#U.S. Games Systems | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

batboyblog · 11 months ago

Text

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #16

April 26-May 3 2024

President Biden announced $3 billion to help replace lead pipes in the drinking water system. Millions of Americans get their drinking water through lead pipes, which are toxic, no level of lead exposure is safe. This problem disproportionately affects people of color and low income communities. This first investment of a planned $15 billion will replace 1.7 million lead pipe lines. The Biden Administration plans to replace all lead pipes in the country by the end of the decade.

President Biden canceled the student debt of 317,000 former students of a fraudulent for-profit college system. The Art Institutes was a for-profit system of dozens of schools offering degrees in video-game design and other arts. After years of legal troubles around misleading students and falsifying data the last AI schools closed abruptly without warning in September last year. This adds to the $29 billion in debt for 1.7 borrowers who wee mislead and defrauded by their schools which the Biden Administration has done, and a total debt relief for 4.6 million borrowers so far under Biden.

President Biden expanded two California national monuments protecting thousands of acres of land. The two national monuments are the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, which are being expanded by 120,000 acres. The new protections cover lands of cultural and religious importance to a number of California based native communities. This expansion was first proposed by then Senator Kamala Harris in 2018 as part of a wide ranging plan to expand and protect public land in California. This expansion is part of the Administration's goals to protect, conserve, and restore at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

The Department of Transportation announced new rules that will require car manufacturers to install automatic braking systems in new cars. Starting in 2029 all new cars will be required to have systems to detect pedestrians and automatically apply the breaks in an emergency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projects this new rule will save 360 lives every year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually.

The IRS announced plans to ramp up audits on the wealthiest Americans. The IRS plans on increasing its audit rate on taxpayers who make over $10 million a year. After decades of Republicans in Congress cutting IRS funding to protect wealthy tax cheats the Biden Administration passed $80 billion for tougher enforcement on the wealthy. The IRS has been able to collect just in one year $500 Million in undisputed but unpaid back taxes from wealthy households, and shows a rise of $31 billion from audits in the 2023 tax year. The IRS also announced its free direct file pilot program was a smashing success. The program allowed tax payers across 12 states to file directly for free with the IRS over the internet. The IRS announced that 140,000 tax payers were able to use it over their target of 100,000, they estimated it saved $5.6 million in tax prep fees, over 90% of users were happy with the webpage and reported it quicker and easier than companies like H&R Block. the IRS plans to bring direct file nationwide next year.

The Department of Interior announced plans for new off shore wind power. The two new sites, off the coast of Oregon and in the Gulf of Maine, would together generate 18 gigawatts of totally clean energy, enough to power 6 million homes.

The Biden Administration announced new rules to finally allow DACA recipients to be covered by Obamacare. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama era policy that allows people brought to the United States as children without legal status to remain and to legally work. However for years DACA recipients have not been able to get health coverage through the Obamacare Health Care Marketplace. This rule change will bring health coverage to at least 100,000 uninsured people.

The Department of Health and Human Services finalized rules that require LGBTQ+ and Intersex minors in the foster care system be placed in supportive and affirming homes.

The Senate confirmed Georgia Alexakis to a life time federal judgeship in Illinois. This brings the total number of federal judges appointed by President Biden to 194. For the first time in history the majority of a President's nominees to the federal bench have not been white men.

#Thanks Biden #Joe Biden #student loans #loan forgiveness #lead poisoning #clean water #DACA #health care #LGBT rights #queer kids #taxes #tax the rich

5K notes · View notes

mariacallous · 20 days ago

Text

WASHINGTON ― More than 5,000 people got their jobs back at the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month after a government employee oversight board concluded they had been illegally fired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The decision by that panel, the Merit Systems Protection Board, came after it restored the jobs of six other federal employees who had been similarly fired by DOGE.

Meanwhile, this month, a federal judge blocked DOGE from firing the president of a small federal agency, the U.S. African Development Foundation, in a lawsuit that provides the clearest details yet on how DOGE operates and how it may be routinely breaking the law.

All of these legal challenges came from the same group, a well-funded progressive legal organization, Democracy Forward.

At a time when the flood of litigation against President Donald Trump’s early actions is nearly impossible to keep up with ― his administration has already been hit with more than 130 legal challenges in the span of two months ― Democracy Forward has emerged as a leading legal organization that’s been slowing, if not stopping, some of Trump’s recklessness through the courts.

The group doesn’t just stand out for the number of lawsuits it’s been filing, which include more than 28 legal actions and 67 investigations since Trump was sworn in. Democracy Forward has shown it can move quickly to step in amid Trump’s chaotic, and often illegal, efforts to dismantle entire agencies, freeze federal spending, and fire thousands of federal employees. It has intervened on behalf of individual people, unions, nonprofit groups, health care professionals, educators, veterans groups and religious groups.

And importantly, it’s been winning.

