#but he financially supported trump and other people like him

[eowyntheavenger]

Palestine and the US election

I’m done with Twitter soundbite takes that voting blue = supporting genocide. I see a lot of people making an argument that goes like this: "Biden has sent arms to Israel, helping its government commit genocide against Palestine. Therefore, voting for him in the 2024 US election, if he is the Democratic nominee, is supporting genocide, and NOT voting for him helps Palestine." There's a lot wrong with this view, so let's break it down.

It's true that Biden has sent a lot of arms to Israel and bypassed Congress multiple times to do it, and it's indefensible. I'm ashamed that any US politician would help Israel wage its brutal, genocidal war against the Palestinian people. As one of Israel's closest partners, the US could actually be using its leverage right now to put pressure on Israel’s government—I’m thinking about how apartheid in South Africa fell, in part, because of international pressure. That's what should be happening, but instead the US government is literally just helping Israel kill Palestinians.

I wish there were a strong pro-Palestine candidate in the upcoming election. The best bet in that regard would probably be Bernie Sanders, since he's prominent enough, well-liked enough, and has good ideas, not just on this issue but on many things (and yeah, he's way too old, but so are the current frontrunners). But he's already ruled out another run. Unless an amazing candidate materializes and wins the Democratic nomination (please vote in the primaries where you live), it will probably be Biden running against Trump. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s likely.

Here's what people need to understand: the election will not be "genocide Joe" vs. "pro-Palestine candidate." It will most likely be a choice between these two candidates:

On the one hand, Biden, who has armed Israel, but can be pressured to change his policies because he can be pushed left; who is not a wannabe dictator; who will not destroy what's left of the country's democratic norms; who will not encourage coups, political assassinations, or jail his political opponents; who will not utterly stifle dissent.

Or on the other hand, Trump, who is beholden to a fanatical evangelical base that backs Israel no matter what, that actually wants more conflict because they are part of a death cult. Trump, who is not susceptible in any way to pressure from the left, but is susceptible to pressure from the right and the far right. Trump, who has been clear all along about his desire to be a dictator; who will destroy what's left of democratic norms; who has already encouraged a coup to overthrow a democratic election, encouraged the assassination of his own vice president, and is openly planning to jail his political opponents if he returns to the White House.

(This isn't even touching on Trump's positions on trans rights, gay rights, women's rights, the environment, policing, immigration, or his racism against every group he could be racist against, or his liability for sexual assault, or a whole bunch of other issues).

There's a very convincing argument that Netanyahu actually wants Biden to lose the US election and Trump to win. That's because Netanyahu knows that Biden has in the past responded to pressure from his own party and the public. If there are a lot of people criticizing his policies, it gives him pause. Trump doesn't operate like that. If millions of Americans criticize his policies as inhumane he just lashes out at them. In short, Biden views criticism from the left as a liability that he has to act on. Trump views criticism from the left as an incentive to be even worse.

Biden is not the candidate I want. But you need to understand that if Trump wins the election, he won't just arm Israel like Biden is doing now: he will do that and more. Not only will he help Israel escalate its war, your very freedom of speech to support Palestine will be under attack. Trump might even decide that financial support for Palestinians or charities that help Palestine = financially supporting terrorism, and use that as a pretext to arrest and jail people. You think he and his far right goons wouldn't go that far? If Trump wins this election, you shouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing happens, and much worse.

Do you want the US to accept Palestinian refugees? Because it won't accept them under a Trump presidency. A key Republican talking point in this election is "the US shouldn't take Palestinian refugees because they're probably all terrorists." This isn't just a Trump thing, it's something other Republicans are saying, but obviously you can imagine where Trump would fall on this issue given his infamous Muslim ban and conflating refugees with terrorists. These are just a few examples of how Trump would actually be even worse for Palestine than Biden—which is saying something.

In this upcoming election there is no neutral option. There is no morally pure option. There just isn't, I'm sorry. Refusing to vote will not help Palestine. Refusing to vote will only help Trump win, and will give every single person in the United States who is fighting for a better world a significantly harder battle to fight.

It goes without saying that there are things everyone should do to help Palestine besides voting in an election. But I'm writing this post that is about voting because I'm genuinely worried by how many so-called leftists want to give up their right to vote—a right that older generations had to fight tooth and nail for—because they think it won't achieve anything. If voting didn't achieve anything, Republicans wouldn't be trying so hard to suppress your vote.

I'll conclude by saying that nuance is not this site's specialty, but please try to understand what I'm actually saying here before attacking me in the notes. Finally, people being antisemitic or islamophobic on this post will be blocked. People denying that Israel is committing genocide against Palestine will be blocked. Trump supporters, tankies, and people who say that Biden and Trump are the same will be blocked. So will people who say "voting is pointless" or "but Biden did this bad thing—" Biden fucking sucks, I know that very well, so if you're going to try to make that argument to me then stop right now and read the post again.

#US politics #my post

[qqueenofhades]

Hwy dod we even need to send more money to Ukraine tho like we’ve already supported them plenty! But let Europe pull their weight and we can go back to spending that money on American policies

Do you read like, any news outside Tumblr, any Ukrainian perspectives, any basic analyses of the conflict, any rationale from Democrats or Congress, or anything? Because, in brief:

Ukrainians are currently facing a full-scale genocide. It has been going on for over a year and Russian military leadership has every plan to continue until fruition. If they stop resisting, there will be no more Ukraine or Ukrainians. So all the "appeasers" or "realists" insisting that Ukraine should "give up land for peace" (which notably worked so well with Czechoslovakia and Hitler in 1938) are basically deciding that it's fine to let the genocide be carried out, if it's even minorly inconvenient for us. Putin and cronies have repeatedly stated that if they are successful in taking Ukraine, they will go further. This is the exact scenario that leads to the "escalation" and/or WWIII that various people keep wringing their hands over. It is far more just and safe for Ukraine to be supported now and to stop that before it gets even worse.

America is not actually giving over buckets of black cash, regardless of what various bad-faith takes claim. They are handing over weapons valued at various amounts of money, along with some financial and budgetary aid. A lot of these weapons are older and would cost more to decommission than they cost to give to a sovereign democracy fighting for its life against an imperialist autocratic neighbor. This is some tiny amount like 5% (if that) of America's bloated military budget. And again: it's actual weapons valued at a certain dollar amount. These cannot be spent on American domestic policies.

The idea that helping Ukraine is directly coming out of our own pockets or preventing us from spending as needed on our own needs is propaganda. It is not good to repeat it.

I wrote this post the other day about why Putin is trying so hard to break American/Western support for Ukraine, and why the hard-right MAGA has enabled him in it. Putin's Russia is the motivating nexus, coordination, and funding center for Russian/European/American far-right theocratic fascism. This whole "America Only" is the exact rationale that appeals to said far-right domestic fascists and gives Putin and other imperial expansionist kleptocrats the justification to just throw away post-WWII international order and declare that any larger and more powerful state can systematically eradicate any neighboring country, claim its territory, destroy its government, kill its people, and get away with it. Because why would they stop, if there aren't any consequences and they are rewarded for it?

Putin has repeatedly interfered in American elections to help Trump and the Republicans. That should tell you something about who he sees as most favorable to his interests and what he would do again if allowed to emerge victorious.

Europe IS actually pulling its weight! They just brought all 27 defense ministers to Kyiv, they have been working on Ukraine's accession talks, they have committed all types of weapons (including the long-range missiles that the US still won't clearly authorize), they've committed a new tranche of 5 billion euros in long-term assistance, etc. But the whole "we should pull out of NATO and leave Europe to fend for itself" was a key isolationist and xenophobic Trump idea. We can see what that led to.

American aid is vital to Ukraine's continued existence as a sovereign country, period, and it is in American interests to continue to provide it as agreed upon. Not least because such an egregious betrayal of a democratic ally would empower the fascists of the world, both Russian and American, and because as noted, if this conflict was not stopped and got bigger, it would then involve American troops. It is a moral, democratic, political, and ethical imperative. This is not a difficult call or a complicated situation, regardless of what the Online Leftist tankies and the MAGA-world nutcases (because horseshoe theory) want you to think.

Слава Україні.

The end.

#anonymous #ask #russia ukraine war

[renthony]

Just curious. How bad has Biden been at controlling COVID-19 in your view?

First: I already responded to a similar question you left on this post.

Second: Biden has been atrocious for COVID-19 safety and management. COVID-19 is still killing people, and our president has done a horribly insufficient job in mitigating that. "Better than the Republicans" is not the same thing as "good" or "effective." Biden's abysmal reaction to COVID-19 is part of why I'm so thrilled that the Uncommitted campaign for the Democratic primary has achieved some success. That particular campaign is focused on ceasefire in Palestine, but the People's CDC explained in a statement how Palestine is also very much a public health issue. We need to scare the bastard and actually do some of that "pushing him left" that people claimed they'd do after getting him elected. Though it seems to me like a lot of people just settled for, "okay, we got rid of Trump, we don't have to worry anymore."

