GAO have intermittently put out reports about DHS, ICE & CBP have inadequate process for discovering when they have accidentally detained a USC and don't even track how often it happens. Most recently in 2021 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-487

Available data indicate ICE and CBP took enforcement actions against some U.S. citizens. For example, available ICE data indicate that ICE arrested 674, detained 121, and removed 70 potential U.S. citizens from fiscal year 2015 through the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 (March 2020).

This isn't a new issue, its been a problem for decades. Some notables: Andres Robles Gonzalez, deported in 2008 and wasn't allowed back until 2011, USCIS accepted he was a citizen but wouldn't issue him paperwork as he couldn't enter the US to visit a USCIS field office. Or Blanca Maria Alfaro, deported in 1998 (she literally had a passport with her) and not allowed back until 2013. Due process sometimes fricks shit up but it gives an opportunity to not do so, there are many many cases where immigration courts have found someone was actually a citizen. Days or weeks from detention to removal with only an ICE guy to convince you are a USC for a few minutes/hours after your initial detention is going to be leaky as frick.

ICE seem to be doing ICE things again and are rendering people to CECOT who they think are Venezuelan and think they are in a gang because they have tattoos or have a picture on the Instagram's doing a shakabrah (might be grounds for denaturalization on its own). While the feds have invoked state secrets exception to not disclose any details about the people they have rendered there is evidence that three of the people they rendered so far have no criminal history in the US and two of those had pending asylum claims. As Tren de Aragua are a designated terrorist organization there is an actual legal process they could undertake to establish these people are members or not. Given we are paying El Salvador $20k/y for each of them it also seems fiscally prudent to not pay for people who are not a member of Tren de Aragua.

DHS/ICE/CBP fricking shit up usually doesn't result in individual liability as qualified immunity applies. Where the future drama comes in to play is because its a rendition not a deportation. While potential claims could be brought by anyone who was rendered im going to focus on what could happen when a USC inevitably gets rendered to CECOT.

Suing the frick out of everyone

Bivens

Established in 1971 due to SCOTUS case Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, these claims allow individuals to sue federal officials directly for violating their constitutional rights, even when no specific statute authorizes such lawsuits. This one is the big daddy for civil cases as congress have no ability to block it even if a chud congress try to reduce tort liability.

• Fourth Amendment violations (unreasonable seizure of the person)

• Fifth Amendment violations (denial of due process)

• Sixth Amendment violations (criminal detention without due process)

• Eighth Amendment violations (subjecting a citizen to cruel and unusual punishment)

Federal Tort Claims Act

The FTCA is a 1946 federal law that waives sovereign immunity (the legal doctrine that prevents the government from being sued without its consent) in specific situations. It allows individuals to sue the federal government for torts (civil wrongs) committed by federal employees while acting within the scope of their employment.

• False imprisonment

• Negligence in verifying citizenship status

• Intentional infliction of emotional distress

• Abuse of process

Alien Enemies Act Misapplication

It may be admitted under Bivens or simply as additional evidence of liability

• The Executive Order misapplied the Alien Enemies Act to target a non-state actor (gang) rather than a foreign nation

• The Alien Enemies Act historically applies only during declared wars against foreign nations

• The Alien Enemies Act is almost certainly unconstitutional today. Mathews v. Eldridge (due process requirements before deprivation of liberty) is particularly notable here as is Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (if the US violates international law established by a treaty it is party to then that can be enforced by federal courts)

• Targeting citizens falsely accused of gang membership exceeds statutory authority

Mistaken Identity as Additional Liability

• Falsely rendering someone who is not actually a gang member increases liability

• Failure to investigate claims of mistaken identity constitutes gross negligence (important later)

• Pattern of false gang designations creates even more liability

Rendering to CECOT as Event More Liability

CECOT conditions would substantially increase damages. Documented human rights violations in this facility include severe overcrowding, isolation, lack of medical care, and conditions amounting to torture. Kristi Noem's visit today will inevitably be used as documentary evidence that the administration had active knowledge of these conditions.

How much

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar is an interesting potential analog case. The state secrets dismissal would not work in these cases but we can use the Canadian settlement as a ballpark for what kind of award someone might receive for being rendered by the US, $10.5 million in 2007 Canadian pretend money or ~$15m in current gods dollars.

My r-slur math suggests these kinds of ranges per case

• Low estimate: $1-2 million (based on scaling existing deportation settlements for the extended timeframe)

• Middle estimate: $3-5 million (considering the particularly severe conditions and international aspects)

• High estimate: $10-15 million (comparable to international rendition cases involving torture)

If there is a particularly sympathetic case that high is way too low. I suspect future civil liability from the renditions is easily in to the billions already.

Federal charges

Usually federal employees have criminal immunity for official acts. Exceptions include when gross negligence is involved. A future administration could take everyone from the cabinet down to individual ICE/CBP officers to trial on an assortment of charges.

18 U.S.C. § 242 - Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law

This statute is specifically designed for prosecuting government officials who violate individuals' constitutional rights while acting in their official capacity. Its the one the good hardworking cops keep being convicted under for trying to keep society safe from basketballs. To secure a conviction, prosecutors would need to prove:

• The defendant acted under color of law (using their authority as a government official)

• The defendant willfully deprived the victim of constitutional rights

• For renditions to CECOT, penalties are enhanced because:

• If bodily injury results: Up to 10 years imprisonment

• If death results: Up to life imprisonment

Ultra Vires Actions

Criminal charges are strengthened by the illegal nature of the Executive Order:

• Officials implementing an unconstitutional order act outside lawful authority ("ultra vires" means "beyond the powers" in straggy latin)

• Invoking the Alien Enemies Act against non-state actors and citizens constitutes an ultra vires act

• Officials have an affirmative duty to refuse unlawful orders

18 U.S.C. § 241 - Conspiracy Against Rights

This statute criminalizes conspiracies to violate constitutional rights.

• Conspiracy to violate constitutional rights: Up to 10 years imprisonment

• If death results: Life imprisonment or death penalty

• Unlawful rendition policy magnifies conspiracy liability as simply following an illegal EO is participating in that conspiracy

18 U.S.C. § 1201 - Kidnapping

This one is a bit more of a stretch as the federal statute is fairly narrow but could still apply.

• Up to life imprisonment if victim transported internationally

• Enhanced penalties if the victim suffers bodily injury

They gonna be getting a visit from the health inspector.

State Charges

Usually federal employees cannot be tried in a state court for state crimes that were official federal acts. If the federal government decides they were not official acts (and a federal court agrees) this immunity goes away. The most serious (and not chudded) would be a CA or NY criminal case for kidnapping (not a stretch, state kidnapping statutes are much broader than the federal one), where they would face up to life in prison.

Im really curious to see how this develops over the next few years. When the first case of a USC being rendered is identified what will congress do? Will daddy preemptively pardon all federal employees? Will the sheeple care it happened or will it just get lost in the r-slur cycle?

Compared to the original:

Made this after yet another miserable attempt to save the userbase of one of my old alma maters, /r/skeptics which has become a shadow of it's former self and half the mods are thin skinned cute twink astrotufer fake butt skeptics (no true scotsman ya know?) who got cucked by terfs at some point and spend all the time pooping up one of my old favorite centrist communities with non-stop quackery ( shit) as well as wingcuckery to the max.

In this latest episode and forage into fake skepticsville I did find some hope that some are amenable to not wanting to look completely fricking r-slurred and made a post about why the JD Vance video was literally the worlds most obvious fricking fake on the planet earth.

Before I get into it I'll clarify that Redditors fell for this hard:

based on that I figured there was a teachable moment buried in all of this shit that could reach both sides since it helps lefties stop being r-slurred and also by default dispels a hoax about vance

I was wrong, but also unsurprised.

My first post was immediately removed of course and its tradition at this point, because basically all posts on /r/skeptic there now are auto-removed until you spam the jannys for permission which I did.

Their explanation doesn't make any sense but I could be wrong because I don't janny shit since we made love4landlords went red and yellow.

apparently all effortposts on /r/skeptic with any links (as in trying to fricking literally cite your sources of information with more than one shitty trans opinion article ) is now AUTO REMOVED. Curious. My own personal conspiracy is

that they did this out of spite because one of you guys !transphobes made a good effort post one time and linked all of the verboten science showing gender dysphoria isn't real and just a fancy name for an acquired condition that causes a chronic copemine deficiency which in real medicine is called being a pathetic little b-word (who was either coddled by mama or alternatively abused/groomed too much growing up, source: nursing science)

anyway facts aside, I bit the bullet and split the post into a singular link for the r-slurs and posted my write up separately. The post has done well because there's still a few old marbles rolling around there it seems who haven't been banned by the jannies yet, however the astroturfing newcute twink r-slur fake skeptic denizens were likely offended by my facts and only about a dozen people have even read the whole fricking point I made the post which was to try and help the children learn how critical thinking works.

In any event here's the post where I had to split up the link and my write up in a comment because you can't link facts anymore in /r/skeptics lol:

https://old.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/1jizari/info_regarding_a_leaked_audio_ai_hoax_of_jd_vance/

Link to my original write up in attempts to help redditors unfrick themselves with some helpful tips for spotting AI, which even dramatards could apparently use a lesson in :

https://old.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/1jizari/info_regarding_a_leaked_audio_ai_hoax_of_jd_vance/mjj34lc/?context=8

I consider this pretty sound and sage advice but alas basically no one read it and the majority of the hundred or so comments are by a bunch of complete absolute fricking hypoxic snot licking imbeciles. Here are some of the best excerpts:

https://old.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/1jizari/info_regarding_a_leaked_audio_ai_hoax_of_jd_vance/mjj7tcj/?context=8

>translation: you're right but orangeman bad so conspiracy good

I corrected him politely just saying actually maybe justr don't fricking jump to conclusions like a good skeptic, which prompted further autism from some other fricking non-skeptic loser TDS cuck:

Your logic is way of base. I make films for a living and we take recording audio pretty seriously. It's extremely difficult to get good high-quality audio unless you have a mic in someone's face. As you've probably seen when we can't have a Mike on camera we put it as close as the person as possible on a boom. The standard Mike used the situation Costs a couple of thousand dollars and better options cost four and five. This supposedly leaked audio sounds exactly as good as you would expect if you were recording someone a few feet away using a phone on a desk or concealed under a piece of paper or in a pocket.

Everybody can tell when they are "on speaker" because the change in audio quality is so apparent and that's with high-quality processing in a modern phone. The argument that this recording is fake because the quality is poor is back to Front. If it sounded as if someone was speaking directly into a mic, you would know it was fake.

How tf does person pretend to get paid to do this shit that I can do for fun and they cannot even differentiate something made by trolls?

I checked his history and was SHOCKED to find out he's a pathetic old broke butt leaf who spends all his time basically crying about space daddy:

I again searched for the effort to help these developmentally disable posers, but to no avail, they started downpooping me, ungrateful fricks:

Nothing could prepare me for the king of neurodivergent libertarians audiophiles, a peak Oldcute twink Leftist Redditor !atheists who posted the most confidently incorrect Adderall fueled r-slur rants that I've seen in awhile, read at your own peril:

I have run recording studios for 35 years. I have done forensic work for most of the major insurance companies in my my State, more than a dozen lawyers, lots of private investigators, the State ad Local police, EMS, and our local airport. I have the same noise reduction cowtools the FBI and CIA use. I have heard both much better and much worse recordings made since smartphones became a thing.

The greatest determinants (as a user above pointed out regarding location sound on film) to sound quality are the microphone and the proximity of the mic to the subject. People recording surreptitiously often put their phones/ recorders in jacket or pants pockets. Sometimes they start a recorder in a hidden location near where they hope the speaker will be when incriminating himself. Often that's not the case. We have no way of knowing what kind of device this was recorded with, we don't know what the microphone was, or whether it had a directional or omnidriectional pickup pattern. It sounds like a mic halfway across an office. The reverberant quality of the background noises are consistent with the reverberant voice reflections in the room. I certainly wouldn't assume the noise was added after the fact.

I actually would not immediately jump to disbelieving the whole thing without evidence for it being fake. Someone claiming it is fake is not evidence. I have used AI voice generation for a few paid projects, and quite a bit, just out of my own curiosity. The thing that AI still gets wrong most often is inflection, especially if there is no punctuation to push it in a particular direction- things like pauses for a comma, hooking up the pitch of the words at the end of an interrogative sentence, loud, definitive exclamations, etc. Those cues that follow punctuation are easier than those which don't rely on punctuation. Getting an AI voice to inflect something like anger, or sarcasm, or hushed intensity isn't easy. You can't type in those kinds of inflections with normal punctuation marks. I understand that a new AI training tool that changes all of that is coming. Apparently some company is working on a way to scan and learn one person's delivery and then replace their words with an AI voice, but following the cadence, speed, lilt, pauses, etc. of the person training it for that particular job.\

So, yeah, it's conceivable that someone who does a great Vance impersonation was able to further polish the voice with AI to create this. But as important as it is to not leap to conclusions regarding something like this (if the real truth matters to you at all), it's important to look at all the evidence before rendering a hard conclusion. We don't have all the evidence, so the safer thing to do is to not claim someone said something they, perhaps, did not. But it's also good to have a working theory, as long as you're willing to accept new data that can discredit your assumption. That's what I'm doing. Until someone can prove otherwise, I have to imagine it is what it sounds like. Would anyone be surprised to find out he feels that way? It certainly would have made sense for him to have said that. When someone shows me convincing evidence that it is not him, I'll change my mind. But I'd bet my left nut it's genuine.

https://old.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/1jizari/info_regarding_a_leaked_audio_ai_hoax_of_jd_vance/mjlaamj/?context=8

This dumb fricker literally cannot distinguish reality and wrote a novel under his pen name:

L. E. Akshually

Go figure he too has TDS and also he lepardsatemyfacemaxxes as a cope:

Literally he spent like an hour on that shit to try and "1-up" me and failed like a bitcho as I was immediately able to show he was r-slurred as this is what inspired the video I posted which took tens of minutes. Audiophiles have some of the worst r-slurs of all time. By nature of the fact their so braindead they can't even apply anything they've learned about how basic HEARING SHIT AND SOUND WORKS.

Anyway like I said that annoyed me enough to stage a quick video with some AI voice synth which inspired this whole post because I think it came out pretty good.

I'm still waiting to see what he says in response to this video and see if all of his fake wisdom will allow him see reality, I suspect he will not and continue to shit up skeptics spaces like all the other ladygardens, ah well.

Anyway beyond that, here's some additional proof that this whole subreddit needs to get nuked and get rebuilt by actual skeptics since it's been astroturfed by Resetera Megan's Law enthusiasts formerly known as the OG incel G*mergater quacks now masquerading as skeptics.

Lets get into it, first off, it's definitely real if JD vance denies it:

b-b-b-but trump and MAGAs are r-slurred too!!! Yea no fricking shit you dumb mother fricker

This guy waited like two years to start commenting and he's already off to a failed start:

Also I hadn't heard of /r/MAGANAZI before today but it sounds like a bait sub but also rolls off the tongue way better that marchagainstnazis or whatever the frick that old annoying shitsub was.

Ah hey and look who it is, the libertarian and/or roblox kid being groomed by s. The tard gangs all here:

Anyway, if you want more seethe !aichads look at how many fricking r-slurred AI haters there are out there, this should be an important lesson for !masterbaiters, it just takes one good idea and a beefy GPU real or cloud to frick with the literal internet (and by tangent the vice president of the united states.) Get a load of all these fricks:

https://old.reddit.com/r/50501/comments/1jicc6t/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/

https://old.reddit.com/r/millenials/comments/1jihv5k/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/ < --- !millenials we should harass these people in particular

https://old.reddit.com/r/VaushV/comments/1jickxk/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/

https://old.reddit.com/r/MAGANAZI/comments/1jibaah/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/

https://old.reddit.com/r/AccidentalAlly/comments/1jibqmy/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/

https://old.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/1jiijv2/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk_is_this_real/

https://old.reddit.com/r/Whistleblowers/comments/1jib9ll/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/

https://old.reddit.com/r/Staiy/comments/1jiml5o/leaked_jd_vance_audio_on_elon_musk/

Considering the above, the skeptic's thing is not quite so bad, but whatever. High standards for shit is what used to make it great.

!chuds get a W for this since I couldn't find as many rightoids taking the bait.

!jannies effortpost or rope

!animalposters Check out queeries big ol' peepers as he hides from the Wrath of Baby Face Beardson

Also before I forget, for extra spice I also added a good impression of Elon Musk I found in the background to simulate a lovers quarrel as the basis for JDV's fake rdrama rant trying to get away from that crazy b-word. Listen closely and you can hear it.

Greetings Boys and Girl

You guys are aware by this time that I'm the resident Boer/Afrikaner/Safrican/Genocide-denier of the place, because for 2 years I literally could not shut up about it and made like 100+ Longposts about it.

I have genuinely endeavored to the utmost of my sincerest capacity to be truthful, unbiases and sincere - because as an Afrikaner I was the direct r*pespawn descendant of those responsible for the infamy of Apartheid in South Africa, and in large part the dysfunction of the country in the modern era.

I am fully aware of the bias and wingcuckery of both champions and detractors of modern south african rule have, as I have had literal ground zero seating at the terminal wingcuckery for people regarding the excusing of black safrican peeps misrule of the functioning country they inherited, whilst opponents also denying the not-inconsequential influence whites had upon the ill-preparation Apartheid had for black peeps to be capable of effectively governing on a national scale.

And as a Safrican white, I am fully aware the degree that local and international racism has upon the sincerity of criticism of modern black governance, with most unironic actual neonazis stating that black peeps are innately biologically incapable of ruling, while stormfronters want RSA to fail as proof of their ideology.

Thus I had (attempted) to go to great lengths to try and describe what I believe has been the cultural factors that has led to modern systemic black misrule, as well as going on enormous tangents regarding the historical contexts of the timelines which led to the modern state of affairs

I have no idea how you guys see me, as just another hateful racist wingcuck, trying to deny the participation of my ancestors' part in Apartheid, because my greatest fear had been that I had been just another run of the mill Apartheid-Apologist, one of the many infinite boomers who excused the totalitarian nature of the Nation State at the time, or ignored its oppressive nature because they weren't the ones with a boot upon their necks.

YET, at the same time as a non-woke-shitlib-leftoid wingcuck, the amount of one-sided, surface-level, uninformed views I've encountered about Safrica and its tumultuous past of racial inequality, has made me realize from a young age that throughout all of history that fricking even when there had been somewhat relatively open-and-shut, black-and-white (punny) good VS evil events, that those championing righteous causes.....are just as fricking r-slurred as the evil peeps they oppose

Like holy shit, if you liberal guys ever wondered why peeps didn't just realize why slavery was a bad thing , and it took 200 years of social reform, societal upheaval and conflict, it's probably because the abolitionist movement had r-slurs like modern shitlibs at the helm

What I mean by this, is that it appears that safrican anti-racists, liberals appear to completely incapable of fighting misinformation without other equivalent misinformation. Like it's the highest incarnation of Bigotry of Low Expectations when local and international liberals try to excuse modern ANC black misrule,

and the post I wanna share I think embodies how liberal peeps can lie or be misinformed or just plane r-slurred, when discussing something ostensibly as morally black-and-white (punny) as Apartheid-apologism.

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/

SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE CONTEXT:

Basically, this weekend Safricans enjoyed a long weekend, when the public holiday of Human Rights Day, landed on 21 March 2025. Way back in 1994, during the Nelson Madiba Administration, it was declared that 21 March 2025 would become a future Safrican holiday, as a direct commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre, which had occurred during 21 March 1960. The Human Rights Day was deemed to be a general holiday for all of the Anti-Apartheid struggles and counter movements, though the date 21 March date was specifically chosen to coincide with the Sharpeville Massacre.

As a TLDR: the Sharpeville Massacre was the 1st major insurrection against the the rule of the Union of South Africa regime (the Apartheid Government), which involved violence, and actual deaths. The event occurred as mass protest when the Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd enacted draconian pass-laws in 1959-1960: meaning black peeps were to be forced to have passports to move between provinces/municipalities/work-areas, and especially at night after curfew. This came as a direct reaction against increased black communist and proto-ANC factions having started to organize black populations against their white overlords, and the pass-laws were to be an instrument to quell this movements and restrict black people's capacity to organize.

The pass-laws were so draconian and unprecedented, that it in reality backfired, and was probably responsible for the greatest recruitment of communist and ANC members than ever before; as most black peeps before 1960 were in reality relatively docile and just took the unequal treatment of the white-government at face value as a norm. Before 1959/1960 resistance against the Union government was seen as an Upper class black thing amongst the general and uneducated masses of Safrica, as the ANC for example began as an organization when black students were blanket banned from all of the prominent and prestigious main universities in the early 1950s by Hendrik Verwoerd (the architect of Apartheid) and the Union government.

The pass-laws affected pretty much fricking everyone non-white, and by 1960 they incrementally began to include even black women, and seemingly overnight cucked the lives and comfort of the black masses which before 1960 had given proportionally little resistance against the slowly-boiling racial segregation laws which had accumulated since 1948, 12 years ago, when the Nasionale Partei came to dominate South Africa. After the pass-laws came into being, it was like ANC membership exploded, and insurrections, riots and protests occurred daily all over the country.

With one of the largest fatefully occurring in 21 March 1960 in the small Township of Sharpeville, when over 5000 peeps deliberately tried to jippo a Police-checkpoint for day-passes between a black residence suburb and the town's CBD. The crowd of 5000 peeps were organized by the Pan-Africanist Congress, another proto-ANC group to leave their day-passes at home and force their way through the Police Checkpoint by force as protest against the unfair law.

The Police-checkpoint officers were young afrikaans men conscripted, and unused to even process/check more than a dozen peeps at a time, and shit brix and called in the municipal riot squads......whom were also young untrained conscripted men The inevitable happened when men with firearms clashed with a crowd of indignant and angry peeps, and when the dust settled 69 peeps had been filled dead with bullets, and another 200 wounded.

The event had been lionized by black peeps and liberals since, with a whole lot of mythology having taken over since. Anyway that's not relevant.

TDS:

As you guys have notice past 3 months, the usual shitlibbery of Reddit has been turbo hypercharged into EVEN MORE EXTREME wingcuckery than ever before since Trump's victory in Burgerland, with the entirety of the site having been turned into /r/Democrats and random hysteria taking place all over /r/all whenever Trump so much as farts. Nazi-hysteria is commonplace and the abrasive nature of Trump means than places like /r/worldnews, /r/europe and pretty much every large sub is just one constant deluge of hysteria every fricking day.

I didn't think it was possible to reach even greater levels of shitlib hysteria, wingcuckery and insanity, but week after week, the bar sinks.

Now since Musk has wormed his way into such influence with the Trump Administration, he has also had his image make Reddit foam at the mouth whenever he so much as farts in the wind

And due to his South African origins, and the recent diplomatic spats between Trump & Musk & SA diplomats, /r/southafrica, a usually small and wayward sub, has also experienced rapid transformation past 3 months, into increasingly greater levels of shitlibery and hysteria. /r/SouthAfrica has always been so for past 5 years, but like EVEN MORE SO

SA TDS:

Thus past weekend, many terminal Safrica redditors have spammed the sub with Sharpeville posts and posts against Apartheid-Apologists (which is our version of anti-nazi posting) and how to "PROVE" the racist boomer afrikaners and Musk wrong about shit.

The issue is that they are fighting misinformation with equivalent wingcuckery and misinformation. And i feel this criclejerk post is the perfect summary of such distilled thoughts

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/

(1) SA CRIME & MURDER RATES:

Alot of shitlibs, black people, ANC wingcucks, and online redditors always purport to shut down criticisms of modern SA dysfunction by showcasing the 30 year gap of crime stats, with the worst and most recent high having occurred during 1994, and having declined since in terms of murder rates.

It's not a bad statistic for gauging the general wellbeing of a country, as most Nation States and provinces, can have their general crime index tied to it. For the vast majority of countries, murder rates per 100 000 peeps, is a general surface barometer for the rest of the crimes taking place. In other words, the higher/lower murder rates, so to does proportionally higher/lower crime rates follow for lesser crimes.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43576-023-00086-1

But this is not universal.

South Africa is an extreme outlier in the global community, in that our Murder Rates have decreased, BUT VIRTUALLY EVERY OTHER FRICKIGN METRIC HAS INCREASED

https://theconversation.com/violent-crime-in-south-africa-happens-mostly-in-a-few-hotspots-police-resources-should-focus-there-criminologist-248233

It is true additionally for example that most violent murder-related crime occurs in "criminal hotspots" or basically gang related crime. If you're a tourist, your chances of being murdered or randomly assaulted is not that much bigger than places like Burgerland/Europe, instead your chances of being robbed however is absurdly high.

Thus it is very true murder is generally down from that of the past, this is definitively true, and any boomer Apartheid-Apologist cannot sneed their way past this reality.

However,

this statistic itself is robbed (punny) of context. During 1990-1993, South Africa was at its greatest and most unstable politically. Virtually no one was under any illusion that Apartheid was going to stay, yet nobody knew how or precisely when the government would fall. The global community had turned on SA, sanctions had crippled the nations over the course of 15 years. Many people, of all the races, was expecting a massive civil war to break out.

Afrikaans people expected that whites would turn on one another, like the split between the two Koreas or Vietnams, or that a modern day Yank Civil War was about to occur, as emergent re-ignited ultra-nationalists white groups like the AWB (Afrikaner-Weerstand-Beweging) would come into clash with the National Party, for not being racist enough, and that it was about to acquiesce to the ANC's demands for total unconditional democracy, after international pressure.

And then......nothing happened. The Mandela was freed, elections were held, the country peacefully transitioned into a liberal Democracy After all that fearmongering for 4 years, it appeared that Afrikeners and Bong whites didn't have the stomach for civil war after all.

However, once you understand WHY peeps were fearing widespread national Sectarian violence you'd understand, the Mayos weren't just being histronic.

Do you guys know WHY the murder rates were so incredibly high in 1993? Because massive Sectarian violence were occurring all over South Africa..... but amongst the black communities all over the Townships of South Africa. By 1993 ANC was the dominant and pre-eminent resistance group in the country, but they were not the only one. Many anti-communist pro-democracy groups existed all over the country, but could never gain traction, additionally the ANC was directly funded by Cuba and the Soviet Union, and thus were able to smuggle in armaments, bombs, resources and funds in order to organize. Additionally the ANC was not a unified faction, with many splinter groups - thus whilst many sub-factions under people like Nelson Madiba espoused peace and co-prosperity, other factions were much more violent and vengeful.

The dominant ANC also feared that if they were going the route to Democracy that the black population would be heavily splintered, and that all of these tiny black-democracy parties would spoil the vote to dethrone the National Party. Nelson Mandela also had an intense fear of this; that his massive peaceful co-existence campaign would backfire, and that the white-minority would retain a majority government or something whilst the black vote had been split by something like 100 tiny shit-tier parties.

We know now in hindsight this fear was unfounded, as the ANC would dominate with a crushing 70% in 1994, but at the time nobody could predict the future. Thus many ANC guerillas would fricking brutalize opposing black political organizations, and literally murder political opponents opponents in opposing municipal regions.

Additionally, by 1993, the country had already began liberalizing, and from 1990 onwards many many censorship laws had already been repealed. But most significantly of all, by 1993, all of the pass-laws were left uninforced, and virtually had no white-police presence as they had since 1960, as pretty much every white could sense the end of the regime in the air, and that there was virtually no point in continuing to enforce law and segregation, or check-points.

THIS meant that many Townships of black segregated peeps virtually had zero police oversight, and thus were left to themselves. Violent ANC factions would thus take this opportunity to completely purge their opposition, and many black peeps also enacted their revenge against white-collaborators, or even just people who were THOUGHT to be white-collaborators - i.e. black peeps whom would give tips to the white police authorities that bombs were being planted at the local school or police station or whatever.

And if you guys think I'm speaking out of my butt about this, I had made a Longpost about Winnie Mandela, the Ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, whom was possibly the most controversial Black woman in all of the country, especially Post-Apartheid.

https://rdrama.net/post/258513/marseyflagsouthafrica-winnie-mandela-the-controversial-exwife

Basically when the dust settled, peeps found that the absolute VAST MAJORITY of people for example Necklaced during the Apartheid years were black peeps by other black peeps, which were often done during Sectarian political violence between groups, like the ANC vs Anti-Communist groups, or black peeps getting their revenge against white-collaborators.

Winnie not only openly defended this massive MASSIVELY controversial practice within the various black communities of South Africans, but she was also most certainly regarded as guilty for having orchestrated a lynching of a boy called Stompie Seipei in 1988, during the closing hours of Apartheid.

Like half the reason of WHY the fricking Truth and Reconciliation Commission even was a thing in Safrica, was not just to quell bad feeling between SA whites and black peeps, during the transition to Democracy, but ALSO to quell bad blood between various black peeps which had occurred during the large swathes of Sectarian violence between people of different political organizations. Mandela and the more peaceloving ANC factions wanted to desperately get over these episodes, as at that point in time, the ANC was enjoying international approval.

Meanwhile his fricking wife was literally espousing fire and blood comments, about not only necklacing whites, but also against the black communities which the more violent uncontrolled splinter factions had unleased to terrorize the black communities into submission from the 1980s, up until 1993! Which is why many believe he divorced her, to distance himself from her violent rhetoric.

Many black peeps literally don't know about these Sectarian violence from periods of 1988-1993, because it's literally not taught in our schools, and because many Black boomers would either forget about it, or sweep it under the rugs.

https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-01902010000100006

The few black liberals discussing the Sectarian violence between political factions, are appalled by Necklacing as a manefistation of black inter-groups cruelty, all the while the boot of the white government had been on their throats.

The incredible long boring point I'm trying to make is that it's absurd to compare the murder-rates of 2024 to 1993, or even the 5 years preceding it, as South Africa was literally in the midst of its greatest political and societal upheaval and instability ever.

