#American Denials | A Bullshit

[xtruss]

SECRET PAKISTAN CABLE DOCUMENTS U.S. PRESSURE TO REMOVE IMRAN KHAN

“All will be Forgiven,” said a U.S. Diplomat, if the No-confidence vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds.

— Ryan Grim, Murtaza Hussain | August 9 2023 | The Intercept

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister, during an interview in Lahore, Pakistan, on June 2, 2023. Photo: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The U.S. State Department encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept.

The meeting, between the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials, has been the subject of intense scrutiny, controversy, and speculation in Pakistan over the past year and a half, as supporters of Khan and his military and civilian opponents jockeyed for power. The political struggle escalated on August 5 when Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges and taken into custody for the second time since his ouster. Khan’s defenders dismiss the charges as baseless. The sentence also blocks Khan, Pakistan’s most popular politician, from contesting elections expected in Pakistan later this year.

One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power. The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military. Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.

The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.

The document, labeled “Secret,” includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.

The document was provided to The Intercept by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party. The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination.

Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan made a visit to Russia on February 23 to meet President Putin for a two-day visit. Photo: Reuters

“The cable reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Prime Minister Imran Khan.”

The contents of the document obtained by The Intercept are consistent with reporting in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn and elsewhere describing the circumstances of the meeting and details in the cable itself, including in the classification markings omitted from The Intercept’s presentation. The dynamics of the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. described in the cable were subsequently borne out by events. In the cable, the U.S. objects to Khan’s foreign policy on the Ukraine war. Those positions were quickly reversed after his removal, which was followed, as promised in the meeting, by a warming between the U.S. and Pakistan.

The diplomatic meeting came two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which launched as Khan was en route to Moscow, a visit that infuriated Washington.

On March 2, just days before the meeting, Lu had been questioned at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing over the neutrality of India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan in the Ukraine conflict. In response to a question from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., about a recent decision by Pakistan to abstain from a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s role in the conflict, Lu said, “Prime Minister Khan has recently visited Moscow, and so I think we are trying to figure out how to engage specifically with the Prime Minister following that decision.” Van Hollen appeared to be indignant that officials from the State Department were not in communication with Khan about the issue.

The day before the meeting, Khan addressed a rally and responded directly to European calls that Pakistan rally behind Ukraine. “Are we your slaves?” Khan thundered to the crowd. “What do you think of us? That we are your slaves and that we will do whatever you ask of us?” he asked. “We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends of China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance.”

In the meeting, according to the document, Lu spoke in forthright terms about Washington’s displeasure with Pakistan’s stance in the conflict. The document quotes Lu saying that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.” Lu added that he had held internal discussions with the U.S. National Security Council and that “it seems quite clear that this is the Prime Minister’s policy.”

Lu then bluntly raises the issue of a no-confidence vote: “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister,” Lu said, according to the document. “Otherwise,” he continued, “I think it will be tough going ahead.”

Lu warned that if the situation wasn’t resolved, Pakistan would be marginalized by its Western allies. “I cannot tell how this will be seen by Europe but I suspect their reaction will be similar,” Lu said, adding that Khan could face “isolation” by Europe and the U.S. should he remain in office.

Asked about quotes from Lu in the Pakistani cable, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “Nothing in these purported comments shows the United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan should be.” Miller said he would not comment on private diplomatic discussions.

The Pakistani ambassador responded by expressing frustration with the lack of engagement from U.S. leadership: “This reluctance had created a perception in Pakistan that we were being ignored or even taken for granted. There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate.”

“There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate.”

The discussion concluded, according to the document, with the Pakistani ambassador expressing his hope that the issue of the Russia-Ukraine war would not “impact our bilateral ties.” Lu told him that the damage was real but not fatal, and with Khan gone, the relationship could go back to normal. “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective,” Lu said, again raising the “political situation” in Pakistan. “Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly. Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”

The day after the meeting, on March 8, Khan’s opponents in Parliament moved forward with a key procedural step toward the no-confidence vote.

“Khan’s fate wasn’t sealed at the time that this meeting took place, but it was tenuous,” said Arif Rafiq, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute and specialist on Pakistan. “What you have here is the Biden administration sending a message to the people that they saw as Pakistan’s real rulers, signaling to them that things will better if he is removed from power.”

The Intercept has made extensive efforts to authenticate the document. Given the security climate in Pakistan, independent confirmation from sources in the Pakistani government was not possible. The Pakistan Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment.

Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said, “We had expressed concern about the visit of then-PM Khan to Moscow on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have communicated that opposition both publicly and privately.” He added that “allegations that the United States interfered in internal decisions about the leadership of Pakistan are false. They have always been false, and they continue to be.”

Top Left: Donald Lu, a Diplomat in Service and Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, waves toward media personnel upon his arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport on July 14, 2023, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Bottom: Pakistani Foreign Secretary Asad Majeed Khan is seen in Ankara, Turkey, on July 6, 2023. Photos: Photo: Abhishek Maharjan/Sipa via AP Images (Left); Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images (Right)

American Denials

The State Department has previously and on repeated occasions denied that Lu urged the Pakistani government to oust the prime minister. On April 8, 2022, after Khan alleged there was a cable proving his claim of U.S. interference, State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter was asked about its veracity. “Let me just say very bluntly there is absolutely no truth to these allegations,” Porter said.

In early June 2023, Khan sat for an interview with The Intercept and again repeated the allegation. The State Department at the time referred to previous denials in response to a request for comment.

Khan has not backed off, and the State Department again denied the charge throughout June and July, at least three times in press conferences and again in a speech by a deputy assistant secretary of state for Pakistan, who referred to the claims as “propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation.” On the latest occasion, Miller, the State Department spokesperson, ridiculed the question. “I feel like I need to bring just a sign that I can hold up in response to this question and say that that allegation is not true,” Miller said, laughing and drawing cackles from the press. “I don’t know how many times I can say it. … The United States does not have a position on one political candidate or party versus another in Pakistan or any other country.”

While the drama over the cable has played out in public and in the press, the Pakistani military has launched an unprecedented assault on Pakistani civil society to silence whatever dissent and free expression had previously existed in the country.

In recent months, the military-led government cracked down not just on dissidents but also on suspected leakers inside its own institutions, passing a law last week that authorizes warrantless searches and lengthy jail terms for whistleblowers. Shaken by the public display of support for Khan — expressed in a series of mass protests and riots this May — the military has also enshrined authoritarian powers for itself that drastically reduce civil liberties, criminalize criticism of the military, expand the institution’s already expansive role in the country’s economy, and give military leaders a permanent veto over political and civil affairs.

These sweeping attacks on democracy passed largely unremarked upon by U.S. officials. In late July, the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, visited Pakistan, then issued a statement saying his visit had been focused on “strengthening the military-to-military relations,” while making no mention of the political situation in the country. This summer, Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, attempted to add a measure to the National Defense Authorization Act directing the State Department to examine democratic backsliding in Pakistan, but it was denied a vote on the House floor.

In a press briefing on Monday, in response to a question about whether Khan received a fair trial, Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said, “We believe that is an internal matter for Pakistan.”

Political Chaos

Khan’s removal from power after falling out with the Pakistani military, the same institution believed to have engineered his political rise, has thrown the nation of 230 million into political and economic turmoil. Protests against Khan’s dismissal and suppression of his party have swept the country and paralyzed its institutions, while Pakistan’s current leaders struggle to confront an economic crisis triggered in part by the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on global energy prices. The present chaos has resulted in staggering rates of inflation and capital flight from the country.

In addition to the worsening situation for ordinary citizens, a regime of extreme censorship has also been put in place at the direction of the Pakistani military, with news outlets effectively barred from even mentioning Khan’s name, as The Intercept previously reported. Thousands of members of civil society, mostly supporters of Khan, have been detained by the military, a crackdown that intensified after Khan was arrested earlier this year and held in custody for four days, sparking nationwide protests. Credible reports have emerged of torture by security forces, with reports of several deaths in custody.

The crackdown on Pakistan’s once-rambunctious press has taken a particularly dark turn. Arshad Sharif, a prominent Pakistani journalist who fled the country, was shot to death in Nairobi last October under circumstances that remain disputed. Another well-known journalist, Imran Riaz Khan, was detained by security forces at an airport this May and has not been seen since. Both had been reporting on the secret cable, which has taken on nearly mythical status in Pakistan, and had been among a handful of journalists briefed on its contents before Khan’s ouster. These attacks on the press have created a climate of fear that has made reporting on the document by reporters and institutions inside Pakistan effectively impossible.

Last November, Khan himself was subject to an attempted assassination when he was shot at a political rally, in an attack that wounded him and killed one of his supporters. His imprisonment has been widely viewed within Pakistan, including among many critics of his government, as an attempt by the military to stop his party from contesting upcoming elections. Polls show that were he allowed to participate in the vote, Khan would likely win.

“Khan was convicted on flimsy charges following a trial where his defense was not even allowed to produce witnesses. He had previously survived an assassination attempt, had a journalist aligned with him murdered, and has seen thousands of his supporters imprisoned. While the Biden administration has said that human rights will be at the forefront of their foreign policy, they are now looking away as Pakistan moves toward becoming a full-fledged military dictatorship,” said Rafiq, the Middle East Institute scholar. “This is ultimately about the Pakistani military using outside forces as a means to preserve their hegemony over the country. Every time there is a grand geopolitical rivalry, whether it is the Cold War, or the war on terror, they know how to manipulate the U.S. in their favor.”

Khan’s repeated references to the cable itself have contributed to his legal troubles, with prosecutors launching a separate investigation into whether he violated state secrets laws by discussing it.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party Activists and Supporters of Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan clash with police during a protest against the arrest of their leader in Peshawar on May 10, 2023. Photo: Hussain Ali/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Democracy and the Military

For years, the U.S. government’s patronage relationship with the Pakistani Corrupt Military, which has long acted as the real powerbroker in the country’s politics, has been seen by many Pakistanis as an impenetrable obstacle to the country’s ability to grow its economy, combat endemic corruption, and pursue a constructive foreign policy. The sense that Pakistan has lacked meaningful independence because of this relationship — which, despite trappings of democracy, has made the military an untouchable force in domestic politics — makes the charge of U.S. involvement in the removal of a popular prime minister even more incendiary.

