#go learn about iran
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if i see any posts that are supporting hamas, i am going to instantly report the blog to tumblr as glorifying terrorism. i dont expect anything to be done, but im sick of the one sidedness of the goyim of this website, and at least theyll be blocked from me.
i will not stand for anyone supporting a group that forcibly makes jews, hindus, druze, buddists, atheists, zoroastrians, sikhs, jains, and christians pay a jizyah, convert, or die.
thats what hamas is. go learn about arab colonialism.
#the oppressed are united#hamas is ISIS#go learn about india#go learn about iran#and whats happening there now#cultural erasure#ethnic cleansing#we will not be erased
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Getting emotional because I just had the realization that if they manage to overthrow the regime I can actually got to Iran.
#I have wanted this for my entire life#I can't believe it might be happening soon#the fact that I'm iranian has always been super important to me#I speak farsi#I cook persian food#I'm literally learning to read and write in farsi#there was a point in my life where I was questioning everything about my identity#and I clung to my iranianess like a lifeline#because it's something that is a fact#I grew up hearing stories about prerevolution Iran#and now something I've longed for my whole life is getting close to being reality#okay now I'm going to go reread persepolis
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out of context things heard in wayne manor:
bruce: i understand, but pretending you cooked jerry the turkey is not a proportionate response to damian calling you a peasant again
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jason: look there’s a right way and a wrong way to make food. there’s also the bruce way, which is the wrong way except faster and worse
duke: *frantically scribbling notes*
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tim: do you think our relationship was kinda like incest now?
steph, horrified: never open your mouth in my presence again timothy
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dick: so then he’s like—guys. guys are you seriously signing about me in front of my face. i learned it too—hey i do NOT have a butt chin take that back—
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damian: i don’t understand, why does he wear such a ridiculous hat? is it like that margaret poppins woman grayson showed me?
tim, who watched the live action cat in the hat too much as a kid and is about to violently infodump: well you see-
dick: oh god it’s too late
jason: yeah the brats on his own for this one i’m not fucking dealing with that again
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bruce: are you lying?
tim: always. anyway, like i was saying—
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steph: hey what’s up with you and all the redheads
dick: …i’m not discussing this with you
steph, starting to chase him: gingervitus is a serious affliction! you cant run from this
dick, sprinting away: yes the fuck i can
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duke: so is anyone gonna talk about the elephant in the room…
dick:
dick: look i was feeling sentimental and zitka jr. really isn’t any trouble
damian: she is magnificent
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tim: so i dropped out and
duke: wait we can drop out of high school??!!?
bruce: NO.
duke: please bruce ap biology is beating my ass right now
jason: nah tim just got to drop cause bruce was dead and he’s a loser. the real problem is what you’re reading in ap lit right now, because i have thoughts on that curriculum—
duke: i’m not even gonna use half that material in the real world
tim: actually most of our villains have PhDs so their plans are based on pretty real science
duke: not helping timothy
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cass, signing: why are brothers on the ceiling?
jason: tims in timeout from working on his caseload
cass, still confused: yes but why taped to the ceiling
duke: listen if you know a better way of restraining his psycho ass then i’m all ears
cass: and damian?
jason: oh he saw this as free range target practice so he had to go up there too
cass: they are plotting revenge up there
duke: think of it as brotherly bonding
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damian: it’s not my fault he got in the way
bruce: you threw an eclair at lex luthor
damian: i was aiming for drake
tim: bruce we can’t take him anywhere
dick, holding back laughter: timmy you paid four separate people to come to the gala solely to ask lex if they could use his head to see if they had something in their teeth
tim: you have no proof that was me
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duke: look steph, it’s not that we don’t want to help with this
jason: i don’t want to help
duke: it’s more that i don’t think we can physically fit that many people in a shopping cart, and your whole plan kind of hinges on that
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alfred: i’m not mad, just disappointed in you.
every batkid, near tears: sorry alfred
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jason: HE HAD DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY AS THE FUCKING WHAT—
bruce: listen—
tim, mouth full and brain empty: the ambassador to iran. crazy right?
dick: tim please
#batfam#dc#bruce wayne#dick grayson#jason todd#tim drake#duke thomas#cassandra cain#stephanie brown#damian wayne#batfamily#batman
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Levant history/present situation question: do you know why Egypt isn't taking in refugees from Gaza? Thanks for offering to answer questions
Hey! Sorry this took so long for me to answer; I just had a 72-hour work week and my brain was spaghetti. Let’s see what I can do here.
So first, I’m going to say a lot of this is going to be educated guesses because there’s a lot that’s unknown. With that said, I don’t think any of these guesses are unreasonable.
To begin with, Egypt’s stated reason is that they think if Palestinians are allowed to settle in Egypt, they’ll never be able to go back to Israel. I think this is true, as far as it goes; that’s certainly a valid concern about the current war.
With that said, I don’t think that’s the only reason. Until 1967, Egypt actually controlled the Gaza Strip; it lost possession thereof in the Six-Day War, which Israel initiated after Egypt blockaded all shipping to Israel. What it discovered during that time is that Palestine is difficult to maintain, manage, or rule; Israel offered to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt after its victory in the war but didn’t include Gaza in this offer, and Egypt didn’t fight for it. I suspect at least part of the lessons they learned before 1967 lead to their reluctance now. (Incidentally, Jordan also learned this lesson. They expelled their Palestinians and stopped trying to retake the West Bank around the same time.)
Palestinians also have a tendency to bring terrorism with them when they move. They’ve been expelled from several countries as a result, including Kuwait, where they backed Saddam Hussein’s invasion and annexation attempt. I’d imagine this plays a role, as well; the big players in Gaza (mostly Hamas these days) are open admirers of terrorism. Egypt has a peace agreement with Israel, and taking in a group known to commit pogroms and to have endorsed genocide of the Jewish people would probably not go over well for them, especially given the US backs Israel.
The third reason I suspect is at play is one that does disservice to Israelis and Palestinians both, and it’s another reason the UN and UNWRA are hopelessly corrupt. Let me show you three people living in America:
This is Ahmed. His parents were targeted in Afghanistan by al-Qaeda in the 1990s, and fled to America. Here, Ahmed put down roots, and applied for citizenship when he was 22.
This is a second Ahmed. His grandparents fled Iran when the Ayatollah took power. His parents were born in the US, and so was Ahmed.
This is a third Ahmed. His great-grandparents left Israel-Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Ahmed’s grandparents, parents, and Ahmed himself were all born on US soil. Ahmed has never set foot in the MENA region—not Palestine, not Israel, not Egypt or Iraq or Iran or Sudan or ANYWHERE. He grew up in a middle-class home in Illinois and speaks no Arabic; indeed, the only reason he has an Arabic name is because he was named for his grandfather. His friends mostly call him Eddie. Ahmed has expressed little to no interest in Palestine.
One of the three Ahmeds is considered a refugee by the UN. Do you know which one?
…..yeah.
Palestinians are the only group on earth for whom this is true, by the way. If you’re a refugee from anywhere else, you stop being a refugee the moment you get citizenship in a new country, and only people who actually fled a country—not their descendants born elsewhere—are considered refugees. Hell, Palestinians BORN IN GAZA OR THE WEST BANK AND STILL LIVING THERE are considered refugees. You literally cannot be of Palestinian descent and not be a refugee.
So my suspicion for the actual biggest reason is this special treatment Palestinians receive from the UN. Egypt would be in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation in which giving the Palestinians citizenship would be seen as “ceding to Israel” but not doing so would be “contributing to the plight of Palestinians,” and no amount of aid they provided would ever be considered enough. Frankly if I was the leader of a country I wouldn’t want to take them in under those conditions either. (Hence why I say the UN is doing a disservice to the Palestinians with this—they’re disincentivizing countries that might otherwise help.)
So there you have it: their stated reason and also what I think are some reasonable suppositions as to further reasons.
