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Hadith’r-Rahma My Sanad for the Hadith of Mercy The first prophetic tradition that a genuine scholar and student of the science of prophetic hadeeth receive, and transmit, is the immense transmission regarding Mercy. That fact it alone elucidates a kind of dislocation on the part of those schisms, and pundits today who claim to be from the people of the prophetic traditions and the sunna, and have never been instructed in this most profound spiritual Path. If they would only empty themselves of their nufuus and return back to this fundamental axiomatic scientific prophetic tradition; violence perpetrated by, among, and against Muslims will decrease by 2/3’s. It is not surprising that the majority of the transmitters of this prophetic tradition on earth are among those who adhere to the sufi spiritual Path. I present my sanad as it goes through the asaneed of Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye`. I received this same prophetic tradition from at least three other scholars, but I was interested in presenting the seven chains of authority of the Shehu in this transcedent prophetic tradition. The Flag of the Provisional Government of the Islamic Emirates of New Africa Search for: Ribāt Saiful Haqq Manan’l-Manaan Understanding the Minhaj of Shehu Uthman Ibn Fuduye’ Shaykh Abu Alfa Umar Muhammad Shareef bin Farid, Directorate /SIIASI At-Tafriqa Bayna Tasawwuf The Garden of Supplication Sultan Al-Hajj Abu Bakr (May Allah preserve him) Amin. Waziri Junayd (RA) Said… “Whoever does not inform his children of his grandparents has destroyed his child, marred his descendants, and injured his offspring the day he dies. Whoever does not make use of his ancestry has muddled his reason. Whoever is unconcerned with his lineage has lost his mind. Whoever neglects his origin, his stupidity has become critical. Whoever is unaware of his ancestry his incompetence has become immense. Whoever is ignorant of his roots his intellect has vanished. Whoever does not know his place of origin, his honor has collapsed.” Waziri Junayd of Sokoto Shukr’l-Waahib To date SIIASI has collected 3000 Arabic manuscripts and 123 Ajami manuscripts (Fulbe’, Hausa, Wolof and Mande’). Of these, more than 89 have been translated and published. Help Us Preserve our Legacy! Miraat at Tulaab O Allah! Bless our Brothers in the Prisons. It is important that the Muslim inmate population have a fundamental understanding of Islamic jurisprudence, beliefs and customs, along with a basic grasp of the diverse schools of thought in Islam. If this is not possible, then they should have access to those clerics who do possess this knowledge. In many cases court litigation fails, simply because the Muslim plaintiffs lack grounding in the basics of Islam. I would add to this, that Muslims should begin to learn, and understand international standards regarding the just and humane treatment of inmates.

.@FoxNews Poll numbers plummet on the Democrat inspired and paid for Russian Witch Hunt. With all of the bias, lying and hate by the investigators, people want the investigators investigated. Much more will come out. A total scam and excuse for the Dems losing the Election!

I would think it would have to be one of 2 people. The person who reported it or the person who rented the game directly before that. But the thing is you still have to prove which one it was. So that's why people get away with it. Yeah, the second time the thief tries this, they are instantly fingering themselves. (teehee) The catch, though, is that it's very easy to get a $25 Visa Card from Wal-Mart, which can be used in conjunction with a free email address to create a new account with a fake name. So this is definitely something that could be done over and over again with no real penalty, the thief making $50 each time. And that's a shame, because RedBox will wind up taking away the feature just because some freaking a*holes can't get a job. Holograms aren't easy/cheap to reproduce with average printers. With the right security tracking methods it'd be hard to fake an identity. I'm saying take the purchasers picture or another form of biometric as evidence. Then also put printed holographic content on the disc to ensure product legitimacy. If both measures are taken for both incoming and outgoing products then a better record is kept of the transaction history. I wouldn't want to rent porno from them but, I don't watch that anyway. So, I assume this would work for most people like me. @Seraphim with DVDS and GAMES then a digital surface integrity check at exchange would solve that. The problem is hardware kiosk aren't created with every type of criminal abuse in mind. This is why they're so easily exploited. If done right they won't have to play whack-a-mole with people who exploit these services. It'll just cost more to get but in the end it'll pay for itself. Proof would be hard. Agreed. I guess the only thing to do would be to flag the user and then if they're always being linked to missing disks then block them from using the service. Then they get another credit card and it goes on in a vicious cycle until all the boxes are empty... This is why we cant have nice things. Regardless if there's a chance of exploitation people will try to exploit it. This is one of many reasons why game developers and console makers want to put in DRM on video games. Its A whole like these that ruin it for the rest of us. This happened to me...TWICE...I really wanted to rent Tomb Raider for PS3 and I opened the case and boom, there it was, not even a clean photocopy, but ripped and the only thing in tact was the barcode portion. Called, Redbox said to place it back in the machine and they would decomission the game so nobody else rents it. I checked after and sure enough it was not available. RedBox gave me 3 free rentals. So the next day I travel a few miles out of the way only to have it happen again, but I got three new codes for three rentals. I work for a video game company (I'm sure you can guess it) and this is becoming a consistent problem. People bringing in games for cash or store credit. We have standard policies in place but without proof we cannot turn someone away until our Loss prevention department gives us the go ahead. It unfortunately takes quite a lot of trades for the system to trigger expected fraud and this has to be driving Red Box crazy. I can only assume they are making more money off of honest people vs those who are scamming. Or they have a nice insurance policy to take their liability away when they incur lost product. This has been an issue for Redbox for years. This has also happened to my friend multiple times. Rent a movie? No disc. Rent a video game? A sliver of a bar code is left. Then we are out a couple dollars because some jerk stole it and probably sold it to GameStop or The Exchange. Also, when those people who steal the discs and sell them to those retailers, the workers can't prove anything even with seeing the seal on the disc. Unfortunate thing is that those discs were blatantly stolen whether it's from the customer selling it at the moment or not. Redbox needs to step up and figure out a solution. S*** really f***ing pisses me off. I have never in my life used a redbox before, until Diablo 3 came out. Really wanted to check it out before I bought it. Went to maybe 6 Redboxs, every single one of the Diablo 3's had been replaced with CDr's. I called and let them know and to get refunded and the only thing they would offer me was promo codes. What does rap have to do with this? Not all thieves are rappers or "hip hop thugs" Some of the biggest crooks in the world wear suites and have college degrees. I know what you are saying, but there are all kinds of bad people. It happened to me. I rented the last of Us from there and I got a photo copy of the game. I could not return it because part of the QR and serial code was damaged when the thief returned the game. I called redbox and the CS guy was cool and returned to game manually via the network. They also hooked me up with a few free rental codes.

Furious Kick Animation is hard to do because it has to add more animations to the game and we're not even the main branch. Limited Server access is good. Just like channels, you need to have rank requirements. Paying for a server is bad for business even though I also want that. Respawn Invulnerability Fix is already done by other versions so we can also wait for that. I really need that because few players knifes you while you're shooting them but no damage is taken and they say you're a noob.

[Scion] A Path Not Taken Sales, Scion Hey, buckaroos. As part of our tradition of openness, we’re giving you a look behind the scenes at how a game comes together. Early in the production process, Scion 2nd Edition was going in a very different direction, a direction which had to be scrapped at the last minute and at great expense. A sample of some of the tie-in fiction from that early incarnation of Scion 2nd Edition, Frost Giant Butt Warriors, has been placed on DriveThru for your reading, uh, pleasure. Although we’ve found no author name attached to this, we fired Neall just in case. Eric Donner just can’t seem to catch a break. Once a monster hunter at the top of his game, a string of bad luck has sent Eric scrounging around Asgard. Things go from bad to worse when Ice Giants invade the realm of the gods, a new breed of warrior that specializes in hot, gay, anal poundings the Æsir fear. Little do they know Eric is no stranger to this kind of combat…. Note that this is labeled as an Adult item, so you’ll need to have your account set to view Adult items in your account options.

De spektakulære vadefuglene holder helst til i våtmarker på fjellet. Men denne forsommeren har masseforekomstene vakt stor oppmerksomhet i Finnmark. Brushanene har inntatt hager, parker og midtrabatter langs veiene. Brushanen er velkjent blant fuglekikkere – og samtidig så spesiell at den vekker oppsikt blant folk flest: Hodet er overdådig pyntet med store fjær, og de aggressive hanene kjemper hardt om hønenes gunst. Mer enn på 90-tallet Framgangen for arten har resultert i en strøm av bilder i sosiale medier. Også forskerne har notert seg comebacket. – Vi har sett mye mer brushane enn på mange år, og vi har sett spillende brushaner på plasser hvor de ikke bruker å være, sier Ingar Jostein Øien, fagsjef i Norsk Ornitologisk Forening. Brushøna (til venstre) er gråspraglet og unnselig, mens hanene pynter seg i ulike farger. De mørke hanene er mer dominante på leiken. Foto: Knut-Sverre Horn På Valdakmyra i Porsanger var det opp mot 100 brushaner og omkring 70 høner, ifølge Øien. Det er mer enn han registrerte på samme sted tilbake på 90-tallet. Finnmark er brushanens siste sterke skanse i Norge, etter at bestanden har gått spesielt mye tilbake i sørnorske fjellområder. Tilbakegangen har vært så sterk at arten ble oppgradert til sterkt truet på rødlista fra 2015. Nettopp derfor er årets invasjon så gledelig. Årsaken er imidlertid litt usikker: – Det skyldes i hvert fall ikke god ungeproduksjon i fjor, for det var et dårlig år for alle fugler som har reir på bakken i Finnmark. De fikk nesten ikke fram unger, sier Øien. Derimot tror han at gode sesonger i 2015 og 2016 viser seg i år, ettersom brushanene bruker to år på i bli kjønnsmodne. Fram til den første hekkingen oppholder de seg gjerne i vinterkvarteret, stort sett i Afrika. Kan holde seg i nord Mens bestanden av brushane går ned, regner Øien med at den vil holde seg lenger nordpå. – Finnmark har jo store områder med våtmarker tilknyttet fjellandskap, og i Finnmark går fjellandskapet helt ned i fjæresteinene, så det er mye tilgjengelige leveområder for brushanene. Brushanene har mange ulike danser, som når de vifter med vingene for å lokke forbiflyvende fugler ned på leiken. Foto: Knut-Sverre Horn Det er bare to fuglearter i hele verden som kommer i ulike genetiske utgaver med forskjellig utseende. Vekselparadismonarken på Madagaskar er den ene, brushanen den andre. Og vår norske fugl viser størst variasjon: – Hver enkelt hann har et helt unikt utseende, så det er ingen som ser lik ut. Og så har de et spektakulær leik. Hanene hopper i lufta, fekter med vinger, nebb og føtter og slåss for å få tilgang på hønene. Det er et helt unikt skue, og det foregår i fullstendig stillhet, sier Øien. Hunnene ser helt annerledes ut, er mye mindre og mangler de store fjærtoppene.

The amount of conversations I have with myself in public places Is too damn high 12,912 shares

Kepler-371c Kepler-371c (also known as KOI-2194.02, K02194.02, KIC 3548044 c) is a confirmed Super-Earth sized exoplanet. Orbiting around the F-type star Kepler-371 every 68 days about 1914 ly away from the Earth. It is a member of the multi planetary system Kepler-371. References 371c c Category:Super-Earths Category:Cygnus (constellation)

ATMENT FOR RESIDENTS WHO MAY NEED IT. THEY HOPE TO KICK THINGS OFF THIS WEEK. THE HOOKSETT FIRE DEPARTMENT OFFERING ITS SERVICES TO THOSE STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION. THE FIRE CAPTAIN AND HIS COLLEAGUES LAUNCHING THE SAFE STATION INITIATIVE PROGRAM HERE IN TOWN. >> THE PROGRAM ITSELF IS FAIRLY SIMPLE. THOSE LOOKING TO INITIATE THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS RECOVERY CAN COME TO EITHER ONE OF THE FIRE STATIONS IN HOOKSETT WHERE THEY WILL RECEIVE A MEDICAL SCREEN AND THEN THEY WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO SERENITY PLACE IN MANCHESTER. TIM: IT HAS BEEN IN THE WORKS FOR THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS BUT THE PROGRAM WILL BE BROUGHT TO LIGHT ON WEDNESDAY. THE SAFE STATION WILL BE RUN SIMILAR TO OTHERS SAY STATION PROGRAMS ALREADY UNDERWAY IN OTHER CITIES SUCH AS MANCHESTER. >> WHAT WE WANTED TO DO WAS OFFER THE SAME TYPE OF PROGRAM. BEING ABLE TO PROVIDE AN ACCESS POINT FOR RECOVERING TREATMENT AND SERVICES. TIM: THE STATION WILL TEAM UP WITH SERENITY PLACE WHICH HAS BEEN WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE MANCHESTER FIRE DEPARTMENT AND THEIR SAFE STATION PROGRAM. REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE SERENITY PLACE SAY THEY WILL OFFER THE SAME RESOURCES AS THEY DO IN MANCHESTER. >> MEDICAL, LEGAL, AND FAMILY ISSUES. WE ARE TRYING TO REMOVE BARRIERS. TIM: IT IS ALL PART OF A STATEWIDE EFFORT TO STOP THE OPIOID CRISIS HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY. >> THE DRIVE BEHIND THIS WAS THE OPIOID PROBLEM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. BUT ANY TYPE OF DRUGS, WHETHER IT IS ALCOHOL, OPIATES, METHAMPHETAMINES, ANY TYPE OF DRUGS OF ABUSE WE CAN HELP WITH. TIM: IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE SERENITY PLACE DOES NOT PROVIDE BEDS FOR THOSE TREATING -- SEEKING TREATMENT. IT IS AN OUTPATIENT SERVICE THAT

Asphalt Curve Street Segment Object Details 3D Model Blueprints Comments Author: NStalkerBlock count: 27038Views: 6 Modern road systems may leave You breathless. That's only cuz they're too damn awesome! Just look at this thing. Does this asphalt curve segment look like a simple model for You? Hell no! It's all fun and excitement covered with challenges to keep You entertained in the very best way! Oooh, that sounds so tempting :P

A teenager who sold sex before she was old enough to drive says underage Halifax girls are moved between cities to sell their bodies, and some are lured by the prospect of making tens of thousands of dollars in a month. CBC Investigates If you have more information on this story or any other, contact us at [email protected] or 1-844-420-7766. "You go and you post an ad online or somebody posts the ad for you … Then you sell your ass to a bunch of people," said Amanda. Her real name and age are being withheld to protect her identity. "If you're working for somebody, you give them the money and then if you're not, you keep it for yourself." A CBC News investigation reveals underage prostitution in the Halifax area is growing, and police are seeing more girls — some as young as 13 — being exploited. Amanda's mother, Karen, was featured in a CBC story earlier this week about her quest to stop underage prostitution online after discovering her daughter's involvement in it. Karen has monitored the online classified sites selling sex in Halifax and calls police when she discovers someone she believes is a child prostitute. More teens will be sucked into prostitution, she warns, unless police and other agencies step up. "We have a huge problem in this city and it can affect anyone with a teenage son or daughter," she said. "Nobody is immune to this. Nobody. If they want your child, they're coming and getting your child and you have to fight them. That's what's been going on in our lives." Investigators say the internet is making it harder for officers to shut down the online sex trade. "It's grown and I think it's been facilitated by different factors," said Det. Andrew Matthews, head of the vice unit with members of the RCMP and Halifax Regional Police. "I think you have to look at the ease of access with the internet, with social networking. The anonymity that comes with the internet. "It is on our radar. We are aware of it and there are currently investigations into some different files right now, but we're aware of it. It's present." Amanda said the issue isn't isolated to Halifax — she has seen underage girls go to Truro, Antigonish, Digby, Moncton and Fredericton, as well as larger cities such as Toronto and Montreal. 'The tip of the iceberg' At $240 an hour for intercourse, Amanda said she knows young teens who will see multiple johns a day and generate tens of thousands of dollars in a month. Travelling to another city means more money and usually it's arranged by a pimp, she said. "Girls don't usually set up for themselves to fly or drive to Moncton and sell their bodies, so it would definitely be something that was set up for them," Amanda told CBC News. "They could go to classy hotels. They could go to motels, houses, apartments. Some of these people could have families that are home. People are weird." The Nova Scotia and New Brunswick governments have taken some steps to improve online safety for teens and raise awareness about human trafficking. A CBC News investigation reveals the problem of underage prostitution is growing, and police are seeing more girls — some as young as 13 — being exploited. (CBC) In Nova Scotia, the Department of Justice points to its CyberSCAN investigative unit, which was created to address cyberbullying. In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for the department said the CyberSCAN unit "also addresses complaints and works with police in cases where a young person may be being exploited online." In New Brunswick, the Women's Equality Branch has a human trafficking working group that brings together community members, service providers, police and the government to raise awareness about human trafficking in the province. David Matas, the North American representative of the non-governmental organization End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT), said awareness is good, but more needs to be done. "This is happening through the internet and there should be controls through the internet about this. Who are the internet service providers? Who is hosting the websites?" he said. "I guess you can be satisfied that the johns are not going to be civically, responsible but the websites should be." Getting details on websites is one of the biggest stumbling blocks faced by police. "Anything that has to do with an American company, which a lot of them are, we have to go out of the country, and there's a lot of paperwork and there's a lot of time delays involved in that," said Matthews. "That's one thing we have to look at as a society. How do we make that happen faster? We have to be able to speed that up a bit." 'Girls get beat up' Police in Fredericton, meanwhile, said while they have seen isolated cases of underage prostitution, they don't have a handle on the scope of the problem in their jurisdiction. "I think we just have a grasp on the tip of the iceberg," said Insp. Gary Forward of Fredericton police. There have been some successes. Last year, Halifax Regional Police and RCMP ran a joint sting operation, posing as a 16-year-old girl selling sex online. An undercover officer exchanged hundreds of emails with adult men and five of them went so far as to show up at a motel or hotel to meet her, only to be confronted by officers. Three have since pleaded guilty to child luring. The other two are fighting the charge in court. A decision in one of those cases is expected on Wednesday. Fear and violence are used to control girls selling sex, said Amanda. "If you f--- up, you're done for. It depends on who you're dealing with," she said. "Girls get beat up. Other girls that fear for their lives, they think that if they tell or if they leave, that their families are going to be murdered."

An acclaimed French female TV director said filmmaker Roman Polanski — who's been on the run from the U.S. since 1977 after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl — couldn't be a rapist since "his wife is very beautiful" and his accusers are anti-Semitic. The stunning statements came from Nadine Trintignant, 85, who spoke to the BFM news channel on Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported. Nadine Trintignant Photo by Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images "His wife is very beautiful," she said in reference to Emmanuelle Seigner, who is 33 years younger than Polanski, the outlet reported. "Why would he look elsewhere? If it wasn't Roman Polanski, he'd be left in peace." Emmanuelle Seigner and Roman Polanski Photo by Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage What's going on now? Trintignant's statements came on the heels of an accusation last week from 62-year-old actress Valentine Monnier who said Polanski "violently raped" her when she was a teenager, the Daily Mail reported — after which Monnier received widespread support. But not from Trintignant. "I'm here to defend Roman Polanski, a huge director who has made about 15 masterpieces," she said, according to the outlet. "I find it very serious to bother him at this time when there is a rise in anti-Semitism in Europe." Polanski — who comes from a Jewish background — was born in Paris and then survived the Nazi Holocaust in Poland, the Daily Mail said, adding that Trintignant said it's only because he's a "little Pole out of the ghetto" that others accuse him. "He's a huge director, a smart man. He did something serious 44 years ago," she added in reference to Monnier's rape accusation against Polanski, the outlet said. "In 44 years, there have been thousands of women raped, and we do not know the names of the men who did these bad deeds. We leave them alone." Trintignant also said in reference to Monnier's rape accusation that she "would tend to believe him over a woman who took 44 years to think to denounce him," the Daily Mail said. A lawyer for Polanski has said his client "firmly denies all accusations of rape," the outlet added. Anything else? Monnier said she felt compelled to to tell her story after Polanski appeared to compare himself to Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer the French army wrongly persecuted as a spy at the turn of the 20th century, the Telegraph reported, and who is the subject of Polanski's new film "An Officer and a Spy." Women's rights supporters on Tuesday night blocked a special advance screening of the film — whose French title is "J'Accuse (I Accuse)" — shouting "Polanski rapist" and brandishing banners saying "Polanski persecutes women," the Telegraph added. Last week Polanski's name hit the headlines when Donald Trump, Jr. on "The View" reminded co-host Whoopi Goldberg that she downplayed Polanski's rape admission in 2009 as not "rape-rape."

That’s the problem with the internet, you never really know what you’re getting. If any of you have actually had sex with a local mild from one of those super clash ads on the side of, what seems like, all websites? I’d love to hear the sordid tale. Happy Monday, Javis

A new ransomware is going around that's trying to disguise itself as the more dangerous Locky, but is, in fact, a cheap knock-off, which based on available evidence, might be the work of a Hungarian malware author. The name of this ransomware strain is Hucky, as in Hungarian Locky, nicknamed so by Jakub Kroustek, the Avast malware analyst that came across it. Kroustek says he was tipped off that something might have been amiss when he discovered that this new strain, which initially he thought to be Locky, appended the .locky extension to all encrypted files. Locky hadn't used the .locky file extension for months, switching to .zepto, .odin, .shit, and more recently to .thor. Hucky is a cheap Locky clone At a closer inspection, Kroustek also discovered that the image which the ransomware used to change the user's desktop wallpaper had also been tampered with, showing a small lock icon in the top upper right corner, something that the original Locky ransomware doesn't show. Another sign that this wasn't Locky but a cheap clone was the fact that Hucky asked users to email the ransomware author for each infection. Locky uses an automated website hosted on the Dark Web, so there's never a direct connection between the Locky gang and the victims. Hucky wallpaper image Additionally, Hucky targeted only half the files Locky targets for encryption, but also went after gaming-related files connected to Minecraft, StarCraft2, and World Of Tanks. Kroustek also found that Hucky was coded in Microsoft VisualBasic, while the original Locky was built with Microsoft Visual C++. Furthermore, Hucky forcibly restarts the victim's PC after the ransomware finishes encrypting his files, something which Locky never does. The Hungarian connection The first clues that this was the work of a Hungarian developer appeared in the image and text-based ransom notes left around the computer, which were only available in Hungarian, and not English. Analyzing Hucky's source code, Kroustek says he found a large number of Hungarian words. Because most of these were combined with l33t speak, they didn't appear to be false flags, planted by the malware author to throw security researchers off tracks. Furthermore, PDB debug strings also contained the malware author's potential name, and other Hungarian words. "[T]he Hungarian texts don’t seem to be machine translated (although they contain some spelling errors)," Kroustek says. The files used to spread the ransomware were named turul.exe and semmi.exe, Turul being a type of hawk, Hungary's national symbol, and semmi being the Hungarian word for "nothing." "We can conclude that Hucky is a new ransomware strain currently targeting Hungarian users only. Based on the aforementioned leads, there is a fair chance that its author is a native Hungarian speaker," Kroustek says. "The Hungarian orientation is probably also the reason why Hucky’s prevalence is low at the moment."

we are working on Regina and Moosejaw shows for the immediate future. Just awaiting confirmations and exact dates. Check our website for other shows - we have 2 coming up in Saskatoon and possibly Humboldt. OK OK OK OK OK.....I guess I'll have to make an appearance, just because CESSATE IS THERE....jeez Justin, I'm dyslexic, didnt I ever tell ya that? Time to jam to hard metal and crazy halloween punk...creepy!!!! Speaking of NJC, I haven't seen you guys since like the Halloween show in P.A. what the hell happened to you guys? Anyways, just like ya....when's your next gig? What the hell happened to us? Not sure...but I hope it's a change for the better. We've been working on studio tracks for our third album, "WICKED CITY" since late January. We also managed to squeeze in a few concert dates, making us very busy. The disc should be out early June. Too early to let the cat out of the bag officially, but it looks like we may have a promo & distro deal for Canada and U.S. (as an import). As soon as we're satisfied with it, we will probably post one song on our myspace page. Our next concerts will be in June. We have an all ages Saskatoon date and a Regina club date confirmed. A couple others are in the works. Any promoters elsewhere in SK who would like us to swing out in June please get in touch. Big colossal thanks to all who came out to the April 7 show. I know there was a lot going on that weekend, I know we just played a week before, I know you were all saving your nickels to go to Taste of Chaos the next day...so to all who made it out to see us and Cessate.... Hear one new track from the upcoming NJC album "WICKED CITY" out in late June at myspace.com/newjacobinclub A special 4 song ep will be available at our next 3 concert dates w/3 tracks from the upcoming album and an exclusive NJC cover of a Samhain tune (which will not be on the album). These cd's will be $3. No I'm not kidding. Yes they come in a jewel case with artwork and shit. loyalists should wear their NJC shirts/hoodies/patches to the show to get a free copy of the ep. See you May 26 @ Walkers or June 6 @ the Bassment in Saskatoon or June 24 @ the Manhattan if you are in Regina. I see it's maybe about time I posted something here - lots of things going on in the NJC camp: October 21 8:00 pm, Shaw Cable's Stripped Down features an unprecedented intimate interview and live NJC ACOUSTIC performance! This was filmed in the summer, but went through a lot of red tape and editing to make it suitable for prime time viewing.Channel 10 in Saskatoon & area. Don't know about Regina, check your local listings I guess. We have also completed an ep of songs we featured live in our Wicked Tour sets, but never recorded previously - 3 covers and a re-vamped original from 2001. Watch our myspace page for a taste. You can catch us live in THE FINAL ENTERTAINMENT SHOW with the Angry Teeth Freakshow and Burlesque along with our brothers in arms The Kroovy Rookers on Nov. 6 in Saskatoon (Walker's) and Nov. 7 in Humboldt (Uniplex - ALL AGES!!). Regina didn't seem to be possible this time around, but we hope to put this show together again in the new year and make it down.

Vitality PUBG current situation Let me start from the beginning, I was supposed to join Vitality for the 1st phase of PEL with Shadow1K, mOnKeY and Jazza BUT it didn't happen since TEXQS got banned and I was forced to play for the Pittsburgh Knights for Phase 1 otherwise the Knights loose their PEL spot and I get a 1 year suspension for it. I tried my best to perform with the Knights but it didn't work out since we didn't have much practice put in and I wasn't in my best shape physically and mentally in all honesty. We ended up 12th and Vitality 10th, so they really wanted a change in their team. They talk on their side about what happened and said that mOnKeY was the main issue, he didn't react properly to what he was told in and outside of the game. mOnKeY and Jazza were good friends and still are, I know Jazza for more than 4 years now, we used to play another game together and sticked well with each other IRL, hung out together, even before I join so the atmosphere was good, no issues at all. Phase 2 begins, at the end of Week 3, we were in bottom position (<TOP8) Shadow and Nasus were showing up for us but me and Jazza were lacking individual practice. If you didn't know, all of us except from Jazza speaks french fluently and we did a really big mistake all 4 of us speaking french most of the time outside of the game in the middle of Week 3. Shadow and Nasus were so tired of repeating themselves about mistakes done in game and out of the game that they started to speak french to let me understand how they really felt about my individual performances and that I needed to step up. For me, it was normal, you do stupid shit, you take shit, any Pro Player will tell you that they took shit to get better, it's normal, after that, all I wanted to do is to spam PUBG to get better and I did, Jazza aswell but he took it the wrong way thinking he was the only one getting shat on and started to talk shit in our back to the other teams. (He was going out every single Sunday after games, which is OK for everyone but you don't come back 2 days later at night, he did that multiple times when EVERYONE still needed individual practice) Us a team, as a unit, we wanted to make the team go upwards so Sealph as the manager of the team, decided to have a talk with the team. We talked about our issues and what went wrong at some points, I told the team I was super ashamed of my individual skills lately so did Jazza and Shadow but at the end of the conversation, Jazza said that no matter what happens he wanted to leave the team at the end of Phase 2 and that is where everything got messed up. Everything got heated up at the second he said it, Sealph screamed at him saying she couldn't believe it, anyone in the team couldn't but Sealph stood up for us and said that it wasn't ok and he should resign so mOnKeY can step in (we didn't know if it was possible to do so) From someone that doesn't want to play with you anymore, why would even take that risk, your carrier, everything, gone. After that "episode", everything was cold, I performed a bit better and Jazza aswell but he didn't capitalize on fixing his old mistakes about not listening to our IGL (positioning most-likely) and loosing his duels which made everyone thinking that he doesn't really care anymore, he just wants his salary and get out of here. Nothing really happens for 2 weeks, we do really poorly and started to get stuck in the bottom 4 teams. Magically, Week 7, 96 points, at one point we were 5 points away from TOP 12, we were winning our teamfights, everyone was doing well individually, we were doing good strategically, everything was smooth. After that week, I decided to take a 3 days break to go back home, to visit my mom and my grandma that I didn't see for 6 months, my best friends aswell, but I still played, I had my PC and made sure I was on point. During that time, Jazza went out Sunday Night and came back home Tuesday afternoon, he was the last guy to be on his PC that night. The next day, Jazza was the last guy to get out of his room, everyone is up (around 4PM), he plays a bit then he tells Nasus to check Vitality's discord. He posts this : https://imgur.com/a/ZOsXp0o (The rest of the conversation : https://i.imgur.com/YECIbvQ.png) Our CGO is on this discord and sees the messages going through this channel, now you tell me why wouldn't talk to your teammates IRL about it? At the same time, we realized that he switched mouse during the phase without even asking an admin or telling us, I found out about it later on by watching Twitch VODS : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/439424339?t=02h48m10s (Zowie DIVINA) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/442657769?t=00h57m34s (Logitech G-Pro Wireless) Who would break his teammate mouse after having the best week of PEL and seeing the opportunity to still qualify? Someone that doesn't care anymore and wants out probably. And to my eyes, the answer was clearly Jazza doing it, after rewatching the screenshots, you can definitely tell that the pictures got taken during the night and he says that he saw it when he woke up at 4PM the next day. Now, tell me who do you think is lying :) After that, he completely left the house and went to RYE's house, his Sunday night buddies, he was living his best life, going out, having friends around him and play PUBG with his friends aswell. I came back to all this bullshit I had to catch up to and was so mad about it but nothing I could of really done except keeping my mouth shut which was really hard, I kinda failed to do so since I exploded with the rest of my team in the Pro Discord and I'm sorry about it. I could tell that Jazza wasn't sad, he really wasn't, he had alot of friends around him that would support him towards the "rough" time he was having. But we still managed to deal with it and let the shit flow. At the end, we couldn't catch up, we played an ok last day and that was it for us, relegation time. RYE left Berlin so he went to the Hotel, having no access to a computer judging by his week-old afk on Steam right before the Promo tournament. During Relegations, we knew it's gonna be hard to qualify, and we failed, we tried so hard as a TEAM, huge shoutout to Shadow and Nasus to have such courage, all 3 of us did well stat-wise and I was happy about myself because I know what I'm capable of but I still need alot of practice to obtain the level I want since it's still a lower individual level than Pro League in my opinion. We choked some games but nothing we could really do about it, the stats talk to themselves : https://i.imgur.com/250umsB.png I'm not being a toxic douche, I'm just trying to make you understand that he didn't try at all and show that he didn't give a single shit anymore about the team and the possibility to be back in Pro League. Hope that you understand my point of view of the story, I still wish him good luck to him and his next team. For us, it's so fresh that we don't really know what we're going to do next with Shadow and Nasus I'm speaking for myself, not for Vitality, they gave us everything we needed to do well in PEL. Thanks for reading. -Krama Reply · Report Post

Friday, November 20, 2009 The Pakistani Muslim youth is (generally) repressed. Not all of it due to culture. Among other factors bigotry, zealotry and religiousmis-interpretations also share considerable blame. Hence this Pew Forum post assumes added significance ~ t Does sexual frustration fuel Islamic violence? - by Omar Sacirbey- Did alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. NidalHasan lose control, at least in part, because he was sexually frustrated?That's one of the questions being asked in the investigation into the Nov. 5 rampage that left 13 people dead and dozens more injured. According to reports, Hasan visited a nearby strip club in the weeks before the massacre and was frustrated by his inability to find a pious Muslim wife.[thanks YA] Wafa Sultan: A Poseur Playing off of Ignorance to Further Hate - We must begin this profile with a question: Is there a more contemptible poseur than Wafa Sultan who calls herself an atheist but in the same breath also claims to be a Muslim reformer, which would kind of be like Christopher Hitchens calling himself a Christian reformer? It is difficult to answer that question with certainty considering the wide pool of bigots who combine charlatanism with raving and incorrigible insanity. But for sure one thing is certain, she is completely undeserving of the 15 minutes of fame she has succeeded in procuring. Advice On Afghanistan - By Ralph NaderYour staff estimates each U.S. soldier is costing $1 million a year, in addition to the horrific toll on these soldiers and the Afghan people. You owe the American people an un-Bush-like explanation. Why are you not receiving these groups of American from varied backgrounds and experience at the White House on this pending Afghan decision? Australians Face Reality On Sea-Level Rise - By John JamesAustralia is the first country in the world to undertake a national assessment of the consequences of sea-level rise. The headlines on Saturday were silly , but the report was not. With a sea-level rise of 1.1 meters about two million Australians would become refugees and have to leave their homes and the places they love All For a Song: Vande Mataram And The Jamiats Patriotism - By Yoginder Sikand The furore stoked by the media over a recent declaration by a faction of the Jamiatul-Ulema- e Hind declaring the singing of the song Vande Matram to be un-Islamic has, not unexpectedly, been seized upon by vociferously anti-Muslim elements to press their claim of Muslims being anti-national. What many Muslims are asking, a legitimate question that the media has failed to seriously raise, is why ones attitude to a song (and that too in a language that few Indians understand) should be made the litmus test of Indian patriotism. What many Muslims also demand to know is how long they must continue to be forced by Hindu communalists to bear the burden of being compelled to prove their patriotic credentials

Ryan Clark is "speechless" along with Trey Wingo on how consistent Tom Brady has been throughout the playoffs in his career. (1:11) FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Tom Brady had to make it back to Kansas City with his job very much intact, didn't he? If his football obituary was not written at Arrowhead Stadium in the fall of 2014, critics did at least start warming up that obit in the bullpen. Brady was 37 back then, and he was so dreadful in a 41-14 loss to the Chiefs that coach Bill Belichick pulled him after he threw a pick-six in the fourth quarter. Jimmy Garoppolo, hot-shot rookie, immediately drove the New England Patriots down the field and hit Rob Gronkowski for a touchdown pass. Belichick was famously asked if his starting quarterback's status would be evaluated during the on-to-Cincinnati week, and privately, Brady was telling people he was concerned about his standing with a head coach who already seemed to be falling hard for his second-round draft pick. Everyone knows what went down between then and now. Brady won two more Super Bowls, appeared in a third and, after his 41-28 beatdown of the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, advanced to five consecutive AFC Championship Games to extend his streak to eight and to increase his total AFC title game appearances to 13 in 17 healthy seasons under center. Oh, and Brady also compelled Belichick to trade Prince Jimmy last year and clear the way for the incumbent to play another three or four seasons, if Brady so desires. So this was no time to fret about New England's chances in Kansas City, where the Patriots now will face a 23-year-old whiz kid in Patrick Mahomes who is blessed with Aaron Rodgers' talent and Brady's poise. This was a time to celebrate Brady's amazing journey back to Arrowhead, at 41, somehow still capable of winning the whole damn thing. Before he left Gillette Stadium field on Sunday, Brady made it clear he was tired of the Patriots being portrayed as has-beens, as dynasty-makers in decline. Tired of hearing that his team had no speed, no playmakers and no chance to seize a sixth Super Bowl ring. Tom Brady had his 15th career 300-yard passing game in the playoffs, six more than the next closest quarterback (Peyton Manning). Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports Tired of hearing that the starting quarterback had been reduced to a shadow of his former self. "Everyone thinks we suck," Brady told CBS. "You know, we can't win any games. So, we'll see. It'll be fun." But even if this upcoming business trip to Kansas City turns out to be no fun at all, Sunday was a day for Brady, Belichick and everyone who cares about the Patriots to savor. We will never see another run like this in the NFL. Never, ever, ever. What New England has accomplished in a league set up to prevent sustained dominance qualifies it as the greatest dynasty in American sports -- college or pro. Grades, offseason questions, more NFL Nation reporters grade each eliminated team's 2018 regular season and look ahead to what's in store this offseason. Full coverage » Alabama coach Nick Saban can sign up the nation's best players year after year after year, while his buddy Belichick is forever picking from the bottom of the bin. That's why Belichick has to turn a Kent State quarterback drafted in the seventh round, Julian Edelman, into one of the most prolific receivers in postseason history. That's why Belichick has to mold a Michigan quarterback drafted in the sixth round, Brady, into the finest football player of all time. "This team has a lot in front of it," the coach maintained. His quarterback was willing to second that. When he was through with Philip Rivers and the Chargers, Brady was asked how he felt about proving the doubters wrong, about delivering a forceful response to those who spoke of the quarterback and his Patriots in the past tense. "I just like winning," Brady said. "I just like winning," he repeated. Tom Brady finished with 343 passing yards and a touchdown in the win over the Chargers. David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Brady has made that painfully obvious since 2001. Los Angeles had taken road games at Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, at Kansas City and at Seattle this season. These were not your father's sun-and-fun Chargers or your older brother's sun-and-fun Chargers. This was a West Coast team with an East Coast mentality, and even though Brady took the field with a 7-0 lifetime record against Rivers, the Patriots took Los Angeles as seriously as they've taken any divisional-round opponent from the past. But Brady led the Patriots to touchdowns on their first four possessions, and on five of their first six, and Old Man Rivers never stood a chance. Brady threw for 233 of his 343 total yards in the first half and led his team to a 35-7 lead. In the final seconds of that half, hunting for more points like the insatiable predator he has always been, Brady berated an official for refusing to rule New England wide receiver Phillip Dorsett out of bounds -- costing the Patriots one last crack at the end zone. He never stops. He never settles. When Brady returned from his 2016 Deflategate suspension at Cleveland, he spent his pre-kickoff time working himself into a full sweat -- running wind sprints in the hallway outside his locker room while working against the grain of a resistance band being held by a team staffer. This was against the Browns. In Week 5. At age 39. On Sunday, Brady arrived at Gillette Stadium nearly a full five hours before kickoff. During the pregame, he performed his traditionally spirited jog down the sidelines and traditionally spirited fist pump to the fans. Brady wasn't ready for football season to end. The Chargers could've gone with 11 defensive backs instead of seven and it wouldn't have mattered. There's a reason why this matchup of golden oldies had Brady walking into the building with 27 postseason victories, and Rivers walking in with five. Brady is Brady. And Rivers is a tough, talented and tempestuous competitor who, when pressured, never sees the field as cleanly and as calmly as Brady does -- and never had the benefit of playing for Belichick. In the end, Patriots running back Sony Michel contributed 129 rushing yards and three touchdowns, Edelman contributed nine catches for 151 yards and James White contributed 15 catches for 97 yards. The New England defense, led by de facto coordinator and soon-to-be Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, throttled the Chargers when it mattered most. "We got plays from everybody," Belichick said. The Patriots won at home this season for the ninth time in nine tries, and though they defeated Kansas City in a wild shootout in October, they've proved to be a much more vulnerable team on the road. The Patriots have been installed as three-point underdogs in their latest AFC Championship Game, breaking their streak of a dozen consecutive postseason games in the role of favorites. To upset the Chiefs, Brady will have to outduel Mahomes, whose father, a former major leaguer, was still pitching when the Patriots' quarterback had started chasing his second Super Bowl ring. Brady will have to play a whole lot better in Kansas City than he did on his last visit in 2014. 2018 NFL Playoffs Coverage From the wild-card round through Super Bowl LIII, ESPN.com has you covered. • Full schedule, news, notes » More NFL coverage » "That was a pretty crappy loss that night," Brady said Sunday, "but we've had some other ones. We show a lot of perseverance, a lot of toughness. This team is showing it. We've had some tough losses this year too, but you just keep fighting. That's what football is all about. It's a season; it's not one game or four games or eight games. It's 16 games, and you get a chance to be in this position. "It's going to be a lot of fun to go back there and play in the champ game and try to advance." Truth is, Tom Brady will stand victorious the moment he shows up at Arrowhead. He left there last time a diminished three-time Super Bowl champ who hadn't won the big one in nine years and who was expected to get replaced sooner rather than later by Garoppolo. At 41, Brady returns a five-time Super Bowl champ who has chased off his successor and who has every intention of navigating a path to his ninth Super Bowl. The GOAT still roars like a lion. Kansas City, here he comes.

