- 6
- 30
Today we'll be discussing Valerie Solanas who is most known for her text titled SCUM Manifesto which is said to stand for ‘Society For Cutting Up Men'. Before we begin, it's probably worthwhile to lay out that the analysis is coming from the perspective of a 28yo male incel. Thus, I may never truly know the life experiences which led to her expressing the views she does.
Who is Valerie Solanas?
Valerie Solanas was born on April 9, 1936. She had a rough childhood which involved sexual abuse. She claims her father and grandfather physically and sexually abused her. Solanas was also a playwright, which is eventually what led to her crossing paths with Andy Warhol. In 1968, she shot Warhol as well Mario Amaya (art critic). She also attempted to shoot Fred Hughes, who is Warhol's manager. Her weapon of choice? A .32 automatic. Warhol was mortally wounded and required extensive surgery. He did survive, but he had to wear a surgical corset for the rest of his life. He was also deeply traumatized and deathly afraid of hospitals following the event.
So did Solanas kill Warhol? Depends on how you look at things. Warhol didn't die immediately from the event. However, Warhol had a gallbladder problem, and his newfound fear of hospitals prevented from seeing the doctor as often as he should have. If you ask me, she's a murderer.
Why did she do it? After the shooting, Solanas handed herself in to the authorities. She claimed that she believed that Warhol would steal her script titled "Up Your Butt", and she also claimed that the pop artist had too much control over her. Warhol did have her script - she gave it to him - but he had forgotten about it, and it was later found in a trunk. She was put on trial where she claimed the following:
After an evaluation, she was deemed a paranoid schizophrenic, but fit to stand trial. She represented herself and earned herself three years in prison for "reckless assault with intent to harm". Not bad for a self-confessed attempted murderer with a schizo for a lawyer.
The analysis will go down in three parts to make things easier to digest. I highly suggest you read the whole thing. You can complete it in an hour.
https://editions-ismael.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/1968-Valerie-Solanas-S.C.U.M.-Manifesto.pdf
The SCUM Manifesto - Part 1
To analyse the text, I'll be gong through a few of the central points Solanas brings up and discussing what implications they may have. Solanas begins by constructing an outline of the nature of men. On the first page, Solanas writes:
I can't speak for others, but that's a pretty spot description of myself. I am worthless trash. She continues by writing:
So, on that note, let's discuss toxic masculinity. What Solanas is stressing here is that men behave in ways which suggest uncontrollable sexual hedonism. What accounts for gendered behaviour that emphasises sexual conquest among men? Some answers may come from R.W Connell 
who has done in-depth studies of masculinities. He is careful to stress that masculinity isn't monolithic but instead takes on a hegemonic form with some masculinities being subordinated to others.
In order to ascend up the hierarchy of masculinity, men may engage in behaviours which are harmful to themselves and others in order to prove their manliness. Some of these behaviours include being dominant, violent, having limited emotional expression and being heterosexually successful. For example, David Lisak points out that within college fraternities “‘sexual conquest' – having s*x with as many women as possible – becomes a critical measure of how men view themselves and each other. The greater the number of such conquests, the more manly he is viewed”. As Connell points out, such behaviours are harmful to society and to men themselves.
There are plenty of men who do not wish to engage in such activities and, consequently can enter an identity crisis regarding their own masculinity when they discover that they are unable to conform to social standards of what a man should be. Furthermore, failure to participate in toxic masculinity can result in one inhabiting a subordinated form of masculinity and receiving less acceptance and respect from male peers.
Are women incapable of toxic behavior? Of course not. Women occasionally partake in fragile femininity whereby women will shame other women for sexually promiscuous behaviours. Now one thing about Solanas is that she doesn't dismantle these tropes of masculinity but instead conveys them as biological truth. In doing so, she becomes a co-conspirator in toxic masculinity. This is not a strange occurrence. Myths about gender exist in our language and culture and are absorbed by men just as much as women. After all, we all exist in the same culture and are exposed to the same influences. Thus, it's not rare for women to engage in toxic masculinity or for men to propagate fragile femininity.
One important thing of value that Solanas does say is that:
This is actually a very accurate description of gender performativity. One is not born a man, one becomes a man. Moreso, one does not reach a stage where one achieves manhood and no longer has to prove it. Instead, gender is constantly performed and must be constantly re-enacted.
The SCUM Manifesto - Part 2
Solanas also discusses what kind of women she would like to see join SCUM. So, she states that she wants women who are
She also claims that s*x is the refuge of the mindless before adding
The idea of politicized sexuality isn't a new one. For example, political lesbianism was advocated for by second-wave feminists such as Julie Bindel. As Bindel writes:
Solanas seems to be advocating for a similar idea, with the claim asexuality can be chosen as an alternative to heterosexuality. This isn't unique to Solanas. The idea of political asexuality has been a recurring concept within feminist theory and for a history of it, I would suggest Breanne Fahs's article titled “Radical refusals: On the anarchist politics of women choosing asexuality”. Personally, I disagree with this idea. On a surface level, one can decide on how they choose to identify - heterosexual, homosexual, or otherwise. However, there are biological truths that will always cut through the bullshit.
The SCUM Manifesto - Part 3
The last point I'd like to discuss regarding Solanas's text is the role she imagines for men within her ideology. In her words, SCUM should
Solanas also adds that after the SCUM revolution, men who aren't part of the Men's Auxiliary
This is reprehensible and cannot be forgiven on any level. This is insane hate speech. However, it does raise the question of how men should behave if they wish to live peacefully with women.
Masculinities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raewyn_Connell
https://lulfmi.lv/files/2020/Connell_Masculinities.pdf
Connell, in a text I would very highly recommend titled Masculinities begins to outline the basic relationship men have had with feminism. One of the things he notes is a theme of feelings of guilt. For example, one of the men interviewed states that:
I can definitely relate to this feeling, and I went through a very similar experience. Do any of you resonate with this? Connell also noted a theme of feeling worthless and undergoing a personal crisis after being exposed to feminism.
For some men, the response was to re-evaluate their beliefs and change their actions. For example, one of the men he interviews states:
Regarding this, Connell makes a very good claim by stating that:
This process of reimagining one's masculinity can be an emotional and turbulent one which requires a great deal of introspection, humility and a willingness to change. Of course, Connell notes that some men did have negative responses to feminism. This can cause groomercord between men who have embraced feminism and men who haven't. For example, one interviewee stated that:
Do any of you relate to this bloke? Have you ever been the victim of a man who recently discovered feminism, then proceeded to chastise you? Connell notes that this interviewee felt disconcerted by feminism, as though it were placing him at a disadvantage.
So, we find a complex issue here. The restructuring of masculinity that feminism demands requires negotiating both internal issues such as feelings of guilt and also requires navigating a liveable masculinity in society where one can still relate with other men. How a man traverses this minefield of masculinity is a difficult question with no easy answers. I personally would propose that this transformation cannot take place in an individualized sense, and instead requires group cooperation among men. In other words, a collective movement to change and accept a form of masculinity which is more considerate towards women and conscious of toxic manifestations of masculinity.
However, I'd like to stress that a rejection of feminism does not equate to a rejection of gender equality. Feminism, much like Marxism, religion, and even democracy, is, at its core, an ideology and one can find issues with an ideology while still embracing egalitarian concepts. Much like how Christianity cannot make an exclusive claim to morality, feminism cannot make an exclusive claim to the idea of gender equality. My point is that not all men who aren't feminists are also misogynists.
Conclusion
Here's my closing thoughts. SCUM manifesto is a highly provocative text that does contain morsels of truth and exposes certain flaws in society. Unfortunately, it is covered in hate speech, making it an overall reprehensible text.
I quite admire her cheeky style of writing and her unflinchingly defiant tone. One of the weakest points of the entire text is that Solanas offers a very flat view of the world focused merely on men versus women. However, she fails to take into account an intersection of other identities. That is to say, Solanas, is a woman, which puts her in a historically marginalized position. But she is also a white, Western woman, which puts her in a privileged position. The categories of oppressor and oppressed aren't static. Instead, one can inhabit both and one needs to be very conscious of the ways they can simultaneously be both oppressor and oppressed. This is a complex social identity occupied by both black males and white women. It requires understanding the ways one is marginalized in society while being conscious of the advantages one has inherited over others. It's a pity Solanas mentions not one word of this as it results in a low-fidelity description of society.
I give SCUM manifesto 40/100 Hollys.
Tune in next time when we discuss the ethics of meat eating.
- 30
- 50
Elise, 24, Houston TX
Career:
Cashier HEB
Spending a lot at HEB
- says she spent on water bottles
$1'348 income
been doing this job for 5 years timestamp
HEB only lets her work up to 35 hours
"I've been looking for jobs that are like salary paying jobs but I don't know where to look" timestamp
Personal Life/Education:
Mentions she got pell grants, scholarships and some other stuff for undergrad timestamp
Studying for LSAT
Future Lawyer
"I want to go to a good law school but it's debatable what's good" timestamp
- Mentions UT and Michigan as ones she's looking at?
Father says she has to go to law school or move out
- He got several degrees blah blah blah, has a hundred thousand in student debt?
Father wants her to just take out loans for law school? She wants to wait a few years and pay off debts?
Poli Sci Degree undergrad
Lives with her dad
- Moved back home after graduating college in May 2023
Claims she found his channel last month and has only then changed her spending
Didn't work from January to mid-March
Spending/Debts:
Credit Score - 640
Multiple overdrafts
Missed payments on multiple debts
Carrying balances on cards (still spending on them)
- Justification - timestamp
Lots of eating out
- Reading through it - timestamp
"Why is all going to 'frick you' spending?"
"This was your most recent statement though, so this just happened
- Justification for only just changing spending timestamp
Synchrony (Card 1. $1216.73 => $1280.56 timestamp
Missed payment
$77 minimum payment, next is $117 due, normal is $40?
$23 in interest added
$40 of fees
Totals for 2023 on this card:
$189.00 in fees
$195.27 interest
$284.50 interest paid?
Discovery Card (Card 2. $773 => $697
$38 minimum payment
Made $93 in payments
$17 in interest charged
Totals for 2023:
$30 in fees
$137.76 in interest
TDE Credit Union (Card 3. 2'608 => $2'558:
$58 over the credit limit
$25 fees
$29 interest
2023 total:
$125 fees (5 missed payments)
$264 interest
Car 2020 Toyota Corolla $23'812 remaining 17.17% interest rate
$563 payment
$28.18 late fee
Probably worth about $17'000
Got car May of 2022
Went full r-slur at the dealership out of laziness holy shit she's a born mark
Storytime - timestamp
So I just let the dealer run my credit and told him I wanted whatever I was approved for
Why didn't you like go with someone?
- I was trying to hide it from my parents
Why have you not sold it?
Attempted justification timestamp
Underwater 8 or 9 thousand dollars
AT&T (1150?) timestamp
Past due $506, says she's caught up now though
Normal payment is $230 (includes cell service)
Phone, iPad, Apple Watch
"You're not even wearing it!"
- "I left it in my car"
Nothing owed on the phone ("trade-in value")
$286 on the watch
$900 on the iPad
Tried to return the watch (failed)
- Caleb tells her to sell it
Freedom(?) (Card 4. 1365 => 1233
165 payment made
$33 in interest
$45 minimum payment
Student Loans: 27'000 timestamp
in grace period right now, extended from November to next May
- "You get another one if you request it"
Planning on deferring them again when she goes to law school
TDECU Checking Account timestamp
$5 balance
Spent $12 on a car wash
Affirms ($300) timestamp
- around $40 minimum
Checking Account -$11.69 timestamp
- she got another car wash from this one
- she got another car wash from this one
Budget Segment timestamp
- $1070 total minimum payments
- 15
- 31
There are several ways to murder somebody. All you need, for example, is a three-inch blade to sever a vital artery. A few minutes without oxygen and your target is dead. There are also several poisons available at your local supermarket.
The cruellest ways to murder someone involve terror and, of course, pain. Defenestration would be a horrible way to go. Imagine hurtling down several floors, knowing your death is coming yet being unable to stop. There's no soft hand to catch you. Just the hard embrace of concrete. This would undoubtedly elicit a primal kind of fear.
Today we'll look at three cases of defenestration. You'll get to decide who is a villain, who made a genuine mistake, and who is simply inscrutable.
1. Garry Hoy
This is an oldie but a goodie. If you've ever watched any of those "100 weirdest ways to die" shows, you've probably come across this case. Garry Hoy was a lawyer in Toronto. In 1993, he had a group of law students in one of the rooms of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower. To impress the students, he threw himself against the windows to demonstrate how robust the window was. This was a trick he had done several times, so he had full confidence to support his weight.
To be fair, the glass did hold his weight. The first time at least. The second time, the glass came out of his frame sending Hoy to his death. This could be seen as an act of self-defenestration. There is not much question surrounding malice with this one. It is evident that there was no ill-will by any parties. However, it is worth asking whether the glass company should suffer any liabilities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Garry_Hoy
2. The cruise ship death
Personally, I believe cruise ships should be banned. For mere enjoyment, they cause too much environmental damage. Several people have also died by falling out of cruise ships. We're discussing such a case next, and it involves a toddler.
Chloe Wiegand, 18 months old, was on holiday with her family. They had boarded the Royal Caribbean ship Freedom of the Seas and they were preparing to sail from Puerto Rico. Her grandfather, Salvatore Anello, had the child on the 11th floor where there was a play area for children. THe child wanted to see the view, so he took her to the edge of the room and, expecting for the child to lean on the window, let the child lean forward. Unfortunately, he discovered that there was no glass! The child fell out the window and to her death!
At first, this seems like a clear-cut case. The grandfather was old, couldn't see, and made a tragic error.
Not quite. Prosecutors obtained surveillance footage from the ship. It showed that the grandfather KNEW there was no glass. He is seen leaning over the railing for 8 seconds, clearly showing he knows there's no glass pane there. Following that, he picks up the toddler and holds her out of the window.
The grandfather was charged with negligent homicide, and he received 3 years probation in 2021.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/us/cruise-ship-death-grandfather-sentenced/index.html
It is worth noting that the parents don't seem to blame the grandfather. Instead, they sued the cruise line.
So where do you stand on the matter? Was this a case of old grandpa being clumsy? Or is there something a little more sinister going on?
3. Amber Hilberling
In 2011, Amber was married to Joshua Hilberling. There were of course some moments of fighting, but what couple doesn't have their off days? One day, they were in their apartment at the University Club Tower, when another argument broke out. It is worth noting that Amber was pregnant at the time. The arguing got physical, and she eventually pushed her husband, causing him to fall out of the window and to his death. He died instantly.
Amber has always insisted that it was a mistake. This did not convince the judge, who served her 25 years in prison for murder. It was her interrogation immediately after that was particularly darning. She basically confesses, and it gets worse when they bring her grandmother in because she just says a bunch of incriminating shit. It's the oldest trick in the book to leave you in the interrogation room with a family member, then recording the conversation.
Much like me, prosecutors highlighted just how horrific such a death is:
https://murderpedia.org/female.H/h/hilberling-amber.htm
Unfortunately, we'll never have the answers we seek regarding this case, as Amber was found dead in her cell in 2016. Her death was ruled a self-deletion.
It's easy to claim that she was the guilty party who committed cold-blooded murder, but I am sensitive to the fact that she was pregnant. She had two lives to take care off, and she was facing off against a larger man. Could it be that there was some degree of self-defence involved in this case?
4. Throwing stones
The last case is a bonus one, as it doesn't truly feature defenestration. In this case, someone isn't thrown out a window. Instead, something is thrown through a window, leading to a death.
Have you ever thrown stones off bridges? It seems to be a passtime for some teens, and it occasionally leads to death when the stones fall into cars. There is the infamous video which features a man driving when a brick suddenly falls through the window and kills his spouse. The sounds are unforgettable.
[171024181014-02-michigan-rock-throwing-teens-arraigned-super-169.jpg]
Kenneth White was driving in Michigan when a rock came hurtling down from a bridge on the I-75, almost decapitating him. He died. Who would do such a heinous act? Well, it was 5 boys: Mikadyn Payne, Trevor Gray, Alexzander Miller, Mark Sekelsky and Kyle Anger. The one you need to worry about is Kyle Anger. He was the one who threw the rock that resulted in the murder. Among the juveniles, Anger was the oldest and was not a minor. He was 19 at the time.
This wasn't the first time they were playing this game. They had previously damaged several vehicles and thrown many objects off the bridge, including a shopping cart. When the police started closing in on them, they panicked. They sent frantic texts to each other and a game of the Prisoner's Dilemma ensued where they all agreed to shut up. That didn't hold up for long, and the younger boys lumped the blame onto Anger. Consequently, he received 3 years to 20 years in prison. The rest of the boys got a single year probation each.
You can watch an interview of one of the parents of the boys on Dr Phil. I like the dad. He defends his son, which is predictable. However, he also accepts that his son has committed evil deeds and he needs punishment. So where we do we draw the line? How do we balance punishment with an understanding of the fragility of the young mind? Let's put it this way - do you believe these young boys have the same murderous intent as an adult killing their spouse?
Cases of teens fricking up always capture my attention. They're so young, it's barely fair to ruin their lives but there it is. They made bad choices, in a situation where they probably didn't have the maturity or experience to make better choices, and their lives are now totally ruined.
You can probably think of a few absolutely atrocious choices you made in your youth that continue to affect you to this day. In my case, it was studying English which has led to my current poverty and ability to shitpost here all day as a non-productive member of society. For these boys, they will now have to live with a kind of guilt they won't even fully understand until they are older. This stench will follow them everywhere, and their potential has been severely cut short. For some of these boys, they will probably never find stable employment, and they'll probably find their way back into prison against as a consequence.
There has to be a better solution to this.
Conclusion
Does true justice exist? I think the central problem is that we never have access to the pure truth. Everything we know and understand is interpreted by our minds and contextualized. Consequently, we never truly see what's there. How can justice be implemented in such a situation? We can only ever judge the models of people we have in our heads. We can never judge the people themselves, because we can never truly know them.
It is this conundrum that has me continually writing these pieces. Desperately, I try to understand these criminal cases and to make sense of human behaviour. Unfortunately, I am repeatedly left stumped. Human behavior is an enigma. Why would a grandfather hold a child out of a window? Would I throw stones if I was 16 and my friends were doing it? What truly happened in that apartment with Amber Hilberling?
We will never have the answers to these questions. However, by discussing these matters, we can hopefully, together, begin to make sense of human behaviour. Tune in next time for the following:
Spider-Man 2 review
Alan Wake 2 review
Comprehensive comparison of all current-gen gaming systems
Holly Willoughby queue-gate
A look at the SCUM manifesto and Valerie Solanas
- 69
- 152
I'll admit it - I don't like dogs. They're dangerous, loud, dirty, and they have no place in residential areas. Nevertheless, it is evident that many members of society, particularly women, are exceptionally fond of these creatures. The perception that woman love dogs disproportionately isn't imagined, and it's worth noting that it's a new trend. Many millennial women have opted to have dogs over children, and sometimes even husbands!
This is all good news for dogs. They're being invited into some of the most affluent homes in the world, and they are being pampered beyond belief. All that money that would have went to paying for a child's tuition, clothes, and other essentials is now spent caring for a canine.
With this information in mind, you would expect to see women have great relationships with dogs, and for dogs to appreciate their time with women. That is not what we're seeing. Instead, we are witnessing an increasing number of dog attacks on women specifically.
What could possibly explain this trend? Well, I have a theory. It is a drastic one, but I believe I have sufficient evidence to prove it. Warning, it does contain rather vile elements, but these are aspects of reality we cannot ignore. Please, feel free to debunk me where you find flaws, but I am certain there are few.
What causes dogs to bite?
So why do dogs bite? Well, a few reasons. Let's start with the least violent reasons. Dogs use their teeth to manipulate objects in the environment. This is typically known as a "soft bite" and it may be used to pick up a pup, for example. The soft bite is also used by hunters to retrieve fowl.
Some dogs have been bred to have a strong bite instinct to use when herding. This is especially useful when dealing with stubborn breeds of cattle that don't respond to the usual intimidation tactics from dogs. These small bites are known as "nips", and sometimes dogs will "nip" children in an attempt to hard them.
Dogs also bite as a form of communication. You see, dogs don't have words, but they do have barks and growls. Biting can be an extension of that. If a growl doesn't deter an unwanted threat, a bite is meant to get the job done.
Lastly, dogs bite to destroy. Like us, dogs can be angry, vengeful, and scared. In such situations, they may seek to destroy whatever is causing them upset. To do this, they maul. It is actually very rare for dogs to maul. Firstly, many dogs don't have the mauling instinct. They simply bite and release. Secondly, when dogs attack, they are typically scared. They don't want to spend more time near you than necessary. Mauling puts them close to their attacker, which is dangerous. Lastly, dogs are typically naive regarding humans, as we have bred them that way. There is very little benefit to biting a humans for a dog, unless they are defending themselves. This is not to say that dogs never bite for no reason. Of course not. However, they almost never maul for no reason.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PITBULL?
Quite frankly, I don't consider pitbulls to be domesticated dogs. They're feral animals. There's nothing domesticated about a pitbull. For normal dogs, mauling for no reason is exceptionally rare (usually such instances are due to old dogs suffering from dementia).
So what's my theory? It is simple: Many cases of dog bites involving women are instances of self defence. The dogs weren't attacking. They were defending themselves from women. I will take things a step further, and I know this is where I will lose most of you. The dogs are typically defending themselves from sexual assault or rap. No, I'm not joking in the slightest. I'm aware of the seriousness of my statements. I express them publicly because of the conclusions I have drawn.
A Case Study
Jacqueline Durand was a 22 year old girl who loved dogs, was in the University of Texas, had a boyfriend, and would dog walk in her free time. She was hired to walk the dogs of Dr Bishop and his wife Ashley. It was two dogs, one a German Shepherd and the other a Boxer (according to some reports it was a Boxer and Pitbull mix, though this hasn't been confirmed). What's important to note here is that Jacqueline had met the dogs prior, and even she admits they were sweet and showed no signs of aggression.
On 21 December 2022, she arrived at the house where she was to meet the dogs. According to Jacqueline, as soon as she opened the door, it triggered the alarm, causing the dogs to attack her for over an hour. During the attack, she sustained over a hundred bits and lost love 30% of her blood. She was terribly disfigured, and she will be facing for the next two years, as she stated in an interview earlier this year.
There are a few points I'd like to highlight. If they attacked her at the door, why was the main location of the mauling at the beds of the dogs? So did they drag her from the door to the living room because they wanted somewhere private and secluded to ensue the mauling? I struggle to understand why dogs would want to drag someone into the home. Dogs are territorial. If anything, they'd be trying to get her out of the house.
Secondly, she was found completely naked. COMPLETELY. You can see a snippet of the bodycam footage here, but be warned that it is extremely graphic.
How do dogs take off clothes? They haven't any hands. Are we supposed to believe that dogs took off her clothes? Everything, including bra and panties?! Here's my big question: for the facial reconstruction surgery, they took skin from her buttocks. How did the dogs take off her underwear without ripping the skin off her buttocks as well? So they were vicious enough to rip off her underwear but delicate enough to leave the skin of her buttocks intact to the point where it could be used for grafting. Bullshit. Yes, it should be clear what I am implying - she entered the house of her own according, found the dogs alone as she was anticipating, and proceeded to remove her own clothing.
These dogs were in the home of a doctor, who lived with a child, and none of them had ever been victimized by the dogs. Why did they then, out of the blue, decide to chew on a human being for the next hour? Something triggered them. I put it to you that these dogs were provoked, and you know how.
Since then, she has tried to press charges on the Bishop family. The only evidence that the dogs showed any kind of aggression prior was a sign warning visitors not to press the doorbell or else it'll get the dogs going. Nothing at all abnormal about dogs reacting to the doorbell. Plenty of dogs go nuts when the doorbell rings, including friendly dogs anticipating visitors.
The clothing is the most darning piece of evidence for me. The second most darning evidence is the fact that Jacqueline still loves dogs. She still owns dogs (large ones of course), and she wants to work with dogs. This isn't a normal love of dogs. There is something else going on here, a deep attraction to these beasts that goes beyond anything rational. I will not overlook the fact that one of the worst dog attack victims in recent memory still can't keep her hands off dogs. That's not quirky, that's paraphilia.
Conclusion
Think about how many dogs have been put down following a dog attack. Oftentimes, we don't know what happened and the only people around to give an account are the victims and any potential survivors. Do you think we know the whole story? So many cases of mothers home with children who claim the dog suddenly snapped and ate the kids. We've been so quick to assume that the animals were acting wild. Never have we asked whether the dogs were the victims.
