#legally and in a hospital but nonetheless

[flashbic]

4AM Secret du Lorrain rewatch, to cope

#ouch oof owie #they took my organs #legally and in a hospital but nonetheless

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

I want to write a little bit about structural racism in the UK against Travellers, and the Labour Party's complicity with this because I think it might help explain why that letter from Diane Abbott disturbed me so much.

Romani and Irish Travellers in the UK experience discrimination all the time. They'll be barred from shops and pubs, they experience discrimination from the police, they experience racial abuse. If they are living a nomadic lifestyle, they struggle to access schools and hospitals. Educational outcomes for Romani students are the worst in England by a large margin, followed by Irish Travellers. They're also over represented in the prison population compared to the proportion of the general population they make up.

Irish Travellers are generally "white/white passing" although they are a distinct ethnic group from the settled Irish. However, not all Romani people are "white passing" and some see themselves as PoC. Both groups have fought for a long time to be recognised officially as ethnic minorities and to gain legal protections.

In 2022, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts act was passed. This is the "bill" that was the focus of the "kill the bill" protests, and lots was written about the restrictions it placed on protestors. However, part 4 of the bill related to unauthorised encampments. Although the law does not specifically name any ethnic groups, it effectively criminalises the traditional nomadic traveller lifestyle.

It creates an offence of residing in a vehicle (this would include a caravan) on land without permission. It allows the police to seize the vehicle, even prior to the offence being committed. It allows the police to impose fines and prison sentences.

Although the bill itself does not name any particular ethnic group, much of the advice and communication around the bill does. This is because it's clearly designed to target certain groups who live a traditional nomadic lifestyle. It's designed to make them homeless, and force them into housing- essentially forced assimilation. The British have been trying to do this to Romani and Irish Travellers for centuries.

This law was passed by the Tories, but one thing people don't know is that Starmer whipped the Labour party against most sections of the bill. He allowed a free vote on Section 4- the section that specifically related to "unauthorised encampments".

Around the same time, in 2021, his party produced local election leaflets which mentioned "traveller incursions"- eventually they admitted the leaflets were racist and destroyed them. It's not the first time, and won't be the last, that Labour use racism against these groups to win points with the electorate.

In this context, Abbott is part of a system which is systematically discriminating against Romani and Irish Travellers- yes, Labour aren't the party in power, but they are a part of the system enabling this to happen.

So, I read her letter in that context. I read her minimisation of the struggles of the most marginalised ethnic groups in our society in that context (I don't want to make this "who has things worst" but it's nonetheless true). At best, she's throwing them under the bus to make a point she thinks will be popular with her supporters. At worst, she's actively affirming her own party's racist policies.

"It doesn't matter if we criminalise their way of life, because it's not "real" racism".

She is someone seen to be on the left, seen to be anti-racist, and she's effectively saying this prejudice is acceptable.

#uk politics #diane abbott #labour #racism #GRT #is the backlash more severe because she's black and a woman and on the left #well maybe #But there's also an awful lot of gaslighting going on towards Romani Irish Travellers and Jewish people on twitter #who don't have her institutional power #a timely reminder #politicians are not your friends

[agent-cupcake]

UPDATE TIME Okay so my sleep schedule is obscenely fucked so my productivity has been really low when it comes to writing, but I'd like to share some of the ideas I've been kicking around recently. They're all FFXIV because I've got the brainrot and there's a HIGH chance I'll write none of these, or things will change dramatically, but I wanted to share regardless.

Hermes x f!reader - Modern AU

You're a patient with a rare disease being treated by Doctor Fandaniel. In that time, he becomes a little too attached to you and your case. He believes your medical issues are fully curable given the proper resources and time, but isn't getting approved for that sort of experimental treatment. Realizing that the hospital, your family, and the medical field in general are just going to let you die, Hermes takes things (namely, you) into his own hands. Essentially, Hermes kidnaps you so he can personally treat you with the stated goal of saving your life and obviously no other ulterior motives.

Zenos viator Galvus x f!WoL reader - Post Endwalker AU

This one strays far enough from canon that I'm not sure I could do it justice, but I like the idea nonetheless. Zenos's third life begins in a prison. You, physically and mentally drained by everything that has happened, are his savior and his warden. In your attempt to understand him, your dark mirror, you open yourself up to a whole lot of uncomfortable baggage a hero shouldn't carry, and to being understood, convincing Zenos to consider a new perspective. Unfortunately, understanding a monster doesn't make him any less monstrous, no matter what misguided ideals your adventures have taught you so far... All of this to say that when he escapes, he's no longer preoccupied with fighting you.

Hades x f!reader x Hythlodaeus

Long before you're made Azem and Hythlodaeus gives up the seat of Emet-Selch for Hades, the three of you go on an anthropological expedition as a more hands-on lesson. I have to write a threesome with them eventually. Legally, I think it's contractual. We'll see.

G'raha Tia x f!WoL reader

He's very enthusiastic and attentive and I have a voice kink.

Thancred Waters x f!Reader

I want to take advantage of a man with the lingering issues of a caretaker who lost his ward + it would be funny if he got fed up with the old man jokes. I wholeheartedly blame Kane for this one.

#personal #ffxiv #hermes ffxiv #zenos yae galvus #hades ffxiv #hythlodaeus #graha tia #thancred waters #idk if i'll write any of these but idk i really like them #i feel a bit bad for being so awful about writing recently

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

So, in Brazilian contribution to abortion-related news feeding your current urge to carve your eyes out with a spoon, actress Klara Castanho was forced to reveal she was raped after suffering vicious attacks online for giving the resulting baby up for adoption.

The 21 year old actress became a trending topic on Brazilian Twitter after gossip columnist Leo Dias, gossip YouTuber Dri Paz, and Youtuber-cum-right-wing politician Antonia Fontanelle outed her, allegedly receiving the scoop from a nurse from the hospital where Castanho gave birth, who breached secrecy and broke work ethic conduct. Fontanelle and Paz claimed she had an affair with a married man, hid her pregnancy from fans, didn't even want to look at the baby's face, and abandoned a vulnerable, speaking about it with explicit contempt and claiming "disgust" about it. Their coverage of the case fueled online speculation on the actress's personal life, as well as slut-shaming and accusations against her person, of "irresponsibility", "inhumanity", "abandonment", etc.

Klara posted an open letter on Instagram revealing she had been raped, took a morning after pill, had a regular menstrual cycle and didn't gain weight or have her belly grow, and yet found out she was pregnant in a very advanced stage. As if she hadn't been violated enough, her doctor treated her like trash, forcing her to hear the baby's heartbeat, saying they had half of her DNA and that she would be forced to love them, and refusing to back down even after she explained she had been raped.

She got in touch with a lawyer and started all legal processes to have the baby be directly adopted by a family in the hospital right after birth, which is backed up by law and endorsed by adoption activists. "I was still trying to pick up the pieces when I had to deal with the information of having a baby.", she wrote on her open letter. "A baby born from a violence that destroyed me as a woman. I was not (and am not) emotionally able to give this child the love, care, and everything they deserve. Between the moment I found out about the pregnancy and the delivery, few days passed. It was too much to process, to accept, and I took the attitude that I consider more dignified and humane."

She continues: "On the day the child was born, I, still anesthetized from postpartum, was approached by a nurse who was in the operating room. She asked questions and threatened: 'imagine if this columnist discovers this story'. I was inside a hospital, a place that was supposed to welcome and protect me. When I got to the room, there were already messages from the columnist, with all the information. He just didn't know about the rape. I was still under the anesthesia."

Both this gossip columnist [she didn't name him, but Leo Dias was mentioned by Antonia Fontenelle, who first published about the pregnancy and adoption] and another who approached her days later, upon being told about the rape, promised not to publish the scoop. Well, look how that turned out.

Oh, and Antonia Fontanelle and Dri Paz? They've both doubled down on their actions. Fontanelle (who's a bolsonarist candidate for federal deputy for the Republicans party, same that hosts the pastor-cum-Rio mayor Marcelo Crivella – who sent cops to confiscate LGBT+ books from a book fair due to a Marvel comic gay kiss – and is linked to the ultra-Evangelical Universal Church of the Kingdom of God) said "what does that have got to do with me?", and that she doesn't understand "why people are all so uptight" with her for "having had the courage to mention a monstrous story". "Giving birth to a child and not wanting to see them and having them thrown to chance is a crime, yes. Only those who have never been to a shelter find this adoption little tale cute." The child is not going to be in a shelter, they've already been adopted. Nonetheless, Antonia called it "abandonment of a vulnerable person". Dri Paz, furthermore, accused Castalho of lying about the rape. After getting roasted online for it, she deleted the video and apologized for buying into 'fake news'. Leo Dias, in an interview with conservative comedian Danilo Gentilli, didn't mention the actress by name, but said "big karma" was coming for her, that the story in which he was "in dilemma" about reporting involved "cruelty". After the published letter, he said he had known about the case for a while and had decided not to report about it, and called the situation "an opportunity to rethink". The freaking baby themself got doxxed, with someone publishing their sex, weight, time and date of birth, and name of hospital.

