#he literally adopts the speech of an american

[grim-has-issues]

ZSakuVA’s American accent is making rethink my life choices.

[singswan-springswan]

Reasons to watch Justice League: War (2014)

free on tubi

absolute banger start with Dry Humor Hal

"Batman is real????"

once again we bring you speculation of Batman Turned Villain?/Is He Abducting Random Civilians Or Is That Just Parademons?

We have Green Lantern thinking Batman's a cryptid right out of the gate then going "wait you're not just some guy in a bat costume, right?" while Batman gives him a deadpan stare and Green Lantern weeps and also they are in the sewers

Bruce "I make it my business to know" Wayne, for your consideration

Billy Batson conning his way into a football game

Billy Batson being a fan of Victor Stone??? and stealing his jersey

Victor is a nice young gentlemen to everyone except his father, with whom he devolves into Indignant Gremlin and will Break Things watch out

Flash and Victor's dad being friends

poor Barry went and got burritos for EVERYONE and SOMEONE STOLE HIS

Green Lantern and Batman already hate each other's guts

Bruce stole Green Lantern's ring just to be feral and made fun of him for it

✨Utility Belt✨

space cop Green Lantern

Superman's costume is so sexy

testosterone overdose with Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman all in the same scene: 368 dead, 1,590 injured. Obligatory catfight between those three while also there are hostile parademon soldiers flying around everywhere

Bruce stopping Superman in his tracks by saying his name quietly

Clark just staring at Batman for a second, then: "Bruce Wayne??"

"who's Bruce Wayne?" help

Diana publicly coerces a man into admitting that he cross-dresses as her and it makes him feel powerful while standing in the middle of a hostile mob on her way to meet the american president

3 seconds later she decides to ditch the president and go get ice cream

Diana thinks ice cream is The Best

Diana makes friends with Hannah and adopts her on the spot

🚨Flash and Green Lantern bromance!!🚨

"Batman is real????"

Diana is Bloodthirsty.

oops victor got yeeted. maybe he shouldn't have touched that glowing alien space box in his dad's lab

Billy's gonna fight demons in his backyard alone at night with a baseball bat which in no way seems saf--⚡SHAZAM⚡

squad is so lit my dudes

actually they are so cool together

the writers were clearly Clark/Diana shippers because man there was SO MUCH chemistry between those two

Diana gets to stab Darkseid in the eyeball with her sword :3

Barry gets to stab the other eyeball with a crowbar :3

Batman tells Green Lantern he's normal and then disguises himself as a civilian in .002 seconds and promptly hitches a ride on a parademon like he's hailing a fricking taxi and gets carried off into the night, leaving the rest of the heroes to hold the line while he tries to rescue Superman from wherever he got portal-ed off to single-handedly BRUCE SHUT UP

Green Lantern is really bad at giving speeches. but like. it's funny

Everyone kicks alien butt

Bruce does, in fact, end up saving Superman single-handedly

Victor is soooo OP

Diana punches Captain Marvel through a wall and shoves her sword in his face and says "you are a warrior, not a child! act like it!" LIKE NO MA'AM HE'S LITERALLY TEN YEARS OLD

Captain Marvel does not stop flirting with Diana throughout the time they work together

Green Lantern said "I like trains"

lads I am not joking about how cool the squad is

Victor has bad reception so he flies into the clouds. pray

Victor finds out Captain Marvel is actually an infant and lets him keep the jersey. Billy cracks jokes about his arm being a cannon

Diana calls them all gods. she said Batman is Hades. send help.

Sean Astin voices Captain Marvel

I'm not the biggest fan of the way they drew Superman's face. it's too shaped. BUT the rest of the animation is so spirited and vibrant. storyboard and choreography is phenomenal, not to mention the cinematography! amazing animation

Batman, to Green Lantern: let them think we're friends so the cops don't get me

dialogue is so much fun and so rich. no lines wasted. full to bursting with wit and humor

exposition is breathtaking, considering the time frame they were working with. I'm honestly floored. they took an hour of screen time and made it feel more than twice as long. holy kriff, that's some masterful storytelling right there

this film had more character development for a cast of seven than most modern movies--and some shows--have for one character

excellent voice acting

completely stand-alone; can be watched and thoroughly enjoyed without any prior knowledge

[brostateexam]

A.B.A. is the only autism intervention that is approved by insurers and Medicaid in all fifty states. The practice is widely recommended for autistic kids who exhibit dangerous behaviors, such as self-injury or aggression toward others, or who need to acquire basic skills, such as dressing themselves or going to the bathroom. The mother of a boy with severe autism in New York City told me that her son’s current goals in A.B.A. include tolerating the shower for incrementally longer intervals, redirecting the urge to pull on other people’s hair, and using a speech tablet to say no. Another kid might be working on more complex language skills by drilling with flash cards or honing his ability to focus on academic work. Often, A.B.A. targets autistic traits that may be socially stigmatizing but are harmless unto themselves, such as fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, or stereotypic behaviors commonly known as stimming—rocking, hand-flapping, and so forth.

Hammond is now the mother of two autistic sons. Her older son, Aidan, who is sixteen, is nonverbal and needs round-the-clock care. When he was young, he attended a traditional school, but teachers, Hammond said, “were literally calling me every single day: ‘Can you please come here and sit with him? Can you please pick him up?’ ” Hammond tried physical, occupational, and speech-language therapy for Aidan, but he was “kicked out of every single one,” she said. Therapists “felt that his behaviors were interfering with his learning, and that he needed to be in A.B.A.” A.B.A. clinicians, she added, “were at least willing to look at my son.”

She drove him to A.B.A. appointments at a clinic about an hour from their home in southwest Texas, but stopped treatment after just a few sessions. This was partly due to the commute and the co-pay, but also to a discomfort with the approach, which required Aidan to spend long periods, over multiple sessions, solving a puzzle in which he matched shapes to the right-sized holes. “He’s having to do this over and over and over again,” Hammond recalled, “and, when he picked the right thing, it’s, like, Ooh, here’s a Skittle! Like he’s a puppy.”

In recent years, A.B.A. has come under increasingly vehement criticism from members of the neurodiversity movement, who believe that it cruelly pathologizes autistic behavior. They say that its rewards for compliance are dehumanizing; some compare A.B.A. to conversion therapy. Social-media posts condemning the practice often carry the hashtag #ABAIsAbuse. The message that A.B.A. sends is that “your instinctual way of being is incorrect,” Zoe Gross, the director of advocacy at the nonprofit Autistic Self Advocacy Network, told me. “The goals of A.B.A. therapy—from its inception, but still through today—tend to focus on teaching autistic people to behave like non-autistic people.” But others say this criticism obscures the good work that A.B.A. can do. Alicia Allgood, a board-certified behavior analyst who co-runs an A.B.A. agency in New York City, and who is herself autistic, told me, “The autistic community is up in arms. There is a very vocal part of the autistic population that is saying that A.B.A. is harmful or aversive or has potentially caused trauma.”

