#The Conservancy presents

[bonebabbles]

RiverClan Refugees

Gorseclaw and Lizardtail want to join ThunderClan because they watched Harelight, their only other family, get publicly executed in front of them

They are trying their hardest to be useful and polite while being refugees in ThunderClan, and get mistreated for the effort-- having their food preferences mocked, getting told they're taking up space, hearing a steady stream of slurs, etc

After one more mass shaming session where Squirrelstar asserts they won't be accepting new cats, Sunbeam and Fernstripe join in on condescending them, and we get this;

"It would have felt bad turning them away, but if they chose to go home (AFTER BEING BULLIED FOR SEVERAL CHAPTERS) then there was no need to feel guilty"

This does not come across as these two earnestly missing home and choosing to go back; it comes across like they're accepting the fact that they are unwanted and getting out of dodge before it gets worse.

Honestly, I'm at the point where I can't call this a lack of self awareness. The difference between ThunderClan's treatment of Gorse and Lizard vs RiverClan's treatment of Wasp is obvious to me. The narrative is straightforwardly pro-xenophobic as long as it isn't overtly violent.

Social bigotry is fine. Good, even, to separate the "desirable" immigrants from the "undesirable" ones. What defines those categories? A good one will assimilate fully and leave their culture behind; a bad one only wants safety and a better life for their family.

Terrifying, imo, considering how the irl overton window has shifted on migration at the time of writing this in 2025. Does the spectre of the times loom over these words as I speak them? I hope not.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Parker Molloy at The Present Age:

A new Media Matters report confirms what many of us have suspected for years: the right absolutely dominates online media. And it's not even close. According to their analysis, nine of the top ten online shows are right-leaning, with a total following of more than 197 million subscribers and viewers across platforms. The only left-leaning show to crack the top ten? Trevor Noah's "What Now?" with 21.1 million followers.

Overall, right-leaning online shows have amassed nearly 481 million followers across platforms — almost five times more than the 104 million followers for left-leaning shows. On YouTube alone, right-wing channels have racked up 65 billion views compared to 31.5 billion for left-leaning content. These numbers are staggering, but they're not an accident. They're the result of a deliberate, well-funded strategy to colonize the digital media landscape with conservative voices. While left-leaning creators struggle to cobble together sustainable business models through Patreon donations and merchandise sales, right-wing personalities are frequently backed by billionaire money that allows them to build sophisticated media operations with professional production values and massive marketing budgets.

This isn't just about politics — it's about money, power, and the future of our information ecosystem. The Kochs, the Mercers, the Thiels, the Murdochs, the Uihleins — these aren't just wealthy families; they're kingmakers who understand that investing in media is investing in political power.

[...] Perhaps the most insidious aspect of this takeover is how right-wing content has seeped into supposedly non-political spaces. The Media Matters analysis found that 72% of online shows with an ideological bent that self-identify as non-political are actually right-leaning.

[...]

This infiltration of supposedly non-political spaces works precisely because it doesn't present itself as political propaganda. It's just bros talking about life, making jokes, and occasionally hosting a presidential candidate or anti-trans activist. And behind many of these seemingly independent creators? You guessed it — conservative money.

In contrast, progressive online media operates in a funding desert. While right-wing creators enjoy the backing of ideologically motivated billionaires, left-leaning voices must navigate a fragmented landscape of smaller donors, subscriptions, and advertising — all while competing against the right's well-oiled promotion machine.

Major progressive donors simply haven't prioritized building a comparable media ecosystem. George Soros, the right's favorite boogeyman, has primarily focused his giving on policy organizations and civil society groups, not media entities that could counter the Shapiros and Rogans of the world. Similarly, other wealthy liberal donors have directed their resources toward traditional political campaigns, issue advocacy, and established nonprofit journalism rather than investing in the creator economy.

Even when progressive funders do support media, they often impose restrictions and expectations that make it difficult to build large, sustainable audiences. While conservative backers give their content creators freedom to be entertaining, provocative, and commercially viable first, progressive funding often comes with strings attached around messaging, issue focus, and measurable policy impacts.

The approach means left-leaning creators are forced to prioritize substance over style, nuance over engagement, and education over entertainment — all while operating with a fraction of the resources available to their right-wing counterparts.

[...]

If progressives want to compete in the digital information space, they need to get serious about building and funding an ecosystem that can rival the right's dominance.