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I've seen non Iranians admiring the Islamic Republic national football team for not singing the national anthem. And then they were confused as to why iranians were happy that the team lost. Yes not singing the anthem might have consequences for them, but it won't change the fact that these people went to visit Raisi, the Islamic Republic president and bowed to him, posed happily for pictures while we were dealing with Kiam Pirfalak news, and said they don't care about politics and what's going on Iran in an interview, stating that they will focus on the game only. Not singing the anthem is nothing in comparison. And you might think they were under pressure. So were other athletes in Iran, let's see what they did:
Picture on the right is Elnaz Rekabi, an Iranian rock climber who was the first athlete to take off her hijab during Mahsa Amini protests to show her solidarity with people. She's currently under house arrest. she wasn't the first Iranian woman ever doing that. On the left, that's Shohreh Bayat, her story is so sad.
In many interviews I've seen of her, she always cries when she says her story. She was to referee the final of the Women's World Chess Championship a couple of years ago. While in another country she decided to wear her hijab loosely in an act of rebellion. She got warning from Islamic Republic twice and everytime she made it worse. She was asked to apologize but she refused, saying that she wouldn't apologize for what she believes in. At last, even though she wasn't ready to leave everything behind and start from scratch in a foreign country, she decided to ditch the compulsory hijab completely and never come back to Iran, because her life would be in danger if she did. Because of her choice she can't come back to visit her family anymore. her family supported her which made the authorities to force her father to resign (her father was the president of chess association in Gilan, Iran).
Then we had Iranian national beach soccer team. I think they were the first group who refused to sing Islamic republic national anthem. And after they got threatened to sing the anthem, they did something even more iconic. One of the players cut his imaginary hair after he scored.
Then we had these two scenes after scoring. They were recreating an inhuman thing Islamic republic did. The guy on the right is Khodanoor Lajei. He was murdered on bloody Friday in Zahedan. He was a Baloch guy. I'm going to post about Balochs and the thing that's been done to them by Islamic republic in details. For now know that this guy got killed in protests but this picture of him is for a couple of months back. He insulted a Basiji guy or something, Islamic republic police chained him to a pole in the middle of the city to make him an example for others, after beating him. When he asked for water they brought him a cup but they put it out of his reach in front of him and laughed at his thirst. (You see why we hate Islamic Republic, IRGC and Basij?!) The picture got out only after his death because Baloch people didn't think the rest of Iran would care about them enough to react. That broke my heart unspeakably much.
With so much bravery, our national girl's basketball team has been posting photos without mandatory hijab ever since the protests have begun.
Last but not least, Parmida Ghasemi, iranian archer ditching mandatory hijab inside of iran. She took it out for receiving the prize and while she was being photographed.
(Btw, non of these women "forgot" their hijab accidentally. If you're iranian you learn to never forget your hijab since you're 7, the age you start school. Without a formal head wearing you won't be allowed to attend school classes. When you grow up with it, you'll get used to it. You have no idea how weird it feels to not wear a veil in public, I'm still getting used to it.)
we've witnessed many iconic brave moves by our athletes but non of them said we don't give a shit about what's happening in Iran before the game. I'm not saying they won't be redeemed one day, I'm just saying they should work to win their respect back.
#iran news#iran#mahsa amini#iran protests#human rights#politics#sports#middle east#archery#basketball#football#soccer#qatar world cup#beach football#chess#rock climbing#iran revolution#revolutionary athletes#civil disobedience
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Dear Neil.
There's a tragedy happening in Iran, we're being shot in the streets, my brothers and sisters are dying, my government is committing war crimes and as a fellow human being I'm desperately asking for your help to raise awareness.
Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old woman who was brutally murdered by the Islamic Republic of Iran's so-called "morality police." Her crime? Showing hair in public and "dressing inappropriately." Any human being with a pair of working eyes who has seen pictures of her prior to her murder can see that not only was her dress not inappropriate, but also that she (and a lot of women in Iran) had covered herself more than any other woman in any other part of world is obligated to.This sparked fury among the people of Iran and a wave of nation-wide protests broke out as the result. But don't get it wrong. This was only the straw that broke the camel's back and was the result of 43 years of unmitigated oppression and cruelty that the people of Iran have been subjected to. Every Iranian is branded a Muslim from birth and they're not given a choice. You cannot identify as an atheist and other religious minorities are treated horribly with a lot of their rights stripped from them. There's been a long history of cruelty against Bahai people in Iran, for example. We're not forced to be muslims in name only. We're also forced to act like muslims and learn all the muslim teachings, hijab being one of the many ideals shoved down our throat. And of course, converting from Islam to other religions or no religion is punishable by death. This savagery is not part of our culture or law; it is not part of any humanitarian law to kill women for showing hair and exercising their right to bodily autonomy for that matter.Up until now, the government forces have been violent and ruthless in their attempts to stump out our protests. They've shot people from a 63 year old woman to a 10 year old girl, killing them all without mercy. The Internet has been cut out in several places and reportedly, they've brought out tanks and used military-grade bullets in the city of Sanandaj, where the Internet has been shut down for two days as of September 21. Meanwhile, president Ibrahim Raisi is giving a lecture in the UN, babbling about saving the people of Palestine and justice in the world while his own forces are brutally murdering ordinary people and protesters in Iran.At this point, we're in danger of being cut off from the world when the whole internet finally shuts down. This is not a speculation. The same thing happened in the nation-wide protests of 2019 and the government proceeded to kill all the protesters in absolute radio silence. A lot of protesters were found with cement blocks tied to their ankles and thrown in the river after the successfully stumped the protests out. We don't want the same thing to happen to our children and people again. If you hear no more news from Iran, things haven't settled down. We are being silently killed off and executed.You might think you don't have anything to do with this, but think again about why you all involved yourselves in the war between Ukraine and Russia. This is not any different. Our people have waged a war against their government and none of them are people who willingly chose violence. They are normal people who want nothing more than a normal life, which is what the Islamic regime has taken from them. If you have an ounce of humanity and empathy within yourself, you'll spread the word around and not let this injustice go unanswered and unpunished.There's nothing more to be said.
As an Iranian woman who always read your books and who always raised up her voice, I need help now. We can Breathe anymore! I fought for poc, I raised my voice for ukraine. Now I need yours. I'm a young author. I can have a future... a free one! but my government took it from me. Please be my voice ... our voice!!
I'm happy to let people know, yes. And it's heartbreaking.
Here's the BBC on what's happening:
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A little hope in these dark times
I have previously talked about the token "Good Jews" that I know. One of them is dear to me so whenever they share something that is blatantly false I will then reach out. Each time they are receptive and delete the offending post and it allows us to have a conversation. In each instance they go "Oh, I didn't know that."
That's the important part.
They're Jewish, but they didn't know better.
This friend was born into a Jewish family, went through all the standard Reform milestones, but after 13 they stopped engaging. Being Jewish became a tertiary thing for them and did not necessarily matter. As such they did not learn about the history of our people, the actions taken against us, and other major events outside of what they learned through high school and from their social circle (of which is mainly made of goys, so it's wild they take Jewish history from non-Jews).
How do I know this?
In our most recent exchange they shared something from IG that stated the persecution of Jews only happened in the West (read: Wester European Christian majority countries and the USA) and never is Muslim countries. I reached out and said this is demonstrably false and referred them to the Shiraz incident(s) that happened in the late 19th and early 20th century. They tried to double down and imply that the persecution that occurred in these pogroms was somehow exported to Iran from the USA at this time. So of course I gave examples of persecution prior to the colonist arriving in the USA.
The response?
"Oh...this is deeper than I thought."
And they further admitted they had only a basic understanding of Jewish history that wouldn't even fulfill a 101 course.
So it looks like they are finally grasping that the posts they are sharing from goy on Jewish history and events are in fact wrong and they need to become educated on their people's actual history. My fingers are crossed that this will actually happen and they won't fall back into being a token and share misinformation.
And as always, this is my own personal experience and interactions. I'm not saying this is true for all tokens, this is for one particular instance with someone I care for.
#jumblr#activism#Token Jews learning their history and realizing they're being lied to by the people tokenizing them#Learning Jewish history helps fight misinformation about us
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what does your username mean?
