#DEI must die

[infinitysisters]

“Like everything based on the writings of Karl Marx—seeing oppressors and colonial struggles everywhere—DEI was doomed to fail. The uniformity of thought known as intersectionality, fostered by DEI, meant all oppressed people must support all others who are oppressed. But that idea burst on Oct. 7 when Hamas raped, murdered and kidnapped Israelis. Many liberals, especially Jewish ones, couldn’t support genocidal “colonized” terrorists. Pop! The long march is in retreat.

By the way, ESG, or investing based on “environmental, social and governance” principles, peaked last June, when BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he would stop using “the word ESG anymore, because it’s been entirely weaponized.” Never mind that performance of ESG funds has been sketchy and that BlackRock had been adding the label “sustainable” or “ESG” to funds and charging up to five times as much. Then a study published in December by Boston University’s Andrew Kingfound “no reliable evidence for the proposed link between sustainability and financial performance.” Pop!

Most offensive to me was DEI’s devious underlying agenda: societal design. 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬. That was the “my truth” that Ms. Gay invoked on her exit. Critical theories and Marxist techniques would take power from you and me, using big government as the enforcer.

The new societal design, embedded in DEI and ESG, envisioned idyllic communal progress. 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐬. Diversity meant ideological conformity. Equity meant discrimination. Inclusion meant blurring the sexes. Men winning women’s athletic events would be considered normal. It was all theatrics, like the tampons I’ve seen in men’s bathrooms on Ivy League campuses. Somewhere George Orwell is rolling on the floor laughing.

One goal of progressive societal design is to shrink—depopulation. Twenty-somethings now question having children. Net zero and degrowth, both World Economic Forum approved, are pushed via energy myths: carbon bad, cows bad. A plant-based chicken in every pot and two electric cars in every garage. They envy the merit-touting rich, shout “inequality” and wear “Tax the Rich” dresses. They tear down statues to erase history. How did we let this happen?

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐢𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧. There was very little free speech at Harvard—the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranked it last of all colleges last year. Those against the societal-design agenda were shouted down. Dissent was met with accusations of privilege or cancellation. Conform or be cast out. On a larger scale, the Biden administration co-opted social media to censure opposing views.

I, like most Americans, am for diversity, but not when it’s forced or mandated. In a 2017 interview, Mr. Fink admitted BlackRock would use DEI tactics to “force behaviors” of corporations on “gender or race,” including via management compensation. Now that’s power.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. Does national security adviser Jake Sullivan really care about equity or climate change? It polled well and put him back in power to implement his own societal design via “industrial strategy.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬. 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬. Those prices inform production much better than any government bureaucrat or Harvard professor. Societal design—remember Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society?—requires government control. I’ll take freedom.

Preferred pronouns are fading. College admissions, and maybe hiring, based on race is illegal. DEI departments are being deconstructed. But while the DEI movement may have peaked, like that Monty Python character, it’s not dead yet. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐄𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫.”

— Andy Kessler//WSJ

#wsj #thank god #dei must die #regressive ideology #luxury beliefs #striver class parroting of fashionable ideas that never work for working class and poor people #plantationeering 2.0 #pseudo white guilt religion #society #Utopianism #elitism #Orwellian #Cadillac communism #equality NOT equity #reality wins #human nature #control #social engineering #emotionalism #wef #world economic forum #Andy Kessler #wall streeet journal #Marxism #apparatchiks #racism in virtuous looking clothing #pseudointellectualism #dehumanizing socially regressive mindfuck #diversity equity and inclusion #dei

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"Just as I suspected."

#The Rabbit Hole #DEI #DEI must die #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #racism #religion is a mental illness

[undiscovered-horizon]

Agnus Dei - Kaz Brekker x Grisha!Reader

[vulgar language, unresolved grief]

SUMMARY: When one of his Crows is revealed to be a Grisha on the run from the Black General, Kaz needs to make a decision: their lives or hers?

WORDCOUNT: ~ 3.2k

[PART 2 RIGHT HERE]

>>Grishaverse-inspired playlist&lt;<

Everything is going according to plan: the guards didn’t change their routes, the vault was where it was supposed to be, the lock combination Inej acquired worked, the necklace and documents were inside. And yet, you can’t help but feel that something is off as though you have forgotten a pair of socks when packing for a trip - a detail small and unimportant, while capable of making a substantial difference. Like an itch you can’t quite scratch.

A tremor shakes the manor down to its foundations. Dust and pebbles fall off the ceiling in an ominous cloud. Overhead crystal chandelier rings as the small gems clatter against one another.

Blyat.

There it is. 

“What was that?” Jesper asks an octave higher than he normally would have.

“The dynamite must have compromised the stability of the building,” Kaz says as his eyes trail the cracks forming along one of the walls. “We need to leave.”

“Are you saying-”

“Crushed to death, Jes,” you cut him off.

“Why can’t you ever give me a nice surprise? It’s always death and injury.”

You cross your arms on your chest. “Do I look like Ded Moroz?”

Jesper gives you a childish, playful smile. “I wish you did.”

“Come on,” Inej impatiently rushes the two of you. “You can biker when we’re out.”

Everyone follows Kaz, who weaves and turns through the palace corridors as though he knows them like the back of his hand. Considering how much time he had spent staring at the blueprints, it might well be true.

The tremors only grow in strength and frequency. The low hum of crumbling foundations is interrupted by the heavy, rushed footsteps of the guards. You are yet to run into them but considering they thunder somewhere above your heads, it’s only a matter of time before you look down the barrels of their muskets.

You jump to the side when a boulder falls next to you, a mere inch from crushing you. The muskets have to wait.

It’s hard to walk straight when the ground is shaking so much. Pieces of the ceiling and upper floors have you weaving and running into whatever hasn’t fallen yet.

“We won’t make it out in time!” you yell over the noise of crushing foundations and an avalanche of rubble coming your way.

“We will!” Kaz yells back. You’re unsure who he’s trying to convince more: himself, you or the decaying building. “Just go!”

“The entire ceiling’s coming down!” Another block of stone falls in your vicinity, throwing dust and ground bricks into the air. The flecks claw at your throat as you cough. Your eyes burn. “We need to find cover!”

Brekker stops. He lifts his head to look at the cracked bricks above the four of you. In the cloud of dust and refracted, dim light, you notice his face losing colour. 

“Hide!” he interposes. Jesper and Inej waste no time curling up underneath tables and fallen shelves.

You’re almost under a desk, sheltered from the rubble about to fall on your head but something stops you from seeking safety - sudden confusion at your own actions. The realization creeps up on you, making you surprised that at some point you really have forgotten that you don’t have to hide from overgrown pebbles and crushed chandeliers; at some point, you have truly believed the lie you’ve been telling everyone for so many years.

Time seems to slow down as you stare at the crumbling ceiling. You don’t breathe, your heart doesn’t beat. Just the rubble above you and the ringing in your ears. Something tingles in your fingertips when you absentmindedly rub them together.

Do it.

Your thoughts float towards the three Crows. Sure, they’re criminals but do they deserve to die for that? Should they perish, so you can take your secret to the grave? Casualties of war they didn’t wage?

Do it.

Perhaps this day was always coming.

Jesper pushes his head further between his knees, awaiting the final blow. But it doesn’t come. Hyperventilating and confused more than ever, he opens his eyes. The floor is covered with dust and pieces of bricks. Maybe he’s already suffered brain damage or maybe those pebbles and shards really were floating an inch above the ground.

“What in-” he whispers to himself.

The dust collecting in his lungs throws him into a coughing fit. He manages to get on his knees and stand up holding the desk he’d been sitting under. Jesper’s eyes meet Kaz and Inej, who appear just as confused at the fact that they’re still alive. Even more - not a stone threatened their well-being.

Inej suddenly gasps, vaguely pointing away from the three of them. The men’s gazes follow her hand right to the tip of her finger and that’s when they see it:

You’re standing a few meters away from their hiding spots, hands lifted over your head as though you were lifting something. Boulders and falling furniture hang mid-air, stopped by a mysterious violet flame pushing them away from the floor. With a small hop to the side, you swing your hands, making the rubble fly across the already-ruined hall. The remnants crush against the wall, breaking into smaller pieces before settling on the ground. Not a wrinkle, not even a bead of sweat runs down your skin when you turn around to look at them with guilt and apology painted all over your face.

Jesper is the first to break the silence of flabbergast:

“What was that?”

Inej stares at you with wide eyes, her lips slightly agape. "You're Kosomova.” It’s a statement, not a question. She seems to still be deciding between awe and disbelief. “The Lost Dynasty of Sankt Mikhail."

"What's dormant is not lost, Inej,” you say while awkwardly rubbing your hand. There’s no point in lying anymore. “It's just hidden."

You feel his stare boring into you but you don’t dare meet his eye. Just like this beautiful manor, the foundation of his trust has crumbled. It’s hard to estimate the damage and the prospect of whether it is possible to raise the palace once more. Perhaps he’s silent for now but you know this knot must be untied; a cast-aside viper always slithers back to bite.

The boulders and furniture you threw at the wall have breached it in a rather impressive manner. You can leave and disappear in the crowd before the guards even get to this part of the building. There is something positive to barely escaping death, after all.

"Mikhail?” Jesper repeats, his eyebrows furrowed. Walking through a gaping hole in the wall, he squints his eyes when daylight hits his face. “As in Mikhail the Unbowed? Didn't the Black General issue a bounty on his whole bloodline?"

"And it keeps growing every year or so,” you say indifferently while dusting the flecks of bricks and stone off your dark clothes. “Honestly, I'm kind of flattered he thinks I'm worth seven figures in Kruge."

People of Ketterdam stop by, look at the palace and then at you, only to shrug and carry on with their daily lives. Something about the malice residing in the air of this city makes everyone aloof to the plight of others. Most of the time you think of this tendency as wretched and heartless but today you can’t be grateful enough. Soon, all four of you are part of the uninterested, grey crowd flooding the cobbled streets. 

“But why?" Jesper coaxes, "What did you do?”

“I control gravity, making me a catalyst for any summoner,” you answer quietly in case someone can hear your conversation.

“Make or break the Fold,” Inej interjects.

“Probably, yeah.”

But his curiosity is not satiated just yet: “He already has the Sun Summoner. What does he want with you?”

Suddenly, you stop walking and Jesper almost runs into you. You look at your friend with a morbid seriousness he has never seen from you before.  “A man as ambitious as him will not stop at the Fold. He could turn the whole world into his own empire with me and the Sun Summoner at his service. Mountains will bow before him, oceans will separate so he can pass. No one should have that power.” Your gaze lowers, too ashamed to meet any of the faces staring hard at you. “Make arrangements to flee Ketterdam,” you interpose before taking a few steps backwards. A turn, a rushed step, a rounded corner and suddenly you’re gone as though you were never there.

The stairs creak under someone’s weight. Irregular footsteps grow steadily louder until you hear a soft whine of the hinges as the guest pushes your door open. 

"You're leaving."

