#Polarised State

[bumblee-stumblee]

NHS England to stop prescribing puberty blockers

10 hours ago

By Josh Parry,

LGBT & Identity Producer

Children will no longer routinely be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics, NHS England has confirmed.

The decision comes after a review found there was "not enough evidence" they are safe or effective.

Puberty blockers, which pause the physical changes of puberty, will now only be available as part of research.

It comes weeks before an independent review into gender identity services in England is due to be published.

An interim report from the review, published in 2022 by Dr Hilary Cass, had earlier found there were "gaps in evidence" around the drugs and called for a transformation in the model of care for children with gender-related distress.

Dr Cass's review follows a sharp rise in referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which saw an increase from 250 per year to over 5,000 in 2022.

Puberty supressing hormones - more commonly known as puberty blockers - work by suppressing the release of hormones that cause puberty and are often prescribed to children questioning their gender as a way of stopping physical changes such as breast development or facial hair.

Fewer than 100 young people in England are currently prescribed puberty blockers by the NHS. They will all able to continue their treatment.

NHS England held a public consultation on their usage and last year introduced an interim policy which stated they should only be given as part of research trials or in "exceptional circumstances".

The BBC understands that the new policy, confirmed on Tuesday, will not allow them to be prescribed "routinely" outside of a research trial, but that individual clinicians can still apply to have the drugs funded for patients on a case-by-case basis.

Gids is due to close at the end of March. Two new NHS services due in London and Liverpool are set to open at the beginning of April, followed by a number of regional specialist centres over the next two years.

Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: "We have always been clear that children's safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS.

"Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child."

The consultation on the future of gender services received more than 4,000 responses, including 10% from trans adults and 5% from clinicians.

John Stewart, national director of specialised commissioning at NHS England, said: "Given that the debate is often very polarised, so too were the responses to the consultation.

"Many people said the policy didn't go far enough in terms of still allowing potential access [to puberty blockers] through research, and others saying clearly they disagreed fundamentally and that these should be routinely available to everyone who believes they need it."

The BBC understands NHS England aims to begin its study into the use of puberty blockers by December 2024, and is yet to decide who can take part

---

Oh hey, will you look at that.

#radblr #radfem #radfems #feminist #feminism #radfems please interact #gender critical #radical feminist

[writers-potion]

What are some good ways to hint at a character identifying with they/them pronouns but without straight up saying they're non-binary.

Introducing Non-binary Characters

Reference them from the beginning using they/them pronouns would be enough to affirm that the character is non-binary without explicitly stating

You can hint at a character being non-binary by showing how they react awkwardly when they're refered to as him/he/her/she.

If another character is introducing the non-binary character, you can have them use they/them.

If their identity is a huge struggle in their life, them do some research on different things they people do. For instance, AFAB trans and non binary folks often ‘bind’, or wear a sports bra like clothing article to press their breasts against their chest to appear more flat-chested. This can naturally hint at their identity, which can be defined more clearly later.

Show how they find extremely polarised social conventions (male culture and female culture) forced on them feeling alien and/or annoying — unable to (fully) relate. Although, try to avoid pathologising, overblowing, and overemphasising this — it’s just a simple, matter-of-fact feeling of not belonging, not being able to relate past a certain point, like if you were in a different culture to your own.

#writers block #writing #writers and poets #creative writing #writers on tumblr #creative writers #helping writers #poets and writers #resources for writers #writeblr #let's write #write every day #write it #write anything #author #write up #write that down #writers #writerscommunity #writing practice #writing prompt #writing inspiration #writing advice #on writing #writing tips #writing community #writer #writers life #writers community #writers of tumblr

[tidesreach]

jiang cheng did not kill wei wuxian. like that is a pretty significant thing that did not happen but for some reason people keep stating as fact. and also quite significantly the reason he did not kill him is because he loves him.

jiang cheng's hatred towards wei wuxian is a defense mechanism born from his trauma and anger and fear of abandonment. his hatred is a construct designed to minimise emotional pain. his hatred only exists because it's trying to cancel out the love in order to protect him from rejection and abandonment and the extreme emotional pain that comes with them. there's actually a psychological term for this coping mechanism: it's called splitting. it's a distorted way of thinking that is black and white in nature and often caused by trauma. it means you are unable to hold opposing thoughts and feelings and you see people as either all good or all bad. jiang cheng is incapable of seeing any grey area so he does a very extreme swing from love to hate because he simply cannot process the complexity of his own polarising emotions. he cannot reconcile his love for wei wuxian with the pain wei wuxian has (unintentionally) caused him. he does all of this unconsciously too because splitting is not a conscious decision you make. he does not even realise it's happening.

for years it keeps all those messy and complex and painful feelings jiang cheng has for wei wuxian at bay. splitting is inherently self-destructive but it is considered a coping mechanism for a reason. for a long time it's the only thing that allows jiang cheng to keep going. it isn't until guanyin temple that all those complex emotions that the hastily put together hatred has been trying so hard to cover up come spilling out and jiang cheng starts to acknowledge them. the love and the loss and those gutwrenching feelings of abandonment and rejection and not being good enough. and he says desperately "shouldn't i hate you? can't i hate you?" because he wants so very much to hate him but he's now realising that he never has. because the hate was always just a mask for love and all its painful and contradictory complexities. the fact that acknowledging all of those feelings has him emotionally ruined and sobbing on the temple floor is exactly why the splitting happened in the first place. this is the pain and loss that he was unconsciously trying to protect himself from.

