Previous
Writer's note: My bad about the past few days. A stomach bug and work got in the way. But all's good.
Now learn some tragic backstory, a bit of Earth info, and the status of everyone's favorite omen of misfortune.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The King was already conversing with Colonel Muhammed when James finally caught up with him in the command room. He jogged in at a brisk pace, but stopped when he saw the two of them talking on the small tablet in front of the King.
King Farrick cocked an eyebrow as he saw James. James just shrugged while mouthing "I know." and gesturing at his beard. The King shook his head as he looked back down at the tablet.
"We're just glad our people could be of assistance sir." The Colonel said. "Even if it only ended up being during the cool down after everything had already resolved."
"It is greatly appreciated Colonel." The King replied. "Seeing as the dungeon is currently erm... ruined... we'll have to let the last few of your people there out. Though they'll still be restricted in their movements." He added. The Colonel nodded, as if she'd expected as much. "As for the weapons." He continued. "Well," He sighed deeply. "I look forward to the.... paperwork.... regarding its use in necessary situations."
Colonel Muhammed let out a quick snort. "I'll see if I can get em to keep it short and sweet." She said.
The King motioned for James, who walked over. "Captain Choi is back earlier than expected, as I'm sure you know." He said as James got next to him and he turned the tablet so its camera caught James too. "I'll let you have him for a bit."
And just like that James was looking at his commanding officer while sporting a neon pink beard.
"Evening ma'am." He said with his cheesiest smile.
Muhammmed's eyes glazed over as she saw the ridiculous facial hair.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked.
"Nope." James replied honestly. "But I made friends during my trip." Then he shook his hand in a so-so gesture. "Well... one of em might just be an...." Then he rethought his standing with the Vatrian Emperor, Vateris. He also hadn't talked with command about his personal vendetta against the so-called gods. "Look. I didn't end up in prison or dead. And things went mostly well."
And suddenly a very grainy, sand-coated, hand was holding James's. He did what he could not to jump with surprise.
"By the way. Meet Glag!" He said excitedly as he panned the camera down to the rock monster's face. Glag looked at the screen with wide, amazed, eyes. James was surprised to see that Glag looked surprisingly dark, and just a little red. "He's a new companion!"
"What in the hell is that?" The Colonel asked as she peered at the screen on her end.
"Glaaaaag." Glag replied.
"Introductions done." James said. "So, what's the deal with the Zootopia duo?"
------------------------------
"Okay. It was weird at the store." Samantha said as she looked around. "But this is just plain strange."
Around them the restaurant was empty. The bistro Fletcher had brought her to, The Blue Tree, was a ghost town. A few of the staff stood at the greeting booth on the other side of the room. But other than that it was completely deserted. It was so quiet that they could hear the kitchen staff working prep in the back, for what had to be ONLY their food.
"Admittedly I think they took this a bit too far." Fletcher said abashedly as he peeked at the small menu. "This can't be cheap for the hospital, or government or whoever is funding the rehabilitation program."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to think of what to say. Neither of them would admit it, but it had been a while since either of them had dated.
And neither of them had ever dated in THIS particular scenario.
"So... how long have you been a lawyer?" She asked hesitantly.
"Um... about... eight years now?" He said uncertainly as he tried to do math in his head. "Close to nine. How bout you? How long were you in the Army before um.... well. You know."
She nodded. She was getting a lot better about acknowledging what had happened. But it was still a sore spot.
"I was about half way through my second term. So about six years." She answered, even though she was certain he'd probably read that in her file at some point. "Wasn't gonna reenlist again though."
"No plans to make it a career?" He asked.
"No." She said with a shake of her head. "No I intended to get out and get certified as a ration enforcement officer once I was done."
"Ration enforcement?" He said with raised eyebrows. "That's a dangerous job. Even compared to being an MP. Planning on staying near your family?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She admitted. "My fathers shop is small and usually gets shunted by the bigger ones in the area. Wanted to stick around and keep the queues in order so it didn't happen."
"Ah. Makes sense." He responded as one of the wait staff came over.
A few minutes later, and after Fletcher had ensured that they'd been warned about Samantha's new dietary difficulties, the young woman departed with a smile and promise that their drinks and appetizers would be out in just a few minutes.
"And what got you into law?" She asked once they were alone again.
"My wife." He said, causing her to spit out the small sip of water she'd taken after asking the question. He smiled and there was a pain there. "Don't worry." He said. "I'm not married anymore."
"Divorced?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening now.
Fletcher's mouth opened for a moment as he tried to think for a second. Did he really wanna have THIS talk on, what was hopefully a first, date. "Widower." He said softly.
And just like that she was thrown off balance again.
"I'-I'm so sorry." She said hastily. "I didn't know."
He held his hands up in warding. "It's fine." He said reassuringly. "It's been.... almost a decade now. I'm... I'm okay."
There was another awkward silence, though this time NOT because neither of them had anything to say.
Fletcher spoke first.
"She was a Paramedic." He said. "She was helping with some humanitarian work overseas and um... She got sick from some of the fallout." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "The organization she worked for was uh.... less than honorable about helping her get cared for afterwords. I started reading up on as many laws and regulations as I could to help her fight for it. But uh.... too little too late." Then he fake-smiled. "But I found out I was good at understanding legal jargon so I uh.... found my calling. I guess. Retooled my college classes and the rest is history."
"That's awful." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say given what she'd just heard.
"It was, yeah." He agreed. "But uh... thanks to that I've been able to help a lot of people who've been screwed by similar situations. So... I don't know. Guess that's something."
She smiled too. "Well you helped me." She said. "Didn't expect the ARMY of all organizations to back down from some legalese."
He pointed out at one of the windows, at the people outside walking about. Across the street a few teenagers were watching as one of them tried to levitate. The kid rose about a foot or so before beginning to wobble and then flipping over and falling on his face. The other two fell out laughing and jeering as he picked himself up.
"Between the two packs that split off and headed north and south, and all the people that have started to have ACTUAL magic powers." He said with a shrug. "I think they just have bigger fish to fry."
"Your appetizers and drinks." The server said, startling both of them.
"Ah." Fletcher said with a genuine smile this time. "I think you're gonna like the crab sliders here. They actually use REAL crab."
Her eyes widened. Real crab was rare nowadays. Then she looked at the server, who was nodding. "They closed this place and you guys serve REAL crab?" She asked.
"Sure do." The server replied with a smile. "We're one of the few restaurants in the city that gets any.
"God you weren't kidding." Samantha said as she turned back to Fletcher. "It must have cost a fortune to close a place like this for a night."
"I told you." He said jokingly with a grin.
She slumped, a little embarrassed at everything that had to have gone into this. She didn't deserve all this.
"So we'd better make the most of it before the hospital's finance department catches on." He said as he raised his glass of wine in a toast. "Again, assuming this isn't government funded. Which... it probably is."
Samantha lifted the large stein of light ale and, as gently as she could, clinked it against his glass.
"Enjoy." The server said as she nodded and stepped back.
And just like that the tone of the conversation lightened, and the rest of dinner was much more enjoyable.
--------------------------
Vickers awoke with a gasp.
Everything hurt.
He'd been beaten up pretty badly before. Had even been way too close to explosions a few times and spent weeks in the hospital recovering afterword to make sure he didn't have any unseen injuries. Then there was the time some turbulence had caused him to botch a wet insertion from a helicopter that had already been almost at the max height for a dive.
Those had all had him SORE for weeks.
This was different.
He felt both hot and cold at the same time. And not just his skin, but his entire body, inside and out, felt like they were infused with IcyHot.
And try as he might, he couldn't see, and everything was muted.
"He's awake." Someone said from outside of him. "Fetch the Archmage and master Farstorm."
"Whe-" He tried to say. But his voice was horse, and cracked as he tried to wheeze out the question. "Where?" He said weakly after struggling to swallow with a mouth that was drier than it had ever been before.
Someone touched him on the chest, and even though the touch was light and delicate he groaned in pain as every nerve in the area screamed.
And even in that excruciating moment, the part of his brain that nobody could ever fully get rid of, no matter how much training they underwent, joked.
So this is what Choi's life is like. It said sarcastically. Running through life like a marshmallow that got dropped in a camp fire every few months. Tough little fucker.
"Calm down Mister Vickers." One of those muted voices, that he thought sounded familiar, said. "We only woke you up so the Archmage could ask a few questions. We'll have you back under in a minute. Let me give you something for the pain."
"Not until the lead healer has okayed it." Another voice said somewhat harshly. "We don't even know how your Earth medicine will affect his body now."
"I do." The first voice replied. "I've used this stuff on were-people before. It works just fine. I just have to up the dosage. And Shrend knows it." The first voice, which he now faintly recognized as Choi's mom, said.
There was a pinch in the middle of a bloom of fire on Vickers' throat as a needle was pressed into one of the veins there.
And suddenly the pain, and everything else for that matter, seemed to drop away.
"Thassss..." He began. "Thasssalot... bedder."
"Shhhh." Mrs. Choi said as he felt, faintly, her touching his head. "I'm gonna take off some of your bandages so you can hear and see." She finished as his hearing cleared. "Plus we need to check your eyes and ears anyways."
A moment later Vickers' eyes opened and he was surrounded by a swirling mix of green and amber light. It was blurry, though he was mostly just happy he had any sight at all.
"Still cloudy." Mrs. Choi said as she pried his eyes open ever so slightly and looked inside. She as about to check his ears when the door opened.
Vickers turned his head with a slowness that was not intentional.
"Chief Vickers." Said the old mage who usually spoke so slowly, and looked so frail. But he didn't look or sound anything of the such at the moment as he pulled up a chair and sat where he could look at Vickers.
"Thaassss....me." He said as his head swam with whatever Mrs. Choi had given him. Probably Ketamine or something.
"I know you're in a lot of pain right now." The old mage said. "But we need to know what you saw. What was on the other side of that door before the Elemental manifested?"

I tried enrolling for for this course, but it keeps denying me saying that it needs an architecture major in order to be able to enroll in the course. Yet in there every website, and in the actual application, it shows that there’s no prerequisite to have a major, so what do I do if I wanna join this course. ?