Hearing Kaz’s voice makes you stop in your tracks for a second, hands filled with clothes and trinkets hover right above the bag. A sting in your chest, that you wave away; you can’t get hung up on your feelings, not now. Not when they inevitably lead to tears.

"Once the news travels across the Fold, the Black General will be here in no time,” you say without looking at him. With a newfound will to get away as quickly as you can, you continue packing up a lot faster than you did before. “Promise me that you will do everything to survive that. Sell me out, I don't care. Just promise me you will be fine."

"When were you going to tell me, Kosomova?"

Surprised, you drop the utility belt you were about to toss on top of the heap of clothes already in the bag. The hint of angry disappointment, a bitter betrayal, in his voice makes your heart break.

You give him a quick glance, only to pick up the belt and resume packing as though you’re absolutely fine with this strange situation.

"Please, don't call me that, Kaz.” No matter how unbothered you want to seem, he’s a bit too observant not to notice the pleading tone hiding between words.

"It’s your name."

You let out a sigh. Standing up and straightening your back, you finally dare to divert most of your attention to him. Face-to-face, as befits something between companions and colleagues.

"I haven't been Kosomova in over a decade. The life I lead and the people I'm grateful to love, I've done all of this as Zavrazhny. So that is my name.” Your eyes escape his face for a moment when you feel embarrassed at your own naivety. “And I wasn't going to tell you. Ever.” Awkwardly rubbing your arm, you look at him once more. To your own horror, his expression doesn’t falter, stuck in this indifferent frown he wears most of the time. What is he thinking about? “It was stupid of me to think I could actually escape my ancestry but a girl can dream."

Too ashamed to look at his face any longer, your gaze falls to the floor. Maybe this day was always coming. 

You fasten the bag and throw it over your shoulder. It’s grown heavy since the last time, pulling you down with the weight of both your useless souvenirs and the memories they hold. Some of them you can probably sell for a nice price, earning you a night of rest on something better than a haystack.

When you’re about to walk past Kaz and out of your room, surely to disappear from Ketterdam and resurface on the other side of the world with a new name and backstory, he suddenly lifts his cane in front of you. Frustrated, you look at the symbolic blockade and only then at him.

Turning his head to the side to look at you, his gaze appears even angrier than before. "You are not going anywhere,” Kaz nearly grits through his teeth.

Why won’t he just let you go?

Your voice is equally low when you answer him. "This isn't the bloody time to play broody and bossy, Kaz. I'm endangering the entirety of Ketterdam with my presence, I'm-...” you stop yourself from finishing the sentence, wondering if you really want to float along this wave of honesty. He slightly lifts his eyebrows, egging you to continue. Your voice is suddenly very quiet, as though you’re afraid someone else might hear you too. “I'm putting you at risk. And I can't have that."

"Have you any idea how much I have invested in you?" The stress he puts on the word is odd as though there is a hidden meaning behind it - one he can’t quite make himself say outright. You feel your chest tighten at the realization. It’s not a monetary value he’s speaking of. No, it’s something he’s too afraid to name correctly even inside his own head. "You're staying here, even if I have to make you."

You shake your head. "I don't want everyone sticking out their necks for me. It's not worth dying for. I'm not worth dying for. Save yourself, Kaz. This is not your fight."

"If it’s you the Black General is after, it is my fight."

His intense gaze makes you break out a flustered smile. "You have a very strange way of saying you care about me, you know?"

Reprieving your decision to flee, you toss the bag back on your bed. Kaz follows your movements with a questioning look on his face as you drop onto the chair by your working table. He thinks the scattered papers on your desk and notes pinned to the wall are very befitting - mind working faster than a steam train, albeit slightly chaotic.

For a moment you’re not saying anything. Slouched and with a vacant look in your eyes, your whole persona just screams defeat. None of the three Crows has seen you like this before, making you realize that this unusual demeanour is going to change a lot on its own. Once shown vulnerability can never be taken back, for the better or worse.

"I’ve never told you how I got here in the first place, have I?" you ask. Kaz catches your gaze once more, only to realise something about it has changed. The fire that once resided inside you is nowhere to be found, its place taken by something chilling and haunting. "Around a decade ago, the Black General caught wind of my family. We knew he was coming. One day, my mother packed all of my belongings and told me to leave. I won't ever forget that look on her face - the anger, the shame, the guilt…” Unknowingly, you raise your eyebrows and shake your head slightly. As grief’s fangs gnaw at you, her face appears before your eyes like a mirage; someone’s reflection on the surface of disturbed waters. “She grabbed my shoulders and said 'Forget your pedigree. You have to go out there, see the world, live how you want and be who you want. This family has suffered enough.' So I did. I didn't hear from her ever again. When I was boarding a ship from Novokribirsk to Ketterdam, I overheard the sailors talking about a slaughtered village in the woods. And I knew…” You take in a ragged breath, feeling emotions flooding your head. Even after a decade, this wound hurts just the same. “I knew I couldn't go back. There was nothing to go back to, so I moved forward. It was the only direction left."

It’s too late. You can’t stop it. Tears sting your eyes and you look away from Kaz, grasping at the serious and professional demeanour you’re so desperate to keep. Alas, it has escaped your shaky hands.

A sob violently shakes your body. You have to cover your mouth with your hand to stop the sounds of agony from reaching his ears.

“She died alone, Kaz,” you whisper in a weak voice. Anguish clenches your throat, making you unable to breathe for a moment. Tears stream down your face, salty taste on your tongue. “Rotting in the middle of the woods because there was no one to bury her. Abandoned.”

“If you were there, you would have died, too.” His tone is strangely gentle but you don’t notice it at the moment.

He grips his cane tighter when you look at him with red, glossy eyes. “You can’t know that.”

“Then the Black General would kill your mother just to get to you.”

“Maybe he’d spare her if I agreed to go with him. Or I would have killed him.” You take in a deep although ragged breath, trying to calm yourself down. Kaz wishes he could do something. With the sleeve of your coat, you wipe your face. “She died because I ran, didn’t she? So, maybe if I stay… Maybe I have a chance at redemption.”

“Her death wasn’t your fault.”

Your eyes snap back to his face. They’re still red but not sad anymore. No, something strange clouds them, something Kaz sees only when he looks in the mirror. “But yours will be if I don’t get my shit together. I can’t just keep running. It’s not who I want to be.”

“If you kill General Kirigan you will be running for the rest of your life.”

“I’ll be doing it anyway. Might as well earn the right to the name Kosomova.”

Suddenly, you rummage through the plethora of pockets you have in your layers of clothing. Something gold glints between your fingers but it’s so quick he can’t even begin to guess what you’re holding in your palm when you offer it to him.

“Kaz, I want you to have something. Just in case anything happens to me.”

You open your hand to reveal an antique pocket watch. It looks worn out, a thin layer of verdigris discolouring the keepsake. Golden coating lost its shine and the decorative engravings are nearly completely smoothed out as though someone had been rubbing its surface. For good luck, perhaps. Although barely visible, three cursive letters on the front are still legible: K. M. V. 

Kosomov Mikhail Victorovich

Kaz takes the pocket watch, for a moment examining your face in detail. Do you not expect to survive the Black General? Or perhaps this is a token of your trust if not affection? 

He gently presses the button on top of the watch and the lid pops open. On the right side is the face of a clock but the hands aren’t moving. Judging by the engraving on the front, the watch has to be several centuries old, making it impossible to say when exactly the mechanism has given out. His gaze follows to the other side of the keepsake, where a message was crudely carved out with something sharp: Я ранен был, но не упал.

“I was wounded but didn’t fall,” you quote. “It’s a family motto.”

Kaz closes the watch with a loud clasp. His gaze returns to you and for a moment you think there’s a shadow of dread dancing across his irises. Then his face turns nearly into a scowl. What fine smithing it really is, to reforge affection into anger.

“Make sure you stick to it,” he orders while stuffing the keepsake in his pocket. “We need a plan.”

“How much time do you think we have?”

“A week at most.”

A half-smile crooks your lips. “Then let’s make it count.”

______

Yes, there will be part 2.

#kaz brekker fanfic #kaz brekker fanfiction #kaz brekker imagine #kaz brekker x you #kaz brekker x reader #sab #shadow and bone x reader #shadow and bone x you #shadow and bone fanfiction #shadow and bone imagine #shadow and bone fanfic #six of crows imagine #six of crows fanfic #six of crows x reader #six of crows x you #kaz brekker #six of crows fanfiction #six of crows #shadow and bone

[rhera]

"In life, in order to understand, to really understand the world, you must die at least once. So it's better to die young, when there's still time left to recover and live again."

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Italian: Il giardino dei Finzi Contini) 1970, dir. Vittorio De Sica

#the garden of the finzi-continis #vittorio de sica #il giardino dei finzi contini #1970 #filmedit #filmgifs #fyeahmovies #moviesgifs #dailyflicks #mygifs

[candela888]

The “Washerwoman” folklore motif in Europe

The Lavanderas, or Washerwomen, are three laundresses in the folklore of many regions of Europe. They are said to predict the deaths of people, thus being an omen or portent of death.

They go to the water's edge at midnight to wash shrouds for those about to die.

In the folklore of Iberia they are known as the Lavanderas, Lavandeiras, Garbigileak, and Llavanderes depending on the region.

They are old women who frequent rivers and fountains, where they work with a hypnotic and tireless gesture, inviting those who pass by to help them.

In Iberian folklore, there are two ways to deal with them once seen.

The first, is simply to keep walking, to pass by without saying a word to them, ignoring their pleas.

The other is agreeing to help without complaints, and to twist the clothes in the opposite way as they do.

Other names for the Washerwomen in various Celtic languages include the kannerezed noz in Brittany & the Bean nighe in Scottish.

The three old women go to the water's edge at midnight to wash the bloodstained clothing of those who are about to die, according to Celtic folklore

In Wales and Cornwall a passerby must avoid being seen by the washerwomen.

In Ireland, they are an ominous portent, foretelling death, either one's own or a death in the family.

In Scotland, if one can get between the washerwomen & water, they are required to grant three wishes

Brittany & Normandy have the lavandière de la nuit.

They can be an ominous portent, foretelling death. They have very pale skin and are often dressed in white.

They wash graveclothes, usually at night, under the moonlight, and have an intense dislike of being disturbed.

Selon les légendes des Corbières occidentales en Languedoc, les fées lavandières peuplent les grottes et les endroits ténébreux, sortent la nuit et vont laver leur linge avec des battoirs d'or dans le Lauquet (rivière affluent de l'Aude) ou les ruisseaux voisins.

Spiorad baineann i mbéaloideas na hÉireann is ea banshee a fhógraíonn bás duine den teaghlach, de ghnáth trí caoineadh nó ag screadaíl. Tá gruaig fhada shruthlaithe aici, agus tá a súile dearg ó caoineadh leanúnach. Is gnách go dtaispeánann siad in aice le coirp uisce.