After Klara Castanho published her open letter, she's been thankfully getting massive support from fellow celebrities, politicians, and average internet users alike, and Fontanelle, Paz, and Dias have been getting their fair share of criticism. However, none of that undoes all the violence Klara suffered, from the rape to the asshole doctor to the asshole nurse to the asshole professional gossipers to the asshole internet users.

This, mind ya, is from the same week Roe V Wade was overturned and it's been revealed that a 11 year old raped girl in Brazil was pressured and kept in a shelter by a judge for weeks to be stopped from having her lawful and rightful abortion. Anti-abortion activists love touting adoption as alternative and solution, but the vicious attacks suffered by Klara for doing exactly what they claim should be done show that it's never been about being pro-life, it's always been about control and forced motherhood.

(x)

#feminism #politics #brazil #klara castanho #abortion #brazilian politics #adoption #antonia fontenelle #originals #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt #sorry for the text being angrier than usual but i won't even attempt to make the text neutral this time it's just impossible #it's just been A Week and even I need to vent #reproductive rights

[maryfisk]

Chat With My Lawyer:

After a long drive through city traffic, the group arrived at the police station.

Benjamin and Mary were led to a rather comfortable room, which had a couch, some magazines, a coffee table, a pen, and a notepad.

"And so, it continues." Mary spoke sitting down on the couch, running a hand through her hair. She was working with fragmented memories, whatever Typhoid had allowed her access to along with what Captain America had told her. Piecing it all together was going to be quite a task.

"Well, what can you tell me? It's better that we start now before this escalates further. Start with what you know." The lawyer, Benjamin Donovan, replied. He grabbed the notepad and the pen, ready to record what was going to be discussed.

"So, from what I know, one of my alters, her name is Typhoid, she got into a fight with Captain America. Then a pregnant woman came to his defense and Typhoid, stabbed her in the stomach." Mary replied.

"Oh my. This certainly sounds like a serious situation. Let's continue by gathering some more information: can you tell me a little more about the context of your fight with Captain America and the circumstances that led to you stabbing the pregnant woman?" Benjamin frowned leaning forward.

"He was on her hit list. Typhoid wished to kill him... She got in the way." Mary spoke. "I will admit, I was aware of the hit list, but I was not aware she would act on it... She's had it for months now and hasn't done so." She appeared, visibly stressed out by the whole situation, switching then and there.

"Captain America being your target does add a bit more complexity. While he is a valuable member of the Avengers, his status as a superhero could make the matter of your alter's hit becoming public and a bit more messy, which could potentially raise some issues. How about the pregnant woman? Was she trying to defend Captain America specifically or just trying to intervene in general?"

"She stabbed me and I stabbed her back." Typhoid answered.

Benjamin looked up from the notepad he had had been writing on, Mary had gone from talking about Typhoid to referring to herself as such. Nonetheless he continued with his train of thought, "Well, the fact that she retaliated with force does indicate that she had some level of intent to harm you, which could potentially work in your favor in terms of legal justification. However, it is also worth noting that the fact that she was pregnant might be viewed in a negative light when we present this situation to the court. Was anyone else present who could testify to the events that unfolded?"

"Yes, Captain America and Iron Man were also there." Typhoid answered as she looked over the room.

"Ah, I see. So, two high-profile members of the Avengers were also present and could potentially provide their testimony to the court. Have any other issues as a result of this come to light."

Typhoid shook her head. "Um, the husband of the pregnant lady assaulted me and I have no choice but to assume, that he also broke into Mary's home and vandalized the place."

"Well, the fact that you haven't been arrested yet is good news and may allow us some time to prepare a defense. As for the husband and his actions, it does sound like you might have a self-defense claim for his behavior. Could you provide more details on what exactly happened when the husband assaulted you and vandalized your home?"

"He used his super speed and slapped me. I managed to get a picture of him. I believe his name is Pietro Maximoff. I was not present when he broke into my home, but as a result of him attacking me, I have reason to believe that he was the one who did so, with his wife being in the hospital. All of this happened today, I called the police as soon as I got home."

"I see. Well, the fact that you managed to get a photo of Pietro could potentially work in your favor and aid the defense. What is the nature of the evidence you have that proves Pietro was planning to break into your home? Is it a written plan that is incriminating?"

"No, it's not."

"Well, that is inadmissible in court without proof. Unless of course, we can get him to admit to doing it. Hopefully, the police will be able to find some evidence from your home. Nonetheless, this information, along with the photo you have of him, could certainly be beneficial for our defense case. Do you think Pietro might be targeting you for a specific reason? Perhaps something to do with the fight you had with Captain America?"

"Yes, his wife was the pregnant woman I stabbed, in self defense. It's important to note that both she and the baby survived. As far as I know she's in the hospital recuperating from her wounds."

"I see. So the husband, Pietro, could be targeting you as payback for injuring his wife. And you're saying that she survived the incident?"

"Yes, that is precisely what I am saying." Typhoid nodded, before forcing Mary back to the front, having grown bored of the conversation.

"Well, the fact that the woman and her unborn child both survived the incident certainly bodes well for our case. However, it's still possible that Pietro could seek to harm you in retaliation for his wife's injury. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me about the situation to help prepare our defense?"

"I have dissociative identity disorder. It was one of my alters that attacked him, not me. This is documented by quite a few institutions." Mary spoke, cringing a little as she mentioned the name.

"The dissociative identity disorder information could be relevant for our case, as it suggests that you may have been unaware of the actions that led to the incident. Would you be comfortable with me contacting the institutions to obtain the documentation of your disorder? This could potentially provide further evidence of your claim that you were not fully aware of your actions." Benjamin spoke making note of the information that was being presented to him.

Mary swallowed hard at the question, her discomfort evident on her face. "This wouldn't get back to me, right? I would like to stay far away from those places."

Benjamin shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to maintain your confidentially when contacting them. I'll only provide them with information pertaining to the potential relevance of your disorder to the case, without providing any identifying information about you. This way, your privacy will remain protected."

Mary nodded as she looked over to him. "Very well, go ahead."

"Thank you for your understanding. I'll contact the institutions and obtain the documentation for your disorder as soon as possible, so I can provide it to the court. In the meantime, is there anything else you'd like to share about the situation?"

Mary thought for a moment and then pulled out her camera. "This has the picture of Pietro attacking me, as well as the pictures of my home that was vandalized."

"These additional photos could certainly be useful for building a stronger case against Pietro. I think we have enough information to start preparing our defense now. I'll contact the institutions, obtain the documentation for your disorder, and get in touch with you once that has been secured. Does this sound good to you?" Benjamin asked grabbing the camera, and looking over the photos.

"That sounds perfect, thank you, Benjamin." Mary nodded in approval.

"You're welcome. I'll be in touch soon with an update concerning the progress of our case." Benjamin replied, grabbing the notepad as he headed out of the room.

//Tagging you guys because it's relevant at the moment. And I remember you guys showing up, apologies if I forgot anyone!

@samwilson-official

@official-pietro-maximoff

@pietros-wife

@theironcan

@moongirlwidow

#mary speaks #character switch #typhoid speaks #character switch 2 #mary speaks! #mcu rp #marvel rp #marvel roleplay #mcu roleplay

[justforbooks]

Three years after it was declared “The Worst Restaurant In NYC Right Now,” Salt Bae’s Manhattan burger joint has closed.

Salt Bae, of course, is the social media tag for the New York celebrity chef and butcher Nusret Gökçe, who became famous for bouncing flakes of salt off his forearm and on to just about anything edible, giving customers varying degrees of salt-shock.

He opened Salt Bae Burger in a city obsessed with finding the best burger possible, and the outlet on Park Avenue had undergone a bumpy ride ever since. It opened in late February 2020 – just before the city went into Covid-19 lockdowns – to accusations of sexism because it had offered a free, appetizer-sized veggie “ladies burger” in pink buns to women only.

“We wanted to compliment the ladies,” its general manager, Al Avci, told Eater, who explained the stunt had gone down well in Dubai. “We weren’t thinking it would be sexist.”

But Salt Bae Burger also drew consternation as the home of the $99, gold-flecked milkshake and the $100 Gold Burger, which was encased in gold foil. Meanwhile, in terms of ambience, Eater critic Robert Sietsema wrote, “it had all the charm of an airplane hangar.”

Scott Lynch, a reviewer for Gothamist, said he’d “had the unfortunate opportunity a few weeks ago to eat several sad servings of hospital food, and everything I had at Salt Bae was worse”. The menu, he wrote, was framed in metal like a tombstone “apparently marking the death of everything pleasurable about eating”.