This is just Joe Biden Weaponizing the Criminal Justice System to go after his political enemies.
After the Election and if Joe Biden is installed by the Powers that Be Again Biden will “Pardon” Trump.
You know to “Unify” the nation. And say some garbage about we need to come together. Even though the ultimate goal is to divide the nation even more so then it already is.
Going after Trump is a message to any future candidate that wants “to drain the swamp”. They are making a example out of him. Disobey our orders and we will charge you with Espionage. Not Espionage against America. Espionage against the true people who truly run the nation.

Previous / First
Writer's note: My bad about the past few days. A stomach bug and work got in the way. But all's good.
Now learn some tragic backstory, a bit of Earth info, and the status of everyone's favorite omen of misfortune.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The King was already conversing with Colonel Muhammed when James finally caught up with him in the command room. He jogged in at a brisk pace, but stopped when he saw the two of them talking on the small tablet in front of the King.
King Farrick cocked an eyebrow as he saw James. James just shrugged while mouthing "I know." and gesturing at his beard. The King shook his head as he looked back down at the tablet.
"We're just glad our people could be of assistance sir." The Colonel said. "Even if it only ended up being during the cool down after everything had already resolved."
"It is greatly appreciated Colonel." The King replied. "Seeing as the dungeon is currently erm... ruined... we'll have to let the last few of your people there out. Though they'll still be restricted in their movements." He added. The Colonel nodded, as if she'd expected as much. "As for the weapons." He continued. "Well," He sighed deeply. "I look forward to the.... paperwork.... regarding its use in necessary situations."
Colonel Muhammed let out a quick snort. "I'll see if I can get em to keep it short and sweet." She said.
The King motioned for James, who walked over. "Captain Choi is back earlier than expected, as I'm sure you know." He said as James got next to him and he turned the tablet so its camera caught James too. "I'll let you have him for a bit."
And just like that James was looking at his commanding officer while sporting a neon pink beard.
"Evening ma'am." He said with his cheesiest smile.
Muhammmed's eyes glazed over as she saw the ridiculous facial hair.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked.
"Nope." James replied honestly. "But I made friends during my trip." Then he shook his hand in a so-so gesture. "Well... one of em might just be an...." Then he rethought his standing with the Vatrian Emperor, Vateris. He also hadn't talked with command about his personal vendetta against the so-called gods. "Look. I didn't end up in prison or dead. And things went mostly well."
And suddenly a very grainy, sand-coated, hand was holding James's. He did what he could not to jump with surprise.
"By the way. Meet Glag!" He said excitedly as he panned the camera down to the rock monster's face. Glag looked at the screen with wide, amazed, eyes. James was surprised to see that Glag looked surprisingly dark, and just a little red. "He's a new companion!"
"What in the hell is that?" The Colonel asked as she peered at the screen on her end.
"Glaaaaag." Glag replied.
"Introductions done." James said. "So, what's the deal with the Zootopia duo?"
------------------------------
"Okay. It was weird at the store." Samantha said as she looked around. "But this is just plain strange."
Around them the restaurant was empty. The bistro Fletcher had brought her to, The Blue Tree, was a ghost town. A few of the staff stood at the greeting booth on the other side of the room. But other than that it was completely deserted. It was so quiet that they could hear the kitchen staff working prep in the back, for what had to be ONLY their food.
"Admittedly I think they took this a bit too far." Fletcher said abashedly as he peeked at the small menu. "This can't be cheap for the hospital, or government or whoever is funding the rehabilitation program."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to think of what to say. Neither of them would admit it, but it had been a while since either of them had dated.
And neither of them had ever dated in THIS particular scenario.
"So... how long have you been a lawyer?" She asked hesitantly.
"Um... about... eight years now?" He said uncertainly as he tried to do math in his head. "Close to nine. How bout you? How long were you in the Army before um.... well. You know."
She nodded. She was getting a lot better about acknowledging what had happened. But it was still a sore spot.
"I was about half way through my second term. So about six years." She answered, even though she was certain he'd probably read that in her file at some point. "Wasn't gonna reenlist again though."
"No plans to make it a career?" He asked.
"No." She said with a shake of her head. "No I intended to get out and get certified as a ration enforcement officer once I was done."
"Ration enforcement?" He said with raised eyebrows. "That's a dangerous job. Even compared to being an MP. Planning on staying near your family?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She admitted. "My fathers shop is small and usually gets shunted by the bigger ones in the area. Wanted to stick around and keep the queues in order so it didn't happen."
"Ah. Makes sense." He responded as one of the wait staff came over.
A few minutes later, and after Fletcher had ensured that they'd been warned about Samantha's new dietary difficulties, the young woman departed with a smile and promise that their drinks and appetizers would be out in just a few minutes.
"And what got you into law?" She asked once they were alone again.
"My wife." He said, causing her to spit out the small sip of water she'd taken after asking the question. He smiled and there was a pain there. "Don't worry." He said. "I'm not married anymore."
"Divorced?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening now.
Fletcher's mouth opened for a moment as he tried to think for a second. Did he really wanna have THIS talk on, what was hopefully a first, date. "Widower." He said softly.
And just like that she was thrown off balance again.
"I'-I'm so sorry." She said hastily. "I didn't know."
He held his hands up in warding. "It's fine." He said reassuringly. "It's been.... almost a decade now. I'm... I'm okay."
There was another awkward silence, though this time NOT because neither of them had anything to say.
Fletcher spoke first.
"She was a Paramedic." He said. "She was helping with some humanitarian work overseas and um... She got sick from some of the fallout." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "The organization she worked for was uh.... less than honorable about helping her get cared for afterwords. I started reading up on as many laws and regulations as I could to help her fight for it. But uh.... too little too late." Then he fake-smiled. "But I found out I was good at understanding legal jargon so I uh.... found my calling. I guess. Retooled my college classes and the rest is history."
"That's awful." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say given what she'd just heard.
"It was, yeah." He agreed. "But uh... thanks to that I've been able to help a lot of people who've been screwed by similar situations. So... I don't know. Guess that's something."
She smiled too. "Well you helped me." She said. "Didn't expect the ARMY of all organizations to back down from some legalese."
He pointed out at one of the windows, at the people outside walking about. Across the street a few teenagers were watching as one of them tried to levitate. The kid rose about a foot or so before beginning to wobble and then flipping over and falling on his face. The other two fell out laughing and jeering as he picked himself up.
"Between the two packs that split off and headed north and south, and all the people that have started to have ACTUAL magic powers." He said with a shrug. "I think they just have bigger fish to fry."
"Your appetizers and drinks." The server said, startling both of them.
"Ah." Fletcher said with a genuine smile this time. "I think you're gonna like the crab sliders here. They actually use REAL crab."
Her eyes widened. Real crab was rare nowadays. Then she looked at the server, who was nodding. "They closed this place and you guys serve REAL crab?" She asked.
"Sure do." The server replied with a smile. "We're one of the few restaurants in the city that gets any.
"God you weren't kidding." Samantha said as she turned back to Fletcher. "It must have cost a fortune to close a place like this for a night."
"I told you." He said jokingly with a grin.
She slumped, a little embarrassed at everything that had to have gone into this. She didn't deserve all this.
"So we'd better make the most of it before the hospital's finance department catches on." He said as he raised his glass of wine in a toast. "Again, assuming this isn't government funded. Which... it probably is."
Samantha lifted the large stein of light ale and, as gently as she could, clinked it against his glass.
"Enjoy." The server said as she nodded and stepped back.
And just like that the tone of the conversation lightened, and the rest of dinner was much more enjoyable.
--------------------------
Vickers awoke with a gasp.
Everything hurt.
He'd been beaten up pretty badly before. Had even been way too close to explosions a few times and spent weeks in the hospital recovering afterword to make sure he didn't have any unseen injuries. Then there was the time some turbulence had caused him to botch a wet insertion from a helicopter that had already been almost at the max height for a dive.
Those had all had him SORE for weeks.
This was different.
He felt both hot and cold at the same time. And not just his skin, but his entire body, inside and out, felt like they were infused with IcyHot.
And try as he might, he couldn't see, and everything was muted.
"He's awake." Someone said from outside of him. "Fetch the Archmage and master Farstorm."
"Whe-" He tried to say. But his voice was horse, and cracked as he tried to wheeze out the question. "Where?" He said weakly after struggling to swallow with a mouth that was drier than it had ever been before.
Someone touched him on the chest, and even though the touch was light and delicate he groaned in pain as every nerve in the area screamed.
And even in that excruciating moment, the part of his brain that nobody could ever fully get rid of, no matter how much training they underwent, joked.
So this is what Choi's life is like. It said sarcastically. Running through life like a marshmallow that got dropped in a camp fire every few months. Tough little fucker.
"Calm down Mister Vickers." One of those muted voices, that he thought sounded familiar, said. "We only woke you up so the Archmage could ask a few questions. We'll have you back under in a minute. Let me give you something for the pain."
"Not until the lead healer has okayed it." Another voice said somewhat harshly. "We don't even know how your Earth medicine will affect his body now."
"I do." The first voice replied. "I've used this stuff on were-people before. It works just fine. I just have to up the dosage. And Shrend knows it." The first voice, which he now faintly recognized as Choi's mom, said.
There was a pinch in the middle of a bloom of fire on Vickers' throat as a needle was pressed into one of the veins there.
And suddenly the pain, and everything else for that matter, seemed to drop away.
"Thassss..." He began. "Thasssalot... bedder."
"Shhhh." Mrs. Choi said as he felt, faintly, her touching his head. "I'm gonna take off some of your bandages so you can hear and see." She finished as his hearing cleared. "Plus we need to check your eyes and ears anyways."
A moment later Vickers' eyes opened and he was surrounded by a swirling mix of green and amber light. It was blurry, though he was mostly just happy he had any sight at all.
"Still cloudy." Mrs. Choi said as she pried his eyes open ever so slightly and looked inside. She as about to check his ears when the door opened.
Vickers turned his head with a slowness that was not intentional.
"Chief Vickers." Said the old mage who usually spoke so slowly, and looked so frail. But he didn't look or sound anything of the such at the moment as he pulled up a chair and sat where he could look at Vickers.
"Thaassss....me." He said as his head swam with whatever Mrs. Choi had given him. Probably Ketamine or something.
"I know you're in a lot of pain right now." The old mage said. "But we need to know what you saw. What was on the other side of that door before the Elemental manifested?"

