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theblessedbee · 5 years

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🇨🇱🇮🇨🇰 🇹🇴 🇸🇪🇪 🇹🇭🇪 🇴🇷🇮🇬🇮🇳🇦🇱 🇧🇱🇴🇬 🇵🇴🇸🇹

• ᑤᑗᖇSᙍ & ᕼᙍ᙭ ᙘᖇᙍᗅᖽᐸᓿᘉᘜ •

ᛉ . ꍏ ꃅꍟ꒒ᖘꎇꀎ꒒ ꃅꍏꈤꀸ . ᛉ

Just the thought of a curse for some is enough to send the mind on a terrible tangent. I'm here today to tell you not to fear, because I'm bringing you an arsenal of curse and hex breaking tips and tools.

• So what is a Curse? •

A curse is defined as a negative energy attack put upon someone or something normally to cause harm, misfortune or to take something away from another. Sometimes practitioners of malevolent magick can place this upon you, or even someone with strong feelings, normally negative. Sometimes we can trick ourselves into thinking we have been cursed, which can cause curse symptoms in itself. I wrote this guide for the cursed and uncursed, so those can be aware of what they are, what they do and how to escape its grasp.

• All about Curses •

☠ Comes in many forms ☠

Curses come in all shapes and sizes. The entropy or chaos curse, The binding, The lesson, and The special-purpose curse. It can even come from jealousy or admiration and manifest as the Evil Eye curse.

☠ Timing is everything ☠

Curses in general can become effective immediately or may be dormant for years, and some curses laid on families have been known to have plagued them for generations. The problem is often not solved unless you discover you have been cursed!

☠ Keep your lips sealed ☠

The more personal information someone knows about you, the easier it will be for them to inflict harm upon you. Such things are your appearance, your full name, and your magickal name. It's best to keep quiet about these things around people you aren't so trusting of, or when meshing with other practitioners. Either way, it's always good to be safe!

☠ Is your foe a pro? ☠

If you are cursed, then it is most likely low-end magick practiced by an amateur. Professionals are generally doing more important things with their magick abilities. However, amateurs can have a lot of raw power even when they lack technique, their curses can still be very harmful and dangerous.

☠ Most distastefully bad juju ☠

When life starts feeling like a real life horror movie, you have a special-purpose curse and they can cause a great deal of disaster and havoc in your life. The evil eye curse is considered a special-purpose curse. You can wear a protective talisman called a Nazar that sheilds from the curse being put upon you.

☠ Avoid phony bologna ☠

Be very skeptical if a psychic tells you in a random reading that you have been cursed if you have not suspected yourself that anything has been going on. Some may even try to charge you fees to remove it for you. Be very wary especially if the reading was offered to you for free or very very cheap. That technique is called the bait and switch. If you think you are really cursed, I recommend that you get a second opinion or find a trusted practitioner.

☠ Purify and protect ☠

There are a couple of ways to deal with a curse. The first is to become an initiate of magick and learn to protect yourself. Sometimes other banishing rituals or protective spell workings are used to overpower the curse, protective amulets and talismans can be worn, and blessed oils and sacred washes can be used to attempt to lift the curse’s effect. A major side effect in removing a curse is that when the curse is broken, its energy can recoil on the person who cast it, and if the person has not taken the adequate precautions, it could very easily backfire.

☠ Seek Heavenly Help ☠

Call upon your spirit guides and ancestors for help and guidance. Family members can protect you from psychic harm from the beyond, but you must ask for the help yourself. Speak to them and let them know how you feel about that you need guidance. I also highly recommend decorating common objects around you such as pencils and lighters with angelic symbols, seals and runes, such as Algiz the rune for protection. This will give you the reassurance and extra protection you need during a crisis.

☠ Are there real remedies? ☠

You can find remedies for specific curses online. You don’t need to practice before you do this, but it is very important to follow all the instructions carefully and conscientiously. Remember to carry some form of protection with you such as a crystal, amulet or talisman or a charm, so you don’t end up being a curse victim in the first place!

• The Curse Cures •

Lets explore the different methods we can use to cure a curse...

☠ Anti-Curse Bath ☠

This is by far the easiest way to cure a curse, and that's by taking a bath using salt, oil and hex breaking herbs. It will remove the negative energy attached to you from the curse.

You can use uncrossing herbs and oils of your choosing and steeping them a while before entering the bath. Be careful to choose ingredients that won't irritate the skin. This is best done under a Waning Moon, but timing isn't essential if you are in a desperate situation. Repeat this as much as you feel is needed. This will only work if it is you who is cursed, and it isn't caused by an external object and if so, you could risk being re-cursed.

☠ Gather ☠

Hexbreaking herbs

White Candle

Incense

Oils (Olive or Essential)

Salt

Moon Water, Gem Elixirs (Optional)

The Cursed Person

🛠 Process 🛠

☠Gather Ingredients

☠Visualize a magick circle around you

☠Light your candle and incense

☠Begin to fill the tub, use moon water, gem elixirs, and steep your herbs

☠Add the oil and salt, imagine your bath becoming pure

☠You can make a purifying scrub for your skin using salt and olive oil as a mixture

☠Step in to the tub and cleanse your body thoroughly, imagining the energetic ties being removed as you wash them off

☠Enjoy the bath until it's too cold. Blow out the candles and incense, uncast your circle and dry off

☠ A Vessel for the Vile ☠

Curses can sometimes be drawn out into a vessel of some sort. Back then, animals were sometimes used as vessels and sacrificed afterward. Eggs for one, have been popular vessels for uncrossing in Italian, as well as African American traditions.

An egg is normally used as a vessel because it can be broken open to examine the contents to determine the results. You will need a person to help you with this, preferably someone experienced in magick.

☠ Gather ☠

A White Bowl

A White Candle

Incense

An Egg

Moon Water (or any water)

The Cursed Person

A Helper

🛠 Process 🛠

☠Gather Ingredients

☠Visualize a magick circle around you

☠Light your candle and incense

☠Get the cursed person to lay down on their back

☠Begin to pass the egg over their body, starting at the head moving in smooth downward motions, being careful not to swish the yolk

☠Say a prayer of the persons choosing. After saying the prayer, crack the egg open into a bowl of water and examine what you see...

☠Close the Circle. Discard the bowls contents at the base of a tree or at crossroads far away from the home of the victim. This process may need to be repeated several times to be effective, to "trap" the curse

☠ Get rid of that thing ☠

If you have a cursed object and you can find it, you should take it and bury it far away from you! If you can't manage to find it, you might be able to locate it using astral projection to follow the link to locate the object. A pendulum might be useful for this as well.

Don't hang onto cursed things, no matter how pretty. They will only make you suffer endless misfortune. Here's what you can do...

☠Take it far out into the country

☠Throw it in a river so it washes away

☠Destroy it, and dispose of the parts in running water

☠Burn and flush the ashes down, set them free in the wind or bury them far away

☠Use Astral travel to get to the object, or its astral double, and destroy it there. You may need to cast a binding spell to find out who cursed you. Cut the cords and free yourself from their ties

💣Don't rehome it 💣

Cursed objects should be destroyed and discarded, don't give these objects to people you love, you may be passing your misfortune on to them!

🌼 Try your best 🌼

You may not be able to try every method that I have mentioned here, as everyone has different skills. Certain curses may take more effort to get rid of than others. Uncrossing requires copious amounts of time, energy and materials and it can also be dangerous. Be sure to exercise caution and use protection when doing this work.

• Curse & Hex Breaking Ingredients •

Heres a list of ingredients I put together that you can use to break curses and hexes.

💣 Watch out! 💣

Please do your research before using them anywhere on or in your body, or even burning! Your safety comes first!

☠ Angelica root ☠

☠ Eyebright ☠

☠ Agrimony ☠

☠ Batwing Herb ☠

☠ Frankinsense ☠

☠ Calamus Root ☠

☠ Hyssop ☠

☠ Myrrh ☠

☠ Alkanet root ☠

☠ Ginseng ☠

☠ Peppermint ☠

☠ Hydrangea ☠

☠ Rosemary ☠

☠ Feverfew ☠

☠ Elder Flowers ☠

☠ Basil ☠

☠ Jasmine ☠

☠ Galangal root ☠

☠ Pepper (black or cayenne) ☠

☠ Bay leaves ☠

☠ Lemon verbena ☠

☠ Sage ☠

☠ Fumitory ☠

☠ Hemlock ☠

☠ Blackthorn ☠

☠ Devil’s Bit ☠

☠ Licorice root or fennel ☠

☠ Stinging nettle ☠

☠ Chamomile ☠

☠ Mandrake ☠

☠ Vetiver ☠

☠ Cinquefoil ☠

☠ Mugwort ☠

☠ Wisteria ☠

☠ Linden Flowers ☠

☠ Red Clover ☠

☠ Dragon’s Blood ☠

☠ Mullein ☠

☠ Juniper Berries ☠

☠ Woods: Ash, Hazel, Oak, Rue, Sandalwood, West Indian Elm, Willow, Wormwood ☠

☠ Brimstone ☠

• Curse & Hex Breaking Crystals •

Heres a list of Crystals, Rocks & Minerals that I put together that you can use to break curses and hexes.

☠ Fire Opal ☠

☠ Amethyst ☠

☠ Hematite ☠

☠ Bloodstone ☠

☠ Moldavite ☠

☠ Sapphire ☠

☠ Jade ☠

☠ Smokey Quartz ☠

☠ Carnelian ☠

☠ Obsidian ☠

☠ Black Tourmaline ☠

☠ Amber ☠

☠ Labradorite ☠

☠ Kunzite ☠

☠ Malachite ☠

☠ Clear Quartz ☠

☠ Selenite ☠

☠ Tigers Eye ☠

☠ Howlite ☠

☠ Apache Tear ☠

☠ Rose Quartz ☠

☠ Jet ☠

☠ Staurolyte ☠

☠ Blue Kyanite ☠

☠ Spirit Quartz ☠

☠ Celestite ☠

☠ Fire Agate ☠

☠ Jasper ☠

☠ Fluorite ☠

I really hope you learned a bit about curses, and how to get rid of them. I hope makes you feel ready to take on the cruel, dark world. Even if you do encounter this one day, you will be prepared, and armed with an arsenal of knowledge that you can use to help yourself and others.

Thank you so much for reading,

and blessed be!

*images found on giphy

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aftermathdb · 5 years

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DEATH BATTLE Review: Dragonzord vs. Mechagodzilla

Robotic Kaiju fight to see who is the true king of them all!

Power Rangers get a third round to see if they can’t net a win. This is the third 3D battle of the season too.

Oh, preemptively: Some of the screenshots might not be that great-looking. I had to use Photobox to get these on here.

Dragonzord′s Preview.

We all know the Power Rangers. Five teenagers that banded together to fight the evil Rita Repulsa and her army of monsters. Things were going pretty well for them, until Rita hatched a plan. She would create her own Ranger with their own powers and their own zord.

Enter: The Dragonzord. A powerful mech that can go toe-to-toe with the Megazord, and has a large plethora of powers.

The hosts go over these powers and note that despite this large arsenal, the Dragonzord is more of a CQC mech than a long-range one.

The Dragonzord’s pilot is Tommy Oliver. A martial arts expert who was so dedicated to Ranger work, that he wore the tights for a long time, and even mentored other rangers. Fun fact: His actor’s birthday is on the day that the episode airs for Youtube.

Tommy controls and summons the Dragonzord with a dagger that he plays as a flute, which leads into this segment:

This goes about as well as you’d expect, and…

I just want to say that Boomstick’s expression there is hilarious, and should become a shirt.

I enjoy this pun unironically.

Anyways, the Dragonzord made short work of Rita’s monsters, and has even fought against the Megazord, which has a power output of over 50k megavolts.

Also worth remembering is that the Megazord once pulled off a feat of 90 Million Newtons

(I don’t know about you, but the whole “As determined in…” parts are really nice callbacks).

So the Dragonzord is in the same ballpark.

Now, the Dragonzord can reach escape velocity. This means that it can move at speeds over Mach 30.

And for the era it was a part of, the Dragonzord is arguably the most durable.

It once survived a blow worth 356.67 Tons of TNT. And shoutout to the guy who made that set piece knowing that it would be destroyed. That’s some quality work.

And what’s a rundown without feats?

The Dragonzord has defeated the technically superior White Tigerzord, and survived a fight with the Thunder Megazord.

And it certainly stands a chance with it’s own fusion of the Mega Thunderzord… Or Dragonzord Fighting Mode… Or Battle Mode- They establish that he never really settled on a name.

But while Tommy has lost his powers in the past, he has still fought the good fight. Even regaining his powers along the way.

And with the powers returned, perhaps one day, so will the Dragonzord.

Mechagodzilla′s Preview.

We all know Godzilla. The rampaging monster that decimated Japan.

And I’m sure we all know the famous story of how he was defeated. By Dr. Serizawa’s (in)famous Oxygen Destroyer, a weapon so powerful, he destroyed himself with it to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.

And while Japan was subject to many giant monster attacks over the years, their special task force would handle it neatly… Until a new Godzilla showed up and started wrecking them all over again.

Without the Oxygen Destroyer, the defense squad needed a new way to fight back. So they gathered their top scientists in robotics, microwaves, low-temperature physics, and… Cyber-Necromancy to create their own monster.

Enter: Mechagodzilla.

While it’s not the first one of it’s kind (As Wiz notes), it’s certainly the most unique.

So much so, that it was given it’s own designated codename of Kiryu. A combination of Machine and Dragon. Though, Boomstick opts to just call it Mechagodzilla.

Kiryu is equipped with a wide assortment of weapons. From rockets, to maser cannons, to grappling wires, to spinning claws, a hidden blade, and most famously: The Absolute Zero Cannon. This makes it far better suited to long-range attacks. Making Kiryu a zoner.

The Absolute Zero Cannon robs it’s target of all of it’s energy at once. Meaning that whatever it hits shatters at the atomic level.

Kiryu is also built around the skeletal remains of the OG Godzilla, giving him all the size and strength as the King of the Monsters. It even uses cyber-DNA to give it an edge up, allowing Kiryu to preform some rudimentary actions like a simple AI. exactly like Wiz’s own Cyber-Goos3 (Spelling citationn: The commentary. There were some difficulties getting the screenshots to work, so time was needed).

