#Pen Power News

[trashofspace]

Giving Pen a pats :)

[bl4z33467]

Classic Sir Blaze and Courier Pickle art from back in june. Based off of a roleplay with them with @irenecatz

[quinn-pop]

it’s cringe day Wednesday let’s get silly

pretty sure these guys own the term partners?? romantically, platonically…they fight together, they fight each other, they have a bond that shook the heavens, AND they have parallel arcs?? wow…good for them

[screwpinecaprice]

Got my first display tab! And the first thing I tested it with is an anime Connie sketch lol.

HUGE thank you to my supporters at Ko-fi, as that's where I got the funds. 😊😊🤗💕

Seems needed time to get used to, and I use more shortcut keys than the number of shortcut buttons on the tab; but I am already loving the it so far! My laptop, on the other hand, is not handling it too well. 😅

[akkivee]

HE DROPPED

[thewhizzyhead]

one day I wish I could actually like understand songwriting especially for theatre so that I can I dunno actually put to use the random tunes I have in my head that just spontaneously appear while I'm doing the most mundane of shit. anyways patron has the concept of an opening number now

[book-of-legends]

Wait what happened to your pen?

I was drawing Lief and it broke.

[wineaunt420]

Recognition

(Ignore how rushed this is I just had to spew this out, I love you Barizorg you are the best to draw. Maybe I’ll draw Joe as well if I feel like it. Like a mini comic💖 actually the more I look at this the more I think it looks like straight ass but whatever lmao)

[momomallowart]

Good morning gamers ʕ⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴥ⁠ꈍ⁠ʔっ✨

[learnwithmearticles]

French Politics Update

Since the 2024 French elections earlier this year, we left off with a more balanced National Assembly. Left-wing politicians became the highest population at 188 seats with centrist Emmanuel Macron still the president. The centrist party is not far behind with 161 seats and the right-wing party with 142.

Many networks at the time discussed the expectation of a hung parliament, as no one party holds the 289-seat majority.

Some things stay the same. In July, the National Assembly voted to keep centrist party member Yaël Braun-Pivet as speaker, winning by 13 votes. Additionally, many people have called for Macron to step down as President, but he will likely stay for the rest of his term until 2027. 

New PM

On the other hand, there have been major changes. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal resigned in July, and was replaced by Michel Barnier in September. He is a conservative, the leader of the 2016-2019 Brexit negotiation, and his appointment was met with much criticism from the left-wing parties.

Days after his appointment, over 100,000 people participated in protests across France. Many people view President Macron’s PM choice as disruptive to democracy, as the PM is most often chosen from the dominant National Assembly party.

Macron states that he made this choice based on the belief that Barnier seemed the most capable of dealing with political deadlocks, as is expected of the Parliament with no party holding majority.

I have to wonder, though, if this was also out of spite for the left-wing parties winning more seats than his centrist party. Barnier’s politics are expected to rely on joint support from the centrist and conservative parties. If the right or center opposes him on anything, he almost certainly will face loss after loss with his proposed policies. Will this lead France backward after the left finally gained some political power?

Barnier’s Address

Barnier delivered his first parliamentary address on Tuesday, October 1st. Summarily, he emphasized the hazard of French finances and debts, and the environment.

France is more than 3 trillion euros in public and environmental debt, which Barnier addresses first. His goal is to bring the deficit down from 6% of the national GDP to 5% in 2025, with the goal of under 3% by 2029.

His outline for achieving this is reducing spending, being more efficient in government spending (addressing corruption and unjustified spending), and taxes. He phrases higher taxes as a temporary measure, and states that large companies as well as the richest and wealthiest French people will be asked for exceptional contributions.

Barnier also addresses environmental debt. He plans to continue reducing GHG emissions, and for France to be more active in the EU and in the Paris Agreements, which push for countries to collectively act against climate change. He also mentions encouraging industry transitions in energy and recycling, encouraging nuclear energy development, and developing renewable resources of energy more, like biofuels and solar energy.

He has also conceived of a large national conference to act on the matter of water, the scarcity of which is an imminent issue for France.

Additionally, he plans to propose a yearly day of citizens consultations. In his idea, doors will be open for citizens for people of all levels of government to ask questions and start discussions and debates on various topics.

