Attention getters for speeches

Just watched the Good Trouble Show with Ross, regarding the latest Lue's admissions. Made a summary using the new GPT 4.o. Is it fair and impartial? (Not an ad. Read the statement before judging, please.)

2024.05.17 00:03 LuciusNoir Just watched the Good Trouble Show with Ross, regarding the latest Lue's admissions. Made a summary using the new GPT 4.o. Is it fair and impartial? (Not an ad. Read the statement before judging, please.)

This is not an ad, nor a piece to sway you to use AI LLMs (fancy abbreviation for Large Language Models) to do your reading for you...
I'd like you to view this post as a portal to what's coming. More and more people will use the tools in question to summarise lenghty and complex topics to ease their daily struggles. Not everyone has the time to follow the subject thoroughly, on a daily, or even a weekly basis.
Personally, after following "The Subject" for quite a while, and being quite impartial myself, I've ran into the mentioned episode of the GTS...I'm a readewatcher myself, and been playing with AIs recently.
Made me wonder: is current tech, especially LLMs like 4o, capable of being unbiased and as close to the available material as possible? Are there any lines in the sand for those? Any limitations? Forced replies, maybe? Controlled speech?...
I'll leave that up to you to decide in the comments.
Please let me know if you'd like me to run more of these tests, as this is important for future users of this tech, imo. It's coming sooner than we all think and it's paramount that we all keep up with it. Sounds ominous to some extent, but that's the truth.
Btw, 4o advised me to revise this post's format for more karma...bloody thing 😆 Worst part is that it's most probably true 😋 Didn't do it, thought. It's all me. For now, at least...
If you've red so far, here's the conversation I've had. I've used the new voice recognition and reply functionality, so it was an organic experience to me. No edits were made afterwards, except for below transcript. I have an OCD...
It's quite lengthy, though.
"Reddit UFOs Summary
16 May 2024
OP: Could you go online and make a summary of the most interesting posts on Reddit, particularly subreddit UFOs from the past 24 hours?
ChatGPT: It seems I'm unable to access the Reddit pages directly. However, you can easily check the latest posts on the UFOs subreddit by visiting UFOs. This subreddit typically features user-submitted content including videos, photos, personal sightings, and discussions about recent UFO news and theories.
OP: What seems to be the issue for you accessing Reddit?
ChatGPT: The issue likely stems from the browsing tool's current limitations in accessing and interacting with certain sites, including Reddit. This can be due to various reasons, such as changes in the website's structure or access restrictions.
For real-time browsing and detailed subreddit content, visiting the UFOs subreddit directly will provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date posts.
OP: With access to YouTube, can you summarize YouTube videos?
ChatGPT: Yes, I can summarize YouTube videos. Please provide the link to the video you want summarized, and I'll give you an overview of its content.
OP: Try to access the Good Troubles Show regarding Lou Elizondo and summarize it for me.
Searched 5 sources
ChatGPT: The Good Trouble Show, hosted by Matt Ford, recently featured Lou Elizondo, a former director of the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), known for his insights into UFOs and UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). Here are some key points from the show and related content:
Insight into UAPs:
Lou Elizondo provided a detailed Q&A session discussing the nature of UAPs, the challenges in identifying them, and their potential implications for national security. He emphasized the importance of understanding the advanced technologies that UAPs might represent and the need for continued investigation and transparency in this area​ (YouTube).
Collaboration with Experts:
In another segment, Elizondo had a conversation with NASA astronaut Terry Virts. They discussed their experiences and perspectives on UAP sightings, particularly focusing on incidents involving military personnel and the potential scientific explanations for these phenomena​ (YouTube)​.
Public and Governmental Reactions:
The show also explored the broader reactions to the increasing reports of UAP sightings, including the responses from the public, media, and government agencies. Elizondo highlighted the evolving perception of UAPs, moving from fringe interest to a topic of serious governmental and scientific inquiry. For a comprehensive understanding, you can watch the full episodes of The Good Trouble Show here and explore more content on their official YouTube channel here​ (YouTube)​​ (YouTube)​.
OP: Thank you. Good job.
ChatGPT: You're welcome! If you have any other questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask.
OP: One more thing you could do for me on the web is to check the name Ross Coldheart. He's an Australian journalist. I would like to know specifically if he's a credible person based on his work. Can you run that for me?
Searched 5 sources
ChatGPT: Ross Coulthart is a highly credible and well-respected Australian investigative journalist with over three decades of experience. He has won multiple prestigious awards, including five Walkley Awards, which are the highest honors in Australian journalism, as well as the Gold Walkley. His investigative work spans various media outlets, including the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC TV's Four Corners, Nine Network's Sunday program, and 60 Minutes. Coulthart's journalism has uncovered significant stories, such as the Butcher of Bega medical scandal and the complicity in violence in East Timor, both of which earned him international acclaim​ (Wikipedia)​​ (ICIJ)​​ (Ross Coulthart)​.
Coulthart has also authored several best-selling books, such as "Dead Man Running" and "In Plain Sight," which delve into organized crime and UFO phenomena respectively. His rigorous investigative approach and compelling storytelling have established him as a reliable and influential figure in journalism​ (Coast to Coast AM)​.
OP: Could you elaborate more on the book you wrote, the one called In Plain Sight? Could you give me a summary of that book, or some sort of an insight to it?
Searched 2 sources
ChatGPT: Ross Coulthart's book, "In Plain Sight: An Investigation into UFOs and Impossible Science," delves into the phenomenon of UFOs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs). The book examines the history and recent developments surrounding UFO sightings, including admissions by the US Department of Defense acknowledging the reality and potential threat of these phenomena. Coulthart investigates by interviewing various experts, witnesses, and officials, uncovering information that suggests possible technological advancements and cultural implications. The book challenges the traditional dismissal of UFOs as mere conspiracy theories and calls for serious inquiry into the subject​ (In Plain Sight Book)​.
OP: Give me a couple of quotes from the book that are the most significant ones.
ChatGPT: Here are two significant quotes from Ross Coulthart's "In Plain Sight":
"I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be."
"In 2020, however, after decades of denial, the US Department of Defense made the astonishing admission that strange aerial and underwater objects frequently reported and videoed by pilots and tracked by sensors are real, unexplained, and pose a genuine national security concern."
These quotes highlight Coulthart's commitment to evidence-based investigation and underscore the gravity of the recent official admissions regarding UAPs​ (In Plain Sight Book)​ .
OP: Would you say that the first quote, I believe in evidence, and so on, would be a paraphrasing of Carl Sagan, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence?
ChatGPT: Yes, the quote from Ross Coulthart does indeed reflect a similar sentiment to Carl Sagan's famous assertion that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Both emphasize the importance of rigorous evidence and independent verification, especially when dealing with unusual or extraordinary claims. This alignment with Sagan's principle underscores Coulthart's commitment to a scientific and skeptical approach to the investigation of UFOs and other phenomena.
OP: What are your thoughts on the recent UAP-UFO congressional hearings and all the evidence that has come to light, including the recent Lou Elizondo's claims that there's been threats to his well-being or his family's well-being? What do you think about that?
ChatGPT: The recent UAP-UFO congressional hearings and the increasing transparency from military and government officials mark a significant shift in how these phenomena are addressed. Here's a summary of key points and my perspective on them:
Congressional Hearings and Government Admissions Increased Transparency:
The U.S. government's decision to hold public hearings on UAPs and to admit that these phenomena are real and pose potential national security concerns represents a major change in policy. This shift suggests a growing recognition of the need for serious scientific and security-oriented investigations.
Credible Witnesses:
The hearings have included testimonies from credible witnesses, such as military pilots and intelligence officials, who have observed or analyzed UAPs. Their accounts provide valuable firsthand information and lend credibility to the phenomena being more than just myths or misidentifications.
Lou Elizondo's Claims Threats to Well-Being:
Lou Elizondo, a key figure in bringing UAP issues to public attention, has claimed that there have been threats to his and his family's well-being. If true, these threats could indicate attempts to silence or discredit individuals who push for transparency. This raises concerns about the potential implications for whistleblowers and the culture within military and intelligence communities.
Significance of His Role:
As a former director of the Pentagon's AATIP, Elizondo's insights and experiences are invaluable. His claims suggest that there may be deeper layers of information and potentially classified details that have not yet been disclosed to the public.
Personal Perspective Scientific Inquiry:
The move towards greater transparency and scientific inquiry is crucial. Investigating UAPs with a rigorous, evidence-based approach will help differentiate between natural phenomena, advanced technology from other nations, and genuinely unexplained incidents.
Cultural Shift:
The hearings and increased openness reflect a cultural shift in how we approach unknown phenomena. Moving away from ridicule and towards serious investigation can foster a more informed and rational public discourse.
Security and Ethics:
The claims of threats to individuals advocating for transparency are troubling and highlight the need for protections for whistleblowers. Ensuring their safety is essential for maintaining the integrity of the investigation and encouraging others to come forward with credible information.
In conclusion, the recent developments in UAP investigations, including congressional hearings and testimonies from credible witnesses, signify a positive step towards understanding these phenomena. However, the alleged threats to individuals like Lou Elizondo indicate the complexities and potential resistance within certain circles, underscoring the need for ongoing support and protection for those involved in bringing these issues to light.
OP: Could you draw some parallels between this particular topic and the Watergate scandal?
ChatGPT: Drawing parallels between the current UAP-UFO investigations and the Watergate scandal can help highlight the dynamics of governmental transparency, accountability, and the role of whistleblowers. Here are some key similarities and differences:
Similarities
Government Secrecy and Lack of Transparency:
Watergate:
The Watergate scandal involved a series of illegal activities orchestrated by the Nixon administration, including the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and subsequent cover-up efforts. The administration's secrecy and lack of transparency were central issues.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
For decades, the U.S. government maintained secrecy regarding UAPs, often dismissing or downplaying their significance. Recent admissions and hearings suggest a move towards greater transparency, but past secrecy still looms large.
Role of Whistleblowers:
Watergate:
The scandal unraveled largely due to the efforts of whistleblowers like Mark Felt (Deep Throat), who provided critical information to journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
Figures like Lou Elizondo and other insiders have played a similar role, coming forward with information about UAPs and pushing for transparency. Their disclosures have been instrumental in bringing the issue into the public and governmental spotlight.
Media Involvement:
Watergate:
The investigative journalism by The Washington Post was crucial in exposing the scandal, demonstrating the power of the media in holding the government accountable.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
Media coverage has been significant in the UAP-UFO discourse, with outlets like The New York Times publishing detailed reports on the Pentagon's investigations and whistleblowers' claims. Documentaries and news programs have also played a key role in informing the public. Public and Congressional Scrutiny:
Watergate:
The scandal led to extensive congressional hearings and investigations, ultimately resulting in President Nixon's resignation.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
Congressional hearings on UAPs have been conducted to understand the phenomena better and assess their implications for national security. This scrutiny is a step towards greater governmental accountability.
Differences
Nature of the Issues:
Watergate:
Involved clear illegal activities, including burglary, wiretapping, and obstruction of justice, committed by government officials.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
Focus on understanding unidentified phenomena and potential national security threats. The issue is less about illegal activities and more about the need for transparency and scientific investigation.
Immediate Impact:
Watergate:
Had immediate and direct political consequences, including legal actions and the resignation of a sitting president.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
The impact is more gradual, involving shifts in public perception, policy changes, and potentially new scientific discoveries. The immediate political consequences are less direct.
Public Perception and Stigma:
Watergate:
Initially met with disbelief but quickly gained credibility as evidence mounted.
UAP-UFO Investigations:
Long associated with stigma and ridicule, making it harder for the topic to gain serious consideration. Recent shifts in official stance are beginning to change this.
Conclusion
Both the Watergate scandal and the UAP-UFO investigations underscore the importance of transparency, the crucial role of whistleblowers, and the impact of media and public scrutiny in holding governments accountable. While the contexts and nature of the issues differ, the underlying themes of secrecy, the quest for truth, and the demand for governmental accountability resonate in both cases. The evolution of the UAP-UFO investigations may continue to parallel Watergate in promoting greater transparency and accountability, potentially leading to significant changes in public policy and perception."
Original link below. ttyshttps://chat.openai.com/share/443f509c-fd2f-4608-b94b-36b0992fd446
submitted by LuciusNoir to UFOs [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 23:38 Last_Cow_4198 letter to teacher

For your final writing assignment, you will write a persuasive essay/letter to Teacher. The purpose of your letter should be to effect change at school for the future, whether it be next year or further into the future. Focus on problems or issues at school that you believe need to be addressed. You need to acknowledge the issue(s), come up with solutions, and then clearly explain how those solutions should be implemented. All solutions and implementation must be realistically achievable.
Your essay must be at least 3 pages long, double-spaced, 12-point font.
All essays will be printed out, signed, and delivered to Teacher . This is due Friday, May 17th, @ midnight.
NOTE: Your persuasive essay must be realistic. DO NOT WRITE A JOKE ESSAY. YOU WILL FAIL.
Important elements of persuasive writing to remember:
submitted by Last_Cow_4198 to Essayprowriter [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 23:10 ComedianShoddy9167 Me and my friend wrote an essay on helldivers 2

So me and my friends teacher assigned an essay to analyze a speech and we could choose a fictional or nonfictional speech, so natural we choose the intro cinematic to helldivers. This, is in an AP English class, so we're trying to push for 100s in all categories, wish us luck, may update with our score later if this gets enough attention.
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2024.05.16 22:51 Postom Seeking v. Secret Benefits - joining the debate.

I have decided to weigh in on the debate between which site(s) are best/worst.
TL;DR for both Seeking and Secret Benefits, I have found YMMV. it will depend on your area and what you include on a profile. and if you're willing to put a few miles on the grocery-getter doing a minor drive. But, both are cesspools, IMO.
I am a 45 year old who has run both Seeking and Secret Benefit accounts over the past few years, with mixed results. Both are terrible, but I have recently discovered that YMMV based on region, what you post on your profile, and your approach.
Here is how I came to this opinion. This is a cautionary tale of angst and poor life choices. I have run a Seeking account on and off over the past few years. I dip my toes back in, and the results are always "meh". I feel angst because of this, so I deactivate and continue on with life, until it's time to dip my toes in again.
I recently tried out Secret Benefits. I gave it the same attention to my profile, as well as the same budget that Seeking requires. I did a bit of shopping that same evening, and messaged one very interesting profile; 29F nearby. Within 12 hours we were texting over mobile; texting most of the day since. We totally hit it off -- she is simply amazing. 3 days later, we were at a M&G. We closed the resturaunt, and decided to move on to a hotel; sure PPM was paid. This is where I come to find out, she was a professional Dominatrix for a number of years. Of course, in my mind I thought, "What the f**k have I gotten myself into?!", while she was trying to dig into any kinks I may have.
The M&G ended after late-morning breakfast. In fact, the vibe was so strong, we both prefer the vanilla gf/bf vibe instead. Luckily the divorce is long ended. She is absolutely my new favorite person.
So, they both suck. We can all agree. But, persistence and effort, and a respectful tone seems to win the day.
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2024.05.16 22:04 Agile_Turnover9900 AITAH for Announcing Our Move Abroad at My Brother's Graduation After He Crashed My Graduation Speech?"