(Whether or not this is the same goose from the Terry Board Preview is unknown).

Much like the Dragonzord, Kiryu is piloted by Akane Yashiro. A hardened warrior of the Anti-Megalosaurus Force.

According to the hosts, she’s your typical antisocial anime protagonist. Cutting herself off from other people because she has no family left, and got her squad killed on accident. Because I guess that wasn’t an overused trope back then.

Akane pilots Kiryu from a nearby jet plane. The AC-3 White Heron can fly at a speed of 930 km/hr. Together, these two have a perfect track record against Godzilla.

But, as Boomstick warns, Plot twist: Akane isn’t the only pilot for Kiryu. As it turns out, the original Godzilla is also there in spirit… Literally. Godzilla can wrestle control away from Akane, making it a rampaging monster again.

Though, it’s strongly implied that the two have reached an understanding. Which is a good thing. Because the giant mech has some impressive feats. Like tossing a second Godzilla that clocks in at about 25000 metric tons.

Kiryu was even fast enough to dodge the Atomic Breath, which moves at a speed of Mach 2.5.

Speaking of speed, the mech once flew an extremely large distance in a manner of minutes.

Regardless of who is behind the wheel, Kiryu is a powerhouse. No monster has ever fought a battle against it and lived to tell the tale.

The Battle Itself.

Animator (and some of their previous works), Tommy Oliver will be voiced by Nicholas Andrew Louie and Akane Yashiro will be voiced by Hitomi Farrell. sprite artists, Draconic Robotics by Therewolf. Kristina lead on animation, and Chris Kokkinos on audio.

So the fight is similar to Weiss vs. Mitsuru in the sense that there’s no lead-up to the fight. The fight animation just dumps us in the middle of the battle as it’s going on.

Tommy uses his skills to knock Kiryu down, so Akane gives some motivation.

(For the record, these are subtitles provided by the animation. Not mine).

So Tommy knocks down Kiryu and starts kicking him while he’s down. So Kiryu responds by using that hidden blade from earlier to get Dragonzord off of him.

Akane ensures that all systems are go, and opts to play smart.

Like, let’s take a moment to appreciate this animation. It’s awesome. This is stuff that they could only dream of doing, and now, it’s a reality.

Kiryu gets some distance in, and then goes for a missile barrage. Dragonzord responds by using the head fin to blast them.

However, the jet booster does manage a hit, and it knocks Tommy down.

Tommy isn’t going to let some monster blast him with an attack that has a charge though, and retaliates.

I kinda wish I could make gifsets of these, because they are awesome bits of animation that should be seen to be believed. But, that would take away from the suspense, and I’d rather people go watch the video proper than plagiarize viewership from my review. Plus, I wouldn’t be able to have sound on the gifs anyways. And the music is friggin’ awesome.

Akane comes in to provide covering fire.

Tommy retaliates by bringing her down.

Now, if it weren’t for the fact that Godzilla could take over, Kiryu would be done for. So the battle rages on.

The fight remains close-quarters as both sides make impressive blows and make great counters to one another.

As an example, Mechagodzilla grapples the Dragonzord in his mouth, and starts running and pummeling him.

Can I just say that the Run-and-Pummel is one of my favorite things to see in an action scene? It’s just really cool to see a character carrying their opponent, and either hitting them or ramming them through walls. It’s just so cool.

Tommy then pulls the same trick he did (will do?) from Tigerzord vs. Epyon, and calls the other zords to help him out. If they look familiar, that’s because they’re the same model from Megazord vs. Voltron.

(I won’t be showcasing any screennshots of the combining sequence, because that’s something that must be seen with one’s own eyes).

With Fighting Mode ready, Tommy is ready for round two.

The two do battle, and go at each other. It’s a very close bout, and even over time, it’s hard to tell who has the advantage. Though, given that it’s close-quarters, the Dragonzord has an edge up.

Tommy gets ready for his own finishing blow, so… y’know.

Finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Verdict + Explanation.

So, right off the bat, Tommy had the experience advantage in the bag. Given how long he’s been at the job, that was a given. But experience wasn’t enough to win the day.

In comparison, Kiryu held the advantage in weight, and had more impressive strength.

Take the best feats that both have shown, well, scaled to in Dragonzord’s case.

In direct comparison, the Megazord’s best strength feat isn’t even half as good as Kiryu’s best feat. Meaning that Dragonzord’s best feat is also not as good. It also doesn’t help that Kiryu was also good at fighting at a distance thanks to the wider arsenal of tools he had at his disposal.

They go on to explain that while it’s hard to find the Fighting Mode’s largest output, it’s in the ballpark of the Thunder Megazord and Rita, the latter of whom destroyed an island.

By the size of it, it clocks in at about 2.62 Gigatons of TNT. But still not as good as Kiryu’s best feats.

The Absolute Zero Cannon destroyed the Prince Hotel New Tower building, as well as a few others surrounding it. Using the real-life measurements of the building, this means that the Absolute Zero Cannon’s power output is nearly 130 Teratons of TNT. And since Kiryu was at the center of a blast like that, it’s pretty obvious that he has the durability over Dragonzord.

Which is thousands of times greater than anything that the Dragonzord could potentially do.

Overall impression.

Like I said, the animation and music is friggin’ awesome. And it’s also a nice relief seeing another movie character enter the fight, since we don’t get too much of that these days.

The explanation makes sense too, aside from the Absolute Zero thing, because it feels more like they should have found the amount of energy robbed instead. It’s probably around the same thing, but still.

The jokes are pretty spot-on, and the animated segments between Wiz and Boomstick are pretty funny too.

It took a few years to see it, but it’s well worth the wait if this is the result of having to wait on seeing this matchup.

9.0/10

Next Time…

(Screenshot of the upcoming battle).

… I have no idea as to why these two are fighting.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Some demon shits.

#Death Battle #Deathbattle #review

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hebrew-israelitecomics-blog · 5 years

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TIMEWALKERS: THE WATCHERS AND EYES OF THE LORD

Three time traveling heroes from the distant past: Matthew (a.k.a. “The HourMan”), Azariyah (called “PowerMan”), and Alexander (named “The Shadow”) built a sophisticated Time Machine hundreds of years ago, to arrive in the year 2020! Their mission was officially underway, when the U.S. President authorized military forces to illegally invade a remote desert area in Afghanistan (where the hidden cave of the Timewalkers was located) and steal their Time Machine! The Timewalkers were armed and ready for battle and killed 8 of the U.S. Soldiers before the U.S. Army fled the area and the U.S. Government quickly issued “false flag” news propaganda to cover up the incident. Commissioned by God, the brave and intelligent men of valor were determined more than ever to stop Donald Trump, a ruthless tyrant known to the world as “the Antichrist”, and his henchman and false prophet Barack Obama, from setting off a nuclear bomb to annihilate the entire world! To defeat the madmen, Matt, Azariyah, and Alexander infiltrated the U.S. Federal Government as covert spies to gain intelligence against Satan’s secret military enterprise called the Illuminati, and to set up an underground network of Hebrew Israelite Heroes called “The Timewalkers”. Within a few years, they set up a secret military base in Afghanistan, and with help from the Angels of The Lord God of Israel (“YAHAWAH”), the men were endowed with supernatural powers from The Most High. Then they placed their Time Machine and high tech weaponry inside a hidden bunker. Their mission was to locate the nuclear bomb in time before it explodes and destroys the entire earth, and expose Trump and Obama to the world. Ultimately, YAHAWAH was in complete control of the operation directing the Israelite Crusaders for justice. The Lord informed Matthew, Azariyah and Alexander where Trump was hiding the weapon of mass destruction. Without time to spare, Matt, Azariyah, and Alexander leaped through their Time Machine, wearing their high tech suits, and teleported inside the hidden Illuminati Headquarters of the European Union, where Donald Trump and his satanic military forces operated outside of America, and was his main location. Once they arrived inside the Antichrist’s fortress of Doom, they activated their invisible shields of their high tech battle suits covering their uniforms to avoid detection by Trump’s private military army. The stealth Hebrew Heroes sneaked inside the hidden base, and disabled the security devices where the nuclear bomb was installed. Matthew, Azariyah, and Alexander soon discovered Trump’s army, and bodyguards led by Barack Obama (former United Nations Director), guarding the nuclear weapon and the device that triggered it! Trained in weaponry, fighting skills, and battling demonic spirits: the time walking commandos overpowered the army and killed Trump’s henchmen, Alexander with lighting speed killed Obama’s guards and immediately captured the nuclear bomb and activating device. The three costumed crusaders in high tech battle suits teleported the nuclear arsenal from Trump’s secret room deep into the limits of outer space, and triggered the bomb in an uninhabited planet! The unsung Hebrew Israelite Superheroes had saved the earth! But their mission was not finished yet, Obama reactivated security alarms, and they had to escape Trump’s military reinforcements and complete their mission, to get safely out of Germany, and expose the Antichrist’s evil plans to the world! Fortunately, Matthew, Azariyah, and Alexander was prepared to do just that, they quickly activated the armored gear installed in their time traveling battle suits, to shoot back at the massive army, and teleported back inside their hidden secured army base in Afghanistan! Matthew immediately downloaded incriminating files against Trump on the world wide web, Azariyah with his super strength held back the army, and killed most of the guards while Alexander recorded video footage of Trump’s nuclear bomb and the Illuminati’s plans to annihilate the world to the social media to alert the concerned population of the world being oppressed by the wicked Elite Powers. Soon the United Nations deployed their military forces from various countries to apprehend Donald Trump, and destroy his evil regime supported by America and Europe forever! When the World War III operation was finally underway, countries that were tired of being bullied by America and the E.U., deployed nuclear missiles aimed at America and Germany and destroyed the wicked counties, and neutralized the Illuminati’s plans for conquest of the entire earth! The righteous people of the world honored and rewarded the three brave time traveling Superheroes: Matthew Gagston, Azariyah Ben Yosef, and Alexander Quinton Pope!!!

THE END

THE TIMEWALKERS: HEBREW ISRAELITE HEROES THAT TRAVEL THROUGH TIME

-A Legendary Classic Hebrew Israelite Comic Book, Film, Cartoon, and Video Game series written and created by Editor-in-Chief of Ultraverse Comics

DR. FRANKLYN VICTOR BECKLES, JR.

“THE TIMEWALKERS”

-Featuring three unsung heroes (Matthew Gagston, Azariyah Ben Yosef, and Alexander Quinton Pope) who fight crime and injustice by traveling through time using their powers and abilities from God to battle against the evil world dictator known as the Antichrist (Tiberius Dukain), in an effort to help our Lord and Savior YAHAWASHI (The Son of God, whom the world ignorantly calls “Jesus Christ”) save all of mankind from nuclear annihilation and eternal damnation!

-Created and written by Famed Book Author and Hebrew Israelite Comic Book Writer:

Dr. Franklyn Victor Beckles, Jr.

Hebrew Israelite Books available for purchase at:

Amazon.com

Lulu.com

and

UltraverseComics.com

THE UNSTOPPABLES

It was a exciting time for everyday people to learn about the existence of real-life Superheroes! The world desperately needed hope and looked for men of valor who could save them from the tyranny of a psychopathic genius and terrorist named Elijah Price (a.k.a. “Mr. Glass”, super intelligent and has bones that break very easily). A known megalomaniac who was the evil mastermind behind the global blackout that put the technology of the nations back into the dark ages! Mr. Glass was beginning to form a legion of super villains to terrorize the world and bring about another New World Order! One man named Mr. David Dunn (a.k.a. “The Overseer”, a hero, and a National Security Officer with super strength and leadership skills) had the courage to fight Mr. Glass and organize a league of Superheroes on his own with the help of his son to combat a demonic group of super powered beings who were determined to use their incredible gifts to help the infamous Mr. Glass become supreme dictator of the world. In his delusional mind, Mr. Glass wanted to use his intellect to fulfill Bible prophecy and become the anti-christ incarnate! Mrs. Glass’s main henchman was called the Beast (a madman who had superhuman strength, 23 personalities, and stronger than the Overseer). The Beast was the main villain that became a serial killer, striking terror in the hearts and minds of everyone around him. Not even the police could stop him! Realizing that Mr. Glass’s agenda was to use the Beast as an enforcer of his New World Order empire and keep America in a state of fear, David Dunn sought to deliver vigilante justice to the Beast and prepare for an epic showdown, and lead him to the criminal mastermind Mr. Glass who holds critical secrets to their true identities and top secret government plans that threatened to destroy the Western World! The Overseer knew that the only way to stop Mr. Glass’s immediate attacks on the civilian population, was to stop the Beast who was recruiting more psychopathic killers like himself to form an army to serve Mr. Glass and take over the country! David knew of a Black Hebrew Israelite school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia named Captain Azariyah Ben Yosef, who also has super strength (a.k.a. “The Powerman”), a Bible Church Pastor and a Firefighter who is way stronger and more powerful spiritually than any hero, very intelligent, and has children with special powers! David also located two other heroes and geniuses that worked in Switzerland for CERN in the technology and reverse engineering departments. One has the ability to travel through time and super strength (Commander Matthew Gagston a Puerto Rican Engineer a.k.a. “The Hour Man”, and his best friend Dr. Alexander Quinton Pope, a Native American Scientist who has the superpowers to run at speed of light and disappear like a shadow (a.k.a. “The Shadow”). The Overseer contacted the heroic men who were also trained in military combat and law enforcement, and asked for their help. With the grave situation of superpowered terrorists gripping the world in fear and trying to take over the country through shear blood-thirsty violence, the heroes had little time to waste! They studied their weaknesses and formed a plan to track down the Beast who had a least three people with special powers assisting him to commit homicides and vicious robberies to supply their criminal enterprise and serial killing spree (their names: Steve Trustrum a homosexual racist pig a.k.a. “The Boar”, had an uncanny super ability for cannibalism, running fast like an animal, and superhuman strength, and Tracey McManus, a slut, and murderous bastard woman with the powers to control people’s thoughts if they gaze into her eyes, and super strength -a.k.a. “The Super Bitch”), and Brad Means a power hungry parasite with the ability to drain people’s strength and will to fight, a degenerate murdering heathen who was far more evil than the rest of the gentiles (a.k.a. “The Parasite”). They were found by the team robbing a nearby bank! The new league of heroes approached the super villains as they were exiting the bank and TV Reporters were also on the scene to record what was about to happen. The Beast, immediately dropped his victims that he had mangled and ordered his team to attack the superheroes! The team separated into action to take each villain down, Matt and Alex took on the Parasite and Super Bitch, because physical contact due to their abilities could hinder their will to win the fight. So the Timewalker, a.k.a. The Hour Man created a portal to walk through and disappear, while the Shadow ran at super speed so the villains couldn’t touch him and he wouldn’t be able to gaze at the Bitch’s eyes. Powerman went to work using his incredible strength to outmatch and beat up the Boar, while the other heroes engaged the vile misfits, David Dunn challenged the Beast and they also became physically locked in mortal combat while being televised by reporters so the whole world could see this battle of biblical proportions! The super powered beings were literally tearing up the city to win the group fight. The Powerman lifted up a truck and smashed the Boar, crushing every bone in his body, while the Shadow running at lightning speed battered the Super Bitch until she was unconscious, and Hour Man used a time portal to transport the Parasite into another dimension, where he sent the White degenerate punk into the outer limits of space! The Overseer was beating up the Beast, however the Beast gained the upper hand over David by knowing of his weakness -his fear of water! The Beast had him in a choke hold and dragged him to a nearby dunk tank so he could drown him to death. While the Shadow subdued the criminals, the Powerman immediately came to his rescue and grabbed hold of the Beast from behind and hoisted him into the air, and threw the psychopath into a building where the Hour Man teleported the building into a time portal and released the building from another portal in the air and crushed the Beast to death! Seeing their leader ultimately defeated, the villains surrendered into police custody. Also watching the epic battle was Mr. Glass from a hidden bunker surrounded by new recruits for his “Legion of Doom”, anticipating that the Beast and his team would fail him, he prepared for another onslaught of maniacs to do his bidding, and began planning for his next attack on American soil in his attempt to take over the world! During the aftermath of the fierce battle, the Overseer -leader of the new team of heroes selected a name to call them, and made a pact with the league and vowed to work together in the interest of crime fighting and seek bring Mr. Glass and his global criminal enterprise to justice! And from day on the League of Superheroes began recruiting more and more members with super powers to their righteous crusade, and world rallied behind the heroes in financial and emotional support and called them “THE UNSTOPPABLES”!!!