The Intercept’s source, who had access to the document as a member of the military, spoke of their growing disillusionment with the country’s military leadership, the impact on the military’s morale following its involvement in the political fight against Khan, the exploitation of the memory of dead service members for political purposes in recent military propaganda, and widespread public disenchantment with the armed forces amid the crackdown. They believe the military is pushing Pakistan toward a crisis similar to the one in 1971 that led to the secession of Bangladesh.

The source added that they hoped the leaked document would finally confirm what ordinary people, as well as the rank and file of the armed forces, had long suspected about the Pakistani military and force a reckoning within the institution.

This June, amid the crackdown by the military on Khan’s political party, Khan’s former top bureaucrat, Principal Secretary Azam Khan, was arrested and detained for a month. While in detention, Azam Khan reportedly issued a statement recorded in front of a member of the judiciary saying that the cable was indeed real, but that the former prime minister had exaggerated its contents for political gain.

A month after the meeting described in the cable, and just days before Khan was removed from office, then-Pakistan Army Chief, Corrupt General Qamar Bajwa publicly broke with Khan’s neutrality and gave a speech calling the Russian invasion a “huge tragedy” and criticizing Russia. The remarks aligned the public picture with Lu’s private observation, recorded in the cable, that Pakistan’s neutrality was the policy of Khan, but not of the military.

Pakistan’s foreign policy has changed significantly since Khan’s removal, with Pakistan tilting more clearly toward the U.S. and European side in the Ukraine conflict. Abandoning its posture of neutrality, Pakistan has now emerged as a supplier of arms to the Ukrainian military; images of Pakistan-produced shells and ammunition regularly turn up on battlefield footage. In an interview earlier this year, a European Union official confirmed Pakistani military backing to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister traveled to Pakistan this July in a visit widely presumed to be about military cooperation, but publicly described as focusing on trade, education, and environmental issues.

This realignment toward the U.S. has appeared to provide dividends to the Pakistani military. On August 3, a Pakistani newspaper reported that Parliament had approved the signing of a defense pact with the U.S. covering “joint exercises, operations, training, basing and equipment.” The agreement was intended to replace a previous 15-year deal between the two countries that expired in 2020.

Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister Imran Khan leaves after appearing at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on July 26, 2023. Photo: Aamir Qureshi AFP via Getty Images

Pakistani “Assessment”

Lu’s blunt comments on Pakistan’s internal domestic politics raised alarms on the Pakistani side. In a brief “assessment” section at the bottom of the report, the document states: “Don could not have conveyed such a strong demarche without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly. Clearly, Don spoke out of turn on Pakistan’s internal political process.” The cable concludes with a recommendation “to seriously reflect on this and consider making an appropriate demarche to the U.S. Cd’ A a.i in Islamabad” — a reference to the chargé d’affaires ad interim, effectively the acting head of a diplomatic mission when its accredited head is absent. A diplomatic protest was later issued by Khan’s government.

On March 27, 2022, the same month as the Lu meeting, Khan spoke publicly about the cable, waving a folded copy of it in the air at a rally. He also reportedly briefed a national security meeting with the heads of Pakistan’s various security agencies on its contents.

It is not clear what happened in Pakistan-U.S. communications during the weeks that followed the meeting reported in the cable. By the following month, however, the political winds had shifted. On April 10, Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

The new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, eventually confirmed the existence of the cable and acknowledged that some of the message conveyed by Lu was inappropriate. He has said that Pakistan had formally complained but cautioned that the cable did not confirm Khan’s broader claims.

Khan has suggested repeatedly in public that the top-secret cable showed that the U.S. had directed his removal from power, but subsequently revised his assessment as he urged the U.S. to condemn human rights abuses against his supporters. The U.S., he told The Intercept in a June interview, may have urged his ouster, but only did so because it was manipulated by the military.

The disclosure of the full body of the cable, over a year after Khan was deposed and following his arrest, will finally allow the competing claims to be evaluated. On balance, the text of the cypher strongly suggests that the U.S. encouraged Khan’s removal. According to the cable, while Lu did not directly order Khan to be taken out of office, he said that Pakistan would suffer severe consequences, including international isolation, if Khan were to stay on as prime minister, while simultaneously hinting at rewards for his removal. The remarks appear to have been taken as a signal for the Pakistani military to act.

In addition to his other legal problems, Khan himself has continued to be targeted over the handling of the secret cable by the new government. Late last month, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Khan would be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act in connection with the cable. “Khan has hatched a conspiracy against the state’s interests and a case will be initiated against him on behalf of the state for the violation of the Official Secrets Act by exposing a confidential cipher communication from a diplomatic mission,” Sanaullah said.

Khan has now joined a long list of Pakistani politicians who failed to finish their term in office after running afoul of the military. As quoted in the cypher, Khan was being personally blamed by the U.S., according to Lu, for Pakistan’s policy of nonalignment during the Ukraine conflict. The vote of no confidence and its implications for the future of U.S.-Pakistan ties loomed large throughout the conversation.

“Honestly,” Lu is quoted as saying in the document, referring to the prospect of Khan staying in office, “I think isolation of the Prime Minister will become very strong from Europe and the United States.”

March 7, 2022 Pakistani Diplomatic Cypher (Transcription)

The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination. The Intercept has removed classification markings and numerical elements that could be used for tracking purposes. Labeled “Secret,” the cable includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.

I had a luncheon meeting today with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu. He was accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Les Viguerie. DCM, DA and Counsellor Qasim joined me.

At the outset, Don referred to Pakistan’s position on the Ukraine crisis and said that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.” He shared that in his discussions with the NSC, “it seems quite clear that this is the Prime Minister’s policy.” He continued that he was of the view that this was “tied to the current political dramas in Islamabad that he (Prime Minister) needs and is trying to show a public face.” I replied that this was not a correct reading of the situation as Pakistan’s position on Ukraine was a result of intense interagency consultations. Pakistan had never resorted to conducting diplomacy in public sphere. The Prime Minister’s remarks during a political rally were in reaction to the public letter by European Ambassadors in Islamabad which was against diplomatic etiquette and protocol. Any political leader, whether in Pakistan or the U.S., would be constrained to give a public reply in such a situation.

I asked Don if the reason for a strong U.S. reaction was Pakistan’s abstention in the voting in the UNGA. He categorically replied in the negative and said that it was due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow. He said that “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister. Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.” He paused and then said “I cannot tell how this will be seen by Europe but I suspect their reaction will be similar.” He then said that “honestly I think isolation of the Prime Minister will become very strong from Europe and the United States.” Don further commented that it seemed that the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow was planned during the Beijing Olympics and there was an attempt by the Prime Minister to meet Putin which was not successful and then this idea was hatched that he would go to Moscow.

I told Don that this was a completely misinformed and wrong perception. The visit to Moscow had been in the works for at least few years and was the result of a deliberative institutional process. I stressed that when the Prime Minister was flying to Moscow, Russian invasion of Ukraine had not started and there was still hope for a peaceful resolution. I also pointed out that leaders of European countries were also traveling to Moscow around the same time. Don interjected that “those visits were specifically for seeking resolution of the Ukraine standoff while the Prime Minister’s visit was for bilateral economic reasons.” I drew his attention to the fact that the Prime Minister clearly regretted the situation while being in Moscow and had hoped for diplomacy to work. The Prime Minister’s visit, I stressed, was purely in the bilateral context and should not be seen either as a condonation or endorsement of Russia’s action against Ukraine. I said that our position is dictated by our desire to keep the channels of communication with all sides open. Our subsequent statements at the UN and by our Spokesperson spelled that out clearly, while reaffirming our commitment to the principle of UN Charter, non-use or threat of use of force, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and pacific settlement of disputes.

I also told Don that Pakistan was worried of how the Ukraine crisis would play out in the context of Afghanistan. We had paid a very high price due to the long-term impact of this conflict. Our priority was to have peace and stability in Afghanistan, for which it was imperative to have cooperation and coordination with all major powers, including Russia. From this perspective as well, keeping the channels of communication open was essential. This factor was also dictating our position on the Ukraine crisis. On my reference to the upcoming Extended Troika meeting in Beijing, Don replied that there were still ongoing discussions in Washington on whether the U.S. should attend the Extended Troika meeting or the upcoming Antalya meeting on Afghanistan with Russian representatives in attendance, as the U.S. focus right now was to discuss only Ukraine with Russia. I replied that this was exactly what we were afraid of. We did not want the Ukraine crisis to divert focus away from Afghanistan. Don did not comment.

I told Don that just like him, I would also convey our perspective in a forthright manner. I said that over the past one year, we had been consistently sensing reluctance on the part of the U.S. leadership to engage with our leadership. This reluctance had created a perception in Pakistan that we were being ignored and even taken for granted. There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate and we do not see much U.S. support on issues of concern for Pakistan, particularly on Kashmir. I said that it was extremely important to have functioning channels of communication at the highest level to remove such perception. I also said that we were surprised that if our position on the Ukraine crisis was so important for the U.S., why the U.S. had not engaged with us at the top leadership level prior to the Moscow visit and even when the UN was scheduled to vote. (The State Department had raised it at the DCM level.) Pakistan valued continued high-level engagement and for this reason the Foreign Minister sought to speak with Secretary Blinken to personally explain Pakistan’s position and perspective on the Ukraine crisis. The call has not materialized yet. Don replied that the thinking in Washington was that given the current political turmoil in Pakistan, this was not the right time for such engagement and it could wait till the political situation in Pakistan settled down.

I reiterated our position that countries should not be made to choose sides in a complex situation like the Ukraine crisis and stressed the need for having active bilateral communications at the political leadership level. Don replied that “you have conveyed your position clearly and I will take it back to my leadership.”

I also told Don that we had seen his defence of the Indian position on the Ukraine crisis during the recently held Senate Sub-Committee hearing on U.S.-India relations. It seemed that the U.S. was applying different criteria for India and Pakistan. Don responded that the U.S. lawmakers’ strong feelings about India’s abstentions in the UNSC and UNGA came out clearly during the hearing. I said that from the hearing, it appeared that the U.S. expected more from India than Pakistan, yet it appeared to be more concerned about Pakistan’s position. Don was evasive and responded that Washington looked at the U.S.-India relationship very much through the lens of what was happening in China. He added that while India had a close relationship with Moscow, “I think we will actually see a change in India’s policy once all Indian students are out of Ukraine.”

