#ghetto wealth
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#black wealth#urban wealth#ghetto wealth#unity among urban/ghetto groups#blaxploitation#black economics#black wall street#mansa musa#black owned stores#earn your leisure#shoppe black#pam courtney brown#reginald f lewis#stacy tisdale#robert f smith#boycott#replace white supremacy
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The Party at Lucky 38: So after all the debate about you succumbing to greed...Did you succumb to greed, or make a stand? I mean obviously you lived but, did you really turn down all that gold, or did you somehow cheat the question.
Minka: Oh no I thought about it for a second sure, but I didn't care that much about money honestly -
*Boone, who has seen her drop 4,000caps on 308 ammo for him at random, nodding in silent 'yeah that tracks'*
Minka: -and I didn't want to complicate things. I decided only fair to stick to my guns and live clean, so no I didn't drag my overladen body out of that place. I went in going 'only what you can take' and I only took what I could carry out easily.
Everyone: *nodding, impressed*
Arcade, smarter and used to Minka(tm) existence plane, dripping with tired sarcasm: What you could carry being one gold bar, then?
Minka, fucking jacked, dropping 315lbs of gold bars: built different
#I didn't do the 'lug all the stuff and be sneaky by reloading 50 times' thing bc I /did/ want to make a statement but I was like#'realistically it makes sense to grab one though. what you can carry is fair.' and I'd forgotten she can carry a fuck ton so. 9 it was#only a pie piece of the loot sure but I am very happy with her weird moral and financial high-middle ground#r's fo new vegas run#dead money#He won't complain once I've funded every project he can think of and donated the rest to mohave ghetto assistance programs#tbh if it actually made any difference I'd spend 14 hours reverse pickpocketing my wealth into all citizens' pockets
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24-Carat Black - Ghetto Misfortune's Wealth
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Thomas Sankara
In his 1984 speech before the UN General Assembly, Thomas Sankara spoke out on behalf of all those suffer.
We swear that in future in Burkina Faso nothing will be done without the participation of the people of Burkina Faso themselves, nothing that has not been decided by us, that has not been prepared by us. There shall be no more attacks on our honour and dignity.
Strengthened by this conviction, we want our words to cover all those who suffer, all those whose dignity has been crushed by a minority or a system.
Let me say to those who are listening to me now that I speak not only on behalf of Burkina Faso, my country which I love so much, but also on behalf of all those who suffer, wherever they may be.
I speak on behalf of those millions of human beings who are in ghettos because their skin is black, or because they have a different kind of culture, those whose status is hardly higher than that of an animal.
I suffer, too, on behalf of those Indians who have been massacred, trampled on and humiliated and who, for centuries, have been confined to reservations, so that they do not have any aspirations to any rights whatsoever, so that their culture cannot become enriched through contact with other cultures, including that of the invader.
I speak out on behalf of those who are unemployed because of a structurally unjust system which has now been completely disrupted, the unemployed who have been reduced to seeing their lives as only the reflection of the lives of those who have more than themselves.
I speak on behalf of women throughout the entire world who suffer from a system of exploitation imposed on them by men. As far as we are concerned, we are willing to welcome all suggestions from anywhere in the world that will help us to promote the full development and prosperity of the women of Burkina Faso. In return, we will share with all countries the positive experience we are now undertaking with our women, who are now involved at all levels of the State apparatus and social life in Burkina Faso, women who struggle and who say with us that the slave who will not shoulder responsibility to rebel does not deserve pity. That slave will alone be responsible for his own wretchedness if he has any illusions whatsoever about the suspect indulgence shown by a master who pretends to give him freedom. Only struggle helps us to become free, and we call on all our sisters of all races to rise up to regain their rights.
I speak on behalf of the mothers of our poor countries who see their children dying of malaria and diarrhoea, unaware that to save them there are simple methods available but which the science of the multinationals does not offer to them, preferring to invest in cosmetics laboratories and engage in cosmetic surgery to satisfy the whims and caprices of a few men and women who feel they have become too fat because of too many calories in the rich food they consume with regularity. That must make even members of this Assembly dizzy – not to mention the peoples of the Sahel. We have decided to adopt and popularize the methods that have been advocated by WHO and UNICEF.
I speak on behalf of the child, the child of the poor man, who is hungry and who furtively eyes the wealth piled up in the rich man’s shop, a shop that is protected by a thick window, a window which is defended by an impassable grille, the grille guarded by a policeman in a helmet with gloves and a bludgeon, the policeman placed there by the father of another child, who comes there to serve himself or rather to be served because these are the guarantees of capitalistic representativeness and norms of the system.
I speak on behalf of the artists – poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, actors and so on – people of good will who see their art being prostituted by the show-business magicians.
I cry out on behalf of the journalists who have been reduced to silence or else to lies simply to avoid the hardships of unemployment.
I protest on behalf of the athletes of the entire world whose muscles are being exploited by political systems or by those who deal in the modern slavery of the stadium.
My country is the essence of all the miseries of peoples, a tragic synthesis of all the suffering of mankind but also, and above all, the synthesis of the hopes of our struggles. That is why I speak out on behalf of the sick who are anxiously looking to see what science can do for them – but that science has been taken over by the gun merchants. My thoughts go to all those who have been affected by the destruction of nature, those 30 million who are dying every year, crushed by that most fearsome weapon, hunger.
As a soldier, I cannot forget that obedient soldier who does what he is told, whose finger is on the trigger and who knows that the bullet which is going to leave his gun will bring only a message of death.
Lastly, I speak out in indignation as I think of the Palestinians, whom this most inhuman humanity has replaced with another people, a people who only yesterday were themselves being martyred at leisure. I think of the valiant Palestinian people, the families which have been splintered and split up and are wandering throughout the world seeking asylum. Courageous, determined, stoic and tireless, the Palestinians remind us all of the need and moral obligation to respect the rights of a people. Along with their Jewish brothers, they are anti-Zionists.
