#Big Tech Suppression
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#Advocacy for Free Speech#Big Tech Suppression#Cancel Culture#Censorship#Decentralized Platforms#Digital Free Speech#Elite Narratives#facts#Fighting Censorship#Free Thought#Freedom of Speech#Independent Journalism#Information War#life#Media Bias#Misinformation Campaigns#Podcast#Self-Censorship#serious#Shadowbanning#Social Media Censorship#straight forward#truth#Truth and Justice#Tyranny and Control#upfront#website
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As sketchy as the oceangate submarine was... you can bet your ass every single one of musky's endeavors would look just as sketchy if it wasn't for the fact that he's forced to work with government regulators.
Hell, most of his projects are this sketchy if you look a bit closer. For example: the tesla tunnels.

No fire suppression system, no emergency exits, no emergency lighting, no way for EMS to get through, no fucking nothing. I am pretty sure it's not even big enough to open the car's doors.
Or the Cybertruck that's a deathtrap for both the people on the outside and the people on the inside because it utterly disregards the last 50 or so years of advancements in car safety technology such as crumple zones or safety glass
Or the tesla model 3 where you can't even open the back doors without power. So if you're in an accident and lose power... good luck getting your kids out of the back, especially when the huge battery is turning into a huge, unextinguishable flamethrower.
Or the fucking starship launchpad that was utterly destroyed by the rocket and threw huge concrete chunks and other debris around for miles... which, incidentally, also destroyed the rocket.


That's what all these self-proclaimed Silicon Valley tech bro geniuses are like.
They all think they know better than everyone else, and that rules or consequences don't apply to them, and they see safety as little more than an afterthought.
It's why Ai and social media algorithms are used sooooo ethically. It's why amazon and facebook try to find out everything about you and happily sell that data with no disregard for what it could be used for.
It's about damn time one of these CEO dipshits got killed by their own dipshitery, I just wish it had been musk or bezos instead...
Once again, in conclusion:

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BREAKING: TRUMP & ELON MUSK EXPOSE THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN U.S. HISTORY! BILLIONS STOLEN, MEDIA BOUGHT, DEEP STATE PANICKING. TOO BIG, TOO DIRTYâNO ONE ESCAPES! READ NOW BEFORE ITâS CENSORED!
February 6, 2025 â Buckle up, America! President Trump and Elon Musk just tore the mask off a scandal so massive, it could shake the entire system. Billions of taxpayer dollars funneled into the media, Deep State operatives caught red-handed, and corruption so deep it makes Watergate look like childâs play.
BILLIONS STOLENâWHERE DID IT GO?
Trump just revealed explosive evidence that USAID and other agencies have been secretly funneling money to the mediaâNOT for news, but for propaganda. The mission? To control the narrative, suppress the truth, and keep the American people in the dark.
Trumpâs own words:
âLOOKS LIKE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE BEEN STOLEN AT USAID, AND OTHER AGENCIES, MUCH OF IT GOING TO THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA AS A âPAYOFFâ FOR CREATING GOOD STORIES ABOUT THE DEMOCRATS. THE DEMOCRATS CANâT HIDE FROM THIS ONE. TOO BIG, TOO DIRTY!â
$8 MILLION to Politico. How much to CNN? MSNBC? The New York Times? The numbers are only beginning to surface. But one thing is clearâthis is the biggest political heist in American history.
THE GLOBAL CORRUPTION NETWORK EXPOSED!
This goes beyond the U.S. Deep State. Reports suggest that this web of corruption extends across borders, involving foreign governments, tech giants, and corporate elites.
Media payoffsâJournalists bribed to push pro-Democrat narratives.
Big Tech censorshipâSocial media platforms silencing dissent while raking in government money.
Political elites enrichedâSecret funds funneled to career politicians to keep them loyal.
Trillions missingâDark money flowing through shell companies and fake NGOs.
ELON MUSK: âTHE PEOPLE DESERVE THE TRUTH!â
Musk isnât holding back. As the last bastion of free speech, heâs making sure the truth is heard.
âThe people deserve the truth. No more lies. No more cover-ups. Transparency wins.â
THE DEEP STATE IS PANICKING!
Mainstream media is silentâproof theyâre scrambling behind the scenes. Congress must act NOW.
Who else got paid? Who will be held accountable? The people demand JUSTICE!
FINAL WARNING TO THE ELITES: YOUR TIME IS UP!
The swamp is being drained.
Trump is back.
Musk is exposing everything.
The people are awake.
No more hiding.
No one escapes this storm. đ¤
#pay attention#educate yourselves#educate yourself#reeducate yourselves#knowledge is power#reeducate yourself#think about it#think for yourselves#think for yourself#do your homework#do your own research#do some research#do your research#ask yourself questions#question everything#government corruption#government secrets#rogue government#lies exposed#truth be told#evil lives here#crimes against humanity#brainwashing#treason#the storm#ncswic#justice is coming#news
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Fascist, Thus Inefficient
âAs you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed,â the Emperor said, triumph in his tone. âNow, witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!â
Luke looked at him in shock.
âFire at will, Commander!â the Emperor said.
Fourteen months previouslyâŚ
âShipment IL-214-73 arriving,â a petty officer reported.
âThank goodness,â muttered one of the technicians. âAfter the delays weâve been having, we need to get those Khyber crystals into the third main focusing array. Itâs been on the critical path for a week.â
He brought up the display, frowning. âAll right, I think we can make up a bit of time if we just get them straight to cutting and installation.â
âDonât we need to run them through the testing process first?â a more junior technician asked. âThatâs on the list.â
âI know itâs on the list,â the senior tech replied. âBut the list was written when they didnât expect thereâd be rebel attacks hitting our supply lines.â
He waved at the screen. âThe testing process means heating each individual crystal up to eighteen hundred, even though we know Khyber can all handle temperatures of up to forty-seven-fifty. The cutting process doesnât rely on heat tolerance either. Any crystalline flaws will come out in cutting, and we can just junk them. It means cutting takes a bit longer, but by going straight to cutting we can save at several hours on the overall process. And you know how much time weâve lost already.â
The junior tech looked worried, then shook his head.
âAll right,â he replied. âI guess so.â
âYou need to learn how things are done in practice,â the senior tech said. âNo big deal.â
Eleven months previously...
âIâm quite sure Rothana Heavy Engineeringâs XJ-15 hypermatter feed systems will meet your needs better than the alternatives,â the Rothana representative said, as Admiral Jerjerrod examined the datasheet.
He wasnât so sure. The newer units had better specifications, certainly, but they werenât proven, and they were also somewhat more expensive.
âI donât think thatâs necessarily the case,â he said, out loud. âWhile I appreciate Rothanaâs position, the Sienar alternative has similar flow rates and more proven applications.â
The Rothana representative nodded, sagely.
âI understand entirely,â he said. âHowever, I must point out that Rothana has some important additional information to present.â
He held out a credit chip, which Jerjerrod took and inspected.
âOwing to the XJ-15âs protracted development, we are willing to provide our test units at cost,â the representative went on. âThat is in addition to having a higher production rate than our competitors and a less committed production output.â
Jerjerrod hesitated, then pocketed the credit chip.
âThat all seems in order,â he said. âThe XJ-15 it is.â
âMarvellous,â the representative declared.
Nine months previously...
âIâve examined the records that exist from the first Death Star,â a senior technician said. âThe amount of strain that was placed on the flash suppression systems was minimal to nonexistent. Even with the full firing that destroyed Alderaan, surviving records indicate that the flash suppressors had no more than a five percent load placed on them â an amount that can be handled by untreated durasteel.â
The other men and women in the meeting looked at the data on the screen behind their colleague.
