#eliminer une rivale

[thatswhatsushesaid]

re: that last post I reblogged about 3zun and each of their respective efforts into trying to make the sworn brotherhood work

while I do absolutely agree that they are all trying, if you asked me to tell you which member of the venerated triad is actually trying the hardest to reconcile the diametrically opposed worldviews of his sworn brothers and his obligations to his sect and family (rather than trying to strong-arm reality to align with his own worldview, or not look too closely at the intensity of the conflict that is developing within these relationships)

it's jin guangyao

[dragoneyes618]

amas is the best spokesman for Israel. The most gruesome footage of the atrocities of October 7 comes from the body cameras worn by the invading savages. Unlike the Nazis yemach shemam, notes the estimable Douglas Murray, the Hamas murderers were not even ashamed of their lack of any flicker of humanity.

Next Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, proclaimed on Lebanese TV that Hamas’s attacks on October 7 were just the first of many to come, and that the Gaza-Israeli border would be one of continual warfare. “Israel is a country that has no place in our land. We must remove it because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation,” he explained. In short, Israel must be destroyed.

There is no reason to doubt Hamad’s sincerity on this point. He is simply repeating what is already explicit in Hamas’s charter. Thus Israel has no choice but to destroy Hamas. Indeed Israel may be obligated to do so under the anti-genocide conventions, in light of Hamas’s expressed genocidal intent towards the Jews of Israel.

Israel’s entry into Gaza has nothing to do with exacting revenge. It is an act of self-defense, pure and simple. True, the bloodthirsty mobs on campuses and in major metropolitan areas worldwide bellow that Israel is a colonialist intruder in the Middle East, and lacks any right to exist. But they can hardly expect Israel to acquiesce in that judgment and agree to its own disappearance. Point one.

Point two: Destroying Hamas requires destroying its vast network of underground tunnels, which rival the London underground in length, and eliminating its entire military command and infrastructure.

Point three: Because Hamas locates all its military assets in or under civilian areas — hospitals, schools, mosques, and apartment buildings — that destruction will inevitably result in the deaths of civilians. Of course, we will never know how many, as figures reported by the Hamas Health Ministry lack all credibility. That same Health Ministry claimed 500 dead from a bomb on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital — a claim dutifully reported by the international press. The actual number was 50 or less, and from an errant Islamic Jihad rocket to boot.

Similarly, in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, Palestinians claimed that Israeli forces killed 5,000 Palestinians, and UN Special Middle East Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen and Philip Reeves of the Independent buttressed those claims with descriptions of the smell of death so pervasive one could simply not stand in Jenin. The actual number of Palestinian deaths, however, was 56, of which almost all were Palestinian fighters.

However many or few Gazan civilians have died or will die in the current fighting, all their deaths are attributed to Hamas under international law as a result of Hamas’s refusal to observe the rule of distinction, which requires it to separate military infrastructure from civilians.

Hamas courts those civilian deaths. Every civilian killed is a “martyr” in its view, and as Hamad put it, “we are proud to sacrifice our martyrs.” Hamas takes no responsibility for the Gazan civilian population. Asked by Russian Today’s Arabic language station on October 27 why Hamas has never built any bomb shelters for Gaza’s civilians, Moussa Abu Marzouk, another senior Hamas political bureau figure, replied from his safe redoubt in Qatar that the underground tunnels are exclusively for the protection of Hamas fighters. But responsibility for providing for the needs of the civilian population, which elected Hamas in 2007, rests with the UN (UNRWA) and Israel.

Finally, dead civilians are a propaganda bonanza for Hamas, and the means by which Hamas secures international support for a ceasefire. For that reason, Hamas has attempted to block Gazans from fleeing south in response to Israel’s warnings to do so, and has even fired on caravans fleeing the fighting in northern Gaza.

The only party with an interest in keeping civilian casualties to a minimum is Israel. And that has always been the case. What Colonel Richard Kemp, former High Commander of British expeditionary forces in Afghanistan, and someone with a lifetime of experience in asymmetric conflicts, said of the IDF in Operation Cast Lead remains true today: No army in the history of warfare has done more to minimize civilian deaths.

Even the BBC, not generally known for its excessive sympathy for Israel, last week interviewed Dr. Mahmoud Shaheen, a Gazan dentist who described how he had received a phone call from a fluent Arabic speaker urging him to tell all the residents of three neighboring apartment buildings to evacuate immediately, as the Israeli air force was about to bomb those buildings. The Israeli caller kept him on the phone for an hour. The buildings were bombed, as forewarned, but no civilians died as a consequence.

Later that same evening, Shaheen received a call from another Arabic speaker instructing him to bring the same warning to residents of another set of nearby buildings. And again, Israel planes did not drop their bombs until they were assured that the buildings had been evacuated.

Point four: Those demonstrating around the world and demanding a ceasefire pretend to be moved by the terrible humanitarian crisis in Gaza and by Israel’s allegedly genocidal attacks. Yet their ceasefire calls are inevitably accompanied by enthusiastic calls for the elimination of Israel: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”; “Just one final solution: worldwide intifada.”

If they really cared as much about the Palestinian population of Gaza as they do about the extermination of the Jews of Israel, they would be fervently hoping for the elimination of Hamas as quickly as possible. Hamas’s leaders, like Arafat before them, siphon off vast sums of international aide to build seaside villas or to live luxuriously abroad. A number of them are estimated to be billionaires.

Anything that can be put to military use — water pipes to fashion rockets; concrete to build tunnels — is. The needs of the civilian population count for nothing. Even now, Hamas is well-stocked with gas, water, and electricity in its underground lairs, while the civilian population goes without.

The Allies’ demand for “unconditional surrender” by Germany and Japan at the end of the World War II is the relevant historical precedent for the current battle. Hundreds of thousands of German civilians died in the last months of the war in Europe and even more in Japan, with the firebombing of Tokyo and the dropping of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But without that unconditional surrender, the denazification of Germany and the end of the emperor cult in Japan could never have come about. Only by shedding their authoritarian culture were Germany and Japan able to enjoy their post-war prosperity and become the crucial bulwarks of the Western alliance.

There can never be peace between Israel and Palestinians as long as Palestinian children are raised on the goal of Israel’s destruction. But that is precisely what they are taught in the UN-run schools in Gaza — that Israel’s very existence is, as Hamad said, a “catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation.”

Yassir Arafat walked away from an offer at Camp David in 2000 far beyond the Israeli consensus because he had never prepared his people for peace — i.e., acceptance of Israel’s existence in any borders. And accepting Israel’s permanence would have left him, in his words, “a dead man walking.”

That same yearning for the end of Israel permeates all the demonstrations in support of Hamas today and the social media posts of Palestinian academics and doctors (and many non-Palestinians as well), whether they are devout Muslims or not. That frenzy of hatred makes all talk of a two-state solution in the present pure happy talk.

The one place where that hatred is diminished, as has been clear in recent weeks, is among Israel’s Arab population, who have enjoyed the benefits of life in Israel, both in terms of their prosperity and their individual freedoms. Whenever a proposal is broached for a return of certain Palestinian areas to a future Palestinian state, the residents’ protests are loud and overwhelming. And at least part of the reason is that those living in Israel are not educated to loathe Jews or on fantasies that they will disappear into the sea.

The relative wellbeing of Israeli Arabs, as compared to their fellow Palestinians, could serve one day as a beacon of hope for all Palestinians, including those of Gaza. But first Hamas must be eradicated entirely.

[xtruss]

Stalin Against The Jews: How The Soviet Dictator Lost His Last Fight

70 years ago, the Georgian strongman's death brought an end to persecution of the religious minority and the infamous “Doctor’s Case”

— 17 April, 2023 | RT

Photo: RT

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s “purges,” targeted at groups of his perceived rivals, are a unique historical and psychological phenomenon as well as the subject of considerable research. In the 1920s, the Georgian indiscriminately eliminated political competitors from opposing parties and classes, former White Army officers, and workers of the tsarist military-industrial complex. In the 1930s, he went after internal party opponents, the entire leadership of the Red Army, and the NKVD (forerunner to the KGB). Fortunately, the terror was briefly halted during World War Two.

By the end of the conflict, the search for internal enemies guilty of “impeding the construction of communism” resumed. The new enemy of the Stalinist regime was presented in the image of a cosmopolitan and... a Jew. The so-called ‘Doctors' Case’ was to become the highlight of this new anti-Semitic purge, but the legal process was abruptly closed immediately after Stalin’s death.

Rootless Cosmopolitanism

The USSR’s joint victory over Germany and Japan together with Western allies gave rise to a geopolitically unjustified, “friendly” attitude towards Western countries. Ordinary Soviet people just couldn’t see how people that helped them throughout the war suddenly became the enemy in a new, ‘cold’ war.

To fix this cognitive dissonance, the USSR launched a campaign against cosmopolitanism. The authorities advocated the idea that the war against Hitler was won by one great nation – the Soviet people, as Stalin proclaimed in his famous toast on May 24, 1945. Now, if this nation defeated the world's evil, it surely possessed the best of everything. Thus, any attempts to compare the domestic situation to life in other countries were labeled as “kowtowing before the West.”

Citizens expressing “cosmopolitan” views and statements, especially those whose work implied contacts with foreigners, could easily fall victim to the “anti-Soviet” Article 58 of the Criminal Code. Legal formulations based on observed behavior ranged from “admired American weapons and military equipment” (received by the USSR under lend-lease) to “nurtured anti-Soviet sentiments” or “had ties resulting in suspicions of espionage.”

The campaign proceeded at all levels. Newspapers and Soviet “courts of honor” launched a campaign against “idealism,” “cosmopolitanism,” “formalism,” and “Jewish bourgeois nationalism.” The latter was particularly important, since after Israel’s War of Independence, it became clear that, contrary to Stalin’s calculations – not to mention his supply of weapons to the Zionists – Israel would not become a satellite state of the USSR in the Middle East.

Konstantin Eliseev's caricature of a 'Passport-free Tramp' on the cover of the issue of the Crocodile magazine dated March 20, 1949, which appeared in the midst of a campaign to combat 'rootless cosmopolitanism'.

In 1948, the Soviet authorities began purging the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC), which they had created just a few years earlier. The organization’s leader, world-famous theater director and Jewish public figure Solomon Mikhoels, was killed in Minsk on Stalin's personal order.

The JAC answered to the NKVD and was initially established for propaganda purposes in 1942. Soviet Jews, scientists, and intellectuals were members of the organization. Their primary job was to collect financial assistance from the international community on behalf of the Jews fighting Nazism under the red banner.

Among other things, the committee collected information regarding the Holocaust on German-occupied Soviet territory. The ‘Black Book’ was printed in New York in 1946, but was never published in the USSR. According to the official stance of the authorities, the entire population of the Soviet Union was affected by the war, not just several nationalities. Therefore, the only Holocaust memorial was erected in Kiev, in Babi Yar. Memorials at other places of mass executions of the Jews were forbidden, despite numerous appeals by the Jewish community.

As the war ended and USSR’s political failure in Israel became apparent, the organization was deemed useless and said to merely attract “unnecessary” attention. So the JAC was dissolved in 1948.

At that time, the two campaigns – against “kowtowing before the West” and that of latent anti-Semitism – merged into a single fight against cosmopolitanism. Jews, especially Zionists, became the most frequent victims. In order to achieve solid results in the mobilization economy, the enemy had to have a face. While England and the US were the image of the external enemy, “cosmopolitans” became the USSR’s internal “fifth column.”

Russia is the Homeland of Elephants

The campaign was conducted by the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU and was led by Andrey Zhdanov. The department's attitude was explicitly clear:

“There can be no talk of any civilization without the Russian language, without the science and culture of the Soviet peoples. They have the priority.The capitalist world has passed its zenith and is convulsively rolling down, while the country of socialism, full of power and creative forces, is on the rise. The Soviet system is a hundred times greater and better than any bourgeois system, and the bourgeois democracies, with their political systems lagging an entire epoch behind the USSR, will have to catch up with the first country of true people’s power.” Party organizations were told to “focus on educating workers in the ideas of Leninism, encourage the sacred feelings of Soviet patriotism and a burning hatred of capitalism and all manifestations of bourgeois ideology.”

Andrei Zhdanov © Sputnik / Shagin

Ogonyok magazine reproduced images of works by Western artists, such as Salvador Dali, with harsh criticism of the “militant imperialism and zoological misanthropy.” Western literature was hardly ever translated. “Nord" cigarettes were renamed “Sever” [Russian for ‘North’] and “French bread” was renamed “urban bread.” During this period there were also attempts to attribute the discovery of the Law of Conservation of Matter to Mikhail Lomonosov, not Antoine Lavoisier, and the invention of the radio telegraph to Alexander Popov instead of Guglielmo Marconi. A joke underlining the absurdity of the campaign emerged at the time: “Russia is the homeland of elephants.”

In January 1948, Zhdanov first used the epithet ‘rootless cosmopolitan’ in his speech. "Internationalism is born where national art flourishes. Forgetting this truth means... losing your face, turning into a rootless cosmopolitan."

In another article, one of his deputies stated that cosmopolitanism is the ideology of the imperialist bourgeoisie. This included Pavel Milyukov, Nikolai Bukharin, Leon Trotsky, all Vlasovites and collaborators. In short, all the political opponents of the Stalinist regime and the enemies of the people were labeled cosmopolitans. From a seemingly amorphous accusation, ‘cosmopolitanism’ turned into a term as dangerous as ‘traitor of the Motherland.’

The campaign was accompanied by outbursts of severe criticism in the newspapers, including certain literary and theatrical publications, with most of it directed against Jews. However, there were no severe mass repressions. From 1948 to 1953, things didn’t move beyond aggressive public sentiments.