#i could write an essay #jiang cheng #once again the tag irked me #jc #cql #mdzs #yunmeng bros

[probablyasocialecologist]

Hamas appears to have three goals corresponding to the short, medium and long term. In the short term, Hamas appears to have taken over 150 Israelis captive, and reports suggest around three quarters of those are military or security personnel. These hostages, Hamas hopes, will act as a shield against Israeli counterattacks and a bargaining chip to be traded for some of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and in the ongoing neverending negotiations over the blockade on Gaza. In the medium term Hamas hopes to intervene politically in Israel, both domestically and within its surrounding network of relations with Arab states. Netanyahu’s bluster has correctly been judged to be lying on shaky foundations – his civil power grab has deeply polarised Zionist opinion both within Israel and internationally, and his alliance with far right provocateurs has not been universally welcomed. In fact that alliance may well become untenable now that Israel has suffered serious military losses while its troops were off chaperoning a bunch of fascist goons. There are echoes here of the 2006 attack on Lebanon when Israel found to its cost that soldiers accustomed to brutalising teenagers in the West Bank were less impressive when up against a rooted, disciplined and equipped resistance militia. Moreover, part of Netanyahu’s domestic political appeal within Israel is the promise of the so-called Abraham Accords, treaties normalising diplomatic and trade relations with the Israeli state signed so far by UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – but not, as yet, Saudi Arabia. This process had already been overshadowed by China’s surprise intervention earlier this year in brokering a treaty between Saudi and Iran to end the war in Yemen. And the reactions of the Gulf states have been noticeably cooler towards Israel than one might have expected. These peace treaties, for what they are worth, now seem dead in the water. But it’s the third long-term goal of Hamas’s intervention that is the most important. The ongoing and seemingly neverending humiliation of the Palestinians at the hands of Israel has been responded to. Hamas statements at the outset of the conflict, relayed on Al-Jazeera English (which has been invaluable – no wonder Israeli snipers murdered Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year), emphasised that this was a general call for Palestinian resistance, and invited other groups and factions to join. This echoes Hamas’s earlier, much smaller, rocket attack on Israel in May 2021, which came in response to Israeli police outrages at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. As with this time, Israel was caught off guard when Hamas retaliated: its assumption had been that al-Aqsa was not in Gaza, therefore Hamas would not strike back. What we saw that year, flickering briefly, was a three-pronged Palestinian resistance movement comprising Hamas in Gaza (which has an overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population), assorted militant groups in the West Bank, as well as Palestinians within Israel’s borders itself, who organised and delivered a one-day general strike. These glimmers of a new Palestinian resistance movement come as the old order, represented by Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas are despised, discredited and in their senescence. They have at best proved impotent at protecting Palestinians in the West Bank and at worst actively collaborated with the Israeli occupation. A new Palestinian resistance movement will need a new leadership, and Hamas are positioning themselves at the head of that.

#israel #palestine #gaza #west bank #hamas

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I think your analysis of the current BRF situation is SPOT ON.

However, as a Brit, I would like to add one further caveat. Whether the Sussexes become working royals is not down to the Sussexes, Charles, the Palace or anyone. It is down to the British public. The ENTIRE job of the British royal family is to bring a sprinkle of royal fairy dust and magic to an event or cause in a neutral, apolitical way that everyone can support. Be it the Duke of Gloucester popping into a local school initiative which is subsequently then reported in the local paper, or a glittering State banquet with many royals and tiaras garnering international headlines, that is what they do. In addition, a very few royals (currently William and Catherine, Charles and Camilla) have enough star power and magic (some combination of their titles and personal charisma - William has enough of both that he can bring people together on a global basis) that they can bring people together and CREATE events and initiatives (Earthshot, the Prince's Trust, the Early Years work, Queen Camilla's Lit Fest etc. etc.) but still it is the event, cause or initiative that is the important thing. Harry used to be in the latter camp, with his involvement and name being vital to creating things like Invictus or Sentebale but he has now thrown most of that goodwill away. Meghan has NEVER understood that she was supposed to be casting a spotlight on others, instead of making things all about her own celebrity (as is happening now with Invictus). Together they have created a Sussex brand that is so damaged and polarising that, rightly or wrongly, they would only bring negative publicity to whatever cause or event they were sent to support and people wouldn't want them there. The royal job only works if most people involved agree that royal attendance is a plus. These two have pissed off at least 75% of the British public. There is no way they can do the job, even if H&M, Charles, William and the Govt wanted them to, until their support is round 40-50% at least. That's why these polls happen. Yes, maybe they could embark on a long term rehabilitation process as has happened with Camilla and to a lesser extent the Edinburghs, but as you rightly point out, they a) don't have the patience b) would hate doing all the boring, small, bread & butter events that would entail c) are not getting any younger or more glamorous d) are being rapidly overtaken by the immense star power of the Wales kids. In fifteen years who would you rather attends your event? Bald Uncle Harry and his ageing sex kitten wife? Or young, beautiful Charlotte, Princess Royal?

Yep. It's the one thing universally understood: people in positions of power are only there by popular support. Doesn't matter whether it's soft power (eg celebrities, royal families, influencers, athletes) or hard power (eg governments, corporations, media).

There are also two ways to get popular support: by public consent (eg votes, likes, follower counts) or by leadership force (eg invasion, coups, control).

It looks like Harry and Meghan understand this, but they actually don't. They see Charles and William blocking their ascent to power via consent of the public, which leaves them no choice but to force their way to the top. It's is exactly what they've done: they're controlling press and media coverage (tell-alls about the horrors of the royal family while making sure there's only positive coverage of them), they've established a rival court, and they're securing allies (WME, Tyler Perry, Jamaica, veterans). All the signs are there: the Sussexes are launching a hostile takeover of the royal family. But where they keep fucking up is by not accounting for the British public.