Third: While I'm at it, people have to do more than vote. You have got to get involved. You have got to do more than participate in the presidential election once every four years. Join a union (may I recommend the IWW?), follow the guidance of The People's CDC, volunteer for your local Food Not Bombs, get involved in a tenants union like the Autonomous Tenants Union Network, read Riot Medicine, get trained in first aid and get involved in a street medic group, read up on your local politics and get involved on the small-scale, do something in addition to voting in the presidential election. Even if you're limited in how much you can personally participate, find the people who are talking about these issues and signal boost them, and share the information with others who may be more able to participate more. If you can tell people to go vote in the presidential election, you can also tell them to go do other things, too.

Now, with all of that out of the way, here are some links related to Biden's abysmal COVID-19 response:

During his 2020 campaign, Biden promised immediate $2K stimulus checks. Instead, he delivered $1,400. Sources: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

Velena Jones for NBC Bay Area: "‘Too expensive': Bay Area residents shocked over new COVID vaccine prices"

Reuters: "COVID vaccine manufacturers set list price between $120-$130 per dose"

Joseph Choi for The Hill: "Free COVID-19 test program to be suspended for now"

Disability activist Alice Wong writing for TeenVogue: "Covid Isn't Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life," and the follow-up article, "COVID and the 2024 Election: What Biden and Democrats Owe High-Risk People."

Laura Weiss writing for The New Republic: "Democrats Can't Keep Ignoring Covid in 2024."

David Cohen and Adam Cancryn for Politico: "Biden on '60 Minutes': 'The Pandemic is Over.'"

Alex Skopic for Current Affairs: "COVID-19 is Still a Threat. So is Biden’s CDC."

Adam Cancryn for Politico: "Biden Appears to be Over Covid Protocols."

Paul Thornton for the Los Angeles Times: "Covid Still Rages, and the Biden Administration Isn't Helping."

Eric J. Topol for the Los Angeles Times: "The U.S. is facing the biggest COVID wave since Omicron. Why are we still playing make-believe?"

We should have free, universal testing. We should have free, universal vaccination. We should have free, universal treatment. We should have financial assistance for those of us who can't work outside the home. We should have mandated work-from-home for any job that can be done remotely. We should be emptying prisons and paying attention to the way disease and abuse proliferate inside their walls. We should have COVID-19 safety PSAs and government support for universal masking. We should have free distribution of N95s. We should have mandated masking in medical settings and public spaces. We should have a higher minimum wage. We should have healthcare reforms. We should have strong worker protections. We should have improved infrastructure. We should have a president who gives a single flying fuck about how many of us are dying.

And we have none of it.

But we sure seem to have money to keep dropping bombs, arming cops, terrorizing the vulnerable, and imprisoning innocent people to use for slave labor.

#original post #covid 19

[the-badger-mole]

Reaching for Hope

These last few months have been filled with the most horrifying stories and images coming out of Palestine, DRC, Sudan, Yemen, and too many other places around the world. We, in the US, have seen our president- our political leaders- roll over and not only allow the atrocities to continue, but to actually financially support and arm the perpetrators, despite the majority of us screaming for them to stop. To me, there is little difference between the Democrats and the Republicans at this point. Both parties are bought and paid for by the same people. As a new presidential election is coming up, I can't in good conscious vote Democrat. Not after what I've seen. Not as long as they refuse to hear us when we tell them we don't want Genocide Joe Biden or any of his cabinet to run.

But what is the solution?

I hate the feeling of helplessness I feel. I hate watching the horrors being carried out with my tax dollars. I hate that our "leaders" are more concerned with keeping the money from groups like AIPAC than actually representing the people who voted for them. They have put my finger on the trigger and they won't let me let go.

I'm trying to figure out how to make my voice heard. I've reached out to my representatives. I've done what I can to amplify voices that need to be heard more than mine. I can't claim any special effort in following BDS boycotts because the truth is, these aren't brands I have a whole lot of intentional contact with in the first place. As for Starbucks and McDonald's, I don't like either place so, cutting them off took very little for my part. I do encourage you to avoid all of these businesses, though. I don't know what else to do.

I will not vote for Joe Biden if he runs again. I will do my best to find down ballot candidates who's values are more in line with mine, but I will not give my support to a man who sees the atrocities being committed in Palestine and gives billions and weapons to the people committing these crimes against humanity. If the DNC is smart, they will be actively looking for candidates who don't openly support genocide, but let's face it, we ALL know how smart the DNC is. So, barring some drastic change, barring the DNC running a candidate who isn't on the take from AIPAC, who will actually pull support from Israel as they try to wipe out an entire culture for the sake of oil, I will be voting third party. I'm considering voting for Claudia De la Cruz of the PSL party, but there's nearly a year left, so I'm open to shopping around.

I know there are those that will say that pulling votes away from Biden is essentially voting for Trump. I know that there are those that will say that if the Republicans take the office again, they'll gut our rights. To that, I say, a vote for Trump is a vote for Trump and a vote for Biden is a vote for Biden. If the DNC can't come up with a better candidate and a better reason to vote for them than the same fear mongering tactics they've been using for years, then Trump is the DNC's fault. What has the Democratic party done to ensure our rights? What protections for voting rights have they passed at a federal level? What protections for education? For bodily autonomy? How do we have FOURTEEN BILLION to spare for freakin ISRAEL, but nothing for public schools? Nothing for student loan relief? Nothing for public health? Police reform? What good is the Democratic party if their only real platform is "Vote Democrat because we're not that guy"? If your conscious tells you to vote for Biden in November, so be it. As for me, I can't look at the man without seeing the blood of innocent men, women and children dripping off of him.

#getting political again #free palestine #free drc #anti murdering people for oil and cobalt #anti colonialism #anti capitalism #anti democrat #anti republican #they are the same #one's just wearing a mister rogers sweater #vote third party #the two party system is dead

[heartfucksmouth]

so my mil def overheard my meltdown yesterday and she's been quiet and meek and I can tell she had been emotional. before she left for work this morning she mentioned it and said if she can do anything to help me be happy living here she'll do it. but like... you wont?? how you act 99% of the time makes me unhappy and uncomfortable and like I'm being judged??

my mom said maybe it's good bc she needs the reminder... but it's exhausting bc my mil needs a reminder every 2 months to stop being a miserable asshole bc she's insecure af (and super trashy conservative White Woman) and it's not my goddamn job to be her mirror or her life coach or whatever the fuck this is

I don't *want* to dislike her, I don't want the stereotypical shitty mil relationship, I don't want to be uncooperative or hard to live with, but I also can't deny the feeling she gives me in my gut. Shea a fucking asshole and she doesn't even know it (or denies it bc she can't confront herself) and like. if she's spent 50 years this way, I'm not holding my breath that she'll change.

she's everything I despise.

she's racist, sexist, ableist, hypocritical, she's inauthentic always, fragile af, she lives her life in fear and speaks incredibly confidently about things she knows nothing about,

shes a hoarder of toilet paper among other things, shes a terrible cook and thinks salting food will give you a heart attack and she cooks meat while it isnt completely thawed so its dry af, she complains about everything and does nothing to change it,

shes self employed and has no financial plan for retirement besides relying on her husband (and son?). she charges us ridiculous rent so we'll never save up and leave, she yells and swears at her dog for doing dog things and uses intimidation to make him behave, she refuses to clean her house "unless someone pays" bc shes a house cleaner for other people,

she moves my shit and we essentially dont have evidence that we exist in the house except in our room (me and myles would have to bring our shower stuff into the bathroom every time until i bought a shower caddy and hung it up without asking), she once threw away myles toothbrush bc she "was sick of looking at it," if anything is wrong or broken or missing its ALWAYS myles fault, she expects myles to bring in the groceries every day even if its one bag,

she'll do all the dishes but leave aidans bottles for me to do, she insists aidan will die if he doesnt wear socks, she sits him in front of the tv and leaves him there, she lets him cry and tells him hes fine while refusing to pick him up to comfort him, she only knows how to make him fall asleep with a bottle and once hes asleep she puts him down, but she's pro-life and tried to use Aidan being born as further proof supporting her belief ..

she's a Trump supporter. STILL. I should have just lead with that. I could go on for a while longer but I'm exhausted.

idk. idk what to do. I'm just going the way I did with my dad and trying to feel nothing for her. I get that she's human and flawed and has her own shit and she's fucked up and insecure but like. I don't care? I don't want to cater to it or live with it or expose my child to it. I feel guilt for it, but I'm not going sacrifice myself to make others comfortable anymore.

I really hate this.

#personal #vent post #justnomil

[evansblues]

From what I noticed, the GP don't give a heck who Chris dates and marries they're actually happy for him and congratulating him all over SM and since the "marriage" announcement came out and he was trending #1. I'm seeing only his fans complaining. I don't know if they're married and if it's true we need to learn it's their life not ours.

I'm posting this for your last comment about it being their life. People are concerned about racism anon, and the viewpoints and actions surrounding it. When you don't call these things out and take a live and let live attitude towards the problematic things other people say around you then you end up with large groups of people segregated away from the rest of society who genuinely believe they have a right to hold these views and act on them. You get people like Donald Trump and a rabid, aggressive base of people who want someone to hate. So no, it's not just someone else's life that we need to accept. Chris spoke out about this openly and often. His fans, the people who supported him financially and defended him online, deserve to know if he's not that person anymore. You cannot ignore hate. You cannot support people who hold these views. They spread like a virus.