THE END

“The Unstoppables”, “The Timewalkers”, and “The Powerman” are a comic books, independent film, and eBook series created by Dr. F. V. Beckles based on the films directed by M. Night Shyamalan: Glass is a 2019 A Superhero thriller film written for Hebrew Israelites, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and F. Victor Beckles. The film is a sequel to Shyamalan's previous films Unbreakable (2000) and Split (2016), serving as the final installment in the Unbreakable trilogy!

“UNSTOPPABLES”-Also written and created by Rev. Dr. Franklyn Victor Beckles, Jr. Renowned Christian TV Evangelist, Bible College Professor, Private School Principal, Christian Video Game Designer, Comic Book Writer, Book Author, Civil Rights Pioneer, and Editor-in-Chief of Ultraverse Comics!!!

THE MASKED RIDERS: LEGENDARY HEBREW ISRAELITES

In 1875, the rampant colonization and imperialism of “White” people put a stronghold over all of Central, South, and North America and the U.S. Cavalry was terrorizing and killing all of the Indigenous natives of the Americas. European Caucasians of the Roman Empire “Colonialists” continued oppressing the native peoples, enslaving them, stealing their lands, and kidnapping their people off the continent of Africa. “White Supremacy” was created in the 1681, and enforced against the “Black” people because they are the children of the Lost 12 Tribes of Israel, and the enemies of the “Edomites” (White people)- the biblically identified children of the devil. The Colonialists renamed the people of color and classified the natives as “Indians”, “Hispanics”, and “Niggers”, and the days of the Old West the White people and their manufactured “New World” Government sought out to harass and force the Israelites off of their lands. The oppressed people were fed up of the racism and injustice, and began looking for brave men among their people to lead revolts against the Colonialists. Many heroic men rose to the challenge and led successful rebellions against the White Supremacists and forced Whites to reside in Forts, where they battled to defend their land and hide runaway slaves, fleeing away from their unjust captivity. Throughout the Western States of America, thousands of Indians of the Tribe of Gad were being murdered and driven off of their land by the U.S. Cavalry, and in Mexico Colonialists were killing many Hispanics of the Tribe of Issachar. Two heroes rose up and started and led a Resistance Movement across America to fight against the racist White European colonialism. A famous Bandito (Matthew De Giorgio Lopez) and former politician and general named “EL CAPITAN”, the man who killed the racist murderer Sam Houston, and the great warrior (Quinton) a Sioux Chief called “CRAZY HORSE”, the hero who killed the evil General George Custer! The Israelites joined forces to constantly fight off the corrupt U.S. Army Cavalry and racist militia groups who kept stealing more and more land for the American Government and White Cattlemen's Association who routinely hired White gunfighters and ruthless outlaws whose purpose was to drive off the rightful properties and lands that originally belonged to the Indigenous of the Western World who were God’s Chosen People. The Israelites fought hard and won many battles against the Whites because men were in charge and the people turned back to their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whose name is YAHAWAH (YHWH)! After the fierce battle of Little Big Horn, the warriors also combined forces with other heroes of the 12 Tribes, men of valor and honor like the Hebrew slaves who courageously escaped the cruel plantations and rallied with their brothers to fight against the Caucasian devils who continued murdering innocent people and stealing their land and forcing them to live on reservations. Hebrew men from the Tribe of Benjamin had been revolting against Europeans in the Caribbean Islands and the brave Black Warriors, became pirates, commodering ships, like the legendary King from West Africa named CHONJUFU, and a school teacher called “BLACK BEARD”, famous Black men who used European vessels and sailed across the Caribbean, freeing slaves from America and bringing back to their homeland! Meanwhile, other slaves from Africa of the Tribe of Judah who were also great Kings of Africa and of the bloodline of the Kings of Israel, rebelled and revolted on many plantations and killed their White oppressors. Hebrew Heroes like Nat Turner, The Masked Riders, Fredrick Davis, Quinto, Bass Reeves (the real “Lone Ranger”), Captain Azariyah, “Brave Hawk”, General Yahanna, Chief Sitting Bull, and the great Geronimo -fled from the plantations and reservations and joined the Rebellion and moved out to the West and became legendary gunfighters and crusaders against white supremacy and injustice! Under the orders of the U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, the corrupt U.S. Army began calling the righteous rebels “Outlaws”, who were simply fighting to protect their people by uniting and establishing their Nation. The Government distributed “WANTED” posters throughout the territory to frame the brave Israelites to have them hunted down like animals by hired guns- racist bounty hunters, and criminals that killed for money! These racist “Rednecks” were often fired by White Homesteaders. The Israelite rebels continued to build up their Resistance Movement: Freeing Hebrew slaves kidnapped from Africa and aided the fierce Indian Tribes like the Mohawk, Sioux, and Cheyenne Warriors to liberate the people of the Tribe of Gad and African slaves of the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi who were forced to live on reservations and plantations! Realizing there was a price on their heads, many of the crusading Israelites wore masks and banderas to conceal their identities! Two of the greatest vigilantes were two former slaves of the Tribe of Benjamin named Harry Beckles and his son Franklyn, from the Caribbean Island of Trinidad & Tobago! They killed their slave masters and became fearless masked Outlaws! They became famous gunfighters for hunting down lawless White Settlers, Klu Klux Klan members, and corrupt Bounty Hunters and bringing them to justice for their crimes. The crime fighting Masked Duo also gained a notorious reputation for hanging Slave Plantation Owners and freeing slaves! The Government desperately wanted the western heroes dead or alive. The Masked Men put fear in the hearts and minds of the Redneck Colonialists and freed many slaves, while fighting off bounty hunters, and escaping from the U.S. Cavalry! The Masked Riders engaged in many gunfight battles against White Gunfighters and Homesteaders (land thieves and “Devils”), in legendary places like the O.K. Corral and helped their brothers in the bloody Plains Indian Wars. They were known throughout the West as the “Masked Riders”, and when it came to gunfighting and winning fights -the Black men were the best!!! Finally, the U.S. Government hired a scandalous White gunfighter, a quack doctor, and a sadistic mercenary named “Doc Holiday” to lead a posse of racist cattle rustlers (thieves and murderers) to hunt down the masked crusaders. News of Doc Holiday and his vile rampage on plantations and reservations shooting and hanging innocent Israelites reached the heroic father and son. The Masked Riders knew that they were being lured into a trap and sought out to engage the racist manic on their terms in the town of Dodge City, where they disguised themselves and followed him and his gang to a nearby reservation where they would set a trap for the masked outlaws, not discovering that the Indians already had an alliance with the Masked Riders. Once Holiday and his men arrived inside the reservation camp, they were met by Chief Braveheart and his son Shadow. Doc then commanded his gang to shoot the men and rape the women! Immediately, when gunfire sounded the Masked Riders rode inside the camp and Chief Braveheart and his tribal warriors sprang into action using their spears and bows & arrows to defend themselves and their wives, while the Masked Riders faced off against Holiday and his thugs! Doc reached for his gun to shoot and Harry, with lightning speed shot his pistol right out of his hand! Doc was shot dead by the Masked Rider and his son Franklyn shot down five of Doc’s men, before Shadow and the Cheyenne men surrounded the rest of the henchmen with arrows and knives pointed at their heads. The U.S. Government’s plot to assassinate the masked crusaders failed and from then on and throughout the Old West, the Masked Riders became the most notable and respected gunfighting heroes in the history of the Wild, Wild, West!!!!!

THE END

Researched and Written by Famous Historian DR. F.V. Beckles, Jr.

The greatest secret that is being kept in the world today is who the real children of God are. An important fact is that there is a real agenda aimed at Black Americans who are the only ones that are being targeted through the Western World’s Eugenics program. An agenda set forth by what the world calls the Illuminati. According to the Bible they are identified as the Synagogue of satan (Revelation 2:9 and 3:9).They have been the enemies to the Children of God since the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Greek. Unwittingly, they have been fulfilling Bible scriptures foretold by The Most High God of Israel (Genesis 3) to attack and destroy God’s Chosen Seed who remains in the earth today. This warfare has been spiritual, mental, and physical on all levels (Ephesians 6). They have used various tactics such as religion, that traces back to Ancient Babylon. This Elite has been behind the political, religious and educational system set to destroy the Children of Israel. The whole world has been behind this conspiracy against God’s children (Psalm 83). They in fact have always known who the true children of God are. The Children of God are in fact Negroes (Deuteronomy 28:68). This fact goes against all religious teachings, because we have been brainwashed into a satanic governmental system that is based on lies and is in fact committed to keeping the true identity of the Children of Israel a secret. This governmental system was identified publicly by U.S. President George Bush in the 1980’s -as the New World Order. A political masterplan that was originally set in place by the Egyptians. Which is why America models everything after Ancient Egypt (Exodus Chapter 1). These Illuminist powers used the blueprint of Ancient Egypt to systematically destroy the Children of God since their downfall after King Solomon’s reign. When they fell as a people they were enslaved by their enemies who are what the world calls Europeans today, but they are in fact what the Bible calls Edomites. These Edomites are in fact Caucasians according to the Bible, White people are the main enemies to the children of God. These enemies of God whitewashed mankind’s true history and the historical records of the Israelites. All in a coordinated effort to hide the real identity of God’s chosen people. They have used World Wars as a pretext to steal their homeland in 1948. The Jewish-Israeli people are in fact Romans and Jewish converts -not the true Jews according to the Bible and not of the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How could this happen? You may ask. Well the Bible answers that question. The Nation of Israel fell as a people due to disobedience to God’s laws, statutes, and commandments (Deuteronomy 28:15). This disobedience to their God (whose name is AHAYAH “I Am” or YAHAWAH / “YHWH” which means “HE EXISTS”), caused them to suffer curses that will plagued them forever and is a sign of who the real Jews are and how they will be scattered throughout the earth. During the 1600’s White Europeans saw an opportunity to take advantage of their downfall by conspiring with other Gentiles, such as the Africans to kidnap Negroes who are Hebrews and sell them into slavery. It is a common misconception that all Black people are the same. In fact they are not all the same, in truth the Black race is the most diverse race on the planet. Only the White race is all the same, this information has been proven by Anthropologists and History scholars around the world (Zondervan Bible dictionary). One may ask how did this race war between the Children of God and the Caucasoid hybrid race began. It was prophesied by the Most High in the Book of Genesis Chapter 3. When Eve betrayed her husband and made a covenant with satan. Satan promised her knowledge and power which is the reason why the world exalts women today (“Feminism” and Goddess worship), which is an abomination to God! A spiritual and racial battle was set in place when God told satan that there will be enmity (strife) between satan’s seed and God’s seed. Which means satan has a seed in the earth that is committed to destroying the seed of God (Genesis Chapters 25-27). This ancient battle was set in motion before the Great Flood during the days of Noah and resurfaced again with the birth of Jacob and Esau -two distinct nationalities (which means two different races of people). The descendants of Jacob became the children of God. The descendants of Esau evolved to become the Greco-Roman Empire. Esau’s lineage which is the seed of satan, officially put their plan in action to exterminate the Children of God in 70 A.D. When they laid siege against Jerusalem and forced most of the Hebrews to flee into Africa. This record is recorded in the books by the historian Josephus and the book “From Babylon to Timbuktu”, as well as many other historical records. The Hebrews a magnificent race of people that ruled all of Africa and before and after the downfall of the Roman Empire they ruled over Asia and Europe! According to historical records and in and outside of the Bible the Israelites continued to sin against their God. Which forced The Most High, AHAYAH to allow His children to be enslaved by their enemies time and time again and scattered them throughout the four corners of the earth. Which led to their final downfall during the Arab and Transatlantic slave trades. This takedown would begin a Gentile Coalition to set in place a plan of Eugenics and a system of perpetual slavery to keep the Children of Israel from ever becoming a nation again. Which is the real reason why America was established as a nation. The Romans became Jewish converts and financed the slave trades and created a western world society that became an extension of the Roman Empire (a “Rebirth”). Through this political and religious system they would keep the Children of God in constant physical and mental darkness. This system is called Zionism and Freemasonry. As identified by masons like Albert Pike in his book ”Morals & Dogma”. This elaborate plan would involve America’s most celebrated icons. Who in fact are not heroes but satanists. People like George Washington, Willie Lynch, Margaret Sanger, and Uncle Tom Negroes like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Jesse Jackson. The children of satan also set up a partnership with Negro religious and political leaders who were famous sellouts for bringing forth their New World Order agenda, to keep the Children of God in bondage in the New World which is called America! During the course of 400 years, this country has successfully carried on its racist and genicital conspiracy against Negroes to victimize them with poor housing, putting drugs in Black neighborhoods, promoting abortions, demonizing Black men, and forcing integration with White people and their institutions, and flooding the prison system with Black men due to false arrests and corrupt police departments. Which is why the American political and legal system has been encouraging the unlawful shootings and public executions of Black men all across America. Which is fueled by the Donald Trump Administration, which is the reason why the President and United States Congress is in agreement with building a border wall. They are fulfilling Bible prophecy listed in 2nd Esdras chapters 13-16. Their ancestors, the Romans did the same thing in 70 A.D when they set up a wall to starve out the Hebrews in Masada. The exciting and troubling times that are happening in America today, is in fact Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes! Donald Trump’s true mission is to carry out the agenda carried on by Roman the Catholic Church. Which is why America is ramping up social immorality throughout the earth such as homosexuality and other sexual perversions like sodomy and sex trafficking. These are the vices that the Roman Catholic Church supports, which is why the news media is always revealing sexual perversions that Catholic priests are routinely involved in and being accused of. The enemies of God know who the real Jews are and are committed to enforcing a perpetual cycle of sin in America so that the Negroes who are Hebrews could never rise and come together or be a nation ever again. In conclusion, the solution to this growing problem is for Hebrews to return to their God YAHAWAH (YHWH), obey His commandments, repent of their sins and be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and The Holy Spirit (Matthew Chapter 28 and the Book of Acts Chapter 2), and separate from Gentiles. The greatest mistake of Hebrews in America ever committed was to listen to evil women who were sellouts like Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, and Cynthia Mckinney who pushed for integration and for Negro women to be leaders when the Black men were supposed to be the leaders of the Black race. Integration, mixing with Gentiles, and Feminism are an abomination according to the Bible. I highly recommend watching the historic documentary films: “Hebrew or the so called Negro” and “Hebrews to Negroes”. The truth that Negroes are the real Jews, and the Awakening of God’s Chosen people is spreading all over the world! If you are a Hebrew, I sincerely hope that you take part in this glorious Hebrew Israelite movement. Repent from your sins and return to The Most High -God of the Israelites, so that The Lord our Messiah (whose name in the Hebrew language is “YASHAYAH”) can return and put these evil Gentiles who are our enemies into subjection and return God’s Chosen Remnant to their former glory as the true NATION OF ISRAEL (Book of Revelation Chapter 7)!