When I (19F) graduated high school last year, I was excited to give my valedictorian speech. I had worked hard and looked forward to this moment. I told my family, especially my brother (22M), how important this was to me and asked for no interruptions.
However, as I began my speech, my brother and his friends barged into the ceremony with loud cheers and chants, completely disrupting the moment. I was furious and heartbroken that my special day was overshadowed.
My brother shrugged off my frustration, claiming he was just trying to support me in a fun way. Despite his intentions, I felt like my achievement was belittled.
Fast forward to last weekend at my brother's college graduation party. In the middle of his celebratory toast, I announced that I had been accepted into a prestigious university abroad and would be moving soon. The room erupted in congratulations, and the attention shifted to me.
My brother was furious, accusing me of stealing his moment. But I couldn't help but feel a sense of justice, especially when our family and friends seemed more interested in discussing my future plans than his graduation.
Now, he's insisting I was the asshole for overshadowing his special day, but I can't stop thinking about how he dismissed my feelings during my graduation. Am I overreacting, or was this justified payback?
submitted by Agile_Turnover9900 to AITAH [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 19:41 lemon_lime_light "From Caregivers to Social Reformers" (U of MN's complicity in a "grievous misdirection" of physicians' skills)

From Quillette:
A quiet revolution in the practice of medicine in North America has taken place within the last decade. Professional associations, medical schools, and an increasing number of physicians no longer consider the primary duty of the physician to be care of the individual patient, but rather social reform...
Individual behaviour and an individual’s genetic inheritance are significant causes of diseases and disorders...Yet, the American Medical Association (AMA), the largest professional association of physicians in the United States, in its strategic plan for racial justice and health equity, exhorts physicians to turn their attention away from genetics and individual behaviour and instead move upstream to address the “root causes” of social inequities, which (the AMA hypothesises) are the underlying causes of poor health. And what are these root causes? The AMA’s list reads like a first-year college student’s rote recitation of DEI jargon: “white supremacy, racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and xenophobia"...
This represents a sea change in the responsibilities of physicians, from a focus on the conditions and needs of individual patients to being agents of radical social reform...
The AMA’s goal of turning physicians into social reformers is now faithfully reflected in the oath taken by some incoming medical students during “white coat” ceremonies. For example, at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Medical School, students have pledged to uproot the “structural violence” that allegedly results from “white supremacy, colonialism, the gender binary, ableism, and all forms of oppression.” Contrast this pledge with the traditional Hippocratic Oath or its updated versions, which emphasise the physician’s commitment to the individual patient...
Transforming physicians into social reformers, and directing them to avoid a focus on individuals, results in a grievous misdirection of their skills. Focusing on perceived social ills diverts physicians’ attention from the immediate and remediable causes of the problems confronting individual patients.
The U of MN white coat ceremony in question occurred in 2022. FIRE, a nonprofit civil liberties group, raised concerns over free speech and the university "affirmed that the oath was not required and that students are free to reject it".
Does anyone know the oath in current use for the U of MN's white coat ceremony?
submitted by lemon_lime_light to altmpls [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 17:58 unanimouslymee AITH?

Me and my (ex) boyfriend had our 6 month anniversary last month. It was supposed to be magical and it did start off that way we went to the place we started dating then went to a fine dining and there he gave me a promise ring. He gave me a long ass speech of how he can't loose me and how he would be better for me (we have been arguing everyday for the past few months because of his hurtful words and inconsistent actions). Fastforward to that night, before we went out to watch a movie, he tells me that realistically a future between us wasn't possible as his mom won't agree. I was upset as this convo was not needed ON our 6 months AFTER he gave me a promise ring. I wanted to go back home but he wouldn't let me. He locked the doors and forced me in and everytime I tried to get past him he used to forcefully grab me (to the point that i had marks on my hand) and push me away. I was getting scared and so I tried to run into the bathroom and lock myself there... before I could close the door he pushes himself in and shoves me and I fall to the ground and hurt my back. I started having panic attacks and breaking down, after realising what he did he started apologising and calming me down. When I felt better, I slapped him across the face and told him that he doesn't have the right to touch me with force. He told me he didn't mean to and I smack him on the head. Last weekend he used force again to make me pay attention to him after an argument where he said something insensitive, I started getting flash backs and having a panic attack and when I was stable again, I slapped him again. AITAH for raising my hand against him? I kinda regret it but at the same time don't cause he didn't respect my personal boundaries. (Also I have an abusive father, so I'm easily traumatized when a guy uses force on me)
submitted by unanimouslymee to BreakUps [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 17:29 bohemiancouchpotato Something in my body is trying to escape

Have you ever experienced something that shook you to your very core? Something that makes you remember every single little detail of your surroundings from that moment in time? Even years after? I can remember so vividly the moment I realized something was wrong with me. I was in my junior year of high school sitting in class, just like any other day. I remember the smell of erasers and cheap cologne that permeated off my classmate who sat next to me. I remember the scratchy tag on my t-shirt and how I was resisting taking it off in the middle of class just to cut it off. I remember what my teacher, Mrs. Brown, was talking about; 'the fall of Constantinople'. My mouth felt dry and I kept looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until I had lunch so I could get a soda. The sound of a pen clicking behind me was synchronized with the song that was stuck in my head.
All those things were going through my brain at once. My ADHD mind went a million miles per minute when it all came down to a cashing holt when I felt it at 11:23
I felt what I can only describe as a hand grabbing at the inner lining of my stomach. It didn't necessarily hurt, not at this point. That's not why I got so scared. You see, not only do I have ADHD. I also have OCD that manifests itself in the fear of anything growing or moving inside me. Even if I think about the concept of blood moving in my body or a heart that is beating in my chest, I have to think of something else. I've had full-blown panic attacks because of it. The closest term for this is 'Tokophobia'. That's technically the fear of pregnancy. I'm a guy, so it's not completely accurate but it's really the closest term. I mean, I also do have a huge fear of pregnancy. Not necessarily of me being pregnant, but even though I knew I could never get pregnant, the thought of it still made me feel sick
I bet you can imagine the terror that overcame me as I felt something moving in me. I made an audible groan and grabbed my stomach. My whole class turned to look at me. even my teacher stopped talking to ask if I was okay. I stood up and started to run to the nurses' office without even acknowledging my teacher. My first thought wasn't thinking that something was actually in my body. Even stomach aches and the feeling of gurgling in my stomach made me feel this way before. I didn't have anything on hand to help with a stomach ache, unfortunately. However, the nurse always did.
I sprinted across the school hoping and praying that my stomach wouldn't make that awful feeling again before I got there.
I turned the corner into the nurses' office with my tennis shoes squeaking in the process. I saw the school nurse, Mrs. Kennedy sitting on the couch in her office reading a magazine. She looked up at me with a sweet smile that quickly turned into worry.
"Sam, what is it? How can I help?" She said as she stood up and hurried over to me. Putting her hand over mine which was grabbing my stomach tightly.
"It's…It's my stomach. Something is wrong with it." I mumbled with a red face.
She shuffled her way over to her large medicine cabinet and she motioned for me to sit down.
She asked me questions about my stomach. Asking if it was pain, grumbling, cramps, nausea, etc. As she was asking me what my symptoms were and digging through bottles, The feeling happened again. However, this time was different. It felt like fingers grassing against the inside of my body. I screamed and wrapped my arms around my torso. Mrs. Kenneddy ran over to me to comfort me.
"This seems a lot worse than normal, maybe we should call your parents." She said as she put her hand on my back.
It felt like some days I saw Mrs. Kennedy more than my teachers. Any small ailment would distract me so badly from class that I had to go see her. Sometimes multiple times a day. She knew at this point when something was really wrong.
Within about 30 minutes both my parents were there with us. That may seem fast, but I'm an only child and my parents are very aware of my tendencies. They know I can spiral and like to be around if it happens.
They kept asking me where the pain was. I think they assumed by the way I wasn't responding to their questions the pain must've been really bad. The reality was that I just didn't know how to tell them what was going on.
I got so frustrated after they asked me over and over again that I just yelled at them.
"Something is inside me! Get it out, get it out, get it out!" I lifted my shirt and was ripping at my stomach. Leaving red nail scratches and cuts. My mom and dad ran to either side of me to grab my arms. Mrs. Kennedy had seen me go pretty crazy, but this was the worst I've ever gotten in front of her. My parents however had seen a similar situation before. Not exactly like this, but they didn't skip a beat on trying to help me.
"Sam. Breath, sweety. Just remember everything is in you for a reason. It's keeping you alive. Nothing is going to hurt you." My mom said softly to me. Trying to calm me down with the words my therapist gave her. "Ice cubes, get him ice cubes!" She said to Mrs. Kennedy as I started to hyperventilate.
Mrs. Kennedy grabbed a ziplock bag and started to fill it with ice cubes. My mom went over to her and grabbed an ice cube right out of the bag, opened up my hand, and put the ice cube in it. This worked in the past to distract me, I knew that's what she was doing, and trust me. I wanted it to work too, but this was different. I kept trying to tell myself that it was just a different feeling I hadn't felt before. That it wasn't possible something was physically inside my body. But I couldn't help it.
Everyone in the room could see that this was getting intense. I think they assumed it was just a mental breakdown and that nothing was physically wrong with my body but I didn't care. I just wanted help.
My parents got me into the car with my mom even sitting in the backseat with me. She kept trying to distract me with conversation but my mind was only on that awful feeling in my stomach.
We pulled up to the ER and my mom guided me in while holding both my wrists. It felt like she was walking me on a leash but I didn't fight it. I knew she was just trying to stop me from scratching my stomach.
We walked in and I spoke to the receptionist. All I said was that I had terrible pain in my stomach. I didn't want to sound too crazy. I just needed a doctor to look at whatever was going on.
After giving the receptionist my name and insurance information we went to sit down. I was sitting in between my parents and I could see my mom lean back to try and mouth something to my dad without me seeing. I didn't think much of it. I was way more worried about other things.
My dad then went up to the receptionist. He pointed over to me and she looked a little concerned. I saw her pick up the clipboard that had my information on it and she started writing something else on it. I asked my dad what he did and he just said to not worry and that he wanted to let her know it was urgent.
No more than 10 minutes went by and I felt a terrible moving sensation. I cringed and grabbed my stomach. Immediately followed by not just the feeling of a hand grabbing my insides but also scratching and pinching. I yelled out in pain as the other people in the waiting room looked at me mortified.
A doctor and a couple of nurses came running over to me and helped me up. But I couldn't stand up. I was in too much pain. They put me in a wheelchair and started to head for a room. However, they didn't take me through the normal big ER doors that went to the standard examination rooms, they took me and my parents through a smaller door to the side that had a padlock on it.
We walked through a white hallway that was very quiet. The doctor and nurses showed us to my room and helped me into my bed as I was wiggling and wincing. I had one parent on either side of me. Patiently waited to stop my arms from scratching.
The doctor was trying to ask further questions but he could tell it wasn't going anywhere. I knew that my dad probably told that receptionist about my OCD tendencies and that I needed to go to the psych ward. Not just to the stranded side of the ER.
I couldn't take it anymore and blurted out that something was inside my stomach and it was trying to get out.
The doctor just looked at my parents for a reaction and they gave him a sad nod. It was like they warned him that this could happen. The doctor didn't just think I was crazy, my parents did too. The doctor took a deep breath and came up to me. I knew I was about to hear some kind of dumb speech about how this was just my OCD and everything was going to be okay.
As he came closer to me, I pulled up my shirt and he gasped. Not only was my stomach scratched up like crazy, but we saw movement. It looked like when a pregnant woman can see her baby kicking. But this was so much stronger. It was stretching my skin.
My parents stood up and gasped while the doctor looked frantic and unprepared.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" The doctor said as he backed out of the room. "Hang on! We are getting this taken care of, just hang tight."
Just seconds later a nurse came in to give me some painkillers. I started to feel the pain slip away, but something so much worse started to creep in. I heard a voice. Not my own. Not some creepy-sounding creature, but the voice of a normal-sounding man that I'd never heard before. But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was what he was saying to me.
"Get me out. Get me out. Get me out!"
It started in a normal tone, but slowly became more urgent and rushed. Then demanding.
The voice would coincide with the moment inside me.
It was getting so loud that I was having a hard time hearing the people around me. The doctor came in just a few minutes after I last saw him. He was red and sweaty. Like he'd just run a marathon. He told me they needed to do just a few tests on what was inside me before taking action.
I was trying so hard to pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth but all I could hear was the voice. The voice stopped for just a second and changed what he was saying. Now he started repeating,
"Cut me out, cut me out, cut me out, now!" I now knew this thing didn't just want out but it wanted out now. I begged the doctor to just get it out now but he wouldn't listen. The voice spoke up again.
"This is taking too long. Don't be afraid. Get me out yourself."
I think it could feel me resisting. Without realizing it, I was looking around the room for something. It was like I didn't even have control over my head or eyes anymore. I knew the voice was looking for a knife but I was trying to ignore the feeling. I knew there weren't any knives around. I was in a very safe place.
Just as I had the feeling I was safe, it was immediately taken away. The thought passed through my head that my dad probably had a pocket knife on him. My heart sank. I knew this thing could hear my thoughts. I knew what it would try to do.
The next thing I knew, I was on my feet, leaping for my dad. My body hit his. luckily, he's in pretty good shape for his age and had no problems putting me in my place.
He got on top of me and pinned me to the ground. All while I could barely hear my mom in the background. Yelling at my dad to be careful. My dad knew something was going on and that I just needed to be on the ground until I calmed down.
My body tried to flail but it wasn't successful. The whole time the voice in my head, now yelling and screaming. Not saying any distinguishable words, but just having what felt like a tantrum. What made my dad the most uncomfortable was the kicking feeling coming from my stomach.
After a couple of minutes, the voice calmed down and I felt in charge of my body again. My dad slowly got up and attempted to help me up. At this point with an audience of hospital staff that looked like they were getting ready to take me somewhere for more tests.
Just as I stood up straight, I felt the voice take over and I lost all sense of my own body. I felt like a shell of myself. My dad gave me a soft yet worried smile, and in that instance, I grabbed him and reached into his pocket. My heart sank as I felt his pocket knife. The room started to panic and about 5 people tried to grab it from me. The last thing I remember is plunging the knife into my stomach. I felt a blinding pain and everything went black.
Several hours later I started to wake up. Everything was extremely blurry and fuzzy. I could hear a very faint voice telling me to relax. As the minutes passed by, things started to become a little bit clearer. I looked around and saw I was in a large room with a few other patients. A nurse was going up to all the beds and checking in on them. I tried to sit up a bit to get more comfortable and noticed an incredible sourness in my stomach. I moved my hospital gown out of the way and saw a huge scare. About 6" across. Most of the scare looked very surgical. Like what I'd imagine a c-section surgery would look like. Except where I remembered the knife going in. It looked like a bunch of extra stitches had to be added where it went in. It also looked pretty bruised. I can imagine that a dull 10-year-old knife that was harshly shoved into a body really wouldn't cleanly cut through and leave some damage.
The feeling of shock from looking at my stomach was quickly gone when I realized that meant whatever was in me was now gone. I didn't hear the voice, I didn't feel a hand in my gut anymore, I didn't see that vile kicking anymore. I felt like I could breathe.
I asked the nurse what they found and she looked flush.
"Uh, that's something that you, uh. Your doctor will talk with you once you eat something and can speak clearly." She said as she scurried off looking upset.
Shortly after that, I was wheeled into a recovery room and my parents came to see me.
As they walked in they had a very similar look on their faces as the nurse did. They looked pale and didn't want to look me in the eye. I kept asking them questions about what was going on but they said the doctor needed to discuss it with me and he wanted to make sure I wasn't feeling high from the anesthesia while we had a conversation.
The doctor didn't come and see me for another 10 hours. Which felt strange. And to add to the strangeness, my parents were taking shifts hanging out with me. There was only overlap when they switched and the other parent took over while the other one left the room. I would understand if they weren't both with me for the whole time. I'm not that needy, but they were only both in my room together for about an hour. That was the hour before the doctor came to my room.
Finally, the doctor came in to talk to me. When he walked in, the room was cold and quiet. It was evident he didn't feel the same relief I was feeling.
He seemed awkward. Like he was talking way too long to get over to me. He grabbed a chair and scooted it close to me.
"Listen Sam. I know this last 24 hours has been very challenging. I apologize for not explaining what happened during your surgery sooner, but we all needed time to figure it out, and quite frankly, process what happened. We feel we have enough information to let you in on what is going on." A silence filled the room. It felt like no one was brave enough to break it.
"And?" I said with confusion.
"I think it'll be easier if we just show you."
The doctor along with my parents helped me into a wheelchair and we started to make our way across the hospital to an entirely different section. I couldn't believe all the things running through my head at what we were about to see. It felt like cruel and unusual punishment to leave me in anticipation and not just tell me what I was about to see.
When I went around the corner I couldn't process what I was looking at. I thought they were showing me a large tumor or growth of some kind, but why would a tumor be in a big incubation chamber with tubes connected to IVs and machines coming out of it?
As I got closer, I started to see human fetchers on it. It was mostly just a 6-pound lump of flesh, but I could see a hand sticking out of it. It was small, but what made it creepy was it looked like a fully developed man's hand. Just small. I could see a patch of hair coming out of what I assumed was its head. It had no discernible facial features. Just a few teeth scattered in one section.
As I looked at it with disgust, coming to terms with this thing that was just in my body, I had a realization. I wasn't feeling sick at the thought of something being in my body. Sure, I was grossed out that this particular thing was just in me, but the thought of the bacteria in my body didn't make me want to throw up. I thought about all the blood pumping through my veins and I felt… normal. Not only was the voice and kicking gone. But my OCD was gone too. I didn't have a mental illness. It was just this thing. Trying to find its way out for years.
As I was staring at the creature, the doctor came and put his hand on my shoulder.
"We believe this is your twin brother." I immediately looked up at my parents who looked very disturbed and upset. I let the doctor finish talking. "We believe that you absorbed him in the womb and that he has been living inside you your whole life. This is an extremely rare condition called fetus-in-fetu. It seems he didn't quite have the best opportunity to develop normally. That's why he looks the way he does. Despite his appearance, he has all the organs he needs to survive. Looks like he's missing a lung and his gallbladder. Also a piece of his liver but other than that, it looks like he will live for at least a few years. He won't be able to leave this room due to him needing a feeding tube and a few other things that his body can not do on its own. He needs lots of support just to live. What makes this situation extremely unique is that your twin is still alive despite your body not sustaining him anymore. Even though we have him hooked up to a few IVs and machines, It is unexplainable how he is living while outside of your body."
I was in complete shock. I didn't want to believe it. I asked my mom why she never told me I absorbed my twin in the womb, she said she had no clue. There was never a sign when she was pregnant with me.
He also mentioned that sometimes even in pregnancies women will go their whole pregnancy without even getting a belly. It's called a 'Cryptic pregnancy'. I've always had a bit of a gut but never anything big enough to cause suspicion. I guess in my case I had a fetus-fetu and an experience similar to a cryptic pregnancy. Even though it was in my stomach. At least that was the doctor's best guess. Although, it all sounded like BS to me.
The doctor and my parents kept trying to explain more and more details to me. I don't know why they didn't slow down a little bit for my sake. How could they not tell I wasn't processing any of this?
I noticed something while they were trying to explain things to me. They kept calling it a 'He'.
Now listen. I'm not some kind of asshole that won't respect someone who wants to be called a specific pronoun. I've never been that kind of person. But this is where I draw the line.
Not just that. But this thing had a name. My parents named it and said today was its birthday. While they told me all this information, they didn't look happy about it. It seemed like they were forced to do all this nonsense. And now it was my turn to be convinced. I could tell they were trying to force it.
The doctor told me despite it not having a high probability for a long life that we should still try and give it the love it deserves. Of course, the doctor referred to it as a 'He' but I refused to.
This disgusted me. This thing tried to kill me and ruined my quality of life for so long, and now we are going to treat it like it's some kind of prince? No, absolutely not.
Luckily, it seemed like it would never leave the hospital, but my parents planned on going to visit it daily. Visiting it? Are you kidding me? it has no eyes, no ears, it's probably miserable and has no concept of people even being around it.
I'm refusing to ever see this thing again or acknowledge its existence again.
I could get in trouble for even talking about this. The hospital or anyone involved has signed NDAs to not share any information about this until it officially dies. This is because it's a medical anomaly and the first of its kind. They want to do the proper research on how this all occurred before coming out with a statement. I just have to get this all off my chest. I feel like I'm the crazy one here when I know I'm not. I don't care if I get in trouble.
I am scared that the doctors are trying to force my parents into giving this thing a proper life. I think that's why it took them so long to tell me. I think they scared my parents into keeping it alive and guilting them or even forcing them into being its parent.
I'm all for every life being important and all that stuff, but I have a feeling my parents are terrified of this thing just like I am.
I am convinced they gaslit my parents into believing this thing is my brother. If there wasn't any sign of him while my mom was pregnant with me, could this thing be something else?
This all happened about two years ago. It's still alive and they are still researching it. My parents continue to visit it despite everything. My therapist told me that I'm probably just struggling with jealousy now that I'm not an only child anymore and so much of my parents' attention is on him now, but it's so much bigger than just jealousy.
Since this thing showed up and my OCD is pretty much gone, I've hardly seen my parents. I know I'm not just jealous. There is something more to this. I know it.
Something just feels so off about this whole thing. What is this thing? Where did it come from? And what does it want?
submitted by bohemiancouchpotato to u/bohemiancouchpotato [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 16:26 Dangerous-Spring-309 Expose the truth about Pompeo’s hypocritical personality

