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mariacallous · 2 months

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On March 5, Haiti’s acting prime minister took off on a chartered Gulfstream jet from a New Jersey airport with nowhere to go.

Ariel Henry—Haiti’s unelected leader since July 2021—had spent weeks traveling in Africa and the Americas trying to rally international support for his country, which has been mired in chronic poverty, political instability, and an insurgency of criminal groups led by a former Haitian police officer turned gang leader, Jimmy Chérizier, known as “Barbecue.”

While Henry was out of the country, Barbecue and his allies coordinated an armed assault calling for Henry’s ouster. They stormed police stations and prisons, released around 3,700 inmates, and attacked the airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, making it too dangerous for Henry to land there.

Instead, Henry tried to negotiate a plan to land in neighboring Dominican Republic, but he was rebuffed at the last minute by the government there, according to U.S. officials, Caribbean officials, and regional experts familiar with the matter. Other Caribbean countries reacted coolly to the prospect of hosting Henry as his support domestically and abroad began collapsing. Finally, he landed in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, where he remained in limbo until March 12, when he announced his intention to resign.

The chaos and uncertainty of Henry’s final flight as prime minister underlined the political tumult that has gripped Haiti—and the tepid response to Haiti’s downward spiral by an overstretched international community reluctant to tackle yet another crisis.

If Haiti isn’t yet formally deemed a failed state, it’s well on its way. Government institutions and basic services have broken down and gang violence has sparked one of the worst humanitarian and refugee crises in the Western Hemisphere.

“It’s an extremely dangerous situation,” said Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s former foreign minister who now runs the Haitian Observatory of International Relations think tank. “Without a change, we are facing a possibility of an entire nation becoming a big open-air jail run by gangs.”

Yet what that change should look like—and who might be willing and able to step in to make it happen—remains as unclear now as it has for more than two years.

Haiti’s near collapse has led to frantic meetings among regional leaders in recent weeks and heated debates between the Biden administration and Congress over what role, if any, the United States should play in the unfolding emergency in its own backyard. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Jamaica on Monday to meet with Caribbean leaders on the issue, and he pledged an additional $100 million in U.S. funds to finance the deployment of a multinational force to help stabilize the country.

The Biden administration is urging Congress to unlock even more funds. Two powerful Republican lawmakers—Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee—argue that the administration doesn’t have adequate plans for how it would use those funds. They also charge that the administration let its Haiti policy fester in indecision for too long, exacerbating the country’s current predicament.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has faced chronic instability for decades, fueled in part by devastating natural disasters and international aid mishaps, including a U.N. mission that brought a deadly cholera outbreak to the country as well as sexual exploitation and abuse of women and children by U.N. peacekeepers, and a 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000, followed by bungled international relief efforts that sparked a cycle of mismanagement and stunted development projects.

In 2021, then-President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by a group of gunmen in his home, sparking the current political crisis in the country. (A Haitian judge last month indicted three prominent individuals—Moïse’s widow, an ex-prime minister, and a former Haitian chief of police—for involvement in the assassination, charges they have denied as baseless political reprisals.) Henry took over as acting president shortly after and soon began pleading with foreign powers for a military intervention to address the country’s spiraling instability.

Gangs have taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, and rights groups say the gangs have used rape and torture as weapons against the civilian population. Thousands of Haitians have been killed and kidnapped.

“It is difficult to overstate the gravity of the political, security, human rights and humanitarian situation in Haiti today,” the U.N. mission in Haiti wrote in a report to the U.N. Security Council in January, a copy of which was obtained by Foreign Policy. The violence has led to a surge in Haitians fleeing the country; the report noted that the number of Haitians fleeing to Central America with the aim of making it across the U.S. southern border increased 23-fold in 2023—from 1,550 people in July to 35,500 people in October.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti this week evacuated some diplomats and nonessential personnel as well as deployed a specialized detachment of U.S. Marines to bolster the embassy’s security. Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command, told lawmakers in a hearing on Thursday that the U.S. military had plans ready to evacuate U.S. citizens if the crisis worsened.

“It’s absolute chaos. People are crying out for even some basic level of security,” said Nicole Widdersheim, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “We need to see the international community doing something very rapid to bring security and stability and protection from the violence.”

The international community, meanwhile, procrastinated on the matter for over two years, officials and experts said.

After Moïse’s assassination, the United States balked at the prospect of leading a multinational force. In 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden privately asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if Canada would take the lead, current and former officials said. Canada declined, but it offered to contribute $100 million to help fund such a force. No other country in South or Central America stepped up. Haiti, coordinating with the Biden administration, then turned to Africa. Kenya agreed to lead a mission and deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti as part of an effort that would be coordinated and bankrolled mostly by the United States.

That plan stalled when Kenyan opposition politicians challenged the program’s legality. The U.S. government, meanwhile, already overstretched by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, let Haiti fall by the wayside, current and former U.S. officials told Foreign Policy. Biden didn’t nominate a U.S. ambassador to Haiti until May 2023, nearly two years after Moïse’s assassination. Biden’s nominee, career diplomat Dennis Hankins, was confirmed to the post by the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

“A lot of countries at the beginning were reluctant to take the lead, though Haiti needs urgent help,” Edmond said. But, he added, “At the end of the day, we also need to take our own responsibilities for our own country. I don’t think I will throw the blame only on the international community.”

Henry’s resignation announcement was quietly seen as a relief by some U.S. and regional officials, but it also created new challenges as the region tries to cobble together a temporary governance structure from afar to lead Haiti out of its crisis.

His announcement came after quiet pressure from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), officials said, as well as repeated threats from gang leaders should he return to the country. (The White House has denied reports that it also pressured Henry to resign.)

Now, CARICOM is helping craft a new presidential transitional council composed of seven voting members and two observers, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by Foreign Policy. Candidates for the council would be put forward by at least five active Haitian political parties with input from CARICOM-screened civil society organizations. Once appointed, the new council, in theory, would help restore legitimacy to Haiti’s absent government and lead the country on a path toward stability and, eventually, elections. Henry has said he’ll officially step down once the new council is in place.

Almost immediately, though, current and former officials said, those efforts hit a wall as Haitian elites began wrangling with CARICOM officials over who should make the final cut, and some potential member candidates voiced fear for their families’ lives if they joined the council. On Friday, Blinken said that most of the parties have named their representatives for the council but that several still have not.

Edmond said many Haitians are skeptical of the plan and “don’t believe it’s the right solution.” Edmond said he believes a better alternative would be for the Haitian Supreme Court to take temporary control and appoint a technocrat as prime minister to strengthen Haiti’s national police forces and lead the country into elections.

Meanwhile, Henry’s resignation has put on hold the U.S.- and U.N.-backed plan for Kenya to deploy a police force to Haiti to help restore order to the country. Kenyan President William Ruto said he remained committed to the plan but that it would only occur after the transitional council was established. It’s unclear whether Henry’s resignation will create new legal hurdles for Ruto to carry out the deployment.

Biden administration officials also considered offers from Senegal and Rwanda to lead the security assistance force, but those proposals were ultimately rejected in favor of Kenya, current and former U.S. and Haitian officials said. Rwanda faces widespread criticisms over its checkered record on human rights and authoritarian bent, and Senegal is currently mired in its own political crisis over delayed elections. However, Kenya’s police have also been accused of committing abuses at home by human rights groups, including the use of excessive force and the killing of more than 100 people in 2023.

The planned Kenyan operation, even if it is able to commence, faces significant practical and logistical challenges, U.S. officials and congressional aides said. For starters, neither Kenya, the United States, nor other regional powers have stated what the rules of engagement would be for Kenyan forces once they are deployed to the country, where they face the daunting task of quelling powerful and heavily armed gangs and a weakened and embattled local police force.

There is also the broader question of whether adding more police will solve the deeper systemic issues that led to the current situation. “The police cannot make significant inroads against gangs absent a broader political breakthrough,” Pierre Espérance, the executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network in Haiti, argued in Foreign Policy last July. “In Haiti, gang members are not independent warlords operating apart from the state. They are part of the way the state functions—and how political leaders assert power.”

An unclassified U.S. intelligence assessment released this week predicted that Haitian gangs “will be more likely to violently resist a foreign national force deployment to Haiti because they perceive it to be a shared threat to their control and operations” and that Haiti’s national police have been “unable to counter gang violence and [have] been plagued by resource issues, corruption challenges, and limited training.”

