#National Intelligence Programs

[smalltofedsblog]

Intelligence Community To Deepen Ties With Private Sector

“FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK” By Justin Doubleday “The effort is spurred by a deepening and urgent need for the intelligence community to access insights in areas ranging from artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to space and rare earth supply chains, including how agencies can sponsor sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) space for contractors.

[sirfrogsworth]

If you believe in God and live in a Western Christian nation, he will reward you with "very few" starving babies.

How exceptional!

Like, on the spectrum of starving babies to full-bellied babies, starving is *mostly* off the table.

God can't guarantee a 100% no-starving rate at this time. That would require miracle-level intervention and He really prefers to reserve that kind of action for imprinting images of his mother on food.

For a limited time only, if you elevate your belief tier to Unconditional Faith™ then God will upgrade your babies to the slightly hungry program.

They won't die or anything, but the lack of nutrition could cause some developmental issues. But don't you worry, God used divine inspiration to help a tech bro invent GoFundMe. So you should be covered.

Now, the Full Belly Babies tier does exist, but it requires entering a secret society of assholes and I'm afraid the barriers for entry are a little... chaotic. No one really understands how you access this program, and from the outside, it seems pretty random.

I mean, it's definitely not dependent on merit or intelligence or ethical behavior!

Yeah, thumbs up!

But I can assure you all of the millionaires and billionaires were not just some fluke of capitalism. God chose them because reasons and that's all you need to know.

Questioning God is how you get starving babies.

Whoops, I don't think I was supposed to reveal that.

No matter. I'm sure I'll be fine. He hasn't smote anyone in like 2000 years. This is the friendly New Testament Era God. All of his cruelty manifests through inaction rather than temper tantrums.

Fuck, I wasn't supposed to mention that either.

If my house floods or I develop leprosy, rest assured that is just a coincidence.

[usnatarchives]

The WAVES of Change: Women's Valiant Service in World War II 🌊

When the tides of World War II swelled, an unprecedented wave of women stepped forward to serve their country, becoming an integral part of the U.S. Navy through the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) program. This initiative not only marked a pivotal moment in military history but also set the stage for the transformation of women's roles in the armed forces and society at large. The WAVES program, initiated in 1942, was a beacon of change, showcasing the strength, skill, and patriotism of American women during a time of global turmoil.

The inception of WAVES was a response to the urgent need for additional military personnel during World War II. With many American men deployed overseas, the United States faced a shortage of skilled workers to support naval operations on the home front. The WAVES program was spearheaded by figures such as Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee, the first woman commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy. Under her leadership, WAVES members were trained in various specialties, including communications, intelligence, supply, medicine, and logistics, proving that women could perform with as much competence and dedication as their male counterparts.

The impact of the WAVES program extended far beyond the war effort. Throughout their service, WAVES members faced and overcame significant societal and institutional challenges. At the time, the idea of women serving in the military was met with skepticism and resistance; however, the exemplary service of the WAVES shattered stereotypes and demonstrated the invaluable contributions women could make in traditionally male-dominated fields. Their work during the war not only contributed significantly to the Allies' victory but also laid the groundwork for the integration of women into the regular armed forces.

The legacy of the WAVES program is a testament to the courage and determination of the women who served. Their contributions went largely unrecognized for many years, but the program's impact on military and gender norms has been profound. The WAVES paved the way for future generations of women in the military, demonstrating that service and sacrifice know no gender. Today, women serve in all branches of the U.S. military, in roles ranging from combat positions to high-ranking officers, thanks in no small part to the trail blazed by the WAVES.

The WAVES program was more than just a wartime necessity; it was a watershed moment in the history of women's rights and military service. The women of WAVES not only supported the United States during a critical period but also propelled forward the conversation about gender equality in the armed forces and beyond. Their legacy is a reminder of the strength and resilience of women who rise to the challenge, breaking barriers and making waves in pursuit of a better world.

Read more: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/11/06/historic-staff-spotlight-eunice-whyte-navy-veteran-of-both-world-wars/

[fans4wga]

[September 1] Don’t Fall For Hollywood Bosses’ New PR Spin

'Today marks the 122nd day of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike and 48th day of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike. The dual work stoppages have brought Hollywood to a standstill, with production halted on films and television programs, and premieres and other promotional events either scaled back or canceled. Both guilds are striking over demands that are more than reasonable, particularly given studio executives’ record pay. These demands include fair compensation for streaming media (particularly better residuals, which currently pale in comparison to what they are for network and cable broadcasts), robust studio support for health and retirement funds, and safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence. (For more on why WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on strike, read the excellent reporting of Jacobin’s Alex Press). 

In a move that has shocked…pretty much no one, Hollywood bosses don’t want to share their earnings with the very storytellers responsible for generating them. At the same time, they’re happy to make workers pay the cost for their own miscalculations about streaming.

The major Tinseltown studios – organized under the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) trade association – remain stubbornly opposed to striking a fair deal with either guild. Under the leadership of AMPTP president Carol Lombardini, studios have employed brutal tactics to bust the strike, including threatening to drag things out until writers lose their homes and using management-friendly trade publications to pressure the guilds into accepting lowball offers. These tactics have backfired spectacularly: not only have they failed to end either strike, but they’ve also turned the public overwhelmingly against the AMPTP. A new Gallup poll finds that Americans back the WGA over the AMPTP by 72% to 19%, and SAG-AFTRA over AMPTP by 64% to 24%.

Aware of their reputational damage (but willfully ignorant of the anti-worker attitude that caused it), the AMPTP announced a “reset” to its approach this week – not by negotiating in good faith or meeting the guilds’ demands, but by hiring a pricey crisis-management PR firm to revamp its image! According to Deadline, the AMPTP has hired The Levinson Group – a D.C.-based PR shop best known for representing the U.S. Women’s  National Soccer Team in its campaign for pay equity – to “reframe the big picture for studio and streamer CEOs who have been characterized as greedy, imperious and out of touch.”

If you’re feeling like you’ve seen this movie before, you’re not wrong. During the last WGA strike 15 years ago, studio bosses hired former Clinton comms strategists Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane to revive the AMPTP’s flagging public image. The revolving-door duo were paid a jaw-dropping $100,000 per month by the AMPTP to strike-bust, deploying campaign-style spin attacks designed to break the WGA’s resolve. 

As I wrote for The American Prospect in May:

“Fabiani and Lehane created a website with a live tally of the millions of dollars in income that guild members and on-set crew had purportedly lost by striking. They urged studio CEOs to publicly refer to WGA representatives as “organizers” rather than ��negotiators” because the former “sound[ed] more Commie.” Lehane even told the press at one point that striking writers were “making more than doctors and pilots,” cynically arguing that the strike was harming “real working-class people” like below-the-line workers who had lost income from struck late-night talk shows […] Fabiani and Lehane were [also] the brains behind a “strongly worded and downright menacing” AMPTP press release breaking off negotiations with the WGA in December 2007. This move allowed the studios, which cited a protracted strike as an “unforeseeable event,” to invoke force majeure contract clauses and cancel multiple writer-producer deals worth tens of millions of dollars, severely demoralizing the WGA’s rank-and-file members.”

The parallels between 2008 and today are striking. Like Fabiani and Lehane (who have worked for scandal-plagued clients like Gray Davis, Bill O’Reilly, Lance Armstrong, and Goldman Sachs) the Levinson Group has no qualms about representing greedy and unsavory characters. Over the years, Levinson has done PR for predatory student lender Better Future Forward, reviled monopolist Live Nation/Ticketmaster, a talc mining company linked to the Johnson & Johnson baby powder cancer scandal, and Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes. 

And just like the ex-Clinton spin doctors, the Levinson Group boasts close revolving-door ties to powerful politicians and the news media. The firm currently represents President Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer and previously represented John Podesta’s family lobbying firm. Levinson partners have previously worked for an array of influential politicians, including former President Bill Clinton, Senators Jon Tester and Amy Klobuchar, Representatives Maxine Waters and Ted Lieu, and former and current Los Angeles Mayors Eric Garcetti and Karen Bass. The firm’s founder and CEO Molly Levinson spent eight years working for CNN and CBS, while two of the Levinson Group’s top managing directors are alumni of CNBC and The Wall Street Journal. With a web of strong connections to power players in the entertainment industry’s twin capitals of LA and New York, along with the nation’s capital, Levinson could help the AMPTP tilt the regulatory and media scales back in the bosses’ favor. 