On Saturday, Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged Trump’s expansion of war time powers to deport immigrants using the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act. Within hours, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Trump from removing some people through this act ― and later that day, broadened the scope of his order to cover all immigrants in danger of removal under the act.

In another case brought by Democracy Forward, a federal judge last week reaffirmed the court’s nationwide preliminary injunction (i.e., a temporary court order to preserve the status quo) that halted Trump’s efforts to arbitrarily terminate federal grants relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, and accessibility programs. The judge reaffirmed that not only can Trump not do that, but that this temporary halt applies to all agencies in the executive branch.

The group also secured the first and only nationwide order preventing Trump from imposing a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal spending, blocked a Trump administration policy enabling immigration enforcement officers to indiscriminately raid houses of worship, and this week prompted a federal judge to slam the Trump administration’s defense of DOGE and grant a request by labor and economic organizations to get more details about the Elon Musk-led entity unlawfully accessing sensitive data at federal agencies.

The evidence the Trump administration put forward to avoid more transparency into DOGE’s operations “is not the panacea they hoped it would be,” this judge concluded.

A big reason this organization has been so adept at countering Trump in court is because it spent the last 18 months gaming out legal strategies for responding to countless policy plans laid out in Project 2025, the far-right policy blueprint that the Heritage Foundation put together in preparation for a second Trump presidency.

Democracy Forward staff indexed the entire 900-page policy playbook, broke it down into different categories, put it in a spreadsheet and meticulously laid out what legal actions they should prepare to take based on how the Trump administration was likely to proceed with various policies, whether it be through executive orders, statutes or regulations.

They also coordinated with more than 450 civil society groups and state attorneys general to prepare for different scenarios where certain groups would be impacted by Project 2025 policies, and figured out when they should team up to defend the rule of law.

Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025 on the campaign trail because lots of its plans are extreme and unpopular. But the policy guidebook was put together by former Trump administration officials and staunch allies, so it’s not surprising to see the president now moving aggressively to enact some of its proposals, like purging tens of thousands of federal workers for political reasons or abolishing the Department of Education.

In fact, late Thursday, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the education department. Minutes later, Democracy Forward announced it would see him in court.

“Trump’s playbook is a known playbook,” Skye Perryman, Democracy Forward’s president and CEO, told HuffPost in an interview. “The Heritage Foundation wrote it down: Project 2025. We never believed it was a talking point or hyperbole. It is the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War.”

Democracy Forward also prepared for a second Trump presidency by gathering materials from his first administration to review what legal actions and litigation he previously pursued, whether they be related to his executive orders, immigration cases, impoundment or challenges to executive orders issued by former President Joe Biden.

The president has done some unexpected things in his second term, like tapping Musk to oversee DOGE and letting him gain access to millions of Americans’ personal data. But Perryman said her organization was primed to respond to something chaotic, and in the case of DOGE, they sued on day one.

“This is like basic stuff,” she said.

“They do not play within the rules. There is opportunity in their lawlessness,” Perryman said. “They make a lot of legal foibles.”

Democracy Forward currently represents the American Federation of Teachers in two lawsuits, one that aims to halt DOGE’s seizure of millions of people’s sensitive data from the Social Security Administration, and another challenging a new Department of Education policy threatening to withhold federal money from schools teaching accurate history about slavery and diversity.

AFT, which has more than 1.8 million members, had been preparing to fight Trump’s executive order to dissolve the Department of Education when the department unexpectedly announced a new policy of stripping federal funds from schools that support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, said Daniel McNeil, general counsel at AFT. So the teachers’ group asked Democracy Forward if they wanted to team up to fight that, too.

“They already had something ready to go,” McNeil said. “It took working through the entire weekend to get it done, but they weren’t fazed at all by the fact that something else happened.”

AFT is working with other legal groups suing the Trump administration, he said, and they’re also doing good work. What’s unique about Democracy Forward’s model, though, is that they have their own attorneys doing the litigating versus hiring outside firms, and they have experts on staff, like someone who previously worked in the general counsel’s office at the Department of Education. They’ve also just been anticipating specific legal fights, he said.

“Of all the groups that were warning about Project 2025, they were systematically planning for the legal fight in the event that Trump were elected,” said McNeil. “For months in advance, they were thinking in a way that was like, ‘How do we challenge an executive order that does X? Who is the right party to challenge if Y happens?’ I think that’s what makes them different.”

Democracy Forward first launched in 2017, in response to what it described as the first Trump administration’s “unprecedented” threats to democracy and the rule of law. By 2019, it had sued his administration more than 100 times and chalked up several wins, including forcing the administration to collect pay data from employers based on race, gender and ethnicity, and forcing the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes.

Both Democracy Forward and its nonprofit counterpart, Democracy Forward Foundation, are chaired by Marc Elias, who served as general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The nonprofit is funded entirely by individual donors and philanthropic institutions. Its major donors include the Sandler Foundation, which gave $16 million from 2018 to 2023, and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which gave $5.6 million from 2021 to 2023.