God kills half the population in order to seek "Justice" when in all actuality it's bullshit. Put some thought into the god you claim to love so much. Because when you enter into heaven, i don't want you thinking "Oh well i already knew you were sending people to hell, so my friend who went to hell is expendable."
LIKE NO
THESE PEOPLE ARENT EXPENDABLE. These are real human lives being sent to eternal decay. I don't fuck with it. An eye for an eye still entitles us to life. That's point-blank period. And anybody who agrees with gods ideology might as well support Putin. Someone who loves war crimes just as much as god does. A leader who has too much power which has gone to his head.
You can lose everything in life, but the one thing you're entitled to have unless you're a murderer, is LIFE ITSELF. Stop blindly following a path that only destroys what's around you.
A common misconception is that you need Christ to enter into heaven, the truth is, you don't. All you need is morality. Don't follow god, those are the words of a madman, Follow yourself.
​

P.S, God you already know who I am, I know your hands are more bloody than Osama Bin Ladens corpse so let me tell you this, reveal what happened between us at the veil of Maya to the entire world, or admit you can't be honest with yourself and others because even tho you send people to hell for their wrongdoings, yours are even bloodier than ever. And if you don't think we know each other, 2 words, Extrasensory Perception. 

Anyways that's just a message for god, I think you should read it so he does, but also ignore it because it's not for you <3

The other night I was reading the latest chapter of One Piece (1086), and the moment Oda revealed the leader of the Holy Knights to be Garling Figarland, it hit me! The obvious being that Shanks is a descendant of the Figarland family, and therefore a Celestial Dragon. Oda’s foreshadow can be seen when the silhouette of Garling was identical to that of Shanks, we also hear the Gorosei directly state Uta being of Figarland blood in the One Piece Film Red.Utas' Figarland Blood
But I believe Oda dropped a bigger bomb that I haven’t seen anyone talk about yet.
I believe Oda also revealed what really happened at God Valley
​
https://preview.redd.it/ksenc9fn325b1.png?width=424&format=png&auto=webp&s=58dd29c1a75b10dfb3edebb81b2ae076cc985ec2
My theory goes as follows:What if the battle at God Valley was over Shanks?
Let’s start with what we know about God Valley thus far. For starters, we know that Garp hates recalling the events that took place at God Valley for two reasons.. The first being that Garp was forced to team up with pirates (Gol D. Roger and Co.) in order to defeat Rocks’ crew. The second being that he did this in order to protect the Celestial Dragons. We also know that Garp despises the Celestial Dragons, so much so to the point where he turned down the promotion to Admiral in order to avoid taking direct orders from them.I believe the Celestial Dragons agreed to team up with Rocks in order to create a powerful bloodline in Shanks. This aligns with both sides' agenda. The higher ups of the World Government having complete control with powerful weapons at their disposal. Rocks combining political power with raw power to become king of the world. (Celestial Bloodline + Will of D.)
​
https://preview.redd.it/aq0g3mmr325b1.png?width=182&format=png&auto=webp&s=76194219de308db13b056bea41969a0e09a880df
Now this is where everything comes full circle. I believe that Monkey D. Dragon also played a huge role at God Valley. A few things we know for certain are the fact that Dragon is Luffys father, and Garp is Luffys grandfather. But it was never confirmed that Garp is Dragon's father, only insinuated due to the fact that they share the same family name. But what if that’s actually not the case.What if Dragons full name is actually Rocks D. Dragon.This would mean that Dragon and Rocks are brothers, Shanks and Luffy are cousins, Luffys mother is the daughter of Garp, and the actual bearer of the Monkey family name. My theory is that Rocks had the intention of eliminating the Celestial Dragons and continue the lineage with Shanks. Maybe Dragon was aware of this and was able to retrieve Shanks, then asked Garp and Roger to help protect the Celestials against Rocks invasion.
​
https://preview.redd.it/p04eu0zu325b1.png?width=1075&format=png&auto=webp&s=f84bd66be066f12cb5c13fd3f5b2aa7a56161211

• This would explain how Shanks was “found” in God Valley, he was actually rescued and taken in by Roger in order to hide his true identity.
• This is also why Dragon goes by “Monkey D. Dragon” and isn’t credited as a hero during the battle at God Valley, he too has to hide his identity.
• The World Government wanted to erase everything about God Valley's history
• The timeline lines up perfectly. The clash took place 38 years ago, Shanks is 39 years old currently.

​
https://preview.redd.it/wbtu2jqv325b1.png?width=1206&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab22dcb2013969e7dfe58fa8c863b6f0cbd43716

More Evidence

• Oda loves foreshadowing. Pre-timeskip events mirroring Post-timeskip events(east blue - fishman island)(alabasta - Dressrosa)Punk Hazard - Two D’s (Luffy x Law) teaming up to save a dragon of the past (Momonosuke)Gods Valley - Two D’s (Garp x Roger) teaming up to save a dragon of the future (Shanks)
• This would explain why when Roger returned from Laugh Tale, when he talked to Shanks, all Shanks could do was cry.. He had to reveal to Shanks that he won’t be the next Pirate King and informed him of his true past (and future).
• This is also the reason Shanks told Buggy he changed his mind about the One Piece, he has to wait for the one who will share the same dream as Roger.
• Once Luffy revealed his dream to Shanks, Shanks knew then and there that Luffy was the one destined to become Pirate King, which is why he gave him the Straw Hat.

​
Shank and Luffy parallels

Some Questions to still be answered

• What is Shanks' role going to be from here on out? Is he destined to become evil?
• Did Shanks purposefully have Luffy consume the Hito Hito no Mi?
• What happened to Shanks Mother? Did Luffys Mom play a role at God Valley?

Curious to know what ya'll think of this theory!

So I wrote this. Recycled ideas, but eventually all of this will be cited. It's basically my own CES Letter. The formatting is weird because this is coming over from Notion.
I had to write this out to start my own deconstruction anyway, but giving it to my spouse will be interesting. Read it if you want. Critique it if you want. I just had to get this out into the universe.
​

