#i have not read the article they linked in said tweet

[wildaboutmnhockey]

We already had to change coaches? 🙃

[pommunist]

‼️ This is very important so please read ‼️

The ex-admin for Dansir, Lapin, and Sk8ter (a penguin) came out on Twitter with her experience as a QSMP admin and it’s very grim. The user is @/Leasagne_ on Twitter.

I’m gonna try my best to translate from French :

1st Tweet : « Imagine having the first multilingual minecraft server in the world and paying your staff 150€/month and threatening to sue them if they complain. »

2nd Tweet: «  «You signed an NDA blablabla if you speak we’ll sue you. » Yeah Yeah, sure. They think they can gift me a toy and i’ll forgive them and shut my mouth. They don’t know who they are facing »

3rt Tweet : Talking about the NPC she played « Dansir, Tototte, my version of Cucurucho and Lapin won’t come back. Enough of treating people who give a lot of themselves like trash »

She then tweeted art she made for QSMP that she hasn’t been paid for. This include for exemple a Rose drawing, a Lucy drawing and the Techno fanart from Dia de los muertos event.

4th tweet : « Everyone is burnt out in their entreprise but it’s not a problem bc no one can talk or they risk getting sued. »

She then make a serie of tweets explaining why they got fired : « During a stream, Aypierre leaked my name, thanks dude, they saw that i was talking to him on discord, which is a FORBIDDEN THING. I was then accused of leaking things to him, bc on the screenshot, i was talking about DDOSon the server which is considered sensitive information. There was then an investigation on me, which i said was useless as I didn’t have anything to hide and was ready to answer all their questions. I admitted not following the rules (btw it’s forbidden to have chatrooms BETWEEN ADMINS, that’s why I wasn’t following the rules). We aren’t allowed to talk to streamers out of stream, but everyone does it i was just caught doing it. »

She also added some more stuff

-Saying that they were only TWO french admins (the other being Pomme’s) and OP had to do all the translations of QSMP newspapers, as well as adding articles on french CCs as they had been forgotten.

-Said that Empanada wasn’t supposed to be killed that day, it was an accident.

-Said that Pomme’s death, which was reversed, was forced so that « Baghera would have a tragic reaction »

-Said that the QSMP admin staff are all wonderful people with good dynamics, higher ups are the problem.

-Said that she believes Quackity isn’t aware that this is happening.

-Said that now QSMP ccs are aware that this is happening and want to discuss it with the admins.

I’m on my phone so it’s hard to include screenshots or links of everything so if you’re able to feel free to do it by reblog. I’ll add more things as soon as possible.

https://x.com/leasagne_?s=21&t=fDVoT5qDN_AAqnxYhZF3uQ

[ransomnote]

crossposting from my instagram. text and link to original article under the cut.

in response to a tweet from SYSCAbout (shit you should care about) saying "hi just letting you know it's now illegal to protest in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. this is not good 0_0" referencing the article linked here.

clarifying because i read the article: it is still legal, but it is no longer safe, specifically to ORGANIZE a protest. the 5th circuit court ruled that if any one attendee of a protest does something illegal (even something arbitrary as throwing stones, as was the cause for the case), the organizer (s) of said protest could face legal and financial ruin. this is still horrific and a threat to the livelihood of so many people, but for the love of god do not stop protesting for one minute. to only protest when it's safe (or legal) is no protest at all. free palestine and hands off iran 🇵🇸🇮🇷.

and frankly, shame on you SYSCAbout, for blatantly fearmongering. how many people are going to read this and assume if they show up to a protest, they will be arrested no matter what? how many people is your wording going to stop from mobilizing? oh but did you get your clicks? did you get your engagement? shame.

continue to mobilize, continue to organize, but do not do it under your personal social media account, legal name, or attached to your visage. if you weren't already (why???), mask up at protests and cover any tattoos/peircings/dyed hair. carry no identification if you are able. if the state governments think the people, the angry, fed up, those fighting for their own right to exist, the people who have been subjected to the conditions for marginalized people in these states, are going to roll over and take it, they are dead wrong. if they think giving those same people nothing to lose is going to stop them, they have another thing coming.

[friendshiptothemax]

 Hi all! You may have heard there might be a writer’s strike soon. The reason for this is that every three years, the Writer’s Guild (which represents basically every television and movie writer) negotiates with the studios and networks (collectively called the AMPTP) to hash out an agreement of what guidelines the AMPTP have to follow if they want to hire a Writer’s Guild writer. If they can’t make an agreement by the time the contract from three years ago expires, which is on May 1, then no one will be able to employ a Writer’s Guild writer until a new contract is reached. That’s what a strike is. I don’t know if one will happen or not. Everyone, including the writers, deeply hope we’re able to make an agreement before May 1 and everyone will keep working. That being said, our last contract expired right at the start of the pandemic and everyone involved just kind of said “hey everything is weird right now so let’s not fight” so essentially we’ve got six years’ worth of grievances to talk about -- that is why this one seems especially contentious.

So that’s the background. The WGA and the AMPTP started negotiations this week. This is expected to continue throughout April -- no one expects to know either way until the end of April. Something very important I want everyone on Tumblr to know -- while negotiations are happening, the WGA has committed to a complete media blackout. No member of WGA leadership or the negotiating committee will be speaking about how things are going to the media. This means that if you see an article talking about the WGA’s position, whoever gave them that information is not talking for us -- and, since this is a two-sided negotiation we’re talking about, are probably talking directly against us. Use critical thinking on any negotiation-related articles you read -- does what they’re saying make sense? Who benefits from saying this?

Why am I saying this now? Well, yesterday, Variety published an article claiming that the Writer’s Guild is advocating for the use of AI. The article was full of twisted facts and confused falsehoods. The article took the WGA’s position that you can’t replace credited writers with AI and touted it as “the WGA is okay with AI as long as writers are credited!” That is an extremely bad-faith twisting of our position.The WGA had to issue a clarification of our position on twitter and now I’ve seen articles taking bits of THAT out of context -- specifically a Gizmodo article that implies that the Guild wants to take advantage of AI because it can’t be copyrighted, but their proof of that is a snippet from a section saying the reason we’re CONCERNED about AI writing is that it can’t be copyrighted.

And just, like....think about this for a second. Why on Earth would the Writer’s Guild WANT to replace writers with AI? Literally the organization whose entire purpose is to protect writing as a job? There’s no organization on Earth who would be opposed to it more. Every meeting I’ve been in has been unequivocally clear. WE ARE AGAINST AI. The second tweet in the thread I linked above says it outright: “AI can’t be used as source material, to create MBA-covered writing or rewrite MBA-covered work...” 

It just seems to me like it would suck if we do head into a strike in May, and everyone is pissed off at us because they believe we are striking for something that is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what we want. 

The WGA is in a media blackout. Be very skeptical of anything you read claiming to represent our position unless it comes from an official WGA source, like the one I linked above.

[billiewena]

TWO YEARS SINCE NOV 5TH, 2020 as summed up by Supernatural (sequel to this)

⤷ bonus

image ID & context below:

[image ID: screenshots of Supernatural paired with screenshots of various tweets, news headlines and Tumblr posts.