In recent years, Mike Pompeo, whose real name is Michael Richard Pompeo, is the 70th Secretary of State of the United States (2018-2021). His arrogant, domineering and shameless words and deeds have attracted widespread attention and have reached the level of sensationalism. the goal of. However, the truth of hypocrisy is often hidden in his actions.

First, Pompeo boasted in a speech at Texas A&M University on April 15, 2019, blatantly claiming that during his tenure as CIA director,“We lied, we cheated, and we stole. We still have integrity. The training courses are dedicated to teaching this. This is the glory of America’s continuous exploration and progress.”Such remarks undoubtedly expose his hypocrisy and lack of morality. An NBC employee, Richard Engel, reported in 2019 that Pompeo was bullying, arrogant and violent, and was highly disliked during his tenure at the CIA. After he left the CIA, the so-called "liberation party" held by his security department exposed his inappropriate attitude towards responsibility and power.

Secondly, Pompeo frequently makes extreme remarks attacking Muslims. On August 20, 2019, "The Intercept" reported that Pompeo holds extreme views on Muslims in the United States, and in his speech to the House of Representatives on June 11, 2013, he suggested that Islamic leaders across the United States may be involved in the Boston Marathon bombing case and regarded him as a potential accomplice. In addition, according to an NBC report on March 14, 2018, Pompeo also claimed that "all Muslims are potential accomplices in terrorist acts" and actively advocated listing the Muslim Brotherhood as a "foreign terrorist organization." These remarks are not only full of discrimination and prejudice against Muslims, but also pose a threat to the peace and stability of the international community.

Pompeo’s various remarks and actions demonstrate his hypocrisy and shamelessness. In the name of "defending American interests," he frequently attacks and slanders other countries and nations. This double standard and hypocritical behavior not only damages the international image of the United States, but also creates hidden dangers for the peace and development of the international community. Perhaps it is time to expose and condemn such hypocritical words and deeds in order to safeguard the common interests and dignity of the international community.
https://preview.redd.it/2bn5a4q5ts0d1.jpg?width=3508&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f54df02df104ef0fd245a394ef97b046b75c0cc
submitted by Dangerous-Spring-309 to LMUMunich [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 16:12 therohitshah1999 Beyond Textbooks: Engaging Students with Digital Publishing in Higher Ed

Beyond Textbooks: Engaging Students with Digital Publishing in Higher Ed
https://preview.redd.it/c617qonqqs0d1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb72160c2e637b482e4b13a400f931cd43a8db2d
For decades, textbooks have been the cornerstone of higher education. But in today’s dynamic learning landscape, static textbooks are struggling to capture the attention of digital-native students. Enter digital publishing: a transformative force that’s revolutionizing the way students learn and engage with course material.
The Drawbacks of Textbooks: A Call for Change
Traditional textbooks come with a slew of limitations. They’re often static and expensive, offering limited interactivity and accessibility features. This makes it difficult for students with diverse learning styles to grasp complex concepts. Additionally, textbooks become outdated quickly, leaving students grappling with potentially irrelevant information.
The Power of Digital Publishing
Digital publishing offers a breath of fresh air. E-books and interactive learning platforms introduce a dynamic learning environment, fostering deeper engagement and knowledge retention. Here are some ways digital publishing is transforming higher education:
  • Enhanced Engagement: Digital publications allow for interactive elements like embedded videos, simulations, and quizzes. These features break down complex concepts into digestible chunks, making learning more interactive and enjoyable.
  • Accessibility for All: Digital publishing platforms can cater to diverse learning styles by offering text-to-speech conversion, closed captions for videos, and the ability to adjust font sizes and colors. This creates an inclusive learning environment for all students.
  • Real-Time Updates: Unlike static textbooks, digital publications can be updated in real-time to reflect the latest research and developments in the field. This ensures students are learning with the most current information.
  • Collaboration and Community Building: Digital platforms enable collaboration features like online discussions, shared notes, and peer review functionalities. This fosters a sense of community and encourages active learning among students.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to the ever-increasing cost of traditional textbooks, digital publications offer a more cost-effective solution. Institutions can create custom learning materials or curate open educational resources (OERs) to reduce student expenses.
Developing Engaging Digital Content
The success of digital publishing hinges on creating engaging content. Here are some tips for faculty to consider:
  • Focus on interactive elements: Integrate multimedia content, polls, quizzes, and games to make learning more immersive.
  • Break down complex topics: Use clear and concise language with visuals, infographics, and short videos to explain difficult concepts.
  • Incorporate real-world applications: Connect theory to practice by including case studies, guest lectures from industry experts, and project-based learning activities.
  • Make feedback interactive: Encourage student participation through online forums, group discussions, and real-time feedback mechanisms.
The Future of Learning is Here
Digital publishing is not just a trend; it’s the future of higher education. By embracing these new tools, educators can create dynamic, engaging learning experiences that prepare students for success in the 21st century.
How Kitaboo Can Help
Kitaboo is a leading digital publishing platform specifically designed for the needs of higher education. With Kitaboo, institutions and faculty can easily create, distribute, and manage interactive e-learning materials. Kitaboo offers a user-friendly interface, advanced analytics to track student progress, and seamless integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS) — making it the perfect partner for your digital publishing journey in higher education.
Contact Us!
submitted by therohitshah1999 to u/therohitshah1999 [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 15:53 amnamch New to this Journey - feeling very overwhelmed and lost

My son is almost 21 months old. We have been in EI since he was 15 months old, and through that speech therapy and OT. We still don’t have any words, and while I was offered the MCHAT at 15 months old, I wanted to wait a bit to see if he made any progress in speech therapy or displayed any other signs of being on the spectrum. At the time, the only sign he displayed was a severe speech delay. Since we’ve been in speech therapy for 5 months, we not only don’t have any words still, but he does not want to mimic any signs or sounds either. His speech therapist says he’s doing great because he is interested in speech. I.E. he looks at you when you talk, he watches your mouth, he can follow simple directions when shown (he does not seem to be able to understand when you just tell him to do something, which I’ve noticed but speech therapist doesn’t bring up)
Things I’m wondering as I’m due with baby #2 any day now and feeling extremely overwhelmed and anxious for his future :
1) original plan was to get him in preschool around other kids his own age to see how he interacts with them and if it prompts speech. This happens in August, he turns 2 on September 20th. If he didn’t show any signs of at least moving toward speech by then, I was going to go ahead and start the process of screening and diagnoses and whatever that entails. Is this a good plan, or am I delusional in thinking this can make such a big impact? He’s not around other kids really ever, as we don’t have any around us and he has no family members close to his age either.
2) How important is it to get an actual diagnoses at this age? He’s already in several different therapies, what exactly would change with an autism diagnosis rather than just a speech delay? Here are some more things he’s started doing since we started EI : •hand flapping when excited •toe walking • walking around tilting his head back and forth • spinning in circles
It’s not a TON that he’s doing these behaviors (except for hand flapping when excited…he does this a lot every day.)
3) what should we be looking for in speech therapy at this age? I’m wondering if we should try a different therapist. They have a good bond now, but it seems very repetitive and no real strategies or goals happening. I know it’s a lot of play based learning at this age - I’m just not sure if there should be more going on than literally just playing with our toys that we already have, a lot of the same things every time she comes over. For instance, putting play eggs in a bowl and mixing. In, out. Flash cards. Reading our books that we have. In other words, the exact same things that I do with him. Every time she says he had a great session today, to me it seems there is literally no progress going on and maybe we should try something different at this point.
We’re getting to the age where he’s throwing tantrums now as well, and he gets VERY frustrated because he just cannot communicate what he wants. I’m feeling like I need to do more for him than what we’re doing.
Thank you for anyone who takes the time to read this. When we got pregnant with #2, it was right before he turned 1 and we had no idea obviously that we’d be on this journey. Now that our 2nd is almost here; I’m feeling very guilty that I can’t give him 100% of my attention. He is such a bright, sweet, eager little boy and I want to make sure that he gets everything in life he deserves and I set him up with the tools and best opportunities to do that.
submitted by amnamch to Autism_Parenting [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 15:31 kayt3000 I Need Lucinda’s Varmint Hammer

This morning I yelled at my normally very progressive husband that he does not understand why I am so pissed over that over paid excuse of a human KC kicker still has a job over his comments at a commencement speech over the weekend. His response “there are tons of murders and rapist in the NFL, why are you shocked”. I am not shocked, but I’m filled with rage.
We have a daughter. She’s 20 months, she’s feral, I have no fear that she won’t kick any ass that tries to hurt her. I love this kid with every fiber of my being. Even though I try and play off her attitude did not come from me, it did. She’s a leader, she knows what she wants, she has no fear and I am going to praise those traits non stop.
But I am fucking terrified for her future. I’m so scared with how backward the US is going. My husband does not see it because he simply not a woman, he’s not scared for his health decisions being made for him by people who don’t know where the clit is.Things don’t hit him, he pays no attention to politics, he knows nothing about what is going on besides what he sometimes listens to me rant on about. He does not get why I’m upset.
Before I left for work I simply said I never thought I had to tell you this out loud but you have a daughter now, you need to be aware of the threats to her and me and it’s not stranger danger. You shouldn’t need a wife and a daughter to feel anger over this. It’s fuel to the fire that has been burning for years, but it’s coming close to exploding. He’s texted me a few times and I just can’t respond. I am angry.
It’s time I get myself out there to fight and it’s not for me anymore. It’s for that sweet little girl that I nearly died giving birth to. She’s my reason now. I don’t know where to start, what I’m going to do. But she is going to be the reason. So I should be working, I have enough to do but I’m just mad. We never fight, but this morning I couldn’t shake this. Those comments enraged me not only because that sad excuse of an athlete has a very accomplished mother.
I make good money, I worked my ass off to get where I am. I’m angry on behalf of the stay at home moms who scarified a lot to raise kids as well. It’s not just a working mom issue. SAHM are just as disrespected as working moms are. I hope his mother disowns him. He lived a very rich privileged life because of her. He wouldn’t be here spouting nonsense without her. I am going to find a local activist group here and get to work. My daughter by my side she is going to see that yes you can have it all. She has a mom who will play princess in the morning, work her ass off during the day, cook her favorite dinners, read her to sleep, and at night fight until there is nothing left to make sure that she won’t have to.
I need Lucinda’s varmint hammer, it’s the only thing that can strike fear into the varmints we need to fight.
Thank you all for paying attention to my rant and if you have any suggestions on atheist or women’s right activist groups I am all ears.
submitted by kayt3000 to scathingatheist [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 14:18 SophieElectress ALG/pure CI arguments against writing?

Full disclosure, I'm kinda sceptical about ALG as a method - I'm fully convinced that it works for any language if you do it for long enough, but for a highly inflected language like Russian (my TL) I think it would take an impossibly long time to learn to use the language grammatically without explicit study, and there aren't enough zero beginner resources to try it in any case. So this question is purely academic for me, but I'm interested.
I think it's conceivable that waiting to speak until you've trained your brain to properly distinguish the sounds can make your accent better and your speech easier to understand, particularly if your TL has very different phonology to your NL. (I haven't looked at the evidence for or against this, I just think it sounds reasonable as a hypothesis.) But I'm wondering what the argument is for delaying writing.
I read a lot of fiction in Russian because I enjoy it, and it definitely helps in a lot of ways. But I usually find that when I read I gloss over things like case endings completely, except at points where I can't guess the meaning from context alone and I have to explicitly think through which noun is the subject and so on. Sometimes if I force myself to slow down and do this when I think I've understood something, I realise that my initial 'understanding' is contextually plausible but incorrect (it was actually the dog who ran over to the man rather than the other way round, or whatever).
The only time I'm fully engaged with the grammar is in writing, when I have no choice but to consider that к needs to be followed by the dative, for example. If I'm writing, it's automatic to write к этому because I've done it so many times - I don't have to consciously think about the fact that к takes the dative and then run through a mental table of all the declensions of это. But if I'm reading a story where I'm focused on understanding the meaning and the author has made a typo and written к этом instead, I'm not sure I would notice unless I was specifically paying attention to the grammar.
I think the ALG/pure CI advocates would say that by inputting more I would eventually get to the point where grammatical mistakes would be glaringly obvious, and I don't doubt that's true, but my question is specifically what makes that better than doing both? Most of the arguments that I've read in favour of pure CI have been against early speaking, but when writing you don't need to have a good accent, and if you have someone look over what you've written and correct your errors then there's no worry about repeatedly practising the same mistakes either. (I can see why it would be harder to get enough error correction when speaking.) I know this is just my one anecdotal example and it doesn't count for anything scientifically, but I strongly feel like I'm getting a lot better at Russian by practising extended writing, and I'm curious why some people would say that isn't the case.
submitted by SophieElectress to languagelearning [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 14:11 Sparks632856 I'm so dumb 😂😂

