#social news bbc latest

[tahminadm]

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#personal #uk trans #licence #computer #social media today - latest news #uk politics #bbc news - uk #ukraine #best seller books #best way to lose weight #birmingham #manchester city

[hedgehog-moss]

In other news, this week a French publisher on his way to the London Book Fair was arrested by British counter-terrorist police to be questioned about his participation in protests in France.

A French publisher has been arrested on terror charges in London after being questioned by UK police about participating in anti-government protests in France.

Moret arrived at St Pancras [...] with his colleague Stella Magliani-Belkacem, the editorial director at the Paris-based publishing house, to be confronted by the two officers. [...] He was questioned for six hours and then arrested for alleged obstruction in refusing to disclose the passcodes to his phone and computer. [...] He was transferred to a police station in Islington, north London, where he remained in custody on Tuesday. He was later released on bail.

Éditions la Fabrique is known for publishing radical left authors. Moret also represents the French science fiction novelist Alain Damasio and had arranged more than 40 appointments at the London book fair. [...]

[Quoting publishing house’s press release] “The police officers claimed that Ernest had participated in demonstrations in France as a justification for this act – a quite remarkably inappropriate statement for a British police officer to make, and which seems to clearly indicate complicity between French and British authorities on this matter.” [...] “There’s been an increasingly repressive approach by the French government to the demonstrations, both in terms of police violence, but also in terms of a security clampdown.”

(Guardian link - BBC link) (article in French)

The publishing house (here’s their latest statement in French) and the publisher’s lawyer mention that the British police asked him “Do you support Emmanuel Macron? Did you attend protests against the pension reform?” and he was also asked to name the authors with anti-government views that his employer has published. They add, “Asking the representative of a publishing house, in the framework of counter-terrorism, about the opinions of his authors, is pushing even further the logic of political censorship and repression of dissenting thought. In a context of social protests and authoritarian escalation on the part of the French government, this aspect [of the questioning] is chilling.”

Being an accomplice to thoughtcrime by publishing dissident authors gets you treated like an international terrorist now... The publisher’s lawyer suggests that French authorities asked the UK to help them get their hands on the publisher’s contacts in the radical left sphere. But on the face of it, we’ve got: Exercise your right to protest your government in France -> get arrested by counter-terrorist UK police in London. That’s literally the reason he was given for being greeted by police at the train station...

#frpol #i bought a couple of books from la fabrique this morning... win-win i actually meant to read them and didn't know they were #published by them #in slightly better news @french people if you haven't seen some video excerpts of macron meeting alsatians today it's worth checking out #people telling him how corrupt his gov is; someone saying ''you're going to fall; mark my words'' and someone else #''we don't want your reform you arsehole'' and people chanting 'macron resign' as he walks away looking a bit pissed... #and naturally protests were banned in the cities he visited today and cops had cleared the area of actual protesters #before macron arrived so the people he met were actually the less angry people

[odinsblog]

Musk reactivated the accounts of Brazilian far-right politicians Carla Zambelli, Gustavo Gayer, and Nikolas Ferreira. Ferreira, a Bolsonaro supporter, openly questioned the security of Brazil’s electronic voting machines, even though he won his local legislative race.

“All of these names have been problematic for years on social media,” says Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director at the nonprofit advocacy organization Ekō. “They've been pushing for the far-right and election misinformation for ages.”

When Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, later renaming it X, many activists in Brazil worried that he would abuse the platform to push his own agenda, Arduini says. “He has unprecedented broadcasting abilities. He is bullying a supreme court justice of a democratic country, and he is showing he will use all the resources he has available to push for whatever favors his personal opinions or his professional ambitions.”

Under Musk, X has become a haven for the far right and disinformation. After taking over, Musk offered amnesty to users who had been banned from the platform, including right-wing influencer Andrew Tate, who, along with his brother, was indicted in Romania on several charges including with rape and human trafficking in June 2023 (he has denied the allegations). Last month, one of Tate's representatives told the BBC that "they categorically reject all charges."

A 2023 study found that hate speech has increased on the platform under Musk’s leadership. The situation in Brazil is just the latest instance of Musk aligning himself with and platforming dangerous, far-right movements around the world, experts tell WIRED. "It's not about Twitter or Brazil. It's about a strategy from the global far right to overcome democracies and democratic institutions around the world," says Nina Santos, a digital democracy researcher at the Brazilian National Institute of Science & Technology who researches the Brazilian far right. “An opinion from an American billionaire should not count more than a democratic institution.”

This also comes as Brazil has continued working to understand and investigate the lead-up to January 8, 2023, when election-denying insurrectionists who refused to accept right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro’s defeat stormed Brazil’s legislature. The TSE, the country’s election court, is a special judicial body that investigates electoral crimes and is part of the mechanism for overseeing the country’s electoral processes overall. The court has been investigating the dissemination of fake news and disinformation that cast doubt on the country’s elections in the months and years leading up to the storming of the legislature on January 8, 2023. Both Arduini and Santos believe that the accounts Musk is refusing to remove are likely connected to the court’s inquiry.

“A life-and-death struggle recently took place in Brazil for the democratic rule of law and against a coup d'état, which is under investigation by this court in compliance with due legal process,” Luís Roberto Barroso, the president of the federal supreme court, said in a statement about Musk’s comments. “Nonconformity against the prevalence of democracy continues to manifest itself in the criminal exploitation of social networks.”

Santos also worries that Musk is setting a precedent that the far right will be protected and promoted on his platform, regardless of local laws or public opinion. “They are trying to use Brazil as a laboratory on how to interfere in local politics and local businesses,” she says. “They are making the case that their decision is more important than the national decision from a state democratic institution.”

Though Musk has claimed to be a free-speech advocate, and X’s public statement on the takedowns asserts that Brazilians are entitled to free speech, the platform’s application of these principles has been uneven at best. In February, on order of the Indian government, X blocked the accounts Hindutva Watch and the India Hate Lab in India, two US-based nonprofits that track incidents of religiously motivated violence perpetrated by supporters of the country’s right-wing government. A 2023 study from the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard found that X complied with more government takedown requests under Musk’s leadership than it had previously.

In March, X blocked the accounts of several prominent researchers and journalists after they identified a well-known neo-Nazi cartoonist, later changing its own terms of service to justify the decision.

—Elon Musk Is Platforming Far-Right Activists in Brazil

#politics #brazil #elon musk #disinformation #twitter #nikolas ferreira #misinformation #libertarians #fascists #fascism #elon musk is an enemy of democracy #democracy #eugenics musk #apartheid clyde #crypro grifters #techno grifters #crypto bros #election interference #electioneering

[ancientstone]

Okay Brits I need you to start paying attention.