Democracy Forward was operating with a budget of about $12.4 million in 2023, the most recent year its tax filings are available.

The organization has been hiring up for Trump’s second term. Last month, it brought on more litigators, public affairs specialists and operations personnel ― several of whom are seasoned former federal staffers from agencies that Democracy Forward will likely be seeing in court amid its lawsuits against the Trump administration, including the Justice Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Interior Department.

One of its newest hires, Joel McElvain, was the acting deputy general counsel at HHS, where he was responsible for legal advice on all matters relating to Medicare and Medicaid statutes and the Affordable Care Act. Another recent hire, Michael Waldman, was special counsel at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he advised the secretary on oversight matters and managed the department’s responses to congressional inquiries.

Shawn Phetteplace of Main Street Alliance, a network of roughly 30,000 small business owners that support left-of-center policies, has worked with Democracy Forward for years and is currently represented by them in three cases against the Trump administration. One case relates to the Office of Management and Budget’s freeze on billions of dollars on Jan. 27 in congressional approved federal grants being disbursed.

This funding freeze resulted in multiple small business owners having their money cut off, to the point where they weren’t sure if they could continue to operate, said Phetteplace. Within hours of OMB announcing its new directive, Democracy Forward requested a temporary restraining order in federal court. A judge granted that order on Feb. 3, and by Feb. 25, the judge granted a preliminary injunction, blocking the nationwide freeze from taking effect, for now.

“They keep winning,” Phetteplace said of Democracy Forward. “For our members, this isn’t theoretical. This is whether or not they stay in business.”

He chalks up some of the group’s success to the public-facing push it makes on the cases it’s fighting. He gave the example of Main Street Alliance members reaching out to the group to talk about how their businesses were hurt by Trump’s policies, and then how litigation has helped them. Democracy Forward has been incorporating those stories into its public statements as it moves forward with various lawsuits.

“They understand that it is really important to shape the public narrative around the issue and educate the public about the stakes,” he said. “That helps them make a stronger case.”

To be sure, Democracy Forward has faced setbacks in stemming Trump’s chaos, and that’s due to at least some of its victories being temporary. Last month, it filed emergency litigation in response to Trump’s plans to unilaterally defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a financial watchdog agency. Their quick legal action resulted in the administration backing off its plans, instead agreeing to wait until a related case was heard in court.

A federal judge has since heard that case ― and this week denied the plaintiffs’ request to halt the administration’s plans for CFPB.

Temporary wins are still wins. When a judge issues a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, it immediately blocks an action and buys time. Preliminary injunctions in particular can drag on for a long time. Democracy Forward and other groups have already demonstrated that collectively taking these legal steps has a real effect on slowing Trump’s unlawful, everywhere-all-at-once approach to dismantling the federal government.

Democracy Forward chalked up another temporary, but significant, victory in one of its cases late on Thursday: A federal judge blocked DOGE workers from accessing Social Security systems, calling the Musk-led efforts at this agency a “fishing expedition.”

“This is a major win for working people and retirees across the country,” said Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “This decision will not only force them to delete any data they have currently saved, but it will also block them from further sharing, accessing or disclosing our Social Security information.”

Some Trump allies are mad at the success that Democracy Forward and other groups have found in the courts, particularly in cases where judges have issued nationwide injunctions halting some of the president’s actions. In a nonsensical show of fealty to Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday vowed to introduce legislation to prevent U.S. district court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions ― something that is, in fact, their jobs.

“That is not a power that I think district courts have,” Hawley, a Yale Law School alum who knows better, claimed on The Charlie Kirk Show, a far-right podcast. “Either the Supreme Court needs to intervene and make clear there’s only one court that can issue rules for the whole country … and/or, if they won’t do that, Congress needs to legislate and make clear that district courts do not have the ability to issue these kinds of injunctions.”

For her part, Perryman said one reason it’s important to slow things down in the courts is because it creates transparency on what Trump is actually doing. Doing so gives Americans a better understanding of the illegality of his actions, she said, and forces his administration to keep answering for what it’s doing.

“Understand that chaos is part of the strategy,” she said.

“Every day in litigation, what we see in this administration is they back off,” Perryman added. “Because really, the purpose is to see what they can do quickly. They don’t hold great conviction. There is opportunity in that.”

397 notes · View notes

hyperlexichypatia · 7 months ago

Text

The thing about "lack of third spaces in the U.S." that doesn't get mentioned enough is that it's not just "Capitalists and corporations bought up the commons, privatized public resources, and made people pay to access them."

That's a big part of it. But it's not the only part.

The other part is that middle-class people -- particularly middle-class white, abled people -- willingly forked over money to set up private spaces rather than share public spaces with people of color, disabled people, neurodivergent people, poor people, religious minorities, and other "undesirable" people.

