Riz Gukgak Is The Character Of All Time. He's A Goblin. He Has A Gun. He's In High School. He's Saved

award-winning palestinian children's illustrator baraa awoor writes:

"what use is it to be an illustrator of children's books when the world has sentenced the children of your country to the death penalty, to vanish, to genocide?"

some of baraa's illustrations:

this is an illustration for youssef, whose mother is remembered running desperately into the hospital asking if anyone had seen a "small white boy with beautiful curly hair, his name is youssef," a description which was remembered by millions when she finally identified his body:

this illustration is for young omar, who was hugging his little brother and teaching him how to repeat the shahada after him (a prayer spoken by muslims before their death) as he lay on his hospital bed:

"we want a new year that doesn't kill us or our children, we want it a year without blood, without screaming, without pain, we want a new attempt to get our lives back, or something that resembled our life, even if life is a lie we still cling to it, return life to us—a new year's card unlike any other year:"

The fact that Riz Gukgak (the boy who doesn't know how to take a break, who is deeply afraid of drifting apart from his friends, who "has a hard time connecting to his dearest friends unless he can feel useful") was the one who manifested a creature that forced The Bad Kids to work together again and robbed them of having a proper summer break is so poetic.

So I went to read the Kids Online Safety Act, thinking that it couldn't possibly be as bad as what people are making it out to be, I mean I'm a lawyer and expert in statutory interpretation, it can't be that bad, right?

Oh no. KOSA IS that bad. It will literally eradicate queer people online.

The bill says that a "covered platform" - broadly defined as "anything on the internet a minor might use" which is literally the entire fucking internet- has a "duty" to protect minors from anything that might harm them, including "sexual exploitation" and other undefined terms

It also gives state attorneys general the ability to sue to enforce it.

So here's exactly what's gonna happen:

Wacko republicans, as they've been doing with increasing force this year and last, are going to sue any and every website in existence, saying that the mere existence of LGBT people online constitutes sexual abuse of minors. And websites are gonna be so afraid of not doing the most that they'll just axe all LGBT everything.

Like. Republicans have been calling all LGBT people groomers and child molesters for years. The lead Republican literally admitted this bill will be used to attack trans people.

This bill is BAD bad. I'm appalled that democrats are lining up behind what is clearly a republican Trojan horse to eradicate LGBT people from the entire internet.

Call your senator

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) works for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees. We provide immediate medical aid to those in great need, while also developing local capacity and skills to ensure the long-term development of the Palestinian healthcare system.

you can read more about their ongoing emergency response here

Responding to this emergency situation, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)’s team on the ground in Gaza are releasing all of our pre-positioned stocks, worth $570,000 USD (approximately £465,000), to ensure hospitals and emergency responders have the supplies they need to cope with an unprecedented influx of casualties. The list of supplies provided by MAP includes essential drugs and disposables, lab reagents and support for Gaza’s blood bank services. Some of these supplies are already being delivered to Al Awda Hospital.

If you have money to spare, please consider donating

It's so incredibly funny to me that somehow some people think Tim is a boring straightlace and Jason is deranged and unhinged

Like Jason at his worst is a murderous crime lord who also has a moral conscience, protects children and sex workers, works to make the worst parts of Gotham safer and wants to know that his dad cares

Tim at his worst on the other hand.... Rampant murder with NO morals, becomes Batman and uses the gun that killed Bruce's parents, dictator, takes over like half of America, goes back in time like a couple times to tell his younger self that this is their inevitable end just to fuck with HIMSELF

Jason at his best is the happy robin, loves school, cares for sex workers becomes a crime lord to help make sure the people who are addicted aren't being given toxic shit

Tim at his best is entirely unhinged, stalking Batman and Robin through the streets, blackmailing Batman, all the young justice shenanigans, creating a fake uncle to avoid adoption, beefing with a like 9 year old (deserved imo 9 year olds are MEAN), lies to everyone including batman and take pride in it