1. Castiel coming out of a closet in SPN 12x08 with screenshots of articles and videos called “Supernatural’s Misha Collins Appears to Come Out as Bisexual,” “Supernatural star Misha Collins appears to come out as Bisexual in the Best Way”, “Misha Collins Comes Out as Bisexual Footage”

2. Kevin Tran in SPN 8x01 saying “You know I’m not gay, right?” With screenshots of articles that read “Supernatural’s Misha Collins Apologizes for ‘Misspeaking’ After Appearing to Come Out As Bisexual,” “Misha Collins Is Getting Clowned About Being Bisexual Then Coming Out As Straight,” and a tweet by Misha Collins that reads, “This was not my intention so I need to correct the record: I am not bisexual. I happen to be straight, but I am also a fierce ally and the last thing I want to do is falsely co-opt the struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community 3/5”

3. Castiel telling a waitress in SPN 14x15, “And between various, steamy, erotic musings” with a screenshot of musician Perfume Genius tweet linking to the article “I have had sex with every actor from the TV show Supernatural” with the caption “I have had sex with every actor from the TV Supernatural. What follows is an account of each erotic event followed by a letter grade.”

4. Dean in SPN 10x10 saying, “And it ain’t gonna cost me a dime” with a screenshot of a tweet from @DiscussingFilm that says, “Nextstar will acquire 75% of The CW for $0. Instead, Nester will assume a significant portion of The CW’s current losses, which could exceed $100M.”

5. Dean in SPN 3x11 saying, “Come on. You love this song and you know it” with a screenshot of spnamvarchive and the 77 total videos in the #honeypie tag. There is also a screenshot of a text post by user iloveyoucas that says “OOH GIRL DONT YOU STOP DONT YOU STOP TIL YOU GET ENOUGH HONEY OH HONEY HONEYPIE HONEY HONEY HONEYPIE OOH GIRL DONT YOU STOP DON’T YOU STOP TIL YOU GET ENOUGH HONEY OH HONEY HONEYPIE HONEY HONEY HONEYPIE” with a gif of people dancing and a screenshot of a Honeypie AMV of Dean Winchester by afeelingsoweet.

6. Lilith in SPN 15x05 saying, “and his very weird, very perv-y obsession with you” with a headline that reads, “Jensen Ackles on his naked Soldier Boy intro on The Boys: ’Nothing on but a sock.”

7. Castiel in SPN 12x18 as he listens to a man say, “You know…like the Queen of England” with a screenshot of a post by whyissupernaturaltrending that says “Sept 8, 2022 - Supernatural trends because the Queen died” with a screenshot of Supernatural trending #1 on Tumblr.

8. Marie in SPN 10x05 saying, “But this is transformative fiction” with headlines that read: “Supernatural Prequel ‘The Winchesters’ Starts on The CW,” “The CW’s The Winchesters is a prequel to ‘Supernatural’”, “Jensen Ackles and The Winchesters Team Promise to carry on the Supernatural Legacy: ‘Trust us.”

9. Dean in SPN 10x05 responding to Marie saying, “You mean fan fiction” with headlines that read: “The Winchesters is a Soulless, Bland Attempt at Recapturing the Supernatural Magic”, “The Winchesters: 8 Biggest Retcons From Supernatural,” “Supernatural’s Spinoff Prequel ‘The Winchesters’ Offers Familiar Pleasures but Struggles building Its Own World: TV Review”

10. Dean in SPN 14x13 saying, “They always talk too much" with a tweet by nuttyforackles recapping a conventional panel that reads, “I should have said I love you too and hugged Cas… people will sexualize that but it’d doesn’t have to be, we were brothers in arms” - Jensen Ackles #spncon #vancon

Bonus: Lucifer talking to Dean in SPN 5x03, saying “Whatever you do, you will always end up here” with the Tumblr logo edited over Lucifer’s head.

/end ID]

[monstermoviedean]

i saw a post today where someone stated that they often can't tell real information from misinformation online. i am not here to make fun of that person. that being said, the ability to figure out if information is real or not is a critical skill for everyone who uses the internet. you need to be able to do that on your own. it's great if you can get help or if people will tell you what's real and what's not, but you also need to be able to do it by yourself. simple, easy tips under the cut.

the most common style of misinformation i see on tumblr is the fake news headline. it's an image or multiple images of a headline and sometimes an attached story. easy tips to discovering whether this is real or not:

is there a link in the post? click it and see where it goes. no link? possibly fake, possibly the poster just didn't include it.

google the full headline, not just key words. even better, google the headline with the full headline in quotes so you get exact matches. can't find a match? probably fake.

is there a clear url/website attached to the headline? if so, go to the website and search for the headline. can't find a match? probably fake.

is there an author? google them. see if they're real. see if the subject of the article matches the stuff they usually write about. see if they have social media where they may have posted the headline. can't find an author, or they seem way off-track? probably fake.

if it's an image of a tweet, look up the person's twitter handle. can't find the tweet? possibly fake. it could also be a real tweet with the text or date edited.

is there a date? a story written in 2002 may have very different ramifications than a story written in 2022. it depends on the subject, but some subjects change rapidly and even a 5-year-old story may be out of date. see if you can find anything recent. if not, it may be fake or out of context.

go to google news and do a quick scan. this is going to work better for headlines that are about world news, but it's still worth a try. google news also allows you to search stories and limit by date. see if you can find a matching headline. if you can't, it may be fake or old news.

general tips:

don't trust social media. just don't. please. people can and will say literally anything they want. anything you read on social media that has real-world implications, you should fact-check.

you may think it's overkill, but google everything. even things you're mostly sure of. reading more headlines and more news can help you get better at discerning between real and fake headlines.

every source of information is biased in some way. try to seek out less biased sources. look up the bias media chart (here's a link) and use it to find sources that do less biased and more original reporting.

think about bias as you're reading. who is the author writing for? why are they writing? what do they want the audience to feel? what facts are they choosing to include or omit? how might the presentation of the facts change if someone with a different perspective was writing?

there are also websites dedicated to fact-checking. this works best for major world news, but try snopes or factcheck. the rand corporation has a huge list of tools for rooting out disinformation as well.

there's nothing wrong with asking for help, but if you genuinely cannot figure out if something is real or not on your own, and you give up trying to figure it out without help, you run the risk of believing and even spreading misinformation. some misinformation is essentially harmless (a celebrity's favorite color, for example). some misinformation is incredibly dangerous. please please PLEASE check your facts. it is quick and easy and worth it.

if you need more help, let me know.

[oldshrewsburyian]

Any thoughts on *why* so many people are subliterate now? Is the educational system really that much worse than it was even 15-20 years ago? Or is the tsunami of information we all live with too much to deal with? Or is there something else going on?

...I do have Thoughts on this, actually! Quite a few of them! And I suspect that the answer to your slate of options might be: D, all of the above. I will address your points out of order (sorry.)

