I saw posts of people hyping it up to be insanely difficult, even comparing it to a Souls boss in some cases. I went in as prepped as possible. Ended up completely shredding phase 1, phase 2, and phase 2.5 in less than 10 total shots from a bow. The fight genuinely took less than 15 seconds. Kinda confused me, idk if I somehow cheesed the boss or went in overprepared. The dragon fight ended up being more difficult compared to the human forms

My husband is currently a second year general surgery resident on a regional rotation and we have our own place in our home city but we have been living separately off and on as I work in our home city and he works four hours away. I try to visit him every few weeks and stay a week or two with him if I can as he rarely wants to drive to see me, even though his family & friends are in our home town also. This rotation is seemingly more ‘chill’ as he starts at 6:30-7am and often finishes before 5pm so he has more free time. However I’ve noticed that he has no interest in going out, seeing friends/family etc and watches YouTube/tv for hours on end every single weekend and during weekdays too. He doesn’t go to the gym because he says he is too tired, pre-marriage he would go multiple times every week then he moved away from work and just stopped. He has stopped getting routine haircuts & watching his diet, he mostly eats junk food and has gained around 30kgs in the 1.5 years that we have been married. He has also become increasingly impatient & critical of everyone & everything, for example we will be driving and he will get extremely annoyed if someone does not let him merge or if a pedestrian is taking too long to cross a path. He also appears to be tired all the time except when he is watching YouTube and has no interest in sex, he has stopped initiating, he will only be interested once a month & only if I initiate. I sense an overall decrease in interest in me and other aspects of life. He has mentioned that he needs a holiday just yesterday. I was wondering if this is relatively normal during residency or should I be concerned?

I was completely new to overwatch 2 last year, so I tanked my rank while learning. I started playing again recently, and I have improved a lot but ive been in b5 support for the past 3 rank cycles. I've been slowly climbing so that I'm now top 1% of players in bronze 5, but its still frustrating. Can anyone give me advice/gameplay tips?
Replay Code: B3JZYA This last game I was confused how we lost. What could I have done differently to win? I'm the bap.
(tbh I was getting tilted at our tank who kept shitting on us for more heals, so I might not have been using my head towards the end.)

I noticed I'm starting to get a lot of 4km and 5km trips on my bike now. I used to only get 2.5km max. It's allowing me to get more orders and make a decent amount of money in only 3 hours. I remember on some days I would scrape by for 5 hours just to end up with $30 or so.

Hello, everybody. I (male, 25) am in a bit of a pickle. A few days something happened that now makes me feel infinitely guilty and afraid. But here's a full story for you: I met my gf(female 21 now) 4 years ago, at a university. We live in Europe, and had to study the language together. In a few months after meeting each other we started dating. And it wasn't a smooth sailing. Both of us didn't have any real dating experience and didn't know what we needed from relationships. Same goes for sexual experience - i had some, but very little, she had none. But through talking and overcoming difficulties, we made it work. For three years the relationships were basically perfect - lots of love, we created our personal little world, and needed no one but each other. She became the only person I wanted to talk to, the only person i wanted to see. But we moved in together around 8 months ago, and she had to find a job... which basically meant she had 40 hour job and around 30 hours of uni every week. And her and mine works are from home, so we spent a lot of time seeng each other. THis started to slowly make our sex life less and less active, since it got harder and harder to find time for it, since the pressure from uni and work on her side made her really tired and emotionally fatique. My job also took a lot of time and thoughts. So we kinda became super boring, but still enjoyed our time together. And in those rare weekends when we were free, we rarely thought about having intercourse. Which is a part of the problem. But in the same time over the past half a year I had to travel a lot for work and other things, which made things worse. When we're not close, I start seeing issues that I didn't see before. When something interesting is happening in my life, and hers is just work and uni, I felt lke im dating a boring person. Or I started seeing issues with her character. Nn-critical issues, the ones that you can live with, but it still made me somewhat disappointed. And the lack of intimacy made me more and more sad whether I chose the right woman from a visual and sexual standpoint. But again, we managed to live and have some happy times. But the worst things started to happen when I needed to travel to Taiwan for a month. And here my brain just started to fuck things up. I started feeling obsessed with ideas like: "we didn't have time to explore the world, to see ourselves and learn what we like and want, both sexually and from people and life." And this thought started to bake into my brain, to the point that I decided to start talking to a psychologist as soon as I have a chance. And on one day a woman texted me on couchsurfing, suggesting to show me the city. She's a beautiful and confident 40-year-old taiwanese. And we instantly got the chemistry, at least sexually. On the second time I met her I told her about my gf, and explicitly stated that nothing could happen, only sightseeing. But it seems like for her it became a challenge. She started testing my boundaries and how far can she go. To be fair - i didn't know my boundaries either, I thhought I'll feel when its rong. But nothing crazy happened. Until the weekend trip. The woman offered to go on a motorcycle trip. I asked my gf on what to do, and she said that motorcycle trip in taipei is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,a dn that I should go but make sure the woman doesn't do anything. And in that trip... The woman started to slowly seduce me. I rejected her as much as I could, saying no to everything, but she kept pushing, and pushing, and pressing me with words like: "i just want you to have good memories of your trip." So on the second morning of the trip she started seducing me more, rubbing herself on me. And to me the feeling of being desired by someone but my gf was so surreal , that I didn't know how to react. I just kinda let her do what she thought, but I didn't do anything myself. Before that it was only her hugging me and kissing my ear. I wasn't really enjoying what he did, but somehow couldn't find any strength to stop it. I knew that I was sexually attracted to that woman, but no romantic emotions were involved. So she asked me to masturbate together. I refused. Then she asked whether i could do it in a room nextdoor. I don't know why, but I agreed. I wasn't thinking straight, the hormones and desire were controlling me. So I kinda moaned a little, finished in a shower by myself, and went along with the day. Didn't feel shitty then, since all I did was what I usually did many times before. The only difference was that instead of porn I had someone moaning nextdoor. After that we still met a couple times, but the meetups didn';t involve anything sexual. She just hugged me, I petted her hair, and that's all. Basically did the things I missed doing with my gf. But a few days ago when it was the last time we met... It was supposed to be a farewell meeting - I'd say my goodbyes and go. But she offered to show me a hotel with jacuzzi. For four days I was avoiding agreeing. But then I thought - I wasn't bad at keeping boundaries before, I can do it now... Long story short, she startted seducing me again, eventually rubbing herself on my, which resulted in me nutting. We were in clothes, but she repeatedly placed my hands on her tits and ass... I know I behaved as an animal and wasn't thinking straight, but I kinda felt powerless to stop somethjing.. I felt really powerless... No sex happened, no penetration. I just touched boobs and ass a couple times, she rubbed herself on me, and I finished. Just couldn't resist it for some reason. Then I felt really dirty and left. I first called by best friend to tell him, ask for advice. Then I called my gf to tell her about what happened. I just can't keep secrets from her, especially like this. And now I feel like I betrayed her. I didn't want that, I wasn't going to those meetups for sex or anything like that. I was just fascinated with the fact that someone desires me without knowing me as a person, without building relationships first. I feel used, abused in a way, and so broken. I feel like I broke the trust we used to have, and that I won't be able to look in her eyes. That she won't see me as the man she fell in love with, that the guilt and weight of what I allowed to happen will haunt me till the end of my days. That eventually we're gonna brealk up because of it, and I'd end up absolutely lonely, scarred and afraid to meet someone else. I just want to rewind time and never agree to meet that woman... To never see her, to erase all memories of her and what happened. I want to continue the relationships with my gf, because I know that it is almost impossible to meet a person like she. She feels betrayed now, and I feel like I betrayed her. My parents and psychologist say that I might overthink, and that some flirt is a part of life. That I still did the right thing that I didn't fall completely into thhe trap laid by that woman. That it's just a misstep, an honest mistake of an inexperienced person, who I am. But I just can't shake the feeling that I failed and that my life is broken now. I don't know what to do, don't know whether my gf will understand and forgive me, and whether we'll be able to restore our relationships. Because I don't want to be with anyone but her... But now I blew all my chances... It hurts like hell... How can we save our relationship???

