#vaccine side effects strike again

[inverse-problem]

ough my physical body is kicking my metaphorical ass

#vaccine side effects strike again #I keep getting hit with the full body joint pain and this time is no different #gonna hit some mild painkillers before I sleep I guess #hopefully it wears off by tomorrow but I may be stuck like this until saturday #ah well it’s just kinda routine to me by now #inverse problem.txt

[phantomgl1tchh]

Wagner Collins; Continued

A loud bang rang throughout the familiar sterile-gray facility. Loud noises were normal here if he was being honest; recruits training in secluded rooms, learning how to use weapons quickly and effectively. But this was different, it wasn’t muffled. Wasn’t controlled. Wasn’t a test. No. Someone had broken in. Someone who knew their way around, what he assumed to be some sort of rifle, got inside.

He knelt beside a wall, peeking over the corner as he readied his own weapon; a syringe full of the same compound that was used on him and countless other subjects in their youth. This mysterious compound, the name of which eluded him at the moment, gave others superhuman abilities. Powers only heard of in fantasy books and sci-fi comics.

Perhaps if the intruder made their way to him he’d be able to… test… the compound. Observe the effects of the element on an adult body. Previously the mixture was given to young children; smuggled in with their vaccines, or given when no doctors were present. They’re more susceptible to change, less of a risk.

Syringe in hand he stalked forward, alert to all pin-drop noises. From the smallest breath to the loudest scream of fear that echoed throughout the building. To the silent footsteps of the intruder made their way down the hall, escaping with some sort of research.

He quickly dove behind a sterilizing table, a loud thump echoing through the hall. He listened as two sets of footsteps made their way down the corridor; their menacing aura filling every crevice, every gap and crack, filling the room with vengeance and fear. He felt his heart rate spike as the footsteps grew closer, closer. The menacing thump, thump, thump of combat boots and the click, click, click of some other type of shoe meeting the metal floor. This person, or people, knew their business, how to survive, how to operate in fields of battle. They were experienced mercenaries, soldiers, fighters, or something dangerous. Something seething, ready to strike.

His eyes snapped up and he cocked his head to the side, ready to pounce. His hands wrapped around the syringe so tightly he thought the glass would shatter, piercing his incredibly pale skin. The footsteps ceased and the familiar sound of a weapon being drawn met his ears. His pale crimson eyes met with the end of a steel pipe. Ice-cold panic surged painfully through his chest as he glanced up, meeting the familiar blue gaze he despised.

“Wagner,” a young, hushed voice muttered bitterly. Her blue eyes glaring and her weapon following his every move, ready to strike if he so much as moved the wrong way. His heart fell to his throat, “never thought I’d see you again, you illiterate inbred.”

A resentful chuckle left his lips. His thick, white hair swayed with the movement of him standing, the syringe falling and clattering to the ground, his hands raised in surrender, “and I never thought I’d see your traitorous face again either Wren- or… no, Erin now, right? Finally see your life is your own again or whatever nonsense the Jays have been filling your head with.” he retorted, scoffing.

A resentful smile decorated his chapped lips, his voice dripped with bitter sarcasm and disbelief, “oh, and I see that you have RAVEN 001 with you, couldn’t leave it behind, could you? Oh, how sweet, you have someone who actually cared about you. A, uh… brother, that didn’t leave you behind, a brother that wanted-”

Cold anger filled her icy glare as he talked, her good hand dropped swiftly from her weapon, the weight of it balancing on her prosthetic hand for a moment as she passed it to her companion. His faux hands took it from her, the metal of the pipe and the metal compound of his hand clicking together, two worlds of metal meeting for the first time.

The movement was lightning quick, leaving him no chance of reacting.

Next thing he knew he was falling to the floor, his face exploding with searing, red-hot pain. His skull made a signature crack, colliding with the metal floor harshly. He felt the heel of a boot press into his knee, he swore he felt it dislocate. His eyes snapped open, a startled yet pained cry erupting from his throat.

The blond girl kneeled next to him, her prosthetic hand digging into the fabric of his dark gray trench coat, hauling him forward. Her enraged face half a foot away from his, he could see the depth of the scar under her right eye, he hoped it hurt.

Petrified, he scanned the room looking for any sort of barrier he could put between the two, to keep distance between them, something to get him out when Erin spoke up again.

“My brother went missing in the field during the attack two years ago, he's missing. He didn’t.. didn’t leave me behind.” she sneered, voice faltering at the end of her sentence.

Her unsettling blue eyes pierced his soul to the ground, leaving it with no chance of escape. Her hand released its grip on his coat, causing his body to hit the steel floor again, red filled his vision and his body gave out, giving up the urge to fight back.

She stood back up, taking the pipe from her companion, keeping an eye on Wagner, ensuring he wouldn’t try anything foolish or dangerous. She watched and cracked her neck, the faux skin around her throat stretching as she craned it from side to side, releasing any tension and stress trapped within before she began walking away.

Though she stopped after a few feet, the familiar echoing of shoes coming to a halt, and looked back at the semi-conscious scientist. At one point he maintained her MICROSYSTEM and prosthetic arm, giving it any repairs or upgrades it might need. An odd look of betrayal and resentment dotted her pale face “and for the record, his name is Nickolai.”

And she was gone, leaving Wagner behind in the deteriorating, vile building. He felt his consciousness fogging over, felt it giving into the sweet release of indefinite rest. No more stress, no more tests. Just ignorant and eternal peace. A lasting peace that he would feel for the first time in 27 long years, the peace that his soul desperately needed. But no, his heart would not allow it. He wouldn’t let that happen. He resented the idea of her winning like this, winning the battle against testing the element.

No, he had to test the revised compound, observe its effects, compare them to the old compound, win. He found himself reaching weakly towards where he dropped the syringe, gently patting the metal floor for any trace of it, a small drop, a puddle, broken glass, anything.

He found himself growing desperate for it, his mind reeling with fear of death, of hatred and distain for Erin and her idiotic sense of self-worth, of ruthless anger for all those who told for him to hide his ideals and ways of learning. He needed to get the syringe.

The familiar feeling of a smooth rounded surface met the tips of his broken fingers. Waves of hope flooded through his chest; if he could just wrap the rest of his hand around it, he’d have a second chance. He’d get out of the facility for good, and he could finally observe the effects of the revised element. Watch Erin finally lose, watch everything she cared for burn and sink to hell.

His fingers hooked around the metal casing. The clattering of thin glass met his ears and he held his breath. If the glass broke, he was done for. Countless hours and days of careful research would be for nothing, he would die with nothing to show for his legacy, his past.

A moment later, the syringe was safely encased in his fingers; luck had shone her gratuitous smile onto him, giving him a second chance at life, a second chance to get it right, a chance at revenge. He pulled himself up, using the table filled with sterilizing equipment as support for his weak frame.

The protective plastic coating the needle was removed with bruised and shaky fingers. Those same fingers tapped the glass a few times, ensuring any air pockets inside the liquid bubbled to the surface and out of the compound, keeping the liquid clear and safe to inject.

Without a second thought, he brought the needle up to his wrist, briefly scanning for the blue lines that indicated where his blood flowed. Then he stabbed, injecting every last drop of the compound into his bloodstream, ensuring none went to waste. He could worry about making more later.

#writing blog #creative writing #writing #original fiction #original content #original work #original character #original story #villain protagonist #antagonist #antagonist backstory #prequel #original characters #original worlds #Wagner is albino #is he a bad guy??? #who tf know. #i do lol

[vomitdodger]

1. There is no simple test for a variant. Unless you’re just judging it my minor symptoms.

2. Hitting the vaxed at 75 % again suggest the vax does nothing. Assume about 75 % vaxed in general (it’s lower but go with it). So it’s hitting people regardless of the vax.

3. Vax does nothing. Poison. But even if you “believe” in it data says it doesn’t work and there’s still those pesky side effects like death.

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM Mega review (chapters 131 - 148): Part 2  To the side, not the sidelines

A continuation of part 1 of the mega review.  This isn’t a narrative account, but rather a look at all the other groups and happenings around where the main battle is raging.

Heroism in all sizes

It’s like the end of the world.  City Z isn’t the first city to face near total devastation.  But City A was at least gone in a flash. People had almost no time to consider their imminent demise.  In City Z, the carnage has had time to build and to come from multiple directions.  From vampiric monster roots enveloping and sucking the lives out of inhabitants by the block. From powerful earthquakes splitting and even twisting the ground. From aerial bombardments of gigantic rubble and from the sea itself as the coastline is threatened by a chain of tsunamis.  Survivors aren’t bothering to try driving: it’s whatever you can carry as fast as you can.

Those who gave up their beds.  The Hero Hospital in City S has come to serve as an impromptu staging post for nearby heroes.  Like a middle finger stuck up at face of civilisation, the tower previously buried underground and its glowing red monster is just about visible from the hillsides of City S and draws heroes in like a beacon.  First Metal Bat,  then Mumen Rider, then the Tank Toppers, then the Blizzard Group, then all the other heroes hospitalised in the aftermath of either the Day of Chaos or Garou’s depredations discharge themselves against medical advice and run in to see who they can save.

just as well they all went -- the roads are so impassable and the situation so volatile that they’re literally the only rescue coming for hours if not days

Swept up in the mood, the martial artists were considering moving out too, only for Suiryu to pour cold water on the notion.  It has done me a world of good to see that Suiryu has been inspired by Max and Snek and not Saitama. He finally gets it that a hero is someone who has the courage to step into the path of danger because someone needs help, and not because they’re strong and think they’ll win.

No space for playing hero.  It’s very wise that Suiryu advised his fellow martial artists not to play hero.  If many have complained about how heroes seem to be blessed with life, no such protections are afforded to non-heroes. The people who went in alongside heroes have suffered grievously,  although those who have died did so bravely.

I have a one-person prayer circle going for Sekingar. I pray that ONE will choose to spare his fine non-hero one-eyed, single-handed ass.  I have come to like the guy and I’ve been impressed at how he has stayed calm when trapped in City Z,  succeeded in encouraging discouraged heroes and even asserting a genuine authority to guide Metal Bat and King. I don’t think there’s too many more like him in the executive of the Hero Association and think it’d be a shame if he didn’t bring his hard-won experiences back to guide them in what’s sure to be a crisis.

The king under the mountain

This arc has introduced us to a lot of concepts and players who are likely to have long-term effect on the world.  In this series of chapters, some of these ideas are developed further.

Came for the pussy, stayed for the tentacles. I’m sorry, I’m allowed one double entendre a week and I decided to curse you with it.  I wouldn’t have mentioned this but Drive Knight’s comings and goings are almost certainly going to be very plot-relevant later.   He was supposed to be gone with his prize of one Nyan, but then he saw the tower emerge and Psykos-Orochi wave tentacles skyward and as much as a cyborg with no discernable facial features can be said to yearn, he yearned. For a sample that is.

He stuck around as long as it took him to get a sample of Orochi and then he was gone, without so much as a ‘thank you for your help’.  At present, we’ll just have to see what this is all about later.