I Panas sono gli spiriti delle donne morte di parto. Sono tornati nel mondo mortale e hanno l'aspetto di essere vivi. Lavano i vestiti dei loro bambini. È possibile trovare panas vicino a fiumi e torrenti che si trovano vicino agli incroci. Cantano ninne nanne tristi.

[wherehopeshines]

The Image of God and our Imagination

Just as imagination can fuel fear, so can imagination fuel faith. After all, God created us with imaginations to use for His purpose.

The Word of God, the Bible, says that without faith it is impossible to please God. As an extension to this, without imagination, it is virtually impossible to have faith. How else are we going to see what we are believing for, before we ever see it in actuality? Hebrews‬ ‭11:1‬ says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

So how did God create the universe and all that is in it from nothing? Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” God exercised his imagination! He first saw the worlds, and then He spoke them into being!

God created man in his own image, endowing us with the same ability to create. Hebrews 11, the whole chapter, speaks of the faith of the patriarchs and the exploits that were done by faith, many never physically seeing all they believed God for this side of eternity.

The Latin term ‘Imago Dei’ refers to man being created in the Image of God, in all His creativity and attributes. I have attached a link to an article below expanding on the concept of Imago Dei.

God created the first man, Adam, in His own image. God later took the first woman, Eve, out of Adams side. Adam was like God in every way. He had full authority in the paradise that was the earth at that time, known as the Garden of Eden. Adam was also given the task of naming all the animals, an amazing feat of imagination! He walked and talked with God in the cool of the day.

The only thing Adam was not given authority over was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God had instructed that he must not eat from, for the day that he did so, he would surely die.

When the fateful day came that Satan, embodied in the serpent, tempted Eve to eat from the forbidden tree, she shared the fruit with Adam. Death did indeed come, but not in the way you might expect.

Adam and Eve had been created to live forever in God’s presence, having constant fellowship with him in Eden. In fact, nothing ever died there until Adam disobeyed God’s express instructions to enjoy the garden, eating of any and all of the amazing produce of the land except the fruit of that one tree. Even the animals were all herbivores. Only after what became known as ‘The Fall’ did animals begin killing each other for food.

The first death after The Fall was not a physical death, but the spiritual death of Adam and Eve, a curse that would eventually lead to their physical deaths, and the deaths of all of their descendants.

The second death was when God killed an innocent lamb to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. Their sin of disobedience had opened their eyes to their nakedness, and they were ashamed. Prior to The Fall, they had been naked and unashamed.

God put Adam and Eve out of the garden because, had they eaten from The Tree of Life in their fallen state, they would have lived forever, never again having any hope of restoration of that pure relationship with God they had once enjoyed.

Fast-forward four thousand years. Jesus (the new Adam), conceived by a virgin through the Holy Spirit of God, came to the earth as a perfect man, just as the original Adam had been. His sole purpose was to point mankind back to God and dying as a perfect sacrifice for sin, the very thing that had broken the relationship between Adam and God in the garden.

For millennia between the Garden of Eden and the Cross of Calvary, mankind has, under special circumstances and in rare cases as detailed throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, been endowed with the ability to walk close to God, but there was always a separation.

But now Jesus has died and risen from the dead, conquering death forever. He has sent the promised Holy Spirit to those who will receive his gift of eternal life. As John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

In John 14:16-18, Jesus himself promises the Holy Spirit to those who will follow Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

Once we have received salvation from sin in Jesus and the promised Holy Spirit has been given to us, our spirit is restored to the Creators original design and we can begin the journey of relationship with Him, just as if we had never sinned. All the power, authority, wisdom and imagination that created the universe and raised Jesus from the dead has come to live in us. Just as Adam of old, we are restored to once again partake and partner in all the creativity and attributes of sons and daughters of the Creator God.

#freedom #hope #power for healing #live free #great marriages still happen #freedom in christ #hope shines #created in His image #imagination #imago dei

[the-remote-viewers-division]

I have an alternate pale theory…

Consider this like a ‘Pale-AU’ (i.e. I know it is probably not supported by canon, and certainly not supported by some other works like Joshua Jenkins designs, for example… also I haven’t finished reading PJÕL, so maybe my ideas will change after that) but I started thinking about it as a “what-if” situation: If there were to be a direct sequel to Disco Elysium :insert prayer hands:, how could we reconcile the multitude of different Harrys the player could create? What about the fates of other characters? Some change due to our influence, some die. How could a sequel storyline somehow accept all those possible variances? Introducing my almost-certainly not-correct pale theory!TM using a little bit of in-game info, some real-life stuff, and a sprinkle of imagination!

Caution: Many spoilers ahead.

So what is Pale -- just the past?

After you talk to the Phasmid you’re given the impression that humans/people created the pale accidentally (with thinking and memory and ideas and invention?); and after talking to Joyce you learn that some think the pale is “rarified past.” It’s all pretty nebulous, but I think that the pale being a product (or a by-product) of the human mind/memory is close to what could be accepted as the canon origin of the pale:

INSULINDIAN PHASMID - The pale, too, came with you. No one remembers it before you. The cnidarians do not, the radially symmetricals do not. There is an almost unanimous agreement between the birds and the plants that you are going to destroy us all. YOU - Wait, the pale is human made? INSULINDIAN PHASMID - It is a nervous shadow cast into the world by you, eating away at reality. A great, unnatural territory. Its advent coincides with the arrival of the human mind. YOU - I don't have that kind of power. INSULINDIAN PHASMID - You are a violent and irrepressible miracle. The vacuum of cosmos and the stars burning in it are afraid of you. Given enough time you would wipe us all out and replace us with nothing -- just by accident. YOU - ...how? INSULINDIAN PHASMID - We suspect it will be something like the oxygen holocaust that wiped out anaerobic life 2.6 billion years ago -- when organisms first started breathing. Only much worse. CONCEPTUALIZATION - Instead of air, you exhale thoughts. There are no trees that eat thoughts.

JOYCE MESSIER – "Some say the damage stems from extreme sensory deprivation. Others argue that pale somehow *consists* of past information, that's degrading. That it's rarefied past, not rarefied matter." JOYCE MESSIER – "They call it *the blend-over of the self*. The pale does not only suspend the laws of physics, but also the laws of psychology, maybe History, even... The human mind becomes over-radiated by past." YOU – "Who says and who argues?" JOYCE MESSIER – "The logical positivists say -- the dialectical materialists argue."

An effect of the Pale is “entroponetical crosstalk" which you can experience when you use the doorbell intercom outside the whirling and hear the woman speaking from Tricentennial Electrics a long time ago, and additionally the old pale driver also talks to you about how she’s experienced the past in the pale, like the assassination of Dolores Dei. Both are snippets of human past:

KIM KITSURAGI - "It was a recording trapped in the circuitry. From some ancient tenant. This sometimes happens. Shall we conclude here? We have other mysteries to solve." YOU - "I do have one mystery that still needs solving... the radio ghost in the Doomed Commercial Area's electronic doorbell." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "The creepy woman!" She slaps her forehead. "We were wondering about that when we worked there... but I had completely forgotten about it ever since!" SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It must be entroponetic crosstalk. The one you get in radios and long-distance calls... Now it makes sense, with the pale right on the doorstep." KIM KITSURAGI - "Incredible..." the lieutenant murmurs. "This would also explain why we get it on the police radio all the time." YOU - "Entroponetic crosstalk?" SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It's quite common actually. When the signal gets routed through pale, all kinds of irregularities take place. You may hear snippets of someone else's conversation, or the voice of your former lover, or an echo of an event that took place 100 years ago." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "Pale is a shroud of memories and it doesn't really distinguish to whom those memories belong to. You could hear anything."

PALEDRIVER - "You don't need to turn back time. The pale is already churning with it. As the tide of pale rises, so does the past. Someday both will cover the whole world. That's it. That's the story." PALEDRIVER - "They say there is a point -- one that *I* have not crossed -- in the pale superdeep. If you stray too far off course on the U41-A, or in Lomonossov's Land... where every step you take is one step further from home, no matter the direction." PALEDRIVER - "It's a point you cannot come back from. Your mind becomes so radiant with the past -- there is a flip." She flicks the ash from her cigarette. "Instead of writing, it erases memory. Nearing some kind of..." She shakes her head. "Indescribable *finale*." PALEDRIVER - "Like Gabriel Buenguerro in 'Segure-me, Paraíso'..." She nods and smiles, unkindly. "You're the opposite of me then. I remember everything -- even the things I never knew." YOU - "Things you never knew?" PALEDRIVER - "The smell of liquor on Gabriel's lips after the shoot. In the motor park. The roses on the day of Franconegro's coronation. On the grand stairs of Raehl. The smoke from the fowling piece, when Dolores Dei was shot..." PALEDRIVER - "The look on her face -- like an orgasm. The wound in her chest. My hand in my father's hand..." She closes her eyes, her eyelids trembling. "Except I never had a father. And I never shot Her Innocence Dolores Dei." .. PALEDRIVER - "Thought insertion? *Dithering*? The Graad-Katla Magistral?" She savours the lungful. "It's more than dangerous -- it's *sad*. But... at first I had to make a living. Now..."

So you’d think Joyce’s theory checks out, it’s all history/memory---BUT! I did the moralist political quest my first play thru, and when you are trying to contact the airship you also get radio crosstalk from the pale.

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's cold now..." SHIVERS - A slight frisson at the point where your neck meets your spine. Something about the lieutenant's words, directed at you, but not *you*... YOU - "It's really coming down, now that you mention it." KIM KITSURAGI - "Mention what?" YOU - "It's cold, like you just said." KIM KITSURAGI - "I didn't say anything, detective." KIM KITSURAGI - "...someone has been maintaining it. The wiring has been repaired..." HORSEBACK ANTENNA - An uncomfortable silence falls over the connection. KIM KITSURAGI - "... It's been a long winter... Long and cold..." YOU - "Are you going to tell me you didn't say *that*, either?" KIM KITSURAGI - "I promise you, I didn't, even though it certainly *sounds* like me..." The lieutenant seems to wince at the sound of his own voice. YOU - "It must be entroponetic crosstalk. It's the only explanation." NOID - "So your partner's haunting himself. Trying to warn him off his current path, most like." KIM KITSURAGI - "It's eerie, for certain, but also harmless. I just wish I could remember what I was talking about..." ESPRIT DE CORPS - Something here is eating at the lieutenant, as much as he would like to move past it.

You can even hear it if Kim is not with you:

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's cold now..." SHIVERS - A slight frisson at the point where your neck meets your spine. You can *feel* the lieutenant's presence, even though he's nowhere to be found... YOU - "Kim? How did you get on my connection?" NOID - "Whoa, the cop's *own partner* is a radio-spooker. That's some *other core* business right there..." HORSEBACK ANTENNA - ... KIM KITSURAGI - "...someone has been maintaining it. The wiring has been repaired..." YOU - "Kim! Answer me." NOID - "No use, man. Don't think he can hear you." YOU - "I've encountered this before. It's entroponetic crosstalk. This is a piece of the past mixing in with our signal." NOID - "What..." KIM KITSURAGI - "It's been a long winter... Long and cold." NOID - "What have you gotten us into, lawman?" HALF LIGHT - Just *run*. Unplug that headset and get as far away as you can.