Though this may sound demoralizing, striking writers and actors shouldn’t lose hope. For one, consider a surprisingly uplifting parallel between 2008 and 2023. Fifteen years ago, after Fabiani and Lehane took the AMPTP’s contract, the SEIU and other unions that had previously worked with the duo severed ties with them for trying to bust the writers’ strike. Fast forward to this week: the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Players Association (Levinson’s star client!) publicly rebuked the firm for doing the AMPTP’s dirty work and voiced support for the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. If history is any indication, it’s only a matter of time until other pro-union Levinson clients – like the majority SEIU-owned Amalgamated Bank – follow suit and sever ties with the firm. 

There is also one crucial way in which 2023 is thankfully not like 2008: The Levinson Group is bad at their jobs. 

Consider an August 27th New York Times article about AMPTP President Carol Lombardini*, which was almost certainly pitched or otherwise molded by Levinson flacks. The article goes to ridiculous lengths to rehabilitate Lombardini’s image:

The article passively describes Lombardini’s tenure as “marked by labor peace until now” (a peace that she has now broken) and shifts blame for her unpopular decisions to anonymous AMPTP members (how convenient!).

Article co-authors Brooks Barnes and John Koblin quote a 2014 email from then-WarnerMedia CEO Kevin Tsujihara praising Lombardini’s negotiation skills and recommending she receive a $365,000 bonus. Curiously absent from the article is any mention of Tsujihara’s high-profile 2019 resignation from WarnerMedia for pressuring actresses into non-consensual sex.

Barnes and Koblin attempt to paint a “she’s just like us” picture of Lombardini (who reportedly earns a $3 million annual salary), mentioning her upbringing in a “working-class town outside Boston” and love for Red Sox and Dodgers games.

Barnes and Koblin paint a rosy picture of the AMPTP’s “sweetened proposal” (their words) to the WGA, describing the studios’ August counteroffer as “including higher wages, a pledge to share some viewership data and additional protections around the use of artificial intelligence.” Barnes & Koblin never quote the WGA’s well-founded reasons for turning down this lowball offer, saying only that the WGA is “holding firm to demands related to staffing minimums and transparency into streaming-service viewership.”

Bizarrely, the core issue of underpaid streaming residuals (the main reason writers are demanding greater streaming transparency) is never mentioned in the article.

Barnes and Koblin frequently imply that criticism of Lombardini is unfair, describing her as an “easy target” for the “grievances of striking workers” and singling out a tweet purportedly “mocking [Lombardini] as a fuddy-duddy who hangs out at chain restaurants”.

Barnes and Koblin quote a pre-strike September 2022 Deadline interview with Teamsters organizer Lindsay Dougherty to claim that Lombardini has the “grudging respect” of union leaders who see her as a “fair individual.” They did not quote more recent statements from Dougherty, who last month tweeted that the “greedy” AMPTP had “declared war on Hollywood Labor” by refusing to negotiate in good faith with WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

In one unintentionally eyebrow-raising line, Barnes and Koblin state that Lombardini was “inspired to become a lawyer by reading articles about F. Lee Bailey.” Neither Bailey’s sordid clients (like OJ Simpson) nor his multiple disbarments are mentioned in the article.

And it’s not just me who finds the Levinson Group’s efforts laughable. Discussions of the NYT story on Reddit and Twitter are dominated by comments tying the story’s blatant reputation laundering for Lombardini to the AMPTP’s concurrent hiring of Levinson. A recent New Yorker puff piece on Warner CEO David Zaslav has been met with similar ridicule – with many commenters also pointing to Levinson’s potential influence. So too have recent stories from management-friendly trades like Deadline – all of which have failed to make a dent in strong public support for WGA and SAG-AFTRA. This is a good sign: not only is the public more inclined to side with striking workers than it was in 2008 – it’s also seemingly more attuned to the role of corporate PR flacks in shaping the media narrative. If studio bosses think they can remake the same movie and end another strike with flashy spin-doctors, they’re sorely mistaken. 

So here’s my advice to the AMPTP (and it won’t cost you six figures per month to hear it): the way to fix your reputation problem is to end the strike by giving writers and actors what they want. No strike-busting comms team can rescue you from the hole you’ve dug yourself into. 

As the LA Times’ Mary McNamara recently put it, “You’ve lost the war. The best thing to do now is negotiate the terms of surrender.”'

[tomorrowusa]

Let me make a case for Kamala Harris choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

Tim Walz b. 06 April 1964 (just a few months older than Kamala)

Second term governor of Minnesota.

Midwestern born, bred, and educated.

Taught social studies for 20 years.

Served 24 years in Army National Guard (decorated).

Served 12 years in the US House representing a heavily rural swing district.

Excellent progressive record as governor.

Married - has wife, son, and daughter.

Folksy but intelligent.

Gov. Walz oozes Midwestern credibility. Hillary took the Midwest for granted in 2016 and carried just Minnesota and Illinois. Walz was born in Nebraska and moved to Minnesota for grad school.

He represented a House district in Minnesota which has usually been held by Republicans. He understands the problems of rural America better than more urban Democrats.

He served in the US House for 12 years. He knows how things get done in Washington. He's not some n00b who could get rolled by slick operators.

His record as governor of Minnesota would make liberals smile. After his first term with a split legislature he quickly pushed through progressive programs after Dems took control of both chambers in 2022.

Tim Walz is a team player. He seldom talks about his administration without mentioning Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. This is from his re-election site. The phrase "Tim and Peggy" is mentioned 20 times.

Accomplishments - Tim Walz for Governor

Unlike Trump or Vance, Tim Walz is actually likeable.

Unlike Trump who hates pets, the Walz family has two: Honey the Cat and Scout the Dog.

[in1-nutshell]

Hello!! I love your work! Everyday i literally check your page to see if you upload! You are the best!

Now, can i please request a human teen buddy ( around 15, small ) who is a genius, but still a kid, loves to have fun and literally seem dumb but is very smart. They end up on the lost light, and they hang around with some of the bots, like whirl, percy, nautica, brainstorm, rewind, domey, ratchet, drift, rodimus and mags & megs.

At first some of the bots had fun, but one time buddy, trusted them with their past. Telling everyone around that they didn’t had a parental figures growing up, they were always in foster care and the only thing that helped them was their intelligence, and because of that ended on a program to the lost light. Most of the bots are shocked, and they comfort buddy. But without buddy knowing, a war starts between their friends to win the custody of buddy and guide them.

Magnus wanted buddy to be in his care because they respected him and always asked him questions.

Rodimus wasn't much on the war, he was going to be the one that anounced the winner, but still wanted the best for their little friend.

Brainstorm and Percy tought of buddy as the little genius since they helped them sometimes in their works, and liked having them around.

Nautica tought of buddy as the sweetest thing and wanted to be around and never leave them like their real parents did.

Rewind and domey were fond of the kid and wanted to help them, and because they had a good taste in movies.

Drift was actually fond of buddy, because they never saw him as a monster or a traitor. They knew his backstory and all his problems, but they always treated him with adoration. He teached them how to fight and how to wield a sword.

Ratchet saw the kid most of the time because they were in the medbay a lot of time, watching when they healed somebot, he saw something on the kid, determination. He liked the kid, it reminded him of Drift. He started to teach them some medicine things.

Ratchet and Drift loved the kid, and they came to think of them as their own. When they heard their backstory they were sad, because, who could leave a great mind to itself, but they took the oportunity to be their guardian.

At the end of the day, ratch and drift won custody. And they were going to talk with buddy that night at swerve's. But as soon as they come inside, they hear crying. They inmediatly ran to the scene. And then they see how Buddy is chewing out some bot just because they talked badly about drift. After the bot rans out crying, drift grabs buddy and spins them in his arms while saying " you did so good, sweetie. You are the best!! That's my kid." Buddy's in shock. The ratchet says " that was awesome kiddo, you are awesome. You are the best kid." That hurt buddy and they answer with tears that they are the best parents in the world. After talking everything down, they become one little family. A little family who takes care of each other.

Sorry if it's to much. You can change or erase what you don't like.

This...I like this...

Let the custody battle begin!

Hope you enjoy!

Human Buddy in the custody battle of the Lost Light (Ratchet and Drift are the winners)

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Human reader

MTMTE

Buddy was sent to the Lost Light via the ‘Young Liaison program’. This program helped get the youth of the nation into space programs at minimal to no cost at all.

Buddy was drawn from a lottery to join a field expedition on the Lost Light.

Their main assignment was to keep an eye out for any potential security risk Megatron may still have for the inhabitants of Earth.

They were certainly one of the youngest to graduate from the program, but that didn’t stop the adults from putting the 15-year-old on the ship.

Magnus and Rodimus making their way to the main bridge to meet with the new human liaison.

“I heard they were their youngest human graduate in the program.”--Rodimus

Magnus nods, showing him a data pad with the Liason’s record.