I expressed the hope that the issue of the Prime Minister’s visit to Russia will not impact our bilateral ties. Don replied that “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective. Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly. Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”

We also discussed Afghanistan and other issues pertaining to bilateral ties. A separate communication follows on that part of our conversation.

Assessment

Don could not have conveyed such a strong demarche without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly. Clearly, Don spoke out of turn on Pakistan’s internal political process. We need to seriously reflect on this and consider making an appropriate demarche to the U.S. Cd’ A a.i in Islamabad.

#Pakistan #United States 🇺🇸 #Secret Cable Documents #US Pressure #Imran Khan #Ryan Grim | Murtaza Hussain #U.S. State Department #CYPHER #Donald Lu #Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs #No-Confidence Vote #Corrupt to Their Cores Pakistani Army Generals | Politicians |Judiciary #Washington #Islamabad #Moscow #Russia 🇷🇺 #Pakistan 🇵🇰 #US 🇺🇸 #American Denials | A Bullshit #Political Chaos in Pakistan 🇵🇰 #Democracy in Pakistan and the Corrupt Military Generals

[decolonize-the-left]

I saw your post about the leopards eating faces and democrats and if you think the us is bad under biden have a good look through project 2025 and please fucking realize that queer people, those that can get pregnant, and people of color are going to be absolutely fucked if trump wins in November.

Sigh

If you ACTUALLY read it then you'd know Biden is ALREADY carrying out the goals outlined in project2025. You'd also know that his administration is even using the SAME exact language that's found in the Mandate for Leadership. Such as "protecting the freedom of navigation in the Suez Canal"

I literally have a post floating around somewhere where I said he was gonna escalate the genocide and smoke out all the rebel groups because guess what? Project2025 outlined that too. Literally listed them as targets that the administration should focus on.

Another part of it says they should continue to protect and support Israel's "right to defend itself" at any cost.

So yeah that thing you're afraid of? It's here. And it's here because you thought the fascist with a blue tie was less scary than a fascist than a red tie so you stopped paying attention when Blue Tie Man was around. And that blue Fascism that's allowing book bans and abortion bans and making trans people illegal is going to stay here and grow because you don't fucking care to address it unless the tie is red.

Maybe fucking read the thing you're trying to fearmonger me about because I guarantee I've read more of it than you.

And it's not that I find the realities in it less scary, it's that I'm not such a privileged shithead that I would prioritize my own comfort over lives being lost in a literal fucking genocide.

Yeah shit sucks for queer people and trans people and trust me, I know that, but we aren't being killed in broad fucking daylight and having people go into denial about it so maybe instead of barking up MY blog about how fucked up everything is you go and send the DNC and your representatives some emails and tell them to give Democrats a candidate that doesnt commit genocide?

How about instead of yelling at me to lower my standards cuz things MIGHT get scarier for you if Blue Tie Man doesn't beat trump (and he won't) you ACCEPT that reality and DO SOMETHING USEFUL about it. How about you and your party just BE BETTER????

There's seven months before the elections and Biden is tanking every poll and Democrats are voting uncommited in swing states and what's Biden doing? Doubling down on every single policy that he's losing voters over (like supporting Israel). If he loses that's not my fault or anyone else's.

Maybe stop asking people to vote for a warmongering white supremacist.

"think of the queers and pregnant people and PoC"

I Am.

They live in Palestine and Sudan and the DRC.

Or did you mean I should prioritize different queers and pregnant people and PoC?

Don't be shy. Did you mean I should prioritize you?

Cuz yeah. Fuck that.

(white) USamerican citizens prioritizing ourselves over everyone else is exactly how the world got so fucked up.

I'm NOT voting for Biden under any fucking circumstances, don't waste my time with another bullshit uninformed scare mongering ask like this again just cuz YOU lack the solidarity to care about any community but your own.

The fuck?

Do you think the queer community only counts Americans? What an ignorant thing to say. "Think of minority communites but only from this specific part of the world"

You wouldn't know community if it hit you in the fucking face.

#asked #answered #project2025 #queer #lgbt #poc #reproductive rights #bodily autonomy #the fact you separated PoC from queer and pregnant people is Weird As Fuck also btw like just say youre a white supremacist ffs #biden #2024 #vote

[mostlysignssomeportents]

General Mills and cheaply bought "dietitians" co-opted the anti-diet movement

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Steve Bannon isn't wrong: for his brand of nihilistic politics to win, all he has to do is "flood the zone with shit," demoralizing people to the point where they no longer even try to learn the truth.

This is really just a more refined, more potent version of the tactical doubt sown by Big Tobacco about whether smoking caused cancer, a playbook later adopted by the fossil fuel industry to sell climate denial. You know Darrell Huff's 1954 classic How To Lie With Statistics? Huff was a Big Tobacco shill (his next book, which wasn't ever published, was How To Lie With Cancer Statistics). His mission wasn't to help you spot statistical malpractice – an actual thing that is an actual problem that you should actually learn to spot. It was to turn you into a nihilist who didn't believe anything could be known:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/04/how-to-truth/#harford

Corporations don't need you to believe that their products are beneficial or even non-harmful. They just need you to believe nothing. If you don't know what's true, then why not just do whatever feels good, man? #YOLO!

These bannonfloods of shit are a favored tactic of strongmen and dictators. Their grip on power doesn't depend on their citizens trusting them – it's enough that they trust no one:

http://jonathanstray.com/networked-propaganda-and-counter-propaganda

Bannonflooding is especially beloved of the food industry. Food is essential, monopolized, and incredibly complicated, and many of the most profitable strategies for growing, processing and preparing food are very bad for the people who eat that food. Rather than sacrificing profits, the food industry floods the zone with shit, making it impossible to know what's true, in hopes that we will just eat whatever they're serving:

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003460

Now, the "nothing can be known" gambit only works if it's really hard to get at the truth. So it helps that nutrition and diet are very complex subjects, but it helps even more that the nutrition and diet industry are a cesspool of quacks and junk science. This is a "scientific discipline" whose prestigious annual meetings are sponsored (and catered) by McDonald's:

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/my-trip-mcdonalds-sponsored-nutritionist-convention/

It's a "science" whose most prominent pitchmen peddle quack nostrums and sue the critics who point out (correctly) that eating foods high in chlorophyll will not "oxygenate your blood" (hint, chlorophyll only makes oxygen in the presence of light, which is notably lacking in your colon):

https://www.badscience.net/2007/02/ms-gillian-mckeith-banned-from-calling-herself-a-doctor/

When the quack-heavy world of nutrition combines with the socially stigmatized world of weight-loss, you get a zone ripe for shitflooding. The majority of Americans are "overweight" (according to a definition that relies on the unscientific idea of BMI) and nearly half of Americans are "obese." These numbers have been climbing steadily since the 1970s, and every diet turns out to be basically bullshit:

https://headgum.com/factually-with-adam-conover/what-does-ozepmic-actually-do-with-dr-dhruv-khullar

Notwithstanding the new blockbuster post-Ozempic drugs, we're been through an unbroken 50-year run of more and more of us being fatter and fatter, even as fat stigma increased. Fat people are treated as weak-willed and fundamentally unhealthy, while the most prominent health-risks of being fat are roundly neglected: the mental health effects of being shamed, and the physical risks of having doctors ignore your health complaints, no matter how serious they sound, and blame them on your weight:

https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/11968083-glorifying-obesity-and-other-myths-about-fat-people

Fat people and their allies have banded together to address these real, urgent harms. The "body acceptance" movement isn't merely about feeling good in your own skin: it's also about fighting discrimination, demanding medical care (beyond "lose some weight") and warning people away from getting on the diet treadmill, which can lead to dangerous eating disorders and permanent weight gain:

https://www.beacon.org/You-Just-Need-to-Lose-Weight-P1853.aspx

Fat stigma is real. The mental health risks of fat-shaming are real. Eating disorders are real. Discrimination against fat people is real. The fact that these things are real doesn't mean that the food industry can't flood the zone with shit, though. On the contrary: the urgency of these issues, combined with the poor regulation of dietitians, makes the "what should you eat" zone perfect for flooding with endless quantities of highly profitable shit.

Perhaps you've gotten some of this shit on you. Have you found yourself watching a video from a dietitian influencer like Cara Harbstreet, Colleen Christensen or Lauren Smith, promoting "health at any size" with hashtags like #DerailTheShame and #AntiDiet? These were paid campaigns sponsored by General Mills, Pepsi, and other multinational, multibillion-dollar corporations.

Writing for The Examination, Sasha Chavkin, Anjali Tsui, Caitlin Gilbert and Anahad O'Connor describe the way that some of the world's largest and most profitable corporations have hijacked a movement where fat people and their allies fight stigma and shame and used it to peddle the lie that their heavily processed, high-calorie food is good for you:

https://www.theexamination.org/articles/as-obesity-rises-big-food-and-dietitians-push-anti-diet-advice

It's a surreal tale. They describe a speech by Amy Cohn, General Mills’ senior manager for nutrition, to an audience at a dietitian's conference, where Cohn "denounced the media for 'pointing the finger at processed foods' and making consumers feel ashamed of their choices." This is some next-level nihilism: rather than railing against the harmful stigma against fat people, Cohn wants us to fight the stigma against Cocoa Puffs.

This message isn't confined to industry conferences. Dietitians with large Tiktok followings like Cara Harbstreet then carry the message out to the public. In Harbstreet's video promoting Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs and Trix, she says, "I will always advocate for fearlessly nourishing meals, including cereal…Because everyone deserves to enjoy food without judgment, especially kids":

https://www.tiktok.com/@streetsmart.rd/video/7298403730989436206

Dietitians, nutritionists and the food industry have always had an uncomfortably close relationship, but the industry's shitflooding kicked into high gear when the FDA proposed rules limiting which foods the industry can promote as "healthy." General Mills, Kelloggs and Post have threatened a First Amendment suit against such a regulation, arguing that they have a free speech right to describe manifestly unhealthy food as "healthy."

The anti-diet movement – again, a legitimate movement aimed at fighting the dangerous junk science behind dieting – has been co-opted by the food industry, who are paying dietitian influencers to say things like "all foods have value" while brandishing packages of Twix and Reese's. In their Examination article, the authors profile people who struggled with their weight, then, after encountering the food industry's paid disinformation, believed that "healthy at any size" meant that it would be unhealthy to avoid highly processed, high calorie food. These people gained large amounts of weight, and found their lives constrained and their health severely compromised.