B: As for the information tsunami/superhighway, I don't think it's to blame in itself. As the president of an academic organization said at the biennial conference in 2016, "Nous lisons de plus en plus, mais nous lisons autrement" (we read more and more, but we read differently.) It says something about what he meant and about that particular historical moment that I was live-tweeting. And obviously I'm not saying that reading the internet is bad (I read the internet all the time.) But I do think that it facilitates habits of minimal, shallow, or superficial reading, and I do think that's a problem. I once had a student say--in class!--that the historical essays I assigned were challenging for him because he's more used to reading tweets. I stared at him for several long seconds before saying "Then this is good practice for you." I also had a very sweet student in a first-year college seminar who just had no clue how sentence mechanics worked, so I had to find a gentle way of asking, in office hours, "Do you... read at all? for fun?" "Oh, I read all the time," said this sweet student confidently, and my own reading habits enabled me to counter: "Fanfic or published works?" And yep, that's your problem right there. Obviously I read and write fanfic myself. But reading principally fanfic is a great way not to learn how grammar works.

A: in the US? ...yeah, it kind of is, actually, which is horrifying. Like a lot of the rest of my demographic (educator, xennial, NPR devotee,) I listened to the APM podcast Sold A Story. In going to find you the link, I found bonus episodes which I also highly recommend, in part because they include criticisms of the podcast and notes on policy. But what this podcast describes also tracks with my experiences in two very grim years when I tutored reading at the elementary/middle school level, and also found reading comprehension to be a weak link in ACT/SAT prep.

C: this brings us to "something else going on?" And I don't know what that is. But even my college students who can read at a basic 6th-grade level (sob) seem to have really stunted capabilities for inference. I ask them to make inferences and they look at me with the heartbreaking expressions of confused dogs. Or they'll see something blindingly obvious and say things like "Could this... possibly be...?" and I say brightly: "Yes! that's absolutely what it is! good job!" instead of saying: "What the **** else would it be?" Sometimes an entire class of students will read something without comprehension and subsequently thank me for "explaining" a text when all I have done is paraphrase it. And we're not talking academic articles here; we're talking 2-4 page excerpts of primary sources selected with TLC for a target audience of beginning college students. So far I have not snapped and screamed, "I didn't explain shit!" But I do find myself having to, well, explain that explanation would mean digging deeper into the text. I also find myself puzzled and alarmed by the fact that they don't seem able to identify or describe what they find challenging. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "Just the entire thing was confusing"...! I've modified entire courses to try to get students more of the reading practice and additional skills they need. I'm not sure how much it's helping.

I really wish I had more answers. What I do have is a lot of despair.

[pensat-i-fet]

Not a crush (Pedri x Reader)

**I got this request and thought it could be cute and fun. It’s true that the Spanish press has been talking about this arms situation a lot, so it’s a good blend of fiction and reality. But then it turned into one of those writing projects that changed 7 times before its final form. For a second I even thought about turning this into a series. My brain! Anyways, enjoy reading! ❤️**

ETA: I ended up writing a series based on this imagine that you can read here!

Word count: 2685

Masterlist

Wattpad

“All those years in uni to end up doing this”, you muttered. “I’m never going to be taken seriously”.

“What are you talking about?”

“This article I have to do”.

Your colleague Jordi moved his chair closer to yours to peek at your computer screen.

“You know that we can’t use the computers for personal stuff, right?”

You put your head on the table. Really, no one was going to take you seriously.

“Huh?”

“Why are you looking at photos of shirtless Pedri? Got a crush?”

“Shut up! I have to do an article about the evolution of his body in the last couple of years”.

“That’s cool”.

“It’s stupid!”

“I’ve done worse when I was an intern. Don’t be so negative”.

You guessed he was right. It could be a lot worse. And you didn’t have a crush but…there were worse ways to spend a Tuesday afternoon than looking at photos of a cute player. And being given an excuse to stare at his body, which had definitely changed in the last couple of years. You didn’t visit the gym much but liked it when others did. Especially if that was the result of their gym sessions.

Writing the article actually took a good chunk of your day. Between getting the right photos and videos for it and asking for permission to use them, the actual writing and your colleagues' stupid comments about it, it wasn't as easy as you thought it would be at first. But it was a good article. And once the editor saw it and was happy with it, it was posted on the newspaper's website.

The following day you posted a link to it on your social media accounts and a little later you started to go through the comments. So many of them talked about how you were only picked to do that article because it was about a man's body and you were a woman. Right…nothing new on Twitter.

“Stop replying to hate comments”.

“It’s therapeutical”.

"It's pointless".

Just one more…

                                      **

It wasn't just the press or people on social media talking about Pedri's muscles. His teammates loved to tease him joking about that too.

"Here comes the Spanish Lewandowski", laughed Eric.

"So funny".

"Please don't be mad at me. I'm afraid you'll use those big strong muscles to punish me".

Pedri did use his muscles to push his friend and get him out of the way. He knew it was just banter but it all got boring after a few days.

"There needs to be a big signing or something so your arms stop being the topic of the week", told him Ferrán, who was looking at his phone.

“Yeah, I saw Barça posting about it on social media too. People are so overdramatic”.

“Totally, but I didn't mean that. I meant the new article”.

"What new article?"

Ferrán showed him your article and Pedri sat down to read it properly. It was a great article. You took the time to analyze the way his game could be influenced by this body change and picked different photos than the ones used by everyone else. He guessed there were still proper journalists out there. What a plot twist.

"It's a good article", he said, giving the phone back to his friend.

"The internet seems to disagree".

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know if they disagree but the girl who wrote it was getting a lot of shit on social media".

"Why?", Pedri couldn't hide his frown.

"I didn't look much into it but I saw people saying nasty things to her and then they found some old tweets and …seems like she used to have a crush on you and now she writes about your muscles or whatever and people on Twitter are the way they always are".

"Right", he murmured. He had listened to everything his friend said but also got stuck on how you used to have a crush on him. And he didn't even know who you were but footballers…they just loved being loved.

                                     **

"No point in deleting them now", said Jordi.

"I wasn't going to…".

People had too much time on their hands. That was the conclusion of the day. Somehow, just because of your article, someone decided to check your entire Twitter history to see if there was anything they could accuse you of. They probably were mad to find no offensive tweets but they found two where you retweeted a Barça fan page and wrote about liking Pedri.

The funniest thing was you barely remembered those tweets. You saw him, thought he was cute and posted that. Then you moved on. There were many players you found cute but had no time for crushes. Pedri got a mention purely for the fact that he signed for your team.

But now this was being used against you. So childish.

"Are you busy next week?"

You looked up to see your boss talking to you. He never talked to you.

"I guess. I mean, I'll be here working. So…".

"Do you have a passport?"

"Yes".

"Your English was good, right?"

"Pretty good, yeah".

He only had to look at your CV to see all the qualifications you had, including all the diplomas that proved your English was more than good but…no one cared that much about an intern.

"You're going on the US tour", he said and left. How could he drop that bomb and leave?

Your jaw was on the floor and Jordi was staring at you with a similar expression.

