most precious things in the world. And Eliott started to think that it was exactly what Lucas was. Too precious. So when the boy asked him his question, Eliott didn't manage to catch it straight away.

“What?” He murmured, burying his head in the boy's neck. Absorbing his scent. If only he could lock it up in the bottle and take it to his flat just for his room to smell like that. Life would have been so much more pleasant then.

“Parallel universes. Do you believe in them?” Lucas clarified his question, and Eliott couldn’t but notice that he chose a weird thing for discussion. But he didn’t mind.

“I’m not sure,” he said, not moving from his spot. He could feel a shiver, running down the boy’s neck which was caused by his voice. It made him smile, and he continued. “For me, there’s only one universe and there is a real tragedy in that. Sometimes when I have to make a choice I always think that there are two paths to take. And when I choose one path, because I need to make this choice, I always think about the second one and about all the missed opportunities I left with it. That drives me crazy.”

“But what if there is another Eliott in the parallel universe, who’s chosen another path? Then it’d mean that you’ve tried all the options,” Lucas suggested.  The way he seemed sincerely interested in this theme was fascinating. The boy clearly was a dreamer.

“Then I don’t envy him,” Eliott answered, and there was no need to look at Lucas to feel his confusion.  “If I’d chosen another path in the past, I could never meet you.” He lifted his head to look at the boy, who was now smiling at him fondly. Lucas leaned over to leave a kiss oh his lips. But Eliott didn’t let him go easily, having beaten his lower lip and deepened the kiss.  When their tongues touched Lucas groaned and Eliott grinned satisfied. “Can you imagine Eliott and Lucas who doesn’t have this moment right now?” He whispered in his mouth and Lucas shook his head slightly. Yeah, Eliott thought the same.

He grabbed Lucas’ back of the head and pulled him as close to himself as it was only possible. One Lucas’ hand was rushing through Eliott’s hair while another one found its way underneath Eliott’s t-shirt. As soon as his fingers touched Eliott’s bared skin an electric shock ran through his body, which was completely under Lucas control now. And there was no desire in them to talk anymore, they had some other things to do.

 “I still think that parallel universes can exist”.

When Lucas brought up the theme, which they successfully dropped nearly an hour ago, Eliott couldn’t hold his laugh. They were still lying on the bed but there were no t-shirts on them anymore. They were just an obstacle in their way of knowing each other better, and they had no other choice but to get rid of them. Lucas was lying on his stomach and Eliott used the boy’s back as a pillow for himself. He was running his fingers along Lucas’ soft skin, trying to memorize every line of his body and every mole that he had. He wished he had a pencil and paper to capture this moment, but he wasn’t ready to remove himself from the boy. Not yet.

“Ok. Share your thoughts.” Eliott put his chin on Lucas’ scapula, ready to hear everything that he wanted to say so much. And if that was important to Lucas, then it was important to Eliott too.

“When I have a choice to make I love thinking that there’re other Lucases in other parallel universes who took all the paths I couldn’t take. And when I have bad days, doubts or regrets I always remind myself that somewhere there’s another Lucas who’s happy and who’s living his best life at the moment. Sometimes it helps me to move forward and make other hard decisions which I need to make.”

“And did other Lucases meet me?” Eliott asked, enchanted by the dreamy Lucas’ face.

“Yeah. Some of them definitely did.” Lucas smiled, turning his head to look at Eliott. “Maybe, in another universe, you’re not a painter but musician.”

“I can hardly see that happening,” Eliott laughed. He was one hundred percent a tone-deaf person.

“Well, it’s another universe. Everything’s possible there,” Lucas was saying that as though he really believed in that theory. And Eliott wanted to hear more of that.

“And what else? Who else could we be?” He asked, and Lucas turned around carefully just for Eliott to lie on his chest. Lucas reached Eliott’s hair with his hand and began to play with them with his fingers.

“Well, we could be girls. Can you imagine that?” Lucas supposed and Eliott let out a laugh.

“That would be so cool, right?” He asked and Lucas nodded his head in agreement.

“You can be bald. Can you imagine yourself without your beautiful hair?” Eliott shook his head on it as the thought seemed too ridiculous for him. He would never get rid of his hair. “We also could live in every country. Norway, USA, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, England, China, Brasilia…”

“Even in Russia?” Eliott’s interrupted Lucas and the boy shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“О да!” Eliott exclaimed, and Lucas has been clearly taken aback by his response. “Last summer I met a group of Russian tourists and when I heard them I decided that I want to know their language. So I learned a couple of phrases.” Of course, it wasn’t the whole story. Eliott’s been living through one of his episodes back then, and he couldn’t rest until he learned at least something. That was one of his stupid obsessions, which didn’t bring him anything useful at the end. As always.

“Then tell me something!” Lucas asked, looking at him with his big angelic blue eyes. If only Eliott could say «no» to them.

«Ты самое лучшее, что когда-либо случалось в моей жизни.” He whispered, taking a lock of Lucas’ hair off his face.

“And what does it mean?” Eliott expected to hear this question.

“I won’t tell.” He smiled playfully being perfectly aware of the reaction he would get.

“Oh, you can’t do that!” Lucas exclaimed indignantly.

“Oh, yeah, I can!” Eliott teased and before Lucas said anything, he pulled himself over and kissed him gently. And there was no resistance from Lucas’ side at all, as he answered the kiss straight away. A couple of seconds later they were lost to this world again.

 They were half-sitting, half-lying on the floor, leaning on the bed and sharing one joint. The room was filled with smoke and there was only their breathing which was heard in it. Lucas' head was lying on Eliott’s shoulder and Eliott buried himself in his soft hair. That was the most comfortable place in the whole world.

“Have you ever been in a serious relationship?” Lucas asked, having let out the smoke.

“Kind of, yeah,” Eliott answered, unwillingly pulling away from his hair and taking a joint in his hand. “But that was for my mother’s pleasure rather than mine. She was a very good friend of mine and it was convenient being with her, but with time I understood that wasn’t what I wanted at all.” He took a drag, having realized how much he missed that feeling.

“And what did you want?” Lucas asked and Eliott wanted to laugh because was it so necessary to answer it now? That was obvious.

“I didn’t know myself until the recent days,” he said and smiled. Lucas was smiling too now. That was the view he was ready to look at forever. “And what about you? Will I have to deal with some jealous exes in the future?” Eliott was sure that such beautiful boy as Lucas surely would have dozens of admirers.

“Well, I came out only a year ago, so I didn’t have a lot of time. I kind of had a crush on Yann for a while but that was before I understood what was going on here,” Lucas pointed to his head. “And then nobody really caught my eye before I came to a new school and saw you,” Lucas admitted.

“Was it hard for you to come out?” Eliott asked him, trying not to think too about much how flattered him Lucas’ words and how elated he was by them.

“I think it was harder to come to the moment of coming out rather than the process itself,” Lucas was talking, thinking about his every word. “Stupidly I made myself believe that me being gay was the end of the world and that it would change everything. I was scared that my family and my friends would turn their backs on me and that I would be left alone. Now I realize how dumb that was but I can't change anything, can I?”

“So everyone accepted you?” Eliott knew that he was ready to fight everybody who’d at least thought about hurting Lucas in that way.