The inexpensive Wet Burger, he added, was “actually just a meager disc of meat sitting within a soggy, unpleasantly sweet bun. It’s also tiny, but you can’t eat more than a single bite anyway.” Lynch called Salt Bae Burger the city’s worst restaurant.

Gökçe, who would cook in aviator sunglasses and tight white T-shirts, had seen success before. The Turkish restaurant impresario became famous three years earlier, in 2017, when – through his “salt crystals bouncing off arm bent in a swan-like formation” technique – he earned more than 52 million followers on Instagram via a chain of Nusr-Et steakhouses with more than 20 locations worldwide.

But the salting technique also attracted unwanted attention. When Gökçe donned gloves to perform the salting, some wondered if that might be because the technique could otherwise violate health codes.

Also, before Salt Bae Burger opened, the company behind the Nusr-Et restaurants was slapped with legal claims ranging from sexual harassment to wage theft. Gökçe raised eyebrows after bragging about feeding the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, US conservative darling Donald Trump Jr and Leonardo DiCaprio, who is known for his dating life as much as his critically acclaimed film roles.

And the reviews weren’t great, either.

The New York Post called it “Public Rip-off No 1” that cost $521.45 for dinner for two and left the diners “craving a snack”. A $25 salad was composed of “days-old iceberg lettuce and mystery greens with tasteless goat cheese and a few walnuts, raisins, and pomegranate seeds”.

The New York Times critic Pete Wells said he’d experienced more than the theatrical application of salt to his order. “I had a pair of trousers that Salt Bae had seasoned like a steak,” he wrote.

He added: “Mr Gokce has only one move, but he performs it with total confidence, and as anybody who’s ever been on a dance floor knows, that’s enough.”

Still, Gökçe’s fame has been real enough.

“Americans and New Yorkers love me very much,” he told the New York Times. He described how he served most of the meat to customers, saying: “After I cut it, I do the move.

“I go to the same table, sometimes three times. I don’t see myself as a butcher or just a restaurant owner. I view my job as an art because I make art out of meat and the move is like a final touch on this art. It came from within me.”

Nonetheless, Salt Bae Burger closed last month, and the title of New York’s best – and worst – burger is up for grabs.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Salt Bae #Nusret Gökçe

[slexenskee]

Re: Does Shouto have his scar/what happened to Rei in May Death Never Stop You

TL;DR - Shouto does not have his scar but Rei is still in the hospital. Okay and now for the long version -

So we don’t know the specifics of Rei’s mental disorders in canon, but judging from her actions I imagine there’s a whole laundry list of cluster a, b, and c disorders in there to certain degrees. For this fic I’m assuming her particular cocktail is bipolar disorder (mania and depression) with psychotic features (delusions, hallucinations), avoidant/dependent disorders, PPD and generalized anxiety. 

Rei’s first born is a really weird fucking baby. He’s basically an alien. He doesn’t really cry or make much noise, and he has a terribly unnerving and unblinking stare. Sometimes it seems like he just sees right through her, judging her and finding her wanting and deciding to dismiss her from his perception of reality. Or at least that’s how she sees it - is it actually? No because Gojo’s awareness hasn’t even come in yet, but the whole ‘old soul in a new body’ is still making him a weird infant. Also the whole body/soul thing in JJK is very ??? which means its possible Gojo’s soul has always been in his body, and so has his cursed energy (even if his 6 eyes and his awareness didn’t fully manifest until he was about 4 or so), so even in utero he would have had cursed energy, and who knows how that would react in the body of a human without any cursed energy to speak of? In JJK even normal humans have trace amounts of cursed energy even if they can’t see curses, which would explain how sorcerers come from non-sorcerer families. But MHA has zero cursed energy, and the 6 eyes have evolved to see quirk energy. Idk what that would do to Rei, but nothing good, I imagine. I wouldn’t say her mental issues are entirely Gojo’s fault, since a lot of that is hereditary and environmental, but it certainly didn’t help. 

In a normal person it would probably give mood swings, more depressive episodes, and other symptoms that we’ve seen in JJK for normal people who are unknowingly cursed - anxiety, sudden nervousness, bad dreams, that kind of stuff. But because Rei already had plenty of undiagnosed mental health disorders, it sort of compounded everything. 

Rei is already under pressure just by the nature of her marriage, which I head-canon as her agreeing to by pure technicality of the legal definition of ‘consent’, but in reality was very much so caused by the pressure her parents, society and endeavor himself was exerting on her. Basically she made herself believe it was what she wanted because everyone else seemed to think it was the smart choice - marry a rich and handsome famous hero who has offered to take care of your family and you financially for the rest of your days, in a society that’s already misogynistic? I imagine her friends in school and just everyone in her everyday life even beyond her parents was putting pressure on her, maybe not intentionally, but exerting their opinions on her nonetheless. 

This is a lot of stress and environmental pressure for everyone, but again Rei already had BPD and was more susceptible to these kinds of changes, and never got the help she needed to deal with any of it. In line with cultural values, it probably never occurred to her to voice her struggles aloud or seek help for them.

She’s alone, suffering under undiagnosed PPD, can’t bond with her baby in any capacity, feels like a failure, and it’s just a huge spiral that gets worse and worse until it eventually breaks. 

I imagine she didn’t start having more violent/hysteric attributes to her psychotic features until this point in her life, and they would have scared her. I have to imagine this is canon, bc otherwise I don’t know how she ended up going from a mild woman to having a violent episode and scarring Shouto. 

She’s also not taking any medication whatsoever, and has never been diagnosed or seen a doctor for her mental health issues. Untreated BPD is basically a recipe for disaster in this instance, but instead of harming her children like in canon, the coin flipped on the other side and she acted on her depressive side and not her manic one, and she makes an attempt on her own life instead. Frankly its unrealistic that she hadn’t injured anyone else in one of her manic episodes beforehand, like a maid or one of her own kids, but that’s where the avoidant distorder comes in, as she’s always been more of a recluse and more likely to hurt herself in a manic episode than someone else. But anyway this is enough to finally get psychiatric help involved. 

Again, in canon she’s seen to be pretty cordoned off from life and has been in a psych ward for most of Shouto’s life - that wouldn’t make sense unless she had pretty uncontrollable violent tendencies and exhibited an inability to deal with stressors in regular life, so I have to imagine her particular cocktail of disorders is extreme and was probably already there and got worse due to the environmental factors of her marriage. 

 To be specific I’ve slotted her psych ward admittance into the timeline to be right around the time that Gojo confronts Endeavor in the dojo. Honestly maybe even like a week or two before it. At that point in time Gojo is spending like 80% of his time away from his own house and honestly has no idea it even happened. In his POV in ch1 he mentions how odd it is that Rei isn’t in the house when he stops by because she’s always there, then he’s distracted when he notices Endeavor and Shouto. 

#tw: sui mention #fic notes #fic may death never stop you #mdnsy FAQ

[johannwolfgangvongoethe]

organizing care + being a legal guardian + struggle tweeting irl

enstars thought collection below. i dont know how we got here.

anyway, so this is a post where i talk about my vague ideas on whats up with kanames health and care situation. like, legally speaking.

(spoilers for everything surrounding kaname, obbligato specifically)

basically. i am an avid tatsumi and himeru enjoyer and healthcare business and law is? my hobby? idk if you can call this a hobby? so i have been absolutely obsessing over every little throwaway line we get about how kanames long-term care is organized. because depending on who is currently responsible on paper... that could really influence a lot, right!!! since right now kaname is unable to make health decisions for himself.

we all know (ore-)himeru is going through a lot and the possibility of an added responsibility and financial burden of a guardianship on him is something that is very interesting to me.

point of the post so this post isnt much about existing laws (as they are extremely complicated, even if youre native to a region and language), i mostly want to discuss what we know and the possibilities and the mental burden of carrying legal responsibility on top of internal emotions (grief, guilt, loneliness, despair and hopelessness, possessiveness even, and whatever else himeru has going on).

its smth that strongly gnaws on you. i think everyone who ever had to apply for care/benefits will know how horrible of a process it is.

boring health stuff i tried to look up japanese law surrounding how long-term payment and guardianship is organized and who qualifies for both. i am german so obviously most of my knowledge only concerns the legal situation here, unfortunately. i am Assuming enstars just follows the laws of irl japan and as such at least a considerable chunk of financial burdens should be lifted by the countries mandatory insurance.(70%) BUT the long-term intensive care situation for people under the age of 40 is murky (relevant long-term care laws exist for the elderly and aim to provide financial relief. but idk how theyd handle the case of a teenager, especially one that, we can assume, used to be in the foster system. the jpn foster system is its own can of worms) no surprise, disability/care related payment plans for young people, esp those who have never been employed or paid into insurance, are always like. ridiculously convoluted. sometimes nonexistent. so who knows which laws specifically affect kaname here.

