Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel): THE BOYS season finale (spoilers)

Monday, July 11, 2022

THE BOYS season finale (spoilers)

THE BOYS wrapped up Friday on AMAZON. There will be a season four. Should there be? That really is the question. SPOILERS ahead.

First off, Maeve is no longer part of the team. She is presumed dead. She fought Homelander and he took out one of her eyes. Soldier Boy was going to detonate so, to save everyone, Maeve lunged at him and took him through a glass window. On the way down from the skyscraper, he detonated. She is presumed dead. Annie told her (and her girlfriend) that she was going to miss her and she told Annie that she'd outgrown a need for a mentor. In the explosion, Maeve lost her powers. She and her girlfriend left with talk of getting a farm. Ashley, head of the corporation, knows that Maeve survived. She has video footage of it. But she deleted it. Remember when Maeve first was disappeared by Homelander, Ashley waivered and almost helped Annie with Maeve. I guess she figures she owes her one.

Soldier Boy is back in his sleeping state in a cube. Noir is dead. Who cares? He never spoke a line and his dopey cartoon moments did not enrich the show. Homelander killed him at the start of the final episode when he found out that Noir knew Soldier Boy was Homelander's father but never told him.

The Deep and his wife have split. Annie now has the power to fly. Butcher found out -- but hasn't told anyone -- that he only has 12 to 18 months to live. Kiminko has her powers back. Trying to think what else.happened? Annie and Huey are back together. (Though e-mails tell me that's now how his name is spelled. Tough.)

I don't know. They have enough men on the show and enough men with power.

Oh. A man was going to be the vice presidential nominee on a ticket. He was swimming in his pool. Homelander was doing a favor for Victoria Neuman (the one who can make heads explode) and he sent The Deep there. The Deep drowned the man in the pool. Now Victoria has been announced as the new v.p. running mate.

Maeve was an important part of the show. The creator of the show's been going around wanting a pat on the back for not killing of Maeve. He's noting that the lesbian getting killed is a trope and he wanted to avoid it. Okay, well how about we avoid it by keeping Maeve in the mix? Or is that too much? Are those are only choices with Maeve? Kill her or drop her?

Annie is not a favorite character of mine. I really can't stand her. Didn't like her in season one, season two or season three. She's a priss and that's no fun. They put her in that stereotypical role -- the same role Mika fills on MORNING JOE -- and we're not supposed to notice? Or to notice when they send Maeve packing? Or that the only woman on the show they seem to like is Kimiko -- so the only 'good' woman is a woman who can't speak?

It's amazing that we've been able to see dozens and dozens of different kind of men on the show but we're left with stereotypes when it comes to women.

One more thing, Homelander's son (Ryan?) was not assaulted. Ginger e-mailed me about that. She was reading recaps and they kept saying that. Is that what I saw? No, Ginger. I saw Homelander take his kid to a gathering of creeps who love Homelander and one person who didn't love Homelander threw something. It was not an assault. And then Homelander used his eyes to destroy the man and the crowd erupted with cheers -- because they and Homelander are both that sick.

So the good guys? The guys who are good are now Huey, Frenchie, Butcher and Mother's Milk. The men who are questionable are A-Train and The Deep. The men who are bad? Homelander and Soldier Boy. Gals who are good? Kimiko and Annie. Gals who are questionable? Ashley. Gal who is evil? Victoria.

Seeing how few women are on the show now?

I was never one of those idiots who proclaimed BUFFY was a feminist show. I grasped that the final season was about destroying Buffy and I grasped it as it went down. It's only now that Joss Whedon has been revealed as a huge sexist that others have caught on. THE BOYS really isn't that much better than Whedon's AVENGERS.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, July 11, 2022. US tax dollars go to wars in retirement homes! Thanks Joe Biden and Ukraine! Pro-Nazi Andrey Melnyk quietly loses his job in Ukraine's government after advancing the Nazi's actions in several infamous comments over the last weeks, Iraqi lawmakers target the LGBTQ community, and much more.

Last Monday, July 4th, WSWS published Johannes Stern's article which opened:

In an interview last week on the podcast “Jung & Naiv,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrey Melnyk once again defended the Ukrainian fascist, anti-Semite and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. This comes as no surprise. Melnyk is a known Bandera admirer.

This time, however, Melnyk went further than usual. He not only praised Bandera as a “freedom fighter,” but denied that OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) units Bandera commanded carried out mass murder, saying, “There is no evidence that Bandera troops murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews.”

Melnyk’s statements are on the level of Holocaust deniers. The Banderites’ involvement in pogroms, mass shootings of Jews and the Nazi war of extermination against the Soviet Union is an incontrovertible historical fact.