Any deployment of Kenyan forces would also require substantial logistical support from the U.S. military, U.S. officials and congressional aides familiar with the matter said. Administration officials have told Congress that once given the green light, Kenyan police could be deployed to Haiti in a matter of 45 to 60 days in ideal conditions—and without U.S. boots on the ground. But Haiti has no clear base or logistics hub for the Kenyan police to be deployed to, particularly after gangs seized control of major power centers in Port-au-Prince.

Another complicating factor is the funding mechanism. After balking for nearly two years on proposals to deploy their own forces to Haiti, the U.S. and Canadian governments have both pledged to fund the Kenyan-led force, but no funding mechanism has been set up yet to do that. A multinational police mission in Haiti could cost an estimated $500 million to $800 million per year, State Department officials have told congressional oversight committees.

Risch has held up an estimated $40 million of the first tranche of U.S. funding for the Kenya-led mission. “[A]fter years of discussions, repeated requests for information, and providing partial funding to help them plan, the administration only this afternoon sent us a rough plan to address this crisis,” Risch said in a joint statement with McCaul. The administration “owes Congress a lot more details in a more timely manner before it gets more funding,” they said.

John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesperson, said the situation is getting worse in the meantime. “The violence has been increasing, not decreasing, as well as the instability. And, of course, the Haitian people are the ones that are suffering as a result,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Edmond said that even if the Kenya-led mission gets underway, the United States has a “moral obligation to consider, before the arrival of the Kenyan forces, a way to help the national police forces that are now being overwhelmed by the gangs.”

“The United States is the leader of the free world. Haiti is a member of that world, one of the closest neighbors to the U.S. There is a moral obligation here to step in.”

Widdersheim said the United States can’t dodge responsibilities. “Half measures won’t be good enough this time,” she said. “The U.S. government hasn’t in the past seemed to care enough to truly invest in Haiti’s long-term development, and it’s to our detriment because nothing ever sticks; we just get stuck doing half measures that always fail.”

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morrak · 6 months

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Untitled Wednesday Library Series, Part 132

Forest Trees of the United States and Canada, and How to Identify Them is a deceivingly sparse little thing. Elbert L. Little, Jr., formerly Chief Dendrologist for Timber Management Research in the United States Forest Service, took 30 years to go from semi-internal articles to this book. Presumably there was a lot of editing and updating. I don’t know; I only have the final product, or rather a post-final version — this is a cheaply made 1979 Dover edition after the ‘original’ 1978 Important Forest Trees of the United States.

The How

Alike to Pt. 128. Hell yeah, etc.

The Text

204 tree species (native and non-, for certain values of each) of the titular countries, which mandate is taken to include Hawaiʻi, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It’s a tall order for a botanical text — much less a forestry one — to let the biogeographical out from under the biopolitical, but this is pretty on the nose.

Line drawings of leaves and distinctive fruits or flowers, maps, and quick keys for hasty IDs, all roughly divided by region and taxonomic relationships. More or less straightforward and neatly condensed from larger works; basically pretty successful on its own terms.

But hark! My two best friends, Texas live oak Quercus fusiformis and Ashe juniper Juniperus Ashei, are disrespected. The former is lumped in with Q. virginiana’s range; the latter is passed over completely. Fie and fuck off.

The Object

Solidly bound given its design; nicely rendered given its size; neatly illustrated within, as far as I can tell, by the author. Paul E. Kennedy’s cover design may not make it, per se, but it doesn’t hurt. Unquestionably a late-70s Dover joint.

According to the name inside, this copy belonged to a local who died in 2012. It never got processed into any institutional collection, despite where we found it — probably a perpetual discard.

The Why, Though?

Of the two tree books I’ve picked up recently, this is the less favorite. We’ll see the other one before long (health and Wednesdays permitting), but there’s space for both — even with all my getting-better-at-knowing-plants-sometimes, trees are a bit of a lacuna. That’s doubly true now that I’ve left my comfort region behind; the more help the merrier.

#images #untitled wednesday library series

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vampberry-art · 3 months

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My Monster High OC! She is the daughter of the Chupacabra and is from Puerto Rico! Myself growing up and loving monster high it did make me a little sad that (in g1) the only outwardly latina characters we had were Skelita Calaveras, Batsy Claro, and Bonita femur (she is kinda debated but her name is literally Bonita so..) and none of them represented my culture (there’s hope for g3!) she still doesn’t have a name but I can tell you what was my thought process behind her design! Because of her being boricua I added some taíno elements to her design, mainly the sun and moon earrings (the left one with the darker yellow is the sun the right one with the paler yellow is the moon) and her necklace with the coquí, every boricua has had at least one in their lifetime. Some stories of the Chupacabra have it originating from space so I decided to include space/alien elements into her jewelry. Her eyeshadow is a reference to the town that she is from Canóvanas, Puerto Rico since that is where most stories of the Chupacabra originate from in PR, that’s why her eyeshadow is the colors of that flag! I hope you guys will enjoy seeing more of her in the future!

#monster high gen 1 #monster high g3 #monster high #monster #chupacabra #oc #puerto rico #boricua

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life-in-the-garden · 26 days

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Jar Spell: Spirit's Freedom

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a 2002 animated movie about a young mustang stallion in 19th century western America. After growing up as a wild horse, he is captured by white soldiers of the United States Cavalry and “broken” to bear a saddle and rider before making his escape with a Lakota youth named Little Creek. He bears witness to the abuse that horses suffer as a great railroad is being built, and finally runs free again with his herd after falling in love with a mare named Rain. This jar spell channels Spirit’s yearning for freedom from oppression, abuse, and confinement, and is ideal for anyone seeking emotional help with breaking free from an abusive home, job, or relationship. (Please see the “Notes” section at the end for mundane resources related to escaping abusive situations).

You will absolutely need:

a small vessel with a lid (a pill bottle or spice shaker works just fine)

sealing wax (ideally blue or white) or liquid glue

Once you have your vessel, add some ingredients related to wild horses running free and/or your conception of what freedom means. Some suggested ingredients that you may or may not include depending on your preferences are:

a clipping of hair from a horse’s mane or tail

a feather from a wild bird (for flight and freedom)

1-3 horse-themed bracelet charms but NOT horseshoe charms (horseshoes symbolize being tamed)

sea salt (for the wildness of the ocean)

dried flower heads from flowering weeds (for defiance)

peppercorns and/or ground black/red pepper (for defiance)

Directions:

Cleanse your vessel if it is repurposed or you feel a need to cleanse it, then add your ingredients but do not seal it just yet. In a quiet, private place and with your filled vessel nearby, ponder the nature of your confinement and the liberation you hope to achieve. Ruminate on the steps you will need to take in order to gain your freedom—this could be searching for a new job, locating a place of sanctuary in which to take refuge, reaching out to a friend or loved one for assistance, and much more. Use this time to emotionally fortify yourself.

When you are ready, use the wax or liquid glue to seal the vessel. This seals your intention of escape and liberation from whatever circumstances confine you. If you keep faith to a spirit or deity you wish to call upon for assistance in your endeavor, you may do so at this point. Keep your sealed vessel in a safe place until you have made your escape.

When you have taken flight and made your escape, break the seal and scatter the organic ingredients in a wild, free place. If using inorganic ingredients such as metal or plastic bracelet charms, it is ideal to thank, cleanse, and save the charms for another use.

Notes:

Magic can be a useful tool, but it doesn’t work all on its own. If you make no effort to get yourself out of a quagmire, then of course this spell (and any other) is going to fail. That said, you are not alone in your struggles. Please feel free to use any of the resources below that are applicable to your circumstances.

The United States’ national domestic violence hotline is 800-799-7233. You can also connect to help via SMS by messaging the word START to 88788. Their website is here.

In all 50 states of the USA, as well as in Washington DC and Puerto Rico, you can dial 211 to be connected to a social worker. Please note that calling 211 doesn’t need to be used solely for discussing the escape of an abusive situation; you can also dial this number for general healthcare and mental health resources that are local to your area. You can learn more here.

The United Kingdom’s national domestic violence hotline is 0808-2000-247. There is also an online chat that can be accessed here.

#witchcraft #spell jar #spell bottle #magic #pop culture witchcraft #pop culture magic #spirit stallion of the cimarron #horse #haven's original spells #equine #witchblr

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i-spaced-sorry · 2 years

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Optimal Road Trip

Characters: Jay Halstead x Hailey Upton x Halstead!Sister Summary: Halstead!Sister gets math homework and decides it needs to become a reality.