Self-defence is not a crime, especially against unwanted sexual contact. Next time you hear about a woman who was alone and suddenly got attacked by dogs, think twice.
- 43
- 33
Assassin's Creed Mirage
Assassin's Creed: Mirage (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S [reviewed on PS5])
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: 5 October 2023
We find ourselves with yet another Assassin's Creed game on our hands. It would be so easy to treat it with indifference, especially in a year where AAA games have been coming in a non-stop conga line. However, I find myself spending way more hours with the game than I anticipated. Assassin's Creed isn't the best game this year - not by a long mile - but it says some very important things about the future of the gaming industry and our world. Heed what it says, for it speaks wisdom.
Today, we'll be reviewing Assassin's Creed: Mirage. In the lead-up to the game's release, Ubisoft has very much marketed it as a return to form for the franchise. In many ways, it is. But it also represents the franchise at its most confident, and it is evident that a lot has been learned from the world's reception to Valhalla and the often loathed “Ubisoft formula”.
This is much more than an Assassin's Creed throwback. It's one of the first must-play titles in the franchise in over a decade. Go with me on this journey through the sacred streets of ancient Baghdad. I think you might like what you find.
A word on Islam
In short, Islam is a religion centred on the teaching of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH), and belief in a divine creator called Allah. The five pillars of Islam are:
Profession of Faith (shahada) - A true Muslim believes in the Tawhid, the oneness of God.
Alms (zakat) - You must donate your money to mosques and charity
Fasting (sawm) - This is practiced during Ramadaan
Pilgrimage (hajj) - All able-bodied Muslims must make the Pilgrimage to the Hajj in Saudi Arabia at least once in their lifetime
Prayer (salat) - Prayer is observed five times a day, facing the Kaaba
Islam is one of the youngest major world religions, having only gained its footing in the 7th century. Despite this, it is very easy to make the argument that Islam is the most important religion of our lifetimes and one of the biggest zeitgeist-makers.
Don't believe me? Let's analyse the stats. Islam has 1.9 billion adherents, making it the second-biggest religion sitting just behind Christianity. It is expected to surpass Christianity within the next 30 years to reach a peak of 2.2 billion, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Furthermore, 79 countries will have a million or more Muslim inhabitants in 2030, up from 72 countries today.
What could be fueling this love of such a patriarchal religion? Does society crave order and rules? Does Islam contain a central truth that has managed to shine through the confusion and disquiet of our times? I can't answer these questions, but I can say that Islam is a beautiful religion that has given birth to stunning cultures. We get to explore some of the history of Islam in Assassin's Creed: Mirage, the latest entry in Ubisoft's flagship franchise.
Background
Assassin's Creed: Mirage is one of Ubisoft's most profitable franchises. Unfortunately, it hasn't been doing too well lately, and although Assassin's Creed: Valhalla performed well commercially, it was impossible to ignore the mounting criticisms facing the franchise.
Mirage comes at a time when Ubisoft's future hangs in the balance. Many of its latest titles have failed to reach expected milestones, leading to lower-than-expected financial results. Consequently, several Ubisoft titles have been cancelled (including a Splinter Cell VR game and a new Prince of Persia game).
In many ways, Assassin's Creed: Mirage is a response to the prevailing criticism. The franchise has gone on a diet, and you can complete this in about 20 hours if you rush, 30 if you slow down to take in the sights. Furthermore, it returns to the franchise's roots by focusing on stealth gameplay.
Developers haven't been afraid to reveal just how much they're appealing to nostalgia. For example, you can even throw on a filter that makes the game feel like the first entry in the series. The work wasn't for nothing, at least in my opinion. I'm here today to say that it is the best Assassin's Creed game in recent years.
Story
Admittedly, I haven't played any other prior Assassin's Creed game except for a bit of Liberation on my Vita a few years ago, but I managed to get into the story without any issues.
Assassin's Creed: Mirage stars Basim who you'll recognize from Valhalla. He begins his life as a typical street thief who gets by through pickpocketing. One day, a revenge killing results in the death of a young child, leading Basim on a path to redemption which has him joining the Hidden Ones. He is guided by Roshan though, as you learn, their relationship isn't as it initially seems.
I like Basim as a character, though at times it does feel like the accent is being laid on a little too thick. Furthermore, it is strange to watch him anguish over this one particular death when he commits large-scale atrocities throughout the game's playtime, killing dozens of guards simply doing their jobs. It is hard to believe he cares that much about murder when he murders so frequently.
Although the story is about Basim, it is impossible to not feel like Baghdad is a character as well. The setting oozes personality. The hawkers on the streets, villagers on their way to classes, and wildlife immediately transport you to an Oriental dream. Take me to the Islamic Golden Age, please! One of my favorite details is the fact that if you walk up to a mosque, you can sometimes hear the sacred call to prayer. It is enough to bring me to tears. Baghdad consists of the following areas:
Abbasiyah – where scholars and scientists congregate
Karkh – market district
Harbiyah -The industrial district
Madinat As-Salam – Baghdad's center
Turn this historical city into your playground, but don't forget to show your proper respects. Oftentimes, media depicts Baghdad as a war-torn place where nothing good happens. Nonsense! This is a cultural hub, and it is great that the region is receiving positive attention.
The game explores Basim's backstory as a young thief in Baghdad, and we learn a lot that expands his character. Nevertheless, you can fully appreciate the game without playing any prior titles. Newcomers won't be lost. In fact, this is a great game for anyone who wants a taste of what the franchise is about. However, if you want to understand the plot in its totality, you need some experience with the franchise, especially the first three games and Valhalla.
Gameplay
From early on, it is evident that we're dealing with a game that is stealth to the core. As you wind through the streets of Baghdad, you have plenty of opportunities to blend into the crowd, leap on roofs, and slide into sidestreets. You're also given plenty of cowtools to enter stealth. This includes noisemakers to distract foes, smoke bombs to conceal yourself, and throwing knives for silent kills.
The stealth gameplay is fun, and this comes from someone who's a big stealth gaming fan. This is easily my favorite part of the game. Nevertheless, it's not perfect. Most notably, you can do many of the annoying stealth cheesing tactics you typically find in bad stealth games. For example, you can just hide in a bush, whistle, and then murder guards one by one, leaving you with a singular pile of dead bodies.
Though the main story is short, there is plenty to do around Baghdad. You can complete World Contracts which earn you Favor Tokens. You can also complete the Tales of Baghdad which teach you more about the region's culture. Do not miss these if you want to learn more about Islam! There are also your typical collectibles including lost books and mysterious shards.
If it pleases you, it is possible to engage in crime and pickpocket locals. Be careful when you're engaging in criminal mischief because if you get caught, you'll be wanted. Allah is watching of course, but you'll face immediate danger from guards.
Like past games, you'll find wanted posters around which you can rip down to reduce the odds of you getting caught. If you're tired of running from the law, you can pay off your bounty. Here are the wanted levels:
1st threshold: wanted posters are stuck around
2nd threshold: guards and archers look for you, and civilians will report you
3rd threshold: The Elite Shakiriyya guard is unleashed
You have an eagle companion! Use it to scout but be careful, as archers can take it down. Lastly, there is a skill tree to focus on, but it doesn't feel like a major part of the game or something you need to grind for. Instead, you have the freedom to enjoy the story, and if you don't want to do any of the side activities, that's perfectly fine as well.
Audio and visuals
The game looks stunning. The streets are vibrant, and you get to enjoy varied environments including deserts, busy markets, and oases, to name a few. On PS5, you have a Quality and PErformance mode. Go for Quality, as you'll still get a consistent 60FPS. You'll also find lots Islamic art, and as you'd expect, none of it depicts any living things.
The music is great, allowing you to easily immerse yourself in the time period. These are the sounds of Islam and I love them.
Criticisms
There are a few things I don't like about the gameplay. Let's start with the minor stuff. You have “eagle vision”, essentially x-ray vision. I hate it, and I hate any game that does it. To me, it just indicates that you haven't designed your world well enough to be organically explored.
There are also those Ubisoft annoyances you can't escape. You can't reasonably without having some degree of a HUD up. The image above is the cleanest your screen is going to get. It is so annoying, especially when we're presented with such a gorgeous world. Modern games have come up with so many solutions to having an ugly compass on your screen. Dynamic HUDs, path indicators, and companion guides are just some of the creative solutions that have become industry standards. For Ubisoft to be lagging behind and still cluttering your screen is just frustrating.
Cats
Cats are beloved in Islam! They are considered to be clean animals, so clean that they are allowed to enter mosques. According to Mohammad (PBUH), "Affection for cats is part of faith”, and according to (often refuted) folklore, the prophet had a cat named Muezza.
Mirage has cats! You'll find them on the streets as you walk through Baghdad. Look out for the ones with the AC crest on their nose.
Conclusion
At present, according to Pew research, there are at least 49 countries that have a Muslim population of over 50%. For a while, Albania and Kosovo have been the only Western countries to have a majority Muslim population.
That's about to change. Why? Well, for starters, the Muslim population is expected to grow by 35% in the next 20 years. In contrast, Christian conversion rates are going down. As research reveals, the following countries are predicted to become majority Muslim within the century:
Cyprus
Sweden
France
Greece
Belgium
Bulgaria
Italy
Luxembourg
UK
Slovenia
Switzerland
Ireland
Lithuania
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/PRR-12-2018-0034/full/html
Let's get more specific. In the USA, the population projections show the number of Muslims more than doubling over the next two decades, rising from 2.6 million in 2010 to 6.2 million in 2030. You'll also be interested to learn the following:
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/01/27/the-future-of-the-global-muslim-population
This is the greatest thing I have ever learned. The world is about to change for the better. You better enjoy Assassin's Creed: Mirage because there will be so many more games that embrace Islam as the beautiful word of Allah penetrates Western society. Once you hear the Word, you can't deny its truth. It is like being in the desert and finding water, like taking a breath of fresh air just when you are about to drown.
AC Mirage gets 65/100 Hollys.
- 138
- 219
Edit2: I'll categorize this list by activity and create sub-categories later today and probably add to it over time. I put it together so it'd be easier for people to find fun fringe drama or otherwise be entertained. Enjoy!
Please comment if you have others to add to the list. I bit off more than I can chew because apparently there's thousands of these, so I omitted ones that were boring, inactive, and/or redundant.
General or Misc Fringe
New Age
Paranoid/Classic
Religion, Politics, & Conspiracy (aka BORING)
Occult
Scientific & Historical
Lifestyle
Lite
Edit: Oops, pressed enter too soon
- 61
- 77
I gained uncapped interweb recently and watched a whole lot of garbage at night recently after work.
Additionally i've been Yugioh-maxxing Legacy of the Dualist (the link-shit one) past 3 weeks, and in like 3 weeks amassed 123 hours 
now granted about 30-40% of that time was just idling, but for me that's a lot of time gaymermaxxing, don't know about you strags
I one night suddenly got the urge to see how badly the original, by now 20 years old, show had aged after killing my brain with Yugioh memes and Abridged 
watching from LittleKuriboh
But then i remembered the insane asylum of the infamous Season zero
https://g*merant.com/yu-gi-oh-season-0
For those of u who dont know, before the famous nerd series aired in Burgerland at April 18, 2000, and permanently ensured a whole generation of neckbeards and weebcels, there existed another precurser show, which acted as a prototype to the Yu-gi-oh show we would later know as Season 1.
Way back two years prior, in April 4th, 1998 in Nipponland. This would be based on the same source material of Kazuki Takahashi (the guy who created the comic of Yugioh). But the original season 0 was based on Kazuki's earliest comic works, and consequently sold and was viewed poorly, the anime would have descended into obscurity forever like so many mediocre ones if it had not been due to the fictional game of Duel Monsters taking place within the anime of seazon zero.
Nippon fanbois were so impressed by the concept of duel monsters, that even though season zero sold badly, and didn't really attract a substantial following, a lot of his turbo fans begged him to expand upon the Phaoronic shadow games in which people had their minds r$ped and souls torn from their bodies when they played the prototype of the precerser to Dual Monsters.
Additionally Kazuki's original comic manuscripts was pretty dark and horror themed stuff. There was egyptian curses, body horror, and lots of violence. It was much darker than contemporary teenager marketed weebshit (like Dragonball, sailor moon, mewmew shit and once piece.
Thus the execs in Nippon didn't know how to market it, and by trying to turn it into kid friendly shit, they also kind off sand blasted much of the horror elements away.
But the anime and comic would also diverge (from article):
"What really started to hurt the anime was that by the time the series was airing the manga was evolving into a very different beast than what it had started out as. While Shadow Games were still played, Takahashi was leaning more into the card battle aspect. The manga was becoming more fun and less horror-fill compared to the TV series, which viewers were largely not responding well to."
" it became clear at one point that the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime had failed. To test the waters on future episodes, Toei produced what would today be known as a ‘soft reboot' with a thirty-minute movie produced for animation festivals. Unlike the TV series, it resembled the card centric stories of the later manga stories and had much better animation. The problem was the movie wasn't any better received by fans of the manga, and there were feelings by Toei management that the franchise was not salvageable."
"On the manga side Takahashi and his editors were retooling the series to launch a card game and needed a show that would sell it. Around this time Toei had signed on to create a new anime called One Piece, and with neither side happy with the results of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the two parties decided to mutually part ways. Yu-Gi-Oh! would be released on VHS but would never get a DVD release. It hasn't re-aired since 1999 and no attempt has been made to bring the series to other countries in a legal manner."
Like the transformers cartoon which sold buckets in conjunction with its associated cartoon, a media company called the infamous 4Kids would see the merchandise potential of Yugioh (the season 1 reboot), and port it over into burgerland, and more significantly into english, in which it would explode into popularity all over the anglospere speaking world.
"No one can blame anyone for the first attempt of adapting Yu-Gi-Oh! falling flat on its face. The studio was adapting material from a genre they weren't known for. The manga had not found its true voice yet. There was no way to know how much the priorities of the manga author and his editors would change. When all was said and done, it resulted in a series that certainly isn't bad, but it doesn't reflect what most people associate with Yu-Gi-Oh! So disconnected from everything that would come afterwards, this single season series has been dubbed ‘Season 0' by fans, for its lack of place in the larger universe of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise."
The tone difference between the season zero and what comes after it is pretty fricking stark, and it's not just the "kids friendly" nature of subsequent seasons.
THE ACTUAL PLOT OF SEASON ZERO:
Before I buzz off on the plot of Season zero, man do I have to comment on the shit quality of the animation 
I haven't watched anime, the weebshit kind, in like over a year, and I've forgotten how utterly fricking lazy japs can be when it comes to cutting costs of animation compared to their western cartoon counterparts, holy heck 
The show has the obnoxious and repulsive habit of have loooooong still frames, where the characters don't move and only talk, and by talking i mean only their lips are mobile, when monsters attack or people punch each other, the entire graphic just slides across the screen, with no limbs bending or anything, like a student slideshow.
This doesn't happen all the time, and the animation quality does improve from time to time, especially in climactic scenes, but holy heck is it noticible if you guys ever watch this directly after something like a 2D disney movie or something. 
anyways the actual plot: basically Yugi is total fricking psychopath 
Or rather the Pharoah 
spirit which takes hold of yugi's body after a crisis moment, and alters his personality from an squeecky toy into a giga chad overflowing with confidence.
After the pilot episode begins in much the same way as it would in the reboot of season 1 - where Yugi unlocks the pharoah alternate personality from the Millennium Puzzle, the show takes a divergence by having a schooby-Doo 
monster-of-the-week format, in which Yugi basically super-sentai 
power ranger transforms into the Pharoah alternate personality to deal with criminals and bullies, by challenging them to games.
But not just any games!! 
Specifically SHADOW GAMES!! 
They call it in the extremely badly translated unofficial subs, the Yami-games of rather the Shadow-games, where it's basically a prototype of the duals in which the loser gets his souls sent to the shadowrealm
You guys remember the Shadowrealm? In the 4Kids dub of the Season 1 onwards Yugioh, they censored 
the living shit out of the anime meant for fragile amerifats living in the puritan land of Florida. In the original Jap anime people losing Shadowgames basically just died then and there, but since all death was 
in Burgerland translations, our moron friends replaced the translation of people losing the Shadowgames in dualmonsters, by basically having their FRICKING SOULS SENT TO THE SHADOW REALM FOR ALL ETERNITY! 
Talk about creating an eternal fate worse than death, and a meme still inhabiting the internet today
Right anyways back to Season Zero In the monster/bully/criminal of the week episode, some douchebag accosts the friend circle of Yugi by beating them up or literally waving guns 
to their heads, and the anti-hero-like Pharoah spirit takes over Yugi's mind/body/actions (show is never clear on this)
and effectively challenges the culprit of the episode to a Dual-....I mean to a Shadowgame!
The game is different per episode, where basically Yugi goes full daredevil 
by challenging the douchebag from weird games of cards, to dice, to to something extreme like chicken against a gun toting badguy of the day. 
When Yugi-Paroah inevitably wins the Shadowgame, the loser gets MINDRAPED by the pharaoh by suffering an extremely painful fate, like BURNING ALIVE 
, or being eaten alive by worms.
Or at least in their minds, as Yugi-Pharaoh appears to have the magic power of MINDRPING 
the badguy into believing a terrible fate has befallen then if they lose the magic shadowgame. Usually the dudes are physically unharmed, but are afterwards so terribly traumitized by the MINDRPING, that they have to go to mental hospitals, or bullies have to be transferred ect. Basically Yugi Season Zero has zero fricking chill 
Anyways on episode 3 is when legends are born. This is the 1st instance of the reoccuring villain Seto Kaiba is introduced, and remarkably would be the only villain to escape from Yugi's MINDR*PING, because they end their 1st Shadowgame in a draw. 
Additionally the fictional game of Dualmonsters are introduced in this episode, and basically the fans in their fanletters would constantly b-word to Kazuki (the creator), to forget this shadowgames crap and go back to the Dualmonsters cardgame bro 
The episode 3 begins with Kaiba and goons beating the shit out of random peeps to take their rare cards
Our friends learn about the dualmonsters game
and meet kaiba who for some fricking reason has green hair 
The same basic plot points as in the reboot; kaiba learns of the super special awesome Blue-Eyes r*pe-dragon which Yugi's grandpa owns, offers to guy it, but gramps tells him to GTFO.
stuff happens, and kaiba steals yugi's card, and beats up his useless friends
Kaiba's goons try to beat up Yugi, which activates the Super Sentai Power Ranger transformation, into Chad-Yugi,
with his balls dropped, and his voice having breached puberty Yugi then gets ready for some MINDR*PING. He beats up the goons and challenges Kaiba to the 1st ever aired on TV 
Dual monster game!
Kaiba is shocked that the cards come to life and actually physically fight to death in from of them. Stuff happens and the game ends in a draw, which will be the only shadowgame where the badguy avoids a good old MINDR*PING, and ensuring that Kaiba is a recurring badguy.
Anyways I have no idea if it's worth reccomending. Many episodes are on youtube. But man this season has aged badly compared to the reboot, the characters are ugly, the animation is stilted, and the colouring is just plain weird.
7/10
Blundering Bishops and Crowed Commoners 
[Commie Waco Pt.2]
- 8
- 56
Wowie, it's that time again! Another loooongpost about Anabaptists and the siege of Munster! This time, we're getting to the actual siege part! Last time LINK we touched briefly on what Anabaptism itself is, then how it came to dominate Munster, and the powers-that-be's response to that takeover (they weren't happy). Now, we're going to see how their campaign on the Anabaptists played out and what those scampy little sectarians get up to in the meantime 
=========
A NEW ZION
=========
With Jan Matthias dead Van Leyden jockeyed to replace him. If you remember from last time, van Leyden had a bit of a hysterical freak-out (trust him it was, like, totally real guys) and said that he was about to receive a vision from God telling them what to do about the vacuum left after Mattias' head's departure from his body.
Turns out, the government wasn't up to snuff for the big man upstairs. Nominally, things were still run by the old elected council and its co-mayors, a government that better reflected the bygone heathen times than the holy new order. And what better way to ensure the government is sufficiently holy than mimicking that of old Israel? 
The council was abolished, replaced by an appointed assembly of 12 elders, but as more of a rubber stamp than a true legislature. Knipperdolling received the office of Schwertfuhrer (literally sword-leader), tasked with the enforcement of the new government's rule. Rothmann remained officially untitled, but kept his position as something of a propaganda minister.
""""The elders"""" issued a new law code, creating offenses for things such as "idle conversation" and "disobeying the elders."
Various informal procedures were stadardized. Food and resource management were reformed and certain behaviors were restricted and enforced to align with Anabaptists sensibilities. The doors to homes were required to be left open, clothes could neither be too fine nor too ragged, meals were to be held in common, any misbehavior was to be reported to the authorities, etc.
Individual autonomy was sacrificed to God and the shared goal of the Anabaptist movement. Designed to be unreasonably restrictive, the Laws' intent was not to make a set of standards by which to govern society, but to subject Munster to the arbitrary will of those in power. The new government accomplished with threats and violence what Matthias once had with words.
Some people might say that the new measures fly in the face of the very basis of Anabaptism, the doctrine of free choice. Some people also ended up on the wrong end of the executioner's block.
=================
RIDER ON A RED HORSE
=================
While the Anabaptists built their government's new rotten structure, Bishop Franz plotted to kick the door in. He hoped for a quick assault, to use his overwhelming forces and put an end to the madness in his city. A fast resolution was practically needed, as he was hemorrhaging money.
Mercenary armies are expensive, and he'd bit off a bit more off than he could chew. He'd already put himself in a mountain of debt to just hire the army, speaking nothing of the cost of upkeep. His mercenaries could tell, too; they failed to receive regular pay and supplies, and some took this as a signal to jump boat, either deserting or moving over to the Anabaptists. Loyalest mercs and most fiscally responsible nobleman.
The plan was simple enough: bring in peasants for the hard labor of filling in the moats, use artillery to blast a hole in the walls, and send the soldiers to kill and hopefully not get killed at sunrise, May 25th. Oh, what is it they say about mice and men? Don't be r-slurred or you'll get shot? Something like that.
Anyway, the soldiers got drunk the night before and began the assault at sunset, not sunrise. Drunken and disorganized, the mercenaries were slaughtered. The failed assault greatly shook the morale of the Bishop's men, who Franz now suspected of disloyalty.
The defeat in late May made worse the humiliations the Bishop already suffered. Aside from the daily jeering coming from the garrison at the walls, the Anabaptists had before staged a couple incidents aimed at the ego of both Franz and the mercenaries.
They'd once built a chariot of wine barrels pulled by two horses, and sent it out a gate to the besieging army, among whom wine was scarce. The manure that poured from the barrels into the army's trenches upon destruction of the cart was unlikely to slake the soldiers' thirst. Another time, the defenders of the city sent out a dummy dressed in mock-up Bishop's wear. riding a horse. The mercenaries chased the dummy down, thinking it was one of the enemy, while a crowd laughed at them from a city gate.
Some say war's Heck, but maybe it's just what you make of it 
===============
THE SECOND CIRCLE
===============
Jan van Leyden had actually been married thrice now. Once to his wife back in the Netherlands (who he abandoned along with two children), again to a daughter of Knipperdolling (who abandoned Munster and van Leyden sometime earlier), and finally to Divara, widow of Jan Matthias. It may have been his personal inability to keep it in his pants, then, that motivated the government to not only allow multiple marriages for men, but to legally require them.
Pointing to the Biblical command of "go forth and multiply" and examples set by various Old Testament patriarchs, every woman in the city was mandated to take a husband, and every man, a wife. Being that women substantially outnumbered men as residents of Munster, polygamy naturally followed. Men without multiple or few wives were branded impious and women who refused to take husbands were executed. An incel's dream. 
This was going liiiittle too far. Even Rothmann, the ever-loyal propagandist, was reportedly less than enthused when delivering his daily sermons (though that didn't stop him from taking additional wives). Rumors of licentiousness floated around the Anabaptist leaders, particularly van Leyden. It didn't help that "all women" apparently included prepubescent girls. Snappy, how do strags reproduce?
Some measures were walked back, but it was too little too late. Van Leyden had underestimated the loyalty, or subservience, of Munster's population. On July 30th, many of the discontented, lead by Henry Mollenheck, the local blacksmith, allied themselves with the deserter mercenaries living in the city and took the Anabaptist leadership hostage in the city hall's jail. Van Leyden, Knipperdolling, and Rothmann were all captured.