They think if they just get rid of Charles and William, the public will love them. That's why all previous attempts of hostile takeovers (Oprah, Netflix, Spare) have failed; they don't realize that the British public is completely separate from the royal family.

Which is ironic because that's literally the lesson from Diana - the British public will support the people they like irrespective of what the royal family/monarchy tells them to do.

#ask #brf

[sanctus-ingenium]

What are some of the other countries in the alt-history your Inver stories are set in? Is Armorica roughly where modern day Brittany would be? :0

Because our concept of countries is very modern & constructed it's not quite that Armorica or Hibernia were Countries as we might understand them. They were mostly made up of smaller fractured kingdoms and cultures which were always fighting one another. Armorica was a region which was roughly here (map and history ramble under the cut SORRY i basically didn't answer your question i got carried away)

(this map is from the 1860s! not Finbarr's time.. I still need to make a map of that)

but it was never a country, just a region alternatively ascribed to Inver or Aquitan. It fell on the northern side of the Inver border with Aquitan whenever it was established but the border was put there rather arbitrarily and cut across the region without consideration for the people who lived there.

So there IS in fact a whole other history which doesn't even concern Inver at all. There is a small city-state on the southern coast of Aquitan called Suzette, which was founded by the pseudo-Catholics of this world and used as their main base of operations. It's basically just the Vatican, but an early actually-Catholic historical figure called (Saint) Alexandre led a schism with the church and was successful. The schism dealt with the legality of using magic to advance the church's position, Alexandre argued that it was a moral imperative to preserve the ability to use magic within the ranks of their holy knights. Alexandre became a very polarising figure but his most famous follower was military leader called Renzo who, in the renaissance period, basically upturned and reshaped the entirety of the Mediterranean region.

At the time, Aquitan was a kingdom with an absolute monarchy and the same werewolf-based religion as the nobility of Inver (the winners of Finbarr's war were the Aquitanian werewolves and it became the dominant religion in Inver as well). Renzo led a religious crusade against the monarchy of Aquitan, to wipe out all that pagan werewolf stuff. He blindsided the queen of Aquitan, who had been running her own campaign of expansion against the king of Notte [placeholder name], on the far-western coastline of Iberia. When Renzo began winning substantial victories in the southern countryside of Aquitan, the queen immediately turned around and ""allied"" with the king of Notte, by mounting an invasion against the city of Notte and forcing him to surrender and play nice. She sent him off on an enforced holiday under house arrest, aware that her play relied on not martyring this king while she ruled his country in all but name. With the combined might of these two kingdoms she was certain she could crush Renzo, and this began a decades-long war.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the king of Notte was killed by bandits who didn't even know who he was, before he ever reached his holiday home. The nondescript carriage was ambushed and there were no survivors. The queen, in a panic, chose not to publicise his death.

Well guess what Renzo was doing with his holy knights' blood magic. With each victory his army grew, because he raised the dead to serve him. Resurrection and immortality were key themes of Saint Alexandre's teachings and although Renzo's war crimes would result in his own religion banning the practice of this type of magic, it was kind of a-ok back then (the Church of Suzette would later go on to be pioneers of medical innovations such as antibiotics, germ theory, and safe anaesthesia). And you'll never guess whose dead body Renzo's knights found one day, dumped on the side of the road. Renzo alone recognised what had just come into his possession, and he formulated a counter-play against the queen by using the dead king as his own pawn. Using the king, he got the entire Iberian peninsula to turn on the Aquitanian monarchy, so instead of it being 2-on-1 against Renzo, it was suddenly the queen who was dangerously outnumbered and deeply unpopular.

The monarchy of Aquitan was finally defeated by its own people sixty years after the war began, and a theocracy based on the teachings of Saint Alexandre was founded there, along with the city-state of Suzette. The final execution of the monarchists had severe ripple-effects that reached Inver, which had been pretty insulated from the war by virtue of being a kinda pointless place to invade and housing a population of faeries outnumbering humans 10 to 1. The monarchy of Inver took pride in its links to the Aquitanian nobility and now that was gone. The result was a death spiral for the Kingdom of Inver, as the werewolf monarchists, fearing their imminent extinction, began to fight one another to grab as much power and wealth as possible before the Suzettes reached them, too. They banned the church at the border, only allowing the harmless priests of Suzette's poor Austerity sect to build their hospitals, though they were forbidden from holding religious services and actively converting the public, you have to willingly join.

The final Hibernian families who bought into the monarchy of Inver included the descendants of Finbarr, who had largely betrayed everything he would have stood for by assimilating into their enemies' ranks. And, as anyone might have predicted, their assimilation did not protect them when the nobles of Inver chose to prune their own ranks to concentrate power. One of these families was the noble and now extinct Mercier family, the family of one of our protagonists of Said the Black Horse (bowman lol). The other two protagonists are a second-gen immigrant Hibernian and a war orphan originally from Notte.

#setting: inver #oh god. hey. do you want to learn some fantasy history #it's not even spoilers. it's just bg info #there's more... so much more....

[collegetennisoriginstory]

kind of cringe (and by cringe i mean transphobic and antisemitic) to be talking about harry potter when rowling is a well known transphobe and antisemite and trans and jewish people have been saying for a year+ now to stop talking about this series and this author, giving them a platform and keeping them relevant and in the public conscious. i really really like this game and enjoy your writing, but if you cant do the bare minimum of allyship for your trans and jewish readers then i wont be able to keep supporting this game. very disappointing, i hope you can grow and do better

First up, I think you make a very important point in needing to caveat that we disagree with an author's stances/views (I absolutely do not condone Rowling as a person nor her transphobic / antisemitic stances) especially because NOT doing so would, as you say, continue to keep their books in the public consciousness. I've added this caveat to the original post :)

My bottom line is still: I stand with trans people, and Jewish people, and I cannot abide by the things Rowling has said and done and I fully see those deeds and words as an attack on people I care about. I think, like you said, it's important in this climate to reiterate this strongly, and unequivocally. There's no nuance needed here.