We are likely in a General Election year.

We are going to be voting which political party we want to govern us the next five years. As of yet we don't have a date (the latest it could be held is January 2025, though it's probably going to be in 2024), but you need to start listening to what's going on so you can be ready and make an informed choice.

In the last General Election, the turnout was 67.3% across the UK. People often say they didn't vote because they didn't understand the politics or "they're all the same anyway."

When a General Election is called, Polling Day will be 25 days later. If you're working, busy, or just have life stuff happening, you may not have time to do the research you want. This is why it's important to start doing things now.

1. Are you Registered to Vote?

You can register to vote here.

You can check if you're registered by going here.

You must 18 or over on Polling Day to vote in a General Election.

You must also be one of the following:

A British, Irish, or qualifying Commonwealth citizen. (You can check here if you're a qualifying Commonwealth citizen)

Be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years)

Not be legally excluded from voting

According to the website, while registering, "You’ll be asked for your National Insurance number (but you can still register if you do not have one). After you’ve registered, your name and address will appear on the electoral register."

There is also an option to register to vote anonymously "if you're concerned about your name and address appearing on the electoral register for safety reasons." The link to that page is here.

You can register to vote by post by going here and printing out the forms.

If you would like a step-by-step guide to registering to vote, here is a page that has a pdf doing just that. It is also available in Welsh.

2. Get a Photo ID

We now need to show a photo ID when turning up to the polls.

Here is a list of valid forms of photo ID.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get a valid ID, otherwise you will be turned away from the polling station.

If you vote by proxy, you need to "take your own ID when you go to vote on someone else’s behalf. You do not need to take theirs."

According to the website, "The name on your ID must match your name on the electoral register. If it does not, you’ll need to:

register to vote again with your new details

take a document with you to vote that proves you’ve changed your name (for example, a marriage certificate)

Small differences do not matter. For example, if your ID says ‘Jim Smith’ instead of ‘James Smith’.

If you do not have a type of photo ID that allows you to vote, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate."

3. You need to apply to vote by post

You can apply here.

You need to be registered before applying.

To apply you need:

"The address where you are registered to vote

Your National Insurance number or other identity documents, e.g. a passport

the specific date of the election or referendum you want to make a postal vote, if you only want a one-off postal vote

You’ll also need to upload a photo of your handwritten signature in black ink on plain white paper.

If you cannot provide a signature or one that always looks the same, you may be able to apply for a postal vote signature waiver within the service.

You might be asked for extra documents to identify you."

The linked page has an option for downloading an application form to send in by post.

4. Start Researching!

Think back to the last few years.

What did you like, and who did them? What about the opposite?

Is there something local happening in your area, and who is pushing for/against it?

Look up the parties' social media - what do they promote, promise, and call out?

Here are some resources:

An overview of the political parties

BBC News page for current politics

How many MPs are in which parties

Information on General Elections/when ours will likely be held

The other key political events in 2024

General info around voting, elections, boundary changes, etc.

TL;DR

2024 Will likely be the year the UK votes for the next political party in charge.

You need to register to vote.

You need a photo ID to take with you.

You need to apply to vote by post.

The best time to start looking into the parties and what they do is now, so you can be informed later on.

The rest of the world is welcome to share this!

#politics #uk politics #british politics #general election #general election 2024 #uk #britain #written in stone

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Hadar Sela

Hot on the heels of the discovery of a Hamas data centre in a tunnel complex located underneath UNRWA’s headquarters and an UNRWA school in Gaza City (which received only minimalist coverage from the BBC) came a story about an Al Jazeera journalist in the Gaza Strip.

“A Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera appears to also be a commander in Hamas’s military wing, according to images and documents recovered by the IDF in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing war against the terror Palestinian terror group. “In the morning, he’s a journalist on the Al Jazeera channel, and in the evening, a terrorist in Hamas!” wrote Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, in a Sunday post to social media platform X. Adraee said that several weeks ago, troops found a laptop in a Hamas base in northern Gaza that belonged to a man by the name of Mohamed Washah. Washah, from central Gaza’s Bureij neighborhood, has been featured in Al Jazeera broadcasts in recent months, with the Qatari-owned station calling him one of their journalists. Adraee said that documents recovered from the laptop revealed that Washah, 37, is a “prominent commander” in Hamas’s anti-tank missile unit, and in late 2022, he began to work in research and development for the terror group’s air unit.”

As others have pointed out, Washah’s social media accounts also include some interesting material.

Two days after that story emerged, Al Jazeera reported that two of its journalists in the Gaza Strip had been wounded in an Israeli strike north of Rafah.

“Al Jazeera says two of its journalists have been wounded in an Israeli airstrike near Rafah in the Gaza Strip, with one having to undergo an amputation.

The pan-Arab broadcaster, funded by Qatar, reports the strike and identifies the wounded as cameraman Ahmad Matar and reporter Ismail Abu Omar.”

As later reported by the Times of Israel and others:

“Ismail Abu Omar, an Al Jazeera reporter who was wounded in an Israeli airstrike near southern Gaza’s Rafah yesterday, is also a Hamas commander, according to the IDF.

Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, says that Abu Omar, in addition to working for the Qatari-owned station, serves as a deputy company commander in Hamas’s East Khan Younis Battalion.

On the morning of October 7, Abu Omar infiltrated into Israel and filmed from inside Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’s onslaught.”

Footage of Abu Omar at Nir Oz on October 7th as well as documentation of his praise for the massacre committed on that day is available online.

As readers no doubt recall, the BBC has produced no small amount of content in recent months (and also before the current conflict) promoting the allegation – including from Al Jazeera – that Israel ‘targets journalists’ and whitewashing the terror links of some of the journalists killed in the region in recent months and years:

BBC NEWS WEBSITE REPORTING ON THE DEATHS OF JOURNALISTS

MORE UNCRITICAL BBC AMPLIFICATION OF CPJ MESSAGING

MORE BBC AMPLIFICATION OF AL JAZEERA’S ‘TARGETING JOURNALISTS’ FALSEHOOD

BBC NEWS STICKS TO THE NARRATIVE AFTER ‘JOURNALISTS’ EXPOSED

It therefore perhaps does not come as much of a surprise to find that the BBC has to date shown no interest whatsoever in informing its audiences about the latest two stories concerning the additional activities of some Al Jazeera journalists. 

#abu omar #al jazeera #bbc #media bias #hamas #gaza #nir oz #mohamed washah

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

Police in Vienna are investigating the deaths of four women and a teenage girl in a 24-hour period.