For all his bold action, Mollenheck was hardly a sound strategist. The mutineers had no idea of what to do beyond the capture of the leaders, and sat around doing nothing while Herman Tilbeck, former mayor and then elder, rallied some of the garrison. A short siege-within-a-siege occurred at the city hall, ending after Mollenheck's forces were pushed to the second floor and the leader of the mercenaries was killed. None of the Anabaptist leaders were injured.
Around 120 men had joined in the mutiny, and it was unrealistic to execute them all, despite the wants of Anabaptist leadership. In his capacity as Schwertfuhrer, it was up to Knipperdolling to administer justice. Of the 49 executed, a plurality were beheaded. Some were cut in half at the waist. Others were tied to gravestones or trees and shot after having their arms removed. One man was sliced down the middle while begging for a chance to say goodbye to his wife and children. This was the last episode of true resistance within the city.
You might feel bad for them. The rebel's cause seemed just enough, but their short sightedness was astounding. I'm not exaggerating, either. All they did was capture the leaders and then nothing else 
=======
BETHULIA
=======
So Franz's first assault was a failure, sure, but he still had the upper hand! He had more men, more resources, and certainly more fire power. Philip of Hesse had gifted him "The Devil" and "The Devil's Mother," two massive artillery pieces whose deafening blasts echoed throughout every encampment encircling Munster. These cannons alone made for excellent siege weaponry.
They were to be used in a second assault, their fire concentrated on the city's main gate, destroying it and clearing an opening to funnel soldiers through. The moat surrounding the city had been filled in once again. You can't expect an army to carry out an effective attack when wading through muddy water. The Bishop even made sure his soldiers hadn't drank the day before. That's how you can tell this plan was truly genius: by the fact that it's exactly the same as the old one, minus alcohol.
The artillery opened fire on the 28th of August, and van Leyden deserves some credit for his reaction to the opening volleys. The entire day, he rode back and forth across Munster's lines, commanding his garrison while cannon balls, arrows, and bullets whizzed past him. The Anabaptists managed to respond with enough fire power to ward off assault from the Bishop's army after the outer wall had been destroyed, the day passing without any direct combat.
The second day of action came on the 31st. Heavy rain had deterred the men from any operation in the intermediary period, and undone all the hard work the Bishop's peasant labor conscripts performed filling the moat. Still determined to carry on the assault, the Bishop had his men supplied with makeshift straw rafts with which to wade across the water. Blasting through the equally makeshift repairs the Anabaptists patched the walls with, the mercenaries actually made it past the first set of them this time. Climbing up the tattered inner walls with ladders, the soldiers initiated combat on the last line of defense before the city proper.
These mercenaries were veterans, experienced in the many wars ravaging Europe post-reformation. They'd fought in France, Spain, Italy, even their very home country of Germany, while the Anabaptists' was limited to what action they'd seen earlier in the siege. The Anabaptists were believers, zealous, but not soldiers, so the fighting was a slaughter... for the mercenaries.
Turns out no amount of experience in soldiery can make up for the fact that they had to climb ladders while being shot with bullets and arrows, wreaths of fire snagging on them, tossed from the edge above, boiling oil and quicklime coating their bodies from cauldrons prepared up high. Those who escaped death on the wall were sitting ducks at it's base, makeshift straw rafts providing inadequate transport for a retreating force now panicking. The Anabaptists suffered 15 losses to the mercenaries' hundreds, including 42 officers. Womp Womp 
Franz von Waldeck was surely furious again, but his rage was impotent. He was broke and humiliated, without results and devoid of the wealth required to maintain his army of mercenaries. But he wasn't alone in his fight. Several neighboring princes of Germany had taken interest in the conflict, including Emperor Charles V himself, recognizing the potentially existential danger it posed to the social order.
Despite his recent failings, the Bishop could still rely on practically guaranteed support from his peers. With time on his side, rather than risk yet more men in further assaults, the Bishop dug his army in around the city, tightening the blockade. He was preparing for a prolonged siege, one that would be won by cutting off Munster's defenders from necessary supplies. The Bishop then retired to a palace in Iburg, one of his lands, to wait out the Anabaptists. In his absence, Count Wirich von Dhaun-Falkenstein was left in charge of the day-to-day operations of the army.
============
DAVID'S CROWN
============
The failure of both the Bishop's assault and Mollenheck's rebellion emboldened the Anabaptists. Gone were the days of unrest and opposition experienced after Matthias' death and the institution of polygamy. Before this backdrop of renewed assurance in their cause, Johann Drusentschur, a resident goldsmith, found himself whipping up crowds in the plazas and streets of Munster. You see, he had a vision! A HOLY VISION! Sent from GOD no less! With the sheer volume of prophets receiving visions lately you'd wonder what Munsterite lacked the ability to commune with the divine.
He drew crowds nonetheless. And what he had to say was as astounding as it was predictable. Jan van Leyden, of course, was no ordinary divinely appointed messenger. No; he was greater than that, better than that, far more important than that. Van Leyden wasn't meant to preach. He wasn't meant to prophesy. He wasn't some over glorified mailman in Heaven's postal service! He was meant to LEAD! Drusentschur placed a crown atop van Leyden's head, gave him a scepter and a sword, and offered him the throne of David, King of Israel. Only the throne was metaphorical.
Van Leyden accepted his new duty. Far be it from him to refuse God's command. But, believe him, he wanted to. He made a big show of it—his confession. How unworthy he was of such a high office, to be supreme executive of God's Holy Kingdom on Earth, destined to rule the world as patron of the faithful. It was only his humility, his loyalty to God, that forced him to accept, prostrate before Drusentschur and the crowd gathered at Cathedral square.
It's this moment that some historians say the Anabaptist movement became as farcical as it had once been revolutionary. Drusentschur was more van Layden's toadie than God's messenger. Others praise van Leyden for his irony. In accepting kingship, he was making a mockery of the very feudal system Munster was rebelling against. No modern source portrays the coronation as genuine.
===========
ADAM DELVED
===========
King Jan wasn't satisfied with the title alone. He's king, and he wanted all the trappings that came with that job. Or God did, sure, whatever... It was God who wanted the ruler of His kingdom to be dressed in the finest clothes available, draped in golden jewelry, accompanied by royal guardsmen, and living in a palace. He wanted all of that. 
Luckily, he had most of that available. Van Leyden designed a crest, two blades piecing a globe, and attached the symbol to the uniforms of public officials. For himself, van Leyden ordered a red silken robe tailored. He wore necklaces and rings, one for each finger, forged alongside a golden throne, to be placed in Cathedral Square. Two young men were stationed at either side of the throne, one holding a sword and the other the Old Testament. The king held daily assemblies there, passing judgement onto those accused of violating the law.
The mansion of the Bishop's representative in Munster, who had long since fled, was seized. Converted into a palace, van Leyden staffed the residence appropriately. Servers, chefs, butlers, attendants, all were appointed. The palace staff numbered over 100 people when fully assembled. Divara, his queen and first wife, was given her own residence, complementary staff included.
No king was complete without his court and van Leyden was no exception. Knipperdolling was made chief minister, effectively second in command, as he had always been. Rothmann's position as Anabaptist spokesman was finally formalized. A new schwertfuhrer was appointed, along with a marshal, Herman Tilbeck. The Kretching brothers, two minor noblemen who had joined the Anabaptist cause, were both given high positions. Bernard Kretching managed the commanders of the garrison, while his brother, Henry Kretching, was named chancellor. A royal guard was formed, given steeds and priority rations. Christoph von Waldeck, bastard son of the Bishop, counted among their number.
Van Leyden was living it up! Aren't you jealous? You should be, because he kept all this prosperity to himself and his staff. The commoners were all made to swear a vow of poverty while van Leyden and his friends lived their best. And the opening sentences weren't just me being facetious, either. The official line from the government was that King Jan HAD to live in luxury, as anything less wouldn't be properly honoring God. Van Leyden himself claimed to derive no joy from Earthy pleasures. Nevermind how a man can be content in asceticism, but not God.
================
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
================
The siege dragged on while van Leyden played royal. The months had seen no serious action after the blockade of the city was tightened, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing for the Anabaptists. They had the defensive advantage, they had the resources and will to fight, but the didn't have time.
Hunger hadn't yet set in, but food stores were slowly depleting and what little was produced within the walls wasn't nearly enough to feed the populace alone. Van Leyden had talked of a sally, the priests had preached of reinforcements, but days turned into nights, deadlines passed, no help materialized, and no offensive action was ordered. Anxieties rose once again within Munster and the new king needed to find ways to assuage them.
A number of public feasts and games were held, but the feasts no longer featured full meals, as they once had. Wine, bread, and meats were served at public banquets meant to satisfy the people's hunger. For the average Anabaptist, not starving, yet still anxious over when the next meal would come, enjoying a meal surrounded by neighbors and friends may have been enough to forget about those worries for a time.
Of the games, the joust was a favorite of van Leyden, who competed while riding a white horse he'd taken possession of upon being declared king. Clearly being the superior athlete, van Leyden always won the games he participated in. 
Van Leyden was lucky to have his theater experience, especially at a time like this. He had not only been an actor back in the Netherlands, but a minor playwright as well. Acted out in St. Lambert's Cathedral, one play featured a mock Catholic mass. Severed animal limbs were thrown on stage as "religious offerings." Actors dressed as monks sang Catholic hymns, their lyrics rewritten to be vulgar parodies of the originals, and punctuated by the monks lifting their robes, revealing their bare asses, and farting on que. At the end, Rothmann took take stage, declaring the show just as holy as any real mass.
For all the entertainment van Leyden organized, the people still needed some proof of action. Good words could only reassure them for so long. For that reason, or maybe because van Leyden feared his growing influence, Drusentschur had another vision.
At one of the public feasts, the Goldsmith suddenly stood on the table, announcing his vision to the king and his subjects. Though future days looked increasingly grim, God had not abandoned them. He was going to deliver them from hardship, but first required His word to reach the far corners of the world. For this task, 27 Apostles had been revealed. Drusentschur presented a list of names to King Jan of those who had been chosen for this holy task. The resident schoolmaster Henry Graes and Drusentschur himself were of those names listed.
Upon the departure of the apostles and their wives (all 134 of them), the citizens of Munster could only hope and speculate on the status of their mission. With the blockade tightened, scant few details reached Munster from the world outside. Rumors abounded of the mission's spectacular results. A great army had been raised to March on Rome, seat of the false Pontiff. In the Netherlands, thousands of true believers were gathering to rescue the besieged Munster. In England Henry VIII had broke with Rome been rebaptized as a Brother in the Company of Christ. 
But are any of these true? Guess you'll just have to wait to find out... 
Yeah, this is gonna be a three-parter. Woooowwww I don't know how that Boer does it. 
I didn't explain it in depth since I couldn't figure out how to fit it in and keep the semblance of flow I'm looking too, but van Leyden marrying Divara is actually a big deal. It sets him up as a sort of successor to Matthias and lends him legitimacy in an era mostly politically dominated by familial relations.
And I don't know if you caught the contradiction, but Matthias' vision before his death was that he'd kill the Bishop's army completely alone, yet he took a group of soldiers out with him. That was the excuse van Leyden gave for why it didn't work out and how it was actually a good thing that Matthias was dead. Next one will probably be about Munster's fall. Ooohhhh spoilers. Wouldn't want to give away how this 500 year old event ends cuz I just know your biting your fingers to the bone to know whether or not God's kingdom conquered the world.
Blood streaming down from your wrist's exposed innards, bones pearly white from how thoroughly you've spit cleaned them, gnashing away all that there is of your hand flesh. You... you frickin' disgust me
- 11
- 34
The first YouTube video was uploaded in 2005. It is barely 20 seconds and it features a young man at the zoo. Who could have predicted the cultural juggernaut it would become?!
Today, we're going to look at one of the world's biggest YouTube stars. His name is JiDion, and he rose to fame through his pranks and comedy. I'd like to discuss his career trajectory and the morality of his work. I feel that this is a pertinent issue as we face multiple cases of YouTubers being shot for pranks. Apologies if the writing is sloppy, this is a somewhat rushed piece.
Who is JiDion?
Born on 12 December 2000, JiDion is a Houston native whose legal name is Jidion Adams. According to him, he was a football player in high school and quite a troublemaker. His YouTube career when he hosted a dance-off at his school. It didn't get a lot of views, but it does demonstrate that JiDion is a charismatic, confident person. Completely unflappable.
He posted more videos, but they never gained much traction until his "giving people the N-word pass" video.
Today, it has 3.6 million views. Jidion has revealed that during this time, he was desperate to create more videos and grow his career, but he didn't have anyone to film his videos. Eventually, he would find a friend, but he would need to pay him a full time salary in order to film videos at the rate and quality he wanted. To do this, Jidion sold off almost all his electronics.
Today, Jidion has close to 8 million subscribers, making him one of the most popular YouTiubers. He's also ranked as one of the most popular YouTubers among GenZ viewers. His rise hasn't been without tribulations, and at one point he found himself banned from Twitch after he sent his viewers to harass Pokimane. At this point, if you haven't heard of him, you might be curious about his content. Woo hoo hoo. Ha ha. Oh hee hee. Let's begin.
Jidion's Pranks
Before we delve into Jidion's content, it is worth noting that he goes by many names, including Demarcus Cousins III. Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure how all these names come about. Secondly, be warned that his content is offensive, rude, and crass.
The uber prank
Sp I thought I'd start with the very few JiDion pranks that I actually like. This one has him pretending to be an Uber driver, and then proceeding to do insane things. At one point he plays a tape of himself screaming, to the shock of the passengers! He also pretends to drink alcohol, and surprisingly, while it is evident that the passengers are uncomfortable with the situation, very few actually freak out or demand to be let out. I wonder whether people are really that afraid to speak up, or whether he just edited out all the people who told him to frick off.
I wish he did more pranks of this nature. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Jidion goes bowling
There's two reasons I dislike Jidion's content
1. He's an attention whore
2. He's mean
The bowling videos demonstrate his mean side. He goes to bowling alleys and bowls with coconuts and watermelons. It is quite evident that the people there are trying to enjoy their game, and he is literally rolling food into the gutter, and disrespecting the workers. A woman yells at him, and Jidion says "I'm him". The woman responds by saying "you're not Him!" as she points up! This is not a prank. It is him going to various places and being an butthole.
Jidion vs Tyrone
This is a series of videos in which Jidion harasses a single person. The prank begins with him going to a shoe store to return an empty box. The manager, Tyrone, is obviously a busy man and he doesn't have time for that shit so he slaps the box out his hand and tells him and his cameraman to frick off. Eventually, Jidion does leave, but Tyrone insults Jidion's mother. For this, Jidion insists that he must seek retribution. He returns in a silly disguise, but he is obviously recognised. He then returns once more. This time, he brings speakers, and plays a Tyrone diss track. At this point, there is nothing Tyrone can do except call security and attempt to ignore this man ruining his business and driving customers away. At one point, an entrepreneur from another store comes and tells Jidion to turn off the ruckus because its interfering with her business. Overall, I think Jidion's being a bully here, but its not even his worst bully moment.
Jidion goes to Best Buy shirtless
Jidion enters a Best Buy not wearing a shirt. A worker tells him to either wear a shirt or frick off. His choice. Jidion doesn't like this, so he returns the next day with scores of his fans and they all take off their shirt as they harrass the worker who eventually has to retreat to the staff room. This is bullying, plain and simple, and I think he is being a bad person here. I don't find it funny at all.
Jidion at sports games
I thought we'd end off with what could be his most impactful videos. JiDion has attempted plenty of his pranks at sports games. The one you're probably familiar has him getting an autograph from the NBA star Demarcus Cousins, only for a security guard to come and attempt to separate him from the basketballer. The basketballer tells the security to not take his job so seriously.
I don't want to discuss this video. Instead, I'd like to discuss the time he got a haircut at the NBA. To me, this video sums up why I don't find him funny. You see, trolling is an art. It's not just about annoying people. It's about triggering their ire, but not making it obvious that your intentions are necessarily malicious. There are very few people who have mastered the art of trolling, and Jidion definitely isn't one of them. So he manages to finally get into the NBA game and sneak in a hair clipper. It's not enough for him to simply do this though, he needs to speak to people and demand their attention with his unfunny quips. It's so cringe. Just let your trolling play out. The humor should come from their reactions, not your attention whoring.
I like the idea of the next video. He went to the WNBA and proceeded to sleep across three seats. It's a funny concept but he ruined it again with his attention whoring. What I'm more interested in was the public response. Many deemed the prank misogynistic because it makes light of how poorly attended WNBA matches are. I don't agree. Upsetting women isn't inherently misogynistic.
JiDion turns a new leaf
At this point, it should be obvious that JiDion does not impress. I do not like his content, and I think he is harming society. It appears that Jidion has also come to the same conclusion, as just a week ago he turned his life to Christ!
Though JiDion has given thanks to the Most High in his prior videos, he claims he is now taking his religious life far more seriously. He admits that he is wealthy, but he would rather focus on his heavenly wealth. Of course, this means no more pranks.
My personal opinion? He's young. He's having a phase. This is like me and asexuality, I think everyone goes through a phase in their 20s. He's also at the age where he believes that he can replicate his success in a different field. I don't think he fully comprehends how lucky he was to find success as a YouTuber. The sad truth is that the immorality of his content was a selling point. He was doing things other people wouldn't, because we have shame and morals.
The effect on his channel has been steep and definite. This is his secondary channel. Almost all his videos easily scored over a million. Since the religious turn, he is struggling to crack 500k. It's over.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Tune in next week when we review Assassin's Creed: Mirage and take a terrific trip through Islam 
- 12
- 83
Greetings Dramastrags! 
The past 2 months have been horrible 
we've had less than 2 hours loadshedding daily average and thus I've actually had to work at the office, and be a functional member of society, instead of sitting in a dark corner, illuminated by nothing but my craptop screen, hissing at passerby's like some kind of goblin creature, while neurodivergentally writing kaamrev Looongposts everyday 
Today we will inch closer to the conclusion of the Jacob Zuma Drama Saga(Trademark Copyright), where we will the discuss the events leading up to the apocalyptic 2021 South African riots, which was misreported by braindead foreign BBC journ*lists whom clearly had no fricking idea what they were talking about, and clearly had no grasp of south african society and the events which led up to the 2021 riots.
Some dramatard asked me 5 months ago if I could expand and explain about the 2021 riots, but I forgot his name, and had at the time no idea on how to explain how the frick the 2021 riots started without explaining Jacob Zuma, and his cult of personality, as they were the primary causes of the nationwide riots.
Regardless, JZ or Msholozi, as Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was known as as, is intertwined with the 2021 Riots, and thus we will begin the story from the very beginning.
TYING IN TO PREVIOUS KAAMREV LOOONPOSTS:
The last time we dramatards covered Jacob Zuma, was when he had just embroiled himself with the Infamous (in RSA) Nkandla scandal 
- where where the Zuma dynasty was under intense public criticism because they had openly and shamelessly abused public funds for self-enrichment, in the form of building a giant Homestead mega-mansion in the small dustball town of Nkandla - a SA town located in the Kwazulu-Natal province so fricking poor 
that it had a 44% joblessness rate.
The Nkandla scandal would basically take about 5 years to ferment before it caught traction in the mainstream 
public attention, as ANC-wingcucks, and the general SA black population got over the Honeymoon phase of Zuma's immensely corrupt and incompetence presidency, which in many cases actually WORSENED poverty for poor shanty town blacks. Covered in my previous autism looonpost as below:
https://rdrama.net/post/205860/marseyflagsouthafrica-jacob-zuma-the-nkandla-residence (Jacob Zuma Saga 2)
The Nkandla residence was ironically one of Jacob Zuma's least worst corruption scandals in terms of scale and influence, especially compared to the manner in which Jacob Zuma sold out many keystone industries for the Indian Mafia 
Guptas family, which destroyed key industries like mining and electricity generation - covered in my previous autism looonpost earlier this year, where the famous 
Sun City Theme Park incident exposed to the general RSA public the absurd and monumental influence the Guptas family had over RSA and Zuma himself, after a fricking military airbase was hired to land 200 ultra rich guests from India! 
https://rdrama.net/post/162984/marseyflagsouthafrica-south-african-theme-park-racism (Jacob Zuma Saga 3)
However, the Nkandla Residence Homestead scandal was the watershed moment for Zuma, where a critical amount of general public support turned deceisively against him, most specifically from black peeps in RSA. Nkandla demonstrated to the black public the general contempt that rich fatcats like the Zumas had towards national standards of equity, as the building of the Homestead inside the ultra turbo impoverished Nkandla village was just as grotesque a shameless display as the embezzlement of public funds for personal use.
Additionally Zuma had been caught in multiple lies which was memed to death by South Africans of all races - the most infamous meme being the Nkandla Fire Pool. 
Where basically Zuma lied to the nation, through his teeth that public funds meant for security had not been used for personnel recreation, a fact which was moronically disproved by cameras visiting the mega-mansion, showing a few hired firemen making fools of themselves trying to show a clearly swimming pool with steps and tiles, was supposedly a water reserve for dousing emergency fires - it caused a media frenzy shitshow.
Comedians and memes would mock the Nkandla Fire Pool to a national consciousness, to the same degree as when the Burgerland president lied about having received a blowjob in his office.
Anyways the point remains that Nkandla was the deathknel 
for Zuma, but it only gained traction after he had already won his 2nd election as president of the ANC party, and the country of SA, thus even though he was already intensely unpopular, and had made zounds of enemies within his party, and without, the slimy corrupt fricker still had 4 YEARS OF RULE LEFT! (up until 2018)!
Finally if anyone gives a shit, Zuma also had intense drama involving a r$pe trial, a year prior to becoming the president of the ANC and RSA, where he was accused of raping a woman, but was excused through powerful manipulation of the courts, and intense wingcuckery on behalf of his own party, including fricking the The ANC Women's League whom would class just outside the Supreme Court with smaller groups of anti-r*pe protesters.
While the effects of the r@pe-trial was negligible on losing Zuma any support, his previous conduct would begin to resurface post 2014 (basically 6 years after the trial) as Zuma had accumulated many political enemies 
, whom wanted to use any past ammunition against Zuma to paint him in the worst light possible. The irony here was that many of the Zulu ANC members whom had stood up for Zuma during his trial, now changed their message and condemned his conduct and arrogance during the trial, something they had helped suppress! 
https://rdrama.net/post/203575/marseyflagsouthafrica-jacob-zuma-rpe-trial-and (Jacob Zuma Saga 1)
JACOB ZUMA POST 2014 - LOSING SUPPORT RAPIDLY:
It was a great irony that by the time the Nkandla scandal broken wide open in the RSA public wide conscience, Zuma had already been elected 6 months in 2014, thus the slimeball 
had still another 4 years to r*pe the country and its economy with his radical policies and his populism. It's also important to note, many black peeps who voted are only ANC loyalists, and voted for the ANC, not Zuma, as it is the South African manner to vote for parties not individuals - those parties are alone responsible for their internal leadership.
Thus many black peeps while wingcucked, weren't THAT wingcucked, and their loyalty was towards the ANC, the party of Nelson Mandela, not to Zuma. Thus even as they voted for the ANC, they cursed Zuma under their breaths. How many Blue-no-matter-who libtards swallow their bile, and just vote democrat every year in Burgerland?
I mention this so that dramatards can understand the context of the 2014 election. Some of you may go to the 2014 SA election pages and read the turnouts and results and go: "kaamrev, ur completely full of shit - the 2014 elections show that the ANC still dominated by 65% of the electorate!"
But I want you guys to understand that internal instability would 
plague the ANC rule for the entirety of the next 4 years
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_South_African_general_election
Now Zuma had retained loyalty and support despite his extreme corruption and nepotism, because of his radical leftwing policies - even much more so than both Mandela and Mbeki before him.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/15/southafrica.chrismcgreal
Prez Mbeki before him was much more neoliberal and capitalistic, and wanted to continue the more moderate policies of Mandela before him, however by the time Zuma arrived as prez in 2009, it had been over 15 years of ANC rule, and much of the black populace was still suffering the hardships of extreme poverty and lack of infrastructure. Worse yet was that the birthrate of black peeps had doubled since the introduction of the grants system under the Mandela Administration, meaning the black population kept expanding, meaning the RDP homes built for the underpriviledged was never fast enough, as peeps kept breeding like hares which the grant system encouraged, thus at all times in the 15 years since 1993, perpetually at least a 3rd of the SA black population was homeless that lived in sinkhouses in shantytowns.
