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lucyhannahart · 1 year

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Major Project Update 30/1/23 - 9/2/23

30/1/23

I had a varying level of success with my video interviews in Brighton. Many people approached me with enthusiasm, or responded kindly when I approached them to participate. Many onlookers stared at me, which I expected. In one instance, I had someone make a derogatory comment, stating that they 'wanted to talk about sex with me' in a manner that made me feel uneasy. Though this was uncomfortable, it definitely played into the idea that men see openness about sexuality as a means of taking advantage of people and thus proved a lot of the points I am aiming to make in this project.

Having conducted the video interviews, my next step was to edit my clips down into short form video content to upload as TikToks or Reels. I've had some difficulty with this as the most recent Premiere Pro update has moved a lot of tools around therefore reducing my ease of use.

Recently, whilst researching for this project, I came across a video in which ex-MEP Alex Phillips cited the new Sam Smith video for an increase in reports of sexual misconduct, also referring to David Carrick's presence in the Met police and the sexual crimes he committed during that period. This shocked me, as I believe there to be no correlation between somebody expressing their sexuality creatively through costuming, dance and other visual elements, and crimes that greatly impact and disturb others. This led me into creating another post for the BDTM Instagram which tackled the perception of lingerie, sexuality and how bigotry can misinform people.

2/2/3

On this day I had my usual seminar with Odella and was able to update her on my progress. She recommended looking into the relevance of BDTM in the fashion industry.

I believe the relevance that 'burn down the mansion' has within industry is championing the creation of fashion content that considers its' impact on those who view it. The movement we are pushing aims to change the way that fashion media is produced, valuing creativity and representation at its' core. This could affect the way in which many existing fashion brands and publications operate. From a business perspective, BDTM could be beneficial as it could help to encourage sales. If people feel represented rather than excluded, they are far more likely to buy from a brand, or at least have a positive view of it.

Another recommendation from Odella was to be more daring in the content I create. As part of this challenge, I want to utilise an older model in a BDTM campaign. Not only will this prove that diversity as at the heart of BDTM but it will also go directly against the standards set by the media - increasingly youthful people dressing in a provocative way. In order to get this process underway, I began brainstorming concepts and created a moodboard.

I specifically wanted to use an older woman in this photoshoot, because as women get older, the media tends to "forget" about them. Far more young models, actresses or people in non-media related fields are offered opportunities that their older counterparts are not given. This same phenomenon does not extend to men in the same way. I also believe that women of this age are discouraged from embracing their sexuality, so I want to encourage this to change in a raunchy, fun way.

My reasoning behind using Pamela Anderson as inspiration is because I see her as someone who had her identity stolen from her. Anderson was a victim of a sex tape leak in 1995, which caused her career to collapse and her reputation to be ruined. Though neither Anderson nor then-husband Tommy Lee consented for the tape to be distributed, they were forced the sign the rights to it away after a laborious legal battle. I felt as if utilising Pamela's likeness in a way that is powerful would be extremely effective.

Finding models for this is proving to be hard; at this point I have used Facebook groups, contacted my parents' friends and have had very little luck.

7/2/3

During this time period, I have been focusing on editing down the TikTok video. It's been a very lengthy process and I have been very slow to edit it, as I don't tend to create short-form content and am not used to having to edit down 2-3 minute long clips of people talking. Additionally, I wanted to make the video eye-catching in order to grab the attention of TikTok users, as this demographic are used to short, snappy videos. At this point, I am very close to finishing the video, and will probably just need another day to record a voiceover for the intro.

8/2/23

As I'm quite prone to anxiety, at this point I felt my stress mounting. The self-directed nature of this project caused me to panic as I've felt as if I'm not doing enough. Additionally the lack of following on BDTM's Instagram made me nervous about reaching the goal I had set for myself. I realised that uploading the TikTok/Reel I was making would most likely assist in growing my follower base, so I prioritised finishing it off.

9/2/23

I managed to finish the TikTok then showed it to Odella, Louis and Kitty, who all gave me really positive feedback. This boosted my confidence a lot as I was very nervous throughout the editing process and was convincing myself that the video wasn't goof enough. I was praised for my editing ability and my diverse array of interviewees. I was encouraged, for the next pieces of content I created, to try interviewing people in a different area.

I waited for a good moment to upload it, as TikTok's algorithm prioritises videos posted at certain times. I chose popular hashtags by looking at other creators' street interviews. I also uploaded it as a reel on Instagram.

I then ran into huge difficulty as my video got removed on TikTok for violating community guidelines. This meant I had to go back, censor certain words, then attempt to reupload.

Fortunately, the Instagram reel is fine, however I couldn’t upload the full 3.5 minute video as Instagram limits reels to 90 seconds.

My next endeavour for this project is to adjust the video for TikTok, then to create posters and stickers to put around London to gain a larger following for BDTM.

#fashion student #fashion project #burndownthemansion #kingston university #university project #fashionpromotion #photography #video content #tiktok

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sea-dukes-assistant · 4 years

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Strabismus stuff

Couldn’t respond in notes but here’s what I know: there’s 100 or more types of strabismus so keep that in mind if you do your own research.

A lot of strabismus that’s congenital is flagged at 2 year checkup when they turn the light off and make the chid follow a penlight. Anyway after that exam my daughter & niece were sent to specialists.

Cleveland Clinic says about 30% with strabismus have family members ‘with a similar problem.’ I had no clue that was a thing because I don’t remember any relatives with it, when we found out 8 years ago my daughter had it. Then last year my niece was diagnosed. She’s my brother’s daughter, he’s 41, no eye problems or glasses. They didn’t even tell the first specialist but when they went to my daughter’s eye dr. I said make sure you tell him her cousin has strabismus & is his patient.

I think 100% your head injury caused it. A stroke, tumor, neuro disease or injury are most common causes in adults. It can come back or get worse from childhood, so maybe it wouldn’t have been there when you were initially examined for USN, but somebody would have noticed when you were a kid.

My daughter’s is 'intermittent’ which means the 1 eye looks wonky only if she is tired, distracted, full moon, whatever. And her vision is 20/20, better than mine with glasses. From the pic I saw, yours is easy to see like Lady Louise’s was. Even being only there a piece of time here or there, my husband and I see it plus her day care teachers always told us. Definitely someone would’ve noticed, other kids making fun of you too.

So far, my kid had the surgery on the eye muscles that worked for almost a year then it kind of went back. Part could be when the strabismus is off and on like for her it’s a lot harder to measure how much to adjust the eye muscles than if it’s always 'off’ from the other eye the same amount. For kids always having it plus their brains more flexible, the doctor explained they don’t have double vision, the brain corrects? They said if it happens to an adult like me, not used to it, I would see like a really drunk person, double vision and all. I think a lot of times people feel 1 surgery will fix it but not always.

Problem with kids like my daughter is with 20/20 and the brain compensates why should she wear the prism glasses where they can’t really do thin lenses so they are the old coke bottle thick lenses like my Mom’s in 1979. To her she sees 20/20 with no glasses plus (whine) hurts her ears/face/eyes/head/doesn’t work w/earphones they have to wear in class/whine/Trauuuuma. FML, insurance doesn’t pay for lost glasses and full price is almost $500.

I did see something where if your strabismus is caused by head injury possibly a vision rehab could do a full workup (or get a 2nd workup, could be hard in the military, but even my 3 year old niece needed a 2nd opinion and she has no TBI or any complication). Maybe they can find stuff besides surgery, since you already had 1. We really will put off surgery again for my daughter, we know we have to, but before she was in pre-K and now she’s 10 and thinks you die if you go in the hospital. Plus really it lasted only 12 months and it’s 50x easier to decide on surgery for yourself than your kid, if it’s not to save a life or a leg or something. We think she will want another try for surgery when she’s a teenager, those thick lenses weren’t even cool circa 1990 when I was a teen.

I think, in my case, it was always there but perhaps became more obvious/made worse again by the knock to the head I got. I had 2 surgeries when I was real young, though only one I vaguely remember. It wasn’t 100% corrected though, as I found out when kids would always ask if I was cross-eyed. MEPS never mentioned it nor asked about it, I just underwent the usual vision test and a test for color-blindness due to the rate I picked. Basic training was when it became more obvious, I guess, because it earned me a nickname (not in the bad 1960′s Marine Corps way), and my RDCs asked me about it before sending me to some higher ups as an Honor Recruit nominee, so I wouldn’t be hassled about it during the board/interview thing. I explained it doesn’t affect my vision at all, and I genuinely do not know the “drifting/not tracking” even happens. During my rehab, I did undergo vision therapy at the VA, and that is, I guess, when it more or less became official as my therapist noticed it almost straight away, and ever since then it’s been a lot more obvious, ‘cause it’s now impossible to miss in photos. At my most recent eye exam, I told doc I had it, and he told me there were things that could be done about it, but since it doesn’t affect my vision, he didn’t see the need and left that decision up to me, of course with the caveat that there’s a chance it could be made worse or actually affect my vision. I opted not to bother. Unrelated but I do wear glasses now, they issued them to me at basic, though it’s for near sighted-ness and the right lens is a lot stronger than the left.

Basically my eyeball was wonky from the start and never really got fixed and then I got my brain scrambled real good and it’s wonkier than usually but fuck it, it works.

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cryptidartist · 5 years

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Emergency Commissions: Dumb Bitch Edition!

Yeah, so. Long story short, I’ve got a couple things between military, scams, saving accounts, and car accidents stacking up this week and normally I’d be able to handle it, but this paycheck I can’t :( after doing some guesstimating math, i’m going to $375ish short this paycheck and if im luckly, only have about...20? bucks for gas and food

Mostly it’s because I’m a dumb bitch :’)

If you want to read all the things in slight detail that are making me do this it’s below the cut, but I mean. hey. art :D

ANYWAYS

$15 bust - only humanoids

From the time I start working, it might only take me roughly an hour to an hour and a half to finish a bust*

$30 Waist up - humanoids only

I can pump these out in roughly two-three hours once I start, depending on the level of detail. Armor and complex will cost between $5 and $15 dollars more, on a TBD basis, so make sure to ask!

*I’m probably going to be working on these Monday and Friday mostly, but maybe one or two on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If I get enough that I have to go into the weekend, then I’ll be able too do them

1 - This one isn’t my fault; Every third Wednesday of the month, I’m supposed to meet up with my Air Force recruiter and the other AF recruits. However, our recruiter got stationed over at the MEP station and they wouldn’t let him go early. I also typically work Wednesdays, but I scheduled off every third Wednesday, because, c’mon. The government makes me go. I’m pretty much owned by the government. Ain’t got much of a choice. So, it got rescheduled, so I’m now missing TWO Wednesdays in a row, which are usually my longest days, which means I’m missing out on about not eight but sixteen hours of pay. ow.

2 - my fault but i’m trying to be somewhat responsible. my paycheck deposits $100 dollars into my savings account every time, which is usually 1/3rd to 1/4th of my paycheck. this time it’s probably gonna be closer to 1/3rd and that’s ow. ‘but why can’t you pull it out?’ you ask. cuz. i’m a babey (17) and my mom is the holder of the savings account and i can’t actually see my savings account, and because she’s trying to teach me responsibility and fun stuff like that, since I now have a job, she wants to see at least $75 dollars each paycheck in that savings account

3 - i would literally have $200 more dollars if i didn’t let myself get scammed out of it because I was trying to sell a dress on ebay, a scammer found it, said he wanted to send his friend gift cards, and :^) you can probably guess the rest

4- the biggest dumb bitch move so far. I rear ended someone Friday. Thankfully and also sadly, my car took all the damage. I was going to start paying mom for the car (she’s got about 2.5k left on paying it off, and then i’d pay her for it until i owned it) but it’s also a 2003 car, and if they deem it too old to bother fixing, they’ll total it out. but if they don’t, I need to replace the front fender? or the thing below it, the grill, the radiator, an oil pipe, and the fans, as well as all the lovely fluid that goes in those. Then the car’s also been needing new tires (as the rear passenger has a nail in it so needs to be aired up every week or so, then all the tires are starting to get dryrot and also worn treads) and new shocks and struts - which are the only thing that would need to be taken into a shop for because my mom’s a mechanic, she just doesnt have the tools for shocks and struts mom guesstimated that fixing the car and replacing everything would run about $1000 dollars, plus her payment, roughly $3.5k

plus, with me going into the military, i’m really only going to be using this car for about two more months, and then i don’t really foresee me going off base during tech school that much and who knows how long that will take, so the car won’t see all that much use and i was planning on saving up for a new car anyways. i like new toys >->

but! on top of that. I also have a $165 fine for causing the accident - for following too closely. I’m suprised but very glad it wasn’t more because it was a 3 car accident. I dropped something (don’t even remember what) and panicked, looked down for half a second, slammed into the back fender of another car who was slowing down, who tried to swerve to avoid the car in front of them who was slowing down to make a left handed turn, failed, and sideswiped them. thankfully the first hit car only needed a wash and the sideswiped car really only needed a paint job, but still. oops. >->

#commission prices #commissions open #emergency commissions #well #not really emergency but more stabalization commissions almost

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keywestlou · 3 years

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BORING NEWS TODAY

News today boring. Never thought I would say or write the statement.

I went through my usual news items to select topics for today’s blog. Nothing turned me on. Much news, all dull. I suspect it is because Trump is not dominating the news with his extravagant wild claims and thoughts.

Ergo, I do not want to bore you either. As a result today’s blog will have Day 12 of Greece the First Time and only a couple of items I thought might interest you.

Super Bowl! A big evening ahead.

I have learned in life that a good deed is generally repaid at some point. Even though the person performing the deed expects nothing in return.