I've been overweight all my life. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting when I was 12. I come from a family of overweight people with the chronic illnesses often associated with being fat. This is a subject that's always on my mind. I even wrote a whole novel about the promise and peril of a weight-loss miracle:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429969284/makers

I think the anti-diet movement, and its associated ideas like body acceptance and healthy at every size, are enormously positive developments and hugely important. It's because I value these ideas that I'm so disgusted with Big Food and its cynical decision to flood the zone with shit. It's also why I'm so furious with dietitians and nutritionists for failing to self-regulate and become a real profession, the kind that censures and denounces quacks and shills.

I have complicated feelings about Ozempic and its successors, but even if these prove to be effective and safe in the long term, and even if we rein in the rapacious pharma companies so that they no longer sell a $5 product for $1000, I would still want dietary science to clean up its act:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2816824

I'm not a nihilist. I think we can use science to discover truths – about ourselves and our world. I want to know those truths, and I think they can be known. The only people who benefit from convincing you that the truth is unknowable are the people who want to lie to you.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/05/corrupt-for-cocoa-puffs/#flood-the-zone-with-shit

#pluralistic #corruption #nutrition #food #diets #dieticians #nutritionists #junk science #junk food #astroturf #fat acceptance #fatphobia #health #nihilism #steve bannon #flood the zone with shit #general mills #dietitians

[dizzymoods]

During the Troubles, Civil Rights Leaders went to Ireland to learn about the plight of the Irish people and to support their fight against colonialism.

Standing on the success of their nonviolent principles which led to civil liberties here (to whatever degree the CRM was successful) and in their ignorance of the history of Ireland, they tried to get the IRA to adopt nonviolent, peaceful civil disobedience.

At the end of their tour of Belfast, where they learned the history and politics of Irish resistance, all of them come to the conclusion that here violence is necessary. The Irish have exhausted all other means including nonviolent ones. Even if some of the CRM leaders maintained nonviolence as paramount, they understood that certain exceptions must be made because — regardless of if they approve of violence or not — their job is to support colonized people and follow their lead.

There is a lesson here that we should apply to the Palestinian struggle.

I’ve seen people pearl clutch over seeing so many dead Palestinians as part of the colonial violence of the camera. This misses the point of why those images are being shared.

Last decade many Black americans, myself included, talked about the commodification of Black death. videos of state murder plastered on every news channel 24/7, going viral across social media platforms connected to the legacy of lynching postcards and gator bait. We demonstrated that those videos rarely got an indictment and only once a conviction. Many of the families of these victims of police murder made it clear they don’t want the image of their loved one to be of death. The reason why we share Michael Brown’s graduation photo instead of the photo of his corpse is because Lesley McSpadden demanded it. With all this in mind, we understand that in most cases the sharing of those images are antiblack.

The Palestinians do not have that history. The Nakba never happened, despite israelis calling this the second Nakba. genocide joe said 40 israeli babies were beheaded after it was found out that the story was some wingnut footsoldier’s lie, not even official israeli hasbara. It was like 2 weeks ago that genocide joe said the number of murdered Palestinians (at the time around 5,000 Palestinians were martyred — the number is now over 10,000) was a Hamas lie.

Linguistically there is no murdered Palestinian. All the headlines read “x amount of israelis killed and some palestinians died”. visually there is no dead Palestinian. official israeli hasbara is trying to flood social media with videos of patient-actors getting into place in Indonesian medical training programs to “debunk” the countless videos of martyred Palestinians.

The denial of the scale of israel’s genocide of the Palestinians is so bad that reporters in Gaza are holding dead children in front of press cameras because Palestinians do not die and are not murdered.

The profit motive of these images is actually in their absence. not their over saturation like with Black americans. The west needs israel as a destabilizing force in the middle east. The strategy of the western media then is to bury these images, to not give them a second of attention. So logically the Palestinian strategy is to proliferate these images to show just how horrifying israel’s crimes are.

Two things can be true at the same time; what works for you doesn’t necessarily work for me etc.

The other thing i’m seeing are liberal frameworks to understand genocide. Of particular ire is desirability politics. *jujubee voice* just say white supremacy.

Desirability is tertiary at best. israel is genociding Palestinians because they want control over Gaza and the West Bank (and Lebanon too). They are not genociding Palestinians because Palestinians are “undesirable.” They make Palestinians undesirable to justify taking their land. Talking about this psychoanalytic bullshit distracts from the primary reason for the displacement and mass murder of Palestinians: the taking of their land.

~*desirability*~ is just one way that israel tries to justify its crimes. Desirability is a circular logic that can only make sense once you manufacture its premise irl. It means nothing without the material conditions it claims are true. Its super easy to call someone an animal after you put them in a cage. It’s super easy to call a people dirty savages after you restrict their access to water. It’s super easy to call someone violent after you sequester them in small, barely livable spaces and stress them with bombings and check points.

It’s also — there’s a way in which opposition to something reifies the very thing that you oppose. Toni Morrison continues to beat everybody’s ass. What does it do when you see a baby with half a skull and say “this happened because she is undesirable”? Undesirable to whom? Not me.

Palestinians are not so passive as to oppose white supremacy and desirability. The Palestinian people are a proactive people. Palestine is the issue. Palestine has a people. Palestine has an ecology. Palestine has life. Palestine is life. Palestinians fight for life. life can neither exist nor blossom under white supremacy.

Any analysis that does not begin with this is a distraction. And distractions only benefit the colonizers.

[island-in-the-shadows]

Sometimes, I really start to think about the high-society stiff upper lip bullshit the Cattons were raised on. Farleigh's literally yelled at for deigning to express his grief because those are "American emotions." It's something that adds to Farleigh's otherness and another of the reasons that I realllly just want Farleigh to stay away from it all. He's honestly too good to have who he is stomped on and killed beyond recognition if he keeps trying to fight his way back to it.

And then I think how it affected both Venetia and Felix. We know Venetia falls a little outside of the guise but she can still exhibit some control. Based on what she told Oliver she held it together at Felix's funeral more than Oliver did. And though she's severely distressed during that hilariously ghoulish lunch, she's still keeping relatively subdued. Imagine having to subdue all of your feelings all of the time. Because they are being watched always and everything is a reflection on them and their parents and the privilege into which the family was born or into which they married.

Imagine what that level of emotional self-denial does to a person. Any person. And specifically what it would do to children. Is it any wonder that so many things are subtextual and that the only things done or said explicitly in any way are done or said by Oliver?

There's many issues and many negative things we could pick apart of the Cattons but this is one in which they harm themselves. And in harming themselves they harm others, including the people they love the most.

#random food for thought #saltburn #farleigh start #venetia catton #felix catton #oliver quick

[samueldays]

Of banned books and "banned" books

If you went into a bookstore and saw the books being openly sold, that's strong evidence that they're not banned. (Source for illustration.) This bookshelf is a performative contradiction. You should be ashamed of taking it at face value, instead.

I spent half an hour searching and trying to chase down exactly where The Lord of the Rings was supposedly "banned", because it looked like a particularly implausible entry. Digging into citations and chasing claims, I found a game of telephone and a gradient of weasel words. An initial bombastic reference to "Banned Books" would link to a list of "Banned and Challenged Books" where the subheader negotiates down to "attempts to remove books from schools, libraries and universities" and eventually bottomed out in the American Library Association posting this fucking shit:

That is not a ban. That is not even vaguely resembling a ban. That's closer to a Florida Man headline. New Mexico Man Burns Bookshelf. Also they spelled it wrong, which underlines how much of a middle-of-nowhere, who-gives-a-fuck town this is.

It is not the only bullshit entry. In the case of Maus, the supposed "ban" amounts to the fact that the McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove it from the eighth-grade curriculum. This is slightly less retarded because it at least features an official organization, but curricula don't have infinite space and it's still deceitful to use the word "ban" to describe a local curriculum change. The book remains legal to buy, sell, own and read.

I have read the meeting notes of the Board where the motion passed, and they were explicit that they will still be teaching the topic of the Holocaust, but looking for a different book to use. This did not stop circlejerking j*rnalists from crying about Holocaust denial and book bannings, fabricating a Streisand Effect from a non-ban until Maus became a national bestseller. Unlike being banned, being "banned" is very profitable!

When you hear "Banned books", it may be useful to ask "Banned where?" (By whom? When?)

Reductio ad absurdum: I hereby ban all books from my bathroom. It's for your own good, to prevent water damage. Every book is now "banned" for a sufficiently low value of "banned".

#all #censorship #rectification of names

[usaigi]

Ashen Wolves + Jeritza Modern AU HCs

Ashen Wolves in my fic (read it, it's funny) I couldn't fit everything in putting it all here

Yuri

Works at the bar Abyss (which has a secret BDSM dungeon in the basement)

Lives in a punk house with the others and unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) the only one responsible enough to pay rent

Everything else is a gamble. Will they have electricity this month? Water? Eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Hey wanna go out? I know a place” (takes them to the health food dumpster that tosses out perfectly good packaged food) 

“Am I scared of twink death? Please.” 

SWer out of necessity, sends most of the money he makes back to his disabled mom

(TW human trafficking mention) Yuri's father met his mother, a young poor vietnamese women. He promise he'd take care of her give her a better life in UK. Yeah right. Due to everything, she's extremely traumatized and unable to work.

Because of his and his mother's trauma, extremely protective of the most vulnerable in his community(women, children, immigrants, pwMI) 

Balthus

New Jersey represent 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

Italian-American. Always correcting everyone on how to actually pronounce Italian words

Got into a tinyyyy minor disagreement with the mob and, in short, he owes them like gazillion dollars

Half-ass faked his death (so much party city fake blood) and is hiding out in Europe

He wears a fake mustache and puts on a fake Italian accent whenever he's in public

Sells drugs to the Garreg Mach kids. 

“Balthus get a job.” “I have a business” “Isn’t that why you had to leave the States?”

The only one not to have a room. He sleeps on the couch (he had an air mattress. Had.)

