#to see the greatest heroine being trampled like this

[lyrainbeleriand]

Okay, okay, midnight fuckin furious time, the RoP finale, the "made you my queen" saurondriel bullshit, let us talk about how fuckin misogynistic and totally disrespectful to how tolkien portray his female characters.

So. On first look, it actually sounds like Tolkien right? They even use the exact same line from FoTR, right? (instead of the dark lord you would have a queen, stronger than the foundation of the earth bit)

but it is so not. Why? Because RoP galadriel didn't say that line. Sauron fuckin did. In the book, that whole scene of her resist the temptation of the ring is a show of her own ambition, how she fight her own demon, and how she reject that demon and chose true wisdom. But in RoP, it is all the man' wish, it has nothing to do with her, "I alone can see you greatness!" I puke at that line, Amazon i sincerely ask you do you know who galadriel is???? The fairest of the house of finwe, the one with the greatest achievement among the noldor except feanor, the lady of light, and you think she needs sauron to tell her her greatness, her value, her potential??????? Also, in the book, her ambition is to be her own queen, not sauron's queen, i don't need to tell you the big difference between a queen regnant and a queen consort right?????

with this plus the show's beginning with her character's initiative changed from "to rule a land of her own" to literally pointless vengeance for Finrod (hey dude is literally walking peacefully with their father in valinor why would he even need that), the two writers(some context: they are devout mormons.) took away all that made galadriel unique and great, and the approach itself is extremely misogynistic, also the change of the role of being seduced by sauron from Celebrimbor to galadriel, shows that they can't bare the tiniest hint of homosexuality (context again: they are mormons), and the impact of this change kinda make you feel like: omg it's all the woman's fault! If she hasn't stir things up everything will be fine! No? Just me? Really? (ps i don't even want to talk about the female elves maidens whose heads are entirely covered serving in silence)

#anti rop #rop #the rings of power #anti rings of power #amazon!galadriel #anti sautondriel #to see the greatest heroine being trampled like this #i have no words

[atopearth]

Samurai Love Ballad Party Part 8 - Oda Nobunaga Act 2

Not sure how keen I am for the shadow stories so I’m gonna go for the Act 2 stories first😄 Time for Nobunaga again!♥️ It’s so cute that the heroine knows how much Nobunaga loves his sweets so she prepared a lot more than he thought so that she could give them to the other retainers as well hahaha. Omgg, he’s declared that he’s going to take her to be his wife! Nobunaga’s and Mitsuhide’s differences seem to be more and more apparent now, with Nobunaga intent on destroying everything in his path to establish Divine Rule where everyone under him will be protected by him, whereas Mitsuhide wants Nobunaga to think about the people under him more and think about whether taking all this land and people is the priority or listening to what the people want is. Tbh, I don’t think either is wrong, mainly because, listening to the people are important, but that doesn’t mean you should give them everything they want, since what they want currently may not be something that will benefit them in the future. Nobunaga always looks towards the future, so, depending on how things go, who are we to know who is right?

Nice! He brought her to see his mother! Didn’t realise she was alive since she started living outside the castle after Nobunaga’s father died. Omg, his father was killed because a retainer betrayed him… And another reason for his drive is that he promised his father Divine Rule where there will be no more wars and no more blood shed. I guess the reason Nobunaga is so ruthless is because his father’s belief and trust in others led to his demise, so he can’t bear to allow the same thing to happen to him, therefore he can’t trust anyone besides himself. You can understand why Mitsuhide is so angry and worried, Nobunaga wants to rename the year?! And wants to exile the shogun?! Like, I know he means well with his ambition, but renaming the year practically means he’s the one reigning over the country, especially if named for him. Which also means that many people would go after him since it shows how much power he has.