Back in the late 1980s, I was Chairman of the Syracuse University Law school Board of Visitors. As such, I was in a position to extend many favors. And I did. The favors generally parents asking me to help get their children into law school or the University itself.

I was successful in each instance. Interestingly out of all I assisted in gaining admittance, only one did not make it. He flunked out.

There were a few instances where I did not know the parents. Whether I knew them or not, I would not offer assistance till I met with a student, reviewed his grades, etc.

I never met the parents of one student I now share with you.

The individual who handled my firm’s pension plan was a Utican and personal friend. He was big time in the pension field. For example, he represented the entire Buffalo Bills with regard to their pension plans.

He visited with me and asked if I could help in the following fashion. The Buffalo Bill’s Vice-President of Marketing had a younger brother who wanted to become an attorney. His college grades were very much on the low side. He also had a drug problem problem at one time.

I helped his brother. I think I talked with the older brother two times on the telephone.

The young man was admitted to Syracuse. Got through. Today is a partner in a major Buffalo law firm.

Beginning with the first Super Bowl game following my obtaining admittance for his brother, the Vice-President sent me two tickets every year to that year’s Super Bowl game. I don’t recall if Buffalo ever played in one.

Every year forever it seemed. The best seats!

My son and I used them every year. My recollection we attended 2 of the Supper Bowl games in New Orleans.

I assume my son now receives the tickets.

His thank you went a step further.

My oldest grandchild Sara graduated from college. She was interested in a marketing position. A request was made to the Vice-President who without an extra breath said don’t worry.

Sara immediately went to work for the Buffalo Bills in Marketing upon graduation. This was some time in the early 1990s. She is still there.

One good deed deserves another is apparently true.

In glancing through today’s news, I only came up with one item I thought interesting. Concerns sex and coronavirus.

The police recently raided a sex orgy commonly known as a swingers property in the Town of Collegian outside Paris. I label the event a sex orgy because that it is how the newspaper article identified the event.

The party was in a warehouse. Eighty one adults of all ages involved.

All 81 were arrested.

A problem arose as to what the charge should be. A sex arrest apparently was considered too heavy.

Coronavirus was and still is a major problem in France. Curfew the evening of the party was 9 pm. The raid was at 11 pm. Each of the 81 was charged with violation of curfew. Each fined 135 euros.

I suspect many at the event were persons of prominence. Nine were lawmakers from other countries.

France is not alone in breaking curfew in such fashion. Belgium, also. In fact, Belgium has a reputation in Europe for sex parties which the French call “partouges.” Belgium apparently is the country to visit for a sex party.

A small party. Only 52. A birthday party.

The party was held in a town 2 minutes from the French border. The party house was located next to a COVID clinic.

I know nothing useless about the event. Who was present, charges if any, etc.

Brussels recently had a party also. This one limited to the male sex. Twenty five involved.

I know nothing about the arrests, charges, disposition of the cases, etc.

One thing the media did carry however is that one of the participants was an MEP member. Hungary’s Jozel Szajer. He was caught bare ass going out a back window. He resigned his official position a few days later bcause of “ill health.”

Coronavirus comes into play. I assume swingers do not wear masks and do social distance. Virus infections have to be off the wall.

Thus far, France has had 3.3 million cases of coronavirus. From that number, 78,000 have died.

Belgium has Europe’s worst COVID-19 infection rate. Note the use of the term “rate.” Additional information showed Belgium to have 720,000 cases with 21,000 dead.

I label these sex orgies/swinging parties pure insanity. These are the days when coronavirus is easily acquired. How can these people not consider the danger involved.

Recall when AIDS came upon the scene. Social sex suffered an immediate death.

I am certain the Super Bowl parties last night and tonight following the game in New Orleans will violate all protective rules. New Orleans a great party town at Super Bowl time. Remember, I was there twice.

Huge clubs. People dancing shoulder to shoulder. Bodies pressed together at huge bars while people drank. Even the bathrooms a danger zone. Men and women facilitates meant nothing. Both sexes will fill the facilities together. Drugs will be rampant.

Louisiana’s numbers a month from now will be interesting. There has to be a significant rise in numbers of those infected. As will the communities from which persons came when their residents return home.

No one seems to care.

DAY 12…..Greece the First Time

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Key West Lou

I took a walk yesterday morning. Not sure why. I really did not need the exercise. With all the steps and hills here, I am exercising constantly.

I guess I was in the mood to explore.

I went to the donkey trail. The one I spoke about yesterday. Five hundred plus steps. Side of a mountain. This time I went close.

It stunk! Big time! Of donkey urine and shit! Who would want to ride a donkey surrounded by such a stench!

As I arrived at the start, I saw a bunch of women walking up the donkey path. Beside the donkey excretions, the path is loaded with all size rocks and dirt. Not the best place from my perspective to exercise.

As soon as they reached the top, the ladies turned around and started back down.

One of them did not. I went over to speak with her. What are you ladies doing? Turns out they exercise there every morning. They walk up and down the donkey path. How many times? Till we get tired! What about the stink? We try to stay ahead of it. Why do you do it? It is 2,000 feet up and 2,000 feet down. To keep thin. But you all look thin. Oh no, she said. Look at my belly. I eat too much and have to do this.

Female vanity!

As I was walking back to my cave accommodation along the road, a small car drove up fast. Parked on the side with the ass end of the vehicle butting out into a narrow heavily traveled road. The windows were closed. The driver got out and walked away. He obviously was looking for someone. Three or four minutes later he returned. With a wife or girl friend. Saw them come around the corner of a building. They got into the car and drove off. Sitting in the back in a car seat was a baby less than one year old.

I rented a car. Finally. Wanted to see more of the island.

A Fiat. Small. Clutch/shift. I learned on one so no problem.

I was off to Red Beach. To see the topless and totally bare women!

Santorini is a strange place to rent a car. The gas tank is empty when you pick the car up. The nearest gas station miles away. The rental place puts two liters of gasoline into the car. From two used water bottles. Then tells me it will get me to the gas station…..sometimes it is closed…..you may have a problem.

What the hell!

Off I went. As I drove, I thought what a thief. People return rented cars with gas left in the tank. He must be siphoning it out and reselling it to gas stations. After first filling some empty water bottles, of course.

I made it to the gas station. It was open.

Greek gas stations still pump your gas. They should for what it costs!

You buy by the euro. Big shot me asked for 30 euro. Gasoline is $12 American money a gallon here. Thirty euro got me 3 1/2 gallons. Not even a half a tank.

Gasoline is gold!

I will never complain in the US again about the price of gasoline. $4 a gallon would be considered a bargain, a steal, here.

My goal was Red Beach. The place for nudity.

I got lost of course. Finally found it by just driving roads that seemed to go in the direction I thought the beach was. A one half hour drive took me an hour and a half. Don’t say I should have looked at the signs. Good luck! The signs were all in Greek.

I did not mind. I got to see other parts of the island. No other part compares to Oia, I learned. Oia is heaven, not Santorini itself.

The roads suck. Driving an experience. Very narrow two lane roads. Curves frequently. Sharp curves. None gradual as in the US. The curves come up and are just there. Some very tight turns. Like the curve in a hairpin. Buses dominate. They drive 2 feet over into your lane. There is no parking on the roads. People park on the roads anyhow. Tightens the road up a bit.

All I could think of was Greece is a country that built the cave dwelling I am living in, Acropolis and the Parthenon. Why couldn’t it build better roads?

I finally ended up at Red Beach. When I stopped the car, I knew it had to be Red Beach. I was at the end of the island. The only place else I could drive was into the sea.

I had a little difficulty locating Red Beach itself. Had to walk up a relatively small mountain. Over a dirt rocky path. When I thought the water was feet away, it was not. I had merely reached the top of the knoll. As I looked down, I could see Red Beach about a quarter of a mile away.

Red Beach so called because it is lava created. A high black lava mountain surrounds it on three sides. A black beach. Black water. From the volcano eruption 3,500 years ago. Why called Red then? Because there are spottings of red on the mountain wall, beaches and in the water. Where it came from, what it is, I never found out.

My concern was how to get to the beach. Then I saw it. A narrow three foot path running around the center of the lava mountain. About mid way up. No wall. The lava mountain on one side of you and a sharp fall the other. Not for me. I opted to leave, never got to Red Beach itself. Never saw bare breasted or bare assed women. I did not care. My personal safety overcame my perversions. I am getting old.

I spent the balance of the afternoon sitting under an umbrella by the pool. Overlooking the Aegean Sea. The view spectacular.

In Key West, visitors are constantly told to walk down any street. Never know what will be found. A Seven Fish. Michael’s Restaurant. a coffee house. a corner store with great Cuban toast, a cute art gallery. Whatever.

I got off the beaten path last night. Walked down a side street. Actually an alley. I saw a bit of light in the distance. A bar, a restaurant? Down the alley I went. There it was. The Argonaut Restaurant. A taverna. Small.

A locals place. They all stared at this obvious tourist as I walked in.

A great place! The best food! Made a ton of new friends!

The tables were small carpenter work horses. A thick 4 inch slab of wood on top. Seats were small barrels with a pad to sit on.

I had a delicious sausage. Several meats. More about the sausage I cannot tell you. Fried potatoes and a salad. Stuffed wine leaves to start. Two gins. For desert that Greek specialty. I forget the name. Baklava, I think. A flaky cake buried in honey. Topped by a double espresso. The whole bill was 19 euros. About $24 American money.

I shall return!

I walked the marble walkway behind the cave apartments on the way home. The path runs on top of the caves. Great stores and restaurants along the way. It was 11 in the evening. My walk about 1/2 mile. I saw a total of 7 people.

There is no night life in Oia. At least not that I have discovered.

I spoke this morning with Nikos. Where were the people? A bad year so far, he said. People are not traveling. The economy once again. The euro problem.

Key West three years ago. But not as bad.

Another example of the poor economy. Having decided to leave Red Beach, I was thirsty. I saw a bar near where my car was parked. I walked over. What appeared to be the proprietor was seated on the porch. Water? No water. Soda. No soda. Beer? No beer. Gin? No gin. So the conversation went. I looked at him as if to say….Come on, this is a bar. He looked at me as if he could read my mind and said…..No business, out of business. He had owned and operated the place for 32 years. He had to recently close. The euro problem. No business.

I seem to make friends easily on this trip. I have a few coffee buddies. I stop by a small coffee place a couple of times a day to chat with them. We have arrived. We can understand each other. Though neither speaks the other’s language.

Santorini and the Greek Isles are mere dots on the map. Of no significant size. Perhaps of no significance. Its inhabitants simple folk. Have been here their whole lives as their ancestors before them. They do not know life as we do.

I had sensed that people here did not understand what a blog was. Even when explained, it was Greek to them. Christina the beauty parlor owner, Nikos the cave hotel owner. They smile and look at you blankly when you speak of blogs. The same reaction with my espresso drinking friends.

Most people here work to eat. What they earn goes for food and a roof over their heads. They know nothing of pensions. They will work till the day they die.

Different.

Enjoy your day!

BORING NEWS TODAY was originally published on Key West Lou

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bisexualtimothylawrence · 6 years

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Ok, so. I said in the tags of my last reblog that I had an example of how toxic and pervasive diet culture and fatphobia is in the US. Here goes.

This is LONG so. Under the cut. Mind the trigger warnings for discussions of weight, calorie counting, caloric restriction, fat shaming, food shaming, abusive behaviours, misogyny, and the military. If I missed anything, I apologise, and please let me know so I can tag it.

A note in case this is distributed beyond my followers: I’m a transgender male. The experiences I talk about below are about military training for women, as trans people could not (and cannot) serve as their true gender in the US. Do not refer to me using she/her pronouns or terms such as “woman”, “female”, or “girl”. The use of the words “women” and “men” below should be understood to refer to assigned gender at birth, and not the actual genders of anyone involved.

I used to be enlisted in the Marines. You know, the branch of the US military that prides itself on being the toughest, most combat ready branch - every Marine a rifleman and all that jazz. (Spare me your opinions on the military; that’s not the point of this post.)

Now, one of the things they really go hard on is that every Marine receives the same basic training, and I can say from personal experience it is difficult, physically demanding training. You are up at 0500 and not going to bed until 2200. Most days on Parris Island start with PT - usually some mixture of running and body weight exercises - continue on to walking fucking everywhere, have several nice sessions of practising synchronised walking, and include martial arts training. In addition, you will more likely than not receive incentive training - a polite way of saying you’ll be doing pushups or side-straddle hops until your drill instructor is tired. And you’ll be expected to work on physical fitness during your free time - oh, they don’t flat out tell you what to do, as it is free time… but it’s highly encouraged. Highly. Encouraged.

So. You would think. That because of how demanding all this is. That men and women would eat the same.

Wrong.

I know this because I was part of the 4th Recruit Training Battalion - the only training battalion for women Marines. Which meant I got to see the difference in chow, as during rifle training, women recruits eat from one of the male battalions’ dining halls - it’s by the rifle range. I think it was 2nd Bn’s, but it’s been a decade and I don’t recall exactly, nor do I want to look it up as this post is emotionally taxing to make as it is.

The 4th Bn chow hall had caloric contents posted for everything. The 2nd Bn chow hall only had it for the diet food.

The 4th Bn chow hall, you were served one slice of toast or half a bagel. 2nd Bn served two slices of toast or the whole bagel.

4th Bn you could have margarine OR peanut butter. 2nd Bn could have both butter and peanut butter.

The box lunches provided from the 4th Bn hall had: one meat and cheese sandwich, one apple, one orange, one hard-boiled egg, one granola bar, catsup, mustard, and miracle whip.