Constance

In the late 1800s/early 1900s, her ancestor founded Nuvelle Inc., a pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation

Her great-grandfather publically sided with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War since he was in support of Basque Independence. Later assassinated by the fascist government in retaliation 

Later, Constance's grandfather got backstabbed by his board and fired from the company

Her family was in denial about the whole thing and desperate to keep up with the appearance of wealth and continue to spend a lot of money. By the time Constance was born, they was in loads of debt

(tw suicide mention) Lost her mother in an accident. Then her father committed suicide, leaving Constance an orphan by 13.

Used the little inheritance she had to go to Garreg Mach and pretend everything was ok. Would lie anytime someone asked about her home life. Was forced to drop out at 16 because she ran out of money. To embarrassed to ask for help, she lied to everyone and told them she was going to study in the states

Yuri found her sleeping on a bench and took her in. Offered to buy her a ticket home until she finally admitted she lost everything and has no home to go back to

Dumpster drives at Garreg Mach for designer clothes. Ridiculous how much these rich kids (Hilda) toss out

Hapi

Romani :) 

Ran away from home when she was a teenager to “see the world.” Unfortunately, got taken in by some questionable people 

Cordelia found her and just felt so bad for her :( “oh no, a poor brown girl in need of help.” Offered to take her in and promised to help her get back home

Bullshit.

Finally able to run away and flee the country. She meets Balthus and Yuri because they were dumpster diving at the same spot. 

She and Constance have this thing of getting naked and howling at the full moon each month

Emile Jeritza

Born into a religious cult in good old USA 🇺🇸 His father was the cult leader and had multiple wives. 

His mother had a child from a previous relationship. Despite having numerous half-siblings, Emile was only close to Mercedes. She was the only one who didn’t scold him for crying and having “feminine” feelings after all

One day, his mother and beloved sister disappear. He never even got to say goodbye.. 

unbeknownst to him, when his mother and sister left they were fleeing for their lives. His mother immediately started to fight for custody of him but she was not an American citizen (while Emile and dad were) and she was trying to take him back to Europe

When Emile found out about what his father did, he… 

On the run from the FBI :) 

The wolves know about his history but fuck his dad, mofo had it coming. 

Yuri was standing behind Jeritza at the store when he saw Jeritza didn’t have enough money for food and cat food. He told the cash register to put the sandwich back. Yuri bought him the sandwich. 

#fe3h #fe3houses #ashen wolves #three hopes #three houses #fe16 #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #yuri leclerc #constance von nuvelle #balthus von albrecht #hapi fire emblem #hapi fe3h #usaigi speaks #fire emblem fanfiction #fire emblem headcanons

[camaro-and-smokes]

The Family Values Program

The first chapter of a dystopian au we've been writing together with @aggressiveviking is finally online!

Warnings: None. Tags: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Arranged Marriage, Developing Relationship, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn, Developing Friendships, Denial of Feelings, Internalized Homophobia, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Domestic Fluff, Forced Cohabitation, Mutual Pining Misunderstanding, Sexual Tension, Unrequited Crush, or so they both think, Closeted Gay Billy Hargrove, Steve Harrington Has a Bisexual Awakening, Other tags to be added

Summary: When society started to decline, morals deteriorate and disease wiped almost one fourth of the population in the United States, The Family Values Program (TFV) was launched—the last beacon of hope for the betterment of the American people.

Steve had thought he wouldn't need to join TFV thanks to his dad's riches, whereas Billy had done all he could to ensure he would be one of the few accepted to it, for his father's sake—hoping desperately to turn twenty-five before being matched and thus age out of the program.

So, when they got the message from the Matchmaking Service of a successful match, neither of them knew what to expect—and how badly wrong it had gone.

To Steve, finding out that he was matched with a man by mistake was just one problem. The more pressing one was his upcoming twenty-fifth birthday a week from now, effectively aging him out of the program. If their match was revoked, Steve would be cast out of the TFV zone, with a promise from his father for no financial support. Steve couldn't let that happen.

Read in full on AO3 >> (snippet under the cut)

:::::::::::

Billy Hargrove had one simple goal in his life - to age out of the Matchmaking Service. He only had one more year to go before he could be officially free and there was nothing his father could do about it, not even blame him because it wouldn’t be Billy’s fault. It was just dumb luck.

Being part of the TFV program had been the singular goal and regret that his father held. The Family Value program - a government-enforced and regulated family life. A man and a woman. A family. Idyllic, the way they showed it in movies, the way it was supposed to be before society had started to crumble. At least that's how they said it was. 

It happened more than 30 years ago - the decline of culture and the end of moral values. The concept of marriage had lost its meaning, and it led to broken families, broken people, and broken values. It had been the catalyst for more than just personal tragedies. Billy’s father had been a victim of it as Neil Hargrove wouldn’t forget to remind everyone. An upstanding man, who wanted nothing more than to lead a good upstanding life, and take care of his wife and kids. He had been betrayed by his wife, who broke their family like it meant nothing.

Billy knew it was a load of bullshit, the bruises on his ribs proved it even now. His father was far from the person he pretended to be, who he imagined himself to be. It was true that his mother was a bitch for leaving, but it wasn’t because she left Neil, it was because she left Billy with Neil. How hard would it have been to just take him with her when she packed her bags and ran out? How much more would it have cost her? Billy doubted that she had even thought about that - she had only thought about herself. Because that’s what people were conditioned to do in those times.

Crime rates had been steadily increasing, so much so that law enforcement couldn’t keep up. With the increase in crime, death followed shortly. Diseases became rampant, a modern plague had wiped nearly one-fourth of the population of the United States. It was said that it was a biological weapon, meant to be sold - a simple exchange of death for money - but it spread without control, without a way to stop it. 

At the peak of the horrors and tragedies, The Family Value program was launched - the last beacon of hope for the betterment of the American people. All efforts and resources were poured into making that campaign a success. Whole cities and towns were confiscated, and all citizens evacuated elsewhere as the program was established, as the walls were built, as the TFV centers were built of solid concrete in the center of it all, to last for centuries ahead as the beacon of light to the people, as the first step to order and prosperity. 

The Matchmaking Service was the tool, the weapon that the government built to fight against the decay of society. The concept of the program was simple - to preserve and nurture the value of a healthy family, and the Matchmaking Service was what made it possible. Every person was encouraged to sign into the program with the promise of a good easy life - a home provided by the government, steady jobs - but not many were able to pass the heavy vetting process. Only the people who could prove they held family values close to their heart were qualified to be accepted into the program - the people who had a passion for living a good, honest life, who stayed in school, followed the law, and most important of all, had never had a marriage that had been broken.

Neil Hargrove did not qualify. And neither did his new wife Susan Mayfield. She had a broken marriage of her own - a messy divorce. Their kids however still had a chance, and while Susan simply wished a better life for her daughter Max, Billy’s father had steadily developed an obsession fueled by anger and bitterness. He was simultaneously doing his best to push Billy into being the perfect candidate for the TFV program, while at the same time, he was furious that he never had been given that chance himself. He didn’t forget to remind Billy of it.

Billy wanted nothing more to be done with all of it. 25. That was the age of the cutoff from the program. All legal adults could apply for the Matchmaking Service as soon as they turned 18. Once they had been approved into the program they only needed to wait to be matched at random with the person of the opposite gender who was going to be their life partner. No backing out, no second attempts - it was very simple, fail to do so and you were out of the program, permanently. But while the process wasn’t that complicated, the random matching of people had one little flaw. Some people ended up aging out of the system before they were given a match.

Neil Hargrove had made Billy sign up as soon as he could with no regard for what Billy wanted to do with his life. Not that Billy ever shared that with his father. He also didn’t share the fact that he harbored no attraction to the opposite sex… Something that Billy had no way of exploring living under his father’s roof and which he would never get to explore if he got matched with a partner in TFV program.

At the very start, Billy had been living in dread, every day waiting for that horrible message that marked the culmination of his father’s efforts and the end of Billy’s freedom for good. But then… the years were passing by and no message came through. A calm washed over him as the time grew near. He had been in the system for almost 7 years and there had been no match. For the first time in his life, Billy dared to dream. Perhaps life wasn’t as unfair as he had thought it was. Perhaps he would finally be given the freedom he deserved after almost 25 years of hiding, of pain, of fear… Maybe things were going to work out—

And as if in a cruel twist of fate the message came right when he had stopped expecting it.

Billy’s stomach dropped as he read the words written bold and bright on the screen of his com device while his hand shook.

Congratulations, it’s a MATCH!

He felt like he was going to throw up, his heart sinking into his stomach. Billy had hoped never to see the official message from the Matchmaking Service… but here it was. Mocking him, like a bad punchline to a joke, like everything else in Billy’s life.

He tried to take a deep breath but he only managed to choke as he pressed the button to read the rest of the message. The content of it was like a prison sentence. Not only had he been matched, but he was being relocated — Billy had known that could happen but he had been sure it could never happen to him. The location marked on the top read a town named Hawkins… in fucking Hickville Indiana . 

Billy wanted to cry.

+

“Sign up to the program, Steve, or live outside your very privileged comfort zone for a very painful ten years. I am tired of trying to help you.”

Yeah. Those were Steve's father's last words before he had given Steve his ultimatum: time until Steve's twenty-fifth birthday to find a place of his own to live in and his trust fund locked for an extra ten years, only to be released to Steve's control when he turned thirty-five. He'd be stuck with the low life of society for the next ten years, trying to get along on a minimum wage from some shitty job.

Unless he got with the piece-of-shit program his parents held in such high regard.

If he did as his father told him to and signed up for The Family Value program, allowing the Matchmaking Service to choose him a wife by his twenty-fifth birthday, the trust fund would be released in his control on his twenty-sixth birthday. Which would be more tolerable to live with, considering his spending habits. And okay, other habits too...

He didn't shy away from living a full bachelor's life. Women lining up in front of him, allowing him to pick the cherries from on top. Since he'd been trusting in having all the money he'd ever need at twenty-five, he hadn't really thought on commitment . He would've bought a nice condo somewhere, lived on his own fund, and then chosen a life partner at his own pace. As late as possible, preferably.

Steve was a few months shy of twenty-five, the cut-off age for the program. He was sure that given some more time, he wouldn't have had any issues finding a match for himself. He could've just picked the prettiest one in sight. But the only one he'd really liked had been Nancy. She would've been nice to have a family with. He'd actually considered having kids with her. They would've had a nice life... Yeah. Until she broke up with him and swore never to come back.

