very sad still see the saria/silence divorce headcanon still going around

have you ever tried to consider that they never dated before lone trail because it would be unrealistic with the timeline and the events and also because it would be overshadowing the actual truth of why they couldn't get along

sherlock holmes reactions part six (aka me losing my mind over the final problem)

Hi, I am once again reminding you all that I've formed a parasocial relationship with the crackhead detective 👍 This made me overly emotional for the fact that he didnt even die

But like

hhhmmmmmmmm those were certainly an interesting 14 pages

Yeah, I already made a post about how the final problem relates to yuumori's final problem and how incredibly sexy it is but yes now I'd just like to relay to you how absolutely heart brocken i am over this lol I will eventually get to reading the post hiatus stories i just. I haven't emotionally recovered from this yet

Yelling below the cut somehow this reaction feels longer than the story itself. but it's about half cracking jokes and half sobbing so be prepared

I mean, starting off strong with "well yknow since i got married my and sherlock's Very Intimate Relations had to be modified and all but we hadnt seen each other in a while so it was kind of jarring to see him crawling in my second story bedroom window clutching Wounds and closing the shutters absolutely fucking wasted losing his mind over some dude named moriarty"

We've been over this but. Oh my god why are they gay

I just like????? Imagine how fucking bizzare that would be to just see your old homie crawl into your window bleeding on your floor and asking to exit the other way in case he's followed like "hey bro can we Talk i hope you're not busy" WHAT IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO, SAY HE IS? Imagine watson just like "no dude I'm fucking busy go get killed"

But legitimately. That's certainly something. And like, I see a lot of books starting like this lmao but. Holmes's stuff usually starts off kind of easily with watson going "yeah so lately ive been Experiencing Sherlock Holmes" and spend 20 minutes on exposition with them having a Conversation but no. mans just fucking escaped a hitman and went directly to his boyfriend's house having apparently Never Before In His Goddamn Life mentioned his actual nemesis to this guy. How the FUCK has watson never heard of him before.

And how sherlock starts talking about it isn't any less funny he's just like "UHHH SO THERE'S THIS GUY. THIS ABSOLUTE MAN. AND HES REALLY IMPRESSIVE I MEAN HES LIKE SUPER FUCKING SMART AND HES LIKE DOING CRIMES????? SO I LIKE. I NOTICED AS I DO BUT HE NOTICED THAT I NOTICED AND I MIGHT HAVE MADE A LITTLE FUCKY WUCKY DUDE CAN YOU HELP ME LIKE. FLEE THE COUNTRY" and watson's like my dear sherlock What The Fuck

Im also loving how he calls moriarty a "mathematical celebrity" awhi;grih;oaewhhta;ioh;iaewh;ii;oewh;eh;rg mans just. ok lol hes a Math Celebrity that had to quit his math teacher job because EVERYONE JUST KNEW HE WAS A CRIME LORD LIKE THEY TOOK ONE LOOK AT HIM AND WENT MANS DEFINITELY HAS BODIES IN HIS BASEMENT I DONT WANT HIM TEACHING HERE

But yeah, it was interesting to see what the big deal about og moriarty was... especially since the deal simply did not deliver. There was not really a big deal. It's like reading the first chapter of a book and immediately skipping to the climax. Everything is so hyped up and clearly having been building for years and you just get like NO CONTEXT. I swear Moriarty wasn't goddamn mentioned any time before this. He's just suddenly the big guy and watson has just never fucking heard shit about this guy.

What's so funny about this whole situation is that I just. Cannot objectively know anything about Moriarty at all because sherlock just... does not go into what this dude's alleged crimes even were, other than. The fact that he like. Does them. He's just really involved in crimes. How? Why? For how long? In what way? For what purpose? NO FUCKING CLUE HE JUST. HE JUST DOES. And there's nothing to really suggest that Moriarty was honestly a really evil guy. They're all like trust me he was just. he was just really bad but show absolutely No examples of being such. The most evil thing we saw Moriarty do personally was call sherlock stupid for letting him get into the apartment. And even then he immediately followed it up with complimenting him lol

yeah, my impression of Moriarty was like. I expected him to be worse, honestly. I expected him to be like a cartoon villain because he was kind of made out to be one and then he's just honestly a really polite and refined guy?? Mans strolls the fuck into 221B like hi shawty and it is Not like yuumori obviously man's holding a gun but like. What the fuck they are just. They have never met before but They Clearly Have and it's. its so weird

Like honestly I don't dislike og moriarty. He's really what william tried to be (and fucking failed, but beside the point) but like. Dude's so powerful and for what. He just walks into the apartment with No Pretense like why sherlock holmes is that a revolver or are you just happy to see me oh my goodness you are a dolt why would you hold the gun that way. disgusting. disgraceful. dreadful. Oh my god. I love him I'm sorry

abngnahhghifeah;iewh and Why does sherlock describe him like that hes like "MANS A REALLY REFINED LIZARD /pos" HIEHIFEHW:HGIHOEWFEEW FOR WHAT. FOR W H A T

baaaaaaaaghhhhhh but likeeeee they went STRAIGHT to "you know what I'm here for" "you know how I'm going to respond" "well then" "yeah" "mhm" "damn well it really do be like that sometimes" "ur really smart by the way" "im fucking aware let's kill each other as we both Thought in our Minds" "yes lets" AHDHDHDHDFS WTF THIS IS INSANE

But damn uh. mutual destruction my beloved this is very different from sherliam but im not. im not. opposed to it tucks hair behind ear

I just. Holy shit they really went "if you destroy me I will ensure that we both go down hand in unlovable hand" "I wouldn't mind that"

Annnnd I just noticed that the actual lines for this part kind of. that kind of happened in chapter 31 when sherlock was like i would Gladly die to take down the lord of crime and william was like. hahahah yeahNO NO NO NO

BUT SERIOUSLY THO IM LOSING MY MIND OVER HOW SHERLOCK SAYS THIS WHOLE THING TO WATSON AND HES LIKE DAMN SHAWTY HES LIKE THE REASON FOR HALF THE CRIME IN THIS CITY BUT HES SO NICE THO??? LIKE I EXPECTED HIM TO BE TOUGH AND EVERTHING NO HES JUST SOME POLITE PROPER UNDERSTANDABLE MAN WHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE VERY DIABOLICAL shawty is having a Crisis

And then watson is like wowww that was cool you wanna spend the night and sherlock is like "UNFORTUNATELY BESTIE I AM BEING FUCKING TRACKED DOWN ID LIKE YOU TO NOT DIE WITH ME"

This bit gave me a Moment Moment because oh my god. Then watson is like "no shut up i'm coming with you i don't care" and i just had to Take A Minute because THEY SWITCHED PLACES AAH SHERLOCK IS TRYING TO KEEP WATSON SAFE NOW AND WATSON IS NOW MORE RECKLESS BC OF HIM AND. AHHHH

Completely random but. How sherlock still refers to 221B as "our rooms" to watson even though watson hasn't lived their in years........ shawty i am emotional.........

SO THEY GODDAMN FLEE THE COUNTRY TOGETHER BC WATSON SAYS THEY HAVE TO STICK TOGETHER AND SHERLOCK HAS A MOMENT WHERE HE'S LIKE YEAH NEVERMIND PLEASE GO HOME WATSON AND WATSON IS JUST LIKE. NO. AND HSERLOCK IS LIKE. DAMN OK I HAVE NEVER HEARD YOU SAY THAT BEFORE

But. Ok as funny as this is. They have this fucking Conversation on the train to switzerland where sherlock is like "I have not lived in vain" and watson is like "YOURE NOT DYING" and hes like "i have not lived in vain. like i said. this will not be a bad way to die" UHHHHHH DAMN SHAWTY

hhhhhh and it just Gets. it. it. it Gets. These fuckers get to switzerland and they stay in a hotel and then leave for reichenbach but watson gets this goddamn letter telling him that hes needed at the hotel to basically save this lady's life. And he doesn't. Like. he doesn't even want to go he's like FUCK IT SHE CAN DIE IM NOT LEAVING YOU but sherlock convinces him to go fULLY KNOWING THE LETTER WAS FUCKING FAKED BY MORIARTY JUST AS A PLOY TO GET HIM ALONE

AND THEN HE JUST. WENT ANYWAY AND WATSON HAD TO WATCH HIM JUST LIKE GODDAMN WALK OFF INTO THE SUNSET LIKE "LITTLE DID I KNOW THIS WOULD BE THE LAST TIME I WOULD SEE HIM BUT IT JUST. IT HAD THAT VIBE YKNOW"

God I just. Wow sherlock really did that huh. He really went and did that. And I went over it in the post about this compared to yuumori but it just RUINED me how watson just. Never saw what happened and there's just so little information about it that all they have is these assumptions and pieces that just suggest that these guys met up, walked up to the goddamn waterfall having a nice civil conversation about how talented and smart they both were at this and how they revealed their methods to each other and complimented them because of course they did

And they just sat up there talking to each other so long and Moriarty legit waited politely or even possibly was the one that suggested he write a letter to watson in which sherlock just went "damn lol moriarty's pretty nice actually anyway uhhhh sorry watson ily ✌" and just like. left it up there in his damn cigarette box

But just like. damn the insinuation that moriarty just sat there and watched while he wrote that entire goddamn letter, sealed it up, and then got up and went alright buddy let's go but it makes no goddamn sense if they wanted to actually kill each other and assure they themselves would survive I could name like 23 different ways they could have managed it so easily and they Didn't. they were really set on mutual destruction huh. There's no way they were even trying to do anything but Die Together at that point and that's Something huh

It absolutely baffles me how they could say that these guys had plummetted like, holding each other tho. Like. ok lol but How Do You Even Know

It was certainly a ride. But the fact that Watson had to actively try to think like Sherlock to figure out what happened in the scene was just. The cherry on top. Especially after they'd consciously started to switch roles in this i just. Damn.

In conclusion uhhhhhhhh gay people real I suppose

FATE: What happens when you get a bunch of middle aged white guys to adapt a cartoon for girls

Well, I just went through 6 hours of fate and I have a lot of opinions on it. Yeah, this is going to be long (slightly under 3k words) so putting it under read more and obvious spoilers.

PSA before delving right in:

1) Yes, I will be comparing to the original. Any comparisons are not through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. There are parts here and there that I genuinely think were done better in the cartoon on a writing standpoint.

2) This is purely my opinion and overall negative. Don't like it? Don't read. I'm all up for discussion but I don't want another person crying to me about how I “ruined” their experience of the show.

3) If you like Fate then good for you. This isn’t me bashing people who like it. 

I've spit it up into sub sections just for my own convince.

1. The problem with the 'I'm not like other girls' trope

This pertains to the entire Bloom-Sky-Stella love triangle. I wasn't as pressed about it compared to other winxers (and I loved Stella's and Brandon's relationship on my rewatch). In fact, I was okay with it. But then I sat down and watched the show and there's a lot of underlying problems with the love triangle. Particularly pitting Bloom and Stella against each other for Sky's affection.

Now this part of the love triangle I already didn't like. Correct me if I'm wrong, since I dropped the OG Winx after season 5 but the Winx while they did have their conflicts and arguments, never fought over a boy. I really appreciated that from the cartoon so seeing that live action would fall into that trap – I was mildly annoyed at that. Then it hit me. It's Bloom and Stella.

The seemingly ordinary girl vs the pristine princess of Solaria. If the title didn't give it away, you should get the point by now. Others have already called it by now but the "I'm not like other girl's" trope in itself, while seemingly feminist is actually misogynist. Saying the more masculine type of girl is better than the feminine is inherently misogynist. Stella, the prime princess, girly and feminine, is villainized by the love triangle. Sky's and Stella's relationship is toxic and Stella's overt co-dependence and jealousy are already big fat red signs - but Sky's and Bloom's relationship is built on how she's "different". Bloom isn't like Stella, she's "real".

2. Am I supposed to like Riven?

As the title puts it, wtf am I supposed to feel about Riven. Is he supposed to be a good guy? Do I root for him? Is he morally ambiguous? Because holy shit compared to OG!Riven, this guy is diabolical and much much worse! OG!Riven is an asshole and he teams up with the trix but his arc was very simple and easy to understand. He joins the bad guys, distances himself from the good guys, the trix betray his ass, he self-reflects in the dungeon - escapes and redeems himself. Net!Riven is so bad to the point where you can't redeem him and the writers don't even try. Freddie Thorp is good in his role. (however, he definitely doesn't pass for a 17-year-old. He's 26 and it shows) and he actually makes the cringe dialogue work. But he's way too diabolical and downright predatory. The scene where he forces Dane to gulp down his spiked drink - it’s worse seeing it than reading it. That grossed me out more than the gore.

What makes it worse, nobody properly calls him out. Beatrix kinda does on his homophobia – “Homophobic bashing by GIF” - and Sky does chastise him, but they still tolerate him. It is kinda funny in a way Sky has a whole ass arc about how he's enabling Stella's problematic behaviour by still dating her after she blinded her friend but doesn't realize he's doing the same for Riven.

The only person that really puts her foot down with Riven is Terra and nobody takes her seriously about anything she says.

Everyone is very laissez-faire around him and that's not how you respond to your friend being problematic. (Hey, kinda like the other girls sans Aisha are with Bloom!) Everyone surrounding Riven is so disgusting and the notion of him supposedly being a good guy is very hard to buy into. His whole relationship with Dane has a section of it’s own because there’s just a lot to unpack.

3. Stella I am so sorry

I'm also in the majority hating how they've tarnished Stella. Basically, they turned her into the stereotypical rich bully with mommy issues.

I get that Stella has an abusive mom but that’s no excuse to be a total bitch to her roommates. And no, her roommates shouldn't accept her back with open arms. And she doesn't even redeem herself - the girls just accept her back after her mom pulls her from Alfea.

And this is also another issue with the writing were the characters suddenly just change their opinions on a whim. Suddenly Stella likes the winx, suddenly Terra misses Stella even though having that girl literally gives her anxiety. Suddenly Aisha's on Bloom's side in the end.

This isn't me simping for the cartoon out of nostalgia. I was mostly okay with the idea of Stella and Sky hooking up. But Looking at it from a creative standpoint - looking at the source material, and the many paths you can take this character, the best thing Brian Young and co. can think of for her was turning her into the stereotypical rich bully that we've seen time and time again? No deconstruction no meta take, it's played out exactly how you’d expect it.

Again, this isn't me simping for the show. Purely from a creative standpoint Stella was such a major let down. There's so much to the character and Brian Young took the easiest, saturated path.

4. That one scene with Bloom's parents

You know the one. Mike unhinges Bloom's bedroom doors and Vanessa cusses out and insults her child like a petty teen bully. Forgetting how utterly cringey that scene was, you can't have her mom go batshit insane on her child, then act like she's this loving parent that cares so deeply about her daughter. Screw that! Vanessa deserved those 3rd degree burns! She invaded her daughter's privacy. Bloom didn't even do anything wrong!

I can't buy into this narrative of Vanessa and Mike being loving parents when they do something like that. Seriously who thought that was okay?

5. Pity Parties for everyone.

I already discussed this in Stella’s section but I don’t like the “it’s okay for me be a shitty person because my life sucks :)” narrative Fate tries to pull. They did it with Stella, Bloom, Riven.

What I liked about the first season of Winx Club is Bloom’s arc and her character as a whole. Because while she went through shit, from the Trix, to finding out she was adopted, her existential crisis, not feeling like she belonged, losing the dragon flame, she went through a lot. She didn’t throw a pity party. She didn’t whine, bitch and complain. She allowed herself to feel upset, took it as it is and tried to make lemonade out of lemons. And I respect that.

Net!Bloom is agrevating. She does some dumb, reckless stuff but it’s excused because she’s the protagonist? She let the war criminal out, the school gets taken over by the bad guys because of Bloom. Faragonda fucking dies because she let the war criminal out! The burned ones attacked the school because she let the war criminal out!!! But no, Aisha’s villainized for calling Bloom out because Bloom’s existential crisis is more important then anything else.

Getting to Sky, he isn’t as bad as the others. He doesn’t become a shitty person because of his problems. (Though lowkey flirting with Bloom while he hooks up with Stella is uh not good.) But he does come across incredibly whiny. Because of the cringey dialogue and the unnecessary swearing  I can’t take his speech on opening up to Bloom seriously. I laughed throughout the whole thing and Bloom leaving his unconscious body there was the icing on the cake.