"Wait!", you said, finally able to get up and follow your boss. "What do you mean I'm going on the US tour? There is a group of people chosen for that already. It was decided months ago".

"I know", he said casually. "But one of them can't go and you'll take his spot".

"But I'm just an intern".

"Do you not want to go?"

"I do! Of course I do!", you said quickly. "But it doesn't make sense".

"Look. You're doing really well here. And you've gotten people to visit our website more than ever with just one article so…you earned it".

You had heard about all the visits to the website after the Pedri article was posted. But the way your boss was avoiding holding eye contact told you everything you needed to know.

"Am I just going because people think I have a crush on one of the players that'll be there?"

"If you weren't a good journalist, that wouldn't be enough for me to send you with that team. But it doesn't hurt".

"Ok, I'll start packing".

This was a great opportunity and you weren't going to reject it just because of some of the reasons surrounding it. But the excitement you felt when you first heard about the trip completely vanished.

And when you checked your Instagram and saw a certain player was looking at your stories…it was even worse.

No one took you seriously but you'd prove them wrong.

                                     **

The pre-season was both loved and hated by players. Pedri didn't really have strong feelings about it. It was just part of the job and they got to visit some different places so there were positives to take from these couple of weeks.

Another positive was having you around. After finding out about your article and your past crush on him, he checked your social media accounts. There wasn't much on any of them, since they were professional accounts. But there were a couple of photos of you and your dog.

Stories were something you also used to mostly promote your work and it was while checking those he found out you were going to the US too. He was hoping you'd meet at some point but didn't expect you'd be the one to interview him.

"Hi, nice to meet you", you said, extending your hand for him to shake. So professional.

"Nice meeting you too. I really liked your article about me".

Something changed in your expression and he couldn't understand what it was but you quickly got back to professional mode.

"Thank you. Let's get this done quickly. I was told we only have 15 minutes".

The interview was pretty uneventful. You asked good questions and Pedri gave you good answers in return. But you were so serious. He didn't know you personally, so maybe that was how you always were. But Pedri had a feeling there was more to it.

"Was that good?"

"The interview? Yes, thank you for your answers. They were really good".

"Easy when the questions are good too".

You nodded, quickly looking away.

"Are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because it seems like you would want to be anywhere but here".

You closed your eyes and sighed.

"Is it because of what people said about you?"

His words made you open your eyes and you finally looked at him. Instead of answering, you simply nodded.

"Don't pay attention to them".

"Easier said than done. Especially when they are the reason I'm here".

"The reason…".

"I'm not here because I'm good at my job. But because people thinking I have a crush on you got us a lot of attention. And now this interview will get more attention. So I'm basically just a pawn and I guess so are you".

"I'm sorry".

"It's not your fault".

Picking up your things, you got ready to leave but Pedri stopped you.

"I don't read what people write about me but my parents do. They like to keep the articles and print the photos and all that. Things parents do, I guess", he shrugged. "I read your article because Ferrán showed it to me and thought it was great. And then my parents told me about it, praising your writing multiple times. Your newspaper might be using you but you're good. You showed it to me in this interview too so don't feel sad".

"I don't have a crush on you".

"What?", but then he realised what you meant. "I didn't praise you because of that. God, you really need to get out of that mindset".

When Pedri started to laugh, you were more confused than ever.

"It's not you against the world. And people will praise you just because they genuinely want to…but now I'll be the one who's sad".

"Why?"

"I liked thinking you had a crush on me".

Now you were laughing too. Finally, he got to see the smile he had seen in those photos.

"Thank you for your words. I needed them. And you must go to train. I'll see you around".

"Yes".

The interview was posted just a couple of hours later. And even if Pedri's words helped, the comments you got still hurt.

Got what she wanted. To meet him.

"Yes, that's all I wanted in life. I can retire now".

"Why are you looking at your phone like it offended you?", asked one of your colleagues.

"It's the people inside it that offend me".

"Are there people living inside your phone?"

You half laughed at his bad joke.

"I know what you need to cheer up".

"Really?"

"Yes. Thoughts on karaoke?"

That made you laugh. You were such a terrible singer. "I like it. People don't like hearing me sing, though".

"I want to hear you sing so you're coming with us tonight".

                                   **

One of the easiest ways to get in trouble during pre-season was to go out and wake up to paparazzi photos of the party. But when it was the coach that took you out…then it was fine?

Pedri wasn't really into parties anyways but he thought karaoke night could be fun. He wasn't planning on signing but knew which teammates would. His phone was going to record all of it to tease them in the future.

"It started already", said Xavi, who was the first one to get inside the bar.

And he was right. There was someone leaving the stage while they found their tables. And someone else took the previous person's place immediately. Pedri wasn't interested in the random people who were going to sign but still looked up to see who was talking to the guy that controlled the machine.

And it was you who was on the stage.

"Well, that's a surprise", he said, almost to himself.

"What is?", Ferrán was now looking at the stage too. "Who is she? She's hot".

"The journalist who wrote about my muscles".

"The one that doesn't have a crush on you?", he laughed. "That's funnier now that I know she's pretty".

Pedri rolled his eyes and continued staring at you. He could see you were giggling and it was such a change from the super serious woman he met for the interview.

You picked a Franz Ferdinand song. They were one of your favourite bands when you were a teen and after seeing them live at the FIB, you were back to listening to all their songs on repeat.

Oh, when I woke up tonight, I said I’m

Going to make somebody love me

I’m going to make somebody love me

And now I know, now I know, now I know

I know that it’s you

You’re lucky, lucky, you’re so lucky

Your voice wasn’t great but who cared about that on karaoke night? Pedri didn’t. He just stared at you. You looked so relaxed. Just having fun instead of the worried version of you he got for his interview.

“Whoever she chooses would be lucky. She isn’t lying”.

Ferrán’s words took Pedri out of his daydreams. “What do you mean?”

“The song”.

“I’m not really paying attention to the lyrics. What do they mean?”

His teammate explained the meaning of the lyrics quickly and Pedri had to agree. Whoever you chose would be very lucky.

“I wouldn’t mind being the chosen one but you saw her first. Shame she doesn’t have a crush on you anymore, Pedrito”.

Yeah, it was a shame.

When you finished your song, you felt so much better. This had been the right plan to improve your mood. None of your colleagues wanted a drink, so you went to the bar to get one. It was needed after all that singing.

“I didn’t know you were a singer too?”

You turned to face Pedri and snorted. “Yes, it was my plan b if journalism didn’t work out”.

“There is always autotune to help”.

Pedri was pleased to see you laughing at his words. It was the second time in just one day he had achieved that.

“Do you want a drink too?”, you asked him when the bartender was taking your order.

“Just water, please”.

Once you got your drinks, none of you moved from the bar to go back to your friends. You just kept chatting.

“I mean, who knew writing about someone’s arms could lead to so much drama”.

Pedri followed your eyes which were now staring at his biceps. “Want to touch them?”

Yes. “No”.

“After reading the article I wondered if you knew more about my body than I do, you know? So it’s ok, you can touch”.