I have been thinking on some things recently, and revisiting a disagreement I have had with Destiny in the past. This disagreement, best exemplified in this thread from years ago, was about whether or not someone could face repercussions at their job/school for being an extreme racist/Nazi, even if those activities did not technically involve their academic or occupational life.
I want to be clear in my change on opinion that it is not on the moral/principle of the disagreement. I still believe that in principle, it is good for society to assign a social cost to having such a harmful view (especially as it will lead to harmful actions). However, even at the time, I was concerned of if this was something that would ever work practically, or if it would only ever remain in the realm of theory and principle.
I've moved now past that to considering that idea in and of itself to be negative. There are a multitude of reasons, a bunch of which were known to me at the time, and were pretty much the anti-"cancel culture" reasons always given: these have just become more of an issue as time has gone on. I'm not going to go into all of them, but the concept of the mob mentality, the witch hunt, the desire to find a victim, the question of who decides what is bad enough, etc. They're not shocking, and are ones that Destiny and people before him have brought up.
These were, as I said, ones I'd considered at the time. They seemed to me to be pretty much level one arguments in this kind of discussion. Were these bad things? Of course, and they were the reason that I thought applying this concept in a practical way would be extremely difficult even then.
But there have been a few things I've realized and seen since then that have changed my mind and pushed me away from it even more, with the third and final being the straw that broke the camel's back.
#1: Harm Done, Harm Perceived, and Harm Intended
This was a consideration that mainly came to me from having a somewhat unique group of friends, due to being in substance abuse recovery. Because of this, a lot of my friends are also in recovery. Because they used to be, well, drug addicts, some of them has done some pretty bad things. Doing a home invasion, robbing someone at gunpoint, selling someone potentially lethal drugs, etc.
I found it very interesting, especially in the relatively younger circles of recovery, that as bad as these things are, someone would rather admit to, for example, a home invasion than being a white guy who *used* to say the N-word. Not everyone would castigate like this, of course, but there were enough to create an atmosphere that made it clear which would be worse to admit.
This made no sense to me. It is extremely clear which action is worse. It was extremely clear that even for the people who would have admonished, they knew which would do more harm (if they were asked if they'd rather hear someone use the N word casually or have their house robbed, we know which one they were picking). So then, why the difference in judgment?
The conclusion I came to is that racism- and indeed all kinds of bigotry- has a unique element to it in which a single action (and a single person) serves as a stand in for a lifetime of hurt felt. There's a great scene from Louie that does an excellent job of laying this out, basically talking about that when you see an action or even hear a slur, it evokes this intensely negative lived experience. This- what I refer to as the harm perceived- is all that ends up mattering, because it transforms you from a person into a mere symbol for pain and suffering that can't be dealt with through other ways. It is also why the harm intended doesn't matter, because with that action they're no longer seeing you as an individual.
And this is even in a friend group, where they do know you. In this, you might be shown some leniency and understanding, especially if it was the past, especially if you have other friends and people vouching for you and reminding the hurt person of the individual and the person there. But what about on the anonymity of the internet? What about when hundreds, thousands, millions of people are in agreement about this person being awful and horrible?
#2. Amplification of Power is Not Inherently A Good Thing
A major issue that arises in an area of discrimination and oppression is, of course, a power imbalance. The person harmed is often unable to seek redress because of this, and even to fully speak out for fear of further retribution and being further hurt by individuals in more powerful positions.
The internet, and "cancel culture", offered a way to somewhat balance the scales, to give power to these people. We saw this with something like the early days of #MeToo. Women who were being seriously taken advantage of and horribly abused, that weren't getting adequate redress in other areas of their life, were able to come together and share their stories and use the public outcry to fight back against these abuses. They also empowered and inspired other women to do the same.
But as things went on, we began to see the trouble with amplification of power. When you know that you can get a public outcry, outrage, and massive support directed towards you by doing something like this, it becomes very tempting to do just that. And as it became more and more common place to do exactly that, what warranted it became less and less.
So take the above, and now imagine you can film it, clip it, put it online. If you already feel hurt- if you're already looking at this person as just a piece of shit who represents the worst things that have happened to you in your life- then who cares about him? He deserves it right, you're just calling it out.
But once it starts, why does it keep spreading? Why doesn't anyone speak on it?
#3. The Bystander Effect, White Guilt, and Diffusion of Responsibility
In 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered, and the New York Times made the murder infamous with the (erroneous claim) that despite the murder having 38 witnesses, none of them contacted the police or came to her aid. Because of this story, her murder has become a gruesome anecdote and the inspiration for research into why bystanders sit around and do nothing, even in the face of great injustice.
This is a question that dovetails nicely into what we're talking about above. Our natural feeling- that to do nothing to help, to be neutral, is almost as bad as doing the act yourself- is echoed in countless sentiments related to racism and prejudice. There is the famous "First they came..." poem that is engraved at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, there is Desmond Tutu's powerful "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.", and there is Martin Luther King's oft-quoted (and often, especially if you're a dipshit fucking brain dead leftist, mis-used) "Letter From Birmingham Jail" (aka the white moderate since that's all people read).
This is a good point. We should of course stand up in cases of injustice, we should speak out, and we should work against oppression, even if it does not directly harm or target us. The problem is when this combines with white guilt to result in some very stupid and some very counter productive actions.
When I say white guilt, I don't mean the general meaning, of like a guilt or shame because of white people's history of racism. I mean this idea that you're not doing enough as a white person to combat racism, and guilt that you should be doing your part to be "an ally". It results in you being so desperate to get this feeling and to do something that makes you feel you've done something that you'll do it through retweets, or Reddit upvotes, or Tik Tok comments, or putting your black square up so people know you're sad George Floyd died. And if you initially didn't want to, you're going to feel both internal and external pressure to do so, because if you don't make sure people know you're condemning racism, how do they know you're not the racist?
These are small actions, but that is a double edged sword. The fact that they are small actions allows for what is an actual negative discovered through research into the bystander effect, which is diffusion of responsibility. You are providing one little cut into the person whose life is being ruined, and you're doing it in a way that's disconnected and removed from actually seeing the consequences. And even worse, you're doing it while thinking you're acting in the service of something good.
#4: Internet Journalism Fucking Blows, and People Don't Know How To Read, and Writers Don't Even Know How To Write
This was the straw that absolutely broke my back. I think the situation described above is bad enough. But what is to happen when the "journalism" and actual reporting of the facts just continues to erode and get even worse, where even what actually happened and is known is completely lost?
There are some obvious examples of how this happens, like the recent "Bike Karen" incident. For one thing, increasingly the way stories are "broken" is through online social media platforms, being reported on by people who aren't journalists. There is no accountability to these people, there is no background, and there is ultimately really no skin in the game for the people who are resharing and giving opinions on it if they completely fuck it up.
This especially sucks because now, we've gotten so used to the cycle described above that we actively look for it. We didn't even wait on this video, we saw it and thought "racist white woman, TARGET ACQUIRED", and ran with it because it seemed to fit exactly what we wanted. It allows people to tear down and attack someone, potentially completely ruin their life, all for the purpose of making them feel like they made some grand societal change.
But what about real media, and real journalists? What if these are the ones who are covering and talking about these things?
Well, that gets to what started the inspiration for all of this. Was looking into what happened to No Jumper, and discovered this Rolling Stones article about Adam and his link to "white supremacy". A lot of it I don't disagree with: people like Richard Spencer and Nick Fuentes are undeniably white supremacists.
But then, I got to this section: "On the same episode, Fuentes claimed 'Black people are committing the majority of the violent crime.' An FBI report, cited by Media Matters, debunks this, saying there was “no statistically significant differences by race between offenders” regarding arrests for violent crimes."
I have looked at this FBI report before (the joy of arguing with racists online). The FBI report begins by stating: " In 2018, based on data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, black people were overrepresented among persons arrested for nonfatal violent crimes (33%) and for serious nonfatal violent crimes (36%) relative to their representation in the U.S. population (13%)." Interesting... seems to not at all say what the article (and Media Matters) is suggesting it says.
So I searched out the specific sentence cited, which reads (in full context): " Among the most serious incidents of violent crime (rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault), there were no statistically significant differences by race between offenders identified in the NCVS and persons arrested per the UCR. White and black people were arrested proportionate to their involvement in serious nonfatal violent crime overall and proportionate to their involvement in serious nonfatal violent crime reported to police."
In other words, the section they cited was talking about whether or not the arrest rate was proportionate to the rate of offending. It had nothing to do with which race was committing the most crime, and does not at all make the claim the article is arguing it does.
But worst of all: the Rolling Stones article ends with a note that: "Update: This story was updated on March 30th at 11:41 p.m. EST to clarify the language from the FBI report debunking one of Fuentes’ claims."
...It's been updated. The language I showed you is the update. They were informed of a problem, and even after this, they kept a blatant lie in their article. And yes, it's Rolling Stone, I understand it's not the bastion of journalist integrity, but if you search "Adam No Jumper" on Google, the number one result- after his YouTube, Instagram, and website- is a Rolling Stone article that links back to this one.
Now I might be being pedantic. But this blatant of a lie, especially when there was an update for a correction, was extremely worrisome to me. I don't know if it's even a lie or just outright incompetence, or indeed which one is scarier. I do know that in a world where people can't even wait a day for more context on a video, people can't even read past the headlines most time, there's no way that they're going to click on this FBI report, find the sentence, and realize they've been lied to.
And when this lie just helps to feed an engine that's already going to take every fact in the worst possible light, it only makes things worse. And for everyone who's in the middle, who can see something like this and have it pointed out to them, it just makes this stuff look even worse. It is lies and Internet terrorism masquerading as social change and progress, and it is a monster that the left needs to deal with.
Conclusion/TL;DR:
Thanks for everybody who read this, sorry if it just came out too much like a rant. It's something I've been thinking on a lot recently, and I figure that for all the times I call out Destiny when I think he's saying something dumb, I should probably acknowledge it when stuff is bringing me closer to his position.
For a TL;DR, it's basically just that four factors of

1. People being seen as faceless symbols for racism/transphobia/bigotry
2. Any online minority having the ability to start canceling and dealing with that temptation
3. A bunch of wannabe-allies hopping onto a "cause" with no regard for who it's hurting
4. Incompetent/dishonest reporting, both from amateurs and professionals

have led to something that could have in theory be good turning into one of the worst things to happen to online progressive politics.

Sucks to have to do this cuz we did a loan together before and had no issues. But I guess this is why lenders prefer borrowers with plenty of borrow history. We did a loan before and a few days after he paid it back he posted again and I loaned him what I could at the time. He gets paid monthly so on 5/31 I should have gotten paid, instead he said that if he paid me back he would have to create a new post to ask for another loan and if I could just take a payment for the $25 interest for this loan, and he could pay me $25 again next month in interest along with the loan amount. I explained I actually needed the money because I have tuition to pay for and I could check back with him in two weeks and loan him if he didn’t get anyone to loan him money before then. And then he ghosted me. Send multiple messages asking for an update, even agreed to just take the $25 payment now and the rest at the end of this month if it meant I’d get something rather than him just keeping the money. Still no responses since the one message on the day he should have paid me back. Hoping you come around bro and do what’s right so we can clear this up. I’ll give it a few more days before reaching out to PayPal to try and recover the funds.

We see this version of Venlil Prime and the Venlil.
I hope you enjoy!
------------------------
[Memory transcription partially translated to modern terms]
Memory transcription subject: Governess Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date[standardized human time]: July 12, 2136
I stared at the big screen in slight apprehension, feeling the air flowing out of my [cephalic orfice] as I awaited the response from the strangers.
With the situation my people have been in for the past many millennia, I could not be blamed.
The Federation was completely remaking the biologies of various species from various planets to suit their homogenous union, the super species known as the Arxur was dragged into a forever war with them and were devouring everything they could get their claws on, and the Allied Resistance had my species as one of it's main fighters only a few millenia ago without any warning.
The amount of dishonor in the galaxy was palpable, and I initially worried that these strangers would add to that, but my worries faded when they responded to our test transmission.
The test transmission was made specifically to get a response, locking the ship into our network and allowing the computers to scan their databanks and translate their language. It hurt a bit of my soul to have to take advantage a potential ally's trust before it could even be formed. Such a tactic was quite dishonorable. General Cam, however, argued that it being used for everyone's benefit, and not just our own, justified it's use.
And it paid off.
The message we received was alien binary, which was initially untranslatable. Then, the computer fished through their databanks and identified the binary as something that translated to an alphabetical language, not too dissimilar from our own. We then identified which strings of binary corresponded to which letters, and what those letters equated to in our alphabet. That landed us with a line of gibberish. We then searched further into their data banks and searched for word meanings, putting words through the visual meaning generator to help us. There were a few errors, but we sorted things out. Finally, after [1 hour 30 minutes] of parsing through things, we managed to get a translation for the message.
"We come in peace"
At first, I felt an immeasurable relief. Then I felt an equally immeasurable excitement. This was someone looking for nothing but friendship. With how slow the response was, they clearly weren't advanced enough to lie on a species scale. This was probably their first venture into alien territory. They could have assumed us to be hostile and tried to attack us, they most likely misinterpreted our first message, and had every right to be distrustful and defensive, but they chose to show bravery by lowering their guard and offering peace.
Finally, a species with a level of honor and bravery that matched our own!
We spent another [10 minutes] putting together a reply.
"Peace accepted. Who are you?"
As we waited, we parsed through more of their words and meanings to make communication faster. Eventually we received a message. After a few minutes, it was translated.
"Our species is called HUMAN. We seek to discover."
Ah, to make a discovery that may shake the foundations of society. Quite the ambitious and admirable pursuit. I was glad that their first discovery of alien life was us, and not something more... tragic.
"Should we introduce ourselves properly?" General Cam asked.
"Let us be sure our species name can transliterate in their language."
We spent the next [10 minutes] figuring out how our name would be spelled in their language. We manage to spell it out, and we had our message prepared.
"We are the VENLIL. We welcome you."
As I sent the message, I imagined the absolute glee our new friends might be experiencing right now. They're probably dancing around in giddy excitement.
That mental image made my ears straighten up, signifying my own giddy excitement.
I wonder what they look like when dancing around all happy and excited...
I turned to General Cam. "General, can we arrange a meeting with these new allies on Venlil Neo?"
Venlil Prime was the second planet away from the sun. Venlil Neo was the third. It's lifeless exterior was the perfect place for a safe first contact to be initiated.
"I'll see what we can do, Governess Tarva."
Previous