The majority of these murders were not fricking regular murders occurring in a Nation State during peacetime, but fricking political Sectarian violence predicated by the intense belief that the possible future election would be influenced, based upon the which political faction had the majority support in all of the various municipalities and communities.

Even whites, whom were behind in murder rates, were doing them at an increased rate due to Sectarian conflict. Many white-on-white murders were done by extremism. White supremacists against liberals or against Natioanl Party members, that were deemed to be selling out the country.

(2) THE ECONOMY IS BETTER UNDER ANC, NO REALLY YOU GUYS:

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/

The point our poster tries to make is irrelevant. That economies grow in proportion to population does not prove for or against his proposition, that the rule of the National Party was not some mythical golden years which racist white boomers yearn for. The inflation of the rand from 1960-1990 was very low, and only spiked as a consequence of the heaviest years of Sanctions imposed upon the country because of Liberal Democracies trying to pressure SA into dismantling the white state.

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business/386480-the-rand-is-60-years-old-today-here-is-how-much-south-africans-paid-for-coffee-bread-and-beer-in-1961.html

Thus, whilst the growth of the Rand was low, the buying power remained proportional, and real growth kept up well beyond the GDP growth. Like let me ask you guys, would you rather earn money in the Turkish Lira with an economy which grows by 10% each year, but a motherfricking inflation of 40% annually, or the stable dollar which appreciates in economic growth of a mere like 5%, but has a proportional inflation of 5-6%?! Cuz only one of those fricking currencies retains their real buying value by the next fricking year

Speaking of Dollars, would you believe that there was a time in the past where the Rand was fricking MORE valuable than the $ dollar?

https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/116372/rand-vs-the-dollar-1978-2016/

This means that the International forces of supply and demand graded the Rand's economy to be even MORE stable than that of fricking America, for it's 1st 50 years, and that the Rand only breached parity with the dollar in 1982, after which the currency's depreciation gained momentum and tanked due to sanctions, and limited international usage.

GDP to Population growth rates are a useful barometer for testing the general health of a Nation State's economy, but just like the Murder rates, it's a deeply deceptive statistic, when applied to South Africa specifically, as we've had very unique circumstances.

Additionally, just like taking the year 1993 in a vacuum, this deliberately ignores the years from 1980-1993, in which the Apartheid government suffered crippling international embargoes and sanctions. It is absurd to compare an internationally open Economy to one being choked to death during the Cold War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_sanctions_during_apartheid

https://www.gao.gov/products/t-nsiad-88-34

That the Apartheid government could continue to function DESPITE these sanctions Versus a peacetime economy is not an advocation for modern ANC rule.

(3) SERVICING THE FEW VS THE MANY:

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/mizf53k/?context=8

Another thing which many commenters state is that many boomer Apartheid-Apologists fail to recognize that the majority of the previous regime had serviced the white-minority primarily, whilst the new fledgling black government under the ANC were forced to now uplift and service with water and electricity the entirety of the nation, instead of just the priviledged few whites.

This is absolute sincere merit to this, and many new challenges was inherited by the Nelson Mandela regime, which the de Klerk administration did not have to deal with, and so it is unfair to compare the two situations, in which white-supremacists would never give them their fair dues.

However, this philosophical question also ignores all of the advantages the ANC inherited from the Apartheid-Regime.

Example pretty much all of the majority of the exceptional railways of the previous administration inherited was run into the ground. I made a Longpost about it. Basically, our railways used to transport raw ore between mines and docks and manufacturers.

https://rdrama.net/post/159741/south-african-train-drama-marseytrainmarseytrainmarseytrainmarseytrain

When loadshedding occurred 2021-2023, the majority of the Coalstations imploding were done by Power-Stations built in the 1970s-1980s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_South_Africa

And part of the reason why these Loadsheddings disasters occurred was because they were never intended to be operated beyond 50-60 years post construction, yet their decommission dates were continually fricking extended, despite constant constant warnings by the white engineers working there. Yet they were never maintained.

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/the-shocking-performance-of-eskoms-three-worst-power-stations/

https://archive.ph/2acGr

The shittiest of these Power-Stations inherited are literally producing LESS electricity from 30 years ago because the r-slurs literally don't comprehend how to properly operate them

This should not be a factor of the government not being capable of operating the fricking more expensively, it is the same budget as supposed to be from 30 years ago, yet the inefficiency derived from incompetence and corruption means it costs the taxpayer MORE per Watt to generate the same fricking amount of electricty!!!

Next one is 40 years old - aka before the magical 30 year number.

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/mizf53k/?context=8

Also this is a random nitpick, and nothing to do with anything, but just an example as to the compiling inaccuracies. The white population was just under 10% in 1993, it is currently 7% of the overall population in the year 2025, thus showcasing how out of date these people are.

Thus even by the stats they quote they are inaccurate.

Additionally, the country also developed a larger black middle class tax base from which to accrue national funding for modern administrations, something which wasn't feasible during the race-based laws of the previous administration.

https://www.liberty.co.za/media-insights/uct-liberty-institute-of-strategic-marketing-updates-south-africas-black-middle-class-research-report

And lastly, a staggeringly small portion of the country is already paying for the vast majority of basic income taxes, which forms the brunt of all healthy economies. Since whites make the majority of the nation's middle class (those without debt), this can also be perceived as whites effectively already subsidizing the majority of the net expenditure of the Welfare state, or seen in another way, whites have been taxed such as semi-reparations for the past 30 years!

https://dailyinvestor.com/finance/79226/1-5-of-south-africans-pay-61-of-all-income-tax/

So lol, if it is ultimately a truth that Apartheid-Apologists ignore that the Apartheid government only had to service the few, then it is also logical to turn that argument around, in that virtually the Apartheid government ONLY taxed the white minority for any real monetary value, and the current modern government is TODAY obtaining almost HALF of all income tax from whites, despite them being only 7% of the population, and thus subsidizing the poorest of the population in the forms of the many Wellfare projects like HOP housing and monthly grants for the jobless, which is a form of modern reparations to begin with.

A better argument might have been that those few whites could afford to be the sole tax base, because they could draw from a disenfranchised poor black labour base, which had zero economic prospects under the oppressive rule of the state, and thus filled the invisible intangible addition towards the country's income.

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/mj1kwce/?context=8

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/mizcg8d/?context=8

I find this fascinating that they believe the people they hate are exclusively vulnerable to the vice of ignorance and stupidity.

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgi64j/to_commemorate_sharpeville_massacre_let_me_put/mizjwtx/?context=8

Your graph which contravenes my point ACTUALLY proves it!

(4) WORSENED STATS:

Remember how South Africa was better crimewise due to the lowered murder rates.

https://www.news24.com/News24/SA-r*pe-capital-of-the-world-20051122

By 2005, r*pes had skyrocketed so sharply, and reached such absurd numbers, that some feminist groups had decided to label South Africa, as the R*pe Capital of the World to draw attention to its horrifying rates.

https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/788394/crime-surges-in-south-africa-with-murder-assault-and-vandalism-getting-worse/

Non-murder crimes are also incrementally increasing year-by-year

https://www.protectionweb.co.za/civil-security/concerning-crime-figures-revealed-in-key-stats-sa-report/

And this is the issue what many shitlibs misunderstand or deliberately misconstrue when Afrikaans boomers state that crime and the economy and public services are worse than ever before.

In Apartheid Safrica, crimes like r*pes were unheard of. Black men were prosecuted harshly if they r*ped black women, just as harshly as white male feminists. Not because the Totalitarian government was the good guys, or because of benevolence, but because the oppressive government deemed it needed that its citizens be submissive to all laws, the from the most benign to the most serious. Theft was prosecuted severely, murder was prosecuted with fantastic successful rates.

https://www.algoafm.co.za/domestic/thousands-of-murders-remain-unsolved-in-sa

In modern South Africa, the lionshare of murders remain unsolved. In Safrica 40 years ago you oppressed with your head pressed into the sand by the steel boots of the police, but you were safe in the streets, both black and white peeps. Again not because of benevolence towards the minorities by the white-government, but because total order in all aspects of life was enforced. It was a similar philosophy like the broken-window doctrine which yank police used to combat gang crime - in that police resources was used to stamp out dysfunction of neighbourhood in their cradle, namely that widespread broken windows of dilapidated economic shitholes in run-down neighbourhood were symptomatic of dysfunction, thus police targeted those areas 1st.

So too was the philosophy of the Apartheid police to stamp out ANC communists and other detractors. What black peeps and liberals fail to understand, is that democratic freedom was supposed to be gained WITHOUT the complete fricking collapse of the nation's policing standards and the ability to punish the most basic of crimes.

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-South-Africa-s-police-force-so-obese-and-still-allowed-to-be-in-service

When Afrikaans Boomers speak of better services and public works like Sewage Refineries that fricking worked

https://groundup.org.za/article/half-of-south-africas-sewage-treatment-works-are-failing/

they mean that they could literally drink the tap water and not get dysentry and have to stand in the lien to buy bottled fresh water. These same fascilities have existed for 30 years and were inherited. And the argument that modern black government has to service more people instead of the few 7% doesn't hold water (punny), when fricking the Sewage Refineries are collapsed because of systemic ingrained incompetence, rather than the water pipes to poor black townships are found wanting because there is no budget to service 100% of the country instead of jus the white neighbourhoods!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

What a lot of black peeps and shitlibs fail to comprehend is that yes, the Apartheid Government was constructed to primarily service the minority, but that that service was of the highest quality on earth. It's like they are incapable of comprehending meritocracy. Yes, the Union regime was a totalitarian discriminatory state, which excluded non-whites from participation via meritocracy. But the INGROUP meritocracy was of the highest caliber, the whites were forced to hire and induct only the best of leadership, because of so many external factors enforcing them to be the very best version of themselves or suffer societal collapse. External international pressure and internal discontent, meant that the apartheid state enforced societal pressure upon Afrikaners to perform beyond mediocrity, only in such an environment could 4 millions whites rule over 40 million blacks/coloureds/indians for 50 years.

And again this was pressures and enemies afrikaners made for ourselves by our own cruel regime from the whole world, but the fact remains that meritocracy ruled the Afrikaner race with an intensity, it had to be, otherwise they faced what the Frogs on their plantations faced in Vietnam.

What was supposed to happen was that the Black rulers of modern SA was supposed to rule with benevolence over their own, they haven't even done so. Much progress had been made with upliftment of the black middle class, the creation of the HOP housing programs, but just as many steps backwards undermine the prosperity of modern black peeps, often directly a result of their own black leaders, more than even the deliberate cruelty of the Apartheid regime intended.

I can't remember if I told this story before, but i once talked to a black farmhand who worked for my grandfather, he was jobless and asking me for work, he was 60ish, but at the time I was a mere brokenshit poorcel student and had nothing to give. He wasn't a begger, he was asking for work.

He tried to butter me up, and stated that it was better in the old days, under my now deceased grandfather. But he really meant it. He didn't mean to be some uncle Tom who hearkened back to an oppressive time - what he had meant was that his economic prospects were literally better 30 years ago.

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1jgb9xx/65_years_since_the_sharpeville_massacre_where_69/mixrn0w/?context=8

Whilst a large growing black middle class had been created in South African cities, many poor black rural peeps have found ever increasing inequality and reliance on government grants, as the systemic ANC corruption of local rural municipalities (having had no political competition for 30 years, and thus no reason for improvement) had reached such a grand scale, that they stole literally ALL of teh tax money and expended virtually nothing for public services or maintenance, so that water pipes broke, trashmen trucks became defunct, roads filled with potholes and the water became undrinkable without boiling.

Whilst for the majority of Black Safricans, their live improved, For many of these rural peeps, their lives tangibly worsened, NOT because the Union government were the good guys, or even becuase they were benevolent, but because the sheer magnitude of the scale of neglect by the ANC was such, that in hindsight and retrospect that in some ways the totalitarian Apartheid regime had taken better care of basic needs like water and electricity, because they demanded order, and not because they were benevolent.

!effortposters !bookworms

I'm still deciding on whether or not I want to continue the Into the K-hole series, but I thought I would give an update on the latest happenings with NewJeans

Background

Episode II of Into the K-hole: https://rdrama.net/post/327370/into-the-khole-episode-ii-the#m-actionsmodal

For those who don't want to read all that shit or need more context:

Back in November, NewJeans tried to claim that their exclusive contract with Ador was automatically terminated due to major violations by Ador. Rather than file for contract termination in a civil court, they simply insisted that the contract was terminated and that they could begin seeking independent oppurtunities. Since the NewJeans ip was owned by Ador, they began marketing themselves as NJZ; creating social media accounts, seeking endorsements, scheduling a show in Hong Kong, and even recording new music. In order to prevent this, Ador filed a lawsuit to confirm the validity of the contract and sought an injunction to prevent the members of NewJeans from engaging in independent activities. The first hearing for the injunction was held on March 7th.

The Hearings

On March 7th, the two parties met in court to present evidence. ADOR presented a total of 229 slides. NewJeans presented 93 slides. NewJeans' arguments included:

• ADOR was favoring other HYBE girl groups over NewJeans, most notably Le Sserafim and Illit.

• Illit was specifically created to plagiarize NewJeans and steal their success.

• An incident between NJ member Hanni and the group Illit's manager was not properly addressed by Ador.

ADOR's rebuttal included the following arguments:

• Through their exclusive contract ADOR fulfilled their obligations to provide opportunities and distribute profits (5 billion won to each member).

• A KakaoTalk conversation between Hanni and Min Hee Jin related to the'hallway ignoring incident. The conversation showed Hanni being uncertain about what the manager had said and that she did not consider it a significant issue at the time.

• t would not make sense for a company whose purpose is to make profit to discriminate against or sabotage their own successful artists and lose a revenue source.

This first hearing ended with the Judge setting a second hearing on the 14th, which would be both sides final chance to provide evidence. This second hearing came and went with the only additional evidence being claims of Illit being rude with no supporting evidence being provided.

This past Friday, the 21st, the Judge ruled in favor of ADOR, granting an injunction that would prevent NJZ from engaging in independent activities.

NewJeans and Ador React

NewJeans dropped a massive cope post on social media that you can read in this thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/s/7gqgQ7loC5

But I'll share some highlights from the statement:

we believe that this ruling did not fully take into account the fact that the members' trust in ADOR has been completely shattered.

We REALLY don't want to work for them any more, that should matter more than evidence.

ADOR and HYBE have access to all information regarding the members' entertainment activities, whereas the members must individually reach out to various parties to request information.

Hanni working the phones, desperately calling around Seoul to find witnesses.

Most importantly, the members faithfully fulfilled their contract obligations up until the point of termination and bear no fault, whereas ADOR and its parent company, HYBE, have continuously subjected them to unfair and discriminatory treatment, destroying their trust. It is only a matter of time before the truth becomes clear.

Just two more weeks guys.

Meanwhile, after much deliberation, we have decided to participate in the Complex concert scheduled for March 23 to prevent unexpected harm to fans who are looking forward to the concert and to the many people involved in its preparation.

>We respect the courts decision to ban us from engaging in activities as NJZ, but we have decided to engage in activities as NJZ.

For their part, ADOR welcomed the ruling and stated that they could perform at Complex.Con, but only as NewJeans, not NJZ.

They performed at complex-con as planned, but I can't find any info on whether the were introduced as NJZ or NewJeans. How'd the performance of their new song go you ask? Have a look:

Reddit Reacts

Redditors have mostly supported Ador throughout this drama, and they have been having a field day since the injunction has been granted. Here's a few shitty memes and threads:

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jggr78/well_aint_that_revolutionary_no_its_not_we_all/

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jg9beh/njz_newjeans_loses_court_case/

https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop_uncensored/comments/1jgje15/in_an_industry_as_cutthroat_and_fastpaced_as_kpop/

The Future

The contract validity case is scheduled to begin on April 3rd and NJZ has announced a hiatus due to the injunction. We will have to wait until then before finding out more as to what the future holds for these . Until then, I leave you with a parting gift:

No, not that kind of sword.

More this kind.

1. Welcome to the wonderful world of HEMA Drama. A quick primer for everyone who is not a terminal history/sword nerd.

HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts, basically think swords you would see in Medieval movies all the way up to 18th century Rapiers and Sabers. HEMA is the hobby of practicing from old historical manuals on using these swords, and doing fencing tournaments. It differs a lot from what you see at the Olympics, as an example here is Olympic Fencing

(I didn't watch this, I don't give a shit about Oly fencing)

Here is high level HEMA longsword fencing. Ignore the shitty music, there's something about Eastern Euros that they can't pick appropriate music for things, half the fricking Ukraine videos are over shitty slav electronic music while people die. This is legitimately a good video with some good exchanges and very good use of the Lichtenauer tradition.

You'll see that there are no strings, no electronic scoring, and it is much slower and in full circular movement and not just in a back and forth line. It can be a good bit slower, the swords are much larger and heavier and it requires more intense gear.

This is a second video showing the two different longsword styles.

Martin Fabian, the guy in both videos practices German Longsword (Lichtenauer tradition). Frederico Malagutti (second video) practices Fiore Dei Libieri (Italian Longsword). Fabian is probably one of the best Longsword fencers out there and owns one of the larger companies producing the best feders for sparring. (Feder stands for Federschwert or feather sword, it's the sparring implement.

Picture of a Feder made by Fabians company

You can see the tip is blunted, the blade is thin this is to make thrusts safe.

Overall HEMA is a pretty safe hobby when you use the gear, and are sparring someone who is using a Feder and not a blunted sword that hits like a fricking crowbar. But even with that you can get hurt as the weapons are steel, and if some gorilla gets pissed at you for being better than him he can cave in the front of your mask by going way too hard at it (had this happen to me before.)

Anyway, we are as deep in the weeds and off on a tangent as a @kaamrev post so let's bring it to what everyone is here for.

The DRAMA

I've briefly sperged about Longsword, and HEMA in general but where today's drama comes in is a shitty part of HEMA that no one takes seriously, singlestick.

This is a singlestick

It's 4 oz of Rattan, with a leather cuff. This is not a dangerous part of HEMA, this is incredibly safe and gay. I don't do singlestick, I don't like singlestick, if I wanted to do gay shit I'd larp.

How you may ask can drama come from this dumbshit system? To understand that (and I promise we will get there) you have to understand revenge strikes.

Revenge Strikes

HEMA being a relatively new hobby, and not using electronics normally has judges at tournaments. They call hits, stops to fights etc. Afterblows are a big part of HEMA because when you are fighting you don't neccesarily register you are hit, and even if you do, or the judge calls a halt, it's not so easy to halt your actions in motion. So sometimes you get hit, the bout should stop but your play or action continues on and hits your opponent. That's called an "afterblow" or a "double". Often doubles are penalized in the score because if you are fencing correctly, following the manuals, you would adequately defend yourself after a strike preventing the afterblow. But it's a normal, well accepted part of HEMA fencing.

What is not accepted is a revenge strike. A revenge strike is like an afterblow, but very clearly not just your motion carrying on. It's done by some gorilla out of anger that you did something they didn't like. One of the most famous cases of Revenge Strikes in HEMA was Lee Smith of Blood and Iron. Just watch the video and you'll see exactly what a revenge strike is it takes place around 1:28. Start the video at 1:20. He does a second one at 3:16, start the video around 3:08. If it wasn't his school hosting this, and his students judging he would have been kicked out of the whole event.

Lee Smith was not a small name, he ran a big school in burgerland. After this (a tournament his school was hosting) he had to quit teaching and last I heard he was teaching somewhere in SEA. Revenge strikes are not accepted in HEMA. It's dangerous, it's r-slurred and no one likes it. But they do happen. But these are a really big deal, especially to the back. The back of the head is never a legitimate target due to inadequate safety gear. HEMA gear is just upjumped fencing gear, but I won't further sperg on the unneeded stuff.

Enter SOCAL Swordfight

https://socalswordfight.com/

SOCAL swordfight is the largest tournament in burgerland. They do Longsword, Messer, Open Steel, Rapier, Smallsword, Cutting tournaments (This is an even nerdier side of HEMA), Saber, and they did a Singlestick Boarding action event. Maybe it's something about burgers , or has so deranged the average burger that they can no longer tell what is appropriate, versus what isn't. But another revenge strike incident hit at SOCAL Swordfight during the single stick boarding action event.

The Drama

Here is the set up, 3v3, only head hits count, you have to self call. What this means is you have to say "I was hit" and take yourself out of the event in your bout. Obviously this is rife for abuse among try hard nerds.

https://www.facebook.com/socalswordfight/videos/1900059497069443/

These images are from the HEMA Shitposting group.

Here is the best suggestion (This is a play from Leckuchner's messer treaty)

So what the frick happened?

There is no way to understand this without watching this video

This dumbshit event set up happened, dude on the right hits with his single stick, guy getting hit is not calling the hits (IMO) leading to guy on the right hitting harder and harder, this leads to his gay butt single stick breaking. Guy getting hit gets super pissy about it and revenge strikes the now unarmed fighter after the bout is clearly over. The school leader/coach of the guy who got hit by the revenge strike than tackles the striker, hits him in the side/back of the head with a SPES clamshell glove.

These frickers are heavy, far more dangerous to get beat by this shit than a rattan stick.

This lead to the guy being unconscious for multiple minutes, and taken away in an ambulance.

Something to know about HEMA coaches/instructors/school leaders. They are almost always very insecure, cute twinks. HEMA is not some masculine martial art, it's not Jiu Jitsu, or MMA. It's really just history nerds wanting to learn and practice a completely impractical martial art because they are history nerds/sword nerds. The average athleticism at a HEMA school is not good. You're gonna find more people in the morbidly obese BMI than you will in the healthy BMI. s will outnumber bio-women.

But the coaches think this is a very legitimate serious art, and that they are badasses that must defend their students and could kill you since they have studied the blade so long.

Tackler/School Instructors response:

Concussed boys response:

I can't find this anymore I think he deleted it.

tournament original post

There's a lot more floating around, it hasn't made it to the reddit HEMA subs yet but I'm sure it will. Normally they take awhile, and have the average reddit take on it (probably will just whine there weren't enough women involved in the event as if this hobby is just swimming with women who want to participate.)

I'll also answer any HEMA questions you have in this post, cause it's a fun hobby.

!effortposters

!Jannies I think this is legitimately an effort post, can I get a pin? I never actually write these. Can I also get a badge?

10- 2017 American solar eclipse stamps

These stamps were issued to commemorate the 2017 solar eclipse in America. They feature one large black circle in the center representing the eclipse. They are unique in the fact that they are heat activated and if you press on the stamp then you can see the moon appear within the circle. Honestly I think these are so fricking ugly, but I send a lot of mail so if I could stock up on a few of these without having to overpay then it would be worth it as some of the other stamp collectors in other countries that I mail would like them.

9 - 1840 Penny Black

This is the first stamp to ever be produced. It's so old that perforations for stamp pages weren't even invented yet so most were cut from stamp pages with scissors. It was created in part because of postal reforms that changed the way mail was paid for from the distance it had to be moved to the weight of the mail. Before it was introduced the cost of sending a letter was often placed onto the recipient to pay and could often be a bit random. The Penny Black simplified and standardized the mail system allowing letters that were up to half an ounce to be sent anywhere within the United Kingdom for just one penny. They aren't exceptionally rare despite their age but can still cost quite a bit. I would like to have some stamps in my collection that actually have some more value as I don't have any right now that are worth over a few dollars at most. These can range from being just a little over a hundred dollars to far much more if they are in good condition and/or have a good postmark

8 1964 National Symbols United Arab Republic occupied Palestine issue

I found these ones when I was looking through catalogues of middle eastern issues and I like the designs on these especially the one with the purple vase and the one marked 35 that seems to have a papyrus manuscript design on it. I couldn't find out if these were issued individually or in plates, and I found some colour variants that do seem to be authentic (no reason to fake them with how inexpensive they are) on listings that aren't catalogued on some stamp sites. Pretty sure these are listed as occupied Palestine because they were issued in gaza when Egypt administered it.

7 1872 Egypt Sphinx and Pyramid

These are some of the first stamps issued in Aevannland. These are a bit old so are a bit more expensive but not too much, I saw some in poor to okayish quality going for like 4- 20 something dollars when I looked at listings though the price does of course vary based on the . The entire set seems to go for around 120 - 130 or so. This same exact design was reprinted in 1875 on thinner paper. The sphinx and pyramids were also featured in the same way in 1867 in this issue the sphinx is right in front of the pyramid almost blocking it so I prefer the later design that I have included on my list.

6 1950? 1951? North Korean Occupied South Korean Stamps

I honestly don't know what these are they allude me and I can't seem to find too much info online. These were listed in a stamp catalogue as being issued by North Korea in occupied South Korean territory, and feature a red ink stamp marked over the original design. Again the information I can find is really limited but from what I can tell these were only issued for a very short time within Seoul when it was first captured by North Korea and then issued again for a short time in 1951 when Seoul was recaptured by North Korea. I want to start a new binder and collect North Korean postage so I'd love to have these for these for that collection. Despite their rarity from what I found of their price they don't seem incredibly unreasonable so I may just be able to have an example some day.

5 Pre-UAE monetary conference

Before the United Arab Emirates was formed there were just a bunch of random middle eastern countries sitting around in that area and there's plenty of stamps issued by each of them. These were issued by two of those countries, Sharjah and Umm al Qiwain, in 1965 and 1966 to commemorate some kind of Arabic Monetary conference that happened. Given the background behind their issue I am pretty sure those are coins that existed at the time depicted in the centers of the stamps. I like these a lot because of their shape and the fact that they're made of foil. If I was in charge of one of the postage of one of those middle eastern oil countries I'd just have all stamps look like this to flex on everyone.

4 2001 Nevis Wildlife from the Garden of Eden

Nevis is one of those tiny islands in the West Indies that somehow has a government despite it's tiny size. The island of Nevis is actually part of the country Saint Kitts and Nevis. I'm not sure why despite being one country Saint Kitts and Nevis issue separate postage stamps under their own name but I'm sure that it somehow has to do with their colonial past. I don't really collect stamps with any kind of religious theming to them but these ones look pretty good. If you saw my previous stamp post then you know that I really like stamps with red foxes on them so that's definitely the main factor in my wanting of this one.

3 2019 Palestine Al Khan Al Ahmar Defies Israeli demolition

This is a surprisingly political one from Palestine. From what I saw looking through stamp catalogues most of the Palestinian ones are commemorating random holidays and random Muslim and Christian religious stuff so this one stands out as it actually addresses anti-Israeli struggle. I have tons of full or partial stamp sheets right now but I don't have any minisheets like this. I kind of assume when poor countries issue stamps like this that they're directly targeted at the interests of foreign stamp collectors for money. i know some countries like Austria and Bhutan have done this, pretty explicitly issuing stamps for collectors to purchase over actual mailing use.

2 Austrian embroidery stamps

Just as I was talking about in the previous stamp on this list I'm pretty sure these and many other Austrian stamps were just issued as a way to make money off of tourists or foreign stamp buyers as these seem pretty impractical for any use on actual mail. These were issued in several different designs, flowers and clothes, over a few different years. Austria has also issued a glass stamp, a stamp with meteorite dust, all other kinds of gimmicks. I think these ones look pretty neat so I wouldn't mind adding them to my collection.

1 2016 Guinea Bissau - Animais Lo Artico

I have a heavy bias towards stamps issued in African or middle eastern countries and I especially like foxes on stamps. This minisheet has very beautiful art on it and the actual stamp itself features two red foxes on it. This may just be another example as I've been talking about on the last few of this list about stamps issued for foreign buyers. I really like the border of this stamp, how the country and year name is presented, and how the subject is centered and overall this really is a very beautiful and well designed stamp.

!historychads

Oh boy oh boy oh boy Christmas came early. Check the vid and it is pure kino. Kojimbo has done it again. Made a game that might finally surpass MGS 5 as his crowning achievement.

Let us take a deep dive:

1) 00:08 - 00:30 - the graphics look like pure kino next gen. Remember that Death stranding 2 is an open world game so this is really extremely amazing graphics for an open world game. The middle eastern guy looks so good graphically. The white guy looks less real and less detailed. One thing I noted was that the graphics look better than the previous death standing 2 trailer where the skin of the characters looked slightly more video gamey which shows that Hideo Kojima actually improve the graphics in the time between the two trailers.

2) 00:31 - 01:18 - New foid character. Haven't seen her ever before. The conversation about brain dead pregnant women being smuggled suggests some very serious dark themes as part of the story, something that Kojima excels at. The acting is also pretty good so far and the tension between the characters feels real. Has Kojima finally overcome the curse of Japanese video game characters talking like not real people? Crazy progress if yes.

3) 01:19 - 01:42 - Main character looks alright. The mountains look beautiful. Environment design is 10/10 here.

4) 01:44 - 01:49 - The rings of floating bodies over the beach look kino. I love it. The beached whales are the weakest graphics I am seeing in the trailer so far. Their skin looks a bit fake to my amateur eye. Wonder if that is just accepted graphics hardware limitation or he will fix that too before launch.

5) 01:51 - 01:54 - pretty nifty trick of mixing stop motion styled animation with fluid normal animation cutscenes. Interesting addition to the game.

6) 01:57 - 02:01 - some pillars stacked together with what looks like pilgrims walking towards it. Not that interesting but okay.

7) 02:04 - 02:07 - ship rising up. Nothing interesting.

8) 02:10 - 02:12 - okay so these are just a bunch of gifs stacked together since 01:51. got it.

9) 02:15 - 02:18 - random something. Art slop.

10) 02:21 - 02:24 - giant wall of black goo.

11) 02:27 -02:30 - random stu- wait holy frick is that underwater? Really cool if that is the guy standing underwater. Hard to tell.

12) 02:31 - 02:34 - baby.