Three women were stabbed to death by a man in a brothel in Austria's capital on Friday. A suspect was arrested.

Another woman and her daughter were killed in an unrelated incident. Investigators believe the girl's father was responsible.

Campaigners described the day as "Black Friday" and called for urgent action to stop violence against women.

The bodies of three women, believed to be Chinese nationals, were found in a building in the central Brigittenau district at around 21:00 local time (20:00 GMT) after a witness called the emergency services.

The suspect, whom police have described as a 27-year-old Afghan national, was found hiding near the brothel with a knife in his hand.

On Sunday, police said the man had "basically confessed" to the killings during his first interrogation.

The motive is currently unclear but further questioning and investigations are to follow.

Autopsies will be carried out on the bodies of the three victims later on Sunday.

Earlier on Friday, a 51-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter were found dead in an apartment in the Erdberg area - about 12km (seven miles) from where the other incident happened.

There is no suggestion they are connected.

Police are still searching for the woman's husband, who is also the girl's father, as investigators suspect he may have strangled or choked them to death.

"The initial investigations, which are currently under way, indicate that blunt force was involved," said police spokesman Philip Hasslinger.

Eva-Maria Holzleitner, the leader of the women's policy department of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPO), has urged the federal government to call a crisis meeting to discuss the issue of femicide in the country.

"We mourn the murdered women, are thinking about the survivors and call for a national action plan to protect against violence to finally be implemented in order to protect women's lives in Austria," said Ms Holzleitner.

Klaudia Frieben, leader of umbrella organisation the Austrian Women's Ring (OFR), wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that "this day will go down in history as Black Friday with five dead women".

According to the latest data on femicide rates in Austria, published by the Institute of Conflict Research, some 319 women were killed in the country between 2010 and 2020 - mostly by male partners or ex-partners.

The coalition government has vowed to crack down on the issue - pledging almost €25m (£21m) in 2021 to initiatives aimed at protecting women against violence.

[metamatar]

ok so i am very much uninformed on politics, i decided at a younger age that i wasn't interested in it and therefore would not read or keep myself particularly informed about it. obviously this is a bad idea, and i want to change and keep myself informed on actual politics and well, abstract[?] (wrong word but cannot think of another, basically mean like. knowing which political .. stance ?? [idk. like marxist or communist or whatever] i might be.) ones as well. what's a good place to get started here? where do i look for actual politics going on in india since i'm pretty sure ndtv or whatever isn't exactly the best source? or maybe it is? idk, like i said i'm pretty uninformed on the matter but would like to learn more

so one thing is, in india you have to accept the media landscape is just dire because being a journalist with integrity is a bit like signing up to have your life ruined. all major media has been bought by hindutva already. what you have to do is more learn to read between lines, understand people's motivations, which is a matter of practice. a good way to start is to read analysis (not news reports) of the same incident in different media and you'll start noticing patterns. even more important imo is to talk and bounce ideas with a friend at a similar place as you or someone interested in politics who won't overwhelm you with their perspective. you can try online but idt its safe or advisable anymore to do that experiment online. i had debate club in university (sad) and some socialist reading groups (better) after. the thing is this journey to self education is kind of personal and im also not pedagogically oriented or trained? so lots of first person description instead of prescriptions.

i still check what's up on ndtv because it gives me a good pulse of what english language media and liberals are thinking. major newspapers i scan hindu and the indian express sometimes. online i have a look at newslaundry (also has some youtube content) and the wire, they're reader supported and haven't turned full hindutva yet. i read longer form things in the caravan and epw, but these are subscription based. i keep tabs on the latest round of hindutva fake news when alt news debunks it.

for the abstract things, i literally did an online course bc i was frustrated by what all the liberal arts grads seemed to already agree on. i did ian shapiro's moral foundations of politics which is available online as both youtube lectures and a textbook. if you want to go that route feel free but it's not necessary, you can also try to read the entries on wikipedia or stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (more expertise) when you encounter something unfamiliar and build up like that. podcasts like bbc in our time will often interview academics to give intros to many political philosophy concepts and thinkers. whatever your learning style supports! i think the important thing is to find something you are actually interested in, and take that tack. i like history, so i might read books about historical revolutions or historical forms of organising society or listen to podcasts like mike duncan's revolutions.

For communism the usual starting points are these very short pamphlets:

Principles of Communism by Engels

The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx

Wage-Labor and Capital by Marx

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels

feel free to ask for more specific questions!

#asks

[tomorrowusa]

A Ukrainian teen who was moved by Russian authorities from Russian-occupied Ukraine to Russia last year was told he could get drafted into Putin's pathetic army after he turns 18.

After an international outcry, Bogdan may finally be returned to Ukraine.

A 17-year-old Ukrainian who was moved from Ukraine to Russia found out recently he was facing the prospect of being conscripted into the army fighting against the country of his birth. Bogdan Yermokhin, originally from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, tried to return to Ukraine in March but was stopped by Russian border guards. He is soon due to turn 18 and was ordered to report to a Moscow region draft centre next month. But then his plight became public knowledge and after his lawyer appealed to President Volodymyr Zelensky for help, Russia appears to have had a change of heart. Russian's children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova announced on Friday that he would soon be taken abroad to meet his cousin, and Ukraine confirmed the plan. Bogdan Yermokhin was orphaned in 2014 and before Russia's invasion of Ukraine he lived with a foster family in the port city of Mariupol. The director of a technical college where he was studying became his legal guardian in 2021. In 2022, Mariupol was seized by Russian forces after one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and Bogdan ended up in Russia. It remains unclear how or why he was moved.

Russia has been illegally transporting Ukrainian kids from occupied territories since not long after Putin's invasion began. This is banned by international law.

[I]n March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Ms Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin. The ICC said Russia's aim was "permanently removing these children from their own country." Bogdan Yermokhin was transferred first to the city of Donetsk in Russian-occupied Ukraine and later to a youth summer camp in the Moscow region with a group of 30 Ukrainian children, including one boy fostered by the children's rights commissioner herself. The teenager was eventually put in the care of a local foster family and given Russian documents. He entered a college in Russia to continue his studies and Ms Lvova-Belova also claimed that he worked in summer camp aiming to "integrate" teenagers from Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Russia is losing population and the standard of living outside a few of the larger cities is plummeting. Kidnapping kids from Ukraine is one of the few options the Putin dictatorship has to slow down population implosion.