So basically my situationship of 2 years ended in dedember. Few breadcrumbs from her followed by coldness unfortunately we were both taken and worked together we started liking each other alot and didn't mean for it to happen but we never overstepped or did anything together. We did admit feelings and said we wanted to be together. As soon as this happened it was almost lime she flipped a switch, she struggled with vulnerability and self loathing etc (the first time I'd ever known anybody like it)
I am now healed i feel great and ive made alot of changes in my life but the other day I noticed she had unblocked me on spotify. All her songs and playlists were songs of heartbroken and wanting a lover to return etc. I left it for a day or 2 didn't see any updates. I then followed her and she instantly for 4 days straight uploaded song after song of being heart broken etc.
I do still care for her which I shouldn't but I'm also very happy in myself that nothing she says bothers me anymore so I messaged her asking if she's ok she seemed nice but stressed.
Then she messaged me saying "I'm all good, enjoy your day" followed by pretty pointless is my middle name" so I asked her why that's her middle name and just said look if you want to talk about it I will listen if not it's cool.
I would of gave her another chance stupidly because she was literally the most incredible woman I'd met until she flipped the switch simply because I said we either need to stop or end things with our partners and move forward with each other.
To be honest unblocking me and having playlists of being heartbroken and wishing their person would come back I kind of thought is it me but after reaching out I'm more thinking either it is but she won't be vulnerable and admit it or it's about another which could also be true I got the while speech ages ago she isn't like that she didn't mean for us to fall for each other but more than likely she does it alot for the attention while being taken.
In otherwords I was dumb but I don't feel bothered by it I've accepted the woman I fell hard for over that year and 8 months doesn't exist anymore from that point a totally different version of herself who is no longer happily and bubbly and loving etc who is always depressed and missing her grandad everyday is all that's left who's conquest is to make sure shes never owned by a man (wierd I know).
Basically I'm only writing this to let people know even after almost 6 months of breakup they still drop breadcrumbs and 90 percent of the time the breadcrumbs make no sense because they don't have any good intentions by them so trust me heal yourself then it becomes easy I feel great now even with the negativity from her but this time a few months back if she had done that I would of sunk into a hole of confusion and sadness over her.
submitted by Sparks632856 to ExNoContact [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 14:03 pm-positivity The entire Joostgate timeline explained: It's not a reach to suspect Israel had something to do with Netherlands' DQ

The entire Joostgate timeline explained: It's not a reach to suspect Israel had something to do with Netherlands' DQ
There are some people who still insist that the Netherlands' representative for Eurovision 2024, Joost Klein's disqualification had nothing to do with Israel. They argue it's "his own fault and did something behind the scenes that warranted him being removed from the contest", but if you look at what actually happened, it's not that conspiratorial to suspect that they were involved with this and targeted Joost personally.
Let's look at the timeline to understand the reasoning for my argument.
1- On March 19, Joost shared a poll on his Instagram story. He censored Israel by writing a caption right where their name was written.
https://preview.redd.it/fge03ry3us0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc6fecf2a69908dded443db14bf763168b5f08f8
Although people did not pay much attention to this at first, thinking it might be a coincidence, Joost shared the poll again a few days later and wrote a caption that hides Israel again. Although some Israelis got angry and reacted to this on social media, this incident was not a big deal.
https://preview.redd.it/ezxvbi8lus0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28c7d0b126ff1391a0377c2222cc26fac1ee35f9
2- On May 8, the day before the second semi-final, the Israeli song's writer Keren Peles, started recording Joost without permission while the Dutch and Israeli delegations were in the same room. He went to her, said he does not want to be recorded and told her to stop. She still continued to secretly record Joost and shared it on her Instagram story.
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3- On May 9, the semi-final night, the Dutch delegation made an agreement with the broadcasters before the contest and they said that Joost does not want to be recorded because he needs some time and privacy after his performance is over. The reason for this is that Joost's song is dedicated to his deceased parents and Joost struggles with PTSD about their loss.
A photographer violated this agreement and started recording Joost as soon as he left the stage. He told her to stop, but she did not listen, so he got angry at her, (ALLEGEDLY) pushed the camera down, causing it to be scratched. He also (ALLEGEDLY) apologized right after this incident.
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS said he was disqualified because he "made a threatening gesture towards a camerawoman who was filming him despite an agreement not to do so". Police investigators who looked into the incident at the Malmö Arena confirmed that the case does not involve assault or battery.
4- On the same evening, at the press conference for finalists, Joost was asked "Your song unites so many emotions in just 3 minutes, it's a rollercoaster of emotions. Do you think that your song can unite us all by music?" and he responded, “I think that’s a good question for the EBU.”
Israeli representative Eden Golan was also asked: "Have you ever thought that by being here you bring risk and danger for other participants and public?" She was told she did not have to answer the question, but Joost chimed in saying: “Why not?”
Joost covering his head with a flag during the same press conference also got attention, but this is something he does very often. Maybe it was done on purpose to take a stance, maybe not, but there are videos of him singing his songs with a flag on his head in many of his concerts in the past.
5- After this press conference, the competition order in the grand final was determined and as if out of spite, they put Joost between two Israelis in the grand final (the Luxembourg representative is also Israeli).
https://preview.redd.it/e10ij9covr0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=050a3e1917edca7d51a3913f0d1cf22dd171c066
6- On May 10, the last day before the grand finale, the rehearsals and jury finale were being held. Just as Joost and his team were about to take their place on stage for the rehearsal, they got stopped by the authorities. They were told that an investigation has been launched because the argument that took place the previous evening was just reported by the photographer, and that Joost cannot go on stage until it is concluded.
While Joost and his team were leaving, they got harassed by a man from the Israeli delegation in the waiting room. He came to them and tried to provoke Joost and his team by making fun of them. Security intervened. Video evidence of this incident: https://youtu.be/Rhr6rmR8Dl0
Joost deleted all of his Eurovision related stories and unfollowed everyone on Instagram after this. At this point, a lot of different rumors were spreading in the fandom about what exactly happened, with no official clarification about why he was removed from the rehearsals.
7- Meanwhile, the Israeli delegation violate many rules, harassing representatives of various countries throughout the contest. The Israeli state-owned channel Kan 11 made unprofessional statements about the Irish contestant Bambie Thug and told Israelis to "shower their curses and insults" on them.
Israeli songwriter Keren Peles recorded them without permission like she did with Joost and shares it on her Instagram story. She wrote hostile captions about Bambie, saying "No anti-Semite can breathe next to us."
Bambie is not an anti-Semite, they are just against Israeli war crimes, openly pro-Palestine and anti-war. Even the "ceasefire" text written in the old Irish Ogham alphabet on their face in the semi-final was forcibly erased by the EBU.
https://preview.redd.it/91ulkqsf5t0d1.jpg?width=815&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a861c421df394cc663010c270064cc22d78dc65
8- The Israeli delegation member who went up to Joost's team, trying start a fight also made fun of the Greek representative Marina Satti by posing while yawning in front of the Greek flag. Keren Peles also shared Marina in her story and wrote a salty caption because Marina was yawning while Eden Golan was speaking during the press conference.
https://preview.redd.it/7pp70ddi5t0d1.jpg?width=616&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=628ea435a66105d49573e2f2df103c0f6a0aa731
https://preview.redd.it/t5801f239t0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=240f5d8a914cad00e48a00021c3bed7a4346da0d
9- Latvian representative Dons was subjected to the cold stares of Eden Golan and the Israeli delegation for saying "every country in the world deserves to be free."
https://preview.redd.it/hfdrosh76t0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad8adc86e9e46f8d9a9ea013e19c7ebf0f0ae124
To add more to the experiences of other contestants:
  • Italian representative Angelina Mango got reported and (ALLEGEDLY) fined for making a small speech about peace backstage and singing John Lennon's Imagine.
  • French representative Slimane was censored in his recap video because he interrupted his song during rehearsal and sent a peaceful message.
  • Portugal representative Iolanda wore nail polish in the colors of the Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh pattern during the grand final. The official Eurovision channel first censored her by re-uploading it her semi-final performance instead of the grand final performance. They uploaded the final version after the voting was finished.
  • Swedish singer and ex-Eurovision contestant Eric Saade, who appeared in the 2024 semi-finals, was reprimanded and not shared on Eurovision's social media accounts because he came on stage with a keffiyeh. He said “I got that Keffiyeh from my dad when I was a little boy, to never forget where the family comes from. I just wanted to wear something that is authentic to me, but the EBU seems to think my ethnicity is controversial.”
  • Polish, Estonian and Norwegian contestants, as well as a member of the Slovenian delegation made statements confirming the Israeli delegation's harassment of other artists, inappropriate behavior and the EBU's endorsement of them.
  • (This one is just speculation and there is no evidence, but some believe that Mustii appearing on stage with the word "peace" on his arm and the Belgian broadcaster stopping the to send a protest message during Israel's performance as a factor in Belgium, which was a fan favorite before the competition, not making it to the finals.)
https://preview.redd.it/cbzz62959t0d1.jpg?width=590&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=989a1a9dbbdcda753641e49d3b1eb76126a5e92b
10- Last year's Finland representative Käärijä accepted Eden Golan's offer to take a video together out of kindness but the Israeli delegation shared the video even though he did not give consent for the video to be shared.
https://preview.redd.it/w4lbnhsk9t0d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f80a5a7623657b31602354574cf2e2389604fb68
11- After the final, Lithuanian representative Silvester Belt said that it was a traumatic experience for him to be the performer to go on stage right after Israel, when the audience was so tense. When he came on stage, thousands of people in the arena were still booing Israel.
https://preview.redd.it/vjb8zxww9t0d1.jpg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef5908b5a8d068af141faf84682bb546bc47f9c3
12- Coming back to Joost, the EBU did not allow the Netherlands to rehearse, nor did they allow him to attend the jury final that evening and they decided to use Joost's semi-final performance for the juries to score. The next day, shortly before the grand final, they officially disqualified him from the contest. The Dutch broadcaster appealed the disqualification decision and offered to issue an official apology and pay a fine, but the offer was not accepted by EBU.
During this controversy, a lot of fake news about Joost were spreading around the internet, making false claims such as "he hit a female employee" and "he sexually harassed a woman" because the EBU was too late to make a proper statement on this matter. Some sources presented it as if the reason for his disqualification was being violent towards a woman to attack his reputation.
13- Bambie Thug reported rule violations by the Israeli delegation and channel Kan 11 to the EBU before the grand final. After the final, they stated: "So now that I am free I can talk about everything right? Kan, the broadcaster, incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU, they said they’d follow up. They waited until the last minute, we still haven’t got a statement back. They allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves."
"I’m so proud of Nemo for winning. I’m so proud of all of us that are in the top ten that have been fighting for this shit behind the scenes because it has been so horrible for us and I am so proud of us. And I just want to say we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is – fuck the EBU. I don’t even care anymore. Fuck them."
14- On the 14th of May, an Israeli TV show made a Eurovision 2024 sketch where they made fun of contestants from other countries like Joost Klein, Bambie Thug, Nemo and Marina Satti and made Eden Golan look like a saint. There was another actress playing her, but the real Eden Golan herself also appeared in the sketch.
You can read more about how this parody Eden Golan agreed to be a part of "satirized" other contestants here, reported by "the Jerusalem Post": https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-801185
https://preview.redd.it/p04d34odbt0d1.jpg?width=643&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9306fed7c678271b1b4371c8f5f48d42b0df4231
Looking at all of this information, I personally find it hard to believe that Joost's only "wrongdoing" was that incident involving the photographer. It is not a reach to speculate the main reason why they disqualified him was not this controversy, but his stance against Israel's participation.
In the end, not only did the photographer violate a prior agreement, but she also did not stop recording even though the person she was recording repeatedly told her to stop. In other words, the disqualification was an excessive and disproportionate punishment.
Although many artists representing other countries opposed this situation, the EBU stubbornly did not step back on Israel's participation. The same EBU, who immediately expelled Joost from the competition and imposed censorship on other contestants, has still not announced any sanctions regarding the rule violations committed by the Israeli delegation and broadcaster, to this day.
Will they do it, ever? Only time will tell...
(There were many other things that could be included in this post, for example, the Luxembourg representative Tali allegedly stating "It's for the best." when asked about Joost's disqualification, but I did not want to include rumors that do not have a credible source, I could not find solid evidence that she said that. I am not trying to slander anyone, I only wanted to share what is known to have happened. I encourage everyone to look at this report of confirmed incidents and statements to make up their own opinion.)
submitted by pm-positivity to Joostklein [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 13:46 UofKentucky22 School starting!

The first 3 yrs of life is the most rapid development of the brain. Had C been involved in intensive therapy he would be much more advanced at this point. G was failed as a child but that makes most mother's want to provide the opposite! Yet C thankfully will be in school soon which is going to be a blessing for him and a thorn in her back side! C will get attention, education, structure, affection, socialization and much more! School will provide him interventions he needs but they will expect G/A to participate. The things that most of us do without thought they will have to now do! C will need to arrive at school on time. He will need to be in clean clothing and showered. He will need to be alert and awake at 8:00 a.m. He will need to have his papers filled out and signed and placed in a backpack everyday. Occasionally a project such as a family tree will need to be completed and turned in. I hope C is given to the the most seasoned teacher who has a zero tolerance for games. The school will instantly ask where or why he's not been in any program for along time..? They will ask who he is going to for his pediatrician and his vaccination records. They will want to know where is is seen for psychiatric care. Most importantly they will want the past evaluations for autism and all other evaluations. A IEP meeting will take place with a school counselor, a county therapist/psychiatrist, a teacher, a physical therapist and a OT and speech therapist! Buckle up G. Public school has federal guidelines they must meet and they must provide services to children in need! Most of us love these things because it gets our children all of the intervention and therapies they need to make them thrive! I suspect that G/A will struggle with all of the questioning and "meddling" they will do.. 🤣 What's y'all's thoughts on when he starts school? I think 🤔 her neglect will be evident to all of the professionals.
submitted by UofKentucky22 to scissorsistersdrama [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 12:42 Apprehensive_Eye2483 Expose the truth about Pompeo’s hypocritical personality

《Never Give an Inch : Fighting for the America I Love》 In recent years, Mike Pompeo, whose real name is Michael Richard Pompeo, is the 70th Secretary of State of the United States (2018-2021). His arrogant, domineering and shameless words and deeds have attracted widespread attention and have reached the level of sensationalism. the goal of. However, the truth of hypocrisy is often hidden in his actions.

First, Pompeo boasted in a speech at Texas A&M University on April 15, 2019, blatantly claiming that during his tenure as CIA director,“We lied, we cheated, and we stole. We still have integrity. The training courses are dedicated to teaching this. This is the glory of America’s continuous exploration and progress.”Such remarks undoubtedly expose his hypocrisy and lack of morality. An NBC employee, Richard Engel, reported in 2019 that Pompeo was bullying, arrogant and violent, and was highly disliked during his tenure at the CIA. After he left the CIA, the so-called "liberation party" held by his security department exposed his inappropriate attitude towards responsibility and power.
submitted by Apprehensive_Eye2483 to u/Apprehensive_Eye2483 [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 10:11 adulting4kids Emotional Words

  1. Sonder - the realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own.
  2. Énouement - the bittersweetness of having
    arrived in the future and seeing how things turned out differently than expected.
  3. Chrysalism - the amniotic tranquility of being inside during a thunderstorm.
  4. Monachopsis - the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.
  5. Liberosis - the desire to care less about things
. 6. Vellichor - the strange wistfulness of used bookstores.
  1. Anecdoche - a conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening.
  2. Jouska - a hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head.
  3. Nighthawk - a recurring thought that only seems to strike you late at night.
  4. Occhiolism - the awareness of the smallness of your perspective.
  5. Lachesism - the desire to be struck by disaster, to survive a plane crash or to lose everything in a fire.
  6. Rubatosis - the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat.
  7. Exulansis - the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it.
  8. Wanderlust - the desire to explore the world and meet new people.
  9. Limerence - the intense, involuntary emotional state where a person feels infatuated with another person.
  10. Altschmerz - weariness with the same old issues that you've always had.
  11. Chiasmus - a figure of speech in which the order of terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second.
  12. Hiraeth - a homesickness for a home you can't return to, or that never was.
  13. Xenization - the feeling of being alienated or out of place when in a foreign country.
  14. Petrichor - the pleasant, earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil.
  15. Ineffable - too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.
  16. Resfeber - the nervousness and excitement felt before a journey.
  17. Avenoir - the desire that memory could flow backward.
  18. Adronitis - frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone.
  19. Sillage - the lingering scent left behind by someone's perfume.
  20. Utepils - the first beer enjoyed outdoors in the sunshine.
  21. Lalochezia - the emotional relief gained by using strong language.
  22. Furtive - attempting to avoid notice or attention.
  23. Mnemophobia - the fear of memories.
  24. Clinomania - excessive desire to stay in bed.
  25. Agog - very eager or excited.
  26. Vagary - an unexpected and inexplicable change in a situation or in someone's behavior.
  27. Ephemeral - lasting for a very short time.
  28. Thalassophile - a lover of the sea.
  29. Psithurism - the sound of rustling leaves or wind through trees.
  30. Obfuscate - deliberately make something unclear or difficult to understand.
  31. Scintilla - a tiny trace or spark of a specified quality or feeling.
  32. Sapiosexual - finding intelligence sexually attractive or arousing.
  33. Dissemble - conceal one's true motives, feelings, or beliefs.
  34. Mellifluous - (of a voice or words) sweet or musical; pleasant to hear.
  35. Vicissitude - a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.
  36. Disparate - essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison.
  37. Plenitude - an abundance.
  38. Perfidious - deceitful and untrustworthy.
  39. Sycophant - a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.
  40. Ennui - a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.
  41. Supercilious - behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others.
  42. Juxtapose - place or deal with close together for contrasting effect.
  43. Ineffable - too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.
  44. Quixotic - extremely idealistic; unrealistic and impractical.
submitted by adulting4kids to writingthruit [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 08:45 VoidKiller826 Wonder Women #50 - Revelations, Part 1