“International Center of Espionage”

At the end of August 1948, Zhdanov experienced troubles with his heart. Like the rest of the country’s top leadership, he was monitored by the best doctors of the USSR, who worked in the medical and sanitary department of the People's Commissariat of Health. On August 28, the head of the functional diagnostics department, Lydia Timashuk, did a cardiogram at Zhdanov's country house and diagnosed a heart attack. However, more experienced and high-ranking doctors ignored her conclusion, excluded the diagnosis of heart attack, and prescribed other treatments. Timashuk wrote to her superiors explaining her position, but these letters were also ignored. Three days later, Zhdanov died of a heart attack.

Lydia Timashuk © Wikipedia

This incident later formed the basis of the ‘Doctors' Case.’ However, it wasn’t immediately given due attention. In those years, the Soviet authorities had plenty of other motives for removing undesirable people. For example, the purge of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee was then in full swing. In 1949, a criminal case was initiated against the organization and the authorities arrested the entire leadership of the JAC. Fifteen people were accused of “ties to Jewish nationalist organizations in America...” Of those, 13 were shot in 1952, and about a hundred more members of the organization were repressed.

Antisemitic processes also took place across Eastern Europe. In November 1952, the Rudolf Slansky trial took place in Czechoslovakia. At the time, part of the leadership of Czechoslovakia – a key republic of the Eastern bloc – tried to establish direct ties with socialist Yugoslavia ruled by Josif Tito. Moscow’s reaction to this was severe. Thirteen people were put on trial, including Slansky, the secretary general of the Central Committee of the CPC, Foreign Minister Vladimir Klementis, and other senior officials. Of the 13 people, 11 were Jews, which made the accusation directly antisemitic. Moreover, at the trial, Israel was called a tool in the hands of the supporters of a new world war, and an international center of espionage.

Against this background, Timashuk's reports were seen in a new light. It turned out, her superiors who did not back the diagnosis were mostly Jews. Many of them were arrested, and an article titled ‘Vile spies and murderers in the guise of medical professors’ was published in Pravda and other newspapers. A detailed official report of the incident followed:

“The investigation established that members of the terrorist group, abusing the status of physicians and the trust of patients, deliberately and villainously undermined their health, made incorrect diagnoses, and killed the patients with improper treatment. Under the guise of the high and noble title of physicians – men of science, these fiends and murderers trampled the sacred banner of science. Embarking on a path of monstrous crimes, they have defiled the honor of scientists.”

Fragment of a cartoon dedicated to the "doctors' case" from the magazine 'Crocodile', winter 1953.

The same TASS report stated: “It has been established that all members of the terrorist group worked for foreign intelligence services, to whom they sold body and soul, and were their hired paid agents.” It went on to say their goal was to “kill active officials of the Soviet state.”

Another quote from the same report:

“Most members of the terrorist group – Vovsi, B. Kogan, Feldman, Greenstein, Etinger, and others – were hired by American intelligence. They were recruited by the international Jewish bourgeois-nationalist organization ‘Joint’ – a branch of American intelligence. The dirty face of this Zionist spy organization, which hides its vile activities under the guise of charity, has been completely exposed.”

‘Joint’ was indeed a charity organization that had existed since World War One and provided relief to Jews around the world. Two world wars, the Great Depression, the rise of the Nazis to power, and Israel’s War of Independence offered plenty of occasions for humanitarian aid. It is not surprising that the arrested doctors could have had contact with such a powerful international organization.

Stalin's personal dislike of the Jews played a large part in these events. On December 1, 1952, Stalin declared: “Any nationalist Jew is an agent of American intelligence. Nationalist Jews believe that their nation was saved by the United States... Among doctors, there are many nationalist Jews.”

The tone of accusations in media outlets like Pravda and TASS, as well as the high rank of the arrested ‘killers in white robes’ left no doubt that a large-scale public trial was being prepared. Only this time, the accused were not servicemen or Trotskyists, but doctors and mostly Jews.

© RIA News

Endgame

The main defendant was Miron Vovsi. In 1941-1950, Vovsi was the chief physician of the Soviet Army, held the titles of academician and major general, and was one of the developers of military field therapy. Following his arrest at the end of 1953, he was named the leader of the group of ‘killer doctors.’

Besides Vovsi, the accused included the head of the Department of Hospital Therapy of the First Moscow Medical Institute Boris Kogan, the creator and head of the ENT Department of the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Training Alexander Feldman, Joseph Stalin's physician Vladimir Vinogradov, the head of the Kremlin's medical and sanitary department and Stalin's leading physician Pyotr Egorov, and Yakov Etinger – the personal physician of people’s commissars Georgy Chicherin, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Semyon Budyonny, Maxim Litvinov, and Palmiro Togliatti.

These doctors along with several other famous medical professors were imprisoned in late 1952-early 1953. All the defendants were actively interrogated and preparations for a public trial were underway. Essentially, all were brought up on the same charges – the deliberate ill-treatment of major party officials.

However, the hearing never took place, because in early March 1953, Stalin himself suddenly fell ill and soon died.

Nikolai Mesyatsev, former special case investigator in the USSR Ministry of State Security, claimed that the link between the closure of the doctors' case and Stalin's death was based on speculation. According to Mesyatsev, the decision to close the case was reached by mid-February 1953. This explanation is contradicted by the growing accusations against the doctors and anti-Jewish stories in the press – both of which surged in mid-February and ceased only after the dictator's demise.

Historians agree that Lavrentiy Beria initiated the closure of the case on March 13 – a week after Stalin's death. Everyone arrested in the "Doctors' Case'' was released and reinstated a month afterwards. On the following day, an official announcement proclaimed that the confessions were obtained using “unacceptable investigative methods.” Lieutenant Colonel Ryumin, the official in charge of the case had been dismissed from the Ministry of State Security and was immediately arrested on Beria's order. He was shot in the summer of 1954 during Khrushchev’s trials of perpetrators of mass repressions.

The case was quickly overshadowed by the national mourning of the death of Stalin and a feeling of inevitable internal policy changes. All of a sudden, there was a sense of relief.

In the Soviet Union, anti-Israel rhetoric faded away until the Six-Day War of 1967. Meanwhile, Khrushchev's trips to the US put an end to the persecution of “cosmopolitans.” Incidentally, not long before this he would’ve surely been accused of “kowtowing before the West.”

— By Anatoliy Brusnikin, Russian historian and journalist

[speedsitecats]

List of dragon ball episodes

Jackie Chun / Quarterfinals Begin J23 He's Here! The Mighty Foe Giran / Monster Beast Giran J24 Kuririn's Desperate Offensive and Defensive Battle / Krillin's Frantic Attack! Aug25 Get Up, Goku! The Fearsome Tenku Pekeji-ken / Danger From Above Aug26 The Final Round!! Kamehame-Ha / The Grand Finals Aug27 Goku's Greatest Pinch / Number One Under the Moon? Aug28 Clash!! Power vs. Frypan's Gyumao / The Ox King on Fire Mountain Ap8 The Turtle Hermit's Kamehameha / The Kamehameha Wave Ap9 The Rabbit Boss' Special Technique / Boss Rabbit's Magic Touch Ap10 The Dragon Balls are Stolen!!! / The Dragon Balls are Stolen! Ap11 At Last the Dragon Appears! / The Penalty is Pinball 12 The Wish to Shen Long / A Wish to the Eternal Dragon 13 Goku's Great Transformation / The Legend of Goku 14 Goku's Rival? Appears!! / Goku's Rival 15 The Peculiar Girl, Lunch / Look Out for Launch J16 Training - The Rock Hunt / Find That Stone! J17 With Life at Stake! Milk Delivery / Milk Delivery J18 The Turtle Hermit's Intense Training / The Turtle Hermit Way J19 The Tenkaichi Tournament Begins! / The Tournament Begins J20 Will it Appear!? The Power From the Training / Elimination Round J21 Watch Out! Kuririn / Smells Like Trouble J22 Yamucha vs. It is a spin-off sequel of the television special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku, in which Bardock survives the destruction of Planet Vegeta.Date 1 Bulma and Son Goku / The Secret of the Dragon Balls Febru2 What the.?! No Balls! / The Emperor's Quest Ma3 The Turtle Hermit's Kinto Un / The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi Ma4 Oolong, the Kidnapping Monster / Oolong the Terrible Ma5 Yamcha, The Strong Yet Cruel Desert Bandit / Yamcha the Desert Bandit Ma6 Midnight Callers / Keep an Eye on the Dragon Balls Ap7 Mt. Instead, the feature could only be viewed in Japanese with subtitles. The feature was included worldwide, but was not dubbed in the appropriate language.

It was released as a bonus feature with the video game Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2. This is a remake of the 1993 OVA Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans. " Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans" It has not yet been licensed for distribution in other countries. It was later given a limited mail-order DVD release in Japan. This feature was first shown at the 2008 Jump Festa Tour, as well as through an online stream with subtitles in several different languages. " Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!" It is notable for never having seen an official release outside of Japan, unlike its 2010 remake.

This feature was released in two parts as an "Official Visual Guide" to the Famicom video game of the same title. "Doragon Bōru Zetto Gaiden: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku" (ドラゴンボールZ外伝 サイヤ人絶滅計画) " Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans"

[sitespeedvideo]

Touchretouch app iphone

TouchRetouch provides full instruction in-app and video examples that make it clear how the app works.Įven though TouchRetouch has been around a decade, the developers at Adva Soft are still adding features and improving the product. I think the results easily rival Photoshop object removal tools, and that's saying something. Here's a before and after of a quick flag removal With a bit more work I could have cleaned it up more and straightened the horizon in another editor, but I found the quick and dirty results quite good. Here's a quick example of some people standing beneath a giant pistachio in New Mexico.Ī couple of quick edits with TouchRetouch and the people, utility poll and wires are gone. TouchRetouch offers unlimited undo and redo. There's also a line removal tool, (great for eliminating power lines) and a clone stamp tool that provides several methods for cloning to match your editing situation. You can adjust the size of your brush, and you can use an erase tool to selective un-erase your selection. It allows for very precise edits working on a small smartphone screen. Use your finger to place the brush, and the app obligingly shows you the edit area slightly above where you are working, as your finger would obstruct your view. Edits usually start with the brush or lasso tool. The app can also cleanly remove blemishes from faces. It's been around since 2010 (on iOS) and offers really high quality object removal of people and photo bombers, power lines, just about anything that would detract from your photo. My smartphone photos are usually casual and quick, but often retouching is needed on those photos too.Īn epic piece of software for iOS and Android is TouchRetouch. But if I'm shooting with my smartphone, I usually don't want to transfer an image to my computer for serious editing unless I have to. It's hard to take a photo and not want to remove something. Visit ADVA Soft website at to learn more about the company and the apps it develops.įor any assistance with TouchRetouch, contact ADVA Soft Support at We welcome all your inquiries, comments, or suggestions about the app.I'm a big user of Content Aware Fill in Photoshop. We are doing our utmost to create apps that would positively affect your photo-editing experience. TouchRetouch is brought to you by ADVA Soft - a developer of Handy Photo and AntiCrop. Read some tips and advice on how to get more out of the tools the app offers.ĭownload TouchRetouch now and have a bit of magic in your pocket. Watch the in-app video tutorials for guidelines on how to use the app. Set Eraser Size, Hardness, and Opacity as needed. Use Eraser to wipe out what has just been cloned. Remove defects or duplicate objects by using the Clone Stamp tool.Īdjust Stamp Size, Hardness, and Opacity as desired. Set Line Thickness to Thin, Medium, or Thick for better performance.Įliminate distractions from photos with the Object Removal tool - select either Brush or Lasso, mark the content to be removed, and then tap the Go button. If you need to erase only a part of a line, use Segment Remover. Mark only a section of a line to remove it whole no need to be precise - the app will find the line. SINGLE-FLICK LINE REMOVAL - INNOVATIVE FEATURE With Blemish Remover, you can touch any minor blemish once to remove it forever. Make unwanted objects vanish right before your eyes by just marking them.

Remove whatever you feel is spoiling your photos.

Remove human-made objects like stop lights, street signs, trash cans.

Remove surface breaks and scratches - both straight and curved.

Remove telephone wires and posts, power lines.

TouchRetouch is an app that offers you all the tools you need to efficiently remove unwanted content from your iPhone photos. “TouchRetouch is a terrific ‘remover’.” - Life In LoFi “It's in my Top 5 "must have" photo apps.” - Michał Koralewski, Photographer of the Year 2015, IPPAwards “…there's no easier way to remove unwanted items from your images.” - The Guardian

[traveler-at-heart]

I’m only dreaming

Request from @poptartpoppyy: How about something With Natasha and an S/o who tends to fall asleep a lot and in random places.

Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader - Fluff with some hurt/comfort.

Thank you for the request! And sorry for the whiplash, I went from extreme fluff to sad times in a second. 

Natasha didn’t know what to make of it. One minute you would be paying attention, the next you’d drift off and sleep anywhere you were. Literally anywhere.

It couldn’t be a medical issue; you’d never be cleared to work as an Avenger if you were at risk of just dozing off in the middle of a mission.