13) 02:37 - 04:32 - Music starts playing reminiscent of his use of music for his MGS 5 trailers. We get a look at different environments in game. Rocky terrain looks really good. Character walking by the water, water ( or is that Oil? ) looks average? I have seen better in other games. Snowy environment looks nice but not 10/10. The suit in snowy environment looks kino with the blue glow orbs over the leg. Grass Terrain reminds me of the forest in in Forza Horizon 5. Rainy mud terrain looks good. Floating box tech looks cool. Environmental effects appear such as what looks to be flooding, fire, dust storm, and the black goo explosions. The bike looks kino. 10/10 bike. Driving vehicle variant 2 also looks good. Snow storm looks good. THEY GOT AVALANCHE WOOOOOOO! Cutscene looks kino. Asian guy hologram looks kino. Short hair foid looks good graphics. She had a bike crash but saved baby in her arms. Can teleport apparently but cannot take the baby because she can only teleport equipment with her and cannot think of baby as equipment? She manages to teleport baby by only teleporting baby and looks like letting herself get shot by guy with gun who was chasing her. Baby transported to crib and red suit guys uh...walk into another dimension?

14) 04:32 - 06:50 - Now back to main character. Montage of monsters in the game. They all look great. More detailed than death stranding 1 oil monsters which is impressive for putting more details on humanoid blobs of oil. The monster that tears out of some skin cacoon thing was a cool monster reveal. GIANT MONSTERS PUNCHING EACH OTHER JUST LIKE MY HECKIN GODZILLERINO!!! Masked man enemy. Floating robot enemy. WE GET A GUN THIS TIME TO SHOOT THINGS!!! OUR BIKE HAS GUNS TOO!!! Long highways to drive on. Split face monster looks cool. ABOVE THE CLOUDS MOUNTAIN PEAK STANDING VIEW KINO!!! Meh nebula picture in the sky. GIANT MOON!!! Fighting and transport gameplay mix. WE CAN HANG RIDE ON A RAIL!!! A lot of shit that I am not even sure how to describe. Gold face. Cargo lane hanging on. Vehicle variant 3? Winged oil cat. Oooohhhh the winged oil cat graphics are so good. Video games generally suck a whole lot at rendering animal fur and textures realistically. We have almost crossed the threshold to realistic looking highly detailed animals. Characters montage. The eyes on fragile look so so good. There is a guy literally called TARMAN. Tomorrow ( Elle Fanning ) character looks Amazing. There is a doll named dollman and oh god the lighting on him is so fricking good. LMAO Charlie. I cannot explain this one you just gotta look at Charlie you will understand. LOL. ROBOT SAMURAI!!! They got that black woman who is in all video games now. Holy frick that on the top of the ship guy standing scene looks so fricking real. Shits crazy. ROBOT SAMURAI TRANSPORT VARIANT! Looks cozy and kino. Lots more random mood setting quick cuts between scenes.

15) 06:51 - 07:10 - Main character making out with the dead teleportation foid? Romance slop.

16) 07:14 - 07:26 - Man with tentacles inside is trying to exterminate humanity.

17) 07:26 - 08-16 - cute puppet raise hands to get help putting seatbelt on. Spaceship? launches into the sky. Crabs on black pillars. Holy frick all the oil monsters we saw earlier in the video fuse into one giant oil monster. The head monster was the head, the spider monster was an arm, and the giant monsters that fused from all the other monsters also have giant wings! Flying ship faces the giant monsters. There are multiple of those giants.

18) 08:21 - 09:50 - Time is wonky? Or just watch is wonky? THE MIDDLE EASTERN GUY PUT ON A SOLID SNAKE BANDANA AND HAS A SQUAD OF SKELETON SOLDIERS!!! KOJIMBO HAS DONE IT AGAIN HE SPIRITUALLY BROUGHT THE CHARACTER LOOK ALIKE OF METAL GEAR INTO HIS NEW FRANCHISE!! main character uses VR. Another character takes over a ships controls and fuses as the head with a giant oil monster to fight other giant oil monsters. Video ends with sound of baby.

My takeaway:

Game looks kino. Best open world graphics I have seen till date. Cutscenes look like high quality movie CGI. Some of the scenes have lighting so good it could make a visual effects enthusiast cry. Animal skin graphics have never looked so good before. Human eyes and skin looks amazing. Environments look amazing. The monsters are more detailed and look awesome. They got a guy who looks like Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Series leading a skeleton soldier squad. The game is filled with weirdness but the acting and script appears to be top notch. Holy shit I think this might actually be Kojima's Magnum opus. There is so much good stuff in there even based on the trailers alone. Who knows what more is there in the actual game itself.

I love it.

10/10 would trust Kojima again.

Would recommend the game, and I didn't really care for the first death stranding. Kojima cooked and I have never seen something so unique and story focused look so good and worth the time at the same time.

Also remember to check the trailer out yourself as well because I am sure I missed a bunch of stuff in there. The trailer is very heavy in terms of details and very light in comparison to what the entire games released plot is probably going to look like.

!effortposters remember to help me get this post marked as an effortpost.

I have been away for a very long time, wodie. It would be therapeutic for me to explain why, but I don't think I have the words to fully explain where my mind has been. Sometimes, I feel so happy and content that I believe I don't need anything or anybody. I'm content to just exist, and that's enough for me. It's a great, unnatural kind of joy that warms me from the inside. I was fuelled by this happiness, but it did not last forever. Soon after, I grew paranoid about my surroundings. I didn't trust my coworkers, and I was certain they were disappointed with me. Wodie, I was terrified of the road, and I did everything in my power to avoid driving or having to leave my apartment in general. I was also haunted by terrible memories, and my mind would not stop replaying my most horrible moments repeatedly. This period of my life was dark, and I found myself more isolated than ever. Then the storm passed, and I was happy again, and I didn't need anyone or anything. I felt bulletproof and full of creativity. This helped me at work because I could think of interesting solutions to problems. I also did a few fricked up things and got into trouble, but I don't want to talk about it. It's like I improved and destroyed my life in one go.

From this period in my life, it is evident that I am possessed by my emotions. However, my emotions are not tied to anything rational. They fluctuate and shift with no rhyme or reason, causing my life to be in a constant state of chaos. Now, I'm left struggling to stitch together a singular coherent identity. I'm scared of all the humans around me. I know they're judging me because of my erratic behaviour and they recognise there's something off about me. Wodie, I didn't even last 6 months into my current job, and I've already irreparably socially ostracised myself. Oh, and in case you're wondering, my transgressions include:

• Misogyny

• Staying home on random days without warning

• Not handing in forms because I don't understand them and when I did they were incorrectly filled in

• Failure to correctly handle financial documents

• Offending coworkers

Before we go on, let me defend myself by saying that yes, I do appreciate how my email could be interpreted as misogynistic but I did not intend to hurt anybody's feelings and I did provide academic references for the points I made. One time, I was in my office, and I heard my coworkers standing outside my door and talking. I heard my name come up a few times, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. However, they did not sound impressed. In fact, they sounded kind of pissed. It's over. Never began, wodie.

Anyway, let's discuss my latest obsession. It might be a little strange, but my obsession lies with a series of apartment buildings. I'm referring to Parkway Gardens Homes in Chicago, USA.

Fun fact, on Groomercord, I used to be in a server with a few transexuals I met on /LGBT/ on 4chan. One of the transwomen was from Chicago and she lived in a homeless shelter. Another user was underage and he posted bussy. I left the server after a transwoman I had gotten friendly with suddenly snapped and was mean to me out of the blue. I was like wtf wodie, I thought we were cool. Sorry for that digression.

In this post, I'd like to discuss the history of Parkway Gardens Homes as well as some of the notable residents who have lived there. This is going to be a long post, wodie, so please don't be afraid to break it down into pieces and read it over a number of days. The post will be divided into the following chapters:

1. The Creation of Parkway Gardens Homes

2. The Culture of Parkway Gardens Homes

3. Parkway Gardens Homes Today

4. Conclusion

There is one last thing I'd like to mention before we finally get to the meat and potatoes of this interesting topic. At present, my mental health is in a really good place even if there are a few stressful things looming in the background. I think that I am enjoying inner peace because I stopped taking benzos and other drugs except for weed, wodie. If you want to alter your consciousness, all you need is weed. It is the perfect drug. Everything else is just trouble. Man, I get high off my weed vape and I do not want to touch all the other drugs. I'm just chilled, ready to eat and listen to music and I don't want any trouble. Weed is marvellous, wodie.

The Creation of Parkway Gardens Homes

Wodie, this story is far from a straightforward one, so a bit of explanation is necessary. If you've been observant, you may have noticed that low-income housing in the USA is typically populated by minorities, especially those of the African American variety. There are several factors to this, and while there are no conclusive answers, a few points to consider have been raised by scholars and commentators over the years. Many point to slavery as a cause of the great class divide between Black Americans and the rest of society. However, I don't wish to go that far back, wodie. Instead, I'd like to focus specifically on how housing discrimination ensured Black Americans remained in disadvantaged areas and struggled to own property, thereby generating generational wealth.

Throughout the 20th century, the US government systematically denied Blacks homes through "redlining". This is a sneaky practice that was very racist without explicitly stating that it intends to discriminate against Black people. You see, banks in Chicago would divide up the map into different districts, with some areas receiving green lines and others, mainly poor, Black neighbourhoods, given red lines. The redlined areas would not be given home loans, preventing Black people from acquiring property. The result of this is that Blacks were perpetually stuck in poorer areas of Chicago i.e. the hood.

As a result, areas of South Side Chicago remain majority Black, low-income areas. Wodie, many of the people who live in these areas may have jobs, but often do not earn enough to afford housing. This problem was made worse by the Great Migrations which saw Black American move out of the Southern part of America and spread throughout the country. To alleviate the issue and provide affordable accommodation for Blacks, low-income housing was built in Chicago. In short, low-income housing is designed for people who earn less than 80% of the area's median income. Of course, those who wish to take advantage of low-income housing need to show proof of income to qualify.

Wodie, we're going to be looking at one of the low-income apartment buildings that were built to accommodate Chicago's growing African American population. The construction of Parkway Gardens Homes - which is located on 6330-6546 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois - began in 1950 and lasted until 1955. Prior to the creation of the apartment building, the site was occupied by White City Amusement Park which is an interesting establishment that warrants it's own longpost. However, for the sake of brevity, we won't dive into the amusement park's history.

Parkway Gardens Homes was designed by Henry K. Holsman, a wodie who made use of a Modernist aesthetic. Holsman had plenty of experience with designing buildings in Chicago, but it was only in the 1940s that he decided to focus on African American housing. Holsman is a fairly interesting figure, and he found himself behind bars for mail fraud. Womp womp!

With Parkway Gardens Homes built, African Americans finally had access to affordable accommodation within Chicago. This is obviously something to be celebrated. What could possibly go wrong?

The Culture of Parkway Gardens Homes

Since the creation of Parkway Gardens Homes, a few notable figures have lived in the building, wodie. Easily one of the most successful people to ever emerge from Parkway Gardens Homes is former First Lady, Michelle Obama. In the autobiography Becoming, Michelle discusses growing up in Parkway Gardens Homes, stating the following:

"At the time the photo was taken, we were living across the hall from my father's parents in Parkway Gardens, an affordable housing project on the South Side made up of modernist apartment buildings. It had been built in the 1950s and was designed as a co-op, meant to ease a post–World War II housing shortage for Black working-class families. Later, it would deteriorate under the grind of poverty and gang violence, becoming one of the city's more dangerous places to live. Long before this, though, when I was still a toddler, my parents—who had met as teenagers and married in their mid-twenties—accepted an offer to move a few miles south to Robbie and Terry's place in a nicer neighbourhood."

What's this now? Why is Michelle Obama describing this apartment building as a hub of gang violence? Because she's right! To understand this, we need to rewind time and analyse a fellow who goes by the name of David Barksdale, or King David. This part of the story takes us way back. Like, I'm talking back to the 1950s, wodie.

David Barksdale was born in Mississippi in 1947, and he was one of thirteen children. His massive family experienced poverty, and eventually they moved to the South Side of Chicago where they sought residence in Hyde Park. There, David Barksdale quickly learned the ways of the street, made friends with various criminals, and worked his way up the hierarchy until he was a feared gang leader. Wodie, by 11 years old, Barksdale had formed a gang known as the Devil's Disciples. Other founders include other notable figures in the Chicago gang scene, including Richard Strong, Mingo Shread, Prince Old Timer, Kilroy, Leonard Longstreet, and Night Walker These wodies changed Chicago forever.

The gang was very active, and it made its members quite wealthy. The Devil's Disciples were also feared due to their willingness to resort to violence, wodie. Criminal activities the gang engaged in include arms trafficking, burglary, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, kidnapping, money laundering, murder, racketeering, robbery, and theft. The gang grew by absorbing smaller gangs in the area and turning them into factions of the Devil's Disciples. Barksdale, who was beginning to intimately understand the mechanics of running a successful criminal enterprise, eventually formed the Black Disciples Nation to contain all the smaller gangs that had been absorbed.

Though most other gangs that were not absorbed into the Black Disciples Nation preferred to stay out of the way, there were a few that dared to squabble with Barksdale's gang, wodie. This was the case with the Gangers Disciples, founded by a fellow named Larry Hoover. Though Hoover and Barksdale were originally foes, they eventually squashed the beef and allied, merging their massive gangs to form a new supergang known as the Black Gangster Disciples Nation, wodie.

Things went well for a while, but with a gang so big it was inevitable that internal conflict would arise. This is a complicated story, wodie, but I trust that you will follow. So, in 1973, Hoover received information that a 19-year-old local drug dealer known as William "Pooky" Young was responsible for stealing drugs and money from the gang. Wodie, the truth is that we don't know whether this is true or not. Regardless, in retaliation, Hoover put out a hit on Pooky, and that hit was carried out on February 26. Shortly after, Hoover went into hiding, but he was caught not long after. Wodie, this fellow tried to run away, but the cops nabbed him, and he ended up getting slapped with life imprisonment plus 200 years. The arrest of Hoover greatly crippled the gang, as he was an important leader. To make matters worse, a year later, Barksdale would pass away from kidney complications. It is believed that the complications arose from an assassination attempt he survived in 1970.

So now Hoover's in prison, and Barksdale (King David) is dead, leaving the gang in disarray. Internal conflicts would intensify until rival factions formed. Some stability came about thanks to a fellow named Mickey "Bull" Johnson taking charge, but this wodie ended up getting killed by Gangster Disciples in 1991. Nowadays, the Black Disciples live on in the South Side of Chicago, and they have a stronghold in Parkway Gardens Homes.

Before we go on, we also need to briefly discuss the Gangster Disciples, wodie. As previously stated, the group was founded by Larry Hoover, who was part of the gang life from a young age. When he was just 13 years old, in 1964, he joined a gang called the Supreme Gangsters, and this group was beefing with the Black Disciples Nation, who were already established by this point. However, a ceasefire between the two gangs occurred when Hoover and Barksdale decided to squash the beef, leading to the creation of the Black Gangster Disciples Nation.

Right, so the Black Gangster Disciples Nation eventually broke down, and many of the gangs became rivals. Most notably, the Black Disciples of Parkway Gardens Homes had an ongoing feud with the Gangster Disciples, who mainly claimed 63rd Street and St. Lawrence in Chicago, not too far from Parkway Gardens Homes. The specific Gangster Disciple set we're discussing is known as STL/EBT. Although there was plenty of violence exchanged between the gangs, things simmered at a low level until the latter half of the 2010s when things got really bad, wodie. During this time, Parkway Gardens Homes was known as WIIIC City. WIIIC stands for Wild, Insane, Crazy, with the I repeated three times because that's just what BDs do, wodie.

The next part of the story concerns a name you might have heard of if you're a fan of rap - Tooka. Shondale Gregory, also known as Tooka, was born in 1995 in Chicago, and he quickly adapted to the street life, joining the Gangster Disciples. Within the gang, he was very popular and he rose to prominence, becoming very well-liked and respected by his fellow gang members. He also had conflict with some members of the opposing gang, the Black Disciples. From now on, we'll be referring to Black Disciples as BDs and Gangster Disciples as GDs. Remember, BDs are Parkway Gardens Homes, and GDs are 63rd.

So who was Tooka beefing with, wodie? Well, he had bad blood with Keith Farrelle Cozart, also known as Chief Keef. At this time, Keef had yet to become a mainstream rapper, and he still lived the gang life with his BD buddies in Parkway Gardens Homes. More on him later. Tooka was also beefing with Dayvon Daquan Bennett, also known as King Von. He was another Parkway Gardens Homes resident, and he was friends with Chief Keef. More on him later, wodie.

As a consequence of the ongoing beef between BDs and GDs, Tooka was shot dead in 2011 when he was waiting at a bus stop. Tooka was only 15 at the time, and it is believed that the murder was retaliation for the murder of BD member Eddick Walker. Because Tooka was so loved by his gang, the murder absolutely enraged the GDs, and they swore to seek revenge. This was essentially the birth of the gang war between the GDs and the BDs. The situation was made worse by the fact that the late 2010s brought with it the rise of drill music. This genre of music originated in the ghettoes of Chicago, and it is characterised by explicit, confrontational lyrics containing violence, drug use, and rage. It is created to capture the lives and stories of those caught up in Chicago's gang life, and the genre has spread to other parts of America and the rest of the world, as seen with UK drill music.

One of the first breakout drill artists was Chief Keef, who is generally regarded as the rapper that brought drill music to a mainstream audience. In his music, Keef repped his gang, and he sent out several insults towards Tooka, frequently talking about "smoking on Tooka" which is a disrespectful insult. Keef wasn't the only one sending shots at the GDs. Another rapper arose from this scene is King Von. He is a famous rapper, arguably one of the most successful drill artists of all time, and he never shies away from dissing his opps, living or dead. Trust, this is not the last time we'll be discussing this pair.

So the GDs had Tooka smoked and the BDs are celebrating this and throwing disrespect. The GDs are committed to seeking revenge, sparking a cycle of violence that is still ongoing to this day. The GDs weren't about to take this disrespect lying down. Firstly, they renamed their neighbourhood Tookaville. Secondly, the wodies started plotting revenge. Ideally, they wanted to kill Tooka's killer, and they were convinced that the guy they were looking for was Odee Perry, who was a prominent BD member and a close friend of King Von. Mostly described as quiet yet deadly, Odee had a reputation that preceded him, and he was well-respected in the South Side of Chicago. One day, in 2011, he was riding his bike to the store when he was gunned down. The killer was never caught, though it was believed that the killer was a woman named Gakirah Barnes, also known as K.I.

With that name mentioned, it's time to take a detour and discuss K.I. She was a member of the GDs, and she was notable for being a deadly shooter. At a young age, she had racked up a number of murders, and she was feared by BD members. K.I. had a bit of a back-and-forth with King Von (the BD rapper), and it appears there was a love/hate relationship between the pair. Inbetween all of this, King Von would send insults at K.I. that targeted her gender. This was a sore spot for K.I. who was generally quite masculine and seemingly had gender issues, hinting that she could have possibly been trans.

In retaliation for Tooka's death, the GDs murdered Odee Perry in 2011. This left the BDs PISSED OFF. They did not waste time making moves. WIIIC City was renamed to O-Block in honour of Odee Perry, a name that has stuck to this day. Consequently, from now on, I'll be referring to Parkway Gardens Homes as O-Block. Next, it was time for murder. The BDs were convinced that K.I. was the one who pulled the trigger. As a result, at age 17, K.I. was murdered. It is believed that the shooter was King Von.

Now, you may have watched Trap Lore Ross and seen the story of King Von. Needless to say, with a bit of research, it is easy to discover that most of that documentary is incorrect and highly scandalised. However, it does get a few things right. Mainly, King Von was almost certainly the killer of K.I. and police reports suggest as much as well. However, the claims of King Von being a serial killer are unfounded, as far as I'm concerned, and the idea that the man killed 7 or more people is almost certainly false.

With the death of Odee, the gang war was on full swing. The drill music intensified, the beefs grew, and the murders increased. Notable deaths include:

• Lil JoJo (2012) – GD rapper killed after beefing with Chief Keef's camp.

• L'A Capone (2013) – O-Block BD rapper killed outside a studio.

• T.Roy (2017) – O-Block shooter taken out in retaliation.

Perhaps the notable murder at this time involves the death of rapper FBG Duck.

He used to be friends with King Von until it was discovered that FBG Duck was playing both sides, claiming loyalty to both BDs and GDs. Additionally, FBG Duck was a friend of Tooka, and this eventually put him on the bad side of the BDs. Things reached a turning when FBG Duck and his friends jumped King Von on the bus, causing King Von to swear that he would seek revenge on FBG Duck. In the song "Took Her To The O", King Von raps about murdering FBG Duck. In 2020, FBG Duck was shot dead by his rivals.

So, back to Chief Keef and King Von. Wodie, Chief Keef spearheaded the drill scene, and he became a global celebrity. In doing so he brought a spotlight to Chicago and O-Block, turning it into a pop cultural phenomenon. However, Chief Keef was smart, and as soon as he got money, he left Chicago to live a comfy life in Los Angeles. This may be the main reason Chief Keef is still alive to this day and not in prison. King Von was a little more dumb. This wodie was charged with murder in 2014, causing him to spend three years in prison. During this time, he read Twilight novels which inspired him to tell stories through rapping. This worked for him because once he left prison, his rap career almost immediately took off. Compared to other drill rappers, he was quite lyrical and he had a knack for telling stories through his lyrics. However, Von was living that gangster life and he continued to send out disses to his opps, eventually resulting in him getting killed in retaliation. This occurred in 2020 while Von was in Atlanta, wodie. Here, he started fighting with rapper Quando Rondo, causing a member of Rondo's crew to open fire, killing Von. Von's shooter was identified as Timothy "Lul Timm" Leeks, though he was acquitted under the Stand Your Ground laws.

As a side note, another notable figure in the Chicago drill scene is Lil Durk who is a friend of King Von and Chief Keef. This man was making 10s of millions off his rap career when he was arrested in connection with a murder-for-hire plot against Quando Rondo in 2024, likely as a form of retaliation for the death of King Von.

Parkway Gardens Homes Today

In recent years, murders in the South Side of Chicago have steeply declined. This is due, in part, to intensified police presence and increased calls for police to solve gang-related crimes instead of brushing them under the carpet. The decline in violence is also due to the fact that many of the key figures in the gang war are either dead or in jail.

Parkway Garens Homes is in the National Register of Historic Places, though its future may not be secure. Under new ownership, there is the very real threat that O-Block will be demolished in the near future, which could be disastrous for its residents who rely on the low-cost housing provided.

Conclusion

So, to sum up the story. Long ago, Blacks were relegated to the hood, which led to the creation of low cost housing in Chicago. A fellow named Henry K. Holsman created Parkway Gardens Homes. This is where Michelle Obama would grow up. Not long after, a gang war erupted, thanks to the formation of the Black Disciples gang and the Gangsters Disciples. The beef intensified in the late 2000s when BDs killed Tooka. In retaliation, GDs killed Odee. This back and forth continued until KI was killed by King Von who was killed by Quando Rondo's neighbor. Lil Durk goes to jail for trying to put a hit on Quando Rondo. Chief Keef left the hood, and Lul Timm was arrested for King Von's murder but later acquitted. Also, FBG Duck got smoked.

So in the last 2 months or so I've become obsessed with East Africa (specifically Rwanda) and you guys will not believe the shit going down over there. It's real time warlord shit happening RIGHT FRICKING NOW.

This interest started after I saw a 4Chan green text about the Rwandan genocide.

I'm going give a quick overview of the Rwandan genocide for background and then explain what's happening now between Rwanda and the DR Congo.

The Rwandan Genocide

First, I highly recommend the book "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed" if you want a more in depth explanation.

In 1856 the first white person (a German) entered what is now known as Rwanda. Germany made it a colony but didn't really do much with it and turned it over to Belgium after WWI. At that time, it was a small area occupied by two tribes: a small number of Tutsi (who had cattle, were wealthy) and Hutu (majority population who were farmers and less well off). Tutsi generally ruled over Hutu due to their wealth but there wasn't really any ethnic strife between them.

Belgium took over in the 1930s from German which when race science was all the rage. Tutsi were tall, slim and wealthy (how I'm tryna be 💅🏻) so were put in charge of the country and ruled over the short stout Hutu majority. The Tutsi (essentially at Belgian gunpoint) forced Hutu to work long hours on public works (roads etc) to the point it resulted in deaths from famine due to neglecting their farms. This led to bad blood between the two groups which escalated upon Belgium giving Rwanda its freedom.

(Twa were Pygmy, 1% of population)

From the 1970s to 90s, the majority (85%) Hutu took over and made Tutsi second class citizens (for example, they were unable to access higher education). Small genocides (a few thousand Tutsi massacred) happened in rural areas as well.

In the 1990s, an anti-Tutsi political party called Hutu Power came to power. There was a civil war and many Tutsi fled to neighboring countries (Uganda, the DRC, Tanzania and Burundi). A military force of Tutsi was hiding out Uganda called the RPF/Rwandan Patriotic Front—led by a man named Paul Kagame (what we would consider a warlord). Essentially they were watching and waiting. Tribal relations were BAD.

At that time, most of Rwanda's GDP actually came from foreign aid (not kidding, like 60% of their GDP was aid) and there was increasing pressure to normalize relations with the Tutsi. A Tutsi Genocide in neighboring Burundi in 1993 further forced the hand of the Hutu Power president Habyarimqra to sign a treaty and make nice. Note: his wife was from a very prominent family of Hutu power supporters who wanted to genocide the Tutsi.

On April 6, 1994 his plane was shot down triggering the Rwandan Genocide. No one knows who did it but it was likely Hutu Power. They blamed the RPF (the exiled Tutsi rebels) and ignited the genocide. This was a 100 day spree which killed (maybe) 800k people—10% of the population of Rwanda. It was mostly Tutsi, Twa (pygmies who made up 1% of their population) and moderate Hutu who wouldn't participate in the killing. The genocide killed at a rate of 3x the Holocaust and was done mostly with machetes imported by the millions before it began. It was largely coordinated by radio station RTLM which read out names of Tutsi to kill each day. The national ID cards showed who was Tutsi and who was Hutu so roadblocks were set up and fleeing Tutsi were all killed. It was absolutely harrowing and I do not have the time to do it justice. Please consider reading the wiki page to get a sense of the violence.

Western powers did not intervene. Clinton didn't want to get involved because this was only one year after Black Hawk Down in Somalia. (Btw did anyone here see the Netflix documentary about it? It was really good) Belgium and France actually supported the genocidaires because they were the "legitimate" government. The UN fled and didn't return until it was over.

The genocide ended when Paul Kagame (the Tutsi warlord) invaded and bit by bit took over the country. He has been the dictator ever since. He outlawed tribal discrimination, updated the ID cards to exclude ethnicity and over the last 30 years Rwanda has prospered to become one of the safest and cleanest countries in Africa.

What the heck is happening now

After the genocide, hundreds of thousands of Hutu genocidaires fled to the Congo which resulted in the Great Lakes Refugee Crisis. Kagame allegedly invaded and killed several hundred thousand in revenge in what is called the Second Rwandan Genocide but we don't talk about that okay. Since then, most genocidaires (the ones who didn't flee to France 👀) have been hiding out in the DRC.

In the last several months SHIT HAS BEEN GOING DOWN on the border between the DRC and Rwanda. That area of the Congo has very valuable rare earth mines as well as a population of Congolese Tutsi who have been treated as outsiders for generations.

There are two groups that are fighting: a rebel Tutsi group funded by Rwanda called M23 and the Congolese army FARDC which has integrated the Genocidaires according to Paul Kagame. Kagame himself is playing coy about Rwandan support of M23 .

Per the Rwandan subreddit, there is a lot of disagreement. Some say Kagame is trying to get the rare earth minerals by supporting the rebel group M23, some say the Congo goes through this every 10 years and some are really incensed at how the Congolese Tutsi are treated as Rwandan invaders and they just want their rights.

Now M23 are not innocent at all. They have r*ped, pillaged and taken over mines in the eastern Congo. The FARDC has been unable to tame them despite a February ceasefire. Things are not slowing down at all.

This conflict has brought in other African nations with Seth Afrikan president (who was materially supporting the DR Congo) and Kagame were having a very public lovers quarrel just a few weeks ago.

Sec of State Marco Rubio was clear that the US wanted a ceasefire I mean it for real you guys I'm not kidding. The problem is that with the defunding of USAID Rwanda isn't really at the US' mercy about this. Trump is actually super popular in Rwanda but Kagame seems to be chill with escaping US influence.

I am unsure what will happen because I don't know enough about this part of the world to have good insight. I think East Africa is just doing East African things and M23 will take over a good bit of land and some mines but nothing much will truly happen or escalate. Rwanda will continue to prosper, everything will remain corrupt and war lords will continue to do warlord shit in the unstable areas. Nothing ever happens but it's very unstable and dramatic and thought I'd make a post.

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j00817/why_are_plebbitors_like_this/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0ltv5/we_should_open_a_new_sub_as_a_precaution_reddit/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0q531/where_the_hell_did_the_transphobia_come_from/

Mmmmmm I shall create a Soyjak-themed subleddit in 2025 AD, I wonder what could go wrong?

