#Alabama factory

[oldshowbiz]

The Ensley Steel Works, Birmingham, Alabama.

[xoshepard]

the somewhat attractive white boy w the arm tattoos talked about having a bunch of guns so he’s not attractive anymore \o/

[mechadress]

Huntsville, AL

[beeasitwas]

Ok y’all I’m back. I’m back at school, so if I continue doing pizza reviews it’ll be from around here, but actually while I’m typing this I remembered that we’re about to go on spring break so actually forget all I just said. Ok let’s get it

•Place? Pie Factory, Downtown Florence, AL

•Pizza? 10” “Pepperoni Classico” regular crust, and also cheese sticks again lollll

•Fav part? All of it. Y’all I ate this whole pizza in one sitting omg.

•How much did I spend? $20.41 ($9 for the pizza, and then the cheese sticks, drink, and a tip)

•Rating? 10/10. I hadn’t eaten alllll day before this and omg. It was literally so good. I am hesitant to rank something above Village in Athens but this just HIT. I wanna try the Lawrenceburg location too.

[ploridafanthers]

another showdown-of-the-former-alabama-QBs huh?

[otherpeoplescreativity]

This! This! This!

There was a time in the early 90s when I qualified for government assistance. Like you, beloved neighbor, I convinced myself that I would be such a terrible person if I even applied for it. I would be competing with others for limited resources, I believed; I would be admitting that I could not take care of myself, could not Adult.

Beloved neighbor, that was the institutionalized hatred talking.

And it is consistent with the available facts to say that because I did not take the tax-based help, my state government representatives congratulated themselves that the institutionalized hatred was Correct. That the Idea of offering assistance to the needy is Noble and Virtuous, but the Actuality of assisting someone in need is The Enemy. They had numbers to wave in their argument: this much money, set aside for the Ideal, went to waste because not enough of (me) needed it. Not enough people who were dying quietly, politely, out of sight.

Be an imposition, if that's what it takes. Make those state government representatives confront the consequences of the system they manage. Use our tax money, oh beloved neighbor, for the purpose I wanted it to serve: to ease a stranger's life.

If you feel ashamed of getting government provided assistance

whether that's Snap, or cash assistance or housing or insurance or WHATEVER.

I just want to say- I am a tax paying middle class person.

For the love of whatever you find holy, TAKE THE HELP. Seriously. Please. I am paying these taxes, and I am begging you to use that money to make your life better.

I find it tremendously depressing when my tax money goes to tanks for cops or subsidies for billionaires or general colonizing bullshit.

I want my tax money to improve your life. I do not give one single shit what you do with your cash assistance. I don't care if you think you maybe possibly could have gotten by without SNAP. If you can qualify TAKE IT. Eat as well as you can. Live as well as you can.

If you feel bad, picture me, cheering you on with every single choice you make that brings you comfort, stability or joy.

You are not a burden. You are my neighbor. There is enough to go around and I want us all to thrive.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

"Efficiency" left the Big Three vulnerable to smart UAW tactics

Tomorrow (September 22), I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. Tomorrow night, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

It's been 143 days since the WGA went on strike against the Hollywood studios. While early tactical leaks from the studios had studio execs chortling and twirling their mustaches about writers caving once they started losing their homes, the strikers aren't wavering – they're still out there, pounding the picket lines, every weekday:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/how-hollywood-writers-make-ends-meet-100-days-into-the-writers-guild-strike.html

The studios obviously need writers. That gleeful, anonymous studio exec who got such an obvious erotic charge at the thought of workers being rendered homeless as punishment for challenging his corporate power completely misread the room, and his comments didn't demoralize the writers. Instead, they inspired the actors to go on strike, too.

But how have the writers stayed out since May Day? How have the actors stayed out for 69 days since their strike started on Bastille Day? We can thank the studios for that! As it turns out, the studios have devoted so much energy to rendering creative workers as precarious as possible, hiring as little as they can getting away with and using punishing overtime as a substitute for adequate staffing that they've eliminated all the workers who can't survive on side-hustles and savings for six or seven months at a time.

But even for those layoff-hardened workers, long strikes are brutal, and of course, all the affiliated trades, from costumers to grips, are feeling the pain. The strike fund only goes so far, and non-striking, affected workers don't even get that. That's why I've been donating regularly to the Entertainment Community Fund, which helps all affected workers out with cash transfers (I just gave them another $500):

https://secure2.convio.net/afa/site/Donation2?df_id=8117&8117.donation=form1&mfc_pref=T

As hot labor summer is revealed as a turning point – not just a season – long strikes will become the norm. Bosses still don't believe in worker power, and until they get their minds right, they're going to keep on trying to starve their workforces back inside. To get a sense of how long workers will have to hold out, just consider the Warrior Met strike, where Alabama coal-miners stayed out for 23 months:

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/warrior-met-strike-union/

As Kim Kelly explained to Adam Conover in the latest Factually podcast, the Alabama coal strikers didn't get anywhere near the attention that the Hollywood strikers have enjoyed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvyMHf7Yg0Q

(To learn more about the untold story of worker organizing, from prison unions to the key role that people of color and women played in labor history, check out Kelly's book, "Fight Like Hell," now in paperback:)

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fight-Like-Hell/Kim-Kelly/9781982171063

Which brings me to the UAW strike. This is an historic strike, the first time that the UAW has struck all of the Big Three automakers at once. Past autoworkers' strikes have marked turning points for all American workers. The 1945/46 GM strike established employers' duty to cover worker pensions, health care, and cost of living allowances. The GM strike created the American middle-class:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-18-uaw-strikes-built-american-middle-class/