About Book Author Dr. Franklyn V. Beckles, Jr.

Book Author Dr. Franklyn Victor Beckles, Jr., is the first

African American to organize and lead a civil rights march to protest against

bullying, and racial profiling and discrimination in Public Schools in Augusta

Georgia! Read about his inspiring works as a Community Leader by Author Nathan

Van Sertima: “Dr. Beckles vs. the Richmond County Board of Education”

(Amazon.com). www.aikenstandard.com/article/20160110/AIK0101/160119950/

Famous

Community Leader Dr. Franklyn V. Beckles, Jr., organized the first historic

Civil Rights Crusade against Racial Injustice and Bullying in Richmond County

Schools in the history of the state of Georgia! eBook Writer Dr. Beckles (a.k.a. "Azariyah Ben Yosef") is a unsung hero and pioneer in the Hebrew Israelite Movement in America and a true Witness of God, who is happily married and the father of eight children!

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the-science-of-death-blog · 6 years

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Dr. Gabriel REYES

Twitter RP Headcanon Backstory

After the events of "Infiltration" in the Overwatch story, Gabriel had gone back to Talon's Super HQ in order to work on a serum to become human again. Despite his years becoming more comfortable and dawning his Reaper persona, he wished to somehow reverse the damage done to his cells by Moira so that he didn't have to suffer any longer.

Eventually, as everyone around him grew with old age and eventually died from different causes, Reaper was left to continue being immortal and lonely. He eventually dropped the project he had been working on, and instead began to focus on dimensional travel and connecting with supernatural.

Later in his life, Reaper had become more in-tune with his ghostly abilities, and eventually gained access to the supernatural limbo known as 'Purgatory'. He gained many enemies and caused some problems amongst the spirit, in which he was eventually sent to Hell as punishment. Reaper ended up effortlessly shooting his way through the Nine Circles of Hell, meeting with Satan himself at the end. To put it short, Reaper beat the shit out of him out of annoyance, which led to Satan eventually banishing Reaper back to Purgatory.

Now Reaper travels back and forth between his world and Purgatory every now and then, and is still working on his Inter-dimensional travelling project.

ㅏㅡㅡㅡㅡㅓ

- Reaper now posses an arsenal of weapons that he can create using his shadow abilities. I mostly uses his shotguns and a new scythe;

- Reaper has gained super strength over the years thanks to his cell disease, allowing him to fight enemies that he never could have in his youth;

- He can create bird-like creatures that he can use for a multitude of purposes. They each have their own personalities, but still share a mind with Reaper, allowing him to see and even talk through them;

- Like in the Overwatch game, Reaper can heal himself and become stronger with every attack, and can steal the souls of his victims to also gain their memories;

- Unlike in his murderous and evil past self, Reaper is now an anti-hero. He can heal others by giving away his own cells to repair wounds and missing limbs;

#My RP Headcanons #MedicusMortis #Zanverso

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kaijuzilla · 6 years

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DB: Gurren Lagann vs GaoGaiGar

^ Image from here

Fighting Spirits and Courage. Two mens who faces greatest threats to the universe and continue to fight to save the their home and humanity. The ”King of Braves“ GaoGaiGar pilot by Guy and the “Super Ultra Combining” Gurren Lagann pilot by Simon. I want to make a info if one day if theses two powerful fighter will be one day to entering a Death Battle.

(May contain language)

Gurren Lagann:

Deep in space in the past there’s been an Anti-Spiral War between the Anti Spiral and the Spiral Warriors which fail as one of the Spiral Warrior turn his back on his team and comes back to Earth naming himself the Spiral King as the Beastmen rule the surface. Many years past as furries rule the top and humans living underground like mole and with moles too. Till that day is change when a young boy name Simon the Driller (or Digger?) have found a mysterious key and a robot face known as Lagann. Along with his brother Kamina who lead a group Team Gurren (later name Team Dai Gurren) who he said the surface exist which him and Simon day change as a mecha known as Gunmen crash to their town and Simon take Kamina and a hot sniper chick with them to ride in Lagann as they defeat the mecha with Lagann and finally see the surface. Later on Kamina got his own gunmen name Gurren and decided “hey we’re up against a guy whose robot taller than mine! Hey Simon let’s combine!” She when he stab Lagann on Gurren, Lagann energy activate and became with Gurren as Gurren Lagann. (Lagann can combine with any robot.)

First lets talk about Spiral Energy. It’s a power or an energy that powers up the Laganns and use to create Drills. This power comes from fighting spirits from the pilot which everything that is living have spiral energy inside them. This also helps them to evolve further like Simons mole pet in one episode. But thing is spiral energy that only fighting spirit help the Lagann to move so if the pilot goes berserk or abusing the power to destroy and revenge will cause the energy to overload and out of the pilots control (For example Simon crying and not begin himself when Kamina die). But Simon snap back out of it and recover which made him and Gurren Lagann stronger.

Lagann may be small but for a head with legs and arms and bunch of drills it’s a dangerous tiny mecha. He even takes on the Spiral King own robot Lazengann which is an evil version of Gurren Lagann. Very tough to handle huge weapons that are bigger than it’s body and still function. When combine with Gurren to be Gurren Lagann it gives them more speed, strength, modability, and fly when Simon hijack one of the beastmen jet gunmen to become the robot jetpack with wings giving it the advantage to the air. And let’s not forget the drills it has like there’s like infinite amount of drills on this robot! It’s arsenals are crazy, it can shoot drills from it’s arms, extend the drills like spikes from all it’s holes which penetrated easily through gunmen and destroy them fast, uses it’s glasses and jetpack as boomerangs. But if we’re gonna do something big then once he throw it’s glasses boomerang to hold the enemies to place so it can uses all the drills to one hand to create the ultimate move! The Giga Drill Breaker! It’s one of Gurren Lagann finishing move which it can penetrate through the enemy cockpit in the mech which kills them and the mecha along with it which then makes it look cooler (King Kittan achive it as well to sacrifice himself to get Super Galaxy Dai Gurren to Transform). That’s not all he can use his drill. If it need to swim through water it can use it’s drill and spin fast in water easily and go fast too like dam. It can also use the drills to make mini drills and shoot them like missiles. Like this robot weapons is only a drills that can spawn as much drill as it wants like seriously where and how are theses drills made and come out. (If the drill is broken off it can regrow new one fast)

But there’s more thing about Gurren Lagann and that’s Lagann himself along with Simon too. When combining it uses the spiral energy to control Gurren which Simon in his later age pilot Gurren Lagann alone with out the secondary pilot but later team with Viral who became the secondary pilot. But with Lagann it can control Dai Gurren during one episode when they hijack it and mostly Lagann can combine with any robot it thrusts it’s drill into.

Along with that power Simon can use Gurren Lagann to go bigger if he combine it with “Arc-Gurren” which is the biggest giant spaceship to become Arc Gurren Lagann which is a same size as Dekabutsu which if we look at this image here...

that’s just FUCKING HUGE! which given the size and the layer of atmosphere it must be by the Ozone Layer where planes and jets can fly high. It can punch object through the space and time continuum with a single uppercut. But if you want it bigger well there is Super Galaxy Dai Gurren (a colossal battleship) which transform into Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann which that battleship size is longer than the moon length but in robot mode it’s bigger than the moon and got drill on the tip of each fingers and 2 giant drills on it’s shoulders! But that’s not all! In the final battle against the Anti Spiral he and his friends combine their Spiral Powers which create the true and broke the record of the most biggest robot in history “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann” which is a size of a universe. It’s get more bigger to make Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which is bigger than the universes like dam!!! A drill that size will take out anything! Still he need his friends to get that huge.

So you got a head, put it on a body that has a face, then get that body into a ship, then that ship into a bigger ship, which becomes and inside a giant robot which that robot gets bigger to become a even bigger robot! WHAT IS THIS SOME ROBOT ORGY!?

Gurren Lagann may look unstoppable but it still got some weakness to them. It requires two pilots to ride Gurren Lagann as Simon as an adult then controls the two mechas alone but still get Viral to pilot Gurren. The Spiral Energy is run by fighting spirit which if the pilot lacks any then he’s a goner even abusing it will cause it to overload. Lagann is tough but when fighting the spiral king himself he punch it and rip it’s arms off with force but Simon defeats him with the drill key which leaves a huge hole on the king body and kills him. And Simon without Lagann against the anti Spiral he create a drill on his hand from his own blood and defeat the Anti Spiral for good or use Lagann in the actual episode to beat him.

But we know that when it comes to Simon. His drill is the drill that can pierce the heavens.

"If you're gonna dig, dig to the heavens. No matter what's in my way, I won't stop! Once I've dug through - it means that I've won! ... Just who the hell do you think I am? I'm Simon. I'm not my Bro! I'M ME!! Simon the Digger!"

GaoGaiGar:

Long ago a space man name Guy is on a satellite spaceship till one day an alien call Zondar crash his ship and closely killing him. But was save by the might Galeon kind of his grandpa repair him now making him a hot anime robocop who can run faster than a bullet train and do transformation like a power ranger. Later year when they finally defeated the Zondar, Guy whose body is powered by the G-stone which Galeon give to him recover his whole body evolving him. But with help of Galeon, Guy can fuse with the alien robot lion to become GaiGar.

Now G-Stone is an energy source stone that was made from a planet call Green Planet. It was use for the GGG for technology energy or other word infinite battery source. The energy works by turning courage into energy. And Guy has alot of courage in him.

GaiGar possesses jetpack for dodging, speed, and sharp lion claws for combat but can call upon the Gao Machines to help with flying and to thrust drills with it’s arms too. There’s many Machines but recent ones are the Genesic Gao Machines which Galeon became Genesic Galeon to Genesic GaiGar. which possess same moves but upgraded to become stronger with Guy along with it. When Guy calls to Final Fusion he can combine with the machines to become the reborn legendary King of Brave GaoGaiGar. (During Final Fusion it creates a green dust clouds to cover and protects GaiGar during transformation)

(Final Fusion) & (Genesic Final Fusion) <--click to see video

“This is the strongest God of Destruction. It's the ultimate shape of courage. We've struggled greatly for this great inheritance. His name is...King of Braves..Genesic GaoGaiGar!”

GaoGaiGar strength is unbelievable, defenses unstoppable, and size is big! For it’s left arm it can create a wall of protection (Protect Shade) (Heaven) and spin his right fist to launch it out as a deadly flying spinning death punch (Broken Magnum) (Hell). With GadgetGao it can gives GaoGaiGar arsenals to close combat and like the past gadgets like Dividing Driver it can split space and surroundings to make a fighting like arena field which stay for 30 min. and Will Knife to create a sword like hand for the right arm. It got two knee drills which he can kick and drill them hard. It’s whole body is protected by a Genesic Aura which protects it from harm but from it’s final battle doesn’t look like it. So when to finish things off it will use the hot & cold, fire & water, life & death, but the powerful Hell and Heaven! It catches them in the green tornado gravity lock and charges full force turning them into scrap as he rips out the core destroying the body. If that ever fail he can use the Goldion Hammer that can turn anything into photon level particles leaving no destruction as if the guy is a bomb so if he destroys him he explode but with the hammer he can turn the explosions to dust by bonking it on the head. But if wack a mole becomes a bigger threat Guy can go to space and use the most powerful G Tool of them all...