You bit your lip, trying not to blush. "I know you hear every day about how good you are at everything and that makes you overly confident but you aren’t as great at flirting as you might think".

"I heard about how great I am from you too. So you're at fault".

"I've barely written about you apart from that article".

"Yeah, but the old tweets…".

"I told you I don’t have a crush on you”.

“And the way you’re blushing says something different”.

When he leaned closer, you noticed how your knees were touching beneath the bar. They had been touching for a couple of minutes and you hadn’t even noticed. Nor did you feel the need to move.

“Not here”, you said.

“What?”

“Not where people can see us”.

“I thought you didn’t…”.

“I just want to test a theory”.

“What theory?”, he asked, smirking at you.

“If the crush I had on you two years ago is still there”.

[sgiandubh]

This is not a political post

One more time, in caps and bold: THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST. But if I can, as a diplomat and a historian, bring some extra context and try and understand what happened today in S's world, so be it. Enough said about me.

I am fumbling with a ton of thoughts since this morning, when this link was shared with me by one of the closest people in my platoon:

In a nutshell: S signed that (in)famous letter, an initiative of APUK (Artists for Palestine UK), a network that's been operating since 2015. You can read it in full if you open the link and I suggest you do. You will soon find out that the letter, while correctly pointing out the atrocious gesture of bombing a civilian hospital in Gaza, asked the world's governments to 'end their military and political support for Israel’s actions'. Nowhere in that letter did the word Hamas appear, which would immediately point out as supporting what is a terrorist movement that is, alas, also part and parcel of the Palestinian government, under Mahmoud Abbas's weak, irrelevant aegis. The man is an old PLO/Fatah crone: fishy, ineffective and fairly corrupted. His position on the Holocaust is, to be elegant, a study in ambiguity. Enough said.

It is pointless and absurd to try and explain the whole situation in detail. I would have to go back at least to the Balfour Declaration (1919) or the no less infamous end of the British/LoN/UN Palestine Mandate (1948), if I wanted to simply scratch the surface of a subject that is everywhere these days. With an intensity of absolutely legitimate emotions that can simply not be measured by any counter on this planet, as we speak.

But the facts are here, and naïve S had no damn idea: 500 civilians were killed, Tuesday night, in the bombing of the al-Ahli Baptist/Arab Hospital in Gaza City. Hullaballoo ensued on a cataclysmic scale: first, Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Benjamin Netanyahu recklessly wrote on X that the "Israeli army [Tsahal] bombed a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza". Then erased the tweet. Several video collages released by the Tsahal, the first of which was heavily contested by a NYT journalist (and former Bellingcat researcher) Aric Toler, point out towards the PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad)'s forces being responsible for the strike.

These quotes from an Al Jazeera paper sum up the ensuing scandal better than I ever could - selected by me, but you can and probably should read it all (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/18/what-is-israels-narrative-on-the-gaza-hospital-explosion):

No craters mean no airstrike and most probably a rocket failure. The uneasiness remained, that being said, at the highest level. And the planned US-Egypt-Jordan- Palestine talks hosted by Amman were abruptly called off hours before Biden landed in Tel Aviv.

To cut the story short: the letter is right to point out that you just don't bomb hospitals when you are at war, as per the terms of the Fourth 1949 Geneva Convention, dealing with the protection of civilians in times of war. Both Israel (signed in 1949/ratified in 1951) and Palestine (2014) are, as parties and signatories, legally bound by it, in the eyes of International Law. The only problem with it is that it purposefully omits to put things into context (whodunnit) and forgets the cynical truth: Hamas keeps hundreds of innocent Israelis and two millions of innocent Gaza civilians as its hostages.

Article 18 is at the core of the matter:

The last thing S should have done is to sign that fucking treacherous letter, without getting a second (third, fourth...) opinion.

S is a good man, we all know and love this about him. He is also one of the most naïve people I have ever seen in this lifetime. This is why his final reaction really, really moved this cynic, here:

I am taking this home and keep it. It deeply moved me (yes, me):

" I don't know nearly enough and trying to educate myself on the conflicts in the Middle East. I feel helpless and wish I could help in some way.'

I am sure 'someone nice' called and 'nicely asked", maybe even offered some scarce and biased details, to prompt an impulse signature. I am also sure S didn't read the letter himself. There is no harm saying you were wrong. He did it with dignity and grace - no, it was not easy.

This is a man of worth speaking. Bravo!

But for the love of all that's holy, Sir: don't you ever step into this kind of shit again. These things are far more complex than you could ever fathom and it's a very cynical world out there. Leave it to us, we are handsomely paid for it by our governments. I hear you and I am completely supporting this more than welcome withdrawal. It's not worth much, for sure. But it is an honest POV.

Also, John 8:7:

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Kindly refrain from politics in your comments. Let's not drag trash where it should not be, ever. Thank you all.

[spacelazarwolf]

if you want to answer (and i totally understand if you dont), who do you think bombed the hospital in gaza? ive seen a lot of different people talking about it and blaming different people & organizations and you seem like you know a lot aboit i/p

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: i am not a news source. i am some guy with access to the internet. please follow the links in this post, as well as doing your own research. please do not use social media posts exclusively as your source of news, and please continuously read and compare several different accredited news sources. keep on top of new sources and evidence that are being put out to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information.

it's not really about who i think did it. i feel like that centers me in a thing that is very much not about me. but i'll give it my best shot.

we still do not have confirmation of how many were killed or who is at fault for the bombing. there are a lot of numbers and opinions floating around online, but as of 4pm on october 19th there has not been a consensus on either of these things from any accredited organizations.

that being said, here are the statements that have been put out as of the time i'm responding to this:

statements about death toll:

the gaza health ministry estimates between 200 and 471 dead

the director of al-shifa hospital where people were brought from al-ahli estimates 250 dead

an assessment from the us director of national intelligence estimates between 100 and 300

an analyst with the center for naval analysis, after viewing photos and video, said the death toll was closer to 50

statements about fault:

(taking these directly from the article)

J Andres Gannon, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, in the US, says the ground explosions appeared to be small, meaning that the heat generated from the impact may have been caused by leftover rocket fuel rather than an explosion from a warhead. Justin Bronk, senior research fellow at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute, agrees. While it is difficult to be sure at such an early stage, he says, the evidence looks like the explosion was caused by a failed rocket section hitting the car park and causing a fuel and propellant fire. Mr Gannon says it is not possible to determine whether the projectile struck its intended target from the footage he has seen. He adds that the flashes in the sky likely indicate the projectile was a rocket with an engine that overheated and stopped working. Valeria Scuto, lead Middle East analyst at Sibylline, a risk assessment company, notes that Israel has the capacity to carry out other forms of air strike by drone, where they might use Hellfire missiles. These missiles generate a significant amount of heat but would not necessarily leave a large crater. But she says uncorroborated footage shows a pattern of fires at the hospital site that was not consistent with this explanation.

