Trump Administration is proposing eliminating LIHEAP, which helps low-income families pay utility bills, at a time of soaring energy prices.
We can afford to bomb hospitals, school full of children, bridges...but we can't afford social programs and we’re okay with elderly and poor people freezing to death or dying from excessive heat. So their idea of christian values is to kill people home and abroad. Got it.
Does this administration realize that they are cutting benefits to some of their most ardent supporters? They do. They don't care. They got their vote so they're useless to them now.
Alonso Sánchez Coello (Spanish, 1531-1588)
Don Juan de Austria armed (c.1547-1578), 1567
Convent of Las Descalzas Reales, Madrid
Don Juan of Austria was a military leader in the service of his half-brother (King Philip II of Spain) and is best known for his role as the admiral of the Holy League fleet at the Battle of Lepanto and as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
So, we still don't really know what 'Hikaru' is (he is a baby and we love him). Like, Tanaka called him - or his kind - Otoshigo 落とし子 in Chapter 27. The fandom wiki translates it as 'Illegitimate', but the version I've been reading translates it slightly differently, as 'Lost Children'.
Tl;dr, I just somehow can't shake the feeling that the creation of 'Hikaru' - or the Otoshigo 落とし子 in general - had something to do with all those mercury-induced abortions back in the day
(more meta/ramblings below)
Looking up Otoshigo 落とし子 on the dictionary here or here, the term can mean 'a nobleman's illegitimate child', evil/undesirable consequences/aftermath. The Kanji 落 on its own can mean 'fall/drop' or 'decrease' or even 'to be missing', and the Kanji 子 means child.
(What's also really interesting to me, as a Cantonese speaker who writes in traditional Chinese characters, is that we still colloquially use 落仔 in Cantonese to refer to abortion - but I'm not sure if the Kanji in Japanese or the term 落とし子 has similar connotations.)
When were there a lot of lost children in Kibogayama? When the villagers back in the day used to abort their babies due to harsh living conditions, like how Maki explains it in Chapter 23?
What if all those children-to-be-that-never-were became something else, something outside of the cycle of life and death on the Other Side?
What's more, when 'Hikaru' climbed to the Other Side to close the hole inside the cave in Ashidori 足取, Maki's home town, he was essentially taking on the role of those Hōko 這子 dolls that are believed to have crawled over the Other Side to close the holes with needles and threads (Chapter 31).
Yoshiki then theorises that it would have been actual children that the villagers sent through the holes (also Chapter 31) --
'Hikaru' is an immortal entity, not one of those children who got sent through to the Other Side to die, sure, but the mirroring between him (armed with a stapler this time, not needle and thread) and those children is quite something
'...But what happened to the children after that?' Yoshiki asks. I wonder if they might not have become 'lost children' Otoshigo 落とし子?
That would give a whole new context to 'Hikaru' saying, 'For the first time, I was livin' as a human... For the first time, I got to enjoy school, friends, and even ice cream', wouldn't it
Welp, I might just have tinfoil hat on for too long ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(It's just that when i sustain emotional damage, such as from the LATEST CHAPTERS, i tend to analyse my way out of it) ((can you tell i relate in part to Yoshiki))
In BioShock 2, Jack has seemingly become a man of legend among the Splicers left in Rapture. Even Sofia Lamb looks upon him positively, seeing his lack of free will as a boon and inspiration for her to begin her Utopian Experiments. Simon Wales believes Jack to be a god, mentioning how he killed Andrew Ryan. In Siren Alley, paintings of Jack's activities in Rapture can be seen, with subjects such as the plane crash, Dr. Steinman, and Jack's wrist about to be injected with a Plasmid. In one of Frank Fontaine's Audio Diaries, set directly before the beginning of BioShock, he mentions "I've got a hell of a surprise for Andrew Ryan. Long time comin'. And right about now, I expect the prodigal son is bookin' his flight…"
This Monster is a threat to the World.
Art by Wefail.art
* * * * *
Toward a Theory of Civic Sede Vacantism
March 4, 2025 1:50 p.m.
For almost a year I’ve been thinking through an idea that now seems especially timely and relevant in the last six weeks. I think of it as a form of civic sede vacantism. The reference is, ironically, to a strain of hyper-traditionalist Catholic thought which held (still holds) that none of Vatican II canons or the successive Popes counted because they were heretical and heretics. A bit more complicated than that. But details of that really aren’t relevant for us. I just found the defining metaphor or concept helpful. The key is their idea that the papal throne was empty. That’s the meaning of the Latin phrase, sede vacante. My interest and concern with this grew out of my belief that civic democrats in the US have far too great an essentialism about the law and constitutional jurisprudence, especially under the corrupted federal judiciary as it now exists. It breeds a kind of fatalism and passivity which casts a pall over thought and political action.