The Big Three are fighting for all the marbles here. They are refusing to allow unions to organize EV factories. Given that no more internal combustion cars will be in production in just a few short years, that's tantamount to eliminating auto unions altogether. The automakers are flush with cash, including billions in public subsidies from multiple bailouts, along with billions more from greedflation price-gouging. A long siege is inevitable, as the decimillionaires running these companies earn their pay by starving out their workers:

https://www.businessinsider.com/general-motors-ceo-mary-barra-salary-auto-workers-strike-uaw-2023-9

The UAW knows this, of course, and their new leadership – helmed by the union's radical president Shawn Fain – has a plan. UAW workers are engaged in tactical striking, shutting down key parts of the supply chain on a rolling basis, making the 90-day strike fund stretch much farther:

https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-09-18-labors-militant-creativity/

In this project, they are greatly aided by Big Car's own relentless pursuit of profit. The automakers – like every monopolized, financialized sector – have stripped all the buffers and slack out of their operations. Inventory on hand is kept to a bare minimum. Inputs are sourced from the cheapest bidder, and they're brought to the factory by the lowest-cost option. Resiliency – spare parts, backup machinery – is forever at war with profits, and profits have won and won and won, leaving auto production in a brittle, and easily shattered state.

This is especially true for staffing. Automakers are violently allergic to hiring workers, because new workers get benefits and workplace protection. Instead, the car companies routinely offer "voluntary" overtime to their existing workforce. By refusing this overtime, workers can kneecap production, without striking.

Enter "Eight and Skate," a campaign among UAW workers to clock out after their eight hour shift. As Keith Brower Brown writes for Labor Notes, the UAW organizers are telling workers that "It’s crossing an unofficial picket line to work overtime. It’s helping out the company":

https://labornotes.org/2023/09/work-extra-during-strike-auto-workers-say-eight-and-skate

Eight and Skate has already started to work; the Buffalo Ford plant can no longer run its normal weekend shifts because workers are refusing to put in voluntary overtime. Of course, bosses will strike back: the next step will be forced overtime, which will lead to the unsafe conditions that unionized workers are contractually obliged to call paid work-stoppages over, shutting down operations without touching the strike fund.

What's more, car bosses can't just halt safety stoppages or change the rules on overtime; per the UAW's last contract, bosses are required to bargain on changes to overtime rules:

https://uaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Working-Without-Contract-FAQ-FINAL-2.pdf

Car bosses have become lazily dependent on overtime. At GM's "highly profitable" SUV factory in Arlington, TX, normal production runs a six-days, 24 hours per day. Workers typically work five eight-hour days and nine hours on Saturdays. That's been the status quo for 11 years, but when bosses circulated the usual overtime signup sheet last week, every worker wrote "a big fat NO" next to their names.

Writing for The American Prospect, David Dayen points out that this overtime addiction puts a new complexion on the much-hyped workerpocalypse that EVs will supposedly bring about. EVs are much simpler to build than conventional cars, the argument goes, so a US transition to EVs will throw many autoworkers out of work:

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-09-20-big-threes-labor-shortages-uaw/

But the reality is that most autoworkers are doing one and a half jobs already. Reducing the "workforce" by a third could leave all these workers with their existing jobs, and the 40-hour workweek that their forebears fought for at GM inn 1945/46. Add to that the additional workers needed to make batteries, build and maintain charging infrastructure, and so on, and there's no reason to think that EVs will weaken autoworker power.

And as Dayen points out, this overtime addiction isn't limited to cars. It's also endemic to the entertainment industry, where writers' "mini rooms" and other forms of chronic understaffing are used to keep workforces at a skeleton crew, even when the overtime costs more than hiring new workers.

Bosses call themselves job creators, but they have a relentless drive to destroy jobs. If there's one thing bosses hate, it's paying workers – hence all the hype about AI and automation. The stories about looming AI-driven mass unemployment are fairy tales, but they're tailor made for financiers who get alarming, life-threatening priapism at the though of firing us all and replacing us with shell-scripts:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

This is why Republican "workerism" rings so hollow. Trump's GOP talks a big game about protecting "workers" (by which they mean anglo men) from immigrants and "woke captialism," but they have nothing to say about protecting workers from bosses and bankers who see every dime a worker gets as misappropriated from their dividend.

Unsurprisingly, conservative message-discipline sucks. As Luke Savage writes in Jacobin, for every mealymouthed Josh Hawley mouthing talking points that "support workers" by blaming China and Joe Biden for the Big Three's greed, there's a Tim Scott, saying the quiet part aloud:

https://jacobin.com/2023/09/republicans-uaw-strike-hawley-trump-scott/

Quoth Senator Scott: "I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike. He said, you strike, you’re fired. Simple concept to me. To the extent that we can use that once again, absolutely":

https://twitter.com/American_Bridge/status/1704136706574741988

The GOP's workerism is a tissue-thin fake. They can never and will never support real worker power. That creates an opportunity for Biden and Democrats to seize:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/18/co-determination/#now-make-me-do-it

Reversing two generations of anti-worker politics is a marathon, not a sprint. The strikes are going to run for months, even years. Every worker will be called upon to support their striking siblings, every day. We can do it. Solidarity now. Solidarity forever.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/21/eight-and-skate/#strike-to-rule

[bananadramaaa]

Idk if you’ve got any ideas or backstory for Alastor’s sisters, but I love the designs for them and have kind of taken some ideas about them and ran with it, mostly about the eldest, Adeline, though:

• Adelice was definitely a protector of the whole bunch. Alastor helped protect the younger sisters and worried a lot about his older sister, but Adelice would make a target out of herself to make sure the younger kids faced as little of their father’s bad days as possible.

