Last week's post https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cvzatq/roundup_ufos_studs_and_norad_leak_countries/
Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20240519214827/https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cvzatq/roundup_ufos_studs_and_norad_leak_countries/
Moon phase waxing gibbous, four days before full
Mars Right Ascension 0h 57m 15s
.1 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cw1t77/uap_sighting_bend_or_932_pm_thoughts/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, two witnesses, threelights, low over rooftop, orange 🟠, triangle formation, formation change to line observed, approach, flew overhead, moving straight, silent, urban area, bend Oregon , fleet observed, There were 7-9 of them., They were bean shaped laying sideways with the light on top, oval-shaped, horizontal orientation, flareup or color change, departure upward, They became a lighter orange and then they disappeared which looked like it went upward., [GOODPOST], duration 5-10 minutes, emotion of peace, oddly calming. Neither of us felt afraid but more in awe., similar sighting in comments https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cw0hql/help_identify_uap_bend_o many similar sightings in comments https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cwuyad/uap_bend_o more video, single light object
.2 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cw05oc/help_indentifying_uap_kimberlies_west_australia/ sighting description, Kimberlies Australia 🇦🇺 , repeat visitor, single light object moving fast, silent, vanishing
.3 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cw0rk2/mysterious_object_repeatedly_seen_in_sky_fo video, nighttime sky, single light object, low over rooftop, repeat visitor, Olsztyn city Poland 🇵🇱, ISS?
.4 https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1cvznze/sun_gazing_today_and_saw_something_weird_any/ sighting description, daytime, contemporaneous report, through telescope with solar filter, single light object moving fast, very bright, considering it was visible through the solar filter it must’ve been bright on some level., brief duration 1 second, Southern California
.5 https://old.reddit.com/UFOmega/comments/1cvysjk/what_is_this/ video, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, urban area, San Antonio Texas, low over rooftop, moving slowly, flew overhead, silent, rotating, single object blackwhite,
.6 reference balloon https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cvyrr5/got_one/ photo, daytime sky, star shaped balloon
.7 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1cvwzry/weird_encounter_from_years_ago/ experience description, at home, nighttime, audio description footsteps, creaking sounds, anomalous to witness
.8 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cw227w/green_blinking_light/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, low below treeline, flashing, green 🟢, silent, moving and stationary, descending and ascending, contemporaneous report
.9 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cw5dfm/its_prolly_drones_or_something/ video, daytime cloudy sky, near water, gulf of Mexico, contemporaneous report, Padre Island Texas, powerlines, multiple witnesses, fleet, blackwhite, reddish glow, Very bright, flashing, rotating., weird shit, [GOODPOST]
.10 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwibqh/the_phenomenon_peering_back_at_us/ sighting description, near water, nighttime sky, single light object, reaction to being observed, dimming, vanishing, similar sighting in comments, discussion of human initiated contact
.11 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwaiaj/questions_about_repeat_sightings/ discussion of repeat visitors, [GOODPOST], sightings in comments
.12 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cw7cpu/varginha_et_autopsy_in_campinas_sp_brazil_did_it/ family history, historical event, Varginha Brazil 🇧🇷 , entity, I have ALWAYS believed my uncle was there and saw the being. , “He’ll never say a word!”
.13 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwf0py/wait_for_it_shapeshifter_very_peaceful_entity_orb/ video, nighttime sky, powerlines, single light object, elongated, worm 🪱, vertical orientation, stationary and moving slowly, splitting, i-shaped, twolights, merging, communication, telepathy, felt compelled to go inside, telling me in my head to stop recording and go inside., near the Utah-Nevada border, at home, repeat visitor, plane for comparison , [GOODPOST]
.14 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwlrh2/all_the_relevant_uap_updates_from_may_1319/ information, state of disclosure USA https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0i86b/weekly_mexico_and_peru_ufo_disclosure_roundup/ state of disclosure, Mexico and Peru
.15 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwn1bx/2011_crashed_army_blimp_in_west_virginia_personal/ family history, grandfather, crash retrieval, Gilmore County west Virginia, military response from Wright Patterson Air Force base,
.16 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cvzw6ufo_hovering_off_the_coast_of_bahia_honda_keys_in/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, over water, Bahia Honda Keys Florida, not seen by eye, single object blackwhite, elongated, possible approach, possible military response jets,
.17 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwcaz0/storm_chasing_ufo/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, storm, lightning, single object blackwhite, moving fast, disappeared into clouds, downvoted to zero, contemporaneous report, Oklahoma
.18 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwll0z/wierd_lights_off_my_porch_at_night/ sighting description, no craft, flashes of light, human initiated contact, at home, nighttime, repeat visitor, four witnesses, urban area, Boise Idaho, downvoted to zero
.19 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cw78vu/strange_light/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, from car, pacing car, possible brightness change, dimming, urban area, powerlines
.20 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwqgb2/sighting_confirmed_days_later_by_landing_site/ sighting description and photo of disturbed vegetation , urban area, Santos Brazil 🇧🇷, nighttime, over water Atlantic Ocean, single dark object, triangle 🔺️, silent, we could see part of the light from the beach reflectors hitting the dull color of the object, as it slowly slid, following the coast., duration 30 seconds,
.21 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cwtie0/what_did_i_just_see_flying_over_ellington_field/ video, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, fleet, blackwhite, irregular shape, worm 🪱 or V-shaped, near water, pool, urban area, Houston Texas, moving straight, the more I looked, the more there appeared to be. Just keeps seeing more and more.
.22 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cx6frp/a_video_my_friend_just_sent_me_from_south_wales_uk/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, fleet, diffuse lights moving erratically, splitting and merging, Southern Wales the UK 🇬🇧, spotlights type, downvoted to zero, big debunker energy
.23 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cx9luw/dancing_light_in_sky_north_uk_17_may_2024/ video and photo, nighttime sky, at home, downvoted to zero, northern the UK 🇬🇧, dancing, single light object, flickering
.24 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cwmxje/just_a_light_bit_of_personal_high_strangeness/ dream description, communication, telling me to practice "hoga." , "Hoga: deliberate thought; care; effort; thoughtfulness."
.25 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cwvodm/last_night_i_had_a_dream_i_saw_a_ufo_fly_across/ dream description, precognition, contemporaneous report, I witnessed what in my dream I thought was a UFO at first, but then though it was something angelic., how amazing the light in the dream was. As it exploded and grew larger and larger I realized this was something other worldly. Angelic is what came to my mind, the brilliant golden glow was devine. Everyone just stopped and watched and was in shock and awe. It was amazing., related to news event meteor over Portugal , similar sightings in comments
.26 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxdvih/ufo_over_brooklynnyc_check_out_the_chem_trails/ photo, daytime sky, no craft, contrail anomaly, trajectory change, super close together parallel lines and such a sharp turn., urban area, Brooklyn NYC New York state
.27 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cxh5k2/strange_airplane_appears_to_be_missing_a_wing/ video, daytime sky, single object blackwhite, plane-shaped, weird shit, possible smaller objects accompany it
.28 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1cwvo5h/interesting_lights_in_the_sky_in_hawaii_last_night/ video, nighttime sky, single object multiple lights, over airport, flashing erratically, stationary, Kona Hawaii
.29 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cwrf93/does_this_equation_have_any_meaning_or_is_it/ mathematics, anomaly?, event amnesia
.30 https://old.reddit.com/observingtheanomaly/comments/1cwgvhf/i_witnessed_a_ufo_sighting/ photo, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, central Mexico 🇲🇽, at home, twolights, moving fast, departure upward, repeat visitor or second object, after a few seconds I realized that there was another object even brighter.,
.31 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxlqpl/full_karl_nell_talk_salt_may_21_2024/ video, Full Karl Nell Talk - SALT May 21, 2024 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxj4f4/non_human_intelligence_exists_non_human/ discussion https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cy0d0n/karl_nell_interview_transcript_is_remarkable_when/ transcript https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxslfg/reading_between_the_lines_of_nells_salt_talk_does/ Nell connection to Wright Patterson Air Force base https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxw163/encounters_of_the_third_kind_are_just_around_the/ information, Haim Eshed
.32 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxse0flir_uap_sighting/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, from infrared camera, single dim object moving, not visible to eye, Pacifica California, contemporaneous report, self-debunk bat
.33 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxvl4o/just_saw_this_flying_over_philly_few_minutes_ago/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, urban area, Philadelphia Pennsylvania , single light object moving, self-debunk Chinese Tiangong Space Station.
.34 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxtk78/i_saw_something_years_ago_and_still_have_no_idea/ sighting description, downvoted to zero, nighttime sky, at home, single light object moving and stationary and moving, trajectory change, U-turn, sudden departure, It just stopped. Then it started going the opposite direction and then sped up until it shot out of existence., apathy, I just went inside and went about my evening. Cannot explain it to this day., emotional reaction calm, family history, parents, similar sighting in comments
.35 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxt1un/what_has_been_happening_to_me/ childhood sighting description, at home, nighttime, witness woke up, single light object, outside bedroom window, light shining in bedroom, event amnesia, missing time, But then, in an instant, I'm jumping up in my bed, eyes wide and gasping for air. It was the afternoon., repeat visitor or second object, silver, reflective, saucer-shaped object. , felt compelled to look, my attention was somehow called to its direction. , vanishing, family history, sister, aunt, new York state
.36 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cxznpcan_someone_tell_me_what_this_could_be_i_saw_this/ video, nighttime sky, from car, single light object, possibly pacing car, repeat visitor, possible threelights, triangle formation, bright object is actually a few orbs that seem to form a triangle. , vanishing and reappearing , downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted
.37 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cy47zi_just_want_to_thank_this_community_before_i_go/ original project, This community has been a critical part of an important period in my life, and I’m going to stop posting about it because it has inspired me to start operating a business working with the DoD.
.38 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cy57qa/west_coast_florida_sighting/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, over water, gulf of Mexico, near western Florida, contemporaneous report, single light object moving slowly, duration 3 minutes, color change, from steel to red 🔴, disappeared into clouds, rotating
.39 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cy3lmy/i_think_someone_made_a_ghetto_jet_pack_out_of/ photos, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, irregular shape, metapod or jetpack man type, moving slowly, trajectory change, descending and ascending, possible reaction to being observed, departure, almost landed in the field and when I noticed it, it picked back up into the sky and floated towards the mountains., haze, weird smoky glow surrounding it., electronic effects camera can't detect it, phones battery saver turned on and the screen went dark., possible entity observed, witness waved at it, central, California https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cyxyvm/update_ghetto_diy_ufo_video_1/ video
.40 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cy2lon/louisiana_sighting_7080s/ sighting description, multiple witnesses, southwest Louisiana, seeking information, has anyone seen?, single object, very large, came from the Gulf of Mexico and headed north., near water, lake Charles, triangle 🔺️
.41 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cxldxj/my_dad_sent_this_to_me_today_from_cyprus/ photo, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, near the British base in Dhekalia Cyprus 🇨🇾, single object blackwhite, doughnut 🍩 shaped, vertical orientation, reddish glow,
.42 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1cxqdpw/saw_this_at_nyc_a_year_and_a_half_ago_idk_it_look/ photo, nighttime sky, single light object, elongated, horizontal orientation, tictac, low over rooftop, urban area, NYC New York state
.43 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cy28a9/casual_dressed_aliens/ dream description, entity, wearing clothing, Last night my alien was a small gray, dressed in a polo shirt that was more like a knee length dress, white crew socks and red converse hightops, ball cap. Yah, I know. We played dominoes., has anyone seen?, similar sightings in comments , TW:SA
.44 https://old.reddit.com/StrangeEarth/comments/1cxya7y/something_broke_or_fell_off_from_the_sky_what/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, single dark object, vertical contrail, possible shootdown, in comments: space ships trying to leave but get shot down. He said it would be a sign white hats are in control.
.45 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cxoex3/what_could_cause_my_dashcam_to_register_a_speed/ signal anomaly, dashcam changes to show that a speed camera is present., something in the area that emits a similar radio frequency as a speed camera radar.
.46 https://old.reddit.com/UFOB/comments/1cxik2b/nothing_to_see_here_feedback_welcome/ experience description, at home, backyard, two witnesses, daytime, wtf_is_that, single object blackwhite, metallic sphere, apathy, we both went back to doing whatever it was we were doing. , Southeast Ohio, Notice Me Not effect
.47 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cy7kan/strange_voice_caught_on_camerawhat_could_it_be/ audio anomaly, voice
.48 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyam5q/air_force_cct_posted_whistleblowing_account_its/ screenshots of deleted post, OP is not the witness, crash retrieval , USAF
.49 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyaw4w/a_ufo_cured_me_ufos_and_mushrooms/ sighting description, outside bedroom window, single light object, elongated, oval-shaped, approach, came from the mountains in the distance and stopped right at my window. , healing, daytime cloudy sky, Hayward California,
.50 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cybjkw/unidentified_flying_object/ video, nighttime sky, from home security camera, fleet or single object multiple lights or camera artifact, line formation, approach, flew over the witness home
.51 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyblav/ufouap_recorded_in_london_uk_120524/ video, nighttime sky, single light object, low over rooftop, urban area, Mayfair London England the UK 🇬🇧, multicolored, at work, https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cybgp4/strange_symbols_in_my_uap_video_frame_paused_and/ screenshots, color change to green 🟢, beetle 🪲, shape change to worm 🪱,
.52 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cybpxh/little_lights/ photo, daytime sky, single light object or barbell shape, helicopter for comparison, interaction with aircraft, passing aircraft, contemporaneous report, North Carolina, zigzag movements, vanishing, duration 25 seconds
.53 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cydid0/anyone_see_something_similar_to_this_i_did_as_a/ childhood sighting description and reference image, flying saucer, California, at home, nighttime, low over treeline, stationary or moving slowly, lights around the ufo were flashing rapidly Red, Blue, and Green 🔴🔵🟢, witness looked away and looked back, vanished, has anyone seen?
.54 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyf005/what_is_this/ video, from home security camera, electronic effects motion detected, daytime cloudy sky, contemporaneous report, single object moving fast, video analysis requested, urban area, Montréal Québec Canada 🇨🇦
.55 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyeqk0/ufo_glasgow/ photo, daytime cloudy sky, storm, hail, single dark object, not seen by eye, possible beetle 🪲 or actual bug, angled from the horizon, Glasgow Scotland, 55° 51' 39.2976'' N, near water, river Clyde, similar sighting in comments
.56 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyf2lt/in_town_sighting/ sighting description, from car, two witnesses, threelights, stationary and moving, ascending, not moving at first then slowly ascending and then gone completely., physical effects made my heart race., urban area
.57 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyuqsi/rep_luna_asking_series_of_questions_about_uaps_at/ Anna Paulina Luna and the secretary of the department of energy, DOE https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyu18n/reptim_burchett_asks_department_of_energy/ Tim Burchett, asks Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about UAP sightings over nuclear facilities at today’s Oversight Committee hearing https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz4lbl/documented_sighting_of_metallic_spheres_ove document, incident over Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on April 30th, 2019, in which metallic spheres were seen flying around. https://lemmy.world/post/15728749?scrollToComments=true possible connection to fusion research?
.58 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyxhph/lawrence_livermore_labs_tracy_ca_904pm_52224/ videos, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, near Lawrence Livermore Labs, Tracy California, rocket launch?, similar sighting same area and day in comments
.59 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyjgve/red_nhi/ video, nighttime sky, at home, felt observed, felt compelled to look, I heard a voice in my brain that almost felt like "turn around" from behind my head, and I turned around almost to expect to see something, and I saw this pop above the skyline., single light object, red 🔴 observed, moving and stationary and moving, jumpy movement, contemporaneous report, Indiana , downvoted to zero https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz7ndm/red_nhi/ reposted
.60 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyjp3t/looking_up_at_the_stars_and_one_caught_my_eye_got/ video, nighttime sky, single light object moving erratically, single flash, dimming, vanishing, at home, powerlines, Minneapolis st Paul Minnesota, similar sightings in comments
.61 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cytion/fast_shadow_on_drone_footage/ video, daytime sky, no craft, from drone, Cancun area Mexico 🇲🇽, circular shadow that flies by pretty quickly from the ocean into the beach and wooded area., over water pacific ocean, downvoted to zero
.62 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cyvp3h/can_you_help_me_identify_this_object_lecce_apulia/ video, nighttime sky, contemporaneous report, Lecce Apulia Italy 🇮🇹 , single light object, irregular shape, video shows vanishing, similar sighting in comments
.63 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz0h2g/what_are_we_looking_at/ video and zoomed in photos, single light object, elongated, tictac, urban area, Paris France 🇫🇷, angled from the horizon, 48° 51' 52.9776'' N latitude, silent, ascended over rooftop, disappeared behind rooftop, downvoted to zero in 2 hours, big debunker energy, plane?
.64 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cy9rdi/have_you_ever_met_someone_who_felt_like_they/ discussion of sightings, entities, non-human humanoid
.65 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cyz8bp/high_strangeness_from_5_years_of_uapnhi/ experience description, repeat visitors, ongoing, avoid something akin to a parasite NHI
.66 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cyilxt/i_need_some_help_identifying_a_strange_animal_o sighting description, entity, at home, backyard, repeat visitor, two witnesses, nighttime, approach, emotion of fear, urban area, Indianapolis Indiana, felt observed, audio description choking sound., powerlines, looked sort of like a monkey with a fatter body, long skinny arms.
.67 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1cz2lei/the_light_under_the_stairs/ childhood experience description, no craft, at home, nighttime, single light object, the light under the stairs guided me upstairs and back down. The next day I thought of it and realized that I had never seen a light there before.
.68 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz2j7o/london_ufo/ video, daytime cloudy sky, urban area, London England the UK 🇬🇧, single dark object moving erratically, blackwhite, possible single flash,
.69 https://old.reddit.com/RBI/comments/1cyyiql/house_causing_nosebleeds/ experience description, injuries, nosebleeds, repeat visitors, two witnesses, at home, Alberta Canada 🇨🇦, It’s been around a decade since I’ve lived there, and I haven’t had a single nosebleed since moving out. My mom is still there, and still frequently getting them.
.70 reference ISS https://old.reddit.com/astrophotography/comments/1cyv8yp/space_station_shot_with_a_smartphone/ photo, nighttime sky, international space station
.71 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz5tqu/saw_this_in_the_sky_in_south_florida_maybe/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, rotating or tumbling, irregular shape, Southern Florida , submission statement issues
.72 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1cz5hge/strange_lights_southern_uk/ video, nighttime sky, fleet or single object multiple lights, diffuse, spotlights type, Southern the UK 🇬🇧, flashing in pattern, stationary, low over rooftop, contemporaneous report
.73 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz7j4c/likely_not_a_ufouap_but_still_anomalous_air_to/ sighting description, from airplane, single light object, extremely bright lit object on the ground. The ratio dimensions were ¼ height to ¾ width in a semi-circular shape. , daytime, over Nevada, duration 10 minutes , contemporaneous report
.74 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1czb98j/any_idea_on_what_these_could_be/ video, nighttime sky, light object appearing and vanishing, multiple objects observed, repeat visitors, Lights seem to be dancing around each other and sorta moving in a circular pattern. , starlink?, western North Carolina
.75 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cznqqu/almost_certainly_a_minion_balloon_for_reference/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, irregular shape, elongated, reddish glow, jellyfish 🪼, moving straight, low over treeline, disappeared behind rooftop, lighting configuration change or rotating, [GOODPOST], urban area, Boston Massachusetts
.76 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1czo098/algonquin_il_last_night_ring_cam/ video, from home security camera, nighttime sky, twolights , contemporaneous report, algonquin Illinois , bug?
.77 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1czfsv4/what_do_i_need_to_take_better_video_of_orbs/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object moving slowly, possibly emitting orbs, at home, repeat visitor, urban area, grand rapids Michigan
.78 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cznyix/jetpack_man_yucaipa_ca/ video, daytime cloudy sky, from car, Yucaipa California, single dark object, elongated, irregular shape, vertical orientation, jetpack man, reddish glow, approach, once it passed over at a closer range it looked like an upside down Xmas tree., possible triangle 🔺️, crossed directly in front,
.79 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz7ok6/ufo_or_shooting_sta video, nighttime cloudy sky, storm, lightning, at home, possible single light object moving fast, looks like a flying ball of light bouncing around., Aurora Ontario Canada 🇨🇦, contemporaneous report
.80 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cz6sfo/can_someone_point_me_in_the_right_direction_to/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, near Scottsdale Arizona, camping, nighttime, audio description someone driving a loud muscle car maybe a mile away when it was very quiet out in the surroundings and then I heard the loudest gun shot I’ve ever heard like from a big revolver and then they sped off and could hear the driving away for miles., emotion of fear, then this blue green spark emerged from the ground about a mile away floating around really weird like it didn’t know where to go and then I saw the most visually clear ufo I’ve ever seen slowly come over top of me and flew over the spark and flew away.
.81 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1czqf45/weird_ufo_i_saw_above_the_san_gabriel_mountains/ sighting description, has anyone seen?, weird shit, single dark object, elongated, rectangular shape, tendril, From beneath this thing there was a very large black cord or pole that went down a ways. Like a lollipop. Just as I was really starting to get a good look at it - the “pole” or “cord” retracted slowly all the way up into the Xbox. And if that was it that be fine but the part I really can’t wrap my head around is that the thing started to like bubble and morph. Like it was boiling. Then it got smaller and literally turned into a ball of orange light with a bright white center and flew away., color change to orange 🟠, stationary and moving, departure, San Gabriel mountains , California , similar sightings in comments, [GOODPOST]
.82 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1czs9li/black_orb_in_the_sky/ photos, daytime sky, contemporaneous report, at home, single dark object, black ⚫️ dot, over the witness home, stationary, duration 2 minutes, observed vanishing, possible cloaking, urban area, Boston Massachusetts
.83 ➡️ https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d03amp/anecdotal_evidence_from_two_former_cia_pilots_now/ information, OP is not the witness, two former pilots for the CIA, exposed to information about "superior beings." He declined to be fully read-in to the program because he was "very uncomfortable with the stuff I had seen and did not want to know any more." , strawberry ice cream, I asked them both "whatever it is that you know that I don't know, how did it make you feel when you learned it?" and they each replied that it is far crazier, far more outlandish than I would guess and were astonished they learned it. When asked, both strongly expressed that disclosure should not happen and would be destabilizing., [GOODPOST]
.84 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1cztkru/object_traveling_600_mph_buzzes_koco_5_news_camera/ original analysis, news video, single light object, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.85 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d06im4/what_are_these_taken_on_my_camera_at_night_i_do/ photos, nighttime sky, two different events, single light object, golden, [GOODPOST], big debunker energy, Valdosta Georgia
.86 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d0ua0o/interaction_with_mantis_collective/ sighting description and painting, entity, mantis, near the Superstition Mountains in Arizona., four witnesses, hiking, nighttime, communication, healing, fleet, appeared out of nowhere, multicolored, flashing in pattern, duration a few seconds,
.87 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d0ousf/a_high_strangeness_life/ video and description, multiple events, ongoing, felt compelled to look
.86 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d09asm/object_sighted_in_austin_texas_4222018/ photo, daytime sky, urban area, Austin Texas, downvoted to zero in 2 hours, single dim object, reddish glow, possible second object or jumpy movement
.87 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0e88w/took_this_on_518_in_punta_cana_over_the_ocean/ photo, nighttime sky, single object multiple lights, reddish glow, Punta Cana Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 , [GOODPOST], two objects observed, triangle 🔺️ and cube shape observed, duration 30 minutes, moving and stationary, approach, https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0f1mn/this_is_the_cube_that_was_above_it_and_where_we/ more photos, cube, submission statement issues, removed
.88 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0byok/lights_over_syracuse_ny/ video, nighttime sky, threelights, orange 🟠, line formation, silent, fourlights observed, possible reaction to being filmed, sudden departure upward, urban area, Syracuse new York state, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.89 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0eant/debunking_the_slow_roll_misconception/ childhood experience description, abduction, repeat visitor
.90 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1czpxuw/potential_sighting_story_looking_for_others_with/ sighting description, no craft, nighttime, single flash, darkness bright as day, like it was daylight for a fraction of second. It came from the tree line beyond the field, and seemed to be emanating from close by., two witnesses, audio description low whirring (think a fan or an aquarium air pump)., has anyone seen?
.91 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0h64one_of_my_most_memorable_experiences_with_ufos/ sighting description, nighttime sky, single light object, blue 🔵, appearing and vanishing, at home, backyard, repeat visitor, over the witness home, two witnesses, sudden departure, a flash of blue light was in my eyes for a second. My father said he saw it fly into the sky at a fast speed, but I did not see it. He also did not experience the flash of light as I had., perception discrepancy, additional event, felt compelled to draw a crop circle design, Milk Hill 2001 design was just like a large drawing I had made earlier that afternoon., USA
.92 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0kic9/possible_uap/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object moving fast, not seen by eye
.93 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0jvrs/star_planet_or_something_else/ video, nighttime sky, camping, single light object stationary, low over treeline, video shows yellowish with red 🔴 dot in the middle , white observed, smaller objects accompany it, duration 10 minutes, possibly related audio description noises In the bushes near me, emotion of fear, witness left the area, downvoted to zero
.94 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d0kev0/large_beetle_drone/ childhood sighting description, Cuyahoga Falls Ohio, daytime sky , two witnesses, audio description buzzing above us. , consistent and unending - no change in pitch, timbre, or rhythm., single dark object, perfect half-oval shape, flat on the bottom and rounded on top, like an American football cut in half longways. There were two "antennas" protruding upwards at 45 degree angles from either side, flew overhead, emotion of fear, witness left the area, repeat visitor, over the next several months I saw this same object several more times, though only in very brief passing and from a distance., has anyone seen?
.95 https://old.reddit.com/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1d0inv8/another_story_from_rural_ak_4/ experience description, entity, humanoid, shadow figure, Gates of the Arctic National Park Alaska, felt observed, physical effects goosebumps, I noticed a dark figure keeping up with me. It stood tall, what I presume to be about 8 and a half feet tall, and it was keeping up with me as I was going like 25 MPH on a fairly smooth, but rocky trail., brushed through the willows with ease, as if it was phasing through them.
.96 https://old.reddit.com/AlienAbduction/comments/1d0hl95/have_you_looked_through_these_windows/ reference image, windows, has anyone seen?, Anyone here been in this room?
.97 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d0dx63/pre_birth_memory/ memory description, has anyone seen?, I recall being on a cloud, looking down at the earth below. I saw two people waving at me, calling me to come down., two witnesses, my dad told me that he had a dream before I was born in which I waved and greeted him.
.98 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0lx7g/what_kind_of_sound_is_this_my_friend_sent_it_to/ audio, squealing sound,
.99 https://old.reddit.com/aliens/comments/1d0obni/aliens_do_live_among_us_they_revealed_themselves/ experience description, entity, contemporaneous report, nighttime, urban area, NYC New York state, psychedelics, paranoia
.100 https://old.reddit.com/MantisEncounters/comments/1d0neko/coming_from_other_sub_something_is_in_our_room_at/ experience description, nighttime, inside bedroom, two witnesses, entity, emotion of fear , repeat visitor
.101 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1d0ncba/someone_know_what_this_is_hamburg_25052024_around/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object, green 🟢, elongated, cylindrical shape or tictac or cigar, vertical orientation, flashing erratically, lighting configuration change, dimming, vanishing, contemporaneous report, hamburg Germany 🇩🇪
.102 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d0osh5/some_uap_in_brooklyn/ video, daytime cloudy sky, single object blackwhite, irregular shape, weird shit, rectangular, horizontal orientation, moving erratically, contemporaneous report, low over rooftop, box kite?, urban area, Brooklyn NYC New York state, descending and ascending shape change, at home, outside window, birds and helicopter for comparison, downvoted to zero, OP comments downvoted, big debunker energy
.103 https://old.reddit.com/ufo/comments/1d0g9y1/_/ photo daytime sky, urban area, powerlines, single object blackwhite, elongated, disk shape, flying saucer, no engagement from OP
.104 https://old.reddit.com/Thetruthishere/comments/1d10ls4/i_think_i_was_contacted_by_a_goddess/ experience description, entity, communication, she wants me to create art., I was an atheist last week and now a god appeared in my dreams saying she wants me to do shit for her. What the fuck is happening, wtf_is_that, transcript in comments , Italy 🇮🇹
.105 https://old.reddit.com/Glitch_in_the_Matrix/comments/1d0xcy1/hoping_someone_had_this_happen_weird_head_stuff/ experience description, no craft, from airplane, Suddenly, I have this feeling like everything is exploding and also being stretched out (including other airplanes parked next to us). , wtf_is_that
.106 https://old.reddit.com/HighStrangeness/comments/1d0vbce/what_was_this_mysterious_flashing_light_in_the/ sighting description, northeast florida, nighttime, single light object, very small, microufo, electronic effects camera can't detect it, two witnesses, low below treeline, stationary, vanishing and reappearing or jumpy movement, emotion of fear, witness left the area, has anyone seen?, witness returned to the area, repeat visitor, approach, flareup, emotion of fear, witness left the area, once again we drove away screaming., witness returned to the area, three witnesses, we watch it come back thru the woods and flash right next to us, this time after not leaving it lets out like 3-4 stationary flashes and then starts moving around more or so like a flying bug but still flashing. we let that happen for about 2 minutes and left after we thought we had seen enough.
.107 https://old.reddit.com/space/comments/1d0u94m/i_drew_pixel_art_animation_of_the_red_square/ original animation, not a UFO probably, red square 🟥 nebula, art 🎨, [GOODPOST]
.108 https://old.reddit.com/AlienAbduction/comments/1d0saa7/a_visual_of_my_first_contact_experience_in_the_90s/ sighting description and reference image, single object blackwhite, duration 2-3 hours, two witnesses, possible physical effects illness, I'm pretty sure we just didn't get exposed to quantum radiation, we were cooked by it.
.109 https://old.reddit.com/Skydentify/comments/1d0s16h/strange_fading_light/ video, nighttime cloudy sky, single light object stationary, low over rooftop, very bright, illuminating clouds, haze, brightness change, dimming, vanishing, at home
.110 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d1a66j/my_first_uap_sightingexperience_occurred_while/ sighting description and drawing, While discussing the convergence of human, artificial, and non-human intelligence with ChatGPT on my front porch, I witnessed my first true UAP/UFO- a glowing orange orb or craft floating approximately 2,000 feet above me. The sighting coincided with a deeply reflective moment, making it a profound experience., single light object, orange 🟠, at home, flew overhead , moving slowly., emotional reaction warmth and love., physical effects paralysis, transfixed, [GOODPOST]
.111 https://old.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1d1a5f9/3_objects_above_dc_today_526_415_pm_local_time/ video, daytime cloudy sky, threelights, blackwhite, stationary, rotating or tumbling, National Harbor Washington DC, contemporaneous report, submission statement issues