I am a female 19 year old college student. When I was in high school, I became friends with a girl whom we’ll call Joe(18). She and I became friends and bonded over our love for plants, music, books, tv, and art. To paint a picture of her, she grew up in a religious christian household, and left christianity sometime in early high school. She was on and off of different antidepressants and mood stabilizers throughout our friendship. She had the same therapist for many years and had a close relationship with her. She loves her animals and urges me and our other close friend, ( we’ll call her ember ) to let her dogs and cats lick our faces because that’s how they connect to people. She saves baby birds with broken wings, loves kids, and is generally just a positive and happy go lucky kind of chick.
I left for college in the fall of 2022, and she was still in high school, so we didn’t talk or hang out for almost a year. We also didn’t speak the summer leading up to the school year, because there had been a split down our friend group and joe, ember and I had gone our separate ways. She reconnected to me sometime in early 2023 asking to start hanging out and I told her no and made excuses because of the abrupt nature of our friendship ending the summer prior. I started working with her again at my summer job in my hometown a month ago and have since noticed many changes in her demeanor, verbiage, and overall personality, and I started smoking with her after work sometimes like we used to, including ember.
She talks way less, and frequently zones out or stays completely silent when anyone is talking to her. She often tells me she doesn’t understand what we’re talking about, or what’s “ going on “. She speaks in a kiddish manor, often reciting omens about forgiveness and peace. Almost scripture like. Like a kid in bible school. Anything that she liked before, books, art, tv, etc, she has no interest in now. The only tv she watches are kids cartoons, and says the reason why is that “ tv is meaningless so i just watch happy stuff “ which seems just like some hippie shit she would say so I didn’t think much of that. I noticed as we all hung out that when ember or I would talk about anything we liked, our hobbies or interests, she never had any of her own. She takes care of her plants, and reads and meditates. The thing is, she only reads one book. Over and over. It’s called, “ A Course in Miracles “.
As time has gone on she mentions this book more and more. In fact 9/10 times I hear her say ANYTHING it’s just a reference to the book or peace or forgiveness or how nothing matters and reality isn’t real. She claims that the only “ real “ thing is love, and anything else in this world or life other than that, is ego.
One day ember and I went to her house to smoke and when we get there we enter her room like usual, and to sit on the bed, I had to close this big blue book that was opened to the smack dab middle in the middle of her bed. I hand her the book to sit down, and I’m reading the title as I hand it over. She takes this action as interest, and starts explaining the book to me.
I hate to use this word, but she truly sounded completely delusional. She claimed she was just “ further along on her spiritual journey” than we were, and she had reached enlightenment by discovering that reality is an illusion, and sin doesn’t exist because nothing is real. She no longer believes in personal accountability, and recently has made plans with me 12 hours in advance and blown me off as I’m sitting there waiting in the parking lot for her to show up. I recently told her how upset this recurring action is, and she told me “ I’m not a planner. I’m a free spirit, I just go with the flow. What’s supposed to happen happens and what doesn’t, doesn’t. “
The issue with this of course being that she wasn’t that much of a free spirit to reach out and make the plan in the first place.
I started looking into this book and it turns out that the author regretted writing the book immensely, and said she “ hated that damn book “. She died of cancer, which according to the book, isn’t possible because enlightenment cures ALL sickness. The book has been openly criticized for it’s sketchy ties to christianity, the bureaucratic shit the author did to call this a self help book even though it’s more of a religious book, and also the insane contradictory statements it makes. The author of the book claimed that Jesus spoke to her and told her to rewrite the Bible, because it was wrong. Hence, this book. I’ve also read that this book preys on young minds that were indoctrinated by christianity and escaped it. Some call it new age woo.
The more I see the worse it gets. The author says she regrets writing it in the first place. This book sends people into a state of dissociative psychosis. I remember Joe saying to me, “ Before I found this book, I wanted to kill myself. “ I am afraid that she’s already too deep in and has no grip on reality at all, not that she believes in it anyway. And the loss of it might send her off the deep end.
I have lots of shit on my plate, so does everyone, but this is a really large topic, and I definitely don’t have any energy to entertain this further. She feels hollow. She has no passion for anything, except her belief in nothing. As her friend, and just as a human that is concerned, I feel some sort of obligation to do something about this. I also feel the urge to just not speak to her anymore and call it done. Her actions are very selfish and it is hard to empathize with her when I know that she didn’t do any research. It’s hard to even take it seriously in a way.
She didn’t do as much as a Google search before devoting her life to this book. She lives by its scriptures and uses them to do whatever she wants, whenever she feels like it.
Would stepping in at this point even help? Would she dismiss me as not real if I even had concerns about it or brought it up?
I am wondering if my friend is still in there somewhere. She’s just graduated high school and is still very young, but has always been a little naïve and uninformed. Do I jump off a sinking ship? Or is that selfish and I need to help her? I just had to get this out of my system because I cannot stop worrying about the consequences this is going to have.

Mamas, I seriously need advice. This is going to be long, but I would appreciate any help! So my son is about to be 8. His dad and I separated when he was 2, but we didn't get formally divorced until March. He had no custody of my son from Jan 2018 - March 2023. He never went for custody, visited sporadically. Well when we got a divorce in March he wanted custody. To avoid a court case bc I already blew my whole savings on the pretrial lawyer fees we agreed in mediation. I agreed to every other weekend and 50/50 legal custody with me having the tie breaker. It's only been going on for 3 months, and we have already had so many issues. The order states that he cannot take him to his house because it's unsafe. So he takes him out on day trips and brings him home at 7. But he's taken him to his home almost every weekend he has him without even asking me until they've already been there if at all. I've told him not to take him there, he did it again yesterday. But the main issue I'm having happened today.
My son was diagnosed with ADHD on Friday. His doctor said that he has severe hyperactive ADHD and needs to take medication. This has been a long long time coming. He's too hyperactive in school and gets in trouble a lot. I never thought I would give my son's meds, but he truly does need them. He's upset that he gets in trouble all day and it's effecting his mental health over things he cannot control.
Well he went for his visit today and when he got home he said that his dad's girlfriend told him that he DOES NOT have ADHD. He said she was saying it "every other sentence" his words were daddy will say "babe where's my phone?" And she would give it to him and then bring up the fact that he does not have ADHD again and again. She also told him that he should not take his medicine because it will "make him sick".
His dad was one of the people pushing me to get him diagnosed! This morning when we were alone I thought we had a great Convo about all of this and I thought he was finally agreeing to the meds. Well tonight I call him to talk about what his girlfriend said (this isn't the first time she's said inappropriate things to my son) and he starts saying things like "well we're not gonna assume he has it until I talk to the doctor" ... I told you that he was DIAGNOSED, why would I lie about that? They're so paranoid and act like everything EVERYONE says to them is a lie until they have "proof" and then they gaslight you until you don't know what's true. They do this to my son.
Before we even went to the doc he said he wanted to take him "for a second opinion on his own time"... But he didn't even come to the first appt when I gave him 5 days notice. He didn't answer the phone when the doc called while we were there. And he never contacted me after the appt to ask what happened. We didn't have a conversation about it until days later, he saw me for hours on Saturday at my son's baseball game and didn't say a word to me. Today I finally asked to speak with him about it myself.
The reason that he did not come to the appt is because his girlfriend does not allow him to be alone with me. Not even to pick our son up, she has to come. He can barely video chat my son without her listening in, he's hooked up his messenger app to add her to the group chat. He can't attend school activities unless she can get off of work too, and I guess he can't even attend one of his son's most important appts without her there. He's told me that she will not allow him to be alone with me. She also monitors all of our text messages (his phone is hooked up to her phone), so if he needs to talk to me about something she doesn't need to hear he will call me. My son picks up on all of this and asks why she always has to be there. He hasn't been alone with his dad for more than 5 mins in almost 5 years. He's asked me to ask his dad for alone time, which I've done countless times but he never does it.
They've been together for almost 5 years, have a child together. We have been separated for 5+ years, have never ever hooked up or even flirted once bc he's a psycho. I have never even sent a flirty text, NOTHING. I have my own partner or 5 years and we have a child together as well, and can finally get married now that the divorce is finalized. There's nothing warranting this behavior, other than her jealousy, insecurities and paranoia. She takes all of this out on my son.
Is there anything I can do to keep her away from my son? Or do I have to go back to court and fight for full custody? Do you think I will get it? I don't want a person who is telling my son that he doesn't have the disability he has, making him come home upset and confused, around my son. I don't want someone who's talking my son out of taking a medication he's not even prescribed yet around my son. I don't want someone who's undermining all of the work we have put in to tell my son it's ok that he has ADHD and that doesn't mean anything is "wrong" or "bad". I have never said ANYTHING negative about her or his father to my kid no matter how hard it gets. She tries to prevent any healthy co-parenting relationship that we try to have. When I am just speaking to him, things seem fine and we agree on a lot of things. As soon as she's there, she opposes my opinion, makes me ex "pick her side" and then it ends in argument, disgruntled relationships and ultimately harms my son.
Every weekend he has something new that upset him that she does. She constantly talks crap about me to him, and he gets REALLY upset about that. Hes only been with them for 6 weekends in the last 5 years. He's been with me EVERYDAY.
She's also a DAYCARE WORKER, and I feel bad for any disabled kids that she works with if she speaks this way about disability and medication. I just don't know what to do. This is all so damaging to my son's mental health and he has enough going on rn, I need to protect him.
If you have any advice, or just if you think this is as WRONG as I do, please let me know. Am I tripping??