When journalist Tilo Jung confronted Melnyk about the crimes committed by Bandera, the Ukrainian ambassador defended them, saying, “I will not tell you today that I dissociate myself from this. And that’s it.”

Jung earlier quoted a leaflet that the OUN distributed as the Nazi Wehrmacht entered Lviv: “People, you must know this: Muscovites, Poles, Hungarians and Jews, these are your enemies. Destroy them, you must know that. Your leadership, your leader, Stepan Bandera.”

Melnyk’s statements not only expose the Ukrainian government, which worships Bandera and the OUN despite their genocidal crimes, erects statues and renames streets and squares in his honor.

It also sheds light on the essentially fascistic character of the ruling class in Germany, which 81 years after the invasion of the Soviet Union is again massively rearming and taking a leading role in the NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.

Melnyk is a central figure in this. He is a welcome guest on talk shows to drum up support for more German arms deliveries to Ukraine. When Chancellor Scholz announced the massive German rearmament in the Bundestag on February 27, Melnyk was a guest of honor.

The German government’s silence on Melnyk’s recent remarks is not simply a scandal. It is part of a deliberate campaign to rehabilitate fascism and ultimately Hitler himself.

NOTES FROM POLAND explained:

Poland’s foreign ministry has intervened after Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany denied that Ukrainian national leader Stepan Bandera was responsible for the mass murder of ethnic Poles and Jews, and also sought to justify his collaboration with Nazi Germany.

The episode has renewed tensions over what has long been a sensitive issue in Polish-Ukrainian relations. In response, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has distanced itself from the words of the ambassador, Andrii Melnyk, saying that they were just his “own opinion”.

No, not his "own opinion.'' He is glorifying a butcher and denying reality. That happens a lot with those in the current Ukraine government. On Thursday, WORLD ISRAEL NEWS noted:

Stepan Bandera, “not only for me personally, but also for many, many Ukrainians, personifies the freedom fighter,” Melnyk told a Die Welt journalist in a radio interview published last Friday.

“Melnyk’s statement trivializes the Holocaust,” read the headline published by the leading German newspaper.

“There are no written laws for those who fight for freedom,” said Melnyk, who dismissed Bandera’s major role in the Holocaust in comments indicating Holocaust denial.

“Robin Hood is also respected by everyone, and he also did not work according to the law current at the time.”

Melnyk refused to acknowledge — despite being provided clear evidence of Bandera’s alliance with the Nazis and orders to “destroy” the Jews, who he referred to as the “enemy” — that the Ukrainian nationalist leader and his men were involved in the murder of 800,000 Jews.

Over the weekend, POLITICO reported:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday recalled his country’s ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, who caused controversy after defending a 20th century Nazi collaborator.

A decree published by Zelenskyy’s presidential office on Saturday afternoon only mentioned the “dismissal” of Melnyk, without providing any further information about the reasons for his removal, where the ambassador would go next, or who would replace him.

Melnyk’s departure from Berlin is part of a bigger reshuffle ordered by Zelenskyy on Saturday. The Ukrainian president also recalled ambassadors to various other countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, Norway and India.

Even then, Zelensky didn't condemn him. Condemning him would have outraged his supporters in Ukraine who agree with him, who glorify the Nazis of WWII and see themselves as linked to them. Calling Melnyk out would have risked creating domestic turmoil in Ukriane. These are the people that the Sean Penns and Mila Kunises have spread their legs for.

It's such a 'noble' war, you understand. ANTIWAR.COM's Kyle Anzalone reports:

The United Nations says Kiev’s and Moscow’s soldiers used elderly and disabled civilians as human shields. In one situation, Ukrainian soldiers hid in a nursing home, provoking an attack that killed dozens of residents.

The report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner says Ukrainian, Russian troops and forces aligned with Moscow are using civilians as human shields. "Both Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups as well as Ukrainian armed forces took up positions either in residential areas or near civilian objects, from where they launched military operations without taking measures for the protection of civilians present," it concludes.

The report detailed one incident of Kiev’s soldiers using human shields in Ukraine’s Donbas region shortly after the Russian invasion. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner, the residents of a nursing home in the Luhansk region were unable to evacuate because Ukrainian forces mined the roads around the facility.

At ANTIWAR.COM, Dave De Camp notes:

The Biden administration announced Friday a new $400 million weapons package for Ukraine that includes more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 150mm artillery ammunition, and tactical vehicles.

The new aid marks the 15th weapons package the US has pledged for Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on February 24, demonstrating the Biden administration’s commitment to flooding the country with arms.