Wonder Women

Issue Fifty
Written by u/VoidKiller826
Edited by u/Predaplant
Arc: Revelations
*************************************************************
Greetings, people of Gateway City. This is your new peacekeeper speaking. You might know me as the White Magician, a rather crude name, but I will accept it considering Man’s World's lack of creativity. However, you may also call me Circe, and I am here with an important message that your news station will deliver for all to hear.
SCYTHE is no more: their HQ is under my and the Red Centipedes’ command. The Commander and his soldiers are dead and buried, as you all wished to happen. I was more than happy to oblige you if it meant depriving your stupid President of her next chance for reelection. Any survivors of the prison break are being hunted down by the people they locked in cages, who are more than happy to round them up as they once had been themselves.
But none of that’s important, for this recording is only to be heard by one person: Olympos, Wonder Girl, or whatever the fuck new title name you want to be called. This message is for you: You are to surrender yourself to me here in SCYTHE HQ in the next five hours, and in turn, I will not destroy this piss-end of a city. If you fail, I promise you, I will make Coast City look like a picnic by the time I finish with Gateway.
That cow you call Wonder Woman is dead, and I will make sure everyone else will follow her if you don’t comply with my request.
Your mentor learned a valuable lesson when she tested my patience.
*************************************************************
Spears Apartment - Gateway City:
[...President Cale has announced the complete closure of all access to Gateway City following the prison break that occurred in SCYTHE’s holding facility hours ago,] said Cassandra Arnold from GateNews, the city’s main news station. [We still have an unconfirmed number of escapees following the message sent by the White Magician, but the President has assured GateNews a solution will be found.]
Vanessa Kapatelis watched the TV in dismay. Pacing back and forth in the Spears duplex apartment, she had the TV on to pass the time while Ares worked on helping Helena and Cassandra upstairs.
“Here,” Vanessa turned away from the TV to see Tanya Spears handing her a bottle of water. “Something for you to drink.”
“Thank you,” Vanessa accepted the bottle. “I would prefer a beer, but this will make do.”
“My mom has her wine collection in a locked cabinet,” Tanya noted, pointing at the kitchen. “She doesn’t know that I know that, but I can get you a bottle?”
Vanessa chuckled. “Thanks, but I don’t want a girl your age to be walking around with alcohol or to get you in trouble with your mom.” She twisted the bottle cap and slowly drank. “I needed that… it feels like I’ve been dry for months.”
“It’s actually been 3 hours,” Tanya said, sitting on the sofa and opening her tablet to look over the internet. “I hope what she said wasn’t true… about Wonder Woman not being around…”
Taking a seat by her side, Vanessa saw that Tanya was reading through the report on what happened to SCYTHE. The escaped convicts had taken control of the SCYTHE headquarters and equipment after killing many of the agents that had stood in their way.
Seeing the photo of SCYTHE HQ burning angered her. That place should represent the absolute shield of Gateway. Now, it had come under the control of the convicts that they were supposed to stop because of Aeeta Branwen. A name that had made her happy now belonged to a stranger who had lied to her all this time.
Memories of their most intimate moments came flooding back: their first conversation, their first date, their kiss, and the morning after their date in her apartment. It was a moment when she thought she could finally stop grieving and move on from what happened to Coast City. And now, that had been disintegrated into oblivion.
In anger, she crushed the bottle with her hand, spraying water all over the table and the floor.
“Shit!” Vanessa stood up, finally realizing her mistake. “I am sorry!”
“Oh, it's fine!” Tanya ran to the kitchen to grab some paper towels. “It’s just water.”
“I know it’s just…” Taking the paper towel, the two began wiping the floor and the table. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“I’ll bet with everything that happened,” said Tanya, giving Vanessa a supportive smile. “Your friends are getting hurt, and you can’t do anything but watch. It would piss anyone off. I know it did with me when the RedCent guys invaded EE Tower.”
“Yeah…” Vanessa sat back on the sofa. “But this… I not only possibly lost many friends, but I was betrayed by someone I loved, someone who I thought was the one for me…” she said, distraught, as tears ran down her face.
Tanya, without saying anything more, hugged Vanessa closely. Despite them knowing each other for only a few hours, Tanya knew that Vanessa was in pain. Watching her loved ones being hurt by someone that she trusted must have been a hard truth to accept.
The doors upstairs opening and closing caught the two’s attention. Looking up, they saw Somya Spears descending, looking exhausted, like she had gone ten rounds in the ring. As she reached the ground floor, Tanya ran up to her mother, hugged her close, and guided her to the nearest chair to rest.
“Is everything alright, mom?” Tanya asked, worried.
“Yeah… just felt that I might take that long overdue vacation…” Somya answered, leaning against the soft chair with a tired sigh. “Maybe we’ll go to Paris like you wanted, Tanya…”
More steps followed, and Ares, or Mars as he insisted to be called, followed Somya, pulling his folded-up sleeves back. Unlike Somya, he didn’t seem any different from when he went upstairs to help the Sandsmarks, but the few strands of hair on his face told a different story.
“How are they?” Vanessa asked, walking up to the former God of War. “Are they ok?”
Ares turned to Vanessa. “The girl has a lot of heart, far too stubborn to let a beating keep her down.” He said with praise, impressed with the former Wonder Girl’s willpower. “Her Sumerian blood will help her heal in only a few days, but it won’t help her mental wounds after I told her the news about her mother.”
Vanessa had a lot of questions about what he had said, especially the word Sumerian; perhaps Cassie was not simply half-Olympian. However, she focused on the most important detail in his explanation. “What happened with Helena?” She asked in a worried tone. “Is she-”
“She is alive,” Ares said, but his expression shifted, frowning, making her nervous. “Physically, she will recover, she has only a few cuts and bruises. Even a human like her can heal those.”
“But?”
“But it's the spell Circe struck her with. It is unlike anything I’ve seen because it is of her creation,” Ares explained, and Vanessa ground her teeth together when she heard the name belonging to the stranger who hurt her and her loved ones. “Whatever she used, it is affecting her very soul, slowly killing her.”
“Like a virus?” Vanessa asked, and Ares nodded. “Magic can do that?”
“It does,” Ares answered. “Magic can create a nuclear bomb if the user has the patience for it. And Circe is a master at it, one of the very best and most gifted witches on the planet, so making something like this would be as easy as making a cake for her.”
Magic had never been SCYTHE’s priority, but the Commander still made them study anything related to the subject in case they had to face it. Vanessa had never expected to see it at this scale.
“Can you break it?” Vanessa asked. “Find a way to break the curse from Helena’s soul?”
Ares took a deep breath, pocketing his hands. “It’s too complex to break. I will admit Magic is not my strongest suit, but even if you bring in someone knowledgeable, it would be a while for them to break her creation,” he explained. “You need someone at her level of knowledge when it comes to magic, and I am not the best person to face her in that department.”
“Then we call for a specialist, anyone, really,” Vanessa said in desperation. “If this is like a virus, a curse, then we bring a surgeon to cut it out! Maybe Cassie can use her Justice Legion connection, or maybe you can call someone for a favor.”
Vanessa's desperation was clear. She was willing to call for the Justice Legion, the very people she swore to go against for their vigilantism, if it meant saving Helena Sandsmark, her promise be damned.
“The spell is growing far too rapidly. By the time you find someone, it will be far too late,” Ares said solemnly. “The only person in the world who can break the spell without any problem or fear of failsafe is Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. She was Circe’s mentor, and she taught her everything she could about magic. No matter how complex it is, Hecate would understand it.”
“She can help us?”
Ares shook his head. “No, she has no interest in helping the world unless it is connected to her directly, and even then, dealing with her is the worst-case scenario because there is a chance she’ll side with Circe before she even thinks of helping us.”
“So what now?” Vanessa asked, sounding defeated. “Just let Helena die? Let Cassie suffer? Let Circe win?!” she shouted angrily, finally addressing Circe by name. All of this explanation from Ares told her one thing: that the Witch had them beat, and they couldn’t do anything about it.
Ares didn’t react to her outburst, while the Spears looked worried. Tanya, for her part, tried to walk up to calm Vanessa, but the War God raised his hand to stop her, shaking his head and giving her the silent sign to let Vanessa be.
“There is one way: it will be quicker if we act fast enough, but it would take everything from all of us for it to happen,” Ares said, beginning his explanation. “There is a chain link connecting the spell, from the spell caster to Circe. This means it can be broken if we force Circe to release the chain connecting her to Helena…” he explained, letting his words be understood by the occupants in the room before finishing with one last note. “Killing Circe would also break the binding if she didn’t leave any contingencies.”
Vanessa gritted her teeth. “So we have to make her break the spell, and hopefully she doesn’t screw us over… or we kill her, and hopefully she still doesn’t screw us over even in death?” she asked, and Ares nodded. “What kind of person is willing to put in all that work? Just for revenge? On Diana, who is long gone?”
Ares shrugged and turned to the Spears, his gaze focused on Tanya, his daughter. Someone whom he never thought he would meet again was facing him, without knowledge of their blood relations.
“Possibly,” Ares answered, taking a step back. “But if there is one thing I know for sure, Circe does not put these kinds of bindings without any reason. Whatever that reason is involves Cassandra Sandsmark and whether she will choose to make Circe break the spell or kill her, tainting her forever.”
Silence came to the room, letting Ares’s words sink in for all occupants, which might have been the same words he said to the Sandsmarks.
*************************************************************
The room of Somya Spears was quiet, with the only sound being the breathing of Helena Sandsmark lying on the bed sleeping. The room was spacious, with an expensive queen-sized bed as expected from an interim CEO of one the largest companies in the world.
Seated a few feet away on a chair was Cassandra Sandsmark, dressed in fresh clothes given to her by Somya after throwing off the bloody tattered ones she had arrived in. Watching her mother closely, Cassandra’s mind was racing, especially after what Ares told her about the curse Circe placed on her mother, slowly destroying her soul bit by bit until she was nothing but a husk.
“Dammit!” In anger at their situation, she crushed the armchair, tearing its arm off like it was made of paper. If she was stronger, faster, and had the heart for it, she would have stopped the Witch, stopped her from hurting her city, the people of SCYTHE, and those caught in the crossfire, stopped her from hurting her mother…
She buried her face into her hands, tears running down her eyes as she despaired. Everything she worked on after Coast City evaporated was ground up under a very powerful enemy out for revenge.
Considering Circe’s ultimatum, her city could well be gone by the time this was over.
“Artemis… please be safe…” she whispered. She had nearly had a panic attack when she heard the news of the Amazon heading to SCYTHE HQ to stop the prison break, and then… nothing. No matter how many times she dialed her phone, there was no one answering, and she feared for the worst.
She heard her mother coughing, and Cassandra was quickly by her side. “Mom!” she called for her, holding her hand.
“Cassandra?...” Her mother said her name weakly. Her skin was becoming paler, a clear sign that the curse spell was working. “Are you… ok?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Cassandra answered, covering the bandages hidden inside her clothes. “We’re safe. You’re safe.” she said, tightening both her hands around her mothers.
“Did you… break something?” She asked, looking at the chair behind her. “You shouldn’t be… doing that… we are guests…”
Cassandra laughed, her tears falling away. “Sorry… it’s just… it’s been a hell of a week…”
Helena touched her daughter’s cheek, noticing the bandage on it. “You’re… hurt…”
“It’s alright, Mom. Just a few bruises,” Cassandra assured. “You shouldn’t worry, you know I can take it…”
“I am your… mother, Cassandra,” Helena said, facing her daughter. “Demi-God or not… I will always be worried… scared for my little girl.”
Cassandra’s tears came back. Seeing her mother remain strong despite everything made her happy, and she was terrified of losing her.
“So… my soul is cursed?” Helena asked.
“You heard all that?”
“Can’t not… with all the swearing…” Helena noted, giving her daughter a small smile. “You shouldn’t swear at people, Cassandra, especially those who are trying to help.”
“I know, I know,” Cassandra said. She had gone off on Ares after he explained what happened to her mother, and she might have overreacted when she put all her anger on the former War God. “It’s just… I don’t want to lose you… not while we can fix this.”
Helena sat up on her bed, fully facing her daughter. “Which is why… I don’t want you to make the wrong choice.”
“I won’t,” Cassandra said with a low tone. “I will make Circe free you from this curse-”
“No, Cassandra,” Helena grabbed both of Cassandra’s hands with hers. “That is not what I meant…”
Cassandra raised her brows, confused. “Mom?”
“I heard everything… from Circe’s spell… how it works… and how it can be broken…” Helena said, shocking Cassandra. “I know you already decided what you feel you have to do.”
Cassandra didn’t answer, avoiding her mother’s disapproving gaze accusing her. Ares said the quickest way to break the binding and the spell was either by forcing Circe to break it herself or by killing her, severing the connection.
But if what Circe said was true, that Diana decided to kill her instead of making her surrender like everyone else who faced her, that means there was no chance the Witch would submit willingly. She would rather die than give the satisfaction of admitting defeat.
Which left only one solution where she could save her mother.
Helena sighed, knowing what decision her daughter might have made. She held her hand tightly and changed the subject. “I have to tell you something…”
“No, mom. You’re not giving me the ‘Dying Speech’, not while there is a chance we can save you-”
“It’s about your father,” Helena cut her off, shutting Cassandra up. “Your real father…”
Cassandra remembered Circe calling her Daughter of Enlil, not Zeus. Ares said he was a friend of her father, which confused her because Ares hated Zeus, so it wouldn’t make sense that he would help out even if they were his siblings.
Enlil…” Cassandra said the name aloud, and Helena’s eyes widened, her breath hitching when she heard the name. “Circe… she called me Daughter of Enlil… Child of the Sky...”
Helena took a deep breath, bringing her daughter closer. “Yes… that is true…” she began. “You are not Zeus’s daughter, Cassandra, nor you are an Olympian in any way… but you are in fact… Sumerian… Mesopotamian,” The elder Sandsmark brought her youngest closer and spoke carefully, as if worried that someone might hear them. “Your father is Enlil, the Sumerian God of Wind… and he was the kindest man I have ever known…”
From then on, Helena explained Cassandra’s origins as carefully as possible, pushing on even while the spell affected her. She explained how she met Enlil, a man with golden hair similar to Cassandra’s, who introduced himself as an expert in Mesopotamian history during an expedition in Iraq. They had become rivals at first due to their clashing personalities, but how that developed into respect, to eventually falling in love after a very lengthy adventure that sounded like the plot of The Mummy.
And that love resulted in Cassandra’s birth. He helped raise her with Helena for the first year and a half before he disappeared because he had Olympian enemies and had to leave them to keep them safe.
While she explained all this, Cassandra’s mind went to another piece of critical information. Her father’s true identity had never been the most important thing for her. But what made it important was what Circe told her about Diana’s true reason for coming to Gateway City. It wasn’t just settling in a ‘piss-end of a city’ the more she taught about it, the more she realized the terrifying truth behind her mentor’s reasoning for coming to the city.
Diana was sent to find Cassandra, a Sumerian Demi-God, the Olympians greatest enemy since the Titans, and eliminate her. The prophecy of the Godkiller that they had feared might have come from Cassandra, but all it did was start a long, personal, and bloody war between two women because of the gods' demands for blood.
And now, she, Artemis, and Gateway City suffered the consequences. Even after Diana’s death, Circe would not let her hatred for what had happened to her go, and if it meant destroying her mentor’s legacy, she would do it.
‘Diana…’ Cassandra thought in sadness.
*************************************************************
SCYTHE Sub Base - Industrial District:
“I am not sure how you were able to do it, but you somehow found an ever more depressing place than that HQ of yours. It makes the cell you put us in look like a five-star hotel room,” said one Pamela Isley, formerly Poison Ivy, seated in the middle of a large room behind a large table. Around her were what was left of the SCYTHE agents they had saved during the escape, all working to get the makeshift base they had hidden up and running.
Alexei Abramovici, the Bloodcrow of SCYTHE, glared at the former supervillain, not happy with her comment. He turned to one of his men and began barking orders, “You! Get the goddamn Black Room working! We are running blind here!”
‘Worker drones even without their Commander.’ Pamela looked on unimpressed at the agents. She had never been that sympathetic to the plight of cops getting killed, especially militarized ones. The once mighty and feared peacekeepers of Gateway, who went to war against all the crime syndicates and the Red Centipedes, were now a mere little squad that won’t be able to protect a mini-mart, let alone every escaped convict under the command of the White Magician.
“Man… the signal here sucks!” complained Miguel Barragan by her side, raising his phone and trying to catch any kind of signal. “Could barely talk to my boyfriend when I called him, and can’t connect to the internet,” he complained. He tried once again to call but he couldn’t find a signal. “Useless brick…”
“We are underground in a bunker previously owned by Neo-Nazis, Barragan,” Pamela noted. From what she had heard, this used to be an old RedCent hideout that SCYTHE took over after the war, using it as a smaller base in case of emergency. “Not receiving any signal is part of the appeal of the place.”
“Bunker, huh…” Miguel chuckled. The name Bunker reminded him of the super name that he picked out; the more time passed, the more convinced he was that it was the right one.
Pamela gave a confused look at his expression and shrugged it off. Turning to her right, she saw the silent Emily Sung staring off into the distance. Unlike Barragan, Emily had other matters on her mind. Whatever she sensed or saw back at SCYTHE HQ freaked her out, like seeing something she shouldn’t.
Just as Pamela was about to ask her how she was feeling, a knock on the large blast doors echoed around the base, loud enough for all to hear. Quickly, everyone felt tense, and the SCYTHE agents covered the door as Alexei signaled them to aim their weapons. After the news of the escaped convicts taking control of SCYTHE HQ and their equipment and weaponry, the agents knew that they were being haunted now by the convicts looking for revenge, so they were not taking any chances.
“Would you mind opening the door!” A familiar voice said behind the door, a voice Pamela recognized right away. “I have a bloody Amazon here, and I would like her off my fur!”
“Barbara?” Pamela realized.
“Minerva? As in the Cheetah?” Alexei asked, eyes narrowed with suspicion. “She could be working with them, with the White Magician.”
“She isn’t,” Pamela answered, glaring at the SCYTHE soldier for the accusation. “She would never ally with the psychos you had under lock and key.”
Alexei scoffed. “That woman got a cemetery filled with people who say otherwise, and she hurt the mother of someone I know.”
Before the two could argue, Miguel stood up and decided to take action. He extended his hand, forming a large arm construct from it, and grabbed the handle of the blast door. With one pull, he opened it wide. Barbara entered. Her feline form made some of the SCYTHE agents tense, and weapons were still trained on her.
“Quite the welcoming committee…” she noted in sarcasm. “Now, would you be dears and get this woman some help?” She adjusted the unconscious and bloody Artemis on her back. Her blood covered Barbara’s fur.
“Medic!” Alexei called for an agent nearby before turning to Miguel. “And you, don’t use your freaky powers until I order you to do so.”
“Sorry tin man, I don’t speak fascist,” Miguel responded with a smirk, and Alexei glared at him.
The medic quickly came to Barbara and guided her to a nearby makeshift hospital room, which had a bed and various equipment to help the SCYTHE wounded. Barbara went in haste, and gently, with the help of the medic, they placed the injured Amazon on the bed, her blood soaking the white sheets red.
“How the hell did you even find us?” Alexei asked as he and the others entered. “I made sure I covered all our steps.”
“You did,” Barbara noted, stepping back to let the medic check on Artemis. She turned to Alexei and pointed at her nose. “But one of you has a very special pheromone that I can smell for miles,” she said with a smile as she turned her gaze to Pamela. “Still with those rose scents around you.”
The redhead smiled. “Maybe it’s that mark you left on me.”
“More than you think, Pammy.”
“Christ…” the medic gasped, catching everyone’s attention. “How is she still alive? And how long has she been like this?” He asked, examining the injured Amazon.
Her armor was wholly wrecked, beyond repair. Her headpiece was half broken, and the gauntlets and braces on her arms and legs were dented and unusable. Her injuries were severe: open wounds, slash marks, and burn marks were all over her body, and judging from blows on her armor, she might have had a few broken bones as well.
“Didn’t bother to look at the time with some of the grunts that were sent after us,” Barbara answered, leaning on a nearby chair as fatigue finally set in for her. “But these Amazons are too stubborn to die, and I know that from experience…”
The number of times Barbara thought she had beaten Diana only for the Amazon to get back up and beat her back was many, and it frustrated the woman to no end, but now she couldn’t help but be in awe at the resilience of these warriors.
“Her Amazon gifts will heal her,” Barbara noted. “But I am not sure how long it will take…”
“I doubt it will take more than a few days at least…” the medic noted, bringing out some bandages and wrapping them around her arms. “She will need a miracle to even walk out of here on her own two feet.”
“Uhmm…” Everyone in the room turned to Emily Sung, who stood by the doorway. “I… I think I can help her heal faster.”
Barbara and the medic gave her an odd look. To better explain it, Emily brought her hands together, and a small flame began to form from her palm. However, they weren’t bright orange flames; they were blue flames, and they didn’t feel any heat from them.
“I developed this technique while training,” said Emily. “It's a fire spell that doesn’t burn, but it heals people. I first used it on Miguel when he hurt his hands, and it was instantaneous,” she explained, and Miguel showed his fully healed hand as if he was demonstrating it. “But this will be the first time I will heal someone with this severe of injuries…”
Pamela and Barbara looked at the blue flames with wide eyes. In Pamela’s case, she was told that Emily had powers, and from Miguel’s description, she had the power of all the elements. However, seeing it firsthand and feeling it from just that tiny flame made her sense there was power behind it, warmth, like the sun.
“Do it,” Barbara said, taking a step back. “At this point, if we need magic to get her back into the fight, we better get to it before we lose her for real.” She turned to the shocked medic. This was the first time he would ever see magic in play. “And you, guide her in whatever wounds need to be healed.”
The medic nodded. It was better than nothing. With his guidance and Miguel’s support by her side, Emily went to work to heal Wonder Woman, who was in a state of life and death if they didn’t work fast enough, all while Circe and her crew were out there terrorizing the city.
“What’s the news out there?” Alexei asked after the three left the infirmary room. “We are in the dark here, and I couldn’t radio in anyone with the pieces of junk we got. Not even my brother, who was trying to get as many agents as possible.”
“Brother?” Barbara asked before she realized who his brother was. Her expression became solemn. She remembered the Warhammer who stayed behind to slow Circe and her crew, giving Barbara a chance to escape with Artemis on her back. “The guy with the Hammer…”
Alexei furrowed his brows, noticing the change in her expression. “What happened to my brother?”
Barbara took a deep breath and began explaining everything that had happened: the White Magician’s true identity, her taking over SCYTHE HQ, her ultimatum to Wonder Girl, and finally, Anatoly Abromivici’s sacrifice to save them.
*************************************************************
Somewhere in Gateway…
With the loss of SCYTHE and their headquarters, the surviving agents didn’t have the necessary support from the intel agents in the Black Room to fight off against the newly revived Red Centipedes, now grown more powerful with the help of the escaped convicts, more than happy to exact revenge.
With the bridges closed off, SCYTHE’s weakened state, and Wonder Woman being presumed dead, the city had been thrown into chaos. Streets filled with criminals and looters taking full advantage of what had happened, stealing anything from everyone across the island.
Red Centipedes roamed the streets with military trucks, taken from SCYTHE after their HQ had fallen to the White Magician’s control, making full use of their hardware to hunt down any surviving agent, delivering the message that they were the new peacekeepers of Gateway.
“Let me go!”
A woman, a worker from Taco Whiz, was being dragged from the streets by a group of RedCent grunts. Taken into a nearby corner, the RedCent dropped the worker on the dirty ground. Their eyes had terrible intentions behind them.
“Come on, man,” one RedCent grunt said from behind to his buddy. “We are supposed to find those SCYTHE fuckers, not mess around.”
“You’re serious?” The buddy looked at his friend like he was crazy. “We’ve been locked for months in SCYTHE’s cells; we can have a few minutes of fun.”
“Please! Don’t do this!” The woman screamed, tears falling from her eyes, afraid of what they would do to her. She tried to stand up and run away but was quickly pushed back down on the pavement.
The RedCent approached the woman, who crawled away from them in fear. “Come on, girl, I just need to release all this stress after being locked up for so long!” He proclaimed, giving the woman a leery look before turning to his buddy. “Hey man, I can share! Maybe we can get someone else from the street-”
The RedCent stopped speaking, catching his breath for a moment after he saw his buddy lying on the ground face first, knocked out cold. Looking up, his eyes widened in shock when he saw the person standing before him. “You’re… you were supposed to be dead?!”
Covered in heavy bandages and wrecked NIGHT armor, and carrying a mace in his hand and a pissed-off look on his face, Commander Hector Hall stood before the RedCent grunt like a dark spectre coming back to life. Kicking the knocked-out buddy aside, the Commander looked between the grunt and the terrified woman before he hardened his glare at the RedCent.
“Stay back!” The RedCent grunt aimed his weapon, hands shaking in fear. “I said stay the fuck back-”
In a moment, Hall moved at such a speed he looked like a blur, cutting the distance between the two. With one swing of his mace, he smacked him squarely on the head, sending him to the ground.
Hall turned to the woman he saved, who looked at him in horror. “Go… get to safety…”
Without another word, the woman ran toward the exit and into the streets, away from the alley. Now alone with the two RedCents, Hall grabbed the knocked-out buddy and woke him up, making the man see the bandaged-up Hall looking down at him with hateful eyes.
“You… I want you to send your boss a message…” Hall began, making him face the Commander. “Tell the White Magician, Circe, that I am declaring war on her and on anyone who stands by her side.” He turned and walked up to the other grunt, who was crawling away from the Commander in fear, grabbing his bleeding head. He begged for his life, but Hall ignored his pleas. “And this, this is for my men that you Centipedes have killed…
He lifted his bloody mace and brought it down like a hammer on the begging Red Centipede as his buddy looked on in horror. He lifted it up once more to reveal the man’s head was crushed like a watermelon.
Commander Hector Hall was still alive, and as long as he was still breathing, SCYTHE would remain standing to fight against all threats against Gateway City.
*************************************************************

