A Practical Guide to Human Sexuality and Gender

 Sex and Gender: Foundational Concepts

In discussions of human sexuality and gender, it is helpful to distinguish between biological sex and gender identity, as they refer to different aspects of human experience.

Biological sex is a classification based on a combination of physical characteristics, including chromosomes, reproductive anatomy, hormone production, and secondary sex characteristics. Most people are classified at birth as either male or female, though biological variation exists and some individuals are born with intersex traits that do not fit typical definitions of male or female bodies.

Gender identity refers to a person's internal sense of being male, female, both, neither, or another gender. Gender identity may or may not align with a person's sex assigned at birth.

Individuals whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth are described as cisgender. For example, a person assigned female at birth who identifies as a woman, or a person assigned male at birth who identifies as a man, would generally be considered cisgender.

Individuals whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth are described as transgender. For example, a person assigned male at birth who identifies as a woman, or a person assigned female at birth who identifies as a man, would generally be considered transgender.

These concepts provide a foundation for understanding the broad diversity of human experiences related to sex, gender, and identity.

For this blog being more of an educational guide, I'm attempting to define each term simply, then mentioning common variations or subgroups where relevant.

L = Lesbian

A lesbian is a woman who is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted primarily to other women.

While many lesbians identify as cisgender women, transgender women who are attracted to women may also identify as lesbians. The defining characteristic is attraction between women, not a person's sex assigned at birth.

Common Variations and Related Identities:

Butch - A lesbian whose appearance, behavior, or gender expression is more traditionally masculine.

Some butch lesbians identify strongly with the term, while others do not.

Femme - A lesbian whose appearance or gender expression is more traditionally feminine.

Being femme does not make someone "less lesbian"; it refers to presentation, not attraction.

Stud - A term primarily used within some Black lesbian communities for a masculine-presenting lesbian.

The meaning and cultural significance can vary by community.

Stem - Often described as a blend of "stud" and "femme."

More commonly used in some Black LGBTQ+ communities.

Soft Butch - A butch lesbian whose presentation is masculine but less traditionally rugged or highly masculine than some other butch identities.

Chapstick Lesbian - An informal term often used for lesbians whose presentation falls somewhere between butch and femme.

Important Distinction:

A person's sexual orientation and gender expression are not the same thing.

For example: A femme lesbian and a butch lesbian are both lesbians.

The difference is in how they express themselves, not who they are attracted to.

Side note: lesbian identity has developed somewhat differently across cultures and generations, so definitions and preferred terminology can vary over time and among communities.

For an educational guide, Im defining each term simply, then mentioning common variations or subgroups where relevant.

G = Gay

The term gay most commonly refers to a person who is romantically, emotionally, and/or sexually attracted primarily to people of the same gender. 

In everyday usage, "gay" is often used specifically to describe men who are attracted to men. However, some women also identify as gay, and the term is sometimes used as a broader umbrella term for homosexuality in general. 

Common variations and related identities:

Gay man - a man who is primarily attracted to other men. The most common and specific use of this term. 

Bear - a gay or bisexual man who is typically larger-bodied and/or has significant body hair. The bear community has developed its own culture, events,  and subgroups. 

Cub - generally a younger or smaller bear. 

Otter - A man who is leaner than a typical bear, but still notably hairy. 

Wolf - refers to a mature, masculine, rugged man who is usually leaner than a bear. 

Silver fox - An older, often gray-haired man who is considered attractive. Sometimes overlaps with other subcultures.

Twink - A young, youthful-looking, typically slender gay man. Often associated with little body hair and a more boyish appearance.

Twunk - A blend of "twink" and "hunk." Refers to a younger man with a more athletic or muscular build. 

Jock - A gay man whose identity or presentation is associated with athleticism, sports culture, or a muscular physique. 

Leather community - A subculture centered around leather fashions, traditions, and often kink related interests. Not all leather community members are gay men, but the culture has deep historical roots in gay male communities. 

Important Distinction: many of these labels describe physical appearance, gender expression, community affiliation, and cultural identity. They do not necessarily describe sexual orientation beyond being within the broader gay male community. For example, a bear and a twink can both be gay men. The term describes different presentations and subcultures, not different orientations. 

Historical note: the word "gay" originally meant cheerful or carefree in English. During the 20th century, it gradually became associated with homosexuality and eventually became one of the most widely recognized terms for same-sex attraction. 

B = Bisexual 

A bisexual person experiences romantic, emotional, and/or sexual attraction to more than one gender. 

Historically, some people interpreted bisexuality as attraction to "men and women." Today many bisexual organizations and advocates define bisexuality more broadly as attraction to two or more genders or attraction to both ones own gender and other genders. Importantly, bisexuality does not require equal attraction to different genders. A bisexual person may experience attraction in different ways, to different degrees, or at different times throughout life. 

Common misconceptions:

"Bisexual people are equally attracted to everyone."

False. Attraction can vary greatly from person to person. 

"Bisexual people are confused or undecided."

False. Bisexuality is a recognized sexual orientation, not a transitional phase. 

"Bisexual people must have dated multiple genders to be bisexual. " 

False. Orientation is based on attraction, not relationship history. 

Related Identities:

Pansexual - A person who may be attracted to people regardless of gender. Many pansexual individuals describe gender as not being a determining factor in attraction.

Omnisexual - A person who may be attracted to all genders while still recognizing gender as part of attraction. Often contrasted with pansexuality, though individual definitions vary. 

Polysexual - Attracted to multiple genders, but not necessarily all genders. 

The "Bi-" in bisexual. One reason bisexuality generates discussion is the prefix bi-. Different people interpret it differently. Attraction to men and women. Attraction to one's own gender and other genders. Attraction to two or more genders. 

Today many bisexual organizations favor the latter definitions because they better reflect the diversity of modern understandings of gender. 

Community and culture:

Bisexual individuals may find themselves navigating both heterosexual and LGBTQIA+ spaces. Historically, some bisexual people have reported feeling overlooked or misunderstood by both communities, leading to the development of distinct bisexual advocacy groups, symbols, and collective spaces. 

Important Distinction:

Bisexuality describes who a person is attracted to, not their current relationship status, the gender of their partner, or their sexual behavior. For example, a bisexual woman married to a man remains bisexual. A bisexual man dating another man remains bisexual. Orientation does not change simply because a relationship does.

T = Transgender or Transsexual

A transgender person has a gender identity that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. Unlike lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities, which describe sexual orientation (who a person is attracted to), transgender is a term related to gender identity (a person's internal sense of being a man, woman, both, neither, or another gender.) A transgender person's sexual orientation can be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or any other orientation. 

Common transgender identities:

Trans man - A person assigned female at birth who identifies as a man. 

Trans woman - A person assigned male at birth who identifies as a woman. 

Commonly related identities:

Transvestite - An older term that traditionally referred to a person who wears clothing typically associated with a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth. The word comes from Latin roots meaning "cross-dressed". In modern culture it would describe a man who enjoys dressing up in women's clothing and lingerie.  Example being The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

Historically, the term was used in medical, psychological, and popular context, particularly terrifying throughout the 20th century. Today many people consider the term to be outdated though some individuals still use it to describe themselves. 

