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vaguely-concerned · 3 years

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The Mandalorian Chapter 12 rewatch thoughts

- I would like to thank them for keeping in din’s harried yet triumphant ‘hAH!!’ when he gets the explosives to stick to gideon’s ship in the ‘hey remember when this happened last season’ section, that was a nice gesture from the showrunners to me personally, I assume

- this episode actually helped me find more enjoyment in the last one, because it’s such a nice reassurance that even though they’re pulling in more stuff from other star wars media this show won’t suddenly stop being its own thing and mando won’t suddenly stop being himself and it’s very comforting to me somehow haha

- the small hesitation before din calls out “do you... do you have the wire?” lol lol lol he’s completely aware of the bizarreness of what he’s doing here but hey being alive is already so damn weird etc.

the softness of his voice the whole way through and the fact that he never, never blames the baby for not being able to do what shouldn’t really be asked of him in the first place, tho... ;____;

- the tiny exasperated head tilt din does when he realizes the hatch isn’t going to extend all the way fdslkfhasdlashfs

- din is looking down at the baby the entire time while greef talks to the mechanics ❤️❤️❤️

(the baby seems pretty drawn to/excited to see greef again and mando seems to notice which is extremely cute. he’s becoming really good at tuning in with the kid)

he also greets cara baby first in much the same way as he does peli, like he knows what the main attraction here is lol, they do a very sweet bro nod at each other. god I wish gina carano wasn’t so terrible imagine if we could just have this BrOTP without hesitations :(

I think greef is actually a bit worried to begin with after seeing the ship, he sort of takes din in intently before he huffs a little laugh and grabs his arm. it must be a bit stressful to be his friend and not be able to see his expression right away when you worry something might be seriously wrong haha

- people are finally treating the baby like you would a real baby and it’s such a blessing, everyone talking and cooing at him and baby babbling back

(I wonder if greef has children of his own? he does have an undeniable air of experienced grandpa about him in this episode, it’s adorable)

- din does so much talking -- unprompted, even! -- these days, it truly is an embarrassment of riches

- capital E Emotional about this shot with IG-11 right behind din and cara inviting him into the school in front of him. some past carried with us into the future shit going on here

IG-11′s legacy’s still got our back y’all :’) I swear to god if gideon blows up nevarro at some point I’m going to lose it

the ‘oh yeah?/that so?’ way din leans his head back after she says “wait until you see inside” is also amazing

- baby reaching out his hand like ‘can have?’ is so polite ;______; he takes after his father (including in the ‘fool me twice, I’ll fuck you up’ department haha. listen you get one chance to be cool about it and then no more mr nice mando/baby)

go ahead, kid, make a fuss about it. who are you going to tell, huh? who’s going to believe you? you gonna tell them you got bested by a baby? a magic baby? no? that’s right. I took your dignity as easily as I took your macarons, there’s nothing you can do to change it, and now you gotta live with that. sweet dreams.

(this is a joke. the baby is not evil. I hate that I even have to specify this but I’ve seen some stupid shit in the tags in my time you guys haha)

- I can’t work out what anything on greef’s desk is supposed to be, but if that’s a computer it’s got to be older than even the razor crest lol

- friends: din yes?

mando: din no, only repairs

friends: din yes please?

mando: ... [sigh] din yes

he truly has next to no defense against people he actually likes asking him for something huh lol. well a self care co-op mission clearly did him a world of good in this one at least it’s all fine

- “I’m starting to dehydrate, Boss” is an excellent line and delivered perfectly, I cackle every time (”You park your gills right there until I say otherwise” is a good runner up too)

- it’s so nice to see the small moments of communication between them in this one after mando was so out of sync with the team in the last one (and tbf those guys didn’t even try to give him any pointers at all, they really left him to flounder through the whole thing if you watch it carefully haha)

- the mythrol’s jacket still looks so comfy, I want one

- aaaaah the way din says “I don’t like this” is just so... hnnngh it’s perfect, there’s a vulnerability and openness to it for a moment. greef glances over at him like he hasn’t heard him sound like this before too, which just sells it even more

u ok bro?

you know shit’s fucked up when din djarin expresses an emotion without even being forced to by circumstance (I think what I mean is that it’s actually really rare for him to state how he feels about something just to do it, usually his communication is more practically oriented, more along ‘I think this is the best cause of action because of a and b’ lines, or like when he tells omera he’s grateful it’s... more to inform her of it and make sure she knows than to express himself? but he’s starting to do it more with people he trusts now and it gets me in the heart? man I’m finding this hard to articulate let’s move on lol)

