#eu can i join

[corujalesbica]

Brazil is still, as we have been for 14 years, the country that most kills Lgbt people in the world, with an emphasis to trans women's murders.

Source 1

Source 2

I'm so tired. I cannot comfirm this information, but I heard this morning 80 people were killed or committed suicide just in the 4 first months of this year. My siblings were murdered and this cruel world won't allow me to cry for them. I'm scared. I'm tired.

#brazil #brasil #lgbt #lgbtq+ #dandara #EU NAO AGUENTO MAIS ESS MERDA DE PAÍS #E eu ? nao sou filhe da patria amada seus merdas ? #i wish i could leave i really did #but i cant #literally speaking i can when i turn 18 #but so many cant #i cannot and i WILL NOT leave my people to die like so many did #i will study and ill go strong and ill fight for each of these people until my last breath #ill join Antra or whatever organization will have me #theyll have to murder me to shut me up #and if i go at the very least ill know i die like those before me did #true to myself #and fighting

[june-again]

Self-indulgent angst idea (mutual pining w/Diluc?):

Bg info: Shiyu works under Ningguang at the ministry of civil affairs and as yelans main informant. They’re childhood friends with diluc and kaeya

After another successful mission to undermine the fatui, a few minor agents get pissed and kidnap Shiyu to lure Yelan and Diluc (with the intention to finish them off). They force Shiyu to write and sign a letter to Diluc and Yelan (basically exchange food for the letter).

Diluc/Yelan receive the letter with something likes code for emergencies (idk Latin or Greek or smth) and they realize oh shit, something is wrong. They go to the domain entrance and work together to save Shiyu. Insert battle and lots of vaporize dmg

They find Shiyu in a makeshift cell, who’s been starving for 2 days and obviously beat up

They bring Shiyu to favonius church to heal up (bc it’s the nearest) and after healing up Shiyu returns to liyue with Yelan

Enters scenes stuck in my head

D: Shiyu! Archons. How are you feeling? What did they do to you?

S: ‘Luc? Ye..kan?

D: Shh.. it’s going to be fine. You’re safe now.

S: you’re bleeding… Hurt!

Yelan: and you’re hardly conscious. Let’s get you out of these shackles first.

S: *sniffling* I’m sorry…. So sorry..

Y: none of this is your fault. All that matters is that you’re still here.

D: we need to get you medical attention as fast as possible. Please hang on a little longer.

S: heh… don’t make it sound like I’m about to die

(Diluc is having ptsd)

Y: he’s right, though. You’ve been stuck here for what, a week? We don’t know what they’ve done to you.

Diluc: Lets het out of here

S: wait… m-my vision

Diluc: ah, I have it with me here..

(Time skip to church of favonius)

It’s been a few days, Shiyu is awake and healing. Diluc often visits bcs pining lmao

K: *storms into room after he hears Shiyu is awake*

K:*sees Diluc hand feeding Shiyu soup/congee*

K:…

S:…

D:…

K:… I’ll come back later

WAIT YOU'RE JUST SITTING HERE WRITING THIS IN YOUR HEAD. you are like an hour from having a full fledged fic right in front of you. also ive never actually thought about diluc and yelan interacting but the idea is INTIMIDATING they are both HOT

#june's asks #nachotrash's input #the 'insert battle and lots of vapourize' part got me lmao #WAIT question #what serv do you play on... #if it's eu can i join ur serentea pot and buy something from the traveling salesman... #LMAO #also we should play together yes #?? #DILUC CARING FOR A HURT SO MY HEART ACHESSSSS

[littlefoxgw2]

Lute Daddy...

STOP LAUGHING IT’S A PLAYER’S CHARACTER NAME!!

Lute Daddy, I don’t know if you’re on Tumblr, but you have inspired me!  (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I SHALL LEARN MUSIC IN GW2! I SHALL BECOME A MUSICIAN! YOU HAVE PROVED IT IS POSSIBLE SO BY THE GODS I SHALL LEARN AND I SHALL BECOME GOOD.

One day, I will do a CONCERT for you all! and it will be mostly bon jovi because i listen to nothing else these days and i can’t read sheet so i learn by ear. but it will be a goddamn CONCERT and you will be DELIGHTED!

one day...........

#skyscale rambles #i want to move to EU servers and join Laranity's [CMAJ] guild because they look super fun in her videos and also talented #maybe they can teach me

[irresia]

no bc im losing it

so in english it's "I never knew you were a hugger" which is incredibly painful and all that

and so I went to check out the norwegian dub for shits n giggles and to laugh at the voices and mf sonic says "I KNEW you were a hugger!"

I NEED TO BE SEDATED

edit 1:

edit 2: NEW LANGUAGES!!! IT GETS CUTER FOR EVERY FUCKING DUB

@dykedandelion: sonic in french says "ON A JAMAIS ÉTÉ AUSSI PROCHE" which means "WE'VE NEVER BEEN THIS CLOSE"

I checked the swedish dub and sonic says: "TÄNK ATT DU KAN VARA SÅ KRAMIG" which means something like "TO THINK THAT YOU CAN BE SO HUGGABLE"=!"=)!)"!=

@lephalacat courteously gave me a heart attack by giving the korean dub, where sonic says: "너한테 안기는 날이 오다니" which means "I CAN'T BELIEVE THE DAY ARRIVED FOR ME TO GET HUGGED BY YOU"

with the combined effort of @wackyunicornart and @dykedandelion they've expertly deduced what sonic says in the dutch dub: "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU WERE SUCH A CUDDLER" i need aIR