1. The concept that the Church can lie to you
   
   1. Rather than being told the entire truth about Joseph Smith’s death, we are told that he is innocent of any crime and that he went to deliver himself up. The truth of the matter is, Joseph Smith was in jail for destroying the property of William Law, who was creating a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor. He ordered the printing press be destroyed and violated the first amendment, as well as destroying another’s property. The newspaper exposed polygamy and many of the other immoralities of the Church. On the surface, this lie doesn’t seem egregious, but D&C 135 section mentions that Joseph was a martyr for the religion, and I was always taught this. However, he didn’t deliver himself up to be killed and it wasn’t because he was a “mormon”; it was because he broke the law and had angered a mob. All of this was a direct result of him practicing polygamy and yielding so much power.
   2. The method of translating the Book of Mormon was largely misrepresented to me as a youth, missionary, and young adult. I was always taught, whether through art or articles, that Joseph used the Gold Plates to translate the Book of Mormon.
   3. However, upon widespread discovery of further quotes and scrutiny, in 2014 the Church admitted that the translation was done through a rock and a hat. This is justified by quoting the Book of Mormon where it talks about bringing forth a stone to shine forth in the darkness. (Alma 37:23-24). The methods of translation accounts differ from each other. Martin Harris saying they were done by sitting across the table. Oliver Cowdery saying it was done by the urim and thummim or two stones and spectacles. To be clear, I am okay with some ambiguity surrounding the translation, or it being by the power of God. What I’m not okay with is the church deceiving how it was done until the internet era forced them to release the Gospel Topic Essays on this subject.
   4. The implementation of polygamy. a. Left ambiguous for a reason. How Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball and many other high ranking church members took many wives including teenage wives. The church’s essay on this topic refers to Helen Mar Kimball, a 14 year old, as “several months before her 15th birthday.” In fact, they even say that Helen said it was for “eternity alone” but that is an out of context poem from Helen’s journal. There is no proof of sexual relations, but there are proof in many other relatoinships, including Fanny Alger, Joseph’s first “wife” that Oliver Cowdery called a filthy affair. He was excommunicated partly due to that statement. b. Joseph Smith wrote a letter to 19-year old Nancy Rigdon propositioning her to marry him after she denied his appeal in 1842. This letter is quoted in General Conference many times over the years, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.” He then goes on to tell her that we cannot obey the commandments if we don’t know them and what seems wrong, can actually be right in certain circumstances. He quotes the times God has contradicted Himself in the scriptures. This letter is gross. Note that it comes right before the plural marriage revelation D&C 132. c. Joseph claimed that an angel with a drawn sword made him marry Zina Huntington Jacobs, despite her engagement to Henry Jacobs. He sent Henry on missions. She did stay faithful and was eventually sealed to Brigham Young, who also subsequently sent Henry Jacobs on missions. d. This doesn’t even take into account the actions of preceeding prophets who were married to dozens of women, sealed to hundreds, and many of them were underage. Wilford Woodruff for instance sealed himself to a 6 year old girl who had passed away, inexplicably. Maybe he didn’t know? Maybe he did? Who knows.
   5. D&C 132- Joseph Smith was sealed to over 20 wives before being sealed to Emma. He denied being polygamous publicly multiple times and the relief society (of which, Emma was president) wrote a letter condemning polygamy, while one of the presidency members was sealed to Joseph.
      1. Law of Sarah was violated before it was ever implemented
      2. Joseph performing a second marriage to the Whitney sisters after Emma approved it.
      3. Women must be virgins, while Joseph was married to other married women (at least 2).
      4. Abraham was not commanded by God to practice plural marriage, he was asked by Sarah to marry Hagoth because Sarah was barren.
      5. Additionally, Jacob condemns polygamy in the Book of Mormon but then God okays it in the D&C 132, both of them specifically citing the examples of Soloman and David.
      6. Plural marriage is the “new and everlasting covenant” implying that plural marriage in the celestial kingdom will be the new and everlasting covenant and required.
      7. 5. Historicity of the Book of Abraham There is an entire Gospel Topics Essay on this but the background is as follows. A guy named Michael Chandler shows up in Kirland with mummies and a bunch of scrolls. They were unearthed by Napoleon’s raiding of the Egyptian catacombs. Joseph believes that they are scrolls that contained writings of Abraham. He begins translation in 1835 and publishes it in May of 1842. The odds that these mummies, coming from a salesman who had a lot to gain, containing the written word of Abraham has always seemed really fortunate. In the Pearl of Great Price, the heading says they are penned by “the hand of Abraham” but according to scholars in and out of the church, they were written much later. “These fragments date to between the third century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., long after Abraham lived.” Not only is it not written by Abraham’s hand, it is also not anything to do with Abraham. In Joseph’s time, the Rosetta Stone had not been widely discovered. He began translating this book and now, experts know that these are standard funerary texts. The Facsimiles (pictures) have nothing to do with the sacrifice of Abraham. Everyone virtually agrees that what is on the remains of the scroll (most of which was lost in the Chicago fire but then recovered), is not what Joseph translated. This casts a large shadow of doubt on Joseph’s ability to translate. The Church is admitting that Joseph translated incorrectly. The only way to reconcile this is that Joseph used these scrolls to channel the Spirit to record what is in the Book of Abraham today. The doctrines in Abraham largely expand on the Genesis story but go deeper in doctrines about plurality of Gods and the creation of the universe and stars. Some of this goes against the Book of Mormon’s view of God. The Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
      8. This is arguably the largest domino that needs to stay in place. Here are a few quotes demonstrating the absolute necessity of the Book of Mormon being an authentic history of the peoples on this continent.
      9. “The Book of Mormon is God’s compelling witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and the absolute truth of this Church.” - Tad R. Callister
      10. “The Book of Mormon is the most important religious text to be revealed from God to man ‘since the writings of the New Testament were compiled nearly two millennia ago.’ Joseph Smith declared the Book of Mormon to be “the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion.” It is the only book that the Lord Himself has testified to be true.” - President Nelson
      11. “I testify that one cannot come to full faith in this latter-day work—and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in these, our times—until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies…and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit. In that sense the book is what Christ Himself was said to be: “a stone of stumbling, … a rock of offence,” a barrier in the path of one who wishes not to believe in this work.” - Jeffrey R. Holland.
      12. "All that we have, all that we do hinge on the truth of that account of the boy Joseph Smith. If it is true, then everything that we have in this Church is true and is more precious and worth more than anything else on earth. If it is false, we are engaged in the greatest fraud that was ever perpetrated on earth.” - Gordon B Hinckley
      13. So with all that being said, this is my biggest stumbling block. I will begin with my own issues with the book that happened long before I was ever introduced to anything outside of approved Church material.
      14. The Sermon on the Mount given to the Nephites in 3 Nephi matches almost exactly to the one given in Matthew, with slight changes. He sets up a church similar to the one set up with Peter. But, the only issue is years later, Joseph Smith writes the JST and corrects different things in the Matthew version of the Sermon. But, if the Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth, wouldn’t the writings have been exactly what the Savior meant?
      15. 2 Nephi 3 - Book of Mormon writes Joseph into the text relating a prophecy given to Joseph in Egypt, saying that a choice seer will be raised up and he will be named the Joseph after his father. 2 Nephi 3: 14-16
      16. There is a huge time lapse between Jarom and Omni to get us into Mosiah. 399 BC to 130 BC. The prophets basically write nothing and it seems like it’s just a transition to get to Mosiah.
      17. Ammon chopping off a ton of arms and all the people bring them to the king. The story of Ammon in general is crazy. The King is struck down for 3 days and his wife thinks he is dead. Then, Ammon converts this king who then goes and rescues Ammon’s brothers from another king.
      18. Other direct copies from the New Testament and Paul specifically found in the Book of Mormon. Moroni 7 is basically the same phrasing and concepts taught in 1 Corinthians 13. 2 Nephi 4:17 says “O wrteched man that I am” matches exactly to Romans 7:24.
      19. Alma the Younger’s story mirrors Paul the apostles history almost exactly. Both are destroying the church, get struck down by an Angel, go on to become amazing missionaries and even both appear before King’s and wicked people.
      20. The concepts taught in the Book of Mormon are basically christian. They are practicing Christianity as soon as middle of Mosiah, which is like 100BC. They are baptizing and confirming with the Holy Ghost. However, since Christ hadn’t fulfilled the law of Moses and they should’ve been practicing the Mosaic law. The book contains basically zero Mosaic and Hebrew traditions, which Lehi and his family would have been sharply familiar with. Instead, they practice Christianity before Jesus had even been born or practiced the Atonement.
      21. Joseph Smith almost never quotes from it. In fact, I’ve searched and searched and only found him reference it maybe once or twice. If this book is so important, shouldn’t it had been quoted from extensively. It doesn’t become a huge focus until basically the 1980s with Ezra Taft Benson started “flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon.” I’ve read Brigham Young’s entire Discourses of Brigham Young and he rarely mentions the Book of Mormon. While this proves very little, it just intensifies the idea to me that Joseph wrote it and did not consider it authentic scripture, even for himself.
      22. King Zedekiah Problem - The timeline of when Nephi left Jerusalem in the reign of King Zedekiah in preparation for the destruction of Jerusalem. But, King Nebuchednezzar had already invaded Judah twice by 599BC., two years prior to the Book of Mormon. He then Installed Zedekiah (formerly known as Mattaniah) as King of Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:11-18). So what does this mean?
      23. I will leave out the potential influences here because I do not think they are helpful nor likely to be true source material for the Book of Mormon. I think they are largely speculation and created just to create doubt without much validity or true sources. Do we know if Joseph accessed these works? Not really. But, it’s possible. There are a myriad of other problems with the Book of Mormon when examined scientifically, but that doesn’t really bother me so much. The church has an essay on DNA of Israelites not being in “Lamanite” or native american blood, despite many church leaders preaching that for years. It’s even included in the Book of Mormon title page until like 2006 or something. Additionally, Joseph Smith almost never quotes or teaches from the Book of Mormon. If it’s the most correct book of any on the earth, why is he not basing his sermons off these stories and scriptures?
      24. The Book of Mormon require that 3 key events from the Bible be literal events: a global flood in the times of Noah that covered the entire earth, Adam and Eve in the garden, and different languages occuring because God cursed people at the Tower of Babel.
      25. When I read the Book of Mormon, if I view it from a purely protestant view, it matches up doctrinally. In fact, it matches more purely with a presbyterian or methodist view of the atonement and doctrines (including the original trinitarian concepts taught in the Book before changes by Joseph Smith in 1837, eight years after the Book of Mormon was published and his first vision account that mentions God and Jesus being separate beings)
      26. The Charles Anthon Story is posed as a faith promoting story and prophecy fulfillment of Isaiah 29:11-12, where the learned wouldn’t be able to read a sealed book. So here’s the Church Narrative as found in JSH.
      27. Once i take off my believing member hat and look at this story objectively, it looks to me like complete and total BS. I am honestly insulted that this was taught and passed off to me as some amazing prophecy of Isaiah that was passed on to me.

Disavowed teachings and behavior of former prophets and leaders.

1. Brigham Young
   1. Adam-God theory was taught in the temple and considered straight doctrine by the “prophet” Brigham Young.
   2. Blood Atonement was also taught in the early Utah days
   3. Brigham taught that no man can receive the highest exaltation without taking on extra wives.
   4. Brigham young definitely was in approval (either before or after) of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is the slaughtering of innocent immigrants heading west. They luckily spared the smallest children and raised them Mormon. He scapegoated John D Lee who suffered the death penalty, despite being rewarded with “wives” by Brigham Young prior to that. Hmmmm
2. Blacks and the Priesthood
   1. So so so many quotes could go under here talking about how black people would never receive priesthood or temple covenants. The list could go on. I don’t need to repeat them all but in the Gospel Topics Essays, the Church disavows all racist teachings from the past.
   2. Book of Mormon and Abraham still talk about the curse of dark skin. The Lamanites are cursed but then will become “white and delightsome” as they repent (according to Spencer W. Kimball)
   3. How many prophets were completely wrong on this topic? Even after the Civil Rights movement which was going on 15 years earlier. The Church always seeems to be a step behind.
3. Polygamy
   1. Again, I could write a book on how much early leaders emphasized the heavenly requirement for a man to have multiple wives.
   2. Wilford Woodruff was sealed to like a 200 something wives on his birthday, including a six year old who had passed away. This can be found on FamilySearch
   3. The leaders of the Church didn’t stop practicing polygamy until around 1910, which is 20 years after the Manifesto, forced upon them by the US Government. This policy change wasn’t inspiration — to was a matter of the Mormons keeping their stuff or not.
4. Science
   1. Age of the Earth — Joseph Smith says that the earth has a temporal existence of 7,000 years before it will receive it’s eternal glory. This was a common thought back then and ties back into the Old Testament timeline. I was taught this in Seminary. Going back to Adam and Seth, then to Abraham and to modern day. It all lines up so that the Second Coming will be happening soon.
   2. Adam + Eve — This one is very hard for me to get past because the proof is indisputable: human life did not begin 6,000 years ago by two human beings. There was physical death long before it was introduced by the partaking of the forbidden fruit. It is fact. To deny it would be like denying that the Earth is round or orbits the Sun. So is this an allegory? Well Joseph Smith down to current general authorities have taught that this is LITERAL. The temple clearly emphasizes this. This is something BIG to get wrong. Considering Joseph Smith taught that it happened in the garden of Eden which was in Missouri.
   3. Noah’s Ark — This has to be literal as it is in the Book of Mormon as a fact. It’s also been “revealed” to have been a literal, global flood that covered the earth and cleansed the earth of all inhabitants. We also have doctrine in our church that says modern day revelation has confirmed this fact. But, this “story” is largely based on the Babylonian tale “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” It was recorded before the Hebrew Bible recorded the tale of Noah. The stories are earily similar and there are so many throughout other cultures of a great flood. Maybe that makes it more likely? Or maybe it was just a prevailing thought in that time period. Either way, scientific evidence knows that Noah’s Ark never happened because a huge flood never happened. And ask yourself, how in the world would they get all the animals on a boat? Is this really realistic?
   4. Tower of Babel — This is the genesis of the Jaredites. The Lord was confounding the language of the people, so the Brother of Jared goes and asks that they are spared. Eventually they are led to the Americas (which has a host of other problems). But, this story has to be literal because that’s exactly what’s happening in the Jaredite civilization to lead them to cross the ocean. But language evolved over tens of thousands of years and had nothing to do with a tower in around 2500 BC.
   5. Evolution — This fact goes along with Adam and Eve. Modern day prophets have disavowed this fact. In fact, Joseph Fielding Smit said “If evolution is true, the church is false” in Doctrines of Salvation, which was written while he was the prophet.

