#despite russia being banned for years at this point

[mewrails]

i always forget eur*visi*n isnt just the finals

[techramonic]

Speak, Hear, and See No Evil; Embody it.

An Essay Analysis on Religious Trauma and its connection to Nihilism through the Case Study of Vladislav Roslyakov

There is a profound intersection in faith and mentality. To uncover one’s whole being, the aspect of spirituality is well within the equation. While many use their faith as a symbol of fortitude, a steadfast hope that guides their way of living – creating practically a coherent path in a world so inconsistent and unpredictable, others see it as the pinpoint of their internal turmoil. Faith is not for all of us. If one rejects the idea of seeking solace in an institute of collective belief, then they do not believe in such a concept as “being saved”. To them, there is no redemption, only pain. 

Some people need a rather tangible and physical form of revelation for an adherence of recognition. It is the ideology: when you look up at the sky and do not see anyone looking back at you, that is when you know it’s not for you. You do not believe in such a thing as self-sacrifice, for you only see the world in a lens of self-slaughter. Often, this strained relationship with faith becomes Religious Trauma. 

Psychotherapist Dr. Alyson M. Stone acknowledges a positive link between religion and mental health but notes a lack of studies on spirituality's impact. According to Stone, “Religious trauma is more prevalent than the research suggests and often is a contributing factor to many of the problems that bring people to therapy, including depression, anxiety, and relationship difficulties. For this reason, religious trauma deserves careful attention” (Stone 2013, p. 324). Furthermore, Marlene Winell (2012) coined "religious trauma syndrome" (RTS) to describe the distress from "toxic theology." This refers to authoritarian religious doctrines demanding strict adherence, often equating disobedience to damnation.

In the case of Vlad, his mother was a Jehovah's Witness. This religious sect is banned under Russian law despite an estimated 175,000 followers in the country. In 2017, Russia’s Supreme Court found the organization guilty of inciting religious hatred by "propagating the exclusivity and supremacy" of their beliefs. Subsequent to  Russian anti-extremism laws extending to non-violent groups in 2007, placing it into the same category as neo-Nazis and members of al Qaeda.

To understand this, we must first look into Vladik’s childhood leading up to this point. Vlad’s father, a former Russian soldier who served in Afghanistan for several years, sustained brain damage from an assault, making him aggressive toward his family, leading to frequent physical abuse over his wife, parents, and even his son. He was also an alcoholic, where his violence would worsen when intoxicated. By the age of 10, his parents had filed for a divorce and he lived under the custody of his mother in a rundown apartment with poor conditions because they could not afford amenities.

Following this, his mother had renowned her faith. Neighbors described her as a devout follower who spent a lot of time in prayer. They recounted that she had barely any concern for Vlad due to being too focused on her faith, but there were many instances of her controlling nature towards her son’s life. According to Vlad’s profile background, his mother would frequently punish him for disobeying rules of her faith. Although he accompanies her in services, he does not recognize himself as a follower. He publicly expressed his contempt on Jehovah’s Witnesses as, “some kind of fools who dance and sing.” A friend of his had also expressed that the two would often make fun of the community. Despite these differences, Vlad still appeared to care for his  mother and understood that she had no other means of coping and did not have a community to interact with since she had no friends or relatives close by. With this, he made sure to spend time with her, yet we can discern that these regulatory rules are merely pushed unto him.

Vlad was not allowed to engage in hobby classes, amateur activities, or even watch movies as the faith forbids these activities. According to his VK chats with Liza Panchenko, his favorite movies were Stand by Me, Pulp-Fiction, and Lost Highway. However, he stated, “I didn’t watch any good movies after 2005”. Though this may be a speculation, one of the possible reasons for this is because he was forbidden by his mother. However, despite her warnings, it is clear that he still would go against her.

Vlad became sports-obsessed and developed an interest in weaponry, violence, neo-nazism, war, and killers. Despite occasionally picking up fights and being placed on the “chair of shame” by his college director, Vlad was reserved and withdrawn from others. His friends had described him as a loner, who was quiet and avoided making friends, rather talking about topics of violence, especially about Columbine. He had no intimate relationships or sense of future and practically only attended school because he was forced by his parents. He did not see any future and saw no escape other than death. Even with an interest in violence and guns himself, he expresses a disdain towards joining occupations like the armed forces.

Moving forward, it is crucial to recognize that the psychological distress caused by religious trauma can manifest into Nihilistic ideology. According to Alfred Alder, a psychoanalyst who founded individual psychology, human behavior is motivated by our unique experiences and the perceptions we garner off of these. To him, humans are driven by goals and we aim for superiority by striving for these goals which are molded by our values and aspirations. These in turn develop into a lifestyle that affects us in different aspects of our behavior.

Furthermore, Alder speculated that psychological development occurs when people pursue meaningful goals, though factors can disrupt this process. Exchanging the feeling of self-superiority with inferiority and emptiness. When one lacks any meaningful goal, they are devoid of any means to stay motivated because they have no inherent cause that may allow them to “live”. 

From a nihilistic perspective, the absence of inherent meaning in existence can lead individuals to view life as a mere distraction. You exist, yet you do not truly live—merely passing time because life feels more like an obligation than a will. This allows you to fade into a concept and lose touch with your humanity. You become a mere entity in this world so vast that it cannot accompany the hatred you bear for it because you are insignificant. You see yourself as nothing, born out of your lack of purpose, therefore you are nothing.

To tie this into the conversation, trauma and abuse can disrupt the process of finding and garnering purpose, hindering the creation of goals and instead, promoting nihilistic attitudes. This includes religion, which can either be an antidote or a poison. 

Religious trauma can be a  catalyst for promoting nihilistic thinking. Taking Vlad as an example, when individuals are subjected to oppressive religious doctrines that instill shame, fear, and guilt – it can lead to an inflated sense of despair. This dread of being trapped in a system that dictates your worth and purpose fuels the tendencies to lean into nihilistic ideologies. You are cornered with no escape despite religion itself being a form of solace and escapism made for believers to feel less in despair. Vlad's strict upbringing in a religious environment and controlling mother contributed to his growing resentment towards religion and humanity itself. This lack of free will over his beliefs and choices only amplified this sense of dread over being powerless. Further alienating him from others because he believes that no one will truly help him, not even God.

If God is not there to help and save him and there are no means of a divine intervention in his life, then he will be the intervention himself. He is the destruction the world has insistently brought upon his life in the form of unforeseen circumstances. He is the “judgment” that he has been taught to fear. He is the delusion that he has created because of his fixation over power. He is hatred. He shall not speak of evil, nor hear it, or see it. So, in turn, he is the embodiment of the evil he is taught to not be. 

Hatred, just like anger, does not come from evil but mistreatment. Though in this case, it is amplified to a point it becomes visceral. Vlad's constant exposure to religious extremism and the trauma he endured further deepened his nihilistic perspective and in turn, developed his trauma into a projection of an image of hatred over things he cannot control: his life and the people around him. Moreover, the trauma from his father's abuse and his mother’s overbearing nature only developed a deep-rooted cynicism towards conventional structures. In his belief, if he is controlled by anything but himself, it is evil.

To conclude, religion has a profound impact on an individual's psyche. It has the ability to either heal a person or destroy them completely. Vlad’s life is a perfect example of how one’s religious trauma can manifest into a distortion of their worldview, ultimately leading to them seeing no other escape in this miserable existence other than death.

[usssnarfblat]

Did Anastasia deserve to die for her family's crimes against Fieval's family?

I've always found it interesting that "Anastasia" and "An American Tail" were made by the same guy...

My mom got us "An American Tail" as kids, since we were Jewish, and a Disney-like movie with Jewish characters was a one-of-a-kind thing. ("The Prince of Egypt" was still a few years away. Yes, I'm that old.) More to the point, my dad's side of the family is largely Russian Jews, who immigrated in the early 1920s, for exactly the same reasons as the Mouskewitz. Being a child of this background and very literally obsessed with cats, I had mixed feelings about the movie.

When "Anastasia" came out a few years later, Mom didn't let that history stop us from enjoying the new princess movie, but she didn't shelter us from it either. We regarded it like we did the real history behind any sugar-coated princess movie. She even got us some history books about the real Romanov family, and we were fascinated by the subject.

Still, it's an odd elephant in the room, watching "Anastasia" and knowing that her granddad was the one who sent those Cossack cats after Fievel's village, and her dad himself continued doing it to the Jewish mice who didn't leave.

"Go, Pompom, Kibble and Fluff-Baron! Kill those Jew mice, and I'll give you extra catnip treats tonight!"

Don Bluth presents both the Romannov family and their victims with equal sympathy, even opening both movies with the family celebrating a holiday, with the kid heroes getting a plot-specific present, before being viciously attacked.

"Wow Grandmama! Fieval and Tanya could use this as a merry-go-round!"

*Cough* "Yes uh, about those Jewish mice Sweetie..."

Bluth's portrayal of the Romanov family is not entirely inaccurate. By all accounts, Nicholas II was a deeply loving father who both doted on his children, but raised them not to be spoiled. Despite being royalty, the princesses shared bedrooms and did charity work at hospitals.

It's a baffling irony that Nicholas was nevertheless was a tyrant, and not remotely just to his Jewish subjects. When I was about twelve, Mom got me the Dear America book A Coal Miner's Bride, about the Catholic Polish immigrants who also fled the oppression of the Russian Tzar. (Anastasia's family conquered part of Poland in the 1800s, banning the Pols from speaking their own language and drafting their sons into the Tzar's dick-measuring contest wars.) Anyway, that's what my mom's side of the family was fleeing when they immigrated. Yes, my family has double reason to hate the Romanovs.

So, I personally don't have a lot of sympathy for Nicholas II. But the horrors his poor wife and children endured in their final moments never fails to get the reaction from me.

The rationalization for the murder of the children and queen was that it was the only way to ensure that the monarchy never returned. But I assume most modern-thinking people would say that the ends do not justify the means in this case.

That said, millions of families like Anetka's and Fievel's suffered as bad or worse than the Romanovs, because of the Romanovs, and no one remembers them because they didn't wear tiaras. This no doubt was another factor that killed sympathy for the Romanov children. But they were still children.

The question today is, if we can feel for a family that was literal royalty, despite their father being an undeniable tyrant against our own families...can we also feel for Palestinian and Israeli families, during a conflict that is vastly more complicated than Imperial Russia?

Or do they need to be cute mice and glittery princesses to get our attention?

[redjaybathood]

It's killing me how pervasive russian propaganda is. Propals love to claim that the West is hypocrites bc they support Ukraine but not a variety of countries and people they, themselves being from the West more often than not, did not give a shit about before. They would rather blame anyone else: the government they voted for, the media they are reading, - than look into themselves.