/3) assuming a is positive. a**256 Simplify ((i/i**(-16))/i)**(3/5)*i*i*i**12*i**(-3/22) assuming i is positive. i**(2581/110) Simplify (k**(-6/11)*k*k**(-3/7))/(k**0)**(-4/11) assuming k is positive. k**(2/77) Simplify (d*d**(-6/7)/d)**37*(d**(6/11)*d*d)/d**(-14) assuming d is positive. d**(-1168/77) Simplify (f/(f**5*f))**(4/13)*f**(-2/27)*f**10/f assuming f is positive. f**(2593/351) Simplify ((t/(t*t/(t/(t*t/t**13*t))))/(t**15/t*t))/(t**(8/7)/(t*t**14*t)) assuming t is positive. t**(69/7) Simplify (t/(t*t**(-17)))/t*t*t**(-4)*(t**0)**(34/7) assuming t is positive. t**13 Simplify ((u*u**3)/u)**(1/31)/(u**(-2/5)/((u**(-1/3)*u)/u)) assuming u is positive. u**(76/465) Simplify ((t**(-14)*t)/((t**27/t)/t))/(t/(t*t/(t**(-2)/t))*t**(-1/18)*t) assuming t is positive. t**(-629/18) Simplify (f**14)**(-16/5)/((f*f*f**(6/11)*f)/(f**(2/17)*f)) assuming f is positive. f**(-44158/935) Simplify ((r/r**16)**(-2/25))**(-23) assuming r is positive. r**(-138/5) Simplify ((g*g/((g**(-16)/g)/g)*(g/g**(-10)*g)/g)**(-35))**(-21) assuming g is positive. g**22785 Simplify (r**9*r**3)/((r**11/r)/(r/(r/((r*r/r**(1/27))/r)))) assuming r is positive. r**(80/27) Simplify d/d**(-3/5)*d*d**(-9/4)*d**(-4/11)/d**17 assuming d is positive. d**(-3743/220) Simplify ((v*v**(3/5))/((v*v**(10/3))/v))/(v**(-2/7)*v/(v/((v**(2/3)/v)/v))) assuming v is positive. v**(-4/35) Simplify i*i**(4/15)*i**0*(i*i/(i**3/i))**47 assuming i is positive. i**(19/15) Simplify (k**(-3))**(-1/4)/((k*(k**(-1)/k)/k*k)/k**(-7/4)) assuming k is positive. 1 Simplify (u**(1/8))**(-36)/(u**17/(u*u**(-20))) assuming u is positive. u**(-81/2) Simplify (t**21*(t**(-27)*t)/t)/(((t**14*t)/t)/t*t**(-27)/t) assuming t is positive. t**9 Simplify ((f/(f**(-8/9)/f))/(f*f/(f**(-31)/f)))**(-27) assuming f is positive. f**840 Simplify (t**5/(t/(t*t/(((t*t/t**(1/2)*t)/t)/t))))/((t**(-1/8)/t)/t**(4/5)) assuming t is positive. t**(297/40) Simplify ((v**(-10/3)/v*((v*v*v*v**(1/3))/v)/v)**(7/5))**(-3/8) assuming v is positive. v**(63/40) Simplify (g*g**15*g*g*g*g)/g**(1/23)*(g/(g**(-5)/g))**(1/57) assuming g is positive. g**(26324/1311) Simplify (m**(-7))**(9/11)/(m**(-1)*m**1) assuming m is positive. m**(-63/11) Simplify (x**(2/25)*x**(5/6)*(x*x/(x*x*x/x**(2/11))*x)**31)**28 assuming x is positive. x**(151298/825) Simplify y**(-4)/y**(2/5)*(y*y**3)/(y/(y**(-10)/y)*y) assuming y is positive. y**(-67/5) Simplify (((v/(v**(-2/3)/v*v)*v)/v)/v)**(-4)*(v**(3/5)/v)**(-9/2) assuming v is positive. v**(-13/15) Simplify (((l/(l**(-1/10)/l))/l)/l*l/l**(12/7))/((l/(l*l**(-5/4)*l))/(l/(l/(l/(l*l*l/(l/((l**(6/11)*l)/l))))))) assuming l is positive. l**(-3711/1540) Simplify ((h*h*h/(h**(-29)*h))/h)/h**(-3/26)*h**12/(h*h**(-23)) assuming h is positive. h**(1667/26) Simplify (a**16)**(-16)*a**(-23)/a*a**33 assuming a is positive. a**(-247) Simplify (v**(-2/11)/(((v/(v/(v*v**22)))/v)/v))/(((v**11*v*v)/v)/v*v*v/(v/(v**(-34)*v))) assuming v is positive. v**(-2/11) Simplify (f**(-3/2)*f/(f*f**11/f*f))/((f/(f/((f/(f**4/f)*f)/f*f)))/f**5) assuming f is positive. f**(-13/2) Simplify (i*i**(-8)*i*i*i**(-1/4)/i)/(i/(i**2*i))**(2/3) assuming i is positive. i**(-59/12) Simplify ((x/(x/(x/(x/(x**(-1)/x)))))**(-1/18)*x**(-1/2)*x*x*x/(x/x**(-1/3)))**(2/7) assuming x is positive. x**(23/63) Simplify ((j*(j*j/j**(-3/5))/j*j**7/j*j)**20)**(-5/2) assuming j is positive. j**(-480) Simplify (m/(m/m**(-5)))**(-2/61)/(m**(-19)/(m*m*m**(-2/9)*m)) assuming m is positive. m**(12046/549) Simplify (((d*d**(-9))/d)/d*d*d**(-16))/(((d/d**(2/3))/d)/(d*d**(-17)*d)) assuming d is positive. d**(-118/3) Simplify (((k*k*k**(-5)/k*k)/(k/(k*k**(-1/6))))/(k*k/(k/k**(-1)))**45)**(1/12) assuming k is positive. k**(-19/72) Simplify (((o*o*o**(3/5)/o*o*o)/((o*o**2*o)/o))**(-47))**(-33) assuming o is positive. o**(4653/5) Simplify (r/(r/r**(-1)))**(-5)*r**(-7)*r/r**(-3/7)*r assuming r is positive. r**(3/7) Simplify ((((z*z*z/(z*z*(z*z/(z**(-2)*z*z))/z*z)*z*z)/z)**(-48))**32)**(3/35) assuming z is positive. 1 Simplify (g*g*g/(g**(3/4)/g*g*g*g*g)*g)/(g*g**2)*((g/(g/(g*g**(1/9)))*g)/g)/((g**(-1/2)/g*g)/g) assuming g is positive. g**(-5/36) Simplify (((p*p**11)/p)**(1/40))**(10/17) assuming p is positive. p**(11/68) Simplify ((w*w/w**10*w)/(w**(12/5)/w*w))**(36/5) assuming w is positive. w**(-1692/25) Simplify (j*j*j/j**(-2/25)*j*j*(j/j**(-17)*j)/j*j)/(j**(-4)*j*j**(-1/20)) assuming j is positive. j**(2713/100) Simplify (((x*((x**(-2/3)*x*x*x)/x)/x)**(1/6))**(-2))**(-42) assuming x is positive. x**(56/3) Simplify q**15/q*q*(q/q**12)/q*q**(-15)*q**8 assuming q is positive. q**(-4) Simplify ((w/w**(-19))/(w**3/w))/(w**(3/4)*(w*w**10*w*w)/w) assuming w is positive. w**(21/4) Simplify ((h/(h**34/h))/(h**(-9)*h))/(h**8*h*h)**13 assuming h is positive. h**(-154) Simplify (q*q**(-3))**(-20/9)/(q**10*q/(q*q**(-12))*q*q) assuming q is positive. q**(-176/9) Simplify (((o/o**(-2/11))/o)/(o*o*(o/((o*o**13)/o))/o))/((o/(o*o**(-6/11)))/(o/o**(-8))) assuming o is positive. o**(216/11) Simplify (v/((v**0*v)/v*v)*v**(-6)/v*(v/v**(-2/3))/v**(-2/11))**0 assuming v is positive. 1 Simplify (k*k**(-2/3)*k)**48/(k**(-2/69)/k**12) assuming k is positive. k**(5246/69) Simplify (h/(h/(h**1*h))*h)**(-6/7)*h**0/(h/h**(-7/5)*h) assuming h is positive. h**(-209/35) Simplify (i**(-8)*i**0*i**(-5/6)/(i/(i/(i/(i*(i**2/i)/i*i)))*i))**(-11/3) assuming i is positive. i**(583/18) Simplify ((((y**14/y)/y)**(-3/40))**29)**(2/15) assuming y is positive. y**(-87/25) Simplify ((b/(b/b**(6/13)*b))/b*b*b)/(b**(-1/8)/b)*(b*b**(4/5))/b**(-6/13) assuming b is positive. b**(2001/520) Simplify ((v**(-3)*v/(v**(-1)*v*v)*v*v*v)**(-25/4))**(-6/23) assuming v is positive. 1 Simplify ((f/(f*f/f**(-2/25)))/f**16)/((f*f**(-15)*f)/(f*f/f**(-2/15))) assuming f is positive. f**(-146/75) Simplify ((p**2)**(-25))**(9/8) assuming p is positive. p**(-225/4) Simplify (x*x**(-27))**(11/3)*(x*x**(-2/29)*x)/x**(3/13) assuming x is positive. x**(-105899/1131) Simplify (c**19*c*c)/c*c*c**(1/21)/c*c*c/c**(-7)*c*c**(-27) assuming c is positive. c**(64/21) Simplify (y/(y**(-2)*y)*y*y*y**(-22)*y)/(y**(-3)/((y**(-33)*y)/y)) assuming y is positive. y**(-47) Simplify y*y**(-6)*y*y**(4/7)*(y**(-5/4)/y)/y*y*y**10*y assuming y is positive. y**(149/28) Simplify t**(-2)*t*t**(-2)/t*(t*t/(t*t**(-1/3)))**(-8) assuming t is positive. t**(-44/3) Simplify r**(3/7)/r**(-2/33)*(r*r**(1/10))**17 assuming r is positive. r**(44327/2310) Simplify (((d/d**0)/(d/d**(-3/7)))/(d/(d*d**1)*d)**27)**(-1/3) assuming d is positive. d**(1/7) Simplify ((((f*f**(1/2))/f*f)/f)**(-40)/(f/(f**2*f))**(-1/8))**18 assuming f is positive. f**(-729/2) Simplify n**23*n**(7/4)*(n**16*n*n)/(n*n/(n/(n**17/n))*n*n*n*n) assuming n is positive. n**(87/4) Simplify (t**(1/9))**(-24)*t**(3/5)/t**(-19) assuming t is positive. t**(254/15) Simplify (d**6*d**(-2/25)/d)/(d**(-1)/d)**(2/27) assuming d is positive. d**(3421/675) Simplify n*n/(n/(n*n**10))*n**11/n*n*(n/((n/n**6)/n)*n)**(-9) assuming n is positive. n**(-49) Simplify ((n**(2/9)/((n*n*n**(-1/6)*n*n*n)/n))**43)**(-19) assuming n is positive. n**(53105/18) Simplify (z*z/(z*z*z**(2/11))*z*z)**(17/4)*z**(-4)/(z/(z*z**14*z)) assuming z is positive. z**(206/11) Simplify (h**(-19)/(h*h**(2/11)))**(-2/7) assuming h is positive. h**(444/77) Simplify ((m**(-9)/m)/(m/m**(-12)))**8 assuming m is positive. m**(-184) Simplify (r**(-13)*r)**(1/12)/(r**5)**(-12) assuming r is positive. r**59 Simplify (g/(g/g**(17/3)*g))**13*g**35/((g/(g/g**(-6)))/g) assuming g is positive. g**(308/3) Simplify ((y*y**(-1/19))/(y/(y*((((y/(y**(5/6)*y))/y)/y)/y)/y)))/(y**(-4))**45 assuming y is positive. y**(20077/114) Simplify (l**4)**(-47)*l/l**(2/21)*l**3/l assuming l is positive. l**(-3887/21) Simplify ((u**(8/5))**37)**(-49) assuming u is positive. u**(-14504/5) Simplify u**(10/11)*u*((u/((u*u**(2/35)/u)/u)*u)/u)/u*u*((u**(-8)*u)/u)**(7/5) assuming u is positive. u**(-2829/385) Simplify ((g**18/g)**(-6))**(-2/35) assuming g is positive. g**(204/35) Simplify (a*a**(-5)*a*a)**(-1/50)/(a/(a**1*a))**(-13/4) assuming a is positive. a**(-321/100) Simplify ((i**6*i)/(i/((i*i**(-2/7)*i)/i)))/(i**(-2)*i)**(-11) assuming i is positive. i**(-30/7) Simplify (h**(-30)/h**9)/(h**(-3/13))**(-29) assuming h is positive. h**(-594/13) Simplify ((u**(-2/5))**(17/4)*(u/u**(-2/5)*u)/u**6)**(3/4) a

208*m**2 as f*m**2 + x*m + s + i*m**3 and give i. 1387 Rearrange (54 - 804*u + 798*u + 28 - 4*u**2 - 13)*(-u**2 + 2*u**2 + 0*u**2) to the form v*u**2 + w*u**4 + s*u + k + f*u**3 and give w. -4 Rearrange 2*b + 6*b**2 - 8860*b**3 + 8867*b**3 + 3*b**2 to the form m*b + s + r*b**3 + t*b**2 and give r. 7 Express (1 + 0 - 2)*(-14*t - 4*t + 5*t)*(9 + 34 - 21) in the form g*t + m and give g. 286 Express -4324*k**3 + 15 + 3*k**2 + 71*k**4 + 4326*k**3 + 281*k - 26*k**4 - 279*k as z*k + v + m*k**4 + c*k**3 + p*k**2 and give z. 2 Rearrange -458*c - 10782*c - 5683*c - 3928*c + 655*c to the form i + a*c and give a. -20196 Express -311*b**3 - 312*b**3 + 617*b**3 - 35*b - 6*b**2 + b**4 in the form v + y*b + p*b**4 + q*b**2 + a*b**3 and give q. -6 Express 114*a**2 - 30*a**2 + 492*a - 477*a as d + w*a + j*a**2 and give d. 0 Express (-3*n + n + 3*n + (-2 + 1 + 3)*(0 + 0 - n) - 4*n + 7*n - 4*n + (3 - 2 - 4)*(-14*n - 192*n + 46*n))*(-4*n + 0*n - 2*n) as m*n + h + a*n**2 and give a. -2868 Express 85*x + 41 + 14*x - 96*x + 47*x in the form p + t*x and give p. 41 Express -3171 + 1605 + 1624 - 20*i in the form s*i + u and give s. -20 Express -342780884 + 16673*t + 342780884 in the form w*t + y and give y. 0 Rearrange (3 + 1 - 2)*(-4*b - 26 + 26) + 210 - 210 - 81*b to the form z + u*b and give u. -89 Rearrange 10*g**3 + 5 + 2*g**3 - 3*g - 5 + g + 7 to q*g + y*g**2 + w + h*g**3 and give w. 7 Rearrange -4806*d**2 - 1 + 3389*d**2 - 6260*d**2 - 2 + 2 to the form p*d**2 + a*d + j and give a. 0 Rearrange (6653 - 13316 + 6657 + 179*f)*(9 + f + f - 7) to v*f**2 + n*f + j and give n. 346 Rearrange -p**2 + 0*p**2 + 7*p**2 + 152*p + 414*p - 167*p to the form f + d*p + n*p**2 and give f. 0 Rearrange 71 - 27663*d - 21 - 22 - 28 to the form i*d + u and give i. -27663 Rearrange (5*o + 7*o + o)*(-1 + 1 + 2)*(7 + 5 - 5)*(2 + 0 - 4 + (-6 + 4 + 4)*(-4 - 2 + 4) - 4 - 17 + 2) to n + s*o and give s. -4550 Express 22*g**2 - 2*g**3 + 24*g - 16*g**2 - 19 - 8*g**2 + g**2 in the form a*g**2 + p*g + m + d*g**3 and give p. 24 Rearrange -10*i**4 - 710*i**2 + 711*i**2 - i**3 - 14*i + 8*i**4 to n + c*i**2 + f*i**4 + p*i + y*i**3 and give f. -2 Rearrange (-19*w + 18*w**2 + 35*w - 14*w)*(-13 - w + 13)*(8 - 4 + 0) to the form u*w**2 + v + l*w + k*w**3 and give u. -8 Express 9*h**3 - h**4 + 7*h - 4*h - 716*h**2 + 714*h**2 in the form l*h + k + u*h**2 + t*h**4 + c*h**3 and give u. -2 Express (2*p - p - 2*p)*(1322*p - 1460*p + 45518*p) in the form q*p**2 + m + o*p and give q. -45380 Express -1969*v - 3321 - 3331 - 3085*v + v**2 + 6652 in the form x*v**2 + q + c*v and give c. -5054 Rearrange -56352009 + 56352009 - 333*z + 20*z**2 to the form q + j*z**2 + y*z and give y. -333 Rearrange (-3*v + 4*v - 2*v)*(-3 + 5 - 4 + (-1 + 3 - 3)*(-2 - 1 + 2))*(-715 - 702 + 18804*v**2 + 1417) to the form o*v**3 + u*v + g + a*v**2 and give o. 18804 Rearrange (4 - 1 - 4)*(5*f**2 + f**2 - 4*f**2) + (f + 1 - 1)*(-4*f + 4*f - 2*f) + 1 - 1 + f**2 + 983*f**2 - 221*f**2 + 98*f**2 to m*f + c*f**2 + n and give c. 857 Express 65760 + 1059*y - 65762 - 378*y + y**2 as p*y**2 + h + b*y and give h. -2 Rearrange -11*w**4 - 32*w**4 + 5*w**3 + 50*w**4 - 5*w**2 - w**3 to f*w**3 + i*w**2 + j*w**4 + g*w + q and give j. 7 Express (6*j + 7*j + 4*j)*(7*j - 26*j + 108*j + (-j + 5*j + j)*(3 - 3 + 1)) as c*j + w*j**2 + t and give c. 0 Express (3*b**2 + b**2 - 5*b**2)*(1 - 3 + 1) + (14 - 25*b - 14)*(3*b - 7*b - 104*b) in the form p*b + d + m*b**2 and give m. 2701 Rearrange -8*b**4 - 156 + 196*b**3 + 76 + 69 + 252*b**3 + 6*b**4 to the form r*b + v*b**2 + x + d*b**3 + a*b**4 and give a. -2 Rearrange (-y + 0*y**2 - 6 + y**2 - 45)*(1 - 1 + 2)*(-4 + 6 - 4) + 0*y**2 + 6*y**2 - 4*y**2 to l + o*y**2 + u*y and give u. 4 Rearrange 174*y - 13 + 44*y + 55*y - y to the form a*y + f and give a. 272 Express -4144*l**2 + 2084*l**2 + 2065*l**2 - 368 as t*l**2 + j + b*l and give t. 5 Rearrange 354*b - 1548*b - 577*b - 731*b to the form q + d*b and give d. -2502 Express (1382 - 1455 + 13*b + 4384)*(-2 + 0 + 1 - 3 - 3 + 5 + (-5 + 2 + 1)*(2 + 0 - 1) + 1 + 2 - 2) as q + h*b and give h. -39 Rearrange -139*j + 59*j - 8756*j**2 + 80*j to the form x*j + u + g*j**2 and give g. -8756 Express (-10*o - 7*o - 23*o)*(9160*o - 9160*o - o**3 + 2*o**2 + 9) in the form b*o**2 + j*o**3 + y*o + k*o**4 + n and give y. -360 Express -35*c - 98 + 118*c - 29*c + 2*c**2 - 26*c - 30*c as f + j*c**2 + q*c and give f. -98 Rearrange (16*f + 1178*f**2 - 3855*f**2 - 16*f)*(-2*f - 6*f + 4*f) to t + h*f + b*f**3 + a*f**2 and give b. 10708 Rearrange (-1 + 3 + 0)*(17061044 - 17059665 + 0*o + 3*o) to g + f*o and give g. 2758 Rearrange 76*l - 21*l**2 - 76*l + (-2*l**2 + 0*l**2 + 0*l**2)*(-1 + 3 + 0) - 215*l + 215*l - 105*l**2 to the form w + v*l + r*l**2 and give w. 0 Express (15*l + 29*l + 6*l)*(-12 - 12 - 5) as m + x*l and give x. -1450 Rearrange (-6*o**2 + 18*o**2 + 9*o**2)*(-21 - 39 + 17 - o**2) to the form h + d*o**2 + r*o**4 + m*o + b*o**3 and give r. -21 Rearrange -46*v**3 - 135 - 131 - 2*v**2 + 3*v - 130 + 394 to the form q*v**3 + l + r*v**2 + z*v and give l. -2 Rearrange 3755*w - 206*w**2 - 3755*w - 869*w**2 - 3*w**2 + 4*w**2 + 0*w**2 + (-3 + 3 - 4*w)*(w - 1 + 1) to u*w + f*w**2 + l and give f. -1078 Rearrange 3915237 - 3915237 + 19747*l to the form v*l + y and give v. 19747 Rearrange 200*d - 6612*d - 11000*d to the form j + c*d and give c. -17412 Rearrange (65 + 85 + 14*q - 12*q)*(-2*q**2 + 28*q + 3 - 28*q + 2*q**3) to c*q**2 + b*q + v + m*q**4 + k*q**3 and give b. 6 Rearrange (-2708 + 339 + 21442 - 2*k**2 + 17536)*(1 + 1 - 3) to l*k**2 + j + b*k and give j. -36609 Express -35990*b + 18235*b + 19392*b in the form i + s*b and give s. 1637 Rearrange (3*i**3 + 0*i**3 - 2*i**3)*(25994 - 6355 - 11290)*(3 - 4 + 4) to a + b*i + x*i**2 + z*i**3 and give z. 25047 Express -10529*d - 656 + 21066*d - 10530*d - 1054 as l + u*d and give l. -1710 Express 2055*y - 1877*y - 21*y**2 + 5*y**2 in the form m*y + t*y**2 + o and give t. -16 Rearrange 72*h - 49*h + 46*h + (0 + 0 - 2*h)*(-88 - 37 + 32) to the form f + i*h and give i. 255 Express 29080 - 58013 + 28502 - 21*v as w*v + h and give w. -21 Rearrange 16*p - 55880*p**2 + 27947*p**2 + 27950*p**2 to s*p + m + z*p**2 and give z. 17 Express 659*x**2 - 657*x**2 + 3444*x - 2953 + 2952 as j*x**2 + g*x + m and give g. 3444 Express 1282 - 1283 - 53*u**2 + 4*u**2 as i*u**2 + n*u + z and give i. -49 Express (239*k**2 + 228*k**2 - 336*k**2 + 3*k)*(-k + 4*k - 5*k) in the form r*k + z*k**3 + g + l*k**2 and give l. -6 Rearrange 673*r**3 - r**4 - 1310*r**3 + r**2 - 2*r - 2*r**2 + 608*r**3 - r**2 to w*r**2 + s*r**4 + b*r + h + d*r**3 and give b. -2 Express (29*d + 6*d - 12*d)*(4784 + 1168*d - 200*d - 4784) as x*d**2 + n + b*d and give x. 22264 Express -12*z + 3*z**4 - 2*z**4 - 2 - 4*z + 0*z + 14*z - 74*z**3 in the form x + h*z**3 + p*z**4 + n*z + d*z**2 and give x. -2 Rearrange -3*k**4 - 65703*k**2 + 130951*k**2 - 65594*k**2 + 1 + 2*k**3 + 2*k to the form f*k + s + i*k**4 + r*k**2 + l*k**3 and give r. -346 Express -5*y**2 - y**4 - 70*y - 9*y**3 - 2 + 139*y - 71*y in the form u*y + q*y**4 + o*y**3 + s*y**2 + c and give u. -2 Rearrange (5*k**4 - 5*k**4 - 2*k**4)*(-15 - 2 - 98)*(0 + 0 - 1)*(4 - 6 - 11)*(0 - 1 - 1) to z + o*k**3 + w*k + v*k**2 + d*k**4 and give d. -5980 Rearrange -3 - 11*a**4 + a - 5928*a**2 + 17790*a**2 - a**3 - 5935*a**2 + 2*a**3 - 5929*a**2 to v*a**2 + f + s*a**3 + p*a + k*a**4 and give p. 1 Express 15*z - 5 + 40*z - 5 + 5*z**2 + 15*z**2 - 54*z in the form a*z + n + m*z**2 and give m. 20 Rearrange 0*k + 0*k - k**2 + (0*k + 0*k - k)*(-466*k + 3 + 458*k + 90) + 3*k**2 - 1 + 1 to the form o*k + j*k**2 + q and give o. -93 Express 1275*i + 126*i - 1360*i + 2062*i + 2108*i as l*i + g and give l. 4211 Rearrange 2*j**2 - 2*j**4 + 10*j + 10 - 33*j - 11 + 1000*j**3 - 994*j**3 to d*j**3 + s*j**2 + o + g*j + b*j**4 and give o. -1 Rearrange -2*r + 28*r**2 - 6*r**2 + 145958 - 145956 to the form h + p*r + t*r**2 and give h. 2 Express 4 + 13839*g - 4072*g - 3 in the form n*g + a and give a. 1 Express (1 - 3 + 0)*(1038 - 1038 + 14*v**4)*(-146 + 81 - 56) - v**4 - v + v as u*v + c + g*v**3 + y*v**4 + w*v**2 and give y. 3387 Express 2*n + 5 + 240*n**2 - n**3 + 508*n**2 + 66*n**2 + 2*n**3 - 62*n**2 as o*n + u*n**2 + c + j*n**3 and give j. 1 Express 222*k**2 - 1 - 1284*k + 2*k**

Check out the latest Opium Traces article at PopMatters.com, my interview with Indonesian novelist Eliza Vitri Handayani…this is the first in a series of interviews with up-and-coming authors in Southeast Asia. Let’s face it, my commute kicks the shit out of your commute. Here’s a couple of videos from my daily ride shot on my new GoPro Hero5 Session, one from my bicycle and the other from my Honda scooter. Each one is in real time. Other than walking, the best way to see the city is on two wheels so I’ll keep posting videos to my youtube channel as I make them. Meanwhile, enjoy these two rides. About 20 minutes each, which is the same length as a “half-hour” American sitcom, only my videos are a thousand times more interesting than anything on TV and two-thousand times more interesting than 97% of all other videos on Youtube.

There's really no good way to spin a story about housekeeping finding a tub full of blood in your hotel suite. Trust me, I've killed enough hippies, hookers, and drifters to know. From MTV: [Lady Gaga] has now been accused by staff at the plush Intercontinental Hotel of "bathing in blood as part of a Satanic ritual" after a housekeeper found the tub of red stuff in GaGa's suite. The stunned hotel worker told website Truthquake: "Lady GaGa left large amounts of blood in the suite during a stay this summer. The incident was reported to the concierge, who was told to put it out of her mind." Speaking of the gory discovery, a source told The Sun: "All of the hotel's staff are convinced she was bathing in it or, at the very least, using it as part of one of her new costumes or weird stage routines." I know what you're thinking, but allow me to untangle the web of bullshit the media is spinning regarding our beloved Lady Gaga. There was no satanic ritual, and it wasn't the return of the meat suit. Yes, the liquid was blood, I concede that point. Please remember that Lady Gaga is a good Catholic girl at heart, and satanic rituals go against what she believes in. The blood that filled the tub was her menstrual cycle blood. Stefani has a really heavy flow. She's famous for the copious amounts of blood she leaks during a full moon. I'll have you know that as a child, Gaga's nickname was "Elevator Scene from The Shining." Not just because of the blood, but also because when Gaga opened her legs, two creepy little girls holding hands would come out and say "come play with us." I don't know how true that is but nobody's proved that it's not true, either. My friends told me about---onenightcupid.c0m--. She told me it is the best place to seeking casual fun and short-term relationship. I have tried. It is fantastic. You wanna get laid tonight? Come in and give it a shot, you will find someone you like there. Have fun! Morgan Lady is the messiah of high fashion. Her fashion innovations are 25 years ahead of her time. Sometime around 2035 we will all look back and marvle at how forward looking the Lady was. GaGas' brain power is so far beyond genius level that scientests cannot even measure it.

Tag Archives: disappointment Wow, I can’t believe it’s been three months since I wrote my last entry. Originally, I pledged to write at least once a month… please accept my apologies … So what did I do? I really focused on finishing my thesis to the point that I now can’t even look at it without contempt anymore. I really really hate it by now. I guess and hope that this is normal. The thing is, I still have to do a presentation and an oral examination. Only then I’m done. I dream of some kind of fire ritual to burn my thesis and clean my brain 😉 I know, stupid, but it helps to read it for the 120th time… I’ve chosen the worst possible guy to proofread my thesis. At first he hit on me although he’s twice my age and now he has let me down and needed a month for a whole of 30 pages. Please don’t judge. I thought he was professional. At least the work he did on my 30 pages is good 😉 Well, live and learn… Let’s hope the next one is more reliable. I’ve been to every professor and secretary available at our institute to get the enormous amount of signatures to even hand in the thesis. Tracking down the guy who’s always out having his breakfast/brunch/lunch/dinner is pretty much impossible … I’ve had about 3-5 (maybe more like 5-10) nervous crying fits when something went wrong with my thesis. I’ve pledged to let my boyfriend have his when he will write his own thesis. My computer “died” at the appropriate time, just when I was doing my literature list. I guess the thesis wore the computer down too … Of course, that prompted another crying fit. Luckily, I obey to the golden rule of backup, backup, backup and I only had to redo an hour. But still, that hour sucked! Badly! via cartoonstock.com One of my uncles died and now it came out that he has another “secret daughter”. What is it with all those family secrets?! This was that uncle’s favourite saying, which I really liked: Ohne Arbeit früh bis spät kann dir nichts geraten, Neid sieht nur das Blumenbeet, aber nicht den Spaten. Roughly translated (and very poorly, please forgive me … this saying means: Without work from dust till dawn, you will achieve nothing. Envy only sees the flower bed, but not the spade. (I’m sure there is some equivalent in English that I don’t know of …) His children may not enjoy his lifetime’s work now because they have to share with another unknown sibling. So remember, if you have any secret children, make sure to tell the children you live with ahead of your death what awaits them! I still feel bad because of my dad sometimes. But lately, I just tell people straight away that he’s gone to get it out of the way when they ask. And last time, a girl forgot that I had told her that he is dead and asked me what my mom or my dad think of something. That was pretty disturbing. I didn’t feel too troubled about it, but I think I need to readjust my strategy. What proofed to be successful in your experience to get the point across that someone’s dead?! Somebody broke into our home last week. We thought that our apartment looks so crappy nobody would bother to even do that. Besides, Vienna is pretty safe. And we don’t live in a posh neighborhood. Apparently, that is no security. Mr. Burglar (it must have been a guy considering the things he’s stolen) stole the hard-safed money from my boyfriend, his PSP and, strangely enough, his brand new running shoes. Mr. Burglar has taste. He didn’t take my Nintendo DS, the Wii, or my boyfriend’s 10-year old running shoes that were standing next to the new ones. My boyfriend’s actually more pissed that his progress at GTA has gone to waste than about the money. And with the shoes, it’s getting personal via cartoonstock.com Naturally, nobody told us that this apartment has been broken into two times already. Would have been nice if somebody advised us to change the lock when we were so stupid not to do it. So, I’ve learned the lesson that even the crappiest apartment is a target for burglars. Me and my boyfriend actually bought the running shoes together and we used to merrily run alongside, like a cheesy couple. I liked it. Now Mr. Burglar has taken away that too, because it doesn’t have the same feel to it when I have my shiny new shoes while he has to run in his crappy old ones. That guy is so mean! The secretary I wrote about in this and this post is already shining in its new glory, courtesy of my cousin. Pictures will follow in a next post 🙂 It was the right decision to give it to her! Speaking of which, we’ve found a guy who’s willing to rent my grandmother’s house, but only for a very small amount of money. On top of all, I have to prepare myself for grueling negotiations over the weekend. It gets tiring, really. I’ve watched a ton of Korean Dramas in these past months. Those are the best to keep your thoughts away and just turn off your brain. So if you have a hard time with something, I can give you a list of the most perfect “braindead” dramas that there are …Of course, this is also a way not to forget my Korean, even if it’s Drama-speech … so it’s a win-win 🙂 Korean Dramas are also a perfect way to win new friends. There’s nothing like swooning over a guy with other girls. I’m currently in the “courtship” phase with a girl that wants to be my friend (yay 😉 ) We will meet up to watch dramas, eat and drink. Another win-win 🙂 via cartoonstock.com Speaking of drinking, I learned a few new drinking games, most of them from Korea. I’ve already established in that post that Koreans have a thriving drinking culture. It’s a funny contrast to us Austrians, who only sit together getting wasted while talking. I found out that my English is pretty bad, so please don’t hesitate to point out any mistakes I make! Really!! My family has lost all hope that I’ll ever graduate anymore. I lost hope that it still happens this year. I guess subconsciously I really put it off so not to get to the next stage, which is unemployment 😉 Oh my… So, that is a tiny fraction of what I did. Even if it’s pathetic, I hope you enjoyed 😉 I’m an avid fan of stars. As a kid, I even listed “looking at stars” as my hobby in autograph books. To check out those stars and get a first-hand impression, I booked a tour to one of the observatories in Vienna. Last week, it was raining and the sky was pretty clouded, but our guides informed us via e-mail that we nevertheless could have our tour. But when we arrived, those clouds hadn’t gone away, like they were convinced of in the afternoon. It was very disappointing, we couldn’t look at anything else but clouds. Children were crying, desperate father’s yearned for amusement for their children, couples were crying out that their romantic evening was ruined, chaos ensued. Yeah…it wasn’t like that. But it could have been 😉 Despite this throwback, I optimistically booked another tour for today. Today it couldn’t have been sunnier and I was really excited to finally see stars in the evening. Well, until half an hour ago. The tour isn’t happening 😦 Those clouds are coming back and we would not see anything. This is tragic! I think heaven doesn’t want me to look at it. But I’m not gonna give in … Maybe someone could put in a good word for me with heaven … Please, please let me have a look next week! I’ll be good … Not long ago, I inherited the house of my grandmother. It’s in the middle of nowhere and it’s so little and pretty and from another century that it’s heartbreaking. I would move in the minute I could if it would be in Vienna. But since it’s not, I now want to rent it out to somebody nice. If I find someone who’s willing to move out there 😉 And if I find someone who is willing to pay me some rent for such an old house…but that is a whole different story 😉 The secretary of my grandfather isn't that beautiful, but that one caught my eye. Maybe I'm gonna treat myself to one of those when I'm older... picture via inetgiant.com Until I find that certain someone, I have to clear out the house. Which is a difficult task, considering it’s full of stuff my relatives loaded there the last few years since my grandmother died. The only thing I would have liked to keep was a little secretary that belonged to my grandfather. It has those little drawers and doors with tiny, beautiful keys. It also has a hutch with a round, built-in ceramic picture. I don’t think it’s antique but it is definitely charming. My granddad stored his most beloved things in there and nobody even dared to touch it. He died before I was born but interestingly, drawings he drew when he was a child only came to light when I was already in my teens. Somebody “dared” to look into the secretary and found those little beautiful drawings of his childhood home in the woods with a pond in front. He never showed those pictures to anyone. Not even my grandmother knew of their existence. Nowadays, all of his children have a photocopy of that drawing in their home and the original hangs in the house I inherited now. Just a nice little back story to get to the point … because last week I told my mom to ask her siblings or my cousins if they wanted to have something from the house. Never did I think that somebody would want the secretary… As it happens, my mom visited a cousin of mine last week. When mom mentioned the house, my cousin carefully asked her what would happen to the secretary. THE secretary. Of course. At first I was shocked. Disappointed. Sad. I couldn’t believe that she had the nerve to suggest to give her the secretary. She put me in an awful position. How could I refuse her wish? I was very upset and felt trapped. Grumpily, I told my boyfriend the story who wasn’t very impressed, since we don’t even have room for it. I would store it in some place that doesn’t do it justice. I still brooded over it a few minutes, and then I let go. via cartoonstock.com My cousin still knew my grandfather. Maybe she even saw him sitting there, writing letters or something. She still knows the real purpose of it. Additionally, she studied art and definitely knows how to restore the secretary to its old glory. With me, I would maybe paint it, but I would spoil the old appearance. If she gets it, the secretary will definitely stand in a fitting place in her house so that everybody can admire it. And then people will ask where it’s from, and she can tell stories about our grandfather. People should definitely hear more stories of him! He seems to have been a wonderful man. If I would have it, nobody would get to see it since I don’t have space. And that would be a pity. The most important point though, as my grandma (the other grandma who’s still living) always says: “You can’t take it with you when you die.” I think of this saying a lot whenever I treasure material things too much so that they start to become a burden. I don’t want this flat to be my last one. I don’t want to only live here in Vienna. I hope to move a lot and get to know lot’s of places. How can I possess furniture if I want to do that? Where would I store it? Would it be fair to the furniture? Definitely not. What’s also important is that I can make my cousin happy. I always like to make others happy and this gives more comfort than holding on to it. Besides, she has four children. Those kids didn’t know our grandfather either, maybe they will appreciate their roots through the secretary. In the end, I hope I can admire the secretary in her house sometime with a feeling of perfect contentment. And maybe this is the chance to get back my Game boy I borrowed one of her kids in 1999 or something … what can I say, yet another crazy backstory 😉

Thursday, 16 December 2010 I hate to admit it, but the children have been really good so far this week. Which is a bit rubbish because I don't get much blog material. Unfortunately it's not down to my fantastic parenting skills but rather because I went onto Portable North Pole and sent them a message from Father Christmas. The beauty of this website is that you can input if your children have been a bit naughty and the areas where they need to improve. And it works! My kids have been mesmerised and have taken on board everything that Father Christmas told them. They are trying really hard to please and ten days respite is mind-blowing for this tired mother.But my question is this - what happens when Christmas is over and they have had all the presents that they wished for? (Except in my house they'll get about half the presents - The Husband hates spending his millions on bits of plastic and The Tomboy has asked for really weird stuff like a bleeding Dracula bag). Can I expect the same mind control from the Easter Bunny?Father Christmas was definitely invented by a parent because he's such a fantastic way to brainwash your kids into behaving. I've scared the living daylights out of mine by saying that Father Christmas is watching their every move and I'm loving the results. However the Inventor must have had pretty well behaved children if he thought that Father Christmas was enough. After the Easter Bunny, I'm a bit short on ideas. And what's gonna happen when the kids wise up in a couple of years, how will I keep control then?Suggestions please, on a Christmas card. x Tuesday, 14 December 2010 Recently I have been suffering from The Fear. Actually, not recently I just realised, but ever since I gave birth to The Tweenager. It started like this: Fear of becoming a mum and being tied down for 18 years Fear that I might kill the baby or someone might steal it Fear that my breasts would never be the same again Fear The Husband might want special love By the time The Tomboy was born, I was an expert at being a mum and was almost a success in my own business, so The Fear subsided for a while. It was still there (it never goes away completely) but had developed into a Fear of not being late, Fear of the sandwich shop not being open and Fear of my days off from the shop when I had to have my children. The Fear was manageable. After The Toddler it really grew. Before I accepted that this is my time to 'stand still', The Fear almost brought me down. Thank God for anti depressants. The Fear is very very strong. The Fear tried to take over me like this: Fear that I had lost my identity and was just a moaning mum Fear that my life is very small Fear of being tired Fear I was very boring and had no funny stories to tell Fear that changing a nappy was the highlight of my day Recently The Fear has been very clever. The Fear has metamorphosed again. Just when you think you are beating it, The Fear comes back bigger and stronger and in ways that you did not expect.After almost two years of being miserable that I don't live in the town and that I don't have a job, those two wishes are the things that now frighten me the most. The Husband has recently been offered a promotion and with the pay rise he has suggested that we move into town. Since isn't this what I've been banging on about for two years. Yet the very thought of it frightens the life out of me. What'sallthatabout? And the other day I was practically offered a job managing the children's section in my local bookstore and Iran out the exit faster than the gingerbread man. The Fear wins almost every time. But it will never ever stop me from having coffee with my mates or watching Desperate Housewives or walking The Dog. You see the only thing to really fear is The Fear itself. And once you realise this, you can carry on being lazy and wasting the days whilst getting by with minimal parental responsibility. The Fear will never get to that. Tuesday, 7 December 2010 Further to my previous blog, I would now like to post a photograph of what I normally look like at the end of the day:This is on a good day Examining myself last night I have come up with the term "Ostrich Parenting" which is basically how I am bringing up my children. It involves a great deal of craziness from them and lots of burying head in the sand behaviour from me: This is also on a good day As The Tomboy & The Tweenager continue their passion for wrestling each other, I have decided to stop trying to referee in the hope that we don't end up in A&E. Instead I am now hiding in the other room. I don't want to be a witness to their bloodbath. It's pretty much the way I am in general, recently. God forbid I ever go to a toddler group, but the way The Toddler is into hitting and freaking out, I can guarantee that I would spend the whole time hidden behind the soft blocks. I'm going down the line of "If I didn't see it, then it didn't happen" The Husband hasn't cottoned on yet but in his own way he is also a practitioner of Ostrich Parenting. Every day he burys his head in his work load in an attempt to avoid the children and every evening he burys his head in Braveheart or Gladiator in an attempt to avoid me. Ostrich Parenting comes in handy especially when you are asked awkward questions like "Why couldn't you get milk when you are home all day?" and "Do you think the washing up can do itself?" and "Mummy, will you play horses?". The children are loving my new parenting style. It basically means that they can run riot and cause havoc and they think I will never know who started it. But they forget that although the Ostrich may not be able to fly, it can run very very fast indeed, especially in their direction. I recently saw a picture of myself that was a reallygood photo. Good in the way that it didn't look like the real me. It was taken at a wedding where I had been spray tanned, make-up'd and styled within an inch of my life even though I didn't know until five minutes before the ceremony what I was wearing. I was too preoccupied with making sure that The Tomboy didn't wear a football kit. It's a very flattering photo and I don't honestly look like this, especially not at 8.45am when I am trying to get three children out of the door. Okay, so here it is: Me as I would like to be This photo made me feel sad for a number of reasons. Mainly because I wish I was that person - the girl in that photo looks so carefree and happy with her lot and not like the moany bag that I have turned in to. In fact that girl looks like the old me. It's not the only time recently that I have glimpsed the old me. I went for an eye test on Sunday after deciding that I am in desperate need of new glasses. Confirmed by every mum in the playground when I wore my dog-chewed, toddler-twisted, wonky-eyed, current spectacles the other week. The optician, surprisingly, was very sweet and funny so we had a laugh. He had recently become a father and had very cute clothes. Since I had no children with me and was wearing my Ugg hat, I was on top form. I was flirting and being hilarious and overall good fun - just like I used to be. Then things took a turn. My friend's husband came over to fix a pipe for us and we got chatting about children. He has five. I was about to launch into my "isn't having children rubbish" stand-up comedian routine when he stopped me dead in my (kind of funny) tracks. He actually made a very good case for the other side of the coin. He put a fantastically positive view on life as a family unit. He made me feel like an idiot. Basically, his philosophy was that everything before was shallow and what did I honestly want to do, go out and get pissed every night? As we chatted, I thought YES I am so very very lucky and isn't my life fantastically great. It is true to say that it was one of those moments in life where your eyes are opened. This lasted about ten minutes. I went back inside the house and looked at the photo then looked in the mirror. It was an easy game of Spot The Difference. The Tomboy & The Tweenager were playing their new game of wrestling which involves a great deal of hitting and crying. I said: "If you hurt each other I am going to kill you", and once again things were back to normal in the Smith household. I have decided, as a compromise to myself, to put the photo away and not look at it again until I am sixty. That way hopefully the children will be all moved out and I will be back to my real self, head held high and happy. Search This Blog Twitter About Me I'm a stay at home mum of three crazy kids...I'm not very good at my job. Currently featured in The Secret Life Of The Family - Tuesdays on Channel 5. Sometimes I blog, sometimes I write for The Comet newspaper, sometimes I contribute to scarymommy.com ... most of the time I just think about doing stuff.

As Sweden’s multicultural society continues to circle the drain, the leftists in that country are finally coming face to face with the nightmarish social conditions that they helped create. According to SVT, a television station in Sweden, several well-known feminists no longer feel safe in migrant dominated neighborhoods. Nalin Pekgul, who is a politician and feminist as well as an immigrant from Turkey, says that she now avoids the town center of Tensta where she has lived for 30 years. “Religious fundamentalists gained increasing space in the area and the place of women in the public sphere diminished,” she said. Pekgul tried to raise awareness on the situation, but to no avail. “I always hope that it will blow over. One should never forget that the vast majority here are cursing the fundamentalists.” Zeliha Dagli, another high-profile feminist politician, doesn’t just avoid the center of her community. She had to move away from Busby (which is considered a no-go zone) to the inner city of Stockholm, where she says that she feels much safer. The refugees in Busby began acting as “morality police” and intimidating women in the area. They specifically pressured feminists like her. “There were rumors that we wanted to take away women’s veils…they said that I would keep myself, and then I did not feel so safe anymore.” Unfortunately, far-left feminists are still promoting policies that are killing Sweden. Recently, a spokeswoman for the Feminist Initiative Party suggested that migrant rapists shouldn’t be deported. The Save Infowars Super Sale is now live! Get up to 60% off our most popular products today!

A Mother's Day strip show turned into a massive brawl in a pub car park as a dozen women fought each other after watching 'Sergeant Sex' strut his stuff. Around 100 women packed into The Woodman Arms pub in Middlesbrough at 3pm to see the scantly-dressed men perform their teasing routines. But after a boozy afternoon things got heated and a fight broke out inside the venue. The chaos spilled out into the car park and two women were arrested by police. A Mother's Day strip show turned into a massive brawl in a pub car park as a dozen women fought each other after watching 'Sergeant Sex' strut his stuff Around 100 women packed into The Woodman Arms pub in Middlesbrough to see the scantly-dressed men perform their teasing routines (pictured) The pub had encouraged people to 'treat your mum to something different' when advertising the Mother's Day event on social media. A Cleveland Police spokeswoman confirmed: 'Police were called to the Woodman Arms at around 10.25pm on Sunday night to reports of up to a dozen women fighting. 'It started inside the pub and then moved outside. The pub had encouraged people to 'treat your mum to something different' when advertising the Mother's Day event on social media Muscle man Glen Watson was dressed as an odd-job man as he teased the crowds of women 'Two women, aged 24 and 30, were arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a public place and were issued with fixed penalty notices.' Among the crowd was actress Gabrielle Green, who starred in the CBBC fantasy drama Wolfblood. She told followers on Twitter: 'Imagine, I've came home to take our mam out for mother's day and she's got me watching f****** strippers.' Police confirmed two women, aged 24 and 30, were arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a public place Fighting started just after 10pm before the brawling spilled into the streets and officers had to take action This was the social media post created to advertise the event. It encouraged customers to try something a bit different Glen Watson, 23, dressed as an odd-job man, and Johnny Hunter, 28, wearing a police outfit, performed at the event. 'I don't know if that was just because it was Middlesbrough,' Johnny told The Sun. 'I thought it was strange having strippers that early. It was rowdy. They were cheering and screaming and whistling. 'Some were game and were up for it. I got them to suck a banana and lick cream off me. They weren't shy. After me was Sergeant Sex the soldier.'

Fan Photos Hey Jen, thanks for your comments on resolving fan issues at the stadium. I’m with you on thinking that fans should be respectful of each other and first try to handle simple issues amongst ourselves. Before complaining to security the “fry ladies” should have politely spoken to your son. However, the truth is that some fans are just plain jerks, drunk or not. We all know people who “need” to find a problem. They get satisfaction out of “making a mountain out of a mole hill”. Not allowing your son to enjoy the game and show his excitement by occasionally popping up when he felt the need, was just ridiculous. Someone has to get the crowd on their feet, why not a young enthusiastic fan! I suggest a bit of “sugar coating” at the next game. Perhaps you can “butter” the “fry ladies” up by offering them the concession stand’s “heart healthy” dogs. They go great with a large cola and a “mound of greasy” fries! The ladies might be so grateful for the extra snacks they won’t have time to look up from their laps! Just sayin…be nice… it’s a Ravens game! As for the drunken fans, I don’t engage in a conversation with them. I have found that addressing an issue with an intoxicated fan usually increases the disruption. Once they learn that you have a problem with them it’s like putting gas on an already out of control fire. I stay clear of them and let security know as soon as possible if there is a problem. Speaking of people standing during the game I have a similar issue with the S.A.F.E. security guards. The stadium’s security is awesome; they really do a great job of keeping the fans safe. Their policy on how they have staff monitor the crowd during the game is tricky for me. We have great stadium seats, right next to a stairway, overlooking the corner of the end zone. We are so close to the field that when the play is at our end we can actually “high five” the players. The stadium security ensures that other fans don’t rush down the stairwell or lean the railings. Yet what security has over looked is how annoying it is to have the S.A.F.E. staff obstruct our “prime PSL real estate”. During various times throughout the game the guards are required to stand at the rail and watch over the crowd. This problem is an issue in just a few sections of the stadium. While we appreciate security’s important role to ensure crowd control it is annoying to say the least. The guards block our view of many critical plays that happen right in front of us! Even though when they come to the rail we are often already on our feet, we are still unable to get a clear view of the field. The guards are always very nice, aware that they are in our way and try hard to not block our view. They often squat or bend down and mention they would love to have a seat! We realize they have a job to do and we appreciate them trying to accommodate our needs. It would be helpful if the stadium security would provide those guards who may interfere with fan viewing an alternative. Perhaps they could sit on a stool or cushion during key game moments. I accept that having security stand in front of me is a price that I may have to pay to have a safe game environment. On the other hand, I am a paying fan and the cost of a PSL and individual game tickets are expensive. I hope that the stadium will want to ensure that every fan has the finest home game experience possible. I suggest they give the guards an attractive purple and black “Ravens Roost” bench and make us all happy!