[iasmelaion]

1,000+ Hours??

Steam tells me I've played over 1,000 hours of Stardew Valley. WILD! In my defense (?), that's over about 7.5 years, so it works out to about 130 hours a year, but still, it's by far the videogame I've played the most, and now that the 1.6 update is coming out in a couple of weeks, I got to thinking about just why that is, and why I enjoy the game so much.

For anyone who doesn't know, Stardew Valley is a farming life sim in pixel art style, where you inherit your grandpa's farm and are tasked with fixing it up and revitalizing the town it's in. It was created by a solo developer, ConcernedApe aka Eric Barone, as a passion project that took him years to make, because he did everything: the coding, the art, the music, all of it, while he had a part-time job and his girlfriend supported them.

It's a hell of an underdog story: solo developer labors away at this passion project for years, and then when he finally releases his game, it becomes an enormous hit. In the past eight years, it's sold over 30 million copies. At around $15 a game, all it takes some quick back of the envelope math to calculate that, even accounting for the cuts various platforms and past publishers have taken, discounted prices, and his overhead now that he has a small handful of staff, ConcernedApe has made hundreds of millions of dollars.

I mention all of this because in a lot of ways, Barone is living the dream. He did it, he hit it big: he worked really hard on this thing he loved, and it was a success, and people love it, and now he's set for life. Of course it came with its own costs: this GQ profile points out that it took a near obsessive dedication to pull off, and obviously, he couldn't have managed it without the financial support of his partner. But like, damn! It more than paid off!

The fanbase almost universally adores Barone: not only is he an incredible underdog success story, but he's released multiple updates for the game for free. Like, dude absolutely could have charged for the 1.5 update, it added a lot of content and the players would've been happy to pay for it, but it was free! He also personally helps people out sometimes, when bugs break their game saves, and he's supportive of the lively modding community (in fact, the 1.6 update includes a lot of updates that are specifically meant to make modding easier).

All that external stuff wouldn't really matter to me if I didn't actually like playing the game. But I do, and as I've thought about why I love it so much, I know part of it is the knowledge that it was, in fact, this one guy's passion project, and very clearly a labor of love that he devoted a ton of care and attention to. It's an inextricable part of what makes it feel good to play the game. (Also, it's nice to know the game isn't, like, evil, lol. No exploitative labor practices [other than the creator's own perfectionism], no microtransactions, no dark patterns meant to make you throw more money at it, though it is for sure an addictive game play loop.)

Anyway, it's been one of my emotional support videogames over the past seven and a half years I've played it. The great thing about my anxiety, to the extent there can be great things about it lol, is that it's very easily distracted, and games like Stardew Valley (and Hades) are A++++ ways for me to break out of an anxiety spiral. Very useful during the Trump times and the pandemic! Also, even when I'm not feeling notably anxious, it's just a super chill and satisfying game to play, one that gives you that sweet, sweet dopamine for accomplishing tasks, plus it's a great game to play while you're listening to an audiobook or podcast.

But like, I'm still kind of baffled about why this game. I've tried a bunch of different games that are similar, and none of them have hit for me like SDV. Like, objectively, I should be sick of SDV! Even with the amount mods add to the game, I've basically 100%ed the game with two different saves (the achievements I haven't gotten are the ones I'm NEVER going to get: never gonna do a Joja run, and never gonna come close to beating the Journey of the Prairie King minigame). And yet, here I am, still playing it!

Other games like it that I have tried, and even enjoyed, but that haven't held onto my attention like SDV has:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Like probably everybody else, I downloaded this just as pandemic quarantines and restrictions were kicking off in the US, and it became my Emotional Support videogame while I was stuck in my apartment. It was charming and comforting and cute, and the routine it added to anxious, isolated days was a true gift. It has plenty in common with SDV: farming and foraging mechanics, decorating a house, befriending villagers. But I abruptly dropped it in July of 2020 and just...never went back to it. It served its purpose for me, and while I think of it fondly, I don't really have any desire to play it again.

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom: Not, strictly speaking, in the same genre as SDV. But I've played a lot of it, and it has some of the same vibes, if you will: gorgeous scenery, the ability to play it however you want, foraging, great music, a chill vibe (when you're not fighting monsters). And indeed, I do occasionally come back to these games! They truly are beautiful, and genuinely thrilling at points. But there's not quite enough structure here to make for a comforting gaming experience.

Littlewood: a cute little RPG with some of the same mechanics as SDV. I played about 40 hours of this, but got bored with how grindy it started to feel. SDV also has a fair amount of grind, but I think what keeps it from feeling too grindy is the amount of variety. Littlewood's grindiness felt like it was just about making Number Go Up. With SDV, you have a bunch of different kinds of grindiness: making money, catching all the fish, collecting stuff for the community center, collecting enough resources to build stuff, going into the caves to mine and fight monsters, etc.

Spiritfarer: billed as a "cozy management game about death", and not really fucking around with that description. Has farming and fishing mechanics, plus you get to explore the world by sailing to various destinations, but there's not really any replayability here. Also it is emotionally devastating. Like, you start it, and you're like, oh, the art is so pretty, the music is so nice, how lovely, how charming, there is an adorable cat here as well, and then the game reminds you, hey! you are here to help souls release their earthly burdens and move onto the next stage of the afterlife! And you will cry. Like, seriously, this is the only videogame to have ever made me cry.

Cult of the Lamb: darkly funny little RPG about being an adorable little lamb who's building a cult to your dark god. The vibe here was funny, with the juxtaposition of the cutesy art and the dark humor. I got bored with this, plus it got pretty buggy for me on my Switch, but it was fine!

Sun Haven: farming sim RPG, much heavier on the fantasy and anime vibes than SDV. I gave up on this one after 15 hours. There were a lot of little things that just piled up and annoyed me too much to keep going. Something about the game's balance and pacing also just felt off to me.

Dave the Diver: like, yes, this is about a guy diving into a Big Blue Hole to catch fish for his sushi restaurant, so objectively quite different! But honestly, this was a delight to play. It juggled its various different aspects in a fun way, cycling between the fishing, the RPG stuff, the restaurant management, and even a little bit of farming. The art style is neat, the cut scenes are funny, and it's pretty nice to just swim through the water catching the occasional fish. Again though, not super replayable, and the gameplay loop does get boring once you've played through the main game.

Roots of Pacha: this is basically SDV, but make it prehistoric. I liked the pixel art a lot, and it's a neat tweak on the SDV formula. I had fun playing it! But again, I finished the main game and felt no real urge to go back to it, or to grind out all the achievements.

Wylde Flowers: another cozy life/farming sim, but this one includes witchy elements. An art style reminiscent of Pixar movies, which tbh, is really not my jam in video games. This one stands out though for how it's fully voice-acted, which is a neat touch. Nothing out and out wrong here, I just got bored, and as noted, the art style is not my favorite. I think the gameplay loop here just wasn't as satisfying as SDV.

And finally, Hades: this is nothing at all like SDV, obviously. The only thing they have in common is a fishing minigame. But it and BotW/TotK are the only other games I've played anywhere close to as much as I've played SDV. Hades, like SDV, offers an immensely satisfying gameplay loop, one with enough novelty to keep you playing, and the art is gorgeous. An incredibly fun gaming experience, and yeah, I come back to this one every so often. It's pretty relaxing for a rogue-lite fighting game, at least, once you've gotten the hang of it!

Graveyard Keeper: I haven't played this, but I did watch some Youtubers play it, lol, and counted it a bullet dodged. Not because the game looked bad, but just because it looked the kind of grindy that would CONSUME me but that would be ultimately unsatisfying. Way better to have saved myself ~50-60 hours and just watched Youtubers play through it instead.

After all that, I'm still not quite sure what keeps me coming back to SDV over and over rather than other games in the same or similar genres! I'll keep giving other games like it a try: I'm especially excited to try Coral Island when it comes out for the Switch, and Chef RPG whenever it's released. But for now, I'm super excited for the 1.6 update, and can't wait to start a new save.

#stardew valley #games

[mariacallous]

It would have been better for Ukraine if Kyiv had fallen in February 2022, when Putin first sent his forces in, than for Western perfidy to grant Russia victory now.

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have died. (The Ukrainian government does not release figures but reliable estimates of the size of the butcher’s bill range from 30,000 to 80,000.) Then there are the  civilian deaths from the bombing, the murders and rapes in occupied Ukraine, and the ecological catastrophe caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.

All that pain, all that blood, all for nothing,

The betrayal will be the worst of it. The West would have promised to stand by its ally and then broken its word and abandoned its friends.

Historians will spend decades examining the motives of US right-wingers if Donald Trump succeeds in persuading them to cut aid to Ukraine.

They will want to find rational reasons for the betrayal as rational people like to do.

And to be fair, there will be rationally explicable reasons. When US Senators say that their voters don’t want them to send money to Ukraine, and prefer to deal with problems closer to home, they make sense.

Voters always object to spending blood and treasure on foreign causes, and supporters of overseas aid should never assume that their arguments will triumph.

But rational explanations on their own cannot explain the behaviour of the US right. A dark and malignant hatred of democracy drives them, and we should not underestimate its power.