I honestly don't know how to start this, I have too many things to say and very few words to express them. If you are reading this it is because I am dead, because I disappeared from your life or because I entrusted this to you, leaving it up to you whether to read it or not.
Many times, speaking of serious stuff, I told you not to feel obliged to read, that you could skip the conversation and that it was fine. Not this time, I ask you to read all of it, I ask that you only read it and not share what is in these letters. Although obviously you are within your rights to do so.
Of all the people in my life, you will probably be the one who will receive my longest death letter. I have too much to write to you. So I'm afraid this letter will end up being too short because it would mean that the biggest and my favorite connection I've ever made with another human being can be summed up in less than an hour of reading.
It seems strange to me to think that you could be reading this in a very distant future where we are no longer a part of each other's lives. One where you might even have forgotten who I am.
Well, getting to the point, in case you are somewhat like me in that maybe you are not convinced of something nice no matter how many people tell you, I want to make it clear to you. At the time I write this we have known each other for 7 years, and for 5 years I have considered you the best friendship I ever had in my life. I very much doubt that anything will change this and if in 10, 15 or more years I can continue seeing you often, talking about things that happened to us and laughing about a show we like, it would make me very happy.

 Friendship 

When I met you, you didn't really stand out to me much, I don't think I would have ever imagined how much our relationship could develop. You were just one of the group of those who got into technical school late. I remember that with T we called you rocket girl because your hair was green like a Tristana skin :p.
Over time you formed a group with T and Tr while I wandered around the classroom looking for a place where I could sit. I was never afraid to join your group, even if they said you were toxic and whatnot. You never gave me that impression.
I think it was the first time in my life that I felt so accepted by those I decided to call friends. You, more than anything, I can't describe the sense of the peace that you made me feel after those years where, one after the other, those who were my so-called friends ended up making me hate myself. I really liked being your friend and I would repeat the experience as many times as possible. I enjoyed every moment you let me come over to your house for lunch, growing up sitting together on a school desk day after day. It makes me feel happy to know that during all those years we spent talking about anything that could entertain us or about some hypothetical moral conflict, you saw me as a true friend. I always had that voice in my head that repeated to me that, deep down, you didn't like me or you'd just get tired of me.
I'm glad I can look back and know now how much you trusted me, always opening up and letting me paint my words, advice, comfort and affection in your mind. I smile every time I remember the difference of how I felt being your friend to what I lived since elementary school.
Words are not enough to express how much I appreciate you and how much I treasure all the mornings, afternoons and nights that we've spent together laughing, complaining, talking, studying, growing, living.
I was thinking of giving you this for your birthday, but I think it would be too much. Despite how long we've known each other and how close we ended up being, I don't remember ever giving you a gift. If I tell you the truth, sometimes I feel like it's because I don't think I can give you something you deserve, something that can make you happy for at least a few minutes, and it scares me to think that you might end up hating something that I give you.
You are an important part in most of my best memories. Playing and talking on the patio of your house, caressing Dana or laughing with your brothers. Walking through the corridors of the school and using recess to take advantage of the tranquility of the library. The conversations that could last for hours, at your house or mine, sitting in class or on the way out, by call or message. Sometimes I miss that feeling when I saw you arrive and decided to sit with me, because it meant that you enjoyed spending time with me, in the same way that I enjoyed spending time with you.
"Thank you for putting up with me" you wrote in a note that you left in my letter for the future from fourth year, as if it were something difficult, as if your presence was not something nice that made my days happy. I should thank you for everything. Thank YOU for putting up with ME, for being my friend, for paying attention to the bullshit I say and for letting it occupy so much of your life. Thanks A.
🐞Para A🐞 If you're reading this shortly after I wrote it, I guess you already noticed, but I haven't stopped liking you for a day since the end of third year. You are the person I liked the most, although you already know that.
It's wrong that I feel like this, I really feel that there is something wrong for me to continue thinking like this after knowing that my feelings lead to nothing. I wish I could try to stop liking you by force, but after knowing that you used to like me and after kissing you, I see it as impossible. Twice I tried and failed.
When the pandemic began I assumed that when we returned to regularity I would not feel the same, and I assumed wrong. When seventh year began, I felt guilty for not having been able to "get over you" and I was afraid that I would make you uncomfortable or that you would find out and think that I didn't value you just as my friend.
When you got with J I thought that might be it, but no. And I blamed myself for feeling that way about you when you were in a relationship.
It's stupid and pathetic, but having had to spend every day next to you two hurt me. I never hated your relationship, but out of my selfishness I distanced myself from the group. I tried everything to distract myself and accept that I would never be able to be with you.
2022 When I started uni I thought that maybe I would meet someone who would make me forget how I felt. For a while I tried to convince myself that I liked Dia. It was logical, right? If we got along so well and I saw her daily. I love her a lot, but I didn't get to see her like this. There was a time in my life where I questioned if I really liked women or the idea of ​​romance with a person just because I had no interest in anyone other than you. But that wasn't right, was it? If you were someone I was going to like for a while, a few months at the most. Sometimes I think that everything would be easier if I'd never had these emotions tied to your existence.
Around September we started talking again like before, and we hung out often and I hated not being able to just be your friend, wanting something more. I felt that I was betraying you, and I couldn't try to "get away and stop talking to you" because I didn't want to, I don't want to and I won't ever want that. I don't like to think of a future where the years go by and you are no longer part of my life.
When you told me that you still remembered when I told you that I liked you, I felt like I was going to die until you said that you remembered it as something nice. I imagined many reactions to that, but never that one. I used to feel guilty for a while. I really believed that since that day I had started to bother you every time we hugged or when we hung out. I was glad to know that all along it was all in my head and that you were not disgusted or annoyed by it.
The day you told me you used to like me I had to stop everything I was doing and sit down. I started to look at some trees and I was on the verge of crying. You had filled my head with so many thoughts at the same time that they seemed to form a kind of white noise that pretended to be silence for the minutes that I was immobile.
Once I calmed down, I was able to allow myself to feel and think about different things, but if I didn't feel something, it was hope, because you were with J and I knew it was a very nice relationship and you loved each other. I think if I had felt that way I would have completely hated myself.
I spent entire days insulting myself in my head "I'm an idiot", "how come I didn't realize it?", "why the hell did I reject a kiss from you?! If all that time it was what I wanted the most". I think I had gotten so used to not having experience in loving and being loved in this way that I had resigned myself to being like this for the rest of my life. You yourself repeated to me several times that I lacked love and yoeyweren't wrong haha, I just wish you were the one who could give it to me. I have blinded myself my entire life in a cloak of hate, convincing myself that I am unworthy of love, that there is no way anyone would like me or see me as cute or be attracted to me. Because I'm obviously boring, I have no personality, my voice is ugly, my face and body are disgusting, and so on. By closing my eyes all my life I lost the opportunity to have the most beautiful thing that could have happened to me. I wish I hadn't blinded myself.
And your messages did nothing more than open my eyes.
"I wonder why I liked you then if you're just funny, kind, understanding, attentive and sweet"
I would never have described myself like that, for as long as I can remember I haven't had a good image of myself. Seeing that from your eyes, I was that, made me very happy. Knowing not only that someone could see me that way but also that that someone was you, that made it more special for me.
"I wish I could have been with you to erase those thoughts with kisses"
I read the latter in a notification while in class. I couldn't concentrate and I think if someone had seen me I would have been red faced. I think those weeks I used the library more to read your messages over and over again than to study.
The point is that your messages erased many of my negative thoughts. With two days of your kisses and almost a month of your affection, you have erased a lot. If I could have been with you, I know that I would be the happiest person in the world.
Diciembre 2022
I got really confused in December. When you broke up with J at no time did I feel hopeful or anything like that. On the contrary, I didn't understand how you had come to that solution after everything I'd told you. You had just gotten out of a year-long relationship and obviously you were going to be damaged and confused. I didn't want to "take advantage" of you, so I just lived day to day with doubts.
At one point I tried to calm you down while you said that no one else was ever going to love you. My throat burned wanting to tell you "what about me?", "I want to love you" but the idea was to help you and not think about myself.
Maybe if I had made more selfish decisions I would be where I want to be with you, but I don't know if I would be happy with how I got there.
I remember that years ago I stayed to sleep at your house, before going to the attractions park, and you woke me up seeing me with such a slight but genuine smile. That day I wasn't sure what I had felt and I wasn't going to be able to understand it until recently.
We hung out more often in December, sleeping together, separated by a pillow, until one day I fell asleep while we were watching Howl. I woke up early while you were still asleep and saw your face glued to mine. Half asleep, I didn't even think about it, but I knew what I wanted the most at that moment, and I hugged you before going back to sleep almost instantly. That's when I felt again what I felt a few years ago, the happiness of seeing your face when waking up. And then you woke me up by pulling me closer, hugging me and using my chest as a pillow. You made me feel wanted.
Being able to sleep holding you felt like something that was missing from my life but I had no way of knowing what it was until then. The warm breeze of your breath on my face or chest, your arms squeezing my body and our embraced legs, the little jumps you hit in your sleep from time to time and the smell of your hair. It feels weird to describe it, it might even make you a little disgusted, but it was something that made it feel like I had rested for twelve hours even though we slept for one.
The day of the World Cup final I left your house after celebrating and you told me what you told me, and we talked about it the next day in the park. I was paralyzed.
Despite the times that I repeated the same thoughts in my head, I couldn't convince myself that surely that only happened because you missed him, that it was childish to get excited and think that you felt that way just because it was me. I guess I was a little stupid, but I was tired of living up to this miserable point in my life, never even having kissed anyone. And having the opportunity to be the person with whom I most wanted to experience everything for the first time (and if life went my way, the last) filled me with joy.
Noche buena
On the 23rd I went to your house having discussed what we had discussed, knowing that I could tell you that I wanted to kiss you, that what I wanted most since fourth year was to kiss you and only you. And... You beat me to it hahaha. You asked me if I would mind if you kissed me, in my mind I laughed knowing that I wouldn't mind at all. That I would like a kiss from you every day until I die. Accepting felt like making up for my mistake of turning you down in fifth year.
The following afternoon what happened happened and I don't know how to describe it, I felt somewhat privileged. I remember once telling you, when you were criticizing your legs and your body, that "I only saw 70% of your body, but I'm sure it's very pretty", and obviously it's okay that you have insecurities but for two days I was able to see you almost completely. and I realized that all the little things that gave you insecurity were beautiful. I don't understand how you hate things that I loved from the very moment I saw.
I think you are a beautiful being, in every millimeter of you, in every gram of your soul and in every second that I shared with you. And you may be beautiful but I don't like you just for that nor did I start to like you just because of how you look. There is something in you and I don't know what it is, but when we talk I want to keep talking to you more and more. Your voice is very beautiful; your expressions and your way of speaking; your laughter. God your laugh, the happiness it gives me to see you and hear you laugh is incredible. I know it doesn't make sense, but sometimes I feel like I love everything about you. I love your humor and the natural way we talk to each other, how affectionate you are, the way you balance between being someone calm and releasing a lot of energy that you had accumulated. I love your tastes in what you decide to see or read, because, although they do not always coincide with mine, they make you someone who interests me a lot. All without mentioning the little things that make you you, like your habits with food, how you spend your time, the difference between the music we listen to. I love when you react with a sticker or you're speechless to something nice that escaped my mouth and I ended up telling you. I love how candid you are about how you see the world and how you convey it. The tone of your voice and the noises you make when explaining something. How you close your eyes a little when I annoy you jokingly and your sarcasm when you annoy me. Sometimes a while goes by that we don't see each other or talk and when I hear your voice again it's as if I had forgotten it and fell in love with it again.
I don't have many photos of you, at most a couple of the ones you sent me and most of them don't show your face. But I treasure them because I can see even if it's your hair for a while and remember when I could caress it while you lay on my chest. When I see you again in person I am surprised again by how beautiful you are. By your smile and your way of being.
If there is something I want more than anything in the world, it is to be able to be yours, to be able to spend my life day by day knowing that I can kiss you and that I can admire you carefully without shame until you realize it. Knowing that you love me and that I love you, being able to sleep in each other's arms and being able to say with a smile that we are a couple. But I can not. And it would be so easy to cut you out of my life to stop feeling that way, get myself a new set of friends, and like someone I don't feel that way about. But I love being your friend, and I can't bear the thought of losing the greatest friendship of my life just to forget that I liked you for so long. If I disappeared from your life... What would you do? Or rather, what would you feel? If you knew that I exist and that I'm still alive where I always was, but we didn't talk or see each other anymore, what would you think of me? I just hope you understand that if I do something like this it's because I can't stand being in love with you anymore without having any conclusion.
It hurts so much to know that you don't feel the same way I feel about you. If you read this while I'm still alive, it may make you uncomfortable from now on, as well as you may not feel anything reading all this, which would be worse. I think that if something would destroy me it would be to be invisible to you, that these nights writing with tears in my eyes are just a piece of paper that doesn't cause you the slightest feeling.
When you told me you were back together with J I cried for the first time in a long time. And it wasn't enough because I continued like this without sleeping for several nights on the coast. I feel a little bad about that, it's not right to feel bad because two people make up and love each other. Since we're never going to be together, all I have to do is focus on stopping feeling that way about you.
It must be very strange for you to read all of this and I apologize, especially if it's a few years in the future. I just wanted to make sure you really know how I felt, to die with no regrets. Although if I had one left, it would be dying without being able to be with you.
If the day comes when we don't talk to each other anymore and the days go by and you forget my existence, or I'm no longer alive, I want you to know that almost since I met you you were my favorite person. Just seeing you made my days happy, hearing you talk, laugh or send me a video or photo about anything you do, gave me life. You never bothered me, I never hated you or got tired of you. Every memory that I have by your side I keep as a treasure and I hate the idea of ​​losing your presence in my life. If when I am old I suffer from dementia I pray so that the last thing I forget is you. If I'm grateful for anything in this life, it's for having met you.
I saw someone say that we should choose those who choose us, and I started to wonder if you would choose me. If you could only spend time with someone again and never see anyone in the world again would you choose me? I assume not, and I accept that. But I know that I wouldn't hesitate for a second to choose you, I would spend every second of my life with you. If my vision is taken away and I could only see one thing, I would choose you. If I found out that I only have one day to live, I would spend it with you, and when I close my eyes for the last time, when I take my last breath, if only I were by your side, I would die in peace.
Dia says that I don't like you, that I'm in love. At first it made me laugh because it sounds so stupid and sweet but I don't know, every day that passes I feel like it's the best I have to describe it. Sometimes I think that I have no right to have these immature feelings. But I guess it's normal not to be able to let you go if at nineteen I experienced for the first time what a normal person does at fourteen. Someone not so pathetic and desperate for love, your love, like me. Someone who at this stage of my life has already learned that you have to let go of those who can't love you. But I don't want to stop loving you, in my grave I'll keep thinking about you.
You once told me that the only person whose absence you wouldn't get used to if they left your life was me. I don't know why you thought I deserved to hear something so nice. And before reading that message I never wanted so much to repeat your own words to you.
It was recently the first time that I was able to tell you that I love you, and you me. It was only by text when you said hello to me on my birthday, but no matter the context I appreciate it for the power I give to that word. I feel that even though we have said the same thing, they did not have the same weight behind them. I know you never loved me nor will you love me the way I wanted to, but really, thank you very much for loving me all these years. Since I met you, you filled my days with a warm light that could turn a bad day into one of the best.
I find it curious that at this point in my life I consider you my best friend, the person closest to me and one of the most important people for my existence, you are almost like a pillar in my life. And yet, as much as I know about you, from time to time I feel like a stranger, as if I have only scratched the surface of who you are. And that only makes me want to meet you and discover you completely day by day, having spent 60 years with you and still being able to discover a crumb of your being, but smile every time I get to know you more.
Someday I wish I could be in the position and time to ask you if you still want to know what would have happened if we hadn't been so clumsy and ended up together, because there isn't a single day where I don't want to know.
It's so hard for me to accept that surely you'll never want to be with me again. That you don't see me the same way anymore, because it would mean that you never came to want me the same way that I want you. It's been more than five years since you entered my head and never left it, my heart flutters with shame or emotion just thinking about you.
Thanks for everything. Thank you for being my friend, for putting up with me, for not being disgusted by me and hugging me and telling me you loved me. Thank you for making me realize that beautiful things can happen to me, like being able to spend time with you, hugging and kissing you, being able to witness and share your existence.
It's weird because it feels unfair to think that I can go into a relationship knowing that I can only imagine myself wanting to be with you. That's why unconsciously I think I'm not looking for one, and I'm waiting for you. As much as it hurts me, I wait for you and I could wait for you for months, years, decades and I would still think of you. Because you are the person I want to hear laugh every day, you are the person with whom I want to share both our joy and our pain. I want you to be part of my soul and leave a mark of mine in yours. I want you to be happy and part of growing up is accepting that it doesn't have to be me and that I should be glad you find that in someone else but please God why can't it be me? I don't know if I'll be enough or if I'll be what you're looking for, but I'd love to try to be.
How many times have I told you that I really liked Hime's playlist. It's because most of the songs are about love and although I don't know what that feels like, they all reminded me of you. Every time someone talked about couples or something similar I could only imagine you.
You showed me a song, "amigo triste", which according to you reminded you of me. God knows how long I had it on loop because it was one of the few things I had to give me an idea of ​​who I am from your eyes.
I imagine that with time I'm going to mature and I'm going to truly accept that I can't want you if it doesn't lead to anything. But I would like you to know that in another life you are the best thing that happened to me. In another life, I would be more than happy just knowing that at the end of the day I can spend my time with you, that I live my life with you in its most mundane parts and in its most interesting parts.
In the meantime, I hope you are as happy as possible in this life. And if you don't mind… I love you