A recent Pew study found that white American Evangelical Christians think they experience more discrimination than Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, Atheists or Jews. Really?! Christianity is the majority religion in the U.S. and many kinds of legally ensconced religious privilege are on the rise including the right to woo converts in public grade schools, speculate in real estate tax-free, repair religious facilities with public dollars, or opt out of civil rights laws and civic responsibilities that otherwise apply to all. By contrast atheists are less electable than even philanderers, weed smokers or gays; Hispanics and Muslims are being told to leave; Jews get accused of everything from secret economic cabals to destroying America’s military; and unarmed Black youth continue to die at the hands of vigilantes. Given the reality of other people’s lives, a widespread Evangelical perception of their group as mass victims reveals a lack of empathy that should make thoughtful believers cringe. And indeed, Alan Nobel, managing editor of Christ and Pop Culture, and a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University, wrote a pained analysis this summer of what he called Evangelical persecution complex. Nobel contrasted the privileged position of American Christians with the real and serious persecution Christian minorities experience under ISIS, for example, and he examined the ways in which victimization can become a part of Christian identity to the detriment of Christians and outsiders alike. What he neglected to spell out clearly was the extent to which the Bible itself sets up this problem. Christianity, born in the harsh desert cultures of the Middle East, got its start by defining itself in opposition to both Judaism and the surrounding pagan religions of the Roman empire. Consequently, from the get-go teachings emerged that helped believers deal with the inevitable conflict, by both predicting and glorifying suffering at the hands of outsiders. Indeed, persecution was framed as making believers more righteous, more like their suffering savior. Long before the Catholic Church made saints out of martyrs, a myriad of texts encouraged believers to embrace suffering or persecution, or even to bring it on. This sample from a much longer list of New Testament verses about persecution (over 100), gives a sense of how endemic persecution is to the biblical world view. I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. . . Matthew 10:16-17 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Matthew 10:21-23 You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. Mark 13:9 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Luke 6:22 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. John 15:19-20 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. Acts 4:27 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. . . . They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Acts 5:17-18,40 On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Acts 8:1 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Romans 8:35 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. Philippians 1:29 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. Colossians 1:24 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone. 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:12 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:3 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 1 Peter 3:14 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 1 Peter 4:12-14 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 1 John 3:13 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. Revelation 2:10 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Revelation 20:4 As any squabbling pair of siblings can tell you, claiming to be a victim is powerful stuff, even if you actually struck first. He started it! yells one kid. No, she started it! yells the other. Parental resolve waivers in the face of uncertainty, and both kids get an exasperated lecture. When I was in college, I had a friend who grew up in a rough low income neighborhood. One day we got started talking about car accidents and he said, “My father told me that if you ever get in an accident, you should immediately get out and start yelling at the other driver. Even if it was your fault, it will put them on the defensive and keep them from making wild claims. And maybe the police will believe you.” Amoral, perhaps but brilliant. If claiming to be a victim is powerful, believing you are a victim is far more so, again regardless of the actual facts—which, at any rate, we all are prone to interpret through a self-serving lens. Have you ever noticed that when your friends tell you about conflict with co-workers or lovers, you almost always feel like they got wronged? What are the odds, really? Seeing ourselves and our tribe as innocent victims draws sympathy and support, and it protects self- esteem. But at a price: When we cultivate the sense that we have been wronged, we can’t see the wrong that we ourselves are doing. We also give up our power to make things better. If people keep being mean to us through no fault of our own, then we’re helpless as well as victims, at least in our own minds. You can’t fix what you can’t see. In the case of Christianity, the theology of persecution serves to give the faithful hope. It inspires persistence in the face of hardship, including the many hardships that life brings on all of us through no fault of our own. But it has also blinded generations of believers to the possibility that sometimes the hardships they face are due not to their faith or evildoers hating Jesus, but to the fact that they hit first. And sometimes the bewildering hostility they perceive may simply be something that the theology of persecution set them up to expect, whether it is there or not. Outstanding article, Valerie. I particularly like the biblical compilation supporting your point. I’ll be using this for future reference, I think. You’re probably already aware of John Zande’s thought provoking post “A Christian Nation”, if you haven’t seen it you should give it a read. It poses the questions US christians should think about on their quest for theocracy. Interestingly, the ones who responded claimed “persecution” and lamented the escalation of godless secularization, you’d think we were all about to slide off into the abyss. ;) Well done. Brilliant. Superb piece! There has been an uptick in the “Woo me!” coming from the right wing, which is astounding considering Justice Scalia only last week proclaimed the government had every right to favour Christianity. Mind-bending! excellent exposé on these inner workings within Christianity. This is how I also was raised. To be “insulted” was a badge of honor to wear and feel proud of and though i didn’t go out of my way to be obnoxious, I collected them “knowing” God was pleased. In a “fallen world” under the domain of Spiritual Darkness, being persecuted confirms one that they are on the right side fighting evil. Having said this we SHOULD ALL feel proud for standing up against racism, sexism, and any abuse, and if we ARE as human beings persecuted, then any scars ARE a badge of honor. I personally think that Right-wing evangelical fundamentalist Christians (in the US that is) feel persecuted when they are not allowed to round up their perceived enemies – homosexuals, lesbians, any kind of transgendered, abortionists and those seeking abortions, atheists and such like and simply lynch them all. It’s a shame, really, that the law is so wishy-washy on the matter. Shouldn’t those who know God’s will, have God’s truth by proper interpretation of the Bible have a free hand in deciding who deserves to live, who deserves to die? Besides, there’s all that property belonging to those godless types which should, by divine right, belong to God’s own children – it’s in the Bible, after all. Yep, I certainly can feel their sense of being deprived their entitlement. I think that right-thinking Americans, particularly those who are persecuting the poor RWEFC’s by taking advantage of the system and living a normal life, should turn their properties and families over to them and stop this terrible unfairness. If I remember my history, the nascent Nazis of 1930 Germany practiced this same sense of being persecuted which consequently gave them the right to attack and destroy those they felt persecuted by. Christianity followed the same pattern only it took a couple of hundred years for it to get even with its “persecutors” instead of a couple of decades. It’s a pattern in the sociopath mind. In my experience, when enduring real persecution and responding with understanding, tolerance and love, more often than not the “persecutors” see a mirror of themselves and begin to feel shame. I have seen the attacks stop and subsequently received heart-felt apologies. But when the perceived persecution is due to one’s own evil, the compassionate transfer cannot happen and the evil is compounded. I think that “non-believers” need to rethink their strategies regarding the rise of Christian Nazism in the US. It’s now the non-believers who need to demonstrate love, understanding and practice satyagraha – definitely not an easy choice and definitely one that can seriously backfire if these sociopaths are beyond “redemption” as were/are Nazis and Ku Klux Klanners.

Primary Menu Month April 2016 Saydria Wolfe through her fantastic grasp of narrative has managed to inspire some really one-of-a-kindart. She has also sent me requests that I find both challenging and extremely stimulating. When I first ‘met’ Saydria I thought to myself “This is the type of weird I can appreciate” and nearly a year later I can’t think of a truer sentiment. You will love her work, I guarantee it. I love it so much that I consistently spammed her account and inbox with FanArt for a couple of months straight. Now we can all appreciate good plot bunny, so much so that I have folders and folders of stuff just lingering in the cloud awaiting their own little niche area, and what? Saydria has her own little folder overflowing with character profiles, half done banners, backgrounds and ‘inspiration’ – basically a few risqué images to stimulate the artistic juices. So, below you will find a collection of my favourites and a few miscellaneous pieces that may or may not get used. Click the thumbnails to view AND don’t forget to go visit her web page [link at the top]. Like this: Pay regular homage to your Bunny. They will attack unexpectedly and with voracity, one minute you’ll be minding your own business and the next thing you know? You’ll be typing out a synopsis for a storyline you had no intention of proceeding with. Always be mindful that your Bunny loves to hate you. And when in doubt? Pass that Bunny on. The infection will spread like a zombie plague. No one will be safe. No one. The upside? Someone, somewhere, somehow will finish what you started. The downside? You’ll be bitten again and again, and it won’t always be a nip, sometimes those little fuckers will chew until you’ve nothing left but to give in peacefully. But know that you’ll be going down with pride and alongside a legion of authors just waiting for their time to bite back! #Step Two: Keep Your Mind Tidy! We all do it. Don’t look so innocent. You know you do! You have random bits of paper stashed in books, DVD cases, open Docs, notes and various scans of scribblings from work (tut tut!) The more tech savvy of you will have apps and FB snippets sprinkled across the web awaiting a more convenient time to start/finish. Stop! No more. Get one App (or book or binder or collection of napkins) choose your medium, don’t let it dictate to you. Because you know those snippets? Though they may not work with what you’re working on now, they will work sometime down the line. They will work and work and work. #Step Three: Let Your Character Flow It can be super annoying when you’ve plotted the end and your characters refuse to get there in a timely fashion. But you know what? Let them be. They obviously want what they want. Don’t stress. They’ll get there. Eventually. Hopefully?? And if not? Well, who needs them anyway! Not me! Certainly not you. Actually… Ignore that last bit (bad advice, it’ll get you nowhere, trust me.) But, if you are having trouble? Take a step back. Do something else for a little while, or you can rope in some friends to beta what you’ve got and give you feedback. They might be able to see over that brick wall you’ve hit. #Step Four: Be Proud! I’m proud of you. And I don’t even know you! Your work (no matter the state) is something to be proud of. Marvel at the sheer awesome power of your imagination. Even if it’s crap. And be truthful, we’ve all written crap (I’m not even sure this entire doc isn’t crap) but and it’s a big BUT, own it. Own every misspelled word, every grammatical error, every bit of canon that you fudged. Own your errors and be proud that you made them. In opposition, be proud of your success. Don’t shy away from you comments and hits. Brag about them, be happy. Your success will inspire those starting out (or coming back). Bask in the joy that you give others (don’t be a douche about it) but never, ever ever let that pride go. You did that. Well done. You have accomplished. You thought the thing, plotted the thing, and then you did the thing. #Step Five: Delete ‘Those’ Comments Nobody needs that shit. Nobody. Don’t engage. EVER. Those insufferable little know it alls can ‘Get to Fuck’ or more commonly used these days #GFY. Embrace your inner bitch and let rip. But do it away from ‘them’. Unfortunately uppity trolling dicks tend to ‘win’ by default. And I stress the quotations on win, because their small troglodytic minds cannot comprehend the thought that they are not all knowing, all seeing queens/kings of the arena. They are a waste of need data space and they only have one path ahead of them. Straight into the trash. Out of sight and out of mind. #Step Six: Be The Best Well be your best. That is all you can be. Strive for the best that you can do, and if that doesn’t work? Find someone to collaborate with. #Step Seven: Have Fun 😆 If you’re not having fun, then you definitely not doing it right. Writing is freedom of expression, even when you’re writing the most tragically horrifying scene you can think of. In the back of your head (the lizard part) have FUN. If you’re not having fun, then neither are your readers. That’s as inspirational as I get. So if it helps, know that I got this from my few forays in writing and I have fallen for afoul of each at some point or other. Like this: Author: Myztic Myan MoonGenre: Pre-BDSMRelationship(s): She/HimContent Rating: NC-17Warnings: Het, BDSM Culture, Rope Play, Depictions of Sexual Acts.Summary: She drifts peaceful,pulled under by her own weight. Ebbing to and throw, the light grows dimmer. Her focus on Him. His on Her. Like this: Fandom/Genre: MCU AvengersRelationship(s): Steve Rogers/Tony StarkContent Rating: TWarnings: Pre-Slash, Canon Level Violence, Humour, Fluff, S.H.E.I.L.D Freeform.Summary: Prompt by Only_1_Truth: Tony has been overworked and overstressed, and to top it all off, he doesn’t take orders well, so working with the Cap has been strained. Cue a magical bad-guy and a stray spell, however, and suddenly… Stark is a cat. A little, stressed-out cat. Thankfully, it turns out that Rogers definitely doesn’t hate Tony, and is actually quite a cat person. As usual, Fury had kept everything close to his chest and deployed Captain Tight Pants to round up his ‘Team’. Tony found himself soaring above the action not necessarily needed but still available for clean up. As boredom set in, Tony decided that a commentary was just the thing they needed to spice up the rather tedious crash, bang, wallop happening below. “J.A.R.V.I.S?” “Sir?” “Piggy-back the CCTV, record all angles below and layer with my audio” Tony then perched himself on a random building facing the carnage below. Lower Manhattan was in for a hell of a show. “It’s another day in sunny Manhattan and low! The Avengers are full steam ahead. Witches’a flying, Hags’a flailing and look The Hulk is playing hide’n’seek with a ginger tabby. Oooh Captain A’s looking veeeery stern. Way to go Cap’ you tell those ladies what’s what” Sniggering, Tony swung himself round to see where the rest of their motley crew was hanging out. Across from his perch, he spotted Hawkeye also watching the action; looking closer he noticed Clint was shaking. No! Laughing. Taking this as a good sign, Tony recommenced his commentary. Tony’s thoughts spewed out with little filter as usual. He commented on both the action in front of him and what he could see through the windows within the surrounding buildings. “Well well well. What’s this? Is the Cap actually getting angry?!? No way! Ladies and Gents, I give you Captain Tight Pants all round good ol’boy getting irate! Gird your loins the Cap just said Crap! He swore. The bad language is spilling forth. Steven Rogers has lost his shit at a bunch of little havoc causing, magic wielding biddies. Hahahahhaha!!!” “Tony! Just. Shut. Up!” Tony knew he was annoying. Come on genius here. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work it out. And he should know. But lately. Lately the Cap’s tolerance had apparently reached its limits. And Tony gets it, not everyone can be as awesome as him 24/7. But Capsicle had gone too far this time. Telling him to shut up. It’s just rude. And the rest of them agreed! Even Pepper! Well, Tony would show him. He would show them all. Unfortunately Tony forgot about one teeny tiny detail.

Chuck Todd Is Choking Chuck Todd had the best gig in the TV as NBC News' beloved, cuddly political director. He was TV's Nate Silver. Then he had to go and become White House correspondent. Before taking over the White House beat from the insufferable David Gregory in December, Todd was the Internet's favorite guy on TV. His facility with polling data and self-effacing, not-quite-ready-for-prime-time-but-willing-to-try persona earned him legions of swooning, cheeky fans, who called themselves "Chuckolytes." People started growing out goatees! Fan sites sprang up like mushrooms. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo loved him, calling Todd "the most talented observer of the political scene on TV today" and celebrating the 36-year-old's rise as a "great generational turnover from a cadre" of talking heads in their 50s and 60s. As political director, Todd just had to show up now and again on MSNBC to shoot the shit and have fun. But the stresses and pressures of covering the White House seem to have squeezed all that lovable youthfulness out of him. He's freezing up and turning into just another suit. And the Internet is noticing. Todd's question to Obama at last night's presser was shockingly stupid for someone who's got a reputation as sharp thinker: "Given this new era of responsibility that you're asking for, why haven't you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?" Who knows what Todd was going for—maybe he got the question from someone on the Internet—but since it ought to be abundantly clear that a lot of Americans are sacrificing plenty, thanks very much, it seems he got his head all tied up in knots in a frantic attempt to pin down Obama with a breakout Dickersonian question. His fans are disappointed. Marshall wrote that it's "not clear what Chuck Todd was thinking with that sacrifice question," and headlined a post "Chuck, Yer Killin' Me" back in January when Todd asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if the president would veto a stimulus bill that lacked Republican support ("that would be quite a moment," Marshall wrote). Balloon Juice, which used to like Todd, called the question predictable. He's currently coming in at No. 2—ahead of Jake Tapper!—in a DailyKos poll to name the "biggest tool" at the presser. Todd himself has indicated that he's not entirely thrilled about covering the White House, probably because he's bashful and didn't like talking to Chris Matthews about losing his virginity on national television. But if he doesn't want to lose his fanbase, he'd better loosen up soon and bring back that goofy vibe we fell in love with.

Stories One should avoid either being a bride, or being in a story. After all, stories can sense happiness and snuff it out like a candle. ~ Carmen Maria Machado Old stories grin like wicked grandmothers who have come to usher you into your wedding bed. They stand behind you, holding you at their arms’ length and fuss over your hair. Their palms grabbing your slightly sweaty ones, they hiss mean little things in your ear with their bad breaths. You don’t wonder what you were like when you read these stories now. You wonder instead, if any of these stories have come true, here, in the now. And because the way you write now stands in between you and them, the older, discarded stories; you crave to be better. Here’s one you aren’t entirely ashamed of, here’s another that makes you smile. Like trees and old lamp posts passing us by on journeys that we make every day, our stories stand so –still yet blurring. Now and then, you may cast shy glances at them and wonder why you continued to tell stories knowing you were so bad, knowing there would always be somebody else who could tell that story better. Did you know that jealousy can speak in two languages and write in none? That’s why they are so darn good. They are bilingual little bastards. They don’t know how to write because they can’t, also because they know that they don’t have to. They can get to you simply by lying there in the Snow Mountains and the mustard fields and the stone chapels. They are telling you it’s pointless to see all this and more when all you are going to do is scramble back into your bed with your laptop, open the new word document because you are so ambitious, blink three times and then watch Game of Thrones. They know that you will keep the new word document open until the last moment, until all that needs to be watched has been watched, until you sigh into the dying whispers of your closing laptop and go into deep, guilt – free sleep. New stories are like new lovers. You seek them out by tracing the lines on the palm of their hands, the wet corners of their eyes and lips, and the thickness in their backs. In moments, when time slows down in their eyes, you see the beginning of a tragedy. One that you know is going to leave you battered and poisoned. On naked afternoons, as the sun empties the room for you two and sends shadow after shadow of windows carpeting up and down your sultry bodies, you wrap each other in stories of shame and embarrassment, of loss and fear. The curtains raise and fall, imitating your breaths and hair as you fling each other from far to close, from close to closer. You hold them in your arms until you can, until they let you, in much the same way you toy with stories until they need to be written. Because before you know it, they have rescued their arms from your crushing weight; steadied their tired bodies while gathering their clothes, and left you alone with your awake and throbbing nakedness. As you lie listening to the small echo of their footsteps, you hug your cold body and make promises. Stories are better lovers because they don’t make promises to you. It’s when they begin to, that you need to snuff them out like a candle.

(h/t Heather Protesters at an event in Austin, TX yesterday just took the vile rhetoric we've seen on display this August one extra step: "the protesters had Larry Kilgore, a “Christian activist” and candidate for governor who has endorsed executions for homosexuals; Debra Medina, a Ron Paul Republican and a slightly-less long-shot candidate for governor; and Melissa Pehle-Hill, yet another fringe candidate and a member of a self-appointed “citizens grand jury” investigating Barack Hussein Obama, aka Barry Soetoro." Kilgore captured the sentiment of the mob. (video here) “I hate that flag up there,” Kilgore said pointing to the American flag flying over the Capitol. “I hate the United States government. … They’re an evil, corrupt government. They need to go. Sovereignty is not good enough. Secession is what we need!” “We hate the United States!" Just a lone nut, I guess. Except the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, flirted with the secessionists a few months ago. He didn't attend this protest, which I guess is a positive step. But this has increasingly become the Republican base. A group of people who feel completely justified in chanting "We hate the United States!" I seem to remember being told that I hated America and I was "on the other side" and "in league with the terrorists" because I didn't agree with an unnecessary, illegal and ultimately disastrous war. I don't have tape of myself from every day in that time, but you can trust me that I never chanted "We hate the United States" in front of a state capitol building. Note, too, the lady who used the phrase, "the tree of freedom is occasionally watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots," a quote from Thomas Jefferson, often misappropriated by extremists and the Patriot movement. Timothy McVeigh was wearing a T-shirt that bore this inscription when he was arrested for murdering 168 people in Oklahoma City. What the report reflects is a reality that law enforcement trying to deal with domestic terrorism in America must confront: Their subjects are thoroughly American; many of the people drawn into these movements are, if anything, "hyper-normal." Their version of "patriotism," for instance, is so extreme that they actually hate not just their government but their fellow citizens -- in essence, their country: because, you see, it has been "perverted" from its original purposes. The hyper-normality is a kind of intentional camouflage. The Patriot movement, and militias in particular, were a very specific and intentional strategy adopted in the 1990s by the white supremacists and radical tax protesters of the American far right -- and the whole purpose of the strategy was to mainstream their belief systems and their agendas. The tactic was to adopt the appearance of normal, "red-blooded" Americanism as a way of pushing out the idea that their radical beliefs are "normal" too. In the process, they often adopted time-worn "patriotic" sayings and symbols, such as the "Don't Tread On Me" flag Beck wears, as their own -- though with a much more menacing meaning. If you've seen that flag at an Aryan Nations compound, as I have, you never quite look at it the same. This is why the meaning of Thomas Jefferson's quote above is quite different for them than it is for you and me. To all outward appearances, it is just an expression of avid patriotism. But to a Patriot movement follower, it means something potentially deadly. Patriots who use the symbols of American history while claiming overtly to hate America. This would be something good to ask Dave Neiwert about on Tuesday night in LA.

General Question How do I express to my Father that my Mother is scared of him? So: my mom is very ill. At the rate things are going, she’s going to be bedridden soon. (My guess would be maybe 2 months.). My dad insists on going out to eat morning, noon and night; going to Atlantic City for the weekend, etc. and dragging her around like a goddamn rag doll. Well, today, she told me she was scared to see him. She’s been holed up in her room all day. He needs to be told to stop toting her along, as if bringing her out and about, that somehow everything’s okay. Not to mention’ she’s going to lose her job of 25 years. Yup, we’ll talk about that later. So, I’m truly the only one who has the balls to say something. It’s time. He needs to help her and get out of denial mode. It’s something that needs to be done. Now. But, jellies, where do I even begin! 12 Answers It seems he only wants to keep her from being bedridden ? I’m sort of confused but I mean if she doesn’t want to go out she should be the one to express this to him or maybe you could tell your father she doesn’t feel well enough to go out all the time. Maybe it’s just how you wrote the question, but it sounds to me like he is trying to do as much as he can with her before she is bedridden. It doesn’t sound as if he is being intentionally mean. So you tell your dad that mom is too sick to go out anymore and that he needs to step up and be her caregiver, not her social director. Tell him that her condition has worsened and she is too weak to go out anymore and that he is actually making her condition worse and is not really making good memories with her. She has a lifetime of other memories with him, now she just needs him to understand and make her bedridden days easier. I might guess he is afraid of “losing” what he knows to be his wife. His companion and friend and partner in crime. Maybe he is in denial, or maybe he just sees this as their last hurrah. If they’ve always been an out and about kind of couple, her loss of mobility will be devastating to him as well. What is he to do without her by his side? You are right though. He does need to adjust his behavior and learn to be there for her the ways she needs him to be — but she needs to communicate to him what that means right now. Maybe then you can help to reinforce that and keep him on track. I would just consider doing so compassionately. He too is losing something dear to him as her condition worsens. I agree with the suggestions that maybe she, with your help, just needs to let your dad know she needs some rest at this point, not as much activity. It’s hard to tell how well they communicate in general, and there is some reason she is afraid to says what she wants. But it’s entirely possible, as several have observed, that he’s actually doing this for her, to pack as much into their life together while they can. Best to air the issue and see how everyone feels about it at that point. Best of luck, it could turn out quite well and give your mom a new channel for communicating with your dad that she never had before, My father did the same thing with my mom. He insisted she get up and fix meals for him. It didn’t work. He only made her last days more painful, and actually hastened her death. Try the above suggestions of just talking to your dad. If he won’t listen, take it up a notch. Start by calling her primary care provider if you can (or any of her doctors if you don’t know who the primary is). Doctors who specialize in seniors actually have social workers on staff to help family deal with this sort of thing, and that’s who you need now. Your dad doesn’t know it, but he’s actually breaking the law. @serenityNOW You need to get someone to help you with this. It’s way too complicated for any one, or even a group of individuals if they’ve got divided loyalties, etc. Please contact a social worker who specializes in seniors. They are familiar with these sorts of things, and they will help. I’m guessing that you’re concerned about repercussions from your father. Are you afraid of him too? If so, explain that to the social worker also. This is a common story. I’m not a fan of social workers, but in this case it’s appropriate. I know it’s painful, but it’s not going to get better on its own. With outside help at least you have a chance.

MR – PWManiahttp://www.pwmania.com WWE Survivor Series Spoilers, WWE News, Spoilers, Rumors, Results, PhotosFri, 09 Dec 2016 12:32:32 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.2Impact Wrestling Results – June 14, 2012http://www.pwmania.com/impact-wrestling-results-june-14-2012 Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:12:33 +0000http://www.pwmania.com/artman/?p=32043The third live Impact episode of TNA’s summer series opened with a silent video on James Storm losing to Bobby Roode at Lockdown in April. The sound came on for a recap of Storm leaving TNA for two months, finding himself in nature, and then returning at Slammiversary to end Crimson’s “streak.” The focus was […] ]]>Konnan and Chavo Guerrero, Sr. Engage In Nasty Twitter Battlehttp://www.pwmania.com/konnan-and-chavo-guerrero-sr-engage-in-nasty-twitter-battle Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:27:50 +0000http://www.pwmania.com/artman/?p=30720Konnan, 48, and Chavo Guerrero, Sr. (a/k/a Chavo Classic), 63, took to Twitter over a dispute, which resulted in a nasty war of words. Guerrero, Sr. wrote May 19 on the website, “QUESTION FOR KONAN, DID U EVER TAKE STEROIDS? “JUST A QUESTION SINCE KONAN TALKS A LOT OF TRASH AND BULLSHIT ESPECIALLY ABT HIMSELF […] ]]>WAR Wrestling On December 4th In Lima, Ohio For “Cold War”http://www.pwmania.com/war-wrestling-on-december-4th-in-lima-ohio-for-cold-war http://www.pwmania.com/war-wrestling-on-december-4th-in-lima-ohio-for-cold-war#respondTue, 16 Nov 2010 03:31:02 +0000http://www.pwmania.com/artman/?p=2850P.O.W.E.R Wrestling sent PWMania.com the following: WAR Wrestling on December 4th, 2010 has put together the biggest card to date in the 8 year history of the promotion. This event is being billed as “COLD WAR”. You will see the crowning of the 3rd ever WAR Wrestling Champion, 4th WAR Tag-Team Champions along with the […] ]]>http://www.pwmania.com/war-wrestling-on-december-4th-in-lima-ohio-for-cold-war/feed0WAR Wrestling “COLD WAR” On December 4th In Lima, Ohiohttp://www.pwmania.com/war-wrestling-cold-war-on-december-4th-in-lima-ohio http://www.pwmania.com/war-wrestling-cold-war-on-december-4th-in-lima-ohio#respondMon, 08 Nov 2010 16:03:20 +0000http://www.pwmania.com/artman/?p=2408WAR Wrestling sent PWMania.com the following press release: WAR Wrestling on December 4th has put together the biggest card to date in the 8 year history of the promotion. This event being billed as “COLD WAR”. You will see the crowning of the 3rd ever WAR Wrestling Champion, 2nd WAR Tag-Team Champions along with the […]

Donald Trump Calls Ohio State Attack a ‘Tragic Reminder’ on Immigration President-elect Donald J. Trump said Thursday that the cutting assault by a displaced person a week ago at Ohio State College was a “deplorable update” of the need to take a hard line on migration, contending that his organization would put the security of Americans first in a way the Obama organization never has. Mr. Trump, who went by the college’s grounds on Thursday before talking at a triumph rally in Des Moines, said the assault — completed by a Somali-conceived displaced person who Mr. Trump has said ought not have been in the nation — had been “yet one more unfortunate update that migration security is presently national security.” “No more amusements, people, no more recreations,” he told a few thousand individuals in an expansive occasion corridor in downtown Des Moines, stuffed with supporters wearing brilliant red tops decorated with Mr. Trump’s “Make America Extraordinary Once more” mantra. “A Trump organization will dependably put the wellbeing and security of the American individuals first. It will be the American individuals first — it hasn’t been that way.” In a 46-minute discourse, Mr. Trump said his organization would get serious about visa manhandle that damage American specialists and reorder the country’s movement and exchange approaches to organize local conceived individuals over outsiders, repeating a portion of the unalloyed nativism of his battle. “We will put our kin — not individuals from different grounds, our kin — back to work,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re not going to be the idiots any longer,” he included as he depicted the Obama organization as feckless on China, unconcerned with the predicament of the white collar class and unwilling to utilize the firm strategies he said were expected to ensure Americans against remote dangers. “We should dismiss the fizzled methodologies of the past,” Mr. Trump said. “Government must quit listening to the exceptional interests and begin conveying for the national intrigue.” Mr. Trump was quickly joined in front of an audience by Terry E. Branstad, the long-lasting Iowa senator and staunch battle supporter whom he has been minister to China. He said Mr. Branstad would enhance the Unified States’ association with China, a nation that he said had been undermining exchange and different issues and should be brought into line. “They haven’t played by the principles, and I know it’s chance that will begin,” Mr. Trump said. “You have the enormous burglary of licensed innovation, putting out of line assessments on our organizations, not assisting with the threat of North Korea like they ought to, and the voluntarily and gigantic downgrading of their money and item dumping.” It was the third stop in a multistate visit he has started to express on account of the supporters who filled his presidential offer. As much as anything, the revitalizes give off an impression of being for his own particular pleasure: Mr. Trump, who delighted amid the crusade in immense energizes zapped by boisterous, regularly furious serenades, needs to proceed such occasions once he is confirmed, his associates have said. At the encourages, he spends a few minutes backstage engrossing the cheers of the group and listening to his name droned. On Thursday, he waited on a catwalk over the group as red, white and blue spotlights cleared over the cheering supporters, their cellphones raised to catch pictures of the president-elect. He enjoyed an emotional relating of his amaze triumph on decision night, posting states he had won and taking note of dryly that numerous onlookers, including some all alone group, had been stunned at his prosperity. He came back to the topic frequently. Thirty-five minutes into his discourse, he interfered with his discussion of movement strategy and occupations to give his crowd another chance to cheer him. “Coincidentally, are you happy I kept running for president?” he asked the group, which yelled its endorsement. “It’s a development.” Mr. Trump’s discourse was additionally hindered by nonconformists who spread out a flag bearing a swastika and droned: “No Trump! No K.K.K.! No rightist U.S.A.!” Participants pushed the nonconformists and attempted to snatch their flag before cops drew closer to escort them out of the corridor. The president-elect — who, amid the battle, regularly egged on supporters who got to be distinctly forceful with dissidents — took a strangely mollifying tone. “That is OK,” he said. “I believe they’re really on our side. They simply don’t have any acquaintance with it yet.” Mr. Trump said he would manufacture a divider on the outskirt with Mexico, as guaranteed, revise exchange assentions to prevent different nations from dumping items on the American market, and “guard each and every American occupation.” He additionally said he would solicit Congress to pass a bundle from enactment tending to ladies’ worries, an issue championed by his little girl Ivanka, who is thinking about withdrawing from the family domain and her own particular organizations to prompt her dad in the White House. “I’m requesting that Congress pass enactment to make protected and reasonable tyke mind open to all, while battling to get higher pay for ladies in the work constrain — that is the thing that needs to happen — and guaranteeing ladies possessed private ventures can get to the capital they require,” he said. He protected his forthcoming bureau against feedback that it is excessively stuffed with rich individuals, contending that the ultrarich are unequivocally the ones who ought to lead the administration. “I need individuals that made a fortune, since now they’re consulting with you, O.K.?” Mr. Trump said. “It’s the same than an extraordinary baseball player or an incredible golfer.” “These individuals have surrendered fortunes of salary with a specific end goal to make a dollar a year, and they’re so pleased to do it,” he included.

" The body of Christ." " The body of Christ." "No, it ain't." "We both know it's the only way to reach the boy." "Enter." "The Sheriffs here for his piece of the gate." "What time is it?" "Almost sundown." "You slept clean through the day." " I got to go." " No, you don't." "Leave me alone." "I shouldn't be in here." " I should have never come in here." " You were bone-tired." "You were babbling about them dreams." " Thing just happened." " It's a sin." "Nobody tells me what to do in my bed." " Including the Lord." " Don't touch me." "You never mind about him." "Here, why don't you just take these dresses to Lila for mending?" "I never did it again." "It's not funny." "What?" "How did that get in there?" "It's supposed to be in there." "It's mescal." "The Mexicans say, if you swallow that little fella, it gives you magic powers." "Course, you already got magic powers." "Not me." "It's Mama." "Her magic ain't so great." "I've never seen her be wrong." "What she sees in the cards is true." "But she said we were gonna get out of here." "She was wrong about that one." "Yeah." "You know who you remind me of?" "Katharine Hepburn." "You're crazy." "No, I'm serious." "Like in Morning Glory." "She's so strong." "I don't want to say strange-looking..." " Thanks." " That's not what I meant at all." "What?" "Exotic?" "Hypnotic." "Come on, take the last sip." "I think I'm gonna be sick." "You're here for the fiesta, senor?" "Fiesta?" " What are they celebrating?" " The return of the souls." "To la Muerte." "We raise our glass to her." "Does she scare you?" "I've seen people die." "I ain't got no money." "What?" "Tell them I don't have anything." " They know." " What's wrong with them, then?" "They are weeping." " Why?" " For your loss." "Even the dead must eat." "Amen." "Kneel, my son." "How long has it been since your last confession?" "I've never done this before." "Do you wish to confess your sins, that they may be forgiven?" "By you?" "In the eyes of the Lord." "He can't make it right." "I killed a man." "Yes." "And I done impure things with a woman I wasn't married to." "I lied." "I stole." "Go on." "I let her die." "Your mother chose to die." "Who are you?" "Last Sunday, I saw something." "Something I can't explain in any rational way." "What do you mean?" "When I made the sign of the cross on his forehead, the holy water turned to blood." "Blood?" "I'm sure you're mistaken." "I'm an old man, Iris." "But I'm not a fool." "I know what I saw." "I'm sure it was just the light." "Or maybe you were tired." "It's time to face facts." "Perhaps he's come under the influence of something." "Something dangerous." "I know he's a man of God." "I raised him in the church." "Both of you." "Iris." "The Bible speaks of demons that can enter a person." " Demons?" " There are rituals." " Catholic rituals, yes." " You're speaking of an exorcism?" "That's insane." " It's just Papist hocus-pocus." " It may be the only way." "Listen to yourself, Norman." "Listen to what you are saying." " What a pleasant surprise." " Justin." "Unfortunately, I was just leaving." "Between us." "If I'm late for my afternoon service, they'll start without me." "Felix, go fetch me a spot of sugar for my coffee." "Go get your own sugar, why don't you?" " I'd be nice to me if I was you." " Well, he ain't you." "Although it's hard to tell on days he forgets to shave." "So who's the lady con la barba, the queen of the carnival?" "She thinks she is." "Laugh now, but things are changing." "Especially now Samson's sleeping in a truck." "That's enough." "No one's business but Samson's." "New boss is everybody's business." "Shut up, Lila." "No one said nothing about a new boss." "Honey, it's on the dice." "It won't be long till the professor takes over." "There's not a Chinaman's chance." "Just what we need - the blind leading the blind." "He's been working very closely with Management." "I don't care where anybody sleeps." "I work for Samson." "Y'all can do what you want." "I'm just telling you." "The king is dead." "Long live the king." "Everyone having a nice little chat?" "Getting all the gossip straightened out?" "Let's quit lollygagging around and finish it up." "We got work." "Long live the king." "Good morning, Mother." "Thought that was funny last night, didn't you?" "You know what I'm talking about." "Don't bother denying it." "Making the worm move, that was the nice touch." "I've been thinking you could use a haircut." "It's 1934 and long hair just isn't the style any more." "Got to bring you up to the times." "So tell me more about this so-called rape." "Cos I've been wondering about it, and it just isn't adding up." "It was rape, wasn't it?" "You said it was." "But then we only have your side of the story." "But you do, Mother." "You do hate me." "But that's OK." "Because I love you." "I guess some people would call that dancing." " What's wrong with it?" " You're like a flea on a flat dog." "Like a what?" "No style, no rhythm, no technique." "I don't know what Stumpy was thinking." "My mother can be a real bitch." "Let me teach you a couple of steps." "Try this." "Here, let me take that." "Thank you, Clayton." "Something, isn't he?" " He ain't half bad." " Took me a long time to see it." " Wouldn't have, if it wasn't for you." " You would have." "You set me straight." "I owe you." "The thing is, now that I'm ready... he isn't." "Why do you say that?" "The other night, we were... getting close, and something almost happened, but then he stopped." "That's curious." "Did he say why?" "He said he wanted to go slow." " Sometimes slow is best." " You think?" "You can't force something that ain't working." "Sometimes it just ain't meant to be." "Maybe there's another fellow out there for you." "But you were the one who told me how lucky I was to have him." " True." " You were right." "It's just that he... he already hurt me once." "In this life, there are no guarantees." "But you've been around, right?" "You can tell." "You think I can trust him?" "Yeah, you can." "You said I need to trust people." "OK then, I'm trusting you." "I see Scudder all the time." "In dreams, in daylight." "I saw him in Babylon." "I saw him in some church last night." "I don't know why." "I don't even know what's real and what's not any more." "So if you know why I see the things I do, if you can tell me something, then I'm willing to trust you, and I'll listen to whatever it is you got to say." "I don't know why you see all the things you do." "I wish I did." "You said something happened, bad, in the old country." "What was it?" "All I know is..." "it had something to do with Lodz." "Anything involving that s. o.b..." "That's it?" "That's all you've got to tell me?" "I can tell you this." "It weren't no accident when we picked you up in Milfay." "Management says you was expected." "Expected?" "I don't know what the hell that means, either." "Watch yourself." " Why?" " Something's building, kid." "I can feel it." "When it breaks..." "Mending dresses for a snake charmer." "Waste of my talent." "First thing I'm going to do is move out of the ten-in-one." "Get my own tent." "Not buried in the middle, but right up front." "And a new banner too." "From now on, Possum can bring our meals right to the trailer." "We won't have to hike up to the cook tent and eat with all the riffraff." " Lodz, are you even listening?" " What?" "Sorry, my dear." "I am a little bit preoccupied." " Anything I can do?" " We need to go into town." "Business or pleasure?" "Pleasure for you." " Business for me." " What kind of business?" "It's a surprise." " Maybe we should just leave it alone." " I can't." "I want to try again, but slow, like you said." "You were right." "When did that thunderbolt hit you?" "I mean it." "Jesus, Sofie." "I never know whether you're coming or going." "I only know whenever I spend time with you, I feel like I've been chewed up." "It doesn't have to be that way." "You've known him longer than anyone." "I like to listen to the radio, Mr Dolan." "I don't fancy myself talking on it." "Don't worry, I won't put you in front of the mic." "It's just between you and me." "You're the one who found them." " Justin and Iris." "You took them in." " I love them like my own." "They're very lucky." "When Justin was younger, did you see any sign he was destined to be a spiritual leader?" "I always knew that God set him apart." "Where do you think he's been these past few weeks?" "We're just glad he's home." "Would it surprise you to know he was in an asylum?" "Receiving psychiatric help?" " He told you that?" " No." "But I'm a reporter, Reverend." "I'm sorry, Mr Dolan." "I don't have time for this." "Do you believe he needs help?" "Is there a problem?" "If there is..." "we will handle it from within the church." "Not if the police get involved." "I dug up an unfiled police report." "A car matching Justin's was seen near the ministry before it burned down." "It was his church." " Perhaps he was working there." " 11 o'clock at night?" "Something strange is happening." "I was at the service." "I saw the way people came to him." "It wasn't like any baptism I've ever seen." "You saw something too." "Good day, Mr Dolan." "What are you afraid of?" " How's your head?" " Same dog that bit you, bit me." "Yeah, I think we did get a little tight." "Girl, you were drunker than a fiddler's bitch." "Your bottle, your fault." "Come here." " I talked to Jonesy." " You did?" "I thought I messed things up but he said we could try again." "That's great." "I'm happy for you." "Just be careful." "Careful?" "I'm just saying, men are dogs." "So, you OK?" "Yeah." "Why?" "You were looking at me strange last night." "I won't go within ten miles of anything that's got a worm at the bottom." "Other than that..." "Then everything's hucky duck?" "Hucky duck." "Sofie came to talk to me today." " Me too." " What did she say?" "What do you think?" "She's crazy about you." "Yeah, that's sweet." "We're just gonna have to be more careful." " No." "No." " No?" "I can't." "I owe it to myself to give this thing a chance." "You just said the girl can't even make up her mind." "It's something I've been wanting for a long time and... you and me just complicate it." "You weren't worried about that when I was sucking the head off your hammer." " Rita Sue, please." " You think this is sticky for you?" "I'm the one who's married." "All the more reason I should be with Sofie." "She's just a kid." "She's it for me." "Of course she is." "Cos she's the girl in the fairy tale, and you're the hero." "That ain't how it is." "Then look in my eyes and tell me you don't want to throw me down right here." "I can't." "I should've seen this coming." "We dodged a bullet, you and me." " If Stumpy found out..." " Don't hide behind Stumpy." "Rita Sue, please." "You gave something to me." "But it's going nowhere." "It's over." "Stumpy felt sorry for you and wanted to make you a man again." "But it's clear now that no amount of fucking can do that." "You're still the same yellow gimp you always were." "Noticed a little swagger in your walk today." "I wonder why that is." "Could it be someone got his gun cleaned?" " I don't know what you're talking about." " Don't be shy." "Everybody knows." "No secrets around here." "I'm trying to work." "How was she?" "Grateful, I imagine." "I always kind of hoped that..." "I might be the one to pick that cherry." "I'm working." "You get tired of grandma, you come and see Lila." " An asylum?" "That's preposterous." " Is it?" "Reporters will say anything for a good story." " Justin was home the night of the fire?" " He was asleep in bed." " What kind of question is that?" " The kind the police will be asking." " The police?" " If Mr Dolan goes public with his story." "Do you believe that Justin would burn down his own church?" "Do you?" "I think Mr Dolan has sunk to new lows with his filthy lies." "You better hope they're lies, Iris." "At some point, I can't keep this from the Bishop." " There is no need to bring him in." " Too many unanswered questions." "Justin will answer them." "There's an explanation for everything." "People sure know how to throw a fandango." "I thought you'd enjoy it." " You be all right?" " Meet me here in one hour." "OK, he'll take care of you, sir." "Samson, how old do you think I am?" "Come on." "Give it a shot." "Older than Shirley Temple, younger than Joan of Arc." "Put a year on it." "All right." "Fifty..." " two." " Close enough." "How many years between me and the kid?" "What's that got to do with the price of beans in Tijuana?" "Not a damn thing." "My advice..." " stay away from him." " I'm too old." "Just say it." "No, it ain't that." "You can still buck a bull off a bridge." "You remember Hack Scudder?" "Fucked better than anyone else." "He was trouble." "I like the kid, I do, but... ten times the trouble." "Straight from the arenas of Madrid, a special treat for you tonight." "The top lady bullfighter in all of Spain!" "There isn't any bull that she can't beat." "Gentlemen, La Matadora Caliente!" "Let's see, let's see!" "Look at that." "She's giving them whatever they want." "The customer is always right." "Only now we don't have a blow-off." " Felix." " What?" " Go get me a couple of buckets of water." " What for?" " Just do it." " What are you doing?" "Excuse me, gentlemen." "Somebody stop that music." "What a handsome bunch of gentlemen you are." "How nicely dressed." "Now, you all have pocket-squares, don't you?" "Can you take them out for me?" "Come on now." "Let me see them." "That's right." "Look at me." "I'm all wet." "Can y'all help dry a girl off?" "Don't be shy." "Get to work." "Dry me." "Do you like that?" "Such gentlemen." "Your wife, she's one sexy mujerzuela." "You go sleep with her, then." "You're more my type." "Jesus, woman, not right now." "Come on." "You're driving me crazy." "You're both driving me crazy." "I had enough trouble with one woman, now it's double." " I thought you liked me." " I do." "I do." "It's just that I'm getting all turned around now." "I don't know what's gonna happen next." "You know what you need?" "A bruja." " It's all a con." " Watch what you say." "Where I come from, a bruja is respected." "She can help you with your woman problem." "You got a customer." " Stumpy?" " I'll try anything once." "Hey there, Appy." "I like your new hairdo." " You know she's not deaf, right?" " Sorry." "Shuffle the cards, and cut them with your left hand." "Now what?" "Is this supposed to tell my future?" " Ask anything you want." " OK." "What colour is my piss gonna be tomorrow?" "I'm just kidding." "I don't know what to ask." "You wanna start?" "All right." "The Hierophant." "That's a word you don't hear every day." "That's ancient Greek." "It means a man with great power and authority over others." "The thing is, he's upside down so that means the opposite of you right now." "What's the next card?" "That looks like a good card for me." " It means a strong partnership or union." " It's the right side up." " That's probably me and Rita Sue." " Could be." "Except for this next one." "Two of Cups." "Means there's a new relationship." "The new dancer, maybe?" "Saw my eye twitching, didn't you?" " It is in the cards, Stumpy." " Sure it is." "The Knight of Swords." "Means there's another man in your house." "There's a lot of other men in my house." "Mother." "Let her talk, don't stop her." "It's just one man that keeps coming back." "And he's not a johnny... he's a friend." "It's gotta be a mistake." "You gonna tell me who it is?" "You're a liar." " Reading's over." " You can't do this." "You can't stop now." " I'm sorry." "You have to leave." " But you can't just stop." "Please leave." "Sorry." "Who else knows about this?" "Does Libby know?" "Tell me!" "Lila?" "You there?" "Oh, Lord." "He's going to repeat these fabrications over the radio?" " It's monstrous." " It's absurd." " He has no proof." " He has a police report." "An automobile?" "A black Ford?" "There are thousands of them." "You don't understand." "Once this story is out, the damage is done." "You don't get to take it back." "You'll be ruined." "Justin, where are you going?" " I'll meet with him." "We'll talk." " That won't do any good." " I believe it will." " He's spoken with Norman." " He has?" " Yes." "Stirred things up with them questions, accusations." "Norman's even threatening to bring in the Bishop." "Let the Bishop come." "We have nothing to hide." "Yes, we do." "What are you saying?" " Iris." " I did it for you." " But the children who died?" " They were sacrificed." "Like the lambs of Abraham." "Sacrificed?" "The road is clear now." "We have Templeton's cheque, donations, money for a new church." "Nothing can stop us now." "I did it for you." "Mama!" "Get Ben." "Ruthie?" "She ain't breathing." "Where are you taking her?" "Just wait here." "She's gonna be all right." "Remember how I fixed your arm?" "I'll fix her." "You just wait here." "Don't talk to nobody." "You hear me?" "I'll be back." "Come on." "Honey, come on." "Now, Ruthie..." "Ruthie, please." "Come on." "Come on." "Please" "Please" "Please" "Come on!" "Ruthie..."