The term "cross-dresser" is generally more common and often preferred in contemporary English. A cross-dresser may be male, female, or another gender. They may be heterosexual, gay, bisexual, or any other orientation. They may be cisgender or transgender. 

Cross-dressing by itself does not indicate a person's gender identity, sexual orientation, or romantic orientation. 

Important Distinction:

A cross-dresser is not necessarily transgender. 

Q = Queer or Questioning 

The letter Q is commonly used to represent queer or questioning, depending on the context.  

Queer is a broad umbrella term used by some people whose sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression falls outside traditional heterosexual or cisgender norms. 

Unlike terms like lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, queer is often intentionally broad and may encompass multiple aspects of a person's identity. Some people choose queer because they feel multiple labels apply to them, that no single label fits well, their identity is fluid and evolving, or they prefer a broader community-oriented term. 

Historical context:

The word queer was historically used as a slur against LGBTQIA+ people. Beginning in the late 20th century, many activists and community members reclaimed the term and began using it positively. However, because of its history, some LGBTQIA+ individuals still dislike or avoid using this term. For that reason, it is generally best not to assume someone identifies as queer unless they use the term for themselves. 

Today, queer is often used as an umbrella term to refer collectively to LGBTQIA+ communities academic fields such as queer studies, and identities that do not fit neatly into traditional categories. 

A Questioning person is someone who is actively exploring or uncertain about their sexual orientation, gender identity, or both. Questioning is not necessarily a permanent identity. It describes a process of exploration. 

A person may be questioning whether they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or another orientation, and whether they are cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, or another gender identity. How they wish to describe themselves is also considered. Some people identify as questioning for a short time, while others may do so for years. 

Important Distinction:

Questioning does not mean confused, indecisive, or seeking attention. It simply recognizes that self-discovery can take time. 

I = Intersex

Intersex is an umbrella term for a variety of natural biological variations in which a person's sex characteristics do not fit typical definitions of exclusively male or female bodies. These variations may involve chromosomes, hormones, reproductive organs, genital anatomy, and secondary sex characteristics. 

Intersex is a biological classification, not a sexual orientation or a gender identity. An intersex person may identify as male, female, nonbinary, or another gender identity and may be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, or any other sexual orientation. They are separate aspects of a person's identity.

Common intersex variations:

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or AIS

A person has XY chromosomes but their body responds partially or completely different to Androgens such as testosterone. Depending on the specific variation, the individual may develop characteristics typicallyassociated with female bodies despite having XY chromosomes. 

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia or CAH

A group of genetic conditions that affect hormone production. In some cases, individuals with XX chromosomes may develop characteristics more commonly associated with male development. 

Klinefelter Syndrome  (XXY)

A person is born with an additional X chromosome. Individuals are typically assigned male at birth but may experience differences in growth, reproductive development, and hormone production. 

Turner Syndrome (XO)

A person is born with only one X chromosome. Individuals are typically assigned female at birth, but may experience differences in growth, reproductive development, and hormone production. 

This can go unnoticed for some time, often until around puberty, when secondary sex characteristics do not reflect the assigned gender. 

Ovotesticular DSD

A rare condition in which an individual develops both ovarian and testicular tissue. 

Medical and ethical considerations:

Historically, some intersex infants underwent surgeries intended to make their anatomy conform more closely to typical male or female appearances. In recent decades, intersex advocates, medical ethicists, and some healthcare organizations have questioned whether non-essential procedures should be delayed until individuals are old enough to participate in discussions about their own bodies. This remains an active area of ethical and medical discussion. 

A common misconception is that intersex means both sexes at once. Not necessarily. Intersex is an umbrella term covering many different biological variations. No single intersex experience represents all intersex people. 

Intersex is also NOT the same as transgender. Intersex refers to biological sex characteristics. Transgender refers to gender identity. An intersex person may be cisgender, transgender, or neither. 

A = Asexual or ACE, Aromantic, or Agender (A = without)

An asexual person experiences little or no sexual attraction to others. Asexuality is a sexual orientation, not a medical condition, a hormone disorder, or a vow of celibacy. Asexual people may desire romantic relationships, enjoy emotional intimacy, have sex, or choose not to have sex. They may even experience attraction differently than non-asexual individuals. The defining characteristic is the absence or rarity of sexual attraction, not a person's behavior. 

Common identities:

Graysexual - A person who experiences sexual attraction rarely, weakly, or only under specific circumstances. 

Demi-sexual - A person who typically experiences sexual attraction only after forming a strong emotional bond.  Many demi-sexual individuals describe attraction as developing through connection rather than immediate physical interest. 

+ = Additional Identities and Communities

The "+" in LGBTQIA+ acknowledges that human experiences of sexuality, attraction, and gender are more diverse than can be captured by a handful of letters. The plus sign is not a specific identity. Instead it serves as an umbrella for additional identities, cultures, and experiences that may not be represented elsewhere in the acronym. 

Nonbinary - A person whose gender identity does not fit exclusively with the categories of man and woman. Some nonbinary people identify as transgender, while others do not. 

Genderfluid - A person whose gender identity shifts or changes over time. The nature and frequency of those shifts vary from individual to individual. 

Bigender - A person who identifies as two genders. These identities may be experienced simultaneously or at different times. 

Pangender - A person who identifies with many or all genders. 

Two-spirit - A modern umbrella term used by some indigenous people in North America to describe culturally specific roles that incorporate gender, spirituality, community, and identity. Because it is tied to indigenous cultures, it is generally not considered appropriate for non-indigenous people to adopt the term. 

Fa'afafine - A culturally specific gender identity recognized in Samoa and some other Polynesian communities. It is not simply a Samoan version of transgender identity and has its own cultural history and social role. 

Hijra - A long-established third-gender community found in parts of South Asia. Hijra identities predate many modern Western concepts of gender identity. 

Femboy - A person, typically male, who embraces a feminine aesthetic, mannerisms, clothing, or presentation while not necessarily identifying as female.  While some transgender individuals, a Femboy has chosen to keep the penis.  For this reason, they are generally not considered to be a transgender woman, which is a common misconception. 

Tomboy - A person, typically female, who embraces a masculine aesthetic, interests, or presentation while not necessarily identifying as male. 

Butch - A more masculine gender expression commonly associated with some lesbian communities. 

Femme - A more feminine gender expression commonly associated with some lesbian and queer communities. 

Androgynous - A presentation that blends or minimizes traditional masculine and feminine characteristics. 

Drag performer aka Drag Queen or Drag King - A person who performs exaggerated masculine or feminine gender expression for entertainment, art, or self-expression.

Emerging Language. Language evolves. New terms continue to emerge as people seek language that better describes their experiences. Some terms gain widespread acceptance. Others remain limited to specific communities. Some fall out of use over time. This process is normal and reflects the fact that language changes as societies change.

Why Use the Plus Sign?