Hello to everyone on here.
Binge watching old SVU because I need to catch up before I can dive in to the recent season.
There's so many tv shows that I couldn't catch up to all of them, so now, I'm slowly but steadily watching every ep until I reach the current one.
I'm on season 15, ep 2: American Tragedy.
This was the episode after Olivia came back from her terrible ordeal with William Lewis.In this ep, there's this boy Mehcad who died after a celebrity "Jolene" shot him because she thought he was going to rape her.
So, the detectives found out that maybe this was a hate crime, and Mehcad was falsely accused by Jolene.
Fin said something that Mehcad is a fan of Jolene and wanted to her autograph.
But what I want to know is: Why the heck would somebody want to get an autograph from a celebrity at night, in the dark, and acting sus and following someone like a stalker??? It does not make sense to me.
I don't think it matters what race they are...if I "felt" in my gut that someone's been following me in the dark and especially wearing their hoodie in a way that you couldn't really see their face, I'd be alarmed and fearful for my life.
Towards the end, Jolene met with Olivia by accident in the washroom. They had words. Olivia said, "He wasn't a rapist. He was just a boy" ---- but how many cases they had where they put away boys that committed a crime?? There were several. So, it doesn't follow what she said.
Mehcad could be totally innocent. But from the defense side, I agree with them. The race here doesn't matter. Mehcad fit the description of the suspect---young black male in a hoodie. What stood out to me was the hoodie. I know it's common and everybody wears this... but if you're alone in the dark, and you feel somebody following you, wearing something in which you couldn't see them clearly, wouldn't you feel fear, too?
the most unfortunate thing for Mehcad is that he was walking alone in the dark in a hoodie. Not because he's black (or not), but because that's what they described the suspect.
And Jolene didn't have any history of shooting black males, like her employees. Sure, she had bad things to say about them, but she never shot them.
This was self-defense to me. Probably the only case so far in which I disagree with the SVU detectives.
Any thoughts similar to mine? or any other perspective?