‘I, Tonya’ Review: Margot Robbie Is Better Than Ever as Tonya Harding You may think you know the infamous Tonya Harding story, but the new biopic about the figure skater Americans loved to hate is not what you’re expecting. Eschewing a traditional biopic approach, I, Tonya filters the tragedy of Harding’s life and the media’s fascination with the 1994 Nancy Kerrigan knee-whacking scandal through a lens of Coen brothers-esque dark humor. It’s a blisteringly funny and sympathetic portrait of the Olympian led by an outstanding, confident performance from Margot Robbie. I, Tonya, written by Steve Rogers and directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, The Finest Hours) wastes no time establishing its biting comedic approach. A hilarious opening title card reads: “The events of this film are based on irony free, wildly contradictory, and totally true interviews.” Contradictions are exactly what ensue from the film’s framing device, which introduces the subjects behind the Olympic media fiasco in talking-head interviews set in the present day. First we meet Robbie’s Tonya, then her violent, numbskull of an ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan). There’s also Allison Janney as Tonya’s cold, acerbic mother LaVona Golden, Julianna Nicholson as Tonya’s skating coach Diane Rowlinson, Paul Walter Hauser as Jeff’s idiot best friend Shawn Eckhardt, and a spray-tanned Bobby Cannavale plays a Hard Copy producer. The film charts Tonya’s earliest days of ice skating, her abusive relationship with Jeff (as well as her mother), and then, of course, the infamous incident. In 1994 two men hired by Gillooly led an attack on Kerrigan (played by Caitlin Carver) a month before she was set to skate at the Olympics, striking her landing leg with a police baton. It all supposedly started with Gillooly and Harding planning to spook her competitor with death threats, and Harding claimed she had no knowledge of the actual attack. But I, Tonya doesn’t spend an excessive amount of time on the Kerrigan episode; most of it is devoted to Harding’s story, narrated primarily by Tonya and Jeff. Other characters take turns telling their versions of certain events, often interrupting one another to deny someone else’s accusation. It’s a playful nod at the fictional nature of biopics, and a reminder that as familiar we may be with the Harding-Kerrigan incident, no one really knows the full story. At other times the characters break the fourth wall Goodfellas-style to inject their own commentary. Sometimes this works brilliantly, amplifying the film’s in-your-face energy. At other times it’s jarring and breaks up I, Tonya’s dramatic momentum, like when Jeff smashes Tonya’s face into a wall and Robbie turns to tell us matter of factly, “He beat the s– out of me,” before present-day Tonya resumes her narration. In the first two thirds of I, Tonya the characters are keenly self-aware of our fascination with Harding. The film knows we can’t wait to get to the Kerrigan incident. But the last third of the film turns on us. No longer laughing along with us at the too-crazy-to-be-true nature of this story, Robbie’s present-day Tonya now puts the spotlight on the audience, calling them out for their urge to vilify her. “You’re all my attackers, too,” Robbie says, guilt-tripping viewers for gleefully eating up the gossipy drama. I, Tonya‘s farcical tone is certainly risky, and it could be read as exploitative at points. It left me with questions about the sensational nature of the movie itself – is I, Tonya indulging in the very thing it criticizes? Someone could make that case, especially with the wild tonal shifts in the film’s scenes of domestic abuse. But I, Tonya never felt offensive or cruel to me, and that’s mostly because it sculpts its characters, even the ones with irredeemable qualities, with dignity. There’s a sincerity to the film that’s committed to humanizing Harding and depicting her as more than a punchline. I, Tonya also features some great work from Gillespie, who brings stylish directing brings a punchy energy to the movie. Watching the real Harding’s competition videos on YouTube is one thing, but getting up-close with Robbie and seeing the intensity across her face – especially in the recreation of her upsetting Lillehammer breakdown – feels like we’re getting a private look at the pressures she faced. And Robbie brings a real gravity to those moments. As great as she is, she's nearly overshadowed by Janney. She’s pure gold in a riotously funny performance that includes a gag with her pet parrot and too many scene-stealing lines to count. I, Tonya is one of the best surprises out of the Toronto International Film Festival. We may not walk away from it knowing the truth about Harding’s involvement or the details of the notorious attack, but that’s not the point. The film asks us to try to view its subjects, even the awful ones, with more sympathy than we may have been inclined to initially. By the end, Gillespie manages to transform a scorned punchline into a lovable heroine.

Demon Dice Demon Dice, originally published as Chaos Progenitus, is a collectible dice game for two or more players created by Lester Smith (designer of the better-known Dragon Dice) and Tim Brown. Publication history The original Chaos Progenitus game released by Destination Games in 1996 was a serious combat game. However when the game was republished as Demon Dice by Fast Forward Games, the idea was given a humorous spin, styling the players as "Demon Creation Specialists, Junior Grade" in the bureaucracy of Hell. In addition, Fast Forward added several promotional "Noble House" demons, one die of which was included in each box of the game's Starter Set or either of its expansions, "A Few Parts More" and "Drippy Are The Damned". Gameplay Each player assembles a "demon" from 13 special and collectible six-sided dice, each of the dice representing a different body part of the demon (brain, arms, eyes, legs, lungs) and weapons that the demon is carrying (sword, shield, whip, bellows, trident). All of the dice have icons for plus, minus, hit, move and block. A die's identifying face will have a special ability depending on the body part or item type represented; the other faces will bear damage sources, "blocks" which prevent damage, "plus" icons that make damage harder to block, and "minus" icons which prevent dice from being rolled for a turn. The players roll for initiative. The first player rolls all his dice against an opposing player's demon. After removing any minuses — these will act against the opponent in the opponent's turn — the active player then matches any remaining dice against his opponent's demon, part for part. Damage inflicted is either "stun" or "wound", with "stuns" healing over time and "wounds" usually being permanent. If a body part is destroyed by wounds, it is removed from the game, and the owning player's total dice that can be rolled on his turn drops by one. The next player then goes, with the player setting aside one die for each "minus" received from any attacks in the previous turn before rolling his remaining dice. If his demon has no body parts left due to combat damage, or the player is unable to roll any dice due to "minus" dice that have been used against his demon, then that demon dies. The player of the last demon remaining wins the game. Reception In the December 1996 edition of Dragon (Issue 236), Rick Swan called the original Chaos Progenitus "a goodie". Swan believed that this game lacked the scope of designer Lester Smith's previous game, Dragon Dice, but found that Chaos Progenitus was "just as addictive. And nearly as collectible." Reviews Pyramid #24 (March/April, 1997) Arcane #12 (November 1996) References External links Demon Dice Web Ring official homepage: http://www.ringsurf.com/ring_browser.php?id=167741 Daemon Dice announcement Category:Dice games Category:Human activities Category:Leisure activities

She stepped out, umbrella up, yelled across. Wait. Wait a minute. Had Alma waved her off? She had. Oh, my God. You have got to be kidding. What nerve! What balls! Still queen? Peasant girl still too lowly? To come fetch you, Your Highness? Stick it, Alma. Let this be a lesson to you. There is some shit I will not eat. Because she, Debi, was also a person who had the wisdom to let the world teach the evil ones a lesson while she stood calmly by, watching/trusting the cosmos. She stepped back inside, slammed the door, shot the umbrella into the stand, retreated to the middle room, Mom and Dad’s old room, angrily pulled her tax things from the file cabinet, sat shuffling the forms uselessly around, thinking of how strange it was (beautiful, really, a mysterious unsought blessing) that, after a lifetime of being everybody’s joke (easy lay, jilted lover, discarded mom), she was finally (in the eleventh hour) learning to frigging stand up for herself. She stayed in there about fifteen minutes, fuming, getting absolutely nothing done, until she heard the first ambulance arrive and leapt to the window, heart in her throat, and watched as, without even trying the shocking-paddles, they pulled the sheet up over Alma’s head and loaded her in. Debi’s mind lurched forward, sputtered, went (momentarily) quiet. Alma got hold of a fence slat. To pull—pull herself out. Of this. Pain. Something new was happening now. The tightness in her chest was worse. Jesus. Like labor with Paulie. Then it went past that, to labor with Pammy, and she was giving birth to something bigger than Pammy, out her chest. God, oh God. Pop! is how she would have described it had she still been able to describe. Pop. A number of little beings came now. God, get back. You didn’t know whether to pet them or kick them. As they gazed up at her intently, she saw they were saying, Careful, girlie, careful. Then their boss-being came: a man. Paul, Sr. Looking so handsome. “Did you finally wake up, dear?” she said. “And love the right person? The one who knew you longest and understood you best?” Looking at him, she saw the answer was no. Still no. The little beings condensed into two. Boy and a girl. Paul tapped them on the head and they turned into babies. Who stood cowering beside Paul. Giving her the stink eye. Like he was guarding them. From what? From her? In a pig’s ass! It was his fault! He never let us be a family! “Now will you accept me as I am?” Paul said. What? What a crock! How about you accept me as I am? Treat me nice. Like a wife. A real wife. Forsake all others. Love just me. Is that too much to ask? She saw it was still a no and always would be. It hurt. So much. Again. Well, if he wanted a fight, she knew how to fight. She liked it. She was good at it. She’d make him pay. The way she always had. You’d think he’d know that by— She looked down. Her hands were glowing. Glowing red. “This has nothing to do with him,” the girl baby said. “How do you want to be?” How could that baby talk so well? She was like a little genius. In a diaper. And what did she mean? It had everything to do with him. He’d done it all. Turned everything bad. Before Paul had messed with her, she’d been a smiling little dear sniffing lilacs on graduation day, swinging her diploma by one corner. It was Paul. Paul who’d made her hands this way. She went to wipe her eyes and started her hair on fire. No problem. Didn’t hurt. Much. Now Paul was gone. The babies looked lost. She should pick them up. She went for the boy. His eyes got wide at her hot hands. He toddled away. She went for the girl. She toddled away. It was like when you dropped a piece of paper on a windy day and it grew a mind bent on eluding you. She stood still. The babies drifted back. They wanted her. But she had the hand problem. She went for the boy. Who toddled away. She went for the girl. Who toddled away. Then it happened again. And again. For like a hundred years. A stump appeared. At some point. At least now she could sit. She sat trying to figure it out. It seemed she was meant to admit that she was wrong. But she wasn’t. If she was wrong about this, there was no right. Maybe she could fake it. “O.K., O.K.,” she said aloud. “I was wrong. The whole time. About everything.” Hands still hot. The stump began rising. Lifting her above the babies. Then: a terrible bark-cackling. The beings were back. With big old teeth. Here they came, scrambling hyena-like across a vast plain. Real baby-eaters. Lord, so fast. She’d have to hoist the babies up. She reached down, grabbed the boy, singed his little arm. How to do it, how to do it, how to get her hands to cool? “Whose fault was it?” the girl baby asked. “His!” Alma cried. “His, his, his!” Her arms went hot right up to the elbows. Big bully! Whoever’d made her this way, unable to lie, was jerking her around now because she wouldn’t lie. The hyena-beings were closing in, all meat-breath and yellow teeth. “Whose?” the girl baby said. “Whose fault?” “I don’t know,” she cried desperately. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I really don’t! Mine? My fault?” “No,” the girl baby said. What the hell? Fine, forget the babies, she’d keep the hot hands. She was what she was. No one could blame her. As long as she was Alma, she’d be mad. She had a right. Did she want to be mad? No. What she wanted to be was her, younger. Her, non-mad. Her, not yet mad. Pre-Paul. Smelling lilacs, swinging that diploma. No, even before that: so young she wanted nothing yet, liked nothing, disliked nothing. No, before that: before she was even Alma, because Alma would always find Paul, love Paul, and Paul would always be Paul. It came to her, and then was happening: it would be fixed when she stopped being Alma. Her arms and hands went cool and pale, perfectly normal. She reached down, hauled the babies up. “Who do you want to be?” the girl baby whispered into her ear as the stump rose just high enough to keep them safe from the hyena-beings bark-cackling below. It was like waiting at the top of the Alpine in that little wooden car, unable to believe that what was about to happen was about to happen, and then, even as you thought, God, oh God, this cannot possibly— “Nobody even close to home in there,” the paramedic named Henry said to the paramedic named Claire. Which was rude, Claire thought. But actually, no, it was fine: the daughter was out of earshot, sobbing against a tree. ♦

Warning; We are not a politically correct site. Don't like us? Don't read. Thursday, July 16, 2015 Taxpayers Spend $3.5 Million to Find Out Why Lesbians Are Fat A U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) study to understand why lesbians are fat has now cost taxpayers over $3.5 million to-date. The study, “Sexual Orientation and Obesity: A Test of a Gendered Biopsychosocial Model,” seeks to determine why there is a disparity in the obesity rates between straight women and lesbian women and straight men and gay men. According to the study, “It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians overweight or obese, compared to half of heterosexual women. In stark contrast, among men, heterosexual males have nearly double the risk of obesity compared to gay males.”Apparently, “these disparities are of high public-health significance,” therefore, the National Institutes of Health has been continuously funding the project. Since CNSNews.com first discovered the government’s funding of the study in 2013, the cost to taxpayers has increased from approximately $1.5 million to over $3.5 million. A website with information pertaining to the project claims the study will continue until June 30, 2016.Source Now you know what your funding with your hard earned money. Nubian Queen.

Q: Another freak in the wall I love my auntie. This may not sound like a particularly shocking statement to you, but that is only because you don't know her... Since I am a loving nephew, when she hinted that the walls of her living room were beginning to look a little dull, I offered to give them a fresh lick of paint while she was out of town. And so I did. If you ask me, I did a great job for an amateur - I was sure the old hag would have nothing to complain about, for once. She had made very clear that all her furniture had to go back in its place when I was done, so I did my best to comply - and moving around her massive antiques wasn't fun at all, I can assure you. Unfortunately, I was wrong. A couple of days later my phone starts ringing ominously: -Hello, Barry speaking... -Barry Eusebius Poppins! - The three words that have terrified me since I was a toddler. -Auntie, dear, what a pleasure! What have I done this time? -What happened to my pictures? The pictures! I was sure I had put them back in the right place! I knew I should have made a sketch... -Are they not where they are supposed to be, auntie? -No they are not. If only you paid attention sometimes, you would know that there were four pictures on each of the four shelves of the Edwardian cabinet... -But that's where I put them! -You mixed them all up, you lazy fool! They should be arranged by their common themes! -What? You mean there were themes? They looked completely random to me... -Listen, young man. Stop trying to be clever and come here to sort out your mess- she replied, coldly, before hanging up. As usual: with my auntie, no good deed remains unpunished. Now I have to figure out what the four groups of pictures are, united by a common theme. This is the current arrangement: Can you help me sort out what the connections are and what the correct groupings are? A: The first step is to identify the (often very obscure) images, which are as follows: Row 1: Terry "The Bull" Jenkins, the documentary "Iceberg Alley", Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, Annette Peacock; Row 2: A Commentary on Plato's Timaeus, Azellia White, Mikhail Chigorin, Scarlett O'Hara; Row 3: The Godfather III, Ashbel Green, Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor), Angel; Row 4: Technetium, More To Be Pitied Than Scorned, Ceres, Willie "The Lion" Smith. (And yes, I had to reverse-image search just over half of these, as I'm sure the OP was expecting us to need to do!) The 4 groups are then... Group 1: Playable characters from the board game Clue/Cluedo Annette Peacock; Azellia White; Scarlett O'Hara; Ashbel Green. Particularly pleasingly, these even correspond to the titles used in the game: Mrs Peacock, Mrs White, Miss Scarlet, Reverend Green. Group 2: Symbols of the Four Gospel writers, or the Tetramorph "Angel" (the symbol of Matthew); Willie "The Lion" Smith (the symbol of Mark); Terry "The Bull" Jenkins (the symbol of Luke); Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards (the symbol of John). Group 3: Connections with Palermo, Sicily The Godfather III - movie set and shot in Palermo; Ceres - first discovered by the observatory in Palermo; Technetium - element officially discovered by a team of scientists from Palermo; Frederick II - King of Sicily, buried in Palermo. Group 4: NASA space shuttles Iceberg Alley - first program broadcast on the Discovery channel; More To Be Pitied Than Scorned - first film from Columbia Studios; Plato's Timaeus - the first known work to describe the lost city state of Atlantis; Mikhail Chigorin - twice challenger for the chess world championship (also subject of the book The First Russian Grandmaster, by Alexander Khalifman). A little 'Easter egg' here is that each of these answers also involves being the first of their kind!

Despite rumours to the contrary, she told me on the phone, she was not a spy but a mere attaché, wanting only to chat about the future of Lebanon. These were kidnapping days in the Lebanese capital, when to be seen with the wrong luncheon companion could finish in a basement in south Beirut. I trusted this woman. I was wrong. She arrived with two armed British bodyguards who sat at the next table. Within minutes of sitting down at a fish restaurant in the cliff-top Raouche district, she started plying me with questions about Hezbollah’s armaments in southern Lebanon. I stood up and walked out. Hezbollah had two men at another neighbouring table. They called on me next morning. No problem, they said, they saw me walk out. But watch out. . . . . . .ABSOLUTELY WORTH A FULL READ. . . . . . More and more, WikiLeaks is exposing the hopeless nature of US foreign policy and that of its supposed “allies”. Attack on the international community indeed! Fedor Dostoevsky: A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else. Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi When things are not going well, until you get the truth out on the table, no matter how ugly, you are not in a position to deal with it. Ben Gilad Top managers’ information is invariably either biased, subjecive, filtered or late. . . . Using intelligence correctly requires a fundamental change in the way top executives make decisions. Daniel Ellsberg speaking to Henry Kissinger The danger is, you’ll become like a moron. You’ll become incapable of learning from most people in the world, no matter how much experience they have in their particular areas that may be much greater than yours” [because of your blind faith in the value of your narrow and often incorrect secret information]. Alvin Toffler Information is a substitute for time, space, capital, and labor Robert Steele: The truth at any cost reduces all other costs. Phi Beta Iota: The impoverishment of the US Government with respect to its connection with reality was made clear to us in Robert Steele’s second graduate thesis on the mismanagement of strategy to tactical national security information. Here is the conclusion in a nut-shell. 1. The US Government makes decisions based on ideology funded by political contributors, not on the basis of intelligence. 2. Apart from the above, the US Government at the decision level has access to roughly 2% of the relevant information. This is because a) it ignores virtually everything that is not in English; b) diplomats have no money to pay for legal ethical academic, commercial, or other tribe intelligence support; c) the spies, who have too much money, will only talk to traitors and fabricators; and d) to avoid staffing, such information as is gathered by various sections is more often than not sent back in the pouch and immediately filed or discarded, rather than processed into a shared electronic database. 3. Bottom line: collect “at best” 20% of what is relevant, spill 80% in post-collection non-processing, end up with 2%.

Tart (film) Tart is a 2001 American coming of age film written and directed by Christina Wayne and starring Dominique Swain, Bijou Phillips, and Brad Renfro. It follows a young woman at a preparatory school in 1980s New York City and her ingratiation with a group of elite peers. It was released by Lionsgate in 2001. Plot Cat Storm is a teenager attending an elite preparatory school in 1980s Manhattan. Cat begins to fall in with the popular crowd at her prep school, abandoning her longtime friend, Delilah, who is expelled from the school. Cat surrounds herself with some of the school's most popular students, befriending Grace, an English exchange student, and attending holiday parties held by Peg which are often frequented by Kenny, an ephebophile who supplies cocaine to the teenagers and tries to have sex with the young men. Amidst struggles at home between her divorced parents, Cat becomes attracted to William Sellers, a delinquent who comes from an abusive household, and who also is significantly less wealthy than his peers. William and Cat pursue a brief relationship, which he ends, leaving Cat distraught. After some of Cat's anti-semitic friends find out her father is Jewish, she is ostracized, and only accepted by the prim Eloise, who befriends her. Hearing about a party hosted by Delilah on the beach in The Hamptons, Cat goes to stay the night with Eloise at her house, using it as an opportunity to attend the party. There, she confronts Delilah, and the two argue about Cat abandoning her, but make up. Delilah walks to a nearby gay bar where she asks one of the patrons whom she knows if she could get a ride back into the city with Cat. While there, she stumbles upon William receiving oral sex from a male drug dealer. William chases after Delilah and confronts her in the woods on her way back to the beach, and the two get into an argument. He pushes her, causing her to hit her head on a rock. Delilah screams at him and threatens to press charges, and, in a panic, he beats her to death. The following morning, after searching for Delilah, Cat discovers that Delilah's body has been found. After school that afternoon, the paparazzi and reporters interview the students with questions about Delilah, and they all deem her "reckless" and have little to say of her. The film ends with Cat and her mother resolving their own familial conflict and her mother apologizing to her in Central Park. Cast Reception The reviewer for AllMovie wrote that "Tart is a straightforward depiction of self-possessed, spoiled teens, is the best argument yet for getting an after-school job in the late high school years". The reviewer for PopMatters wrote that "Tart is another in a long line of unoriginal attempts to explore one girl’s desire to fit in.". The reviewer for Cinema.com wrote that "The end really isn't an ending. It makes the audience wonder, that's it. There is no real plot, focus, direction or point. It is really not worth seeing." In contrast, the reviewer for the website Through the Shattered Lens actually liked the film even though she called it a "massively flawed film". Robert Pardi of TV Guide gave the film a middling review, writing: "In this blast at the privileged classes, yet another young social climber discovers the bitter accuracy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's observation about the very rich: "They are different from you and me"... But this expose doesn't elicit much sympathy for characters whose big dreams amount to little more than lust for a better grade of cashmere." Contactmusic.com gave the film a negative review, writing: "Not only does the provocative title of Tart mislead us, but the packaging features a lithe Dominique Swain on its covers, her schoolgirl skirt blowing up to expose her panties... The structure of the film is nonexistent (and in other words, there's little plot to hold together a series of oddball scenes), and the acting is perfunctory -- Mischa Barton's horrendous British accent a grating exercise in poor voice coaching and a director too in love with her own material to even notice." A review published in The Massachusetts Daily Collegian was critical of the film, noting: "Writer-director Christina Wayne has so little clue about how to make a film that none of the relationships between seems remotely understandable. Characters float in and out with little connection to each; every scene the viewer needs to reestablish who everyone is in relation to one another." References External links Category:2000s coming-of-age films Category:2000s high school films Category:2000s independent films Category:2000s LGBT-related films Category:2000s romantic drama films Category:2000s teen drama films Category:2001 films Category:American coming-of-age films Category:American films Category:American high school films Category:American independent films Category:American romantic drama films Category:American teen drama films Category:American teen LGBT-related films Category:Coming-of-age drama films Category:Directorial debut films Category:English-language films Category:Films set in New York City Category:Films shot in New York City Category:Films shot in Toronto

Cattle Decapitation can be described as the bastard child of Cannibal Corpse and Carcass weaving a vicious blend of Gore. grind and Death Metal into complex structures with the end result being some of the most brutal and catchy songs writteninthe genre today. Cattle Decapitation takes a different approach to their song writing than most bands of the same sortthattend to focus mainly on fictional subject matter. The new album Humanure starts off where their debut album on MetalBladeTo Serve Man left off, dealing with the rape of the earth, it's natural resources, and the unjust treatment ...read more Cattle Decapitation can be described as the bastard child of Cannibal Corpse and Carcass weaving a vicious blend of Gore. grind and Death Metal into complex structures with the end result being some of the most brutal and catchy songs writteninthe genre today. Cattle Decapitation takes a different approach to their song writing than most bands of the same sortthattend to focus mainly on fictional subject matter. The new album Humanure starts off where their debut album on MetalBladeTo Serve Man left off, dealing with the rape of the earth, it's natural resources, and the unjust treatment ofanimals.Humanure will be the album that metalheads have been longing for; something as ferocious as Cannibal Corpse,something asgutturally disgusting as Carcass, something offensively disturbing as Autopsy, and something as politicallycharged as NapalmDeath. Hailing from San Diego, CA Cattle Decapitation originally formed in 1996. The lineup initially featuredDavid Astor onbass and Gabe Serbian on drums, both of whom were then also members of the underground phenomena TheLocust. Seekinga replacement for their original vocalist, the band turned to Travis Ryan, who had actually been playing drumsfor anotherSan Diego metal band, Strangulation, in addition to serving as vocalist in a gore metal band called Anal Flatulence.With Ryanon board, Astor moved from bass to drums, and Serbian moved from drums to guitar. The 3. piece quickly releasedtwoalbums, the Human Jerky LP (on the Nevada label Satan's Pimp) and the Homovore CD/LP. Next, they added a bassist,TroyOftedal, with whom they recorded their third full-length, To Serve Man, released in the fall of 2002 on Metal Blade, amovethat would expose them to more of a death metal-oriented audience (as opposed to the hardcore/grindcore one thattheyhad mostly been playing to before). In 2002, the band added a second guitarist, Josh Elmore (formerly of 7000 DyingRats),who eventually took over as the band's sole guitarist after Serbian left in order to devote himself more fully into theLocust. The band also has a quite large fanbase among Animal rights/liberation supporters which are usually more connected totheHardcore punk scene. When one sees through the gory image, the band is basically pro. animal/environment/earthandstrongly anti-human (also all the members are vegetarians). The band started as a 3 piece with an unknown guitarist/vocalist, who soon allegedly vanished without the othermembersknowing anything of his whereabouts. « hide

Who are the Spurs' most loathsome foes? Click through the photos for our list, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Forty-eight year old art gallery owner Paul Strait loves the nightlife—wild parties, stiff cocktails, and even stiffer men! But his decadent lifestyle has grown lonely and now he’s looking for love. Some days it seems that what he wants must be a fantasy. Hoping that the perfect guy is out there he enlists the help of Madame Eve. After all, a fantasy service like 1Night Stand should be able to deliver his fantasy man, right? Josef Debrossé runs an exotic gay bar in the Caribbean known only to locals and select tourists. The many patrons coming in and out of his bar ensure Josef never has a shortage of lovers but he’s grown tired of being just a vacation fling. Josef wants to be another man’s lover and partner, not a mere souvenir from the islands. Lost in a dance of lust and allure, both men are thrilled with Madame Eve’s choice for them and feel an intense connection the moment they meet. Flirting over drinks quickly leads to the bedroom. But after their fiery lust has been quenched, the night goes from fantasy to reality without warning. Secrets and frightening pasts threaten to shatter the magical illusion of their perfect date. Will this budding romance survive in the face of reality? This was a fast read about two men who are sick of the fast, party life and want more out of life now that they are older. Paul owns a few art galleries while Josef owns a bar in the Caribbean. They both sign up for one night with each other via Madame Eve. Both men are happy with the date right from the start and hit it off instantly. The chemistry is good and the sex is hot. The secrets that were revealed weren’t much to get upset about, but added another element to the story. If you need a fast read without a lot of angst this is the one for you! ~Angie “I am Josef Debrossé.” He had yet to release Paul’s hand—not that he had any complaints— and his blood warmed from touching a total stranger he’d paid to meet. He let out a breathless chuckle, not surprised he’d been holding his breath. “Paul Strait,” he replied, caught up in something…giddiness? Excitement? Sexual tension? He wasn’t sure, but he felt like a silly girl swooning on her first date. Almost as an afterthought, he added his signature tagline, “And I’m anything but.” A rich resonant laughter danced around them, weaving a spell and capturing Paul inside it until he didn’t even know which way was up or down. “C’est bon, Paul Strait,” he said, those hypnotic eyes sparkling. When Josef released him, he had to resist the urge to take the man’s hand back and never let go, fearing he might disappear. Instead, he downed the rest of his champagne, scolding himself for being so ridiculous. He nodded toward the bar where plenty of stools sat open. “Can I buy you a drink?” At the resort, everything was included, but it seemed like the most logical thing to say. Much classier than, “Are you wearing underwear?”

Editor-in-Chief’s Note: This was originally posted in our forum by ITS Tactical Crew Leader Firewalker. Many found it to be inspirational and we wanted to share it with you. There’s a bit of language, but sometimes you have to tell it like it is. I’ve had a pretty easy life for the past little while. I went to work, came home, watched TV, played video games, went to bed, got fat, got lazy, got useless. I would generally only get off my ass at work. Now, I did this for quite a few years and got used to the easy life. It’s hard not to. However, in the past year or so, I’ve gone through a bit of a change and decided my shitty job in Security wasn’t going to pay bills for my family (well, soon to be. It’s just me, the wife and a cat for now.) I decided I needed something new, so I went into welding. Changing from the easy life of doing nothing all day, to one where I’m working hard for the day, meant that I had to get back into shape. I had developed a nice beer gut and some formerly tougher parts had grown weak. This had to change, so I figured out 5 simple ways of making my life easier by living harder. 1. Just because you can do it easily, doesn’t mean you should. I always found the easiest way of doing things because I was lazy and had no motivation. However, in my new trade, I had to do a lot of lifting and carrying and what not that used muscles that hadn’t seen movement in years. Now the simplest of tasks for others were a bit of a struggle. I decided that if they were a struggle, that eventually they would become easy if I just kept at it. So I did. Eventually, the difficult things became easy. Now I wasn’t improving, I had simply plateaued. So I figured, instead of making it easy on myself, why not add a bit of challenge into it?If I have the time, Instead of one load of plates, I’ll take one and a half, or two. This can apply to any job or task. Raking leaves or shoveling snow? Don’t just rake or shovel your yard, ask your neighbour if they need help. Walking to and from work? Get up early and find a longer route. If it gets easy, take on more. Take on as much as reasonable, then add a bit more to that. You’ll find that the challenge becomes something you actively seek out, rather than avoid. 2. Stop consuming shitty stuff. This is the easiest concept, but hardest challenge. It used to be that I’d have to have two donuts and an extra large 2 cream, 2 sugar coffee in the morning (I still have the coffee, but I’ve cut it down to 1 x 1 and I also use milk instead of cream. Some things you just need to prevent murder.) On top of that, dinner often consisted of fast food, as it was just easier and faster than cooking at home. Since I needed to pay for college (welding course at a trade college,) I lost the luxury of spending money on fast food. This meant I had to plan for meals in advance to budget out our grocery costs. My wife and I sit down and figure out our meal plan for the month, we keep the meals balanced and the portions reasonable. However, not only have our food costs dropped from $500 per month to $100-150 per month, so has my weight. Sort of, but I’ll get to that later. Not only is shitty food expensive in the long run (for example, on the cheap side: 4 x $2 burgers + $2 drink = $10 per night x 7 = $70 per week x 4 = $280 per month on DINNER alone,) but it’s more detrimental to your health. I’m 29 years old, had the blood pressure and cholesterol level of a 45 year old smoker and would get winded going up stairs. All of this was because of my shitty diet. I know this seems simple, but the math alone was enough for us to break out of the fast food prison. The other thing is alcohol. I was an alcoholic when I met my wife. I didn’t need AA or anything, I just needed a reason to stop drinking and she gave me that reason. When I met her, I weighed 250 lbs (at 5′ 11″, that was mostly gut.) I recommend cutting alcohol consumption down to an “occasional” type of thing. I really only drink on special occasions now in a social setting, rather than just getting blitzed for the sake of it. I feel better, and my wallet is fatter for it. If you’re an alcoholic and can’t stop drinking on your own, you might not need to go to AA, but could benefit from some sort of outside assistance. Talk to your doctor for recommendations. 3. Be a man, not a boy. This is difficult to grasp for some of us. I know it took me a while, but I got it. Being a man isn’t about eating meat, drinking beer and fighting bears. Being a man is about responsibility for yourself and your family. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. Taking into account your actions and how they affect others is not something we, as humans, are built for. It takes conditioning, something I lacked growing up. I grew up in a great home; no divorce and a happy childhood filled with great times. However, I was pretty much given everything I could ask for. I rarely had chores beyond raking leaves or shovelling snow (which would be done half-assed so I could get back to my video games.) My parents were great parents, but had trouble disciplining me or teaching me important things like responsibility. This ended up faulting me as a man, as it took me longer to realize what I was supposed to do. They did their best and I love them for it, but they could have been harder on me to prepare me for the real world. I learned that being a man is all about providing for yourself and your family. You need to contribute to the house beyond financial means. Help out with the dishes, do some yard work, etc. Do those chores you were supposed to do as a kid. Beyond that, you do need to put food on the table. If that means taking on two jobs, then do it. I’m working on weekends and going to school on weekdays. If I could fit work in the evenings, I’d be doing that too (I do need to sleep though.) Responsibility is a hell of a motivator. If you know another person is relying on you, it makes you get your it together pretty quickly. If you’re married and you’re concerned you’re not doing enough, then do more. Don’t ask what needs to be done, just find what needs to be done and do it. It’s that simple. If it means bringing more money in, then try your best (these times are tough, so it’s easier said than done). If it means working at McDonald’s even though you have a Masters degree, then so be it. It’s not demeaning, it’s providing for a family and that is NEVER demeaning, no matter how it is done. A true man will do anything to make sure the family is taken care of. 4. Live Like You’re in the 30’s. This one is probably the easiest to accomplish. You’ve had a long day on your feet for 8 hours and the last thing you want to do is go to the gym. That’s fine, I feel that way too. With my workload, I am exhausted when I get home from a long day. I really don’t want to lift weights after doing so much work in the shop (although, to be fair, see #1 for how I get my extra exercise in.) The easiest way to relax while still taking a load off is by not sitting at a TV, computer, iPod, iPhone, whatever. Want to take a load off? Go for a walk to a park with your friends or significant other. Get out, go somewhere, but do it by foot. Go to a library, read a book, walk back home. It’s simple. Live like you’re in the 30’s and avoid all of our modern conveniences. If you want to just relax, do it away from home and get there by foot. When you start to realize how much more enjoyable life can be without technology, you’ll also learn to appreciate the technology we have more without abusing it. You don’t need a car to go to the store 5 minutes away, get off your ass and walk there. People swoon after the simple life of the 30’s for a reason. It’s because there was nothing to keep us distracted back then. We had to strive to survive and if we didn’t, we died. A mentality like that goes a long way in days like these. 5. Learn to love living. Sappy time. I was a pretty miserable bastard for the longest time. Truth be told, I still have my moments (clinical depression is pretty hard to deal with, but that’s for another story). However, when I decided that my life was shit because of the choices I made, I made a change to better myself and learned one thing that will make you the strongest. Living life is great. Motivation to make yourself better is the best conditioning tool that no one talks about. Being fat and sad is one thing, but being able to break yourself out of that is paramount to moving the pillars of the earth. It’s the hardest thing a person can do. If they’re battling clinical depression, that adds another layer of difficulty. A motivation element needs to be present in order to be a better person. This is the part that requires a huge look inside yourself to see what’s needed to change your life. For me, it was realizing that I needed to provide for a family that I wanted to start. My wife saved me from drinking myself into an early grave, but it was the personal choice of wanting to give her a better life that made me snap out of “child mode.” If you’re finding it hard to do anything in life because you just feel it has no point, you need to realize that it has a point. Living isn’t easy and it does suck at times, but you have to take the time to step back from the shit and smell the roses that are planted in it. For guys in the military, you know what I’m talking about. Good Livin’. As a welder, I have a better analogy: Life is tempered by the heat of our tribulations and the cooling of our triumphs. You need to push through the shit and learn to enjoy your accomplishments. Failure does happen and it can be tough, but the key is to remember that no matter how many times you fail, you can always try again with knowledge gained from your failures. If you found a marriage that didn’t work, you’ll know what not to do next time. If you had to quit a job or got fired, you’ll know what not to look for next time. It’s all about learning from failing. Failure is the biggest key to success. If we never fell as babies, we would never have learned how to get back up. In Closing I hope this ramble has provided something for those who are in a slump like I was. I’ve been busy bettering myself and thanks to this site, I’ve found some tools to make accomplishing the above 5 steps easier. I now hope the anecdotes above will make it easier for you to get back on your feet. Writing this has been a bit challenging (not as challenging as reading it, I’m sure!) It’s helping to prepare me for my next goal though. I hope to complete a GORUCK Challenge around my 30th Birthday in September (depending if I can get to one around then). If I can accomplish that, then I’ll know that I’ve made some serious strides in my life. From someone with no point in life, to a man who can take care of anything that may face him. Editor-in-Chief’s Note: When asked for a bio, Steve aka Firewalker, gave this: “Short Bio? Shit, I’m just a regular guy who didn’t want to be lazy anymore. I like guns, rum and loud music. I’m a welder by trade, really nothing interesting at all.”

Wind Blown Nov. 13, 2010 By Jon Cooper Sting Daily Georgia Tech Defensive Coordinator Al Groh may not know the theory of relativity, but he is quite familiar with Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That was why Groh’s defensive unit changed up its approach after the Hurricanes opened the game with back-to-back 88-yard scoring drives, both primarily on the ground. “When the other team moves the ball like that you’re always making adjustments. If you don’t you’re a fool,” said Groh, proceeding into Einstein territory. “You try to continue going the same way then obviously you’re probably going to get the same result. “You have an idea when you start out the game, the so-called game plan, which is very detailed. But that’s just the way you start the journey,” Groh continued. “There are going to be detours along the way and changes that you have to make. The idea that you can wait until halftime to make those adjustments, which usually means that it’s too late.” Unfortunately for Georgia Tech, on Saturday afternoon, it was too late after those two drives. “We made way too many mistakes against a team as talented as Miami,” said Head Coach Paul Johnson of his team’s 35-10 loss to Miami. “We dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t get out of.” More frustrating for the Yellow Jackets was that defensive miscues contributed to both drives, which otherwise might have resulted no points instead of a 14-0 lead. “It wasn’t really Miami. It was us,” said senior inside linebacker Brad Jefferson, who led Tech with 11 tackles, five of them solos. “We beat ourselves. We helped them win.” “Certainly the mistakes that we made today were very harmful in going against a team that’s clearly a big, strong, talented team,” said Groh. “We had three get-off-the-field situations where we kept the other team on the field with penalties. We’ve just got to play better than what we played.” Johnson made that point quite clear, as his usually calm demeanor simmered and showed signs of reaching a boil as he looked at the stat sheet. “It’s a little frustrating,” he said. “The times we did get them stopped when the game was in doubt, then we’d have a penalty to give them a first down. It’s disappointing. They had 64 plays, 500 yards. We also were outmatched.” They expected to be outmatched, size-wise — especially with the likes of freshman right tackle Seantrel Henderson, who stands 6-8, 330, and created match-up problems all day. “We knew that coming in. On a year-to-year basis that’s the case. You look at the size of some of those players,” said Groh, who then dryly quipped, “You look at the match-ups, whoever had to line up in front of No. 77 (that was linebacker Anthony Egbuniwe, who stands a stout 6-5, 248). and the good news is he’ll be there for three more years. “As we said going into the week with the players, we’re not going to get any taller in a week’s time. We’re not going to get any heavier,” he added. “They are who they are and we are who we are. To deal with that, there’s a way we have to play. One, we have to play a clean game. We can’t magnify or add to what they are able to accomplish based on their skill, we can’t add to that through mistakes. We had three stop downs, that with a penalty we kept them on the field. Points resulted after each one of those. You have to tackle well against these guys. They’re hard guys to tackle. There are ways you’ve got to tackle. We made a mistake on one of those and they ended up with a lot of yardage that resulted in points. That’s no surprise. We knew that was going to be the case.” “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t know about,” he said. “We expected NASCAR, the hurry-up offense? We knew that was coming. We just didn’t execute. When they put the extra tackle over to run the ball on the pitch, we knew they were going to do that. We saw them do that on film. We just didn’t make plays when we had a chance. They made more plays.” Missed tackles and penalties aside, the game was still in doubt at 14-10 following an inspirational six-play, 76-yard touchdown drive to open the second half. Quarterback Tevin Washington, a major bright spot all day completed the drive with a 22-yard pass to Kevin Cone, his first career TD catch. But Miami’s next play took the sting out of the Yellow Jackets, as a simple play-action pass turned into a 76-yard touchdown catch-and-run to senior wide receiver Leonard Hankerson. Hankerson, who had a game-high 132 receiving yards, making a big play didn’t surprise Groh. “We thought he was the best receiver in the league coming in,” said Groh. “He played like one.” The timing of the big play by Miami didn’t surprise Johnson. “It’s been the tale of our season,” he lamented. “I could go game after game. You try to get a little momentum back and what happens? The very next possession they score. This time they scored in one play. What happened? We had a guy bust. That still doesn’t mean it has to go 75 yards. We were in two deep. Nobody shielded two, he bit on the run fake, but you still ought to get the guy down.” The key for the Yellow Jackets is to not get down themselves. There is still a chance to become bowl eligible with a win in one of their next two games. That sixth win is especially important. “We’ve been going to bowls for 13 years,” said Jefferson. “It would be devastating if we were the team that didn’t go.” Then, there is that meeting with Georgia in Athens in two weeks. Johnson, whose team has lost three straight games for the first time since he arrived in Atlanta, won’t allow his team to go down quietly. “Nobody wants to lose. Trust me, I’m not used to it either,” he said. “I don’t like it. But the only thing I know to do is to keep working.” They’ll keep working the same way and hope for a different result. Insanity? Maybe, but, then, again, this is football, not rocket science.

The two forms of sexual harassment Dana C. Greene: Document the two forms of sexual harassment - gay sexual practices Calcold online dating Sex where he doesn’t try to pressure us into anal.! Should it be him buying this for me? Studies the two forms of sexual harassment - donkey punch Neadekvatnie ludi online dating Sex with a celebrity. Understanding what sexual harassment is and the forms it comes in is extremely important for anyone in the work field to be aware of. Props to your cast, too! They're a ton of fun to watch. :) In the company of all the recent headlines on sexual harassment, companies may requirement to take a fresh seem at their anti-harassment policies. The best weapon against harassment taking part in the workplace is preventing the conduct. How can legal moreover HR work together to scrutiny and revise sexual harassment policies to create a safe mood for employees? Harassment is a form of employment discrimination to violates state and federal laws. Unwelcomed conduct based on unarguable protected characteristics is considered aggravation. Federal laws that protect adjacent to harassment include:. However, certain unwelcomed conduct does not rise just before the level of harassment; minor insults, irritations and isolated occurrences — unless extremely serious — generally will not rise on the way to the level of unlawfulness. Farther, abusive conduct not based scheduled protected characteristics will not be considered harassment. Two types of sexual harassment exist:. When homily or conduct is so dictatorial and persistent that it begets an intimating or demeaning muscle environment, the first type occurs. This type of sexual pester could occur if employees by a company repeatedly make earthy jokes or display offensive pictures to co-workers. An example of this would be a head offering to promote their inferior if the employee agrees near a date. Homosexuality in ancient rome yahoo. The two forms of sex irritation According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), there are two types... 13:57 Patient education sexually transmitted infections trichomoniasis 10:11 Free sex dating for women We are Hairy The two forms of sexual harassment What are the Two Types of Sexual Harassment? Sexual harassment is a type of... 29:10 Mitch hewer dating Quid pro quo sexual harassment typically involves someone in a supervisor-type role who asks or hints at sexual favors in exchange for any type of employment benefit. This could mean that, in return for some type of sexual favor, the employee would receive more pay, a higher-ranking job, or more seniority within the company. Quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment can happen to women and men, and the victim and perpetrator can be of the same or differing sex. What are the two forms of sexual harassment that occur in the workplace? | Stuart M. Address, P.A. Forms sexual harassment two The of ♡About ME: Hi! my name is Anita, 33 years old from Woodward: My favorite movie "Anita: Swedish Nymphet" and favorite book about sex "Effi Briest". I have good values, possess a great sense of humour and can be very creative in many ways. Music, dance, books, swimming. I am always looking for new opportunities to explore and inspire me, and i'll try almost anything once. Guaranteed to put you over the top in one of the best experiences you have ever had. 27:12 Dating ariane full walkthrough cult XXX Photo The two forms of sexual harassment Outdoor When these forms of harassment happen in the workplace, they are illegal. Workers who have been the victims of either type of prohibited sexual harassment may recover damages for their losses, and the attorneys at Swartz Swidler might be able to help. For instance, if an employee is told by a supervisor that she might be likelier to be promoted if she agrees to go on a date with the supervisor, that would be quid pro quo sexual harassment. Conversely, if the employee is told that she will be fired or demoted if she rejects the advances, that would also be quid pro quo sexual harassment. It is important to understand that submitting to the sexual conduct does not bar the employee from filing a complaint. Because there is a power difference between an employer and an employee, the employee may still have the basis for a complaint. Express, Inc.

(A husband and wife couple have me on speakerphone so that they can get help troubleshooting. I’m typing up some notes while their PC reboots, which they can apparently hear…) Customer: “Wow, that sounds like a machine gun. ‘That your typing, sweetheart?” Me: *laughs* “Yeah, it is… I can type pretty fast.” Customer: “You married at all?” Me: “Nope, not yet. Why do you ask?” Customer: “Doesn’t surprise me love, with fingers that fast you don’t need a man!” Me: *mouth agape* (Suddenly, I hear a smacking noise followed by the man cursing.) Customer’s wife: “Ignore Ron… he’s a pig, dear. He’s lucky he’s married himself. I’m sure you’re lovely.” Customer: “Isn’t it time a house fell on you, my darling wife?” Me: *mouth still agape*

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 I don't normally buy newly made clothes, but I totally got hooked into the Alexa Chung for Madewell line. It's just so easy to wear on days where you can't be worried about what to wear! (basically my Monday-Friday) And it's nice to have an arsenal of easy dresses to just throw on when you need to leave in a rush. Well, my parcel arrived today - it was a really intense 30 seconds of total utter happiness and then a major let down because unfortunately Madewell messed up my order. About a handful of phone calls later and all is fixed and the correct dress will be on its way to me tomorrow! But, I can't keep them both ... because that is crazy $$$ !! So, here is a Tennesse Velvet Dotted dress up for grabs in a Size 0... I can definitely return it back to Madewell, but I know it's sold out online and figured rather then someone spending an extra $100 on ebay it'd be nice to be able to buy it for the normal retail price.. 24 comments: Allie - I wish I had a little Honey I blew up/shrunk the kids style machine to morph this dress into any old size!! Laura - I sold a wholleeee bunch of my things in order to be able to get my paws on it! The line was expensiveee but I guess it could have been worse? It's just pricey enough to be a splurge for 1 thing but not worth it to re-stock your closet either... sigh. Crap, I ordered the Harriet Pintuck dress in a size 2. After seeing the 0 on you, I have a feeling it's going to be too big. If so, I may need to snag this from you - and yes, much better than those silly eBayer's selling things for astronomically more than Madewell. Grr.. If you get ahold of the magic clothes shrinking/expanding machine, please let us know! In the meantime, I will just sigh wistfully at that pretty dress. Also, I wanted to let you know that I'm giving away a charm bracelet (with silhouette charms I made myself!) on my blog. It's at http://a-red-robin.blogspot.com/2010/09/50th-post-and-giveaway.html if you're interested. Thank you so much for your comment on my blog, it made my day! Funny you mention my hair - back when i was a wee little blogger, i mused about how much i love your hair! Your blog seriously got me through that summer! i live in new york and they have a store downtown. i don't really like to go to buy retail unless its for simple things. i mostly buy vintage or thrift. buy i guess sometimes you need to buy something practical.