I know I’ve thrown around a lot of big and perhaps obscure ideas. So let me get down to concrete specifics. In Trump v. United States last year the Supreme Court claimed that Presidents have wide immunity from criminal law after they leave the presidency. For many people this was an ‘everything changed’ moment. It did in effect end Trump’s prosecution. But now that’s the law, as so many people I know put it. Only it’s not. This isn’t a decision I disagree with. It’s simply wrong. I’m not going to rehearse all the arguments. To me, among all the other areas of flawed and disingenuous reasoning, we have the simple fact that the authors of the constitution knew precisely how to confer immunity on public officials. They did it with Congress. But again, I’m not trying to rehearse the specific arguments. Others have already made them on the particulars better than I can. I’m saying that we must disengage from the idea that this is what the law is. It’s not. These are fraudulent decisions.
Now, as a practical matter we are in a situation in which I think we comply with them. The alternative is the abyss. But it’s a practical decision.
Now, here is the point where people ask me, what’s the difference? You’re saying this isn’t actually the law or the constitution. But we still comply with it as though it were the law. What’s the point of that? Whatever this distinction is, who cares? That doesn’t matter.
But I think it does matter. We are living in a moment in which the system of legal, interpretive legitimacy has fatally broken down. It’s been in its death throes for a decade. Now it’s no longer operating at all. That throne is empty of anything that commands our allegiance or claims to legitimacy. If the Supreme Court decides in a few months that people born on American soil are not citizens it will have disastrous and immediate effects on many of our fellow citizens. It won’t mean that the plain and always understood meaning of the 14th Amendment changed. It will mean that the people who currently hold power have opted to rule outside the Constitution.
If the court says the President can, in fact, dismantle Department after Department, which Congress created, because the President holds some kind of indivisible sovereign power cribbed from an inter-war German far-right ideologue, that won’t make it so. It will remind us that we are in this period of interregnum in which we are grappling with a renegade, corrupt court operating outside the constitutional order as well as a renegade and lawless president.
Again, you may say this is some weird semantic distinction that has no real meaning. We’ve got bigger fish to fry. I respect that response. It’s a subtle distinction. But some semantic distinctions are important. We only understand the world through language. That is a profound reality about human cognition. The language we use in the present shapes how we understand the present reality and what possibilities we can see within it. We need to open up the cognitive space to understand the situation we are in and which our country is in. Fundamentally, it means grappling with the corruption rather than living within it, living within its ideas and ground assumptions and perforce being softly governed by them.
As I said, I’ve been mulling this for months. But I decided to write it out after I heard an account of a townhall meeting with Maryland’s senators, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks. As it was recounted to me they said many of the right things. But a key part of their message was we need to let the legal cases play out.
This is precisely the wrong message, the wrong understanding of the situation we’re in.
As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, the courts — even in their current degraded state — play a key, important role. But they’re just a tool in a larger contest that is fundamentally about public opinion. There are good odds the final decisions in the courts will themselves be corrupt and unconstitutional, at least in part. So it’s not that courts don’t matter. They do. A lot. But we shouldn’t be thinking we’re going to wait on what any court decides. That’s only a half step from waiting to hear what Donald Trump decides. I keep hearing right minded or semi-right minded people say, well we’re going to see if this stuff is constitutional. I reject the assumption. At the margins there are questions about what’s constitutional. We’re way past the margins. The fact that we’re operating way outside the express text and logic of the Constitution, and no president in history has thought any of this stuff was possible, is plenty to answer the question. We’re waiting to see if the courts will follow the Constitution. And there’s a good chance they won’t.
I’ve said this a number of times. We’re embarked on a vast battle over the future of the American Republic, in which the executive and much of the judiciary is acting outside the constitutional order. That battle is fundamentally over public opinion. We’re in a constitutional interregnum and we are trying to restore constitutional government. The courts are a tool. Federalism is a big, big tool, the significance and importance of which is getting too little discussion. But it’s really about public opinion. And that means it’s about politics. The American people will decide this. That’s what this is all about. Waiting on the courts is just a basic misunderstanding of the whole situation.
[Send comments and tips to talk at talkingpointsmemo dot com. To share confidential information by secure channels contact me on Signal at joshtpm dot 99 or via encrypted mail at joshtpm (at) protonmail dot com.]
Title: Not for Lack of Lembas
Characters: Boromir, original female characters, (mentioned) Angbor "The Fearless," (mentioned) Arwen
Relationship(s): Boromir & OFC, (referenced) past Angbor x OFC
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 2.0k
CW: Referenced infidelity (past), illegitimate child, surprise pregnancy
Tolkientober 2025 prompt: Cuiviénen
Summary: Boromir finds his youngest daughter Aerdis making lembas, and in so doing learns some surprising news.