The title is misleading and this story is a doozy, one that just recently happened and its made my head spin so much that I just had to share it. I will attempt to tell the story from both perspectives to the best of my abiltites as my bias will obviously bleed into the overall narrative of this particular case. Okay so lets start,
To begin I a male in his 20's I started taking martial art classes in my early 20's after college because my doctor at the time gave me a huge wake up call, and that was I needed to touch grass. Fast forward I am just a green belt and the only one in my morning class, and the only one in his 20's, everyone else is well pushing 40 at this point and all black belts. One day I come in and I see a new student, another black belt, but my age, I was not surprised sometimes the place gets visitors from out of state who want to train with us. So to summarize I didn't care much since they weren't going to stick around for long anyway. The class ends and one of the regulars who I know walks over to me with this guy and she introduces us, Turns out this was her son, give you guys context here, she loves to tell me stories about her personal life from time to time and I've heard of her son being a successful computer science graduate. With this in mind I felt stiff, scared, this man by technicality has succeeded in life compared to me, a blackbelt and a graduate in one of the most in demand job fields. We say our hellos and off the bat I knew he'd be a regular so that meant someone I could talk to. So after a week or so I decided I'd try and learn anything from him, however my image of him shattered immediately. Turns out he's not working a high end job, when I told him where I worked (I work retail) he smirked about it. Mind you at the time I was still in school last semester to for my degree in design. This part is important, so for a project i had to come up with a magazine cover something that employs the elements of design. In a desperate attempt to get the project done, and assuming this would be a great way to bond over the construction of the project and show off my passion for design I ran up to him after class and asked for a photograph. This is where everything slowly comes crashing down. He said no (I understand I'm camera shy myself I'm not photogenic at all) and I told him that's okay and moved on.
Fast forward, trying to keep this story as brief as possible, I decided I would add him on social media maybe we could bond over memes or funny posts. From here on out though, every interaction we've had is met with small talk, him telling me he's to busy to show me anything new and just overall. I wanted to be friends I felt that he was a fellow introvert and like the workplace we see each other too often that I didn't want to fill the air with awkward silence. The more I pushed, the more I was met with this condescending attitude where he would be confused by why I couldn't do certain kicks properly, why I couldn't bench a certain amount, and why I kept coming to him for advice when their are other black belts in the room. I had my reasons, I'd tell him, because I was not athletic growing up I was an indoor kid, the classes sometimes didn't teach certain drills often, and learning from someone my age could help a lot (that last one was also a reason for us to bond). It wasn't until he opened up finally about his love for a music artist called Travis Scott, a rapper and his love for concerts and mosh pits. This man was nothing like the image I had in my head, he didn't play video games like most of the IT guys in my friend group, he actually was athletic, and his favorite pastime was roughhousing and listening to loud music. This also explained his very dense comments and I mean DENSE. (He doesn't read between the lines sadly)Like "You should quit your job if its so annoying" and "Oh that's not hard, just do it" I was dumbfounded and when I told him I didnt listen to modern rap and that the music he showed me felt "chaotic" I felt that broke any chance of us getting to be friends.
So now to the am I jerk part after that long context, so I was already angry about life, and it felt good cuz we did make progress (or at least I though) on social media. We'd have talks about art and his experiences when he was a younger athlete, at least until one day when he starts questioning certain things. This includes, me thanking him for advice on martial art stuff, encouraging him that he's getting back into the rhythm of things, and openly telling him that I do get happy when I see him come to class cuz we can have small talk. Massive red flag off the bat, he told me "thats now how my friends do things, my friends are ghetto and we shake hands". I was confused I was under the assumption he grew up privileged or at least with a much easier life. Martial art lessons were expensive, and on top of that according to his mother (who owns a house mind you) also talks about how they traveled the world for tournaments. In my head it felt that he was attempting to associate with the glorification of the struggle, which means this hype for being from the streets. It made sense now, at least at the time, he thought he was too tough, that he was too "thug" to hang out with someone as meek as me. I got angry because I actually did grow up in "the hood" and personally its a lifestyle I despise having lived through it. So I call him out on this and snap, we get into a heated conversation about this.
"Your not from the hood why do you have to make being from somewhere your not your persona;ity?"
" Uh I did, and whys it matter you dont understand?"
"But you grew up having it easy, you guys have so much Im so confused?"
I was getting angry, my toxic trait is envy, how dare he associate, glorify something that played a huge role in a lot of the trauma i deal with today. I've lost friends to gang violence and used to pray my parents would come home unscathed after long shifts at night. I knew he wasn't a mind reader, and he didn't know any of this, but after months of trying to get him to open up and being met with so little, I snapped. We argued and he was confused as to where I was coming from, (again he has no context on my life) and told me he didn't have it easy growing up and said that I didn't know him and I need to stop assuming. I agreed on this but got angrier and let it all out, how he didn't open up, asking him what I did wrong, and infuriated that he was being such a jerk and calling me "soft" sometimes.
Now to his side of on this story, and I'm going to try to change it to a tone he saw it in. This man decided to pick up martial arts again at the request of his mother, he's been out of it for 8 years and had to quit the sport due to a leg injury that makes it difficult to kick above the waist. He works the late night shifts so he comes home pretty late, so at most he's getting 4-5 hours of sleep before every training session. This green belt he's introduced to immediately starts to introduce himself and starts talking, He attempts to be kind he's got somewhere to be, mother has chores he wants him to do, and he also wants to keep up with his workouts at the gym before he has to clock in for another long shift at work. One day this greenbelt asks for a photo of him, they barely just met or know each other, it comes across as creepy and he declines. From that day on this student every time attempts to initiate conversation, follows him around to continue these conversations he wants no part of, and now he's sending him weird reels on his social media page. Every time he spoke it sounded condescending and cynical, like hew knew so much and this man knew nothing. The last straw was when being asked for advice on a piece this guy was working on, was a photograph of the street where he worked. In his mind he knew it, this chatterbox was a stalker, obssesed with him, a total weirdo that had to be stopped.
Turns out he thought I was trying to hard, and me assuming he was an introvert and my attempts at phishing for something we could bond over made him feel overwhelmed. In the end it was my fault for not taking the social ques, I am terrible at that and Ive told people to tell me when to stop because I have a problem. He called me out, called me a stalker and a weirdo. I was so confused about the allegations, he even went as far as to compare to Martha from Netflix. I was so disheartened sad, I didn't know I went that far, then I scrolled through our chat log and decided to stop being sad and clarify what's going on. I told him " All I did was say I was happy to see you, complimented how you peform and thought you were cool" He then proceeds to send me screenshots where I use a gif of peele sweating and telling him he's the coolest guy ever, one where I sent a sticker of a happy otter, and one of an anime character smiling with the message, "stuck in traffic hurray".
The conclusion, turns out he's never hung out or even befriended a guy like me (and by a guy like me I mean a pop culture fanatic geek). I had to explain to him that gifs, and emotes were a common form of expression that he was reading to much into it (yes I had to explain this it gets even more interesting). We both find out that the other one thought they were better then them. I thought he was being a cocky snobby jock, and he thought i was being a smart ass who didnt know when to shut up. He then shows me the photographs I sent him for advice on which would be a cool backdrop for a fight. He says "THEN EXPLAIN THIS! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE I WORK!?" I look at him confused told him that, I shop in that area and that I take photographs of all sorts of street corners and random structures. Designers need their own stock of digital assets due to copyright reasons. Then he tried to pull a sherlock holmes and says " HA pretty specific how you knew I was talking about that pic and not the other, explain that!" The other photograph was a small street/ alleway in chinatown filled with people and signs in a different language. "I don't think you'd work in an alleyway like this no offense" I told him off the bat, I knew he took pride in his work and that he didnt work in something as crowded as this chinese market. I then sighed and sat down and told him " I am an introvert, trying to talk with you was exhausting from day one, I prefer to listen to my music and keep to myself to avoid scenarios like this" (no it doesnt happen often that I had to mention it like that). "I don't talk to people unless I am approached, Master wanted me to learn to be a people person and meeting someone my age for the first time in years their felt like the right opportunity to approach you". He replies " Well you were bombarding me with sooo much talk ive never been overwhelmed before it was driving me crazy". I felt bad about that I agreed that me pushing so hard was not the right move, I suck at socializing, From their on out I had to explain why I wouldnt stalk him (Dude was a jerk I didnt want to see him outside the gym) and that I do not have the skills to find out where he works (Sorry Im dumb). I apologized for being annoying, I can empathize cuz I hate when people try to talk to me when I have my headphones on, especially on my morning commutes. This guy and this is where I have the twist, says.
"Okay lets leave this in the past and move on"
Me: "Okay I don't mind going back to just listening to my music after a training session and keeping to myself"
Him: "But why? Your in a room full of people its rude to do that"
Me " I mean look where its gotten me trying to initiate a relationship, I mean you literally compared me to a SO from a netflix show"
Him "Oh your reading to much into that character I just wanted to compare you to the first stalker that came to mind,"
Me" Okay (did i mention how dense this guy is yet?) Then if you apologize for doing that and assuming I was a stalker then Ill be a bit more "social" and put this behind us" Otherwise your asking for a lot from me.
Him "I'm not asking you for anything though LOL"
Me " I swear your so dense BOB (name holder) Your a first for me too, never met anyone who takes things so literal"
Him" LMFAO (Proceeds to not apologize for comparing me to a stalker, even though I apologized for coming on strong making him feel that way, and being myself)
So guys on reddit after this looong story, am I the jerk here?
TLDR:
Tried to make friends with a new guy, turns out i came on "too strong" even though I was under the assumption he was just an introvert. Turns out he just didnt like how I spoke, thought my use of emotes and gifs were weird, and just complimenting him and thanking him for advice made resorted to him calling me a stalker. He then goes on to say I took a photograph of where he works, and we had to clear the misunderstanding. I apologized for making him feel overwhelmed but he doesn't see the need to apologize for calling me a stalker, the end.

LPs

• RM (🇰🇷) - Right Place, Wrong Person (w DOMi & JD BECK, Little Simz & Moses Sumney) [Pop Rap, K-Pop, BIGHIT]
• Sexyy Red - In Sexyy We Trust (w Drake, Lil Baby, Mike WiLL Made-It & VonOff1700) [Trap, Open Shift/gamma.]
• Gabito Ballesteros (🇲🇽) - THE GB (w Peso Pluma, Junior H, Natanael Cano + more) [Corridos, Interscope]
• Trueno (🇦🇷) - UL ÚLTIMO BAILE [Latin Trap, SuSony]
• Shenseea (🇯🇲) - Never Gets Late Here (w WizKid, Anitta, Coi Leray + more) [Dancehall, Interscope]
• Juicy J - Mental Trillness 2 (w Project Pat, Xavier Wulf, Sukihana & idontknowjeffrey) [Memphis Trap]
• Vince Staples - Dark Times [West Coast Hip Hop, Def Jam]
• Fenix Flexin - BACK FLEXIN (w OhGeesy, EBK Young Joc, DB.Boutabag, DaBoii, Wizz Havin, MoneySign Suede, Freeze Corleone & Frostydasnowmann) [West Coast Rap]
• Sango - North Vol. 2 (w Bryson Tiller, Masego, Smino, GoldLink, Channel Tres, Rochelle Jordan + more) [R&B]
• THEODORT (🇫🇷) - IMAD [French Rap, YouTuber]
• Mala Rodriguez (🇪🇸) - UN MUNDO RARO [Latin Rap, UMG]
• Meekz (🇬🇧) - TRU [UK Rap]
• Jackboy - Trust The Process (w 2 Chainz, Key Glock, Boosie Badazz, YFN Lucci, BabyDrill, OMB Peezy + more) [FL Trap]
• Glokk40spaz & OsamaSon - 3vil Reflection [Trap, Columbia]
• KirbLaGoop - Say Goop and Die*
• Machinedrum - 3FOR82 (w Tinashe, Mick Jenkins, DUCKWRTH, Deniro Farrar, Topaz Jones, AKTHESAVIOR, deem spencer + more) [Electronic, Ninja Tune]
• Rah Swish - Elevator Music (w Jim Jones, Rowdy Rebel, ALLBLACK + more) [NY Drill]
• Niko B (🇬🇧) - dog eat dog food world [UK Rap]
• Big Sad 1900 & Blueflag 1900 - Members Only (w Cypress Moreno, OMB Peezy + more) [L.A. Gangsta Rap]
• JIDDY - SUMMER'S MINE [Rap]
• SONNY - 'Til Death Do We Ball [Rap, Fashionably Early]
• Lando Bando - Boiling Point (w Rio Da Yung OG, BabyTron, Certified Trapper + more) [Michigan Trap]
• Szalai (🇭🇺) - Ez [Hungarian Trap]
• CO3 - Still Most Hated [Memphis Trap]
• iNTeLL - U.N.I.T.E. [Rap, 2nd Generation Wu]
• MarijuanaXO - Wavey [Milwaukee Trap, Santa Anna]
• Mato Wayuhi - STANKFACE STANDING SOLDIER [Rap]
• RLX & Buck Dudley - Reloj (w CRIMEAPPLE & Brown13) [Rap]
• Ralphiie Reese - Bladesylvania: Book 3 [Rap]
• Semiratruth - The Star of The Story
• sleek - Indefinite [Asian Rock]
• Døøf - Practice Vol. 2* [Beat Tape]
• Wiardon - Berserk

Deluxe

• Loyle Carner (🇬🇧) - hugo: reimagined – live from The Royal Albert Hall [UK Rap, EMI]

EPs

• Coi Leray - Lemon Cars (w Skilla Baby & Mike WiLL Made-It) [Pop Rap, Island]
• Faruz Feet (🇲🇽) - Sin Sendero [Latin Rap]
• Smoke DZA & DJ RELLYRELL - You’re All Welcome (w Westside Gunn, DRAM, Stove God Cooks + more) [Rap]
• YANGHONGWON (🇰🇷) - SLOWMO [Korean Rap, Indigo/Kaokao]
• KayFaraway & ROMderful - OASIS 2 [Rap]
• DRWN. (🇨🇭) & Mr. Santé (🇨🇦) - village under eclipse [Instrumental Hip Hop]
• Halima - EXU [Alt-R&B, drink sum wtr]
• Danny Miles (🇨🇦) - We Really Do, Love Ya (w Shad + more) [Rap, Urbnet]
• Jamal Gasol - It's Still a Dirty Game (w Rasheed Chappell + more) [East Coast Rap]
• levi (🇯🇵) - persona (w Hatsune Miku + more) [Japanese Rap]
• Oshunda (🇬🇭) - March Like the Weather [Alté]

Songs

• El Bogueto, Uzielito Mix, El Malilla & DJ Rockwel MX - G Low Kitty (Remix) [feat. J Balvin & Yeri Mua]
• Rich The Kid - Gimme A Second (feat. Peso Pluma) / Band Man
• Cash Cobain - Dunk Contest (Remix) [feat. J. Cole]
• GloRilla & Megan Thee Stallion - Wanna Be (Remix) [feat. Cardi B]
• Megan Thee Stallion - Like A G6 (Freestyle)*
• Don Toliver - Attitude (feat. Charlie Wilson & Cash Cobain)
• Central Cee & Lil Baby - BAND4BAND
• DaBaby - Not Like Us (Remix)*
• Muni Long - Made For Me (Remix) [feat. Mariah Carey]
• Blxst & Offset - Risk Taker
• Quavo, Hitkidd & Wheezy - Clear The Smoke
• Key Glock - Q Dogs
• Hitkidd - Nott (feat. Doe Boy & Key Glock) / Q Dogs
• PinkPantheress - Turn It Up
• Russ - Bestfriend (feat. Melii)
• Jorja Smith - Backwards (Dirty Dance Remix)
• $UICIDEBOY$ - The Thin Grey Line
• Jowell & Randy - Lágrimas (feat. Cultura Profética)
• Caleb Calloway, Yandel & Ryan Castro - Guayeteo
• Scorey - Wildlife (feat. Sleepy Hallow)
• YG - Weird
• Trae tha Truth - Rock Out (feat. FERG)
• bbno$ - it boy
• Big Hit, Hit-Boy & The Alchemist - Gank Move (feat. HitgirlLena)
• Summer Dennis - Pink Lotus (feat. Kaash Paige)
• Dee Billz & Kyle Ricch - Laser
• Maithili Raelle & Kyle Ricch - Heavy On It
• XG - WOKE UP
• Popcaan - Who Is You*
• Yann'C, Full Harmony, lil joujou, Moffa, DIA & J Abdiel - Typing
• Fana Hues - Rental
• BLP Kosher, BabyTron & Danny G Beats - Pro Open
• Freeway & Jake One - Ringin' (feat. Jadakiss)
• Common & Pete Rock - Wise Up
• FLO - Caught Up
• JAE5 - Normally (feat. NSG)
• Marathon Cuddi - Thru There (feat. EBK Young Joc)
• Raveena - Lucky
• Remble - Not Like Us (Freestyle)*
• Ralfy The Plug - Jada Pinkett (Remble Diss)*
• OTM - Where's Remble? (Not Like Us Freestyle)*
• 1999 WRITE THE FUTURE - Raw I Know I Got It (feat. DIESEL & NITTI)
• VonOff1700 - Chase Him
• Dro Kenji - Heartless
• Ot7 Quanny - Red Man
• J.P. - Come and See*
• D. Savage - Sin4TheWin
• ESTA. & Leon Thomas - dangerous game
• Papera & Chucky73 - Envenenao
• LaRussell & Tope - From the Block (feat. ShooterGang Kony & Iiinfinite) / Blood Diamonds
• LaRussell & Mike G Beatz - Bruce LeRoy
• Wizz Havin - Diddy Vibes / Don Julio
• Clooner & Sada Baby - The Drake / Move Bitch
• Jim Jones, Taylor Ricard & Dilla illa - Too Turnt
• Julez Santana - Score
• skaiwater & KARRAHBOO - wna torture me tn?
• Finesse2Tymes - Mixed Feelings
• Duke Deuce - Sweet Tea
• Sal Dulu - Neri Eyes (feat. Fly Anakin)
• Ice Cream Social (Abhi the Nomad & Harrison Sands) - Genghis Khan (feat. Khary)
• Stone Cold Jizzle - Dos XX (feat. TisaKorean)
• ONEFOUR - Natural Habitat
• Zacari - Lonewolf Still
• Pete & Bas - Bish Bash Bosh
• LARA' - Like Dat (feat. Ambré)
• OG Sole - BILLI CLUB (feat. DC2Trill)
• KayCyy - M.I.A.
• Vinnie Paz & Eamon - Blood Bank Affair
• Lil Vada - Headshot
• 4NT & Peso Peso - Case Closed
• SolidAsxTom & ALLBLACK - 16'Z
• Kameron Davell, Bobby Raps & Radio B - Cold Heart
• Certified Trapper - Real East
• Ocean Wisdom & K Kobe - No Squids
• RiskTakerLeek - I Can't Feel My Face
• OMB Peezy - Driveway
• Lil Migo & Lil Jairmy - Still Have the Streets
• Subiibabii - FlexxN (feat. Bandanna$aint)
• DJ Mickey Knox, Estee Nack & Chubs - Sazon Gun Powder
• Sybyr & guardin - No, It's Not You It's Me
• Estee Nack & BoneWeso - DONJULIOREPOSADO
• DETO BLACK - Naija Babes
• C.L. Smooth & Peter Gunz - Da Odd Couple
• Dide - Energy
• ZAYALLCAPS - Boy (V)
• Yokai Jem - CHAOS THEORY (feat. Ghais Guevara)
• Low the Great & Tapri Grams - Bop Bop Bop

and

• MESSIAH!, MAVI & ovrkast. - silent heel
• Kehlani - After Hours (Cater 2 U Mix)
• Yung Lean - Shadoboxing
• BONES - BlackSabbath
• PAV4N, Sonnyjim, Kartik, Pataka Boys & M.O.N.G.O. - Bappi Lahiri
• G4 Boyz - Back Outside
• Maiya The Don - Frenzy
• $tupid Young, Celly Ru & FTA BAM - Spin
• Southside & LUCKI - Elegant
• ShrapKnel & Controller 7 - Illusions of P
• Icewear Vezzo - From That Way
• D4M $loan - Erykah Badu
• Pak-Man & wewantwraiths - California
• Loe Shimmy - All My Love
• Azizi Gibson - 25 Weeks Later (feat. Akeem Mimiko & Shofu)
• RJmrLA - Still Ghetto
• YN Jay - I Ain't Done Yet
• Fat Tony - Last Call
• Tay Money - That's Hot
• Dimi & Roy Woods - Can't Save You
• byJ., lojii & Patiotic Records - Mfs_
• Ron Suno - TOSSIN
• AJJ - Candles of Love (Remix) [feat. Open Mike Eagle & Video Dave]
• Santa Fe Klan & Yahir Saldivar - A LA ORDEN
• K Motionz, ArrDee & Riko Dan - Heavyweight