Ms Rudnitskaya argued that he was not at risk of being sent to fight in Ukraine. "He is a student," she said, adding that "new recruits do not take part in the Special Military Operation" - using Russia's official term for its full-scale war. Maria Lvova-Belova agreed, accusing the media of "hype". Russian authorities have frequently insisted that new recruits are not sent to the front line, but the BBC has established on multiple occasions that this has in fact happened.

Yep, it's been documented that not all of the members of Putin's dismal army in Ukraine are exactly "volunteers".

In April 2023, Maria Lvova-Belova announced at a news conference that Bogdan Yermokhin had tried to return to Ukraine on his own. She said that Russian border guards had managed to stop him. "We caught him on the border with Belarus," she announced. "We managed to stop him at the last minute."

Of course. Why on earth would anybody want to remain in Russia?

After a lot of bad publicity, indicted war criminal Maria Lvova-Belova is attempting to revise the narrative on Bogdan.

In her latest remarks on social media on Friday, the children's commissioner was adamant that up until October he had wanted to stay in Russia, and that Russian authorities had done nothing against his will. "Now Bogdan's opinion on where he would like to live has changed and he plans to return to Ukraine." Before his earlier failed attempt to leave Russia in March, at least one other Ukrainian teenager from Mariupol placed in a Russian foster family succeeded in returning to Ukraine. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmitry Lubinets, said the boy, who he named Serhiy, had sought help online from Ukrainian chat bots in December 2022. Bogdan Yermokhin was also active on social media, but he stopped posting under his name in March, at around the time of his attempt to leave Russia. [ ... ]

Bogdan's Russian foster family and his former Ukrainian guardians have confirmed to the BBC that Russian authorities now consider him a Russian citizen, so he would have been obliged to serve in the army under Russian law. But under international law issuing documents in occupied territories is illegal and Ukraine condemns the practice. This became one of the grounds for the ICC's arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova. As far as Ukraine and the rest of the international community is concerned, Bogdan Yermokhin remains a Ukrainian citizen, and the Russian military summons is illegal. The Russian children's commissioner denies authorities have engaged in any illegal activity and Moscow rejected claims it impedes the return of minors to Ukraine. However, its authorities insist only mothers or other close relatives can make their way to Russia in person to take their children back to Ukraine.

Hopefully Bogdan will be back home in Ukraine before long where he can recover from his ordeal in Russia.

#invasion of ukraine #bogdan yermokhin #russia kidnapping kids from ukraine #vladimir putin #maria lvova-belova #international criminal court #convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide #putin's shit army #russia's war of aggression #stand with ukraine #dmitry lubinets #похищение #геноцид #владимир путин #мария львова-белова #путин хуйло #путлер #путина в гаагу! #военные преступления #это ВОЙНА а не 'спецоперация' #руки прочь от украины! #геть з україни #будь сміливим як україна #деокупація #богдан єрмохін #дмитро лубінець #вторгнення оркостану в україну #слава україні! #героям слава!

[em-dash-press]

Find Your Next Plot Idea: 12 Tricks to Try

Waiting for inspiration to strike can take too long. It's also not the best way to improve your writing, since you may not write very often in-between ideas.

I've been there before. When you're getting impatient, find your next idea for a short story or potential novel by trying these simple tricks.

1. Try a Plot Generator

Generators will throw ideas at you that you might not think about otherwise. They don't always make sense, but it's fun sifting through their options!

Check out more than one to find a site you like. You could try:

Plot-Generator

Reedsy's Plot Generator

Big Huge Thesaurus' Story Generator

Cool Generator's Random Plot Points

ServiceScape's Plot Generator

2. Find Random Facts

There are other sites that pull up random facts that could inspire a creative streak. They may also help you with singular plot points your story might be missing or more details while fleshing out characters.

See if you prefer:

Mental Floss' Fact Generator

Fact Republic's Generator

This Random Fact Generator

This Other Random Fact Generator

This Other Fact Generator

3. Check the Current News Headlines

Look up the current news in another city, state, or country. Without reading the stories, see if you can imagine a plot for each headline. It can be a fun creative exercise if you stay away from heavy topics.

You could find the latest news at places like:

NPR (I like their Strange News section too!)

The New York Times

The BBC

Reuters

Global Issues

4. Think About Your Recent Dreams

Dreams don't always make sense, but they can make you think outside of the box. Maybe you recently dreamed about escaping a haunted house or running into your old crush while on a vacation across the world. It could inspire your next story or even just a small part of one.

5. Try Free Writing

Your writing may have come to a halt because you get too caught up in the process. Free writing is an excellent exercise to break out of routines and old habits.

It first started in 1973 and hasn't changed much since. All you need to do is set a timer and open a new Google doc or grab a piece of paper. When the timer begins, start writing your stream of consciousness down and don't stop writing until the timer ends.

Whatever comes to mind should end up on your paper. Don't worry about sentence structure, grammar, or spelling. The exercise will loosen your creative flow and help you think through the writer's block keeping you from your next story.

6. Do Some Digital Eavesdropping

You can always sit yourself down in a public area (like a coffee shop) and eavesdrop on other people's conversations to hear about experiences you've never thought about before. But something about that always creeped me out, so sometimes I go digital.

Scroll through social media sites like Instagram or Twitter. Look for posts with pictures or a quick caption that doesn't explain the full picture. See what's trending, what the latest celebrity gossip is. Make up stories behind it, like with the newspaper headline trick. You'll get much different ideas than you'd find on news sites without carving time into your schedule for stopping by a place in town.

7. Map Your Mind

If you've never tried mind mapping, it could be a great place to start your next brainstorming session. All you need is a central idea or theme.

Imagine picking a theme like self-love. You'd traditionally write it in the middle of a piece of paper and draw a circle or box around it. Arrows then branch off of that theme to whatever idea pops into your head when you think about it.

There's no order to the branching thought bubbles and you can branch off of those as long as you want. Eventually your words could add up into a story idea, scene, or character.

The University of Adelaide has a great example diagram if you're having a hard time picturing your mind map.

8. Write a Re-Telling

There are re-tellings of classic stories all the time. Think of Hamlet turning into The Lion King. Or the folklore that morphed into Disney princesses, who morphed into the gripping series The Lunar Chronicles.

When re-tellings are done well, they give a new perspective on a well-known theme, legend, superstition, or moral.

Many writers feel like they have to avoid re-tellings in their short stories or as future novels, but they can be powerful ways to convey meaningful storylines and themes if done well. They're also a great way to jumpstart your writing after a dry period.

9. Listen to Music

Trying to write something in a quiet room might not help your creative flow. The silence can make your critical thoughts louder than anything else or make it more tempting to set your writing aside.