YOU - "Kim? How did you get on my connection?" … YOU - "What is he talking about?"’ SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "I believe you mean, what *was* he talking about." YOU - "Wait, what are *you* talking about?" KIM KITSURAGI - "It's been a long winter... Long and cold." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It sounds very much like entroponetic crosstalk. It happens sometimes when sending transmissions across long stretches of pale..."

Except IT'S NOT FROM THE PAST. It is Kim talking from the future, from the fort on the island. Which hasn’t happened yet.

And it can possibly NOT HAPPEN.

You hear Kim say this stuff even if he gets shot and doesn’t come with you to the island.

During gameplay they kind of just go “huh, how strange and spooky...” and don’t really delve into it.

But that completely changes the pale right? It’s not just past, it’s also future, and not just the ONLY future, POSSIBLE future.

So, my theory is that the pale is multiverse colliding: the near pale is the places where these universes begin to overlap, and deep pale is where universes overlap to such a degree they are cancelling themselves out into nothing.

Fungal communication – mycorrhizal network

When Joyce talks to you, she talks about a fungus growing at the edge of the porch collapse. I think this fungus could be acting like a mycorrhizal network, which in our world are an underground networks connecting fungi and plants allowing them to communicate or share information. I think the fungi/spores in Elysium pop up at origin points and thrive along the porch collapse and are allowing the universes to “talk” to each other.

SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "I understand..." She closes her eyes. "A theory of the pale where instead of an *outer ocean* it metastasises -- like a cancer or a mould -- erupting in points *inside* the world."

JOYCE MESSIER - "An uproar of matter, darling, *rising* into the pale. Rolling. Evaporating even, a great vision. The area of transition between the world and the pale is called *porch collapse*." JOYCE MESSIER - "Imagine a grey coronal mist, cold vapour, marked by spores of an opportunistic microorganism -- a mould that's adapted to grow at the edge of the unrest. It's..." JOYCE MESSIER - She closes her eyes and breathes out heavily: "... the most *disco* thing you will ever see.

INLAND EMPIRE - The white noise turns into a wall of mist and grey mould, bubbling, sweeping over the city... it tears up buildings and raises sidewalks into the sky. It's Revachol -- at the end of the world. INLAND EMPIRE - ...and it hasn't even really started yet.

Destructive interference – “le gris”

When Lena tells you about the cryptid the Col Do Ma Ma Da Qua, you learn that they are nearly extinct because the scientists played back their own calls and since they are creatures made of sound, the recordings cancelled out the birds. They died because the signals matched and cancelled each other out.

LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "It's the *Col Do Ma Ma Daqua*," the woman corrects her glasses. "Its name means 'thin whisper of sound'. And that's *precisely* what it is -- self-replicating sound waves, invisible and intangible! The Col Do Ma Ma is very afraid of us, which makes it incredibly difficult to track..." YOU - "Why is the Ma Ma Daqua so afraid of us?" LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "That is a sad story." She frowns. "A group of university students assisting with the field work, in their enthusiasm for the project and, no doubt, because they were preoccupied with impressing their professors, nearly drove it to *extinction*." YOU - "Extinction?" LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - She nods gravely. "They tried to communicate with it, and had no other means but sound. So they started sending out sound waves at frequencies they thought might match the Ma Ma Daqua's. And what happens when a sound wave meets another sound wave of the same frequency, dear?" YOU - "They cancel each other out."

So... admittedly this doesn’t directly connect to the pale, but it’s illustrating the concept of signals cancelling each other out and, I'm going to say, indicates that this concept is possible in Elysium. The pale is destruction, the overlap between universes causes matter, physics, and even numbers to dissolve. The more complete the overlap, the more complete the destruction.

In conclusion...

According to my theory, the pale is the areas of the world that are affected by these fungal organisms that allow very similar, but different universes to communicate with each other, and since their 'signals' are so alike, they are being cancelled out.

So why did I force myself to jump thru these mental hoops? I think having a multiverse like this would make a sequel more possible since there are so many ways the game can be played. Any possible playthrough would be its own universe. Having a multiverse like this acknowledges and validates any play thru as 'canon,' no player will feel that they somehow played the game “wrong.”  Whatever Harry appearing in the sequel is one of the possible Harrys even if he wasn’t “your” Harry. If a character died, they died only in some of the universes, not all. Whatever world the sequel would take place in is just one of the many possibilities.

Anyway, I thought WAYYYY too much about this and now you can too. Sorry!

#disco elysium #the pale #harrier du bois #kim kitsuragi #alternate universe

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

If you are not a close follower of American college campus politics, you are likely to be unfamiliar with a woman who has been making headlines for over a month in the US and increasingly around the world. The lady in question, one Claudine Gay, was President of Harvard, one of the most renowned educational institutions in the world, until earlier this week when she resigned over plagiarism allegations.

Why does or should anyone care about this? Well, Gay’s decision to step down is the culmination of long-running efforts to address the cancer at the heart of Western societies: the idea that the way to fix injustices of the past is to commit injustices today.

Following her resignation, Gay’s defenders were quick to emphasise the racial dimension of this story. Ibram X. Kendi, for example, tweeted that “Racist mobs won’t stop until they topple all Black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism”.

And while his claims of this being a racist campaign are absurd, it is true that Gay was not targeted solely for seemingly adopting the personal motto: “I came, I saw, I copied”. She became a focus of major Harvard donor concerns and a media campaign led by Christopher Rufo – a man I would approvingly describe as the diversity industry’s greatest enemy – in the light of her mind-boggling testimony in Congress. Her statements, given alongside the Presidents of MIT and UPenn, revealed the core of the ideology the entire Western education system is based on in all its glory.

The oppressor vs. oppressed mindset which is - no matter how uncomfortable this may make some readers - cultural Marxism, says simply that white people and “over-performing” minorities like Indians, Jews, Chinese, Japanese and Korean Americans should be discriminated against in hiring and student applications in favour of “underprivileged groups”. As a result, college campuses on which regular meltdowns have occurred for a decade over such “hate speech” as dressing in a Mexican costume for Halloween found themselves with nothing to say about pro-Hamas demonstrations and the harassment of Jewish students on their campuses in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

But even that is not painting the full picture. Yes, Gay, a darling of the diversity industry, was targeted for her plagiarism following her complete failure of leadership in recent months. But she was also partially targeted because of the assumption, if not outright conclusion, that the reason she was appointed in the first place was, to put it mildly, not merit alone.

After all, Gay’s primary achievement is not stellar academic work, exemplary managerial skills or even charisma and force of personality. She was appointed President of Harvard following a distinguished career in fields like “improving diversity” and researching “race and identity”. To put it bluntly, many people believe that she is a diversity hire and the reason she pushed the DEI ideology that eventually led to her appalling testimony in Congress is that she is herself a beneficiary of it.

To be clear, she has not been forced out for being black. She has been forced out for being placed in a position for which she had neither the skills nor experience to succeed and then failing in it. This is the rotten legacy of affirmative action, which, as Thomas Sowell explained decades ago in 90 seconds and in many of his books since, hurts the very people it is attempting to help:

If allowing students to enter universities in which they are destined to fail for the sake of diversity harms them, then what might be said about hiring people for leadership roles in major institutions in which they are destined to fail? This harms not only them but also the people who work and study at those institutions.

To be clear, I have no evidence that Claudine Gay was hired ahead of better, more qualified candidates. But it is not hard to imagine that a position holding the prestige, reputation and nearly $1-million-a-year salary the role of Harvard President commands could have been filled by someone with more executive experience, academic achievements and other relevant expertise.

This is the other curse of the counterproductive attempts to artificially increase the presence of “underrepresented” groups in employment and education. Because everyone knows that some people are routinely given unfair preferential treatment, it becomes easier and easier for the rest of us to suspect specific individuals of being there for reasons other than merit.

So here is the truth: we must return to pursuing the goal of a colour-blind society immediately. There is no such thing as positive discrimination. All discrimination is wrong. And because it is wrong, it will create precisely the kind of resentment that Claudine Gay is now facing. She is seen as the standard-bearer of the DEI industry and is being treated as such by people who have had enough.

All of us must be treated on the content of our character. When we refuse to follow this principle, we hurt everyone: white, black, hispanic, Asian, Jewish. A healthy society relies on the equal treatment of all individuals. The fact that we have to say this out loud in 2024 is a sign of how far we’ve fallen.

DEI must be dismantled. This will take years, perhaps decades. But, in recent weeks, for the first time in a long time, we have grounds for optimism.

#Claudine Gay #DEI #affirmative action #positive discrimination #harvard #diversity #education

[pancake-breakfast]

Trigun Maximum Volume 9, Chapter 5: Demon and Chapter 6: Fortitude really hit the whole justice, punishment, and mercy themes hard. I guess it's kind of inevitable when you have a religious cult who sees justice as something that's primarily meted out via "punishment" at the end of a barrel of a huge-ass gun.

The whole discussion on these three items is continuous throughout the story, but at this part it's very much focused on the conflict between Wolfwood and Chapel. Or, perhaps, between the teachings Wolfwood received from Chapel and the outlook he's gained from Vash.

It seems like Wolfwood's idea of justice is and has always been different than Chapel's, but Chapel did his best to beat that out of Wolfwood over the years. He wanted Wolfwood to be the perfect assassin, to sever all ties and to kill for the cause without thought or hesitation. It must have taken to some degree, since we still have this scene way back at the beginning of TriMax.

This is the first time Wolfwood goes into battle alongside Vash, and Vash's suggestion that they should try to get through this without killing anyone takes Wolfwood completely by surprise. (In the '98 anime, the subtitles translate Wolfwood's response as, "Don't ask for the impossible!" while the dubs have him say, "Why don't you just ask me not to breathe?") Nonetheless, he does his best. We don't see him take anyone else out until Rai-Dei, and he gets an earful from Vash for doing that.

In fact, it seems like after Vash first repremands him, the only people Wolfwood still goes after with intention to kill are the other Gung-Ho Guns. Even at this point in the story where he's coming after Chapel and Livio, he's done his best to spare all the mercs, with the only casualties being caused by Livio and by the mercs themselves.

And Wolfwood, like Vash did with him, reprimands Livio for the kill he makes.

At this point, Wolfwood's not simply trying to be merciful (if one defines Vash's philosophy as mercy... which seems to be Nightow's intent despite the room for debate on, say, whether all the people Vash injures actually make a decent recovery). Rather, Wolfwood has moved on to preaching it to others he cares about.

And what does that get him? Oh, right. It gets him beat into a pulp by Razlo, with Chapel looming over him, ready to end his life. For justice.

Chapel takes one look at Wolfwood's sorry state and decides to chastise him, to remind Wolfwood that he is a failure and a disappointment, and it is for those reasons that Wolfwood will die.