Standing alongside my soldier brothers of Iran and Iraq, who are dying in a fratricidal and suicidal war, I wish also to feel close to my comrades of Nicaragua, whose ports are being mined, whose towns are being bombed and who, despite all, face up with courage and lucidity to their fate. I suffer with all those in Latin America who are suffering from imperialist domination.
I wish to stand side by side with the peoples of Afghanistan and Ireland, the peoples of Grenada and East Timor, each of those peoples seeking happiness in keeping with their dignity and the laws of their own culture.
I rise up on behalf of all who seek in vain any forum in the world to make their voices heard and to have themselves taken seriously.
Many have already spoken from this rostrum. Many will speak after me. But only a few will take the real decisions, although we are all officially considered equals. I speak on behalf of all those who seek in vain for a forum in the world where they can be heard. Yes, I wish to speak for all those – the forgotten – because I am a man and nothing that is human is alien to me.
Sankara speaks in front of the United Nations on 4 October 1984. Credit: Getty Images
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i wanted to look at the symbolism of the ocean in disco elysium because it features so prominently in the setting. insulinde being an isola comprised of islands, martinaise as a port town financially anchored by its ocean trade. the divisions brought by water that we see in the geography: how the canal separates the working district of martinaise from the even poorer, commerce-less village-- how the river esperance separates the worst ghettos of revachol and jamrock from the more rebuilt and financially stable districts-- how, for example, lilienne looks across the bay of revachol to the wealthy district of la delta, a poignant moment of separation between someone desperately poor and the towers of wealth built out of the ruins of revachol. we see water, and often the sea specifically, acting as a divider in various contexts.
the ocean of time and distance that separates dora and harry, that separates klaasje from oranje:
then, further into the idea of the ocean as representative of time: in various contexts i see the ocean as representing the past. memory residing under the waves, and each of us living above water-- in the present-- but often still helpless to the tides when we’re not careful. to me this is cemented by the implication that the pale is commonly theorized as an *outer ocean* (juxtaposed with harry’s introspective skill, inland empire!!): the pale is the past, and if the pale is seen as an outer ocean, then right there is a tangible connection between the two. memory and the past as an ocean, dangerous if you don’t respect its power, but ultimately navigable. there is frequent reference made to the fact that the bombed ruins of martinaise are sinking or lost into the ocean, lost to the past, now only memory.
and harry, who is living in the past and being consumed by nostalgia like a rot, drives his car into the ocean. harry’s badge, which is conflated with his identity in the aftermath of his amnesia, was underwater before he pulled it from the car: until he got it, his entire identity was lost with his memory in the past. klaasje’s documents, too, presumed lost to the ocean, a loss of who she was or claimed to be (until you meet the phasmid). lilienne’s husband was lost to the waves, and in the same lines she’ll dismiss your concerns-- he’s in the past now, she’s really not too upset. the cleaning lady, abandoned by the world, who has only her own memories for company in her sea-beaten room. in the context of ruby’s near-suicide in the shack, how inland specifies how the “waves had calmed” as she put the gun away: ruby distancing herself from the past that she thinks is chasing her to form a better plan. the working-class husband, who, had his corpse fallen through the boardwalk into the ocean, would have been lost to the past, living only in the memory of billie and their daughters.
for me, the final dream had some of the heaviest but most subtle inclusions of the ocean symbolism. it’s brought on by looking into the ocean around the seafort and takes place under the ocean somewhere. even before the dream, dora is alluded to in the context of the sea. she moved across the ocean and now, to him, she’s lost under it. she’s trapped in his memory.
where we see things half-submerged or partially oceanic, we see a bridge between the past and the present being represented. something partially lost to the past but still with a foot in the here and now. harry’s half-sunken car, in part a representation of his career: part of his past, yes, but still very much in his present. one of the primary spiritual practices we hear of is the volta do mar: originally a palefarer’s practice to keep them grounded in an onslaught by the past, and its meaning is *return from the sea*. when harry tries to turn back time, he wants to go back to a time when the sun had not yet sunk into the sea-- when the light in his life didn’t reside solely in the past.
also in this context, something that really struck me was how harry will sometimes think of himself in the context of the sea. first is the sea monster thought, brought about by the broken plaza: him as a creature submerged in the past, terrorizing the present. and seafaring brought up to represent a kind of compromise between living in the present and acknowledging the draw of nostalgia. even joyce in her limited knowledge of harry compares him to a “half-submerged ruin”. and when harry is prompted into introspection by the dros predicament, inland empire becomes the *inland sea*.
and i really want to make a final, individual point of this. the whirling-in-rags music is sea power’s song “fire escape in the sea”. there is an explicit reference made to the song by shivers as well, and i think the choice of this song is very intentional. the whirling-in-rags is where harry forgot his whole life, the whole world, and it’s where he wakes up and begins to piece it all back together. the whirling-in-rags is harry’s fire escape in the sea. his bridge between his past and his present, his last-ditch attempt at escape from the tortures of his subconscious.
(this is by no means exhaustive, there are a lot of other moments where the sea comes in, but i included the moments that spoke to me most. you’re welcome to add your own!)
#disco elysium#disco elysium meta#gen meta#hdb meta#kiwipost#i'm gonna see if i can go on mobile and edit the alt text in#if not i may rb with dialogue descriptions#anyway yeah. maybe this is nothing but it means something to ME. to me.#joyce and lilienne are the two people we see with boats#coincidentally the two who seem to have made peace with the past that led them here to this point in their lives.#also on the significance of it being a dockworkers' union in particular that we deal with.#it doesn't mean nothing. i swear there's something here#i also want to think about what it means for harry to be compared to several types of bird#in a context where the ocean represents the past#he's got the name of a hawk. his heraldic bird could be a cockatoo but also he can be compared to a seagull.#he destroys the stuffed skua. his old partner was jean-heron.#much to consider there.#will need to ruminate on that for a while.