I love how the heroine didn’t explicitly voice her views to Nobunaga since she knew that it wouldn’t be the way to get through to him, but instead showed it to him through the dessert she made with salt and sugar to show him how important opposite things can be to create something and still be in harmony. Nobunaga and Mitsuhide may have opposite views but they came all this way together, they shouldn’t lose sight of their goal. Kennyo sounds so dodgy lol. Having to see Nobunaga kill Shingen is really saddening, it’s something expected and inevitable, but still hard to swallow. The truce with Kennyo ending, the after effects of Shingen’s death, everything just isn’t going how it’s supposed to… Shingen was Nobunaga’s greatest adversary and it should’ve been his greatest accomplishment to defeat him and it should have brought about the Divine Rule and power he fought so hard for, and yet somehow Kennyo’s words have been slowly getting his own people to lose faith in Nobunaga… Not that it’s exactly bad since in essence, Nobunaga is restricting them from believing in this religion, but, considering the person that Kennyo is (master manipulator), he’s definitely not a trustworthy person to be the one sharing this religion, since it feels more like he’s trying to gather an army of people through it, rather than giving them the freedom they desire.

Considering their differences, it’s not surprising that Mitsuhide left, since Nobunaga is intent on erasing Hongan-ji where Kennyo resides and preaches his religion and Mitsuhide believes in giving the people freedom in believing in their respective god. It’s just saddening that it has come to this when their goals were the same all this time. Although I still feel that Kennyo wasn’t truly working to give happiness to the people, I do acknowledge that what he says has merit, and I’m sure Nobunaga does as well, strength alone cannot protect people, just like how continuous wars won’t bring about happiness… Not surprised that the townspeople are reacting so negatively to Nobunaga decimating Hongan-ji and trampling on what they view to be their freedom. I find it kinda funny that the townspeople refused to attend Nobunaga’s wedding but when they realised that the heroine was his wife, they decided to go celebrate because she’s such a good customer to them hahaha.

When Nobunaga expressed how appreciative he was of meeting her and being able to make her his wife, it was so heartwarming… He’s always been a man wrought with responsibility towards his men and the burdens of all these men that died for his cause, it’s nice that he’s met someone he can actually relax with. Nobunaga’s love for konpeito is so cute, that the first thing they do as a married couple is for the heroine to teach him how to make it hahaha. Never realised that it takes several days to make konpeito though! Lmao when Hideyoshi and the other retainers came to cheer him on making it🤣🤣 Nobunaga’s first words to the heroine “if you have the strength to cry, then you have the strength to do something about it” is something I admit that I very much agree with. You can see how much both Nobunaga and Mitsuhide appreciate each other for what they’ve done to further their ambitions, but…what are they planning to do now? Ohh, unification of the clans by bringing them all alongside their territories under his rule…

Why do I feel like Nobunaga is planning on making himself the bad guy by conquering all the territories and then hoping for Mitsuhide to kill him and take over so that people will applaud him as the man that stopped this demon conqueror or something..? And why do I have to be right..? I mean, he isn’t wrong that the wars won’t end until he falls considering all the things that he has done, but, seeing his letter to the heroine saying all this just breaks my heart and makes me cry😭😭 Nobunaga desired a peaceful world above everything, he thought that as long as he continued fighting and rid himself of all his enemies, that would come to be, but he was wrong, peace doesn’t come when you destroy everyone, but when you are able to unite everyone under you, of which he couldn’t do anymore because of how he settled everything with war and made everyone fear him more than respect him. It’s a hard thing to balance, isn’t it? You can’t not go to war when there’s so many enemies and differences, but the more you do it, the more the people think of you as a warmonger, it’s saddening, so very saddening….