When the cat’s away the mice will play.  The only way to foment a world ending crisis is to have the guy who can squash it all and wonder what the fuss was about occupied elsewhere.  Through meeting Flashy Flash and getting a tour into the deepest reaches of the Monster Association thanks to Manako, and a couple of other things, Saitama is literally trapped in an alternative dimension. Although, being Saitama, if he felt a sense of urgency, he’d break back into the real world without a second thought.  Right now he’s curious,worried for his house, but mostly hungry.  Some curry would be nice.

The real question is how are the heroes going to hold out until Saitama arrives?  I’ve been touched by how genre-savvy Genos and King are about this. It’d be amusing if it weren’t so brutally true.

The formal establishment of extra-spatial dimensions as a feature not restricted to a few unusual individuals.   Phoenixman first got us learning about the idea of extra dimensions, in his case a private manifestation of his inner psyche.  Neither he nor Child Emperor physically moved.

Ninchirin introduces us to the idea of an extra-spatial dimension that physical objects can be stowed in and taken from.

But nothing takes it as far as ‘God’ with the existence of a pocket dimension with its own timeline that takes people in wholesale.  Whether a lot of time passes on the outside (as it does for Saitama and co) or no time passes (as it does for Psykos-Orochi) seems to depend on ‘His’ will. 

The formal establishment of ‘God’ as a singular being with a distinct personality.  Homeless Emperor first talked about ‘God’ as being a being who tasked him with eliminating humanity after he despaired of living as one.  Pyskos expands on that concept. She saw ‘God’ very differently, as a quasi-planetary being rather than as a vaguely humanoid one, but her experience of ‘Him’ as a being who bestowed power and a mission on her bears striking similarity to that of Homeless Emperor.

How people get to talk to ‘God’ becomes clear when we see Flashy Flash and Saitama accidentally summoning ‘Him’ via handling a box.  Which leads very naturally to elucidating some of the mystery of Blast. 

Finding out why Blast is still the number 1 hero.   If the likes of Tatsumaki leave us scratching our heads as to how any hero could outwork her in terms of facing monsters, Blast gives us an answer.  He specialises in dealing with non-physical threats, which he does by having some sort of dimension-hopping gizmo.  The black box he disposes of identical to that seen in Tatsumaki’s flashback, leading us naturally to think about what business the facility holding her was having with ‘Him.’   Webcomic readers see a gimme as well in the construction of the Ninja Village Flash hails from, along with Blast paying the ninjas a visit.

With Blast having taken Saitama and co out of reality, it’s going to be an unknown while before they pop back into it.

Sleeping is such a nice euphemism for dying

The principle of explosive growth through surviving situations that should have killed one is by this point a well-established mechanic within the story.  After seeing Phoenixman come back from the dead, it should perhaps not be a surprise to us that Orochi does the same.  In coming back, he’s evolved into a distributed form that can regrow after even extensive destruction and the consequences of his doing so are already covered in part 1 of this review.

Speaking of evolution, what about Garou? We left Garou buried under tons of rock in the wake of Tatsumaki lifting the base.  Yet again, he does not die -- thank you Darkshine for your anti blunt trauma vaccination -- and little by little, we see him dig himself out, and transforming himself as he goes as he dreams of a world in which he enforces peace but very unconventional means.

In retrospect, the sequence of Garou’s eyes closing in response to his humanising memory of Tareo is the most ominous as the eyes that open again have not a shred of humanity in them.

It reminds me a lot of what we saw happen to Gouketsu when the latter accepted a monster cell, his human eyes closing as a new set of monster ones opened.

At long last, Garou makes it back to the surface.  But what’s this?  Where’s the wise-cracking, judgemental little shit we love?  What is this near silent, befanged, clawed feral creature beating down on everything he sees? Oh dear.  He is not sleeping sweetly, dreaming pleasant dreams of a world perfectly obedient while he waits for the fist of some self-righteous prince to awaken him to his destiny.  Garou may perceive it as lapses in consciousness, but it’s the monster within eating him alive.  He’s dying. He is under real existential threat of being completely lost to monsterfication and how it is that he can save his humanity is a big point of interest. 

In his flawed way,  Bang is trying to get through to Garou.  I don’t hold out big prospects of him reaching him.  And if he does, I hold out even smaller prospects of him actually beating Garou.  Barring some interruption, we might be about to see the tragedy of a master beaten down by his student.

I’m going to leave this review here.  What comes next is all too soon going to change the status quo of the story, if not for the better, then certainly for the more eventful. 

#OPM #review #Snek #Saitama #Garou #Bang #Flashy Flash #Sekingar #a lot has happened #and the heroes working bravely in the background to save as many as they can is indeed heroism at its best #how the supernatural meddling fits in with everything that we see going on we don't yet know #Garou coming back onto the scene is a far more ominous re-emergence than it was in the webcomic #this could get really ugly

[forabeatofadrum]

Mendacious (4/31)

Notes: Ya girl got vaccinated! It was hell, but I did it! I hope the side-effect will be mild to non-existent, but if I don’t update then I’m probably lying down with a fever or something. We’ll see.

AO3

--

TENACIOUS

Kurt replays the message in his head on his way to school. Blaine really wishes he had a true friend?

He enters the hall of McKinley High and Blaine is the first person he sees. He’s standing at a classroom door and he’s laughing. He’s surrounded by people and a jock even pats him on the back. Kurt feels his blood boil. This has got to be strike three.

First, he thinks he’s better than Dalton Academy.

Second, he think’s he’s a better gay than Kurt.

Third, he think he’s better than his friends.

And sure, most of the people Blaine hangs out with are absolute imbeciles, but they worship the ground that Blaine walks on. The only people who aren’t complete morons are the people who are also part of Glee.

Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Puck, Sam, Finn and Mike sometimes hang out with him too, but that’s because they’re part of the sport teams. They don’t actually care about Blaine. Although Santana once insisted on Blaine being a decent guy, but that’s Santana speaking.

Blaine says something and the people around him erupts in laughter. Blaine grins triumphally when one of his jokes lands. God, Kurt hates him.

--

“God, what an asshole!”

Rachel rereads the message.

“Him? Lonely? Him? No friends? Gah!” Rachel lets out a bitter laugh. Then, she goes eerily quiet. She shakes her head before continuing: “He has no idea what it’s like to be at the bottom of the food chain. Let him be in Glee for one day and it’s over for him.”

“He clearly is too big-headed to see that he’s got everyone fawning over him,” Kurt mutters.  

“There’s got to be something,” Rachel says. She snaps her fingers. “I know what to do.”

She pulls out her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Eddie needs a friend,” Rachel says. She looks tenacious.

Kurt looks over her shoulder and he sees that she’s creating an account as well. For some reason, that makes Kurt feel uneasy.

“Actually…” he puts his hand on Rachel’s screen, “Leave it up to me, okay?”

Rachel pouts. “But I want to join in on the fun.”

“It might be weird if two strangers try to connect with him, so really, leave it up to me. I’ll keep you updated, okay?”

Rachel sighs and she pockets her phone. “Okay.”

--

Eddie Andrews: You don’t have any friends?

Blaine Anderson: I do, kind of. But I just feel like they don’t actually care about me. Do you go to McKinley?

Kurt looks up from his screen in panic. How is he going to answer that? Is Eddie a McKinley student? He and Rachel did come up with the story that Eddie is new to the area, but is Eddie already at school?

What if Blaine goes looking for Eddie? But then again, so far Kurt’s only followed McKinley people. There’s a flaw in the plan.

But suddenly, Kurt has a moment of clarity.

Eddie Andrews: Not yet, lol. I’m about to transfer for next year, so I decided to already check out the school etc. Hope that’s not creepy or anything.

Blaine Anderson: Not at all. It’s actually pretty smart. I wish I had done that.

Jackpot! Kurt might get Blaine to talk about his transfer.

Eddie Andrews: You’re a transfer student?

Blaine Anderson: Yeah lmao.

Blaine Anderson: Maybe you can come find me next year. Might give you a tour 😉 I’m hard to miss.

Oh, Kurt knows that. Blaine is everywhere and it looks like he likes to flaunt with that. God, this guy is terrible.

#klaine #glee #tan hands and tan lines #spaceorphan's sophisticated challenge: tenacious #holy fuck I wrote #2021 #multichaptered

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans Are Space Orcs, “Left Face!”

Just something quick for you this morning . Wanted to let you guys know that I have about a week before being back at school, so if you have any ideas you want to see happen, I would like you to let me know so I can do any planing now that I have time. Thinking becomes harder when at college lol.

Anyway thanks! :) 

The Rundi councilwoman was very nervous. She had only met humans a few times, five times, not that she was counting, and the creatures unnerved her more than anything ever had. It was a strange experience, a first look into their eyes and you were convinced you were looking into the eyes of a predatory beast, but look closer and you realized the guile and intelligence that drove the creature.  An intelligence that lead it to folding space before it even bothered with light speed. 

It confused her and scared her. She just wasn’t sure how the handle the creature, whether she should treat it more like a dangerous beast or ore like a reasoning sentient being. That thought was still undecided as she walked from the galactic assembly council chambers with her guard, which had been heavily augmented considering who they were meeting with.

The doors ahead of her were open allowing in the light of their main sequence star, a warm yellow in color, and their sky which was a pleasant purple-blue dotted with clouds. It was a pleasant enough day outside though she was racked with what seemed like the weight of an entire galaxy on her back. The Drev war was taking its toll on her. She would very much have liked to accept the suggestions of the Vrul and leave the creatures to rot on their primitive planet, but they were dangerous and intelligent, and they had made threats to the entire galaxy. Destroying their manufacturing plants was the only option, and one that was made increasingly difficult by the Drev proclivity for war.

Then had come the treaty signing with the humans, and out of goodwill they had pledged their own soldiers to the cause with the promise that they did, in fact, know a thing or two about war.

Why didn’t that surprise her?

With a deep breath, she stepped out into starlight, and was met with a small army of humans. 

There were dozens of the creatures all lined up in perfectly formed rows before the assembly chambers. It was difficult to tell the difference between them as they were all dressed similarly to each other in those strange human garments. The patterns atop them made it very difficult to focus on their forms as they stood straight and still in the morning sun. She shouldn't have felt so afraid, but somehow she couldn't help but feel a  small sense of threat with the way they held their perfect rows, with their perfect posture and their unflinching faces staring straight forward.

She had seen humans before, they never remained still, so this just seemed to be a….. A demonstration of their might by showing her they could force such a volatile species into absolute stillness.

That was all accept for a group of humans that stood out in front of her. They were wearing similar uniforms to those of their soldiers, though they had more shiny bits on them . The amount of shiny things worn by humans seemed to be an indicator of their status, also the ones that stood on higher ground seemed to be a good indication. She felt her innards crawl as the humans turned to look at her, their eyes darting the small dark apertures in their centers expanding and contracting as they licked over her body. Just watching them made her dizzy and she wondered how they did not make themselves sick with the strange movement.

They stood taller as she approached, and she shrunk down a little wondering if they intended the movement as an aggression or a show of dominance towards her. As she drew near the frontmost human raised its chin to her exposing it’s throat, “Good morning chairwoman, it is a pleasure to meet with you again.”

Inside she was internally panicking. All of their features were so much the same that she had a hard time remembering if she had ever met this human before. She frantically looked over the shiny bits on his clothing struggling to remember what she had been told about  their ranking falling into great relief when she finally remembered, “Oh, Admiral it is indeed an honor to speak with you again. We cannot express how deeply we thank you for this show of goodwill.”