Cat ghost.
As child. Would go to library, to look at books about creatures, with a pen and notepad. Or sit before a television watching "nature" documentary stuff, with a pen and notepad. Was fixated on habitats. The context. Did not like to isolate an individual creature from the wider ecological community. This led to interest in geography, distribution range maps. Was aware that, in popular perception, some creatures were strongly associated with a particular place. "Lion is an African animal. Tiger is an Asian animal." Allegedly. And other stereotypes (many of them, I would later come to learn, due to chauvinism, exoticism, Orientalism, colonialism, etc.). Came across a kind of large textbook on wild cats. Saw the historical distribution maps. Only a few centuries ago, tigers were in Anatolia, the Caucasus, near the shores of the Black Sea. Was intrigued. From the middle of the twentieth century onward, the lion and cheetah were so closely associated with Africa, where like over 99% of their range was located. And yet. There remains a small remnant population of nearly-extinct Asiatic lions far away within India''s borders. And there remains a small remnant population of nearly-extinct Asiatic cheetahs within Iran's borders. And all that space, in between, where both cats were now extinct. Only 100 years ago, tiger, lion, leopard, and cheetah all lived generally near each other, still, in eastern Anatolia, near Mesopotamia, etc. And now, only a few dozen wild native cheetah remain on the entire continent of Asia.
"Cheetah". The word for this cat is from South Asia. Through Hindi, from Sanskrit.
"What happened?" I read on. Cheetahs were present within the national borders of what is now India, along with tigers, lions, and leopards. By the 1500s, there was a tradition in South Asia, where some in the Mughal aristocracy enjoyed using cheetahs as companions in sport hunting. The cats would be captured in the wild, and then trained, and then brought along on royal hunts. The cat was the star athlete, goaded into chasing down prey, for the entertainment of the hunting party. There are elaborate paintings, commissioned by Mughal courts and some now displayed in collections of European museums, depicting trained cheetah hunts. It has since been popularly said that Akbar was particularly fond of cheetahs. (Akbar the Great was the "emperor" who is credited often for consolidating Mughal state power across India, solidifying regional power by building administrative systems/structures in India ["forging an empire out of fiefdoms"] that would later eventually be manipulated and overtaken by the British Empire. According to some tellings of the historical narrative.)
Accurate or not, it was said that at any one time, Akbar possessed one thousand cheetahs. A vast royal menagerie. The names of several of the most celebrated cheetahs are still known. In some stories, when he was still young, Akbar was presented with a gift. His very first cheetah: Fatehbaz.
This disturbed me. A child, reading this book, I was upset by the idea of such a vast menagerie of wild animals. Large wild animals, with great need for food, space, enrichment. I was upset by the exploitation of captive wild animals as displays of aristocratic wealth, not just in the Mughal state(s), but also those menageires and exhibitions elsewhere, both earlier and later in time: the royal hunts of Assyrian kings, the Roman arenas, Charlemagne's elephants, European circuses.
So, as a child, I imagined that Fatehbaz resisted the captivity. Like in a daydream, a fantasy. I imagined a royal menagerie breaking free from restraint. I imagined elephants and rhinos and tigers and lions and leopards and jackals and crocodiles. I imagined the beasts attacking an emperor's court. But there are now less than one hundred cheetahs which survive in the wild in Asia. And when Mughal statecraft gave way to European statecraft, when Britain moved into South Asia, the bounty hunting specifically targeted big cats. And, meanwhile, the cats were confronted indirectly with habitat destruction, commodity crop monocultures, industrial-scale resource extraction. So I came to imagine the ghosts of cats. The ghost of a cheetah like Fatehbaz on the Indus plain. The ghost of a jaguar in the Sonoran desert. The ghost of a lion on the Mediterranean coast. The ghost of a tiger on the Amu Darya shore beyond Bukhara, where even the Aral Sea itself has vanished.
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DAY 5881
Jalsa, Mumbai Mar 25/26, 2024 Mon/Tue 12:06 AM
Birthday - EF - Maryam Roustaeiyanpour .. greetings and happiness always on this day and many more days .. from the Ef family ..❤️🌹
🪔 ,
March 26 .. birthday greetings to Ef Maryam Roustaeiyanpour from Iran 🇮🇷 .. we remember you always .. and we pray for your wellness and happiness .. love from the Ef Family ever .. ❤️
At times , in a situation which has no individual involve or personal connect, the mind, on witnessing the happening takes sides .. a game, for example .. you desire inwardly that the spirit of the game should prevail and 'may the better team win' .. but inwardly you side one and desire victory for it .. at times it does not work and the side effects of it last .. the disappointment drives you to feel as though you yourself have lost or been defeated ..
And then ..
Another game begins ..
And the one you so inwardly wish to succeed, wins and there is an exuberance as though you were responsible for its victory ..
Yesterday, in a game we were defeated .. well just about .. tonight we won .. just about .. and the feelings hover about us .. in both situations ..
Life throws this dice so often before us .. never know until it stops rolling which side is it going to stop and face up ..
Whoever throws the dice has the unwanted responsibility of the final result ..
But the dice is a dice .. a material over which your command or performance responsibility is not within your hands .. or your wished mind ..
So you learn to accept .. or disrespect it ..
Acceptance , gives one the yearning and countenance , albeit in an imaginary environ, of saintly demeanour - of Godliness itself - provided the belief in the Almighty is ingrained within ..
If not .. the tendency to shift the blame to an ungodly force emanates ..
BUT ..
whatever be the outcome the yardstick is ever measured with that universal acceptance of .. GOD .. ALMIGHTY .. that saintly FORCE ..
Atheists vs Non Atheists .. thiests ..
We bring our belief to reality .. its existence .. its presence .. its force .. its happening .. ALL ..
Yet .. we are in denial when it comes to the actuality of a measure of form ..
OR ..
We put the belief in one that we consider with utmost conviction HIS form and presence in and and amongst us, in its human form ..
Each belief has an identity with form .. and that to them reflects the ultimate truth .. believe it or go seek another .. or none ..
LIFE gives so many options .. and is so forbearing ..
And we test it each moment and within our powers of its existence ..
The strength of conviction is personal .. committed and without fault .. the 'non' has a commitment too - without fault .. !!!!
AAHHHH ..
Life is so harsh- , benevolent and forgiving ..
Which is why we cannot find a suitable alternative - one way or the other ..
Unless .. AI .. takes over .. and in its generosity , gives us the space we need , desire or demand ..
Which I might add shall soon be directed in just ONE direction ..
THEIRS .. !!!
🤣
My affection .. my grace of your benevolence .. my servile submission to your love ..
Amitabh Bachchan
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Daily update post:
Two Arab men loyal to ISIS were arrested for intending to carry out a terrorist attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. They were going to use explosives, and were considering buying a drone to drop the explosives from. I just wanna remind everyone, that every new terrorism tactic developed against Israelis, eventually makes its way to other countries.
On Israel's northern border, Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into the city of Kiryat Shmona, causing widespread blackouts. Among the buildings his is a school. On our southern border, a TV reporter shared that over the first 9 days of 2024, 17 rocket barrages were fired into Israel from Gaza. It's a lot less than it used to be, but it's still not zero. I want people to understand that until we can guarantee no rockets are going to be fired at Israeli civilians living along the country's borders, those communities can't go back to their homes. They'll remain evacuated, homeless, without any possible change on the horizon. It's an abnormal and impossible situation for any country, if its citizens can't live on their own land. No country would take it, and frankly, it is only the strength of spirit of Israel's northern and southern communities, that allowed Israel to overlook the tens of thousands of rockets being fired into this land for 22 years. NO COUNTRY would take this. And after Oct 7, Israeli civilians are done taking it, too. Which means Israel as a country can no longer accept this abnormal reality either.
This is a map of how Hamas' rockets cover Israel (and how this progressed through the years). It doesn't show Hezbollah's rockets. If Hamas has tens of thousands of rockets, Hezbollah is said to have hundreds of thousands. It also doesn't show how far drones from Gaza can reach, or how Israel has had rockets fired at it from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, too. And that Iran's rockets can also reach us.