(Also posted on AO3)
Dividers by @saradika-graphics
Sindarin
Suilad, Ada - Greetings, Dad
Naneth - Mother
Muinthel nín - My sister
"The Eldar say that they first received this food from the Valar in the beginning of their days in the Great Journey. For it was made of a kind of corn which Yavanna brought forth in the fields of Aman, and some she sent to them by the hand of Oromë for their succour upon the long march." - The Peoples of Middle-earth, XV. Of Lembas
Year 25 FoA
Osgiliath
Boromir lifted his nose and sniffed the air. The smell of bread wafted from the kitchens. He let out a sigh of pleasure before heading in that direction. Ever since he was a boy, he had loved the smell of whatever fresh breads or pastries were being made in the Citadel kitchen. Now, he had his own kitchen staff in Osgiliath, and he could sample as much as he wanted without anyone fussing at him—except for the head cook, herself.
Nestariel had previously worked for Lord Angbor of Lamedon, but after she gave birth to a girl with red hair—a trait that was common in Angbor’s family—the lady of the house wanted both mother and daughter gone. Angbor’s brother, Angbrand, who knew Boromir well and knew he was looking for his own household staff, was able to arrange a meeting between Nestariel and Boromir. To her surprise, he only asked to sample some of her dishes, and without even trying all of them, he offered her the job. The only downside was that she would have to share the space with the king’s staff until his home in Osgiliath was completed, but Nestariel did not mind it at all.
Boromir made it clear from the start that he would not judge her or her daughter for what happened, and she was allowed to leave his employment at any time she felt his household was no longer the right fit, but he asked that she give him time to find a replacement and ensure that he or she was prepared to take over her position before she departed. He also wanted to reassure her that he did not adhere to the social hierarchy as other nobles did and he would rather they be on friendly terms than create barriers that might keep one another at a distance. It took some getting used to for Nestariel, because she was unaccustomed to her employers being so informal with her or other servants, as well as being treated like a friend instead of just a cook. Eventually, she had gotten comfortable enough with her new position that she did not immediately flinch whenever she caught Boromir or his oldest daughter, Finduilas, sneaking sweets from the kitchen and fussed at them.
When Nestariel’s daughter, Naruwen, was a little older, she began to study under her mother and was later appointed as under cook. She excelled in adding decorative embellishments to dishes and patterns to breads and other baked goods to make them appear more pleasing to the eye. Her beautiful desserts became so popular with guests that several nobles wanted to hire her for their households. Boromir said that Naruwen would ultimately decide whether she wished to remain in Osgiliath or seek a different path, but he asked her if she would be interested in making extra desserts that she could sell to anyone who wished to buy them.
This was how he found her when he entered the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the sweets for Queen Arwen’s tea party. It was the first time the queen had served dishes that were not prepared by the royal cooks, but she had heard of Naruwen’s talents and wished to try something new. She was so engrossed in her work that she did not hear his greeting, which he did not mind. He turned to Nestariel to inquire as to what she had made that smelled so good and found an unexpected sight—his fifteen-year-old daughter Aerdis kneading a mound of golden dough.
“Suilad, Ada,” Aerdis said without looking up from her work.
He came to stand at her side and leaned down to press a kiss to her hair. Whenever Aerdis was not practicing her violin or visiting Princesses Lothraen and Nimriel, she could often be found in the kitchens, learning how to cook and bake from Nestariel.
“What are you making?”
“Lembas. When Queen Arwen visited yesterday, I asked if she ever learned how to make it when she lived in Rivendell. She said her mother taught her how to make lembas, which is Elvish waybread, which she had learned from her mother. She gave me notes of how to make it and said that she wished for the knowledge to be passed on after she is gone.”
Boromir fidgeted when she said that. He didn’t know what an Elf giving up their immortality entailed, but he hoped it was not a painful thing. His own wife had done the same in order to be with him, and the last thing he wanted was for her to suffer.
“I had lembas bread once, you know. Lady Galadriel gave it to the Fellowship when we were in Lothlórien. Pippin ate four of them right away.”
"That sounds like something Pippin would do," Aerdis said with a giggle. “Naneth told me once that she had some when she was with child, and that it had seeds and flowers that were nourishing to mother and child. Queen Arwen said she did not know what had been added to them, but Nestariel knows what herbs are good for expecting mothers to eat.”
“Is that so? Are you wanting to make this for someone in particular?”
“For muinthel nín.”
Boromir’s brow furrowed as he tried to remember what that meant, and once again he wished he had paid more attention in his Sindarin lessons. When he did realize what his daughter had said, it felt like a punch to the gut. Muinthel nín—my sister.
“I beg your pardon?” Aerdis didn’t answer and only started humming as she kneaded the dough and her lips curved into a thin smile. “Did you just say that Finduilas is…?”
“Mm hmm.”
“That is odd. She has not said anything to me, or to your mother, as far as I am aware.”
