#californian independence

[heavencasteel420]

I am vaguely aware that Runaway Max presents Billy’s racism as something he adopted wholesale from Neil, but, given the nature of their relationship, I don’t think that’s the most likely explanation.* I imagine that Neil is racist in a pretty standard way for a regressive man in 1984, in that he publicly tolerates (yet perhaps privately resents) “respectable” black people while hating more acceptable targets (the poor, the homeless, addicts, criminals, unwed mothers, etc.) in a very racialized manner if they happen to be black. And I think that, on a surface level, Billy thinks Neil is a stupid, square old man who sucks, partly for regular teen rebellion reasons and partly because Neil is a violently abusive father who really does blow chunks. Yet Billy hasn’t really examined why those attitudes are bad, especially if they don’t affect him directly. And I think his racism is most likely (a) a kind of edgelord rejection of what he perceives as lame 1960s hippie ideals and (b) one of many conduits for expressing his rage (using racism as a pretext to almost kill a middle school kid and terrorize/isolate Max).

*There doesn’t necessarily need to be an explanation for why a white person is racist in a systematically racist society—to a certain degree, it’s something a person absorbs without trying—but Billy’s racism is more active and extreme than the norm.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

SoCal Gas spent millions on astroturf ops to fight climate rules

Today (19 Aug), I'm appearing at the San Diego Union-Tribune Festival of Books. I'm on a 2:30PM panel called "Return From Retirement," followed by a signing:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/festivalofbooks

It's a breathtaking fraud: SoCal Gas, the largest gas company in America, spent millions secretly paying people to oppose California environmental regulations, then illegally stuck its customers with the bill. We Californians were forced to pay to lobby against our own survival:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article277266828.html

The criminal scheme is spelled out in eye-watering detail in a superb investigative report by Joe Rubin and Ari Plachta for the Sacramento Bee, which names the law firms and individual lawyers involved in the scam.

Here's the situation: SoCal Gas is California's private, regulated gas monopoly. They are allowed to lobby, but are legally required to charge their lobbying activities to their shareholders, and are prohibited from raising customer rates to pay for lobbying.

The company spent years secretly violating this rule, in the sleaziest way possible: working with corporate cartels like the California Restaurant Association and BizFed, the monopoly paid BigLaw white-shoe firms to procure people who posed as concerned citizens in order to oppose climate regulations that are essential to the state's very survival.

The bill topped $36 million – and it was illegally charged to its customers, the Californians whose immediate health and long-term survival these efforts opposed. SoCal Gas refuses to disclose the full extent of the spending, as do its lawyer-procurers, who cite legal confidentiality and a First Amendment right to secretly seek to influence policy in their refusal to disclose their profits from this illegal conduct.

The law firms involved are a who's-who of California's most prominent corporate fixers, including Reichman Jorgensen and Holland & Knight. The partners involved have a long rap sheet for anti-climate dirty tricking, most notably Jennifer Hernandez, notorious in climate justice history for an incident where activists claim she posed as one of them, infiltrating a campaign to force corporate despoilers to clean up their pollution in order to sabotage it, while secretly on a wealthy, prominent landowner's payroll.

Hernandez claims to care about the environment and says that her longstanding, corporate-funded, extensive campaigns and lawsuits against state environmental regulations are motivated by concern over their impact on working people. Her firm, Holland & Knight, denies serving SoCal Gas in opposing gas regulations, but it received $594k in ratepayer dollars, and submitted comments opposing the rules on its own behalf. Those comments were nearly identical to the comments submitted by SoCal Gas.

Hernandez also represents an obscure organization called The Two Hundred for Home Ownership in "a flurry of lawsuits" over California Air Resources Board rules on pollution, seeking to overturn the state's landmark climate change regulations.

Two Hundred for Home Ownership was founded by Robert Apodaca, who told the Bee that Hernandez's work for him is pro bono and not funded by SoCal Gas, but his entry into the fray occurred just as SoCalGas was founding an astroturf group called Californians for Fair and Balanced Energy (C4BES), which pretended to be an independent organization, disguising its relationship with SoCal Gas.

Apodaca is also founder of United Latinos Vote, an organization that had been largely dormant for seven years, not receiving any donations, until 2018, when the California Building Industry Association gave it $99k. The CBIA is a large-dollar recipient of donations from SoCal Gas, and its CEO insists that it was not acting on SoCal Gas's behalf when it made its unpredented donation to Apodaca.

The CBIA donation to United Latinos Vote was forerunner to a flood of corporate donations from the likes of Chevron, Marathon and Phillips 66. Shortly after receiving this cash, United Latinos Vote ran a full page ad in the LA Times, accusing the Sierra Club of pushing for anti-gas appliance rules that would harm working class Latino families.

This ad, in turn, featured prominently in advocacy by the SoCal Gas front group C4BES, funded with $29.1m in ratepayer money, which it then spent seeking to link clean appliance rules with anti-Latino racism. A quarter of California's carbon emissions come from home gas use.

SoCal Gas is regulated by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), which tolerated this mounting illegal conduct for many years, even as the company circulated internal memos as early as 2015 discussing its plans to oppose electrification in the state on the basis that it constituted "a significant risk to our business."

But last year, CPUC fined SoCal Gas $10m. Now, CPUC's Public Advocate office has filed a damning, extensive report on SoCal Gas's unlawful conduct, seeking $80m in rate cuts to compensate Californians for the funds misappropriated to protect the company's shareholder interests:

https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M517/K407/517407314.PDF

Additionally, the Public Advocate is demanding $233m in fines for the company's refusal to allow investigators to audit its books and discover the full extent of the fraud.

SoCal Gas is the nation's largest utility, but (incredibly), it's not the dirtiest. That prize goes to Ohio's FirstEnergy, which handed $60m in ratepayer dollars to state politicians in illegal bribes in exchange for coal and nuclear subsidies and cancellation of state climate rules. That scandal led to GOP speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder being sentenced to 20 years in prison:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_nuclear_bribery_scandal

There is something extraordinarily sleazy about using ratepayers' own money to lobby against their interests. SoCal Gas and its Big Law enablers have funneled millions in Californian's money into campaigns to poison us and boil us alive, and they did it while using workers and racialized people as human shields.