The first time, it happened during planning. It was tedious, the only light in the room coming from a projector -there was a whole discussion between Tony and Cap about using one- and it was damn early. Without caring, you place your arms on the table and sleep through most of the session. Every eye is on you when the lights turn back on. “Y/N?” Steve says, his voice stern. He rarely got openly annoyed at anyone that wasn’t Stark. “Yeah, Cap?” you say, yawning and stretching your arms above your head. “Did you even hear anything we said?” To everyone’s shock, you repeat everything that happened in the room, word for word. “Well, don’t make a habit of napping during mission planning” Steve warns either way and you mock salute him. Your eyes meet Natasha’s, a smirk on her face. Blushing, you wink and then turn back to listen to the last part of the presentation. It wasn’t until later that you realised a post it was stuck to your forehead. Probably why Natasha was smiling all along. Well, shit. — Your first mission went spectacular, playing your part perfectly. Only after that, Steve went easier on you. To celebrate, the team wanted to play laser tag. Which was fine, you could handle that. The winner would pick the pizza toppings AND the movie. “Are we playing teams?” you ask, checking your vest. “Nu-uh. I’m taking all of you down” Natasha threatens and you chuckle. “We’ll see about that, Red” She nudges you with her elbow before walking away. Sam wiggles his eyebrows at you and you roll your eyes. “Do not even start” you warn him. “I’ve got my eye on you, naughty girl” he says with a grin and you chuckle. Still, he’s the first one you take down. You’re in the perfect hiding spot, high enough that people don’t even notice you’re aiming from your fortress. As soon as Sam realises he’s out of the game, he turns to Bucky, who’s hiding around. “Man, I thought we had a deal!” Sam shouts and then shoots at Bucky. “Payback!” “You can’t kill me, you’re already out! And I didn’t even shoot you!” “Lies!” he insists, shooting at Bucky again. A second later, there’s a click and Bucky’s vest turns off too. “Better not argue so loudly next time” Clint warns. His presence makes you nervous, so you’re on guard for the next couple of minutes, though there’s nothing but silence. The action seems to be going on across the arena. Well, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t rest for a little while, right? You put one of your hands behind your head, and close your eyes. Victory will be yours soon. Natasha finds you after she’s eliminated everyone else. She keeps track of all her “victims”, surprised you weren’t in the middle of the battle. Your aim was impeccable, almost rivaling Clint’s. Of course you’d be asleep while she does all the hard work. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I really want pepperoni pizza” she mumbles and in that exact moment you break out laughing. “That was the most un-assassin thing you could have said, Natasha” you hold your sides. “Well, I thought you were asleep! That’s not fair” “I was” you say. “And also… kawabunga” without warning, you pull out your laser gun and shoot her. She gapes at you, her mouth hanging open. “You distracted me! I took down everyone else!” “Not everyone, I shot Sam and in a way Bucky” you point out, the lights finally back on. “They don’t even count” Natasha chases you, practically throwing a tantrum. “And kawabunga? That’s worse than what I said” “Who’s the winner?” Tony says, looking between the two of you. “Rookie?” he guesses when you smile. “Folks, we are watching Crazy, Stupid Love tonight” you announce triumphantly and everyone groans. “What about the pizza topping?” Tony asks, dialing the number for the parlor that delivers 24/7. “Pepperoni” you decide, even though bacon and beef is your favorite. Natasha’s expression softens at that. Everyone gathers around, arguing over their strategies and eating to their heart’s content. Natasha picks the spot next to you. “How’s the pizza?” you ask with a cheeky grin. “Shut up” is all she says as she takes another bite. The movie starts and you’re almost hyper. You nudge Natasha as you look between her and the screen, eager to know if she’ll like the film. You take it as a win when she smiles a couple of times. Except after the first thirty minutes, you’re completely out of it. “Tony” Sam says, leaning his head towards you. The man looks at you and sighs. “Oh, thank God” he says, changing the movie for Die Hard. No one dares to comment on how Natasha stays still, your head resting on her shoulder. — Fucking five in the fucking morning. That’s how early Captain Ass is knocking on your door. “If you wake up early, you’ll go to bed early” Grandpa says, still concerned over your sleeping habits. One of his powers must be being super annoying. Especially when he has you doing reps over and over. Or changing the settings on the treadmill to make you go faster, until your legs burn. You’ll kill him. When you take a minute to rest, you also press a button on your smart watch. “Captain Rogers, Agent Hill is requesting your presence in the briefing room” F.R.I.D.A.Y. says. He looks at you and then nods. “Take a break. I’ll be right back” “F.R.I.D.A.Y., lock all the gym doors” you say the second he’s gone. Once the AI confirms it’s done, you sigh and rest against one of the leg curl machines. It takes a couple of minutes for Steve to realise Maria never actually called him to the briefing room. By the time he gets back to the gym, all the doors are locked. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., I need access” he requests, but is met with silence. “All you have to do is pull the door, Gramps” Natasha mocks, behind him. She’s the only other person that wakes up this early to train. She lifts an eyebrow when she can’t open the door either. “Huh”, she comments, almost sounding bored as she pulls out her phone. “Y/N is supposed to be there training” “Looks to me like she’s sleeping” Natasha offers her phone to him, where she’s checking all the security cameras. Sure enough, you’re sound asleep. “I’m gonna get Tony” he grumbles. Natasha waits until he’s gone to ask F.R.I.D.A.Y. for access and she grants it immediately. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty” “Aww, you think I’m beautiful” you sigh, opening one eye and squinting at her. “Cap went to get Tony because he couldn’t get in” “That’s what he gets for waking me up at five am” “What about me?” “Programmed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to let you in” you yawn, adjusting your position to rest on your side and go back to sleep. “I know you like to train early” She smiles and then goes to warm up. 20 minutes later, a very disgruntled Tony walks in with Steve hot on his trail. “You” he points a finger at you. “This is highly advanced code” he shows the screen of his tablet. “Yes” you say, rubbing your eyes. “You did this to prevent him from getting into the gym” “Once again, yes” Tony rolls his eyes and shoves the tablet on Steve’s chest. “Do me a favor, Cap. Let her sleep. Then I can sleep too. We’ll review that code later. I might have a job for you” he says as he leaves the gym. “You really don’t like waking up early, huh?” “Nope, Cap. Never have, never will. Not even for America’s ass” Natasha snorts as she punches the bag in front of her. “Fine” he resigns, expecting you to leave to your room. “Too far. Too sleepy” you mumble and then go back to dreaming about sparring with Natasha until she’s topping you. — Natasha looks at the clock. It had been almost two hours since you went to the garage, telling her you’d take a look at her car. Your father was a mechanic and with all you knew about machines, it would probably take you thirty minutes to fix the issue. So you said. She sighs and decides it’s better to go and find you. It didn’t take long for her to spot you, half of your body on a dolly under her car. She doesn’t see your hands, so Natasha assumes you are still working. “Everything ok?” she asks. “Son of a bitch” you jolt awake, but you have little space to move and end up crashing your head against her car. “Ouch, that hurt” “I’m so sorry, I thought you were awake” she says, pulling the dolly from under the car until your face pops up. “Yeah, no. I was already done, just checking some wires and then I guess I dozed off” you explain, sitting up and placing a hand over your forehead. “Let me check” she asks, running her hand softly over the bump that is already forming. “Ouch” you say again, but you’re lost in the way her hand feels against yours. You’re so close and she looks so perfect, which is honestly nothing new. “We should get you some ice” she comments, still close and all you can see are her lips moving. “I need you to answer me or I’ll assume you have a concussion” “I’m fine” you roll your eyes and begin to stand up. Natasha is stubborn, her hand taking yours so she can keep you close as you walk to the kitchen. When she finally gets the ice, she forces you to sit on the couch and places it on your forehead. “Can I ask you something?” she says softly. You’re aware that she’s pressed against you. “Mhm” you encourage, enjoying her warmth. “Why are you always sleepy?” “Not always” “You slept standing up in the subway the other day. Last week, you missed your stop at the train and you got down two stops later” “Ok, ok, jeez” you chuckle. “Being sleepy makes me angry sometimes so it’s perfect for missions, don’t you think?” “Maybe” the redhead concedes, but you know she wants more. “I guess I never slept a lot at night. Since I was a teenager probably. Everything at home was chaos and I could only have peace and quiet when everyone was asleep. And then, back in the army… I don’t know, I began to dislike the quiet. It feel threatening, that we were in the middle of nowhere, everything was dark and we could be ambushed at any moment. I always slept until late trying to keep an eye on the team” you clear your throat and Natasha begins to play softly with your hair, a silent signal that she’s there. “That little habit payed off one time and we stopped an attack. But I guess it became a habit for me. Now, I like to go up the roof and look at the stars or just stay around and keep an eye on the Compound. And once dawn is coming and Steve will begin his lunatic training regime, I know someone else has eyes on the team and I can get some sleep” “You know there is a flawless security system and a team of skilled individuals here, right?” Natasha places her hand on yours, running her thumb across the back of yours. “Old habits die hard, I guess” you finally look at her. “Ask Bucky-I-sleep-on-the-floor-Barnes” “I’d like to go watch the stars with you sometime” she mutters. “Would that be alright?” “More than alright. Perfect, actually” your eyes meet and she might be leaning forward when Sam, of all people, walks in. “Damn, girl! You growing a second head” he comments about your bump. “Shut the fuck up, Sam” you answer right away and he snorts. “Hope your other head is nicer to me” “Ugh” you groan, deciding it’s best to ignore him. But Natasha stays by your side, still running her hands through your hair until you’re drifting off for a quick little nap. — There’s enough tension to keep you up. Maria walked in, without even preparing you for the news. Three potential nuclear attacks in a week. “We have to leave right now” Steve insists. “They already have the codes. If they get so much of a whiff of us, they’ll blow everything up” Natasha argues. “So, we’re supposed to do nothing?” Tony protests. “Yes” Maria says and then looks at you. “When do I leave?” It’s almost as if you told them all to eat shit. They begin screaming and protesting, but you ignore them and reach out for the report Maria holds in her hand. “You’ve got twenty minutes” you nod and are about to walk out when she speaks again. “If your cover is blown we can’t extract you. You’ll be on your own” “Ok” “I can’t believe Sleepy is being sent for such a big mission” “Don’t be an ass, Stark” Natasha growls at him. “She’s the only one that can keep a low profile. This isn’t up for discussion. Y/N accepted the mission” Maria reminds them all. “Hey” you look at Tony, not taking what he says at heart. “I promise you I’ll do my best. I’ll stop it” “I know. I’m sorry” You place your hand on his shoulder and look around the room. “Be good to each other while I’m gone” you ask and Sam looks like he’s about to cry. “Don’t go soft on me, Wilson” “You better come back” he warns you and you nod. “See ya” you say before leaving the room to pack everything you might need. Natasha is waiting outside of your room when you open the door. “Hey” she whispers, pushing you inside. “Nat, what are you…?” before you can say another word, her lips are on yours. It feels urgent and desperate. You moan against her mouth and she pulls you closer by your jacket. “Please be careful” she pleads, her eyes closed as she tries to even her breathing. “Nat” you say and she finally looks at you. “I’ll be ok” “Promise me” she asks and her voice almost breaks. “I swear” you say, kissing her softly. “Will there be more of these in my future if I come back in one piece?” “Guess you’ll have to find out” the redhead tries to joke. You kiss her hand and let it down gently at her side. It takes every ounce of your will to keep walking. All you want to do is go back to her. — You got the intel, but your cover was blown. As soon as you were sure the team got the information, you tried to hide your tracks and disappear. It wasn’t easy to move fast and discreetly with broken ribs and bruises all over your face. The team got the information, but no word on you. There was enough to discover two moles at S.H.I.E.L.D. that had been secretly working for a terrorist network. Natasha was relentless in her interrogation. But still, no sign from you. It could mean you were safe. Bad news traveled fast, so if something had happened to you, they’d surely know about it. Right? Natasha didn’t find any comfort in that logic, looking everywhere for even a hint of your moves. “There was a shooting in London” Clint informs her one morning. They go over all the security footage. “It has to be her. She’s alive” Clint tries to comfort his best friend. “They found her” Natasha snaps. “They’re right on her tracks and if they get to her…” “She’s in a safe house. They think she’s still in London but she made it to the countryside” Maria interrupts them. “She’ll be there for a couple of hours. Then, maybe we can bring her home” “I’m coordinating an extraction” Natasha says, rushing to the door. “We don’t know where she’ll show up next” Natasha looks at Clint for back up, but he agrees with Maria. “She’ll come around” the brunette says when Natasha storms off. “You better be right” Clint sighs. “I’ve never seen her like this” A couple of hours later, when they hear the safe house got blown up, he feels like throwing up. Natasha doesn’t even look at him, at any of them, as she walks out of the briefing room. She doesn’t leave your room for two days, waiting for any sign that you’re still alive. “Agent Romanoff, your presence is requested in the medbay” F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupts the silence one night. “Agent Y/L/N is back” “What?” she mutters, almost thinking she’s hallucinating. “Come on” Sam says, walking out of his room and meeting her in the hall. Maria is closing the door to your room in the medbay when the team shows up. “Well?” Steve is the first one to speak. “Broken ribs, cuts and bruises, a gunshot to the left shoulder” she gives them a summary. “She got some injuries on her back from the shrapnel” “Can we…?” Bucky asks and Maria shakes her head no. “She’s pretty shaken up. At the shelter… the explosion destroyed a couple of houses in the surrounding area. She was already out but the families didn’t survive” Everyone falls silent. “She’ll need time” Maria says. That’s not comforting for any of them. — You leave the medbay against medical advice on your third day, in the middle of the night. You don’t want to run into anyone and have to speak to them. Someone was in your room while you were gone. You can instantly tell, but you’re too tired to wonder if you should be upset at all. There was hope that maybe you missed your bed and that’s why it was so hard to sleep. But you’re here now, looking at the ceiling and you can’t just shut down your brain, even if you feel exhausted. The first few days you avoid everyone, only leaving your room at night to get some food. Sleeping pills are most definitely not a solution, especially when you wake up from a nightmare that reminds you ten people would be alive if you’d let those men kill you in London. Natasha is losing it. She doesn’t know how to make it better when you won’t even leave your room. “Looks like our ghost is back” Tony comments, pointing at the half empty box of Pop Tarts. Later that night, when everyone’s gone to bed, she decides to go out and watch the stars, if only to feel closer to you. Natasha instantly recognizes your shape, sitting on the grass and looking up. The moonlight glistens against the silent tears that roll down your cheeks. When you hear her approaching, you make an attempt to wipe your face, ashamed and tired of feeling like nothing will be ok again. “Don’t shut me out” she pleads, kneeling next to you, her hands on each side of your face. “I- I can’t stop thinking about them” your voice trembles, more tears clouding your vision and she lets you rest your head against her chest. “I’m right here” she promises, her fingers running through your hair. “I’m right here” That’s the first time you get some sleep in a week. No one dares to comment when they see you out on broad daylight the next morning. There are some curious glances as you walk towards the woods at the edge of the Compound. You climb one of the trees and rest on a branch that you’ve used more than once to take a nap. It doesn’t work, but the squirrels jumping around help to take your mind off of everything. A branch snaps on the ground and you’re ready to fight an intruder, but you only spot Natasha, throwing a couple of blankets on the floor. There’s also a box with your favorite doughnuts. “So good” Natasha comments out loud. “Fine. Only because I’m hungry” you announce, climbing down. “What were you even doing there?” “I’m going back to places where I used to sleep and see if I can find some inner peace” “That’s one way of dealing with it” “Got any better ideas?” “Have you thought about going to talk to Doctor Jones?” Natasha says, pretending to be casual about it. She’s clearly nervous, avoiding your eyes. “Do you really think I’d be so relunctant to go to therapy?” you smile for the first time in a very long time. You’ve never seen Natasha so nervous. “Well, none of us really follow that advice. But I want you to be ok” “I’m tired of feeling like crap. So yeah, I think I’m ready for that” “Good” Natasha nods. You place a strand of hair behind her ear and then take her hand, your lips touching the back of it softly. “Thank you” you whisper, placing her hand above your heart. And you’re not sure if it’s the best idea to give yourself to someone else when you’re so broken, but when Natasha’s lips are on yours, you feel like all the pieces are coming together, healing you bit by bit. — The nightmares eventually stop. But Natasha stays with you every night, happy that she can feel you pressed against her back. She’ll never forget how awful it was to think you were gone forever. One night, when you’re losing sleep for the best reason, worshipping every inch of her body and meeting emerald eyes that look at you with so much adoration, you understand that sometimes, reality is better than dreams. Taglist/