“Yeah, it turned out that I was a lucky guy and that I have people who love me the way I am. Well… my father needed some time to process it but he’s gotten there at the end. My mother even told me that she always knew and that she was proud that I was finally ready to accept myself.” Lucas’ face shining with the smile, but still, there was something unmissable sad in his tone. Talks about mother clearly hurt him but that wasn’t only it. There was something else, Eliott could feel it but he had no courage to ask.

“And my parents were in shock when a five-year-old me said that I’d marry our seven-year-old neighbor one day. Leon was his name if I’m not mistaken. And in a month I was in love with Marlyn, and there were Claudia and George…”

“Oh, and here I thought I was special!” Lucas exclaimed in a jokey way. Eliott cracked up laughing.

“Yeah, I was a real heart-breaker back then.” He put his hand through Lucas’ hair, but still, he felt an urge to explain it. “I’ve already said that I always had troubles with feeling my parents’ love so I guess I was just trying to find it somewhere else. I was just a child who didn’t know what love was, so I came to the conclusion that I was falling in love every time somebody lied an eye on me. Is it pathetic?” It was important for him to know Lucas’ opinion.

“No, that’s sad for sure, but that’s not pathetic. But you still had some kind of love, didn’t you?” Lucas straightened up and looked at Eliott who didn’t really get what the boy meant. “I know that you are friends with  Emile, Sofiane and Idriss since the early days. Emile told me that. And it looks like you’re all really close.”

“Yeah, we are…” Eliott whispered as the guilt began taking over him. Emile was the topic they managed successfully avoid till this moment and Lucas was clearly acting without any intentions to make Eliott feel bad because of that but that happened anyway. And Lucas felt it straight away.

“Fuck! I’ve ruined everything, right?” He asked guilty and Eliott smiled at him gently and shook his head.

“That’s alright. You didn't mean to. And we can’t run from this theme forever,” Eliott answered wishing to erase Lucas’ feeling of guilt. That wasn’t his fault that Eliott turned out to be a pretty shit friend at the end. There was nothing he could do to change that.

“But we still can try to do it for tonight,” Lucas grabbed Eliott’s face and kissed him gently. “Agreed?” He asked, leaning his forehead to Eliott’s.

“Agreed,” Eliott gave his answer and in a minute his lips were on Lucas’ once again.

 «Why are you not sleeping?»

They were on the bed again, facing each other, sharing one air. Eliott’s lost count of time a long time ago, but when Lucas began dozing off from time to time he knew that it was already pretty late. And he loved just lying next to him, watching at the peaceful angel which life was so generous to give him. Just being near him was enough for Eliott to know that his heart has been stolen from him forever now and he would have done nothing to return it.

“You’re very beautiful when you sleep,” Eliott whispered, stroking him on the cheek lightly.

“You’re really that kind of guy, yeah? Romance and all that stuff,” Lucas murmured with a tiny dreamy smile on his face. Eliott couldn’t resist but touched the boy’s lips. He wanted to kiss him once again despite the fact that it was the only thing they were doing for the past couple of hours, but he decided against it eventually. The boy was tired.

“Only with you, I promise,” Eliott said and he meant that. There had been no one in his life who’s ever made him care so much. But with Lucas he wanted to be every second, support him, help him, be happy with him, and be sad with him. And to love him.

“Thank you,” Lucas suddenly pronounced and finally opened his sleepy eyes.

“For what?” Eliott could think of thousands of the reasons why he should have been thanking the boy and not the other way around.

“For choosing me,” he answered and Eliott was sure that he saw tears in his eyes.

“I guess I never had a choice.” That was the truth. All his denying was a simple waste of time.  “The minute I saw you I knew that I’m in deep troubles.”

“When I saw Emile’s face that morning and when it got to me what was happening I thought that I had no chance anymore,” Lucas said despite their promise not to bring up this topic that night. And for some reason, Elliott decided not to stop him. The tone of his voice hinted that it needed to be said. “First time in my life I felt a real attraction to someone and in a few days I thought that it was over before it even started just because someone felt something for me that I couldn’t control. That wasn’t fair. I felt like another good thing has been taken away from me and I couldn’t do anything to change it.”

“Like happened with your mother?” Eliott asked softly, Lucas nodded his head.

“I miss her,” he whispered, and Eliott could see a single tear running down his cheek. “After she was taken away I felt so lonely, there was a hole inside of my chest nothing could fill. No father, no friends. We had this special bond with her, she knew me like nobody in this world, and she understood, supported and accepted me. And suddenly that’s all gone. And then I meet this gorgeous guy, and I feel the connection once again, not the one I had with my mother, another one, but it wasn’t less important. And I’ve nearly lost it too…”

“But you haven’t! I’m here, aren’t I?” Eliott tried to cheer up the boy because his tears were tearing his heart apart.

“Yeah, but at what cost?” Lucas was looking straight at his eyes. “You can have troubles with your best friend.”

“Yesterday you gave me the advice to think about me and not him, didn’t you? ” Eliott noted carefully. Lucas’s mood obviously changed once again.

“Yeah, because I was selfish and I wanted you. But now I have you here, lying next to me and…”

“Are you trying to say that you’ve realized that you’re not interested anymore?” Eliott joked.

“Of course not!” Lucas was offended by the fact. “But I don’t want to be a trouble. I mean I maybe was a little bit pushy but I don’t’ want you to risk anything for me. I don’t want you to wake up one day and realize what a big mistake it was and that it was all my fault….”

“Stop! Stop it now!” Eliott pressed his finger to Lucas’s lips. He couldn’t listen to this anymore. “Tell me what’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like that? Why are you saying such things?”

“It’s just… my mother has already realized that I wasn’t worth it. She doesn’t want to see me anymore,” Lucas breathed out and the tears run down his face.

“What?” Eliott was sure that he’s heard something wrong because the boy couldn’t have said that.

“When I came back for my things yesterday morning, my father was still at home and he was speaking with someone on the phone,” he was breathing heavily trying held his tears, which were uncontrollably streaming down his face anyway. “And I’ve heard… I’ve heard…” Lucas began to choke in his tears and Eliott felt the panic rushing through him, he didn’ know how to help. He didn’t know what to do. “That it was her decision not to see me. Not my father’s. She doesn’t want to see me anymore!” Lucas fixed his gaze on Eliott and a shiver run down his spine. “I don’t wanna be alone,” Lucas said quietly and that broke Eliott. He pulled him in his embrace and took him as strong as he could. Lucas didn’t hold up any more, he burst out crying and that was one the most heartbreaking things which Eliott ever lived through. He never felt so powerless.

“You have me,” he whispered him into his hair. “And I’m not going anywhere,” Eliott promised.  And that was the only thing he could do. He just wished it would be enough.

[absolxguardian]

How Flint’s war could have been won

A while ago I made a post saying that I believed that Flint and co could have won the war to drive Europe out of the new world. I didn’t want to do a whole big write up, unless someone was interested. But @artsymoth is, so here you go. It’s very long, so the rest is under the cut

Terminology

For the colonial rulers of the New World, I’m generally going to use the term “Christendom” rather than Europe. When it comes to the motivations of the war, things will get religious very quickly. Also, the Ottomans will be very important, and their Empire will be very important to the war. 