“Indeed, as well as having excelled in most of their classes, listed top of their classes and highly recommended by their peers-- ”—Magnus

“Sheesh! They sound like a mini you.”--Rodimus

They both stop when they see a small human looking from their perch in wonder at the ship around them.

“Magnus… did you also forget to tell me that they’re a kid?”--Rodimus

“…That explains many of the vague writing…”—Magnus

The human turns to the two mechs smiling widely walking to them with a hand outstretched.

“Hello! My name is Buddy, and I am your new liaison for Earth! You must be Rodimus and Ultra Magnus. It’s an honor to meet you two!”--Buddy

Rodimus flashes a smile at them and holds out a digit so Buddy could shake it.

“Welcome aboard Buddy. Have you gotten the tour yet?”--Rodimus

Buddy’s eyes widen in excitement.

“No sir, not yet. But I was hoping to know more about this ship and all!”--Buddy

Buddy stands up straighter.

“I mean—Thank you for offering me a tour Captain sir.”--Buddy

“You can just call me Rodimus, Buddy. Now, shall we?”--Rodimus

Rodimus offers his servo to Buddy to climb on.

They look a bit hesitant but then throw caution to the wind and climb on.

Buddy relaxes a bit sending him a happy smile.

They turn to Magnus.

“I will be reporting to the meeting room for our review Ultra Magnus sir. I have some paperwork that I need to review with you concerning Article C 4, sub section 3—are you okay?”--Buddy

Magnus is trying to hold in everything together.

“O-of course.”—Magnus

Buddy just had stars in their eyes as they met their new bosses and got the tour around the ship.

Many of the bots didn’t mind the little human now amongst them.

Soon enough Buddy managed to worm their way into the sparks of most of the crew thanks to the time spent together and the adventures they had.

One late night at Swerve’s Buddy decides to open up about some of their personal life before the Lost Light.

They bounced around from home to home thanks to the foster care system their ‘parents’ put them in.

And how their smarts were the only reason they even managed to get into the program.

There are some comforting words passed around.

As the words began to be pass around, many bots suddenly realized something.

They wanted to be there for Buddy.

Maybe even a potential parental figure?

… now let the custody battles begin.

To make things as fair and as safe as possible Megatron, Magnus and Rodimus pulled the entire thing together. Well, more Magnus and Megatron than Rodimus, he just really wants to be the announcer.

Magnus had to go through all the paperwork and applications for Buddy’s custody.

“No, no, no, definitely not them. What—who put Overlord’s name on the registry form!?”--Magnus

Whirl’s laughter is heard at the end of the hall.

Buddy safely in his cockpit taking notes per Whirl’s request.

“You see Buddy, we have to destroy them bit by bit. Sometimes you can’t to the big stuff, but it’s the teeny stuff that can REALLY winded a bot up.”—Whirl

Buddy nods scribbling more in their notebook.

“WHIRL!”--Magnus

“Now for the next part, escaping the claws of authority!”--Whirl

After the registry was filled, the rest was simple count of elimination or forfeit.

Many bots did find themselves thinking twice about becoming parental figures to Buddy and preferred to be friends to the human instead.

Heading into the semifinal’s things got a bit more structured.

Buddy spends about 2 weeks with each bot or bots who are potential candidates for the custody.

At the end of the 2 weeks Buddy is to stay with neutral bots meanwhile everything gets ready. The neutral bots were bots that didn’t want anything to do with the competition and could keep a relatively unbiased opinion of the competitors.

“And the winners for the neutral bots are… Ambulon, Powerglide, Nautica and… Whirl? How did Whirl even—“—Rodimus

Whirl smashes a cube on the ground in victory.

“HAHAHA! SUCK ON THAT LOSERS!”—Whirl

“Whirl, we all—“--Nautica

He tosses Buddy into his cockpit and runs out.

Powerglide, First Aid and Nautica run after him.

“Whirl! Stop hogging Buddy!”--Powerglide

“We’re coming Buddy!”--Nautica

“Don’t try to resist! It’ll only make him angrier!”—First Aid

“WHATS HAPPENING!!!!?????”--Buddy

Oh, that was the little detail that somehow never occurred to anyone on board.

To tell Buddy about how some bots on board were getting into fight to be their parents.

Buddy just thinks that they are holding some sort of ‘Can you stand the Organic’ competition like what happened last Halloween.

The finalist came down to 3 pairs, each with Whirl’s choice of Team name.

Brainstorm and Perceptor aka Simpatico.

Rewind and Chromedome aka RDCD.

And Ratchet and Drift aka Dratchet.

Brainstorm and Perceptor were first.

 They tried bonding with Buddy with all sorts of scientific things.

Trying to reach Buddy the best way they knew how:

Science!

Whether it be lawfully good science or Chaotic good science, that was up for debate on most days.

Perceptor walking back into the lab.

Brainstorm runs out the door with Buddy in his servos.

“Brainstorm! What in the name of—”--Perceptor

“HIT THE DECK PERCY!”--Buddy

Perceptor investigates the lab just as a colorful explosion of confetti filled the lab and part of Perceptor’s face.

“I told you not to do it!”--Buddy

“But it was a challenge! If that inventor could do it, so can I!”--Brainstorm

“Its fictional Brainstorm! Cloudy with a chance of meatballs is a FICTIONAL MOVIE! None of its inventions are supposed to work because its FICTIONAL!”--Buddy

“But—”--Brainstorm

“BRAINSTORM!”--Perceptor

“… I suggest you start running Stormy.”--Buddy

“Agreed!”--Brainstorm

By the two weeks the pair had grown fonder of Buddy, but the pair soon realized that it would be best if they just stayed close friends with Buddy.

It wasn’t anything they did wrong, rather seeing another couple look at Buddy made them forfeit.

Next up…

Rewind and Chromedome.

They do have talks about more sensitive things than Brainstorm and preceptor being slightly more in tune with their emotions than the other pair.

They end up bonding through movie nights and stories.

“No way!”--Buddy

“Yes way!”--Buddy

“Wait, wait, wait! You’re telling me that Prowl and Domey used to be partners?! I mean how?!”--Buddy

“It wasn’t all that bad…”--Chromedome

“What was that Domey?”--Rewind

“Nothing!”--Chromedome

But like the last pair, they saw it better to have Buddy as a close friend or have them see the pair as uncle figures.

Finally Ratchet and Drift.

Buddy eased more with them having spent the most time with them prior to this.

That’s what happens when someone is a bit accidentally prone to bruising and weird unrelated injuries and loves learning about alien culture.

They go well together.

Buddy opens a bit more with them as they also share some advice and stories.

I have something I want to share with you guys…”--Buddy

“We’re here kid. What is it?”--Ratchet

“I…I’m afraid…”—Buddy

Drift raises an optic.

“You’re afraid? Afraid of what?”--Drift

“One day I’ll slip up here and then they ask for me back. I’ll never see you guys again and—and—I’ll be all alone again…”—Buddy

Buddy looks down and shakes a bit trying to hold back the tears.

Drift reaches out first and hugs Buddy close to his spark chamber humming a little tune.

Ratchet makes his way to the two and holds them both.

“You’re not going anywhere kid. You want to know why? Because you’re good at your job and you have help. Do you think any of those scraps for brain peers of your back on Earth could be doing what you’re doing? They’d quit within the first hour.”--Ratchet

Buddy chuckles a bit.

“That and no one will let you go from the ship because of that. You’re stuck with us whether you like it or not.”--Drift

Two weeks are done, and it is time to officially tally everything together, even though it is obvious who won.

Buddy gets sent with the neutral bots to Swerves while they look over the data.

Dratchet wins.

But Ratchet and Drift don’t celebrate their win. They want Buddy’s opinion on this before anything.

It’s their life too, they should have a say in it.

The pair go to break the news when they hear crying and yelling coming from Swerve’s.

Ratchet and Drift are sprinting to Swerve.

They burst through the door to find a bot slightly cowering at a red-faced Buddy.

“--AND IF YOU’RE MINISCULAR PROCESSOR THINKS THAT YOU ARE BETTER THAN DRIFT AND RATCHET YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING! YOU HONESTLY THINK YOUR HOT STUFF!? IF I WAS BIGGER, I’D PLANT MY FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR AFTERBURNER THAT YOUR DESCENDANT WILL STILL BE TASTING MY TOES! AND ANOTHER THING—"--Buddy

The bot runs out of the bar before Buddy could continue their verbal rampage.

The bar erupts in cheer and praise when the bot leaves.

It wasn’t often to see the little liaison snap and the utter verbal beating, while well earned, was brutal.