After undergoing surgery, and still waiting to learn the extent to which his serious injuries will affect him, singer and actor Idan Amedi sent out a message through a friend (an Israeli politician) who was visiting him. Idan said, according to his friend, to forget about him, he's not important and he will deal with what he has to, what matters is that the People of Israel will stay strong together. One journalist IMO nailed it, when he said about Idan, that it's not that Amedi as an individual matters more than the other soldiers in Gaza, it's that he's a symbol of how much Israelis are putting aside and sacrificing in order to protect our country and our people.
The less interesting part of the lawsuit by South Africa (organized behind the scenes by the Palestinian Authority) against Israel was concluded today, the part where we already knew what lies and distortions will be employed. Tomorrow, Israel will get to respond, and that should prove more interesting. For now, many have condemned the biased stance that SA took, especially as in 2015 it enabled the return to Sudan of Omar al-Bashir, who has been guilty of mass rapes and murders in Darfur. SA was asked to arrest him for his crimes against humanity during a visit, but they enabled his safe return to his country and to his crimes. He was only stopped in 2019. That's on top of SA siding with Iran, a country that finances terrorism globally, kills its own civilians, and is implicated in the Oct 7 massacre carried out by Hamas, the antisemitic genocidal terrorist organization. SA omitted the massacre from the lawsuit it filed against Israel.
Before the trial in the Hague started, the head of Israel's criminal forensics institute, Dr. Chen Kugel, has published more evidence from the horrifying crimes of Hamas, committed on Oct 7, and which were motivated by genocidal intent. A part of the current antisemitic farce is, of course, that while Israel is wrongfully being charged with genocide, the actual crimes perpetrated due to genocidal intent can't be prosecuted in the International Court of Justice, because Hamas is not a state, and did not sign the convention for the prevention of genocide, as Israel did. There's an irony here that only antisemitism can turn into a reality, that the first heinous crimes in this war were committed against Israel, yet the first trial over any crimes in this war is also targeting the Jewish state.
They're saying it will take years for the lawsuit to be concluded. But the accusation, the libel against Israel (and possibly an intermediary junction against Israel, for which the bar is very low, and which SA is asking the court to give), that's happening RIGHT NOW. It's why some people are calling this the modern Dreyfus trial. For those who don't know, Dreyfus was a loyal French officer. He was also Jewish. That was enough to convict him in the court of public opinion as a traitor, and it was enough to bias the actual court in which the trial was held. Dreyfus was found guilty of treason, dishonorably discharged, and exiled. The injustice was evident in real time, as Emile Zola's famous op ed "J'accuse!" shows. Decades later, Dreyfus was exonerated of all charges against him, and a non-Jewish French officer was exposed as the real traitor. But it was too late for Dreyfus, and for all Jews at the time, who had witnessed the modern, supposedly liberal west fail them.
The same Iran that finances Hamas, including the Oct 7 massacre, and has invested in SA, has also been confirmed to have attacked a ship in the Oman bay. It's the second time (at least) that Iran has attacked a ship directly rather than use proxies, like the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, to target international shipping.
Today, Egypt refused an American request, to allow a UN delegation entry into the northern part of the Gaza strip, so it coud evaluate the needs of Palestinians. This is a reminder that if anyone tells you Hamas' reports on the number of fatalities has been independently verified... no, they weren't. No one impartial is found in Gaza right now. Also, that if people blame everything that's happening to Gazans right now on Israel, they're intentionally leaving out both Hamas, other Gazan terrorist organzations, and the Egyptians.
The other day, Hamas claimed that two journalists were killed in Gaza. Yesterday, the IDF released records showing they were both memberes of Palestinian terrorist organizations.
Across Israel, people are getting ready to hold many events and strikes as we're getting close to the 100th day since Hamas and other Gazans kidnapped Israeli civilians from their homes. 136 Israelis, alive or dead, are still held hostage in Gaza. The youngest of the hostages is Kfir Bibas, was just 9 months old when he was taken from his home at gunpoint, together with his 4 years old brother Ariel, and his mom Shiri. Next week, Kfir will "celebrate" his first birthday on this earth in captivity. Yarden, the father, was also kidnapped, but he was taken into Gaza separately. A Hamas released vid shows Yarden being told that his wife and sons are dead. We don't know if this is true or not, as in the past, these terrorists have lied about hostages being dead, when they turned out to be alive. Hamas' vid also showed Yarden Bibas in great emotional distress, and one hostage, who was held with him in a terror tunnel, but was later released, said he was in a terrible mental state, and she feared for his life. Here are images of the Bibas family before they were kidnapped:
(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)
#israel#antisemitism#israeli#israel news#israel under attack#israel under fire#israelunderattack#terrorism#anti terrorism#hamas#antisemitic#antisemites#jews#jew#judaism#jumblr#frumblr#jewish
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I feel like a complete asshole for saying this. But I wanna say it.
I feel like on these past few years, the internet has been focused on justice for horrible things happening everywhere. The war in Ukraine, the earthquake in turkey/Syria, the women’s rights situation in Iran, the ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
And I feel like every single time Armenia is left out of it. For so long we’ve been attacked. We lost Artsakh after almost a YEAR of the civilians being literally starved by Azerbaijan. And no one said a fucking word.
And it’s like no matter how many people I tell, no matter how many posts I make, no matter how many protests I go to, nobody cares about Armenia.
I learned about ethnic cleansing and genocide before I could multiply. I knew there were entire nations of people who wanted nothing more than to see my entire people wiped out before I knew what a cell was. I go to sleep most nights worrying about my family, terrified that I’ll wake up the next day and find that my country doesn’t exist anymore.
And nobody even cares enough to make a post.
The extent of most peoples knowledge about conflicts in Armenia is “well there was a genocide and then everything was okay again.” If they even know Armenia exists at all.
It’s just. When will it be Armenia’s turn? When will I start seeing people post about Armenia everywhere? When will I see the Armenian flag on lawns and profile pictures and bumper stickers, in solidarity with us? When will Turkey and Azerbaijan be called out for their disgusting actions?
Did you know that the Armenian genocide is the first to be described as a genocide? Did you know that Hitler mentioned Armenia by name? He mentioned us in one of his speeches, describing why the holocaust would work, why he would not be punished.
He said, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
No one. And their silence is deadly.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~ | M Y I M A G I N E S | ~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~ | M Y L I T T L E S P A R R O W | ~~~~~~
Summary: There is only one thing Christian wants to do when he returns home after the World Cup: meet his daughter for the first time.
Pairing: Christian Pulisic x Fem!Reader
Requested: Yes
Song Inspo: Adventure Time - Bry
Warnings: dad!christian, talks of childbirth, mentions of his injury 👀
Notes: I think we are all broody after that photo. feedback is always appreciated
His thumb lovingly strokes your cheek, smiling uncontrollably as you lean into his touch, holding your own hand against his. "You look so beautiful," he hums, dipping to kiss the tip of your nose. You scrunch up your nose, making him laugh. God, how you had missed hearing him laughing. "And tired too- Ow-"
"Never tell her she looks tired," Kelley, his mum, tells, or rather chastises, him, shaking her head as Christian looks back at her. He frowns, rubbing the spot on the back of his head where she had softly clipped him. "Besides, you should try pushing nearly a nine-pound baby out of your penis," she says, setting hers and Mark's cups down on some coasters. You had offered yourself to make them both a drink, but Kelley was quick to shoot the offer down, insisting that you weren't going to lift a finger unless it was necessary for the next few weeks they were staying with you. "See just how tired you might look after only three days."
Christian grumbles under his breath, leaning against the kitchen counter, his face twisting with discomfort. "Okay, got it," he nods, looking away from his parents to watch you hide your smile with the back of your hand. It was a little tic you did when you wanted to laugh at something but didn't think it was necessary for the situation you were in. "Just never talk about my penis ever again, okay?" He resembled a teenage boy who had just been embarrassed in front of his friends.
"Oh, shush," Kelley tuts, shaking her head, and takes a sip of her coffee.