I’m going to refer to Flint’s allies as the Alliance, even before I think they’d come up with the name. The full name would be the Alliance of the Americas (translated to whatever their language’s word for the continents are for their various native allies), since that’s the least relative to Europe name they could come up with. And it really will be an alliance, not a single army or would be nation.

Shortly after the show ends

Let’s just say that Madi was able to convince Silver to continue to prosecute the war is the change in the timeline. Just like in the show, the conflict between one’s own personal emancipation and freedom for all of their people will be the biggest threat to the success of the war. Because with Rogers dead and the cache secured, Jack becomes the immediate threat.

Jack Rackham 

Without Silver, Jack has no hope to kill Flint. Beyond the status of wealth, he was born into, Jack is privileged and not invested in the war for ideological reasons. We see time and again that he cares more about safety for him and the people he loves than helping those like him. Either Flint is forced to kill Jack, or Jack, changing with the winds like he always does, never mentions the deal he had with Marion Guthrie. If Jack is spared, he will remain the biggest liability the Alliance possesses in the early days of the war. Featherstone is loyal to Max, but he lacks the shrewdness and will to do anything other than follow Jack when he’s the length of a continent away from Max. If Jack plays his hand, since Featherstone is known to be unreliable, he’ll be killed with Jack. As for the individual members of the crew, it will depend on each man’s reputation and temperament.  

As for Anne and Max, Jack has no chance to outsail the news of Flint’s war. Two scenarios are possible. One, through the use of their new and less recognizable allies, Max and Anne are smuggled out of Boston. However, with Jack dead, Max and Anne would be assumed to be traitors as well. It is also possible that the Alliance simply doesn’t have the resources to spare. Marion’s patience towards Anne and Max will quickly tire when she realizes Jack is either dead or a traitor. But she seems to respect Max, so it’s possible that Marion will train Max as a protegee, well until Boston is economically destabilized.

Barbados

After regrouping on the Maroon’s island, the Alliance will next set their sight on Barbados, as it was already described currently revolting. With the massive disparity between the enslaved and white populations, the Alliance would simply need to help them take out the few entrenched positions and prevent any outside navel support.

As Barbados was one of England’s most successful sugar colonies, this would greatly bloody England’s economic nose and attract its ire, much more than the loss of Nassau. But England is currently defending against Spain in the war of the Quadruple Alliance, and so long as Flint doesn’t announce his true intentions, not only would England be distracted, but they’d likely still only be seen as a blip.

Julius arguing that the Maroons should fold to protect what they already managed to protect would likely dissolve when seeing an entire island of his people freed.

The Alliance would also have the chance to make another vital connection in the aftermath of the liberation of Barbados. Jewish merchants started the sugar trade on Barbados, but were pushed out by the English when the venture became established and profitable. As long as Flint made his intentions for a New World free of any racial and religious restrictions (a much better offer than England’s or any at the time) and a Spanish Empire humiliated, a fair amount of said Sephardim would join the Alliance, providing vital connections.

In that same episode, other pirates were talking about how easy it would be to take Jamaica, but if the Alliance were to bide their time, as the Sephardim from Barbados would explain, Jamaica could be handed to them even more easily. So I’ll discuss it in its appropriate section.

Nassau

With the Spanish gone and Roger’s dead, taking Nassau would be more of a symbol to Flint’s pirate allies than anything more The crews left would know the winds were turning, and would side with the Alliance instantly. I think the sheer fact that the Alliance needs sailors is the only thing that would keep Silver from fulfilling his threat to destroy any former pirates who took the pardon. Mapleton has likely filled the power vacuum and in return for Hudson’s assistance, sent the handmaid away to London. Mapleton would remain the governor equivalent of Nassau, although she is another liability to Flint.  If at this point Max has rejoined the Alliance and totally wasn’t planning on betraying it a few months ago, she’d be who the Alliance actually appoints, with the assumption that she could bring Mapleton under control. Nassau would also become the Alliance de facto capital, if only because of how hard it is to reach the Maroon camp. This is where all the important meetings would occur.

Allies

Corsairs

What do you need for a pirate alliance? Well more pirates. The corsairs of the Barbary Coast and Medditerean are natural allies for Flint. Corsair crews also contained more Africans (especially former slaves) and Muslims than Caribean pirates, so they’d be more prone to accept Flint’s radical ideology. It’s likely that a handful of corsairs end up on pirate crews, and they certainly knew about each other, especially crews that hunted closer to Africa. So someone would be there to offer up such an idea as a suggestion and provide a way to meet them. 

These pirates, especially the Barbary corsairs would, if they all worked together, cause the transatlantic slave trade to become unprofitable. And despite the language barrier (historically Caribbean pirate crews sold slaves just taken from Africa but recruited second generation slaves), many of those Africans could join the crews. The rest would obviously be returned, gaining the trust of their tribes. But I don’t think they’d be of much use, because given my understanding the level of colonialism at this time in Africa was simply of the “taking slaves” variety. But the economy of the Americas would stall even before the Alliance took each location because of part of the triangle trade no longer worked.

Many corsairs were privateers under contract from the Ottoman Empire or Morocco, and well, that’s going to be the biggest ally Flint gets, and the one that allows him to win the war.

The Ottoman Empire (also Morocco)

While the Ottoman Empire may not agree with Flint’s anarchist ideals, they just want to take away their biggest enemies’ economic advantage. It’s just not practical for the Ottoman Empire to have New World colonies. The Ottoman Empire can provide the Alliance with all the resources of a great power. 

Morocco (and any other independent North African states, Morocco is just the one I know about) can provide all of their privateers. At the time, Morocco was threatened by Spain and the Ottomans. Now with the Ottomans on their side against Spain, they’d have a secure position.

And this is where it gets religious. Once the alliance with the Ottomans is made public, this isn’t some insurgents against England, it’s Christendom vs the Muslims (propaganda wise). I’ll discuss what that would mean for Europe itself later. But as a quick teaser, especially if Flint is openly bi and makes his promises of freedom for all regardless of race, religion, or gender, Christendom is going to paint him as literally the Antichrist. And I don’t mean propaganda and general hatred. I mean people are going to break out millennialism and revelations again. Jesus is going to come down from Heaven and fight Flint. But I’ll discuss if this inherent threat to Christendom will be more of a First Crusade or a Fourth Crusade later. 

Jews

Now, this is how the Alliance will take Jamacia, almost the same way the Brittish did a generation ago. For a variety of reasons, Jamacia was full of Jewish/converso colonists. They provided the fifth collum the Brittish needed to take Jamacia. Cromwell offered them the right to practice their religion openly, but not protection from prosecution nor equal rights. With the help of the Sephardim recruited from Barbados, those same connections could be reestablished. If Anne and Max are part of the Alliance, their connections in Port Royal could also be used. The interior of Jamacia was also full of Maroons allied with the native Taino. An assault from both sides, accompanied with the usual slave revolt (the Alliance’s general tactic for the West Indies) will hand Jamacia to the Alliance. Jamaica is vitally important as a port because it is the best port to stop by when entering the West Indies. 

Many of the Jews of the Netherlands (although those who hold a lot of stocks in the dutch west India company wouldn’t) would defect in their merchant ships to the Alliance. I could also see the Ottomans offering their jews (and other ethnic minorities in the Empire) the same rights as the Alliance would (the restrictions on Jews in Muslim nations did exist but were generally better than anything Christendom had) to prevent defections. Although as I’ll discuss later, this alliance may not be the best for the Jews of the rest of Christendom.