That was something to celebrate.

Drift and Ratchet weave their way through the crowd as Buddy is getting passed around.

Drift grabs Buddy hugging them tightly.

“THAT’S MY KID!”--Drift

Buddy looks at him startled.

Ratchet pats their head affectionately.

“You earned that one kiddo.”--Ratchet

Buddy suddenly understands what they are saying and starts bawling on ratchet’s digit hugging them tightly.

The pair is a bit scared but soon realize that they are tears of joy.

They pair relaxes as they enjoy the free drinks and keep Buddy close.

Some day this turned out to be.

[panthera-dei]

I got another witchy FAQs question so I want to go ahead and share it.

This time, we're talking some basic chaos magic with different types of thoughtforms!

Please note that I am not an expert in chaos magic, nor do I consider myself a chaos magician, so feel free to (kindly) leave feedback or corrections as needed. ^^

Thoughtforms 101

Definition of Thoughtform: Thoughtform is a catch-all term from any entity that was created with or by human thought (conscious or otherwise).

Types of Thoughtforms: Common thoughtforms include sigils, servitors, thoughtform companions (aka tulpas), daemons, and egregores.

Sigils: Most folks who create sigils and use sigil magic probably don't think about sigils as a type of chaos magic or a thoughtform. However, sigils actually do fall into this category. Think of a sigil as being like a simple computer program that's powered by your mind. You give the program a basic function (such as protection or prosperity) and the magical "coding" of your intentions allows the sigil to carry it out.

Servitors: If sigils are basic computer programs, then servitors are robots. They're not sentient per se, as they still require the coding and programming that comes with intention and magical energy. Yet they're much more complex than a sigil and can carry out higher-level functions & multiple tasks (e.g., drawing in people to shop on your Etsy page for prosperity, or actively guarding a space or casting a magic circle for protection).

Thoughtform companions: The widespread term for this type is "tulpa," and creating/having one of these thoughtforms is commonly referred to as "tulpamancy." Since there's also a widespread controversy over these terms, I don't use them myself. I say "creating or working with a thoughtform," and I'll refer to the entity as a thoughtform or thoughtform companion. Regardless of the terminology or beliefs behind this category, they are defined as a separate consciousness created by the thoughts and actions of a human. The human is typically referred to as the "host," since the companion is typically treated as its own separate consciousness. These are fully sentient, autonomous beings with their own thoughts and feelings. They're generally created, either intentionally or not, as friends for the host (hence my personal terminology for them).

Daemons: This category is similar to a companion, but with a different origin and function. Daemons have been documented since ancient Greece, to my knowledge. A daemon is also a sentient entity, however, they are not created intentionally by the host (although they can be brought to the forefront by the human in question). A daemon is instead a conscious entity created by, and representative of, the human being's subconscious mind. They typically serve as helpers and mental guides for the human. They are not considered separate entities; instead, they're part of you.

Egregores: These are essentially the AIs of the thoughtform world. Whereas companions and daemons exist within the human mind, egregores are similar to servitors and sigils - created by the mind, but separate from it. Egregores are often made or manifested by a group of people intentionally for a purpose. E.g., a coven may create one as a guardian or a spiritual guide. They're also often created by accident from widespread symbols - for example, branding. And nations. Every time somebody posts a picture of the Starbucks logo, you're most likely feeding an egregore, according to one theory I've heard. Do I believe that personally? Not sure. (I do have an exact source for this one available on request.) As far as I know, egregores exist with varying degrees of sentience, power, and free will depending on the individual scenario (much like artificially intelligent computers & androids in science fiction).

Pop Culture Entities / Deities: These are often referred to as PCEs or PCDs. I prefer the former but I often use them interchangeably. Some folks prefer to be more specific. For example, Raiden from Mortal Kombat is considered a god in that series, so many folks would consider him a pop culture deity. Whereas Dean Winchester is *not* a deity in Supernatural - so he could be considered a pop culture entity instead. However, this is up to the preferences of the individual entity & practitioner.

Differences between PCDs and Egregores: Egregores are ALWAYS created, intentionally or not, by human energy and thought. PCDs, on the other hand, can have a mixed origin sometimes. Some of them may be pure egregores, manifested on purpose or by accident. Others may be preexisting spirits - often nature spirits that are aligned closely to the fandom content - that latch onto a fictional work as a power source, and eventually fuse with it. And then another theory is that PCDs are *all* preexisting spirits or even deities wearing a mask - so for example, folks with this belief would say that PCD Marvel Loki is just Loki appearing in a different form/aspect. I personally think that all PCEs have a unique origin and I try not to make any assumptions.

Where do I fact check you and/or learn more?: Unfortunately, it is *really damn hard* to find good, solid information on pop culture work because it's very new. And while there's *lots* of info on chaos magic, you have to be careful to check the reliability of the source, much as is the case with demonolatry sources. Fortunately, Tumblr is a great source to find other pop culture practitioners. I personally also have *some* sources available for these topics on request, I'm just too lazy to dig through my Drive right at this moment. :)

[nostalgebraist]

Steve DeCanio, an ex-Berkeley activist now doing graduate work at M.I.T., is a good example of a legion of young radicals who know they have lost their influence but have no clear idea how to get it back again. “The alliance between hippies and political radicals is bound to break up,” he said in a recent letter. “There’s just too big a jump from the slogan of ‘Flower Power’ to the deadly realm of politics. Something has to give, and drugs are too ready-made as opiates of the people for the bastards (the police) to fail to take advantage of it.” Decanio spent three months in various Bay Area jails as a result of his civil rights activities and now he is lying low for a while, waiting for an opening. “I’m spending an amazing amount of time studying,” he wrote. “It’s mainly because I’m scared; three months on the bottom of humanity’s trash heap got to me worse than it’s healthy to admit. The country is going to hell, the left is going to pot, but not me. I still want to figure out a way to win.”

Re-reading Hunter S. Thompson's 1967 article about Haight-Ashbury, I thought: "huh, this guy sounds like he's going places. I wonder whether he ever did 'figure out a way to win'?"

So I web searched his name, and ... huh!

My current research interests include Artificial Intelligence, philosophy of the social sciences, and the economics of climate change. Several years ago I examined the consequences of computational limits for economics and social theory in Limits of Economic and Social Knowledge (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).  Over the course of my academic career I have worked in the fields of global environmental protection, the theory of the firm, and economic history.  I have written about both the contributions and misuse of economics for long-run policy issues such as climate change and stratospheric ozone layer protection.  An earlier book, Economic Models of Climate Change: A Critique (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), discussed the problems with conventional general equilibrium models applied to climate policy. From 1986 to 1987 I served as Senior Staff Economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. I have been a member of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Economic Options Panel, which reviewed the economic aspects of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and I served as Co-Chair of the Montreal Protocol’s Agricultural Economics Task Force of the Technical and Economics Assessment Panel. I participated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and was a recipient of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2007. In 1996 I was honored with a Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award, and in 2007 a “Best of the Best” Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. I served as Director of the UCSB Washington Program from 2004 to 2009.

I don't know whether this successful academic career would count as "winning" by his own 1967 standards. But it was a pleasant surprise to find anything noteworthy about the guy at all, given that he was quoted as a non-public figure in a >50-year-old article.

[decolonize-the-everything]

I was wondering how accurate this was so I did some fun googling and yall.

So starting with the fact that police in the USA were formed when Dems had Congress and Senate and the same was true when the first organized police department was founded (in Boston, btw)....

1963. Dems had Senate and Congress.

While this allowed for huge strides in civil rights police brutality still continued to be largely unaddressed.

1966. Dems had Senate and Congress.

To point out further racial oppression James Meredith starts a 270 mile walk from Memphis, TN to Jackson, MI. He's shot by a sniper the second day which causes an influx in support from allies & prominent civil rights members (such as MLK) who fly out and walk in his stead.

Governor Johnson (d) of Mississippi, who ran on a segregationist platform but changed platforms when he saw that Black people were gaining more supporters, promises to protect marchers as they pass through his state. Police then tear gas them as they were setting up tents for the night in Canton, MI (pictured). 15k show up to Jackson. It's the biggest march in MI history and more successful than Meredith had planned.

No bills were introduced that year.

1956-1979 Dems had senate & Congress.

In 1961-69 they even had a governmental trifecta with Congress, Senate, and the presidency and again in 1977-79. The director of the FBI at the time was Republican J. Edgar Hoover. Head of Intelligence was Democrat William Sullivan. Attorney General & democrat Robert F. Kennedy authorized several programs for them such as wire-tapping MLK.