And in all honestly he really didn't want to go with some one-night stand.

So, he was bitter. “You need to grow up, Steve. I am doing this for your own good.” Yeah, blah blah, as if. It wasn't like the money in the fund was his dad's. It was all basically interest on interest on the 5000 dollars he'd invested in the fund when Steve was born. Steve could've paid that back to him on the first day he would've controlled the fund.

But now he really didn't have any choice. Maybe he could live with a woman who he didn't get along for one year. Hopefully. And at least he'd have some control over the location and the style of the house, amenities, and so on. He would go with the largest available, his father could pull some strings to ensure that. He wouldn't have to move out of his home town and he could stay close to all his already matched friends and so on. If he had to tolerate a stranger, he might as well do it in style. And he'd have someone to cook and keep the house clean for him and decent pay to get along for a year. Maybe they could agree with the missus that when he had the fund, they could live separate lives while still married and she'd be as free to do whatever she wanted and see whoever she wanted and he'd cover her expenses from the trust fund.

Steve shook his head as he lay down on his bed and stared at the popcorn ceiling of his room. “Fuck the values,” he grumbled to himself the same night he signed up and hoped that the service would work quickly.

And it did, just a few weeks before his birthday.

Congratulations, it’s a MATCH!

Steve let out a sigh as he read the full message on his com device. Yes, his dad had come through with his promise to help with the living arrangements. A house with three bedrooms, four baths, and a swimming pool. It was a tolerable price for one year of... something. Not utter misery, hopefully.

Steve moved his most important stuff to the house the following day. The rest could be hauled over later. Not that he really had that much though, just a wardrobe full of tailor-made suits and shirts for his new job, ironically, at the management of the Matchmaking Service, and some other things for daily life.

He strolled around the already decorated and furnished house, nodding agreeably at the chosen materials, plush couches, and the large dinner table with a glass chandelier above it. On the second floor, he inspected the room that had been transformed into his home office, the junior bedroom, and finally the master bedroom. He took in the view that spread under the hill the house was on from the floor-to-ceiling windows. Closer were other houses like his and further, a busy city center and the concrete fences that kept the area separated from the second-class society somewhere in the distance. 

Yes, he could live with this.

On the second day, he had pretty much settled in and was all the more content with the surroundings. He'd spend his last free day before the start of his new job just taking it easy and getting to know his match. He'd been informed that she was on her way and would arrive right about… now.

He was having a late breakfast at the dinner table when he heard the front door opening. He got up, took the bunch of roses he'd bought just for this moment in his hand, and walked to the foyer. 

And he stopped dead in his tracks, very much not happy and very, very confused.

Read on AO3 >>

#harringrove fic #harringrove #billy hargrove #steve harrington #billy x steve #steve x billy #suometar writes #aggressiveviking #The Family Values Program

[dreamytfw]

"That video Misha put out on twitter proves he's listening and learning uwu"

Uh... how? He said the exact same thing that was in his poorly written substack article. He just put more of an emphasis on "having a conversation" and "choosing our words carefully" (aka tone policing).

He's still not using the word genocide even though the consensus among experts and survivors is that what's happening to Palestine is a genocide.

He's still saying that bullshit propaganda line of "Israel has a right to defend itself," even though they've been bombing children's hospitals and actively assassinating journalists.

And he didn't say anything at all about how he denied the genocide against Native Americans by white colonizers. Which means he likely still thinks it was an "attempted genocide" instead of an "actual genocide." Which is still genocide denial. And I'm fully willing to bet he in no way changed his mind about land back movements.

Just because he said he's been reading comments on his posts doesn't mean he's been listening. What he's doing right now is trying to manipulate us into listening to him by playing the "calm and reasonable guy who sees both sides and is just trying to find a middle ground!" But there is no middle ground when it comes to genocide. And the sooner he learns that and stops being a god damn coward, the better.

#Misha Collins #Misha #someone please make this man shut the fuck up already #different day same shit #op

[bamboobrat]

succession s4 e1 recap: bridget random-fuck and the logan roy selfie fiasco

happy return of succession, everyone! and with that, my completely unhinged and ridiculously time consuming recaps. i was honestly not sure i wanted to go down this rabbit hole for another season, but given that it is our last, i think i'll have to.

my coping mechanism currently is complete and utter denial. let's see how long that lasts.

we start off the episode at the most depressing birthday party there ever was. did you think the season one birthday party was bad? at least there was baseball and logan nearly dying. in season four it's all greg calling himself an honorary kid and fingering a girl called bridget in the guest room.

something tells me logan is regretting teaming up with tom and greg right about now.

in california, the siblings are pitching investors on a new media venture. as per usual, there's a lot of bullshitting involved and i can't tell if kendall is high or not during all of it, but it's nice to see the sibs be a team - at least for now.

back in new york, kerry is not happy with greg bringing bridget random-fuck to logan's party. couldn't agree more.

as for shiv, she is totally fine with the idea of tom getting a drink with naomi pierce.

this is definitely the face of someone who is fine:

if this was any other show, i'd launch the theory that shiv is pregnant right here. but this is succession, so that seems unlikely.

also, maybe i'm just projecting, knowing that snooks is pregnant.

either way, we've got a fantastic shiv episode on our hands. can't wait for sarah to win all the awards.

connor is polling at one percent, but is getting squeezed. as willa says, it's all super greedy, since his opponents already have all the other percents.

frankly rude to do my guy con and the conheads dirty this way. what would an election be without an unhinged billionaire, i mean, i can't remember. it's the american way.

anyway, this is the look of someone who has just been reassured he will still be part of the business, even if he gets a divorce:

super reassured.

bridget random-fuck keeps causing problems. first, she posts about a pierce family member being at the birthday party on social media, then she asks logan for a selfie saying, and i kid you not, kar-ching.

all the unhinged gerri kellman lesbians immediately notice her in the background, judging.

bridget is like an unhinged version of greg in the first episode of season one. good for her.

meanwhile the birthday boy is having a great time without his kids. nothing screams birthday like contemplating your own mortality.

i've also seen some posts that are like "wow so much has happened in ONE year", indicating that this is logan's 81st birthday, but i'm not sure. they don't mention his age specifically, so i think we can just live with the ambiguity of whatever timeline we are comfortable with.

i personally think it's been a few years at least. if not, shiv and tom's marriage would have lasted what, six, seven months? rude.

after shiv's phone call with tom, the kids start realizing that logan is planning to buy PGM (again), and they immediately back out of the business venture they have been planning for the last few months.

and the award for most delusional goes to kendall for this comment:

roman is the only one that's not into buying up a dying media conglomerate because he is a girlboss. he's really the only one who wants to build up a new company from scratch and i'm so proud of him.

what a journey we roman fans have been on. truly.

logan takes his best pal, colin, on a date, and we realize, once again, that logan respects the people who work for him more than he ever will his children, because his children have been given everything all their lives.

logan does a whole "is there anything after death" shakespearean monologue and the odds that he will die by the end of this season are forever in our favor. this pleases me:)

connor wants to use his wedding as a political stunt, which makes me think the timeline of this season will be super short. will all the episodes take place during the ten days leading up to the election?

seems strange, given that they travel to norway, but it's an interesting thought.

greg has sex in the guest room and logan has CCTV. or at least tom wants greg to believe he does. anyway, i don't really want to get into it. poor bridget.

gerri, it seems, is still out in the cold after the dickpick ordeal. truly destabilizing to see our queen on shaky ground, but also good for her that she gives less of a fuck, leaving karl to look like this:

perfection. he is and will always be a true foodie.

anyway, logan doesn't take the news that his kids also want to buy pierce well.

on the west coast (in napa?), nan is truly weaponizing her liberal image and the whole "i'm just an old lady who doesn't understand capitalism"-vibe.

it's a sight to be seen.

roman, of course, sees right through her.

but it doesn't really matter, because the roy kids are too occupied with waging war on their father to notice they are getting played.

and to think i'm lowkey rooting for this idiots...

greg doesn't want to see what happens in guantanamo and leaves dealing with random-fuck to colin, the one true hero of this show.

gerri is straight up not having a good time.

we need to save her.

the kids offer up 10 bill for PGM. it feels extremely rushed and stupid and driven by revenge, but i'm glad to know roman knows how many zeros there are in a billion.

someone get him to new york asap so he can show gerri.

the kids win the bid and logan is not happy:

this is the look of a girl who needed a win. bless her heart.

because eventually, shiv goes back to new york and has to face tom, the traitor, disguisting boy from st. paul who wants her to talk....

... and if you know anything about being emotionally repressed, you'd know that is absolutely not an option.

so they lie there for a bit and hold hands and all of a sudden i realize that this stupid show has done it again. they made me care about a bunch of terrible, rich people. AGAIN.

i hate you, jesse armstrong, i really do.

during the last scene, we get one of the best lines of the episode:

logan is at home, alone, watching ATN and calling cyd to complain. i honestly can't tolerate cyd slander. that being said, i do hope we get a war of the networks between ATN and PGM moving forward.

if you stayed with me for this entire recap, congrats. you're just as demented as i am.

for next weeks episode, i need more gerri. i bet you are all surprised to hear that.

