I Think You Can Tell A Lot About How Rigorous And Committed Someone's Belief In A Human Right Is By How

Wilbur screaming in the Lovejoy songs always awakens some primal horny beast in me. His cover of Spiral Galaxy and the scream in Scum are just xxxxxxxxxxx

The punchline of it all is that your fave was, in fact, problematic--not least because we are all bumbling fools navigating being alive in an ever-new world we're experiencing for the first and only time.

And the thing is, Your Fave was given a giant megaphone for some reason, which means when Your Fave bumbles foolishly through the world, they do so VERY LOUDLY and their inevitable mistakes are EAR-SPLITTING.

The dark brown sunspots sprinkled across my shoulders show that, once upon a time, I stood under in the suns relentless rays without adaquate sun protection. The excuse I gave my mother was, "I'll burn now and let it turn into a dark tan. Then I won't need sunscreen all summer." This was not correct, and time has instead shown that mothers are usually right. But we were an army of indestructible teenage angst working for the good of board children on a Tuesday afternoon enjoying their trouble-free summers before being sucked into the capitalist conveyer belt as we were now.

Oh well, at least I had a great tan. A kindly dermatologist can burn the cancer off another day.

#eulogytalks

Scars on your body show that you have lived; scars on your heart show that you have loved.

Nina Dul

Verm-Vykkennpest:

Common Name - Vykker’s Fervor

"Look upon her frail beauty and think on the temporary nature of this bleak and unwieldy existence. For only in death can we truly appreciate the fragility of her life."

A newly emerging epidemic that seems to have arisen from the recent industrial revolution taking place at the center of the Avarice Empire. Vykker's Fervor is a disease affecting the lungs and bloodstream. Because it is so recent, there is an excess of misinformation being spread about the disease. In fact, some might argue that these misconceptions have traveled faster than the illness itself. This is false. Doctors studying the disease have discerned that the illness is caused by the overuse Of fossilized Vysterthorn roots harvested from sections of the Vermylliik forest which the Empire had set ablaze in their attempt to stop the spread of the Vermillion Draft. Despite this, information warning of the unforeseen consequences of this new technology has failed to gain traction due to ‘An Unprecedented Economic Growth Caused by its Introduction to the Industrial Sector’ Those knowledge about the illness would argue it has more to do with the unprecedented growth of men's pockets, but that is besides the point  

Aproximately 65% of the Capitals population are currently infected with the Verm-Vykkenpest virus, better known as Vykker’s Fervor. What is unique about this illness is the slow progression of the disease. Until recently, Verm-Vykkenpest was a largely unknown disease that only affected those living in close proximity to the Vermylliik forest. Of those infected with the disease, approximately 10% of those will, on average, reach a point of active infection. If treated properly, only 3% of those who reach active disease are likely to die of the illness. This is likely the reason the disease had remained largely unknown prior to about 4 decades ago. Statistically, the illness has a very minor chance of fatality. However, that was prior to the disease gaining its terrifying strangle hold on larger centers of civilization. 

Symptoms of Verm-Vykkennpest include sudden weight loss, shortness of breath, pale translucent skin, sunken eyes, insomnia, lethargy, persistent bruising, And bleeding.

As the disease progresses, the symptoms will slowly worsen. The first sign of this progression to late stage active disease is the coughing up of blood as well as the discovery of blood in the urine and stool. This is caused by the infection of the lungs and other organs slowly tearing away at the lining of the lungs until they eventually drown as the lungs are filled with blood and puss. The thinning of the blood also means that bruising and injuries caused by blunt force are much more likely to cause unseen bleeding, which would not usually be fatal. 

The disease has been found to be dramatically worsened by several factors: weakened immune system and an unhealthy lifestyle. Doctors believe this is why the symptoms of  those living in large population centers progress so quickly. This is also why Vykker's Fervor has become so widely known as a ‘rich man's disease.''’ Those looking to their local newsstand reading about the illness will only see reports of rich affluent members of society in silent repose and languishing in quiet apathy. This, of course, is only highlighted by the sudden change in feminine fashion. For example, it was published in a recent issue of Farfengel Femina that women hoping to ‘achieve to feminine Ideal’ should adopt these new self care habits.

- Line the veins with blue pencils to give the illusion of pale paper thin skin.

- Lace one’s corset to appear more thin and gaunt.

- Brushing one's face and neck with arsenic powder.

- Applying Essence of belladonna to achieve the sunken eye look.

- Redden one's lips and cheeks to mimic the feverish glow of sickness.