(ore-)himeru mentions him still being at a hospital (in romantic? date chapter 5) so that is a vital clue that this has not been outsourced to some other care facility. so i wonder... how expensive is this currently. must be intense. i am just willing to bet his legal guardian (will get to this in a second) has to make financial efforts, on top of the papers and forms and emotional burden that such an arrangement brings with itself. additionally, its somewhat obvious but ill specify it anyways: we are talking about a full-time in-patient situation. (ore-)himeru mentions the circumstances of kanames current health in chapter 1 of the epilogue of obbligato. (while not fully comatose, kaname is not lucid. he does some vocalizing sometimes but communication is not possible.)

so. HiMERU and all that makes you wonder... are the himerus connected via guardianship. we know from obbligato that kanames mothers is dead, he grew up alone (the tojo family not being in the picture, apparently), and while their father is alive, he was not in a position to care for either of them himself, health-wise. (and financially, i am willing to bet) so, responsibility would just jump to the next relative; that being the adult brother. young adult who barely made it back to the country! but working and adult and insured nonetheless, therefore qualifying.

i would assume (ore-)himeru did not need to step up/wasnt really in the picture either (at least health system databases might not have been aware of him) but he visits him in the hospital. even before that, he attempted to become at least somewhat involved in kanames life by his rough attempts to coach him. and most of all, you know how much kaname means to him. i am just going to assume he claimed him.

and like, thats a shit situation for someone in their early 20s (or however old he is). that would be horrible for anyone in a more stable situation at a more established age.

the emotional baggage of it all. not only have you just met your half brother and just gotten around to the idea of having family, you instantly get it taken from you again. the loss and grief and guilt must be unimaginable.

(ore-)himeru has.... unbelievable issues when it comes to... his attempts to prepare what he thinks would be an ideal life for kaname. whether in hope of one day handing it over or just as a sad tribute to what could have been or an attempt to keep “himeru”, the artistic vision, alive. however much of this is happening in what percentage and on what conscious level.

so to the urge to make “himeru” famous, this would add the absolute need to make himeru famous as a source of steady good income. of course (ore-)himeru is desperate to do well out of pride and love but financially and on paper he would be responsible for two people, adding to the pressure to be as successful as possible.

(additionally, while it does not justify (ore-)himeru’s actions, himeru also dodged a public scandal by staying an idol and performing as per usual. there were no news about an idol being beaten and staying unconscious and that by itself provides protection from the public for kaname. especially since his family is infamous to begin with. i wonder how much this would have mattered.)

matching themes? personally as a disabled person, as far as guadianship and custodianship goes, i have a lot of feelings. we all experienced it when we were younger and probably felt powerless in front of our parents sometimes. so experiencing this in your adulthood is GUTTING. yet, it can be absolutely necessary. and while guardians and custodians are often looked down upon, a lot of them are family members with their heart and mind in the right place, who make good decisions for someone they love. it cannot be underestimated how much paperwork and exhausting+annoying communication with your insurance provider goes into it.

so between this and (ore-)himerus behaviour in general i see a lot of matching themes.... mostly control and perseverance and, ofc, a certain flair of being very very condescending towards the person you are supposed to protect. after all, kaname cannot make any decisions right now, not about his health or “himeru”. and perhaps one day maybe his state will change and he will suddenly be more aware of his surroundings and forced to confront what happened without his influence. and he will find that his brother made responsible comprehensible decisions when it comes to his health but, without any need or agreement, took extreme liberties when it comes to his name. they are both important parts of him and (ore-)himeru having that double responsibilty and going wild with it is scary to me. and probably also scary to him. but he is too deep into it at this point.

idk. does any of this make sense. is this interesting. personally, the added layer of pressure and drama is interesting to me. to me its like... it supports all the themes we find in himeru anyway and makes his struggles worse, it just neatly fits into place.

personal related kaname thoughts will the story ever make him more lucid? who knows! i am terrified, personally, of the possibility.

enstars has its fair share of insensitive to offensive writing and i cannot imagine this going well. i cannot imagine them writing this in a way that is respectful and includes a realistic rehab process that restores a realistic amount of physical and neurological functions. especially since... not gonna lie guys. at this point. idk how much quality of life kaname can regain in his current state.

+the added trouble he would get in because (ore-)himeru, essentially, stole his identity is straight up infuriating. i dont think i have to mention this. where do you even start and TRY to live a normal life after this shit.

and thats sad. bc i love kaname dearly. he is an extremely silly, bratty, lovable character to me and i want the best for him so i have these horribly detailed harsh expectations. maybe it will never happen and ngl, that would be perfectly fine with me, too.

disclaimer etc etc i dont know shit about the japanese health system and if you somehow happen to know how intensive long-term care for an underage person that grew up in the foster system would be financed (like, who is responsible??!?!??!?!) please let me know >:) i love learning about health systems. a lot of the stuff i wrote above is just really basic common sense, i just wanted to talk about it.

#enstarsposting #kaname tojo #yeah sure lets slap a tag on this why not

[vicletnight]

continued from here for @jaillir-des-etincelles

When Selene had mentioned the doctor having attended an illegal drag race, he paused for just a moment as he looked at the woman through the corner of his eyes. Sure, he was out of touch a fair amount more than most people, but even if it wasn’t something he knew outright there was likely a part of him that did know that this wasn’t legal..right? He chose not to think of this, and the potential repercussions this could cause both him and his license, as his tried to go back to cleaning himself up. One benefit of him not being in the clearest mental state was that he couldn’t worry of the situation being as bad as it was had he been his normal focused self.

Though he was touched by the other’s comment, the thought that she felt so highly of them in their barely made communication, he nonetheless knew that it wasn’t anything that she could speak to of him personally. If anything, it was how she pictured him to be, the simple act of him sticking up for her in his odd way and the knowledge of him being a doctor filling in the blanks that she had yet to learn of the man. Still, he bit back his comment, for now, and instead closed his eyes momentarily as she looked him over in his newly cleaned up state.

It was like the other’s suggestion of taking him to the hospital shook the man’s attention to the level it needed to be. With the knowledge he was at an illegal event, and had received his injury from one of the people at said event, he shook his head immediately in response. “No, it’s okay. My coworkers wouldn’t be happy to see me coming in on a night that I requested off.” He added the last part with a snicker as somewhat of a joke, even if he wasn’t kidding whatsoever. The man’s breath soon hitched in his chest for just a moment not long after, some of the woozy feeling seeming to trickle back all over again. “I’m sorry to get people pissed at you, you can hide out at my place if you want?” Realizing even in his still slightly altered state this sounded way more like a pickup line than it should have been, he followed up with quickly before she had the chance to answer. “I live in a duplex, the other side is vacant most of the time.” Settling a bit more in his seat, facing the way it was made instead of towards his company, he recalled her comment from a moment earlier. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re a good person. I don’t think someone who wasn’t would help a stranger so easily.”

#{ threads | johnnie } #{ thread | johnnie & selene } #jaillir des etincelles

[mariacallous]

In September 2023, Russia’s Altay region will hold gubernatorial elections. Yulia Alyoshina, Russia’s first transgender politician, plans to run for governor. She was the head of the Altay regional division of the Civic Initiative party, but resigned in 2022 following Russia’s passage of new laws against “LGBT propaganda.” Nonetheless, the party’s regional branch suggested that she run in this year’s elections. Alyoshina spoke to Novaya Gazeta Europe about why she’s running. Meduza summarizes the conversation in English.

Yulia Alyoshina says she didn’t expect anyone in the Civic Initiative party to suggest that she run in the gubernatorial elections. But she figured “well, why not” and agreed. “I’m sure that the fact that I was born in a different body is not as important to voters as my honesty, integrity, and sincere desire to make my native land better,” she told Novaya Gazeta Europe. She added that the party will make a final decision about her candidacy after discussions within the party and with municipal deputies.

“I’m keenly aware that I cannot become governor in the current situation. But let this be my protest,” says Alyoshina.

She plans to build protections for the LGBTQ+ community into several points of her platform. But, she adds, “I don’t think it’s right to focus the platform only on [those issues], since there are a number of other issues in the economic, social, and legal spheres.”

Alyoshina equivocated about the Russia-Ukraine war, saying “That’s the federal agenda, it’s not within the purview of a governor.” 

On the topic of Russian society’s relationship to transgender people, Alyoshina says the current climate is quite bad. She described losing supporters after the Russian federal government passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws in 2022. She thinks people have been influenced by the authorities’ rhetoric on “LGBT propaganda.”

Alyoshina’s medical transition took about a year and a half. There were no private clinics in her region where should could go for gender care services, so she was seen at a state psychiatric hospital. It took another year and a half after she was first seen to get a certificate for changing gender markers [on legal documents].