Square Filled: Road Trip for @resanoona 3K Fiesta Bingo (I hope this counts since it’s talking about planning a road trip)

Working overtime was standard when it came to tough cases, but the idea of getting to go home and have a rare day off for 3 days was always the best reward. However for Jay and Hailey, when they walked through their front door of their shared apartment, expecting to be able to fall into bed and pass out, instead they were greeted with a very hyper 17yr old Y/N.

“Oh good! Your home! Guess what I got assigned to do for math homework!” exclaimed Y/N as she came barreling into the front hallway.

“Well hello to you too Y/N” chuckled Jay while kicking off his shoes.

You stopped bouncing and looked very serious, “Jayyyyy, guess.”

Sighing, Jay replied, “I don't know, you got assigned to go to bed?” He wasn’t in the mood for your hyperness at 6:30pm on a Friday, when he had been up and at the station or other crime scenes at 4am most days this week.

Rolling your eyes, you replied, “In math this week we have been learning about graph theory! So our teacher Ms. Hunnicutt assigned us a project where we pick 5 cities, not including Chicago, and we have to find the most optimal route for a road trip! Isn’t that fun!”

Smiling to himself, Jay replied, “so much fun kiddo”

The couple and the youngest Halstead at this point had migrated to the couch in the living room.

Once everyone was sat down comfortably, Y/N swiped her notebook from the coffee table and started opening it to a page, “My teacher was talking about how when she was in high school, she was assigned this project and her parents had actually taken her on the road trip she created, ya know to test out the theory.” she began. “So I was thinking maybe if you guys could get the time off, we could do that?” she added while finally flipping to the page she was looking for.

Glancing at Hailey and glancing back at his sister, Jay sighed and spoke, “It depends on where you want to go. I’m not making any promises but I will hear you out on your city choices.”

And with that, Y/N smiled and began listing off her cities, “Okay, so we have Chicago - which doesn’t count - then we have New York City, any city in Puerto Rico - I need help in that realm of things - Portland Oregon, Appleton Wisconsin, and Houston Texas!” Once she listed off the cities, she looked up at her brother and sister in law and waited for them to say something…anything… but she was not prepared for what her brother did.

Jay just started laughing.

Furrowing her brows, Y/N asked, “What’s wrong with the cities I chose? New York would be so we could go see Aunt Erin. Puerto Rico would be so we can visit Uncle Antonio and Aunt Gabby, Portland was so we could see Uncle Casey, Houston was so we could see Uncle Rixton, and Appleton was so we could see Aunt Vanessa! I chose places I knew you guys would enjoy going to!”

With Jay continuously laughing, Hailey spoke up, “Y/N, those are good options if you didn’t want to go on a real road trip, but we can’t go to most of those places in a real road trip”

“Why not?” whispered Y/N, clearly not as hyped as she was at the beginning of the conversation.

Jay finally composed himself enough to side hug his sister and calmly respond, “Hailey is right kiddo. We a. Can’t possibly make it to Puerto Rico anytime soon. And both Uncle Rixton and Aunt Vanessa are deep undercover, so technically we can’t really even get in contact with them or even know where they are located at the moment.”

Your lip started to quiver as you began to tear the page out of your notebook, but before you got very far Jay stopped you.

“But let’s all sit here together and come up with some cities we can visit. I liked your idea of visiting Aunt Erin and Uncle Casey.”

So for the next 45 minutes you, Jay, and Hailey all spitball cities and people you could visit in this fictional but real road trip.

“So our final round of cities are as follows, 1. Chicago - which we said doesn’t count in the 5. 2. New York City - to see Aunt Erin, 3. Portland - to see Uncle Casey, 4. Milwaukee - to visit the Halstead family cabin, 5. Wilmington - to visit the locations of my favorite show Dawson’s Creek, and 6. Malibu - to visit the location of Jay’s favorite show MASH” recited Y/N.

Smiling, Hailey spoke, “I think those are some very nice cities and very feasible places we can visit. Jay and I will request PTO on Monday when we go in.”

Stretching his back and yawning, Jay adds, “Agreed, now if you don’t need us anymore. I think Hailey and I have a date with our pillows. Please don’t need us until at least 11 am tomorrow” and with that Hailey and Jay hugged Y/N and headed for their bedroom.

#resa.3kfiestabingo #halstead!sister #jay halstead x halstead!sister #Hailey Upton x Halstead!sister

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agent-bash · 6 months

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Has no one on PD really had a good exit?

Not really, some exits I guess you could label as neutral, but no I wouldn’t call any of them good. At least not if we’re using good as a synonym for happy. Let’s break it down (including some major recurring guests).

Julie Willhite (season 1): Line of Duty Death

Mia Sumner (season 1): forcibly transferred, IAD mole

Sheldon Jin (season 1): Murdered

Nadia DeCotis (season 2): Murdered

Sean Roman (season 3): Injured Out, and didn’t think they'd be able to hack being a desk cop

Justin Voight (season 3): Murdered

Mouse Gerwitz (season 4): Returned to Army/failure to re-assimilate to civilian life

Antonio Dawson PT 1 (season 4): Transferred own volition (so it could have been seen as a good/happy one if Chicago Justice hadn’t been canceled)

Erin Lindsay (season 4): Transferred to FBI, but would have been fired from CPD if stayed and her mother would have gone to jail, so not much choice.

Alvin Olinsky (season 5): Murdered

Antonio Dawson PT 2 (season 6/7): Drug addiction, moved to Puerto Rico to be near his sister

Vanessa Rojas (season 7/8): Unknown. You can assume happy if you want, but there's no evidence of that.

Jay Halstead (season 10): Rejoined army in some capacity, felt as though needed to leave as he was losing himself

Now, this isn’t to say that the other shows don’t have their share of “bad” exits, either. Fire has had plenty of deaths, injured-out's and fired's. So has Med, who has also had more neutral exits. But they both also have happier wrap-ups interspersed though all that as well. PD really doesn’t.

#asked and answered #Chicago PD #Chicago PD exits over the years

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beardedmrbean · 2 months

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The way prosecutors tell it, Joseph Bongiovanni went to work for years with a “little dark secret.”

Behind the veneer of a veteran U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, they alleged, was a turncoat on the take from the Buffalo Mafia, offering an “umbrella of protection” that derailed investigations of his childhood friends, covered for a sex-trafficking strip club and even helped a connected high school English teacher keep his marijuana-growing side hustle.

In a federal trial that began this month, prosecutors portrayed Bongiovanni as a greedy racist who pocketed more than $250,000 in cash-stuffed envelopes over a decade and threw his colleagues off by opening bogus case files and encouraging them to spend less time investigating Italians and more time on Blacks and Hispanics, “n----- and s----” he was alleged to have called them. When authorities finally unmasked him in 2019, he hastily retired and wiped his cellphone clean.

“Sometimes the DEA doesn’t get it right,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi told jurors. “He was able to manipulate everyone because, in law enforcement, there’s a certain amount of trust that’s inherent. He did it under the watch of supervisors who under-supervised him.”

The 59-year-old Bongiovanni has denied the counts of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice that could land him behind bars for life, charges his attorney says are built on lies “so fanciful they don’t just strain credibility, they rip it apart.”

The trial is the latest gut punch to the 4,100-agent DEA, which has seen at least 16 agents brought up on federal charges since 2015, a parade of misconduct that has revealed gaping holes in the agency’s supervision.

The crimes have included child pornography, drug trafficking, leaking intelligence to defense attorneys and selling firearms to cartel associates, an Associated Press analysis found. One carried a “Liberty or Death” flag and flashed his badge outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Another infiltrated the DEA in Chicago and helped traffickers smuggle thousands of kilos of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York.

At least three veteran agents are serving prison sentences of a decade or longer, including one who laundered money for cartels in Colombia and spent lavishly on expensive sports cars and Tiffany jewels, and an Arkansas-based agent recorded taking a bribe inside a Las Vegas casino.

The cases, coming amid an epidemic of more than 100,000 fatal drug overdoses a year, often present yearslong headaches for the U.S. Justice Department to determine whether any investigations were tainted when rogue agents betrayed the badge.

“We should not expect to see this much crime in one law enforcement agency,” said Rachel Moran, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. “The common thread I see here is a lack of oversight and accountability.”

The DEA declined to comment. DEA Administrator Anne Milgram is herself the subject of an ongoing Inspector General inquiry examining whether the agency improperly hired some of her past associates.