"Why can't we talk about your penis, babe?" You ask, removing your hand, and letting it drop to your side. "Is it..." You take a deep breath in, trying to calm your face as the joke dances on the tip of your tongue. "Is it a sore subject to talk about?"
Christian sighs, bringing his fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Oh, don't you start," he mumbles, shaking his head as he watches you and his dad share a quick high-five. He didn't know it, but you and his dad had already got all the jokes planned following the painful incident that had happened during the game against Iran. "I wasn't even hit in the balls," he whispers quietly, a slight pink tinge forming on the tips of his ears as he looks to the ground.
"Of course you weren't," you pretend to believe him. Giving his cheek a soft caress, you lean in to kiss the top of his head. His hair had gotten longer in the three weeks he had been gone, and those dark curls you loved so much were beginning to show again. "It's just a good thing we've already got one child," you land another joke, giggling as hid dad laughs behind you, "just in case, you know-"
"Okay, shush," Christian talks over you, holding his hand over your mouth. He grimaces and retracts it a second later, feeling your tongue licking the palm of his hand. "Speaking of which," he mumbles, changing the subject as he wipes his hand down his thigh, "can I meet her now?" His face grows soft as he asks the question, both the excitement and the nerves fighting for a place in his eyes.
"Christian, she's still asleep-"
"I know, I know," he repeats, sneaking his arm around your waist and gently pulling you against his chest. His bottom lip pouts. "But can't you just wake her up? Just this one time?" He drops his forehead to rest against yours, stroking circles into your hips with his thumbs. "Please?"
You cradle his face and shake your head.
"Why not?"
"Because you're never meant to wake a sleeping baby, son," Mark answers for you, "believe me, I learned it the hard way."
"With all three of you," Kelley adds, the quickness of her innocent teasing makes you giggle.
Christian drops his head onto your shoulder and wraps both arms around you, being careful not to squeeze you too tightly. "Pretty please?" He mumbles, and you didn't have to see his face to know he was still pouting.
You snake your arms loosely around him, understanding his urgency to finally meet your daughter. He had only seen pictures of her and a quick glimpse at her over facetime, shortly after he had been given the news that she had been born. All of them had been an upgrade from the final scan photograph he had been carrying around with him. But now he just wanted to meet her.
The real her.
"Okay-" He lifts his head, the pout quickly disappearing for a smile. "-but if you wake her up-"
"I promise I won't wake her up!"
His parents let you go alone, knowing it was important for you two to have this moment alone, and inside the nursery, Christian and you stood beside the cot, both of your hands resting on the edge. For a second, you take your eyes off your daughter to watch him. You watched him blink once, twice, three times in a row, trying to blink away the tears that had brimmed in his eyes the second he laid his eyes upon her. He had turned into a soft, mushy mess in a matter of seconds. You had predicted this would happen the minute you two had heard that you were having a daughter.
She was going to have him wrapped around her finger and he didn't even know it yet.
Removing your hands from the cot's side, you wrap them both around his arm, laying a kiss against his tattooed bicep. His skin was warm and holding a part of him felt like you were holding your whole world in the palm of your hands. "She has your nose," you whisper against him, "and your eyes too." You stifle a giggle, not wanting to make too much noise. "Come to think of it, she's pretty much all you."
"You think so?" Christian asks, his voice cracking. He couldn't bring himself to look away from her.
"I know so," you whisper, nuzzling your face into his arm.
Despite your warning not to wake her up, Christian still reaches into the cot and carefully picks up her relaxed hand. "She's so tiny," he notes, her whole hand resting against three of his fingers. He runs the pad of his thumb over her fingers, studying their delicateness. "My little sparrow," he whispers, chewing the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from crying. He gasps as she slowly closes her fingers around his, making a tiny, chubby fist. "I wish I had been there," he says, stroking his thumb carefully over the back of her fist.
"You're here now," you mumble, reaching above to wipe a tear away, "that's all that matters."
"What was it like?" He asks, trying to decipher the look on your daughter's face as her eyebrows pinched and squirmed together.
"What was it like giving birth?" You ask, looking for some clarification. He hums, nodding his head. "Eh," you pause, taking a second to find the correct words to say, "it definitely wasn't as easy as they make it out to be in the movies." He chuckles at your answer, mumbling, "duh," under his breath. You give his arm a light pinch, giggling when he retaliates with a pinch of his own. "There was some pain - a lot of pain, actually," you continue, "I couldn't tell you why people go through multiple births if it hurts like that every time."
"But it was worth it?" For the first time since stepping into the nursery, he looks at you. A smile forms on both of your faces as you stare back at each other. "Right? She was worth all that pain?"
Quickly, you nod your head. "One thousand percent worth it."
He leans down and kisses your forehead. "I still wish I had been there," he speaks against you. He slips his arm out of your hold and reaches for the back of your neck. Caressing and stroking you with his thumb, he kisses you again. "Are you sure you can't wake her up?" He asks, keeping his head rested against yours but turning to look back at your daughter.
"No, Chris-" A soft whimper and a cry comes from the cot, her hand releasing Christian's finger as her arm reaches aimlessly in the air. A second cry, louder than the first, falls off her lips as she opens her eyes, both big and honey-coloured like her dad's. "Talk about timing, kid," you giggle, reaching into the cot to touch her cheek. She quietens down as soon as she feels your touch. "Do you want to pick her up?" You look back at Christian.
He shakes his head. "Maybe you should do it; I wouldn't want to hurt her." Biting your bottom lip, you hide your smile and swallow back your giggle. "Don't laugh," he mumbles, panning his eyes down to the floor, hiding his blushing cheeks.
"You know, you're not going to hurt her, right?"
"But she's small and fragile-"
"All babies are small and fragile, Christian," you giggle over him. Lying her carefully in Christian's arms, you fix the position of his hand, keeping it resting over his as you glance up at him. "It's important to keep her head supported," you mumble, but you were sure he already knew that, "I don't know how many times this wicked witch of a midwife had said it to me. She had a voice that sounded like nails being dragged down a chalkboard. You should be glad that you didn't have to endure that."
A soft laugh finds its way past his lips but he falls silent when he hears her stirring. "She's even smaller than I thought," he mumbles, chewing on his bottom lip, but it's no use for his cheeks were already damp with tears. "How is she this small?"
You stroke your thumb affectionately across his cheek, wiping away his tears. "Believe me, she didn't feel so small in the moment."
"Charming," he laughs, shaking his head.
Keeping her cradled in one arm, he brushes his finger softly down the bridge of her nose. His touch is soft and sweet and, for a moment, she closes her eyes, before opening them wide again. She looks up at him puzzled and confused, her eyebrows pinched together. Like everyone else she was about to meet, he was a stranger to her.
"Hi, Birdy," he softens his voice as he speaks to her, a smile tugging on the corners of his lips, "you're probably wondering who on earth this strange man is, but I'm your dad." He had waited so long to finally say those three words to her.
You step to his side, leaning your head against his shoulder, with your hand lingering on the small of his back. "She's all you," you whisper, scared your voice might crack if you spoke any louder.
"But she'll be smart like you," he says, giving the top of your head a quick kiss.
"And stubborn like the both of us," you say together, both of you laughing.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to meet you straight away," he apologises after the laughter dies down. He cradles his hand back behind her head and bends down to kiss her, smiling as gurgles, "but I'm here now and I'll always be here." His lips linger on the thick wisps of dark hair, whispering, "always," to her.
You bring your hand across to stroke her soft cheek, your eyes pulling away to look up at the nursery door. A quiet giggle slips past your lips when you spot his mum lingering behind the door, quickly running away as you catch her. "I think your mum might burst in here and snatch Birdy if we make her wait any longer," you joke, glancing up at Christian.
"Maybe that'll be a good thing," he whispers back to you, a glint of something playful in his eyes, "I'd finally get you all to myself."
"Ha!" You snort, shaking your head. "Think again, buddy; my vagina is out of business for the foreseeable future."
He watches you walk away from him, Birdy still cradled in his arms, looking up at him with studious eyes. "And how long is that exactly?"