@gimaximoff, @nataliaromanova-widow

[vickyvicarious]

Moreau’s anger in the famous scene with Nate (“a 24yo genius w/ a problem with authority”) is scary. he’s so contained, saying things that coming from the usual bad guy of the week would be ranted, shouted - but he’s so controlled in his anger

So I was thinking about this ask a lot as I was watching the last two episodes of S3. Because it really is true, he is always so controlled. I counted how many times he raises/loses control of his voice and it really wasn't a lot:

At the end of the Big Bang Job, when Nate is going on and on about how he is framing Moreau. He goes from calm and amused to more and more frustrated, and - just once - raises his voice. He snaps, "Who ARE you?!" But then immediately pulls his face back under control. The penultimate picture on this post is literally one second after he yells; he reins it all back in.

When he just saw Eliot on TV petting a puppy and claiming the president held dogfights. When he turns to face Reberra and reassure him this is all under control, despite being obviously very fed up with the crew messing with his election, his voice - only once - goes down into a growl as he says "Tonight, you bury him at the debate. Tomorrow, he loses in what will be the closest election in years. Which frankly only helps legitimize you, so RELAX." Just on that very last word, the rest of the time he does a good job of sounding reassuring and even a little unphased.

When the election results are being counted. "Too close to call. TOO CLOSE TO CALL, how'd you let it get this far?!" This is pretty much the only time he rants in frustration, and even then he quickly pulls himself together. Puts on a convincing show of being unbothered moments later.

Even in that final confrontation with Nate, he finds himself at a loss for words, he is furious and unsure of what to do - but his voice stays quiet and intent. You can hear him seething, but only a few times. He doesn't really lose control per se, not until he is literally being dragged away. Right up until that very second he just gets thoughtful and is staring off into the distance, trying to process how this happened and what he can do to get out of it.

When you consider just how much the crew was pushing all of his buttons, that is not a lot at all. Definitely less than we would usually see from other villains. And that's not exactly a coincidence, because...

Moreau is someone who has built his entire empire on control.

He moves money around for other people, makes sure never to get his own hands dirty. Even the hitmen he sends are trained to not leave any evidence behind - that one guy they scared out with the fire alarm still took the time to clean the room and collect any shell casings, and Eliot confirmed that is expected for someone working for Moreau. He's perfected the art of not laying a trail of evidence, to the point that the crew had to use someone else's crimes to get to him both times they went up against him. They couldn't prove his criminal empire so they instead framed him for stuff the Italian had done. Then he just hid away in the country he'd bought and was doing fine. Once there, they couldn't expose his part in the election so they rigged it even more than he was, and took advantage of the greed of Reberra to get him to turn against him. Nate wasn't lying when he said "honestly, no [we stood no chance against you]."

Moreau doesn't work with people he doesn't know. He just won't do it. He manipulates and abuses his own people, as is evident with Eliot. The entire pool scene is rife with Moreau proving again and again and again that he is not willing to let anyone else hold the cards. He has it drilled into them that they can either be assets or liabilities, and everyone knows what he does to liabilities. People are terrified to turn on him, and pretty much no one willingly does. Moreau understands the value of public perception, so he makes sure that he is pandering to the UN and not immediately eliminating his rivals in San Lorenzo until the election is over, but it's very clear that he would not hesitate otherwise. The fact that he chooses to wait is extremely deliberate as well; he's calculated the odds, and hurting the crew isn't worth it. Yet. No matter how much he hates them, he is willing to wait. He doesn't let emotion rule him.

Even his body language - he smiles. He is deliberately relaxed when others are worked up or when the situation is tense. (Casually sips his drink as Hardison drowns in the pool, laughs at Nate's accusations about him being a terrible person even as he's losing the election.) When he's truly, truly furious, when things aren't going at all as planned - he goes still. In the Big Bang Job, he holds his hands together in front of him and doesn't make a move to step towards Nate. When Eliot is rushing him, he levels the gun and shoots the Italian with deliberate aim, then turns and leaves in a hurry, but by no means running for his life. Then in San Lorenzo, he goes still and dangerous several times when he knows he can't make a move against the crew yet, but the biggest example is when President Reberra signs his arrest warrant. Moreau just stands there, hands on the desk, quiet and still and so thoughtful. It's only, again, when he is literally being dragged away and he realizes there's nothing he can do that he finally loses his iron control and struggles to get away. Until then he always, always tries to stay calm and cool and even relaxed, projecting an unbothered image of implacable power.

It's one of the scariest things about Moreau, this complete control over himself and his people. It means he thinks things through, you just can't get him to react rashly. He's not someone you can con. So the team works around this by, and I love this - turning his perfect control from an asset into a liability. They know he will have the election news on lockdown, so they manipulate everyone else to believe it was their victory. They know he wouldn't risk harming them in front of the world's eyes, so they pretend to harm themselves. They know he has abused the system to lock up his rivals and take all their assets, so they do the very same thing to him. They literally don't do anything he hasn't already planned around (sure, they use methods he hasn't thought of as viable, emailing everyone in the country for example, but the core of the idea isn't anything new to him). They just figure out what he wants to avoid happening and then they make it happen, which only succeeds because he is so determined to ensure it doesn't. If he'd been more ruthless, more short-sighted... they couldn't have won.

[grinoir]

Religious Medievalism: “Stregheria”, Wicca and History - part 1

[TN: This article will break the Introduction to Stregoneria series for a second, but I believe it’s important to set things into perspective about both Witchcraft and this blog. My goal is to put out content, translated or redacted by me, in order to give people the correct historical information. I see a lot people on TikTok messing with things they don’t know, appropriating and distorting practices and cultures and profiting off of it. The only focus of this blog is the practice and the history behind it, I don’t want to “put people down”, I want to make the information available so you won’t hurt yourselves.

Also, I do not support fa***sm, na**sm or any other movement/ideology that oppresses and discriminates people. I’m specifiying this because I’ve received an anonymous ask about it and it kind of hurt just reading it. I hope this will clarify things and make whoever asked me that more confortable with my blog and my content. I’m a history nerd Strega, nothing more.

This article will be a translation, synthesis and re-elaboration of the following articles

https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2020/11/12/medievalismo-religioso-stregheria-wicca-e-storia/

https://medievaleggiando.it/la-legittimazione-storica-della-wicca-margaret-murray-e-la-manipolazione-delle-fonti/

https://medievaleggiando.it/il-vangelo-delle-streghe-e-linizio-della-wicca-il-fascino-di-un-falso-storico/

The first being a rectification of the two that follow.

This article will be divided in two parts because it’s way too long to read and to translate, i’m drained af]

THE DEBUNKING OF MURRAY

Margaret Alice Murray (1863-1963) was a British Anthropologist and Egyptologist, well known in the academic environment for her contributions in the studies of folklore. Even if she was very criticized and her reputation as an historian was poor, her work became popular bestsellers from 1940 onward.

The most well-known and controversial one is “The Witch-Cult in the Western Europe” published in 1921. In this book, Murray alleges that there was some sort of secret model of pagan resistance to Christianity spreaded all across Europe, and that the witches’ hunt and the proof presented to the trials were an attempt to eliminate a rival cult.

This book was clearly influenced by “Satanism and Witchcraft” by Jules Michelet, that alleged that Medieval Witchcraft was an act of popular rebellion against the oppression of feudalism and the Roman Catholic church, that took the form of a secret religion inspired by paganism and organized mainly by women.

To support her narrative, Murray chooses to analyze some of the trials that took place during the great hunt and employs 15 primary sources, mostly British or Scottish (not paneuropean, or sources from the european continent), that describe famous trials. Murray’s analysis of the Somerset Trials in 1664 offer a good example of her work ethics; quoting the testimony of Elizabeth Styles:

“At their meeting they have usually Wine or good Beer, Cakes, Meat or the like. They eat and drink really when they meet in their bodies, dance also and have Musick. The Man in black sits at the higher end, and Anne Bishop usually next him. He useth some words before meat, and none after, his voice is audible, but very low.”

Murray conveniently seems to “forget” to quote the immediately preceding phrase:

”That at every meeting before the Spirit vanisheth away, he appoints the next meeting place and time, and at his departure there is a foul smell.”

Other details offered by Styles are omitted, like when she alleges that the Devil presented to her in the shape of a dog or a cat or a fly, that the Devil offered her followers an oinment to use on their heads and wrists that made it possible to move them from a place to another. Or that sometimes the reunion involved only the spirits of the witches, while their bodies stayed at home.

Murray was fully aware of the fantasy element in the testimonies she included in her books, but she was able, by deliberately manipulating historical sources, to make people believe the fake narrative that a Medieval religion of witches with covens, rites and their own beliefs that relentlessy opposed Christianity really existed.

In her “The God of the Witches”, published in 1933 and clearly written for a commercial audience, she further broadened the scope of her claims on the witches’ cult. In this book, she alleges that until the C17th BCE the there was a religion, older than Christianity, that kept existing in all of Western Europe. Said religion, was focused on the worship of a two-faced horned god, known to the Romans ad Diano; this god presided the witches’ gathering and was mistaken by the Inquisition of the Devil, conclusion that made them associate witchcraft with a satanic cult.

Murray claims the existence of a *specific* non-christian organized cult spread all across Europe that worshipped Diano and relentlessly opposed the Roman Catholic church, but the sources she quotes are late and recount the flattening of the various “pagan” cults to the assimilation with the christian Devil, operated by the Church.

In fact, the Devil that the trials report on, depending on the religion, overlapped with different figures: in British and Scottish traditions the Devil was the result of the demonization of the King of Elphame. In the Basque country, the Devil substituted Mari. In Northern Italy it overlapped with the Donna del Buon Gioco. This means that the “Northern Italian Devil” is different from the “British Devil” and the “Basque Devil”.

This “Devil” is a figure that flattens everything and overlapped and substituted so many different figures, depending on the religion and the figure it ended up overlapping with.

Therefore, Murray’s narrative of a paneuropean cult of the Horned God stems from the analysis of late sources and to the false equivalence of the Devil that presided the Ludus (Sabba) in Scotland (where he masks the King of Elphame) and the Devil of other countries (where he masks other entities).

Since the Devil isn’t the same entity in all of Europe, the narrative of a counter-christianity organized paneuropean cult of prehistoric origin falls too. Instead, what we’re dealing with are Medieval, non-christian rielaborations of different remainders of the Religions of the Gentiles that survived in the Christian age and were absorbed in the legend of the Faery Procession/Procession of the Dominae Nocturnae first, and the legend of the Ludus (Sabba) later.

The following quote by Ronald Hutton, English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism and professor at the University of Bristol, confirms this:

“Over a quarter of a century ago, I adopted the expression “Pagan survivals” to describe elements of ancient Pagan culture that had persisted in later Christian societies. In doing so, I was drawing a distinction between such survivals, of which there seemed to be many, and “surviving Paganism”; that is the continued self-conscious practice of the older religions, of which there seemed to be none. This point was worth making because even in the 1980s, there was a persisting belief, based on outdated academic texts, that Paganism had survived as a living force among the common people in much of medieval Europe: it was widespread in other scholarly disciplines than history, let alone among the general public. My formula and approach was adopted by other authors in the 1990s. During that decade, however, a reaction set in against it among historians who preferred to stress the comprehensive Christianization of medieval European societies and to relegate elements that had hither to been identifed as of pagan origin to categories of religiously neutral folklore or of lay Christianity. Some emphasized that the undoubted tendency of some Christians at the time to condemn such beliefs and practices as pagan was a hallmark of a highly atypical, reforming, intolerant and evangelical strain of churchman. Michael’s system of classification, in this volume, may be said to take its place in this, apparently now dominant, set of scholarly attitudes. Revisiting the issue myself, I am inclined to meet it halfway. I am startingto agree that to speak of aspects of medieval culture as “Pagan” might indeed be misleading and inadequate. Moreover, it would be especially inappropriate to characterize fgures such as the lady of the night rides, the fairy queen or the Cailleach as “Pagan survivals” when they seem like medieval or post-medieval creations. However, I have equal diffculty in describing them simply and straightforwardly as “Christian” because of their total lack of reference to any aspect of Christianity, including theology, cosmology, scripture and liturgy; all of them would indeed fit far more comfortably into a Pagan world-picture. […] It may be that the old polarized labels are becoming inadequate to describe a medieval and early modern religious and quasi-religious world that is coming to seem even more complex, exciting and interesting than it had seemed to be before.”