This week, the State Duma approved a draft bill that would, if it is signed into law, ban gender affirming surgery, hormone therapy, and changing gender markers on legal documents. Alyoshina said that she’s “in state of stress and shock” about the bill, and that it’s difficult to speak about the issue. “I would like to say that it’s not only that this bill is discriminatory. It also restricts trans people’s right to medical care. [The Russian] authorities have taken the most disenfranchised group and decided to limit its rights first. But [the process] could continue. Restrictions on medical care may spread beyond us to various parts of Russian society.”

“We’ll need to think about emigration,” she added.

[ukrfeminism]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jk-rowling-nicola-sturgeon-is-deaf-to-women-s-concerns-over-gender-id-tn03x6gjv

Just over a week ago, I posted a picture of myself wearing a T-shirt printed with the words “Nicola Sturgeon: Destroyer of Women’s Rights” on Twitter. I did this to show my solidarity with women who were protesting outside the Scottish parliament against the proposed Gender Recognition Act reform bill.

Some of the women, like Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce, have public profiles, but most of the women protesting do not. They also knew they might be taking a risk in demonstrating. It takes guts for Scottish women to stand up for their rights these days — not, I should emphasise, anywhere near the same guts as Iranian women are currently displaying, but guts nonetheless. They risk being targeted by activists, police complaints being made against them and even the threat of a spell in jail for posting what are seen as “transphobic” comments or images by their complainants.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, believes the protesters outside parliament on October 6 have nothing to complain about. The woman who calls herself a “real feminist” said to the BBC that her proposed new Gender Recognition Act “doesn’t give any additional rights to trans people nor does it take any rights away from women”.

I disagree. So, to name just a few who were also protesting that day, do Rhona Hotchkiss, the retired prison governor with a Masters in Law and a qualification in Research Methodology; Isabelle Kerr, former manager of Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis Centre, who was awarded an MBE for her international work helping rape and sexual assault victims; all-female independent policy analysis collective Murray Blackburn Mackenzie; and For Women Scotland, a grassroots feminist group that has emerged as a leading voice for Scottish women over the last few years.

If Sturgeon’s new act passes into law, a person will be able to change their legal gender as long as they’ve lived in their acquired gender for three months, and made a statutory declaration that they intend to keep doing so. Remarkably, nobody seems able to explain what living in an acquired gender actually means, so how those granting certificates can judge whether the criteria has been met is anyone’s guess.

Under the current act, those who wish to change their gender need a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, ie, persistent distress and discomfort with their natal sex. However, all medical gatekeeping has been removed from Sturgeon’s revised bill. I presume this is in response to the strong push from the trans activist lobby to “depathologise” trans identities. The argument is that trans people aren’t mentally ill: being trans is as natural as being gay. As Rachel Cohen, campaigns director of Stonewall wrote in 2017: “Being trans is not about ‘sex changes’ or clothes, it’s about an innate sense of self.” You may ask how anyone can assess the authenticity of somebody else’s “innate sense of self”. I haven’t a clue.

Soon, then, in Scotland, it may be easier to change the sex on your birth certificate than it is to change it on your passport. In consequence, intact males who’re judged to have met the meagre requirements will be considered as “valid” and entitled to protections as those who’ve had full sex reassignment surgery, and more male-bodied individuals will assert more strongly a right to be in women’s spaces such as public bathrooms, changing rooms, rape support centres, domestic violence refuges, hospital wards and prison cells that were hitherto reserved for women.

In 2019, The Sunday Times made a freedom of information request to the Ministry of Justice that revealed almost 90 per cent of sexual offences committed in changing rooms happened in those that are unisex. Nevertheless, Sturgeon loftily dismisses anyone who fears her new legislation could be wide open to abuse. “It is men who attack women [feminists should worry about] and we need to focus on that, not on further stigmatising and discriminating against a tiny group in our society that is already one of the most stigmatised.”

In saying this, Sturgeon is employing no fewer than three arguments beloved of trans activists.

The first is that trans women are extremely vulnerable, far more so than biological women. This is in spite of the fact that no trans woman has been murdered in Scotland to date, whereas 112 women were murdered by men in Scotland between 2009 and 2019.

The second argument is that men who transition, uniquely among all other categories of those born male, never harm women. Yet there is no evidence to show that trans women don’t retain male patterns of criminality. According to Jo Phoenix, Professor of Criminology at the University of Reading: “Sex is the single strongest predictor of criminality and criminalisation. Since criminal statistics were first collected (in the mid 1850s) males make up around 80 per cent of those arrested, prosecuted and convicted of crime. Violent crime is mostly committed by males . . . This remains the case regardless of stated gender identity.” The Ministry of Justice’s own figures show that there are proportionately more trans-identified men in prison for sexual offences than among incarcerated males taken as a whole.

The third argument Sturgeon uses is that it’s transphobic to suggest any man would fraudulently claim a female identity. This claim is extraordinary. Nobody but the very naive can fail to be aware that predatory men are capable of going to great lengths to gain easy access to victims, and have often sought out professions or special status that offer camouflage for their activities. Sex offenders have historically been found among social workers, teachers, priests, doctors, babysitters, school caretakers, celebrities and charity fundraisers, yet no matter how often the scandals break, the lesson appears never to be learned: it is dangerous to assert that any category of people deserves a blanket presumption of innocence. Incidentally, it seems that prison is the perfect space in which to discover your innate sense of self: half of Scottish prisoners currently claiming a trans identity only did so after conviction.

This shouldn’t need saying, but in the current climate, it does: literally no feminist I’ve ever met claims all trans women are predators, any more than we believe that all men are predators. As I’ve already stated publicly, I believe that some trans people are truly vulnerable. That, though, is not the point.

I’ve spent much of the past 25 years campaigning for and funding initiatives to help women and children. These have included projects for female prisoners, campaigns for the rights of single mothers, the funding of safe spaces for victims of rape and male violence, and the fight to end child institutionalisation. I’ve also learned a huge amount about safeguarding from experts, both in relation to vulnerable children placed in institutions, who’re often abused or trafficked, and in the context of sexually abused women.

I say all this to make it clear that concern for women’s and children’s safety isn’t something I’m pretending to be interested in to mask a deep hostility to trans people. The question for me and all the feminists I know is, how do we make trans people safe without making women and girls less safe?

One of the most damning things I’ve heard about the consultation process for Sturgeon’s new bill is this: Murray Blackburn Mackenzie identified five female survivors of male violence who were prepared to meet with the committee and explain what had happened to them, the severe impact it had upon their lives, and why they fear the government is making it easier for violent or predatory men to get access to women and girls. The committee declined to meet the survivors, telling them to put their concerns in writing. Susan Smith, one of For Women Scotland’s founders, told me: “These women were prepared to parade their trauma and were rebuffed.” The committee did, however, find time to meet 17 trans-identified individuals.

In 1983 Andrea Dworkin wrote: “No matter how often these stories are told, with whatever clarity or eloquence, bitterness or sorrow, they might as well have been whispered in wind or written in sand: they disappear, as if they were nothing. The tellers and the stories are ignored or ridiculed, threatened back into silence or destroyed, and the experience of female suffering is buried in cultural invisibility and contempt . . . the very reality of abuse sustained by women, despite its overwhelming pervasiveness and constancy, is negated.”

Nearly 40 years later, Rhona Hotchkiss says that vulnerable women in Scotland are being told “their concerns, their fears, their despair, must take second place to the feelings of men who identify as women. Politicians who say there is no clash of rights have no idea about the lives of women in situations they will never face.”

Rarely in politics is it easy to draw a direct line from a single policy decision to the harm it’s done, but in this case, it will be simple. If any woman or girl suffers voyeurism, sexual harassment, assault or rape in consequence of the Scottish government’s lax new rules, the blame will rest squarely with those at Holyrood who ignored safeguarding experts and women’s campaigners.

And nobody should be held to higher account than the first minister, the “real feminist” who’s riding roughshod over the rights of women and girls.

• A new poll shows Nicola Sturgeon is out of step with Scottish voters over her proposed gender recognition law (Jason Allardyce writes).

A Panelbase survey of 1,018 voters for The Sunday Times suggests her plans command little public support – even among SNP supporters – and that opposition is growing as people have become more engaged with the debate.

The poll, conducted on October 7-11, found 62 per cent opposed to reducing the age at which people can change gender from 18 to 16, with just 19 per cent in favour while a further 19 per cent didn’t know. Among SNP voters, only 26 per cent backed Sturgeon on the age issue, while 52 per cent were opposed and 22 per cent didn’t know.

Just a quarter of the voters polled (25 per cent) back the plan to cut the time required to change gender from two years to three months plus a three month-reflection period, while it is opposed by 50 per cent and 24 per cent don’t know. More voters oppose than support the proposed removal of the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria (39 per cent v 26 per cent).

The poll follows claims that some young people who change gender are pushed down a medical route and may benefit from better counselling to establish whether gender change is right for them.