âYouâre suggesting we forego the duratemp treatment on the flash protection systems?â one of the women asked, cautiously. âI can see the advantages, but the downsides seem significant. Iâd even say potentially destructive.â
âIt is my position that the cost of including the duratemp treatment is unacceptable,â the tech replied. âIt takes time and effort, including supervisory attention which cuts into the available man-hours on the project. We only have so much experienced manpower.â
That drew winces, though none of the humans in the room drew attention to the fact that they were spending a lot of that time in interminable meetings.
âIn the following presentation, Iâll discuss my proposal and how it could shave as much as one week off the final completion timetable,â the senior tech continued, flicking to the next screen of his presentation. âThis model shows how the flash suppression systems are built around the main weaponâŚâ
Six months previouslyâŚ
âThere simply isnât an option,â the head of personnel replied. âOur existing system is not providing enough technicians and operators.â
âThis was quite sufficient for the first Death Star,â Jerjerrod protested.
âThe first Death Star was a project that took decades,â the manager replied, shrugging. âIt didnât come up at first, sir â for that I apologize â but if we are going to redress the problem, we need to act now. There is no alternative.â
Jerjerrod rubbed his temples, thinking about the problem.
The fully functional Death Star was going to need hundreds of thousands of qualified technicians and operators, familiar with the systems of the vast battle station, and so many of the men who knew much about the Death Star at the moment were busy building it.
There hadnât been many left after the destruction of the first battle station, because most of them had been working on it at the time.
âAll right,â he said. âSo your proposal isâŚ?â
âWe keep the same number of trainers for now, but abbreviate the course,â the manager answered. âTwo months â at most. Then we have the new graduates train the next batch for two months, and so on. Exponential growth. At twenty students per instructor and a hundred instructors to start with, weâll end up with eight hundred thousand in six months.â
That was extremely tempting⌠they wouldnât be anything like the equal of what they should be, but they could learn on the job.
âAll right,â Jerjerrod said. âApproved â see to it.â
One month previouslyâŚ
âNext item on the checklist?â Commander Jaskier asked.
âStep one hundred and seven,â Technician Mils replied. âSelf test.â
She pressed the self-test button, and the computer system clicked and flickered as it ran through the diagnostics.
Data results and readouts went up on the screen, and Jaskier and all the others in the control station watched the results.
None of them had any comment to make about the numbers. The checklist said to run the self test, so that was what they were doing.
âStep one hundred and eight,â Mils went on. âSign off on results.â
She did that, as well, and Jaskier nodded.
âGood,â he said. âAnd I believe weâve finished that half an hour ahead of schedule! Good work, everyone.â
Now.
The firing commands flashed out through the Death Starâs systems, triggering a cascade of further commands, and the whole massive battle stationâs main superlaser woke for the first time.
Fifty XJ-15 hypermatter flow regulators controlled the flow of energy from the power core into the power collectors, and the energy being channelled into the system surged rapidly â rising to one hundred and eighteen percent of nominal, above what would have been anticipated, and greater than the one hundred and two percent that the older, more proven Sienar systems would have generated.
Thousands of high powered beams were generated, controlled and focused through an enormous array of Khyber crystals⌠a small but measurable fraction of which were cheap industrially grown diamonds instead, added to the shipments by subcontractors eager to stretch out their production from the strip-mined planet of Ilum without running so late on their deliveries that financial penalties were imposed.
None of the technicians who were in a position to spot the problem at this stage were actually capable of doing so. Their necessarily abbreviated training had mostly been on what buttons to push, and nobody had the deeper knowledge of the systems to recognize that the system was in an anomalous state.
Then some of the diamonds shattered under the load, allowing the beams free to damage adjacent systems, and in moments the whole of the energy drawn from the hypermatter core was unleashed.
The flash suppression systems were wholly, and fatally, inadequate.
âWatch yourself, Wedge!â Lando called, his head on a swivel, and banked the Falcon around so his ventral turret gunner could clear off one of the TIEs attacking Red Leader. âWeâve got to-â
Then there was a sudden blinding flash, and Lando did a double-take.
The Death Starâs protective shield was instantly, and dramatically, visible â because the entire inside of it was full of plasma and flame, lighting it up as clearly as Ackbarâs briefing had done back before the operation was launched in the first place. Then something blew up on the surface of the forest moon as the plasma followed the funnel of the shield, and the explosive force was no longer contained but began to drift out into space.
â...the kriff?â Lando asked, eventually. âWhat just happened?â
âOw,â Darth Vader said, indistinctly, reaching up to feel his helmet, which had been crushed in by an impact with the ceiling.
The Emperorâs throne room seemed to mostly be intact, though there was an Emperor-shaped hole in the window nearest his throne, and Luke had his hands out to either side as he stood on the wall.
âFather, are you all right?â the younger Skywalker asked.
âWhat happened?â Vader replied. âI remember the Emperor ordering that the Death Star should fireâŚâ
âI donât know, it exploded just after he said that,â Luke answered. âIt turns out that overconfidence was his weakness⌠do you have any idea where the nearest spaceship is? Keeping the atmosphere in is tiring me out a bit.â
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Whoâs to Blame for Out-Of-Control Corporate Power? Â Â Â
One man is especially to blame for why corporate power is out of control. And I knew him! He was my professor, then my boss. His name⌠Robert Bork.
Robert Bork was a notorious conservative who believed the only legitimate purpose of antitrust â that is, anti-monopoly â law is to lower prices for consumers, no matter how big corporations get. His philosophy came to dominate the federal courts and conservative economics.
I met him in 1971, when I took his antitrust class at Yale Law School. He was a large, imposing man, with a red beard and a perpetual scowl. He seemed impatient and bored with me and my classmates, who included Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham, as we challenged him repeatedly on his antitrust views.
We argued with Bork that ever-expanding corporations had too much power. Not only could they undercut rivals with lower prices and suppress wages, but they were using their spoils to influence our politics with campaign contributions. Wasnât this cause for greater antitrust enforcement?
He had a retort for everything. Undercutting rival businesses with lower prices was a good thing because consumers like lower prices. Suppressing wages didnât matter because employees are always free to find better jobs. He argued that courts could not possibly measure political power, so why should that matter?
Even in my mid-20s, I knew this was hogwash.
But Borkâs ideology began to spread. A few years after I took his class, he wrote a book called The Antitrust Paradox summarizing his ideas. The book heavily influenced Ronald Reagan and later helped form a basic tenet of Reaganomics â the bogus theory that says government should get out of the way and allow corporations to do as they please, including growing as big and powerful as they want.
Despite our law school sparring, Bork later gave me a job in the Department of Justice when he was solicitor general for Gerald Ford. Even though we didnât agree on much, I enjoyed his wry sense of humor. I respected his intellect. Hell, I even came to like him.
Once President Reagan appointed Bork as an appeals court judge, his rulings further dismantled antitrust. And while his later Supreme Court nomination failed, his influence over the courts continued to grow. Â
Borkâs legacy is the enormous corporate power we see today, whether itâs Ticketmaster and Live Nation consolidating control over live performances, Kroger and Albertsons dominating the grocery market, or Amazon, Google, and Meta taking over the tech world.
Itâs not just these high-profile companies either: in most industries, a handful of companies now control more of their markets than they did twenty years ago.
This corporate concentration costs the typical American household an estimated extra $5,000 per year. Companies have been able to jack up prices without losing customers to competitors because there is often no meaningful competition.
And huge corporations also have the power to suppress wages because workers have fewer employers from whom to get better jobs.
And how can we forget the massive flow of money these corporate giants are funneling into politics, rigging our democracy in their favor?
But the tide is beginning to turn under the Biden Administration. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are fighting the monopolization of America in court, and proposing new merger guidelines to protect consumers, workers, and society.