This paradigm also ignores:

Massive anti-Ukrainian russian propaganda campaign that is running for ten years now. Chances are, all they heard about Ukraine before the full-scale invasion is Azov, Bandera, Nazis, and that's what they're running with it (especially leftists/tankies who think Greyzone is a reliable source of information). Despite chances are, there are more far-right in power in their country than there are far-right politicians in Ukraine. Despite the massive reform Azov underwent. Despite the voices of our Jewish citizens and academics, despite Muslim soldiers in Azov;

Massive support russia, russians, russian imperialism still gets. For one example (and there are numerous) Australian ABC TV station recently made a documentary based on the point of view of russian invading forces, and it treated everything they have heard from them or seen as a legitimate point of view. Bucha massacre denial, for example. This is not humanization, this is straight-up genocide denial. And I know that UK TV also showed this documentary, it's side by side on their website with the documentary about Ukrainian abducted children. The children - those of them who survived the deportation anyway - are being indoctrinated against Ukraine, right now, trained as soldiers. If you even care;

The obvious reality that after people realized that there's not going to be a WW3 or a nuclear war anytime soon, they stopped caring all that much, if they ever did. Look at tumblr: any Palestine or even Israel-related post gets 20+k notes easily. That's not something that we see nowadays with Ukraine, if ever. And there is more negativity about Ukraine here, or on other social media, than for Gazans. And this is even counting that Gaza is the base for legit terrorist organization that committed a massive terrorist attack against the civilian population and is currently holding hostages. Which is the justification Israel puts down for their attack, and for their massive infliction of civilian casualties - but it's also what happened. Whereas in Ukraine, what happened was a Revolution of Dignity, where the victims, the dead, were the people who protested against the corrupt government and won. They didn't attack civilians, they didn't kill russians, they didn't even ban a russian language. They just didn't want to live in a corrupt country, in a police state, where children can be beaten up by police forces and be sent to a hospital. That's how Euromaidan started, if you even care. And Euromaidan is exactly the justification russia put up for the invasion back in 2014. You get me? HAMAS terrorist attack spiked huge support for Gaza and the Palestinian cause even before there were 30K Palestinians murdered by Israel. Even before one such death. Ukraine's fight to protect its freedom was met with indifference if not hostility.

Nothing of the above means you should not care about Gaza and Palestine. But somehow, it means that people treat it as a morally superior position not to care about Ukraine, to blame their government, to blame their media, to blame schools and parents and corporations - and, of course, zionists. Which is their dog whistle for Jews.

It deserves another post, how quickly misinformation and antisemitism spreads on tumblr. Holy shit. You guys are fucked up.

[nyiibat2]

Comparing Presidential candidates: Donald Trump Republican candidate:

Republican Candidate ex Presidential elect Donald Trump policies:

Trump is running for presidency again after not being reelected in 2020, during his four year run from 2016 to 2020 he implemented policies that alot did not agree with or find fair. His polices for his 2024 campaign include:

“Climate change

Trump opposes most climate change legislation, a position that hasn’t changed since his term in the White House. During his presidency, he withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, a global climate initiative that Biden rejoined once he took office. Trump also says supporters of climate change are trying to destroy the nation’s energy industry. As president, Trump rolled back swaths of the nation’s environmental regulations, and he has regularly minimized the effects of climate change around the world. He has vowed to increase domestic oil and gas production and has said he opposes existing government subsidies for wind power development.”

“Crime & policing

Trump is making public safety concerns, particularly crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, a centerpiece of his campaign. He supports increased powers for police and says Democratic policies are leading to crime sprees in big cities. A Gallup poll found 77% of Americans agree with him that crime is on the rise, despite FBI evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, opponents say his proposed crackdowns threaten civil liberties. During his term in office, Trump did sign the First Step Act into law, which expanded some early-release programs for people convicted of crimes and reduced certain mandatory minimum sentences, among other changes. He also issued several high-profile pardons and commutations while in office, working alongside Kim Kardashian on some efforts.”

Education

Trump has called for closing the U.S. Department of Education. He wants to turn education over to the states, although states already control funding and school curriculum, and give parents more say in running schools. While education has not been a major focus of his campaign, he has taken firm stances on cultural issues that often impact education. He supports a ban on transgender students’ participation in school sports and has praised the Supreme Court’s rulings targeting affirmative action programs in higher education. He has criticized Biden’s efforts to cancel student loan debt for millions of borrowers. In 2023 he also praised the Supreme Court justices for striking down a chunk of Biden’s plan, which Trump called unfair for people who have paid back their educational loans.”

“Economy

Trump receives some of his highest marks from voters on his handling of the economy. A Wall Street Journal poll in March found a majority of voters said they trust him to do a better job than Biden in bringing down inflation, a top economic concern. In 2017, Trump and his fellow Republicans passed a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, which would expire during the next president’s term in 2025. He has criticized the growing federal debt, though his critics point out that the nation’s budget and debt increased under Trump’s watch. The former president has also been more skeptical of free trade initiatives and agreements than some of his Republican counterparts, going so far as to start a trade war with China during his term in office.”

“Foreign policy

As he did in 2016, Trump is promoting an “America First” agenda that is suspicious of free trade and alliances with other countries, such as NATO. Trump also wants to pull back on U.S. defense commitments, throwing into doubt aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has a tendency to praise authoritarian leaders in Russia, China and North Korea, but has criticized the actions of China and Iran. Trump has promised to support Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas, but he has also been critical of Israeli leaders.”

“Health care

Trump tried and failed to repeal the health care law signed by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. Now, Trump says he does not want to repeal it but to improve it and make it cheaper. He has not released a specific plan. As president, he did sign legislation to increase funding for substance use disorder treatment in the wake of the opioid epidemic, and in 2017 he declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. However, on the campaign trail Trump has been more focused on addressing the spread of fentanyl in the U.S., taking aim at drug cartels in Mexico.”

“Immigration

Trump has promised the biggest deportation and border arrest programs in American history, and the border has been his signature issue since he entered politics. The former president has said he will expand upon his past policies with plans to direct law enforcement and the National Guard to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. During his White House term, Trump famously vowed to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, though he did not complete that goal while he was in office. His administration’s policy of separating immigrant families prompted international condemnation. He also made efforts to ban travelers from a group of Muslim-majority countries.”

“Reproductive rights

Trump says individual states should set their own laws on abortion, not the federal government. His stance disappointed abortion opponents, as did his warning to Republicans against supporting bans across the country that are too restrictive. He has criticized six-week bans that are law in several states but has not specified what he would support. He has also not specified whether he supports access to mifepristone, the abortion pill, a question before the Supreme Court. Trump says abortion laws should include exceptions for rape, incest and several medical emergencies. Trump appointed three of the six pivotal Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.” {Source USAtoday.com}

Trump also supports the project 2025 fascist regime bill from the heritage foundation which includes but is not limited to Quote taking away food stamps, social security, banning the department of education. Taking away veterans rights, banning no clause divorce, banning medicare and so much more” And quote.

[mariacallous]

ROGACA, Serbia (AP) — When Elena Koposova signed an open letter against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she didn’t expect a backlash in her newly adopted home state of Serbia.

After all, Serbia is formally seeking to join the European Union while adopting all the democratic values that go along with the membership, she thought. Now, she sees she was wrong.

Two years after signing the letter, the 54-year-old Russian woman is appealing an expulsion order after she was declared a threat to the national security of Serbia and her residency permit was revoked. The beleaguered literature translator said the only reason she could think of is the anti-war petition that she had signed.

“I am not an activist, but I did sign an anti-war letter when the Russian aggression in Ukraine just started,” she said in an interview. “Even not being an activist, I couldn’t just be quiet about it. So, I just put my name on the open letter where it was said that the war is a crime, and we must all unite to stop it.”

Koposova is not alone. Serbia opened its borders in recent years to tens of thousands of Russians fleeing the government of President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. Russian pro-democracy activists in the Balkan country now say at least a dozen recently faced entry bans or had their residency permits revoked on grounds that they pose a threat to Serbia’s security.

At least eight others are afraid to speak publicly about their legal problems with the Serbian authorities, fearing it could only jeopardize their chance of remaining in the country together with their families, Russian anti-war campaigners say.

“It was very sudden, very shocking,” Koposova said of the moment she received the expulsion order, which did not explain the reason for the measure, only declaring that she poses “a threat to national security” and that she must leave the country within 30 days.

She and her husband have built a modern house on a piece of land in a remote village outside Belgrade where they live with two children, ages 6 and 14, who are attending local school and preschool classes.

Rights activists say the residency problems point to a close relation between Serbia’s increasingly autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić, and Putin, despite Serbia’s formal EU bid. Vučić has refused to join Western sanctions against the traditional Slavic ally while allowing Moscow propaganda outlets such as RT and Sputnik to spread their narrative throughout the Balkans.

“The authorities in Belgrade and the authorities in Moscow are politically very close,” said Predrag Petrović, research coordinator at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, an independent think tank that has sought an explanation from the Interior Ministry about the measures against the Russians.

“People who are critical of Putin’s regime present a big threat to the regime in Moscow,” Petrović said. “This is why these people are being targeted by the Serbian authorities.”

Serbian officials so far haven’t commented about the reported cases involving Russian citizens, and Serbia’s Interior Ministry hasn’t responded to an email from The Associated Press requesting an interview or a comment on the issue.

Since the war in Ukraine started two years ago, many Russians came to Serbia because they don’t need visas to enter the friendly Balkan state, a potential stepping stone for possible future emigration to the West. Many were dodging the draft, while others, like the Koposova family, who came earlier, simply were fed up with Putin’s government and sought a better life somewhere outside of Russia.

Peter Nikitin, one of the founders of the pro-democracy Russian Democratic Society, himself spent two days at Belgrade airport last summer when his entry permit was revoked, although he has a Serbian wife and has lived in Serbia for seven years. Nikitin was later allowed into the country, but a legal procedure regarding his residency papers is ongoing.

“I have no doubt that this is being done on direct orders from Russia, either via the embassy or directly from Moscow,” insisted Nikitin, whose group has also organized protests against the war in Ukraine and demonstrations demanding freedom for political prisoners including Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and a Putin critic who died on Feb. 16 in an Arctic penal colony in Russia.

Nikitin said other anti-war activists who faced scrutiny by Serbian authorities include fellow founder of the RDS group, Vladimir Volokhonsky, who now lives in Germany.

Also under sanctions were Yevgeny Irzhansky, who organized concerts by anti-Putin bands in Serbia and who has since moved to Argentina with his wife, and Ilya Zernov, a young Russian who was banned from returning to Serbia after being attacked by a far-right Serbian nationalist when he tried to erase a wall painting calling for death to Ukraine in downtown Belgrade.

Nikitin said that the goal of these measures is to intimidate anti-war campaigners.

“The only explanation for that is that they want to scare everyone,” he said. “Because if you can’t sign an anti-war letter, then there’s really nothing you can do. And it does have a chilling effect.”