Nobunaga is so cruel to Mitsuhide, he tricked him into staging this betrayal with him thinking that Nobunaga was going to hide away somewhere to produce an heir, but really, he was planning to commit suicide and forcefully turn Mitsuhide into the “hero” and truly bring about the Divine Rule because Nobunaga believes that only someone as kind and understanding as him can truly do so. Like, I agree that Nobunaga’s name only instills fear and disgust right now, but like Mitsuhide said, I don’t think that this has to be the way to go about things! I was about to say, how did the heroine safely get to Honno-ji considering there’s people fighting everywhere, well, I also didn’t think that her back would be ridden with arrows… Really shows how determined she was to save Nobunaga… I’m honestly really happy that Nobunaga hesitated in killing himself because of her, but so sad that everything still has to end up like this… The only happy thing is that they were able to die together… And that in their last moments, their hearts connected and Nobunaga could enjoy his favourite konpeito…

Btw, Nobunaga in a suit is niceee! (reincarnation happy ending btw) LOL when he forced her to meet up with him and then said a potato could dress better than her🥔😂 How very sweet of him to carry her home when she’s kinda tipsy and because she’s not used to heels, he even applied some cream on her feet so that it won’t get too swollen for the next day! Someone who is willing to touch another person’s feet is a keeper~~ y'know, if he wasn’t Nobunaga, I’d be like dang, he’s probably a player or a creep that thinks he can land any woman he wants! He’s already trying to get to her bed! Lmao that she accidentally headbutted him. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the present day reincarnation stuff but I did enjoy their little reunion, I still think them dying together was the perfect ending, but I can understand why they would want to put a happy ending though haha.

Overall, I really enjoyed this Act 2. I think it detailed well the struggles of Nobunaga, he thought that as long as he kept fighting against his enemies, defeating them in war, reigning at the top, he would be able to unify the country and prevent wars from happening ever again, but instead, he became a cruel warmonger in the eyes of his people, forcing him to realise and decide that what his people really needed at this time wasn’t a “monster” such as him, but a kind hero that will listen and care for them. It was pretty heart wrenching to read especially when everything fell into place near the end, but I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. It was sad, but seeing how much Nobunaga loved his people and the future of the country more than himself at all times really made me think he was such a great leader😭😭 I hope the other Act 2 stories are just as good, because I really loved this!

#samurai love ballad party

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

The Beatles/Beach Boys/Led Zeppelin: Random Quarantine Thoughts

The Beatles

1. The Beatles Vs. The Rolling Stones... In another article, I spoke about the fact that we’re comparing these two bands as far as legacy is like apples and oranges. The Beatles were together for nine years, while the Rolling Stones have been together for 50 years. The Rolling Stones have released many more albums than the Beatles, which means they had many more opportunities to throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks. The other part of it is the fact that the Rolling Stones in the 1960’s were always chasing the Beatles creatively. I am reminded of when the Stones had a party to celebrate the release of Beggars Banquet, which was the appearance of the Jagger-Richards Collaboration. The Beatles were there and they played the White Album, which had not been released yet. Everyone was blown away by that album, instead of Beggars Banquet.

2. John Lennon Vs. Paul McCartney... An analogy I always make when discussing the dynamic between Paul McCartney and John Lennon is the former was VH1, while the latter was MTV. Now, please note I’m talking about MTV in its early days when the channel actually played music. McCartney symbolized moving towards the mainstream. His music, and for the most part his life, illustrated that fact. In contrast, Lennon was much more rock ‘n’ roll, where he liked to take chances, stir things up, and gradually began to move away from that middle road of popularity.

3. No Deep Cuts... I was thinking that bands are always referring to concerts, where they played deep cuts, but with the Beatles that might be a bit difficult. Their entire catalog has been lionized, analyzed, and covered via pop culture in every way with everything. They are one of the few bands that simply does not have hardly any deep cuts at all. Now, granted there are songs that people do not know, mostly from the early days, but those songs are few and far between.

4. Brian Epstein Was Actually The Fifth Beatle... People are always talking about who was the fifth Beatle. My answer would be the late manager, Brian Epstein, who passed away in 1967. The reason being was that he literally handled everything on the business side, up to that point. The band had absolutely no idea about much of anything on that side of things. After his death, the Beatles decided to start Apple and handle those things themselves, which created a division within the band. Paul started to take the lead on many things causing a rift with the other members. The other aspect to this, which contributed to the failure of Apple was that as time passed their decisions sometimes did not make a lot of sense or they failed to follow through.