Itâs the implementation of the view that I and my law school classmates argued for back in the 1970s â one that sees corporate concentration as a problem that outweighs any theoretical benefits Bork claimed might exist.
Robert Bork would likely regard the Biden administrationâs antitrust efforts with the same disdain he had for my arguments in his class all those years ago. But instead of a few outspoken law students, Borkâs philosophy is now being challenged by the full force of the federal government.
The public is waking up to the outsized power corporations wield over our economy and democracy. Itâs about time.
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â§ę°á â ŕťęą ⧠MASTERLIST â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
âclick each individual name to access seriesâ
đ§¸fluff đŚ˘angst đsmut đheadcannons
đplatonic fluff â¨AU đđťLatina reader đsad

â§ę°á â ŕťęą ⧠Sturniolo Triplets â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
â Big Sister- Sturniolo Triplets đ
summary: Reader is a couple of years older than the triplets, having lived a completely different life to theirs by the age of 25 and is invited onto the Cut The Camera Podcast as a special guest. Reader and triplets retell stories of their childhood and learn more about the readers past.
â Big Sister Pt. 2- Sturniolo Triplets đ,đŚ˘
summary: After visiting the triplets in L.A, the reader returns back home and works with her brothers to plan another get together. This time the triplets visit her, taking a trip down to the Lone Star State.
â Big Sister Pt. 3- Sturniolo Triplets đ
summary: Your brothers have always been overprotective of you, and they do a good job of showing it while filming with Sam and Colby.
âN. Sturnioloâ (click for series)
â Truth or Dare- N. Sturniolo đ
summary: Nick and his best friend always find themselves playing truth or dare.
â 4 In The Morning- N. Sturniolo đŚ˘,đ
summary: Your best friend Nick comforts you after receiving some unexpected news.
â Talkative- N. Sturniolo đ,đ
summary: head cannons of Nick with a yapper bff!
âM. Sturnioloâ (click for series)
â Full Set- M. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Reader is a well renowned nail tech in L.A and due to her growing popularity has become everyoneâs go-to nail tech. This leads her to become a workaholic, stunting many of the areas of her life. Three regular customers work towards changing that.
â In Denial- M. Sturniolo đŚ˘,đ§¸
summary: Itâs hard to admit when youâre in love, especially when the person you love is so different from you. But, as they say, opposites attract.
â Small Town Dreaming- M. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Thereâs not much to do in this small town but fall in love.
â Heartbreak Girl- M. Sturniolo đŚ˘
summary: Mattâs in love with you, but youâre too in love with someone else to realize it.
â Heartbreak Girl PT.2- M. Sturniolo đŚ˘,đ§¸
summary: Matt tries moving on, but you reel him back in every time.
â Manage- M. Sturniolo đ
summary: Youâre Mattâs secretary, in charge of overseeing everything related to his schedule. Everyday when you come into the office he suppresses the urge to take you then and there. When on a work business trip, he canât hold back anymore.
â Iâll Play Your Game- M. Sturniolo đŚ˘,đ§¸
summary: Youâre the Pastorâs daughter, all eyes are always on you. So, why not put on a show?
â Intrusive Thoughts- M. Sturniolo đ
summary: Youâre forced to sit on Mattâs lap during a long roadtrip and once you arrive at your destination he lets his intrusive thoughts win.
â Intrusive Thoughts PT.2- M. Sturniolo đ
summary: The morning after yours and Mattâs night together, you go for round two.
â Carnal Desires- M. Sturniolo đ
summary: You join Matt and his family on a vacation, and get lost together while on a hike. Instead of freaking out, you two take advantage of the sudden alone time.
â Talkative- M. Sturniolo đ, đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of Matt with a talkative, yapper girlfriend!
â A Cold Sunday- M. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: You and Matt spend a cold Sunday morning together, snuggling up and keeping warm.
â Urban Cowboy- M. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Matt, a city boy, tries one upping you, the best bull rider in town, only to be met with a painful outcome.
â Why Do You Care?- M. Sturniolo đŚ˘,đ§¸
summary: Youâre naive and let yourself be led on by someone you believe has good intentions, but one day Matt puts him in his place and ends up confessing his feelings to you in the process.
â Parenthood- M. Sturniolo đ,đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of dad!Matt.
â Lipstick- M. Sturniolo đđť,đ§¸,đ
summary: Mattâs nervous to meet your family, but after making a good impression you treat him to a night full of kisses and lipstick stains.
â Happy Birthday- M. Sturniolo đ,đ§¸
summary: Over the course of working together for years, Matt picks up on everything and despite not understanding it completely, he comforts you through the hurt.
â Tough- M. Sturniolo đ,đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of Matt with a tough girlfriend!
â Weakness- M. Sturniolo đ
summary: You fight your inner desires, but ultimately let your weakness consume you.
â Actress- M. Sturniolo đ,đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of Matt with an actress girlfriend!
â Affectionate- M. Sturniolo đ,đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of Matt being affection with his touch starved girlfriend!
â End of the World- M. Sturniolo â¨,đ,đ§¸
summary: No one deserves to die a virgin, not even at the end of the world.
â On Stream- M. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Matt mentions you on stream, causing the chat to go crazy.
âC. Sturnioloâ (click for series)
â Corner Store- C. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Chris is your annoying coworker who always manages to make your shifts a little more miserable than necessary, but it turns out he has a misunderstood crush on you.
â Way Over Love- C. Sturniolo đ
summary: Chris struggles to accept that he likes you as more than a friends.
â Shopaholic- C. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: No matter how hard you try, you just canât stop swiping your card.
â Unplanned- C. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Becoming a teen mom was never in your plans, but you and Chris had to learn to make the best of it.
â Candy- C. Sturniolođđť,đ§¸
summary: You were sweet as candy and Chris couldnât stop himself from taking a bite, leading to an internet scandal neither of you anticipated.
â Talkative- C. Sturniolo đ, đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of Chris with a talkative, yapper girlfriend!
â Parenthood- C. Sturniolo đ, đ§¸,đ
summary: head cannons of Dad!Chris.
â Snowed In- C. Sturniolo đ§¸
summary: Sometimes the mundane moments are the most beautiful.

â§ę°á â ŕťęą ⧠Johnnie Guilbert â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
(click for series)
â Collab- J. Guilbert đ§¸
summary: You and Johnnie pretend to date, faking it for so long that it became real.
â Vampire- J. Guilbert (prologue) â¨.đ,đ§¸,đŚ˘
summary: You take your relationship with Johnnie, your vampire lover, one step further.
â Vampire- J. Guilbert â¨, đŚ˘, đ§¸
summary: Youâre just a princess who fell in love. The only problem is that heâs a vampire and your father has promised your hand in marriage to someone else.
â Bad Day- J. Guilbert đŚ˘,đ§¸
summary: Johnnie is the moon and youâre the sun, always bright, bubbly and energetic. Nobody believes that someone as positive as you can ever have a bad day, but when you do Johnnie is ready to comfort you through it.
â Babygirl- J. Guilbert đ§¸
summary: You didnât choose a life in the limelight, you were just famous by association, and now youâve earned yourself the nickname âbabygirlâ by the entire internet.
â Monster- J. Guilbert đ
summary: Tara plays matchmaker, earning Johnnie the night of his life with you in a bar restroom.
â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§Jake Webber â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
(click for series)
â Messy- J. Webber đ
summary: Jake is a regular customer at the diner you work at, eating the same meal everyday before returning back to work. One day, when youâre taking his order, you can tell he has much more sinful intentions than a quick meal.
â Call Out My Name- J. Webber đ
summary: When you film a video with somebody else, Jakeâs jealousy takes over.