Mamas, I seriously need advice. This is going to be long, but I would appreciate any help! So my son is about to be 8. His dad and I separated when he was 2, but we didn't get formally divorced until March. He had no custody of my son from Jan 2018 - March 2023. He never went for custody, visited sporadically. Well when we got a divorce in March he wanted custody. To avoid a court case bc I already blew my whole savings on the pretrial lawyer fees we agreed in mediation. I agreed to every other weekend and 50/50 legal custody with me having the tie breaker. It's only been going on for 3 months, and we have already had so many issues. The order states that he cannot take him to his house because it's unsafe. So he takes him out on day trips and brings him home at 7. But he's taken him to his home almost every weekend he has him without even asking me until they've already been there if at all. I've told him not to take him there, he did it again yesterday. But the main issue I'm having happened today.
My son was diagnosed with ADHD on Friday. His doctor said that he has severe hyperactive ADHD and needs to take medication. This has been a long long time coming. He's too hyperactive in school and gets in trouble a lot. I never thought I would give my son's meds, but he truly does need them. He's upset that he gets in trouble all day and it's effecting his mental health over things he cannot control.
Well he went for his visit today and when he got home he said that his dad's girlfriend told him that he DOES NOT have ADHD. He said she was saying it "every other sentence" his words were daddy will say "babe where's my phone?" And she would give it to him and then bring up the fact that he does not have ADHD again and again. She also told him that he should not take his medicine because it will "make him sick".
His dad was one of the people pushing me to get him diagnosed! This morning when we were alone I thought we had a great Convo about all of this and I thought he was finally agreeing to the meds. Well tonight I call him to talk about what his girlfriend said (this isn't the first time she's said inappropriate things to my son) and he starts saying things like "well we're not gonna assume he has it until I talk to the doctor" ... I told you that he was DIAGNOSED, why would I lie about that? They're so paranoid and act like everything EVERYONE says to them is a lie until they have "proof" and then they gaslight you until you don't know what's true. They do this to my son.
Before we even went to the doc he said he wanted to take him "for a second opinion on his own time"... But he didn't even come to the first appt when I gave him 5 days notice. He didn't answer the phone when the doc called while we were there. And he never contacted me after the appt to ask what happened. We didn't have a conversation about it until days later, he saw me for hours on Saturday at my son's baseball game and didn't say a word to me. Today I finally asked to speak with him about it myself.
The reason that he did not come to the appt is because his girlfriend does not allow him to be alone with me. Not even to pick our son up, she has to come. He can barely video chat my son without her listening in, he's hooked up his messenger app to add her to the group chat. He can't attend school activities unless she can get off of work too, and I guess he can't even attend one of his son's most important appts without her there. He's told me that she will not allow him to be alone with me. She also monitors all of our text messages (his phone is hooked up to her phone), so if he needs to talk to me about something she doesn't need to hear he will call me. My son picks up on all of this and asks why she always has to be there. He hasn't been alone with his dad for more than 5 mins in almost 5 years. He's asked me to ask his dad for alone time, which I've done countless times but he never does it.
They've been together for almost 5 years, have a child together. We have been separated for 5+ years, have never ever hooked up or even flirted once bc he's a psycho. I have never even sent a flirty text, NOTHING. I have my own partner or 5 years and we have a child together as well, and can finally get married now that the divorce is finalized. There's nothing warranting this behavior, other than her jealousy, insecurities and paranoia. She takes all of this out on my son.
Is there anything I can do to keep her away from my son? Or do I have to go back to court and fight for full custody? Do you think I will get it? I don't want a person who is telling my son that he doesn't have the disability he has, making him come home upset and confused, around my son. I don't want someone who's talking my son out of taking a medication he's not even prescribed yet around my son. I don't want someone who's undermining all of the work we have put in to tell my son it's ok that he has ADHD and that doesn't mean anything is "wrong" or "bad". I have never said ANYTHING negative about her or his father to my kid no matter how hard it gets. She tries to prevent any healthy co-parenting relationship that we try to have. When I am just speaking to him, things seem fine and we agree on a lot of things. As soon as she's there, she opposes my opinion, makes me ex "pick her side" and then it ends in argument, disgruntled relationships and ultimately harms my son.
Every weekend he has something new that upset him that she does. She constantly talks crap about me to him, and he gets REALLY upset about that. Hes only been with them for 6 weekends in the last 5 years. He's been with me EVERYDAY.
She's also a DAYCARE WORKER, and I feel bad for any disabled kids that she works with if she speaks this way about disability and medication. I just don't know what to do. This is all so damaging to my son's mental health and he has enough going on rn, I need to protect him.
If you have any advice, or just if you think this is as WRONG as I do, please let me know. Am I tripping??

Skip to the Last part for 2023 specifics reading everything would really enlighten you tho.
Location and Alliances

• Senegal is located in West Africa bordering Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Bissau Guinea and Gambia. Senegal is also part of ECOWAS ( Economic Community of West African States) and AU (African Union). ECOWAS has an economic centric objective and AU is justice and development of Africa focused.
• Every single one of the nations that border Senegal has had a military coup in its history except Senegal. Every attempt in Senegal failed and Senegal was regarded until today as a model of democracy.

French Control / Neocolonialism
Senegal was a well ruled country despite its politics being mainly ruled by France from the shadow, France hold the reserve of CFA Francs currency and print it for 15 countries. 15 sovereign nations are entirely dependent on France's currency. France also control most of their seaports and has priority in every new market offering with mandatory acceptance for these nations. Despite its many resources Senegal is a very poor country it has gold, zircon, lots of sea territory for fishing, clay and many more industry needed resources and forestry that I can adequately explain. France also has military bases in most of these countries until recently they've been kicked out by Burkina and Mali. Recently lots of Gas and Oil sources have been found in Senegal and that could change the lives of millions of Senegalese citizen (keep that in mind as you read)

Abdoulaye Wade, Macky Sall, Dirty Politics and Spiraling Debt

​

• Macky Sall is the 4TH president of Senegal, elected in 2012. Before him It was Abdoulaye Wade who was president since the year 2000. It's mainly under Abdoulaye Wade that the country started changing landscape major road construction, more and more building and a decade long plan to move the airport to a less cramped space thus giving us the AIBD Airport replacing LSS airport. A new agriculture program GOANA and many more projects.
• But it's also under Wade that nepotism got higher in his government were new ministry official position created for his "friends" in ridiculous position. A government in which Macky Sall took part and eventually became prime minister.
• With the rising nepotism the first embezzlement campaign started with ministers and deputies having safes filled with billions of cfa. For context back in 2007 a billion wasn't an imaginable number it had just became mainstream. It first rise with their own son stealing from them, then their sons and daughters traveling all over the word as new millionaires. For context their parents were poor prior to being in the government. Then arrest for drug usages, luxury car crashes. In a blink of an eye rose a new wave of billionaires and families that were above the law. Coincidentally the economic crisis of 2007 made the population even poorer in comparison.
• Politics mixing with religious figures, violence at political rallies and the birth of "nervis" basically political henchmen paid to beat opponents or whoever stand in their way and the police ignored them since they were being paid by people that were very high in the political ladder (ministers, friends of the president etc....)

3rd Mandate, Abdoulaye Wade vs The People (Macky Sall and Youssou Ndour incl.)

​

• In 2011, at the end of his 2nd mandate Abdoulaye Wade pushed for a new legislation that would make him able to push for a 3rd mandate and have his good-for-nothing son as vice-president a novelty that the people didn't welcome at all. His former Prime Minister Macky Sall and a lot of opposition political parties and social justice movements, and rappers and Youssou NDOUR (famous singer) banding together and protesting initially peacefully and gradually throwing rocks at the FDS (Forces of Security, police and Constables)

Link Archive Protest Youtube: https://youtu.be/i224i8CTB64
Link Archive Macky Sall Coallition : https://youtu.be/P_wigR7JFYY

• Macky Sall was appointed leader of the movement, and toured Senegal to present his ideas. Despite his opposition to Wade he never suffered persecution or attacks by police forces or any other charges by the justice system. However Dirty Politics was Macky Sall never physically suffered and had his constitutional rights respected. [Remember This it's relevant in 2023]
• Occasionally he would be pelted with pebbles by some people that were against his ideas but never by the police or any other FDS.
• Ultimately Abdoulaye Wade would give up and lose the election and leave graciously without anything in fact the police forces allowed the protesters to walk freely up to the gates of the Palais Presidentiel.

Hopes, Justice, Regrets and Embezzlement of Funds

• In Macky Sall, Senegalese people had high hopes, not so charismatic a leader he had a humble upbringing which inspired hope. He had worked under the previous govt and had extensive knowledge of the populations suffering, the poverty and nepotism.
• He would go on to track the people that embezzled funds under Wade's presidency : La traque aux biens mal-acquis which recovered 200 Billions of CFA Francs (305 millions euros) in 2012 according to Macky Sall's prime minister of the time Aminata Toure

Dynasty Faye-Sall, War of Gains and Scandalous Deals (Petro Tim Oil & Gas)

Then slowely but crescendo new names started popping in the government, branded as the FAYE-SALL dynasty : Macky Sall, his wife Marieme Faye and the in laws Aliou Sall and Mansour Faye.

• A war of opportunities between Aliou Sall, brother of Macky Sall and Marieme Faye, the first lady.
• Petro Tim $10 Billion Scandal Sunu 400,000
• Aliou Sall would make the news for signing scandalous deals mainly the Petro-Tim Scandal for embezzling 10 billion dollars (from here on out we will be talking in dollars because the amounts are ridiculously high). He would be accused of corruption, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and criminal association. A report by BBC and Africa Eye states that Alious Sall had also been by Petro Tim through a fictive company that he owned.
• In a statement**, Ousmane Sonko called the senegalese youth to demostrate against these scandals until appropriate measures are taken**. Another revelation of the report was the takeover of Franck Timis' group's stake in 2017 by British Company BP. Timis Corp is a firm run by Romanian-Australian tycoon Frank Timis. According to the BBC report BP had agreed to pay Timis $10 billion in royalty payments for its stake in the two blocks. Senegal's offshore oil and gas reserve have the potentiak to transform the country when they begin flowing in the next decade with volumes expected to rival some of the region's biggest producer.
• A campaign started online in which every citizen claim they are entitled to at least 400,000 CFA ($653 usd) from each of the payment that Aliou Sall received with the catchphrase << sunu 400,000>>
• Despite all of that, the judge would squash the procedure rather quickly, it helps to have your brother as president.
• Mansour Faye, The Arrogant Baron (SDE - SEN'EAU / COVID 19 Funds)
• Mansour Faye has a reputation of being a vindictive and arrogant public figure. He will first be remembered for signing a contract for water distribution through SEN'EAU with french company Group Suez killing in the process local company Sénégalaise Des Eaux (SDE) a company that oversaw the water distribution for decades.
• Mansour FAYE is also mentioned in the Cour des Comptes report regarding the misuse and embezzlement of the Covid 19 relief funds. The covid 19 relief funds was of 1000 billion CFA FRANC (over $1.6 billion USD)
• Mansour Faye's daughter studied in the US and came back portrayed as a model for the youth with her ranch and agribusiness which is an insult to the senegalese citizen who can't even afford school fees in some part their own country let alone own land and get a degree in the US. A nepobaby fed with nepotrustfunds and nepoland to build her nepomoney paid business. She said : << you shouldn't be afraid of failure>> easy to say with billions in the bank.

See here the BBC documentary that angered the Senegalese citizens: https://youtu.be/1TAN6PsxKAc

• Mansour Faye will also have some of the harshest comment when several fatal car crash happened in early 2023 in which 63 people died in 8 days. In light of the lack of regulation, the state of the roads and the laissez-aller in the transportation industry, many asked for his resignation in which he would coldly reply : << To the people expecting my resignation, they will need more stamina>>

See video here: https://youtu.be/eS8UV8EtykQ

• Which only proves their lack of empathy towards the citizens they are supposed to serve. One thing that is very common with the entire dynasty Faye-Sall is the disdain, and hatred toward the suffering and needs of the senegalese citizens.
• When people asked in 2021 for better roads and that the tollgate highway was expensive. President Macky Sall replied that: <<It is what is. If you want to drive on fancy road with no plot holes you pay and you use the tollgate highway. But we have an alternative which is the RN1 (National Road)>>

see video here: https://youtu.be/r4DHowh8KLo

• And I can't think of the countless lawsuits for defamation against anybody that tried to expose their true natures. Mansour Faye is very fond of lawsuits and has had a few in his arrogance and power he seems out of touch with reality.
• Whenever addressing the nation he would do it in a patronizing and arrogant way, so much so some people do not listen and would just read the ministry's tweets.

The others (Moustapha Niasse, Youssou Ndour, Mame Mbaye Niang...)