The box lunches provided from the 2nd Bn had: one meat and cheese sandwich, an apple OR an orange, two hard-boiled eggs, one granola bar, a bag of chips, and some form of dessert. Plus the condiments.

(Vegetarian lunches got a peanut butter sandwich, but I don’t recall what replaced the egg. I digress.)

We were made to hand the chips and dessert over to the drill instructors, and some of them would take the granola bar too - dunno why, because it was also part of the women’s box lunch. I guess because we were getting an extra egg - I’m getting to why that’s my guess in a moment.

Official policy, of course, is that we were allowed to eat anything provided. As the drill instructors angrily pointed out one day in the 2nd Bn chow hall. I don’t know who had the balls to complain about the fact we were yelled at when we ate the entire bagel served to us, or that we were supposed to ask for the diet option… but the next few meals were supervised by the officers.

See, the big thing the drill instructors harped on was that we weren’t here to be fat. Women Marines are not fat, never fat, fat is disgusting, eating chips is disgusting, cookies are disgusting… you get the idea. (Thus why we had to turn in the granola bar from the male box lunch - it was basically a cookie, and we had an extra egg so we didn’t really need the granola bar, now did we? Fuck the vegetarians I guess, as they had to hand over theirs as well because otherwise they’d be getting ‘special treatment’.)

So, whilst they’d figured out that male recruits needed a fuckload of calories to complete training… they hadn’t figured that out for the women.

It seemed like once you were labelled a “diet recruit”, that label stayed with you no matter what. But “double ration” recruits? Unless you came in with MEPS saying you needed extra food - rare, as this generally required a weight waiver - you could be pulled off double rats as soon as you hit minimum weight. Only to be put back on at next week’s weigh-in when you dropped below minimum. And you lost double rats if you were moved to a different platoon, until weigh-ins there.

Maybe those things happened to the men, too. I don’t know. But male recruits still got more food overall.

Because we also weren’t allowed double rats at the rifle range because “the men’s chow has more calories.”

My weight was in a constant state of fluctuation because I couldn’t eat enough to maintain minimum weight for someone two inches shorter than me on regular rations. So I’d drop below minimum by a Lot. Get put on double rats. Gain weight. Hit minimum just in time for weekly weigh-in. And since Women Marines aren’t fat, I’d get dropped back to regular rations. You would think at some point someone would have noticed the pattern, but no.

Remember how I said caloric contents were posted? I decided to calculate how much I was eating. I figured out that on regular rations I was hitting 2800-3000 calories a day, on days I got everything I was allowed to… which was most days. Unless they were serving turkey curry. (Gd that stuff was a unique brand of awful.) Which means on doubles? I was eating 6000 calories. At the rifle range, I was lucky if I hit 2200 calories, as we had to - ahem - sorry, I meant were strongly encouraged to eat like male diet recruits.

Diet recruits were at ~1800 a day, iirc. I honestly don’t know how they survived; I remember one woman who was obviously becoming thinner, but the scale showed no difference. A sensible person would have realised she was (somehow) gaining muscle.

She got extra incentive training and closer supervision at meals because clearly she was sneaking food because she couldn’t stop being a fatty.

Oh, and the above caloric intake doesn’t accurately represent the average recruit’s intake. Nominally you have 20 minutes to eat, from the time you sit down. In reality, the drill instructors count starting when the first recruit in the platoon sits down - if you’re lucky. If you aren’t, time starts when the first recruit enters the chow hall. Either way, unless you’re one of the first people in, you’re fucked. And generally they had the diet recruits go first so they could be more supervised… and double rats went last.

(See, I got very good at eating quickly. Too good, actually. Apologies to anyone who was ever in a platoon with me, because I was typically near the end of the line no matter what, and I was typically one of the first recruits up and out the door. Mainly because once ONE person finished, they started yelling about the rest of us being slow and taking our good ol’ time. It was less stressful for me to finish up - clean tray always because they also yelled about wasted food - and head outside to recite knowledge. Unfortunately, it meant everyone else got yelled at because, “[Blue] is done and [he] sat down after all of you!” ::wince:: )

A common impression was that most women just couldn’t hack it because they were too weak… stress fractures were a common reason women got dropped back in training. The other most common reason was not meeting PT standards. Most women I met in the separation platoon were either too sick or injured to complete training… or suicidal.

I personally wonder how much of those problems would have been fixed with adequate nutrition. How many women suffered injuries they shouldn’t have because they were malnourished? How many women crumbled under stress because they were malnourished? Lack of nutrition weakens the body and causes and exacerbates symptoms of mental illness.

This post is hard to write because - again, spare me the opinions on the US military complex, I know it’s bad - I spent so much of my life wanting to be a Marine. I wanted to die for the longest time after being discharged. I spent six fucking months on Parris Island. And how many of the problems I had could have been solved by just being allowed to fucking eat?! How. Fucking. Many.

The hardest weeks were the ones where I was frantically stuffing as much food as I was allowed in my mouth, knowing it wasn’t enough, and knowing I’d be in trouble if I tried to get more. The rifle range was where I fractured my sacrum and had my first mental breakdown - ‘coincidentally’, that was when we were all forced to eat like diet recruits.

It. Really makes me wonder. Really fucking makes me wonder. If we, as a nation, could get past the fucking preoccupation with “fat=bad”, how much better off everyone would be. Because I could have completed recruit training if I’d just been allowed to eat. And I don’t know if my life would be better…

but I do know that it is really fucked up that even the United States fucking Marine Corps is so fucking worried about women getting fat that they’d sooner starve recruits than risk a woman being more than exactly the minimum weight for her height. That what is supposed to be one of the best fighting forces in the world cares more about what women look like than anything else.

So, yeah. Fuck anyone who says it’s about health and physical fitness. Because even in the military it’s all about the idea of fat bodies being aesthetically displeasing, regardless of what they can do or how healthy they actually are, to the point of literally starving people just to make sure they don’t get fat.

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ledenews · 4 years

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What Stinks Most about this COVID-19 Crisis?

It’s different, that is for sure, and aspects change from day to day. Grandparents can’t see their grandchildren. Commencement exercises cannot take place in a traditional fashion. Proms are canceled, nursing home are closed to visitors, and unemployment has soared since non-essential businesses were ordered closed by governors in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. In those three states alone, nearly 20,000 citizens have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus, and more than 400 have passed away. Nationwide, the death toll is expected to reach 13,000 this week, and schools are set to remain closed at least until May. “My mother cried when I told her I wouldn’t be there for Easter dinner,” said Brad Worls, a Wheeling Park graduate who works in western Pennsylvania.

Terrific organizations like Street Moms and Project Hope have been working hard to help the city of Wheeling’s homeless population stay safe during the pandemic. “(We’ve) not been able to hold and play with our grandkids,” explained Rick Healy, city manager of the city of Moundsville. “We see them through the window or as a drive by. It’s just not the same.” Healy is not alone. “I’ve not been able to see my grandkids,” said Tammy LeMasters-Gross. “One day I stopped at their house, stayed in my car, they came out on the balcony just so I could see them and have some small talk.” “We live over 70 miles from the grandkids, so we usually have them every other weekend,” explained Lara Williams. “We attend all sporting, dance, gymnastic events, so what has bothered me the most is the social distancing from my grandkids.”

Administrators of Ohio County Schools have worked with faculty and staff to continue educational and nutrition programs.

Unofficial Facebook Poll

With the “stay at home” in place throughout the tris-state region, many have flocked instead to social media platforms for social interaction, and that is why this question was posed earlier this week: "What has been the biggest inconvenience for you during the past four weeks? No school? No job? Boredom? Loneliness? Working and schooling at home? You tell me, and please explain." Nearly 100 comments later, it was clear people were social distancing in order to avoid infection, but it was also apparent that online communication just isn’t the same. Jason Treuman, a local musician in the Wheeling area who plays solo gigs and is a member of a few different bands, relied on those performance for the majority of his person-to-person contact. “No job, loneliness,” he answered. “My job was how I stayed social.”

Officials with the city of Wheeling have been in contact with the owners of the OVMC campus and they have discuss a possible sale. Robert Gaudio can relate. A public defender out of Ohio County, how Gaudio goes about performing his duties has changed, and so has his “Troubadouer” performance schedule. “Not being able to safely visit my clients, particularly those in jail,” he answered, “(The) inability to visit family and friends, and no music gigs at local establishments.” “I’ve been put on the FMLA Leave at 75 percent of my pay,” posted Heidi Howard. “(I’m) grateful I still have a job but as a single mom this is a struggle. And the BOREDOM. “Lord have mercy I don’t know how people stay at home and don’t work,” she said. “My house is spotless, and the laundry is caught up … ugh; BORED is an understatement. Lol.”

Playgrounds like the Wilson in North Wheeling have been closed throughout the upper Ohio Valley.

Closed and Canceled

Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Stay six feet away. And wash you hands again. Over and over we’ve been offered those pieces of solid advice to remain safe during these pandemic times, but life has changed in ways never imagined. “Watching it emotionally affect my family and not being able to do anything about it (is the worst part),” explained Charlie McCord, a Wheeling native now living in South Carolina. “My oldest son is locked down in San Francisco; my second son's wedding this past weekend was cancelled; my third son was to start a job in the kitchen at QS&L; and my poor daughter has not only had her college graduation cancelled, but also her boards for the Doctorate of Physical Therapy.” Others can relate, too. The interruption of my daughter’s senior year of high school,” said Kara Gray. “We had to postpone an educational trip to Spain, and have no idea if prom, senior dinner dance, and graduation, will happen.” My granddaughter and I were looking so forward to her senior year,” explained Linda Stradwick Scott. “Prom dress (was) bought. and now it’s cancelled, (and) graduation is in limbo. “I miss my grandsons, especially my youngest, because it’s hard to explain why we can’t physically be with each other. Just FaceTime, which I’m grateful for,” the Wheeling resident continued. “I worry for the safety of my family. Not being able to hug and plant a kiss, I miss that connection.”

The crews at Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration have been very busy the past few weeks disinfecting areas where employees will return sometime in the future.

Through a Window

For some, it’s about the grandchildren, but for others this pandemic has prevented them from visiting parents residing in local nursing homes because those facilities had halted visitation in mid-March to avoid a saddening situation like what has happened in the state of Washington and in the Morgantown area. “I am missing my grandson like crazy! And there’s the stress over grocery shopping and especially getting things to my mom in a senior building,” said Janie Murray. “Plus, not being able to help and see her and not know if she's taking her medications. The anxiety and paranoia about having to go out for needs is getting to me.” “There are two things,” added Keri Boring Schultz. “Not being able to visit my father in the nursing home, and not being able to witness my son officially being sworn into the Air Force on Wednesday at MEPS in Beckley before shipping to basic military training on Wednesday.” Connie Cilles Roy, a resident of St. Clairsville, summed it up for many others living here in the Upper Ohio Valley. “(I haven’t been) really inconvenienced,” she posted. “But I sure miss being around people.” Read the full article

#belmontcounty #coronavirus #COVID19 #MarshallCounty #Ohio #ohiocounty #pennsylvania #WestVirginia

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thiswaycomessomethingwicked · 6 years

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@robot-lolo

oh god Krennic WHAT DID YOU DO. haha. crazy is good. canon deviation is accepted. it’s going to be fucking glorious. i’m very dim-witted and currently have no theory on how exactly Joachim of Fiore ties into this. also, can Krennic’s dad have his own show on the holonet.

He was jumping from a building that he rigged to explode. Life’s been intense over the last little while for him.

And remember the Fiorites? They were mentioned a few times in PS. They’re going to show up.

On Lexrul there is a group of people who follow certain precepts to their life. They revere asceticism, go about in thin robes, live simply within their communes and avoid communicating with those they deem as Other. Which, in Krennic’s experience, is everyone who is not them. Reviling sexual-based reproduction the only way they gain followers is to convert new members which is at odds to their avoidance of those without of their community. Fiorites is the term he had grown up hearing them called for they do have a name for themselves but they rarely divulge it to others.

‘It’s supposed to bring death,’ Adkin replies.

They’re reviewing plans for the armoury bay above the MEP and a discussion of refracted light play made its way into a conversation on faith. Adkin had asked if Krennic believed in anything outside of himself and the empire and he had replied that he might be eccentric by some measures but he’s hardly foolish.

‘What is?’

‘If you hear their name. It’s a very morbid sort of group.’

‘Cult, Lieutenant.’

‘Are they? I suppose. Then would the Jedi be a cult?’

‘Certainly.’

‘I think that you are applying a very loose understanding of the word “cult” to these people, sir. They have a set of beliefs, they follow them in their quiet way and hardly bother anyone else.’

Krennic pulls up the schematics for the armoury and flips through them. ‘They’re keen on that, though. Death. Wasn’t it a group of Fiorites who killed themselves thirty-odd years ago? Drank the wrong blue milk.’

‘Fringe group, sir. They were lead by some extremist of their sect and believed that the universe was ending and the only way to avoid obliteration in the ultimate End was to pre-date that ultimate End. Has to do with how they understand time and space and materiality.’

‘But you’re dead either way. Does it matter if you’re killing yourself in a desert or if you die with the Universe? Death is the end result.’

‘Yes, sir. But they have a lot of complicated beliefs around what happens after death. There are three ages and according to most Fiorites, including the um, “mainstream” ones, we’re at the end of the second age and we have to do something to precipitate the third.’

‘Like what?’

‘Varies. Some say we must begin a massive, universe-wide war, others say that we all must become Fiorites and follow the Light. I’m a bit dodgy on the details.’