- I really, really wonder about pershing’s position in all of this. his plea for the child’s life did sound genuine -- he did try to guard him with his own noodly scientist body when he thought din was out to hurt him, remember -- but is that only because he knows he’s in deep shit himself without the blood the baby can give? is he maybe not quite cool with whatever gideon has him doing? (he does sound quite strained when he talks about the ‘body’ rejecting the transfusion and the ‘volunteer’ potentially suffering the same fate... hm.)

idk why I want there to be something redeemable in him so bad, maybe it’s just my weird yet enduring attachment to ladon radim in stargate atlantis messing with me they’re kind of similar in some ways (yeah don’t ask me I don’t know either sometimes the heart wants what it wants in ways reason can’t explain)

- tfw ur literally launching yourself across a pool of boiling lava because you’re Dad and your baby’s in danger T__________T he just does not stop running towards that kid for even a single second help

- there’s something so innocently pure and... old fashioned? about the scene with mythrol and greef screaming the entire time they drive off the cliff, it feels like something out of a movie from like three decades ago. that whole segment feels a bit like that, it’s just there to be fun and that’s okay sometimes

- every dog fight in every movie should have a baby nonchalantly snacking on a cookie in them, it elevates the experience immeasurably (he squishes his nose a little bit with the macaron when he misses his mouth at one point, which is more than anyone should be expected to bear honestly)

I love that even all fixed up again the razor crest groans and creaks like an old tired thing when din makes it flip to dive, he 100% did take out a bunch of ferraris in his stalwart morris minor of a spaceship and I treasure him

- there’s so much life and emotion in din’s voice here I can’t!!!! I simply can’t!!!! imagine if we get to hear him openly laugh one day, would I even survive it??!!!!

also the kid makes such pitch perfect ‘having my lil nose wiped and whining about it’ baby noises when din uses his cape to clean him up (din does turn the autopilot on before he turns around to deal with it, for those who, like me, worry about these things)

- between carson showing up and the stuff the droid talks about in the lesson they’re doing quite a bit of outer rim vs. core worlds theme building in this one, I wonder if this is going to ramp up more or what

- god but gideon’s theme SLAPS tho

he’s probably going to try to fuck up everything I love but you can’t fault him on the tunes he’s going to do it to

#star wars #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian meta #and now off to bed like I should have been half an hour ago lol

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1ddiscourseoftheday · 5 years

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Fri 8 Mar

Louis promo, day two, stunt time. Are we surprised? Some are, some are not. The Dan Wootton interview came out and yeah, anything you might have imagined being in there, it is and it’s worse. But is it a smoking gun proving once and for all that Louis is straight, Freddie is his large child and Eleanor his future wife? I mean...

Let me say first and foremost that it's unpleasant to deal with and if you're feeling upset or anxious, that's totally valid! Trying to reconcile multiple versions of reality and receiving contradictory information from someone you trust is a serious mindfuck and not okay and it's very reasonable to feel bad as a result- it does not make you a bad fan or weak to have these feelings! Please be gentle with yourselves. For me, it helps to analyze and approach the situation logically so let's look at this whole mess. First of all there are two different reasons people are upset-- one is the fear that Louis is telling the truth about everything, the other is being sure that he isn't but having gotten hope up that he wasn't going to have to lie anymore. The first then- was Louis straight all along, is the kid his, does he think larries are crazy, etc? The problem with this scenario is that it's all or nothing- like if you believe him today you have to believe, right out of the box, that he and Harry were never together, and that truly strains the bonds of reality. For me, that's quite a bit harder to swallow than believing that a gay musician might exist and be closeted and lie. I don't have room here to go through everything piece by piece but plenty of blogs are doing that, and there are plenty of plot holes to chase down (the mysterious disappearance of Danielle is especially entertaining, as always), but I think this one major thing is the weak thread that when you pull it, the rest unravels. As for that, the one thing that he doesn't go full anti on in the podcast? Harry. On that subject he says only how good his album was, how much he respects him, that their relationship is one of mutual respect, and how much their relationship has matured. He also talks about how important it was to have the support of his significant other when Jay was dying and while he says he's talking about Eleanor, it's worth mentioning that 1) they theoretically weren't together then 2) she wasn't in the country and 3) Harry was verifiably around (much as he is right now for Louis’ release time). A few other quick takes, sorry for everything I have to leave out- he goes hard on Elounor but is quick to shut down the idea that they might be getting married, the Zouis stuff sucks but wbk this is what it is but he does say he doesn't know if a 1D reunion will be OT4 or OT5 when it for sure happens in the future, and the only actual conspiracy he addresses and denies is that Freddie is a doll.