The plus sign serves several purposes:

It recognizes identities not explicitly listed. 

It allows the acronym to remain practical rather than endlessly expanding.

It acknowledges cultural diversity across societies.

It creates space for people whose experiences may not fit neatly into existing categories.

Final Thought:

One of the most useful lessons from studying human sexuality and gender is that labels are tools, not rules.

Their purpose is to help people describe experiences, communicate with others, and find community. 

No label can perfectly capture every person's experience, but together they provide a vocabulary for discussing the remarkable diversity of human lives. 🌈📚🧬

Real Men

Namaste and welcome once again to the Quiet Mouse Strikes Back. This blog has been going for 15 years and received over 100,000 views with no advertising or corporate sponsorship. Thank you to all my readers out there. 

Now, to the point of topic: what does a "real man" look like in this day and age, this time in the greatest reality show in existence?

Like most things in life, there doesn't seem to be a shared reality for many. We see it all the time on social media, in the news, out of the president's mouth. The constant stirring of the shit pot has a lot of people on edge, seeking blame rather than solutions. A lot of that blame is placed on ethnic people, those with dark skin and perhaps don't speak proper English, LGBTQIA+ people, especially transgender individuals.

When we are living in fear and living in survival mode, our morals tend to disappear and the real side of our personalities come out. 

I'm going to be honest as I can here for the few minutes I have your attention. There is an epidemic of male loneliness in the United States. Especially among right leaning young men. 

There has never been a time in most of human history where women were allowed to have freedom and bodily autonomy, rights not attached directly to freedoms and liberties. This gives women the one freedom that is more important than all, and that is CHOICE. 

Back when my grandma's generation was coming up, they couldn't get a home loan, a credit line, and even a lot of jobs because of gender discrimination. Now they are more free to be more selective or to even stay single, preferring a life without that type of commitment.

Biologically, we know that it takes young men longer to mature than their female counterparts at the same equivalent age. Then we have to factor in environmental issues like a lack of engagement from young adult men, who still want to live like children at home with their parents, choosing to spend an inordinate amount of time on video games and online computer games with their other male friends. For most of them, their only connections to the world are a small friend group and online exposure to one-sided  news that is designed to keep them in this bubble of reverberation where they only hear and see the things they want to believe. Media of all kinds, from which they are exposed non-stop nearly from birth, has been portraying men as inadequate for most of my life with characters like Al Bundy and Homer Simpson, among many others. Men are often portrayed either as a bumbling nearly helpless oafish goof, OR as the high maintenance muscle bound jock type that spends more time on his own working out, hair and makeup to rival any potential female interest. 

Then, to make things worse, there is more this trend going around online that has convinced more young men that they will never be worthy. And it's not all young women but the ones who are doing it have muddled the water. So, here it is. The 666 dating method, as I understand it. The man, allegedly must be over 6 feet tall, have a six figure salary, six pack abs,and no baby mamas or kids of his own, even if she already does with another man. 

As I said before, this has become an overblown thing online in social media. But the disheartening threat to young men is felt. We've gotten a little bit better about helping them express their emotions in a more positive manner, but then we get back to the peer pressures and societal pressures of what is presented as the image of a "real man". It's not often shown as the dad who busts his ass with multiple jobs to feed his kids, if he gets to see them because she got full custody....

A lot of young men grew up watching dysfunctional relationships that ended in divorce leaving them with negative feelings about women that lingered from childhood into adulthood. 

Then there are the Peter Pan adults that never have had to grow up and are an embarrassment and shit stain, but shown by the media to be real tough guys. I'm gonna step in and be the real voice of a real adult man and say a few things, especially in relation to this weak piece of shit sitting in the oval office right now. 

I KNOW that neither Trump nor the majority of his supporters and enablers are what society and the media have convinced people for decades of what a "real man" looks like. These people are not them, I assure you. I'll explain why. 

Real men, real mother fuckers, they don't have to brag about how great they are, how smart they are, how rich they are, how much power they have. NO.

Weak mother fuckers do. 

Real men don't have to brag about how much women love them, or how much sex they are having. 

Weak mother fuckers do. 

Real men don't have affairs because they love and are committed to their wives. 

Weak mother fuckers aren't. 

Real men don't have to pay for sex from porn stars while they're married to a model. 

Weak ass Donald Trump does. 

Real men don't have to rape or sexually assault women. 

Weak ass Donald Trump does, and has been convicted in court by a jury of peers. 

Real men don't rape underage girls, children, at Epstein island. 

Weak ass Donald Trump did.

Real men go to work and do their job. 

Weak ass Donald Trump spends most of his time golfing, tweeting, using his position of power to enhance the wealth of him, his family, and billionaire buddies, oh, and watching FOX "news" instead of working for the American people. 

Real men don't always need to be the center of attention. Real men don't need to put down or harm others to feel better about themselves. Real men don't demand others worship and praise them. They don't demand participation trophies and medals from kiss asses, suck-ups, and yes-men.

Weak men like Donald Trump do. 

Real men support others. Real men can admit they are wrong, shed a tear, and hug another man without the lame shame of bigotry and homophobia. 

Boys that think someone like Donald Trump is a "real man" don't seem to have a clue what that even would look like, poorly hiding racism and toxic masculinity behind guns, threats of violence and demonization to their perceived enemies that heaven forbid want equal rights, clean air and water, adorable housing and health care, etc... and don't forget the ever popular right wing social justice warrior online trolling. 

This Administration SUCKS!

 It is nothing but sheer CRUELTY for Trump and his criminal enterprise of an administration to create food scarcity and suffering going into the Christmas season. 

Please help those in need. Love your neighbors regardless of their skin color, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, cause that's really none of your business anyway. Everyone is struggling, often silently. The way we have been doing things, as a society, for far too long... it isn't working anymore.  people in this nation own more than the bottom half, combined. 

We have to change. We have to do better. I know it's painful, but we need to be the ideals that truly make this nation great, not the false bravado of phony strength while enacting policies of fear, hatred, and cruelty towards people that are different than you and I. 

We can't count on our government. They have betrayed us for the sake of the billionaires that own everything that we call the "economy", "politics", and "finance". It's a show to keep us in line, following the herd like sheep, asleep, and not questioning why our nation is being robbed blind, in pain sight. 

We have to take care of each other and our communities. No one is coming to rescue us. 

Paddles, Prejudice, and the Gospel of Hypocrisy

 

When a president signs an executive order making it easier for schools to punish kids without equity oversight, we're not just talking about "classroom discipline." We're watching the machinery of government bend toward an ideology that values control over compassion, punishment over fairness, and power over children's futures.

And let's not kid ourselves: this ideology doesn't come out of nowhere. It flows straight from outfits like the Heritage Foundation, the architects of Project 2025, now being implimented in real time by the Trump administration. They've dropped the mask and openly push for a white ethno-Christian nation state. Education, in their worldview, isn't about helping kids flourish. It's about shaping obedient citizens who will protect the establishment hierarchy, aka the "Deep State", as conservatives like to call it.

Hypocrisy has become Policy.