• As mentionned earlier Youssou Ndour was part of the coalition and protesting alongside Macky Sall against the 3rd mandate of Abdoulaye Wade. Youssou Ndour was in fact a candidate for the election but his candidacy was invalidated because his taxes. Youssou Ndour was not a law abiding tax paying citizens according to reports of that era.
• Taxes that he never proved having paid, he would later join Macky Sall's government as Minister-Adviser. Yet another nepo-position in which he will bask in even more riches and allegedly not paying his taxes.
• The most notable thing about him is how loud his silence is regarding every protest against the current regime, in 2021 and 2023.
• You can see him in this video actively protesting in 2011 along with the M23 movement: https://youtu.be/H0hZhNKLUXg
• Moustapha Niasse, the political dinosaur born in 1939 he has been invested in politics as early as 1970 and has been part of every government since. Nothing notable about him beside him clinging to a hope of becoming president he has always been at side of the regime even when the regime is unjust and flat-out wrong. Nothing to say beside good riddance in September 2022 his term as President of Congress ended. He will be remembered for turning the Congress into a shitshow where legislation from Macky Sall passed as will.
• Mame Mbaye Niang the good-for-nothing turned billionaire he was a protestor in 2011 you can see him here protesting at the gate of congress (the coward in brown shirt and jeans who fled when the cop came close) : https://youtu.be/nklxXTZF_no
• A report by the IGF (General Inspection of Finances) revealed how funds have been embezzled once again by a small group of political figure in which we count Mame Mbaye Niang (then minister of Youth, Employment and Infrastructure) and his close friend Ibrahima Cisse; The funds amount to over $800,000 USD (517,864,401 CFA Francs) for the PRODAC project which earned him the nickname Mbaye Prodac. A project that should have created 180 000 jobs provided only 1500 between 2014 and 2018. Coincidentally Mame Mbaye Niang became a billionaire in the same period.
• Ousmane Sonko would go on to make that report public by accusing Mame Mbaye Niang of stealing from the State and the citizen. A deficit of 178,500 jobs from the PRODAC project is beyond criminal knowing that Unemployement Rate of the active population in 2018 was of 14,3% according to the National Statistics Agency (ANSD)

The Claws of France gripping harder

• Between 2012 and 2023, the arrival of French companies surged to a new high with Auchan and Carrefour competing directly with local businesses at lower prices due to allegedly lesser taxes, SEN'EAU killing SDE for water distribution.
• Major civil engineering projects being given to french companies such as Eiffage. In fact EIFFAGE, ALSTOM, SYSTRA and SNCF together built the TER (Train Express Regional) an airport rail link of only 36km for the first part already built for the price of over $1 billion USD (656 billions CFA) a project the government is really proud of.
• The project is putting Senegal in even greater debt since Senegal only funded the project with 142.5 billion cfa and 3 loans from La Banque Islamique de Développement (196 billion CFA), l'Agence Française de développement et le trésor français (196.5 billion CFA) and la Banque Africaine de Développement (120 billion CFA)

Harder Living Conditions

• With inflation, soaring prices of virtually everything such as housing, house essentials, food, transportation and gas...
• Under equipped school with huts as classrooms in some remote region of Senegal Abris Provisoire au Sénégal
• The NGO workers are gentrifying Dakar these people who are supposed to work socially on topics of poverty, are the one actually escaping poverty they are in Dakar partying spending lots of money in places raising significantly the cost of leaving.
• Under equipped hospitals with aging/failing equipment as in Kedougo where a small outpost with barely nothing it's not covid 19 that kills people rarther illnesses that can easily be cured in bigger cities such as malaria, transport of patients is also a huge challenge with patient being transported to bigger hospitals 200 or 300km away with no ambulance rather horse-drawn carts. The same problem in several regions of Senegal. In contrast, the political figures leaving the country every now and then to get medical treatment in France or the US. A symbol of their own failure in building anything important in this country.

The Rise of Ousmane Sonko

• Ousmane Sonko is a former Chief Tax Inspector in Senegal and advocate for reformation of the Senegalese Tax System. He was fired from his position as Chief Tax Inspector for being a whistleblower in many cases of fund embezzlement of High Profile Politicians (Aliou Sall, Mame Mbaye Niang...)
• He would go on to engage in politics and became the youngest candidate to run in 2019 at 44 years old. He rose to fame in politics among the youth due to his credentials as chief tax officer and the overall ethic in his work as mentioned by many of his former colleagues. A man who turned down bribes from the biggest companies in the countries and focused on his duty. The narrative is beautiful and confirmed itself as years passed and people learned more about him. He finished 3rd in 2019 as a newbie in politics.
• An even bigger achievement when you learn about the vote manipulation in the 2019 elections as exposed in Story Killers with the employment of Team Jorge a disinformation for hire company. Ousmane Sonko was victim of gigantic smear campaign with fake documents and false claims.
• See the documentary titled : #StoryKillers: A deep dive into 'Team Jorge', the disinformation mercenaries operating worldwide
• With Ousmane Sonko rising to be the candidates of the youth (over Half of the senegalese population) several attempt at destroying his reputation took place, he would be labeled a liar until the LGE, IGF and BBC report are published.
• Ousmane Sonko became Congressman made fierce speeches in which he called out the disrespect towards Senegalese citizens by which the congress dealt with important matters. Congress was a place of chit-chat and arguments where the political affiliation was the only thing that mattered to any of the parties involved and occasionally throwing hands (fighting)
• He also authored a book called Solutions in which he advances many ideas to push this country forward, economically and socially with an emphasis on education, economy, health and employment.
• Mame Mbaye Niang would accuse him of defamation in the PRODAC case;
• He also exposed the excessive cost of the TER Project.

Macky Sall's 3rd Mandate, Sonko-Adji Sarr, 2021 Protests

• Macky Sall' 3rd Mandate
• Macky Sall is ineligible to a 3rd successive term as stated in the Article 27 of the constitution of Senegal "Nul ne peut faire plus de 2 mandat consécutifs"
• Macky Sall served a 1st term of 7 years from 2012 to 2019 but in 2016 a referendum took place in which the presidential term would go down from 7 to 5 years. Taking effect after his first term in case he get re-elected.
• Having nearly served his 2nd Term 2019 - 2024 (we are in 2023) he eluded a 3rd term trying to loophole his way into a 3rd term using the Article 27 claiming that it's his first mandate of 5 years. Which is wrong the Article 27 existed way before the 2016 referendum and it is explicitly states that no-one can do 2 more than 2 successive term.
• Curfew and Police Brutality
• In 2020 mask mandate is effective and a curfew is established, which made life very difficult for workers who had to commute. The police officers used extreme violence to enforce it. Beating people who were out at curfew with sticks making them crawl on the floor. While the population suffered inside, the rich politicians and their family hosted private parties outside
• When the first Vaccines arrived in Senegal, the first Lady Marieme Faye hosted a private vaccination party at her residence with no respect of masks or crowd control this angered people
• That was the last straw people started burning tires and protesting for the removal of this stupid curfew which they are the only one to suffer from
• Additional context: In Senegal a lot of houses don't cook dinner they buy porridge to local (diaykatou fondé/thiéré/thiakri) that sell at night from 8pm to 12pm. These cheap porridge is what feed lots of people in poor neighbourhood a bowl filled with nourishing food for 100 to 200f cfa. Some houses are overcrowded with over 20 individuals in a 2 story building during summer these people stay outside with their friends and relatives there is a sense of community and togetherness. They only leave for bedtime. The houses cramped and it gets really hot in the summer (up to 35° c / 95°F)
• Sonko-Adji Sarr
• In 2020, during the Covid 19 pandemic, Ousmane Sonko is accused at first of Rape with Threats at gunpoint by a worker at a massaging place he is a customer of. He says it's a conspiracy to make him ineligible for the 2024 elections in which Macky Sall want to be part of.
• Then discrepancies started growing, the medical examination disproved any trace of sexual violence, the officer (Captain Touré) to which the complaint was filed smelled a political conspiracy and fled. Adji Sarr the alleged victim is first believed by a portion of the population but as she goes from reporter to reporter saying different things here and there the growing sentiment of empathy turned to disdain because to many she was definitely lying.
• The case would be ongoing for 2 years 2020 to 2023 and Sonko would be proven non guilty on the counts of Rape and Death Threats since no proof or witness were presented. Everybody that went on to speak would disprove in a way or another the claims of Adji Sarr. The medical official, the officer and her coworkers, boss and his husband. BUT despite all of this Ousmane Sonko is sentenced to 2 years of prison for "corruption of youth".
• Throughout the case, Ousmane Sonko has been held at home by the police not letting him go out, he was kidnapped twice by the police while he was touring the country and forcefully taken home and every supporter of Ousmane Sonko has been labelled a terrorist or an MFDC member.( A very dangerous claim that could turn this conflict into an ethnic war. The southern people are remarquable people and the stigma of separatism they are labeled with could be very dangerous.)
• Protest erupted in march 2021 which beyond Sonko's mistreatment was a protest for everything that is wrong in the country like the Gilets Jaune in France. The police started shooting live rounds, one victim in particular Cheikh Wade is shot in the while he waved his senegalese flag by a police officer in Parcelles Assainies (Dakar) the 2 day protest would make 14 victims, 14 civilians killed.
• Mansour Faye would go on to declare that "Occult forces" are responsible of the 14 dead civilians.

Amnesty International Article : https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/senegal-one-year-after-march-2021-families-demand-justice

2023 Protests

After sentencing Ousmane Sonko to 2 years of prison, he is at first kidnapped while he travelled back home from Ziguinchor occasionally touring the country ,held at home and the people are out protesting to end this masquerade, for Macky Sall to either leave Sonko alone and finish his 2nd term or to leave the country altogether.
There's already 600 political prisoners before the protest.
The police shot live rounds, beat up and runned over several people.
And a new type of tear cas that can blow your limbs.
The people are fighting for a better future. Macky Sall doesn't care about Senegalese people. Senegalese so desperate for a better future that many died at sea on shipwrecks trying to reach europe on rafts or canoes.
In 2019, 210 senegalese people died in the mediteranée trying to reach europe because there's nothing left of hope of a better future in thish country, in novembre 2020, 414 senegalese people died at sea trying to ge to europe according to IOM
The 2023 protest showed an escalation of violence from the police, the constables and the 'nervis' these paid militias that have gone increasingly violent with machetes and semi automatic rifles and handguns. Fighting along side the police they have killed 28 people officially many were shot.
The Freedom to tour the country that Macky Sall was offered by Abdoulaye Wade is what Macky Sall is denying Ousmane Sonko.
The 3rd mandate that Macky Sall thought for is what he is denying us all.
Abdoulaye Wade never asked for the police to shoot at civilians, under his presidency killing in broad daylight wasn't a thing, he may have been a bad tyrant but Macky Sall infinitely a hating arrogant good for nothing that is acclaimed as Political Genius a lapdog if anything.
A warzone atmosphere against unarmed civilians.
The government issued an order for the internet to be cut off
Everybody is using vpns to keep the outside informed. Today, June 4th the mobile data were cut off only wifi network worked in order to keep protesters at home.
A terrible rumour that spent chills down my spine earlier today a senegalese citizen called on live tv saying he saw DEAD BODIES IN REFRIGERATED TRUCKSS BEING THROWN AT SEA near the Diamalaye Beach. The senegalese citizens are enquiring about it. Some people have confirmed through text but I am yet to believe it until photo or video proof is shown. We are talking about mass execution I will not believe it until I see proof of it.
This a very long and tedious thing to write and I'm doing it because I am afraid the Senegalese people will be cut off from the world and die in the dark.
The sound of an entire nations going silent is something I have witnessed once and I hope I never do.
ECOWAS took a neutral stance may the wrath of God be upon them.
For once in my lifetime I wish for Military Coup if it means the killers will be stopped. Please save the longest lasting WEST African democracy.
Please Spread the word under #FreeSenegal. A senegalese fearing for his freedom.