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Let's start this off right with one of the most notable lore-dumps in the game, the Plaza Rain Shivers check.
In the west
Stairs to the water
Sea Fortress > Bay of Revachol > Sky scrapers of La Delta
What’s down the shore?
Defunct R+E building > Abandoned Church > Coal City
In the east
Industrial Harbor (Locked) > La Drisienne - King Dris’ Passengers Harbour > River Distributary > Couron > “The Class Divide”
In the north
Whirling Yard > Capeside apartments
“Standing in the rain, looking north, where jamrock rock city stretches inland”
In the south
Traffic jam, roundabout, statue > Road ascends to 8/81 (ghetto beneath) > Jamrock
OTHER NOTES
Where do i live?
On a street there that flows like a muddy river in the snow, with fire traps rising on either side. A film rental opens its doors to the rain, an armoured motor carriage rushes past the corner where you used to walk together... Suddenly, the hair on your back rises.
“YOU CANNOT RETURN”
SOURCE MATERIAL BENEATH THE CUT
Shivers - All around you, rain falls on the great city of Revachol. Rain drips from the eaves and floods the gutters, washing the filth away.
Shivers - The spring thaw must be here. The snow is melting...
You - What am I doing?
Shivers - Looking up at the sky, cold water dripping from your hair.
You - What do I see?
Shivers - Grey sky like great battleships, clouds colliding with one another. Rain falls down on the world.
You - How does it feel?
Shivers - Your shirt sticks to your chest. The shoulders of your disco blazer grow heavy. The cold finds its way in under your skin. You shiver, and the city shivers with you.
Composure - You're not dressed for this weather. You should get an overcoat, or a patrol cloak.
You - What is in the west?
Shivers - Sheets of rain over the water. A flight of stairs leading into the ocean. Wave after wave washing the coast of Martinaise, with its motorboats and gently swaying reeds.
Shivers - The ruins of a half-sunken seafort crumble on an inlet. Beyond the Bay of Revachol, ghosts rise into the sky.
You - Who are you, ghosts?
Shivers - The skyscrapers of La Delta, the financial district. Faint golden light seeps from the office windows.
Inland Empire - Will you ever go there?
You - Will I?
Shivers - No. You are just one of the hundreds of thousands who watch them rise across the bay from Martinaise every day.
You - What is down the shore?
Shivers - Urban coastline, rain dripping off eternite-covered roofs. Cinder blocks left over from half-finished construction. A defunct research and development building once seized by revolutionaries. An old wooden church stands on stilts above the water.
You - And beyond that?
Shivers - Coal City, end of all lines.
You - Run your fingers through your dampened hair.
Shivers - Your hair is an oily mess flecked with ash from neighbouring coal plants. Smoke stacks rise somewhere in the distance.
You - What's in the east?
Shivers - The great gates of the industrial harbour are locked. A chill runs down your back. You shudder like an animal trying to shake water from its hide.
You - Clench your teeth to stop shuddering.
Shivers - Behind the gates -- heaps of supply crates. Red and blue metal shipping containers slick with rain. The Greater Revachol Industrial Harbour is an artificial mountain range. Immense wealth resides within, and immeasurable poverty in its shadow.
You - And before that?
Shivers - You -- on the Martinaise plaza. A small dot looking up at the sky. Droplets form on your eyelashes.
You - And beyond that?
Shivers - La Drisienne, King Dris's Passenger Harbour. Cruise ships flanked by dock arms. Cranes watching over the mouth of the river distributary.
You - What is across the distributary?
Shivers - Couron, the lower middle class. Distributary after distributary cuts the city blocks in half. Seven-story buildings trail off into the rain.
You - What is beyond the Couron?
Shivers - A silvery curtain of rain over the houses. The class divide.
Rhetoric - You have never been there. They don't need the law east of the river.
You - What's in the north?
Shivers - Capeside apartments -- tower blocks crowd one another, 4.46 mm bullets still lodged in their war-torn stone walls.
Shivers - Hallways collapsed from the mortar hits of a war that was lost long ago. Clotheslines go to waste in the rain. Radios play.
Rhetoric - The morning news.
You - And closer to here?
Shivers - A yard. Rain falls onto the roof of a woodshed. Filthy water pools around a body. Droplets of rain slip from the dead man's cold cheeks.
You - What's in the south?
Shivers - A traffic jam. Rain thrumming on the roofs of motor vehicles. Inside, drivers watch water streaming down their windshields. The statue of a king shudders, he too is cold. The canal bridge has been raised.
You - What's on the other side?
Shivers - The road ascends; a raised motorway loops above the ghetto. Beneath its concrete columns -- a sea of rooftops, woodwork, and tar stretches northward. Four-story buildings as far as the rain can fall. The snows melt in Jamrock.
You - What is Jamrock?
Shivers - Revachol is the capital of the world. Jamrock is the capital of Revachol. Droplets form on your eyelashes.
Inland Empire - It's home.
You - Why am I not there?
Shivers - To be in Martinaise, where no one goes. At the run-off point of a long-forgotten canal, in the whitest part of town. In the shadow of the day the Revolution failed.
You - What am I doing here?
Shivers - Standing in the rain, looking north, where Jamrock Rock City stretches inland.
You - Where do I live?
Shivers - On a street there that flows like a muddy river in the snow, with fire traps rising on either side. A film rental opens its doors to the rain, an armoured motor carriage rushes past the corner where you used to walk together... Suddenly, the hair on your back rises.
Shivers - YOU CANNOT RETURN.
You - "Motherfucker." [Finish thought.]
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by Isaac Schorr
Much of the overtly antisemitic rhetoric and action across the West has been situated on the left, and conservatives have rightly pointed out as much, chalking up the deluge of hatred and wickedness on display to fallacious progressive theory.
But there is a cohort on the right complicit in this great reawakening of an ancient evil.
And that brings us back to Owens and Carlson.
