#[ levinsent ]

[whitherwanderer]

like and subscribe?? ♿

[fexicoded]

I’m blaming sam levinson for the delay. Anyway i think angus got a role in hotd or am i going crazy

Nah he defo didn’t get a role in hotd and I feel like they don’t film in Ireland?

But he did follow Amybeth McNulty who I ADORE from AWAE, my awae heart soared when he followed her BUT once again, AB is based in the UK now.

So I’m a tad lost as to what the project could be however I’m happy Angus is getting a chance to go back to Ireland and stay for awhile as he did seem happy when he was there last time.

And once again, let’s say it together fuck Sam Levinsion because I’m not sure how they can justify multiple setbacks in filming esp since it’s been 2 years since filming for s2 wrapped.

[cinefairys]

euphoria spoilers/leaks

if fez dies this season (or goes to jail) what was the point of sam levinsion hinting a relationship between him and lexi? like it aint gonna happen next season

[bwayfan25]

For Susan: 7, 10, 24

Thank you for asking!

7- What is their perfume of choice?

Hmmm. I don’t see her as someone who really seeks out perfume per se, but I could definitely see her trying to find a body wash or shampoo in a scent that complements Kerry’s. I’m not exactly what that is, but I feel like she’d know it if she smelled it.

10 - Do they cook from scratch, order takeaway, or eat out?

I feel like Susan knew how to cook some things before she moved in with Weaver-Levinses, but it definitely would have increased afterwards. Between Mildred teaching her how to recreate family recipes and a hint of wanting to compete with Kerry, she really took up cooking more after that.

Nowadays, it’s definitely more takeout because she’s just so tired all the time. She’ll opt to order from DoorDash just because she doesn’t want to have to think too hard about what to eat after working for fifteen hours straight. The downside to that is that Charlie runs ten miles a day and therefore eats a ridiculous amount of food because of her high metabolism. As a result, she is the only child that must contribute money to dinner via Venmo towards dinner (assuming she orders like three entrees).

24 - Last film that made them cry?

Susan doesn’t really strike me as someone who cries a lot at movies, so it would have to be something that really hits close to home to do it. I’d think it’s either a movie about losing a best friend or, more likely, a movie that Mark loved. Maybe something they watched together and quoted back and forth or even just something he mentioned was his favorite and she watched to know what it was. I don’t really know what movie that would be, but I think that’s what would do it.

On a happier note, I’ve decided Susan’s favorite movie is The Princess Bride as an homage to my fiancé, as that’s his favorite movie. She loved it anyways, but it was made better when she learned that Michael Levin had an uncanny Inigo Montoya impression.

[restinpiss]

New sam levinsion creation looks extra demonic

[edisonashley]

Antonios Kouroutakis: How liberal is a democracy without a level playing field in the political process?

A couple of days ago, OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office after several years of investigation reported that Members of the European Parliament were ‘transferring part of their salaries to the national party coffers.’

Across the pond, Washington Post, a newspaper, reported that the President’s Name, ‘Trump’, would be printed in the memo section of the stimulus check granted to millions of Americans due to the Covid-19 relief package passed by Congress.

Prima facie these two stories are unrelated.  Both stories, however, encapsulate practices of political self-entrenchment. In the former case, the political parties involved increased their resources by half a million euros each, which means that they could outspend on political advertising compared to opposing political parties. In the latter case, the President’s name on the stimulus check is free advertisement a couple of months before the elections.

The theory of political self-entrenchment: economic, political and legal aspects and the inefficient framework

Political self-entrenchment, which is defined by Levinsion and Sachs as the use of tools by which political actors insulate themselves from political change,  has been examined from different perspectives and provoked scepticism in different sciences. In economics, Acemoglu and Robinson have used a plethora of historical examples to show how the elites resisted change in order to protect their dominance in the political sphere. Moreover, Buchanan  views governments like monopolies with political actors purporting to entrench their interests and also refers to their so-called ‘political income’ as a part of the total rewards of office. In political science, Dahl argues that the public good of serving in office is likely to be transformed in time into the maintenance of powers and privileges.