When you look at any article or picture from some point in the 20th century about third spaces that are less common now, consider that depending on exactly where and when in the 20th century U.S. this was, people of color might have been banned from that space by either law or threat of violence or both (or, at minimum, made to feel unwelcome). Physically disabled people probably could not access those spaces (or were institutionalized or kept at home). Visibly non-passing neurodivergent people probably could not access those spaces, because they were institutionalized or kept at home. Two women kissing, a man in a dress, any type of visibly queer or gender nonconforming person would not have been tolerated in that space.

And my point is, these things are not unrelated. The decline of third spaces is not unrelated to civil rights gains.

I'm not saying "Stop talking about the good things of the mid-20th century, don't you know that era also had racism and sexism and ableism and queerphobia?"

I'm saying they're not unrelated -- it's not "This time period was better in some ways, like more third spaces, but worse in some ways, like more racism and ableism." It's "Those good things, those third spaces, those labor unions, those safe neighborhoods, that sense of community, relied upon the systemic exclusion of a dehumanized underclass, and as soon as any civil rights pressure was put on that systemic exclusion, the sense of community crumbled."

The pattern is clear and recurring: Privileged people build a public space for "the community", marginalized people start using it (sometimes after a court case or two), the public place gets a reputation for being "full of" marginalized people, privileged people build a private space they can exclude people from, privileged people abandon the public space, the public space gets neglected and deprioritized because "nobody (who matters) uses it anymore," the public place goes to shit from neglect and possibly closes, the private space gets expensive, privileged people lament the loss of the public space.

Privileged people killed public pools rather than share them with Black people. Mortally wounded public schools rather than share them with people of color and religious minorities. Are trying to kill public libraries rather than share them with queer people and unhoused people and neurodivergent people. Can't revive public transportation for fear of sitting next to poor people. It's white flight all the way down.

The whole "Social democracy is the left wing of fascism" claim is tankie ridiculousness, but like most tankie ridiculousness, there's an underlying grain of truth. In this case, the underlying grain of truth is that widespread support for public services is a much easier sell when people don't think they'll have to share resources or public space with people they consider inferior. It's not a coincidence that some of the countries that provide the highest quality of life for their abled citizens are some of the worst to noncitizens and disabled people.

And it's not like Weird Queer Left-Leaning Types have a great track record of sharing public space with people different from yourselves, either. Y'all can't be normal about someone wearing a yarmulke at Pride. Y'all can't be normal about adults playing board games with kids. There's no way you'd be okay with unsupervised, uncontrolled, unmedicated-by-choice schizophrenic people hanging out and talking to themselves. You cannot handle public third spaces.

Yes, blame corporations and advertisers for privatizing public spaces, but also blame the social prejudice that willingly forks over money to avoid sharing public space with Those People.

#classism #late capitalism #third space

774 notes · View notes

suppermariobroth · 17 days ago

Text

Cover of an official Japanese guide for "Golf: U.S. Course", a Japan-only 1987 Mario Golf game for the Famicom Disk System with very similar gameplay to the later internationally released NES Open Tournament Golf.

#super mario #nintendo

275 notes · View notes

card-a-day · 4 months ago

Text

Pride Tarot: A Collaborative Deck published by U.S. Games Systems‚ Inc. Designed by Paula Palmer Edited by Lynn Araujo and Jennifer Kaplan

Reversed: Five of Cups by Steven Bright

Five of cups reversed signifies that you have reached the final stage of grief acceptance. Perhaps you needed to forgive yourself or someone else for this to happen, either way the healing process has now begun.

Illustration based on Jonathan Hamilt, co-founder of Drag Queen Story Hour.

#card a day #five of cups reversed #Pride Tarot: A Collaborative Deck published by U.S. Games Systems‚ Inc. Designed by Paula Palmer Edited by Lynn Araujo and Jennifer Kaplan #tarot #tarot cards

3 notes · View notes

leilakisakabiri · 2 years ago

Text

Jealousy, Jealousy (Gavi)

Summary: You realize that Gavi never gets jealous when other guys are around you and it makes you question if he still likes you.

Warning(s): None

A/N: Hey! I had some inspiration to write so here I am! I’m trying to release shorter fics while I work on my longer ones. Requests are open!

Word Count: 2.5k+

Masterlist

The first time it happened, you felt relieved that Gavi had decided not to make a scene and instead chose to calmly defuse the situation.

The two of you had been at a club late one night, the high from Barcelona winning hours before pumping through your veins. He had his arms wrapped around you as you both danced to whatever Spanish song the DJ was mixing.

You laughed as he spun you around before pulling you closer, leaning down to whisper in your ear as he moved a strand of hair out of your face.

"I'm going to grab another drink. Want to come?"

His breath was hot against your ear, and even though it felt like a million degrees in the club, and you were sweating through your dress, you still shivered, his voice sending shockwaves through your system no matter how many times you heard it.

You looked up, locking eyes, "I'm good, I'll save our spot."