It's always a good idea to try listening to music while you write. Specifically, you should select a few songs or a playlist that makes you happy. Research shows that creativity greatly improves when people listen to music that generates happiness.

There's also evidence that it's easier to focus while listening to lyric-less music.

Not sure where to start? I've got some recommended background noise apps, websites, and free playlists over on my resource list. It's got everything from rain sounds to my favorite lyric-less low-fi YouTube playlist.

10. Write Fan Fiction

The blank page is even more intimidating when you're not very familiar with your characters or setting. Fan fiction can be a balm for that. Try writing a short story about people in your latest favorite TV show, movie, or book series. You're already very familiar with those worlds, so practicing your writing skills by freestyling new arcs or scenes can be a lot of fun.

11. Analyze a Book's Plot

We all have a favorite book. Think of the one that last dazzled you or made you fall in love with reading. How did it do that?

Sometimes it helps to study an existing book you've already read. You can map it out on paper by writing down character names, inciting events, the plot points that built to the story's finale, and everything in between. Note how each point made you feel and why it mattered. You can reflect those strategies in your own work, which may solve your writer's block.

12. Watch a Documentary

There are some wild documentaries out there that will blow your mind. Pick one and enjoy it, then ask yourself what if things had gone differently? Tweaking part of an event could make it branch off into an entirely new story. It's basically writing fan fiction, but it may interest people who are more into instructional media.

---

When you find something that works, enjoy it! Then try something else the next time you want to create a plot. Writing is a craft that changes with time. It's better to have a well-tried bag of inspirational tricks than sit around and wait for a story to pop up in your mind.

#writing #writing tips #writing advice #writing plot #writing prompts #writeblr #writers of tumblr #creative writing #writing help #writing community #writers #writing inspiration #plot ideas #writers block #writer problems

[invisibleicewands]

Spooky monks and Michael Sheen murals: behind the scenes of new BBC drama The Way

Michael Sheen says he wants viewers of his new drama The Way “to feel like what it has felt like for the last 10 years of living” in the UK.

That is, “in a society where you don't know if you're in a horror film or a sitcom,” he told viewers at a Q&A for the show on Monday night. “Something that feels life and death stakes suddenly goes incredibly surreal and absurd, and then goes back to being incredibly scary again.”

The Way, which is due to air in February, follows the Driscoll family in the old industrial town of Port Talbot on the Welsh coast. Estranged from each other, they nevertheless have to set out on a cross-country odyssey to safety when they become tied up with civil unrest in the area.

In addition to making a cameo appearance in the show, The Way also marks Sheen’s first directorial role.

“I was never going to direct it. And then they said it's going to be in Port Talbot and then I have to direct it,” he joked.

“And the original seed of the idea was, I had this idea about watching a British family being uprooted and you didn't know why. And having to kind of flee their homes and go on the journey across Britain and then get across the channel. So it was a sort of refugee journey in reverse to the way we normally see it.”

It is also a passion project for the Welsh actor, who grew up in and now lives in Port Talbot himself – while the cast, who are majority Welsh, mostly grew up in the same area.

“There was so much of him in it,” said Steffan Rhodri about Sheen, who plays dad Geoff Driscoll (and who went to drama school with him). “I mean, you see a bit of Port Talbot. The one bit you didn't see is a massive wall with a mural of him on it.”

Was it hard to film the show without including it? “It was very hard,” Sheen joked. “We came very, very close – I mean, we were literally around the corner from it, and Callum made me go and have a photograph with it between takes. So that was difficult.”

‘Callum’ is Callum Scott Howells, best known for his performance in Russell T Davies drama It’s A Sin. He plays the disaffected Driscoll son, Owen – whom we first meet as a lonely figure looking for connection, and who gets caught up in the riots that sweep the town.

“It says in the script, James put something like, ‘we don't know why at this point, but he's feeling something. He’s there now, and he’s present’. And that for me kind of said everything. Like he doesn't he doesn't even know why he's rioting, but he's doing it,” Howells said.

“That was something that I really kind of threw myself into, and Michael was great in allowing me to do that. Yeah, those riot scenes were so fun, we just got to go nuts, you know. I headbutted a riot shield… because I’m nuts.”

The show itself also features the writing talents of James Graham, best known for political film Brexit: The Uncivil War and BBC crime drama Sherwood.

“We talked collectively about not wanting a traditional dystopian future, which was, which was really grim and bleak,” he said. "I think we all got excited by imagining the reverse of that... what if it was the myths and the legends and the folklores that embed themselves in our national psyche. Do they trap us? Do they inhibit us?"

The end result, he said, was a "contamination of genres." Not just social realism: the second episode becomes "a road movie, or an adventure movie on foot.

"So you start to see these elements of the myths and legends that the family carry with them become those stories we grew up with like Watership Down and Wizard of Oz, and it becomes very fantastical and weird."

#Michael Sheen #Movie #The Way #Interview

[pers-books]

Doctor Who fuels UNIT spin-off rumours with new picture hint

It's the question on every Doctor Who fan's mind - but could we be getting a UNIT spin-off?

BBC

By Morgan Cormack

Another day, another Doctor Who rumour to get chatting about - and this time around, it's the possibility of a UNIT spin-off that is getting us even more excited for the new era of the long-running sci-fi series.

As of late, the official Doctor Who Twitter account (which has rebranded as X) has been giving fans snippets of anticipated information regarding the upcoming season and 60th anniversary episodes.

Under the hashtag of #WhoSpy, the account has continued to build excitement around the run to come - with many a clue and mysterious picture leading fans to speculate about what's on the horizon.

Well, the latest picture to be shared on the account is of none other than a desk with a classified UNIT (the Unified Intelligence Taskforce) folder on top of it.

All the usual work desk items can be seen, including a mug, stationery and folders, but in and among the ordinary are some very specific clues.

Eagle-eyed fans have spotted a post-it note reading "Tuesday meeting @ 13.00" with some extension numbers scribbled on it, which has led fans to wonder whether the ominous date could tease a forthcoming Doctor Who social media post to come.

More importantly, though, some have started to draw conclusions about UNIT's potential involvement in the new season of Doctor Who.

Along with the very clear document hinting at UNIT's importance, many Whovians have wondered whether Petronella Osgood could be making a return to the series, especially with her iconic colourful scarf looking a lot like the umbrella atop the desk in the picture.

So, could Ingrid Oliver be back in Doctor Who or feature in a potential UNIT spin-off?