“The point is the anti-war Russians are not protesting here against anyone in Serbia,” Nikitin said. “We are only concerned with our own country and with our neighboring country, which is suffering from our country right now.”

Serbia’s close relations with Russia date back centuries and the two countries also share a common Slavic origin and Orthodox Christian religion. Russia has supported Serbia’s bid to retain its claim on Kosovo, a former province that declared independence in 2008 with Western backing.

Serbia and Russia also maintain close links between their security services.

Former Serbian state security chief Aleksandar Vulin, who was sanctioned by the U.S. for aiding Russia’s “malign” influence in the Balkan region, recently received a decoration from the Federal Security Service of Russia for close cooperation between the two spy agencies. Vulin reportedly was involved in wiretapping prominent Russian opposition activists who met in Belgrade on the eve of the war in Ukraine and who were later jailed in Russia.

For Koposova, the decision by Serbian authorities to kick her out of the country, means that she and her family could lose everything if her appeal is rejected.

The family can’t go back to Russia because they have sold all their property, are now labelled as anti-Putin and her husband could be drafted into the army to fight in Ukraine, Koposova said.

“This house is our only house, the only house that our kids have,” she said, with tears in her eyes.

[casputin]

I posted 8,081 times in 2022

20 posts created (0%)

8,061 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@writingfeedsthedarkestones

@beegetsthinner

@siseja

@beatrice-otter

@enmity-encountered

I tagged 214 of my posts in 2022

#0 - 2 posts

#uk - 5 posts

#also - 4 posts

#scorpio - 3 posts

#stardust - 2 posts

#the doctor - 2 posts

#same - 2 posts

#noice - 2 posts

#i love it - 2 posts

#dracula - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#thats the best articulation of the only gay people should play gay characters and only trans people should play trans characters argument

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Killer top 5 - and yet again Bowie is my top artist! (I reckon it must be the sheer amount of songs he has!)

What are everyone else's top 5s? I wanna put a playlist together! @rolypolydandy @siseja @halfagod @gracelessspace @surprise-bone-theivery @meowllennial @exterminate-ak @captaintiny and everyone else!!!!

6 notes - Posted November 30, 2022

#4

Lizard Walk Day!

8 notes - Posted May 12, 2022

#3

Anyway just a reminder that the Eurovision Song Contest is a neutral, apolitical event that strives to bring nations together.

Which is why they banned Russia this year for invading Ukraine, but are chill with Israel's continued participation.

11 notes - Posted May 14, 2022

#2

Is anyone else slightly disappointed with the new companion announcement?

I'm sure Millie Gibson will do a fine job, but was I the only one under the impression that Yasmin Finney was going to be joining as the full time companion moving forward? Which was going to be exciting for a few reasons:

1) if Yasmin really is playing Donna's daughter as is speculated then what knowledge does she possess through half remembered fairy tales told by her mother. Love the idea of a companion knowing things.

15: this is an Ood, they-

Rose: Yeah, yeah, an Ood, we've all heard about them. Enslaved race, hive mind, communicate through orbs that replaced the brain, super peaceful, we love the Ood in this household.

2) a trans companion for a generation to properly fall in love with, rather than just being there for 3 episodes.

3) an all black TARDIS team. Instead we have another pretty cis white girl. She does feel awfully Billie Piper 2.0. It's almost as if RTD is scared to go too far from formula, which is very unlike him.

If both Yasmin and Millie end up travelling together with Ncuti then I take the majority of this back. They are near as dammit the same age, and both from Manchester, so could reasonably be bezzies (or even girlfriends which would be a little more in line with RTD) in which case I'm not as annoyed. But with how fresh Yasmin's casting was, the announcement featuring Millie seems like a step back.

And I want it to be known this is not an attack on Millie in the slightest. Just a sharing of disappointment from the new announcement, in much the same way I was disappointed that they made David officially Doctor 14, and RTD said the reason the clothes regenerated too was because he didn't want David to be wearing women's clothing.

This is, of course, despite the fact that Jodie regenerated into Peter's costume and, more importantly, Sascha pulled the look off very well, and there wasn't a scintilla of drag about it. It's not like she wore a dress and fishnets as part of her costume - it was a somewhat androgynous look. T-Shirt, Trousers, suspenders and coat? How womanly - Tennant certainly would've looked ridiculous. It just pisses me off because there would've been so much less focus on the costume had he regenerated with her costume.

I also recall comments made last year RTD made about only gay people can play gay people, which, as we know from Kit Harrington recently, is an incredibly dangerous sentiment, and can actually reduce roles, because by the same metric you say only straight people can play straight people. We absolutely need more diversity on screen, that is a definite, but I do think this is a very dangerous thought, but anyway I'm going slightly tangential here - I suppose my main point is that I'm worried about what RTD is going to do with Doctor Who (and tbh I was worried from the initial announcement).

Millie is good. Ruby Sunday is bad.

Yasmin in good. Ncuti is good.

David in 'women's' clothing is good. David being 14 is bad.

Concerns good. Making a final judgement before we see the product bad.

So I will be happy to be pleasantly surprised by what's in store. And happy for anyone to comment with their own thought. Sorry for long post!

14 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Lol

14 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[yes-justice-seeking]

No More Hindsight, but Foresight

It took decades for the West to wake up to the CCP's All-Out Spy War and yet many powerful people/authorities still rely on their chasing-after strategy to deal with the CCP's threats, buying the CCP's info-war propaganda, CCP agents' lying and covering-up strategy and yet keeping skeptical about earlier warnings until it's too late.

"https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/28/china-has-been-waging-a-decades-long-all-out-spy-war/"

I posted tweets, blogs and videos about my discovery ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Hamas attack on Israel, etc., but my voice remains being suppressed, shadow-banned despite the factual evidence I presented. One year after my warning about China's under-table military assistance to Russia（the video below from 1:52, published on April 9, 2023:

https://rumble.com/v2h4hyk-exclusive-report-its-worse-than-you-think-the-ccps-weaponizing-the-west….html）, it was confirmed by a CCP's mouthpiece.

Today, Chief researcher of Kunlun Institute, @kunluntalk, posted a tweet saying that the US government "may have known from the beginning that China was the most important one helping Putin staying in the war" and that "China's military assistance to Russia was through spare parts assistance, Russia assembled them to deadly weapons."

"https://twitter.com/Kunluntalk/status/1783162847423565826"

The post also revealed that Putin fell into an unprecedented power crisis after he started the invasion war. China then sent Li Zhanshu to visit Russia to demonstrate China's strong backup to Putin. When Xi Jinping and Putin met in Moscow, Putin's authority was consolidated and the Russian opposition's doubts were repelled.

In addition, the post confessed that China used RMB to bypass the sanction against Russia, helped Russia to overcome its economic difficulties.

At the end, the author sarcased, in the most CCP propagandist way, the sanction imposed by the US and Europe: "China has used Chinese methods to make the sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe on Russia's Putin meaningless and a joke."

To this post, a CCP warrior replied:

"https://twitter.com/TreeNewBee2019/status/1783204563505590449"

Kunlun Institute, @kunluninstitute, introduced itself as "independent research institution" looking for "China and the US cooperate to manage the world", is indeed a soft CCP-mouthpiece, if I am not mistaken.

Kunlun/昆仑 is a word often linked to the CCP's far-left ideology, for example, among many far-left websites of the CCP, there is one called "Kunlunce/昆仑策"(https://www.kunlunce.com/)

"http://www.hongqi.tv/"

Meanwhile, there is an institute called "Beijing Kunlun Innovation Planning and Design Institute/北京昆仑创新规划设计研究院", providing development strategy to governments and private companies. It proclaimed that it is "familiar with and masters national innovation policies" (of China).

"https://www.kunluninnovation.com/wzsy"

Today, I want to sound another alarm about the CCP's target on ChatGPT, AI.

According to Huang Youyi/黄友义, a well-known Chinese translator, the CCP has already started to feed AI bots/Apps, like ChatGPT, English information about China that reflects the CCP's point of view because they knew that AI technology is based on big data. So instead of manipulating ChatGPT, the CCP goes after its source: big data, flooding the big data zone with pro-CCP information in foreign language. The example he gave is the word "CCP/中共". He said that currently, most English information about the word "CCP" is not in the CCP's favor, so they are now massively translating and feeding AI bots/Apps English information about the CCP that is in the CCP's favor.

"https://twitter.com/dotey/status/1731219576958898511"

Someone even said Quora, "a social question-and-answer website and online knowledge market", has already been infiltrated by the CCP.

"https://twitter.com/jessew07/status/1731543633768464564"

I applaud and salute to the US's swift reaction to TikTok's threat, and to Japanese Prime Minister Kishida's clear understanding about the global threat that the Freedom and the Democracy are currently facing. Meanwhile, some western authorities are still watching, turning blind eyes to warnings and the CCP's brazen Transnational Repression.

Please, no more hindsight, but foresight, THANK YOU.

[anthonybialy]

A Real Fixer-Upper

Who’d want the job?  Aversion to toil doesn’t just apply to most positions at a time when not working is incentivized.  Replacing meddlesome idlers means adding all the tasks they never addressed to a list of responsibilities.  Candidates must factor in coping with facing the shameful state of their workspaces and the country.

A job obtained through an election might be cool on its own thanks to a company plane and someone to do your cooking.  Presidential minders don’t let Joe Biden plug in the George Foreman Grill.  The woeful conditions he’s created discourage potential successors, which is his best chance for doubling the length of perks.

Pondering what replacements will inherit is almost staggering as looking at the debt roll upward.  The most worthy won’t bitch about it despite the seemingly impossible task.  Cleaning up messes left by adult children is the responsibility of those who aren’t merely legally so.

Democrats aren’t big on accepting it at any point, much less when they’re handed power.  One might think those who claim government can fix everything would be thrilled to obtain authority so they can organize society into an efficiently wealthy paradise where nobody works.

It’s going to take an even greater interest in higher interest to cure the disease of devalued currency.  Inflation is a hangover inflicted on others by drunkards.  Spending fortunes seized from others just doesn’t buy enough junk for bribes.  You may be shocked to learn present office-fillers are neither careful with quasi-legal plunder nor skilled at buying anything worthwhile.  Wait for a charging station to open up after your high-speed rail is three weeks late.

The same mentality works abroad.  A stern tone will be needed when telling the Taliban they can’t keep being bad even with the gifts of equipment and fleeing.  Iran is accustomed to spinning centrifuges at will while presuming 87 percent of its economy will take the form of ransom payments.  It’s understandable why Russians don’t want to stay in Russia but still unacceptable to visit neighboring countries without permission.

As for villains living nearby, the only thing harder than recruiting cops after the profession has been treated as the source of evil is the job itself.  You may be surprised to learn law enforcement is actually intended to prevent harm and not inflict it if you’ve trusted media outlets these last few years.  The ensuing spike in everything getting ripped off somehow similarly caught a few incumbents off-guard.