1968. Dems had Senate, Congress, and presidency.

President Lyndon Johnson (Democrat president while Dems had Congress & Senate) signs the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, birthing the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration & granting federal funds to local governments in order to obtain military resources to quell potential riots. A direct response to the protests and riots throughout the 50's & 60's. Protecting police from protesters.

Democrats do this instead of protecting the public from police and their prejudice.

1992. Dems have both Senate and Congress.

After the verdict of the 4 police who beat Rodney King on camera is announced & they are Not indicted the public starts rioting. The national guard, fire department, and several police departments are called in by then democratic mayor Tom Brady. After the riots a separate federal trial is held and finds 2 of the 4 officers guilty. All were fired from LAPD.

The Police Brutality Accountability Act of 1991 is introduced. Only introduced.

1994. House & Senate under dem control.

They pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act instead. It's drafted by democrat Joe Biden and sponsored by Texas Rep Brooks (D). It's an infamously harmful bill that results in the prejudiced mass incarceration of minorities, especially Black people. This bill funded police departments instead of holding them accountable aiding their further militarization as well.

2020. Dems have both Congress & Senate.

Which brings us to recent times. Where Democrats have again pretended to support and listen to the public demands to decrease/eliminate police brutality only to turn around and insist protests are the reason they keep funding the police instead of giving us rights.

"See? You're too dangerous to Not have a militarized police force."

As if we aren't protesting because the police are already too dangerous. Like that's not what started all this.

At this point a pattern like this can only be seen as intentional. A planned out excuse for funding police again and again and again instead of Stopping police brutality. Instead of enforcing or creating ACTUAL effective reform or regulations. They just keep throwing money at police departments and saying "hey here are billions of dollars that we want you to use to be less violent racists. It's also to help you be more safe when facing the people who are protesting your racist violence. Also we aren't gonna make sure you actually become less violent or less racist but we definitely hope you don't use this all this money to get worse."

Which has backfired across decades at this point. They keep doing investigations and making committees and for what?

We've done that. We know police are racist. We know they're violent. We know they're only spending enough to say they provide 6 months (if that) of sensitivity training and spending the bulk of that money on militarization gear. So what. We know that.

Now what.

What, after 100+ years could their excuse possibly be for STILL doing the same thing. For STILL not addressing it. For STILL not passing reform despite the MANY opportunities they've had? What could police departments Possibly be doing for them?? What excuse could be good enough?

I'm glad you asked.

There isn't one. There are answers of course. Greed, power, privilege, etc. The list goes on.

But are they good enough for you? They're not for me.

I have to beg on Tumblr just for my rent to get paid or for my kid to have dinner sometimes. The success of Democrats or my "country" doesn't mean shit to me, it does nothing for me. It only does things to me. Success enables police, it increases funding, it makes them More afraid of having their ideas of success taken from them, makes them more protective of their status quo. Their success hurts me. Fuck their success.

What matters is that time and time again Democrats have insisted they'd be there for minorities and then empowered the people oppressing, killing, and suppressing us and our rights.

What matters is that time and time again they've said they're powerless and their supporters insist they just don't have a majority to do anything with or that republicans keep blocking them or-

But passing bills to harm us? That's easy. And they don't Have to keep doing that. They just keep saying they do... To protect police. And they only keep "needing" more protection for police because they refuse to give us any. We continue to express our right to protest and they continue to try intimidating us out of it.

All the rights we have? They didn't give to us. Look at those posts. We fought for them while Democrats were in charge. They didn't give us those, they didn't stand with us. They still don't. They stand with the police as they always have.

August 2022.

For hundreds of years we've dealt with this. How much longer is it gonna be. How many more generations are going to have to put up with this government trying to insist that mediocrity is the best they can do indefinitely?

And if you still refuse to hold Democrats responsible, if you still find yourself compulsively trying to point out all the ways that Republicans are worse please know this: I know.

I know you're going to say "well Democrats are our best shot"

And to that I say if this is our best fucking shot....and they're *gestures vaguely at the post* like that.... Can we agree that it points to a much wider issue. If Democrats are our best shot and they're Only this effective and they're only making the most Minimal effort possible year after year. If we Know that their hands are tied by Republicans at best and at worst theyre fascists benefitting from the exploitation of BIPOC and other marginalized communities....

Can we admit that our systems are broken. That it goes further than Republicans or Democrats being bad. That it's Everything? That even if Democrats were actually perfect that everything would still be wrong and fucked up because the system itself holds them from making any effectual change?

That the checks and balances that the founding fathers put in place to make sure that our politicians are fair and just and give a shit about the people they serve aren't working.

Because if they were why would it take HUNDREDS of years for a community to get one thing. Just stop police brutality. That's all we asked. That's it. Stop hurting everyone who isn't a white cis man. Stop killing us in broad daylight for demanding you give us rights and respect the ones we Already have.

So why are we still starting 2023 with brutality making headlines?

If a government is effective and cares and listens and it's representives Truly represent it's constituents and fight for them and it's not just about profit or greed or winning elections or keeping minorities in line then why are we still here?

Why are we still asking for the same rights as our great-great-great-great grandparents?

If that progress? Is that success?

What the fuck are we doing. Like actually. How do we throw a wrench in this system. What will it take for Democrats and liberals and You to realize that all we are doing is driving the future into the hands of fascism.

What do we do? When do we finally do something?

°•°•°•°•°•°•°

If you like my posts consider leaving a tip

[estroniaid]

There is also a public letter addressed to the prosecutor of the ICC that australians can sign to support the investigation.

The brief explains that Australia’s backing for the genocide has extended beyond the provision of political and diplomatic, to active material involvement. This includes:

“Since 2017, Australia has approved 322 defence exports to Israel, including 49 permits for Israel-bound exports in 2022 and 23 in the first three months of 2023, which may cover both military-specific goods and also dual-use devices.” The contents are hidden behind national security provisions.

“Australia is a member in the Lockheed-Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter global supply program and part of the global supply chain… No bombs could be dropped on Gaza by an F-35 without parts manufactured for the F-35s by Melbourne company, Rosebank Engineering (RUAG Australia).” Other firms are also involved.

“Other material support provided by Australia includes a dispatch of a ‘significant contingent’ of troops and two aircraft to the Middle East amid the ongoing Israeli attack on Gaza.”

“Further, Australians have been permitted by the Federal Government, whether explicitly or implicitly, to travel to Israel to join the IDF and its attacks on Gaza.” Australian citizens are banned from serving in any foreign defence force, aside from that of Israel.

“During the Premiership of Prime Minister Albanese, Australia also appears to have provided not insignificant intelligence assistance to Israel. The US-run Pine Gap surveillance base, located outside of Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory, collects an enormous range of communications and electronic intelligence from the Gaza-Israel battlefield—data which is then provided to the IDF and which may aid its campaign in Gaza.” The role of Pine Gap was revealed by Declassified Australia in November, and has been buried by the official media ever since.

“Australia has supported Israel’s genocidal intentions in the Gaza Strip by suspending key humanitarian support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (‘UNRWA’), which supports Palestinians across the Occupied Territories.” That move, based on now discredited Israeli allegations, means Australia is a direct party in the use of starvation against the Palestinians as a means of ethnically-cleansing them. (article)

[eco-lite]

My favorite moments from David Mack's Control. Most of them are Garak, even though he's barely in this book...

[Text ID: “’I'm well aware that you're all fugitives of the highest order in the Federation. Nothing new for you, Doctor, or for your inamorata"—he let contempt drip off that last word—"though I have to imagine being the target of an interstellar dragnet must be something of a new experience for your friends.’” End ID]

Okay this is hilarious. David Mack establishes that Sarina Douglas (the genetically-engineered woman Julian helps in "Statistical Probabilities." Remember her?) and Julian have been in a relationship for a while, but he's also clearly a garashir shipper who loves to make Garak suffer. Jealous!Garak my beloved.

[Text ID: “Garak shot a wary look at his bodyguards, then he moved closer to Bashir. ‘Are you asking as a Starfleet officer? As a doctor? Or as a man in need of asylum?’ ‘I'm asking as your friend.... Help us, Elim.’ It might have been nothing more than Bashir's imagination, but he thought he saw the faintest hint of jealousy in Garak's eyes when the castellan glanced at Sarina. But then Garak looked back at Bashir and smiled. ‘Very well, Julian. For an old friend... anything is possible.’” End ID]

Poor Garak. This is truly painful. Especially since Julian recognizes his jealousy and doesn't ever address it.