This bred a large poor population easily talked to by populists like Zuma whom would promise the radical redistribution of wealth from the middle class whites of RSA whom still after 15 years of ANC effort (or rather the lack there of 
) remained a large wealth gap.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02589001.2018.1522424
He would support policies like radical economic transformation (RET), which involved expropriation without compensation - the taking of white farmland without appeal, and more significantly without paying them shit - this was radical policies often championed by far-left like Julias Malema.
https://mg.co.za/article/2017-04-21-00-its-radical-economic-gibberish
"Zuma thinks that by using meaningless phrases such as “radical economic transformation” he can regain the historic Polokwane moment. This foolish man does not accept that his time has expired. We are simply experiencing a painfully inelegant final movie scene that the directors should have cut 30 minutes ago. The directors, also known as the national executive committee of the ANC, are hamstrung by self-serving creative differences.
If Zuma wanted to transform the economy radically, he should have done so from 2009. He had the power all along. But he failed because he never gave a darn about anyone other than himself, his family and his handlers."
Anyways his specific policies are a different drama, but I wanted to illustrate why he was popular 
in the 1st place - he used diversionary rhetoric and populism to galvanize the poor black voting blocs. It's far easier to point at middle class whites living next to townships, as this is proof on inequality which can be seen by the naked eye.
It is much more difficult to comprehend the complexities of state capture, and Nepotism, and state beaurucrats stealing from funds meant to uplift the poor. Zuma claimed that critics of his politics were agents of "white monopoly capital".
ANYONE BUT ZUMA - RSA VERSION OF BLUE-NO-MATTER-WHO: 
https://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-22-nomura-calls-mangaung-for-zuma
Despite an "Anyone but Zuma" campaign in the run-up to the ANC's 53rd National Conference, Zuma was re-elected ANC president on 18 December 2012, beating Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe by a large margin.
In January 2014, after he was heckled at Mandela's memorial, the Sunday Tribune reported that around November 2013, KwaZulu-Natal branches of the ANC had discussed a proposed resolution asking Zuma not to run for a second term as the country's president. They feared that Zuma would jepordize the SA General Election for them - although we in hindsight know that black peeps voted for him anyway lol.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/stand-down-request-for-zuma-1637053
JACOB ZUMA POST 2015 - SUPPORT CONTINUES TO DWINDLE:
With the double hammer 
of both the Nkandla scandal, and the news that the Guptas family had used the Waterkloof South African military airbase as their personal wedding venue facilitator, a large amount of protests would take place for the 1st time directly against Zuma by name, in 2015.
=====(from TimesLive article - extremely good article - goes over the meat of the issue in 2015.
As South Africans endure their deepest economic crisis 
since 2009, it's not just President Jacob Zuma they blame. There's a family whose name is increasingly the target of protest: the Guptas. 
As tens of thousands marched in October in the biggest wave of nationwide anti-government protests since the ANC came to power, one poster, broadcast on the nation's television channels, captured the public anger: “SA: Gupta Farm.”
Since Atul Gupta arrived in South Africa from Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1993, a year before the election of Nelson Mandela marked the end of apartheid, he and his brothers Rajesh and Ajay have built on a computer business to amass stakes in uranium, gold and coal mines, a luxury game lodge, an engineering company, a newspaper and a 24-hour news TV station.
Having employed or been in business with at least three of President Zuma's immediate family, including his son Duduzane, the family drew increased scrutiny in September as opposition parties and local newspapers raised the question that they may have influenced the appointment of a minister to manage the embattled and important mining industry.
‘Extraordinary Privileges'
“They are the chieftains of patronage. 
They get extraordinary privileges from the president,” Mmusi Maimane (this guy is the RSA Obama 
minus drones), the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said. “Zuma is controlled by the Guptas. Once you have a weak institution like the ANC and a government that is institutionally captured, you only have to win control over a few individuals like Jacob Zuma and you control everything.”
Analysts concur.
It's a deeply troubling relationship between the Gupta family and the president's family,” said Nic Borain, an adviser to BNP Paribas Securities South Africa. “There are a multitude of documented relationships and there is a very widespread acceptance and assumption that this goes beyond undue influence. This goes close to capture of political authority by a group of foreign businessmen.”
Violent Protests
With one of the world's highest levels of economic inequality and a 25.5% unemployment rate, public anger is mounting against the ANC, which has won more than 60% of the vote in every general election since 1994. That anger was exacerbated this month when Zuma fired a respected finance minister and replaced him with a relatively unknown lawmaker only to change his decision four days later when he reappointed a former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan. The rand weakened as much as 10% against the dollar and bonds and banks stocks plunged before paring their declines when Gordhan was appointed.
The police documented 2,289 violent 
demonstrations by communities demanding better housing, education and other services in the year through March, up from 1,907 the year before.
Recurring themes at recent protests are white domination of the economy, ineffectual government and increasingly, corruption. In South Africa, 83% of people believe that corruption is on the rise, compared with 58% across the continent, according to a Transparency International survey this month.
Some of those who have done business with the Guptas say they've kept companies open and safeguarded jobs.
Saving Jobs
Abel Malinga, the head of mining and metals at South Africa's state-owned Industrial Development Corp., said the corporation in 2010 lent R250 million to the Guptas' Oakbay Resources and Energy Ltd. to buy a uranium and gold mine they now control along with Duduzane Zuma because it was about to be closed under previous management at the cost of 2,400 jobs. The IDC converted the loan into a stake in Oakbay.
“The jobs are still there, they are still producing gold,” Malinga said. “There is no preferential treatment from our side. No political pressure.”
The Guptas have been friends with President Zuma from about the turn of the century, Atul Gupta, the 47-year-old chairman of Oakbay who pioneered the move to South Africa, said in an interview with the Daily Maverick in 2011.
Zuma's wife Bongi Ngema-Zuma worked for Gupta-controlled JIC Mining Services as a communications officer. His daughter Duduzile was a director at Sahara Computers Ltd., the Guptas' main computer business, for more than a year ending in 2009. And Duduzane has worked with the Guptas for 11 years, initially starting as a 22-year-old trainee at Sahara.
‘Guptagate' Affair 
“Anyone out there who believes that we've benefited in any of the deals politically, please come forward,” he said in an interview with Talk Radio 702. “Drag us by our collars to a court of law. But if not, leave us the heck alone.”
The incident that made the Guptas front-page news occurred in April 2013, when they flew 217 people in a chartered jetliner to the Waterkloof air-force base in Pretoria for their niece's wedding. They welcomed them with music and dancing, and shuttled them to the Sun City casino and resort in helicopters and black BMWs, according to a government report investigating how a commercial plan landed at an air force base. The police illegally used their blue lights as they escorted the party, it said.
Military Airport 
When the airport manager of South Africa's main commercial airport wouldn't accommodate them, the Guptas approached the defense minister to use Waterkloof, even though it's classified as a top-security site and commercial use is prohibited, according to the report.
When that too failed they asked the Indian embassy to make it look like the visit was by an official delegation, according to the report, describing that as an abuse of diplomatic channels. The report concluded that the landing had been authorized because Zuma's name was falsely invoked. It also said some of the cars had false license plates and the security company used was unregistered.
Family Apologizes 
The landing stirred such an outcry that it became known by the press and government critics as “Guptagate.” It attracted ridicule, including by comedian Trevor Noah, who has since become the host of the Daily Show in New York. Zapiro drew a sketch depicting the three Gupta brothers as welcoming bride and groom with a fleet of police cars and saluting officers and saying: “For your wedding gift we bought you a country and a president.”
======(end)
SA NATION BREATHES SIGH OF RELIEF: 
https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/live-anc-voting-results-expected-20171218
Zuma had such profound influence upon South Africa, that for the 1st time news networks dedicated journ*list teams to go directly to an ANC internal election conference for the 1st time in history - for like 2 months prior to the 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) (which took place from 16 to 20 December 2017 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in Nasrec, Gauteng), that fricking mainstream news were joked to have have an update whenever a high ANC official had a fart, because it became almost unbearable.
Yet the whole fricking nation was tense 
, a lot of infighting was taking place in the ANC, and everyone knew that the ANC would win a supermajority for the 2018 SA general election, and thus the ANC internal leadership election of 2017 had massive influence upon everyone here, and was under considerable scrutiy.
Just look at this fricking article from news24 in 2017 - fricking twitter updates every 30 minutes on the big day, apparently this was their most viewed article that year.
I know this was probably nothing for 1st world places like burgerland - but for for RSA this was unique and surreal.
Anyways, happy days for Harrison Gumedi, Ramaphosa would win the ANC presidency away from Zuma, and the whole fricking nation breathed a sigh of relief.
ZUMA FINALLY RESIGNS:
Once Ramaphosa replaced 
Zuma as ANC president, there was growing pressure for the latter to resign from the national presidency. On 6 February 2018, Zuma's annual State of the Nation Address, scheduled for 8 February, was postponed indefinitely "to create room for establishing a much more conducive political atmosphere"
This made everyone shit brix, as we all feared that Zuma would refuse to evacuate the presidency and would try to induce some soft or autocracy or refuse the election results or something, and in those days there was a palpable atmosphere in the country. It also wasn't a far fetched theory - many Zulus openly preached that they would support a Zuma backed coup attempt. 
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2018-02-06-state-of-nation-address-postponed
Later it came out that it was opposition parties who requested the postponement so that Zuma couldn't have the key speech moment, and have the last say.
The following week, Ramaphosa and Zuma spent almost five days in talks. On 12 December, when it became clear that the negotiations had failed, the ANC National Executive Committee convened an emergency meeting near Pretoria, and, after nearly ten hours of debate, decided that Zuma should be "recalled" by the party if he did not resign voluntarily.
Ramaphosa and another senior official reportedly drove to Zuma's home just after midnight to deliver the ultimatum, but Zuma refused, insisting on a three-month notice period or transition period before leaving office. That's right! Zuma wanted 3 fricking months before he gtfo's to make room for the next prez 
=====(from Gaurdian article)
Jacob Zuma has defied an ultimatum from South Africa's ruling party to resign within 48 hours, pitching the 
“Rainbow Nation” into an unprecedented political crisis.
The meeting of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) was called after it became clear over the weekend that nearly five days of talks between Zuma, who has been South Africa's president since 2009, and the deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who took over the leadership of the ANC in December, had failed.
Zuma's tumultuous nine years in power have been marred by economic decline 
and multiple charges of corruption that undermined the image and legitimacy of the party that led South Africans to freedom from apartheid in 1994.
However, the 75-year-old retains significant support inside the party and at a local level in many parts of South Africa. Ralph Mathekga, a political analyst and author, said: “Zuma is not just a person. He is a system. There are a whole lot of people whose politics fortunes are tied to his.
“We are watching a battle for the soul of the ANC. It's a referendum on the true balance of power within the party.”
The opaque and secretive internal ANC debates and negotiations have provoked much dark humour.
Zapiro, a well-known political cartoonist, drew Zuma and Ramaphosa as gunfighters under a banner bearing the legend “High Noon”, corrected to “High Noonish” then “Low Noon” and finally “Whenever”.
====(end gaurdian article)
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/cartoon/high-noon
If you dramatards are confused as to what the frick - let me explain. Zuma was in deep deep shit, he had made zounds of enemies, and without the protection of his office he was definitely going to be fricking prosecuted by the courts for his corruption the moment he stepped out the office, thus he tried like an infant 
child to keep grasping whatever power he had desperately.
MILITARY DIVIDED ON ZUMA:
https://www.news24.com/News24/security-bosses-reveal-how-cyril-dodged-a-coup-20180722-2
Finally after two months of this clownshow 
Zuma was forced to resign, but not before the most incompetent attempt at a coup in history was thwarted.
=====(This article explains it clearly)
Senior military leaders played down the threat this week, saying the top brass would not have tolerated a mutiny, that they were “above petty party politics” 
and the idea of keeping Zuma in power by force did not even arise. They insisted the army was loyal to the Constitution and that the chief of the army, General Solly Shoke, had continuously championed this.
SA National Defence Force (SANDF) insiders said ANC elements who wanted to advance their factional interests were trying to use the military as a proxy in their political battles, but it would not succeed.
Fringe groups such as the MK Inkululeko Foundation, which was one of Zuma's fiercest defenders, had launched a “Hands off Zuma” campaign, and spoke of a civil war if Zuma was not allowed to complete his term and remain in office until next year's general election.
Zuma also enjoyed significant support in the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans' Association, which comprises the ANC's former liberation soldiers. 
One Zuma lieutenant warned that Ramaphosa was again “meddling” in the affairs of very powerful people in the security cluster through his appointment of a high-level review panel on the State Security Agency, which could spell similar trouble for him.
“Those guys will not be happy to have him suddenly saying he is re-vetting them and all those things, and they could bring down his government,” he said.
Ramaphosa allies confirmed the military threat, but added that generals loyal to Zuma tried to push the agenda, but were defied by the rank and file.
“Our Constitution saved us from that crisis,” said a Luthuli House insider. “The military, almost all generals, did not support the recall. When Zuma rose to power, he changed the entire army hierarchy and placed many loyal soldiers in it.”
A senior member of the ANC alliance said that, aside from a military revolt, they also learnt that Zuma intended to fire Ramaphosa as deputy president in a snap Cabinet reshuffle as part of his fight-back plan. The alliance insider confirmed meetings with army officials, adding that the State Security Agency was also lobbied to revolt, but all plots were foiled.
However, Zuma's allies mentioned former security agency director-general Arthur Fraser as one of those who worked behind the scenes to prevent the crisis.
A member of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) said that “there had been talks” about the army revolt. “At the time, there was also a lot of misinformation, but, yes, Zuma had wanted to fight through the army as commander in chief.”
He said Zuma should also be credited with having the wisdom to see “it would not work out”, after which he “ended up hanging up his gloves”. (Translation: Zuma got cucked by army commanders who told him to frick off 
)
Zuma sympathisers said his statement that “some people may fight” during his interview hours before he stepped down was based on “nothing but the fact that he enjoyed a lot of grass roots support”, and that he wanted to travel the country with Ramaphosa to forge ANC unity.
On February 18, four days after Zuma resigned, Ramaphosa went to Kimberley, where he thanked soldiers for “a bloodless leadership change”.
Brigadier General Mafi Mgobozi yesterday said allegations of interference in political leadership were “baseless”.
======(end article)
AFTERMATH: Zuma charged with State Capture 
On 16 March 2018, a month after Zuma resigned from the presidency, the NPA (South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority) announced that he would again face prosecution on the same 16 criminal charges he was indicted on in 2006: 12 charges of fraud, two of corruption, and one each of racketeering and money laundering, all related to the 1999 Arms Deal and to Zuma's relationship with Shaik.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-43426971
The case was enrolled in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Zuma pleaded not guilty when the trial would begin on 26 May 2021. And it was this trial which would lead to the apocalyptic 2021 South African Riots.
Join me next time for the climax of this Saga, when multiple SA provinces would burn, and make the 2020 George Floyd protests protests look minor in comparison!
That's all I got, Good Night
- 2
- 16
PART 1: B-WORD I NEED SOME HENNY AND A PLAN B
It's commonly said that the internet never forgets. An embarrassing picture can follow you like a venereal disease, and words spoken in jest can become your digital epitaph. The truth is, the internet forgets the bulk of its content daily, and it's a small fraction that will ever become timeless. It's impossible to determine what will become viral, and what will weave itself into the fabric of pop culture. Today, we'll be looking at an iconic video, and the impact it had on one woman's life. The video is a deceptively simple one, featuring four young ladies at a pharmacy. The result? Lives changed forever. Buckle up, it's going to be a long one.
The four young ladies
As I've already stated, the video in question features four young ladies. I wouldn't be able to guess their ages but they appear to be in their early twenties or late teens. So who are these ladies?
1. One of the them, who seems to be the leader, is wearing red sneakers. She also has on a skimpy pair of shorts and a crop top that have the American flag on them. This is a noteworthy choice, as it is considered disrespectful to print the flag onto clothing. As the US flag code states:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code
Was this a conscious choice? Is she anti-American, or is this a foolheaded display of patriotism? You'll also notice that she is holding a bottle of Hennesey. This is a French cognac that makes up about 60% of the USA's cognac sales. It is one of the most referenced alcoholic beverages in music, especially hip-hop where it was primarily popularized by Tupac Shakur.
I'd hazard that she has been influenced by pop culture to purchase it, as she is brandishing it in public - very eager to show off her trendy alcohol. I hope I don't come off as judgmental.
2. There is a slightly larger woman in what can be described as a full-body catsuit that is black and yellow.
3. Another lady can be seen wearing a high ponytail, a necklace (more on that later), and a full yellow outfit on.
4. The last lady is wearing a white spaghetti strap top and leopard print tights. that reach her knees. She stands out for one very big reason. Care to guess?
Henny and a Plan B video
With the four ladies discussed in adequate detail, we can finally analyse the video in question. Here's a reddit link:
https://old.reddit.com/r/awfuleverything/comments/f2h5i8/need_some_henny_and_some_plan_b
You can watch the video, I'll wait for you. Done? Alright, let's continue. As you see, lady in the American flag states she does not wish to fall pregnant this summer. She leads her friends in the following chant: “b-word I need some Henney and a Plan B”. Make no mistake, in this instance, they are not talking about female dogs. Instead, the term “b-word” is being used to describe either:
a) Women in general
b) Anybody they don't have respect for, regardless of gender
It should be noted that in this context, it is a derogatory, sexist term. Yes, the fact that they are females themselves does not eliminate the sexist, injurious history of the term. I know that many will disagree, but that is my position.
So what is Plan B? Also known as Levonorgestrel, Plan B is an emergency birth control medication taken post-coitus. It is known to cause the following side effects:
hives
dizziness
hair loss
headache
nausea
abdominal pain
uterine pain
delayed menstruation
heavy menstruation
uterine bleeding
fatigue
diarrhea
vomiting
painful menstruation
And they say crack's bad for you!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levonorgestrel
As the women sing in unison, they perform a dance known as "twerking". This dance, popular within the African American community, typically involves the performer shaking their buttocks in elaborate ways. Practised twerkers have been known to perform daring feats such as doing handstands and leg splits while shaking their buttocks, moving individual butt cheeks, and shaking their buttocks with incredible speed. For a showcase of twerking at its best, I'd advise you to view the following:
I'll wait while you watch? Okay, back to the issue at hand. Our four ladies pay no attention to the other patrons in the pharmacy. They open their mouths in front of the camera to prove that they're taking what is presumably Plan B. Fortunately for these ladies, alcohol is not known to reduce the efficacy of Plan B.
What's going on?!
I cannot make sense of this video. All I have are educated guesses, and I'm still left with plenty of questions. My current theory is that by showing off these two specific items (Hennesey and Levonorgestrel) and dancing, the ladies are indicating that they will be indulging in hedonistic sexual acts. I say so for the following reasons:
Drinking alcohol is known to reduce your inhibitions. These women are already confident, so what barriers are possibly left to tear down?
Plan B implies they are going to partake in sexual activity, likely unprotected, as that would result in pregnancy
Twerking is often interpreted as a sexually suggestive dance, mostly because individuals in the African American culture regard the buttocks as a secondary sexual organ
I feel like I should state that I am not judging these women. Provided they act with the consent of all involved, and it is done in emotionally and physically healthy ways, I have no problem how these women entertain themselves.
I viewed the Henny and a Plan B video years ago, and it stuck in my mind due to its provocative content. Who are these ladies? Why did they film this in a pharmacy? What did they use the cognac and birth control for? Fueled by curiosity, I sought answers. There's good news and bad news. The bad news is that there was hardly any information to be found on most of these ladies. The good news is that what I did discover was more than I bargained for.
PART 2: WHO IS ALICIA GOKU?
So where does one begin? One interesting detail I noticed in the video was the necklace on one of the women. It reads “GOKU”. An anime fan? Following this lead, I eventually discovered Alicia Goku (She/They). She lives in Los Angeles, and as you'll learn, she is a woman of many, many talents. A true renaissance polymath not unlike Da Vinci.
Alicia Goku the musician
Alicia Goku has a very active music creator. She has been uploading music on YouTube as recently as three months ago. Her most popular song, Stank Walk, was uploaded four years ago and has half a million views. Imagine my shock when I discovered it referenced the iconic pharmacy moment!
The video depicts a house party where Goku and her friend, Suki Hana, are at a house party where they are having their way with the men attending. There is plenty of twerking, copious amounts of it, and when the men pass out, they are robbed of their money. All the ladies of the Henny and Plan B video are present! At this point, there is an issue to address that cannot be avoided any longer. The caucasian lady repeatedly slaps her genitalia. She performed the same act in the original Henny and Plan B video. It's like her signature move.
As I discovered through research, this is an act that women often find themselves exposed to during coitus with men, much to their displeasure. You can find such anecdotes online:
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/whats-the-deal-with-kitty-slapping
You can also find Goku's music on Soundcloud where she has over 2000 followers. I found myself enjoying most of her music. I think she's genuinely talented. My two favorite songs are
1. I'm Gay Foreal
Here she raps over Outkast's Miss Jackson. She flexes her lyrical abilities while embracing her bisexuality(?).
https://soundcloud.com/aliciagoku/im-gay-foreal
2. Eyes Can See
On this boom-bap beat, she keeps a very catchy flow along with flawless delivery and raunchy punchlines.
https://soundcloud.com/aliciagoku/eyes-can-see-prod-by-bboykiddnerdd
Alicia Goku and cannabis content creation
In addition to being a dancer and a rapper, she is also a content creator. She has focused her efforts on marijuana, also known as cannabis, which is a psychoactive plant that is commonly ingested via inhalation. Although cannabis can be regarded as a psychedelic, it does differ from other psychedelics. Most notably, compared to other psychedelics, cannabis produces a more persistent euphoria, a strong sedative effect, and has a shorter time of action. In an interview, Goku stated the following about her cannabis content creation career.
Alicia Goku the LGBT icon
Not done stretching herself, Alicia Goku has proven that she excels in front of the camera as a reality TV star! She can be seen in Hot Haus, a contest to see who will become the next queer icon. It premiered in 2022, and since then it has become an online viral sensation, leading to it receiving a second season on Canandian streaming network OUTtv. On Twitter, its hashtag has been viewed over 3 million times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Haus
Goku joined the show in the second season which aired this year. She competed against folks like Delicious Cuggi who also appears on HBO's Legendary. She also competed against, I kid you not, Antifabussy.
Goku won the show! This netted her a cool $25,000. Guess she can buy all the Henney she wants now, heh. 
As a queer icon, she represents us. She is one of us. A post-victory interview revealed something interesting about her view of nudity. I think this reveals just how complex she is as a human being, and how she has carefully thought through things before doing them.
In case you're curious, here's here OnlyFans, though she seems to be inactive since 2021.
https://onlyfans.com/aliciagokuprivate
So that's the life and times of Alicia Goku. Many of my questions weren't answered. I dug through interviews and podcasts, and she has seemingly never referenced the Henny and Plan B video. So I'm stuck wondering what led to these ladies dancing in the pharmacy. I'm also left wondering what Alicia Goku thinks of the video. Is she happy about it? Does she feel like it's a blip in her past that she doesn't think about anymore?
Think back to the first time you watched the Henny and a Plan B video. What did you think of her? Did you judge her? Now that we've delved into her life, what do you think of her now? Have your views changed?
To conclude, I don't think the internet is going to forget Alicia Goku anytime. I'm playing my part through this post, but Alicia Goku doesn't need my help - it looks like her fame is only growing. And even if the internet goes down today and is lost forever, she'll live on in my mind and hopefully, from this point onwards, in yours too.
- J : Dont ever stop doing this. Its absolutely delightful
- 18
- 58
Humans have taken an interesting evolutionary strategy. We are born severely underdeveloped - altricial - and require parental care for many years. Consequently, we develop close bonds with our parents who take care of us during our extended baby stage. Mothers have evolved to be prepared for this - women are more emotionally sensitive than men, which is vital for any organism that needs to be sensitive to dangers that could harm their child.
Unfortuately, as we all know, nature isn't perfect. Sometimes, parents will embarrass you and harm you. What's the cringiest thing your mom has done? Does it keep you up at night? Whatever it is, be happy your mom isn't one of these folks!
1. Don't you dare say my son has flaws
As an incel, I'll never get married. However, it is something I fantasize about, and something my parents want for me. Some parents do not like their children getting married. When mothers do this, it is often the result of growing too comfortable with the control they have over their child. Consequently, they see the spouse as a threat.
We see controlling behaviour on show in this video. A man and a woman are getting married, and the woman is exchanging vows. She mentions that she loves her husbands flaws and all, leading to the mother standing up and claiming she has no right to say that! The groan from the audience indicates that this isn't the first time she has caused trouble or objected to the marriage.