“It has been a human tradition for centuries to help one’s allies in war, though it has not always pleased the civilian masses.” he held out one of his claw-tipped hands towards the assembled soldiers, “Take a look, see what you think. All of these men and women have been vetted, tested, vaccinated and are ready to fight for the cause of intergalactic peace.”

She nervously glanced down at their still standing ranks and swallowed, “Are…. they always so still.”

The man laughed, “Only when ordered. They are disciplined to the last movement and the last order.” We will demonstrate.” The man snapped sharply on his heels, “ATTENTION!” 

The chairwoman stepped back in shock and surprise as all the humans, in one synchronized group snapped their legs together brought their arms to their sides, “PRESENT ALL!” A hundred arms snapped upwards as if they were about to bash themselves in the head but stopped right below their temples eyes never moving.”AS YOU WERE” Again, like they were all reflections of each other the humans did as told never deviating. 

 “RIGHT….” Heads snapped to the right, “FACE.” With synchronized foot movements they turned to the right.

“ABOUT FACE!” They all turned in the opposite direction.

He leaned in closer to her, “Let's play a little game. DROP OUT DRILL EVERYONE!”

She stares don in concerned awe as the human began barking commands.

“ LEFT FACE, RIGHT FACE. RIGHT FACE, RIGHT FACE, LEFT FACE, ABOUT FACE, LEFT, AS YOU WERE, ABOUT FACE, RIGHT FACE, LEFT FACE.”

The square was filled with the clattering of the human’s feet on the ground in perfect rhythmic synchronization. The longer it took them to drop out the faster the commands came until the humans were practically spinning in circles on the field below.

“W-what is the point of this/” She stammered 

The human turned to look at her, his incredibly mobile face bringing the opening of his mouth up at the corners, “It is a demonstration of their ability to follow orders and pay attention. What I am about to show you next is historically the methods used for intimidation, demonstration of superior military might, and synchronization.”

 Other humans had moved into position behind him and began barking orders forming the humans into tight columns and groups. Around the square, other faces were peering from buildings trying to determine what the commotion was about, “FORWARD MARCH.” 

“LEFT, LEFT, LEFT RIGHT LEFT.” The humans walked past never stopping boots thundering against the ground at the same moment sending chills up her spine as she watched them move in perfect harmony, their bodies no more than rhythm turned into motion. They turned spun, and walked backwards through each other heads never turning to look where they were going, perfectly trusting the commands of their officers.

She found their method of intimidation to be working, and so seemed the rest of her people as they vanished back into the buildings with great haste.

When the demonstration was over she turned to the human, dreading the question she was about to ask, “And what military technology can you bring to the field?”

“That is a good question chairwoman.” He motioned to one of his soldiers, who hustled over carrying…. Well it looked like a big black stick with knobby protrusions. He took it carefully in one arm keeping one end pointed towards either the ground or the sky as he demonstrated, “This is a piece of military technology that hasn’t changed for the past thousand years accept to be stronger and more accurate. He pulled a lever at the side of the weapon locking open a tiny chamber.

“A round.” He ordered, and his soldiers rushed forward.

The human held up the little gold and copper-tipped cylinder up to her eye level/. “This, that pointy bit on the end is a bullet inside the gold part will be an explosive powder.” She stepped back, he held up the black stick, “This is a rifle, the bullets are fed into the chamber, the little hole right here where the firing pin will strike the back of the casing lighting the explosive and sending the bullet in a controlled explosion through the barrel at a high rate of speed into your target. Once inside, the more delicate metal is designed to break apart and tumble ripping your enemy apart from the inside.”

She stared at him in shock and horror, “You, you use explosives to hurl speeding shrapnel at your enemies.”

“Sort of accept for the times that we use explosives to hurl actual shrapnel of our enemies, then we just generally pack the explosives into a ball and throw them at each other.”

She swallowed hard, “I… I and what do those do?”

“Rip of limbs, hurl you to the ground, causing a pressure wave so serious that it causes the lungs to fill with fluid, or just kill you instantly, one of a multitude of options. We create them in all sizes, we shoot some from really big guns, drop them from the sky or even bury them in the ground to be triggered by the pressure of a misplaced foot long after we aren't there anymore.”

Was he threatening her, was she being threatened?

“I, I see, why-why do you not simply use energy weapons.”

The human sighed, “We tried those once upon a time, but it turns out the radius of an effective blast is closer than we would like, and like a taser some humans can sort of just walk them off. Better to rip open their insides to make sure they can’t get back up.”

She was feeling a bit feint, “I will have you know that the Drev wear full plate armor, and have a hard covering carapace.”

“In that case we will use armor piercing rounds. Just make this thing a bit heavier add some tungsten, punch through their hard outsides and into the squishy insides.”

She swallowed  hard, “Could you please not describe that so graphically?”

The human tilted his head at her, “I wasn’t.” His strange toothy expression returned, “Anyway each one of my soldiers will be carrying one of these, as well as a small version. A few of them will have the model that can shoot these over distances of thousands of feet.” I think we will have your little Drev problem dealt with in short order.”

She stammered and swallowed hard, “I…. I sure hope that you do.”

He reached out patting her on the arm, and she tried not to flinch, humans were very touchy, and she had a feeling that maybe it had something to do with dominance rituals, but she couldn’t be sure.

She just didn’t want to be touched by something that she knew could rip her arms off.

What had she gotten herself into.

#humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #earth is a deathworld #Earth is space Ausralia #HUMANS ARE WEIRD

[provider-of-guardians]

1) Congratulations on getting your Learner’s Permit

2) thoughts on this?

Provides reasoning on why why healthy, young people should be Vaccinated against COVID-19

https://apple.news/AziPVcppLRx2FbOKBqgjKfQ

1) Thank you very much ^^ I’m gonna out the rest under a break cause I don’t wanna attract too much discourse.

2) I hope you don’t expect me to take a cnn article, let alone “apple news”, very seriously. That being said, I did look through it and I’m still not convinced, or even conflicted, on getting the vaccine.

First of all there has been evidence that young people, women, and people who have had Covid before are at higher risks of bad side effects from this vaccine, and I hit 2 if not 3 of these strikes. (To say nothing of young men, 18-35, who may be at higher risk of moderate-severe heart issues after taking the vaccine.) Many women have also testified issues regarding their periods after getting the vaccine, and as I explained not too long ago, I already have iffy periods. I don’t need to add potential severe cramping and bleeding, plus who knows what else, onto my plate.

Speaking of “who knows what else”, it’s been said a lot but I’ll say it again, there’s very little known about the long-term effects of the vaccine. For all we know, it could make people sterile somehow. (Don’t quote or challenge me on that, I’m just throwing out a wild hypothetical to illustrate my point.) One thing we do know is that this thing doesn’t even fully prevent people from catching Covid. Also it has lead to hundreds of deaths, if not more. (I believe I read that for this reason, the J&J vaccine was “put on hold” in some European countries.)

Reminds me, iirc this thing is being pushed really hard by Bill Gates, who also says the world’s population needs to be “controlled”. Don’t like that.

There actually was a medicine that could wipe this thing out, no problem. No mess, no fuss, over and done. It is a drug we’ve had since the 1940′s and people have testified to its effectiveness against Covid. It’s called hydroxychloroquine. If it’s important that we medicate ourselves and knock this virus out, why hasn’t this been pushed?

If other people wanna get the vaccine, fine. Best of luck to them, hope all goes well, far be it from me to get on a soapbox and yell at them not to. As for me, no. I’m not doing it. I don’t want to, I don’t need to, heck you can call me an exception to the situation cause my current life style is practically the same as quarantining. (I don’t often leave the farm. Like sometimes for months at a time. So I have a very low chance of infecting anyone.)

Now, it’s 2:40 am my time. I hope I presented myself clearly, and didn’t say anything stupid. I’ll admit I may have said something wrong, but I don’t hecking know. I’m struggling to type correctly, so I’m gonna leave it here. Let me know your thoughts if you want, Anon. I love to hear from you. G’night o/

#Provider of ramblings #whomst #submission

[camillasgirl]

A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at the Central Remembrance Ceremony in Berlin, 15.11.2020

Mr. President,

President of the Bundestag,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a particular honour to have been invited to speak here today, on this solemn and special occasion, and to join you in eternal remembrance of all victims of war and tyranny. In this memorable year, marking seventy-five years of peace and friendship between us, it gives my wife and myself such great pride to return to Germany, and to renew those enduring bonds between our two countries.

I have been coming to Germany since I was just thirteen years old, and first visited Berlin nearly fifty years ago. Over the decades, I have been struck by the ways in which this remarkable city embodies so much of the history of our continent, and all that we have been through. After the devastation of conflict, and the tragedy of division, it has not only endured but triumphed, liberated from flawed and distorted ideologies so that hope and the human spirit could prevail.

Berlin reminds us that the fortunes of all Europeans have been dependent on one another for centuries. The relationships we enjoy today are built on foundations dug deep in the bedrock of our common experience, anchored by bonds running North and South, East and West, through our diverse communities and across our borders.

The connections between the British and German people go back at least as far as the Roman Empire, evolving within a shared civilisation, and woven with threads drawn back and forth through the years. For many of us, those ties are personal, with family connections and associations which remain greatly treasured to this day.

Our people have prospered from one another through commerce, since the Hanseatic League established a trading relationship which continues to drive our shared prosperity. However, the relationship between us has always been so much more than a transactional one. We have long viewed each other with fascination - admiring of each other’s culture and inspired by each other’s ideas, we have influenced and borrowed from one another in a virtuous circle of reinforcing connections that have strengthened and enriched us both.

The examples are myriad. It was a German, Hans Holbein the Younger, who became the first celebrated artist in England. Half a century later, German was the first language into which Shakespeare was translated. The English landscape garden was brought to Germany by Prince Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau who, inspired by the models of Stourhead and Stowe, laid out the magnificent gardens at Wörlitz of which I am proud to be Patron. Onecan scarcely imagine where the British musical tradition would be without the influence of Bach, Beethoven or Brahms; and the music of Georg Friedrich Handel, who was born a German but died British, has been played at the Coronation of every British Sovereign since that of my seven times great grandfather, King George II.

Throughout the nineteenth century, German scientific and artistic thought shaped British life, encouraged, in part, by the leadership of my great, great, great, grandfather, Prince Albert, The Prince Consort. German was a vitally important language for British academics to acquire, at a time when German immigration to Britain grew significantly and Schroders Bank and Reuters News Agency helped shape London’s global role. It was not as remarkable as it perhaps now seems, that at the outbreak of the First World War four members of the British cabinet had studied at German Universities. It is similarly striking, that in the years after that conflict, British students flocked back to Germany for the exposure to German culture that they, and their parents, considered to be so essential to their education.

Looking back through the prism of two world wars, with all the cruel distortions rendered by conflict and loss, so many of those close connections between Britain and Germany became obscured. And yet, as our countries, and our people, set to the difficult task of rebuilding this continent – and our trust in one another – the deep and historic well of shared experience from which we drew, enabled the seeds of reconciliation to take root and flourish.

And so, over these past seventy-five years, our two countries have been restored to our natural position of allies and friends. Britain was by Germany’s side through those extraordinary years of post-war reconstruction. We have watched, with profound admiration, the remarkable success of Germany’s peaceful reunification over the past thirty years, and with deep respect for the example that she has offered the world.