He kissed the top of your head before letting go, "Ok I'll be back in a second. Try and find the others if you can."

You gave him an awkward thumbs up as he walked away and he chuckled before disappearing into the crowd.

The two of you had been dating for just shy of three weeks.

You had been friends for months before dating, with you initially being introduced to him through his hometown friends. Then there was a three-month period where you both liked each other but were too scared to admit it and ruin the friendship. Finally, Gavi caved after spending two weeks away from you without contact while he playing in the U.S.

Since he admitted his feelings for you that night on the steps of your shitty college house, he had jumped straight into the relationship, inviting you to his games, to hang out with his friends, and private dinners. You on the other hand still felt like an awkward pre-teen girl every time you were with him, he just made you feel giddy inside, and you reacted to things he said so intensely that the only way to cover it up was with strange humor and stupid jokes.

That led you to now. Sometimes being around him was so overwhelming because you were always scared you would say something to embarrass yourself, and although he never made you feel any less worthy you couldn't help but feel like he could be with someone much better than you.

As you stood there contemplating, you felt a body collide with yours, effectively pulling you out of your thoughts.

You stumbled, feeling hands come up to grip your elbows, stabilizing you.

"Shit- my bad."

You looked up seeing the guy holding you sporting a white button-down and an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, those guys just pushed me. Some friends." He said referring to the group of five or so extremely drunk boys behind you.

You shook your head, "No worries, I wasn't paying attention either."

He smiled, leaning a bit closer, hands still on your elbows, "Hey do I know you? You look really familiar.”

You squinted your eyes as you gazed at him, trying to figure out if you knew him.

"Eh I go to Universitat de Barcelona if that helps."

His eyes lit up at your words, and he nodded, "Yeah, that's totally how I know you. I think you're in my biology class."

You groaned, "No way the one at 8 a.m.?", he nodded, "I'm barely awake for that lecture." you muttered.

"Mean either but it's hard not to notice you."

You only heard half his sentence and looked at him confused, "Sorry what?"

His lips tugged up in a smile as he bent down, shifting closer to you, "I said it's hard not to notice you."

You felt your breath stop as you realized what you had gotten yourself into. You made a move to shy away when you heard Gavi call your name.

You lifted your head seeing him approaching as he carried your drink, "Hey who's this?"

You went to interject and tell him it was no one but the guy next to you interrupted, "Hey man, I got to school with her.”

Gavi nodded, accepting his answer as he handed you your drink, "Oh class friend?"

You went to speak but were again cut off by the guy next to you, who had still to let go of your elbow.

"Something like that."

You saw Gavi's posture slightly straighten at his words but he relaxed a second later, "Alright."

The guy turned to you saying something about seeing you in class and then proceeded to give you a hug, his arms wrapping around your lower back.

You noticed Gavi watching the exchange but he made no comment.

You approached him timidly, unsure of if he was going to say anything about the situation, but he paid it no mind, going back to casual conversation with you.

At the time you let out a breath, thankful that he seemed intent on letting you handle your own situation.

That thankfulness soon turned to annoyance and then confusion when similar situations happened time and time again and he made no effort to speak up.

You supposed it was good he never got jealous because you knew it could get very overbearing very fast, and yet, you couldn't help the twinge of defeat you felt every time someone tried to make a move on you and he did nothing to stop them or even show a ounce of emotion.

Slowly it was making you start to question your relationship with Gavi.

Why did he not get jealous? Was it because he didn't see others as a threat? Or didn't feel the need to because you weren't as pretty as the other girls he was seen with? Maybe he simply didn't care? Or perhaps he wasn't the type?

You knew the last one couldn't possibly be true because he was absolutely the type. His entire career was based on his passion, determination, and aggression to get where he wanted. His aggression is what made him so competitive and a loyal player. So if he was so driven and passionate on the field, why was that not carrying over into your relationship?

It wasn't until almost two months later that things came to a boiling point.

It was the last game of the pre-season for Barcelona and spirits were high, everyone hoping they could seal off a great season, and enter a new one, with a win.

The stadium was filled to the brim with fans and reporters. The family section was also full with player's partners and families coming to support them in the final game of the summer.

You were sitting next to Anna, the two of you talking about school, work, and life.

Eventually, the game started and you went into full-on fan mode - cheering along when Barca made impressive plays and booing when they were tackled.

The stadium was abuzz with energy, and you basked in everyone's excitement.

You gripped Anna's hand as you saw Gavi running up the sidelines towards the other team's defense, Joao running parallel to him.

You saw him sidestep, dodging the defender, and suddenly the ball was soaring, perfectly landing at Joao's feet as he placed it into the back of the net.

The two of you jumped up, cheering along with the rest of the crowd. It seemed like Barcelona would have its victory after all.

After the game, you stayed in the family section for a while chatting with Pedri's parents as you waited for the players to make a re-emerge.

You bid goodbye to them when you got a text from Gavi telling you to come down.