I grew up in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Spent time during my Navy service in Illinois, California, and Florida. I've seen this nation from coast to coast. I've seen the playbook in action that is taking place before our very eyes. Folks who wear their Sunday best, warming pews and singing hymns, were the same ones drinking, doing drugs, gambling, partying, and cheating their way through the weekend. Come Sunday morning, they slapped on holiness like their favorite brand of cologne.

That's not faith. That's Pascal's Wager cosplay, living however you want, then hedging your bets with ritual in case God's keeping score, so you can obtain that "Get Out of Hell Free" card. Beneath that "virtue" there was always a current of prejudice. Racism, sexism, classism, all wrapped in a veneer of "family values" and "respect for authority." When a black kid spoke up, he was "disrespectful." When a white kid did the same thing, he was "confident." Guess which one got detention.

Discipline without justice.

This new executive order strips away the only guardrails meant to protect kids from that exact bias. It tells schools: don't worry about disproportionality, just punish "bad behavior." Sounds fair in theory, until you remember that bias decides what "bad behavior" even looks like.

Black students are already 3.5 times more likely to be suspended than white peers for the same actions.

Disabled students face double the discipline rates.

Subjective charges like "defiance" or "disrespect" are tailor-made for abuse by authority figures with a chip on their shoulder.

Now, imagine those numbers after the feds green-light harsher rules. It's open season for teachers and administrators whose politics already tilt right, disproportionately punishing kids from families that lean left.

The ugliest truth is this isn't about Jesus or Christianity. It's just about TRIBALISM. It isn't even about Christianity AT ALL. The Jesus of the gospels preached about humility, compassion, care for the poor, and forgiveness of enemies. The Jesus invoked by these policies is a mascot for domination, a logo for tribal identity. It's not Christianity. It's the ethno-tribal nationalism with a Jesus bumper sticker. 

When the government power is wielded to enforce that twisted gospel, kids suffer. Families suffer. Our entire nation suffers. The entire democratic experiment suffers.

So here's the sting: if you sit in a pew on Sunday while cheering for policies that give schools more leeway to disproportionately punish children of color, you're not living the gospel. You're living the hypocrisy. Don't preach "family values" while voting for politicians that are enacting laws that tear families apart, particularly minority families. Don't preach "order" while executing and enabling injustice. Don't preach Jesus while practicing Caesar.

At the end of the day, kids deserve classrooms built on fairness, dignity, and opportunity, not the fake moral virtues of a nation stumbling backward into authoritarianism. 

American Civil War 2.0

Namaste and welcome to another posting for the Quiet Mouse Strikes back. I'm happy to have you here with me today to read my thoughts and would be happy to see my readers go back and read my library of other blogs as well. For now, however, let's jump down the rabbit hole and see where this thought process takes us.

Many Americans never believed another Civil War could besiege this nation since the first one fought between the North Union and the South Confederacy over states rights vs civil unity; slavery and banking being the foremost issues. 

Neither those living in the South nor those living in the North or any of the other respective states really was able to get over the late 1800's as the laws changed from Chattel slavery to a more broad approach that affected more than just blacks in physical bondage, favoring monetary debt over physical slavery, i.e. Jim Crow laws, many of which are still in existence today into our modern culture. 

Jim Crow laws are national, state, and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the U.S. were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation, despite many bans against discrimination in public accommodations and voting. These laws were voted out in 1965, officially, but the effects of nearly 4 centuries of inequality have left the black communities still filled with anger: less opportunities for secondary education, less job opportunities in low-income areas, less housing opportunities outside of low-income areas, etc. 

We saw first hand the results of the inequality during the pandemic as black communities and those who stood up to support them protesting out in public over high profile deaths in the black community due to racially motivated police violence that lead to murder. The BLM movement had bad marketing, I'm gonna be 100% honest about that. The grievances were real, but the message got muddled from violent actions taken by others, SEPARATE from the BLM movement that took advantage of a highly charged situation and used it for their own advantage, such as ANTIFA, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers, among other extremist groups that have their own anti-government and anti-citizen agendas.

I live and work in the Portland Oregon metroplex and I have heard countless accounts of friends and co-workers that joined the BLM movement in solidarity to end the persecution of the black community. Jews, Caucasians, Hispanics, immigrants, and other groups all joined together to end police on citizen violence, because it is NOT JUST blacks and Hispanics being murdered by over-zealous police officers.

On a side note, this is not a post to bash on police, they are over-worked and often under-paid to deal with day in and day out the shit-show horrors of the modern American society. This is a point of reference that will be concluded later in this discourse.

As far as the BLM riots, nearly EVERY time there was an actual riot, which was NOT every time the group began a protest, FAR-RIGHT  political actors and activists would show up to COUNTER-PROTEST and nearly always instigate what would later become a riot due to the back and forth fighting as racist zealots attacked peaceful protesters and their families. One clear example of this to me is one of my Jewish co-worker woman got attacked during a protest because she was white and married to a black man, standing along his side to protest the blatant inequality in prosecution of unarmed blacks by police. Thankfully she was able to escape before any great harm came to her or her husband who I will not disclose their identities due to fears of further violence from the right-wing mob. From her account, at a multi-racial peaceful protest, unmarked black vans and off-duty school buses began to unload members of the predominantly white right-wing counter-protesters that had been later reported to have came into the Portland, OR area from outlying areas like Idaho, eastern Washington, and Northern California. These individuals streamed out of their conveyances dressed in all black, wearing tactical military style gear, riot shields, and many carrying weapons. A member of the local media later did an expose to reveal that there were several members of the black-clad counter-protest mob that were later identified as off-duty Portland police officers, caught on video vandalizing local businesses so they could make case to use violent force against the BLM and ANTIFA left-leaning crowds they would later use bean bag bullets, tear gas, and use of Federal agents to arrest people off the streets, secretly into unmarked vans, all caught on tape for this expose I previously referred to. 

In the years since these events, both major political ideologies have pushed further and further away from a centrist view of the United States of America. The break and ideological differences cannot be summed up so easily as the build up to the first Civil War because it is no longer about simple geographical differences being the North and South. Many of the ideological issues are still the same now as they were then, being a fundamental argument about individual rights and liberties vs. state rights to control the narrative of the populace within its' jurisdiction vs. national Constitutional rights and the greater good of the populace at large. 

The REALITY is that both the Republicans AND the Democrats have for too long been courting the far extremists of their parties, respectively, PLUS decade after decade of our scam of a voting system forcing Americans to choose the "lesser of two evils" that are preselected for us,  while always voting for self-serving con artists belonging to the two parties that BOTH support the ostentatiously wealthy oligarchy at the top of the pyramid scam. This is the real reason that no matter what party is in charge the rich always get richer and every generation, the wealth gap of inequity and inequality increases dramatically. 

The two political extremes are the SAME ideologies that have been fighting since forever in human society, both willing to use violence and violent rhetoric to incite the public masses into fighting one another while they finance BOTH parties and their respective candidates, because no matter who wins an election, they win the game of acquisition, power, and control. 

The Pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 strain of virus widened the gap between the haves and the have-nots, many Americans losing their jobs, their businesses, and their livelihoods. Some have lost their will to participate in this society and have left the job markets. Some have lost their retirement funds in the volatile markets and the bounce- back of the economy under Joe Biden has yet to be felt by struggling families that are still paying more for things like food and fuel, unfortunately, mostly due to greedflation. Many lost their benefits such as health insurance. Most are STILL trying to recover, many of whom are still working multiple jobs to make ends meet. 

Meanwhile there is a narrative being put out by the media that Americans don't want to work or are just lazy or that we should just be happy because things COULD BE A LOT WORSE, always being compared to a third-world nation, with now president Donald Trump calling our nation "pathetic" while dismantling our government with the help of Elon Musk and other sycophants and "yes-men/women" in order justify the privatization of government agencies and public services.

According to the SEC or Securities Exchange Commission, corporate profits are up by over 25% across the board the calendar year of 2023. I have not yet seen the statistics for 2024, my apologies. 

Meanwhile while taking in billions in profits and government subsidies paid for with our tax dollars, corporations called the workforce lazy and unmotivated, advocating for the removal of social safety nets like Social Security and Medicare. The truth is that they are only partially right. Americans don't want to work- that is, for sub-standard wages in shitty conditions only to be forced to take exploitative ill-treatment from abusive customer bases, i.e. the restaurant, service, and hospitality industries, many of whom are still required to work for substandard wages and benefits. But we should be grateful, so we are told as a society because the stock market is booming. Never mind the fact that over half of American citizens do not have the money to participate in the stock market...

The irony is palpable as the upper 1% of earners that reap over 90% of societal wealth through no hard work of their own, having a representative class of Congressional lackeys, made up Senators and Representatives, lobbyists, and lawyer, bought and paid for, to enact their own perpetuating money scheme against the true Americans, the working class and the working poo, as the laws are written to benefit their group, their class, not the masses. That makes the struggle more real for the rest of us who weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths.

This is NOT to say that all of those with money are evil, nor all poor and working class good. There is an undercurrent in our society from top to bottom, including members of all ethnicities and social backgrounds. This undercurrent seeks to control information in order to control the narrative of society in order to keep you living IN FEAR. The billionaires want the rest of us to be fat, diseased, lazy, stupid, living in fear, and obsessed with consumerism. 

Don't get me wrong, the second Civil War has already begun. We averaged nearly 52 violent homicides PER DAY last year!!! We don't perceive it as a Civil War because we have been conditioned to the historical textbook idea of men wearing different colored matching clothing fighting across a battlefield. The battlefield of this age is not just physical, but digital as well. There is a war going on EVERY SINGLE DAY on social media where the members of political affiliation and citizen representation are glorifying their biased agenda to damage the Constitution and large portions of its citizenry including the most vulnerable groups: children and senior citizens. 

There have been open calls for Civil War by members of Congress (like Marjorie Taylor Greene: with rhetoric of 'national divorce') and an openly fueled insurrection on January 6th 2021 because the lies of the deep state and FOX News DEMANDED that the followers of their cult leader Donald Trump do so. Since then they have cancelled books, movies, entertainers, women's bodily autonomy and rights to medical care...

Next, in their Project 2025 manifesto, the Republicans are openly stating their intention to go after LGBTQIA+ individuals and their liberties. They want to shut down schools to force them to teach a singular religion (rather than freedom of all religions), rather than science, history, math, and language, to focus on sports rather than learning. They want to get rid of contraception and abortion, but don't want to add a single cent into the budget that would help out pregnant mothers or the child they are forced to carry, like mandatory maternal leave pay, low-cost birth (it costs over $10,000 to give birth at an American hospital), WIC, SNAP/food stamps, head start, low-cost child care while the mother has to go back to work, pre-K, free school lunches for children (which should include a salad bar in every school), etc...

For every racist, inbred, obese, Bible-thumping nitwit, there is an educated, rational, enlightened, well-meaning citizen to balance them out. The most important thing to know and understand is that the ideologies of the far right "conservatives" are dying out and going the way of the dinosaurs. They come up with clever catch phrases like "woke" to marginalize people that are sick of the lopsided system that benefits the few rather than the many. They try to ban education because it is a reminder of their own falsehoods and inadequacies, their irrational uneducated opinions that contradict facts and rational reality.

There is hope for the future because the younger generations are coming up to be more tolerant and more intelligent, finding solutions to problems created by prior generations. Sometimes that means they step away from toxic people and situations that haven't benefited them on a soul level. 

Two things can be real at the same time. We can have a prosperous economy and still help those in need. The younger generations are getting it... why can't the older ones?

It took a long time for me to understand it. It will take even longer for the new mindset of coexistence and conscious living to become the norm, but that is the direction things are headed, like the currents that push the waves in the ocean. So is this shift in the current of energy on this planet. 

Those that choose to hold onto the past will be left behind. Yes, unfortunately there will be people that violently try to cling onto the antiquated beliefs that comforted them in the past, but soon they will be faced with the acknowledgment that there are intelligent beings among us already. Soon the need for war will be nonexistent. It is a manufactured construct of the human mind, after all. The Earth is plentiful. We just have inadequate distribution systems that favor the rich and impoverish the poor. Poverty is a man made creation. Things like poverty and homelessness are not easy to overcome. There will always be some people who choose to live outside societal boundaries and norms. For those who wish to see the real American dream, it doesn't have to be a current nightmare. It doesn't have to be negative. There is a dying grasp on power and control. That generation built on warmongering and hoarding wealth is dying out. 

I see a future where the United States returns to a land of not just opportunities, but innovation. Yes, I think we will have some rough times ahead caused by the people who are afraid of the change that has already begun. It started around 2012 and hasn't stopped. People across all walks of life are sick of the corporate greedflation. People are deciding they have had enough. Some have turned to violence. But many many more, that don't make the nightly "news", are individuals and communities coming together to improve things on a more micro level. 

Despite what the dick heads in Washington DC want to believe, the true American spirit was fashioned in hard working folks coming together for a unified belief that anyone can make it with enough hard work, but it takes a village to create good people. We all have the desire to take care of the ones we love and seek that same love in return. We don't need government, the government needs us, taxpayers. Want to stick it to the man? Grow a garden, co op on a farm or plot of land. Recycle, reuse, or repair anything you can. Sew your own clothing. Fix your own car. 

The point is that it doesn't have to be something major to make a major change. If everyone does a few kind things, with no expectations of reward and payment, just out of caring. Many people say that they love this country then bash on it and don't help. Change is easy to talk about, but it's difficult to break out of negative thought patterns, negative living situations. My personal experience is that I want us to succeed as a nation. Because if we have all this wealth countered by all this poverty, then are we really all that successful as a nation? And do you really think that trying to take us back to a more repressive era is somehow going to make life better? That mindset has caused major divides in our culture. 