One of the few actual necessary and helpful government roles has been demonized if you wonder why things are a way you wish they weren’t.  A determined fan of both law and order will have to convince law enforcement that they won’t be treated as criminals before convincing the public of the same.

Trump’s Igor was once known for conducting successful experiments to make New York freaking City livable.  Rudy Giuliani took an urban war zone that was conceded to criminals by liberals and took ground collaborators announced simply could never be recaptured.  We can only hope there are numerous aspirants who are sick of barbarians and have a plan to drive them back to the wastelands.

Passive culprits presumed they had to cope with the diabolically deranged prowling the streets as part of residing in a vibrant urban enclave.  Menace enablers refuse to think about how their policy of welding Arkham’s gates open might just have led to foreboding.

Enduing an entire presidency packed with excuses just makes it lamer.  Biden kvetched about job tasks on the first day just like he will on his last.  The lack of growth is a constant theme in his bafflingly charmed life.  Maintaining a routine brings the wrong kind of predictability for puttering dolts.  Our nation’s wise grandpa should brag more about approaching levels seen before politicians concluded they possessed the power to ban you from getting a haircut.

Proclaiming that everything is unfair is the only thriving liberal industry.  Professional pouter Barack Obama whines as a reflex.  Times he announced he would ameliorate were so lousy that he couldn’t mend a thing during two terms.  Please disregard how the charismatic putzing tyrant’s philosophy spurred economic meltdown in the first place.  A similar approach shut down society via diktat before lamenting that everything was standing still.

Things somehow never improve while having the same criminally inept staff.  Most politicians would admit government doesn’t help before they’d retire.  Everyone should respect Mitt Romney for not being addicted to caffeine or an office.  By contrast, Nancy Pelosi voted for Woodrow Wilson twice, while Bernie Sanders took his grandchildren to see the first aeroplane flight.  There’s no other industry where failures are never held accountable, which is a mentality those regrettably elected impose upon every industry they attempt to modify into a wholesome federal monopoly.

Lots to repair could be an upside.  Deft repairers could get credit for refurbishing busted junk that seems to be up for junking.  Remember to thank Biden and his underlings for creating such dreadful circumstances.  Existence will seem worlds better once everything presently making it even more insufferable than usual is discarded.  Ingrates won’t thank the present occupant for his sole contribution.

Democrats who think government corrects everything have created conditions where a Republican successor could do just that.  Overcoming ineptness inflicted by those who rather mistakenly think they’re good at everything is an innovative way to restore faith.

[summarychannel]

Oil prices are falling like crazy, and Saudi Arabia and Russia are threatening The latest news about the conflict between Saudi Arabia, America and Russia regarding oil prices and the voluntary reduction in oil production and the impact of this on the American economy

Updates on the oil issue presented in this episode of Samri Channel. The beginning of the significant declines in global oil prices. After reaching $96 per barrel, Brent crude fell to $85, which its analysis attributed to a group of factors, most notably the weak global demand for oil due to interest rate hikes in the United States of America, and also the significant decline in demand for gasoline in the United States with Increased supply caused by major floods in New York City, USA, resulting from Hurricane Ophelia.

Finally, a state of optimism prevailed in the market regarding an increase in the supply of crude following the Turkish Energy Minister’s announcement of the imminent restart of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which connects northern Iraqi oil to Turkish ports.

The OPEC+ group concluded its ministerial meeting by announcing the continuation of the voluntary reduction in production until the end of the year as a response to the pessimism prevailing in energy markets regarding the possibility of the global economy being exposed to a recession. Meanwhile, reports said that Russia may soon ease its ban on exporting diesel due to its lack of capacity to store it, which could paralyze the labor market in the Russian oil sector.

The episode also refers to the German Deutsche Bank report, which pointed to the combination of all the reasons that may cause the American economy to enter a state of recession. These are higher interest rates to confront rising inflation, rising oil prices, and finally increasing US government debt.

The episode also indicates that there are only 17 days left until the US strategic oil reserve, or the US strategic reserve, is empty of oil, which enters the United States into a risky process to refill the stock intended to confront emergencies that may surprise Washington.

Finally, the British newspaper The Economist expected that oil prices would continue to decline despite the tightening of production by Saudi Arabia and Russia, until the end of the year, with expectations of greater declines in crude prices during the first quarter of next year as a result of the increase in oil supply and weak global demand.

#Saudi Arabia #Russia #latest news

Do you expect a surprise to occur in global oil markets that contradicts the expectations of Western newspapers regarding the continued decline in oil prices? This is what we will discuss in the “Suicide” episode of the summary channel. Watch to know the story from the beginning

[xtruss]

What Does Ron DeSantis Say About US Foreign Policy? Another Schizophrenic Wants To Be The President of the United States

— Wednesday 24 May 2023 | Oleg Burunov | Sputnik International

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) waves to journalists as his wife Casey (L) looks on after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the latter's official residence in Tokyo on April 24, 2023 — Sputnik International, © AFP 2023/Kimimasa Mayama

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to launch the 2024 presidential bid via Twitter on Wednesday evening. We know who DeSantis is - but what's his stance on a spate of sticking US foreign policy issues? Sputnik explores.

Ron DeSantis graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School and has been serving as the 26th Florida governor since January 2019. While at Harvard, he joined the US Navy as a judge advocate general and was later deployed to Iraq, where he was a legal adviser to a Navy SEAL commander.

The 44-Year-Old left active duty in 2010, being decorated with a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Iraq Campaign Medal, among other commendations.

DeSantis 'Attempting' to Win Over Conservative Donors Ahead of Anticipated 2024 Run! DeSantis and his campaign staff reportedly believe they can gain support among Republicans who either never wanted Trump to represent the party or desire new leadership, which they estimate is roughly 70% of the party’s base.

In 2012, the father of three ran in the Republican primary for Florida's sixth congressional district, snatching a victory with 30% of the vote. DeSantis was re-elected in 2014 and 2016. Two years later, he ran for governor of Florida, narrowly defeating Democratic rival Andrew Gillum 49.6-49.2.

During the November 8, 2022, midterm elections, DeSantis won a landslide victory for a second term as he prevailed over Democratic rival Charlie Crist 59% to 40%. It was the widest margin in a Florida gubernatorial race since Jeb Bush, the state's 43rd governor, won it by almost 13 points in 2002.

DeSantis is depicted by many as a conservative, who purportedly shares many US foreign policy-related views with former POTUS Donald Trump despite the two currently maintaining a far-from-friendly relationship, especially in light of the latest opinion polls indicating the Florida governor prevails over the 46th president in terms of approval rating.

What's DeSantis Stance on Ukraine? Not to Fuck with Russia 🇷🇺?

"While the U.S. has many vital national interests … becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them,” DeSantis stated back in March.

“A policy of “regime change” in Russia (no doubt popular among the DC foreign policy interventionists) would greatly increase the stakes of the conflict, making the use of nuclear weapons more likely," he added.

The Florida governor was forced to backtrack some his comments on the Ukraine conflict, after other GOP politicians attacked for him being "soft" on Russia. DeSantis put out a subsequent statement saying that he opposed Moscow's decision to launch its special military operation in Ukraine and would welcome Kiev regaining control over the Donbass and Crimea.

"There's a lot of ethnic Russians there. So, that’s some difficult fighting, and that’s what I was referring to, and so it wasn’t that I thought Russia had a right to that, and so if I should have made that more clear, I could have done it", he said.

What Does He Think of China? He Wants to Fuck with China, Too 😂😂😂

DeSantis has called China a "hostile country", and he took a spate of steps that he said were meant to contain Beijing’s expanding global clout. The measures include banning Confucius Institutes from Florida's public universities and increasing penalties for corporate espionage conducted on behalf of foreign entities.

In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, DeSantis went so far as to draw parallels between China and the USSR (which collapsed in 1991).

"If you look at where we are at this juncture in the 21st century, what the Soviet Union was to us, that’s really what China represents in terms of the threat to the free world. In many respects, the Chinese Communist Party is stronger than what the Soviet Union was, certainly economically," he argued. The Florida governor claimed that the number one issue that the US currently faces internationally is checking the growth and the rise of China.

Later in that same interview, DeSantis asserted that China represented a bigger 'threat' to US global hegemony than Russia.

Earlier this month, he called the Communist Party of China "the United States' greatest geopolitical threat." The remarks came as DeSantis signed a series of bills that bans Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida.

What are DeSantis Thoughts on Iran, JCPOA? He Wants to Be Another Scrotums’ Licker of the God’s Fucked-up Terrorist People, The Zionist Leukorrheal Cunts

DeSantis supports the GOP's hawkish stance on Iran, once tweeting that "the only way to deal with a maniacal regime like Iran is from a position of strength." (Maniacal Regime? NO! Absolutely Not. Maniacal Regime is The United States of Fucked-up ZIONIST America.)

He claimed that making diplomatic concessions to Tehran "in the hope of engineering better behavior will not work when a regime is dedicated to a totalitarian and suicidal ideology." (What an idiot Schizophrenic? He thinks that he is in Florida.)

The Florida politician has repeatedly opposed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), calling it "a bad deal that will significantly degrade our [US] national security.”

He asserted the JCPOA gives Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei "exactly what he wants: billions of dollars in sanctions relief, validation of the Iranian nuclear program, and the ability to stymie inspections." (This Boak Bollocks have no clue WTF he is talking about. Those billions belongs to Iran which were frozen in the US after SHAH’s departure of Iran.)

According to DeSantis, the damage done by the Iran deal "has been significant, mostly due to the massive cash infusion the deal gave to the Khamenei regime and particularly to the IRGC [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]."

These claims are disputed by many US foreign policy experts and former diplomats, who note that Iran had lived up to its obligations under the JCPOA prior to the Trump administration's 2018 decision to pull out of the agreementl

How Does DeSantis Assess the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? Scared of Satan-Yahu!

In a clear-cut sign of support for Tel Aviv, he (The Scrotums’ Licker of God’s Fucked-up Terrorist People, THE ZIONIST CUNTS) earlier tweeted that he promised to be “the most pro-Israel governor in America” and that the two sides’ “bold agenda […] strengthens Florida’s ties with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.” (Nope! The Only TERRORIST HYPOCRISY in the Middle East)

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he argued that if one looks at "this whole" standoff, "to me, the biggest problem has been that Palestinian Arabs have not recognized Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state." DeSantis then referred to "that kind" of what he described as "denialism", which "poisons really everything."

What is the GOP Hopeful's Position on Afghanistran? Still Banging His Head with the Wall?

DeSantis denounced the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, claiming that that the process was poorly planned. He pointed the finger at President Joe Biden and accused him of making Afghanistan vulnerable to alleged exploitation by China, Russia, and other geopolitical rivals of the US.