One of the few characters that deserved a pity party is Terra. She’s very much like OG!Bloom in a way. She is bullied by Dane and Riven, has body insecurities, anxiety, nobody listens to her and at most only tolerates her. Despite all the crap that is thrown her way she still reminds humble, kind, and respectful. And she is one of the few characters that deserves more support than what she got out of the season.

5. Bloom, Aisha, Tokenism and their awful relationship

I’m going to be upfront, their relationship sucks. The core of their dynamic is what Aisha can do for Bloom. It’s very one-sided. Bloom only goes to Aisha to help solve her problems, which Aisha gladly does – but when Aisha disagrees with Bloom or says something Bloom doesn’t like, Bloom suddenly goes off and Aisha’s made to be the bad guy. Even though she’s right? And Aisha has her own problems as well, shown to also struggle with her powers. But nope, that’s pushed to the back burner because Bloom needs help.

I am all for creative freedom. I can stomach Stella x actual Sky. I can stomach turning Stella into a rich mean girl. I can stomach the dark academia aesthetic but what Brian Young and co. did to Aisha is just plain racist. Screw the “it’s an adaptation” excuse. Turning this character who had a rich storyline and was a princess into a white girl’s magical negro who fixes all her problems is racist and by definition tokenism. And by whitewashing the other two characters of color, making Aisha the only poc in the group – that’s the worst thing you can do to her.

And frankly we need more black princesses on screen.

6. Dane and the homophobia of the show

Towards the show’s climax it’s revealed Dane is helping Beatrix because she accepts he’s “different”. Not only does this go back to my pity party rant but like bruh,

1)      Beatrix never really did anything for Dane? She hung out and smoked with him a bit, but that’s all. You’re telling me Terra wouldn’t accept Dane? Beatrix never helped him and he never really opened up to her about his struggles.

2)      Nobody else, not even background characters bully or harass Dane for being “different”. It’s only Riven, the guy he’s crushing on. The whole falling in love with the bad boy/abuser trope is bad in a hetero relationship and that still stands for a gay one. And I know damn well if Dane was a woman half of the shit Riven did to Dane wouldn’t slide.

It makes no sense for Dane to side with the bad guys when Riven’s the one bullying him and Beatrix is complacent in the bullying. Oh, and having your second black* character who’s also lgbt+/potentially questioning be a villain? Not good.

I’m all for gay and poly rep, but not like this. If Stella and Sky’s toxic relationship is going to be called out for what it is, why not Dane’s?

*Idk if Theo Graham is light-skinned black or biracial so I’ll just refer to him as black.

7. The plot

It’s very predictable. Personally, wasn’t fond of the ‘twist of a twist of a twist’ style of writing. The story tries to be nuanced and deep but it’s not. Common sense is treated like a big revelation. Not trusting the war criminal you barely know isn’t as big of a take that the writers try to make it out to be.

8.  Everything else

·       Beatrix is fine. No Icy but did like the gothic bookworm aesthetic.

·       Sam is just there to be Musa’s love interest and provide some dumb drama between Musa and Terra. I thought they’d go the Edward/Bella root – Musa’s drawn to Sam because she can’t sense his emotions for some reason. Nope, they just get together for the obligatory make out sessions. Don’t care much for the relationship or the character.

·       Since the powers are all elemental shouldn’t there be classes purely for an elemental? Classes purely for fire fairies, etc?

·       Musa’s powers are confusing. If she has no control over them and they are “always on”, shouldn’t her eyes constantly be glowing purple?  Very wishy washy. Sometimes they overwhelm her and other times she has complete control. Her character is just there for plot stuff.

·       Terra is one of the better characters but can’t enjoy her knowing about the whitewashing. Why can’t we have a plus sized character just exist and not have body issues?

·       Sky doesn’t feel like a prince. Characters treat him like his dad is a war hero and not the King of Eraklyon. There was a point where I thought I misheard and thought his dad was just a war hero and not a king.

·       Why try to justify Rosalind’s war crime if she’s going to be the big bad anyways?

·       The way the characters treat death/act around death is very weird. Musa and Terra see a pile of dead bodies and they’re unreasonable calm. Especially Bloom an “ordinary teenage girl from earth”, reacts very nonchalant when death and war crimes are brought up. Doesn’t help the show tries to push this “they’re kids fighting a war” narrative.

·       Can’t buy into the girls’ friendship. The Aisha/Bloom dynamic is centred on what Aisha can do for Bloom. Bloom only cares about herself and only goes to her friends to help with her problems. Most of Musa’s and Terra’s interaction centre around Sam. Stella didn’t care for the girls until her mom showed up and pulled a 180. The girls were quick to turn on Aisha when she sided with the adults.

·       I have no problem with technology existing but why do they have Instagram, Tiktok and Tumblr? The otherworld is a completely separated from Earth, why do they have the same technology?  

9. Brian Young, what do you mean by mature?

I grew up on the 4kids dub before transitioning to the Nick dub for season 4 and 5 then dropping the cartoon for good. So naturally on my rewatch of the cartoon I decided to go watch the RAI dub since I heard it’s more accurate and 4Kids are infamous for their horrid localisations straying too much to the source material. Upon finishing season 1 and currently watching season 2, a few things took me by surprise. For one, the cartoon is surprisingly dark. The schools are at war with the Trix and their army of Darkness, Sky almost dies in Season 2, Riven almost dies and the Trix thinks he suicided, it’s heavily implied in Season 2 Darkar murdered some of the pixies, the paedophilic undertones of Bloom and Avalon’s relationship, the list goes on.

When the interview with Brian Young came out, he said Fate would be a mature take on the cartoon. And I wondered, what did he meant by mature? Was he going to delve deeper into the darker aspects of the show, or did he mean he was going to have the girls swear and have sex? Watching Fate, I found my answer.

If you take out the gore, swearing, drug and alcohol usage from the live action, the maturity is on par with the RAI dub. The difference is in the presentation. This is what sucks about the mentality surrounding live action remakes. Because the OG!Winx was colourful with glittery transformations , was super girly and overall had a positive upbeat tone (not forgetting 2D animated) - it can’t be taken seriously. You have to strip all that, the colour, the kindness, the femininity in order to be deemed mature.

10. Wrapping up

I went into Fate expecting the worst and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There were things I liked about it. The show looks pretty, and I did like what they were trying to do with Sky’s arc. The actors did what they could with the material. Freddie Thorp made the cringe dialogue work and Abigail Cowen proves she can carry a show as the lead.

Fate is your generic, YA, dark academia show. It follows all the tropes of the YA genre to a T. If that’s your niche, then you’ll love Fate and I’m not bashing anyone who liked it.

For me, as a creative, it doesn’t capitalise on the strengths of the source material. I’m not asking for Winx Club again, as I’ve reiterated, I’m all for creative freedom. But Brian Young, Iginio Straffi, whoever worked on this – they could’ve created something new, innovative, something that stood out from the hordes of other YA shows. They had good material in their hands! But what I got -  I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen it done better. That’s a major disappointment.

As a winx club fan, don’t bother watching this. It’s a very diluted version of the Winx. In trying to capture the interest of the adult fans who grew up with the franchise – Iginio showed how out of touch he is if he thinks this is what they wanted.

From the moment Lena Luthor was introduced in the second season of The CW's Supergirl, it felt like only a matter of time before her diabolical half-brother, Lex, would appear. Sure enough, the super-villain finally stepped out of the shadows about half-way through Season 4, with his megalomania and hatred of all things Kryptonian intact. But as infamous as Lex is for his obsession with Superman, he ironically ended up becoming Kara Danvers' greatest enemy.

While there was a lot of excitement surrounding Lex's debut on Supergirl, many people were taken aback when Jon Cryer was cast in the role. The actor already had a connection to the villain, having played his nephew Lenny in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, yet he was better known for his portrayal of the hapless Alan Harper on Two and a Half Men, among other comedic characters. Even Cryer admitted he thought he was an odd choice when the show's creatives first approached him.

If anything, casting Cryer against type proved to be the perfect move. His version of Luthor is brilliant and narcissistic, yet Cryer imbues him with a sense of charisma and dark wit that's essential to making the character work. Case in point: his first appearance on Supergirl, in the episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?," culminates with a scene in which Lex calmly evades capture by the authorities by setting off hidden high-tech security traps around his mansion -- while pretending to conduct a symphony performance of "Eine kleine Nachtmusik." If that's not Lex Luthor in a nutshell, nothing is.

Building on that, Supergirl went on to reveal Lex was the real puppet master pulling the strings of the characters' who'd previously appeared to be Season 4's primary antagonists: Ben Lockwood, the Children of Liberty and Kara's double, aka Red Daughter. It turned out Lex's schemes went even deeper than that, with subsequent episodes revealing he had been plotting against Kara and Lena for years from behind bars in Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Even Lex's mother Lillian, a brilliant criminal mastermind in her own right, never came up with such an elaborate scheme when she served as the main villain in Season 2.While he may lack the super-human abilities of Supergirl baddies like Reign and Gamemnae, Lex makes up the difference by always staying one step ahead of everyone else. At the same time, he's far from omnipotent and capable of making mistakes, like underestimating Lena before she shoots and kills him at the end of Season 4. Of course, he still got the last laugh by revealing Kara's secret identity to his sister before he died, setting the stage for Lena to become a quasi-villain in Season 5. It seems not even death can stop Mr. Luthor from wreaking havoc on the world.

Fortunately, that wasn't the end of his story. Almost immediately after his death, Lex was resurrected by Mar Novu, who revealed he had an important role to play in the impending "Crisis on Infinite Earths" brought about by Novu's destructive counterpart, Mobius. Sure enough, Lex ended up fighting alongside the other Paragons of the Arrowverse in the final battle against Mobius, before helping to create a new multiverse to replace the one Mobius has destroyed.

Of course, part of what makes Lex a terrific villain is he never does anything for the greater good unless he can find a way to serve his own purposes along the way. And sure enough, Lex changes things so that, in the post-Crisis version of Earth, he's actually a well-respected philanthropist who controls the D.E.O., which makes him Kara's boss. And while he would go on to do some good in this new reality by helping Kara and her allies take down the sinister organization Leviathan, he also forced Brainiac-5 to betray his friends and serve as his double agent, before revealing he'd used Brainy as part of an even bigger plan to -- you guessed it -- kill Kara once and for all. It might be a new multiverse, but it's the same old Lex.

(xx)

No wonder our communities seem organized to keep suffering at a distance

“The Interruptions are my work” by Henri Nouwen

 (Henri Nouwen—Turn My Mourning into Dancing, p. 5-11)

    When I came to Daybreak, the community of ministry to disable people where I have been pastor, I was experiencing a great deal of personal pain. My many years in the world of academics, my travels among the poor in Central America, and later, my speaking around the world about what I had seen, left me deflated. My schedule kept me running hard and fast. Rather than providing an escape from my own inner conflicts, my scurrying from speaking engagement to speaking engagement only intensified my inner turmoil. And because of my schedule, I could not fully face my pain. I carried on with the illusion that I was in control, that I could avoid what I did not want to face within myself and in the world around me.

    But when I arrived, I witnessed the enormous suffering of the mentally and physically handicapped persons living here. I came gradually to see my painful problems in a new light. I realised they formed part of a much larger suffering. And I found through that insight new energy to live amid my own hardship and pain.

    I realised that healing begins with our taking our pain out of its diabolic isolation and seeing that whatever we suffer, we suffer it in communion with all of humanity, and yes, all of creation. In so doing, we become participants in the great battle against the powers of darkness. Our little lives participate in something larger.

    I also found something else here: people asking not so much “How can I get rid of my suffering?” but “How can I make it an occasion for growth and insight?” Among these people, most of whom cannot read, many of whom cannot care for themselves, among men and women rejected by a world that values only the whole and bright and healthy, I saw people learning how to make the connection between human suffering and God’s suffering. They helped me to see how the way through suffering is not to deny it, but to live fully in the midst of it. They were asking how they could turn pain from a long interruption into an opportunity.

    How do we make such connection ourselves? How do we make this shift from evading our pain to asking God to redeem and make good use of it?

    An early step in the dance sounds very simple, though often will not come easily: We are called to grieve our losses. It seems paradoxical, but healing and dancing begin with looking squarely at what causes us pain. We face the secret losses that have paralysed us and kept us imprisoned in denial or shame or guilt. We do not nurse the illusion that we can hopscotch our way through difficulties. For by trying to hide parts of our story from God’s eye and our own consciousness, we become judges of our own past. We limit divine mercy to our human fears. Our efforts to disconnect ourselves from our own suffering, end up disconnecting our suffering from God’s suffering for us. The way out of our loss and hurt is in and through. When Jesus said, “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13), He affirmed that only those who can face their wounded condition can be available for healing and enter a new way of living.

    Sometimes we need to ask ourselves just what our losses are. Doing so reminds us how real the experience of loss is. Perhaps you know what it is to have a parent die. How well I remember the grief I felt after my mother’s illness and death. We may experience the death of a child or of friends. And we lose people, sometimes just as painfully, through misunderstanding, conflict, or anger. I may expect a friend to visit, but he does not come. I speak to a group and expect a warm reception but no one really seems to respond. Someone may take from us a job, a career, a good name.

    We may watch hopes flicker through growing infirmity, or dreams vanish through the betrayal of someone we trusted for along time. A family member may walk out in anger and we wonder if we have failed. Sometimes our sense of loss feels large indeed: I read the newspaper and find things only worse than the day before. Our souls grow sad because of poverty or the destruction of so much natural beauty in our world. And we may lose meaning in our lives, not only because our hearts become tired, but also because someone ridicules long-cherished ways of thinking and praying. Our convictions suddenly seem old-fashioned, unnecessary. Even our faith seems shaky. Such are the potential disappointments of any life.

    Typically we see such hardship as an obstacle to what we think we should be—healthy, good-looking, free of discomfort. We consider suffering as annoying at best, meaningless at worst. We strive to get rid of our pains in whatever way we can. A part of us prefers the illusion that our losses are not real, that they come only as temporary interruptions. We thereby expend much energy in denial. “They should not prevent us from holding on to the real thing,” we say to ourselves.

    Several temptations feed this denial. Our incessant busyness, for example, becomes a way to escape what must some days be confronted. The world in which we live lies in the power of the Evil One, and the Evil One would prefer to distract us and fill every little space with things to do, people to meet, business to accomplish, products to be made. He does not allow any space for genuine grief and mourning. Our busyness becomes a curse, even while we think it provides us with relief from the pain inside. Our over packed lives serve only to keep us from facing the inevitable difficulty that we all, at some time or another, must face.

    The voice of evil also tries to tempt us to put on an invincible front. Words such as vulnerability, letting go, surrendering, crying, mourning, and grief are not to be found in the devil’s dictionary. Someone once said to me, “Never show your weakness, for you will be used; never be vulnerable, for you will get hurt; never depend on others, for you will lose your freedom.” This might sound very wise, but it does not echo the voice of wisdom. It mimics a world that wants us to respect without question the social boundaries and compulsions that our society has defined for us.

    Facing our losses also means avoiding a temptation to see life as an exercise in having needs met. We are needy people, of course: We want attention, affection, influence, power. And our needs seem never to be satisfied. Even altruistic actions can get tangled with these needs. Then, when people or circumstances do not fulfil all of our needs, we withdraw or lash out. We nurse our wounded spirits. And we become even needier. We crave easy assurances, ignoring anything that would suggest another way.

    We also like easy victories: growth without crisis, healing without pains, the resurrection without the cross. No wonder we enjoy watching parades and shouting out to returning heroes, miracle workers, and record breakers. No wonder our communities seem organised to keep suffering at a distance: People are buried in ways that shroud death with euphemism and ornate furnishings. Institutions hide away the mentally ill and criminal offenders in a continuing denial that they belong to the human family. Even our daily customs lead us to cloak our feelings and speak politely through clenched teeth and prevent honest, healing confrontation. Friendships become superficial and temporary.

    The way of Jesus looks very different. While Jesus brought great comfort and came with kind words and a healing touch, He did not come to take all our pains away. Jesus entered into Jerusalem in His last days on a donkey, like a clown at a parade. This was His way of reminding us that we fool ourselves when we insist on easy victories. When we think we can succeed in cloaking what ails us and our times in pleasantness. Much that is worthwhile comes only through confrontation.