[Text ID: “’Executions without judicial oversight? It's an obscenity masquerading as national security.’  ‘Yes. And it's also how the Obsidian Order kept total control over the Cardassian Union for nearly a century.’ That put an end to Bashir's perambulation. ‘Wait, no. I didn't mean to say—' ‘That any part of the Federation could ever have anything in common with the Obsidian Order? Or with the Tal Shiar? Oh, how I envy your naïveté, Doctor. To believe that any nation state could ever endure without having an appendage willing to stain itself in blood—what a luxury it must be to live in the arms of such delusion.’ He expected a tirade from Bashir. A red-faced defense of the Federation's principles, its integrity, its virtue. Instead the doctor reined in his dudgeon and approached Garak's desk. He set his knuckles on the polished wood and bowed his head while he drew a calming breath. ‘I can't deny there's rot in the core of Starfleet. In the heart of the Federation. I've seen it.’ He looked up at Garak, and his eyes had the hard, unyielding focus of a man ready to go to war. ‘I came to you because I need to know how to stop it. How to end it. How to destroy it.’ ‘Well, that's simple, Doctor. What worked for Cardassia will work for the Federation. To excise this cancer from your body politic, all you need to do is kill the body, burn it down to ash, then resurrect and rebuild it with wiser eyes and a sadder heart.’ Bashir's brow creased with scorn. ‘You mock me.’ ‘Not at all, Doctor. You saw what happened to this world at the end of the Dominion War—to all the planets of the Cardassian Union. The Dominion burned us to the ground. Slew all but a fraction of our population. Left us with nothing but cinders and cenotaphs. That is what it took to free Cardassia from the grip of the Obsidian Order. Are you ready to pay that price so the people of the Federation can bask in the purity of their liberty? Is it worth the blood of billions? Is it worth seeing your worlds on fire?’ ‘You make it sound as if there's no middle ground,’ Bashir protested. ‘No choice besides surrender or slaughter.’ Garak saw no reason to blunt the truth's cutting edge. ‘Why else would such programs exist, Doctor? What is the value of intelligence if it doesn't lead to action?’ This time Bashir rose to Garak's challenge. ‘What is the value of action if it betrays all that we stand for?’ His shoulders slumped as if they bore a terrible weight. ‘Garak, I didn't come here to be lectured, or to be told I'm too idealistic. I came here for advice.’ ‘Of what sort?’ ‘The kind that will help me stop Thirty-one. Permanently.’ Maybe the doctor was foolhardy. Perhaps his mission was doomed to fail. But there was no denying the man possessed the courage of his convictions. Garak tried to remember what that had felt like in his long-ago squandered youth—and then he realized, to his shame, that he had never known the sweet sting of such passions. ‘If you want to kill Section Thirty-one,’ he said, ‘you'll need to turn their greatest strength against them—transform it into their most dire weakness. They thrive on secrecy, on anonymity, just as the Obsidian Order once did. Take that away from them. Expose them and they'll be vulnerable—and that's when you strike the killing blow.’ He set his palms on the desktop and leaned forward to emphasize his final piece of counsel. ‘But make sure you leave nothing of your enemy intact. When your work is done, don't try to turn their assets to your advantage. Destroy them all, every last one—or else the monster will simply rise again.’” End ID]

Although the concept and plot of this book is really interesting, I was generally not impressed by the characterization in this book. But Garak is an exception. I love this passage because it's a brief return to Garak and Julian's cherished philosophical debates. And it so perfectly encapsulates Garak's world-view after all he's been through. He's under no delusions of how far a society will go to "protect itself." Or how hard it can be to dismantle a broken system. He's experienced both tragedies first-hand.

[Text ID: “’The codicil concerning Doctor Bashir indicated a ninety-four percent likelihood that he would seek the aid of his former lover and Deep Space Nine crewmate, Captain Ezri Dax. Instead, he ran to Castellan Elim Garak.’" End ID]

Ha. That's telling, isn't it...

[Text ID: “’Have you considered the possibility that you've chosen the wrong side?’ The question felt to Bashir like a vote of no confidence. He hoped he had heard Garak wrong. ‘What do you mean, the wrong side?’ ‘I merely mean to ask, Julian, if you've ever stopped to entertain the notion that perhaps Section Thirty-one serves a valid purpose?’ The question itself offended Bashir. ‘Don't be absurd, Garak. Thirty-one wields deadly power with absolutely no legal accountability or oversight. It commits countless crimes against Federation citizens and foreign peoples. It steals, defrauds, counterfeits, murders. It acts in the name of the Federation while betraying every principle for which we stand. Its continued existence is an insult to our entire civilization.’ Garak struck an imperious pose. ‘Really? An insult? What if that insult to your Federation is the only reason it still exists?’ He prowled forward, crossing Bashir's imaginary boundary of personal space. ‘Every nation-state in history has relied, at one time or another, on the services of such organizations for their very survival. Why should yours be any different?’” End ID]

Devil's advocate as always. But Garak has a point. Cardassia was only able to maintain it's strictly military society--the status quo--because of the Obsidian Order. Based on his own experience, it's reasonable to think that Section Thirty-one may be the only thing holding the Federation together. No matter how much its actions go against the holier-than-thou principles the Federation claims to uphold.

[Text ID: “’Beliefs are dangerous things, Julian. Once we invest in them, it can be hard to challenge them without invoking cognitive dissonance. But in this case, I suggest you try. Because if I'm correct, going to war with Section Thirty-one can only end badly for you. Either you will lose, and you and all your friends will suffer gruesome fates I'd rather not imagine; or you will win—and in so doing, end up inflicting more harm than good upon your beloved Federation.’" End ID]

Not Garak trying to predict the ending of the book. Somehow the real ending was a mix of both. And that "beliefs are dangerous things" line... Yeah.

[Text ID: (Referring to the décor of the Federation Headquarters in Paris, which is scientifically constructed to be soothing and discourage potential violent behavior) “Like the Federation's pervasive imperialism, the lobby's social controls were subtle and hideously effective.” End ID]

Damn, you said it, not me. I do love this book's determination to deconstruct every charitable feeling the reader might have about the Federation.

[Text ID: “Alone with Bashir, Garak looked at his friend. He circled in front of him. ‘Are you still with me, my dear doctor?’ He squatted in front of the hoverchair and tried in vain to make eye contact with his friend. ‘Are you blind to the sight of me? Deaf to the music of my voice?’ Bashir's silence and his wounded stare into an empty distance disturbed Garak in ways he feared to confront. This was not the man he remembered from Deep Space 9, or the confidant with whom he had trusted his private musings in the aftermath of the Dominion War. This man was detached from the world, in it but separated from it by a barrier as unbreachable as it was intangible. This was the shattered husk of a good man, the sorry remains of one who had refused to bend to the cruelties of the world and ended up broken instead.” End ID]

I didn't realize this book leads directly into Una McCormack's Enigma Tales (excellent book, go read it!) until this point. That knowledge makes this moment hurt more, I think.

[Text ID: “There was naught left for Garak to do now but keep his friend safe, in a clean and well-lit place, and give him whatever time he needed to heal himself—or at least to die in peace, with his last measure of privacy intact and jealously guarded by someone who loved him.” End ID]

Time to curl up in a ball and stare into the middle distance for a while...

[mindblowingscience]

The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world's first marine protected area for one of earth's largest animals: the endangered sperm whale. Nearly 300 square miles (800 square kilometers) of royal blue waters on the western side of the island nation that serve as key nursing and feeding grounds will be designated as a reserve, the government announced Monday. "We want to ensure these majestic and highly intelligent animals are safe from harm and continue keeping our waters and our climate healthy," Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a statement. Scientists say the reserve not only will protect the animals, but it will also help fight climate change. Sperm whales defecate near the surface because they shut down non-vital functions when they dive to depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). As a result, nutrient-rich poop remains along the ocean surface and creates plankton blooms, which capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and drag it to the ocean floor when they die. And sperm whales in Dominica are believed to defecate more than whales elsewhere, said Shane Gero, a whale biologist and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, a research program focused on sperm whales in the eastern Caribbean.

Continue Reading.

[blueiscoool]

US Returns $80 Million-Worth of Stolen Artifacts to Italy

It looked more like a museum exhibition of Italian art than a crime scene, but in the Central Institute for Restoration’s offices, located inside a former women’s prison in central Rome, some 600 works of art were put on display Tuesday morning.

Ranging from life-sized bronze statues to tiny Roman coins, from oil paintings to mosaic flooring, the pieces span the 9th century BC to the 2nd century AD and amount to just one year’s stolen and trafficked art confiscated by Manhattan prosecutor Col. Matthew Bogdanos’ team and returned to Italy.

The trafficked works, pillaged from the Italian regions of Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, were sequestered in New York and New Jersey last year.