The Goldion Crusher (<-- click to see video)

Known as the “Gravity Shockwave Generating Division Tool” this giant planet size energy hammer is the final trump card for GaoGaiGar. It was made for only GaoFighGar but the GGG modify it to make it for Genesic GaoGaiGar but he punch it really hard to get his right arm to fit it. Just like the hammer when swing it can destroy anything it hit with the bright gold energy hammer head turning them into light. Like seriously when I say huge this thing looks bigger than the Moon or Earth!?

In past Guy inside the giant robot faces alot of obstacles which pushes their limits to keep fighting. He went to depth of ocean about 1,001 with the help of the Dividing Driver and come out all tired out, handle the Goldion Hammer with out Goldymarg, under huge amount of gravity pressure that only Goldymarg can handle when he was GaiGar, withstand a nova explosion which he’s been there for a long time, took down the Zondar leader and a deadly final battle that he literally got stab in the freaking chest from a sword! Like dam he got some guts.

When in the heat of battle if things are going down he still believe he can still keep going with every last energy he has in him and the mecha itself. So he pushing more further and get stronger even when the robot body is becoming scrapped and breaking apart.

He maybe reckless but Guy has guts and with that he still continue fighting no matter how badly damage he is for he will show the power of the G-Stone and his True Courage.

“When those with courage hold a G-Stone...THEY WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE POWER TO CLAIM VICTORY!!!”

MOD: This is all I got so far and I can’t wait to see if Death Battle does this in any episodes. If you want see recent episode of Death Battle go to Rooster Teeth site or YouTube to watch their updated Death Battle as they’re close to their 100th episode.

#Death Battle #screwattack death battle #screwattack #Rooster Teeth #Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann #King of Braves GaoGaiGar #anime #mecha #MOD

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burganprell · 6 years

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Welcome, Y’all

I just hate those bumper stickers popping up around Austin that say “Don’t Move Here.” Many a Facebook post expresses the same.

I get the joke, but it’s just not funny.

This is a post about the future of Austin. It’s a post about Mayor Adler and his challenger this Fall, Laura Morrison. It’s a post in some ways about about the inevitable. It’s a little bit about Amazon, and it’s a lot about making sure Austin’s continued rise benefits everyone.

“We can only say the state of our city is strong if we are affirmatively building a future in which we preserve the soul and spirit of Austin.”

—Mayor Steve Adler

Our problems aren’t any one person’s fault, and no more the fault of a newcomer than a decades-long veteran.

If we ever stop being hospitable, we really will have lost the soul and the spirit of Austin. If we ever stop being a refuge and a block party and a march for good over evil, we really will have lost the soul and the spirit of Austin.

If we ever stop using our disposable income to vote for how we want the city to be, we will have lost the soul and spirit of Austin.

Instead of saying “Don’t Move Here” I’d rather we say what so many of you said to me when I first showed up, 12 years ago.

Welcome, Y’all.

. . .

In fact, when we say “Don’t Move Here,” we start sounding a lot like the anti-immigration nationalists we so strongly oppose on the national stage. I’m flabbergasted by my liberal brethren regularly these days, and this is just one reason why.

Unless we are going to build a Trump-like wall around Austin, we have got to be more solution minded.

I’m not particularly interested in hearing more from complain-y do-nothings, and least of all Laura Morrison, who already had her shot at addressing these issues in her first stint on Council from 2008-2015.

During her tenure, the issues in play were exactly the same as they are today, and the progress made was to my mind and many others’ deeply unsatisfactory.

Folks like Morrison can be eloquent when talking about Austin’s problems, but remain woefully short on ideas and action.

Every single one of Morrison’s answers to a difficult question — about transportation, about economic segregation, about homelessness, about CODENext — ends up with a non-committal “we have to strike a balance” or “we have to look at that closely” or “I think there are ways that we can grow, without doing that” — to which no specifics nor any follow-up is ever offered.

. . .

The one thing Morrison did do?

She led the anti-Prop1 PAC “Our City, Our Safety, Our Choice,” which fronted the fight against Uber and Lyft in Austin.

The net result? The Texas State Legislature overruled us and Uber and Lyft are back, more free to operate than ever before.

When meeting with technology companies and their workers, Morrison is likely to bring up her professional training as an engineer at her time at Lockheed. Don’t take the bait.

In case you have erased all memory of the ugly battle with Uber and Lyft from your mind, now is the time to recall:

Mayor Steve Adler had actually negotiated a signed, precedent-setting MOU from both Uber and Lyft that extracted important concessions from both companies, most important of all related to ensuring both driver and passenger safety. Tax revenue and data sharing were the other key components.

What caused that fight in the first place was later obscured: the rideshare-related numbers for rape and sexual assault had indisputably risen according to SAFE and our own Police Department. Folks predictably cast doubt on those numbers but they held up under scrutiny.

The philosophical argument about the utility and efficacy of fingerprinting drivers was less compelling to me personally and for many of you; regardless, Adler had solved this also. His innovative Thumbs Up! ordinance passed; a corresponding 100% voluntary identification program was to use market dynamics to incentivize validation instead of requiring it.

Alas, Council rejected the MOU, afraid to act. At the time it was much more popular to put the vote to the people, avoiding what had become a political third rail for everyone.

Uber and Lyft of course did themselves zero favors with their brash tone and dishonest backroom dealings. But I and many others were strongly in search of a workable compromise, instead of a temporary moral victory, followed by swift rebuke.

. . .

It’s really easy to fear-monger like Morrison does. “Everything’s going to change,” she loves to say. Change in Austin is not only not new, it has been constant for more than 100 years.

Morrison never goes so far as to claim she can prevent change, but it’s clear she intends to slow it down as much as possible. In the process of making her argument, Morrison enlists the typical boogeymen: real estate developers, Californians, technology companies, and businesspeople generally.

The funny thing is that those constituencies are forwarding some of the most progressive initiatives in the city, driven by a race to recruit, train, and develop talent (more on this later).

The scariest speaking point in Morrison’s arsenal? “It's time for a leader whose priority is the people who live here right now,” she often says.

The Chronicle’s Michael King was quick to pick up on this rhetoric in his interview of Morrison this past January when she first announced:

“[You make] a fairly sharp distinction between the people that live here “now” and the people that are going to live here. Does that mean people who have lived here for five years? For 10 years? Does the door slam tomorrow?”

Morrison’s response was typical: “Nobody has the power for the door to slam – if somebody had the power, would that be good? Probably not.”

Probably not?

It gets better. She continues: “the fact of the matter is, we need to make sure that we don’t turn people into losers.”

To me that’s code for protectionism, not egalitarianism. Morrison isn’t worried about the people who are already hurting. She’s looking out for folks who are not losing now, but are worried they will start losing soon.

Remind you of anyone else’s rhetoric? Shall we just say it aloud together? Is it really time to Make Austin Great Again?

I think that’s precisely how Morrison’s campaign intends to have a fighting chance against Adler.

Invoke a particular way of life, romanticize it, and protect it. Hat-tip the little guy, and act like the incumbent has a swamp worth draining. Get elected. Start governing like it’s 1980, or earlier. Most importantly try like hell to give your NIMBY old guard donors their Austin back, come hell or high water.

. . .

Here is why I am still all-in on Steve Adler and why I think you should join me by giving whatever you can to his re-election campaign.

Steve is a convener who gets things done, but who also goes out of his way to make sure others get all the credit.

Steve is not a career politician. He’s a successful lawyer and committed philanthropist who isn’t worried about optics. He isn’t afraid to stand up to Abbot, Paxton, Sessions and Trump.

In recognition of this fact and more, the Anti-Defamation League gave Steve Adler and Diane Land the Audrey Maislin Humanitarian Award last year, which is a huge honor not to be taken lightly. It’s not just another one of these nice gala things that people in power are given to curry favor.

Neither Steve nor Diane ever hesitates to speak truth to power, and it shows. They have demonstrated time and time again that they are fierce advocates for the oppressed, the segregated, the discriminated, and the powerless. Their record in these matters is substantial.

In times like these our Mayor must be incredibly effective in affairs both foreign and domestic, so to speak. There’s no one else in Austin right now who can pull off that combination without sacrificing one endeavor for the other.

And I do love it when Steve gets his lawyer on.

Whether he is fighting SB4 tooth and nail, collaborating with Judge Eckhardt to protect Austin’s right to be a sanctuary city, or leading more than 50 other cities to join us in recommitting to the Paris Climate Accord, Adler makes me proud to live in Austin and to be part of these precedent-setting fights.

Steve’s “worst” flaw is trying to pull the sword from the stone on tough issues that no one else has the courage to touch.

I can live with that.

. . .

Sidebar: here’s a good related read in case you missed it: “Why the nation’s mayors are watching Austin Mayor Steve Adler” in the Statesman.

Accomplishments: here are the Mayor’s 2017 accomplishments. It’s a big list.

Priorities: Adler’s priorities for 2018 are here.

Donate: here’s where you can give to Adler’s campaign.

. . .

The hands down, no question, most alarming thing about Austin is that we are #1 in the nation in income inequality. That’s not a good list to be atop of.

Every other issue in my mind takes a back seat to this one.

Not nearly everyone is benefiting from Austin’s growth and prosperity. Our community is still suffering from the mind-bending injustice our leaders perpetrated way back in 1928.

And no, keeping companies like Amazon out of Austin isn’t going to help our #1 problem.

The jobs and the growth and the money that companies like Amazon and Apple and Oracle bring are not at all the problem. Folks worry about what Amazon would do to traffic, or affordability. The actual problem with these big new HQ projects is routing and bridging the opportunities they comprise to everyone in the city.

I know a lot of people who’d love to wade through traffic for an $85K yearly salary. I was at Huston-Tillotson University a few weeks ago with President Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette. Their students’ desire for tech jobs is consistent and intense, across a dozen majors.

A fix will not happen overnight, but again, addressing Austin’s intense, perverse, historic economic segregation must be our overriding priority.

Good news: our newly-minted Master Workforce Development Plan is strong, and can serve as a reliable template for decades to come.

The Austin Monitor captures the plan’s purpose and progress in a few succinct paragraphs, for those of you who may have missed it:

At last week’s City Council meeting, a procedural public hearing paved the way for the formal addition next month of the Master Community Workforce Plan to Imagine Austin, which is the city’s plan for the next 30 years. But it’s the work being done with high-profile employers like Samsung and job training providers such as Austin Community College taking place quietly in the background that proponents of the plan expect will soon produce more applicants for positions that employers said they’re having trouble filling. The workforce plan has a stated goal of creating 60,000 middle-skill jobs in three high-growth sectors – health care, information technology and advanced manufacturing – as well as lifting 10,000 residents out of lower-class income brackets. Since the plan was unveiled last June, employers in similar industries have been courted to participate in ongoing sessions to identify the needed soft skills and common challenges that make it difficult for them to find and retain new employees. Their findings are then presented to representatives from Austin Community College, Goodwill of Central Texas and Capital IDEA to help those organizations tailor their existing job training programs to better suit the needs of the market. Thus far those workforce development programs are being funded in part with $660,000 in workforce data management contracts Workforce Solutions has secured with the city and Travis County, which includes some contributions from Google and JP Morgan Chase. Ongoing fundraising efforts are expected to contribute as well.

If Amazon can commit to helping build these kinds of socio-economic and racial bridges both notionally and materially, I want them here. And same goes for every other company considering a move to Austin, large or small.

As Mayor Adler said in his letter to Amazon as part of our response to their RFP (full text here):

Our long-term goal in Austin is to both preserve the soul of our community and make it accessible to all – even as we excel as a community that continues to attract top talent. What new solutions and long-term investments in workforce development, affordability and mass transportation might we achieve together that would not have been possible otherwise? I firmly believe that Austin and Amazon can help each other achieve solutions to our biggest challenges. Even as you assess our community’s great assets, I ask you to look at our community’s greatest challenges as an opportunity to help craft a story for Amazon and for Austin that will be told for a long time.

. . .

Now, about those complaints. Are housing prices way up? Yes.

Are folks selling their homes and moving to cheaper enclaves in the suburbs to stave off property taxes they can’t afford? Are musicians moving to Lockhart and further, in search of more room to breathe, and make art?

Absolutely. Yes. Unequivocally. And irreversibly.

Austin’s going to need to be an active and innovative partner to Pflugerville and Round Rock and Manor and Taylor and Bastrop and Lockhart and San Marcos. Austin’s going to need to continue to aggressively invest in affordable housing. We are going to have to get together at long last and pass a new land use code, too.

Our current land use system is almost 50 years old and it’s the engine behind many — if not most — of our shared frustrations about Austin’s growth and development. Not passing a new code is not an option.

By the way, it is okay to complain about the flawed process of producing CodeNEXT, but no one should be up in arms that it’s hard to get this right. No other American city has grappled with the challenges Austin currently faces and succeeded. We are at the cutting edge in terms of defining of how modern cities can best scale.

For a super smart deep dive on this issue, read Nautilus Magazine’s “Why New York Is Just An Average City.”

We’re going to have to raise taxes too, a tough sell here in Texas, no doubt. This will most likely happen via larger and larger bond measures, with transportation and our school system remaining serially at the forefront for at least a decade. We’ve become a big American city, like it or not. It is time to acting like one too. That process starts and ends with infrastructure and education.

. . .

We are also going to have to consider community micro-bonds to fund and perhaps outright reclaim some of our struggling institutions. We are going to have to re-fund our longest-suffering school districts with private money too.

We are going to have to offer a lot more *paid* internships so that folks who don’t have “friends and family money” have equal access to personal and professional development opportunities.

We are going to have to continue being a “Kitty Hawk” for things like autonomous cars and delivery drones, no matter how uncomfortable or controversial.

We are going to have to continue fighting passionately, and standing steadfastly, as Mayor Adler consistently has, against SB4, as we are the epicenter of the nationwide fight about sanctuary cities; for the Paris Accord as a leading green, smart city; for restorative justice in our local courts and jails; for innovative, community-based policing; and against a state legislature that champions states’ right while denying incorporated Texan cities the same privilege.

And look, we have just got to vote —not just at the ballot box — but with our time, talent and money — on how we want Austin to be for years to come. Spend nights and weekends working on the causes you care about most, and spend cold hard cash on the stuff you value about this city above all else.