    The way from Palm Sunday to is the patient way, the suffering way. Indeed, our word patience comes from the ancient root patior, “to suffer.” To learn patience is not to rebel against every hardship. For if we insist on continuing to cover our pains with easy “Hosannas,” we run the risk of losing our patience. We are likely to become bitter and cynical or violent and aggressive when the shallowness of the easy way wears through.

    Instead, Christ invites us to remain in touch with the many suffering of every day and to taste the beginning of hope and new life right there, where we live amid our hurts and pains and brokenness. By observing His life, His followers discover that when all of the crowd’s “Hosannas” had fallen silent, when disciples and friends had left Him, and after Jesus cried out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken Me?” then it was the Son of Man rose from death. Then He broke through the chains of death and became Saviour. That is the patient way, slowly leading me from easy triumph to the hard victory.

    I am less likely to deny my suffering when I learn how God uses it to mould me and draw me closer to Him. I will be less likely to see my pains as interruptions to my plans and more able to see them as the means for God to make me ready to receive Him. I let Christ live near my hurts and distractions.

    I remember an old priest who one day said to me, “I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted; then I realised that the interruptions were my work.” The unpleasant things, the hard moments, the unexpected setbacks carry more potential than we usually realise. For the movement from Palm Sunday to Easter takes us from the easy victory built on small dreams and illusions to the hard victory offered by God who wants to purify us by His patient, caring hand.

    As I learned from my friends at Daybreak, at the center of our Christian faith we perceive a God who took on Himself the burden of the entire world. Suffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ we see God suffering—for us. And calling us to share in God’s suffering love for a hurting world. The small and even overpowering pains of our lives are intimately connected with the greater pains of Christ. Our daily sorrows are anchored in a greater sorrow and therefore a larger hope. Absolutely nothing in our lives lies outside the realm of God’s judgement and mercy.

When the Criminal Liars Shout, “Conspiracy Theory!” You Should Stick to the Facts Do you know who coined the curse, “conspiracy theory” or accusation, “you are conspiracy theorist!” – It was nobody less than the CIA in the 1950s, to silence those who saw through the lie of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. This was a complete lie by US war strategists, to install fear in the population in general and in Europeans in particular and to boost the American Military Industrial complex – and presenting a constant threat to the communist Soviet Union. A complementary phrase developed in the last years is “fake news” — people who are saying well-founded truths, are being accused of spreading “false news” – and that by the very media that spread the real false news and lies in the first place. A dystopian world indeed, and most of the public doesn’t capture it. The fear factor is always a crucial element in dividing people, and in corralling them into chambers of fear – which allows anything outside to happen – building up armament, faking an arms race – when there was none. The Soviet Union came out of WWII – where they lost between 25 and 30 million people to safe Europe and the world from fascism. But western history books have it, that it was the United States and her European allies, who foremost defeated Hitler. This false news is continuingly being propagated, last by the recent WWII Victory Celebration on 9 May 2020 – without any consideration of the key role of the Soviet Union – today’s Russia – in defeating the Hitler Nazis. After this enormous sacrifice, the Soviet Union had no intention nor the resources to build up an army to defeat the west – as was being propagated by the US and then being aped by Europe, hence justifying 40 years of a Cold War, based on FEAR. The Cold War destroyed the natural relationship (trade, diplomatic, cultural) between Europe and today’s Russia. Today, however, anybody who dares to remind the western media, politicians and friends of the real conqueror of Hitler, namely the Soviet Union – is a “conspiracy theorist” – or someone who spreads “false news”. The Corona Crisis The latest example of conspiracy galore, is the corona crisis. What is playing out in front of our eyes, a worldwide lockdown of everything, followed almost by every government of this globe with similar severity, quarantine, confinement at home for almost everyone under the “pretext” of protecting you – the people – from an invisible enemy – a corona virus. And every government KNOWS it is a disaster for the national and world economy – it is social suicide. Yet they go along – with the orders of whom? As most of us who look for our own sources of information, outside the mainstream dominated, government dictated or supported lies, data collection and statistics on COVID-19 infections, as well as death rates, are vastly inflated and willingly falsified, to increase the fear factor and prolong the all destructive lockdown. This horrendous cheat is not just actively practiced in the US, but also in Europe. A point in case is Italy Unless solid proof is presented, like by the Italian Member of Parliament and a number of medical doctors, virologists and microbiologists from Italy and other European countries, as well as the US, anybody who refers to the fakeness and unreliability of the statistic is called a conspiracy theorist — a liar. And in some countries people who tell the truth are even liable to fines and legal pursuit. These threats and conspiracy accusations should shut us up. But they don’t and won’t. We want the truth to come out and be known to the entire world. The World Economic Crisis We already now realize the damage of unheard proportions. In the first four months of this so-called, WHO-denominated pandemic, we see a global disaster of proportions far exceeding those of 1929-33 and 2008-09. Never in recorded human history has so much misery been created. Bankruptcies abound, the stock market plunged so far by more than 30% (with some ups and down – called “quick profit taking” by the rich and powerful on the back of the small investors), a meltdown of productive assets, easy prey to be bought by large corporations – unemployment soaring to heights never experienced before by modern humanity, currently at least 37 million Americans out of a job.This does not account for those having given up looking for a job or claiming unemployment. According to Fox Business News, up to 40% may never get back to work. The FED predicts unemployment may reach 50% by the end of the year (in the worst 1929 recession period unemployment attained 25%). These are only US statistics. The situation in more chaotic Europe may be even worse. The International Labor Office (ILO) announced that within months worldwide unemployment may hit 1.6 billion people, half the globes work force. Many of these people, especially in the Global South have already been at the verge of poverty or under the poverty line, living from day to day, with no savings. Now they are condemned to begging – and many, maybe hundreds of millions, to die from famine, according to the World Food Program (WFP). Many if not most of them have no access to health services, no shelter, or any other form of social safety nets, because the COVID-caused economic collapse has wiped out even flimsy social safety structures poor countries may have set up. Misery no end. And this is only the tiny tip of the iceberg. The worst is still to come – when in a few weeks or months a clearer picture of what industries will live or die will emerge – and more people will be relegated to economic paupers. The Real Conspiracy Taking a few steps back – it is clear, it is no coincidence that the entire world is stricken by the same virus. That does not happen naturally – but can happen, as it did, when the virus is artificially implanted in every country – and that at the same time. So, there is a diabolical plan behind this so-called corona-crisis which does not even have to be a crisis, if we look at real disease and death rates – not the inflated, fear-inspiring ones. So, who is behind this all? – Well, without naming names and leaving that guessing up to you, there are several reports and events that have “predicted” such a pandemic. One of the most prominent ones, is the 2010 Rockefeller report – that described in surprising detail what is happening now, and calls it the “Lock Step” scenario. According to the report it should get worse and the current pandemic might be followed by a stronger wave later this year or in 2021. Strangely, the IMF’s economic projections for a “post-Covid economy, foresees 3 scenarios, two of which consider another outbreak in the second half of 2020, or in 2021. Event 201 on 18 October 2019 in NYC, simulating among other atrocities a corona pandemic that would leave 65 million dead within 18 months. This was the final stroke before the planned outbreak. Let’s just say that the evil masterminds behind this monstrous crisis are a few very rich, power-thirsty psychopaths and their families and cronies. They are planning a One World Government, also called the New World Order, or the One World Order – that has been under preparation since the latter part of the last century. It requires total control over the population and- a sizable population reduction. That’s where the eugenics come in. Many of the Rockefeller club, the “Bilderberg Society” members have been advocating population reduction for decades, including Bill Gates. He even bragged about it when in a 2010 TED talk in Southern California, “Innovating to Zero”, he said, “when we do a real god job vaccinating, we may reduce world population by 10% to 15%.” . He wants to eliminate poverty, literally. However, talking about it, and connecting the dots of what we are living today – is Conspiracy Theory. Why are Bill Gates’ new corona vaccines possibly killer vaccines? – Here is how it works. The Gates Foundation first created the pharmaceutical company “Moderna” in Seattle, Washington State, not far from his Microsoft empire, basically to produce tailor-made vaccines for the Gates Foundation. Then the foundation gave US$ 20 million to Moderna for the development of a COVID vaccine. A few days ago, Moncef Slaoas resigned from Moderna’s Board to become White House Director of Operation Warp Speed, a plan to fast-track a COVID vaccine. Nobody seems to bother about the flagrant conflict of interest – let alone the health risk that poses. But it gets even better. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), a little-known agency that is hardly in the news, had, according to Whitney Webb (Last American Vagabond) knowledge of the pandemic outbreak at least since last November, possibly earlier. This means that President Trump knew about it, but didn’t do anything about it, rather let it happen. His blaming China today for mishandling the corona crisis is a sheer lie and a propaganda bluff to denigrate China’s reputation and her rising economy and solid currency, the yuan – which may soon take over from the dollar as a key world reserve currency. DARPA is also financially supported by the Bill Gates Foundation. They have been working on new vaccine technologies for several years. The COVID-19 outbreak brought this research work to prominence. DARPA is closely collaborating with Bill Gates in applying this new technology to the vaccine, Bill Gates wants to develop and impose on the world population. According to Whitney Webb, DARPA and its partners agencies are planning to “produce DNA and RNA vaccines, classes of vaccine that has never been approved for human use in the US and involve injecting foreign genetic material into the human body. Notably, it is this very class of vaccine, now being produced by DARPA-partnered companies, that billionaire and global health “philanthropist” Bill Gates recently asserted has him “most excited”, relative to other Covid-19 vaccine candidates.”. This is not conspiracy theory; this is real conspiracy. This sounds like the kind of medical trials Hitler’s medical team has carried out. The perpetrators were condemned at Nuremberg. In our dystopian world, nobody will be punished, even if thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands will die from the Gates WHO-supported rush with an untested vaccine. Though, it would match the eugenics agenda. *** The so called (by WHO) COVID-19 “is the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the human race.” It is a multi-generational lie that has become a ‘false normal’, says Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, founder of the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center. And as a piece of reference enhancing her reputation, she has 20 years of vaccine research experience and her articles are translated in 12 languages and she appears frequently on radio and TV to educate parents. “By putting vaccines into our bodies, we are inserting foreign matter, toxins, into our cells, like mercury and aluminum.” In legal terms vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe”. Through pharma lobbying, in 1986 Congress has passed the National Childhood Vaccine Children Act, a law whereby pharmaceutical companies cannot be sued for any damage their vaccines cause, including death. Vaccines have enormous side effects, especially in small children, causing various lasting diseases, like peanut allergies, asthma, eczema and – yes – autism. Particularly harmful vaccines are western-made MMR (measles), polio and DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). Russian made vaccines have different compositions and have helped prevent millions from polio and other debilitating, crippling or killing diseases. Since 2002, when revenues from vaccines for US pharma companies amounted to about US$ 8 billion, revenues and profits have skyrocketed to more than 60 billion per year by 2020. Every new vaccine is worth about a billion dollars. Anybody who speaks out against vaccination, irrespective of the evidence given, is labeled a conspiracy theorist by the media, and often by the pharma-coopted medical society. People start understanding that Bill Gates and his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) call the shots on public health around the world, especially on vaccination – vaccination against the corona virus. The sinister new vaccine that Bill Gates in tandem with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), one of 27 agencies of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and supported by CDC and WHO – and in cooperation with DARPA – are described above. All Gates promoted vaccines are made by wester pharma-corporations. You should know, that the Bill Gates Foundation also generously funds NIAID, NIH and CDC. Both CDC and NIH own several hundred if not thousands of vaccine patents. So, they have a vested interest in promoting vaccination, no matter how much harm they cause to the population. But this cannot be questioned, let alone criticized – else you will be denigrated as a conspiracy theorist. In fact, western Governments hire psychologists, sociologist and medical doctors to give interviews and talk to the media, on conspiracy theories – in a last-ditch effort to dissuade people from thinking. And many still fall for the lie, but evermore stick to their own investigated information – and demonstrate and protest, often with civil disobedience, against harsh government measure of police -and often military crackdowns. They call out against Bill Gates and WHO, a corrupted organization that receives half to three quarters of its annual budget from private donors, mostly the pharma industry, Bill Gates, but also telecom-industries (that’s why WHO has been silent on the potentially nefarious effects of 5G). Bill Gates is the biggest single donor of WHO. Conflict of interest is never discussed in the media. Those who know the truth and don’t hesitate calling it out, are silenced by being called conspirators, liars by the media and – of course, by much of the medical community. In fact, Bill Gates literally calls the shots on matters of public health that affects the entire world. People – be aware! Also speaking out against vaccines and the lab produced viruses from which eventually vaccines are derived, is Dr. Judy Mikovits, a long-time NIAID micro-biologist, who has been severely punished by Dr. Fauci for defending her research results which Fauci wanted to hide. Her book, “Plague of Corruption” is currently Amazon’s number one Bestseller. That in itself tells a story of a public awakening. Referring to her and her numerous interviews, peer-reviewed scientific articles and her book, is called a conspiracy, because even her own outspokenness is called conspiracy – all in an effort to shut up critics of the current system, of the current new-normal that will soon require universal vaccination (Bill Gates with a sly smile wants to vaccinate 7 billion people in the next ten years). Will it be compulsory? Against most countries Constitutional and Democratic Rights? We don’t know. Seveb billion is a slight exaggeration, because Russia and China will certainly not vaccinate their people with vaccines produced under Bill Gates funding and supervision. But even if it is not compulsory, there may be so many “legal” hindrances put in place by western governments that most people eventually will roll over and accept the possibly killer vaccine that Bill Gates and his association of pharmaceuticals (GAVI) supported by WHO, will impose on humanity. For example, you may not be able to receive or renew your driver’s license, going to concerts, to the movies, to sports events, to fly – and so on. That’s all been talked about and is part of the 2010 Rockefeller Report’s ”Lock Step” scenario , in which we are currently hopelessly navigating – under lockdown and with social distancing’ – so nobody can get together and possibly organize a plot against these draconian inhuman measures. *** Robert F. Kennedy Jr., JFK’s, nephew, founder of “Children’s Health Defense” an NGO advocacy organization has this to say: “Bill Gates is the world’s largest vaccine producer and the single largest donor to WHO and the CDC Foundation. Those agencies are now marketing-arms for his vaccine empire. In January 2019, Gates had WHO declare “vaccine hesitancy” the top “global health threat” (with Ebola, cancer, war, and drug-resistant pathogens), signaling a worldwide Pharma Gold Rush to mandate vaccines to all people. Gates maxed-out in donations to Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff’s Political Action Committee (PAC). In February 2019, Schiff wrote to Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Pinterest, demanding they censor “vaccine misinformation, “a term meaning all skepticism toward government and industry pronouncements about vaccine safety or efficacy––whether true or not. – “Vaccines are both effective and safe,” Schiff wrote. “There is no evidence to suggest that vaccines cause life-threatening or disabling disease.” This was misinformation. A year earlier, Schiff pushed a bill to hike the Vaccine Court admin budget to $11,200,000 to reduce vaccine injury backlogs. The court had already paid out $4 billion for vaccine deaths and disabilities. Facebook and Pinterest said that they will rely on Gates’s WHO and CDC to say which on-line statements are “misinformation or hoaxes.” Facebook and Google hired “FactChecker” (Politifact) to censor vaccine misinformation. The Gates Foundation is “FactChecker’s” largest funder. In his article, “Fact Checker, a Propaganda Device,” investigative journalist Jeremy Hammond concludes, “Facebook is guilty of misinforming its users about vaccine safety… They have no problem with lies about vaccine safety and effectiveness, as long as it’s intended to persuade parents to vaccinate their children.” On May 4, 2017, FactChecker declared as false, Del Bigtree’s statement, “Vaccines include aluminum and mercury, which are neurotoxins, and vaccines cause encephalopathy.” FactChecker explained, “Current data show vaccines are safe and do not cause toxicity or encephalopathy.” [However], manufacturer’s inserts reveal that many vaccines contain aluminum and mercury, and cause encephalopathy. – Finally, massive gifts to NPR & PBS buy Gates biased vaccine coverage. This statement is from public media Highwire. “I’m (Robert Kennedy) not anti-vaccine. I’m against dangerous, shoddily tested, zero liability vaccines with toxic ingredients. If someone came up with a thoroughly tested vaccine that was completely safe and efficient, one that performed as promised, one that made people healthier rather than sicker, I’d be for it. – Indeed, only an idiot would oppose it. But under no condition, would I support mandatory vaccination. Government has no right to force citizens to take unwanted medicines or to submit to involuntary medical interventions.” And he adds: “Google is a vaccine company. It has a $760 million partnership with Glaxo-the world’s largest vaccine maker and similar deals with Sanofi and Merck to mine your medical information. Googles mother company, Alphabet, has 4 vaccines developers working on flu, and other, vaccines.” Google and Youtube are removing videos from highly experienced doctors, epidemiologists, biologists and virologists – censuring is also the new normal – but they are promoting a billionaire software developer and a 16 year old climate change “expert” about viruses and vaccines — what does that say for the media, for the governments that support and finance the media. The Strategy behind shouting Conspiracy – Conspiracy Theorist There is a lot of psychology behind the strategy – leading people to a state of cognitive dissonance, of believing a narrative they know is a fiction, meaning, you know there is something not quite right, but you don’t’ dare questioning it. Why? Because of being called a conspiracy theorist. And why does that matter? Because it is a demeaning term, robbing the accused of his credibility (well thought-out by the CIA in the 1950s). Somebody stamped as a conspiracy theorist, believing in conspiracy theories – in fake news, makes you a lesser person in your friends’ eyes. So, they may avoid you – and if you stick to your opinion, you may gradually move into isolation. Being isolated, no friends, is fear-provoking. So, better believe the official narrative. The silver lining around this dark cloud is ever more visible and ever brighter. Be self-assured. Don’t cave in. Stick to your own research, to your opinion, regardless of being insulted as a conspiracy theorist. Stand up for what you believe – and do it with passion. Other people also have doubts, and when they see people defending their believes with passion, they may join you. And so, a critical mass grows. And the conspiracy theory strategy loses rapidly power – and fades away. Fading is already visible throughout European and US cities, where tens of thousands take to the streets, defending their civil and human and Constitutional Rights. These are encouraging signs. Hope never fades – until “we shall overcome.”