Like other DEA scandals, the Bongiovanni case underscores recurring questions about the agency’s hiring standards and ability to root out corruption. Background checks didn’t turn up Bongiovanni’s prior drug use and ties to Italian organized crime in his native Buffalo, prosecutors said, and not a single member of law enforcement was on to him until a trafficker paying for Bongiovanni’s protection was arrested by another agency. “He’s got that little dark secret,” Tripi said.

The trial, expected to last two months, is part of a broader sex-trafficking prosecution that has taken sensational turns, including an implicated judge who killed himself after the FBI raided his home, law enforcement dragging a pond in search of an overdose victim and dead rats planted outside the home of a government witness who prosecutors allege was later killed by a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Bongiovanni was raised in a tight-knit Italian American community in North Buffalo and known as a “door kicker” in the DEA, defense attorney Parker MacKay said, “not the type to sit in front of a computer.”

In his high school yearbook, Bongiovanni said he wanted to be a billionaire. But prosecutors said he went through financial struggles during his two-decade career that made him vulnerable to taking bribes.

His protection ranged from providing an “all clear” assuring trafficker friends they were not on law enforcement’s radar to leaking intelligence and opening fictitious cases that made it appear he was investigating them or relying on them as informants, prosecutors said, a sort of catch-and-kill tactic that prevented other law enforcement agencies from pursuing their own cases. This also positioned Bongiovanni to receive notice any time another agency became interested in one of the targets, a process known as deconfliction.

Bongiovanni also is accused of vouching for criminals, filing bogus reports and swiping a sensitive DEA case file on organized crime that he stored in his basement after his abrupt retirement.

Among the rackets Bongiovanni is accused of protecting is Pharoah’s Gentlemen’s Club, a strip club outside Buffalo described by prosecutors as a haven for drug use and sex trafficking. Bongiovanni was childhood friends with the owner, Peter Gerace Jr., who authorities allege has close ties to both the Buffalo Mafia and the notoriously violent Outlaws Motorcycle Club.

Prosecutors said Gerace had the agent on speed dial for advice when he needed to cover up the overdose of a stripper. The evidence includes a voicemail in which Gerace asks Bongiovanni about tracing a drug dealer’s cellphone. “Is there a way to ping it like police do?” he said, according to court records. “I just want to know if you could do that or not.”

Gerace attorney Mark Foti said his client “denies all charges and looks forward to confronting the government’s evidence at his trial.”

The long list of witnesses in the case includes dozens of federal law enforcement officers and a public school teacher of 30 years who admitted running a marijuana-growing operation while receiving confidential information from Bongiovanni.

Prosecutor Tripi said Bongiovanni had two sets of rules, one for cronies lining his pockets and another for everyone else.

“He did just enough legitimate work to avoid detection,” he said. “He almost got away with it.”

#nunyas news

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reasoningdaily · 9 months

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The Associated Press: 22 attorneys general oppose 3M settlement over water systems contamination with 'forever chemicals'

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Twenty-two attorneys general urged a federal court Wednesday to reject a proposed $10.3 billion settlement over contamination of U.S. public drinking water systems with potentially dangerous chemicals, saying it lets manufacturer 3M Co. off too easily.

The deal announced in June doesn’t give individual water suppliers enough time to determine how much money they would get and whether it would cover their costs of removing the compounds known collectively as PFAS, said the officials with 19 states, Washington, D.C., and two territories. In some cases the agreement could shift liability from the company to providers, they said.

“While I appreciate the effort that went into it, the proposed settlement in its current form does not adequately account for the pernicious damage that 3M has done in so many of our communities,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leader of the multistate coalition.

3M spokesman Sean Lynch said the agreement “will benefit U.S.-based public water systems nationwide that provide drinking water to a vast majority of Americans” without further litigation.

“It is not unusual for there to be objections regarding significant settlement agreements,” Lynch said. “We will continue to work cooperatively to address questions about the terms of the resolution.”

The company, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, manufactures per- and polyfluorinated substances — a broad class of chemicals used in nonstick, water- and grease-resistant products such as clothing and cookware, as well as some firefighting foams.

Described as “forever chemicals” because they don’t degrade naturally in the environment, PFAS have been linked to a variety of health problems, including liver and immune-system damage and some cancers.

3M has said it plans to stop making them by the end of 2025.

Some 300 communities have sued 3M and other companies over water pollution from the compounds. A number of states, airports, firefighter training facilities and private well owners also have pending cases.

They have been consolidated in U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina, where the proposed settlement was filed last month.

Although the company put its value at $10.3 billion, an attorney for the water providers said it could reach as high as $12.5 billion, depending on how many detect PFAS during testing the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered over the next three years.

The law firm representing the water providers did not immediately respond Wednesday to messages seeking comment.

EPA in March proposed strict limits on two common types, PFOA and PFOS, and said it wanted to regulate four others.

In addition to California, states urging Judge Richard Gergel to reject the deal included Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin. Also opposed were Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

In a court filing, the attorneys general said it would force nearly all public water providers nationwide to participate unless they withdraw individually — even those that haven’t filed suits or tested for PFAS.

“Troublingly, they would have to make their opt-out decisions without knowing how much they would actually receive and, in many cases, before knowing the extent of contamination in their water supplies and the cost of remediating it,” the officials said in a statement.

A provision in the proposed deal would shift liability from 3M to water suppliers that don’t opt out, the statement said. That could enable the company to seek compensation from providers if sued over cancer or other illnesses in PFAS-affected communities, it said.

“As such, the proposed settlement is worth far less than the advertised $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion,” the attorneys general said.

The attorneys general did not take a position on a separate $1.18 billion deal to resolve PFAS complaints against DuPont de Nemours Inc. and spinoffs Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc.

#pfas #pfas settlement #Michigan #Water #Poison water #water #forever chemicals #22 attorneys general oppose 3M settlement over water systems contamination with 'forever chemicals'

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jamesunderwater · 2 months

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if you get this, answer with three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs! anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog <3 (no pressure, though, feel free to ignore! 😘 Love, PC)

Hmmm okay. I'm always so bad at random facts, so I thought hard on these, lol.

I went on a solo trip to Ireland for Christmas in 2022, but because I didn't realize my passport had expired until 5 days before the trip, I had to go down to Puerto Rico to get it changed last minute, then up to Canada, then finally to Ireland. Ended up stranded at the airport when I was trying to return home, sick with what I later found out was bronchitis, and had to find a last minute room for the night to catch a different flight home the next day - which meant that completely on accident, I got to experience two midnights on New Years' Eve. No regrets though ✌🏼

As a teenager, I was so in love with Sirius Black that I started filling out forms with Black as my last name. I even started getting mail under that name, including, somehow, from the U.S. Marines...?

I sang karaoke with a live band at an emo night last year - the song was Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional (and it was wayyyy too high for me, lmao)

#me #ask game #pc tag #the post is here

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rphelperblog · 2 years

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Princess Diaries Quote Rp Meme

inspired by @dreammakcr - feel free to edit or change pronouns for rp purposes

you look so… young.”

“Just in case I wasn’t enough of a freak already, let’s add a tiara!”

“Because you saw me when I was invisible.”

“As always, this is as good as it’s going to get.”

Wait, wait. No, not you — I don’t even know you!”

This is getting us nowhere! Talk to me!’

“Thank you. And you look so… clean.”

“No matter how many times you press that, it will still go up and down the same way.”

“The student body may be morally bankrupt, but that doesn’t mean they’re blind!”

“Please don’t crush my soy nuts.”

“Somebody sat on me again.”

If there are no more passengers, I think we should close the door.”

“I have never worn pantyhose, but it sounds very dangerous.”

“I can’t talk to you right now. I’m late for a meeting with my guidance counselor.”

“Oh no, sweetie, I was in a very important meeting. Send it out for dry cleaning.”

“Sir, you will find that the word fear is not in my vocabulary!”

“Almost, but anyone can see your desires. No one knows what’s in your heart.”

“I’m a girl who loves black and is wearing pink.”

“I would kneel if it weren’t for my knee replacement.”

“A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early.”

“Just because I didn’t get my fairytale doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”

“If you hurt my girl, you will answer directly to me, and whatever crimes I commit against you, remember, I have diplomatic immunity in 46 countries, including Puerto Rico.”

“That Backstreet Boy clone you’ve had a crush on for years?”

“Is your mom dating an undertaker?”

“Nepotism belongs in the arts, not in plumbing.”

“I can’t be a princess! I’m still waiting for normal body parts to arrive!”