• Leonore and Bertilda (the younger two) still experience a lot of the family drama, but it’s a little less than what their older siblings do since they try to keep them out of the fire, so while the older two seem to mature way too quickly, the younger two stay kids for a bit longer. This, however does piss off their father, who takes every moment to ridicule them on their inability to act like their older siblings when their older siblings aren’t able to keep them out of the fire.

• Adelice also gives off Tiana from Princess and the Frog vibes. She’s got a Dream and she’s gonna work hard every day to make it happen.

• Alastor Worries™️ and thinks she’s pushing herself too much, taking on the brunt of their father’s anger, taking on so many jobs, and trying to get as much of an education as she can for as cheap as she can get it. So he becomes her Distraction, constantly dragging her off to parties and out drinking and listening to music. Anything to get her to chill tf out.

• He’s also a hypocrite though, considering he takes on a ton of “side jobs” by the time he’s 15 before he starts working in radio to try to help out their maman. He somehow manages to get all the fun jobs though. She’s out here working in restaurants and factories and he’s playing piano at the speakeasy and working at a nearby gator farm during the summers. And even the jobs that shouldn’t be fun, he manages to turn into a blast, like apprenticing at the butchers or working the graveyard shift at the cemetery. He thinks he’s so damn funny, while his bosses low-key wanna strangle him. This somehow makes him more likable as a radio host.

• Eventually, Adelice manages to find herself a nice, rich, Creole man who she and Alastor run through the wringer trying to test just how wholesome of a man he is before she’ll accept his hand in marriage. This man is confused, but he is dead set on winning her heart. He offers her the money to achieve her dream, he offers her the happy and stress-free life that New Orleans won’t afford her, he offers a life where she’s free and not trapped by anybody, himself included, and most importantly, he offers to take her whole family away from their father and the impoverished life that keeps them with him.

• Their maman can’t fathom a life without her husband, but she can see why they’d want to leave.

• Alastor doesn’t want to lose his sisters, but he knows someone has to watch out for their maman and he’s far to attached to New Orleans to leave it now.

• Before all his sisters leave, Adelice jokingly says she’s gonna name a son after him and he politely declines the offer.

• They move to Alabama or something and he never sees them again, but Adelice has a bunch of happy children that she loves who know all about him :)

• Bertilda also gets married, but Bertilda and her husband find themselves unable to have kids so they adopt a cute little red-headed girl and her green-eyed little brother.

• Leonore dates a lot of people before she finds the perfect gal for her and they move in together as “friends.” Their maman was a bit progressive in some ways and taught them not to judge, where most others would do when Adelice and Bertilda don’t make a big deal out of it when they find out about it.

• All three of them keep an eye on the news regarding New Orleans and whatever can be said about their famous radio host brother from far away.

• The only times the lot of them return to New Orleans is when they hear about Alastor’s death and their maman’s death.

I've talked briefly about them in this ask :3 And I really enjoyed reading your version of their story. It seems more wholesome compared to what I have in mind for them (like Adelice definitely won in this one) XD

[hometoursandotherstuff]

WTH House. This is the most bizarre conversion I've ever seen. It's a 1910 former school that was later used as a Levi jeans factory in the 60s. The current owners turned it into a home in New Market, Alabama. 6bds, 4ba, $915K. You gotta see this one.

The entry hall still looks like a long school house layout.

And, this is the sitting room

Pay special attention to the fireplaces. The firebox on this one looks like the entrance to another dimension. Where did they get such fancy carved mantels?

The dining room. With the checkered floors, it kind of gives Alice in Wonderland vibes.

Somebody had a vision when converting this house. Total elegance.

Look at the mural in the kitchen. It looks like they spent a lot of money on this conversion. The exhaust hood is so high and open. I wouldn't want to climb up there and reach inside for the filter.

The marble floors in this home. Here's another sitting room with niches for life size statues, stained glass windows, a tray ceiling painted with clouds and an ornately carved fireplace.

I've never seen fireplaces with high hearths and an opening in the middle like this.

Interesting bathroom. What is that tarnished bowl on the floor?

The halls are definitely long school halls.

This room is like an office.

Is that a fish tank in the fireplace? I don't understand the loose stones scattered on the floor.

Large marble shower with a vintage corner china cabinet.

Interesting bedroom setup.

Looks like the primary bedroom.

I thought that this was a guest house.

But, it's just one big room.

This is just weird.

Very large porch with Greek columns, and a path to a round patio with an elaborate fountain.

Statuary and murky water dot the property.

A lacy gazebo.

More statuary.

There's a lot of land- the lot is 5 acres.

[mybeingthere]

Mose Tolliver (1918/20 - 2006, American artist) was born one of 12 children to sharecroppers Ike and Laney Tolliver in the Pike Road community, near Montgomery, Alabama. His exact year of birth is unknown, though it is known he was born on the Fourth of July as well as between the years 1920–25. He attended school only until the third grade due to a self-described lack of interest in education. In the 1930s, the family moved to Montgomery, Alabama where he helped support his parents and their large family by doing odd jobs.

In the early 1940s he married his childhood friend, Willie Mae Thomas, and had 13 children, 11 of whom survived to adulthood. During the late 1960s, while working at McLendon's furniture factory, he had a severe injury where his legs were crushed when a half-ton load of marble shifted and fell from a forklift as he was sweeping in the furniture factory. After this incident, he turned to painting to combat boredom, pain and long hours of idle time. Although many say that his career started after the accident, Tolliver claims he painted beforehand. He would often turn his paintings upside-down and paint the picture of perhaps an animal and landscape positioned from various directions. Tolliver's titles are wildly divergent; e.g., "Smoke Charlies," "Scopper Bugs," or "Jick Jack Suzy Satisfying her own Self".