"After 9/11, (An Inside Job) we needed to go in and rout the Taliban* and al-Qaeda**. But I think in hindsight, we should have come home after that. I think trying to do the democracy and all that, I think has been very problematic", DeSantis said, also condemning the 2021 Kabul airport attack that claimed the lives of 13 American soldiers. ( …..and what about millions of Afghan men, women and children, braindead?)

[n1kolaiz]

"You want to know what death is? I'll tell you. Death is the loss of life. Despite everything doctors like me attempt... a patient's life can still fall through our fingers. You think death lies in the apex of science? Anyone with such little regard for life will die by my hand."

Character Analysis: Yosano Akiko

Age: 25 || Ability: Thou Shalt Not Die

BSD CHAPTER CHAPTER 65-66 SPOILERS

table of contents:

1. Author counterpart.

2. Yosano's history.

3. 'Angel of Death' defined.

4. Yosano and Atsushi.

YOSANO BRAINROT!*(#&!*@#($

1. Author counterpart.

Having been given the “Sho Ho” at birth, Yosano Akiko’s counterpart—the real-life author—was known for her zealous take on both feminism and pacifism.

Side note: Once again, to avoid confusion, I will use the name Sho Ho in reference to the real-life author, and Yosano in reference to the BSD character.

Sho Ho's writings were pretty much out-of-the-ordinary in her time, and despite being suppressed by the social norms of gender hierarchy, she sought to reform society’s view on the cultural perspectives of women and their sexuality (She expressed her love for a woman in one of her poems, but many still argued on whether she identified herself as queer or not.)

"Thou Shalt Not Die," Yosano's ability, is actually named after one of Sho Ho's most famous, controversial poems. She wrote it for her brother, who was a soldier in the war between Russia and Japan (1904-1905). In her poem, she expressed her general distaste for war and how her brother was a part of it.

O my young brother, I cry for you Don't you understand you must not die! You who were born the last of all Command a special store of parents' love

Would parents place a blade in children's hands

Teaching them to murder other men Teaching them to kill and then to die? Have you so learned and grown to twenty-four?

- excerpt from Sho Ho's poem, "Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare"

Her words were blunt enough to inflict guilt on her brother's conscience, as she wasn't afraid to express her disapproval over how her brother took part in the typical violent bloodshed and manslaughter of war. Such opinions perturbed the authorities, and her work was eventually banned from the public for a period of time. Later on, it was used as an anti-war statement.

2. Yosano's history.

Now, as for the character in BSD, Yosano is seen to be generally strong-willed, and later on, we see that she is terrifyingly compassionately ambitious in the way she treats her patients. She treasured life itself, and hated the thought of losing a patient.

Yosano had developed her relations with Mori Ougai back in the Great War, when she was just 11 years old. Her ability was a great benefactor in saving lives. Realistically speaking, she was used for her ability to heal injured soldiers and diminish the effect of any casualty acquired.

Initially, she wasn't aware of this, until one of her close friends pointed it out by subtly accusing Mori of manipulating her to participate in the War under the close-to false pretence of 'saving lives.'

As much as her ability did save lives, it also forced soldiers to return to the frontlines and suffer injuries over and over again. The soldiers were never given the opportunity to return to their families because of her ability. This obliged them to carry on in the war without any excuse, inserting them into a vicious cycle they had no escape out of.

Metaphorically speaking, Yosano's hatred for Mori sort of mirrors Sho Ho's disdain for war and fighting, don't you think? The way Kafka materialised Yosano's past was quite interesting because he used chapters 65 and 66 to explain Yosano's dislike for Mori, reflecting how Sho Ho used her poem to explain why she condemned the idea of war and how her brother was part of it.

Before the effect of her ability was fully understood, however, every soldier praised and thanked her for what an angel she was. One of the soldiers she had befriended and gotten close to even kept a tally of the number of times she had saved him. He was the one who gifted her the butterfly hairpin she wore all the time.

The weight of the truth that her ability was a curse rather than a blessing fully dawned on her when her soldier friend ultimately committed suicide, because the fact of being indefinitely trapped in the throes of war agonised him until his spirit gave out. This drove Yosano to loathe her ability, or rather, how it was used.

In the time she participated in the War, Yosano was given the alias 'angel of death' due to the control she retained over the battlefield, but I thought that perhaps Kafka had a reason behind giving her this title, so I did my research.

3. 'Angel of Death' defined.

Side note: I wouldn't want to disrespect any culture or religion, so if my citations are inaccurate and/or disrespectful, do feel free to correct me/let me know! I did research out of pure curiosity, and I don't intend to twist the significance of any of the interpretations.

I had to grow up learning about the basics of religious stuff, so it's kind of nice to study something out of the box, and very much against my father's rigid belief system :D

ARCHANGEL ARIEL

(archangel: an angel of higher rank)

I came across the few characteristics of angels/goddesses and their roles, and the one which really caught my attention was the female archangel, Ariel, the angel of nature.

[ source ]

In Hebrew, the name Ariel means 'altar' or 'lioness of God,' and her role is to heal. In addition to that, she is also recognised as a helper to another one of the seven main archangels, Raphael, whose role is to provide physical and emotional healing, too.

She is the protecter of the environment and the animals therein, and is bestowed with the duty to oversee the order of heavenly bodies as well as earth's natural resources. She assures the sustenance of food, water, shelter, and supplies of human beings, much like how a nurse is to a patient I suppose.

In relation to Yosano, I think this part is pretty self-explanatory, or perhaps this is blown out of proportion HA, so take this as a suggestion rather than a fact, because I'd like to believe that Kafka had a reason for giving Yosano a title as such.

In the past, I've come across the angel of death only to perceive it as a female grim reaper of some sort, so it was pretty cool to find that the word 'angel' and 'death' made up a title of a someone like Ariel, one of the purest forms of humility and compassion.

GREEK GODDESS PANAKEIA

For my beloved (wannabe/or not) students of Greek mythology (much like myself, let's make a cult!), you've probably heard of Panakeia, the goddess of healing. Medicine finds most of its vital significance in Greek history, and in its mythology, Panakeia is actually known for her ability to heal any kind of sickness.

[ source ]

Her name means 'panacea,' which is actually defined as a remedy for all diseases. Terminal diseases and injuries lead to death, right? This would bring us back to Yosano's ability to nullify any injury's effects on a person, keeping them from death itself.

Now, we know that in order for Yosano's ability to work, her patient, or victim, has to be in a near-death condition in order for her treatment to take effect. This can't exactly fit into the description of resurrection, but it can be described as some sort of rebirth.

GREEK GODDESS PERSEPHONE

So another goddess which reminds me of Sho Ho/Yosano, is Persephone, the goddess of spring and rebirth. Before Hades, the god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone to take her to live with him, Persephone lived a happy life.

Hades, with his nature of darkness and the like, was captivated by how pure Persephone was, and stole her away from her former life to live in an environment which differed sharply from her natural aura of purity.

[ source ]

Remember when Yosano's friend left a note behind before he killed himself? The note said nothing except for, "You are too righteous." Take that as you will, but figuratively speaking, you could say Mori takes the role of Hades in the story, while Yosano can be portrayed as Persephone.

Sho Ho can also be a parallel of Persephone, in that she had to adapt to the realities of war and disharmony, while Persephone had to adapt to the raw darkness of the underworld with Hades.

Sho Ho stood against society's norms and decided to reform it, making her one of the most well-known feministic pacifist in history, while Persephone managed to escape from the underworld to return to her former position, earning the title the 'Bringer of Life,' or the 'Destroyer of Death.'

Furthermore, the way Sho Ho's anti-war poem took its effect later on, reflects the way Persephone restored balance in the world after returning from the underworld.

4. Yosano and Atsushi.

chapter 66; Yosano: "It's my fault that those close to me died... Is there some place where it's okay for me to live?"

chapter 8; Atsushi: "If I have any chance of saving them all, of returning them home safely, would that mean it's okay for me to keep on living?"

I couldn't help but think of Dazai and Atsushi back when I was reading through these panels. Ranpo (my beloved), along with Fukuzawa, accepted Yosano as she was, despite how her ability was a cause of despair and misfortune.

Ranpo looked past her mistakes and the entirety of how dark her past was to welcome her into the Armed Detective Agency. Dazai, on the other hand, knew who Atsushi was and what his ability had made him do before anyone else, and still decided to provide a safe place for Atsushi to find his sense of belonging, journeying with him as he learned to use his ability properly.

For more info about Dazai and Atsushi's dynamic, you can check out the analysis I did for Dazai :D

Atsushi desired to save people to prove his right to live, while Yosano made her wish to achieve the recovery of all her patients the reason for her existence.

Others would prefer to accuse both Yosano and Atsushi of having a saviour complex, but the reason why they pursued to save people with utmost dedication, stems from the nature of what their past was like. You know the saying 'from broken to beautiful?' Yeah, it's something like that.

The way their pasts were written out gave them a desire to change, which was, I daresay, initiated by the people who took them in: Ranpo and Dazai. Their abilities were demonised because of how they were used, but once they broke from their abilities' effect over their lives, they honed their skills to control them for the right cause instead.

In a less cynical point of view, I believe both Yosano and Atsushi stood for what was right, and wanted nothing but to achieve peace and harmony in whatever way they could, even if it meant risking their own lives to save others.

So yeah, that's it for my rants today. Thank you for reading, and if you have anything to add, go ahead! I'm open to discussions ;)

[gear-project]

What happened to Russia and why is it called "Old Russia"? If the territories of Russia are called "Old Russia", then what can be considered "New Russia", if Zepp is a continent based not on the nation, but on the denial of the use of magic?

Okay, first, let's clarify some things:

The Zeppian Republic (former Airship Empire) was splintered off from the population of India, where most of the people lived in the Super Dreadnought Airship/Fleet. While they did create a few ground base/arsenals in Siberia, anywhere Zepp lands (at least, after the Crusades) was primarily owned by Illyria United Kingdom (Old Russia merged with Illyria, you see.) So they had to get permission to build those land bases either from Illyria or from the Federation of China or India.

As of GGX (2181), Zepp was actually floating above the Himalayas, which was where the primary Japanese Dimensional Colony "Miyabi" was stationed (Mizuha at one point even says she could see Zepp all the way from her Colony).

Of course, being an Airship nation, they can fly wherever they please, but they have to be careful about whose airspace they enter or occupy.

It should also be noted that the 12-Dimensional Flux Observatory is also a Zepp-made ground base (though that wasn't built until 2187).

Okay... now let's talk about Russia's history:

Prior to 1999, Russia was just like you remember after the fall of the U.S.S.R.

However, because of the Dawn of Revival, all of Russia's technology became banned or unusable and there was a breakdown in the chain of command because of all the chaos that happened with the Universal Will.