5. Yoko Ono Did Not Break Up The Beatles But She Did Not Help... I know you have heard the age old argument that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles. I do not buy that argument. Yet, her presence in Lennon’s life merely sped up the breakup. The growing rift between Lennon and McCartney over music, celebrity, politics, drugs, and everything else under the sun was happening before she came along. Now, my issue with Ono was that Lennon put her on the same level creatively as McCartney and the others. This is ridiculous to even think about actually. How did an abstract, experimental artist like her earn the ability to influence one of the greatest songwriters ever so much, but she did. Perhaps, he was simply looking for an outlet to reinforce his leanings towards the fringes of culture at that time.

The Beach Boys

1. One Beach Boy You Love to Hate... I am not going to mince words when talking about Mike Love. The dude is a straight up asshole when you get right down to it. As time has passed, his ego has taken over in many fruitless attempts to change the narrative. I do sympathize with him struggling as the lead singer, while Brian Wilson received all the credit as the band’s resident genius. He simply is going about it the wrong way. Now, in interviews and that sorry excuse for an autobiography he wrote, all of it sounds like very sour grapes. One must not forget as well that he was always this way. The reason Smile was never finished among other things was because he fought hard to continue doing surf songs. He argued that Wilson’s album was silly and would never sell.

2. One Beach Boy That Actually Surfed... One of the things I find funny about the Beach Boys, who did all these songs about surfing emerged in that drummer Dennis Wilson was the only one who actually knew how to surf. The other band members were pretty much borderline dorks when they started the band in high school. All of those songs about catching waves, chasing girls, and having fun were all about how Dennis Wilson lived his life.

3. One Beach Boy You Didn’t Know... Carl Wilson has always struck me as the one member of the band that people really do not know that much about at all. Fans know him as the deep voice of “Barbara Ann” and other songs, but not much else. This is why I was fascinated about his death when I learned that he was the glue that held the band together for a long time. Mike Love did not dare declare any sort of war against Brian Wilson until Carl passed away.

4. One Beach Boy Who Was Not Made For Rock and Roll... No single person in rock ‘n’ roll history has had as many triumphs and as much sadness in the course of one career. He is probably the greatest songwriter in the history of modern pop music, but he suffered endlessly for his art. From a childhood filled with abuse from his father to drug addiction and mental issues. On top of all that was the monumental pressure to use his musical gift for others again and again. Wilson was and still is a fragile soul, who seemed in no way prepared for the cruelty of the music business. The worst part of it, as a fan, was the power struggle within the Beach Boys. You had Mike Love, who contributed very little creatively, but always stifling his artistic vision again and again. I just wonder how much great music we missed out on because of him.

5. And Then There’s Murray... Finally, you had his father, Murray. This is always a catch 22 as you discuss his influence on the legacy of the Beach Boys. For one, he was a horrible person. He abused his sons physically, verbally, financially, and emotionally. Yet, the man was a musician, who encouraged his sons in that way. This is the one connection to his father that Brian Wilson can never step away from. Would Brian Wilson have been any different if his father had not been a musician?

Led Zeppelin

1. A Dressed Up Blues Band... Led Zeppelin was essentially a hard blues band for most of their early albums. They took old blues songs that were well known, then rearranged them into psychedelic rock songs. The band took these traditional blues classics and pretty much remixed it into late 60s hard rock blues on steroids. This would have been fine, if they had not tried to take credit for the songs as being completely original. Critics saw right through it, which emerged as probably why the band was immediately looked down upon from music writers. One of the interesting things about their decision to use blues songs was Jimmy Page did not think he had the time to write new original songs before a tour.

2. Robert Plant What If’s... One of the biggest what if’s of Zepplin has always been will Robert Plant ever agree to a tour. What if he had not offered so much resistance since the 1980s for any kind of reunion? For years, Plant never wanted to reunite, with the only exception being a duet with Jimmy Page, but not John Paul Jones. They did eventually reunite for one show in celebration of the founder of Atlantic records. If there was to be any hope of reunion, it should have happened then. Plant finally relented eventually, but by that time, John Paul Jones was working on an opera at the time. I believe it is time to face the blues music that this is never going to happen.