@shadowthehedgehog swooped in with a delicious spanish one where sonic says: "QUIEN DIRÍA QUE TE GUSTABA ABRAZAR" which is "WHO KNEW YOU LIKED TO HUG" I NEED TO SIT IN A CORNER AND CRY

@luankuro in Portuguese sonic says something akin to "DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE SO AFFECTIONATE/TENDER" THIS SEASON HAS RUINED ME

@tenebraevesper graciously handed over both the croatian dub and the german dub; both of them just as DEVASTATING - in croatian, sonic says: "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU LIKE TO HUG", and in german, he says: "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU'RE INTO HUGGING" THESE HEDGEHOGS ARE GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME

I will join @kyri45 in their several several processing business days after the italian dub was revealed to have sonic say: "I DIDN'T SEE YOU AS SUCH AN AFFECTIONATE TYPE"

@polaris-reblog and from the left field we have an INCREDIBLE Thai dub with sonic that says: "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D BE THE TYPE TO CARRY/PICK PEOPLE UP" CAN I GET A WAHOO

@windpolygon comes in with an absolute gem in russian: "DO YOU LIKE/LOVE TO HUG" SO WHAT IF HE DOES

@transgender-battlekukku runs in with Brazilian Portuguese that has sonic say: "EU NÃO SABIA QUE VOCÊ ERA TÃO CARINHOSO" which they so lovingly translate to "I NEVER KNEW YOU WERE SO LOVING/AFFECTIONATE" FELLAS WE DIDN'T KNOW EITHER BEFORE TODAY

the polish version, given by @hereissananxiousmess, has sonic being a sMARTASS, saying: "AH SO YOU DO LIKE TO HUG" JESUS CHRIST THIS GETS CUTER EACH TIME

the Galician version has me by the tHROAT okay @shadowthtrash so in this version sonic says: "Nunca pensei que me foses levar no colo" which means "I'VE NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD CRADLE ME AROUND" OUEGHR that's so cute

@mmiriozuzo turkish dub and sub is sO sweet honestly bc in the dub he says: "Sarılmayı sevdiğini hiç bilmiyordum", which translates to "I NEVER KNEW YOU LIKED HUGGING" while the turkish sub writes: "Sen sarılmayı sever miydin?" which means "SO YOU LIKE HUGGING?"

@ash-doodles-stuff went for my soul by revealing what the japanese and hindi version says; in Japanese, sonic says: "TO BE HELD IN YOUR ARMS" SONIC PLEASE - in the hindi version he says: "DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKED HUGS AND STUFF" OEURGH I'LL NEVER GET ENOUGH OF THESE

@sonicposting joins the bandwagon by announcing the romanian version has sonic saying: "n-am știut că-ți place în brațe", which means something like "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKE BEING HELD" although "it's hard to translate, but the way it is phrased implies that sonic didn't know shadow likes being held" THESE DUBS WILL END ME ONE DAY

@cosmicgirlypop runs in with the Arabic dub, where sonic says: "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKE HUGS!" this is the yEAR OF SONADOW PEOPLE BC SHADOW SAYS "STAY WITH ME SONIC" AS A RESPONSE

@geek-leak slides in with the Finnish dub that has sonic saying: "En tiennyt et oot halijäbä" which roughly translates to "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE A HUGGER-DUDE/HUG-DUDE" he truly is a smartass even when dying god bless

@indigocloudofnarcolepsy sprints in with a gem in hungarian, where sonic says: "Nem tudtam, hogy ölelkezős vagy!" which is "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'RE A HUGGER" EVERY VARIANT IS SO CUTE

@scarlets-land-of-chaos-and-men NO EXPLANATION NEEDED BUT I NEED AIR

@darkmatters-ghost decided to decimate my every molecule with the Mandarin Chinese version where sonic says: "我不知道你喜欢抱抱， 啊。" bào (抱) means cuddle, and if you say a verb twice, it makes it informal and cutesy. Basically, he said, "aw, I didn't know you were such a cuddle-bug!"

C U D D L E B U G

suffice to say I think english is the glaring, obvious outlier here JHDJHDS

THE DUBBERS ATE AND LEFT NO CRUMBS BEHIND THIS IS TRULY THE YEAR OF SONADOW

#I NEED PEACE #people please check the comments this is the cutest shit ever #sonic prime spoilers #sonic prime season 3 #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #god i'll never recover #genuinely #POINT AND LAUGH PEOPLE I'M MISERABLE AND GIDDY OVER THIS SHOW #sonic prime

[astrxealis]

i really want to play ffxiv with people from other regions! :(( especially my buddies on eu. i miss them. and my online friends i have never played with yet. and people who i don't know yet but could possibly get along with. and more people the same nationality and age range as me.

#⋯ ꒰ა starry thoughts ໒꒱ *·˚ #⋯ ꒰ა ffxiv ໒꒱ *·˚ #wahh. wah. tbh now i'm definitely not a sprout in ffxiv #considering i've played for more than 2 years now! joined in 5.3. technically on free trial for a long time #till the fanfest but yeah <3 i've done savage and an ult and a huge variety of content #so. more friends now are actually newer than me tbh. even on eu and online #i wanna help out my friends :(( even those i have never talked to yet lmfao >< #kinda feels a bit weird not being the new guy anymore. so much stuff has changed since shb #i still miss shb bcs idk everything was seriously magical to me but yeah i lov enw hehe #dc travel within same region is allowed now but i doubt between regions will happen for a while #the fact is. they need for people to yk. be on servers and all if you get what i mean (esp oce) #there's still the fact some people just really like making alts and theres always stuff you can only do on your main server

[kleefkruid]

I also own an EU disability card which is a way to prove you actually have an (invisible) disability which can be usefull in some cases like during lockdown there was a one-person-per-family shopping rule but I would be allowed to bring a second person to help me with whatever I need.