Yes, the Civil War 2.0 is already here being fought in our schools, our government, and our daily lives at home and at work, in some instances. We are forced to live, breathe, and work around others that we don't always agree with, even on basic civil issues like work environments, grocery and shopping store etiquette, driving, and taxes, for example. Yet, somehow despite all those differences, if no one starts any discord, then there won't be any discord. Communication is paramount in dealing with life. There will always be people who rub us the wrong way, ones that we can't or won't agree to disagree. Like myself for example, I think we can agree to disagree on things like fashion, sports, and food preferences. I refuse to agree to disagree on things like human rights which include things like gender rights, and other Constitution afforded rights in equality with any other group. In a perfect society I wouldn't even have to make that affirmation for those that are being excluded from living their American dream. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are our rights. The cornerstone of those rights is bodily autonomy. Without that, all other rights are meaningless. In order to restore our nation, we must become the greatness that we preach about. In order to do so, we must stop the petty fighting. We are one people, not the enemy of one another. The people trying to come here to make a better life... they are our people too. We are ALL part of the same family: homo sapiens. When we realize that when we hurt one, we hurt all, the world will understand peace. No war or violence against your fellow human is justified. We must protect ourselves, yes, but for far too long we've allowed ourselves to be the instigators and we've suffered greatly for it. Do no harm, but take no shit. Words to live by. 

American Conservatism

Once we recognize that Libertarianism is essentially neo-feudalism, and that it is now the dominant conservative philosophy of the Republican Party, it’s not hard to understand Republican priorities. 

The basic idea of neo-feudalism, at least as I discuss it here, is that power is properly derived from wealth and the willingness to seize it, and not from votes. Power is held by wealthy employers and investors, who use it to build loyalty among the less fortunate, by means of patronage or bullying, without being hindered by popular elected officials. 

 

While this aligns somewhat with fascism, neo-feudalism has different reasons for many of the same priorities. Yet it’s still a a weaponization of the state’s power for the use of wealthy individuals, the church, and corporations—specifically away from traditionally marginalized or non-wealthy groups. (I’d call it more of a “semi-fascism,” although perhaps it’s just another example of how fascism localizes itself wherever it rises.) Shrinking the size and power of democratic government is therefore essential to this philosophy, because it moves power away from the majority and their votes, and toward individual wealth and existing power.

 

Those with the most capital tend to have a small check on their activities in a democracy already, because they aren’t elected officials and their power can’t be voted away. They also have a built-in barrier to being elected, despite their ability to spend more on their races, because in a democracy the policies they promote will be unpopular with most citizens. 

So instead, they build fear and distrust of any government by and for the people by targeting marginal groups, and then point to the weakened and/or untrusted state to create a power vacuum that they themselves can fill. Trump himself is a good example of how this works in action, and the continuing election of extremely wealthy fraudsters like Rick Scott show just how popular this anti-democratic movement has become. 

Here are some the tools being used:

-Citizens United & unlimited campaign contributions to PACs, including from foreign sources, to ensure higher influence of wealth in votes

 

-Deliberate shift away from democracy and voting by limiting who can vote

-Push for any assistance to be church- or corporate-based, creating reliance on generosity of individuals and not society as a safety net for poor

 

-Intense opposition to any government assistance, as it lessens employer dominance; this includes govt-funded healthcare, unemployment assistance, social security, etc.

-Pumping money into military budgets at expense of everything else, for this system will require massive enforcement AND because a weak government makes foreign takeover a real concern and the budgets are just increasing annually as the wasteful spending drains taxpayer dollars and stifles American innovation and excellence.

 

-Privatize everything, even the military, to link corporate control to all of society’s functions - and enables massive profit-taking for the well-connected (look at the immense fortunes built by decades of ineffective “training” in Afghanistan)

With this “neo-feudalist” lens, it becomes fairly straightforward to predict where the GOP will land on any given issue. Despite their lack of a policy platform, we don’t actually need to read it. After all, it would only expose their most unpopular beliefs, and we can ascertain those simply by looking at what keeps power in the hands of the powerful. 

From their opposition to social security, to universal healthcare (harder to exploit people when they aren’t desperate), to FEMA (can’t funnel money through their own organizations that way), to women’s rights, to contraception (same issue on exploitation), to military privatization, to private prisons, to taxes (especially to taxes), it’s all predictable if you see what shifts power to the already-powerful. 

 

It’s what conservatism has always done. It’s simply more brazenly authoritarian now, because it’s fighting back against real power from an engaged and evolving nation. 

Conservatism is authoritarian, and it always was. When conservatives face change they will always abandon democracy and impose their beliefs through force to retain power. It has happened here before and it is happening here again.

 

Small government? That has always applied to one thing, and one thing only: reducing the power of the state to regulate the wealthy. And today that means reducing the ability to vote. Rules limiting what you can read, how you worship, what you can do in private as a consenting adult, where you can speak and what you can say, that’s where conservatives adore big government. But letting the will of the common people prevail? That’s where conservatives want to drown democracy in a bathtub.

Dear Anti-vaxers

I'm just gonna skip the formalities and get straight to the point. I am sick and tired of hearing all the bull shit and excuses for why Americans won't get the Covid 19 vaccine. I've been angry for a while about it, but this morning I've decided I'm gonna say my peace and attempt to be done with it; wash my hands of it...

Dear Anti-vaxxers, you are correct about your rights to your body, but ironic that consideration isn't given to pregnant women over their own bodies. 

You are correct about your Constitutional rights, but you aren't in the least considering those rights of your fellow citizens or considering the flip side of the coin which is your civic duties to this nation and its citizens. 

You are correct that you shouldn't have to be forced to take a shot you don't want, but that's the WHOLE POINT. You SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE FORCED TO DO THE RIGHT THING!!! 

You are correct about these vaccines being pushed out on the market very quickly, but what you don't know is that this technology has been in development for nearly 20 years in attempt to fight other SARS Covid viruses, so it was easy, with $50 billion of our tax dollars injected into the industry and allowing all 3 phases of testing and trials to be completed simultaneously, to transition the technology into fighting this newer deadly pathogen. Now the Pfizer vaccine has received full FDA approval after rigorous testing. 

You are correct that there are some side effects from getting the vaccine, none of which compare to DEATH...

You are correct about saying we don't know the long term effects of this vaccine, but let's look at the efficacy of other vaccines on the market... when's the last time you had polio? Measles? Rubella? Typhoid? Tetanus? Scarlet fever? Diphtheria? Oh that's right! You haven't had them because your parents GOT YOU VACCINATED!!! 

The REALITY is that the modern world you and I live in is because of medical technology. 

I had childhood cancer that I SURVIVED TWICE because of medical technology. 

There's less infant mortality because of medical technology. 

There's more prevention of transmittable diseases because of medical technology. 

People live longer lifespans because of medical technology. 

Less people die from surgery and post surgical complications like infections due to medical technology. 

We can detect cancers, diseases, and other illnesses through simple tests now and begin treatment quicker so you don't die!!! Because of medical technology. 

You have the right to be upset about being inconvenienced by the nation not being reopened for regular business and pleasure as you would like, or having to show a card proving you are vaccinated, but just know this one thing very emphatically:

YOU ARE THE REASON THINGS CAN'T AND HAVEN'T GONE BACK TO NORMAL YET!