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0qbx8/me_when_i_see_individuals_under_the_age_of_18_im/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ijybcu/we_need_a_wojak_dressup_game/

Redditors, this is your mindset:

Examples of gemstones, drama, and autism on this soyteen colony with apparently no moderation:

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1isjjno/can_someone_jak_her/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1irllcv/this_is_the_shit_you_find_on_instagram/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iiikex/you_guys_know_what_to_do/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iolz4k/draw_the_soyjak/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1inc6y0/jak_it/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ir94se/didnt_make_this_but_i_think_this_is_a_gem/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ivwfva/please_somebody/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0f8bo/new_jak_rate_pls_saar/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1izzaqh/here_we_go_again/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iy09wb/om_nom_nooo/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1invmk1/jak_him_off/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ifjikl/jarvis_jak_this_people/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ipao1h/jak_worthy_pic/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0kzlm/took_me_a_while_but_i_made_this/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0o3hf/why_is_there_so_much_heckin_trolls_here/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iqvynq/jak_this/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ie0u9d/how_has_this_not_been_wojaked/

(debunked by Snopes and the WEF doebeit, this is a foid Aryanime VA o algo )

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ij7g8k/my_roommate_tried_to_murder_me_jak_me/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ikkvg6/jak_him/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1itdph9/this_really_needs_to_be_jaked/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ibegv2/can_someone_jak_this_guy/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iuxj2i/jak_them/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iyp9yt/draw_the_soyjak/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ivj6j7/jak_this_man/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iwnymc/my_columbine_shooter_wojaks/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iuhkck/jak_this_thing/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iyodz6/wholesome/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1izcnov/jak_him_immediately/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iphrbh/looks_relatable_anyone_brave_enough/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1isxcfu/jak_this/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0frx6/new_toss_political_cartoon/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1j0c60r/found_this_dude_on_a_youtube_videos_thumbnail/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1ijf1km/please_someone_jak_this/

https://old.reddit.com/r/WojakDrawings/comments/1iil2m5/please_god_someone_wojak_this/

!soyteens !chuds !transphobes !r-slurs !dramatards !effortposters !zoomers

The Ukrainian Deep State mapping project finally recognized the RF crossing the border with Sumy and taking up positions in Novenkoe. They write that the Russian forces are attempting to disrupt Ukrainian logistics along the highway that crosses the border into Russia. The… pic.twitter.com/QBpNFikfit

— East_Calling (@East_Calling) February 28, 2025

I posted about it like Monday but it took probably Ukrainian long time to accept it since makes things extremely complicated for Ukrainian

Since it puts Russian 3,3km away from Ukrainian main roadway, here is how it already looks like this

Actually the bypass route off the MSR, by the way.

MSR may be unusable at this point. https://t.co/imxRi0S6o2 pic.twitter.com/u7dCeWhWnp

— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) February 26, 2025

So when everyone was telling in September 2024 that Ukraine should retreat because they won't be able to hold it.

Zelenskyy been telling he will hold it and trade for something and he'll succeed if west let use him use western weapons

He also told this:

But since now Russian capturing Sumy territory and Ukraine lost 4/5 territories it held in Kursk. Will he been held accounted for his lies because I still waiting for him to capture bakhmut and 2 more cities like he promised in 2023

It's kinda ironic that he today missed the opportunity for peace deal so he won't even have to ability to ask Trump to make so that he can pull out his soldiers out of Kursk without huge loses

- Ukrainian Parliament failed to pass the vote recognizing Zelensky as president until the inauguration of a new Head of state.

This is a signal:

- lleave, there will be no indefinite mandate.

Europe expected “stability” and “support” for him, but saw a parliament setting…

— Arestovych (@arestovych) February 24, 2025

Arestovitch was already trying to get rid of Zelenskyy and now he went turbo mode

- At such a critical time in the existence of Ukraine and our fight for freedom, we need allies, not enemies.

We need allies that can give us weapons to defend our cities and weapons our soldiers can use on the front lines to protect our homeland. What we don’t need it to…

— Arestovych (@arestovych) February 28, 2025

President Zelensky was going to the White House to sign an agreement that would give new opportunities to Ukraine. Two hours later, American-Ukrainian relations were problematic as never before.

We should always be grateful to the American people for the help they have given us.

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1j0dr7x/trumpzelensky_meeting_devolves_into_shouting/

Facts don't matter.

Letting shoot at Russian soil with nato weapons was last card Ukraine had. At start Biden didn't gave any offensive weapons to Ukraine in 2022 and told if Russia uses nukes he will give Ukraine tanks, jets, missiles and let's attack Russian soil. Now Ukraine doesn't even have men to fight and Russia didn't even needed 2nd wave of mobilisation and has beaten them with less soldiers so what facts Redditor wants ? Ukraine not be able to even win tiny battle in 2,5 years

https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1j0h98l/european_leaders_show_support_for_ukraine_after/

Omg irrelevant clowns showed support for Ukraine

Ukrainian people. To those that sacrificed their life in the war. We are sorry.

You were invaded. Your countrymen continue to die defending your country against an aggressor. Your leader deserves to be treated with respect. As an American, I am sorry for our President.

I did some translation for Ukrainian man yesterday 53 years old wasn't in Ukraine for 3 years can't go back because will be straight send to the front without even seeing his family, told how a lot of his classmates got mobilised and died. Should I told him that Redditor wants him to go and die for his fetish ?

https://old.reddit.com/r/law/comments/1j0e6m5/zelensky_trump_and_vance_having_a_very_heated/

The whole world is watching. The whole world is watching.

Attention ze whole worldu is watching, kid in Burundi is crying warum Trump warum willst du nicht mehr geld geben a die ukraine ?

Swedish here…

Nah, the US is actually really fickle. The US will isolate itself and the EU could push Russia out of Ukraine without it going nuclear since France has nukes too.

The US is going to devolve into civil war though. The trajectory is almost impossible to stop. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. Once they destroy the economy, here comes the violence.

Life must so delusional when you never leave home and have no education and all your information comes from Reddit

https://instagram.com/reel/DFqeQm9uaBT/

He expect those guys to fight for his fetish and build all the factories

These are the people who would have backed the Nazi party in the 30's. It was a mystery to me how they had so much support, when I was a kid. No longer.

Conservatives aren't literal Nazis because Naziism was a specific type of authoritarianism but conservatives today are 100% cut from the same cloth as the people who cheered on the public persecution of the Jews and once again, we are finding out that they are vile human beings.

Bro need more historical parallels, Germany, Italy and Japan are against Russia and Russia is supported by China and Korea and now US is moving against German EU and it's Ukraine

It's almost there no good guy from ww2 in German EU

https://old.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/1j0ektd/statement_by_president_trump_on_zelenskyukraine/

Oh look not negative IQ Reddit post

Actually, I think it was his past experience with Biden's handlers that got the best of him.

He makes sense, we all played deus ex and as you remember you can't press every character and Zelenskyy made mistake trying to press a person that hates him already with passsssssion

Finally the sane take. Every comment I've seen is either by brigaders, "Fellow Conservatives", or the other extreme where they say Zelensky is worse than Putin. There is no world where Ukraine "wins" the war. Now it's about minimizing the damage.

This how kamala can still win

I'd feel worse for Zelensky if he didn't act like an butt about it.

Even Joe Biden of all people was pissed at his perceived ungratefulness.

Why can't he just put on a suit and stop disrespecting the country that is his only lifeline? Like how arrogant is he to think what he did today, and how he dressed, would fly?

Trump is old-school; while a Biden administration might not care about optics and stuff, Trump does. It's death by a thousand cuts for Zelensky with his arrogance and demands of the hand that feeds his country – a country which, frankly, the U.S. has no real stakes in beyond democracy principles (even though Ukraine has never been some bastion of democracy, but we chose to sweep that under the rug in 2022).

It's seriously not that difficult to get Trump to play along; we just saw Keir Starmer do it brilliantly. I also think it's asinine that Zelensky keeps on reneging on deals and trying to leverage media to pressure our government.

He doesn't want peace; he wants a fantasy. And if he really, truly cared about his country, he'd get on his feet and beg, because whether right or wrong that's what's required to get sympathy from Trump, whom Zelensky campaigned against in the fall of last year in our country!

It's funny that Syrian terrorist wears suits and normalised relationships with Russia

https://old.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/comments/1j0j4ce/pedro_pascal_shows_support_for_ukraine_and/

Omg pedro pascal supports Ukraine it's over for Trump

Everything below is solely my opinion and totally not meant to be taken as fact. Go away feds.

Let's talk about life, wodie. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that people do not care about you. People will exploit you for all you're worth and then kick you to the curb, all while pretending they are your friend. The pursuit of money brings out the worst in people, and folks will throw away their morals and treat others horribly just to keep a job they hate and continue to put food on the table.

I don't bring this up arbitrarily. The reason why I discuss this matter is because I'd like to discuss a workplace where there are no morals. Workers are treated horribly, are disposed of without a second thought, and are paid far below minimum wage. The company I'm talking about is Valnet. If you're lucky, you've never heard of it, but Valnet is a monster that has been steadily growing and making the internet considerably worse, wodie. I'm not even joking. This is a company actively spreading misinformation, deteriorating the quality of the internet as a whole, and utilising slave labour for the sake of profit. Valnet is an intensely immoral business, and I'd like to illustrate why.

This won't be a massively long essay, wodie. My aim is simply to stick to the most important points and prove that you should never visit Valnet sites and, no matter how desperate you are, NEVER work for this evil corporation. And yes, I am directly calling out management because they are the ones who decide to treat humans like garbage and prioritise greed over being good people. Yes, this refers specifically to CEO Ouissam Youssef, a deeply selfish human being who runs a global sweatshop that is currently facing lawsuits. He is not my wodie. Youssef and his business are responsible for monumental amounts of heartache, tears, and broken dreams, and they have profited immensely from this.

Throughout the course of this essay, I will point out the company's insatiable desire to buy up as many reputable brands as possible and milk them for all their worth. I will point out Valnet's use of AI, and the systemic use of plagiarism that keeps this hellish business afloat. Everything I point out will be backed with evidence, wodie.

I'm about to speak up. Not because it is easy or because it will help me gain money. I am speaking out because it is the right thing to do. Valnet has been getting away with its wicked ways for too long, and someone needs to put a stop to it. I may not have the resources to take on a giant like Valnet through courtrooms, but I do have the power to speak out and say NO to evil businesses that put profits over people.

The essay will go as such:

1. What is Valnet?

2. Valnet's Enshittification of the Internet

3. Working for Valnet

4. Valnet the Bully

5. Conclusion

What is Valnet

To be clear, Valnet is powered by human suffering. It is a necessary element of the company's money-making strategy. Their entire business model is contingent on grossly underpaying writers and demanding unrealistic workloads. But how did this nefarious business become the monster it is today? That's what I seek to discover.

Valnet was founded in 2012 by Ouissam Youssef. He and his wodies were interested in acquiring acquisitive businesses and making a profit from them, and through their ventures, they learned a lot about the world of investing, and they also realised there was a lot of money to be made with geek culture websites. Here's an interview in which Youssef discusses business and his career. It's important that you watch this because it offers you some insight into Youssef's mind, wodie. Valnet isn't a company that cares about video games or pop culture, it doesn't care about workers or about the readers of the sites (in my opinion). Valnet is solely interested in generating profit by any means necessary. Valnet's aim is to buy businesses and wring them for everything they're worth with no regard for the human cost. And there is an extremely high human cost.

Geek culture has exploded in the last few decades and what was a niche community has grown into a global movement that generates billions. Geek hobbies like tech, gaming, and comic books have proven to be extremely profitable as businesses like Bethesda, Marvel, and Embracer are discovering. However, many of these new businesses hoping to profit off of geek culture do not care in the slightest about their product or about their customers. They simply exist to make the most money possible, regardless of the means. The result of this is that a very small number of people benefit while the rest of us have to deal with the negative consequences. Enough, it's time to shovel all that nonsense back into Valnet's face, wodie.

Over the years, Valnet has rapidly expanded thanks to its constant acquisition of new sites centred on tech, gaming, and pop culture. Some examples of sites Valnet has snatched up:

• Comic Book Resources

Comic Book Resources is a site that covers mainly geek topics such as comic books, films, television, games, and anime. The business was founded in 1995 and was snatched up by Valnet in 2016.

• Collider

Collider is yet another popular pop culture site, this time with a focus on film and television. It was founded in 2005 and it receives a significant amount of traffic daily. As of 2020, it is under the ownership of Valnet.

• MovieWeb

MovieWeb follows the same mould as Collider, offering news on the entertainment world. As of 2021, Valnet owns MovieWeb

• Screen Rant

You've probably heard of this site before. It is the acne of Google; impossible to get rid of. Screen Rant posts clickbait articles centred on gaming, anime, television, and film. It's sister site, Game Rant, is focused on gaming, wodie.

There are plenty more sites owned by Valnet, including:

• TheThings

• The G*mer

• Fextra Life

• Dualshockers

• Hardcore G*mer

• OpenCritic

• Hot Cars

• Top Speed

• Car Buzz

• Simple Flying

• The Travel

• Give Me Sport

• Football Fancast

• Football League World

• The Sportster

• TheRichest

• Backyard Boss

• Android Police

• XDA

• Pocket-Lint

• MakeUseOf

• How-To Geek

So what happens when Valnet buys a new site? Well, Valnet gets wealthier, and Youssef gets more money in his pocket. However, for literally anyone else involved with the site, life gets significantly worse. We'll discuss that more in the next few sections, wodie.

Valnet's Enshittification of the Internet

The internet never used to be the way it is today. Once upon a time, Google was quite trusted, and you could rely on it to return useful sites providing valuable information. That is not the case any longer. Pretty much all search engines are a pain to use, and they seldom return trustworthy information from credible sites. Instead, the sites that land up at the top of search terms are the ones that follow internet trends and stuff their site with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keywords. The higher up sites land on Google's search engine, the more views a site gets, and the more ad revenue the owners receive.

You all know how it goes. You need information on a pop-culture-related topic, and spam from Valnet's sites dominates the front page. Want to look up something about your favorite game? Well, the entire front page of Google is just Game Rant, The G*mer, and Dualshockers. To add insult to injury, the information is often incorrect or features a misleading headline that tricks you into reading vapid clickbait pieces with no substance.

Consequently, sites that wish to make a profit play the SEO game and attempt to manipulate Google's search algorithms to increase their visibility. You'll notice that most Valnet sites follow a similar format, down to the font used and the layouts of the articles, wodie. This is because the format has been expertly designed to maximize SEO, often at the cost of good writing. You see, you have to realise something, wodie. Valnet isn't selling genuine articles. They're selling SEO magnets that are vaguely pop-culture-themed. The aim isn't to provide you with information, the aim is to get you to click on their links and bring them that sweet ad revenue.

You can see this enshittification by analysing your typical article from a Game Rant site. They all use the same format, so a critique of one site basically applies to all of them. Let's start with this article titled "Pokemon Fan Shows Off Ogerpon Cosplay".

https://g*merant.com/pokemon-ogerpon-cosplay/

First and foremost, this article represents perhaps one of the most annoying trends of modern day content creators. All they do is snatch up Reddit content and post it as their own. This is lazy and completely degrades the entire industry of games journ*lism. The whole field has been corrupted into mere clickbait and vapid content with 0 substance. This article in particular is just referring to a Reddit post that was made literally less than 24 hours before the Reddit article.

https://old.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/1iywwqh/ogerpon_cosplay/

So, assuming the article was actually written by a human, we have someone who is scouring Reddit for content and reposting it as blogspam in under 24 hours. This isn't even exclusive to the /r/pokemon subreddit. Game Rant does this for all the major games, including Red Dead Redemption, Starfield, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, and more, wodie. The users of these subreddits are sick of it, as it's not just Game Rant that does this.

In an attempt to fool sites that simply gather their content from Reddit, some subreddits have set up fake posts with fake information to fool sites. This happened with WoW which reported on Glorb, something which real sites began posting on, which was quite hilarious. This trick was repeated in the No Man's Sky subreddit where they tricked publications into reporting on a fake hidden boss in the game. This goes to show that these sites are not interested in reporting factual information. Instead, they are solely focused on getting clicks and making ad revenue.

https://old.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGame/comments/1ei75wx/how_to_unlock_the_new_secret_atlas_boss_fight_a/

We move down the article and we arrive at our next problem - the use of AI. Yes, I can 100% assure you that Valnet sites routinely use AI on their articles. When you see that "summary" section, know that it was generated using AI. It's built into their CMS (content management system, essentially where folks write their articles). So don't believe Valnet when they say they don't use AI. It's literally required that writers use AI.

We can also make a couple of educated guesses regarding the use of AI to write the body of the articles. I suspect that several Valnet writers routinely use AI to write their articles. My reasoning? Well, some writers are operating at non-human levels, producing 5-6 articles a day for weeks on end. This isn't realistic, and it suggests a strong likelihood that writers are using AI to help boost their output. I don't blame them. What is required of writers is ridiculous, and the expectations make it such that it is impossible to produce quality content while still keeping up with the quotas. I'll post a random writer for example. At one point they publish 11 ARTICLES IN ONE DAY. Even if they didn't use AI, there is literally no way to possibly produce good content at this rate, wodie.

https://g*merant.com/author/josh-cotts/

If you attempt to read the aforementioned Pokemon article, you'll notice that it doesn't say anything useful, and it is barely coherent. The whole thing exists as an excuse to stuff in as many keywords as possible, along with a slew of backlinks to other Game Rant articles to keep readers on the site. These tricks are implemented to trick Google's algorithm into boosting Game Rant's article to the top. Consequently, these substanceless articles get more exposure than meaningful, well-researched articles, leading to the continued enshittification of the internet.

Over the years, video game journ*lists have lost their reputations and have become quite loathed among g*mers. Honestly, it's often not the journ*lists that are the problem, wodie. They enter the industry with big dreams of reporting on an industry they have a genuine passion for. However, the demands of companies like Valnet forces these writers to become drones produce mindless content for the sake of selling ads. When you see shitty gaming articles, don't blame the writer. They're literally just trying to put food on the table. Lay the blame with the companies that force writers to fill the internet with nonsense.

Working for Valnet

As you can probably guess, working for Valnet is a geniunely horrible, soul-crushing experience. The company takes writers, wrings them for everything they're worth, then throws them to the curb. There are some genuinely hardworking writers at Valnet who are having their talents squandered by wasting them on a company that has them writing 20+ pieces of clickbait a week.

So, there are several reasons to despise Valnet's working conditions, wodie. Let's start with the pay. Valnet pays its workers peanuts. It is absolutely disgusting. The payment system has changed drastically over the years, and it differs between websites, but they all pay about the same terrible rate. As a senior writer, I was earning $14.50 for a 600-word article in 2023. Bear in mind, writing a single article requires research, writing, gathering images for the articles, and sticking to a very strict format that requires you to completely butcher your writing to adhere to SEO regulations. Consequently, a single article can take you a whole afternoon, and that's if you're rushing and genuinely don't care about accuracy or quality. After all that, it's highly likely your article will still come back for edits from the editors who treat you as though you're actually being paid a fair wage to care about it.

So, let's say an article takes you 6 hours. That's about $2.42 an hour, with no benefits. To put that into context, in the USA the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Anyone paying workers $2.42 is being GROSSLY IMMORAL. Yes, I'm referring specifically to the CEO of Valnet, Ouissam Youssef. The business he runs is evil and exploits human beings for the sake of generating profit. Ouissam, what you're doing is deeply wrong, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Valnet is also very keen to fire writers whenever they believe it'll save them money. Take CBR for example. When the site was acquired by Valnet, they fired a lot of key workers as they turned the site into a content mill. Consequently, lots of writers on the site left in protest. Even the social media manager sabotaged the company, sick of their immoral ways.

For any Valnet workers who may be reading this - leave the company right now. Trust me, nothing good will come from continuing to support this shitty company. No, this won't be a stepping stone to a better career. Nobody takes Valnet sites seriously and if anything they will be a blight on your CV, wodie. Everyone on the internet hates you and if you try to share your articles anywhere you will be met with hostility and hatred. Nobody is impressed with your below minimum wage job, and your time would be better spent as a literal McDonald's cashier where you would have better hours and earn more.

Valnet the Bully

All the things I've described so far are pretty bad, but perhaps the worst thing Valnet does is try to silence anyone who criticises them, wodie. With that said, I am taking a significant risk writing this, and I considered posting this on Reddit first but I decided to post here instead because quite frankly I am aware that Valnet is happy to swing its weight around and use the law to try and silence anyone who says anything bad about them.

The YouTuber FireB0rn made a video criticising Valnet. The video was accurate and featured interviews from previous Valnet employees. In response, Valnet sent out copyright strikes against the YouTuber, resulting in the videos being taken down. This isn't the first time the company has done this. They also bullied Jenny Geist who dared to speak up against Valnet, sending her a physical cease and desist to her address. Twitter user Josh Tyler also tried to speak out against Valnet, and was hit with a cease and desist. Josh is not taking it lying down, fortunately.

Here's the full response, along with the original cease and desist letter issued by Valnet, at the link below. https://t.co/NIvg968IcL

— Josh Tyler (@joshtyler) December 4, 2024

There is a silver lining, and that's the fact that people are fighting back, wodie. Currently, Valnet is dealing with a big lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that the company misclassified content creators as contract workers. I hope Valnet loses this lawsuit hard and has to pay all those workers. Some writers have reported that they have received emails from Valnet offering them $100 to not pursue legal action. LOL I hope they lose tons of money. They deserve it to the fullest, wodie.

https://www.classaction.org/news/valnet-misclassified-content-creators-as-independent-contractors-class-action-claims

Conclusion

Wodie, why does it seem like the workplaces that pay the least, treat you the worst? Valnet is a horrible company that represents everything wrong with late-stage capitalism. Such a business is made possible by greed and a disregard for humanity. Think about how many people have slaved away out of desperation only to earn pennies for their work. How many writers suddenly found themselves without a job, not because of their terrible writing, but because Valnet management got a little too greedy.

When I spend a lot of time in isolation, weird things happen, wodie. I learned this trick where you close your eyes and, I guess, open yourself up to your thoughts but suppress all instincts to judge. If you do this, you'll detatch things and events from their imbued meaning and see things for what they truly are. Once I thought about jeans and I could just experience them without thinking of them as "pants" or "things to put on your legs". I hope I'm making sense. If you do this with other things in your life, it can help you to contextualise things which is useful if you've been obsessed with something and need to lower the intensity of the emotions you feel towards it.

Alright, wodie. That's all I got for today. In short, gaming journ*lism is dead and Valnet delivered the killer blow.

Trump 2024
Georgescu 2025
🇷🇴🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/qvzWSJryF7

— Dacian Romulus (@dacianromulus) February 26, 2025

• Can't remember when I last updated you guys on our deranged political show, but let's use Vance's speech at that EU meeting as a starting point

• After elections were cancelled our politicians started to search for proof of russian manipulation/illegal shit/literally anything to justify randomly taking everyone's right to vote after the elections started. I know, I know, you'd expect them to have proof before basically accusing Georgescu of treason and cancelling elections, but this is the Balkans and logic was never our forte So houses were raided (Georgescu and family, their friends and political allies, his supporters, r-slurs on the internet who took advantage of this to vent their frustration by threatening violence), people were interrogated, blockades around cities where people were stopped and searched have been set up, lots of activity from our generally hibernating police force

• Not many things were unearthed, at least not about Georgescu directly - his bodyguards are mercenaries so they have ties with Russia because they worked with ziggers in Africa, and his grandpa or something has been part of the nazi party, but any direct ties with Georgescu are still missing Apparently gramps being a member of the nazi party and Georgescu being a member of the communist party doesn't hold much water, since pretty much everyone in those respective time periods were party members due to the whole 'we'll kill you if you don't join us' aspect of every authoritarian regime

• Anyway, after Vance directedly told our government that they are just some petty dictator wannabes panic settled in. Despite all the searches they still haven't found sufficient proof for annulling the elections. Well, they do say that this proof exists but it's super secret and it would be very dangerous to release publicly, so people are mostly about that. Which leads us to today's fiasco

• Today is the first day where the candidates for the new presidential elections can sign up. Georgescu was in traffic on the way to do just that when he was stopped by the cops and dragged to the police station. He just had a knee surgery a few days ago and is using crutches to walk around, so the image with him limping in crutches while surrounded by cops will definitely be used as the main campaign material from now on. Hey, why say no to free propaganda material!?

Călin Georgescu în cârje adus la Parchetul General.

România stat polițienesc. pic.twitter.com/784Szlcm7L

— Dacian Romulus (@dacianromulus) February 26, 2025

So basically, the Kremlin sent Călin Georgescu $10mil and a business class ticket to Moscow...

C'mon EU, you can do better than this. pic.twitter.com/jfDjWhBzr8

— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) February 26, 2025

🚨🇷🇴 They pinned Georgescu against the wall like a criminal, even though he recently had a knee surgery and is still recovering

People have gathered outside the prosecutor's office, demanding Georgescu's release

Georgescu's lawyer has not been let into the building pic.twitter.com/3OYeYIJnMG

— Daily Romania (@daily_romania) February 26, 2025

• His supporters were angry at that because, aside from the general fact that their candidate has been arrested, you can only sign up for the presidential race until march 15, so they assumed the cops planed to detain Georgescu until then to stop him from signing up Protesters gathered in front of the police station, the riot police was called and they set up fences around the building, people on the internet were calling for violence (again), so things were a little tense

• But his supporters' fear were misplaced A couple of hours after being detained Georgescu was released under judiciary control. His charges are... not great for all this clusterfrick, especially since they don't justify the cancelled elections at all. Basically his speeches threatened the constitution, instigated violence, supported our nazis and general antisemitism. Apparently you need a house search to prove this I never heard him say anything about jews or about any violent actions ever, so I guess those parts are in relation to his nazi ties. Which leave us with two main charges, the nazism and the constitution one.

• Him praising our versions of the nazis, technically the most darning one since any type of support for nazism is illegal in Romania, is funnily enough the weakest charge he's facing because our politicians are a bunch of lazy and incompetent r-slurs Georgescu's ties with nazis were known for decades, he has been arrested over them multiple times before but every time he was released with no explanation So, his nazi affiliation has never been a problem for years, haven't been a problem when he signed up to become president the first time, have been deemed not a threat when he won the first round of the elections and people complained that a literal nazi was allowed to candidate for the most important political position of Romania, but they suddenly became a real threat to our democracy (tm) now, in the first day of electoral sign up So, while this charge is a problem for him, it's kinda hard to use it as a justification for everything that happened until today.

• The 'threat to the constitution' accusation is probably the real weapon against him for now. It has been used to force another auth-right candidate out of the race the first time and it's based on a very muddy law. She was accused of antisemitism and spreading hate against NATO and EU, things that apply to Georgescu too. Georgescu's supporters are now expecting him to be pulled out of the race in the same way the other candidate was. Our rightoids' second favorite candidate, Simion, said that he won't candidate again as to not split their voting base, so if they cancel Georgescu's candidacy after the signups are done they can cockblock them both out of the race Although that will obviously anger their fans

• For now, Georgescu was allowed to go home, but can't have any media appearances and his social media activity has also been limited since he's not allowed to create any new accounts... it would be a shame if his current ones were deleted So the old debate of ''what is freedom of speech?' is currently going on all over our media, both mainstream and on the internet

• Conspiracy theory time!

• Not many new conspiracies have appeared yet, but since Vance, Musk and a few of their chud friends showed their support for Georgescu, some people now believe that this arrest was ordered by Von der Lyne as a message for Trump that Europe now belongs to Soros and the globalist cabal Don't ask me why Von der Lyne specifically

Apparently this is why:

BREAKING:

Austrian MEP confirms that Călin Georgescu’s arrest was ordered by the European Commission—very possibly by Ursula von der Leyen. pic.twitter.com/6NjmiOf4Gr

— Dacian Romulus (@dacianromulus) February 26, 2025

• In contrast, another theory says that the politicians here want Georgescu to win, and all this clusterfrick is a way to martyr him in the population's eyes and make everyone vote for him, and that our elections were actually a honeypot operation to trap the evil globalists and force them to expose themselves and their plans

• Some chuds here have been watching too many old school crime movies, I guess

• That's all for now, the situation is still tense vut has mainly calmed down for now since Georgescu was allowed to go home. Will update again if anything spicy happens

Edit: !jannies can I get an efforst post tag for this? I forgot to tag it

The charges might de dropped because the wrong political body filed them. We're a very competent country

I was extremely fortunate growing up in my shithole backwater redneck rural farmtown, in the middle of the Free State province. Even by the time the mid-2000s arrived, the little mothball of a town was already crumbling in infrastructure. The township is currently known as THE most corrupt and shithole-esk municipality in the entire province, which is quite an achievement.

The trash lorries were never repaired or maintained, so that by 2010, all of them were brokenshit downtrodden, so that one of the local farmers had to donate a 2nd hand tractor with a wagon, just so that the town could ferry it's fricking ever growing heaps of black bags away from everybody's home.

And yet, the one exceptional privilege I had growing up, was that our Town Hall had a truly magnificent Public Library, which had collection of both fiction & non-fiction books well beyond what such a godforsaken shitheap town like ours ever deserved. All because the Head Librarian woman was an afrikaans ballbuster who beat up any whoreson who ever dared to abuse books in her sight.

It was here where I discovered a large collection of dilapidated Sven Hassel novels. During this time the Satanic Panic was in full swing, so conservacuck busybodies were prowling about the town to denounce any of the church's denomination, who's kids were reading such satanic shit such as Harry Potter or Digimon. Even doctor who books became anathema for god fearing folks.

So I knew I had to keep secret the Sven Hassel books I took out from the Library, because of their extremely gruesome front covers.

Or the massive amounts of Nazi imagery

So as a teenager, these types of books were very clearly the type of shit which would be WAY above the PG13 age-restriction, in which your parents would ban/forbid you from watching horror or gore movies like Aliens or Predator. It was clear for me and many who grew up in conservative/religious households, we would only ever be allowed to read adult material like this once we were outside of the thumb of influence of our parents.

So we read it in secret. For whatever reason, Sven Hassel appeared to have been popular for many Afrikaans young men, in many towns over in Safrica. I even managed to befriend some old stoner guy, who owned a metric shitload of WW2 novels written in the past century, like holy smokes this guy had every single WW2 fiction and non-fiction book about WW2 ever written, in ALL kinds of states! Some were in mint condition, and other books, like the Sven Hassel books he gave to me, were yellowed-out delipidated books from the 1970s!!

So many young men were falling in this History Buff (aka exclusively fricking WW2 shit ) and collecting WW2 stories from afar. And Sven Hassel had this weird underground mass popularity for young afrikaans men 16-24 young adult age group.

The reason? Because Sven Hassel novels were all incredibly brutal, as in brutality incarnate.

WHAT WERE SVEN HASSLE NOVELS ABOUT:

So what on earth hat were Sven Hassel books about?? They were all WW2 fiction novels revolving around penal battalions sent to their deaths, usually towards the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union, IN ww2. They depicted a cast of lowlifes, criminals, traitors and political dissidents who had fallen into the bad side of the Nazi regime, and were given one final chance of "redemption" from the eyes of the brutal regime, and subsequently always given the most suicidal front of the frontline position and jobs.

