as long as that place is kind to us!

After seven years of war, a war that continues to this day, these 200 bodies are being exhumed from a mass grave that the war forced them into back in the summer of 2014, during the heaviest attacks and siege by the Ukrainian “punishers” against the people of Lugansk. [...]

Sergey Litvinov, a captured Ukrainian soldier from the ‘Dnepr’ battalion, who admitted to killing civilians including women and children in the villages Melovoye, Shiroky, Makarovo and Kamushnoye, said that he received a money reward for the killings from his leadership sponsored by Ihor Kolomoysky, the Kiev-appointed Dnepropetrovsk governor and oligarch who was the titular owner of Burisma, the energy company which appointed Hunter Biden to its board. [...]

Lancaster’s report is corroborated by Organization For Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) maps, which show that shelings that violate ceasefire arrangements have indeed been carried out mostly by the Ukrainian government.

A resident of the Kyivsky district of the city of Donetsk whom Lancaster interviewed, Zoya Tumanova, said that the Ukrainians had shelled her village often since 2015 and burned half of it down. She asked Lancaster: “when will it end, when will Putin come? When will he come to save us?” [...]

PLAYBOY: Do you ever get tired of talking about your friendship with Matt?

AFFLECK: I understand the questions. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, they're friends, they're pals, they grew up together, isn't it great and cute? I get all kinds of questions, like, "So how's Matt?" or "What's Matt like?" And I don't know what sort of answers are expected.

Instead of saying Matt's fine and he's doing his thing, I'II be like, "Well, let me tell you about Matt. Matt can give a blow job in a way that's incredible, really special." Most of the time it's like Entertainment Tonight, and they can't air it. But then sometimes you think you're safe, but someone writes it down and it ends up being taken out of context in Out magazine.

PLAYBOY: Does Matt ever get pissed off about that?

AFFLECK: Matt gets it. We have a similar sense of humor, which I think is the main reason we're compatible as friends and in terms of writing. He always thinks it's funny. It's just a question of the rest of them.

PLAYBOY: Let's see if you've learned your lesson: What is Matt Damon really like?

AFFLECK: [Laughs] He gives a really great blow job.

The second reads

PLAYBOY: In his 1999 Playboy Interview, Affleck jokingly said of you, "He gives a really great blow job." Care to return the compliment?

DAMON: I do give great head. I definitely give a better blow job than Ben. I mean, I'm not lucky enough to be able to blow myself, but if I could, I'd never leave the house.

Chechnya, Russia

these sword pull shots from episodes 1, 2, and 12 were likely reused animation. it's definitely well-animated with great attention to detail.

here, saionji, utena, and touga pulled the sword of dios from anthy, the rose bride, as they said, "grant me the power to bring the world revolution." the reflection of anthy in the sword was an apt imagery to convey the oppressive nature of the sword pull and the whole duelling system, the violence enacted upon the rose bride to achieve and sustain some form of structural hegemony within the system.

an interesting detail i note from these shots is that the background for anthy's reflection in saionji and touga's sword pull was black, but for utena's sword pull, anthy's background was white.