â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§Carringtonâ§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
â coming soonâŚ

â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§Norman Reedusâ§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
â Daryl Dixon, The Walking Dead
â Murphy Macmanus, The Boondock Saints
â Diego, Sky
â Van, Floating
â coming soonâŚ

â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§Pedro Pascalâ§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
â Javier PeĂąa, Narcos
â Joel Miller, The Last of Us
â Oberyn, Game of Thrones
â coming soonâŚ

â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§5SOSâ§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
â C. Hood
â A. Irwin
â L. Hemmings
â M. Clifford
â coming soonâŚ

â§ę°á â ŕťęą â§Lip Gallagherâ§ę°á â ŕťęą â§
â coming soonâŚ
#sturniolo triplets#teapartyanonreqsâ¨đ#fanfiction#MASTERLIST#Christopher sturniolo#Matthew sturniolo#Nicolas sturniolo#5SOS#5 seconds of summer#Johnnie guilbert#YouTube#YouTuber#shameless#shameless Netflix#lip Gallagher#calum hood#luke hemmings#michael clifford#i love my emo boyfriend#teapartyanonsđŚ˘đ#Jake Webber#Jake and Johnnie
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I Don't Want You Like A Bestfriend - S.H



Pairing - Bestfriend!Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader
WC - 2.3k
Warnings - mentions of anxiety, reader not liking large gatherings, swearing, alcohol (reader works at a bar). As always, let me know if I missed anything!
AN - Part 2 of the Dress mini series! This could technically be a standalone fic, but for the full context I would recommend reading part 1 :)Â
Dress Series - Pt 1, Pt 2
December 1987
2 bowls of popcorn and 4 movies later, youâre laying on opposite ends of your twin bed with your best friend; gossiping lazily with droopy eyelids.
âI cannot go to their wedding without a date, Rob.â looking at her exasperated, âThatâs like, totally embarrassing! Steveâs gonna have this Madonna-ey, bombshell blonde and with giant boobs and I'm gonna bring who? My cousin? Not happening.â You say with finality.
âWell forgive me,â Robin deadpans. âI only know like,â She gestures dramatically, trying to count in her head, â7 boys!â
May 1985
Immediately upon opening your eyes, youâre met with the blinding pain of your too big brain bouncing around inside your skull and a foreboding sense of dread upon recalling the way you behaved the night before.
You could only remember bits and pieces of the wretched night, but you were humiliated nonetheless. Had you said something you shouldnât have? Your stomach churns at the thought and briefly you fear you might yak again.
A few weeks later, you were walking the stage, diploma in hand. Steve had broken up with Nancy Wheeler the week following prom. Feigning some bullshit about him leaving for college; not wanting to do long distance. Those cliche, overused excuses that everyone knows loosely translate to âI donât love you anymore.â
Steve didnât even get into tech, unbeknownst to Nancy. He was dodgy when you asked him about their breakup. âI just felt like we didnât make sense anymore, you know? But it-â he sighed, âitâs just, itâs not like I could say that to her.âÂ
You didnât want to push the subject further, despite your bewilderment. Part of you felt desperately guilty at the idea that you may have been the catalyst for what happened to their relationship. You didnât dare ask, though. Maybe you didnât want to know, or maybe you just didnât want to make it about yourself.Â
December 1987
The Wandering Dog was especially busy tonight. Folks trying to escape their in-laws for a few hours during the holiday season, college kids home for break trying to get wasted; and all of it was your problem. The pay was nice, you made good tips bartending. Right as you watch someone knock over an entire tray of drinks, a familiar head of hair makes its way to sit in front of you at the bar. Distracting, but not enough to suppress the groan that leaves your throat when it dawns on you that those drinks are your mess to clean up later.
âSteve-o,â you force a smile at him, âwhat can I do for ya on this..lovely evening?â
âCanât a guy visit his favorite lady without needing a reason?â He lilts.
You try not to let on how flustered you feel at his usage of âfavorite ladyâ.Â
âYou hate this bar, youâre also technically banned-â he cuts you off with a wave of his hand âStill? Seriously? It was one time-â Your turn to interrupt, âNo actually, year prior? That was your first warning.â Youâre met with a roll of the eyes, forgetting how utterly sassy heâs become in the last few years. You canât decide whether you love or hate the development.
âI actually uh,â he runs a hand through his hair- a nervous habit, âI wanted to ask you something,â. You look at him quizzically, unable to pinpoint what's caused such a sudden shift in his demeanor.
âOkayâŚâ you draw out the last syllable, more confused than unkind. âSpill it Hairspray, youâre kind of freaking me out.â you give an awkward chuckle. Your friendship is hardly what youâd consider serious. Sure, youâve had your share of late night, existential conversations; but you can count on one hand the amount of times youâve made the other actually nervous.
He clears his throat, âsorry yeah, sorry. I was wondering uh, ifyouwouldbemydatetojoyceandhopperswedding.â
The rest of his sentence comes out as one jumbled word. You do a double take when you finally process what heâs asking, and you choke a little on the Coke you were sipping. âWhat?-â
â-As friends!â he blurts loudly as his hands shoot out in front of him in a defensive gesture, âobviously, as friends. Thatâs- what I meant.â his words lose confidence every time he opens his mouth.
You stare for a little too long, mouth hanging open like a trout. âYou donât..already have a date?â You hope he doesnât take offense to the inquiry. Steve Harrington can most certainly find a plus one to a simple wedding.
âYeah I- something like that,â his mouth opens like heâs going to explain further before deciding against it; settling on a lopsided smile instead. Heâs terrified heâs blown his cover. If he had given any effort at all to the endeavor, surely he wouldâve been able to find a date. Fancy car, rich parents, million dollar smile and his infallible charm. The problem was that he didnât want to go with another Heidi. Another Jessica. Another Stacy.
He wanted to go with you.
Even if it meant just as friends. You two were just friends.
-
Joyce and Hopperâs wedding was at Pokagon State Park, and the drive up was less than stellar. 3 hours stuffed inside a cramped BMW with Robin, Eddie, and Vickie. You were fortunate enough to be riding shotgun next to Steve for the trip, Eddie muttering something about âdate privilegeâ.
When you arrived at the cabin youâd be sharing with your 4 friends, you were a little mortified. There was a room for Vickie and Robin, and Eddie claimed the pullout couch almost immediately. This leaves one more room. With one bed. For you and Steve Harrington. Itâs possible Joyce may have misinterpreted the reality of your situation when booking the rooming accommodations.
If it bothered Steve, he didnât show it. You guys had had sleepovers before, but almost never in the same bed. His house had a plethora of guest bedrooms, and your father would be found dead before he let a boy sleep in your room, even at the ripe age of 20.
Weâre adults, you think. We can be mature about this.
There isnât much time to dwell on it before youâre being stuffed by Robin into a too tight, wine red bridesmaid dress.
âI feel sick,â you say, groaning. âDo not barf on me,â she warns with a stern look, though you can tell sheâs not really annoyed. âI really like these shoes.â Despite the itchy fabric of the dress and the obnoxiously loud color, you do look breathtakingly beautiful. Red has always been your color.Â
âHey dingus! Stop gawking and zip me would you?â Robin lightly kicks you with her bare foot, taking you out of your own head. When you exit the bathroom, youâre immediately met with the 2 boys. Even Eddie, who you donât believe youâve ever seen not in ripped jeans, cleans up nice.
Steve looksâŚstrapping. Not handsome in the boyish way youâre used to. Heâs all slicked hair, cufflinks and well-pressed wool. He meets your gaze and you swear his pupils dilate just slightly. An arm is offered to walk you to his car. He smells like cinnamon and cedar, woodsy and spice. He opens the passenger door for you and God, heâs a gentleman.
Itâs going to be a long night.