The protagonist penal Wehrmacht soldiers in Sven Hassel novels were quite unique in this time period of books, after WW2, and before the internet-era where facts could be checked from Smartphones. Being on the obvious "Bad Guy's" side of WW2, the protagonists were anything but heroic, they were the primeval anti-heroes.

And while anti-war novels with anti-hero archtypes existed from books like "All-Quiet-on-the-Western-Front" or Biggles the WW1 Biplane Bong antihero had existed in supreme abundance since the conclusion of the 1st World War, there were decisive differences between the characterization of books written from protagonists of WW1 & WW2.

WW1 anti-hero literature involved the dramatization of the futility and absurdity of war, and the cruelty of sending young men to die in Old men's conflicts. WW1 antihero and antiwar themes were more universal and "unpolitical" in terms of their timelessness.

The theming of WW2 was vastly different, considering the vast amounts of genocides taking places throughout the war, and NOT just from the Nazis. Croatians were busy slaughtering their Serbian Neighbours the moment the Wehrmacht gave them the opportunity. Belarussian partisans inflicted as much suffering upon their kin as Gestapo death squads, and Slavic families were culled based on whether they made the mistake of not supporting communists or nazis enough. There was a much greater sense of indefensible cruelty and warmongering, and was reflected as such in fiction.

Pretty much fricking zero perspectives made the day from the frontline kraut trooper's view in heroic or unheroic fiction in WW2 for pretty understandable reasons. The few exceptions like The-Forgotten-Soldier of Guy Sajer, a French Alsatian bastard whom was pressganged into the Wehrmacht due to his kraut ancestry, has a far more sympathetic theme in which unwilling participants found themselves swept into the maelstrom of the Nazi wars, and the subsequent horror and suffering they endured on the Eastern Front against their wills.

Sven Hassel was unique in the sense that the perspective was from the most base and barbaric men of the Wehrmacht.

Sven Hassel novels had a lot of dark themes, and would have been described as Grimdark if the moniker existed. Good men perish constantly for very little reason. A recurring meme is that the most noble and selfless of the Penal Battalion men, the best leaders and sergeants and men who try to look out for their fellow penal soldiers, tend to die like flies, whilst the lowest scum continue to survives the suicidal assaults like cockroaches. The maelstrom of the Eastern Front was legendary, but for those of us in Safrica, with finite resources, no internet and no access to European libraries, we had no capacity to gauge or experience it.

The Eastern Front housed some of the most ferocious battles fought in recorded human history, with death tolls and numbers ranging from the 100 000s to millions, a scope unthinkable for boers in a country, where our demographic barely numbered over 2 million, and yet twice than number of Russians were taught to have perished in Nazi POW camps alone, the amount of combat deaths on the Eastern Front alone numbered on a scale so depraved it defied imagination.

But because of the Cold War's censorship in South Africa, and censorship's momentum long after the fall of the Soviet Union, most of us took the word of Sven Hassel at face value, in terms of how he depicted events of the Eastern Front. We had absolutely no way of fact-checking his novels, or being capable of researching otherwise.

The sheer ferocity of the Eastern Front was captured in black-and-white pictures of mass-graves and the skeletons of cities reduced to rubble by Stukas and carpet bombing. Thus the sheer banality and brutality of description of warfare within Sven Hassel novels, gave him a lot of credence with people for like half a century, both in Safrican and Europe itself.

SVEN HASSEL BECAME FAMOUS:

Sven propelled himself to international fame, when he published "The Legion of the Darned" in 1953. The book provided an account of life as a German soldier on the Eastern Front, it opens with the author (book written in 1st person view) being tried and convicted as a deserter, and as a result being sent to a concentration camp.

The main character Sven as himself, spends a large amount of time suffering under the Nazi regime's prison system. He's recruited in bomb disposal for unexploded Bong aircraft-bombs,

before abruptly being "pardoned" and dispatched to a penal combat unit. Sven meets a bunch of degenerates who becomes his saviors throughout his misadventures and horrific ordeal on the Eastern Front, and the book climaxes as virtually everyone except the protagonist is gradually wiped out by the near end of the war in 1945, as Sven remains the lone survivor of the entire penal battalion of several hundred men, and is forced as the remaining veteran, to become company-commander, and train and equip the scrap of germany - old men and sickly teenagers.

Book got a bunch of accolades and positive criticism, and went on to be translated into a boatload of languages, including Dutch & English, which is found in Safrica. Legion of the Darned would become the first in a series of fourteen fiction novels detailing the misadventures and wartime experiences of Sven Hassel, as his own alter ego.

The books are pretty much interchangeable, with all of them occurring in different theaters of the Eastern Front, with a few exceptions, like when fictional Sven and the company of penal degenerates found themselves on an Italian troop transport bombed, and left afloat on open water, and endured much hardship stranded in the middle of the Mediterranean.

According to Sven, the books were fiction, but largely based upon real experiences which he had endured as an actual combat veteran captured by the Soviets in the final days of the Battle for Berlin in 1945, and then released amongst the few lucky fricks who survived Soviet detention.

The 1st book in particular has been reprinted for like 70 years.

BOOK MADE INTO FILM:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093546/

One of his bestsellers, the "Wheels of Terror", got made into the film "The Misfit Brigade".

Basically kraut version of Dirty Dozen. Not.....really.....good in my opinion.....

SVEN'S STYLE:

In spite of the drama to come, Sven Hassel was a spectacularly unique and engaging writer, he genuinely did have merits and talents as an author. He had the capacity to make exceedingly grim subjectmatter as enthralling, and many readers describe themselves as being bewitched by Sven, and continuing to read the continual atrocities depicted in his books, as if unable to look away from a car crash.

So the author is well liked and his books are often highly rated on websites like Amazon and Goodreads. And in a vacuum, as literary dark war fiction, they stand on their own as above average reviewed.

THE DRAMA: HISTORIC INACCURACY

So uhh, what's the problem? The issue is that pretty much every single one of Sven Hassel's 14 novels are all very VERY historically inaccurate. And while history is often coloured by bias, and Hollywood often takes liberties to tell stories and make movies, and holes can be punctured into pretty much all war fiction ever written, Sven is unfortunately in a league of his own, in terms of extremely levels of untruth and historic inaccuracy!

For those of us reading Sven Hassel novels in in the age before internet (2010 ) we genuinely took Sven's accounts at face value. Sven had eplicitly implied that while his books were fictional, they were based upon wartime experiences he personally endured, along with stories he had accumulated from his fellow soldiers.

But for those turbo neurodivergents whom studied WW2 and/or managed to acquire the fabled technology of Interwebs, you could come to conclusions about Sven Hassels's extreme levels of historic distortions pretty quickly. Additionally when I had the privilege to be have access to the University of Cape Town's library, I could also to my dismay determine that whilst I loved the Hassel novels, that Sven was pretty much full of shit.

Even worse for Sven Hassel fans is the truly depraved and massive rabbit hole of the many lies and untruths of Sven Hassel's life, and that since the beginning from as far back as 1953, Sven has had detractors whom documented his inaccuracies.

But because there was no internet, and because there were few ways to verify this shit one way or another, it pretty much didn't obtain momentum before 2000!

Like holy shit hold on to your pants!

https://www.svenhassel.com/biography/

According to Sven and his family estate (since even before the Internet-era and before he had a website), he claimed that at the age of 14 he joined the merchant navy as a cabin boy and worked on ships until his military service in 1936 he joined the Werhmacht because he was brokenshit poor at the time, and served until the end of the war in tanker units.

According to Sven it was in these panzer units where he met many batshit insane and colourful colleagues which inspired his equally batshit insane characters. He also claimed he had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Danish prison for treason postwar, because he had served in Kraut forces which occupied Denmark.

Now according to Sven himself, as earlier stated, he had been apprehended by the Soviets in Berlin after unconditional surrender of werhmacht to the allies; and that he had spent multiple years hopping between POW camps postwar, from Soviet to French, and onwards.

BUT, local Danish newspapers had investigated postwar records, and determined that he had in fact been immediately arrested in Denmark in 1945 after the liberation and was held in prison there, first as a suspect and then as a convicted criminal, again because he had supposedly partook on occupying Denmark. And that he was released in 1949 after serving 4/10 years, as the Danish authorities gave amnesty to all Wehrmacht prisoners, as it cost more to house the frickers, than just let them be. According to the Danish papers, he had never been in either Soviet or french captivity

https://politiken.dk/navne/doedsfald/art5435426/Kul%C3%B8rt-dansk-krigsforfatter-er-d%C3%B8d

DANISH DOCUMENTARY CALLS SVEN A FRAUD:

https://www.dr.dk/presse/dr2-tager-seerne-bag-om-skandalen

Translated into English as best could with online Translator.

The basic story was that the reason Sven Hassel fricked off to Spain during the latter end of his life, was not because Hassel enjoyed Spanish countrysides so much, but because he had been culturally ostracized by his countrymen, and actual veterans of war - for both those who fought for the Wehrmaght and the Danish forces. They had called him out for his historic inaccuracy and apparent untruth about his non-service on the eastern front!

INACCURACIES

https://web.archive.org/web/20170925180602/http://www.litteratursiden.dk/blogs/ruben-palma/20121021

Again translated from Danish as best could. Upon his obituary some Danish historians went out of their way to highlight inaccuracies:

(1) Like many of the penal Battalion men in Hassel novels being furbished with Tiger tanks, which as absurd, as the Wehrmacht knew their extreme value, and Tigers were only ever furbished towards tanker Aces whom had proven themselves, NOT fricking random penal battalions whom would at best be furbished with Stugs or Panzer 4s when sent into teh suicical front engagements against enemy formations.

(2) Just like with Das Boot, pretty much everyone in the penal legions were anti-nazi and anti-Hitler, which is a perpetual clean Wehrmacght myth. Most soldiers were loyal or ambivalent, and only became bitter during the closing years

(3) There is great falsehood towards kraut POWs escaping very easily from Soviet detention centers and gulags. While kraut soldiers regularly escaped Soviet military detention, they were ruthlessly guarded, and were not these caricatures of dysfunction, in which all the menial labourers were happy-go-lucky fools whos just scraped to get by, and kraut prisoners could just walk out with timing.. Whilst other depictions of POW camps as slavedriving starving centers are more accurate.

(4) While combat is accurately depicted as ferocious chaotic hellzones accurately, often penal battalions are given equipment and weaponry not accurate to specific theaters on the Eastern Front - things easily picked out by actual veterans, as absurd glaring errors. Gewehr 43s were rare, and not doled out to penal fricks, only for elite SS or Werhmaght troops. Instead mausers or Karabiner 98k (regular chambered rifle) were the most common foot trooper weapon, whom were usually organized around the well-performing MG42. Kraut platoons (20-50 men) were usually organized to have their machine gun as the central keystone weapon around which the platoon was built, with their rifles and submachine guns as the supporting suppression weapons, because of how extraordinarily effective the MG42/41 machinegun was, not the other way around.

SVEN HASSEL STILL LARGELY POPULAR IN BONGLAND AND ANGLOSPHERE:

The thing is that in spite of all of this dramaram within Denmark, where Sven is largely seen as a fraud and hack, these detractors are largely localized, while in England he is still largely highly regraded, and fricking journos take his personal website at absolute face value!

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sven-hassel-soldier-who-won-the-iron-cross-and-wrote-bestsellers-8317043.html

Here's guardian actually doing legwork for Sven's obituary in 2012

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/02/sven-hassel

=====(from TheGuardian)

On the lurid covers of the later paperback British editions, the double s in Hassel's name was printed as the double lightning-flash symbol of Heinrich Himmler's SS. Billed as worm's-eye-views of warfare from the German standpoint, the books contain some crude humour and a great deal more cruelty and brutality – they are war comics without the pictures, devoured especially by teenage boys.

Mystery surrounds the events of Hassel's own life, not least because he appears as a character in his own books. By his own account he was born Sven Pedersen in Fredensborg, Denmark, and later adopted his mother's maiden name.

Historians dug holes in Hassel's novels, especially his accounts of German military units. The 27th Panzer regiment, for example, was not, as described, a punishment unit or German version of The Dirty Dozen. Hassel's account of his own life – and his war experience in particular – was also disputed by some, including the journ*list Erik Haaest.

There were allegations that Hassel had links to the Danish Nazi party and that he spent most of the war in Denmark, picking up his combat stories from veterans of the Danish Waffen-SS.

=====(end quote)

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/invisible-ink-no-109-sven-hassel-6378433.html

====(from Independant)

When I was a child, my father guiltily read Sven Hassel's paperbacks, keeping them in his bedside table where the children wouldn't find them. Gruesomely illustrated with photographs of concentration camp inmates and tanks rolling over corpses, they seemed to represent the populist voice of war experience, but a question mark remains over Hassel's real identity.

However, there's another side to the story. Hassel's critics have been disputing his claims for years, saying that his identity was falsified for another purpose; he never served in a Panzer Division at all but was in fact a Danish Nazi who patched together his books from stories told to him by Danish Waffen SS veterans after 1945, having spent most of the Second World War in occupied Denmark.

[This is where things get really weird

Unfortunately, his biggest critic, the writer Erik Haaest, was discredited after denying that there were ever concentration camps. Even worse, Haaest's version of Hassel's life, in which Hassel runs a porn empire and gets his wife to write his novels

====(end quote)

Yeah apparently some of Sven's detractors were holocaust deniers and wingnut weirdos themselves

have a good day dramatards!

!bookworms !historychads !deathtomicks !germs

Person of Interest

Min Hee-Jin; 45 years old, with experience in music production and artistic direction. She is most known for her work in two of the biggest K-pop companies SM and HYBE.

She was formerly the CEO of ADOR, a HYBE subsidiary, until being forced to resign (seen in GIF above) by its parent company HYBE in August 27, 2024 due to a power struggle for control of the company.

Although stepping down from her ADOR position, Min Hee-Jin was responsible for Newjeans during the creation and most successful periods of the group's career.

Online, Min Hee-Jin is also known as a suspected groomer who uses her position of power to her advantage.

NewJeans TLDR

NewJeans is a fairly new K-pop group, debuting in 2022, owned by HYBE. Being decently popular, they broke some records (ex. Fastest K-pop act to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify at March 2023), and are one of the most popular female groups of 4th generation K-pop.

There are 5 members; Danielle, Haerin, Hanni, Hyein, and Minji.

Member's ages at debut:

• Minji at 18 years old

• Hanni and Danielle at 17 years old

• Haerin at 16 years old

• and Hyein at 14 years old

South Korean law dictates that anyone below the age of 19 is considered a minor.

It's not uncommon for K-pop companies to debut idols as young as 15, so Hyein being 14 at time of debut isn't entirely strange if we look at K-pop as a whole,

but we should keep this in mind.

WeirdJeans

Cookie is NewJeans' third single following their debut, releasing in August of 2022. It was recieved with success as well as controversy by K-pop fans due to the nature of the song combined with the ages of NewJeans members, who were considered to be minors by Korean law at the time of this song's release and stage performances.

• Lyrics

Anyone can tell that this song isn't actually about cookies, but ADOR wants people to believe it's about baking CDs. Yeah, right...

"Numerous doctors in English literature, interpreters and native speakers told us that 'cookie' is not widely used sexual slang," Ador said in a statement. "So the term itself cannot be a problem, although its interpretations can differ depending on people's subjective experiences. However, slang is not part of standard language that everyone should know about."

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2022/08/398_335158.html

A comment on Cookie's YouTube video:

This is clearly an incredibly dark and cruel industry if the company felt more than comfortable giving a young girl group a song like this. I pray these girls stay blessed and protected despite the dangers of fame..

• Outfits and stage

A revealing imitation of a Korean school uniform worn by one of the members during the Cookie MV and Inkigayo stage.

The stage is made to look like a classroom and the girls are students.

In another MV, NewJeans' debut single Attention, the youngest member of the group who was 14 at the time was chosen for the most revealing outfit. Older member's outfits cover them more.

Hyein, 14, and Minji, 18.

** Preliminary Evidence **

Before her executive director role for NewJeans at HYBE, Min Hee-Jin was a creative director for a different K-pop company; SM, working closely with a group called f(x). It's believed that Min Hee-Jin, who was responsible for f(x), is still close with Krystal, the youngest member of the group who debuted at 14 years old.

In an interview with Krystal and Min Hee-Jin by GQ magazine this is said:

Who is Brooke Shields? (this is Important)

Brooke Shields is an American actress (born in 1965, now 59) who may also be known for the controversies surrounding her child modeling career.

It's believed that Brooke was exploited as a child model, with two of the most notable events being;

• Modeling nude at 10 years old for Playboy.

• Playing the role of a child prostitute at 12 years old in a movie called Pretty Baby.

Knowing about this interaction between Min Hee-Jin and Krystal, it's notable to mention that Min Hee-Jin also had a private interaction with Hyein. Krystal and Hyein share parallels, like being the youngest member of a group Min Hee-Jin had great influence in. They were both 14 when Min Hee-Jin met with them in a casual setting. In an interview with BE(ATTITUDE) Magazine, Min Hee-Jin says this;

She (Hyein) came to my (Min Hee-Jin) home one day and we ate together, went to the bookstore, and walked around the neighborhood, talking about this and that. There was a passing awkwardness, but after a while it felt like I was taking a walk with a friend. She's got so many talents and amazing skills. She's young, but thoughtful, with that innocence they have at that age.

"That innocence they have at that age."

Evil Gooncave

Min Hee-Jin's apartment itself raises some concern because it's like a creep's paradise. People noticed some strange choices in her decorations, like

• Pictures of Brooke Shields during her child modeling career. "Baby Brooke" is a nickname referencing the movie Pretty Baby she was in.

• Pictures of unknown, but clearly very young, girls posing topless and bottomless.

• Histoire de Melody Nelson, an album by Serg Gainsbourg. The album's story is about the relationship between a 14 year old girl and an adult man where he takes her virginity.

• A scandalous shot taken from Le Farò Da Padre (I'll Take Her Like a Father). The movie is about an older man who has a relationship with an r-slured and hypersexual teen girl.

Knowing that Min Hee-Jin is in a position of power over teen girls, is it appropriate for her to be taking them to her home and spending time alone with them in a casual setting?

Min Hee-Jin has never been called out on her apparent interest in teenage girls publicly, but would she have been if she was a man?

Is her interest in exploited child stars just a coincidence?

But most of all, why do famous and rich people always have to be into the weirdest shit?

٢٢ بهمن برای ما ایرانیان، سرآغاز سقوطی دردناک به قعر جهنم جمهوری اسلامی است: کشور از مسیر پیشرفت و شکوفایی خارج شد؛ امت جای ملت را گرفت؛ به نام دین، آزادی به قتل رسید؛ بوستان‌ها نابود و قبرستان‌ها آباد شد؛ ناامنی و سرکوب و تبعیض به جای امنیت و نظم و قانون حاکم شد؛ زنان، شهروند… pic.twitter.com/hL8UzWIgL3

— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) February 10, 2025

For us Iranians, 22 Bahman marks the beginning of a painful fall into the depths of the Islamic Republic's hell: the country fell from the path of progress and prosperity; the nation replaced the nation; freedom was murdered in the name of religion; parks were destroyed and cemeteries were built; insecurity, repression, and discrimination prevailed instead of security, order, and law; women became second-class citizens; freedom of religion was lost; and the apocalyptic illusions of a reactionary group linked the honorable name of Iran to chaos and terrorism; made Iran's national currency worthless day by day and our people poorer day by day. What happened in 2018 was the rebellion of the inauspicious alliance of red and black reaction against rationalism and patriotism.

That bitter fall is also a reminder that where we are is not our true place, contrary to what the devil's followers are telling us. There are still many among us who have experienced another Iranian, a prosperous Iranian, a safe Iranian, a respected Iranian, a free Iranian.

We cannot live in the past, but we can learn from it and be inspired to build an admirable future.

We both deserve a better situation and have shown that we have the ability to build a different Iran. Just as we once before, together as a united nation, we transformed Iran, which was on the verge of collapse, into a modern and prosperous country. We are the same great nation and descended from the same hardworking men and women.

It is from the combination of that successful past experience with the belief in a better future that the retaking of Iran from the non-Iranian regime has become a national desire.

Fellow countrymen,

The Islamic Republic is in its weakest and most ineffective days, and regional and global developments have also presented us with a historic opportunity. But this window of opportunity is not permanent.

With your support and desire, my compatriots, I stand in this field to overthrow the Zahhak of the times and his regime, and I have a clear and well-written plan to take back Iran and rebuild it: a five-point plan that defines both the path to victory and the roadmap for tomorrow's victory. We will carry out this campaign to liberate and save our homeland together in Iran and in the four corners of the world. As I have said many times, although we are looking for friends and allies in foreign capitals for this path, we know that our freedom will only come from our own hands.

Now is the time to act. It is time to liberate and save our motherland village by village, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city, province by province from the evil clutches of the Islamic Republic. If you are ready, wherever you are, inside or outside, village or city, east or west, north or south, take a step towards victory, to put pressure on the regime, to support the national revolution of the Iranian people; Everyone does their part and as much as they can. The national revolution needs each and every one of us to win, Iran needs each and every one of us.

Payandeh Iran,
Reza Pahlavi

Backstory

Til 1925 Persia was ruled by the Qajar dynasty, who by the end of things were weak and corrupt. A general from humblest provincial roots named Reza Shah seized power and declared himself first of the Pahlavi dynasty. Instead of at least patronizing Shiite crap he tried to modernize and westernize the country, emphasizing Iranian (newly renamed) history and nationalism, which caused strife with the largely traditional peasantry and Islamic clergy. Luckily Iran had oil enough to fund these major actions.

During WW2 the British and Soviets invaded and made him abdicate in lieu of his young son Muhammad Reza Shah. He would rule in various forms til 1979. Snazzy mofo

From the 40s til the early 50s, the country had elections. Obviously they went through parties and prime ministers like any third world shithole. In 1951 Mohammed Mossadegh, a popular reformist, won office. Him and the Shah fought for power, ousting each other, til Mossadegh came up on top. His big thing was nationalizing the British and American oil companies that were happily slurping up Persian oil for pennies. Bad idea nigga

Coup Time

The CIA covertly regime changed him in 1953, returning the Shah to power. They got Arbenz (Guatemala) out the next year. Good decade for covert action. From then til '79 the Shah would rule as an absolute dictator.

Overall, it was a prosperous time for Iran. The GDP went way up, although much or most of the increase benefitted the Shah and his cronies. In 1971, to commemorate 2,500 years since the founding of Persia - the font of the Pahlavi clan's claimed legitimacy - a party was held on a scale of luxury never seen til then and not to be matched since.

This party took a year to plan, including:

• renovating an airport and building a new highway
• constructing an enormous 'tent' city (prefab luxury apartments with traditional Persian tent-cloth surrounds)
• planting hundreds of trees, flowers, and gardens in the desert, many imported from France
• satellite, telex and telephone connections worldwide... in 1971
• caterers from the world's elite restaurants, some of which closed for weeks
• 250 red mercedes-benz limousines. 50,000 birds. 10,000 turquoise and gold plates

During the days-long festivities 600 of the world's elite dined on the finest of foods, entertained by custom sound-and-light shows, specially-commissioned music, military parades, and of course prostitutes of every shape, size and color.

Perhaps the Shah was trying to outdo his distant predecessor, of whom the holy sages write:

Also, the cities were electrified, a new economy was nurtured in Persia, cultural norms liberalized and modern educational institutions were set up. From 1963 on, the Shah coopted many of Mossadegh's fun reforms to buttress popular support. Unfortunately the locals tended to focus on the crazy parties their betters were throwing over the fact their life had measurably improved. In fact, the new policies had the unfortunate effect of (1) congregating tons of conservative peasants in the cities, (2) weakening and angering traditional elites and the clergy, and (3) creating a powerless (under absolute monarchy) class of youth with their heads full of western words like communism and revolution who didn't appreciate the Shah's lux spending.

In responding to this by chasing away opponents, purging commies and imprisoning detractors, the Shah obviously made a lot of enemies. The Shiite imams became a focal point of dissent and organization for the disaffected masses.

1979

Starting in 1978, riots, strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country, mostly from the factors above, but also in response to extremely strong inflation since 1973 (thanks OPEC ), as well as the Shah's recent clumsy attempts at political liberalization. Reza Shah, of course, cracked down, but in a much nicer way than (say) Assad or Khamenei, who learned big lessons from his over-magnamity. Only a few thousand people died all year - his secret police preferred beatings, mild torture, exile, etc.

Much of the rioters' energy focussed on the charismatic Ayatollah Khomeini, who was in convenient nearby exile in Iraq, whence he galvanized his supporters. The Shah pushed him on to France in late '78 but this backfired: his supporters, if anything, had better access to him there, Iraq's postal system leaving a lot to be desired vis-a-vis France. Also:

Surely the mild secular oppressor (🇮🇱) is much worse than the cool islamic mystic (🇯🇴) - western media

By 1979 Reza Shah was forced to pull an Assad and gtfo and Khomeini returned to Iran amidst cheering crowds. He proceeded to marginalize opposition groups like liberals and moderate islamists, purge his opponents and consolidate Iran into a brutal theocratic republic, whose horrors far outstripped and continue to outstrip anything the Shah ever did. Some examples:

• 1979-1981 hostage crisis, because the US let the exiked Shah receive medical treatment
• 1980-1988 war with Iraq, because they refused to give up Arab provinces to Iraq (hundreds of thousands died)
• 1988 massacre of political prisoners, which in a few months killed more Iranians than Reza Shah during his whole regime

Khomeini died on 3 June 1989, "after suffering five heart attacks in ten days." Hope it hurt bozo

Return of the Sith

Khomeini's chosen, hand-picked successor, the most qualified marja (senior Shiite cleric) in Iran, was a fellow named Montazeri. Sadly, he let it slip he was interested in reform and liberalization. Oops! The Islamists got together, threw Montazeri under house arrest and crowned Ayatollah Khamenei instead. Different guy, believe it or not, though the similarity probably helped illiterate peasants acclimate.

Starting in the 90s but intensifying significantly through 2010s, Iranians became very upset and disaffected with the regime. When the resource economy cyclically boomed all the money went to the oligarchs, and when it busted all the pain was felt by the common people. In addition, the hypocrisy of the mullahs and clergy was extremely obvious. These dudes would put on robes and turbans and proceed to do drugs, fornicate, steal money, etc. protected by the government and their religion, which under the I.R. model were one.

Major protests occurred in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011 etc. Some were national, others regional or minority focussed, but after each bloody crackdown and refusal to negotiate, peoples' attitudes hardened. The regime faced sanctions and was running out of funds and support. Hope seemed to be on the horizon.

Hope

Barack Hussain Obama, DNC PMC HNIC of the US MIC, wanted an easy foreign policy win. Hating Israel due to his muzzie dad and liberal upbringing, he appointed a negotiator who, it turns out, was literally an Iranian spy. Malley had highest-level security clearance and even appointed other Iranian agents to the DOD and State Department. Whoops

The "agreement" that came out of these "negotiations" ended with Iran promising to be good boys and not make nukes in exchange for the US directly flying $400,000,000 USD in cash to the genocidal mullahs, plus another $1,300,000,000 later. Lotta zeros there

!chuds !nooticers did Iran proceed to spend this money on A. peaceful development B. oppression, corruption, and arming terrorists to kill Americans and Jews all across the world Weigh in below!

Appendix A

For your edification, a very non-exhaustive list of what Obama's besties got up to before and after the deal:

1983 - bombing 1983 - bombings 1983 - bombings, hijackings 1984 - bombing 1985 - bombings 1998 - hijacking 1992 - bombing 1992 - assassination 1994 - bombing 1996 - bombing 1998 - bombings 2000 - bombing 2002 - smuggling 2003 - bombings 2005 - assassination 2009 - smuggling 2011 - smuggling 2011 - assassination 2012 - bombing 2012 - bombings 2014 - smuggling 2018 - bombing 2021 - bombing 2022 - assassination

Islamic terrorism (prior to and since the Sunni Al Qaida/ISIS) was almost entirely Iran and its Arab proxies. As an "Islamic Republic" supporting these random shitstirring streetshitters became Iran's entire foreign policy to this day. For a while in the late 2010s, their non-state partners ruled, outright or in practice, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen - a significant swath of the middle east. Obama basically handed them Iraq, on top of hundreds of millions of your money.

After the Deal

The Iranian people kept rioting, hating their government so strongly they began to slaughter its most sacred cows: Islam, the anti-Shah revolution, antisemitism, etc.

Islam: 73% want to separate religion and governance. Barely 37% identify as Shiite or Sunni (according to the Islamic Republic 99.5% are muslim); only 30% believe in heaven and hell, outrageously low numbers for the middle east. Considering the religious are likely the oldest sector of the population, this bodes extremely poorly for Islam as a whole in Iran. 8% profess Zoroastrianism, swapping Islamic rites for fire weddings and revived ancient Persian holidays. This self-identification isn't actually accepted by real Zoros (who are almost extinct) but who's counting?

Specifically to spite Shiite islam, guys knock off clergymen's hats and girls rip off their hijabs, and sometimes more

The Shah: The 2016 protests were actively monarchist in nature: imagine such a thing anywhere else in the world. Most Iranians have begun to revere the Shah's heir, Reza Pahlavi (#2 obviously). Like a battered wife fleeing to a DV shelter and ending up abused by trannies and hobos, the Iranian people have begun to crave their former master.

Israel: Especially during the 2022 but also before and since, many Iranians in and outside Iran bravely resisted the Islamic/liberal hivemind. They flew Israeli flags and generally supported Israel. Whether this is sincere or just "enemy of my enemy" remains to be seen, but it's a welcome development for lovers of truth, peace and justice. Within Iran they risk severe sanctions for this, but even there, they refuse to do things like place their shoes on the Israeli flags which their government lays out as an insult

Today

All this was intro to the actual news of the week, which is that His Royal Highness, til now just tweeting vague and lovely pro-democracy stuff and living large on his family's wealth, has officially ordered his Iranian subects to RISE UP AND OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT

44 cities have seen actions and demonstrations; there are widespread ongoing protests.