The quote I always reach for when I find myself in danger of not taking malice and madness seriously enough came from the historian Norman Cohn. He looked at the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the forged document that inspired Nazism by detailing an imaginary Jewish conspiracy.

You could not understand Europe’s descent into with fascism with purely rational explanations.

Instead, Cohn concluded

“There exists a subterranean world where pathological fantasies disguised as ideas are churned out by crooks and half-educated fanatics for the benefit of the ignorant and superstitious. There are times when this underworld emerges from the depths and suddenly fascinates, captures and dominates multitudes of usually sane and responsible people.”

What else is Trumpism but a movement of the crooks and half-educated fanatics that has captured American Conservatism?  

Ukraine is its enemy because, when he was president, Trump tried to persuade Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a fake allegation that Joe Biden had pressured Ukraine into dropping an inquiry into his son Hunter Biden’s lobbying.

True to his mafia boss character, Trump threatened military aid to Ukraine if Zelensky did not cooperate. There was no evidence that Joe Biden took any action to intentionally benefit his son. To his credit Zelensky refused to agree to set-up Biden, and right-wing America hated him for that.

They hated it too when Democrats tried to impeach Trump for soliciting the help of a foreign country to smear a rival. And I should note in passing here that the supposed isolationists of the Republican party are very keen on foreign entanglements when they provide opportunities for political and financial corruption.

As a result, the pathological fantasies of MAGA world include a hatred of Ukraine, which like so many of the calumnies of the far right (and left) include elements of almost sexual disgust.

Readers who hope for rational explanations should try to explain away Tucker Carlson. Before he flew to Moscow to interview Putin on bended knee, Carlson described Zelensky as being like a “manager of a strip club demanding money”. From what dark closet in his mind, did that strip club come from?

Others described Zelensky as a  “welfare queen” or discussed how they wanted to “punch him in the face”.

Republicans are punishing Ukraine for refusing to go along with Trump’s schemes against his rival. Their partisan hatreds are so extreme that anyone who does not do down Biden must be their enemy.

But the malice runs deeper than mere partisanship. Vladimir Putin is explicitly in the mental world of the counter-Enlightenment.

He showed it towards the end of Carlson’s interview, when he turned sentimental, and not only out of gratitude for the easy ride his Quisling questioner offered.

Russians were more natural and less alienated from God and nature than soulless materialistic westerners, Putin said.

“It is in the heart,” the dictator explained. “Our culture is so human-oriented. Dostoevsky, who is very well known in the West as the genius of Russian culture, spoke a lot about this, about the Russian soul…Russian people think more about the eternal, about moral values.”

The eternally moral Russian people are now on Putin’s orders engaged in mass murder, rape, and the abduction of Ukrainian children in an illegal invasion of a sovereign democratic state.

The easy thing to say in these circumstances is that Putin is as great a hypocrite as the evangelical Christians who worship Donald Trump, even though he is intimate with all of the seven deadly sins, and would discover the eighth and the ninth if they were there to find.

But sentimentality is often on reverse side of barbarism’s coin. Like a gangster who loves his dear old mother, Russian nationalism has always combined sickly praise for the Russian soul with the utmost brutality.

Putin was endorsing the sentimentality and barbarity of the 19th century Slavophile movement.

It saw Russians as a pure people uncorrupted by modernity.  For Dostoyevsky the most vulgar Russian peasant was better than an intellectual because the peasant feared God.

Meanwhile Tolstoy believed that simple Russians were “less intellectually corrupted” than Westerners. They will “understand at last where the means of salvation lie and will be the first to begin to apply it.”

Quoting Tolstoy and Dostoevsky may seem benign. Who does not occasionally think that the honest peasant knows more than the pretentious intellectual?

In Russia’s case the Slavophile myth of the virtuous Russian soul allowed first the Tsars in the 19th century and now Putin to justify the suppression of democracy. Free societies and human rights were corrupt western imports that would only spoil Russians.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the other early fascist conspiracy theories, which Norman Cohn studied, did not come from Nazi Germany but from Tsarist Russia. Their central propaganda message was that Western democracy, rights, liberties and freedoms were shams that hid a conspiracy of the real rulers of the world.

In the case of tsarism and fascism, and today some versions of Islamism and far leftism, it is a conspiracy of Jews.

In the case of Donald Trump and the Republicans it is a conspiracy of Democrats rigging ballot machines.

In the case of Putin, it is a conspiracy of Western deviants.

As Ian Garner and other scholars have emphasised, the Putin regime now uses homophobia as the Nazis used antisemitism.

For instance, speaking in the Kremlin last year Putin began by denying that Ukraine was a democracy. True to fascist form he said that its “real masters” lay in the “dictatorship of the Western elites”.

These elites were engaged in a “complete denial of humanity [and] the overthrow of faith and traditional values.” They wanted nothing less than “outright satanism.” And the satanism of the West manifests itself in its sexual diversity. Putin would not allow “here, in our country, in Russia, instead of 'mum' and 'dad', to have 'parent No. 1', 'parent No. 2', 'No. 3'?

The American right, of course, is keener on fighting the war on the woke than winning the war in Ukraine.

Get down into the subterranean world and an alliance between Republicans and Russian nationalists can now make sense.

Neither believes in democracy.

Both see it as a sham that hides the influence of the puppet masters who rig elections and control society.

And finally, both think they have a God-given right to rule, quite literally so. Trump’s evangelical base is theocratic rather than democratic, while Putin rules with the blessing of Russian Orthodox church.

Who guessed even 10 years ago that these criminals and fanatics from the sewers of politics would control our future?

 But control it they do, and it will take a superhuman effort to rid ourselves of them.

[tomorrowusa]

There is an enormous amount of competition for PolitiFact's 2023 Lie of the Year award. But the decision has been made and the dubious honor goes to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

As pundits and politicos spar over whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign will factor into the outcome of the 2024 election, one thing is clear: Kennedy’s political following is built on a movement that seeks to legitimize conspiracy theories. His claims decrying vaccines have roiled scientists and medical experts and stoked anger over whether his work harms children. He has made suggestions about the cause of COVID-19 that he acknowledges sound racist and antisemitic. Bolstered by his famous name and family’s legacy, his campaign of conspiracy theories has gained an electoral and financial foothold. He is running as an independent — having abandoned his pursuit of the Democratic Party nomination — and raised more than $15 million. A political action committee pledged to spend between $10 million and $15 million to get his name on the ballot in 10 states.  Even though he spent the past two decades as a prominent leader of the anti-vaccine movement, Kennedy rejects a blanket "anti-vax" label that he told Fox News in July makes him "look crazy, like a conspiracy theorist." But Kennedy draws bogus conclusions from scientific work. He employs "circumstantial evidence" as if it is proof. In TV, podcast and political appearances for his campaign in 2023, Kennedy steadfastly maintained:

Vaccines cause autism.

No childhood vaccines "have ever been tested in a safety study pre-licensing."

There is "tremendous circumstantial evidence" that psychiatric drugs cause mass shootings, and the National Institutes of Health refuses to research the link out of deference to pharmaceutical companies.

Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were discredited as COVID-19 treatments so COVID-19 vaccines could be granted emergency use authorization, a win for Big Pharma. 

Exposure to the pesticide atrazine contributes to gender dysphoria in children.

COVID-19 is "targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

His off the scale and totally unsupported conspiracy theories are not confined to autism, vaccines, immunity, and COVID-19.

For Kennedy, the conspiracies aren’t limited to public health. He claims "members of the CIA" were involved in the assassination of his uncle, John F. Kennedy. He doesn’t "believe that (Sirhan) Sirhan’s bullets ever hit my father," Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y. He insists the 2004 presidential election was stolen from Democratic candidate John Kerry. News organizations, including PolitiFact, have documented why those claims, and many others, are false, speculative or conspiracy-minded. Kennedy has sat for numerous interviews and dismissed the critics, not with the grievance and bluster of former President Donald Trump, but with a calm demeanor. He amplifies the alleged plot and repeats dubious scientific evidence and historical detail.  Will his approach translate to votes? According to polls since November of a three-way matchup between President Joe Biden, Trump and Kennedy, Kennedy pulled 16% to 22% of respondents. Kennedy’s movement exemplifies the resonance of conspiratorial views. Misinformers with organized efforts are rewarded with money and loyalty. But that doesn’t make the claims true. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign based on false theories is PolitiFact’s 2023 Lie of the Year.

A Reminder: RFK Jr. has been politically disowned by other members of the Kennedy extended family. They do not support his bizarre conspiracy theories and other rantings. He is trying to capitalize on his family name even though he is a disgrace to the heritage of his uncles and father.

Nobody should vote for him thinking that he will bring back Camelot. RFK Jr. is basically an organic Trump without the makeup.

#politifact #rfk jr. #robert f. kennedy jr. #lies #liar of the year #conspiracy theories #autism #vaccines #covid-19 #atrazine #mass shootings #third parties #election 2024

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

President Biden speaks on the border deal, promising to sign the agreed Senate measure as soon as it lands on his desk and making clear that the only thing that stands in the way of the border security revamp becoming law is Donald J Trump.

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 26, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 27, 2024

[There is a description of rape in paragraph 8.]