What Happened?

• PAGASA formally declared the start of the rainy season in PH Manila Times
• PH government launched the eGov PH Super App, a one-stop shop platform for national and local government services that will streamline processes and transactions and bring ease of doing business Philstar
• GCash expands to UK, France, Germany, and Italy GMA News
• Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said vaccine against African Swine Fever (ASF) was proven effective from the clinical trials in six farms in Luzon GMA News
• PAGASA said expect around ten to 15 tropical cyclones to hit the country from June to October CNN
• DSWD said beneficiaries of the government’s food stamps program would be required to get enrolled in the job-generating programs of DOLE and TESDA GMA News
• Cebu City created a special body tasked to supervise and regulate motorcycle taxis, locally known as “habal-habal,” which continue to thrive as a means to avoid traffic congestion Inquirer
• Philippines receives over 390K bivalent COVID doses from Lithuania Philstar

World

• Tanzania declares end of deadly Marburg virus outbreak GMA News
• Archaeologists in Armenia unearth a Bakery complete with 3,000-Year-Old Flour Smithsonian
• China accuses US of ‘provocation’ after near collision of warships CNN
• Philippines and Singapore signed a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) agreement Manila Times
• Experts warn against rapidly changing bird flu virus Manila Times

Extra

• When Life Gets Busy, Focus on a Few Key Habits Harvard Business Review
• Tim Cook uses a 1-sentence mantra to process criticism—without it, he ‘wouldn’t be able to function’ CNBC
• How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits Harvard Business Review
• 67-year-old millionaire regrets not teaching his kids these 6 top money lessons when they were young CNBC

Read today's newsletter here

Thanks for reading Kape at Balita!

Subscribe on my email newsletter for free for daily relevant news

What Happened?

• PAGASA formally declared the start of the rainy season in PH Manila Times
• PH government launched the eGov PH Super App, a one-stop shop platform for national and local government services that will streamline processes and transactions and bring ease of doing business Philstar
• GCash expands to UK, France, Germany, and Italy GMA News
• Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said vaccine against African Swine Fever (ASF) was proven effective from the clinical trials in six farms in Luzon GMA News
• PAGASA said expect around ten to 15 tropical cyclones to hit the country from June to October CNN
• DSWD said beneficiaries of the government’s food stamps program would be required to get enrolled in the job-generating programs of DOLE and TESDA GMA News
• Cebu City created a special body tasked to supervise and regulate motorcycle taxis, locally known as “habal-habal,” which continue to thrive as a means to avoid traffic congestion Inquirer
• Philippines receives over 390K bivalent COVID doses from Lithuania Philstar

World

• Tanzania declares end of deadly Marburg virus outbreak GMA News
• Archaeologists in Armenia unearth a Bakery complete with 3,000-Year-Old Flour Smithsonian
• China accuses US of ‘provocation’ after near collision of warships CNN
• Philippines and Singapore signed a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) agreement Manila Times
• Experts warn against rapidly changing bird flu virus Manila Times

Extra

• When Life Gets Busy, Focus on a Few Key Habits Harvard Business Review
• Tim Cook uses a 1-sentence mantra to process criticism—without it, he ‘wouldn’t be able to function’ CNBC
• How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits Harvard Business Review
• 67-year-old millionaire regrets not teaching his kids these 6 top money lessons when they were young CNBC

Read today's newsletter here

Thanks for reading Kape at Balita!

Subscribe on my email newsletter for free for daily relevant news

What Happened?

• PAGASA formally declared the start of the rainy season in PH Manila Times
• PH government launched the eGov PH Super App, a one-stop shop platform for national and local government services that will streamline processes and transactions and bring ease of doing business Philstar
• GCash expands to UK, France, Germany, and Italy GMA News
• Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said vaccine against African Swine Fever (ASF) was proven effective from the clinical trials in six farms in Luzon GMA News
• PAGASA said expect around ten to 15 tropical cyclones to hit the country from June to October CNN
• DSWD said beneficiaries of the government’s food stamps program would be required to get enrolled in the job-generating programs of DOLE and TESDA GMA News
• Cebu City created a special body tasked to supervise and regulate motorcycle taxis, locally known as “habal-habal,” which continue to thrive as a means to avoid traffic congestion Inquirer
• Philippines receives over 390K bivalent COVID doses from Lithuania Philstar

World

• Tanzania declares end of deadly Marburg virus outbreak GMA News
• Archaeologists in Armenia unearth a Bakery complete with 3,000-Year-Old Flour Smithsonian
• China accuses US of ‘provocation’ after near collision of warships CNN
• Philippines and Singapore signed a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) agreement Manila Times
• Experts warn against rapidly changing bird flu virus Manila Times

Extra

• When Life Gets Busy, Focus on a Few Key Habits Harvard Business Review
• Tim Cook uses a 1-sentence mantra to process criticism—without it, he ‘wouldn’t be able to function’ CNBC
• How to Break Up with Your Bad Habits Harvard Business Review
• 67-year-old millionaire regrets not teaching his kids these 6 top money lessons when they were young CNBC

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I (21F) caught feelings for this woman (35F) at my work. I’ve always tended to date people older than me (not on purpose), but I quite literally never thought that I would ever have feelings for someone over 5 years older than me. She’s nice, fun to talk to, and gorgeous and I know if she wasn’t so much older than me I wouldn’t have an issue, but I’m a bit uncomfortable with my feelings. I think she’s been flirting with me, but I’m not sure if she knows how old I am and how she’d feel about that, either. I know it’s more common to have age-gap relationships in the queer community, and my closest friends, while a little reserved, are relatively supportive, so I’m not sure why it’s making me so anxious. Does anybody have any advice on how to work through this? And if I do end up wanting to pursue this, how I should go about it? I’m very confused atm.

Hello, I am a 5"11, chonky, bearded, long curly-headed, hoody-loving, pale-looking, avoider of the sun, loser doofus type guy. Just looking for like-minded people to hang out with. Stuff like gaming or watching movies/tv shows. Maybe even form a long-lasting connection if I'm lucky lol. Sorry if my post is long and confusing. I am not very good at this. Please don't hurt me, I am fragile. 😤
Pros and interests:

• Good listener
• Will always message fast. Unless I'm dead. Or asleep. Or dead. Or busy. Or dead. Did I mention dead? I'll try nevertheless lol.
• Would probably cancel a heart transplant if you wanted to hang out. Is not a heart transplant surgeon. Is not a doctor at all.
• Lover of food.
• Likes to cook.
• occasional drinker.
• Occasional Twitch watcher.
• Guitar. Dats it.
• Animal lover. Mostly prefer animals to people lol. I hope to one day own a farm and have farm animals like I did when I was a wee lad.
• Has the best dog.
• I can be funny. sometimes when I’m alone, I like to go out into my garden, cover myself with dirt, and pretend I’m a potato. Does not actually have a garden.
• My humor is pretty vast so don't hold back really. I also make a lot of self-deprecating jokes. Go me.
• Will send you funny or nice memes. Sometimes dark evil shit. Don't question it.
• Owner of way too many games (PC and Switch).
• Hasn't watched a lot of the best shows/movies so will watch stuff with you.
• Likes anime/manga.
• Likes all kinds of music except mostly rap and country.
• Likes spooky stuff, horror, paranormal videos, the unknown, and sometimes some gore. I've seen some GNARLY shit on Reddit honestly. 😱
• Prefers the night over the day. So I'm most likely up at night doing god knows what.
• Considers awkward long silences soothing. As long as I feel comfortable with the person.

Annnnnnd onto the cons *clears throat and shifts glasses*
Cons:

• I have bad insomnia sometimes which causes my sleep schedule to be really out of wack.
• I'll have days where I want to avoid everyone cause depression has me by the balls and makes me think I'm a worthless piece of shit (probably true) and nobody wants me around (also probably true lmao).
• I struggle with opening up and trusting others cause of bad past experiences.
• I consider short sentences and people who aren't consistent a HUGE red flag.
• I'm not good at taking the initiative in activities with someone unless I am 100% certain of the person. Plus being rejected really sucks.
• Terrible at giving advice.
• Terrible selfie taker.
• I'm a pushover.
• I'm pretty stupid.
• No car.
• Living with family. Most find this a bad thing. Me... meh lol.
• I'm a mental mess.
• -35 Moral -20 Happiness +60 Depression +50 Insanity +30 Despair +100 Anxiety.
• And of course the granddaddy of all cons... me. :D

There aren't a lot of things people can do over the internet, so please be somewhat interested in gaming or watching stuff online? I've been playing a lot of random games like Gunfire Reborn and Dead Estate. Some of my favorites are The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and Skul: The Hero Slayer. My go-to chill game of course is Stardew Valley cause that game is well... chill lol. I don't play FFXIV, Valorant, DbD, or Minecraft. Sorry, just never got into those games. I have PLENTY of other games of course. Or we could watch movies or binge some shows/anime. Really lacking in anime watching lately so I need to get cracking on that lol. I don't mind if you are clingy. Punch me in the face and call me crazy I guess. You probably should have a sense of humor cause I'll say dumb shit that I think is funny. You probably should like memes and be ok with awkward quiet moments. I'll also say random shit to break the ice. Be ready. e_e
I'm not saying all that stuff is the be-all-end-all for me, but lately, I find that most people that message me end up not having similar interests at all. Which is kind of a bummer.
I'm also trying to work on myself. And that can be a drag lol.
Despite sounding like a REAL MONSTROSITY OF A PERSON... I'm actually not that bad. I'd like to think I can make people laugh if you get me talking. Send a PM if none of this has scared you away lol. Please write something more than "hi". I most likely won't respond if you don't give me something to work with lol. Just give me a small basic rundown of yourself, please. No pressure!
"This would look good if it didn't look so awful." me looking at myself in the mirror. https://imgur.com/a/vBRRzNF