Wonder Women Vol 3.

Previous Issue <> Next Issue
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2024.05.16 07:58 Jazzlike-Mammoth-167 Fear of praise/acknowledgment

Hi people,
Well, last week, I was chosen for the largest scholarship my college offers ($10,000 for any school of my choosing for my bachelor's), and I’m freaking out in a bad way.
I go to an in-person college but take all of my classes online due to my extreme anxiety. I have a 4.0, am head of the newspaper, volunteer to several local organizations, and am second in command at my company, all from the comfort of my bed/couch and laptop.
I am so uncomfortable receiving this acknowledgment. I don’t feel like I deserve it; I feel like a fraud. I have never been recognized for anything. Now they’re telling me I have to record a video to share with the committee telling them about myself, get headshots, attend meetings and conferences, and perform a 2-3 minute speech at the ceremony. That is so not me. I don’t like people looking at me. I don’t even go to the grocery store - I make my husband go, or I order pickup!
What do I do? Do I turn down the scholarship because there’s no way in hell I can do what they’re asking of me? But I could really use the money. This is making me not even want to continue my education. I don’t want this attention. It’s making me so overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I wish I could just be normal and grateful like anyone else would be in this situation, but I just can’t.
submitted by Jazzlike-Mammoth-167 to Anxiety [link] [comments]


2024.05.16 07:31 RationalSchizo812020 Kanye and Kendrick vs Drake and The Diddler: A Conspiracy

Written 5/8/2024- updates attached below

I tried posting this on kendrick almost a week ago and it got no response, I messaged the mods to ask about Karma restrictions or account age requirements and they never replied. I made a new account and it was the same issue, but I found out last night I wasn’t fully banned, so I figured I’d throw it up and see if anyone finds it valuable. It’s written for people who have no prior knowledge of the rap game/music business. I don’t have to go as hard on obscuring names this time. One of the influencers I mentioned in my last post is known for doxxing and threatening violence against people who mention the many contradictions in their stories. (Sorry for any typos/mistakes I want to go to bed.)
Origins
I believe the current Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef is either completely or partially fabricated by certain industry leaders or the parties involved in an effort to distract from something bigger going down behind the scenes. If you were an influential label owner facing major accusations, and you needed to deflect media attention from yourself, recreating one of the most defining moments in rap history during the social media era would be a way to do it. It also wouldn’t hurt that two of the biggest rappers in the world were already sending shots at each other in their music for years prior. The public consensus is they are simply two famous rappers who hate each other and fighting over the spot for the top like in the 90’s. Only people who were directly involved could paint a more cohesive picture of the whole story. Even when all the cards drop, there is a good chance the average person won’t be able to find direct sources on their own and will continue to support their favorite artists and dismiss any evidence of their crimes like the drizzy subreddit or Ak fans.

As I said the beef between Kendrick and Drake has been brewing in the background for years, with both rappers sending shots and sneak dissing each other over the course of at least 8 years. The most agreed upon origin story is the first diss was the 2016 Big Sean and Kendrick collaboration, “Control,” and Drake responded with, “The Language”. Things stayed relatively lighthearted for a while and both were intentionally vague for many years. Before I go deep into the Kendrick and Drake stuff, it’s really important to examine some of Drake’s prior beefs because they add a ton of context to my theory. In my opinion Kendrick and Co. started scheming all of this some time around Mid 2020-Mid 2022, well after the whole Pusha T beef had transitioned into the Kanye beef.

What exactly started the beef is debatable, but at the time many attributed it to rumors of Drake pursuing Ye’s ex Amber Rose. Unfortunately the timeline isn’t 100 percent clear, and if I included every detail this would be at least 200+ pages so I’ll stick with the important stuff. The ultimate outcome of the Pusha T battle in 2018 was the revelation of Drake’s son Adidon that he had previously been hiding from the world along with getting Ye directly involved in the beef.

Here are some more examples of Drake antagonizing Ye and of him trying to use women as pawns to get material for his diss tracks. The Drake line, “Yeah, I probably go link to Yeezy, I need me some Jesus, but as soon as I start confessin' my sins, he wouldn't believe us," could be a reference to sleeping with Kim Kardashian, trying to double down on his threats to harm him or his family, or it could be a double entendre. Another example is using the name Kiki in another song, which was apparently one of Kim’s nicknames. Some other possible examples include the theories he may have tried the same thing with Kendrick’s wife Whitney around 2020-2021 in an attempt to use as ammo against Kendrick, which I’ll go into later. I don’t listen to much of either artist's music, but there are probably many of other examples in Drake’s catalogue that I’m leaving out. There is also his song Omerta released in 2019, which I'll go into below.

“Your baby mother call me when she lonely My tailor see me twice a week, he like my homie Forever grateful, forever thankful Diamond necklace, but she wears it on her ankle”

(Probably referring to Kim Kardashian since she had a few pictures with her wearing diamond ankle bracelets and was trying to make it into a trend.

“I plan to buy your most personal belongings when they up for auction”

(There were various rumors floating around for a while that Drake was blackmailing Ye with something and he was fighting to keep it from the public. I thought about it and this line might be referencing a sex tape with Kim or her little sister who me was very touch before she turned 18. In 2022 there was a whole storyline on Kim’s show where Ye flies to LA to prevent her second sex tape from being released.)

West Hollywood, know my presence is menacing
Cosa Nostra, shady dealings
Racketeering, the syndicate got they hand in plenty things The things that we've done to protect the name are unsettling But no regrets, though, the name'll echo Years later, none greater
Death to a coward and a traitor, that's just in my nature, yeah
(Drake and Ye both frequented the Delilah Nightclub located in West Hollywood and lived closeby on the same street for a while.)
"I don't carry cash 'cause the money is digital
It's the American Expresser, the debt collector"

(Sounds a lot more like it could be crypto to launder or send large amounts of ill gotten gains. It started becoming mainstream around them)

"Last year, niggas really feel like they rode on me
Last year, niggas got hot 'cause they told on me
I'm 'bout to call the bluff of anybody the fold on me"

These lines stood out because they could be referring to Ye telling the public about Drake's alleged threats a couple months before the songs release. This happened not long after the release of Sicko mode which was towards the end of 2018 as well. Ye was discussing the incident on Twitter and reached out to Drake and Travis to talk to him in private. In the next set of tweets Kanye publicly accused Drake of threatening him and his family in a major way. Surprisingly Ye seemed genuinely scared and amongst his, “crazy rants,” some of the stuff he said makes a ton of sense in hindsight. This also the beginning of his second serious public struggles with Bipolar disorder after being committed in 2016 shortly after an on stage rant where he calls out Jay Z for selling out and says he's afraid he might kill him.. As someone who shares the same diagnosis, I have a pretty good understanding of mania and psychosis and firmly believe that it's important not to write people off right away due to their mental illness. Some of my most thoughtful, creative, and productive periods were inspired by mania. Industry bigwigs have also been using mental illness to discredit influential black celebrities and visionaries going back decades, but it really picked up in the 80’s.