Today our countries stand together as indispensable partners in almost every field of endeavour imaginable, conscious of our past but confident about our future. As the message read on the wreath that you, Mr. President, laid at the Cenotaph in London two years ago this week, let us “remember side by side, grateful for reconciliation, hopeful for a future in peace and friendship.”

Reconciliation is a difficult but essential process, as I have seen in almost every corner of the globe, as well as on the islands of my own country. That we have healed so much division on our continent is cause for sustained gratitude and the utmost pride. However, as thankful as we should be for how far we have come, I know that many of you share my view that we must take nothing for granted.

We can never reconcile ourselves to the horrors of the past as simply the events of another age – distant, time bound, disconnected from our present lives. Nor can any of us assume that they are someone else’s burden to bear. Instead, the searing relevance of the past to the present day, and to our future, makes it our solemn and shared responsibility to ensure that heartbreaking lessons are learned and heeded by each successive generation.

The former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Rabbi Lord Sacks, who so tragically died earlier this month, wrote that “a future of reconciliation can, in some measure at least, retrospectively redeem the past.” He was quite right, of course. Otherwise not only do we compound past wrongs and amplify their effect, but we fail all those who struggled and died for a better tomorrow.  

In this, we must work together. We must remain vigilant against threats to our values and our freedoms; and never rest in seeking to create mutual understanding and respect. We must be resolute in addressing acts of unspeakable cruelty against people for reasons of their religion, their race or their beliefs, wherever they occur in the world. We must stand alongside each other in determined defence of the future we owe our children and our grandchildren.  

The challenges to that future are manifest – whether from this dreadful pandemic which threatens not just our public health but our prosperity and security; or from the existential threat to our planet, and our way of life, from climate change and catastrophic biodiversity loss.

These crises demand that we act together, and the partnership between the United Kingdom and Germany offers such a vital opportunity in this regard. We are heavily invested in each other’s futures, such that our national interests, whilst distinct, will always be entwined.  

Our countries are instinctive problem-solvers, working together to find innovative and practical solutions to the challenges we see in the world around us – on global health and vaccine development; clean growth and renewable energy; forest protection and biodiversity; and climate action in developing countries. Together, we stand resolutely in defence of our shared values, as champions of human rights and the Rules Based International System. Together, we are an indispensable force for good in our world.

The English poet, John Donne, famously wrote that “no man is an island entire of itself.  Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” One might equally submit that no country is really an island either, other than in the wholly literal sense. Our histories bind us tightly together and our destinies, although each our own to forge, are interdependent to a considerable degree.

Mr. President, President of the Bundestag, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The United Kingdom has chosen a future outside the European Union, and the relationship between our countries is evolving once again.  Its shape is a matter negotiated between our governments and its essence is defined by the enduring connections between our people.  It is, therefore, my heartfelt belief that the fundamental bond between us will remain strong: we will always be friends, partners and allies.

As our countries begin this new chapter in our long history, let us reaffirm our bond for the years ahead. Let us reflect on all that we have been through together, and all that we have learned. Let us remember all victims of war, tyranny and persecution; those who laid down their lives for the freedoms we cherish, and those who struggle for these freedoms to this day. They inspire us to strive for a better tomorrow – let us make this our common cause.

#Prince Charles #brexit #speech #this speech was/ is amazing #loved it

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Texan-born, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and TikTok personality Allison Ponthier makes a splash with 'Cowboy' – it's the enthralling first taste of her upcoming EP. Finding a path away from her conservative upbringing, queer singer-songwriter Allison Ponthier is another artist making country music her own. Taking references from Kacey Musgraves and Orville Peck, Ponthier's take on the genre is high camp and features a kaleidoscopic visual world too. Growing a huge following on TikTok, 'Cowboy' marks the start of a whole new chapter for Ponthier with her debut release with Interscope and Polydor. The track itself references her move from the bible belt to New York City and her journey accepting her sexuality. Warm and inviting 'Cowboy' is cinematic pop with some real heart-on-sleeve confessional songwriting. Complete with a masterful music video that runs like a mini-movie complete with impressive special effects, on reflection, cinematic is an understatement. The video itself is a striking and exciting introduction to this new artist, “I probably watch movies more than I listen to music,” Ponthier says of the video. The clip, directed by Jordan Bahat (Christine and the Queens) adds a whole new cosmic energy to the track and aims to amplify the lyrics' detailed storytelling. As she unveils more of her forthcoming debut EP, Ponthier explains what we can expect from her; “a lot of my songs are about being uncomfortable in your own skin but getting to know yourself better, figuring out who you really are.” [via the Line Of Best Fit]

Miley Cyrus has shared the full video for 'Angels Like You'. The pop rebel returned in 2020 with her excellent album Plastic Hearts, a series of superb empowerment anthems. Album highlight 'Angels Like You' has received the video treatment, shot at the Superbowl in front of an audience of fully vaccinated healthcare workers. Miley has also provided a note for the video describing her feelings of gratitude to these workers. [via Clash]

LA punk four-piece The Paranoyds have dropped a new video for track 'Egg Salad', taken from their album Carnage Bargain which is out now on Suicide Squeeze. The video's director Nicole Stunwyck comments "The video presents the glitzy & glamorous world of a teenage girl who, after accidentally catching a beauty pageant on TV, dreams of her rise to stardom & subsequent downfall... It’s not a commentary on anything but an experimental depiction of my own personal fascination for young tragic starlets alà Valley of The Dolls."

Noga Erez and collaborative partner ROUSSO have shared a fifth compelling new single from forthcoming album KIDS which is set for release on March 26 via City Slang. 'Story' is a snappy, addictive song about how couples relationships are always a relationship between two people’s past and present. "Everyone brings their past experiences to the relationship even if things are great" Erez comments. "Sometimes past situations come in and take over." As with the album's previous singles 'Story' is brought to life with a captivating video, starring Erez and ROUSSO, who also provides vocals on the track. "ROUSSO is my partner in music as well as my partner in life" she explains. "This is the first time we tell a story about our relationship in a song and video. It’s a song about a couple fighting and how, in that situation, sometimes what you hear the other person say is not what they actually said. The making of this video was a 10-day couples therapy session for us. As we rehearsed the pretend fighting and martial arts moves we knew that, at times, one of us would get punched just a little too hard. It was so intense and interesting to live in this world, where our relationship comes alive in the most physical way."

After announcing Detritus with lead outing 'Stories' last month, Sarah Neufeld has unveiled the album's second single 'With Love and Blindness'. Neufeld says of the song and Jason Last-directed video, "The video for 'With Love and Blindness' came together through a long-time collaboration between myself and videographer Jason Last. I knew that Jason and I would work together again on some visual aspect for my third solo release, and it so happened that before I even began recording the album, we were presented with the opportunity to do a mini residence on Corsica with Providenza; an amazing collective with a farm, cultural laboratory, festival and residency program." She continues, "I was doing a short solo tour in Europe in the summer of 2019 in order to re-work some of the pieces from the dance collaboration to begin to find a shape for the album that was to be recorded in the Fall. In the middle of that tour, Jason and I travelled to Corsica for several days (graced once again with a suitcase containing Esteban Cortazar’s unique and beautiful creations). Besides performing in Providenza’s outdoor amphitheater, we were immersed in nature, literally staying in a treehouse perched on the side of a mountain, overlooking the dramatic coastline." Neufeld adds, "I found that the pulse of the landscape resonated with the essence of the music, especially "With Love and Blindness"; a sense of rawness, of sensuality, of a strange gravity intensified by the hypnotic summer heat and the general otherworldliness of the place." [via the Line Of Best Fit]

Molly Burman was brought up around music. At every family event, every party, the soundtrack would resonate with her, providing an education in itself. Both parents were gigging musicians, and she always wanted to follow in their footsteps, to use performance as a means of self-expression. Lockdown brought the time and space to bring these ideas into focus, and she's working to unveil a series of one off singles. Her debut single proper 'Fool Me With Flattery' is out now, a blissfully melodic piece of indie pop with some whip-smart lyricism. There's a tongue in cheek element to her sound that is fantastically endearing, matched by the subtle lo-fi elements of her bedroom pop confection. She comments: "I wrote the song after a long day of feeling overlooked and ignored by some of the guys in my life. I was fed up, angry and used the stereotype of a mansplaining misogynist to let it all out. This song is for anyone who feels belittled and like they’re being made to shrink themselves; be as big as you possibly can, and don’t let anyone fool you with flattery." The video is a hilarious showcase for Molly's offbeat sense of humour. [via Clash]

Punk provocateurs Pussy Riot have unveiled their latest song 'Panic Attack', as well as a music video that features a hologram of singer Nadya Tolokonnikova. This is the final release from Pussy Riot’s new Panic Attack EP, a collection of three linked songs that, for now, can only be streamed as separate singles. The title track features punk guitars underneath a tinkling music box melody, as Tolokonnikova turns anxiety into a sports cheer. “Gimme an A,” she says, “Gimme a T/ Gimme a T/ Gimme an A/ Gimme a C/ Gimme a K/ Okay? Okay.” While upbeat and seemingly cheerful, the synth-punk song comes out of the trauma she experienced in a Russian prison camp. As she explained in a statement, “After serving 2 years in a labor camp, I’m still struggling with mental health issues. Trauma, fear and insecurity never fully go away, causing depression episodes and deep anxiety. ‘PANIC ATTACK’ was born as the result of me staring at the wall for 24 hours in the middle of the pandemic, feeling 100% helpless. I was trying to write something uplifting to encourage people to get through the tough times. But I was just failing and failing. Magically, at the second I allowed myself to be honest and write about despair I was experiencing, I wrote the track in like a half an hour. Depression is a plague of the 21st century, and it tells me that there’s something broken in the way we treat each other. The video ‘PANIC ATTACK’ reflects on objectification of human beings, loneliness, disconnection from the environment that causes us to feel small and powerless. And it’s us who caused it with our own hands – that’s why in the end of the video I’m fighting with my own clone.” The music video for 'Panic Attack' was directed by  Asad J. Malik. He used 106 cameras to capture all angles of Tolokonnikova, then converted that information into a photoreal hologram. Afterwards, Tokyo-based creative technologist Ruben Fro built out landscapes reminiscent of video games through which the virtual Tolokonnikova could frolic. But as the visuals progress, those idyllic settings give way to a hellscape, and the singer faces off against a clone of herself. [via Consequence of Sound]

The wait is finally over. BLACKPINK’s Rosé shines like the star she is with her official solo debut. On Friday, she released two solo songs on her debut single album titled R, 'On the Ground' and 'Gone.' With its deep lyrics, angelic bridge, and Rosé’s high note at the end, 'On the Ground' is an exemplary song for her solo debut. Add the fact that Rosé is credited as a writer for the song, and one can really tell how much time she spent perfecting it for release. The accompanying music video, meanwhile, expands the story of life and growth. Rosé starts off looking lost and trying to find herself amidst all the wildness of life; she eventually encounters past and present versions of herself while searching for answers and purpose. By the end, she finds herself and her path forward, and one can’t help but smile as she sings an explosive outro. [via Teen Vogue]