After the year 2010, Magic Knowledge was standardized and distributed by the Conclave through their organization the Sanctus Populi which was headquartered in Central Europe (in Rome).

Russia felt the need to compete with America after they began mass-production of GEARS in the years 2060 or so... so in essence the "Cold War" hadn't exactly ended, but instead of physical weapons, magic bio-weapons were being mass-produced.

Then the disaster of 2074 happened, and Justice was blamed for the destruction of Japan. Nations around the world sent their Gear armies after Justice but she "rebelled" and took control over every single Gear she came across.

Her rampage started in America at first, but quickly shifted over to Europe, Russia, China, and even Australia... nearly all major cities, towns, and villages were destroyed (Millia Rage's mother was a victim of one of Justice' village raids).

And, of course you know that the Sacred Order of Holy Knights didn't even "join" the conflict until the 2110s or so... so many people in many countries were hold up and scared, hiding from any Gear armies that tore through their countries, Russia was also a major victim of these attacks (even despite Russia's cold climate, which Gears are mostly immune to).

Finally, by 2175, Justice was finally sealed away, but most nations weren't even able to rebuild until sometime after 2180.

The Conclave decided to create the United Kingdoms of Illyria (not just for their own needs as a base of operations), but primarily because most of Europe, North Africa, Italy, the Middle East, and Russia did not have the funds or resources to restore their own nations with an functional system of government.

As of 2183 Illyria was founded, merging Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Russia (even what remained of the Japanese survivors), all as one massive nation.

By that time, they were much larger and more influential as a superpower than either America or the Chinese Federation, let alone the Southern Autonomous Oceanic Federation (or the remnants of survivors in South Africa which later became Eastern Chipp Kingdom).

Anyway, that's Russia's GG History. Sadly, if they hadn't made Gears of their own, they wouldn't have suffered as badly as they did, but even if they hadn't, Justice attacked all humans without discrimination, even Zepp suffered losses, despite being an airship empire.

Despite the fact Millia is Russian-born, she was mostly raised as an Assassin by Zato=ONE in central Europe, so it's unlikely that she keeps up with her Russian Culture or history as you might expect.

[no-name-mutt]

And (Working Title)

Mostly unedited here. Probably many mistakes.

Ji-Woo Suzuki was six generations removed from her ancestor Shimazu Nariakira, a galvanizing feudal lord of Japan during the Meiji Restoration. Shimazu Nariakira’s most famous quote was words that Ji-Woo worked to install firmly into her life.

"if we take the initiative, we can dominate; if we do not, we will be dominated."

  After years of war, scheming and destructive cajoling, Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910. Korea was considered a part of Japan until the end of WWII and subsequently,  the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945.

 During this time, Ji-Woo’s great grandmother, Jeong-Ja was forcibly betrothed. Jeong-Ja (ji-young ja) was eleven years old. Jeong-Ja was arranged to marry Sora Nariakira. Sora abhorred the thought of marrying a Korean woman. Sora, as with most other Japanese people during this time, saw Koreans as second class citizens to the Japanese. In their marriage, Sora took every opportunity to order Jeong-Ja like a slave. One late night, Sora forced himself upon her and Jeong-Ja became pregnant.

 A daughter was born, Hina Nariakira. While Korea was under Japanese control, it was initially illegal to change your name. As it were, Koreans that refused to change their names, were unable to enroll in school, receive mail or even receive meal rations. Eventually the colonial bureaucracy allowed the changing of names, and as much as 84% of Koreans changed their names. Speaking the Korean language was banned and Korean newspapers and printing houses were forced to close. Nearly 200,000 ancient and historical documents were burned. Korean youths were volunteered and conscripted into the Japanese army. Shinto shrines were built, and became places of forced worship. Japanese colonial policy became a clear policy of unlimited cultural erasure. 

Hina attended school and became a voracious reader and journal keeper. Hina, as a product of her environment, became fluent in both Japanese and Korean. From an early age, it was evident that Hina was highly intelligent. Her vocabulary in both Korean and Japanese quickly surpassed Jeong-Ja’s and Sora’s respectively. Though Sora was quick to forbid speaking Korean in the household, Jeong-Ja taught her in private.  

Sora frequently had Hina recite aloud his military orders. If there was ever a word that he didn’t understand, he would strike her. This was a sign to make the order as comprehensive as possible, though his reasoning was always, “Do not waste my time with pointless words!” 

Life for Jeong-Ja and Hina was of unceasing malaise. Their only solace was in each other. 

From reading Sora’s military orders, Hina became familiar with impending military movements, encampments and strategies. Hina learned of an upcoming landing of US Ships to discuss treaty possibilities. Hina devised a plan in which Jeong-Ja and her would flee their home to seek refuge with the US Navy. Somehow, discovering their plan, Sora attempted to stop the two from fleeing.

In a frenetic haste, Hina jumped on to Sora’s back, holding on to him with an arm around his neck. He drew his Manchukuo manufactured pistol, the Sugiura, and started firing wildly. Hina kept a dull pen-knife for protection and stabbed him three times in the chest, and twice in the neck. In a matter of seconds, Sora had fired every bullet in his pistol, one of which struck Jeong-ja in the head. She died instantly. Hina fled to the US Navy ship, covered in blood and alone.

The Korean peninsula has been in an imperial theater of war since the late 1800s. It remains a strong strategic naval position and is between three of the strongest and most hostile countries; Russia, China and Japan. 

Hina found herself as a refugee, aboard a US battle cruiser. From Hina’s journal, we know that while aboard the ship, she was raped multiple times by a Japanese-American Navy captain. Hina became pregnant. Clinton James Suzuki was a rising star among the ranks and arranged his marriage with Hina. He thought that having a baby out of wedlock would be detrimental to his military career. Hesitant, and silently unwilling, Hina agreed to the marriage. Through this, Hina became a US citizen.The wedding was expedited and facilitated onboard the cruiser. As her belly grew, so did her hatred for Clinton Suzuki.

Hina silently imagined his death in whatever setting they found themselves in. If he choked while eating, she wouldn’t save him. If he had fallen overboard, she wouldn’t call for help. If he slipped and fell down the stairs, she would elect to simply walk away. When the two arrived back in the US, there was to be a Navy welcoming parade in port. All of the seamen were to be standing with their wives (if they were married) on the dock as the Navy cruisers came back to port. Though Hina’s husband would have preferred to not be seen with his very young and very pregnant immigrant wife, he thought it would be a great opportunity to rub shoulders with those higher in command. 

As the ship was coming into port, the anchor was dropped, and four inch thick mooring lines were lashed from the anchor to the ship to the dock. Hina’s husband was the first one out on the dock behind the commanding officers, hoping that it would impress a lieutenant, admiral or anyone with any sort of authority. She happily let him stand as far away as possible from her. 

As the last mooring line was being lashed, a massive and potent rogue wave rocked the ship, and snapped the thick cable. The cable whipped downward and cut him cleanly in half from the right collar bone, down through the groin. His body fell apart like a sliced melon. Hina was silently imagining him drowning in the bay, but she never could have envisioned that. For a second she was stunned, and then started to laugh hysterically. She was finally free.

Hina easily found translator work. Although Hina adhered to strict ideals of frugality, she made enough as a single mother to comfortably support her newborn son Kaito Suzuki. Kaito Suzuki stood an average five foot nine inches. His hair was short, poofy, and straw like. His arms and legs were thin and underdeveloped, though his torso was somehow, rather round. Kaito had a round face, unremitting acne and eyebrows in need of a good trimming. He attended public school. He was unremarkably below average. He found little interest in extracurricular sports and clubs; instead, he spent most of his time skipping class, smoking pot and hanging out with his like-minded friends. After barely graduating high school, Kaito was given an ultimatum, either find work or attend college. In the end, Kaito decided to move out of his mother’s house and found work as a second shift janitor at night and weekend garbage collector. 

Kaito Suzuki and Ji-Woo I(the first) first met when she decided to stay late at the commercial real estate office where she worked. Kaito was just starting his shift, starting by collecting the garbage around the office.  Ji-Woo I was a quiet, mild mannered individual. She came from a good home and an affluent community. Ji-Woo I was going through a “rebellious” phase and began making a flurry of short-sighted decisions all revolving around Kaito. The two developed addictions to different drugs and made small time scams in order to fund these new habits. Ji-Woo I unexpectedly became pregnant. The night they found out, Kaito grabbed her car keys and said he was going out for cigarettes and never returned. Hina was the only person in the delivery room when the daughter was born. Ji-Woo I was emotionless. She stared emptily at the crying newborn girl. Ji-Woo I looked to Hina in silent disdain. Hina nodded in affirmation. When Ji-Woo I was released from the hospital, Hina drove her to the airport and handed her some money. Neither Hina nor the newborn baby girl ever saw her again.

Hina decided to name the baby Ji-Woo II, after her mother. (Whom despite the situation, actually quite liked.)

As a baby, she cried constantly. Even in sleep, she murmured and wept in unsilence. Ji-Woo would stop crying only momentarily if she were fed pureed sweet potatoes or ripe apricots. 

When Ji-Woo was six months old, she stopped breathing for nearly two minutes. Hina panicked, rushed to the emergency room. But by the time Hina arrived at the the hospital and Ji-Woo was breathing again and after that point, Ji-Woo never cried again. It’s as if she were an entirely different baby. Ji-Woo excelled in school and surpassed all of those around her. She had few friends throughout her youth. It wasn’t until her mid twenties when she learned how to simply “get along” with those around her. 

Ji-Woo took a master’s degree in Japanese History. Then continued on to get a doctorate  in Korean History. After a few bored years of teaching, Ji-Woo left to attend law school.

Everything about Ji-Woo was professional. Her skin was fine, with a healthy touch of melanin. She had high cheekbones and slightly sunken cheeks. A slightly upturned, pointed nose, symmetrical eyebrows. A single asymmetrically placed mole populated her face. She was beautiful. Equally strong and delicate, like the skeletal system of a great predatory bird. Her hair was long, to her lower back, though it was always pulled taut into a perfect braid. She wore simple, gold Tiffany earrings. She purchased them for herself. Ji-Woo’s wardrobe consisted mostly of well-fitting dress suits that obeyed her movements like a harshly conditioned army. There was never a loose thread out of place. Not even so much as a single piece of lint dared to adhere itself to her. She had an athletic, hidden, muscular build that I couldn’t help but to admire.

As a lawyer, Ji-Woo was ruthless. She constructed such pithy arguments, the opposition was often left speechless. And on a few occasions they were left literally stammering. Ever professional, Ji-Woo never showed any form of celebration or elation in victory. She spoke clearly, with seriousness and a dose of harnessed emphasis. Ji-Woo’s days were neither ‘good days’ nor ‘bad days’. She took on the day’s obstacles as if she had rehearsed them wholly the day before (though probably didn’t need it.).