Also Michael Ostling, religious studies scholar focusing on the history, historiography, and representation of witches and witchcraft, confirms this in Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: “Small Gods” at the Margin of Christendom, published in 2018.

“Christians encompass aspects of their prior paganism both by inversion and revaluation. But where traditional spirits remain salient to a Christianized culture in encompassed or inverted form, their ongoing reality ought not to be counted by scholars as a pagan survival—though it is likely to be so construed by Christians themselves. Such “surviving” spirits are not just marginalized or diabolized pagan remnants, they are continually re-performed, recreated through Christian ritual and Christian discourse. We find such re-creation of the small gods throughout Christian history, and throughout this volume: when the Urapmin drive out the motobil by the power of the Holy Spirit, when Andean people frame their propitiation of the yawlu with devotion to the Christian God, when Mami Water appears primarily as a trope of Pentecostal deliverance ministry, when thirteenth-century Frenchwomen see, in an unoffcial Christian saint, their best hope of negotiating the return of their stolen babies from the follets, when the brownie and Robin Goodfellow appear in prayers of protection against them, in assertions of their diabolical status, or in tolerant mention of superstitious old wives who stillbelieve in such “harmless devils,” when cunningwomen insist that they only use “good devils” or that the fairies who facilitate their divination have no fear of the cross, this is because the beings involved have succeeded in taking up a niche within Christian discourse. The “good people” have not departed, have not been driven out by the sound of church-bells or the smell of gasoline. There are no pagan survivals: small gods are Christian creations with which to think the limits of Christianity.”

In essence, Murray’s version of events that describes Paganism as an anti-church, anti-society isn’t backed by any historical evidence.

Sources:

https://tradizioneitaliana.wordpress.com/2020/11/12/medievalismo-religioso-stregheria-wicca-e-storia/

https://medievaleggiando.it/la-legittimazione-storica-della-wicca-margaret-murray-e-la-manipolazione-delle-fonti/

https://medievaleggiando.it/il-vangelo-delle-streghe-e-linizio-della-wicca-il-fascino-di-un-falso-storico/

Michael Ostling. Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: ‘Small Gods’ at the Margins of Christendom. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

[bitchfitch]

Thots on Revali? he seems like the kind of little bastard man you like to write/draw

My thoughts on him are complicated. bc 1 he's a lil bitch, 2 I'm pretty certain he was still a juvenile when he died, 3 i would like to punt him.

Idk, like, in game you can Feel the rapport link and revali had when he was alive but in the actual gameplay, since links character has to remain passive and kinda vague in order for the player to project onto him so fully, it ends up making revali feel like an ass in an un fun way. Like, if link could have snapped back to him with in one of the cutscenes (not even in a spoken way, just in a way that actually puts them on even footing as semi rivals instead of leaving revali the only instigator) or if link was allowed to have more personality when in the Devine Beats to just Meet revali's energy then it might have flowed better for me.

like this is an issue with all the champions and a big part of the reason i personally don't think the mipha/link romance was handled as well in game as it could have been, (link never acts like he feels any particular way about her, he's just as passive as he is in any other cutscene the player isn't in control,) but Revali specifically has so much Character. he's in your face he's snarky, there is no forgetting he's there. and without link being able to match that it just doesn't work as well as it could

like idk, Revali just reminds me of how badly i want link to have more personality, but I also know that the main appeal of link is that he's a void for the player to fill, so giving him more personality would eliminate a lot of that self insert quality this lil blond bitch has.

[samedmunds]

My litany thoughts on 1999 cult classic strategy video game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri is a game of the early Civilization variety from the EA golden age and ranks very highly in my top ten. While you probably heard of it if you were playing video games around the turn of the century, I've found members of my age cohort to be tragically unfamiliar with this masterpiece.

Alpha Centauri is an unofficial sequel to Civilization II, a game where the only way to way to win is either completely eliminate all competitors to the last city or, rather more easily, send a spaceship loaded with colonists to the title star system. Shortly after leaving home, the ship loses contact with Earth, which would make sense to a player of Civilization II where the bonuses to science and trade from democracies evaporate when technology ends, upon which point all the AIs revolt and become militant fundamentalist theocracies and climate change rapidly destroys the planet, leaving the player with an endgame that is literally 1984. Either way, when the already strained ship arrives at the Alpha Centauri system an unknown partisan assassinates the captain of the UNS Unity and the population fractures into seven opposing factions before firing the colony pods and exploring an inconveniently hostile planet.

The player starts here, in typical Civ fashion: a scout, settler, and absolutely no technology to speak of. That isn't to say you are a bunch of primitives, all your units start out with some approximation to modern guns and judging by the amazing quotes and wonder videos your society is well beyond the 21st century--more on the story later. The gameplay is incredibly well-balanced in spite of its age and quirks (with the exception of the freight-train progression of Yang). Rapid early expansion as the bountiful Peacekeepers may leave you at serious risk to the relentlessly martial Spartans, who are in turn threatened by the uber-specialized technocratic University--but be careful to underestimate the backwards Lord's Believers, their probe teams will just as quickly rob you of your gains. The Morganites can afford to sparsely defend their home if they're willing to pay off their aggressors, but they'll struggle expand over great swaths of territory without irking civil unrest drone riots from corruption. Meanwhile the Gaian Acolytes can harness the permanently-dangerous mindworms to great effect from the beginning of the game. Yang just... builds. And keeps building, and next thing you know he's conquered the Peacekeepers and turned Miriam into nothing more than a puppet and where are all these cruise missiles are coming from?

In short, the strategic design of this game is nothing less than a work of art, but that isn't to say it doesn't have its anachronisms. The User Interface has taken its inspiration from early versions of Microsoft Word and it rapidly pays off to know the hotkeys. The wonder videos are resolution locked and can sometimes cause problems depending on your display configuration. The unit creation system is simultaneously wonderful and horrendous. It allows me to create special long-range nerve gas bombers that eradicate cities shortly before orbitally-dropping specially-trained garrisons to quash all resistance. On the other hand, if you do not accept the cumbersome slew of computer-generated options, keeping your new weapons systems up to date with your latest technology (especially when playing as Zakharov) rapidly becomes a chore.

That said, there are a variety of features in the game that I think deserve to make a reappearance in the Civ Games. The pick-your-government system is incredibly balanced and fun to roleplay. You can't get away with crimes against humanity when solar storms hit in Civilization VI, nor can you weaponise climate change to flood your rivals cities, or strategically terraform to alter weather patterns and deny your neighbors arable land. At the bare minimum, we should be given the option to nerve staple rebelling cities when our control runs out!

All that said, there is also the story to contend with. One is at first tempted to think that a 4x strategy game with a marked emphasis on replayability would necessarily have a tacked-on story, if one at all. After all, the point is for the player to create it through their actions, not have it spoonfed to them. The majority of what you learn about your world that isn't printed in numbers and small pictures on the mapscreen is through blurbs that accompany each discovered technology or new building. The aforementioned wonders even have their adorable early-CG renderings, sometimes mixed in with some experimental film footage. There are occasional interludes that describe the mindworms and machinations of Planet, but the bulk of the wordage comes from epigrams of the faction leaders and the occasional bit of Nietzsche or Plato. It's so good that I can't help but stop and listen to CEO Nbwadibuke Morgan ramble on about supply chain economics or Sister Miriam's apocalyptic warnings every single time. Take some examples.

Proper care and education for our children remains a cornerstone of our entire colonization effort. Children not only shape our future; they determine in many ways our present. Men and women work harder knowing their children are safe and close at hand, and never forget that, with children present, parents will defend their home to the death!

--Col. Corazon Santiago, "Planet: A Survivalist's Guide"

Or perhaps, a more on the nose one:

"The Academician's private residences shall remain off-limits to the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability, we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this ridiculous witch hunt!

--Fedor Petrov, Vice Provost for University Affairs Accompanies the Retroviral Engineering technology

The game often doesn't directly tell you what Retroviral engineering is, nor does it labor to explain just what having someone nerve stapled means, or the precise function of the Recycling Tanks, but through its quotation it beautifully circumlocutes the world you are shaping--and being shaped by. It really never pulls any of its punches, even if its just on Organic Superlube--great stuff--and I still catch muself quoting it regularly.

Ursula LeGuin once wrote

"Science fiction is often described, and even defined, as extrapolative. The science fiction writer is supposed to take a trend or phenomenon of the here-and-now, purify and intensify it for dramatic effect, and extend it into the future. 'If this goes on, this is what will happen.' [...] This may explain why many people who read science fiction describe it as 'escapist,' but when questioned further, admit they do not read it because 'it's so depressing.'"

Alpha Centauri is absolutely extrapolative fiction and very firmly rooted in the 1990s and I love it. It was released in the Aaron Sorkin TV, pre-9/11 days where the word Internet was more often than not followed by the words, "is like an information superhighway" and it absolutely no efforts are made to cover it up. The main factions are a cross-section of the New Millenium's hopes and anxieties. A New Russia that went a very different path before Putin took over, a cheerful clan of ruthless Western capitalists hellbent on putting Morganvision on every network set, a group of vaguely Scottish free-love peaceniks hellbent on defending the most-of-the-time incredibly hostile environment. There's the Second-Amendment preaching Spartans or the optimistically-influential UN which, judging by its naming scheme for its bases, seems to dedicate entire cities to bureaucratic agencies. The All-American Christian fundamentalists don't entirely butt heads with the frighteningly powerful Human-Hive (if your country calls their cities names like "Huddling of the People" and "Paradise Swarming" you might not be the good guys). The expansion also brings in more dynamic characters like the Information Wants to be Free! data angels Brian Reynolds very clearly came up with after watching Swordfish and Hackers back to back or the Nautilus Pirates who have no right to be as fun as they are.

The visions of the future are at once both anachronistic and prophetic; while elements may come off as cheese, I see it as a sort of window to the past, a way to examine what was once (and sometimes still is) on our mind. All in all, I give Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri 4 out of 5 stars and a definite all-time favorite, warts and all. You can pick it and its expansion up for $6 on Gog.com and play it through a built-in emulator that works for most systems. If you're willing to brave a dated interface and an older-fashioned gameplay style, I would definitely recommend it.

[scripttorture]

I have a question about torture and organizations. Can a political movement (rebellion in this case) with a history of using torture succeed in eliminating its use of torture? In my story a member of the rebellion learns that some others (on the leader's orders?) have been torturing people. Appalled, this person decides to split off and form a rival faction, bringing with them other rebels who disapprove of torture... (organizations ask 1/3)

Is it likely that this faction would be able to succeed (replace the original faction and continue not torturing people)? How likely is this? What factors would impact the likelihood? Mostly I'm focusing on the contrast between one organization torturing and the other not torturing, e.g., I can see how locals might be skeptical of the second organization because they're on the same "side" as the torturers. (organizations ask 2/3 -- I think I might've accidentally numbered the first one 2/3, aah)  The organization uses torture for mainly punishment (which might include trying to get people to make false confessions) and intimidation (as well as in some cases in attempts to force compliance, like making people supply them with food and materials or making people give them information; this last is the rarest... oops, I just realized that's all of the purposes in the UN definition). (I have read a lot of your posts and I know torture doesn't work.) Thank you!! :) (organizations ask 3/3)

-

Anon you are delightful.

 Rejali spends an awful lot of time discussing the various arguments on whether torture can be eradicated and how that could be practically done. There aren’t a lot of definite answers but I can give a summary of the kinds of factors that we think are important and describe things your characters could practically do.

 I think it’s worth stressing from the start that no country has completely eradicated torture. As a result we don’t know for certain what… works. Or at least not what works completely and permanently.

 I don’t think this means getting rid of torture is impossible. Neither does Rejali. Rejali argues (convincingly in my opinion) that torture has changed so drastically in the modern era because of concerted efforts to wipe it out. Part of that change has been an almost complete eradication of some torture techniques. As a general rule people are no longer broken on the wheel, hanged drawn and quartered or have their flesh torn off with red hot pincers. We have already completely transformed both torture and public attitudes to it.

 And that implies that we can get it rid of it.

 It’s likely that torture is less common now then it was historically but this is hard to prove. Most historical records don’t provide a clear indication of every single person who was questioned, arrested or tried, let alone who was tortured or how.

 It’s also hard to prove exactly how much a particular factor reduces torture. The fact torture is illegal and that victims may not report what happened to them make it difficult to measure how often it occurs. We rely on estimates based on the reporting we have, which is likely to give a lower figure then the real number of cases. (Because we know from more thorough studies on other crimes that there is always a proportion that goes unreported and it is likely this proportion will be higher when the victim could face repercussions for reporting the crime. As is often the case with torture.)

 So what seems to help? I’ll start by talking about the factors we’re aware of that can reduce torture and then I’ll try to talk about how you might be able to apply them to the revolutionary organisation in your story.

 It might sound obvious but making torture illegal is usually a necessary first step.

 A change in the law in and of itself does not really do much. Especially not overnight. It’s about beginning to build a framework where reporting can happen and where people are actively looking for evidence of torture.

 The next steps are well building up that framework. Independent oversight is one of the biggest things.

 Here are a couple of things that can mean:

Anonymous reporting

Independent inspections

Regular unscheduled inspections

Independent medical reports and autopsies

Treating reports of torture seriously

Thorough investigation of all reports

Prosecution of torturers where there is sufficient evidence

Sentencing that fits the gravity of the crime*

Suspension of individuals accused of torture

 I tend to think of those factors as things that are sort of outside the organisation. Because ideally they’re coming from outside the organisation.

 Note that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re outside the system entirely. Using a comparison if you’re trying to stop police torture then the people handling reports, investigations etc could still be government employees but they should not be police. When the people in charge of torture investigations rely on the people they’re investigating for their jobs and wages… you get problems.