Talks Machina Summary, Episode 52

*SPOILERS*

Just a heads up, some of this is combined to comply with the new text block limit. If the formatting is a little messy or random things seem to be under the same bullet point, I apologize.

•Laura Bailey and Liam O'Brien on tonight’s episode. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Yeehaw Game Ranch premiered today, this episode will be uploaded on Thursday. The series will air every other Tuesday at 4pm, pacific time.

•Quality Avantika impression. ALSO, Monday March 4th, crowdfunding campaign for Vox Machina animated special begins. TALKS MACHINA WILL BE UPLOADED TO CRITICAL ROLE YOUTUBE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE, HALLELUJAH!

•This:

•Tiefling classes, no dirty implications here folks!

•Frumpkin got his first nat 20 during episode 52.

•Liam used the disguise self because he missed being Laura’s twin. For Caleb, it was just practicality.

•Jester’s view on Caleb has not changed since his backstory reveal. Although, it did make her feel guilty about giving him crap about being dirty. Jester didn’t go out much, but the different kinds of people that came to where she lived as a kid helped make up for that lack of experience.

•Caleb never specified that he wanted to take down anyone affiliated with the empire.

•Jester thinks she did awesome with her diplomatic encounter. She does not realize her charisma is so low.

•Caleb is not scared by being manipulated by other political powers (AKA Xhorhas), but he feels wrong being out of the empire just because everything that matters is there. He knows he’s walking into a dangerous place, but it’s not like his home wasn’t dangerous already.

•Max eats a Starburst with the wrapper on.

•Jester is always down to spread the word of the Traveler, even in Xhorhas: nothing is sacred.

•Laura has no backup for Jester because she feels like that would be admitting she would be okay if Jester was gone. Laura then goes on to compare this to her experience as an actor with her mother telling her to get a backup job and her refusal to do so.

•Jester doesn’t even care about the Empire vs Xhorhas. Caleb just sees it as a big mess. He still has emotional ties to the empire, but sees that they’ll flawed and awful (not everyone, but a decent portion).

•The whole gem tattoo/gem in the arm has crossed Liam’s mind, but he says it doesn’t really bother Caleb since tattoos are just a thing and the two processes aren’t similar enough to trigger anything for him. If anyone could convince Caleb to get a tattoo, it would be Jester. Jester isn’t afraid of the pain of getting a tattoo and would totally get one.

•Caleb doesn’t really have an agenda for where he wants to go, as of now he is just following the parade of disasters known as the Mighty Nein.

•Liam doesn’t answer questions about where he got his clothes, and Brian trolls everyone who asks him.

•Jester felt awesome about teaming up with Nott for another detective adventure, but she did change her perspective about Nott upon learning she was a mother. Jester knows what that relationship is supposed to be like and feels bad that Nott had that ripped away from her. Laura has thought back on all the times Nott refused to bathe and sees them in a new light now that Nott revealed her trauma to the group.

•More tiefling jokes. Dani disapproves of said tiefling jokes.

•One of Liam’s favorite spell components/somatic combination is running his hand through phosphorus for wall of fire.

•Laura thinks “consecuted” means something about being reborn.

•Liam doesn’t worry about picking the wrong spells, he already knows he will. Also, Liam NEVER makes mistakes.

•Laura feels that Liam has a stronger platform for the D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign. Greg is undecided. Dani is contractually obligated to vote for Sam (but is open to monetary persuasion).

•Jester doesn't really care about keeping the Kryn’s powerful relic.

•Jester enjoyed having more tieflings around her, even if they were just disguises.

•Liam has been kept busy enough that he has no current plans to create a new spell for his character. Jester on the other hand….

This:

•Jester thinks it’s important for Fjord to appreciate himself. She sees him growing back his tusks as a step toward realizing how awesome he is. Liam realizes that Caleb caught Fjord’s accent slip and says that Fjord’s whole identity crisis is a major part of his character.

•They both realize the portal they found is super dangerous. Laura and Liam then debate who will die first. Personally, I vote for neither.

SEARCH FOR GROG QUESTIONS BELOW: SPOILERS

•Liam chose to play a grave cleric of the Raven Queen because he wanted to do something adjacent to what his character was in the past. He also didn’t want to do something random and felt his character should help flesh out the lore of the world. Liam also wanted to be sure no one from Vox Machina died.

•Laura has been looking at Vox Machina art. She very much enjoys stepping back into the Percy/Vex relationship. Vex’s first “darling” during the sound check made Dani tear up.

•It was painful for Vex to have Lieve’tel around, but she appreciates having someone else appreciate what her brother did.

•Everyone was begging Sam not to drink from the old mug before the show began. Graphic descriptions of the contents of the mug ensue.

•Nostalgic Moments: Gilmore, Allura, Percy/Vex banter, Scanlan and Trinket, “I can carry him,” Scanlan inspiration, and just Pike in general.

•“The Search for Bob”

•Diabolic planning is underway, possible announcements in the future.

Ms. Marvel #31 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

It the fiftieth issue of Ms. Marvel (50th when you combine the two series together) and what better way to celebrate such an achievement than to have a good old fashioned slumber party!  If only the various duties and demands of being a superhero could allow for a such a thing.  A bunch of impromptu adventures and ordeals notwithstanding, Kamala and her buddies end up having a pretty great night.  All from the creative team of… deep breath… G. Willow Wilson, Nico Leon, Ian Herring, Saladin Ahmed,  Gustavo Durate, Rainbow Rowell, Bob Quinn, Hasan Minhaj, Elmo Bondoc, Valero Schiti, Rachelle Rosenberg and Stephanie Hans.  Recap and review following the jump.

Kamala has been campaigning her mother for weeks to allow her to have her friends over for a slumber party.  The whole idea of a sleep-over is rather perplexing to Mrs. Khan, but she has finally agreed and Kamal could not be more excited.  Everything is ready.  There’s popcorn, chips, chi, the idea game system is ready to go and pizza is on the way… Kamala has even set her room up with strings of Christmas tree lights to set the perfect mood.  

Her friends, Nakia, Mike and Zoe arrive and they jump right into the gossip and giggling.  Along with having fun, Kamala is also hoping her pals can help her work her confused and anxious feelings over having kissed Kareem and her possibly still having feelings for Bruno.  

Mike is surprisingly chill with the fact that Kamala may have a crush on her former boyfriend, Bruno.  Nakia is concerned that Kamala has done something so brash as to kiss a boy.  Oh yeah, and Zoe recently went out on a date (most likely with Alana, Neftali’s sister introduced int he previous issue).  Yet before they can get into any of this important stuff the conversation is interrupted by a strange barking from outside.  

Well, Kamala knows exactly what sort of creature makes that distinctive bark and she furtively sneaks into her Ms. Marvel guise to see what sort of mischief Lockjaw has gotten himself into.  

Here Willow and Leon hand the story-telling duties over to Ahmed and Durate for a fun jaunt in which Ms, M and Lockjaw try to rescue a kitten who has teleporting powers of his own.  Chasing this cat takes the trio all over the galaxy, even to an alien planet... yet it isn’t long before Ms. Marvel realizes that Lockjaw and the kitten are just having fun chasing each other.  She has no time for such games, she has a slumber party to get back to.  

Ms. Marvel leaves Lockjaw and teleporting kitty to their fun and returns home to find her mom making samosas for her guests.  Mmmm samosa.  Yet before Kamala can join in the doorbell rings, the pizzas have arrived.   Here the story is taken over by Rowell and Quinn.  The young woman delivering the pizzas is a rather irascible sort who becomes aggressively resentful when she finds that she is delivering pies to a slumber party.  Oh, and she smells terrible… like supernaturally bad.  

Once again donning her Ms. Marvel duds, Kamala chases down the pizza delivery girl to investigate.  It turns out that her name is Samantha.  Like Ms. Marvel, she is an Inhuman who was transformed by way of exposure to the Terrigen Cloud.  Rather than receiving neat super abilities, however, Samantha was bestowed with ‘skunk-like’ powers.  Her hair took on a distinctive white streak and she can emit a terrible, noxious odor whenever she feels anxious, threatened or even irritated.  

It’s all just about ruined poor Samantha’s life.  No one wants to hang out with someone so stinky.  She’s a young adult, still learning how to handle her feelings and mood and hence barely able to control these smelly powers.  And finding that she was delivering pizzas to a slumber party just filled her with jealous rage.   

Rather than fighting, the two talk it out.  Terrigenesis is a lot like adolescence… it is sort of like a lottery and is by no means fair.  Some are endowed with cool, useful transformations, other are saddled with unfortunate, almost debilitating transformations.   

It’s not all that different the kind of changes that adolescents have to contend with as they go through maturation.  And it is also rather random and never fair.  Some become tall, slender or have flawless skin, whilst others have to deal with acne, super awkward growth spurts, or just smell terrible.  

Neither Kamala nor Samantha the Skunk Girl can go back to the lives they had prior to Terrigenesis, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t carve out new lives, make their own paths.  Samantha has no interest in being a super hero or anything like that, but that doesn’t mean that she cannot get help from people such as the Avengers or Inhumans of New Attilan.  With time and training she can learn to control her odor-based powers, keep them suppressed and even use them to her advantage if the need were to ever arise.   Having solved that problem, Kamala returns to her party.  Yet it is not long before yet another crisis arrives.  She receives an emergency text from her Champion team-mate, Spider-Man/Miles Morales.  Well, it turns out that the villainous Arnim Zola has plans to poison the water supply of Manhattan and Miles needs Kamala’s shrinking abilities to help him break into the city’s central pumping station and reroute the poison.  

This tale is told by the team of Minhaj and Bondoc.  There are some hiccups, but Miles and Kamala are ultimately able to foil Zola’s diabolic plans.  And yet there’s something sort of off about Miles.  He reveals that he may have come into possession of an Infinity Stone, the mood stone to be precise.   wait, the mood stone???  

Pretty certain this isn’t an Infinity Stone Miles has gotten ahold of… maybe it’s the mood-affecting ring The Mandarin used to wield.  Whatever the case, it seems to have an effect on Miles, causing him to be more forward and open with his thoughts and feelings.  It leads him to blurting out the fact that he thinks Ms. Marvel is terrific, and pretty, and, well it’s all quite embarrassing for him.  Although, Miles does admit that being so frank and open does feel rather liberating.  And this helps Kamala realize that maybe it’s time for her to lighten her load as well.  

Kamala finally makes it home where Nakia, Zoe and Mike have been patiently waiting for her.  Kamala decided to come clean nd rather than concocting some lie to explain where she has been she tells them that she is Ms. Marvel.  

And they’re all like, ‘yeah, no duh.’  

They all knew, have known for quite a while.  Kamala hasn’t exactly been proficient in hiding her secret identity and it was pretty easy for her close friends to put two and two together.  Heck, even Gabe, Kamala’s step-brother, has figured the matter out.    None of them have said anything about in that they figured it was her business and she’d tell them when she was ready.   It’s a nice, cathartic relief for Kamala to share this secret and she is wonderfully surprised to find her friends so supportive of it all.  They all hug and it’s really quite a sweet moment.  And it is here that this fun, goofy romp of an issue comes to an end.  

What a blast.  The whole issue acts as sort of a patchwork anthology.  And each side-story works as a sort of encapsulation of the distinct qualities that makes Ms. Marvel such a wonderful comic...

The Lockjaw story by Ahmed and Durate highlights to wacky silliness that so often finds its way into the tales, the moments of screwball levity that balances out the heavier, more poignant themes.  

The Skunk Girl encounter by Rowell and Quinn addresses the comic’s powerful knack to create moving parallels to real life matters, especially in terms of the trials and tribulations of growing up.  

Minhaj and Bondoc’s Spider-Man team-up adventure showcases the comic’s ability for good old fashioned comic book action and intrigue, where the adventures are always peppered by a progressive development and cultivation of both the main and supporting characters.

And the over arching frame of the slumber party, by Wilson and Leon, shows off the heart of the series: Kamala herself: a dynamic, fully fleshed out and multifaceted character who is just absolutely lovable, relatable and endlessly fun to read about.  

It’s a pretty neat idea that the issue kind of dissects the individual components that makes Ms. Marvel such a great book and offer up each component in vignette spot-light form.  It makes for a very fun read as well as a good book for those out there looking bettie understand the craft of good storytelling.  It’s all kind of like a baking recipe done up in a comic book formate.  

Before wrapping, up I feel a special shout out is deserving to Ian Herring, who provides the coloring for the entire issues.  The various illustrators depicting the different side stories all have rather distinctive styles… yet Herring is able to color them all with a unifying pallet that provides a terrific sense of continuity wherein the shifts are not jarring in the least.  This is something Herring has excelled at throughout all fifty issues of Ms. Marvel.  Whether the issues have been illustrated by Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mirka Andolfo, Jacob Wyatt, Nico Leon or anyone else, Herring has been able to utilize his coloring to maintain a sense of constancy… a visual flavor that is distinctive and unique to Ms. Marvel.  It’s really quite impressive.  

Highest possible recommendation.  Five out of five Lockjaws!

OAN Is So Dangerous Because It Looks Like a Real News Channel

It’s the president’s favorite “news” channel, and a cornerstone of America’s growing disinformation problem. It’s One America News (OAN), a rotating collection of wobbly conspiracies and gibberish that has more in common with a state-run disinformation network than a credible news organization. 

OAN’s definition of “news” has included false claims of electoral fraud, baseless Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories, false claims that the novel coronavirus was developed in a North Carolina lab as part of a vast government conspiracy, and accusations that last summer’s protests over the police killing of George Floyd were part of a diabolical “coup.”

“According to the mainstream media, the riots and extreme violence are completely unorganized,” the network proclaimed last August. “However, it appears this coup attempt is led by a well-funded network of anarchists trying to take down the president.”

Last June, 75-year-old Martin Gugino had his skull fractured after being shoved to the ground by Buffalo police officers. Video clearly showed the elderly Gugino doing nothing wrong, but OAN insisted he was an “Antifa provocateur” using sophisticated tech to target the police.

“Newly released video appeared to show Gugino using a police tracker on his phone trying to scan police communications during the protest,” the network falsely claimed.