And the US government has sent inflation soaring and created food shortages with this war of choice. Jean Shaoul (WSWS) explains, "They have imposed sanctions on Russia that have included banning the country from the SWIFT international money transfer system to destroy Russia’s economy by blocking its exports of fuel, food and fertilizers. This has driven up prices that were already soaring due to their failure to pursue a coronavirus elimination policy, thereby prolonging the pandemic, upending the world economy and disrupting global supply chains."

On Iraq, Alex MacDonald (MIDDLE EAST EYE) reports:

Rights groups have reacted with alarm to proposals for a law banning homosexuality in Iraq, warning that it would allow anti-LGBTQ+ vigilantes to "get away with murder".

A member of the Parliamentary Legal Committee told the official Iraqi News Agency on Friday that it had begun formulating proposals to criminalise homosexuality, which was made legal in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"It was agreed within the parliament to collect signatures after returning to session to legislate a law prohibiting homosexuality in Iraq," said Aref al-Hamami, an MP with the State of Law coalition led by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"[The] legislation of such a law will be reinforced by legal provisions that prevent homosexuality and the perversions associated with it."

Although homosexuality has been officially legal in Iraq for almost two decades, politicians and religious leaders in the country have frequently railed against LGBTQ+ people, and laws punishing "immodest acts" have been used to target them.

We noted this development in Friday's snapshot when IRAQI NEWS AGENCY reported it. Sarah Davison (Austrlalia's Q NEWS) notes:

In a statement to GAY TIMES, head of IraQueer Amir Ashour opened up about the implications of the proposed legislation.

"The Iraqi government is using their hatred for LGBT+ people to distract the public from their failure to form a government, provide basic services, and hold perpetrators accountable for different human rights violations," he said.

"The international community must put pressure on Iraq immediatetely. The lives of LGBT+ people and the future of the queer movement is on the line."

For more information, follow IraQueer.

In other news, Julian Bechocha (RUDAW) reports:

Shiite cleric and head of Iraq's National Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim on Sunday called on the two top Kurdish parties to accelerate efforts in agreeing on a candidate for Iraq's presidency with the country mired in political deadlock.

Hakim stated that the Iraqi presidency post "is greater than being a merit for one of the components of the country" and asked the Kurdistan Region's parties "to speed up the decision of the candidate for the presidency and to look at this national entitlement with great responsibility" in a sermon following Eid al-Adha's prayer.

The Kurdish political giants – the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – have had disagreements over a variety of issues in recent months, and their race over Iraq's presidential position further escalated the tensions.

For those keeping track, that's the second nudge in eight days. Why the nudging? Clearing the Framework has decided upon whom they're going to name prime minister designate. For that to happen, a president needs to be decided upon because it is the duty of the president to announce the prime minister-designate.

We'll wind down with this from MS. MAGAZINE:

MORE THAN A MAGAZINE, A MOVEMENT

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Winning this historic battle means providing accurate, timely and actionable information to hundreds of thousands of activists, student, volunteers and the press.

That's what we do at Ms. We have been reporting on the battles for abortion rights since our launch 50 years ago in 1972. And for each of these 50 years, Ms. has been on the frontlines, spotlighting strategies for moving forward in the fight for full equality.

You more than most, because of your deep commitment to women’s rights and equality, will understand and appreciate the urgent nature of this e-mail.

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Our Partners make it possible for Ms. to keep our readers informed, both in print and online at the very moment equality, women’s rights and democracy itself are under assault by the far-right hell bent on imposing their distorted beliefs on the rest of us.

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Ms. covers the news and makes it; reports on trends and helps make them. In its 1972 debut issue, Ms. ran a bold petition in which 53 well-known U.S. women called for an end to laws prohibiting abortion and declared “We Have Had an Abortion” – despite laws in most states rendering the procedure illegal.

The Washington Post credited the petition with the “start of a powerful strategy in the U.S. abortion rights movement: ending the secrecy that had kept many women out of the fight.”

Now in the wake of the Court's decision, we must once again demand the repeal of all laws restricting women’s reproductive freedoms. And we must finally secure the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution.

The final drive for the ERA

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Ms. is closely tracking and reporting on efforts to ensure the ERA is finally added to the U.S. Constitution as the 28^th Amendment. Although all the requirements set out in the Constitution for an amendment have been met, the final certification of the ERA has been blocked by Senate Republicans wielding the filibuster to prevent a vote by the Senate.

One thing is certain. Whether we’re dealing with the overturn of Roe v. Wade by a Supreme Court stacked with Trump-appointed justices… or overcoming the final barriers to enshrining the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution… we simply must be prepared for what is nothing less than major battles for the survival and advancement of women’s rights.

And that’s where you and the special Ms. Partners are critical.

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