We have also seen a shift To lighter, pastel colors in women's dress to further emphasize the small, sickly, waifish look now popularized in fashionable society. Meanwhile, these same fashionable magazines ignore the hundreds of sick, disenfranchised, working class communities over Run with the disease. Individuals who are not only more susceptible To the illness, but who's lack of disposable income means that they will not have the same access to care as their more affluent peers. While the rich upper class flee to the countryside for fresh air and undisturbed restfulness, those of the lower classes will be condemned to the state sponsored sanitorium, locked away from their families. There, they will be left to waste away in large poorly kept dormitories and subjected to untested, experimental, often barbaric treatments with no basis in modern medicine. 

Rage. In my heart. All-consuming. FUCK AI.

*releases pack of dads into home depot* go……be free

There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.

I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.

As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.

Sources:

• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text

• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)

Spotify Streaming Tips

1. Always stream the main/title track using a PLAYLIST. Create title-track focused playlists. Playlist length doesn’t matter, you can use 5 hours or 7 hours long playlists. But what you need to do is change the playlists in every 2/3 hours. Streaming from only one playlist for too long might count as bot behavior. Here’s an example how title-track focused playlist looks like ⬇️⬇️

2.  ONLY 2-3 SONGS IN-BETWEEN THE MAIN/TITLE TRACK FOR SPOTIFY. Adding 4 - 5 - 6 songs wastes too much time. Also, you HAVE TO add other versions of the main/title track (example: remix versions, instrumental version) in-between as fillers. Again, only as FILLERS, not to replace them with the original version. Adding other versions in your playlists will boost the streams for the original version in official charts. And don’t use 🔀 or 🔁 button. Take a look how to add them,

3. Always PRE-SAVE/PRE-ADD the song when they drop the link. They drop few days before the comeback day. Here’s why it’s extremely important,

4. Get premium subscription plans of your affordable prices. Streaming from a premium account has less chances of streams getting deleted. For a first timer, you can start with free trials here.

5. Share the link to your family members, friends & on other social medias to gain more unique listeners.

6. DO NOT skip/repeat/pause the song in the middle. Just stream the full song normally.

7. Repeating/looping the song again n again counts as spam/bot streaming. Often people stream just the song or the whole album over and over throughout the day. Spotify deletes those streams while filtering out the datas. That’s why it’s important to stream with a PLAYLIST.

8. Make sure to create MULTIPLE ( 15 or 20 at least) title-track focused playlists and switch between the playlists HOURLY. Streaming from only 1 or 2 playlists for hours count as spam/bot streaming. If you don’t have time to create more playlists or in need for more, then DM me on Twitter.

9. Add some NON-BTS tracks in between. You can use songs from their mixtapes, collabs, songs produced by them as non-bts songs. Or some artists you like to listen to besides bts (example: coldplay, ariana grande, beyonce etc etc).

10. Keep 2 and 3 gap in between adding main/title-track, not more than that. You can change the gap pattern tho, not repeat it. Something in FROZE & repeated pattern isn’t organic. For example ⬇️⬇️

Title track

xxxx (gap)

xxxx(gap)

Title track

xxxx (gap)

xxxx (gap)

xxxx (gap)

Title track

xxxx (gap)

xxxx (gap)

xxxx (gap)

Title track

xxxx (gap)

xxxx (gap)

You can change the gap pattern the way you want.

11. Offline streams will also count. First you need to download the song before going offline mode. But you need to turn on wifi/mobile data time to time (in a day) to make your streams count for the global chart and the overall streams.

12. IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR 🇬🇧 ARMYS:  UK official singles chart count only 10 streams per day per acccount coz UK charting system is different than US, thus if you streamed 10 times on Spotify and still want to help, then create a new account or switch to another account if you already have one or pick another platform (ex: Apple Music, YouTube, Deezer etc) to stream 10 times more from there. Streams more than 10 will be thrown out. So for title-track focused playlist, add the main/title-track 10 times in your playlists, then move to another account or another platform to stream 10 times more.

13. Plug earphone with your device for volume.

14. DO NOT use any third party, VPN apps to create accounts or to stream.

For those who are confused can watch the video tutorial here

I’m at a sociology conference and just attended a memorial for one of the giants of our field, and one of the panelists told this story…he was at a meeting with this guy, who he got his PhD under and had a long standing relationship with, and he was bemoaning the current state of the world, and he asked this old professor, “how can you be so optimistic? I can’t ever be anything but a pessimist.”

and the old professor said, “you little fucker, I’m going to make a statement and then I’m going to take you out to the parking lot and beat your ass. What good does your pessimism do?”

and that really struck me. not the least because I also knew this old professor and he very rarely swore, so I know this was something he was really worked up about. what good does your pessimism do? What GOOD does your pessimism DO. I’ll be thinking about that for awhile.