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet to succeed the old, good internet. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/19/cooking-the-books-with-gas/#reichman-jorgensen

Image: Maryland GovPics (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/6635539089/

Jackie (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/79874304@N00/197532792

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

current religious breakdown of the united states. 

most of the empire of california is now americanist (“principlist” being a sect of americanism), with the exception of the valley and a few bay area holdouts.

[tanadrin]

Imagine that a century or two from now, the eastern half of the United States is conquered by the Canadian Empire, its intelligentsia deported, its land colonized by Canadian immigrants, and its remaining people mostly gradually absorbed into a Neo-Canadian identity. The West reorganizes, developing a new political and cultural center, and comes to regard itself as the "true" United States, with the remnant culture of the East (by now much changed by Canadian rule) as representing an unchanged tradition stretching back to the time of George Washington. The holdout western half is subsequently conquered by the Reformed Mexican Empire, and while most of the population remains in situ, its elite is taken to Mexico City. There, for three or four generations, they do their best to maintain their distinct American identity, focusing on the American "civil religion," the distinctive political ideals and cultural features that mark them out as Americans, and come up with a new way of interpreting their history that allows America to be a perennial idea, something not directly physically tied to the territory of the United States, which no longer exists. They compose a body of historical works based on Washington Irving's rather fabulistic approach to early American history, the half-remembered popular versions of the stories of Columbus and the Pilgrims, the First Thanksgiving, even the Revolutionary War. They don't have access to the original texts anymore--let's say this is all taking place in a post-Collapse North America where long-range travel and communication is difficult and a lot of history has been lost--but they do their best. They append to these books, or include in their text, of history a copy of the Constitution, big chunks of the United States Code, and Robert's Rules of Order.

Subsequently, the Empire of Gran Columbia invades, conquers southern and central Mexico, and its Emperor lets the captive Americans go home. They return north, mostly to California, find that the version of American history and civics that is remembered there isn't the same as the version they have (not that the Californian one is correct--the Mexican Empire has suppressed English-language education and high culture in its Aztlani provinces), and set about reforming and reorganizing the Western States (as they're now called) to be more in line with the forms they brought back from the exile. In the meantime, other bits of important literature start being kept in libraries next to copies of the received histories: some bits of early American literature, like Hawthorne, the Song of Hiawatha, some highly abridged Herman Melville, Thomas Paine--heck, even some John Locke, and quotes or fragments from Shakespeare. Some traditionalists now argue the capital of the United States has always been located in San Francisco, and that Washington, D.C. only because the capital later, under the influence of Eastern heretics.

In the following centuries, the Western States retain their independence for a time, but eventually become a secondary battleground for a lot of other empires--the Mexicans, the Canadians, the Pan-Pacific Federation, and so forth. American culture remains distinctive, insulted in part by its unique traditions, though now everybody speaks Future Spanish, and only learns English to read the old texts. In this period additional material, including later compositions, continues to accrete, forming a distinct body of sacred American scripture, although it does not exist in a single canonical form. Attempts to reconcile distinct sources, like more literal and historically-grounded accounts versus the simplified narratives of figures like Irving, produce hybrid texts that sometimes are full of internal conflicts.

Oh, and through all this, some institutions of American government like the Supreme Court still function, although their rulings only apply to Americans, and there isn't much in the way of a federal bureaucracy.

Finally the Great and Sublime Brazilian Potentate conquers most of the Americas, sets up an American client state that roughly coincides with the heartland of the old Western States (California, Oregon, most of Washington and Nevada), and allows the Americans to elect their own President (subject, of course, to Brazilian approval). During this period, an apocalyptic street preacher from Los Angeles claims to have inherited the authority and power of George Washington, and is executed by the Brazilians; his later followers point to the prophecies of Emperor Norton, and out-of-context bits of a Quebecois translation of Moby-Dick and some Mark Twain stories to say no, really, he was George Washington. Inexplicably, a version of this religion becomes the dominant faith of the Brazilian Empire before it collapses. But long before then the American state in California fails, crushed when it tries to revolt against Brazilian rule; the remnant Easterners likewise dwindle down to only a few hundred souls living in a village in Alexandria, Virginia. Centuries from now, as the descendants of the descendants of the Brazilians colonize Mars, they will point to the sacred Americanist scriptures, the Neo-Americanist narratives of their prophet's life, and the letters written by the early leaders of Neo-Americanism, and say, "all of this was written by the spirit of George Washington, and is free from contradictions." Meanwhile the remnant Americanists, who have been writing about Americanism and how it applies to their everyday lives in the centuries since, and whose commentary has formed around the copies of the last editions of the U.S. Supreme Court Reporter (SCOTUS managed to outlast the final American state by a hundred years or so) plus the thoughts of the remaining Americanist community in Mexico, continue to regard their traditions as the unbroken and unaltered practice of American culture, politics, and ideals as they existed since the Revolutionary War.

This is, as far as I can tell, approximately how the Bible was composed.

[fatehbaz]

taking relentless severe psychic damage from watching several hours of videos of television commercial advertisements from the United States in December 1999.

a world-historical moment, an all-time high peak of self-assured smirking arrogance.

ascendant home computers and internet modems. a new millennium! a time after Cold War but before Nining Leven, with saxophone-playing heads of state and cheery Spielbierg-ian sentimentality attempting to plaster over 1970s/1980s disappointments and hangovers with renewed millennarian End-Of-History optimism.

come celebrate with us! look at these images of The Nation! from sparkling Times Square and the cast of "Friends" in bustling cosmopolitan New York City, to sunny Californian prosperity, to those cartoonish frogs in the quasi-mythical Deep South-ish rural periphery of Budweiser ads, and all the suburban Midwestern Kay's Jeweler's in between! planetary hegemony. "Head east from the Colosseum, across the ruts of chariots, and you'll find an imperial estate built by a second-century Caesar. It's a rough ride. And if the agile and durable Chevy Tracker can handle these ancient roads, driving back home will be a walk in the park. Chevy Tracker: It Gets Around!"

or perhaps "our" power extends beyond this terrestrial imperium, into space, conquering the stars. UFOs; space aliens; The X-Files; Independence Day; Space Jam; Men in Black; the Phoenix Lights; Coast to Coast AM on the radio; Space Command in Colorado Springs.

the anxious fragility belied by the desperate constant promotion of an almost religious dedication to recognizable icons.

talking chihuahuas, marketing jingles, annual football game events. self-referential circular cross-promotion maelstrom.