But of course, vote at the ballot box, too, for God’s sake. Vote again. Keep voting. Vote in the little stuff. Vote in the big stuff. Vote for fun. Vote even though it’s boring. Vote because so many others can’t.

As Beto has said more times than I can count, Texas isn’t a red state or a blue state. It’s a non-voting state.

We are actually 51st in the union in voter turnout (that number includes Puerto Rico). Sadly, Austin is no better than the rest of our fair state in this regard.

Travis County turnout dropped a whopping 50% between the 2016 Presidential election and last November. Some dropoff is always to be expected but wow. That’s pretty bad, friends.

Part of it I have to think is that folks are exhausted. No doubt others underestimate the importance and effect of local politics. But what I really think is going on is that for most people, Austin is wind at our backs, and we’re too often too busy to really notice, or care. Austin protects a lot of us from a lot of things. The mandate to vote shouldn’t be one of them.

. . .

It’s not all bad news. In fact, an incredible amount of the new has been incredibly good. It’s useful to remind ourselves of a few things.

Yes, UT is churning out high quality talent, but so are Huston-Tillotson, the Acton School of Business, St. Ed’s and ACC.

I think what Gary Keller is doing on Red River is awesome. We haven’t nearly saved live music yet, but we have the appropriate levels of panic and corresponding commitment to get the job done.

There is a ton of innovation going on in Austin around homelessness, affordable housing, tiny housing, and more. Have you visited Community First Village, which has pioneered a game changing approach to solving chronic homelessness?

Divinc is a local business incubator focused on women and people of color, and it is churning out high-quality, high-growth companies. 3/4 of the last graduating Techstars class had either a woman CEO or a woman on the executive team, no small thing sadly, in tech.

Speaking of UT, they recently hired Scott Aaronson. The university is building an incredible new quantum computing center around him, the first of its kind.

When was the last time you went to the Harry Ransom Center? Have you been to the new Ellsworth Kelly building at the Blanton?

The New York Times called Kelly’s Austin a “temple of light” and suggested that “no contemporary artwork of this scale by a major artist has matched its creator’s initial ambitions so perfectly as Kelly’s Austin.”

In fact, the paper’s art critic M.H. Miller went so far as to conclude that:

Long the music capital of the Southwest, Austin is now also a burgeoning outpost of the tech industry. But the presence of Kelly here almost instantaneously transforms it into an important art destination, the kind of place people make pilgrimages to.

How about that?

Our new medical school and teaching hospital are out of this world. Do you know about how they have completely reimagined the clinic from the inside out? Do you know what it takes — and means — to be a Trauma 1 center?

Mueller’s a big real estate project sure, but it is also the #2 green neighborhood in the whole U.S. according to Redfin, and an exciting precedent for future development.

Do you support Urban Roots and the Sustainable Food Center? Austin Bat Cave? SAFE? UMLAUF? The Thinkery? Foundation Communities? The Trail Foundation? The Texas Civil Rights Project?

Do you know about Manor New Tech high school, where you can see the best STEM curriculum in the country firsthand?

RideAustin emerged from a nasty fight about who gets to set the rules, but it is not just solvent, but writing big checks to other Austin nonprofits every single month, $350K in total and counting.

If we are lucky, Meow Wolf makes Austin their 3rd location. Liberty Lunch is long gone and so is Las Manitas, but The Skylark is still kicking, and so is the Sahara Lounge.

Wth all the traffic and our kvetching about it, we didn’t even drop down to #2 in the 2018 best places to live. We stayed #1. Even if we slide to number 4, 5, or 6, we are in great shape compared to most cities.

Obviously, I remain optimistic. Very much so. I’d love to hear why you remain so, too.

. . .

12 years ago, when I first got to Austin, another patron at Wink one table over stood up to tell us that we were “the problem” with what Austin was quickly becoming, having overheard our table’s conversation about my recent arrival.

Which was kind of funny in and of itself because we were all at...well, Wink. On the west side of Austin, sipping fancy wine with abandon.

This conversation is not new. These sentiments are not new. Generations before us invested in the icons and institutions that make Austin what it is today, in education, the arts, business, health and more. For that they should be lauded, and hopefully their example inspires us to do the same once more.

Those generations also irresponsibly kicked the can down the road on transportation, education, systemic racism and inequality, zoning, healthcare and more. We are left today to clean up several messes we didn’t make. But let’s not spend too long lamenting the errors of those who came before us.

I’m here for the long haul. I hope you are too. I’m glad we are talking about Amazon. I’m glad Amazon is talking about us.

I’m glad Steve Adler has an opponent. The contrast is striking, and useful because of the conversation it forces about original and modern Austin, and about complaining versus getting things done.

I’m glad we have a lot of work to do. Even better, we have the money, the talent, and the drive necessary to fix what’s broken.

I grew up in Baltimore. I love Baltimore. And it is doing better, slowly and surely. But Baltimore is not Austin, not yet anyway. Most cities would love to have our problems.

Again, we have every ability to solve what ails us. And I think we have a duty to do just that. For those of us to whom Austin has given so much, it’s time to give back.

Welcome, indeed.

P.S.

Steve has the biggest fundraising deadline of his reelection campaign on June 30th at midnight. That’s in 6 days.

Current and potential opponents will look at his report when deciding what their next moves will be. Please help out with a donation of $25, $50 or any amount that you can.

The max is up to $350 per person or $700 per couple, as allowed by our City. Click here to donate now.

Thank you!

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vinayv224 · 4 years

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5 activists on how they’re carrying Rep. John Lewis’s legacy forward

Rep. John Lewis amid supporters at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March 2020. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Lewis often encouraged other activists to make “good trouble” — these 5 reflect on continuing to do just that.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday at the age of 80.

Throughout his decades-long career, Lewis was known for his activism — from his roots as a Freedom Rider and firebrand organizer of the March on Washington, to the many times he was arrested, some as a member of the US House of Representatives. In his time as a lawmaker, he became an advocate for LGBTQ rights, expanded freedoms for immigrants and refugees, and supported gun reform measures. He continued this work in his final weeks — just a month before he died of pancreatic cancer, he visited Washington, DC’s Black Lives Matter Plaza, one of many places reflecting the current wave of anti-racism protests sweeping the world.

He was known for encouraging people to become activists themselves, saying they should not hesitate to get in “good trouble.” And he inspired many to do just that.

Here, five activists reflect on what Lewis’s legacy meant to them, and how it may be carried forward. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below.

Tanya Washington, professor of law at Georgia State University and former director of the John Lewis Fellowship Program

At 21, he was one of the first Freedom Riders; at 23, he was the chairperson of SNCC, and helped organize the March on Washington, and at 25, he was at the Selma protests. I think it’s empowering for young people to recognize that their energy, their perspective is necessary. It’s young people who moved the needle in the civil rights movement. They were college students, high school students. Some were even younger than that — the kids who integrated schools after Brown v. Board were little school kids. I think younger activists will draw from his legacy a sense of power and responsibility: Their contribution can begin right now.

Everyone quotes him saying, “Get in good trouble.” I think what that really has meant to me is to not be afraid to make decisions that are unpopular. What other people might call trouble, through a historical lens will be called progress. It’s inspired me to take risks when I’m guided by my moral compass.

I definitely see [his influence] when I look at the Black Lives Matter movement, and I see the young people in the streets, risking their lives and their health to enforce democracy, to make sure that we have justice as part of our criminal legal system, and that we eradicate racism. I see the same spirit that motivated John Lewis as a young person to get involved. He decides while he’s in college to sign up to be a Freedom Rider, which is not going to end well, just in terms of the risk to life and limb that it entails. But it was something he was willing to die for. And I’m seeing that same commitment made by young people who have been protesting in opposition to the issues, racism, and xenophobia that are all too prevalent in society today. I see that same spirit of youth activism, and that dedication and commitment.

One of the things that I really loved about John Lewis is that he understood that equality is not divisible. He wasn’t just fighting for equality and just for Black people, but for everyone. Unless everyone can enjoy equality, equality doesn’t exist. … I hope we will continue to see people working across intersectionality. It’s not just Black people, it’s trans Black women, it’s poor Indigenous men, it’s people from the LGBTQ community. All across the spectrum, until all of us are treated equally, none of us are treated equally. When he talked about the “beloved community,” he meant everybody.

He lived a life that set the example for how human beings can have an impact. From very humble beginnings, he became an American hero. I am so honored and humbled to have had a chance to work with him and to be inspired by his legacy. And I’ll miss him.

Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)

[Lewis] really underscored for me the power and the strength that it takes to do civil rights [work], and really crystallized the role of Black people in shaping this nation on an ongoing basis, and forcing this country to live up to its ideals and to deliver on its promises. It is truly by force that it happens — it’s by the force of will and stamina and strategy, on the part of people who have largely been nonviolent.

There’s a strength and power in that that is just immeasurable, and he embodied that completely. He was the epitome of that strength and power that could move mountains and destroy systems and force political hands, just through his tenacity and resolve and strategy. And brilliance — he was absolutely brilliant.

When I look at the faces of protesters on the street today, I see John Lewis. I see the Freedom Riders. … When I see young people going up against police, in military gear, who will wantonly attack them, even though they are only exercising their constitutional right of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, I see the bravery of people like John Lewis all over again. He set an example of what it means to speak truth to power, to look evil in the face and not blink.

One [way to carry forward his legacy] is to continue the unfinished business of building this democracy by securing and protecting the right to vote on an equal basis for all people, and that requires the passage of the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the legislation that he put his life on the line for (the Voting Rights Act of 1965), and protect the right to vote during a period of history when it is under severe and pernicious attack.

And the other policy area is the protection of protesters: Ensuring that the methodology that he used to great success is one that continues to be among the tools and the arsenal of people who want transformative change. If we cannot protect protesters — if we allow law enforcement and white supremacists to attack and interfere with peaceful protest — then we haven’t learned anything from the history of people like John Lewis.

It’s just remarkable to me how loving and upbeat and kind he remained, even toward his worst enemies. … Every American owes a debt to John Lewis for his sacrifice and his lifetime of service. He never seemed embittered by the fact that, even at 80, he still had to struggle for the rights that he fought for 55 years ago. He didn’t throw up his hands. He just encouraged others to keep up the fight, and stood right there with them and helped to lead it.

To face those struggles, to still be so generous of spirit and optimistic, it’s remarkable, and it’s the true marker of a whole person, of someone who is so self-possessed and is too strong to have their character marred by the external frailties of this country.

Kamau Chege, manager of the Washington Census Alliance

In 2013, I graduated high school, and shortly afterward, [worked as] an affiliate leader [with] United We Dream. That summer was the big summer for pushing the comprehensive immigration reform bill. We did a whole bunch of actions, but near the fall, as we’re wanting to escalate, members of Congress were demonstrating outside the Capitol, and Rep. John Lewis was arrested.

A couple weeks before that, I had gone down to DC, and we were strategizing how people were going to push [for the bill]. I went to talk to the Congressional Black Caucus, and was able to catch Rep. Lewis as he was walking. He was a fast walker! He was running late to a vote. I was explaining the bill, and asked, “Can we count on you?” He said, “You can count on me,” and gave the thumbs up.

I was young in 2013 — I was 18 years old — and this was somebody who was in our history and AP Gov classes, with the PBS Eyes on the Prize series. This is how the younger millennials understood him.

It wasn’t ’til the action where he was arrested, and I was watching that ... from afar, [where I] got this sense of, ‘This is his life’s work, in some ways: getting arrested for racial justice.’ He’s been doing this since he was my age; he joined SNCC when he was young.

I'm not the first to make this observation, but it's remarkable that for decades we had a sitting member of congress from the civil rights movement who regularly encouraged the public to break laws for the cause of racial justice. 10 days ago today: https://t.co/C5yT9pdH9O RIP. https://t.co/nKCjq1kKhg

— ☂️Kamau (@Kamaumaumau) July 18, 2020

After news came down that he had passed, one of the things I was thinking about, and I’ve been thinking about the past few years — my family has been here for 20 years, and we’ve been undocumented for 17 — is what kind of country my parents thought they were immigrating to.

They were probably trying to come to a country where everyone was guaranteed a dignified life. Jobs and justice. That’s a country that John Lewis probably did not see when he was young ... but it’s one that he got to see the beginnings of by the time I met him, in 2013, in the House, pushing for and alongside the new currents of movements.

[In 2013,] we’d be training for civil disobedience. Part of that would include reading about SNCC, what did they do, what kind of actions did they use, how were they able to push things forward and build a movement that a lot of people could see themselves in.

You run into a lot of John Lewis’s work, and how he ran SNCC at the time, and that’s still common. There’s still people from SNCC that advise young organizers now. And that meant that we saw ourselves as not starting something new, but in a lineage and a tradition of young people in general, and young Black and brown organizers, protesting and pushing to make sure that we grow up in the kind of country that John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, and the rest were shaping.

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund

He deeply believed in democracy. There were American founders who believed in creating this new nation, and they had some ideas, and explored a philosophy with democracy, but their actions show that they didn’t believe in the fullness of American democracy. They were the founders of the country, but not of democracy. They didn’t have the foresight to see John Lewis as a member of Congress, or to even see him as human enough to be able to vote.

John Lewis is one of the forefathers in this country of true democracy, who really internalized and believed in the expansion of the vote, not just for Black people but for all citizens. He believed in equality for all people. The forefathers didn’t believe that. He believed that.

I think he had an acute awareness of the work of young people, and of when young people are [being] marginalized in the movement. He provided a lot of grace and space for young people, which is why one of the last things he did was go out to [Washington, DC’s] Black Lives Matter Plaza. That was a message of, ‘I’m in solidarity with you.’ He was able to bridge this political world and this activist world, and understand the evolution of how movements take place.

The last time I saw him was this year in the Selma-Montgomery march [at the Edmund Pettus Bridge]. I didn’t think he was going to come this year, because of his cancer. … As we get to the top of the bridge, I’m standing there, the crowd stops. … He walks up to the crowd, like Moses parting the sea. I’m directly in front of him. I knew that was his last speech. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew.