REVISITING OLD POST: “So K Jo’s Toy-Boy is the ‘Student of The Year’.” When I posted way back in mid-November 2010 about Karan Johar’s latest toy-boy, Delhi model turned film aspirant Siddharth Malhotra, there was a lot of hue and cry from K Jo’s camp and friends. In fact a TV Channel quoted Johar in December 2010, “I am not making any movie with newcomers any time soon. All that gossip is rubbish.’ Oh yeah? But then these full page advertisements screamed out loud that I was right. The Shahrukh Khan produced and Karan Johar directed movie – Student of The Year has Siddharth Malhotra (also the lead model at Karan Johar + Varun Bahl fashion shows), Varun Dhawan (David Dhawan’s son) and Alia Bhatt (Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter).Siddharth Malhotra is a good-looking guy and maybe he’ll turn out to be a great actor. Being Karan Johar’s pet can get you places. Hope K Jo gets him to his parlour for some Koffee and gup-shup! Love your website….Have been following it for two months and must say I am hooked. But ever since you’ve got this fancy lay out, the stories have become tame, Come on….give your fans the real deal or are you feeling the heat from the celebs…I hope not . *I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!… Great! It’s so onerous search out good quality information on the web today from knowledgeable sources, it is all wannabe’s and reused content material with just a few exceptions. I hope you retain up the nice work and I probably again to read more of your posts sooner or later! Let me clarify here 95% today’s male models and actors turns as gays in fashion industry and in bollywood sleeping around with every gay designers,choreographers,stylists,make-up artists,directors,producers and casting directors etc etc at the time of their struggling days and the moment they taste success they suddenly turns as “‘PURE STRAIGHT GUYS . Even Karan Johar’s latest TOYBOY boyfriend and the hero of Student of the Year -Siddharth Malhotra –slept with half of Delhi’s Fashion world gay groups before hooking up to this Miss. Moneybags call Karan Johar !

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Submitted May 11, 2018* Decided May 22, 2018 Before DIANE P. WOOD, Chief Judge DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit Judge ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge No. 17-2867 JAMES A. TANKSLEY, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. v. No. 15-cv-126-jdp JON E. LITSCHER, et al., James D. Peterson, Defendants-Appellees. Chief Judge. ORDER James Tanksley, an inmate at Waupun Correctional Institution convicted of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old boy, is a practitioner of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—an occult religion recognized by the prison. He says that a particular set of tarot cards, the Initiatory Tarot Deck of the Golden Dawn, is essential to his religious practice. The cards contain drawings of various scenes that include nude women and boys. He submitted two requests for the deck, but prison officials denied them. Seeking a court order that the prison allow him to use the cards, Tanksley sued the Wisconsin *We have agreed to decide this case without oral argument because the briefs and record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would not significantly aid the court. FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C). No. 17-2867 Page 2 Department of Corrections, its secretary, and the prison’s warden under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. Under the Act, if an inmate shows that an institutional policy substantially burdens his religious exercise, then that policy may not be applied unless the institution shows that the policy is the least restrictive means for advancing a compelling state interest. 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000cc-1; Holt v. Hobbs, 135 S. Ct. 853, 863 (2015). The district judge entered summary judgment for the defendants. Because the undisputed record shows that prohibiting Tanksley’s access to the cards is necessary to advance the prison’s compelling interest in his rehabilitation, we affirm the judgment. The Initiatory Tarot Deck contains 78 cards. Eleven show women’s breasts, nipples, and buttocks; one card, for example, entitled “The Lovers,” depicts a nude woman bound in chains as she watches an armored man in the clouds raise a sword to a sea monster. Two cards show naked, prepubescent boys: “El Loco” shows a nude boy sitting outside with his legs spread and genitalia displayed, reaching for a flower as a wolf lurks behind him, and “The Sun” shows two naked children, one of whom has visible male genitalia, holding hands and splashing in a puddle. Tanksley submitted a request for the Initiatory Deck in 2011. Officials denied his request because the deck has “inappropriate nude images.” Officials denied his second request two years later. He then filed this suit. During discovery the defendants offered a declaration from Dr. Jonathan Dickey, a psychologist for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and a specialist in sex-offender treatment. Based on his knowledge, experience, and his review of Tanksley’s records, Dr. Dickey said that images like those on the cards “tend[] to feed offense-related sexual fantasies and reinforce offense-supportive beliefs and deviant sexual behaviors.” He opined that access to the Initiatory Deck would be “counter-therapeutic” and “detrimental” to Tanksley’s rehabilitation and possibly increase his risk of re-offending. Dr. Dickey also opined that, although normal adults might be able to view the images without ill effects, Tanksley would be harmed because the images in the deck tend to encourage rather than discourage the deviant behavior that led to Tanksley's incarceration. The defendants also submitted a declaration from Waupun’s security director, stating that the tarot cards would pose a security risk if they were available in the prison. The director explained that pornographic content is not permitted in the prison and that the cards, bearing images of nude women and children, would be valuable commodities. “Having [unique items] in the institution,” he continued, “tends to lead to theft, bartering, strong-arming, inmate exploitation, violence, and fights.” No. 17-2867 Page 3 For his part, Tanksley submitted pictures and drawings of nude women and children that he photocopied from the art and medical books in the prison library. The defendants moved for summary judgment on grounds that Tanksley could not succeed under the Act, given the evidence that denying him access to the cards was necessary to advance the state’s compelling interests in his rehabilitation and prison security. See Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U.S. 709, 725 n. 13 (2005) (prison security is compelling state interest); O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342, 348 (1987) (rehabilitation listed among “valid penological objectives”). The district judge entered summary judgment for the defendants. The judge determined that denying Tanksley the cards substantially burdens his religious exercise. But the judge accepted Dr. Dickey’s opinion that the cards would impede Tanksley’s rehabilitation, and so prohibiting them altogether was necessary. The judge also concluded that the defendants had shown that the cards posed a security risk. Other depictions of nudity might be accessible at the institution, he explained, but the images in the Initiatory Deck had a level of “erotic realism” not otherwise available. On appeal Tanksley asserts generally that banning the deck is not necessary to advance the prison’s interests—either in his rehabilitation or in security. The parties do not dispute for the purposes of summary judgment that the ban on the cards substantially burdens Tanksley’s religious practice, so the burden shifts to the defendants to show that the ban was necessary to further a compelling governmental interest. Holt, 135 S. Ct. at 863. The defendants have shown that the prison’s ban on the cards was necessary to advance the interest in Tanksley’s rehabilitation. The defendants rely on Dr. Dickey’s statement—rooted in his knowledge, extensive experience, and review of Tanksley’s record—that the images on the cards would hinder Tanksley’s rehabilitation because nude images of the sort in the deck encourage offense-related fantasies and beliefs. Tanksley responds that the pictures will not inhibit his rehabilitation because other pictures of naked children can be viewed in the prison’s library books. But the library images are not lewd or erotic like the drawings on the cards. And Tanksley’s view of which images will obstruct his own rehabilitation is hardly objective. See Borzych v. Frank, 439 F.3d 388, 391 (7th Cir. 2006) (inmate’s opinion on security not objective). He provided no other evidence to counter the prison psychologist’s opinion that the cards would be counter-therapeutic to his rehabilitation, and thus summary judgment was properly granted. See Payton v. Cannon, 806 F.3d 1109, 1110 (7th Cir. 2015) (affirming summary judgment for prison where inmate did not present evidence to rebut prison official’s opinion on security matter). Because the prison’s ban on the cards is necessary No. 17-2867 Page 4 to support Tanksley’s rehabilitation, the ban is permissible under the Act, and we need not consider whether the prison’s security interest also justifies it. Finally, Tanksley also claimed that he had a right to the cards under the First Amendment. But the Act provides greater protections than the First Amendment, so the judge properly entered summary judgment for the defendants on the constitutional claim, too. See Schlemm v. Wall, 784 F.3d 362, 363 (7th Cir. 2015). AFFIRMED 

Arian Foster Says His Baby Mama Got Pregnant to Get Reality Show Yesterday we learned that Texans running back Arian Foster was being sued for trying to force his baby mama to have an abortion. Well according to TMZ, Foster has filed a response claiming that the woman he knocked up is nothing more than a “fame whore” and is trying to use use their unborn child to launch a career in reality tv — she even called herself “blondASHian”. In his legal docs, Foster claims Brittany has “already indicated in social media postings announcing that she will participate in a reality show revolving around her pregnancy and thereby draw additional media attention.” Foster included a recent screen grab from what he believes to be Brittany’s Twitter page in which she wrote, “Shooting interviews for the last casting reel for my family’s reality show #blondashians.” The woman is currently 17 weeks pregnant making it nearly impossible for her to get an abortion. Now, Foster is just simply asking the judge to put his baby mama on hush mode before she starts a real media circus. So far the judge has not granted his request. These athletes never cease to amaze me. It’s one thing to step out on your wife — Foster has been married since 2011– but they don’t even respect them enough to make sure there are no babies created from their discretions. I don’t feel sorry for Foster at all. Now he has to deal with this blonde bimbo for the rest of his life and he’s at the mercy of his wife. I wouldn’t be surprised if she found her self on the next Football Wives, Baby Mamas type of show to come out.

Prosecutor Margaret Gandy said Ferhani purchased the weapons as part of a plan to commit a violent act against a synagogue. She said that during the months he was under surveillance, Ferhani stated his dislike of Jews more than once. Defense lawyers also say Ferhani was targeted by undercover officers because he was mentally unstable.

Share 0 SHARES SULTRY Sinn Féin siren and lady politician Mary ‘Swit Swoo’ McDonald has playfully admonished a seemingly sexist article which referred to her womanly ability to be a woman in the crazy man’s world of politics. Dominated by non-sexy woman bodies otherwise known as men, the field of politics requires that female politicians have a certain quality according to some, in order to survive and that quality as you well know is raw, untamed sex appeal and nothing else. While McDonald likely outlined why she found the article to misrepresent why she was elected leader of Sinn Féin, we could barely hear a word as we were so transfixed on her libidinous lips as they motioned up and down, delivering what we believe to be a right old tongue lashing. We need to lie down. Could McDonald really be Taoiseach material? And could she do it in a leather catsuit just for us? Pertinent political questions that only McDonald, who we can reasonably presume is a right horny minx, can answer. McDonald, who possesses the same sex appeal as Sharon Stone did in that movie about how sexy Sharon Stone could be, went on to talk about a series of pressing political issues, but all we could think about was pressing our political issues right up against her, if you catch our drift. And if you don’t: sex! The Sinn Féin TD has recently helped her party grow engorged in the polls, with the phallus of voter approval rising and rising due in no small part to her enviously curved frontal lobes, sparking concern among rival parties that McDonald may be too politically capable, in a sexy way.

Freelance writer Menu So this is point in my life when I feel like I really need some good mental support. I think I am having some anger issues and it is serious to a point that sometimes I feel like my anger, hatred, and stress really consume me. Like right now, I just only want to leave everything behind, flying to a faraway place, doing nothing but relaxing, reading good books, listening to great music, eating fine dining and watching the sunset. But that’s only feeble wishes. Here is the reality: everyday feels like war time and everywhere feels like a battleground. Going to work means to fight with the deadlines, customers, small bosses, big bosses. Going home means more responsibilities, meeting with expectations from your kids, partners, parents, dealing with annoying in-laws (disgusting her in fact), fighting another battle over raising kids, completing household chores, trying to get on day by day with no clear idea as to where the way is leading. Filled with all kinds of negative feelings: desperation, anxiety, jealousy, tiredness, greed, and above all, guilt, I feel just so overwhelmed. I miss my little angle so much, feeling like I am abandoning her, acting like a complete asshole towards her, and hating myself so much for failing to be there for her. Yes, an anger management therapy session would do me a whole lot good right now… This morning, I read a news article about a cancer fighter passing away after two years battling lung cancer. The feed was shared by Thuy Muoi, a person I follow on Facebook who is a cancer fighter herself. I had known about her in the past after reading inspiring news about her phenomenal success as one of the most talented start-up entrepreneur in my country. A few years later, I saw her name on the news again, this time about her being diagnosed with stage-IV cancer. Courageous and strong-minded as she always was, she decided to not only win the fight and become a survivor but also contribute to the research and raise awareness about this deadly disease so that people in the same situation could stand a better chance of being cured and improving their quality of life. Both of these cancer fighters kept a journal to share with other their struggles and hardship, but above all their optimisms, gratefulness and love for life. Reading those brave but heart-wrenching blog posts is such an awakening moment for me. I realize that I have been whining so much recently that I forget to notice how fortunate I am. How blessed I am to have such a darling little daughter, a caring husband, a supportive family and a job that pays. How blessed I am to be alive and relatively healthy. How blessed I am to be able to do things that many people are still dreaming of such as studying abroad, travelling to many stunning places, and having life-long friends. True that I am at a low point in my life where I feel trapped and stagnated, where I make no progress for a few years, and see no escape route in the near future, I still have so many things that many people are praying for. True that my parents are quite dominant and always want to interfere with my business, they have the best of intentions and I should be thankful that I still have them to depend on in the darkest of time. True that my husband may be thoughtless at times, he is faithful and loves me unconditionally. True that my baby might cry too much every now and then and she is such a light sleeper, she has the cutest smile that always melt my heart; she also brings hope and purpose to my life, and represents the future, I should be thankful for that. True that my job sucks and it has been eating away my time, energy and patience, I can retrain and find something more meaningful to do later once the time is right. So this is a note of gratefulness to my life. It is not perfect, far from it, and I need to work hard to fulfill my dreams, unlock my potentials, and get what I want. This is also a note of revelation that I have been given so many things, I have taken so many things, but I have given back so little to my family, and even less to my community and life. This is a note to declare that I love my life since I was in tears when trying to imagine being in the other two ladies’ shoes. I am thankful to be alive to witness my daughter’s amazing developments, to be there for her first’s. I am thankful for every morning when I wake up, next to my dear little daughter, kissing her, hugging her and having her nagging around; she’ll grow up fast and leave before I even realize. I am thankful to be able to breathe easily with no fear of losing my breaths any time soon. I am thankful to have a roof over my head and a fridge full of food. I am thankful for having all the loved ones in my life and know that they are safe and sound as well. So thanks to those women whose love for life and will to survive also shed light on and inspire others as well. I hope you’ll win and make history (those you already did). I also secretly hope my daughter can become a doctor too so she can save people (though of course I’ll let her choose to do whatever her heart tells her to do). Some days like these, I am again overwhelmed with my own feelings of getting so stuck in time and space. It was the understanding of time tik-toking away and me doing nothing that sucks. Like once again I am uncertain of my career path or life goals or ambitions or even my likes and dislikes. Everything is covered with a thin layer of mist, duties, responsibilities, obligations, dreams and even things that I cannot name names. Feeling left behind hurts, but the fact that I don’t even know what my beginning point is sucks even more. Really, I read somewhere that every life has a purpose, everything happens for a reason. What is the purpose that I desperately search for? I know this is not the first time I ask myself that question. I’ve asked it over and over again for so many years, but somehow the answer eludes me. Or at some point I thought I knew it, and then at some point I pretended that I am content with everything that is going on, and then at some point I came back to the question again, hastily looking for an identity, a return to my constant prayers. One once said those words that if you don’t know your true calling yet, sit still, don’t do anything, listen closely to your heart until you know your way. Hey, but I can’t sit around waiting for my whole life, can I? When I was little, life was so simple and straight-forward. Growing up in a communist country where obedience and discipline are encouraged, I did not have to think much about what to do because everything was pre-programmed and all I had to do was to follow the prescribed path. For example, if I wanted to win that prize, I should have learned and memorized certain formulas, gone to study with certain teachers, written certain things in the exams and then just waited for the results. I did not even need to think about what to dream because again everything was pretty much decided for me. For example, I specialized in English in high school, it meant that in college, I would major in either education, business or language studies. This also meant that once I graduated, that was what I would do for the rest of my life. Now thinking back about that, I would compare the situation to that in North Korea where even hairstyles are regulated and narrowed down to a few choices approved by the country’s leaders. As one of the students who prospered under that situation, i.e. being one of the top students in most classes, winning various academic prizes and always conforming to the rules, I never had to spend a minute to really think about myself, my dreams or anything like that. To make it worse, none of my close friends deviated from that norm, and those who did was condemned vehemently and became the “bad guy”. I accepted everything, never questioned and just kept following the path. However, all of the sudden, things changed so fast that it just seemed so unreal. Somehow things that were praised before now fell out of favor. Somehow the life everyone dreamed of, or was deemed to be most desirable now became antiquated. And somehow I got out of that vicious circle, and was forced for the first time to think for myself and what I want to do with my life. Hey, sound fun? Maybe, but maybe not. Now I have so many things that I want to do, so many goals that I want to accomplish, and yet, as we live in a world of scarcity, and constraints, I have to budget my time, health, financial capability, and now a family into the equation. Sometimes it is so painful that some goals seem to be mutually exclusive, that I cannot have it all, but that I cannot leave anything behind. These days I live in the mess that I myself created, the harder I try to resist, the tighter the invisible string held onto me. Time flies, youth does not wait. And here I am, at the crossroads, thinking about my way… 1) Love is one of the most amazing things that happen once in a lifetime. I hope we will fulfill our love wishes together. 2) Every single day I whisper my love wishes to God, and the moment when I see you, I know those wishes finally come true. 3) When I was little, I wrote all of my secret love wishes on a paper so that I can present them to you today. 4) The moment you kissed me, you also fulfilled all of my childhood love wishes and dreams. You are truly the love of my life! 5) When you walked out of my life, I felt like all my world was shattered and all my love wishes turned into desperate cries. 6) To my special one, may all of our love wishes will come true, and may our life together will be full of happiness and joy. 7) Whether our love wishes will come true or not depends on how determined we are to stick together whether it rains or shines. 8) I will never forget the day when I first laid my eyes on you and realize that my love wishes finally come true. 9) True love wishes fill the world with hopes, true love kisses save a thousand souls, and you, my true love, give my life meaning. 10) Even during my darkest days, I still believe in love and made love wishes, which gave me the strength to overcome all challenges. 11) My love wishes come to life in the shape of the most beautiful woman I have ever met who of course is you. 12) Words are most meaningful when they are used to express sincere love wishes that come from the bottom of a lover’s heart. 13) Let’s grow old together, let’s create our list of love wishes together, and let’s make our own world for just you and me. 14) Love wishes should come from heart to heart; otherwise they are just a bunch of lies that are worth nothing. 15) Even if my love wishes will not come true for me, I hope they will still come true for you because I love you. 16) When I said I wished all your love wishes would come true, I secretly hoped that I were also mentioned in your love wishes. 17) I never believe in fairy tales and love wishes. But if they do exist, I hope we can be in the same story. 18) I do the same thing when waking up in the morning and before going to bed at night: silently sending my love wishes to you. 19) There are three most amazing ways words can touch us: prayers to God, poems for dreamers, and love wishes for true lovers. 20) You asked me what my love wishes were, well, I can answer your question in just only one simple word: YOU. 21) In a day, millions of love wishes are said, but I assure you that the most fervent ones come from me wishing for our love. 22) People say we should save the best for last, and that is why I save all my best love wishes until I find you. 23) I promise you that I will do everything in my power to realize our love wishes, our hopes, dreams, and future together. 24) Although actions speak louder than words, love wishes are still highly appreciated. I wish you a lot of love, my sweetheart! 25) No amount of roses or love wishes can ever fully express my love for you. I love you more than anything else in the world. 26) The love that we are sharing now is even more beautiful than the one in my best love wishes. Please be with me forever. 27) I think the angels finally heard my love wishes; therefore they decided to create a nice warm spring day and brought you to me. 28) Perhaps we did not just happen to fall in love because I had made millions of love wishes until you said yes to me. 29) You know you are in love with the right one when the woman you love and the woman in your love wishes is the same. 30) Love is the strongest when comes from the genuine hearts, blessed by sincere love wishes, and spread all over the world by united determinations. So I have just got back from amazing Vientiane. This is the first trip abroad ever since I got back to Vietnam so even though it’s just Laos, I felt so excited and free for the first time in months. Vientiane treated me quite well. The weather was pretty nice during my stay. It rained a little bit in the morning and I was caught in the rain once but it was part of the fun I had. Vientiane is a combination of religious atmosphere with tons of temples and pagodas at every corner and the more modern and Western architectural buildings. Compared to the city where I lived, it is a whole lot more peaceful with fewer people, less hustles and more green space where I can enjoy the fresh air. There are parts of the city that feel so Western that it reminds me of the U.S. The fun part about travelling is of course meeting new people. During my travel, I felt so blessed to meet with some amazing travelers who stayed with me, talked to me and shared with me their amazing stories. There were some random acts of kindness that I myself witnessed that really touched my heart and made my day, like the stranger who took me on his motorbike in the rain to ride me back to my hotel when I got lost, or the friendly Chinese guy who tagged along with us and kept us company, or some very helpful local people who even helped us to negotiate with a tuk tuk driver. I am grateful to be able to meet them, and they make me believe that in this turbulent mess of life, there are still hopes and kindness spreading around from one human being to another… So this morning, I came to Huong Dong Que restaurant for breakfast with my mom and her friends. The food was okay, not so special, but I guess that was fair for the money we paid. So after everyone was full and could not eat anymore food, we started some small talk and as usual with old people, the topic would be about their children or grandchildren. Kids nowadays are so different from how we used to be. They are different from my generation, and even more different from my mom’s generation. That is pretty obvious since with the passing of time, life-style and living condition have changed considerably as well. However, from my own observation, I think the children most of the time resemble their parents. Well, maybe, but maybe not though. I am a lot like my mom, but my sister is quite different from me, so yeah, but still they say like father, like son…, family still has a big influence on shaping a child’s personalities and life’s perspective. That leads me to the question how I would like to raise my own children if I ever have one or more than one. This of course won’t depend on me alone, but also my husband, my family, and his family as well, but sill I wonder how should I educate my children, what will I tell them about life. Apparently, there are so many ways to live this life now, and there are so many events that can happen during your lifetime that you will have no control over at all. When I was young, I was taught that good things would come to good people, who were nice, selfless, honest, caring, and so on. Of course when I grow up, I understand it is not always the case now, especially in a country like VIetnam where all kinds of values are mixing up, and we are in the process of transitioning our economy to a market-based economy. People talk about money everywhere, and how money is important to our life. Older people try to somewhat keep the old way of controlling their children, while young people are craving for freedom to live their life as they please. Some people want to be rich and hold important positions in the society; some people want to find happiness in pursuing their passions, being a traveler, a writer, an artist; some people want a stable life, and a well-paying job; some want to just make it day by day and enjoying life. I think it is okay for me to choose a life for myself, but when it come to my other responsibilities as a child, as a parent, things get messy. You can not have it all, so there are things that I will have to give up… But anyways, so when my children ask me about life, what should I tell them? Should I tell them the world is a wonderful place where everything is fair and safe and they can have faith in human beings; or should I tell them to be reserved and protect themselves from many unexpected mishaps; should I tell them to be honest when so many dishonest people are rich and get things done the easy way; or should I just simply tell them to live, explore the world and have their own answer? I know I want them to be happy, to fall in love, to get the best of their life, but then, what do they expect from me? I think parents rarely ask that question themselves. They have expectations for their children but they never ask their children what do they want… Anyways, just some thoughts I wanna share today, and I am curious as to what others may think about it 🙂

Austen Fletcher, more popularly known by his YouTube persona of “Fleccas Talks,” has made a name for himself by showing up wherever a major protest or rally is happening in the name of social justice. Name a major protest within the past few years, and Fleccas was probably there, interviewing attendees and trying to get out whatever information he can. Many flat-out refuse to speak to Fleccas, though the ones that do are often times left blubbering in defense of their own asininity. The funny part is, Fleccas doesn’t say or do anything remarkable to get them to do this. He’s not out “owning” anybody. All he has to do is ask simple questions, and the social justice warriors will own themselves through their trademark brand of hypocrisy and ignorance. In the course of Felccas’s attendance to protests and rallies, he’s been attacked both physically as well as verbally, but he always comes away with some great footage that shows you just how ridiculous the SJW crowd and hard left can get. Thanks to Fleccas, we can now see some of the best moments of 2018, and by “best” I mean equally as sad as they are hilarious.

The confirmation battle for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh unleashed a mob of protesters against the right over the past several weeks, but the media has largely agreed not to describe the protesters as a mob. "Oh, you're not going to use the mob word here," CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin bemoaned. Baldwin's colleague Don Lemon got in a shouting match with a guest because he described Kavanaugh protesters as a mob. "That's not a mob," Lemon declared. Beyond cable news hosts and contributors, Democratic lawmakers have also pounced on the talking point. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.) criticized the word "mob" in an interview with the Hill, saying, "describing political opponents and huge pockets of the electorate as the ‘mob’ is really inciting something ugly." For days during Kavanaugh's confirmation battle, people protested in the Capitol and in front of the Supreme Court, with some confronting lawmakers in elevators. Before Kavanaugh was confirmed, protesters harassed Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) when he was out to dinner with his wife. The protesters yelled and demanded to know how Cruz was going to vote on Kavanaugh until they chased the senator and his wife out of the restaurant. When Kavanaugh was confirmed, protesters stormed the steps of the Supreme Court and began banging on the door, chanting "Kavanaugh must go." Other video captured by Breitbart and Benny Johnson, a reporter at the Daily Caller, show protesters flipping off cars while screaming "fuck you," and harassing pro-Kavanaugh individuals. The media insisted that these were peaceful protesters filled with passion; they said describing them as mob was a talking point pushed by Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and President Donald Trump. But a quick look at the liberal Merriam-Webster's definition of mob is "a large and disorderly crowd of people."

Party All Night with the Kings of the Weekend Who: You! What: Blink-182, George Thorogood, Rattlesnake Jump When: Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017 Where: Buffalo Chip Amphitheater Why: Monster hits from six platinum albums will make you feel like a king for the weekend. How: Reserve your passes now! I Want to Reserve Now! Fall in love with an energy-jammed rock show the likes of which is rarely seen when Blink-182 takes over the Sturgis Buffalo Chip® on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. The California-based punk rock megastars’ show will follow Doug Danger’s Rattlesnake Jump and the George Thorogood concert during the Chip’s Freedom Celebration day, culminating a day filled with monumental events to create an experience that’ll have you saying, “I’m feeling this!” Blink-182 is a band whose body of material masterfully blends the arts of crafting an unforgettable earworm and serving it up with a zany sense of humor. Monster hit songs like “All the Small Things,” “What’s My Age Again,” “First Date,” “The Rock Show” and “Dammit” exemplify this formula, keeping you laughing and rocking your ass off simultaneously. Conversely, tunes like “I Miss You,” “Adam’s Song,” and “Always” show you the band’s ability to stretch out musically and lyrically into more somber subject matter and experimental instrumentation. It’s this range of musicality that’s propelled the band’s album sales to over 50 million worldwide and contributed to their 2016 release, “California,” to be nominated for the 2017 Best Rock Album Grammy. The Largest Music Festival in Motorcycling™ will flip the party into overdrive with Blink-182’s pop punk power. Are you ready to rage at this show? Reserve your passes today! Have you lost control at a Blink-182 concert before? Tell us about it in the comments below! “What a place. Unreal. A dream.” - Stephen Polley I Want to Reserve Now!

So we are told. Reactionary men could happily live in a world where no one ever suggested to them that they should treat woman as human beings rather than mere objects of lust of rage, if only for a few radical fringe feminists on DU. How many times have we heard everything here is the fault of a "small fringe group"? The comment reveals profound self-delusion. They want to ignore key issues about equality and inclusivity to make it all about a few feminists on this site. Only they are railing against practices that have been standard in every public place for decades in this country. They act like they never before heard there was anything objectionable about posting pictures of bikini babes in public places. They act like they never heard about the concept of a hostile environment before it was raised here recently. They deceive themselves by insisting that only a few loud-mouthed feminists care about such issues, even while posting in a thread with over 177 Duers expressing disapproval of the hostile environment engendered by such pics. They do so knowing that Skinner locked one such thread and instructed the GD hosts to allow no others. Yet it's all because of HOF members, despite the fact that they couldn't get away with any of that stuff in any public space anywhere in this country and haven't been able to for decades. So what's going on here? Why do they so resent progress? Why do they refuse to consider the concerns of anyone but themselves? Why to they respond cruely to someone who shares a hearbreaking story of repeated rape from a very young age? Why do they systematically refuse to consider the testimony of victims of child abuse, legal rulings and evidence, and repeat the lies generated by the publicity machine of a wealthy, accused pedophile? Why is it they insist on telling people of color they are just too touchy when they point out the obvious--that stereotypical meals of fried chicken and watermelon are purposefully racist and do not "honor" African American culture. To deny the voices of feminists and people of color in articulating what they find offensive represents a clear determination that some see those groups of Americans as unworthy of basic respect or the same rights afforded to white men. The "small group" didn't post the T and A pics. A small group didn't post the callout threads and posts in GD, all placed for the explicit purpose of creating drama and belittling the views and lives of those they see as entirely without value. One member of the small group did post Dylan Farrow's testimony, and that was an outrage. To consider the views of a woman was an anathema and triggered a meltdown by one particularly angry member. Many others simply refused to read her testimony or the court record showing Woody Allen's entire story was a lie because they didn't want facts to get in the way of their determination to defend an accused pedophile, who's victim was only a girl, hardly anyone who mattered. A member here who expressed a heartfelt story of her own assault was called a liar, insulted and ridiculed, even though what she described happens to millions of girls and boys across our nation. What this small group does is raise the viewpoints of human beings whose lives some consider entirely insignificant. The fact is we are dealing with some very angry people who hate progress more than anything else. They despise the fact that they are expected to treat others as human, that they can't insult women as b and cs at will (even though they do and juries let them get away with it). Yet the fact that someone might object to their determination to treat women as subhuman is to them an outrage. We see an increase in use of racial slurs, and now we see them attacking LGBT members as loud-mouthed "crusaders" who would be better off keeping their mouths shut. To them, the only ones entitled to speak are themselves and those who support them. Anyone who questions their privilege and suggests that equality does matter is to be attacked and deligitimated at all costs. They personalize the issues to make it about a few HOF members, a few uppity African Americans, and a few LGBT "crusaders" because they won't examine what they are really trying to establish: white, heterosexual male supremacy. They seek to establish in a little corner of the internet something that exists no where offline in the USA. They do so precisely because they so despise the progress of the past half century and they especially resent members of subaltern groups who insist that we too are full citizens entitled to all the same rights, opportunities, and respect that straight, white men enjoy. All of us they so resent on DU could disappear tonight and their lives would not improve in the slightest. They will still live in a society that seeks to expand rather than retract civil rights. They will still live in a world where they have to compete based on merit, education and experience, rather than mere accident of birth. Yet they make it all about a "small group" because they refuse to confront the issues of equality and inclusivity that they are so determined to fight against. Sports Illustrated is about sports. It's in the title, right? So if the magazine wanted to honor women, they would focus on some of the great female athletes. This is what an SI cover might look like in a world without sexism, if they published for an audience that valued women for what they accomplish in sports. It occurred to me than some accused sexual assailants enjoy most favored rapist status on this site. The obvious examples are Julian Assange and Woody Allen. Another case is James Winston, Heisman Trophy winner, who was not prosecuted despite DNA evidence, a medical exam that showed vaginal tearing and severe bruising, and the examining physician's determination that the victim had been raped. A dozen or two members insisted he too was innocent. Those are the cases I recall by name. I thought others here might share cases they remember where people made a point of defending an accused rapist. Lastly, I'd like to know whether you think it's a case of famous guys getting a break, or that this community, like the country in general, always believes accused rapists over victims? Certainly some accused assailants attract more defenders than usual. For some reason Woody Allen seems to be enjoying more support even than Julian Assange, and clearly far more than James Winston. So I wonder if it's a matter of some men being above the law, that people can't believe that men they admire would do such a thing, or that there is a default position of innocent until proven guilty that sexual assailants enjoy here that those accused of perpetrating other crimes do not? Or is there some other explanation? Lastly, why? Why is it that being accused of child molestation or rape elevates a person's standing above other accused perpetrators, like the guy in Florida who killed the teenager who was playing loud music? Here I feel compelled to post a few caveats. Of course everyone is innocent until proven guilty in our justice system. That, however, does not govern discussion on DU. Nor does it explain why the "innocent until proven guilty" argument is always made for rapists but seldom for those accused of other crimes, and never for women accused of making false rape accusations. I have never seen anyone come into Weird News and say "that woman accused of injecting poop in her husband's I.V. is innocent until proven guilty." Nor have they said "Those McDonalds employees accused of selling Heroin in the Happy Meals are innocent until proven guilty." Cheney, Bush or Christie are not innocent until proven guilty. They are, according to DUers, guilty. So why should accused rapists be held in higher esteem than elected officials?

President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told The Hill on Wednesday that Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonDemocratic groups using Bloomberg money to launch M in Spanish language ads in Florida The Hill's Campaign Report: Presidential polls tighten weeks out from Election Day More than 50 Latino faith leaders endorse Biden MORE should be investigated for possible obstruction of justice. “Of course she should be investigated,” Giuliani said, asserting that “there is plenty of evidence that Hillary obstructed justice by destroying evidence in a gross and massive way.” Giuliani was referring to approximately 30,000 emails on Clinton’s private server that were deleted before investigators could examine them during the probe of her actions while secretary of State during the Obama administration. ADVERTISEMENT Clinton’s team has said that the deleted emails were personal in nature and therefore irrelevant to an investigation into alleged improper handling of classified information. Giuliani’s comments came in the course of a 13-minute phone interview with The Hill that had initially been focused on the current state of special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE’s investigation. Trump on Tuesday submitted written answers to questions from Mueller about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. During the interview, the former New York City mayor segued into complaints about news stories regarding Ivanka Trump Ivana (Ivanka) Marie TrumpSpecial counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report Trump, Biden vie for Minnesota Trump luxury properties have charged US government .1M since inauguration: report MORE’s use of a personal email account last year. Comparisons between the actions of the president’s daughter and those of the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee were unfair, he insisted. “It’s so stupid!” Giuliani said. “So [Ivanka] used her personal email. The thing wrong with Hillary is not that she used her personal email. It’s that she didn’t maintain it. She destroyed it. She destroyed the emails. Somebody used a sledgehammer. Jesus!” Giuliani’s remarks were also a defense of the president in the wake of a New York Times story published Tuesday that reported Trump had told then-White House counsel Donald McGahn Donald (Don) F. McGahnCongress hits rock bottom in losing to the president in subpoena ruling Rudy Giuliani's reputation will never recover from the impeachment hearings In private moment with Trump, Justice Kennedy pushed for Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination: book MORE earlier this year that he wanted to order the Department of Justice to prosecute Clinton and James Comey James Brien ComeyDemocrats fear Russia interference could spoil bid to retake Senate Book: FBI sex crimes investigator helped trigger October 2016 public probe of Clinton emails Trump jabs at FBI director over testimony on Russia, antifa MORE, the FBI director whom Trump fired in May 2017. Such a move would be deeply controversial, and many legal observers said if it had been carried out it would have been an abuse of presidential power. According to the Times story, McGahn pushed back against the president, saying that Trump did not have the authority to order a prosecution. He also ordered up a memo that argued that even the lesser act of requesting an investigation of political foes could prompt a serious counter-reaction, up to and including impeachment. But Giuliani said that he could not see any problem. “I don’t see how a president is prevented from saying someone should be investigated when there is public, probable cause that they committed a crime,” he said. He asserted that Comey had illegally leaked information, something that Comey has long denied. But Giuliani reserved his most forceful language for Clinton. “Someone is under investigation and all of a sudden 30,000 emails disappear and someone takes a sledgehammer to them? I’m telling you, she is going in front of a grand jury,” Giuliani said. He appeared to be outlining a hypothetical situation if someone had acted in the same way as Clinton during Giuliani’s own tenure as a federal prosecutor, rather than suggesting a new grand jury would be impaneled in Clinton’s case. Comey ultimately found that “no charges are appropriate” in the investigation of Clinton’s email use, though he criticized Clinton and her colleagues for having been “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” On the point of whether Ivanka Trump’s actions could be fairly compared to Clinton’s, Giuliani pushed back against the suggestion that the president’s elder daughter and senior adviser should have known about the rules governing such correspondence. The Washington Post reported on Monday evening that Ivanka Trump had “sent hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistants using a personal account, many of them in violation of federal records rules.” “It’s one thing to violate one rule of the 5,000 rules that exist when you are first on board, but to have preserved everything so it is all there,” Giuliani said. But that was different, he asserted, “than to set up a whole system after you’ve been in government all your life and helped to write some of those rules.” On the Mueller probe, Giuliani confirmed that it was now unlikely the president would sit for an in-person interview with the special counsel’s team — though he said “we are not going to close our minds 1,000 percent to it.” Instead, he argued that Mueller’s team ought to be “satisfied” with written answers — even though he acknowledged that the president and his team had declined to address any questions of obstruction of justice. “We weren’t going to answer any obstruction [questions],” Giuliani told The Hill. “We don’t believe we should have to, because it is all privileged communication between the president and his subordinates. It is not obstruction to fire one of your subordinates. It is not obstruction to give advice to one of your subordinates.” This line of argument is countered by legal experts who insist a president does commit obstruction of justice if he takes such actions with “corrupt intent” — for example, an intent to thwart a legitimate investigation. But Giuliani remained adamant. “The president’s whole approach to this has been extraordinarily disciplined despite some of the false stories,” he said regarding the Mueller investigation as a whole. “But he is obviously very hurt personally. And I am too. It’s very hard when you are accused of something you didn’t do, and you know you didn’t do it.”

The remnants of human civilization are threatened by gigantic creatures breeding beneath the earth. You must control powerful mechs from the future to hold off this alien threat. Each attempt to save the world presents a new randomly generated challenge in this turn-based strategy game from the makers of FTL. Features Defend the Cities: Civilian buildings power your mechs. Defend them from the Vek and watch your fire! Perfect Your Strategy: All enemy attacks are telegraphed in minimalistic, turn-based combat. Analyze your opponent’s attack and come up with the perfect counter every turn. Build the Ultimate Mech: Find powerful new weapons and unique pilots as you battle the Vek infestation across Corporate-Nation islands. Another Chance: Failure is not an option. When you are defeated, send help back through time to save another timeline! CAN NOT DOWNLOAD: Some probably encounter the following error: This site can’t be reached ...sundryfiles.com’s server IP address could not be found. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. In this case, please use Google DNS and you will get rid of trouble. If downloaded file can not be extracted (file corrupted...), please make sure you have downloaded the file completely and don't use Winzip, it sucks! We would recommend using The Unarchiver. By reason, the App does not work and can not be opened. Mostly, just Disable the Gatekeeper, and you get rid of troubles.

Trump Calls Chinese Tariffs on American Cars ‘Stupid’ In an early Monday-morning tweet, President Trump showed no sign of backing off from trade-war threats with China that have rattled the stock market, made farmers nervous, and prompted swift retaliation from America’s foremost geopolitical rival. When a car is sent to the United States from China, there is a Tariff to be paid of 2 1/2%. When a car is sent to China from the United States, there is a Tariff to be paid of 25%. Does that sound like free or fair trade. No, it sounds like STUPID TRADE - going on for years! As Axios’s Jonathan Swan reported in March, the Chinese government has long wanted to import more vehicles into the American market, but Trump and his nationalist allies aim to make their mission more difficult. Currently, as Trump tweeted, China imposes 25 percent tariffs on American vehicles, and mandates that foreign companies form joint ventures with Chinese firms. By contrast, America imposes only a 2.5 percent tariff on foreign car companies, though China has not made much of a dent in the U.S. market yet. The auto issue could open up another combat arena in the brewing trade battles between the two countries. The Trump administration already imposed tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, and announced tariffs on a planned additional $50 billion worth of Chinese products, with Trump threatening much more. In response, China announced $50 billion worth of tariffs on American products last week, ranging from whiskey to trucks. Farmers and others who would be hit by tariffs hope the president is merely bluffing with his grand threats, but Trump’s misguided notion that America is perennially getting screwed over by its trading partners is one of his bedrock philosophies. There has been conflicting evidence on whether his administration will actually follow through with anything beyond the steel and aluminum duties that have already gone into effect. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “there is the potential of a trade war,” but that he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. On Meet the Press on Sunday, hard-line trade adviser Peter Navarro said Trump’s threats were not “a negotiating tactic,” and, of course, the president himself seems to be spoiling for a fight. Still, some observers are not convinced that a full-blown conflict is on the way. Goldman Sachs said on Monday morning that it expected an eventual compromise between the U.S. and China.

House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday suggested that President Donald Trump's threats to revoke the security clearances of several Obama administration-era former intelligence chiefs is "trolling". "I think he's trolling people, honestly," Ryan, R-Wis., said during a news conference at the Capitol Tuesday morning. “This is something that's in the purview of the executive branch," he explained, deferring the issue to the White House. "I think some of these people have already lost their clearances. Some people keep their clearances. That's something that the executive branch deals with. It's not really in our purview.” On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that Trump is weighing revoking the security clearances of John Brennan, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, James Comey, a former FBI director who Trump fired last year, Jim Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, Michael Hayden, a former Director of the National Security Agency, Susan Rice, a National Security Advisor, and Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI. The move follows criticism of the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki, Finland, where Trump seemed to cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Brennan, in a tweet, said Trump's "press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???" After the president extended an invitation for Putin to visit the White House later this fall, Ryan slammed the door on an invitation to address Congress but acknowledged he is “comfortable” with presidents having one-on-one meetings with foreign leaders. “We will certainly not be giving him an invitation to do a joint session. That's something we reserve for allies,” Ryan said. “What I think matters is the message, and if the message is stop meddling in our country, stop violating our sovereignty, then I support that, but it's the message that counts.” “I think we always can be firmer on that message,” he added.