"An all-new holiday spectacular, a Christmas special destined to become a family classic! With music from REM's Michael Stipe, voiced by Ally McBeal's Peter MacNicol, and starring Drew Barrymore! It's Olive the Other Reindeer! At 8/7 Central Fox Friday!"

trying to insist that this "classic" cultural iconography binds us. it has always lived in your heart. fabricating in real-time a supposedly shared history, insisting on this "reality" even at the moment of its very creation. hammering away at the soul.

Daffy Duck saunters in and pronounces: "Eat your way into the new millennium with this 'gigundo' party sub from Subway!"

why aren't you smiling?

[dailymothanon]

Whaat, who drew this? Cant believe it.. Anyways, did y'all know Texans (along with Californians and Washingtonians, no particular order, usually WA or TX at top tho) are Alaska's top visitors/movers? I get the other two for reasons unstated (WA a more interesting case ), but this one's just gonna be about Texans, because as an interior fella, I met Texans more than any other kind of outsider up here and I can't help but think about it every now and then so here's just my contemplation as to why it is

These are mostly my own thoughts and observations as to why Texans visit Alaska a ton btw (I find this interesting because unlike WA or Cali, Texas is much farther, so it's clearly not because of proximity reasons)

Most Texans I meet are here for the summer and fall, whether it be for the not-as-hot summer weather, getting more opportunities to hunt and fish, whatever

Alaskan culture (less so of Southcentral and southeast Alaska) is sorta known to be independent individual kinda things? Obviously the folks that just wanna be alone go to Alaska. Simple as that! And Texans I suppose appreciate the self sufficiency lifestyle from what I hear

Obviously big state to big state understanding, I think. It's just obvious to both peoples that a drive or a walk will take forever but they don't necessarily mind that

I assume it's also relating to the fact both states are big in military and the big oil stuff, similar folks that do similar jobs that come in for work

All I know is that most folks I ever been friends with were Texan, most folks my parents worked with were Texan (meeting thru blue collar works, if thats to mention), and going into town in the warmer seasons you can't not find any folk without a certain western boot or hat or pants of some kind

Maybe cuz Alaska is quite the red state, as is Texas 🤔 but I feel the need to express Alaska has the most unaffiliated voters in the nation, about 60%! I like to imagine this is why Alaska seems to be so indifferent in episodes, but I wouldn't know the real reason as to why he is

I can't really recall other reasons, I probably shoulda written them down when I was thinking fresh, so i'll maybe update this when i'm thinking right 😌

[midnightraine131]

Love Letters from the Skies to the West Coast - Chapter 4 / 15

Pairing: Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart Minor: Levi Ackermann/ Hange Zoe, Historia Reiss / Ymir Tags: Fluff, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Teenage Love, Awkward First Times, Slow Burn, POV Armin Arlert, Bottom Armin Arlert, Wet Dreams Warning: R18 contains sensitive topics If you are easily triggered by religions, specifically Christianity and Catholicism, I don't think this fic is for you. I have nothing against these religions and this fic is anything but serious. Summary: They say the most judgmental people are those who attend church on Sundays. Despite growing up in a Christian household, Armin Arlert felt overburdened by the pile of ministry activities assigned to him. So he made a pact with himself to never follow in his father's footsteps and become a pastor. With the goal of saving enough money to persuade his parents to let him move to another state after high school, he started accepting paid essay projects in school in secret. Everything in Armin's busy life seemed manageable until he met Annie Leonhart, a Californian girl whose parents had moved her against her will to Vermont. Upon discovering Armin's secret business, Annie approached him with a unique request- to write love letters for a long-distance lover. To craft the perfect love letters, she would help Armin embark on a journey of firsts— his first kiss, first hug, first date, and first everything in a relationship.thing in a relationship.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awkward silence.

That’s the best word Armin could describe their current situation. Annie sat on the bench beside him, her arms crossed over her chest. Her right leg rested atop the other, gently swinging her foot up and down. He couldn't discern if she expected him to say something foolish again or if he should awkwardly excuse himself, blurting out, "Hi, Doc Hange! I just remembered I have some errands to run. Send the bills to my address! Gotta go!" Then, making a dash for the door as if his life depended on it.

But, no, that scenario was wishful thinking. His grandfather was picking him up from this clinic; he needed a ride home.

Armin closed his eyes in resignation. If there were an award for making a situation awkward, he'd surely earn a noble prize.

He shifted his gaze toward the counter, squinting to catch their reflection in its glass finish. Annie appeared disinterested, likely gazing out of the window. He followed her line of sight and spotted her watching tangerine-colored leaves dancing in the wind. One leaf glided and swirled mid-air before disappearing from view. Armin rarely appreciated such things, but as he turned back to Annie, seeing her face light up, he found tranquility in that moment.

Annie's countenance was a fortress for her emotions; she guarded them skillfully, hiding something fragile. In a split second, she smiled. As Armin blinked, her usual stoic expression returned. He made a mental note that the next time he caught her smile, he wouldn't blink so she couldn't shield herself. She’s indeed a very pretty girl, he mused.

Clearing her throat, Annie broke the silence. "That's quite awkward, isn't it? If you have nothing more to say, I'll return to my work."

Armin blinked, looking away and feeling his face heat up. He shifted his seat as far as possible. "I said what I meant."

"Do you really mean it?"

He nodded.

Of course, he did. They might not have been the usual words one would say, but it was Armin. He'd bluntly speak his mind without much thought. Before he could answer, the door burst open.

Hange, sliding a pen back into her white-coated pocket, reviewed a report on her clipboard. "As I suspected, your girl is extremely malnourished. She was just a week old and required extensive care for a few days before she could eat independently. Also, her wounds are infected, not too severe, but I need to prescribe some antibiotics." Scribbling down prescriptions, she then noticed the two awkward teenagers on the bench. "Oh, do you two know each other?" she inquired.

Despite Hange being among the brightest individuals Armin knows in town, she occasionally displays a certain naiveté, often unintentionally. She's been married for over two years to Levi Ackerman, a pet groomer, possibly her first boyfriend post-university. Rumours has it they've chosen not to have children, instead opting to be devoted "fur parents." Their love for their fur babies evolved into a business—a small clinic offering pet grooming services.