“We were beaten, we were tear gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and someway, God Almighty helped me here.” This would be the last time John Lewis would visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge, 55 years after Bloody Sunday pic.twitter.com/BXqHyO0CQl

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 18, 2020

As an activist, the weeks prior to that had been really tough. … I was really feeling overwhelmed. I’m looking at this man who is literally battling cancer, to actually have the courage, to actually get the strength, and you could tell he was weak. He speaks to us, and it was just what I needed to feel affirmed. Even in that moment, I knew that I couldn’t ever stop this work. There’s a song, “Sweet Honey in the Rock:” “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.”

Here’s this 80-year-old man who is in Congress, who could literally just go sit at home and do what he wants and just be loved. He knew the importance of that moment, but he also knew the importance of that work. I felt that I, along with millions of others, were knighted. I felt affirmed and knighted in that moment, that our work was necessary.

I think it is not good enough to go back to the place from which we came. We are in a relay. We’ve got to take it forward. There’s a fragility [to] American democracy. … When you ever have your citizens in a place where they can fully participate, fully engage, that’s where you build patriotism. You don’t build patriotism by forcing people to acknowledge a flag that has been a symbol of hatred and racism. You build patriotism by creating the space for American citizens to engage, to be affirmed, and demonstrate their God-given agency.

Raquel Willis, director of communications of Ms. Foundation for Women; founder of Black Trans Circles

I met the congressman in 2016. He met with a group of organizers in Atlanta who were part of the Black Lives Matter movement. It was a powerful experience. He talked about his experiences and really gave us encouragement around the activism and the organizing work that we were already doing.

His lifelong commitment to liberation work is inspiring, I think particularly at the beginning of his organizing career. It’s important to understand that, no matter what age you are, you can get into the fight, and this is really, like it was for him, a lifelong commitment. So, we can’t expect there to be quick, flash-in-the-pan fixes for these systems of oppression. We have to be invested in the future.

Congressman John Lewis will forever be an example of a lifelong commitment to liberation. I will never forget the time he took to share his insights and encouragement with Atlanta #BlackLivesMatter organizers in 2016. His contributions are simply innumerable. #RIP, Sir. pic.twitter.com/7R7mXSGgtb

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) July 18, 2020

The movement that is happening now is just the continuation of Black liberation work that has happened for centuries. We like to have this idea that these movements are completely separate, but really, a lot of what has fueled [activists today] has come from the movements before. There’s a direct line to the civil rights movement from where we are now in the movement for Black lives.

Particularly in this election year, I think his work around strengthening folks’ access to electoral power is important, but I also think that sometimes what’s more important is the organizing that happens on the ground amongst the people, just getting people involved, beyond voting. There’s so many different ways that people can transform society, and I think we often only, or mostly, focus on electoral power.

When it comes to organizing, you can organize around so many different things, that what’s important is stretching the muscle. I think of organizing as a creative endeavor, so we have to be thinking about ways that we can expand access in whatever instances or spaces that we’re in.

I think it’s important when any figure dies that we hold the honor that we have for them, but that we hold the hard critiques that we may have about their decisions or some of their rhetoric while they were here. We do a disservice in trying to paint anyone as perfect. I think we can hold complicated feelings about figures without throwing out their legacy.

We should certainly be grateful for the strides that a figure like the congressman made, and we can also think about the ways that we can hold those critiques, honor those critiques and make a commitment to grow in our own work and be better figures for generations to come. I think a lot of what we can learn from any figure’s life is there’s so much more work to do, and there’s so many more ways to open doors for generations to come.

I hope that folks will continue to be invested in the organizers who are doing work on the ground today. We have a society that loves to look at our history of organizing with rose-colored glasses. Folks talk about the “civil rights movement” now, but at the time [those activists] were very maligned, and there wasn’t a genuine support for the work that they were doing, and that still continues today. I think we have to be reflective on the ways that we may critique current movements without really engaging with what they’re saying or what they’re fighting for.

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cutshawsnidowoa · 5 years

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What is Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome?

The post What is Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome? by Dr. Arnold Plotnick appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

It’s no secret that cats are mysterious. It’s part of their appeal. Cats constantly surprise us. As a feline practitioner, I’ve had many cat owners describe a scenario where their cat, relaxing on a couch or bed, suddenly sits up, gets a strange look in his eyes, frantically grooms his flank or tail, then darts across the room as if possessed by evil spirits.

It’s tempting to merely think of this as nutty cat behavior, but it may actually be signs of an enigmatic condition called feline hyperesthesia syndrome(FHS). The word hyperesthesia means extreme sensitivity to touch. Cats with FHS may show a variety of behavior changes, a prominent one being (as the name suggests) a heightened reactivity to being touched, most notably over the lower back and rump.

Signs and symptoms

The behavioral manifestations of FHS can vary widely. Most affected cats become fixated on their tails. They may swish their tails back and forth, chase them, compulsively groom them, oreven attack and mutilate them. The skin along the back may twitch or ripple. In fact, this disorder is sometimes referred to as “rolling skin disease.”

Some cats will experience dramatic mood swings, with sudden bouts of hyperactive, aggressive, surprised or fearful behavior. During a bout of FHS, cats may show dilated pupils or get a strange look to their eyes, perhaps behaving as if they’re having hallucinations: seemingly following the movement of a spot or an insect that isn’t there, fleeing from an unseen adversary or staring vacuously into space. A few cats during an episode of FHS willvocalize, crying or meowing loudly. Although these episodes may happen spontaneously, they may be triggered simply by touching or stroking a cat along the spine.

In severe cases, the signs of FHS can progress to a seizure, with the cat falling over, salivating, his legs paddling. Cats of any age may be affected, although it’s more common in mature animals. Abyssinians, Burmese, Himalayans and Siamese are predisposed, although any breed can be afflicted. Every cat is different in terms of how frequently these episodes occur, from once every few days to every day to nearly constantly throughout the day.

Episodes of FHS can be triggered by simply touching the cat.

The cause of FHS remains elusive. Some people feel that it may be some type of seizure disorder, as some cats will experience a grand mal seizure during or following a bout of FHS. The fact that some cats respond to antiseizure medication supports this notion. Other people claim that FHS may be a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with the obsession relating mainly to grooming. The compulsive nature of the self-directed flank and/or tail grooming, and the positive response in some cats to anti-obsessional drugs supports this school of thought.

A possible hereditary tendency for FHS has also been suggested, as Oriental breeds are predisposed to the disorder. As with many behavioral conditions in cats, stress contributes to the symptoms of FHS.

Diagnosis and treatment

There is no definitive test for FHS. A diagnosis is made based on the cat’s behavioral signs and by ruling out other medical disorders, especially skin disorders that may cause itchingand discomfort, and hyperthyroidism, which can cause hyperactivity, increased vocalization and other behavioral changes.

Treatment of FHS involves minimizing stress in the cat’s environment. Engaging in daily play behavior with the cat is thought to be beneficial. Actions that are known to trigger a bout of FHS, such as petting or scratching on the lower back or near the base of the tail should be strictly avoided.

In cases where bouts of FHS occur frequently and spontaneously, or where the symptoms are severe, medical therapy may be warranted. In my practice, I initially prescribe anti-obsessional drugs, with fluoxetine (Prozac) being my first choice. I have found it to be safe, effective and affordable.

If the cat responds poorly (or not at all), I will switch to an anti-convulsant drug, my first choice being phenobarbital, letting owners know that it may take two or three weeks before phenobarbital reaches effective levels in the bloodstream. Gabapentin, an anti-seizure drug that is also effective at reducing nerve-associated pain, is a recent addition to the arsenal of drugs that may be tried when treating FHS.

Fortunately, most cats with FHS respond nicely to environmental and pharmacological therapy, allowing them to once again lead a normal life. But if all medical treatments and behavior modifications fail to solve the problem, tail amputation needs to be considered. The cat may still show signs of obsession with the rear end and flank area, but amputating the tail will at least curb the mutilation, which can lead to infection. While I’ve never had a cat completely fail to respond to treatment, I’ve had some cats that required high doses of medication.

How to HELP at home

Providing a stimulating environment helps cats with FHS. A boring, monotonous environment is an underappreciated cause of stress in many cats.

Use interactive toys to encourage predatory play, like feather toys on a wand. Although moving, interactive toys are best, an assortment of toys should be provided. Interactive toys allow cats to “blow off steam,” reducing any bottled-up prey drive.

Enrich the environment by adding perches so the cat can look down on the world from an elevated platform (cats love this), setting up a fish tank or getting a window bird feeder to make the cat’s life more interesting.

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omginstantpaperbouquetblr · 6 years

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By Andrew Levine / Counterpunch.

Photo by Don Relyea | CC BY 2.0

Like it or not, in the 2018 midterms, the only way to defeat Republicans – and defy Donald Trump (or Mike Pence) — will be to vote for Democrats.

I don’t like it, and I don’t think anybody else should either. The Democratic Party is part of the problem. It would have to change beyond recognition to become even a small part of the solution.

But, at least in the short run, voting for a Democrat is the only way to ward off a pernicious, clear, present, and extremely grave danger.

The problem is not that there aren’t many Americans willing and eager to change the world radically for the better; there are plenty. It is that our debilitating duopoly party system holds sway over us. The idea that whatever is not Republican must be Democratic might as well be imprinted in our minds.

Those two parties have worked hard over many years to make this the case, and they are at it still. Corporate media do yeoman service in their behalf.

This is why a large segment of the anti-Trump “resistance,” perhaps the most anodyne political force ever to use that word, is, for all intents and purposes, a Democratic Party project, and why much of the rest either is or is about to be coopted into the Democratic fold.

Good or bad (or very bad), this is inevitable. Democratic victories in 2018 are not quite as inevitable because Democrats have a knack for losing with winning hands. But this time around, even more than in 2016, they would have to outdo themselves not to take control of both the Senate and the House.

Insofar as Democratic victories weaken the Republican Party, diminishing its hold over national and state institutions, then bring them on. A pox on them, though, insofar as they help build the Democratic Party in anything like its present form.

On a scale of one to ten, where one is as bad as it has ever been in American politics since the “segregation forever” days and ten is as good as it ever got, Republicans today are somewhere in the minus three to five range. Trump himself is incommensurable because he is too much all over the place; but all the places he goes are bad.

By that measure, Democrats get a two or three. That would be Democrats of the Clinton, Schumer, Pelosi type. Democrats of the Sanders, Warren variety are better than that, at least on domestic matters, and the jury is out on the new people who are reportedly preparing to run for office as Democrats in 2018. Some of them may even have a radical bone or two in their bodies; or one can at least hope.

The worst thing about Democrats is their eagerness to prepare the way in public opinion for stumbling into World War III. To be sure, their warmongering is only the most glaring reason to find them appalling. Their newly found love for the pillars of the national security state – especially the FBI and CIA – is another. And, of course, there are all the many ways that they and the GOP are of one mind in supporting a neoliberal world order with America calling the shots.

In short, they are bad news – in ways that drag down everyone in their fold.

But our duopoly party system has colonized American political culture so thoroughly that it has become almost unthinkable for opponents of Republicans not to be supporters of Democrats. And even when they are not – when, for example, they vote for the Greens – the thought that a vote for anybody but a Democrat is a vote for a Republican is inevitably on the mind; pathetically, in many circumstances, this is at least arguably the case.

Because the stakes are so high in 2018, and the alternatives so weak, few and far between, the duopoly’s hold over oppositional politics this time around is likely to be more than usually difficult to exorcise. There is no choice but to deal with it and, if need be, to acquiesce.

It should go without saying that the case against lesser evil voting is sound, and that it makes excellent sense, logically and (in most imaginable circumstances) politically, to oppose Republicans without supporting Democrats. Lesser evil voting elects evils; worse still, it promotes a race to the bottom.

But with an adolescent boy in an old man’s body controlling the nuclear arsenal and locked into a sick co-dependent relationship with a Republic Party comprised of loathsome troglodytes dead set on undoing most of the advances of the past hundred years, otherwise sound positions must sometimes be overridden. To fight back against Trump and all things Trumpian, one must do what one must do; the urgency could hardly be greater.

But then it is important to keep a clear head – by not disregarding the dangers inherent in using the only means available, in the short term, for holding the Trumpian menace at bay.

***

Despite all the brouhaha that corporate media present as gospel truth, it is still far from clear precisely what, if anything, “Russiagate” amounts to; only the hypocrisy inherent in the (always vague) charges is certain.

At least since the end of Word War II, the United States has been the most flagrant meddler in the affairs of other countries of all time.

When the Soviet Union was intact and strong, there wasn’t much American intelligence services could accomplish there, though not for lack of trying. Then Soviet “satellites,” in Eastern Europe bore the brunt – along with Cuba, of course, and everywhere else there was a whiff of Soviet influence.

China and countries in Asia and Africa that were, even in minor ways, in its ambit received similar attention. But, back in the day, American planners saw the Soviet Union as the greater threat. That was therefore where America meddled more.

When the Soviet Union imploded and split apart, former Soviet Republics became Target Number One – largely because American planners made incorporating them into the empire a top priority.

The Russian federation itself was, at first, less of a priority because it didn’t have to be. With its economy in tatters thanks to the brutal way that its regression to capitalism was engineered (partly with American help), and with a government headed by a drunkard, Boris Yeltsin, and run by and for oligarchs and kleptocrats, there wasn’t much for the CIA to do.

The Clintons loved it and so did the neocons. They would like nothing more than to make America great again by knocking Russia back down to where it was in the Bill Clinton days.

But, of course, American meddling is and never has been confined just to parts of the world on the other side of “the Iron Curtain” and in what used to be called the Third World. The United States is a serial meddler – in every country on earth that might not otherwise do what the empire’s stewards want.

And yet the political class and its media flunkies are shocked, shocked that Russia would be so uppity as to meddle too – in American elections, no less. Again, the meddling they are supposed to have done is of an unspecified nature and without any apparent consequence. But so what! This cannot stand!

Words fail to describe the extent of the hypocrisy, the sheer chutzpah of it all.

To be fair, though, culpability on this account is not confined to the Democratic Party. Republicans are as bad or worse; or rather they were before Democrats found Russiagate a useful cudgel to use against Trump and therefore against them.

Self-righteous hypocrisy about the moral and political rectitude of “the city on the hill” is a bipartisan affliction — more American than apple pie.