Anyway moving on to the second issue, that Louis is still having to do this and that the baby narrative is alive and well in the year of our lord 2019, yeah. It sucks. So what is happening? Why is this still happening under the new team and should we hate them now? No! Everything we've seen still stands, they're doing great work for Louis, our boy is releasing his music and it's being appreciated and it's a wonderful thing. ONLY this media outlet is asking about or reporting on this stuff. One other interviewer mentioned Freddie VERY briefly in passing and Louis chose not to acknowledge or respond, and that's it. But Louis is still with Syco, with Simon Jones. And Simon and Dan Wootton are very close, as in personal friends, and SJ loves this narrative, and Wootton loves getting exclusives and he loves this narrative. Is Syco punishing Louis? Are they just very bad at their jobs? Whatever reason, Simon Jones is in charge of UK press and this is definitely him. So are we seeing a clash between the teams? Some interpret the LTHQ tweet (basically, “SOOOOO how about that single??”) shortly after the interview dropped as evidence of this.

Others point to this morning's weirdly timed emergence of 40 seconds of unseen footage from the most iconic of Larry moments, the Paris Valentine's day interview, after 7 years in a vault. What is up with that? An archive coincidentally deciding to capitalize on Louis’ publicity for clicks now (but not any other time in the last seven years)? SBB in action? Louis’ new team feeding both sides of the fandom at once and trying to keep two grenades in the air without fumbling either? His clever new team subverting the narrative of the old team who still hold sway? Regardless it's cute AF, do recommend. The site suggests there might be 7 more minutes of footage available for a price but it isn't clear if that's more unseen footage or the aired parts. It also isn't clear to me why no one has bought it yet if it's really for sale but maybe they're just closed on the weekend or something.

Moving on (can we please?) my lord, there's so much else to cover. Two Of Us spotify vertical video is out, Jordan Green did an amazing job and it's really lovely, we're absolutely spoiled for video content and we don't even have the main music vid yet. So much unreasonably pretty Louis. Oprah fucking Winfrey is out there promoting Two Of Us! She lists it as NUMBER ONE in a list of songs for Mother's Day that will make you smile which, okay ouch? I don't know about that? But still, WOW. There's a giant billboard of Louis in Times Square!! Amazing. The song is still at number one worldwide (suck it A Star is Born)! A new Louis song has been registered and it's the one he co-wrote in the Secret Genius sessions- could this be the previously mentioned next single? Could they be planning on doing back to back single releases BE STILL MY HEART. LT19 indeed! Louis will be on Graham Norton's radio show Mar 23! Liam posted about Two Of Us! And in the thanks…I guess… column, James Corden and the guy from The Wanted let us know how much they liked the song.

Currently, Louis is out on the town with the usual public event gang, including Eleanor. Ping pong was involved.

AND sorry to relegate yall to a note at the end but, hi Harry, we miss you! He tweeted for international Women's Day, “thank you to all the wonderful women of today yesterday and always“ and followed some badass professional women on IG. Niall also tweeted, “love to all the amazing ladies out there” and took questions on IG, as usual answering candidly and openly and still somehow providing very little information. It really is an amazing talent he has, when he's old enough and finally ready to be president of Ireland it will serve him well in his political career. He does stoke the flames for the new material a bit, saying he's written 40 songs since Jan(!) and that Red Rocks footage is coming.

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hungryhearted · 5 years

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❝ But before I go, remember one thing, promise me one thing: be brave when you’re afraid. ❞ CHANCE PERDOMO? No, that’s actually ALBUS POTTER. A SEVENTH YEAR student, this SLYTHERIN student is sided with MCGONAGALL’S ARMY. HE identifies as a CIS-MAN and is a HALFBLOOD who is known to be CYNICAL, HYPOCRITICAL, and WORRISOME but also AMBITIOUS, CHARISMATIC, and FRIENDLY. [ Albus is adopted. ]

DEATH TW. so albus was adopted by the potters when he was only one. his birth parents, a halfblood couple from london, were murdered in their home one night when al was just a baby; the result of a past affair gone wrong. whether he was left alive because he was merely a child or because the murderer didn’t realize he was asleep upstairs remains unclear, but he was the only one still alive when the team of aurors arrived, among them harry potter. unfortunately, albus had no other living relatives that could take him in, and his situation hitting close to home for harry, he and ginny made the decision to adopt him. END DEATH TW.

albus full name is albus remus potter here sorry not sorry i don’t make the rules, albus is bad enough as it is!!! the world may be a disaster rn but at least we can have one (1) improvement!!!!!

so yeah, al grew up with the potters from a young age, and is just so grateful to have been adopted by them. while he has sometimes wondered what his birth parents were like and what his life would have looked like had they lived — really, who wouldn’t? — al loves the life he’s been given and wouldn’t change it for the world. he’s never once had to doubt the love of his family — it’s clear in their every action — and the same can be said for al. he loves them more than anything in the world, and really would do anything for them.