The past few weeks have seen Owens repeat a series of blood libels.
In one breath, she’s implied the Israeli government is committing a genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In the next, she’s submitted that Jerusalem’s historic Muslim Quarter (population: 22,000) is a ghetto where the city’s Muslims (population: 350,000) are forced to live.
After being called out on her ignorant smears by her Daily Wire colleague Ben Shapiro, Owens responded on X.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake,” wrote Owens, quoting the Book of Matthew’s fifth chapter.
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other,” she added.
“You cannot serve both God and money. Christ is King.”
And just like that, the mask clinging to her face by a thread fell off.
Shapiro, she argued without evidence and hardly any plausible deniability, had forsaken righteousness for wealth; is there a more textbook example of an antisemitic charge?
When Shapiro responded by reminding Owens she’s welcome to stop taking a paycheck from their company if it’s threatening her soul, Owens hid behind her Bible verse.
“You are utterly out of line for suggesting that I cannot quote biblical scripture,” she cried, affixing another performative “Christ is King” to her digital flop.
Then on Wednesday night, Carlson released a fawning interview of Owens in which both professed not to know why Shapiro had criticized her in the first place.
Carlson brought up the feud by playing the video of Shapiro “attacking” Owens stripped of all context.
When he asked Owens what might have inspired it, she insisted that “there isn’t much of a background” to it.
Later, Carlson said that while he was “horrified” by Hamas’ attack, he thought that “the emotional response” to it from “some commentators” was “disproportionate.”
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SteveTony Weekly - Holiday Special
Happy holidays, my friends! I know a lot of us spend the holidays with more free time than normal, and I thought I’d put together a list of very long fic for you to indulge in during your down time--enjoy and be sure to give your author a comment/kudos if you enjoy it!
~
[Podfic of] When The Lights Go On Again by Dr_Fumbles_McStupid, kalakirya, KD reads (KDHeart), lattice_frames, lavenderfrost, miss_marina95, Opalsong, paraka, Superstitiousme, vassalady
Aliens have invaded earth, and the Avengers are scattered. While Steve leads the resistance, Tony once again finds himself playing captive scientist. In the midst of a violent alien regime, separated by seemingly insurmountable boundaries, Steve and Tony have nothing to keep themselves going but each other.
Note: This was 19hours of FANTASTIC story--highly recommend it if you’ve got a long drive or time off.
One-Man Army by Captain_Panda
Takes place immediately after the Chitauri attack in Avengers 1.
Steve is running himself into the ground. Tony notices.
Then Steve gets knocked down hard. And Tony intervenes.
Note: I’ve rec’ed this before. It’s delightfully long and nearly perfect--there’s very little downtime in the way of weakness with the pacing and writing, which is a feat in and of itself at over 600k.
America Isn't Chicken by Amuly
After a Civil War, death, rebirth, a takeover by Osborn, brain deletion, and the fall of Asgard, Steve and Tony might just be starting to get back on solid ground with one another. Things aren't perfect, not yet, but they can be in the same room as each other without resorting to violence, and they've even managed to share a smile or two.
Seems like the perfect time, then, for Tony to try and fuck it all up with a stupid game of gay chicken.
Meanwhile, as if he didn't have enough to worry about, Tony realizes some kind of supervillainous trouble is brewing when increasingly advanced armors start popping up all over Manhattan, looking strangely reminiscent of his tech. On the other side of the world, Steve gets news that Zola is on the move in Russia, with some sort of nefarious plan at work.
Which will ruin them first? Will it be this unknown armored villain who is after Tony's tech? Or will it be Zola unleashing his mysterious plan on the world? Or will Steve and Tony prove to be their own worst enemies, destroying the tentative truce they managed to forge with their own stubbornness?
Note: Just really delightful 616 fic. It’s a comfort read, tbh.
Data is King by Amuly
In a cyberpunk dystopia, all the wealth is concentrated in New Versailles and the majority live in impoverished ghettos outside. Prosthetics are strictly prohibited, though many of the poor have body modifications to help them live. Steve Rogers is an idealistic young man who raids the storerooms of New Versailles with his best friend Bucky Barnes, to bring food and medicine to the poor. But when tragedy strikes, Steve is inspired by Dr. Erskine to go seek out the notorious slumlord/black market trader Tony Stark. Rumor has it that Tony used to be a member of New Versailles, but left to make his fortune off the backs of the working man... or was he kicked out? Although they don't hit it off at first, Steve and Tony must work together.
They have some help. The Three Fates are women who control information. Steve's friends from his old life are good people on the fringes of society because of their prosthetic enhancements. And there's Tony's network of resources and connections, not to mention his brilliant engineering mind that helped him build his empire.
But when Steve and Tony finally manage to put their differences aside and rise up against New Versailles... not everything is as simple as it seemed.
Note: So I haven’t actually read this one--but it’s on my list for the week I’m off so I’m sharing it with ya’ll now.
Maybe Tomorrow by scifigrl47
Tony Stark may well be the richest man in America. In the depths of the Great Depression, that's no small claim. When a plot is hatched for him to take in an orphan for a week, everyone knows it's a publicity stunt. No one knows it better than Officer Steve Rogers, but he's got a job to do, and he's going to do it. Doesn't mean he's going to approve.
Yes, it's an Annie AU.
Yes. That Annie.
Note: I’m a huge fan of scifigrl47 and this fic is all of the reasons why--excellent storytelling, relationships and kids interacting and Stevetony being amazing.
Forty-Seven Flat by geekymoviemom
Steve Rogers was on the top of the world. He was one of the top students in his class, a world-class athlete, and had a man who loved him. Winning an Olympic Gold Medal seemed like the perfect addition to his picture-perfect life.
But only four years later, Steve’s entire world has come crashing down around him, leaving defending his Olympic title the only thing lying between him and utter ruin.
And then, the unthinkable happens.
Note: I really love sports AU, and this one was just a lot of fun.