This afternoon a jury of nine Americans deliberated for less than three hours before it ordered former president Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of raping her in the 1990s. In May 2023 a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in an assault the judge said is commonly known as rape, and for defaming her. That jury awarded Carroll $5 million. 

Despite the jury’s 2023 verdict, Trump has continued to attack Carroll. Indeed, he repeatedly attacked her on social media posts even during this month’s trial. Today’s jury found that Trump acted with malice and awarded Carroll $65 million in punitive damages, $11 million in compensatory damages for a reputation repair program, and $7.3 million in compensatory damages outside of the reputation program.

Trump immediately called the jury verdict “Absolutely ridiculous!” and said he would appeal. “THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” he posted on social media.

Conservative lawyer George Conway responded. “Not so. The United States of America is about the rule of law, something you couldn’t care less about. Today nine ordinary citizens upheld the rules of law. You have no right to maliciously defame anyone, let alone a woman you raped. In America, we call this justice.” 

In June 2023 the court required Trump to move $5.5 million to a bank account controlled by the court to cover the jury’s judgment while he appeals it. For this larger verdict, Trump could do the same thing: pay $83.3 million to the court to hold while he appeals, or try to get a bond, which would require a deposit and collateral and would also incur fees and interest. Any bank willing to lend him that money would likely take into consideration that he has other major financial vulnerabilities and charge him accordingly.

This was not, actually, the case that looked like it would incur staggering costs. More threatening is the other case currently underway in Manhattan, where New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron is considering appropriate penalties for the frauds that Trump, the Trump Organization, the two older Trump sons, and two employees committed in their business dealings. New York attorney general Letitia James, who brought the case, has asked Engoron to impose a $370 million penalty, as well as a prohibition on the Trump Organization from doing business in New York. 

Judge Engoron has said he hopes to have a decision by the end of the month. 

Former president Trump is under pressure on a number of fronts. As legal analyst Joyce White Vance pointed out tonight in Civil Discourse, two separate juries have now found that Trump acted with malice, and it is becoming harder for him to argue that so many people—two entirely different juries, prosecutors, and so on—are unfairly targeting him. Vance speculates that this latest judgment might hurt his political support. “How do you explain to your kids that you’re going to give your vote in the presidential race to a man who forced his fingers into a woman’s vagina and then lied about it and about her, and exposed her to public ridicule and harm?” she asked.

On the political front, much to his apparent frustration, Trump has not been able to bully former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley out of the race for the Republican nomination, and she is needling him about his mental deterioration. The Republican National Committee has been considering simply deciding Trump is the nominee rather than letting the process play out. The Haley camp responded to that idea with a statement saying that if Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chair, “wants to be helpful she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.” Ouch. 

Trump’s congressional allies’ attacks on President Biden took another hit today after a business associate of Hunter Biden said in sworn testimony yesterday that President Biden “was never involved” in any of their business dealings. 

John Robinson Walker said: “In business, the opportunities we pursued together were varied, valid, well-founded, and well within the bounds of legitimate business activities. To be clear, President Biden—while in office or as a private citizen—was never involved in any of the business activities we pursued…. “Any statement to the contrary is simply false…. Hunter made sure there was always a clear boundary between any business and his father. Always. And as his partner, I always understood and respected that boundary.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s attempts to destroy the bipartisan border deal, in which Democrats appear to have been willing to give away more than the Republicans out of desperate determination to fund Ukraine, are being called out for cynical politics. The news is awash today with stories condemning the Republicans for caving to the demands of a man who is, at least for now, a private citizen and who is putting his own election over the interests of the American people as he tries to keep the issue of immigration alive to exploit in the 2024 campaign. 

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) told his colleagues: “I didn’t come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy…. It is immoral for me to think you looked the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win.” Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) told Sahil Kapur and Frank Thorp V of NBC News, “I think it’s crap…. We need to get that deal done to secure the border. If they want to keep it as a campaign issue, I think they need to resign from the damn Senate.”

But while Trump is apparently telling Republicans he will “fix” the border if he gets back into the White House, Greg Sargent noted yesterday in The New Republic that when Trump was in office, “[h]e too released a lot of migrants into the interior, and he couldn’t pass his immigration agenda even with unified GOP control.” And, of course, he never got Mexico to pay for his wall, as he repeatedly claimed he would, while President Joe Biden, in contrast, got Mexico to invest $1.5 billion in “smart” border technology and to beef up its own border security. 

The White House has refused to abandon negotiations even as Trump trashed them. In a statement today, Biden said that negotiators have been “[w]orking around the clock, through the holidays, and over weekends,” to craft a bipartisan deal on the border, and he called out Republicans who are now trying to scuttle the bill. 

“What’s been negotiated would—if passed into law—be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” he said. “It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.

“Further, Congress needs to finally provide the funding I requested in October to secure the border. This includes an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border. Securing the border through these negotiations is a win for America. For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it. If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill and I will sign it.”

Biden seems to be signaling that if the Republicans kill this measure, they will own the border issue, but he is not the only one making that argument. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which slants toward the right, wrote: “[G]iving up on a border security bill would be a self-inflicted GOP wound. President Biden would claim, with cause, that Republicans want border chaos as an election issue rather than solving the problem. Voter anger may over time move from Mr. Biden to the GOP, and the public will have a point. Cynical is the only word that fits Republicans panning a border deal whose details aren’t even known.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial board went further, articulating what Republicans are signing up for if they continue to prevent funding for Ukraine. Recalling the horrific images of the April 1975 fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, to North Vietnamese forces, when desperate evacuees fought their way to helicopters, the board asked: “Do Republicans want to sponsor the 2024 equivalent of Saigon 1975?”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Biden Administration #US-Mexico Border #Corrupt GOP #US House of Representatives #Trump legal woes #TFG #imploding Republican Party #congress #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson

[qqueenofhades]

I hate hate HATE the fact that putin probably has this shit eating grin on his face w all this denial of ukraine aide. I know there are a couple of other packages where congress can piecemeal it in the future but still. Fuck!!!!!!!! HOW is it all so obvious AND so badly done by the Rs lol

It just illustrates the extent to which the GOP has become the Group of Putin on pretty much every level. There are many reasons for this and they are all equally important to understand:

They love Putin anyway because of all the pro-Trump election interference in 2016, and they're hanging their hat on it being just enough to squeak Trump back in for 2024.

They hate Ukraine to start with because a) it was the cause of Trump's first impeachment (the failed extortion of Zelenskyy) and b) it's central to their current flailing and failing attempts to portray Biden as doing some kind of crime in Hunter's business interests there (in Burisma).

They also loathe the idea of democracy in general and think autocrats, especially their buddy Putin, should have the right to do whatever they want, as well as subscribing to the isolationist America Only xenophobia that was also prevalent in the late 1930s right before WWII. So any noble appeals to maintain Ukraine's democracy and freedom hold no water with them, when they're busy trying to destroy those things here in America as well.

They're heavily influenced by Russian dark money and Russian propaganda, which is part of the larger nexus of Russian influence that operates within and enables the European and American far-right in a creating an anti-Western illiberal fascist theocratic far-right global coalition. If you're interested in this topic, I recommend this (excellent but extremely depressing) book.

As such, yes, the growing anti-Ukraine sentiment in the Treason Caucus is giving plenty of unfortunate credence to Putin's hypothesis that if he can just hang on in Ukraine until 2024, the Republicans will get elected/into full power and instantly be able to cancel all US support for Ukraine. Which they would probably do, and which would be an unmitigated calamity for Ukraine, America, and the world, because that's how the Group of Putin likes to roll.

The Kremlin talking heads are thrilled about this entire development, because obviously of course they are.

The budget resolution to keep the government open for the next 45 days doesn't directly affect aid to Ukraine -- at least for now. The previously agreed-upon financial and military assistance will continue to be paid out, and since a new package will have to be negotiated soon anyway, it's highly likely that Ukraine aid will be included either in that one or a separate bill beforehand.

The Senate Republicans, aside from the usual suspects, are generally supportive of aid to Ukraine. To give -- choke, ugh, wheeze -- Mitch Fucking McConnell 0.2% of credit, he has consistently held the old-fashioned anti-Russia pro-Ukraine line against the crass Putin-smoochin' of his comrades, and made sure to appear jointly with Schumer during Zelenskyy's recent visit to DC. However, he is toadstool slime who may well attempt to price in Ukraine support by trying to cut other American domestic programs or Biden accomplishments. So. Mixed bag.

Lindsey Graham, of all people, has also emerged as a high-profile Senate GOP voice for Ukraine support. However, he is a spineless paramecium who will ultimately do whatever Trump tells him, so let's likewise not put too much faith in that.

Biden has already issued a firm statement insisting that US aid can't be disrupted in any circumstances, and there has been a bipartisan Senate statement as well. So there is existing pressure to get a new package done quickly, and an extra $300 million funding for Ukraine (a resolution, however, not a binding legislation) was approved with 300+ votes in the House just a few days ago. So there is still the ability to do it.