Old Drop Watches

2023 and 2024 Calendar

All the rich people I know, in my family and out, are some of the most entitled people I've ever seen in my life. It's not even jealousy. The last thing I want is luxury items and having millions of dollars in my bank account that I'll never touch. If I ever got close to a million, I'd just donate good chunks of it to charity. The rest would be for me to live a comfortable life and to help my future children get full rides to college. When it comes to 'luxuries' I'd want to spend it on an RV or at least one trip out of the country.
With my family, I have a mentally ill aunt. Throughout my life, I have heard about her issues and her lashing out. My parents did try to help her, though she did mooch off of them to hell and back until she flew back to her home state. They have not had any contact with her in many years after my nonna died. She could've been dead. Yet recently, my cousin found her while grocery shopping and they seem to mock her because she asked for money and lives in what seems like a mental hospital. They don't have to take her in, understandably, because she didn't do good when she did WAS getting helped and they're not obligated to help her. But mocking her for being broke and schizophrenic really isn't it. It's depressing too because my mom emphasizes the importance of family but she doesn't seem to care about her sister potentially dying. Not only depressing, but also embarrassing. If my dad didn't make so much and if he wasn't getting money from being a disabled veteran, my mom would never be able to retire. Mom wouldn't be able to constantly spend money on luxury items like constant Disney trips and Louis Vuitton bags either. Why laugh over that when you would be struggling to make ends met too, especially when he dies?
With my partner, his sister really gets on my nerves. She's one of those people who talks about the 'grind' and crypto and NFTS. That kind of shit. She brags about how she's a millionaire too basically and on her social media acts like she's the shit while denouncing people who work at jobs, calling them 'wagecucks' and whining because a neighbor dare try to talk to her (some can be persistent but just say you're not interested? not that hard). She also brags about how she cut off everyone in her life off that 'didn't help her succeed'.
She's always got on my nerves due to personal issues from my partner I had to hear, but recently she's been really getting on my nerves because she's taking credit for the content on a Youtube channel SHE made my partner work on. She didn't make anything on that channel. The most she does is repost memes on Twitter and on the Youtube 'community' side that have been posted to hell and back and those Pixar AI memes and AI art that nobody even likes. She has gotten literal backlash on the channel for posting AI art, AI without credit, and so on. She has gotten quote rts bashing her because she posted an outdated Pixar AI meme. But she doesn't give a shit.
She thinks because she pays my partner about $1k a month = the content is all hers. She doesn't write the scripts. She doesn't edit the videos. Yet it's HER side grind. Not her and my partner's, no. HER'S.
If the channel wasn't even a 'collaboration between siblings' like it says in the description (aka a lie), I'm sure her content will flop. Because even though she acts like she's so intelligent and she knows alll about marketing, she really doesn't. She only watches like, a few videos about marketing Youtube channels and that's it. She's made other channels but they barely gained any traction. The most she has done is advertised [certain obvious niche] which involves posting pictures. Her content isn't related to what the channel covers at all.
She just acts like she's an intellectual that's so hard for normal people to understand. But really, if she didn't invest and when her site suddenly closes payments or closes down in general, she would be screwed. She would be broke like she was in the past. She also seems to hurt the people in her life, especially her family.
People may think "but you don't know either!". Part of my degree I'm working on is focused on marketing and advertising and it teaches you to see what the people you're trying to market towards want. It also teaches you how to fix issues when you screw up. What she is doing is literally just 'I do what I want' and 'I'm going to make someone else do it for me' 'I'll only just suggest some video ideas and make then make them research it'. It's not going to make bank.
I honestly wish my partner would just make his own channel and dissociate from this 'job' his sister puts him through, especially when she's just using him as a means to fuel her sense of entitlement and ego. He wants us to get a mobile home, but I don't think he ever is with the unpredictability of Youtube and his sister only promising to pay him more once they 'get big'.
I'm more than glad I haven't barely even spoken to her and don't want to move into her house because I know I'm going to lash out at her for being such a horrible person at some point. Hell, I'm scared for the future family events I may have to go to with her as well for the same reason."
It's saddening too because like I mentioned before, his sister used to be poor. My dad also grew up poor. While I didn't mention him much, he seems the same way as every other rich people but horribly racist. He mocks black people who have to get Section 8 housing and how they 'act ghetto'.
...Just. I don't think I want to be rich. It sounds like a nightmare to become the most entitled people on Earth just because you make a lot of money.

I apologize, the reason this is so long is because 1.) I suck at summarizing 2.) backstory of some sort is needed to understand this excuse of a man and/or human being. 3.) I’m not a good storyteller, but you are, Charlotte, and I know you can take this mess of info and turn it into a beautiful, long-time-coming, petty revenge story for your channel. Because what is more petty than an herbal, flowery Trojan horse no one knows about?
Cast: OP-me Swister- my older sister Mom - mine and my sister’s mom, grandmother to Trish/Patty BIL- exactly who it says, and a huge butthole. Patty/Trish - the same person, a four year old little girl, product of union between BIL and Swister.
Some (bit rambling to explain some stuff) backstory:
Last winter, to get out of the horrible, freezing, painfully striking sleet (it would not pass over our town, was just there, stuck in a vortex, for what seemed like eternity) of January in our hometown (we were always just a couple degrees away from it being snow, and quite a few times we got lots of hail, some as big as softballs, and could damage cars and punch through windshields, etc. I know this sounds like ‘The Long Winter’ by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but both me and my mom (I’m disabled and have to live with someone to help in every day life, I’m not a high school dropout living in mommy’s basement playing fortnight or assassin’s creed and have memorized cheat codes. The only video games I’ve ever played were duck hunt, which my grandpa actually got for himself bc he loved to hunt, so I only got to play it in turns with my five other cousins when we visited him); and N64’s Zelda:Ocarina of Time. I hope those titles illustrate for you the last time I played a video game. Oh! And the Oregon Trail, but I always died of some disease that doesn’t happen today or is curable with fluids, rest, and maybe some penicillin. But I digress.) but both me and my mom and my older sister (who was pregnant at the time) and BIL moved about 15 minutes down a little used two lane highway. And when my niece was born late 2019, we named her Patricia after my grandmother. (Patty or Trish for short).
My BIL claims he can smell everything ten times better than any other human, ‘probably because I’m an Alpha Male, and I need heightened senses to protect my pack, my family.’ Okay, I won’t deny he is sensitive to scent, but if his food doesn’t come out smelling right (almost always made special order bc of his ‘allergies’ (that’s what he tells the waitress; in reality, he just doesn’t want stuff he doesn’t like on his plate, and is too fucking lazy to just take the single pickle chip off the McDonald’s cheeseburger. If half of America can do it, why not him? ‘I might smell and taste it with my superhuman olfactory senses.’ He said with a very sincere, serious tone and face, like I was in special education and couldn’t understand it was 1,2,3, not 1,3,2. He is an arrogant misogynistic asshole. My sister could have done sooooooo much better. Idk y she chose him to marry (for a general idea of all what he looks like, speaks like, and sounds like (minus the slight lisp) is the video of the ‘dating coach’ who took the video in his car, opening it with ‘you do not have to accept her rejection, say things like I’m the best, why wouldn’t you want me, you should see my basement with ropes and pulleys and hooks, and do you know what a did with her that night? Well, it’s not appropriate to talk about on this platform”… yeah, that guy, except for the lisp, could be my BIL IDENTICAL twin. Anyway, now you know BIL is a creepy, asshole, bastard with no sense of boundaries or personal space, who think women are lesser than him. Moving on.
I also suffer from anxiety, insomnia, and a few other things that require me to take meds that can slow down your breathing, so if I can take care of my pain, anxiety, and insomnia without having to take a narcotic or benzo, and it works, I choose that path first. Some of these ways are ice packs, heating pads, a special herbal tea, aromatherapy, yoga, sleeping surrounded by pillows like I were in a nest, making sure to do a little bit of some exercise and always taking my daily walks (I don’t want the pain to get so bad from being sedentary I will require a wheelchair before I absolutely have to) and don’t always want to be popping clonapen or oxy or morphine all day and falling asleep, especially around my niece. I don’t want her to ever believe pills fix problems.
So to escape the horrible winter in our new home environment, my mom decided to use her saved-up reward points and book us all a ten day trip to Disney Aulani Hawaii, specifically Disney bc of my niece. My mom and I had been there before, in 2020, right when resorts opened back up at much less than capacity because of COVID rules, and we had gone for a week, so I knew they had an awesome spa I could spend my saved vacation money on.
The minute we step into our two bedroom, two full bath (each with both a shower and separate tubs!), an ok sized but capable kitchen, and a nice, big, comfy furniture filled common room/living room. All of my stuff I put in the room I’d be sharing with my mom, then took my niece to go and get her first Shirley Temple (they are a virgin cocktail I have loved as a kid, still do, that are super easy to make the ghetto way - diet 7up (diet taste better in the cocktail, idk why, it just the way the Gods have decreed it so), grenadine, and maraschino cherries (as many as you want, but kids usually get two and adults one. I think this is unfair) and tada! You have a Shirley Temple.
So I’m walking back to the room, both of us holding our reusable drink cups for our stay (if you bring the cup with you, you get any non alcoholic drink for free during your stay. Coolcool.) And I open the door and hear my mom and sister begging BIL to just stop it, let it go, just enjoy the ten days here. BIL is in MY room, going through MY things, yelling at mom and sis to leave him alone, he has to find it, it reeks, etc. I’m like, GTFO of my stuff, this is extremely violating, sister, are you not concerned and pissed he is pawing through my bra and panties right now, ‘looking for hidden pockets’?
Finally, he grabs this 15 or 20 mL vial I have, a pain relieving roll on I use for my migraines and tension headaches, about $55 after tax, not including S&H. I had left my almost empty one at home, and this was a brand new vial, safety wrapping still on. He blames me, said I was trying to ruin ‘his hard earned vacation’ (he has no job, only looks after my niece enough to feed her (most of the time) and my sister had to find a high -enough paying job so she could work from home so she could do every job like she were a single mother. The only chore he does, and only like 65% of the time (they love to eat out and/or order in) is cooking, and as much as I hate him, sometimes his dishes are good. Not phenomenal, like he practically requires everyone to praise it as, even if he just added sage basil and oregano to a frozen pizza.
So I ask, “how the hell can you smell that? There is the outer plastic seal and the inner lid seal?” And he goes off on being an Alpha Males and olfactory nonsense. Then he takes the vial and runs out of the room with it. He takes it to a housekeeping services cart several doors down and spikes I into her trash can, which by the thunk sound the vial made told me not only was her trash nearly or almost nearly empty, and that he had broken and wasted a valuable medical tool because he is batshit crazy and doesn’t see me as a person outside of how I interact with his everyday life, like I’m a NPC who doesn’t exist or say anything until a real person player comes into my field of awareness. He pawed through every item I owned, including underwear and opening my tampons one to sniff (I especially bought no scented for this trip, and he went and ruined a whole box of them (I’m not putting a previously opened and practically stuck up my BIL’s nose tampons! It’s not just unsanitary, it’s gross on so many levels! I also save up what little money I have leftover from my SSDI monthly checks, so over several months, I had saved up to buy that, bc it worked where others just smelled good but didn’t take the tension headache or migraine away. He has never had to pay for things with his own money, so has no concept of it, of saving money, of worth.
I stewed and stewed and I knew I had to be as petty as possible and still not get caught. I was still thinking these thoughts on our third to last day while I got an unusual massage at the Aulani spa. First is usual deep tissue massage, but then they rub your back and skin with tingly oils and take what looks like the contents of a bag of tea (very heady and fragrant in that small room) and rub it all over you, wrap you up for 15 min, scrape it off you, also taking excess body oil and dead skin cells with it as it goes. And then, smelling all those wonderful scents, I had a genius thought. As she scraped the herbs and stuff off my skin into a bowl, I asked for a to go bag for the herbs, and pretended I wanted to put them in a foot bath I was giving myself tonight in my room. Shockingly, they agreed, and gave me all the scrapings, herbs, essential &body oils, and dead skin cells, in a linen drawstring bag they said I could just toss the whole bag into the hot water.
Now, when I travel, I always pack duct tape in my checked baggage. To make sure shampoo, conditioner, lotion, stuff like that, wet and messy? So it will stay in the bottle with the top duct taped both on shut and to the top of the bottle. Nobody was in the room; they were taking a hike my physical disabilities made very challenging (like an 7-8/10 for me, and a 3.4.5/10 for them) over broken terrain and off trail a bit to climb to a waterfall, so I had said ‘I’m going to the spa. Peace!’ So nobody was back from the hike yet, but I had no idea when they would be, so I acted fast. I grabbed my duct tape and went into sister and BIL’s room and squished and squiggled my way as far under the bed as I could, an duct taped the linen bag of herbs and scrapings right under where he would lay his head to rest at night (according to his ‘Alpha Wolf’ status, he was always on the side of the bed between the door and the rest of his collectables in his room.
We had that day, two more days, and three nights left. BIL did not sleep a wink during that entire time - he had housekeeping change the bedding (including duvets and their covers) several times in that small frame of time, and demanded of my mom to rent him (on my moms dime, not this 40 y o mans money, the mooching leach, but her carefully budgeted money and visa card points hoarded over years.) his own, just perfectly sanitized room, obviously something had been left here by a former guest that was rotting. Finally, FINALLY my mom and sister had HAD IT. He whined and moaned more than my four yo niece. They finally ripped him a new one, saying he had been acting like an entitled baby man with delusions he is more important than he is, that we as women should fawn over him, and that he had already ruined all of ours, but especially my vacation by tossing my personal property and screaming at me for wearing perfume when I didn't even pack any. At one point I even piped up, ‘I didn’t put up with my father treating me like this, what makes you think I’m gonna take it from you?’ (AN/OP: my father abused me and mom and sister our whole lives. Lots of verbal, emotional, psychological abuse. Sister had it pretty literally; mom had it worst. But when my dad had 100% custody of me at beginning of divorce, my sister went away to college and moved out within the following two weeks, and I was his sole remaining target. For three years straight. Other, even more horrible disgusting things he did to me I’ve only just started to talk about, and don’t want my whole life blasted online while I deal.
So i got my silent, sweet-smelling revenge. For those 3 days and 3 nights, he didn't sleep a wink, which meant he couldn't keep his 'good guy' image up, and everyone saw how he treats me, and I'm no longer a liaexaggerating. I hope some act of God, or him driving around while completely wasted, as he does every single freaking day. He a waste of space, a waste of oxygen.
Again, the reason this is so long is because 1.) I suck at summarizing 2.) backstory of some sort was needed 3.) I’m not a good storyteller, but you are, Charlotte, and I know you can take this mess of info and turn it into a beautiful, long-time-coming, petty revenge story for your channel. Because what is more petty than an herbal, flowery Trojan horse type thing?
PS: he never did repay me for the OVER $300 worth of MY STUFF he upped and just tossed, or first broke then tossed, because it either offended his nose or him, personally, even though he begrudgingly promised to do so, and my sister promised he would. I only had like a 10% belief he would, but he has no money of his own, how was he gonna do that? Yes, I admit, I keep a record of anything I hear about him doing something negative, so one day if my sister even starts to consider divorce, I can whip out journal/notebook and show her his patterns, and he has always been this way, and he won’t ever change.

Im going to be completely honest with this post. I have nothing to lie about.
I fell in love 6 years ago with this girl. When we first kissed we had literal fireworks go off and it wasn't a holiday. It was that moment I knew I loved her and wanted to be with her. About 1 ½ years into our relationship our son was born. We started having issues around here this time. During this time we tried to be more open with our relationship. But I fucked up our relationship and start talking to other girls out of spite.
Why was I spite full? because I found her selling nudes to her friends, She blamed me for cheating (at the time i wasnt), She tried to kill herself with me in the car (I stopped her from doing it. But again she blames me because i wrestled the keys from her and i was too rough. However i was the one that left with bruises and scratches while she was perfectly fine. ) She made sure to tell me every argument how im not big enough for her.
I never slept with any of the girls. I guess I was just seeking attention or some affection. This put a huge strain on us. At the time I didnt feel loved from her. She was an amazing mom and GF and was best women I could ever ask for. But I just felt like she wanted something bettemore. She always made sure to remind me how she enjoyed sex with her ex more. He could pleasure her in ways i never could. I felt hopeless I couldnt even pleasure the girl i loved with out her thinking of someone else. It would make me go soft and we would argue. She would tell me that shes too loose and that she should've never slept with her ex because of that. It just created an endless cycle of really great sex, Sex that we would both end up crying over.
We shortly after started using toys to spice things up and make it more pleasurable for her. until I heard her moaning a way shes never moaned before. it was that moment i realized I never pleasured her. She faked it.
We were planning a trip to LA for a anime EXPO. I had tricked her into giving me her ring size. I spent 1k on just the hotel and tickets and VIP tickets to a after party. I was about to marry her. I was pricing rings out and trying to get the best deal. But then this....
Almost 3 years into our relationship and things are getting bad. Shes drinking almost everyday and im working avoiding the drama. I have friends over one time and were building computers. She got so drunk in front of them she started spilling out my insecurity's. everyone told her to stop and just go lay down. She stood up and almost face planted into the ground but i caught her. I put her on my back and walked her to our room. I explained to her that she hurt me really bad and I cant even talk to her because i was so upset. She just replied "im nothing to you anyways.". I did my best to tell her i love her im just upset and need some time away. So i left her in the room drunk. (looking back this was a huge mistake) When i came back she was crying and just saying i dont love her anymore. no matter what i said i couldnt convince her otherwise. we went to bed upset.
about a month later we have our big fight. Im trying to get ready for work and shes leaving to her sisters graduation. Shes already mad im not going because of work. She starts asking for the keys while im brushing my teeth. I told her theyre in my pocket give me a second. she came in and patted me down like i was in jail (I have PTSD from going to juvi for a false report. She knows this.) I snap and tell her dont ever pat me down like im an inmate. She just said you use to be one. IDK what is was but that set me off. I held my anger in and didnt say a single word. Until i asked her for the keys. She told me they were on the coffee table. I couldnt find them, so i kept asking and she gave the same answer. after repeatedly looking and asking, I eventually snapped and shoved her into her chair. She slid back in the chair and hit her head. I was in disbelief i just put my hands on the lady i love.(I was always taught to never do this. I have never put my hands on a lady that didnt put her hands on me. I live in a very ghetto city, women out here will throw hands like prisoners.) But out of anger i just told her to grab my keys. she grabbed them and just said im calling the cops. I left to work. I shouldve never left, I shoudlve done everything in my power to make it right. At work i was contemplating how i could make it better how i can fix us. then 2 cops walk in.
The next year and ahalf is just court and us not talking. I beat the case simply because she was caught lying and Im not a women beater. She even admitted that i have never done anything like this before. It was completely out of character for me to ever touch a women that way. I didnt even like doing those things sexually. it turned me off greatly. Till this day i regret it. I wish i never did it. It ruined everything we had. After the trial one of the jurors talked to me. ill never forget his words. " you need to find your zen. whatever it is you need to find it. Take a moment to yourself before you do something." During this time I cant find work because of the pending case so im broke almost died from starvation and had to resort to eating expired food or thrown away trash. I stayed with a friend for a month but his mom (he took care of her) didnt want me there any longer. So I left. That put a huge strain on our friendship.
After the case we start talking again. I ask her to take me back and give me another chance. She told me she didnt love me anymore and should've listened. But she still gave me another chance. When things were good they were great. we went on dates and spent time as a family. it was almost like we were a family. I never had a real family and it was odd for me. I guess i couldnt handle it or something. However I loved every second of it. But we start getting into agreements about the past. Both of us are gaslighting and claiming shit didnt happen when we both knew it did. Each time we get into an argument I flash back to that moment. Then i Flash back to what the juror told me. I thought finding some zen would just mean some time apart till we can talk normally. However that put alot of strain on us. We would be find for accouple weeks then not talk for accouple weeks. this had been repeating for a year.
Finally around christmas she told me she's done and im just a loser who wants to use her. That i just need to move on. I tried.. but I couldnt, I loved her and still do. She just insisted that i was using her and that these breaks we were taking were for me to sleep around with no consequence (I only slept with one girl this entire break up and that was while i was living with my friend.) while we were dating I stopped using dating apps and tried my best to focus on us. I wanted nothing more then for us to be a family again. But i guess she didnt believe it.
A month later my brother and I get into an argument. I was emotionally grieving still so i didn't have the energy to argue. So i just walked away. in doing so my brother took this as an opportunity to tackle me and procced to knock me out and beat on me. His adopted son had to pull him off of me. I went and grabbed a knife and told him to try it again. His wife called the police as I was trying to leave and they arrested me for various charges. when i went to jail I was SA and Assaulted by the sheriff deputies. They beat me in a cell and just claimed i was resisting. But they gave no commands and My arresting officer put it on his paper work that i was compliant. I have pictures to prove how bad they beat me. bruises from head to toe and a big welt on my forehead from one officer punching me while i was on the ground with them in full control of all my arms and legs.
My EX came and visited me in jail. I got out of jail and they dropped all they charges. My brothers wife had submitted videos thinking it would help her side but it disproved it. That night i told my ex she was my everything my world that i cant continue on without her. I needed my family. I needed her and my son in my life because im literally nothing with out them. (Before we got together i was a complete loser. everything I ever did was in for her and my son. even now im a complete loser hence why im writing this.) We spent the night a motel that night and I have to admit. If she didnt spend that night with me I wouldn't be here RN. I thought things would go back to normal. But i did the same BS. Each time I became emotionally overwhelmed I just shut everyone out so I woudlnt hurt them. I dont like hurting people emotionally or physically. So i thought it would be best to just leave them alone. I cant hurt those who im not around. This was again another mistake. I kept going back to shutting everyone out. She grew tired of it.
On easter 2024 we had our last moment together. That night I had noticed her phone blowing up with tinder notifications. for my own well being i decided to not look. But I had checked her instagram which was full of guys flirting with her. She didnt turn them down or state she was with someone. infact when i asked her about it she just told me she cant control what other guys say and we were together when it happened. But she can and it was... We didnt have sex we didnt cuddle. she just went straight to bed from work. We had planned to have easter together as a family. I was so excited because we didnt get to have christmas together. (I had spent christmas with my son but I was crying the whole day. I ruined my sons christmas because I couldnt hold it together.) We wake up two hours early. She took the whole two hours to get ready and made us late. I brought it up in the car and told her that she took to long so we missed everything. So we agreed to go to the 5pm easter. IDK what it was but I snapped. Maybe it was her telling me if i helped we would've been on time. (i did help and it we were still late) Maybe I was just overwhelmed because I couldnt provide for my family a decent easter. But i didnt want my son to see and I didnt want to go off on her because she didnt deserve that. So i got out of the car and told her to go home ill see her there. She left two hours away with my son and his easter gifts. For me it was an equal walk time. This is again another moment in which i fucked up and lost the girl of my dreams because I couldnt handle my emotions.
She kept making a statement that day "If all I do is piss you off then why are we together?" That kept playing in my mind that entire walk. But i figured by the time i got home she we could talk about it. I told her She didnt piss me off it just frustrated me that she cant see how her taking 2 hrs made us late. So I called her later on when i got home. I started apologizing for getting out of the car. I told my son that was not safe and never to do that. Then I went off on her and told her She ruined my easter like she ruined my christmas. I told her she was right if all she did was piss me off deliberately then why bother keep trying this? I again just blocked her. She tried to reach out to me on discord but I feared she was going to tell me to move on. So i didnt reply.
A month goes by and she wont let me see my son. She just says if you want him come get him. remind you its been almost 3 years and I havent been able to get a job because I fail almost every background check for my career. (security) I have applied to so many places and get ignored. even temp jobs or jobs people typically wouldn't want. There was no way I could drive a total of 4 hrs. I was scrounging for money just to put food on the table for my son. There been so many times where he asked me dad why arent you eating wiht me. I just tell him that I ate earlier and im not hungry. I also have other bills im behind on and theyre coming after me now. She convinced my son that i dont want to see him and that i dont care about them anymore. Everytime I would talk to them on the phone my son would question wether or not i loved him and would always ask why i dont come see him. TBH some of it felt like a trap. I felt like she wanted me to go over there so she could call the cops on me for picking up my son outside of designated hours. Or that she had her family waiting for me to shoot me. I could hear her in the background sounding out words to my son and he would start calling saying some really negative stuff. Irresponsible, disappointment, disgusting Those are the ones that I heard her sounding out with him. I lost my shit and went off on her and my son heard it all.
My poor boy.
I called her every name in the book and told her i still love hear but she drives me crazy. She made good points that if i loved her i wouldnt be saying these things also i wouldnt block her for weeks while were fighting. He heard her say she doesn't love me anymore and that her new lover stretched her out and she loved it. That i never loved her and just used her. I honestly was beyond hurt. I just told her i was happy someone was able to pleasure her in ways i never could that i wisht them the best. Then she kept egging it on and I snapped again threating him. Threating myself. It ended with her blocking me. and that was that. Havent heard from her in almost a week. Same with my son. I call everyday. (yes you can get around a blocked #)
Its mothers day and I havent stopped crying. I have her gift from when we were together. That was another reason it was hard for me to travel 2 hrs. I had spent the last couple months saving what i could to get her a gift.
Why am i writing this. Because im at my witts end. Im nothing with out her. She was my drive my focus and my world. My son gave me strength to be a better man and a father figure. I have nether now and i have no one to blame but myself. My own actions have pushed away those i love the most. I tried protecting them from the possibility that I might do something stupid again. That just pushed them further away. I ruined our relationship and shes found someone who can not only pleasure her but care for her. I just hope he makes her happy.
If youre reading this and you have someone special in your life... please do me a favor and tell them you love them and explain to them why you love them. Because one day you may never get to do it again. One day they may hate you and some poeple could look back and say yeah thats okay because i know i tried my best. But thats not the case here. I couldve done so much more to see her or plan dates with her. I shouldve tried harder to get a job and be a man. I ruined the best relationship I had. She was my world and I just let her go.
Part 2: Not about my EX
My dad had leukemia and survived and still chose to leave. He has gotten drunk and thrown fireball handles at the back of my head. He has spread rumors to my friends i was gay because i got a tongue piercing.
I was falsly imprisoned for a crime I didnt commit. I was a teenager i was with this girl and she lied to me. She said her ex raped her. The one time i happend to see him i was high AF but i felt like i had to defend her honor. He won that fight and I got a concussion that almost killed me. Her dad an adult rush me in my own home. but i got charged because i was caught on his property.(I went to his house to say goodbye to her. nothing more nothing less.) I served 150 days of my life in a cell. these are days ill never get back.
I was SA and assaulted by sheriff and no one believes me. the cops mocked me for me trying to file a complaint. other cops made jokes about me infront of my ex. "how can a women SA you. Are you gay?"
I was SA by a mentally challenged person at church. And again by my brothers friend. I never said anything because the mentally challenged person was caught doing it to someone else. My own brother (the one that tackled me) Mocked the kid and his older brother about this in front of me. "At least my little brother wasn't assaulted by and R word" He just didn't know i was the first victim.
My own actions have caused my family to leave me. I dont have physical custody because the courts gave her 100%. I cant even see my son or call him. She wont even obey the court orders. But the moment i want to spend more then 8 hrs a week with my son (only when were fighting) She calls the cops and tells them im not following court orders and im trying to kidnap my son. Then the cops get all tough guy and try to act like im some dead beat. How TF am I a bad dad if all I want is to spend time with him? How am I a bad dad if I Jumped throw a million hoops for the courts just to get visitation?
But to finally end this, I have reached my last resort. im enlisting into the military and if i dont get accepted im ending it all. I have nothing left for me here. I have ruined everything I have spent the last 6 years building. All i do is push away those who love me. And those who managed to stick around are tired of me. I feel like nothing but a burden and a POS dad for not keeping his family together.
I have no one to blame but myself. Thats why i have to eliminate the problem at its source. By either leaving or by not existing.