“I’m late for a meeting with Spain and Portugal!”

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, with hair so fine. Come out your window, climb down the vine.”

“The feat you ask, dear sir, isn’t easy. And I won’t respond to that line, it’s far too cheesy.”

“Oh, how brave. Most interns don’t even want to fetch my tea.”

“Your Majesty, I would gladly take a bullet for you.”

“We never rush; we hasten.”

“OK, I look like an asparagus.”

“But a very, very cute asparagus!”

“It’s not appropriate for royalty to jingle.”

“Tell me: How does my mother, or any person for that matter, go into a parent/teacher conference and come out with a date?”

“I look like a moose.”

can you just pretend you have a life for just one moment?”

“I’m late for a meeting with Spain and Portugal!”

“I don’t want to rule my own country, I just want to pass the tenth grade.”

“Ah, yes, but a very cute moose! Make all the boy moose go ‘WAAAAH!’”

can you drop us off a block from the school? I don’t want to cause a riot with this hearse.”

“This is a non-riot hearse. If it were a hearse, there would be silence in the backseat.”

“You know, most kids shop for a car for their sixteenth birthday, not a country!”

could you try to talk without moving your lips? The press have binoculars.

911, I'd like to report an accident... They put me on hold!”

Is this punishment for driving without a licensed driver in the front seat?”

I am invisible, and I am wet.”

“A princess never chases a chicken.”

“I beg your pardon, ‘Shut up’?”

“Now, what did you want to tell me?”

“Oh, your majesty, in America, it doesn’t always mean to be quiet. Here it could mean ‘wow,’ ‘gee-whiz,’ ‘golly wolly.’”

“I already have braces.”

“I haven’t danced with you since your birthday.”

“No, it’s bigger than orthodontia.”

“Think about it: I just found out that my cable only reaches 12 people.”

did you see what she did to me?!”

“Something that, I think, will have a very big impact upon your life.”

it’s not a championship game. It’s not even a big game. It’s just gym class. Just hit the ball. I don’t want to flunk you in gym class. C’mon, you can do it. Keep your eye on the ball.”

“The secret is, I still want to.”

“That’s a fact, not a secret.”

“A few moments ago, I realized the only reason I was getting married was because of a law, and that didn’t seem like a good enough reason. So, I won’t be getting married today. My grandmother has ruled without a man at her side for quite some time, and… I think she rocks at it.”

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on you’ll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey.”

“To be a princess, you have to believe that you are a princess. You’ve got to walk the way you think a princess would walk. So, you gotta think tall, you gotta smile and wave, and just have fun.

What I really can't understand is that you ditched me again yesterday when I really needed your help at the greenpeace petition.”

“From now on you’ll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey.”

“I don’t feel protected. You try living for 15 years thinking that you’re one person, and then in five minutes, you find out you’re a princess.”

“I love your eyebrows. We’ll call them Frieda and Kahlo. If Brooke Shields married Groucho Marx, their child would have your eyebrows!”

“I’m taking your charm off of my charm bracelet and it’s going in the dirt!”

“Oh, come on, girls! It’s a ball, not a snake. Back in formation!

#open rp #open to all #open to anyone #ask meme #open meme #open to anybody #rp meme #ask prompt #roleplay meme #memes #open starter #anne hathaway #princess diaries #princess diaries 2 #meg cabot #Julie Andrés #princess mia

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koffeeexpress · 1 year

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Best Coffee Brands From All Over the Country

Your morning latte deserves a better bean.

While it’s hard to argue with the delicious hit of serotonin that comes from visiting your favorite coffee shop (not to mention the joy of supporting a small business), I’d say it’s still worth it to have a homemade caffeinated beverage that doesn’t require you to get high. shoes, a coat, or even pants. For many of us, that means investing in a decent pour-over and keeping a carton or two of dairy-free milk (I’m a fan of Minor Figures Barista Blend) in the fridge for frothing. To others, it may seem like a high-end espresso machine that can deliver a flawless cortado or latte (no art included). Regardless of how involved your home coffee station is, you’ll need beans, ideally the ones your barista would approve of.

intellectual cafe

Courtesy of Intelligentsia

“I first found out about Intelligentsia coffee when I bought a Christmas present for my brother — I dove deep into the good quality coffee beans and found a selection of their blends. He can confirm that it was an excellent gift, and after trying the coffee myself I can confirm that it is fantastic. Founded in 1995, Intelligentsia was a notable player in the third-wave coffee movement (essentially, a shift toward an emphasis on better-quality, better-sourced coffee). Their house blend is my favorite roast, and it’s everything I want in my first cup of coffee. It’s well balanced, not too acidic, and the standout tasting note (for me) is the milk chocolate.” — Merlyn Miller, Social Media Editor

787 coffee

“A 787 coffee shop recently opened in my neighborhood and it immediately became essential to me. (I’m not normally into novelty espresso drinks, but their horchata latte is now an integral part of my nights.) The company grows, processes, and roasts all of its beans from its coffee farms in Maricao, Puerto Rico, without the involvement of third-party distributors or roasters. In addition to being fresh, delicious, and sustainably sourced, 787 beans can now be ordered by anyone with a monthly subscription.” — María Yagoda, Senior Editor

coffee partners

“My vote goes to my Australian friends at Partners for their quality, roast, and commitment to sustainable farming and production. They source their beans from direct farm relationships and their single-origin beans are hard to beat. My favorite is El Ramo, a beautiful medium to light roast (many roasters tend to want to roast dark coffee to the center in the US, burning the roast). They roast to order and offer whatever grind you want if that’s your thing.” — Melanie Hansche, Associate Editor

Cafe Sey

“When I’m in the mood for a beautifully bright, acidic yet balanced cup of coffee, Sey is my go-to. This Nordic-style roaster not only produces amazing light roast coffee but is passionate about the sustainability of the coffee industry. Their in-season beans are packaged in beautiful, elegant boxes, each indicating both the source and the producer for complete transparency. If you can visit their Brooklyn cafe in person, I highly recommend it for good coffee, prepared right in front of you by their friendly and knowledgeable staff. For a fun at-home experience, Sey also offers a monthly coffee subscription, where you can have one to four boxes of their select seasonal beans delivered right to your door.” — Elsa Saatela, Senior Digital Producer

brio coffee

“In the heat of the miserable pandemic, but once travel was even remotely possible again, I headed to Rome to take my daughter to her first year of college there, except three weeks before I was supposed to leave, I realized that my passport had expired. . Not good! Through a total panic app, some questionable passport issuance services, and way more money than is reasonable, I ended up with a last-minute renewal appointment in St. Albans City, Vermont at 8:30 am. to put. on a Wednesday, a nifty 18 miles from the Canadian border and an even niftier seven hours drive from my Brooklyn apartment.

Do you know what you need at 8:00 am? to put. when you arrive in a small Vermont town after a seven-hour drive before dawn? Coffee. Very good coffee. And a lot.

Click here farmer brothers

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nutritiondork · 2 years

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Introducing our line of Whole30 Approved seasonings!

Healthy Rican Seasonings are NOW Whole30 Approved! Yay!

Hey, It’s Mayra the Owner and Founder of Healthy Rican. I’m thrilled to announce our partnership with Whole30 and our Whole30 Approved seasonings! As a Holistic Health & Nutrition Coach that has been through the Whole30 experience twice! I am pleased to partner up with Whole30 and support you on your journey with our flavorful Latin inspired seasonings.

As a Latin / Puerto Rican, it is really important to me to make sure my healthy meals are as flavorful as my Abuela’s (grandmother’s) food. These flavors are comfort, and for many of us, our happy place. Some of my best memories with my grandmothers involved food. In a way food represents love in our culture. And I wanted to bring this love to the World through Healthy Rican. A line of seasonings which include traditional Latin / Puerto Rican favorites like adobo, sazón, and sofrito seasonings.

Partnering up with Whole30 is a great opportunity for Healthy Rican to honor a big part of our mission, which is to show how eating healthy doesn’t mean bland and deprived. I truly believe that following our heart, our gut, and our wisdom is the key to well-being. Nutrition is a tool to guide us during this process, and that is exactly what Whole30 can do.