Until recently, the American Medical Association officially endorsed “evidence-based treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder including, but not limited to, Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy.” Last summer, the medical students’ body of the association proposed that the organization withdraw its support for A.B.A., citing objections by autistic self-advocates. The association did not adopt the resolution as submitted, but its house of delegates eventually approved an amendment removing any explicit reference to A.B.A., and autistic activists spread the word that A.B.A. no longer appeared to have the outright endorsement of the nation’s largest medical society.

[bleu-guacamole]

If you’re looking for a new show to watch then do I have a recommendation for you!

An alien crash lands on earth and takes the place of a doctor in a small town of Colorado. His goal is to exterminate the entire human race, but when the town doctor is murdered he is forced to interact with people and OH MY GODS! Every character is just absolutely SO WELL WRITTEN!

Every character from the depressed deputy to the egomaniacal sheriff who eats breakfast with his elderly father and the romantic pink haired bartender to the Native American medical assistant have great storylines, amazing actors, and great comedic moments. The mayor and his wife, their son who knows our main character is an alien and his best friend who reminds me of Samirah from Magnus Chase, and I haven’t even mentioned the daughter of the medial assistant who was given up for adoption and is trying to reconnect with her family.

Plus the main character is the most relatable despite being the least human (literally). From getting glimpses inside his head of intrusive thoughts to his lack of understanding basic things in conversation. Everything just makes me think that he’s written to be so very neurodivergent.

It also has plenty of references and easter eggs for the studious nerd with my favorites being the alien’s sideway blinking from Men in Black and his use of Urban Dictionary to understand human speech.

Anyway the show is called Resident Alien and it’s on Netflix. I give it 8/10 red dwarf stars

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Joan E Greve and Alice Herman at The Guardian:

Speakers at the Republican national convention ramped up their rhetorical attacks on Democrats on Tuesday night despite Donald Trump’s presidential campaign signalling that the party would adopt a message of unity in the face of political violence. Kari Lake, a Trump ally and Republican candidate for senate in Arizona, used her speech time to launch an attack on the media, which she called “fake news”, and said more Americans were no longer tuning in to mainstream media. She then turned her attention to illegal drugs and crime, part of the Tuesday theme, “Make America Safe Once Again”. She attributed the issues to the Biden administration and Democrats. “The problems we face are huge – the problems caused by the Democrat party – but the solutions are simple. First of all, stop the Biden-vasion and build a wall,” she said. The convention floor erupted with chants of “build that wall”. Other speakers repeatedly slammed Joe Biden, seeking to portray his time in government as a threat to the American way of life. They also heaped praise on Trump, often referring to him as a friend and telling anecdotes of their interactions with him.

Meanwhile, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis took the stage, making the case for Trump to their primary voters in a move that finally pulled the entire party publicly together behind Trump and ended any lingering divisions with his former arch-rivals for the party nomination. “I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear: Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period,” said Haley, who entered the stage to a mix of applause and boos. She went on to speak to voters with mixed feelings about Trump. Haley cast the election in dramatic terms. “We have a country to save,” said Haley. “And a unified Republican party is essential for saving her.” DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, who has generally been supportive of Trump since abandoning his White House bid in January, opened by slamming Biden and suggesting the president lacks the cognitive ability to lead. “America cannot afford four more years of a Weekend at Bernie’s presidency,” said DeSantis, referring to the 80s comedy in which two salesmen accidentally kill their boss and then pretend he is still alive. “Let’s be honest here. Biden is just a figurehead.”

[...] But the message did not seem to filter down to the parade of speakers taking the convention stage. During her speech Tuesday, New York representative Elise Stefanik called Biden “feckless and failed” and accused him of causing “chaos”.

Florida senator Rick Scott, meanwhile, levied an inflammatory – and false – accusation at Democrats, whom he accused of rigging elections by allowing “all the non-citizens to vote”. Immigration reform has become a rallying cry for Republicans, with Trump and his allies repeatedly and falsely accusing Biden of supporting “open borders”. [...] Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, doubled down on therhetoric, invoking a series of anecdotal examples of women killed by undocumented immigrants. “We are facing an invasion on our southern border – not figuratively, a literal invasion,” Cruz exclaimed. “These aren’t just stories or statistics. They’re our daughters, sisters, friends.” Cruz later claimed that Democrats wanted “votes from illegals”.

Night 2 of the RNC was the same old divisive schtick as Night 1 was, despite a pre-convention promise to adopt a “unifying” tone: unhinged and deranged attacks on immigration, Biden Administration and Democrats as a whole, and crime.

See Also:

HuffPost: RNC Speeches Catalogue Horrors Of Democratic Rule: Rape, Murder And Chaos

[wellthebardsdead]

How all my dragonborns sound/their accents:

Poppy: yeehaw cowboy Cole Cassidy. I’m not even joking Poppy isn’t just my character but he’s a shared Oc amongst my dnd group who all enjoy both the elder scrolls and Overwatch. Our dm made him purely because he wanted a cowboy cyborg dwemer npc so he could practice his Cole Cassidy impression and he loves how we’ve all adopted him as our own in so many different ways.

Bass: Extremely deep baritone voice with a slight African accent. Though with his voice regulator on he sounds closer to South African or English with a very robotic undertone.

Henwen: A deep but very soft spoken voice with a Welsh English accent that can quickly switch to old Norse Viking when he’s tapped into his atmoran roots and screaming a battle cry that could send enemies running as they shit themselves.

Riiju-Lei: A Nordic accent but with hints of argonian roughness and occasional dunmer inflections. He’s a polyglot and often jumbles words from different languages but he’s often very gentle in his tone if not a bit direct.

Shamat: Soft spoken dunmeri accent teetering on Australian. His voice is quite deep but as a healer and someone wanting to befriend all he tends to lower his tone to a softer more approachable level.

Flynt: Irish, English/American accent. Raised in Cyrodiil he grew up knowing bosmeri thanks to his father and other bosmer in the community but due to how heavily ostracised they were at the time he adapted a more imperial accent. Though get him flustered and angry enough and he will quickly switch back to his bosmeri/Irish accent. He’s very confident in himself and in what he wants, though once he’s blinded and loses his ability to speak hes left only able to communicate through slurred and sad attempts at speech. Made even harder if he’s upset.

Dune: A very deep but surprisingly eloquent orcish voice, not as rough as most orcs but still capable of growling low enough to emphasise a point. Less of a barbarian and more of a mage/healer he speaks quite softly but can be confident among friends.

Aurorwren: his accent is a mix between Greek/Roman & old English. He’s very confident in himself and presents it clearly with how he speaks but around those he cares deeply for, particularly humans, he’s very softly spoken not wanting to be perceived as a threat to them in any way. Especially given his peoples reputation for cruelty.

Sylas: Welsh/English. He is rough and irritable at the best of times towards everyone except for Taliesin. His voice is deep and husky and he will use it in any way he can to seduce, persuade or intimidate others to get what he wants. But when alone with Taliesin and holding him tight the meanest he’ll get is a low growl in his ear during the throws of passion.