With this card comes a list of locations like movie theaters or parks that will offer discounts or free stuff to card owners, but they never fully fleshed out the system so everyone basically gets access to everything (on paper technically I can join the wheelchair diving club) and this gets funny side effects like when I got a discount for the zoo with a free activity book for autistic kids.

But the funniest locations to me personally are the ones where they offer me a free ticket for my 'companion'. They clearly have a specific type of disabled person in mind but hey, they're offering so I'm taking it! So I visit these places with a friend and we split the price of the remaining ticket. But this is where the fun part comes, actually informing the ticket workers of my card.

Let's use the example of my visit to the Gravensteen, a medieval castle in Ghent. The ticket guy is standing outside and does this explanation about some stuff that is being fixed in the office hence why he is standing in open air. So at this point we have had a completely normal conversation with this guy. But then we buy the actual tickets and I hand over my card, to prove we're allowed this discount of course.

And the second he sees my picture on the card, this guy, who again, had a completely normal conversation with us up this point, lowers himself down to me (he's not much taller), puts his hands on his knees and goes "SO ARE YOU READY TO VISIT THE BIG CASTLE? I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN!" at which point I was just staring back in bewilderment and not saying anything so he just gave me a sad smile, seemed to resist the urge to pat me on the shoulder and let us in.

We are all too familiar with the infantilization that comes with being disabled but it's becomes extra absurd when it happens min-conversation. He already is aware I can keep up with a regular conversation. The only thing that changed is that he now knows I'm disabled and not even what kind. and the fact that he did the embodiment of this meme was just the sherry on top

Anyway I'll take the autistic coloring book next time please

#autism #disability

[lyesander]

Not crazy about people writing off the Titan submersible incident as some schadenfreudic buzzstory they can rag on for a handful of internet funny points. I get the frustration, I really do. At least three of the passengers had to shell out $250,000 a ticket for a glorified deep sea Disney ride. The CEO of OceanGate is a capitalist wackjob who has been complaining about and bypassing safety regulations for years, despite multiple warnings, and now the retrieval is taking up time and resources from multiple countries that could have been put to better use. But one of the crew members on board was also the nineteen year old son of another passenger. I doubt his involvement extended much beyond “I’m going on a fun trip with my dad.” Another was an unaffiliated researcher who joined the expedition to collect environmental samples for DNA analysis. Not everyone on board was a high-rolling corporate yuppie. (And even if they were, it’s still a pretty objectively horrific way to die.) Instead of memes, I’d rather see this prompt a discussion on the ethics and potential regulation of scientific tourism.

The above also doesn’t change the fact that this is dragging media attention away from more pressing issues, such as the sinking of the Andriana. I guess “THE TITANIC CLAIMS ANOTHER FIVE VICTIMS” is a more colorful headline than “the EU’s xenophobic migration policies have led to the deaths of hundreds of migrants seeking asylum in Italy, and an active cover up is now taking place, headed by Greek authorities.” Seeing all this energy be funneled towards dragging this tiny capsule out of the Atlantic when up to five hundred refugees - mostly women and children - were locked in the hull of a ship and left to suffer the exact same fate, while Coast Guard vessels looked on and did nothing (or even had an active role in the capsize after a botched attempt to tow it, according to some testimonies), illustrates the sway money and race have in what we pay attention to. It’s a gruesome example of inequity in action.

I had compared what happened to the Titan to the Kursk incident, but the Andriana doesn’t have the luxury of being a freak accident. Over 25,000 migrants have disappeared or drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean since 2014, with over 2,000 deaths taking place in 2022 alone. Those are staggering numbers. Protests have broken out across Greece over the past week in the wake of the tragedy, advocating for migration reform.

While these sorts of mass casualty events tend to leave us feeling disheartened and helpless, there are ways to help. Below is a link to SOS Humanity’s donation page. Reputable search and rescue organizations such as SOS Humanity or SOS Mediterranée built their mission statements around helping migrants like the ones on board the Andriana. Donate if you can, spread the word if you can’t.

#lye speaks #titan submersible #messenia migrant boat disaster

[tervaneula]

WAHOO it's finally the 11th of March – my birthday! To celebrate, I'm hosting my very first draw this in your style challenge!!! Featuring the NQK Future Fam, of course. I love them so much. 😭

If you want to, you can change the framing, the poses, their clothes and expressions (but not the character designs, eg. turtle markings). All I ask is that the love is there.

//EDIT: The new end date is April 14th!// The competition will run for one month, March 11th – April 11th. You can join the DTIYS even after that (or without following me) but won't be eligible for the prizes.

Just remember to have fun, this isn't about the skill, it's about the heart. I love y'all so much and I'm so happy to have found such an amazing community of fans and writers and artists alike in the Rise fandom <3 Thank you for loving what I do as much as I do.

To participate in the competition, you must:

Be following me

@ me in the description of your piece

Tag your post with tervs33dtiys

More info and prizes under the cut:

If it's been days and I haven't reblogged your post I most likely didn't see it, so please message me the link! Sometimes tunglr likes to withhold notifications.

I will pick two winners myself and two will be left to fate – a randomised name wheel 😎 The prizes are all free digital character commissions and I'll draw any OC or canon character (with existing visual references) in my "better sketch" style.

Terv's pick 1st prize: A free full body commission of one character 2nd prize: A free waist up commission of one character

Lady Luck's pick 1st prize: A free full body commission of one character 2nd prize: A free waist up commission of one character

I was hoping to have prints and stickers as prizes but turns out that shipping outside the EU is pretty much a nightmare so sadly that won't be happening, but I hope the commissions are a good alternative!