The Whole30 program is a 30 day reset designed to help you change your health, habits, and relationship with food. It’s a program that encourages you to cut out alcohol, sugar, grains, legumes, dairy, and additives from your diet for 30 days. After 30 days, you slowly reintroduce some foods while monitoring the effects they have on your body. To find out more or see if this program is right for you, you can visit whole30.com

Learn more about Healthy Rican’s signature seasonings

Adobo: The word adobo comes from the Spanish word “Adobar” which means marinade. The practice of marinating meat in a flavorful mixture made from salt, pepper, garlic, and other herbs and spices. Healthy Rican’s Adobo is a healthy version of one of the most popular staple seasonings in Latin cuisine. Made with mineral pink Himalayan salt with a blend of garlic, pepper, oregano, coriander, and turmeric for its healthy anti-inflammatory benefits.

Sazón: The word sazón is the Spanish word for flavor and/or seasoning. Healthy Rican’s Sazón blend is completely salt-free, made with all natural spices like; annatto aka achiote, turmeric, garlic, with a hint of cumin and coriander, that will bring out a nice yellow-orange color with a hint of Latin flavor in your foods. Sazón has been used in traditional Latin foods for decades, and most can’t cook without it.

Sofrito: The word sofrito comes from the Spanish word “sofrier” which means to stir-fry. It is a blend of various vegetables and herbs used in Latin cuisine, especially in Caribbean islands like Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Recipes vary from place to place but primarily consist of onions, garlic, cilantro, culantro, a variety of peppers, and sometimes tomatoes. It is mainly used to add a delicious flavor to rice, beans, meats, soups, and stews. Our signature blend of dehydrated Sofrito is salt-free and can be used to as a dry rub to marinate meats or rehydrated in water and used as a replacement to fresh sofrito.

Salt-Free Adobo: With Healthy Rican’s salt-free version of adobo, you can get all the delicious flavors of adobo minus the salt. It can be used to marinate meats, added in rice, beans, and stews to enhance the flavor of your foods.

CLICK HERE TO SHOP

Use coupon code: Whole30 to get a 15% off your 1st order!

The Puerto Rican trifecta!

The secret to Puerto Rican cooking (and many other Latin cultures) comes from various spices and herbs like culantro aka recao (the stronger tasting cilantro cousin), cilantro, oregano, and other vegetables native to the Caribbean islands and Latin America. Vegetables like garlic, onions, and peppers are a staple in most Latin cuisine.

The primary spice blends are Adobo and Sazón. That with the addition of Sofrito, the base in almost all the recipes. Together these create the traditional flavors found in most Puerto Rican foods. I call it the Puerto Rican trifecta!

Read more here:

https://healthyrican.com/discover-the-secret-ingredients-in-puerto-rican-cooking-recipe-asopao-de-gandules/

If you’d like to learn more on how to use sofrito, here’s a link to one of our blog posts:

https://healthyrican.com/7-ways-to-use-sofrito-recipe-habichuelas-guisadas/

Here’s a recipe that can help you get started using

Healthy Rican Whole30 Approved seasonings

Cauliflower “Arroz con Pollo”

Ingredients:

1 lbs cooked pulled chicken

1-2 tbsp avocado oil

2 tbsp Healthy Rican Sofrito (hydrated in ¼ cup water)

2 tsp Healthy Rican Sazón

2 tsp Healthy Rican Adobo

Optional: olives, diced red peppers, and onions.

2 tbsp plain tomato sauce

2 lbs cauliflower rice

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

For the chicken, boil 2-3 chicken breasts for approximately 10 minutes or until pink is gone. Let cool and pull the chicken in threads using 2 forks.

In a separate pot, on high heat, add the avocado oil and sofrito until the sofrito sizzles and releases the aroma.

Quickly mix in the sazón, adobo, and tomato sauce. At this moment you can also add any olives, onions, peppers, or any extra ingredients you’d like to add.

Add the chicken, mix well with all the ingredients until the chicken absorbs the color and flavor.

Add the cauliflower, salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Lower the temperature to the lowest setting and cover.

Do not add water. The cauliflower will release juices as it cooks.

Cook on low for approximately 10-15 minutes, mixing in between to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

NOTE: Test taste the flavors to make sure they are to your liking. Everyone makes food in different ways.

Now let’s CELEBRATE!

In celebration of this wonderful partnership we are working on a new look for Healthy Rican. While it is not yet complete, we just couldn’t wait to start creating mockups and play around with new colors.

We are also giving away a free cookbook inspired by my personal journey with Whole30. The cookbook has ideas for Breakfast and Lunch. It also contains full recipes for Dinner and all follow the Whole30 guidelines. Click here to get access to the cookbook. Act fast because the cookbook won’t be up for long. Available until August 21st.

DOWNLOAD EBOOK HERE

Here’s what’s inside…The 7 Day Meal Experience includes recipes like…

Costillas Asadas con Yuca al Ajillo “BBQ Ribs with Garlic Cassava Roots”

Spaguetti (squash) con Pollo “Chicken with Spaghetti Squash”

Pollo a la plancha con platano maduro “Grilled chicken with ripe plantains”

Pastelón con ensalada y aguacate “Plantain lasagna with salad and avocado”

Churrasco con chimichurri con tostones y ensalada “Steak with chimichurri, plantains and salad”

Mofongo con camarones y ensalada “Shrimp with mashed plantains”

Plus… Mayo-Ketchup & Healthy Rican Salad Dressing

Don’t miss out, Download the eBook here:

Thank you for reading our blog, and following our Healthy Rican journey. The support is very much appreciated. 🙂

Wishing you much love, health and happiness,

Mayra

#HealthyRicanSeasonins #HealthyRican #MayraLuzColon

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akocomyk · 1 year

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Believe it or not, I'm very happy

Long post ahead. Just wanna put all my thoughts here in one post.

Chronicling my reactions during the 71st Miss Universe pageant.

The opening number reflects the culture of New Orleans. I love it.

The introduction of judges got messed up—the cameras pan on the wrong people. I think they only got the first and last ones correct.

Olivia Culpo is more energetic now—I think it’s just because Jeannie Mai was her co-host.

Announcement of the Top 16

Puerto Rico – Of course. I expected this. 😊

Haiti – ABSOLUTE SHOCK 😱

Australia – she was in my radar. I included her as one of my alternates.

Dominican Republic – Called it.

Laos – A shock, but I felt it. Annie called me out on this when I posted my predictions and asked why I didn’t include her in my final predictions despite indicating many times during the preliminaries that I think she has a very pretty face. I was laughing when I chatted Annie saying that Laos made it.

South Africa – Expected it.

Portugal – GAAAH I was so happy with this. 😁

Canada – Nowhere near my radar. 🤯

Peru – I contemplated hard on whether or not I’d include her as one of my alternates—I picked Panama instead. BUT I did notice her.

Trinidad & Tobago – Didn’t like her at all, despite many pageant analysts see her as a dark horse.

Curaçao – YES! 😁

India – Many analysts were including her in their lists, primarily because of her speaking skills. I just felt her performance in the preliminaries was a bit middling.

*Commercial* At this point, I was already doubting that Philippines would be called. Only four countries are left, and I was thinking those spots would be for the USA, Philippines, Thailand and Mexico. 🙃

Venezuela – ALAS! Forgot about her earlier, but totally deserving.

Spain – GAAAH! A sentimental favorite of mine. I’m already in bittersweet emotions right then since the Philippines still hasn’t been called. 🥳

USA – MY frontrunner. OF COURSE. Upon her announcement, I chatted Annie, “Parang laglag na tayo ah” 🤩

Colombia – Expected this. But I don’t think she’d win.

Welp. That was it. I didn’t want to stop watching since my best bets were still there, and—including Laos (my uncalled favorite) and Australia (one of my alternates)—I got 11/16 of the semifinals.

None of those I put in the Lower Tier made it. I knew it. I KNEW IT. Also, none of those whom I had gut feels would make it didn’t either, which I guess is good?

After that, I said “Bohol should’ve won MUPh 2022.” Judging from the videos about the semifinalists, they all seem to have concrete advocacies, inspiring stories and something that makes them stand out aside from just being a pretty face. They are potential “transformational leaders.”

Celeste lacks this. She doesn’t have an advocacy that makes her unique. She doesn’t have anything rather than “being authentic” and “being relatable through my struggles.” Gurl, if that was what Voltaire told you to say, HE DESTROYED YOU. Everything that she says—although it all seems true and eloquently said—feels like lip service. More than half of the candidates have the same script.

Annie asked me where I think Celeste went wrong.

Judges at the prelims already know something about the girls. They start with the interview, don’t they? So before the candidates step out on the stage, the judges already know who to look out for. Odds are, they’d give high scores to the girls who they think deserve to be a semifinalist based on personality and credentials alone, as long as they don’t give a trashy performance.