Visual evidence from the blast site The BBC was able to match details of buildings and the layout of the Al-Ahli hospital site with publicly available satellite imagery, to establish the hospital was the scene of the blast. Based on available evidence, it appears the explosion happened in a courtyard which is part of the hospital site. Images of the ground after the blast do not show significant damage to surrounding hospital buildings. What the images do show are scorch marks and burnt-out cars.

where the explosive came from

so far, israel, hamas, and palestinian islamic jihad have all denied responsibility

channel 4 news reported that palestinian islamic jihad had uncovered a warhead but they have not produced it

in a since-deleted tweet, hananya naftali, a social media advisor for netanyahu, claimed that it was an israeli airstrike that hit the hospital. he followed up by stating that he had shared incorrect information based on a reuters headline that refered to an israeli airstrike

tentative conclusion based on sources:

what i gather from what i've read is that the blast was likely caused by a misfired rocket originating somewhere in gaza, and the blast was exacerbated by the fuel in the rocket. BUT, as i stated before, new information is always being put out. there could be evidence released tomorrow that it was an israeli air strike. there has been no conclusive evidence yet.

and perhaps the most important section:

what you can actually do to help

if you are in the us, call your representatives and urge them to support the resolution for a ceasefire

check out this list of verified aid groups (if there is not a ceasefire as soon as possible, it won't matter what aid is sent to them and if they cannot get the supplies into gaza, so refer back to the first bulletpoint)

send a donation to your local synagogue(s) and mosque(s) to help them offset the rising costs of security

take a moment to be a human. don't think about the numbers. don't think about the politics. think about the human beings who lost their lives, and the people who are mourning them. the mothers who will never see their children again, the children who will grow up without parents. what did they have for breakfast? what was their favorite song? when was their birthday? were they afraid? were they in pain? what can we do to ensure this does not happen again?

[ohbaby-here-we-go-again]

The Taz Skylar situation

Hey folks, I know people have been posting about this already, but I’d thought I’d throw in my two cents - I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind, I’m just throwing my thoughts out into the internet because, well, this is tumblr and that’s kind of what we do here.

Imma preface this by saying I haven’t done a deep dive into what’s going on with the taz situation, because honestly I have better things to do. But from what I’ve seen the main issue was Taz did a fundraiser for the British Red Cross, and then when it was brought up that they’re apparently supporting Israel he poorly handled the situation, specifically with a tweet he made (included below).

If you continue reading, please note, I personally am giving Taz the benefit of the doubt here. And hence will have my biases in regards to the situation.

The Red Cross Fundraiser

The Red Cross is a humanitarian aid charity, it’s supposed to help people, so I can understand how someone, with good intentions, looking to donate to a charity, would end up picking them - particularly as they’re very well known.

When it comes to the Red Cross supporting Israel, I tried looking into it and got a lot conflicting claims. Some saying they were supporting Palestine, some saying they were supporting Israel, so I can’t speak to the morality of Red Cross as an organisation at the moment (if you have links to specific articles and details feel free to add them on this post).

So personally in regards to the fundraiser, I think it would be unfair to say Taz was specifically aiming to support Israel, or to claim that he condones Israel’s actions because of the fundraiser.

That being said, you should always do research into charities you choose to support, whether you’re a regular person or a celebrity, to make sure (as much as you can) that the money you’re sending over is actually doing what you intended it to. Hopefully this is something Taz will have learned from this situation, and will consider more moving forward.

The Tweet

As for the tweet he made, which was potentially (but I don’t believe confirmed to be) in regard to the fundraiser….Personally, I feel it came off as quite ignorant.

Now while again I am giving taz the benefit of the doubt in terms of his overall beliefs and intentions, that doesn’t mean I can’t be critical of choices he makes. And choosing to make a vague tweet about “different opinions” being “okay” because sometimes people “see things differently,” when people are saying you support a genocide…was not a good choice. And specifically, ending it by saying “If you go to war with everyone who differs in opinion, we’d all be at war with everyone all the time” given the context of the situation, to me felt like an ignorant and quite insensitive thing to say.

Now, given that taz stated on his Instagram story (I believe prior to the tweet) that what he was doing was, “really not” a “political statement” and that he just wanted “to start [the] year off with something positive” I’m hoping the different opinions tweet was intended to be in the realm of ‘hey man, make love not war. We should like just like, listen to each other more and be kind✌️’ Rather than the ‘let’s agree to disagree. I’m entitled to my opinion’ shit we’ve seen particularly associated with right wing ideology in recent years.

I’m hoping taz (poorly) tweeted with the former sentiment in mind. Based on the fact he went on to say in that same story that he “[hoped] that this year can be one where everyone comes together a lot more” and has in the past tweeted that it “Takes the same energy to dig a grave as it does to build a shelter” and that we should “dig less graves and build more shelters.” This, in addition to his work and donations to charities for (I believe) several years prior to this, and prior to OPLA, is wat makes me hesitant to say Taz is in support of Israel based on this situation.

And while he’s has now deleted the tweet, I hope it wasn’t just because of a negative reaction, but because he has reflected on what he said and how he said it.

Additional Claims

Now I know some people have also brought up that he follows a few actors who are zionists (I haven’t looked into it so I don’t know how accurate those claims are) but to me unless he comes out and says he’s in support of them and their beliefs, I’m not going to use this as a accurate way of knowing what Taz believes. Because honestly, as someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time on social media myself, I miss a lot of stuff in regard to which actor is currently being a piece of shit. And I wouldn’t want people to judge my morals based on the fact that at some point, I followed some celebrity on social media.

Conclusion

End of the day I don’t think it’s fair or truthful to say Taz has ‘come out as a zionist’ nor do I think it’s productive to say he’s some totally ‘innocent sweetheart who didn’t do anything wrong,’ because….he’s literally just some dude. I know up until this point he’s kinda been characterise on the internet as this like, great, sweet, dedicated, hardworking, boyfriend material guy, and I’m not saying that those qualities were attributed to him out of nowhere, but he’s also just a human being. He will make mistakes. But just like all of us he has the ability to reflect and grow, and just like all of us he should be given the chance to do so - though remember, leaving space for someone to grow as a human being is not the same as coddling them when they fuck up. Being critical of someone’s actions and holding them appropriately accountable is part of the process of growth.

Anyways moral of the story, celebrities are just people, make sure you don’t fall into the trap of parasocial love OR parascoial hate, and the world is always at least a bit shit, with people who will have shit beliefs, and it’s ok to be disappointed and speak out against that so long as you’re not treating it like a witch hunt.

This post was made on the 5th of February 2024, with the information I’ve gathered while scrolling on tumblr. My opinion on Taz Skylar is subject to change if new information is brought to my attention after it has been been posted.

As this is just a side blog, if you try to directly talk to me on this post I will not reply. Additionally, I’m not trying to start a debate so if you come to my blog to start and argument I will block you. Reminder I don’t really care what you think of Taz Skylar, it’s your life and your time bro. I’m just some rando rambling on the internet.

[lavender-rosa]

Kny characters + most traumatizing internet experiences

(modern au obvi)

That time Nezuko sent Tanjirou a text that said "look at this adorable video of a puppy and a raccoon being friends!!!! :0 🌸" but then when he clicked on it, it was the music video for the song "never gonna give you up" by Rick Astley. Why would Nezuko do this to him?