Vivienne: dunmeri/imperial accent, he spent most of his life in the city of blacklight but picked up English through the dwindling imperial influence throughout the city. Quite softly spoken and sweet when at peace. Under extreme distress voice will dip into Vivec’s voice, echoing with both his own and his past incarnation.

Marigold: English accent, formerly bosmeri/Irish. His fathers cruelty and etiquette lessons literally beat his accent into him. He’s clearly spoken and can be authoritative in his tone if needs be and he’s not afraid to be cutting with his words either. When physically weakened or vulnerable however, he can be very soft spoken displaying he needs gentle care.

Shen Lung: Mandarin/Nepali accent. Living his whole life on the isolated island of Akavir he’s unfamiliar with the imperial language adopted all across mainland tambriel however he is a polyglot and knows all the languages on his homeland from Akaviri, to the snake folk tongue, to his own Tang Mo. He’s a fast learner and picks up how to speak from interactions with team dragonborn. His voice is quite deep but softly spoken with a playful lilt. When startled he will scream like a monkey and if left with his thoughts will sometimes chirp like a marmoset or smaller primate.

Evalien: Modern Working class Australian accent. She’s from our world and has and will call Nazeem a cunt to his face.

Naria: Māori accent. He’s generally very friendly and approachable with his tone and accent, easily pulling anybody in with it and making them a friend. Under water however he clicks, trills and groans out like a dolphin or whale.

Wyrm: English accent. Growing up in the collage of winterhold with access to endless knowledge and tutoring he’s a polyglot and very eloquent in several languages including his native dunmeri. He has a soft, kind voice and it matches his introverted nature, however he can speak clearly and authoritatively if needs be. With his adopted father Urag however, he’s like any teenager and will whine and complain if he doesn’t get his way~

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲 Congressman Mike Garcia R-CA D-27, who sits on the House Intelligence and House Appropriations Committees, releases his demands of the Biden Administration before he will give his approval for anymore endless funding for the Ukraine Proxy War.

The Biden Administration is demanding another $24 Billion be appropriated for Military and Financial Aid to Ukraine.

Today, Ukrainian Drug Addict President Volodymyr Zelensky gave an impassioned and highly practiced speech to Congress, appealing to Congress-members' sympathies along with their Russophobia to secure the additional funding.

Congressman Mike Garcia laid out a series of bullet points of issues he wants to see fixed before agreeing to support the Biden Administration request for another $24 Billion, including:

A public briefing to update the American people on the progress (or lack of it) of the war.

An explanation from the White House on why future Military and Economic Aid to Ukraine is necessary.

An explanation of the "consequences" of ceasing Aid to Ukraine.

A report from the Departments of Treasury and Commerce on the enforcement and compliance of Sanctions against the Russian Federation that have already been approved.

Adoption by ALL NATO Member States of Sanctions against the Russian Federation to include all Oil, Grain, and Rare-Earth Minerals; critical exports the Russian Federation earns the majority of its revenue from.

President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide Congress with a coherent strategy for winning the war and a timeline for doing it.

Submission to Congress by the White House of the price tag for executing this strategy for victory, with selective disclosure and incremental requests that average $10 Billion per month being considered unacceptable, unaffordable and unsustainable.

The White House and Pentagon to provide a clear explanation as to Why the resources being requested are necessary and appropriate for Ukraine's strategy.

The Biden Administration and President Zelensky to provide to Congress, to the extent possible, a full accounting of weapons systems provided to/used by Ukraine to date.

The Biden Administration and the Pentagon must support an $800 million investment into a pay raise for Junior enlisted Officers as is being proposed in FY24 NDAA by the Appropriations Committee that Biden is currently threatening to veto the Bill over.

The White House and Pentagon to provide evidence that demonstrates that the DoD and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency or DSCA are not jeopardizing the schedule and cost of critical domestic weapons programs or the commitments the US has made to Taiwanese and Israeli FMF programs. (In other words, Ukraine cannot come at the cost of being unprepared for the war with China they seem obsessed with starting)

President Biden must sign the Republican-led H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act into Law.

Congressman Mike Garcia ends his demands by saying:

"I will wholeheartedly support more Aid to Ukraine if these common-sense conditions are met. In the meantime, I expect other NATO Members to enhance their support of Ukraine and I urge President Zelensky to find and execute a winning strategy in short order."

So literally the only real challenge to engaging in endless war and drowning endless treasure in the Black Sea is coming from a psychopath that also wants more money for endless war, just in China instead of Ukraine.

[mademoiselle-red]

I cannot sleep and I just read the most idiotic thing on Twitter so let’s make fun of it together.

There is an article about a (in my opinion) quite blatant attempt by Chinese-American political candidates in San Francisco to prevent non-Chinese candidates from appealing to the city’s Chinese speaking voters. And they are using “cultural appropriation” as an excuse to get their way.

“After an inquiry from Supervisor Connie Chan, the Department of Elections has decided to follow a 2019 state law saying self-submitted Chinese names may only be used if candidates can prove that they were born with them, as many Chinese immigrants or Chinese Americans were, or they have been using the names for at least two years.

If that’s not the case, candidates will then be given a transliteration-based name, which are often wordy and based on Mandarin phonetics.

As San Francisco is heading into an election season, the rule change may be considered a crackdown of sorts. Because of the city’s robust Chinese-speaking population, ballots are in both English and Chinese, which has led many non-Chinese candidates to adopt a Chinese name in an effort to appeal to monolingual Chinese voters.

For example, mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie, a first-time runner in politics, recently named himself 羅瑞德, and the name is widely publicized in the Chinese-speaking world. But if he can’t prove that he was born with the name or has been using it for two years, he will likely be assigned a name, 丹尼爾·露里.”

Anyone who knows anything about contemporary Chinese speech habits would know that Chinese people find “nicknames” in Chinese A LOT easier to remember and pronounce than direct transliterations of non-Chinese names. And if a non-Chinese celebrity doesn’t have an “official” Chinese nickname, Chinese people will make one up for them!

Non-Chinese people self selecting new Chinese names (usually creatively inspired by their original names) is not cultural appropriation! It’s just a way for the person to make it easier for people to pronounce and remember their name! Lots of Chinese people also adopt English names for similar reasons. People just want their names to be remembered and not butchered on a regular basis. And sometimes that requires creative translation or a brand new name in the target language!