The returned works, together with 60 items repatriated last year, are worth more than $80 million (or roughly €73.6 million) — but are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to artwork still hidden away in private warehouses and on display in museums in the United States, Bogdanos said on the sidelines of a presentation to the media on Tuesday.

Bogdanos said the $80 million of items does not include a further 100 items his team has just seized in the US.

What makes the seizure and return of stolen artifacts so difficult is that authorities often have no idea what they are looking for, according to Gen. D. Francesco Gargaro, commander of the Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.

“When artifacts are taken from clandestine graves, they have never been cataloged,” he said. That means that, in addition to the items themselves, their historical context was stolen, robbing archaeologists of valuable information. (Instead, investigators work backwards, assessing paperwork and provenance claims for artifacts provided by their owners, as well as undertaking technical tests to best confirm a piece’s true origins.)

Most of the recent items returned to Italy were dug out of clandestine excavations or stolen from churches, museums and private individuals, Gargaro said.

Among the items on display on Tuesday was a cuirass and two bronze heads dating back to the 4th-3rd century BC that were confiscated from a gallery owner in New York.

There was also an Umbrian bronze statue depicting a warrior stolen from an Italian museum in 1962 that was found in a well-known American museum.

And a mosaic floor depicting the myth of Orpheus enchanting wild animals with the sound of the lyre from the mid-3rd to mid-4th century AD was recovered after being stolen from a clandestine excavation in Sicily in the early 1990s. It was confiscated from the private collection of a well-known New York collector.

Italy’s Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection unit uses artificial intelligence to search for stolen cultural assets under a new program called “Stolen Works Of Art Detection System” (SWOADS), which searches for taken items by scanning the web and social media for images.

“The return to Italy of cultural assets of such importance, both for their numerical consistency and for their historical-artistic value, is another significant achievement, Italy’s culture ministry undersecretary Gianmarco Mazzi said Tuesday.

“In addition to being works of art of inestimable value, they represent the high expression of our history, our culture and our national identity.”

In 2023 alone, 105,474 pieces of art worth more than €264 million (or $287 million) were found and confiscated worldwide thanks to the artificial intelligence project, according to Gargaro.

By Barbie Latza Nadeau.

[probablyasocialecologist]

During a senate briefing last week, a federal counterterrorism official cited the October 7 Hamas attack while urging Congress to reauthorize a sprawling and controversial surveillance program repeatedly used to spy on U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. “As evidenced by the events of the past month, the terrorist threat landscape is highly dynamic and our country must preserve [counterterrorism] fundamentals to ensure constant vigilance,” said Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Christine Abizaid to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, after making repeat references to Hamas’s attack on Israel. She pointed to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which enables the U.S. government to gather vast amounts of intelligence — including about U.S. citizens — under the broad category of foreign intelligence information, without first seeking a warrant. Section 702 “provides key indications and warning on terrorist plans and intentions, supports international terrorist disruptions, enables critical intelligence support to, for instance, border security, and gives us strategic insight into foreign terrorists and their networks overseas,” Abizaid said. “I respectfully urge Congress to reauthorize this vital authority.” The controversial program is set to expire at the end of the year, and lawmakers sympathetic to the intelligence community are scrambling to protect it, as some members of Congress like Sen. Ron Wyden push for reforms that restrain the government’s surveillance abilities. According to Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, plans are underway to prepare a stopgap measure to preserve Section 702 of FISA as a long-term reauthorization containing reforms is hammered out. 

[usafphantom2]

How the SR 71 program died. This picture is of the retirement ceremony at March Air Force Base 1990.

You cannot see the faces of the Warriors in this photograph that are possibly holding back their tears when the SR 71 program was canceled prematurely. The men The Pilots and RSO’s (reconnaissance systems officer) that flew in an airplane without any armament at 85-90,000 feet above the Earth. Theirs was the fight for justice and freedom from 1964 to 1990 of a War that never ended. We are still fighting a Cold War against communists. They put their life on the line for the freedom of the United States. These SR-71 Warriors were going to battle as they dressed slowly and precisely in their pressure suits. These brave men preparing for battle they knew they may never come home again to their family. Their families shared in the glory, and in the tension that surrounded them, I noticed that some of my fellow Habubrats have anxiety disorders. That is understandable.

SR-71 was not designed for airshows or any glory it was designed by the Skunk Works to stealthily find out what our enemies were planning.

THE SR-71 PREVENTED WAR.

Satellites could never replace the SR-71. Satellites don’t orbit east to west. Satellites can’t collect 100,000 miles of data per hour and it is easy to predict the path of a satellite. There was new money for projects in the Air Force if they went with satellites so they did. The Air Force Chief put Lockheed out of the SR 71 business. The Chief said that Lockheed trying to keep the SR 71 alive was going to hurt their chances of winning the F-22 contract! Contractors like Lockheed only have one customer the Department of Defense.

Open POM in 1985 Generals found out the cost for the first time of the SR 71. Open POM was to take classified programs such as the B2, the F1 17, and the SR 71 and reveal their cost to the air staff board so they could see what the Air Force was funding. It sounded like a good idea and probably was. The Air Force at that time had some of the new programs classified and hidden from view, but it was the kiss of death for the SR 71.

The SR 71 funding was in trouble because first off the Air Force did not use the data collected by the SR. The users were the Navy, Army, DIA, and a little bit (ELINT) for NSA.

NSA never liked the SR-71 Why? Communications intelligence SR went too fast for COMINT they thought communications intelligence was the only kind of intelligence that was useful. When the Air Force Generals saw how much the SR was costing them they revolted they said more than $200 million for operating only 10 airplanes which is ridiculous.

U-2 funding was in the General Defense Intelligence Program DIP controlled by the DIA. The Air Staff could not get at that money or they would have.

The SR money was in Program One called Strategic Forces. The reason it was in that budget was that when it came over to the Air Force from the NRO and the SRG the budget for the SR was too big for the GPIP and would have revealed how much was being spent. To cover up the cost they put it in with Strategic Bombers and Missiles, which had a very big budget

About the time of open POM in 1984. The Air Force became a Haven for fighter pilots with the death of General O’Malley the four stars were all from Tactical Air Command (TAC) they even put a TAC General in charge of SAC! SAC got the highest fastest flying aircraft and the TAC was always trying to catch up. One might ask how did this affect the SR -71? The reason once this very large amount of money was being spent on satellites they no longer wanted to fund the SR-71 The SR went from a national collection platform to Tactical intelligence asset.

The SR 71 would be flying today like the U-2 if the Air Force had not received the funding data. ( The U2 is supposed to be retiring again. I’ll believe it when I never see a U2 in the air again.)

Linda Sheffield

“The Very First” written by Colonel Richard “Butch” Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[undercovercannibal]

PART 1

(I will add links to future parts here once I've finished them)

some of the fics on this list are no longer available on ao3 and can be accessed through links to my own dropbox account instead

under 10k words

dogbirded by ikeracity (@ikeracity) - T | 2,426 words

Charles has been talking to a guy on the Mutant & Proud dating site for the last two months. He's fairly certain he's being catfished because the guy's profile picture is Erik Lehnsherr, famous actor and A-list celebrity, but he's enjoying their conversations all the same. Never in a million years would he ever imagine that he's actually been flirting with Erik Lehnsherr, and that Erik Lehnsherr is actually into him. Because that would never, ever happen in real life...right?

First Impressions by Black_Betty - T | 3,438 words

Charles Xavier, youngest CEO in Xavier Corp history, society darling and playboy philanthropist drops a bombshell when he comes out. Now he just wants to be left alone.

Heli Cases by Black_Betty - E | 5,892 words

"Heli Cases" is a program on PBS whose aim is to educate on the rapidly increasing occurrence of genetic mutation in the general populous by breaking the complex science down into palatable, easy to digest pieces. It is also the only thing that helps Erik get his fussy daughter to fall asleep. (Featuring Dadneto, baby Lorna and the struggles of single fatherhood, and Charles as the host of a late night show about genetics.)

10k+ words

You Show Me Yours by endingthemes - M | 11,141 words

When Erik receives nudes in the middle of the night from an unknown number, he's confused and mildly amused. He doesn't expect it to turn into an actual conversation...with feelings. As if that's not baffling enough, his friend's brother ends up crashing at his place, further complicating everything.