Krennic hums. Thinks that it’s all ridiculous and while he doesn’t subscribe to the religion of the Jedi at least he’s seen the power of the force. This sounds like all of that bullocks but without the political power and what’s the point in believing in something if you don’t get anything out of it? This he posits to Adkin who shrugs.

‘I think that’s the point of faith, sir. It’s supposed to be like falling.’

‘Absolute rubbish. How do you know all of this?’

She shrugs, ‘I had a brief flirtation with turning to ethnographic studies, sir. Particularly removal-extremism. How people break from broader society in an extreme measure, what precipitates it, what are the outcomes, group dynamics and so on. And particularly the role of isolationist doctrine and, naturally, personality cults.'

‘So you turned from that to...architecture?’

‘Architecture is an extension of the human condition, sir. It’s representative of the broad strokes of any given society.’

‘You know, Lieutenant, you’re possibly too smart for your own good.’

‘Yes, sir, I’ve heard that before.’

He collapses the schematics and unplugs the data-key. ‘But don’t let that stop you.’

Krennic puts the madness of the Fiorites and others like them down to the desert. Lexrul is a contradictory planet with harsh desert clashing against lush rain-forest which dips down to warm oceans and all of it filled with things that do their best to kill you. Cities generally hug that coastline and keep to the exterior of the three main continents because everyone knows that the interior can kill a man. Drive him to insanity. A desert is not silent in the way that mountains are not silent in the way that any landscape on any planet is not silent. There is wind and trees and creatures clattering in their own spheres, making noise, living, even if there is no human present to provide them with true existence through hearing and knowing and seeing.

But the desert is not a world for mankind. The perception of emptiness, although not true, invades thoughts and clings to your mind and your bones so you ache with loneliness. There is a claustrophobia to the desert. To that sky and the land around you harsh and red which work as well as any wall to close in and compound down upon a mind. Men go to the desert to die or to go mad in the belief that the madness is enlightenment. Krennic wonders if there is not already the seeds of their eventual descent already growing in their minds before they leave civilization for the wilderness.

Nial had spoken of the call. That he had been a young man and had once wanted to venture out to the desert in a vain attempt at conquering but mankind cannot conquer what made it. Krennic thought that the conclusion was faulty but did not push the point. He had then asked his father what he imagined desert-induced madness to be like and Nial had replied, ‘oh, rather like falling I shouldn’t wonder.’

The sigil of the Fiorites is a red circle with a line ascending upwards that loops around and goes to the right a little. The circle is usually coloured in. It’s supposed to be the desert sun with mankind on top. In the way that mankind likes to be on top of everything from mountains to one another. Falling, Krennic thinks with disgust, it’s a terrible position to be in.

All that said, Krennic’s dad needs a show on the holonet more than anything else in the multiverse. HE’D BE SO GOOD.

‘Look at that one, she’s a beaut.’ ‘Dad that’s a fifteen foot long monster.’ ‘Absolute beaut, Orson. I’m goin’ ta wrassle her. Watch me back.’

#reply

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d2kvirus · 5 years

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Dickheads of the Month: April 2019

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of April 2019 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

It was one calamity after another for The Independent Hashtag Change Group Ltd throughout the course of the month, starting with the party limited company being informed that they would not be allowed to use their logo on European election ballots due to some genius having the idea to put a hashtag slogan on the logo. If that wasn't bad enough, soon the party leader Heidi Allen (not to be confused with the bloke who keeps turning up to meetings of party leaders Chuka Umunna) declaring that they would both support Theresa May in the face of any No Confidence vote in Parliament and they were opposed to a general election, which served to make an easy punchline out of them calling themselves Change UK...except when they keep calling themselves TIG, which is the exact reason they weren’t allowed to use their chosen logo on the European election ballot papers. And then when they announced their candidates for the European elections things rapidly went south when Nora Mulready was found to have posted Islamophobic comments and shared far-right material online while Ali Sadjady was found to have described all Romanian migrants as pickpockets and thieves - and then the ultimate irony came when antisemitic comments from Frances Weetman came to light, meaning that evidence of racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia were evident from their candidates, and all that the party limited company could do was bleat about “smears” as if a sizable percentage of their MPs has not been screeching “Corbyn’s an antisemite!!!” for over a year

With crocodile tears in her eyes Anna Soubry told the BBC how terrible it was that Nick Boles’ customs union proposal lost in parliament by 21 votes and that, with Boles being bullied out of the Tories by UKIP entryists in his local party, he would be welcome in The Independent Group Ltd - somehow neglecting to mention that she and her ten mates in The Independent Group Ltd all voted against Boles’ proposal, which is not just a funny way to show how welcome he would be in the party but also means that those eleven votes were the reason his proposal failed in parliament

Waffling gargoyle Nigel Farage announced his new political party that would oppose the EU by having him re-elected to the EU Parliament so he could continue collecting his MEP’s salary in spite his long-standing record of only bothering to turn up if he’s got a video to film for his Youtube channel (before he promptly buggers off as soon as he finishes speaking), but his party is completely legitimate and clearly represents the views of the common man based on their unveiling of their first candidate...Annunziata Rees-Mogg

All the work that Jacob Rees-Mogg has put in to proving himself to be the Europhobe’s Europhobe for the last couple of years came crashing down when he started sharing Alternative für Deutschland posts on Twitter - so not only could he be criticised for sharing material from a far-right group, but the support he’s cultivated for the past two years were frothing at the mouth because he had the gall to share material from a foreign far-right party

Seemingly emboldened by bullying both Boles and Dominic Grieve out of the Tory party, doing a lap of honor Andy Wigmore took to Twitter to threaten any Tory MP who opposed Britait would face deselection - which, considering Wigmore is not a member of the Tory party, immediately confirms the entryism into the Tory party from Arron Banks’ far-right mob that has been taking place

With Labour once again surging in the polls Margaret Hodge took the only action she could think of, which was to secretly tape her talking with Jeremy Corbyn on the subject of antisemitism and then promptly leak the tape to the Sunday Times to prove...I have no idea what she was trying to prove, because releasing the audio strengthened Corbyn’s position while making her look like her agenda has made her legitimately deranged

The far-centre extremists at The Guardian decided, quite coincidentally the day before the local elections, that JA Hobson’s Imperialism was antisemitic all because Jeremy Corbyn wrote a foreword for the 2011 edition - somehow failing to consider that not only had several other people written forewords for this edition, but previous people to speak favourably of the book include Gordon Brown in 2005, Tony Blair in 1995 and...well this is awkward, The Guardian themselves, not least because Hobson previously wrote for them

Having announced his retirement from MMA competition Conor McGregor wanted to give his fanbase one final reminder of what he was like at his peak - but once again making bigoted comments about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s religion, knowing full well that his retirement means Khabib wouldn’t be caving his face in like the last time McGregor spent months making bigoted comments about his religion

Of course Alan Sugar was going to take to Twitter and voice his opinion of Jeremy Corbyn, it’s what he does - and just like every other time he made a complete bellend of himself, first by suggesting that renationalising the UK rail industry is “communism” in spite of the minor fact that countless countries across Europe have nationalised rail industries that are significantly cheaper and more efficient than the privatised mess in the UK, and he followed that up by saying how terrible socialism is while speaking fondly of growing up in a council flat...you know, things that were provided due to social housing programs

Somehow not learning that exposing his ignorance of subjects he mouths off about on Twitter doesn’t work out well for him, it wasn’t long before Alan Sugar once again took to Twitter to give his opinion on Jeremy Corbyn’s plans for income tax - where he demonstrating an alarming lack of understanding of how income tax works, not least with his belief that those earning £100k p/a would pay the same rate as those earning £1m (they wouldn’t) and then veering off into outright making shit up about 70% tax rates

In response to Moise Kean being racially abused by Cagliari fans, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri and centre back Leonardo Bonucci both came to the same conclusion: Kean was at least 50% responsible for celebrating the goal he just scored, which is the exact thing that a player who has been racially abused wants to hear from his manager and one of his teammates

Having apparently not seen the Brass Eye special from 2002 Gordan Strachan came out in defence of convicted child molester Adam Johnson by saying that if he ever set foot on the pitch again the abuse he would receive is just another form of racism...this being the Adam Johnson who was jailed for grooming an underage girl for sex, who has been barred from any activity where he comes into direct contact with youngsters (i.e. ballboys and mascots for football matches), has to sign on the sex offenders register for several years, and contrary to what Strachan said has not served his sentence as he was released on license

Proving that some politicians really haven’t figured out that people can see what they post on social media was prospective Labour councillor Bob Murray who thought it was a very, very clever thing to post that Hitler had the right idea about travelers and asked if anyone could rustle up some gas canisters, a post which subsequently saw him suspended from the party for being a bigoted moron - although quite why The Board of Deputies of British Jews felt the need to issue a statement about this considering that he did not make any antisemitic comments, especially when they did not feel the need to issue statements when Tory councilors such as Bob Frost and Mike Bird made equally bigoted comments, does beg to be asked

Sentient testicle Toby Young appears to be really, really triggered by Greta Thunberg based on him spending several days tweeting any half-baked insult he could think of about her, all of which culminated in deciding that, as her mother once represented Sweden at Eurovision, this makes Greta “privileged” and she should shut her trap - which only serves to underline the complete lack of self-awareness the sentient testicle has, given he only got into Cambridge because his life peer father had a word with the head of admissions after his son tanked his A-Levels

In the space of an interview with The New Statesman Roger Scruton managed to use bizarre conspiracy theories about George Soros that were dripping with undercurrents of antisemitism, be incredibly Islamophobic while also claiming that Islamophobia doesn’t exist and is merely used as a gag to avoid criticism, and wrapped the whole thing up with the old chestnut of saying all Chinese people look the same - so of course, after the Tories removed him from his role of housing tsar we got the usual crap from the usual crapheads, with Paul Joseph Watson agreeing that Islamophobia doesn’t exist so he shouldn’t have been sacked, while GuidoBlog talking of his “greatness”, his treatment was “appalling” according to Melanie Phillips howling into the void, according to Adrian Hilton he’s one of our greatest aesthetes so apparently can be an ignorant bigot to his heart’s content, and sentient testicle Toby Young bawled something about political correctness gone mad...oh, and The Board of Deputies of British Jews weren’t rushing to issue a statement, even though they couldn’t get one out fast enough about Bob Murray the previous day

Of course Roger Scruton wasn’t quite done, as he followed up with some blather about conservative voices being silenced in the media...in a series of radio interviews, which were in response to the criticism he received for an interview with The New Statesman and other comments from interviews with The Spectator, all of which undermines his comment just a tad...

On a similar note Fraser Nelson opined in the Telegraph that the young have never heard the case for Conservatism in the media...especially not in the Telegraph, Daily Mail or Daily Express which do nothing but espouse Conservatism, let alone the BBC and their continued dereliction of duty that now has them straight up pretending Labour policy announcements don’t exist so they can continue telling the world the wonders of Conservatism and let various Conservatives speak unopposed no matter how many lies and falsehoods they litter their interviews on the Today programme with every single week. Or, you know, the fact the Tories have been in power since 2010, which is surely the case for Conservatism as being in power is the only thing the Tories care about

Of course the Notre Dame fire led to the usual “iT wUZ teRRurIzm” howling from the usual suspects from the alt-right, with Michael Savage, Jesse Lee Peterson and Mindy Robinson all being quick to tweet that out while Paul Joseph Watson spammed the exact same tweet accusing Buzzfeed of lying a dozen times in the space of an hour that somehow didn’t trigger Twitter’s spam filters, but the prize turkey has to be Glenn Beck for his assertion that it was Islamic terrorists who started the fire but we aren’t ever going to hear about it, which is the perfect example of Morton’s Fork but certainly not a good example of a reasoned, coherent argument supported by facts or evidence

With the Easter weekend approaching both The Sun and Daily Mail needed something, anything, in order to tide their readers over for a potential long weekend without their constant dogwhistling - which has to be the only logical explanation for running the story that Diane Abbott was seen drinking a tinned mojito on the train, which only led to it being unearthed that Mike Neville had, prior to photographing people sitting on trains having a tipple, was kicked out of the police for sharing far-right material

The only conclusion you could reach after watching the BBC coverage of the Spanish election was that the far-right Vox party had won, given how the headlines and so much of the piece was devoted to them and their supporters - when in actuality Vox finished fifth, while the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) not only won the election but also won the popular vote with 3m more votes than the second-place People’s Party (and almost three times more votes than the fifth-placed Vox) while also picking up a majority in the Senate with 139 of 265 seats

To the surprise of absolutely nobody WWE responded to John Oliver tearing down their widely-known use of “independent contractor” status for wrestlers under contract with the company and the complete lack of health insurance they receive by...not addressing anything he said on those subjects and instead talking about their Wellness Program, which implies that WWE really aren’t too familiar with how the Streisand Effect works

Keeping within the WWE bubble we have “Superstar” Billy Graham making a really helpful suggestion to Kofi Kingston ahead of WrestleMania 35 that, if he wants to look credible, he needs to use steroids - and in the wake of widespread condemnation for making such an idiotic suggestion, Graham did what any sensible person would do - double down on his idiocy by saying that, just because he said Kingston should use steroids, he didn’t mean he should abuse them

Although it does appear that McGregor’s general shitehousery did inspire at least one fighter to follow in his footsteps, which is probably the most logical explanation for Zachary Madsen thinking the best idea to advance his career in the whole wide world would be to assault Bret Hart during the WWE hall of Fame ceremony