 There are also important factors within the organisation. Which are about building an organisation where torture is less likely to occur (whereas the factors outside the organisation are about rooting it out when it’s found.)

 A lot of these things basically boil down to building a positive working environment:

High quality training for all personnel

Regular refresher training with updates to training as appropriate

Appropriate staffing levels (ie there should always be enough people to easily run the organisation)

No one is forced to work overtime

Generous holiday allowance and sick pay

Consistent effort to structure and manage things to reduce stress in the workplace

Reasonable, achievable goals for staff

Appropriate, well supplied facilities

Thorough record keeping for staff and anyone they are responsible for

Avoidance of shifts that disrupt sleep as much as possible

 Torture is much, much less likely when staff are correctly trained, supported and given the resources necessary to do their jobs.

 There are also a handful of things that would probably help and fall into neither category such as limiting (or eliminating) access to devices commonly used to torture. For instance Tasers, pepper spray, particular forms of restraints but also (depending on where in the world we are) chilli powder, hose pipes and cleaning supplies.

 This might seem like quite a lot but it’s funny how much of it applies to the industry I actually work in: drugs testing.

 The place I work is regularly inspected by outside organisations (and usually without notice). Every single person on site has to go through extensive training programs which are refreshed at least once a year. Each and every one of us has to record and account for all our actions and any material and equipment we use. We can report things anonymously. Any allegations of malpractice are dealt with swiftly and prompt massive investigations.

 So I guess I’m saying that I think more of the organisations responsible for people should have the same level of accountability pharmaceutical testing does.

 Depending on the structure of your rebel organisation and what’s available too them a lot of this might not be possible. At least not at first.

 A small, poorly supplied organisation could struggle to combat torture effectively. But where there’s a will there’s a way.

 Size of the group seems to be a big thing here. With really small groups the members can often say pretty confidently whether torture is happening or not. Because they’re all working together so closely that they know more or less everything their colleagues are doing. But the bigger a group becomes the easier it is to lose track of people and for abuse to be hidden.

 My instinct is that genuinely independent oversight probably becomes easier after organisations reach a certain size. Because for a smaller (but not tiny) group anyone who might be investigating accusations could still be reliant on the people they’re investigating. They’re likely to work together, be close to each other and as a result they’re bringing a bias into any investigation.

 I think a smaller, newly founded organisation would really struggle to set up the kind of structured, independent inspection bodies that do most of the grunt work of finding and reporting on torture. Especially early on when they’ve just split off from the older, more established group.

 That’s partly because of numbers and partly because it takes time and expertise to set up these systems. Or at least to do it well. Going back to the comparison with my work, the organisations that inspect and audit my workplace have all been around for decades. Most of the ‘younger’ organisations are mergers or rebrands of much older organisations. The process is updated at least once a year and there is a labyrinth of laws around every single aspect of… well all of it.

 It takes a lot of time, energy and error to build that up in a robust way.

 But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing they can do.

 They might not be able to detect or investigate torture easily in the early stages but they could structure their organisation in ways that make it less likely for torture to happen in the first place.

 Proper training is probably the biggest one that would make a difference. Things like conducting a proper investigation or interrogation, de-escalation tactics, building rapport/people skills and negotiation.

 They could also limit the number of prisoners they hold and the length of time prisoners are held for. This is trickier to do ethically in a combat situation. If part of the point is that this group is more ethical they shouldn’t be maiming or summarily executing surrendering troops from the opposing side. They also shouldn’t be releasing prisoners in places they’re likely to die.

 One potential way around this is to focus on destroying equipment and facilities rather then ending lives. Taking weapons, destroying barracks, supply lines and the like.

 Captured enemy troops can potentially give out valuable information (you can read about effective interrogation here) but the majority of useful information doesn’t come from interrogating suspects/enemy troops in these scenarios. It comes from people volunteering information, whether they’re civilians or defectors.

 It might sound really obvious but a very easy way to avoid torture as an issue to not have anyone to torture. A policy of no prisoners, not in the sense of killing everyone but in the sense of immediate release after the goal has been achieved, reduces the amount of people held and hence the chance of torture.

 This sort of strategy in the beginning could give the organisation time to come up with the facilities, training program and inspection regime needed to keep prisoners in… as safe and ethical a way as possible. It would mean adopting a strategy of ambush style attacks on the facilities and supply lines of he opposing side/s.

 It would also help avoid overcrowding of any prison facilities which is a factor that leads to more violence in prisons.

 I think that just leaves the question of long term success which you’ve defined in terms of avoiding torture and eventually replacing the rebel group that tortures.

 That isn’t a question I can give a definitive ‘yes or no’ answer to. It depends on a lot of factors, as you can probably see from the lists above.

 My instinct is that it is possible. However it would take time. A lot of time. And it would mean keeping up that dedication, the rejection of torture, throughout.

 Supplanting an existing organisation would take years. Easily 5-10 years, and I think I might actually be under estimating things. It also depends on things like how well known both rebel groups are, how well they manage to build up public trust, the supply of recruits, the amount of territory they occupy.

 Part of what I’m driving at here is that doing things well, building systems and organisations that last and keep ethics at their core; it takes time. It takes hard work. And a lot of it feels thankless.

 In the early days your rebels will probably be bending over backwards, making life so much ‘harder’ for themselves in order to avoid torture. Only to have civilians turn around and mistake them for the group that tortures.

 The sad fact is that a lot of people feel destruction is more satisfying. It feels like ‘doing something’, whereas the hard work of building a better system over years/decades… it often feels like you’re getting nowhere. I think that, along with the cultural message that violence ‘works’, is why a lot of these abuses continue to happen.

 Once again I think that what you want from this story is possible. But it isn’t simple, it isn’t easy. It’s playing the long game. And there will be times when that grinds the characters down.

 A lot of stories say that ‘doing the right thing isn’t easy’ and then proceed to show the characters doing some big, impressive act that instantly solves everything. This is a fallacy. Sometimes it’s a fallacy that leads to some great stories! But it’s still a fictional motif that romanticises acts of violence over the hard work of building something better.

 And I think that if you want to show that hard work in your story you can’t gloss over the fact that it’s hard. It’s exhausting, it can be isolating. It can all be wiped away at any moment because of one hot-headed idiot.

 But the hard work and dedication would eventually pay off.

 These rebels would end up with better intelligence networks, better ties to the local communities and a better reputation. Which would probably lead to them becoming the go-to group for defectors, both from the other rebels and the group they’re trying to fight. They’d also probably get more volunteers in the long term.

 Wrapping up I think I’ll end with a note from Kurlansky’s Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea: Long term victory generally goes to the group that is the most organised. Focus on that. Really think about inventive ways to set up the systems and organisations these rebels are trying to build.

 Follow those points through logically.

 Your group might not end up looking like any rebel group you’ve seen in media before. But it’ll probably look closer to a lot of real organisations and give you a lot of fodder for stories.

 I hope that helps :)

Disclaimer

Available on Wordpress.

*Obviously there will always be debate about what this means but I personally do not think most places treat torture as a grave crime. As an illustration of what I mean American torturer Jon Burge is thought to have tortured at least 200 people during his time as a police officer. Several of the people Burge tortured ended up on death row. Thirty years after the initial reports he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He served three and a half.

[himbeaux-on-ice]

today in “facts that sound like I’m making them up”:

do you wanna know the last time Max Pacioretty scored an ENG in a playoff elimination game. or any playoff game for that matter. do you.

it was, and I swear to god this is true, in the final seconds of the last game of the first round in 2015 (Game 6, April 26), putting the dagger in the Canadiens’ playoff elimination of Mark Stone’s Ottawa Senators. SERIOUSLY.

“Never thought I’d end up celebrating one of your goals.” —Mark Stone, 26 Feb 2019

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 10: Mark Stone #61 and Max Pacioretty #67 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrate Pacioretty's third-period empty-net goal against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on June 10, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Avalanche 6-3 to win the series. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

rivals to lineys, man. un-fucking-believable.

[roseinaugust]

Like an Old Enemy

Chapter Five: Out of Luck, Love Bug

Summary: Miraculous Enemies AU. Gabriel Agreste has the Black Cat Miraculous in his possession, so when his wife, Emilie, "disappears," he sends his son, Adrien, undercover to pose as Ladybug's partner. Two years later, the once famous duo are sworn enemies. Marinette might have loved Chat Noir once, but now she would stop at nothing to defeat him. Adrien will do whatever it takes to bring his mother back. Best friends in their civilian lives, Adrien and Marinette find obstacles and complications when they can no longer deny their love for each other. But will they be able to understand and forgive the mistakes of their past? Or will they be doomed to end as bitter rivals a second time?

Rated: T

Pairings: Ladybug/Chat Noir Enemies, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Mutual Pining

Word Count: 6,243

Read on: ao3

A/N: I am only posting part of this chapter on tumblr so please read the rest on ao3!

Defeating Syren was no easy feat. 

Still weak from the aftereffects of the Black Potion and her near-drowning, Ladybug was slow in her attacks. Chat Noir fought with a vigor she had never seen before. His reaction sent her mind spinning. He had saved her—breathed life back into her—but, why? He was ambivalent to the loss of civilian life, never harming anyone himself, but not above risking their lives if it meant he could claim the Miraculous. So, why did he rescue her? Who was Marinette to him? And why did it pull on her heartstrings?

The sound of her name in his voice could have stopped her heart a second time. She wanted to ignore the pull in her chest on that rooftop. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was thankful he was there to help her. It was easy to mask her confusion with anger; she had done it often enough after his betrayal, when her mind was full of hate but her heart longed for his love.The burning in her lungs matched the fire in his eyes when she begrudgingly challenged him.

After he left Marinette alone, her questions hanging in the space he once stood, she had to reorient her priorities. She didn’t know if it was safe to use her Aqua Power-Up after her foray with the Black Potion, but it was the only way to defeat Syren. Her exhaustion wore her thin and she needed to defeat the akuma before her energy gave out altogether. With the ability to breath underwater—something that would have been helpful earlier—Ladybug was able to defeat Syren and return Paris to its original, un-flooded, state. 

She hid in an alcove of the pool to de-transform. The lingering effects from drowning disappeared with the water that once filled her lungs and the streets of Paris. The Magical Cure eased her ragged breaths but the ache in her head remained. Marinette peered over the wall at Kim and Ondine talking shyly by the bleachers. She smiled at the two before creeping through the back exit. 

Marinette was thankful the akuma battle ended near her house. The day’s events exhausted her, both physically and mentally. It was hard to imagine that just a few hours ago she had dreaded going to see the Guardian. Her brain pulsated with every step she took. Although she was dry, the memory of the Black Potion made her shudder as if she were still soaked. This was by far, her most physically taxing akuma battle, but was it her most emotional? She didn’t know. The pain from the Black Potion, the sensation of drowning, the electrifying shock of her emotions on that roof with Chat Noir… She paused in her thoughts. It definitely gave a different akuma battle a run for its money.

She reached the bakery and climbed the flights of stairs to her attic bedroom. Her mind drifted back to Kim and Ondine. Although he looked a bit nervous, he seemed excited to learn about Ondine’s feelings for him. As Marinette opened the trapdoor, she yawned, happy that he finally moved on from his crush on Chloé. That had been a disaster. If only she could move on from her feelings for a certain cat…

She crawled into the warmth of her bed, the tension in her limbs released, now that she could rest. Weariness encased Marinette, the fuzzy softness of her blankets fogging her mind. Memories of flying cupids and arrows of hate swirled in her head as she drifted into a deep sleep.

Meet me at our spot.

Ladybug stared at Chat Noir’s message on her Bug Phone, a giddy thrill lighting up in her at the familiar five words. They weren’t scheduled for patrol and there haven’t been any akuma alerts today. He had thought about her. Did she exist in his mind the way he did in her’s? Did she float through his thoughts, commanding his attention, outside of the mask? They were partners—friends—but did the thought of her bring a blush to his face? Her own face reddened, almost to the same hue of her costume. He had thought about her, and he wanted to see her. 

Ladybug dropped onto the roof of her favorite spot in Paris. The building itself was inconspicuous, the same beautiful French architecture as every other structure lining the street. The uniformity is what drew them in all those months ago. It wasn’t remarkable or important in any way; just an ordinary rooftop to meet for patrol, away from the prying eyes of citizens and the looming threat of Hawkmoth. It was a place for themselves, and themselves alone. 

Chat Noir was already on the rooftop when Ladybug arrived. His back was to her, looking out at the city, the Eiffel Tower in the distance. He stood with perfect posture, rigid almost, with his hands clenched together behind his back. Formal. Like a soldier standing at ease.  

“Hi, Kitty.” She said, alerting him to her presence. As he turned to face her, Chat Noir’s entire being changed. His shoulders relaxed and his head lolled to the side as that famous lazy grin spread across his face. It seemed as if any pretenses, any issues he faced day-to-day, were erased with her arrival. The ease of their friendship—of her presence—calmed and comforted him.

“Hi, Bug.” His smile widened with the use of the pet name he attributed to her. She liked to roll her eyes, pretend the nickname annoyed her, but her affection grew every time. She crossed the flat roof to where he stood. 

“So, what’s up? What’s the urgent meeting for today?” Ladybug joked, expecting one of the typical excuses they used when they wanted to hang out. With the mention of his text, Chat Noir’s eyes fell. His lax body language disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced with an unsettled expression. 

“Ladybug,” He started, his voice devoid of its humorous cadence. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”

“What is it?” She had never seen him this rattled before. What could he have to tell her that would illicit this response? She looked up at him, eyes wide beneath the July sun. He hung his head. Whatever it was, it affected him like nothing she’s ever seen before. He was making her nervous, but she could see through his silence. He was searching for the courage to tell her. With a deep breath, Ladybug resolved that she could be brave enough for the two of them. She took a step closer, eliminating some of the space between them. She lifted a hand to his face, raising his head to look her in the eyes. Ladybug rested her gloved hand on his cheek, smiling kindly. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. You can tell me anything, Chaton.” Something broke behind his eyes and his mouth twitched into a frown.