On Ellise's latest alt-pop concoction the rising pop star gets gothic as 'Feeling Something Bad...' transforms a crush into an obsession. An expert at catastrophising everyday experiences, the LA-based artist has arrived fully formed with not only a consistent and cohesive sound but a striking visual identity too. That's even more clear when you press play on the accompanying video for her latest infectiously catchy track. With the clip directed by Joakim Carlsson we get to see Ellise in her absolute element as she brings "Feeling Something Bad..." to life in a macabre world of its own. “I just love dramatising little everyday feelings in life, so this is my big dramatic ‘I have a crush on you’ song,” Ellise explains – it's a song she wrote about a boy she barely knew. [via the Line Of Best Fit]

With President Biden determined to get the majority of American adults vaccinated by summer, bands are earnestly beginning to look forward to the return of live music. Purity Ring are the latest to announce 2021 tour dates, which they’ve shared alongside the video for their track 'sinew'. The song comes from WOMB, the synth-pop duo’s first album in five years that was released just before the pandemic struck. Directed by Toby Stretch, the clip brings back the abstract graphics and costumes that featured in the 'stardew' music video, continuing the enigmatic story of the domed bicyclist and their sun-headed sidecar companion. [via Consequence of Sound]

Australian Pop Princess, Peach PRC releases the official music video for her debut single 'Josh'. Peach PRC comments on the official 'Josh' visuals, “The music video was inspired by growing up watching the same five infomercials, morning news channels and old movies on my little pink box tv when I was a kid and couldn’t sleep on a school night. The idea was to have “josh” feel just as harassed the more he tries to call. Every creative step along the way was entirely my vision, from writing the music video script, to the lyrics and everything in between. I’m so happy and hope all the girls, gays and theys who dated “josh” will sing along.”

#videos of the week #allison ponthier #miley cyrus #the paranoyds #noga erez #sarah neufeld #molly burman #pussy riot #rose #ellise #purity ring #peach prc

[lastsonlost]

BECAUSE THE CORONAVIRUS IS JUST HURTING FEMINIST AND ONLY FEMINISTS AND ABSOLUTELY NO ONE ELSE...

..........

Enough already. When people try to be cheerful about social distancing and working from home, noting that William Shakespeare and Isaac Newton did some of their best work while England was ravaged by the plague, there is an obvious response: Neither of them had child-care responsibilities.

Shakespeare spent most of his career in London, where the theaters were, while his family lived in Stratford-upon-Avon. During the plague of 1606, the playwright was lucky to be spared from the epidemic—his landlady died at the height of the outbreak—and his wife and two adult daughters stayed safely in the Warwickshire countryside. Newton, meanwhile, never married or had children. He saw out the Great Plague of 1665–6 on his family’s estate in the east of England, and spent most of his adult life as a fellow at Cambridge University, where his meals and housekeeping were provided by the college.

For those with caring responsibilities, an infectious-disease outbreak is unlikely to give them time to write King Lear or develop a theory of optics. A pandemic magnifies all existing inequalities (even as politicians insist this is not the time to talk about anything other than the immediate crisis). Working from home in a white-collar job is easier; employees with salaries and benefits will be better protected; self-isolation is less taxing in a spacious house than a cramped apartment. But one of the most striking effects of the coronavirus will be to send many couples back to the 1950s.

Across the world, women’s independence will be a silent victim of the pandemic.

Purely as a physical illness, the coronavirus appears to affect women less severely. But in the past few days, the conversation about the pandemic has broadened: We are not just living through a public-health crisis, but an economic one. As much of normal life is suspended for three months or more, job losses are inevitable. At the same time, school closures and household isolation are moving the work of caring for children from the paid economy—nurseries, schools, babysitters—to the unpaid one. The coronavirus smashes up the bargain that so many dual-earner couples have made in the developed world: We can both work, because someone else is looking after our children. Instead, couples will have to decide which one of them takes the hit.

Many stories of arrogance are related to this pandemic. Among the most exasperating is the West’s failure to learn from history: the Ebola crisis in three African countries in 2014; Zika in 2015–6; and recent outbreaks of SARS, swine flu, and bird flu. Academics who studied these episodes found that they had deep, long-lasting effects on gender equality. “Everybody’s income was affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa,” Julia Smith, a health-policy researcher at Simon Fraser University, told The New York Times this month, but “men’s income returned to what they had made pre-outbreak faster than women’s income.” The distorting effects of an epidemic can last for years, Clare Wenham, an assistant professor of global-health policy at the London School of Economics, told me. “We also saw declining rates of childhood vaccination [during Ebola].” Later, when these children contracted preventable diseases, their mothers had to take time off work.

At an individual level, the choices of many couples over the next few months will make perfect economic sense. What do pandemic patients need? Looking after. What do self-isolating older people need? Looking after. What do children kept home from school need? Looking after. All this looking after—this unpaid caring labor—will fall more heavily on women, because of the existing structure of the workforce. “It’s not just about social norms of women performing care roles; it’s also about practicalities,” Wenham added. “Who is paid less? Who has the flexibility?”

According to the British government’s figures, 40 percent of employed women work part-time, compared with only 13 percent of men. In heterosexual relationships, women are more likely to be the lower earners, meaning their jobs are considered a lower priority when disruptions come along. And this particular disruption could last months, rather than weeks. Some women’s lifetime earnings will never recover. With the schools closed, many fathers will undoubtedly step up, but that won’t be universal.

Despite the mass entry of women into the workforce during the 20th century, the phenomenon of the “second shift” still exists. Across the world, women—including those with jobs—do more housework and have less leisure time than their male partners. Even memes about panic-buying acknowledge that household tasks such as food shopping are primarily shouldered by women. “I’m not afraid of COVID-19 but what is scary, is the lack of common sense people have,” reads one of the most popular tweets about the coronavirus crisis. “I’m scared for people who actually need to go to the store & feed their fams but Susan and Karen stocked up for 30 years.” The joke only works because “Susan” and “Karen”—stand-in names for suburban moms—are understood to be responsible for household management, rather than, say, Mike and Steve.

Look around and you can see couples already making tough decisions on how to divide up this extra unpaid labor. When I called Wenham, she was self-isolating with two small children; she and her husband were alternating between two-hour shifts of child care and paid work. That is one solution; for others, the division will run along older lines. Dual-income couples might suddenly find themselves living like their grandparents, one homemaker and one breadwinner. “My spouse is a physician in the emergency dept, and is actively treating #coronavirus patients. We just made the difficult decision for him to isolate & move into our garage apartment for the foreseeable future as he continues to treat patients,” wrote the Emory University epidemiologist Rachel Patzer, who has a three-week-old baby and two young children. “As I attempt to home school my kids (alone) with a new baby who screams if she isn’t held, I am worried about the health of my spouse and my family.”

Single parents face even harder decisions: While schools are closed, how do they juggle earning and caring? No one should be nostalgic for the “1950s ideal” of Dad returning to a freshly baked dinner and freshly washed children, when so many families were excluded from it, even then. And in Britain today, a quarter of families are headed by a single parent, more than 90 percent of whom are women. Closed schools make their life even harder.

Other lessons from the Ebola epidemic were just as stark—and similar, if perhaps smaller, effects will be seen during this crisis in the developed world. School closures affected girls’ life chances, because many dropped out of education. (A rise in teenage-pregnancy rates exacerbated this trend.) Domestic and sexual violence rose. And more women died in childbirth because resources were diverted elsewhere. “There’s a distortion of health systems, everything goes towards the outbreak,” said Wenham, who traveled to west Africa as a researcher during the Ebola crisis. “Things that aren’t priorities get canceled. That can have an effect on maternal mortality, or access to contraception.” The United States already has appalling statistics in this area compared with other rich countries, and black women there are twice as likely to die in childbirth as white women.

For Wenham, the most striking statistic from Sierra Leone, one of the countries worst affected by Ebola, was that from 2013 to 2016, during the outbreak, more women died of obstetric complications than the infectious disease itself. But these deaths, like the unnoticed caring labor on which the modern economy runs, attract less attention than the immediate problems generated by an epidemic. These deaths are taken for granted. In her book Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez notes that 29 million papers were published in more than 15,000 peer-reviewed titles around the time of the Zika and Ebola epidemics, but less than 1 percent explored the gendered impact of the outbreaks. Wenham has found no gender analysis of the coronavirus outbreak so far; she and two co-authors have stepped into the gap to research the issue.

The evidence we do have from the Ebola and Zika outbreaks should inform the current response. In both rich and poor countries, campaigners expect domestic-violence rates to rise during lockdown periods. Stress, alcohol consumption, and financial difficulties are all considered triggers for violence in the home, and the quarantine measures being imposed around the world will increase all three. The British charity Women’s Aid said in a statement that it was “concerned that social distancing and self-isolation will be used as a tool of coercive and controlling behaviour by perpetrators, and will shut down routes to safety and support.”

Researchers, including those I spoke with, are frustrated that findings like this have not made it through to policy makers, who still adopt a gender-neutral approach to pandemics. They also worry that opportunities to collect high-quality data which will be useful for the future are being missed. For example, we have little information on how viruses similar to the coronavirus affect pregnant women—hence the conflicting advice during the current crisis—or, according to Susannah Hares, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, sufficient data to build a model for when schools should reopen.

We shouldn’t make that mistake again. Grim as it is to imagine now, further epidemics are inevitable, and the temptation to argue that gender is a side issue, a distraction from the real crisis, must be resisted. What we do now will affect the lives of millions of women and girls in future outbreaks.

The coronavirus crisis will be global and long-lasting, economic as well as medical. However, it also offers an opportunity. This could be the first outbreak where gender and sex differences are recorded, and taken into account by researchers and policy makers. For too long, politicians have assumed that child care and elderly care can be “soaked up” by private citizens—mostly women—effectively providing a huge subsidy to the paid economy. This pandemic should remind us of the true scale of that distortion.

Wenham supports emergency child-care provision, economic security for small-business owners, and a financial stimulus paid directly to families. But she isn’t hopeful, because her experience suggests that governments are too short-termist and reactive. ��Everything that's happened has been predicted, right?” she told me. “As a collective academic group, we knew there would be an outbreak that came out of China, that shows you how globalization spreads disease, that’s going to paralyze financial systems, and there was no pot of money ready to go, no governance plan … We knew all this, and they didn't listen. So why would they listen to something about women?”

Remember this article the next time a politician brings up the draft again...

because I remember the last reaction.

[theglowstickchronicles]

Wow. Unspirational calendar strikes again.

It’s ironic that I did not rip off yesterday’s page until 1915 this evening, because this very concept was in my mind all day, ESPECIALLY during my 60 minute barre class today. 

In past years I have made very specific fitness goals, such as “run a 10 minute mile” (LMAO LMAO LMAO) or “do a 5 minute plank” (lol). I did not make any of those goals this year; all I said was eat healthier and exercise more. 

Now, would I like to make goals like this? Yes. And I think later in the year I will! I like/need goals to work up to but first I needed January to just be getting back in to working out. Before I could make a plank goal or squat goal or whatever goal, I just needed to get a routine of actually working out back.