The main question is Kevin Fucking McCarthy. He has issued tepid and conditional statements of support for Ukraine (with the usual "we should be spending this money on our southern border!!!" Republican bullshit) and is under pressure to put a new funding bill on the floor quickly, but since the crazies oppose it and also him, he could easily be his usual brand of spineless and delay doing so. He may also try to strip Ukraine aid out of the next full-year budget resolution, which is already going to be enough of a clusterfuck, but he's going to face far more opposition from Democrats who voted for the 45-day funding package to keep the government open for now, but won't accept anything long-term without money for Ukraine.

Anyway. Republicans the worst, McCarthy sucks, Putin sucks, film at 11.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #russia ukraine war

[tricksheart]

CHARACTER SHEET ―

FULL NAME. Akira Amano-Suou. NICKNAME. Jokey, Aki, Prince of Nightmares, Attic Trash, Prince Boring, Frizzy Hair, Inmate, Trickster.ㅤ ALIASES. JOKER (codename), Akira Kurusu (Tokyo probation name) PRONOUNS. 'He/him' also can use 'they / them'. HEIGHT. 5'8 / 172.72 cm. AGE. 16-18 ( 18 after Strikers and Beyond ).ㅤ ZODIAC. Pisces ( western ), Metal Dragon ( Chinese ). SPOKEN LANGUAGES. Japanese ( native ), English ( skilled ), French ( novice ), and Spanish ( novice ). 𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂��𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 ― HAIR. Ebony black. Very curly and soft to the touch. Hasn't combed any strand for years and hurts to detangle, even with products.‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏Can find miscellaneous items if he or someone else shakes it ( with his permission of course ).‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ㅤ FACIAL HAIR. None. He is baby. ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ EYES. Storm Grey. You can actually see the weather his eyes are named after if you look into them for long enough. Very sharp and has caused people of all ages to be weary of him, so he wears fake glasses to hide them well. SKIN TONE. Pale, sometimes looks ghostly. ㅤ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ BODY TYPE. Short yet solid muscles underneath his somewhat lanky gamer's posture. Will probably have to get surgery down the line to fix his constant stooping and bent neck / back. VOICE. Deep baritone but is mostly silent / whisper-y when dealing with daily life outside of Phantom Thief duties. A little higher in pitch when he's singing certain parts of songs. ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ DOMINANT HAND. Ambidextrous ( uses right and left hand equally ). POSTURE. Lax and Lazy. Mostly has his hands in his pockets and show delinquent walking and body behavior in order to protect himself. More alert during Phantom Thief duties but still maintains a somewhat lax bent posture during some parts of scouting. Takes his hands out when something threatening is happening or only one is shown to give off an attitude. SCARS. Emotional. ( invisible bullet wound right in the middle of his temple because of the cognitive death he suffered from Akechi ). BIRTHMARKS. None. MOST NOTABLE FEATURES. Shujin High School / Seven Sisters High School uniform, Huge black oval glasses, Having a cat in his school bag, Very attractive / handsome. 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃 ― PLACE OF BIRTH. Sumaru City / Yokohama, Japan.ㅤ HOMETOWN. Sumaru City / Yokohama, Japan. SIBLINGS. None. PARENTS. Katsuya Suou ( father ) and Maya Amano ( mother ). 𝐀𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 ― OCCUPATION. A student in high school ( close to graduating after Strikers and Beyond ). CURRENT RESIDENCE. Sumaru City / Yokohama, Japan. Visits Yongen-jaya ( second home ) and other places in the Tokyo area quite frequently. ㅤ CLOSE FRIENDS. Kasumi / Sumire Yoshizawa, Haru Okumura, Yusuke Kitagawa, Morgana ( cat ). FINANCIAL STATUS. Has obtained a lot of demon blood money thanks to the trips to the Metaverse and TV world. ㅤ DRIVER'S LICENSE. Does driving in video games count?? ( Yes after Strikers and Beyond ).ㅤ CRIMINAL RECORD. Expunged. Has been falsely accused due to trumped charges. Currently still wanted by law enforcement for confessing to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves. VICES. Video games, Excess eating, Lazing about, Manipulation, Indifference, Carbonated beverages, Prideful.ㅤ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 ― LOVE LANGUAGE. Quality time, Receiving gifts. RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES. Very pragmatic, just like his parents are. Doesn't focus on appearances that often and is willing to support his significant other financially. Mostly put his needs on a backburner but doesn't totally neglect himself either.

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒 ― CHARACTER'S THEME TUNE. Beneath the Mask ( in-game theme ), Infiltrate ( Persona 5 the Animation ), Mystery ( Persona 5 the Animation ), Bad Luck ( Persona 5 the Animation ), Dusk ( Persona 5 the Animation ).‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ HOBBIES TO PASS THE TIME. Fishing, playing baseball / going to the cages, video games, cosplaying, reading, going to the sauna, going to the aquarium, going to the planetarium, going to the movies, sleeping, swimming, bursting out in song, taking care of Morgana, etc etc. ‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ㅤ LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. A little bit of both, thanks to having to think being the leader of the Phantom Thieves. ㅤ‏‏‎ ‎ SELF-CONFIDENCE LEVEL. Hides his self-confidence due to his perfect non standout civilian persona. ‎‏‏‎Is more bold during his Phantom Thief duties, to a point in being a little too cocky for his own good. Elevates higher if he has Narcissus equipped as a Persona.

Tagged by: @adoranoia Tagging: Anyone who wants to do this and also @kingspuppet

#long post cw #long post tw #[ we call them tricksters. HEADCANON ]

[goodolreliablejake]

I've had a thought on Game Theory and MatPat ever since I watched Big Joel's video on some of his film theories, and I guess this is the last chance to share it with any relevancy.

Game Theory was really important to me at some point, even as I increasingly saw the flaws. I fantasized about being MatPat: being a conventionally-attractive, able-bodied theater kid/science nerd with the full American Dream house-family dealio. I think that, whatever criticisms you may have, the videos have always been more harmless than not. They were like candy, and I enjoyed them as such.

But, at times there has been an undercurrent of something weird, something more nefarious. I first noticed it with his Scott Cawthon apologia.

After the news broke about the FNAF creator donating huge sums of money to support the campaign of Donald Trump and other conservative politicians, there was a huge backlash, especially from LGBT. Fan gave Scott Cawthon money, and he used that money to cause harm to them and theirs. MatPat's response is some centrist BS about how it wasn't about homophobia for Cawthon, it was about "national defense" (which is also bad for different reasons, and at best paints Cawthon as apathetic to the harm he's causing), and how even though it's okay to feel betrayed, it doesn't mean we should stop supporting the games, because the fan community has grown larger than one man.

As someone whose brand is deeply entwined with FNAF, the financial incentives for The Game Theorists are obvious; they weren't about to stop working with this franchise or its creator, they didn't want to tarnish their reputation by admitting past fault, and they needed to keep the cash cow rolling. So, they worked backwards from those conclusions to rationalize those decisions to their audience.

Then there are the more mundane gripes with the theorist channels: that videos are churned out so rapidly that they make sloppy errors, that they primarily advertise to children (with all the ethical ickiness that entails), that they use content from small creators without giving proper credit or linking to the sources, that the videos are overloaded with ads, usually including a paid sponsorship, several minutes of shilling their own store, and the usual youtube ads on top.

I think all of this speaks to the channels' underlying philosophy, and it's the philosophy of liberalism, by which I mean that marriage between capitalism and democracy. On the one hand, this is a moneymaking venture. It always has to be about making as much money as possible. But on the other hand, it needs to be (or seem, or allow the creators to feel) moral, and so the result is a view of the world where, yes, the company is trying to squeeze out as much money as possible, but also them getting more money is a good thing that benefits everyone. They do charity streams. They employ people. They "educate." "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."

I'm not just guessing at the motives here. Matpat has been transparent about Game Theory's Origin Story on multiple occasions. It's part of the narrative that justifies the channels' existence. At some point, Matpat pursued theater as a career. In college, he got his first taste of something like poverty, struggling to get by, camping out at McDonald's with its free refills and wifi (a life I've also lived at times and perhaps the origin of the Diet Coke fixation). And it scared the hell out of him. I don't think it could have had that kind of traumatic effect if he had not lived in privilege until that point. He didn't want to feel financially insecure ever again.

The solution was to create the Game Theory channel as a bridge into a much more lucrative career as a corporate consultant. Creating a popular, financially-viable youtube channel allowed him to sell himself as a social media expert to out of touch corporations. He's not really hiding that he's a sellout, just arguing that selling out is a good thing.

All in all, I can't bring myself to hate Game Theory. It had its place. But neither can I celebrate it, or look back with unconditional nostalgia. The problems with Game Theory are the problems with Youtube and the problems of capitalism. We compromise a little to survive, we compromise everything to make it big, and saddest of all are those who sell out and get nothing for it. The channels will continue without Matpat, and if the channels die, there will be countless other identical creators ready to take their place.

#game theory #the game theorists #matpat #film theory #long post

[kp777]

By Jon Queally

Common Dreams

Jan 05, 2024

“The American people deserve a fair and impartial review of Trump v. Anderson, free from any conflicts of interest."

A progressive advocacy group was among those immediately calling for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself after the U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it would hear arguments in the Colorado case seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state's 2024 presidential ballot due to his role in fomenting the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Thomas is not one of the court's three Trump-appointed justices but has been repeatedly called to recuse himself in cases involving the events of January 6 due to the active role his wife, right-wing activist Ginni Thomas, played in the effort to stop the official certification of the 2020 election results.