The thing is... if Wolfwood dies because he refuses to kill Livio/Razlo, I don't think it would be reasonable to say he failed or made a "wrong" choice choice. The moral perspective here is muddy; one person might find Wolfwood's lack of self-preservation morally repugnant despite any attachment Wolfwood might feel to his murderous opponent, but that's not going to be the universal experience. But to label it failure, a sin...?

**Minor spoilers for Attack on Titan ahead; skip a few paragraphs if you want to avoid them.**

I'm reminded of a conversation from Attack on Titan where Captain Levi was debriefing some Scouts after they found themselves in a life-or-death situation against humans rather than titans. Levi had given them all orders to kill since it was a bit of a kill-or-be-killed situation. But this isn't what they signed up for, and one of the Scouts can't bring themselves to take a life when faced with a human enemy.

This hesitating Scout apologizes profusely to Levi for their hesitancy and disobedience. Levi is quick to turn their apology away, not because "it all turned out alright in the end" or "at least you made it through" or any other common platitude, but because he notes his own moral system isn't what any of the other Scouts should base their own moral systems on.

Levi straight up admits he has no idea what the "right" choice was in that scenario. He knows what choice he personally would make, but readily admits that maybe for the hesitating Scout, the "right" choice would always be to refuse to kill, even if it cost the Scout their own life.

**End Minor Attack on Titan Spoilers**

Neither killing nor refusing to kill is necessarily morally superior here.

Chapel treating Wolfwood like his mercy is a flaw is... well, more indicative of the kind of person Chapel is than anything else. Chapel sees mercy as hesitancy and hesitancy as weakness; even if the opponent is fully incapacitated, the merciful person has hesitated to kill, and that might very well lead not only to their own doom, but to failure of their mission. Since the mission is defined as just by nature of it being from the Eye of Michael, then such a failure is shameful and entirely unacceptable, a betrayal of the righteous cause.

In Chapel's eyes, Wolfwood has failed the cause over and over and over again, even going so far as to fail right in front of him when he refuses to kill the mercs and Livio. For these failures, Chapel thinks Wolfwood should pay.

But Chapel's not so blind he doesn't recognize Vash's influence in this. He sees Vash as having turned Wolfwood from a simple traitor to Eye of Michael to someone who would risk their own life to spare another, and his anger that Vash would further "corrupt" his pupil is palpable in the way Nightow frames his dialog.

But, for Wolfwood, it was never just about Vash.

Wolfwood may have been assigned by Knives to escort Vash, but chose to follow Vash in more than just a physical sense. He didn't decide this easily or blindly. He knew the risks, not just from Chapel's teachings, but from his own experience.

But Wolfwood has always been a protector.

Chapel may have tried to run that out of him, to make the thing that Wolfwood "protects" be the Cause over everything else, but he failed. Wolfwood attacked and tried to kill Chapel to protect the orphanage before he ever met Vash. Nothing Chapel or even Knives could do would stop Wolfwood from wanting to prevent any dangers that might come to the orphanage and all those who belonged to it... including Livio, who disappeared from the orphanage before Wolfwood was recruited to Eye of Michael and who has forced him into a position of kill or be killed.

When Wolfwood shoots Livio through the heart, he begs him not to die. I think even without Vash's influence, Wolfwood would have wanted to show Livio mercy. If Livio didn't get back up from that wound, Wolfwood would have never let go of his guilt over pulling the trigger. Which would have suited Chapel just fine; it would have just been one more deserved punishment for Wolfwood.

And without Vash's influence, it's entirely possible Wolfwood would have just accepted that punishment, added the guilt of Livio's death to all the guilt he already feels for all the lives he's taken.

Over their time together, Vash has shown Wolfwood not only that even when pulling a trigger, Wolfwood can be merciful, but also that Wolfwood himself deserves a measure of mercy. Nightow once said of the Punisher in an interview, "But who's being punished?" With each life he takes, Wolfwood punishes himself a bit more, but in working with Vash, he's slowly, painfully, gradually learned that maybe... just maybe... he doesn't have to.

Maybe Wolfwood should be merciful to himself.

The final chapter of Volume 9 ends with Wolfwood trying to pull himself to his feet, not done with the battle yet despite all odds, but even if dies here, we're shown that his regret will not be that he hadn't killed Livo, but that he hadn't saved him.

He probably wouldn't even be so concerned with killing Chapel if he could see a way forward that prevented Chapel from preying on the children in the orphanage. His motivation in taking Chapel's life at this point isn't revenge or even justice. It's simply a matter of protecting that which he holds dear. And because Chapel has no mercy for the children of the orphanage, Wolfwood has no mercy for him.

How ironic that this one time that Wolfwood goes with a calm heart to administer the kind of "justice" the Eye of Michael has instilled in him, it's not in the name of their cause, but in the name of following those ideals he's had since he was just a kid. For once, he would kill without fear or regret, not for the Order, but so he can protect those he loves.

Chapel tries one final time to pound into him all the ways Wolfwood has become a worthless, sullied sinner who won't find redemption even in death, but Wolfwood's having none of it. Despite everything Wolfwood's done, he's come to an understanding and a peace with himself. Chapel's words, meant to hurt and drag down, only fuel his resolve.

Wolfwood's chosen his path. He'll follow what he learned from Vash because regardless of how difficult the path is, it's the path he wants for himself, has always wanted for himself. He won't let his past failures be an excuse to turn from it.

#nicholas d. wolfwood #vash the stampede #chapel trigun #trigunbookclub #trigun maximum #volume 9 #character analysis #manga analysis #pancake thoughts #cw religious trauma

[adrift-in-thyme]

Febuwhump Day 11: Time Loop (Time/Malon)

Continuation of Day 6

Ao3

Buckle up folks this one’s ANGSTY

CW for repeated temporary character deaths, blood, injury, and mild gore

——————————————-

Three.

That is how many times he has lost her. Malon. His best friend, his beloved wife, fallen upon a bed of liquid rubies. Red like her fiery hair that gleams in the sunlight and glows beneath the moon and is so soft beneath his loving fingers.

Four.

That is how many times he has died. How many times her scream has been the last thing that he hears before the darkness comes. How many times he has choked, lifeblood gurgling in his throat, or spilling from his chest, or cascading from his abdomen.

Suffocating him. Drowning him. Soaking into the grass where he and Malon lay together as children, spotting shapes in the clouds. Stealing the life he never thought he would have and now fights so hard to keep.

He doesn’t want to die. But he can’t live without her. She is what makes it all worth it.

Seven.

That is the total number of times that he has restarted. The total number of times that he has relived the same torturous thread of moments. Felt his body break beneath the Shadow’s assault, felt a sword slice his throat…or seen it slice Malon’s.

He has time in a constant loop. It is fixed in it, stuck, and it traps everyone else within its orbit. But that is the way it must be. This is a battle he cannot win on the first try. That became abundantly clear the first time the Shadow had taken the person he loves most in the world.

And all because Link was once a hero.

It’s ironic, really, that nearly everyone has forgotten. Save, of course, for Zelda and Malon. No one else believes his tales. Never have, never will.

Except for this one monster. The one he faces now.

It is the eighth time.

He runs through it as quickly as possible, using time itself against the Shadow. It doesn’t work.

He saves Malon, he slays the monsters. But when time restarts, the Shadow is quicker than he could ever be. And Link ends up on the ground, Malon’s tears mingling with his own as she clutches his twitching body.

His lungs fill with blood. He dies hearing her scream his name.

Nine.

Time reorients, speeds back, slows to normalcy. Link opens his eyes and he is in the Shadow’s grip.

Claws dig into his scalp. A sword caresses his neck. Link can’t find it within himself to gasp at its touch. He has already done that more than once. And besides, he only has eyes for Malon.

Again, she is bound. Again, she thrashes, fighting with all her might (always the fighter, his Malon. By the goddesses he loves her).

“The Hero of Time groveling. Now, that is a sight that does me good.”

Swords glint in the sun. Link reaches out, takes time in his hands and yanks it back. It halts. He drags his aching body up, biting back the cry as his wounds scream for attention. Running forward, he grips his claymore in chained hands and brings it in a sweeping sideways arc.

It splits the air and the Shadow’s body.

When time returns to normal, a clawed hand grips his throat.

“Thought you had bested me, did you?” Hot breath smothers him. Crimson eyes bore into his soul. “You are not the only one with a mastery of time.”

A tightening of the hand that holds him. A flick of the wrist. The sharp crack of breaking bones.

This time death comes too quickly for him to hear Malon cry out.

Ten.

The Shadow has his own level of control over time, slight though it may be. That lowers the effectiveness of Link’s favored approach. But it doesn’t render it useless. Not in the least.

Still, he tries to be quicker this time, relying more on sleight of hand and trickery and less on his power to twist the flow of seconds and moments and hours.

He isn’t fast enough.

“You are providing quite the challenge,” the Shadow purrs. “I love it.”

Blood spurts in a graceful arc. Malon falls inches from him, a sword buried in her chest.

Link screams until his voice is hoarse. He sobs until the loop resets.

Eleven.

The deity’s mask is in his grasp. Somehow, he has managed to drag it to him from where it had fallen on the lawn.

He trembles as he raises it to his face.

“Link, no!” Malon screams.

The Shadow whirls. In the blink of an eye, he is before him, raising that cursed sword.

He carves the mask in half and takes Link’s hands off with it.

Twelve.

He surfaces with the pain of one thousand tears pounding behind his eyes and the cries of one hundred injuries screaming out for him to listen. The Shadow is talking as his claws dig into Link’s scalp. Blood trickles down his hairline.

But he doesn’t hear the words, nor feel the pain.

This is the one. This is the time when he wins.

It has to be.

Magic sparks to life at his fingertips, powerful and fierce. The spell is one he knows by heart. It twines around him, gentle, loving (suffocating). Then, it soars outward, traveling on the whispers of the wind.

The Shadow’s grip slips away as walls of crystal blue slip into existence. They seal together, enclosing the monster in a prison of serene cerulean. He pounds on them, once, twice, a growl of frustration in his throat. But they hold fast.

Link rises, forcing failing limbs into submission. Time slows, then stops. The monster that had been in the process of lunging at him freezes.

It is only him now. He and Malon and the beast that he has finally, finally caged.

Crimson eyes bore into him as he stands before the enclosure. Sharp teeth stretch into a mocking grin.

“So, you have managed it, at last. You have imprisoned a being of utter dark magic. How many times did it take you? How many times did you have to die?”

The grin grows. The Shadow tilts his head.

“How many times did you have to see her die?”

A sharp intake of breath sounds from behind him. Link can imagine her expression perfectly – fear and confusion and the sharpness of burgeoning comprehension churning in those sky-blue eyes. He refuses to look back to see it.

“As many as were necessary.” He steps closer, face set in a stern glare. “I am not here to answer your questions. Now is the time for you to answer mine.”

“Oh?”

“Whose power are you using to do all this? The portal, your control of time…you didn’t possess any such things when we last fought.” Link’s fingers curl in fists. Blood and dirt have cracked his flesh and turned it stiff. “How?”