-Â
The venue was terribly charming. Floor to ceiling windows highlight the snow falling outside in big, fat flakes over the water. The room was lit entirely by yellow string lights, casting a permanent warm hue over the lodge.
On a table clad in lace, there were 5 notecards scribbled on in cursive ink. The one that adorned your name was directly adjacent to one that read Steve Harrington. They were paired with party favors wrapped neatly with a white silk bow.
Steve wanted to pull out your chair for you. He wanted to sit beside you with his hand in yours. Hell, he wouldâve bought you a corsage if he thought it appropriate. A death by a thousand cuts; he was again reminded of the fact that you were not his, and he was not yours.
You were unable to identify the source of the nagging anxiety you felt. You were never partial to big gatherings like this, but the unease you were experiencing now was different. All you could do was relax, and try to enjoy the reception. Try not to pay mind to the stark, masculine presence sitting beside you.
The newlywedsâ first dance was to the beloved âNever Tear Us Apartâ By INXS. You think about how remarkably fitting a song it was for them and everything they had endured together. The restlessness you had previously felt started to steadily fade after that; laughing and chatting with your friends. It started to feel..normal, for a while.
Just then, like some sick esoteric joke, you hear the unmistakable beginning notes of âIâll Be Over Youâ by Toto. When you turn to your left, Steve has a poorly concealed, shit-eating grin on his face.
In the most sober tone he can muster through his unseriousness, he asks, âCan I have this dance?â while extending his hand to you. He prays you donât notice it trembling slightly. Itâs the undeniable corniness of his request that manages to strangle a laugh out of you.
 âI thought youâd never ask.â
With one hand delicately placed on your hip, he threads the other one with your own fingers as he starts to sway. You clumsily try to match his rhythm; so nervous that youâre becoming uncoordinated. His chest is nearly touching yours, and your noses are a hairsbreadth apart. It feels profoundly intimate.
'as soon as forever is through, I'll be over you.'
He leans his head down so his lips just brush your ear as he whispers, âYou okay?â
You scoff, unconvincingly. âYeah, why wouldnât I be?â You know he can see right through you. Itâs fruitless to try and deceive him.
âYou just seem,â he gives your waist a small squeeze, âa little tense.â You swallow hard.
âJust say the word and I'll take you home.â âHomeâ meaning back to the cabin. Not the comforting safety of your own bed back in Hawkins. You appreciate his earnestly either way.
âI know, Steve.â you lilt, trying to lighten the intensity of the moment with a teasing tone. You rest your head against his shoulder, if only so you donât have to keep holding his all-consuming gaze.
-
Despite the thermostat being set at a comfortable 75 degrees, you were still shivering slightly. You always ran cold. You stood in front of a dusty vanity mirror trying to extend your arms behind your back far enough to unzip this godforsaken dress.
You felt him more than you saw him. Steveâs presence displaces the air in the room as one does to water when they sink down into a steaming bath: noticeably, and comfortably. You pay him no mind as you continue to struggle with the zipper. Mulling around the same room; busy with your separate tasks, this was familiar to you. Not often did you have to acknowledge the other for them to know you were grateful for their company.
âNeed a hand with that?â he asks, slightly amused as he saunters over to you.
You hesitate for a moment before looking over your shoulder and offering him a shy smile, âYeah, if you wouldnât mind?â You know he doesnât.
His scent envelopes you like a thick fog when he approaches you. His calloused fingers pinch the clasp and pull it down its tracks slowly. The sound is piercing in the quiet of your shared room; your senses dialed up to 11. You can feel his warm, freshly minty breath fan over your shoulders and the nape of your neck. Your arms erupt in goosebumps at the sensation.
He stands there, he realizes, longer than he needs to.Â
âOkay Iâm gonna-â âThere you go-â you both speak at the same time.Â
You huff an awkward breath of a laugh before you finish your thought, âIâm gonna..go change.â you throw a thumb behind you in the direction of the ensuite. âRight, yeah,â he shakes his head as if to escape his own thoughts; his turn to act shy.
-
Lying in bed, youâre suddenly grateful that Steve has always been something of a personal space heater. The warmth he radiates makes you want to curl into him, against your better judgment. The silence in the room is deafening; the only sounds to be heard are rhythmic breathing and the creaking of the ancient plumbing.
âCan I tell you a secret?â Steveâs voice is hoarse, no doubt from the boisterous singing heâd been doing earlier in the evening. Still, youâre grateful for the crack in the wall that's been plastered between you.
âI like secrets,â
âI hate weddings.â
The stiff fabric of the pillowcase crinkles as you turn your head to look at him.
âI am happy for them, itâs not that,â he starts, âitâs just, what if itâs never me up there ya know?â Â Itâs not that heâs scared heâll never marry; itâs that heâs scared heâll never marry you.
You want to reach out for him then. Hold his face in your hands and tell him you understand. There are so many unspoken words between you. Things unsaid, but implied. The desire to yell and scream and confess how much you love him is overwhelming.
âSteve. Youâre only twenty,â smiling lightheartedly, âthereâs so much time for you. There are plenty of women out there that would be delighted to swear themselves to you for eternity. Believe me.â You chuckle and pretend like the reason you know that to be the truth isnât because youâre one of them.
âI know, I know,â he brings a hand up to card through his bed mussed hair, âyouâre right, itâs silly.â
âI didnât say it was silly,â you elbow his side gently, consequently moving your body closer to his.
He doesnât say anything then. Instead, his hand cautiously moves over the bed until itâs touching yours; intertwining your pinkies. He doesnât breathe, as if any sudden movements might scare you like a frightened doe. If he breathes, you might remember youâre not supposed to be doing this.
âIf weâre not married by the time weâre,â he pretends to ponder, â32, will you marry me?â
You laugh, the unexpected loudness of it making you cringe a little, âyes,â
âPromise?â He sounds deadly serious.
You tighten your pinky around his, âPromise.â
#steve harrington x reader#stranger things#steve harrington#series#steve harrington fluff#steve x reader#steve harrington angst#stranger things series#joe keery#joseph david keery#steve harrington smut#steve harrington fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction#ao3 fanfic#ao3#st fic#steve harrington one shot#steve harrington x you#astrology#steve harrington fanfiction
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National Park Service employees live in poverty. They make peanuts and are housed in dilapidated Quonset huts leftover from WWII that are un-insulated, full of holes, lacking running water, and often without heat or AC.
Even many of the liberals reading this think government employees are living high on the hog. Donât be like MAGAts and think because you have hard times that everyone you perceive to be making more than you deserves to lose everything. Non-management federal government employees make shit and are forced to live in big cities where the cost of living is super high. They donât deserve to lose their jobs or whatever benefits they may be getting to satiate oligarchs and Republicans. These employees have families, mortgages, student loans, and medical debt just like the rest of us. Additionally a disproportionate number of federal workers are marginalized people who couldnât find any other work. They owe their jobs to the Democratic policies of hiring the disabled, veterans, people of color, women, religious minorities, etc. Times are hard for everyone and have been since Reagan and the Republicans murdered the American dream.
I know retail pays shit and most other jobs in the private sector as well. I know most people no longer have unions but thatâs no reason to hate on these poor souls. Dragging everyone else down will not lift the rest of us up. Republicans, CEOâs, and oligarchs have spent decades trying to get us to turn against each other. Donât fall for it. Your enemy isnât the museum security guard, the librarian, the IRS receptionist, the National Park Service, the data entry tech at the Veteranâs Administration, etc.
We have one common enemy that is suppressing 98% of the public and itâs the billionaire oligarchs using corporate greed and Republican puppets against us. Drive the Republicans from office and drive the CEOâs and oligarchs from politics once and for all.