You made your way down to the field, waiting behind the barricades for him to appear.

The other team's players appeared first, signing fans t-shirts and taking photos.

"Need something signed?"

You saw a player from the other team approach you, waving a sharpie in his hand.

You pointed at your jersey playfully, "No thanks. I'm a Barca girl if you couldn't tell."

He grinned, "Ahh c'mon what will it take for me to convince you?"

You shrugged your shoulders, "Ride or die sorry."

He clutched his hand to his heart in mock offense, "Ouch. I'm hurt, but I'm not giving up."

You gave him a smile, remaining polite, as you looked over his shoulder for Gavi.

"Oh I know!" he exclaimed, directing your attention back to him.

He wiggled his eyebrows before taking off his shirt, "Here, new jersey for you."

He held it out to you, and you gave him an unimpressed look.

He rolled his eyes playfully, "Alright fine. I'll sign it, but only cause you asked so nicely."

You watched amused as he signed the jersey before offering it to you.

You squinted your eyes at him.

He dangled the jersey in his hands, "C'mon take it. You know a lot of people would pay good money for this."

You reached out to grab it, "Fine, but only because I'm going to sell it later."

He held up his hands in surrender, "It's yours now. Do whatever."

You thought the conversation would end there but he made no effort to leave, "Who are you here with anyway? Someone in Barca?"

You opened your mouth to respond but were cut off.

"Me."

You whipped your head to see that Gavi had silently approached the two of you.

Besides yourself, you felt a tiny part of you waiting with bated breath for him to do something, to finally dig his boots in the ground and say something, but he remained impassive.

"Hey."

"Hey, you ready to go?" Gavi asked.

You nodded your head, unsure of how to leave the situation.

"I can lift you over the barricade if you need." The other player spoke up, and your eyes immediately flitted over to Gavi's to gauge his reaction.

His eyebrows furrowed but he didn't say anything.

You debated for a second, just to get Gavi to react, but quickly decided against it, opting to just walk around the barricade.

You approached the two of them quickly and with a hasty goodbye followed Gavi as he left the pitch. You heard the other player shout a 'see you around', and you waved in response.

You broke the silence first as you walked the empty tunnel, "Great game baby. You did amazing."

"Thanks."

His reply was clipped.

He went to hold your hand and you shifted the jersey last second to your other hand, catching his attention.

"What's that?"

"Oh, that guy gave me his jersey. I'm going to sell it." You explained, telling him how you were expecting to make hundreds.

He listened along till you finished.

"Can I see the jersey?"

You nodded handing it to him.

You swung your joint hands as you walked, talking to him about the game as he examined the jersey.

Abruptly he dropped your hand, mouth set in a firm line.

Your eyebrows stitched together, "What's wrong?"

He cleared his throat before handing you the jersey.

"I think there's something for you on it."

"I forgot something in the locker room, I'll be right back." He continued.

You looked down confused, eyes scanning the text before it clicked.

The jersey had the player's phone number on it.

You lifted your head seeing him already walking away, "Gavi wait. Can you stop for a minute?"

He turned around but continued moving, "Yeah what?"

"Stop moving!” You exclaimed, your frustration building as he continued to not express any interest in the situation.

He finally halted and you closed the distance between the two of you.

"Is there something wrong with me? Do you not like me anymore or something?"

He seemed taken aback by your words and several emotions flitted across his face, "What are you talking about?"

You took a breath, it was now or never.

"I'm not trying to sound conceited, but I'm pretty sure that guy was hitting on me-"

"He was." Gavi confirmed.

You continued, "So then why don't you care? I'm your girlfriend, so why aren't you getting jealous when other guys hit on me?"

"You want me to get jealous?" He asked incredulously.

"I mean I don't want you to become super overprotective or anything, but it would be nice if you at least acknowledged when someone is trying to get with me right in front of you. I know I would get jealous if someone was saying that to you."

"You don't think I get jealous?" His voice had a hard edge to it, and suddenly you felt like you might have read between the lines wrong.

You shrugged your shoulders, unsure, "I mean you don't show it."

"Of course I'm going to notice when some guy is eye fucking my girl one foot away from me, I'm not fucking blind."

"Then why don't you say anything?" You pressed.

“Shit y/n that's cause I don't want to scare you away!"

His admission only confused you further, and you lowered your voice acutely aware that your shouts were probably carrying far in the quiet tunnel,

"Scare me away? Why would that scare me?"

He shook his head, "The press is always making me out to be this bad guy. This kid that doesn't know how to get his temper in check and - mierda y/n - I don't want to get into this right now."

You relented, unwilling to give in, biting the bullet, "Alright so next time someone asks to lift me up, their just being friendly right? Trying to be helpful?"

His eyes blazed, "That's not what I meant and you know it."

You lifted your hands in frustration, "No Gavi actually I don't know that. You act like you don't even care."

"I care! Trust me y/n I care!" He argued.