Guests try to calm the enraged mother who doesn't want anyone saying her son has flaws. The bride tries to speak, but the mother points out that she paid for the wedding dress! We all know people like that. NEVER accept anything from them. We don't see the rest of the video, but goddam I like the way the couple stays together. The son looks too traumatized to even object.
Do you think this marriage lasted? Did Tony get her out of there?
https://old.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/ws6pbf/karen_ruins_sons_wedding_over_the_idea_of_having
2. Mom's a thief
You've probably come across this channel several times. It's called Gas Station Encounters. It features a surveillance footage of folks stealing from gas stations. I disagree with this channel because property crimes aren't real unless it's my property. Jokes aside, my main objection is that we have a channel which seemingly has a 100% success rate when it comes to accusing customers of theft. BULLSHIT. There are obviously dozens of falsely accused people they humiliate but don't post online.
In today's video we see a woman steals two cans of Sunkissed and a bottle of vodka. She has her young daughter in tow, and she's wearing a pink power rangers outfit. The mother leaves the store with the stolen items and she is confronted outside. She is speechless and she tries to deny it but the accusor is too forceful. Seeing that the jig is up, she begs him to not do this in front of her child and he refuses! Do you think this is moral? On the one hand, he could be traumatizing the child. On the other hand, the child is learning that stealing is wrong, even when mom does it.
Have you ever seen your mom get into trouble? I'd like to hear the story.
3. The mother and the protestor
The concept of tough love is an excuse for abuse if you ask me. There is never a good reason to hurt a loved one, and people pull the tough love card when they wish to justify cruelty. Today, we see a mother who used tough love and was applauded.
During Baltimore riots in 2015 triggered by the death of Freddie Gray, Toya Graham caught her son at the riots. She went out to fetch him, smacked him in public, making her son instantly famous. According to Toya, she was trying to keep her son safe after her son lied about his whereabouts.
The story was mainly picked up by conservative news publications calling her mother of the year. I disagree because violence is wrong. Since then, her son has been pulled out of high school, and she is trying to get him out of Baltimore.
4. The barbershop
Our last video takes us to Worldstarhiphop. In this video, a mother tracks down her son and dishes out corporal punishment because he left without doing his chores. This video shocks me. I'd like to see a father walk into a shop and beat the shit out of their 14yo daughter.
I am highly against corporal punishment, and I believe it causes nothing but trauma.
To end, I'd like to make a quick request. I once saw a video of a mom SITTING on her son and belting him with his pants down. I found a thread I made years ago, but the video has since been deleted. Anyone got it. It's in a barbershop.
Tune in next time when we discuss the morality of JiDion and track the best videos of white women getting knocked out in public.
- 47
- 168
Hey ya, how's it goin'? 
Long time no historypost, and that's why today I wanted to recount one of the most dramatic single events of the Early Reformation—The Siege of Munster! Prophets, princes, the cloth, and the lay come to duke it out at the End of the World smack dab in the middle of Sixteenth Century Germany! They've all gathered for one purpose, and it's to answer the question "What if we made that homeless drug addict constantly screaming 'THE END IS NIGH' on the street corner a dictator?" Well, if you're curious about the answer to that question, then keep reading!
========
CONTEXT
========
The year 1517 should sound familiar to you. It's when a certain godless 
nailed 95 demands on a church and ripped the religious landscape of Europe asunder (or at least it would've been if that story weren't probably apocryphal). You might recognize the bigger players of the reformation, but there exists a (comparatively) little known protestant faction who made quite a stir sometime in the 1530s in the North German city of Munster.
The Anabaptists! Now, Anabaptism was a very decentralized movement. There is no one "true" Anabaptist faction, and no singular point of origin for the movement either. Although the first reformers that may be called Anabaptists were disillusioned followers of Zwingli (a Calvinist preacher). I have to stress that these "original" Anabaptists shouldn't be looked at as the forefathers of the wider movement, but merely the first independent Anabaptist group to develop chronologically (kind of)(sort of)(maybe).
Sub groups within the larger Anabaptist movement, mostly divided by which leading figures they chose to follow, agreed on the same general points:
1. Christians should come to the faith of their own free will rather than through coercion or circumstance.
2. The events in the Bible all literally happened.
(Obviously, this isn't all of Anabaptist theology, but they're the two most important points for our purposes here)
That might not seem like much now, but these ideas had very radical consequences back in the day. The first point meant that Anabaptists rejected the common practice of infant baptism, so second baptisms were common among them as they did not view the first time as legitimate (this is where the term "Anabaptist" comes from: it means "rebaptiser"). Since the other major sects and religious authorities of the time upheld infant baptism, and because second baptisms are a big no-no according to the bible, this alone branded them heretics. The free choice doctrine also meant that Anabaptists held no loyalties to any organized church, be it Protestant or Catholic. The intertwining of church and state common to this era makes this practically anarchical when viewed by both the authorities of the day and Anabaptists themselves.
Biblical literalism, when applied to the Book of Revelation, imagines an eventual apocalypse in which the second coming of Jesus Christ and establishment of His holy Kingdom on Earth is precipitated by a great struggle between all true Christians and the hordes of the godless. Revelation being a favorite portion of the Bible among many Anabaptist leaders and their followers, the "True Christians" are substituted for members of the Anabaptist sect and the "Godless" are imagined to be everyone who isn't them. Belief in being the chosen elect coupled with the assumption that Revelation's events were soon to come led to some rather rambunctious behavior.
================
THE NEW JERUSALEM
================
Melchior Hoffmann was one such Anabaptist leader with a penchant for apocalyptic soothsaying. He roamed the cities and towns of Northern Germany, pronouncing doom to the unfaithful and imminent thousand year reign of the Lord. He prophesied a New Jerusalem where the Lord would descend from Heaven and begin His rule, and that New Jerusalem was to be Strasbourg. Not wanting to lose out on the holy action, he lead a number of his followers to settle in the city, waiting for what was surely to come.
Unfortunately for Hoffmann and company, the Strasbourg city council did not share his expectations and promptly imprisoned him along with many other Anabaptists. He would spend the rest of his life in that Strasbourg prison, preaching out his cell window at the streets below.
If you asked me, it's a little too convenient for the New Jerusalem to have been a city so near and accessible to Hoffmann and his followers, but I guess I'm not a prophet. 
But you know who is? A tall, lanky Dutchman by the name of Jan Matthias, that's who! He was one of Hoffman's disciples that escaped imprisonment in Strasbourg and now he's got it into his head that he's actually Enoch, one of the two witnesses of Revelation, endowed by the Almighty with holy powers and tasked to spread His word. That may seem a little out there, but 
tendencies are somewhat normal for Anabaptists.
Obviously Hoffman had been wrong about Strasbourg, but that didn't mean his was wrong conceptually. The city of God must just be elsewhere! And so Matthias journeyed North Germany in search of this city, peaching to the region's residents, and picking up a certain cloth merchant by the name of Jan Van Leyden as a follower (yes, they're both named Jan). But enough about preaching prophets; let's talk about our setting.
==================
MONSTERS IN MUNSTER
==================
Sitting on the River Aa, with strong walls and a double moat protecting its residents, Early 1530s Munster provided a safe and secure shelter for manufacturers and merchants alike. One such merchant, Bernard Knipperdolling, along with his allies on the city council and in the guilds, had leveraged that defensiveness and economic power to gain quite a bit of autonomy from their feudal lord, Prince-Bishop Frederick Von Weid.
Interesting thing about Von Weid, he once kidnapped and imprisoned Knipperdolling while he was out travelling on a business trip to Lubeck. The merchant was only saved when his brothers scrounged up enough money to ransom him, but not before he was tortured for 6 months and made to swear he wouldn't be too public about his Protestant sympathies. Not how you win friends.
On the spiritual side of things, the city was one of the more tolerant. The council had both Protestant and Catholic members, and securing autonomy from the Bishop took precedent over any religious squabbles they might otherwise get into, but not everyone could put aside their sectarian concerns.
Bernard Rothmann, a University of Cologne-educated clergyman certainly couldn't (and yes, him and Knipperdolling also have the same first name). He was the preacher at the local St. Mauritz church, and a skilled one at that. He'd recently returned from meeting with various protestant leaders, including the big man Martin Luther himself, and he's got a few new ideas about the faith. He's preaching all about how infant baptisms are dumb and how Revelation is soon to come. 
Where have I heard those before...?
In any case, he gets back and immediately leads his congregation to ransack his own church. Paintings of Mary and other religious figures are desecrated, cowtools of worship trashed, religious works of art smashed, and literature excepting the vernacular Bible burned, the whole nine yards of iconoclasm. Not content with confining his ideas to one congregation, Rothmann walked the streets of the city, preaching openly.
Maybe, if you were the average resident of Munster, you could ignore some rando preacher yelling out in the street, but he wasn't alone. He had followers with him, breathing fire and brimstone and at the head of the crowd, next to Rothmann himself, is Bernard Knipperdolling. Councilman, successful merchant, champion of your home's independence from the tyrant wearing a Bishop's miter. If such a respected member of the community is part of this whole thing, surely that Rothmann guy must know what he's talking about.
===============
CLEANSING FLAMES
===============
Rothmann's influence grew with his congregation. He was practically untouchable, having enjoyed the protection of Knipperdolling. Catholic churches across the city were given the same treatment as St. Mauritz, with at least one report describing a painting of the virgin Mary being smeared with feces. Witnesses claimed to have seen Anabaptists shedding their clothes, running and rolling around in the muck of the street while rambling as if possessed. Rothmann's influence secured him a place at St. Lambert's Cathedral, the city's largest church and one that was conveniently located overlooking the market plaza. He butt heads with the other clergymen there, who appealed to the Bishop to put an end to his heresy.
But things aren't how they used to be. The Bishop is old, tired of the struggle against the city's council, the Lutherans, and even his own colleagues in the church branding him a protestant sympathizer. His own influence within the city had long been eclipsed, with attempted enforcement of his rule likely to end in bloodshed. Rather than face the issue, the Bishop resigned.
His successor died within a few months so I'm not gonna talk about him! 
But HIS successor, a man by the name of Franz von Waldeck, was an aristocrat and career clergyman. A caricature of all the abuses and corruption of the church, he was given his station through his connections as nobility, rather than merit or devotedness to God. He was greedy, power hungry, and gluttonous, if his portrait is anything to go by. He was wrathful, rewarding any perceived disloyalty with a trip to the gallows, as quick to end a life as he was to stuff his face. He was also a fricking fatass. His bold approach to the recent upheaval was to hire a mercenary army to pressure the city's council and inhabitants.
While Franz gathered his army, events inside Munster's walls continued to escalate. The City Council had long been suspicious of Rothmann and his Anabaptists. They tried to force his exile from Munster, but an angry mob descended on the city hall in opposition. Portions of the city fell under the control of the Anabaptists and a standoff ensued. In defense, the council called up hundreds of rural presents, armed with farming cowtools for weapons.
Upon arrival, the council's men were met with crowds of zealots yelling "REPENT! REPENT!", claiming God's wrath shall befall them should they not flee this holy place. The (by now) entirely protestant council, still having the problem of the Bishop at their backs and who had lost the sympathies of much of the city, agreed to a peace with the Anabaptists. Brokered by Landgrave Philip of Hesse, one of the only halfway reasonable actors in this story, the peace forced the peasants to leave and the council not to evict the Anabaptists.
Upon the departure of the peasants, the sky was suddenly bathed in red, flames dancing across the clouds while three Suns appeared beside them. The Anabapists took this event as a sign from God, that they really were His chosen. Catholic historians believed it to be the Devil's work.
==========
RESTITUTION
==========
A city divided against itself couldn't stand the looming threat of the Bishop. Unfortunately for the old guard of Muster, or what was left of it, the scales had tipped against them. Throughout Rothmann's rise, he hadn't just been recruiting locals. Many Anabaptists, discontent with the persecution they faced in their homes, migrated to Munster. Fathers, mothers, and children left their families and homes to settle in this like-minded safe haven. In fact, so much of the original makeup of Munster had been displaced or assimilated by the Anabaptists that they'd built up enough political weight to force a council election. The new council was staffed entirely by Anabaptists.
As it would happen, a certain Jan van Leyden was one of these migrants. Remember him? He's the disciple-guy of Jan Matthias mentioned earlier, and he saw opportunity in recent events. Matthias was still searching for his holy city and the supposed miracle that vanquished the peasant army seemed sufficiently holy to justify giving Munster that title (notwithstanding the friendly government and supportive populace). Van Leyden sent word to Matthias.
Matthias' arrival made waves immediately. He'd already been a popular figure among Anabaptists, but seeing him in person was an entire world apart from mere news of a roaming prophet. He was tall, skinny, wrapped in black hooded robes with a forked beard nearly reaching his waist. Heading processions with a burning gaze and fiery words, preaching of the Kingdom soon to be grown from the nourishing blood of felled heathens, it wouldn't be a far stretch to believe this man truly had witnessed Revelation.
The prophet intended to make good on his promise for heathen blood. His rhetoric was aggressive, more aggressive than even Rothmann, not shying from making targets of the remaining non-Anabaptist Munsterites. By now, the city was practically a theocracy lead by the zealotry of the mob, Matthias at its head. A deadline was set, February 27, 1534, for the remainder of the city to convert or face the blade.
February 27 was cold, freezing rain falling from a dark sky. Lead by Matthias, the Anabaptist faithful raided the homes of the godless, stripping them of valuables, leaving them in rags, and forcing them out the city gates. The sick, elderly, and young received the same treatment as the mature and fit, stripped of all resources and exiled. Some reported infants, a few days old, carried out the city in their mother's arms under the sleeting storm. They were only spared harsher punishment by the intervention of Knipperdolling, having appealed to Matthias for exile rather than death.
Knipperdolling's mercy is strange here, considering his later actions. It's possible he had practical concerns. Anabaptist rule was young and hardly concrete. Maybe he still had reservations against harsh treatment of Munster's residents, heretic or not. He was, after all, the man who had prevented their subjugation to tyrants.
[Snide remark about immigrants or whatever. 
]
===================
RIDER ON A WHITE HORSE
===================
Whatever reason for Knipperdolling's uncharacteristic softness, there'd soon be no room for it. The Bishop's forces were knocking at the gates, and that statement wouldn't stay metaphorical for long. There was a last-ditch (and half hearted) attempt at peace between the two, with a neutral party sent to negotiate for the Anabaptists.
Dr. Friedrich von Wyck, the principal negotiator, was a Lawyer practicing out of Bremen and native Munsterite himself. Not being an Anabaptist, the only allegiance he held was to his home town, its survival, and its independence.
Von Wyck would be executed by the Bishop after negotiations fell through in early February. It seems no one was interested in peace.
Before it had been necessary to hold talks, if not to obtain favorable terms in a genuine settlement, then at least to appear the reasonable party. With the events of the 27th, all pretentions toward a nonviolent solution dropped. The Bishop had amassed a large (and equally expensive) mercenary army and the Anabaptists were left the only faction within the city. The Bishop began a loose blockade of Munster on the 29th, strangling commerce while drawing up plans for assault. The siege had begun.
===========
CITY ON A HILL
===========
Now that Matthias occupied his rightful place, guiding the flock of Christ's true children, it was time to get some changes underway. Usually prefaced with an episode of catatonia during which Matthias received visions from the Lord, any decrees from the man were followed without question. To doubt God's witness would be to doubt God's will. With these visions. Matthias transformed Munster's socio-political landscape.
Earthly wealth, you see, has no value in the eyes of true Christians. Therefore, it is only right that all things must be held in common, to be made use of in ways the community sees fit, rather than to satisfy the vanity of individuals.
Personal valuables were seized from their owners, to be exchanged for provisions from the outside with which to conduct the siege or to bribe the Bishop's mercenaries to abandon their client. Foodstuffs were appropriated, to be distributed equally among the community, according to need. Houses, especially those once owned by the exiled godless, were used to house new arrivals or those who had previously done without shelter.
All must also work. God's kingdom has no place for lumpenproletari—er, the sinning slothful. Those with jobs were compelled to continue them. Those without, or those with jobs found useless to the community, were assigned work. Those who did not work were imprisoned.
Icons of the old order were destroyed or converted for practical use. All church spires within Munster were demolished (save St. Lamberts, used as a gunnery), their parts used for construction. Streets were renamed to things properly God-fearing. Cowtools of worship (rosaries, candles, crosses, etc.) were confiscated from their owners. Even newborn children had their names restricted to those from the Bible.
Knowledge not in service to God is not knowledge at all. All books were burned, save the vernacular Bible. Independent educational institutions were made to spread God's word and God's word solely. Church attendance was mandatory, where commissars would instruct the masses of true ideology preachers would bring the true word of God to the lay.
Dissent was crushed. Can't let freedom of conscious get in the way of a good revolution. I-I mean... get in the way of service to God! Yeah, service to God...
If you don't get it by now, Matthias was a dirty !commies bastard and that fact isn't lost on past and contemporary historians. Though, admittedly, it is a little more complex than that. 
pretentious academic voice If Matthias was communist at all, he was a proto-communist at best. You see, the social conditions necessary for the development of communistic theory were far from extant in Matthias' day, 
and he held no illusions toward abolition of the state. Really, Matthias' ideology may be compared to virtually any brand of totalitarianism. 
The prophet aimed to capture the whole of people's hearts, minds, and actions, orienting them to serve God and the establishment of His kingdom. Just replace "God" with "The State" or "The People" or "The Nation" and, boom, you have totalitarianism. Unless you don't believe in the concept of totalitarianism, but now you're just being reductionist. 
===========
FINAL VISIONS
===========
The thing about relying on visions from God to guide you is that you can't refuse when He gives a bad suggestion.
Good Friday, April 3rd, 1534, and Jan Matthias is laying face down, silent and unmoving, at a wedding. Anabaptists high and low alike were in attendance, Knipperdolling and Matthias fraternizing with common artisans like the carpenter Henry Gresbeck. The prophet's behavior might be slightly worrying if it happened to any other sometime-between-middle-aged-and-elderly man, but with Matthias, it merely signaled another of his divine revelations. None batted an eye when he collapsed, later rose from his seat, sang praise to God, and kissed all attending on the lips before departing without another word. Just typical Matthias. Maybe there'd be another law tomorrow.
The time had come for some REAL miracle work. Transforming society to align with God's will is one thing, but it does nothing to vanquish His enemies outside your borders. Once again, that was to be Matthias' job. God instructed him to ride out the gates, alone, and route the heathens single-handedly. Some might raise doubt of the efficacy of such a plan, the prophet himself apparently disliked the prospect, but there was little to be done about any misgivings. Rejecting the plan either meant admitting Matthias' visions weren't divine or that God could be wrong. Neither were really options.
Matthias donned his armor, mounted his horse, and rode with a dozen or so men to meet the Bishop's army on April 5th, two days later. His head would adorn a pike in view of the city.
His severed genitals may have also been nailed to a city gate, but that claim is as dubious as it is amusing.
The next few days were uncertain. The de facto, if not de jure, leader was dead. Rothmann and Knipperdolling were still around, but neither could command quite like the prophet. Rothmann was an intellectual, educated, and a good propagandist. Knipperdolling was a political veteran, but couldn't capture the passions of the people. Someone with charisma was needed, one that could whip the population into subservience. Someone that could convince everyone that God had chosen them to lead, just as He had chosen Matthias.
Jan van Leyden, if not chosen by God, was at least a good actor. He had experience, once participating in street plays back in the Netherlands. Putting that knack for theater to use a few days after the prophet's death, van Leyden appeared publicly in the market square before St. Lambert's, fully nude, and screaming pleas for repentance from the citizens of Munster. He ran the streets of the city in this manic state until he collapsed. Signaling that he wished to communicate, but could not speak, he was provided a writing utensil and paper.
His message read that God rendered him mute until he could receive a proper vision of the city's future.
Aaaaaaand that's where I'll leave you. This post is too long as it is and there's still a lot more information. I'll continue in another part so look out for that if you care. I may also make a post on /h/lit about the sources I used if the post does well
- 16
- 52
Prev: Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch.4 Ch. 5
Spring
1st Granite
My name is Mistem ‘Rankine_911' Gikutmuthkat, broker, and I've somehow managed to get myself here despite not knowing what the heck I'm doing. We currently find ourselves trapped in our fortress, stuck behind closed gates while the undead wait for us outside. Unable to rely on trade from outside, this might be an opportune moment to start up our own steel industry with help from the recently discovered magma lake underground. Hopefully then we can better equip our militia for the eventual fight to drive off the undead.
Looking through the stockpiles we find quite the surplus of iron and coal but there is a complete lack of any flux stone which we'll need to begin smelting the steel. Fortunately, there is a limestone layer up near the surface and orders are given to begin mining it out. A work order is also put out to begin smelting pig iron, the first step in the process for making steel.
3rd Granite
Only a couple days into the spring and it seems as if the undead that were sieging us down have given up and left? This could be a great turn of fortune for the fort. There is no sign of the dark hunters that had kept us holed up in our fortress. We're still hesitant to open the gates just yet, but perhaps some trade caravans will stop by now. There does still seem to be an axedwarf corpse poking his head over our walls and interrupting the dwarves, but he doesn't seem to be much of a threat for the time being.
12th Granite
One of the dwarven children has gone stark raving mad and is now running around babbling, apparently as the result of a strange mood. Unfortunate, but there doesn't seem to be anything we can do for him now.
24th Granite
The axedwarf corpse that had previously been harassing our dwarves from outside the gates somehow managed to find a way inside. It was able to slaughter some of our animals but fortunately the militia was able to respond quickly to eliminate the threat. However the entrance to our fortress is now rather bloody.
12th Slate
With the undead siege having given up, it looks like a migrant wave has arrived! With the new migrants, we now have a population of 70 dwarves. The orders are given to open the gates and let them in, and work immediately begins on new bedrooms to accommodate the arrivals.
16th Slate
The Guild of Creatures, a farmers guild, has formed and is now demanding we build them a guildhall. Without any reason to deny them, work is begun on a new guildhall in the fortress.
24th Slate
Oh no.
A gila monster werebeast has come to attack our fort. However in what can only be described as a miracle, its stumbled directly into our trash compactor.
The orders are given to pull the lever and all that remains of the frightening creature is a splattering of blood on the ground. An admittedly anti-climatic ending but its for the best that none of the dwarves were brought into direct contact with the werebeast.
Summer
1st Hematite
Summer has begun. We've been hard at work expanding the base, but as for our originally plan of starting up a steel industry we've made a whopping total of 3 pig iron bars. In hindsight having to carry all that stone down to the magma lake was perhaps not a great idea. Hm.
3rd Hematite
Two thieves have been spotted, but thankfully it looks like we caught them before they were able to get inside.
The militia is raised, and the two thieves are quickly dispatched. It seems that we have a rather talented axe lord in our militia who was able to quickly lop off both of their heads.
8th Hematite
With such little progress made on smelting the pig iron, we begin to question why our work orders are taking so long. Its discovered that a huge number of dwarves are spending all their time just trying to keep the animals in the pasture. It's not clear what is causing them to keep running away, but it seems like it might be worthwhile to start slaughtering some of this vast herd of animals we have.
14th Hematite
A human caravan has arrived. We use this opportunity to sell off some of our old equipment in return for leather and cloth.
17th Hematite
The dwarves have decided that with the recent expansion of our fort this would be an appropriate time to elect a mayor. It is decided that @60horsesinmyherd, our expedition leader, should become the mayor of the fort. Work begins on making a bedroom and office of sufficient quality for such an important role in our fort.
27th Hematite
And more migrants have arrived. This might be getting to be too much to handle, we'll need to get to work making more beds now. Our population is now up to 79 dwarves. With this new wave of migrants, a rangers guild has been established and now also wants their own guildhall.
12th Malachite
One of our dwarves has been possessed, I wonder what this will lead to?
21st Malachite
And that possessed dwarf has created Sosadmot, a chestnut bucket.
20th Galena
The 10 pig iron bars have finally been smelted, and it only took nearly half of the year. Work is started next on smelting the steel. Some work is now being done to set up the stockpiles so that everything needed will be hauled down to the magma smelter which should hopefully speed things up a little.
Autumn
11th Limestone
A caravan has arrived from Atir Zas, and our mayor meets with the liaison (who is apparently a goblin?). There's nothing in particular we need, so no requests are made from them, however they do ask for us to supply meat next year and are willing to offer more than double for it.
2nd Timber
More migrants have arrived, and along with a couple of children born the previous month our population has now reached 91.