Other fun stuff:

https://old.reddit.com/r/NewIran/comments/1inq5s6/turban_tossing_has_returned_video_is_apparent/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NewIran/comments/1ine3gs/breaking_iranians_from_the_city_of_kermanshah/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NewIran/comments/1in6g8l/an_important_message_to_the_leader_of_the_free/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NewIran/comments/1imltj8/once_again_brave_iranians_made_a_home_made_flag/

The regime's weak both internally - from protests and apathy - and externally, having lost Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and the Obama / Biden money spigot. US and Israeli glowies seem to be banking on now as the time to strike, as seen reading between the lines in media pieces and tweets like Mr. Reza's.

What will happen

On the one hand, Iran and its bandit regime has survived every shock and protest for 46 years, including most recently the '22 protests, which fizzled out. These new protests aren't super impressive, at least yet. On the other hand, it only took HTS 11 days to conquer a country it and fifteen other factions had fought over for more than a decade. Clearly longevity doesn't mean much in the middle-eastern context; the Pahlavis ruled for 54 years, the Assads for 53...

Conclusion

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Prelude:

characters:Tony Hinchcliffe

this cute twink has an open mic show where he, with his guest panel, bullies the participants who bomb. sadly, the show is funny and has the charm of old school hazing

Act 1:

characters: AIB , Mumbai Police , Ranveer Singh

AIB was a skit comedy-satire collective and back in 2015 organized a roast show (tired copied concept i know) of Ranveer Singh (and another fella). the thing went viral...leading to police complaints, apology letters, video bans, media debate blah blah. the hot topic in contention - vulgarity. @Sasanka_of_Gauda 's favourite party, BJP, wants to maintain their monopoly on the right to be potty mouth and they made a huge hue & cry

nah, it was an across the aisle issue

writer's notes: AIB planted the flag of edgy comedy india by surviving this onslaught but couldnt cross the torrent of metoo

Act 2:

characters: Samay Raina , Ranveer Allahbadia

Samay Raina is a big chess streamer/comedian/kashmiri pandit/edgelord who likes to create parody game shows with his audience. he has been hated by the left wing for his "misogny" and love for the right govt. (he's a normal centrist tbh). he once made a fear factor + the dictator mashup where he would just eliminate players on whim calling "life is unfair". (beast games before it was cool). he one one fateful morning decided to copy.....kill tony and mix it with america's got talent. the participant has to perform, predict his score and is rewarded on the basis of their self awareness

the show blew up for its golden age unscripted game show honesty. it seriously BLEW, beyond the target audience and celebrities started clamouring to join the next cool thing. streaming websites offered money to buy the rights, live shows were getting sold out, kids were buying youtube memberships, haters were name dropping it to get views

the character 2, Ranveer Allahabadia, is the indian r-slurred joe rogan + logan paul. he used to make nofap nonsense before transitioning to clickbait podcasts. and i swear by god, HE MADE MONEY. the most braindead content with aliens, yeti, ghosts there was no r-slur grifter on internet that he had not interviewed. the people with brain hate him for that. the right wing govt, BJP, approched him to do their propaganda during elections and my man counted cash. the left wing hates him for that. the rest of youtuber hate him for his clout

ACT 3:

characters: samay raina , ranveer allahabadia , mumbai police

on the 10 year anniversary of AIB roast, when the stars aligned, my neighbor released his episode with Ranveer Allahbadia as guest. and something happened. on the show, there was some homophobic participant and the guests were grilling him by asking what if his son would turn out gay, "would you suck my peepee for 10 mil?", "what bout 20 mil?". in the flow and def due to being drunk, my man RA to fit in with other comics pulled out an old copied stinker "would you rather watch your parents have s*x or join it once to stop it forever?"

left wing clipped it to defame the right wing govt about their association with such "vulgar" people. the right wing ( @Sasanka_of_Gauda basically) went in apeshit overdrive to kill the connection by metaphorically killing the man themselves. other indians joined in their favourite passtime after r*pe, mob lynching. chief ministers of several states are personally name dropping them, police is raiding their computers, rounding up everyone from the day 1 episode 1, opportunists are planning to introduce censorship laws, libertarian right wings are clenching their jaws over their low iq compatriots, people are using "motherlover" while condemning incestuous jokes. RA is crying and apologizing. meanwhile Samay Raina is touring US while chilling cuz "life is unfair". zoomers are seething over their skibidi potty going away. media is making shit up literally to fill airtime. parliamemtary committees are being formed

https://old.reddit.com/r/indiasgotlatent/new

Instead of filing FIR and arresting Ranveer, use this opportunity to regulate vulgar content on OTT and YouTube. There is widespread outrage among the public, and they will gladly support such laws.

Don't squander this opportunity.

— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) February 11, 2025

It is not a solution to just ignore the things that offend you.. Normalising unethical behaviour is not at all acceptable, since it creates negative and long term impact on the society.. social platforms, movies, short films, etc. promoting vulgarity should be completely banned.

— Nishantmwagh♥️🦁 (@Nishantmwagh1) February 12, 2025

This happened in 25 August 2010, when a Let L-410 Turbolet twin-engine short-range transport aircraft designed and produced by the Czech, crashed near Bandundu Airport. Of the 21 people onboard, all died, including the pilots, except one passenger, which is how we have any idea of WTF actually caused the crash!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11087817

====(from BBC article)

A plane has crashed in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 20 people, officials say.

One person was also critically injured as it came into land in Bandundu, about 200km (125 miles) west of the capital.

A BBC reporter in Kinshasa says it hit a house, but no-one is thought to have been hurt on the ground.

DR Congo, the size of western Europe, has few roads after decades of civil war, and has one of the world's worst air safety records.

The BBC's Thomas Hubert says the plane crashed 2km from the airstrip as it attempted to land just after midday.

Colonel Joli Limengo, the local chief of police, told our correspondent that most of those on board had died in the accident, including the two pilots - who were believed to be Belgian nationals.

He said that 19 bodies were pulled from the wreckage along with two survivors, one of whom later died.

The aircraft was operated by Filair, an airline based in Kinshasa, and was due to stop over in Bandundu town before continuing its journey to the capital.

Our reporter says Filair, just like all airlines registered in DR Congo, is on the European Union's no-fly list because of the country's poor air safety record.

Transport Minister Laure-Marie Kawanda said a team had arrived in Bandundu to investigate the crash.

====(end quote)

Note that this was BEFORE the investigation by the Belgian authorities were carried out!

Initially the authorities were confused as to why the heck the plane had crashed, cuz usually when these types of small planes tanked it was cuz they were literally out of fuel

https://web.archive.org/web/20100829234933/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlsgE2eRJ5v-2Ntn8FoAY5KUcfKg

====(unknown AFP article)

Plane crashes in DRCongo, 20 dead: deputy governor

(AFP) – 4 days ago

KINSHASA — At least 20 people were killed after a plane flown by the Belgian head of a local airline crashed while trying to land in western Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.

The Filair Czech-made twin turboprop crashed Wednesday afternoon at Bandundu after a 300-kilometre (200-mile) flight from the capital Kinshasa, and apparently running out of fuel, Vicky Mboso Muteba said.

"They have brought out the people, we have 19 bodies in the morgue," said Mboso, the deputy governor of Bandundu province, northeast of Kinshasa.

One of two survivors later died in hospital.

The owner of the private airline Filair, Belgian Daniel Philemotte, 62, was at the controls of the Let-410 plane and was among those killed, along with the co-pilot and stewardess, he added.

Mboso said that after an abortive attempt to land, the aircraft turned away and crashed towards the edge of Bandundu city, hitting an earthen house whose residents had managed to flee in time.

There was no explosion, said Mboso, who was one of the first to arrive on the site along with soldiers from MONUC, the UN mission in the Congo.

"Subject to expert opinion... the presumed cause could be a lack of fuel," he said.

====(end quote)

Basically people noted what was strange about this crash was that the fricking plane actually made an attempt to land, but aborted midway?! The authorities were also really puzzled wtf went wrong, cuz the pilot was a Eurocuck (and therefore actually competent, unlike the locals). And they also found the plane was completely full of fuel, so empty tanks weren't the cause, compared to what was the cause speculated when the news broke in Congo, as well as some minor Safrican foreign news outlets.

Here's a article google translated into Bonglish

https://www.radiookapi.net/actualite/2010/08/27/crash-de-bandundu-ville-la-version-de-fil-air/

From the 2 survivors, including the one poor soul whom would die in hospital later, the authorities gathered that there had appeared to be some kind of panic aboard the plane, so close to the runway, causing all of the passengers to run towards the cockpit, unbalancing the small plane, and pulling the center of gravity, and making the aircraft near inoperable, which is why the pilot had managed to make one aborted attempt at landing, yet still pulled up at the last moment, to end up crashing it near the emergency landing strip of Bandundu Airport later!

====(from french article)

The crash of the Fil Air plane that occurred on Wednesday, August 25 in Bandundu City was not caused by a fuel shortage but rather by a technical failure before being thrown off balance by panicked passengers, indicated John Mbu, the consultant of this airline, forty-eight hours after the occurrence of this tragedy that killed around twenty people including the boss of the company, in the west of the DRC.

John Mbu explained:

"The statement of the only survivor, who was on the plane, said that the pilot had to land on the emergency strip located next to the runway. And that, when he arrived on final and had to point to land on the emergency strip, the passengers, having seen that his nose was not on the runway, screamed and all came into the cockpit."

As it was so close to landing, he continued, it threw the plane off balance and it swung before crashing into a house.

The hypothesis of running out of fuel is therefore not true, according to him, because after checking, there were still at least 150 litres of kerosene in the tanks.

However, regarding the technical breakdown, Fil Air was waiting until Friday evening for the expert report on the black box. This was recovered by civil aviation authorities and the transport ministry, the source said.

====(end quote)

So by this point the confused authorities understood there was some kind of last minute panic? but they were still clearly uncertain WTF actually was the cause and were waiting for diagnoses of the Black Box

AND THEN:

It seems about 3-4 weeks later, when the sole survivor had recovered in the hospital from his injuries and could be questioned more clearly, and without delirium, that apparently fricking one of the passengers had smuggled a pet crocodile aboard, in a duffle bag. And that close to the end of the journey, the fricker apparently escaped, causing a panic shitstorm amongst the rest of the passengers, whom would flee to the opposite end of the aircraft in their headless panic and frick up the center of gravity with such a sudden shift of weight!

https://archive.ph/CptW

====(from archived TheTelegraph article)

The plane came down despite no apparent mechanical problems during an internal flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has now emerged that the crash was caused by the concealed reptile escaping and causing a stampede in the cabin, throwing the aircraft off-balance.

A lone survivor apparently relayed the bizarre tale to investigators. The crocodile survived the crash, only to be dispatched with a blow from a machete.

According to the inquiry report and the testimony of the only survivor, the crash happened because of a panic sparked by the escape of a crocodile hidden in a sports bag. One of the passengers had hidden the animal, which he planned to sell, in a big sports bag, from which the reptile escaped as the plane began its descent into Bandundu.

A report of the incident said: "The terrified air hostess hurried towards the cockpit, followed by the passengers." The plane was then sent off-balance "despite the desperate efforts of the pilot", said the report.

====(end quote)

Even more hilarious is that the British Air Crash investigators didn't want to believe in the crocodile story and thought it was bullshit and the fact that they couldn't get ahold of the flight-recording data from the Black Box (no idea why) made them sceptic to this story. But due to all the compounded factors, like the Belgian pilots being experienced, the plane being in good condition and fully fueled pre-crash made not good accounts for the cause of the crash outside the hearsay of the sole survivor, whom had little cause to lie.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/escaped-crocodile-congo-plane-crash

https://news.sky.com/story/croc-on-a-plane-reptile-may-have-caused-crash-10397037

Background: The enshittification of Argentina

This could be an effortpost purely on its own but I leave that task to our great friends from the southern hemisphere.

Argentina's July 9, 1989, Independence Day was historical for two opposing reasons. For the first time since 1928, a democratically elected president had been succeeded by another elected one—leaving aside the Peronista reelection in 1952. But this much-longed-for event happened amid feared, raving hyperinflation. (Nothing new ever happens). Stepping down was Raul Alfonsin, who had become president on December 10, 1983 following a violent military government that had taken power with a coup on March 1976, the SIXTH since 1930.

Even though Argentina had been ridden with inflation for several decades, it still became more chaotic (proving no matter how shitty you think your positions are, it can still get shittier when it comes to economics) after a mega-devaluation and mega-tariff shock in June 1975 by the Minister of Economy Celestino Rodrigo, which infamously became known as the Rodrigazo. (Dude Spanish LeMayo)

Nine months later, after the coup, the military immediately tried to tame inflation with traditional IMF counter-cyclical measures, but to no avail. From the so-called hilariously named Rodrigazo, the country would live under what became known as a "high-inflation regime": verging on a 100 percent year rate of minimum inflation, but in most years, well over that level.

Note that In these situations, inflation almost becomes an index exchange That is, there would be inflation because investors have priced it in already, as in inflation in future because inflation in past.

Pic rel: you walk into Argentina's Central Bank

So in 1978, the Argentinian government, fresh from the high off of winning the FIFA WC, introduced their most radical plan till date: la tablita

La Tablita ("the little chart") was a 1978 stabilization policy, a pre-gradual devaluation scale schedule combined with an external opening of financial and trade sectors. In the prevailing abundant, low-cost, international credit environment, large amounts of capital entered the country, pressing the national peso down, checking inflation, and cheapening imports.

Unfortunately, God hates Argentina and the retards who run Argentina hate the country even more.

@nuclearshill be like

Despite bringing down inflation, La Tablita was far from ending it. Hence, the peso appreciation became considerable, damaging domestic industrial goods.

On top of that, the foundations of this pyramid scheme, however, were highly frail. It depended on the continuous availability of cheap dollar credit in international markets, something challenging to happen. Thus speculation against the peso grew. Spurred on by higher dollar rates and made possible by financial openness, many external and internal investors thrived on this terms of a "financial bicycle."

To avoid the abrupt end of La Tablita, the government itself took external debt—mainly through state-owned companies—and made them available to speculative private agents or tried to gain their confidence by increasing the stock of international reserves.

The Arabs coming out to nuke Argentina in the ass

After the 1979 Volcker shock because of the Arab oil embargo crisis, that raised dollar interest rates, the mounting dollar debt cycle became explosive. The dollar shortage led to a run on banks and a financial crisis in 1980, which the government had to save with rediscounts. The government established an official guarantee on deposits and, in February 1981, abandoned the Tablita schedule. Following an exceptional 10 percent devaluation of the peso, a new monthly devaluation chart was announced— greater than the original one, but insignificant in view of the accumulated appreciation in the exchange rate. In March 1981, it ended any kind of Tablita scheme and a new 30 percent devaluation was applied.

Absolute Acceleration

After years of making new deals (with the US; mercosur, with the IMF) and failing to keep any of the promises they made and finally coming to terms with its thirdworldness, in April 1988, the government declared a moratorium on the service of foreign debt. This led to losing the support of the IMF. Hence, the only resource of fresh dollars left was the World Bank. (aka 3rd world support).

The Spring Plan launched just months before the 1989 election, was a stabilization program conceived with the modest purpose of avoiding the hyperinflationary outburst before the presidential election in May 1989. Without being able to adjust tariffs because of their inflationary effects and without being able to tax, the government made a price agreement with the leading companies, which resulted in the reduction of the value-added tax from 18 percent to 15 percent, which led to a 0.5% drop off in GDP. In mere months.

However, the election itself was the main factor of instability. The three leading presidential candidates (including Eduardo Angeloz, from the official party) called for the exchange rate liberalization. Peronist Carlos Menem, who widely led the polls, defied any justification of restraint, stating that it would interrupt external payments for 3 to 5 years, cut taxes 50 percent and give out a salariazo (100 percent increase in wages), among other populist and nationalist measures. Thus, exchange rate and fiscal instability are combined with political uncertainty. In retrospect, the only chance of The Spring Plan to reach its goal resided in the remote chance of a reversal of election polls in favor of the official candidate. Otherwise, with a foreseeable triumph of the opposing candidate, announcing a populist and nationalist platform, an abrupt run of funds to the dollar was unavoidable.

Fearing the inevitable the World Bank withdrew its support in January 1989.

The consumer price index, around 7 percent per month during the last quarter of 1988, doubled in March 1989 and again in April. Two months later, it was out of control.

Menem won in the midst of all this pandemonium. The handover of command was planned for December, but the outlook for the next five months was chaotic. Hence, the succession was brought forward for July 8.

The failed attempts to privatize several companies, the continuous erosion of public income due to inflation, the freezing of wages with high unemployment that intensified social discontent, with some goods-shortage, additional power cuts due to droughts that affected the hydroelectric plants, and the appearance of looting in Greater Buenos Aires, all combined to fuel the severe crisis.

With the change of government, inflation fell rapidly, but only momentarily. Amid prices still going out of control, a temporal confiscation of bank deposits was made, forcedly exchanging them with government treasury bonds (the Bonex plan). After two further hyperinflationary outbreaks between 1990 and 1991, new economic minister Domingo Cavallo could finally curb rising inflation with a radical currency board-style convertibility of the Argentinian peso (rebranded as The Austral in the mid 80s) to the American dollar.

The Uruguay Angle

What is an Uruguay?

Like all normal Americans, I had zero knowledge where Uruguay was, how much does one Uruguayan foid cost etc important questions before I started reading about them. Looking at them, few of us would envy them.

As Menem's Argentina was finally realizing its retarded policies, like Menem's Argentina during the 1990s, Uruguay had embarked upon a full-scale liberalization of its economy through liberalization of the capital and current account on the balance of payments. Uruguay's banking system was based on local private-owned banks, foreign banks, and large public banks.

During the 1990s, the Uruguayan economy performed relatively well; by the decade's end, it was a middle-income country with a per-capita income of US$6000. In 1999 the Uruguayan economy suffered a significant economic recession that resulted in multiple implications for the country's fiscal debt, the debt-to-GDP ratio, and the profitability and liquidity of the banking sector.

The twin devaluation of the Brazilian and Argentinian currency near Y2K hit the competitive position of Uruguay's exports and led to a currency appreciation. Like any other 3rdworldie, it immediately set conditions to terminate the exchange rate commitment of the Uruguayan currency that had helped stabilize the public debt during the 1990s. As a result of the 1999 prolonged recession, it was registered first as a major fiscal crisis, recession-triggered revenue reductions led the government deficit to surge from 38 percent of GDP in 1998 to 58 percent of GDP by 2001. By 2001 the public sector debt amounted to roughly US$107 billion.

This consecutively increased the country's dependence on foreign capital and investors: the deepening of the public deficit caused by the fiscal crisis forced Uruguay to issue foreign currency-denominated bonds and debt certificates to finance the Uruguayan debt.

By December 2001, both liabilities and assets of the Uruguayan banks were highly dollarized. (Nearly 83% of public debt was in foreign currency). For reference if the US had that problem today, that would mean nearly 31 Trillion Dollars of debt in Chinese/Japanese/Euro currencies.

On the liability side, liquid foreign currency deposits amounted to 90 percent of total deposits, of which 47 percent were deposits by non-residents. On the asset side, about 75 percent of total loans were denominated in foreign currencies. By the time the crisis began, the two largest public banks (Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay (BROU) and Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU)) (ching chong names, just remember BROU and BHU) lay in critical financial condition because their ratio of non-performing loans to total loans was on average 39.1 percent, compared to 5.6 percent for the private banks.

This chicanery along with growing share of total debt financed through issuing debt certificates abroad and in foreign currencies made the country and its banking sector extremely vulnerable to external shocks.

This came in the form of an Argentine shock

Throughout the postwar decades, Brazil and Argentina were the main trading partners of Uruguay. Argentina, even more than Brazil, was tied to the direction of the Uruguayan economy. As was the case with the early 1980s crisis, any time Argentina abandoned its price stabilization plan, the GDP of Uruguay contracted substantially. In contrast, any time Buenos Aires GDP declined, Uruguay's GDP grew modestly. (Exports needed, latina foids, if one fails, the other has to step up)

As the banking sectors of the two countries became interdependent. In particular, Argentinean savers and investment companies placed large amounts of funds with Uruguayan private and publicly owned banks. (Argentinians trusted their government so little, they were willing to invest in a tiny ass country, so much so that in time they became that country's main creditor ) The Uruguayan banks had become safe financial outlets for Argentinean savers. By the end of 2001, 45 percent of Uruguay's total deposits came from Argentinean investors.

Not only this, buy at the time, the two national public banks (BROU & BHU. Remember them? This is them now. Feel old yet?) were owned by Argentinean financial groups. How you call something that is neither nationalized nor publicly owned a national public bank beats me. But that's how definitions work in Uruguay. And these were not the only banks to have their shit rocked. All the largest Uruguayan banks were primarily exposed to either Buenos Aires' public debt or the largest Argentinean banking groups.

In December 2001, the Argentinean authorities approved capital controls and deposit freezes on Argentine nationals. This decision, coupled with the termination of Buenos Aires' currency pegging to the US dollar, prompted many Argentinean investors to withdraw funds from Uruguay, thus plummeting its financial sectors into a liquidity crisis. The two largest private banks of Uruguay, Banco de Galicia Uruguay and Banco Comercial, were hit the most by capital outflows. Banco de Galicia Uruguay, then the second largest Uruguayan bank by assets, was a subsidiary of Banco de Galicia, the largest Argentinean group. (Just sell the entire nation to Argentina faggots)

As its banking activities revolved by and large around taking deposits from Argentinean banks and companies and lending to the same type of clients, the freeze of deposits and the enforcement of capital controls hit Banco de Galicia Uruguay, which suddenly suffered from a liquidity crisis. This led the Central Bank of Uruguay to suspend its activities in February 2002. As much as Banco Galicia, Banco Comercial, the largest private bank of Uruguay, was overexposed to Argentine's borrowers: it held a large amount of the Argentinian government's public debt. It was a significant creditor to Grupo Banco General de Negocio, a leading financial holding in Argentina. In 2002, this two-fold overcommitment to Argentina was the leading cause of the liquidity crisis that shook Banco Comercial that year.

Banco is a funny word NGL

By March, 12 percent of total bank deposits had been withdrawn, mostly by non-residents. This downward sloping trend continued even after the implementation of measures by the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to forestall the liquidity crisis. By May 2002, 18 percent more deposits had been withdrawn; this time, non-resident withdrawals were paired with money cashed by residents from public banks.

Why should Argentinians have all the fun?

     - some Uruguayan(before jumping off a bridge after seeing an Argentinian doing it)

This faggotry reached its crisis point in July when the run on dollar deposits was coupled with a rush to cash local currency deposits. By mid-summer, most private banks had become insolvent; on the other hand, the public banks, though liquidity support provided by the IMF amounted to US$1,1221 million as of August 2002, suffered from significant liquidity imbalances and extremely precarious balance sheets.

In July, Uruguay's foreign currency reserves, which by December 2001 amounted to US$3.1 billion, reached the lowest level ever of US$650

$650

The crisis that erupted in 2002 had striking side effects on the Uruguayan currency, foreign exchange reserves, and the country's capability to service the public debt. Rather than merely affecting the liquidity position of Uruguayan private banks, massive capital outflows reduced the country's foreign exchange reserves.

Assuming the country's international reserves as of December 2001 as a benchmark, by the second half of 2002 they had declined by 80 percent. This decline in international reserves jeopardized the exchange rate commitment and, thus, the likelihood of servicing the public debt. (the only part that any government cares about beyond optics) This trajectory of the financial crisis led the Uruguayan authorities in July 2002 to halt the exchange rate commitment and to approve a 27 percent currency devaluation that led exports to temporarily bounce back by the end of 2002. But devaluation has a downside in terms of debt sustainability. The termination of the Uruguayan exchange rate commitment and its devaluation set the national debt to unsustainable limits.

The recurring deposit withdrawals that started in the first half of 2002 led to a credit crunch that triggered systematic curtailing of credit by private banks to the non-banking sector. During that year, banking credit to the non-financial sector contracted by 37 percent. Consecutively the GDP contracted by about 10%.

How the crisis was contained

Since the beginning, the crisis appeared to be a matter of liquidity shortage affecting a limited section of the banking system. Therefore, liquidity assistance to either the largest private banks of Uruguay or the foreign-owned banking institutions, as well as the public banks, represented an unfinished line of economic intervention by the Central Bank of Uruguay, the government, and the IMF, the three leading institutions that came to the rescue. Amidst a further deepening of the banking liquidity crisis in early summer, in July 2002 a new financial facility was established, the Fondo para la Fortificacion del Sistema Bancario, which amounted to US$2.5 billion.

it's okay little fella, here's some change. Keep it

Notwithstanding the scale of this fund in July, both foreign exchange reserves and the liquidity of private banks got worse. On July 30, this Fondo's financial operations were suspended and a bank holiday began.

Crisista time? More like fiesta time

Shortly after the removal of the bank holiday on August 5, 2002, a run on deposits began again. Amidst this seemingly neverending crisis, the government approved a law that, by combining an effort by the state finance with financial assistance provided by three leading international economic institutions—the IMF, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)—focused on both protecting dollar-denominated deposits in the country and initiating a suspension of the operations of the three largest private banks that paved the way for their restructuring or liquidation.

total banco destruction

The new law made provision for having the BROU absorb all the foreign currency deposits and time deposits held at BHU and for suspending the operations of Banco Comercial, Banco de Montevideo-Caja Obrera, and Banco de Credito. In addition, it set conditions for their restructuring or liquidation in the future. By the beginning of fall 2002, this set of measures led to a decline in total withdrawals and a resurgence of deposits by residents, which by 2005 had returned to their July 2002 level. During the fall of 2002 and 2003, the second set of crisis management measures was undertaken to restructure public banks' debt and strengthen the structure of banking regulation and supervision in Uruguay, which was historically not well structured.

A selected number of loans by BROU, which throughout 2002 had lost roughly 66 percent of total deposits, were absorbed by a newly created state entity, while the bank's lending operations were redirected to peso-denominated operations. A credit risk-management mechanism was established to reduce non-performing loans. The BHU, whose dollar-denominated deposits accounted for 77 percent of total deposits while 94 percent of total loans were peso-denominated, was severely rocked by the peso's devaluation. The bank was radically restructured by the Ley del Fortalecimiento del Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay in December 2002, limiting its banking operation to housing saving plans and issuing of a limited number of mortgages, but prevented the BHU from taking deposits.

Concerning the private banks, the three largest institutions were liquidated. The Banco Comercial and Banco Montevideo Caja Obrera were placed under liquidation, and a new financial institution, Nuevo Banco Comercial, was established. The purpose of this new institution was to issue Certificates of Deposits to finance the acquisition of the assets of the two banks under liquidation.

Concerning the Banco de Credito, the third largest private bank, the government recapitalized it several times and then, in February 2003, placed it under liquidation.

This taking a chainsaw action on the financial side of the banking crisis was paired with legislative initiatives to strengthen the supervisory and regulatory system charged with presiding over the national banking system.

Another law was passed to strengthen the Central Bank of Uruguay so as to not leave it as toothless as the Argentinian beggar asylum of a CB.

That new law imposed new requirements on banking activities that included higher reserve requirements for deposits by non-resident investors, several rules to reduce foreign exchange risks and improve lending-decision making by national banks, and compulsory disclosure by banks of relevant financial information about their borrowers' credit solvency.

By the end of 2002, the liquidity crisis that hit the banking system had triggered a contraction of total bank deposits by residents by about 46 percent and a reduction of total deposits by foreign investors of 65 percent. As a result of the crisis, the country's GDP declined by 11 percent, whereas total public sector debt grew by 26 percent.

In this situation, many international investors (read US, nobody except the US government and investors knew about Uruguay outside Latin America) envisaged the possibility of a sovereign default in the wake of what happened in Argentina.

But credit (kek) where credit's due. The financial measures adopted to restructure and liquidate the banking system, coupled with several regulatory and supervisory initiatives aimed at preventing the country from future crises triggered by external shocks, placed the country on track to full recovery and prevented Uruguay from suffering terrible consequences in terms of inflation and deficit.

By 2003 GDP had risen by over 12 percent, inflation had declined to 10 percent, the financial system's deposits had regained US$800 million, and the primary surplus had once again soared to 4.1%.

Moral of the story - To this day the Uruguayan CB still has certain capital controls on investors from Argentina that it has not placed on anyone else.

!bookworms !historychads

...the true America, the Spanish America. Ruins, mendicants, racial degradation, the haphazard mixture of all kins of blood, vagabonds playing guitar... naked children, little savages running everywhere amongst dogs... All of it in an admirable state of Nature.

-- Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon

Expansionism is stupid

wrong

-- @Impassionata and @Monke

This will be my second effortpost about a person, or rather a number of people. In honor of Trump's threats/hopes for a Panamanian misadventure and the pearl clutching it has inspired

Filibustering is a pretty esoteric topic so there aren't many relevant rDrama quotes to share. Instead I've decided to collect some overly dramatic dramatard musings on Trump's recent headliners in the hopes of starting drama in the comment section

This effortpost is dedicated to 19th century American filibustering in Latin America. It was a time before drones and carrier groups. A time before the DOD. A time where a young America, completely and entirely without the luxuries of a modern superpower, was still willing to just grab the boys and some rifles and have an adventure A time where we believed in our young republic enough to try and save the Spaniards from themselves and create,

THE GOLDVN CIRCLE

Filibustering

Finger-wagging church ladies, the only thing eurocucks can do in international disputes is write strongly-worded letters that everyone who matters simply ignores. For the past 30 years you've been pretending that Europe doesn't needs power nor prosperity (spending your efforts instead on the feeding of leeches). So now you have neither.