Natives

Most of the natives of South America would be too genocided to provide much assistance to the Alliance, but the survivors can provide information about the interior and help begin a guerrilla war to take colonies. The fact many of them are already allied with Maroons means their help would be easy to secure.

But in North America, the natives are the key to taking the 13 colonies. If they’re armed with European weapons and all working together, they can push back against the Brittish and the French. If the alliance is kept secret at first, France and England would be too busy fighting the Alliance War to provide much assistance. Then Alliance ships are in Boston Harbor. At this point, if Jack is with the Alliance, Max and Anne would be able to join them. 

Defectors

Once the war really gets going, defection from Europe would be made almost impossible. But from captured ships, especially with how England is going to be impressing more people, defection will occur at a higher rate than previously. Crew members, weather navy or merchant, will be executed if they don’t defect, rather than set free without their goods. Because this is now a war. And it’s not a war between “respectable” Christian powers, but a war against savages and infidels. Christendom won’t follow the rules for PoWs at the time, and neither will the Alliance. 

But queer people, protestants living in Catholic countries, Catholics living in protestant countries, and Jews will reliably defect when given the chance. I could even see them joining ships with the hope that they will be boarded. “Mark” Read was also part of the royal navy in the war of the quadruple alliance (in Black Sails), and given the chance, she would defect.

Trading

The cache won’t be of much use if the Alliance can’t find anyone to trade with. The same goes for Columbus’ secret gold mine (if it exists and is found) and Peru and Mexico’s silver mines once they’re captured (with the Urca de Lima in possession of gold, there has got to a gold mine in some spainish colony in this universe). Without slave labor, their output will only be a fraction of what Spain could manage, but still. Who can they trade with? The Ottomans are already providing them with resources as allies and the sugar plantations are being converted into food-bearing farms by those not interested in fighting. Some of the cache and silver can be used to stimulate the Ottoman economy and their trading partners, but I think they could probably cut some side deal with Russia. Since this is a big important war for the fate of Christendom, they can’t openly support the Alliance, but economically they’d want to hurt their western neighbors. They’ve also been Orthodox for centuries, so they’re not as religiously bound. The Jews living in Russia would provide the go-betweens. The same goes for the Holy Roman Empire, except the HRE is in the most danger from the Ottomans. But the HRE was notorious for not being able to control its princes, so a few lords more concerned about the short term could be swayed as well.

The biggest threats  

Infighting

Oppressed groups can easily end up fighting each other. Pirates just want money and freedom, they aren’t concerned about the Africans and natives fighting their own war. The protestants could end up fighting the Catholics. Minority Christian sects might not be able to put aside their hatred of Jews and Muslims despite the promise of their own freedom. Different native tribes won’t work together because of their grudges. People start questioning the authority held by Madi because of their sexism and Flint because of their homophobia. People try to turn the Alliance to their own ends because of their own selfishness. The biggest threat to the Alliance is that some groups are promised amnesty in exchange for betraying the Alliance. Or they could splinter into different factions and Christendom picks them off one by one. As the war gets harder and more losses are sustained, the odds of this happening increase. The same factors that stopped the war before it began in the show could easily bring it all crashing down.

Christendom gets it shit together

Earlier I referenced the crusades. Those didn’t go well because, despite the political power of religion in the middle ages, people are still selfish, xenophobic, and more concerned about the realpolitik than ideals. Now the powers of Western Europe’s entire economic system is under threat, but they still might not work together. Fighting two enemies in a war is a lot easier than fighting an alliance of two enemies. Especially since Spain just finished going to war with the other European powers. Various armies may get distracted fighting over newly reclaimed land instead of continuing on. And despite the Ottomans, this would mostly be a Spain, France, England, and Dutch affair. Eastern and northern Europe would be less likely to get involved. 

And unlike during the crusades, the protestant reformation now divides Christendom. The Pope can’t even try to unite everyone under his banner. Especially if the Ottomans use their navy rather than army to the support the Alliance, the HRE won’t feel too pressured to respond. 

The main advantages that the Alliance has against Christendom are the benefits of defensive guerilla warfare, especially when it’s the “stand in a line a shoot” time period for warfare and this fact. If Christendom’s entire resources were to act in parallel to each other, Flint would stand no chance. But they probably can’t. 

Reactionary Conservatism 

It is a known principle that when challenged, a society will double down on its oppressive elements to defend itself. Just like how the slaves of the other plantations on Nassau were used as hostages against the slaves of the Underhill plantation, something similar will happen across the world. The cost will be high.

Slavemasters will become more paranoid about revolution. They can’t kill their entire stock, it just won’t work, but punishments will become worse. Once the news of alliances with native tribes gets out, the colonists will preemptively renew the efforts against their native neighbors.  

Even if the Alliance didn’t offer total religious freedom and have Jewish allies, pogroms would still happen. They wouldn’t be organized, but the increased anti-semitic violence during the Crusades proves that it doesn’t matter. The destruction of the Holy Specluche resulted in the massacre of a Jewish community in France. But with Jews accepted by the Alliance, it’s even worse. The governments wouldn’t even bother with exile, those Jews would just run to the Alliance. Spanish ire towards New Christians would return, remembering how once conversos cost them Peru and then Jamacia, and are doing that again.

The same heightened religious persecution would effect Catholics in protestant countries and Protestants in Catholic countries. Such persecution and atrocities could also keep the Protestant and Catholic countries from playing nice with each other. This increased fear against the other could also turn Protestants against each other. I feel like the majority Protestant religion in each country would become more state-controlled, just like the Anglican Church. But such tightening would turn even protestant countries against each other. Fearing the other gets pretty inconvenient when you have to team up to fight the greater other. But I don’t know enough about each individual country’s religions, and also there would be a difference between the ignored hate crimes committed in rural villages and official government policy. Maybe this outside pressure could cause the reformation to end, but I’m not sure? Depends on how much Christendom gets its shit together. It’s much easier to hate someone who’s beliefs are a bit to the left of yours than those that are radically different. The Quakers probably won’t make it out of this alive, the pacifism and lack of accepting central authority will do that to you.  

English discrimination against the Scottish, Welsh, and Irish would increase. This is just after the most recent Jacobite rebellion and the Alliance might not be offering them their homeland, but it’s offering them a place to start over free. The white allies found in colonies would most likely be poor non-English.

To add to the list of how Flint fighting this war makes things worse for the people he’s trying to help trapped in Christendom, the Alliance’s open acceptance of queerness would be matched by increased persecution in their enemies. Low key wealthy queer people, especially male ones, wouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt anymore. Places who didn’t bother with enforcing their anti-sodomy laws would do so again.

Because the war is a threat to society itself, paranoia will reach Red Scare levels. And the government doesn’t have to pretend to respect free speech this time! The newborn Enlightenment would be strangled in its crib.

After the war

But then the war ends. It’s too much for Christendom to take. The high taxes they must raise to fund this war has probably caused at least a few internal conflicts. Maybe a civil war knocks some big player out of the game. Who knows?