However, I think discussion of the author's work ALONGSIDE discussion of the author's transphobic / antisemitic comments can sometimes be more fruitful than simply erasing all traces of this person's existence, because discussion is (to me) always more constructive than erasure.

In other words, I believe documenting / sharing reasons for one's censure is almost as important as the act of cancelling / not supporting the author (because ultimately, statements like "I do not support Rowling's stance on xxx because xxx" will spark important changes to societal attitudes far more than simple silence will—as the latter will simply be an absence rather than a presence of careful, measured discourse.

I have always engaged with both the asks/messages I agree with and disagree with, and I have always been honest and unflinching in my replies. I understand that you might have a different view ("all talk about a work is bad/too much talk", for instance), but I think there is room for us to respectfully disagree on that.

I will continue to engage where I have the energy and time to do so, because I believe these conversations are the only way we can prevent society from becoming echo chambers / isolated, polarised camps. Censorship (including self-censorship with the intention to withdraw support from something) to me is far more nefarious than robust disagreement/dissent (in the vein of George Orwell's 1984 and Swyngedouw's argument that the absence of disagreement is the state of "post-democracy", where everything is always already decided.)

P.S. I think discussion of an author's shitty stances, and reiteration of allyship has to be done alongside cutting off all material / financial support for said author. I'm more than down with the latter. I am fully in the camp of not watching/reading/buying the books and movies, but I do believe continued discussion of the work and the author's stances go hand-in-hand with this.

Cheers!

#college tennis: origin story #ct:os #interactive fiction #if

[talisidekick]

I saw a post of someone, as far as I could tell they were transgender, getting mad how people are letting the current tumblr fiasco (see any post tagging predesterone, avewy, or predestrogen. TL;DR trans girl got banned off the site for making a 'threat' to Tumblrs CEO while suffering a months long harassment, bigotry, and stalking campaigne without Tumblr lifting a finger to help. Tumblr responded with a ban citing reasons already disproven by their own process.) distract everyone from the current situation in Gaza, which is a coming mass assault. And I do get the frustration. But lets put both in perspective beginning with the 10 stages of genocide from

and

The Stages are as follows taken directly from the sources above:

"Classification – The differences between people are not respected. There’s a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which can be carried out using stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different.

Symbolisation – This is a visual manifestation of hatred. Jews in Nazi Europe were forced to wear yellow stars to show that they were ‘different’.

Discrimination – The dominant group denies civil rights or even citizenship to identified groups. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship, made it illegal for them to do many jobs or to marry German non-Jews.

Dehumanisation – Those perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human rights or personal dignity. During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Tutsis were referred to as ‘cockroaches’; the Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’.

Organisation – Genocides are always planned. Regimes of hatred often train those who go on to carry out the destruction of a people.

Polarisation – Propaganda begins to be spread by hate groups. The Nazis used the newspaper Der Stürmer to spread and incite messages of hate about Jewish people.

Preparation – Perpetrators plan the genocide. They often use euphemisms such as the Nazis’ phrase ‘The Final Solution’ to cloak their intentions. They create fear of the victim group, building up armies and weapons.

Persecution – Victims are identified because of their ethnicity or religion and death lists are drawn up. People are sometimes segregated into ghettos, deported or starved and property is often expropriated. Genocidal massacres begin.

Extermination – The hate group murders their identified victims in a deliberate and systematic campaign of violence. Millions of lives have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition through genocide.

Denial – The perpetrators or later generations deny the existence of any crime."

Now, these ten stages don't need to be done in order, and all ten aren't required to classify a genocide. If you have all 10 present, you failed to stop it and it's either happening or over. Just ONE stage present is enough to claim it's genocide. Not all genocides are bloody, they can be quiet, slow, and unnoticeable to those not the targets of it.

In Palestine, you have all 10. It's happening. No one listened, no one cared, and now innocent blood is spilled that was 100% preventable. And we, the world, get to watch that failing in action. We're seeing a bloody genocide. A violent one.

With transgender people in many places in the world, the stages present are: Classification, Symbolization, Discrimination, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, and Preparation. Seven, out of ten. 7/10. 70% of the way there to "too late".

So why is the predesterone/predstogen/Avewy/Rita situation important? The US, where Tumblr makes it's office. Avewy is transgender. The US is solidifying the Discrimination stage, and depending on who's elected next, even sanctuary states could feel the full pressure of the federal government. Please note, it's bad enough in the states that certain ones are offering sanctuary from others. Avewy isn't a US citizen, yet despite reporting discrimination, has so far had her reports denied and been removed from the site. So have many other enbies, trans men, and trans women.

Now Tumblr isn't a government institution, however, genocide is as much a government act as it is a social one. And private institutions, companies, corporations, and people make it happen. So getting mad saying something to the effect of "Palestinians are dying and this Avewy issue is distracting from meaningful actions being taken to prevent this nex upcoming mass assault" is aiding in allowing the same thing to happen to another minority by paving the path up to the genocide stage of Denial. How do you think the Palestinian genocide came to be? People kept saying their issues weren't important enough, and denied that there was a problem. The ongoing genocide NEEDS TO BE STOPPED but not at the cost of allowing another genocide to continue to take place.