On October 30, 2006, Tolliver died from pneumonia in Montgomery, Alabama.

[xxstraymoonchildxx]

This Couple is Unusual

Prev. / Next

Chapter 4 This couple, danse macabre 

cw: human trafficking, violence, swearing

“What is she doing here?” Ciel slightly panicked as Sebastian forced him to face away from his fiance. “She cannot, under no circumstances see me in this…this…” 

“Oh, look at that pretty girl over there, her dress is so cute, too! Please excuse me, Miss.”

“Oh, stay-” 

The blonde girl swiftly followed the girl in her pink dress who vanished within the crowd with the man dressed in black.  

“...safe.” 

You let out a sigh, shaking your head with a smile on your tinted lips.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Satan popped up next to you, handing you a drink. “Are you alright? You look confused.”

You leaned in, voice low “I think I just saw Ciel Phantomhive crossdressing.”

“You’re pulling my leg.” Satan raised an eyebrow, mirth reflecting in his eyes.

“No, the cute girl a second ago pointed at them and I recognized his butler, otherwise I would have missed it.”

Satan hummed “An effective masquerade I must say. Do you have any idea who the girl you were walking to was?”

You side-eyed him “No, but I have the feeling you do. The Earl panicked when he spotted her, tho.”

“Precisely. Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford is his fiancé. She is also Madam Red’s niece. If she blew his cover, he’d be humiliated.”

Your nose wrinkled “Didn’t you tell me she is the Earl’s aunt, too?”

He nodded.

“Sweet home Alabama,” you mumbled.

Satan chuckled “Madam Red is part of this gathering as well, by the way. I’ve seen her in the lounging area enjoying herself with the other guests. The Chinese man, too. They are sticking out like a sore thumb.”

“Huh, is her butler not with her?”

Satan shook his head “I’ve seen him earlier at the entrance but we should concentrate on the Viscount.”

The two of you got on the dance floor, keeping a lookout for Viscount Druitt. Satan gently moved you to the flow of the classical music. You were glad you’d gotten enough dance experience from all the balls Lord Diavolo hosted (and all the other parties you were invited to) for not embarrassing Satan and you. 

Your blond husband had the perfect posture, guiding you with perfectly even steps. He was great with ballroom dances, rivaling Lucifer’s, Barbatos's, and Diavolo’s skills. That he looked like a fairytale prince - no, king - with the outfit Asmodeus picked for him was only a bonus for his royal demeanor. Satan gave you a soft smile only reserved for you when he noticed you staring at him with furrowed brows, and for a moment you forgot why you were even here. It was just him and you. His eyes were a unique shade of blue and green with a yellow gradient that sparkled whenever he was excited over cats and literature and when talking about you. Your heart swelled with pride.

The moment was over, however, when you locked eyes with Sebastian Michaelis dancing with his protégé among the crowd of humans. He gave you an ominous smirk.

After the meeting with Undertaker, you were informed by Satan that the butler in black was a demon, a lesser one compared to your found family of course,  but the kind that wants your soul in exchange for making a pact to eat it after its fulfillment. The child Sebastian was with must have been very desperate to make a Faustian Contract. You only knew the child was an orphan and inherited a factory for toys after his parents tragically died in a fire. 

You smiled back, discreetly flipping him off right before Satan twirled you around again to create a distance.

You watched the couple reach the dancing area's side, noticing one of your targets approaching the Earl. You look at Satan who nods, following suit. 

You decided to stand nearby, maintaining a low profile but close enough to eavesdrop, another beverage in hand to look unsuspicious.

With disgust, you observe Viscount Druitt making a move on the now-alone preteen. Kissing his hand, laying a hand on his waist, holding his chin like a lover would, and calling him “my little robin” - it took willpower to not storm over. 

“What the fuck is this demon thinking leaving the child all alone with this creep?”

Suddenly the music stopped. Everyone's eyes were on Sebastian Michaelis who set up a cupboard in the middle of the crowd, announcing a magic performance. 

“That gentleman over there, would you mind to assist me?” 

Sebastian grinned, pointing at Satan of all people. You nearly snorted out your drink. A dark aura surrounded your husband, his lips twitching in annoyance. 

The demon butler now was asking for trouble.

╔═══════ ∘◦⛧ﾐ◦∘ ══════╗

        with Satan & Sebastian…

╚═══════ ∘◦ミ⛧ ◦∘ ═════╝

This third-rate demon couldn’t be serious. 

Satan kept a socially acceptable expression as he walked toward the make-shift mise-en-scène. He ignored the curious glances, trying to suppress his murderous intent. 

The Ravenette, now wearing a lacy butterfly mask to conceal his identity to a certain degree, smirked and opened the wooden wardrobe. “As you can see, this is an ordinary cupboard,” Sebastian explained “I’ll go inside and I need you to tie it up with these chains.” He handed over the metal chain to Satan who accepted it, slightly curious what exactly he had planned. 

“And then you can use these swords-” he pulled out several iron swords from out of nowhere “...to pierce this cupboard. After you do this, I shall come out alive for all to see.” Satan’s face darkened with wrathful mirth “I won’t hold back, are you sure?”

Sebastian held his gaze with a smug one of his own “I’m sure you will.” 

Then he addressed the audience “There is no trap or trick to this. Please enjoy this rare performance!”

The party guests gasped, murmuring and whispering. 

“I’m going to enjoy this” Satan murmured, quickly tying the chain and fastening it tightly. 

Within the blink of an eye Satan pierced a sharp sword into the top of the cupboard, then into the left, the right, back, and front, pushing in more and more like a madman until nearly no space was left untouched. 

The viewers gasped. 

