I love how here on tumblr dot website we regularly cast the greatest curse we can muster on each other by pointing our long creepy fingers and intoning “10,000 notes” in a voice that carries the winds of the mountain with it.
Nicola Scott, a hero who loves Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, pitching the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman 80th anniversary covers: they all face the front of the cover in the same position, showcasing their different suits over the years!
Dc: Fantastic. Fantastic work, Nicola. Now how about Dick Grayson?
Nicola Scott, a hero who loves Dick Grayson but who also understands Dick Grayson on a fundamental level:
Elon Musk attacked democracy defender and superstar court lawyer Marc Elias as “undermining civilization,” taunting him by asking if he suffered “generational trauma.”
Elias’s response was brilliant and worth amplifying:
Mr. Musk,
You recently criticized me and another prominent lawyer fighting for the rule of law and democracy in the United States. I am used to being attacked for my work, particularly on the platform you own and dominate.
I used to be a regular on Twitter, where I amassed over 900,000 followers — all organic except for the right-wing bots who seemed to grow in number. Like many others, I stopped regularly posting on the site because, under your stewardship, it became a hellscape of hate and misinformation.
I also used to buy your cars — first a Model X and then a Model S — back when you spoke optimistically about solving the climate crisis. My family no longer owns any of your cars and never will.
But this is not the reason I am writing. You don’t know me. You have no idea whether I have suffered trauma and if I have, how it has manifested. And it’s none of your business.
However, I will address your last point about generational trauma. I am Jewish, though many on your site simply call me “a jew.” Honestly, it’s often worse than that, but I’m sure you get the point. There was a time when Twitter would remove antisemitic posts, but under your leadership, tolerating the world’s oldest hatred now seems to be a permissible part of your “free speech” agenda.
Like many Jewish families, mine came to America because of trauma. They were fleeing persecution in the Pale of Settlement — the only area in the Russian Empire where Jews were legally allowed to reside. Even there, life was difficult — often traumatic. My family, like others, lived in a shtetl and was poor. Worse, pogroms were common — violent riots in which Jews were beaten, killed and expelled from their villages.
By the time my family fled, life in the Pale had become all but impossible for Jews. Tsar Nicholas II’s government spread anti-Jewish propaganda that encouraged Russians to attack and steal from Jews in their communities. My great-grandfather was fortunate to leave when he did. Those who stayed faced even worse circumstances when Hitler’s army later invaded.
That is the generational trauma I carry. The trauma of being treated as “other” by countrymen you once thought were your friends. The trauma of being scapegoated by authoritarian leaders. The trauma of fleeing while millions of others were systematically murdered. The trauma of watching powerful men treat it all as a joke — or worse.
As an immigrant yourself, you can no doubt sympathize with what it means to leave behind your country, extended family, friends and neighbors to come to the United States. Of course, you probably had more than 86 rubles in your pocket. You probably didn’t ride for nine days in the bottom of a ship or have your surname changed by immigration officials. Here is the ship manifest showing that my family did. Aron, age three, was my grandfather.
[see image in comments]
As new immigrants, life wasn’t easy. My family lived in cramped housing without hot water. They worked menial jobs — the kind immigrants still perform today.
Some may look down on those immigrants — the ones without fancy degrees — but my family was proud to work and grateful that the United States took them in. They found support within their Jewish community and a political home in the Democratic Party.
I became a lawyer to give back to the country that gave my family a chance. I specialize in representing Democratic campaigns because I believe in the party. I litigate voting rights cases because the right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy. I speak out about free and fair elections because they are under threat.
Now let me address the real crux of your post.
You are very rich and very powerful. You have thrown in with Donald Trump. Whether it is because you think you can control him or because you share his authoritarian vision, I do not know. I do not care.
Together, you and he are dismantling our government, undermining the rule of law and harming the most vulnerable in our society. I am just a lawyer. I do not have your wealth or your platform. I do not control the vast power of the federal government, nor do I have millions of adherents at my disposal to harass and intimidate my opponents. I may even carry generational trauma.
But you need to know this about me. I am the great-grandson of a man who led his family out of the shtetl to a strange land in search of a better life. I am the grandson of the three-year-old boy on that journey. As you know, my English name is Marc, but my Hebrew name is Elhanan (אֶלְחָנָן) — after the great warrior in David’s army who slew a powerful giant.
I will use every tool at my disposal to protect this country from Trump. I will litigate to defend voting rights until there are no cases left to bring. I will speak out against authoritarianism until my last breath.
I will not back down. I will not bow or scrape. I will never obey.
I am getting the sense that people want the government to provide perfect services and also that at the same time many of the same people do not want to pay taxes and indeed find it offensive that government workers are paid, or worse, potentially able to exercise rights.
In Canada two months ago, the Conservatives had a 26-point lead over the Liberals for the upcoming election — with the Conservatives running on a Trump-like theme of “Canada First.”
Then Trump started declaring he wanted to take over Canada.
Picture this: you’re eating at a restaurant, and the waiter brings you the wrong order.
It’s still something you can eat, meaning that there’s no issue with allergies or intolerances or anything like that; and it’s also something you like, something you’ve eaten before and enjoyed.
(Note that the first two options imply “without making a scene,” i.e. without screaming or being an asshole about it, just making it known in a normal way.)
The 20 year old accidentally bonsai’d apricot tree that I finally planted in the ground has truly established himself and has chosen a branch with which he will form his main trunk. He’s putting all his energy into this one branch and it’s making dozens of tiny offshoot branches and it is rapidly growing taller
After making these branches, Carl went “wait, no, I want to be taller!” grew about 18 inches then went “no, wait, branches!!!” and has changed his mind once again in favor of height. He looks a bit silly, but he’s about 7 feet tall now!
I’m so glad he’s happy
Me, today, on November 17th: Hey Carl, what you got there?
Carl, rustling excitedly: a new leaf!
Me: NO!
Carl has finally dropped all his leaves and I’m seeing something potentially exciting…
This, I think, might be a flower spike.
Compare it to his normal branch leaf buds
Heck, those might even be some future flowers in the first one
I did some research, and the big, fat, sticky-outy buds should *all* be flowers! The flat, small buds like in the last photo are future leaves.
amhrancas 