"The American people deserve a fair and impartial review of Trump v. Anderson, free from any conflicts of interest," said Christina Harvey, Stand Up America's executive director, in a Friday statement referencing the name of the Colorado case.

"Justice Thomas' continued refusal to recuse himself from this case and others related to the efforts to overthrow the 2020 election—efforts his wife participated in and pressured state officials to support—raises questions about the integrity of the judicial process and the influence of political bias," Harvey said.

"As trust in the Supreme Court reaches new lows," she added, "decisions like these only reinforce Americans' belief that Supreme Court justices are politicians in robes. To begin to restore public confidence in our nation's highest court, Thomas must recuse himself."

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump should not be on the state's primary ballot because the 14th Amendment bars anyone who took an oath to the U.S. Constitution and then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding office. As NBC Newsreports, "Among the novel legal questions presented by the case are whether the language applies to candidates for president and who gets to decide whether someone engaged in an insurrection."

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a constitutional scholar and the lead Trump impeachment manager after the 2021 insurrection, called for Thomas' recusal during a televised interview on CNN Sunday.

A letter on Thursday signed by eight other House Democrats—led by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)—also called on Thomas to recuse.

The letter addressed to Thomas says the justice must recuse "because your impartiality is reasonably questioned by substantial numbers of fair-minded members of the public, who believe your wife Virginia ('Ginni') Thomas' substantial involvement in the events leading up to the January 6 insurrection, and the financial incentive it presents for your household if President Trump is reelected, are disqualifying."

After making the detailed case for recusal, the letter from the lawmakers concludes:

Fewer than half of all Americans trust the Supreme Court, and that number will fall even lower if you rule in this case. A justice should not sit in judgment of his own wife's behavior, nor in judgment of his wife's professional and financial fortunes. Yet that is exactly what you would be doing should you refuse to recuse in this case. To protect the court's integrity and the legitimacy of its decision in this monumental case, you must recuse yourself.

In addition to the case in Colorado, Trump also this week appealed a decision by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who determined that Trump's actions leading up to the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol make him ineligible for the ballot in that state.

That case could be impacted by what the Supreme Court decides in the Colorado case, but it could also run through the federal court system on its own path. The brief from the court released Friday said the Colorado arguments will be held on February 8.

#clarence thomas #u.s. supreme court #ginni thomas #donald trump #jan 6 insurrection #republicans cheat

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Less sustainable (NYT) The federal debt starts the new year at a level that is hard to grasp: $34 trillion. That is 1.2 times the U.S.’s annual economic output. Both parties have contributed to the situation. Republicans have passed large tax cuts. Democrats have enacted ambitious climate and health care initiatives. Both funneled money to Americans in response to the Covid pandemic. For years, many economists believed the country’s debt was not a problem. But times have changed, and federal deficits now look scarier. In November, the financial firm Moody’s lowered its outlook on U.S. debt from “stable” to “negative.” The solution remains unclear. And the economy may be able to continue growing at a steady clip for years despite the debt. At some point, though, the federal government will likely need to raise taxes and cut spending in ways that many Americans will find unpleasant.

Biden and Trump are poised for a potential rematch that could shake American politics (AP) U.S. presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, stunning gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all the tumult that defined those campaigns, the volatility surrounding this year’s presidential contest has few modern parallels. In the coming weeks, the high court is expected to weigh whether states can ban former President Donald Trump from the ballot for his role in leading the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court is weighing Trump’s argument that he’s immune from prosecution. The maneuvers are unfolding as prosecutors from New York to Washington and Atlanta move forward with 91 indictments across four criminal cases involving everything from Trump’s part in the insurrection to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his hush money paid to a porn actress. On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is seeking reelection as the high inflation that defined much of his first term appears to be easing. But that has done little to assuage restless voters or ease widespread concerns in both parties that, at 81, he’s simply too old for the job.

Maine Secretary of State Targeted by ‘Swatting’ After Trump Ballot Decision (NYT) Maine’s secretary of state was the victim of a “swatting” call to her home, the authorities said, the latest politician to be targeted in recent weeks by people reporting fake crimes to the police, hoping to provoke heavily armed responses. A hoax call was placed on Friday night, just a day after the secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, barred Donald J. Trump from the state’s ballot, a politically fraught decision that drew criticism from Republicans across the country. The state police said that in the call, a man claimed to have broken into Ms. Bellows’s home in Manchester, just outside the capital city of Augusta. State troopers searched the residence, but did not find anything suspicious. Swatting incidents have risen in recent years, and advances in technology have made it easier for perpetrators to make 911 calls sound more credible. In the days before the hoax call against Ms. Bellows, numerous other high-profile politicians said swatters had targeted their homes.

Brazil’s economy improves during President Lula’s first year back, but a political divide remains (AP) Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva likes to boast he had a good first year after returning to the job. The economy is improving, Congress passed a long-overdue tax reform bill, rioters who wanted to oust him are now in jail, and his predecessor and foe Jair Bolsonaro is barred from running for office until 2030. Still, the 78-year-old leader has struggled to boost his support among citizens and lawmakers. Some major setbacks, including a series of votes by Congress to override his vetoes, signaled that Lula’s future could be less productive in a Brazil almost evenly split between his supporters and Bolsonaro’s. “Brazil’s political polarization is such that it crystallized the opinions of Lula and Bolsonaro voters beyond the economy,” said political consultant Thomas Traumann, the author of a recent best-selling book on Brazil’s political divisions. “These groups are separated by very different world views, the values that form the identity of each group are more important than food prices or interest rates.”

British fish and chips is endangered (NBC News) Ever since she was old enough to walk, Terrilea Coglan was climbing aboard fishing boats that set sail each morning from the rocky beachfront of Hastings to harvest the key ingredient in Britain’s most iconic dish: fish and chips. The day’s catch travels just a short way from the boats up to the seaside fish and chips shops, or “chippies,” that pride themselves as much in the freshness of the fish as in the secret recipes for their gooey batter. Now, all along the British coast, towns like Hastings are being squeezed by a cost-of-living crisis that’s hit the supply chain behind fish and chips, pushing up prices beyond what some are willing to pay for a humble, if comforting, weeknight meal. The cost of diesel to power the fishing boats, the sunflower oil to fry the fish and the electricity to run the friers have all skyrocketed. The high prices are threatening a billion-dollar business and a staple of the British menu: Every year, Brits eat more than 382 million orders of fish and chips, the federation says.

Heavy Russian missile attacks hit Ukraine’s 2 largest cities (AP) Ukraine’s two largest cities came under heavy Russian missile attacks on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring dozens. Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said one person died and 41 were injured in Russian missile strikes that hit the center of Kharkiv city and other areas. In Kyiv, the capital, five areas of the city were hit in the strikes and at least 12 people injured, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko. The barrage of the cities continued Russia’s escalated attacks on Ukraine in recent days that began on Friday with its largest single attack on Ukraine since the war started, in which at least 41 civilians were killed.

Myanmar’s ‘watermelons’: Soldier on the outside, rebel inside (Reuters) For about two years, says 24-year-old Yan, a former Myanmar police officer, he risked his life pretending to serve the military junta while secretly spying for the armed resistance. “I freed myself from unfair orders,” he told Reuters from a room in a town near the Myanmar border where he said he was taking refuge after fleeing the country in April. Opposition groups said it was difficult to determine how many members of the security forces supplied information to the resistance, and their number was likely small given the risk, but they play a crucial role. They have supplied intelligence, including about the transportation of military supplies, that has helped opposition groups plan attacks, a spokesperson for People’s Goal, a group that supports defectors, told Reuters. Sources inside the security forces are known in Burmese as “watermelons”—green on the outside, appearing loyal to the army, but red, the colour of the ousted National League for Democracy government, on the inside.

China Is Pressing Women to Have More Babies. Many Are Saying No. (WSJ) Chinese women have had it. Their response to Beijing’s demands for more children? No. Their refusal has set off a crisis for the Communist Party, which desperately needs more babies to rejuvenate China’s aging population. With the number of babies in free fall—fewer than 10 million were born in 2022, compared with around 16 million in 2012—China is headed toward a demographic collapse. China’s population, now around 1.4 billion, is likely to drop to just around half a billion by 2100, according to some projections. When Beijing said it would abolish its 35-year-old one-child policy in 2015, officials expected a baby boom. Instead, they got a baby bust.

South Korean opposition leader is stabbed in the neck by a knife-wielding man (AP) South Korea’s tough-speaking liberal opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck by an unidentified knife-wielding man who attempted to kill him during his visit to the southeastern city of Busan, police said. Lee, 59, the head of the main opposition Democratic Party, was airlifted to a Seoul hospital for surgery after receiving emergency treatment in Busan. Police and emergency officials earlier said he was conscious after the attack and wasn’t in critical condition, but his exact status was unknown.