#real people losing real jobs#Trump and musk making America unemployed#republican assholes#mass firings#maga morons#crooked donald#traitor trump#republican hypocrisy#corporate greed#republican party#firing dedicated public servants
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I just realize everything is alright!human is tech the parent in law with alcohol eyes!human. The casettes also will a have a future sibling with the spark that soundwaveâs in the snippet.
Yep, that sparkling is going to be very spoiled and able to get away with anything

Everything is Alright Pt 127
IDW Starscream x Reader, Soundwave x Reader, Megatron x Reader
⢠Itâs the sound of Megatron loudly clearing his vents with a growl that makes all three of you realize heâs still lingering there in the doorway, watching you. And itâs the annoyance on his face twisted together with what might almost be longing that aches through you. Makes you feel guilty. Part of this now because heâd tried to save you, but still on the outside looking in. And those tired optics donât leave your face. âThe spark will need regular contact with its carrier to thrive,â he mutters, a big hand flexing against the side of the doorway. And thereâs almost a question there, not a request. That guilt growing as you canât look away from him. âThank you for saving me. And the spark,â you manage, and he just stares at you before turning and leaving.
⢠Servos gently turning your face back his way, Starscream brushes his lips against your cheek. âDonât worry about him,â he mutters, hand sliding to your neck. And itâs really sinking in that Megatron has to listen to him, canât just dismiss him. And canât punish him for speaking up. âI would like Shockwave to run some scans, make sure youâre okay after-â After what heâd done had nearly cost him everything. That panic lifting through him as his wings tremble, because heâd nearly lost everything by his own hands. His own actions. And your soft hands cup his face, pressing your forehead against his jaw. âIâm okay.â
⢠Servos flexing against your sides, that bitter ache inside Soundwave grows. Your emotions washing into him, but it feels stunted somehow, less bright than it had been. Knows itâs that broken bond and hates that loss. âAlso request Shockwave to check on you,â he says, feeling awful that he wants to know if thereâs a way around your lifespan. A way he can have everything he wants without risking what he has. Wanting something for himself, not just for the cause or his cassettes. Wanting to be able to be greedy. To ask for things for himself.
⢠Shoulders hunching, itâs hard to argue with Soundwaveâs soft request. Hard to deny him anything. It hadnât been your fault, but you canât help but wonder if there might have been a way to stop Star from severing his partial bond. If maybe you could have done something. And that thought is a guilty ache inside you. That youâd let it happen, that maybe you could have fought for him. That you should have. But Shockwave is just creepy. âSure,â you weakly manage, feeling Soundwave gently butt his helm against the back of your head before both mechs pull away from you. Mass displacing and your eyes narrow when Soundwave staggers some. âYou need energon, donât you?â He offers you his cupped hands and you scowl. âGo eat something first. Refuel.â Pointing imperiously and turning your frown on Starscream when he makes a noise that might be a badly suppressed laugh. âBoth of you.â
⢠Itâs not forgiveness, but if you feel okay enough to fuss over him, it might as well be. Flashing you a crooked smile, Starscream reaches to stroke your cheek with a servo, smiling wider when you smack at him. âNow,â you demand. Feeling like everything is going to be okay. That youâre both going to get past this. âBossy,â he mutters affectionately, but he goes to retrieve two energon cubes, scowling at Soundwave when he offers him one. Making an effort to keep you happy. âThis has to be the most fragged up Trine in existence.â
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#transformers x reader#starscream x reader#megatron x reader#soundwave x reader#soundwave#megatron#starscream
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𧾠[THREAD] Will the next generation get (factual) smex ed?
Most of us learn about smex through the media we consume⌠but what happens when Big Tech censors and suppresses factual info?
Created with @safe2choose & @HTUabortionpill
Alt-text included on all pieces!
#art#feminism#feminist#sex education#sex ed#consent#sex educator#reproductive health#queer#lgbtq#young people#social justice
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hai!!! how are you doing? i saw ur doing requests again soon... and i wanted to request a tbb something ^^
how would they react to their s/o like. BITING THEM. not full on CHOMP! duh. but a little soft nibble anywhere(jaw, cheek, neck, hand, nose, YOU GET THE POINT)... like the same way you would bite when giving a hickey or biting an earlobe. cuz holy moly i need to bite the FLIP out of these guys.
thank you and i hope you're doing well :D
Aloha! Interesting Question đ
The Bad Batch x Reader HCs - That Little Bite
Warnings: Mostly Fluff/ Partly Suggestive
Masterlist
Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)
Hunter
If you suddenly nibble his ear while he is cuddling, you will certainly not hear any complaints from him. In fact, it doesn't matter where you're gently nibbling, you'll hear Hunter humming contentedly. The next moment, you have at least one of his arms wrapped around you and are pressed close to his body.
He's crazy about your every touch anyway, and the more sensual and closer, the better. Small bites and nibbles are actually a good way to get his motor running if you're in the mood for more.
In any case, Hunter is a big fan and not shy when it comes to returning the gesture.
Echo
At first, he may be perplexed and keep completely still. Echo is trying to make sense of what is happening, but shortly afterwards you hear a soft laugh coming from his mouth.
âAm I that appetizing?â he teases you.
An approving coo from you and more small, gentle bites make him melt away. Whatever jokes may have occurred to him a moment ago are quickly gone again.
Don't be surprised if he sighs and shivers under your teasing touches, he enjoys every second.
Wrecker
He giggles, surprised, perhaps a little startled at first, but quite taken with the very sensual touch.
âDidn't you get enough to eat today?â he asks you teasingly.
Cling to him and keep nibbling, the jokes will soon be forgotten. His strong arms will pull you closer to him and a little later you will hear pleasurable sounds coming from his mouth.
As he gives in, he says softly, âGo ahead, make me your feastâ
Tech
Your gentle nibble triggers a very abrupt, unexpected reaction. Tech jumps up and stares at you with wide eyes from behind his lenses.
âWhat's wrong?â you ask gently.
Tech clears his throat, pushes his goggles up the bridge of his nose with his index finger and seems to collect himself before answering in his trademark matter-of-fact tone.
âI'm confused. At the moment, I'm trying to categorize your actions on my body, which are new to me. Are these touches of an erotic nature? Do you just want to cuddle? Or should I perhaps be worried about a previously hidden tendency towards cannibalism?â
Disguising and suppressing the impulse to laugh with a cough, you finally answer, âWell, I'd say the first two options are true to a certain extentâ
A small sigh of relief crosses his lips, then a smile twitches at the corners of his mouth before he lies back down with you and says, âI'm not averse to that. Go on if you likeâ
Crosshair
You hear a coo coming from his throat, a satisfied grin on his face. Crosshair is a connoisseur, especially when it comes to physical contact between the two of you. You certainly won't hear any complaints from him.
He lolls around like a cat, snuggled up to you, his long fingers trailing under the fabric of your clothes. Physical contact between you is like a balm for him.
But he doesn't just take, he's also only too happy to give. Don't be surprised if you suddenly find yourself lying under him, his teeth gently grazing your neck or nibbling teasingly on your earlobe. Basically, he's interested in just about every sensual touch in your relationship.
Don't hold back, you won't regret it.
Little Bonus
Gregor
He giggles his adorable giggle.
âPretty daring today, I like that,â he says, quite taken with it.
Expect him to want a nibble too and very likely to leave a tender mark or two. Gregor is sensual and playful. Such moments often end in you rolling around in the sheets.
But it doesn't necessarily have to end like that, Gregor is also a cuddly bear and his strong arms are a great place to rest and recharge your batteries.