when it came time for al to go to hogwarts, he was quite nervous about his sorting, but quickly found that slytherin really was the right fit for him. he’s ambitious, resourceful and holds a great deal of self-preservation, and his house helped him hone in on his skills and develop them.

he has always been a really hard-working student and often one of the top in his classes, so that plus his helpful and friendly nature made him a good fit for prefect in his fifth year, and eventually became head student this year. he is really proud of himself for that but jfhdg the current climate at the school sure makes it harder to enjoy it!

just trying to like. tread carefully rn and follow the rules as much as possible and be as good of a head student as he can be, because he’s aware that it’s probably just a matter of time before he is replaced by someone who is more keen with the death eater cause, and he’s just. god he does not want to lose his position because at least now he has much better resources and abilities to look out for the younger students, and he’s worried that whoever would replace him might not have their best interest at heart. i mean tbh even in a normal verse al would be a great head student and take it very seriously and not give in to favouritism or other poor practices but now he’s like…. even more careful ig??

if he’s sacked, it won’t be for anything he’s done, he’s determined to make sure that’s the case at least

DEATH TW, PARENTAL DEATH TW. i don’t..... want to talk about harry!! i don’t want to do this!! al is obviously completely devastated. he’s just. god. he was so close to harry and he loved him so much and now he’s gone and al just can’t. i mean now enough time has passed that it’s.... real and he can’t deny it, but when he first found out that was definitely his first thought. that this wasn’t real, it was a mistake, they couldn’t have gotten his dad, it’s harry, and minerva, and kingsley, and how do you get all three of them? but now he’s just. heartbroken honestly

nr 1 ginny weasley defence squad over here. losing harry made al realize how much he’s taken his parents for granted? not in terms of like --- ignoring them or not appreciating them enough throughout his life, because he always has, but he never imagined he would lose them? he always thought they would be there? but now harry is gone and it’s just ginny left and al is absolutely terrified, he is so scared something will happen to her too. he doesn’t share that with anyone, really, especially his mum, she has enough on her plate, but he wishes she could just be with them at hogwarts so he could look out for her because he cannot stand the thought of losing her. he just can’t and he’s so afraid. END DEATH TW, PARENTAL DEATH TW.

i think al still doesn’t really understand that bravery doesn’t mean that you feel no fear, just that you try to do what’s right despite it, so like — al is brave, in my opinion, he just struggles to identify it in himself. he can see it so easily in his friends and family, but when he looks at himself he just considers himself a coward which tbh… isn’t even true. but yeah, he joined mcgonagall’s army the moment it was formed and tries to do what he can to help out, both with strategising and missions, whatever they could need from a second tier. but yeah that’s like.... idk the thought of helping out more, like being a leader or something like his sister and best friend katya is, would never have struck him because that’s for brave people and he doesn’t consider himself one? does that make sense outside my head gfdjhsgk

we love insecurity in war verses! besides that he’s pretty confident tho but that’s like. his Big Insecurity you feel

growing up, al was quite an observant child and quickly became interested in politics and the way the world worked. somewhat cynical, he couldn’t help but notice the flaws in the system more so than the things they got right, and felt that he had to do something to make the world a little bit better than it was when he entered it; just do whatever he could. his family have been subjected to countless powerpoint presentations about things he would improve and correct because he is a certified nerd™ hfjkdhkj

would play the sims a lot as a kid to show how he would build a society fjhsdk

his goal is one day to become minister for magic so he can work on improving life in wizarding uk for its citizens but i mean he’s gotta try to survive this war first! we’ll see if he succeeds

al is a fucking NERD and everyone who has met him knows it, but he still thinks of himself as a Bad Boy™. viv has to put up with So Much dating him icb

al honestly.... doesn’t really get how he ended up with such a cool girlfriend but he loves her SO much and he’s not gonna do anything to screw that up gdshjfj

when describing the potters as different types of lights, jane said al was a guiding lighthouse, looking out for the people in the night, and that really is the best description of him

but yeah, to sum him up, he’s got that Potter Sass™ and can be a pain sometimes, but he’s quite friendly and charismatic and he’s got a good head on his shoulders

oh and his pinterest can be found right here

#iidyintro #ch: albus potter.#intro: albus.#this is so messy but i'm tired so just take it pls fjhsg

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omfgtrump · 4 years

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The Tale of Two Viruses: Part 25

Biden/Harris. It has a nice ring to it. The first woman of color on a presidential ticket. Only took 250 years! Still no black woman has ever been governor, and there have been only 2 black women senators in our history. I say let this be the beginning of a transformation of the color of American politics.