After seeing the full video and finding more information, I feel like her son was part of a gang initiation and ran and told mommy after. I grew up in the ghetto and this was a very common occurance growing up, a group of boys planning to fight and meeting up and jumping the 'fresh meat'. This, to me, is a classic case of that.

Megapost: A list of statements, press releases, and other sources reporting and expressing concern and criticism about Israel's war in Gaza and related aspects of the war. (Part 1)

Notes: This is a work that is currently in progress; please check back for updates. Titles have been edited to provide details.
Part 2 is here: https://www.reddit.com/Social_Democracy/comments/1cmjhpk/megapost_a_list_of_statements_press_releases_and/
Part 3 is here: https://www.reddit.com/Social_Democracy/comments/1coups2/megapost_a_list_of_statements_press_releases_and/
Part 4 is here: https://www.reddit.com/Social_Democracy/comments/1crvrde/megapost_a_list_of_statements_press_releases_and/
Part 5 is here: https://www.reddit.com/Social_Democracy/comments/1d0q84j/megapost_a_list_of_statements_press_releases_and/
Part 6 is here: https://www.reddit.com/Social_Democracy/comments/1d3kbnq/megapost_a_list_of_statements_press_releases_and/
Indivisible Statements on the Israel/Palestine Crisis (October 2023-May 2024): https://indivisible.org/resource/indivisible-statements-israelpalestine-crisis
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Joins Calls for an Immediate Ceasefire in Israel/Palestine (October 2023): https://www.uusc.org/press/ceasefire-in-israel-palestine/
‘We are over 100 former J Street staff and student leaders calling on J Street to immediately push for a ceasefire and urge elected officials to do the same." (October 2023): https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24035556-j-street-alumni-letter-october-2023 & https://theintercept.com/2023/10/15/j-street-gaza-ceasefire-staffers-lette
Fellowship of Reconciliation: Statement from the Oldest Peace Group in the U.S. on the Outbreak of Another Gaza War (October 7, 2023): https://forusa.org/statement-from-the-oldest-peace-group-in-the-u-s-on-the-outbreak-of-another-gaza-wa
George Takei: "The Israeli government has cut off food, water, and fuel to 2 million people inside Gaza. Collective punishment is not only contrary to international law, it is inhumane and illogical. How will this deescalate the violence rather than radicalize many more? It is madness." & "It is what my community once endured in World War II, all because of the actions of others who happened to share our ethnicity. Have we learned nothing?" (October 9, 2023): https://x.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1711486753561776638 & https://x.com/GeorgeTakei/status/1711486755591873011
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Statements on the Gaza War (October 9, 2023 and November 2, 2023): https://icahd.org/2023/11/02/icahd-statements-gaza-wa
United Methodist Church Bishops condemn violence in the Middle East, call for prayer and action (October 9, 2023): https://www.umc.org/en/content/umc-bishops-condemn-violence-in-the-middle-east-call-for-prayer-and-action
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Statement on Israel and Gaza (October 10, 2023): https://www.presbypeacefellowship.org/presbyterian-peace-fellowships-statement-on-israel-and-gaza/
Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy: Israel Should Lift Siege & Call Off Plans for Ground Invasion of Gaza (October 11, 2023): https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/11/gideon_levy_gaza_war_israel_hamas
Amnesty International: Israel must lift illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza as power plant runs out of fuel (October 12, 2023): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/israel-opt-israel-must-lift-illegal-and-inhumane-blockade-on-gaza-as-power-plant-runs-out-of-fuel/
Johannes Lang: Do not give carte blanche to Netanyahu (October 12, 2023): https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4252111-do-not-give-carte-blanche-to-netanyahu/
Evangelicals in Israel and Gaza: “Our faith in Jesus compels us to call for an end to all violent activities” (October 13, 2023): https://evangelicalfocus.com/world/23921/evangelicals-in-israel-and-gaza-our-faith-in-jesus-compels-us-to-call-for-an-end-to-all-violent-activities
Executive Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union: Solving the Palestinian and the Kurdish Question ["Just as Hamas’ methods are wrong, the attitude of the Israeli state is also unacceptable. The Israeli state must end the attacks and blockade against Gaza and must not resort to violence against the Palestinian people in any way. The Palestinian problem cannot be solved through violence, but through democracy and the recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people."] (October 13, 2023): https://kck-info.com/statement-oct1323/
Haaretz Columnist Gideon Levy: Invading Gaza Will Be Israel's Biggest Ever War Crime (October 13, 2023): https://thewire.in/video/watch-invading-gaza-israels-biggest-ever-war-crime-haaretz-columnist-gideon-levy
National Women's Studies Association Calls for a Ceasefire and Negotiations to End Gaza Siege and Israeli Apartheid (October 13, 2023): https://wgss.umd.edu/news/nwsa-calls-ceasefire-and-negotiations-end-gaza-siege-and-israeli-apartheid
Peace Pledge Union: Stop supporting Israeli War Crimes, British pacifists tell UK government (October 13, 2024): https://www.ppu.org.uk/news/stop-supporting-israeli-war-crimes-british-pacifists-tell-uk-government
Raz Segal, associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies: A Textbook Case of Genocide: Israel has been explicit about what it’s carrying out in Gaza. Why isn’t the world listening? (October 13, 2023): https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide
Statement from the Leadership of the National Writers Union on the War in Gaza (October 13, 2023): https://nwu.org/statement-from-the-leadership-of-the-national-writers-union-on-the-war-in-gaza/
Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza [750+ signatures] (October 15, 2023): https://opiniojuris.org/2023/10/18/public-statement-scholars-warn-of-potential-genocide-in-gaza/
Call for Ceasefire in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory [Signed by: Alliance of Baptists; American Baptist Churches USA; American Friends Service Committee; American Muslims for Palestine; Americans for Justice in Palestine; Anera; Auburn Theological Seminary; Center for Civilians in Conflict; Center for Jewish Nonviolence; Center for Victims of Torture; Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy; Churches for Middle East Peace; Common Defense; Council on Islamic-American Relations; Demand Progress; Democracy for the Arab World Now; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Fellowship of Reconciliation; Freedom Forward; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect; Grassroots International; Historians for Peace and Democracy; If Not Now; Institute for Policy Studies New Internationalism Project; International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN); Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Jewish Voice for Peace Action; Just Foreign Policy; Justice Democrats; Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention; MADRE; Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Mennonite Central Committee U.S.; Minnesota Peace Project; MPower Change Action Fund; National Council of Churches; National Iranian American Council; Neighbors for Peace; Nonviolent Peaceforce; PAX; Pax Christi USA; Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness; Peace Action; Project on Middle East Democracy; Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; Quixote Center; ReThinking Foreign Policy; Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights; RootsAction; September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows; Sojourners; The Duty Legacy; The Episcopal Church; The Unitarian Universalist Association; The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society; The Zomia Center; United Church of Christ; United for Peace and Justice; UNRWA USA; Women for Weapons Trade Transparency; Working Families Party; World BEYOND War; Yemen Freedom Council; Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation; Yemeni Alliance Committee] (October 16, 2023): https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/call-for-ceasefire-in-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territory/
Chris McGreal: The language being used to describe Palestinians is genocidal: I covered the Rwandan genocide as a reporter. The language spilling out of Israel after the butchery of the Hamas attacks is eerily familiar (October 16, 2023): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/16/the-language-being-used-to-describe-palestinians-is-genocidal
Jewish groups rally at White House urging Biden to push for Gaza ceasefire: At least 30 people reportedly arrested, with protestors accusing Israeli government of planning genocide (October 16, 2023): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/16/ifnotnow-jewish-voice-for-peace-protest-groups-white-house-biden
Minnesota Jews Against Genocide March calls for cease-fire in Gaza (October 16, 2023): https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/10/16/minnesota-jews-against-genocide-march-calls-for-ceasefire-in-gaza
Win Without War: We Strongly Condemn the Israeli Government’s Collective Punishment of People in Palestine (October 16, 2023): https://winwithoutwar.org/we-strongly-condemn-the-israeli-governments-collective-punishment-of-people-in-palestine/
Joint faculty statement calls for end to ‘ethic of collective punishment’ in Israel-Hamas war: At least 70 faculty members from across Yale University have signed onto a collective statement calling for all parties “to respect the lives and basic human rights of civilians.” (October 17, 2023): https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/10/17/joint-faculty-statement-calls-for-end-to-ethic-of-collective-punishment-in-israel-hamas-wa & https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSds4DrUyInhsb_Wb5NuNXhn2tZcU7-Z8fglPT8X2wu2KGqc9w/viewform
Public Statement: Scholars Warn of Potential Genocide in Gaza [850+ signatures] (October 17, 2023; updated on October 20, 2023): https://twailr.com/public-statement-scholars-warn-of-potential-genocide-in-gaza/
Quaker organizations call for a ceasefire and humanitarian protections in Gaza [Signed by: American Friends Service Committee; Canadian Friends Service Committee; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Friends World Committee for Consultation; Quakers in Britain; Quakers Australia; Quaker United Nations Office] (October 17, 2023): https://afsc.org/newsroom/quaker-organizations-call-ceasefire-and-humanitarian-protections-gaza
Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference: Southern African Catholic Bishops of South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini Call for “ceasefire” in the Holy Land (October 17, 2023): https://sacbc.org.za/southern-africa-catholic-bishops-call-for-ceasefire-in-the-holy-land/
Unifor appeals for an immediate end to violence in Israel and Gaza to avert a humanitarian catastrophe (October 17, 2023): https://www.unifor.org/news/all-news/unifor-appeals-immediate-end-violence-israel-and-gaza-avert-a-humanitarian
Groups in Albuquerque request ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war (October 18, 2023): https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-request-ceasefire-israel-hamas-wa45576635
Healthcare workers demand an end to the siege on Gaza (October 18, 2023): https://tempestmag.org/2023/10/healthcare-workers-demand-an-end-to-the-siege-on-gaza/
Hispanic Federation Statement on Israel-Gaza Conflict (October 18, 2023): https://www.hispanicfederation.org/media/press_releases/hf_statement_on_israel-gaza_conflict/
Israeli politician who lost friends in Hamas attack calls for an end to the Gaza bombings: Ofer Cassif and the Hadash-Ta’al opposition party are outliers in a mostly unified parliament (October 18, 2023): https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/israeli-hadash-politician-1.7000378
The Coptic Orthodox Church condemns the unjustified Israeli violence against innocent Palestinian civilians (October 18, 2023): https://copticorthodox.church/en/2023/10/18/the-coptic-orthodox-church-condemns-the-unjustified-israeli-violence-against-innocent-palestinian-civilians/
Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Council statement on Gaza and Israel (October 18, 2023): https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-general-council-statement-gaza-and-israel
AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE ART COMMUNITY TO CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS [4300+ signatures] (October 19, 2023): https://www.artforum.com/columns/open-letter-art-community-cultural-organizations-518019/
Daria Saburova, a member of the European Network of Solidarity with Ukraine: Why Ukrainians should support Palestinians: How can we look at images of Gaza and not see Mariupol or Bakhmut? (October 19, 2023): https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odukraine-israel-palestine-russia-zelenskyi-hamas-gaza-offensive/
Educational Institute of Scotland Statement on Israel and Palestine Conflict Escalation (October 19, 2023): https://www.eis.org.uk/latest-news/israelpalestine
Exclusive: ‘Mutiny Brewing’ Inside State Department Over Israel-Palestine Policy: Morale is low, and some staffers are preparing to formally express their opposition to President Joe Biden's approach, officials told HuffPost. (October 19, 2023): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-gaza_n_6531a23ae4b0da897ab75ce4
International Sociological Association: Statement on the Situation in Israel and Palestine (October 19, 2023): https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/about-isa/isa-human-rights-committee/statement-on-the-situation-in-israel-and-palestine
Jewish activists arrested at US Congress anti-Israel protest amid Gaza war: Demonstrators from anti-war group Jewish Voice for Peace rallied against ‘Israel’s ongoing oppression of Palestinians’. (October 19, 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/19/jewish-activists-arrested-at-us-congress-sit-in-calling-for-gaza-ceasefire
Maoz Inon: Hamas killed my parents, but Israel’s war is not the answer: We need to break the cycle of violence. (October 19, 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/19/hamas-killed-my-parents-but-israels-war-is-not-the-answer
Right-wing media make bad faith comparison between Jewish-led protest against Israel's war in Gaza and the January 6 insurrection (October 19, 2023): https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-make-bad-faith-comparison-between-jewish-led-protest-and-january-6
A statement from overseas Hongkongers and Tibetans in solidarity with Palestine (October 20, 2023): https://lausancollective.com/2023/overseas-hongkongers-tibetans-solidarity-palestine/
Amnesty International: Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza (October 20, 2023): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/
California Domestic Workers Coalition In Solidarity with Calls to End Genocide in Gaza (October 20, 2023): https://www.cadomesticworkers.org/news/cdwc-in-solidarity-with-calls-to-end-genocide-in-gaza/
Former staffers press Warren to call for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war: The letter was signed by more than 260 staffers from Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign. (October 20, 2023): https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/20/warren-staffers-ceasefire-israel-hamas-war-00122674 & https://medium.com/@warrenstaff4peace/dear-senator-warren-9a8055d97f2f
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Yesterday I met with family members of hostages currently in Gaza. They said: “We can do it all. We can fight for our families held hostage by Hamas, stand against occupation, stand with impacted Israelis, stand up for innocent Palestinians.” May their humanity be an example. (October 20, 2023): https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1715462413544251641
Sen. John Fetterman’s Former Campaign Staffers Urge Him to Support Israel–Hamas Ceasefire (October 20, 2023): https://theintercept.com/2023/10/20/john-fetterman-ceasefire-israel-hamas/
International Association of Lawyers (Union Internationale des Avocats): The UIA Calls on the State of Israel to comply with International Humanitarian Law and Condemns all Violence Against Civilians (October 20, 2023): https://www.uianet.org/en/news/uia-calls-state-israel-comply-international-humanitarian-law-and-condemns-all-violence-against
PUBLIC STATEMENT by the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) on behalf of the churches listed below. ["Public Statement from NCCA President, Rev John Gilmore, on behalf of Anglican Church of Australia, Antiochian Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Chinese Methodist Church of Australia, Churches of Christ in Australia, Congregational Federation of Australia and New Zealand, Coptic Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, Indian Orthodox Church, Quakers Australia, The Salvation Army, Uniting Church in Australia, Australian Baptist Ministries."] (October 20, 2023): https://www.ncca.org.au/news/media-releases/item/3220-ncca-public-statement-20231020
‘There Are Options for Israel That Do Not Involve Killing Thousands of Civilians’: Now-former U.S. official Josh Paul explains why he resigned rather than pave the way for more arms transfers to Israel as it battles Hamas. (October 20, 2023): https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/20/josh-paul-israel-civilians-00122716
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) Helps Initiate Labor Call for Ceasefire in Israel and Palestine (October 20, 2023): https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2023/ue-helps-initiate-labor-call-for-ceasefire-in-israel-and-palestine
Working Families Party: “There is no military solution to this conflict, and there never has been” (October 20, 2023): https://workingfamilies.org/2023/10/wfp-there-is-no-military-solution-to-this-conflict-and-there-never-has-been/
Catholic Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Sako Calls International Community to Help End Military Operations in Palestine and Allow Entry of Humanitarian Aid - FULL TEXT (October 21, 2023): https://www.catholicnewsworld.com/2023/10/catholic-chaldean-patriarch-cardinal.html
Ceasefire now, end the siege, for a just and lasting peace: Issued on Saturday, October 21, 2023 [250+ signatures, including: Association of United Ukrainian Canadians; Canadian Arab Federation; Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; Canadian Council of Imams; Canadian Federation of Medical Students; Canadian Freelance Union; Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council; Canadian Palestinian Professional Foundation; Canadian Union of Postal Workers; Canadian Union of Public Employees; Canadian Unitarian Council; Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Independent Jewish Voices Canada; Islamic Institute Of Toronto; Jewish Faculty Network; Law Union of Ontario; Martha Justice Ministry - Sisters of St. Martha; Mennonite Central Committee Canada; National Farmers Union; National Union of Public and General Employees; Oxfam Canada; Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada; Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal, Social Action Office; Save the Children Canada; United Church of Canada; Unifor; United Jewish People’s Order; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom] (October 21, 2023): https://ceasefirenow.ca/who-we-are
From Idlib to Gaza: Syrians demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinians: Residents of Syria’s opposition-held northwest demonstrate in support of Palestinians facing displacement and bombardment in Gaza—an experience many of them share. (October 21, 2023): https://syriadirect.org/from-idlib-to-gaza-syrians-demonstrate-in-solidarity-with-palestinians/
Gaza children traumatised by bombardment with ground war to start (October 21, 2023): https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-children-traumatised-by-bombardment-with-ground-war-start-2023-10-21/
Statement on Gaza by the Executive Committee of the American Studies Association (October 21, 2023): https://theasa.net/gazastatement
A lot of despair right now: Interview with an Israeli anarchist (October 22, 2023): https://freedomnews.org.uk/2023/10/22/a-lot-of-despair-right-now-interview-with-an-israeli-anarchist/
Ontario Federation of Labour joins the call for immediate ceasefire (October 22, 2023): https://ofl.ca/ontario-labour-joins-the-call-for-immediate-ceasefire-aid-to-gaza-and-a-just-and-lasting-peace/
Joint Statement Calling for an End to the Siege and Bombardment of Gaza: Signed by over 1,800 U.S. Rhodes, Fulbright, Truman, Marshall, Knight-Hennessy, Schwarzman, Paul and Daisy Soros, Luce, and other Scholars. [1800+ signatures] (Updated on Oct 23, 2023): https://medium.com/@scholarscoalition/joint-statement-calling-for-an-end-to-the-siege-and-bombardment-of-gaza-96cd2b5cd690
Lana Bastašić: I grew up in Bosnia, amid fear and hatred of Muslims. Now I see Germany’s mistakes over Gaza: As a child, I saw what follows ethnic cleansing. That’s why I am speaking out about my new home’s silence over Palestinian deaths (October 23, 2023): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/23/bosnia-muslims-germany-gaza-ethnic-cleansing-palestinian
‘Not in our name’: Jewish peace activists across the US call for immediate ceasefire and justice for Palestinians (October 23, 2023): https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/23/us/jewish-palestinian-protest-israel-gaza/index.html
‘Not in my name’: The European Jews condemning Israel’s war on Gaza (October 23, 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/23/not-in-my-name-the-european-jews-condemning-israels-war-on-gaza
Rev. Jeffrey Haggray, American Baptist Home Mission Societies: PLEASE! Not in my name! (October 23, 2023): https://abhms.org/about-us/news/please-not-in-my-name/
Secretary-General of the Syrian Opposition Coalition Haytham Rahmeh Condemns International Silence Amid Ongoing Gaza Bombing (October 23, 2023): https://en.etilaf.org/all-news/news/rahmeh-condemns-international-silence-amid-ongoing-gaza-bombing
United Nations: Amid Increasingly Dire Humanitarian Situation in Gaza, Secretary-General Tells Security Council Hamas Attacks Cannot Justify Collective Punishment of Palestinian People (October 24, 2023): https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15462.doc.htm
Whistleblower Josh Paul: ‘Political pressure’ helps Israel skirt US arms rules: A Q&A with the State Department director who resigned in protest of the administration’s approach to the war in Gaza. (October 24, 2023): https://responsiblestatecraft.org/josh-paul-us-israel-weapons/
For Israel, the Equivalent of 15 9/11s. For Gaza, It's Now Up to More Than 260 9/11s. (October 25, 2023): https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/comparing-oct-7-to-sept-11
The Growing Jewish Resistance to Israel’s War on Palestine: Jewish socialists and progressives in the U.S. are organizing to say that “never again” means never again for anyone. (October 25, 2023): https://inthesetimes.com/article/jewish-socialist-dsa-israel-palestine-gaza-cease-fire
These Israeli Survivors Don’t Want Revenge: Despite the loud calls for vengeance within Israel, many survivors of Hamas’s October 7 massacres, as well as relatives of those killed or kidnapped, are speaking out against the war on Gaza. (October 25, 2023): https://www.thenation.com/article/world/these-israeli-survivors-dont-want-revenge/
Humanitarian Practice Network: Responses to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israel (October 26, 2023): https://odihpn.org/publication/responses-to-the-humanitarian-situation-in-gaza-and-israel/
UNISON calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel: The union condemns the rising death toll of Palestinian civilians – especially children – caused by Israel’s bombardment (October 26, 2023): https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2023/10/unison-calls-for-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza-and-israel/
Gaza: The case for a ceasefire Chatham House (October 27, 2023): https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/10/gaza-case-ceasefire
United for Peace and Justice: Demand an Immediate Ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza War (October 27, 2023): https://www.unitedforpeace.org/2023/10/27/demand-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-the-israel-gaza-wa
Benzion Sanders: I Fought for the I.D.F. in Gaza. It Made Me Fight for Peace. [Sanders: "Those three fateful weeks inside the Gaza Strip transformed me from a deeply religious, Modern Orthodox yeshiva student and West Bank settler into an activist with the movement opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, first with the antiwar veterans organization Breaking the Silence and now with Extend, a group that connects Palestinian and Israeli human rights leaders with American Jewish audiences."] (October 28, 2023): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/opinion/international-world/gaza-idf-israel-veterans.html
Fr. Faltas: Gaza looks like hell on earth: The Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, Fr. Ibrahim Faltas, describes the situation and the feelings of the local Christian community as war in the Holy Land escalates further. (October 28, 2023): https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2023-10/fr-faltas-war-in-holy-land-like-hell-on-earth.html
Jewish Socialists' Group: Ceasefire now. End the siege of Gaza. (October 28, 2023): https://www.jewishsocialist.org.uk/news/item/ceasefire-now-end-the-siege-of-gaza
UAW 2865 & UAW 5810 Statement on Palestine (October 28, 2023): https://uaw2865.org/uaw-2865-uaw-5810-statement-on-palestine/
Pope Francis calls for a ceasefire in the Holy Land (October 29, 2023): https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-10/pope-francis-angelus-29-october-appeal-peace-gaza-holy-land.html
‘There is zero work’: Occupied West Bank paralysed as economy stalls: Israel-ordered shutdowns and settler attacks in occupied West Bank take devastating toll on Palestinian economy. (October 29, 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/29/there-is-zero-work-occupied-west-bank-paralysed-as-economy-stalls
American Anthropological Association Calls for an End to the Violence in the Middle East (October 30, 2023): https://americananthro.org/news/aaa-calls-for-an-end-to-the-violence-in-the-middle-east/
Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army Colonel and former diplomat: The US Government Is Complicit in the Genocide Taking Place Inside the Gaza Ghetto (October 30, 2023): https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-complicit-israeli-genocide-gaza
Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change: Calling for Cease-fire in Israel-Gaza Strip (October 30, 2023): https://thekingcenter.org/calling-for-cease-fire-in-israel-gaza-strip/
Belgian unions refuse handling arms shipments for Israel-Hamas conflict (October 31, 2023): https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belgian-unions-refuse-handling-arms-shipments-israel-hamas-conflict-2023-10-31/
Carter Center Calls for Cease-fire in Gaza, Return of Hostages, Opening of Humanitarian Corridors (October 31, 2023): https://www.cartercenter.org/news/p2023/carter-center-statement-israel-palestine-103123.html
Despite Intimidation, Union Voices Get Louder for Ceasefire in Gaza (October 31, 2023): https://labornotes.org/blogs/2023/10/despite-intimidation-union-voices-get-louder-ceasefire-gaza
Party of the European Left: The European Left condemns the Israeli war on Gaza and the attack on over 2 million Palestinians there. (October 31, 2023): https://www.european-left.org/the-european-left-condemns-the-israeli-war-on-gaza-and-the-attack-on-over-2-million-palestinians-there/
Child Rights International Network's statement on children's rights in Palestine and Israel (November 1, 2023): https://home.crin.org/readlistenwatch/stories/statement-childrens-rights-palestine-israel
Evangelicals Call for an Immediate Ceasefire in the Holy Land, Urgent Action Towards a Just Peace [Statement signed by Middle East and North Africa Evangelical Alliance; Asia Evangelical Alliance; Alianza Evangelica Latina; Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia; Jordan Evangelical Council; Evangelical Fellowship of India; Association of the Iraqi National Evangelical Churches; Evangelical Alliance of Kenya; Evangelical Churches Alliance Qatar; Evangelical Alliance of South Africa; National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka; National Churches Fellowship of Nepal; Council of the Evangelical Churches in Iraqi Kurdistan Region; Evangelical Fellowship of Egypt; Evangelical Alliance of Arabic speakers in Europe; Caleb Institute, India; Middle East and North Africa Association for Theological Education (MENATE); Peace and Reconciliation Network] (November 1, 2023): https://mena-ea.org/evangelicals-call-for-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-the-holy-land-urgent-action-towards-a-just-peace/
A Dangerous Conflation: An open letter from Jewish writers ["We are Jewish writers, artists, and activists who wish to disavow the widespread narrative that any criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic. Israel and its defenders have long used this rhetorical tactic to shield Israel from accountability, dignify the US’s multibillion-dollar investment in Israel’s military, obscure the deadly reality of occupation, and deny Palestinian sovereignty. Now, this insidious gagging of free speech is being used to justify Israel’s ongoing military bombardment of Gaza and to silence criticism from the international community."] (November 2, 2023): https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/a-dangerous-conflation/
American Civil Liberties Union: Why We Must Reject Efforts to Restrict Constitutionally Protected Speech on College Campuses: Calls to punish and silence student activists betray the Constitution and the spirit of free inquiry that is critical to life at public universities. (November 2, 2023): https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/why-we-must-reject-efforts-to-restrict-constitutionally-protected-speech-on-college-campuses
Biden's Israel-Gaza Approach Sidelines State Department, And Officials Fear The Worst (November 2, 2023): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-israel-hamas-gaza_n_6543a0c4e4b0cde80b8bd72e
Chile's President Gabriel Boric, after condemning Israel over Gaza, raises concerns with Biden (November 2, 2023): https://www.reuters.com/world/chiles-boric-after-condemning-israel-over-gaza-raise-concerns-with-biden-2023-11-02/
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says it would be helpful if Biden was more forceful on protecting civilians in Gaza (November 2, 2023): https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/politics/keith-ellison-joe-biden-civilians-gaza/index.html
Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Endorsement of Solidarity with Palestine Statement (November 3, 2023): https://aaastudies.org/endorsements/endorsement-of-solidarity-with-palestine-statement/
Einstein’s nightmare: the fascist politicians wielding power in Israel (November 3, 2023): https://www.redpepper.org.uk/global-politics/palestine-middle-east/einsteins-nightmare-the-fascist-politicians-wielding-power-in-israel/
Exclusive: Antony Blinken Held Private Meeting With Officials Who Formally Protested U.S. Gaza Policy: The previously unreported meeting took place on Oct. 26, a former official told HuffPost. (November 3, 2023): https://www.huffpost.com/entry/antony-blinken-state-department-gaza-dissent_n_65458434e4b01b258583ce56
Holy Synod of Patriarchate of Georgia: We condemn wars in Ukraine and Gaza and we pray for peace (November 3, 2023): https://orthodoxtimes.com/holy-synod-of-church-of-georgia-we-condemn-wars-in-ukraine-and-gaza-and-we-pray-for-peace/
Labour MP John McDonnell: Labour’s response to the crisis in Gaza is a test of whether it’s fit to govern (November 3, 2023): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/03/labour-gaza-keir-starmer-israel
Unite the Union calls for an immediate ceasefire (November 3, 2023): https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2023/novembeunite-calls-for-an-immediate-ceasefire
Michael Moore on Gaza: ‘We need to stop the slaughter’ (November 4, 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/program/upfront/2023/11/4/michael-moore-on-gaza-we-need-to-stop-the-slaughter
Senator Bernie Sanders: AIPAC has supported dozens of GOP extremists who are undermining our democracy. They’re now working hard to defeat progressive members of Congress. We won’t let that happen. Let us stand together in the fight for a world of peace, economic and social justice and climate sanity. (November 5, 2023): https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1721262098439668002
600 Jews and Muslims just met at a mosque in Israel to call for peace. Here’s what they said. (November 6, 2023): https://www.analystnews.org/posts/600-jews-and-muslims-just-met-at-a-mosque-in-israel-to-call-for-peace-in-gaza-heres-what-they-said
Doctors in Gaza Respond to Israeli Doctors Who Endorsed Bombing of Hospitals: "Israeli doctors who signed a letter promoting [the] bombing of hospitals with patients inside have committed a betrayal to their noble profession and bear responsibility," said a group of doctors in Gaza (November 6, 2023): https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-doctors-letter
International Labour Organization: Over 60 per cent of employment has been lost in Gaza since start of current conflict (November 6, 2023): https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/over-60-cent-employment-has-been-lost-gaza-start-current-conflict
Japanese Communist Party calls on governments concerned to work to stop genocide in Gaza (November 6, 2023): https://www.jcp.or.jp/english/jcpcc/blog/2023/11/20231106-gaza.html
Lutheran World Federation: Gaza is on the brink of disaster: Gaza is on the brink of disaster. In a statement released on 6 November, the LWF calls for an immediate ceasefire to enable humanitarian aid, the opening of humanitarian corridors, and adherence to International Humanitarian Law by all parties. (November 6, 2023): https://lutheranworld.org/news/gaza-brink-disaster
Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) statement on Israel and Palestine crisis (November 6, 2023): https://www.meaa.org/mediaroom/meaa-statement-on-israel-and-palestine-crisis/
Brown University faculty members call for a ceasefire in Israel-Palestine and the protection of academic freedom and student activism (November 7, 2023): https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2023/11/brown-faculty-call-for-a-ceasefire-in-israel-palestine-and-the-protection-of-academic-freedom-and-student-activism
Buddhist Peace Fellowship: True Justice, True Peace: Engaged Buddhist Response to Gaza (November 7, 2023) https://www.bpf.org/blog/true-justice-true-peace-engaged-buddhist-response-to-gaza
Council of Global Unions demands international protection and justice for the people of Palestine (November 7, 2023): https://uniglobalunion.org/news/global-unions-demand-justice-palestine/
Episcopal Church: Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on 10,000+ dead in Gaza: Stop the killing (November 7, 2023): https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/presiding-bishop-michael-curry-on-10000-dead-in-gaza-stop-the-killing/
Lebanon: Bishop of Tripoli urges international community to end conflict between Israel and Palestine (November 7, 2023): https://acninternational.org/lebanon-bishop-of-tripoli-urges-international-community-to-end-conflict-between-israel-and-palestine/
Raji Sourani: I Live in Gaza. Israel’s Horrific Bombing Campaign Is Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen Before. (November 7, 2023): https://jacobin.com/2023/11/gaza-bombing-dispatch-israeli-war-crimes-palestine-hope
SEIU 1021 Executive Board Statement Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza (November 7, 2023): https://www.seiu1021.org/article/seiu-1021-executive-board-statement-calls-ceasefire-gaza
Biden Alumni for Peace and Justice, a coalition of 500+ former 2020 Biden for President and Democratic Party staff: "We write to you as alumni of your 2020 presidential campaign. We fought tirelessly to organize millions of Americans to cast their votes for you. Like you, we believe in the dignity and value of every human life and the need for moral courage from our country’s leadership. We implore you, President Biden, to live that moral courage right now by stepping up to be a leader we can be proud of in the face of injustice. As President of the United States, you have significant influence in this perilous moment — you must call for a ceasefire, hostage exchange, and de-escalation, and take concrete steps to address the conditions of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing at the root of the horrific violence we are witnessing now." (November 8, 2023): https://medium.com/@bidenalumnipeace/dear-president-biden-8a41e0b444dd
Italian, Greek and Turkish Transport Unions Issue Joint Call to Stop Arming Israel (November 8, 2023): https://www.workersinpalestine.org/news/italian-greek-and-turkish-transport-unions-issue-joint-call-to-stop-arming-israel
‘Moral duty to stand up’: Rohingya activists join in solidarity with Palestinians (November 8, 2023): https://www.arabnews.com/node/2405551/world
Statement from American Postal Workers Union (APWU) General Officers on the Conflict in Israel and Palestine (November 8, 2023): https://apwu.org/news/international/statement-apwu-general-officers-conflict-israel-and-palestine
“Stop This Madness”: Holocaust Survivor Marione Ingram, 87, Condemns Israeli Assault & Calls for Peace (November 8, 2023): https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/8/marione_ingram_omer_bartov_holocaust_gaza
Tamar Shirinian: A plea to all Armenians to think about the genocide of the Palestinians (November 8, 2023): https://armenianweekly.com/2023/11/08/a-plea-to-all-armenians-to-think-about-the-genocide-of-the-palestinians/
Ukrainian letter of solidarity with the Palestinian people: More than 300 Ukrainian scholars, activists and artists express their solidarity with Palestinians in an open letter. (November 8, 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/11/8/ukrainian-letter-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian
When Lindsey Graham's pro-life persona meets Gaza: The South Carolina senator has a curious scorched earth approach — at least when it comes to certain children. (November 8, 2023): https://responsiblestatecraft.org/lindsey-graham-israel-gaza/
NewsGuild-CWA: Statement on the Israel-Gaza war (November 9, 2023): https://newsguild.org/statement-on-the-israel-gaza-wa
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), United Trade Union Congress (UTUC), and Independent sectoral Federations/Associations: The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and Independent Federations/Associations oppose any move to export Indian workers to Israel to replace Palestinian workers (November 9, 2023): https://agitatejournal.org/the-joint-platform-of-central-trade-unions-and-independent-federations-associations-oppose-any-move-to-export-indian-workers-to-israel-to-replace-palestinian-workers/
Sociologists for Women in Society Statement on Israel-Gaza (November 9, 2023): https://socwomen.org/sociologists-for-women-in-society-statement-on-israel-gaza-november-9-2023/
Western Liberals Need to Extend the Same Humanity to Gaza as They Did to Ukraine (November 9, 2023): https://www.liberalcurrents.com/western-liberals-need-to-extend-the-same-humanity-to-gaza-as-they-did-to-ukraine/
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières: Why the US must support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza: Humanitarian pauses are not enough to stanch the bleeding (November 10, 2023): https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/why-us-must-support-immediate-ceasefire-gaza