Make a list of everything that's ever been on fire by cm (mumblemutter) - E | Underage, Half-Sibling Incest | 13,155 words

We're brothers, you and I. We want the same thing.

we might just be hollywood material, baby by ikeracity (@ikeracity) and midrashic - T | 15,443 words

Greenkeep was an American animated television series created by Logan Howlett for Toon TV. The series follows mouse scholar Jess (Charles Xavier); his rival, the otter warrior Miska (Erik Lehnsherr); and their cohort of friends and allies as they fight to overthrow the Kingdom of Crows which has occupied their homeland. It aired for six seasons, from February 2003 to June 2009. Greenkeep received critical acclaim for its characters, soundtrack, and exploration of complex themes such as war and free will. It was the first significant project of several prominent actors, including Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers, and Raven Darkhölme, and is also known for its role in introducing Academy Award-winning actor Charles Xavier and his now-husband, director and producer Erik Lehnsherr.

From Westminster With Love by thehoyden - E | 16,152 words

NATO intelligence says there’s an omega-class telepath who sleeps under Westminster. Major Erik Lehnsherr is about to find out the truth for himself.

Made To Be Broken (dropbox) by Yahtzee - E | 18,220 words

Charles makes a New Year's Resolution: "No more straight men," Charles repeated as he began scrolling through the apartment directory for Emma's name. "No more futility. No more pointless hoping and heartbreak. In 2013, I never want to hear the words 'exception,' 'experimenting' or 'phase.' If, God forbid, I hear 'bicurious' even once, I may take a hostage." Then he goes into the party, and Erik is there.

Favorite Mistake by endingthemes - M | 19,266 words

Charles Xavier doesn’t think anything of it when he sneaks out without even saying goodbye to his latest one-night stand. What he doesn’t expect is to walk into his new position in the Xavier Industries marketing department and find that his latest hook-up is now his new boss.

Xmas in Connecticut (dropbox) by Yathzee - T | 19,466 words

In December 1944, the entire nation loves Rebecca Lawrence - "America's Most Beloved Homemaker." Her columns about leading the ideal life in the country help lift people's spirits on the home front during World War II. But when her publisher asks her to host a war hero for Christmas dinner, the world is in danger of learning the truth … which is that "Rebecca Lawrence" is imaginary. Really, she's a combination of Raven's snappy writing and Charles' knowhow in the kitchen. However, this war hero, Erik Lehnsherr, is headed to Connecticut, so Raven and Charles have no choice but to find a way to make the imaginary real - at least, just for Christmas. Charles thinks they can pull it off, at least until he opens the door to see Erik and falls in love at first sight.

Serendipity by humanveil (@humanveil) and yuelle - T | 19,785 words

Charles sends a text to the wrong number. [10:22 AM] Can we meet for coffee? I just got dumped. [10:30 AM] I think you've got the wrong number. [10:31 AM] Unless you make a habit of texting people you don't know about this sort of thing?

20k+ words

Whispers and Tingles by sareyen - E | Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings | 23,769 words

Erik Lehnsherr is an angry, broke, horny, misanthropic college student. He's always known that audio porn existed, but he never really got into it. But then he discovers the audios made by one smooth-talking, English-accented and infuriatingly filthy (and sweet) ProfessorXXX and, well, he never looked back. Or: Erik is a horny college student who discovers audio porn made by one ProfessorXXX and becomes his #1 fan (and they fall in love)

30k+ words

rooms/shares by pocky_slash - T | 33,140 words

Erik is single, working a cube job he hates, letting his master's degree in mutant studies collect dust, and living on his best friend's couch. When she kicks him out, he's forced to trawl Craigslist for the least-offensive rooming option within his meagre budget. He never expects a response from the persnickety, high maintenance ad he replies to as a joke, but it's possible this too-nice apartment and mysteriously absent roommate might be the answer to all four of his problems.

Plain sight by aesc and pearl_o - E | 37,000 words

When he was eleven years old, Charles ran away and disappeared. Eight years later, as a curious detective begins to notice his traces, Charles thinks he's finally ready to join the real world once more. But as it turns out, learning to be among people again isn't easy -- and his relationship with Erik is perhaps the most complicated of all.

Paper Monsters by Clocks - E | 39,240 words

Charles meets Erik Lehnsherr, his favorite novelist of all time at a coffee shop, but doesn't know it's him, and Erik just criticizes his own writing in front of his biggest fan.

40k+ words

Mutually Beneficial Transaction by Pookaseraph - E | 41,572 words

In his sophomore year at Columbia University, Erik, feeling slowly strangled by his mounting college debt, places an add on a sugar daddies website. He doesn't know exactly what to expect from it, but when he's contacted by a man named Charles who seems less creepy than the other people who have responded to his profile, he decides to give it a shot. Charles is nothing like what he expected, and Erik finds himself slowly falling in love with his sugar daddy while trying to find out exactly what caused this amazing guy to buy his emotional and sexual intimacy when he clearly deserves so much more than that.

Something About Us by obstinatrix and seutedeern - E | Underage | 41,997 words

The old fashioned Strangers-on-a-Train idea has always seemed like an Old Hollywood myth to Charles, who's never really spared any random strangers more than a passing glance during his commutes to and from school. Nobody really meets people like that these days. Except that, now he finds himself looking forward to his morning train ride and the chance to have a chat with the handsome man who only approached him because of the book he was reading.

Bifurcation (dropbox) by spicedpiano - E | Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings - medical gore | 47,167 words

Bifurcation - (n.) the splitting of a main body into two parts. In medicine, a single mistake can mean the difference between life and death. For cardiovascular surgeon Charles Xavier, a fatal error leaves him standing at a crossroads … and at the mercy of the man he has not faced since their relationship fell apart thirteen months ago. Dr. Erik Lehnsherr has a fearsome reputation. Due to his incisive autopsy reports, he has gotten more surgeons fired in two years than any other pathologist has managed over an entire career. But when an old enemy returns to Erik's life, he must find a way to temper his pride -- or lose the man he loves, all over again.

50k+ words

April by nextraordinaire - E | 56,219 words

In the sharp, unforgiving plains of the Canadian Arctic, Erik is since long adapted to solitude and silence. Separated from civilization, dedicated to nothing but his research, he has formed a life that suits him. There is nothing he would ever want to change. So, naturally, the arrival of grad student Charles Xavier upends everything Erik ever thought he wanted, for better or for worse.

60k+ words

A Maschine Without Feelings by sareyen - E | Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings | 65,713 words

A Jane Eyre AU: Small and measured but intelligent and determined, Charles Xavier is a child born into circumstances of hardship; his father died just after he was born and his mother remarried a cruel and hard man, who cast him out to boarding school when he was ten. After a difficult childhood, Charles found employment as a tutor at the grand Ironfield Hall, where he meets its master - the brooding and seemingly cold Mr Lehnsherr. Charles is drawn to the enigma that is Mr Lehnsherr, but mysterious and frightening events begin occurring in Ironfield Hall, threatening to destroy everything Charles has grown to cherish.

70k+ words

Machiavelli Online by KesaKo (unfinished, but the only thing missing is the epilogue which is why I still feel comfortable recommending it) - E | 77,963 words

Charles and Erik are each at the head of a mutant rights student union in their university. As they are known to bicker and argue, everyone assumes they must be enemies. Unbeknownst to all, Erik has in fact a gigantic crush on the extremely flirtatious and extremely straight Charles Xavier, so he decides to set up a female Facebook account to get some dick pics. As usual with Erik, it’s a bad plan.

100k+ words

Strict Machine by euphorbic (only accessible with an ao3 account) - E | Graphic Depictions Of Violence | 150,579 words

When Professor Charles F Xavier accepted a visiting professor position in Arizona, he did so in order to be geographically closer to his sister. What he did not expect to find was the living, breathing specter of the sportbike gang-oriented past he’d been trying to put to rest. A tale of sport bikes, consequences, and sacrifice.

The stars incline us, they do not bind us by ikeracity (@ikeracity) and Pangea - E | Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con | 162,781 words

Intergalactic Federation pilot Lieutenant Charles Xavier is assigned last-minute to a high profile mission: transporting over two thousand prison inmates from an old and overfilled prison complex to a newer, higher-capacity prison stronghold located on the outer reaches of the galaxy. Just as he's settling down for a long and uneventful ride, things take a turn for the worse after the inmates riot and stage a hostile takeover of the ship, leaving Charles to find himself at the complete mercy of cold-blooded killers and facing the chilling prospect that he might not ever make it back home alive.

All the Rest is Rust and Stardust (dropbox) by spicedpiano and tahariel - E | Rape/Non-Con, Underage, Alternate Universe - BDSM – content warnings at the end of each chapter no longer available | 669,812 words

Charles Xavier is the world's preeminent mutant psychologist, called in to consult for the CIA when a raid on a Hellfire Club safehouse discovers a severely abused teenager, Erik Lehnsherr. Taking Erik in soon leads Charles to struggle between his conflicting responsibilities as Erik's guardian and psychologist, and his desire to give in to the dangerous dynamic that is developing between them.