But the gloves are off; the attacks have begun. Kamala is not a “real” black American; she was born to immigrant parents, so she can’t run for president: The rebirth of Birtherism! She is nasty and a very, very, very angry woman. And then we have the more fringe craziness. She is part of Pizzagate (you know, the Clinton Sex ring operation!) and is Jusse Smollett’s aunt and helped set up his fake attack.

We have seen this playbook before, and will hear it over and over again until the last ballot is counted. But will the last ballot be counted? Not if The Don has his way. All of us should be worried as the scorched earth man will stop at nothing to win, including messing with the mail.

You have got to take your hat off to King Virus’ transparency. Yes, I know he won’t turn over his taxes. Yes, I know he would not turn over documents during the Russia probe and would not let anyone from his administration speak to congress and the list goes on. But he did tell us he was a sexual predator during the infamous Access Hollywood tape. He did ask Wiki Leaks to dump the dirt on Hillary Clinton. He did tell us in Helsinki that he was beholden to Putin and trusted him more than his own intelligence agencies. And now he has done it again. He brazenly declared that he was messing with the post office to enhance his chances of winning the election.

“They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.”

“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it.”

Like William, Lower the Barr, who undermines the rule of law he is charged to protect, his recently appointed Post Master General, Louis DeJoy, is undermining the integrity of the USPS by slowing down the mail.

When asked by a reporter why he thinks this is a good idea, Mr. DeJoy supposedly said: “Slowing things down is good for the soul. Like that old song “Feeling Groovy.” Slow down, you’re going too fast, got to make the morning last.”

youtube

Reporter: What’s your strategy for this?

DeJoy: Well, pretty simple. Get rid of a bunch of mail sorters. Take some mailboxes off the streets.

Reporter: Wow, very clever. Any other plans.

DeJoy: Flatten tires on mail trucks. Push a few off bridges. Blow a few up Beirut style. You know that kind of stuff.

Reporter: When do you do this kind of stuff, 3:00 in the morning?

DeJoy: Oh no that would be too suspicious. We just do it in plain site because then it looks like everyday business.

Reporter: How so?

DeJoy: Well, if you are watching someone take a mailbox off a street and put it in to a truck you probably would think that there must be a problem with the mailbox, right? I mean who would do something so crazy as to remove mailboxes for no reason. See what I mean?

Reporter: Simply genius.

DeJoy: Nice to be appreciated.

Reporter: Any other tactics down the road?

DeJoy; Well, if necessary, breaking some legs of mail carriers. You know the president knows a lot of thugs, mafia types, he can call on. Did a lot of work with those wise guys in the 70’s and 80’s. Well, that is before they all went to prison on RICO charges.

Reporter: Back in the day when Rudy G. was a hero. Boy have things changed.

DeJoy: Rudy still is a hero. In fact, he’s helping us with our operation in New York.

Reporter: Breaking legs?

DeJoy: Let’s just say he’s helping us.

Reporter: Don’t you think the American people might be upset that the post office is being compromised?

DeJoy: The American people are too busy to notice, as they are dealing with the pandemic, standing for hours on food lines. Protesting on the streets about silly things like “Black Lives Matter.”

Reporter: What about the fact that millions of Americans get their prescriptions through the mail, and slowing the mail could have life or death consequences?

DeJoy: Um, hadn’t thought about that. Well, dying of Covid, dying from not getting your drugs. Pick your poison.

Reporter: Do you feel there is something wrong in making it more difficult for people to vote?

DeJoy: I am not doing that. I am actually an American hero as I am protecting the electorate by minimize voter fraud.

Reporter: Certainly an interesting spin.

DeJoy; No spin, no spin.

Reporter: Hey, you just sounded like the president. You know how he loves to repeat words like: no puppet, no puppet.

DeJoy: Spend enough time with someone you pick up some of their mannerisms.

Reporter: I can see that. Just checking, but were you engaged in criminal activity before this job, or is it just one of his mannerisms you’ve picked up?

DeJoy: What?

Reporter: Well, messing with the mail is a federal crime. It’s actually in the constitution.

DeJoy: I resent you intimating that I am doing something illegal. As I have already told you, I am protecting the integrity of our elections.

Reporter: Do you know that an Inspector General overseeing the Post Office is looking in to your actions?

DeJoy: Let him look. Remember what happened to a bunch of IG’s who decided they wanted to look in things?

Reporter: What are you saying?

DeJoy: Just saying, curiosity killed the cat.

Reporter: One more question.

DeJoy: Shoot.