A Scottish government spokesman said: “Our support for trans rights does not conflict with our continued strong commitment to uphold the rights and protections that women and girls currently have under the 2010 Equality Act, which includes a number of exceptions which allow for trans people to be excluded when this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

“Those exceptions are important and the Scottish government supports them. The Gender Recognition Reform Bill does not make changes to Equality Act or to those exceptions.”

Q&A

How does the existing Gender Recognition Act work? Under the 2004 law, a trans person can apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC), which recognises their acquired gender under the eyes of the law. They can then obtain a birth certificate with their recognised legal sex.

What does the Scottish government want to change? It plans to end the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, reduce the minimum age of application from 18 to 16 and let people obtain a GRC after living in their acquired gender for three months and a further three-month “reflection” period. Applicants would make a statutory declaration that they intend to live the rest of their lives in their acquired gender, with false declarations a criminal offence punishable with up to two years’ imprisonment.

How many people are expected to change gender? More than 6,000 GRCs have been granted across the UK to date, with an estimated 25-30 in Scotland each year. Based on Ireland’s experience, ministers expect 250-300 applicants a year.

What are the main arguments for reform? Ministers say the current system is “intrusive”, “distressing” and “unnecessary”, denying trans people the right to live and die in their true gender.

And the main arguments against change? Opponents believe vulnerable women will be placed at risk, with trans people with male anatomy gaining access to women-only spaces including changing rooms, public toilets, prisons and refuges. There is concern that some people with trauma, depression or other conditions could be pushed down the route of irreversible medical transitioning from an early age when counselling about their needs would be better.

Can the plans be stopped? A majority of MSPs are expected to vote in favour of the new legislation, with backing from SNP, Labour, Green and Lib Dem ranks while Conservatives are expected to vote against. The strength of public opposition, including among SNP voters, could lead to elements being watered down.

#The link isn’t inserting properly - my apologies

[vergess]

Re vampire police and the use of a search warrant:

I think it comes down to this.

Do vampires abide by the laws of the 1500s in europe, or by older concepts of residence that predate legal warrants?

I would argue that Dracula, for example, would not be able to enter with a warrant even if he joined the cops, because he appears to be bound by older laws of hospitality. Thus he is unable to, for example, enter into the dwelling of a peasant even if they no longer own the home, because they are nonetheless the rightful host of the space.

SPOILERS FOR DRACULA DAILY:

In his pursuit of Lucy, for example, he must arrange a complicated process by which Lucy has no right to become the hostess of the home, but instead becomes a guest in an unoccupied dwelling.

END OF SPOILERS.

However.

I would also argue that the modern system of rental and constant movement renders our society vulnerable to these types of vampire who would need to seek the Lord's Permission to enter.

Namely, the landlord.

Meanwhile, a newer vampire like Edward Cullen (pretend he has to be invited in). He'd probably be fine with the power of a search warrant because he was born into and thus beholden to the laws of a different, more contemporary society.

Or perhaps he would be bound to the laws of his sire's sire or what have you, if that's the worldbuild you're after.

But in terms of consistency of ability, I think if you've got an "invitations vampire", you need the Lord or the Castle not the Sheriff of the county.

#Automatic OP tag #Dracula #Dracula Spoilers

[mightyflamethrower]

Since early 2021 we have witnessed somewhere between 7 and 8 million illegal entries across the now nonexistent U.S. southern border.

The more the border vanished, the more federal immigration law was rendered inert, and the more Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas spun fantasies that the “border is secure.” He is now written off as a veritable “Baghdad Bob” propagandist.

But how and why did the Biden administration destroy immigration law as we knew it?

The Trump administration’s initial efforts to close the border had been continually obstructed in the Congress, sabotaged by the administrative state, and stymied in the courts. Nonetheless, it had finally secured the border by early 2020.

Yet almost all its successful initiatives were immediately overturned in 2021.

The wall was abruptly stopped, its projected trajectory cancelled. The Obama-era disastrous “catch-and release” policy of immigration non-enforcement was resurrected.

Prior successful pressure on Mexico’s President Andrés Obrador to stop the deliberate export of his own citizens northward ceased.

Federal border patrol officers were forced to stand down.

New federal subsidies were granted to entice and then support illegal arrivals.

No one in the Democratic Party objected to the destruction of the border or the subversion of immigration law.

However, things changed somewhat once swamped southern border states began to bus or fly a few thousand of their illegal immigrants northward to sanctuary city jurisdictions—especially to New York, Chicago, and even Martha’s Vineyard.

The sanctuary-city “humanists” there who had greenlighted illegal immigration into the southern states suddenly shrieked. They were irate after experiencing the concrete consequences of their own prior abstract border agendas. After all, their nihilism was always supposed to fall upon distant and ridiculed others.

New York mayor Eric Adams went from celebrating a few dozen illegal immigrants bused into Manhattan, to blasting his own party by allowing tens of thousands to swamp his now bankrupt city.

But why did the Biden administration deliberately unleash the largest influx across the southern border in U.S. history?

The ethnic chauvinists and Democratic Party elites needed new constituents, given their increasingly unpopular agendas.

They feared that the more legal Latino immigrants assimilated and integrated into American society, the less happy they became with leftwing radical abortion, racial, transgender, crime, and green fixations.

Democratic grandees had always bragged that illegal immigration would create what they called “The New Democratic Majority” in “Demography is Destiny” fashion. Now they slander critics as “racists” who object to leftwing efforts to use illegal immigration to turn southwestern red states blue.

Mexico now cannot survive as a modern state without some $60 billion in annual remittances sent by its expatriates in America. But many illegal immigrants rely on American state and federal entitlements to free up cash to send home.

Mexico also encourages its own abject poor and often indigenous people from southern Mexico to head north as a safety-valve of sorts. The government sees these mass exoduses northward as preferable to the oppressed marching on Mexico City to address grievances of poverty and racism.

The criminal cartels now de facto run Mexico. An open border allows them to ship fentanyl northward, earn billions in profits—and kill nearly 100,000 Americans a year. Illegal immigrants pay cartels additional billions to facilitate their border crossings.

Do not forget American corporate employers. Record labor nonparticipation followed the Covid lockdown. In reaction to the dearth of American workers, the hospitality, meat packing, social service, health-care, and farming industries were desperate to hire new—and far cheaper—labor.

Human rights activists insist that the borders themselves are nineteenth-century relics. And the global poor and oppressed thus have a human right to enter the affluent West by any means necessary.

Many in the tony suburbs and in universities do not live anywhere near the border. So they pontificate on the assurance that thousands of unaudited illegal immigrants will never enter their own enclaves or campuses.

The result is elite bottled piety—but not firsthand experience with the natural consequences of millions chaotically fleeing one of the poorest countries in the world to pour into the wealthiest. Without background checks, vaccinations and health audits, legality, high-school diplomas, English-facility, skill sets, or capital, the result is an abject catastrophe.

Polls continue to show that the American people support measured, diverse, legal, and meritocratic immigration as much as they oppose mass illegal immigration into their country and the subsequent loss of American sovereignty on the border.

They understand what the Biden administration does not: no nation is history has survived once its borders were destroyed, once its citizenship was rendered no different from mere residence, and once its neighbors with impunity undermined its sovereignty.

Ending illegal immigration now depends solely on the American people overriding the corrupt special interests and leaders who profit from the current chaos and human misery.

[taterturnspages]

THE CLIENT BY JOHN GRISHAM - BOOK REVIEW

Genre(s): Fiction, Legal Thriller, Mystery, & Suspense

No Spoilers

TW: mention of suicide, PTSD/child trauma

SYNOPSIS:

‘The Client’ by John Grisham follows eleven-year-old Mark Sway after he and his little brother, Ricky, witness a suicide of a well-known lawyer, Jerome Clifford, who was defending a high-profile case involving the murder of Senator Boyd Boyette. Mark and Ricky attempt to put a stop to the suicide attempt, but Mr. Clifford had other plans. Mr. Clifford captures Mark and locks him inside of the vehicle. Mr. Clifford spills a major secret to Mark involving the Boyette case. Mark escapes the locked vehicle with the explosive secret and a hefty choice to make. After the media acknowledges Mark as a witness to the suicide and the police investigate the crime scene, the FBI is on Mark’s tail to reveal what he knows about the case.

Mark retains an amateur lawyer, Reggie Love, to guide him through the high-stakes pressure of the FBI hounding him for information, and the possibility of the Mafia tracking him for potentially holding information that could harm their case. Should Mark spill what he knows to the FBI and chance the Mafia finding him? Or, should Mark keep quiet and play the risky legal system game that could result in serious federal charges? Neither Mark or his lawyer knows the answer to this question. Reggie is willing to go to great lengths to protect Mark from the pressures surrounding him, even if that means both of their lives are in danger.

Mark needs to make a decision, but which will he choose?