3. The Songwriting and Musicianship of John Paul Jones Saved the Band... One of the things that a lot of fans may not realize how important John Paul Jones was to the overall success of the band. He played multiple instruments including bass guitar keyboards, mellotron, and many others. For this reason, the band never needed to hire any musicians to play on stage with them because Jones would switch to whatever instrument was needed at the time. He was also a top-notch composer and arranger of music. His signature is all over songs like “All My Love,” “Trampled Underfoot,” “Kashmir,” “In the Light,” “Fool in the Rain,” and many more. Beginning with Physical Graffiti in the albums that followed, Jones was able to substantially layer the band’s sound, which resonates with music lovers still today.

4. I Told You Black Magic... Jimmy Page in the 1970’s was a big fan of the occultist Alastair Crowley. This fandom even led him to buy Crowley‘s former house in 1972. Page thought it would be a cool place to possibly write some music and give him inspiration as well. He never really spent any time there. Page hired a gentleman to manage the house for him, which he did and eventually raised his family there. Although, the manager did report some very strange occurrences at the house, which was always rumored to be cursed by Crowley. The guitarist’s decision to even purchase the house is probably a really good illustration on why you should not use heroin.

5. Led Zeppelin Was Not Heavy Metal...An ongoing argument for a long time has always been whether or not Led Zeppelin invented heavy metal. I am here to tell you that they did not do so, but they heavily influenced it. Black Sabbath was the first heavy metal band, but for a long time they distanced themselves from that label. Led Zeppelin was more of a hard rock band or a hard rock blues band, who dabbled in other genres including folk and reggae. Not only was their music a bit softer in places, but the themes were much more positive when compared with heavy metal. Sabbath ushered in themes of darkness, evil, the devil, and for the most part riffs that were fast and loud always. Yet, in later years, the distinction between heavy metal, metal, and hard rock was blurred again and again making it difficult to understand the differences.

[eggnogdoubt38-blog]

Reading Recap: August 2018

At the end of every month, I take a look back at my reading journal and share the books and my thoughts on them here. The comments below are excerpts from my full reviews on Goodreads; you can always keep up with my reading in real-time over there.

My Goodreads goal for the year was 71 books, and I hit it this month! So I’ve increased my goal to 91 books—this is the most I’ve ever read in my life, and I’m loving it. After being a guest on the What Should I Read Next? Podcast, I decided to start treating my love of reading as a hobby. Prior to that—for reasons I can’t articulate—I just didn’t see reading that way. It was something I did around the edges of the day, but it wasn’t a primary activity.

Since we moved to Prague, that’s changed. I watch only 1 hour of TV each day—and don’t read that in a snooty voice! I pass no judgment on TV-watching; I love TV-watching. I just like reading more. By the by, we usually work our way through a series, one episode per day until we’re done. Just finished season two of Riverdale, and I love it so much OMG. So campy and over-the-top. LOVE! I cannot wait for season three. Give me more Cheryl!

Anyway… back to reading. I deleted Twitter and my RSS reader from my phone so I don’t get sucked into the vortex. I always have my Kindle in my purse so I can take advantage of unexpected bench-sitting time or a long line. I listen to audiobooks and literary podcasts on my daily walks. And I read every night before bed, sometimes at lunch, and sometimes for 30-60 minutes in the morning, if I wake up before 6:00 a.m.

I am thoroughly enjoying this book nerdiness.

Pachinko byMin Jin Lee | 3 1/2 stars I really wanted to love this book, but for me, it was good, not great—which makes me feel kinda dumb because it received so many prestigious accolades. I respect it, but it didn’t touch my heart. To be fair, I’m beginning to think that sprawling family dramas are not for me. I prefer to be really connected to a smaller cast of characters in an atmospheric setting. There were so many people in this book and the way I thought of them was “the one that owns the pachinko parlor,” “the one that wants to be a scholar”… they never moved past 1-liners into real people for me. (My Goodreads review provides more detail, but also spoilers; proceed with caution.)