It seems that Sky News’ newsreaders really aren’t a happy bunch lately judging by their recent interviews with people outside their increasingly insular bubble, first with Jayne Secker laying in to somebody critical of Article 21 by being patronising and condescending and attempted to turn the interview into an attack on all letters that definitely didn’t make it worth mentioning that Secker is a multiple property landlord herself, soon followed by Adam Boulton harrumphing his way through a trainwreck of an interview with a member of Extinction Rebellion where he huffed and puffed about “incompetent, middle class, self-indulgent people” without a hint of irony as well as trotting out the old chestnut of the left sounding like right-wing fascists...and seemed surprised when the interviewee walked out on him - which led to Sky producer Thomas Newton acting like a smug tosser on Twitter about it while echoing Boulton’s non-arguments

Not wanting to be left behind, the BBC unleashed Nick Robinson to kvetch to another member of Extinction Rebellion how his morning commute is far more important than the climate or the planet’s long-term future

Glorified Twitter trolls Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman hit on a novel idea to politically engage people: by offering people money to falsely accuse Democrat nominee Pete Buttigieg of sexually assaulting them

Already the butt of a constant stream of jibes over Anthem things got worse for Bioware when a Kotaku article revealed the hellish working conditions at the studio during the game’s development cycle that led to numerous members of the team needing to take weeks or months off due to stress-related issues, some of them leaving altogether, yet the company not only had a blase attitude to these issues at the time but responded to the article with a boilerplate statement that focused entirely on one inconsequential point of the article and ignored the more serious allegations altogether

It appears that Nancy Pelosi thought she had too much credibility judging by her decision to hold a meeting discussing the rise of antisemitism with the credibility devoid trio of Ian Austin, Mike Gapes and Chris Leslie - because apparently Rachel Riley, David Baddiel and Matt Lucas were unavailable

So Wayne Hennessey hit upon a brilliant defence for being caught performing a Nazi salute: claim he had no idea what a Nazi salute even was - which somehow The FA accepted, in spite the claim being even less credible than his previous attempt at denying it where he was merely waving at somebody while covering his mouth so they could hear them which just so happened to look like Basil Fawlty entertaining the German guests at his hotel, and the fact that Hennessey has previous for doing the same gesture

Does it need to be explained that Julian Assange is not and never has been a journalist? I have to ask, since Julian Assange’s fanboys have been howling that their narcissistic god being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy is a freedom of the press violation. And that’s the most credible argument they’re trotting out, because they soon devolve into conspiracy theorist drivel after that...

According to Liz Truss the customs union bill lost by more votes than Theresa May’s Britiait proposal...somehow ignoring that the customs union bill lost by just eight votes, while May’s lost by 58 - and I’m sure this will be brought up for the next two years just like Diane Abbott flubbing her figures back in 2017 was...

Having spent the whole of March loudly telling everyone they didn’t understand the offside rule, after losing to Everton Arsenal fans decided now was the time to loudly proclaim they don’t understand what a foul throw is either

And last but by no means least, still finding it difficult to accept that when a report states numerous times you attempted to obstruct the course of justice that does not mean you are cleared on all charges is the inventor of flying water tankers Donald Trump who devoted a lot of time and energy into his oh-so-charming decision of using footage of 9/11 so he could harass Ilhan Omar on Twitter

#dickheads of the month

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jinxedwood · 7 years

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Starting the back end of my degree this year which means I’ll be beginning my thesis preparation as well as creating my first photobook. I mostly do documentary photography which, by its nature, quite socially aware. I was talking with one of my tutors at the end of last year - who is also a documentary photographer - and he had a lot of encouraging things to say but also warned me not to get complacent about my work; that I should try to get ahead of the curve and start creating the dialogue rather than following it.

A tall order, especially when you look at the world we’re currently living in, both home and abroad. A lot of my work recently has been about homelessness, but I’m well aware that this is a symptom rather than the disease, and I’m warily looking at the rise of extremist politics and how certain interests from abroad have been trying over the last few years to create a far right movement in Ireland in order to push a similar agenda as Brexit in the UK. (Using the same tactic as they used in Britain, getting anti EU representatives to run as MEPs in order to sabotage the EU relationship.)

They’re struggling to get a foothold here because of our history of being a colonised country, and their usual dog whistle politics only manages to piss people off. I mean the one time a far right party tried to have a ‘rally’ in Ireland, they got cornered in a pound store off O’Connell street and got their heads kicked by a bunch of socialists so….not popular. I believe the party has a grand total of 600 members and their headquarters are somewhere out in Kildare.

But if you listen to talk radio in Ireland, you can see the beginnings of an effort to normalise right wing talking points and I’m afraid they’ll eventually get their hooks in. (Current topics: but why is our gay Prime Minister so obviously gay, I know that our housing shortage is the worst it’s been in a century but it’s still fault of the homeless, I’m a libertarian except when it comes to women’s reproductive rights- then the state should totally be all up in their vagina)

And this is such an aimless ramble. Lol! Basically, I’m wondering if I could a documentary photography project in Ireland about how international far right politics are affecting Irish discourse without getting my face punched in.

Fun times (not) (Maybe I should just do a project on bees)

#about me

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torentialtribute · 5 years

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MARTIN SAMUEL: Don’t blame the elite for the demise of Bury… their fall is their own business

There is a reason why Steve Dale was able to buy £ 1 for £ 1 last December. Nobody wanted to think of £ 1.50. Not even £ 1.25

Amid the tears and reproaches surrounding Bury & # 39; s sad downfall, this is the reality. They were no longer a financial problem for a long time. As a football club, they held their ground. They won promotion to League One with players they couldn't afford and staff they couldn't afford.

Yet the warnings were even there on that joyful day in Tranmere. The only reason why a chancer like Dale ends up at a football club is because other, more competent business people have looked at it and have run a mile.

Bury & # 39; s removal from the Premier League cannot be attributed to the elite Premier League

This is why, although the fear of Bury & # 39; s fans is completely sincere, part of the reaction to their demise is opportunistic. No, the EFL did not bother to perform the necessary checks on Dale before he bought the club for an amount that can be found at the back of most banks, but what if they had it?

Burial, in all likelihood, would have folded about six months earlier. The outrage that Dale should not have been allowed to buy Bury – and, clearly, he should not – means that this process prevented several more viable candidates from doing the same.

But that is not true.

Bury & # 39; s previous owner, Stewart Day, saw his property empire collapse in insolvency. He had already placed a crippling mortgage on Gigg Lane and his social club.

Bury is now in more trouble than before, unmistakably they were already in a difficult situation when Dale with his many empty promises and false dawn appeared on the scene. Unless he was a brilliant businessman – and his record indicates he isn't – it was a matter of time.

Doom-laden predictions say this will be the start of an avalanche of liquidations in the lower divisions, but now something strange has happened. Bolton are saved. On Wednesday, despite the best efforts of another rogue owner, Ken Anderson, the club was sold to the Football Ventures group.

This does not necessarily mean sunlit highlands ahead, but for now it has caused extinction in one. And that is still too much. But in football – like any other company – it happens. In August 1992, for example, when Maidstone United was unable to start the season and folded; or earlier that year, when Aldershot went. In 1962, Accrington Stanley resigned from the competition mid-season.

Bury fans were harassed after the death of the club association in deportation this week

Do you see something? No Premier League – unless we count the two days in use before the official liquidation of Maidstone.

The 27 years since its foundation has actually been a period of relative stability since three clubs were lost in the 30 years prior to. There has never really been a golden age of football club ownership.

Between 1923 and 1932, Stalybridge Celtic, Wigan Borough and Thames resigned from the competition for financial reasons – and when 30 years passed between Thames and Accrington Stanley, this was probably due to the closed store at the bottom of Division Four, where teams request re-election, often with success, instead of enduring summary degradation.

Without a doubt, the pyramid – it is a brilliant concept – puts more clubs at risk. Darlington, Rushden and Diamonds, Hereford United and Chester City all fell after they dropped out of the competition.

So success can be a factor, but significant financial failure is a guarantee. Clubs fold because they are poorly run, not because Manchester United paid £ 500,000 a week to Alexis Sanchez.

Dave Lewis, CEO of Tesco, earned £ 4.9 million in 2017, but that is not why your local greengrocer was closed. Supermarkets and high street shops exist in the same local space, but one is not responsible for the other.

Manchester United Pay the usual rate on their market and can afford it. If they pay Sanchez, even to play for Inter Milan, they still live within their means, as extravagant as it seems. A contract of £ 500,000 a week that you can afford is your business; a deal of £ 500 a week that you can't be a disaster.

Manchester United pays Alex Sanchez £ 500,000 a week because they can afford it so do that

It's like gambling. The £ 13.6 million that Kerry Packer reportedly lost during three days in Las Vegas in 2000 was no problem for him, but dropping £ 100 is a problem for you if you only have £ 20 in your bank account

So the easy line is to blame Bury & # 39; s crisis and that of other clubs for football companies that have two or three divisions above them operating in completely different markets, with different numbers, requirements and ambitions.

About 25 percent of Bury's income was provided by the Premier League solidarity system, so, what we now know about their precarious finances, the Premier League's money has probably made a difference for several years in the club.

In 2014, Manchester City allowed Bury to use their old Carrington practice area rent-free. Leasing such a site would cost around £ 80,000 annually, but Bury simply had to maintain the facility and pitches, which was not the case, leading to burglaries and general decay.

The water was closed off in one go because of unpaid bills. So how far should this help go?

A brain confidence of local liberal-democratic MEPs and counselors – there were three – came up with the idea of a & # 39; middle-tested Greater Manchester Football Fighting Fund & # 39; with all clubs in pay the region to help them.

Translation: The wealth of Manchester United and Manchester City will be used to support Oldham and Macclesfield. Here is another word for: interference from third parties.

We have no feeder clubs in this country for the same reason. Although Bury and Manchester City are far away, they are technically part of the same pyramid, so they can help but are not directly involved.

Fans were in tears outside the news it was confirmed that the EFL had kicked them out

At the moment that City and United will spend money on other clubs – even through a & # 39; Greater Manchester Football Fighting Fund & # 39; everyone would get their collar felt.

Thank you very much, Liberal Democrats, but don't have a country not to flee? This is all part of the problem. Folk felt wild and thought superficially. Premier League emergency funds, the pot with insurance money in the worst case. And yes, this seems like a good idea: the rich help those who have fallen in difficult times.

But what could Mansfield Town say about that, since they ended up outside League promotion to League One last season and didn't you go through the playoffs? Mansfield paid their players, got their bills, managed their finances successfully, within the limits of League Two football.

Bury not. And now, after taking the berth for a better run and a more responsible club, should Bury again receive a Premier League award to perpetuate that extravagance? And another if they do it again, or is it just the time a club can win promotion with money that it doesn't have?

Karl Evans, CEO of Bury under former owner Day, spoke about the profligate nature of the regime.

& # 39; Stewart made a statement that Bury would become a champion club in five years and that it was gone to him, & # 39; said Evans. & # 39; I would say: & # 39; This is our budget & # 39 ;, but the managers knew which of their buttons to press, although the club couldn't afford it. We had nine strikers in one phase. & # 39;

And this would subsidize a Premier League emergency fund? Bury's right to have nine strikers to support a president's ego-driven promise? And what would that say to the rest of the lower leagues? Spend what you like, what you like – we pay. There is no way to guarantee extreme financial exposure than the Premier League safety net.

The League One club is financially in a dangerous position before Steve Dale arrived

Neville Southall, a former Bury man and understandably looking for answers, said the Premier League clubs in the area could donate young players for free. And if they go to a club that is so impoverished that the water supply is cut off, would that help them?

Young players must be developed. They are placed in clubs that will facilitate their progress, where coaches embrace shared philosophies. Will that happen at Bury, are their coaches of the same spirit as Pep Guardiola, will they prepare the youngsters for life in the Premier League?

And again, where are Mansfield in this? So Bury & # 39; s reward for a reckless surrender season is to end with a fusion of Manchester United and Manchester City & # 39; s youth teams? Why don't we try that? Throw it all against the wall, see who we get? Phil Foden

It may seem cheeky to keep talking about harsh economic reality and logistical possibilities when clubs are part of the local soul. Yet nobody goes to City, United or the Premier League in search of extra soul. It's money they want. The money to support a business model that, for whatever reason, has failed.

Maidstone spent considerable and quick to get into the Football League, which meant that their land was not of sufficient level and they eventually played in Dartford. The club then spent £ 400,000 on a plot of land to build a facility without getting a building permit, which was denied. This placed an unbearable pressure on their finances.

Aldershot & # 39; s debts have been rising for years. On July 31, 1990, the club was liquidated and the official recipient sentenced them as financially insolvent with debts of £ 495,000.

In a typical false messiah, in this case a 19-year-old property developer, Spencer Trethewy, who paid £ 200,000 to save the club, but did not have the money to run it and was fired the following November. He later went to jail for unrelated fraud. By the time Aldershot collapsed in 1992, the club had commitments of £ 1.2 million

Other clubs such as Macclesfield Town have been cited as a club that could follow Bury & # 39; s downfall

Regarding Accrington Stanley, they ran into financial difficulties due to the expensive purchase of a new stand . So three clubs, three different sets of problems – but all with the common denominator of poor business management.

Ipswich Town won the League the year in which Accrington perished; Leeds won the year that Aldershot and Maidstone went. Did that matter? But somehow in 2019 it is the fault of the English football elite that the owner of Bury took a gamble with money he did not have and eventually destroyed the club.

Now we hear a lot about the domino theory: that Bury will tumble and others will follow.

Macclesfield and Morecambe are quoted; Oldham too. But Macclesfield has been financially on the brink for years under the stewardship of Amar Alkadhi, while Morecambe is still recovering from the reign of Diego Lemos, the mysterious Brazilian, who arrived from nowhere and disappeared just as quickly to Qatar.