I watch police body cam vids somewhat frequently, and the occasional "right wing" type discussion videos and it just made me wonder what the difference is between racism and a correct pre-judgment is.
I'm sure we are all familiar with the "oh I'm not racist, its just pattern recognition, and ofc this is obviously just an attempt to look better than the racist person actually is, but in some sense, I am almost wondering if it holds true as a legit thing for those who aren't truly racist.
is there some sort of philosophical basis that this could be built upon? I tend to prefer deontology to consequentialism and the other smaller groups and thus I would be curious on what ethics this path leads. right now my general idea would be the line between legit racism and this so called "pattern recognition" would be how broadly you extend the view. "all black people are ghetto criminals" is racist. but "black people are more likely to be considered ghetto" is objectively true. but this pattern recognition call also easily fall into prejudice too if for this case I could define prejudice as a middle step between racism and pattern recognition.
my general path would be something like naive-noticing some groups do different things differently- pattern recognition- prejudice- racism- full on nazi. and the first 2 in the path would frankly be the only ones I would view as logical right?
hopefully the general theme of my question tracks thru here, and I'm more than happy to hear rebuttals and such too, as I am not fully sure if I stand by this thought process anyway.
thanks yall, have a good day.

So I’m not going to fully out myself but if someone puts the clue’s together they might know who I am?.
I grew up in Carol Stream, IL went to GBN- Glenbard North High School. A used to hang out with the “Newport shorties” which was consider the “ghetto” of the town and let’s just say those kids that lived there turned adult’s never moved out. Most of them probably still live with their parents because they’re full fledged drug addicts.
Carol stream is a quiet suburb 45 minute drive outside of Chicago. Let’s just say there’s not much to do out there so the idiots that I went to school with had drug problems.
I’m not sure if A was in my graduating class of ‘07? honestly don’t care, that’s not the point but if you talked with him you can tell he was delayed, again I don’t know him that well, he was the creep that would hit on my friend from school, and she would complain to me, that’s the only way I knew of his existence.
Probably eight or nine months ago it came to my surprise that his baby mama G was live and Jesus Christ she reminds me of my mother to a T.
Mentally unstable, uses her kid like a pun, pill head.
I have a memory of steal as I don’t alter my brain, there was a video on here of D saying that A had to get her after she snorted H. Which Dupage county had a big opioid problem. I used to be friends with a girl who told me that some parties in CS, kids where in a room shooting up, let’s Let’s just say I dropped her as my friend in my mid 20’s.
Then there’s a video of G saying, ‘A could never lose his pizza delivery job, as he works with’ “shady people”. Something along those lines. I have a relative who used to work as a delivery driver and he as well worked with a few shady ass people. Could you say you have access to drugs? Yes, yes you can. It’s not hard to add or fit the puzzle pieces if you catch my drift here!
Now to current time’s of G showing us her true self this past week of dying and going on four ER trips!
Hey G since you LOVE TO PROVIE US WRONG… show us all the after care summary reports from each ER visits, we sure would love to see them!
Non the less G, you can be an addict with doctor scripts and you provided that this past week. You legit were on camera saying that you need to speak with your psychiatrist for the addy’s. Granted you didn’t specify if it’s for a new script but by the way you were acting it seem’s to be that way.
Anywho G, you slipped your mask off and we all see the truly evil person that you are, while on and off (detoxing) these drugs that you mask your mental illness behind. It’s not cute to lie about your son well being, it’s not cute that you use him as a con in your sick gains. Get help, work towards a legitimate career, quit taking from vulnerable people! It’s sad pathetic and despicable.
All three of you G, A and D get some help!
Again my mother died at 48 of a drug addiction. She lived in CS it’s a thing there, and it was sad to see her waste her life away like you three are doing! I’m saying this to be mean, you all need a wake up calling! Specially for that little boy. Fucking better yourself. This online world is not working out. There is no opportunity around the corner, you are “famous” for the wrong reasons. You will never get brand deal or hit the jackpot of online stardom. And if and when the app goes then what? You will be left with weird tacky cups literally and figuratively!
Get help, there’s nothing wrong with admitting defeat and seeking treatment. If not for yourself then for your child.

(The Atlantic)Yesterday just before midnight, word goes out, tent to tent, student protester to student protester—a viral warning: Intruders have entered the “liberated zone,” that swath of manicured grass where hundreds of students and their supporters at what they fancy as the People’s University for Palestine sit around tents and conduct workshops about demilitarizing education and fighting settler colonialism and genocide. In this liberated zone, normally known as South Lawn West on the Columbia University quad, unsympathetic outsiders are treated as a danger.
“Attention, everyone! We have Zionists who have entered the camp!” a protest leader calls out. His head is wrapped in a white-and-black keffiyeh. “We are going to create a human chain where I’m standing so that they do not pass this point and infringe on our privacy.”
Privacy struck me as a peculiar goal for an outdoor protest at a prominent university. But it’s been a strange seven-month journey from Hamas’s horrific slaughter of Israelis—the original breach of a cease-fire—to the liberated zone on the Columbia campus and similar standing protests at other elite universities. What I witnessed seemed less likely to persuade than to give collective voice to righteous anger. A genuine sympathy for the suffering of Gazans mixed with a fervor and a politics that could border on the oppressive.
Dozens stand and echo the leader’s commands in unison, word for word. “So that we can push them out of the camp, one step forward! Another step forward!” The protesters lock arms and step toward the interlopers, who as it happens are three fellow Columbia students, who are Jewish and pro-Israel.
Jessica Schwalb, a Columbia junior, is one of those labeled an intruder. In truth, she does not much fear violence—“They’re Columbia students, too nerdy and too worried about their futures to hurt us,” she tells me—as she is taken aback by the sight of fellow students chanting like automatons. She raises her phone to start recording video. One of the intruders speaks up to ask why they are being pushed out.
The leader talks over them, dismissing such inquiries as tiresome. “Repeat after me,” he says, and 100 protesters dutifully repeat: “I’m bored! We would like you to leave!“
As the crowd draws closer, Schwalb and her friends pivot and leave. Even the next morning, she’s baffled at how they were targeted. Save for a friend who wore a Star of David necklace, none wore identifying clothing. “Maybe,” she says, “they smelled the Zionists on us.”
As the war has raged on and the death toll has grown, protest rallies on American campuses have morphed into a campaign of ever grander and more elaborate ambitions: From “Cease-fire now” to the categorical claim that Israel is guilty of genocide and war crimes to demands that Columbia divest from Israeli companies and any American company selling arms to the Jewish state.
Many protesters argue that, from the river to the sea, the settler-colonialist state must simply disappear. To inquire, as I did at Columbia, what would happen to Israelis living under a theocratic fascist movement such as Hamas is to ask the wrong question. A young female protester, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, responded: “Maybe Israelis need to check their privilege.”
Of late, at least one rabbi has suggested that Jewish students depart the campus for their own safety. Columbia President Minouche Shafik acknowledged in a statement earlier today that at her university there “have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior.” To avoid trouble, she advised classes to go virtual today, and said, “Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will not come to campus.”
Tensions have in fact kept ratcheting up. Last week, Shafik called in the New York City police force to clear an earlier iteration of the tent city and to arrest students for trespassing. The university suspended more than 100 of these protesters, accusing them, according to the Columbia Spectator, of “disruptive behavior, violation of law, violation of University policy, failure to comply, vandalism or damage to property, and unauthorized access or egress.” Even some Jewish students and faculty unsympathetic to the protesters say the president’s move was an accelerant to the crisis, producing misdemeanor martyrs to the pro-Palestinian cause. A large group of faculty members walked out this afternoon to express their opposition to the arrests and suspensions.
As for the encampment itself, it has an intifada-meets-Woodstock quality at times. Dance clubs offer interpretive performances; there are drummers and other musicians, and obscure poets reading obscure poems. Some tents break out by identity groups: “Lesbians Against Genocide,” “Hindus for Intifada.” Banners demand the release of all Palestinian prisoners. Small Palestinian flags, embroidered with the names of Palestinian leaders killed in Gaza, are planted in the grass.
During my nine-hour visit, talking with student protesters proved tricky. Upon entering the zone, I was instructed to listen as a gatekeeper read community guidelines that included not talking with people not authorized to be inside—a category that seemed to include anyone of differing opinions. I then stood in a press zone and waited for Layla Saliba, a social-work graduate student who served as a spokesperson for the protest. A Palestinian American, she said she has lost family in the fighting in Gaza. She talked at length and with nuance. Hers, however, was a near-singular voice. As I toured the liberated zone, I found most protesters distinctly nonliberated when it came to talking with a reporter.
Leaders take pains to insist that, for all the chants of “From the river to sea” and promises to revisit the 1948 founding of Israel, they are only anti-Zionist and not anti-Jewish. To that end, they’ve held a Shabbat dinner and, during my visit, were planning a Passover seder. (The students vow to remain, police notwithstanding, until graduation in May).
“We are not anti-Jewish, not at all,” Saliba said.
But to talk with many Jewish students who have encountered the protests is to hear of the cumulative toll taken by words and chants and actions that call to mind something ancient and ugly.
Earlier in the day, I interviewed a Jewish student on a set of steps overlooking the tent city. Rachel, who asked that I not include a surname for fear of harassment, recalled that in the days after October 7 an email went out from a lesbian organization, LionLez, stating that Zionists were not allowed at a group event. A subsequent email from the club’s president noted: “White Jewish people are today and always have been the oppressors of all brown people,” and “when I say the Holocaust wasn’t special, I mean that.” The only outward manifestation of Rachel’s sympathies was a pocket-size Israeli flag in a dorm room. Another student, Sophie Arnstein, told me that after she said in class that “Jewish lives matter,” others complained that her Zionist beliefs were hostile. She ended up dropping the course.
This said, the students I interviewed told me that physical violence has been rare on campus. There have been reports of shoves, but not much more. The atmosphere on the streets around the campus, on Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, is more forbidding. There the protesters are not students but sectarians of various sorts, and the cacophonous chants are calls for revolution and promises to burn Tel Aviv to the ground. Late Sunday night, I saw two cars circling on Amsterdam as the men inside rolled down their windows and shouted “Yahud, Yahud”—Arabic for “Jew, Jew”—“fuck you!”
A few minutes earlier, I had been sitting on a stone bench on campus and speaking with a tall, brawny man named Danny Shaw, who holds a master’s in international affairs from Columbia and now teaches seminars on Israel in the liberated zone. When he describes the encampment, it sounds like Shangri-la. “It’s 100 percent love for human beings and very beautiful; I came here for my mental health,” he said.
He claims no hatred for Israel, although he suggested that the “genocidal goliath” will of course have to disappear or merge into an Arab-majority state. He said he does not endorse violence, even as he likened the October 7 attacks to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during World War II.
Shaw’s worldview is consistent with that of others in the rotating cast of speakers at late-night seminars in the liberated zone. The prevailing tone tends toward late-stage Frantz Fanon: much talk of revolution and purging oneself of bourgeois affectation. Shaw had taught for 18 years at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, but he told me the liberated zone is now his only gig. The John Jay administration pushed him out—doxxed him, he said—in October for speaking against Israel and for Palestine. He was labeled an anti-Semite and remains deeply pained by that. He advised me to look up what he said and judge for myself. So I did, right on the spot.
Shortly after October 7, he posted this on X: “Zionists are straight Babylon swine. Zionism is beyond a mental illness; it’s a genocidal disease.”
A bit harsh, maybe? I asked him. He shook his head. “The rhetoric they use against us makes us look harsh and negative,” Shaw said. “That’s not the flavor of what we are doing.”
We parted shortly afterward. I walked under a near-full moon toward a far gate, protesters’ chants of revolution echoing across what was otherwise an almost-deserted campus. I could not shake the sense that too many at this elite university, even as they hoped to ease the plight of imperiled civilians, had allowed the intoxicating language of liberation to blind them to an ugliness encoded within that struggle.