​

1. Sexual Assault Cover Ups - This one is pretty self explanatory. There are hundreds of occasions and the most recent ones in the news are pretty disgusting. The fact that the Church didn’t report, and had systems in place to protect itself rather than the victims, makes me sick.
   
2. First Vision Accounts - In many Church media films and the way I was taught at a young age, Joseph had the first vision and then was mocked by the people of Palmyra for believing in visions. I had not idea that this was not the case. In fact, Joseph never wrote anything down until 1832. The accounts from 1832, 1835, 1838, and 1842 paint a picture of someone who was expanding, molding, and letting this vision evolve. The reasons why he went out to pray in the trees changes. First, it’s to receive a remission of his sins. He also says in that account that he’s already concluded that the church’s of his day are fallen. Then it evolves. He also says the Lord appears. Then it’s angels. Then it’s the Lord and His Father. He mentions that it had never entered his heart that they were all wrong in the Canonized JSH we have in the Pearl of Great Price. But, then he says he already knew they were wrong in earlier versions? In fact, Asa Wild and Norris Stearns have visions in 1815 and 1823 in the same area as Joseph Smith and the verbiage used is similar. Norris Stearns says, “At length, as I lay apparently upon the brink of eternal woe, seeing nothing but death before me, suddenly there came a sweet flow of the love of God to my soul, which gradually increased. At the same time, there appeared a small gleam of light in the room, above the brightness of the sun, then at his meridian, which grew brighter and brighter: As this light and love increased, my sins began to separate, and the Mountain [of sin] removed towards the east. At length, being in an ecstasy of joy, I turned to the other side of the bed, (whether in the body or out I cannot tell, God knoweth) there I saw two spirits, which I knew at the first sight. But if I had the tongue of an Angel I could not describe their glory, for they brought the joys of heaven with them. One was God, my Maker, almost in bodily shape like a man. His face was, as it were a flame of Fire, and his body, as it had been a Pillar and a Cloud. In looking steadfastly to discern features, I could see none, but a small glimpse would appear in some other place. Below him stood Jesus Christ my Redeemer, in perfect shape like a man-His face was not ablaze, but had the countenance of fire, being bright and shining. His Father’s will appeared to be his! All was condescension, peace, and love!”
   

Ultimately, all of these issues paint a picture, right? The character flaws and mistranslations of Joseph Smith, along with the setting in which he was raised all take away from his prophetic ability. There are more issues that I haven’t even touched on. LGBT issues, the treatment of women, the kinderhook plates, etc. There are more issues touched on in the CES Letter. But, these are things that stick in my mind when I try to imagine believing the Church is true again.
I believe Joseph Smith started writing the Book of Mormon to make money. Then, when it got close to publishing, he decided to start a religion. With the help of Sidney Rigdon, the Church grew and he introduced different aspects of "the Restoration" and eventually the power went to his head.
Being "prophet" brought him three things key for cult leaders. Money. Sex. Power. He got his living taken care of and people built him a house. He had around 40 polygamous wives and preyed on underage girls. He was dubbed king of the world by the Council of the 50 and was Mayor of Nauvoo.
How can I conclude anything other than him being a cult leader? This barely even touches on Brigham and the subsequent prophets that made huge mistakes.