While there's been no word of Osgood's involvement just yet, we do know that a Whoniverse is on the cards when it comes to returning showrunner Russell T Davies's plans.

Back in January, Davies told GQ that "the spin-offs are ready", saying: "I always believed in spin-offs when I was there. I did Torchwood as a spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spin-off."

Similarly, Pete McTighe, who's written various episodes of Doctor Who, also told RadioTimes.com exclusively: "I haven’t really been paying attention to the rumours about the spin-offs, but I think Doctor Who is a show that deserves to be a much, much bigger brand - which is obviously what they’re doing now."

But will UNIT be getting its own spin-off? Well, more recently, Doctor Who star Jemma Redgrave, who played the head of scientific research Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, said she knows nothing about a possible UNIT show during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.

While the fictional military organisation has appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, there's been no confirmation about any UNIT-focused show just yet - but Redgrave did say they will be making an appearance in season 14, which is likely the source of the Twitter picture.

She said: "I don't know about a spin-off, but I have been back. I've done one episode in series 14 and it's such a wonderful thing to be part of that family. It was absolutely tremendous and to be part of Russell T Davies's vision is so exciting."

#Kate Stewart #UNIT #Jemma Redgrave #News and Speculation #Doctor Who

[yasmine-cariaga]

Blokette core: sporty with a feminine twist

Is this new trend a celebration of football culture or class appropriation?

TikTok has given rise to many ‘core’ trends like ballet, fairy, and gorp but the current ‘core’ which has everyone obsessed is blokette core.

Blokette core is a fusion between the masculine, sporty bloke aesthetic with the hyperfeminine coquette style. Independent label Peachy Den recently dropped a new collection inspired by football and blokette core called ‘Glory Days’. Also, German sportswear company Adidas is collaborating with the famed Florentine fashion house Gucci for another collection.

Blokette Core first went viral due to the World Cup frenzy at the end of 2022, and the hype doesn’t seem to be dying down anytime soon as videos tagged #blokettecore have scored an impressive 19.1 million views on Tik Tok.

The components making up the blokette capsule wardrobe include: oversized football jerseys, vintage Adidas track jackets, micro-minis, denim midi-skirts and baggy tracksuits. For footwear, Adidas trainers like Forum Lows, Gazelles or Sambas are another staple in a blokette’s wardrobe.

Instagram’s favourite It girl and model Bella Hadid is rarely seen without her Sambas, which could be the reason behind a surge in Google searches of her favourite shoe. There’s been a 350% surge in Samba searches during the last three months.

“The thing I like about blokette core is the casualness of it, you can’t really go wrong with it,” said LCF fashion student and blokette fan, Kateleigh Tome.

“As I grew up with this style and was constantly surrounded by it, it’s nice to see that it’s still being worn today.”

Finding the middle ground between femininity and masculinity is the key to achieving the blokette look.

For those wanting to give the trend a go, substituting the laces in your Adidas trainers for baby pink ribbons is a good start, or layering a vintage football jersey over a mini skirt works for those aspiring to be a little more daring. Try adding pastel-coloured bows to your hair for the ultimate blokette badge of approval.

On the surface, blokette core seems like a harmless celebration and feminisation of football-lad culture but can it be argued that this latest Tik Tok trend, is an appropriation of the British working-class aesthetic?

Arguably, blokette is 2023’s spin on the 90s-word ‘ladette’. A ladette is recognised as a working-class girl, with a scruffy attitude. She doesn’t care about the confines of gender roles and doesn’t mind taking a seat at the table at some of society’s most masculine hotspots – the grungier the pub, the better.

The look was first demonised when it first made its way to the social scene in the 1990s, but now its return is welcomed with (a fashionista’s) open arms.

If you need further visual representation of the look, BBC series Little Britain (2005) was filled with characters sporting the look. One of its main characters, Vicky Pollard is arguably the most memorable yet negative representation of working-class women in the media: “Whether nicking stuff from the supermarket or swapping her baby for a Westlife CD, Vicky reacts to any accusation with indignant outrage,” reads the BBC’s synopsis of the series.

Pollard could be seen as harmless fun, but the creators behind her character, two privately educated white men, has triggered social media discussion and perception 20-odd years on.

In 2006, YouGov carried out a survey at Edinburgh’s Film Festival, and found that the majority of participants felt that the depiction of Pollard on screen was an authentic depiction of single, working class mums off screen, according to The Guardian.

In addition, survey participants felt that Pollard  is a manifestation of a ‘chav’.

‘Chav’ is a derogatory term used to describe lower-class people who stereotypically behave in an antisocial way. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the government created a moral panic about chavs, which the media helped perpetuate.

Pollard’s iconic TV wardrobe of a Kappa zip-up, fluffy hair scrunchy, flared joggers and trainers, is a lesson in how to dress blokette, despite the character’s controversy.

However, when working-class people dress in a similar way, society arguably deems them as poor, or indeed a chav.

There is undoubtedly a double standard in fashion as clothes that are seen as trendy and cool on a middle-class white person, are typically seen as cheap and ‘chavvy’ on someone who is working class.

Kateleigh Tome explains: “When I was growing up, blokette core type clothing was what my family could afford at the time. Whenever someone walked past wearing a top from Sports Direct and baggy jeans or trackies I would always hear a comment [from passers-by] how that person is a chav and that you can tell they live in a council flat.”

The fashion industry is notorious for taking elements of working-class life such as clothing and making it palatable for higher social classes.

For example, in the early noughties, Burberry’s check pattern became popular amongst the working class and the classist British press was quick to label the check pattern as ‘chav wear’, making Burberry believe their association with the working class was damaging its image.

As a result, Burberry started to fade the Nova check out of its production line and they discontinued the once iconic Nova check cap, which was worn and loved by working-class football fans, to revoke their association with the working class. The Burberry check was now only featured in five per cent of products.

Fast forward to the late 2010s when the middle class and social elites no longer want to appear wealthy anymore, Burberry released its SS18 collection which was a Nova Check paradise. Now, instead of shying away from sport-leisure, brands are embracing the style, through the art of collaborating: In 2022 Gucci and Adidas created a world-dominating collection and for SS23 the two companies are collaborating again for another collection.

Is it as simple to say then, that working-class style is popular in fashion now because rich people don’t want to appear rich? According to LCF fashion student Saida Mahad, people wear working-class clothing: “To feel like they look like those around them,” and Tome agrees.

“Today, especially on social media, middle-class people are one of the main targets for criticism as they’re sort of out of touch. So, I think what happened years ago to working-class people is happening now to middle-class people and they’re trying to look less prestige. It’s all about fitting in.”