#succession #succession hbo #brian cox #logan roy #kendall roy #jeremy strong #zoe winters #shiv roy #sarah snook #roman roy #kieran culkin #j. smith-cameron #gerri kellman #connor roy #alan ruck #willa ferreyra #justine lupe #tom wambsgans #matthew macfadyen #bridget random-fuck #greg hirsch #nicholas braun #nan pierce #succession spoilers

[jyndor]

once again there are plenty of fascists who aren't nazis. plenty of genocides not committed by nazis. no jewish person is a nazi because nazis are explicitly genocidally antisemitic - and enough with the "well actually jews aren't the only semitic people" yeah bitch I fucking know, but antisemitism is actually about oppression and hatred of jews because that words mean things and evolve and that's just what it is, it isn't about oppression and hatred of all semitic peoples.

once again this is why it is so important to listen to palestinians, to uplift their voices and not platform fucking weirdos who don't know what they're talking about. I don't care if the israeli jewish people you're talking about are literally celebrating the palestinian genocide in a settlement in the west bank, they are not fucking nazis. they're fascist genocidal zionists, that's good enough for me because it's accurate.

so many other kinds of fascism that aren't explicitly based in genocidal antisemitism exist it really is telling when people choose to call them nazis. like okay maybe they're the only kind of fascists you've heard of but I doubt that.

the nazi = zionist thing is a deliberately antisemitic thing, using what european jews went through in the holocaust as a cheap shot to hurt them. like when people draw comparisons to the holocaust and the genocide in gaza I still get uncomfortable with it because it's like there are so many genocides that all have similarities and differences - I see the armenian genocide in gaza, I see the bosnian genocide in gaza, I see the native american genocide in gaza, I see the west papuan genocide in gaza, I see the irish genocide in gaza, etc.

and yes of course I see the holocaust in gaza because genocides have similar traits (as defined by lemkin when he coined the term).

and I find it infinitely frustrating that some holocaust museums and organizations* that specifically claim to prevent and fight genocide of other groups don't want to acknowledge the genocide of the palestinians, but that does not make them NAZIS. it does mean they are doing genocide justification and denial, of course. that is something that will be a part of their legacies in the future and that they will have to live with, but it doesn't make them nazis.

stop calling israeli jews nazis unless they are fucking actual nazis. even the zionist collaboration with nazis is deeply shameful but it doesn't make them nazis, even if their ideology was used as a tool by nazis to "prove" that jewish people couldn't live amongst other peoples because they couldn't assimilate lmao what fucking bullshit i stg.

*I say this because the holocaust museum of the united states among others have as part of their mission prevention of future genocides and list several countries that they are monitoring but are ignoring palestine and israel (except to condemn hamas) so frankly they do not get to be mad when people call them out for denial of genocide when it is politically inconvenient. but again that is genocide denial, it isn't nazism. if these organizations didn't have prevention of other genocides as part of their missions, I wouldn't even mention them. I'd find it extremely antisemitic to demand a holocaust memorial talk about what zionist jewish people are doing in israel.

#nazism tw #fascism #nazism #free palestine #antisemitism #genocide #genocide denial #holocaust tw #racism #white supremacy #just stop it zionists are not nazis #they are fascists though #antizionism

[fanficfanattic]

Win and/or Road

You know not what you have wrought. Cause both of these are dark.

Warning for some homophobic bullshit from James Tartt. And literal lashing.

Win:

“Gonna give you a choice, son-o-mine. You’ll get the buckle end-“ “Wait, what?” “-or you can earn getting the leather end. I know how much your pretty boy appearance is to you, and the buckle ain’t like what you’re used to. It’ll scar.”

“Why are you doing this, da?”

“You know why I’m here, ya cunt. Been gone for a couple of months but less than one with the American clown and suddenly you’re all soft again. Don’t know what he’s said to you, or promised you, but I ain’t raised you to step down from a fight, did I?”

He waited before grabbing Jamie by the barely longer front of his hair to yank his head back.

“Asked you a question, boy.”

“No,” and for a second his dad was visibly preparing to strike at the denial, before Jamie desperately rushed the rest of the sentence, “you ain’t raised me to be a pussy”.

“That’s right. And ya done that in front of cameras. Half of Manchester is laughing at the Tartt name. At my name. So you understand why I need to guarantee you’re sorry. Don’t you?”

You could barely hear it, but Jamie quietly whispered “yes” back at him. Normally he’d say something about mumbling. But he had more important things to consider.

“You want to hear what will let you avoid the buckle?”

“Yes, da.”

“Mind your fucking manners with me.”

“Yes, please, da.”

“I know how much you admire Kent, for all that you yap at him like an overeager pup. You coulda had him out of that game in moments, I taught you how to fight well enough.

Which means you didn’t want to actually win that fight. Don’t matter if it’s because he was your childhood footie hero” and his dad spit on the floor at his feet, “or you felt sorry for him. Or you’re more soft than I thought, eh? Got a crush, boy?”

The lines of Jamie’s back go rigid. Before he can respond, his dad just chuckles.

“Always so sensitive about that. I know you ain’t a poof for all that you dress like one. Like I said, it don’t matter why you keep putting up with Kent. Only that it’s got to stop. What am I always telling you Jamie?”

“That I’m too stupid to think so I should stop trying?” His dad let out a bark of a laugh.

“I do say that, yes, but I meant how I keep telling you that getting attached to the other players will only drag you down. Propping them up makes you look mediocre, and that won’t get you proper minutes when you’re back with City, will it?”

Jamie knew better than to stay silent this time.

“It won’t, you’re right.”

“This Richmond loan was your chance to really see what it were like without all the other players having hooks in ya. Not your fault that you grew up with first team as your mentors. But they ain’t your friends you stupid boy. And neither are those Richmond lads.”

He didn’t ask a question so Jamie kept quiet but the anxiety just built and built. Right before it boiled over, his da gently brushed his hair back into place from when he’d grabbed it.

“You know I don’t like doing this, Jamie. But I do because it’s for your own good, yeah?”

Jamie’s breath hitched because that was a lie. But one too dangerous to call out.

“Course da. I know it.”

He got a brisk pat on the head as a reward for keeping his voice from breaking.

“Good, good. And you can prove you know it by doing as I say. That’s what will earn you the leather rather than the buckle.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Admit to me, now, that you know Kent don’t belong on the pitch no more. And that you’ll help him realize it.”

Jamie’s voice sounded faint. “What?”

And in turn his dad’s voice got firmer.

“Kent. The one what we’ve been talking about this whole time? Your hero worship school boy crush? I kid, I kid. But your favorite player nonetheless.

He’s past his prime and I wouldn’t care if he were just holding back that bottom of the table joke of a club. But your name is attached to it, which means my name is attached to it. They need to put him out to pasture so you can actually keep them in the Prem. You’re the only fucking shot they have at it, ain’t ya.”

“I…what? No?”

“Did you just disagree with me? After saying yourself you aren’t smart enough to bother with thinking.”

“It’s Roy fucking Kent, da. They’d be mad to release him just on the strength of how it’d depress the team.”

“Jamie, my poor Jamie, this is why you’re only good for footie. None of those lads matter, and if they’re too big’a emo little bitches to lace up their boots? That don’t matter neither.” He picked up the belt. The metal clinking as it tipped over before swinging into the air.

“Last chance, son. You going to accept that I know best. Or you gonna fight me on it.”

“I ain’t saying that about Roy and I’m not going to sabotage his career!”

“Suit yourself. If you don’t care about your own career, why should I?”

And the belt came down buckle first.

Road:

This is the only use of “road” I had that wasn’t just referring to Nelson Road. And it is firmly in WIP territory because this whole snippet is a monolog/diatribe without any of the scene setting to make it actually readable.

“And I was learning it while the four of you were in the office saying that I was a diva and a fragile little bitch. While making jokes after I pointed out that you were the ones who had all invested in us being a team that supported each other, that you had sold me on that too. And then threw it away with the promise of something else. Something better.

I weren’t even saying it about meself! By that point I had learned. I was talking about the team as a whole. Because it turns out you were right, when we had each others backs, it was better. But everyone else had stopped. They didn’t even have their own backs, giving it all to Zava, with me trying to cover everyone else.

Not just first team, like 10* wasn’t hard enough. But everyone. Cause you shunted Colin off to the side like he were nothing. And I wouldn’t leave Jack and Declan and Jeff to fend for themselves. No one in this room alone, right coach? It’s what you said after I were already gone. So maybe you didn’t ever mean it to include me.

Good thing that at least by then I’d learned that trusting means people can still fuck up. That it means you just know they’ll find their way again. So I kept doing what was right, regardless of the fact that you didn’t care about what were right nomore. No way you could and also had given up thinking it wasn’t about the wins and losses.

Didn’t help that even as he called me names, not the fun kind where we say Colin is a menace on the road, but the kind you want to give someone you think would make the world a better off place if they died, that Roy was the only one who heard what I said. Made the jokes, sure, but then actually listened.

Richmond only got through Zava doing exactly what he were always going to do because Roy decided to diversify your strategy. To invest in making sure that anyone who wanted to still grow as a player, despite the official party line being to give fucking Zava your all, could actually develop instead of stagnate.

The real fucking joke is that I were the only one who wanted that. Because I never, even when I was the prickiest prick to ever prick, gave anything less than my absolute best. Me, the person you spent that same time talking down to and about to each other and ignoring that even at my worst? I was never that fucking cruel.

I was the only player who had taken every word you ever said to heart. Because it was important. It changed fucking everything for me. And so I put me head down and did the fucking work. So that when Zava fucked everyone over -as he absolutely did because he told the whole world over and over exactly who he was- we’d at least be no worse off than when I first came here on loan.

And Roy was the only coach who did the same fucking thing. Who took what you said and let it change him. For the better. He was the only one who saw, and cared, about the fucking club.

He fucking hated me and still saw that I was trying to be what we needed here. Despite no one else remembering what we’d built. Together. Despite no one else caring that I was drowning right in front of you just trying to keep us afloat. Just trying to make sure there was something to even come back to once Zava left us high and dry.

The person here who had the most right to enjoy me spiraling was the only one to notice it at all. Then did something about it! And I know it were only because he cared about the club, not me, but I cared about it too. More than I cared about meself. So we finally had something to agree on.”

Jamie had laughed bitterly several times over by then. But none so dark and full of self hatred as the one he couldn’t hold back at the thought of Roy and him only agreeing that Jamie’s worth was solely his ability to take hit after hit in the name of Richmond.

“I were dumb enough to think that being one of eleven meant sharing the burden as well as the benefit. Didn’t I? Got out of practice for having to carry it all. Got lazy. Got complacent. Forgot that I shouldn’t pass to someone who hadn’t even attempted to score in months. Made us both look like fools when they just turned their head looking for Zava to make the play for them.”

#jamie tartt #james tartt sr #ted lasso #willis beard #coach beard #roy kent #physical abuse #verbal abuse #psychological abuse #abuse of an adult child #dark thoughts on a dark day #homophobic language

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A taxonomy of corporate bullshit

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There are six lies that corporations have told since time immemorial, and Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen's new book Corporate Bullsht: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* provides an essential taxonomy of this dirty six:

https://thenewpress.com/books/corporate-bullsht

In his review for The American Prospect, David Dayen summarizes how these six lies "offer a civic-minded, reasonable-sounding justification for positions that in fact are motivated entirely by self-interest":

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-10-27-lies-my-corporation-told-me-hanauer-walsh-cohen-review/

I. Pure denial

As far back as the slave trade, corporate apologists and mouthpieces have led by asserting that true things are false, and vice-versa. In 1837, John Calhoun asserted that "Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." George Fitzhugh called enslaved Africans in America "the freest people in the world."