Also, Daniel Lurie’s self-chosen Chinese name absolutely SLAPS in Chinese. While the literal transliteration sucks. Let’s break it down:

The “nickname”, 羅瑞德, is pronounced Luo Rei De in Chinese. Luo Rei sounds like Lurie, his last name, and De is the first syllable of his first name. But it gets even better. This version of his name follows the Chinese last-name-before-first-name rule, since it puts Lurie before Daniel. Plus, Luo is a fairly common Chinese surname, so to native Chinese ears, the name sounds like surname Luo, given name Rei De, which sounds “natural.” And to top it all off, the characters Rei and De combine together to make yet another fairly common Chinese given name! Rei means “intelligent” and “De” means “moral”, both auspicious characters that are frequently combined together in given names for boys! Rei is rather gender neutral but De is much more common in boys, thus also clearly marking the gender of the person. So in conclusion, Daniel Lurie’s Chinese “nickname” manages to remain true to his original English name AND sound fantastic and easy to remember in Chinese.

Now let’s look at the literal transliteration they wanted to assign him: 丹尼爾·露里

This is pronounced Dan Ni Er, Lu Li. Yes, it does sound almost exactly like “Daniel Lurie”. But what does this name mean in Chinese? Let me translate: Dan = pill 💊, Ni=woman, Er= a grammatical term with no meaning, Lu = Dew, Li = inside. We went from “Luo the intelligent and virtuous” to a nonsensical combination of words! And remember that Chinese names are usually 2-3 syllables. A 5 syllable name creates way more mental friction for a native speaker to read, say, and remember. If Daniel Lurie actually had to use this transliteration, it wouldn’t take long for his mandarin-speaking supporters to start affectionately calling him something like 丹努力 “Dan the hardworking” (pronounced Dan Nu Li). I made this one up on the spot, based on the tendency of Chinese netizens to take the first syllable of any foreign name and make it the “last name” and then assigning a 2-syllable “given name” that describes some a trait they associate with that person and vaguely sounds like other parts of the person’s foreign name.

So the people trying to ban self-selected Chinese names either don’t know how Chinese native speakers prefer to interact with foreign names or know all too well the importance of having a good Chinese “nickname” and are trying to sabotage their political opponents’ chances.

[jynjackets]

every time I think about m@arva's existence I get so, so angry. we were robbed of getting a new major latina character, who could have been a living star wars mom since we didn't and still don't know anything about cassian's biological mother. still, adoption is a good narrative at least.........except she didn't adopt him. she took him! in universe clem says it's a bad idea! in our world there is a history of native americans being ripped from their homes and families by white "adoptive" parents, resulting in generations of trauma and alcoholism. which sounds familiar since cassian is struggling with trauma and alcohol! though the show doesn't explicitly connect the dots, even though they easily could have giving him a speech if m@arva gets one after death. but no, she just treats him like he's useless. everyone on ferrix does! because of her!

as if he isn't still an older brother whose little sister, his only biological family, could be anywhere in the galaxy! he's looking for her, years later, in a brothel! imagine what that would do to you? m@arva doesn't care, obviously. and we don't have to imagine if we look at the world around us. nobody involved with the show including fans have thought about the implications of having a native character look for his long lost sister in a brothel. and never addressing it again. it. is. sickening.

m@arva has no rights to say anything about his behavior because the only reason he is like that is her, as far as we've seen see. she should've died ashamed of what she did to him. she should've apologized to him. instead she dies a hero in the show and apparently people here on earth who have seen the show think the same thing. I wish she didn't exist. I wish this sickeningly racist show didn't exist. cassian deserved better. native americans deserve better.

-bio latina mom would've gone so hard I would kill to see Cassian take after his non-hypocritical mother

-the sister in the brothel made me want to kword myself

-wouldn't be surprised about alcoholism since the show is trying so hard to make him out to be such a ~ooh bad boy~

-I can't get over the kidnapping part, it's so ignorant. They didn't even try to soften it, she showed zero remorse, no guilt or apology she owed him. This Andor guy who's name is also Cassian really had been homeless all his life

-having a white guy get kidnapped in an indigenous-coded backdrop you really can't get any worse. The only "layers" that exist in this story is xenophobia, racism, and stupidity.

-There has not been a single justified argument to defend maarva. No, there is no nuance to a story literally made to "explain an accent". Being old af doesn't suddenly make someone a beacon of disability representation 💀. She drugged and kidnapped a child and told him to forget about his roots as if that was the best thing for him. That is colonizer ideology in a nutshell and the show literally celebrates that.

I really don't give a fuck about anyone's anti-fascism if it's not anti-racist or anti-xenophobic. Just champagne socialism that cost disney near half a billion dollars.

[in-flvx]

hey hey so i saw your post about sirius accents and class and accents/sociolinguistics (particularly in the uk) have literally been one of my biggest interests since forever, and i totally get what you're saying, it is natural to adopt ways of speaking from the people you're closest with and there is deffo an aspect of that in the way i headcanon sirius' way of speaking. however... even if sirius isn't machiavelli planning out whether or not to pronounce an 'h', it is a really well documented phenomenon of people (particularly those of the middle class in the uk) switching up their accent nearly unconsciously in function w/what they are trying to project.

to say that sirius is in the wrong for adopting "working class" speech is totally not it, totally incorrect. but i don't think that's what people are saying? idk maybe i've just not come across them, but what i've seen is people pointing out areas where sirius might unconsciously reinforce/benefit from classism thru his speech.

i really really do not want to come off as condescending, but classism in the uk as it manifests thru accents is something really hard to understand coming from a north american perspective, which i know because i thought i understood after reading about it for years and then i went the uk and realised i didn't know shit, so even if it comes off as people villianising sirius i really don't think that is the case, i think it's just a really complicated issue!

Hey hey, I appreciate your input.

I am not anglophone at all. I learnt English in school. So, I am not attempting to be the expert on accentism in any anglophone context. I think I learnt a little through reading, but I am also aware that that won't come close to the lived experience of people in the anglophone context. I maybe should have put this as a disclaimer on my post, so it doesn't stand as an absolute.

And with my outsider perspective, I am trying to envision Sirius inside the spectrum of accents the uk provides. I personally do not see Sirius as a person who forcefully tries to disconnects himself from rp to appear 'cooler', which is mostly how I have seen his adopting of different speech patterns seen interpreted, by the pov character in question. Which I also absolutely think is a thing many people who were raised with rp do (I just can't see Sirius do it just to appear more fun).

My perspective on Sirius though, is, that he is someone who is very well aware of his socio-economic position. He would adopt some speech patterns naturally, bc that's just how languages, and having friends works.

But I personally also like to play with aus in which Sirius doesn't have the security net of the potters, and his uncles inheritance. And I then wonder how someone who was raised with rp would navigate a situation like that. Of course, his rp will give him advantages in most fields - from getting a bank account, to getting a place to stay.

But imagining him having to navigate a society in which he would be as bad off as many others, trying to get friends, and then get those people to trust him, as a disinherited heir to an empire, is still interesting to me. Maybe especially bc I know so little about all of this.

And still, I usually see [Remus] uncomfortable that sirius, who is only ever well off, would forcibly adopt speeking patterns. Idk I was just thinking about it

[denimbex1986]

'The Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would, for the first time, give health care benefits and compensation to communities impacted by the test of the first atomic nuclear bomb in New Mexico.