This doesn't mean mimicking the dishonesty and extremism that characterizes much of right-wing media. But it does require acknowledging some uncomfortable truths: entertainment values matter, production quality matters, marketing matters, and yes, money matters. Progressive donors need to take a page from the conservative playbook by making long-term, substantial investments in digital media with fewer strings attached. They need to fund not just serious policy content but also entertainment, comedy, sports, and lifestyle content that can reach beyond the already converted. More importantly, they need to recognize that building media power is not secondary to political organizing — it's an essential prerequisite. In an era when a single podcast host can reach more people than all the major cable news networks combined, media isn't just about informing people about progressive policies; it's about creating the cultural and informational environment where those policies can even be considered.

The right understood this decades ago when they began building their media apparatus. They knew that owning the megaphones was just as important as having something to say into them. It's long past time for progressives to learn the same lesson. The alternative is accepting a future where the digital public square is permanently tilted toward conservative voices — not because their ideas are more popular, but because they were willing to pay for the microphones.

Former Media Matters For America employee Parker Molloy wrote in her The Present Age column that the right-wing dominance on online media platforms is hurting left-leaning content creators and the Democratic Party at the ballot box.

[horrorshow]

i love when people point out the 'family is hell' theme in spn and then go like 'do not romanticise this!!! this post is not for you' as if spn itself didn’t end up with the family is hell brothers being soulmates happily meeting up in heaven after 15 seasons of dark romance tropes thrown upon them.

no one romanticizes 'family is hell' more than supernatural itself.

[gophergal]

I concor with Halloween never ending

Can we get a vampire spy or zombie heavy : p

I eat your art I WILL EAT IT UP

🤤🤤🤤

Vampire Spy yes, but consider. The humble SpyMa

[alistair-blackwood]

kabru's relationship with his eyes makes for suuuuuch a fantastic trans allegory (an aspect of your body alienating you from your community, being compelled to understand the perspective of someone who also has a complicated relationship with their body in the hopes that you'll better understand your own, people straight up misunderstanding biology) it makes me kind of insane because now I feel like I can't dig into any complicated feelings he might have about his body in relation to his gender without feeling like im just ... double dipping?? like fifjpejgh ryoko kui straight up already told that story in a way that exquisitely fucks??

[phaeton-flier]

I don't think it actually counts as "Democratic" if there's a central committee who can unilaterally strike down a candidate. It doesn't matter if the trade unions or student groups can submit candidates if those candidates have to be approved by the current administration!

[professor-beaker]

Ive never been big on caring much about my appearance, might have something to do with me only looking great for myself and not for others. But i cut my hair today, shorter than ive ever done, and let me tell you, ive gotten four responses:

-Its too short, good thing itll grow out, i dont like it, etc (my conservative, religious mother and brother)

-Just. Silence (my CONSERVATIVE sister)

-It fits you so well!! Looks amazing!!! (The majority of my friends and one or two family members)

-You look like a masc chappell roan (one of my best friends and arguable the one that made me happiest with that response)

I have never had so much happiness over a haircut and it may just be the conflicting responses ive created over it. Anyway this post doesnt have a point except suck it, conservative, religious family

[ask-thearchivists]

Coordinator, how did you feel about having to raise your siblings?

The Coordinator: Your question is uncomfortably direct...

The Conservator: Ah, right, that was father's proposed condition for you all not to be separated. If it makes you feel better, you are not alone in this experience. Though for me it was different.

The Coordinator: What do you mean?

The Conservator: This is the thing I had avoided speaking of earlier...I suppose it is time to tell you. I was raised amongst our extended family in our grandparent's Archive. They allowed for the gaps that exist in father's parenting style to be smoothed over. Now that we all live in our own galaxy, the Cataloger and Cartologist have no one there to fill in the holes. Father is...busy. His only job is our Coordinator and Caretaker, but this still leaves him with very little time on his hands for additional care.

The Conservator: I have taken it upon myself to care for my younger siblings in the ways that father does n- cannot. It...is difficult. I always knew I would eventually have more younger siblings, and I did look forward to it, but this is not what I had in mind. I was happy that the Copyist decided to also help with these tasks after the Cartologist was born, because I had been overwhelmed by the thought of needing to help both of my younger siblings.

The Coordinator: Yes, I understand how you feel. Though your father's inattention...I do not think you should make excuses for him. It was very difficult, and I was so very often overwhelmed. I feel sometimes, like I did not do good enough, and that I was unable to do everything they needed me to do.

The other three Archivists all look surprised, the twins share a look that appears almost afraid.

[mars-elly]

I take five mins to check the sm accounts I still have outside of tumblr (not many) and I can immediately feel the anxiety attack coming on.

I swear this is the only sm I feel safe using nowadays. Perfect mix of info/fun and we’re keeping it real.