This book’s biggest strength—and it’s significant—is the way it brings an unknown-to-me part of history to light. I was only vaguely aware of the events leading up the U.S. Korean War, and it was fascinating—and sobering—to learn about the tensions and discrimination between the Korean and Japanese people.

Favorite highlight: “People are rotten everywhere you go. They’re no good. You want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let’s see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.”

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter  by Theodora Goss | 4 stars Just as Pachinko helped me realize multigenerational family sagas aren’t really for me, this book reinforced how much I love stories about found families. Set in Victorian England, this romping adventure includes not one, but FIVE plucky heroines, and I am here for it. If you enjoy the Veronica Speedwell series—A Curious Beginning, A Perilous Undertaking, A Treacherous Curse—then you will probably enjoy this one, too.

I don’t want to give too much away because the surprises are fun, but this story includes Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the danger of poisoning, literary references, a traveling circus, an insane asylum, potentially evil nuns, and family secrets. What’s not to love?! (I also treated myself to the sequel European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman because it’s described as a “madcap romp” and the action takes place in Paris, Vienna, and Budapest.)

Favorite highlight: “No wonder men did not want women to wear bloomers. What could women accomplish if they did not have to continually mind their skirts, keep them from dragging in the mud or getting trampled on the steps of an omnibus? If they had pockets! With pockets, women could conquer the world!”

I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel | 5 stars It’s no secret that I adore Anne Bogel’s podcast What Should I Read Next? so I had high expectations for this collection of essays. On her podcast, Anne is just the kind of person with whom you’d want to discuss books: opinionated but not pushy, insightful, relatable, and quick to laugh—all of that warmth and intelligence and sheer book love comes across in these essays. I read it over the course of a month or so, dipping into the essays between the other novels I was reading to cleanse my palate and to revel in the book nerdiness of reading.

I sometimes have a difficult time talking about my favorite books, or even really sharing how much reading means to me as a human—it feels too personal, makes me vulnerable in a way I’m not really ready for. But reading this book made me realize that there are legions of us out there: People who find friendship, solace, adventure, challenge, grief, joy—the whole gamut of human emotions—in the books that we read. And sometimes, they’re just damn fun.

I’d Rather Be Reading is just like that: lots of feels and damn fun.

Favorite highlight: “Old books, like old friends, are good for the soul. But they’re not just comfort reads. No, a good book is exciting to return to, because even though I’ve been there before, the landscape is always changing.”

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel | 4 stars Food, love, magic, and passion color this luscious family saga set in a Mexican border town around 1019, so the intimate story of the family is played out against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution. The tale reads like a family legend that’s been passed down through generations, and it centers on the forbidden love of Tita and Pedro. As the youngest daugher, it’s Tita’s fate to forsake love and to care for her dominerring mother Mama Elena until her mother’s death. But Tita and Pedro fall madly in love: When Tita felt Pedro’s gaze on her “she understood exactly how raw dough must feel when it comes into contact with boiling oil.” To be close to Tita, Pedro marries her older sister, and no one’s life remains untouched by this flawed decision.

Tita’s life is spent in the kitchen—both a gift and a curse to her—and her cooking is infused with deep emotion and magic. To Tita, food is life, and each chapter represents a month of the year, opening with a recipe that intertwines with the characters’ lives. Tita’s tears wept into wedding cake batter induce a devastating sense of longing in the guests who take a bite, and a delicate sauce made of rose petals inspires dangerous passions around the dinner table.

As the plot traces Tita and Pedro’s lifelong love, we see its impact on the rest of the family and the village: Tita’s sisters, a kindly doctor, bouncing babies, and Mexican revolutionaries. It’s a delightful—and sad—story of family obligation, the things that feed us, and a passion that could not be extinguished.

Favorite highlight: “When the talk turns to eating, a subject of the greatest importance, only fools and sick men don’t give it the attention it deserves.”