Both clubs have invested to enter the Football League but have not been properly supported there. Morecambe had League Two from the lowest average gate last season, with Macclesfield two places above them.

It will be difficult for clubs like this at any time in the history of football. As for Oldham, 30 managers, including caretakers and different names twice, since November 1994 tell his own story. That does not happen with any semblance of strategy, nor should it need top-down financing.

The Premier League gives £ 400 million annually to the Football League and while most of it, £ 243 million, is spent on skydiving degraded clubs, £ 105 million is the solidarity share, while more than £ 50 million is entirely from community work and academies to health insurance, pensions and stadium improvements.

It can always be said that the Premier League can do more – but it remains the most radical system of its kind in Europe. And no other country wants to support at least 92 professional clubs. Presence in the third and fourth level of English football is far ahead of their equivalents in other countries.

The EFL must be fit and right people apply more strictly to stop events such as Bury

So where do you come from? Well, clearly, the EFL must test its fit and right people more rigorously, especially when it seems that Dale Bury was allowed to buy with many questions about his funds and unanswered plans.

Still, that would not be a problem if he was still the only interested party. It is worrying, however, that such events lead to more investment restrictions being required, as if, because Bury handles them badly, the same would apply to all owners.

Debbie Jevans, Chairman of EFL, said she would not be in favor of a salary limit. But why should Mansfield and others not be able to run a financially sound company and then, reasonably, try a little? Not like Bury or even Bolton, exactly the kind of good business investment that people in all sectors make when they decide that this is the right time to look up. The kind that gave us Bournemouth.

And yes, investments cannot be guaranteed. But this has always been the case in business and football. Bury, we are constantly reminded, entered the competition 125 years ago. But what happened in the 1893-94 season to facilitate this?

Northwich Victoria ended at the bottom and resigned, but Middlesbrough Ironopolis also folded. However, Aston Villa won the League that year. So maybe it was their fault.

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jeremietheguy · 5 years

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MEPS 2 (Part 1)

And so it was back to Clarion Hotel and MEPS again. A month ago I took the AFOQT and apparently my “very competitive scores” earned me a second trip this time. The purpose for this trip was getting my physical done. I wasn’t worried; I was in great health, had no congenital or incurable disease, and nearly a year had passed since I last smoked weed.

Knowing the procedure from last time, I simply said, “MEPS” to the front desk guy and went to the second floor office room. I stopped abruptly near the door, realizing there must be about 25 people stuffed in that small office.

“Hey, you that just came in-” everyone turned and looked at me and turned back “-read that list of instructions on the wall and line up here to sign in,” ordered the office lady, who was not Joanne from last time.

I looked at the poster, which contained basically the same information that Joanne from last time had so kindly and amicably explained to me. I waited in line until it was my turn.

“Name and branch?”

“Lai. L-A-I. Air Force.”

She flipped through the heavy binder.

“I can’t find you here. Is your name spelled correctly?”

“Yes.”

She flipped one more page.

“Oh, you’re an officer!”

I heard 25 silent gasps and felt 25 pairs of eyes on me.

“Yes.”

I was already seated at the diner in the lobby five minutes before dinner was supposed to start. I wasn’t taking any chances. Judging by how many people were in that office, I wasn’t going to wait for my food. It had worked too; I was the only one there. A few moments later a guy in blue approached the diner.

“Hey can I sit here?” he asked, gesturing the seat opposite to mine.

“Sure.”

As he ordered his food, we were joined to two more, filling our table. We introduced ourselves.

“So what are you, Army?” I asked the guy in blue.

“Marine,” he replied.

“Nice.”

I took an immediate liking to the Marine. He had an easy-going and relaxed vibe and seemed like someone I could just hang out and talk about nothing with.

“Yeah right now I work in an electronic store and I’ll probably be a radio technician or something. By the way, how old are you guys?”

“Seventeen.”

“Twenty two,” I answered, then raised my eyebrows inquiringly at him after the moment when he should have responded right away.

“Twenty seven,” the Marine said after a slight pause, as though embarrassed. He continued, “See, I have to go to boot camp before I turn 28 or else I’m too old. I worked it out and I’ll turn 28 in boot camp, which is allowed. What’s your branch?”

“Air Force, pilot,” I said, “I’m going to be flying. And you guys? Army?”

“Yeah.”

Just then, a question that had always been bothering me came to mind, so I asked, “have you guys seen the movie Zootopia?”

I was met with yes’s.

“OK so you know how the bunny and the elephant are both police officers? Here’s my question: do they get paid the same amount?”

All three guys laughed.

“No seriously think about it, the elephant needs, like, a thousand times more food than the bunny, so she should get paid a lot more. But if they’re doing the same job, they should get paid the same.”

They laughed again.

“You know what, I’m going to be thinking about this,” I said, “in my cockpit.”

Then, our food arrived.

The perks of being an “Officer” were unbelievable. My double-bed bedroom offered me the peace and quiet for me to finish my final paper for my German Expressionism class on female sexuality and autonomy in the films Metropolis and Nosferatu when all the other recruits were watching a football game. I would later find out that I only earned a B+/A- for that paper.

The next morning I went down to the lobby for breakfast at 5 A.M. and was greeted by a familiar face.

“Back again?” Joanne from last time asked, “How was the test?”

“Good enough for me to be back here”

I picked a random seat and quickly finished my food. Quite a few recruits had finished theirs too and were standing around in clumps near the entrance, waiting to be bussed. I spotted the Marine from dinner the previous night wearing a full suit and tie standing with another guy and joined them in waiting.

“Did you watch the game last night?” the Marine asked.

“Nah, had to finish my final paper. What’s up with the suit?”

“Gotta be formal, man. I may be swearing in today.”

Usually you get your picture taken when you swear in, hence the formality.

A voice called out, “Single file, everybody!”

Us clumps started declumping towards the middle of the lobby. I remarked to the Marine, “How long do you think it’ll take to get all these guys in a line?”

“Seeing how these are a bunch of Army and Marines, probably forever,” replied someone from behind me.

I turned around and faced a short guy with a rather large head.

“And why is that? I asked.

I didn’t have to ask; I knew why he said that. There are stereotypes for the four branches of the military (there are actually five, but no one cares about the Coast Guard enough for them to have stereotypes that I am aware of), and essentially the stereotypes boil down to this: there is a strong negative correlation between intelligence and manliness/fighting ability for each branch. The Air Force and the Marine Corps exist on the opposite ends of the spectrum with the Air Force being regarded as the smartest branch and the Marine Corps as the best fighters. The Army is somewhere in the middle, and the Navy, weirdly, doesn’t really fit in anywhere regarding the intelligence/manliness debate. It’s probably because the Navy guys already get roasted enough with the stereotype that they are all homosexual. Supposedly, being on a giant ship for months has that effect, although incidentally, the Navy also as the highest percentage of female personnel.

Yeah, I don’t get it either. I’ve actually seen full blown fights between members of different branches over which branch is more <insert adjective here>.

“Well, you know,” Bighead said, “these guys are pretty dumb. But I’m Air Force, so…”

What an ass.

Remarks like these extremely juvenile and pointless. After all, we all work for the same organization that is the U.S. government for the same purpose of exercising political and economic might over other countries when diplomatic missions and bribery don’t work. So what the hell do you gain from vilifying each other?

Trying to defuse the tension a bit, I turned back to the Marine and said, “Hey Jarhead, you hear that? Air Force over here says y’all are dumb.”

Jarhead. Noun. Semi-derogatory term for a Marine. It originated from the short and flat haircut given to Marines which makes their heads look like jars. It also implies that like a jar, their heads are hard on the outside and empty on the inside.

The Marine turned back to us and said, “Beats being you, Chair Force.”

Chair Force. Noun. Semi-derogatory term for an Airman. It refers to the belief that all Airmen simply sit in chairs and do boring paperwork as Air Force personnel see the least amount of combat.

“Man, fuck you” Bighead wasn’t about to back down and was determined to prove his intellectual superiority. “What’s your ASVAB score?”

“96”

That’s a really good score, like damn near perfect. But then again, the man’s 27, graduated from college, and worked for five years. He would simply be more knowledgeable.

“How about you?” Bighead turned to me.

“I didn’t take the ASVAB. I took the AFOQT. It’s for Air Force Officers.”

Usually I’m not one to flaunt my status as an Officer candidate, but seeing as how this fool wouldn’t shut up, I thought I’d mention it.

“Butter Bar.” He replied.

I just looked at him.

“Clearly you don’t know very many Officer jokes.” He said.

“No. No I don’t. Why would I?”

Butter Bar. Noun. Semi-derogatory term for a Second Lieutenant, the lowest ranking commissioned officer in the U.S. Armed Forces. It originated from the gold insignia worn by 2nd Lieutenants. Because 2nd Lieutenants are the lowest ranked officers, they usually have the least amount of leadership experience. The term is used to belittle the 2nd Lieutenants who think they are hot shit and know more than enlisted personnel who may actually have way more years of experience.

The guy standing with the Marine the whole time finally joined in.

“Dude, you know he outranks you, right? And that he’s not going to be a Butter Bar forever?” he said to Bighead. “And like in five years, he’s going to be making ten times the money you will. What’s your job going to be anyway?”

“Service.” Bighead said.

The Marine, the guy with the Marine, and I exchanged looks.

“Ah yes. Service, of course,” I said. “Only the noblest of all jobs.”

They smirked.

When we arrived at MEPS, we went through the same procedure as last time of checking in. Immediately afterwards, we were ushered into a classroom-like room for procedure debriefings. An even older and more cynical looking version of George Carlin was in civilian clothing and started debriefing us.

“How many people are under the age of 18?” he asked.

Everyone except the Marine and I raised their hands.

“And how many of you 17 year olds are going to be 18 in six or fewer months?”

All the hands stayed raised.

“Good. Now, how old are you two?”

“Twenty two.” I answered.

“Twenty seven.” The Marine answered, looking slightly embarrassed again.

“Trying something new, huh?” Jeorge Karlin continued, “On the forms in front of you are detailed questions relating to your physical and mental health. Think clearly and remember every possible disease, injury, or surgery that you had. Say you end up in Syria and lose an arm. You come back home and expect ol’ Uncle Sam to take care of you since you bravely sacrificed one arm for our freedom that was in Syria for some reason. They’ll look through these forms and examine your entire body, and if you forget to mention that in 8th grade you broke your arm playing baseball and they find signs of surgery on your bones, they’ll say that you lied to them and won’t give you a dime because your missing arm had something to do with that 8th grade surgery before you joined the military instead of that F1 grenade, freeing them from all responsibility. You know those Wounded Warriors commercials playing at half-time of a football game? Yeah, that’s a charity organization, not a government organization. They’re the military equivalent of those adopt-a-stray-dog-today commercials. These guys come back from warzones with missing limbs and have to beg their government to keep them off the streets.”

I raised my hand. “Sir, do braces count?”

“Dental braces? Yeah, I’d put that down just in case.” He turned to address everyone again, “Some guys come back with all their limbs attached, but something’s different. In their heads. They’re just not the same men anymore. Now that’s harder to prove, but they’ll find out that you were homeschooled for a year in middle school because of behavioral problems, proving that you were already crazy, and that seeing the guy next to you get shot had absolutely nothing to do with your PTSD.”

I was the last one to finish filling out the forms. I walked to the front of the room where he was waiting and handed them to him.

The area next to the classroom was where we were actually examined. We were separated into groups and went to different stations for different checkups. I had the honor of getting my eyes checked by none another than Jeorge Karlin.

“Took your time, huh? That’s good. Bring your pencils back to this box. We’ve only got a 600 billion dollar military budget so we can’t afford to lose any pencils.”

#military #military story #MEPS #military entrance processing station #air force #officer #college #college story #job hunting #New England

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asylum-ireland-blog · 6 years

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A Hungarian-Italian bromance could become Europe's Trojan horse

New Post has been published on http://asylumireland.ml/a-hungarian-italian-bromance-could-become-europes-trojan-horse/

A Hungarian-Italian bromance could become Europe's Trojan horse

Salvini said he hoped Tuesday was just the first of many more encounters with Orban to change Europe’s destiny.

The burgeoning relationship between the two far-right figures may look like just another political bromance, but it could turn out to be a Trojan horse for EU leaders, once worried that Brexit would tear their post-war union apart.

Hardline Brexit supporters in the UK accuse EU leaders of trying to ensure Britain’s withdrawal from the union is a failure so that other member states don’t follow the country out the door, a charge that EU leaders vehemently deny.

In the meantime, far-right factions across the EU are eying big wins in the European Parliament elections next May, an opportunity that comes only once in five years and promises huge regional influence over policies, most crucially on migration.

As talks of a French “Frexit” or a “Nexit” in the Netherlands and other nations fade from public discourse, the EU is more likely at threat from those who want to bend the bloc from within.

Jerome Rivière from France’s far-right National Rally, formerly known as National Front, was optimistic the election results would favor euroskeptic parties.

“I believe that for the first time we might be in a position to have a new majority in the next European election,” he said.

“If we do not have a majority, I believe we will have a minority strong enough to prevent them from what they are doing right now.”

A perfect storm

What these parties have lacked for so long has been unity to coordinate action in the European Parliament. The Orban-Salvini relationship shows that an appetite for such unity is growing. In the past, anti-establishment populist parties that have had beef with the EU have also been at loggerheads with each other.