In the legal field, Klarman proposed an anti-entrenchment theory of judicial review focused on electoral matters. Justice Scalia pointed out that the ‘first instinct of power is the retention of power’. Pildes has characterised political self-entrenchment as a structural cancer.

Self-entrenchment can be exemplified in many other scenarios.  For example, in Country A, where a political party has won the elections, and then replaced the executive body in the Public Broadcasting Service, positioning loyal party members within it, to ensure that the Public Broadcasting Service will report friendly news.   Or in Country B, where the President of the Republic has won a second and final term in office, according to the term limits. However, during his second term he initiates an amendment process to abolish the term limits, meaning that the President would be allowed to run again for office. Or in Country C, a political party wins the elections and secures the necessary supermajority to amend the Constitution. It amends the Constitution, by weakening the system of checks and balances and by limiting the power of the opposition. That way it secures its dominance in the political system.

What seems to be common in the aforementioned cases, which are not completely fictional, is the fact that political actors, incumbent politicians, prevailing political parties,  and electoral majorities, take advantage of and even abuse their power for self-serving purposes. As a result an uneven playing field is formed in the political arena with some political actors facing disadvantages, obstacles and possibly barriers to entry. Accordingly, even well established democracies based on rule of law and human rights protections, with free and periodic elections, lack completely fair elections.

Interestingly, in the two cases mentioned at the outset, a coherent legal framework to block and deter acts of self-entrenchment was absent. In the former case reported by OLAF, while the transferring public funds to the national party coffers was contrary to the rules of the European Parliament, OLAF remarks that European Parliament does not ‘have effective sanctions in place to address effectively the breach of its rules and to enable the recovery of due amounts established by the investigation’. In the latter case of the US stimulus checks, the appearance of the President’s name on an Internal Revenue Service disbursement is a breach of a longstanding practice, and possibly a constitutional convention, as it will be the first time such incident will take place.

The impact of political self-entrenchment on political equality

Political self-entrenchment poses imperative questions about the quality of the modern democracy and most importantly about equality of opportunities in the political arena, the importance of which in electoral matters has been stressed by the Venice Commission. Thus political self-entrenchment is not simply a structural deficit in the political system, it is also a human rights issue distorting equality.

While modern constitutions do not address the accessibility of democracies explicitly on condition of a level playing field, a number of constitutional provisions aim to safeguard equality of opportunities and an inclusive political system. The principle of political equality in the right to stand for election (passive suffrage) is embedded in the constitutional provision on equality (see for instance article 3 of the Basic Law of Germany, or at a pan European level see Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention of Human Rights, likewise in the US the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, see also Colegrove v. Green, 1946).

Despite this, surprisingly, such incidents are not that rare. For example, in Greece a couple of weeks ago, the Government hosted cartoons mocking the leader of the opposition on the official website designed to inform the people about the developments on Covid 19.

Within this context, how do we safeguard democracy from political actors who abuse their office in order to retain power at the expense of new political actors? What does constitutional law do to face this problem and what more should it do? How can we raise public awareness on the issue of political self-entrenchment?

The task for those who believe in liberal democracies and constitutionalism is to ensure that constitutional systems have the appropriate and adequate mechanisms to prevent and deter these sort of practices that create an uneven playing field in the political process.

The ideal model is a competitive democracy without barriers to entry, with free and fair democratic elections. In an ideally competitive democracy, people benefit and gain satisfaction when the most competent leaders are elected. The most competent leaders then successfully channel the state powers in the direction that the people wish maximizing voters’ political welfare.

Have constitutions failed to safeguard a level playing field? Possibly yes; since there is no explicit principle or a systematic framework embedded in the constitutional arrangements to enhance a competitive democracy.