Celestial Navigation by sabrecmc
Celestial Navigation: 18 year old Omega!Tony finds himself Bonded to Captain Steve Rogers. He isn't happy about it until he is.
By request, here is CN in one place without other stories and artwork.
Note: I love this fic. It’s probably one of my top 10 fav stevetony fics, because it’s just so good. The slow burn and Steve’s slow devotion is just--so lovely.
Where Our Restless Monsters Sleep by Mizzy
Years after Tony Stark saved the universe, the Avengers realize there’s a major problem: his body has gone missing. And he isn’t the only one. Fallen heroes all over the galaxy have had their graves pillaged.
An old foe is stealing the bodies of fallen warriors, but for what nefarious reason? There’s only one solution. To find out why it’s happening, Steve’s gotta die.
He probably shouldn’t be so eager to do that.
Note: I really love the set up of this fic, the way it leans into canon MCU and still gives us Stevetony. Also--worms.
Deep in the Heart of Me by Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar)
Veteran single dad Steve runs a tattoo shop. Pepper arranges for Tony to get that tattoo he always wanted, and he winds up with the mother of all crushes instead. Jumping out of airplanes is one thing, but love requires real courage. Steve struggles with letting someone into his life. Tony tries to keep his heart intact while Steve works on his issues.
Craving a realistic depiction of a romantic relationship featuring PTSD, mental health issues, and characters who discuss their problems? This might be for you. No magic fixes here but a happy ending is guaranteed!
Note: I love this fic because it’s so realistic--the way Steve protects Peter from his new relationship is the most realistic depiction of good parenting I’ve ever seen in fic, and I ADORE it. Tony’s patience and hurt and sweetness is everything to me.
A Higher Form of War by sabrecmc
Tony is a King with a surprising number of people out to kill him. Steve and the rest of the Avengers are fighting for Pierce's rebellion and end up with Tony as their prisoner. Oops.
Basically one of those bodice-ripping romance novels I don't read (ahem) but with far more gay.
Note: It’s amazing. It’s slow and beautiful and I love Steve so much I can’t even.
#stevetony weekly#steve rogers#tony stark#stevetony#stony#iron man#captain america#stevetony fic#stony fic#fic rec
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The situation in regards to escalation of the ground war in Gaza is incredibly frustrating. As of yesterday, the IOF invasion is de facto in process, however their talking heads are deliberately avoiding the phraseology they constructed their previous threats around. Hezbollah has explicitly said they would respond should the Israelis launch a full ground offensive, and Iran has vaguely gestured in the direction that they would do something in parity, and thus out of fear of reprisal and their American handlers gently tugging at the leash behind closed doors, the Israelis are deliberately avoiding using language implying totality. They’re “extending the scope of their operations,” “targeting the hideouts of saboteurs,” anything but “launching the ground invasion.” This implicitly leaves a way out for Hezbollah, to both their and the Israeli’s advantage. Though it may seem grotesquely ironic given the situation, with the IOF raising Gaza to the ground with the kind of ordinance the Nazis could have only dreamed about during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but leaving a controlled corridor into which the enemy can flee is a part of military strategy gospel. Even if there are tanks in the street, if the word isn’t spoken the Israel can avoid a two front war and break apart Gaza piecemeal while Hezbollah can sit content with throwing pot shots at Merkavas across the border ‘til kingdom come, both keeping their promises. It’s obvious that if Iran does act, they’re going to have to do so without the support of the rest of the Arabic world. The bourgeois of Egypt, Jordan, etc are paying lip service in support of the resistance because of the overwhelming public support for Palestine domestically, yet materially they’re sticking to the status quo and avoiding treading too hard on uncle sam’s shoes. It’s a deliberate strategy to maintain their power base, and it bears clarifying that even bourgeois in the periphery are still bourgeois and will act solely in the interest of their class. Knowing that the Arab world is non-confrontational, Iran would be forced to rely on the worst case scenario partners, China and Russia, and no one else. The former is famously pacifist, being the only world power seriously committed to diplomacy in the current climate, and even if everyone in Beijing woke up tomorrow with an unprecedented enthusiasm for intervention, China is about as well prepared for a middle eastern conflict, even if it only extends to supplying lend lease which in most potentialities it would, as a snowball is for a summer in hell. Russia is of course Russia. Not only do they have their own US-backed war to deal with at the moment, but if the annexation of Artsakh is any indication they’re more than happy to sit on their ass while their allies get overrun, and Iran isn’t even a CTSO member. The options are so dire though purely because of the US leviathan standing behind its snarling lapdog, and those atomic spearheads the Israelis have thus far kept holstered but are itching to draw. The Arab capitalists have a clear avenue to sit tight and keep accumulating wealth, the Israelis have complete and unwavering support for their genocide; the only people who lose are the Palestinians. I hope I’m wrong
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[ID: An art nouveau building’s top floor from the outside; decorative capitals top the building and set into an archway clearly meant for it is a painting of a woman in medieval robes, holding a sword blade-downward. Carved underneath in marble relief is the word “Giustizia”.]
One of the cool buildings I saw in Rome, which I didn’t get to photograph well or write much about at the time, was the building across from the Great Synagogue, the Villino Astengo. This is a photo (not mine) of a painting on the top floor exterior; one of the reasons I researched the building was this mural and the one across from it showing Scienza. You can see both paintings plus a number of fascinating architectural touches here. Legge and Verita (Law and Truth) are paintings I didn’t see and I’m not sure can be photographed based on where the wall they’re painted on is situated.
Wikipedia tells us it was built as a show of wealth by a pair of brothers, Giulio and Carlo Astengo, on the edge of Rome’s Jewish ghetto, which by the time it was built was being uh, urban renovated? Basically the city had been doing public works to stop the constant flooding from the Tiber overflowing, and once that was under control the Ghetto was a lot more appealing as a place to build and reside. (I couldn’t determine in basic googling if the Astengo brothers were Jewish but I’m guessing not based on their social status in Italy.)