There y'all have it!! Hope you have fun!!! <333

My commission sheet for reference:

AND also the full dtiys pic without any text:

The peepaws are boring and are wearing what they always wear when I draw them lmao. Casey is wearing a turtleneck with extra long sleeves (for maximum hands-tucked-in comfort) and a long skirt, complete with black boots! But as I said at the start, feel free to give them something else if you'd like to <3

#hehehe casey has curly hair now because im love curl #tervs33dtiys #nqk #nqk adjacent #tervdraws #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt fanart #dtiys #dtiys challenge #draw this in your style #peepaw leo #peepaw mikey #future leo #future leonardo #future mikey #future michelangelo #casey jones #casey jones jr #casey jr #took the reblog criteria off because it felt a bit meh

[bearsintreesofficial]

hello! i am going to be completely honest - we need your help.

next month, we are going on our biggest uk headline tour yet. we are being joined by people we admire deeply. it is going to be the best show we have ever done. and to be blunt - we would like as many people as possible to know about it.

to us, even getting to do this tour feels like a miracle. ykno, it was originally scheduled for last october. our london show would have been callum's birthday! and it was meant to coincide with releasing our new album. however, we had to push the album back. so the tour got pushed back. our spirits were dampened. there were people behind the scenes who did not respect us. so, we decided to respect ourselves. nearly six months later, we are sitting on the best album of our lives. we funded it ourselves and we are releasing it ourselves. we are going to own it, wholly. and that feels SO damn good.

i do not mean this post as a sad story or as a complaint - i am incredibly proud of where we are and what we have done. i just want to explain why it took so long to get here. there are some things we cannot accomplish without your help. selling out this tour and proving that we are the best damn dirtbag boyband in the world is one of those things.

so i am asking you, please - reblog this post. tag mutuals who don't have tickets yet, or mutuals you think would take a chance on us. boost this post as far as you can. whether you live in the uk or not, we want this tour to be inescapable. for everyone to know it is here, and for everyone to feel welcome.

selling out this tour means we can do bigger shows in more parts of the uk later, and allows us to play more shows in EVERY corner of the world too. it proves the point that we are here to stay, that we can do this on our own, and that y'all know how to be louder than the rest.

we promise to give you the best show of your lives, if you promise to give us everything you have.

thank you for reading.

uk/eu tickets are on sale here.

[sayruq]

Biden's visit has concluded. Israel has spent his entire visit trying to muddy the waters of what happened to Al Ahli Hospital and despite their cartoonish efforts, it hasn't worked

The Global South and especially West Asia know who is responsible for the bombing and no amount of AI voice recordings of 'Hamas operatives' can change that.

Israel war crimes continues to backfire on them even in America

Biden backing Israel has had an impact on America's image. Here's a Wall Street Journal article warning that America's continued support is turning countries towards Russia and China which is code for turning countries against America

An EU official said that the EU will pay a heavy price in the Global South for its continued, unabashed support for Israel

There's also speculation that the Biden administration knew about the bombing before it happened.

Countries that were/are allied with Israel continue to distance themselves from Israel like Russia. The reason I keep highlighting Russia is because the West has been running out of ammunition due to the Russia-Ukraine war and that includes Israel which is rumoured to have sent 80-90% of its ammunition to Ukraine. If this conflict lasts a long time, Israel will need to buy weapons and ammunition and Russia would be one of the countries they would turn to (same with China)

So, where are we in terms of the conflict? After days of waffling over a ground operation in Gaza, Israel postponed it until some time after Biden's visit and now we're back here again

Now I'm no military expert but constantly going back and forth on whether or not you'll invade Gaza is bound to do damage to your troops' morale. No wonder they're dealing with mass desertions while their citizens demonstrate on the streets. The Israeli leadership has no plan besides bombing Gaza.

I've seen people on twitter say that the hospital bombing was done deliberately to normalise IDF soldiers to mass civilian deaths in places like hospitals, schools, places of worship, etc. I don't know if I believe that - I think they wanted to push Iran and Hezbollah's buttons before hiding behind Biden. I don't think these people are thinking strategically.

As far as the possibility of regional war is concerned, all indicators show that the West preparing for the war to escalate

Seems to me the Israel has seen what Ukraine has received in just a year and a half of war. They're done receiving a paltry 3.8 billion every year and now prepared to drag out the conflict and I can't say I blame with Biden proposing a 100 billion package for both Ukraine and Israel. This will stretch America too thin as far as funding in concerned. Cracks are already showing

There are parts of the US government that is unhappy that the Ukraine war is losing attention. During the Ukraine war, you had parts of the government that wanted focus to shift from Russia to China. Because of that, the US government has spent the past year alternating between hostility to Russia and threatening to go to war with China over Taiwan. When Niger expelled France from within its borders, America was preparing to join that conflict until Mali and Burkina Faso declared they would fight with Niger. Now they're entering a third front in West Asia. In short, the mighty empire is expending a lot of resources right now and it is not the threat it was when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s.

At any rate, the ground invasion of Gaza won't go the way Israel and America hopes it will

The coalition of Palestinian resistance fighters are still patiently waiting for the IDF to come meet them. Their allies aren't backing down either

The reason I keep making these posts is to remind people that, while the genocide of the people of Gaza is horrifying, the war for the liberation of Palestine has not yet been lost.