(And Sebastian felt something akin to anxiety for the first time in his life when the first sword aimed for his head. And that other demon was fast, too)

Satan flipped a strand of hair back “Let’s see if he is alright, shall we?”

When the door opened and Sebastian stepped out with a strained smile, the crowd cheered.

“Impressive!”

“A miracle!” 

“You owe me one for not exterminating you,” Satan hissed.

╔════ ∘◦⛧ﾐ◦∘ ════╗

         Meanwhile…

╚════ ∘◦ミ⛧ ◦∘ ═══╝

“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I get your attention please?”

The crowds' murmuring died down, focusing on the stage; more precisely on the covered something next to the emcee. 

“Next we have the item everyone has anticipated. Please look at it carefully~”

With one movement the cover was swiped off, revealing a metal birdcage. 

Masqueraded nobles ranked their eyes over his bound form, happy murmurs filled the room yet he couldn’t see through the blindfold around his head.

“You may keep her in the cage. If you prefer you can play with her as much as you wish. Use her for a ceremony! If it is only parts of her you desire, it can sure be arranged.”

Ciel felt a wave of dizziness when he snapped his head towards the voice closest to him. 

/That’s Aleister Chamber’s voice/

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a hard-to-get item. Her eyes are bright and beautiful like the sea! And now I’ll proceed to show you!”

When the light of the candles hit his face, his temples throbbed. Ciel opened his eyes, realization setting in like he’d swallowed a heavy stone. 

“The starting bid is one thousand pounds!”

Hands shot in the air, high numbers outdoing the other. 

“Wow, you people are disgusting fucks.”

The candles flickered violently before they were violently blown off by a sudden gust of wind. 

/Who the hell is this?/

“Spirit of earth, cover the mouth of those nobles who sit before me, and silence their cries forever.”

One bidder after another sagged in their chairs, heads dropping row after row in the blink of an eye.

The only noble left standing was Viscount Druitt, unable to process what happened, and unable to move a single muscle. 

Of course, this wouldn’t do.

A fist met his cheek with a satisfying crack.

“Sweet dreams you pig!”

You turned to the birdcage, meeting Ciel Phantomhive's flabbergasted stare with an accusatory one of your own. His eyepatch was off, showing his pact mark.

“What…what are you?”

_____________________________________________________________

“What in the sweet hell’s where you thinking?! Do you understand what could have gotten wrong if you didn’t wake up before being sold off to some pervert!?”

Ciel whipped off the dust from his dress after he was freed from his restraints. “I would have been doing fine even without you interfering. I was just about to call for my butler before you barged in,” he scoffed, crossing his arms “You also didn’t answer my question. Are you some sort of witch?”

“Are you trying to insult me? I’m a sorcerer!”

“Same thing!”

You pinched his cheek, hard. “It’s not! Sorcerers are far superior.”

Ciel slapped your hand away with a huff, rubbing the arching side of his face. 

“How did you even get in here?” he eyed your attire critically “You’re still just some journalist from overseas.”

“Company secret,” you answered slyly, making him roll his eyes after you winked at him, pointer finger moving to seal your mouth.

“Whatever…Sebastian!”

Within a fraction of a second, the butler spawned next to his master.

“My, my. Looks like my service wasn’t needed after all.” Crimson flashed in his auburn eyes as he bowed slightly. “Although it wasn’t expected nor in fact needed, the Phantomhive household offers their gratitude for your act of kindness.”

His honeyed words went from one ear through the other.

“Maybe take better care of your charge then who obviously can’t even defend himself properly from pedophilic creeps.”

Sebastian shot you a stink-eye despite his smile “Rest assured, he is in the best of hands.”

Before you could answer, a gloved hand found its way to your mouth. Satan’s distinct perfume hit your nose as he pushed you against his broad chest, his other arm lazily draped across your belly. 

“Since the party is over and the Yard is arriving any minute, I’d say we also take our leave. I’m not too thrilled explaining this to the commonality.”

“Anyhow, the case of Jack the Ripper is closed now,” Ciel said “You may write about the murders but there are things that obviously shouldn’t reach the ears of the public. As assigned by Her Majesty, I shall oversee any reports regarding this topic.”

You wondered if you could contest the Avatar of Wrath if you would spend any minute with this audacious child. 

Speaking of the personification of sin, Satan let out a chuckle “We might do that real soon, well, if this is the end of the murders, that is…”

Sebastian and Ciel couldn’t hide their surprise.

Seizing this moment you took the hand from your mouth, pulling out your D.D.D from under your corset.

Snap,

A flash of light went off and you two vanished into thin air. “See ya~”

“Tell me that strange device wasn’t a camera,”

“I’m afraid it was, my Lady.”

“Sebastian!”

It was frustrating that you weren’t allowed to temper with the past. 

The very same night your contact from Scotland Yard called you to the new crime scene. Annie Shepherman was murdered while you were busy with Lord Chamber’s underground auction. 

Her body was severely battered, much worse than the last victims of Jack The Ripper. She was transported and brought to Undertaker for the autopsy which was a technical formality at that point. Satan took pictures of the crime scene for undercover reasons before you called it a day and went back to your hotel.

In the morning you decided to finally go shopping for the brothers and your friends. It was successful this mid-morning. You got:

A fancy pocket watch for Diavolo.

A crested tea storage box for Barbatos additionally to the tealeaves he wanted.

A couple of rare magical ingredients for Solomon.

A classical music gramophone record for Lucifer.

An antique hairbrush and mirror set for Asmodeus.

An original copy of the Hokusai manga for Leviathan.*

A vintage money box for Mammon (aside from several trinkets he’ll resell).

A mechanical music box that played a soothing lullaby for Belphegor.

A large amount of confectionary for Beelzebub (you were glad to have unlimited storage space inside your bag after nearly buying up the Funtom Corporation’s and Harrod’s whole stock of candy).