It’s no longer a single home, and unclear whether it only houses businesses now or also has residential units. In googling I did come across a listing for the basement office, four rooms and about the same square footage as I have in my home; it’ll set you back about $600K and looks faintly hideous inside, but I suppose the beauty of the outside is what really matters in this case....
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White Liberalism in Carnival Row
Season one starts off well enough.
Vignette's abuse at the hands of her "employers" is hauntingly realistic. Blending elements of classism into the fantasy racism that is the main conflict of the story. The scene where she finds the library she was caretaker of back in Tirnanoc is incredibly pointed criticism of how everything in western museums is stolen.
Philo being the only member of the Constabulary who actually cares about the Fae minority because he is half Fae. Trying, and failing, to change anything from within the system to the point he's arrested for hiding his mixed heritage. And eventually deciding to abandon the Constabulary altogether at the end of the first season.
Piety Breakspear's appropriation of Fae magic to attack innocent people in an attempt to protect her status and power.
Jonah Breakspear and Sophie Longerbane joining forces to turn the Row into a ghetto/concentration camp despite ostensibly being sympathetic and/or apathetic to Fae. Showing how the aristocratic ruling class will do anything to promote their own interests.
And yet the fall from biting social commentary into white Liberalism is present even here.
Agreus Astrayon is a rich faun. Who made his fortune by hunting down his own kind who "broke contract" and tried to escape from indentured servitude. In exchange for his own freedom. And in season two it's revealed that he also convinced others to sign exploitative contracts. Abusing the trust his own people had in him to build his wealth.
Which makes his speal promoting the virtues of assimilation and collaboration that much more grating. Agreus is played by a black actor.
Making the connection between the character talking about "working within the system" and real life black conservatives perhaps an inevitable comparison. Remember that at this time all Fae are forced to live in a ghetto they weren't allowed to leave. A ghetto with such filthy conditions that a plague is ravaging the fairy population.
A ghetto Agreus never had to live in because he had to leave the country after defending himself against a human man in his own home.
Sophie Longerbane is made "sympathetic" by showing her regret her part in making the Row a ghetto... Which comes across as quite shallow and meaningless as it changes nothing about her actions.
But worse, when she's arrested Sophie goes into a rant about how much she's been wronged by the men of the ruling class. And how men are the root of all problems... She says this to Vignette.
A fae who has directly suffered due to Sophie's actions against the Fae.
A fairie whose society is matriarchal.
And instead of dismissing the self pitying oppressor spouting white feminism Vignette is "moved" by her privileged viewpoint.
Philo has an epiphany in season two: all his work as a member of the Constabulary, as a soldier in the Burgue's army, hurt his people and contributed to the oppression they faced... And all that is swept away because his friend is killed.
The New Dawn is an unsubtle fantasy equivalent of Communism. The movement that achieved class solidarity between humans and Fae against the ruling class. Is just Communism.
That is why Agreus' naivety about the virtues of capitalist racism can be portrayed as "in the right". Because obviously rebellion is worse.
That is why protecting the most racist constable on the force is the "right thing to do". Because if you just coddle racists enough they'll realize they were wrong. And hey! At least they're not Communists!
Carnival Row started as a flawed show with potential. But it squandered that potential in favor of white Liberalism that is shown in the actual show to be nonesense.
Because at the end there was nothing stopping the Burgue from reconquering Tirnanoc like they wanted to. There was nothing stopping them from keeping the Fae in ghettos and only letting out "skilled workers" like Sophie planned.
There is no evidence that Philo was actually the illegitimate son of the previous chancellor but he was still given the option of becoming the next one.
The Burgue just suffered it's most devastating "terrorist attack", two chancellor's in a row were assassinated by Fae and we're expected to believe that the Burgue just magically decided to be less racist?
After allowing a race riot to sweep across Carnival Row and a foreign power to radicalize their second class citizens!?
The naivety is astounding.
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Thoughts on Napoleon (2023)
Saw the Napoleon movie last night and was pretty disappointed. It was my most anticipated film this year and wow... maybe the 4-hour cut is better? Because this movie just felt psychologically shallow and overly compressed. 2 1/2 hours just isn't enough time to cover three decades of history.
Not that this film is good history. I cringed at Ridley Scott's pathetic defense of his historical inaccuracies: "You weren't there, I wasn't there, stfu, I can do whatever I want." Did anyone tell Ridley about this thing called primary sources? Or historical records? Or biographies and history books? Like, THAT'S HOW WE KNOW ABOUT HISTORICAL EVENTS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Like, I was prepared for basic inaccuracies when I saw how they depicted Marie Antoinette's execution in the trailer (no shorn hair, not in white). But man... they really oversimplify the French Revolution and never go into why Napoleon is such a fascinating historical figure, both revered and despised, with an incredibly complicated legacy.
Agnes Poirer's review has a great passage which sums up my frustration with the film as a Napoleon biopic:
"[Ridley Scott] even seems ignorant of the fact that there are two men in Napoleon: there is Bonaparte, a hero of the French Revolution who gave France and Europe institutions of the Enlightenment era that still exist today, and who liberated Jewish communities from their European ghettos; and there is Napoleon, the hero turned weary authoritarian ruler, whose military campaigns drained a whole nation of its youth and wealth. Beyond facts, Scott’s great historical deficiency is to ignore the politics; instead giving us Napoleon’s tactics on the battlefield as a mirror to his sex life. It’s inept, crass and boring."