25% or more of Americans say they absolutely will not take the jab, not even to get to the "herd immunity" they ranted on and on about for the entire year of 2020. They don't even want to give Donald Trump the credit he deserves. It took him 9 months of lies and misinformation to pull his head from his fat orange ass, but once he did, the response was swift and effective. Biden just made the process faster and more efficient to get the vaccine into as many Americans as possible to stave off more unnecessary deaths from a 100% preventable disease. 

Y'all didn't want to be inconvenienced by having to stay home when sick. 

Y'all didn't want to be inconvenienced by washing your hands or social distancing. 

Y'all didn't want to be inconvenienced by wearing a mask to protect yourself and others. 

Y'all didn't want to have the bars, restaurants, clubs, gyms, bowling alleys, movie theaters, etc. shut down either. 

Y'all especially didn't want to consider the health and well being of other people besides yourself. 

Y'all wanted to act patriotic, but won't actually do anything to protect your fellow citizens. Y'all flew Trump flags and screamed about Antifa and BLM as over 400,000 Americans during that time had died and has now more than doubled that since due to the mutations and new variants like delta and omicron. 

Y'all threw Covid parties and some of you lost friends, family, loved ones or your own life due to arrogance, stupidity, or just plain hubris.

Y'all spread hate across the Internet towards those of Asian ancestry. Hate crimes went up by 300% due to the rhetoric of calling Covid 19 the "China Virus" or "Kung-flu". A close friend, an immigrant from Vietnam had her adult child harassed and bullied on a college campus this last year. 

Y'all blamed the Obama's, the Clinton's, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Gates, Hunter Biden, the Chinese communist party, LEFTISTS, Marxists, socialists, ANTIFA, and ANYONE else you could use as a SCAPEGOAT to AVOID TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in this matter. 

The reality is that it doesn't really matter where the virus came from in how we treat it (there are ongoing investigations on the origins of this pathogen), medically, and how we treat one another, humanely. This sad situation over the last two years has shown us very clearly that 25% or more of the American people DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE OTHER 75% or less. That is their RIGHT. It's just a shit attitude and a shit way to treat your fellow humans; fellow citizens.

Anti-vaxxers DON'T YOU DARE COMPLAIN ABOUT THINGS BEING CLOSED OR BEING BURDENED OR THAT YOUR A VICTIM. YOU'RE NOT. We saw very clearly now that YOU are the bully and you want to PRETEND PATRIOTISM while showing vile contempt for the rest of us. I heard so many people from this minority in the Anti-vaxxer community that they were perfectly fine with people dying so they didn't have to be inconvenienced. 

Empathy is inconvenient. I get it. I just don't want to see the victim card played EVER AGAIN by ANYONE that was fine with millions of deaths across the globe. 1% of 7.5 billion humans is 75 million people. Current global death toll because of caring, hard working doctors, technicians, scientists, chemists, and all their supporting staffs is only 3.76 million. Those lost lives are tragic and my heart goes out to any and all who lost loved ones to this preventable disease... all because folks were too inconvenienced to mask, wash hands, social distance, stay home when sick, and get vaccinated. 

Y'all claim to be adults so now it's time to grow the fuck up. 

Now we have new variants that are more contagious and harmful if not deadly. Thanks for that. Was it worth it?

The LOKI Paradox

Namaste my fellow geeks as well as to my friends, family, and fellow knowledge seekers. Now as you all know, or at least I believe you all to be aware, there is a new show out on Disney+ called LOKI. I'm gonna start with a little recap of the MCU and then postulate from there about the direction of the show. Also, even though today is the release of episode 2, I have not yet watched it yet... so there won't be any spoilers...

As we know from Norse mythology and it's subsequent role in the MCU over the Infinity saga, LOKI is a formidable, cunning adversary. Born LOKI Laufeyson, his father Laufey ruled over the ice/frost giants of Jotunheim. LOKI was unusually small for a frost giant and was left in a temple to die, shortly after to be found and rescued by ODIN after the war between the frost giants and the Asgardians. ODIN brought LOKI back to Asgard and used his magic to make the child look like an Asgardian; adopting and raising him as a son to be brothers with Thor, his biological child. 

We know from Thor that LOKI felt burdened with glorious purpose to rule over Midgard, Asgard, and the other realms. In the sequel, we saw LOKI fake his own death and indeed show himself as a mischievous scamp. We later find out that he messed with Odin's mind, usurp the throne of Asgard, parade around in his father's clothes, commemorate statutes in his true image, but went as far as commissioning a theatrical play of his accomplishments, featuring Liam Hemsworth, Sam Neil, and fan favorite Matt Damon. This segment was good for some laughs, to be sure. 

Unfortunately, LOKI from the first Avengers (Assemble) was bound by his pursuit of glorious purpose. The Infinity stone, the tesseract, fell into the hands on Loki due to the time travel angle he figured out by smelling the cologne of Tony Stark from the future who was dressed as an agent in combat attire. Brilliant. We saw how he was teleported to Mongolia and almost immediately was met by the Time Variance Authority or TVA. LOKI was knocked silly by a time baton and apprehended into TVA custody; TVA agents releasing something unusual that was going to reset that last part of the timeline for the locals as the agents, with LOKI,  disappeared through their temporal portal. 

After the fear tactics and humiliation, he is brought into a courtroom and ruminated about himself being the victim of conspiracy at the hands of who he deemed as the real culprits in the Avengers. LOKI very casually suggests he be allowed to return to his timeline and rectify the situation by destroying the Avengers. To his shock, he is told that their deeds of time travel are allowed, but LOKI teleporting out of Avengers tower with the tesseract was unacceptable, he was a variant, and they were going to kill him... until Agent Mobius M. Mobius stepped in with a different direction to the story. We find out just after that they are in a large city like structure before Mobius gives LOKI his "This is your life" greatest hits and misses. Followed by the revelation that this variant of LOKI was needed to hunt down an even more dangerous variant of LOKI. That catches up to the end of episode 1.

I want to rewind and go over a few details of episode 1 before I reveal my theory about the show. 

1) the Skrull when LOKI first arrives in the TVA. 

2) inside the courtroom you could see 3 panels on the wall, each with a mural of different classes of TVA employees. You could see the agent enforcement group, the civil servant group, and what look like the Judges...

3) after LOKI's brief escape, a woman is seen briefly in what looks like 1950s attire with brown hair similar to Peggy Carter...

4) the fact that LOKI laughed at his own death, but cried at his adopted mother's death showed a great deal about the character of this variant. Other variants apparently weren't this remorseful...

5) LOKI calling the 3 time keepers "Space lizards". This ironic and likely could be a plot point later on, likely linked to He Who Remains, the sole survivor of the destruction of the previous universe. 

6) if you recall the short video with Miss Minutes, she described an ancient multiversal war (madness) with a short animated video that looked exactly like the home planet of Thanos, Titan. Doubt that's a coincidence. Perhaps this will be a pivotal plot point for the Eternals?