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

6.8: Fighting the Far Right's Attack on Public Education with Dr Sam Myovitch

Across the USA, the far right candidates have been getting themselves elected to local and county school boards. Their goals include financially choking public schools by diverting government funds toward charter schools, often religious in orientation. Tune in to hear what Dr Sam Myovich, retired history teacher turned school board candidate campaign field coordinator, has to say about what’s at stake, the far right’s deployment of fascist tactics in their fight to destroy public education, and what we ordinary citizens can do to fight back against them, save our schools, and protect our very democracy itself.

[lil-gingerbread-queen]

I don't know which one is funnier: the French bigots or the USAmerican Christians crying about the opening ceremony of the Olympic.

The French bigots, it's nice, we love seeing them suffer. Yeah, this is France, the country of revolutions, what do you want us to not fight against oppression for the human rights? Boohoo, queer people, boohoo, disabled folks, boohoo, overseas departments people, boohoo, a black singer singing french slang, boohoo, female revolutionaries, boohoo... In this hot season, we drink the tears of the bigots.

But the USAmerican Christians... It's gold. I always wanted to make these prudes interact with the French culture to see their brain implodes, and it happened. "This is not family friendly, there's gay people and a trouple" Nope, that's totally seen as family friendly in France, lol. Also, the "they insulted christianity!", when we have the right to blaspheme in France, and we have a history with catholicism and christianity. If we want to criticize or insult christianity, you will not stop us. In the name of catholicism, the Seine had been filed with bodies in the past. So, shut the fuck up.

The director is a French leftist, so he represented his France, the one he wants, not the one the gov wants, btw. This is not France today, but it could be France tomorrow, and we will fight for this. Fuck the French government. Good job for that guy, he used art to give a message, as intended.

[gammaraydeath]

not even joking i should get an extension on this upcoming project for bereavement :( due on monday afternoon and i haven't even started

[lorelune]

i’ve come across two of my peers from high school at the bars over the last month and the convos have made me :’’’’^)

[desperatecheesecubes]

My particular flavor of faggotry is that if I said it in public no one would think I was allowed to reclaim it 😞

[lafcadiosadventures]

Two more things from La vida es sueño that blew my mind:

Rosaura offering her love to Segismundo both as a woman and as a man at the end of the play, in the form of a long monologue where she explains the different ways she will be able to love him in as a man and as a woman

The fact that this dual gendered nature doesn’t need to be corrected/explained/rectified, there’s no final unmasking, no final return to exclusive female presentation for her: her final presentation (at least up to what we can see in the play) is bi-gendered

[lycoryspreachin]

guys i can't BELIEVE what i just fell upon, a 7,5k words fic i wrote when i was fifteen ( and never finished ), it was all from regulus's pov, and overall really not that bad ?? here's an extract :

We feel a longing for the tragic, and it's beyond us, truly. We can neither stop it nor satiate it. The broken, the traumatised, those who have seen everything at a time too early, the weird, the monstrous. Some are born with tragedy in their souls, a forgotten twin never meant to be born. Sirius Black, Sirius Orion Black, the blood traitor, the disgrace of the most ancient and noble house of Black. Older brother of the youngest son of Walburga and Orion Black, could his younger brother have been the unwanted tragedy? Where Sirius shined bright in the sky, true and bold, a sincere light emanating from deep within him, Regulus Arcturus Black was made a constellation, a complex alignment of stars, too close to be their own and yet too far to be one, a fragmented star, its edges sharp and hard, hardened by the hardships of life. Each star utterly alone in the void of the universe, all different and still you cannot see one and not look at the others.

Naturally, when one exists in the vicinity of a light as blinding as Sirius, one can only survive within the shadows. The forgotten child, one born from pain and hatred, surrounded by malice and viciousness, with thick black ink intoxicating his veins, mixing with his blood, poison infecting the core of his being, running through his already decaying body and soul. He was vowed to a life of suffering doomed from the very beginning. When you grow as a member of the noblest of houses, you quickly understand you get a very limited amount of choice. In a world in which one lives in the illusion of control, Regulus had to learn how to embrace it and set rules of his own. He can't escape his blood, but he can certainly hide from it. Their cruel and depraved claws could not shred what they could not see and Regulus was determined to make himself undetectable. It was a flawed plan, one in which you lose yourself the longer you follow it, but it was the best one Regulus could think of when way too young he realised it wasn't a family he was born into, but rather a nest of vipers. 