Another noteworthy statement from Barnier is that the pension reform bill voted on in 2023 might have to be changed, which received a loud reply from the audience.

As someone living in a country where an entire political party is built on denying factual evidence and realities, it is surprising to hear someone who does not deny climate change, and calls for equitable taxes to address debt.

About 30 minutes into his address, though, New Caledonia comes up. This is more in line with expectations of conservatives. New Caledonia is still a colonized territory of France, and a recent bill from Macron was going to disadvantage native Kanak people for the advancement of French loyalists on the archipelago. After fatal protests, the bill has been suspended before ratification, likely to be readdressed in 2025.

Also in conservative spirit, Barnier calls for stricter immigration policies in effort to meet “integration objectives”. France faces a cost-of-living crisis and an affordable housing shortage that has buttressed the right’s stance on needing stricter border measures.

Le Pen Trial

Also straining politics, especially for right-wing support, is recent news about popular right-wing figure Marine Le Pen.

On September 30th, Le Pen faced charges of embezzling European Parliament money. The right-wing party Rassemblement National is accused of filing false employee records in order to improperly use funds to pay members of the party. Le Pen is one of many senior party members involved in the alleged embezzlement.

This trial is expected to go on for seven to nine weeks, so the final outcome is some time away. But for now we can expect this will have negative impacts if Le Pen still vies for presidential election in 2027. It will likely also decrease citizen’s trust in the conservative party’s ability to make responsible economic decisions.

If found guilty, Le Pen and the other defendants could face up to ten years in prison and lose the eligibility to run for office.

After the 2024 shock vote instigated by President Macron, the French National assembly gained a left-leaning majority, though not enough for an automatic 289-vote majority. In most cases, this would mean a left-wing Prime Minister as well as a left-wing president, though that’s because the presidential vote is usually shortly after that of the national assembly.

Contrarily, Macron went with a conservative candidate that he believed to be stronger for the job. This increases the political unrest in the country, and increases the likelihood of delays and blockages in legislation development.

While the conservative Prime Minister has stated many intentions that people in the U.S.A. might call left-leaning, regarding climate change and tax targets, his appointment has upset many. His views on immigration, especially, contrast with most left-wing groups who want integration and safety for others. Overall, this decision from Macron calls into question his loyalty and dedication to the wants of the French people.

Additional Resources

1. New Prime Minister

2. Barnier on Borrowed Time

3. Le Pen on Trial

4. Barnier Address

5. Barnier Address Summary

[thgegooberguy]

Chainsaw doodles feat my goober ass sona

gang if I EVER pay attention in class I NEED you to 💥🔫🦞 it because that thing is NOT me I’m likely already dead 😊😊😊

[mira-kuznetsova]

A little sketch for our upcoming Masks game, she is The Doomed playbook. Mara, a hero from Siberia, she got scared by her nemesis and sister Vesna.

Some heavy Slavic mythology influences with this one xD

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

i'm having an art glow up, not because i've been practicing and gained a new skillset, but because i realized that i could just. acquire a better tablet. and that means i don't have to draw everything on 400% zoom.

[heatsu]

my productivity is dead but at least I have my anime wife

not sure if those are the right katakana signs for Zorin's name but shh

[padfootastic]

Seven Sentence Tag

Rules of the game: post the last seven lines of your WIP (or the one you're currently working on?!)

tagged by @in-flvx and @ambrxsiaa,,thank u <333

Here’s the thing. The damnedest, most frustrating thing about this whole situation.

Sirius made an extremely, intimidatingly attractive girl.

They’re in the Hospital Wing, Sirius is sitting on one of the beds with his arms crossed over his chest and an impatient look on his face and James can’t stop staring at him. Now, if he was able to think about it for more than a second (which he wasn’t, because this was his best friend) then this fact would’ve been quite obvious, really. Sirius was the kind of pretty that turned eyes, even before this mishap. More than one person had joked, a bit nastily, about how he could pass for a girl from the right angle, the kind where you’re looking down at him. It wasn’t until he’d seen those people strung up by their ankles in the Great Hall the next day that he really understood what they meant.

[katfreaks-hidyhole]

A week late but here is a New Years themed Thyme R and her Hydrapple Carmeliter 💛