Reporter: How come absentee ballots are okay, but no mail-in voting? After all, they are both done by mail?

DeJoy: Well that’s simple. Absent voting means someone can’t get to the state they are in to vote. They are overseas, living elsewhere. Like the president. He has an absentee ballot to vote in Florida. Mail-in voting is because you are scared of dying from the coronavirus so you are afraid to go to the polls. Make sense?

Let me share a little secret with you off the record. The president knows his chances of winning are dwindling so the pandemic is his best friend. The worse it gets, the fewer people will show up to the polls, and if I just do my job protecting the country from fraud then we get four more years.

Reporter: Wow, now that’s one morbidly clever strategy.

DeJoy: Brilliant, don’t you think?

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shirlleycoyle · 5 years

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The Battle Over a Telescope on Hawaii’s Sacred Mountain Is Just Beginning

Thousands of people including Native Hawaiians—Kanaka Maoli or Kanaka ʻŌiwi—gathered at Mauna Kea last week to protest the construction of an enormous, $1.4 billion telescope on Hawaiʻi’s tallest mountain.

With this telescope, astronomers could spot the universe’s oldest stars or potential signs of life on exoplanets; its giant mirror rendering images that are 12 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope. But to many Native Hawaiians, the project has become a pinnacle of colonialism on the island.

“At Mauna Kea last week, we were a line of women standing face-to-face with police forces,” said Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, an associate professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and guardian of the sacred mountain.

“We were preparing for them to use pepper spray and batons,” she said. “But we knew that whatever happens on the mauna, [there is going to be] a reckoning.”

Last Wednesday, police arrested 33 kupuna (elders), some in wheelchairs, for peacefully opposing the mountain’s desecration. The arrests sparked an outcry of support for the Mauna Kea protectors, or kiaʻi, as the movement’s activists are broadly known.

From Auckland’s Aotea Square to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, people across the world are now pressuring Hawaiʻi to halt construction and listen to its native voices. On the national stage, representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren, have each expressed their solidarity for Mauna Kea protectors. Hawaiʻi’s own delegates, Representative Ed Case and Senator Mazie Hirono, defended the movement as well.

“To feel that kind of love, and ultimately that’s what has been emphasized over and over— kapu aloha—it’s driven so much by a love for this land and each other that it totally overshadows what it’s against,” said Goodyear-Kaʻōpua. “It’s really what we are about.”

The state will ultimately decide the telescope’s fate, but with the project at an impasse it now faces three paths forward, and each will have some detractors. The telescope could be moved to an alternate site. The state could also halt construction and begin to heal historic rifts. Or construction could resume at the expense of Native Hawaiians.

Why is the summit of Mauna Kea so contested?

A decade ago this July, an international consortium of science institutions selected Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano, as the site for the largest optical telescope in the Northern Hemisphere, and second-largest in the world. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), named for the length of its primary mirror, would join 13 observatories on Mauna Kea’s summit, one of the planet’s most ideal locations for skywatching.

The exceptional environment atop Mauna Kea—the dizzying altitude, the dark cloudless nights, the eerie calm—has made it a hotspot for international astronomy since the 1960s. But from the perspective of Native Hawaiians, its qualities transcend those only recently deemed useful to Western science.

To Native Hawaiians, Mauna Kea’s ecology is a manifestation of its sacred significance. Its white peaks said to be shaped by Poliʻahu, the goddess of snow, and her sisters, the goddesses of fresh water, hail, and chilling frost who dwell there. The mountain itself arose from Wākea and Papahānaumoku, the sky father and earth mother, to whom Native Hawaiians also trace their lineage according to oral histories. The name Mauna Kea, stemming from “Mauna (mountain) a Wākea,” denotes this genealogy.

Mauna Kea’s well-being, then, is intimately felt. Such is the concept of aloha ‘aina, literally meaning “love of the land,” which among many things embodies that interconnectedness.

Given the focal role of Mauna Kea in Native Hawaiian life, the construction of observatories on its summit is a charged issue stemming from the islands’ painful colonial history.

Mauna Kea is part of “ceded lands” that belonged to the Hawaiian monarchy, and were taken during the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani by American-backed businessmen in 1893. After Hawaiʻi’s statehood, the parcels were given to the federal government, meant to be held in trust for the benefit of Native Hawaiians. But history indicates that the islands were illegally annexed, and its land stolen—something the United States has formally acknowledged but not atoned for.

In 1959, authority over Mauna Kea was transferred to the state’s Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR). It now leases the summit to the University of Hawai’i for $1 per year, which in turn manages subleases for telescopes built there. In 2014, a peaceful protest was held at the TMT groundbreaking ceremony, attracting international attention. The opposition led to a 2015 decision by the Supreme Court of Hawai’i to invalidate the telescope’s building permit.