@rintheemolion
@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99
@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310
@misogirl828 @tech-deck
@meshla-madalene
@chxpsi
@thebahdbitch
@nahoney22 @ladykatakuri
@darkangel4121
@ttzamara
@arctrooper69
@padawancat97
@agenteliix
@allsystemsblue
@palliateclaw
@either-madness-or-brilliance
@ortizshinkaroff
@andy-solo1
@hunterssecretrecipe
@heyitsaloy
@greaser-wolf
@extrahotpixels
@hated-by-me
@hunterxcrosshair
@malicemercy
@bebopsworld
@echos-girlfriend
@cpnt616
@dangraccoon
@jediknightjana
@pb-jellybeans
@antishadow2021
@sleepycreativewriter
@projectdreamwalker
@1vlouds
@clonelovr
@ivyyyyy
#star wars#tbb#the bad batch#clone force 99#sw tbb#tech#tbb tech#crosshair#bad batch tech#hunter#wrecker#echo#gregor#bad batch echo#echo x reader#hunter x reader#tech x reader#wrecker x reader#gregor x reader#crosshair x reader#bad batch#bad batch crosshair#bad batch hunter#bad batch wrecker#bad batch x reader#crosshair the bad batch#sw the bad batch#star wars bad batch#tech the bad batch#star wars the bad batch
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#Tags:AI Detection Fraud#AI Discrimination#Big Tech Control#Corporate Censorship#Digital Free Speech#facts#Free Speech#Independent Journalism#Medium Censorship#Online Platforms#serious#straight forward#truth#upfront#Writer Suppression
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"don't post links to pirate sites" as a security through obscurity strategy seems... weak. if a pirate site is so obscure that almost nobody can find it, it's also essentially pointless.
but yes, if a pirate site is common knowledge, the feds will be working on destroying it. so the idea is i assume to achieve an intermediate level of obscurity, where you have to have a certain amount of talent for asking the right people or searching the right things to find it. but... whatever capacity for research you are asking people to have on that front, the feds are equally capable of it, and they have a whole lot more time on their hands for tracking down pirate sites! security through obscurity is a losing game for piracy. the perfect sweet spot where people can find your pirate resource but the feds cannot is something of a mirage.
if not that, than what?
the current piracy system involves a few different tiers of accessibility, and various components that are more or less decentralised.
torrents are the most resilient tech because to stamp out a torrent (with DHT enabled) you have to suppress every seed. so, you have big public torrent trackers like TPB; these are well known and rely on hopping domains and redundancy for security. the ratio of seeds to leeches tends to be low, but the number of users is large enough that there will be at least a few seeds out there for most stuff. torrent clients have gotten a lot better at seeding strategies that take into account your seed ratio and what's currently available in the swarm, so if you just leave everything on seed and open your torrent client fairly often (use a VPN though lol), you don't really need to think about it.
then you have private trackers; these operate on an invite basis. the problem with this is that when the pool of users is so small, the odds of a given seed being online are also small. to prevent torrents dying, they gamify it: you get points for seeding and if you don't have enough points you can't download anything until you seed more. to help people get back in the game there will be 'freeleech' events. being active on a private tracker takes a bit of work.
and of course you have to get in in the first place, which tends to require a proven track record of seeding on other private trackers, and some kind of interview with the operators. getting involved in private trackers is a much bigger ask, you have to figure out where to get your foot in the door, and work your way up to the more insular trackers. it's like a mini subculture. it's valuable, but not scalable.
at the top level of inaccessibility is the warez scene. this is a whole subject that i'm not even gonna get into, go read wikipedia. historically this is where the files actually come from, before getting distributed on public trackers, usenet etc. but good luck getting in there lmao, they are understandably quite paranoid.
of course, for stuff to get on pirate sites you need somebody to go the effort of ripping and encoding it. this is where a major point of failure exists. when RarBG went down recently, the biggest loss was not the existing archive of torrent links, which can be backed up - it was that they were very active at converting scene releases into torrents with a decent balance of file size and quality, which then filter out into the various public trackers. that is much harder to replace! but what killed RarBG wasn't even suppression by authorities - according to their statement, it was a bunch of the admins getting covid or dying or fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war, which made the whole operation impossible to continue. so despite the thousands of people who download RarBG torrents, this single point of failure was overstressed and broke.
as far as the ethics of spreading links to pirate sites go... if it's something like a mega drive, yeah, the chances of a takedown are pretty high if it gets noticed! no question. but those things are by nature short-lived; if you want to use that for archival you're building on sand. there's also databases like emuparadise, but there was no saving that through obscurity, it just took Nintendo a minute to bring the case.
in this kind of centralised case, the clock is ticking from day 1. what we want is to maximise the number of people who are able to save copies while it's up, and then some of those people can put it up again somewhere else and keep the authorities playing whack-a-mole. (for a small collection of files, a sensible measure would be to make a torrent and a mega drive side by side, so that people can download the mega drive and then add the torrent to their client to seed if it gets nuked.)
as for torrent sites, the thing is that torrents rely for effectiveness on a swarm that is either very large or very responsible about seeding. if it's a public tracker, it has to be well known or it's pointless. instead of security through obscurity, the form of security for these sites is try to make the resource itself hard to take down - operating the tracker/archive in countries that don't have copyright treaties, maintaining mirrors, and of course distributing as many seeds as possible so the torrent can stay alive even if the site goes down.
the major problem with a dead torrent site is discoverability. if it's harder to find the torrent, fewer people will download it, the existing seeds will gradually go offline, and of course you can't download a torrent that you don't know exists. and while you could imagine a system of broadcasting metadata about a torrent (title, encoding etc.) in a DHT-like way but that would be so vulnerable to fakes and spam. maybe some kind of cryptographically signed 'this torrent is good' declaration is possible? I know certain torrent clients tout discovery features, but honestly I don't know how well they work. I'm sure there are projects that are way ahead of the game than me on this question.
but yeah anyway trying to browbeat people into not sharing links to pirate media is 1. futile, by the time you see it the cat is out of the bag 2. not a sustainable strategy for security. if you wanna lecture people, 'use a VPN and seed your torrents' is evergreen ;p
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meandering post about reading Orson Scott Card again
I've been offline starting at 9pm every day (except once. I was drunk at karaoke and asked for anons at 8:30pm) for six weeks, with the result that in befuddled boredom two nights ago I picked up Orson Scott Card's Songmaster from the house bookshelf.
I read Ender's Game and three sequels when I was a teen thought the books were mid. Since those are OSC's best works I assumed he had nothing more interesting to offer me and didn't try more of him for fifteen years, but Songmaster was compelling enough that I immediately afterwards picked up The Memory of Earth, the first book of a pentalogy.
TMoE is extremely my jam: after humanity blows itself up on Earth, AIs monitor thriving human civilizations in the planets that survivors managed to escape to, and suppress any tech that enables large scale violence by exerting low key mind control via satellites. But forty million years pass, many of the satellites break down, and the AI needs help from humans to restore capabilities. Because as its control wanes, people are starting to e.g. conceive of airplanes or bombs again, and override the injunctions against entering military alliances more than two edges of connection away.
The AI is worshipped as a god all over the planet, but the fourteen year old protagonist that becomes one of the AI's agents tells the AI from the beginning that he'll break with it if its morality seems wrong to him. I like the fourteen year old â unlike Ender or Songmaster's protagonist (adult minds piloting ten year old bodies), he's a normal gifted kid who's unpopular 50% due to his ego and big mouth and 50% because he's socially inept and offends people even when he's trying to be nice.