-- @65364254

Also known as freebooting, filibustering of the 19th century was a phenomenon in which mercenary groups operating under their own initiative invaded foreign countries in Latin America to bring them into the light of civilization under American influence. These expeditions were not condoned or sponsored by the US government, but could theoretically have led to official recognition in the event of success, such as when William Walker's brief control of Nicaragua was recognized by President Franklin Pierce.

The word was derived from the Spanish filibustero, itself deriving originally from the Dutch vrijbuiter (pirate, @kaamrev @duck discuss) originally used by the Spanish to describe the English pirates raiding their towns and shipping. Sir Francis Drake stands as one example as he, like Trump, also had an interest in Panama He went as far as to raid it and other settlements along the Spanish Main.

As the eternal culture war between England and Spain has been inherited by their successor states, "filibustering" was revived in the early 19th century as a variety of mercenaries took up arms against Spanish colonial forces in Latin America and for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the beginning of it all occurred in 1806 when Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan who served in and was inspired by the American and French Revolutions, attempted to win early Venezuelan independence with an army including American volunteers recruited from New York. (And for that matter the later and more successful campaigns of Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin also made use of Protestant, English speaking volunteers) Further volunteer campaigns at the expense of Catholic Mediterraneanoids would go on to define the century.

In this post I shall list off some of the most dramatic of these individuals. I hope you guys like "Did you know"s Exampe: Did you know the modern term for congressional filibustering was named after the 19th century practice due to its independent, "free wheeling" nature?

William Walker

A man a plan anal Panama

-- @Miffin

Did You Know That: An American was (unofficially) the President of Nicaragua, Sonora, and Baja?

William Walker was a Nashvilloid who graduated summa c*m laude from the University of Nashville at the age of 14. At 19 he received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, then continued his studies at Edinburgh, Scotland and Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. He practiced both medicine and law for a few years before becoming editor of the San Francisco Herald, where he fought three duels including a near fatal one against notorious Old West gunman William Hicks Graham. Inspired by how Texas had broken away from Mexico to join the Union, he decided one day he could potentially do the same with the Mexican state of Sonora

In other words going to college used to make you cool

In 1853, Walker and forty five men captured La Paz and declared it the new capital of "The Republic of Lower California". Mexican resistance prevented him from going any further, and he retreated back to California to be tried in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1794. In the era of Manifest Destiny, however, Walker's actions were popular and the jury took just eight minutes to acquit him

In 1854, a civil war erupted in Nicaragua, and Walker arrived in 1855 with a larger mercenary army in alleged support of Francisco Castellón's Democratic Party. Commanding Democratic locals as well as volunteers including future Confederate officers and European adventurers with veterancy in conflicts like the First Carlist War, Hungarian Revolution, and the Russo-Circassian War (I think it was just easier to meet people back then ) Walker's forces captured Granada and took effective control over the country. Walker's new administration was recognized at the time by 14th US President Franklin Pierce.

All of Central America united against one honky tonker?

Walker's initial success alarmed the nations of Central America, and a coalition of Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala ultimately came together to oppose him. They were further financed and supported by industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, as Walker had seized some of his ships and railroads in the region. (!americas have Napoleonic Wars at home ) Major moments include almost ten percent of Costa Rica's population dying from cholera and Guatemalan Colonel José Víctor Zavala becoming a national hero after stealing a flag from Walker's house

Pressure from hardworking Central Americans eventually forced Walker to flee the country with the US Navy. He returned to America and became a divisive figure; a pirate in the north, but a hero in the south who inspired the idea of increasing slave state political influence by potentially spreading !dixie control into the Spanish tropics.

In 1860 Walker tried to launch another expedition and made his way to Roatán, supposedly because British colonists there wanted help against the Honduran government. However, he was turned over to the British Navy. The British, like the of today, desired to build a canal through Central America and viewed Walker as a threat to their interests. They handed him over to Honduras where he was tried for piracy and fiibustering. In his defense he argued that piracy can't take place on land and that "filibustering" was a made up Spanish word

He was executed by firing squad

John A. Quitman

This is going to be America's Suez Crisis.

-- @Dlanor_A_Kong

Like many other great southerners, John Quitman was a lawyer with a degree from Hartwick back when it was a Lutheran seminary. He owned several plantations and a dairy farm He generally thought relations between masters and slaves were "harmonious" because he was too busy serving in the Mississippi state government and fighting in Mexico to personally oversee any of his properites

Quitman was an officer during the Mexican-American War and his troops spearheaded the attack at the Battle of Chapultepec, an engagement memorialized to this day in the opening line of the Marine Corps Hymn (what @HailVictory1776 pretends to be ) Quitman received the surrender of the citadel in Mexico City and became military governor there for the duration of the occupation. He stands as the only American to rule from the National Palace

America could've acquired Cuba decades before the Spanish-American War?

While serving as Governor of Mississippi, Quitman was approached by yet another Venezuelan adventurer, Narciso López, to support an armed liberation of Cuba from Spanish rule. Quitman wished to complete his term in office but raised supplies and funds for the expedition.

Having failed to get direct American support (some of Lopez's other prospects for command included Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee) Lopez led the assault on Cuba himself. He stands as the creator of the modern Cuban flag and was the first to ever raise it He was ultimately defeated and executed. Ironically he went down as both a Cuban national and dixie southerner hero as he never clarified whether he wanted full Cuban independence or an American annexation.

Quitman was prosecuted for violating the Neutrality Act and had to resign as governor, but escaped punishment thanks to multiple hung juries So close to the American civil war, filibustering had evolved into yet another polarizing conflict between the north and south. Walker's instatement of slavery in Nicaragua led to an epiphany among southerners, realizing that conquest in the south would allow for the spread of slavery; new lands to own, new crops to grow, new votes for slave states in the federal government, etc. Control of Cuba was especially desirable since the island already had developed plantation infrastructure. Lastly, the annexation of Texas had already "proven" how Anglo settlers could win land from the Spaniard barbarians and add it to the Union as slave holding territory

Apparently quite inspired by Lopez's actions, Quitman attempted to organize his own filibustering invasion of Cuba. He had thousands of volunteers ready to go when in 1854 the Pierce administration, previously willing to look the other way, urged him to call it off. As the country was now within a decade of the Civil War, perhaps it was believed such a major undertaking to add so much slave holding territory would have been too upsetting to the northern Democrat's position and too much of a provocation towards the free states.

Other Filibusterers

There were filibusterers among the Founding Fathers?

I hope he gets a visit from the fifth next time he is in the UK. He doesn't have a license for that speech. Treason Act 1351, The Terrorism Act 2000 & The Public Order Act 1986 have all been violated. The punishment in the Treason Act was never officially repealed so he is going to be looking forward to hanging, drawing, and quartering.

-- @fedposter

Backing up a bit, some 18th century attempts at expansionism can be considered filibustering. The difference is whether the activities were successful or not i.e. the Louisiana Purchase wasn't considered filibustering because it was entirely official

William Blount was a landowner, politician, and Revolutionary War founding father who negotiated the 1791 Treaty of Holston against sphereserf's people An aggressive land speculator, Blount fell into heavy debt and secretly conspired to help the British take control of Louisiana and Florida, both controlled at the time by Spain, in exchange for good land deals The plan called for American territorial militias, with the aid of the British Royal Navy, to launch attacks across Spanish territory. The plot was found out and Blount became the first ever federal official to face impeachment.

Another example of the period that also involved Florida, Congressman and Governor of Georgia George Mathews' political career was ruined by the Yazoo Land Fraud and he relocated to the Mississippi Territory. Eager to regain prominence, Mathews suggested to President James Madison that Spanish western Florida could be annexed, and he was sent as a secret agent with "remarkably vague and general" instructions to incite rebellion among the Spanish populace.

Mathews was unable to take the territory peacefully and so raised an army of Georgians and locals to seize Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island. Madison grew skittish and suddenly refused to support Mathews' acquisitions, and he died from fever while traveling to DC to complain. Historians remain unsure whether Mathews was acting within Madison's mandate or not.

There were NCR Rangers in real life?

A veteran of the Mexican war, Joseph C. Morehead was most known for leading a Californian militia in the Gila Expedition to attack the Quecha people The State of California was nearly bankrupted by the $120,000 cost of the Expedition, which killed no Indians

He is said to have filibustered in Mexico in the 1850's, and a second time in the 60's while serving in the Confederate army. He did not succeed and died in 1863.

Mexicans once drank gringo head wine?

Henry A. Crabb was a US soldier, a member of the California state senate, a leader of the Whig Party, and an unsuccessful candidate for the Know Nothing Party in 1857. After losing in California politics, he organized an expedition to support to aid the Liberal rebels in Mexico's ongoing Reform War. Like Walker before him he targeted the state of Sonora but was defeated and captured. He and the other survivors were massacred, and a Mississippi newspaper would claim the Mexicans preserved his head in spirits of wine before sending it to Mexico City.

Filibusterers were part of Texan independence?

...and lesbian pottery classes are the tip of the Western spear that will destroy our enemies and topple their regimes from within. So which is it, you stupid fricks? Is feminism irrelevant, or is it undermining the fabric of society?

-- @JimieWhales

The independence and annexation of Texas into the Union can, as a whole, be seen as a successful act of filibustering. It would heavily inspire further attempts at increasing southern slave holding territory.

More specifically, West Point graduate Augustus Magee participated in filibustering way back in 1812 by joining Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara's Mexican independence movement with an army of American frontiersman and French creoles The Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition served as an early example of American interests in the region, though ironically it was fighting on behalf of and to help create Mexico.

War of 1812 veteran and US army surgeon James Long was one of many southern settlers who disagreed with the United States/New Spain border agreed upon by the Adams–Onís Treaty, and in 1819 the Long Expedition captured Nacogdoches to proclaim an early "Republic of Texas". He was ultimately defeated, sent to Mexico City to present his case to Mexico's president, and was shot and killed by a guard

From a Mexican perspective, the actual Texan Revolution of 1835 was part of a larger crisis in which several Mexican territories challenged the central government for one reason or another . A particularly ironic one involved José de Urrea, a Mexican officer and the perpetuator of the Goliad Massacre against the Texians, himself turning on Mexico's central government from a base of power in Sonora (Apparently that state is cursed lmao )

After winning independence, the newborn Texan government supported the Republic of Yucatán's conflict with Mexico through naval forces and fought a number of battles in the Gulf (of America ) to support the Mayanoid's own independence. The Republic of Texas also sent a few boats to support the Tabasco Rebellion in 1839. Texas did not, however, support the Republic of the Rio Grande due to border disputes.

Decades later, some filibuster-maxxers would support the idea of Cuban annexation by saying it could become as important to the south as Texas had become.

Some Americans genuinely fought for local independence?

Carter was the worst sort of naive Kumbaya singing liberal, the sort who categorically reject everything Hobbes wrote about in favor of some fantasy world where everyone is peaceful and selfless instead of acting in their own rational self-interest.

-- @Adolin113355

Not all filibusterers were fighting to literally spread the United States. Some genuinely believed in the ideological importance of independent republics, while others simply had no local American wars to earn their fame in. Americans participated in a number of Latin American local conflicts over the time period.

Son-in-law of John Adams and brother-in-law of John Quincy Adams, William Stephens Smith was convinced to support Francisco de Miranda's attempt at Venezuelan independence with a force of 200 men, including his own son William Steuben. Though he created Venezuela's modern flag and was an inspiration for Simon Bolivar, Miranda's army was defeated and Smith was tried for violating the Neutrality Act. He argued that President Thomas Jefferson had ordered him to do it, leading to a US Supreme Court decision that a president cannot order someone to violate the law.

In the post Civil War era, William A.C. Ryan was a Canadian born Union veteran who was dishonorably discharged from the army and barred from all veteran benefits. He went on to participate in the Ten Years' War, Cuba's first serious struggle for independence. He fought under the mambises and served on American ships that contributed to the cause.

The Spanish navy eventually went after these ships, and Ryans was captured by a torpedo boat while on the ill-fated Virginius. The Spanish executed him and a few dozen others as pirates before the British intervened. The Virginius Affair was a major provocation between the US and Spain and led to a modernization and expansion of the US Navy. Meanwhile, the participation of American filibusterers throughout demonstrates a sort of continuity between antebellum filibustering traditions and the expansionism of the later 19th century.

I sympathize with the Cubans in their gallant efforts on behalf of liberty and I, being an American, feel it necessary to do what I can to separate entirely this continent from Europe.

-- William A. Chanler

Going into the 20th century, William A. Chanler was a soldier and explorer who served as a US Representative from New York. Believing it was an American's obligation to support independence from colonial powers across the world His Americas activities included participation in the Spanish-American War and a 1902 insurrection in Venezuela. Approached by a group of Dutch investors to stage a rebellion against President Cipriano Castro, Chanler bookended the era by raising an army of "desperadoes, soldiers of fortune, cattle rustlers, bank robbers, gamblers, Indian scouts and fugitives", with some hailing from the pro-Confederate Quantrill's Raiders and others rustled up by his acquaintance Butch Cassidy Chanler's army landed in Venezuela and marched inland, calling off the attack only after Castro acceded to demands and ended the crisis. The investors rewarded Chanler by letting him borrow money , and he used it to build infrastructure in Tampico, Mexico and fund rebellious activity in Libya and Somalia. (At one point he even entertained Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen and members of the Young Turks aboard his yacht)

It wasn't just America that hated Spaniards?

I shake the hands of the white libertarians, heirs of Lincoln and of the black and white peasant boys of the USA, before whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I reached, after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid. They are the USA and before them I kneel, before no one else. Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond. Colombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Córdoba, the civilization at that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the black resisters turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take refuge in its African songs. My land is of goldsmithing existing in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, and of the first artists of the world in Chiribiquete. You will never dominate us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom and who is called Bolívar opposes us.

-- Colombian President Gustavo Petro

The aforementioned Narciso Lopez was just as prominent a filibusterer as Walker and Quitman, though not really an American one. A Venezuelan who went from Spanish army to Cuban nationalist, Lopez actually fought as a conscript for the Spanish government against the revolutionary forces of Bolivar and retreated to Cuba following Spain's total defeat in South America. Lopez stayed in the army and became an officer, even fighting in the Carlist War within Spain proper. He became an assistant to the Capitan General of Cuba but was financially ruined after that position changed hands, causing him to side with Cuban partisans (out of spite? )

Lopez travelled to the United States and became an unlikely dixie hero by appealing to filibusterers at the height of the practice's popularity. Lopez joined the Freemasons, won funding from a variety of plantation owners and army officers, and used the money to amass an army of Cuban exiles for an invasion. He was defeated and executed by the Spanish.

Funnily enough, Lopez went down as both a Cuban national hero and a champion of American southern expansion. Having lost, he never had to clarify whether he intended for a new southern state or an independent republic.

Neighbor what the frick does Brapzil has to do with Panama , not even the average Latinx knows anything about Panama other than their canal and the Chacaron Macaron song, A.K.A. the official r-slur anthem.

-- @BWC

Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon was a French entrepreneur/pirate who served in France's gradual conquest of Algeria. Frustrated by the Revolution of 1848, he made his way to America and tried to make his fortune as a gold prospector. Already worried about the fading importance of the old nobility in France, he was especially annoyed that the people of San Francisco didn't respect his title of Count. (They were too busy with Emperor Norton)

Like so many others, Raousset-Boulbon decided to invade -- get this, Sonora -- and create a French aligned independent republic. He was defeated by Mexican forces under José María Yáñez, a veteran of the Pastry War against France who would also thwart William Walker's attack, and executed.

He was only a few years early, as the actual French government would come for Mexico in 1861. Raousset-Boulbon's remains were eventually found by French soldiers and returned to Europe.

It's just like the good ol' 19th century again. And like back then you can't afford all this high fallutin' ideals that you could when you were the hegemon. Free markets? Easy migration? Losing your industrial base? LEL It's back to partial autarky and those Yurop negroes better get with the program and ramp up their shit too.

-- @RubberBandMan

Gregor MacGregor was a but Scottish who served as an officer in the Peninsular War against Napoleon. He fought as a filibusterer in Venezuela's war of independence and spent the next several years operating against Spain on behalf of them and Gran Columbia. He even briefly captured Amelia Island to create the short lived "Republic of the Floridas"

After suffering several defeats, MacGregor returned to Britain and became one of the most infamous conmen in history. He claimed to have created a colony in Honduras, "Poyais", that he ruled as Cacique. Claiming it was a well developed British colony, he sold fictitious government bonds and land certificates. Hundreds of people immigrated there to find an untouched strip of jungle, and only about fifty returned alive to Britain

Exposed as a fraud, MacGregor travelled to France and tried the same scheme there. Only some of his associates were convicted and he escaped to London to try smaller versions of yet the same scheme. He stayed until his wife died, then returned to Venezuela to be hailed as a hero

America could have saved the entire VVEST?

That's cool. Prediction: there will be a Chinese military base in the western hemisphere by 2050. !remindmebot 2050

-- @JimieWhales

Though filibustering took many forms over the years, it is perhaps most closely associated with the antebellum south. Walker's actions inspired many southerners to plot the annexation of new lands as slave holding states. In an era where northern and southern interests heavily conflicted and the admission of every new state was a political crisis in miniature, slavery supporters hoped the conquest of the old Spanish Main would give the south permanent domination in federal representation.

To that end, the Knights of the GVLDEN CIRCLE formed in 1854 as a secret society to create slave holding, American dominated republics-annexed-as-states (like how Texas had been) around a nova mare nostrum in the Caribbean. In other words, the Gulf of America before it was cool

In response to the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the increasingly extremists southerners began to advocate for full scale independence from the federal government. To this end, the Golden Circle would have become a single new country centered around Havana. Potential further conquests in South America and the Union aligned northeast and west were also discussed.

When the Civil War broke out, the GOLDEN CVRCLE more or less merged with Confederate interests and many of its members participated in the war. A radical paramilitary group called the Sons of Liberty were linked to guerilla activities in Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, and Illinois and several members were executed as spies.

The Golden Circle's fate became one with the Confederacy itself and came to an obvious end following the Civil War. That said, had the Confederacy won, it may very well have adopted the order's ideas for its long-term foreign policy,

And the people of modern Panama could be watching the Chiefs-Eagles game with a Miller Lite in hand just like us non-Spaniards right now as part of the GVLDVN CVRCLV

There were many reasons for Filibustering?

I worry that this posturing is due to the fact that they all know butt arent trying bring too much attention to the fact that WW3 really is breaking out and Canada/Greenland being annexex is a war strategy that Canada/US govt officials are preparing for. If WW3 were to break out the IS would definitely want/need to be able to have control over the panama canal fpr obvious reasons. Right now China has more control over the panama and obviously theyre gonna be on the other axis in a global war. Also Canada has been unfortunately quite infiltrated by the CCP aswell

-- @butthole

Besides that association with slavery, filibustering was also inspired by a simple desire for new lands. Filibusterers saw themselves as champions of America's "Manifest Destiny". The Texan Revolution in particular proved you truly could fill a Cathloid land with Anglo settlers and gradually transform it into a red-blooded All American good-ol'-boydom Even some of the revolutionaries of the Latin American republics were inspired by that concept to pursue their own goals against European colonialism, with Narciso Lopez having even met John L. O'Sullivan, the journoid who famously coined the term.

In the smaller, more personal scale, filibustering offered individuals the chance to have a grand old, drunken adventure and earn their glory with the boys It appealed to a sense of "martial manhood", especially for those just outside of the proper age ranges for the famous 19th century conflicts; War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, etc. The practice also offered cash flow for mercenaries and former military veterans whose careers had stalled or become ruined outright for one reason or another.

Lastly, some Americans genuinely believed in the importance of opposing tyranny and helping all of the New World to achieve total independence from the Old Thousands of Americans fought and died over the century under Latin American banners and for revolutionary conflicts entirely foreign to the US. Non-American examples of that also include Texans who fought to assist the Republic of the Yucatán and the British volunteers fighting under Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin.

Filibustering was never supported by Presidents not named Madison or Pierce and gradually declined into the 20th century. Of course, official American expansionism was still alive and well and the country's rising power soon saw new annexations. It is perhaps fitting that the era is bookended with the Spanish-American War and the seizure of the last of Spain's imperial, New World holdings.

Illustration I: the delusional debt hawk

Mandatory spending consumes 84%-87% of total federal revenue ever year. This is the spending that occurs without congress doing anything, mostly in gibs to the elderly. This will reach 100% of federal revenue by 2031. Neither party want anything to do with cutting Medicare or Social Security so its clearly a tax problem, while the Democrats are usually as r-slurred as the Republicans I am fairly certain they are the ones pushing for higher taxes vs the group calling for lower taxes.

If the federal government simply stopped spending anything at all it would take 11 years to pay down the debt right now. The current law gap, without accounting for continued demographic catastrophe or new nonsense congress comes up with, and to zero the debt at the typical 75 year window would require average effective rates to increase by 50%.

Social Security/Medicare are not going to be cut and taxes are not going to increase substantially. We are all fricked.

Illustration II: the chad rag making all chads even stupider

The title mentions TD but the article is actually about congress. TD actually does almost no spending (just its own operational stuff) and instead acts to hold government accounts, an agency tells them to send money and gives a budgetary authority code. Clearly trying to shill for Elon fricking around in the fiscal service.

Anyway the piece of fiction is talking about a congressional rule created in 1974 to try and manage spending. Congress decided they were going to split the legal authorization for the government to perform a function with the funding of that function and then have their own congressional rule that appropriations can only happen for authorized functions. Fantastic idea except the rule lasted about 2 years before they decided they didn't like having to justify why every time they created pork. Naturally they left the underlying law in place so CBO have to waste time & money tracking & reporting to congress on unauthorized appropriations every year. The real waste is CBO having to prepare the report.

The article is trying to claim;

• Congress violating a rule that no longer exists is illegal.

• This has something to do with TD.

• The spending wasn't entirely known and already tracked thus requiring an audit. Its citing a CBO report from July 2024.

• Elon and is merry band of cucks is remotely qualified to perform a financial audit.

This is also Elon:

TD are not the accounting arm of the federal government. Each agency are responsible for their own payments, TD are outright legally blocked from doing more than ensuring a payment is paid out of the right budget to the payee the agency specifies. Im sure Elon doesn't know this, for he is also an r-slur.

Illustration III: chuds don't understand that sometimes offices change showing they have the temporal reasoning abilities of a dog

I have no idea what the IRS data they are talking about is but their oldest and latest 660 has the same mailing address, here is the 2001 form

They seem to mostly operate out of DC at 2000 M St NW Suite 850, Washington, DC 20036

The abandoned address is the one they were at when their record was created in FPDS. FPDS is explicitly not an accurate or primary source of address or contact data, thats not what its for or how it functions. Im sure the big data experts in the chudosphere will have a solution for normalizing data across hundreds of disparate systems that wont cost billions and billions of dollars.

Nope, not so much.

Illustration IV: chuds want government to spend at all advertisers equally, they should not care if they actively misinform people

I expect People's Daily and RT to receive immediate ad buys from all of the federal government.

Illustration V: wherein rona was China designed at the behest of USAid to interfere with US elections

Viruses don't evolve naturally and viruses are sentient thus perform electoral interference at the behest of USAid. Rona only impacted the US after all, no other countries in the world were impacted at all.

The actual thing the "article" is talking about is

In an effort to identify and respond to new zoonotic diseases before they spread to humans, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) established its Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program. The EPT program consists of four projects: PREDICT, RESPOND, IDENTIFY, and PREVENT. The PREDICT project seeks to identify new emerging infectious diseases that could become a threat to human health. PREDICT partners locate their research in geographic 'hotspots' and focus on wildlife that are most likely to carry zoonotic diseases – animals such as bats, rodents, and nonhuman primates.

USAid was funding viral surveillances around the world. Bats are extremely common here as they act as viral wells.

A year ago there was a survey of experts on likely origins https://www.science.org/content/article/virologists-and-epidemiologists-back-natural-origin-covid-19-survey-suggests

77% probability to a zoonosis, 21% to the lab-leak

One-quarter of respondents seemed to be very sure about a zoonotic origin, giving it a probability between 96% and 100%

This is the classic rightoid conundrum

They think no evidence of something occurring doesn't mean its not occurring, just that we haven't found evidence yet but it totally must be occurring because some guy on Twitter told me it was. Its absolutely possible rona was created in a lab; there is no evidence that occurred, the genetic structure of the virus makes it very unlikely that occurred and the researchers not publishing any intermediate research before or during creation of the virus is very unusual.

Illustration VI: feeding people in countries where terrorist groups are active is supporting terrorism

This is more that letting people starve to death is not acceptable when you have the means to prevent it rather than soft power but ok.

Over the last two years, USAID had funneled $2.3 billion in "humanitarian assistance" to Omar's native Somalia. Last year it reported a request for $1.6 billion in aid and even with the Biden administration on the way out the door, it sent an additional $29 million in December 2024.

Somalia, along with other Islamic terrorist entities, including the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza, were among the top beneficiaries of USAID cash.

USAID boasted of having sent $2.1 billion to Gaza and the West Bank since the Hamas attacks of Oct 7. In 2024 alone, $917 million was programmed for the terrorist areas occupying Israel.

USAID provided over $3.7 billion to Afghanistan since the Taliban took over with $832 million in the previous fiscal year alone. The money was so unaccountable that USAID refused to cooperate with the U.S. Government's Afghan War watchdog tracking money going to terrorists.

Chud's think the US government just sends money to foreign governments as aid don't they? I also haven't seen the tiny ineffectual government of Somalia referred to as a terrorist before, that's chudtastic. Wait until they find out that both countries were exempted by Rubio from the shutdown. https://www.state.gov/emergency-humanitarian-waiver-to-foreign-assistance-pause/

Overwhelmingly aid to Somalia & Afghanistan is food & medical care. In the case of food this mostly takes the form of USAid buying surplus grain from US farmers, food aid has always been a giant gibs program for US farmers.

Illustration VII: media are all liars except when they agree with my feelings

I really love that top comment. Saying that totally unironically.

The media have spent decades destroying their own credibility and seemingly even with their industry going to shit they don't seem able to move from opinion mode to informational mode. I find it utterly hilarious that the chud response is not to create higher quality & more accurate news but instead to rely on batshit nonsense "journ*lists" who have no concept of fact checking and don't feel and ethical duty to tell the truth. I look forward to infowars reporting from the pentagon.

I want HBO to make a news show based around how this show represents coders to integrity to actually be.

Illustration VIII: we all love the constitution, except when it doesn't let things we want to do

Texas and a few other states have passed profoundly unconstitutional laws that try to criminalize people engaging in free association choosing not to associate. As defenders of the constitution I am sure chuds will be up in arms and calling for the immediate recall of those responsable.

Whoopsie, the first amendment was clearly written by communists anyway. We should kill that b-word.

Illustration IX: seal guy will totally fix a systems integration issue

Despite the constant claims otherwise the agencies that ultimately make up the branches of the DoD pass their audits. The issue is fundamentally that the headline branches can't globally audit all spending that occurs under them, its ultimately a systems & accounting integration issue. Currently the Navy are the problem branch, Army & AF have largely solved the problem. As with all spending its accounted for and is independently audited, you just can't get an accurate accounting from the Navy for all their spending and have to drop down a level or two. R-slurred and should absolutely be fixed but I look forward to Hegseth completely failing to fix it too.

The problem reminds me very much of https://federalnewsnetwork.com/it-modernization/2023/05/opms-new-approach-to-modernizing-retirement-services-is-all-about-small-bites/ FERS currently handles all retirement using a paper system under a mountain in PA. Two expensive rounds of attempted computerization have failed because unions wont allow changes that reduce headcount.

I see not evidence from Trump's first administration that he is even remotely the right person to tackle these issues. Fundamentally they require very substantial legislative changes that require bipartisan support. They require someone running the show who respects and listens to experts who can tell them what needs to happen so he can get that whipped. Congress have been incapable of doing that kind of work for decades and Trump's dementia clearly reduced his IQ from 80 to 12 but he still thinks its 9001.

Illustration X: guy who thinks economics peaked in 1908 and is 89 years old should lead an audit of the fed

https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/audited-annual-financial-statements.htm are the audits of the regional banks and BoG.

has been a long term r-slur on this issue

This one is the one I am looking forward to the most because its going to kick off either a massive backdown or an economic shitstorm. A few possibilities;

• As an independent agency the fed have no reason to let Elon in the building.

• Daddy likely doesn't have the authority to fire any member of the BoG.

• Attempting to frick with the fed would cause immediate financial chaos. Them being boring as frick and stable is kinda the basis of worldwide finance.