301, 302 301, 302 or 301/302 is a 1995 South Korean film directed by Park Chul-soo. It tells the story of two South Korean women, neighbors in the same apartment building, who take very different approaches to the difficulties of modern life; one indulges in food, sex, and spending while the other lives in self-imposed austerity. The film was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 68th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. Compulsion, a 2013 Canadian psychological thriller directed by Egidio Coccimiglio, is based on this film. Plot 301, 302 explores the relationship of Song-hee, a chef living in apartment 301, and Yoon-hee, an anorexic writer living in apartment 302. The film begins with a detective visiting Song-hee to investigate the disappearance of Yoon-hee. The detective questions Song-hee about Yoon-hee's personal life, Song-hee claims that Yoon-hee has no interest in food or sex. He then searches Yoon-hee's empty apartment. The film shows Yoon-hee in the spaces around her home that the detective explores. The detective finds her anorexia medicine and her written work on the subject of sex. The film goes back to when Song-hee moved into apartment 301. Yoon-hee avoids interacting with her, preferring to be left alone. Song-hee begins construction on her new apartment and Yoon-hee experiences flashbacks of her experience of sexual abuse. There is a flashback to Song-hee packing her belongings after divorcing her husband. He criticizes Song-hee's weight gain and when the film moves back to her moving into apartment 301, she expresses her desire to lose weight. Song-hee then visits Yoon-hee with a plate of the food she made. Yoon-hee does not eat the food and instead vomits into the toilet. Meanwhile, Song-hee celebrates her independence from her ex-husband and states her commitment to going on a diet. She brings Yoon-hee food a second time. She tries to make Yoon-hee eat sausage, which she refuses to do. Song-hee asks if she has been raped and then expresses her love for sex. Yoon-hee is visibly upset by the food and vomits again which offends Song-hee who presumes Yoon-hee thinks she is disgusting for liking sex. The film goes through a compilation of Song-hee cooking and delivering food to Yoon-hee who subsequently throws the food into the trash and vomits. Song-hee catches Yoon-hee taking out the trash and sees all the food she cooked in the trash bag. She digs the food out of the trash bag and puts it all on plates in front of Yoon-hee in an attempt to force her to eat but she vomits again. Song-hee brings Yoon-hee to her apartment and apologizes for her actions and then forces Yoon-hee to eat against her will. The film shows a flashback to Yoon-hee's life living with her mother and step-father in their family-run butcher shop. Her step-father repeatedly sexually assaulted her. She resorts to hiding from her family in a freezer, a child of a customer sees her exit the freezer and decides to enter the freezer as well. The child freezes to death. The film then moves back to Song-hee and Yoon-hee in apartment 301 and Song-hee finally understands Yoon-hee's reasoning for not eating. She commits to making food that Yoon-hee can eat but Yoon-hee continues to vomit in response to the food. The film moves back to Song-hee's conversation with the detective and it's revealed that she killed, cooked, and fed her pet dog to her husband, which caused their divorce. Another flashback shows Song-hee still married to her husband and living her life as a housewife. They are shown as a happy couple indulging in food and sex. Their relationship deteriorates and Song-hee's relationship with food changes as she begins overeating and gaining weight. She discovers that her husband is having an affair and gains resentment for their pet dog who receives more attention than her from her husband. She serves him a meal and reveals the skull of the dog in a pot. The film then jumps to their divorce and the official's decision that Song-hee's husband would have to pay for her alimony and work. Song-hee talks to Yoon-hee about her desire to find new ingredients to cook with and the pleasure she got from cooking her dog. Later, Yoon-hee asks if the dog suffered and undresses in front of Song-hee. She asks if she looks “tasteless”, Song-hee strangles her to death and cuts up her body. The next scene shows Song-hee having dinner and she daydreams about Yoon-hee in front of her eating as well. The fridge door swings open to reveal Yoon-hee's severed head. The screen fades to black and the sentence “So, has their loneliness all ended?” appears. The final scene shows Yoon-hee speaking to Song-hee who is lying naked on her bed. Cast Bang Eun-jin as Song-hee, the woman in apartment 301. Hwang Shin-hye as Yoon-hee, the woman in apartment 302. as the detective. as Song-hee's ex-husband. Chang Young-joo as Yoon-hee's mother. Choi Jae-young as Yoon-hee's step-father. Lee Ji-yeon as Yoon-hee's younger self. Accolades Film Festivals 301, 302 was screened during the 18th Busan International Film Festival in 2013. The festival had 217,865 attendees. Director Park Cheol-soo had his own "Special Program" that featured his films Farewell My Darling, Green Chair, Mother, Stray Dog, and 301, 302. The film was also screened during the 46th Berlin International Film Festival in 1996 as part of the "Panorama" section. Canadian Remake 301, 302 was remade in 2013 by director Egidio Coccimiglio with the title Compulsion. The plot is similar to the original film but has some differences. Song-hee is Amy (Heather Graham) and Yoon-hee is Saffron (Carrie-Anne Moss). Amy is a chef and Saffron is a former child star. Instead of Saffron's trauma being caused by sexual assault, it is instead caused by her mother. See also List of submissions to the 68th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of South Korean submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Compulsion References External links Category:1995 films Category:Korean-language films Category:1990s mystery thriller films Category:South Korean films Category:Films directed by Park Chul-soo Category:South Korean mystery thriller films

Jemyma C Noevil When you read Victoria Nangle’s reviews you find yourself muttering ‘Get on with it’ a lot. There’s a great deal of throat-clearing and pussyfooting, all of it taking up ink and paper that could have been used for poetry, or a treatise on human rights or something. Take her first paragraph on Candy Gigi: Looking for love is a familiar trope in Edinburgh comedy shows. Comedians’ hours are anti social—read that as perma-single—so it’s an easily relatable topic, and there’s plenty of scope for individual anecdotes as well as the broader familiar themes. Have the lovelorn idea intersect with a clown, unafraid to switch without warning between gleefully terrifying and sharply absurd, and you’re left with something truly unusual. Clearly she’s trying to get all her metaphorical ducks in a row before offering a critique. But it’s confusing, difficult to read and largely unnecessary. It makes us think that maybe the one-tweet-reviewers have something after all. Because her second paragraph begins: “Framed loosely within the construct of a romantic date with a member of the audience, Chicken Soup doesn’t so much feed the soul as threaten it at knifepoint.” Fucking hooray. Now you’re telling us about the show in a way that offers wit and opinion. This is good. Why wasn’t this your opening? And why am I doing the Fest sub-editor’s job? The review continues with things like “Gigi doesn’t shy from making herself appear crudely grotesque and almost demonic at times”, but doesn’t tell us how. We know, from reading other reviews, that Gigi eats onions. But using proper nouns would, it seems, stick in Nangle’s throat and make her cry. Her reviews are remarkably muddy. Her opening lines on Matt Winning demonstrate that she’s anxious not to give any jokes away: “There’s something to be said for starting your show with a bang. Kicking off with what he claims is ‘the most expensive opening joke at the Fringe’, Matt Winning does just that.” This is an honourable impulse, but it tends to manifest itself in the non-description she gives of Winning’s show. Apart from the fact that Winning calls himself the son of Robert Mugabe, it’s hard to work out what else is going on. Similarly her review of Paul Sinha reads rather like the 100-word precis comedians crank out to a Fringe Society deadline months before they’ve written the jokes yet. You keep wanting her to zoom in on something – anything – and give us a taste of what this comic is about. But there’s just a fuzzy overview about how nice it all was, and suggestions that Sinha doesn’t like Keith Lemon or Paddy McGuinness. It’s all a bit of a tease and you wish she’d either tell us these stories properly or not mention them. It’s odd, because her opening on Steve Bugeja is cracking: “What happens when an already socially awkward man finds himself driving the father of the girl he loves, on day release from prison, to her wedding to another man? You’ll find the answer in this touching and funny show, which takes a roomful of people on a most surprising road trip.” It may just be that a really good premise gives Nangle the focus she needs. But really, she needs to cut the flannel from all her reviews. To adapt one of her comments about Matt Winning: It’s a shame, because she can clearly write. Claire Smith – or ‘The Scotsman’s Clair Smith’, as the Wow24/7 website denomes her – is every bit as good a reviewer as you’d expect a veteran hack to be. (Note to comedians: ‘hack’ is not a pejorative term in journalism.) You might not agree with everything she writes, nor the assumptions on which she builds her arguments. In her review of Felicity Ward she writes that “a lot of creative people fear analysing their quirks”, despite working in an environment where 1,200 comedy creatives want to talk about their quirks for a whole hour. And her comment that Henning Wehn’s “joke telling is as dry, logical and precise as German engineering” is the sort of thing a freshly-minted student reviewer would think is really clever. However, such bumps can only jolt the reader because the rest of the road is so smooth; on the whole Smith’s reviews are marvellously clear, articulate and witty without giving the impression she’s trying to compete with her subject. She tells us that “Candy Gigi eats onions, disco dances in a pig mask and false boobs shaking maracas, and simulates sex with a blow-up doll dressed as a Hasidic Jew. She talks about poo and dirty sex and does unspeakable things to a real chicken”. This seems to commit the reviewing sin of set-listing, but the important thing is that Smith only does this where it’s genuinely intriguing. And it certainly is with Candy Gigi. Smith’s matter-of-factness results in some statements that don’t sound like passages on the way to critical approval but in fact are: “Ward has galloping irritable bowel syndrome, severe anxiety and bouts of depression”. “[Christie] begins by constructing a ludicrously grotesque definition of a feminist”; “Christie lengthily, wilfully and deliberately misses the point of Nigel Farage”. It’s a small thing but helps reinforce Smith’s ability to hold a show at arm’s length and to see it before she judges it. I have a small problem with her comment about This is Your Trial that “Defence lawyer Rachel Parris probably should have laid off the Chardonnay before the performance”. If she was drunk then tell us, but let’s not jump to the conclusion that pretty blonde girls only quaff bimbo juice. Well, not if you’re going to declare an admiration for Bridget Christie. Are we allowed to say that girls are pretty? Of course we are. Although I did wonder how Candy Gigi’s “lovely skin” was a vital factor next to her pig mask and onion-scoffing. But if such minor improprieties are the price of seeing some old-school professionalism on the Fringe then it’s a price worth paying. We at FringePig often bemoan the lazy reviewer who, either uncertain of their own credibility or unwilling to condemn a show outright, signs off a review with words to the effect that it’s okay if you like that sort of thing. Yasmin Sulaiman, though, is the first reviewer shameless enough to say that precisely. Joanna Neary is apparently “well worth your time – if you like this sort of thing”. Indeed, throughout this review you’re willing her to have the courage of her convictions. When she says that Neary’s show is “not a surefire crowd-pleaser by a long way” that seems fair enough except that, by day six of the Fringe, Neary will still be finding her crowd. But the next line is just annoying: “But if your humour leans towards the quirky, and your sensibility to this side of vintage, it’s enrapturing”. Whereas she could have said “quirky, anachronistic and enrapturing”, Sulaiman opted to make any potential rapture subject to the dubious possibility that the reader likes quirks or anything ‘vintage’. This tendency to make her vignettes of praise fight each other like foxes in a bag can be seen in her knowledge of the earlier work of Neary and in her review of Lazy Susan. In both cases, the older stuff was better. Her Lazy Susan review begins: “There’s no doubting the talent of Celeste Dring and Freya Parker”; the word ‘talent’ really requiring italics. There’s no doubting their talent, but Sulaiman is about to explain why it only adds up to three stars, which is pretty much all she’s prepared to give anything; even Matt Forde’s Let’s Get the Political Party Started where she lavishes nothing but unfettered praise. She complains the Marcus Brigstocke’s monodrama, Fully Committed, is anachronistic because all the women in it are unpleasant and ‘whiny’, as if a play with whiny women was somehow a concrete value statement about ALL women. It’s hilarious that Marcus Brigstock should suffer friendly fire on his PC credentials, and testament to how hungry people are to score points by sticking up for imaginary victims. Not that Sulaiman ever nails her political colours to the mast. She doesn’t like that sort of thing. Everything is good IF you like that sort of thing. We understand that. But what we need of Sulaiman is for her to tell us that something (ANYTHING!) is unimpeachably brilliant or irredeemably dire without weaseling around it with ifs and buts and on-the-other-hands. We understand that in a universe of limitless perspectives, tastes and sensibilities a gut response may be open to question and qualification. But for goodness sake, Yasmin, just feel something with your heart. Ben Shannon is a likeable presence whose relaxed hand on the tiller eases the audience into the situation, combining a light-hearted patter and confidence beyond his years. Don’t take my word for it, though. Because those were not my words. They were a reviewer’s words, back when Shannon was in Three Men and a Saucepan in 2013. Now here’s an interesting thing. Back in 2004 Michael Legge was given a one-star review by a reviewer who was Probably Not Very Good (I know, I know) and who later decided to be a comedian. The fact that Michael Legge did not make him very welcome whenever the two should meet is one of those stories comedians now tell in the backs of cars. And now Michael Legge has been reviewed yet again by someone determined to straddle the fence of arsery and artistry while only pissing on one side of it. This time he’s got a four, so there’ll be no stern talkings-to (probably) but you have to ask yourself: where do these people get off? Not just the fence but, you know, generally? How do you SIT THERE, assessing someone doing comedy, write that it wasn’t very good, or it was okay, or it was brilliant but then a bit MEH, and then go and do it yourself, fretting about whether there’s one of those cunt reviewers in? It’s like Jack the Ripper moonlighting as a prostitute, and hoping he doesn’t end up going home with a wrong’un. We might shrug if Ben Shannon wasn’t bothered about opinions and that it’s, if I may quote The Wire, “All in the game”. But he tells us very proudly that he got three stars from Three Weeks on the first day of performance back then. Presumably – to misquote Victor Kiam – he liked the review so much, he joined the company. And he provides a quote from that nice Marc Blake, who used to play Helmut the German. So opinions mean a lot to him, as they do to any new comedian. Here’s mine: choose a bloody side. If he chooses to stick with reviewing he’s by no means bad at it. His sentences are well formed and nicely paced. More importantly he manages to get his passion across in a short space of words. He occasionally tails off into throwaways like “you won’t regret” going, or “Edinburgh will be seeing more” of someone, or, in the case of Ivo Graham, the rather verbose “it would be foolish to ignore the fact that he is one of the circuit’s truly talented wordsmiths, and his skills only continue to improve”. Three Weeks only prints slug reviews, yet you can’t help imagining Shannon’s eye is on the word count and his mind, no doubt, on how many stars he needs to dish out to avoid difficult confrontations with his comedy peers as he goes to new places and meets new people. This is why moonlighting doesn’t work, and why Mister Kipper doesn’t allow us to give these subterfugees more than one pig. So suck on your single sausage, Mister Shannon, and next year come back as a baddie OR a good guy. You can’t be both at the same time. This isn’t The Wire. Jemyma C. Noevil * Note: Ben Shannon is performing with Mike Reed (not, we presume, the dead one who was married to Pat Butcher) at Moriarty’s (Venue 332) for the Free Festival at 4.15pm daily. It’s free. Please donate enough money at the end that he can leave reviewing behind him. If I had to sum up Claire Sawers in one word it would have to be ‘dismissive’. She is airily dismissive of things she finds too insubstantial, like Phil Wang or Rhys James. In James’s review, in fact, she’s trying so hard not to care about what he does that she seems to suggest she doesn’t know what’s going on in the industry: “…the ‘haircut comedians’, presumably a new genre where puppyish, pretty, young, but underwhelming, still undercooked stand-ups get chucked in, and doused in faint praise”. In other words, she doesn’t know what it is, but she’s pretty sure she hates it. The stuff she gives three stars to doesn’t get any greater respect: Dead Ghost Star is “enjoyably batshit, child-friendly comedy gibberish” and Jo Caulfield is “a professional snide; an acid-tongued, quick-witted moaner”. Susan Calman’s fans are “mostly early-to-bed Radio 4 listeners and ‘the cliterati’.” Low-starred shows are rarely given itemised pointers by which they may improve themselves, in fact it’s a feature of Sawers that her twos read like threes and her threes may pass without a single admonition. Yet in most of her appraisals there’ll be an airy one-line brush-off that makes it clear just how predictable and tedious and generic most of the treats laid out for Claire Sawers truly are. She can be just as efficient with her praise. “[David] Trent looks like Goliath, but thinks like David, and his Charlie Brooker-style bashing of pop culture and current politics’ daftest muppets is very deftly done, “ she says. And I would like to reinforce that point with a second example, but I haven’t been able to find one. Claire Sawers is a deeply ungenerous reviewer, but that’s not to say that she is a bad one. She is sharp as a cat’s claw most of the time, particularly considering the volume of stuff she writes. You just wonder whether she should stop it, and find a job she likes.

I Analyze Depressed Wizards I Analyze Depressed Wizards The Magicians "If this were a Fillory novel- Quentin thought, just for the record- the house would contain a secret gateway to another world. The old man who lived there would be kindly and eccentric and drop cryptic remarks, and then when his back was turned Quentin would stumble upon a mysterious cabinet or an enchanted dumbwaiter or whatever, through which he would gaze with wild surmise on the clean breast of another world." Well, that's obsessive. It would be nice if this world had therapists. Oh wait, it does, at least according to the second book. Okay, it would be nice if this world had useful therapists. What I think is particularly telling about this passage is that Quentin imagines the other world as being a better place. His world is dirty and depressing. Fillory is clean and adventurous. No one comes to the door, so Quentin, flaunting the normal rules of etiquette, steps in on his own, obviously thinking of himself as a heroic, curious young man, rather than a depressed, neurotic high school senior. "A staircase went up. On the left was a stiff, unused-looking dining room, on the right a cozy den with leather armchairs and a carved, man-size wooden cabinet standing by itself in a corner. Interesting. An old nautical map taller than he was took up half of one wall, with an ornately barbed compass rose." Who wants to guess what happens next? "The cabinet was enormous, so big you could climb into it." Surprise! They find a dead guy! You were right! Umm... you were right, weren't you? This here is the first appearance of the paramedic. Let's take a gander at how Grossman describes her appearance. "Her cheeks were flushed from crouching over the body. She might have been twenty-five at most, and she wore a dark blue short-sleeved button-down shirt, neatly pressed, with one button that didn't match: a stewardess on the connecting flight to hell." AHA! One button that didn't match. Foreshadowing meter, +1. I need a foreshadowing meter... "Quentin wished she weren't so attractive. Unpretty women were so much easier to deal with in some ways-you didn't have to deal with the pain of their probable unattainability. But she was not unpretty. She was pale and thin and unreasonably lovely, with a broad, ridiculously sexy mouth." You'll notice that Grossman feels the need to shove it down our throats when one of his female characters is attractive. Well, besides Alice. So... faux-philosophical dialogue disguised as flirting. "'Well,'" says the paramedic, "'you're supposed to keep them alive. Or that's what they tell us.' 'It must be hard.' 'The dead ones are a lot less trouble.' 'Exactly.' So... foreshadowing meter, +1? You know, I might have overestimated my... readers? please tell me I have readers- a little bit. Prior knowledge of the book is not really necessary. My first liveblog, you know. I'm still kind of getting into the swing of things. "She wore a shiny yellow enamel ring and some kind of fancy silver antique wristwatch. Her nose and chin were tiny and pointy. She was a pale, skinny, pretty angel of death." Meter +1. You know, this meter might be more difficult to keep track of than I thought. So, Quentin is given an envelope which turns out to contain The Magicians, the first book of Fillory and Further, by the paramedic witch-lady. He opens it, and out blows a piece of paper. A note? An invitation? It flies into an overgrown community garden, and Quentin chases it. "It crossed his mind that the note might just possibly contain the hot paramedic's phone number." CHASE IT QUENTIN GO GET IT NOW "Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something flit past behind the bracken, large and pale, but when he turned his head it was gone." Quentin pushes through the thickening garden, chasing the note. And suddenly everything is silent. Quentin closes his eyes and takes another few steps. "When he opened his eyes again he was standing on the edge of a huge, wide, perfectly level green lawn surrounded by trees. The smell of ripe grass was overpowering. There was hot sun on his face." Here it is summer, not winter. Here it is a cloudless day. Here there is a massive, beautiful, ornate stone house. And Quentin is unable to believe it. He thinks he's going insane. He sees one other person leaning against a nearby tree. He goes to talk to the teenager. "'Is this-?' Quentin cleared his throat. 'So is this Fillory?' He squinted against the bright sun. "The young man looked at Quentin very seriously. He took another long drag on his cigarette, then he shook his head slowly, blowing out the smoke. "'Nope,' he said. 'Upstate New York.'" 9th Nov 2011 02:53:49 PM flag for mods Comments Pfft, like Upstate New York isn't a magical land full of talking animals! TV Tropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from [email protected]. Privacy Policy

// Copyright (C) 2006 Davis E. King ([email protected]) // License: Boost Software License See LICENSE.txt for the full license. #ifndef DLIB_WINDOWS_MAGIc_ #define DLIB_WINDOWS_MAGIc_ #include "platform.h" #ifdef WIN32 // This file contains all the magical #defines you have to setup before you // include the windows header files. #ifndef NOMINMAX #define NOMINMAX // prevent windows from messing with std::min and std::max #endif // Prevent windows from #defining IN or OUT #ifndef _NO_W32_PSEUDO_MODIFIERS #define _NO_W32_PSEUDO_MODIFIERS #endif // now just for good measure undefine min and max if they are defined #ifdef min #undef min #endif #ifdef max #undef max #endif #ifdef NO_MAKEFILE // only define this if all the cpp files are going to be sucked into the headers // because otherwise we don't need it since everything is isolated in the sockets // cpp file and this declaration for _WINSOCKAPI_ appears there also. #ifndef _WINSOCKAPI_ #define _WINSOCKAPI_ /* Prevent inclusion of winsock.h in windows.h */ #endif #endif // This is something stupid you have to do to make visual studio include the right // stuff. I don't really know what the deal is with this. #if _WIN32_WINNT < 0x0500 #undef _WIN32_WINNT #define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0500 #endif #endif // WIN32 #endif // DLIB_WINDOWS_MAGIc_

American singer Katy Perry is being trolled after she posted a picture of Goddess Kali on Instagram current mood A post shared by KATY PERRY (@katyperry) on Apr 18, 2017 at 6:57pm PDT @katyperry I feel so proud that Katy knows about my religion! — Haren nayar (@Harennayar) April 19, 2017 Poor Katy Perry. The American singer is facing the wrath of Indian trolls after posting a picture of the Hindu Goddess Kali on Instagram. She captioned it "current mood." Uploaded on the photo-sharing platform roughly 11 hours ago, the post has been liked over 194,000 times. But one look at the comments section reveals a series of abusive and hateful messages left by Indian Instagram users.This person was quick to see the hate that would soon be hurled Ms Perry's way:"You do realise it can have adverse effects. She is a goddess. I suggest you remove it before the ones who get offended start retaliating. I am sure your intention is clear. Do the damage control before the damage happens," warns Instagram user khalidwani.Here are just some of the kinds of comments being left on the post:"How ridiculous this? You don't have permission to upload a picture of our goddess on this f**king social media and embarrassing our culture," writes Instagram user the_j_stark."You're making fun of our goddess...Delete your account," writes another user."Everyone just report this post," writes user aham_aktiwari.But many people are now countering the negative comments"I'm an Indian and guess what? I'm not offended by this (I know!). Just thought of letting it be known, if anyone cares that is. Lest the world starts thinking every Indian on social media has anger issues. Well, now you know. Not all of us. But yeah, most of us," writes Instagram user learnerdy."I don't understand, what's in there to be offended, I am a very proud Indian but not at all offended by this," writes someone who goes by the username medude28.Instagram user ishagupta981 adds: "Come on everyone...it's nothing to get offended about..she meant she is angry and furious as the goddess in the pic. She didn't disrespect. I'm also Hindu and a proud Indian."Ms Perry has posted the same picture and caption on Twitter as well, where it is being met with similar - though markedly less hateful - reactions.This person has a simple request:"Umm ok? No hate but please respect our goddess? You would hate it if we started using your religious symbols like this so don't do it to us...culture appropriation," writes Instagram user gold_dancergirl.Ms Perry has around 63.4 million followers on Instagram and is among the top 20 most followed people on the platform.With 97.1 million followers, the pop singer is the most followed person on Twitter. On Monday, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel's fiancee, Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr , was similarly trolled on Instagram.Click here for more trending stories

Summer time ends, winter drawers on! Last Autumn, I uploaded this picture and a few that I had taken in Merrion’s Wood as entries to a photographic contest at the hospital. I didn’t win, but I was a finalist. I went to the presentation at the new hospital and even got a certificate from the mayor. Sorry the picture is in black and white, that’s a technical error I can’t be bothered to fix. Nothing so exciting has happened this year. I’ve struggled to get decent photos with all the dark skies and persistent rain. Now we have changed from British summer time back to Greenwich mean time, it will be dark nights and cold frosty mornings for the foreseeable future. I will be going to the hospital in a months time for an appointment. I might even see my picture displayed in the Outpatients Department. I wish the art gallery would have an art competition like that. Just ask people to email pictures in and the best ones from the town, area or even the Black Country could be printed, framed and exhibited. When I went to the hospital for the presentation, there were lots of people there. My friend came and my sister and her partner came. It would be the same at the art gallery, the finalists would invite their friends and family. I saw those idiots from Top Gear last week doing something in an art gallery, playing the fool mostly, but they got a crowd in. So how hard can it be? The art gallery should do student art exhibitions too for the local university; with an art auction at the end. That would be good and make a few quid to help them pay off their student loans or whatever. It would be good if it was pictures and maybe sculptures, they could draw the line at half cows or sheep pickled in formaldehyde. We had Halloween this week. Some old sod said it was an American import. Trick or treat might be American, but Halloween is a pagan ritual and as English as Granny Smith’s. I bought some apples this week. I know it was a bad year, but they don’t smell like apples. Why don’t apples in the shops, smell like apples? They don’t seem to be ripening either. The bananas ripened too bloody quickly last week. I am thinking of going to Matalan this afternoon. I want a pair of gloves, because I can’t find mine. I need an umbrella too. I’m considering more pyjamas, except a lot of them are called lounge pants and lounge tops now. If you buy pyjamas you end up looking like someone from a concentration camp. I bought some not long ago and they were really good, so I’ll buy more. I’m thinking of getting a teapot to make my green tea in as well. We have dark evenings and long dark days to look forward to now for at least six months. It will be broken up a little by Christmas. I should look for Christmas presents while I’m in Matalan this afternoon. It always pays to buy them early, while some prices drop over Christmas, prices of the more popular and in demand stuff, tends to go up. I think Christmas in the UK tends to be different to the rest of the world. I like traditions and resent it being made more commercial. I hate the phrase ‘Happy Holidays’. I shall continue wishing people Merry Christmas, we’re not a Muslim State yet. The politically correct crowd have a lot to answer for sometimes. I don’t mind mistletoe being 3 foot high for disabled people. I won’t pander to any minority that is anti social though and that includes the acronym-loving crowd at the council and the far right hang ‘em and flog ‘em brigade. We have an election for a police commissioner soon. I should say an overpaid police commissioner. It’s probably better than paying a committee to do the job, but he or she should report regularly to the electorate and be ‘transparent’ and accountable. Whatever that means… That’s this week’s rant and ramble. There are more blogs on the homepage of a zillion ideas. Got an idea? Please comment…

feature image via Shutterstock trans*scribe header image by rosa middleton “If we only speak of our oppression from the position of safety, we’ll be forever silent.” – from the zine Betrayal: a critical analysis of rape in anarchist subcultures Yesterday, I had a panic attack. Although I am a trans woman who has been physically and verbally harassed multiple times for being who I am, I was not ready for it. Although I am a trans woman who has survived suicide attempts and considered killing myself many more times before, I could not handle this sudden wave of anxiety. Because despite all these problems I have had in my life, I have lived a relatively privileged existence. My periods of anxiety, fear and stress have either been within my control or directly resulting from a source outside of myself. Never before have I had my own fear knock me down, literally making my knees buckle as I gasped for breath in between unsuccessful attempts to soothe myself by repeating, “They are not even in the same state, they are not even in the same state…” I am sure this is hard to imagine for people who have only known me as the gregarious, ditzy, carefree person that I regularly present myself as. It is probably even harder for the people who have seen me on stage in one of my various punk and metal bands or walking through the streets with a megaphone yelling about how Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by the U.S. government. But now I’m showing y’all this part of myself: the damaged, vulnerable me. ADVERTISEMENT The LGBTQI community, including the radical leftist community inside and outside of it, talks big shit when it comes to love and ending violence but very seldom confronts intimate partner violence. Although the word “abuse” has become synonymous with intimate partner abuse in a broader sense, you only need to search for “trans abuse” online or in a library to see that the standard narrative is that most, if not all, violence against trans* people comes from individual community outsiders, though sometimes there is a recognition of the hate being part of a larger social problem. Even pieces written in an attempt to expose the problem, such as Kae Greenberg’s “Still Hidden in the Closet: Trans Women and Domestic Violence,” spend a significant amount of time going over how non-LGBTQI people harm trans* women. The idea of the normative trans woman—the heterosexual, white, skinny, shaved, dolled-up skirt-wearing femme—makes it hard to conceive of intimate partner violence coming from within the community. After all, why would a trans woman be getting intimate with anyone except for a straight man? Or rather, why would a cis lesbian be with someone who looks so straight? Greenberg’s use of the term “domestic violence”, as well as uses in similar reports, is very appropriate. It is difficult to apply domesticity to survivors and victims who are lesbian and queer (thus the increasing use of the term “intimate partner violence”), but the trope of the normative trans woman fits it. Furthermore, aside from her trans* status, she also fits the mainstream image of a domestic violence victim. And just as with cis women, the compounding factor of racism makes women of color more susceptible to being the targets of intimate partner violence (Toni Newman gives a stunning account of this here and in her memoir I Rise). I burst through the door to the outside. It’s cold, especially since I took off my jacket to show off my Siouxie Sioux-esque outfit to the other attendees of the goth-themed party. A few people smoking cigarettes look over at me, the looks of confusion and curiosity written across their faces like a bolded, laminated and italicized warning to me to not say a word. Soon after, a friend opens the door behind me. “Hey I, um, followed you,” he says, awkwardness slowing down his normally brisk and cheery voice. “I can’t believe this,” I say, “She’s following me around. When I try to talk to Edwin, she walks up to talk to him. When I try to get closer to the stage to listen to the band, all of a sudden she has to go over to that section. Can you please tell her to stop?” He pauses in sour contemplation long enough for a person nearby to interject, “Hey, honey, are you okay? Is there someone predatory here?” “No, no, she’s fine,” my friend says immediately, though just as quickly realizes his mistake and, stumbling, says, “I mean it’s not okay, you’re not okay, I’m sorry.” Perhaps the Men’s Rights Advocates are to blame (I’d like to think this is true on a number of issues). Their hyperbolic presentations of the situations of male domestic violence victims (such as one guy who told me that 60% of domestic violence victims were men) often blame society for not perceiving women as being capable committing intimate partner violence. I would also like to think that trans women being read as men, even by those who try consciously not to, does not play into the denial—but it almost certainly does. I would like to think that the role that trans women are often regulated to in queer polyamorous relationships, so aptly described by Savannah Garmon, of being someone’s “thing on the side” does not play into the ability to minimize the nature of the violence—but it definitely could. BDSM, trans women with large bodies “being able to defend themselves,” and the old “well, why haven’t you called the police?” are all possible excuses for and dismissals of trans women’s experience of intimate partner violence. I feel so lonely but can’t talk to anyone but myself. Have you ever been at that point? You forget what it feels like, what it feels like when you first were together. Her happiness is now difficult to view as anything except a prelude to anger; her romance only comes to haphazardly patch up the holes she has torn in your trust. Sound familiar? You look into her eyes when she says “I love you” and you only see every look of disgust, every cissexist and transphobic gaze. Why would you subject yourself to this? But it has so thoroughly become your life: you feel like you depend on her for everything. After all, she is the woman who has “been a woman for much longer than you have.” She tells you how to dress, how to eat, what to watch, what to read, who to hang out with, who to like, who to talk to, who to interact with online, how to spend your time. She has control, yet you both can feel it is precipitous. If you are not with her you must be with someone else: she tells you that you are in an open relationship but becomes enraged if you ever discuss attractions to others. She has no problems explaining to you how attracted she is to your best friend, though. She can’t help it, she is attracted to masculine people. She tells you that she was first attracted to you because you were, and are, manly; she tells you that she has supported you in every step of your transition and you have been selfish the whole time and only thinking of yourself. She hits you, but she was just drunk, she was just so angry, she was just joking. Why can’t you take it? Your needs are too much for her and her needs can never be met by you because you are inferior. You are an annoyance, a chore, a child: dirty, lazy, ugly, smelly, macho, stupid, slow. In places like New York City, where I currently live, there are many resources for trans women and other queer and LGBTI people who have suffered intimate partner violence, most of them free and peer-conducted. And yes, legal recourse for a trans woman survivor against her attacker is near impossible (even with the help of a wonderful group like the Sylvia Rivera Project), but I generally distrust the state’s ability to liberate or protect us anyway, so it’s not discrimination I am particularly concerned with. What is really worrying is that we, the LGBTQI community, pretend that intimate partner violence is not an issue. Maybe it’s karma. I watch them arguing again. It’s my senior year of college in Virginia and I’m hanging out with my friends at a party. Roman and Gabriel, two of my best friends, are yet again fighting. He shoves her, she shoves him back; she giggles, but for a second I think I see fear in her eyes. Everyone looks at the ground or laughs nervously. Later I ask her if she’s okay and she gives me her characteristic big smile: “You know Roman, that’s how we kid around. Besides,” she winks at me, “You of all people should know how hot it is.” I try to smile back, but the effort only barely hides the grimace that surfaces as soon as she turns away. Sure enough, when she visits my partner and me many months later, she recounts to us how abusive the relationship had been and how it would take her awhile to ever trust anyone, to ever open up to anyone ever again. As soon as she leaves, my partner turns to me: “She acts like she’s such a victim when obviously there was abuse on both sides.” Awkwardly, I shrug my shoulders and look around the room. My partner doesn’t notice how uncomfortable she’s making me because she’s caught up in her own conjectures: “It’s like how we are sometimes.” If you are or have been the victim of intimate partner violence, I want you to know that I believe you. I trust you and I know that you are unsure, confused, anxious and may be a bit of a mess, and I want you to know that that is okay. You are beautiful and worthy of love, protection and respect. I want you to look at the following list of resources and even if you can’t call or email them right now, maybe go to the website and read more or put the phone number in your contacts list. As trans women, it is not fair that we must so often be survivors not only of a transphobic, transmisogynist, cissexist society, but also survivors of intimate partner violence committed by those we trusted to help us exist amidst the oppression. But we are amazing for being able to do it, and we can change our communities to stop these types of violence from happening to more of us. [1] See”Domestic Violence: A Resource for Trans People” by Barking and Dagenham The Anti-Violence Project www.avp.org Manhattan, NY (212) 714-1184 24-hour Bilingual English/Spanish hotline: (212) 714-1141 Center for Anti-Violence Education www.caeny.org Brooklyn, NY (718) 788-1775 Self-defense classes, free for survivors and special programs for trans* youth generationFIVE www.generationfive.org/index.php Oakland, CA and National (510) 251-8552 Child sexual abuse survivor advocacy The Network la Red www.tnlr.org Boston, MA Hotline: 617-742-4911 Survivor-led advocacy group for trans inclusion in survivor programs and shelters NYC Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-621-4673 24-hour Bilingual English/Spanish Right Rides www.rightrides.org Brooklyn, NY (718) 964-7781 and (888) 215-7233 Free rides home in service area on Friday nights from 12 AM – 3 AM Sanctuary for Families www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org Manhattan, NY (212) 349-6009 Counseling for trans women survivors, especially immigrants and victims of sex trafficking Safe Horizon www.safehorizon.org Manhattan, NY Intimate partner violence hotline: (800) 621-4673 Rape, sexual assault and incest survivor hotline: (212) 227-3000 Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program www.mssm.edu/SAVI Manhattan, NY (212) 423-2140 Counseling for survivors of violence who practice the Jewish faith Trans Pride Intiative http://tpride.org/ Dallas, TX 214-449-1439 Advocates for making shelters more inclusive of trans women About the author: Emma Caterine recently left Virginia to move to her dream city of Brooklyn, New York. She completed a B.A. in English and a B.A. in African-American Cultural Studies from the College of William & Mary. She has done work in the past with labor organizing, archival science, LGBTQI activism, radio and venue management and volunteer coordination. Emma brings her diverse set of experiences to Red Umbrella Project, a sex worker advocacy group, as a Program Officer and will be helping to coordinate RedUP’s advocacy for the “no condoms as evidence” bill S1379/A2736 as well as other legislation and policies which impact sex workers in New York. For more info on NCAE you can reach her at emma [at] redumbrellaproject [dot] org or for other questions, comments, or concerns at emmacaterine [at] gmail [dot] com.

Not true. Okinawans have been historically oppressed by Japanese from the main islands, yet they have the highest life expectancy of any people in the world. But continue your trolling. Trolling? You specifically invited me into this thread. I retract what I said about women being the only oppressed group to have a longer life expectancy. Asian-Americans also have longer life expectancies than white Americans. However, it is typical to see, as a public health outcome, oppressed groups with lower life expectancies (quick example - indigenous Australians and Americans, and black Americans). Women live longer than men, on average. That gap has increased from one year around a hundred years ago to five years now. It's evidence that the traditional narrative of sexism is false. If by sexism you mean "men have historically and continue to oppress the class 'women' for the express benefit of the class 'men'", then no, sexism does not exists. Societies have developed gender roles to which each of the biological sexes is constrained. Male gender roles have tended toward those generating more income, occupying more political power, but also more dangerous and life-threatening. This means that yes, women are marginalized in places like the military and politics. They also do not occupy most of the high wage jobs. Are men using women to put men ahead? No, men perform their gender roles for the benefit of society, as women do. Societies which developed certain cultural memes were more likely to survive. Western culture survived by putting men is places of power and danger, and women in places of powerlessness and safety. To assert the narrative of male-benefiting institutionalize sexism is to say that men have used marginalization of women to make their own lives better for them. This is not true. It also depends on what is "better". If we truly eliminate all gender differences, is it better for workplace deaths to be 50% female than 5% female? Is it better for women to live 2.5 years shorter? Is it better for women to make more money? These depend upon individual value systems. There are a good many biological males who want to be women - three times as many biological females who have decided that they are men. Sexism, institutionalized discrimination of females by those with power, men, does not exist. Racism, the institutionalized discrimination of blacks by those with power, whites, does exist. The idea that "women" are oppressed like blacks or Australian aborigines or other oppressed classes is ridiculous. Gender roles and sex-based discrimination exist. Systematic oppression of women does not exist. Now for trolling - if the subjective experience of oppression can only be understood by the oppressed, and they are the only ones who can talk about their issues and create their spaces, I declare all of society a female space and this thread a male space. I am oppressed, and women denying my oppression is privilege-blindness. Since only a white male can say whether or not white males are oppressed, I declare us oppressed. De wimmens are supposed to be confined to roles that best suit their gentle female nature. So what if those roles pay less? It's for their own protection. Women would never survive if they didn't have Big Bad Men willing to protect them and die for them Have I stated that I believed women should be confined to these roles? No, I've stated that gender discrimination exists. I also think it shouldn't. But these rich, white women belly-aching about their oppression is as obnoxious to me as my alleged belly-aching about my oppression as a rich, white male is to most JCers. Societies also survive through developing memes of violent conquest (like Rome - oh, and Western Civilization too! Ever hear of this thing called colonization?). Doesn't mean I support violent conquest. It means that most of the people on this forum lead relatively privileged (in the traditional sense, not in the Marxism but applied to race or sex sense) lives and their complaints about certain problems in their lives are more minor than they appear to themselves. It means that most of the people on this forum lead relatively privileged (in the traditional sense, not in the Marxism but applied to race or sex sense) lives and their complaints about certain problems in their lives are more minor than they appear to themselves. So? Does this mean that people shouldn't take issue if they are discriminated against or treated differently because of their gender, color, sexuality or creed? "Oh man, I can't believe that I'm being paid thousands of dollars less than the previous guy because of my gender. Well at least I have internet access!" It means that most of the people on this forum lead relatively privileged (in the traditional sense, not in the Marxism but applied to race or sex sense) lives and their complaints about certain problems in their lives are more minor than they appear to themselves. You might not be rich in America (last I recall you live in Colorado), but if you make what the median female high school graduate makes in the United States, you're in the top 3% worldwide. And I wasn't specifically thinking of you as white. SLG is, for example - as are many of the other female posters in here. Also, every female in this thread has Internet access. And being wealthy or of a particular race does not mean that you can't experience very real -- and, yes, institutionalized -- discrimination. Men in industrialized nations most certainly have their own hurdles to overcome (particularly in terms of domestic violence, obtaining custody of children, and divorce proceedings) when it comes to fully equality, but that doesn't mitigate the horrible sexism that a lot of women endure. Both are horrifically lamentable. I have a close friend, for instance, who was sexually harassed by a male professor at her university -- one of the best schools in the nation -- while working on a research project. Not only did the administration do nothing when informed of his actions, they told my friend that she had to complete her research project under this professor or she would receive no credit. Discrimination is rampant across the world, across a variety of categories. But that doesn't make an individual's suffering less real -- nor less worthy of attention. Societies also survive through developing memes of violent conquest (like Rome - oh, and Western Civilization too! Ever hear of this thing called colonization?). Doesn't mean I support violent conquest. Even assuming your thesis about gender roles being necessary for the survival of civilization is true (debatable!), that doesn't mean that it's neither institutionalized nor oppressive. It also doesn't mean that it's not backwards. Glad you brought up Rome. The Roman Empire would not have been as spectacular as it was without slavery. By ancient standards, the Romans were pretty good about slaves: they treated them better than most, and they offered avenues of social advancement and freedom -- some Greeks even sold themselves into slavery to advance their family's prosperity. At the time, Roman slavery was more enlightened than most western civilizations. But guess what? I, sitting in this chair in 2013, would never say something like "slavery wasn't institutionalized oppression!" It was institutionalized oppression, BY DEFINITION. And if there were some facets of Roman slavery which survived today -- like there are with American slavery, or with patriarchal oppression of women, I would point that out too. Even assuming your thesis about gender roles being necessary for the survival of civilization is true (debatable!), that doesn't mean that it's neither institutionalized nor oppressive. It also doesn't mean that it's not backwards. Glad you brought up Rome. The Roman Empire would not have been as spectacular as it was without slavery. By ancient standards, the Romans were pretty good about slaves: they treated them better than most, and they offered avenues of social advancement and freedom -- some Greeks even sold themselves into slavery to advance their family's prosperity. At the time, Roman slavery was more enlightened than most western civilizations. But guess what? I, sitting in this chair in 2013, would never say something like "slavery wasn't institutionalized oppression!" It was institutionalized oppression, BY DEFINITION. And if there were some facets of Roman slavery which survived today -- like there are with American slavery, or with patriarchal oppression of women, I would point that out too. Soooo will you at least acknowledge that I didn't say women should be restricted to gender roles? Because that's the whole point of this convo. @PiettsHat : my sister taught high school math and once got a very sexually explicit message from a student who typed it into a graphing calculator. When she reported the incident, the principal's initial response was, "Honey, if you weren't so beautiful, this wouldn't happen." But she's a wealthy white woman and...wait for it...she's good looking. I guess she can't complain.

Att höra till världens tankesmedjetätaste länder är kanske inte det första man väljer att ta upp när man vill understryka hur bra vi har det här i Sverige. Men med hela 90 olika tankesmedjor kan vi faktiskt kamma hem en fjortondeplats i världen i den globala ranking som sammanställs varje år av tankesmedjeforskaren James G McGann vid University of Pennsylvania. Tankesmedjorna, som så sent som under 1940-talet i princip var ett anglosaxiskt fenomen, utövar i dag ett stort inflytande över debatt och politik i västvärlden. Det inflytandet är inte jämnt fördelat. Enligt en rapport från kommunikationsbolaget Arena Opinion (del av fackföreningsanknutna Arenagruppen) från i fjol har näringslivsorienterade tankesmedjor 20 gånger mer pengar att finansiera sin verksamhet med jämfört med sina gelikar ur den fackliga världen. I Arbetsvärldens undersökning framgår att de också får ungefär fyra gånger fler pressklipp. Det som har dragit frågorna om las och arbetsrätten till sin spets är invandringen När Arbetsvärlden går igenom medieexponeringen i Sverige under valåret 2018 (TV, radio, print och webb) är det Svenskt Näringslivs-finansierade Timbro som överlägset toppar genomslagslistan. Därefter kommer Studieförbundet Näringsliv och Samhälle, SNS, med finansiärer från såväl näringsliv som fack och ideell sektor men med historiska kopplingar till Svenskt Näringslivs föregångare. På tredjeplats kvalar den fackliga tankesmedjan Katalys in (bildad av LO-förbunden i 6F), tätt följd av den gröna och liberala tankesmedjan Fores vars största finansiär är Centerpartiet. Vi utmålar en konflikt men också ett hopp, vi ger ett alternativ De flesta tankesmedjor har välprofilerade talespersoner som rutinerat argumenterar för idéer i debattartiklar och medieintervjuer. Företrädaren som toppar Arbetsvärldens lista är Katalys chef Daniel Suhonen, som leder med långt försprång framför enskilda Timbro- och Fores-profiler. Daniel Suhonen har även överlägset flest Twitterföljare: 11 800, en bra bit före Fores vd Mattias Goldmann som hamnar på andraplats med 9 367 följare. Daniel Suhonen har under 2018 flitigt debatterat klassklyftor och Socialdemokraternas valstrategi. Topp 20 Daniel Suhonen, Katalys (152) Andreas Johansson Heinö, Timbro (73) Siri Steijer, Timbro (67) Mattias Goldmann, Fores (64) Karin Svanborg-Sjövall, Timbro (53) Daniel Färm, Tiden (47) Lisa Pelling, Arena Idé (34) Enna Gerin, Katalys (29) PJ Anders Linder, Axess (28) Andreas Bergström, Fores (28) Jacob Lundberg, Timbro (25) Jesper Bengtsson, Tiden (23) Carl Melin, Futurion (15) Stefan Fölster, Reforminstitutet (15) Katarina Tracz, Frivärld (13) Sandro Scocco, Arena Idé (12) German Bender, Arena Idé (11) Johannes Forssberg, Centrum för Rättvisa (10) Ann-Therese Enarsson, Futurion (7) Hans Winberg, Leading Health Care (4) Bonus: Ekonomen Lars Calmfors har anlitats av både facken i 6F/Katalys för en rapport om industrimärket och Svenskt Näringsliv i Arbetsmarknadsekonomiska rådet, och kvalar in på listan i båda rollerna med 13 respektive 62 pressklipp. Räknar vi med honom i rankingen hamnar han på plats 5 (Arbetsmarknadsekonomiska rådet) och 16 (6F/Katalys-utredningen)! Källorna i den här rankingen har valts ut på basis av räckvidd och relevans för det offentliga samtalet. Källorna är: Aftonbladet, Dagens industri, Dagens nyheter, Expressen, GT, Göteborgsposten, Kvällsposten, Metro, SR, Svenska dagbladet, SVT, Sydsvenskan, TV4 + Expandera Hur får Katalys genomslag i media? – Vi drivs av en radikal, reformistisk idé men den blir aldrig starkare än den fakta vi bygger vår argumentation på. Vi kan ta tydlig politisk ställning åt vänster och har som princip att aldrig fuska med fakta. Det finns många människor som delar våra åsikter om ett rättvist samhälle och vi ger dem argumenten för de här åsikterna, säger Daniel Suhonen till Arbetsvärlden. Katalys sticker också ut med en särskilt stor synlighet i förhållande till sin storlek. – Vi är den minsta vänstertankesmedjan både till antalet anställda och budget, vi har varit tre anställda och nu är vi fyra. Arena Idè är ungefär i samma storlek men de ingår i Arenagruppen och man kan diskutera om de ska bedömas separat, säger Daniel Suhonen. Kan man säga att ni pekar ut konflikter? – Vi utmålar en konflikt men också ett hopp, vi ger ett alternativ. Vi har valt att inte vara en förment objektiv aktör som inte tar ställning. Vi kan uppmärksamma frågor med glöden och narrativet som behövs för att väcka liv i frågan. Vi arbetar med fakta, ideologi och temperament och det är en mix som slår igenom. En vänster som inte förstår klass kommer aldrig att vinna Under 2018 väckte ni liv i klassfrågan med en rapportserie om klassamhället. Varför är det viktigt att debattera klass? – Därför att Sverige är ett klassamhälle och vi behöver förstå klass för att förstå utfall i det samhället. Om man inte har ett språk och siffror för det så kan man inte bemöta problemen kopplade till klassamhället. En vänster som inte förstår klass kommer aldrig att vinna, säger Daniel Suhonen. Fores syns lokalt Inkluderar man lokal- och landsortspress så är det ett annat namn som hamnar i topp vad gäller flest pressklipp: Fores vd Mattias Goldmann. – Det är en medveten tanke hos Fores att vi ska vara en tankesmedja som fångar in hela landet och vi har filialer i Umeå, Malmö och Göteborg, medan huvudkontoret ligger i Stockholm. Vi gör lokala vinklingar för att vara aktuella i det lokala och regionala samtalet, säger Mattias Goldmann till Arbetsvärlden. Topp 5 hela landet Mattias Goldmann, Fores (570) Daniel Suhonen, Katalys (498) Andreas Johansson Heinö, Timbro (277) Siri Steijer, Timbro (202) Jacob Lundberg, Timbro (156) I den här rankingen listar vi pressklipp totalt 2018 från alla källor inom radio, tv, print och webb i Retrievers mediearkiv. Vi har endast plockat bort pressmeddelandekällor. + Expandera Under 2018 har han framför allt ägnat sig åt att debattera klimatfrågan. Hur ser du på tankesmedjornas stora roll i det offentliga samtalet? – Det är inte alls oproblematiskt. Jag är själv orolig för den här utvecklingen. Vi är inte demokratiskt valda och vi har inte medlemmar, så det väcker frågor om demokrati och transparens. Vi har försökt föra fram idéer om en branschstandard för tankesmedjor men det var inte så många som nappade, säger Mattias Goldmann. Han skulle gärna se att en sådan branschstandard innehåller krav på att tankesmedjor redovisar sina finansiärer, sina huvudmän och eventuella påverkansuppdrag. Redovisar ni var era pengar kommer ifrån? – Ja, för summor över 50 000 kronor. Och att vi har satt en sådan gräns är egentligen av rent praktisk, administrativ orsak, säger Mattias Goldmann. Vilka tre tankesmedjor skulle du peka ut som de mest inflytelserika? – Fores, Timbro och Katalys. Timbro är intressanta för de arbetar på ett väldigt annorlunda sätt jämfört med oss, de kan ta i för att provocera fram en debatt medan vi inte säger någonting förrän vi har tänkt igenom det fullt ut och kan belägga våra slutsatser. Katalys kommer nu få ett inflytandet som gör att socialdemokrater till vänster stannar i partiet i stället för att gå till Vänsterpartiet vilket resulterar i att januariavtalet kan överleva. Och det avtalet innehåller mycket som ligger nära våra idéer, säger Mattias Goldmann. Har du något exempel där du tycker att Timbro tog i? – Ja, utspelet om hur stort semesteruttag man ska ha i somras. Timbro dominerar i debatten Den marknadsliberala tankesmedjan Timbro syns överlägset mest i debatten, och det är ett faktum som stämmer såväl när man tittar på Arbetsvärldens urval av medier efter relevans och räckvidd, som när man tittar på hela medielandskapet. På Timbro är en av profilerna som syns mest Siri Steijer, programansvarig för Arbetsmarknad. Det är också i hennes rapport som det föreslås att den lagstadgade rätten till semester slopas. Det är samma argumentation som facket använder sig av – Jag förstår faktiskt inte varför just den frågan upplevdes som så kontroversiell. Det är samma argumentation som facket använder sig av när det kommer till exempelvis lönebildningen och andra frågor på arbetsmarknaden, nämligen att parterna ska få förhandla utan att politiken lägger sig i. Jag tycker att även semestern ska gå att förhandla om, säger Siri Steijer till Arbetsvärlden. Stämmer det att Timbro inte belägger sina slutsatser lika noggrant som Fores? – Jag skulle nog behöva ett konkret exempel för att kunna bemöta det påståendet. Men generellt kan man säga att vi jobbar med idéer som kan ha moraliska dimensioner och som kanske inte har prövats tidigare. Idéer måste man kunna diskutera utifrån andra parametrar än studier, säger Siri Steijer. Under 2018 har Siri Steijer hörts i ämnen som las, etableringsjobb, ingångslöner, föräldraförsäkring, a-kassan och regeringsbildningen. Hon har också delat ut kängor åt så väl facken som Svenskt Näringsliv. I en tid med trollkonton och populister som sprider fake news så är jag tacksam för alla seriösa tankesmedjor – Det som har dragit frågorna om las och arbetsrätten till sin spets är invandringen som gjort att vi har en stor grupp som står långt ifrån arbetsmarknaden i dag. Därför behöver vi reformer som gör det enklare för de här grupperna att få jobb, säger Siri Steijer. Ser du en risk för att ge argument åt högerpopulister, exempelvis att det är invandringens fel att arbetstryggheten hotas? – Det är framför allt vänsterpopulister som för den argumentationen. Ur ett liberalt perspektiv erkänner vi att det finns en konflikt och att vi inte kan ha en sådan här välfärdsstat samtidigt som vi har en så stor invandring. Men det humana valet är då att ge fristad åt människor från krigsdrabbade delar av världen så att de inte behöver vara rädda för att få huset sönderbombat när de sover, säger Siri Steijer. Till skillnad från Mattias Goldmann besväras hon inte av tankesmedjornas framträdande roll i det offentliga samtalet. – Nej, jag tycker det är bra att idéer diskuteras med ett mer långsiktigt perspektiv än vad politiker och lobbyister har. Exempelvis har vi 20-års perspektiv på Timbro, säger Siri Steijer. Även Daniel Suhonen på Katalys är mer optimistiskt vad gäller tankesmedjornas påverkan i debatten. – I en tid med trollkonton och populister som sprider fake news så är jag tacksam för alla seriösa tankesmedjor som bidrar till en seriös debatt. Jag kan tycka att det är synd att de politiska partierna inte gör mer, de skulle kunna ägna sig mer åt opinionsbildning än de gör i dag, säger Daniel Suhonen till Arbetsvärlden.