On the other hand, social media has allowed the fashion world to become more accessible to the working class and they are now able to influence fashion in ways they haven’t been able to before. So, this could be why recent trends have roots in working-class culture.

Now that the working-class aesthetic is loved by the fashion industry, maybe it’s time the industry starts to appreciate the working class people who are trying to finally break fashion’s seemingly impenetrable class ceiling.

#bellahadid #fashion #~burbery #y2k #blokette

[jordanianroyals]

BBC: Jordan's free speech boundaries tested with satire

By Yolande Knell, BBC News Middle East correspondent, 5 August 2023

One of the most popular satirical websites in the Arab world has hit back after being banned in Jordan by poking fun at the country's new planned censorship laws.

AlHudood, meaning "the limits" or "the borders", publishes articles and social media posts highlighting the absurdities of Middle Eastern politics and everyday life in a deadpan style. It is in effect the region's answer to the US parody website The Onion or the UK's Private Eye.

Its mocking commentary of the lavish wedding of Jordan's crown prince apparently led to AlHudood being blocked by the authorities last month - just ahead of tighter restrictions on the media being introduced.

Legislation currently going through parliament has been denounced by journalists and human rights groups, who say it will further restrict freedom of expression.

In its response, AlHudood - which was started in Jordan a decade ago - has offered a sardonic guide to publishing content in the country "without being fined, imprisoned, crucified".

Another mock article in a series of reports focuses on a "terrorist" who just started to pose a question on Facebook and was arrested for an "electronic crime".

"I think this will probably create a bigger clash [with officials in Amman] than before, but we feel we have no choice because if we don't do this, the longer-term effect for us and everyone else is going to be so much worse," an AlHudood source tells me from London.

In a region of autocratic leaders where state-run media dominates, AlHudood has thrived against the odds over the past decade and is seen as a breath of fresh air by many of its young followers. It says it reaches a million readers on its website and some 30 million a year on social media, which has become the main forum for voicing criticism of Arab authorities.

"We sort of do the journalism and then repackage it with satire," the London source says. "Satire is really great at working with hypocrisy and corruption."

Dark humour is deployed even on the toughest topics such as civil war, sectarian fighting, immigration and terrorism.

"A lot of the news is so overwhelming and it's difficult to find an angle on it," the AlHudood source adds. "Our approach at least gets people curious about what's happening. It helps create a question in people's heads like: 'What should I think about that?'"

Among the online publication's recent satirical reports was one about the Tunisian president condemning sub-Saharan Africans for stealing places on migrant boats from his own people.

Others drily introduce the two latest candidates "who will not end" Lebanon's long-running presidential vacuum and tell of an agreement between Turkey and Syria "to repatriate 50% of every refugee".

One headline: "Saudi government signs Hajj promotion deal with Cristiano Ronaldo" mocks how widely the superstar footballer has been used in marketing since his lucrative transfer to a Riyadh club.

For AlHudood's writers the opulent celebrations for the Jordanian royal wedding in June seemed ripe for ridicule. While Jordanian law has long criminalised speech deemed critical of the king, from experience its team did not think it was crossing red lines.

A satirical Instagram post depicted Jordanian riot police arresting a man for throwing a party for his baby son on the day of the crown prince's nuptials. There was also a joke threatening fines for citizens who were found not smiling sufficiently. Another gag asked how the costs of the wedding were being covered in the country struggling with rising living costs.

Human rights activists say that in Jordan and the broader Middle East, there has been a recent trend for increased state censorship. There have been many prosecutions of social media influencers and bans on TikTok.

A coalition of civic rights groups led by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Jordan's parliament to scrap its new cybercrimes law, saying it could jeopardise free speech and lead to greater online censorship. They criticise how some offences are described in vague terms which could leave them open for the interpretation of prosecutors.

"It makes very clear that the intention of this is to scare people and make them think twice about posting anything online that could be remotely critical or controversial, or something some official won't like. It's deeply concerning," says Adam Coogle from HRW in Amman.

"When you pair it with the real shrinking space for civil discussion that has taken place in this country otherwise in the last few years, we're looking at a clear slide into more authoritarian governance."

The cybercrime bill - which has just been sent back to Jordan's lower house of parliament by the Senate after it drafted small revisions - is also expected to give greater powers to the authorities to block websites and social media platforms.

Jordan's government maintains that the draft law is not meant to limit freedoms but tackle fake news, online defamation and hate speech. It denies trying to stifle dissent but says it wants to protect people from internet abuse or blackmail.

Nevertheless, there has been criticism from Washington, the country's main donor.

In order to work around regional restrictions, AlHudood has now been formally based in the UK for several years. It does not name its contributors from across the Arab world, reducing the chance of direct conflict with officials.

Despite the Jordan ban - which follows on from one in the United Arab Emirates - its writers say that they will continue touching the sensitive nerves of Middle Eastern powers.

#Jordan #crown prince hussein #Princess Rajwa #wedding

[denimbex1986]

'A BBC News reporter has been accused of asking "deeply homophobic" and "absolutely disgusting" questions to actor Andrew Scott after he spoke to Colin Paterson on the Baftas red carpet.

Scott, 47, was at the awards do despite missing out on a Best Actor nod as All of Us Strangers was still up for Best Film and several other awards.

A BBC News reporter has been accused of asking "deeply homophobic" and "absolutely disgusting" questions to actor Andrew Scott after he spoke to Colin Paterson on the Baftas red carpet.

Scott, 47, was at the awards do despite missing out on a Best Actor nod as All of Us Strangers was still up for Best Film and several other awards.

Speaking to the press on the red carpet before taking his seat in the auditorium, Scott had been fielding questions about his latest film in which he stars alongside Paul Mescal.

But when he got to the BBC's Paterson, the line of questioning soon turned to Scott's pal Barry Keoghan.

Keoghan starred in the much-talked-about 2023 blockbuster Saltburn and has been the subject of viral chatter online due to his participation in a nude scene that closes the film.

"Do you know Barry well?" Paterson asked Scott in a snippet from their interview which has since been shared thousands of times online.

"I know Barry, yeah," Scott replied with a smile before Paterson continued: "Okay, your reaction when you first saw the naked dance scene at the end of Saltburn..."

Clearly uncomfortable with the line of questioning, Scott awkwardly laughed before another reporter chipped in: "No spoilers."

"Oh jeez," Scott said before he tried to bat away the question. "Okay, well I won't spoil it for anybody. It's great, it's great."

But Paterson wasn't deterred as he continued to probe: "You can spoil away..."