The “Trinity” nuclear test is featured in Christopher Nolan’s latest hit movie “Oppenheimer,” which focuses on the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in leading the Manhattan Project, a top-secret U.S. government program that began during World War II.

What the film doesn’t mention, however, is the array of deadly cancers that afflicted people exposed to radiation who lived “downwind” in the area near Alamogordo, New Mexico, for decades afterward ― many of whom were Native Americans and other people of color. The fallout traveled in a northern direction, affecting people as far away as Colorado, Idaho and Montana.

“Millions of people across the country traveled to theaters this weekend to watch a blockbuster centered around this infamous day, but not enough people have focused on the collateral damage caused by our nation’s nuclear testing,” New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján said Thursday in a speech on the Senate floor.

Luján called attention to the consequences for his home state in a series of tweets posted last week ahead of the movie premiere, noting that thousands of victims and their family members continue to face health complications.

In 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which compensated many communities affected by U.S. military nuclear explosions. The law excluded survivors of the Trinity test, however, and lawmakers and native tribes in New Mexico have been seeking to right that wrong ever since.

“Those families were not given any warning, any heads up, they saw a bright light, they saw ash fall on their clothing lines, but for some reason they were excluded as a county that should qualify for status. It makes zero sense,” Luján told HuffPost.

Working alongside Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Luján sponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would include previously excluded communities harmed by radiation from above-ground nuclear weapons testing, as well as uranium mining and nuclear waste storage in other states. It was adopted on Thursday in a bipartisan 61-37 vote.

Hawley, who was spotted whipping his GOP colleagues to vote for the measure in the well of the Senate chamber, credited Nolan’s film for raising awareness to an issue that has affected people in his state who lived near a Manhattan Project nuclear processing facility.

“For us, it’s about getting some basic justice for the people in the St. Louis region who have gotten literally poisoned,” Hawley said.

The Senate is expected to pass its version of the National Defense Authorization Act this week. The House already approved the bill earlier this month, though it included several partisan GOP amendments on hot-button social issues. The two sides will have to hash out their differences in a conference committee, including over the Senate amendment extending benefits to victims of nuclear tests.

Luján said he hadn’t yet watched “Oppenheimer,” so he couldn’t weigh in as to its accuracy and its portrayal of how the nuclear testing affected the people of New Mexico.

“I don’t know that anyone can ever give this a fair shake,” he said of the movie. “You have to hear the stories of these families. Many of our brothers and sisters have since passed. I’m hopeful that attention around the movie brings attention to this travesty because this deserves attention.”'

[mariacallous]

For some time now, conservative groups have pressured libraries and classrooms to remove certain “controversial” books from their shelves and their syllabi. These are texts that tell uncomfortable or unpopular truths about our nation’s origins, including inequality, race, history, gender, sexuality, power and class – a range of subjects that a small but vocal group of Americans would prefer to ignore or deny.

These efforts achieved one of their most notable successes last April when the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the Stop Woke Act, which prohibits in-school discussions about racism, oppression, LBGTQ+ issues and economic inequity. Books that have not been officially vetted and approved must be hidden or covered, lest teachers unknowingly break an ill-defined law against distributing pornography – a felony.

On 1 February, these pernicious restrictions on academic freedom spread beyond Florida, when the College Board announced its decision to severely restrict what can and cannot be taught in the newly created advanced placement class in African American studies. Cut from the curriculum (or in some cases made optional) was any discussion of Black Lives Matter, mass incarceration, police brutality, queer Black life and the Black Power movements of the 1960s and 70s. Writers who have been removed from the reading list include bell hooks, Angela Davis and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

These decisions are alarming and disturbing on so many levels that it’s hard to decide which aspect is the most damaging and insidious. At risk are our foundational principles of free speech, our conviction that educators – and not politicians – should be writing up our lesson plans and deciding what transpires in our classrooms, our belief that students can (and need to) consider complicated issues.

As someone who has taught for decades, I can hardly imagine abruptly cutting off class discussions that have veered (as they inevitably will) into these now forbidden areas. Must we fear that our students will report us as insurrectionists and felons for having mentioned the grotesque racial disparities in our prison populations? I believe that education not only involves the transmission of hard information but also helps students to think for themselves, to weigh opposing arguments and to make informed decisions. How can these goals be accomplished when we are being told to (quite literally) whitewash our nation’s history, to deny that we are walking on appropriated land in a country built by kidnapped and enslaved people, when we are being encouraged to lie about the very ground beneath our feet?

Students aren’t as stupid as the Florida legislature seems to think, and by adopting these new regulations, we are only encouraging them to distrust their teachers and the system that so blatantly misrepresents the realities they so clearly observe around them.

In the past, authoritarianism – and the indoctrination that sustains it – has used educational systems to further its agenda. We can recall images of first-graders wearing little red kerchiefs and saluting the eastern bloc dictators, of students let out of class to welcome the Führer to town. We know that democracy depends on the free and open exchange of ideas, on conversations that begin early in the life of its citizens – and that fascism thrives when only one point of view is permitted. DeSantis’s rulings, and the campaigns that have engendered them, are inherently anti-democratic.

We cannot change history by censoring it. We cannot pretend that we were never a slave-holding society, that racism ceased to exist when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. We cannot erase the past, or influence a young person’s gender and sexuality by removing a book from the library. Students are not political pawns or ideologues-in-training. They are our future and it’s frightening to imagine a future populated by citizens who were forbidden to argue and debate, to hear about a historical event from multiple perspectives and to learn to make the critical judgments and necessary distinctions that will help them navigate our increasingly complex and challenging world.

It’s been noted that Ron DeSantis graduated with a degree in history from Yale, where he was presumably encouraged to engage in – and to learn from – the open debates that he is now attempting to stifle. Presumably, too, he learned what a good education is, what it means to be taught to think – and that is precisely what he is denying students who are less privileged than he and his Yale classmates.

It’s a political decision designed to win over the Trump supporters that the governor will need in his bid for the presidency – that is, white working-class Americans who don’t understand that their own children are also being denied the education that will help them overcome the class divisions that perpetuate our economic inequality. Private school students will still be able to study history in depth, to learn to reason, to process and assess the accuracy of what they are being told. It’s the public school kids who will be funneled into the low-paying jobs, the dim futures for which their schooling has (not accidentally) prepared them.

Ultimately, what’s most troubling about the new restrictions and proscriptions is that historical facts are being recast as snowflake propaganda. The truth is being distorted or omitted at a moment when we, as a nation, have never so desperately needed to maintain our grip on reality.

Without being taught to distinguish truth from fiction, without being asked to think, without learning how this country evolved – a history not just of heroism and noble principles but of theft, brutality and crime – our students will be easy prey to every conspiracy theory that comes along. They will find it far more difficult to imagine and implement the important ways in which we hope to become a more equitable, less racist – and better educated – society.