Hungary and Italy, for example, clashed over migrant policy several times in 2016. Italy, a frontline nation for asylum-seekers, has long pressed Hungary to take in a share of refugees to lessen its burden. But Hungary has advocated a hardline zero-immigration policy since the mass movement of asylum seekers into Europe in 2015, at the height of the Syrian war. Most other EU nations have accepted asylum-seekers under the union’s relocation program, but Hungary has refused to, along with several other eastern European states.

Bilateral cooperation between like-minded parties, voter apathy and the European Parliament’s electoral system could be the perfect storm that hands Europe’s levers over to populists.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by EU citizens, but turnout at each vote has fallen consistently over the years — just over 42% of registered voters cast a ballot in the last election in 2014, according to the Public Opinion Monitoring Unit.

“The euroskeptic parties do better in European elections than they usually do in national elections, that’s because the voters on the one hand believe that the European elections are somewhat less important than the national elections,” Doru Frantescu, an EU affairs expert, told CNN.

Euroskeptic parties also tend to take European elections more seriously for the obvious reason that one of their main objectives is to challenge the EU.

The European Parliament’s system also benefits fringe parties. Instead of winning seats on a first-past-the-post basis, candidates need simply to pass a low threshold of the popular vote. This has meant that parties like France’s National Rally have a far greater presence in the European Parliament than they do in their own national assemblies.

This representation in the European Parliament is already in play.

MEP John Stuart Agnew from the far-right UKIP party in Britain argued in a European Parliament opinion report that human-induced climate change was “negligible” and pointed to cosmic ray fluctuations, the sun, oceans and water vapor as “factors that really do change our climate.” This kind of denial of climate change science was unheard of in the European Parliament just a few years ago.

Frantescu said it’s unlikely skeptical far-right parties can gain control of parliament, but that doesn’t mean their influence won’t grow. With the European Parliament already fractured, even a small increase in seats could make a significant difference.

“You don’t need to gain a majority in the European Parliament to exert influence on the EU policies and the (European) Commission, you just need to have a somewhat solid minority,” Frantescu said.

A strong minority could be effective in blocking policy, he said, and a small boost in influence in parliament could be the start of greater change in the longer-term.

“The European elections are not the end of the movie, or the end of the world, rather it’s the beginning,” he said.

“The question is will they be able to coordinate afterwards. Will they be able to get maybe good results in the national elections in the member states? … Will they get their hands on other national governments so that they can exert pressure in the council of the EU, which is the other key legislative body of the European Union?”

The Bannon effect

Some of the parties looking to shake things up in Brussels are counting on Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, to help buoy their electoral results.

Bannon has been on several European tours to galvanize like-minded political outfits and even helped launch The Movement, a “supergroup” uniting populists to challenge the European establishment.

“Everybody agrees that next May is hugely important, that this is the real first continent-wide face-off between populism and the party of Davos,” Bannon said in an interview with the Daily Beast in July, referring to Davos, Switzerland, as symbol of the world’s liberal elite. “This will be an enormously important moment for Europe.”

Movement founder Mischaël Modrikamen, leader of the Belgian People’s Party, said Bannon was offering resources to help the new alliance at the elections.

“He will bring tools that were in use in the States. They won the election against all odds. He will bring tools of course. Europeans are already using them,” he told CNN, adding that big data was one area European parties could benefit from.

“We are in a big fight for the soul of what I believe should be Western civilization.”

Salvini has floated a similar idea to Bannon’s supergroup, calling for a European “League of Leagues” to unite populists. Salvini’s spokesman told CNN that the minister had met with Bannon to exchange ideas, at Bannon’s request.

But pro-EU MEPs say they are not threatened by Bannon. Elmar Brok, a German MEP, said he was confident pro-EU members would prevail in the elections and that Bannon’s efforts to intervene in European affairs would likely backfire.

He accused Bannon of using Europe’s far-right figures to destroy Europe and pivot power to other nations.

“In this sense, Mr. Bannon is very helpful to us because we can easily explain to our people that the purpose of all that is to weaken European nations in such a way that they do not have to play any role in this world, and that this becomes a world of Washington, Beijing and Moscow,” he said.

Analysts also question how influential Bannon can be. The unity he and Modrikamen are seeking will not be easily achieved.

“A profound problem is that this is the fragmented European landscape. Many of these right-wing parties, or right-wing populist parties, they may all have problems with the EU, but many of them have problems with each other,” said Alexander Clarkson, a European and international studies lecturer at King’s College London.

“So for Bannon to come in and try to create unity out of all these very powerful, very well-financed movements that don’t necessarily like each other, I think that says more about an American, not just Bannon, but an American media’s version of European politics and Bannon’s vision of European politics.”

CNN’s Hilary McGann and Valentina Di Donato contributed to this report.

#Asylum Europe

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rachelmorris305 · 7 years

Text

Commercial Guide: A Cost Breakdown to Open a Restaurant

Here’s a restaurant renovation cost guide to opening your own business—from walk-throughs and permits to MEPs and construction deadlines

Restaurant build-out by Sweeten contractor Joseph in Manhattan

Restaurant renovation costs are hardly a prix fixe situation; they can vary dramatically based on the project. Is it a turnkey situation in which you’re planning to open up shop in the location of a former restaurant that already has a kitchen, gas, and electrical? Or are you starting from scratch? The city you’re in will also impact the cost, as will the quality of the finishes and the other professionals you hire for your team.

Building Journal puts the national average cost for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant with mid-level finishes at $160 a square foot, or $480,000. This can include the build-out, permits, equipment, and design. That cost is higher if you’re based in an expensive city such as New York ($216 per square foot) or Philadelphia ($180 per square foot). “We tell chefs in NYC who are typically looking at a 2,000-2,500 sq/ft space for a 50-80 seat restaurant that costs can range from $300-350 per square foot for the front of house and $200 per square foot for the back of house,” says Jonathan Garnett, the creative director at architectural firm MNDPC. “Multiply that by the 2,000-square-foot space and you have a ballpark.” Note that this scope does not include furniture, fixtures or restaurant equipment.

What your food and beverage establishment will cost is unclear until you sit down to develop a budget. Here are some categories to account for and tips on how to draw up an initial budget:

Design

For some, starting a restaurant is a creative endeavor, so they prefer to work closely with their general contractor, architect or designer on the design. Some smaller projects like a cafe might not warrant hiring a restaurant designer.

It’s a huge range: Those looking to bring in a designer could pay as little as $25,000 or as much as $400,000 and beyond, according to Jimmy Haber, from ESquared Hospitality, which has a long list of successful restaurant ventures all over the world. The cost depends on the “celebrity” quotient of the designer, whether the space requires a lot of alterations in order to implement a certain design, or how elaborate the decor will be. A restaurant designer won’t just help with the look and feel of the place, but also the all-important layout. The layout will greatly impact the flow of service from kitchen to patron and your staff’s ability to do their job during busy moments. Bringing in an architect early on in the process will provide cost-effective expertise from start to finish, saving time and headache. Basic services include drawing up schematics and submitting the Certificate of Occupancy, but a full-service architect can provide guidance from project management to various levels of interior design.

A designer’s expertise could also increase the number of seats in the establishment, increasing income in the long run. “By the time you construct and open your restaurant, the mistakes are already there and it is too late,” said Jimmy, on why a designer is worth considering. If you’re big on the creative aspect, then make sure you select a designer who you feel will work within your vision rather than commandeer it.

Review the MEPs – mechanical, electrical, and plumbing

This is critical to do before even renting or buying a space (if you’re at this stage, read our earlier post). Perhaps the MEPs are so far gone you will opt for a different venue altogether. Regardless, accessing the MEPs will help you set a realistic budget. For example, a decrepit HVAC system can blow the budget out by tens of thousands of dollars, according to Dan Soloway, a hospitality consultant with Kitchen Options.

In big bureaucratic cities like New York, connecting the gas can take months, which is why Jimmy no longer uses gas appliances in his establishment. He only uses electric to save clients from costly delays of connecting gas.

Permits

Fitting out a new restaurant or renovating an existing one will rope in a lot of government departments—the fire department, the gas provider, buildings department, etc.—from whatever town or city you’re in. The actual permits can be a low-cost item on a budget (Jimmy estimates less than $5,000), but getting those approved can add substantially to the overall restaurant renovation cost.

Before you sign a lease, always check the certificate of occupancy (CO). This will dictate what the space can be used for. If it doesn’t give permission for a food and beverage establishment, changing it could be expensive and time-consuming, or in some cases, impossible.

Once you’ve checked the CO, Jimmy recommends spending the $25,000 or so to bring in a mechanical engineer, a kitchen consultant, and a lawyer. That team can look over everything from the liquor license (if the location has one, which is ideal) to the MEPs that we mentioned above. If these areas are not up to par, that could delay the approval of your permits.

What if your location isn’t already approved for a liquor license? It has become increasingly common for clauses to allow restaurateurs to exit the lease if a liquor license application is denied, said Dan, the restaurant consultant. “That’s because the business might hinge on your ability to sell alcohol,” he said.

General construction

Floors might still need to be laid and bathrooms built or renovated. A survey of more than 700 responses from the industry publication Restaurant Owner found for a medium restaurant—around 3,200 square feet—construction alone or build-out cost an average $50 a square foot.

Even if it is a turnkey restaurant, things like accessibility must be up to current standards, according to Slavica, a Sweeten contractor. Since the Americans with Disability Act passed in 1990, businesses and employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. This could mean a ramp instead of steps, and bathrooms and doorways wide enough to fit a wheelchair.

Equipment

The restaurant renovation cost of fitting out a bar and kitchen, including all the equipment like burners and espresso machines, can be a big budget line item. The Restaurant Owner’s survey put the average cost of a 1,000-square-foot bar and kitchen, including the equipment, at about $75,000, or $80 a square foot.

Restaurateurs can buy second-hand equipment, but first, they must do their due diligence. That usually involves spending a few hundred dollars for a technician to look over the equipment before buying it, said Dan, the restaurant consultant. There is also the option to lease equipment, which means a reduced upfront payment, but possibly more in the long run. However, the leasing company normally handles repairs and might even provide things like detergent with a dishwasher.

Rent and labor contingency

Of course, things can go wrong in a renovation. On average, the Restaurant Owner’s survey found that the overrun on a restaurant remodel budget to be 34 percent. Numerous hurdles can slow down your opening and delay that exciting moment when you make your first sale. Meanwhile, you’re still paying rent for the space.

“I think your pre-opening rent can be a big wild card. It usually takes much longer to open than you think it does,” said Jimmy, from ESquared Hospitality. A six-month rent contingency can be a business-saver, as is a few months’ contingency for staff costs. Sometimes staff members are already hired—manager, chef, sommelier, etc.—and on the payroll when a delay arises. A labor contingency means you can continue paying them during the delay. Otherwise, they could look for new jobs, which means starting the hiring process from scratch.

Assessing and writing a restaurant renovation cost plan can be like charting a new land—confusing, tedious, and with a few questions marks—but a realistic budget can set you up for a win and bring you one step closer to that dream business. Here is a budget breakdown for a 2,000-square-foot restaurant in New York City by Sweeten contractor Tony.

—

Thinking about renovating a retail space? Check out our first post on commercial construction, 5 steps to remodeling a business space.

Sweeten is a free service for business owners who are looking to renovate a restaurant, retail space, office and more. We handpick the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, and scope, helping until project completion. Here’s how we can help you build your commercial space. When you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.

A post from originally from Sweeten

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deareffie · 7 years

Text

19 April 2017

Dear Effie,

After every BBC politics news alert these days:

Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, political party in-fighting. Thrilling stuff, eh? So UKIP are born, and nothing really happens with that for a while. In fact, there were a bunch of small parties that sprung up in the early 1990s to contest elections on the basis of opposition to (at least some element of) the EU, and UKIP was probably the least successful.

Meanwhile, the Conservative party get beaten by the Labour party at the 1997 general election, so Tony Blair become Prime Minister, big Donald Dewar gets his Scottish Parliament, and we finally get a national minimum wage. That’s right, more than 100 years after New Zealand introduced minimum wage legislation, right up until you were about 18 months old, the UK still had no minimum wage. Don’t believe anyone who speaks fondly of the good old days.

And then there was also Iraq. But we’ll get into that another time.

Anyway, ‘New Labour’ arrives (so called as this government said they weren’t *really* socialists, not like the crazy Russians, they just thought that capitalism needing reigning in sometimes, and that businesses were usually a good thing because jobs, and if someone’s making loads of money, that’s fine because then they have to spend it and that means other people get some too. Or something.) and the Conservatives do what every political party does when it loses an election - it takes a good look at itself, does some soul searching and tries to find someone to blame.

Of course, like every other time a political party does this (ahem, Scottish Labour, ahem), they don’t seem to realise that ‘talk amongst yourselves’ is an instruction that a teacher gives a room of students while they’re fannying about fixing a projector, not a viable election strategy.

Political parties’ obsession with introspection and navel gazing is one of the reasons ‘ordinary people’ (vomit) hate them. To any unaffiliated voter, it seems blindingly obvious that the main reasons political parties lose elections are either a) lack of money/media pals, or c) being horrendously out of touch. You don’t become more in touch with voters by locking yourself in a cupboard, having a leadership crisis and accusing each other of factionalism.

Like, I don’t know about you, but every time I’ve taken a long hard look at myself in the mirror, I just become convinced that I should really start taking better care of my skin and that maybe it’s time for a haircut. If I talked to other people instead, maybe I’d find out that no one else really cares about my skin or my hair and most folk are actually much more concerned about employment, education, health and welfare. Maybe. Who can possibly say.