A hand-crafted royal blue dairy with a fun trick lock for Simeon.

And a receipt book about authentic Victorian desserts for Luke.

Mephistopheles’s hand-carved riding crop was still a work in process, so you had to come back tomorrow. You also haven’t found something for Thirteen and Raphael but you were thinking of buying an embroidered sewing box kit for the angel and one of those fancy umbrellas for the shinigami.   

You also didn’t know what to buy for Satan. Knowing him he has already picked up something super thoughtful for you and you want to show him your appreciation, too, so it can’t be just some book or vinyl. 

As you went your merry way, you found yourself at the doorsteps of The Undertaker shop. Was the silver-haired mortician done with poor Annie? 

Before you knew it, your feet carried you inside.

The jingle of a small bell above the door announced your arrival, but there was no one in the stuffy, dark front room.

“Mister Undertaker?” No reaction. Was he in the pathology downstairs?

You carefully trod forward, half expecting him to emerge from one of these coffins to give you a heart attack. Mammon would take to his heel by now if he was here but you weren’t a scaredy cat. “Undertaker!” you tried again. Nothing.

You opened the coffin he hid inside the last time but it was empty. 

He sure wouldn’t mind if you looked around for a bit, wouldn’t he? 

There was a large cupboard on the far left where a man like Undertaker would fit in. You turned the knob. It didn’t budge at first but after rattling on the door a few times it swung open.

Whoosh.

“Argh!”

Bonus: Somewhere the brothers felt a chill running down their spines as their "MC-is-doing-sth.-reckless"-tingle was activated

*credits go to PerpetuallyAwake / @anunholyabomination, tysm!

Guess who is crawling back...It's me! This was supposed to be even longer but, I kinda wanna be an ass and end with a cliffhanger instead of dragging it into 4000k+ words, so I'll move the following scene to the next chapter (that I will hopefully post in April) [Btw, who can find the gaming references I couldn't help but put in?]

Feel free to give me constructive feedback :)

[stargun2307]

S-23 Sierpinski’s “Sparkle Squad”

Do NOT let the funny name fool you! Or the funny callnames of the Protektors in this squad! They are lean, mean, hazing machines (except for their Storch commanding officer; you’ll see what I mean soon).

Starting from the top, we haaaave:

The Upper Crust

Controller Vier, STCR-S2304: The Sog™️. A real softie who makes fast friends with just about everyone except for her own STARs. Loves music, has perfect pitch, and can rip a mean glissando on the baby grand in the music room. Constantly bullied by her STAR squad because she’s “not tough enough”. A fun fact about Vier is that pizza fascinates her. To this Storch, pizza is a mystery beyond mortal comprehension.

Sergeant (former) DC, STAR-S2341: Yes, DC, short for Washington, District of Columbia. DC is a real piece of work (just like the Congress critters in the real life city). Basically Storch software in Starling hardware. Anger issues, control issues, and narcissism. Drove Vier to tears and worse while serving as her officer.

Sergeant Dreyse, STAR-S2375: Sparkle Squad’s current STAR officer, brought in from “the outside” (a different squad) to disrupt the hierarchy of the cadre and put an end to their relentless harassment of their own Controller. Currently learning piano from Vier, and teaching Vier how to dance. Nothing to see here but a Controller and her officer… chillin in the office… six feet apart cuz they’re not gay…

Now, onto the squad themselves!

Fireteam 1

Florida, STAR-S2337: Hazer-in-chief now that DC is gone. A real equal opportunity hater. Troll.

Maryland, STAR-S2338: Mostly chill, except for when she’s not. Former narcotics squad sergeant from Rotfront whose career fell apart after she fired 12 shots into a crowd during a chase, hitting 8 bystanders and landing none of the shots on the perp. Given the choice between being decommissioned and being transferred to S-23, Maryland chose the transfer and is now almost wishing she took the other option instead.

Louisiana, STAR-S2339: Gossips a lot. Spends a lot of time in the showers.

Kentucky, STAR-S2340: Hillbilly. Queen of Snark. Thing 1.

Fireteam 2

Alaska, STAR-S2342: The one that actually minds her own business. Secretly disapproves of the hazing of her own Controller but doesn’t say anything out of peer pressure.

Alabama, STAR-S2343: A total edgelord who says derogatory things just to see how riled up she can get people. Thing 2.

Massachusetts, STAR-S2344: Came out of the factory with half a brain cell that’s slowly been deteriorating as time goes on.

Mississippi, STAR-S2345: The youngest STAR in the squad. Airhead. Mostly plays along because she wants to fit in. People tend to forget she exists.

The “Sparkle Squad” is the most feared Protektor squad in S-23 despite having the Storch equivalent of a wet kitten as their commanding officer. Florida and Maryland are just as brutal in the interrogation room as an unmentored young Storch. Kentucky tops the scoreboard for the highest amount of items ever confiscated in a single dorm shakedown (37). Massachusetts has to consume 10 shots of Everclear before she starts to feel a buzz. Hazing Vier used to be a team bonding exercise for Sparkle Squad, and even Protektors outside of their squad are also fair game for their “morale building activities”. Their nefarious activities have noticeably dwindled in frequency and scale since Sergeant Dreyse took the reins, but old habits die hard…

[posttexasstressdisorder]

If you want to see what the GOP has in store for the rest of America, visit the Old South

Thom Hartmann

June 27, 2024 5:42AM ET

Photo by Miltiadis Fragkidis on Unsplash

Today is the first Biden-Trump debate and many Americans are wondering how each will articulate their ideas for the future of America.