My one concern is breaking my fitness streak. I’m 4/4 so far, but tomorrow I feel like has the most likeliness to break it. I had to go into work early so I cancelled my spin class with my gym. Ideally I’d like to get on the Peloton before work but I am worried about vaccine side effects. My arm really freakin hurts (lol) which won’t stop me, but I have a few friends at work who had pretty severe side effects that made them miss work. I hope that’s not me, but I have a headache already. I’m not super concerned about skipping one day, it’s the getting back on the horse after that one day that is terrifying.

We shall see!

#2021 #day 4 of 365 #unspirational

[newstfionline]

Friday, August 6, 2021

US plans to require COVID-19 shots for foreign travelers (AP) The Biden administration is taking the first steps toward requiring nearly all foreign visitors to the U.S. to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, a White House official said. The requirement would come as part of the administration’s phased approach to easing travel restrictions for foreign citizens to the country. No timeline has yet been determined, as interagency working groups study how and when to safely move toward resuming normal travel. Eventually all foreign citizens entering the country, with some limited exceptions, are expected to need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the U.S.

Big tech companies are at war with employees over remote work (Ars Technica) All across the United States, the leaders at large tech companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook are engaged in a delicate dance with thousands of employees who have recently become convinced that physically commuting to an office every day is an empty and unacceptable demand from their employers. The COVID-19 pandemic forced these companies to operate with mostly remote workforces for months straight. And since many of them are based in areas with relatively high vaccination rates, the calls to return to the physical office began to sound over the summer. But thousands of high-paid workers at these companies aren’t having it. Many of them don’t want to go back to the office full time, even if they’re willing to do so a few days a week. Workers are even pointing to how effective they were when fully remote and using that to question why they have to keep living in the expensive cities where these offices are located. Some tech leaders (like Twitter’s Jack Dorsey) agreed, or at least they saw the writing on the wall. They enacted permanent or semipermanent changes to their companies’ policies to make partial or even full-time remote work the norm. Others (like Apple’s Tim Cook) are working hard to find a way to get everyone back in their assigned seats as soon as is practical, despite organized resistance. In either case, the work cultures at tech companies that make everything from the iPhone to Google search are facing a major wave of transformation.

At least 10 dead as van carrying migrants crashes in Texas (AP) An overloaded van carrying 29 migrants crashed Wednesday on a remote South Texas highway, killing at least 10 people, including the driver, and injuring 20 others, authorities said. The crash happened shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday on U.S. 281 in Encino, Texas, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of McAllen. A surge in migrants crossing the border illegally has brought about an uptick in the number of crashes involving vehicles jammed with migrants who pay large amounts to be smuggled into the country. The Dallas Morning News has reported that the recruitment of young drivers for the smuggling runs, combined with excessive speed and reckless driving by those youths, have led to horrific crashes.

Turkish wildfires are worst ever, Erdogan says, as power plant breached (Reuters) Turkey is battling the worst wildfires in its history, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, as fires spread to a power station in the country’s southwest after reducing swathes of coastal forest to ashes. Fanned by high temperatures and a strong, dry wind, the fires have forced thousands of Turks and foreign tourists to flee homes and hotels near the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Eight people have died in the blazes since last week. Planes and dozens of helicopters have joined scores of emergency crews on the ground to battle the fires, but Erdogan’s government has faced criticism over the scale and speed of the response. In the last two weeks, fires in Turkey have burnt more than three times the area affected in an average year, a European fire agency said. Neighbouring countries have also battled blazes fanned by heatwaves and strong winds.

Sri Lanka’s financial problems (Foreign Policy) Sri Lanka is threatening to become South Asia’s economic weak link. It’s mired in a severe debt crisis, and its budget deficit exceeded 11 percent of GDP during the last fiscal year, which ended in March. The country’s foreign reserves can only pay for three months of imports, prompting Colombo to cut back on many foreign imports, including turmeric, a staple product. Fitch Ratings has warned default is a real possibility. Sri Lanka’s woes stem in great part from a floundering tourism sector. Tourism typically accounts for at least 5 percent of GDP, and some estimates even put the figure at 12.5 percent. The sector’s troubles began before the coronavirus pandemic, when suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in churches and hotels in April 2019, keeping visitors away. But the pandemic still dealt a giant blow. A 2021 assessment found tourist arrivals between January and April fell nearly 100 percent from the same period in 2020.

Australia to spend $813M to address Indigenous disadvantage (AP) Australia’s government on Thursday pledged 1.1 billion Australian dollars ($813 million) to address Indigenous disadvantage, including compensation to thousands of mixed-race children who were taken from their families over decades. The AU$378.6 million ($279.7 million) to be used to compensate the so-called Stolen Generations by 2026 is the most expensive component of the package aimed at boosting Indigenous living standards in Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the compensation was a recognition of the harm caused by forced removal of children from families.

Israel launches airstrikes on Lebanon in response to rockets (AP) Israel on Thursday escalated its response to rocket attacks this week by launching rare airstrikes on Lebanon, the army said. The army said in a statement that jets struck the launch sites from which rockets had been fired over the previous day, as well as an additional target used to attack Israel in the past. The IDF blamed the state of Lebanon for the shelling and warned “against further attempts to harm Israeli civilians and Israel’s sovereignty.” The overnight airstrikes were a marked escalation at a politically sensitive time. Israel’s new eight-party governing coalition is trying to keep peace under a fragile cease fire that ended an 11-day war with Hamas’ militant rulers in Gaza in May.

‘Winning a medal doesn’t make him Jewish’ (Washington Post) When gymnast Artem Dolgopyat stepped off the podium as only the second Israeli to win an Olympic gold medal, he triggered one of Israel’s many cultural tripwires: It quickly emerged that the country’s newest sports hero is banned from marrying his fiancee here because he is not considered Jewish enough by the rabbis who control Israel’s marriage law. Immediately after Dolgopyat took top honors in the men’s floor exercise, his mother took the chance to complain that Israeli religious law is keeping her engaged 24-year-old son from tying the knot because only his father’s side of the family is Jewish. Marriage law is tightly controlled by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. And for generations, couples who are of mixed religions—or who are atheists, gay or inadequately Jewish—have been forced to marry outside the country. Dolgopyat’s training schedule has made that impossible, said his mother, Angela Bilan. “I want grandchildren,” Bilan said Sunday in an interview with Israeli radio.

Talking to strangers (Atlantic) A hefty body of research has found that an overwhelmingly strong predictor of happiness and well-being is the quality of a person’s social relationships. But most of those studies have looked at only close ties: family, friends, co-workers. In the past decade and a half, professors have begun to wonder if interacting with strangers could be good for us too: not as a replacement for close relationships, but as a complement to them. The results of that research have been striking. Again and again, studies have shown that talking with strangers can make us happier, more connected to our communities, mentally sharper, healthier, less lonely, and more trustful and optimistic.

But tanks make such handy snowplows... (BBC) A German retiree was fined nearly $300,000 by local authorities on Tuesday following the discovery of a World War-II era tank in his basement along with other items of the period, including a flak cannon and multiple machine guns. The Panther tank was removed from the man’s property in 2015, a job that took 20 soldiers almost nine hours to complete. The unnamed 84-year-old might have been able to hold on to his tank and the rest of his collection—which must now be donated to a museum within two years, according to Tuesday’s ruling—had he kept it a better secret. “He was chugging around in that thing during the snow catastrophe in 1978,” Heikendorf Mayor Alexander Orth told reporters.

#headlines #news

[theculturedmarxist]

I try not to be paranoid, because it’s easy for that kind of thing to run away with itself. Sometimes the bad things that happen just turn out to be your average run of the mill everyday kind of evil, people striking at an opportunity, that kind of thing, rather than evidence of an overarching conspiracy or part of some grand strategy. But at the same time, things, especially in Washington, don’t happen for no reason.

This potential retroactive protection from liability to corporations for covid related lawsuits has me thinking though. Some possibilities:

a) Just in case. The government has completely failed to provide any sort of coherent guidance for covid, and protecting corporations protects the government.

b) This is at the behest of corporations. They were the ones behind pushing an end to the lockdown. They were the ones pushing to ease restrictions and get people back to work. They were the ones pushing for schools to reopen so their workers could come back. If what I’ve seen is typical of workplaces in general, then they’ve also done fuck-all to actually protect their workers aside from making their employees wear masks, posting some signs about social distancing, and then doing nothing else to enforce these new regulations on either their employees or their customers. Every corporation is vulnerable and I have no doubt that they all want this kind of coverage, especially during that hazy time of not knowing how it was spread, or what exactly to do about it.

c) They know that there’s something wrong with the vaccine(s), or it is very likely that there is something wrong with it. It might have side effects for certain portions of the population, or other nasty outcomes resulting from taking it.

There seems to be a general skepticism of this particular vaccine, and for good reason. Even among people that seem inclined to it, their attitude seems to be “yeah, but not me or my family first.” Can you blame them? They’ve been jerked around this this entire year, do this thing, no do that thing, stay home, no come out, keep your kids at home, no send them to school, all by governments which they hardly trust already, have done very little to protect or help them, and which seem utterly ambivalent towards doing so. So, between people that can’t take it because of the coming eviction crisis, or their insurance won’t cover it, or they don’t want to take it (with so many already balking at wearing fucking masks asking them to get shot up with mysteryjuice seems even more remote), or for whatever reason they can’t get it, it seems like adoption of the vaccine is going to severely lag.

I think by every appearance, the goal of this vaccine in the eyes of the bourgeoisie is to inoculate the population as fast as possible, in order to get things “back to normal” as fast as possible. This clearly isn’t about the lives of working people. If that were a concern, this whole thing would have been over months ago—this whole outbreak could have been stopped in its tracks at the outset before any of this happened. Even after it had spread, if the lockdown had been maintained and enforced we wouldn’t be absolutely in the grip of crisis like we are now.

If worker safety is not the goal, then it can only be oiling the cogs to get things working again. If workers will not take the vaccine voluntarily, then I think it likely they’ll be compelled either to gain or maintain employment. For now, I think the attitude is one of “wait and see.” High casualties are obviously not a concern, so long as they’re not too high. If they’re judged low enough that requiring it will not cause a revolt, then they will make it compulsory. What’s “low enough?” One death out of a hundred? Out of a thousand? Just getting sick for a few days, a week, two? What if people are maimed or disabled by the vaccine? Even if it’s only a one-in-one-hundred-thousand chance, that’s still a great big body of people. Better then if they die, at least then they can’t sue, right? Even better if its during the waiting period for benefits from their place of employment—no costly medical bills then, and even less chance of a lawsuit once the family (if there is one) has to pay for the funeral. It’s difficult to overjudge bourgeois cynicism at this point.

I hope I am just being paranoid. While I don’t want to see Pfizer make the obscene profits they’re sure to make, I do want the vaccine to work. After everything that’s happened it would be nice if the rollout went smoothly, and if things didn’t return to normal then at least far fewer people would die.

But then, I don’t think things tend to work that way.