Francine Prose is a former president of Pen American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

[reallca-blog]

Unwrapping the Wonka Bar Vol. 1 - Where is Charlie’s Town Located? Part 3

If you haven’t read the previous post, click here for Part 2 to make sure you are caught up to speed. If you’re already read the previous posts, then welcome back and let’s get back to the show!

Exhibit #2: The Accents of the Inhabitants of Charlie’s Town

When trying to parse out where someone is from, one of the best ways to do so is to decipher what kind of accent they speak with, and in the case of Charlie’s town there seems to be a divide amongst the population. Now, before we move on with this analysis, I need to clarify two terms I will be using to ensure the least amount of confusion as possible. The two groupings of English accents that will be used in this analysis will be what we will refer to as a “British Accent,” or all the accents spoken anywhere on the British Isles (the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland), and a “North American Accent,” which is to say any accent spoken in Anglo-North America (the United States and Canada). With these parameters set, we can now go in depth into the backgrounds of the residents of Charlie’s town and try to piece together where they might live.

When it comes to the residents of Charlie’s town who speak in a British Accent, these residents include:

All seven members of the Bucket family.

Sidebar #2.1: Mr. Bucket’s actor, Noah Taylor, is Australian and fakes a British Accent throughout most of the film, but you can hear his normal Australian accent, which is a bit more high-pitched and melodious, during his first line of dialogue in the film when he says “Evening Buckets.” As to an in-universe explanation for this literal slip-of-the-tongue, Mr. Bucket’s father, Grandpa George, was played by actor David Morris who hailed from Folkestone, England, a coastal town in County Kent, meaning that sea-faring industries were a major component of the town’s economy. Since Grandpa George speaks in the working class southern English accent of his actor, perhaps he too has roots in Folkestone and he worked on a boat when he was younger, and instead of leaving Grandma Georgina behind he took her on the boat too. This means that the two would have ended up wherever the boat docked, which very well could have been Australia. Perhaps then Mr. Bucket could have been born in Australia and his family could have spent the earliest years of his life there because Grandpa George found work there, meaning Mr. Bucket would have interacted with many Australian children and thus learned to speak like them. However, Grandpa George would then lose his job in Australia and this would force him to move his family back to Folkestone, the town where his journey to Australia would have begun years prior. And while Mr. Bucket would have then grown up around people who spoke with British Accents, and thus would also being to speak like them on a regular basis, the Australian accent he picked up during his formative years would never be truly erased from his speech pattern and so sometimes he would speak in such a manner, such as when he greeted the family after returning home from a long day at work in order to provide for his family as his father did before him.

Sidebar #2.2: Similar to Mr. Bucket, another member of the family, Grandpa Joe, is played by a non-English actor, in this case Irish actor David Kelly. Charlie’s favorite grandparent speaks in a mostly English accent, but one can still hear the influence of his normal Irish accent when comparing Grandpa Joe’s dialogue to that of David Kelly speaking in interviews, speeches or his dialogue from other roles where he did not have to fake an accent. The easiest explanation for this is that, just like Mr. Bucket who we say was not born in England, Grandpa Joe was born in Ireland to an Irish family and at some point left Ireland in search of work. Now, this forced him to adopt a much more English-sounding accent in order to assimilate into a society which was notoriously fraught with anti-Irish sentiment, at least amongst the British Accent speaking population, at the time due to the backlash against efforts by Irish Nationalists to unify the island of Ireland and free it from British rule. However, the love and pride he felt for his homeland prevented him from outright purging his original accent from his speech and so he did not entirely loose his natural accent as well.

The two dog-walking men.

The middle-aged blonde lady in the corner store where Charlie purchases the Wonka Bar containing his Golden Ticket whom the film credits refer to as “Customer in Shop.”

The owner of the corner store where Charlie purchases the Wonka Bar containing his Golden Ticket whom I have come to the conclusion we all call “Bill,” but the film credits refer to as “The Shopkeeper.”

Sidebar #2.3: The actor who plays Bill the Shopkeeper, Oscar James, is from Trinidad and Tobago, however the island nation was a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom until 1962, around the time Oscar James was twenty. Therefore, Oscar James portrays Bill the Shopkeeper as speaking an accent that is a fusion between an English and a Trinidadian accent, much like Grandpa Joe does with his Irish-English fusion accent. And like Mr. Bucket with Noah Taylor’s natural Australian accent, you can hear Bill the Shopkeeper’s Trinidadian accent when he gets exited, in his case after Charlie discovers he won the last Golden Ticket and he giddily adds “In my shop, too!” Now, with respect to Bill the Shopkeeper, according to an article from The National Archives, the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, England and Wales, titled “Bound for Britain-Experiences of immigration to the UK,” from 1947 to 1970 nearly half a million people left Trinidad and Tobago and other island colonies in the British West Indies for the UK in search of a better life following the rebuilding of the UK in the post-World War II period. It would make sense that Bill the Shopkeeper would have been an immigrant like these too, with him leaving Trinidad and Tobago in his late teens or early twenties in search of a better-paying job elsewhere. But because immigrants from rural countries rarely have the skillset necessary for the highest-paying jobs, Bill would have most likely been relegated to the lowest-level jobs, like sales representative. But after years of barely earning enough to get by, Bill’s hard work eventually pay off and he would become the shopkeeper of his own corner store, where he now serves the community of Charlie’s town and now lives the life that all immigrants dream to achieve. And thus, because he would have immigrated as an adult, unlike Mr. Bucket, he would have spoken with a Trinidadian accent throughout his formative years. But due to the mere chance he was born an immigrant, Bill the Shopkeeper, just like the Irish Grandpa Joe, would have found it useful to mimic an English accent when speaking to people in the broader society as it would have, albeit only slightly more considering his Afro-Caribbean roots, helped him advance in the xenophobic, Anglo-centric society of twentieth century Charlie’s town. This repression of his natural accent is what would eventually lead him to find success as a small businessowner, yet when he finds himself in a scenario where his humanity must show itself, his natural accent takes over, such as when he is elated to discover that a local boy found Willy Wonka’s last Golden Ticket in his shop of all places.

The bald man who offers Charlie $50 and a new bicycle for the Golden Ticket at the corner store where Charlie purchases the Wonka Bar containing his Golden Ticket whom the film credits refer to as “Tall Man.”

The lady at 103 Pickwicket Avenue handing out Halloween candy whom the film credits refer to as “Jolly Woman.”

And last, but not least, Dr. Wilbur Wonka.

And when it comes to the residents of Charlie’s town who speak in a North American Accent, these residents include:

The one and only, Willy Wonka.

The news reporter standing outside of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory reporting on the announcement of the Golden Ticket contest, whom the film credits refer to as “TV Reporter.”

Sidebar #2.4:  We do not know if this reporter is a resident of Charlie’s town or if he is just an American or Canadian journalist working for a news network from one of those countries that happens to be stationed at the bureau office for Charlie’s town and reporting on the biggest story developing overseas for his audience back home. Either option is acceptable, but I will say that he is a resident for reasons that will become relevant later on.