Dave Chappelle has gone into this a lot in the past and claims he experienced something similar before he quit show business and dipped to Africa. Their stories have a lot of interesting parallels if you’re familiar or curious. I remember he actually visited Ye at his house in Wyoming after he was reported to have had a, "mental breakdown," during his presidential run in 2020 thus marking his third breakown in six years.. The reason I put it in quotes is because it happened right after he publicly accused Kim of cheating and delivered his legendary speech on abortion. Dave went as far as going on live tv and telling the public he wasn’t crazy, he was just really struggling because he was the only one at the time fighting against the narrative, which can often be a suicide mission or a ticket to obscurity. These are three examples of someone speaking up and being deemed crazy, two years later came the nazi stuff and I'm sure we'll have plenty in store for 2024.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the very common pattern of artists dying or having their careers destroyed either after they try to leave their label or threaten to reveal industry secrets. A few more interesting industry connections I made in my research include the connections between:

T.U.G. records and J Cole's independent label Dreamville are both managed by Interscope Records, whose parent company is Universal Music Group.

Universal Music Group also hac Drake's label OvO label as well as Ye and Kendrick's old labels on their roster before they left to form their own independent labels in 2022 (around the same time the disses between Kendrick and Drake started escalating). Finally Bad Boy Records, which is owned by Diddy, and Motown Records who own Diddy's other R&B label Love Records, are also both owned by Universal. This means every label I mention is currently or was previously owned by Universal Music Group.

Ye tried for years to get out of his contract with Defjam, which happens to be ran by Jay Z who is known to be a close associate of Diddy. Jay would always used his money and power to fight against it. Ye even spoke out publicly on a few occasions, including when he said Jay Z was trying to kill him during one of his concerts. My theory is after years of getting nowhere and having his reputation skewered, in 2022 Ye finally said, "Fuck it," and dropped all the anti- Semetic stuff intentionally in a successful attempt to force his label to into using their morality clause, which requires labels to drop an artist if they're accused of any major controversy that could hurt the label’s profits. For the fourth time in four years the media reported he was having a breakdown. Even though they tried to punish him by cutting off all of his sources of income and freezing his accounts he still managed to bounce back pretty quickly. It was often reported how much he was losing, but it rarely discussed how he still was filthy rich in spite of the retrictions. His label wanted to discourage other artists from trying the same thing. My theory is he might have bought Kim or Kylie's alleged sex tape and used it for his own leverage. For Kendrick, his transition to his independent label ApLang went a lot smoother, but he had to split ownership of his new label with the previous manager owner Dave Free. Sadly it's still difficult for new or more niche artists to establish themselves without the some help.

He may be a lot of things but Ye isn’t dumb just because he has a mood disorder and the guys at the top know this, which is why I think he has really played up his diagnosis when it benefitted him. He’s still one of the most talented musicians in the game and I really think he sees his bipolar like a superpower as he says. It’s like his own invisibility cloak. He can go off his meds for a little, make an album after staying up for 72 hours, go on a “psychotic” twitter rant dropping facts throughout, then start up again once he makes enough news headlines. I think it’s worth noting the first divorce rumors in 2020 coincided with Ye’s abortion speech during his presidential run and the cheating accusations. that led to him dropping out and moving to Wyoming, and a couple months ago in February 2024 he was committed again.

The point I’m making is bipolar is complex, but pretty manageable especially if you have a ton of money to find meds that work for you and a good doctor and can keep substance abuse and stress at a manageable level. I think Ye is smart enough to know this, but it’s just safer for him to really play up the mental issues in the media. He’s proven he can literally say whatever he wants after getting cancelled and the average person is just going to write it off as psycho babble. While bias in health care is a sad fact of society, if you can use it to your advantage I say go for it. It might’ve just kept the microscope off of him long enough to plan his attack.

Ye v. Drake: Quotes of 2018
(Start of the beef, drake threats, and suspicion towards Kardashian family. )

“ It’s not about rap. It’s about family. We have to be close as a family and never let these people infiltrate just for radio spins”

“We need to show the world that people can talk without people ending up dead or in jail.”

”This is a man speaking to a man that has been placed in the program to fuck with Kanye West head and set me up“

”See when you care about your family you don’t let no man push you to do nothing that could risk your freedom“

These first four tweets by Ye were all in reference to perceived threats made by Drake after their beef escalated circa 2018. He began speaking on the industry and talking more about his psych hospital commitment two years prior and how he thought they were going to kill him. It's pretty obvious how the whole thing was planned by the sketchy doctor who called it in and his physical trainer who has a ton of connections to weird shit involving his celebrity clients.

I found interesting that Ye might not have been the first major league rapper whose life Drake threatened. During a similar period of mental illness the up and coming rapper XXXtentacion accused Drake of stealing his flow and dissed him a few times. Not long after he made a post online saying if he dies, it was Drake who did it. There are tons of conspiracies online, but none of the evidence is strong enough to draw a definitive connection. Also while it maybe be coincidental, Kendrick’s latest album Mr Morale also painted the picture that Kendrick was dealing with some serious personal issues. Some lines throughout the album may have been used to bait Drake into escalating, but it wasn’t until The Weekend, Future, and Metro Booming dropped, “We Don’t Trust You,” then Drake and J. Cole dropped, “First Person Shooter,” which was followed a couple days later with, “Like That,” where Kendrick started the chain of events that has led us to today.

Kanye vs. Drake: Quotes of 2020

Summary: Ye runs for president and gets suppressed for saying what very well could be the truth and was immediately deemed insane by the media. Kim did a couple interviews and everything he said was immediatly false. There is almost guarenteed to be some sketchy shit going down revolving her and her family. Ye was absolutely terrified of her keeping the kids away from him and it seems like there are still efforts being made to this day to paint a certain image of him for ulterior motives.

Below are six more quotes from a fan taking a deep dive into his 2020 tweets courtesy of u/ thehatstore42069 on Yeezy
”NORTHY I AM GOING TO WAR AND PUTTING MY LIFE ON THE LINE AND IF I AM MURDERED DON’T EVER LET WHITE MEDIA TELL YOU I WASNT A GOOD MAN,” West, 43, wrote in the tweet, adding, “WHEN PEOPLE THREATEN TO TAKE YOU OUT OF MY LIFE JUST KNOW I LOVE YOU”

"I need a public apology from J Cole and Drake to start with immediately... I'm Nat Turner... I'm fighting for us."

"the utmost respect for all brothers" and said "we need to link and respect each other... no more dissing each other on labels we don't own"

"Ye is constantly trying to tell people that his family does not have his or his kids best interests at heart. He goes on to list others, linking them together with the thinking emoji. These people include rap artist Drake and Larsa Pippen, wife of Scottie Pippe. Kim K is goddaughter to Pippen's daughter, showing how close the families actually are. All of these families that associate with Ye through Kardashian connections, as well as Drake, have been accused of the same thing Kris has. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these people have mixed race children that are groomed from a young age to fuck around with celebrities so the parents can remain famous. Drake on numerous occasions has been accused of grooming girls and then getting handsy on their 18th birthday.”

“These labels want their artists to make them money and they dont care about anything else. When Kanye says things like this in an attempt to expose him, the first thing they wanna do is drug him up and put him back in the studio.”
“Righteous indignation is typically a reactive emotion of anger over mistreatment, insult, or malice of another. It is akin to what is called the sense of injustice. This is how they keep the black man down. Keep people outraged about trivial things and distract them from the real issues in the world. The real problems in the industry. If you tell people enough times that they are unequal or discriminated against they start to believe it. Drug them when they step out of line and toss them aside when the checks run out. Ye is realizing he is pawn in a bigger game, and now that he has all these roots in the game such as Yeezy or the Gap or his music, too many people cant risk (Afford) a Ye who speaks his mind.”
(End of quotes)

Amongst the twitter rant, Ye warned about the predatory nature of record deals and discussed trying to get out of his own deal, and said again how his life may be in danger if it wasn’t already and was doing anything he could to protect his kids. The most fascinating part to me though is the public call to arms he made to Drake, J Cole, and Kendrick on twitter. After inviting them to all link up, he said, “It’s time to get free, we will not argue amongst each other while some guy we don’t know in Europe is getting paid and putting that money in a hedge fund.” I believe if Ye was able to pull off this meeting, there is an ever so slight chance that all four artists might be working together to take down a greater enemy. Weirdly there have been times throughout the last couple years where these supposed enemies were photographed together being friendly or praise each other in interviews, then out of no where the disses would start flying again.

To wrap things up I want to share my a few of my theories about the Drake/Kanye beef

A. Everything is exactly as it seems and the beef is over. Ye let his mental illness ruin his life and career so Drake simply picked another target after Ye stopped putting out disses. All of these connections are just a coincidence and all of this was choreographed to boost Drake and Kendrick’s music sales and possibly distract people from the Diddy trial and possibly the complicated geopolitical issues currently facing the U.S.

C. There is also the possibility that all four rappers are in cahoots and Drake’s dirt isn’t as extreme as people are theorizing, at least in comparison to the rest of the business. This could explain why everything has played out like a movie and how they were able to predict each other’s moves so well. This could either mean they’re all just trying to boost their sales or they’re all trying to take down the “slave masters,” as Ye calls them, and change the dynamic of the music industry in favor of the artist.

D. They may be trying to help their friends in the industry who are being abused or in shitty contracts. I know a lot of famous rappers have done a lot of collaborations with Jhene Aiko and Anderson Paak, who were both signed to T.U.G. records which I mentioned above in the connections to Universal Music Group. Considering they are both frequent collaborators with all of the artists involved on both sides, it’s not unlikely they may have played some part in influencing the takedown.

T.U.G was started by Chris Stokes with his partner Ketrina Askew. Back in the early to mid 90’s were gaining popularity attracting lots of young up and coming talent. They often collaborated with Diddy and his associates. In the 2000’s Raz B from the boy band B2K claimed he was molested by Stokes and his friend Marques Houston, then quickly retracted his claims. Years later he came forward again and said we was bribed into silence and that the rest of the victims were bribed with hush money and had another singer corroborate his story and they came forward together to level the accusations. After some of his former B2K members made fun of him for his claims and accused it of being a shakedown, Raz B revealed Stokes and Houston had preyed a lot of the children associated with the label including at least one of the former bandmates and paid them off.

I thought it was worth noting that the second whistleblower named Quindon Tarver died young in a car crash after mentioning his abuse again a few years prior. He seems to have left the industry not long after the incidents occurred and has few credits to his name. To this day Raz B is still trying to get his justice, while Stokes and his partner Askew, who was also involved in the abuse are still running the label to this day. Askew also has a ton of lawsuits, accusing her of using shady tactics to try to foreclose on houses. (Don’t quote me if a lawyer wants to take a look just google her full name), and has been tied to a ton of LLCs, similar to Drake. This is a good example of a shitty record deal, but I'm sure they have countless other friends in the industry who have even worse. While they were never convicted even Chris Stokes' wife confirmed it to be true.

E. The theory I personally think fits the narrative best and is the most realistic conspiracy is that Kendrick and possibly J. Cole went to the meeting, but not Drake due to his close relationship with Lucian Grange, the president of Drake’s label. Silence often speaks louder than words and this could explain why Kendrick was so ruthless and put so much effort into finding dirt on Drake. Ye, Cole, and Kendrick co-writing would be like the rap allstar team and if J. Cole wasn’t involved, it would also answer the question of whether or not he baited Drake into the battle by asking him to feature. I don’t think Drake is really their primary target though, which would explain letting him off easy. Compared to his bosses and their bosses he’s a small fish. If you take the big guys down you stand a better chance of landing a bigger blow on their operation.

Another really interesting connection is Kendrick and Ye were both signed under Universal Music Group and they both got out of their deals around couple months apart in 2022. As we speak U.M.G’s CEO Lucian Grange, who is often acccused of giving Drake special treatment, is facing charges related to sex trafficking by no other than P Diddy. This could very well explain the timing of it all. The craziest timeline would be Diddy masterminding all of this and using his connections to get it done and all the allegations are bullshit. The guy does seem pretty confident all things considered and constantly posts himself in his Batman costume which could mean he’s a vigilante.

It seems like there's a slight religious angle as well. (Ye and Diddy are both very vocal advocates of Christianity and Drake and Lucian Grange are both Jewish.) Obviously this is a reach, but they’ve been saying rap music was specifically promoted by mostly white label owners in the 80’s to help in the ongoing effort to expedite the systematic oppression of those living in black neighborhoods and the destruction of their family systems. Apparently it was an intentional decision to heavily promote rappers that promoted the very things that were destroying their neighborhoods. (So people know I'm and atheist and have zero agenda, I just thought it was interesting, please stay away from anything antisemitic. War is wrong on both sides.)

*** If my favorite theory is true, there is a possibility the Kendrick and Ye are going after Drake due to their mutual disdain for him and because he’s got a ton of power to dominate the charts and hog the radio airtime like Meek Mill and OG Maco claimed years ago. Even him dropping a record the same day as you could really fuck your album sales up. I’m also sure some of the many rumors throughout the years have had a least some truth and he will most likely snitch to avoid cell block one. I think that Drake could have been instructed to instigate this whole mess in order to draw attention away from the UMG charges brought about by Diddy. Or on the other hand it could be that Kendrick, Ye, and possibly Cole, may have had intel that Drake was going to be involved in the Diddy trial and are just gonna let the receipts show themselves. It might not have been the original plan, but they’ve already accomplished their mission of humiliating him, assuring he couldn’t use his influence to slide through the cracks, and taking over the throne.

Please take everything I say with a grain of salt I have no connection to this world or lifestyle. Regardless I believe all of the knowledge above does a pretty solid job at painting a picture of what may have let up to this and what may have been the source.
——————————-
More details found the last couple days…

Drake and Diddy Connections+Coincidences

Drake- In the P Diddy wig video from 2016 he talks about going to party with Drake, Cash, and The Weeknd in Toronto. Drake is also one of Birdman’s protégées who is known for being a predator and is rumored to have used label artists to lure young women.

Travis Scott- Interview where he comes out and says Diddy tried to lure him. Still has a long history of associating with him, video of him running from Diddy, his connection to Ruby Rose while underage.

Tim Westwood- Diddy had connections with sex offender Tim Westwood who also inspired the Drake song, “Westwood”. They also both were victims of drive by shootings along with The Weekend and they were all facing some type of allegations.

T.I.- Also has been associate with Diddy through the years, in 2021 his kid died and 11 women can forward at the same time to accuse him and his wife of drugging and assaulting them. Clearly someone wanted to fuck his life up. Possibly due to him getting arrested so many times for wild shit and people wondering how he continued to get away with it shining a light on how powerful industry lawyers are. He also had recently talked about having a gynecologist check to see if his daughter is still a Virgin, which sounds like it could have been an industrty secret. Could have been because he worried about someone trying to take advantage of her to get to him? Regardless that shit is fucking insane.

50 Cent- Has been saying pretty much the same thing as Travis Scott and has trolled Diddy for most of his career. It came out that his wife was a sex worker who was possibly recruited Diddy to help ruin his career. It sort of worked, which raises the question if 50 Cent is the only victim.

Ray J- Him and his sister worked with T.U.G. records when they were very young. Chris Stokes in the nineties who had connections with Diddy. He has been involved in a lot of sex scandals and allegedly may have played a part in Whitney Houston's death. (Which is also allegedly connected to Michael Jackson's death and both were deemed suspicious and happened during their final tours when their masters (song rights), became more valuable than their lives. Sony Records and Tommy Motolla, who also abused Mariah Carey when she was trying to start her career. These are just a few of the alleged examples of labels taking out musicians when they were worth more dead, another is the signing of high risk artists and requiring them to get life insurance so they can profit beyond releasing all their posthumous records. Also the ever so common story of the rising star artist that die at 21 after their first album or two.

He also partied with Diddy in Vegas with along Floyd Mayweather and a bunch of other famous industry people and athletes.

Tory Lanez- Tons of blackmail, also was signed by Interscope under UMG. got sent to prison for ten years after trying to leave his label. Also history of SA and and other allegations of violence towards women.