[jacob-harger]

“Devoid of any commitment to liberty”: How the CRG’s condemnation of the PM’s COVID-19 policy misses the point

Liberty. It’s a word we hear a lot in politics, usually in the context of it being defended from some perceived threat, and rarely with regards to a situation where it really is under attack. It’s beyond ironic that in the week that saw the House of Commons vote against legislation that would allow the High Court to determine whether a country was engaged in genocide in order to prohibit trade deals with it, an internal message from Steve Baker to the COVID Recovery Group (CRG) accusing the government of not having “any commitment to liberty” in its Coronavirus strategy surfaced. Baker, the mastermind of the ERG which sought to represent the hard brexiteer wing of the Conservative party, apparently saw no irony in criticising the government for its lack of interest in liberty, even as he supported its stance essentially to ignore the grave attack on Uighur liberties taking place in China, as to acknowledge it would compromise Britain’s ability to strike trade deals post-Brexit. It would appear that Baker is just as uncommitted to liberty as he argues the government’s pandemic policies are. It doesn’t matter that millions of Uighurs and other minorities are being identified, rounded up, and reportedly tortured and sterilised, because the good people of Britain are being kept indoors all day and only allowed out for a jog or to go to the shop, and that of course is a far graver assault on liberty than the fate of ethnic minorities, under a one-party dictatorship, on the other side of the world. 

The CRG did largely support the latest round of government restrictions, in light of the emergence of a new, far more infectious strain of the virus in December, but as with all previous restrictions, have warned the government of the need to outline a roadmap out of them, keen to stress that their support is by no means guaranteed in future votes. Following the emergence of the internal message, despite explicitly arguing for Boris Johnson’s position to be considered at risk if their concerns were not heard, Baker issued a statement in support of the PM on Twitter, perhaps an indication that he realised the political toxicity of proposing an internal power struggle over the need to ease restrictions whilst daily death tolls were in excess of a thousand. Yet, this won’t be the last time that the idea of liberty is leveraged as a way of criticising the government’s COVID policies. More dangerously, it taps into the sentiments of fringe conspiracy groups on both sides of the political spectrum which see COVID as a hoax, are sceptical of the vaccine, and instead believe they are witnessing the formation of some kind of fascist dictatorship. These groups urge people to be sceptical of what they read and hear, instead sharing disinformation through social media in a phenomenon that could be described as the UK strain of a disinformation pandemic which has been devastating the political fabric of the US for some time. To have politicians with the kind of undeniable influence as Steve Baker, owing to his position at the helm of these factions of disgruntled Tory backbenchers, mirroring the language of these fringe groups in his attacks on government health policy is not just thoughtless, but irresponsible. By framing their critiques in the terminology of liberty and freedom, MPs will only further the cause of those outside mainstream politics who have been arguing that these are the things under attack by a ‘hoax’ pandemic. Spending as much time on social media over the last year we all have, it’s become unavoidable that there are an uncomfortably significant number of individuals who, to differing degrees, have expressed views that vary from mild scepticism to absolute denial toward COVID-19. Ideas of protecting liberty and freedom therefore don’t just give ammunition to extreme fringe views, but also feed into a more common sentiment that COVID isn’t serious enough to warrant draconian measures - something which was also fed enormously by both the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the disastrous tier system which respectively disarmed and fragmented the public’s view of the pandemic. 

However, not only does this obsession with grand ideas of liberty under siege undermine the counter-COVID effort by feeding into both disinformation and apathy, it also totally misses the crux of the problem with the government’s haphazard response to the crisis. Baker’s message gets close to the problem but fails to really engage with it when he writes that “nothing seems more certain to break the public than giving hope before taking it away, and doing it repeatedly.” This is absolutely true; the EOTHO scheme and accompanying relaxed messaging from the government about the virus over the summer was quite literally an exercise in behavioural science, designed to disarm the population sufficiently that they would go out, spend money and revitalise the ailing economy, especially the particularly decimated hospitality industry. The argument was that, so long as social distancing was enforced and changes made to how hospitality premises functioned, the sector could be saved from the brink and the economy could begin to heal. It worked - millions of us went out and relished the opportunity to recover a bit of normality which had been so sorely missed in the preceding months. It was easy to ignore voices of concern that the NHS was still facing an unparalleled winter crisis when you could catch up with friends over a half-price meal out at your favourite restaurant. It was, with hindsight, a strategy which instilled a false sense of optimism that proved difficult to withdraw from when, just as had been predicted by scientists for some time, cases began to rise again in the autumn. It also goes some way toward explaining why the government clung onto a ridiculous tier system for so long: both consumers and businesses were understandably unwilling to let go of the freedoms they had been granted earlier by the government. 

Fast forward to the third national lockdown on the back of two periods of tiered restrictions, and it can safely be assumed that, in Baker’s words, the public has indeed been broken. Yet that’s not simply because they have been robbed of their freedoms, but rather because of the chaotic way in which restrictions have been put in place. The government used the grace period during the summer to encourage us into a new normal rather than highlighting its temporary nature sufficiently, and in the meantime totally failed to build effective infrastructure for contact tracing or mass testing which would have substantially cushioned the transition to the challenges posed by the coming winter. Even as it became clear following the emergence of a new variant prior to Christmas that drastic measures were required to save lives, the government believed it more important to give people the hope of spending Christmas with their loved ones (a luxury it didn’t afford numerous other religious holidays prior), than to act decisively based on the grave dangers it knew faced the country. The consequence has been death tolls that dwarf the first wave at precisely the worst moment for the NHS, which has been thrown into crisis as hospitals countrywide reach capacity.

So yes, Steve Baker is right, the country’s spirit has arguably been broken, but not because it’s been robbed of its liberty, but because as he points out it has time and time again been given false hope which has been nurtured by a government unwilling to take decisive action until events overtake it. However, when he seeks guarantees that a lockdown won’t be on the cards next winter, and that the government should have a clear roadmap out of the current restrictions in the spring, Baker and the CRG are a part of the very problem they are seeking to address, pursuing an optimistic narrative of relaxed restrictions at the earliest opportunity at the very same time as thousands are paying for a prior false sense of hope with their lives. This is the crux of the problem with the government’s COVID strategy, but it is something that the CRG’s obsession with liberty at all costs has helped happen. 

#brexit #politics #uk politics #freelance #article #covid virus #COVID19 #lockdown #coronavirus #uk #boris johnson #government #uk government #policy #opinion #journalism

[giftofshewbread]

Converging Signs

 By Daymond Duck     Published on: June 20, 2021

Many excellent Bible prophecy teachers believe there will be a convergence of the signs (all of them coming on the scene) at the end of the age.

Here are some reasons to believe that is happening now.

One, concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog: on June 7, 2021, U.S. Sec. of State Blinken said if Iran continues to violate its nuclear agreement, Iran could have enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks.

If Israel follows through on its threat to prevent this, Israel could be forced to act very soon.

(Note: On June 14, 2021, Amir Tsarfati said, “If nothing is done in the next month or so, Iran will be nuclear.”)

Two, more on the Battle of Gog and Magog: in recent years, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against enemy targets in Syria, but on June 9, 2021, Israel launched one of its largest strikes ever.

In the early morning hours, Israel struck several major Iranian targets (some sources say at least 6) almost simultaneously all over Syria.

The attacks were followed by several hours of secondary explosions, indicating that out-of-control fires continued to destroy stored missiles, rockets, powder, etc.

The attacks will probably get more intense as Iran gets closer to developing nuclear weapons.

Three, concerning Israel: on June 13, 2021, the government of Prime Min. Netanyahu ended, and the government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid began.

The Bennett-Lapid government contains 8 political parties (some leftist, some non-religious, a minority of conservatives, and a group of Arabs with ties to the terrorist group called the Muslim Brotherhood).

Some conservative religious Jews say:

Israel’s new government is evil, dangerous, and it will end Zionism (the Jewish character of Israel; freedom of religion in Israel, etc.).

Bennett has lied because he promised during his campaign for office that he would not form a government with some of the political parties that he has now joined forces with.

The Bennett-Lapid government will divide Israel because Arab leaders claim that Bennett and Lapid made concessions that will let them reclaim land in Israel, and Bennett and Lapid are not denying it.

Prophecy teacher Amir Tsarfati said:

The new government is the beginning of the end of Israel as Christians have known it.

God is changing Israel for the worse.

Israel is no longer a democracy, no longer conservative, no longer united.

He believes the stage is being set for the fulfillment of major prophecies (perhaps Gog and Magog, a covenant, the Tribulation Period, an agreement to rebuild the Temple, etc.).

Prophecy teacher J.D. Farag said:

Some suggest that the unprecedented four elections and now this new government may actually be the catalyst for the anti-Messiah to arrive on the scene under the banner of the vacuum of leadership.

Israel is ripe and ready for the Antichrist to come on the scene now like never before.

Prime Min. Netanyahu said:

His party “will not rest until we get rid of this dangerous government.”

Bennett “is not a man who upholds his word. Neither are he and his ministers capable of standing up the U.S. and world nations – nor are they even willing to do so.”

“They are not fit to represent this country for a single day.”

“They must be celebrating in Tehran” (Iran).

Israel needs the prayers and support of Christians as much as ever.

Four, concerning world government: many highly respected Bible prophecy teachers have long taught that U.S. power and influence must decline, and EU power and influence must increase.

Pres. Biden is traveling overseas for separate meetings with the G-7, NATO, the EU, and Russia.

Concerning Biden’s meeting with EU officials, it was reported that many EU officials believe it is time for the EU to start influencing U.S. policy instead of the U.S. influencing EU policy.

According to one report, EU leaders plan to be less submissive to the U.S. and more likely to carve out a bigger role for the EU on the world stage.

Five, also concerning the decline of America: on June 10, 2021, Rev. Michael Bresciani, editor of American Prophet, expressed his opinion about several issues that are well worth repeating.

Concerning whether black lives matter or not: Bresciani asked how can anyone say that black lives matter “when almost 4,000 black babies a day are aborted, and many thousands of black lives are lost yearly to black-on-black crime?”

Concerning worship of the Antichrist: Bresciani said, “Our children are being indoctrinated by liberalism, critical race theory, BLM, Antifa, communism and Godlessness – is it not all that hard to believe that they, our children, will be the ones who will soon worship this ‘beast’ scripture refers to as the antichrist? If you are thinking this is not possible – you are not thinking.”

Concerning the mixing of genes from humans with monkeys in China, the mixing of genes from humans with pigs in California, and the mixing of genes from humans with mice in Japan: Bresciani asked, “If God is displeased with the perverting of the sexes, what will his reaction be to the mixing of the species?”

Bresciani believes these things are coming from depraved minds, and they signify that America is sinking into depravity.

Six, Rev. Bresciani mentioned the world’s tallest moving statue called “The Giant.”

“The Giant” is a 10-story tall digital art gallery with millions of pixels in the shape of a human, its head and arms move, it speaks and sings, changes its appearance every hour to look like different famous people, and it will be displayed in 21 cities in 2021.

Concerning this statue: Bresciani quotes what the Bible says about the statue of Antichrist. “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Rev 13:15).

Bresciani is not saying “The Giant” is the statue of the Antichrist, but he is saying that the creation of a statue that looks like the Antichrist and speaks is no longer in doubt.

This writer believes that God is showing the world pictures or shadows of things in the Book of Revelation, and the coming fulfillment of those prophecies is not in doubt.

Seven, in case anyone doubts that world leaders are in the process of establishing a world government, here is this writer’s understanding of some of what G-7 members agreed to in writing on June 13, 2021.

Work with the G-20 to explore ways to strengthen accountability, increase the tracking and allocation of global health security financing, and establish a Global Health Threats Council (use Covid-19 vaccinations to track people’s health, etc.).