The reporter who speaks after the report on Augustus Gloop finding his Golden Ticket and breaks the news to his viewers that Mike Teavee found his Golden Ticket.

The reporter who speaks after the report on Mike Teavee finding his Golden Ticket.

The middle-aged woman who offers Charlie $500 for the Golden Ticket at the corner store where Charlie purchases the Wonka Bar containing his Golden Ticket whom the film credits refer to as “Woman in Shop.”

Ruthie, Veronica and Terrance (Whom shall be referred to as “Willy Wonka’s friends” collectively).

And the security guard at the Flags of the World exhibit whom the film credits refer to as “Museum Guard.”

Now, when we tally up the results of our analysis, we see that out of the 23 residents who speak on screen, there are a total of 14 people, or 60.9% of the sample, who speak with British Accents and 9 people, or 39.1% of the sample, who speak with North American Accents in Charlie’s town. Now, while this seems to be a perfect balance between Tim Burton’s vision of an unspecified Anglo-American fusion setting, while also being significantly more British than it is American, and thus more in line with Roald Dahl’s vision, a deeper look into the data reveals an interesting trend. While the data gathered for this analysis comes from one physical location, Charlie’s town, the data spans three decades, that is to say the residents with speaking roles are residents of Charlie’s town in both 2005 and 1975. With such a wide time gap between the sources for our data, it only makes sense to divide these two eras into different data sets for a more accurate picture.

And so, when we break down our list of characters, we see that the residents of Charlie’s town who spoke with British Accents in 1975 include:

“Jolly Woman” and Dr. Wilbur Wonka. I however will be including Bill the Shopkeeper, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Josephine, the then one-day-to-be Mrs. Bucket and one adult who will serve as one of Willy Wonka’s friend’s parent in the total.

Sidebar #2.6: I included these extra characters whom we do not see in Willy Wonka’s flashbacks in the count in order to boost up the numbers since we need more data to paint a more accurate picture of the demographics of Charlie’s town. However, instead of just making data up out of thin air, I argue that it makes logical sense that these characters would be living in the town during this time for the following reasons. I included Bill the Shopkeeper as he is clearly an immigrant in this non-Caribbean land due to the fact that he speaks with an accent distinct from the various British or North American accents spoken by the town’s residents. Not to mention the fact that he would have been in his early-thirties in 1975, meaning he would have been a bit older than the mostly young people who would have left their home island in search of economic opportunities in that year. So, it would only make sense to place Bill the Shopkeeper’s date of immigration about a decade earlier, thus becoming an established resident of Charlie’s town before 1975. Now, when it comes to Grandpa Joe and his family, I included half of Charlie’s family on this list because we do not know if Charlie’s family has been living in this town for a long time, or at least since 1975. Therefore, I divided the family in half, designating three of them as residents of the town for decades while keeping the other three as later economic migrants. As to why I chose Grandpa Joe’s family instead of choosing the Bucket family pre-Charlie, I made this decision since the best insight we have into how many members of Charlie’s family have lived in this town for multiple years is that we know Grandpa Joe’s family has lived in the town since at least 1985 when he worked at Willy Wonka’s first candy store on Cherry Street. We also do not see Grandpa George or Grandma Georgina during the opening ceremony for Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory in 1990, perhaps because they had no connection to the factory and chose not to attend but are still residents, or perhaps because they did not live in the town and thus could not attend. This makes sense when you consider the previous assumption of the Bucket family pre-Charlie which involves Grandpa George moving the family about in his search for work, only for him to end up in Charlie’s town where he found work before he got too old to work and ended up bedridden for over a decade. And as for the adult who stands in for one of Willy Wonka’s friend’s parents, it only makes sense that at least one of Ruthie, Veronica or Terrance’s parents would speak with a British Accent, thus coming from a mixed family just like Willy Wonka surely came from as well, with him sounding more like his mother whom does not appear in the film as she appears to have passed away by October 1975 since his father speaks with a British Accent and he does not.

On the other hand, the residents of Charlie’s town who spoke with North American Accents in 1975 include:

Willy Wonka, Ruthie, Veronica, Terrance and the “Museum Guard.” I will also be including three adults who will serve as Willy Wonka’s friend’s parents in the total.

Sidebar #2.7: I used a similar logic for the inclusion of these three adults who do not appear in the film in my calculations as I did for the adult in the British Accent section. Willy Wonka’s friends are clearly American, with them celebrating Halloween by engaging in trick-or-treating, an American tradition, across the neighborhood, and so it makes sense that at least three of the four parents speak with a North American Accent as well. And while there are three friends, therefore there would be six parents in total if neither of them are related, because we are not given any additional information as to whom the friends are, it would not be wrong to assume that perhaps two of the friends are siblings, therefore the friends would only have four parents.

Now, when we total up the results of our second analysis, we see that out of the 15 residents who speak on screen and are theorized to have existed, there are a total of 7 people, or 46.7% of the sample, who speak with British Accents and 8 people, or 53.3% of the sample, who speak with North American Accents in Charlie’s town in 1975. And while this is not an apples-to-apples comparison with the first analysis due to the inclusion of theorized parents for Willy Wonka’s friends, we can see that while residents with North American Accents now make up a majority in Charlie’s town, the demographics of the town are still near-evenly divided in 1975.

On the other hand, when we repeat this analysis for a third time, we see that the residents of Charlie’s town who spoke with British Accents in 2005 include:

All seven members of the Bucket Family, the two dog-walking men, the “Customer in Shop,” Bill the Shopkeeper, and the “Tall Man.”

On the other hand, the residents of Charlie’s town who spoke with North American Accents in 2005 include:

Willy Wonka, the “TV Reporter”, the reporter who speaks after the report on Augustus Gloop finding his Golden Ticket and breaks the news to his viewers that Mike Teavee found his Golden Ticket, the reporter who speaks after the report on Mike Teavee finding his Golden Ticket and the “Woman in Shop.”

Sidebar #2.8: The reason I did not include Willy Wonka’s friends in the total for residents with North American Accents in 2005 is because we do not see them as adults all throughout the film, and while some of you might disagree with this reasoning after I just invented parents for these friends and included them in my totals, my reasoning for this choice is as follows. While Willy Wonka is shown to be a hermit loner throughout most of the film, we know that he had friends at one point in his life, so the idea that those friends he had as a kid do not play a role in his life when he is a successful adult (at least when it comes to business) is as strange as the amazing chocolatier is. Therefore, I propose that Willy Wonka’s friends are still a part of his life, however they have long since moved out of Charlie’s town. The best theory I could come up with is that since they are the only people Willy Wonka trusts, they work for their friend as liaisons between the insular world of the factory, where Willy Wonka can be who he is, and the real world, which is cold, unforgiving and unaccepting of their friend’s genius. This way, the friends can still be a part of his life, but this explains why we never see any of them as adults throughout the film, because they are off somewhere else managing Wonka Worldwide, Inc.’s business relations for their shut-in friend.