There's often the sentiment that historically inaccurate movies can be forgiven somewhat if they make for compelling drama. The problem with Napoleon is that the real history IS compelling drama and Scott's film is just shallow spectacle with the occasional goofy gag masquerading as satire. The filmmakers seem to be going for dark comedy, but the approach only sporadically works because much of the humor falls flat (I saw this in an almost full theater and the comedy scenes mostly played to dead silence-- I felt secondhand embarrassment for the actors at times). The humor just consists of Napoleon being awkward or shouting meme-able things ("DESTINY HAS BROUGHT ME THIS LAMB CHOP!" *tries to start food fight*). Yeah, The Death of Stalin it is not.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance is also one-note and static-- his Napoleon never seems to age, visually or inwardly, and he never captures the man's famous charisma, so I never bought that any army would possess an ounce of loyalty to him. Vanessa Kirby fares better as the alluring and tragic Josephine, but even her performance felt compromised and choppy-- probably due to this being whittled down from the 4-hour cut.
Aside from Phoenix's Grumpy Cat face Napoleon and Kirby's Josephine, none of the other characters leave much of an impression, good or bad. Historical figures flit in and out of the story, barely making more than uninteresting cameos. I felt like I was watching a clipshow for a miniseries, not a self-contained movie. If you don't know the basic outline of the history being depicted, I can only imagine how confusing this movie must be.
Ugh, this was just so disappointing! I was never bored while watching it, but I just left the theater empty. The more I think about it, the less I like it.
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1. Classification – Dividing people into ‘them’ and ‘us’. (Palestinian civilians referred to as “terrorists”, look at any gov official, they say it themself)
2. Symbolisation – Forcing groups to wear or be associated with symbols which identify them as different. (Worker ID tags on ankles. Color of ID determines how much can even move, if can event get an id to begin with. Can purchase but not guaranteed.
3. Discrimination – Excluding groups from participating in civil society, such as by excluding them from voting or certain places. (East Jerusalemites were denied or delayed for citizenship. Restricting Water Access for Palestinians, but ensures plentiful access for Israel. Road Restrictions , American Road , More of road restrictions . Many Palestinians (not all) aren’t able to vote, Those coming to visit Palestine are faced with harsh restrictions by Israel. Color of ID determines how much can even move, if can event get an id to begin with. Can purchase but not guaranteed. Travel permits for aid struggles.
4. Dehumanisation – To deny the humanity of one group, and associate them with animals or diseases in order to belittle them.(Go on really any gov officials for Israel they call them animals all the time, remember the children of darkness and children of light comment? Shirts of pregnant Palestinians with a cross hair. Palestinians are tried to military court. Palestinians held without charge indefinitely. Children have most difficulty getting aid as they have hardest time traveling due to IDs needing to be for 16+, those under age have to travel with someone 55+. Facial Recognition of West Bank Civilians. Blockades and caloric counting
5. Organization – Training police or army units and providing them with weapons and knowledge in order to persecute a group in future. (IDF veterans talks of their violent treatment of Palestinians. , Facial Recognition of West Bank Civilians. )
6. Polarisation – Using propaganda to polarise society, create distance and exclude a group further. Some examples:
7. Preparation – Planning of mass murder and identifying specific victims. (Desiring Gaza to be flattened. ,The Gospel AI targets, if it truly was for Hamas, why are so many children being killed, Short Selling of Stock, Knew of the planned attack a year ago, Development of more settlements, Using unguided “dumb” bombs, Razing Cemeteries, False claims to Al-Shifa, “Voluntary” Emigration, Planned Settlements , Destroying more graves, Dug up graves to destroy them, Cutting of water, Unable to use rain water, Control of water, Israeli children singing to annihilate Gaza, Child being taken hostage in 2013, Desire to level Gaza
8. Persecution – Incarcerating groups in ghettos or concentration camps , forcibly displacing groups, expropriating property, belongings or wealth. (Incarcerations 1 , 2 , Displacement, IDF ransacking homes, Burning food more ransacking, Stealing cigarettes, Stealing jewelry, Detaining at the border, Stealing pets, Kidnapping a baby, liquidate the ghetto, Taking and abusing UNRWA school civilians and stripping them
9. Extermination – Committing mass murder. (20K and counting), Killing doctors and nurses, vowing not to stop till complete quiet, Blockades where people are being killed and ambulances being restricted, Targeting PRCS , Residential buildings being bombed, UN schools bombed, Over 100 journalists killed, Journalists targeted , Use of White Phospherus, More PRCS Volunteers killed, Increased hospital shortages due to bombings, Decomposed Babies in hospital, due to lack of aid there is a rise in diseases, lack of aid now has COVID spreading,
10. Denial – Denial of any crimes. This does not necessarily mean denying that the acts of murder happened, but denying that these acts were a crime, and were in fact justified. (Look at any social media, it’s rampant everywhere, it’s all for “defense.”)
Stages of Holocaust Genocide
#End Israels Genocide#free palestine#Free Gaza#free west bank#stop the killing#and this is just some of what they’ve done there’s way more
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Puerto Rican Jewish poet & activist Aurora Levins Morales speaks on solidarity & the history of antisemitism
From her poem "Red Sea":
...We cannot cross until we carry each other,
all of us refugees, all of us prophets.
No more taking turns on history's wheel,
trying to collect old debts no-one can pay.
The sea will not open that way.
This time that country
is what we promise each other,
our rage pressed cheek to cheek
until tears flood the space between,
until there are no enemies left,
because this time no one will be left to drown
and all of us must be chosen.
This time it's all of us or none.
I was deeply moved by an article on Levins Morales' website in which she examines modern-day Israel through a zoomed-out lens of millennia of antisemitism:
‘Long before that state was founded out of the ashes of genocide and at the expense of a colonized Arab people, Jews were the shock absorbers of Europe's class societies, "Middle Agents" drafted into being the local representatives of distant and definitely Christian ruling classes who alternately exploited and persecuted them while squeezing the life blood out of Europe's peasants and workers.'
People are often confused by anti-Semitism. They see many US Jews accumulating wealth, moving up, gaining positions of influence, and they say, "What oppression?"...