But after years of litigation, the project was granted a new permit in 2018, and construction was scheduled to renew on July 15, 2019. When kiaʻi assembled at the base of Mauna Kea, they were met by unarmed National Guard units, deployed by Hawai’i governor David Ige who later declared a state of emergency, for which he is being sued. Protests at Mauna Kea have drawn up to 2,000 people, and construction remains suspended.

Things now are in a holding pattern, and while Ige did not respond to a request for comment, he has repeatedly reaffirmed his commitment to finishing the project.

“I support the vision [Hawaiʻi County Mayor Harry Kim] has widely articulated for Mauna Kea as a beacon of hope and discovery for the world that brings us together rather than divides us,” Ige said in a statement on Tuesday.

The TMT board is also deliberating. Spokesperson Scott Ishikawa described the situation as “very fluid,” saying it doesn’t have a date for when construction could resume. In essence, the status of the telescope is in limbo.

“Right now, it’s kind of status quo,” said Dan Dennison, a spokesperson for the BLNR, in a phone call on Tuesday. Dennison said he expects state officials to make an announcement about the status of the TMT in the coming days.

“I think the ball is in the state’s court, but we’ve seen the tides turn recently,” said Kaniela Ing, a former Hawaiʻi state representative.

If a new date is set, government officials will decide what kind of law enforcement will accompany crews to the summit. Ishikawa said the telescope’s board isn’t aware of these enforcement plans.

“We remain hopeful that we can find a way forward, with mutual respect,” he said. “As many of the protestors have said, this is not about TMT or science. Among those who remain opposed are many who see TMT as an icon for what they believe is the wrong side in the much larger political issue of Hawaiian sovereignty. We respect those who express opposition and understand the pain they feel.”

What if the telescope is built on Mauna Kea?

If the state forges ahead with the telescope’s construction, it may fracture any hope of trust between Indigenous peoples and the scientific community.

“The way the project was handled has created such a huge rift, there’s no way to heal it and also build the telescope.”

This path would be an obvious disappointment for kiaʻi who have invested so much into preventing the desecration of sacred lands. But the implications of resuming construction—especially if it involves a military presence—are distressing to many scientists and STEM students as well.

Among them are Mithi Alexa de los Reyes, a graduate student in astronomy at Caltech, and Sal Wanying Fu, an incoming graduate student in astrophysics at UC Berkeley. The pair co-wrote an open letter “to denounce the criminalization of the protectors on Maunakea,” which was posted on July 17. It has been signed by more than 900 scientists and students.

In the letter, Fu and de los Reyes do not take a stance on whether the TMT should be built on Mauna Kea, and instead condemn the decision to arrest kupuna and bring in the National Guard. Such actions are a detriment to the reputation and quality of scientific work, they said, in part because they alienate marginalized peoples within the sector.

“We worry first and foremost about the long-term damage to the relationships that various scientific communities have with people who are Indigenous—not just because they are Indigenous to land that may be seen as valuable for various scientific endeavors, but also because Indigenous ways of knowing and understanding the universe are just as valuable as western science,” Fu and de los Reyes said.

There have recently been more efforts to incorporate Indigenous knowledge systems into scientific research, and the academic community has nominally embraced these values. But some scientists regard the pace of progress as glacial, with issues like Mauna Kea making them feel even more estranged within their fields.

The “ongoing conversation around TMT is influencing our feelings of belonging in astronomy, and whether or not we believe academic astronomy really values us as full human beings,” Fu and de los Reyes said.

Can the telescope be moved to a ‘Plan B’ location?

But if it were up to many people in Hawaiʻi, native and non-native, the telescope would be built somewhere else. TMT scientists considered many sites before choosing Mauna Kea, and say they are still exploring the option of moving it to La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands.

“While our efforts are currently focused on construction of the TMT in Hawai’i, the La Palma location is still being considered if re-starting construction on Mauna Kea is not feasible,” a spokesperson for the TMT said.

The La Palma site is slightly less ideal than Mauna Kea because of its lower elevation and greater atmospheric turbulence, but still has extremely good viewing conditions and already hosts the Gran Telescopio Canarias, the largest optical observatory currently in operation.

The option of relocating the telescope has gained a foothold in the academic community. Scientists around the world—from astronomers to biologists to physicists—have opposed the project, sparking movements such as Twitter’s #ScientistsForMaunaKea hashtag.

Proponents of this option do not see the controversy over the Mauna Kea location as a zero sum game. Swapping Mauna Kea for the Canary Islands would still enable the TMT to be built at one of the best observational locations in the world, they argue.