When Douma left his laptop open for Akaza to accidentally read some of the replies to his most recent tweet. He doesn't even know what those comments meant, but they were scary.

When Douma texted Akaza and Kokushibou a link to an article that talked about a gruesome murder that took place in the town like thirty years ago, with the caption " omg do u guys think ur house is haunted ? O-O" Akaza replied "Douma why are you being so ridiculous" but Kokushibou, who has always been personally convinced that his house is haunted, felt a chill run down his spine...

That time Shinobu sent Giyuu a text that said "giyuu have you seen the latest mitski mv" but then when he clicked on it, it was the music video for the song "never gonna give you up" by Rick Astley.

Sanemi taking the "Am I Gay?" quiz at 3am and then promptly deleting his browser history and attempting to set his computer on fire for good measure, setting off his smoke alarm and waking up the entire house, for which he had no good explanation other than the wholly unbelievable lie that he was trying to lit a scented candle but his hand slipped and landed on his computer keyboard instead.

When Zenitsu made Tanjirou listen to some of Kaigaku's soundcloud rap and instead of finding it funny like Zenitsu assumed he would it gave Tanjirou such a bad migraine he actually started crying.

When Gyutaro is accidentally in the background of one of Daki's selfies and a couple of her ig comments are "who's that guy behind u ????" leading him to fear that they would track him down, invade his home and tear him apart like a pack of wild animals. Daki said "uh...that's definitely not going to happen" but based on what he knows of her following, he maintains it's a likely possibility ok????

When Tanjirou had strep throat and couldn't read aloud to Muichirou like he usually does and Genya, out of the kindness of his heart, offered to sub in, and Muichirou made him read all 38 chapters of "My Immortal" to him, insisting that Tanjirou would do this for him, and therefore if he doesn't that means he is a bad friend.

That time Uzui sent Rengoku a text that said "hey i read this article regarding an unlimited free pizza coupon winning competition i thought you might find interesting, tell me what you think" but then when he clicked on it, it was the music video for the song "never gonna give you up" by Rick Astley.

And last but not least: When Kaigaku left his laptop open for Zenitsu to accidentally read his latest reddit post. Terrifying stuff.

[videogamepoc]

Note on article and article title: This article does heavy work to continuously refer to Hamas as terrorists, and it refers only to the October 7 events in their attempt to delineate the history of Palestine and Hamas, failing to mention the decades long history of occupation and war inflicted on Palestine by the state of Israel. This is a skewed historical overview of the occupation and genocide. I've removed that part below. If you want to read it, click on the link above. Furthermore, the title poorly depicts the reasons behind the boycott, which go beyond the single comment about Hamas that this actress made.

Overwatch fans are calling for the recasting of Pharah—one of the game's lineup of DPS heroes—following comments on the current situation in Israel and Palestine made by her voice actor, Jen Cohn, in a TikTok and YouTube livestream. In response to viewers commenting "free Palestine" in the chat of one of her Ask Bird Mom livestreams on February 12, Cohn said "Yes, free Palestine from Hamas." Cohn, who is Jewish, then expressed her wish for Palestinian "autonomy" and "safety," but angered some viewers by referring to Israel's campaign in Gaza as a "war" and saying that "when both sides are able to stop fighting, it will be wonderful." Some Overwatch fans were incensed at language that presented the last several months of violence as an equal conflict between two evenly matched sides, and saw it as an attempt to whitewash Israel's actions. The comments sparked an intense negative backlash. Cohn has spoken about Israel and Palestine on social media before, which is likely what led to fans commenting "Free Palestine" on her stream in the first place. But although Cohn has done things like criticise the use of "from the river to the sea" chants among "well-intentioned, good young people" at pro-Palestine protests on Instagram, her comments on stream elicited a bigger reaction. Many viewers were angered by what they saw as the drawing of a false equivalence and the use of obfuscatory language. Israel has drawn widespread condemnation for its campaign in Gaza, with 29,000 Palestinians—two-thirds women and children—reportedly killed and the International Court of Justice finding it "plausible" that Israel's actions could amount to genocide. At another point in the stream, Cohn remarked "that is not a very 'values of Overwatch' thing to say" in response to a comment reading "Free Palestine [flag emoji] new Pharah voice actor > >," which also caused anger. Cohn noted in a comment to PC Gamer that her remark was directed at "the call to have my role recast" and not the support for Palestine. "When I heard calls for my replacement—because I’m Jewish, because I love and support my people, because the ways I call for peace differ from the ways someone else calls for peace—it seemed to really run counter to those [Overwatch] beliefs," said Cohn. But to angered fans, Cohn's statements don't read like a call for peace but as an equivocation masking a one-sided campaign of violence. "I hope this is enough to show why fans want Jen Cohn recasted," said a tweet from an Overwatch fan that attracted nearly 3,000 likes on Twitter, "she is doubling down on her pro-Israel beliefs and this isn't a joke, this is a genocide happening right in front of us and she supports that." Other widely liked and shared tweets call on Blizzard to recast Pharah, accusing Cohn of spreading "Zionist propaganda" using a platform provided by her role in the game and of ignoring Arab suffering while voicing a character of Arabic descent. Numerous other examples of anger at Cohn's comments can be found across social media, with some calling for a boycott of Overwatch's ninth season until Pharah is recast. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition to recast Pharah's voice actor has attracted over 4,300 signatures at time of writing and its description reads that, "as of now, a beloved Arab and Indigenous Canadian character Pharah of Overwatch is being voiced by a woman with video evidence of her making zionistic statements… Jen Cohn has made countless statements denying the genocide of Palestinians calling it 'war' and claiming that the Palestinians must be freed from Hamas not Israel." It implores signees to take to Twitter with the hashtag #RecastPharah to show support.

Link to the Change.org petition:

[mlmxreader]

[ID for all images: a thread by Zarah Sultana, a British MP that reads (in chronological order):

I get more abuse, threats and racism than most MPs. So I don't say this lightly.

And to be clear: no one in public life should have their safety threatened, nor be subject to unacceptable abuse.

But I find the debate about public engagement with MPs concerning. Here's why. 1/10

First, there's an attempt being made to demonise the Palestine solidarity movement, portraying it as inherently violent and extreme.

This attempt is laced with Islamophobic tropes. Just look at Suella Braverman's latest article. 2/10

Let's remember the Palestine solidarity movement - demanding an immediate ceasefire and an end to the slaughter in Gaza - represents the majority opinion in Britain.

Rallying to this cause, hundreds of thousands of people habe exercised their democratic right to protest. 3/10

Those overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations are being depicted as a violent "mob".

That's a very worrying undemocratic line of argument.

This Islamophobic demonisation of the Palestine solidarity movement must be resisted, with the right to peaceful demonstration upheld. 4/10

That relates to my second concern.

To repeat, threats to safety and unacceptable abuse shouldn't be tolerated. But we must resist conflating that with robust criticism and accountability.