On the other hand, it can be argued that this pathology should be evaluated by voters in political terms during elections, while a strict legal approach will overregulate and judicialise politics. This may indeed be true. But the question now is whether the plethora of cases showing the manipulation of the constitutional system for self-serving purposes  signal that the time has come for a more legal approach.

Dr. Antonios Kouroutakis, Assistant Professor, IE University

(Suggested citation: A. Kouroutakis, ‘How liberal is a democracy without a level playing field in the political process?’, U.K. Const. L. Blog (21st May 2020) (available at https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/))

Antonios Kouroutakis: How liberal is a democracy without a level playing field in the political process? published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.weebly.com/

[riederstravis]

FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT-“TRUE NAME” PROVISION

Levins v Healthcare Revenue Recovery Group, LLC, 2018 U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Cir., LEXIS 23577 (August 22, 2018) Jordan J.  In this appeal, we interpret three provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692-1692p. Elaine and William Levins allege that Healthcare Revenue Recovery Group, LLC (“HRRG”) violated §§ 1692e(4), 1692d(6), and 1692e(10) by leaving telephone voice messages that did not use its true name, did not meaningfully disclose its identity, and used false representations and deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect a debt or obtain information about a consumer. In particular, the Levinses complain that voicemail messages in which HRRG went by the name of “ARS” were insufficient to identify it as HRRG or even as “ARS ACCOUNT RESOLUTION SERVICES,” which is an alternative business name used by HRRG. HRRG moved to dismiss the complaint, as amended, for failure to state a claim, and the District Court granted the motion. We conclude that the Levinses have stated a plausible claim that HRRG violated § 1692e(14)’s “true name” provision, but they have not stated plausible claims under §§ 1692d(6) or 1692e(10). Accordingly, we will vacate in part and affirm in part the dismissal of their case. Here, at this early stage in the case, when we must take the allegations in the complaint as true, the Levinses have plausibly alleged facts suggesting that “ARS” is not the “true name” of HRRG. Here, the voicemail messages would not mislead the least sophisticated debtor because the messages gave some identifying information about the caller, stated that the call was from a debt collector, and stated that the call was an attempt to collect a debt. Even though the Levinses have sufficiently alleged that “ARS is, as already discussed, less than a “true name” as defined by § 1692e(14), they have not plausibly alleged that using the abbreviation “ARS,” which is associated with a registered identity of HRRG, amounts to a lack of meaningful disclosure of the sort forbidden by § 1692d(6). For the foregoing reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s dismissal of the § 1692e(14) claim and remand for further proceedings. We will affirm, however, the District.

The post FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT-“TRUE NAME” PROVISION appeared first on Rieders, Travis, Humphrey, Waters & Dohrmann.

[whitherwanderer]

Her name is Iwihkepwe, but you can call her anytime Ivih.

[whitherwanderer]

Edgy Ask Meme: 21, Ivih!

21. Does your OC have any illnesses or disorders? How do they handle it?

[ edgy ask meme ]

Lmao I did request "targeted asks" from you, huh?

I discussed this a bit in a previous ask, but yes. Ivih was born with levinsickness, which we see affecting a young kid in Everkeep, as well as a hyune cleaner working in True Vue.

Pulling right from the other ask:

her days range from good (able to stroll down to True Vue with friends as long as she takes regular breaks) to awful (body pains, headaches, and paralysis enough to require in-house help)

Fortunately, Everkeep is well-equipped to accommodate people born with the condition, relatively frequent as it is. There are elevators to circumnavigate stairs, ramps into most places, and benches all over to take a break when she needs one.

Ivih also has mobility aids she uses on a regular basis. Most notable is a wheelchair, which she mostly pushes herself around on, but for the days when even that is hard to manage, she can switch it over to an electrope motor. The frame is her favorite color: bright fuckin' fuscia. It has stickers all over it from her favorite brands, bands, and she may have disabled some of the safeties on it so that it can reach some, let's say, unsafe speeds in areas where there are no guard rails, which is most of S9.