Hi guys! with TTPD coming out, I thought this would be an ideal time to do a deep dive about what Matty Healy actually did and what he didn't do.
This is not intended as an apology for his actions in any way WHATSOEVER (since he is human and obviously not perfect at all), but rather as an effort to address what was spread online during the maylotatty debacle by fauxmoi and other people on twitter. The purpose of this post is to provide context and factual information to counter some of the misinformation surrounding Matty and Taylor that keeps popping up and will be popping up after the album release. I believe that accusations without any basis are dangerous, and while personal opinions about someone's character and personality may differ, it does not justify character assassination. AGAIN, this is a DEEP DIVE which means it's gonna be long. So, if you don't feel like reading, no one is forcing you to, you can move along, But, if you want to learn more about Matty or why Taylor would want to date him or why so many artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Hayley Williams, Jack Antonoff, Stevie Nicks, Lorde, etc... have been friends with him and have admired him for years keep reading.
I'll go point by point i guess... also, idk if this is worth mentioning but im a jewish woc (my jewish family immigrated to latam after WW2)
(TRIGGER WARNING)

• "At Their Very Best Tour", the "Consumption" interlude, and "Being Funny in a Foreign Language" era (broad context)

The ATVB show is a unique blend of concert and performance art, exploring thought-provoking themes like cultural overconsumption, social media, the tortured artist trope, and the crisis of toxic modern masculinity. This era pushed boundaries by blurring the lines between performance and reality.
The interlude in question, featuring Matty engaging in various provocative actions such as consuming raw steak, mimicking masturbation, crying, and performing topless push-ups in front of televised images of alt-right icons, can be seen as a commentary on modern toxic masculinity. Matty is not portraying himself during these moments but is instead assuming a character and engaging in deliberate acts as part of his performance.
By engaging in these exaggerated and controversial behaviors, he is highlighting the societal pressures and expectations placed upon men in today's world. The raw steak consumption symbolizes the primal nature associated with traditional notions of masculinity, while the mimicking of masturbation is a satirical take on the objectification and sexualization of men as well as male hyper-sexuality and porn addiction. The topless push-ups in front of the flashing images of influential figures like Andrew Tate and Ben Shapiro serve as a representation of the hypermasculine ideals perpetuated by the media.
Through this interlude, Matty is drawing attention to the performative nature of masculinity and the harmful consequences it can have on our society. During the show, he sheds lights on the pressures men face to conform to societal expectations, often at the expense of their mental and emotional well-being. The intention behind this is to spark conversation and encourage viewers to question the stereotypes and expectations placed upon modern men.
Matty's portrayal in this interlude is not a reflection of his true self or personal beliefs. He is using his platform as an artist to shed light on these issues and provoke thought and discussion.

• "N*zi" salute

Earlier last year, a tweet gained a lot of attention claiming that Matty had done a n*zi salute. However, in reality, Matty was NOT doing a Nazi salute, he was doing a military salute which he had been doing at most shows since the song I'd Love it if We Made it came out in 2018 (as part of a choreography) right before the lyric "The war has been incited". He is NOT mocking Kanye, as some swifties and tabloids have claimed, Kanye only started saying antisemitic bs post-pandemic so WAYYY later than 2018. In fact, Matty has even called out Kanye, but I digress. What he did is completely different from this or this or this (n*zi salutes). Yet, people kept sharing this picture to make people believe he had actually done a military salute, one of many examples of how people have twisted things and lied because they didn't like Taylor or him as Taylor's new boyfriend.
This situation was broken down by a jewish TikTok creator as well, here's the video (it's a good watch and it goes more in depth)

• Zionism

Despite the fact that these two terms couldn’t really be more opposite, Matty has somehow been accused of not only of being a Nazi but also a Zionist. Even though in 2022 he showed support for Palestine and disapproval of isnotreal, and has never exhibited any signs of Zionism throughout his career. In fact, for the past few months, during the theatrical section of their show where he plays current things he considers bad or nightmarish on the TVs, he included a news clip mentioning how Israeli forces are killing Palestinians. Consequently, rasing awareness of what's actually happening at every single show.

• TAFS (more context)

In February 2023, Matty made an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show, a provocative and subversive "comedy show" (not saying I personally find it funny, but it is a comedy show) associated with the Dirtbag Left movement. The interviews conducted on the show are often satirical skits that mock bigotry and right-wing individuals. The content discussed on the show is predominantly fictional, exaggerated, or intended for shock value. The aim of such satire is to mock and critique societal issues through an unconventional and comedic lens.

• Ice Spice

Following the release of the episode, Matty was accused of having mocked and been “vilely” racist towards Afro-Latina rapper Ice Spice. However, while Matty laughed during the exchange, it was comedian and co-host Nick Mullen who imitated a Chinese and Hawaiian accent. Furthermore, I should probably also note that Nick's imitation and comments weren't not directed at the artist, Ice Spice, as he was unaware of who she is. He was joking about a fictional “Inuit… chubby Chinese” Spice Girl named "Ice Spice". At the time, Ice Spice was still just rising in popularity, so when asked, Nick says that he has never heard of her and jokes about the name "Ice Spice".
Also, some people also claimed that he used a slur when in reality he didn't "Inuit" is not a slur, E****o is the slur.
video with transcript
Ice Spice's comments on the situation:
Ice, who has been a fan of the 1975 since she was a teenager — and still is — didn’t respond. “When I had heard that little podcast or whatever, I was so confused. Because I heard ‘chubby Chinese lady’ or some shit like that, and I’m like, ‘Huh? What does that even mean?’ First of all, I’m thick. What do you mean Chinese? What? But then they apologized or whatever. And the whole time, I didn’t really care. But that’s funny because I saw him at the Jean Paul Gaultier party a couple days ago, and he was like, ‘Hey, you OK?’ and I’m like, ‘Of course.’ He apologized to me a bunch of times. We’re good.”

• Ghetto Gaggers

Matty was also involved in a controversy that involved Ghetto Gaggers, a website known for featuring scenes where black women engage in oral sex and gag on the male genitalia of white men. This type of content was described as degrading abuse porn in the subreddit antipornvideos, which was later cited by fauxmoi, which was then cited by BuzzFeed.
However, it is also important to note that it was actually Adam Friedland who initially mentioned Ghetto Gaggers. Matty went along with the joke and contributed to it by saying, "Like you said, I think it literally was like Ghetto Gaggers was on the TV." Adam, in a subsequent episode clarified that he was actually joking and said, "I didn't even know if he was watching that porn" while making fun of Matty for getting cancelled because of something he made up.
video with transcript
Key remarks:
She went back in and Matty, like, on his phone and then on his 77-inch OLEDs just got Ghetto Gaggers blaring,' Friedland said....'I was, like, dressed as "guy who is jacking off," so I had, like, an untucked shirt. Like you said, I think it literally was, like, Ghetto Gaggers was on the TV.
While going along with the bit was still not a great choice and it's fair if people are still mad at him for not shutting it down, there's a big difference between actually watching that and going a long with a shitty joke on a comedy podcast.
More Context (can be skipped):
I guess I want to clarify that I don’t necessarily believe Adam Friedland watches Ghetto Gaggers, either. My understanding of Ghetto Gaggers is similar to his, I believe.
On Twitter, there is a prevalent joke or gimmick among popular male accounts (of course 🙄), often known for copying and pasting tweets or becoming the target of jokes from their own followers. When accounts gain viral tweets, it is common for someone to reply with an inappropriate video or picture, seeking a reaction from others. These videos are often extreme and fall into the realm of unethical pornography, deliberately posted to provoke a response.
In response to such replies, the OP hides the video from being directly seen in the replies. Another person, either the OP or a follower, then quote tweets the popular tweet with a message like DON’T CHECK HIDDEN/DON’T CLICK HIDDEN/DON’T LOOK AT HIDDEN,” usually making others want to view the hidden content. This is a specific aspect of Twitter culture that might not be familiar if you are not active on the platform.
Ghetto Gaggers is also popular in the meme world, which means that knowledge and references related to it can spread widely, even if individuals themselves do not personally engage with it. So, it is not surprising that a comedian that’s very aware and deep into internet culture is aware of the existence of Ghetto Gaggers. But idk much about Adam Friedland so... 🤷‍♀️

• Islamophobia

Matty's criticisms of religion are not solely directed at Islam but extend to organized religions in general.
He holds an anti-organized religion stance, expressing concerns about the principles and practices associated with organized religions as a whole, which includes Islam. However, some people have labeled him as Islamophobic due to his retweets of posts from Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a prominent Somali activist who has renounced Islam and openly discusses her reasons for doing so. She made a short film) discussing her departure from Islam and shedding light on the oppression faced by women and young girls. As a result, both she and the director of the film received death threats. Tragically, her friend, the director, was later murdered by an Islamic terrorist.
He tweeted:
“I saw a film about Islam the other night, with people saying things like ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m white’ or ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m an American’ or ‘I’m a Muslim and I'm a patriot.’ You didn't see any ‘I’m a Muslim and I’m gay.’ Or ‘I used to be a Muslim and I'm fine”
Criticism ensued following these tweets and retweets, especially during a time when openly expressing any criticism of Islam was considered unacceptable.
Following Matty’s tweet that stated, "Isis are cutting little girls heads off and you want to challenge a non-religious, humanist perspective? I don't understand the world at all," a lot of twitter users started accusing him of Islamophobia and misinterpreting his words.
Matty's tweet does not suggest that all Muslims are part of ISIS or engaged in violent acts. Instead, his comment was expressing frustration with the atrocities committed by ISIS and questioning why there is resistance towards a non-religious and humanist perspective. His intention was not to generalize or promote harmful stereotypes about Islam or Muslims.
Moreover, it is worth noting these twitter individuals immediately assumed that Matty's use of the term "ISIS" implied that he was making a blanket statement about all Muslims being killers. This knee-jerk reaction raises the question of whether these people themselves harbor underlying Islamophobic sentiments, as they were quick to associate a specific extremist group with an entire religion.
Following that, he also made these tweets.
Matty also received a lot of backlash for his tweet about the Harry Styles fan account. However, the focus of his comment was not to dismiss the person's views solely because they were a fan of Harry Styles. Rather, Matty's remark stemmed from a combination of factors, including the individual's young age and their tendency to defend their own religious beliefs without considering broader perspectives due to bias.
A clip from a 2019 interview with Matty has also been circulating, where he states, "Nowadays, I honestly think if you're like piously religious, you should be ashamed of yourself." However, this clip has been taken out of context and used as evidence to label Matty as an Islamophobe. In reality, the interview (such a good and short watch, I really recommend watching it) was centered around discussing religion as a whole and Matty's personal struggles with it.
Matty often shared memes and other content on his Instagram series "The Problem Attic", most of it coming from his own fans through direct messages. In one instance, he posted a screenshot of a deleted tweet sent by a Muslim fan that contained an inappropriate joke about dating a Muslim girl. His intention was to make fun and blast the fact that the person who made the tweet had to delete it since it was obviously inappropriate and offensive, not to promote or endorse the joke. However, the context was misconstrued by some, since some swifties kept cropping the image, leading to accusations of Islamophobia.
In response to accusations of being Islamophobic and racist, Matty shared another screenshot on his stories. This time, it was a tweet claiming that being a fan of Matty and The 1975 automatically makes one Islamophobic and racist. Matty captioned the story with "islams 💕," not to mock Muslim people, but to highlight the absurdity of these allegations. He playfully referenced the incorrect term "islams" to highlight the ignorance behind that statement, since the tweet's incorrect usage of the term "islams" instead of "Muslims" further emphasizes the lack of credibility in the accusations.

• Homophobia

In August 2019, Matty Healy kissed a fan during their performance of the LGBTQ anthem song "Loving Someone" in Dubai. However, this incident has been met with allegations of homophobia, with critics arguing that it was careless and selfish of him to kiss a fan in Dubai. Reflecting on this moment, he explained:
During ‘Loving Someone’, the stage background transforms into the gay pride flag, which the frontman said prompted security guards in Dubai to try and “pull [the band] off stage”. Instead, Healy went down to the crowd and went to hug a male fan who was holding up a sign that read: “Marry me.” “He said, ‘Can I have a kiss?’ and I was like, ‘Why not?’” Healy explained to The Sunday Times.He claimed the authorities wanted to arrest him, which he managed to avoid, but reading the reaction on Twitter made him consider “going down to the police station and hand[ing] myself in”. “When I got to Japan I was reading about it and I felt pretty irresponsible and then a bit, well, ‘Fuck that’,” he said.“Of course I’m not going to put people in danger, but I genuinely want to be an ally for people who don’t have a voice if I happen to have this big voice in pop culture. Those are the fundamental things I stand for.”Healy spoke to NME on the day of the Dubai concert, saying before the show that he would “go to jail for what I stand for”. “I would never come over here and be disrespectful to people to make a point,” he said. “But I’m never going to not stand up for women. I’m not going to not stand up for gay people. I’m not going to not stand up for minorities.”
All this happened after Matty gave a heartfelt speech condemning Dubai’s anti-lgbtq laws. He is, to this day, banned from the country.
Then last year, despite knowing the risks involved, Matty used his platform again to advocate for human rights and shed light on the discrimination faced by the LGBTQ+ community in Malaysia. The act of publicly kissing Ross MacDonald, The 1975’s bassist, (instead of kissing a fan like he did in Dubai so he wouldn't put any citizens at risk) in protest was a symbol of solidarity and defiance against oppressive laws. In a country where any display of same-sex affection can lead to imprisonment, Matty's determination to stand up for what he believes in is commandable.
However, this resulted with The 1975 being banned from Malaysia and their show abruptly cut short and despite Matty’s brave stance in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and challenging discriminatory laws, the aftermath of the protest showed double standards and brought a lot of backlash that defied logic. In a time where activism is often encouraged, especially from those with platforms and privilege (like rich white cis men), the response to Matty's actions was unexpectedly negative.
A lot of people on social media immediately started attacking Matty and The 1975 for their protest. Surprisingly, some accused them of imposing Western ideals on Malaysian culture and labeled Matty a "colonizer" for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. These people seemed to forget that the essence of the protest was rooted in a universal human truth – the right to love and express one's identity freely.
The purpose of the protest was to challenge oppressive laws, not to impose foreign values. Queerness is not exclusive to the Western world; it is a universal aspect of human experience that deserves acknowledgment and protection, regardless of geographic location.
Some also said that Matty should respect Malaysian culture, ignoring the fact that homophobia is not a cultural attribute but a violation of basic human rights. The narrative shifted from addressing the issue of discrimination to attacking Matty.
Moreover, as news of the festival cancellation spread, blame was misdirected toward Matty, despite the fact that the responsibility lays with the government. The frustration and disappointment of the local audience was understandable (for multiple factors like having paid for a ticket, patriotism, homophobia, and Stockholm syndrome for lack of a better word), but channeling that anger toward the artists rather than the authorities revealed a misplaced focus.
It seems like people in this day and age seem to forget that meaningful change often comes with disruption, and that those who speak out against injustice should be supported rather than vilified.
People dismissing Matty’s protest as performative or driven solely by a desire for popularity ignore the fact that what he did in Malaysia resulted in him spending a few hours in jail, and the government subsequently filing a lawsuit against The 1975 (they settled, so the band literally had to pay for this act of "performative activism").
Not to get into hypotheticals, but if someone like Harry had engaged in a similar protest, the likelihood of widespread support and praise would have been high.
Additionally, members of The 1975, such as Polly who is openly lesbian, demonstrate how the issue directly affected the band. The protest wasn't just an abstract statement for them; it was a message challenging the notion that it’s okay that her existence is basically against the law.
Furthermore, unfounded speculations arose suggesting that Matty's activism might have negative consequences for Malaysia's political landscape. Some claimed that his actions could lead to the victory of a conservative candidate in the election or result in more restrictive LGBTQ+ laws. However, as events unfolded, these predictions proved to be inaccurate. The conservative candidate did not win, and there was no evident escalation of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation beyond the existing oppressive laws.
Matty's protest, rather than causing harm, sparked conversations about LGBTQ+ rights in Malaysia and the need for societal change.
Matty's San Diego speech
Matty's Texas speech on the entire situation and what happened

• Rina Sawayama

Matty faced public call-outs from Rina Sawayama, a fellow artist signed to the Dirty Hit label, on two separate occasions.
They were last seen together at the Brit Awards shortly after the initial backlash due to the podcast controversy.
However, the first incident occurred way later, after he got massively canceled, during a performance at Glastonbury, where Rina said, “I wrote this next song because I was sick and tired of these microaggressions. So tonight, this goes out to a white man that watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast… He also owns my masters. I’ve had enough!” She said as Blind by Korn was playing.
If you've made it this far into the deep dive you'd know by now that what she's saying is not exactly true... but I digress.
Dirty Hit, originally founded as a label for The 1975, expanded its roster to include other artists, with Rina being one of their notable signings. During her speech at Glastonbury, Rina claimed that Matty Healy owned her masters, which gained considerable attention given the ongoing discussions surrounding artist control over their master recordings, as exemplified by Taylor Swift's public battle after her music was "stolen". However, it is important to clarify that Matty does not own Rina's masters. He simply holds a 4.09% share in Dirty Hit, which led to a lot of confusion regarding why Rina would make that accusation.
Second speech
The second incident, which is speculated to also be about Matty, took place during a performance in Lisbon in July 2023, where Rina said, “So I’ve been thinking a lot about apologies. Isn’t it funny how some people get away with not apologizing ever? For saying some racist shit, for saying some sexist shit? So let’s try this: Why don’t you apologize for once in your life without making it about your fucking self?” as ‘Blind’ by Korn started playing again.

• Matty's apologies and attempts to take responsibility

- Five min long apology: During a live show in New Zealand back in April 2023, Matty took a moment to apologize for his past actions and comments, addressing the controversy surrounding his involvement in TAFS. He discussed the concept of his show, which delved into the complexities of fame, masculinity, and sincerity. He admitted that sometimes he took his jokes too far, and in doing so, might have been irresponsible in front of a large audience. He acknowledged that it made him feel embarrassed and apologetic for any unintended offense caused by his remarks. He expressed remorse for any hurt feelings and clarified that he never intended to be mean-spirited or hurt anyone with his humor. His speech was clearly unscripted, and he used a lot of filler words like “and,” "like," “a bit,” ”kind of,” "kinda," ”a little,” and "you know," which is not uncommon for him, especially when he's nervous or speaking candidly. Despite his efforts to express remorse and take accountability for any harm caused, some people have unfairly focused on a 45-second clip taken out of context from his almost five-minute-long apology.
- Finsbury apology: During The 1975's biggest show at Finsbury Park, with a sold-out crowd of 50,000 people, Matty addressed the evolution of their live performances. He acknowledged the influence of TikTok and the impact of virality, explaining that the show had to adapt and evolve to maintain its authenticity and surprise. Matty touched upon his personal journey, referencing his time spent alone, exploring various ideas and themes that shaped the show. He expressed his excitement and gratitude for the massive crowd before him, emphasizing his dedication to making people laugh and feel good through his art. He also admitted that there were jokes and statements he made in the past that he would take back if given the chance, demonstrating his willingness to learn and grow.
part 1 and 2
- Belfast speech: angle 1 and 2
- Matty quits all social media and announces his “era of being an arsehole” has come to an end
- Matty resigns from his position of creative director at Dirty Hit in early April 2023
---

• Some of Matty's activism throughout the years
  
• Matty speaking out about misogyny in the music industry during his speech at the brits and his radio interview
  
• Matty’s speech about Alabama's anti-abortion laws
  
• The 1975 helped fund the LGBTQ+ center in London
  
• Matty was named ally of the year at the 2019 Diva Awards.
  
• Matty was in the cover of Attitudes “The Activist & Allies” Issue
  

-In December 2022, he performed at the 8th annual Ally Coalition benefit show in support of LGBTQ+ youth

• Matty’s speech about the Orlando shooting
  
• The 1975’s Matty Healy makes emotional speech on Trump and Brexit as they play first night at The O2
  

transcript

• Matty’s speech about the Manchester bombing
  
• In 2020, Matty invited Greta Thunberg to record a speech about climate change for a 1975 track.
  
• Matty’s speech about his disapproval of Trump
  
• Matty’s speech about Brexit
  
• The 1975’s partnership with the ‘It Gets Better’ project
  

- Matty’s work with Amnesty International:
- Write for Rights campaign

• Matty speaks out in support of students on trial for celebrating Pride

-Matty demands justice for Gustavo Gatica

• Matty speaks out in support of Yasaman Aryani
  
• Matty kisses male fan in Dubai
  
• They supported Planned Parenthood along with other artists
  
• Matty is an active supporter of charities such as Mind, The Ally CoalitionWar Child and Help Refugees
  
• Their tours are eco friendly: impact report 1, 2, and 3
  
• Matty celebrates the rights of #EveryChild with UNICEF
  
• Matty’s pro-strike stance: British strike and union strikes
  
• Matty's support of Scottish independence
  

I only discussed his most popular accusations since I couldn't really get into every single accusation made during that time period. But, if you're still curious or want to read more about another one of his controversies or learn about some of his activism, this slideshow pretty much breaks down all of that. (I know people don't like slideshows and prefer getting their information from twitter threads but that doc has links to every single source as well as full videos, articles, etc... which can't be done on twitter so yeah... sorry)
Again, I don't think he is perfect. In my opinion, even though he did not do the things people on twittetiktok claimed he did, he did put himself in that position by going to a podcast where those types of jokes are made which is unfortunate. But, at the same time, I do think there's a huge a difference between the two and considering all of the activism he has made throughout the years I think he deserved at least the benefit of the doubt. The 1975 is a political band and Matty is an outspoken person which means sometimes he gets it right and sometimes he gets it wrong.
lmk if you're interested in me discussing anything else or doing a post fully breaking down every controversy, their relationship, or any Taylor situation for that matter (I like deep dives :) ). Hope this is at least a bit insightful.
I apologize for any layout or grammar mistakes, I have finals coming up, but I'll try to answer any questions you may have about the situation.
FREE PALESTINE.