Tuesday, YouTube suspended the OAN channel for a week after the company uploaded a video promoting a bogus cure for COVID-19.

In seven years OAN has gone from completely unknown to being routinely amplified by Trump, catering in many ways to an audience of one. It is a symbiotic relationship, in which Trump can point to what vaguely look like news reports to buttress his own conspiracy theorizing, and the network, by providing them, can access his massive and loyal audience.

This relationship, like so much about Trump's presidency, is seemingly unique and aberrant. But while experts say OAN’s impact is overstated and future success unsure, they also warn that without a major course correction, the channel’s modest success is a troubling harbinger of dumber and more dangerous things to come.

OAN is the brainchild of millionaire Robert Herring, who ran a chain of Los Angeles pet stores before making his fortune printing circuit boards. In 2003, Herring created Herring Networks, which includes WealthTV, a self-proclaimed “lifestyle and entertainment cable network,” and OAN, which was launched in 2013.

Few gave OAN a second glance until it became a network exclusively dedicated to pandering to Donald Trump’s insatiable ego. Dating back to 2015, Trump touted the network and its coverage of his presidential bid, and throughout his presidency, he has praised and promoted it to his tens of millions of followers. Throughout election season, OAN heaped lavish praise on the president, even pulling polls that dared suggest Trump might not win his reelection bid.  And post-election, both Herring and the channel he founded have pivoted to parroting false Trump claims of rampant electoral fraud.

Much like the alternative-reality contemporaries OAN hopes to compete with, the channel’s unbridled dedication to Trumpism—and the relentless repetition of every conspiratorial MAGA brain fart—is routinely portrayed as objective journalism by company executives.

“We’re a no-fluff, very fast-paced live news service meant to inform,” Robert’s son Charles Herring told the Washington Post in 2017. “News anchors are not allowed to express opinions. They simply deliver the news and we leave it up to the viewers to decide. It’s not our family’s mission to determine the news.”

The president’s adoration of OAN means that despite being banned from briefings by the White House Correspondents’ Association for ignoring CDC safety protocols, the channel has been allowed to simply ignore the ban, and on any given week can still be found amplifying ludicrous claims from White House grounds with a quality reminiscent of high school A/V clubs.

Last week, OAN received yet another signal boost when Trump tweeted out a segment featuring bogus claim of electoral fraud propped up by “expert analysis” by Ron Watkins—son of 8kun (formerly 8chan) owner Jim Watkins—who is alleged to be a cornerstone of the QAnon conspiracy cult, where the false claim first originated:

But even with daily free marketing from the president, OAN’s real-world influence has been largely overstated.

OAN doesn’t subscribe to industry-standard Nielsen estimates, so accurately measuring its viewership has proven to be a guessing game for TV ratings firms. (OAN claims to reach around 35 million potential homes, little more than a quarter of the total number of U.S. homes that currently own a television set.) Research firms like Kagan estimate OAN’s reach to be 23 million cable subscribers, a significantly smaller potential footprint than right-wing outlets like Newsmax TV (58.2 million) or Fox News (78.6 million). When Nielsen attempted to more accurately measure how many of those users actually watch the channel last year, it wasn’t pretty:

OAN’s ambitions have been challenged by the fact that numerous major cable outlets, including Comcast, Spectrum, and Dish Network have refused to carry the channel. A June Bloomberg report attributed this reluctance to stringent OAN contract requirements, an asking price out of line with the channel’s quality, or a lack of interest in being associated with controversy.

OAN’s biggest cable distributor, AT&T/DirecTV, has been trimming costs due to sustained TV subscriber losses from cord cutting and mismanagement. Reports earlier this year indicated that OAN’s contract with AT&T is up for renewal next year, potentially removing AT&T’s 19 million potential viewers from the equation if a new deal can’t be reached.

Neither OAN nor AT&T responded to inquiries about the status of the contract.

While OAN may not be brainwashing a massive audience; it is providing plausible-seeming props and set dressing for Trump as he uses social media to create an alternate reality in which he won the election, defeated the coronavirus, and is unfairly besieged on all sides by mean journalists and the “deep state.” It’s a false reality OAN hopes to take to the mainstream.

The MAGA set has become furious at Fox’s failure to more fully embrace false claims of election fraud, and for (accurately) calling Arizona for Joe Biden before other outlets on election night. A recent Morning Consult poll found that Fox News’ favorability among Republicans dropped from 67 to 54 percent post-election—simply for occasionally telling viewers the truth.

But without free daily advertising from the president, overtaking Fox will be a steep uphill climb for the fledgling network—especially if OAN continues to double down on conspiracies and nonsense, Stanford professor of political economics Greg Martin told Motherboard.

“Fox News in some sense created the market for OAN, by building up the taste for conservative-slanted TV news in a large audience,” Martin said. But he added that Fox maintains its massive audience by including just enough hard news (like a legitimate election data team willing to call Arizona early for Biden) to keep at least the illusion of integrity intact.

Martin’s research has found that in terms of gaining cable TV market share, there are diminishing returns when it comes toward pushing extremism at your target audience, suggesting that OAN’s quest to out-conspiracy Fox might not be a winning formula.

“One of the points we make in the paper is that there is a tradeoff in moving farther towards the ideological extreme: if people watch, you'll have greater influence on their beliefs, but you also increase the risk that they are turned off by it and don't watch at all,” Martin said.

Martin added that Fox has been very successful at this balancing act to create the illusion of mainstream respectability, but a network like OAN positioning itself even further to the right of Fox is likely to be drawing viewers from a limited pool of total viewers.

“Fox has already pushed the envelope about as far as you can go before the returns to additional ideological extremity start to turn negative,” he said. “So I am skeptical that OAN will achieve anything like Fox's influence on public policy and politics in the US, even if its ratings were to continue to grow.”

While OAN may never see the same level of success as Fox News, it doesn't have to: It has had, and could continue to have, real effects on the public discourse just by inverting the usual formula by which powerful people reach a mass audience via news outlets. And other media scholars say the success it has seen is a troubling omen for the future of U.S. journalism and America’s accelerating battle with disinformation and propaganda.

Victor Pickard, an American media studies scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, told Motherboard OAN’s rise comes at a major inflection point for U.S. media. With U.S. journalism facing an existential and financial crisis—and so many bad faith actors looking to fill the vacuum created—OAN will likely be the least of our problems. 

“It's difficult to imagine a surefire way to undo the damage to our media ecosystem, but one key piece of any solution must be to rebuild local journalism, whose dissolution has created the vacuum into which all manner of conspiratorial nonsense and disinformation has rushed in,” Pickard said. 

Decades of corporate consolidation and layoffs have hit local journalism particularly hard, replacing quality local reporting with a troubling combination of Facebook conspiracies, Trump-loyal disinformation empires like Sinclair Broadcasting, and a flood of even more malicious actors looking to disguise corporate and political propaganda as legitimate local news. 

Researchers have shown repeatedly that as local journalism is replaced with homogenized fluff and nonsense, Americans not only become less informed and more divided, but local corruption reporting falls through the cracks. In some instances, a lack of quality reporting has been directly linked to a measurable impact on election results.

Pickard noted that without addressing the underlying rot that fertilized the rise of the U.S. disinformation problem in the first place, things are likely to only get worse.

“Several structural conditions enabled the rise of OAN,” Pickard said. “First are the commercial values that incentivize media outlets to privilege profits above all else,” he said. “The proven formula of outrage-driven commentary is both cheap to produce and captures audiences' attention, which advertisers covet.”

In short, we’ve created an entire information ecosystem that prioritizes engagement above accuracy or insight, one in which it’s often not as profitable to tell the sometimes-boring but important truth.

Pickard has been a consistent advocate of providing more public funding for U.S. journalism as an antidote to the corrosive impact of engagement-based advertising. He also advocates for stronger “public interest protections that mandate social responsibilities such as maintaining ideological balance and fact-based coverage in our news media.”

In the 1940s the FCC passed the Fairness Doctrine, which required that broadcast news outlets cover issues of public interest fairly. But the rules were demolished in 1987 after Republicans spent years demonizing them, insisting they violated the First Amendment. Even if still around today, the rules would have only applied to broadcast television, not cable TV.

With inflammatory nonsense so profitable and Congress increasingly divided, a more modern proposal seems all but doomed. In its place, U.S. media policy has consisted of rubber stamping problematic mergers, eliminating decades-old media consolidation rules, and doubling down on an ad-based media environment that only tends to reward the inflammatory.

Without a major funding boost for real journalism and a massive rethinking of U.S. media policy, “news” empires like OAN will continue to see outsized influence on U.S. discourse, Pickard said—and it's not hard to imagine the possibilities for more sophisticated actors creating bespoke fake news for powerful politicians and political movements. Media experts also argue more mainstream journalists and outlets need to rethink their role in amplifying or validating bad faith viewpoints in a misguided quest for artificial balance. 

“I predict that our news media in general will continue to worsen because there's less and less actual journalism,” Pickard said. “Meanwhile, the rightwing, fact-free media model is a proven money maker with no countervailing force.”

As trust in institutions is eroded, the public tends to turn to dubious, sometimes terrible alternatives to reinforce their shaken worldview. OAN wasn’t the first “news” outlet to exploit our failure to prevent conspiratorial thinking from being mainlined into the American bloodstream, and without a dramatic shift in U.S. media policy and funding, it certainly won’t be the last.

OAN Is So Dangerous Because It Looks Like a Real News Channel syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

ARGUMENT

‘In-Sha-Allah’ in the Age of Trump

Can the hipster invocation of God’s will survive the coming wave of American Islamophobia?

— By Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian | December 1, 2016 | Foreign Policy

SIOUX CITY, IA - NOVEMBER 06: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at the Sioux City Convention Center November 6, 2016 in Sioux City, Iowa. With less than 48 hours until Election Day in the United States, Trump and his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, are campaigning in key battleground states that each must win to take the White House. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

We English speakers all know: To sound smart (or insufferable), use French. That movie has a certain je ne sais quoi; my grandmother exhibited a true joie de vivre. French has been fancy since 1066 when the conquering Normans ate boef while the lowly English peasants cared for the cū.

Or to sound open-minded (or stoned), use Sanskrit. No one will be surprised to learn that the first recorded use of the word “karma” in a popular U.S. publication was in 1969 — in the California-based Surfer magazine.

These days, another word is making inroads into the American English lexicon. It’s “inshallah” — an Arabic Islamic expression that means “God willing.” Inshallah first made its English debut in the 19th century, but it’s only since 9/11 that the word has become fashionable among non-Muslim, non-Arabic-speaking Americans. You’ve probably heard it already in passing, which is my point. The Atlantic’s James Fallows has tweeted it. Even actor Lindsay Lohan has made a faltering attempt. I’ve heard it in meetings, on the metro, and at a casual Sunday brunch in Brooklyn.

For all these inshallah-invokers, the phrase seems to combine the prestige of French and the multiculturalism of Sanskrit — with an added thrill of risk.

President-elect Donald Trump is stacking his administration with supporters who believe that Islam is inherently violent, dangerous, and threatening. Some who evince this view believe that anything associated with Islam has a diabolical power, an insidious evil that has to be guarded against at every turn as the Puritans guarded against witchcraft.

Michael Flynn, a retired intelligence officer whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped for national security advisor, has called Islam a “malignant cancer” and believes that sharia, or Islamic law, is creeping into U.S. laws and institutions. Conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney, who advised Trump during the campaign and is “good friends” with Steve Bannon, the president-elect’s senior strategist, has previously written that the U.S. Missile Defense Agency logo contains a hidden star and crescent, the symbol of Islam, and that it thus suggests “official U.S. submission to Islam.” It’s an argument that comes out of the world of Christian fundamentalism, which has long sought out occult symbols in the most innocuous of sources.

This fear extends to the Arabic language. In 2013, Gaffney criticized John Brennan as President Barack Obama’s pick to head the CIA, deeming him the “single most important enabler of the Islamic supremacists’ agenda in government today.” One piece of evidence Gaffney gave for this assertion? Brennan speaks fluent Arabic. After listing the names of several terrorist organizations at a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in May 2015, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham reportedly quipped that “everything that starts with ‘al’ in the Middle East is bad news.” Al, of course, is simply Arabic’s definite article, equivalent to “the” in English.

It should come as no surprise, then, that inshallah has found itself in the crosshairs of these rising Islamophobes. In June, when BBC presenter Nicky Campbell ended his usual segment with crossed fingers and a poorly inflected “inshallah” — “We’re in Uxbridge next Sunday for a special, asking, ‘Are we facing the end of the world?’ So we’ll see you then, inshallah” — it set off a right-wing media firestorm.

Breitbart wrote that the “incident comes just days after the BBC’s Head of Religion admitted that Islamic State is rooted in Islam.” Jihad Watch, a popular anti-Islam website, commented: “A conquered, colonized people adopts the language and practices of its conquerors.” In April, a University of California, Berkeley, student of Iraqi origin was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight after another passenger heard him speaking Arabic on his cell phone; he had ended his conversation with “inshallah.”

The latent Islamophobia the word can conjure seems to be part of the its growing appeal among progressive urbanites in the United States. As the Islamophobia industrial complex has expanded, so has a cultural push against it. Garnishing your conversation with an inshallah or two is a small act of resistance, a direct jab at the belief that Islam — and by association, Arabic — is sinister.Garnishing your conversation with an inshallah or two is a small act of resistance, a direct jab at the belief that Islam — and by association, Arabic — is sinister. It’s the linguistic equivalent of donning a headscarf in solidarity for World Hijab Day. Or the spoken version of the anti-Trump ad near Dearborn, Michigan, a city with a large population of Arab-Americans, which was written in Arabic and read: “Donald Trump can’t read this, but he is scared of it.” It’s a subtle political statement, a critique of Republicans who believe certain sounds, like incantations, must cross the lips in order to defeat evil (“radical Islamic terrorism”) whereas other sounds (“in-sha-Allah,” “Allahu Akbar”) must remain taboo.

“Garnishing your conversation with an inshallah or two is a small act of resistance, a direct jab at the belief that Islam — and by association, Arabic — is sinister.”

But why inshallah and not some other Arabic word? There are dozens of other common Islamic expressions, including bismillah (in the name of God), barakallah (blessings of God), and alhamdulillah (praise be to God), that haven’t crossed into English (though bismillah makes a cameo in Queen’s 1975 classic “Bohemian Rhapsody”).

The reason is that inshallah is a charming, maddening, and undeniably useful expression. On paper, the word is very similar to “God willing,” its Christian, English equivalent. It’s an acknowledgment of the human inability to foresee or control the future while harking to the belief that a Greater Being holds humanity’s fragile plans in its omnipotent hands.

But unlike the English “God willing,” inshallah also serves as a convenient preordained excuse for what may go wrong. If your toilet is broken and your plumber says he’ll come “tomorrow, inshallah,” you may be in for quite a wait. In countries such as Egypt, inshallah has expanded into a society-wide verbal tic invoked by Muslims, Christians, and even the nonreligious for occasions as mundane as ordering a hamburger or riding an elevator — a phenomenon that a 2008 article in the New York Times dubbed “inshallah creep.”

That’s what has made it so easy for visitors to pick up. Inshallah conveys an uncertainty that “hopefully” lacks. “The project will be done by 9 p.m., hopefully” implies that a sense of control still resides in your hands and thus a lingering amount of responsibility if the deadline isn’t met. “The project will be done by 9 p.m., inshallah,” by contrast, indicates that some outside force — an indolent contract worker, slow trains, spotty internet, even fate itself — is now in the driver’s seat and that if things go wrong, it’s not your fault.

It’s also exotic in a way that the down home “God willing” can never be. That phrase conjures images of church pews and pro-life protests outside Planned Parenthood — nothing that progressive Americans typically want to associate with. Throwing inshallah into a sentence here or there — “Tom will be filing that report tonight, inshallah!” — signals membership in a well-educated, well-traveled, and tolerant urban elite.

Arabic-speaking Americans don’t seem to mind this bit of friendly borrowing. Marya Hannun, a Palestinian-American doctoral student based in Washington, D.C., called the trend “charming,” explaining that when speaking Arabic, non-Muslims as well as Muslims use inshallah. She described its use among Americans as “solidarity and finding meaning in a language other than your own.”