Growing up, loneliness was the only company the youngest son could afford, amidst loud voices and bitterness, a thick presence would be felt. Despair and agony would shape themselves into long dark figures of shadows and smoke. They were scary, their presence haunting. They would set an eerie atmosphere which seemed to sink under Regulus's skin, leaving behind slim scratches beneath his pale carcass. Loneliness was frightening, but nothing was more terrifying than his mother and the shadows only lingered when she was elsewhere. Solitude to him was a reminder, one engraved in his bones, every letter carefully carved, each time an inch deeper, hollowing his bones. A reminder of his tarnished soul. He knew he would beg if he could, drop both knees to the ground and cry in a desperate hope to be seen. But his mother hated tears and after a few hard-learned lessons Regulus understood that childish hopes and tears were activities of the night, to be practised behind closed bedroom doors and after stony good nights.

CHAPTER I

Most nights in the manor went on the same way, Regulus would be dismissed from his family duties and told to leave for his room, he would then calmly get up and exit the main hall while his older cousins and his brother remained seated. Sirius generally stayed around an hour longer, usually so he could be reminded of his heir obligations or to receive thorough criticism of his overall behaviour. During that time Regulus would cross the long and silent hallway leading to his chambers. He would choose a book to read and then get sheathed under the heavy covers of his bed. That night, however, anyone who paid close enough attention would have been able to notice the slightly hurried way Regulus behaved himself, his hands needing to be neatly crossed on his lap to hide the small trembling that would be observable otherwise. His day had been long and exhausting, filled with unpleasant tutoring and the excessive mannerisms required from a member of his house, but that was not the cause for his ever-growing excitement, in fact, he would normally be quite content with the situation, he was sitting at the table in the main dining room, his family surrounding him, everyone eating in a satisfying silence. In those rare moments, one could almost see a regular family, sharing a warm meal, all together, no one was arguing, no looks of hatred exchanged, just a normal afternoon meal. And at these thoughts, Regulus would let himself drown in the feeling of normality, of commonness and ordinariness, let himself believe that in those specific moments, they could all pretend they were capable of being a loving and caring family. However, the real reason for his eagerness was a simple one, a book and evidently, not a regular one, Regulus read those every day, instead, it was a gifted book, further still, an unlabeled one. All of Regulus’s books were labelled, each and every one given a designated title and had an identified author, they were all well known too, books his tutors had demanded he study or books his mother had given him as compulsory reads. The anonymity of this book had clearly picked his interest, never before had he been gifted a book in this manner, it was a book he was free to read or not, one he could write inside of, draw on its marges, not that he wished to butcher any of his belongings that way, but he enjoyed the freedom it allowed him, it was his. At least, that’s what Narcissa, his older cousin, had told him two days ago when she came to his chambers hours after he was dismissed to give it to him. 

Narcissa was his favourite cousin, and probably his favourite person too, he admired her in more ways than he could name. He liked how different she was from her sisters. Where Bellatrix was proud and confident, arrogant and mesmerising, a bit frightening too, her eyes dark and scrutinising, her voice loud and clear, calling to the dreadful parts resting within everyone, Andromeda was all smiles and charm, her mind constantly focused elsewhere and yet always able without fail to know what to say and when. She could almost be seen as rebellious were she not so good at playing with the limits, never respecting them but never crossing them either. Narcissa, on the other hand, had never quite seemed to fit, as if instead of being portrayed in a painting she could be seen in the reflection in the eyes of the sitter, she would stand out amidst her sisters in an almost disturbing way, they all shared the same features and still, she had always been othered, constantly ahead of everyone, as though she was given a script containing the ongoing of everything in details. Sometimes she would even appear practically disinterested with her surroundings, looking like she was forced to attend a ball she had no intent to dance in. The night she came to him he had asked her a question as she was leaving. 

“How did you know I was going to be awake ?” He had said it quietly but when she stopped in her tracks he gained confidence and continued more surely “The lights in my room are always turned off and you surely know Mother has servants overseeing this corridor, considering your room is in the south wing you walked for at least 8 minutes to arrive here, if I had been asleep you would have risked a lot in vain.”

She let her right hand gracefully fall from where it was clenched around the knob before swiftly turning around in the dark, the moonlight making her black hair bluish.

“And you think I wouldn’t risk that for my lovely cousin ?”

“It would have been inconvenient, and you don’t like inconveniences. You could have come during the day, you clearly came tonight knowing I would be awake, how come ?”

A gentle smile overtook her face, as though the situation was amusing to her.

“Well, how come indeed. How about you write me a list of all the reasons you think would have enabled me to know, make it structured and clear, it needs to be logical too, don’t disappoint me. I doubt you have much more to do during your long and sleepless nights.”