TL;DR: Should be titled rewriting the whole new trilogy. Basically felt I could do a better narrative job of the trilogy after watching a few in depth critiques on YouTube. Focus was on doing justice to new characters while giving. Epic send-offs to Legacy characters. With a healthy dose of action and wtf moments sprinkled in.
Huge Star Wars Fan as that's one of my fondest memories of my late Grandfather. That and Godzilla. We never missed a showing of any of the films. I wish he were here to watch the new trilogy with me but given how disjointed and incoherent the new films turned out to be, I'm glad he's happy in heaven. Anyhoo. Honestly, I don't think we need to even rewrite these movies too much because they had all the ingredients to begin with. However, here's my painstakingly thought out Re-Write. This took a good part of two hours to write folks. Off the top of my head on a Friday midnight with bare minimum effort. I cannot fathom how a billion dollar studio couldn't afford writers who did not even understand basic setup and payoff, consequences to actions and building suspense and grand setpieces. What an incredibly wasted opportunity. Let me know what you think of my re-write of the plot. Aight. I'm a go cool off my aching fingers in some ice now while you peruse my rambling poorly structured sentences. 😂
PART ONE: This remains largely the same. But Rey and Finn fall hard for each other eventually. Kylo is split between the dark and light and genuinely believes the Jedi were the ones in the wrong and wants to bring about balance by destroying both the Jedi and the Sith. Snoke is a major influence. Let him be present and not just a shadow. Good vs Evil yada yada. Kylo hesitates on the bridge scene with Han but something flashes in his mind and makes him grasp a Ruby bracelet on his wrist. Memories of a past he had suppressed. Han notices the turmoil in his son and says "Ben. . ". As he reaches out to embrace his son, the turbulent memories trigger the saber to ignite, killing Han Solo. Kylo accepts his journey to the darkness and gets shot by Chewie. Rey and Kylo stand-off near the end. Except Rey doesn't nearly win. Finn loses a leg or arm in his blinded rage for Kylo killing Han Solo. Kylo is freakishly strong. Rey and Finn are saved by the skin of their teeth as Poe saves their asses instead of some natural calamity. This cements their friendship further. Luke's history is detailed. How he retired. Blah blah. Rey then goes and finds Luke. The end. Oh and btw, Finn has a better relationship with Poe and deeper bond with Han Solo while Rey gravitates intensely towards Leia and is good friends with Poe (but only after Poe's skepticism that she can be a Jedi fades near the end of the plot) This will have a solid pay off later.
PART TWO: Luke begrudgingly allows Rey into his personal space. He also doesn't chuck the light saber but takes it back to his hut and begins to dismantle it. Rey fights him and in the tussle he breaks down and confesses about why he quit. The Jedi had to make a terrible choice in the past. To save younglings and mother's in a distant home base or protect the few hundred fighters they had remaining. The Jedi are left in this tough spot when facing the tyranny of the new order - something they presumed was a remnant of the Emperor's reign but in reality, was a slowly rising menace new to this time in the galaxy. Stuck in between a rock and a hard place, they chose wisely not emotionally. Which is what the Jedi are. They're pragmatic. Not the heroes. Kylo was a Jedi master at this time and not a trainee. He couldn't stand by the orders of the Jedi as his friends and padawans were being mercilessly slaughtered. They saved the future but at the cost of the present. Cue heart wrenching scenes of Kylo disobeying the Jedi, breaking off to save the kids etc., while the Jedi stand their ground defending the military locations. Luke chases after Kylo after feeling that the threat has been handled. He reaches the home base to find a Kylo kneeling in the ruins, ashen remains of younglings around and his padawan in his arms. Luke approaches Kylo as he's giving a monologue about how they had to make the tough choice and Kylo is seething in rage. He crushes the bones of the ashen body, his sadness turning to anger while the Ruby bracelet his padawan used to wear is left behind as the only memory of his closest friend in his hands. He blames the Jedi for this tragedy, calls them monsters and as Luke tries to stop him, a battle ensues between them with Luke almost killing him. This cements both of their positions. Luke, withdrawn and head held down, apologizes to Kylo and tells him that he hopes he understands someday. That great sacrifices are needed sometimes. And that you cannot always save Everyone. In fact. It's only the sith that think along those lines. Luke retires. Realising that this time, they've gone too far. The Jedi have paid a price that cannot be justified in the name of the greater good. He quits and exiles himself while Kylo, seeking answers from the dark side is eventually led to Snoke. Po and Finn (with his new arm/leg) go on more buddy adventures replacing the whole Rose animal saving arc. Snoke wants Rey really bad so we keep that arc and Kylo boards Leia's ship instead of flying around to capture Rey and bring her in. Po and Finn aren't on board so it's free game for Kylo. A standoff ensues with a big fight which ends with Kylo raging about and losing control of his force powers. Blowing everyone in the room out into space. . the shields come on but not fully and Rey is stuck near the edge holding on to Leia with her dear life stopping her from flying off into space. Kylo is climbing up towards Rey and about to put the restraints to capture her. That's when he notices Leia and she looks him in the eyes. She let's go to Rey's horror and as Kylo strikes down in anguish, Rey dodges but he's too fast and slaps on the restraints. Kylo immediately jumps through into space after his mom while calling in ships to rescue them and bring Rey in. Cue scene like the Guardians of the Galaxy Part Two where Quill fails to save Yondu at the end. Leia uses her hidden force powers: NOT to shield herself and Marry Poppins her way into the ship. But to save her beloved son, despite everything. Kylo sheds tears breaking down as he holds his mother, feeling her last breaths through the force. He mutters "Not you. . Not you too". . She whispers "There's still some good in you. . And I see it in her too. . Ben. . Save her, she's . ... .." . . Silence. . as Leia's hand freezes while caressing Kylo's face and she dies. Kylo gets saved by the troopers and they depart to Snoke's lair, letting Leia's body float away into the deep dark nothingness of space. Entombed forever. Rey is tortured by a Kylo who is slowly losing his cool but she resists and puts up a force fight against his mind. Both end up in Snoke's room and the SAME shenanigans ensue. Snoke senses the confusion in Kylo and goes about treating him like a child. Snoke CHIDING Kylo and punishing him now makes more sense. While Rey tries her best to be the good guy and take on Snoke to only be mocked and thrown about. Snoke starts killing the resistance ships in space one by one. His minions have also captured a few of the rebels and brings them to knee in front of them - shock and awe as part of the folks kneeling are Finn and Poe. Here comes a major change and I feel Oscar Isaac would personally love this one. Poe gets a brutal ass fucking death with limb dismemberment etc. while everyone else tries to stop it but gets fucked up by Snoke and his incredible powers. Similar to that Negan scene from The Walking Dead and also makes more sense here as Poe's death in Part One as per Disney's initial plans would've been pointless (insufficient character growth to justify a meaningful death) Even Kylo is not cool with this and tries to intervene because this is too violent and too much but gets ragdolled like a bitch. Snoke even claims that HE was the one who put that distractiom in Kylo's memory, making him pull the trigger on the saber that killed Han. He gave Kylo the perfect memory at the perfect time to give him that one push over the edge. He influenced Kylo's rage, blinding him and making him take his own father's life. Snoke jeers and Kylo and Rey, claiming they're far more pathetic than he thought and they're unworthy of his teachings and presence. Poe is almost done for but being the badass that he is, musters what little strength he has to wink to Rey as she force pushes the blaster into his hands. Born out of pure fucking desperation to save his friends, Poe focuses his last ounce of strength and shoots Snoke straight in the face, blinding him in one eye. Buying just enough time for both Kylo and Rey to reach for the sabers, however, Rey gets hers first and absolutely wrecks Snoke as Finn rushes to Poe Dameron, holding him as he breathes his last. Kylo fends off an entire room of the Red guys 1v6. Rey vs Snoke is going on. Rey taps into the dark side. Juices up. Chops up Snoke and blows him up and as he's dying she still keeps going apeshit on him while Kylo has to step in and restrain her. Even he has a difficult time but manages to reign her in. Snoke dies. So does Poe. Kylo apologizes, saying this isn't how he envisioned things. As he's about to walk off, a sinister voice rises from the darkness beyond Snoke's corpse. Laughter echoing in the chambers as Snoke's remains, a lifelesss mangled corpse floats into the air with electricity arcing from his fingers and eyes. . And the ICONIC DIALOGUE is whispered in a booming growl "Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side". . It's fucking Palpatine as a floaty ghosty mother frocker, grinning from ear to ear while Snoke's corpse collapses to the floor and this OMINOUS DEATH looking bastard rises into full frame. . movie ends. . Cut to black 🙄 Palpatine was the one controlling Snoke all along and he somehow survived the atomization and explosions. However, at least here, he is in Ethereal form and not Corporeal so it's easier to digest the fact that a Sith so fricking hungry with immortality and power would manage to continue his existence. . somehow. It's palatable. It's also palpable. It's also. . Wait for it. . Palpa-TINE. . Badum Dish. . Drumroll please. . I got puns for days 🤣
PART THREE: Movie starts off like The Two Towers. Zooming shots throughout Snoke's Palace while the sound bytes of the Part Two's climax play through with camera panning into the Throne room as the final moments of Part two play out all over again. Sheer panic and dread has set in. Poe is gone. Snoke is but a puppet in the true sense. Emperor looms over Rey, Finn and a befuddled Kylo who's now questioning everything he ever fought for. Emperor plays with them like they're little ants, frying them, flinging them and ripping off Finn's fake (arm/leg). He's toying with them and torturing them. And just as he's about to do finish them, the massive ass heavy doors to the throne room are flung apart like paper. Standing in the corridor backlit by green is a cloaked figure that whispers "I thought I threw you into the abyss". . As the lightsaber ignites in Glorious Green and the green light cascades onto an incredibly PISSSED OFF Luke Skywalker. "It can't be. You were in exile!" mutters a grumpy Emperor. A ridiculously immense "feat of strength" battle ensues similar to that of Dumbledore vs Voldemort. Both parties pulling out force powers out of their ass in magnitudes that are ripping the ships internals to shreds and endangering everyone else. It becomes a stalemate and they escape with their lives. And now, the "Somehow Palpatine returned" dialogue makes sense, especially when it comes from LUKE's mouth and not frickin Meriadoc Brandybuck. Luke explains to everyone else how Palpatine was an ancient evil he once fought and destroyed with his father Anakin. Everyone's shitting bricks because the Emperor clearly never died in the true sense of the word and has remained busy in the shadows as Snoke, rebuilding his empire, pulling all the strings. That's also WHY EVERYTHING LOOKS AND FEELS THE SAME WITH THE VILLAINS. MOTIFS, VEHICLES, DEATH STARS. BECAUSE ITS THE SAME BAD GUY ALL ALONG. 😅 Cue a final desperate adventure where Kylo comes to terms with his failures and how he was being misled all along. Sombre scene between him and Luke. He tells Luke "I don't know what to do. I cannot seek forgiveness. I allowed all this to happen. So many lives. I thought I was doing this for the greater good. For the balance. I knew there would be no coming back from this for me. But others could thrive in a new world". . Luke replies.."The greater good. Some of the worst things in the world were started with the best intentions. The Jedi were noble but they were also human. .and flawed.".... ... "All those lives I've taken .. " says an absolutely shattered Kylo Ren.. ..Luke replies. . "Lives that can never be brought back. But you can pay for theirs with the life you own now..We can put an end to it. It's not too late to see it through to the end. .".. ..Luke locks eyes with Kylo "Your mother and father loved you more than anything Ben. As do I". . Luke also tells Ben about how his grandfather, Darth Vader chose to be a father in the end and helped destroy the Emperor, eventually dying as Anakin Skywalker instead. This can lead to the scene where Ben breaks the Darth Vader helmet memento to bits and sheds his own helmet too. Tearjerker scene can follow where Ben Solo has a Skype call with mom and dad force ghosts who also give a cryptic message that he should talk to Luke because Luke has something incredibly important to tell him) - instead of the dumb scene with Han where he's a "memory"?. . Self forgiveness FTW? 😅 Rey comes to terms with Luke's warning about giving in to the dark side and TRAINS HARDER while Finn baby takes over Poe's mantle and fills in the Ace Pilot spot, wearing Poe Dameron's jacket and colors. Macguffin adventure with Luke Skywalker ensues.
THE GRAND FINALE. Finn leads the way to fight in space and stop the death destroyers. Rey, Ben and Luke go to the ground game to finish the emperor, once and for all. While enroute, Luke sits the kids down and tells them why The Emperor wanted both of them and their powers. They're brother and sister, born as a dyad, a strong bond in the force that was so United, it posed a threat to the fabric of the force itself. This happens once every few generations and they had to separate them during childhood once they figured out that Snoke had sent assassins to capture them. This also makes INCREDIBLE SENSE as to why Han and Leia could not be seen together and why Rey had been hidden away on a desert planet somewhere. Rey's parent is a LITERAL SKYWALKER. Someone she's been talking to all this time and only now finds out that it's her actual mom. Fuck me in the heartstrings. They both break down, mend their differences and get ready for the final fight. The Emperor has grown way stronger. The battle does not go easy. Ben's own soldiers, the Knights of Ren are a menace and nearly bring both Rey and Kylo to their knees. Except. Kylo calms himself down and in a moment of PURE CHEER WORTHY AWESOMENESS, he focuses himself to the point where his SPUTTERING LIGHT SABER BECOMES SOLID STATE LIGHT. A true saber but in all of its red glory. The brother sister duo tap into the force and start fighting together, blending their styles instead of doing their own thing while Luke faces off against the Emperor again. The knights are finished eventually but Luke is not winning at all. The Emperor uses some cheap tricks and tries to one shot Kylo and Rey but Luke gets in front of them taking the full brunt of the hit. As Luke is unable to stop the massive force lighting and starts to disintegrate, he looks back at his niece and nephew, smiles and tells them to look into the force, "You will always find us there". . Luke disappears, the Emperor falters, and his force lightning fades for a brief second. And that's all the siblings needed to make full use of Luke Skywalker's noble sacrifice. They attack with everything they have, exchange banter in between and just as the Emperor launches another Salvo of Force Lightning saying "I am ALL the Sith", Ben and Rey cross their sabers together and block the lightning. While they struggle to keep the lightning at bay, all of the force ghosts appear together as a result of the Dyad fusion, supporting them from behind. The force ghosts light sabers materialise into reality and the duo join them to their own sabers and reflect the lightning back to the Emperor, while saying this quote in return "And we are ALL THE JEDI". Emperor destroyed for good now 😤 . . SOMEHOW. . NO. NO SOMEHOW. HE'S DEAD FOR GOOD.
No awkward, out of the blue cringe fucking kiss scene like between Ron & Hermione after killing the Basilisk. All those ReyLo fans can weep in a dustbin. And the Dyad now makes sense. Every legacy character's death makes sense and has meaning. Each death also is in sequence. Han goes first. Leia follows. And Luke is the last to kick the bucket. Emperor's comeback also makes sense. Somewhat. The ending makes even more sense. Kylo (Ben). Rey. Finn. Reunited. They re-build the Resistance. And also teach a new philosophy of Balanced approach. Neither giving in to the dark side. Nor being blinded only by the light side. A new way forward. Led by the Skywalker genes through the combination of an Organa and a Solo in a new temple. Finn and Rey profess love for one another. And the last scene is her burying the force ghost's sabers in the ground until they're needed.
Years pass. Dry af desert planet. Rey and Finn are building their home. Random ass desert camel lady passes by asking "I've not seen you around here". . Rey replies "We're new here", as she looks down at her pregnant tummy and Finn working on their home in the distance. "What's your name, my dear?" asks the dry as a stick camel lady. . "Rey. . " comes a quick reply . . "Rey who?" Asks the annoying dust bag old lady. . "Rey Organa" . . Says Rey in a contemplative low voice. . Taking a look back at Finn, she smiles and says with a slight tremble . . "and that's my husband, Finn Solo".. "Rey Organa and Finn Solo, from the Skywalker Clan" . . Says Rey with Utmost confidence now in her voice.. The screen fades to black on a sunkissed Rey's face as she is now looking into the future, sure of the legacy she wants to carry ahead.
ORCHESTRAL MUSIC GETS LOUDER.
FADE TO BLACK on the Two Suns of Tattooine.