And if you haven't figured it out, this is why anti-discrimination laws exist. Any sign of inequality in a society, whether thats based on race, creed, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex, disability, etc. is the starting sign of a possible genocide. This is why equality is so important. This is why Pride exists, this is why the racial equality movement is important, this is why people get on stage in protest and show up to rallies. Failure to uphold equality leads to erasure, and often to blood spilled. If you don't like that 70% of transgender people of all ages are at risk of suicide when not supported, or the higher rate of systemic violence towards people of colour and other minorities, then learn to recognize discrimination and speak up. Because failure to do so puts lives on the line, and we're all in this world together.

Free Palestine, Trans Rights Are Human Rights, Black Lives Matter, Stop the Genocide. All these statements can, should, and need to coexist on the same world stage. When ones in crisis, show up, because it only cascades and gets worse.

None of us are free unless all of us are.

#palestine #free palestine #stop the genocide #transgender #trans #trans rights are human rights #avewy #predestrogen #predesterone #talisidekick #talisidekick things #2slgbtqia+ #lgbtqia+ #lgbtq+ #lgbt+

[zvaigzdelasas]

[BBC is UK State Media]

Pakistan's powerful army chief has urged the country to leave "anarchy and polarisation" behind as two ex-prime ministers declared victory in an election that has defied expectations.

With most results in, independent candidates linked to jailed former PM Imran Khan have won most seats.

But Nawaz Sharif, another ex-PM widely seen as having the army's backing, has urged others to join him in coalition.

Officials have also rejected Western criticism of how the election was run.[...]

Mr Khan released an AI-generated video message rejecting his rival's claim and calling on supporters to celebrate. He has been jailed on charges of leaking state secrets, corruption and an unlawful marriage and his PTI party was banned from taking part in the polls.

About 100 of the winning candidates are independents and all but eight of them are backed by the PTI, the non-profit Free and Fair Election Network said.

On Saturday PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan said the party would try to form a government and would start protesting on Sunday if complete election results had not been released by then.

Mr Sharif's PML-N party won 73 seats and he acknowledged that he did not have the numbers to form a government alone, but insisted he could remove the country from difficult times at the head of a coalition.

The PPP of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated PM Benazir Bhutto, got 54 seats and the rest - the largest number of seats - were won by smaller parties and independents.

10 Feb 24

#this election rly is wild #pti arguably wins despite being banned

[going-to-superhell]

I’m tired of people saying this is ‘just war’ and ‘not a genocide’ so I’m going to get technical with everyone.

First of all the definition of genocide, for those who can’t see the image it says, “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”

Right of the bat Israel by definition is committing genocide because this is deliberate if it wasn’t and they were only targeting Hamas then please tell me this, why have Israel bombed supply trucks when massive groups of Palestinians go their to get what they need, why does Israel have snipers targeting civilians, why is Israel killing journalists. Even if you can somehow find some way to think that Israel telling people to go to one safe area and then carpet bombing the place isn’t genocide then how can you explain everything else.

Now that we’ve been over the definition here is what the UN has to say.

Article II

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

a. Killing members of the group;

b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

The intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group. It is this special intent, or dolus specialis, that makes the crime of genocide so unique. In addition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan or policy, even if the definition of genocide in international law does not include that element.

Importantly, the victims of genocide are deliberately targeted - not randomly – because of their real or perceived membership of one of the four groups protected under the Convention (which excludes political groups, for example). This means that the target of destruction must be the group, as such, and not its members as individuals. Genocide can also be committed against only a part of the group, as long as that part is identifiable (including within a geographically limited area) and “substantial.”

Now let’s go over the 10 stages of genocide

The stages are:

1. Classification – The differences between people are not respected. There’s a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which can be carried out using stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different.

2. Symbolisation – This is a visual manifestation of hatred. Jews in Nazi Europe were forced to wear yellow stars to show that they were ‘different’.

3. Discrimination – The dominant group denies civil rights or even citizenship to identified groups. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship, made it illegal for them to do many jobs or to marry German non-Jews.

4. Dehumanisation – Those perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human rights or personal dignity. During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Tutsis were referred to as ‘cockroaches’; the Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’.

5. Organisation – Genocides are always planned. Regimes of hatred often train those who go on to carry out the destruction of a people.

6. Polarisation – Propaganda begins to be spread by hate groups. The Nazis used the newspaper Der Stürmer to spread and incite messages of hate about Jewish people.

7. Preparation – Perpetrators plan the genocide. They often use euphemisms such as the Nazis’ phrase ‘The Final Solution’ to cloak their intentions. They create fear of the victim group, building up armies and weapons.

8. Persecution – Victims are identified because of their ethnicity or religion and death lists are drawn up. People are sometimes segregated into ghettos, deported or starved and property is often expropriated. Genocidal massacres begin.

9. Extermination – The hate group murders their identified victims in a deliberate and systematic campaign of violence. Millions of lives have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition through genocide.

10. Denial – The perpetrators or later generations deny the existence of any crime.

Now let’s go over a-few of the steps which is only the tip of the iceberg:

Stage 1: Classification

Israel has put in place an us vs them during this genocide which goes over to stage 4 Dehumanisation. They don’t see Palestinians as people, they laugh at their suffering with one count of a woman dragged into a hole with an Israeli soldier where he forcibly took off her hijab and while she was crying shot his gun in the air told her he killed her husband and told her that he was going to bury her all while laughing. This isn’t a one off either.

Stage 4: Dehumanisation

As stated above with step 1

5. Organisation

Even if again you somehow excuse the carpet bombing of Rafah as not genocide then why was it planned to be on the same day as the Super Bowl, the same day were most people will have their eyes on one of the biggest sporting events. It’s simple it’s because everyone will have their eyes on the Super Bowl and not on them. Let’s go over more examples shall we? The bombing of supply trucks, specifically when their open and there are lots of Palestinians going there. This has happened twice. But wait there’s more because why else would they bomb hospitals if not to stop people from getting aid and we haven’t even started on Israel stopping food and other things from getting in, do you honestly think Israel originally let those supply trucks in? No, they had to be forced to let supply trucks in because they weren’t originally letting them.