After that she elegantly faced the door once more, turning the knob and exposing the dark wood of the hallway floor. As she was leaving, she stopped for a second, before adding without turning around 

“Rest well Regulus, goodnight.”

And just like that she was gone, abandoning the room to a haunting silence, Regulus stayed in place a couple of minutes more, unmoving, still reviewing what had happened, the book Narcissa had given him sitting on his lap, looking like it intruded on an intimate moment, like it witnessed one of the rare family like acts you can observe within a family such as this one, and frankly it did.

Regulus doesn’t remember much after that, but he recalls pushing the book away from him and onto the heavy nightstand on his right, covering his frail boyish shoulders with his white and navy blue embroidered covers, then waiting in the silent night, looking at the moon’s light resting gently on every surface in his room until sleep came and he let himself get lost in it. 

       While he was reminiscing about the events of a few nights ago, more people had gathered and were already talking in the great hall, he was possibly the only one who remained seated, all the family he knew had headed elsewhere. Tonight is a Friday and Fridays are for reunions, as bothersome as such events had proved themselves to be, Regulus had learned to enjoy them, learned to allow himself to sink into the little freedom that was permitted to him, once enough people were present, to keep his parents disapproving eyes and unwanted attention away from him. On nights like these, he would not be expected to do anything other than behave himself, and that, he could do fairly well. Everyone around him was either discussing political matters or exchanging scandalous gossip about the 70s high society, neither of those activities was particularly appealing to him, the former might have interested him did he not have such a limited amount of knowledge on it, he would have to look if he can find any book of relevance about it in the manor's library. But for now, he wanted to be out of here, so he went around the house to look for his brother, or Narcissa, or anyone really, even Bellatrix was better than staying among that suffocating crowd of people. He found Sirius first.

“Sirius ?” 

“Reg ?” 

Upon hearing his voice, Sirius turned around stiffly, surprise transparent in his grey eyes, he quickly recovered and rested gracefully on the counter behind him before adding carefully

“What are you doing here ?” At that, Regulus’s face remains blank, unimpressed by his brother’s question, his gaze focussed on him for a few seconds more before saying 

 “What do you mean what am I doing here, I live here.”

“You live in the kitchens ?” Sirius smirks a bit, seemingly satisfied with his joke.

“Of course not” he rolled his eyes “Now tell me what are you doing here ? Aren’t you supposed to be alongside mother and father ?”

“I got bored so I came here, aren’t you supposed to be in the great hall ?” he said with an accusatory tone in his voice

Regulus ignored him, “ You got bored so you came to the kitchens ?” he raised an eyebrow 

“Yes”

“I don’t believe you” said Regulus haughtily, which looked a bit silly considering he was shorter than his brother by several centimetres

“Okay”

“Okay ?” 

“Yeah, okay you don’t have to believe me” Sirius shrugged then turned around, giving his back to his brother

Regulus furrowed his brows at that, he had never thought about brushing it off as a possible answer when faced with a raised challenge like this one, so he added in a last attempt to corner his brother

“Why is there no one in here”

“I send them away”

“You can do that ?”

“Of course I can, I’m the heir after all”

That didn't make sense, the maids are not supposed to leave their positions, especially on meeting days.

“What are you plotting again ? Mother and father will be furious if they see you here. There are other things to do around here that don’t involve scheming, you know that right ?”

Regulus couldn’t see his face but he was sure that if he could he would see his brother rolling his eyes

“I am well aware thank you very much, but plotting is the only fun thing to do around here” 

“Is it”

“Yes, you would know if you left that room of yours more often”

“Your argument is completely unrelated but whatever, I don’t think plotting is something I should aspire to do at 10 years old”

“Plotting is something everyone should aspire to do regardless of age”

“Of course, you would say that”

“I’ll take that as a compliment”

“It isn’t”

“I choose to take it as a compliment”

“You are delusional then”

“Reality is relative, dear brother, didn’t you know that ? What do you even learn in all those books you read” 

“I learn about things that actually serve a purpose, in other words, things more important than that”

Sirius turned around to look at him, amusement sparkling in his eyes, a smirk plastered on his face, why was he smiling ? This isn’t funny.

“Sure, but they don’t teach you how to have fun” he said turning his back to him once more

“Then teach me” He didn’t think about the words as they left his mouth, which isn’t something he usually does, but he wanted to have his brother's attention, and that was the first thing that had come to his mind.

At that Sirius turned around fully, looking stunned for a bit, his eyebrows started furrowing but he seemed to think better since he quickly changed his expression and smiled brightly “Alright, I’ll teach you”.