The Shadow’s eyes narrow. “I could ask you the same, hero. You possess powers I have never seen before, only heard legends of. Terrible, awful powers. It leaves one wondering…” A glint of something dangerous shines in those blood-red orbs. “You are mighty, you are cunning. Yet, here you are, allowing me time to gain the upper hand.

“Again.”

He raises a clawed hand. Cracks snake their way through the magic binding Nayru’s Love. But Link is ready this time.

Once more, a spell weaves itself around him. This one is furious and explosive. It flies forward, lifting the edges of his tunic and blowing his hair into his eyes.

The Shadow’s eyes go wide. A grim smile lifts Link’s lips.

“A parting gift,” he says, as flames roar to life within the blue barriers, turning them striking shades of gold and red. “We’ll meet again, I’m sure. I trust that that meeting will not be here.”

There is a moment when all he can see is sheer panic, spelled out plainly across the Shadow’s face. Then, with a screech of agony and in a rush of magic, he is gone.

And for the first time in a long time, Link is certain he will not return.

Time slides seamlessly back into its normal flow.

He turns to where his wife awaits, slipped from her bindings and standing on shaky legs, looking at him with one hundred different emotions in those blazing eyes.

“Oh, fairy boy,” she chokes, adoration and exasperation and exhausted anger fighting for purchase in her tone. “A time loop?”

A smile of sweet relief lifts his lips, even as tears stream down his cheeks.

“I had to,” he whispers and the words are fire on his throat. “I never got to say that I loved you back.”

Link has just enough time to see the way her expression shatters before his legs give way. But when he crumples, she is already there, trembling and pale, yet so, so strong. That fire that is all hers still shines in her eyes, even past the cracks of grief and fear.

She wraps her arms around him and he draws her close, breath stuttering as her familiar warmth fills him.

“We’re safe now,” he whispers. His eye slips closed, exhaustion dragging him down. “You’re safe now, Mal. He isn’t coming back.”

She holds him tighter in response, inhaling an unsteady breath.

“We made it,” she murmurs, almost disbelieving. And then in a whisper, “I love you, fairy boy.”

A sob tears its way from his throat. But he manages a reply anyway.

“I love you too.”

#febuwhump 2024 #febuwhump day 11 #blood tw #temporary character death #injury tw #mild gore #time loop #linked universe #linkeduniverse fic #lu time #lu malon #lu malink #trin writes #angst #whump

[ladykissingfish]

*Konan visiting Deidara in his new apartment*

Konan: My god … this place is amazing! So big and spacious … *goes to the window* And with a fantastic view! 

Deidara: It IS gorgeous, isn’t it?

Konan: It is, but … how are you going to afford this? I mean unless you got some giant pay increase that I’m unaware of …

Deidara: Sadly, I did not, hm. But don’t worry, I’ve got it under control … I’m going to be interviewing roommates today. That’s why I wanted you here today; the first guy on the phone has good references and all, but sounded a little weird.

Konan: Gotcha. I’m here for you, Dei.

*the doorbell rings and Deidara goes to answer it*

Deidara: Hi! You must be Sasori Akasuna?

Sasori, dryly: Unless you’ve scheduled another Sasori Akasuna to be here at this exact same time, then yes, I am.

Deidara: Okay … well it’s nice to meet you … *extends his hand for a handshake*

Sasori: *eyes Deidara’s hand* If it’s all the same to you, I just Purell’d my hands on the way up, and I don’t fancy doing it again.

Deidara: … okay?

Sasori: *looks at Konan* Are you his … girlfriend?

Konan: No, just a friend.

Sasori: Ah, I thought as much. *chuckles and looks at Deidara* No way in hell you could land a woman who looks like that. Anyway, why don’t you give me the tour?

*Deidara shows him around, ending with the room that would potentially be Sasori’s bedroom*

Sasori: Ah; this room has a perfect view. Excellent; I’m an artist, and being able to see outside is important to me.

Deidara, excitedly: You’re an artist? Me, too! I make —

Sasori: I know all about your particular brand of “art”. You have that interactive exhibit at the museum, right? I’ve been to a few of your shows. It’s amazing that you’re allowed to label petty explosions as “art”; even more impressive that people throw money at you for such foolishness.

Deidara: Listen here, you stupid fu —

Konan, quickly interrupting: What kind of an artist are YOU?

Sasori: I create portrait dolls.

Konan: Portrait dolls?

Sasori: Mm. People give me photographs of their friends or relatives, and I create dolls for them based off of the photos. My creations are intricate, delicate, and meant to last a lifetime. I capture the person’s image, their soul, and the work remains long after the person has passed on.

Konan: That sounds so lovely!

Deidara: But if you just play with dolls all day, what do you need to look outside for?

Sasori: Because sometimes I like to look at random people passing by,  and imagine how they’d look as one of my creations. Under my hands, in my care, they would never grow old, never get sick, never die. Much preferable to a puny mortal life, wouldn’t you say? One day, if I’m lucky, I’ll have found a way to turn myself, my human body, into one of my pieces.

Deidara and Konan:

Deidara: … thanks so much for coming to see the place, hm. I have some more interviews today, so I’ll get back to you by tomorrow afternoon.

*Sasori leaves and Deidara shuts the front door behind him*

Konan: Whew! My god, what a nut job! And he was so sarcastic … well, I guess that’s one name you can cross off the list, huh? Now, who’s coming next?

Deidara: No one.

Konan: No one? But didn’t you say that you’ve got interviews lined up all —

Deidara: Not anymore. I want THAT fucker to be my roommate. Hell, if everything goes right, this time next year you’ll be sitting here helping me plan our wedding!

Konan:

@sasodeiweek

#SasoDeiWeek2024 #Portrait/Roommates #❤️💛 #sasodei #sasori x deidara #sasori #deidara #konan #and they were roommates

[odinsblog]

• This is the 1st question of the debate: Was Joe Biden the legitimate winner of the 2020 election? (take a second sip if a candidate deflects the question)

• Someone says the word "woke" [only do this a maximum of 7 times].

• A candidate uses the words "two-tiered justice system."

• Someone uses Ron DeSantis's last name to create a punchline (i.e. "Ron DeSanctimonious" or "Ron DiSaster.")

• A candidate mentions a "three-letter enemy," including FBI, CIA, NSA, IRS, CRT (Critical Race Theory), ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance), DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), CDC, EPA, DHS, ATF, CNN, NIH, DOE, or DOJ. [only once per three-letter word, and only counts if they say the acronym, not the whole thing]

• A candidate complains about boys wanting to become girls, or vise versa

• A candidate claims that there are 87,000 new armed IRS agents patrolling the country

• A candidate (likely to be Ron DeSantis) says he or she will eliminate these three agencies of government [it must be these three]: Commerce, Education, and Energy.

• Nikki Haley alludes to the idea that Joe Biden will die in his second term, and therefore, Republicans are really running against Kamala Harris. [only do this once]

• A candidate is asked whether they would sign a national abortion ban, and refuses to actually answer the question.

• A candidate is insulted for his/her poll numbers by someone talking about how far away they are from the center of the stage.

• A candidate says "Biden crime family."

• One candidate attacks another candidate (not counting DeSantis/Christie) because that candidate attacked Donald Trump [only do this once]

• A candidate openly supports the impeachment of Joe Biden [only do this once]

• Vivek Ramaswamy is directly or indirectly insulted for being a Hindu [only do this once]

• Ron DeSantis uses any of the 4 "MUST DOS" from the leaked SuperPAC memo

• The first candidate attacked by Ron DeSantis is Vivek Ramaswamy or Chris Christie

• A candidate says "Right here in Wisconsin"

• A candidate uses the words, "Hillary Clinton [or, "the Clintons"], "George Soros," "deep state," "cabal," or "groomers" in a sentence. BONUS: Chug half of your remaining drink if they manage to use two or more of those phrases in one sentence.

• A candidate gives a shout-out to Elon Musk. [only do this once]

#politics #lol #republicans #gop debate #republican debate #drinking game

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Apunaja

Published: Mar 19, 2024

I just watched this clip of Don Lemon interviewing Elon Musk, where Lemon pushed back on Musk’s claims of DEI policies impacting the quality of medical care and insisted that there is no evidence that standards are being lowered in medical programs in the pursuit of diversity goals. It was infuriating to watch. The word ‘gaslighting’ repeatedly came to mind.

I don’t know if Lemon genuinely doesn’t know the facts about this issue, or if he is deliberately misrepresenting the inconvenient truth, but as anyone who has been paying attention to this issue can attest, it is indisputable that standards are indeed being lowered, in myriad professional and educational contexts, for the express purpose of increasing the racial diversity of that group’s membership. What makes it hard to believe that Lemon isn’t being disingenuous about this is that in so many of the cases where this is happening, the proponents of the policy openly state that the reason they are changing their standards are in order to increase representation of minorities. Of course, they don’t call it “lowering standards for diversity”. But when you get rid of a testing requirement, or lower the passing grade, or modify the entrance qualifications to deliberately allow lower performing black and Hispanic students entrance, you are by definition lowering standards for the sake of diversity and equity, no matter how you spin it.

It’s high time for the false claim that ‘promoting DEI doesn’t adversely impact standards’ to finally be put to rest. In the interview, Lemon said he looked forward to people providing evidence of the claim, so I’m going to attempt to do that here, to lay out unambiguous evidence of educational and professional standards being compromised for the sake of DEI. I’m going to first focus on the area of medicine, which is what Lemon was specifically talking about, and then I’ll get into many other arenas where we can see this happening.

In a 2022 City Journal article, the esteemed Heather Mac Donald describes a required medical exam being altered (both in its subject matter and its grading) to allow for more students to pass:

At the end of their second year of medical school, students take Step One of the USMLE, which measures knowledge of the body’s anatomical parts, their functioning, and their malfunctioning; topics include biochemistry, physiology, cell biology, pharmacology, and the cardiovascular system. High scores on Step One predict success in a residency; highly sought-after residency programs, such as neurosurgery and radiology, use Step One scores to help select applicants. Black students are not admitted into competitive residencies at the same rate as whites because their average Step One test scores are a standard deviation below those of whites. Step One has already been modified to try to shrink that gap; it now includes non-science components such as “communication and interpersonal skills.” But the standard deviation in scores has persisted. In the world of antiracism, that persistence means only one thing: the test is to blame. …The solution … was obvious: abolish Step One grades. Since January 2022, Step One has been graded on a pass-fail basis.

Further in the article, she explores how med school entrance standards have been adjusted to increase the number of minority students entering even though their grades were far lower:

In 2021, the average score for white applicants on the Medical College Admission Test was in the 71st percentile… The average score for black applicants was in the 35th percentile—a full standard deviation below the average white score. The MCATs have already been redesigned to try to reduce this gap; a quarter of the questions now focus on social issues and psychology. Yet the gap persists. So medical schools use wildly different standards for admitting black and white applicants. From 2013 to 2016, only 8% of white college seniors with below-average undergraduate GPAs and below-average MCAT scores were offered a seat in medical school; less than 6% of Asian college seniors with those qualifications were offered a seat, according to an analysis by economist Mark Perry. Medical schools regarded those below-average scores as all but disqualifying—except when presented by blacks and Hispanics. Over 56% of black college seniors with below-average undergraduate GPAs and below-average MCATs and 31% of Hispanic students with those scores were admitted, making a black student in that range more than seven times as likely as a similarly situated white college senior to be admitted to medical school and more than nine times as likely to be admitted as a similarly situated Asian senior.