Armin rose and approached the counter, where Hange was jotting down notes. Somehow, he felt relieved to escape an awkward conversation with Annie. "Well, um, yeah, we know each other. So, what will the bill be?" he inquired.

Hange clicked her tongue and sighed. "I won't charge you for the consultation, but for her medications, milk, and vaccines. It might be a bit costly. Also, my clinic is currently filled with animals carrying diseases. I can't risk a small kitten falling ill, so she needs a home."

Armin sensed Annie standing behind him, listening. He glanced at her before returning his focus to the doctor. While he could persuade his parents to adopt the kitten, he didn't want to engage in discussions about shouldering the expenses with them.

"As much as I'd like to take her, my dad will probably kick me out before I bring the kitten home," Annie deadpanned.

"Hmm." Hange leaned on her table, chin resting on her palm. "I can see in Armin's eyes that he wants the cat too. How about co-parenting for the cat? Armin provides a home while Annie supports her needs in exchange for visiting rights. You're a full-time staff member at my clinic, so you are eligible for a staff rate, it won't hurt much."

Not a bad idea, but...

"Uh, that's fine with me. I'm not sure about Annie," Armin replied, looking down at the white-tiled floor.

"I have no issue with that," Annie said, crossing her arms.

"It's settled then!" Hange clapped her hands in delight. "I'll prepare her things so you can head home. I have a small cage here for you. I'll be right back." She continued to chatter as she vanished into one of the rooms, leaving the two blondes alone.

Armin smiled awkwardly at Annie.

Great.

Read more on AO3

[collapsedsquid]

Well I contacted my congressperson who might not ever have faced a competitive election in their life and let them know if they don't move in favor of a cease-fire they're not not getting my vote. Love to be Californian, feeling the recurring desire to post the bear flag for Californian independence

[yukidragon]

Ian was saying that more complex toppings were more ‘mature’ (as opposed to plain cheese pizza which admittedly is popular with children) plus cashews are expensive/fancy/healthy. Is he trying to project a more sophisticated image or something?

Is poor Sunshine the familiar, reliable but boring childhood comfort food he’s leaving behind to try something (or someone) more adventurous and glamorous?

Does he at one point start to see himself as outgrowing them? (In the opening of the game Sunshine expresses the opposite, implying Ian is the one childhood thing they’re nostalgic for. Ouch.)

He seems to talk about cheese pizza like they always get it, like it’s the safe fallback option… hmmm…

Googling brings up stuff about cashews being offered as a pizza topping in some places in the Northwest, others say it originated from some place in California called Dave’s Gay 90s. Can’t speak to the truth of that and don’t know why a young man living in Texas wants it, but perhaps it reflects his aspirations.

California is apparently home to a number of actors that have made it big and perhaps that’s where his acting school is?

So the cheese pizza is his safe childish past with Sunshine and the Californian cashew pizza topping is symbolic of the acting success he’s hoping his adult future will be?

I don’t know, I’m not American

Your analysis is very insightful. I think you did a great job with it. I really like the idea of the pizza being a metaphor for MC and Ian's relationship.

It would sadly make a lot of sense that part of why Ian cheated was because he outgrew the relationship and MC. It/they didn't satisfy him anymore. He wanted new, exciting, more mature things. MC was safe, nostalgic... a piece of Ian's childhood.

It makes sense too why after Ian cheated, MC recklessly abandons anything nostalgic. They're trying to move on from those feelings that Ian took for granted after the cheating tainted them.

It also makes sense why Ian is so desperate to get MC back, as new things, however exciting, are scarier than something safe and familiar.

Sometimes I've heard stories about couples that were together for years since they were teenagers who clicked just right and seemed perfect for one another... only to end abruptly when one partner suddenly starts wanting more. They want to explore independence, other relationships, and everything the world has to offer. They could even regard their partner as perfect even while their feelings have cooled, lamenting that if only they met later in life when they were ready to settle down in a serious relationship... then everything would feel perfect. They wouldn't be feeling this restlessness. The relationship would actually feel satisfying to them.

Then those same restless exes, after cheating, breaking up, whatever, and losing their former partner... They discover that they miss their ex despite being the one to break their former lover's heart when seeking freedom. The other relationships, though exciting, aren't as fulfilling as the childhood sweetheart they dumped. If they can at least stay friends then there's a chance of getting back together, but if not... then it becomes terrifying as their safety net is gone.

Speaking of the fallback option, there's this one picture that isn't necessarily canon where Ian talked about MC as if they were his fallback option if acting didn't work out.

Credit, as always, goes to the awesome Sauce. Sorry about the cropping, but tumblr will not accept what's to the left of this image. You can check the full NSFW version out here if you want to see Ian and MC going at it.

BTW consider checking out the SnaccPop Studios Patreon. It's got a lot of other nice and spicy things. Just don't repost anything posted there.

Ian might be showing his insecurity here, but consider the timeline. If acting worked out, he leaves MC to go to his fancy acting school. There, he seems to have made it as a model and actor... and it's (presumably) where he cheated. He got what he wanted, all the excitement and fame of the life of an actor... including an exciting tryst... then he realized that he betrayed all his ideals, everything he said before about only loving and wanting MC, and his relationship with MC all for one moment of excitement.

MC was the comfortable option, the nostalgic option, the safe option... but sometimes a person just wants to take risks, to "grow up" and be adventurous... and sometimes that leads to reckless decisions, like what happened with Ian.

We might not know for sure exactly what led Ian to cheat, but he knows he messed up, as he admits to himself in the demo. He knows he wrecked a good thing... and that's why he's so desperate to get his safe nostalgia back.

Guess cashew pizza wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, was it, Ian?

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

[morallyinept]

Shoot: Flaunt Magazine, Nov 2016, Article

Photographer: Dani Brubaker

Interviewer: Jon-Barrett Ingels

Grooming: KC Fee

Full interview, behind the scenes, outtakes & shoot photographs below. 👇🏻

Jett's Pedro's Shoots Masterlist

• Original images used in the magazine, including outtakes

• Full interview

Pedro and I drank coffee (he had tea) at a posh coffee shop in West Hollywood. I was slightly intimidated before we met because Pedro was in everything at the time. He was warm and charming and we had an Orange County connection.