***

However, zeal in reviving Cold War animosities – and therefore in making our world more dangerous than it need be – is not. As a Cold War party, Democrats are worse. Or, rather, they have been ever since the summer of 2016, when the Clinton campaign decided that it would be a good idea to go neocon. Since then, the idea has taken on a life of its own, and spilled out into wider circles at home and abroad.

The idea at first was not exactly to lay the groundwork for not blaming themselves should Clinton lose to Trump; no one, including Trump and the people around him, thought that was more than a theoretical possibility.

But Team Hillary was concerned that only second wave feminists and Democratic Party hacks were enthusiastic about the prospect of a Hillary (or Hillary and Bill) Restoration.

The contrast with the enthusiasm Bernie Sanders had stirred up was palpable. This, along with the fact that, even without leaked emails, everybody who cared knew that the game had been rigged against him, made Clinton and her people worry that Sanders enthusiasts and other potential Democratic voters would stay home on Election Day.

The more preposterous the alternative was, the greater the probability of that. Nobody, not even the Republicans Trump defeated to become that party’s nominee, was more preposterous than the Donald.

Low enthusiasm for Clinton wouldn’t put Trump in the White House – that was unthinkable – but a little insurance couldn’t hurt.

And so they did, as best they could, what Democrats did back in the Harry Truman days and for many years thereafter. They could hardly redbait the Russians outright; the Russian government, under Vladimir Putin, is no redder than they, which is about as un-red as can be (in the old, not the corporate media, sense.)

It turns out, though, that redbaiters no longer need reds to redbait; the original Cold Warriors had done their job well so well that, even now that anti-Communism is an historical anachronism, its spirit survives, as much a tenet of the American civil religion as ever.

This, like so much else, is part of the patrimony of both mainstream political parties. But with the GOP under Trump’s thumb, and with Trump pushing a Russia-friendly line, it fell to the Democrats to get out in front.

Someday, perhaps quite soon, Trump’s reasons for being less bellicose than Clinton will become clearer. Most likely, financial shenanigans of a criminal kind are involved. For now, though, we can only be grateful that the positions he campaigned on and that his administration has so far taken are less extreme.

When Democrats took it upon themselves to play an up-dated version of the anti-Communist card, they caught a break. Russia, under Putin, was acting in ways that they and their propagandist could easily, if not quite fairly, demonize.

Ever since the Soviet Union expired and Chinese Communism took off down “the capitalist road,” history has been repeating itself – not as tragedy or farce, as Marx (following Hegel) said great historical events often do, but as a bizarre combination of the two.

After the Bolshevik Revolution and during the course of the civil war that ensued, capitalist powers, including the United States, constructed a military equivalent of a quarantine barrier, the infamous cordon sanitaire, around revolutionary Russia. Nearly a century later, the United States and its allies set about doing it again.

Ronald Regan promised Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not move an inch further east. It did, of course – relentlessly. By the time Hillary Clinton was about to move back into the White House, NATO had moved about as far to the east as it could.

Ukraine, however, was not yet in the US-EU fold – to the dismay of the liberal imperialists whom Clinton had empowered when she was Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, and whom Obama continued to support during his second term.

Many Ukrainians, especially in the mainly Ukrainian (not Russian) speaking western parts of the country, didn’t much like it either. Some of them were comparatively benign nationalists; many were fascists or quasi-fascists.

Their attempts at staging yet one more “color revolution,” aided and abetted by Western, especially American, meddling, set off a militant resistance movement in the eastern, Russian speaking parts of the country; in the Crimea, above all. This finally forced Russia’s hand, giving Cold War revivalists in both parties an opportunity to let loose.

It was Democrats who made the most of the opportunity; with Trump in the White House, they had the most to gain. Thus they and their media flunkies set about stirring up old animosities that had never quite faded away even during the Bill Clinton salad days in the nineties when they no longer served any purpose.

***

Civics lessons in American secondary schools have gone the way of the dinosaurs, but, back in the day, when they were commonplace, they conveyed a certain view of what democratic governance is supposed to be like. What was taught in them aligned well with the expectations of America’s founders — and, more generally, with the thinking of the Enlightened political philosophers from whom those founders drew inspiration.

The general idea was that laws are, or ought to be, made and executed by public servants dedicated to doing what is best for the whole community, not just for themselves or for particular sub-communities, partial associations, or interest groups. Sophisticated versions of this line of thought survive to this day in the work of leading twentieth and twenty-first century political philosophers.

The real world of liberal democracy, ours especially, deviates profoundly from the civics lesson ideal. Electoral campaigns are not about figuring out what is best for the whole community; they are about selling candidates to voters in the mindless way that advertisers sell bars of soap.

This takes money, lots of it. The love of which is said to be the root of all evil. Perhaps it is. It is certainly the root of all Republican and (big-D) Democratic efforts to undermine (small-d) democracy.

Everybody knows this; indeed, it has always been this way to some extent. Neither Democrats nor Republicans object.

Therefore both parties court donors assiduously. Indeed, it is the main thing they do.

This is one reason why our political life is so morally and intellectually degraded. It is also a reason why economic inequalities spill over from the economic sphere into the real world of purportedly democratic institutions.

Even with formal equality of citizenship, gross inequalities of political influence make a mockery of the civics lesson story; and with increasing inequality, the deviation from the ideal is rapidly becoming even more extreme and salient.

Our profoundly irrational capitalist economic system in its current phase is largely to blame for this, along with the virulent “rent seeking” that economic and political inequalities encourage. Rent-seekers derive income not by adding to real productive capacities, but by using political influence to manipulate the social and economic environments in which economic activities occur.

And so we have entered into a period of grave economic and political turbulence. It is impossible to say how it will end.

The duopoly parties nevertheless toddle on unbothered. They could care less, more generally, about deviations from (small-d) democratic ideals – except insofar as they advantage or disadvantage one or the other party.

Voter suppression disadvantages Democrats. Therefore, they oppose it — in the milquetoast ways for which they are famous. They could oppose it more, but taking their own side is not in their nature.

It hardly bothers either party that the system is run by and for the hyper-rich, and both parties like – indeed, thrive on — a media system that dumbs voters down and marginalizes political views that fall outside the ambit of one or the other duopoly party.

But foreign meddling, Democrats insist, is beyond the pale. Democrats cannot abide foreigners, Russians no less, involving themselves in American elections.

Even if the Russians are guilty as charged and Vladimir Putin is as evil as Rachel Maddow thinks, the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson and practically every other American capitalist who wants something from the American government harms American “democracy” more.

Those “malefactors of great wealth,” as Teddy Roosevelt called their counterparts a century ago, generally get their way. The contrast with the alleged Russian meddlers is extreme; they don’t seem to have accomplished much of anything all.

Nevertheless, Democrats insist: the very idea of Russian meddling offends all we hold sacred. Therefore, praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

However, for them, as for their rivals in the other duopoly party, the meddling, direct or indirect, of countries that benefit the donor class is seldom even a problem. Their meddling, when on the up and up, which it often may be, is called “lobbying.” But even when it is not, prudent Democrats and Republicans look the other way.

Some of the most noxious regimes in the world are past masters at bending the American government to its will, regardless of the wishes of the American people; Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies are among the most extreme examples.

And then there is Israel, which no one in either duopoly party ever dares fault. Its meddling in American political affairs puts even American meddling in the affairs of other countries to shame.

Democrats and Republicans are fine with that. No matter that the government of Israel effectively owns Congress, or even that, by both conviction and marriage, it has the Trump family is in its thrall.

“A foolish consistency,” Emerson wrote, “is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Foolish inconsistencies are generally more insidious and damaging. The less odious duopoly party thrives on them, just as it has thrived lately on reviving the Cold War. Shame on it!

But unless circumstances change fundamentally in unforeseeable and extremely unlikely ways between now and November, there will be compelling reasons to vote for Democrats – or rather to vote against Republicans by voting for Democrats — in the coming midterm elections.

Even so, if anything of more lasting value than relief from some of the direst consequences of Trump’s election is to come from voting for Democrats in November, the time to start organizing against the party of the Clintons, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and others like them will not be after the election is over, when the old regime is riding high as it surely will be if there is a Democratic “wave.” The time for that is now.

---

ANDREW LEVINE is the author most recently of THE AMERICAN IDEOLOGY (Routledge) and POLITICAL KEY WORDS (Blackwell) as well as of many other books and articles in political philosophy. His most recent book is In Bad Faith: What’s Wrong With the Opium of the People. He was a Professor (philosophy) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Research Professor (philosophy) at the University of Maryland-College Park. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press).

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vinayv224 · 4 years

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5 activists on how they’re carrying Rep. John Lewis’s legacy forward

Rep. John Lewis amid supporters at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March 2020. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Lewis often encouraged other activists to make “good trouble” — these 5 reflect on continuing to do just that.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday at the age of 80.

He was known for encouraging people to become activists themselves, saying they should not hesitate to get in “good trouble.” And he inspired many to do just that.

Here, five activists reflect on what Lewis’s legacy meant to them, and how it may be carried forward. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below.

Tanya Washington, professor of law at Georgia State University and former director of the John Lewis Fellowship Program

Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)

Kamau Chege, manager of the Washington Census Alliance

— ☂️Kamau (@Kamaumaumau) July 18, 2020

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 18, 2020

Raquel Willis, director of communications of Ms. Foundation for Women; founder of Black Trans Circles

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) July 18, 2020

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hebrew-israelitecomics-blog · 5 years

Photo

TIMEWALKERS: THE WATCHERS AND EYES OF THE LORD

THE END

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THE END

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Book Author Dr. Franklyn Victor Beckles, Jr., is the first

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(Amazon.com). www.aikenstandard.com/article/20160110/AIK0101/160119950/

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Community Leader Dr. Franklyn V. Beckles, Jr., organized the first historic

Civil Rights Crusade against Racial Injustice and Bullying in Richmond County

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vinayv224 · 4 years

Link

5 activists on how they’re carrying Rep. John Lewis’s legacy forward

Rep. John Lewis amid supporters at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March 2020. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Lewis often encouraged other activists to make “good trouble” — these 5 reflect on continuing to do just that.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday at the age of 80.

He was known for encouraging people to become activists themselves, saying they should not hesitate to get in “good trouble.” And he inspired many to do just that.

Here, five activists reflect on what Lewis’s legacy meant to them, and how it may be carried forward. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below.

Tanya Washington, professor of law at Georgia State University and former director of the John Lewis Fellowship Program

Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)

Kamau Chege, manager of the Washington Census Alliance

— ☂️Kamau (@Kamaumaumau) July 18, 2020

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 18, 2020

Raquel Willis, director of communications of Ms. Foundation for Women; founder of Black Trans Circles

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) July 18, 2020

Support Vox’s explanatory journalism

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2ZLhGFU

#IFTTT #Blogger

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vinayv224 · 4 years

Link

Rep. John Lewis amid supporters at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in March 2020. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Lewis often encouraged other activists to make “good trouble” — these 5 reflect on continuing to do just that.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and icon of the civil rights movement, died Friday at the age of 80.

He was known for encouraging people to become activists themselves, saying they should not hesitate to get in “good trouble.” And he inspired many to do just that.

Here, five activists reflect on what Lewis’s legacy meant to them, and how it may be carried forward. Their responses, edited for clarity and length, are below.

Tanya Washington, professor of law at Georgia State University and former director of the John Lewis Fellowship Program

Janai Nelson, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)

Kamau Chege, manager of the Washington Census Alliance

— ☂️Kamau (@Kamaumaumau) July 18, 2020

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 18, 2020

Raquel Willis, director of communications of Ms. Foundation for Women; founder of Black Trans Circles

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) July 18, 2020

Support Vox’s explanatory journalism

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2ZLhGFU

#IFTTT #Blogger

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omginstantpaperbouquetblr · 6 years

Link

By Andrew Levine / Counterpunch.

Photo by Don Relyea | CC BY 2.0

Like it or not, in the 2018 midterms, the only way to defeat Republicans – and defy Donald Trump (or Mike Pence) — will be to vote for Democrats.

I don’t like it, and I don’t think anybody else should either. The Democratic Party is part of the problem. It would have to change beyond recognition to become even a small part of the solution.

But, at least in the short run, voting for a Democrat is the only way to ward off a pernicious, clear, present, and extremely grave danger.

Those two parties have worked hard over many years to make this the case, and they are at it still. Corporate media do yeoman service in their behalf.

In short, they are bad news – in ways that drag down everyone in their fold.

But then it is important to keep a clear head – by not disregarding the dangers inherent in using the only means available, in the short term, for holding the Trumpian menace at bay.

***

At least since the end of Word War II, the United States has been the most flagrant meddler in the affairs of other countries of all time.

When the Soviet Union imploded and split apart, former Soviet Republics became Target Number One – largely because American planners made incorporating them into the empire a top priority.

The Clintons loved it and so did the neocons. They would like nothing more than to make America great again by knocking Russia back down to where it was in the Bill Clinton days.

Words fail to describe the extent of the hypocrisy, the sheer chutzpah of it all.

Self-righteous hypocrisy about the moral and political rectitude of “the city on the hill” is a bipartisan affliction — more American than apple pie.

***

But Team Hillary was concerned that only second wave feminists and Democratic Party hacks were enthusiastic about the prospect of a Hillary (or Hillary and Bill) Restoration.

The more preposterous the alternative was, the greater the probability of that. Nobody, not even the Republicans Trump defeated to become that party’s nominee, was more preposterous than the Donald.

Low enthusiasm for Clinton wouldn’t put Trump in the White House – that was unthinkable – but a little insurance couldn’t hurt.

***

Everybody knows this; indeed, it has always been this way to some extent. Neither Democrats nor Republicans object.

Therefore both parties court donors assiduously. Indeed, it is the main thing they do.

And so we have entered into a period of grave economic and political turbulence. It is impossible to say how it will end.

But foreign meddling, Democrats insist, is beyond the pale. Democrats cannot abide foreigners, Russians no less, involving themselves in American elections.

Nevertheless, Democrats insist: the very idea of Russian meddling offends all we hold sacred. Therefore, praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

And then there is Israel, which no one in either duopoly party ever dares fault. Its meddling in American political affairs puts even American meddling in the affairs of other countries to shame.

---

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