Do not lose hope. From the river to sea, Palestine WILL be free

#palestine #free palestine #free gaza #gaza #colonialism #imperialism #genocide

[leafofkudzu]

Happy Springtime, everyone! The first Saturday of a new month fast approaches, which means it's time for another art party hosted by my guild, [VS] Verdant Shield! This time we'll be in a place every asura has been at least once - the Golemagical Institute!

For those who aren’t familiar with art parties, they’re a concept carried over from Final Fantasy XIV - in-game get-togethers for artists/writers/creatives of all types to hang out, chat, and create together! Get your favorite character/look together, head to the location, find someone that catches your eye, and create! Afterwards, everyone posts their creations in a shared tag (ours is #VSArtParty) so others can see, interact, and share! Tl;dr: the ‘goal’ of an art party isn’t to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community!

Time and /squadjoin information is under the cut, but will also be posted again via reblogs as the squads go up on the day of the party!

Location Information:

I wasn't kidding when I said every asura has been to the Golemagical Institute - it's the setting of the final fight of the tutorial instance, and is accessible out of the instance via the exact same asura gate, no mounts or funny business required!

Time & Squad Details:

As we always do, we’ll be having two parties - one on EU servers and one on NA ones - with an hour break in between. People tend to arrive early and/or jump between accounts as soon as the break comes up, so don’t be surprised to see tags and announcements going up ahead of schedule!

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Summer Time (aka 3pm Eastern Daylight Time or 5 hours before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting on my EU alt account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Paranomalous Plexxi for an invite.

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (aka 1am Central European Summer Time or an hour before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting this one on my main account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Rettek for an invite.

Closing Words:

Sorry for the slight delay in doing up this announcement post - I spent longer than I should have mulling over locations only to realize there's been a perfect spot right in front of me the entire time. But we're here and the post is ready now, so everything's good! :P

I use this little section to say this every time, but it continues to be true so I'll continue to say it: thank you guys so much for coming out to these and making them such fun memorable times - you are what makes these parties what they are, and I hope everyone continues to enjoy themselves for long into the future! Take care of yourselves, and I'll see you all on Saturday! ♥

#hosting on an asura that isn't teekzi? blasphemy but not entirely unheard of lol #anyway rations of racial zones are somewhat more balanced now since we did a charr one so back to rats rats rats #gw2 #guild wars 2 #obnoxious tourist simulator #vsartparty #📢🎨

[tanadrin]

This series of four videos on Ukraine and the Russia-Ukraine conflict is very interesting. The first is basically just a narrative political history of Ukraine from about 2000 to 2014, talking about different political factions that were relevant in the country in the period, and how different internal and external pressures shaped politics. It's very helpful for understanding the Ukrainian political context, including just how recent and just how shallow the supposed tensions between monolingual Russian and bilingual Ukrainian-Russian speakers was in 2014.

The second video is an overview of the Donbass war from 2014-2022, which you might have been vaguely paying attention to at the time. But it's very helpful to have it all laid out in chronological order with the benefit of hindsight, especially due to the obfuscation of Russian operations at the time that made it hard to work out what, exactly, was going on. It's a combination of a good old 19th century-style filibuster (the military expedition, not the parliamentary maneuver), Fox News-style propaganda, and some (rather badly failed) attempts at astroturfing civil unrest--why Russia thought that would work becomes important in Part 4.

Part 3 is just an extended argument that NATO expansion is not relevant to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and while I already agreed with that assessment, it's nice to have it laid out in detail. The very very short version is that by NATO's own public criteria, Ukraine was simply not a candidate to join NATO, and had given up on joining NATO, and that had been painfully obvious since at least the Obama administration. Even more frustratingly, there were multiple points where Russia had an offramp to escalation, where it had gotten everything it could have possibly wanted from the conflict in Donbass, and it refused them all.

Part 4 is the author's attempt to explain why it refused them. The very short explanation is that Russia's government is led by idiots, who are very enamored of a flavor of conspiracy theory that has its origins in the LaRouche movement, and which has been bubbling in both left-wing and right-wing circles since 2000. In this worldview, the US government acting through the CIA (or the British royal family, or George Soros, or Jewish bankers, or whoever your bogeyman of choice is) has an almost supernatural ability to overthrow any government on earth by funding performance art groups (seriously), civil society NGOs, and protestors, and that almost every revolution, actual or so-called, since 1989 has been their direct work, from the post-Soviet revolutions, to Euromaidan, to the Arab Spring.

This belief, in its more overt or fragmentary forms, is incredibly popular, spurred on no doubt by historical instances of CIA malfeasance and actual aggressive wars waged by the Bush administration. But the problem is, it's bunk. During Russia's initial moves against Ukraine in 2014, they tried essentially the same playbook in the Donbass, and of course it failed miserably--you cannot actually astroturf a popular uprising. (The CIA has preferred to stage coups and assassinations, which are a different animal from color revolutions.) The separatists in the Donbass eventually had to be supported by a few thousand Russian troops and direct military aid.

But Putin, driven by his own paranoid misunderstanding of world events, the clique of yes-men he has embedded himself in, and his fear of gay Nazi Jewish CIA agents, simply got Russia in over its head. There is no offramp because Russia cannot articulate what its goals are, and because "stop trying to use George Soros to overthrow the Russian government" is not something the US can agree to, since they are not doing it. The only thing that might have prevented Putin fucking with Ukraine in the first place was maybe if rigging the parliamentary election in 2011 hadn't resulted in protests, in which Putin saw the specter of the hand of the CIA--but of course the US and NATO and the EU had nothing to do with that!

And to cap it all off, since the 2010s the LaRouche movement and its theory of color revolutions has been making inroads in China, so we have that to look forward to in coming decades.