4th Timber
The first 10 steel bars have been smelted. The new stockpile was able to help speed things up after clearing up some confusion the dwarves had about where the stone should be hauled. We've assembled several more magma smelters and are now prepared to really get the steel production going.
Winter
4th Moonstone
It's now winter, and right away we find two more thieves outside our fortress. However, they are no match against our militia.
28th Obsidian
Winter passes us by mostly uneventfully and my year comes to an end. We've been hard at work smelting steel and now have a sizable supply ready for us to forge into whatever may be needed in the upcoming year. A baby was born this month, bringing our growing fort to a population of 92. Thanks to the incoming migrant waves, we are now seen as a town rather than just a hamlet. And with that, I will pass this chronicle over to the next dwarf.
Well that generally went better than expected. If it's not clear by now, I really don't know much about Dwarf Fortress and had only played for a few hours or so before jumping right into the succession fort. It's a game that I really want to like, but when I play it more often feels like I'm fighting against the UI rather than actually dealing with any game mechanics. As you can see, it took me half the year just to figure out how to get the stockpile set up so dwarves would actually bring stone to it.
As for the actual fort, the siege is over (not that I really had anything to do with it) and the population has more than doubled. I did have to save scum once when that zombie climbed over the walls because he somehow managed to kill the entire militia and I have no idea how. When I repeated it they took it out no problem. The werebeast could have been disastrous, but it walked right into the trash compactor. Other than that, the fort mostly just ran itself without much issue.
I will send the save back to @BFBugleberry since he was busy and had to pass on his turn.
He's still busy so its now @Yasharn's turn
Player list in order of succession:
.webp?h=8 "Merry Fistmas!")
) gets bullied by fitnesscirclejerk for how he reacted to a simple "Take a Dump" comment. 
- 11
- 31
Online fitness communities have a huge problem with 
posters asking stupid questions about weight loss because "eat less" is apparently a difficult concept. Lucky for us, the brave OG /r/fitnesscirclejerk users were around to shit on people all day. This image explains FCJ
I'm way too lazy to link funny comments, find your own drama, it all starts with a fairly simple post.
Best way to lift to keep numbers/strength while losing 5-7 lbs?
Im just doing 5x5 right now, i think Starting Strength, but I need to lose about 5-7 lbs
. Should I just keep lifting the same amount of weight that I am now while trying to lose weight?
I hope that made sense, Like If I lift more I would get bigger so should I just stay at my current lifting numbers or even lessen the weight im lifting?
It takes only 2 minutes to get a response
Take a dump
Edit: Thank you to whoever downmarseyd me for asking a question that was not covered in the FAQ. You all are a great help to people looking for help. While answers like "Take a dump." are the top comment. /s No wonder people say avoid Fittit.
EDIT: THANKFULLY THERE WERE PEOPLE HERE WHO PMd ME WHO WERE IDIOTS AND COULD ACTUALLY READ THAT ANSWERED MY ACTUAL QUESTION WHEN THEY SAW IT WAS NOT ANSWERED IN THE FAQ.
THE IMMATURE LOSERS WHO ARE POLLUTING THIS SUBREDDIT SHOULD PROBABLY TRY AND IMPROVE YOURSELF. ITS SAD WHEN PEOPLE WOULD RATHER RIDICULE THEN TEACH. PLEASE DONT REPRODUCE.
Now normally this would end here, but for some reason he keeps posting and people just keep telling him to take a dump, (i'm not quoting stuff, go find all the take a dump easter eggs)
He even makes his own SRD thread Downmarseys rain down after downmarseyrs keep answering question that was never asked.
A month later he comes back to gloat
A 7 lb. dump? Darn. Must have hurt dat dere O-ring
A good redditor posted this, unfortunately your sad kind outnumbers the opposite.
Ugh. Why do people like you exist? You are not the dark nor the light in a painting. You are simply without purpose. I can't imagine a life that involves saying the foulest of shit just in hopes of making someone, somewhere, feel a little bit worse.
The worst part about your bullshit, is that it wasn't even shocking to the point where some people could possibly find it funny. You are the burnt edge of a poptart. Something that doesn't even have the impact to ruin... just something that needs to be broken off and discarded.
How meaningless of a life you live.
This spreads to other parts of reddit too.
FCJ: This just in: OldManSteve still being told to take a dump
Watch me steer OldManSteve in the right direction
More random content
A year later this is still going on and /u/oldmansteve comments in /r/fitnesscirclejerk
The moral of this story: Take a Dump fatties.
- MikeHuntIsAnAsshole2 : STOLEN VALOR, SEE MY COMMENT
- rDramaHistorian : 10/10 post
- 41
- 150
Jerome Young was born in 1963 into a pretty fricked up family. At five years old he witnessed his Father repeatedly stab his Mother after finding out she had cheated on him with multiple men. Five months later Young's Mother would try to leave her husband and take the kids with her but was unable to due to getting shot in the leg by Young's Father when he saw her packing her bags. Later in the year Young's Father would die from a heart attack, Young's Mother celebrated his death by having loud s*x with every man in the neighborhood. The next few years the family would move from apartment to apartment to avoid landlords seeking to evict them. At around age 15 Young and his friends started robbing gas stations, sporting goods stores, and jewelry stores. They would all eventually be caught and Young was charged with aggravated robbery and spent two years in prison. After his release he spent the next decade as a bounty hunter.
At some point Young's friend/co-worker asked if Young was intrested in getting into professional wreslting and Young said he was. Young was trained by Ray Candy and In 1991 Young made his in ring debut in the Tennessee based United States Wrestling Association. It was here he adopted the ring name "New Jack", which was based off the movie New Jack City. New Jack would later join the North Georgia Wrestling Alliance in 1993 and while there he would form the tag team called The Gangstas with Mustafa Saed.
In 1994 Jim Cornette, owner of the small Appalachia area wrestling promotion called Smokey Mountain Wrestling, asked New Jack and Mustafa if they would like to join his promotion. As Cornette put it he was looking for two black heels to piss off the locals with. New Jack and Mustafa agreed and joined SMW.
Smokey Mountain Wrestling
The Gangstas tag team would evolve into a stable in Smokey Mountain Wrestling and as mentioned above Jim Cornette wanted a Black heel team to piss off the locals with so before their first match Cornette told New Jack to "go make white people angry". The Gangstas would defeat the Rock 'n' Roll Express in their debut match, so on top of being the new guys beating up the fan favorites they were walking while black. With the crowd already seething with anger, New Jack would drop one of the most legendary promos in wrestling history:
I'd like to send a special shoutout to my homeboy OJ Simpson! Keep up the good work baby! Two less we got to worry about, you understand! Keep up the good work! Louis Farrakhan will be the next president! Snoop Dog, we know you innocent, you called me last night!
As evident by the seething jeers in the background, the all mayo southern crowd were beyond angry and this was just the beginning. The Gangstas would do everything they could to piss off the mayos which included: Recreating the Rodney King beating but with the races reversed, telling the crowd to "kiss my black butt!", using fried chicken and watermelon as props, invoking Medgar Evers name, holding up a white baby doll with a noose, and using Affirmative Action to win matches with just a two count instead of three. 
Indeed, New Jack was good at pissing off the locals, too good at pissing off the locals. The station that aired Smokey Mountain Wrestling had to start putting up a disclaimer every time New Jack made a promo and even the local NAACP started protesting SMW claiming that New Jack was trying to start a race riot. New Jack replied that he didn't care and that everybody was either a redneck hillbilly or a trained house negro. 
Just listen to that crowd, he had them in the palm of his hand. 
But all good things come to an end. In 1995 New Jack and Mustafa were approached by Extreme Championship Wrestling and asked to join the promotion to which they agreed to. As the name implies, ECW was a wrestling promotion known for it's "hardcore" style of wresting, which is a fancy way of saying the guys beat the shit out of each other. This style of wrestling suited the Gangstas perfectly and in no time they became fan favorites despite being heels. But soon New Jack would enter national infamy and earn his title as the most dangerous man in wrestling.
Mass Transit Incident
In a house show in 1996, 17 year old sideshow wrestler Erich Kulas would lie his way into a match with New Jack.
Axl Rotten had been scheduled to work a tag-team match with D-Von Dudley against The Gangstas but could not make the show due to a family emergency. The show was also scheduled to feature dwarf wrestlers Tiny the Terrible and Half Nelson against 17-year-old Erich Kulas, who performed as Mass Transit, a Ralph Kramden-esque bus driver. Kulas convinced ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman to have him fill in for Rotten by claiming he was 21 and had wrestled for Killer Kowalski, a retired star wrestler who ran a notable wrestling school in the Boston area.
In the locker room before the show many of the ECW wreslters claimed that Kulas was trying to throw his weight around and boss everyone around, and in particular wanted New Jack to job for him, New Jack of course told him no. Erich Kulas then said he wanted to get color and blade but was too chickenshit to do it himself so he asked New Jack to blade him for him, New Jack happily agreed.
Clearly, this is the face of a man who you can trust to cut you open.
During the match The Gangstas would double-teamed Kulas inside the ring, with New Jack pummeling him with crutches, toasters, and various other objects. At the end of the match, New Jack bladed Kulas with a surgical scalpel, as the two had agreed, but cut too deeply and severed two arteries in Kulas' forehead. He screamed in pain, then passed out as blood poured from his head. 
Worth noting that the guy who filmed this is Erich Kulas own Father, who had helped him lie his way into all of this to begin with. You can actually hear him yelling "Go easy on him! He's just a kid!" and "He's 17! Ring the fricking bell!". The apple didn't fall far from the tree it seems. 
After the match and Kulas had been stretchered out, Kulas's Father tried to go backstage to confront New Jack but was restrained by security.
The fallout was immediate: A big scary black man hurting an innocent white boy? 
The media had a field day with the incident. Inside Edition ran an interview with the Kulas family, crying that New Jack tried to murder the little kid, but of course left out the part were he lied about being 17 and that he literally asked New Jack to cut him. ECW also faced repercussions: Request TV canceled ECW's first pay-per-view event, Barley Legal, because of this incident.
And of course: The Kulas family would file a lawsuit. Three years after the incident New Jack would be taken to court on charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. During the trail many wrestlers testified that Kulas was extremely arrogant and demanding backstage prior to the match and, when told that he would have to bleed as part of the match, Kulas had asked New Jack to blade him. It was also proven that both Kulas and his Father lied about his age thanks to the above clip, with Kulas Father screaming that he's just 17.
The jury acquitted New Jack and he was later found not liable in civil court. And on top of that ECW's PPV was un-canceled. 
Years later in 2002 Erich Kulas died of complications from a gastric bypass surgery. The family would blame New Jack for the boy's death, claiming that New Jack destroyed his self-esteem and that was the reason why he wanted the surgery. New Jack was, of course, unapologetic.
Now despite everything you just read it should be noted that this incident isn't so black and white: At around the 2:26 mark in the video you can hear New Jack asking Kulas if he's alright after cutting him. Also the part about Kulas passing out from blood loss may not be true either: According to Tommy Dreamer who was there when the incident went down, when Kulas was on a stretcher he was not only fully conscious but was giving the crowd a double middle finger, meaning he was still committed to the bit. So who knows, maybe New Jack really didn't mean to hurt the kid, maybe Kulas was just in shock, we'll never really know.
Brain Damage And High-Flying Revenge
In 1999, the WWF would take their new and green wrestler named Vic Grimes off the air and encourage him to join ECW to further develop his skills.
A year into his ECW run Grimes would be booked into a match with New Jack in the Living Dangerously PPV, and here a breakdown in communication between New Jack and Grimes led to both men tumbling off a 20-foot high scaffolding rig onto concrete.
Grimes fell down on top of New Jack's head, cracking his skull open. This resulted in permanent brain damage and permanent blindness in his right eye along with a searing pain behind his right eye. New Jack, the humble coke enjoyer, would become a full blown cokefiend to deal with the pain. New Jack would also have to take serval months off to recover from his injuries. Vic Grimes would leave ECW shortly after this.
Following ECW's closing, New Jack went to Xtreme Pro Wrestling, and his feud with Grimes was re-ignited when Grimes surprisingly attacked New Jack from behind with a guitar at Payback's a B-word event; New Jack was involved in a verbal dispute with XPW CEO Rob Black when Grimes appeared through the mat from under the ring and attacked New Jack, aligning himself with Black's faction, "The Black Army". The beginning of the newly ignited feud featured both men in a tag match, with Grimes teaming with The Messiah and New Jack aligning himself with Supreme; during the match New Jack was powerbombed by Grimes through a flaming table, and New Jack was on fire for over 10 seconds. Other major points of the feud featured New Jack diving off the Los Angeles Grand Olympic Auditorium balcony over 30 feet onto two tables, with Grimes on top of both, at Redemption in May 2001, as well as Grimes throwing New Jack off the same balcony through many tables stacked below at New Year's Revolution in January 2002.
The feud would reach it's climax a month later with New Jack and Grimes on top of a scaffold that was 40 feet tall and here New Jack would have his revenge. With both men on top of the scaffolding, New Jack went off script and took out a taser and began tasering Grimes repeatedly. Grimes told New Jack he couldn't feel his legs due to the tasering and New Jack simply replied "You ain't gonna' need em', bombs away!".
Grimes fell 40 feet, missing all but two of the plethora of stacked tables meant to break his fall and landed on the top ring rope, which slingshotted him and saved his life. Despite all of that the worst of Grimes injuries was a dislocated ankle. 
New Jack would claim for the rest of his life that he legitimately tried to murder Vic Grimes as revenge, not for the brain damage itself but for never apologizing for it, but he simply didn't toss Grimes hard enough to make him miss the ring entirely. Grimes on the other hand claimed New Jack didn't try to kill him and him getting thrown off was part of the match plan to begin with. I don't which is more amusing; New Jack failing to kill this guy or this idiot swan diving and missing 40 feet worth of stacked tables.
The Beating Of Gypsy Joe
As New Jack put it: Gypsy Joe he was around when Jesus and Moses were in a tag team, Gyspy Joe was old. But despite this Ol' Joe was booked into a hardcore match against New Jack. Gypsy Joe was known for his 'feels no pain' gimmick, which just means he didn't sell any moves used against him. The problem? Nobody told New Jack this.
In 2003 New Jack, now in the National Wrestling Alliance, was booked into a main event hardcore match with the then 69 year old Gypsy Joe. New Jack was already upset for a couple of reasons. The first being he's an old man, no matter how the match ended New Jack was not coming out of it looking good. And two, in the backstage area before the match started New Jack tried to discuss with Gypsy Joe how the match would go down but Gypsy Joe brushed him off, claiming maybe New Jack will finally learn how to wrestle.
The main event starts and Gypsy Joe is no-selling everything New Jack is doing. Assuming the old man is now deliberately trying to make him look bad, and getting head butted hard in the face by Gypsy Joe, and most likely high off cocaine, New Jack decides "frick this" and proceeds to beat the shit out of Gypsy Joe.
Warning: White trash foid screeching throughout the whole dang match.
After the match New Jack was arrested and charged with assault with a weapon. Gypsy Joe would continue his wrasslin career until his retirement in 2011. He later died in 2016.
Stabbing Of Florida Man
In 2004 and now in the indie Thunder Wrestling Federation, New Jack was booked into a match with William Jason Lane "Hunter Red". As New Jack put it, Hunter Red was both green, a mark, and had no business being in the ring with him. Before the match started New Jack tried to discuss how the much would go down with Hunter Red but Red brushed him off, claiming "I'll do whatever.".
The match starts and Hunter Red immediately starts throwing hail mary's into New Jack's eye and then tries to dump him out of the ring. New Jack, once again, decides "frick this" and pulls a knife and starts stabbing Red, much to the horror to all the tens of fans in attendance. 
And as New Jack has made repeatedly clear, he only stabbed him 9 times, not 14.
New Jack was arrested after the match and was facing multiple felony charges but he was in luck; as it turn out the guy he stabbed was a complete and total r-slur.
While in jail New Jack was visited by Hunter Red who made an offer to him; he'll drop all charges but New Jack had to train Red on how to wrestle and go cross-country wrasslin with him. New Jack said 'sure, just drop the charges first.'. Both men went to court were all charges were dropped. New Jack took one step out of the courthouse, bought a plane ticket, and left the state of Florida forever. Hunter Red was never seen or heard from again.
Later Life And Death
Sometime in 2009 New Jack dated Terri Runnels, which apparently caused a lot of seethe and jealously amongst mayo wrestlers. Runnels would later file a libel lawsuit against New Jack to stop him from selling a s*x tape.
New Jack would later marry Jennifer Young. New Jack would disown one of their children, Washington Heights, for being a drag queen.
Here's Washington's Vice article talking about her dad:
My Dad Is a Pro Wrestler, I'm a Drag Queen – We're Not So Different
Heights said she “would love for” Young to attend one of her shows, just as she attended one of his wrestling shows
God, just fricking imagine New Jack walking into a drag show. 
New Jack was now retired from wrestling but the punishment to his body had taken it's toil. In 2016 New Jack collapsed while walking home from an event and was diagnosed with blood clots in his legs and back, in addition to heart problems. New Jack was bedridden, but this did not stop him from shitposting on the internet.
And making cameos:
Literally every cameos he made was just him wishing Merry Christmas and making death threats.
On May 14, 2021, at age 58, New Jack passed away in his home, dying from a heart attack, just like his father.
New Jack, moments before devouring a group a white children.
Recommended Viewing
New Jack's last interview before his death.
Ricky Morton talks about New Jack's heat in SMW.
New Jack rants on Chris Benoit.
New Jack and the Sandman tripping on acid.
why everybody think I'm gay in the locker room!?
Dark Side of The Ring's episode about New Jack:
- DestoryerCarbine : Yuristrags have made threats of violence over people shipping normal relationships.
-
RWBY
: Yuri is the lamest “main” character but I still
- CoconutGun : I think 1st report meant Yuri as "Girl-on-girl" aka F!Edeleth, not Yuri the character
- 79
- 106
Explanation: FEEL FREE TO SKIP THE WORDS WORDS WORDS
Fire Emblem is a video game franchise using turn-based tactics a la Xcom or Valkyria Chronicles. Just like Xcom, characters can die permanently, but unlike it, you cannot have an indefinite amount of them, they're all set in script and you must be cautious not to end the game with a skeleton crew. To avoid this, you have in each game a myriad of literallywho characters whose entire personality can only be assumed with as little as one line of dialogue. Naturally, you've had ship wars occurring because of this in the depths of obscure niche forums because of this.
Back in the early 2010's, The franchise was on death row after a few releases that were commercial flops, until they pulled out one last-ditch effort and released Awakening on 3DS. The devs made it a "Swan Song" game to they could properly bow down with the curtain-fall, placing references and shout-outs to previous opuses, and especially, adding a long-asked self-insert character as well as dating sim mechanics to their game. And guess what, it was a huge fricking success and brought the series back from palliative care. Fire Emblem decided to ride this success by adding more and more development to this dating mechanic, including Same-s*x relationships and whatnot.
In the most commercially successful opus so far, Fire Emblem: Three Houses that came out in 2019. They opted for a fun mechanic. The Game is not linear. Instead, you can follow different routes, each with different ending, and none canon.In this game (You) are Byleth, a Self-Insert Avatar with the personality of a plastic cup, mercenary-turned-instructor at an academy that gathers the sons and daughters of Nobility throughout three different kingdoms. Ensues a 5 years time-skip, the continent is now drowned in a three-sided war, and you have to pick which class of former students to do war crimes and murder your other former students with. 
All sides have righteous and less righteous causes and motives, so naturally this makes the path for pages and pages of discourse. But we're talking about a video game played by neurodivergents so really, their allegiance entirely depends on which teenage noble makes their peepee the hardest.
Thus lot of people love to side with the white-hair Empress girl Edelgard, (on the left), because she wants to establish social reforms & get rid of a caste system & burn the catholic church & other gay shit. But most importantly she's le heckin bisexual 
and you can frick her as a male AND female avatar! So it's a huge lesbian victory. To the point, Female!Avatarxedelgard shipper regularly bully Male!AvatarxEdelgard because they commit lesbian erasure by shipping her with a dude! 
But many as well ride with the blonde guy in the middle, Dimitri, prince of a northern kingdom and estranged step-brother of Edelgard, whom, Spoiler alert
And that makes the Pro-Edelgard team fricking mad. Because 1, Dimitri's route exposes the bad sides of their precious waifu bean's self-righteous extremism, and 2, like the braindead shippers they are, they can't stand the fact people don't masturbate to their waifu in general.
Because of the above, ever since the game came out in 2019, the Fire Emblem forums are flooded with non-stop posts and longposts of Edelgard (Called Edeleth, for shipping her with the avatar, Byleth), whom are definitely the most rabid shippers of the bunch. This essentially has become the local meme in the local subs and forums, which Edelth occupy the role of your schizophrenic downstairs neighbour. /r/shitpostemblem, the meme sub of the franchise regularly likes to jab at them for their unhinged behaviour
NOW THE REAL DRAMA
Anyway, couple days ago the weekly Edeleth discourse post was submitted as a wordswordswords meme on /r/shitpostemblem by a rabid shipper.
OP proceeds to get shat on in the comment section:
here comes the coup de théâtre 
My, what could be the post they're linking to? Answer: An r/honesttransgender rant:
Turns out OP is a 16 year-old, MtF poster 
BUT WAIT, IT GETS BETTER 
tl;DR: Neurodivergent franchise shipper embodies the stereotypical meme of its own self on a shitpost subreddit. Proceeds to get shat on by the community, is revealed to be an mtf teenager.
- 43
- 67
Has anyone ever lied about? Spread a false narrative, and then others believed it? This happens everyday. People aren't even trying to be misleading. Sometimes they are merely representing what they believe to be true. Other times, they're looking at the evidence and coming to the wrong conclusions.
Today, you'll have the chance to be the judge of these people. They have been accused of being drug dealers, which they deny. Do you think they are guilty? Or do you think they are the victims of unusual circumstances?
1. Timothy Batts
Timothy Batts is a Black man who lives in Hendersonville. He has a daughter named Timea Batts, and he had to fight to have custody of his daughter. In 2011, he was the victim of a drive-by shooting where he sustained 6 shots in his back and a bullet grazing his head. The perpetrator, Cheyenne Turner, was dating his baby mama.
One day, he was at home waiting for his daughter. He had a firearm in his home which belonged to his cousin. Surveillance footage in his home shows him pacing around the house with a cellphone to his ear. When his daughter arrives, he is shocked, and he shoots her once. Upon realising his error, he rushed her to hospital but she unfortunately passed away. You can watch the surveillance footage here:
https://fox17.com/news/local/video-evidence-shows-moments-before-after-timea-batts-shot-by-father
Predictably, Timothy was arrested and given $1 million bail. This triggered a protest and a Change.org petition. The judge eventually reduced the bond to half a million, which Timothy was able to pay through crowdfunding. Shortly after receiving bail, he was arrested again and bail was revoked when he tested positive for cocaine.
Timothy's defence? He was traumatized by his prior shooting incident, and shot because he thought he was dealing with a home invasion. The prosecutors painted a different story. They found large amounts of money in his home. This, combined with his constant pacing in his home and the constant phone calls points to one thing - drug dealer!
In the first trial, they were met with a hung jury. Instead of going for a second trial, Timothy accepted a plea deal which had him sentenced to 4 years in prison. The judge claimed that Timothy was wrong in possessing a weapon despite being a felon. This sentence is the result of a plea deal, which some may see as a misapplication of justice - either too lenient for a murderer or too harsh for a grieving father.
Is this a drug dealer with no regard for the law? Or an innocent man being misrepresented because of his criminal record and race?
2. The Australian Katana killing
This is a long tangled story with no clear conclusions to be drawn. Jett McKee is a rapper from Sydney, Australia. He performed under the name Scepaz. I personally don't like his music. You can find some of it online. A lot of lyrics are depressing and hopeless.
His own mother described him as directionless, so it is no surprise that he fell into gambling habits. This addiction was worsened when his girlfriend fell pregnant. Jett also did drugs, including methamphetamine, known as Ice. As his debts grew, he eventually resorted to crime. In a foolish move, he and a friend decided that they would rob drug dealers.
With very few guns in Australia, they were able to do this with a crowbar alone. After a few successful hits, Jett's friend suggests they rob a couple in Forest Lodge who are dealing weed. Their names are Hannah Quinn and Blake Davis. They watched the house for days, waiting for the right time. Jett's friend could not join because he was afraid he would be identified by the couple.