READ THIS IF YOU:

Are a fan of ‘Law & Order’

Enjoy thriller books with a little more than just ‘true crime’

Need a page-turning suspense novel that you can’t put down, and when you HAVE to put it down to eat or go to work, you think about it 24/7

CHARACTERS:

This novel has an endless stream of characters with a ton of different FBI agents, Mafia men, Mark’s immediate family, court staff, and hospital staff. For that reason, I will only cover the two main characters, Mark and Reggie.

Mark Sway:

Despite Mark being only eleven years old, his wit and intelligence are far beyond his years. He has lucid moments of not being afraid of anyone or anything, but deep down he is just a kid and it’s comforting to see that he lets his childlike coping mechanisms take over at times. The book takes place over six days…SIX DAYS. The amount of things this child has went through in such a short period of time was tough to read, but he handled it like a champ and ALWAYS focused more on the feelings of those he cared about. His character made this book go the extra mile for me, because I was always thinking ‘What is Mark scheming next?’. He singlehandedly kept me on the edge of my seat.

Reggie Love:

Reggie has lived a troubled life, and that surely did not stop when Mark Sway entered her office. Reggie is a new lawyer and has only practiced for four years, but don’t let that fool you. She is a strong female character and an amazing lawyer. She makes sure to let everyone know that she will not tolerate anyone messing with her or Mark. Much like Mark, Reggie is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She is having trouble advising Mark on his decision, but she supports Mark nonetheless with every decision he makes. Again, Reggie also took this book to the extra mile for me. For Mark, he was now walking in a world with no trust and no allies. Reggie did her absolute best to assure Mark that she was by his side no matter what and I know that is exactly what Mark needed during all of this. I strongly believe that Reggie’s character was flawlessly written.

PRAISES, CRITIQUES, AND MY THOUGHTS:

I like to start my reviews with bad news first, and good news second to end on a happy note. So, first and foremost, my only issue with this book is that the ending was not nearly as exhilarating as I would have hoped. I keep all of my reviews free of spoilers, so I really can’t go into more detail there. I was hoping for an ending with more drama and more suspense. Don’t get me wrong, the ending was not predictable (in my opinion); it was just not as extreme as what I was hoping for out of a suspense novel.

Now with that out of the way, I’m going to explain why I loved this book so much. For starters, this book didn’t NEED a child as the main character. The story could have been written with an adult MC, but the fact that Mark paved the way in ‘The Client’ makes it that much more interesting, albeit upsetting because reading about these events happening to such a young child is devastating. But from a strict “fiction novel reviewer” perspective, I think the difference between child and adult MC was everything.

Second, Reggie Love is an ICON. She is unfettered, which after learning her backstory, was inspiring given all that she has been through. If I ever have legal troubles, I will do my best to find a real-life Reggie Love.  

I highly recommend this book, as well as any of John Grisham’s novels, because they always knock it out of the park for me. I’m typically a strict romance reader, but every now and then I need to take romance breaks. During those times, I know that John Grisham will not disappoint. He has yet to prove me wrong there. All of his novels are legal thrillers and follow some sort of legal problem, so if you find interest in the legal system, then John Grisham may be the author you’re missing.

#bookworm #book review #bookblr #reading #john grisham #the client #book journal #digital journal #bookaholic #thriller books #legal thriller

[anamazingangie]

bright lights | Daemon x Rhaenyra Targaryen

Rated E | 2.1k | Written by AmazingAngie

Tags : modern AU, mentions of past drug use, emotional manipulation, consent issues, caretaking, canon character death, bittersweet ending

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary:

Rhaenyra knew what it was to shine. She had been toddling along in tights and ballet flats before she could even fully walk. Herded into the life of a dancer before learning another path even existed. 

She was going to be a star. The people around her would make sure of it.

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Rhaenyra knew what it was to shine. 

She had been toddling along in tights and ballet flats before she could even fully walk. Herded into the life of a dancer before learning another path even existed. 

.

“She’s a gem, exceptional, truly—seven years old, and already at this level?” 

.

The rhinestones on her leotard sparkled. The lights did too, when she looked out at the audience. Blinding spots of  white that would burn behind her lids long after the show ended. 

.

Her mom was a dancer too. Or had been, before she got married to a musician more than a decade her senior. Viserys swept her off her feet, and off the stage of the Royal Ballet in the process. A whirlwind romance, the magazines said, when they announced their engagement mere weeks later.  

Rhaenyra followed within the year. 

Rhaenyra had always wanted to be just like her. 

.

Aemma was a good mom. So when she wasn’t there to pick her up after her show, she knew something was wrong. 

It wasn’t surprising that Rhaenyra found herself leaning back in the plastic chair, staring at the flickering light bulbs in the hospital waiting room. She’d been here before, with her moms other pregnancies. The ones that had ended with wails and cries, but from her mother’s lips and not an infants.

They hadn’t expected her mother to go into labor so early, the assistant swiped from her fathers staff to drive her said when they dropped her off at the hospital. Their tone wasn’t unkind, it was just tired, they’d done their job and they wanted to leave,  but at least they made a call for her first. 

An hour later she was still staring at the flickering light, but at least her uncle Daemon was there holding her hand.

.

Daemon held her hand at the funeral, too. 

.

Rhaenyra didn’t want to be like Aemma anymore. 

But, she still wanted to be a dancer.  

.

The next time Rhaenyra saw her dad, he was seated at the breakfast table with a brunette woman by his side. Her name was Alicent, he said. She was going to be her new stepmother, Viserys informed her. 

.

 The singing lessons started the next week. 

.

She hadn’t thought about the lights of a stage for a long time—not since her mother died. Not since her lessons were in front of a piano instead of performances in front of an audience.

But the headlights of the truck were bright enough to remind her of a spotlight. It seemed as targeted as those rays were, too, as it careened towards them—crashing into the front of their vehicle. The sound of metal being shredded and scrunched enveloped her, but when she squeezed her eyes shut there were no spots of light behind them—just darkness. 

.

She was lucky, they said. 

Just a concussion. And a broken ankle—a complicated break that would require months of therapy before she could dance again, but lucky nonetheless. Given that her father had…

.

Daemon was there, for a while, before Alicent and Otto made him leave. 

“She’s my niece!” Daemon had said. 

“Legally, she’s my daughter!” Alicent had sniped back. 

.

No one was there to hold her hand at Viserys’ funeral. 

.

The tinge in her ankle was a constant thorn while the ache in her head had already healed, but Alicent told her there wouldn't be time for therapy, not with her needing to focus on singing.

“It’s what your father would have wanted.” She insisted. 

.

No one cared about what Rhaenyra wanted.

What did she want?

.

“Has she lost her sparkle?” The headline said, photos of her teenage years on stage spanning below it. Best selling album covers were among paparazzi photos that had lined the pages of magazines for the better part of a decade. The beautiful girl with the beautiful voice, singing songs despite her life's tragedy. 

She didn’t seek out these articles—but they were hard to avoid, when Alicent put them in front of her. 

“We need to do something about this.” She said, firmly. 

“Maybe more sequins?” Rhaenyra offered, holding back a grin as the woman fumed. 

.

When she turned eighteen, the only present she was given was a contract. “You want things to stay as they are, don’t you?” Alicent asked, and Rhaenyra laughed until she was crying at the absurdity.

.

Daemon had drawn her a bath. He called a lawyer. He braided her hair, and held her hand while she slept on his couch. 

.

Daemon was mad. Not at her, but at the circumstances—the contract, and the Hightower’s. He said it was criminal but she begged him to just stop. She wanted to cut ties with them, she didn’t care. She didn’t need her music or her money or her houses. 

“Do you need them?” She’d asked, desperate. 

His face had softened. And he swore he only needed her. 

.

Some days, she didn’t even talk. She certainly didn’t sing, not for weeks. She was a ghost in Daemon’s apartment, wearing his shirts and sitting on the floor of his shower until the water ran cold. She watched cartoons and ate ice cream at all hours, and clung to him whenever he was home. 

He didn’t seem to care that she was a mess, kissing her tears and holding her close until her sobs stopped and sleep took her. 

He promised to take care of her that first time, before he slipped two fingers into her—-cunt stretching around digits while the rest of her was too frozen to react. But Daemon told her to relax. So she did. When she came, it was with a wet cry against his neck. Iit felt good, and she hadn’t felt anything resembling that in so long. 

It was a few days later, when she woke up to his hands feeling her. She was warm, and safe in the cocoon of his blankets. It felt right, as he pressed closer to her, pushing up the worn sweater that covered her folds. He was big inside her, enough to hurt, but he was careful as he fucked her. He thanked her after, thumbing at her slippery cunt until she found enough stimulation to come too. 

That became something they would do, too. Sleep. Crying. Sex. He made her feel good when a storm of emotions were bad. 

.

She put the emotions into music. It was all she knew how to do. 

.

A friend—a real friend, a girl that had been on stage from a young age too, and worked beside her years ago in a crappy kids show reached out. 

“How are things?” Laena asked, the girl busy working on her third album. 