The entirety of the New World is surrendered to the Alliance. The Ottomans get a few of their own concessions. Other than an initial agreement that any Jews/crypto-Jews remaining after the latest round of Inquisition get to travel to the Alliance, movement between the Alliance and Christendom will be restricted tightly. One's best bet would be to manage to get to the Ottoman Empire and go from there. America really would become the mythic land of freedom only spoken of in whispers. There probably isn’t an explicit ban against the African slave trade, but without the New World, it isn’t profitable anymore. Trade with the east either has to go through the Ottomans or around Africa. That trade is stopped by “oh those totally aren’t privateers who raided you, those are pirates” raids and those pirates who want to remain on the account move to the Mediterranian.

The Americas

Flint was never interested in nation building. But since no one wants to be delivered from one monarch to another, the resulting small allied states probably run on a combination of the pirate crew system and the Iroquois’ great law of peace. After that, I don’t know what will happen. Without Europe and with slave labor, can western style soicety remain in the New World? How long until they break out into war with each other? What culture is created by a blending of native and European culture without the oppression? Will interconnected soicety fall apart or will commerce continue? I don’t know. But a happy ending is only happy because of when you end it. 

Europe 

The scenario I have for Europe is very dark, literally. It’s another dark age. I’ve considered it being like the French being inspired by the Americans on a larger scale, but there aren’t any Enlightenment texts to inspire it and no one in Christendom was taking notes and listening to ambassadors.

The economy of Europe will collapse. There was a direct challenge to soicety, and it succeeded. Unless someone starts the Industrial Revolution, and fast, capitalism’s rise will be halted and slowly fall. And the horrors of war has marked everything. The ideas of the Renaissance are looked at with a new suspicion. Things like Thomas Hamilton’s saloons won’t happen anymore. Civil wars will flare across the Christendom. Russia, and to a lesser extent the rest of Eastern Europe will get out of it fine, but they will not tolerate any sort of subversive ideas. The HRE was already declining, and the war might have provided the last push in this timeline. 

Despite things getting worse, the Alliance can’t go on the offensive. They won’t have the home field advantage “just wait them out” guerilla warfare tactics available, most of the Alliance just wants to secure safety for their people, and if they were to move against Christendom, the Ottomans would want the land for themselves. Driving royals out of some of their land is also a lot less messy than getting rid of them altogether.

The Ottoman Empire

It’s time for the Islamic Golden Age 2. Unlike Christendom, they won’t get the clock turned back when it comes to ideas. The Enlightenment, especially with the good trade relationship with the Americas, will happen here. But I doubt the Ottoman Empire will become as radical as the Americas. It’s still an Empire. They’ll move into a weakened Europe. Perhaps it will become a constitutional monarchy, partially modeled off of how the American states govern themselves. Perhaps, especially with how Sultans have to kill all their brothers, it will get so big it will just break into smaller states.

Africa and the East

Colonialism wave 2 will hit Africa sooner, at the hands of the Ottomans. Colonialism in the style of the scramble for Africa conquest, or perhaps, since there won’t be that much racism involved, Africa will be treated like other parts of the Ottoman Empire. Maybe the resultant states will scrabble for it themselves and take bits out of China. Or maybe since it doesn’t have enough seeds of capitalism, the industrial revolution will take much longer. At this point, I don’t know. Maybe some Maroons will suspect this and make sure the African tribes have European weapons. Will anyone ever bother to gunboat open Japan? How long until tyrants rise again in the Americas and they’re the ones to conquer the east?

The Inherent Randomness

Maybe there’s some lesser factor that would most certainly have a much bigger impact in this timeline that I don’t know about. I’d love if someone could tell me. I have a lot of spots in my knowledge here and would love to discuss and add on to this idea. 

But there are things that can’t be predicted. Flint could get fatally shot securing Barbados and that’s how things end. Maybe elements and people that are irrelevant in our world are important in this timeline. That why I didn’t outline how I think they would win in the military sense. That would require responding to things and I don’t know what those things are. The farther and farther one goes through this essay, the less certain I am about these things. One thing I do know for certain, is that the TLDR for the war is an alliance with the Ottomans. They’re the only state powerful enough who’s own capabilities means they’ll actually ally with Flint.

Silver is right. The cost would be so high. It’s a war, and entering into this war is double or nothing.

[eurosong]

Undo my ESC ‘19 (semi-final two)

Good morning, folks, and welcome to part two of Undo my ESC, the feature where I look at the year’s songs and make a change – as small as altering a minor detail like a lyric or a small staging decision, or as big as going for a completely different national final song! Again, it’s just my opinion and is often delivered in jest. Generally speaking, there are fewer things that need drastic changing in this semi-final, but there are always exceptions...

Armenia: When I first heard this song, I was a bit non-plussed. Cut to a few days later, and there was a constant stream of “walking out, aooooo” in my head. I fear that it’s a song that takes a while to win people over – and that it doesn’t help matters that it’s difficult to completely understand what Srbuk is singing. I’d be tempted to shift the verses into Armenian.

Ireland: I was underwhelmed initially by this effort, but it ended up charming me with its low-key nostalgia. It seems like Björkman has done his level best to kill of Ireland’s chances, and RTÉ have done the rest with the garish, Liechtenstein comics meet 50s Americana staging. I’d change this to something a bit more low-key and elegant.

Moldova: As if to detox from 2 years of crazy staging and outlandish songs, Moldova have sent something incredibly dull and beige, which now they’re trying to cover up by using a decade-old Ukrainian gimmick. There were better songs in their national final, particularly “Sub pămint,” a rocky-folky effort with a lot more to hold my interest than “Stay.”

Switzerland: The Swiss were another country to abandon their national final – no real surprise after the years of mediocre entries it produced. I’d take Stones, Apollo and even Last of our kind over the cringeworthy, self-satisfied Justin Timberlake meets Despacito meets Fuego infernal blend that was “She got me.” I’m going to have a laugh with this one and have it so that Switzerland accept “Sister”, which would have been a passable Swiss entry, instead of rejecting it and having it end up in Germany where it screwed a perfectly good national final.

Latvia: Latvia, like its northern neighbour, Estonia, have gone from having one of the most promising and avant-garde national finals to one that has lost its shine, albeit not só much as Eesti Laul did. Credit where credit is due, they picked by far the best of a lacklustre bunch for me – a lovely, understated, saudadic effort. I wouldn’t change much about it at all.

Romania: Whilst it seemed that almost everybody and their mongoose wanted either the creepy poperatics of Laura “No to marriage equality” Bretan or fueclone #382 from Bella Santiago, by far the song that intrigued me the most was “On a Sunday.” I’m glad this delectable and dark tune won and couldn’t be happier for Ester, who was such a lovely person when we met. What I would change, if I could, would be the bizarre voting system that led to her victory – I’d have had her win by a clear margin in the public vote so as not to be the unfair recipient of hate for the way her song was elected winner. I’d also ensure the oddities on stage with her, pretending to play instruments, were relegated far out of view!

Denmark: Speaking of unpopular opinions, I also didn’t think much of “League of light”, a song so dull that the fact that it incorporated Greenlandic still didn’t quit its beigeness. I found the nicest song of the night to have been “Love is forever”, though I would replace the song’s English lyrics with Danish ones, teach Leonora how not to stare into the viewer’s soul and cause an existential crisis, and trim some of the tweeest excesses away such as the sashaying on the top of that massive chair.