https://twitter.com/normfinkelstein/status/1781052474926743820
My Mother once told me the story of an emaciated woman in the Warsaw Ghetto who would wail from her window sill that all the Jews in the ghetto would be killed. She came to be called Cassandra, after the prophetess of doom in Greek mythology. Everyone just assumed that she was mad. My Mother speculated in retrospect that somehow she had become privy to the truth: Jews weren’t being “relocated” in the East; they were being transported to their deaths.
I have hesitated thus far to sound the alarm. But at the risk of being thought mad, it must, as an act of political responsibility, be said out loud: Israel is hurling toward the precipice and dragging the rest of the world with it.
A rational analysis of the current predicament must begin with this bedrock fact: Israel is a crazy state. Not a “bad actor.” Not a “rogue” regime. A crazy state. The full range of Israeli elite opinion, itself reflective of Israeli society at large (which overwhelmingly supports the genocidal war in Gaza; only a handful of Israelis have refused to serve), spans a mere flea’s hop:
AT ONE POLE stand “crackpot realists,” of whom sociologist C. Wright Mills wrote in the American context: “they have come to believe that there ... is no other solution but war, even when they sense that war can be a solution to nothing ... they still believe that ‘winning’ means something, although they never tell us what.” (1) Professor Benny Morris is cut squarely from this mold. He is urbane, educated, secular—and a crackpot. He once even “proved” that Israeli Jews couldn’t coexist with barbarian Palestinians by inter alia mustering stats on how many more road accidents Palestinians got into! (2) Morris exhorts the US to join in an attack on Iran and then rattles the threat that if Washington doesn’t rise to the occasion, Israel will go it alone by nuking Iran. He must be cognizant as he breezily proffers such counsel that an attack would not only incinerate tens of millions of Iranians—he reckons they have it coming—but also trigger a terminal retaliation. Hezbollah alone is alleged to possess 150,000 missiles. It’s a circuitous auto-da-fé. That prospect, however, doesn’t appear to faze Morris one bit.
AT THE OTHER POLE stand full-blown crazies—or those just one step short of this threshold. “The greatest danger facing Israel right now,” Noam Chomsky presciently observed already four decades ago, “is the ‘collective version’ of Samson’s revenge against the Philistines—‘Let me perish with the Philistines’—as he brought down the Temple in ruins.” The Samson clones ensconced in Jerusalem have either already gone mad—“we shall kill and bury the Gentiles around us while we ourselves shall die with them”—or pretend to “go crazy” so as to terrify enemies and allies alike into submission. Feigned lunacy, be it noted, easily transmutes into the real thing as the imaginary phantoms one repeatedly conjures seep into the psyche’s inner chambers. The upshot is that this madness, real or contrived, “renders rational calculations ... questionable” as Israel “may behave in the manner of what have sometimes been called ‘crazy states.’” (3) A report in yesterday’s paper fleshes out in real time this Israeli propensity to unhinged outbursts: when one senior Israeli official counseled caution, if only in the immediate term, after Iran’s symbolic retaliation, a far-right cabinet minister demanded on the contrary that Israel go “crazy.” (4)
*
The April 14 speech at the Security Council emergency session by Israel’s representative, Gilad Erdan, brought home just how lunatic Israel has become. Presenting a master class in—if nothing else—proximate projection, Erdan was seemingly persuaded to the bone of his being that “the Islamic regime of today is ... no different than Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.... Just like the Nazi regime, the Ayatollah regime sows death and destruction everywhere.... For years, the world has watched the rise of this Shite Islamist Reich, yet just like during the rise of Nazism, the world has been silent”; that “Iran’s hegemonic ambitions of global domination must be stopped before it drives the world to a point of no return, to a regional war that can escalate to a world war”; that Iran was “barreling towards nuclear capabilities ... its breakout time to produce an arsenal of
nuclear weapons is now weeks, mere weeks.” If the world didn’t rein in Iran, then Israel had no recourse except to bear this crushing burden on its own of stopping Hitler’s Third Reich: “We are being fired upon from all fronts, from every border. We are surrounded by Iran’s terror proxies.... All of the terror groups attacking Israel are tentacles of the same Shiite octopus, the Iranian octopus. So, I ask you, and be honest with yourselves, what would you do? What would you do if you were in Israel’s shoes? How would you react if your existence was threatened every single day? Israel cannot settle for inaction. We will defend our future.” Holding up his iPad to display an image of Israel allegedly intercepting an Iranian drone over al-Aqsa mosque, Erdan even claimed for Israel the mantle of the true guardian of Islam’s holy sites—“look at this video that shows how Israel intercepts Iranian drones above the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa mosque”—against the defilers of them in Teheran. The tonal register of his rhetorical delivery was as if a defiant accusation, Who dares doubt me?! “In every speech and in countless letters,” Erdan further recalled, “I rang the warning bell regarding Iran.” He got right that the bell must be sounded; but he got wrong from whence the madness emanates. Medice, cura te ipsum. If Erdan represents even half of the Israeli state and society—the fraction is arguably much higher—a catastrophe looms. True, Israeli leaders have in the past uttered certifiable lunacies. It is sufficient to recall Prime Minister Netanyahu holding up a Loony Tunes-like cartoon of the Iranian bomb at the UN and his pronouncement that it was not Hitler but the Palestinian Mufti of Jerusalem who masterminded the Final Solution. Indeed, already as far back as the 1978 Camp David negotiations, President Carter mused about Israel’s head of state, “It’s becoming clearer that the rationality of [Menachem] Begin is in doubt.” (5) All the same, a civilizational leap backwards separates the Israel that once was from what it has become. Israel’s UN representative at the time of the 1967 (“Six-Day”) war, Abba Eban, could serially prevaricate—albeit with consummate eloquence, as befitted the triple-first graduate of Cambridge—without batting an eyelash. But still, it was possible to rationally parse his propositions (as I once endeavored) to prove them wrong. (6) It is no more possible to parse Erdan’s speech than a psychopath’s rant.
*
It might be urged upon Iran to tread lightly so as not to agitate the lunatic in the room. But alas, that is not, in my opinion, a viable option. The documentary record demonstrates that, once Israel has fixed a country in its crosshairs, nothing short of abject submission will bring it to desist. If the “enemy” power resists initial provocation, Israel will keep escalating with another and another provocation until it proves politically untenable for the targeted entity to passively absorb further blows. That’s what happened when Israel targeted Egypt’s Gamel Abdel Nasser in the early 1950s. (7) (It was feared by Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion that the “radical nationalist” Egyptian president might one day preside over a modern state able to check Israel’s regional ambitions.) That’s what happened when Israel targeted the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon in the early 1980s. (8) (It was feared by Israeli Prime Minister Begin that the PLO’s “peace offensive”—the Palestinians supported but Israelis opposed a two-state settlement—would bring international pressure on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.) That’s what happened in 2002 during the second intifada when Israel carried out targeted assassinations of Palestinian leaders. (9) (It was feared by Prime Minister Sharon that the Palestinians would stop armed attacks in exchange for a negotiated ceasefire.) That’s what happened in 2008 when Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas in order to launch Operation Cast Lead. (10) (It was feared by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert that Hamas would gain international legitimacy as it moderated its political program.) The lamentable truth is that, short of national suicide, Iran cannot exercise the option of inaction: Israel will almost certainly keep ratcheting up the provocations until Teheran has no choice but to respond. It wouldn’t surprise were Israel to assassinate Ayatollah Khamenei then (wink, wink) deny it.
*
The Israeli government has ever been on the alert to exploit opportunities in order to implement its preconceived plans. In 1989, during the Tiananmen Square massacre, Benjamin Netanyahu urged his government to exploit this media distraction by carrying out a mass expulsion of Palestinians in the West
Bank. On November 4, 2008, when the United States elected its first Black president, Prime Minister Olmert exploited this media distraction by breaking the ceasefire with Hamas. On July 17, 2014, when a Malaysian airliner flying over Ukraine was downed, Prime Minister Netanyahu exploited this media distraction by launching the murderous ground invasion of Gaza in Operation Protective Edge. The pretexts of October 7 and now Iran’s “retaliation” present the lunatics in Jerusalem with an unprecedented opportunity to rid Israel of the triple challenge to its regional domination: by destroying Gaza, Hezbollah, and Iran; the “fog” of such an explosion would also enable Israel’s ethnic cleaning of the West Bank. If it is hoped that a sane cabal among the Israeli leadership will crystallize to stop this headlong lurch over the precipice, then it must be said that the odds are against it. Hitler’s biographer, Ian Kershaw, observed that, if it took so long for coup plans to hatch against the Fuhrer, it was because of “a deep sense of obedience to authority and service to the state,” the belief that it was “not merely wrong, but despicable and treacherous to undermine one’s own country in war,” and “even as the military disasters mounted and ultimate catastrophe beckoned, the fanatical backing for Hitler had by no means evaporated and continued, if as a minority taste, to show remarkable resilience and strength.”(11) It’s hard not to notice cognate factors at play in elite Israeli circles. On the last point, whereas Netanyahu’s critics have been writing his political obituary for years, he too keeps bouncing back notwithstanding his missteps. Why? Because Israelis see their reflection in him. Indeed, Netanyahu IS Israel: an obnoxious, narcissistic Jewish supremacist for whom only Jews reckon in God’s grand design. It must, finally, be acknowledged that not all Israeli fears are unfounded—the wish is by now widespread that Israel vanish from the map while its capacity has diminished to terrorize its neighbors into submission. But, for the most part, it is a corner that Israel has boxed itself into. Indeed, before October 7 Hamas had gestured toward a two-state settlement while Iran consistently voted with the UN General Assembly majority in support of the two-state consensus. Israel rebuffed it.
Will Prime Minister Netanyahu resist the irresistible temptation to cut the Gordian regional knot or, like Samson, will he bring down the Temple—the rest of us—with him? Cassandra would probably say: All bets are off!
References

1. Mills, Causes of World War III.
2. Morris, One State, Two States.
3. Chomsky, Fateful Triangle. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh later elaborated on Chomsky’s insights in The Samson Option.
4. New York Times, April 15, 2024.
5. Carter, White House Diary.
6. Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict.
7. Benny Morris, Border Wars.
8. Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation.
9. Norman Finkelstein, Beyond Chutzpah.
10. Norman Finkelstein, Gaza.
11. Kershaw, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis.

GOOOOD MORNING DRAUN!!! How are all you fine people doing this day? How was the week? I know mine has been interesting: new job, writing this chapter long hand, then typing and rewriting it. It was something, to say the least. Now onto the chapter. This week we have Kyroll and Martinez traveling to the hunting grounds, and stopping off to talk with Kyrolls boss.
I wont keep you any longer Let's get this Bread!!!
Kyroll’s truck lumbered down the dirt road heading out the northern exit of Celna. The old red pickup's engine struggled to keep time, occasionally popping like a gunshot when a cylinder misfired. Along with the horrible tuning, the otherwise calm evening's sounds were interrupted by the squealing timing belt and the grinding clutch.
If it was Martinez’s own vehicle, he might have some concern for the old beater, but it was not, so it was in no way his issue. If Kyroll did not want to give his vehicle proper care and maintenance, it was his problem. He would have to pay for it anyway.
Lord knew he and Nelya had enough money to fix the truck; they were loaded beyond anything Martinez could genuinely fathom. Yeah, he had a rough Idea, but he grew up in an LA ghetto, not on a massive plot of land that took an entire day to traverse.
Part of Martinez thought that the dereliction of care was just another example of Kyroll being stubborn to the point that it was detrimental—but that was likely just his negative bias against the man barking its objections to the man's existence.
Martinez looked back into the truckbed at their backpacks strapped down tightly, the light snow falling and sticking to them, the bed, and the road behind them.
Martinez could no longer see Celna, having left the outskirts of the town almost a half hour before. All that filled the truck's wake was cold, frozen over grass browned from winter.
Those dormant plants were juxtaposed with the coniferous trees crawling against the rugged road. The lush greens, blues, and whites breathed life into the otherwise glacially lonely forest.
“So where are we going to anyway?” Martinez asked, turning back toward the front and looking at Kyroll. It seems odd that we aren’t going to hunt on your land.”
“Do you have to ask questions?” Kyroll grumbled after shaking his head. I get that you are trying to make this work, but it’s not like we need to chat.”
Martinez rolled his eyes at the comment. Why did Kyroll have to be this obtuse about these concepts? Not only were they attempting to find common ground, but also the question itself. Even a layman would wonder why they were not going to utilize the thousands of square kilometers he and Nelya owned.
In Martinez’s mind, it made no sense at all. Why own all that lush, untamed wilderness if you would not traverse it? Nelya, Lysa and he had already been on a hike to the far side of their property. It was beautiful, and plenty of stags were out there; they saw thousands in a single afternoon.
“Yeah, I kinda do if we are going to make this attempt work. I genuinely want to get to know you,” Martinez replied.
Kyroll sighed in annoyance, a grimace crossing his face for a few moments before he waved his hand flippantly, “Fine, I will humor you.”
That was not the ideal way Martinez wanted the old soldier to treat his attempts, but he doubted their propinquity would improve fast enough for him to get much better, so the Human would take what he could get.
“Alight, so why are we not using your property as a hunting ground?” Martinez repeated but a bit more poignant.
“I have a better place. Just past my job site, there is a reservation; no hunters have been there in years, and they won't be for longer,” Kyroll explained, pointing at his dapad mounted to the dashboard, which showed off a large area labeled as Iritala reserve.
Martinez looked at the map, taking in the details of the sprawling forest they were deep inside. Funnily enough, unlike the map Lysa used when navigating from the airport, this one was set up using good old MGRS(Military Grid Reference System).
Martinez chuckled slightly at that; maps using this system are uncommon unless you plan to travel long distances overland, not roads. Hopefully, Kyroll will handle the map when they reach the reserve. Martinez could shoot an azimuth and use a compass, but it was not his specialty.
“So besides your company, no one can make it there?” Martinez questioned, following the roads on the map to the reservation, noting that all of them passed through sections labeled logging with several standard years going forward and back in time distinguishing zones.
“That’s right,” Kyroll nodded. It will just be you and me for the next few days. Sounds great, right, big guy?” He finished tapping Martinez’s chest with the back of his knuckles.
Martinez wondered how genuinely great that would be. He assumed the trip would likely be as pleasant as pulling teeth or possibly closer to getting kicked in the gooch.
His assumption of how pleasant things could be was only soured further when Martinez tried to break the next bit of awkward silence with further conversation. To his dismay, Kyroll seemed to have burned out his willingness to chat. No matter what he did to keep the old salt talking, all that was returned were curt answers that ended the conversation attempt quickly.
Do you like Music? No.
Do you enjoy your work? No.
What did you do while in service? I can’t tell you.
Eventually, after growing tired of Kyroll's repugnant personality, he decided to ask something stupid to get a rise from the old salt.
“Do you have a barbed stick up your ass?” Martinez questioned coyly.
Kyroll shook his head and sighed before answering in his familiar cold monotone, “No.”
Jesus fucking Christ, what is this guy? A fucking robot? He did not even smirk at the snarky comment.
Martinez had met drill instructors with more personality and gravitas. Even they could laugh at a joke or at least make fun of you back. But not Kyroll. No, it was all business all the time; that or he just truly did not care about the jab.
It did not matter at this point. Martinez had been trying to bridge their gap for thirty minutes, and if anything, they were drifting further apart, namely, because Martinez was starting to get pissed at the cold bastard.
If Martinez continued to slam against this brick wall of a man, he would flip his shit. That would do him no good at this point. So, instead of losing it on Kyroll and emphasizing yet again the importance of them being capable of basic cordialness, Martinez simply gave up for the time being.
Was it the best thing he could do? Likely not. Would the Marines back on the Jericho ever let him live it down if they learned he simply folded? Not a snowball's chance in hell.
Kyroll was not a grunt Martinez could order around with the weight of the title Doc. Pushing any harder would make the tumultuous situation even more volatile, so taking the tactical retreat was likely the wise option for the time.
Leaning back against the seat, Martinez flicked open his datapad, hoping he could doom scroll on military forums or possibly watch a video, but no dice. This far out in the boondocks, there was insufficient signal strength to send a text, much less do anything over the data net.
He should have seen that coming; Nelya’s house was the same way, and wherever they were going was even more remote. His only other option was to read the medical journals Shiksie had made him download.
Perusing those was an option, but with recent memories of Shiksie being dredged up when he attempted to open them, he chose a wiser choice. The Human leaned on the oldest and most sacred traditions of any military man with time to kill.
Sleep.
The Marines especially deified the act, having mastered its practice beyond any reasonable amount. In the dirt, rocks, hammocks, spare tires, up-armored roofs, and even waist-deep in a muddy foxhole, Martinez and the Marines had slept like babies in them all.
Because none of those seraphic options were available, he laid the seat back and told Kyroll to wake him when they arrived. A sharp grunt was all he got in response—at least, it was something.
Watching the powder fall outside, and the bows pass like a movie, it did not take long for Martinez’s eyes to weigh on him like anchors and sleep to find him.
Vehicles were a soft spot for the Devil Dolphin; sleep came easy whenever he was not driving. He was unsure if it was the rumble on the engine, the subtle rocking of the frame, or that he could go with the flow for those few moments. But what he did know was he found them as hypnotic as a lullaby.
—-
The thunderous slam of the driver's side door ripped Martinez from a blissful dream of him and Lysa lounging on a beach. The metallic clang instantly crushed the scenery of the crystal clear water, bleach-white sands, and Lysa splashing in the water while wearing a micro bikini.
Why was it that whenever Martinez was getting blissful sleep, something had to ruin it: ambushes, injured grunts, drunk morons, incompetent leaders, and now his pseudo-father-in-law.
Did God have it out for him or something?
Martinez’s ingrained reactions caused him to shoot up and reach toward the dashboard, where his STTK and rifle would be staged in an up-armored vehicle. But after jamming his knuckles into the nonexistent equipment, he yelped like a beat dog and realized where he was.
He was not in some dusty ambush on Verilon, readying to repeal an ambush from the Farq. It was just Kyroll being an asshole yet again.
“Vuric, wait here. I’m going to tell the supervisor where we are heading,” Kyroll sniggered, relishing Martinez's pain with a cruel grin. And try not to beat up my truck anymore. It’s not trying to hurt you.”
“I know what that means, you ass,” Martinez whinced, rubbing his hand, feeling the sharp pain of soft tissue wounds. At least he did not break or dislocate his finger.
“I know, and I don’t give a flying fuck, Lurip,” Kyroll shrugged and walked toward some building on the war side of the clearing he had parked them in.
Lurip? That was a new one. Based on context and the vile hiss in Kyroll’s voice, it was an insult or slur, but he had no idea what it meant.
After triple-checking his aching finger, Martinez looked outside the cab and spotted Kyroll amidst the bustling work area. It was strange, to put it mildly.
The camp almost looked like a military outpost, but enough details were different to make it evident that was not the purpose.
The dull khaki building Kyroll was heading toward was a prefab used often by the GU, the Military, and penny-pinching companies. Prefabs were enjoyed because they were cheap, could be folded into a half-meter by half-meter cube, and could be carried by two men.
Overall, the buildings worked fine in what they did. Just don't expect to live in the lap of luxury.
The rest of the camp was bustling with life. Trucks filled with logs went to and fro, weaving into the dozens of roads linking to the camp. Expertly traversing the massive industrial transports, men traveled between the other amenities scattered on the outskirts.
Circling half the clearing were a chow hall, barracks, Gee-dunk, head, motor pool, and what looked like some kind of recreation center. These were all built of massive timber, likely made by the workers.
Based on what Nelya had told Martinez about the lumberjack job Kyroll had, it made sense that the outpost had all these amenities. It would be difficult to sell such a dangerous job to people without them. You had to meet all the B’s to keep people happy, which was universal regardless of the species.
Peaking behind him and over the bed, Martinez saw the rest of the camp, almost a mirror image of the other half. But unlike the other side, this one had a detail that instantly drew the human's attention: an armed guard of all things.
Lazing about in a chair facing halfway in and out of the camp, the brown and green-furred alien let their HR-8 carbine lay across their lap. Now, that was a weapon Martinez had not seen in a long time—not since his unit's last stent with the GU Army.
That carbine is the primary weapon of most GU forces. While the Human military opted for the man-made C-7, he did not detest the laser blaster. It just did not compare to good old-fashioned gunpowder and lead.
What the Guard was protecting against was a complete unknown, but it could not be the threat of someone shooting back; he wore no armor, helmet, or camouflage—instead, he wore a simple bright orange jumpsuit with a belt bursting with charge packs.
He likely was charged with something similar to how Humans in the Arctic had guards for wolves or polar bears. What megafauna was out there to justify the presence was beyond Martinez; he did not know enough about the area's ecology to even guess.
Now that his mind was keyed in on the details of weapons, Martinez quickly realized that it was not just the guard who was armed; Everyone in the camp was. Every lumberjack had a pistol on hand, either in a drop holster or tucked dangerously into their waistband.
The excessive armament was not the only thing that raised a red flag in Martinez’s eyes.
Why were there so many Aviex?
Besides the guard, every person he had seen at this camp was of that rare platinum species.
The sheer quantity, while odd, was not the unnerving part about it. No, they were all watching him and were not attempting to hide it. Thousands of blood-red eyes stared at him with suspicion as they flowed past the truck and to their destinations; each look was coupled with pointing and conversations centered on the stranger in their midst.
Being in the open with all these armed men made Maritnez feel like a fox stuck in a trap. What he would not give to have a loaded rifle right now, but the weapon Nelya lent him was in the truck bed, and he barely knew how to operate it.
Trying to escape the stares, Martinez sunk into the seat, hoping the men outside would just forget he existed. But he was never that lucky. That only made the men adjust their paths to get a peak at the interloper in their midst.
Martinez knew the glares, glowers, and curiosity had to be because of Kyroll. His squad knew about him before they had ever met, and because these lumberjacks lived together for weeks on end, they also had to know about him.
It only made sense. The military operated the same way. Word had its ways of getting around, be it the E-4 Mafia, the Lance Corporal underground, Barracks parties, or hours upon hours drinking together. At times word seemed to travel faster than the speed of light if you used those methods.
Hell, Martinez had used that effect to his benefit more than once, spreading around hints of surprise inspections just so the Marines could be ready. Was it morally right? Martinez could not say, and he did not care. The Marines were his boys, and these Lumberjacks were Kyrolls, so whatever lies he spread around were reality to them.
After almost half an hour of trying to ignore the Aviex stares, Kyroll exited the prefab control building. Martinez could barely see him initially step outside and turn around, but once he did, the Human sat up, hoping Kyroll would not see him cowering from the judgemental stares.
It was odd; Martinez was perfectly fine with getting shot at, stabbed, blown up, going wrist-deep in guts, or fondling a dude's balls and checking for stragglers after a nasty night with a barracks bunny. But hundreds of people staring at him like an interloper skeeved him out.
Martinez watched Kyroll hoping the old man would pull the lead out of his ass and get him the fuck out of this camp. If Kyroll had spotted Martinez’s pleading look, he did not acknowledge it.
Instead, he turned about and waited as Burkla slinked out of the prefab and walked up to Kyroll. They chatted for a moment or two. The two men made almost no motions or gestures, so determining what they were talking about was impossible, but something unsettling transpired.
Burkla handed a massive black duffle bag to Kyroll while accepting a credit stick from Kyroll.
“What the fuck?” Martinez muttered, wondering what they were doing that looked like a drug deal.
Both looked right at him as if they heard him speak, causing a shiver to crawl down Martinez’s spine. Without missing a beat, Burkla smiled that same Cheshire grin as when they first met—when the Aveix man had insinuated a desire to kill him.
After Kyroll snapped at him, Brukla crawled back into the prefab, leaving Kyroll alone in the snow. Kyroll took a moment and looked out over the camp, at his datapad, and then toward Martinez.
Even at this distance, his sigh was visible and full-bodied. Whatever thought just crossed Kyrolls mind was something he was not happy with, but after tucking his datapad away, any hesitance melted instantly, replaced by his usual stony demeanor.
Kyroll was up to something. Martinez hoped the man could look past his issues for the sake of Lysa and Nelya, but this smelled dirty. And as the good old saying goes, if it smells like shit, looks like shit, it probably is.
Whatever Kyroll had planned for him, Martinez would be ready even if he had to stay up for the next few days and keep his pocket knife under his pillow.
For now, Martinez knew one thing—he had to get into that duffle bag.
So what did you think of this one? What is in the bag? What is Grula up to? What is going on in Kyroll's mind? please don't forget to updoot and comment I love to hear from you all.
I hope you all enjoyed. I will see you all in the comments
your humble baker
-Pirate
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These generically named sites like modded hardware and MigSwitch Shop/store that were in some cases created for the specific purpose of selling this product, lol. That highly sus Mig Switch store is obviously still LISTED and RECOMMENDED as one of their "official distributors," and their email address is literally a ghetto Gmail email address. No established retailers like CastlemaniaGames, eStarland, DragonBox, etc. (I'm just giving some examples of I'm sure hundreds, I don't need to be specific or accurate with those sites selling stuff like this).
Not to mention the damage control, suppression, and gaslighting of angry customers, having to file chargebacks because, well, do they have reason to believe a sketchy ass company that ghosted them is going to actually come through? They would be either very kind, risk taking, or even stupid, to have faith at this point.
Inb4:
"but YouTubers have it!" We're not YouTubers
"but things get delayed all the time!" You can't delay as a new, sketchy company, without keeping your patrons updated who already paid in full, for something that was supposed to ship a month ago. And MigSwitch isn't panicking, instead they're literally calling customers inpatient as if we're some kind of stupid American children.
"be patient! it will ship eventually!" Nope. Go fuck yourself, you didn't ship anywhere on TIME.
"pre-ordered video games get pushed back constantly!" Yes but those are ordered from reputable websites that everyone has already trusted and used, and they often aren't even CHARGED until they actually ship. False equivalency.
P.S. I called this scam out a long time ago and my post was 100% removed because the shills begged the mods. This was on the flashcarts sub.