And so, when we total up the results of our third analysis, we see that out of the 17 residents who speak on screen, there are a total of 12 people, or 70.6% of the sample, who speak with British Accents and 5 people, or 29.4% of the sample, who speak with North American Accents in Charlie’s town in 2005.

Now, the results of this more in-depth analysis demonstrate why it is important to hyper-analyze the accents of the residents of Charlie’s town. While an overall analysis would show a mostly-British, but still mixed, population, we can now see that that analysis is very misleading when it comes to describing the setting for the majority of the film that does not take place inside the factory. Over the course of three decades, Charlie’s town sees a demographic shift where the population of British Accent speakers goes from 46.7% to 70.6% and the population of North American Accent speakers goes from 53.3% to 29.4%. This 23.9 percentage point difference means that Charlie’s town either experienced a 51.18% increase in the British Accent speaking population or a 44.84% decrease in the North American Accent speaking population from when Willy Wonka was a kid to when Charlie was a kid. And while an analysis of the accents spoken in the town do not tell us which option is the case, it is nevertheless an important piece of evidence that will help us uncover the location of Charlie’s town.

That’s it for Part 3, click here for Part 4 when we analyze the driving system of Charlie’s town and how the data from that analysis relates to the date from this one.

Also, if you have better quality images of the scenes from the film I included in this post, feel free to share them with me so that I may replace the ones I used to improve the experience for the reader.

[novumtimes]

Felon accepts GOP nomination plus JD Vances Appalachian fairytale

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Trump’s RNC speech shows exactly who he is, despite promises to hide it A Changed Man. JD Vance sold an ugly Appalachian fairytale. Americans bought it For starters, Vance isn’t from Appalachia. Republicans inch closer to seeing Trump as a literal god What’s the Bible say about false idols, again? Republicans have nothing so here’s Hulk Hogan tearing his shirt for Trump A political convention, only make it feel like ‘90s pay-per-view. In 2024, Biden’s great economy isn’t enough to win the election Let’s face the facts: Voters aren’t facing the facts. Trump, who vowed to be a dictator on Day 1, insists he’s saving democracy But honestly, why’d he waste his breath? His followers don’t want democracy. GOP Senate candidate says he put employees first—as former workers sue Daily Kos has exclusive audio for this one. Cartoon: Toned down A kinder, gentler screaming bigot. Project 2025 endangers Caribbean migrants in US The implications of the authoritarian agenda are global. Nevada could adopt first-ever ‘top-five’ primary this fall Both sides of this issue are spending millions.  Click here to see more cartoons. Campaign Action Source link via The Novum Times

[eaukraine-eu]

The highest legislative body of the United States of America will consider the issue of urgently providing official Kyiv with a large batch of modern weapons by the end of December this year. Representatives of the Democratic Party in the US Congress, who are the initiators of this plan, reported this to the NBC television channel. According to them, the new package of military assistance will be another step towards parity in the arsenals of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. At the same time, independent analysts argue that if the vote fails, Washington will stop implementing the program. What is actually happening? The day before, United States President Joseph Biden gave a lengthy speech in which he literally stated the following: “By helping to increase the combat capability of Ukraine, America is keeping its own troops from participating in the war against the Russian Federation.” And he added that this is how Washington invests in its security. Biden's words were addressed, first of all, to those congressmen and politicians who oppose the supply of American weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Earlier it became known that the bill on the allocation of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine is supervised by the Lower House of Congress - the House of Representatives. The majority in it are elected members of the Republican Party, who question the advisability of further military supplies of any type of weapons to Kyiv. According to NBC's interlocutors, the optimal time frame for adopting the plan is from Thanksgiving (November 20) to Christmas (December 25). They say that if until then the document does not receive the necessary approval from American parliamentarians, its future may be in question. “Either they will vote for him now, or they will never vote for him,” say the Democrats. Let us recall that since the beginning of this year alone, the United States has provided $10 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. It was assumed that in the near future this amount will increase to $14 billion. However, due to Washington’s implementation of a program to support Israel in its anti-terrorist operation, the United States is talking about reducing the corresponding volumes for Kiev. It is still unclear whether the “Ukrainian issue” will be considered in the near future. The Congress will meet for its next meeting on November 27.

[runningincirclesx]

Name: Alexander Morales Age: 46 Birthday: March 9th Zodiac: Pisces Occupation: Therapist Hometown: Guatemala City, Guatemala Current Location: Tonopah Falls, Nevada Sexuality: Pansexual Relationship status: Single

Alexander Morales was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. His mother was just fourteen years old when she had him. She didn't know what to do with a child and didn't want one, so she dropped him off outside and orphanage and never looked back. He stayed at that orphanage until he was about five years old when a lesbian couple came there looking to adopt a child. Once all the paperwork was complete and he was given a green cared, they moved back home to Tonopah Falls where Alex was to begin his new American Dream life. He learned how to speak English over the next few years and his parents homeschooled him during that time. But once he knew the language well enough, they enrolled him into school and that was when Alexander began to blossom. He was a social butterfly and made friends where ever he went. His parents were so proud of the way he was turning out. Alex showed compassion and empathy for everyone at such a young age and his mother's worked on developing that more with him since it was such a rare thing to see, they felt. Time carried on and when he was fourteen years old, he met Penelope Valdez. They quickly became best friends, spending all their time together. And those feelings of friendship turned into something more as time went on. They started dating when they were fifteen and Alex was happy as he could have been. He was literally dating his best friend. It just made sense. And yes, they were young, but that didn't matter. Not to him at least. But it mattered to someone because suddenly, without a word, Penelope was gone. She and her family moved out of Tonopah Falls without a mention of it and Alex had no idea where she went, who to contact, where to find her... She was just gone without a trace. Alex was heartbroken. His girlfriend and his best friend was gone and he had no idea why or where she could be... Years passed and he eventually just gave up on Penelope, which was hard to accept. But he had to move on because she clearly had. From there, Alex graduated high school and went onto college, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Family and Human Development. After several years of school and getting his PhD, Alex was finally able to start practicing in the field of Psychology. For a while, he worked under several different practices, renting a space there as needed but as time went on, he decided that wasn't what he wanted anymore and he opened up his very own Psychology practice and catered to any and all that wanted help. He hired a few other doctors under his practice and things just carried on as normal. Now, Alexander is still practicing and splitting his time between work and home, where he is working on trying to find someone to settle down with. It's proven to be much harder than he anticipated... Mostly because he doesn't really like put himself out there much. But hopefully soon, he would get past that hump and finally have the family life he had been craving for so long.

Headcannons: -Alex has a stutter but has taken a lot of speech therapy classes over the years and now, it's barely noticable unless he is particularly nervous or excited. -He does not like drink. He wouldn't go so far to say he is 'sober' because he'll drink some wine now and then, but he'd rather drink a glass of tea before anything else, honestly. -In his office, he has a blue betta fish named Ronnie, who sits on the table beside his clients couch. -His favorite food is fried chicken.