Open Letter to Wilbur Soot

(which will likely be read by no one)

The silkworms out here have no idea what you need, what advice you are getting, and whether there are practical reasons for your silence. We can assume you must be under terrible pressure from outside, inside, and all around.  With apologies and understanding, I feel compelled to apply a little more pressure. 

For every former fan who posts a hateful comment, there are a hundred who stay silent. For every positive comment, there are a hundred who are afraid to speak.  Some are determined to despise you but are agonizing over the affection they still feel. Some secretly want to see you vindicated but are afraid to be seen as not believing a victim.  Do you know how they feel? 

It’s not news to you that you are the object of affection for many, many young people (and a few old ones :)). 

Mansplaining Warning (L’Mansplaining…): A celebrity crush on an actor is different.  Actors play someone else.  When a teenager falls head-over-heels for an actor, the connection is less intense.  The actor they adore is usually playing someone else and the public doesn’t really know what the actor is really like.  You play yourself.  Your chat *knows* you, and while you could argue that it isn’t real, SO MUCH OF IT IS.  They have seen you talk, laugh, react, and interact with minimal filters.  You aren’t an actor to them. You are real.  THEY ARE HEARTBROKEN, and it is REAL. 

The A-word was fixed to your chest by your ex-girfriend. Fandom splintered and sides were chosen. There is a tone that any questioning of Shelby’s characterization of you is anti-feminist or immoral.  People believe they aren’t allowed to accept you. Kids think it’s a true-or-false thing - either you did this or you didn’t.  

They think the man they idolized and thought was the best kind of person is actually the worst kind. Some think they were fooled. Some think they were betrayed. All they have to go on are Shelby’s words, bolstered by the blistering response to your statement from a few of your former colleagues and the deafening silence from the rest.  

There is a feeling that if you haven’t defended yourself, fully, it must be because you have no defense.  If the Sorry Boys and MCYTs won’t defend you, there must be more to this, and whatever you’ve done must be indefensible.

There are thousands of fans standing in the river, halfway across, hoping someone will tell them it is okay swim back.  No one is telling them.  Some have made their way decisively to one shore or the other and will not look back.  The people in the middle are a MESS.  

We know you are hurting.

These fans are hurting. You don’t owe them anything.  It must sting to have them adore you so much and then turn on a dime.  But if you have anything left to give, there are a bunch of fans who need more than anything to hear from you. 

My friend (one of the ‘fan moms’) exchanged DMs with kid in crisis a few days ago and talked him through a suicidal night.  He was struggling with losing you (which is how it feels to them), and the final straw was getting banned on Twitch by other CCs because he supports you.  He just couldn’t bear it. 

I read two Twitter threads today from fans who have denounced you confessing how much they miss being fans.  Both writers started and finished their ‘vents’ with caveats professing their support for victims and disgust for you, to make sure that no one reading would mistake them for “supporting an abuser.”  Then, they go on to describe the loss they feel and the holes in their hearts.  They question whether it is okay to still like Lovejoy.  They shyly ask if it still counts as “supporting abuse” if they can find ways to listen for free. They miss the high they used to get when a new single dropped or a new stream popped up. They say that of course they can’t love you anymore, but they loved the way you made them feel.  Between the caveats, the middle a straight-up love letter. 

Both sides love to toss around the “you’re parasocial” insult.  Who cares.  Parasocial or not, the suffering is real. 

If your PR person, your label, your lawyers, your band are telling you not to talk, *don’t talk.* 

But if not, and if you can ——-

PLEASE START TALKING. 

Talk for hours.  

Any damn way you want.  

Script it.  Wing it.  Push it out in pieces.  Produce a Dream-style YouTube video. Hop on Twitch and talk honestly until there is nothing at all left to say.  

Most importantly, make sure it isn’t short.  More is more. 

Talk about your faults, talk about your perception of what was happening at the time, and your perception of it retrospectively.  Talk about how you are doing, about what these months have been like for you.  (The WSS fans on your side of the river need most of all to know how you are doing.  Honestly. No bullshit please.)  If there are lies, call them lies.  Where Shelby is right, acknowledge it. Take the hits you deserve, but not the ones you don’t. Hit back when it isn’t fair. Please. 

If your silence means “I am exactly the guilty POS you think I am,” by all means, stay silent. 

But if not, PLEASE, for the Love of God, DEFEND YOURSELF. 

 **Now go listen to your team and yourself before taking strategy advice from some fangirl.