The whole point of anti-Semitism has been to create a vulnerable buffer group that can be bribed with some privileges into managing the exploitation of others, and then, when social pressure builds, be blamed and scapegoated, distracting those at the bottom from the crimes of those at the top. Peasants who go on pogrom against their Jewish neighbors won't make it to the nobleman's palace to burn him out and seize the fields. This was the role of Jews in Europe. This has been the role of Jews in the United States, and this is the role of Jews in the Middle East…’
Levins Morales explains those “buffer” roles in detail, describes how Latin@s are often put in these roles as well, and then brings up an author who said of Israelis, “given all they’ve endured, they should know better.” She responds to this with this insight:
‘Trauma doesn't make people into better human beings. Most of the time, trauma just makes people terrified and easier to manipulate. It makes starving Irish tenants fleeing a devastating famine willing to own slaves or homestead Native American land or police the ghettos they used to live in. It makes the formerly kidnapped and enslaved willing to set up shop in Liberia and hold their African kin in contempt. It makes the survivors of Hitler's Final Solution be willing to become harsh colonial masters, agents of US oil greed and militarism, to bulldoze the villages of Palestinians to make Jewish settlements, torture and kill those who resist, and still insist they are the victims here. People who have faced destruction don't necessarily know better.’
While naming that trauma doesn’t make people “better,” just leaves them terrified and grasping at any sense of security they can, Levins Morales is also sure to note how Jews have always been “disproportionately present in movements for social justice wherever [they] have landed.” To her, fighting antisemitism means supporting Jewish integrity, the Jewish commitment to justice and compassion.
Furthermore, solidarity with the people of Israel and Palestine alike depends on our clear stand against antisemitism in our own communities, because, she says,
'The central justification for Israeli militarism and the subjugation of Palestinians is the belief that Jews are alone in the world, that no-one will fight for us, that the next time Jews are blamed and attacked, most of the world's people will stand by and watch.'
Only through all of us standing up to antisemitism and standing side by side with our Jewish neighbors, she says, can Jews feel secure enough to “abandon the middle agent role and get the backs of other peoples, knowing that they also have ours."
It is this vision of interdependence and mutual aid that Levins Morales brings into her poem “Red Sea," which imagines the kind of liberation when Moses parted the Red Sea happening today — but only if we support one another.
#solidarity#fighting antisemitism#aurora levins morales#poets for palestine#free palestine#antisemitism
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Headcanon, because I am an angsty bitch.
Thinking about Jango x Cad a bit. I have a lot of ideas stewing, but one in particular addresses Todo 360's role in Cad Bane's life after the death of Jango Fett.
I have thoughts about them, many thoughts. To shorten my perspective, he was mentor (canon), partner, business associate, and lover to Cad Bane.
I see them together in his early years as a hunter. They were most likely in competition with each other. Maybe Fett passed down a few tips and tricks. I am foreseeing enemies to lovers and a bit of a brat-taming scenario here.
Cad had a temper. Imagine what he was like in his youth. He was pretty feisty in the Clone Wars. I like to think about what he was like when he was first starting out and trying to prove himself.
I also like to imagine the homelife he had back on Duro, living in the ghetto, and how that helped to shape his personality and most likely gave him a warped sense of reality where he constantly feels the need to horde his wealth for a rainy day, maybe, or maybe he gets a taste of the good life and winds up blowing it every which way to the wind, thus the need for a constant supply of credits. But, I digress.
He rarely trusts anyone, for starters. To let Fett in is to drop his guard. I think Cad might even grow to love him in his own way, though perhaps it is never voiced out loud.
Maybe Jango feels a little of the same, but maybe the "clone contract" causes a rift in their relationship. I don't see Bane being fine with a million of his favorite person out wandering about. It's unethical, it's weird, it doesn't make sense. He gets the money aspect, but he's offput.
I see them having a falling out. Maybe Jango wanted the money to lead a good life, a simple life, with his son. Maybe he thought Bane might be a part of it. Bane resents Boba. The man had a kid without telling him, and worse yet, a genetic clone in some weird science experiment that gives him the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it, and now there's a whole army of them!
Worst comes to worst. Jango's off his game. He dies. Cad finds out, never having closure, never getting to say sorry, never getting to say goodbye, and now he has to come to terms with the fact his lover's face is millions strong all across the galaxy. Talk about PTSD.
He can hardly take it; he kills them every chance he gets. He knows how they operate; he knew how Jango operated. He takes trophies, helmets. "Once ye figure one out, de rest are easy."
He finds Todo, buys him, acquires him somehow. I have not yet decided. Part of me wants to say he was in a dumpster and he fixes him up for this one job, but the droid takes to him.
The little shit comes back. He's loyal. He's there for him. He doesn't mind he's a grump. He provides conversation; stimulation in the otherwise solitary hours he spends in space. He becomes a comfort, someone to talk to, somehow to fill the void that Jango left behind.
He tries to mentor Boba. He means well, he just can't bring himself to do it. He drinks himself stupid and pulls one crazy stunt too many and Boba is done. They have their duel.
Maybe Bane harbors regrets. He owed Jango this one favor; do right by his kid, and he can't even do that.
Maybe Bane's depressed. Todo 360 helps him alleviate his ails. He's his "most trusted confidant."
.
.
.
Anyway, this is the direction my fic is going.
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Noble people, I speak to you from the heart. There is no future or past. You all know that I am witness to this. There is no aging. There is only changing. What can this progress my challenger speaks of really be? You who live in the declining and abandoned places of great cities, called barrios, ghettos, and favelas: What is archaic? What is modern? We are both.
The myth of the first world is that development is wealth and technology progress. It is all rubbish. It means that you are no longer human beings but only labor. It means that the land you live on is not earth bud only property. It means that what you produce with your own hands is not yours to eat or wear or shelter you if you cannot buy it. . . .
I defend my title for life and death. The life of our people or the death of our people.
—Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange
#books#quotes#text#us literature#literature#karen tei yamashita#tropic of orange#writing about time#writing about place#writing about people#imperialism#colonialism#development#capitalism
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