Video that has the TL;DR for ADHD neeygas and nxggas familar with the scene:

https://img.ifunny.co/videos/68954362e17f88e4b0d5763a85fc5ade50fd691c508e954535d0ecad477580ae_1.mp4

(SKIP IF YOU AINT A NORMGROID WHO DONT KNOW WHAT RW TWITTER IS) BACKGROUND:

Ever since the publishing of Bronze Age Mindset in 2018, the dissident RW scene on X - the everything app has not been the same. This scene, initially centered around BAM author Bronze Age Pervert AKA Costin Alamariu, eventually grew into its own thing called frog twitter , with non groyper christians joining, the red scare girls/ artf@gs, right wingers who dont even know BAP, and a shiet ton of other people joining in. At this point, the space is defined less by barbarian LARPing, and moreso their (thinly veiled )neoconservatism, lawncucking (their highest aspirations is to be a richer normie), opposition to groypas led by Nick Fuentes, and thinly veiled simping for ugly foids. Famous moments (im too lazy to post screenshots0 include their members getting followed and RTed by the richest man on earth (elon), the haitian cat thing (yep, came from here), JD vance and several US politicians following their members, getting some of their members interviewed on FOX (faux) news, and some other shiet im too lazy to bring up

some holesum drama from frog twitter

https://rdrama.net/post/268888/bronze-age-pervert-literal-uber-raycist

https://rdrama.net/h/countryclub/post/303285/-

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/nicholas-j-fuentes-vs-bronze-age-pervert.120306/

Some background on BAP and frog twitter for the uninitiated (scroll down on the kiwiSISSY thread for info on frog twitter)

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/bronze-age-pervert-bap-costin-vlad-alamariu-associates-bapists-bapsphere-frogtwitter-greek-statue-twitter-the-talmudic-network.190081/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age_Pervert

With that out of the way, its time to actually get into what you clicked for

Around 2022, there was this anon, by the name of skyros achilles. Skyros Achilles was your average bronze age LARPer: skinny fat YT or jew who thought he was Achilles cuz he called Blks noons (I cant use the n word cuz NIGvann gets offended due to his African heritage) on twitter (not to our face of course!) and talked like mofuggin sephiroth or som shiet. One day, our hero recieved a calling that has occured in every single of his ARYAN WARRIOR ancestors. That calling, was of course, to mate with a fair aryan shieldmaiden and make BEAUTIFUL YT chillun. But, you ask, how would our faustian hero get his gall, his bonnie, his yang, his soulmate, on the MOST EVIL, DEPRAVE, MISOGNYISTIC, AND RAYCIS PART OF x - the everything app? Well, you see, BAP, being the juden he is, couldnt deny his true nature, and wherever he was, he must pimp. Hence, frog twitter i mean x - the everything app was flooded with e girls, and they just be lettin anybody in . if you don believe me, lemme introduce you to annie skywalker

Annie Skywalker is an Irish onlyfans whore that got in cuz being a prostie is bronze age mindset or som (not makin this up its unironically what BAP says). Id waste some time describing her, but I guess her actions / these screenshots would do a far superior job

So yeah, this nxgga achilles was tryna court an literal onlyfans whore that not only sold pictures of her gussy for the price of a cheeseburger, had s-x with a shiet ton of men, engaged in a poly relationship, coal burner, but also was a baby mama/ single mother ( for all the unkultured YTs that dont know hood kulture). Their relationship began as something was entirely confined to them on the internet, but like romeo and juliet (i dunno what happened there i don read das ghetto 💅), sh!t started leaking to the rest of frog X- the everything app.

Of course, people would eventually start to get hold of knowledge of this relationship, and it eventually began to split RW twitter, with the underclass of (INSECURE and brown coded) literal who anons opposing this, and the upper and more famous anons, BAP included, start encouraging skyros to CONQUER this shield maiden. How can you call yourself a real aryan man if your girl hasnt recieved 5000 miles of peepee, and decided to choose YOU of all the people shes been with! Theres also this dude who allegedly did the most to persuade skyros to wife dis YT hoe up, and his name is bane of mars (

“When I was held to a martial standard I turned out to be very average and that made me uncomfortable” pic.twitter.com/6DA3mBqdld

— Bane of Mars (@_putonthemask_) February 4, 2025

So, did Skyros heed these RESENTFUL chud's advice, and give up on trying to court this fair maiden? Well rumor has he was considering it, but one day, the POWER and BLOOD of the YAMNAYA COURSED thru achilles veins LIKE A RIVER, and he decided hed follow in what his noble ancestors would (totally) do, and doubled down and SENT THIS BICH A DIAMOND RING IN ORDER TO MARRY HER!

- keep in note for the later section, i think this is annie buying skyros a ring in exchange for his (idk yt nonsense)

AND NOT JUS ANY BLING, BUT A RANG (AHHH LAWD DEM RANGZ) WITH ICE ON IT WORTH 5K (THAS LIKE 50 AIR JORDANS BRU). AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, HE SENT IT TO THE WRONG HOOD HOE TOO

Also heres some screenshots of people making fun of achilles for NOT only courtin the town bike, but also tryna send the BICH a diamond ring (by my baby mamas life dat shie gotta be expensive like u gotta rob a walmart or som to get dat). Nxggas even made entire accounts to make fun of the whole sh!tshow

https://x.com/BAPHOUSETV

(in case the text is too hard to make out from the bottom, its skyros achilles sayin " by ideology is hot people supremacy" and him getting QRTed by a nxgga sayin "my ideology is yo fiances pussiyeh "

-

Ladies 👀 get you a man who gon ride 🚗💨 for you 💥🔫 the way BAP 💪 will ride for Annie 👩🏻👶🏿 and baby sneed 😂☠️💯 pic.twitter.com/Ekupu650Ut

— Baphousetv (BHTV) (@BAPHOUSETV) June 23, 2023

Annie Skywalker going band for band 💸with her ops?? They say they reported her to the IRS👮 ☠️⁉️ Are they playing too dirty?? pic.twitter.com/iuhSlFwkGE

— Baphousetv (BHTV) (@BAPHOUSETV) June 19, 2023

AND THE BEST PART HASNT EVEN BEEN REVEALED YET (well, if you had LITERACY and ccould put two and two together, i thikn youd know)

Our internet detectives (neighbors that have enough patience to go thru like 5 minutes of scrolling) find, a rather disturbing and peculiar specimen...

ITS A FCKIN MULATTO BABY!!!!!!! ANNIE SKYWALKER IS NOT JUS A SINGLE MOTHER, BUT DESPITE LIVIN IN THE WHITEST COUNTRY ON THE PLANET, SHE SOMEHOW FCKED A BLACK GUY AND PRODUCED A LIL NIGGRESS SHANIQUA! !!!!!! Eventually, people took to calling the half YT half neeyga baby baby sneed, and referring to it as he for some reason

Sh!t EXPLODED! Nxggas were fckin everywhere and eruptin like lil vesuvius over dis shiet. It was like 1000 suns laughing all at once. I cannot describe the absolute pandemonium and sh!tshow that occured after, only try to show you

Of course, achilles and aurora tried to claim damage control and claim it was actually an "aryan" castizo baby from a LATINX instead of neeyga, but lbh no one believin that

more fun

https://x.com/BAPHOUSETV/status/1669813057856339968/video/1 - dirtiest one by FAR! They literally ressurect her dad using AI just to hoe shame her! BRVTAL! NO COMING BACK FROM THIS

Our aryan hero,Achilles, for the KRIME of eros and heterosexuality, had no choice but to leave the internet entirely (although the hood says this is a farce, check around for more details) after all this i showed you, and rougly I cant blame him. Rumours persist that that crakkka accelerated the mayocide and decided to kill himself (and for that too), but sadly, this is not the case. He is still the butt of all cuck jokes on frog twitter and allegedly got doxxed but i cant find info on dat rn.

So youre wondering, what happened to the characters in this story after this fiasco? Well

BAP is still there and he done more gas butt YT shie like encourage two gay followers to go into gay porn, as well some other stuff im too lazy to talk about. Bane of Mars is posting half naked jap foids on his TL. Annie skywalker got harassed to a point where even id kill myself, but being the wh0re she is, she couldnt RESIST the attention and still posts on the same twitter account where alll that transpired. She also beefed with nick fuentes too, for some reason i wont mention here. BAPhouseTVs owner would never be revealed, and once the fiasco subsided, he eventually fell into inactivity.

But, as of writing this, my hood has FOUND new details after asking around, and we have UNCOMFIRMED NEWS (benefits of following me BTW, make sure to do it on twitter and here i wanna boost my aura/ klout) that skyros achilles is not only STILL ALIVE, but also alive and better than EVER! even moreso than his opps! In fact, its probable that you probably seen skyros achilles and didnt recognize it, before you even saw this post (assuming you have an X- the everything app account). Its even likely that his own opps has even unknowingly boosted his account and landed him into the likes of te richest and most powerful (heck im guilty asf cuz i followed dis neeygas new acc lul.)

Thats because Skyros Achilles runs one of the biggest accounts on this website, Anc_Aesthetica, which has been boosted AND FOLLOWED by the likes of none other than Elon Musk.

https://x.com/Anc_Aesthetics

How did my hood originally know this? I dont fckin know, but I do know I came to realize they were tellin the truth!

Well for one, if you notice, anc aesthetica was started in february 2022, same time achilles deactivated his twitter account and left.

If you still dont believe this is enough proof (understandable), ask him about baby sneed and his aryan shieldmaiden,

Your answer will be revealed in the swiftness he blocks ye

-

Omg achilles? Skyros achilles!

Baby sneed needs you to be the man thay stepped up!

— PoopNeighborHitler69studiosThereWilBeGroypage👹😈🇭🇹 (@BIBOCalypseNOW) January 16, 2025

So yeah thats the story of perhaps the greatest cuck on right wing X- the everything app, eventually came to realize that trying to wife up the former poly onlyfans hooker with a bodycount rivaling that of the actual achilles that was a single mother of a mulatto monstrosity was simply an SILLY mistake - the struggle section of the "struggle, grind, shine" era of any bronze age gangsta. And how he decided to not let that (until now (me n my hood got something blanned for this neeyga who think he can get off THAT easy)) stop him from getting thousands in goybux from none other than the richest man in the world, who also included him into his network, which now controls the government of the worlds most powerful army.

Unrelated but crazy how we have a cuck occupied government (Elon got cucked by a literal trainee (manning), Trump married a nude model, Achilles ( i already elaborated here), jd vance's (whos a weirdo) wife was fcked or dare i say JEETED by vivek (neighbor from morrowind lo), etc.)

Anyways

?

Also !jannies @Kongvann pin neighbor pin

PLAGIARISM DISCLAIMER:

Greetings Dramatards

If any of these exact storybeats ever sound familiar, it's because I plagiarized most/all of it from a longform Afrikaans Calvinist article (which in turn probably plagiarized it from some more famous English sources), which my father had excitedly desired me to read during the 2024 December holidays. The vast majority of the article revolved around a Calvinist introspection about self-deceit, and how History and politics is shaped by how people record and perceive historic events both during and after key happenings. Very long and boring.

But the incredible and exciting part my father wanted to showcase me, was a chapter regarding the infamous Tulip Mania period, which occurred during 1634-1637 in Holland, during the zenith of Dutch colonial and economic power, when the Dutch was by far the most prosperous nation on earth, when taken into account their meagre population and size, due to the astronomical wealth generated by the Dutch, due to the infamous VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) or Dutch East India Company, perhaps one of the wealthiest private enterprises in all of human history.

.

During the period, one of history's 1st and most well documented Speculative Bubbles occurred, when seemingly the entire Dutch nation state was beset by a fervent mania from all sectors of society. Rich merchants and poor farmers would buy the new fad, Tulips imported from Turkey & China, at increasingly outrageous sums of money, for the sake of selling these (at the time) rare imported plants, which the Dutch didn't know how to perfectly cultivate, so it wasn't a gaurantee that you could just make more of them once you bought rare tulips for literal prince's ransoms!

These tulips, which at 1st were bought, because they were the showing-off fad for the turbo wealthy new Merchant-class of the state, were then bought for the sake of selling at ever increasingly higher prices, which in turn made the tulip a fad for wealth accruement instead! Eventually, inevitably, as we can all predict, prices eventually went down, which burst the speculative bubble, and the prices went into freefall, and fortunes were wiped out of existence, as these once prince's ransom priced foreign flowers, became......priced at the rate of regular funny and unusual foreign flowers!

SHORT STORY INTRO:

When Tulips arrived in Holland, it was said that the !dutch completely lost their senses. There was an infamous story about a sailor whom had been at sea long enough, to have been completely kept in the dark about Tulip Mania in Holland, and having been out of touch with the latest political/social news of his home country, as many VOC voyages could take literally as much 2 full years to complete! Of course as the Silk sailing routes were established, these timeframes reduced to less than 1 year - but still long enough to be out of tune with the country's latest excapades!

https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/or13xl/how_long_did_it_take_a_dutch_merchant_sailing/h6fovy7/?context=8

Anyways, the late 1630s a dutch sailor, whom had just disembarked, had went to the owner of the goods his vessel had transported, to notify him his shit had just arrived. Gratified by this good news, the merchant rewarded the sailor with a breakfast. On the large table on which the merchant had given the sailor his meal, at one end there had laid what looked like a red onion

The sailor took the onion for seasoning on his bread, and GTFO'd out of the merchant's storehouse to go and find a private spot to go eat his meal in peace. Never in his wildest imagination would he think this act would cause him such grievous misery. Just as the sailor had left, the merchant discovered to his horror, that an invaluable imported Augustus tulip bulb was MISSING which at the height of Tulip Mania was worth a whole commercial farm on its own.

The merchant and staff ripped the storehouse asunder in their angst, looking for the missing invaluable Augustus Tulip. Eventually someone remembered the sailor being the most recent stranger in the storehouse, and the goon squad proceeded rake apart the entire port looking for him

They found the hapless, luckless, unfortunate & clueless sailor having already eaten the fricking tulip bulb, and proceeded to try and strangle him alive He was imprisoned for his crime!

CHARLES MACKAY:

This infamous story, about the insanity of the Tulip Mania, comes from a very famous economic writer & journ*list Charles Mackay (27 March 1814 – 24 December 1889). In his magnum opus, the book called "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" he wrote about what he termed "Crowd Psychology" & "National Delusions".

The book consists of a series of short stories about a myriad of events in the past, but the topics are all united in the mass delusion or hysteria of crowds/nation-states, or mass adoption of fads and hysteria by groups of people. The stories covered things like the large scale witch-burnings across europe, the fad and obsession with the fake science of alchemy (turning iron into gold) and hysteria about haunted buildings.

!bookworms The book had become immediately successful, and continued to garner infamy well beyond Charles Mackay's death - he had a strong grasp of engaging storytelling. But the parts of "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" which really REALLY propelled Charles Mackay into infamy, was his chapters about Speculative Bubbles - specifically his 3 chapters of infamous about Speculative Bubbles known before his time.

Each of the 3 chapters revolved around a particulour economic disaster, brought about by lunatics overinvesting or speculating upon companies/stocks/products well WELL beyond their realistically graded values. They were the South Sea Company bubble of 1711–1720, the Mississippi Company bubble of 1719–1720, and of course the famous Dutch tulip mania!

THREE CHAPTERS ECONOMISTS LOOK UP TO:

While the rest of the book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" would be largely forgotten as interesting and entertaining reads for a book from 1840, the 3 chapters on Speculative Bubbles would reach such incredible infamy in the Economists world, that a very large amount of people would reference it historically.

Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, lauded the three chapters on economic bubbles.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-19th-century-book-that-helps-us-understand-the-allure--and-perils--of-social-media/2019/04/03/1879def6-5576-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html

====(from the WashingtonPost article)

C.S. Lewis once asked himself if anyone could actually write a story as magical as that title. To me, Charles Mackay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" possesses an almost equally evocative power. First published in 1841 and expanded in 1852, it chronicles some of the many varieties of human folly, obsession and self-delusion. Here, in fact, are the deep taproots of the credulity and lemming-like behavior that characterize today's social media.

More recently, economic writers such as Andrew Tobias and Michael Lewis have championed the book. Overall, one might characterize Mackay's work as popular history, conveyed in a tone of ironic, head-shaking amusement.

====(end quote)

Many people unironically considered Tulip Mania as a Classic for Economic History for the longest period. The book is so famous that non-historian economist-Journ*lists cite Mackay whenever there is a recent fraud or Speculative Bubble implosion occurring; like the recent Bitcoin and Shitcoin and NFT Bubble implosion which has dominated headlines in economic forums and newsfeeds, when FTX caused a chain-reaction of wiping out untold millions and billions of wealth out of existence.

https://www.esports.net/news/crypto-tanking-affecting-nft-industry/

https://fastercapital.com/content/Bagholders--From-Riches-to-Rags--The-Plight-of-Shitcoin-Bagholders.html

TULIP MANIA AND CALVINIST PROPAGANDA:

The only problem for this internationally critically acclaimed book about Tulip Mania? It's complete absolute total bullshit, or in the very least heavy propaganda! The short story about the Dutch Sailor mistaking the tulip bulb for an onion? Complete fabrication .

The issue for Mackay wasn't that he was a deliberate liar, but that he had taken his primary sources, which were overwhelmingly Dutch Calvinist propaganda leaflets and articles, at absolute face value. Many good historians go to great lengths to decipher primary sources, written during contemporary times about events, to determine how bias from the authors could fabricate or contaminate their view of events. Mackay literally straight up consumed Dutch Calvinist Propaganda leaflets as they were!

PROPAGANDA LEAFLETS:

So what exactly was the deal with Calvinists? What the heck do they have to do with anything? Well Calvinists were relatively conservative for their contemporary timeframe, and the feared the new era of Holland having accrued so much unthinkable wealth, more than any nation-state before had ever known to have accumulated so fast and in such an incredible short timespan.

They feared and believed that all of this wealth of the Merchant-class was rotting and decaying society. They feared that this new trend of consumerism and speculation on stocks was leading to societal downfall. Dutch society had underwent intense transformation in the past 100 years in that moment in time.

So they had created stories with near-comical carrecatures of people, where the common theme was greed and avarice being the downfall of everyone involved.

FICTION VS BORING REALITY:

According to Charles Mackay, which took the Calvinist Propaganda at face value, the Tulip Mania was so extreme during 1637, that all levels of Dutch society went completely batshit. Other sectors of the economy went neglected, and so much was invested into Tulip Mania, it was as if Holland was expending during a World War time economy! Everybody from nobles, to wealthy merchants, to poor farmhands, were borrowing recklessly to get in upon this wealth craze.

https://hcmwealthadvisors.com/market-insights/picking-tulips-or-market-insights-for-week-ending-aug-9-2019

According to Mackay those left holding the bag were either bankrupt, or even fricking worse - in deep debt!

In the book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" you can read of people losing their minds and selling their most valuable possessions to buy or speculate on a few Tulip bulbs. Mackay gives the example, in his story covering Tulipmania, of one particularly unhinged Dutchman, who exchanges 12 acres of land for ONE fricking Augustus Tulip Bulb!

The reality is much more dull - in fact the scale of the Tulip Mania, may have been completely fricking overblown due to Mackay's book, which has been in the public international consciousness for the past 200 years. No record of even ONE bankruptcy could even be confirmed by Dutch historians as due to Tulipmania, during the period of 1634-1637.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/there-never-was-real-tulip-fever-180964915/

====(from Smithsonian)

Here's where the myth comes into play. According to this narrative, everyone from the wealthiest merchants to the poorest chimney sweeps jumped into the tulip fray, buying bulbs at high prices and selling them for even more. Companies formed just to deal with the tulip trade, which reached a fever pitch in late 1636. But by February 1637, the bottom fell out of the market. More and more people defaulted on their agreement to buy the tulips at the prices they'd promised, and the traders who had already made their payments were left in debt or bankrupted.

In fact, "There weren't that many people involved and the economic repercussions were pretty minor," Goldgar says. "I couldn't find anybody that went bankrupt. If there had been really a wholesale destruction of the economy as the myth suggests, that would've been a much harder thing to face."

That's not to say that everything about the story is wrong; merchants really did engage in a frantic tulip trade, and they paid incredibly high prices for some bulbs. And when a number of buyers announced they couldn't pay the high price previously agreed upon, the market did fall apart and cause a small crisis—but only because it undermined social expectations.

====(end quote)

In fact only a small fraction of Dutch society even partook in the Tulipmania, and usually only the upper-middle rich Merchant classes. Less than 5% of the whole population even bought a tulip at any point, and when the bubble burst, those whom lost money were those least vulnerable from bankruptcy. While losing half your wealth is a serious hit, these Dutch merchants were so filthy stinking rich by the mid 1640s, they literally didn't care!

Additionally, the reality was that most dutch Merchant-class bought tulips as a show of wealth, it was a demonstration of their cosmopolitan and urbane manner to show off amongst all of their straggy rich merchant friends. The majority of Tulip buyers and speculators never even expected to make money, it was like wealthy influencers and Hollyweird freaks buying branded crap like Nike shoes or Rolex watches to show off their wealth.

IN FACT, there exists something called the law of Veblen Goods, where things become sought after BECAUSE they are morbidly expensive, because they are literal "show-off" goods! (Rolexes, Ferari, ect)

Which is what some economists believe is likely what actually happened, rather than a true Speculative Bubble like Bitcoin and Shitcoin. Or even the other 2 Speculative Bubbles which Mackay included in his book, which were much closer in reality to nation wealth destroying events.

This doesn't mean that Tulipmania DIDN'T happen, or that many peeps lost wealth, but it has been vastly overstated, in large part BECAUSE of Mackay's book.

THE REAL DRAMA REGARDING CHARLES MACKAY!

Now the 2nd point of drama for Charles Mackay in recent times is the fact that despite his incredible infamy about his internationally successful book regarding mass mania and hysteria and fad following by crowds, and especially his famous chapters regarding Speculative insanity, was that he HIMSELF was likely a turbo midwit fool who fell head over heels for a Speculative Bubble in his own contemporary times, during which he lived!!!

Mackay was a popular economic newspaper columnist in 1841 when he wrote the book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds". And what's incredible is that not even one mention is made about what is likely THE most economically destructive Speculative Bubble in all of recorded human history so far, and which vastly outstrips the scale of even large bubbles like Shitcoin and even frauds like Enron and the Theranos fraud, which eviscerated billions and billions of wealth into nothingness.

Mackay our expert in Speculative Bubbles not only lived through the 1840s Britain Railway Mania, which destroyed wealth on an unfathomable scale, but never so much as makes a fricking peep about them!

1840s RAILWAY MANIA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania

By the time the 1840s had arrived, Bongland was at the height of its colonial power, and industrialization. And Bongland was leading European states in terms of industrializing its entire society and economy with new fabulous technologies. The most significant was the Railway and Train. A transport technology which completely terraformed society to the same degree as radio or the internet had done during their respective timeframes.

People understood how significant the wide adoption of Railroads were becoming, and the technological improvements to the steam engine continued every consecutive year. Entrepreneurs flocked to Railroad and Transport companies, as they correctly predicted that Railways would quite literally trailblaze the economy of britain and her colonies. The issue, is that they vastly, VASTLY overpredicted the actual economic output and influence railways & trains would have upon Bongland's economy, well beyond human reason.

https://www.focus-economics.com/blog/railway-mania-the-largest-speculative-bubble-you-never-heard-of/

====(from Focus article)

By the mid-1840s, the economy was improving and the manufacturing industries were once again growing. The Bank of England cut interest rates, making government bonds less attractive investments, and existing railway companies' shares began to boom as they moved ever-increasing amounts of cargo and people, making people willing to invest in new railways.

And at its peak, railway investment—which lagged a few years behind planning applications—surged to 7% of GDP, representing half of total investment in the economy at the time.

====(end quote)

But even MORE INSANE about our boi Mackay wasn't just that he DIDN'T foresee the Speculative Bubble of the 1840s Railway Mania, despite his book on Mass Hysterias, or that he cheerled the overspending on Speculating on Railroad bonds for his fricking readers whom trusted him implicitly in his articles for the Glasgow Argus, BECAUSE of his fame for the book of the book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds", instead THIS MOTHERLOVER was even on the fringes of the extreme end in terms of being a nutjob Speculator for the Railroad bond market!!!!!!!!

The short story was that Britain is a relatively small island(s) and there just wasn't enough villages, cities, ports or key-points to connect via railway to make economic return upon such gratuitous overinvestment. These railroad companies would build connections between big cities and tiny Bongistan villages of like 50 people, which as you can well imagine, didn't exactly accrue trade to the scope of London to Paris.........

Just like modern China now finding out that they have likely overspent on infrastructure, where tiny villages have been connected to Beijing via 6-lane superhighways. When inevitably the grotesque overspending did not yield appropriate economic activity return from laying Railways across every square-meter of the entire fricking British Isles, the usual Bubble tanking underwent the usual market bottom falling routine.

An unlike the Tulip Mania, the Railroad mania DID influence the entirety of Bonland's economy and social fabric. Rich AND poor people alike invested recklessly, many upon fricking Mackay's advice, and many faced bankruptcy, and worse massive debt

https://ritholtz.com/2015/06/crisis-chronicles-railway-mania-the-hungry-forties-and-the-commercial-crisis-of-1847/

IN FACT, just to demonstrate how badly people got burned from the 1847 Railroad Mania crash, there was something called Company Scrips. Where for example you paid only 5$ for a Scrip in a 100$ share, and if the 100$ share doubled its value into 200$, you just made 100$ from 5 bucks Unfortunately for all the hapless midwits who bought into this terrible scheme, Scrips worked fricking BOTH ways. Many peeps put themselves into absurd debt for just fricking 5 bucks!

And uh that's about it for this incredible story, hopefully this story was as interesting for you guys as well!

!dutch !christians !calvinists !catholics !effortposters

I made a Longpost about Age of Empires 3 long ago about how the then upcoming AOE3 Definitive Edition was controversial because of perceived wokeness, like reworking Native Yank factions, because the original 2005 game was antiquated and racist by depicting Indians @Sphereserf3232 dancing around fires, and seen as offensively stereotypical.

These changes were controversial because it was seen as part of the wider wokefication of remakes, like Dead Space 1 remake, alongside the general perception of chuds that SanFran types had completely infiltrated gaming studios in American modern AAA gaming development.

AOE3 devs even went so far as to actually bring in Native yank advisors to tell them how to depict the 3 big factions, and what was no-no, so that when AOE3 released to an even more buggy state than any of the modern Definitive Edition Remakes by MicroSoftest, the perception was wide that focusing on culture-war type shit was what the majority of the budget and efforts had been focused upon, much to the jubilation of chuds

https://rdrama.net/post/195059/drama-2-years-ago-about-the

In all fairness, the AOE3 definitive edition did bring about many technical and gameplay improvements, conveniences and quality-of-life mechanics. But all of this was overshadowed by the poor release state, in which the fabled reworked indian civs had been very badly balanced, since the Indian civs in the eye of the drama-maelstrom had gotten the short end of the stick, gameplay-wise because the firedancing mechanic had allowed Indians ingame to turbo cuck European civs, by summoning super-powered high tier units - the absence of the fire-dancing mechanics made the Indian civs bottom tier upon release.

This was in conjunction with the promotional Youtube material for AOE3 DE was like 70% focused on cultural self-flagellation and 30% focus on gameplay, compared to the promotional advertisements for AOE1:DE, AOE2:DE & AOE4:DE. It didn't help that compared to the other 3 games, AOE3:DE was during the colonial era, and thus for minorities to be salty about it, and wokes to soy about it.

So battle lines between Soys-VS-wokes had already been drawn, but since it was released in 2020, it had released JUST before the great GaymerGate Zeitgheist from 2021-2024, where large amounts of AAA slop, often riddled with extreme progressive views would release and tank within months. But as the last 5 years passed, with games like Saints Row 2022 and DA Veilguard appearing to have failed financially, a lot of wingcuckery have taken positions for both chuds & soys

Soys want AOE3:DE to be a success because it is perceived that chuds hate it, and the inverse applies to chuds. Thus even in threads on /r/AOE3 where no cultural war is explicitly mentioned, there has always been an element of powder keg between the 2 autismo factiosn.

This week /r/AOE3 has learned that Microsoft has in all but name, shitcanned AOE3 support, and even cancelled much expected DLCs, which included much anticipated factions, like Polacks

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ic7u56/the_dlc_has_been_cancelled/m9ogo5u/?context=8

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ic7u56/the_dlc_has_been_cancelled/m9p5ww0/?context=8

Users are understandably upset.

Most peeps are not upset Microcucks will not continue to support AOE3:DE with updates forward, but would have been able to make peace if they had just released the DLCs, and then finished support :marseybea

nannoyed: which is understandable.

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ic7u56/the_dlc_has_been_cancelled/m9onr9y/?context=8

Even in fiction Polacks are eternal cucks

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ic7u56/the_dlc_has_been_cancelled/m9oi3f4/?context=8

Some peeps are taking it personally

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ic7u56/the_dlc_has_been_cancelled/m9ok721/?context=8

There's also inter-community infighting between all the other different games, like AOE1, AOE2, AOE3 &AOE4, because there is often the belief that the Real-Time-Strategy genre is already so small, that the userbase is fractured between them, and thus shitflinging occurs in a blame game between communities, like AOE3 blaming Age of Mythology Definitive Edition (AOM:DE) for "stealing their userbase" and thus making AOE3 (which is certain g*mers' favorite of the bunch) less financially viable and likely to be serviced by MicroSoft longer term

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ifj4hb/this_is_just_sad/magoklw/?context=8

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ifj4hb/this_is_just_sad/maglzq3/?context=8

Here's a "whale" (whatever the frick that means) of AOE3:DE posting his

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1if12vi/i_just_need_to_vent/

But by far the most cryposting in AOE3:DE is because in the same week as AOE3 got this super duper bad news, literally all of the other fricking AOE games (AOE2, AOE4 & Age of Mythology) are all getting new content, updates, DLC and support

Which as you can imagine makes our poor souls in /r/aoe3 really livid

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihu0un/im_sure_there_was_no_budget/

Even the shit mobile game is getting updates and support

"THIS IS OFFENSIVE TO THE AOE3 COMMUNITY"

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihrolq/this_announcement_is_offensive_to_the_community/

Some users tell OP to grow the frick up

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihrolq/this_announcement_is_offensive_to_the_community/mazj90v/?context=8

Some strags tell everyone to sign a petition, this will FORCE Bill Gates to revitalize AOE3 support!!

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihrolq/this_announcement_is_offensive_to_the_community/mazyf0z/?context=8

But most r-slurred of all is that AOE3 has a weird rivalry victim mentality, where they have this perception that the other AOE communities/subs are laughing at the expense of their misfortune? which is not the case at all, especially since there is often sympathy for them, even from the much more "successful" communities like AOE2, and especially since the chances of gaymers playing/buying one of the AOE games (AOE1,AOE2,AOE3,AOE4,AOM) are extremely likely to buy some or all of the others, even if those specific gaymers have a favorite between the current 5 main Microsoft titles.

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihrolq/this_announcement_is_offensive_to_the_community/mb00zy9/?context=8

Lol this troll didn't even use the word sheep

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihrolq/this_announcement_is_offensive_to_the_community/mazssdz/?context=8

User gives these crybabies some wedgies

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/1ihrolq/this_announcement_is_offensive_to_the_community/mazz9kn/?context=8

!g*mers @realKongDick