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier | 3 stars I went into this novel expecting a dark gothic adventure—thanks to previously reading Rebecca https://amzn.to/2BVakpp—and that’s exactly what I got—for better and for worse. Our heroine is definitely a damsel in distress, all muddle and forbidden love and quivering fear. I think I would have loved this book if Mary had some spunk, but instead, she kind of just bounces her way through the story. I found I enjoyed giving daily updates to my husband about what was happening a lot more than I actually enjoyed reading it. But for pure camp, it’s great: creepy isolated house, desolate moors, shady characters, an is-he-or-isn’t-he love interest, locked doors, a big character reveal, and plenty of stormy nights.

Favorite highlight: “The driver, muffled in a greatcoat to his ears, bent almost double in his seat in a faint endeavor to gain shelter from his own shoulders…”

Prague Spring by Simon Mawer | 4 1/2 stars Yay for British release dates: I got to read this book in time for the anniversary of Prague Spring on August 21—it’s available for pre-order now in the U.S.

This books examines what people are willing to risk for freedom and love. And if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to accidentally get caught up in a potentially dangerous spy mission, this is the book for you.

It’s the summer of 1968—the summer of love—even, for a while, in communist Czechoslovakia. As tensions rise between Moscow and Prague in the background, this story follow the misadventures—romantic and otherwise—of two groups of people: an on-again-off-again British couple who cross the Iron Curtain on a lark as they listlessly backpack through Europe, and a group of Czech youths—eager to test the limits of the Czechoslovak “socialism with a human face”—who find themselves in an unexpected friendship with a British diplomat.

There are also world-famous musicians, bugged rooms, larks into the countryside, and secret meetings. The various threads of this sort-of spy story come together in a satisfying, heartbreaking way. There’s plenty of intrigue, interpersonal sparks, romance, adventure, and irresistible descriptions of Prague, as well as a cast of characters you won’t soon forget. (I also LOVED another book by Simon Mawer: The Glass Room.) http://meljoulwan.com/2018/07/23/reading-recap-june-2018/

Favorite highlight: “You haven’t lived here long enough,” Zdenek said. “No one can live in this place for long and still believe in reality.”

FIND ALL THESE BOOKS AND MORE IN MY AMAZON STORE!

Source: https://meljoulwan.com/2018/09/03/reading-recap-august-2018/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[marymosley]

Biden Should Reject The Harris-Yates Model of Justice

Below is my column in the Hill newspaper on what stood out in the Democratic National Convention in terms of the future for the Justice Department under a possible Biden Administration. I have been highly critical of President Donald Trump’s treatment of the Justice Department and his disregarding of the principles of separation of the White House from ongoing investigations. Critics however often seem to embrace the seem disregard for core, defining principles of legal process. Highlighting the message of Sally Yates and Kamala Harris on justice issues in discomforting for those of us who want to see the Justice Department’s independence and objectivity respected and reinforced.

Here is the column:

National conventions have long served as what magicians call the turn. As explained in the movie “The Prestige,” every magic trick has three stages. First comes the pledge, when the magician “shows you something ordinary.” Then comes the turn, when he “makes it do something extraordinary” like vanish. Finally, he has “to bring it back in the hardest part” known as the prestige.

In American politics, candidates make the pledge to voters on the extremes of their parties during primaries. Then comes the turn, when the more extreme nominee disappears at the convention. The turn was not as tough for Joe Biden, who was fairly moderate as a senator, as it was for Kamala Harris, who was ranked by GovTrack as the most liberal senator to the left of even Bernie Sanders.

Nonetheless, in perhaps the neatest trick of all, the Washington Post’s David Byler recently described Harris as a “small ‘c’ conservative.” The concern for some of us is that the prestige, when earlier objects might reappear after the election, particularly regarding the Justice Department and the legal system. There is reason to worry about what might be revealed, post-election.