"No, no. I won't spoil it for anybody," an irked Scott replied as he began to motion away from Paterson.

But the BBC reporter didn't stop there as he asked: "There is a lot of talk about prosthetics, how well do you know him?"

Scott awkwardly chuckled again and moved away from Paterson, who laughed and quipped: "Too much! Too much."

After the moment surfaced on social media, several viewers slammed Paterson's line of questioning, branding it "homophobic" given that Scott identifies as gay.

"There’s is something so deeply homophobic about asking Andrew Scott a gay man this weird a** question about Barry’s scene in Saltburn??" One fan hit back. "Ask him about all of us strangers the BAFTA nominated film he is in… 'how well do you know Barry' Andrew deserves an apology from the BBC."

A second also praised Scott's response: "Andrew Scott is an absolute prince for handling this so well. He could easily have told this w****r to f*** off, and no one would mind."

Meanwhile, a third reacted: "Yeah awful. Please remember how lucky you are to be presenting on a national broadcaster and don’t ask questions like this next time. Poor Andrew Scott."

"This is frankly disgusting," another slammed. "Andrew Scott is there to support his multiple nominated film and THIS is what you ask? Then when he looks visibly uncomfortable the guy carried on. Truly horrid. #BAFTAs."

A fifth fumed: "This is actually dreadful. And you can bet that this would not have been asked if Andrew wasn't gay. This is not simply lousy journalism; it is also obvious homophobia."

And a sixth furious fan hit out: "Asking a gay actor about another man's dick in a f****** red carpet interview is so absurdly homophobic because it's creepy but also you're assuming because that person is gay they must have liked it/have thoughts about it because 'queers are sex-crazed'. Absolutely disgusting." (sic)

GB News has contacted the BBC for comment.'

#Andrew Scott #Paul Mescal #BAFTAs #Twitter #All of Us Strangers #Barry Keoghan #Saltburn

[ragsandmuffins-ali]

Fax to Max

Just sent this Fax to Max. Feel free to copy it or use it as a basis for anything you write or say to them on the phone. I also included b/w images of one of the numbers we do know about and some of WBD's guiding principles.

Btw faxed for the first time yesterday. Very excited!

Dear Mr. Zaslav,

I am writing to you concerning some recent news about the WBD-owned streaming service Max.

I was saddened to hear of the cancellation of Our Flag Means Death last week. However, my sadness has since turned into confusion and outrage.

Our Flag Means Death has consistently outperformed many other Max properties that have been renewed for another season, such as The Gilded Age and And Just Like That. Our Flag Means Death has a huge and passionate fanbase, online engagement with related key words are massive, not to mention the show is a critical success. I would like to point out the 94% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes. Our Flag Means Death has also appeared on many year-end "Best of 2023" lists.

All this is despite the fact that Season 2 has not even aired in most parts of the world. Season 1 brought in another huge wave of viewers when it was released on the BBC and made available for purchase on YouTube.

Moreover, Max has promoted it as one of their "Biggest Hits" when one logs into one's account. Especially among young and queer audiences, the show enjoys immense popularity.

Our Flag Means Death is now the latest in a long line of queer-centered shows that have been cancelled prematurely. And quite frankly, queer audiences are getting sick of it. We are a big and active demographic and many of us have plenty of disposable income. Indeed, I spent some of mine to buy Our Flag Means Death on YouTube, even though I had already seen it on the BBC - which I also pay for.

To add insult to injury, yesterday Max CEO Casey Bloys made the following statement: "I need Gay Twitter to come out and support The Gilded Age." This truly felt like a slap in the face, considering "Gay Twitter" has been tweeting about our wishes for another season of Our Flag Means Death for over a week at this point.

Your company appears to have gravely misjudged what gay viewers want from their media. A show like The Gilded Age, which features only one major character who is queer, does not cut it. We are after rounded, diverse queer characters, like those in Our Flag Means Death, not one single rich, white, cis gay man in a sea of heterosexual characters.

On Our Flag Means Death, Bloys later added, "the numbers weren't there for a renewal." I am very curious as to which numbers he is referring to. Max do not release their

streaming stats. But the mass-exodus of Our Flag Means Death from Max is anything to go by, I highly doubt his statement is accurate!

At this point I would also like to quote one of Warner Bros. Discovery's own guiding principles: "Intentionally seek out diversity, remove barriers, and create space for all to share ideas and be heard. Actively listen and lead with empathy, integrity, and transparency."

Suffice it to say Our Flag Means Death's fans have made themselves heard - numerous news outlets and Max's social media managers can attest to that. What we are missing at this stage are your "empathy" (calling on gay viewers after cancelling a show beloved by gay people is frankly offensive), "integrity" (sticking to your principles on seeking out and empowering diversity), and "transparency" (Bloys claims the numbers aren't there we have no way of verifying his statement).

To sum up, I implore you to follow one of your other guiding principles: "acknowledge mistakes and learn from them." Cancelling Our Flag Means Death was a grave mistake that you have the power to undo.

Please do so.

I look forward to hearing the announcement of Our Flag Means Death Season 3 soon. Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,

#ofmd #renew ofmd #save our flag means death #save ofmd #renew our flag means death #renew as a crew #ourgoodshadows #our good shadows #david zaslav #hbo max #wbd #fax to max #the numbers were there #numbers #our flag means death

[magickfromscratch]

According to this article:

The Black Flag over Razavi Shrine in Mashhad, Khorasan province, Iran was raised in mourning, not vengeance.

Kim Jong Un did not make a statement blaming Biden

The Turkish President did not say he would intervene in the war.

The Israeli military did NOT make a social media post confirming a bombing of a hospital in Gaza. The Israeli military’s press office doesn’t use its own logo on its actual social media accounts, unlike the fake account.

Qatar’s emir did not threaten to cut off the world’s natural gas supply if Israel doesn’t stop bombing Gaza.

The video which shows a BBC News report confirming Ukraine provided weapons to Hamas is fabricated.

The video of a young actor being filmed lying in a pool of fake blood which supposedly shows propaganda being created for use in the Israel-Hamas war is actually behind-the-scenes footage from the making of “Empty Place,” a short film focused on the story of Ahmad Manasra. It is not propaganda created by either Hamas or the IDF.

Nimrod Aloni, a top general in the Israeli army, was NOT captured by Hamas militants during the Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. He's still going into work.

Two videos show Russian President Vladimir Putin warning the U.S. to “stay away” from the latest Israel-Hamas war -- these were actually footage of Putin speaking about the war in Ukraine, and have nothing to do with this conflict.

#gaza #israel hamas war #israel palestine conflict