“I say it every now and then,” said Thorstan Fries, a New York-based consultant who told me that he picked it up from a college friend studying Arabic. “I started saying it much more frequently after a trip to Morocco a couple years ago. They say it all the time, and I think it’s cool.”

Of course, to view a Middle Eastern import as exotic is also to risk condescension. The very first recorded use of inshallah in the English language was not just atrociously Orientalist — it was also incorrect. In his 1857 work The Kingdom and People of Siam, John Bowring, a British politician and the fourth governor of Hong Kong, wrote, “Inshallah! Such promptitude was, I believe, never before exhibited in an Asiatic Court.” But inshallah is used exclusively for events that have not yet occurred. What Bowring likely meant was mashallah, an Islamic phrase expressing amazement at an existing set of circumstances.

The first to use it in natural speech, not in a grandiose reference to foreign peoples, was T. E. Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence viewed Arabs with respect, lived among them, and adopted some of their customs — including, apparently, the habit of checking plans against the divine’s schedule. “I have been photographing this last week—and will more next. Developing too inshallah,” he wrote in a letter dated 1911.

Britain’s entanglements in the Middle East, North Africa, and India put it in intimate contact with Muslim peoples decades before the United States became similarly involved. Inshallah followed on the heels of colonialism. For the British upper classes, Arabic was a sign of distinction; the Arabists dominated Britain’s Foreign Office for decades, and Prime Minister Anthony Eden — who sent Britain’s reputation in the Middle East plummeting with the Suez crisis — prided himself on his fluency.

At the time, American English was far more preoccupied with the apparatchiks and cosmonauts of the Cold War. It wasn’t until the expansion of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, particularly after 9/11, that the region became a national preoccupation. (Though the growing number of Muslim and Middle Eastern immigrants in the United States has also helped popularize the word. One person I spoke to learned it from Arabic-speaking students she encountered at her university; another googled it after he saw Muslim friends posting the word on Facebook.) The study of Arabic has blossomed across the United States, and a legion of American military officials, diplomats, journalists, government contractors, NGO workers, academics, and students flowed in. Upon their return home, many brought with them the ubiquitous, malleable, and easily pronounceable inshallah.

It’s now common currency among the younger generations at the State Department, journalists who’ve spent time in the region, and soldiers who deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan — and, increasingly, among the people who travel in the same elite circles as these folk. As one colleague, who uses the word but has no background in the Middle East, told me, “I learned it because everyone at every damn development NGO uses it.” Others I know say they picked it up from artifacts of contemporary popular culture, like Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, which was adapted into a movie in 2007, and Rabia Chaudry’s book, Adnan’s Story, published this year.

There’s now a good chance inshallah may find a permanent home in English. But those afraid of creeping inshallah should take heart. This wouldn’t be the first time that the word has imbedded itself in a Western language. Ojalá is a common Spanish word often translated as “hopefully.” In fact, ojalá is merely the Hispanicized pronunciation of inshallah, which made its way into the language during the centuries of Muslim rule in Spain that ended in 1492. Yet as far as I can tell, despite this obvious case of linguistic jihad, neither Spain nor the 20 other countries where Spanish is the official national language has yet fallen to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Nor has asking a waitress for more pancake syrup — from the Arabic sharab, a versatile word that the West acquired during a previous episode of war-induced cultural cross-pollination, the Crusades — ever proved to spontaneously convert anyone to Islam. Nor has spending hours studying algebra — another one of those menacing “al” words — ever made anyone more inclined to funnel one’s life savings to al Qaeda.

It turns out short vowels, sibilants, and fricatives might not be as magical as some have been urging us to believe. Donald Trump and his national security team would be wise to take note. God willing.

— Photo credit: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/Getty Images/Foreign Policy illustration

— Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a journalist covering China from Washington. She was previously an assistant editor and contributing reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @BethanyAllenEbr

Blue Diamond is in love with Yellow but can't figure out how to tell her. Pleaseeee

It’s not as good as I wanted but here ya go anon :D

“I’ve tried everything Pink!” Blue ranted as she paced back and forth in front of her friend. “She just doesn’t seem to get the hint! Nothing works!” She ran her hands down her face dramatically, “I don’t know how else to tell her!”

Pink lounged in her throne lazily, watching as Blue nearly suffered an existential crisis over the issue, “Send her a letter? Make it all lovey and stuff, worked pretty well with White when I tried it.”

“Yellow doesn’t read any ‘fan-mail,’ unless I say it’s a priority message from my court she’d never look at it,” Blue tugged on her hair. “And then it’d be pretty obvious who it’s from!”

“Isn’t that the point?” Pink asked, a deadpan expression upon her face. Her eyes shifted to the entrance to her throne room, where the second guest of the day silently entered.

“Well yes,” Blue quickly shook her head- to absorbed in her crisis of the heart to realize anything was off. “But it’d be so embarrassing, I’d never be able to face her if she rejected me.”

“Well you’ll never know unless you ask her,” a familiar voice piped up from behind her, causing Blue to nearly poof from fright.

Which only grew worse when she spun around to see the new visitor, “Yellow!? Uhhh… what are you doing here!?”

Yellow crossed her arms across her chest. A tiny smirk blessed her lips, “Pink told me someone had something to tell me.”

“I would never!” Pink faked innocence, before covering her mouth as she laughed diabolically.

Well, at least to Blue it sounded diabolical.

“Umm,” The leader of the Blue court looked at the ground nervously, anxiously clasping her hands together. “I just wanted to… tell you… something.”

Yellow raised an eyebrow, gazing at her fellow ruler with obvious affection in her eyes, “And just what would that be?”

Blue Diamond stared long and hard at Yellow Diamond, before grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and tugging her close.

Their lips pressed together in a careful kiss, before melting into each other as Yellow wrapped her arms around Blue.

As they broke apart, their attention was dragged to Pink Diamond, “WELL IT’S ABOUT TIME.”

108 - Cal

There’s a billboard along the highway that reads: “Everything. Must. Go.”

Welcome to Night Vale.

I don’t talk much about my brother on this show. Cal. He visited the other day from his home out near Eagle Farm, up in the mountains. He looked gaunt and pale. When I opened the door, he was bracing himself against the porch beam with one arm and coughing.

Cal was holding a suitcase. It was old-fashioned, leather, the kind without wheels or an extendable handle. He drove to my house in a 1980 Mercury Monarch, brick red, four doors. The front left bumper was caved in and the headlight, which looked to have been taped into place, had loosened again and fallen forward. I asked Cal what had happened to his car. He didn’t know what I was talking about. I asked about the bumper and headlight, and he said, “That’s just how they make them, Cecil.” Them he teased me for not understanding cars and walked into my home before I could invite him in.

“Have you ever opened a box, only to find another box inside that box, and then you open that box and there was another box within it, and then you kept opening boxes hoping to find the last box. But the boxes became so small, your comparatively large fingers could no longer open them. Until the box was so tiny, you couldn’t see the box at all.”

I’m not sure what that means. It’s neither here nor there. Which is to say it’s nowhere. Aquí, ahí, todo el mundo, no hay nada.

I don’t know Spanish.

Yesterday afternoon, Hadassah McDaniels and the other five-headed dragons, outraged at the partial execution of Hadassah’s brother Hiram last fall, moved into City Hall. They displaced Mayor Cardinal and her staff, who then called upon the Sheriff’s Secret Police, and the rarely seen Double Secret Police – a police so secret that even their members do not know that they are members. Both the Secret and the very surprised Double Secret Police, just that morning informed of their jobs, showed up at City Hall and tried reasoning with the dragons. The dragons ignored the weak efforts of the police and made straight for City Council. The Council climbed up on the roof of city Hall, their many sharp appendages swinging down from their single giant body, punching out windows and grabbing whatever long dragon necks they could reach. And the City Council’s newest member, 16-year-old Tamika Flynn, the only member not connected to their primary form, rode on the rest of the council’s back with a long bow. The dragons breathed fire upward at the City Council, who shrieked in pain, or possibly delight. The battle ended when City Council was knocked off the roof by five-headed dragon and private estate lawyer, Dirk Andrews. The council, minus Tamika, retracted form the advancing dragons, called a Lyft and sped out of town, as they are wont to do in times of crisis.

Tamika paced at the edge of the City Hall lawn, cursing and thwacking a well-worn copy of Glen David Gould’s “Carter Beats the Devil” into her calloused palm. Above the City Hall, a long black slit was torn into the light blue sky, and no one reported seeing the moon.

When Cal entered my house, I offered him some tea, and then called Carlos to come join us. But Cal said he doesn’t drink, and Carlos didn’t respond to my calls. I told Cal it was just tea, no alcohol, and he said he doesn’t drink anything. I peaked into Carlos’ office, but he wasn’t there. Nothing was there. It was just an empty room. Carlos wasn’t gone, he had never been there. And for a moment I did not miss him, as for a moment, I did not remember he existed. It was just an empty room, I thought casually.

Cal sat down his suitcase and said, “You hear that Cecil? You hear that noise?” He pointed straight up. “In the firmament,” he said. “Do you hear it?” he repeated. I listened, and I heard. I heard paper being torn, I heard weeds being pulled, I heard – egg shells crumbling.

When I looked back to say yes, he was holding his hand to his mouth and lurching forward over the sink. A trickle of blood ran down the outside of his hand. I could see his tongue moving rapidly along the insides of his cheeks, as he let out small grunts. He finally removed his hand and spat sharply into the kitchen sink. I heard a loud rattling in the stainless steel basin and saw two teeth, unbroken, root, bones and all, lying in the strainer. I stared at them and remarked at how long a human tooth actually is.

Cal wiped his face and hands. “Nice to finally get rid of those,” he said as he tore off pieces of paper towel and wedged them into the holes in his gums. Then he asked, “You got a girlfriend or what, little brother?”

In my life with Cal, I’d never told him I would never have a girlfriend. In Night Vale, no one cared either way, but I felt like Cal would have. In this other reality, I was single. So I only said, “No.”

He shrugged and scratched his head. As he did, a patch of dark hair fell to the floor. We watched it fall, lilting and looping slowly downward.

Which falls faster, a brick or a tuft of hair? Carlos taught me this physics riddle. It’s a trick question. The brick falls faster, not because of its weight but because a brick falling is less horrifying than the unexpected loss of even a minor part of your body. Time does not slow down for that which is uninteresting.

“Hah, better not look in the mirror,” Cal said, as he nervously simulated the sound of laughter. A dribble of blood ran down his chin and onto his chest.

When the Public Library disappeared last week, no one celebrated nor mourned its absence, as we could barely remember it being there. In its place, a long black sliver of nothing. A hole in our universe, near which no one wanted to go. Except for Carlos, who’s a scientist and wants tot study everything, but I told him no way. The pteranodons which poured out of a similar hole inside the Rec Center last month have taken over the Barista District, building giant nests from canvas bean sacks and flyers promoting local bands and burlesque shows.

Near the City Hall, dozens of angels, more than I have ever seen at one time, are still surrounding the Hall of Public Records, demanding expedition of their application to be officially recognized as living beings. The angels are waving hand-drawn signs with phrases like “Look at us”. But their handwriting is so shaky as to make the typography quite distracting, so most bystanders did not notice the angels, but instead fixated on trying to read their signs. The angels are shouting, “It only works if you believe it does!” But as this sentence has an erratic rhythm, it didn’t catch on with many passers-by, many of whom were busy screaming and running from vengeance-minded dragons. Some even pointed into space and yelled, “The Distant Prince!” He’s less distant than ever before.

Cal told me stories of our youth. How, as kids, we would sneak out late at night and vandalize houses and cars for fun. Little things like stealing hood ornaments or placing live scorpions in mailboxes or making creepy ghost noises outside bedroom windows. He smiled as he regaled what was for him, a funny story of boys being boys, but I didn’t like his story. I could remember it, but I also knew it wasn’t real at all. In his story, I was prying loose the aluminum ram’s head at the front of a 1975 Dodge pickup with a flat head screwdriver. The truck was dark blue with tan leather bench seats. I remembered it was parked in front of a mid-century ranch style home with a rock garden full of succulents and herbs.

As Cal spoke, I could smell rosemary in the cool desert air.

Cal placed his hands on his belly, and his eyes rolled back in his head. “You OK?” I asked. “It’s just the after effects man,” Cal shrugged. “Hey, you remember when Mom used to take us to the library to read, but we would look up dirty words in the dictionary instead?” “Mom would have never put us in such danger,” I protested.

He stared at me for a moment, his head cocked sideways, an eyebrow raised. Then he lurched forward out of his seat onto his hands and knees and vomited onto the rug. We both stared at the viscous red stain concerned. No, not concerned – embarrassed.

Let’s have a look at the Community Calendar. This Thursday afternoon, the Faceless Old Woman and the Woman from Italy will be at the Night Vale Mall from noon to 4 PM, offering bespoke tortures for anyone who walks by. The Woman from Italy will recite the unlucky passers-by future pain, in the form of a catchy poem like:

[normal voice] The Woman from Italy will leave you in stitches. Not laughter, though she’ll laugh. A sound which is full of diabolical torment And wicked behavior, As she flays you before your friends and your neighbors. You’ll yet be alive when she opens your chest, The wet beat of your heart and the choke of your breath. She coos, “Don’t fear! It’s as quick as can be.” But in truth, there’s years left to this misery.

The Faceless Old Woman will simply write some harsh insults in silver sharpie on the side of an eggplant and hurl it at your family.

Saturday afternoon, the Night Vale PTA will be holding an emergency bake sale to raise money for the elementary school gym, recently burned down by Hadassah McDaniels. It’s also a clearance sale to finally get rid of the store room full of baked goods that have gone unsold the past two years.

Monday, another hole will open in the sky, and then another. Things will come, other things will go. I will remember that Michigan is a real state and its capital is Lansing. And that I once when camping with Cal and my mother, and some family friends, up near Higgins Lake when I was 9. Soon after knowing this, I will stop knowing it again.

This has been the Community Calendar.

I tried to explain to Cal that something was amiss. I had a sister, not a brother. I wasn’t single but married. I tried to show Cal photos of Abby, and of my husband, Carlos. But when I went to our photo albums, they were different. There were photos of Cal and I as children, but none of Abby or Carlos or Steve or Janice or this radio station. Noen of a recognizable Night vale.

Based on our clothing and the cars and the fashions, no photo was older than – I’d say the early 1980’s? There was a picture of me as a teenager at Cal’s wedding. I pointed at her and said, “Bethany. Still just as radiant, I bet.” 

And Cal said, “Don’t!” “How is she these days?” I asked Cal, and he pushed me and shouted, “Don’t!”

He started to cry. I kept my eyes down the hall toward the empty office. I knew someone should be in that empty room, someone I c ared for, someone I loved but – I didn’t know who.

Cal’s crying turned to sobbing and he isad, “I’m sorry I, I didn’t mean…” I put my arm around him and said softly: “I know, I know Cal. Shh. It’s OK.” “It’s just when you asked about Bethany,” he said. “You know she didn’t- she didn’t-“ He couldn’t finish the sentence, but I knew Bethany didn’t. That year, most people didn’t. But also that’s not how it happened. And also, I don’t have a brother.

He quivered in my arms, and above us, I heard the sky tearing open. Smoke in the distance. Most days I see distant smoke.

“You OK?” asked my brother. “Yes,” he said. “Thank you for… thank you for understanding.” “Sure thing, I said to him. “Please, leave my house.”

And now, the weather.

[“Robert Frost” by Mal Blum]

I don’t talk much about my brother on this show. Cal. Because he’s not my reality. I almost said he’s not real, but that’s not true. There is still a bloodstain on my rug, and a bruise from where he pushed me. I remembered Cal’s wedding. I remembered stealing hood ornaments. I remembered the smell of that rosemary bush in that rock garden. But then Cal left. He did not drive away, but vanished as the gash tore open above us. I had trouble remembering his visit, so I wrote it all down. I’m reading it now, to you, verbatim from my journal, and I cannot believe my own writing.

Carlos and his office are back. They were never gone, Carlos says. Multiple timelines is basic quantum physics, which is the most exciting kind of physics, he said. This morning, I gave Carlos a tight hug in bed and kissed him along the back of his beautiful hair – perfect, even when matted asymmetrically from sleep.