Sweden: Another year, another edition of Melodifestivalen where the all-powerful juries have a real fear of anyone without the Y chromosone representing Sweden. “Too late for love”, at least, breaks the chain of self-satisfied boys singing empty pop songs. Instead, we have a barely soulful soul song sung by a more mature man. I would have gone for “Torn” or “Not with me” any day, though.

Austria: Austria’s labyrinthine internal selection came up with a little-known electro artist and I didn’t have the highest expectations, but I was intrigued. It ended up being an unexpected highlight, a true pearl of emotion and exquisite vocals. I don’t know what PÆNDA’s staging will be, but at the minute, I wouldn’t change anything except for her pronunciation of you as “Hugh/hue”!

Croatia: Oh, Croatia. Returning to a national final after Serbia and Montenegro did last year, and having enjoyed Beovizija and Montevizija respectively, I had hopes. Maybe not high hopes, but medium hopes. It was a collection of dated songs, bizarre songs, and then the eventual winner was both bizarre and dated: a screaming angel shrieking out a maudlin ballad that would have been dated even in the early 90s. I don’t have much of a horse in this race – I think my personal favourite was “Tebi pripadam”, which was harmless but pleasant, but I might go for the colourful “Brutalero” as the most likely to make an impact in Tel Aviv.

Malta: Malta bringing something interesting to ESC is one of the Four Horsemen of the Europocalypse, but before the other three come, I’m living for it. I worry how well a young balladeer with static performances will adapt to the sass and sizzle of Chameleon, but for the moment, I wouldn’t change anything other than remove the letters that overshadow the wild and colourful MV.

Lithuania: Lithuania’s NF is another for which life is too short to follow, especially since it takes the best part of 3 months to come up with – well, songs like this. One wonders how something can be both weird and dull, but this is, in turns. As pretty much the majority of folk rewriting this, I guess I would opt for “Light on” instead, though I’d be tempted by the quirky fun of “Mažulė.”

Russia: I can’t begrudge Sergej’s return to try to win after he found himself losing at the juries’ hand in 2016. I won’t even join those criticising him for not bringing another “banger” and instead returning with something a bit more solemn and musically complex. It’s not in my favourites but there’s not much I’d change, other than make the tune a little less repetitive.

Albania: Albania had another good Festival i Këngës – one of my favourite NFs in keeping an orchestra and maintaining national language throughout. My pick of all the songs to win was Ktheju tokës, and I wouldn’t change a thing about this powerful cri de cœur, except, perhaps, change it so that the second verse had different lyrics and was not just a repeat of the initial verse.

Norway: One of the absolute scandals of the season for me. In the red corner, we had one of the best composers to have represented Norway in the past 20 years with a sweeping, moving, classical tune, “En livredd mann”. In the blooo corner, we had a “what if Aqua moved to the woods, discovered they had animal spirits, thought they could joik and created this forgotten b-side in 1998?” Somehow, the latter won, but I feel the former really ought to have.

Netherlands: Though I cannot understand the fuss about this compared to other downtempo songs that I see being forgotten at best, slated at worst, it’s a decent track. I’d change the video so that it didn’t hinge so dramatically on gratuitous nudity, so that we could see who’s praising this for the music and who’s just in for a good looking lad’s bare arse.

Macedonia: It’s a nice, sincere effort from Macedonia – it feels a bit of a step back from me from the experimentation in the past two entries, but at the same time, I think it has a better chance of doing well than them. Not sure what I would change, other than the video. It’s very melodramatic and reminds me of an even more extra version of Bebe’s “Ella”; no small achievement given how extra that is.

Azerbaijan: I’m no great fan of AZ at this contest, but for the second time in 3 years (let’s try to forget the disaster that was “Delete my heart”), they’ve brought a decent song with some local character. My change would be to forget about the overproduced official music track and go instead for the delightfully understated unplugged performance, where Çingiz’ voice and the poignancy of the text come to the fore.

And the automatic qualifiers of this semi:

Germany: Because of my mischievious change for Switzerland, Germany would be free of the non-sisters perversely called Sisters and would have dodged the hole that they keep falling into – including unexperienced wild card artists in the national final that folk vote for out of sympathy, landing them in or near the bottom for several years, except last year, the one time they didn’t. There were plenty of good songs in the German national final, making the choice of S!!$Ŧ4ZZZ! even more perverse. I really enjoyed “The day I loved you most”, but, despite a somewhat dodgy live, I’d have to give the nod instead to the atmospheric, brooding “Surprise.”

Italy: This song and its artist are utter perfection to me. I wouldn’t change a single second. Unfortunately, Eurovision’s rather arbitrary 3 minute rule means that I would have to excise several seconds from the original. Mahmood’s actual solution seems to have been getting rid of the repetition of “[sai già] come va, come va, come va”, which for me sounds odd and wrecks the flow. I’d instead probably remove the “non ho tempo per chiarire, perché solo ora so cosa sei” line. It’d still be a change I wouldn’t ideally make, but I feel it’d be a bit less abrupt.

UK: The UK came onto the scene this year with a massive fanfare about a new format where YOU DECIDE in song duels which version of a song was better. Except, as it transpired, You the Punter didn’t decide – a dubiously qualified trio of “““experts””” did instead. The whole element of intrigue of the new format – finding out which version of a song is best – was taken away from the viewer and in doing so, all they got to decide between was 3 songs, 1 version of each. In the process, they eliminated the best version of “Bigger than us” – opting for the bombastic, X factor winner version by Michael Rice instead of the low-key but likeable country version by Holly Tandy. I’d have picked that instead. I’d have also not gone for that stupid format and instead tried to find at least 6 decent songs instead of 2 versions of 3 mediocre ones.

BONUS ROUND!

Ukraine: When I was doing SF1, I forgot that another country should have entered that semi who were under my imaginary purview. I’m talking Ukraine, of course, whose broadcasters instigated the scandal of the year by humiliating its artists with political questions on live TV, and then basically forced the winner to nót represent Ukraine by giving her a scandalous contact that didn’t offer any help with the financial burden of going to Israel and putting on a show, would shackle her to patently unreasonable terms, forbade her from speaking out of turn or improvising on stage, and threatened her with massive fines for the slightest unauthorised change.  Part of me really wants to say that I’d deal with the mess by ensuring that Tayanna (who should have won in 2018 with Lelja) wouldn’t withdraw, thus leading to the inclusion of Maruv at the last minute who ended up winning. But no – a bigger wrong must be righted and, even though her bizarre burlesque is not to my taste, I would have undone poor Maruv’s poor treatment and let her go to ESC with “Siren song” like the majority of voters wanted.

[aroundtheworldinsearchofcoke]

Day Fourteen: The Club Route

By September 1944, the German Army had been effectively pushed out of France, save for a few isolated pockets, and the Allies were flush with their success. A general belief set in that the war was won; that victory was a simple matter of one last push. Both Montgomery, now a field marshal in command of the 21st Army Group, and Patton urged General Eisenhower to support a final, narrow-front push over the Rhine and into Germany - naturally to be committed under their command.

In Britain, the newly created First Allied Airborne Army bristled for a chance to deploy before the war ended. Drop after drop was cancelled, and General Browning despaired at losing his chance for glory in Europe. The chance finally came in an audacious plan to capture a series of bridges in the Netherlands culminating in the Rhine itself - Operation Market Garden.