“She doesn’t know it, yet.” This only made him even more confused.
“Then how do you know?” He tried to control his tone so he did not sound like he didn’t believe her.
“Because she feels queasy whenever she tries to eat anything. I heard that was common. And she and Bergil came back from Dol Amroth a few weeks ago and they kept glancing at each other and smiling.”
“I see.”
Well, it had been his suggestion for Bergil to go with Finduilas and her friends to Dol Amroth, not only as protection but because he wanted the two of them to work out whatever conflict they had been having and get along. He hadn’t expected things to escalate that quickly after making up. Not that he disapproved. He liked Bergil and thought he and Finduilas were a good match, even if Bergil was from a common background, which had never been all that important to him. He thought people should marry for love rather than for political reasons, because the couple were usually happier together when they chose one another.
“Ada?” Boromir flinched and blinked at his daughter.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said that I need to add the herbs to the dough now and then prepare it for baking.”
“Ah, very well. I will let you work.” He was still reeling from what she had just told him, and his footsteps were somewhat unsteady.
“My lord.” Boromir turned to where Nestariel was standing, holding out a small dish with two fluffy rolls that still had steam rising from them. “Is this what you came here for, my lord?”
“As a matter of fact, it was.” He took the offered plate and inclined his head. “I could smell it all the way from my study and couldn’t wait to have some.”
“Mother, I need to pack these so they can be delivered to the Citadel,” Naruwen said.
Boromir took that as his cue to make his exit, not wanting to get in the way in the suddenly-busy kitchen. As he turned in the direction of his study, he took a large bite out of one of the rolls. His eyes rolled back into his head. So delicious!
He quickly finished off the first one, and he forced himself to refrain from eating the second until after he had returned to his study. As he rounded the corner, he came to a halt when he saw his other daughter knocking on the door. She must have noticed his approach, because her head whipped around in his direction. A bright smile lit up her face as she strode up to him.
“Father, I have something to tell you!”
Boromir felt that the air had been knocked out of him again, but he managed to control his facial muscles. He opened the door to his study and ushered her inside, and after he set the plate on the desk, he gave her his full attention.
“It is something good, I hope.”
“It is more than that! I’m going to have a baby!” As it turned out, Boromir didn’t need to act surprised, because the tears that welled in his eyes were not forced, nor was the joy he felt as he drew her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. Finduilas hugged him back, but there was a bit of hesitation. “You are not angry?”
“Why would I be angry?” he asked after he drew back so he could look at her. "I get to be a grandfather!"
“Because… it’s Bergil’s, and we are not married. I was just so excited to tell you that—” He cupped her cheeks in his hands and pressed his forehead against hers.
“Your mother was pregnant with you before we wed, so I am the last person to judge you for it. And even if that were not the case, I still would not judge you. As long as you and Bergil love each other and want to spend your lives together, that is all that matters. The wedding can take place whenever the time is right.” Finduilas let out a sigh of relief and hugged him again.
“I do love him, and I am sure that he is who I want to be with. I wasted so much time being angry with him, and he had every reason to move on to someone else. But he didn’t, and if you hadn’t insisted that he come with us, I probably would still be avoiding him. So, thank you for meddling,” she said with a giggle, and then her expression turned serious. “And thank you for understanding and not… disowning me or sending me somewhere far away until I have the child alone or…”
“I would never do that. Not to you or your sister.” He felt her nod, and when she drew back, the smile from earlier was back in place.
“I'm going to start planning the wedding now. I have to think of the decorations, the food, the wine—we are definitely serving Dorwinion wine—who I’m going to invite…”
“Just make sure you tell your mother. It would not do for her to be the last person to know.”
“And I will do that, too!” Finduilas spun on her heels and sped for the door, vanishing through it in a flurry of skirts and billowy sleeves.
"There is no need to be in such a hurry," he called after her, hoping she would get the hint.
"I knew that!"
Boromir chuckled as he circled around his desk and sat down. He pulled the plate closer to him. The roll had cooled somewhat during their conversation, but it was still just as delicious. He wondered if he could persuade Finduilas to serve them at the wedding, too.
A/N: Nestariel, Naruwen, Angbrand, Finduilas, and Aerdis can all be found in my Gondorian OC profiles in my pinned post! Lothraen and Nimriel are two of Aragorn and Arwen's daughters and can be found in the canon OCs/textual ghosts.
There is no shortage of significant April 22 birthdays. As I write this, it is the centennial of the births of Bettie Page and Aaron Spelling; last year it was Charles Mingus. Also born this day: John Waters, Henry Fielding, Glen Campbell, Charlotte Rae, Eddie Albert, Byron Allen, Ralph Byrd, Mickey Deems, Paul Dresser, and many others, plus it’s Earth Day. But there are still worlds to conquer!…