“I—Look out!” Before she could tell what was happening, a large figure flew over head. Chat Noir hugged her tight and spun, shielding her body with his own as an arrow flew into his back. 

“Chat Noir!” She called out as he tightened his arms around her. She struggled against him, trying to see if he was hurt and what that flying thing was. 

“Ladybug, I…loathe you!” He spits the words out, a tone he never used with her before. She tried to push him away but his embrace was unbreakable steel. The flying creature landed on the rooftop. How did it even find them there? She didn’t have time to ponder the question. The akuma villain moved closer, cackling. 

“Finally! Soon I’ll destroy all love. As soon as I get your Miraculous, Paris will be the City of Hate!” She recognized that voice. Ladybug looked over her shoulder to see the supervillain was her classmate, Kim. A bow and quiver strapped to his back in between the large black wings. The sun glinted on a heart-shaped pin attached to his strap. It was the pin he showed to her and Alya the day before; the one he planned to give Chloé for her birthday. 

Dark Cupid approached and Ladybug needed an escape. Chat Noir yelped in pain, releasing his iron hold on her as she brought her force down onto his foot. With her newfound freedom, she whipped out her yo-yo and escaped before the akuma could steal her earrings. She ducked into an alley to regroup. 

Chat Noir had been hit with one of Dark Cupid’s magical arrows, turning love into hate. But what type of love did he feel for her? Platonic or romantic? Her pulse quickened. Was that what he was going to tell her before they were interrupted by the akuma? She shook her head, clearing the thoughts that clouded her mind. She needed to focus on how to defeat the akuma instead of projecting her feeling onto Chat. 

She crouched behind a pile of boxes as a figure flew overhead. Once Dark Cupid passed by she stood up, only to be knocked back into the wall by Chat Noir’s baton. So used to his presence, she hadn’t noticed him enter the alley. With a grunt, Ladybug pushed up, drawing her yo-yo shield. 

“Chat, please! I’m your friend” She pleaded, hoping that her words could bring her partner back. “I don’t want to fight you.” I don’t know if I can fight you, she thought. She’s never fought without him by her side. They were a team, he was her friend—the one person she trusted with her life. The prospect of opposing him twisted her stomach into knots. His lips curled into a sneer, chilling her to the bone despite the summer heat. 

“You’re not my friend. You honestly think I like you?” The malicious words cut into her heart. Ladybug was thankful for the shaded alleyway disguising the distress that passed over her face. The logical half of her brain reminded her that he was under Hawkmoth’s influence. The insults he threw in tandem with blows of his staff were not how he truly felt about her. But how did he feel about her? Her thoughts drifted once again to unspoken topic on the roof. Anxiety clawed at her to know what he had to tell her, but she would have to wait until she had her partner back. 

The alley was too cramped to fight; she needed to be in the open and to find Dark Cupid. She hooked her yo-yo around the boxes she hid behind and tossed them at Chat Noir. They collided with his chest and he tumbled to the ground. Ladybug bolted into the street, Chat Noir nipping at her heels. Dark Cupid stood atop a large fountain, arrows flying in all directions. Chat Noir appeared in front of her. He laughed, but it held none of its usual humor and warmth. They had her surrounded. She fought to keep from trembling; an akuma by itself was difficult, but she never expected to fight against Chat Noir too. 

“Cataclysm!” He called for his superpower and glared at her. 

“Why are you so full of hate, Chat Noir?” She asked, distraught and not expecting a reply. 

“Because hate conquers all.” The words struck her before he did. They were reminiscent of the fairytales included in her summer reading. The beginnings of an idea formulated in her mind when Chat Noir charged. Her reflexes weren’t as fast as Chat’s, but she leaned backwards, ducking under his outstretched claws as his momentum pulled him forward. 

“Lucky Charm!” A candy apple fell from the sky. Ladybug’s gaze jumped quickly around her surroundings when her eyes landed on Dark Cupid, notching an arrow directly for her. Her impulses carried through, throwing the confectionary at her classmate. He abandoned the arrow in his hand to remove the candy apple stuck to his chest, the sticky sweet sugar coated his hands and arrows. Ladybug watched Dark Cupid land in front of the fountain to wash away the substance. Distracted, Chat Noir tackled her from behind, pinning her to the cobblestone streets, his Cataclysm bubbling in the hand he held aloft. 

“You’re out of luck, Love Bug.” He straddled her, tracing his non-cataclysmed claws from her jaw to behind her ear. The touch sent a shiver down her spine. Her plan was a long shot—they always were—but she had to try and bring back the boy she knew. 

The middle of an akuma battle trying to break a curse was not how Ladybug imagined her first kiss, but as Chat Noir raised his hand, she grabbed hold of his face and brought his lips down onto hers. She had pictured it a thousand ways—always with Chat. Sometimes it was after they defeated Hawkmoth; others, it was after they revealed their identities, when she could be Marinette, and he could be an entirely new person for her to fall in love with. Most of her daydreams though, were simple. Sitting together on their rooftop, unable to contain their feelings for each other anymore, bursting at the seems with tension until they kissed in the sunset of their own little universe. When the responsibilities of superheroes faded into background noise and they could exist as teenagers. Maybe that’s what Chat wanted to tell her today before Dark Cupid attacked. Maybe she could have had the first kiss she’d been dreaming of for the past year. Instead, Hawkmoth violated their rooftop—the one place in Paris she thought they were safe, alone together, where no one could find them. Her first kiss was not what she expected. Unromantic, frantic, and desperate, it was reduced to a tactical move to disarm Hawkmoth’s weapon of destruction. 

It was the first of many things she had sacrificed as a superhero.  

Her lips pressed against his, silently pleading for him to return to her. He was stiff, unresponsive, clinging to the hate Dark Cupid injected into his heart. But after a few seconds, he softened into the kiss, hate leeching from his soul as Ladybug purified him of the curse. He pushed up, dazed and unaware of his surroundings.

“Ladybug? What’s going on?” He asked, his voice devoid of the menace from minutes ago. He was back. She could have cried from relief. 

“No time to explain! The pin!” She threw Chat Noir towards Dark Cupid. They collided, wrestling briefly before Chat was able to Cataclysm the pin. A purple butterfly flew from the rubble, promptly captured by Ladybug’s yo-yo. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She cried, throwing the candied apple into the sky, curing the Parisian citizens of their hate. 

“Pound it,” Chat Noir held up his fist, expecting Ladybug to return his fist bump. She ignored their typical gesture and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly to her. 

“Don’t do that again!” She buried her head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. “I never want to fight you again, Chaton.” Her words were muffled, but loud enough for him to hear. He was solid beneath her, strong and lean, but she didn’t know that she was holding onto mist; slipping away from her grasp, impossible to contain. She pulled back slightly, looking up to prevent the tears from spilling over her lashes. “So what were you trying to tell me earlier?” 

His brows furrowed as he averted his gaze, still struggling to find the words. A beep sounded from his ring, giving him an excuse to leave. He backed away from Ladybug. “I gotta go. I guess I’ll just have to tell you later.” 

“Kitty, wait.” Ladybug grabbed his hand, halting him in his tracks. She knew it was one of Hawkmoth’s tricks, and yet the ferocity in his voice set her nerves on fire. She needed to be sure. “You didn’t mean the things you said right? We—we’re friends, right?” She held her breath. His face fell for an instant, before giving her a small somber smile. 

“You are my best friend.” His voice held so much emotion, but she couldn’t detect what emotion it was. He brought her hand to his lips, kissing it lightly. “Until next time, My Lady.” And then, like so many times before, he was gone. Evaporated into the air, taking his secret and her heart with him. 

Marinette woke with a start, wet trails of tears flowing down her face. Moonlight shone through the door leading to her terrace; the afternoon sun has long since set. She pulled her knees up to her chest and lowered her head trying to calm herself after the nightmare. Except, it hadn’t been a nightmare. Everything she dreamt had happened—the unspoken secret, the stress of the battle, the kiss—all of it was real, occurring just days before she discovered the truth. The vivid memories of Dark Cupid’s akuma battle lingered in her mind. It must have been the Black Potion, because it was as if she was reliving the events rather than remembering them. She didn’t know if she was crying from the distress she felt fighting Chat Noir for the first time, or because she’s fought him every day since. 

Dark Cupid was the last akuma she battled before discovering Chat Noir was working for Hawkmoth—the last akuma before she had to reanalyze every event of the previous year with the knowledge that everything Char Noir said to her was a lie. Marinette’s heart ached for the girl who stood in front of the fountain watching Chat Noir leave. She wished she could yell at her past self—don’t fall for his tricks!—but that girl was frozen in her memories. 

She never learned what he was trying to tell her that day. It was probably just more pretty lies to string her along. The cruel irony is that it would have worked. After the trying events of Dark Cupid, she realized she couldn’t hide her feelings from Chat Noir any longer. She was going to tell him that she loved him. She was going to reveal her identity. 

Marinette laid back down, staring up at the night sky. How many times had they watched these same stars from the privacy of their rooftop, wishing on any fallen star that he would kiss her? Or that she could show him her life underneath the mask? She hugged the square pillow to her chest, longing childishly for the cat pillow she discarded the previous year.

 Chat Noir had come close to discovering her identity. Then and now. The Black Potion had been a disastrous risk, one she probably shouldn’t have taken. Her hand drifted to her sternum where she could still imagine the pressure of water filling her lungs. She inhaled, a sweet satisfying breath—something she too often took for granted. Chat Noir spent a year manipulating her but now the roles have reversed; she had been the one to deceive him. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was officially out of the running for teen superhero. 

Fatigue from the chaos of the day lingered, despite her nap. Even so, she allowed herself a moment of relief. She wouldn’t think about her conflicting feelings for Chat Noir, or the fact that he had saved her life—and by extension all of Paris. She wouldn’t think about how she’d always known being a superhero was dangerous, but now that she had experienced true danger, it somehow seemed as if the stakes were raised. And she wouldn’t think about how she was no closer to defeating Hawkmoth and Chat Noir than she was a year ago, but they seemed to be encroaching closer to her every day. She wouldn’t think about any of that. Instead, as she stared hopelessly awake at the silent sky above her, she thought about how satisfying it felt to throw a rock at Chat Noir. 

A/N: Reminder that this is only part of the chapter so read the rest here

[thisblogmovedfindmeifyoucan]

Bio for Hero Verse:

Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark was born on May 29, 1975, in Manhattan, New York to Howard Stark, a famous genius inventor and businessman, and Maria Stark, a New York socialite and philanthropist. Growing up under the eye of family butler Edwin Jarvis, his life was characterized by a cold and affectionless relationship with his father. Seeing that his son could achieve great things, Howard tried to inspire him with constant talks about his own role in the creation of Captain America. 

This instead embittered Stark, who felt that his father was taking more pride in his creations than in his family. A brilliant and unique child prodigy, Stark attended MIT for two years starting at age 14, graduating at the age of 16.On December 16, 1995, when Stark was 20, his parents went away to the Bahamas, but planned to stop at the Pentagon to deliver Super Soldier Serum he had redeveloped. 

On their way there, both were killed in a car accident—later revealed to be an assassination carried out by the Winter Soldier who was mind controlled by Hydra to steal the serum. As a result, Stark inherited his father's company, becoming CEO of Stark Industries. Over the years, he became well known as a weapons designer and inventor.

In 2010, Stark travels to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to demonstrate Stark's new "Jericho" missile. After the demonstration, the convoy is ambushed and Stark is critically wounded and imprisoned by a terrorist group, the Ten Rings. Fellow captive Ho Yinsen, a doctor, implants an electromagnet into Stark's chest to keep shrapnel shards from reaching his heart and killing him.

Stark and Yinsen secretly build a small, powerful electric generator called an arc reactor to power Stark's electromagnet and a suit of powered armor. When the Ten Rings attack the workshop, Yinsen sacrifices himself to divert them while the suit is completed. The armored Stark battles his way out of the cave to find the dying Yinsen, then burns the Ten Rings' weapons in anger and flies away, crashing in the desert. Rescued by Rhodes, Stark returns home to announce that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. In his home workshop, Stark builds a sleeker, more powerful version of his improvised armor suit as well as a more powerful arc reactor.

Stark learns that Obadiah Stane has been arms trafficking to criminals worldwide, and is staging a coup to replace him as Stark Industries' CEO. Stark, in his new armor, flies to Afghanistan and saves the villagers. Stane ambushes Stark at his home and takes the arc reactor from his chest, revealing that Stane was responsible for Stark's captivity. Stark manages to get to his original reactor to replace it and defeats Stane. The next day, at a press conference, Stark publicly admits to being "Iron Man."

Six months later in 2011, Stark has become a superstar and uses his Iron Man suit for peaceful means, resisting government pressure to sell his designs. He reinstitutes the Stark Expo to continue his father's legacy, but discovers that the palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps Stark alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him. 

Stark competes in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and is attacked mid-race by Ivan Vanko, who wields electrified whips powered by a miniature arc reactor. Stark dons his Mark V armor and defeats Vanko, but the suit is severely damaged. At his birthday party, Stark gets drunk while wearing the Mark IV suit. Rhodes dons Stark's Mark II prototype armor and tries to restrain him. The fight ends in a stalemate, so Rhodes confiscates the Mark II for the U.S. Air Force.

Stark discovers a hidden message from his father, a diagram of the structure of a new element, which Stark synthesizes. At the Expo, Stark's rival Justin Hammer unveils Vanko's armored drones he had him make, led by Rhodes in a heavily weaponized version of the Mark II armor. Stark arrives in the Mark VI armor to warn Rhodes, but Vanko remotely takes control of both the drones and Rhodes' armor and attacks Iron Man. Stark and Rhodes together defeat Vanko and his drones. 