Stage 7: Preparation

They are claiming they are doing this to stop Hamas but even if Hamas disbands Israel won’t stop

Steps 8-10: Persecution, Extermination and Denial

This is already happening in-front of our fucking eyes

Okay now let’s say you still think this is ‘just war’ okay let’s pretend that for a second and go over Israel’s war crimes

1. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.

Now for the list of Israel’s war crimes that I currently know of, this list may be expanded upon:

Wilful killing

Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health

Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly

Taking of hostages

Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities

Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives

Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict

Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated

Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives

Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives

Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment

Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions

Now for Israel’s crimes against humanity:

Murder

Extermination

Torture

Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law

Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health

#all eyes on rafah #gaza #free gaza #gaza strip #palestine #free palestine #from the river to the sea #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #gaza genocide #gazaunderattack #genocide #war crimes

[acerathia]

somebody's watching me || Masterlist

Summary:

Meeting him was your fate, your salvation, and you shall do everything to keep things this way.

Pairing:

Getou Suguru / Reader

Wordcount: 25.1k

Tags/CW:

no-curse au, Getou is still a cult-leader, cults, Getou's fake personality, dark content, Major Character Death, Paranoia, schizoid form of anxiety disorder, isolation, overthinking (in connection to the anxiety), some form of descent into madness, violence, stream of consciousness to show the mental state of reader, everything has meaning (dreams, colors, symbols etc.), warped look on reality, dissociation, blind trust, indoctrination, manipulation, mind-altering practices, polarisation of people/society, peer pressure, denial of reality, emotional abuse, body horror, drugs (implied), hallucinations,

Note:

Please be cautious reading this work, as it contains heavy themes, which might affect some people. Minors do not interact!! Ngl, this is one of the heavier works I've ever written, and I hope it still finds people who enjoy it!! This work is written differently than my other works, so it might be weird lol

Chapters:

Chapter 1: Suffocate Chapter 2: Collapse Chapter 3: Burn Chapter 4: Distrust Chapter 5: Bleed Chapter 6: Betray

#geto x reader #geto suguru x reader #getou x reader #getou suguru x reader #suguru x reader #suguru x you #geto x you #geto suguru x you #getou suguru x you #getou x you #jjk x reader #masterlist

[thatdebaterguy]

Poorly Informed

So throughout the existence of my blog I have yet to find a Palestine supporter present factually correct figures and evidence in any debates with me, and here's an example.

First one, blatant wrongful assumption. I'd have to be a psychopath to think 15,000 child deaths is ok. Secondly

Don't inflate the figure so much. Although yes, it's sad, 11,500 dead children as of the latest figures I can find, it's innocent unnecessary deaths, but who's hands are actually bloody because of this? I'd say the Hamas soldiers who assaulted Israel with no justification, kidnapped hundreds of civilians, including children btw, and hide amongst their civilian population. I can also say those who harbour the terrorists in their homes and put their families at risk are to blame for the deaths of their children, especially since Israel has warned of strikes on active civilian areas and asked them to evacuate.

I also don't support genocide, I just believe it isn't happening based on figures, evidence, historical references and the definition of genocide. An accurate description is an abnormally high upsetting figure of civilian casualties. Also are you saying that all Israeli supporters go to Starbucks when saying we'd drink their stuff? I've never had Starbucks in my life but that's funny.

The death toll released by Gaza officials states as of a week ago around 28,000, however they don't distinguish between military and civilian. The most advanced intelligence agencies in the world estimate between 5-9 thousand of those are Hamas fighters. Being against civilian deaths also doesn't make you pro Hamas, I'm against the civilian casualties because that's just morals, but if anything that makes me even more anti-Hamas since I hold them accountable for the vast majority of deaths. Also you can't just throw around terms like 'genocidal maniacs' to people who have analysed the situation in a different way to you, I don't go round calling you a terrorist because you support Palestine, who's government is a terrorist organisation, because I hope in my heart that when you support Palestine you're just against the civilian deaths, but blame Israel rather than Hamas. Even if we blame different governments, my hope is to agree the deaths are upsetting, since the polarisation over this crisis is insane, and we need some middle ground to agree on to retain a belief of morality in humans. Either way, please get the right facts and figures, and don't throw around numbers and terms like these peoples lives are a game, I've had an Israeli friend who lost family in the holocaust called a genocidal Jewish freak just for being Jewish, not even saying anything about Israel. Anyway, hopefully I start seeing less brainwashed ill-informed arguments on this site.

#israel #palestine #politics #gaza #current events

[infamouslydorky]

She sells seashells on a seashore. But the value of these shells will fall.

Due to the laws of supply and demand, no one wants to buy shells 'cause there's loads on the sand.

Step one, you must create a sense of scarcity. Shells will sell much better if the people think they're rare, you see.

Bear with me, take as many shells as you can find and hide 'em on an island stockpile 'em high until they're rarer than a diamond.

Step two, you gotta make the people think that they want 'em. Really want 'em, really fuckin' want 'em, hit 'em like Bronson.

Influencers, product placement, featured prime time entertainment. If you haven't got a shell then you're just a fucking wasteman

Three, it's monopoly, invest inside some property. Start a corporation, make a logo, do it properly.