If Celeste failed her interview, her only chance is to give the BEST performance on the prelims.

Unfortunately, Celeste gave a middling performance at the preliminaries. She wasn’t the best during swimsuit, but she did very well on evening gown—despite not having a very flashy dress. Regardless, she was still one of the standouts from those competitions.

At least half of the other girls who made it to the Top 16 were inferior to Celeste when it comes to stage presence. What was their edge? As I said, they have inspiring stories.

It has always been like this. Pia, Catriona, and the other queens in the IMG era… they all had stories to tell. The branding and the owner has changed, but the evolution has already started years ago. And the Trump era standards have already been downplayed for quite a while.

Which gets me back to my statement. Bohol should’ve won, based solely on the responses in the final question at Miss Universe Philippines. And she has done other things other than being just a model.

GOING BACK to Miss Universe.

Swimsuit Competition

Puerto Rico – YES, GURL! TAKE IT!

Haiti – Yow. That walk is why I didn’t expect her to be here.

Australia – Damn that ripped body. The way she walks feels so… harsh though.

Dominican Republic – Since Mexico is out, you’re in my Top 5.

Laos – Again. PRETTY FACE. It’s just. Ugh. What’s with the slow-mo walk and quick turn? That needs more practice. 🤨

South Africa – Beautiful performance. Not the best one, though.

Portugal – Yaaaay! She’s fighting! Loved her in Miss Earth 2018, still love her now. 🥰

Canada – Did she add another layer of cape? What’s with all the ending twirls? This isn’t Miss Grand. It’s poorly executed too. 🙃

Peru – See that? This is why I contemplated putting her in my list.

Trinidad & Tobago – Love pink on her skin. Love the fierceness she projects.

Curaçao – GAAAH! YES!

India – She has an amazing body and a good pasarela. Her cape really reflects the Indian culture.

Venezuela – Really good. She’s IN IT to WIN IT. Love the art on her cape.

Spain – Love seeing the painting on her cape. She did a good job. Many candidates are just better.

USA – YES! YOU ARE THE LAST HOPE OF THE FILIPINOS.

Colombia – It’s hard to keep up with USA after that performance.

My clear standouts are Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and USA—Curaçao close behind them.

Evening Gown Competition

I’m in love with the background music haha!

Puerto Rico – Didn’t change her gown. Why change when there's nothing wrong with it? I loved seeing her in that gown again.

Haiti – Better than her swimsuit performance, but still not there.

Australia – Didn’t like her styling. I wish she should’ve picked a gown that softened her image a little bit ‘coz I think her body’s just too in-shape. The performance was better than in the prelims, though.

Dominican Republic – I’m so happy she didn’t wear her rehearsal gown. This gown is immaculate. And her styling? I think I’m looking at a different woman from what I’ve seen during the preliminaries. 🤩

Laos – She used a nude-colored gown. It didn’t help her.

South Africa – After all the muted colors the came before her, THIS IS A GOOD CHANGE. I love the vibrant color. I love the design. I love the pocket, I don't think I've ever seen that in Miss Universe before.

Portugal – Love her, but… Another silver gown? It’s good… but… there’s a “but.” ☹️

Canada – I love her white gown with that feathery cape.

Peru – I love the sparkly silvery gown, probably better than her prelims gown. She’s good.

Trinidad & Tobago – The color of her gown reminds me of Ms. Trinidad & Tobago’s gown back in 2010.

Curaçao – Thank god for the lavender ombre at the bottom. Beautiful, still. However, I wish she had picked a different gown. This one doesn’t stand out amongst the others.

India – What’s with all the silver gowns???

Venezuela – *gasps* 🤯

Spain – Another mute-colored gown. It looks good on her, but I wish she walked with more confidence.

USA – *another gasp* like… I still haven’t recovered from my gasp at Venezuela’s gown, then here comes another one. But… RIAN FERNANDEZ made this, RIGHT???!!! *screams in silence 🥳

Colombia – Her preliminary gown was better.

My standouts for gown are USA, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico (in that order), Curaçao at fifth.

Combining the scores I’ve given to all candidates, my personal Top 5 are—from 1st to 5th—USA, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Curaçao.

Announcement of Top 5

Okay. I only have one constant reaction during the announcement. Venezuela was called first, then USA, and then others. One by one, my Top 5 is becoming a reality. I WAS SO HAPPY. I couldn’t contain myself. I was screaming.

These girls are also the ones who were at the top of my predictions. I got 4/5 of the finalists, and I ranked Dominican Republic at 6th. I was so close.

This same instance happened when I made my predictions for Miss Universe Philippines 2020—Rabiya Mateo’s year. I got 4/5 of the Top 5—Alaiza Malinao of Davao City didn’t make it—but I had Rabiya at 6th place.

Top 5 Q&A

After hearing all their answers, I thought USA and Dominican Republic were sure in the Top 3. And the last spot would be… Venezuela? I just thought Puerto Rico and Curaçao’s answers were too generic.

Announcement of Top 3

This was just a series of me chatting “I TOLD YOU SO.” to my friends, as my Top 3, once again, materialized into reality.

Top 3 Final Quesion

Dominican Republic – She answered too monotonously. She’s like a recorded audio. She’s my 2nd Runner-up

USA – I’ve never been so satisfied with an answer since Catriona’s final question back in 2018. USA’s gonna win.

Venezuela – Flowery words delivered with conviction, but lacks depth and context. She did not personalize her answer as much as she could. She did better than DR though.

At that point, I knew it was gonna be between USA and Venezuela—and I was leaning a lot more towards USA.

And who was the last two holding hands before the new Miss Universe was announced?

Eventually, Ms. USA was crowned as the new Miss Universe.

Yep. I should really consider becoming a pageant blogger.

#miss universe #Pageantry

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chronic-boogara · 2 years

Note

I saw matchups and was like "oooooooooo, poggers"

So yeah, have this

A chubby puerto Rican aromantic gay transmasc

Favorite genres include breakcore, speedcore, hyper punk, hyperpop, glitchcore, brain itch music you know?

Minecraft, fall guys, rocket league, fallout shelter, would play TF2 if i had the chance

Full of deez nuts and your mom jokes

Touch starved tbh

Red and black dyed hair, if that adds anything

I have too many ocs

I can not pick up a book and read it for the life of me.

Ye thank you

𝐢 𝗺𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝗼𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡- 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐳

♡your perfect chaotic match is billy lenz. he’s a little gremlin with a vague understanding of love.

♡he loves your music especially the loud and fast music. it’s rare for him to find music that matches his train of thought. and ofc he’ll dance to it. can he dance ? no he cannot. but that will not stop him from flailing his limbs all over the place and asking you to join

♡billy was never good at geography so you’re gonna have to explain where puerto rico is. and then you’ll have to break down the culture. he won’t understand but he’s very accepting.

♡GAMES !! billy loves games. make a cute minecraft world together <3 billy will blow it up eventually but it’s nice while it lasted. fall guys is just colorful and he loves it. he has no desire to go through the map he just likes running around the map and pushing people off. he’s horrible at rocket league. if he doesn’t get the ball at least twice he gives up. tf2 is a good game billy thinks, lots of fun and definitely has a great community. definitely not esha putting her opinions in.

♡billy thinks you’re hilarious. falls for the ligma joke every single time. once you teach him how to make jokes like that he will not stop. every other sentence is your mom, bofa, ligma deez nuts, sus things like that. hopefully that doesn’t get old fast.

♡he loves being cuddled and holding hands and little things like that. don’t ever worry about being starved for touch again. billy loves to nap with you as well. it’s def one of his favorite parts of the day.

♡he wants to dye his hair too y/n. maybe a bright green or something crazy like that. he likes your so so much.

♡sitting still for hours looking at little words on a page? yeah… i think not. billy doesn’t like to read regular books. maybe comics ? pls put this man on medicine

♡getting used to billy lenz is a bit of a chore but once your comfortable your relationship is bound to blossom.

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jessequinones · 2 years

Text

Don't Fetishise Slavery

A while ago on TikTok, someone made a video and to make sure I don't put words in their mouth, I'm going to be quoting a lot of what this person said. To avoid any kind of harassment, I won't be using their username but trust me when I say I'm not making this up. I didn't think I would have to tell people this but don't fetishise slavery.