(And breathe)

So the Conservative Party is banished to the opposition benches at Westminster for 13 years, and doesn’t even make it as far as the opposition benches in the new shiny Holyrood for almost 20 years. We’ll definitely come back to Holyrood and devolution and all that another time, but I’m trying(ish) to get through Brexit first (aren’t we all, eh?).

Between 1997 and 2004, a bunch of semi-important people die, a bunch of other people are born, and somehow, as the Conservative Party tries to work out how they’ve suddenly become irrelevant, UKIP fail at making any inroads at general elections, but get three MEPs elected in the European Parliamentary elections of 1999, and start making headlines. Partly because they’ve attracted semi-famous, old people celebrity, talk show host and former Labour MP, Robert Kilroy-Silk. He joined UKIP in 2004, about the same time he got his show cancelled by the Beeb for writing a controversial article headlined “We owe Arabs nothing”. Weirdly, Joan Collins also got in on this action for a bit.

Hanging out with UKIP, that is. Not writing inflammatory articles generalising varied and diverse peoples. As far as I know.

However, as Kilroy-Silk resigned from UKIP, formed his own party, and then resigned from that in the space of the next 15 months, the more important thing to note about UKIP in 2004 is that they beat the Conservative party in an election for the first time (hilariously, an election caused by someone resigning as an MP to go and work in the EU).

“Ah-hah!”, thought some members of the Conservative party. It was UKIP’s fault that they had lost the 1997 and 2001 elections! Of course!

And when people still didn’t elect a Conservative government in 2005, even though Iraq, and even though Gordon Brown, it must be because those baddies over at UKIP were stealing traditional Conservative votes, right?!

A few more years pass. Nigel Farage becomes leader of UKIP. He gets a disproportionate amount of airtime on the BBC despite the party (initially) not having any MPs. What he does have are opinions. Loads of them. And the reason he got on the Beeb so much is because they have a legal duty to provide 'balanced' coverage of issues.

Presenting two sides of every story sometimes means that the BBC is actually not very representative of UK majority opinion. Or sometimes it has to look quite hard to find someone who’ll present what is a minority view. For example, take “equal marriage”. A majority of people in the UK agree with the statement “Gay or lesbian couples should have the right to marry one another if they want to” (and have done since 2012). However, the way the BBC fulfill their “balance” duty means that if they want to discuss gay marriage on a news, current affairs or comment show, they need to find someone who disagrees with that statement.

Enter one Nigel Paul Farage. This BBC “balance” throws up a diverse cast of characters, but most of them fade into obscurity again relatively quickly, or they have limited interest in party politics. Farage however, is relatively articulate, not afraid of saying controversial things (often for the sake of it, as far as I can tell) and available for all your Question Time booking needs. Viewing levels spike, because we’re all complicit in this mess, and suddenly Farage and UKIP have a way bigger platform than expected, and a heap of cash from some grumpy former Tories.

So, the new version of the Maastricht Rebels in the Conservative Party start rumbling that maybe they’ll join UKIP if the Conservatives don’t start listening to them about the big bad EU, and that maybe the Conservatives will keep losing votes to UKIP.

Meanwhile, David Cameron’s all “I’m a cool young guy, stop crushing my big society vibes with all your crotchety old man shouting. Nobody cares about the EU apart from crazy Scottish fisherman and Welsh farmers!”

Turns out he was wrong and Davey’s vibes continued to be crushed until he agreed to include a cheeky wee manifesto pledge for the Conservative Party’s next general election manifesto in 2010.

A referendum on EU membership. A surefire vote winner, that will be easily won by the majority of the Conservative party who want to stay as members of the EU because it’s where all the holidays and champagne comes from.

The Lib Dems put it off for five years but are ultimately ineffective.

MASSIVE EDIT BECAUSE I FORGOT A REALLY KEY EVENT AND TOTALLY LIED ABOUT THE 2010 CONSERVATIVE MANIFESTO BECAUSE I’M AN IDIOT SORRY. I realised on reading this back that I had missed a couple things.

The 2010 manifesto pledge was actually to “amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that any proposed future Treaty that transferred areas of power, or competences, would be subject to a referendum – a ‘referendum lock’”. My bad, sorry Dave.

And in fact, the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto did include a commitment to an in/out referendum on the EU, but only if a British government signs up for “fundamental change in the relationship between the UK and the EU”, including joining the Euro.

But the really rather big thing that I missed, that just sort of passed me by because of all the excitement of #indyref1 in Scotland at the time was the 2014 European elections. In 2014, UKIP won the European elections in the UK, with 24 seats to Labour’s 20 and the Conservatives’ 19. Last time (in 2009), the Conservatives won as many as the other two put together (26 v 13 and 13).

Know how I’m always going about how Scotland isn’t the cool, internationalist socially-liberal, economically left-wing paradise it kids on it is? Well, in the first example of many, even the Glorious People’s Republic of Haggisland elected a UKIP MEP (Member of the European Parliament) in 2014: the baffling David Coburn (see previous and below caveat re: legit reasons for not being keen on the EU that may have prompted folk for vote for him), alongside two Labour MEPs, two SNP MEPs, and one Conservative MEP.

It’s worth noting that Labour gained seats in this election. Under David Miliband, Labour increased their percentage of votes by almost as much as UKIP (around 10%) and they also won the most number of votes in the English local authority elections held the same day. Although only about a third of the people eligible to vote actually voted, and a lot of people who voted Lib Dem in 2010 had pretty much abandoned the party by this point, it’s a nice wee stat to keep on hand when anyone says that Labour has to do more to appeal to UKIP voters.

Anyway, that 2014 European election, although overshadowed up here by all the flag waving, seemed to be the final straw for the Conservative Party. This led to the 2015 manifesto commitment (I checked this time) for “the British people – not politicians – to have their say... over whether we should stay in or leave the EU, with an in-out referendum by the end of 2017″.

And so, in June 2016, the entire UK is asked to vote on remaining or leaving the EU basically because the Tories were having a tiff with themselves. A tiny number of very loud, very entitled people managed to be annoying enough that we literally had a referendum to try and get them to shut up.

Now, we talked before about how there are some totally legitimate, reasonable and not-racist reasons for opposing the EU. A really good example of this is in Scotland, where the fishing industry has had a long standing scepticism about the EU. It’s based on criticism of a EU rule called the Common Fisheries Policy that decides who can fish what kind of fish (and how much fish), and where. The EU policy is meant to protect the sustainability of fishing for the future (i.e. stopping someone accidentally catching all the fish, and there being none left), ensure all EU countries share their fish/fishing waters (e.g. Spain can’t stop Portgual fishing off its coasts), and ensure that fishing is carried out in a relatively environmentally friendly way (i.e. don’t throw loads of dead fish or gross chemicals back in the sea). However, the Scottish fishing industry says that in practice, the policy means that Scotland does not get a fair share of its own fishing waters, and that they love the environment as much as the next guy but that following the rules is cripplingly expensive. This means that people lose their jobs, or put up with terrible working conditions to make up for the policy costs, and/or that the price of a fish supper goes way up. See? Totes legit, not racist. Essentially about jobs and fish suppers.

That is not why the Government held this referendum.

Another totally legitimate, reasonable and not-racist reason for opposing the EU is that some of the trade deals the EU negotiates look like they might damage workers rights in the EU. Criticism of an agreement called TTIP ( which stands for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, not just me spelling T in the Park wrong) between the US and the EU suggests it’ll mean that companies will be able to sue governments if their health and safety or environmental rules are seen to affect that company’s profit. Leaving the EU could be a way to ensure companies don’t have that power, and have to respect things like national minimum wage and trade union membership.See? Again, totes legit, not racist.

That is not why the Government held this referendum.

The Government held this referendum to stitch together its Frankenstein’s monster of a party for a bit longer. The driving force behind all the decisions leading to this referendum was internal party politics. Whatever the fallout is (and we still don’t know because they literally didn’t even consider the possibility it might happen so didn’t draft any plan), it’s being imposed on 64 million people as a result of the Conservative Party playing chicken. With itself. Except we’re the ones who somehow get run over. And that’s partly why Brexit makes me grumpy.

I swear I’ll try and get onto Scottish independence at some point.

Big love,

P.S. If I seem to meander a bit when I’m meant to be talking about Scottish independence, I’m sorry…

Except mine are all about politics. I do want to bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles though. I feel that’d be one initiative that could muster cross-party support.

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liquid-luck-00 · 3 years

Text

Where There Is Change

Overprotection

@maribat-bdbwm

First *** Previous *** Next

~~~~~~~~~~

One week.

One week without her brother is all it took to break her patience.

No, she didn’t break away from her story with the press release that happened literally two days after she started school.

No, what finally broke her was what the students did to her brother, specifically this group of five that were intentionally seeking out places she was that in order to talk about her family.

Sure, she understood why they talked about Damian, he is Gotham's Ice Prince, the person you do not want to get on the bad side of.

But moments that she wasn’t with him, people spoke awfully about him. And mostly about how he was born as a bastard child.

She pretty much assumes that when she’s not around they speak the same about her.

Both of them were conceived without his knowledge, until years later. Sure, it hurts to hear them talk about her dad like that.

But she also understands it to an extent.

Brucie Wayne, is an act he puts up. Brucie Wayne is a playboy the longer someone plays the playboy people, will come to the conclusion of him having several unknown children.

However, she also knows Brucie Wayne is a cover for her father, in the past twenty years or so since the time he pretty much became Batman, Brucie Wayne has been a cover. So much so that even the media plays into.

But what she can’t stand are the remarks her 'peers' make about her little brother, about all her siblings.

The remarks that, she is technically the older biological child. But that she still deserves a chair in the company. She is so mad that they are dismissing all of Tim's work he's put into the company. That they are dismissing her brothers just because she is the first-born biological child, that she should be the next C.E.O. People talk over him as if he isn’t there.

They talk about Jason, how he is the troubled child. That he ruins their father's name.

That Dick is just a novelty for Bruce. The first child he decide to adopt. That he’s no more than that, Bruce Wayne’s first ward.

She hates that they call Cassandra a basket case because she won’t talk.

Or how Duke is yet another charity case, simply because of his skin color.

They forget about her because she looks so American, so white, so European.

They forget that she is part Chinese, because she has such big blue eyes, fair skin, and dark black hair just like her father.

---

So back to school.

Damian was on assignment with the Teen Titans, so she was going to school alone. They said something about Damian getting an awful constant 103 fever, they didn’t want to risk anyone else to catch what he had.

So, she did what she usually did, she went outside like usual during lunch. When all of a sudden, the group of five kids in her year 'seemed' to be strolling past.

She thinks it’s still hasn’t sunk in that there’s a new Wayne. Or that they know but want to haze her. Because they are openly bashing her little brother.

"I’m sorry, but what did you just say." She stood up and looked at them.

"Well not that it’s any of your business, but Damian is such a menace, he is practically a terrorist." One of the boys started.

"Have you seen how angry he gets, I swear he could blow up the school, and he’ll still get let back in." A girl butt in.

"He’s already been expelled twice, but they keep letting him back in because he’s Bruce Wayne’s son." The final boy spoke rolling his eyes and she lost it.

She grabbed him, pulled him towards her, gave him a quick punch in the nose. Forcing him to reel back stumbling away from her.

"Let’s get one thing straight." She spoke, hands clenched in fists. "My baby brother isn’t a terrorist. He may be a menace, but he’s not a terrorist. Can any of you actually tell me the reasons why he got expelled."

Silence, pure silence was heard from the entire group.

"No, you can’t. Because like you said it’s none of your goddamn fucking business." At this point her French accent was slipping into her words, because she was getting really mad. She had to physically dig her nails into her palms to stop her magic from exploding.

"So why don’t you all just mind your own fucking business and maybe pay attention who you’re talking about, around who."

The entire group turned and ran, their tails between their legs and they scrambled to get away from her. She may have been known as the approachable Wayne between the two twins, but they messed with her brother. And they really didn’t know what they were talking about.

As soon as, the bell rang to end lunch her name came across the intercom. She grabbed her things and walked to the office knowing full well what was about to happen.

What she didn’t expect that out of all the people that would have been called the person who showed up was Jason.

If she had to cover the ever-growing grin on her face, or else the adults may have figured out that this was the wrong brother to call.

"We are so sorry to have called you today Mr. Todd-Wayne, but we have to discuss your sister’s behavior." The principal spoke as both of them sat down.

"Ok I'll hear you out, but after you explain what happened she will. And neither of you guys can interrupt the other got it. So, go." He pointed at the principle.

"Your sister has been accused of physical assault of another student."

"Is this true?" He turned to her.

"Yes." She answered.

"Why?" Jason asked as he rubbed his hands down his face.

She knows he has a shit eating grin that was slowly going to be spreading across his face, because his aura was almost giddy.

"You see they’ve not only been talking shit about Damian but Tim, Duke, Cass, Dick, and even you. If you want, I have several forms of video tape and audio proof if you’d like to see those."

"But let’s get back on point. We believe that you may have broken his nose."

"Okay, but I am not going to apologize, seeing as I was protecting my little brother, who is not here to defend himself."

She looked over to her brother and the ass had a shit eating grin plastered across his face.

"Why don’t I sign my sister out for the rest of the day, you know what, what about the whole

week, because I'm assuming suspension is an option?"

The principal however didn’t know how to react to Jason, so he absentmindedly pushed a stack of papers towards Jason and pointing to where he was to sign and initial. And then allowed them to leave.

"We’re not telling Bruce, are we?" She asked quietly.

"Not unless you want to deal with that right now?"

"No."

"Then let’s see how far we can get from Gotham."

"Yes please." She enthusiastically nodded her head, as they left the city.

~~~~~~~~~~

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