“The way the project was handled has created such a huge rift, there’s no way to heal it and also build the telescope,” said Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, who supports moving the TMT to the Canary Islands.

The Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi, an undergraduate student government, share that sentiment and issued a resolution in 2014 saying the cultural and environmental impacts of the telescope on Mauna Kea outweigh its benefits.

The depiction of this struggle “as a clash between out-of-date spirituality and rigorous, modern science” is a false dichotomy, wrote scholars Keolu Fox and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein in the Nation. The islands have long been a laboratory for scientific inquiry, but colonial methods have devalued these forms of knowledge.

“It’s not about science versus culture,” said Kamana Beamer, an associate professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “It’s about mismanagement and saving some of the few pristine areas we have.”

Can construction be halted to make way for a Native Hawaiian vision?

On July 18, Hawai’i State Senator Kai Kahele suggested implementing a 60-day moratorium on construction of the telescope on Mauna Kea.

“It’s time for a cooling off period,” Kahele told the Hawai’i Tribune-Herald. “I think it’s time to de-escalate this situation. I think it’s time for ho‘oponopono (mediation and conciliation). I think it’s time to have meaningful conversations for the future of Mauna Kea.”

In the event of a moratorium, Ing said he hopes that resumed construction could be contained within the existing footprint of Mauna Kea’s observatories. That would mean decommissioning older telescopes and repurposing their foundations so that new soil is not disturbed. While five of these telescopes are slated to be shut down by 2033, nothing requires this to happen before the TMT’s groundbreaking.

For many Native Hawaiians, these terms were wholly unacceptable and would do little to rectify decades of poor stewardship on Mauna Kea’s slopes. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) sued the state and the University of Hawaiʻi in 2017 for “longstanding and well-documented mismanagement” of the mountain, but the problems started long before then.

In 1996, an entomologist found that telescope construction on Mauna Kea had wrecked the habitat of a tiny, peculiar insect with antifreeze for blood: the Weiku bug that is unique to the summit. Workers had cut into a crater wall where the insect resided, causing untold destruction to the rare species. The University of Hawaiʻi eventually apologized and funded a study of the arthropod, but “efforts to gather information […] came after damage had already been done,” a 1998 state audit found.

The TMT’s construction risks even more destruction and environmental degradation. In 2010, an environmental impact statement conducted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo predicted “a potential for accidents” during the TMTs’ construction, including fires and the spilling of hazardous waste. An official TMT document warned that dust and greenhouse gas emissions from human activity may impact “cultural, botanical, wildlife, and astronomical resources” on the mountain. Some environmentalists also worry that shifts to Mauna Kea’s climate may accelerate the decline of snowmelt there, Grist reported.

Native Hawaiians say they have long struggled to get telescope operators to recognize them when it comes to Mauna Kea. Authorities such as OHA have proposed guidelines for consulting with “knowledgeable practitioners and ‘ohana with lineal ties and ongoing, living practices associated [with] Mauna Kea lands.” In other words, people who speak for the mauna.

But for astronomy to do right by them, it will take more than just symbolic outreach like bestowing celestial bodies with Hawaiian names.

“There’s a certain fatigue that the Native Hawaiian community has about outreach,” Ing said. “You talk to a few consultants that will be sympathetic, incorporate names and stories, do a blessing and cut some ti leaf when you groundbreak, and all is good. But I think that era is coming to a close.”

“We’re not looking to bless other people’s projects anymore,” agreed Beamer. “We want significant leadership in designing and crafting our vision for the future of Mauna Kea and Hawaiʻi for that matter.”

Some want the university to invest in reforestation. Telescopes have damaged the mountain’s summit, but ranching and military have also left their mark on its fragile ecosystems.

The state could also grant Mauna Kea personhood, bestowing it “the legal rights of people to be healthy and protected,” Goodyear-Kaʻōpua said. This is already occurring in Aotearoa (New Zealand) where lands and rivers, such as Mount Taranaki, have been deemed “legal persons,” recognizing these places as Māori ancestors.

The ongoing battle for Mauna Kea eclipses the field of astronomy. It confronts more than 125 years of American imperialism in Hawaiʻi, interrogates false paradigms about science for all humankind, and demands a future that is just.

But at the root of everything is a devastatingly fundamental question: How can human progress occur on stolen lands?

“What we’re experiencing is the tipping point of justice for Hawaiians in Hawaiʻi,” Beamer said. “It began with some courageous truth speakers, and the truth has galvanized a movement that we’ve never seen in Hawaiʻi since we were an independent country.”

The Battle Over a Telescope on Hawaii’s Sacred Mountain Is Just Beginning syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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