Republicans have a very specific economic vision for the future of our country, although they rarely talk about it in plain language: they want to make the rest of America look and function just like Mississippi. Including the racism: that’s a feature, not a bug.

It’s called the “Southern Economic Development Model” (SEDM) and has been at the core of GOP economic strategy ever since the days of Ronald Reagan. While they don’t use those words to describe their plan, and neither did the authors of Project 2025, this model is foundational to conservative economic theory and has been since the days of slavery.

The SEDM explicitly works to:

— Maintain a permanent economic underclass of people living on the edge of poverty, — Rigidify racial and gender barriers to class mobility to lock in women and people of color, — Provide a low-cost labor force to employers,

— Prevent unions or any other advocates for workers’ rights to function, — Shift the tax burden to the working poor and what’s left of the middle class while keeping taxes on the morbidly rich extremely low, — Protect the privileges, power, and wealth of the (mostly white and male) economic overclass, — Ghettoize public education and raise the cost of college to make social and economic mobility difficult, — Empower and subsidize churches to take over public welfare functions like food, housing, and care for indigent people, — Allow corporations to increase profits by dumping their waste products into the air and water, — Subsidize those industries that financially support the political power structure, and, — Heavily use actual slave labor.

For hardcore policy wonks, the Economic Policy Institute(EPI) did a deep dive into the SEDM last month: here’s how it works in summary.

Republicans claim that by offering low-cost non-union labor and little to no regulatory oversight to massive corporations, they’re able to “attract business to the region.” This, they promise, will cause (paraphrasing President Kennedy out of context) “a rising tide that lifts all boats.”

Somehow, though, the only people who own boats that rise are those of the business owners and senior executives. The permanent economic underclass is key to maintaining this system with its roots in the old plantation system; that’s why Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina have no minimum wage, Georgia’s is $5.15/hour, and most other GOP states use the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour and $2.13/hour for tipped workers.

It’s thus no coincidence that ten out of the 20 Republican-run states that only use the federal minimum wage are in the Old South.

Anti-union or “right to work for less” efforts and laws are another key to the SEDM; the failed unionization effort last month at the Alabama Mercedes factory was a key victory for the GOP. Unions, after all, balance the power relationship between management and workers; promote higher wages and benefits; support workplace and product safety regulations; advance racial and gender equality; boost social mobility; and have historically been the most effective force for creating a healthy middle class.

Unionization, however, is antithetical to creating and maintaining a permanent economic underclass, which is why, as EPI notes, “while union coverage rates stand at 11.2% nationally, rates in 2023 were as low as 3.0% in South Carolina, 3.3% in North Carolina, 5.2% in Louisiana, and 5.4% in Texas and Georgia.”

Unions also make wage theft more difficult, essentially forcing government to defend workers who’ve been ripped off by their employers. That’s why Florida doesn’t even have a Department of Labor (it was dismantled by Republican Governor Jeb Bush in 2002), and the DOLs in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina no longer bother to enforce wage theft laws or recover stolen money for workers.

Another key to the SEDM is to end regulation of corporate “externalities,” a fancy word for the pollution that most governments in the developed world require corporations to pay to prevent or clean up. “Cancer Alley” is probably the most famous example of this at work: that stretch from west Texas to New Orleans has more than 200 refineries and chemical plants pouring poison into the air resulting in downwind communities having a 7 to 21 times greater exposure to these substances. And high rates of cancer: Southern corporate profits are boosted by sick people.

Between 2008 and 2018, EPI documents, funding for state environmental agencies was “cut [in Texas and Louisiana] by 35.2% and 34.8% respectively.… Funding was down by 33.7% in North Carolina, 32.8% in Delaware, 20.8% in Georgia, 20.3% in Tennessee, and 10% in Alabama.”

To keep income taxes low on the very wealthy, the SEDM calls for shifting as much of the taxpaying responsibility away from high-income individuals and dumping it instead on the working poor and middle class. This is done by either ending or gutting the income tax (Texas, Florida, and Tennessee have no income tax) and shifting to sales tax, property taxes, fees, and fines.

Nationally, for example, sales taxes provide 34.4% of state and local revenue, but in the SEDM states that burden is radically shifted to consumers: Tennessee, for example, gets 56.6% of their revenue from sales tax, Louisiana 53.3%, Florida 50.9%, Arkansas 49.6%, Alabama 48%, and Mississippi 45.5%. Fees for registering cars, obtaining drivers’ and professional licenses, tolls, traffic and other fines, and permits for home improvements all add to the load carried by average working people.

Republicans argue that keeping taxes low on “job creators” encourages them to “create more jobs,” but that old canard hasn’t really been taken seriously by anybody since Reagan first rolled it out in 1981. It does work to fill their money bins, though, and helps cover the cost of their (tax deductible) private jets, clubs, and yachts.

Another way the SEDM maintains a low-wage workforce is by preventing young people from getting the kind of good education that would enable them to move up and out of their economic and social class. Voucher systems to gut public education, villainization of unionized teachers and librarians, and increasing college tuition all work together to maintain high levels of functional illiteracy. Fifty-four percent of Americans have a literacy rate that doesn’t exceed sixth grade, with the nation’s worst illiteracy mostly in the Old South.

Imposing this limitation against economic mobility on women is also vital to the SEDM. Southern states are famous for their lack of female representation in state legislatures (West Virginia 13%, Tennessee 14%, Mississippi and South Carolina 15%, Alabama and Louisiana 18%), and the states that have most aggressively limited access to abortion and reproductive healthcare (designed to keep women out of the workplace and dependent on men) are entirely Republican-controlled.

Perhaps the most important part of the SEDM pushed by Republicans and Project 2025 is gutting the social safety net. Wealthy rightwingers have complained since FDR’s New Deal of the 1930s that transferring wealth from them to poor and middle-class people is socialism, the first step toward a complete communist tyranny in the United States. It’s an article of faith for today’s GOP.