"Shells must sell", that will be your new philosophy. Swallow all your morals, they're a poor man's quality

Four, expand, expand, expand. Clear forest, make land, fresh blood on hand

Five, why just shells? Why limit your self? She sells seashells, sell oil as well!

Six, guns, sell stocks, sell diamonds. Sell rocks, sell water to a fish, sell the time to a clock

Seven, press on the gas, take your foot off the brakes, run to be the president of the United States.

Eight, big smile mate, big wave that's great. Now the truth is overrated, tell lies out the gate

Nine, polarise the people, controversy is the game. It don't matter if they hate you if they all say your name

Ten, the world is yours. Step out on a stage to a round of applause

You're a liar, a cheat, a devil, a whore.

And you sell seashells on the seashore.

#ask the deerstalker medic #you did it. you broke capitalism without any checks or regulations on the free market down to its bare essentials

[lilflowerpot]

Considering how hard it is for the galra to have children, what would they consider a legitimate heir? Would the child have to have some of the ruling monarch’s blood, would they have to come from wedlock or could they be from a concubine. Also, would an adopted child be considered a legitimate heir???

I actually covered the bulk of this question when addressing eligibility for the Imperial throne so do give that a gander if you want the detailed answer, but I'll rehash the broad strokes for you as concisely as I can.

To begin with, yes, galra fertility is limited—due to a combination of their species being monestrous, meaning conception is only possible during a limited fertile season, and several complex genetic factors that leave foetal mortality rates at an approximate ratio of 1:3—but when it comes to inheriting the Imperial throne, it's actually not a strict matter of blood.

“In preparation for a change in imperial leadership, we require a viable candidate for the Kral Zera: someone with the right claim—it doesn’t have to be of blood, though that would help—without being too polarising. - Kolivan, Little Blade, chapter 19

Importantly, the Empire isn't a linear monarchy—its Emperors / Empresses are instead decided (as in canon) through rite of combat at the Kral Zera, and eligibility for this, in turn, is dictated by either blood or reputation—so the concept of a "legitimate heir" is a little more fluid than one might think, because the Imperial throne itself is not an inherited right.

Let us first address the topic of blood.

Firstly, there is no being born in or out of wedlock for the galra, because there is no wedlock to begin with—the galra don't really have any concept of marriage at all! The idea of an "illegitimate" child is, therefore, an utterly foreign thing... as is, for that matter, the idea of a concubine, as this comes hand in hand with there being the position of a "legal spouse" on the table. In the Empire, any and all committed romantic partners of the Monarch would be bequeathed the title of Imperial Consort, and none of their children would be considered any more/less legitimate than the others (not for order of birth, or gender, or race, or anything).

Now, to use Lotor as an example, he is obviously Zarkon's biological son, and as such is considered the Empire's "heir presumptive". By humans, this term is used in reference to an heir whose claim may be set aside by the birth of another (more suitable) heir—as in the case of Queen Victoria, who was set only to inherit the English throne from her uncle providing he produced no children of his own—but for the galra it's more an indication that Lotor, as a direct descendant of an Imperial Emperor, automatically qualifies to stand at the Kral Zera, and had he any biological siblings they too would be considered as such (neither above nor below him in status); this is due to the prevalent galra belief that the heart is the cradle of the soul, thus conflating one’s blood with the very essence of their spiritual being, and meaning that to be a blood-descendant of a former monarch would be to possess a little of their quintessence within you.

Regarding the legitimacy of adopted children, neither legally nor socially would they be considered "lesser" members of the Imperial family, however for the galra the concepts of family and blood are two entirely separate issues. A child adopted into the Imperial family would share in all the perks that their blood-born siblings might enjoy, including being invited to serve on the monarch's inner council once of age as representatives of the State, and (thanks to a healthy dose of ✨nepotism✨) would be placed on an accelerated path to success in whatever field their strengths most lay; if the monarch were to be temporarily incapacitated, the adopted children along with their siblings and any/all Imperial consorts would divide the burden of the Empire between them until the monarch was able to take up the mantle once more. Upon the monarch's death, however, an adopted child would not—unlike their blood-born siblings—be automatically eligible to stand at the Kral Zera, as in not sharing the monarch's blood they cannot be considered to share in their quintessence either, therefore their eligibility would instead hinge upon their involvement in higher government and garnered political backing from other prevalent figures (see below).

This brings us neatly to the latter method of eligibility, reputation, for which the candidate in question would be required to:

Earn themself a high enough military rank that their achievements speak to their worth, along with acquiring formal pledges of support from other notable galra who are themselves eligible to stand at the Kral Zera, thus assuring that rather than challenge the individual's claim they will instead will advocate on their behalf to the Archivist.

Be a recognised High Priest(ess) of the Druidic Church, as the druids are known as Sa Naacht—Voidsworn descendants of those who provided themselves to the denizens of Sa as vessels on the mortal plane, long ago—and therefore Sa's approval is innate to their very existence as beings capable of manipulating quintessence.

Be born a member of the aristocracy—though it is practically unheard of that anyone stands at the Kral Zera on this alone, as they can rarely obtain substantial backing from others for merely their familial name and wealth.

But once again, all of this is only to stand at the Kral Zera. Winning can only be done through one's own blood, sweat, and tears, and as with many of the Empire's most sacred traditions, it is built upon the creed of victory, or death.