"Then show me."

His lips were on yours before you had even finished processing what you were saying. His skin felt hot against yours as his fingers sank into your hipbone, crowding you against the wall.

You lost your train of thought as you got lost in the sensation he provided you. One hand went to tangle in his hair, as the other draped around his neck bringing him impossibly closer.

One of his hands slipped under your shirt, as he kissed you senseless. You finally pulled away for a breath but he didn't stop, moving to lay a trail of kisses from the sweet spot behind your ear, down your neck, and onto your collarbone.

You left out a soft moan underneath him, the feeling causing tingles in your spine, and a fluttery feeling in your stomach.

"We should really sto- fuck gavi - so-someone could walk in any moment." You reminded him.

"Just gotta leave a mark." He replied.

You nodded before his words caught up to you and you pushed him off, "What? No marks! I have to meet your parents tonight." You whined.

He grinned, not looking the least bit apologetic, "At least people will know you're mine now."

2K notes · View notes

afeelgoodblog · 2 years ago

Text

The Best News of Last Week

🦾 - High-Five for Bionic Hand

1. Houston-area school district announces free breakfast and lunch for students

Pasadena ISD students will be getting free breakfast and lunch for the 2023-24 school year, per an announcement on the district's social media pages.

The 2023-24 free lunch program is thanks to a Community Eligibility Provision grant the district applied for last year. The CEP, which is distributed by the Department of Agriculture, is specially geared toward providing free meals for low-income students.

2. Dolphin and her baby rescued after being trapped in pond for 2 years

youtube

A pair of dolphins that spent nearly two years stuck in a Louisiana pond system are back at sea thanks to the help of several agencies and volunteers.

According to the Audubon Nature Institute, wildlife observers believe the mother dolphin and her baby were pushed into the pond system near Grand Isle, Louisiana, during Hurricane Ida in late August 2021.

3. Studies show that putting solar panels over waterways could boost clean energy and conserve water. The first U.S. pilot project is getting underway in California.

Some 8,000 miles of federally owned canals snake across the United States, channeling water to replenish crops, fuel hydropower plants and supply drinking water to rural communities. In the future, these narrow waterways could serve an additional role: as hubs of solar energy generation.

4. Gene therapy eyedrops restored a boy's sight. Similar treatments could help millions

Antonio was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes. But his skin improved when he joined a clinical trial to test the world’s first topical gene therapy.

The same therapy was applied to his eyes. Antonio, who’s been legally blind for much of his 14 years, can see again.

5. Scientists develop game-changing vaccine against Lyme disease ticks!

A major step in battling Lyme disease and other dangerous tick-borne viruses may have been taken as researchers announced they have developed a vaccine against the ticks themselves.

Rather than combatting the effects of the bacteria or microbe that causes Lyme disease, the vaccine targets the microbiota of the tick, according to a paper published in the journal Microbiota on Monday.

6. HIV Transmission Virtually Eliminated in Inner Sydney, Australia

Sydney may be the first city in the world to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Inner Sydney has reduced new HIV acquisitions by 88%, meaning it may be the first locality in the world to reach the UN target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030

7. New bionic hand allows amputees to control each finger with unprecedented accuracy

In a world first, surgeons and engineers have developed a new bionic hand that allows users with arm amputations to effortlessly control each finger as though it was their own body.

Successful testing of the bionic hand has already been conducted on a patient who lost his arm above the elbow.

----

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation:

Support this newsletter ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog.

#best news of last week #Youtube

897 notes · View notes

the-swaggy · 1 month ago

Text

I FINALLY POST ABOUT MY DELTARUNE AU

(Fun Gang/$%&! Squad/Lancer Fanclub + Noelle refsheets & more info in desc)

(Read desc for infodump about my au if you wanna 😭)

The faded headshots next to each colored pic is their past selves from when the game took place

part 2: main & secret bosses Uh anyways au yap sesh starts below:

It's called Lost Pieces, and basically it's a deltarune au where Kris and Susie forgot about the prophecy and stopped going to Castletown & exploring dark worlds after they came back from the cyberworld— and then remember about it later when they are all Asriel's age & in college and stuff, and have to reinstill hope in everyone and reform the Fun Gang/@$%& Squad/Lancer Fanclub (in this au, it's called the Lancer fanclub).

Other info that I may or may not have briefly mentioned in the ref sheets/other random info:

(TW: mental health stuff, familial issues, charecter death, child abuse)

General:

This au takes place after a true route (not a wierd route/snowgrave route, Noelle nor the others killed anyone.. exempt Spamton but like that was on accident 😭) (he is still technically around guys dw)

In Lost Pieces, Kris and Susie discovered the darkworld while they were in middleschool (they were 12-13yrs), Ralsei was around their age as well, and Lancer was two years younger than the three (10yrs).