[calummss]

Neymar Jr Drabble

masterlist

summary: neymar’s daughter supporting him at brazil’s first international game of the year

pairing: fem! reader x neymar jr x neymar’s daughter

words: 800

a/n: i hate this tbh, i used google translate too since i don’t speak portuguese

Loud cheers and roars of Brazilian fans filled the stadium, the heavy air packed with people that did not want to leave as losers tonight. Music filled the rest of every corner as cameras got ready to stream the match to the millions of people back home who weren’t able to come tonight.

Sitting at the top rows of the stadium, yellow; green and blue painted the crowds, barely any colour strong enough to overcome the pride of Brazil.

Your daughter, Valentina who turned four a few months ago, would normally occupy the seat right next to you. Munching on some snacks you had brought, or scanning the large green fields to find her Papai whom she adored with the full capacity of her small heart. Instead she was somewhere down in the stadium as she was to walk out with Neymar in the next hour, starting the opening ceremony of Brazil’s first international game of the year.

Valentina was wandering around the halls. All hallways empty, showing no signs of her Papai. Staff would walk past the girl, a quick smile and wave automatically given to her. She was sitting in the hall that opened up to the field when Tite emerged from one of the doors, immediately catching a glimpse of the small curly haired child that had given up and sat against the concrete wall.

‘Olá, Valentina.’ He greeted her with a small smile, his head lowered as she curiously looked up to see a familiar person.

‘Olá.’ She replied shyly.

‘O que você está fazendo aqui?’ [What are you doing here?]

‘Eu não consigo encontrar o papai.’ [I can’t find my daddy.] She pouted, her little feet moving like windscreen wipers, brushing her hair out of her face that revealed her disappointed eyes. ‘Sinto falta dele.’ [I miss him.]

‘Você o perdeu?’ [You miss him?] Tite repeated softly, hands stuffed into his pockets as he felt for the little girl. ‘Espere aqui um segundo, ok?’ [‘Wait here for a second, okay?’]

Valentina nodded, her eyes following him until he rounded a corner and was no longer to be seen. She played with her hands, spinning the bracelet around her wrist as she patiently waited for Tite to return.

The sound of slippers penetrated the silence, Valentina’s head snapping towards the sound’s direction, a small wave of nervousness washing over her.

‘Papai!’ She shot up, running as fast as she could into her father’s arms who picked up his daugher and held her tight, his smile as big as ever as he silently thanked God for his gift that was his daughter.

‘Papai tem um jogo muito importante em um minuto. Você pode me animar enquanto eu jogo, Vali?’ [Papai has a really important game in a minute. Can you cheer me on while I play, Vali?] Neymar softly bounced her up and down, his eyes overcome with love.

‘Mhm,’ she smiled brightly, clinging her arms around his neck as his hand stroked her back gently, letting her rest in his embrace.

When it was time to walk out on the field, Vali did not let go of her father’s neck so instead was carried onto the field, expressions of awe swooning at the sight. All cameras on the father and his daughter that had captured the hearts of millions of fans. A quick kiss before the game and Vali and the other children took off from the field and joined their families in their seats, Vali finally sitting back next to you as she loudly cheered for her father.

When the game ended, Neymar’s arms were already spread wide, waiting to embrace his little girl again. You too joined them and gave him a kiss, ‘Congratulations, you deserve it more than anyone.’

Vali, unaware of the kiss you exchanged, found interest in the football that sat on the vast field. She ran towards the ball, kicking it as hard as she could nearing the goalpost. With her kicks the ball rolled towards the goal and when she kicked the ball for the last time before it rolled behind the line, the cheers of celebrating fans uproared the stadium, Valentina haven caught their eyes as she copied her father’s sport. Neymar and several other players turned around to find out why the fans had mysteriously started cheering, all falling to a state of adoration as little Vali copied her father’s celebration to which shortly after he had run towards her, tackling her to the ground as he showed his love for her to the whole world.

#neymar jr x you #neymar x you #neymar x reader #neymar fluff #neymar fanfic #neymar jr x reader #neymar headcanon #neymar imagine #neymar imagines #neymar jr imagines #neymar jr imagine #neymar jr #neymar #neymar jr fanfic #football imagine

[elbiotipo]

-hey Brazil wanna join our club?

-E meu amiga Argentina? Meu amiga Argentina também estará lá? Se ela não estiver aí, eu não vou, né?

-fine I guess she can join too, damn

#cosas mias #high-level talks between Putin Lula and Xi #sorry for google translate I'm learning Portuguese too I swear

[keirawantstocry]

that one time tubbo called pac a dilf 😵‍💫

okay wait…

young teacher tubbo and dilf pac comes to collect his son from class…..tubbos got such a crush on him and maybe he asks pac to stay back to talk about richas’s behaviour but it turns into something else….

you've come to the right person (guy who is obsessed with pacbo)

Tubbo wasn't quite sure how he ended up with this job. He had never in any of his years considered being a teacher of any sort. But after he adopted his daughter, he needed a second job. Mechanics weren't paying him enough. Luckily there was a daycare nearby that was hiring. It was a more difficult process than he had expected, much like the adoption. But he got it. 

His daughter stayed with her “other father”. Tom's name was always said in a sigh like that. They were young and stupid and drunk and Tubbo didn't know what he was doing when he signed the stupid paper that Tommy had slid him across the dirty bar table. 

Tommy, and unfortunately Molly, found it hilarious. They both insisted on watching Sunny while he was at work. Thankfully Sunny loved them. Tommy would do her hair in braids. It was something they did when they were younger. Tubbo remembered sitting in fields with Tommy's older cousin braiding his long hair. 

As soon as Tommy saw Sunny's thick 3C curls, he stayed up two nights in a row researching and watching video after video of how to do cornrows and other braids in her hair. 

Molly often sent him videos while he was at work on Sunny prattling on while Tommy listened intently, braiding her hair as best he could. As much as Tubbo joked about divorce and threatened, he was glad to have two people he loved watching his child and caring for them so well. 

He closed his laptop with a sigh, rubbing his eyes. He was the last one there, his co worker had to leave because she had to pick up her own child but they needed someone to watch the singular child whose parents were incredibly late. 

Opening his eyes, Tubbo stared down the young boy in front of him. 

He was a Latino boy, probably around 7 or 8 with an oversized yellow jersey that he wore every single day. He was staring at Tubbo with large brown eyes. It was almost unnerving but he was a cute, decently well mannered child. 

Tubbo remembered the day he joined the daycare. A man with shoulder length brown hair and a singular white streak through it brought him in and explained how the boy had been born without part of his leg but was still very capable of movement with the prosthetic his Pai had made him. 

The owner of the daycare had nodded, assuring the man over and over that his child would be well cared for and that they would make sure the other children didn't say anything nasty as children tended to do. 

Richas, Tubbo remembered, as he continued to stare down the boy. His name was Richas. 

“Hello,” he said. 

The boy grinned. “Ola!” 

Tubbo laughed at his enthusiasm before picking up his phone to attempt to call the boy's parents once again. It rang and rang, like it had three times before click. 

“Holy shit, we are so sorry. Our schedule got all mixed up and we didn't know who was supposed to pick him up today. Fuck!” 

“Hey, hey,” Tubbo said calmly. “It's okay. I'm here with him. Get here whenever you can.” 

The voice on the phone that Tubbo didn't recognize took a few deep breaths. “Sim, sim, of course. Peqi is on his way already. He should be there any minute.” 

Tubbo smiled at Richas who bounced up and down excitedly, trying to climb up the front of the desk to reach the phone. “Sounds good, Mr…?” 

The voice laughed. “Just call me Mike yeah?” 

Richas made the saddest noise possible and Tubbo's heart melted. “Wait, before you go, I think he wants to talk to you.” 

He removed the phone from the side of his ear and carefully handed it to the boy who cradled it with both hands and held it up to his mouth. “OI, PAI.” 

Mike's voice came through quietly. “Oi, Richas. Você está sendo bom?” 

“Sim, sim,” the boy sang happily. “Eu sou bom.” 

“Bom menino. Pai Pac will be there soon okay?” 

“Okay, okay.” 

“Eu te amo.” 

“Eu também te amo.” 

The phone clicked, ending the call and Richas handed it back to Tubbo with a smile. Not even five seconds after the phone was back in his hand, the door slammed open. Standing in the now open doorway was a frazzled and incredibly attractive man. 

Richas ran over, bounding easily into his arms. 

“Richarlyson!” the man cooed, swinging him back and forth in his arms. He met Tubbo's eyes over his son's head. ‘Thank you’ he mouthed. 

Tubbo was almost too stunned to nod but he managed to as Richas's father slowly lowered him to the ground to step over to Tubbo. 

“I have to sign him out, yes?” 

Tubbo nodded, still speechless. He cleared his throat and slid the sign-out sheet across the desk. “Yeah, uh, yeah.” 

The man, Pac, from the signs of his scribbled signature, smiled blindingly at him, his son clinging to his leg. 

Tubbo noticed at that moment that Pac had a near identical prosthetic to his son. “You match,” he said before mentally slapping himself. You don't just fucking point out a man's prosthetic, no fucking wonder you're still married to Tommy. 

But Pac just laughed softly. “We do,” he said softly, rubbing the top of Richas's head. “He is very clearly my son.” 

“Are you his biological father?” Tubbo asked. Holy fucking shit, shut up you fucking idiot. He is so tired of you already, why are you asking so many questions? 

Pac just laughed softly again and the twist in Tubbo's chest felt like falling off a cliff. “Sim, yes, I am. I was the one who gave birth to him.” 

Tubbo stopped himself from asking any questions about that. He knew better than that at least. “That's really cool.” He tried a smile and felt so awkward. 

“Thank you,” Pac said. “And thank you for watching him past time. I know you probably have places to be.” 

Tubbo brushed him off with a wave of his hand. “Oh don't worry about it. My daughter is more than happy to spend more of their time with her ‘other father’.” Out of instinct, he raised his hands and made quotation marks with his hands. 

Pac raised an eyebrow curiously. 

Tubbo flushed. “A, uh, friend of mine. We got drunk married and now my daughter considers him her other father.”

Pac laughed. “No spouse of your own then? One that you're in love with anyway?” 

Tubbo flushed darker. “Ah, no. Just my husband and his girlfriend.” 

“Mmm,” Pac said, leaning over on the desk. “Good to know.” 

Tubbo froze in his spot as Pac's eyes, big and brown just like his son's, stared into his soul. He gulped before clearing his throat. “Yeah, uhmm, yeah.” The heat of his face was nearly unbearable. 

Richas gently smacked his dad on the leg. “Oi, stop that.” 

Pac leaned back, holding his hands up with an innocent expression. “What?? What?” 

The little boy glared at him with no heat. “Pai Mike told you to stop that.” 

“Well, Mikey isn't here right now is he? And he also has no control over my life.” Pac turned back to Tubbo and grabbed the pen again. He motioned towards Tubbo's arm which he held out willingly. 

Quickly the man scribbled a number onto his arm, his grip strong and warm. Tubbo felt dizzy. 

Pac dropped the pen with a smile and a wink before grabbing his son's hand. “Call me yeah?” 

Tubbo stared in disbelief, red as a beet. “...yeah,” he said softly as Pav happily bounded out the door, his son berating him in Portuguese. 

“Tommy,” he said softly when he got home, holding up his arm. “I think I got hit on.”

#pacbo #qsmp shipping #my writing #fanfiction #q!tubbo #q!pac #q!sunnysideup #q!tommy #molly is also there #q!mike #and also cellbit is mentioned but not by name #i started writing and then i couldn't stop so here's this LMAO #dilf!pac au

[sgiandubh]

When you do not know a thing about the issue at stake...

...perhaps it's better to remain silent.

Some of you know, others don't - and that's fine - but my main field of expertise is labor law.

I just read this in anger and disbelief:

Look, lady. I don't care who the hell you are, what you do for a living or why you felt entitled to answer those insistent questions on your side of the fandom. I suppose you are North American and have no idea of how things work on this side of the pond. It is fine: I might know what a Congress filibuster is, for example, but I'd be severely unable to judge the finer points of competence sharing between Fed and state level.

The difference between you and me?

I keep my mouth shut and/or do my own research before opening it in public.

Have you no shame to write things like: 'It was discovered clothing factories in Bulgaria and Portugal made it and how workers were exploited, mostly women, because these factories were in special economic zones in these countries exempt from EU employee rights and regulations.'

HOW DARE YOU? What strange form of illiterate entitlement possessed you to utter such things with confidence, comfortably hidden behind a passive voice ('it was discovered')?

Portugal joined the EU in 1986. Bulgaria (and my country) joined the EU in 2007. I have given 5 relentless years of my life to make this collective political project a reality, along with hundreds of other people my age who chose to come back home from the West and put their skills to good use for their country. In doing so, I rejected more than 10 excellent corporate job offers in France and China. To see you come along and write such enormities is like having you spit in my face.

Article 4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (aka The Treaty of Rome) is formal and clear, as far as competence sharing between the EU and its Member States goes (the UK was still, back then, a full member of the EU - it quit on February 1st 2020):

That means that ALL the EU regulations are being integrated into the national legislation of the Member States. This is not a copy/paste process, however. And because it is a shared competence area, the Member States have a larger margin of appreciation into making the EU rules a part of their own. While exceptions or delays in this process can be and are negotiated, the core principles are NEVER touched.

Read it one hundred times, madam, maybe you'll learn something today:

THERE ARE NO SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION. THE WHOLE FUCKING EUROPEAN UNION IS A SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE, THIS IS WHY IT IS CALLED THE SINGLE MARKET.

What the fuck do you think we are, Guangzhou? We'd wish, seeing the growth statistics!

Now, for the textile industry sector and particularly with regard to the Bulgarian market, a case very similar to my own country. Starting around 1965, many big European textile players realized the competitive advantage of using the lower paid, readily available Eastern European workforce. In order to be able to do business with all those dour Communist regimes, the solution was simple and easy to find: toll manufacturing.

It worked (and still does!) like this:

The foreign partner brings its own designs, textiles and know-how into the mix - or more simply put, it outsources all these activities. The locals transform it into the finished product, using their own workforce. The result is then re-exported to the foreign partner, who labels it and sells it. In doing so, he has the legal obligation to include provenance on the label ('made in Romania', 'made in Indonesia', 'made in Bulgaria' - you name it).

The reason you might find less and less of those 'made in ' labels nowadays at Primark and more and more at Barbour, Moncler and the such is the constant raise of the workers' wages in Eastern Europe since 1990 (things happened there, in 1989, maybe you remember?). We are not competitive anymore for midrange prêt-à-porter - China (Shein, anyone?), Cambodia and Mexico do come to mind as better suppliers. To speak about 'exploited female labourers in rickety old factories' is an insult and a lie. They weren't exploited back in the Eighties, as they are not now (workers in those factories were and still are easily paid about 50% more than all the rest) and the factories being modernized and constantly updated was always a mandatory clause in any contract of the sort. Normal people in our countries rarely or ever saw those clothes. You had to either be lucky enough for a semi-confidential store release or bribe someone working there and willing to take the risk, in order to be able to buy the rejected models on the local market.

If I understood correctly, you place this critical episode at the launch of the limited SRH & Barbour collection, for the fall of 2018. How convenient for you, who (I am told by trusted people) were one of the most vocal critics of S during Hawaii 2.0!

And as far as Barbour goes, it never pretended to manufacture everything in the UK only:

This information is absolutely true. You can read the whole statement, signed in October 2017 by one of their Directors, Ian Sime, here: https://www.barbour.com/us/media/wysiwyg/PDF/Ethical_Statement_October_2017.pdf

And a snapshot for you:

Oh, and: SEDEX is a behemoth in its world, with more than 75.000 companies joining as a member (https://www.sedex.com/become-a-member/meet-our-customers/). Big corporations like TESCO, Dupont, Nestle, Sainsbury's or Unilever included.

I am not Bulgarian, but I know all of this way better than you'll probably ever do. The same type of contracts were common all over Eastern Europe: Romania, Poland, the GDR (that's East Berlin and co, for you) and even the Soviet Union. I am also sure your Portuguese readers will be thrilled to see themselves qualified by a patronizing North American as labor exploiters living in a third-world country with rickety factories.

You people have no shame and never did. But you just proved with trooping colors you also have no culture and no integrity. More reasons to not regret my unapologetic fandom choice.

I expect an angry and very, very vulgar answer to this, even if I chose to not include your name/handle. The stench of your irrelevance crossed an ocean.

#fandom #shitshow