Most were delighted. Sosabowski, commanding the Polish airborne forces, was horrified. He believed the plan to capture a narrow corridor into Germany was completely foolhardy. So too was Admiral Ramsey, who wanted the army to concentrate on securing the Scheldt Estury and opening the port of Antwerp. But everybody believed the Germans were finished. It would be a mere matter of marching - or dropping, as it were.

On paper, the plan seemed simple. The US 101st Airborne Division would land around Eindhoven, securing the bridges at Son, Vehgel and Grave among others. The 82nd Airborne, under command of General Jim Gavin, would land around Nijmegen and secure the vital bridge over the Waal. The 1st Airborne Division would be dropped near Arnhem at Oosterbeek - the RAF and USAAF were skeptical about landing them on the town proper due to possible anti-air emplacements.

With the bridges secured, General Brian Horrocks’ British XXX Corps would charge down Highway 69, through Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem and on into Germany, a dagger blow into the heart of the Third Reich. Horrocks was so comfortable with the plan and so confident it would be an easy drive that he nicknamed the highway ‘the Club Route.’

By mid-September, everything was set to go. The paratroopers were ready. The tanks were ready. Thousands of British, American and Polish soldiers were ready to go. General Browning, commanding the Allied airborne forces, was confident that no major opposition stood in their way.

So confident, in fact, that he ignored Dutch intelligence reports indicating that two SS panzer divisions were recuperating in the area…

---

Midday, 17 September 1944.

Lieutenant-Colonel John O. E. Vandeleur, invariably referred to as Joe due to his initials, sat in a Sherman Firefly tank at the start line of Operation Garden. The Guards Armoured Division was ready to move, and his Irish Guards were going in first. The Firefly was a potent machine, armed with a 17-pounder anti-tank gun that could put the fear of god into a Tiger tank. He commanded a considerable force of Sherman tanks, and had at his disposal the infantry of the Irish Guards and the Typhoon fighter-bombers of the Royal Air Force.

He was about to cross what is now called Joe’s Bridge, in Neerpelt near Lommel. The Irish Guards, under Vandeleur’s command, had dramatically captured it on the 10th, and today they would continue their attack, plunging their armoured spear into the dying heart of Nazi Germany. Or at least, that was the plan.

As the Irish Guards’ tanks rolled across onto the open ground on the other side of the bridge, they suddenly came under fire from concealed German anti-tank guns - before long, about eight or nine Shermans were either disabled or burning wrecks. Worse still, the road was narrow and flanked on both sides by deep ditches - even one stalled tank arrested the momentum of the entire column.

The infantry moved up to silence the guns, with the assistance of the RAF Typhoons, but it was some time before the disabled tanks could be cleared. By the time they reached Valkenswaard, the Guards were well behind schedule, and were not willing to risk a night advance on to Eindhoven.

And so, XXX Corps were stuck, well away from their day one objective. They were supposed to be in Arnhem in three.

---

Remember to keep all that in mind, there will be an exam.

So today might have been the longest day in the history of humankind. We were out of the hotel by seven, and by mid-morning we had crossed through the Channel Tunnel aboard Le Shuttle to Calais. At about eleven, we arrived at Dunkirk.

As I explained yesterday, Dunkirk was the place where the BEF and many of its allies were evacuated from in 1940. The museum there is pretty interesting, although it does feel a lot like it’s trying to politely suggest exactly where Great Britain can stick its evacuation. It’s still a bit of a source of bitterness for France. After the museum, we walked over to the beach. It’s a marked contrast to Normandy. Normandy, perhaps unsurprisingly, makes a big deal of its connection to the Second World War. Dunkirk, also unsurprisingly, seems like it would rather forget. Aside from a memorial, there isn’t much there about the evacuation. It’s very much an ordinary public beach.

I couldn’t even find Harry Styles!

After Dunkirk, we got on the road to the Market Garden area, via ring roads around Ghent and Antwerp. Word of advice; you think getting around Antwerp is easy? It isn’t. It’s very un-easy.

We reached Leopoldsburg, where Horrocks briefed his officers on the battleplan, at about five, and examined the Sherman Firefly that sits there as a memorial to the town’s liberation and the briefing. From there, we travelled to Joe’s Bridge, the starting point for XXX Corps’ advance into the Netherlands. Aside from a little more in the way of traffic lights and housing, the route is little changed – you can still see the ditches that caused Vandeleur such grief. Having taken in these sights, we advanced through Valkenswaard to Eindhoven, where we stopped for the night – it was now seven in the evening.

As you can probably tell, I’m completely exhausted, so I’ll leave off there. Tomorrow we continue along the road towards Nijmegen and poke the beehive of one of the most controversial debates about the Second World War…

Time for another rousing game of WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS!

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Virginia woman does 53 acts of kindness for 53rd birthday (AP) The pandemic didn’t allow Debra Ferrell to gather with her whole family for her birthday. So instead, she celebrated the day by giving back—with 53 gifts from her heart. Ferrell went on social media and asked people for suggestions on acts of kindness that she could perform for others during her birth month, one for every year that she’s been alive. “It’s one of the hardest times in my history, so I figured why not make other people smile,” said Ferrell. The requests for her Oct. 4 birthday arrived from across the U.S.: Parents who hoped for words of encouragement for their kids on their first year of virtual school. A woman who wished for a gift basket for her fiancé, a doctor at a hospital’s COVID-19 unit. A friend of a family in Minnesota that lost their 4-year-old to cancer, who wanted them to feel that they were not alone. “I know that might sound cheesy, but it’s just one of my favorite things to do,” said Ferrell, who works as a resident service coordinator at a retirement community. “I just feel that if we live our life trying to make other people smile, I’m the one who gets the most out of it.”

Some people actually had a pretty good year (NYT) Though a wide array of businesses are suffering this year, many that cater to professionals and the elite are doing better than ever. It’s now well-documented that the coronavirus pandemic has both exposed and exacerbated American inequality. While the wealthy and the highly educated haven’t entirely escaped the soul-crushing effects of the virus—quarantine-induced cabin fever, sharing at-home work spaces with Zoom schoolrooms and a number of other shared losses and stresses—they have also been, on the whole, getting richer. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found that jobs that can be performed remotely made up a relatively small share of pandemic-related job losses, and according to The Wall Street Journal “workers with bachelor’s degrees or higher had nearly fully recovered jobs lost in early spring” by September. Meanwhile, the vast majority of workers are without college degrees. And many of those who have been unable to work from home have been struggling in shocking numbers. Women and especially mothers employed in the service sector were more likely to experience pandemic-related job loss. Black and Latino adults, who, because of health inequities, are more likely to contract and die from Covid-19 than their white counterparts, have also faced disproportionate financial struggles during this recession. A small but substantial sliver of America, however, is doing better than ever, or at least just fine: enjoying the freedoms that remote work paired with disposable income can bring, using this pause in the typical 24/7 busyness of professional-class social life to take a breath and to reassess and rejigger their lives.

Barr flies (Foreign Policy) U.S. Attorney General William Barr is out of the job, following an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday evening. Trump tweeted a letter written by Barr outlining his respect for the president, ending with the confirmation that he would resign on Dec. 23. Barr had reportedly fallen out with Trump over the attorney general’s statement that no significant voter fraud could be found in the Nov. 3 presidential election. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will now take on Barr’s former post in an acting capacity.

Unwelcome in other countries, Americans are fleeing lockdowns and flocking to Mexico (Los Angeles Times) The pandemic was raging, but on the beaches of Cabo San Lucas it felt like spring break. Tipsy young Americans in bikinis and swim trunks vied for buckets of beer in a push-up competition at a crowded bar. Vendors in wide-brimmed hats plodded through the sand, offering rugs, massages and—under their breath—cocaine. Down near the water, 24-year-old Kierston Jackson sat entwined with her boyfriend, their matching blue surgical masks a concession to the coronavirus. “It’s a good change of pace,” said Jackson, a Houston resident, as she gazed at the gently lapping waves. “I’d definitely prefer to be here with a mask on than in my home without one.” Unwelcome in many countries as the virus surges worldwide, U.S. tourists are fleeing lockdowns at home and flocking to Mexico. Nearly half a million Americans flew to Mexico in October—the most recent month for which data is available—mainly to beaches on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. The influx of Americans is a ray of hope for the country’s battered tourism sector, which has hemorrhaged more than $11 billion this year.

Natural disasters cost insurance industry $76 billion in 2020—Swiss Re (Reuters) Natural disasters like wildfires which devastated parts of the United States and a record number of hurricanes in the Atlantic caused $76 billion in insured losses during 2020, Swiss Re said on Tuesday. The 40% increase from $54 billion in 2019 dwarfed the $7 billion in man-made losses during 2020, the reinsurance company said in its sigma estimate for the year. The total insurance industry losses of $83 billion made 2020 the fifth costliest year since 1970, the company said. “Losses were driven by a record number of severe convective storms—thunderstorms with tornadoes, floods and hail—and wildfires in the U.S.,” Swiss Re said.

ICC prosecutor sees ‘reasonable basis’ to believe Venezuela committed crimes against humanity (Reuters) The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor believes there is “reasonable basis” to believe Venezuela has committed crimes against humanity, according to a report published by the prosecutor’s office on Monday. United Nations investigators in September determined that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government has committed systematic human rights violations, including killings and torture, amounting to crimes against humanity. The Hague-based tribunal has been examining Venezuela’s case since 2018 and expects to determine in 2021 whether to open a full investigation. Though Maduro’s adversaries have celebrated the ICC’s probe of Venezuela, few believe the process is likely to lead to a short-term change in the struggling nation. ICC criminal proceedings stretch for years, and it has in the past struggled to carry out arrest warrants when it obtains them.

Netherlands to go into tough, five-week lockdown over Christmas (Reuters) The Netherlands will go into a tough second lockdown, with the closure of all schools and shops for at least five weeks, in a government-led push to fight the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Monday. “The Netherlands is closing down,” he said to the sound of protesters banging pots and pans outside his office in The Hague. “We realise the gravity of our decisions, right before Christmas.” The measures, detailed in a rare live television address, include limiting gatherings to no more than two people, also at home. An exception will be made for three days around Christmas, when three adult visitors will be permitted, he said. People were further advised to stay at home, not to travel to work and to avoid contact with other people as much as possible. From Tuesday, all public places—including daycare centres, gyms, museums, zoos, cinemas, hairdressers and beauty salons—will close until Jan. 19. Schools will close until Jan. 18. Supermarkets, banks and pharmacies will be allowed to stay open.

Chernobyl tourism (Foreign Policy) In a year has shown that what you do after disaster has struck is often more important than the disaster itself, it’s perhaps fitting that Chernobyl—the site of the world’s worst nuclear incident—is in a push to be recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. The Ukrainian government is pursuing an initiative to have the site added to the heritage list in a bid to boost tourism to the area, 20 years after the power plant finally ceased operating, and four years since a protective dome over the doomed fourth reactor was completed. 124,000 tourists—a record number—visited Chernobyl in 2019 amid renewed interest following a popular television drama of the same name. Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko now hopes to boost annual tourist numbers to one million.

Russia’s Putin recognizes Biden’s win (Washington Post) More than a month later than most world leaders, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden for his victory in the election, a delayed recognition that could set the tone for icy relations. “In his message Vladimir Putin wished the president-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the United States, which bear special responsibility for global security and stability, can, despite their differences, effectively contribute to solving many problems and meeting challenges that the world is facing today,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Putin was one of the last heads of state to acknowledge Biden’s win; Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un are other holdouts. The congratulations come after Biden’s victory became more formal on Monday, when 306 electors officially voted for him.

Silent nights (Worldcrunch) Catholic church officials in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, have announced Christmas carol activities will be banned, The Philippine News Agency reports. Churches were asked not to organize carolings in order to “protect the public and the choir members” as according to experts, the virus could easily spread through singing, officials say. Christmas carols are an important part of the holiday traditions in the Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country that celebrates the world’s longest Christmas season, from Sept. 1 to New Year’s Eve.

Package-tour diplomacy: Thousands of Israeli tourists flock to Dubai after peace deal (Washington Post) Ashish Negi prides himself on spotting the nationality of tourists as soon as they walk into his jewelry store—so he can be jokey with Americans, chatty with Brits and ready to bargain with Russians—but he was baffled by the man in the tall black hat and the curly sideburns who came in last week. “This was something I had not seen in Dubai,” Negi said of the first ultra-Orthodox Jewish visitor to reach his corner of the city’s traditional gold market, part of a wave of Israeli tourists who have descended on the United Arab Emirates in recent days. In the two weeks since commercial flights began between Tel Aviv and the Emirati cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Israelis have caused a remarkable tourism boomlet in the Gulf nation. Suddenly, Hebrew can be heard throughout the markets, malls and beaches of a destination that was strictly off-limits until the two countries achieved a diplomatic breakthrough in August and established normal relations. More than 50,000 Israelis have brushed aside covid-19 concerns, a terrorism warning and decades of tension to make the three-hour flight across the Arab Peninsula. Israeli tourism officials expect more than 70,000 to arrive during the eight days of Hanukkah, which began last week, in an unprecedented exchange between the Jewish state and one of its historically standoffish Muslim neighbors.

Ten years on, anger grows in Tunisian town where ‘Arab Spring’ began (Reuters) Ten years ago, a fruit seller set himself ablaze in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid after an altercation with a policewoman about where he had put his cart. Word of Mohammed Bouazizi’s fatal act of defiance quickly spread, sparking nationwide protests that eventually toppled Tunisia’s long-serving leader and helped inspire similar uprisings across the region—the so-called “Arab Spring”. Huge demonstrations broke out in Egypt and Bahrain, governments fell and civil war engulfed Libya, Syria and Yemen. Tunisians are now free to choose their leaders and can publicly criticise the state. Yet for all the chaos they have been through, many people look back on the events of 2010 and regret that their dreams remain unfulfilled. “Something went wrong in the revolution,” said Attia Athmouni, a retired philosophy teacher who helped lead the uprising after Bouazizi’s death by standing on the fruit seller’s abandoned cart to address the crowd the night he died. Protests have flared again in recent weeks across Tunisia’s poorer southern towns against joblessness, poor state services, inequality and shortages.