Hi, all! My family is dealing with some stuff that I'm hoping to get help on. For context, my brother (20M - I'll call him B) and I (22NB) are from Missouri, which is where the child support is enforced. Because of Missouri's laws, children are entitled to child support from the non-custodial parent (for us, this is my father (50M)) until they are 21 years old, get married, or are not enrolled in school for 6 months -- whichever comes first.
My father is required to pay $600/mo child support for just my brother, but he hasn't paid since mid-November of 2022. He is now behind >$4k. Additionally, a court order requires that he pays 2/3 of all education costs (among other things he's not paying, but this is the focus of this situation). B was in classes at a local community college in the fall of 2022, but was unable to enroll for the spring because of outstanding fines/tuition that my father hadn't paid. We expected the issue to be resolved by now, planning for him to just enroll for the summer term to avoid the whole 6mo mess.
Except, that hasn't happened. No child support, no tuition, no nothing. Instead, I had to loan my brother ~$900 that I really didn't have so that he could pay off the school. Unfortunately, there were some miscommunications on the CC's end and the tuition hold wasn't released in the time that his CC said it would be, so he can't enroll in classes anymore. Which now means that he'll have been out of school for 6 months.
B's birthday isn't until October, so this is nearly 5 months worth of child support my family would be losing -- and can't afford to lose. The only reason he hasn't been in classes is because of my father. There is no job in the way, no relationship issues, no nothing. It is only because of my father.
It seems ridiculous to me that, in not paying child support or his legally obligated educational expenses, he's able to get out of paying child support, but I am more unfamiliar with child support stuff than I wish I was. I just want my family to be okay, but I don't know what to do. We're low-income, so going to a lawyer is only an option if we know it's worth it / we would win.
Is what he's doing legal? Is there any recourse that we can take that would protect his child support until his 21st birthday? What can we do here?

When shopping for orders, if a customer denies the first replacement option, chooses another, do you provide another option if that isn’t available as well?
Example: laundry detergent.. I put a certain laundry pod package in their order, those pods aren’t available so shopper provided a liquid option, I denied and put a different pod package.. do you look for that and suggest another replacement, or do you just auto refund it?
Is there a limit to how many suggestions you can provide? I swear this shopper just doesn’t want to find it, never even really gave options for me, just chose something unrelated to what I requested. I can’t tell if she couldn’t find what I was wanting, or just didn’t want to go back to the aisle to find it..
TIA!

Christ is risen!
While we Christians are called to "pray continuously" (1 Th. 5:16-18), there are few times of day that are more fitting for "the lifting up of our hands" (cf. Ps. 140:2 LXX) than the evening, as reflected by the universal tradition of evening and morning prayer. I have found the praying of the Church's evening service, which the layman may offer, to be of incalculable benefit, but I have also heard that many do not know the order of the service as set for the reader, and I know for a fact that it is difficult to find the rule and instruction on how to use it online. Thus, in case one wishes to know the rules of the service so that they might not have to pray it with a computer using liturgy.io, here is the order!
The Psalms are numbered slightly differently in the Hebrew and the Greek; I give the Greek numbering first and the Hebrew second in parentheses. Translations are pulled from many sources, from Fr. Lash to various Orthodox sources and the 1662 BCP.

Vespers:

The Opening:

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Glory to you, O God, glory to you. Heavenly King...
The Trisagon [Holy God... (x3), Glory... both now..., All-holy Trinity..., Lord, have mercy (x3), Glory... both now..., Our Father..., Through the prayers...) Lord, have mercy. (x12) Glory... both now.
Come, let us worship the King, our God. Come, let us worship Christ, the King, our God. Come, let us worship Christ Himself, the King, our God.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Psalm 103 (104) Refrain: (The sun knew the hour of its setting. / You made darkness, and it was night. / How your works have been magnified, O Lord! In wisdom You have made them all.)
Glory. Both now. Alleluia. [This is an abbreviation for: Glory... both now... Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia; glory to You, O God. (x3)] Lord have mercy. (x12) Through the prayers...

Psalter Reading:

One kathisma of the Psalter (that is, one-twentieth) of the Psalter is read. Each kathisma is divided into three stases (sg. stasis). After the first two stases, pray
Glory. Both now. Alleluia. Lord, have mercy. (x3) Glory... both now...
After the third stasis, simply pray "Glory. Both now. Alleluia."
The appointed readings are below. I use Roman numerals for the numbering of the kathismata and stases to keep it less cluttered. The Psalms are labeled with the evening of the calendar day (which begins at midnight), not the liturgical day (which begins at sundown); thus, "Saturday" means "Saturday evening" not "Friday evening."

Day	Kathisma	Stases
Sunday	-	-
Monday	VI: 37-45, (38-46)	I: 37-39 (38-40); II: 40-42 (41-43); III: 43-45 (44-46)
Tuesday	IX: 64-69 (65-70)	I: 64-66 (65-67); II: 67 (68); III: 68-69 (69-70)
Wednesday	XII: 85-90 (86-91)	I: 85-87 (86-88); II: 88 (89); III: 89-90 (90-91)
Thursday	XV: 105-108 (106-109)	I: 105 (106); II: 106 (107); III: 107-108 (108-109)
Friday	XVIII: 119-133 (120-134)	I: 119-123 (120-124); II:124-128 (125-129); III: 129-133 (130-134)
Saturday	I: 1-8 (1-8)	I: 1-3 (1-3); II: 4-6 (4-6); III: 7-8 (7-8)

Note that Sunday has no appointed kathisma and that there is no distinction between the Hebrew and Greek Psalms for the first kathisma. If you cannot pray the full kathisma, pray a single stasis, and work your way up!

Lord, I Have Cried:

Ps. 140 (141), 141 (142), 129 (130), and 116 (117). Glory... both now...
In the full service, daily hymns are chanted between the last ten, eight, or six verses (the number depends on the importance of the day's celebration!) However, since the hymns for the single cycle rotate on an eight-week cycle, I can't provide them all here. Interested readers should purchase a copy of St. Ignatius Orthodox Press's Anthologion or a copy of the Octoechos, the book containing the hymns.

Phos Hilaron (O Gladsome Light):

O Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father, heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ. Now we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the evening light, we praise God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For it is right at all times to worship You with voices of praise, O Son of God and Giver of Life, therefore all the world glorifies You.

Evening Prokeimenon:

Like the Psalms, these cycle through a weekly reading.

• Saturday: The Lord is King, He has clothed Himself in Glory! / The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with power. / The Lord is King... / He has established the world, which will not be shaken. / The Lord is King... / Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, to length of days. / The Lord is King...
• Sunday: Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. / You that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. / Come, bless the Lord...
• Monday: When I call to the Lord, He will hear me. / Answer me when I call, O God of my justice. / When I call...
• Tuesday: Your mercy, O Lord, will follow me all the days of my life. / The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I can lack nothing. / Your mercy, O Lord...
• Wednesday: Save me, O God, by the power of Your Name, and vindicate me by Your might. / Hear my prayer, O God, and listen to the words of my mouth. Save me, O God...
• Thursday: My help comes from the Lord, Who made both heaven and earth. / I have lifted up my eyes to the hills, from which my help will come. / My help comes...
• Friday: O God, You are my helper, Your mercy will go before me. / Deliver me from my enemies, O my God, ransom me from those that rise up against me. / O God, You are my helper...

On Saturday evenings alone:

Lord, have mercy. (x40) Through the prayers...

The Evening Prayer:

O Lord, keep us this evening without sin. Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is your name to the ages. Amen. O Lord, let your mercy be upon us for we have set our hope in you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your commandments. Blessed are you, Master, grant me understanding of your commandments. Blessed are you, Holy One, enlighten me with your commandments. Lord, your mercy is forever; do not despise the works of your hands. To you is due praise, to you is due song, to you is due glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. (x12) Through the prayers...

The Aposticha:

Usually, these miscellaneous verses are sung with hymns from the Octoechos between them, including one before the first verse. Again, I only provide the verses. Furthermore, on Friday, the verses are variable; I suppose one could either skip it or pray the Sunday–Thursday verses.

• Saturday: The Lord is King, he has clothed himself with glory; the Lord has clothed and girded Himself with power. / He has established the world, which will not be shaken. / Holiness befits your house, O Lord, to length of days. / Glory... both now...
• Sunday–Thursday: I have lifted up my eyes to You Who dwell in Heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to their lord's hands; as the eyes of a maid to her mistress's hand; so do our eyes to the Lord our God, until You have mercy on us. / Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we have had our fill of contempt, our soul has been filled to overflowing. Let reproach be fore the prosperous and contempt for the proud. / Glory... both now...

Nunc dimmitis (The Song of Simeon, the God-receiver):

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Apoloytika:
This is the "ending hymn" of the day. It's a lot of material, specifically for Sunday, but one may sing the Troparion of the day here, found here: https://www.archdiocese.ca/sites/default/files/liturgical-music/3-liturgy/02-Great%20Litany,%20Daily%20Antiphons/Daily%20Troparia%20and%20Kontakia.pdf
The Closing:

Lord, have mercy. (x40) Through the prayers... May the Lord God strengthen the holy and pure faith of devout and Orthodox Christians, with His holy Church, to the ages of ages. Greater in honor than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim, truly the Theotokos, we magnify you. Glory... both now... Lord, have mercy. (x3) Through the prayers...