Weekly unemployment benefits, for example, are lowest in “Mississippi ($235), Alabama ($275), Florida ($275), Louisiana ($275), Tennessee ($275), South Carolina ($326), and North Carolina ($350)” with Southern states setting the maximum number of weeks you can draw benefits at 12 in Florida, North Carolina, and Kentucky, 14 in Alabama and Georgia, and a mere 16 weeks in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

While only 3.3% of children in the Northeast lack health insurance, for the Southern states that number more than doubles to 7.7%. Ten states using the SEDM still refuse to expand Medicaid to cover all state residents living and working in poverty, including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.

The main benefit to employers of this weak social safety net is that workers are increasingly desperate for wages — any sort of wages — and even the paltriest of benefits to keep their heads above water economically. As a result, they’re far more likely to tolerate exploitative workplace conditions, underpaid work, and wage theft.

Finally, the SEDM makes aggressive use of the 13th Amendment’s legalization of slavery. That’s not a metaphor: the Amendment says, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” [emphasis added]

That “except as punishment for crime” is the key. While Iceland’s and Japan’s incarceration rates are 36 for every 100,000 people, Finland and Norway come in at 51, Ireland and Canada at 88, there are 664 people in prison in America for every 100,000 people. No other developed country even comes close, because no other developed country also allows legalized slavery under color of law.

Fully 800,000 (out of a total 1.2 million prisoners) Americans are currently held in conditions of slave labor in American jails and prisons, most working for private prison corporations that profitably insource work and unfairly compete against normal American companies. Particularly in the South, this workforce is largely Black and Hispanic.

As the ACLU documented for the EPI, “The vast majority of work done by prisoners in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas is unpaid.” Literal slave labor, in other words. It’s a international scandal, but it’s also an important part of this development model that was, after all, first grounded in chattel slavery.

The Christian white supremacist roots of the SEDM worldview are best summed up by the lobbyist and head of the Southern Committee to Uphold the Constitution, Vance Muse — the inventor of the modern “right to work for less” model and advocate for the Southern Economic Development Model — who famously proclaimed in 1944, just days after Arkansas and Florida became the first states to adopt his anti-union legislation, that it was all about keeping Blacks and Jews in their places to protect the power and privileges of wealthy white people.

So, if you want to see what Republicans have in mind for the rest of America if Trump or another Republican becomes president and they can hold onto Congress, just visit the Old South. Or, as today’s MAGA GOP would call it, “the New Model.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dave Jamieson at HuffPost:

Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama have voted against joining the United Auto Workers, a setback for the union as it tries to organize the auto industry in the South. The vote count at the German manufacturer’s facilities in Vance, near Tuscaloosa, was 2,045 to 2,642 against the union, according to a preliminary tally from the National Labor Relations Board. More than 5,000 workers were eligible to cast ballots in the weeklong election that ended Friday. The union has a week to challenge the results.

The UAW was coming off a historic victory at Volkswagen’s Tennessee plant last month, where workers had voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionization. But the loss at Mercedes could slow the union’s plans to organize more foreign-owned auto facilities in Southern states. UAW President Shawn Fain said in a press conference following the results that the union and its supporters had “left everything on the table.” “While this loss stings, I’ll tell you this: We’re gonna keep our heads up,” Fain said. “We fought the good fight and we’re going to continue forward. Ultimately, these workers here are going to win.” Mercedes thanked employees for voting in a statement following the election. “Our goal throughout this process was to ensure every eligible Team Member had the opportunity to participate in a fair election,” the company said.

[...] The UAW has long represented auto workers at the “Big Three” of Ford, General Motors and Jeep parent company Stellantis, primarily in the Midwest. But over the years, foreign manufacturers like Mercedes, Volkswagen, Nissan and Hyundai have established factories in the South to take advantage of lower wages and “right to work” laws, reducing the UAW’s density across the industry. Organizing those plants is key to the UAW restoring its once-formidable bargaining power, and to boosting wages and benefits in Southern facilities that lag behind unionized plants.

Sad news in Alabama: The UAW lost the vote to unionize the Vance, AL Mercedes-Benz plant 2,642 to 2,045.

[padawan-historian]

On August 8, 1863, Tennessee ratified the 13th Amendment, abolishing the domestic slave trade of Black + indigenous folks in the state. 159 years later in 2022, Tennessee folks voted to abolish all forms of slavery in the state, including the "Slavery Clause" that allows for incarcerated slavery to persist in both state-sanctioned + private for-profit prisons.To this day, the United States continues to build wealth off the exploited labor of impoverished, (dis)abled, undocumented + racially marginalized people who are incarcerated.

Each community and country that participated in the Transatlantic Slave Trade has its own emancipation day (or year).

And yet, as of 2023, Colorado, Alabama, Oregon, Vermont, Tennessee + Nevada (2024) are the only U.S. states who have made steps to abolish slavery in all its forms. That's not even touching how slavery, both state-sanctioned and illegal bondage, continues to bleed into our everyday places from child labor + forced s*x work to penal plantations and chocolate factories (looking at you at hershey chocolate)

In this second wave of Jim & Jane Crow flooding our world, we must arm ourselves with the tools to disrupt systems, distribute resources + deepen our collective action + good trouble ~

If you wanna explore the full Emancipation post + readings, come join us in the garden community over on Patreon where we upRoot our miseducation through history lessons, community conversations + book talks + decolonizing our everyday practic, our classrooms + our communities.

Reclaim your emancipation + immerse yourself in the ancestral, antiracist liberation! 🖤✊🏾✨️