Courtney Love Claims That The Muppets Raped Kurt Cobain's Memory The Muppets was filled to the brim with many wacky and absurd moments - such as the Kill Bill-style kidnapping of Jack Black and The Moopets rendition of "Rainbow Connection - but the one that may very well top the list is the barbershop quartet performance of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Given the mentions of guns and libidos as well as the overall tone of the song, it was a strange choice for a children's movie, but still made for a hilarious moment (and a great number on the soundtrack). There is one person, however, who is unhappy with the Muppet's use of the song: Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain's ex-wife. According to TMZ, Love is now saying that the way that director James Bobin and the studio used the song in the movie "raped" the memory of Cobain's musical legacy. A big part of this, of course, has to do with the fact that Love was never asked for permission to use the song, but that's probably because nobody needed to ask her. The site says that Love had previously sold her rights to Nirvana's music to a company called Primary Wave Music and that they actually hold all distribution rights. What's more, when Primary Wave Music said yes to the Muppet's request to use the song they also got permission from Cobain's bandmates, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic (it's also worth noting that Grohl actually has a cameo in the film as the Moopet's drummer). This is just all kinds of stupid. The only reason we're hearing about this now is because the Blu-ray/DVD release of The Muppets is next week and Love feels like she can take advantage of the situation by creating a media stir. The fact of the matter is that the former Hole singer has absolutely no right to complain, particularly because part of the profits from the songs in Nirvana's catalog actually go to Love as well as her and Kurt's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. This is nothing more than a desperate publicity stunt.

UFC president Dana White was named in a lawsuit on Friday as the alleged victim in a $200,000 sex-tape extortion case. White's name was included, along with the UFC, in a suit filed in Clark County District Court by Ernesto Joshua Ramos, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The 42-year-old Ramos, a real estate agent and personal trainer, pleaded guilty in federal court for extortion and served a 366-day prison sentence. Ramos accused White in his suit of breaking an April 2016 deal which would have paid him $450,000 for not disclosing White's name publicly following the criminal case. "I just found out that a bulls--- lawsuit was filed against me yesterday," White said in a statement Saturday given to the Review-Journal. "This guy went to federal prison for trying to extort me over five years ago. Now he's hired a lawyer who is also a convicted felon, and he's trying to extort me again for $10 million. He got no money from me last time and he won't be getting any money from me this time. I look forward to the court dismissing this quickly so I can get rid of these scumbags forever." Ramos, who claimed in the suit he never demanded money, also alleged White's lawyers of giving the FBI derogatory information about him to in order to spark an investigation for extortion charges. White's name was originally withheld from the 2015 criminal case after a federal magistrate judge signed a protective order prohibiting disclosure of his name, initials or company in any public filings. Identified simply as "unnamed businessman," White was alleged by prosecutors to have taken part in an overseas rendezvous with an adult nightclub dancer in Brazil at a UFC event. The dancer, Ramos' live-in girlfriend, allegedly taped herself and White having sex in their hotel room using a cellphone, the civil complaint read. White, who was married, had been seeing the stripper at the club for months and paying her large sums of money to dance for him, per the suit. Ramos was arrested in January 2015 in Las Vegas by FBI agents and charged with trying to extort $200,000 from White. The suit, filed by attorney Ian Christopherson, also claims Ramos was offered money by White and his lawyers during the criminal case to get him to plead guilty. Once Ramos did so in court, White's team never came through with any money, per the suit. Ramos' attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in June 2016 was denied in a hearing by U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro and later upheld in a federal appeal. "The actions of White were fraudulent, oppressive and designed to encourage Ramos to plead guilty so he could negotiate a substantial settlement, which would prevent the disclosure of his actions at trial for the personal benefit of White and his related businesses and interest," the suit alleged. Ramos was indicted in September 2015 by a federal grand jury and accused of demanding $200,000 from White by threatening him with text messages and cellphone calls saying he would make the sex tapes public. Ramos, who is now a free man, also agreed to turn over any remaining sex tapes as part of his government plea deal and confirmed no others exist. Christopherson was convicted of tax evasion in 2012 and later suspended from practicing law, but the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated his license in July 2018. The dancer, whose name was not revealed in court documents, was never charged. Over a two-year period, White allegedly tipped her around $200,000 total and usually $10,000 per visit for her to dance and have sex with him in the adult nightclub, per the complaint.

I was so disappointed in the HW matchup. Hardonk couldn't finish a submission and it looked like McCully couldn't muster a solid GNP attack. It is in my bottom five fights ever, right in the with Kevin Jordan vs. Gonzaga and Monson vs. Sylvia. It was awful... I used that time to use the bathroom and play around on the internet. McCully controlled it well, but I don't see much of a future for him in that weight class, I know he could drop to 205, he'd do much better there... they should have matched Hardonk with Kongo, it would have been a much better fight and given him time to work on a sprawl. Sadly, I still think Hardonk would have won if it was Mir on the other side of the Octagon. It was awful... I used that time to use the bathroom and play around on the internet. McCully controlled it well, but I don't see much of a future for him in that weight class, I know he could drop to 205, he'd do much better there... they should have matched Hardonk with Kongo, it would have been a much better fight and given him time to work on a sprawl. Sadly, I still think Hardonk would have won if it was Mir on the other side of the Octagon. Depends on which Mir would have shown up. Beer gut Mir? Or sub you with a shoulder lock from the bottom Mir? Holy crap Florian has evolved sooo much in his striking! His leg kicks were awesome some of the best I've seen! Other than that fight it was a boring night of fights and did anyone notice that there was only like 400 ppl there in that huge stadium? I guess everyone's waiting for UFC 69. Stevenson showed a lot of class even after he made quick work of Guillard. He did not talk trash or anything, he actually gave Guillard some encouraging words. That just makes Guillard look more like a chump. I was so disappointed in the HW matchup. Hardonk couldn't finish a submission and it looked like McCully couldn't muster a solid GNP attack. It is in my bottom five fights ever, right in the with Kevin Jordan vs. Gonzaga and Monson vs. Sylvia. that was just horrible...mccully stuck his arm out there for the arm bar as much as possible it seemed, then when hardonk finally gets an armbar he pusses out on it...for someone who trains with ortzi mccully sure needs a lot more conditioning training...well actually over all training...just as well as hardonk...two week high kicks against a guy is just going to take you down when he feels like it....... I'm not taking anything away from Florian. He has improved his standup a lot. But IMO, a good fight has to go two ways and I thought Mishima was utter crap. Other than his near submission on Florian, I was really disappointed with the fight. Mishima didn't look like he wanted to be there (for whatever reason) and thus didn't contribute to his half of the fight. Overall, I was really disappointed with this fight. Stevenson showed a lot of class even after he made quick work of Guillard. He did not talk trash or anything, he actually gave Guillard some encouraging words. That just makes Guillard look more like a chump. I couldn't agree more about Stevenson showing a lot of class (even my mother was impressed and she hates mma, just happened to catch it). That's what is so great about this sport, the fighters don't try to pretend hate and the fans don't expect to see that. I don't get how it made Guillard look like a chump. Hopefully it was humbling for him. Daddy looked so calm tonight, I was very impressed. Stevenson showed a lot of class even after he made quick work of Guillard. He did not talk trash or anything, he actually gave Guillard some encouraging words. That just makes Guillard look more like a chump. I couldn't agree more about Stevenson showing a lot of class (even my mother was impressed and she hates mma, just happened to catch it). That's what is so great about this sport, the fighters don't try to pretend hate and the fans don't expect to see that. I don't get how it made Guillard look like a chump. Hopefully it was humbling for him. Daddy looked so calm tonight, I was very impressed. Because Guillard was a total jackass from the start to the beginning of the fight (he did not even touch gloves) and he got smoked by Stevenson. Usually, you would expect someone (even a nice guy) to talk a bit of trash later, but Stevenson was totally in check of his ego. That just makes Guillard look more like a fool than if Stevenson decided to talk trash during the post-fight interview. You talk all this trash about how you are going to beat the guy and how you are the best, while the other guy just lets his actions do the talking for him.

Many are outraged by the story of a woman suing a sperm bank for mistakenly providing her with sperm from a black donor, instead of a white donor as she requested. Jennifer Cramblett, who is white, later gave birth to a biracial daughter whom she and her partner are raising—a daughter who will one day grow up to read that her mother felt being impregnated with her was such a hardship that it warranted a lawsuit. The crux of Cramblett’s complaint is essentially that they didn’t request black sperm and weren’t prepared to welcome a black child into their family—a family that, according to the lawsuit, has some extended relatives who are a little bit racist, and who live in a community that’s a little bit racist. My heart breaks for this little girl in the same way it breaks for every kid who appears to have been dealt a bad hand in the parental lottery. But I’m not outraged by Jennifer Cramblett’s lawsuit, at least no more than I would be outraged by the Ku Klux Klan suing a manufacturer who mistakenly sends over a stack of black robes and hoods instead of white ones. Do I think the Ku Klux Klan is ridiculous? Absolutely. But do I believe they have a right to be ridiculous and wear ridiculous costumes in the color of their choosing? Well, according to the law, they do. Which is precisely why I’m not directing my outrage at Cramblett but at the legal system. Whether we like it or not, under the law, Cramblett ordered a “product.” The distributor of the “product” goofed. Anti-discrimination laws are not applicable here, and Cramblett has a right to order “products” to her specification even if you and I consider her specifications silly or bigoted. But what her case highlights is the lack of regulation of an industry that has life and death implications and is not regulated accordingly. If there is a silver lining in Cramblett’s case, it may be that Americans finally become outraged about the lack of regulation of the sperm donation industry, and start pushing legislators to do something about it. Consider this: it took the AIDS crisis for serious regulation of the nation’s blood supply to begin, resulting in universal multi-layered safeguards. These regulations ensured that, regardless of where you live, if you receive blood in America there are a series of checks and balances in place to make sure you are safe—and not just you, but the community at large, since as we know it can take just one infection to create a crisis. But the same cannot be said of the sperm donation industry. Laws vary from state to state, and banks are essentially left to self-regulate. So while people opening random blood banks with minimal federal oversight would be considered a national scandal, people are selling sperm with minimal oversight. According to FDA regulations, sperm donors are supposed to be tested for major diseases, such as HIV. But a series of recent cases have found clusters of children fathered by the same donor resulting in significantly higher than average cases of hereditary conditions, including heart defects. “The reason it’s still not heavily regulated is because it’s still fairly new,” Jared Wood, a family law specialist at Massachusetts based Goldstein, Egloff, Ramos and Wood said of the sperm donation industry in a phone interview. “Also, because it involves reproduction, there is a greater hesitancy by the states to get involved.” Asked why states seem comparatively willing to regulate reproductive rights, Wood clarified that states are more likely to consider laws that affect women once they’ve become pregnant, but are hesitant to say who can conceive and under what circumstances. To his point, we don’t require men who have dozens of children they are not supporting to have vasectomies. Yet we do have stringent regulations regarding adoption in this country. At the very least, shouldn’t we be applying those standards to potential parents, instead of just handing vials of sperm to anyone with a laptop and a credit card? After reading her candid admissions regarding her family and community’s lack of racial tolerance, I have a hard time believing Jennifer Cramblett would have been cleared to adopt. Raise your hand if you think that’s a bad thing. So why does it make sense to sell just anyone the “products” to become a parent? And even if we aren’t moved by the moral and ethical questions raised by sperm donation in this country, shouldn’t we be moved by the national health implications? Besides the recent cases involving fathers with unexpected hereditary conditions, there is another very real health concern that few mention publicly because of the “ick” factor involved: The greater the number of children created by anonymous parents, the greater the possibility for accidental incest. And, crazy as it sounds, this possibility has come up before. Medical News Today reports that, “The American Society of Reproductive Medicine recommends restricting conceptions to 25 births per 800,000-person population,” there are no regulations to enforce this recommendation. ABC News has even profiled a man who fathered at least 150 kids via sperm donation. He was eventually advised by one bank that he had fathered too many children locally and then began donating elsewhere. Another man believes he fathered closer to 400. These numbers may sound extreme, but in the Wild West of sperm donation they’re not unheard of. One donation can result in as many as 25 children, so if someone donates multiple times per month, it doesn’t take long to creep past 100 if all donations result in successful pregnancies. So if one donor creates 150 kids who are all around the same age and end up in high school and college in the same local community…well, you fill in the blanks about what can happen. For this reason and others, some countries limit the number of offspring a donor can create. In England, the cap stands at ten. And besides the health implications, there are an increasing number of legal ones as states figure out what responsibilities biological fathers have after donating sperm. “Not all states have statutes that say a sperm donor is not a legal father,” Wood explained, so there have been cases in which women have attempted to sue sperm donors for child support when they hit rough patches financially. “That should not happen,” Wood said. “So I think federal or state laws that address the parental dynamic would be a good thing.” Wood then rattled off a series of cases that would have sounded like science fiction a decade ago but are becoming a regular reality for courts, such as determining whether a woman should be able to harvest a husband’s sperm immediately after his death so she can have children at a later date. He concluded, “Science has accelerated faster than our culture and laws have been able to regarding what appropriate laws and boundaries should be.”

On 'Game of Thrones', the Night King Returns In Season 6 episode 5, Bran and Hodor fall into a terrible position, Sansa is a boss bitch, Arya sees a play. Game of Thrones is filled with death, deception, depravity, the occasional act of decency, and dialogue acrobatics. Each week, we break them down. Let’s dive into Season 6 episode 5, “The Door.” My watch has ended After several episodes of moping — seriously, this guy needs a post-death therapist — “The Door” sees Jon Snow finally ready for action. He’s decisive in his plans to take back the North, he’s ready to compliment Sansa on her dressmaking skills (“I like the wolf bit”), and we even get an actual smile when she presents him with his own cloak, made in the image of the one Ned used to wear. There’s hope for Jon yet. The North Remembers Sansa’s scenes feel like the writers retrospectively apologizing for her Season 5 plot line. We’ll never truly know if they’re responding to viewer outrage over her lack of agency or whether this was the plan all along — but whatever the case, it’s working. Though the Ramsay rape wasn’t handled well at the time, it’s not being swept under the rug. When she repeats “what do you think he did to me?” and doesn’t let Littlefinger wiggle out of hearing it (“the other things he did, ladies aren’t supposed to talk about those…I can still feel what he did in my body standing here”) is a marked pivot for how Game of Thrones deals with rape. After five seasons and change, it’s finally handled it with weight. This scene is a triumph for both Sansa’s character and for how Game of Thrones handles an issue it’s received a lot of criticism for in the past. Sansa has evolved from prissy princess to hardened politician, and her character arc has been spectacular. In many ways, she’s exactly what the Starks need, now: She’s more sociable than Jon (“He seems trustworthy,” says Brienne, “though a bit brooding, perhaps. I suppose it’s understandable, considering.”); she’s got her mother’s steel, and she’s wilier than Ned. When she lies to Jon about where she got the intelligence about The Blackfish and his army, she shows that, although she rejected Littlefinger, she’s absorbed his teachings more than she might admit. Sansa is a Stark through and through, but she’s also not afraid to get her hands dirty. At this point in the show, Sansa’s type of Stark is exactly the character needed most by the North, and she may yet be the one to lead her family to victory. “My Dreams Are Different” Bran’s plot line this episode is the ultimate paradox. On one level, it’s working brilliantly: It gives us a fascinating glimpse into the past much like the pensive in Harry Potter. Those scenes with the Army of the Dead were truly terrifying, we get some long-needed exposition about the Children of the Forest, and we get that tragic gut-punch with Hodor. But, on the other hand, it indulges in more fantasy clichés than Game of Thrones usually does, save for Daenerys’s plot lines. When the Raven tells Bran, “the time has come for you to become me,” and Bran says, “but am I ready?” It’s exactly the kind of ponderous, prophetic, but ultimately empty rhetoric found in every Chosen One Fantasy Training manual. Hodor’s story is what saves Bran’s part from becoming Fantasy 101 Cliche by anchoring it with emotion and a deeply human brand of tragedy. The “hold the door…Hodor” reveal is gutting, and it’s to Kristian Nairn’s credit that he makes a fairly one-note character’s plight so emotional. Isaac Hempstead-Wright wasn’t wrong when he told us Hodor is the way he is because of “a catastrophe.” It connects to what Jaqen H’ghar tells Arya: “Does death only come for the wicked and leave the decent behind?” What is dead may never die As we predicted, the Kingsmoot itself was too sudden and out of the blue to feel meaningful to non book readers — but its aftermath is what truly matters. Yara and Theon look like they could very well be Tyrion and Varys’s ticket to getting out of the plot-suck that is Meereen, and thank the Drowned God for that. A Girl goes to Braavos Arya’s is the runner up for the second most emotional scene of the night — Maisie Williams does some of her best work with that simple, silent expression of anger and grief as she watches that Hamlet-like meta-play, in which the actors twist her father into a buffoonish caricature. Dragons with Daenerys Jorah’s pining for Daenerys got repetitive and tiresome quickly in earlier seasons, but surprisingly — perhaps because we haven’t seen it in a long time — it’s effective here. Their exchange is the most emotional a Daenerys scene has been since her conversation with Barristan Semly about her brother Rhaegar in Season 5. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown Kinvara the red priestess is probably old like Melisandre — note that necklace. And like Melisandre, her powers are real. Her speech to Varys is downright eerie and gives us an intriguing glimpse into his past. Apparently the night Varys was castrated, he heard a voice in the flames. We don’t know that this is true, but his expression is enough to verify her words. Could Varys have his own history with the Lord of Light? Spare coins from the Iron Bank Surprisingly, the army of the dead is far more terrifying standing still in the daylight when Bran first sees them than it is later in the episode, when they’re moving in the darkness. There’s something about their stillness that’s uncanny as hell. Tormund’s crush on Brienne continues. I can’t be the only one seeing the Trump/ Hilary parallels, right? Euron made at least three dick references during his speech while Yara is clearly the more competent one, though she’s somewhat lacking in charisma.

Man killed by porn collection Death by porn. Seems it’s a real thing. According to a report in the UK Mirror, a Japanese man died after his six ton porn collection toppled over and crushed him. Think about that for a minute – that’s 12,000 pounds of porn! Who in this day and age of limitless online porn hoards that much physical porn? I mean, what do you do with it when friends and family visit? Shovel it all into the closet? I don’t think so. So what could be worse than being crushed to death by your six ton porn collection? Well, it seems rotting under the massive pile for six months is the answer to that question. That’s right. The body of the 50 year old collector was found six months later by his landlord who was visiting to collect unpaid rent. Seems all of his money went towards his porn collection. Moral of the story. Stick to internet porn boys and girls. It’s much safer in the end. We appreciate all shares - thank you!

Scott 'Owl John' Hutchison speaks out on the future + defeating online bullying "You know, just the same old shit!" laughs Scott 'Owl John' Hutchison from the studio in New York, thinking about the typically macabre mood of Frightened Rabbit's upcoming next record. "It's never quite settled, my life. I don't know why." Whatever you do, we advise, don't call the next album 'Same Old Shit'. "It's not!" he insists. "It's not the same old shit, just a different colour." Well, that's good to hear. While there's an unmistakably Scottish intrinsic melancholy that drenches all that Frightened Rabbit do, it has been a pleasure to behold the journey of F'Rabbit, always adding more colour to the corners as the scope of their sound grows with the ambition of the ideas within. We catch up with the frontman at an essential crossroad in the band's career. Pedestrian Verse, the band's fourth album, was their first released on a major label. While the band had always dabbled in anthemics, this was the first time they'd flirted with the mainstream - culminating in becoming the band they'd always threatened to be; one that could headline Brixton Academy. Photo: Gigwise/Justine Trickett So, where do we go from here? "The new stuff sounds sparser, it's less guitar driven," replies Hutchison. "I mean, for this record it's strange to say but it's the first time I learned how to use music software - I've always relied on Andy for that. We were writing remotely a lot and investigating the many properties of the software with demoes and it just has a lot more interesting sounds on it. It's less of a band-y sounding album, and definitely more pieced-together. "Potentially darker as well, but we'll wait and see. The way that it's coming together, I don't know how it's going to sound until the last day." The reason that Frightened Rabbit fans are so invested, is that their records are always very much a snapshot of where Hutchison is personally at the time - especially with Pedestrian Verse and his solo work as Owl John. The mood of this record hasn't dropped the darkness heard on 'Poke' and 'Modern Leper', despite Hutchison moving to sunnier climbs. "Moodwise it's been a very difficult record for me," he admits. "There's a lot more darkness on it, which is strange because I've been living in Los Angeles and it's constantly bright. I've gone through various states of turmoil there and I think that's going to be evident. There was a little while when I was writing songs and editing out emotion, everyone was wondering if I was alright because I wasn't expressing anything particularly meaningful. "These were demoes that I was doing at the tail-end of last year - then about three weeks before we were due to start recording, I went away to a cabin and was writing completely fresh on my own. That ended up being like a quarter of the record. I just poured a lot of stuff out, so part of it is going to be a snapshot of how I felt at that time." But when dabbling in such brutally honest admissions of one's life (Hutchison has been known to sing of depression, alcoholism, domestic violence, loneliness and crippling self-doubt), is there ever a conflict in knowing that Frightened Rabbit will be returning to a much wider audience than ever before? "Oh, I don't know about that," he modestly shrugs. "There's always that fear that you could have just lost everyone's interest in the interim period. Things move so fast and I'm a natural pessimist so I never think a lot of people will be particularly interest. I'll be happy enough if we can do the same as last time. "For example, playing Brixton always seemed beyond anything I thought we'd be able to do. If it's diminished, I'll understand - people move on!" And when can we hope to expect to hear new material? "I imagine there will be at least be a song out by the end of this year and maybe be out on the road with a few little shows to whet the whistle, but the full album won't be until next year," says Scott. "It is a long time - it's going to be three years between records, that's the longest we've waited." But in the meantime, with world domination out of mind, Scott has smaller fish to fry. This week he responded to the mindless berating of an internet troll in a typically classy style - by turning their hatred into an awesome t-shirt. The band found themselves interrupted in the studio after receiving scores of bizarre criticism from an internet troll who slammed them as 'meat eaters fatties', 'furry brick built men', 'ugly fat ass man', being 'built like a cruise ship' and encouraging them to 'get caught in a housefire'. Fortunately, frontman Scott Hutchison has quite a thick skin and a sense of humour, turning the scorn into a t-shirt emblazoned with 'FURRY BRICK BUILT MEN: UGLY, HAIRY AND BUILT LIKE A CRUISE SHIP SINCE 2004'. Have they ever received that level of scorn before? "No, that was the thing that shocked me - we don't really get that," says Scott, before laughing "the worst thing we usually get is 'I really like your first two records but not the last two, do you want to stop sounding like U2?' It's non-personal, not an attack on how we look - and then this thing came in. "It was last Wednesday, just checking the Twitter as you do, then we got this and I thought it was quite fucking hilarious. It was borderline brilliant in terms of the creativity: saying we were built like cruise ships, 'brick-built' was another one, 'furry' which I'm quite happy with - I've been growing fur on my face for like 13 years. It was weird." Then, Hutchison was contacted by friends at Edinburgh-based company Something Something, and within ten minutes they had knocked up the t-shirt. Soon they were in production, and hundreds have been sold worldwide - to fans, and those who simply agree with the cause. "It's amusing for us, because I generally don't give a shit if anyone doesn't enjoy the way that I look, but there is the other side where we wanted to give the money to this bullying charity called 'Ditch The Label' because if there's someone slightly less secure in their chubbiness then they could be more slightly more effected by that - the thing that trolls throw at more sensitive people can be really damaging. We need to say 'fuck yeah and kick back'." Kicking back is just what fellow Scot and friend of F'Rabbits Lauren Mayberry did, when the Chvrches singer shone a spotlight on the heinous misogyny and generally deplorable nature of the comments she receives - many of them threatening rape. "That's exactly it," nods Scott. "It's little people trying to exert some power, like Lauren I thought it was time to take the obvious power that we have and use it with the mass of people who are going to get behind us. That's the heartening thing that's been so wonderful, we've turned into a positive and I'm sure the troll will look back at it in ten years' time and think 'what a fucking idiot I was, but that's amusing'." So has the F'Rabbit troll reacted to their campaign? "I don't know if they're aware now," he smirks. "I've muted the troll, and because I blurred out their name I don't know if they got the traction that they were so desperately searching for." If we can't have 'Same Old Shit', then perhaps 'Muting The Troll' would be a better name for album No.5? "It is, ha! I'm writing that down." - The t-shirt is available to buy here - For more information on the Ditch The Label charity, visit here

Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today. It’s coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach? It’s that special time of year where we all huddle around the warm glow of the television and dust off the worn copy of our favorite innocuous-holiday film so we can yet again indulge in the annual tradition of watching Bill Murray repeatedly gorge himself, manipulate women into sex, and kill himself in a variety of horrific ways, in what is one of the funniest romantic comedies of all time. Yes that’s right, it’s Groundhog Day!!! We anticipate revisiting this classic every year, watching it for probably the 100th time at this point, sometimes we too feel stuck in an endless time loop. But instead of being torturously held in the confines of an obtuse Pennsylvania town we’re stuck watching this comedy classic from Harold Ramis again and again and again, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Make sure to listen this week, it’s a doozy! Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today. It’s coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach? It’s that special time of year where we all huddle around the warm glow of the television and dust off the worn copy of our favorite innocuous-holiday film so we can yet again indulge in the annual tradition of watching Bill Murray repeatedly gorge himself, manipulate women into sex, and kill himself in a variety of horrific ways, in what is one of the funniest romantic comedies of all time. Yes that’s right, it’s Groundhog Day!!! We anticipate revisiting this classic every year, watching it for probably the 100th time at this point, sometimes we too feel stuck in an endless time loop. But instead of being torturously held in the confines of an obtuse Pennsylvania town we’re stuck watching this comedy classic from Harold Ramis again and again and again, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Make sure to listen this week, it’s a doozy! Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today. It’s coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach? It’s that special time of year where we all huddle around the warm glow of the television and dust off the worn copy of our favorite innocuous-holiday film so we can yet again indulge in the annual tradition of watching Bill Murray repeatedly gorge himself, manipulate women into sex, and kill himself in a variety of horrific ways, in what is one of the funniest romantic comedies of all time. Yes that’s right, it’s Groundhog Day!!! We anticipate revisiting this classic every year, watching it for probably the 100th time at this point, sometimes we too feel stuck in an endless time loop. But instead of being torturously held in the confines of an obtuse Pennsylvania town we’re stuck watching this comedy classic from Harold Ramis again and again and again, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Make sure to listen this week, it’s a doozy! Share this: Twitter Facebook

Monday, July 28, 2008 This was Olmert's comment in response to the report from GSS Head Yuval Diskin about the the weaponry that Hamas is smuggling in. There is just one problem, he is the Prime Minister and running the government. He can do something about it if he wants to. What kind of idiotic response is that? He fears what will be but does nothing about it. The sooner he goes the better. Thursday, July 24, 2008 According to Mishpacha, 2000 Avreichim may lose their places in Kollel and the 5 biggest Kollels have suffered a 50% drop in donations. The money has basically dried up due to the financial problems in the US and the devaluation of the dollar vs the shekel. Moish, I love you, you are a fun person. It is always great to be your friend, I get more from you then I give, and in times of problems, stress, and hardships, I would rather have you at my side then most of the people that I know The line about "I get more from you then I give" takes on a lot more meaning today. Remember, this is the guy who Olmert's lawyers tried to make out as a money launderer, and a serial liar. Update Globes is reporting that Tzippi Livni is thinking about forming a new party to run in the next elections. The reason for this is that Livni could very well lose the Kadima primary to Mofaz and she is not willing to be number 2 to Mofaz. According to Globes she has wide support both from the Kadima MK's as well as outsiders. This is absolutely amazing, first they split the Likud now they are splitting Kadima. As I have mentioned many times before the political system in Israel is completely broken and needs to be remade. It is absolutely ridiculous that in a list based system(the voters vote for a party not individuals), and MK can walk away from his party with his seat. At the very least there needs to be a district system where at least half of the MK's are elected from a district and are directly responsible to the voters. Friday, July 18, 2008 So far they have tried to blacken Talansky's image, calling him a liar and a money launderer and a criminal. While this might be a good tactic in a regular case, in Olmert's case they are just making things worse. Imagine, they convince everyone that Talansky is a money launderer. That will not help Olmert, in fact it will hurt him. No one denies that Olmert was a friend of Talansky and took money from him. How is it going to look that the PM was friendly with and took money from a money launderer? It will only make the bribery case stronger, as a criminal does not give money for free, he asks for something in return. Olmert's team also made a mistake in their pre-cross examination boasting. They boasted that they would destroy Talansky, peel him like an onion etc. This created very high expectations. So far, after 2 days of cross examination, they haven't done much. They have basically wasted time investigating Talansky's past. It certainly seems like Olmert and his attorneys were just blowing hot air. Thursday, July 17, 2008 The New York Times writes the following about the child killer Samir Kuntar: Perhaps Israel's most reviled prisoner, Samir Kuntar, will return to a hero's welcome when he crosses into Lebanon this week, 29 years after he left its shores in a rubber dinghy to kidnap Israelis from the coastal town of Nahariya. That raid went horribly wrong, leaving five people dead, a community terrorized and a nation traumatized. Two Israeli children and their father were among those killed. What does the Times think would have happened if the raid had gone right? In fact, why do they think the raid went "horribly" wrong at all? What do they think Kuntar set out to do? Kuntar and his compatriots did exactly what they set out to do, they murdered innocent Jews. The only thing that went wrong was the fact that they were captured. The fact that Abu Mazen praised Kuntar showed his true colors. How anyone can think that this man wants to make peace after calling a child killer a hero is beyond me. The same goes for Lebanese PM Siniora. Monday, July 14, 2008 Absolutely amazing. The government didn't fall after the disaster (war) in Lebanon, the 2 Winograd reports and Olmerts 6 investigations (including Talansky and Olmertours). It looks like it is going to fall because Labor MK Avishai Braverman was not appointed head of the Knesset Finance Committee. Because he was not appointed, the Labor Ministers voted no confidence in the government, this should lead to their dismissal. If they are dismissed, on Monday the government will fall and elections will be in 90 days. The bottom line is, the sooner this government falls the better and if it has to be on a political matter like Braverman so be it. בלעם at the end of the parsha, discussed according to many, the Messianic era. The Ramban understands that he was talking about the ד' מלכיות. The Ramban quotes the Ibn Ezra who thought that ישמעאל was the last of the ד' מלכיות. The Ramban disagrees and says that the Ibn Ezra is completely wrong and that ישמעאל is independent of the ד' מלכיות. I heard teh following explanantion of the Ramban. The ד' מלכיות represent rebellion against Hashem. They take the kingship from us (who represents Hashem in this world) and worship avoda zara. ישמעאל is different. ישמעאל has Hashem's name in his name and is not rebelling against the מלכות of Hashem. ישמעאל as the Torah says is a פרא אדם, a wild man. He believes in Hashem but wants to do what he wants to do. ישמעאל does everything in the name of Hashem including killing. Therefore, ישמעאל is independent of teh ד' מלכיות and can exist concurrently with them. Sunday, July 13, 2008 How dumb does he think the people are? Gilad Shalit is still in captivity, Hamas is violating the ceasefire almost every day and he is talking about peace with Abu Mazen? Does anyone beside Olmert and the diehard left believe that Abu Mazen is relevant? Would a deal with Abu Mazen be worth the paper that it is written on? For Olmert to state "It seems to me that we have never been as close to the possibility of reaching an accord as we are today," is cynical beyond belief. Olmert, a petty thief who stole from charitable organizations, is trying to make people forget about his legal troubles. This time I don't think it will work. No one, even the Israeli public, is that stupid. It seems that Olmert would travel abroad (18 times a year while Industry and Trade Minister) and then bill 2 or more charitable organizations for his trip, pocketing the extra payment. This is not just verbal allegations, the police actually have the double receipts. Below is one example of the double billing: Note the same flight number and date to 2 separate organizations. Interestingly enough the amounts are different. Wednesday, July 09, 2008 Tzippi Livni was the architect of UN Resolution 1701 which has completely and utterly failed (see Security Council resolution 1701 has completely failed ). Yet, instead of fessing up to her mistakes she is still acting as if Resolution 1701 actually is working and means something. "Unfortunately decision 1701 was not completed by the Lebanese side and I hope that during the next few days it will be implemented with the return of the kidnapped soldiers," Livni said."We need to stop the arming of Hizbullah by way of the Syrian border and disarm it. There is currently an opportunity to do so and we mustn't lose it." She refused to answer questions about the progress of the prisoner swap deal. ...Israel plans to continue its efforts towards the fulfillment of decision 1701 through other Security Council channels in order to expand UNIFIL's mandate. Believe it or not, according to Livni Resolution 1701 will be implemented when the prisoner swap takes place. She completely forgot about all of the other important provisions in Resolution 1701 that haven't happened and will not happen. Who exactly does she think is going to disarm Hezbollah? Let's take a look at what UN Resolution 1701 actually says and if it is even being close to implemented: 1. no sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its Government;Livni herself stated that Hezbollah is still smuggling arms.2. there will be no weapons without the consent of the Government of LebanonAs Livni herself stated not only has Hezbollah not disarmed but they now have more weapons then ever.3. disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon see 2 In fact, she is wrong about the prisoner return as well. Resolution 1701 states: unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers The soldiers are not being returned unconditionally, but only after Israel agreed to pay a very high price. The bottom line is, Resolution 1701 is a completely worthless piece of paper that has no connection to reality. The really sad thing is that Tzippi Livni is a leading candidate to be the next PM of Israel. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, passed to stop the Second Lebanon War, is on the verge of collapse as Syria continues to rearm Hizbullah, senior defense officials warned Tuesday night ahead of a scheduled security cabinet meeting on Wednesday. ..."Syria is rearming Hizbullah at a rapid pace and this is proof that 1701 has completely failed," one official said. This is not exactly unexpected. I hate to say it but I told you so. I had a series of posts where I discussed the resolution and how it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Believe it or not, I may have been too optimistic. I wrote: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 According to the ועד לעניני תחבורה the main criteria is whether or not the flight has movies shown. They split up the airlines into 3 groups. Preferred - no movies shownSecond choice - movies but only on a personal screen which can be shut offThird Choice - movies on a main screen On the Tel Aviv - NY route for example, there are no Preferred airlines. Continental and British are second choice and El Al is third choice (because they have some planes without personal screens and the movies they do show are particularly bad (according to the Vaad). I wonder how they know this? Who watched the movies for them and compared?). For some reason, they left out some popular airlines on the Tel Aviv - NY route. I know from personal experience that Lufthansa is very popular. They would probably be a third choice because on their trans-atlantic flights they have a lot of planes with movies on the main screen. They also left out Delta which has a non-stop flight Tel Aviv - NY as well as Tel Aviv - Atlanta. The dollar hasn't been anywhere near the 4 shekel mark in a very long time but Areivim is still insisting on pricing in dollars at 4 shekel to the dollar. This month they will be collecting $5.6 at 4 shekel to the dollar. This obsession with the dollar is really strange, why they can't just say they are collection 22.4 shekel is beyond me. ... As a member of the commission, I expected that the Cabinet would resign or be dismissed after the interim report appeared. Indeed, the chief of staff honorably resigned, and the minister of defense was made to leave. The prime minister, however, did not resign, nor was he forced to leave. I do not think this would have happened in any other parliamentary democracy....In retrospect, I think I erred in trusting the political system and the public to do what was obviously required in light of our harsh findings, namely to remove the prime minister from office. I did not expect such dismal behavior motivated mainly by narrow party interests and personal career considerations on the part of many members of the Knesset (with some distinguished exceptions). I regret that I did not insist on making an explicit institutional recommendation that, because of his grand failures, the prime minister should not continue to serve, even if this might have been regarded by some as deviating from the legal limitations imposed on the commission. This recommendation is all the more urgent and valid in light of developments since publication of our final report. Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Recently I have seen in a number of places people recommending to wear 1 string of techeles like the Rambam. Regarding the number of strings of techeles there seems to be 3 different opinions in the Rishonim:1. Rambam (הל' ציצית פרק א' הל' ו) writes that 1 out of the 8 strings should be תכלת2. The Raavad there disagrees and says that 2 of 8 strings should be תכלת3. Rashi and Tosafos in מונחות ל"ח hold that half of the strings (4) should be תכלת Those who wear like the Rambam make the following חשבון. They say that according to the Rambam if you put on more then 1 (out of 8) strings of Techeles, you are not יוצא the mitzva of ציצית at all while according to everyone else while you are not יוצא techeles (with 1 string) at least you are יוצא the mitzva of ציצית. I don't find this argument very compelling. One of the arguments to wear techeles nowadays is that since it is available, if you don't wear it you are עובר בל תגרע. However, if you only wear 1 string you would still be עובר בל תגרע according to Rashi and Tosafos. The fact is that almost all the חכמי אשכנז (Maharam MiRutenberg, Mordechai, Rid, Semak, etc.) pasken like Rashi and Tosafos as well as both the Rosh and the Tur. The majority of acharonim (who discuss the issue) also seem to pasken like Rashi and Tosafos. The bottom line is that the Ashkenazi psak would seem to be clearly like Rashi and Tosafos that you need 4 strings of techeles. The Taz, Shulchan Harav and the Mishna Berura are the עמודי ההוראה for Ashkenazi psak. Therefore, I don't understand how anyone can recommend to an Ashkenzi to follow the psak of the Rambam. I have heard that this is how RHS and R' ZN Goldberg pasken as well, to put on 4 strings of techeles. The Viznitzer Rebbe has 2 sons, Yisrael and Menachem Mendel. About 20 years ago the older son Yisrael was removed from his position, the prevalent rumor was that his mother was responsible. The mother died and the Rebbe remarried 5 years ago and the elder son returned to the Chasidus. With the failing health of the Rebbe the Chasidus has split into 2 camps. The warring between the 2 camps has spread and started a spate of "Shtreimel snatching". The conflict among the two opposing camps in the Viznits Hasidic community in Bnei Brak doesn’t include stealing money or ideological arguments; instead, the Hasidic way of quarreling entails “swiping” shtreimels and bartering their return. The shtreimel is a fur hat worn by many married haredi Jewish men belonging to the one of the various Hasidic sects on Saturdays and holidays. The hat is usually made out of a young fox’s fur, and a single hat requires 30 of them. A Hasidic man buys one or two expensive shterimels throughout his life for a price range of $2,000 to $4,000. The shtreimel is worn without fastening, a significant factor in the latest street fights in the Viznits neighborhood. Those looking to humiliate a Hasid snatch his shtreimel, forcing him to return home with a lowered head sporting on his yarmulke. In recent weeks, the brawls between the camps have intensified, with both sides snatching each other’s shtreimels. During the peacemaking, each camp returns the other’s goods stolen in the last strife. The barters, one of which took place two weeks ago, also include returning torn shterimels that were intentionally spoiled and torn in the heat of battle in exchange for ones in mint condition. In each fight, the Viznits Hassids try to snatch as many shterimels off their opponents’ heads, so as to have as many bargaining chips as possible ahead of the next barter.

SAN ANTONIO – Leave it to Rob Ryan to provide perhaps the juiciest quote of training camp while replying to a mundane question about the Cowboys’ defensive end rotation. Ryan is well aware that the signings of Marcus Spears, Kenyon Coleman and Jason Hatcher aren’t sexy, but that’s fine by him. “I don’t know if we win the all-hype team,” Ryan said. “That might have gone to someone else, but we’re going to beat their ass when we play them.” So who would win all-hype honors? “I don’t know,” Ryan muttered and then excused himself from the media horde. Hmmm … which team could Ryan have been referring to? Perhaps the squad that signed an All-Pro cornerback, a Super Bowl champion defensive lineman, a Pro Bowl pass-rusher and a former third overall pick/backup quarterback plus traded for another Pro Bowl cornerback in the last week? The Ryan family has fired plenty of shots in the Cowboys-Eagles rivalry, which features an entire chapter about Rob’s father Buddy Ryan’s days as Philadelphia’s fiery, foul-mouthed head coach. This might have been the first shot fired by a Ryan for the Cowboys, although it wasn’t a direct blow.

The Washington Post has truly jumped the shark by blaming President Trump for Hurricane Florence. In one of the most brazen displays of Trump Derangement Syndrome yet witnessed, the Post’s editorial board published an article under the absurd headline Another hurricane is about to batter our coast. Trump is complicit. “When it comes to extreme weather, Mr. Trump is complicit. He plays down humans’ role in increasing the risks, and he continues to dismantle efforts to address those risks. It is hard to attribute any single weather event to climate change. But there is no reasonable doubt that humans are priming the Earth’s systems to produce disasters,” states the article. So in other words, the Post admits that individual weather events are not good indicators of man-made climate change, but that Hurricane Florence is basically man-made and Trump is to blame. Absolute lunacy. Opinion: Another hurricane is about to batter our coast. Trump is complicit. https://t.co/T8X2D10Hgv — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 12, 2018 In addition, numerous scientific studies show that nearly all extreme weather is declining or at or near record lows. But why should science matter when it’s so much more convenient to blame Trump? The Washington Post editorial is equally as stupid as when actress Jennifer Lawrence suggested that extreme weather that occurred during last year’s hurricane season were a result of Mother Nature punishing America for voting for Trump. “You know, you’re watching these hurricanes now, and it’s really hard, especially while promoting this movie, not to feel Mother Nature’s rage and wrath,” Lawrence said. “I’ve heard things and seen things on TV in my own country that devastate me and make me sick, and it’s just really confusing,” she added. Infowars has been banned by Facebook. Please help by sharing this article on your own Facebook page. take our poll - story continues below Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd?(2) Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd? Should the Government be Mandating Masks? * Yes No My State Is Not Allowing In Person Voting Email * Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to DC Dirty Laundry updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71 ********************* Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.