The first time that I saw Ji-Woo Suzuki I was somehow dragged into a meeting of which I had no reason for being in attendance. I was struck by her. Though I prayed I could stay hidden, as a fly on the wall. Ji-Woo Suzuki led a team of class-action specific lawyers. Without ever speaking with her, one would simply assume she was the unquestionable leader. Only after an introduction, Ji-Woo Suzuki would offer to call her “Ji”, as a favor to you. It was not uncommon for people to reply to this offer by thanking her. Though, they were often left deciding whether to continue calling her Ji-Woo out of respect or interpreting her offer as an order. Most people continued to call her Ji-Woo or Ms. Suzuki.

I was staring at her. She was unpacking her case notes. People in the room started conversing. She uncapped a Montblanc rollerball and began to write. Just then, she stopped writing, wrinkled her brow in confusion and looked up directly at me as if to ask, “Who are you, and why are you here?” Her look was sharp, piercing but gentle. A needle and thread. 

She looked right through me. And that was the first time I knew, 

I was going to marry Ji-Woo Suzuki.

The meeting must have ended. I assumed so because the room had started to clear out. I hadn’t really been paying attention, not that I should have been. I wasn’t even supposed to be there in the first place! 

I pretended to collect my things slowly trying to match Ji-Woo’s pace so we could incidentally leave the conference room at the same time. This was quite difficult because I had no belongings to pack up, nor a briefcase to put them in. So I took out my phone from my pocket and pretended to reply to an email. I looked up again and she was already pushing her chair in (when did that happen?!). She moved with intent. I hurriedly shoved my phone into my pocket and jumped up to meet her in the doorway. 

“Hi”, I said, giving my best impression of someone far more casual than myself.

Ji looked at me quizzically, replied dryly with “Hello” and continued past me. Just like a fighter-jet breaking the sound barrier, she was gone, leaving only a potent echo. I must’ve blacked out, because the next thing I knew, she was already halfway down the hall. A paper came loose from her briefcase and she didn’t seem to notice.

This

 was

 my

 chance. 

I fast-walked down the hall as coolly as possible, “hey wait!” I called out. But she was already rounding the corner down the hall. I picked up the piece of paper, in perfect cursive writing it read,

I see you, do you see me?

5:00pm

My temple wrinkled in confusion. I looked up again and she was gone. The heart in my chest reminded me of its presence with a mighty thump. I felt myself sweat. Was this meant for me to find? I returned to the copy room and returned to my work. 

But all I could think of was one Miss Ji-Woo Suzuki. One moment she was there, and then she was not. 

In the periphery, 

of where I wanted to be. 

I felt invigorated. Anxious and curious. 

Piqued.

I got back to the copy room and looked at my digital casio watch, 2:04pm.

My inbox of “to be copied” was now spilling out. I assumed position in front of the plastic, off-white monstrosity. 

First, I’ll take the source material in my left hand! Then! I read the copy instructions and made the proper adjustments and number of copies. After the copies were completed I placed a single paper clip on the ream and set it in the pick up box. Organized alphabetically. To most people, the job would seem boring, though I would argue that there are quite a lot of nuances to it. For example: Eighteen copies of pages one through three, six copies of pages four through ten, and that’s an easy one. 

A page goes in, the scanning light travels from right to left, and left to right, pages come out. I know the machine inside and out. I know because I have had to take it apart and reassemble it, not without hiccups, of course. I went home that day with a black ink stain on my chest. Like I was blasted by a shotgun, and bled black. The skin on my belly was still stained where the ink and bled through the shirt. 

Occasionally pieces of dust or folded paper would cast a shadow on the rest of the page. It caused a ghastly, black, pixelated shadow to print on the copies. Sometimes the shadowed copies were fine to pass along, sometimes, they were better discarded. 

At five pm, I stood outside of Ji-Woo’s office. I was nervous to enter. She sat behind a sleek mid-century desk with her legs folded. Her slate gray dress suit and Mac Pro reminded me of a brutalist era sculpture I saw once as a teenager. I didn’t understand the sculpture then, though maybe I do now. 

She had nice legs, I absolutely understood that. I caught glimpses of her toned calf muscles through the gap of her desk as I paced as casually as possible in front of the open doorway. 

After a few paces back and forth, I heard her call out to me, “You can come in, you know.” I froze. Then somehow came to find myself sitting in the chair across from hers. The desk remained between us. I didn’t know what to say, at that moment, I couldn’t be sure if I knew how to speak. 

“I noticed you today in the Carter vs. Amadeo-Hastings meeting.” She said. 

“No… I mean, yes, I was there. Just trying to learn what it’s all about.” Do you think she bought it?

“Are you interested in practicing law?”

“Uhm, yeah, interested? Definitely.” 

I actually had only worked at the office for about a month. I was still fairly unclear on what business the office conducted, let alone the ‘partners’. Before, I worked at the busiest copy center in Seattle. I got let go after I yelled at a customer, “Stop breaking my shit!” and in my defense, they were going to break the

Konica Minolta c754e! Those things aren’t cheap, and the replacement parts take three weeks to get to the states. 

 “Would you like to go to dinner with me?” She asked. 

    I felt a draft in the back of my agape mouth. Ji-Woo liked a breeze in the office. I found that out later that night when she told me at dinner. 

We continued to see each other after work every Tuesday and during the day on Saturday. This was when Ji-Woo allowed herself recreational time. I learned a lot about Ji-Woo’s schedule during this initial period of dating. I found her structure and stoicism quite sexy. She made all of the reservations at restaurants. And not just nice restaurants, she even made reservations for tacky hole-in-the-wall places that she knew I would like. A few times she would order for me. Like a mind reader, she would always order exactly what I wanted yet never in a demeaning way. She seemed to know exactly when I wanted to speak for myself and when I was comfortable with her ordering for me. 

After about a month, midday on a Friday, she sent me an email. The subject line simply read, 

“Tomorrow Night 4/16/2019”

Hi Kentaro, 

Please meet me at my house tomorrow night at 6:00pm. We’ll go to dinner. I’ve made reservations at 7:30. Casual attire.

Ji

This was more or less the usual date query. Though, interestingly, she signed it at just Ji. Futhermore, she would usually ask to meet at six with reservations about the time it took to get to the restaurant. Surely we weren’t going somewhere that was an hour and a half away. 

That night, I was talking to an old friend of mine, Leo, on the phone. I was telling him about Ji-Woo and I. About how I eagerly awaited those Tuesdays and Saturdays. And about the one time I asked her out on a whim on a Friday night. She declined. I was upset for a while. But respected her need for personal space, and strict schedule. “It’s just how she is”. 

 I told Leo that we hadn’t had sex. “That’s good dude, she’s probably a Sazae Oni” he replied sarcastically. I didn’t understand his reference, but as his tone implied, it was a snide comment I’d best ignore... but didn’t. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I asked sharply. 

“Sa-zae Oh-ni!” He said louder and slower in syllables, as if it were common knowledge. He continued, “They’re these folk tale snail mermaids that preyed on Japanese pirates. They would pretend to be in distress, but when the pirates brought them onboard, the sazae oni would chop off their balls and hold them ransom for gold. They’re like, obsessed with gold or something.” A weird silence filled the phone line as I looked around the room, waiting for him to finish. 

He started again, “ok, it doesn’t matter. You’re the Japanese one, should you know what a sazae oni is?”

I held my lips taught, annoyedly. 

“Well, is she someone you’d bring home to meet your mother?” He asked me. I thought about this for a while. I imagined a cartoon caricature version of my mother asking me, “Why would you want to be with someone that is so serious all the time?”

Up until this point I had never even seen the inside of her apartment. Whenever I was to meet her there, she would already be outside the gate waiting for me. 

That Saturday night I took a cab to her apartment building as I usually did. It started to rain on the way over and fog grew in density the closer I got to the apartment. I didn’t check the forecast beforehand, and I didn’t have an umbrella. I arrived at the gate and Ji-Woo wasn’t around. I checked my phone for any missed messages from her, but there were none. 

    I buzzed her intercom. “Hi, I’m here. Are you there?”

    “Still getting ready, come up.” 

She buzzed me in. This was it, I was finally going to see where(and how!) she lived. 6th Floor, apartment 6F. Embarrassingly, I panted a bit when I got to her floor. I stood on her doormat, it said ‘Welcome’. I was slightly damp, everywhere. I wore an old grey knit sweater. I had washed it so many times the collar was getting tiny holes. Faded blue jeans and shabby sneakers. I checked my casio, 6:00pm exactly. “Yes! Perfect timing” I exclaimed silently as I clenched my fist in victory, then knocked on the door insouciantly. “Come in!”, I could hear Ji-Woo shout from behind the door. I opened the door, slowly. I floated in like an astronaut, opening the hatch to an alien planet. I opened it to a small foyer. There was a modern-looking coat rack which I hung my soggy jacket on. To the right was an inviting, lamp-lit living room. There was one of those long arched floor lamps spilling its light on an Eames Lounge chair. I imagined Ji-woo perched on it, with a warm beverage, reading a dense book. Floor to ceiling bookshelves and floor to ceiling windows lined the rest of the room, I realized it was a top floor corner apartment. Black and white photographs and pen drawings hung on the wall. There were blankets draped on the modern couches. It felt uncharacteristically cozy. The furniture all flowed perfectly, like it was a team of designers’ life’s work. 

    On the left there was another closet. Then further down, it opened up to the dining room. “In here” She shouted, from that direction. 

    I kicked off my tattered sneakers and the uppers deflated like popped balloons. I took one step toward the kitchen and I was struck with the most extraordinary smell. It was rich, minerally and spicy. I let my nose lead the way. 

She stood at the stove. She was wearing a loose knit navy sweater that was well loved and jeans. Her sleeves were pushed up. She was wearing a nice apron. Her hair was pulled back, not in a braid, but in a perfectly round bun. 

    The dining table was set for two. Plates, silverware, a wine glass for her and a beer glass for me. There were two candles and a decorative bowl. The bowl was filled with some unknown liquid that looked like molten gold. I wanted to stick my finger in it but didn’t. 

    She turned and saw me, and I saw her. “I didn’t mean that casual.” she said jokingly. Lately she has been making more and more jokes, but only during our dates. It was comfortable, and usually pretty funny. 

“It smells so good, what is it?” I said. I walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter by the stove. She leaned over and planted a kiss on my lips. I was so surprised that it was over before I could react. There was a battle in my head between the heavenly smelling food and the thought of the kiss. 

“It’s almost ready. Get us drinks from the fridge.” She instructed me. The fridge was filled with different sized glass containers. They all stacked neatly, each with a label of what it was and a date. There was a bottle of white wine and a fancy looking beer with today’s date. I took them from the fridge and opened them. She looked as though she were a professional chef. She moved with tempered urgency and precision. “Budae-Jjigae. Budae is ‘army’ or ‘army base’, jjigae is ‘stew’. It’s a recipe my grandmother taught me... a long time ago.” She stopped what she was doing and looked off into space. 