Later on she recounts a further example of reducing standards to increase diversity at a top-tier institution:

The University of Pennsylvania medical school guarantees admission to black undergraduates who score a modest 1300 on the SAT (on a 1600-point scale), maintain a 3.6 GPA in college, and complete two summers of internship at the school. The school waives its MCAT requirement for these black students; UPenn’s non-preferred medical students score in the top one percent of all MCAT takers.

The article details many more examples of diversity efforts impacting the quality of the curriculum, admissions, faculty hiring, research funding, accreditation, publishing, and other aspects of the medical education arena. I strongly encourage you to read it in full here.

But where did all these changes stem from? A 2020 Quillette article reveals how these policies were a result of a long-running campaign to increase diversity:

…in 2009 the body that accredits medical schools, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), touched off a parity panic across the med school landscape by issuing stern new guidance on diversity. In order to remain accredited, declared LCME, medical schools “must” have policies and practices in place that “achieve appropriate diversity.” …In the wake of the LCME’s watershed edict, working groups were convened, budget line items were created, and high-profile hires were made to facilitate diversity boosting and community recruitment. A main stumbling block seemed to be minority candidates’ poor performance on gatekeeper exams like the MCATs.

Once the unstoppable force of diversity activism met the immovable object of disparate MCAT scores, activists focused their efforts on reducing the MCAT’s significance and incorporating tests that were not based on cognitively demanding subjects like actual medical knowledge in favor of things like emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication:

The primary selling point of SJTs was thus that they allowed schools to consider factors other than such blind metrics as a straightforward ranking of applicants’ college grades and MCAT performance. The MCATs themselves were revised in 2015 to give meaningful weight to areas of the social sciences.

The amazing thing about all this is how, if you just listen to their own words, these activists are totally open about how they need to lower the standards to increase minority representation. Here’s one such statement from an advocacy group admitting that expecting minority students to meet the same academic standards everyone else is held to holds back diversity:

…a huge obstacle to diversity is that most medical schools have the same criteria for all applicants. To get a medical student population that is representative of the general population requires more than simply accepting applicants of color who have the same grades and MCAT scores as White applicants…

Their solution? Lessen the importance of the MCAT in applications.

While on the topic of medical schools, consider this chart, highlighting the likelihood that students in different racial groups are granted entrance to medical schools, based on their grades. It echoes Mac Donald’s claims above, and indisputably reveals that a low performing student has a much higher chance of getting in when they’re black versus being any other race.

Another way of looking at that same data is in this chart:

This 2023 Newsweek op-ed unambiguously advocates for the MCAT to be abolished as an entrance requirement in order to increase diversity:

A panel representing the American Bar Association (ABA) recently voted to eliminate the LSAT as an admissions requirement for law schools. The main reason for doing this: to increase diversity in law schools. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) should follow the lead of the ABA for medical school admissions by removing the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) as a requirement.

Here’s a similar Washington Post piece proposing that the MCAT be changed to a pass/fail test. Why? In the author’s own words: “This is a crucial step if the medical profession is to diversify its physician ranks.”

There are further examples that could be provided, but I think this suffices to prove Elon’s claim. Copious examples of deliberate efforts to lower standards in medical education for the express purpose of increasing diversity. Mr. Lemon, do you find this evidence sufficient to acknowledge that Elon’s assertion was correct?

But it gets worse. As I said above, the problem of lowering educational and professional standards to increase diversity is not just an issue in the medical field. Campaigns pursuing this agenda are occurring all over society. Mr. Lemon, please bear with me a bit longer and allow me to provide further evidence of just how widespread this phenomenon actually is:

1. In Oregon, the state decided that students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color. This a result of a law passed in 2021 which the governor’s office explained as follows:

…suspending the reading, writing and math proficiency requirements while the state develops new graduation standards will benefit “Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”

2. In order to address "racial disparities" and "inequities" in grading, Portland Public Schools are trying "equitable grading practices" that bar teachers from assigning "zeros" to students who cheat or fail to turn in assignments.

3. In Minnesota, they’ve decided to stop giving F grades in order to “end systemic racism”.

4. In San Diego, because too many minority students were failing compared to white students, the school decided to address the problem not by improving the pedagogy but by… changing how they graded students. “The grading changes are part of a larger effort to combat racism,” they explained.

5. NJ chose to lower the minimum passing score on the state’s high school graduation test. Why? Among other reasons given was this appeal to diversity:

One board member who supported lowering the passing score suggested that it was “unfair” to “Black and Latino students” to require underperforming students to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency in reading and math before graduating.

6. In Arizona, a student dean felt that it would “promote equity” if he stopped grading students essays based on the quality of their writing. (This sounds similar to an effort by a student org that called for ‘Black Linguistic Justice’ and demanded that they not be graded by the standards of ordinary English, what they referred to as ‘white linguistic supremacy’. 🤷‍♂️)

7. Along similar lines, Rutgers decided to deemphasize traditional grammar ‘in solidarity with Black Lives Matter’.

8. It’s not just the US embracing this insanity. In the UK, instructors at Hull University were told to overlook students’ grammatical errors as part of an “inclusive marking policy”. And for a similar reason, the University of the Arts in London has told its staff to ‘actively accept spelling, grammar or other language mistakes that do not significantly impede communication’.

9. Please read this detailed article at The Free Press about the new California math initiative that sacrifices mathematical education for diversity goals. This new framework seems primarily motivated by concerns that too many students are sorted into different math tracks based on their natural abilities, which leads some to take calculus by their senior year of high school while a disproportionate number of black and Latino kids don't make it past basic algebra. So their solution is to prohibit any sorting until high school, keeping gifted kids in the same classrooms as their less mathematically inclined peers until at least grade nine.

10, Those same lowered math standards are being implemented in Cambridge, MA:

Udengaard is one of dozens of parents who recently have publicly voiced frustration with a years-old decision made by Cambridge to remove advanced math classes in grades six to eight. The district’s aim was to reduce disparities between low-income children of color, who weren’t often represented in such courses, and their more affluent peers.

11. In order to advance their DEI agenda, the creators of the bar exam are changing the famously difficult tests that lawyers have to pass before they are allowed to practice. How are they doing so? In their own words (emphasis added):

…we take seriously the need to work toward greater equity in all that we do as a testing organization, and we actively work to eliminate any aspects of our exams that could contribute to performance disparities among different groups.

A WSJ article investigating these changes reports:

Based on the diversity workshop at the NCBE conference, it means putting considerable emphasis on examinees’ race, sex, gender identity, nationality and other identity-based characteristics. The idea seems to be that any differences in group outcomes must be eliminated—even if the only way to achieve this goal is to water down the test. On top of all that, an American Civil Liberties Union representative provided conference attendees with a lecture on criminal-justice reform in which he argued that states should minimize or overlook would-be lawyers’ convictions for various criminal offenses in deciding whether to admit them to the bar.

12. Of course, the obvious question presents itself: why bother changing the bar exam to allow more people to pass it if you can just get rid of it entirely? And that’s exactly what some states are doing. Just a few days ago, the State of Washington decided to no longer require lawyers to pass the bar exam. Why? It was hampering diversity.

The Bar Licensure Task Force found that the traditional exam “disproportionally and unnecessarily blocks” marginalized groups from becoming practicing attorneys and is “at best minimally effective” for ensuring competency.

13. The Washington State decision follows in the footsteps of Oregon, which stopped requiring the bar exam last year.

14. Taking the bar happens at the end of a law student’s journey. What about at the beginning, when they are taking the LSAT? No worries, diversity initiatives are lowering the bar there too! The American Bar Association voted in 2022 to stop requiring the LSAT for admission to law school. Why?

“In the grand scheme of things, folks of color perform less well on the LSAT than not, and for that reason, I think we are headed in the right direction,” Leo Martinez, an ABA council member and dean emeritus at University of California, Hastings College of the Law, said at the meeting.

15. In related legal arenas, Delaware chose to improve the diversity of its legal community by instituting a few changes of its own. Some of the changes, “which ultimately aim to also increase the number of Black and Latino judges”, include lowering the passing grade, halving the number of essays, and other competency requirements being relaxed.

16. Similar changes have happened in California, for the explicitly stated reason of increasing diversity:The California Supreme Court, which oversees the state bar, agreed to lower the passing score for the exam, a victory for law school deans who have long hoped the change would raise the number of Black and Latino people practicing law.

17. A 2015 NY Times headline: Study Cites Lower Standards in Law School Admissions. Why are they lowering standards? Answer: “…they need flexibility in selecting students to assure a diverse population of lawyers.”

18. Just like with med schools, law school acceptance rates are biased towards minorities. An analysis of admissions data data revealed that being from an under represented minority group (URM) boosted one’s chance of acceptance to a law school quite dramatically:

Almost every school we cover shows an increased chance of admission to URM applicants, with higher boosts for higher-tiered schools….As you can see in Table 1a, law schools typically give a 7% boost to URM applicants. In other words, a URM applicant who is exactly equal to a non-URM candidate, including all other factors we control for, is 7% more likely to be admitted to any law school than a non-URM equivalent. This number is a whopping 498% in the Top 14, 126% in the Top 25, and 52% in the Top 50 law schools.

Just as is happening in the legal and medical arenas, the practice of increasing minority numbers by eliminating entrance exams that ensure professional competency is happening in other professions too. Some examples of that:

19. In Washington, DC, officials considered getting rid of their social work exam over concerns that it failed too many people of color.

20. A required test for math teacher certification in Ontario showed significant racial disparities in the success rates of those taking it. As a result of the disparity a court ruled it unconstitutional and teachers were no longer required to take it. (The ruling has since been overturned.)

21. A similar case occurred in NY whereby prospective teachers had to take an Academic Literacy Skills Test. But because disproportionate numbers of black and Hispanic applicants failed it, the test was eliminated.

22. In a similar lawsuit, NYC had to pay out $1.8 billion to former teachers who failed a certification test. Why? The test was deemed racially biased since a disproportionate number of the failures came from minority teachers.

23. In 2015 the FDNY was pressured to modify its certification requirements to increase gender diversity, and for the first time ever passed a woman who failed a physical test that until then all fire-fighter applicants needed to pass.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told a City Council hearing on the FDNY’s efforts to recruit women that he had changed FST requirements to lower obstacles.

24. A few months ago, a fascinating article appeared on this very platform exposing how the FAA deliberately lowered the testing requirements of flight controllers for the express purpose of increasing diversity. The consequences for the industry were, unsurprisingly, appalling:

A report on FAA hiring issues found that 70% of CTI administrators agreed that the changes in the process had led to a negative effect on the air traffic control infrastructure. One respondent stated their "numbers [had] been devastated," and the majority agreed that it would severely impact the health of their own programs.