"Depends," you shrug your shoulders, trying to decide if you should pack on another joke, "how long will your penis stay bruised for?" He looks at you with an expression that lacked emotion and you can't help but bring yourself to smile. "I just wouldn't want you to hurt yourself again," you slip your hands into your pockets, swinging back and forth on the balls of your feet, "we both know you develop the hormones of a teenage boy every time you come home."
He shakes his head. "That's not true."
"Baby, lets not lie to yourself."
He rolls his eyes. "This is going to be a long few weeks if you and my dad are going to keep making these jokes," he mumbles, quickly catching up to you.
Again, you snort. "It's going to be so much fun."
~~~~~~~ | F O O T B A L L T A G L I S T | ~~~~~~~
Football taglist: @shanoontje @maseandkepa @theblxefox @blueathens @ofxinnocence @1-800-benji-chilwell @mrschilly @geek-and-proud @in-my-body-bag @laurasstufff1 @mountchilly @sereshawsbby @greykitkepa
#christian pulisic#christian pulisic imagine#christian pulisic one shot#christian pulisic fluff#christian pulisic fanfic#christian pulisic fic#christian pulisic x reader#dad!christian
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Theory: Eldred is not Cardan's father
Listen. I don’t know if anyone has said this before, but I’ve been mulling this over for a while now, so I’m going to throw it to the void before The Stolen Heir comes out, for posterity.
Buckle up, folks and Folk. I’m monologuing.
(PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE TSH SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS/REBLOGS/TAGS AS I HAVE NOT READ IT, AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ IT UNTIL 8th JAN 2023!)
A big caveat of this theory is that I have basically no solid evidence for this apart from a few faint dots vaguely connected through a strange fog. But I am nothing if not someone who will scrounge around in the dirt for answers. So let’s get some filth under our fingernails.
(I promise it will maybe make sense. Eventually)
I. EPISTOLARY SEMANTICS
Much of this theory centres around the note Jude steals for Dain from Hollow Hall in The Cruel Prince. It reads:
“I know the provenance of the blusher mushroom that you ask after, but what you do with it must not be tied to me. After this, I consider my debt paid. Let my name be stricken from your lips.” (TCP, p.115)
There are so many layers to this note, but I’ll start on the surface level before digging deeper.
When Jude gives the note to Dain, he reads it, then says, “So he’s blackmailing Queen Orlagh” (TCP, p.123). During a first read, one would think Dain is implying that Balekin is blackmailing Orlagh, since Jude stole the note from Balekin’s study, and that Orlagh is the one who wrote the letter to the eldest Greenbriar child.
And no one questions it, because Jude even makes this supposition herself.
But my question is this: Why would Balekin be blackmailing Orlagh? We learn in The Wicked King that they are very much allies, and as far as I’m aware, blackmailing isn’t something you typically do to your allies.
My other question is: Why do we assume that Orlagh is the one that wrote the letter? Because Dain said so? We know him to be unreliable at best, manipulator at worst.
During a second read, one might realise that Dain is in fact being tricky here. He knows exactly who and what this note is referring to. But he’s deliberately trying to lead the Court of Shadows to the wrong conclusion, because the right one would reveal his guilt, as shown in the latter part of The Cruel Prince when Jude figures out Dain poisoned Liriope with blusher mushroom.
The way Dain is able to lead us off track without lying is through implication alone. This is why he’s not specific about who is blackmailing Orlagh. He just says someone is (a likely statement, considering Orlagh’s title) and that someone might be a man (plausible enough).
Thus, the sentence “He’s blackmailing Orlagh” can still be a perceived truth, and we are only ascribing it to the note because it is the closest context.
But we find out later that Dain’s statement has nothing to do with the note, since the note is about Liriope’s poisoning.
After having read TCP [redacted] times, one might begin to think: Is Orlagh even the sender of this correspondence? And if not, who is? And what does the note mean if we’re giving it a different context/sender?
For this, we have to peruse the parts of the sentences written in the note.
A. “Provenance”
For me, this phrase has always seemed a bit strange when referring to blusher mushrooms.
The word “provenance”, as most people recognise it, is used to describe the place from which a particular thing or subset of things comes from (i.e. the provenance of “Champagne” is Champagne, France, and the provenance of “Iranian rugs” is Iran, etc.).
So when we put it in the context of blusher mushrooms, as the note does, it seems to be saying there is a particular place where one can find blusher mushrooms, and the recipient is trying to acquire them for one reason or another.
But Jude, when first dabbling in mithridatism, describes picking blusher mushroom in the palace gardens (p.148-150, TCP). So if Balekin was planning on acquiring the poison, he needn’t look farther than the palace itself.
Which says, to me, that acquiring blusher mushroom for his own purposes wasn’t the subject of Balekin’s original inquiry, since it is common enough for a seventeen-year-old girl to find on her walk to school.
Additionally, the sender says “the provenance of the blusher mushroom”, when “the provenance of blusher mushroom” would be more grammatically correct if the sender was indeed informing Balekin about where he could get the poison.
Implying that they are referring to a single specific blusher mushroom. Perhaps, the very one which poisoned Liriope.
Which means, “provenance”, as it is used in the note, could be referring to the less common definition: “record of ownership”.
My guess is, Balekin asked the sender of the note if they knew who killed Liriope with blusher mushroom. The sender, wanting to remain cryptic in case the message was intercepted, phrased their confirmation so only the person who knew the full context of the message would be able to understand it.
Leading me to believe the sender may be saying, “I know who owned/used the blusher mushroom that you’re asking about”.
B. “It”
Here’s another tricky thing about English grammar: sometimes the subject that “it” refers to can be a group of things.
We might assume right off the bat that “What you do with it” means “What you do with the blusher mushroom”. But, given the previous specification, our sender might actually just mean “What you do with this information must not be tied back to me.”
Essentially, “Don’t tell anyone I told you this but I know who Liriope’s murderer is.”
C. “Let my name be stricken from your lips.”
To me, this last sentence of the note wreaks of faerie bargain.
The sender mentioned they had a debt to pay Balekin, and after divulging who poisoned Liriope, they would consider that debt paid.
But why not just leave the message at that? They already basically said, “Don’t tell anyone I told you this”, so this sentence seems redundant if not included for an ulterior purpose.
It could be a dramatic sign off. More likely, though, it’s a final clause of some bargain made previous to this message. Such as, “You owe me. Tell me who poisoned Liriope and I’ll never speak your name again.”
Either way, it sounds like the sender does not want to be tied to Balekin in any way (understandable tbh).
***This line is important for later, so remember this.***
~~~
So, after these specifications have been made, the note reads:
“I know who owned/used the blusher mushroom to poison Liriope, but what you do with this information must not be traced back to me. After this, I consider my debt paid. As per our bargain, you’re not to speak of me again.”
II. THE SENDER OF THE LETTER
There are many people who could’ve sent this letter. So let’s narrow it down.
Since the letter is in Balekin’s study, we could surmise that it is something Balekin has written and plans on sending. But Jude describes it as being written in “an elegant, feminine hand” (TCP, p.115).
Which doesn’t necessarily rule Balekin out as the sender, but I’m thinking it is much more likely he is the recipient, and that the sender is a woman.
The sender also knows who killed Liriope, so they probably know why Liriope was poisoned, as well. Meaning, they would have had to have ties to her—whether in proximity or in intimacy.
Oriana mentions in TCP that she and Liriope were close friends. She also tells Jude that she knew about Liriope and Dain’s affair.
However, in this same conversation, Jude asks Oriana if she knew Dain was the one who poisoned Liriope, and this is her response:
“Oriana shakes her head. ‘Not for a long time. It could have been another of Eldred’s lovers. Or Balekin—there were rumours he was the one responsible. I even wondered if it could have been Eldred, if he had poisoned her for dallying with his son. But then Madoc discovered Dain had obtained the blusher mushroom. He insisted I never let Oak be anywhere near the prince.’ ”(TCP, pp. 294-295)
Since faeries cannot lie, the truth must be that Oriana is not the one that knew who poisoned Liriope.