The influencer started their videos (and there are several) about how someone negatively reviewing a book doesn't mean that others won't find enjoyment in said book. The person who reviewed a book didn't like it because the slavery aspect was poorly done, especially for a romcom. The influencer responded, "I need the title because any sci-fi romance with slavery in it, I will read the shit out of that. I know that's fucking problematic, but like...I love it; that's one of my kinks."

Now I won't mention the book in question because I don't want the book to blow up in popularity, whether the popularity is famous or infamous. It's best if this storytelling doesn't see the light of day as fetishising slavery is disgusting.

I like how the influencer stated in their own video they know this is problematic. I should also mention this influencer is also white.

After that video was made, there was backlash (obviously). Still, the influencer only addressed the backlash from one person, maybe two but claimed there were multiple. There's a good chance the influencer simply deleted those comments but kept the remarks which were in support.

In their next video, the influencer said in response to someone asking why is that your favourite trope? "Is it my favourite? No. Do I enjoy it in sci-fi when there are non-humans involved? Yes."

This is where the problems begin.

Even if slavery isn't your {influencer} number one trope, why do you enjoy it? Secondly, the fact of the matter is alien slaves, and human slaves are not different.

Most of the time, aliens are coded as people in minority communities, but their traits are brought out to eleven. Here are a few examples of the negative stereotypes in sci-fi and why it's no different from the real world.

The Krogan (Mass Effect Series) deals with a heavy topic known as the 'genophage'. The Krogan were sterilised because they were seen as 'dangerous' and had to be kept 'under control'. Sterilising woman in a marginalised community is sadly nothing new.

"More recently, forced and coerced sterilisation against marginalised women has been documented in countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, including Chile, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Hungary, India, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Slovakia, South Africa, Swaziland, USA, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela" Priti Patel (2017) 'Forced sterilisation of women as discrimination' https://publichealthreviews.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40985-017-0060-9

Patel forgot about Puerto Rico and how the United States were the one who did it.

Not all aliens in media are giant frog-like creatures; some are like the Jedi, which are just humans but with super powers.

"Most of last century's science fiction is notoriously tales of white, male humans—no matter how far in the future or how distant a planet it is set. Other-worldly stories of strong, white, human-like aliens rescuing a beautiful damsel in distress set an unfair standard for both males and females while ignoring non-binary people. Not to mention that other alien races were generally portrayed as a threat, or corrupt in some way, or less intelligent." Carla Ra (2021) 'Racism and Sexism in Early Sci-Fi' [https://www.authorcarlara.com/post/racism-and-sexism-in-early-sci-fi]

What does all of this have to do with the slavery trope?

"Black men and boys are imagined as dangerous, threatening, inherently criminal and superhuman — bigger, faster, stronger and less likely to feel pain. These views have roots in chattel slavery." -Tamari Kitossa The conversation (2020) https://theconversation.com/how-hollywoods-alien-and-predator-movies-reinforce-anti-black-racism-127088

Let me highlight what Kitossa said, slavery. Real-world slavery. That was about the predator alien from... 'Predator'. Just because a book is written about aliens doesn't mean it doesn't draw on real-world events. Humans write what we know. The only thing we know is our own history and culture and, therefore, can't create anything 100% brand new and original.

When creating an alien race, something will link it back to the real world; that's just how it is.

In the same video, the influencer said, "liking something in a book doesn't mean you like it in real life."

This is where the white privilege comes out and says hello.

Throughout history, the chances of you being a victim of slavery are low if you're white. I'm only alive because my Taiño ancestors were enslaved, so slavery is a touchy subject for me.

Growing up as a white person whose ancestors were never enslaved gives you {the influencer} a sort of privilege that many people don't have. Those who are a victim of slavery can't trace their ancestor's lineage that far back. Many of their history and culture got destroyed. The Taiño community, my people, are labelled as extinct because of slavery even though we're still alive! Hearing people talk about my community as if we're no longer around is really hard to deal with, even though no one hears us, no matter how loud we shout. That's what's it like when your ancestors are victims of slavery; that's a privilege some people (mainly white people) don't have to deal with because their ancestors were the ones doing the killings. You may be able to ignore that history when its a fictional alien, but we see the history and connections.

I'm going to skip over some of the other stuff the influencer said, trying to defend themselves because they go into kink talk, something I know nothing about. However, I will only bring up things I think are relevant to the discussion.

"When somebody has a kink that they do not act out in the real world, um… who are any of us to judge?"

I hope you {the influencer} don't act out slavery in the real world.

As for enjoying things in a book but not liking them in real life and trying not to judge others who have kinks only in fantasy, where is the line drawn? How would that kink form be my biggest question? What part of being a slave made you {the influencer} enjoy it to the point where it became a kink? That question gets answered later.

Another video later. "Slavery trope in literature is the same as slave play because it is consensual. The reader is consenting to the content."

Trying to stick with only books here; this is why that kind of thinking is flawed.

I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about slave play, BDSM, etc. However, I know a popular book where that kink is the main focus. Love it or hate it, Fifty Shades of Grey.

Fifty Shades of Grey is a story about a power dynamic. Both parties consent via contract. The slavery trope in fantasy is not like that because the enslaved person in the book isn't consenting. That's how consenting works; both parties need to agree to it.

The idea that the slavery trope is consensual because the reader is consenting via reading is wrong. A reader is a witness to a story; they're observing what's going on but can't do anything to stop it. When someone reads a book, if the book is written well enough, that fantasy becomes a reality as the reader gets sucked into that world. The same can be said when watching a movie. The viewer can't change the story, the story is already told, so whenever something happens to a character, it will always happen to that character. Here I give the example of the numerous, take your pick, rape scenes in the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' book series and the 'Game of Thrones' TV series.

Several actors were uncomfortable with what they were doing because of the real-world implications, and several viewers were uncomfortable watching it because of traumatic events. The only one who consented to all of this was the show's writer and the book's writer.

"Whenever discussions come up about the depictions of women in fantasy shows that take place in a fictional past or in an altered version of our past, there are many excuses that are allowed to be passed around. "Women didn't have as many rights in the past" is not an excuse for subjecting women to sexual violence, writing them using sexist tropes, or to give them a passive position." -Princess Weekes (2019) The Mary Sue [https://www.themarysue.com/perils-of-sexist-racist-medieval-fantasy-historical-reasons/]

Everything that I just said applies to sci-fi. Sci-fi isn't a genre that escapes from these tropes as it's the same but now in space. Like I said before, writers create what they know. When making slaves for an alien race, taking a look at real-world slavery is a resource one can do.

In the same video, the influencer said, "there is no victim because the characters are fictional and the reader is consenting, so there's no victimisation."

Again, that's just wrong. The victim is still the slave. Yes, everything is fictional and fake, but fake stories have real-world repercussions. You can't tell me people don't inspire to be like Indiana Jones. Because of Indiana Jones, looters of archaeological dig sites ramped up during Indy's hay day. I suggest reading this article here if you would like to know more about looters. [https://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2014/09/09/why-archeologists-hate-indiana-jones/comment-page-1/]

Fetishising slavery is a quick way to turn something in a book back into reality despite the fact that slavery is still around. Those who enjoy the slavery trope might try to recreate it in the real world and with a partner who agrees. That's fine until the 'salve' isn't acting enough like a real slave and the consenting party quickly doesn't last. I'm not saying the influencer does that; they very clearly stated they don't. However, we can't deny the effect fictional stories and characters have on the real world. Just because a story might be fake doesn't mean it can't inspire another story that isn't.

The influencer repeats themselves a few times and goes around in circles in other videos. Still, their last main argument that I want to take away from all of this was why they enjoyed it in the first place. I lost the video for the exact quote, but the influencer said they enjoy the power dynamic between an enslaved person and a slave owner. They enjoy it when someone holds all of the power but falls in love with a slave, and throughout the story, the two of them become one. That kind of love story can easily be done without having actual enslaved people in it.

Anyone who writes actual slaves, sci-fi or not and then romances them is fetishising something that's still happening today, just not talked about as much. The guardian estimated in 2019, about 40 million people were in slavery (Kate Hodal' One in 200 people is a slave. Why?' https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/25/modern-slavery-trafficking-persons-one-in-200)

Writing about slavery is fine; fetishising it is not. Also, trying to find more books about that trope and buying it is not all right. The more people who buy these books, the more people will keep making them. The more these books keep getting made, the fewer people will see this as a bad thing, and they might start recreating a fantasy and turning it into reality. Don't engage in that trope; thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

#slavery #Jesse Quinones #An Ordinary Writer #writing #wrtieblr #books #sci-fi #fiction #tiktok #booktok

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