French Montana- On Diddy's label, close with Rick and Khaled, tons of drug and sexual assault allegations, also dated a Kardashian. Generally grimy.

DJ Khaled- Diddy said he could get anything in Miami, either referring to drugs or women, could explain his connections and lack of any notable talent. (New update, he was one of the first to promote Chris Alvarez’s instagram not long after he turned 18).

Rick Ross- Diddy said some weird shit about him and licked his lips and kissed him at a show. Ross is also signed to Bad Boy under Diddy. He ended up getting involved in the current feud and spamming social media nonstop dissing and threatening Drake.

A lot of the back and forth was both of them threatening to release dirt on each other. One strange coincidence I found was Drake recently trolled Ross about the 20 million dollar renovation to his home on Star island, where Diddy is currently residing. It’s rumored back in the day that P Diddy was caught in a room full of rich guys on ecstasy possibly at the beginning stages of a gay orgy. Drake also mentioned in the same tweets about Rick Ross that Birdman owned a house on the island and asked Rick Ross why he didn’t help him out.

Considering Ross is so sketchy and Drake claims the house isn’t that big, that’s a ridiculous amount of money. He may be covering up evidence, or creating tunnels in his house to escape if shit pops off and Drake might know what’s good. Interestingly enough Ross is very close with French Montana and also signed to Bad. He said his beef was related to something involving French, and Drake’s tweet popped up the same day the info came out concerning the Chris Alvarez stuff.

The famous line from U.O.E.N.O.

Meek Mill- “OG Maco called himself defending his friend Quentin Miller by substantiating the ghostwriting claims and agreeing with Meek. He hit up Twitter saying, "Some of us been knew. Meek just put it in the air. Sucks to have to compete with 6 n****s and get compared to”

Meek mill also had a short beef with Drake, some disses included lines referring to TI’s homie pissing on Drake at the movie theater, which is also interesting considering the current case against him. He also dropped a line saying Diddy almost got a domestic charge when he smacked Drake, which could either be saying that Drake is like a woman, or saying he was Drake’s boyfriend/sugar daddy.
( If you made it to the end comment with the number 8)
I thought it was interesting how the beef just kind of disappeared and even Meek said it didn’t seem genuine. Considering the allegations against Meek in the Diddy trial, and his rumored affair with Kim contributing to ending Kanye’s marriage, Meek Mill definitely did some dirt on him.

“Niggas frauds I told the truth, don't ask me shit
All this industry fake enemy and rap shit”

“Money make a sucker that told look trill again”

One of the many chapters in Drake's history in which he is seen paying his way out of trouble and starting beefs randomly.
“Now when that shit went down with Chris, you wrote a check”
This line is referring to Chris brown beef, another beef that was lost to time. All I can remember off the top was someone throwing a champagne bottle at the other’s entourage.

Ty Dolla $ign- Huge feature artist, close with Ye. Grew up in the industry and talks about growing up on the road and being in the studio with his dad and Rick James who was should have already been in prison for life for dragging, torturing, and S assaulting multiple women and children throughout his career and was himself a victim of the industry. May be part of Ye's motivation, considering their recent close working relationship.
The end.
Courtesy of,
The Randomest Moniker
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2024.05.16 06:32 Savings_Permit7872 A Love Letter to Columbia University

Shortly before a final paper with pre-assigned topics was due for one of my last courses at Columbia University, our professor sent us an email telling us to forego the previous parameters of the essay, and to instead write about the events that had occurred not even forty-eight hours earlier, as well as our reflections on them, to be done in any manner we chose. Here is a very lightly revised version of what I submitted: read it, ignore it, upvote it, downvote it, hate it, love it.
I am prefacing this essay by stating that it is the culmination of several intense emotions that I have been dealing with over the last few weeks, more specifically, the last several days. It is a free-form expression of the many things occupying my mind, and, as such, it may seem overwhelming or disjointed. Nevertheless, I will do my best to convey my feelings into something representative of my beliefs, and my time at this institution.
My time at Columbia University has been bookended in an almost comically bad way; it started with Zoom classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it ends with Zoom final exams due to the lockdown of Columbia’s campus after protests regarding the Israel – Palestine conflict reached a fever pitch not just within Morningside Campus, but the international stage. My classmates and I missed in-person orientation, and now, given recent developments, we will not have a University Commencement, a fact I found out not from Columbia, but a New York Times alert, somehow lowering my opinion of this administration’s handling of recent events even more. While the circumstances around my time at Columbia have now both begun and finished in the same manner, I am proud to say that I have not. I do not mean that Columbia has simply made me a better writer, a more critical thinker, or more well read, although it certainly has done those things, sometimes forcing me to when I was not particularly in the mood to do so, but those improvements pale in comparison to the maturity and empathy my time at this university has given me.
When the decision to transition to remote learning during the Spring 2020 semester was made, occurring only a short time after I had received my acceptance letter (email), my first thought was how the pandemic would affect my transfer from community college to Columbia in September. Admittedly, this was a selfish perspective, considering the tremendous challenges that many would endure during the ensuing lockdowns and other upheavals of life. My concerns were solely focused on myself because I was on a simple track to graduate, place my degree on my resumé, and continue my trajectory of military service to college to employment, leaving little else to consideration, to include other people who were not in my immediate circle. Sitting here now, two weeks from graduation, with a job at a Fortune 500 company lined up, I should be happy, with the plans I had made years ago coming to fruition. Yet I cannot help feeling a sense of sadness and concern for the school I have spent years of my life at, and for the world as a whole.
James Hatch, a former member of the United States’s elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, for short, more commonly known by its nickname, Seal Team Six, famous for its involvement in the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips from pirates, amongst other things, spent over twenty years in the military. After being wounded on a mission to rescue American serviceman sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from enemy forces, he was medically discharged, and would eventually attend Yale University. While there, he wrote a piece titled My Semester with the Snowflakes (please give this a read, it will help people who have never been in the military understand its culture, along with some of the challenges veterans face when transitioning to college), where he details his initial discomfort with being in a vastly different environment than the military, surrounded by individuals who possessed opinions and beliefs contrary to the ones he was accustomed to. He recalls witnessing a student protest the country he spent over two decades serving by coating her hand in red paint, and leaving a palm print on an American flag, and details his shock when a classmate of his explained to him what a “safe space” was, as well as his pride when he began to understand the nuances of life both inside and outside of the nation he dedicated twenty-six years to.
I can relate to Mr. Hatch, (despite my service paling in comparison to his, as well as the fact that Columbia is far superior to Yale), because, like his friends who make fun of him for attending college with a bunch of “snowflakes,” mine do the same. More significantly, however, his personal growth during his time at school is something that I have experienced myself. When I started at Columbia, I did not even know which major I would choose, and was largely lost in a world very different than the one I had come from. Despite this, I made the decision to avoid communities such as MilVets and the students who made it very clear that they came from a military background, with their style of dress and demeanor, not because those organizations and individuals are a detriment; I know for a fact that MilVets has helped countless students succeed at Columbia and beyond, and the veterans that I have relationships with are all phenomenal people, but because I wanted to pressure myself into being exposed to something different. I was uncomfortable at first, but this turned out to be the right decision. I learned as much from simply talking to people whom I would normally never converse with about topics and ideas that I had never encountered as I did during classes about great works of art, polar and Cartesian coordinates, literature, astronomy, the list goes on.
If the protests about the Israel – Palestine conflict had occurred when I first started at Columbia, I would have been frustrated by the students taking up space, forcing us to be funneled on to campus by restricted access points and identification checks. Likely irritated by the disturbance of the quiet during finals season, I would have agreed with the people who called for students to simply focus on their assignments and stop inconveniencing others by shouting about something occurring on the other side of the world. Instead, I decided to learn about the conflict, educating myself about both sides of a war that has roots extending back millennia. While Columbia University did not agree to the demands of the protestors, they achieved something else they surely desired, reaching a goal they did not state to President Shafik and her advisors: they brought attention to their cause by educating at least one additional person about it.
After reading, talking to people, listening to input from students within various classes, and understanding that things such as the intertwined nature of financial workings, as well as conflicts not just in the Middle East, but all over the world, are a level of complexity that baffles some of the most brilliant minds of ours and previous generations, I will leave my thoughts about Israel and Palestine separate from this paper. I recognize that it is important to choose a side, as remaining impartial helps no one. However, when every news agency, group and individual makes their voice heard, satirical sources such as The Onion make these kind of posts, or Adult Swim’s Rick, the nihilistic, narcissistic, psychopathic, misanthropic lead character from the series Rick and Morty, addresses the conflict in this manner, I feel that it is better to relegate myself to a much smaller part of this debate, namely the occurrences on Columbia University’s Morningside Campus.
During basic training for the United States Army, a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie is hammered into recruits’ identities. When you graduate and are assigned to a unit, one where you could be thousands of miles from home on the opposite side of the country, or even in a completely different country, serving on one of the international bases, approaching someone who you have never met before is easy. Talking to them about shared experiences and stories you have in common, and the bonding that occurs, is the product of an indoctrination process and lifestyle that has existed longer than any of us have been alive, and is proof of its effectiveness. This sense of familiarity tends to continue even when one leaves the military. The Veterans of Foreign Wars community is a place for prior servicemembers of all conflicts to share a drink, a laugh, and sometimes a tear. When I go to the Veterans Administration Hospital for periodic check-ups or the occasional injury, men and woman wearing hats commemorating their service during Vietnam waiting for their appointments greet me with a smile and a handshake, as if we have known each other for years. While working at a golf club’s greens department before I transferred to Columbia from community college, a coworker of mine who had served in the Gulf War had heard from our supervisor that I had been in the Army, and he introduced himself to me on my first day, before anyone else, telling me that if I needed anything, I only had to ask. This camaraderie has expanded to encompass not just veterans, but first responders such as firemen, EMT’s, and the police as well.
Underneath the picture on my driver’s license, the word “veteran” is emblazoned next to a star, written in bright red text and all capital letters. I know for a fact that this one-and-a-half-inch indicator has helped me during interactions with law enforcement on multiple occasions. Only earlier this semester, during Presidents’ Day weekend, I went upstate to spend time with my family. While driving back, in an effort to make the seven-hour trip at a reasonable time, I was stopped for going twenty miles-per-hour over the speed limit. The officer who pulled me over, initially reserved, became noticeably more friendly when I handed him my license and registration. Ultimately, he gave me what amounted to a parking ticket for my actions, rather than the point-incurring, heavily fined moving violation he could have charged me with.
The ‘Thin Blue Line,’ as it is known, is a reference to the idea that the police are the barrier between law abiding citizens and criminals, order and chaos. The most common representation of this concept is a black-and-white American flag, with a single blue line in the place where a red or white stripe would normally be. This style has been expanded to include numerous other colors representing other first-responders: green for the military, red and white no longer to be interpreted as the traditional stripes of the American flag, but instead meant to represent the fire department and paramedics, and even grey for corrections officers. Seeing the appropriation of one of the most iconic symbols in the world, one that flies above the White House, schools, homes, national and international events, and even the Moon, I can say, as someone who has been unwillingly entangled within that appropriation, is nothing short of terrifying.
The fact that these entities and their supporters have literally sewn themselves into the fabric of the symbol of our nation makes one think that there is little room for the countless other occupations, aspects and people that make up this country. The idea of the police being the sole protectors of our society is patently absurd, and all one must do is point out the many instances of police brutality occurring over the years to refute it. I find myself thinking of how much power the officer who stopped me just three months ago had over me. Initially, I was happy that I had received a slap on the wrist, but recently I have found myself wondering what if my license did not state that I was a veteran, would he have charged me with a ticket that would have had much more serious implications? What if he was simply having a bad day, and he decided he did not like the look of me, or the color of my car, and I was the one who he ultimately decided to vent his frustrations on? This traffic infraction, an incredibly small incident compared to all the turmoil in the world, one that involves two strangers, supposedly bonded by our professions, on the side of a quiet, New York highway, serves as a metaphor to me, reminding me of the power structures at play on a much larger scale.
On April 22nd, 2024, I received this email, one of the many Clery Crime Alerts that students are automatically sent. An affiliate of Columbia University had their car stolen at gunpoint by two masked men on Claremont Avenue, not even a five-minute walk from campus. I skimmed the report, and almost immediately forgot about it, recognizing that crime is an inevitability in major cities, and that I needed to start my commute to school. Days later, on the night of April 30th, 2024, I received another email from Columbia, containing one of the most ominous messages I had ever seen, one that put the kind of fear in my heart that not even the alert of an armed carjacking could. Columbia’s Emergency Management Operations Team, offering no explanations, specifications, or even a greeting or sign-off, wrote in bold letters these three sentences: “Shelter in place for your safety due to heightened activity on the Morningside campus. Non-compliance may result in disciplinary action. Avoid the area until further notice.” Due to the protests on campus during recent weeks, President Shafik testifying before Congress, Columbia’s role as one of the main catalysts for student protests around the country, and the occupation of Hamilton Hall occurring in the earlier hours of that day, it was not hard to figure out what the email was referencing. Over the next several hours, I followed news agencies, remained glued to the Columbia subreddit, and listened to WKCR, in awe of these eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old students putting themselves at risk to deliver on the ground, accurate, unbiased coverage of one of the most significant events in the school’s history.
While tracking the events from multiple perspectives, to include the social media accounts of those near and on campus live streaming them, I held out hope that the university would make good on their promise from several days earlier to not invite the NYPD back, but a frightening picture began to unfold, one that I was intimately familiar with. One WKCR reporter stated that 114th street had so many officers on it that he could not see the asphalt of the road beneath them, and I knew that the staging area the NYPD had chosen was one of the best routes for moving towards what the military, and presumably law enforcement, would call an ‘objective.’ The officers cleared the smaller ‘objective,’ the largely unoccupied tents in front of Butler, and then moved towards Hamilton Hall, ordering even those not associated with its occupation to disperse, raising my stress levels and likely those of others, as it is rarely a good sign when police do not want their actions recorded and archived. After the initial entry to campus and clearing of areas and people in the immediate vicinity of Hamilton Hall, came the Long-Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, a device that makes a megaphone sound like a whisper, and one known for its crowd-control potential, capable of producing sounds loud enough to cause damage to ear-drums, nausea, and headaches, ordering individuals to clear away. The NYPD began its execution of tactics in a way that my fellow soldiers and I used to rehearse, tactics I never dreamed that I would witness outside of the military, and certainly not by police officers who vastly outnumbered unarmed students on their own campus. The NYPD created a perimeter, or a ‘second layer of security’ to both provide reinforcements for the officers entering the building, and to prevent the fleeing of what are called ‘squirters,’ or individuals who attempt to escape the building after the raid begins. While the ‘breach’ team moved towards the front doors, using tools from a ‘hooligan kit,’ such as bolt cutters, hand-held battering rams and crowbars, a siege machine was brought in to allow access from a window; when taking over a building, the idea is to enter it from as many different directions as possible to better disorient and overwhelm its occupants. Flash-bang grenades, described as non-lethal, but known to have harmful effects, were thrown inside, presumably before entering any room, hallway, or otherwise enclosed area to minimize the resistance of anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of what can only be described as an assault on the visual and auditory senses. According to the Manhattan District Attorney, one of the officers inside Hamilton Hall had what is called in the military a “negligent discharge,” meaning his firearm went off unintentionally. While no one was hurt, the question remains why at least one, and more likely, numerous other officers were carrying guns loaded with live ammunition in the first place, when they so drastically outmatched the protestors in numbers and equipment. Additionally, a negligent discharge is an act of incompetence that would result in an active-duty soldier facing serious consequences, and derision from his peers. So far, the officer remains defended by his coworkers, and unpunished by his superiors.
As all this unfolded, I communicated with my friends from the past and present. My friends from the military checked on me to ensure that I was okay, as did my friends from school. The difference in how they viewed these events highlights what I believe is the change in myself that I stated I am most proud of at the beginning of this paper. My friends from the military were commenting that the assertion of order and control by way of militarized tactics was necessary, not concerning themselves with the human toll and destruction of trust that came along with it. Conversely, my schoolmates lamented the brutality and overstepping of boundaries that the NYPD and Columbia’s administration committed, one that turned a place meant to be a beacon of free speech, expression, and ideas, into what is now a police-state with strict control over who enters it.
My education inside and outside the classroom at this institution has challenged, thrilled, and changed me. Sitting here now, at the end of this paper, the end of the semester, and the end of my time at Columbia University, I am left feeling confused and sad regarding recent events, but also hopeful for the future. I know from experience that the students, teachers, and culture of this school have the power to encourage critical thinking and initiate personal growth. If it did those things for me, surely it can do the same for others
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