[Question:] The UNO, America, Britain, in fact the entire western media accuse the Taliban of violating the rights of women; of banning them from jobs, of ordering them to observe 'Purdah'. The Taliban are also accused of depriving women of their right to education.
[Answer:] The basic question here is what are the rights of women and who will determine them.
If the women's rights have been determined and fixed by Allah Ta`ala, if these rights have been given to the women by Allah Ta`ala Himself, then what the Taliban are doing seems perfectly right. The rights granted by then are fully in accordance with the orders of Allah Ta`ala. On the other hand if women have been given their rights by the West, if the right to determine what these rights are lies with America, Europe, Britain, the United Nations then admittedly the Taliban are in the wrong.
Now we are Muslims. The Taliban are Muslims. The people of Afghanistan are Muslims. All of us firmly believe that neither do we acknowledge the rights given to women by the West, nor are we bound by them. People who agree to these rights are welcome to respect them. But people who do not acknowledge the western-bestowed rights at all, to force them into obeying them, to complain against their attitude, to accuse them of not giving these rights to their women, seems to be entirely absurd and stupid. Either that or it would be coercion, oppression in its basest form. It would be denial of their freedom denial of their religious rights. And this is in itself against the principles of the West.
An explanation of the sum and substance of all these allegations is that Islam has put all the responsibility of a woman's upkeep upon the man. If a man is not capable of paying a woman's 'Mahr', (dower), of bearing her expenses then his marriage is not valid. The course of his married life comes to an end. If the husband dies, the women has a right to remarry so that the new husband may bear her expenses, or she can go back to her parents who are responsible for her livelihood. Along with it Islam has made a woman heir of her parent's wealth, as well as heir to the estate of her husband. She is the heir to her children's property too. This has been done so to make ample provisions for a woman. Contrary to this the men in the West have made women an object of their lust and desires. They have used them how soever they pleased. When these slaves-of their-desires had to go to work, to offices and factories they dragged the women along with them too. Women were made to work in offices, restaurants, shops and factories for the gratification of their desires. In this way did the western man destroy the personality, position and identity of a woman.
In Thailand, Holland, Bangkok etc. women so unashamedly, with such pride solicit made attention in markets, in open public places, like men in Pakistan and Afghanistan sell their wares sitting by the roadside. Then the ignominy of it all is that at night these women ask each other how much they have "earned" during the day or night. The poor, wretched western house-wife is not sure whether her husband will return home to her or spend the night in another woman's arms.
The women in the West are labouring under a double burden. One, she is torn by anxiety as to who will look after her in case she remains unmarried, for her culture has deprived her of her right of a share in the property and wealth of her parents, nor is anyone else willing to take on her responsibility. She is thus forced to wander from door to door in search of security. Even in the matter of dress she is exploited. Men wear trousers which cover their ankles too while the women are forced to wear skirts with their legs bare in every kind of weather. In the scantiest of dresses-merely a sleeveless blouse and mini-skirt the western woman can be seen roaming in shops, air-ports, stations etc. She is an target for unscrupulous men who satisfy their lust with them, wherever, whenever, howsoever they please. She has become no less than a b[*]tch, chased by a dozen dogs in heat. If these are the rights of the western women then the West is welcome to them.
What about the eastern or rather the Muslim woman? A Muslim woman is the queen of her house, a princess of the society. Her role is that of a mother, sister, daughter, grandmother and aunt. A man with the sweat of his brow fulfils her needs of food and shelter. He fiercely protects her honour, dignity and chastity. A Muslim man firmly believes that a husband and wife's relation is a one to one relationship. One who interferes in it does so at the risk of his life, for he would be challenging the man's honour.
I ask the western people, specially the UN why, when their women enjoy all kinds of rights, every kind of freedom, do they stop them from going about in the nude in shopping places etc.? Why have they made it necessary for them to cover the upper and lower parts of their bodies with at least two pieces of cloth, as human dignity and civilization demand? This means that the West, the UN admit to code of at least one percent decency for men and women. Now if a nation, as a nation, as a Muslim nation believes in ninety-nine percent decency and honour of women then what right does the West have to criticize it? After all it admits to one percent decency too.
In the end I would like to make an entreaty to Europe too. I would like to ask the Europeans why they are bent upon making other people suffer from that which is the cause of their own suffering? The thing which has destroyed them why are they forcing it upon other people? Your Parliament passes a bill which makes it legal for a man to marry another man, for a son-in-law to marry his wife's mother, i.e. his mother-in-law. Why do you compel us to do the same?
As far as the question is concerned that the women in Kabul have been banned from jobs with no one to look after them, so how will they survive, the answer is that the Taliban have made provisions for them. They have told all women who were working in offices etc. to stay at home and they will receive their entire salary there. There is no need for them to work any longer. Their salaries will be continued. Now if in-spite of this someone creates an uproar that women's rights are being violated, he is actually trying to spread immorality. He is not concerned with the rights of women but wants to propagate prostitution in fact.
Then, who really are these working women and where have they come from? One must go and find out for, Afghani women do work in their own homes but not in offices. And another thing, an Afghani woman may belong to any area, Purdah is inherent in her nature. Purdah is a vital part of Afghan culture; it is its national identity. Now the woman who are demanding freedom from Purdah, right to employment, the women for whose rights the UNO is making such demand, they do not in fact belong to Afghanistan at all but have come from somewhere else. They belong to Tajikistan, Russia and Iran. They have some to Afghanistan with the specific purpose of destroying its environment. Under a well-thought out plan they are working upon undermining the influence of Islamic values.
Then, who really are these working women and where have they come from? One must go and find out for, Afghani women do work in their own homes but not in offices. And another thing, an Afghani woman may belong to any area, Purdah is inherent in her nature. Purdah is a vital part of Afghan culture; it is its national identity. Now the woman who are demanding freedom from Purdah, right to employment, the women for whose rights the UNO is making such demand, they do not in fact belong to Afghanistan at all but have come from somewhere else. They belong to Tajikistan, Russia and Iran. They have some to Afghanistan with the specific purpose of destroying its environment. Under a well-thought out plan they are working upon undermining the influence of Islamic values.
Then among these women demanding rights of employment, are those too who are linked with the Communists in Afghanistan. They went to Moscow, learned all the vices there ad came back, bent upon destroying the Islamic environment of Afghanistan. They were officially appointed for this work. If this is not so, then where are the widows of the 1.6 million Shuhada who died in the Jihaad against Russia? Out of the 1.6 million there must still be at least 0.3 million, alive. What happened to these women? Who is looking after them? Why didn't the UN raise its voice for their rights? Weren't they human beings? Or didn't they need food to stay alive?
The fact is that these widows were Muslims and Muslim men are taking care of them. Either they were given in second marriages or their parents brothers or relatives are looking after in accordance with the laws of Sharee`ah. Their lives are safe and so is their honour.
The women who were living in Kabul mostly belonged to Communists, Mulhideen, and heretics, who enjoyed the patronage of the UN. The leaders sent their husbands to the front, into the mouth of death. They then called these beautiful women and appointed them as, sweepresses in their offices and satisfied their lust with them. The fault thus lies with the UN itself. The rights it gave these women were those of sweeping the offices of lecherous officials. Their responsibility now totally lies with the UN whose charter it is to protect the rights of women in this degraded, shameful fashion.
As far as education is concerned, Islam has given women the right to acquire education and we will certainly give them this right. At present the Taliban are busy in fighting a war, a war demanding all their energies and resources. As soon as they war comes to an end they will make proper arrangements for the education of women. But it must be kept in mind that the Muslim girl will be educated in an Islamic Madrasah from which she will emerge as an epitome of honour and decency, grace and dignity personified.
The UN does not have the right to prescribe a course of studies for our women. The western world is welcome to provide its brand of education to its own women which casts their modesty out of the window, which fosters sexual relationship between men and women; an education in which are taught the etiquettes of drinking and dancing, of merry-making; an education which causes young girls to attain puberty well before their age, which bestows upon them the status of unmarried mothers well before they have completed their college education.
The saddest fact is that those professing to be highly civilized have they never pondered upon the meaning of "civilization"?
The British Parliament passes a law according to which 'gays' could marry each other, i.e. a man was allowed to marry another man. Next, another law was passed which allowed a man to marry his mother-in-law. He has in his marriage the daughter and the mother both! Curses be on such animals, damned be such swines. Whatever did happen to their humanity, to their sense of shame?
Copulation with dogs has become common in England. It is a usual custom to make dogs heirs to a legacy. It is said that the Satan Pope John Paul II wedded a man to a frog. Such dirty evil people then criticize the experts, the true followers of Islam-the Taliban!
"Ashamed of yourself, you aren't!" as the saying in Urdu goes.
[Source]

I'm seeing so many posts from folks who are struggling on their journey through initial diagnosis and treatment and many of these stories involve GPs or faceless telehealth clinics, experiences of being challenged, denied, and accused of drug seeking. I want to share my experience to give folks some hope and hopefully give a little push towards expending a bit more effort to find a permanent mental health medical professional because I feel like it will be so worth it for you to not settle
I was diagnosed as a teenager by a therapist who referred me to a neurologist (for the actual diagnosis) and then to a psychiatrist that I've been seeing for 15+ years now.
During my December session with him HE brought up the shortage. I am blessed to be able to pay out of pocket for whatever formulation is available and had been doing the legwork to find places that had it in stock. As a result I had not gone without meds but even sharing that experience he offered to switch me to a biosimilar through a mail order pharmacy that was more reliable in the experience of other patients. Things were going great but the reliability of that pharmacy began to worsen over time until last month when the mail order pharmacy literally waited a week to even ship my medication. I explained it to my doctor via email and within the hour--no further questions asked--he wrote a script for my old medication and phoned it in. No third degree, no 'sorry you'll have to wait till it's delivered.' taken care of immediately even knowing the other med might show up eventually
This is the experience you should be having, and if you aren't then you deserve it and should find the right doctor!

Hello everyone! We're announcing that we're going dark for a few days in order to protest together with many subreddits against rising API cost from reddit, read more below:

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface.
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and we'll answer them as soon as possible.