3 Ways You Can Control Your Empath Abilities. Your superpower is that you FEEL so intensely. You absorb the emotions around you. You react to the thoughts and feelings of others. You are sensitive and sometimes you feel overwhelmed. I know you probably feel like it’s a weakness (it’s not). I know you feel like you don’t have any control over it. BUT YOU DO. Here are some ways that you can start controlling your empathic abilities: #1 ACKNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE THEM You can’t control your empathic abilities if you are constantly denying them, trivializing them or explaining them away. Get cozy with the idea that you are sensitive and empathic and stop denying your superpowers. #2 STOP HANGING OUT WITH NEGATIVE PEOPLE Get rid of naysayers, skeptics, psychic vampires, narcissists, manipulators or anyone whose default setting is “asshole” because they will keep you in a state of confusion. Negative people don’t want you to succeed. They want you to suffer along with them or they want you to be a pawn in their game. Getting in touch with your empathic abilities is an empowering experience where you get to be a co-creator of your reality. You will need room to shine and you can’t do that when negative people are always trying to push you back into their drama. #3 RAISE YOUR VIBRATIONS You’re going to need to raise your vibrations in order to control your empathic abilities. Fear, doubt and overwhelm are lower vibrations that stifle your empathic abilities. They keep you from being able to use them in a healthy way that will get you more of what you want in your life. The easiest way to start raising your vibrations is through chakra clearings, guided meditations and practice using your psychic abilities on a daily basis. #4 LEARN HOW TO SHIELD You need to be able to distinguish between your feelings and those who are from the people around you. The reason why a lot of empaths go into panic or overwhelm is that the boundaries between their feelings and other people’s feelings are convoluted. It’s scary when you can’t decipher your own feelings because you’re feeling everything from everyone around you. One of the easiest ways to shield is to stop hanging around with negative people (see #3) who bring you down. Another way to shield is to start practicing saying “no” when you don’t feel like doing something or if it makes you feel uncomfortable. This simple act will help you start to create boundaries with the people around you. They will start to energetically break away and give you some needed space to identify your own feelings. Heather Woodward helps psychics, empaths and witchy entrepreneurs level up their natural psychic gifts so they have the confidence to charge what they’re worth. Get started with this free training to help you get in touch with your natural psychic abilities: Week Long Intuition Boot Camp

Q: Given the fact that Itachi asked Obito to help him eliminate the Uchiha, why was he surprised when he knew about the secret mission? When reanimated Itachi fought against Naruto, he asked him what happened to Sasuke. Naruto proceeded to tell him about what Obito (at the time, Madara) said, and tells him the convince Sasuke to join the Akatsuki while taking revenge on Konoha for betraying his brother. Itachi then looks surprised and says "Damn Madara, he knew about my secret mission after all". However, given the fact that Itachi asked for his help in massacring the Uchiha, why is he so surprised? After all, he told him enough about it. A: Itachi may have asked Madara's help but it was never explicitly said that he revealed the true reason behind his actions. Itachi may have lied to Madara like he did to Sasuke that he massacred all uchiha to test his powers. Itachi may be thinking that Madara was convinced with his reasoning, while Madara knew the true reason that he was doing all this by leaf village's orders.

Disney fires 'Guardians' director James Gunn after tweets about rape, pedophilia unearthed Andrea Mandell | USA TODAY Show Caption Hide Caption James Gunn Dropped from 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Films Over Unearthed Tweets Marvel has officially dropped James Gunn as director of the Guardians of the Galaxy films after old, offensive tweets were unearthed. Disney Studios cut ties with "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn on Friday, shortly after Gunn took responsibility for old, offensive tweets that joked about topics including rape and pedophilia. "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him," said Disney chairman Alan Horn in a statement obtained by USA TODAY. Soon after, Gunn released a remorseful statement of his own. “My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.” "Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse.To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.” The firing occurred one day after groups including conservative website The Daily Caller dug up old tweets from the filmmaker's feed. Gunn is openly liberal and a known critic of President Trump. According to Fox News, one of the now-deleted tweets said, “I like when little boys touch me in my silly place.” More: Mark Duplass calls his Twitter endorsement of Ben Shapiro 'a disaster on many levels' Another tweet reportedly read: “The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!' " Fox News said such jokes, which were posted from 2008-2011, included topics spanning 9/11, AIDS and the Holocaust. Gunn apologized profusely late Thursday night on Twitter. "Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor." He added: "It’s not to say I’m better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago; today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over." 1. Many people who have followed my career know when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur, making movies and telling jokes that were outrageous and taboo. As I have discussed publicly many times, as I’ve developed as a person, so has my work and my humor. — James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 20, 2018 It seemingly all started Thursday when Gunn took to Twitter to defend liberal actor Mark Duplass, who came under fire for his support of conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. "Maybe you disagree with Mark Duplass, which is completely fair (personally I think even Ben Shapiro's mother should unfollow him). But that doesn't make Duplass' point-of-view evil," Gunn wrote on Twitter. Shapiro struck back: "I appreciate the sentiment @jamesgunn, even if you're as wrong about following me as you were in your directorial decisions in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" he tweeted. Conservative critics then began digging through Gunn's online history, unearthing material too unsavory for bigwigs at the Mouse House. By Friday, the Twitter war was over: Gunn lost. Despite the director's apology and his successful track record at Disney, Horn fired Gunn by lunch. 2014's wry, space-set "Guardians of the Galaxy" raked in over $773 million worldwide. The popular superhero follow-up, "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2," made over $863 million worldwide. "Guardians Vol. 3" was supposed to begin filming in January 2019, with Gunn set to direct and write. "It will conclude the story of this iteration of the "Guardians of the Galaxy," and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next 10 years and beyond," Gunn wrote last year. Earlier this week, Gunn teased a possible appearance at Comic-Con Friday night during Sony's presentation. "Hall H Friday 6:15pm," he wrote cryptically. The director is no longer expected to attend the panel, a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly tells USA TODAY.

This fall, I’m teaching a course titled “Masculinity in Literature.” The small seminar is attended by men, all in their twenties, earning their college degrees while incarcerated. Before we began our discussion of Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues—perhaps the only “canonical” trans book, if such a thing as a trans canon can be said to exist—we generated a partial list of gender terminology: transgender, transsexual, agender, two-spirit, trans woman, bigender, trans man, FTM, MTF, boi, femme, soft butch, cisgender. The students already knew, at least in rough contours, how these terms were used. They weren’t contentious. What was contentious: man and woman, and the course’s undergirding premise that reading texts about masculinity that have nothing to do with cisgender, heterosexual, white men can teach us a good deal about masculinities. As the discussion progressed, our collective sense of what determines “masculinity” and “maleness” decalcified. One student grew impatient. “Words have to mean something,” he said. “Being a man means something.” He wasn’t frustrated with the abstract possibilities of fluidity, with the notion that some people are trans, or with the idea that identification is not a given. Rather, his concern was that, if gender identity is mutable for others, then what does that mean for him, an adult man who has never questioned his gender? That is, if we refuse the idea of biological essentialism—if “men” and “women” are more than the sum of genitals, secondary sex characteristics, and chromosomes—what does that do to the definition of his own maleness? On October 21, the New York Times published a piece titled, “‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration.” The thrust of the article: the Trump administration may move toward defining gender as biological, immutable, and essentially determined by genitalia at birth, and transgender people could face a terrifying curtailing of civil protections and recognition as a result. As many people have said, such a move misunderstands the distinctions between gender and sex, and is viciously mean-spirited, a pathetic attempt to shore up support from a base whose hatred of “identity politics” manifests, paradoxically, as the inability to disconnect from them. In some ways, the redefinition under consideration by the Trump administration is what my student was arguing for: a coherent, unswerving, unshakable definition of gender that leaves no room for debate or deviance. You’re either a girl or you’re a boy, and how you feel about that is immaterial. Those words, and those roles, are left unexamined. But that’s not how my conversation with this student ended. He didn’t define me out of his reality, or choose to see the inconvenience of my trans body, my self, as a challenge to him and to the way he has, for the last two decades, understood the world. He tried, instead, to work toward a definition of gender by which our different truths wouldn’t invalidate one another. Lately I’ve been thinking about a corpus of texts that centers on trans writing. I’m apprehensive about the limitations inherent in canonization, mainly canon’s inadequate literary representation of difference as tokenism, and the prohibitive inaccessibility for those who can’t afford education at the highest levels. So it’s not a canon exactly, but a corpus. It’s something more like a body: mutable, evolving, flexible, open, exposed, exposing. It’s the opposite of erasure; it’s an inscription. Here are eleven books that have meant a great deal to me as I’ve tried to learn about both my own transness and experiences less familiar to me. I hope they might be recognized, read, and shared—which is to say, never erased. Sympathetic Little Monster, by Cameron Awkward-Rich Awkward-Rich’s poems are about haunting, being haunted, and what Jacques Derrida would call hauntology. His poems are about moving through space, or our tragic immobility in space, and the waiting that happens before movement begins, and again after it ends. His poems are haunted by the selves we were and might yet be, the selves that live in us, nested, intransigent, even through our alterations. His poems are also about grief, loss, and naming. What is perhaps most astonishing about Awkward-Rich’s work is how, in spite of writing so much about absence, he renders absence in its negative: as wholeness, fullness, fruition. His poems compress so much—loss, transition, racialization. They do not simplify these subjects, but rather point to the rich complexity elsewhere, that complexity we might not see (or might not want to see). Get it? Gender is a country, a field of signifying roses you can walk through, or wear tucked behind your ear. Eventually the flower wilts & you can pick another, or burn the field, or turn & run back across the tracks. Anybody, by Ari Banias Sexy, kaleidoscopic, askew (certainly not straight), Banias’s poems invoke multiplicities, the porousness of boundaries, and the impossibilities of hermetic boundedness. His poems are poems of encounters: real, imagined, fantasized, and feared. He assigns multiple meanings to single words, everything doubled. One poem, “A Version,” might just as well be “Aversion.” Each poem shivers with a lush, kinesthetic anticipation, the wild potential of the instant after you’ve taken a great gulp of air—the instant enjoyed, felt, endured, just before the jump. About a third of the way through this collection, the poem “Being With You Makes Me Think About” begins like this: We is something like a cloud. How big, how thick, its shape—ambiguous. We is moving across a magnificent sky. We see the sky all around us but also, we can look down at our own hands. But it ends like this: There’s something to be said for individuality, multiplied. The earth is breathing out through countless eyes asking every possible ray of light to meet every possible rainstorm. They do attract. And aloneness only keeps getting bigger. One day we will tell all about it. At our own table. There are things we cannot see. Most things. Most of all. Exile and Pride, by Eli Clare Clare’s essays on the body, disability, queerness, transness, rurality, abuse, and home draw most attentively from feminists of color writing in the eighties and nineties—activists and writers like Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, Essex Hemphill, Angela Davis, Nellie Wong, and Barbara Smith. Like theirs, Clare’s writing vigilantly considers the multiplying entanglements of white supremacy, capitalism, imperialism, and ableism. His questions move beyond normative judgement, instead developing subterranean connections: “Because disability is one of the major consequences of war, we need an anti-war politics that doesn’t transform disability into a symbol of either patriotism or tragedy, a politics that thinks hard about disability. Who gets killed, and who becomes disabled? Who profits from that killing and disabling? Whose bodies are used as weapons, and whose are treated as expendable? What happens to the countless people shattered, broken, burned, terrorized?” Clare’s intersectional analysis—his insistence on situating the many complex beauties, harms, and difficult actualities in a knotted assemblage—provides a generous framework for thinking about home not just as it is, but as it might be. The home is, for Clare, the space of hurt and rejection, the place that nurtured us (or ought to have nurtured us) into being, and the body. But home is also something we might reform, recreate, and refigure: “The body as home, but only if it is understood that the stolen body can be reclaimed.” Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi Some months ago, the poet Gizelle Fletcher recommended Emezi’s debut novel, Freshwater, to me. The novel—breathtaking, beautiful, virtually impossible to summarize—is about being an ogbanje, about growing up with “one foot on the other side.” I’m not sure that it’s correct to call this a narrative about transness—or, at least, not about transness in the Anglo-American sense of the word. It’s about an awareness of self-as-changeling (which might be, I suppose, one way of transgender thinking). The novel explores the serpentine, involute, unbearable presences of alterity within the body. This alterity isn’t a pathologized wrongness, but a multitude of selves, squeezed and pressed into an always-incoherent me. And then there is, also, the compound incoherences of family and generations, the staggering puncture of trauma. Stone Butch Blues, by Leslie Feinberg Feinberg once wrote of hir novel: “[With] this novel I planted a flag: Here I am—does anyone else want to discuss these important issues? I wrote it, not as an expression of individual ‘high’ art, but as a working-class organizer mimeographs a leaflet—a call to action.” Feinberg’s novel tracks Jess Goldberg, a young butch coming into her own in Buffalo in the fifties. Despite finding solidarity with other working-class butches, Jess and the members of her queer community face the unremitting presence of police brutality, chronic unemployment, and poverty. Taking hormones and passing as male is one way that Jess attempts to navigate unbearable conditions, though doing so is not without a loss (specifically, the loss of her female identity and community). As ever, Feinberg’s work is a reminder that the arc of history doesn’t always bend toward justice. Invoking Frederick Douglass, Feinberg underscores the truth of collective action: without struggle, there is no progress. Trap Door, edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, Johanna Burton “We are living in a time of trans visibility. Yet we are also living in a time of anti-trans violence.” This book—a collection of conversations, dossiers, artwork, and essays—wrestles with that irony. Taken together, the pieces simultaneously attend to the traps of visual culture, the narratives that become fossilized, reified, retold, and representative, as well as to trap doors, utopian crawl spaces of escape, flumes to elsewhere, resistance, new visual syntaxes. Ultimately, the texts collected here chart new ways to tell our stories, to represent ourselves, our art, our archives, and our futures. Mucus in My Pineal Gland, by Juliana Huxtable This strange and wonderful book asks what it might look like to get outside gender and outside genre. It remains unclear to me whether this book is poetry, or something entirely different, as-of-yet nameless. Huxtable’s not interested in displacing or disregarding genre or gender—they’re essential to the book—but the poems, dialogues, and “voices” in this book experiment with time, agency, and fantasy. More than anything, this book is about feeling, or, more accurately, the difference between feeling and felt. It prods at feeling shame and feeling pleasure, feeling alone and feeling elsewhere, feeling too much and still wanting more. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, by Andrea Lawlor If anyone has ever endeavored to reclaim the canonical—specifically Ovid and Gertrude Stein—not to queer it, but to genderqueer it, it is Lawlor. This book catches the feel of that wonderful beginning of Ovid’s telling of Daedalus and Icarus: Hating the isle of Crete and the long years Of exile, Daedalus was pining for His native land, but seas on every side Imprisoned him. ‘Though land and sea,’ he thought, ‘The king may bar to me, at least the sky Is open; through the sky I’ll set my course. Minos may own all else; he does not own The air.’ So then to unimagined arts He set his mind and altered nature’s laws. Yet for Paul, antihero (and sometimes heroine) of Lawlor’s novel, shape-shifting doesn’t involve waxed wings. His native land is the lotus-eating Bay Area circa 1993, and his pining is not for home but for sex, as much as he can get. If “sexuality is a spectrum” has become, by now, old hat, Lawlor ratchets up the stakes and makes literal both gendered and sexed malleability. Paul, sometimes Polly, shifts fluidly from girl to boy and back. He can be various, both. He sets his own mind and alters nature’s laws. They don’t own the air. Confessions of the Fox, by Jordy Rosenberg Rosenberg’s novel, one of the first books by a trans author to be published by a major publishing house, reimagines Jack Sheppard—notorious English jailbreaker of the early eighteenth century—as a trans man. The novel is narrated by a trans academic who’s discovered unverified memoirs, perhaps written by Sheppard himself, and who must simultaneously protect the memoirs from the corporate university’s imminent glutting maw and determine their veracity. Rosenberg draws equally on contemporary critical theory, historical archives, and a remarkably impossible narrative to ask: What is an impossible subject? What is an impossible body? What conditions of community, communion, solidarity, and struggle allow the impossible to come into focus—if only for a moment, if only to escape to somewhere else? The Life and Death of Latisha King, by Gayle Salamon With transness facing the threat of possible governmental erasure, I can think of no book more important than Gayle Salamon’s The Life and Death of Laticia King. Salamon, a professor at Princeton (and, full disclosure, one of my dissertation advisors), takes as her subject the shooting of fifteen-year-old Latisha King by her classmate, fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney, in their high school classroom in 2008. Attending to the various acts of erasure that conditioned King’s death—and the national reporting about it afterward—Salamon brilliantly renders how gendered violence, trans erasure, and what the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl calls “retroactive crossing out” can produce a transphobic imagination. The book is grounded in both phenomenology and contemporary U.S. policy, and Salamon’s use of critical phenomenology deepens and enhances what transphobia looks like: “This legal struggle is not about bathrooms any more than desegregation was about water foundations, lunch counters, or municipal buses. The point is to purge transpeople from public spaces. To make them disappear.” even this page is white, by Vivek Shraya The poem “eraser” takes the form of a school lesson, a punishment repeated across the space of a chalkboard, six phrases repeated in neat rows of five: “I will not make this about race.” “I will not bring my race to school.” “I will not make believe.” “I will not share my race online.” “I will not bring my race to work.” “Race is a choice not a construct.” The book is characterized by so much empty white space—the poems tend to be slim, justified away from the book’s spine, barely filling half the page. And yet, in the poem about erasure, there is so little room to breathe. And that’s the point—Shraya’s poems, in their direct, critical stare, turn back the telescope on the white gaze. But within the expansive whiteness of the pages, Shraya offers stunning images of ambivalence, aching, and pleasure. RL Goldberg is a Ph.D. candidate in English and humanistic studies at Princeton.

When your done with the game for Nba 2k9 for the Ps2 what else can you do? 1. Can you unlock new shoes, hair styles, Etc. 2.can you have a slam-dunk contest? all I do is create a new team and go to game modes and go to street if you got any new and cool stuff please let me know Answers: 1 Hi, I've just bought the game and playing season mode. When I save my season, turn ps2 off and next wanna play it. I cant load it. I just have to play a new season mode. And, how do you buy/trade players? Answers: 5 Can you hav a 3 point shoot out or slam dunk contest for nba2k9 cuz dats one of my favorite things to do and I cant find them Answers: 2 Ask a question about PS2 2K9's player trade Every time I made a trade(ex:Kobe for Roy) then I played with that team(POR) i found that Kobe just played for 3~4 mins and he would be substitute with bench player(like Webster) then didn't back to lineup again by coach's decision A starter just played for 3~4 mins per game? i check of other traded team, but the condition is the same! Please tell me how to prohibit CPU's coach from these ridiculous substitutions or prevent this conditons? Thanks a lot. Answers: 6 I know this question is stupid, but I can't get any of my players to dunk the ball. How do you dunk the ball on the PS2 Answers: 3 Can you create a team on NBA 2K9 for PS2? Please answer me! Answers: 1

Susi... not Suzi Q, not Suey... just Susi. Welcome to my Soap Box. Everything is up for discussion... Relationships, politics, religion, current events, stupid people... EVERYTHING! Nothing is sacred... especially religion. And then occasionally some poetry. Enjoy. Tuesday, January 3, 2012 I Love You, Babe If destiny is a reality then I think you are truly the one I was destined to love. The one who was meant to fill that spot in my heart that no one else could. You knew that when we met... you felt that in your veins right from the beginning, didn't you? Your kisses were clumsy at first. You were shy and afraid. Who is this girl who has made you feel something again? I bet that's what was going through your head when you decided to give in to your heart's feelings. I'm so glad that nothing stopped you from hesitating. Not the fact that we lived so far apart or that your wounds were still fresh from your recent break-up or that I came with a ready-made family. All you knew was that you wanted to be with me. Do you realize how special you made me feel? Do you know how very important you became to me when you lifted me up from my own misery and let me begin to heal with your protection and love? My being went deeper and deeper in love with you as my own hurts and past fell away. You always accepted me and because of that, I got stronger and the pride you felt grew bigger as the whole person of me emerged in the protection of your love. As you stand by my side now, enveloping me with your love, I feel deeper and richer feelings for you, as we both change and grow with each other as well as in the different facets of our independent lives. I'm proud to be your wife, now and forever, standing together at the head of our little family. I feel a great sense of accomplishment and joy showing our boys how it should be done. My dearest love, my life with you has been an incredible journey, a blessing and also, trials to keep us on our toes. We've come through the good times and the bad times better than I'd ever hoped for. Loving you has been a delicious adventure and one I could never have imagined having, let along taking, but I did and I'm the richer for it. I'm truly indebted to you in so many ways. You are my protector, my friend, comforter, companion in laughter, the eyes to my soul, my conscience and my strength when I need it. A day doesn't go by without one or one million thoughts about you and how gracefully you have complemented my life. The goodness of you is imprinted on my soul and something I could and never would erase. Even Heathens Are Good At Giving Read, learn, listen… take every opportunity to educate yourself about this world. You are a human being who lives on this planet and in this society. Your understanding of how it works and runs, contributes to it running better, for all of us.

PUNJAB 1984 is a Punjabi language drama, with English subtitles, about a woman's search for her missing son; the film is set against the backdrop of political unrest in Punjab in 1984. Violence There are some scenes of moderate violence, including people being hit with bullets, with a few brief blood spurts. There is also some mild bad language ('bastard', 'shit', 'bloody'), a mild sex reference, and a brief suicide reference when a man admits that he once tried to kill himself. There are several speeches in support of violent Sikh separatism, although these are countered by other speeches highlighting the futility of violent struggle, as well as the manipulative cynicism of some politicians and revolutionaries. Classification RSS: News RSS: Our newsletter If you would like to receive regular mailings about BBFC resources, workshops, advance information about events and recent classifications or decisions which we think you may be interested in please complete the form below.

Watch as a Fox News pastor offers new insight into how Jesus would deal with churches offering sanctuary to undocumented immigrants. Donald Trump‘s continued attack on Mexicans has ignited a firestorm, and Fox News has been only too happy to help throw fuel on the backs of undocumented immigrants. On Sunday, Fox News contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress offered viewers a new interpretation of the Christian Bible, saying churches that offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants are breaking God’s law. For centuries, churches have harbored those they believe are wrongly being sought for prosecution, but Jeffress – whose own extreme beliefs are anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim, anti-Mormon, anti-gay, and anti-women – chose to attack them. Jeffress said his Texas megachurch doesn’t check the immigration status of everyone who walks through its doors, but “we’re also not going to harbor illegal immigrants who are criminals like some of these churches are doing.” “Look, a lot of these liberal churches that harbor illegal immigrants who are criminals say they’re following the example of Jesus, the only problem is they are following the Jesus of their imagination rather than the Jesus of the Bible,” Dr. Jeffress mocked. “Look, Jesus was not this wimpy little guy who walked around munching sunflower seeds and saying nice things to people.” “The real Jesus of the Bible said, ‘render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’ – that is obey the government,” Jeffress continued. As Raw Story reports, “Jeffress continued, adding that the ‘real Jesus’ cared more about American citizens who were victims of violent crimes committed by immigrants.” We’re not sure what christian Bible Dr, Jeffress has been reading. Curiously, for Dr. Jeffress, that “obey the government” insistence applies only as he sees it should be. Jeffress spread false commentary just two weeks ago, claiming “those bakers in Oregon…lost their business because they wouldn’t bake a gay wedding cake.” First, they didn’t lose their business. Second, they didn’t “obey the government,” but Jeffress thinks in this case that’s OK.  Image: Screenshot via Fox News Hat tip: David Edwards at Raw Story

Last Post Sends Emails and Letters to Loved Ones When You Die - villageidiot http://www.centernetworks.com/last-post-letters-after-death ====== villageidiot I think this is a brilliant idea in theory. In practice, the sticky part seems to be how Last Post finds out about your death. I guess someone has to notify them officially. Otherwise your relatives might be surprised when they open their mailbox some day. And you would be rather embarrassed that they had learned your parting thoughts before you wanted them to. Could become a popular service among Wall Street types at the moment. ~~~ jacquesm dead mans knob. Don't respond to x polls in a row and you're assumed to be incapacitated or deceased. Trains have a similar mechanism, hence the name, it is to avoid a train going on to build an accident with a dead driver at the wheel. I have a similar idea yet to be fleshed out revolving not around sending messages after you're dead but to alert others there might be a problem. Say you're travelling on your own between x and y, if you don't reach 'y' and reset the timer then an alarm is generated. For solo travellers, people living alone in remote areas that sort of thing. ~~~ villageidiot Makes complete sense. I like your idea. You should do it.

Saturday morning, hours after Democrats shut down the government, House Dems, led by Nancy Pelosi of course, held a presser so they could blame Donald Trump … for Senate Democrats refusing to pass the bipartisan CR that had passed the House. Pretty sure they were doing damage control. Pretty sure they failed. Pelosi and House Democrats are holding a presser. Rep. Joe Crowley begins with "welcome to the Trump shutdown." pic.twitter.com/RGDoNwg9Mp — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 Welcome to the Trump shutdown. Adorable. Playing the blame game. Crowley says Republicans should have shown the same effort here that they put into the tax bill. (The tax bill only needed a simple majority in the Senate because they did it under reconciliation…) — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 Huh? We kinda sorta love that the BuzzFeed reporter pointed out in this tweet why Crowley is wrong; interesting isn’t it, either Dems truly don’t understand how things work in government or they believe their constituents are too stupid to know any better. Maybe a little of both. Rep. Cheri Bustos talks about the various grocery aisles (milk, bread, etc) in which she sees voters who tell her to just get something done. — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 Because Bustos totally does her own grocery shopping and just happened to grocery shop that morning after they shut down the government. Lol. "If I mention grocery store aisles I'll seem like I know Americans." https://t.co/vcG66277YD — Dan (@danieltobin) January 21, 2018 Wonder if some Hispanic five year old asked her why Republicans hate him. Pelosi says if they can come to an agreement on DACA/spending caps/border security, then they could support a shorter CR. Then pivots to blaming Trump, pointing to the orange sign with Trump's old tweet. — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 The only people insisting on tying DACA to the spending bill are Democrats, all while they demand a ‘clean’ DACA bill? K. "This is the fifth one," Pelosi says of CR when asked, isn't it better to do these negotiations with the government open? Dems then insist they don't want a shutdown. — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 They lie. "Happy anniversary," Pelosi says to Trump, pointing to the orange sign. "Your wish came true." — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 Guess we should just be glad she didn’t call him doggie doo. Pelosi then accuses a reporter of using Republican talking points in a question to her. The question was about whether Dems are the face of the shutdown. — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 YES, WE’RE ALL OUT TO GET YOU, NANCY. Why is Pelosi attacking the first amendment? https://t.co/KuE1fALeTA — Dan (@danieltobin) January 21, 2018 Time for crazy crumbs to retire. "We believe in governance, we don't believe in shutdowns," Pelosi says. — Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 20, 2018 And there went our breakfast. But you shut down the government. https://t.co/ZHXPEpe9Cc — Dan (@danieltobin) January 21, 2018 Does Pelosi REALLY think anyone buys this crap? Wait, she’s talking to Democrats. Never mind. Related: ‘Dear Lord, the screams’: Writers tell the harrowing tale of DC after the shutdown

Parajika is the name of the offence, and it also refers to the first four rules of Vinaya. It means “defeater” because it defeats a bhikkhu who breaks one of the most important four rules in the disciplinary code of the Sangha. When a bhikkhu violates one of the four rules, he is deprived of Buddhist monkhood and no longer a bhikkhu. He must be disrobed and return to lay life. He cannot be reordained a bhikkhu in his lifetime. 1. Should a bhikkhu engage in any type of sexual activity with a female or male being, even an animal, it entails a Parajika offence and he is no longer a bhikkhu. 2. Should a bhikkhu intentionally steal or take what is not given, even if the thing taken is only worth a quarter of the lowest unit of currency officially used in a country, it entails a Parajika offence and he is no longer a bhikkhu. 3. Should a bhikkhu intentionally deprive a human being of his life or provide him with a lethal weapon for the purpose or encourage him to die, it entails a Parajika offence and he is no longer a bhikkhu. 4. Should a bhikkhu who has not attained Jhana (absorption-concentration), Magga (path knowledge) and Phala (fruition knowledge), falsely claim that he has attained one of them, it entails a Parajika offence and he is no longer a bhikkhu. 2. Thirteen Sanghadisesa Rules Sanghadisesa means an offence which requires a formal meeting of the Sangha at the initial, middle and final stages of redressing it. It also refers to the thirteen rules of the disciplinary code of the Sangha. I. Should a bhikkhu intentionally emit semen, except in a dream, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 2. Should a bhikkhu, with lustful intention, touch any part of the body of a woman, even that of a new born female baby, it entails a Sahghadisesa offence. 3. Should a bhikkhu, with lustful intention, talk to a woman with lewd words about the covered parts of her body, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 4. Should a bhikkhu, with lustful intention, speak in the presence of a woman in praise of her offering sexual intercourse, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 5. Should a bhikkhu act as an intermediary for lovers, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 6. Should a bhikkhu, having a hut constructed with no donor, exceed the prescribed measurement, or should he not assemble bhikkhus to appoint a proper site with a surrounding area, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 7. Should a bhikkhu, having a large dwelling constructed with a donor, not assemble bhikkhus to appoint a proper site with a surrounding area, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 8. Should a bhikkhu, being angry, groundlessly accuse another bhikkhu of Parajika, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 9. Should a bhikkhu, being angry, groundlessly accuse another bhikkhu of a case of Parajika, using as a pretext some point of legal process connected with another person’s fault, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 10. Should a bhikkhu attempt to cause a schism in the Sangha, or should he persist in undertaking a legal process conducive to a schism in the Sangha, he should be admonished by other bhikkhus. Should he, being admonished, attempt as before, then he should be remonstrated with by the Sangha. If he, on being remonstrated with up to the third time, relinquishes his attempt, that is fine. If he does not, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 11. Should one or two or three bhikkhus follow that bhikkhu and take his side, they should be admonished by other bhikkhus. Should they, being admonished, persist in taking his side, they should be remonstrated with by the Sangha. If they, on being remonstrated with up to the third time, relinquish it, that is fine. If they do not, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 12. A bhikkhu may be naturally difficult to admonish. When he is lawfully admonished by bhikkhus concerning training-precepts, he makes himself unadmonishable. He should then be admonished by bhikkhus not to make himself unadmonishable. If he, being admonished, endeavours as before, he should be remonstrated with by the Sangha If he, on being remonstrated with up to the third time, relinquishes, it is fine. If he does not, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence. 13. A bhikkhu, who is a corrupter of families by gifts of flowers, fruits, different kinds of beautifying powder, etc., with the hope of gaining something from them, should be admonished by other bhikkhus. Should he, being admonished, persist as before, he should be remonstrated with by the Sangha. If he, on being remonstrated with up to the third time, relinquishes, it is fine. If he does not, it entails a Sanghadisesa offence.

Ramblings from my pages… #8 Welcome to the eighth instalment of Ramblings from my pages… This post was inspired byIt’s Book Talk’s“5 on Friday: Things I’m Loving Lately” – it differs slightly, similar in that it will feature bookish and non-bookish topics, but different in that I will ramble about things I’m loving, hating, wishing for, links I’ve enjoyed, life updates – you name it, I may just ramble about it. The only staple feature of this post will be concluding it with a link I found around the web. As you’ve probably noticed, my blogging engagement has been seriously lacking these past few weeks, I even skipped this post last week (sorry! I worked last weekend). Even as this post goes live, I’m at work, 7am – 9pm, your condolences for my loss of a Sunday are appreciated, haha! So basically, work and essays have been kicking my ass, so I’ve had little time for the blogosphere. I try to stay as active on Instagram as possible as you all know I love it, but I even had days of inaction there. I just wanted to let you all know, that I’ll read, share, and interact as much as possible, but it may be delayed or limited, and I hope you’ll bare with me. As for reading, It’s happening but at a slower rate. I haven’t even started on my Nonfiction TBR yet, so I may have to do Nonfiction December instead. Although I have listened to We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union, and I’m currently listening to I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons by Kevin Hart. I think Trevor Noah’s autobiography was the start of something because I’ve got so many autobiographies lined up to listen to, and I love that they are all narrated by the author. If you’ve ever watched a Kevin Hart film or stand up comedy show, you can image how entertaining listening to him narrate his book is! My next audio pick is: Around the Way Girl: A Memoir by Taraji P. Henson. Do you enjoy reading/listening to celebrity autobiographies? Guess what, I am officially blog tour free! And I feel the pressure has lessened already! Now I can focus on catching up on the review copies I have, because I’m so behind. That’s not to say I won’t accept any blog tours in the future but for now, I’m taking a break. I do have a few Instagram tours coming up, but they’re cool because the preparation time to post is so much shorter, and right now, my bookish time it limited. The next step in getting on top of my reading is to get these review copies to a manageable amount, which will be my focus for next year. BOOKS THAT MATTER Books That Matter is a UK-based subscription box that I purchased for the last two months. I really like this box because I think it’s good value for money and a nice treat each month. The box is £12, plus £3 for postage and packaging [within the UK]. The curators of this box have a real eye for talent, both of the books I’ve received have such gorgeous covers. October was a black history month special, and the book was Washington Blackby Esi Edugyan, and this months book was Belongingby Umi Sinha – I hadn’t heard of the book before, but it’s definitely one I will read. You also get two gifts to accompany the book, nothing major, just little extras. I’m looking forward to December’s box because it is a nonfiction book that is on my wishlist and the box is coming with five gifts! The book isn’t always announced ahead of time, but it was for December so people could purchase the box as a Christmas gift for others knowing ahead of time what the box was. I won’t share it here yet, in case anyone has subscribed and is avoiding spoilers. I have been impressed with the book choices from this box, I think I’m going to treat myself to a three month subscription. I love the packaging/box, the extras, and the books – true to its name, they are books that matter! Visit Books That Matters website, or check out their Instagram. THE GIRL WHO LIVED TWICE You may have seen all over social media this week the cover reveal for the next book in the Millennium series – The Girl Who Lived Twiceby David Largercrantz, continuing Stieg Larsdson’s Millennium trilogy. “I WILL NOT BE THE HUNTED – I WILL BE THE HUNTER” I’m so excited for this book, I love the star of this series, Lisbeth Salander, and this is one of my favourite series! I even love the films, the Swedish originals, not the American remakes! So this is now my most highly anticipated release of 2019! Have you read this series, seen the films, are you as excited as I am? HQ CRIME FICTION SHOWCASE This past Monday I attended the HQ Crime Fiction Showcase, they had 26 authors in attendance and it was a lovely evening. Made all the more special because I went to lunch beforehand, and attended the event, with Kerrie @ I Loved Reading This, and Clair @ Always Need More Books. Let me tell you, these two ladies are amazing, I had such a fab time, we have so much in common, it’s a great feeling when you meet book friends in real life after talking for months prior. I see many meet ups in our future! As for the event itself, the authors in attendance and the HQ staff were so friendly, as any bookworm will know, it’s a joy to talk books all evening with likeminded people! The highlight of my evening was meeting author Kerry Barnes, she’s the author of several gangland fiction titles, and she’s such a lovely, down to earth person! I don’t usually rave over signed books, because although signed, they are still generic (if that makes sense?), but when it’s personalised, written by the author, just for you, that’s special! Basically the author of this article is throwing shade all over Bookstagram, particularly those who take gorgeous photos of themselves on a background of open books. I just don’t understand the point of the article, because books are art, designed to be read, but art is to be appreciated, so doesn’t that say something about someone’s love of art, that they want to use it above and beyond it’s original purpose. Open book, closed book, spines on display, I don’t care, I want to see a photo of it, this is a fucking awesome new trend and I hope it continues for many years to come! What do you think, did you see the article? I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it, and you’ll join me next Sunday for some more ramblings. If you missed my last rambling you can find it here– topics: Worry Dolls (an anxiety tool), Nonfiction November, How Long ’til Black Future Month? and Jussie Smollett. I did, it was a lovely evening, but I won’t do a full post on it. It was a different kind of event from Quercus in that it was more an author ‘meet and greet’ so I was busy chatting away all evening. But I am going to an Orion event later this month, so maybe for that one 🙂 Kevin Hart is amazing, just as engaging as Noah in his narration style. I’ve seen Kevin Hart’s stand up comedy live and I love how some of the content he talks about in this book is also the content he used for his jokes on stage. I love all these nifty book subscription boxes you find! And I’m very excited for your Nonfiction December and all your memoirs 🙂 I hope your busy schedule is manageable and you find time to relax too! I’ll never give up the hunt for the perfect book box, haha, this one wins on price! I’m in a memoir nonfiction bubble at the moment, and I love it! What I need to do is start writing some reviews! It’s busy in the run up to Christmas but things should settle down soon. I’m looking forward to completing this course, these essays are the most time consuming! I didn’t see the Instagram post Janel but I am intrigued. 🤔 Personally, I admire ANYONE who gets a bit creative with their bookstagram and I will always love checking out what people are coming up with. Some people just love to hate! 🙄

Q: Should we name and shame users with lots of offensive comments? I won't name names and I don't want to either :) But I have found myself flagging lots of comments from one user. "Your stupid", "Go away", etc etc It looks like the only thing that happens is those comments might get deleted? Should something else happen if you have > n flagged comments? An anti-badge lol? A: You're doing exactly the correct thing by flagging these comments as offensive. Moderators get notified when a user is repeatedly posting offensive and abusive comments. By flagging, you allow mods to handle this issue in a constructive, non-public-shaming way. Many times this works. Furthermore, moderators have more tools to handle such users' actions, including the ability to delete comments, suspend (as needed) and even speak privately with a user in a chatroom or through the behavior notification tools. So, short version: no, don't publicly shame users. Let the moderators handle it by flagging. A: Was going to leave this as a comment, but it's more of a secondary answer. I would only bring it up here if you're flagging multiple times and not getting any results, e.g. the behavior is continuing without a moderator intervening. And even then I would only bring it up as a general question ... "why are my repeated offensive comment flags not resulting in action?" ... never by naming specific users. We like to address behaviors here, not specific users. It's more useful to more people that way, and it's more optimistic: people's behaviors can change. Addressing the behavior decouples it from the person and removes any blame or stigma that might work against positive change in behavior.

This film, with the recent controversy that plagued its title, suffers from the curse of its name. The constant bleeps in between the dialogues is a frustrating, kill joy. And that is not the only one. Though with an interesting premise and a well-drafted screenplay, the film fails to hold a big-screen charm, simply because it is treated like a modern day, quickie befitting a web-series. The characters, Nimrat Kaur aka Nimmi and Ram Bharose are not well etched. They unknowingly break the very mould they are supposed to be existing in. And the fault lies not with the actors but with the creators of their universe. To begin with, the story is primarily about Ram Bharose aka Chottu a young forlorn Bihari immigrant in Amritsar who works in a saree shop belonging to one Mr. Singh. Chottu is the man Friday for his employer and his family too, especially his daughter Nimmi, who has no qualms in informing him that she had sex and would need an abortion. It is only after Nimmi's 19th birthday, when Chottu back-chats her father for his bad planning and management skills that he finds himself jobless. Being in a small town, he has no chance of securing another job. And since necessity is the mother of invention, he hits upon an idea of creating a website that would assist young couples in their runaway marriage plans. So with the help of a geek friend of his who he addresses as Cyber and Nimmi, they set up a website called Running Shaadi and they clandestinely help couples get married. It is only after Nimmi's father learns about her abortion, he decides to get her married off immediately. How Chottu helps Nimmi run away and marry the guy of her dreams forms the crux of the tale. The plot though predictable from the very first frame, is interesting, and entertaining. The film is supposed to be an out-right comedy, but mid-way the narrative loses steam. It does pick up its tempo in the third act. Nevertheless, what keeps you glued to your seats throughout, are the earnest performances by the entire cast. Taapsee Pannu as Nimmi is effervescent and charming. She is so natural that you believe in her flawed character and you root for her, when she is anxious and sad. Similarly Amit Sadh too wins your heart, as he honestly essays Ram Bharose. He plays the street smart, yet ignorant lover boy to the hilt. And his onscreen chemistry with Taapsee is palpable. Arsh Bajwa though in a measured role as Bharose's friend Cyberjeet, is outstanding. He is refreshing and elicits a chuckle with ease. The rest of the supporting cast range from serious to quirky and they deliver sincerely. With moderate production values, the film is shot on actual locales giving the film a realistic feel. The cinematography, editing and action sequences are of good quality and overall, the film is worth a watch just to unwind.

Poutine #Hottakes: Two Canadians Clash Over a Montreal Specialty According to Canadian Noah Bernamoff, we’ll never know the true origin of poutine. And it doesn’t really matter. But as anyone who grew up in the Canadian province of its birth is aware, the dish—French fries drenched in gravy and covered in cheese curds—has a time and a place. “You eat it late at night,” he says. “You eat it in a hockey rink in Bumblefuck, Quebec.” Nonetheless, Bernamoff, a native Montrealer, serves plenty of it to Americans from all walks of life, and at all times of day, at New York’s Mile End, the delicatessen he owns. To foreigners, it serves as an emblem of all things Canadian. And while poutine is far from a great point of contention among natives of that country, they resent seeing their culinary culture reduced to one greasy dish. Despite its simplicity, though, that dish is not without its nuances. On the most basic level, solid iterations of all three ingredients should guarantee a good poutine. But, as Bernamoff explains, companies in Quebec have developed poutine powder—"almost a sauce thickener"—by which some people swear, even if it sounds like a lackluster way to make gravy. Meanwhile, stateside, diners have begun to serve bastardized forms of poutine, peddling versions like disco fries, a plate that trades the requisite cheddar curd for a queso-like cheese sauce. Few things unite Quebecers, a group divided by the enormously complicated politics of language, but poutine might be one of them. Still, there are holdouts. Here, two writers raised in Montreal, Lucas Wisenthal and Erik Leijon, debate one of the province’s least pressing issues: whether or not the seven-decade-old dish is trash. Why Poutine is Garbage Lucas Wisenthal is editor-in-chief of the RIDE Channel, a site that, mercifully, has nothing to do with poutine. Follow him@lucaswisenthal I want to say there’s nothing good about poutine, but that would be a lie. There are three great things about it: French fries, gravy, cheese curds. But a dish premised around the former soaking up the latter two, absorbing their flavor or whatever, is utterly inedible. And if you think I have no right to say this, you’re wrong: As a near-lifelong Montrealer, I’ve spent most of my years around poutine, watching people like Erik devour plate upon plate of it. But I’ve never eaten it. And I never will. In the interest of full disclosure, while I’m indeed from Montreal, I was raised in a predominantly English-speaking suburb of the city, where classic casse-croutes were rare. Poutine first penetrated my consciousness sometime around 1990 or ‘91. Yes, people had been eating it for decades, but I’d like to think that the dish—which, according to the World’s Most Accurate Encyclopedia, originated in the 1950s, in towns geographically and culturally distant from mine—experienced some sort of great crossover moment at the time. Suddenly it was everywhere, my suburban enclave included. It crossed borders, too. The idea of fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds somehow proved intriguing to Americans and other foreigners, my wife included. I once watched her wolf down a plate of steamed hot-dog poutine at La Banquise, a well-known Montreal greasy spoon. Also on the menu: a smoked-meat concoction. The mere idea of that one nauseated me. But maybe it should have inspired a great sense of national pride from deep within my unpatriotic being. Here was poutine, a uniquely French-Canadian dish, cross-pollinated with smoked meat, a Montreal-Jewish staple I didn’t enjoy until I was 26. In New York terms, though, it amounted to pastrami pizza. Which is to say: No, thank you. As I got older, the pressure to eat poutine intensified. A night out almost always concluded with a visit to La Belle Province, Quebec’s pre-eminent steamed hot-dog chain; for my friends, the dish was the go-to, the supposed absorber of alcohol. While my refusal to eat it never drew the ire of others—who really cares if one drunk college dude prefers his fries with ketchup and ketchup only?—I knew I was alone in my resistance. Quebecers like Erik, meanwhile, contentedly defile their fries with foods that have no business on or near them, believing them to be vessels akin to tacos, where basically anything goes. Fries, gravy, cheese curds, pepperoni, bacon, and onions at 3:30 a.m.? Sounds good, bruh, but I have some self-respect. More than even Erik, though, I’ve argued about this subject with my wife, an American who, it’s worth noting, couldn’t leave Quebec quickly enough. It all amounts to the same thing: Poutine looks bad and smells bad, and I’m sure it tastes bad. So I’ll never eat it, no matter the circumstances. “It sort of seems like you’re making something out of nothing,” my wife said of this debate—a term I use loosely, because there is none. “Just try the fucking French fries.” Never. Why Poutine is Fire Erik Leijon is a writer based in Montreal. He realized long ago there's no point running away from his poutine eating heritage. Follow him @elejion My obdurate friend and I have had this conversation on numerous occasions in some of Montreal’s finest old-time diners. I can recall one particular 3am post-drinking meal at greasy spoon, Chez Claudette, in Montreal’s Mile End neighborhood. I went with the glorious Dalton, which adds a bunch of peas to your standard poutine, while Lucas pawed at a drab hamburger. It was painful to watch him deprive himself of such gooey goodness. And for what? To be the one guy in Montreal who doesn’t eat poutine? It’s high time he give in to the poutine’s symphony of flavors and textures. Poutine is pure comfort food for the Quebecois soul. Poutine is a warm embrace after a night out on the town. It’s a reminder of pit stops during family drives through small-town Quebec, where the dish was created sometime in the late 50s. It can be as simple as fries, gravy and cheese curds in a takeout container, or it can be re-imagined for fine dining with foie gras and lobster. (I once ate a potato gnocchi fry poutine with seal sausages on top, so really anything’s possible.) To dislike such a versatile dish suitable for any taste or mood is nothing short of willful ignorance, since a poutine can be redone any which way. There are even dessert poutines for those with a sweet tooth—try a maple syrup-laden sucrée-salée if you can. Just when I think I’ve grown weary of the standard poutine, some cook comes up with a new concoction and I fall in love all over again. Seriously, if you had a poutine that left you cold, then change it up. Don’t like soggy potatoes? Then roll back on the gravy. Curds too squeaky? Try another kind of cheese. The days of poutine purity—the three ingredients and nothing else—are long over. I’ll even squeeze a bit of ketchup on there, which might still be considered heretical in some parts. Poutine is basically just a catch-all term these days for anything with fries, cheese, and gravy. Saying you don’t like poutine is like saying you don’t like tacos. All tacos. Now who sounds unreasonable? There’s also the matter of everyone latching on to the poutine craze, which I think has rubbed some Montrealers the wrong way. I too felt a sense of disappointment when I first heard a non-Quebecer—an Ontarian, to be specific—ordering a poutine at the now-shuttered La Belle Province on St. Catherine Street near Bishop with a drunken anglo slur, but my tune has changed regarding the co-opting of Quebec’s signature dish. Sort of like when Celine Dion starting singing in English, I’ve grown to appreciate poutine’s exportability. The poutine has grown and flourished, and so too should the palettes of those who disliked it in its original form. What was once Quebec’s best-kept secret can now be found in cities like New York, and it warms my heart—not unlike like the chicken-stock poutine gravy at A.A. in Montreal’s St. Henri neighborhood. Time to open your mind and mouth to the possibilities. Latest News Now Trending FIRST WE FEAST participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means FIRST WE FEAST gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.