Planes collide and catch fire at Japan’s busy Haneda airport, killing 5 (NYT) A Japan Airlines flight carrying 367 passengers and 12 crew members collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft today while landing at an airport in Tokyo. The crash killed five Coast Guard members and caused the passenger jet to burst into flames. But the airline said that every person on the Japan Airlines plane was able to evacuate to safety. “The crew was spectacular in their reaction times,” one aviation expert said. “It really is a miracle.” The Coast Guard members had been en route to deliver supplies to the region affected by the powerful earthquake that struck western Japan yesterday, killing at least 55 people.

The U.S. and Israel: An Embrace Shows Signs of Strain After Oct. 7 (NYT) No other episode in the past half-century has tested the ties between the United States and Israel in such an intense and consequential way. The complicated diplomacy between Washington and Jerusalem since Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages has played out across both governments, in direct interactions between the leaders and intense back and forth between military and intelligence agencies. The relationship has grown increasingly fraught as Mr. Biden has involved himself more intensely in the conflict than almost any other issue in three years in office. Mr. Biden has seen growing internal resistance to his backing of Israel, including multiple dissent cables from State Department diplomats. In November, more than 500 political appointees and staff members representing some 40 government agencies sent a letter to Mr. Biden protesting his support of Israel’s war in Gaza. Congressional Democrats have been pressing him to curb Israel’s assault, and the United States has found itself at odds with other countries at the United Nations. The friction appears to be coming to a head as the new year arrives. The Biden team recognizes that its challenge is not just Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, since Israelis across the board support the military operation that according to the Gaza Health Ministry has killed more than 20,000 people. But there is no serious discussion inside the administration of a meaningful change in policy, like cutting off the arms supply to Israel.

Ethiopia signs pact to use Somaliland’s Red Sea port (Reuters) Landlocked Ethiopia signed an initial agreement with Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland on Monday to use its Red Sea port of Berbera, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said. The Horn of Africa country currently relies on neighbouring Djibouti for most of its maritime trade. President Abdi said as part of the agreement, Ethiopia would also be the first country to recognise Somaliland as an independent nation in due course. Somaliland has not gained widespread international recognition despite declaring autonomy from Somalia in 1991. Somalia says Somaliland is part of its territory.

Books (YouGov) A new poll found that 46 percent of Americans did not read a book in 2023 as of a December 16-18 poll. Overall, 26 percent of respondents reported reading between one and five books, 10 percent somewhere between six and 10 books, 8 percent between 11 and 20 books, and 11 percent more than 20 books so far. Indeed, the most active readers are reading a whole lot of books: 6 percent of respondents said they read over 40 books, a truly impressive stack.

#headlines #news

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Put down your shovel Ron DeSantis! 🤦‍♂️

Thank God for John James. I wish I had a twatter account just so I could HIGH 5 him. I've actually written 2 Tumblr Draft Posts venting about this online insanity. I still might share my thoughts here, but for now John James of Michigan nailed it.

From JohnJamesMI to RonDeSantis:

#1: slavery was not CTE! Nothing about that 400 years of evil was a “net benefit” to my ancestors. #2: there are only five black Republicans in Congress and you’re attacking two of them. My brother in Christ… if you find yourself in a deep hole put the shovel down. You are now so far from the Party of Lincoln that your Ed. board is re-writing history and you’re personally attacking conservatives like VoteTimScott and ByronDonalds on the topic of slavery. You’ve gone too far. Stop.

https://twitter.com/JohnJamesMI/status/1685020441692225536?s=20

Ron DeSantis Slams GOP Rival Tim Scott for Criticism of Florida Black History Curriculum

Scott is the second Black Republican DeSantis has attacked on the issue as siding with Democrats

Published 07/28/23 Marc Caputo

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused a Republican presidential campaign rival, Sen. Tim Scott, of laundering Democratic talking points by suggesting that the Sunshine State wanted to teach kids there was a “silver lining” to slavery.”

“Part of the reason our country has struggled is that all too often D.C. Republicans accept false narratives, accept lies that are perpetrated by the left," DeSantis said Friday while campaigning in Iowa. "And to accept the lie that Kamala Harris has been perpetrating even when that has been debunked, that's not the way you do it. The way you do it, the way you lead, is to fight back against the lies. So I'm here defending my state of Florida against false accusations and lies."

DeSantis’s counter marked the second day in a row of responding to a Black Republican criticizing him over the education standards by comparing them Harris, the first Black vice president, who traveled last week to Florida and bashed DeSantis. 

On Thursday, he similarly swiped at Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, a supporter of Donald Trump in the presidential primary who called for a slight adjustment in the education standards that say slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

DeSantis pointed out that Harris and other Black Democrats had embraced an AP African American history course that they backed —and that he opposed — had substantially similar language about slaves learning “specialized trades” but “nobody said anything about that.”But Scott, the only Black Republican senator, later that evening took DeSantis to task. 

“The truth is that anything you can learn, any benefits that people suggest you had during slavery, you would have had as a free person,” Scott told reporters. “What slavery was really about was separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives. It was just devastating.” 

DeSantis has repeatedly pointed out the state standards clearly teach the evils of history and racism

Lost in the discussion over the slavery issue is another major controversy concerning the standards that indicates kids should learn about violence “by African Americans” before they were massacred by rampaging white people. 

DeSantis's feud with Black lawmakers from both parties who don’t support himerupted as his campaign struggled to regain its footing after financial troubles and struggles in the polls. Trump leads DeSantis by wide margins with Scott in third in many surveys. 

DeSantis advisers say he won’t back down in the face of criticism, even as the controversy has raged into its second week and, according to critics, helped undercut his message that he will be a better general election candidate to defeat Joe Biden because he can get more independent and swing voters. 

DeSantis Attacks GOP Rep. Donalds Over Criticism of Florida Black History Curriculum

The Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor also took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris 07/27/23

Marc Caputo

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis swiped at a reporter and accused a fellow home state Republican congressman Thursday of siding with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for saying that a controversial state curriculum provision about slavery should be changed.

DeSantis said Rep. Byron Donalds —who endorsed Donald Trump in the presidential primary over the governor — was wrong to say that the new Florida standards suggested suggested that slavery was beneficial to some slaves.

After those standards passed last week, Harris flew to Florida and accused DeSantis of trying to whitewash history.

But DeSantis stuck back, noting that Harris and other Democratic critics had endorsed an Advanced Placement Black history studies course that had a similar point.At the end of the day, you gotta choose: Are you gonna side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets? Are you going to side with the state of Florida? And I think it’s very clear these guys these guys did a good job on those standards,” DeSantis told reporters.

The standards in question say that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

DeSantis mispronounced Harris's first name (which sounds like “comma-lah”) but later sounded it out properly.

“Don’t side with Kam-a-la on that. Stand up for your state,” DeSantis told Donalds.

The row came at a low point for DeSantis’s presidential campaign as he reels from financial woes, layoffs and bad poll numbers vs. Trump. When Donald spoke up via Twitter with a mild suggestion DeSantis amend the language, the governor’s campaign and executive office both criticized him.

After the blowback, Donalds took to Twitter to say that “What's crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement.

“Anyone who can't accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points,” Donalds wrote. “Just another reason why l'm proud to have endorsed President Donald J. Trump!”

DeSantis also had a testy exchange with a reporter who asked “were there benefits to slavery?”

“That’s not what the curriculum says,” DeSantis shot back.

“What do you think?” the reporter asked.

“The curriculum is very clear. I think it’s like 200-plus pages of all kinds of stuff that —you can’t read that. Have you read it?” DeSantis responded.

When the reporter didn’t answer the governor’s question, he asked again “Have you read it?”What’s your opinion?” the reporter repeated.

“But you haven’t read it,” DeSantis said. “So I’m just making that clear. That makes it very clear about the injustices of slavery in vivid detail. So anyone that actually read that and then listens to Kamala would know that she’s lying. And that particular provision about the skills, that was in spite of slavery not because of it.”

“The AP course has made that same point,” DeSantis continued. “Other courses have made that same point. Nobody said anything about that.”

The fight over Florida's new African American history curriculum that suggests slaves derived "personal benefit" from slavery has turned into a war among conservatives as Gov. Ron DeSantis aides are attacking Black Republican Rep. Byron Donalds.

"We will not back down from teaching our nation’s true history at the behest of a woke @WhiteHouse, nor at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman," Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr., tweeted abut Donalds.

Diaz slammed the representative after Donalds said that he supported almost the entirety of the new standards, calling them "robust" and "accurate," however it was line about slavery that needed to be change.

"What's crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement," Donalds tweeted. "Anyone who can't accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points."

Just another reason why l'm proud to have endorsed President Donald J. Trump!" Donalds added.

Jason Miller, a senior advisor to Trump tweeted out a statement in defense of Donalds calling him a "conservative hero." Miller lambasted the DeSantis team for their attempts to "smear" the congressman.

"Ron DeSantis needs to look in the mirror and recognize that at his current trajectory, it's not just 2024 that is dead for him, but 2028 as well," Miller's statement read. "DeSantis' misguided attacks are only helping Joe Biden, and if that's his goal, DeSantis should just get out of the race."

Christina Pushnaw, who works as DeSantis' Director of Rapid Response, has compared Donalds criticisms of the curriculum to those voiced by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pushnaw responded to both Miller and Donalds' tweets with a Harris gifs.

#ron desanctimonious #ron desantis #john james #byron donalds #tim scott #this is insanity #stop