I 32(f) have been with my husband 34(m) since I was 15 and he was 16. This is going to be long so please bare with me. In the beginning my husband didn't have me around his family he said they were judgemental and it wasn't necessary.
I met them when I was 22 and we had started talking about moving in together. I lived in my own apartment with my dog and so we had decided he'd move in there with me and then we would eventually find a bigger place if needed. It wasn't in the worse area of where we live but it wasn't anything fancy or high class and that really bothered my MIL. That was the start of our issues. She expressed that I live in the ghetto and her "baby" would get hurt and was too good to live there. They also didn't like that I didn't have a dining room table and automatically purchased one for us which I was greatful for at the time. It wasn't really needed when it was just me and even when he moved in we still ate in the living room but still I made sure to thank them.
We always joke my husband is bougie but he kinda is. So next he couldn't stand that I didn't have cable (I don't watch television) so he wanted to get some and asked his dad how to go about doing it he wanted the same plan they had at home so we all went down to set up the cable. Before we finished his dad explained multiple times how I needed to pay half the bill and not take advantage of my husband and his trusting nature. Again this is just the beginning and there's years of hurt so I'm going to try to bullet point some highlights it's hard to remember everything and they have done really nice and good things for us too.
-Helped us purchase a car we paid them back in full within two years -Paid for the catering at our wedding, they got to pick the food. -Bought a house that we rented from them because they didn't want us buying one together. -MIL regularly makes weight comments (she has a fear of being fat so this is a really big talking point for her) she will buy me clothes that are too small so I can work towards them like a goal. At one point I also really wanted this name brand jacket we had been discussing it because one of my parents was coming to visit and was going to get it for me as my birthday gift, she offered to buy it instead because she knows I don't come from much money and it wouldn't be a big deal for her but I'd have to lose 50 pounds before she'd purchase. -Since I've met my MIL she has talked badly about my other SIL. She talked about her to everyone especially SIL's children. In a way it's like she 21 questions the children to find all the ways SIL is failing as a parent, at least in her mind what she thinks is failing. This SIL is married to my husbands brother. -The dog I mentioned above, well he got really sick. He needed medicine and 24 hour supervision we discussed it and we put cameras up in and outside of our home. We had gotten two more dogs over the years together, so we had our 3 four legged kiddos. My old man had to be put to sleep because he failed to thrive I was devastated. We kept the cameras up we use them to watch the other dogs. I'm mentioning this because it's going to come up later -My husband and I tried for years 5+, but I couldn't get pregnant. We were going to start IVF and at the appointment to start discussing the injections I had to do a pregnancy test and as a shock to us all I was pregnant. This was a miracle for us all our close family knew we had been trying and had "unspecified infertility" her comment when we told them was it "was about time." I went home and cried. I'd already felt for years like I was failing at doing what a women was supposed to be able to do and whenever she gets a chance during my pregnancy she'd repeat that it took us long enough she didn't think we were even trying I can't say this was on purpose it probably didn't even cross her mind that those words would hurt me but they did non the less. -I was a high risk pregnancy and was induced early. The first time they were going to induce me I was only 28wks. With lots of work and following rules I was able to wait till 36. This process took days, it was stressful. I gave birth, I was naked covered in blood and my child wasn't warming up, the nurses were trying to hard to get baby to heat up. MIL/FIL wanted to come in the room I asked them to come back the next day that this wasn't the time. I was told I was rude and unfair. I had to ask the nurse to make sure I had no visitors. -Childs first birthday this is where all these years of small back handed jabs or need to control what my husband and I do came to a head.
My child comes to work with me and is a hit. My work is so excepting of child being there and a part of the everyday and I'm lucky to have a job where I can do that. So for childs birthday we wanted to invite family and friends and held it at a location that could accommodate because it was about 35 people. My in-laws sat away from the group so as more of my husbands family came they sat off to the side away from the group. My FIL didn't think I provided enough food for my guests and ordered more to help us out, at the end there was a large amount of food that was wasted because there was too much. My MIL doesn't live in the moment everything has to be photographed and videotaped so she went around recording people and a lot were uncomfortable with it. I asked her if she could stop and her response was I won't post it online and continued to record. Everyone passed around our child and had fun. We went home and wrote thank you cards for all that attended to send out the next day. That nights I get a message from my FIL about how bad my attitude was towards my MIL, how ungrateful I am, that I was rude and ignored her or turned my nose up to her that I excluded them from the group and that overall my MIL feels like I'm biased against her because she's spanish. When I say that I cried like a little child it's not even an exaggeration. This message was such left field to me and I didn't know what to say. My husband read it and was pissed and said we just wouldn't see them for awhile. Have a break. We slept on it and I hated that idea. I really wanted my child to have a relationship with the grandparents. We texted back and forth I explained my point of view I'm going to put my response in as it gives light to a lot of the ongoing issues.
"FIL,
I would like to address a few things because your text hurt my feelings, and for finally setting a boundary, I won't be made out to be a bad guy.
From most recent events:
What happened at birthday party was our decisions as parents. If child was taken over there and put down or feet on ground and hands held child would have tried to get down to crawl, we didn't want childs hands touching the ground others shoes have been walking on, child to get stepped on, or child to be that close to a bunch of children as kids carry all the germs. Again, husband and I had already discussed this prior to MIL coming over and as always putting her opinion/wants in. Friend also knew I didn't want child put down, and she only took child closer as child was smiling at him. So, a very innocent action got blown up.
Asking MIL to stop doing dishes in our home should have just been an agreement on her part. Instead, she turned around and talked badly about what I said to all that would listen. I asked her politely to just come see husband and child. Everytime she does dishes she leaves a weird film on our dishes and she puts things away in random places and spots so I have to then search for them especially because some stuff if not all has that film and is still dirty. Or I have to then take everything down from my cabinets and reput it away. Which is twice the work and honestly gross and time-consuming, but I'm supposed to be grateful.
Now, to address the me being biased against her for being Hispanic, then why would I marry her son? Or better yet, have children with Hispanic heritage? I could always turn this around. She has made it well known over the years she dislikes SIL, and SIL is white. She even calls me SIL'S name at times. So does she just talk crap about us and critique us and judge because we are her daughter in laws and will never be good enough for her sons, or does she do it because we are white?
I am uncomfortable around MIL. I never know which of her I'm going to be around that day. The toxic mean drunk, the condescending and belittling words woven into being concerned for us or the overly affectionate gift giving lords work women that is then offended I politely declined a gift that wasn't needed or even something we like but it's something she likes and wants to give so we must accept.
For years, I watched MIL talk badly about SIL to her children to us to her friends, so is that what it'll be like when my child can talk? Is she going to ask her if I drink (the irony) if I'm smoking, what my work hours are, if I'm cooking her breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and if she gets any answer she doesn't like then she'll let child know that that's me being a bad mom like she did constantly with SIL'S children.
If my boundaries or words aren't respected when husband and I are there in person how would we know if they are when you guys have child alone?
And last, she texted husband calling me rude and saying she hopes he stands up to me. Husband and I have talked about all of this, and we are on the same page. He just doesn't want to argue or have a fight, so his answer is that we just don't see you guys and keep contact minimal. But then our child doesn't see you guys, and that's not something I want. But if we aren't allowed to set boundaries as parents or as people and have those respected, then husbands answer to all of this is what we'll end up doing, and in the end, we all lose."
So yeah obviously there's years of stuff to unpack and I'm sorry that I'm jumping around and probably not explaining everything perfect. So from that issue we all agreed to try and work on the relationships.
Fast forward the last few months MIL isn't respecting those boundaries again and she also told my husband that he wouldn't have to learn to make a bed, cook and clean if he married a spanish women because then his wife would do all that. Mind you I work 50+ hours a week and my husband works about 40. We split everything evenly but I do most the cleaning and all the cooking. I just wanted him to help a little more in our home because messes are bigger with a kid.
So now to the cameras. We have a camera in all common areas of our home. MIL only recently this week being the 3rd time has watched our child about 6 hours 1 day a week. This past time she covered the cameras. This upset me as I got an alert at work the cameras were blocked. When I got home I asked her how the day went thanked her for watching our child and told her we would no longer need her to watch her anymore. When she asked why I asked her why she needed to cover the cameras, was she neglecting or abusing our child, SA our child? No? Then why do you expect privacy in our home. Again. We rarely watch the cameras other than to find which dog got into what or to download videos of our child doing something. So she wanted to know why I was spying on her. Again I told her I wasn't and her response is that she is a fantastic mother and grandma and how dare I accuse her of abuse. Y'all I won't lie I got pissed and I yelled. I reminded her of all the stuff she's said to SIL kids and told her my grandparents never really liked my mom and I never knew until an uncle told me. Like my grandparents still let my mom stay with them when traveling I've never heard them say anything about her. But she's so ready to talk to anyone about me, I brought up her telling my husband he can't be mad at her for not rasisng him to be independent because it's his fault he didn't marry someone spanish. She was shocked I knew this and denied it happened. I eventually opened my front door and told her to get out of my house.
I felt so guilty afterwards like beyond bad I yelled at her but this has been building for years and I'm currently pregnant again and I'm so freaking emotional. I wasn't accusing her of actually hurting my child but it's sketchy to me that she feels like she needs to cover the cameras. I called my husband and told him what happened.
My FIL texted that night to tell me im a crude nasty person and how dare I talk to his wife that way or say what I said. I don't blame him for sticking up for her but the things he said didn't aline with what I actually said to her but I didn't defend myself I just dropped the conversation because I feel like it's an argument that would go nowhere. I wouldn't be believed anyways. He ended it saying he never really liked me. I think that hurt the worse. He was the only reason I ever went over there we had great conversations and similiar ideologies.
Now I don't know what to do. My husband again said we'll just have space but I know eventually that'll get to him and I don't want their relationships ruined. But I also don't want toxic talk around my child.
Am I the AH? And what do I do now?
Need to add in an edit. I've been with my husband a long time. He has never said no contact. When he says a break that means minimal talk for a few weeks maybe a few months. But that whole time they still talk it's just that we do nothing as a group. I'm also not a glutton for the punishments I truly did want to have an amicable relationship with them which was easier before we had a child. I also know if we go full no contact it's going to eventually hurt my husband as he is very close to his parents.
I am realizing though through these comments that I do need to step back and let the dice fall wherever they may. I wouldn't hold it against my husband to still be in their life but the children and myself will not have any contact.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/X5gmizG

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She sends him the snow from her bedroom window. Shallower in phone screen filter blue, lightly pixelated, delivered. They were nothing more than a flutter, not particularly impressive but sweet all the same. She punctuates the image, not with words but a handful of little yellow faces, offering clear indication of her feelings, an economy of data.
​
It must’ve been several inches deep by now. Out there. She could look. Why bother? The clouds had burst earlier this morning, letting rip with a gust of freakish freeze, little enough to document. She’d rushed to grab a handful of insurance photos at first sight, saving it for the threat of a moment when there was nothing else that felt worth talking about. She had sent a fresh one, seventh attempt. The forecasts told her it wouldn’t have reached him yet.
​
She waits for reply, soundtracked by a puncture of harmless pings, too clumsy and emotional to form a melody. Messages to her phone were constant. Always. Everyone had a place, a rank, somewhere in the list, advantages, behaviours, projections, shapes to take. She scrolls down. Waiting. There were the regulars of course, the routine friends she’d tolerated persistent communication with for years now, interactions ever wordless, announcing themselves with snapshots of faces from only the eyes up, familiar pets, tidy arrangements of everyday activities, slightly staged but mostly real, dispatched en-masse, cool. Waiting. There were the friends in high places she didn’t really care for, club promoters, dealers, moderate influencers, could get someone killed for you in seven different countries and all that, velociraptor smiles. Waiting. Swarms of unopened messages from the ones who breached contact far less frequently, but usually with something to say, or seek; another name to the guest-list, donations for the charity race they’d enlisted in, reformed, resurrected, reborn or desperate bids to show off all the diet masochism, worthless, accomplished in pursuit of photos they had one day hoped to show their kids. Waiting. Further down, old school friends, transformed, those a little too old to still be doing nothing, the people who didn’t go home with other people, apparently. Cousins she wished she was closer with. Household siblings she knew better through the videos with which they chose to populate the internet. The boy who’d died in the car crash. Her mother. Waiting. Some yellow notifications landed as welcome as dead canaries. These were the names to which a mere glance of would’ve formally inspired fear, loathing, soft pain. Ex-whatever. Numbness was their new home, less than nothing at all, barely meriting a blush through their digital ghettos, no check ins, looming, unanswered, other people as a relapse of your old self. She couldn’t open any of them, no matter where they fell in the bottomless scroll. She wouldn’t jinx it.
​
In and out of patience at the absence of immediate reply she forwarded her snowscape to a further seven, a landscape dumped, feeling even more disappointed when none of whom she had hoped would respond did. She left the pair who had bothered to do so unanswered in return, having become someone who people didn’t really know or see all that much anymore but still worried about regardless. In that sense, she was in control.
​
Tossing the phone across the bed, light frustration, exhaling, feeling the urge to reach for it, and in this repetitive cycle of same, glaring up to window yet again. Restless. Flakes flailing, supposedly unique but from this vantage point so similar that she was doubtful to whether there was any point to them falling at all. It was like capturing a portrait of a city over one hundred years, a timelapse set to a day per second, bird’s eye view, focusing on the little figures, as real as toys, zipping back and forth along the grid. They were always in a rush, always doing the same things they always had; walking, working, fucking, saying everything, saying nothing, together, apart, alone, finding themselves, losing it all, heartbreak, again, again, again, laughing about it afterwards, fighting, healing, loving, but all the time seeming completely inseparable from one and other in their little lives oh so similar. Generationless, their differences washed away in the blur. Death reduced to but a seemingly imaginary force, invisible, anyone slipping out of frame, unseen, replaced without pause by another who would lead a completely identical life before it all happened to them too. Each was burdened with the consciousness of an individual when they were so clearly a piece of a collective, living as one. It didn’t have to be this way but it was. No harm.
​
A day prior she had awoken beside him, for the first time, in his sheets, devoid of urgency, tall gentle stranger, soft body, still dormant, curled in embryonic pose, twitching through sleep as if he were broken, yet at peace. Naked and uncomplicated. Snoring. Still.
Parts of them were still touching, flesh colours collide, joy on joy. She was unaccustomed to his smell. She wanted to get closer to it, to be held by it, to know it but to nuzzle was to collide, to disturb, to crack the full perfect image she was doing her best to prolong. She could have fainted but she yawned. In the early stages of the afternoon, as her family and friends undoubtedly sat down to their cartoon Sunday roasts, gravy and all the trimmings, she rose, beaming, donned in the t-shirt of a hip-hop group who had long since disbanded, forgotten, and looking down to him, she froze, poised with all the well rehearsed sweetness of the girl next door. You can miss someone when they’re right in front of you. Their connection, even if it had lasted but a fragile nine minutes, was now concrete, fixed in their past, unchangeable, together. Shared and ahead, an unknown number of minutes reaching forwards. Wet with potential, endless with possibility, stem cell specialised, magic, real. This could be the first turn on a path to something that resembled happiness, togetherness. Fuck. It was her own personal delusion, we are all entitled to one and as far as they go, hers should be mostly harmless.
​
Darts of light, skinny enough to make it through cracks in the curtains, exploded all around the room in a rush, touching everything, like little boy gaining entry to a forbidden part of the home, uncovering oversized things until now hidden. She could see objects had fallen to the floor. Reflected in the mirror opposite, rearview, overturned as easily as warning signs not correctly bolted in place, neither of them finding the time to return them, having been focused solely on making their way into his boyhood bed before the room swam even weirder. You could trace their trajectory via the debris. Criss cross. Tumbling. His was a living space populated solely by discount catalogue decorations, modest flatscreen, celebrity self-help books, an inherited acoustic guitar, seldom played, everything limp, as if furnished by a blind man wishing only to reduce trip hazards, riskless, straitjacket, mute. She wouldn’t let it bother her.
​
Reflecting on the night before, she ran over all the things she wishes she could have said differently or not said at all, constantly blurting out exactly what she meant when it’d keep things far cleaner and simple if her lips had remained sealed. There were no cops in her head, she was not self policing like other people and words forever stumbling through, escaping her, as if propelled by hormonal thrust, well meaning, true, but knowing only how to break things. Futile. Life as quest to become unafraid of living. Like the last building burning. Does a hopeless person get a resolution?
​
She knew her self. Once boys were caught in her gaze, she could inflict blinks like bruises. You could feel them wince. Sometimes she did it to those she had no intentions with at all, the men of coma patient politeness, plain clothes agents who wanted the same thing as everyone else, even if they attempted to talk their way around it, the nice guy, the modern man, not like all the old dogs. He, who if given the opportunity could attempt only to operate her body like a piece of heavy machinery. She would lay there in a private fate, lonely, hidden, alive and waiting for the end. She always thought of death during bad sex. Frequently. After all, the space between orgasm and infinite void was tricky to fill. They were the kind of boys who’d believe anything you’d tell them and she could make up stories of a thousand lives never lived. In nights previous she’d studied neuroscience, English lit, mechanical engineering, air traffic control and alligators. She’d read all the books. She’d written questions for daytime quiz show hosts, been the heir to a moderately successful warlord, family friend, and worked for the Ministry of Defence, blowing up worms, as a means of testing new top secret chemical warfare, not to be discussed further, shhhhhh. She was born with four colour receptors, raised speaking flemish but had forgotten it all by now, whoops, and was once assaulted by baboon, a fight in which, of course, she’d won. So many to choose from. Pointless but there in lay the fun, a game of evasion, undetected, never suspecting, a bullshit artist of epic proportions, gold medal records, top seed, everyone’s a winner.
​
As a teenager of early internet relationships, the game had higher stakes, just like all else in youth. Then she had told lies. Right at the offset, throwing down a bed of mistruths, as forward as first message, staged suicide attempts, pantomime villains, choreographed flights of same sex frivolousness, nothing more than landmines, primed and ready. Deadpan. Months later, as she inevitably saw it all approaching conclusion, it always would, she could pull one random fib lose, bear witness as the comprehension that nothing had ever meant anything to her splintered across brain, shattering face, and all she had to do was step back, letting the blood pool as they left her for the last time, up the driveway, without fuss, disappeared. Those days were behind her. Far far away. Now, fabrication had been honed into no more than playful distraction, disciplined, never serious, nothing more than a misspent evening on the hunt, wasted, victimless. Like they hadn’t suffered before. What doesn’t kill you…
​
But with him she’d almost been honest. She didn’t know why. He wasn’t particularly good looking, a touch feral if anything, a handful of rough features, close knit, recovering, messy as if assembled in haste. Perhaps he was a victim of the national inbreeding epidemic a thousand years prior. Easy done. But then there were eyes, eyes of a different blue, ricocheting, surreal, eyes that hushed everything, eyes that lived outside of their own head, not attractive necessarily, but catching her, off guard, like the slush you slip and slide through post winter’s storm, eyes that gave the feeling they were somehow yet to see the face from which they were beaming, eyes of boyish unconcern allowing him to shed the rest of himself, careless. He was misdirection. Never had she been so taken by such uninteresting mysterious skin. Heat seeking. Like an arsonist. All the best boys bypass rational thought. She was no longer affected by the long term, the futures often discussed on nights like these, irrelevant, the plots hatched, the promises of great lives we made to ourselves that would be procrastinated away, never kept. Groups were senseless clots of social terror. They left. They stayed. Once she’d had enough fun, she cared only of where they would be in one hour.
​
It was a sixty minute saunter, spent in his company, this charming doll, where she pulled a string and he spat out one of the same six expertly programmed phrases. Rehearsed. We all have our little stories. He had such a perfectly recycled collection of quips and anecdotes, stuff to relate to, pruned from his own personal history, well oiled, road tested, reliable enough to toss aside whenever in the company of a new compatriot, never the fear of social rejection, safe, danger only of smiles all the time as number thirty seven falls victim when he tells you once again of how he believed “lettuce was the collective name for a group of icebergs”. Funny. Try again. Stupidity, delivered with such god-like self esteem that it was hard not to let it wander all over your skin until it found the spot in which to dig itself for a later date, like a tick, biding. She knew. She didn’t care. He made her laugh. There was a spark. There was something. They vibrate. The distinct sense of a person, somewhere beneath the seventeen different personalities a man fires through upon first encounter, like chimps flinging fluids at walls, trying to figure out which version of himself will stick. He paid in cash. Impressive notes. He held the door open. Heroic. He was a child. Young again. Naive enough to view life as an equal opponent, ambitious, relentless, but when he brought her back, he was kind, he was sweet, he was calm, cliched but okay, and it was with the breed of acceptable chivalry which can be induced only through drunkenness, on both sides, that they felt together. Maybe he was wrong for her, but he was hers.
​
Now, in the fear of day, emotions oscillated even more haphazardly. She tiptoed around his room to the bathroom, en suite, cool, safe from any extended family altercations, phew. If she showered it would be real. You couldn’t shower in their home and not see them again. She studied herself in the mirror, meticulous, all imperfections unhidden, the last details; stretch marks from a past life of yoyo weight gains, face losing it’s decoration, hair without spray, feet, freckle bordering on mole below left shoulder, tanning booth enhanced, ultraviolet. With one false eyelash already missing, folding index and thumb into delicate pincer, she prised the other free, careful, edging her face another half inch closer to symmetrical, better. She flushed the accessory away, thinking of all that had been done in the last sixteen hours, every tiny decision, how it would reverberate, the choices already made, creating who he thought she was, so far, like years of early adulthood stress organically materialising down the line in physical form as tumour, locked to brain, ready to execute an entirely different person, one who was utterly powerless to have done anything to stop it. It kills to be so unsatisfied.
​
She practiced smiling. She rehearsed the first things she would say to him. She spoke her new last name. In the end, we are all the same. Blank slates. Everybody dreams of pretty girls and ugly boys and good food and good sex and people we can fix, floating warm but not without a lack of direction, waiting for us until we finish, until we’re ready, dreaming of dead relatives, and moving to bigger cities and bigger titties and cats and dogs and a life by the fire and then, eventually, a life that is anything better than throwing a bag of cats and dogs onto that warm fire, collecting pea sized bites of happiness from an existence of small mediocrity, that just five years ago would’ve made you sick. We dream of things changing quickly and we dream of them ending quickly, painless. We dream privately, we dream of being a person, a better one, we all do and most of the time it’s just as well we can’t remember because we tell ourselves that dreams can be phased into reality, day by day, month by month, year by year, like little girls assuming the faces of their mothers, but they can’t. That’s why they’re called dreams. Duh. She was back in his bed, watching the wall, bugging out, fearful of relapsing into sleep, eyes wide. Batshit.
​
She let him awake naturally, without fuss, shrugging off the awkwardness, obviously in her head and her head only, self-conceived, dressing in full view as he tried not to look, soft hand retrieving stale underwear, knotted beneath bedsheets. Then, lingering in the doorway, striking a pose mimicking the memories of sitcoms from childhood, idyllic. We imitate. He rose, perfect blonde bedhead, baby blues and generous, she waited, for him to assume his character, go full method, dive headfirst into kiss but as they parted it was with a hug, not soft nor hard, not really anything, leaving her to descend his stairs, feet barely touching the floor, trying desperately to massage this momentary setback into an altered version of the narrative she had been constructing for herself over the last hour.
​
Outside, bright surface streets of roaring ugliness, rushed up to meet her like all her bad habits at once, all the cannibal pavements, lobotomy headache, stuttering with people who walked faster here as if they had somewhere more important to be, something worth doing. Dilated. It wasn’t like this where the bus would take her, the towns and villages, untouched, yet to be disturbed by the money, the crude, the oil raping of a once peaceful city.
​
The next departure wasn’t due for a while, Sunday timetable, heavens opening, edgeless grey clouds, a spray of light afternoon drizzle coming to rest upon her impact day hair. She should have showered. Her face of the night before was mildly smeared, still hiding most of the things which form underneath. Lock and key.
​
Watching the passing strangers speaking in tongues, the young mothers and the wives and the widows and those without anyone at all, sailing by. She pictured herself at their point in life. Soon. She thought of them with fuller lips and better teeth, white and new looking, and the same age but younger, hair actually styled, appearance with thought, pasting the version of herself she fantasied working toward atop them. She had so many faces left in her back pocket.
​
Back again, two days later, in her own room, creating more mental lists of responses as she waited for every potential reply. She imagined them taking turns lying atop one and other. Stood by window. Snow falling heavier, it would’ve made a better picture. She knew what he would say.
She bore an obsession for the boys who wished only to die like cowboys. Last action heroes. They were the men she always loved, those she was pulled to, in the same way she was drawn to bad news; burning skyscrapers, sleeper cell terrorist attacks, the perverse beauty of a car crash captured in 120 frames, slowed down, sped up, reversed, undone, repeated over and over, for as long as you wanted, unreal, broadcast worldwide, like an oasis, everywhere. The spectacle. The good stuff. She enjoyed the boys’ simplicity, no untidiness of complicated emotions, juggled like fire. To her, their’s was a world of absolutes. In it she was a visiting German tourist complete with rucksack, camper van and a foreign language they couldn’t speak and would never bother to learn. Her own consciousness was but a swell of unproven elements, all psychiatric in nature, highly reactive, so far nameless, but requiring precise allocation to the shelves of her chest, shelves neatly labelled; fear, shame and anger, inflamed stomach tightening, slimming, attuning to the added weight, unbalanced still but holding. She took pride in her strength. Flesh beneath skin and presumably, if she dug deep enough, bone. At least it would all be over before anyone had time to notice. This was what she told herself. Some things will never be different.
​
***
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He closed the door, exhausting, two hours of pretend eyes, closed, waiting for her to leave, followed by a weak mimic of faux hungoverness. He would finish it later if needed. He would be nice. He was just glad she hadn’t tried to touch him better. He really hoped she wasn’t pregnant. Condoms were only 98% accurate. The TV taught him that. He would have laughed.

-Main Question- I’m a junior in high school right now and I’ve been researching colleges, applications, and all of that business. I’m seeing a lot of stuff about awards and honors but I don’t have any of these. Mostly I’m seeing videos about how to get into Ivy League colleges but I’m not planning to apply for those. I haven’t found all of the colleges I want to apply to but I would like to go to NTU in Singapore. I know it’s too late to get my freshman and sophomore years back so I want to gain as much stuff now for my college application. I mainly want to major in engineering but at the same time I’m still figuring myself out. If I do go to a school in a foreign country (I’m in the US), how can I get financial aid or a scholarship. Basically want I want to know is what can I do now to help me with my college application and what do you guys suggest I do for financial aid or scholarships? I know this is what everyone who’s planning on going to college wants to know but I’m still curious.
-Foreign College- Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is my dream school as of right now. I want to major in engineering there but I am unsure if it is a good decision to go there even if I get accepted since it would be a big move and I would have to live by myself. What colleges should I consider applying for and how do you guys go about living on your own at a far away college? If there are any NTU students here, how is college, living there in general, and how do you even organize yourself when moving to another country alone as a student (unless you’re from Singapore)?
And last question, do you guys get new friends in college? I’ve heard most people lose their high school connection. Since you’re in your first year of college, everyone in your class should be too. Is it easy to make friends because all of you are new. I changed schools halfway through junior year and everyone is so ghetto and don’t really seem like they care about their futures. My old school was full of friendly people who strived for success. Are there beginning of the year activities that colleges do to help new people make friends? If I do get into college, I would like to have some friends who I can hang out with, talk comfortably to, and make life just easier in general. I know what school life is like all alone and it’s a horrible lifestyle.