In 2012, when the Asgardian Loki arrives and begins menacing Earth, seizing the Tesseract from a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, Fury activates the Avengers Initiative and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson visits Stark to have him review the research of Erik Selvig on the Tesseract. In Stuttgart, Steve Rogers and Loki fight briefly until Tony Stark appears in his Iron Man armor, resulting in Loki's surrender. While Loki is being escorted to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor arrives and frees him, hoping to convince him to abandon his plan and return to Asgard. After a confrontation with Stark and Rogers, Thor agrees to take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier.

The Avengers become divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons. Agents possessed by Loki attack the Helicarrier, disabling one of its engines in flight, which Stark and Rogers must work to restart. Loki escapes, and Stark and Rogers realize that for Loki, simply defeating them will not be enough; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Loki uses the Tesseract to open a wormhole in New York City above the Avengers Tower to allow the Chitauri fleet in space to invade. 

Fury's superiors from the World Security Council attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Midtown Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile, and in an apparent sacrifice of his own life, takes it through the wormhole toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the Chitauri mothership and disabling their forces on Earth. Stark's suit runs out of power, and he falls back through the wormhole but the Hulk saves him from crashing into the ground.

Several years later, Stark and the Avengers raid a Hydra facility commanded by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has been experimenting on siblings Pietro and Wanda Maximoff using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. While the team fights outside, Stark enters the lab and finds the scepter, along with Chitauri ships from the Battle of New York and androids under construction. Wanda sneaks up behind him and uses her mind manipulation powers to give him a haunting vision: the death of all the Avengers except him. Stark awakens from the vision and grabs Loki's scepter.

Several years later, Stark and the Avengers raid a Hydra facility commanded by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has been experimenting on siblings Pietro and Wanda Maximoff using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. While the team fights outside, Stark enters the lab and finds the scepter, along with Chitauri ships from the Battle of New York and androids under construction. Wanda sneaks up behind him and uses her mind manipulation powers to give him a haunting vision: the death of all the Avengers except him. Stark awakens from the vision and grabs Loki's scepter.

Returning to Stark Tower, Stark and Bruce Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepter's gem, and secretly decide to use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron eliminates Stark's A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers at Stark Tower. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron builds an army of robot drones, kills Strucker and recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents' deaths by his company's weapons. The Avengers find and attack Ultron, but Wanda subdues most of the team with personalized, disturbing visions, causing Banner to transform into the Hulk and rampage until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.

After hiding at Clint Barton's house, Nick Fury arrives and encourages Stark and the others to form a plan to stop Ultron, who is discovered to have forced the team's friend Dr. Helen Cho to perfect a new body for him. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton find Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff. Returning to their headquarters in New York, the Avengers fight amongst themselves when Stark and Banner secretly upload J.A.R.V.I.S.—who is still operational after hiding from Ultron inside the Internet—into the synthetic body. Thor returns to help activate the body, explaining that the gem on its brow was part of his vision. 

This "Vision" and the Maximoffs, now on their side, accompany Stark and the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift part of the capital city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. One of Ultron's drones is able to activate the machine. The city plummets, but Stark and Thor overload the machine and shatter the landmass. The Avengers establish a new base, and Stark leaves the team in the hands of Rogers and Romanoff.

Besides his age this is Where Canon Starts to Diverge:

In 2016, U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross informs the Avengers that the United Nations (UN) is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which will establish UN oversight of the team. The Avengers are divided: Stark supports oversight because of his role in Ultron's creation and Sokovia's devastation, while Rogers has more faith in his own judgment than that of a government. Circumstances lead to Rogers and fellow super-soldier Bucky Barnes—framed for a terrorist attack—going rogue, along with Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton, and Scott Lang. Stark assembles a team composed of Romanoff, T'Challa, Rhodes, Vision, and Peter Parker to capture the renegades at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

So up until the battle, Tony thinks that the Accords are a good idea except that he doesn’t treat Wanda as bad as she’s treated in the movies.  She will be in Avengers compound but she’s kept there to train and he will try to find someone to help her learn to control her powers. 

When they go to Germany, Tony actually listens to Steve but there is still a fight that ensues.  When Rhodey falls from the sky and is injured, Tony calls the entire thing off.  He goes with Steve and Bucky to the compound with the other Super soldiers but when he finds out about what happened, he’s very angry but doesn’t attack Bucky and Steve.  This takes away the rift that is there between the three men.  Tony does help Clint and Sam and although they must stay on the run, Tony supplies them resources and doesn’t let Ross know where they are.

In 2018, Stark and Potts are in a New York City park changes that are going to be made to move the business in another direction when Banner, who had disappeared after the Battle of Sokovia, crash-lands at the Sanctum Sanctorum. Banner relays a warning to Stephen Strange, Wong, and Stark that the mad Titan Thanos plans to use the Infinity Stones to kill half of all life in the universe. Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone, prompting Strange, Stark, Wong, and Parker to confront them. Although Cull Obsidian is incapacitated and thrown into Antarctica, Strange is captured by Maw. Stark and Parker sneak aboard Maw's spaceship to rescue him.

After successfully freeing Strange and killing Maw, the trio proceed to Thanos’ home planet Titan, where they meet members of the Guardians of the Galaxy. They form a plan to confront Thanos and remove the Infinity Gauntlet, but Thanos overpowers the group and stabs Stark. Strange surrenders the Time Stone in exchange for Thanos sparing Stark. Thanos takes the stone and departs Titan for Earth, retrieves the final stone, and activates the Infinity Gauntlet. Stark and Nebula, stranded on Titan, watch as Parker and others are turned to dust.

For the end battle, Tony will take the gauntet but instead of him dying, his right arm is destroyed and he will use the same nanotech that is hooked to his chest to create an arm for him to use.  Also at the end of the battle, Tony 45 years old will remain as Ironman until he can train someone as his replacement.  Also in the five years of the Blip, Pepper and Tony have a one night stand and she gets pregnant with Morgan. @mhstark3000 .  With this, they are not married and aren’t even dating.  He will be in Morgan’s life though and Pepper and Tony do an amazing job co-parenting, especially once her retires from being Ironman.

During the time of Wanda Vison and TFATWS, he is retired from being an Avenger but will pick it up if he’s needed.  Also he’s been working inventions and his own thing.

[drivindrivin]

The government of Mongolia has drawn the United Nations into its complaint against Max Verstappen, accusing the Red Bull driver of failing to publicly apologise for repeatedly using racist language.

Verstappen’s use of the word “m*ng*l” on two occasions, at this year’s Portuguese Grand Prix and during the 2017 United States Grand Prix, is detailed in a letter from Mongolia’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN, Lundeg Purevsuren, to the UN’s representatives on matters relating to racism.

Purevsuren criticised the response he received from Verstappen’s Red Bull team to a letter he sent them last week, following the driver’s outburst in Portugal. Verstappen referred to rival Lance Stroll as a “m*ng*l” following a collision between the pair, which was broadcast live on the F1 TV streaming service.

RaceFans understands Red Bull’s response to Purevsuren characterised Verstappen’s remarks as comments made in the heat of the moment which were not intended to cause offence.

Asked about his entire tirade at Stroll, in which he also called the driver a “r*t*rd” and swore several times, Verstappen acknowledged his words were “not correct” but added those who were unhappy with his outburst don’t “need to make it bigger than it is”. He told Fox Sports Asia he “never intended to offend anyone in the world”.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner described Verstappen’s response as an emotional reaction. Horner said the team “don’t condone Max’s comments on the team radio” the day after he made them. “They were made in the heat of the moment when emotions were running high and Max did not mean to cause any offence. We have discussed this with Max internally.”

The Mongolian government considers Verstappen’s comments a matter of “serious importance” because he has used “similar language in 2017 during the Formula 1 US Grand Prix,” wrote Purevsuren. “In both cases he refused to apologise publicly for using… words based on the term ‘m*ng*l’ [and] respect the Mongolian nation and community.

“It is [obvious] that him and the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Team did not learn the lesson in 2017, insisting that it was not his problem if anyone [was] offended by his language. Unfortunately, [the] lack of proper response from the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Team management and their attempts to stop the driver’s unacceptable behaviour as ’emotional outburst’ have a negative effect on their image.”

Purevsuren asked the UN to support their complaint against the team and its sponsors.

“Recalling the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination adopted in 1965 and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, endorsed in 2011, in [particular] its articles 11 to 15, I urge for your support to take actions against Max Verstappen and the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Team and their sponsors for his unacceptable behaviour of repeatedly using racist and derogatory language against any ethnic groups in order to prevent the recurrence of such unethical behaviour in sports.”

Purevsuren’s letter was sent to Li Yanduan, the chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and E. Tendayi Achiume, the UN’s special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, and copied to FIA president Jean Todt.

In June Formula 1 launched its “#WeRaceAsOne” initiative to “show that we as a sporting community stand united against racism”. It supports the FIA’s “#PurposeDriven” movement in which the sport’s governing body committed “to fight systemic racism and prejudice”.

[hostingcolombia1]

Elegir un alojamiento web bueno y confiable

Una web posee (o alquila) la PC que sirve los documentos de su página web a sus invitados, generalmente a cambio de un gasto de mes a mes. No es necesario que elimine su registro actual de Internet para alistar un sitio web. De hecho, muchos sitios web no ofrecen administración de cooperativas de especialistas en Internet (ISP).

Aquellos que lo hagan deberían estar cerca, o no es genial para ti. Lo extraordinario de su ISP de vecindario es que está en su área y le brinda un número telefónico cercano. Preferiría no tener que llamar a Albuquerque en cualquier momento en el que necesite examinar la Web (excepto si, obviamente, vive en Albuquerque).

Existe una posibilidad decente de que ahora tenga una Web, independientemente de si no la conoce. Numerosas cuentas de Internet estándar acompañan a una medida sólida de espacio de trabajo para páginas web individuales. De esta manera, la fase inicial para elegir una Web es contactar a su ISP. Descubra cuánto espacio para trabajadores acompaña a su registro. colombia hosting  En caso de que la respuesta adecuada no sea ninguna, debe informar a su delegado de soporte al cliente que un gran número de sus rivales inmediatos ofrecen esta ventaja a sus patrocinadores por una cantidad significativamente menor de lo que está pagando actualmente.

Necesito utilizar mi página web para fines comerciales. ¿Podría tener mi página web en el espacio web individual que acompaña a mi administración de Internet?

¿Por qué razón podrías necesitarlo? Para algo determinado, su ISP normalmente le da una dirección web convencional, lo que no hace que su negocio parezca extremadamente competente. Por otro lado, no es necesario que se moleste con los holguras ordinarias correspondientes al tiempo que encuentra en los trabajadores de los grandes proveedores de servicios de Internet. Además, presumiblemente, los locales comerciales están en contra de las expresiones de administración de su ISP, y no necesita preocuparse por el problema de que cierren su sitio web junto con su propio registro de correo electrónico y asociación de Internet.

En caso de que realmente no desee utilizar su propio espacio de trabajo para su sitio web, simplemente vaya a su buscador de Internet número 1 y busque en el servidor web para comenzar su examen. Trate de no sorprenderse si sus resultados son grandes.

Hay muchos, muchos, muchos sitios web disponibles. No se podía de ninguna manera, dar forma o investigarlos todos. Necesita limitar sus opciones y rápido. Un método decente para comenzar es con los nombres que ve: Yahoo !, Earthlink, Netfirms, incluso su teléfono u organización de enlaces. En el caso de que no tengan lo que necesita o necesita, trabaje en su dirección hacia abajo en el resumen.

Cada página web es única, obviamente, y nadie más que usted puede decidir cuál es la web adecuada para su sitio web específico. A fin de cuentas, como regla general, aquí hay un par de características que tiene una buena Web:

1) Cargo mensual razonable. Compare precios y vea lo que anuncian los contendientes. Espero pagar en algún lugar entre $ 10 y $ 25 por mes por un sitio individual o de una empresa independiente. Ahorre dinero y su Web probablemente compensará cualquier déficit brindándole una gran asistencia al cliente o adjuntando avisos en su página Web. Pague más y es probable que esté comprando administraciones y elementos con los que no necesita preocuparse.

2) Registro de nombre de dominio (idealmente gratis). Una gran cantidad de la mejor Web se ha ofrecido a incluir el nombre del área de su página Web para usted. Algunos incluso le hacen frente al cargo anual de administración de inscripción de $ 35. Esté atento a estos anfitriones. Son geniales, independientemente de si adjuntan un cargo por arreglo (siempre que sea inferior a $ 35).

3) Cargo por arreglo razonable (o nulo). Algunos Web tienen adjunto un excepcional, una vez que la administración se activa para establecer su récord. Otros no lo hacen. Numerosos sitios web completamente respetables y confiables tienen gastos de gestión de cargos. Muchos no lo hacen. Aquellos que no cobran gastos de arreglos con frecuencia hacen su efectivo en otro lugar, así que lea la letra pequeña. En el caso de que opte por una administración de cargo de gastos, no pague más de $ 35, o es probable que lo empapen. Es más, en caso de que pueda obtener un cargo por gastos que la Web tiene durante uno de sus períodos especiales de "gastos pospuestos", hágalo.

4) Planes de actualización. Tu sitio es fructífero. Se desarrolla. Necesita que su proveedor de alojamiento web se desarrolle con usted. En un mundo perfecto, su anfitrión debería ofrecer algunos grados de administración con enfoques de valor razonable. Comience con el arreglo menos costoso y avance gradualmente.

5) Atención al cliente confiable (idealmente por teléfono). Necesita atención al cliente. Basta de charla. Además, no sucumbas al estándar cada minuto de cada intento de atención al cliente de cada día para vender algo. Cualquier simplón con un registro de correo electrónico puede promover cada minuto de la atención diaria al cliente. Sin embargo, si el idiota realmente está examinando el emailah, ese es el problema. Necesita un número de teléfono complementario para la atención al cliente. En caso de que no tenga todos los minutos de cada día de entrada a una persona en vivo por teléfono, t