This tactic never went away. Children sent to work in factories are "perfectly happy." Polluted water is "purer than the water that came from the river before we used it." Poor families "don't really exist." Pesticides don't lead to "illness or death." Climate change is "beneficial." Lead "helps guard your health."

II. Markets can solve problems, governments can't

Alan Greenspan made a career out of blithely asserting that markets self-correct. It was only after the world economy imploded in 2008 that he admitted that his doctrine had a "flaw":

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/greenspan-admits-flaw-to-congress-predicts-more-economic-problems

No matter how serious a problem is, the market will fix it. In 1973, the US Chamber of Commerce railed against safety regulations, because "safety is good business," and could be left to the market. If unsafe products persist in the market, it's because consumers choose to trade safety off "for a lower price tag" (Chamber spox Laurence Kraus). Racism can't be corrected with anti-discrimination laws. It's only when "the market" realizes that racism is bad for business that it will finally be abolished.

III. Consumers and workers are to blame

In 1946, the National Coal Association blamed rampant deaths and maimings in the country's coal-mines on "carelessness on the part of men." In 2003, the National Restaurant Association sang the same tune, condemning nutritional labels because "there are not good or bad foods. There are good and bad diets." Reagan's interior secretary Donald Hodel counseled personal responsibility to address a thinning ozone layer: "people who don’t stand out in the sun—it doesn’t affect them."

IV. Government cures are always worse than the disease

Lee Iacocca called 1970's Clean Air Act "a threat to the entire American economy and to every person in America." Every labor and consumer protection before and since has been damned as a plague on American jobs and prosperity. The incentive to work can't survive Social Security, welfare or unemployment insurance. Minimum wages kill jobs, etc etc.

V. Helping people only hurts them

Medicare will "destroy private initiative for our aged to protect themselves with insurance" (Republican Senator Milward Simpson, 1965). Covid relief is unfair to people that are currently in the workforce" (Republican Governor Brian Kemp, 2021). Welfare produces "learned helplessness."

VI. Everyone who disagrees with me is a socialist

Grover Cleveland's 2% on top incomes is "communistic warfare against rights of property" (NY Tribune, 1895). "Socialized medicine" will leave "our children and our children’s children [asking] what it once was like in America when men were free" (Reagan, 1961).

Everything is "socialism": anti-child labor laws, Social Security, minimum wages, family and medical leave. Even fascism is socialism! In 1938, the National Association of Manufacturers called labor rights "communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism."

As Dayen says, it's refreshing to see how the right hasn't had an original idea in 150 years, and simply relies on repeating the same nonsense with minor updates. Right wing ideological innovation consists of finding new ways to say, "actually, your boss is right."

The left's great curse is object permanence: the ability to remember things, like the fact that it used to be possible for a worker to support a family of five on a single income, or that the economy once experienced decades of growth with a 90%+ top rate of income tax (other things the left manages to remember: the "intelligence community" are sociopathic monsters, not Trump-slaying heroes).

When the business lobby rails against long-overdue antitrust action against Amazon and Google, object permanence puts it all in perspective. The talking points about this being job-destroying socialism are the same warmed-over nonsense used to defend rail-barons and Rockefeller. "If you don't like it, shop elsewhere," has been the corporate apologist's line since slavery times.

As Dayen says, Corporate Bullshit is a "reference book for conservative debating points, in an attempt to rob them of their rhetorical power." It will be out on Halloween:

https://bookshop.org/a/54985/9781620977514

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

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong

#pluralistic #corporate bullshit #lies #books #reviews #taxonomies #labor #denialism #consumerism #Nick Hanauer #Joan Walsh #Donald Cohen #history #object permanence #taking the right seriously

[qqueenofhades]

How is the free speech thing balanced in the US with regard to the law? Does everything fall under this amendment? For instance, in France, antisemitism, denial of the Holocaust or racism are (normally) not counted as opinions but punishable by law. Not as crimes but the infraction level below (it's called délits but I don't know the English equivalent)

It's complicated. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, press, and assembly-- i.e. you have the basic right to speak, write, and protest how you want without government censorship or punishment. If the right wing free-speech champions were genuinely concerned about it in any meaningful way, they would be defending the BLM and abortion-rights protestors, since this is something that actually is guaranteed in the Constitution, but uhhh, yeah, free speech for me and none for thee is their whole philosophy.

What the First Amendment does not do is give you the ability to act like a total dick in public all the time and never suffer consequences. The fact that it has been interpreted as such is another result of the skewed extreme-libertarian philosophy that is likewise popular in the US, where you yourself are the most important person and should be able to do whatever you want all the time. You have every right to yell fire in a crowded theater, but when you are arrested for causing a public panic and/or injuries or a stampede or whatever, the First Amendment is not some magical get-out-of-jail-free card where you can invoke it and then cry about being unfairly persecuted if people are harmed by your conscious decision to be a dick. So hate speech is not necessarily a protected category of speech, and it certainly does not exempt you from consequences enforced on you by other private citizens.

For example, take the recent Alex Jones trial. He is a bloated hatemongering piece of human garbage who, ever since the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, has been making up nonstop lies about the event, claiming it was staged and the victims were "crisis actors," it was a plot to take away Americans' guns, encouraging his equally insane followers to harass the grieving families who had just lost their young children, etc. Anyway, understandably, the families finally sued the living shit out of him for defamation and libel, because free speech does not, again, mean you can just make up nonstop bullshit and cause tangible public harm. It's not the government suing Alex Jones for his reprehensible lies, so his whining about how this, you guessed it, "violates his First Amendment rights!!" is an even bigger load of bullshit than usual. The private citizens whose life he deliberately made a living hell are fully entitled to seek recompense for that pain and suffering, and juries in several different states have agreed, awarding them combined damages of over one-billion-with-a-B dollars, while Jones has likewise tried all kinds of shady bullshit to hide his finances and avoid paying up. Because, as noted, he is absolute rancid garbage.

That's why the right wing was screaming bloody murder about the outcome, because if -- gasp -- people can successfully hold them liable for all the awful things they say and do on a daily basis, they might experience, oh no, A Consequence. And since the loss of money and prestige is pretty much the only punishment these shitbirds understand, they don't want it to catch on, and so they holler about First Amendment Infringement as if that means absolutely anything. Because oh boy, there is truly nothing they love more than playing the martyr while continuing to attack everyone else for daring to act as if they have, in fact, the exact same civil rights as them.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[erisolkat]

also our schools fucking literally gaslight us into thinking that, like, the ppl off the mayflower were besties with the native americans and that martin luther king jr fixed racism so kids who havent been on the internet for long or kids who are sheltered or kids who have been actively lied to or kids who just didnt smell the bullshit wafting off those textbooks being met with active hostility when they dont know that thats fucking bullshit will just dig themselves further jnto their little holes of denial

[cd-covington]

There ain’t nothing wrong with double negation

When you were in school, your teacher probably told you something like “two negatives make a positive,” so if you “don’t know nothing,” you do know something. I’m here to tell you that’s bullshit.

Many languages have what linguists call negative concord, which is kind of like subject-verb agreement but for negation markers. In Russian, for example, to say “I don’t know anything,” you say ya nichevo* ne znayu. Russian uses negative concord, so if you have “nothing” (nichevo) you also have to have the verb negated (ne).

*standard transliteration is nichego but that’s not how you pronounce it, so shrugman

Standard English used to do this as well! Just, like, 1000 years ago. Here’s an example from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Peterborough):

418. Her Romane gesamnodan ealle þa goldhord ðe on Brytene wæron;

and sume on eorðan gehyddan, þæt heo nan man syððan findon ne mihton. And sume mid heom on Gallia læddon.

418. In this year the Romans gathered all the hoards of gold that were on Britain; and they hid some of them in the ground, such that no man could (not) find them afterward. And they took some with them to Gaul.

nan, as the note in the textbook says, is a contraction of ne + ān (NEG + one). (Old English did a lot of fun things with negation, and you could negate things by sticking ne on the front and going about your day, like nillan from ne + willan (‘to want’) means ‘to not want.’) (And yes, this is the origin of the phrase “willy-nilly,” which is derived from “will he, nill he” ‘whether he wants to or not’.)

The Danish linguist Otto Jespersen described a cycle that negation follows, where over time more negation is added because it doesn’t “feel” negative enough, and then later some is taken away because it feels redundant. The canonical example for this is French. Older French varieties would have Je ne sais ‘I NEG know’ but modern standard French has Je ne sais pas, with the pas adding an extra oomph. But modern colloquial French has Je sais pas, with the ne going away. So, is modern English in the single negation phase of the cycle? Will double negation come back in the future as the standard? Your guess is as good as mine, but negative concord is already (still) widespread in colloquial English, so I’d say it’s never gone away, just been forced out of the standard.

Because in modern English, there are other factors at play in why people get mad about double negatives, all of which boil down to prejudice. If you think about which varieties of (US) English use it the most, or are associated with it most strongly, it’s Black American English (AAVE) and lower/working-class varieties in general: the groups perceived by the societal groups with the most power as uneducated. I know that I got a lot of shit about it as a kid, growing up in a White pink-collar single-mom family, because I should aspire to sound educated, not like some working-class loser. (Note: I do not hold any of these beliefs!) As it is, my natural diction tends toward the academic, which was great when I was in grad school.

Regardless. If you, a native English speaker (and I’m going out on a limb here to include the non-US varieties in this), heard someone say, “I ain’t never heard nothing about that,” you would understand that as a denial that they had heard something, perhaps even a vehement denial. You wouldn’t sit there and count up the negatives and go “negative times negative times negative … yeah, negative, checks out.” It’s not math class, for god’s sake.

Sociolinguistics studies this kind of thing, from the level of “this variation exists and it is most prevalent in this group” to “this is how this variation has changed over time” to “these are the attitudes people hold about people who use this variation,” and a lot more. Anne Charity Hudley studies African American language, and the Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University has a documentary about Black American English. (They also document dying languages and dialects in North Carolina and Appalachia, and I recommend poking around their site when you have time.)

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#linguistics #language #sociolinguistics #negation