Like besties one is exponentially more of a black sheep and it isn't the drug lord, it's the heroic sidekick of batman

Yes Jason is still out on the streets wildin and feral but I don't think people give enough credit to how normal he is for his background

Yes Tim is CEO but he's also been 17 for years and probably has taken cocaine to see what it felt like

Jason and Tim are arguing, Jason brings up how Tim stole his mantle

Tim, yelling: I did what I was supposed to do!! I got an adult! It's not my fault the adult wouldn't help! I had to take matters into my own hands, I will not be shamed for that! If you want to be mad at someone? Don't be mad at me. Or Bruce. Or Alfred. You wanna be mad at someone? Be mad at Dick Grayson, because when I saw that Batman was falling apart at the seams, I went straight to him! I asked him to help, when Batman was going to tear Gotham apart, piece by piece, in his grief, I BEGGED Dick to help, and he said no, so I had to step up because otherwise no one would.

Jason, not angry anymore: Wh- Tim, you were, you were 13! It wasn't your job to fix a grown man, you didn't have to be the one to save him...

Tim: Then why didn't anyone help!!

Jason: Tim...

Tim: why didn't anyone help?

Perfect days do not exist. Perfect moments do not exist, but this one is damn close. Or, well, as close as I can get with my massive amounts of cynicism and jaded world view. But, it remains; the sky is a gentle blue, tinged with yellow from the Western sun. The air is warm but not hot. The lake looks as if it was made from silk, gently rippling under the faintest of breezes. There are ducks and people in the park, all admiring the day under the shade of trees and screaming of cicadas. I have a book in my hand and a song in my ears. An ice cream truck is driving past as I write this, and I get to go home to a pair of cats and a cup of tea. The bluffs are on the horizon, accented by the occasional wind turbine and water tower. This moment is good, this day was good. Despite all the bad moments, there are good times. Nothing us perfect, but because of that I will always savour the sweet, maple-sugar taste of a peaceful, pleasant moment.

When I say I really want a Jason adopts tim fic, I don't mean I want him to become a parent at 19 to a teen like 2-4 years younger than him, I want Jason to meet Tim and decide that he wants Tim on his side.

I want Jason to adopt Tim as his Robin, like he decides that he wants to recruit this 15 year old that is some how the smartest and snarkiest person in Gotham. I don't want infantilised tim, I want a sorta Nani and Lilo sibling dynamic, but with a smaller age gap.

Like sure, Jason sees his little brother as some sort of soggy kitten that he must protect, but also a Tim that is very capable of looking after himself.

I want Tim to look at Jason, see Bruce back when he first donned the Cape and traffic light colours. And then in true Tim fashion decide to fix him, B was being too over protective since Red Hood showed up anyways.

Like imagine, Jason meeting Tim instead by accident when he drops in on a drug trade. Tim says some quip that throws him off his game while fighting. Jason basically losing to a very deadly fifteen year old who's not slept in 29 hours, and he thinks 'f it, I like the kid'. Then trying to recruit him consistently until Tim goes 'why tf not'.

I want enemies to caretaker, but they both think they're the caretaker

riz gukgak is the character of all time. he's a goblin. he has a gun. he's in high school. he's saved the world multiple times. he's died before. he carries a briefcase with him everywhere. he threatened to eat a dragon. he refuses to stop investigating mysteries because otherwise he would have to deal with his grief over his dad's death. he did fantasy cocaine in a floating pirate city. he lied about having a romance partner and then got kidnapped by the manifestation of that lie. he tattooed clues all over his body in case his memory got wiped. he doesn't know how to connect with his friends outside of life-threatening situations. he has abandonment issues. his dead dad is a secret agent for heaven. he's canonically hot. he throws up when he's nervous. his nickname is the ball. he loves his mom. he hisses at things. he ran over a guy with his friend's van. he brought back an eldritch entity because he can't let a mystery go. he's even aroace.