Reform the World Trade Organization (WTO) to make it more resilient and responsive to the needs of global citizens (citizens of the world, not citizens of nations).

Push a global tax system to improve the global economy, the prosperity and wellbeing of all people (wealth redistribution), to uphold the common good (world government) and our shared values (world religion).

Maintain its commitment to international cooperation, multilateralism and an open, resilient, rules-based world order (world government).

Tackle racism in all forms and violence and discrimination against LGBQTI+ populations (oppose those that hold Christian values).

Reaffirm its commitment to the Paris Climate Accords (an agreement that some say surrenders the sovereignty of nations) and strengthen and speed up its implementation (push nations to act faster and more aggressively; speed up world government; understand that the existing UN goal is to have it up and running by 2030 and the G-7 wants to speed things up). Vaccinate at least 60% of the global population by 2022 and recognize that extensive immunization is a global public good (make forced vaccination a global law for the benefit of world government).

Ensure that Iran will never build a nuclear weapon (force a nation to obey world law).

The Holy Spirit is the only One that can restrain the coming world government and world religion, but people need to know what is coming and truly accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour before the globalists bring in their world government and world religion.

Eight, for whatever it is worth, on June 14, 2021, Populist Press reported, “The truth is coming out. I think we all expect this as Biden is going downhill fast!”

“Trudeau [Pres. of France] overheard telling staffers he expects Kamala Harris to be President by the end of 2022 per W.H. official attending G7.” (This comment was originally posted on Twitter on June 14, 2021, by political activist and news correspondent Jack Posobiec.)

Nine, concerning vaccinations for Covid-19:

On June 14, 2021, LifeSiteNews reported that “The vaccine advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will convene an emergency meeting this week to discuss heart-related side effects possibly linked to Covid-19 vaccines.”

The same report said, “Johnson & Johnson’s jab again was dragged into controversy last week when the FDA ordered the company to discard 60 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, citing contamination risks.”

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

#father's #day #father #son #holy ghost #holy #spirit #June #20th #2021 #news

[sweetsmellosuccess]

NYFF 2020: Part 1

It’s been a curious season of festivals  —  as always, Venice, TIFF, and the NYFF go more or less back-to-back-to-back, making for an almost indecent amount of captivating offerings for all but the most gluttonous of cinephiles  —  but not without its charms. In this time of massive uncertainty in the industry, amongst film distributors and theaters particularly, it’s deeply reassuring to know the medium is still capable of powerful statements, exquisite imagery, and haunting performances as it ever has.

Mind you, next year at this time, if there’s still no widely available vaccine, there might be a more serious dearth of selections, but for what has been an unsettling and mostly miserable 2020, we can thank the stars that films are often shot a year or more in advance of their release.

This year’s NYFF (still ongoing, as I write this) has provided some glories and some failures, more or less in keeping with the usual standard. Herewith, a quartet of selections, ranging from a resurrected Hungarian triumph, to a modern French non-romance, to the debut of a new and energizing auteur.

Damnation (1988) Dir. Bela Tarr

Perhaps no setting in cinematic history is more appropriate for shooting in low-contrast black and white than late ‘80s, post-communist Hungary. Bleak, drab, and pelting with rain, the landscape bleeds in shades of grey. Bela Tarr’s 1988 film, a newly restored 4K edition from the Festival’s “Revival” section, begins with a long shot of a ski lift-like apparatus, endlessly transporting buckets of coal to a repository, whose grinding machinery offers a looping hum throughout the film. Much as Tarr’s various musical interludes include similarly cyclical drones of accordion music, are the men and women of this nameless small city seemingly doomed to their various loops of behavior and experience. In Tarr’s Hungary, everyone looks haunted and morose, like a selection of down-on-their-luck rummies in a dive bar at last call. One such bar patron, Karrer (Miklos Szekely B.), is deeply in love with a beautiful, depressed (unnamed) nightclub singer (Vali Kerekes), married to a loutish man, Sebestyén (Gyorgy Cserthalmi), in bad debt to the wrong sorts of people. When Karrer’s friend, bar owner Willarsky (Gyula Pauer), offers him a potentially lucrative gig picking up a mystery package abroad and bringing it back to him, Karrer instead offers it to Sebestyén as a means of getting him out of debt, but more importantly getting him away from his wife, so their affair can continue apace. Tarr’s films move slowly, with long, static shots, or slow-panning camera movement, but within his frame, he packs in detail  —  from the pellet-like surface of a wall, to the expression of a group of people huddled under a station roof, staring out at the endless rain  —  and adds in acute sound effects as further punctuation (the sound of a man close shaving over his scruff with a straight-edge, for example, or water dripping from an unseen leak). As with his 1994 opus, Satantango, he includes extended shots of drunken merriment, with people dancing, stumbling, falling over each other, and coming back again, but the effect isn’t exactly heartening. As packs of stray dogs work their way over muddy, mostly deserted fields, and Karrer continues to imbibe the depressed resignation of his life’s trajectory (“the fog settles into your soul,” Willarsky helpfully explains), Tarr’s film, his first collaboration with Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai, presents a remarkably tactile vision of life under a blundering political machine, well past the point of repair. With its deep shadows, and obvious femme fatale, you could make the case that the film is a ripened Noir, but one with much of the magistry beaten out of it, tarnished in the mud of the fields. Karrer wears a trenchcoat, alright, but it’s only there to keep out the rain.

Mangrove (2020) Dir. Steve McQueen

Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) didn’t mean to create a community, exactly, when he opened his restaurant in the section of West London that had become home to many immigrants from Trinidad and Jamaica. He just wanted to have a clean business that wouldn’t attract undue police attention, as his former nightclub, Rio, had done. As more and more natives of the Caribbean moved abroad, however, there became a greater need for a place where the community could gather and feel at home. Frank’s place became a local landmark, and Frank himself, a reluctant leader of the growing movement against the continual police harassment many of the residents faced on a daily basis. In this, he wasn’t given much of a choice: Led by a deeply racist police force  —  more or less personified by writer/director Steve McQueen in the form of the sneering PC Frank Pulley (Sam Spruell)  —  Frank’s place had been unnecessarily raided nine times in six weeks. So, when approached by local Black activists, including Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby) and Altheia Jones-Lecointe (Letitia Wright), he agrees to take part in a peaceful protest against the constables. Naturally, the police turn violent, and in the resulting chaos, nine protestors, including Frank, Darcus, and Altheia are arrested. Over time, they are tried, acquitted, and re-tried for even more serious charges. McQueen’s film, another segment from Small Axe, his chronicle of London’s West-Indies neighborhood through the decades, focuses on this specific case, not just because two of the defendants decided to represent themselves (proving to be adept barristers), but because it became a landmark part of the British crusade for civil rights (even though, as the film’s postscript explains, Frank was still routinely harassed by the police for another 18 years after the trial). To capture the sense of the complexity of the community, McQueen employs a David Simon-esque narrative hodge-podge of smaller scenes from different characters’ vantage points and views, allowing us an in-depth sense of the neighborhood and the stakes, while rarely dipping into the more played out elements of the courtroom genre. I would say, in light of the recent racial protests after the Louisville grand jury failed to hold two of the three officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor responsible, the film could not be more prescient, but, sadly, this would have also been true just about anytime in the last three decades. As Frank says of the incorrigibly racist leaders and henchpeople continually holding them down, “These people are like vampires, you think you beat them, but they keep coming back again.”

The Salt of Tears (2020) Dir. Philippe Garrel

From the flinch-inducing title (a direct translation from the French), which sounds like a YA novel steeped in melodrama, to the mournful piano soundtrack of the intro, Philippe Garrel’s (very) French counter-romance would seem to indicate a different sort of film than what he’s actually made. It’s a bit of flim-flammery from a celebrated director unafraid to throw his audience for a loop or two (take that title, which proves to be thoroughly ironic until the very last scene). Luc (Logann Antoufermo), a young man from the provinces, has come to Paris to take an entrance exam at an exacting wood-working institute in order to receive a degree in joining, in order to better emulate his woodworking father (Andre Wilms), a kind, elderly man with a “poet’s soul.” In Paris, he happens to meet Djemila (Oulaya Amamra), a sweet young woman falling hard for the handsome Luc, who callously breaks her heart after he returns to his village. Back home, he takes up with Genevieve (Louise Chevillote), an old high-school flame, who also falls deeply for him, getting pregnant in the process, but when he unexpectedly gets accepted to the woodworking school, he dumps her to return to Paris, where  —  you guessed it!  —  he meets up with yet another woman, Betsy (Souheila Yacoub), a stunning brunette whom, we are told via our occasional narrator (Jean Chevalier), is finally “his equal.” Or more so, to be precise, as she takes in a second lover (Martin Mesnier) to their apartment, making the unhappy Luc live as a threesome. Garrel’s charting of Luc’s endless relationship explorations themselves gets tiresome, but the director isn’t much interested in his protagonist’s romantic investments, as he is the callousness of Luc, and the young in general  —  Luc crushes two loving women; then himself gets crushed; while treating his loving father as yet another irritation from time to time  —  and the manner in which their decision-making has often not matured enough to include the expansiveness of empathy. They know not what they do, until it’s too late.

Beginning (2020) Dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili

Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature, about a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses working as missionaries in a small village outside Tbilisi, and the abuse they endure at the hands of religious extremists, captivates and bewilders in equal measure. The film begins with a long single shot from inside a “prayer house,” as congregants slowly file in and fill the pews, eventually allowing David (Rati Oneli) to begin his sermon concerning the story of Abraham, willing to sacrifice his beloved son in order to appease God. The shot remains static for so long, building its own rhythm, that it becomes that much more shocking when a side door suddenly opens, and an unseen assailant tosses in a fire bomb, lighting the floor and sending everyone into terrified tumult. Kulumbegashvili’s film is filled with similar striking compositions, long single shots with very little camera movement, the edges of the frame gradually generating increasing levels of apprehension, as the action swirls often out of our visual range. She has a way of filming the opposite of what you expect: Several key conversations between pairs of characters are shot with the focus on the reaction rather than the speaker, and vitally significant scenes are crafted with characters’ backs to us, such that we can’t read their expressions or get our normal bearings. It’s a similar conundrum for the missionaries themselves, especially Yana (Ia Sukhitashvili), David’s dutiful wife, a former actress, who tries to make the best of their difficult situation, even in the face of such violent opposition to her husband’s proselytizing, a job David, ambitious he is, sees as the key to rising up in the Church’s hierarchy. After their prayer house is burned to the ground, David leaves for a few days to meet with the Elders in order to secure funding for its replacement. Into that void, enter a detective (Kakha Kintsurashvili), who appears one night to “talk” with Yana, but ends up intimidating her into a sort of sexual compromise, an event that leaves her strangely unfazed, even, it might be said, oddly curious. From there, things get both more dire, and more peculiar, with Kulumbegashvili’s implacable camera remaining stoically witness to her characters’ increasingly distressing plight. As curious as it can be tonally, she is so in command of her narrative, the film is never less than compelling, even as tragedy becomes something else entirely. By film’s end, true to David’s earlier sermons, it’s clear that at least his most devoted acolyte has taken in the biblical lessons he proffered, for better or worse.

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