And since the letter is left unsigned, Dain attributes its origins to the Queen of the Undersea.
Here’s why I don’t think Orlagh sent this message:
Orlagh is seen in cahoots with Balekin plenty throughout the series. Yet, the sender of this message implies they want nothing to do with the eldest prince, and furthermore explicitly tells Balekin to never speak their name again. If Orlagh were the sender of this note, we would not have much of the scenes which take place in the Undersea during Jude’s kidnapping in The Wicked King.
Orlagh is the Queen of the Undersea. Why would she know or care about the details of a murder of one of the High King of Elfhame’s lovers?
Orlagh also has no ties to Liriope, or Dain for that matter, so why would Balekin go to Orlagh for information regarding Liriope’s murder?
But do you know who does have ties to Liriope, who might also have reason not to want Balekin to speak their name ever again?
Lady Asha.
So how exactly does Lady Asha have ties to Liriope?
It is common knowledge that they were both lovers of the High King. Asha could’ve known of Liriope’s affair with Dain because of their proximity at court. She was also known for being a lover of gossip and secrets. It’s not too surprising that she might know of Liriope’s secret.
But how does Lady Asha know that Dain specifically poisoned Liriope? And why might she want to sever her ties with Balekin?
Let me back track for a moment.
III. EMERALDS FOR HEIRS?
In the prologue of The Queen of Nothing, Lady Asha receives a heavy necklace of emeralds for her “contribution to the Greenbriar line”.
In The Cruel Prince, when Jude is dressing in Liriope’s clothes for the party at Locke’s estate, Locke offers her his mother’s jewels, specifically a heavy necklace made of emeralds (TCP, p. 168).
At first, when I noticed this connection, I thought emeralds must be Eldred’s standard gift given to any mother who births a Greenbriar heir.
But if you recall, Locke wasn’t born to Eldred, and Liriope would have had to receive the necklace while she was still alive, meaning Oak had not yet been born.
It is significant that both of these women have necklaces of emeralds, for the meaning of emeralds—amongst loyalty, love, and strength—is truth.
“A revealer of truths, emerald reputedly could cut through all illusions and spells, including the truth or falsity of a lover’s oath.” (International Gem Society)
Indeed, it’s curious that the only other person known to possess a string of emeralds similar to the one Lady Asha receives in QON, is Liriope.
Liriope, who, to common knowledge, never had a royal child with the High King. Liriope, who, through the events of TCP, we know to have been having an affair with Dain while still in the High King’s favour.
Liriope, who, like Lady Asha, met an unfortunate fate.
If emeralds represent the falsity of a lover’s oath, and Liriope possessed such a necklace before her passing, it could be that the emeralds Asha received were less a gift as much as they were a warning.
One that Asha was either too arrogant or too oblivious to figure out when she first received them, but that she might've pieces together after Liriope's death.
IV. PUNISHMENT BY PROXY
In the prologue of Queen of Nothing, the narrator informs us that Cardan’s punishment for “killing” a mortal man was that his mother was locked in the Tower of Forgetting.
It’s unsurprising that a mother should shoulder the blame for the crimes of her royal son, but this seems like a steep price to pay for the death of someone only tangentially related to the High King’s concerns.
It wasn’t even a lover of Eldred’s own who was killed. It was the lover of his lover/seneschal.
Incarcerating Asha because her son allegedly killed the lover of the High King’s lover feels like an overreaction. Why not simply cast Asha from the court? Or send her to the mortal lands?
Unless…
The High King suspected (or knew) that Lady Asha had committed some other serious offense against him, but had no sufficient evidence to lock her away. Or perhaps he did not want to risk the humiliation that would ensue if everyone at court found out that Lady Asha had been dallying with his son at the same time as she was his own lover.
And, to give her what he thought she deserved without inciting speculation from the court, used the excuse of Cardan killing the mortal to finally serve justice.
Furthermore, we know Cardan and his mother were not close. We know Asha did not raise Cardan as normal mothers do. Why is sending Cardan’s mother to prison a punishment to him?
Other than a small blot on his reputation (upon which, there are many, much larger blots), Asha’s punishment by proxy largely shouldn’t effect Cardan.
It seems as if Cardan’s true punishment was being virtually disowned by his father, and banished from living in the Palace of Elfhame.
Meaning, Asha’s punishment wasn’t really Cardan’s, but her own.
V. THE DEBT
In the letter Jude stole from Balekin’s desk, a “debt”, which has been paid through the information provided, is mentioned. If Asha sent this letter, what debt could she possibly owe Balekin?
Well, for starters, he did raise her son when no one else would.
Though, it’s unclear to me when in the timeline Asha wrote the letter and when she was imprisoned, if this is the aforementioned debt, Asha would’ve had to have written the letter after she’d been sent to the Tower of Forgetting. Because her being sent to the Tower was the catalyst for Balekin raising Cardan.
This debt also begs the question: Why would Balekin offer to raise Cardan?
Surely having Lady Asha, an incarcerated ex-lover of the High King, in his debt isn’t so valuable as the immense responsibility of raising a child he has no obligation to.
Which points to a motive that indicates perhaps Balekin does have an obligation to this child.
When Madoc kills Eva and Justin in the prologue of TCP, he takes Jude and Taryn in, claiming it as his “duty” after he rendered them parentless. We know the fae value their honour, and so even someone as opprobrius as Balekin might be subject to upholding duty in the face of a faerie child’s mother being sent to prison.
But as we know, he did not cause Lady Asha’s detainment (Dain did). So where is this sudden sense of duty coming from? None of the other Greenbriar siblings seemed to have the same moral inclination.
Balekin taking Cardan in could be purely out of selfish motives. Such as, being able to shape Cardan to his will, which he might then use in a potential coup.
But it could be that, through everything, Balekin has an inkling of an idea that Cardan might not be his brother, but his son.
There is another debt which is possible in relation to the letter if it was sent prior to Lady Asha’s imprisonment. But for this, we must consider why Lady Asha would want her name to be stricken from Balekin’s lips in the first place.
The most obvious answer to this which I could think of is that Lady Asha knows she has committed treason by sleeping with Balekin, the High King’s son, and claiming their child as one of the High King’s own, staking her place at court as higher than is deserved, while also playing the High King for a fool.
So the debt could simply be that Lady Asha, seeing what happened to Liriope and knowing what happens to lovers of the High King after being found adulterous, wanted Balekin to never be able to speak of their affair ever again.
Balekin, not being of the sort to do things for other people without a price, might have said that he’d agree to this if she offered him information that he wanted. After she gave it to him, their bargain would be complete, and Balekin would henceforth never be able to speak Lady Asha’s name.
Regardless of which debt is the truth, indeed, I do believe we do not hear Balekin utter Asha’s name once throughout the course of the series. Despite the fact that it is almost certain they knew each other before.
VI. PRIOR ENTANGLEMENT
How do we know that Asha and Balekin knew each other well enough to be sending letters like this back and forth to each other, if we are not yet certain that they had an affair?
In the prologue of TCP, Madoc states that he didn’t believe it when Balekin told him his wife and child were not dead, but living in the mortal world. This indicates that Balekin had knowledge of how Eva faked her death.
Now, we could owe this to the presence of spies at court. It’s likely that Balekin has his own hoard of spies, as do most of the prominent figures in Eflhame.
Or we could consider that perhaps Lady Asha, who is the other person confirmed to have known that Eva faked her death (TWK, p.129), was Balekin’s informant on this matter.
After receiving this information, he was then able to pass it on to Madoc in order to gain his trust (with the ulterior motive that Madoc might trust him enough to help him with his coup).
But then, we must also consider why Lady Asha would tell the eldest prince of her friend’s plan in the first place.
One thought I had was that perhaps Balekin, having a slew of mortal servants under his roof, was the person who offered Eva the unidentifiable mortals left in Madoc’s house as “proof” of their death.
He’d have to have motive to do this, however. Which indicates he either had some sort of attachment to Asha, who was trying to help her friend escape Faerie, or Balekin valued the knowledge of their plan enough to help them carry it out.