“They are better. My uncle has a management company who is handling things for me, the tour starts next month.” She had said, cheerful at the prospect of her future for the first time in…a long time. 

“He’s good to you? Not manipulative, like Alicent?” Laena asked, concern heavy in her sweet voice. 

“He’s good to me.” Rhaenyra said before pausing—“I’ve got to go.” 

Daemon was nothing like Alicent. 

.

She had days off between shows. She had full meals. She had time to meet fans and relax and play with her cats—a ginger pair who were fond of each other, Syrax and Caraxes.

It was good. 

.

“It’s good.” She told him, when he asked if he was hurting her—thrusts too deep, enough she could feel them in her gut and wanted to flinch away. But it was worth it, worth lying about it—because after, he’d say the words she loved most. 

That she was good for him. 

He almost smiled, when she winced. Like he knew she was lying, and liked that too. 

He probably did. 

She knew the honesty lyrics could hold. New the lines he’d sung alongside her father—

get a girl that loves you, one that loves you enough to lie to you. 

.

She looked in the mirror—wiping a stray piece of glitter that had fallen onto her cheek. Her eyes were rimmed with the stuff, lashes layered with heavy coats of mascara until she looked more seductive than her cherubic features could usually manage. 

She wasn’t nervous, not in a bad way at least. She liked the bubbling in her gut that had previously been subdued by the xanax her assistant passed off to her. She was calm, too, in a way she hadn’t been on the adderall that Alicent insisted she needed for extra pop . 

Daemon said he didn’t want her on drugs. 

Because he just wanted her. 

And she didn’t want to be on them either—she just wanted to be herself. 

.

After the show, and an encore, she was giggling—feeling high off the adrenaline of the crowd. She was sweating, from the lights and heat of the outdoor venue. Layers of damp fabric fell to the floor as she stripped lazily, all whilst dancing to an invisible tune. She was giddy, distracted, and she didn’t realize her uncle was there until his hands fell to her waist, pulling her close

“Good show?” He asked. And she nodded. Embarrassed to be caught off guard, but not by her state of undress. 

They kissed lazily, with the familiarity of two people who had been together for months. Almost years, even. Daemon had his own career once, on stage and singing in bands and with his brother before his voice gave out. He knew all the tricks of the trade, finding the snaps and velcro that freed her from her performance wear in record time. 

He was reverent, in how he touched her—hands lightly following the line of her breast and generous crest of her hip. Her curves had grown in his care, though not in a bad way. “I’ve grown like a flower.” She had teased once, but he was not to be outdone. “I have fertilized you.” He said with a smirk. 

“You’ve certainly tried.” She agreed with a laugh, but feeling secretly grateful for the packet of pills in her purse. The one medication she never went without. 

“I love you, you know.” He said. His voice was serious, bringing her to the present and she blinked in surprise. “I love you too.” She swore. 

He kissed her again, pushing her back against the counter of the vanity. There wasn’t much preparation before he pushed in, making her hiss at the stretch. He apologized, but didn’t stop, pressing deeper, moving faster. 

He flipped her, at one point, so her hands were dragging down the mirror, her breasts pressed against it as he slammed into her again and again. It was unrelenting in a way that didn’t feel good but pushed too many buttons to prevent arousal. She knew her body was contributing to the easy slide between them, and it was her own vocal cords—raw from a three hour performance that were now contributing to the symphony between them. 

She knew she came, collapsing against the mirror and shaking in aftershocks as he refused to stop—not that she had asked him to, not that she….well, she wasn’t sure what she wanted. She couldn’t figure it out, not before he ground against her, his hands falling to her clit and pressing against it until the keening she made sounded nearly inhuman. 

She was spent when he pulled out, too exhausted to even recoil at the sensation of spend slipping from her folds. 

He supported her in the shower, dragging soap across her every limb and combing conditioner through her hair. Afterward, his palms cupped her face—thumbs brushing beneath her eyes. “Can’t seem to get rid of this” he said, a little frustrated—when she turned to the mirror she realized it was the glitter, it had made tracks down her cheeks before setting stubbornly in place. 

“It’s because I was made to shine," she teased. He didn’t disagree, kissing her before wrapping her in a towel and pushing her towards bed. 

This was what she wanted.

Right?

.

.

.

You often credit your Uncle, Daemon Targaryen for your career, why? 

R: “I’m very grateful to him, my Uncle. I think…perhaps I was something dull after everything that happened. And he polished me up with hugs and kisses until I was sparkly enough to be presented back into the world. He’s a rock star turned rock tumblr, I guess, and I was a star disguised as a stone.” 

.

What is your biggest fear? 

R: “I’ll stay in the tumblr until there is nothing left at all. Polished to a point of no longer existing."

"Um, sorry, can you strike that from the record?” 

I: “Of course.” 

.

What is your biggest fear? 

R: “Spiders.” Rhaenyra said, with a charming grin. 

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this was written for my prompt summer snippet event!

this was written for sparkle.

learn more about the event here!

#Rhaenyra Targaryen #Daemon Targaryen #daemyra #fic #a03 #romance #fluff #prompt #daemon x Rhaenyra #HOTD #house of the dragon #ficlet #fanfic #Angie writes #promptfic #hotdaemyrasummer

[michaeldattoli]

Global Market for Oncology Informatics - Current Business Trends

According to a new analysis from Grand View Research, the worldwide oncology informatics market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 5.7% between 2016 and 2030. This expansion is driven by the increase in cancer incidence rates, the rising expense of cancer treatment, and the trend toward fewer medical errors and hospital readmissions.

North America dominated the global market for oncology-related information in 2015. The market is driven by the increasing frequency of cancer in the region, advances in medical technology, and growing healthcare costs. Nonetheless, the industry faces a variety of restrictions. These disadvantages restrict the market's expansion.

The research evaluates current trends and forecasts future market growth. In addition, it provides information regarding the competitive landscape and critical product positioning. The research also examines the growth potential of various nations. For example, between 2020 and 2030, North America is anticipated to develop at the quickest rate, with a CAGR of XX%.

This market's expansion is hampered by several reasons, including a lack of skilled workers and ethical and legal restraints. Nonetheless, the incorporation of NGS technology into other research initiatives and the rise in cancer patients are anticipated to stimulate market growth.

By end-users, regions, and applications, the market is segmented. Each segment contains a market overview for the predicted period. The increasing incidence of cancer and the aim to reduce medical errors and readmission rates are driving the expansion of the Oncology informatics industry. However, various obstacles may impede the market's expansion. These obstacles include a lack of medical oncologists, the high cost of implementing devices, and data security concerns.

The market for Oncology informatics is moderately fragmented, with several regional competitors vying for market share. As a result, corporations have devised a range of corporate expansion tactics. Among these methods include investing in product development and maintaining competitive pricing. A significant example is a collaboration between Tempus and Precision Health Informatics to improve oncology precision medicine. These advancements are anticipated to support market expansion and generate profitable prospects for industry participants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had multiple effects on the oncology informatics sector. It has affected the supply chain in numerous nations and slowed numerous procedures. Although supply was quickly restored, the pandemic presented cancer patients with distinct obstacles. For instance, patients were unable to access checkups and cancer medications. In addition, breast and colorectal cancer screening rates have dropped significantly.

The epidemic of COVID-19 has increased the financial strain on healthcare organizations. This has caused a change in how vendors interact with them. This new dynamic has given rise to intense competition among industry participants. Small start-ups are expanding their product lines and emerging as a competitive threat.

From 2020 to 2027, the Global Oncology Informatics Market is anticipated to expand at a moderate rate. This expansion results from rising healthcare expenses, cancer patients, and the increasing adoption of EHRs. The report comprehensively analyzes the market's key segments, drivers, and competitive landscape.

The oncology informatics market is booming due to increased cancer treatment costs, a growing patient population, and the increasing adoption of oncology-specific electronic health records (EHRs). However, concerns about data security and ineffective data integration are the industry's most significant obstacles. With sophisticated cancer informatics solutions, however, it is anticipated that these concerns will be reduced.

The primary segments of the Oncology Informatics Market are surgical oncology and radiation oncology. By 2021, the latter is anticipated to hold the highest market share. Increased electronic health record systems adoption will improve clinicians' work-life balance and increase productivity.

Between 2017 and 2023, the global oncology informatics market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 7.2%. This segment's growth is anticipated to be driven by new technologies and test kits. In addition, new market entrants may alter the competitive landscape. To obtain a competitive advantage, new players must concentrate on creating and integrating new technologies and decreasing operational complexity and total costs. In contrast, existing businesses concentrate on product releases and talk with competitors to increase their market share. In such a circumstance, they may not receive the rewards of a successful product launch or financial gain.

In addition, the growing number of cancer patients and the aging of the global population are anticipated to fuel the expansion of this market. Additionally, the adoption of electronic health records and rising investments in life sciences R&D activities are anticipated to contribute to the expansion of this market.