A few seconds later, she regained consciousness from her memory and started to plate the food. It was finished. 

It was delicious. It was perfect. It was obvious that Ji-Woo had made this dish many times and was able to recreate it perfectly. “How many other romantic interests had she made this for?” I wondered, but quickly spurned the thought. I wasn’t shy, and got a hearty second helping. 

I wiped my mouth and leaned back in my chair, and polished off the last of my beer. I wanted badly to unbutton my pants and relieve the pressure on my waistband. Instead, we got up and cleaned the kitchen together. 

Later on, we found each other on the sofa near the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. I was elated. Warm, with a full belly. Calm, sleepy, but present, I closed my eyes and relished. 

“Do not fall asleep.”

Ji-Woo instructed me. “I will be right back.” She said. 

Insubordinately, I was falling asleep when from down the hall, I heard her call me, “Come here, I need to show you something.” I sleepily approached the room at the end of the hall. A bedroom. As I got closer to the doorway, I could see a mirror’s reflection in the bedroom. It truly was a bed-room. A queen size mattress and two small side tables with lamps were the only furniture. Warm, golden light spilled out of the bedside lamps that reflected off the polished hardwood floors and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. A single, brand new candle was lit on the nightstand. But there was no lighter or matches anywhere. How was it lit?

    Ji-Woo lay on the bed, one leg crossed over the other. Her right arm supported her posture. Her hair was down. It was now I could fully realize the length and volume of her hair. It flowed down her back and fanned out perfectly behind her like a ginkgo leaf. The low lighting in the room accented her dark makeup. Her eyeshadow shimmered subtly.

She was wearing a lacy bodysuit of lingerie so scant, it could hardly be described as clothing. A lacy and delicate fabric choker connected to thin straps perfectly obfuscated her nipples. Ethereal panties suspend a pair of elegant garters. The fabric adhered to her slender, toned body as if it were made custom. 

She eyed me fervently,

And I was very awake then.

After it was over I felt euphoric and peaceful,

Unburdened. 

I turned over, towards her in bed.

I put my head on her chest.

 And I heard nothing.

[mariacallous]

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey appreciates Sweden’s steps so far to get approval to join NATO but it is not even “halfway” through fulfilling the commitments it made to secure Ankara’s support, the Turkish foreign minister said Thursday.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said a Swedish court’s decision not to extradite a man wanted by Turkey for alleged links to a 2016 failed coup had “poisoned” a positive atmosphere in negotiations on Sweden’s membership in the military alliance.

Sweden and Finland dropped their longstanding policies of military nonalignment this year and decided to apply to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move requires the unanimous approval of the alliance’s current 30 members.

Turkey has held up the process while pressing the two Nordic countries to crack down on groups it considers to be terrorist organizations and to extradite people suspected of terror-related crimes.

The parliaments of 28 NATO countries have already ratified Sweden and Finland’s membership. Turkey and Hungary are the only members that haven’t yet given their approval.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, Cavusoglu said the Turkish government still was waiting for a “concrete development” on extraditions and asset freezes. Also,some Turkish defense companies were not able to procure some equipment from Sweden despite the lifting of a weapons ban, he added.

“There is a document, it needs to be implemented. We’re not even at the halfway point yet. We’re at the beginning,” he said, referring to a memorandum of understanding which Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed in June.

Under the memorandum, the two countries agreed to address Turkey’s security concerns, including requests for the deportation and extradition of Kurdish militants and people linked to a network run by U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. The Turkish government accuses Gulen of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt, which he denies.

Billström’s visit came days after Sweden’s top court refused to extradite journalist Bulent Kenes, whom Turkey accuses of being among the coup plotters. Kenes, who received asylum in Sweden, was the editor of the English-language Today’s Zaman newspaper, which was owned by the Gulen network and the government closed down as part of its crackdown on the group.

“The negotiations ( between Turkey and Sweden ) were continuing in a constructive way,” Cavusoglu said. “But this last (incident), the rejection of Kenes’ extradition, unfortunately, seriously poisoned this atmosphere.”

Billström reiterated that Sweden was determined to fulfill its commitments and said Stockholm was in the process of strengthening its anti-terrorism legislation.

A constitutional amendment will enter into force on Jan. 1 that restricts the freedom of association of groups that engage in or support terrorism, he said.

The Swedish government also plans to introduce legislation that further impedes people taking part in the activities of terrorist groups, Billström said.

“My message to Minister Cavusoglu and to the Turkish people is clear: Sweden keeps its promises. We take the agreement seriously. We have initiated steps on every paragraph and we will continue to implement it,” the Swedish minister said.

Billström later told The Associated Press by phone that Sweden has underlined that cases such as Kenes’ are handled by independent courts.

“We are bound by this decision, and that is how it is,” he said.

Billström said conversations between Sweden and Turkey were taking place at multiple levels of government and that Ankara acknowledged Sweden had made strides in meeting the memorandum’s terms.

He could not give a time frame for when Turkey might be ready to approve Sweden’s NATO membership.

“Meetings are held in a good spirit,” he said. “We are heading in the right direction. We will gradually fulfill this memorandum.”

[theheadlesshearseman]

As a progressive independent leftist, I'm voting Howie Hawkins of the Green Party for president. We live in an oligarchy, not a democracy; Biden and Trump are on the same team backed by the same corporate donors. I know the Green Party can't win — I'm not delusional. We vote Green for the purpose of getting the party to a goal of 5% popular vote. When this is achieved, they get federal funding and nationwide ballot access in 2024. 15% popular vote will get them a podium on the debate stage and federal funding for the 2022 mid-term elections.

Biden won't support a Green New Deal, ban fracking, publicized healthcare, police reform, and most other policies progressives stand for. We need these things for the sake of our planet and our people. We are in the middle of a God damned pandemic, and the best the Democrats could offer is the revival of the Affordable Care Act — an act which requires you to have health insurance, or else pay a penalty fee for not having insurance. How are so many unemployed Americans supposed to pull off getting insured? Due to the government mandate, companies have consolidated and the market is monopolized, causing rates to go parabolic. But it's okay because pre-existing conditions are covered. That's great, but I still can't afford my medication for chronic asthma. Thank goodness for the black market! We don't see health insurance; we need health ASSURANCE — publicized healthcare (Medicare4All) is how you guarantee everyone, employed or not, rich or poor, is taken care of.

This notion democracy will cease to exist if Trump is re-elected is a farce, regurgitated by every panicked Biden voter. We have a system of checks and balances in place to prevent his abuse of power, yet media outlets are planting these thoughts of paranoia into the general public, and it's sick. Conversely, the Trump campaign tells their constituents that Biden is a radical leftist Marxist whose constituents hate America. Both sides use fear, division, and hate to keep you voting within the two-party duopoly. Either way, THEY win.

Most of the news outlets in the world are owned by 6 corporations. (It was just 24 corporations back in the 90s.) Each media company shares a board member with a big pharmaceutical company board member. Their goal is to augment their bottom line at our expense by lobbying to politicians of both major parties, donating to them in exchange for policies that further increase their bottom line. Remember in the late 90s/early 2000s when we started seeing ads for prescription drugs on TV for the first time? That's when the media company consolidation started growing.

These big corporations have a lot to lose if a third party gets elected. That's why they do anything in their power to sway public opinion via the news media, making you think you only have a choice between Republican and Democrat, shaming you from dare voting a third party for their ideals because "they can't win," swaying the public to vote "Gucci brand politicians" over that unknown brand at the store you keep passing up, but if you actually tried it, you wouldn't go back to "Kraft". You are going to get the same result with Biden or Trump.

I'm disgusted with Trump privatizing national park land for oil drilling. Native American lands are encroached upon and exploited by big oil. Look at the Keystone Pipeline; that happened with Obama at the helm. When Biden gets elected, he will perpetuate the abuse of our lands that Trump has perpetuated from previous administrations. Colonialism forges onward in the 21st century with an unnecessarily large military budget — $750 billion.

Both are rapists, both are racists, both perpetuate corporate control and exploitation of we the people, and I'm sick and tired of it. Plus, what Biden did to Tara Reade is utterly despicable and disgusting, but what's more disgusting is how people still support Biden after Reade has provided more supporting circumstantial evidence for her rape claims than any of Kavanaugh's accusers.

You have forfeited your integrity to say, "me too" and, "believe women" if you support Biden (and especially if you support Trump) because unlike the line-in-item veto power of the presidency, as voters, you, by default, have to endorse the entire package because you GET the entire package: a 47-year career politician who digitally raped a young intern in '93 that won't assure healthcare for the American people during a pandemic, won't ban fracking despite our climate crisis, authored the '94 crime bill responsible for the mass incarceration of back people and people of color for petty drug charges, responsible for the bank bill that pushed an entire generation of Americans into deep abysmal student loan debts due to high interest rates that his big bank donors profited off of while claiming to have no empathy for millennials who have it hard and statistically own only 4% of the nation's wealth even as the largest generational member of the American population, now running off a campaign of being the voice of reason, the light, the good, and not being Trump.

This IS the reality of it. In a way, I do live in an alternate reality from the rest of the JoeBlowHards that go through life not realizing there is a veil over them. I don't fear a Trump re-election, yet Biden is ahead by 10+ points in the polls, mostly by fools who think you can push Biden, a 47-year bought and paid for politician, left once elected. To push a politician left, you need leverage in the form of dollars — billions and billions and BILLIONS of dollars. What are you gonna do, squirt shampoo on a piece of progressive legislation to get the hair sniffer to sign it?! 😂

Biden CANNOT be pushed left for progressive policies because the very policies you support would directly undermine the big industries that are lining the pockets of the Republicans AND Democrats: Green New Deal VS Oil and Gas; Medicare for All VS Big Pharma; Free College Tuition VS Big Banks, etc. If you want ANY of these policies, we HAVE TO break through the two-party duopoly's choke-hold on the American people.

I feel it would be worse for Biden to get elected because I guarantee you, if he does, people will go back to sleep on all that is wrong with our country. With Trump in office, everything is happening in front of the curtain. With Biden, "nothing will fundamentally change" as he closes the curtain in front of the dark doings of the United States, continuing Trump's destruction behind the scenes. At least with Trump, since he attracts the spotlight, we can keep an eye on our oppressors. With Trump, people will stay mad, and we need to stay mad, not go back to sleep. Oh, and with a Biden victory, I will, once again, get charged a penalty for not having health insurance for my PRE-EXISTING CONDITION that I couldn't afford in the first place.

Disclaimer: I wasn't paid by Russia to type this. And if you're a Republican reading this and sick of Trump, come to the Green side; we support the second ammendment! When you swing far enough left, you get your guns back. ;)

Feel free to share and discuss.