So let us discuss the couple. Blake was 26 years old, and Hannah was 23. They lived in the same home, with Hannah working in a cafe and Blake attempting to make it as an actor. Blake also loves martial arts, and he owns several knives and katanas. You can see some of his acting credits on IMDB.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2457570
They were at home when Jett decided to make the move. This time, Jett was armed with a gun. Wearing a balaclava, he enters their home and attempts to rob them at gunpoint. They refuse to hand over any money, and a fight ensues resulting in Blake getting punched and knocked out.
Jett grabs a bag from Hannah and runs, but Hannah chases him. They struggle, and during the struggle on the road, Blake awakens. He grabs a katana and runs on the road and slashes the Jett. Jett succumbs to his injuries on the road as Hannah and Blake flee. Rather than inform the authorities, the couple hides the katana, and pack a bag with $21,380 AU$ before going on the run. They end up ditching the bag of money before moving from hotel to hotel, avoiding hospital despite Blake's injury.
Eventually, the couple turns themselves in after learning of Jett's death on the news. When the couple's house was searched, they found more money and copious amounts of marijuana. In court they claim they ran because they were afraid and thought the intruder might hunt them down to finish the job. Naturally the obvious question was "you were afraid you were in a gang war with another drug dealer?" Prosecutors claimed that the couple was trying to send a message to others attempting to rob drug dealers. The judge did not buy this argument, though it was concluded that Blake was a drug dealer.
Ultimately, the judge convicted Blake of manslaughter, and Hannah was declared an accessory. Blake was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months.
So where do you lie on these issues? Are we looking at drug dealers, or folks who have been stitched up? Does it even matter if they were drug dealers? Why so much stigma against substance use?
Tune in next time when we morally analyse JiDion, before we discuss Holly Willoughby's queue-gate. We'll also be reviewing Alan Wake 2 and Fate/Samurai Remnant.
- 16
- 94
Greetings Dramatards!
So to continue with our Jacob Zuma dramasaga, last time we were with Jacob Zuma, he had cucked the r*pe charges against him, and cucked Thabo Mbeki out of leadership of the ANC (african National Congress if u guys ever wondered), all within the span of one year. He was always an influential politician within the ANC, but between 2005 - 2006, he had meteoric rise to power, and basically shocked a lot of people when he would attain presidency of the Republic of South Africa, from 2009 to 2018.
In his nearly 10 years of reign, he would cause chaos and anarchy wherever he went, and would the most corrupt president in all of recorded RSA history. He would enable a top-down culture of supreme nepotism, and tender-kidnapping for state projects. He enabled the Indian family, the Guptas to state-capture entre fricking industries into their influence of total control and corruption. If there are 3 words synonemous with Zuma, it would be corruption, corruption and corruption.
There are enough stories of Zuma's presidency to fill a 1000 Longposts, but today we will be focusing on the famous Nkandla Residence and 
"Fire Swiming Pool"
WHAT IS NKANDLA?
Nkandla is a small town 
in the uThungulu district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It consists of about 115,000 inhabitants (mostly Zulus), spread relatively sparsely over a large area. Nkandla is a REALLY rural area and is in the top five of the poorest places in KwaZulu-Natal province - Poverty is prevalent, with 44% unemployment. In summary it's a backwater in the middle of nowhere.
But when people of SA talk about Nkandla, they are in fact specifically talking about the most infamous mega-mansion Nkandla Homestead which prez Jacob Zuma had built himself with government money which he had shamelessly and openly syphoned off from taxpayers and funds meant for uplifting poor black South Africans. The compound is situated on Nxamalala Farm, where President Jacob Zuma was born and raised.
The location of Nkandla itself is most ironic and poetic. Zuma built his mega Homestead in one of the poorest 
areas in the entire nation, with the very tax-funds meant for that district, that were meant to build homes for those applying for RDP homes for the Underprivileged https://www.sassagrants.co.za/how-to-apply-for-rdp-housing
Surrounded by styffling poverty and worklessness, and STILL supported by the people who lived adjacent to the Nkandla Homestead in sinkhouses and shantytowns. Looking at an areal photo of the Nkandla Residence and its surrounding squalor is like some kind of Metaphor for RSA under Jacob Zuma's leadership.
And the rural location was specifically chosen to be secret 
and away from prying eyes. Notice this picture again?
Like many of the Indigenous Homelands of RSA, a lot of tribal lands had large autonomy from the SA government, and rule their homelands with many exceptions from the constitution of SA, this created many parallel govenrments, in which policing and law did not always apply as would be legal in SA cities. So many tribal leaders could be bought by the Zuma family to overlook unsanctioned and unregistered building with the most easy of bribes. 
The Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, administers KwaZulu-Natal's traditional lands on behalf of the state for the benefit of its occupants, and he and Zuma were thick as thieves, literally. 
https://www.news24.com/News24/Zuma-doesnt-own-Nkandla-compound-20121005
WHAT IS NKANDLAGATE:
During Zuma's presidency, the homestead would be the subject of a major public controversy, sometimes referred to as Nkandlagate.
https://www.theelephant.info/features/2017/03/10/south-africa-nkandla-the-house-that-jacob-built
"If you have only just returned from deep 
space, or have never heard of South Africa, Nkandla is the president's private home in KwaZulu-Natal Province. It is controversial because public funds to the tune of over R246 million (about $17 million) were used to give the homestead an alleged security upgrade."
"But the story of Nkandla, now described by one commentator as ‘a monument to corruption,' began in 2009 when a newly elected President Zuma, who has been reported to have been fairly impecunious at the time, decided to build a permanent rural home for his family. However it would take years for the scandal to mature fully."
"At this point –in the run-up to the 2009 election –observers had written off Zuma's political career. Meanwhile Zuma's supporters claimed their man's legal problems were the result of political meddling by his rivals including president Mbeki. Proving he still had grassroots support, Zuma managed to garner enough votes in the ANC to propel him to be elected the party's president in December 2007 at the national conference in Polokwane, Limpopo, polling 2,329 votes against Mbeki's 1,505. Zuma's supporters saw his charismatic popular touch as a refreshing contrast to Thabo Mbeki, who was seen as a rather aloof president.
He was acquitted of 
r*pe, but despite the fact that he had always denied charges of money-laundering and racketeering, stemming from a controversial $5billion arms deal signed in 1999, the corruption cases against him proved harder to slip out of."
"Meanwhile, according to South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, a dossier compiled by a former Public Works Department deputy director general (equivalent of an undersecretary), contained invoices showing that state money had been used to pay for things such as thatching, meranti (a rare wood) and aluminium doors and window frames, tiles, paint, plastering, air-conditioning and other unexplained extras."
NKANDLA DISCOVERED WAY BACK IN 2009, BUT DIDN'T START CONTROVESY:
https://www.theelephant.info/features/2017/03/10/south-africa-nkandla-the-house-that-jacob-built
===============(from TheElephant article - this artice tells the story better than I ever can in my own words)
A month after Zuma ascended 
to the presidency of the country – reports by investigative journ*lists Mandy Rossouw and Chris Roper in the Mail & Guardian newspaper pinpoint the date to between May 18 and 29 – a security assessment was carried out at Nkandla and by the end of August 2009, construction had begun.
The story of how Rossouw (who died in 2013) and Roper (who went on to become editor of the M&G) accidentally stumbled on the Nkandla story is now the stuff of legend among South African journ*lists. 
Rossouw was out interviewing residents of the town of Nkandla about what it was like to have the president as a neighbour. With Roper she drove in November 2009 to the president's residence to take some photos to illustrate the story and it was then that they noticed some construction and heavy earth-moving machinery. According to Roper in a piece he wrote after Rossouw's death, ‘Mandy's interest was piqued, and she inveigled our way into the site office, a small, meltingly hot prefab building with three car wrecks abandoned outside. There was our first evidence of the extent of what Nkandla was destined to become, both as a large complex and as a massive story: Architectural drawings taped to a wall, showing extensive development plans.'
Rossouw's story reported that the expansion to the existing compound would cost the taxpayer R65 million (about $4.5 million). At the time, upgrades to the compound included a private military hospital 
and parking lot, a visitors centre, the helipad installation and, according to the M&G's investigative report, a two-storey house and guest house.
Before they published the story, the journ*lists contacted the government for comment and the first reaction was evasiveness. Writes Roper: ‘Our conversation with them reads like a dress rehearsal for the following four years of obfuscation and spin.
Initially, the government said that it had no record of such a development and no hand in any of Zuma's personal property endeavours. However, in a statement released just before the story was published, they changed their tune slightly, saying: ‘The Zuma family planned before the elections to extend the Nkandla residence, and this is being done at own cost. No government funding will be utilised for the construction work.'
===============( end of TheElephant article)
https://mg.co.za/article/2013-12-04-the-day-we-broke-nkandla
"The Mail & Guardian accidentally 
stumbled on the Nkandla development in November 2009. I was on a story with journ*list Mandy Rossouw, interviewing residents of Nkandla about what it was like to have a president as a neighbour. Ostensibly, I was the photographer, but really I was along because I owned a vehicle capable of handling the atrocious conditions of some of the rural roads."
"Looking back four years ago, I can't honestly say I would have predicted that it would take this long for South Africans to begin to find out the truth of Nkandla. Four years of stalling must be some sort of spin record. As we left Nkandla in 2009, I stopped to take a final photo of an abandoned corrugated iron shop, emblazoned with faded and tattered ANC posters showing a beaming Zuma. On the side of the shack, someone had graffitied the hopeful words: “Come World Cup, Come My Guest.” I'm not sure whether the guests ever came to Nkandla, but certainly the world's attention has."
Basically it would take 4 years for the public to notice and care, and by that I mean the main ANC-voting bloc public to notice and care , as 4 years on from the 2009 election, Zuma had shown himself to be as incompetent as he was corrupt, and the honeymoon phase of the normie voters for the ANC, has passed and the lack of progress for RDP homes for poor homeless SA residents, the decaying services and infrastructure, and the awareness of the Guptas mafia, had made many black south africans less willing to overlook Zuma's crimes and corruption, and consequently "Old News" like the exposing of the Zuma family's Nkandla Homestead began to gain traction.
PUBLIC OUTCRY OVER SECURITY EXPENSES:
https://www.news24.com/News24/Zuma-doesnt-own-Nkandla-compound-20121005
The disclosure of Nkandla and its exorbitant expenses 
, especially the cost of security began to gain traction. The department cited the ministerial handbook's rules allowing spending on the president's “private” residence.
The handbook defines a private residence as a “privately owned house” and says only R100 000 worth of security-related upgrades may be made to office bearers' private residences; the rest should be for the politician's account. (from the taxpayers money to safeguard the president) Over R200,000,000 has appeared to be allocated by the department. The National Key Points Act - also cited to justify the spending - also requires the owner of the property to pay for security out of his own pocket, unless the minister of police orders otherwise.
INVESTIGATION BEGINS INTO THE NKANDLA HOMESTEAD:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/08/jacob-zuma-investigation-plans-home
=====(From the Gaurdian article)
Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, is facing an official investigation and public outcry over plans to upgrade his private residence and build a nearby town, dubbed "Zumaville", at a cost of millions to taxpayers. 
Anger was surging on Monday over the 238m rand (£16.62m) renovations of Zuma's rural home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal province, after it was revealed that Nelson Mandela and other former presidents' homes had received substantially less from the state. This followed controversy over proposals for a 2bn rand town, the first to be built since the end of apartheid, two miles (3.2km) from the Zuma homestead.
"Nkandlagate" could not come at a worse time with violent 
strikes threatening to spread from mining to other industries and focusing attention on the gap between haves and have-nots. Zuma, 70, faces a tense re-election battle within the governing African National Congress in December.
=======
Our boi Jacob Zuma had made a big part of his image that he would visit poor areas and shanty shack townships and talk about the inequality experienced between black and white south africans. He would be popularized by this frequent tactic, black peeps believed he was taking their suffering in poverty seriously, like Burgerland presidents visiting the aftermath of Hurricane victims. 
====(continued from Gaurdian article)
Earlier this year, Zuma said: "I have paid visits to a number of areas where you can't believe that you are in South Africa. Why should I see that, as the president of the country, not even of the ANC, and think that I could sleep peacefully when I know there are people who live in things you can't even describe as a house?"
Those words are being thrown back at him, with some observers comparing his hometown patronage to some of Africa's least democratic leaders. "He's behaving like a monarch rather than the president of the republic," said Aubrey Matshiqi, a research fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation. "It makes me think of the king of Swaziland or Jean-Bédel Bokassa [self-crowned emperor of the Central African Republic]."
Upgrades to Zuma's private residence, which have soared to 238m rand from an estimate of 6.4m (£447,821) two years ago, include a helipad, underground living quarters with about 10 air-conditioned rooms, a medical clinic for the president and his family, houses for security staff, air force 
and police units, underground parking, playgrounds and a visitors' centre.
Zuma – who shares the property with his four current wives and their children – previously said he would meet most of the bill, but government documents revealed he will pay 5%.
==============(end article)
So basically he would be paying only 5% of the whole budget for the fricking Nkandla residence.
Opposition partied began hammering Zuma and his closest allies in parliament.
==========(The Gaurdian article continued)
But opposition politicians have seized their chance to hammer Zuma's credibility as a former Zulu herd boy still in touch with ordinary people. Lindiwe Mazibuko, parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), said: "The DA has learnt that thousands of people living on the outskirts of Nkandla, in villages like Babanango, Kataza and Ebizimali, are still without the most basic services. Yet 2bn rand will be spent on a multi-purpose centre a few kilometres away from President Zuma's homestead."
She added: "How can a leader ask the country to make sacrifices, and tighten belts in hard times, when he leads such publicly-funded extravagance? This impoverished region of the country needs clinics, hospitals and decent classrooms. He has decided to build them literally in his own backyard. President Zuma's behaviour upends the very concept of social justice which is written into our constitution." 
Political commentators have also excoriated the president. Justice Malala wrote in the Times of South Africa: "On Friday we had the incredible spectacle of the minister of public works, the until-then-relatively-credible former trade union leader Thulas Nxesi, making a complete butt of himself as he tried to defend the fact that taxpayers' money is being used to build the president a 238m rand palace in his home village, Nkandla.
"When journ*lists cornered Nxesi he then revealed that, actually, we are judging the president from a middle-class viewpoint. I think the country is going to the dogs when we start saying that looting the state is part of African culture, which is basically what Nxesi was saying." 
=========(end)
NKANDLA IS EXPENSIVE:
https://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-08-00-nkandla-security-dwarfs-that-of-other-presidents-homes
One of the sticking points for journ*lists and the public hammering the Zuma family, was that their security costs at Nkandla dwarfed the security budget of all previous presidents, including Nelson Mandela and De Klerk combined.
Anyways a long chain of slippery officials all denied any knowledge in the long path towards Nkandla, and many refused to cooperate with investigations as they feared reprisal from the Zuma cult.
https://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-07-de-klerk-denies-nkandla-style-benefits
"When De Klerk retired, the government paid for a security guard's hut on the pavement outside his Pretoria apartment. The newspaper also established that government paid for the construction of an office for former president Thabo Mbeki at his retirement home in Riviera, as well as a room for his secretary, a reception area and an area for his security staff.
https://www.theelephant.info/features/2017/03/10/south-africa-nkandla-the-house-that-jacob-built
"The Madonsela report showed that the R246 million was eight times the money spent securing two private homes for South Africa's first democratic president Nelson Mandela, and more than 1,000 times that spent on the home of FW de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid-era president"
THE BIGGEST CONTROVESY OF THE NKANDLA RESIDENCE - THE INFAMOUS FIREPOOL!!! 
By 2013 with formal investigations underway to determine how much public funds had been used to build the Nkandla residence, one sticking point of r-sluration was when Thuli Madonsela, the country's public protector, inquired as to the purposes of the various extra infrastructure, and asked how these building were supposed to add to security of the Homestead as it all obviously looked like recreational buildings and shit.
He would ask Zuma and his family what the purposes of the cattle kraal and houses for relatives were, and how they contributed to the safeguarding of the president, as that is what Zuma had stated the funds were used for when he syphoned them. 
But the MOST infamous moment came when Thuli Madonsela asked about what the purpose of the swimming pool was, something he and the court clearly expected Zuma to just admit was recreational, and built using public funds, and that Zuma would just let it slide and go over the accounting onwards.
BUT OOOOH NO. 
Our boi Zuma went full r-slur, and stated that the obvious swimming pool, was an emergency water reservior Firepool, meant for dousing the grass roof homes in the Homestead under emergencies. Of all the bold faced lies of the Zuma family, this was the most shameless and r-slurred, and MEMEABLE! 
"Among the “improvements” made to the home by the Ministry of Public Works using taxpayer's money were: Security fencing around the whole compound, accommodation for the president's security, a helipad, underground bunkers, a chicken run and most questionable of all, a swimming pool actually described as a ‘firepool'– since, it was claimed, the pool was built as a source of water for firefighting."
https://www.facebook.com/news24/photos/a.151737951841/10153660679036842?type=3
Here is a video where Zuma and co. tried to make the swimming pool seem legit, by getting firefighters and generators with hoses to showcase how the firepool acted like a reservior and shit.
However, the extremely obvious fact that it has steps and is a recreational swimming pool is what makes the situation and the lie so fricking absurd and hilarious. The Zuma Fire Pool would be memed that whole year by South Africans. Any time any watertank or swimming pool would be built, we called it a firepool!
You guys need to understand how fricking open and shameless 
the corruption of Zuma, which was exemplified by the Nkandla Homestead, was to the public. Here is a fricking Youtube video touring Zuma's residence, officially published by an official RSA government Youtube account 7 years ago. The Youtube comments make fun of the situation, with wingucks fighting around:
"He must build a clinic out there for everyone" 
However even black SA peeps don't buy the video's BS that gov tax money would be paid back.
"they must honestly take us for fools, you've spent the money, you're not gonna pay it back it's whatever, mara when you try justify why this crib was built, it shows where you are intellectually"
"Fire pool....what a brilliant and innovative idea! Beautiful!!!" 
However the wingcuckery 
for black South Africans and ANC supporters are such, that the sentiment is that they are HAPPY that their black leaders life in opulence as it is symbolic that now black peeps as well may live in luxury after Aprtheid - they fail to however understand that the money used for the riches of Zuma's mega mansion homestead was supposed to have gone to THEMSELVES!
"People must go to jail for this."
"Is that Nkandla before R250m? 😂 I don't see anything worth even half of that!" 
Much commentary about the tacky and shitty quality of much of the homestead's many buildings, with many having the sentiment that the place looks mediocre and like shit, for such a vast sum in SA terms.
Here the entire parliament boos and hoos when Zuma bullshits the nation about the contents of his Nkandla Homestead. No seriously watch this Facebook vid.
https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=10154264153904617
MODERN SATELLITE IMAGING AND AREAL PHOTOGRAPHY REVEALS NKANDLA HOMESTEAD TO PUBLIC:
https://ewn.co.za/2013/11/25/Nkandla-New-aerial-photos-revealed
https://htxt.co.za/2016/06/28/new-aerial-view-nkandla
Now throughout all of the official probing and investigation of Nkandla and the finances used to upgrade and build the Homestead, Zuma and co would deny 
everything, up until proof was gathered by journ*list from unconventional means.
You see places like South Africa do have modern technology and amenities, but we are frequently behind the 1st world with regards to the newest cutting edge technology - usually cellphones models would take about a decade to filter to us, and the same included to having access to things like the latest software, or aerial camera qualities. 
But in the timespan from 2009 -2013, the surveyors, cartographers, and GIS specialists had obtained increasingly more impressive satellite imaging viewing software and computers, and Burgerland was nice enough to have open access to their 50mm Topographic satellite image banks. 
Enterprising journ*lists would visit places like SA NGI (National Geospatial Institute) 
where they could have definitive proof from a bird's eye view of all the buildings, including the infamous fire pool, located within the walls of Nkandla.
Additionally at the same time, specialist planes 
were carrying out a national topographical areal surveys, and journ*lists beelined to these businesses to ask for photographs of the Nkandla residence.
During this period Google 
Earth had also become immensely more optimized and useable by poorcels with craptop low end hardware, and so 3rd worlders had increasingly more personal access to satellite images in their own home
https://ngi.dalrrd.gov.za/index.php/online-shop/what-is-itis-portal
And thus Zuma's denials about the extensiveness of the Nkandla Homestead held less and less water, and the public and journ*lists went for blood by 2014.
The Nkandla Residence would play a key role in Zuma's failure to secure party leadership in 2018, when he was ousted by the many enemies he had made in a decade of rule.
Anyways that's all I got, GOOD DAY
-
Unfunnyandundramatic
:
- J : False advertising no holly
- 35
- 45
Every day, we are exposed to various forms of media. People are attempting to manipulate us, influence us, and encourage us to perform certain actions (usually spend money). Without media literacy, you are doomed to a life of being bamboozled, tricked, and fooled all day.
Have you ever been falsely accused? Misrepresented? Besmirched? you know how painfully frustrating it can be. Well, one man has faced this, and I don't think his name will ever be cleared.
Come Dine With Me
Come Dine With Me is a British show which has four contestants serving dinner at their home. The best host(ess) wins prize money. Most of the entertainment comes from seeing the homes of different people, and the ways they attempt to entertain others. Commentary is provided by Dave Lamb, who can be quite hilarious at times.
The show has been a success and it has since been sold to other countries, and spin-offs have been produced, including Celebrity Come Dine With Me and Couples Come Dine With Me. Today, we'll be looking at a 2016 episode which has been commonly used as an example of being a sore loser.
The guests
This episode takes place in East Oxfordshire. These are the contestants:
For the remainder of the article, I'll be referring to this video which contains the full episode.
Out come the knives - Evening 1
In many ways, women are oppressed in society. They have to face sexism in the workplace, they are dominated in the home, and many religions posit women as lesser beings. Despite this, men are also mistreated in many ways. Most notably, men are subjected to body standards, and they are harshly judged for not conforming.
Let's take weight for instance. It is far more socially acceptable to insult a man's weight than the opposite is. I believe this is why Jane, on the first night, starts off by insulting Peter quite harshly. She says the only thing he is good at is a pie-eating contest. Note that this comes after he shows some vulnerability by making a joke about his own weight. This moment occurs at 8:20
For the most part, Peter takes it in stride, then she flat-out calls him fat while patting his corpulent belly. This is shocking because she is fat as well. Nevertheless, Peter does not retaliate.
Out come the knives - Evening 2
The second evening is at Adam's house. The meal is pretty terrible, but Peter lets slip that he would like to be Prime Minister. Jane immediately shuts him down, letting him know that his dream is foolish. Is his dream realistic? Probably not. But there's no need to be a huge butthole when someone shares their dreams at a dinner table. At this point, it is evident that Jane doesn't think much of Peter. Once again, Peter takes it in stride, but he's annoyed.
Out come the knives - Evening 3
The third evening, we see Peter strike back. This is the point where I also get highly annoyed. They are talking about their lookalikes, and Peter says Jane looks like Victoria Beckham. This occurs at 33:00 Obviously an insult, and everyone immediately jumps to Jane's defence! To recap, at this point Jane has said:
And he dares make one snarky comment and suddenly he's a rude c*nt?! People are way too sensitive to women getting insulted, without realizing men don't like it either when we're called fat.
Out come the knives - Evening 4
Things hit a climax on our final evening and this is where the iconic meme moments come from. Everyone is sitting at a table for dinner at Pete's house. They begin talking about their impression of each other, and everyone is polite until we come to Jane. She just lets it rip on him, tearing apart his entire personality. This moment occurs at 45:00She says:
He retorts by calling her a fat troll, and low and behold this is the point where people say it's gone too far! She was allowed to sit in this man's home and insult him to his face non-stop, but god forbid he calls a woman fat! Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. All the other guests are so sympathetic to Jane, who is not receiving anything she hasn't dished first.
At the end of the meal its time to pick a winner. Peter comes last, and in the commentary, the guests say that the sour mood ruined the evening. So good job Jane for fricking up this man's evening. Peter finally pops his top and tells Jane she "has all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tires on". Charlotte also gets insulted and quite honestly she deserves it because she never comments on the cruelty Peter faces yet jumps to defend fat Jane.
Since the show Peter and his husband have spoken to the Mirror and stated that "What's shown is not all that happens and people will believe what they're shown." I believe you Peter, I really do. The Mirror adds:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/come-dine-mes-peter-marsh-7120097
To conclude, this double standard is what makes women in the workplace problematic. If ever conflict should arise, all a woman has to do is cry or feel sad and she's won. Any retort on your part will be magnified because you're attacking an innocent girl. There is no woman alive who has never pulled the "I'm just a girl" card, from CEOs to cashiers trying to get out of a speeding ticket. No woman is innocent.