Songmaster is also partly about a permanent solution to large-scale violence, albeit through one guy who establishes a monopoly on violence and sweeps in pax galactica. Both it and TMoE are preoccupied with the eradication of suffering from evil / human violence, which is closer to my resonant frequency than narratives about defeating particular people or ideologies. At the moment I can't think of any other book with such an insistent focus on the matter than T.H. White's The Once and Future King. It's hard to make a compelling story out of, and I don't think Songmaster really succeeds, but TMoE's premise is well suited to explore that. (I'm also enjoying the matriarchal culture where everyone is expected to have multiple serial-monogamous marriages.) After reading 70% of TMoE last night I wrote:
Usually when I read fiction there's a small part of me going, how can I use this as fodder for my own growth, how can I remix or improve or react against this, how do the author and I measure against each other? (If the quality and content are at an anti-sweet spot, the small part becomes quite large and I feel all teeth towards the author.) But on occasion I read something so close that the absence of that measuring-feeling is its own sensation â ego departs, or at least is split across two bodies. There's just amity and recognition
And it's pretty interesting to feel this way about Card for, well, the reasons.
(If you're familiar with Card drama none of the following will be new to you; I'm coming to it fresh so the rest of this post is me going "uh... wow")
I vaguely knew he was a homophobic Mormon who'd gotten into fights about gay stuff, but I couldn't tell from the Ender books I read. But in Songmaster his issues spring off the page in such a weird way. Every fifth Goodreads review of this book is "Card, u gay?" because, well,
(One review, possibly from a fellow Mormon, that went "Card, it's so sinful of you to be this gay in your novel". Why did he write this book that would predictably make everyone mad...)
it's full of gay male desire. The protagonist (Ansset) is approximately a castrato and characters notice him sexually a lot. The first and only time Ansset has sex it's with a Kinsey 4-5 male character he loves, who's married to a woman but has fallen in love with Ansset. It turns out the drugs Ansset took to prolong his singing career painfully and only-kinda-figuratively explode your balls when you have your first orgasm and you'll never feel sexual desire again. (You'd think his loving teachers would have warned him of that, but, whatever, they didn't.) The other guy is literally castrated in punishment for inadvertently torturing a highly valuable castrato. It's pretty bald: GAY SEX IS ALMOST IRRESISTIBLY TEMPTING BUT YOU SHOULDN'T DO IT.
(Sidenote: both Ansset and the guy's wife are very close and have a "there's enough love to go around" attitude about the gay sex initially, before they go "wait Josif is a SERIAL MONOGAMIST... he can only love one person at a time... the moment he had the gay sex his marriage was destroyed". It's funny in a mildly stupid way that Card would set up this parable of homosexuality destroying lives and a marriage but almost everyone involved is peacefully ready to sail into an open marriage. I guess it makes sense if you want to say very clearly that THE GAY PART IS THE BAD PART)
which is fascinating to me, because... why would you tell on yourself like that
(81k also told me secondhand of an essay? interview? where Card openly says "we have to stand against legalizing gay marriage because everyone will get gay married and society will collapse", so that's informing my read of Songmaster as well)
I am pretty dang open about my personal life online but if I had a lot of feelings I thought were disgusting and immoral I would not write a novel dripping with those feelings before pointedly castrating the leads for them. Especially if it wasn't relevant to the actually highbrow themes of (checks notes) winning over your adversaries with kindness and never relinquishing your monopoly on violence. I would be so so so so embarrassed to let this go to print, it's so psychologically transparent, what was he thinking
(Well, I assume he's a very different person with different social incentives. For all I know, people in his church went "hey Orson we read your book and it's clear that you're gay but signaling strongly that you won't give into the gay feelings, we're here for you, it was really brave of you to publish this".)
#rambl#orson scott card#eti reads stuff#eti reads the homecoming saga#songmaster#content note: homophobia
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Musk, Zuckerberg and Trump all target Brazil in disinformation war
After Trump 2.0, these powerful men have eyes on Brazil next. Hereâs what can be done to defend our democracy

âLatin American countries have secret courts that can order companies to quietly take things down.â Mark Zuckerbergâs mention of the region, in his announcement to end Metaâs fact-checking efforts in the US among other measures, was by no means a casualty. Itâs a direct message to us and shows that the eyes of the most powerful men in the world are on our country â Brazil.
Last year, X was banned by the Brazilian Supreme Court for 40 days because of a law that Elon Musk refused to comply with: any international company operating here must have a legal representative in the country. When X felt the impact of losing one of the largest and most active user bases worldwide, Musk surrendered.
In addition to big tech moguls, Donald Trump also has his eyes on us. In the final days of 2024, he filed a request to the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok in the US. Brazil once again emerged, this time to ground the president-elect's claim. Echoing Zuckerberg and Musk, Trump adopted the false censorship narrative spread by Brazilian far-right politicians linked to former president Jair Bolsonaro to distort the reasons that led to the temporary ban of X.
âAnother major Western democracy â Brazil â shut down another entire social-media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), for more than a month, apparently based on that governmentâs desire to suppress disfavored political speech,â says the petition issued in December 2024.
Continue reading.
#brazil#politics#united states#social media#brazilian politics#facebook#twitter#elon musk#mark zuckerberg#donald trump#international politics#image description in alt#mod nise da silveira
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So remember that massive scandal about the media covering up Biden's cognitive decline?
Turns out there might be a reason for that beyond the usual left wing bias:
Gonna mix and match from both articles, so give them both a read
With the white-hot light of accountability firmly on USAID, more and more details are coming out about what your taxpayer money was being spent on. From transgender comic books to promoting Moroccan pottery classes, to propagandizing Sri Lankan journalists on the supposed evils of "gender-binary" language, the level of waste and corruption is hard to fathom. Things are about to get much worse, though, so buckle up. According to recently revealed records, left-leaning news outlet Politico received over thirty-four million dollars from USAID and other government agencies. That money went to pay for "subscriptions" for various bureaucratic officials, including "pro" subscriptions that add up to over $10,000 a pop. A breakdown of some of the expenditures shows USAID paid $443,998 for just 37 subscriptions to Politico for FDA officials. Another outlay for "subscriptions" cost $862,025.
...
Let's not forget the context in which all of these funds have flowed to the supposedly "independent" news media. The State Department actively worked to suppress criticism of news orgs like the NYT and Politico through its Global Engagement Center and the Global Disinformation Index it produced to scare advertisers away from truly independent platforms that challenged the Biden administration's policies and positions. Now we know that USAID and the State Department provided funding for the Protection Racket Media through various guises, including in Politico's case $12,000 subscriptions to their paywalled articles. We knew about the racket. Now we see the payoff. Small wonder that the media and the Left are screaming over DOGE and Elon Musk's attempts to expose the funding. This is very reminiscent of the screaming that took place when Musk exposed the Big Brother-Big Tech Censorship Complex after purchasing Twitter. The motives are the same -- to keep the corruption from getting fully exposed.
Remember GamerGate? This is GamerGate times a million.
I know it feels like we've been saying this a lot in the last few months, but this is, with no hyperbole, the biggest government scandal in decades. A rogue government agency with zero accountability was secretly funding some of the biggest news organizations in the world and no one was disclosing any of it. We've been saying for years that the press is a de facto government propaganda arm for the Democrat Party, but now it turns out it's a de jure one as well. I can't overstate how damaging this is to the very concept of a free press. Even more than biased reporting and outright lying.
Oh, by the way, Politico?
Politico has never disclosed those payments even as they've written pieces covering USAID, posing as unbiased arbiters of truth. That represents one of the biggest scandals in the history of the press. The United States government was funneling money to a left-wing news outlet that has repeatedly done the bidding of the Democratic Party. As an example, you may remember Politico as the same news site that laundered the infamous letter from "51 intelligence officials" saying the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.Â
In other words, it sure looks like the Biden administration was paying a news outlet to do its bidding. Are we supposed to believe it's just a coincidence that Politico was routinely the go-to for Democratic Party politicians and officials to launder their propaganda?
This is insane. You should never see this in a supposedly free country. The level of corruption and insidious programs that keep getting discovered as we dismantle the deep state is shocking. And we're still in the early days. This is just the beginning of exposing what one agency was doing. There is much more to come.
Thank God for Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
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