I fear that conflation is sometimes being made. 5/10

And third and finally, too often the professed concern with MP safety is partial and one-sided.

Whenever I speak up for the rights of the Palestinian people, I am subjected to a barrage of racist abuse, threats and hate.

Things have been particularly in recent months. 6/10

Making this worse is that it's stoked by politicians and pundits.

For example, in Parliament last month, the Prime Minister used an Islamophobic trope against me, immediately followed by a Tory MP who used another Islamophobic trope against me. 7/10

[linked tweet which reads: I'll post the video shortly, but I want to get this out there:

In Parliament today, I called for de-escalation in the Middle East and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza....]

Neither the Prime Minister nor the Tory MP apologised, nor was there much media outrage at what they said.

But those Islamophobic tropes, and other false and dangerous things said by MPs and pundits, stoke the racist hatred and threats I and other Muslim MPs face. 8/10

This Islamophobia is often ignored, with too little attention given to the threats posed by the far right.

Let's remember a few months ago the then Home Secretary described Palestine solidarity demonstrations as "hate marches", provoking violent far-right counter-protests. 9/10

To sum up.

Threats to MPs' safety are unacceptable, but we mustn't allow this to be a pretext to demonise the Palestine solidarity movement specifically or attack our democratic rights more broadly.

In a democracy, the right to protest, criticise and debate are upheld. 10/10

END ID]

[holygrailimagines]

Fox

Summary: Kevin Alvarez is crushing on a certain Fox football reporter.

To say you loved your job was an understatement. You practically breathed sports and talking was something you couldn’t stop doing, so naturally being a Fox sports reporter was out of the question. You loved commentating on games and adding a little spice of your Mexican culture to it. Everybody loved you and you quickly became a fan favorite and one of America’s sweethearts. Thanks to all the support, you were here in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. 

Today, you were commentating on Mexico v Poland with your Fox partner, Tom. You were so excited and ready to root for your home country. The whole time you were on the edge of your seat, waiting for Mexico to score. Unfortunately, that never arrived, but your hope was not extinguished as you left the air with a final hopeful message to Mexico for their next game. 

“Well, despite no goals, this was quite an interesting game as we got a little taste of what’s to come in Group C. Of course, San Ochoa saves the day. He truly is el señor de los cielos. However, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Alvarez. He definitely seems to be rising up to the plate, I sense this will be a great World Cup for Mexico.” You say, passing it on to Tom. 

—-----------------------------------------

It was now 12 am in Qatar and you were exhausted. When you reached your hotel room, you took a well-deserved shower and hopped onto twitter. You were showered with the usual love, and the occasional hate tweets, but something caught your attention. An article published by TMZ: Mexican Football Star, Kevin Alvarez, Dating Fox Reporter, (Y/N) (Y/L/N)?!

Your eyes widened as you quickly clicked on the article link and sure enough, a video clip was attached to the article. You pressed play and watched as the football player was bombarded by flashing lights and random questions. 

“Kevin! Kevin! Kevin! Any news on a girlfriend?” The paparazzi frantically asked. You saw a small smile form on his face as he opened and closed his mouth, as if fighting the words threatening to come from his throat. 

“Ask (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” He said with a smirk and then made a mad dash to his hotel. The video ended there, and you were greeted with a blank screen. You caught your own reflection, wide mouthed and shocked. Like a ripple wave effect, your tweets instantly become Kevin Alvarez related as fans questioned your relationship status. To be honest, you weren’t mad at all. He was quite handsome, and you wouldn’t mind it if he was your boyfriend. 

Speaking of the devil, you got a DM notification from him on Instagram. You hesitated for a second but opened it, it read:

Hey, I know you probably saw that TMZ video, I really hope that didn’t upset you. I don’t really know why I said that. If I’m being honest, I have had a crush on you since forever. I understand if you never want to speak to me. I’m really sorry if I messed things up with you. 

Your heart was beating so fast and even if this was all happening online, you were blushing like mad. You stared at his message for what felt like hours, trying to come up with a good response. Should you be playful, play hard to get, be easy? The only thing you knew was that this guy was cute, and you wouldn’t mind spending some time with him. So, you responded: 

Haha, don’t worry about it. I totally get it. You didn’t mess anything up, I would love to hang out some time, but don’t you have a World Cup to worry about? 

You practically screamed and kicked your legs like a teenage girl when you hit the send button. Just as quickly as you sent it, you got another notification. 

Nah, I’m more worried about you. I think about you all the time.

Please I don’t know if these are shitty, I’m just writing like crazy now! 

[theoutcastrogue]

the internet is rotting, as Jonathan Zittrain noted in an important (but paywalled) 2021 Atlantic article. A huge percentage of the links on the internet are broken, and there is no single authoritative, accessible universal repository that keeps track of everything. It is frighteningly easy for crucial information to slip away. ...

The practice of making changes to an article without noting that you’ve made them is called “stealth editing,” and even the New York Times does it. ... The existence of stealth editing means that it’s difficult to trust that the version of an article you click on at any given moment is the article as it was originally published. ...

I also, to my alarm, realized just how dependent we are on private publications themselves to give us access to records of their own work. Often, they keep it payawalled behind locked gates and charge you admission if you want to have a look. There are lots of sources in the Chomsky book to which you have to subscribe if you want to verify, such as this 1999 story in the Los Angeles Times about NATO’s bombing of a bus in Yugoslavia. This is a story of national importance, far too overlooked at the time, but if you don’t subscribe to the LA Times, you need research library access or a workaround if you want to read it.

Thank God for the Internet Archive, whose Wayback Machine preserves as much of the internet as they can and is invaluable for researchers trying to figure out what was once housed at now-dead links. But the Internet Archive has its limits. Social media posts, YouTube videos, paywalled Substack posts, PDFs—all can be very difficult to track down after they disappear. If a politician tweets something embarrassing, for instance, and then deletes it, it might be preserved in a screenshot. But we know screenshots are easy to fake. So where do you turn to prove satisfactorily that something was in fact said? ...

it’s very easy to lose pieces of information that seem permanent. E-books, for instance, can be changed by their publisher without the changes even being noted. You might read a book on your Amazon Kindle one day and open it up the next day to look for a quote only to find that the quote has disappeared without a trace. The Guardian, for twenty years, hosted a copy of Osama bin Laden’s “letter to the American people,” an important historical document. After the letter went viral on TikTok, the Guardian removed it from the site entirely. The New Republic did the same after an article of theirs about Pete Buttigieg caused controversy. The documents in question can still be found, but only by digging through the Internet Archive. If that ever goes down, researchers will find that trying to piece together the online past is like trying to learn about a lost civilization from excavated fragments. ...

I think that in an age where people (rightly) don’t trust the information they’re getting to be true, it needs to be as easy as possible to do research. Instead, while we have better technology than ever for sifting through information, it’s still the case that the truth is paywalled and the lies are free. If you want to “do your own research” to check on the veracity of claims, you will run headlong into a maze of broken links, paywalls, and pop-ups. How can anyone hope to find the truth when it’s so elusive, trapped behind so many toll gates?