The angels are still standing around the Hall of Public Records, demanding that people look at them. There is one sign that says “We’re angels, and we’re totally real, and you’re making a huge mistake not acknowledging that. Trust us, we’re totally angels.” And while I appreciate the sentiment, I do think they’d be better served hiring a copywriter, or at least a decent graphic designer.

Holes are tearing open across the sky, and I can barely hear myself thinking most days.

The dragons have marched into the City Jail freeing all the inmates, mostly political prisoners being held for an unnamed international leader, as well as a handful of college-aged drunk tankers.

Mayor Cardinal, from her home, issued a statement about the disintegration of our town and bleeding together of realities. The statement reads: “My father, who died of liver cancer when I was five, has returned. He arrived from a hole in our reality. I am choosing to go with him, Night Vale. I am choosing the world where he did not die, where I did not kill my double, where dragons did not destroy our town. Listen to the ripping of the firmament and find a world you prefer, Night Vale. All else is pain.”

[sadly] Listeners. I beg you not to do this. This is the world we built, right here. If you leave, if you don’t accept it – [whispers] it cannot hold together.

Hold tight those you love, Night Vale. Not for fear of their loss, but for love of their presence. Hold onto what you know is real. Life is only a narrative, but it’s a narrative we write together.

Stay tuned next for – huh? Whatever was on the schedule for this month has all been scribbled out with charcoal. And with the same charcoal, someone has scrawled “A story about Huntokar” across the entire broadcast calendar. So stay tuned for that, I guess.

And for what it’s worth, and for however long our own narrative has left, Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but you’ll catch even more with a corpse of some sort.

Batwoman - S1 E8 - A Mad Tea-Party

I'm really glad to find that DISH simply screwed up, labeling this as "Ep 9" on my DVR, rather than there being an extra episode I somehow didn't have recorded that I still needed to see to be caught up before Crisis starts..... Jeez, Kate, no matter how tough times get, you don't need to resort to mugging random people on the street, even if if they are part of a criminal gang.  And really, how could possibly get for that jacket?  Probably less than the half of your staff you pointlessly threw and left behind in the alley....

You know, the hero of this peace manages to arrange meet-ups with the psychotic, homicidal villain way too often, yet never manages to bring her in.  I know she's Kate's sister, but it's really starting to make me wonder if Kate's actually a villain too.  I mean, imagine if Batman had this many meetings with say, the Joke, or any other member of his rogues gallery when they were running around murdering people and wanted by the police. I mean, sure, there's Catwoman, but I'm like 68% sure that Beth isn't doing what Catwoman does with Batman to say out of jail.  And even, Batman would still occasionally bring her in. "You kept this from the day of our bat mitzvahs."   I mean, she's been missing for 15, I don't think she kept the photo on her this whole time; more like she probably stole it when she broke into Jacob's house a few episodes back; which is probably an insignificant thing to quibble about, yet I have a feeling they're going to make a big deal about this photo while glossing over how Beth could even have it. Wait, they're only just abducting Jacob now??  Then what the fuck was the point of the Mouse reveal at the end of the last episode?  I take it that was really him in the car driving to wherever he is now in the scene right before the end of the last episode; when he was on the phone telling someone something about what he was doing?  I honest had no idea what he was talking about or why he was driving anywhere, but then when the next scene revealed Mouse impersonating Jacob, I assumed the two scenes were somehow tied together; with implications that Jacob had been replaced at some point earlier in the episode.  Now I have no fucking clue what's going on. What I wouldn't give if Jacob were walking away from a strip club while making that call.... Jesus, Mary actually has a point; here Kate is giving a psycho like Alice/Beth a second, third, fourth, fifth, all the way up to probably - what episode are we on?  Episode 8? - I'm going to go with eighth chance, but Catherine faked some lab result to give Kate and Jacob closure and she's beyond redemption.  Maybe Catherine needs to go murder some people in order for Kate to reconsider. Don't get me wrong, I don't care much for Catherine.  She doesn't seem like a likable character.  And her voice sounds like it should belong to a much younger woman, if that makes any sense, and it weirds me out.  I'm just saying though, if you're going to damn Catherine because of what she's done, then you have to damn Beth too. Random prediction - Mary just lied to Kate about Jacob going, knowing that it'll get her to agree to go.  And then she's going to tell Jacob that Kate's going to get him to go. And if that's the case, Mary is diabolical and probably deserves to be Batwoman more than Kate. I'll give Kate this, she's smarter than like, half of the other heroes on the Arrowverse shows, at least.  I mean, look at Arrow. Nobody noticed when, in a fit of passion, Felicity accidentally murder Oliver for rebuffing her advances 5 years ago and replaced him with a robot.... Okay, a) why go to the trouble tranq'ing Sophie and Tyler, only to leave them tied up at Crows HQ where anyone could find them, even if they are in a room that's sound proof with one-way glass? It's a room that other agents use, isn't it?   And b) & c), why the hell would you need a meeting room where that as soundproof or where the windows were one way, looking out on all the office drones? Now I'm going to ask the question that I didn't ask earlier when Mouse tranq'd them, which is, why didn't he just kill them?  I didn't ask the question then, because I assumed they were intended for whatever "tea-party" Beth had planned, but since she just wanted them out of the way, a more foolproof plan would have been to get them out of her way permanently.  I suppose Beth might not want to kill Sophie, if she's learned about her past with Kate, but if anything that might give someone like Beth added incentive to at least have Tyler killed, if she thought in some twisted way it might benefit Kate to make Sophie suddenly single and in the need of comforting. Wait, did Kate warn Sophie that Jacob had been replaced?  Because I feel like I missed that.  Why the hell wouldn't you take a warning like that more seriously?  For a bunch of special op, private security types, you really suck at your jobs. Oh man, I'd have loved it if Catherine just blindly read whatever was on the teleprompter, like she was Ron Burgundy. To be fair, I'm pretty sure I've met one or two college-age students may have in fact been drunk three for at least three years.... That's actually a rather impressive setup of Jacob, especially given his recent estrangement; even though the whole aspect of Mouse being able to so expertly mimic anyone, let alone Jacob, strains credulity.    The case against him does get spotty with Mary being able to testify that Beth admitted to having someone impersonate Jacob and do the poisoning.

It’s time for our weekly Diamond Comics Shipping List! Check out some great titles IDW has in store for us next week like Transformers, Transformers/Ghostbusters, The Crow, Disney Afternoon, My Little Pony, and more! All coming your way for June 26th!

TRANSFORMERS #8

Brian Ruckley (A) Cachet Whitman, Bethany McGuire-Smith (CVR A) Anna Malkova (CVR B) Casey Coller

As Megatron seeks to bring about change to Cybertron, he meets with Termagax, a living piece of Cybertronian history and founder of the Ascenticon movement. Will she set him on the path to peace, or lead him to an unrepairable rupture with the Senate?

•   A bold new era! •   Transformers-now shipping twice-monthly! •   All your favorite Transformers characters as you’ve never seen them before!

TRANSFORMERS/GHOSTBUSTERS #1

Erik Burnham (A/CVR A) Dan Schoening

“GHOSTS OF CYBERTRON” PART 1! After years of civil war, the Autobots fled Cyberton, leaving their home planet in the evil clutches of Megatron and his Decepticons. Years later and millions of miles away, the Autobots pick up a Cybertronian distress signal from a mysterious planet called Earth. The ghostly signal shouldn’t exist, and it’ll bring Optimus Prime and his team-including brand-new Autobot ECTOTRON-face-to-face with… the GHOSTBUSTERS!

•   Crossing the streams after 35 years! •   Written and illustrated by the long-time fan-favorite Ghostbusters creative team of Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening, and Luis Antonio Delgado! •   Five action-packed interconnecting covers from series artist Dan Schoening! •   The series will also include covers from superstar artists like Nick Roche, Alex Milne, Paulina Ganucheau, Priscilla Tramontano, and more!

CANTO #1

Greg Preslicka, Heidi Preslicka

Canto’s adventure begins! Enslaved for generations, Canto’s people once had hearts. Now they have clocks. When slavers damage a little tin girl’s clock beyond repair, Canto must brave his strange and fantastic world to bring back her heart. Can he overcome the dangers that await to save the one he loves?

•   An all-ages fable inspired by Wizard of Oz and Dante’s Inferno! •   Part fantasy. Part adventure. All heart.

THE CROW HACK/SLASH #1

Tim Seeley (A) Jim Terry (A/CVR A) Tim Seeley

The crow flies. A soul is brought back. But something is wrong.

Angeles Cero won’t stop killing on her quest for revenge, and the bodies are piling up. Now, slasher hunter Cassie Hack and her monstrous partner Vlad are on the trail of the Crow Killer, assuming her to be one of the masked murderers they’ve hunted for years.

But they aren’t the only force trying to make the universe right again.

•   From writer/artist, Tim Seeley (Green Lanterns, Nightwing, Shatterstar). •   Featuring an all-new Crow unlike any you’ve read before!!

DESCENDANTS GN VOL 01 TWISTED FIELD TRIP

Carin Davis, Delilah Dawson (A) Egle Bartolini (A/CVR) Anna Cattish

Advance solicited for May release! After their second film, the children of classic Disney characters like Maleficent, Belle and The Beast, and the Evil Queen take on an all-new adventure from Auradon! Evie, Mal, Ben and friends begin taking classes in Sherwood Forest with other Auradon Prep students. In the forest, they discover that some of the skills they learned on the Isle of the Lost will come in handy, but the other students have talents of their own to match. And when they’re split into pairs, they’ll be reminded that teamwork is the key to success… AND survival!

Descendants and Descendants 2 are two of the most watched Disney Channel original movies of all time!

DIABOLICAL SUMMER HC

Thierry Smolderen (A/CVR) Alexandre Clerisse

A groovy spy thriller and coming-of-age tale set in the Go-Go days of the 1960s, done in a chic, retro style sure to charm readers. For 15-year old Antoine, the summer of 1967 will prove to be an unforgettable one full of new discoveries: a secret agent from nowhere, a mysterious troubled girl, and the disappearance of his father-all happening within two days! These events and more conspire to turn his life upside down and into something he could never have imagined.

•   Advance solicited for April release! •   The Atomic Empire creators turn their vintage-inspired style to the spy-thriller genre, recalling a time when James Bond was the biggest action-hero in the world.

DICK TRACY FOREVER #3

Michael Avon Oeming (A/CVR A) Michael Avon Oeming

Dick Tracy is Sisyphus, pushing the law boulder up the hill as he struggles for reason and order in a world with none. His attempts at law and order are met with crime and chaos in the form of unpredictable and absurd villains. But Dick Tracy will never give up trying, no matter the era or incarnation. Join Eisner Award-winning creator Michael Avon Oeming on a startling case through time and space!

•   From the mind of Eisner Award winner Michael Avon Oeming, co-creator of Powers! •   Each issue has an exciting new take on one of the most iconic comic-strip heroes of all time!

DISNEY AFTERNOON GIANT #5

Ian Brill (A) Leonel Castellani, James Silvani, Ricardo Garcia (CVR) Magic Eye Studios

The return of Darkwing Duck begins this issue with chapter one of “The Duck Knight Returns”! Where did Darkwing Duck go, and what crisis has sparked his sudden reappearance? Find out in this issue! Then, Chip ‘n’ Dale and the Rescue Rangers are back for another thrilling adventure in “Stranger Danger”!

EVE STRANGER #2

David Barnett (A/CVR) Philip Bond

Eve Stranger can do anything thanks to the nanotech that she has to inject every week to stay alive… anything except remember who she is or where she’s been. Her talents sold by the shadowy E.V.E. Project to the highest bidder, Eve’s latest mission takes her to history-drenched Prague to face a monster who must be stopped. High-octane adventure, weird science, and doomed romance meet the jet-set in “Retrograde”!

GHOST TREE #1 3RD PTG

Bobby Curnow (A/CVR) Simon Gane

GHOST TREE #2 2ND PTG

Bobby Curnow (A/CVR) Simon Gane

GHOST TREE #3

Bobby Curnow (A/CVR A) Simon Gane

A sinister force grows in strength as Brandt discovers more secrets about his past and his family’s connection to the Ghost Tree. Will Brandt be able to discover his true purpose in Japan in time to save himself?

A touching drama with a hint of horror!

GLOW #3

Tini Howard (A/CVR A) Hannah Templer

Based on the hit Netflix show! The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling quickly realize that there’s no way they’re going to be able to beat these real, muscle-y professional wrestlers! With morale low, Ruth has to come up with a new plan, and she’s going to make sure they win-even if they have to lose!

MARILYN MANOR #1

Magdalene Visaggio (A/CVR A) Marley Zarcone

Where were you in ’81? When the White House goes dark for 17 days in August, the president’s spoiled daughter and her best friend Abe-who claims to be possessed by the spirit of Abe Lincoln-throw a rager at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, unearthing long dead historical figures and government secrets that are better off buried. Sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll séances, and secret passageways lead to time-bending mystical romps where past and present collide. But at what cost to Marilyn Kelleher, the world at large, and music television?

Uniting the red-hot Eisner-nominated talents of writer Magdalene Visaggio (Eternity Girl, Kim and Kim) and artist Marley Zarcone (Shade, the Changing Girl, Effigy) for the first time, MARILYN MANOR explores identity, classism, appropriation, and friendship. It’s a rollicking, neon party gone out of bounds when we need it most-set just in time for the greatest pop cultural marriage to date: MTV.

“We’ve been trying to capture the feel, the excitement, the energy of the rise of the New Romantics, of the decade that embraced excess and excitement in hugely over-the-top ways, and filled it with chaos and insanity. This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever written in the best way possible, like an apocalypse directed by John Hughes.”

MY LITTLE PONY SPIRIT OF THE FOREST #2

Ted Anderson (A/CVR A) Brenda Hickey (CVR B) Tony Fleecs

Strange things are happening in the woods around Ponyville! When ponies start seeing weird shapes, hearing unknown sounds, and losing the tools they need to work, all signs point to a mysterious monster! But it couldn’t actually be the Spirit of the Forest-right?!

PUNKS NOT DEAD: LONDON CALLING #5

David Barnett (A/CVR A) Martin Simmonds

It’s the moment the whole story has been building to… Fergie comes face-to-face with Billy, the dad he’s never met. Or should that be Beleth, banished prince of hell? But before that, have Sid and Fergie actually found a way to stop being stuck together? And finally, Dorothy and Asif return to London with Natalie in tow for a battle royale unlike any other. Don’t miss “To the Underworld,” the smashing conclusion to our sophomore arc!

“…razor-sharp dialogue, black humour … dripping in punk rock…” –Tripwire

“…a riot of technicolour and tentacles…extraordinary…” –Hero Collector

ROAD OF BONES #1 2ND PTG

Rich Douek (A/CVR) Alex Cormack

ROAD OF BONES #2

Rich Douek (A/CVR A) Alex Cormack

After weeks battling the cold, freezing tundra and a dwindling food supply, tension runs high between Roman, Sergei, and Grigori as they flee the horrors of the Kolyma Gulag. Their one hope is reaching a hunting lodge in the mountains where they can replenish their supplies-but the rocky path grows more treacherous with every step. Even so, Roman has yet to discover the true meaning of treachery-until he learns what Grigori and Sergei’s true plan for survival is. The dark tale of survival at any cost in the Siberian wilderness continues in ROAD OF BONES #2 from writer Rich Douek (GUTTER MAGIC) and artist Alex Cormack (SINK).

Survival drama at its finest!

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I’ll tell you what, I was thinking last night about the darkest days we’ve ever had as Celtic supporters, those days when it seemed like everything was up in the air, when the situation our club faced was at its running worst. Through all of them, there was hope. Faint hope, perhaps, but hope nonetheless. And that hope carried us through.

But it wasn’t only luck, you see. We know that now.

As crazy as this might sound to some folk, the darkest period for me didn’t come during Rangers’ nine in a row. Through much of that time we were run by an incompetent board which didn’t have a clue. There was always a chance that New Celtic would stop them. It was in the wind in the Tommy Burns years; we were so close. Wim didn’t seem like the answer when he came but he put the finishing touches to what Tommy had started.