One of the Democratic convention speakers was former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, widely viewed as the leading candidate for attorney general in a Biden administration. She was presented as the personification of a new Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law. Yates declared: “I was fired for refusing to defend President Trump’s shameful and unlawful Muslim travel ban.” The problem is, she wasn’t. She was fired for telling an entire department not to defend a travel ban that ultimately was upheld as lawful.

I was highly critical of the travel ban, particularly in the failure to exempt lawful residents. However, I also said Trump’s underlying authority likely would be found constitutional. Despite revisions tweaking its scope and affected countries, opponents insisted it remained unlawful and discriminatory. They continued to litigate on those same grounds all the way to the Supreme Court, where they lost two years ago.

The Supreme Court ruled in Donald Trump versus Hawaii that the president had the authority to suspend entry of noncitizens into the country based on nationality and had a “sufficient national security justification” for his order. It also held that, despite most of the banned countries being Muslim-majority, the ban “does not support an inference of religious hostility.”

That is why Yates deserved to be fired. Yates issued her order shortly after learning of the travel ban and despite being told by Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel it was a lawful order. She never actually said it was unlawful, only that she was not sure and was not convinced it was “wise or just.” Rather than working to address clear errors in the original ban, she issued her categorical order as she prepared to leave the department in a matter of days. Yates maintained afterward that she believed the ban might still be discriminatory, even with revisions. Four years later, Trump is still banning travel from many of these same countries under the same underlying authority.

Yates was due to retire from Justice within days when she engineered her own firing. It made her an instant heroine and allowed her to denounce Trump at this week’s convention for “trampl[ing] the rule of law, trying to weaponize our Justice Department.” But that’s precisely what she did when she ordered an entire department not to assist the recently elected president – a move which, at the time, even Trump critics described as troubling. She could have resigned but chose to “go rogue,” months before (as Yates recently declared) then-FBI director James Comey went rogue in the Michael Flynn matter. (Comey actually may have learned a lesson from Yates: A good firing can be better than completing a term in office.)

The person who likely would have the greatest influence in recommending the next attorney general is Harris. The Biden campaign lauds Harris as a former prosecutor and California attorney general. However, Harris has a disturbing view of the separation of law and politics. While Trump has been legitimately criticized for demanding prosecutions and improperly commenting on pending cases, Harris has long been accused of the same disregard for legal process.

She campaigned on a pledge to prosecute Trump upon taking office, inspiring “lock him up!” chants at rallies. She publicly called Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson a “murderer” after he was cleared of that charge by state and federal investigators, including a lengthy investigation by the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder. This followed the recantation of eyewitness accounts and the disproving of claims that Michael Brown was shot with his hands up.

Harris has a history of such sentencings before verdicts. In Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, she declared him guilty of rape without hearing from witnesses — then called for his impeachment after his confirmation as a Supreme Court justice. She also campaigned on a promise to vote to remove Trump from office, roughly seven months before his impeachment by the House, and nine months before she sat in judgment in the Senate trial, after swearing to be an unbiased juror.

Harris has shown a willingness to “weaponize” legal issues, including reversing her positions when polls shifted. During the campaign, Harris was confronted with clips where she once laughed about the controversy over her jailing of parents for the truancy of their schoolchildren and mocking calls to “build more schools, less jails!” She was equally strong on jailing nonviolent offenders. With those positions now anathema to Democrats, Harris has assumed diametrically opposite positions with indignant passion.

This month, however, came the magic turn for the Biden campaign. Asked if he could foresee his administration prosecuting Trump, Biden correctly said, “The Justice Department is not the president’s private law firm. The attorney general is not the president’s private lawyer. I will not interfere with the Justice Department’s judgment.” That is the correct answer and, to his credit, Biden has tended to emphasize legal process over politics.

The concern, however, is whether his administration’s Justice Department would be shaped by Harris or led by Yates. The thing about magic and politics is that both require the audience’s cooperation. With Yates’ self-promoting sleight of hand, few in the media wanted to cry out that she palmed the facts. As one character in “The Prestige” explained, “You’re looking for the secret. But you won’t find it because, of course, you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.”

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. You can find his updates online @JonathanTurley.

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