#a //whole// lotta ground covered in this one #short answer: the 'legitimate heir' is whoever triumphs at the next kral zera #bc while the Empire //is// a monarchy it's not founded on the principle of a singular bloodline's GoD gIvEn RiGhT #Ao3 Little Blade #sa screams back #galra history & culture

[probablyasocialecologist]

We often saw a distance between the worldviews expressed by many in the top 10% and their own actions. For instance, many say they have strong meritocratic beliefs, yet are increasingly reliant on their assets and wealth to secure advantages for themselves and their children, meaning inequalities among millennials and younger generations will become more dependent on inheritance. Such thinking was captured by a recent Telegraph article that declared: “No more rags to riches – family money will be the key to getting wealthy.” The environment is another area where thoughts and actions often diverge among this high-earning group. While worrying about the environment is positively correlated with income and education, research also shows that the higher your income, the higher your carbon footprint. One potential endpoint is a world of bunkers, without trust or a functioning public realm, where we all declare one thing and do another without much heed to the common good. But increasing inequality doesn’t just threaten those in poverty – it negatively affects the whole of society. It means higher imprisonment rates and more expense devoted to security, more mistrust in everyday interactions, worse health outcomes, less social mobility and more political polarisation, to mention just a few of these effects.

[...]

Our interviewees often don’t think of themselves as beneficiaries of public policy, and tend to think state action is, almost by definition, overweening and invasive – forgetting the myriad ways that all of us depend on public infrastructure and on underpaid key workers. This even applies to those who, like Sean, do not come from wealthy families themselves. Whenever they can afford it through their own spending or as a perk from employment, high earners in the UK are increasingly relying on the private sector, especially as they see the public sector as crumbling and inefficient. The more they do so, the less likely they are to associate paying tax with something that benefits them directly and to trust public solutions to public problems.

#inequality #wealth #uk politics #middle class

[the-nightraven]

Astrology with Raven.

Greetings, little astro-birdies! This is a continuation of serving an astro-blog. Hence, here are some speculations over your curios requests:

Lilith is a point that narrates about dark sides of a native’s soul, which can be detected during intensive periods of life or it is considered as a concealed desire that can be in an exaggerated form. In order to perceive it in a more accurate way, you can observe a perception difference between Saturn and Lilith placements in houses - as an example, 5 house placements: a Saturn native tends to refrain himself/herself from aspects of life that emanates from a house effect, in our situation, which are hobbies, leisure time preferences, an entertainment, sex, romantic relationships and grasps; where as a Lilith native can have an obscured, sealed interests in an exaggerated form, as it was stated previously, in topics that a house concerns. 

Since Lilith can be interpreted as a Black Side of Moon, natives can negate all those characteristic in themselves, however since it is a little morsel of their Moon, there is still a deprivation of those characteristic: 

A person with Lilith in Cancer or in a Cancer degree - 4, 16, 28 - may negate everything, concerning a mother figure, an emotional connection and their own emotional nature. The placement polarises a vision to an emotional deprivation of natives: they need an emotional connection, however Lilith distorted their perception of a guardian - they might have had problems with a mother figure and have felt an absence of emotional protection from her side in their childhood. Lilith in the 4th house can have resemblances in parental situations, home-relationships’ conditions that are deteriorated, where a profound human need in close family relationships grows, however due to the trauma with it, they might reject any kind of idea towards constructing their own family. 

Lilith gives an erratic opinion over the house’s topics. For instance, an owner of 5th house Black Moon will be in periods of wanting to have a lot of children or periods of disdain towards the thought of having any child in his/her life; a fluctuation of thoughts about getting into romantic relationships - it must happen with only being absorbed with a romance or an utter abandonment of any kind of lover-relationships. 

Lilith in Capricorn needs social praise and being able to function in a social hierarchy, gaining a better social placement, however might face obstacles. The inner self of natives is pretty conservative and solemn.

Lilith in Aries has an inner problem with aggressive emotions, liberating them. I have a few acquaintances, owning this Lilith in Aries, including me: all representatives have concealed anger issues - natives can not express it in a healthy way, periodically condensing everything inside. Secretively they have a tendency to make disputes and debates, serving polemics - we are secretly fond of them. 

Lilith in the 12th house tends to be immersed in their unconsciousness, hidden thoughts and meaning - I have a friend with this placement. These natives are prone to be escapists with a convoluted mind. Their concealed desire is to be embedded in a delusional idea, to unravel.

The 4th house in Capricorn indicates a strict parent, profoundly, a mother. A family is much more a conservative one, where an emotional connection is absent - relationships within family relatives are distant, especially with the main female figure, a mother. My beloved little brother has a cuspid of the 4th house in Capricorn, so… A mother tends to be imperative over a child and insists on social principles and regulations. 

You might get irritated by a person with the same Moon sign as your Lilith due to them being an embodiment of your concealed features and tendencies to behave and serve your life. The person with the sign of your Lilith might trigger something inside for your sake - an acquaintance with him/her might embolden you to accept your inner self and to begin a personality elaboration.

Uranus in the 5th house is an indicator of having peculiar, promiscuous hobbies and having a vast spector of them. Preferences in sex and serving romantic relationships are rebellious and also peculiar that definitely stands out in a social circle. I might assume that it is an indicator of being possibly involved by LGBT communities due to the untraditional sexual orientation. 

Sun in the 4th house is an indicator of a father figure that was immersed in a family situation. However, rather it was a negative influence or a positive one might depict only aspects: if there are harsh ones with Uranus, Pluto or Saturn, a father might have been absent and it negatively affected a situation in the family. Nonetheless, it is a paramount field - a family - in native’s life. A family does not have to be only with blood relatives - a person might value a lot his own country or a place, where he/she has dwelt in. Hence, a person might be patriotic, especially in terms of Sun, Venus and Mars placed in the 4th house. 

If you have an interest in some aspects or placements, you can ask in the comments and I will include it in my further posts.

Sincerely, your Raven ♥

#astrology observations #astrology notes #astro notes #astro observations #astrology #natal chart #astro community #lilith #4th house #uranus #5th house #Spotify