7) I have to mention Casey's box of Infinity stones. In the TVA, we're told that the magical powers of characters and Infinity stones just flat out doesn't work there. Ironically there are more green time stones than any of the other colors, leading me to wonder how many times the Sorcerer Supreme: Dr. Strange and/or the Ancient One had been pruned by the TVA? This too could explain the variant difference in the Red Skull Johan Schmidt on Vormir...

Okay, now it's time for my personal theories about what is going on in the show. 

1) I personally believe the TVA is located inside of the quantum realm, based upon evidence from Ant Man and the Wasp. Fan theories pointed to evidence of a large city existing inside the quantum realm and this could both explain the presence of the TVA and Janet Van Dyne being able to survive for nearly 30 years. This also could explain why Scott Lang was immune from the snap of the Infinity Gauntlet, as the magical powers of the Infinity stones don't work in the quantum realm.

2) The Ancient One had a talk with Professor Hulk in Endgame about the "sacred timeline" which defined for the viewers the overview that mortals of this universe have about the timeline. It is highly likely she was aware of the TVA, albeit unaware that their existence is outside and beyond the physical bounds of their current universe.

3) It is highly likely that we've already seen the first glimpses of the Multiverse in Dr. Strange as we explored the shattered dimension as well as the realm of Dormammu, the 9 realms of Thor, and the quantum universe of Ant Man and the Wasp.

4) The TVA seems clearly upset about losing agents to another variant of LOKI, meaning there are ALREADY alternate timelines in play. I've postulated about this in other blogs on the subject and my analysis is that Disney Marvel is going to write off the other Marvel projects done by other studios like FOX and SONY, to be in different timelines and that the TVA is misleading the audience into believing there is only 1 timeline in THEIR protected SACRED TIMELINE. 

5) The variant dilema. Marvel writers could very easily use this idea of variants to explain away some of the inconsistencies of the MCU such as Terrance Howard in the original portrayal of Colonel Rhodes a.k.a. War Machine, Edward Norton as the Hulk, and surely the Tobey McGuire and Andrew Garfield Spider-man variants from Sony. This also could possibly be the catalyst to bringing the extended cast of characters in from the previous studios like the X-men and the Brotherhood, Fantastic 4, Defenders, Sinister 6, Dr. Doom, etc. 

6) Another variant dilema is the pandora's box they've opened with this concept. There could likely be variants of our favorite heroes in the MCU. Quicksilver variant could have actually been Ralph Bohner or vice versa. Will we end up seeing Captain Hydra variant where Steve Rogers joined Hydra instead of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Will we see a reboot of those characters from non-canon stories like Agent Carter or the Defenders like Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Jessica Jones? Did I just stumble onto the premise for the upcoming animated Disney+ show "What if...?"? We've already seen in the trailer for "What if..?" Peggy Carter dressed up as Captain Britain with the infamous shield from Howard Stark. T'Challa as Star Lord. Marvel Zombies... Seems like those possibilities are endless.

7)Why was the time travel done by the Avengers deemed as acceptable, but LOKI jumping out of his path on the timeline was forbidden? My theory is because the entire Infinity Saga was just a big time loop, similar to the one we saw in Dr. Strange as he entrapped Dormamu into rage quitting from boredom of killing the sorcerer supreme in an infinite loop.

Steve Rogers was the time anchor for the entire time loop, starting from his time travel into the future from being frozen in ice, "Capsicle" to Tony Stark. The TVA didn't punish the Avengers because of Steve Rogers time loop that nearly always ended with LOKI making the best versions of the titular hero characters by inducing pain, misery, and suffering, devoid of the events of the subsequent movies that humbled him to being an anti-hero rather than a villain. Steve Rogers had already gone back in time, as we can clearly see the older version of his character as a pallbearer at his late wife Peggy Carter's funeral, seen in CA: Civil War. The loop was already in progress, the Avengers just didn't figure it out yet... except Steve and Bucky. Bucky knew Steve's secret because he encountered the older version of Steve at some point in the past where he was already married to Peggy Carter at that point under his alternate identity as Roger Stevens. They had 2 children together. Bucky kept his secret and in the future for Steve, the present for the rest of the Avengers, both Bucky and Steve looked very chill and Steve opted not to relay his life story for his friend Sam Wilson. Steve got to disappear and be dead to the world, as we saw in Falcon and Winter Soldier. 

When Steve left the current timeline, he likely took his time to return the stones to their proper place in the timeline due to the fact that he was already aware of the loop he was in. As it resulted for him personally to have his dream life with Peggy Carter, I doubt he really was too concerned with the idea of any kind of sacred timeline, only to pass on the legacy of Captain America to the next worthy person he could think of in Sam Wilson: a good man with a good heart. He clearly returned all the stones because the present for Sam and Buck was seamless when the older version of Steve Rogers returned with an intact shield to pass on his legacy to Sam. 

LOKI, on the other hand, obsessed with his GLORIOUS PURPOSE, sought to use the Infinity stones for a nefarious, self-serving purpose, as opposed to the Avengers who used time travel to stop the universe from being destroyed by Thanos and his dark order. The TVA snatched the variant LOKI out of the Gobi desert in Mongolia and returned a cloned version of himself back into the timestream to keep the Sacred Timeline intact, the version where LOKI was apprehended by the Avengers and taken back to Asgard to pay for his crimes. The captured variant of LOKI learned that there was no timeline where he didn't live as an antagonist or villain existing only to bring out the better versions of others like the Avengers. Mobius gives the character a bit of hope that there can be a life beyond the preset limitations set upon him by the alleged all-knowing Time Keepers. This is likely also a point of reference for the remainder of the show as this variant audibly threatened to burn down the TVA... a different, more sinister version of this character might not have the moral compass of this LOKI, i.e. the girl pointing at the image of the devil in the cathedral in the first episode. 

The existence of the variant LOKI still alive, yet replaced in his own timeline leads the viewers to question how many different LOKI variants there could be in the story. Mobius wants to understand the psychology of this variant in hopes to find a way to stop the more deadly, likely female, variant wreaking havoc on the Sacred Timeline, likely leading us back to another multiversal war between the different timeline universes. As I said before, this is a good way to bring in more characters, possibly even more cosmic characters like the Celestials, namely Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer.

Another point of reference for the story is the previous Disney+ show WandaVision. In the Miss Minutes video we learn that a divergent timeline branch that spawns a variant from the Sacred Timeline is called a NEXUS event. Wanda, we had learned is a NEXUS BEING, capable of rewriting reality due to her contact with the Mind Stone in the staff of LOKI, incredibly increasing her innate Scarlet Witch magic. We've already learned that the title of the next Sorcerer Supreme movie is Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Could Wanda Maximoff be the catalyst for breaking the sacred timeline and expanding into a dangerous multiversal war? Are there other Nexus beings in the current MCU or will they be introducing more in the near future?

Well, this has been fun and a lot to think about I'm sure. I thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my thoughts and hope this day finds you with blessings and joy as you watch the newest episode tonight. This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse.