#Countervail

[saltlakehardcoreflyers]

[mybuddyjimmy]

Countervail

Countervail [kown-tər-VEIL] Part of speech: verb Origin: Late Middle English, 1350s 1. Offset the effect of (something) by countering it with something of equal force.  Examples of countervail in a sentence “The dentist hoped the new toothpaste would countervail the candy’s effect.” “As a skilled debater, Andy was familiar with countervailing arguments.”  #wordoftheday

[prismaticpichu]

Genesis: You know what? You know WHAT? I’m starting to get the impression that you may just like Angeal’s puppy more than me.

Sephiroth, sitting on the couch, his unarmored shoulder now a makeshift pillow as Zack rests sound asleep against it.

Sephiroth: And why would you think that?

Genesis: Oh, I don’t know. How about the fact that when I fell asleep against you that one time during Zoloms on a Plane, you shoved me right off and declared that “no one was to invade your space bubble in such a manner”?

Sephiroth, swathing the boy in his arms like a cozy cocoon.

Sephiroth: You had startled me, that’s all.

Genesis: You spent 80% of your Gil this week on him!

Sephiroth: He said he was thirsty.

Genesis: So you get him a soda fountain?

Sephiroth: It was diet.

Genesis: Alright fine. How about the hamster? Remember when I suggested getting a bird? What happened to “pets are futile expenses”?

Sephiroth: I was simply assisting Angeal with Zack’s training. A pet teaches responsibility. Everyone knows that.

Genesis: YOU GOT HIM A RACCOON FROM THE TRASH.

Sephiroth: And I casted a Poisona on it. Please, Genesis. Don’t be ludicrous. We have known each other for years. A decade. You are still very much my friend.

Genesis: Oh yeah? What about that shirt you’re wearing that says “New Best Friend”??

Sephiroth, indeed donned in a white t-shirt with an arrow pointing right that says “new best friend”.

Sephioth: Well that can mean anything.

[unopenablebox]

came home at 8:45 from work and 🌸 was already fast asleep fully dressed on the bed phone in hand completely unresponsive to sound including name-calling and loud floor creaks

probably they were planning to get more work done this evening but i'm going to sabotage that by turning their light off and ordering takeout so i don't make any cooking noises to wake them up, hopefully causing them to get up to a full 12 hours of sleep for what i think would be the first time in two and a half years

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Word List: Said

Said—to express in words; state

Alleged - asserted to be true or to exist

Argued - to give reasons for or against something

Articulated - to utter clear and understandable sounds

Asked - to seek information

Asserted - to state or declare positively and often forcefully or aggressively

Babbled - to talk enthusiastically or excessively

Bellowed - to shout in a deep voice

Bragged - to talk boastfully

Commented - to explain or interpret something by comment

Communicated - to convey knowledge of or information about

Complained - to make a formal accusation or charge

Cried - to utter loudly

Declined - to refuse especially courteously

Demanded - to call for something in an authoritative way

Denied - to declare (something) to be untrue

Encouraged - to attempt to persuade

Expressed - to represent in words

Giggled - to utter with a giggle

Growled - to utter angrily

Inquired - to ask about

Mentioned - to make mention of; refer to

Moaned - lament, complain

Nagged - to irritate by constant scolding or urging

Rebuked - to criticize sharply; reprimand

Rebutted - to contradict or oppose by formal legal argument, plea, or countervailing proof

Rejected - to refuse to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use

Replied - to respond in words or writing

Retorted - to answer back usually sharply

Roared - to utter or proclaim with a roar

Scolded - to censure usually severely or angrily

Shrieked - to utter a sharp shrill sound

Shrugged - to raise or draw in the shoulders especially to express aloofness, indifference, or uncertainty

Stated - to express the particulars of especially in words; report

Taunted - to reproach or challenge in a mocking or insulting manner

Voiced - to express in words; utter

Vowed - to promise solemnly; swear

Warned - to give admonishing advice to

Whined - to complain with or as if with a whine

Whispered - to speak softly with little or no vibration of the vocal cords especially to avoid being overheard

Yelled - to utter or declare with or as if with a yell; shout

More: Word Lists

[charlesoberonn]

Please read the last two paragraphs of Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent to the recent 6-3 decision granting presidents absolute immunity:

Looking beyond the fate of this particular prosecution, the long-term consequences of today’s decision are stark. The Court effectively creates a law-free zone around the President, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the Founding. This new official-acts immunity now “lies about like a loaded weapon” for any President that wishes to place his own interests, his own political survival, or his own financial gain, above the interests of the Nation. The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon Immune. Immune, immune, immune. Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today. Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law. The majority’s single-minded fixation on the President’s need for boldness and dispatch ignores the countervailing need for accountability and restraint. The Framers were not so single-minded. In the Federalist Papers, after “endeavor[ing] to show” that the Executive designed by the Constitution “combines . . . all the requisites to energy," Alexander Hamilton asked a separate, equally important question: “Does it also combine the requisites to safety, in a republican sense, a due dependence on the people, a due responsibility?”. The answer then was yes, based in part upon the President’s vulnerability to “prosecution in the common course of law.” The answer after today is no. Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop. With fear for our democracy, I dissent.

[indiabizlive]

To protect domestic producers from subsidised imports, the commerce ministry has suggested a five-year extension of the 18.95 per cent countervailing tax (CVD) on certain flat-rolled steel products imported from China.

[wilwheaton]

Officials purporting to defend their person on the ground by offering some “push back” on the Trump campaign attack, but doing so anonymously while trying to keep it from “escalating.” Escalating into what? You’ve already been run over, so that leaves the only obvious conclusion: The Army itself is trying to avoid being the target of MAGA attacks. This is untenable acquiescence to bullying. Is that really going to be the end of the story? No consequences, no new measures to enjoin Trump from doing the same thing again at Arlington or another military cemetery, no price to pay for his thuggery. It’s a familiar pattern. The erosion of any kind of strong, unified, national, countervailing force to Trump’s public bullying and nastiness only enables and emboldens the thuggery that is central to his appeal and that he has already notoriously used on Jan. 6 to try to retain power. If you don’t think a Trump win in November will unleash a reign of thuggery against anyone who stands in his way – not just political foes but innocent bystanders and regular folks just doing their jobs – then I don’t know what else to tell you. He’s doing it right now, he’s promised to do it if he wins, and his minions are poised and eager to follow through. He’s not a schoolyard bully. He’s a public menace, and if he wins back the White House, he will be a public menace with vast official powers and Supreme Court-sanctioned immunity.

Cemetery Staffer Declines To Press Charges For Fear Of Retaliation

[burntsoft]

Establishing the Plot from ‘A Countervailing Theory’ (2019), Toyin Ojih Odutola

[technologylawyersinvietnam]

How Products could Enjoy Exemption in Trade Remedies?

The scope of the exemption applies primarily to both provisional and formal trade remedies. For goods subject to investigation for application of trade remedies, if falling into one of the following cases, organizations or individuals that import/use such goods will be allowed to submit an application for exemption. The importer or manufacturer could consult with international trade lawyers in Vietnam to present the case to the authority to submit application for exemption if meeting the conditions as regulated by laws.

After the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management was promulgated with a more comprehensive and comprehensive system of legal provisions on trade remedies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT in order to provide specific and detailed regulations in this field, including content of the scope of exemption from application of trade remedies. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 of this Circular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only given four (04) exemptions.

After considering the actual situation, on November 29, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade replaced Circular 06/2018/TT-BCT with Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, which stipulates all six (06) types of goods which are exempted from trade remedies. Specifically, Article 10 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT allows the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider exemption from application of temporary trade remedies and official trade remedies for a number of goods. Imported goods are subject to trade remedy measures in one of six (06) cases.

First, goods cannot be produced domestically.

With this addition, it is understandable that Vietnamese law, in addition to protecting the domestic manufacturing industry, also considers allowing Vietnam to import important goods that cannot yet be produced on its own, in order to ensure to fully and promptly meet the development needs of all aspects, especially the economy and society of the country. The granting of a trade remedy waiver for goods that cannot be produced in the country may initially be seen as preventing the formation of a domestic industry producing the goods. However, the introduction of a new product into the Vietnamese market is a test for the tastes and needs of customers, through which the importation can assess the development potential and profit of that industry in Vietnam, thereby stimulating the investment and production of domestic manufacturers.

Second, goods have distinctive characteristics from domestically produced goods that cannot be substituted for domestically produced goods.

The exemption from trade remedies for different goods that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods also ensures the supply of special goods, prevents the scarcity of goods, the supply of goods and the supply of goods that cannot be replaced enough demand in the market.

Third, goods are special products of like products or directly competitive goods produced in the country.

Special products are products with the same physical and chemical characteristics as like products or directly competitive goods are domestically produced but have some characteristics, appearance or product quality that are different from those like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country. Basically, this explanation also causes some confusion with the above-mentioned case of goods with differences that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods, making it difficult to determine the exemption case. However, only goods that fall into one of the six cases can apply for an exemption, so the applicant only needs to prepare sufficient evidence to prove that the goods they import/use in a case that satisfies the condition for an exemption.

Fourth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country are not sold on the domestic market under the same usual conditions.

Normal conditions directly affect the quality, efficiency of use, etc. of the goods. Therefore, the difference in normal conditions has brought special features to goods from abroad that are imported/used into Vietnam, which is the basis for exemption from trade remedies, in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

Fifth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country do not meet the amount of domestic use.

With the priority criteria for the development of the domestic manufacturing industry, acts of importing/using foreign goods that cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the domestic industry will be investigated and applied for defensive measures commerce. However, in cases where the domestic industry cannot meet the demand for like products, the relaxation of trade remedies is essential to ensure supply and market balance.

Sixth, imported goods are included in the total amount requested for exemption from regulations for research and development purposes and other non-commercial purposes.

With this regulation, it can be seen that in the future, the goals of science and technology development, technical level development, research and non-commercial purposes will be increasingly focused and encouraged instead of just economic goals as before. Therefore, it can be understood why state agencies allow the import/use of goods for research, development and other non-commercial purposes, even though they are likely to negatively affect the economy domestic production.

Accurate identification of cases where imported/used goods are exempted from trade remedy measures is extremely important and has great significance for foreign importers and manufacturers. Therefore, before submitting an application for an exemption, it is necessary to base on the above provisions and consult with international trade lawyers in trade remedies to accurately determine the scope of the exemption, in order to avoid wasting time and money.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, an Anti-dumping law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

Source: ANT Lawyers

[businesslawyersinvietnam]

How Products could Enjoy Exemption in Trade Remedies?

The scope of the exemption applies primarily to both provisional and formal trade remedies. For goods subject to investigation for application of trade remedies, if falling into one of the following cases, organizations or individuals that import/use such goods will be allowed to submit an application for exemption. The importer or manufacturer could consult with international trade lawyers in Vietnam to present the case to the authority to submit application for exemption if meeting the conditions as regulated by laws.

After the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management was promulgated with a more comprehensive and comprehensive system of legal provisions on trade remedies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT in order to provide specific and detailed regulations in this field, including content of the scope of exemption from application of trade remedies. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 of this Circular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only given four (04) exemptions.

After considering the actual situation, on November 29, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade replaced Circular 06/2018/TT-BCT with Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, which stipulates all six (06) types of goods which are exempted from trade remedies. Specifically, Article 10 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT allows the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider exemption from application of temporary trade remedies and official trade remedies for a number of goods. Imported goods are subject to trade remedy measures in one of six (06) cases.

First, goods cannot be produced domestically.

With this addition, it is understandable that Vietnamese law, in addition to protecting the domestic manufacturing industry, also considers allowing Vietnam to import important goods that cannot yet be produced on its own, in order to ensure to fully and promptly meet the development needs of all aspects, especially the economy and society of the country. The granting of a trade remedy waiver for goods that cannot be produced in the country may initially be seen as preventing the formation of a domestic industry producing the goods. However, the introduction of a new product into the Vietnamese market is a test for the tastes and needs of customers, through which the importation can assess the development potential and profit of that industry in Vietnam, thereby stimulating the investment and production of domestic manufacturers.

Second, goods have distinctive characteristics from domestically produced goods that cannot be substituted for domestically produced goods.

The exemption from trade remedies for different goods that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods also ensures the supply of special goods, prevents the scarcity of goods, the supply of goods and the supply of goods that cannot be replaced enough demand in the market.

Third, goods are special products of like products or directly competitive goods produced in the country.

Special products are products with the same physical and chemical characteristics as like products or directly competitive goods are domestically produced but have some characteristics, appearance or product quality that are different from those like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country. Basically, this explanation also causes some confusion with the above-mentioned case of goods with differences that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods, making it difficult to determine the exemption case. However, only goods that fall into one of the six cases can apply for an exemption, so the applicant only needs to prepare sufficient evidence to prove that the goods they import/use in a case that satisfies the condition for an exemption.

Fourth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country are not sold on the domestic market under the same usual conditions.

Normal conditions directly affect the quality, efficiency of use, etc. of the goods. Therefore, the difference in normal conditions has brought special features to goods from abroad that are imported/used into Vietnam, which is the basis for exemption from trade remedies, in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

Fifth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country do not meet the amount of domestic use.

With the priority criteria for the development of the domestic manufacturing industry, acts of importing/using foreign goods that cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the domestic industry will be investigated and applied for defensive measures commerce. However, in cases where the domestic industry cannot meet the demand for like products, the relaxation of trade remedies is essential to ensure supply and market balance.

Sixth, imported goods are included in the total amount requested for exemption from regulations for research and development purposes and other non-commercial purposes.

With this regulation, it can be seen that in the future, the goals of science and technology development, technical level development, research and non-commercial purposes will be increasingly focused and encouraged instead of just economic goals as before. Therefore, it can be understood why state agencies allow the import/use of goods for research, development and other non-commercial purposes, even though they are likely to negatively affect the economy domestic production.

Accurate identification of cases where imported/used goods are exempted from trade remedy measures is extremely important and has great significance for foreign importers and manufacturers. Therefore, before submitting an application for an exemption, it is necessary to base on the above provisions and consult with international trade lawyers in trade remedies to accurately determine the scope of the exemption, in order to avoid wasting time and money.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, an Anti-dumping law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

[vietnamlawyers]

How Products could Enjoy Exemption in Trade Remedies?

The scope of the exemption applies primarily to both provisional and formal trade remedies. For goods subject to investigation for application of trade remedies, if falling into one of the following cases, organizations or individuals that import/use such goods will be allowed to submit an application for exemption. The importer or manufacturer could consult with international trade lawyers in Vietnam to present the case to the authority to submit application for exemption if meeting the conditions as regulated by laws.

After the 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management was promulgated with a more comprehensive and comprehensive system of legal provisions on trade remedies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 06/2018/TT-BCT in order to provide specific and detailed regulations in this field, including content of the scope of exemption from application of trade remedies. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 of this Circular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has only given four (04) exemptions.

After considering the actual situation, on November 29, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade replaced Circular 06/2018/TT-BCT with Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT, which stipulates all six (06) types of goods which are exempted from trade remedies. Specifically, Article 10 of Circular No. 37/2019/TT-BCT allows the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider exemption from application of temporary trade remedies and official trade remedies for a number of goods. Imported goods are subject to trade remedy measures in one of six (06) cases.

First, goods cannot be produced domestically.

With this addition, it is understandable that Vietnamese law, in addition to protecting the domestic manufacturing industry, also considers allowing Vietnam to import important goods that cannot yet be produced on its own, in order to ensure to fully and promptly meet the development needs of all aspects, especially the economy and society of the country. The granting of a trade remedy waiver for goods that cannot be produced in the country may initially be seen as preventing the formation of a domestic industry producing the goods. However, the introduction of a new product into the Vietnamese market is a test for the tastes and needs of customers, through which the importation can assess the development potential and profit of that industry in Vietnam, thereby stimulating the investment and production of domestic manufacturers.

Second, goods have distinctive characteristics from domestically produced goods that cannot be substituted for domestically produced goods.

The exemption from trade remedies for different goods that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods also ensures the supply of special goods, prevents the scarcity of goods, the supply of goods and the supply of goods that cannot be replaced enough demand in the market.

Third, goods are special products of like products or directly competitive goods produced in the country.

Special products are products with the same physical and chemical characteristics as like products or directly competitive goods are domestically produced but have some characteristics, appearance or product quality that are different from those like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country. Basically, this explanation also causes some confusion with the above-mentioned case of goods with differences that cannot be substituted by domestically produced goods, making it difficult to determine the exemption case. However, only goods that fall into one of the six cases can apply for an exemption, so the applicant only needs to prepare sufficient evidence to prove that the goods they import/use in a case that satisfies the condition for an exemption.

Fourth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country are not sold on the domestic market under the same usual conditions.

Normal conditions directly affect the quality, efficiency of use, etc. of the goods. Therefore, the difference in normal conditions has brought special features to goods from abroad that are imported/used into Vietnam, which is the basis for exemption from trade remedies, in order to meet the needs of the domestic market.

Fifth, like products, directly competitive goods produced in the country do not meet the amount of domestic use.

With the priority criteria for the development of the domestic manufacturing industry, acts of importing/using foreign goods that cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the domestic industry will be investigated and applied for defensive measures commerce. However, in cases where the domestic industry cannot meet the demand for like products, the relaxation of trade remedies is essential to ensure supply and market balance.

Sixth, imported goods are included in the total amount requested for exemption from regulations for research and development purposes and other non-commercial purposes.

With this regulation, it can be seen that in the future, the goals of science and technology development, technical level development, research and non-commercial purposes will be increasingly focused and encouraged instead of just economic goals as before. Therefore, it can be understood why state agencies allow the import/use of goods for research, development and other non-commercial purposes, even though they are likely to negatively affect the economy domestic production.

Accurate identification of cases where imported/used goods are exempted from trade remedy measures is extremely important and has great significance for foreign importers and manufacturers. Therefore, before submitting an application for an exemption, it is necessary to base on the above provisions and consult with international trade lawyers in trade remedies to accurately determine the scope of the exemption, in order to avoid wasting time and money.

If Client needs any more information or request for legal advice or potential dispute regarding trade remedies measures including, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard measures or international trade dispute matters, our competition, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty lawyers in Vietnam of International trade and tax practice at ANT Lawyers, an Anti-dumping law firm in Vietnam always follow up anti-dumping cases and its development to update clients on regular basis.

[prismaticpichu]

A few weeks back the amazing @altocat shared some awesome ideas she had for her gem of a fic A Monster’s Threads that didn’t quite make the cut. I was so so intrigued by one of the ideas… for some reason. I dunno why I was. It’s a horrible, horrible prospect and goes against everything I stand for as a floofy writer.

Alas I wanted to give it a shot bc the inspiration bug bit me! I was super trepidatious to share bc the subject matter is… bizarre. Dark. But hopefully it gets the point across quickly ;3 It’s pretty short and not the most fleshed out bc unfortunately the mojo gotta little lost towards the end, but I really didn’t want it to rot alone in the files! Consider it a tiny surprise gift (many question marks bc this seems like affliction more than anything). Hopefully the sidelined idea was brought to reality in somewhat of a neat way.

Caution for iffy/macabre subject matter. Enjoy!!

The room was an empty, gaping space in the building. No windows lined the walls, no flowers arranged, no benches, no audience. Light only cast down from the fluorescent shapes that camouflaged into the ceiling tiles above, buzzing with the throb of electricity, a callous and mocking dirge humming against the otherwise viscous silence that clung on to everything in range. It felt like some kind of twisted supply closet; they shoved it away, swept it aside to keep the rest of the image clean.

The only thing there was, was the casket elevated on a small platform in the heart of the room. Sephiroth breathed in the thick, acidic silence with fragility, like his lungs could chip, emerald eyes never tearing away from the wooden cage that trapped the remains of his first ever friend inside.

The remains…

It trapped a husk, a shell, some vessel without thoughts, without feeling, without a rhythm in his chest for him to hear. And he was straining with all his godforsaken heightened senses to find one--to prove that they were wrong, that he was alive, that it was a nightmare. That he wasn't alone in this lonely supply closet.

But he heard nothing, and he was.

No... that wasn't the full truth. There were others here, surrounding him, somewhere, some hazy silhouettes skirting the room through the fog: Tseng, a batch of other Turks, Heidegger... Zackary.

Sephiroth allowed his eyes to drift left, just an inch. Zackary was standing beside him. He was as tethered to the casket as he was, lost in another world, numb, detached, except the stone on his face was crumbled into anguish; his eyes bled, brimming with tears as he took in his own rattling breaths. He was grieving.

Sephiroth used that fragment of his vision to study him. There was a narrow X branching along the edge of his clenched jawline, a visible vein, the pockmark still hued with a raw shade of crimson made even brighter under the flickering lights overhead.

It was the symbol of their fight; a memento; a sign of a battle that should have never been given in to. Should have never been won. Should never—

Killer.

Sephiroth blinked for the first time in minutes, taken aback by the cutting word that tore into his mind. He hadn't been consciously thinking it, hadn't conjured the thought up. It ambushed him beyond his awareness.

But it wasn't wrong.

The thought refused to leave him, to filter out, like a poisonous insect clinging onto the broken shards of his psyche and stringing them together again, the world making sense again. At least for now--at least in the moment he was marooned in. His emotions had somewhere to funnel to, clotting around the single word—scar, person—like a tumor. And then he let himself slip.

He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the boy.

Zackary caught scowl in the corner of his own vision. It was slight at first, like he pretended not to notice, his attention bound by Angeal's stolen presence. But as he continued to glare, as more of his own attention bled away from Angeal and onto his apprentice, the more the flames grew, and the more they lapped at the strings keeping Zackary's gaze fixed. They burned through it, swallowing it, until the heat became too strong to ignore.

Zackary turned to him, and Sephiroth watched as the stone crumbled into something unreadable, then shaped into shock, then that shock whetted into something sharper. Zackary turned to him, and glared back.

He was angry with him...?

Him

HIM?

It infuriated him for reasons beyond what he could grasp--for reasons he didn’t want to grasp. It was obnoxious. Unfounded. Unforgivable. Angeal was dead. He was dead, killed by those two hands slowly balling into fists at Zackary's side. Those hands had taken Angeal away from him; they took the fragile hope he sacrificed his career and well-being for and shattered it. The mission was not to kill him; it had been to bring him back to safety... to him. That had been the plan. That had been their only objective. It was what they had wanted.

And he...

He...

That insect was finished with its job, had made everything make sense again, and now lunged out of him with its work left behind. Sephiroth's lips curled into a snarl.

"Traitor."

The single sawlike word was the only thing to disturb the silence, cleaving through it like a knife. It cleared the fog, too, and Sephiroth was suddenly very aware of the plethora of staff that actually surrounded him. They had all been lost in it, now revealed, and they were staring at him and the way he was snarling. He didn't care. He didn't care.

Let them stare. Let them STARE. It didn't take away the truth, make it less real.

The haze in Zack's eyes evaporated, shooed away by the flames that overtook his expression instead. The boy's expression boiled over the limit, his fists clenching further until he heard a tear.

And then one flew right at him.

Sephiroth staggered backwards, fist embedding into his skin with unrelenting force. The pain only flared for a moment. Then it was lost.

Sephiroth didn't know how far he lost himself; the fog billowed around him all again, only that it blinded him now, obscuring his mind and world in livid shades of red. He lunged at the boy, and he lunged at him, a flurry of punches and and kicks and scratches erupting until they were sent rolling on the ground. They grappled like wolves, the hazy cries of employees muddled as if they were underwater.

"STOP!" A hand was on him, grabbing his coat; Sephiroth threw it away. He used the hand to land his fists into Zackary's cheek, repeatedly buffeting him, striking, pounding, digging his knuckles into that godforsaken scar.

Zackary seized his wrists, struggling like the opposite end of a magnet to keep him from reaching him again.

So much was flashing through his eyes; so many shapes, memories, colors. Red. White. Black. Orange. All in a tempest, engulfing him in the past.

"I should have let Ifrit kill you." His elbows trembled against the resistance, teeth bared in a rabid grid of white. “I would have brought him back. Them both."

Pink rivers cascaded down Zackary's cheeks, the rest of his features a masquerade of smeared crimson. Sharp cries tore from his lips as he bent his elbows in the opposite direction, like pulling a stubborn lever.

“THE HELL WITH THAT!" he roared in between the howls, words choked. "YOU PROBABLY DROVE THEM AWAY! ALL YOU CARED ABOUT WAS PROVING YOURSELF RIGHT!" He broke his arms away. "And you know WHAT? You were RIGHT. Are you happy? Are you HAPP--"

Sephiroth seized him by the collar, hoisting him off floor, splattered and tainted. He couldn't respond; his chest was heaving too hard, lungs too constricted, almost as much as his eyes--two threadlike needles set ablaze, boring into the mistake in his hands.

"Sephiroth, DON'T.”

It was Tseng's voice; he barely heard him. All he could hear was the air cutting as he flung Zackary across the room—flying, flying, flying.

And crashing.

It wasn't only Zackary that came plummeting back to the ground; the casket was knocked off its platform from the impact, an echoing clatter of wood exploding as it crumbled to the ground beside them. The coffin rattled. The ground vibrated. The latches unlocked.

And its contents spilled out.

Angeal's body lay sprawled along the metal, unmoving, pale. The husk's arm stretched towards him, fingers splayed. And his face... looking at him. Through him. His head was turned, lolled his way.

Ashamed.

The room fell deadly silent. Nobody moved, nobody talked, caught in the moment's thrall of shock.

Zack collected himself from the ground, peeling his viscid hands and knees away, splinters embedded in his palms… and he gaped at the corpse sprawled in front of him. He was struck just as silent. Numb. Unmoving.

That was, until he turned to Sephiroth, and his visage completely broke.

“You’re… you’re a monster…”

He ran out of the room with his eyes closed.

[robertreich]

Boeing Is Everything Wrong With American Capitalism

Excuse my language, but why is Boeing such a shitty corporation?

Their planes are literally falling apart in the sky.

At least six Boeing planes have had parts fall off this year — including an exit door in mid-flight. A whistle-blower has accused Boeing of a “criminal cover-up” of its safety failures.

But beyond this one company, Boeing’s descent is a case study in how American capitalism has become so rotten. Let me explain.

I’m old enough to remember when people used to say “If it’s not Boeing, I’m not going.”

But in 1997, everything changed when Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas and became the only major maker of commercial aircraft in America. With no domestic rivals, it no longer needed to stay on the cutting edge of innovation.

Executives at Boeing who once specialized in engineering were replaced with Wall Street types who looked down on the engineers. One money-hungry CEO described those who cared too much about the integrity of Boeing’s planes, and not enough about its stock price, as “phenomenally talented assholes.”

To keep Wall Street happy, Boeing began spending billions on stock buybacks that pumped up the value of shares — money that could have been spent on safety and innovation.

It doled out hundreds of millions on campaign contributions and lobbying to lower safety standards, rake in massive government contracts, and boost its bottom line.

To cut costs, Boeing outsourced roughly 70% of its design, engineering, and manufacturing rather than rely on its experienced union workforce.

To further undercut its union, Boeing opened an assembly plant in South Carolina, a notorious anti-union state. Executives reportedly told managers not to move any unionized employees there.

This quest for profit resulted in massive quality control problems that were reported by engineers and machinists, but allegedly ignored by management. All of this inevitably led to the deadly safety issues Boeing faces today.

And because of Boeing’s monopoly-like power, it has been largely immune from any repercussions for its poor performance.

Boeing made it seem like it was punishing executives who led it astray by firing them, but still rewarded them with “golden parachutes” on the way out.

Folks, Boeing’s troubles should serve as a cautionary tale. It’s reflective of broader trends in our economy over the past forty years. Monopolization. Wealth siphoned off to rich shareholders at the expense of everyone else. Cutting corners on safety to save a dime. Bashing unions. All while spending big money lobbying the government.

Boeing may have become a shitty company, but that doesn’t mean we have to put up with it.

The government has the power to increase antitrust enforcement to bust up big companies — something that we are already starting to see in other industries.

It should also attach strings to government contracts and subsidies to ensure that private corporations are working in the best interest of the country, and not just their bottom lines.

It should ban stock buybacks, which were illegal before the Reagan administration, so profits are put back into improving the company, including the safety of products, rather than solely padding investors’ wallets.

Union power should be rebuilt, so that workers can once again act as a countervailing force to Wall Street.

And we should continue the fight to get Big Money out of politics.

It’s not too late to reverse course and chart a new flight path.

[printedword]

When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune. Let the President violate the law, let him exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, let him use his official power for evil ends. Because if he knew that he may one day face liability for breaking the law, he might not be as bold and fearless as we would like him to be. That is the majority’s message today. Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law. The majority’s single-minded fixation on the President’s need for boldness and dispatch ignores the countervailing need for accountability and restraint. The Framers were not so single-minded. In the Federalist Papers, after “endeavor[ing] to show” that the Executive designed by the Constitution “combines…all the requisites to energy,” Alexander Hamilton asked a separate, equally important question: “Does it also combine the requisites to safety, in a republican sense, a due dependence on the people, a due responsibility?” The Federalist No. 77 p. 507 (J. Harvard Library ed. 2009). The answer then was yes, based in part upon the President’s vulnerability to “prosecution in the common course of law.” Ibid. The answer after today is no. Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law. Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop. With fear for our democracy, I dissent.

— Justice Sotomayor, in her dissenting opinion

[snowlithills]

Theses on Monsters, China Mieville

1.

The history of all hitherto-existing societies is the history of monsters. Homo sapiens is a bringer-forth of monsters as reason’s dream. They are not pathologies but symptoms, diagnoses, glories, games, and terrors.

2.

To insist that an element of the impossible and fantastic is a sine qua non of monstrousness is not mere nerd hankering (though it is that too). Monsters must be creature forms and corpuscles of the unknowable, the bad numinous. A monster is somaticized sublime, delegate from a baleful pleroma. The telos of monstrous quiddity is godhead.

3.

There is a countervailing tendency in the monstrous corpus. It is evident in Pokémon’s injunction to “catch ’em all,” in the Monster Manual’s exhaustive taxonomies, in Hollywood’s fetishized “Monster Shot.” A thing so evasive of categories provokes—and surrenders to—ravenous desire for specificity, for an itemization of its impossible body, for a genealogy, for an illustration. The telos of monstrous quiddity is specimen.

4.

Ghosts are not monsters.

5.

It is pointed out, regularly and endlessly, that the word “monster” shares roots with “monstrum,” “monstrare,” “monere“—”that which teaches,” “to show,” “to warn.” This is true but no longer of any help at all, if it ever was.

6.

Epochs throw up the monsters they need. History can be written of monsters, and in them. We experience the conjunctions of certain werewolves and crisis-gnawed feudalism, of Cthulhu and rupturing modernity, of Frankenstein’s and Moreau’s made things and a variably troubled Enlightenment, of vampires and tediously everything, of zombies and mummies and aliens and golems/robots/clockwork constructs and their own anxieties. We pass also through the endless shifts of such monstrous germs and antigens into new wounds. All our moments are monstrous moments.

7.

Monsters demand decoding, but to be worthy of their own monstrosity, they avoid final capitulation to that demand. Monsters mean something, and/but they mean everything, and/but they are themselves and irreducible. They are too concretely fanged, toothed, scaled, fire-breathing, on the one hand, and too doorlike, polysemic, fecund, rebuking of closure, on the other, merely to signify, let alone to signify one thing.

Any bugbear that can be completely parsed was never a monster, but some rubber-mask-wearing Scooby-Doo villain, a semiotic banality in fatuous disguise. It is a solution without a problem.

8.

Our sympathy for the monster is notorious. We weep for King Kong and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, no matter what they’ve done. We root for Lucifer and ache for Grendel.

It is a trace of skepticism that the given order is a desideratum that lies behind our tears for its antagonists, our troubled empathy with the invader of Hrothgar’s hall.

9.

Such sympathy for the monster is a known factor, a small problem, a minor complication for those who, in drab reaction, deploy an accusation of monstrousness against designated social enemies.

10.

When those same powers who enmonster their scapegoats reach a tipping point, a critical mass, of political ire, they abruptly and with bullying swagger enmonster themselves. The shock troops of reaction embrace their own supposed monstrousness. (From this investment emerged, for example, the Nazi Werwolf program.) Such are by far more dreadful than any monster because, their own aggrandizements notwithstanding, they are not monsters. They are more banal and more evil.

11.

The saw that We Have Seen the Real Monsters and They Are Us is neither revelation, nor clever, nor interesting, nor true. It is a betrayal of the monstrous, and of humanity.