Another less complicated motive for Lady Asha telling Balekin of Eva’s escape would be that Asha and Balekin had a history of being in cahoots with one another, which would point to a connection deeper than a passing acquaintanceship due to proximity at court.
VII. AN UNCANNY LIKENESS
It is a truth in The Folk of the Air series that children look very much like their biological parents.
Oak, biological son of Dain, looks an awful lot like Dain:
Oak is described as having deer legs, little horns on his head, and brown hair with streaks of gold.
Dain, in turn, is described as having deer legs, little horns, and golden curls.
This striking resemblance is what initially got me thinking on Cardan’s parentage. And it is further backed by the many other child-parent resemblances in the series:
Vivi is described as having inherited her father’s golden cat eyes and fur-tipped ears.
Locke has obviously inherited his mother’s “sunrise hair”.
And it could be argued that Oak inherited Liriope’s “starlit eyes”, as his are an amber-gold colour that might resemble an old star.
Lady Asha even states that Jude resembles both Eva and Justin greatly (TCP, p.129).
And in kind, Jude thinks that Lady Asha and Cardan look very alike, though she does not admit to this out loud.
These likenesses do not necessarily indicate anything other than a pattern, which could be total coincidence. But it does mean that we could reasonably conclude that faeries, as with humans, often take on characteristics of their parents.
Balekin is described as having black hair, pale skin, and silver eyes.
Cardan’s description in the series is quite similar:
He is said to have black curls, pale skin, and metallic-rimmed black irises.
When we compare that to Eldred’s description—golden hair and bronze owl-like eyes—it doesn’t seem like Cardan inherited many traits from the High King at all.
Now, this could be because Lady Asha’s characteristics were more dominant in Cardan’s inherited genes.
She is described as being pale, with raven hair, and black eyes. She also clearly passed her tail on to her son.
But the similarities between Cardan and Balekin go beyond the obvious. When Jude is hiding under a chair in Balekin’s study, she notices the following:
“In two strides, Balekin is in front of his brother. They look so alike standing close. Same inky hair, matching sneers, devouring eyes.” (TCP, p.119)
Indeed, this resemblance is echoed across the series. In The Wicked King, when Jude goes to visit Balekin in the Tower of Forgetting, she states:
“As I ascend, I glance back at Balekin’s face, severe in the green torchlight. He resembles Cardan too much for my comfort.” (TWK, p. 26)
And again, in the Undersea, when Balekin comes to interrogate her, Jude thinks:
“They have the same black hair. The same cheekbones.” (TWK, p. 240)
There is also the matter of Cardan’s name, which bears resemblance to Balekin’s physicality.
Balekin is described as having thorns on his forearms. Cardan is a name which is derived from Cardon, which means thistle. Thistles are a prickly flower that grow from stems of thorns.
We know Holly Black is very intentional with her descriptions and words. My question is, why would she go out of her way to draw these physical comparisons, to echo the sentiment that the two are strikingly similar, if Cardan and Balekin were merely brothers?
She could have said that Cardan, being raised in Balekin's household for much of his formative years, was moulded to adopt his brother's mannerisms and propensity for cruelty. She could have said the way that they talk, walk, carry themselves, etc. were extremely reminiscent of one another, and we as readers would've gotten the point: that Jude thinks Cardan and Balekin are alike in many ways.
But this isn't what Holly Black does. Which leads me to believe there is something else to the constant parallels she chooses to include.
VIII. IN CONCLUSION
I’m aware this entire post reads like a conspiracy theory. So to those of you who stuck it out this far, congratulations and welcome to the circus.
I’ll be the first to admit that it is a big reach to say that this is fact rather than the speculation that it is. There are a lot of holes, which I can only hope might be filled in the coming duology.
That being said, this theory brings many questions to light.
How would Balekin know of Eva’s escape without having a more intimate relationship with her friend than previously thought?
Why would Lady Asha want her name stricken from Balekin’s lips so desperately as to make a bargain with him?
How could Lady Asha possibly be indebted to Balekin?
Why would Liriope and Asha be the only two characters with heavy necklaces of emeralds on their person if it didn’t mean they shared a similar history with the High King?
Why would Holly Black continuously compare Balekin and Cardan, indirectly pointing out that neither look much like their father or other siblings, but look undeniably like each other, if not to draw a deeper connection between the two?
And finally, and perhaps most importantly, if Lady Asha’s dalliance with Eldred was so brief—as is confirmed by Oriana in chapter 12 of QON— how did she come to be pregnant by him? We know faerie menstrual cycles don’t happen as often as mortals’.
Is this as simple as good luck, or does it speak to an affair no one knew was happening?
–Em 🖤🗡
more theories & analysis
#this is. complete speculation ngl gvskdjsk#i have a whole conspiracy theory red string board for this one though#tfota#jurdan#cardan greenbriar#jude duarte#balekin greenbriar#lady asha#the folk of the air#jurdannet#the cruel prince#the wicked king#the queen of nothing#queen of nothing#holly black#judecardan#how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories#tfota meta#tfota analysis#my analysis
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Kosa is so incredibly stupid.
Anyway, if this is my last post here- thanks for being my friends. Thanks for creating a safe space, and for making me smile with your amazing posts/writing.
Don’t forget about Palestine if this bill passes. Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, West Papua, Congo, Haiti, Hawaii, Turtle Island, Ireland, Iran, Ukraine, Uyghurs, Iraq, Aotearoa, Palestine, will all be free. Read banned books. Turn to your local libraries. Make posters and signs and petitions. Attend protest if you can. Teach your kids about what is happening. Keep boycotting. Create safe spaces to talk about what’s going on, and learn to the best of your ability.
This is not the end, there are so many ways to keep going, no matter how hopeless this all feels.
#Fuck kosa#stop kosa#fuck the american empire#free palestine#palestine#gaza#sudan#iraq#iran#west papua#congo#lebanon#Ireland#ukraine#uyghurs#Aotearoa#Turtle Island#transgender#lgbtq+
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All eyes on alert
This is a note to thank everyone for sharing voices from Iran and the diaspora.
In the past, it was easier to downplay or forget injustices going on around the world when the news cycle had moved onto the next big story. Now, all one has to do is get past an algorithm and do a little searching to inform oneself. It is more difficult to move on when the names of the people being wrongly imprisoned have hashtags and we can still see the faces and hear the voices of those who are being oppressed and killed. It also is more difficult for the regime to operate with total impunity when there is more public and political attention on their human rights abuses.
I know the sheer amount of raw footage has dropped on Twitter, partly due to increased surveillance and internet restrictions as well as ebbs and flows in both activity on the ground and online attention spans. We must remember that social change, resistance movements, revolution, these things are a long game. They demand stamina and commitment. It is never going to be at full throttle all the time.
The anniversary of Mahsa Jina Amini’s unjust death is approaching. If you can, keep posting and sharing what is happening in Iran. Keep an eye out for local actions. Keep attending protests. Keep contacting and pressuring your political representatives. Keep learning about this country and its rich history and culture. Thank you.
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Okay so I've been thinking. I think Joker stories suck nowadays because they're just too big. Joker is not an event villain. Think of all the classic, iconic Joker stories. Are any of them "Joker is going to destroy the city?" No! Joker works best at a small, personal scale. I mean, all the best BTAS Joker episodes basically have the plot of "Joker interacts with a normal guy." (Laughing Fish with the clerk, The Man Who Killed Batman with Sid the Squid, Joker's Favor with Charlie, etc).
And even the most iconic, if controversial, of them all, The Killing Joke, has a massive impact but the scale of the plot is between characters we care about. Barbara, Gordon, Batman, and Joker are the only people effected. The reason that story is as iconic as it is is because Batman and Joker talk. They just have a conversation, and that's the climax.
Nobody remembers A Death in the Family because Joker became the ambassador of Iran. They remember it because Joker killed Jason Todd. Joker works in a small, personal scale, and DC needs to learn that lesson or all we're gonna get from now on is more Joker Wars.
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