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To me, the real darkness saved itself for the two shambolic, chaotic, years between 1998 and 2000. Those were the hard ones, the tough ones. Our club had been rebuilt but it still lacked something, it still lacked that spark we needed to move forward. It was around that time Murray started to taunt us about life after Fergus; he said that whoever took over next would need to have “very deep pockets” and that for every fiver we spent he would spend ten.

And back then, in those days, before facts were freely available online, back when there were no Internet Bampots and no wide audience to get their findings out to, even if there were, when you had to rely on the press manning up – and this was the succulent lamb era – and giving them to you, you lived in total ignorance.

We had no idea, back then, what Murray International was built on, and even if we had known the basics, there was no way to tell if it was ever going to come crashing down. Banks might have carried on lending that guy money indefinitely. Who knew when it would end?

Who knew if it would end?

Being there at the time – especially in that dire second season when Rangers won the league by 21 points – you didn’t see the light.

You could look into the future and easily imagine another long spell of dominance, but this time without the hope of a saviour.

Those were the years of darkness in which our club was almost hollowed out. We saw one manager leave under a cloud. We saw another arrive in a blaze of negative publicity. He was soon gone. John Barnes was next, and what a disaster that was.

A brief period of Kenny Dalglish followed, the one highlight being a League Cup and seeing Hugh Keevins physically launched out of the Celtic Club when King Kenny took his press conferences on the road, sick of the media twisting every single word he said.

Towards the latter part of that horror spell, I went to Ibrox and saw us utterly destroyed 4-0. Emerging from the ground that day, shell-shocked, in despair, I sat on the roundabout waiting for my mate and had a good cry about how dreadful it looked. He came along and I told him straight; I couldn’t see how things were going to get better. There was no end in sight. If Murray could keep spending the pain looked likely to go on and on and on.

A year later, we were back there, swaggering conquerors.

We had already won the league and the League Cup, and were heading for the treble. Henrik Larsson and Lubo Moravcik were peerless that afternoon.

The 3-0 score line flattered them.

We played them off the park.

The darkness lifted. Oh there were more bad days to come – and the diabolical laxity of our board in allowing three final titles to be won at Ibrox between 2008-11 – but it never got that bad again. You always felt there was something just around the corner. When our club fell into the dark hole it did last season you knew a change of manager was the main thing. A fresh approach to get more out of the good players at Celtic Park. Brendan proved it.

Likewise, for all three of those years you knew that individual errors and acts of self harm had done for us. The decision not to back Gordon Strachan by signing a striker in the “Wilo Flood Window” was a disaster. The appointment of Tony Mowbray the following year was a catastrophe. I still believe that naming Neil Lennon his successor was the wrong move and it cost us a championship and the chance to bury them a year before they collapsed and died.

Those were blunders at the strategic level; they were not indicative of a club that was structurally weak or in crisis.

They were mistakes.

Giant mistakes, but that’s all.

Sevco fans will look at the dire state of Celtic before Fergus and think their club could be saved like ours was then. They can look at the year 1997-98 when we stopped the ten and think on how the  right blend can elevate a poor team to greater heights than it should reach.

They might look at what O’Neill did and what he was allowed to spend, and conclude that it’s all their club needs to do. They may look at Strachan, who downsized the O’Neill era and still won three titles in a row, and make the deduction that something similar could happen there.

And I know, for sure, they look at the Brendan Rodgers revolution and tell themselves that all it’s going to take is the right man and a modest investment and it will all turn around.

And none of that is true at all. They are kidding themselves on. If the last 12 months has taught them anything at all it should be that they are labouring under a delusion. The world doesn’t work that way, and you know what? It never really did.

The simple truth is that I didn’t get it back then, in the years 1998-2000. I didn’t see the true genius in what Fergus had done, and I wouldn’t get it for at least five more years, even after watching the O’Neill era and the things it brought us. I didn’t understand that what we’d done in those years, in the background, was consolidated and expanded.

The stadium was first; by the time it was finished it was the second biggest in the UK. The long-term – the permanent – structural advantage that gave us over their club was, and it remains, enormous, equating to somewhere between £4 million and £6 million every single year.

It’s been nearly twenty years now; think about what that means.

Fergus knew that when he designed the thing. It’s why he proceeded with the plans when some of the hacks, like McNee – who on his first tour of the North Stand penned a sarcastic, bitchy article saying the best thing about the seat was that you could see Ibrox in the distance – were sneering at him for over-reaching. Fergus had it sussed.

Next was the scouting side. Jo Venglos, who Fergus appointed manager after Wim, didn’t last long in that job, but he didn’t leave the club’s employ. He was put in charge of re-evaluating and reworking the entire scouting system and he put in place the framework which pays such startling dividends for us today. It was a moment of brilliance, and foresight, which makes even the stadium plan look pale in comparison. It transformed our future.

The one area where they might – just might – have had an edge was with Murray Park, but we solved that one when we constructed our own training complex and youth academy at Lennoxtown and over the years, as they’ve made savage cuts to their youth system to keep up with the pace of downsizing, we’ve ramped up our own and constantly built on it. That’s no small thing, and for years to come it will give us a further advantage over them.

Don’t underestimate the fact that we currently operate seven Celtic Stores, as well as having a strong presence in the high-street retailers and a very decent online shop. When Rangers sold off their stores, remember we were told how good that idea was? Their partnership with JJB? How’d that one turn out? JJB was in the toilet before Rangers was and Sevco was no longer bound by the contract. But with no retail outlet willing to bulk-stock their goods, and with them needing that expanded presence, they were forced into going with Sports Direct. Remind me again, how did that particular decision pan out?

See, people always pan Green for that as if it was a cheat. But what other option was there? What choice did he really have? If that deal was one sided that’s because nobody else was interested in signing one. Better a little money from shirt sales than none.

When the Sports Direct deal finally closes out, Sevco fans seem to think that’ll give them back the kind of earnings Rangers made in retailing. They couldn’t be more wrong. They have no sales infrastructure to speak of, which means a contractual agreement with another retail partner is a certainty, and what kind of terms will they get? What kind of terms would you give to them, knowing they were desperate and couldn’t sell their stuff otherwise?

Celtic was able to spend money during the O’Neill era, but that was because we had acquired a good reputation for fiscal probity and had a good relationship with a bank. We went heavily into debt during that time; Gordon Strachan had to made radical cuts to make up for that. But the fundamentals were right, so even as he was cutting back we were able to go out and sign players like Nakamura, and assured more titles.

Everything changed, as we all know, in 2007 and in 2008.

Clubs can’t do that anymore, and especially not in Scotland. The transfer market in England has gone insane. Banks and lending companies will only grant over-draft facilities if clubs are able to meet their responsibilities as they come due. A club borrowing money from its directors to keep the lights on isn’t going to get bank funding; it’s as simple as that. They will not entertain an application from Sevco on that basis … or on any other.

We now know that during those dark years of the 1998-2000 that Murray was spending the bank’s money, not his own. We know that he had already embarked on the suicidal policy of tax avoidance. We know now that the ship was holed below the waterline, that he was fudging it, that the club was artificially supported. We know too that they were a liquidation certainty the moment the banks stopped playing ball. Back then it just looked like they were uncatchable.

The difference is that our success, and the gap between the two clubs, can be maintained. There are no secrets anymore. No great scandal or revelation lies out there waiting to sweep over the horizon and wash our club away. There are no secret loans, no hidden debt. We’ve never had a sugar-daddy owner nor will we ever. Frivolous, hopeful nonsense which sparked European Commission investigations and years of fevered fantasises proved to be worth nothing.

They have no money for the kind of infrastructure spending that would even start to bridge the gap. Rangers sold it all in the last years of Murray, flogging off everything that wasn’t nailed down. When they went under much of the rest was swept away. Green bought a shell. He never rebuilt any of it. Even if increasing the capactiy at Ibrox was possible, and affordable, the structural problems with the roof and elsewhere would make it a non-starter.

So if you conclude that we’re on safe ground and that nothing will eradicate our structural and financial advantage over them what does it leave?

It leaves a saviour. Someone willing to come in and spend.

That’s what they are pinning their hopes on, all their hopes.

Red Bull, someone, anyone, and in their desperation they no longer care what their “saviours” look like or from where they come.

Which leaves them in a dangerous place, exposed to exactly the sort of chancers who’ve been at Ibrox before and who got their claws into clubs like Coventry.

The myth of Real Rangers Money with pots of money has been proven to be just that. There’s no chance of someone buying the club as “investment” because Ibrox is a black hole. You could pour ten, twenty, thirty million down there and never seen a fraction of.

The £4 million profit they made in 2009-10 was solely from Champions League participation, a season before Scottish clubs saw their Champions League quota cut to one team and had their automatic place in the Groups rescinded. We’d had it the year before, and they had posted losses of over £12 million.

When qualification became required, they were dicing with death.

Had Celtic won any of Rangers’ last three titles the party would have been over before Craig Whyte got his hands on the keys to Ibrox in the first place.

Do not listen to a word their fans say; their club was never financially viable.

Sevco could be financially viable. What you are seeingat the moment – that wreckage of a team – is actually what overinvestment looks like.

They are running at losses at the moment year in year out and that can’t go on indefinitely.

But if they make cuts, and adapt, and accept a long period without being competitive, yes it can be done.

They pin their hopes on a new boss, perhaps, but the current level of their squad is so abysmal that nothing will drag it up to the required standard. Brendan Rodgers himself couldn’t go into that dressing room and make good players out of what’s there.

So replace the manager and that’s just the start.

Then you have to replace the squad.

With what? Where’s the money to do it coming from? Nobody on the current board has it, and any “investor” who was being asked to come in – and there’s nobody out there; do not let people kid you on about that – would know he was being asked to pour money down the drain.

There is no infrastructure work taking place at Ibrox. No investment in key areas. No turnaround plan. No business plan, in fact, to speak of short of “Europe will make everything alright.”

If they get there.

If UEFA grants them a license, in spite of their failure to qualify for one.

If other clubs don’t raise a stink.

If they can negotiate qualifiers.

Things are still not being done which should be; the stadium faces a closure at some point in the not too distant future and that’s a problem their board can’t even begin to deal with.

This is their dark period, and there are no aces up anyone’s sleeves. There is literally no end in sight here and short of a collapse of the English league system and Sky giving every penny to Scotland – as likely as Donald Trump winning a Nobel Peace Prize – there’s not even a speculative scenario, a cosmic “what if?” for them to cling to for hope. Because without that, no outside investor is going to touch the game here with a twenty foot pole.

This is what their future looks like; last night at Tynecastle.

They can adapt to that or they can die fighting that reality, but those are their choices and there are no others.

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The Sunday Post is a weekly meme originally from Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things I have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on my blog.

So this week was weird… Had a few stressed out days, but recovered with reading a lot… My bf started working again after having the flu, but was so tired he slept for 13/14 hours straight on Thursday and Friday… He always takes a nap after an early shift, but those two days he slept all the way until next night [he needs to get up at 4 for an early shift =o…] So I didn’t see him much this week, and the two before because of the flu… He likes to sleep a lot, but results in sleeping during the day and being awake when I’m asleep at night… But our three-year anniversary is coming up on Thursday =] We did have dinner at his parents’ tonight and it was cozy again =]… His grandma’s b-day will be next week too =] So I hope it will be a good week next week…

I’m excited for my Taekwondo exam on Feb 3rd !!!! =] =] =] I’m training twice a week, as usual, but it’s not all fun right now… Not because of the exam though… But my Achilles is swollen and the pain is now also in my calf and shin =/ So I’m walking with a limp, once again…. Doesn’t help that my knee is swollen too…. =[ And with no actual cause other than Hypermobility Syndrome… Makes me experience pain without a clear reason… Walked with a brace and sling on my left wrist for a year and a half [I’m a leftie, so that sucked balls] and the doctors were like; we can’t see anything wrong, take an aspirin -_-‘ Story of my life I guess…. So I read just a bit more to keep my head somewhere else…. And not moving helps hahahaha

On other exciting thing was my school night… I DID MY FIRST HAIRCUT AND IT WAS GOOD!!!!! Yeah, it did need some advice, because of things we hadn’t learned in class before hahaha… But after the advice and last corrections [styling wise tips to get a nicer result, no mistakes were made yay me!!] I rocked the haircut =] I’m really happy about that and it counts for my final exam!! So this week will be an exercise week for me, with a model, but no result other than a good blow out.. The week after will be tricky in finding a model again… Need to do a full perm on a woman with the right hair length… already terrified hahaha

I hope all of you have a great week and will empower the rest of the world like you did with the Women’s March.. That had an incredible impact… I loved the Harry Potter signs, the puns from Sir Ian McKellan and Melissa Benoist and all the Pussy Hats =] Keep up the empowerment!!

Xoxo

Goodreads Reading Challenge update: 8/100 books

The Backlist Reader Challenge update: 6/50 books

This weeks posts: [sadly only one, due to my stressed week]

Sunday Post #25. January 22

Coming next week:

TTT#21  Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books I’ve Read In The Past Year Or So

TTT#22 FREEBIE — that super specific list you want to make?? All yours to tackle this week!

Tv Thursday #7. Week 3 [will try again to remember making this one]

Sunday Post #26. January 29

Reviews maybe to come:

Sara Raasch – Snow Like Ashes

Sara Raasch – Icicles Like Kindling

C.L. Lynch – Chemistry

So I did a lot of reading this week and I like it. I’m still busy in Tales of Beedle the Bard. My plan was a story a day, but I forgot to do that and will have to continue next week hahaha… I’m almost finished in Breath of Fire by Amanda Bouchet and I love it so much!!!! I did finish Snow Like Ashes, which left me yearning for more, but I’m on a bit of a book buy ban =[… I did read Icicles Like Kindling today after I’d finished Snow Like Ashes… Tomorrow I’ll be starting Carve the Mark and will finish Breath of Fire..

I got into some ARC and street teams of some wonderful female authors and can’t wait to read their books as well.. I’m talking about Rebecca Hamilton, Laxmi Hariharan, Rachel E. Carter, Kat Ross and K.N. Lee.. I also got a few nice looking/sounding books from Instafreebie. It’s a great platform for authors who don’t have the biggest spotlight… I think I’m gonna make some Author Spotlight posts, if I won’t forget haha… But they are amazing people and deserve some publicity =]

Monday Jan 16, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E5: Fail-Safe

Monday Jan 16, House of Cards S2E1: Chapter 14

Tuesday Jan 17, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E6: Star City 2046

Wednesday Jan 18, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E7: Marooned

Wednesday Jan 18, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E8: Night of the Hawk

Thursday Jan 19, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E9: Left Behind

Thursday Jan 19, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E10: Progeny

Thursday Jan 19, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E11: The Magnificent Eight

Thursday Jan 19, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E12: The Refuge

Friday Jan 20, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E13: Leviathan

Friday Jan 20, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E14: River of Time

Friday Jan 20, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E15: Destiny

Friday Jan 20, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow S1E16: Legendary

Friday Jan 20, CSI S2E9: And Then There Were None

Friday Jan 20, CSI S2E10: Ellie

Saturday Jan 21, CSI S2E11: Organ Grinder

Saturday Jan 21, CSI S2E12: You’ve Got Male

Sunday Jan 22, CSI S2E13: Identity Crisis

Sunday Jan 22, CSI S2E14: The Finger

Sunday Jan 22, CSI S2E15: Burden of Proof

  With the boyfriend:

Tuesday Jan 17, Modern Family S8E6: Grab It

Tuesday Jan 17, Modern Family S8E7: Thanksgiving Jamboree

  Woohoo I got my copy of Carve the Mark… A day late, thanks to my delivery service… She left the note with ‘nobody at home’, but my boyfriend was waiting for her [had to go to an appointment myself], and my neighbours were at home too.. Next day she wanted to dash again, but I got up from deep sleep very quickly, opened the door and she was cranky in pushing the package into my hands… I filed a complaint the previous day…. she never did this before and I’m sorry that it had to go this way…. I hope she won’t do this again in the future. But for now I’m very happy with my beautiful hard copy of this beauty… Will start reading it tomorrow =]

In case you’ve missed these:

Sunday Post #23 & #24. January 8 & 15

#72 The Diabolic.

The Backlist Reader Challenge 2017.

TTT#20 Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn’t Get To (But TOTALLY plan to).

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Awesomeness!!

Sunday Post #25. January 22 The Sunday Post is a weekly meme originally from Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News.