25. Of course, a well-known area where standards have been lowered in the pursuit of DEI is in how colleges have stopped requiring applicants to have taken the SAT. I can’t begin to list all the colleges that have dropped the SAT entrance requirements in the name of equity (although many hid the decision behind the excuse of Covid), but according to this list, it’s over a thousand schools. A few prominent names that instituted the policy are Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, UCLA, and SUNY. (However, in recent months, a few of those institutions have reversed the policy and now require it again.)

26. Among all the many cases where destructive DEI policies are being implemented, possibly the most disturbing arena of all is when actually talented and capable students are purposefully denied opportunities that can help them excel. An example of this in action is the numerous school districts that have chosen to remove “Gifted and Honors” classes for the stated reason of increasing equity. Some examples:

Culver City, CA:

Troy, MI

Barrington, RI

New York and this too

Seattle, WA

Vancouver, Canada

27. If they’re not eliminating the Honors programs entirely, many schools are simply dropping the entrance requirements so that they are open to anyone, thereby diluting their very purpose. Some places this has already happened:

San Francisco

Boston, MA

Montgomery County, MD

New York City

Fairfax, VA

The result of these admission changes? Massive increases in students failing. For example:

…at the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, just 50% of seventh graders met or exceeded expectations in math, down from 85% as recently as 2019. Nor was the Boston Latin School, the crown jewel of the system, immune: Just 70% of seventh graders either met or exceeded expectations in math, down from 94% three years ago.

28. Even the military is affected by demands to lower standards to increase diversity (albeit gender diversity, not racial). The Army actually removed a physical test because not enough women were passing it:

On Monday, the Army ended its requirement that soldiers do at least one leg tuck — where they hang from a bar and pull their knees up near their shoulders — as part of the new physical fitness test, as it became clear that many troops, particularly women, were unable to do it.

29. Speaking of gender diversity, Oxford University decided that because not enough women were passing their math and computer science examinations, they would add more time to the exam to help them. (Apparently, it didn’t even help.)

30. Oxford also decided to let a History test be taken at home in order to increase the number of women passing.

31. And because too many men were getting top grades in a classics course over the women, Oxford also decided they had to overhaul the entire course in order to bridge the gender gap.

32. Across the globe in Australia, the University of Technology Sydney chose to boost their gender diversity by allowing female students to enter its engineering and construction courses with lower grades than the males.

33. Back in 2016, a doctoral student at the University of North Dakota actually published a paper suggesting that STEM courses be made more inclusive of women by making then “less competitive,” so maybe that’s where the above universities got their inspiration from?

34. The lowering of educational standards for the sake of diversity is happening in arts education too. Consider how auditions were scrapped at a Brooklyn performing arts school in favor of a lottery. Why? Diversity!

The Department of Education says standards like auditions — or test scores and grades at other schools — block access for underprivileged kids, and the new policy will diversify student bodies across the district.

The above examples are just a sampling of the many instances of the pernicious trend of DEI deliberately compromising the standards of performance to advance its agenda. Public figures and pundits like Don Lemon need to stop repeating this lie that there is no downside to promoting these policies. On the contrary, it’s imperative that everyone recognize how these Harrison Bergeron-like policies directly lead to a deterioration of our educational outcomes, an undermining of our scientific, technological and medical progress, a diminishing of our professional competencies, and a fraying of our societal cohesion.

It’s time for DEI to DIE.

==

Don 🍋 is astonishingly dumb.

#Elon Musk #Don Lemon #DEI #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #DEI must die

[volterran-wine]

Hello! I have an interesting idea for a request. So a while back I saw a what if on Reddit about the Volturi kings being interested in possibly making hybrid children like Renesme. I know the kings have their mates, but what if they brought a human to breed lfor the sole purpose of just making a hybrid and then they fall in love with them and she becomes their mate. Could you please write something like this, or similar. Maybe a little nsfw too 👀 If not no worries :D

• — 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢 & 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐬

Before I reply to anything in this question I will write up a couple of links to understand how I understand vampires and humans to be like in relation to one another ( 1 ) - ( 2 ) - ( 3 )

First I will have to establish one thing; I do not buy that The Volturi does not know about hybrids. This coven is the home to some of the oldest vampires in existence, and if that was not enough; they also have ties to what is most likely the oldest vampire in existence, Amun. There is no way they did not know about hybrids prior to the Renesmee Debacle.

Another thing I would like to point out, is that according to my worldbuilding and how I write these characters — having a relationship with a human is considered weird and unnatural. Especially sleeping with humans are considered inconceivable, there is a reason why they find Bella and Edwards relationship to be weird. So the kings sleeping with a random human woman of child bearing age would just not be possible within my verse and how I write.

Something that is often looked over is the fact that a hybrid pregnancy is exceptionally dangerous for the human mother, from the little details we get from canon — it is nightmare fuel. The only reason that Bella survived her pregnancy is the fact that she had Carlisle Cullen there to make sure she did not die. Most women through the ages who have been unfortunate enough to carry hybrids have not shared the same fate.

The Volturi would never be able to host a human in Volterra for this purpose, the chances of them dying is exceptional. Also, no vampire with their head on straight would impregnate a human they thought to be their mate; it goes against every instinct to protect and take care of them.

And another note; Sulpicia and Athenodora would never in a thousand years be alright with this sort of thing. Athenodora especially would most likely murder Caius for such. Marcus I also firmly believe will never take another mate after Didyme, let alone father a hybrid child.

If The Volturi truly wanted to recruit or learn more about hybrids, they would most likely seek out one that already lives and convince them of their cause, using humans as breeding stock is base in the eyes of Aro, Caius and Marcus Dei Volturi.

I would also like to remind everyone who requests something from me, if you want something NSFW related it must be off Anon. If you are not comfortable with that you can come into my DM's and I will keep your identity secret if I post.

#Volturi Questionnaire #Vampire Anatomy #Vampire Society #Vampire Legalities

[saiyanqueenreads]

Hunter-Centric Fanfic Recommendation List for The Owl House: Fics starting with A

***Please observe any tags/warnings on each work before reading, as some stories may deal with triggering topics and situations***

The list will be updated periodically as I find great new stuff.

a bad taste in my mouth by Dragon_Scales_and_Fairy_Tales a basis on bloodshed by jesepi a bond of creation by rnelody a calming notion by zenscrypt A Broken Body and a Broken Heart by Polyhexian A Comprehensive Guide to Successfully Integrating Your Rescue Child, by Camila Noceda, D.V.M. by stars_and_ink A Comparative Study in Redemption Arcs by theprincessofdenial A Fun Fact About Apples by melikebeez A Grim Palisman by syzygy_lune A Half Truth is a Whole Lie by Idiotic_introvert A Heart Full of Love, A Head Full of Flowers by CassiePoppy45 A Hopeful Gesture by egyptcraze A Little Bit Better (OR: tohsiblingsweek Day 1: Healing) by PancakesAndPessimism A Little Kindness by Drabbles_Of_Writing A Little Water by ObabScribbler A Love That Only Gave and Gave by Marinara_Trench a monster's here (are you still in there?) by honeyblock A Place to Belong by justsummr A Potter's Field by theprincessofdenial A Price to Pay Later by Polyhexian A Quiet Mind by orphan_account  A rotten apple spoils the bunch by Polyhexian A Shared Night by JustWanderingSpace A Ship in the Harbour Stays Safe by Polyhexian A Stone Flower Blooming by Polyhexian a thrum and a flutter by mizee A very bad Mourning by Nadika   A World Where I Can Take Flight by fairytalesandfolklore

Again and Again by GracefulSouffle agnus dei by rusted_icicles agony without you by kiixi All Better Now by justsummr All Roads Lead to Home by Kess_writes_i_guess All The Warning Signs by justsummr All Work No Play by deviantjoy all your ribs are still your own by LogicalBookThief All's Well That Ends Well by shortprince_writes Alternate Apocalypse by ObabScribbler Alternative Powersource by MetaTheTrifox An Impossible Choice by ObabScribbler and i will die in the house that i grew up in by loreforthestars And I'm Falling For You by BetterBusinessBears   and make a mercy out of me by Thetiredperson And Sore Must Be the Storm by azhdarchidaen And when your sorrow is comforted, you will be content that you have known me by 3584tropicalfish and your eyes are covered in scars, and my head's filling with tar by aromantic_academics Anger that Ignites the Spark by KoriEmp Ashes to Ashes by Sarcastic_Metaphor At Least We're Here Together by Crazy_Catholic_Fangirl At the Edge of This Existence by kolapon

Fics Starting With: A / B, C, D / E, F, G / H, I / J, K, L / M, N, O, P / Q, R, S / T, U, V / W, X, Y, Z

#hunter fic masterlist #owl house fanfiction #the owl house #owl house #fanfic #hunter #toh

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Thank you New York :: Protesting the Opus Dei court 6:24:2022

* * * * *

Right To Life By Marge Piercy A woman is not a basket you place your buns in to keep them warm. Not a brood hen you can slip duck eggs under. Not the purse holding the coins of your descendants till you spend them in wars. Not a bank where your genes gather interest and interesting mutations in the tainted rain, any more than you are. You plant corn and you harvest it to eat or sell. You put the lamb in the pasture to fatten and haul it in to butcher for chops. You slice the mountain in two for a road and gouge the high plains for coal and the waters run muddy for miles and years. Fish die but you do not call them yours unless you wished to eat them. Now you legislate mineral rights in a woman. You lay claim to her pastures for grazing, fields for growing babies like iceberg lettuce. You value children so dearly that none ever go hungry, none weep with no one to tend them when mothers work, none lack fresh fruit, none chew lead or cough to death and your orphanages are empty. Every noon the best restaurants serve poor children steaks. At this moment at nine o’clock a partera is performing a table top abortion on an unwed mother in Texas who can’t get Medicaid any longer. In five days she will die of tetanus and her little daughter will cry and be taken away. Next door a husband and wife are sticking pins in the son they did not want. They will explain for hours how wicked he is, how he wants discipline. We are all born of woman, in the rose of the womb we suckled our mother’s blood and every baby born has a right to love like a seedling to sun. Every baby born unloved, unwanted, is a bill that will come due in twenty years with interest, an anger that must find a target, a pain that will beget pain. A decade downstream a child screams, a woman falls, a synagogue is torched, a firing squad is summoned, a button is pushed and the world burns. I will choose what enters me, what becomes of my flesh. Without choice, no politics, no ethics lives. I am not your cornfield, not your uranium mine, not your calf for fattening, not your cow for milking. You may not use me as your factory. Priests and legislators do not hold shares in my womb or my mind. This is my body. If I give it to you I want it back. My life is a non-negotiable demand.

#Opus Dei Court #New York #Protest #resist #Corrupt SCOTUS #reproductive rights #poetry #poem #Marge Piercy