On days when even getting out of bed is difficult, Ivih has a few resources she can call on. Pure headcanon here, but I figure Everkeep has services in place that dispatches assisted living nurses to help out those who would benefit. But more often than not, she prefers to call on friends. One miss Selenite (@ahollowgrave) has been such a helping hand, and Ivih counts herself as lucky to have people as reliable and gorgeous as Nite.

All that is INSIDE the dome, however. Outside is a whole other story. With ambient aether that doesn't lean as heavily into lightning, Ivih's symptoms are drastically reduced, and she can function almost completely without the mobility aids that she normally relies on. What she'll struggle with out there is a set of different issues: restlessness and recklessness while she tests (and very quickly finds) her limits. Not to mention what would happen if she ever was hit with lightning-based magicks or discovers that, even in arid Shaaloani, there is a monsoon season with spectacular thunderstorms that will affect her just as severely as a bad day in the 'keep.

[whitherwanderer]

Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways? (everyone —from @sundered-souls)

Ooh!! In the interest of trying to keep these doable for myself, I won't answer for everyone, but I appreciate the ask!! 🥹 I'll stick to the idiots this is the most interesting to answer for.

[ edgy ask meme ]

It pretty much goes without saying for Sif—her stage name is the Sauced Songstress, after all—self-destructive habits run deep. Granted that she's been trying to rein in the drinking habit in recent times, she's always had a particular difficulty with impulsivity and anger, and those can make a rather flammable pair with the right motivations.

A few times now, she's had a dark whim that has led both herself and Dug down a warpath with completely avoidable consequences and she's nearly gotten them both killed for it. Pissing off local thugs in fights she can't win for the sake of her pride and attempting vigilante justice on powers that be with a bit of arson, to name a couple examples. Call it hot Gyr Abanian blood or a lawless streak, Sif's poor impulse control might be her worst trait.

Sawyer probably wouldn't strike most as having a self-destructive side. She's focused, collected, even places herself in the role of a responsible leader and mentor for new adventurers. And yet...

Cracks in her self-styled "guardian" facade are few but glaring. She tends to throw herself into her work to the point of neglect, often forgetting to eat or sleep, but even that can be dismissed as "hardworking". Then there's the nature of her soul crystal, a souvenir from a low point in her life that she will hesitantly admit is, in fact, a sliver of her very soul torn out and made a weapon. And then there's how readily she will rush into battle, especially with Amesha at her back. Amesha is a talented healer, sure, but Sawyer seems to throw herself into the jaws of death with a fearlessness that would only make sense for someone who had crossed that threshold and came back better.

Ivih is newer so I'm using this as a chance to figure her out a little more. c:

Having been raised inside the safety of Everkeep with a regulator secured to her temple, Ivih has a certain carelessness that, outside of the dome, might be something only a brazen teenager displays. Part of this is because of her levinsickness, a condition she's dealt with since her earliest memories, being wildly more manageable outside of the dome. Where within it her days range from good (able to stroll down to True Vue with friends as long as she takes regular breaks) to awful (body pains, headaches, and paralysis enough to require in-house help), outside she's able to explore, run, fight. At least, until a thunderstorm rolls overhead. Hers is a journey about learning to live with the condition, respect her limits, and learn that they don't define her.

Even before leaving the dome, though, she liked to... take advantage of her good days. Ivih has a penchant for getting ahold of illicit feral souls for kicks and letting herself loose for a while, which without the training of a hunter or a military officer, could cloud her judgement and make her misjudge her still very mortal limitations. After a crash, she has been stranded out in the Yyasulani wastes where beasts and defective sentries roam, without any mobility aids, until she was able to flag down a patrol and be brought back. Don't remind her about it, though, unless you want your insecurities to be needled next.

[cinefairys]

sam levinsion does the same- the amount of nudity in euphoria is just for a “shock factor” cus he knows it’ll make headlines and cause a stir on twitter 😭