Having played Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones and Javier Peña on Narcos, I figured the Chilean-born Pedro Pascal must be dripping with swagger. But sitting in an ultra-hip WeHo coffee shop watching actors and models sip boxed water, I start to question my assumptions when an unassuming, doped up (recovering from a root canal), apologetic (he had a cold and urged me to wash my hands), and injured (possible herniated disk) Pedro Pascal walks in.

It makes sense that he is out of sorts - life has been nonstop for the last few years. 

“I had 36 hours in Los Angeles before I went from Colombia to Beijing for nearly five months (shooting The Great Wall with Matt Damon), and then I went to do the second season (of Narcos]) and then there was overlap between the second season and Kingsman 2 (Kingsman: The Golden Circle with Colin Firth), which was in London.”

He told me the back injury probably originated on Game of Thrones. 

“If you aren’t completely physically lame, they want you to do your own stunts. Whether it ends up on film or not, you’re gonna at least try. And they’re gonna film it. And you’re gonna fly off the wall. And they’re gonna put you in the harness. And you’re gonna do the flips. And of course these are all new big jobs for me so I am saying ‘yes’ to everything and it is fun at first and then it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going to break.’

Pascal came to the States at a young age when his parents sought political asylum - a drastic transition from Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile to the Californian suburban landscape of the late ‘70s. 

“It’s really strange to me when I think about it in retrospect because, as a kid, that’s what was normal to me: completely unsupervised childhood with socialist political refugees. My dad was a doctor and he loved movies. He would take us to movies and we would watch loads of TV together as a family. That became my primary socialization, and the cliché of my wanting to be in movies from childhood.”

Pascal started his studies as a self-proclaimed “drama nerd” at Orange County School of the Arts where he was classmates with Dante Basco (Rufio, for everyone over 30). 

“When I moved to Orange County, I didn’t fit into the Newport Beach crowd and I didn’t have friends for a while so my consumption of movies became more sophisticated and more gracious. I started renting classics and I started reading plays so when I started at OCSA, I already had a head start because I had read so much.”

Having moved to New York to continue his studies, Pascal began auditioning after college, waiting tables in-between small parts in plays, TV shows, and independent films. His paradigm shift happened when he was cast as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, quickly becoming a fan favorite on one of the most popular shows on television.

“I knew early on that Thrones was a game changer. My primary concern was just to service it and not fuck it up. Only because I watch it - I’m such a viewer. It initially really pissed me off because it was a part that I didn’t think that I would get. It was absolutely clear to me that those parts are rare. I remember when getting a guest spot on Law & Order felt like it changed my life at the time. The idea of being employed changes your life in this kind of work. It may never happen, but it can happen any time.”

Looking into the vast future of his career, Pascal mused on what opportunities he dreams of. 

“I don’t know what a dream job is, honestly. I know what a dream experience is. Maybe, coming to certain kinds of work a little later in life makes you care a little more about the experience than the actual job. The idea of getting to work with friends or doing something that I have a really good time doing, that’s the dream job. I’m not trying to be noble in my answer at all. I mean it. I really do.”

With that, Pedro Pascal flashes a smile, shakes my hand, and says goodbye, before first reminding me to wash my hands­ - the man is, after all, sick. 

Jett's Pedro's Shoots Masterlist

[coltrainbat]

High Off You

A/N: Ok so not a day goes by I dont think of this quote:

I dont think it’s talked about enough that my our little ray of sunshine use to smoke. Makes me love him a little more! So this is for my stoner girlies... I see you!

WARNINGS: Mentions of weed, being high

Disclaimer: All characters and events written, even those based on real people are entirely fictional and are no representation or comment of said characters in real life.

Chris took a drag of the rolled-up joint, placing it back on the ashtray beside him. Blowing the smoke into your mouth like he always did, placing a wet open kiss to your mouth sealing the smoke between you two.

You loved this time of year, when Chris had ceased all commitments for the year, and you took time off work for the holidays. You had a decent week between both of you finishing up for the year and when the chaos of the festive season started so you’d always take time for you two. With no responsibilities and nowhere to be, you’d both go to his LA home and lock yourselves inside, spending the majority of the time reconnecting and occasionally, such as nights like this, getting baked on that sweet Californian green. It made you both feel younger and meant for many funny, giggling nights wrapped up in each other’s arms.

The intimate moment was promptly ruined though when Chris barked with a jolt;

“I got it! I’m the George Clooney!”

“You’re what?” Your eyes squint in confusion as you tilt your head to look at your boyfriend more clearly.

“Like the George Clooney effect that’s me!”

“Explain” you went back to laying on his chest, eyes looking up at the starry night.

“Ok so older guys settle down...”

“You’re not old”

“I’m older than you by 10+ years.”

“You don’t act it.”

“Shhh baby let me finish.” He placed his hand over your mouth lazily.

“So older guys like me who people think are a player…”

“Think? Are.” You mumbled under his hand.

“Shhh I’m talking here!” His Boston accent was thick as he playfully hushed you. He tried to be serious, but the giggle threatened through his voice.

“Eventually… ya know… settle down with an educated, independent, success, BEAUTIFUL woman who just happens to be younger than them.”

“Are you saying you’re like George Clooney?” You snorted

“I’m saying you’re my Amal Clooney baby.” He nuzzled his beard into your neck.

“Ok I like that.”

“It’s true, I got lucky with youuuu.” He pursed his lips, looking at you with bloodshot eyes.

“You’re high baby.”

“So are you.” He giggled

“Yeah I am.” Your giggles soon turned into a fit of laughter.

“You know what we should do?” He cupped his hand around your ear, whispering into it. Even though it was just you two on the porch. Cuddled under a singular blanket on the outdoor couch, lit up by artificial light as you watched the stars.

“Make popcorn and go watch Fantasia.” You bit your lip up at him.

“I wasn’t gonna suggest that but it’s a way better idea than what I was thinking.”

“What were you thinking?”

“We go for a walk around the block.”

“Chris, we did that an hour ago…”

“Was that an hour ago? Did we actually? Well… what if somethings changed?”

“In an hour…?”

“You don’t know Y/N, you just don’t.” He put on a serious tone to the ridiculous suggestion which made you burst out laughing.

“Yeah, no you’re right maybe in the hour since we last walked around, a new owl has appeared.” You got up from his arms and started to make you way inside.

“Ya never know!” He quickly followed up behind you. You got up too fast and suddenly realised the effects of the drug had hit you more than you expected. Wobbling slightly, you almost fell before Chris caught you in his arms, quick on your step.

“Easy girl.”

“Omg why is the floor moving!”

“It’s not your just stoned out of your mind… come on take my arm.” You wrapped both of your hands around his large bicep as he eased you through the back door back into the house, closing it behind you two. You looked like a storybook witch wrapped up in the tartan blanket.

“Ok popcorn.” Chris clapped his hands together as you made your way into the kitchen. You sat on the bench seat and watched as Chris just stared mindlessly into the pantry.

“Bottom shelf.”

“I know I just forgot how much food we have… holy shit… Y/N.. have you seen this?”

“Chris!”

“Yeah sorry sorry but wow what a nice pantry.” He shook his head in disbelief, dopey smile planted on his face as he bent down to grab the popcorn.

You watched as he slowly and methodically read the instructions on the packet, rubbing his face a few times to focus on the task.

“Do you need help?” You looked at him

“No it’s fine, don’t get up, but just quickly, does it matter which way I put it in? Like will the kernels get confused?”

You sniggered at the insinuation that kernels get “confused” and the way his words kind of slurred when he spoke

“Turn it over.”

He turned it over still looking at you for clarification

“What does it say in big red letters?”

Chris moved the packet around a couple times bringing it closer to his face, inspecting the writing “This.. way… up.”

He looked up at you with a smirk “God you’re so smart baby.” Leaning over to kiss you on the forehead. He put in the microwave and grabbed his phone, putting on music as he waited for it to pop.

Chris loved to put on 70s disco when he was high so when he landed on Young Hearts Run Free you couldn’t stop laughing at his ridiculous yet shockingly good dance moves as he mouthed the words and put on a little show for you.

You got up and decided to join him as he took you in his arms, doing exaggerated spins, turns and hip thrusts into your direction. Grabbing you close when you tried to move away, holding you back against his chest as he swayed you in front of the microwave, leaving wet sloppy kisses on your neck.

“Chris… stop! It tickles!” You laughed, reflexes forcing your chin into your neck as you felt the vibrations of his laugh on your shoulder.

Once your little dance party was over and you had settled on the couch, exaggerating your annoyance at the fact that you had to go back to sharing your makeshift witch’s cloak. Chris turned on Fantasia.

“Come closer.” He cooed.

“Chris I’m right here.”

“Yeah, but I want you on top of me.” He groaned like a disgruntled toddler.

“Fine!” You moved your hips onto his lap, leaning back into his chest.

“Besides you get paranoid and hit the ceiling at the scary part.”

You instantly froze in his arms “omg I forgot about that part.”

Chris laughed “How do you forget, last time we did this you hid under the blanket and cried TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!” He was full belly laughing now reminiscing at the memory.

“And you just laughed! It is scary! With the fire and the weird bat thing!”

“Y/N… it’s a fucking DISNEY movie!” He was wheezing at this point, his whole body laughing, threatening the stability of your position on his lap but he was quick to keep the strong grip of his arm around your waist.

“Ok ok… hahahaha… god… that’s… ok… fine we’ll watch something else.” The remote still in his hands as he backspaced the search.

“Let’s say it together on 3.” You turned to look at him.

“We are both gonna say the same thing aren’t we?” He quirked an eyebrow up, eyeing you with a smirk.

“You’re definitely thinking what I’m thinking.”  Your eyes widened, flipping yourself over so your hands lay on his chest and you’re face to face.

“3” he said

“2” you said

“1… Rick and Morty” you said in unison

“God this is why I’m gonna marry you, holy shit!” He laughed, his head falling back.

You woke up to the sound of birds chirping. You and Chris still on the couch, popcorn kernels spread amongst you both as he snored peacefully, grip lazily on your back as you noticed the small patch of drool on his shirt from you, and Netflix asking if you are still watching. Realising you had fallen asleep on the couch in a high haze, you shut off the TV and went back to cuddling your boyfriend, who instinctively kissed your forehead and pulled you closer towards him.  

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed Thursday adding a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which he said will address the country's gun violence crisis.

The amendment would raise the minimum age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21, mandate universal background checks, institute a reasonable waiting period for all gun purchases and bar civilians from purchasing assault weapons, according to a statement from the Governor's office.

"This will guarantee states as well the ability to enact common sense gun safety laws, while leaving the Second Amendment intact, and respecting America's gun owning tradition," Newsom said in a video statement. "The 28th Amendment locks in the common sense constitutional protections that Democrats, Republicans, Independents and gun owners overwhelmingly support and ensures NRA-owned politicians can never strip those protections away."

6 in 10 Americans, including 4 in 10 gun owners, said controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights – the highest percentage in a decade – according to a national poll released last month.

Newsom told Politico and NBC the move was inspired in part by the rollback of gun safety measures by the courts.

The move comes amid speculation that Newsom may run for President, which grew after he won a second term as Governor, which ends in 2026, and dropped $10 million on a new political action committee. Newsom has denied planning to run in 2024 or 2028, saying he supports President Joe Biden and wants Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Californian, to be President.

PROPOSAL SPARKS CRITICISM FROM GUN GROUPS

The move has drawn opposition from gun-ownership groups. A spokesperson for The National Rifle Association said in a statement to USA TODAY that the majority of Americans reject Newsom's "California-style gun control.”

“Newsom’s latest publicly stunt once again shows that his unhinged contempt for the right to self-defense has no bounds," the statement said. "California is a beacon for violence because of Newsom’s embrace of policies that champion the criminal and penalize the law-abiding."

Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America said "Newsom's proposals will fail miserably to control crime."

"It's a foreign concept to wealthy anti-gun political elites like Mr. Newsom that the common people have a right to possess arms for self-defense and repelling government tyranny, so it's no surprise to us that he hopes to butcher that right with a new Constitutional amendment," he said in a statement to USA TODAY.

ADDING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 'WON'T BE EASY'

Adding a constitutional amendment requires either a two-thirds majority vote by both houses of Congress or a constitutional convention convened by two-thirds of State legislatures, according to Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center. None of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by a convention and the last time the Constitution was amended was in 1992, he said.

Three-fourths of the states must ratify the proposed amendment in order for it to become part of the Constitution, Donnelly said. Donnelly declined to speculate on the likelihood of Newsom's success. But he said the process is "meant to be difficult."

"The Founders really wanted to limit new amendments to those that can actually secure the broad support of the American people, so for them, they would have said 'an idea that would transcend faction,'" he said. "Today, we would say it's often something that's going to transcend partisan politics."

Given the impact of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun control last year, "something like a Constitutional amendment may seem absolutely necessary," according to Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

Waldman, author of "The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided the Country," called Newsom's approach, which leaves the Second Amendment intact but allows for "common sense gun laws" that may be palatable to some gun rights supporters, creative and interesting. He said Newsom's amendment "is not likely to happen, but it's important to think about it."

"Constitutional amendments seem completely impossible to do until suddenly they seem doable, and that's how it's worked all throughout our history," Waldman said. "If the Court's doctrine is so misguided and the carnage on the streets is so undeniable, you might get a surprising outcome."

Newsom acknowledged how challenging the process would be, saying "this fight won't be easy, and it certainly won't be fast."

California State Sen. Aisha Wahab and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer will introduce a joint resolution to make California the first state to call for a convention, also called an Article V Convention or amendatory convention, according to the Governor's statement.

Newsom will then work with "grassroots supporters, elected and civic leaders, and broad and diverse coalitions across the nation" to get similar resolutions passed in the 33 other states required to convene the convention, the statement said.

"California will be the first but that's just the beginning," Newsom said in a statement.

[1americanconservative]

[keplercryptids]

last night in desperation i looked up the places in the us with the most stable barometric pressure so that i could fantasize about not spending every spring/summer with an unending migraine for the rest of my life and the internet told me it was san diego, los angeles and a couple other californian cities. so great guess i'll just suffer then, unless i become independently wealthy overnight. anyway i want to move to a desert please.

[charlotte-of-wales]

The Sussexes are frazzled, fraught and lacking romance – like any couple with young kids

Five years after their wedding, the omens are bad as Harry and Meghan seem to be heading in different directions.

It is hard to believe that five years ago today, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle rode through the streets of Windsor in an Ascot Landau carriage, cheered by adoring crowds on their wedding. At the time, household staff weren’t entirely confident the relationship would go the distance – “no one could see it lasting longer than three years”, according to one insider. Yet as the couple celebrate their “wood” anniversary, Harry and Meghan have proved their doubters wrong.

While their relationships with their own families might not be what they once were, the marriage appears to be going strong, despite the couple’s outwardly diverging priorities.

The Duchess once described them as moving together “like salt and pepper” but they seem to be heading in opposite directions – Meghan looking forward while Harry dwells on the past. The extraordinary events of this week – with the couple claiming they had been “involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi” in New York – seem to expose a chasm between her desire for fame, and Harry’s quest for privacy.

The couple say that after the event, they were subjected to a two-hour “relentless pursuit” by a “gang” of at least six paparazzi. New York City authorities have stated that although photographers made their journey “challenging”, “there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests”.

In pictures of the couple leaving the event, Harry’s discomfort was etched on his face as he used his phone to film the action from the back seat.

However, questions have been raised over how such a campaign sits with the Duchess’s plans to build her “global enterprise”. Meghan signed with leading global talent agency WME in April, amid talk of more “content creation”, a Dior clothing deal and the revamp of her defunct lifestyle blog The Tig.

Given this potential conflict, it is little wonder, then, that the couple have cut quite separate figures lately – with Harry travelling alone to the Coronation on May 6, leaving Meghan in Montecito with their two children, Archie, who turned four that day, and Lilibet who turns two next month.

The last time the Sussexes were photographed together in public was at a basketball game in Los Angeles last month, when they missed the opportunity to smooch on the “kiss cam” that pans in on couples in the stands. Some took the normally tactile couple’s reluctance as a sign all may not be well between them after Meghan’s absence from Harry’s promotional book tour fuelled split rumours.

Such is their independence from each other that the owner of a leading hotel chain in Montecito recently told The Daily Telegraph they have a room set aside for Harry where he occasionally stays on his own.

The Duke has also been known to stay at the uber-exclusive San Vincente Bungalows when visiting LA, which is a two-hour drive from the couple’s £11 million mansion.

“That seems to be his escape place,” said a source of the super secretive and selective members’ club in West Hollywood, which – unlike the Soho House chain also frequented by the Sussexes – bans journalists from joining. A refuge from the rigours of parenting two children under four, Harry has apparently stayed there after attending Barry’s Bootcamp, a high-octane cardio fitness class, at the nearby Beverly Center. One friend described the couple as “like any parents of such young kids: frazzled.”

They added: “They are really happy together and live this idyllic life in Montecito, which is essentially a giant gated community of multimillionaires.

“But at the end of the day, they’ve been through a lot and I think they’ve both felt quite ground down by it all.

“They’re like any married couple, five years in.”

As a Californian, born and bred, Meghan appears more settled than Harry who, by his own admission, still feels torn by his British ties. As he wrote in his book: “I love my mother country and I love my family and I always will.” Although he has repeatedly spoken of embracing the Santa Barbara lifestyle, it is no secret that the Duke – cut off from his family and many of his friends – is heavily reliant on his wife’s social circle.

When they first started dating, Harry was Meghan’s protector, guiding her through a royal life that was alien to her, but now the roles have been reversed and it is the Duke who appears to be struggling to find his way.

That may explain why he is still partially on British time – apparently staying up late into the night, gaming.

Yet with many of his old set still feeling aggrieved at having essentially been “ghosted” after he married Meghan, patience appears to be wearing thin even among his most stalwart supporters.

As one insider explained: “Nobody really speaks to him any more and even the people who have remained by his side have lately begun to fall away because he is so consistently negative. He’s often complaining and rarely asks after others. People had stuck with him because they blamed Meghan for isolating him and cutting him off from his friends and family. But he hasn’t done anything to help himself. Now they just see him as completely lost.”

Harry himself referred to the fact that William regards him as “deluded” – but that sentiment also seems to be shared by those in what he once referred to as his “circle of trust”. The word “narcissistic” also creeps into a lot of conversations about the couple.

According to one former military colleague: “No one in the forces has got any time for him at all, which is such a shame because he was hugely popular. You can blame Meghan, but he’s brought a lot of it on himself.”

While fully supportive of Spare, the media-savvy Duchess let it be known she raised gentle concerns about whether it was the right move. As a source said at the time: “Is this the way she would have approached things? Possibly not. But she will always back him and would never have got involved in promoting such a personal project. This was about his own life, his own journey and his own perspective.”

But with speculation about plans for her own memoir, the Duchess will want to avoid any more negative publicity diminishing the Archewell brand after the couple’s approval ratings have fallen to near Duke of York levels.

If her relaunch doesn’t go to plan, however, a blame game is likely to follow – and as someone who once worked for the couple noted: “When you’re that angry with the world, it leaves little time for romance.”

[fatehbaz]

In August 1963, the Dutchveterinarian Dan (E.H.) Kampelmacher stepped on a plane to Lima, the capital of Peru. His destination: smelly factories in Lima’s port city which ground up tiny anchovy fish from the Pacific Ocean into huge amounts of animal feed. Peru exported one fifth of this ‘fishmeal’ to the Netherlands, where farmers used it to feed their quickly rising numbers of chickens and pigs in new intensive livestock or ‘factory’ farms. [...]

The ports of Lima and Rotterdam connected the ecosystems of Peruvian fishmeal plants and Dutch farms. [...] [H]ardly anyone showed any interest in what the stuff was made of. Although Dutch farmers had started to refer to their new industrial poultry and pig farms as ‘landless’ at this point in time, they did not intend this phrase to mean their growing dependence on oceans rather than land. Rather, it characterized a fundamental change in livestock farming: in the postwar era farmers could increase their numbers of animals independently of the area of land they had for growing feed. The phrase ‘landless’ erased from view that these farms in fact depended on places elsewhere on the planet. [...] [T]he fish, called “anchoveta” [were] from the Humboldt Current ecosystem [...].

Fishmeal was invisible, despite its crucial importance for two interrelated major changes in the Netherlands and the global north in general: the rise of intensive livestock farming, and the unprecedented increase in the consumption of meat and eggs. [...] How did fishmeal and its environmental impacts connect industrial livestock farming in the global north to its production places in the global south [...]? [...]

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Shadow places are ‘all those places that produce or are affected by the commodities you consume, places consumers don’t know about, don’t want to know about, and in a commodity regime don’t ever need to know about or take responsibility for’. It is very similar to the ‘ghost acres’ concept used by environmental and global historians: the acres of land countries used elsewhere on the planet [...]. Cushman analyses the rise of the Peruvian fishmeal industry as another case of what he calls ‘neo-ecological imperialism’: the ‘Blue Revolution’ [...], to stress the connection between fishmeal production in the Pacific World and the rise of industrial livestock farming in the global north. [...]

Fishmeal fed the twentieth-century shift to industrial livestock farming – the Netherlands was among the top three fishmeal importers internationally from 1954 to 1972. [...] Animal proteins – and fishmeal in particular – played an essential role in this shift to industrial livestock farming [...]. But for poultry and pigs, animal proteins were an ‘indispensable ingredient’ [...]. Internationally, fishery landings tripled in the period 1950–1973 due to the rise in fishmeal production for animal feed. [...] During the Peruvian fishmeal boom from 1958 until 1970, [...] [t]he livestock sector started to refer to it explicitly as ‘Peru fishmeal’ [...]. The Netherlands was the second-largest importer after the USA in 1955 [...].

---

According to Cushman and Wintersteen, the spectacular rise of the Peruvian fishmeal industry was the result of [...] international interest in the Peruvian stocks of small fish suitable for fishmeal production, interest from the USA in particular.

After the collapse of the Californian fishmeal industry shortly after the Second World War, industrial fishmeal plants in Peru were realised with American marine expertise, investments by American industrialists, subsidiaries of American companies like Cargill and Ralston Purina, and second-hand American fishmeal equipment and technology. [...]

As a result, the Peruvian fishery industry changed radically during the 1950s. Rather than a being a by-product of fish canneries, fishmeal became its core focus. [...] [A]nd industrialists moved in entire fishmeal plants from the USA and Scandinavia. These plants could turn 5.4 tons of fish into a ton of fishmeal at the peak of the industry [...].

---

Angola exported fishmeal under Portuguese colonial rule (until 1975), and South Africa exported fishmeal during Apartheid (until 1994). In Chile the neoliberal dictatorship of general Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990) gave fishmeal industrialists free rein again from 1973 onwards, and Chile had replaced Peru as the major fishmeal exporter by 1980.

Social inequality was exacerbated [...]. Fishmeal industrialists made enormous amounts of money, and stock exchanges in the global north enabled speculation on fishmeal. Simultaneously, workers in the fishmeal plants were poorly paid and lived in slums with no paved roads, running water or electricity, unhealthy conditions and polluted air. Fishmeal’s volatile market resulted in labour unrest during the 1960s in Peru, and during the 1980s in Chile. [...] Many factories were moved to less-regulated places along the coast, taking the air pollution and resulting public health problems with them. One of these places was the city of Chimbote, which quickly grew into the largest fishmeal city of Peru, and became ‘one of the nation’s … most polluted cities’. [...] One place impacted by the feeding of fish to farm animals was in particular in shadows: the marine ecosystems from which the tiny fish were taken, like the Pacific Humboldt Current along the coast of Peru and Chile. [...]

The ocean ecosystems in the global south exploited to feed the industrial livestock sector in the north remained largely invisible. [...] The disappearance of the Peruvian anchoveta also made the ‘protein crisis’ move north. The Dutch livestock sector referred to the ‘true emergency situation’ of the Peruvian fishmeal crisis as the ‘protein crisis’ (‘de eiwit-crisis’). [...] But in 1972–1973 the Humboldt Current marine ecosystem created its own shadow places in both the north and the south. The extraordinary strong El Niño led to the sudden disappearance of the anchovy population [...].

---

All text above by: Floor Haalboom. “Oceans and Landless Farms: Linking Southern and Northern Shadow Places of Industrial Livestock (1954-1975).” Environment and History Volume 28 Number 4. November 2022. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]