Next time we will discuss the morality of JiDion. The woman posted here is named Sava Schultz. She has a black boyfriend.
exists in modern day Middle-east - 27
- 94
"I did not know there was Racism in Dubai, sadly not from real Arabs. Mostly from Egyptians, and Indians. Not sure how true this is because when I was there everyone was kind and welcoming. Personally, I knew I was black when I came to the West. I always thought I was just another dude" - translation, just another shitlib pan-african r-slur who drank the western Burgerland race-relations model 
and was stupid enough to apply it to the rest of the world
ESPECIALLY with Middle-easterners who had a very profound effect upon the misery of african nation states before mayo cumskins crawled out of their dark-age-of-heresy and began sailing around the globe in their flea-ridden and rat-infested sailing ships
And unlike self-hating cumskin mayos who are born with cuckoldry and selfhating guilt in their DNA, ME and ESPECIALLY arabs, do not give a single frick about biggotry. there are deceisively less social liberal movements regarding the abolishment of bigotry and racism in the Middle Eastern zeitgheist, for arabs both in the Middle East and Nort hAfrica - so Sub-Saharens are very VERY aware of the manner in which they are regarded as lessors by default by places like the Gulf states.
So when black 
Burger 
states that he was surprised that not only mayos can be racist on a societal level, this practically enrages the locals of /r/africa whom would all have had discriminatory experiences with the ME 
part of the world
"You didn't know there was racism in the MIDDLE EAST??"
OP is an r-slur
"Dubai. In Iran , Iraq, those people are just pure love" 
"I want to live in your fantasy world." 
The less brainless locals of /r/Africa are also aware that most of modern slavery or in the very least brutal indentured servitude occurs in the ME
"The middle East is literally practising modern day slavery with Africans and it's all over the news. Why would it be different in Dubai?"
Not only is OP a r-slur, he clearly doesn't even know much about africa either
Africacel: "Pls kindly point to a high class country where there is no racism. Thank u"
OP: "East Africa" 
Africacel: "Do I really need explain to you what people of nairobi or dar have to say about barundi? Also, horn east africa would disagree. Ex: many of kenya about somali of your own country, or somali in somalia about anyone else in world. Then let us not even bother with ethiopia issues of racism. haha."
Africacels call out OP's Burgerland flair: "Every africa city is as you just described. Does not mean is no racism. Your flair say usa. Is not usa have many from many places? Will you next tell me there is no racism in the usa?" 
OP tries to deflect to South Africa: "Have you been to SA?"
Africacel answered: "Bruh, South Africas racism is nect level. White v Black, indian v Black. Coloured vs White v black. Black v black. Chinese v black." 
By this point everyone knows OP is another r-slurred american moron, and many africans are painfully aware of the barbaric work practices going on in places like Dubai. Dubai is great to work if you have specialist tertiary education like engineering or surveying, but if you're a labourcel, you get slavemaxxed by the locals
"I don't know why anyone would go to Dubai or the UAE they have a system of hierarchy based on race and even hire and rent to people based on that."
Or slavery before the cumskins did it
OP actually gets upmarseyd 
- usernaw : >not driving a bus full of innocent children drunk
- 28
- 45
Drunk at school!
School is a sacred place. It is where our youth go to prepare themselves for adult life. Children are our future, so those entrusted to care for them should take utmost care to nurture their delicate minds. There are some uncouth individuals who have opted to abuse their position of authority - molestors and bullies, for example. The people we'll discuss today aren't particularly malicious. In fact, you could argue they're severely ill. Nevertheless, it will be evident that they should never be entrusted to children ever again.
The drunk school bus drivers
Did you know that 31% of all traffic fatalities in the USA involve alcohol?! One in five child deaths in traffic will involve alcohol too. Despite this, people regularly overestimate their ability to drive impaired, resulting in fatal events. One of the problems is that alcohol raises your confidence, leaving you incapable of determining just how impaired you truly are. Furthermore, you overestimate how much you've recovered. It's a recipe for disaster.
Have you ever driven drunk? Be honest. Regardless of your answer, I'd hope you weren't ferrying children during your intoxicated joyride.
1. Mark McNeill
Mark McNeill is an old man who drove the school bus for Buddy Taylor Middle School. McNeill was arrested when his co-workers smelled alcohol on his breath. It is evident that McNeill is an alcoholic, because he arrived in court wasted! This man first denied it, but when pressed by the judge, eventually admitted it.
When it was all said and done, he received the following sentence:
How do you feel?
Mark McNeill
Got behind the wheel
Made the kids squeal
2. Catherine Maccerone
This one is a bit funnier. Catherine Maccerone got behind the wheel absolutely plastered. She is seen talking to an empty bus, and when there are kids, they are screaming the entire time! Her joyride is brought to a halt when a fifth grader called 911.
Surprisingly, she only got 5 years probation which is insane in my opinion. She was driving a bus full of children and she only got probation? It should be attempted murder for every child in the bus. Also, there's this gem:
Are bus drivers just regularly shitfaced?
The drunk teachers
What's the worst thing a teacher was ever caught doing at your school? These teachers got drunk on the job and it's hilarious.
1. Kimberly Coates
Ted Bundy once said "You learn what you need to kill and take care of the details. It's like changing a tire... the 1st time you're careful... by the 30th time you can't remember where you left the lug wrench". This is certainly the case with Kimberly Coates.
You've probably seen this one. Teacher arrives on the first week of school visibly drunk. She is taken to a private office where police give her a breathalizer and she is found to be drunk. The headmaster also goes to her classroom and finds a cup with wine stains in it. At that point it became evident that this was a habitual thing for her. How many times do you think she's gotten drunk at school and gotten away with it? 50? 100? Has it been years? She was probably very good at covering her tracks at first and maintaining her buzz at first. Unfortunately, she got too comfortable, began to feel like she'd mastered it and she'd never get caught... that's when the sloppiness sunk in.
What I find interesting is that she keeps denying that she drank at school specifically despite there being obvious evidence that not only does she drink at school, but she has done so prior, as is evident by the cup which she tries to erase of evidence. That there is the brain of an addict and if you've ever been around one you'll notice it immediately. She is just lying on instinct at that point because it's so routine to cover up that specific thing. Her brain absolutely cannot admit to it, it's too locked into the cover-up and lie pattern. She cannot even admit it to herself, or else her own delusion would crash and she'd realise that despite what she believes, she is absolutely not a functional alcoholic, for no such thing exists.
You see that moment right here:
No ma'am, you were never doing a good job. You cannot be drunk and do a good job as a teacher. You were always deluding yourself. You need love and help, and you need a new occupation. She absolutely did not want to call her husband. Why do you think that is so? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
2. Jennifer Davis
Davis is a far less interesting case. She lies through her teeth, much like Coates, but she is far more subdued. She seems to have accepted that she is an alcoholic. Nevertheless, she also has to prop up at least one lie to save her dignity - "I never drank at school. Not around the children.". The breathalyzer suggests she did drink at school, or if not, she drove to school drunk. Once again, this is probably a case of her getting sloppy and drinking too much this day. Although she is relatively accepting of her wrongdoing, the fact of drinking on the premises is just a bridge too vast for her to cross.
We've all seen cases of "the crime outsizing the man". People do things that seems beyond them, and even they cannot come to terms with what they have done. Davis probably went into teaching with sincere intentions. She does believe in the sanctity of school. But alcoholism has sullied that, and it has driven her to do something she cannot even admit to. She besmirched her profession, the thing she dedicated her life to, and she has betrayed the trust of all those parents.
Davis got really nice treatment. It's nice, but it would be better if cops treated everyone that way and not just the sweet lady. That's it for today. Thanks for coming by! Tune in next time when we discuss and morally analyze JiDion. When does trolling go too far?
HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE
What's this now?! We have a bonus entry!
The Carrollton bus crash
The Carrollton bus crash is the deadliest drunk driving collision in US history. On May 14, 1988, a youth group boarded a school bus and headed to Kings Island theme park. On their way home, they collided with Larry Mahoney who was over two times the legal limit. The bus caught on fire, causing the death of 27 of the 67 people on the bus. The youngest victim was 10. Mahoney only served nine years in prison, but his case led to sweeping changes in drunk driving laws.
The survivors are horrifically disfigured, and you can watch their interviews!
[FE9nXDqWQAQJn1B.jpg]
- rDramaHistorian : The frick is there a hole named groomers for? Y'all need mandatory state enforced grass touching jfc
Free SPAL - 277
- 114
There are two forms of pedophilia, attraction to a minor physique and attraction to a legal minor. "People" of either category belong in here: 
I have found at least seventy of them, whom I will list, with evidence, for !jannies' convenience.
Category A - Minor Physique
What keeps pedos scared, and what protects our kids from them? Answer: the fear we'll throw them in the woodchipper. Chris Hansen. Gary Plauche.
This is why NAMBLA, Prostasia and other libertarian organizations are trying to normalize their sickness. They fear the woodchipper.
Now, what if there was a way to avoid this taboo? Is it even possible?
Yes.
Linked is a libertarian cope thread where child male feminists in denial imagine their fantasy: "but legally..."
Yes, and she has an 8-year-old body. You are attracted to 8-year-old bodies. "Mentally developed" is a libertarian's defense.
!jannies, this is libertarian normalization under a thin-thin-thin veneer of irony. "She's literally a 1000 23-year-old dragon adult"
Imagine: a child is put in a cryogenic chamber at age 8 for 10 years. legally they've been on the earth for 18, is that okay now???
Upmarseyrs:
(makes you think)
@Goku is resident anti-libertarian
Category B - Attraction to Legal Minor
Justifiably, the schizo rightoid lolicon @sirpingsalot has been removed. Attraction to minors is pedophilia.
Now, how many other dramatards are sexually attracted to fifteen-year-olds?
Answer: 70, at least
As you can see in the original post with timestamp, I voted for the Adult Woman. Anyone who voted for the obviously underage girl has pedophilic tendencies. Watch them defend it:
"Face-blind", the libertarian's deflection tactic when caught:
@Groo who "coincidentally" is the #1 hater of notorious libertarian
@sirpingsalot calls out the menace:
And @P(edophile) uses a deflection tactic
Here I am, leading the crusade against "my [underage] daughter is hot" @RFV2
As I said, libertarians in denial trick themselves into thinking the underage kid is eighteen.
The only confirmed anti-libertarian jannies are @The_Homocracy and
@XY.
@HeyMoon now has questionable status ("face-blind" =
)
WORST OFFENSE: dramatard explicitly admits he's a libertarian attracted to fifteen-year-old girl because she "looks" older
If there's fourteen people and a libertarian sitting at a table...
https://rdrama.net/search/comments/?sort=new&q=364 days you sick frick&t=all
@Paula
@Qar x2
@Pog
@Mystic_Gohan
@George_Floyd
@Detective_Fallacy
Across the world, pedophilia is being normalized:
Romeo-and-Juliet laws legalize forms of it.
Rightoid southern states have lowered the age of consent to 16, legal pedophilia
Perhaps even 18 is pedophilia and we just don't know it yet, Americans are libertarians in Bahrain
Approximately 1-5% of the male population has pedophilia
As usual, Jinxthinker was right.
Say it with me: pedorama. Every hour, every minute, every half a minute you spend on this sick website, you are being conditioned to meta-meta-meta-sublimated pedophilic attractions.
@sirpingsalot pushed the overton window too fast, pedorama saw him as a threat, pedorama eliminated him.
Pedorama is not this website, it's a spiritual disease within it, natural to all right-wing online spaces which our !jannies wage a permanent opium war against.
The Ped Scare is rightoid propaganda, who hope that by pointing 
elsewhere, we'll look away from them.
I'm quite convinced @RFV2 is a crypto-libertarian, but
@rubby explicitly admits it. Offenses are upmarseying or posting pro-libertarian content.
@sirpingsalot - x12
@RFV2 - x5
@Chad_Thunderballs - x2
...see links for at least 40 more
- RWBY : God I hate heterosexuals
- 83
- 99
Young people ruining their lives
Youth is a time of ignorance and making mistakes. Sometimes, the mistakes we make are irreparable. What is to be done when your life is "ruined"? Do you pick up the pieces and try to salvage whatever happiness you can get? Or do you spread hate and animosity as you rage against the world that hurt you? Surely these questions, and many more, must have crossed the minds of the young individuals we're going to discuss today.
1. Sophia Rosing gets a little too based
This is a story you likely are aware of this one, but I thought I'd start us off easy. Sophia Rosing was a student at the University of Kentucky where she was studying business and marketing. One night, she decided to get drunk, which led to her being based.
At the club, she hurled racial slurs but this did not stop there. She went back to her dormitory where she crossed paths with Kyla Spring, who happens to be a black woman. For some reason, Kyla tried to restrain Sophia, which resulted in Kyla hurling terrible racial slurs at Kyla, calling her BIPOC and telling her to do her chores. You can't find the video on YouTube any longer, but the DailyMail has it.
Rosing was arrested and continued to say the BIPOC word while police incarcerated her. Her parents had to pick her up and she has a walk of shame as she walks to her parents car. You can see the father is having a bilbo smoking pipe moment.
✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ❂CONSEQUENCES✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ❂
She is currently facing several charges including assaulting a police officer, public intoxication, and disorderly conduct. She is pleading not guilty.
Because of her actions, a vigil was held and people took a public stand against racism. She has become a symbol of hate, her name brings up nothing but racism allegations, and folks on Reddit have found her father's business. They make fun of her because she acts wealthy but she is middle class. We unfortunately have not been able to see too much of her reaction beside a few snapchats that have made the rounds.
https://old.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/yrcrv9/racists_uk_student_sophia_rosing_blames_alcohol
The lesson? Don't be too based.
2. Thomas Chan takes shrooms
I currently have four tabs of LSD in my drawer, along with syrian rue seeds. I did not take them this weekend because I had to tell my parents I dropped out of my PhD and it kinda stressed me out. Unfortunately, for some, what should be a mild psychological adventure turns into heck if their brain isn't prepared. Thomas Chan knows this too well.
Thomas Chan is a Canadian who played football in high school, incurring head trauma along the way. In 2015, he decided to take shrooms with friends. What happened next you won't believe. Read on to find out!
Chan's friends had a great time, but Chan's night quickly went south. Everyone around became demons and he felt like everyone was out to get him. Paranoid, he headed for his father's house and broke. His father was sleeping with his girlfriend. He stabbed them both, killing his father.
Thomas then went to the kitchen and took a butcher's knife from a drawer. He declared he was performing “God's will” and this was “a house of Satan.” He then brutally stabbed his father several times as his father pleaded for recognition, saying, “It's Daddy, it's Daddy.” Thomas then turned the knife on his stepmother, stabbing her repeatedly before she was able to flee to the master bedroom. “This is the day of reckoning!” he said, as he followed her. As Witteveen sat on the floor attempting to dial 911, Thomas slashed her across the shoulder. “Thomas, it's Lynn, I love you,” she said, at which point he stabbed her directly in the right eye. He then left the bedroom and paced the front hallway. “I love you all so much,” he can be heard saying on the video. “I don't want to do this.” When police arrived on the doorstep, Chan shouted, “This is a holy place!” Then he dropped the knife and unlocked the door. For a moment he was calm but when officers attempted to arrest him, Chan resisted, screaming, “I am God. I will do it again.” He begged officers to kill him, shouting, “Put a bullet in my head!” Multiple officers struggled to subdue the teen as his stepfather, who had followed from home, watched in horror on the front lawn. The arresting officer would later tell the court it was as if the teenager had “super-strength.”
https://macleans.ca/longforms/thomas-chan-supreme-court
He is arrested, and in the police station, you can see his interrogation where he literally sobers up before your eyes and begins to understand just what he's done. He killed his own father. In that moment, he is Oedipus arising from his drunken stupor. You can feel the guilt and shame dripping off him.
✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ❂CONSEQUENCES✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ❂
Thomas Chan put forward the automaton defence, claiming that because of the shrooms, he was not in control of his actions. He only got 5 years in prison. I hope this makes you feel better about any embarrassing nights you had drunk and regretted the next day.
3. Drunk driver
Shana Elliott was a young woman at Texas State University, majoring in Public Relations and Mass Communications. In 2016, she got behind the wheel drunk and drove into a young couple. A man and the woman's unborn child died.
She was arrested. You can watch her testify, and during the testimony, they bring up the fact that they found copious amounts of marijuana. It is somewhat funny to see her face fall with worry as a white man in a suit pulls out a massive bag of weed in court and places it next to her, and she has to continue her testimony with this incriminating bag next to her. She can't even bear to look at it. I love that reluctant sideways glance.
You can watch the full testimony here.
✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ❂CONSEQUENCES✵ ✰ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✸ ✮ ❂
She was sentenced to 14 years. The victim impact statement is very sad.
To conclude, I'd like to ask you which young person is the most screwed? Who ruined their life the most? And who deserves the most pity? Leave your comments below!
- 38
- 46
people are starting to nootice
It is slow, but it is happening. There's a post I just saw in a travel subreddit about how they're sick of getting sick every time they travel, and lots of the comments acknowledge Covid and a perception of increased illness. Then, I flipped over to LinkedIn and saw a colleague in my extended network (who is definitely done with Covid precautions and has previously remarked on the fact that he “never sees my face!” lol) is holding a social event outdoors because “too many of us are getting sick right now.” Hold the line on masking. Keep patiently spreading the word. People may finally be waking up to what's happening…
reddit responds
can u imagine these people doing manual labor? they're looking for "outdoor jobs" like lol, such as? if you can't handle covid hysteria how could you ever handle construction work? 
My husband has applied for outdoor only jobs to avoid covid again because he has been long hauling over a year and it's pretty bad. He was so relieved that he was chosen to interview at a covid conscious place and that masks were mandatory if he is chosen for the job and has to go inside the buildings.
I really hope your husband gets a "covid friendly" job so to speak!!!
omg please, I need an outdoor job so bad!!! Is there anything entry level he's applying for?
i have no idea what this person is trying to say even (leftists bad masks good? inconsistent but ok) 
but the neighbor's kids are based
That's great. I‘m afraid we are lagging behind on the timeline … probably because we have had LESS severe covid in my part of northern Germany so far. Many people got their vaccine before infection and maybe had lower viral loads as well when they got sick as there were some mitigations in place (I would really like to know how much that matters). Of course there is A LOT of illness, but not enough yet? The neighbors‘ kids just SMIRKED at us for putting on masks before passing them to go inside. Even though one of the kids coughed their lungs out the day before yesterday. It was a truly horrible sound. I don't care if it was covid or the danish whooping cough outbreak arriving in our town. Mask up your kid this close after symptoms at least. The parents are proud, pronounced leftists. They have also shown very little respect for our wish to socially distance so far.
long-covid man 
accidentally acknowledges masks don't work, comes sooo close to the point, yet remains so far also plz tell me how an "invisible disability" (ie "autism spectrum disorder, depression, diabetes, and learning and thinking differences such as ADHD and dyslexia," according to understood(dot)org, whatever that is) makes one more susceptible to a virus? 
As someone who stopped masking all the time
Thank you so much for saying this. Whenever I hit the depths of my anger over being discarded by society for being disabled and high-risk, I sometimes fantasize about someone in my life coming back to me to apologize and tell me I was right. It never happens.
a handful of people wearing masks in grocery stores?? rejoice! it's happening these people are excited that covid is "coming back" and i cannot understand it
Every time I go grocery shopping or to the pharmacy now I see at least 2-3 other patrons masked. There's an uptick happening for sure. I had gotten used to being the only one for a while now. Located in Southern California.Northern California and although I work somewhere that had long long mask wearing culture, it had been the same - maybe one other person, maybe, for months now. Today, at a crunchy store in a neighborhood where there's a lot of the "my <s> pureness </s> diet protects me from all illness" crowd who got hostile about masks kinda quick, I was pleasantly surprised to see close to 20% of the workers wearing masks and ended up on an aisle with 4 other N95 / Kn95 wearers. More than I'd seen there since 2020/21 probably.
Seeing more masks in Boston this week too 🙌
Wastewater in Boston shows that's a smart move www(dot)mwra(dot)com/biobot/biobotdata(dot)htm 1,000 copies/ml corresponds to approximately ~3% of the population currently infected
woman shocked that nobody else is masked up, determines common colds = covid 
, is disgusted that her coworkers behave normally and attend meetings in person. 
thread makes up fun new words (novid ) and proudly ends friendships over the refusal to participate in hysteria over a virus that no longer matters to anyone but these freaks
wish I saw / heard more of that around me. Just today I had a mandatory 1+ hour, in person training (that had absolute zero reason not to be done via zoom) and someone sat 6 feet from me coughing, sniffling, and blowing their nose the whole time. I would've moved but all other seats were taken and he didn't start coughing (or I didn't notice) until it got quiet and the training began. I was the only person masking (out of around 40-50 ppl) and had a CO2 monitor, which peaked around 1155 ppm, which equates to breathing between 2-3% others' exhalations (if unmasked) and no one seemed to care or question any of it. A friend, who is immunocompromised, mind you, has been flying without masking and got SARS-COV-2 in Vegas, probably while in the casino unmasked. Another friend, who has until now been relatively cautious, has been flying but masking. Yet doesn't mask in stores day to day. They also got SARS-COV-2 probably hanging out unmasked with a non-cautious friend (who has a child in school and now the have masked for some time now) at a crowded park. Yet another friend has had sars-cov-2 three times that I know of and is flying internationally today. I have never seen them mask and doubt they are in transit./endrant Thanks to everyone here. Hang in there. Do what you have to do for your mental as well as physical health. It helps a lot to know I'm not alone. Otherwise, I think I'd go bonkers with the gaslamping by society at large and seemingly everyone I know (family included).
Ugh, I'm sorry! I never go anywhere that I don't see or hear at least one person coughing or sneezing (many times into their hands 🤢).
wdym people live normal lives now that covid derangement syndrome has passed? 
redditor hopes virus will return so that people will stop behaving normally
Yeah but as soon as cases trend down, or the weather warms up, the few people that started masking again will throw them in the trash, go to a huge concert, and the cycle will begin again . . .Maybe, but even getting masking to be a common thing when numbers trend upward would be glorious at this point!!
typical signs of aging are actually just covid symptoms!!!! we are not crazy "conspiracy nuts"!!! someday they will see, this is just like what happened with lead exposure!!!
Sadly, at least in America, I think people will write of their worsening health as a consequence of age, not realizing it's from repeated infections. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm not convinced there will be a lightbulb moment for most people without a concerted fight from those who still care.The effects of lead were not realized by a lightbulb moment a priori, but as the result of scientific studies. Unfortunately, there are many scientific studies about SARS-CoV-2 causing harm, but many people have been conditioned to view anything contradicting official narratives as fringe. The mainstream narrative is that vaccines protect against SARS-CoV-2, so anyone claiming otherwise is likely to be attacked as an "anti-vaxxer" or "conspiracy nut" without any consideration of scientific evidence.
In addition, some of the greatest evidence of the dangers of lead were post hoc, comparing the outcomes of a generation raised with less exposure to lead compared to the generations raised with more exposure to lead.
pro-mask? u earned my updoot, good sir! 
also, word police in thread tout disdain for normal people who use normal words and behave normally 
I've upmarseyd every mention of an N95, P100, "better masks", Long COVID etc. Always reinforce these statements when you can. They might not ultimately be zero covid or masking everywhere but they are literally the people who will help lower R0/rate of transmission in the places where we have the least options and control in staying safe.
Top comment on that post is how they can fix it all with Vitamin D. I'd like to be hopeful, but most people will continue to be delusional.
A little too much "post-covid" and "since covid" for my liking, too, but happy to see a scattered post acknowledges immune dysregulation at least and a few that still wear respirators when travelling.
The "post covid", "after covid", "since covid" language drives me totally bonkers. My child's teacher said it 3 or 4 times at back to school night last night within 20 minutes. Made me want to scream "look at my mask! Sorry if it makes you all uncomfortable but covid is very much still here and currently surging in our area!"
I always correct it when I see it, but in my experience, it's used to refer to the time since the start of the pandemic ("pre-COVID", "post-COVID") as often as it's used to refer to the pandemic being over.
It's hard to know what they mean when they say it but I think for a lot of people it just means we're past the point where people are worried about dying basically.
i hope u enjoy these highly dramatic crazies circlejerking over prevention methods that are proven to not work and the possible return of covid mitigation measures. reddit is truly a terrible place and i have a headache now
Top Poster of the Day:
Thirtythirst4sissies
Current Registered Users: 28,720
BROWSE EFFORTPOSTS
SITE GUIDE
HOLES
PING GROUPS