The lighteners first arrived in 2018, since that's when Deltarune came out. The events of chapter one took place on 12/11/18 and chapter two on 12/12/18. That was the last day Kris was in the darkworld— however Susie's last visit was in 2020. She didn't visit super often, but would try for once a month.

Worldbuilding-specific stuff:

The town that Kris and Susie live in is in the northern midwest of the U.S.

In Lost Pieces, the darkworld have different names— The darkworld that contains 'Card Kingdom' is called Kaardarke (pronounced "card-ar-kay-"), The Cyberworld is technically called 'Cybertopia', but nobody really calls it that anymore.

Each darkworld had their own offical language before The Knight showed up— after that, they all switched over to the language that the knight spoke. That's the only reason that Kris and Susie were even able to understand the darkeners.

Each darkener species is bound to the world they came from (EX: Maises to the Cyberworld, Hathy to Kaardarke), but before the knight created each world's respective fountains, they could crossover into eachother's worlds using The Pure-Fountain in the then-empty Castletown as a portal (This was because the spare classroom used to have a small computer lab). Only after the fountains in each world were created, they couldn't crossover anymore due to the energy from the opposite portals turning visiters to stone. Eventually the computer lab was removed from the spare classroom and all of the old supplies were moved to the library. Darkeners who have one parent from each of the two darkworlds are bound to the world that they spend the most time in, which is why Lancer was bound to Kaardarke rather than Cybertopia.

While The Cyberworld uses a lot of more-lightworldish concepts, such as the months being January-December like they are in english-speaking countries & understanding social refrences (like how Queen understands lightener internet humor, and how Addisons understand how buisness works, like how a lightener would)— Kaardarke is a lot less connected to the lightworld. They had some vague connections through back when Cybertopians could travel there, but lost a lot of them during the time since then. They have their own calender system, social pyramid and their society functions very differently than Cybertopia's, or the lightworlds'.

Darkener species list time!

First up is Kaardarke:

Hathy

Rudinn

Clobbes (pronounced "claw-bes")— the clubs, basically think of Clover

Tribril (pronounced "trib-rill")— the spades, basically think of King and Lancer

Bloxers

Jigsawra— the puzzle piece lookin' dudes, basically think of the tutorial masters & jigsawry

Rabbick

Chescheckes (pronounced "chez-check-ees")— the checkers guys (C-Rounds & K-Rounds) and Mr. Elegance/Mr. Society

Starwalkers— the starwalker birds .......and of course nobody could forget about my guy The Original Starwalker

Species list for Cybertopia:

Tasques

Swatchlings

Pluggids— plugboy, werewires, werewerewire technically

Maises

Poppups

Addisons

Ambyu-Lancers

ViroViroKuna

Musiks— basically, think of Sweet, Cap'n & K_k of whatever their names are 😭

Mascottics— everyone else, (basically the thing about Mascottics is that they are all unique)— think Nubert or sum idk

Okay no more species lists, back to notes.

The knight-made fountains can cause darkeners to have vivid nightmares and visions if exposed to them closely for a long period of time. It can influence their behavior too (canon).

The knight showed up in Kaardarke at some point in the late 90s, and in Cybertopia in 2008

Kris:

The player stopped controling Kris after they came back from the Cyberworld, and seemed to fade out of existance. Kris was left being unable to make desisions for themselves for awhile afterward, since they were so used to the player doing it for them. They also had memory issues after the player left, and barely remembered anything about the darkworld.

Now that they are older, they have learned how to live again, but still feels like something's missing. That's when the player makes it's return, which leads Kris to remember about the prophecy and about their freinds that they accidentaly abandoned.

Susie:

Susie remembered about her freindgroup in the darkworld better than Kris did, and went back many times before she graduated 8th grade and went on to highschool, which was in a different building. She stopped visiting by that time, since she couldn't just walk over there anytime anymore. Eventually she forgot about it too. But, she still remembers Lancer somewhat, since she viewed him as a younger brother who understood her struggle with her family, he was her favorite out of him and Ralsei.

Susie's parents were not kind to her— or to eachother. They fought all of the time, and physically abused eachother. They did not respect Susie at all, and they hated Noelle when Susie finally told them about her. When Susie graduated, she moved out as quickly as she could.

She has two tattoos— one on each shoulder. They aren't super visable on this ref sheet but one of them is a spade and the other is a heart with Noelle's name in it. Yadda yadda they are lesbians..!

Ralsei:

Ralsei hated being alone, and would spend as much time with Lancer as possible when the lighteners weren't around in order to distract himself from thinking about whether or not they had abandoned him. As a result, Lancer and him became good friends and Lancer hired him as the new royal magician of Castletown. Ralsei did his duties the best he could, until he eventually let it hit him that Kris hadn't been around for a year now.

Since Ralsei was basically made for the prophecy, and only existed so that it could be furfilled, he was very terrified of everything falling apart— as kris was the only one who could seal the fountains.

Ralsei vanished after Susie visited for the final time, and ran off. He is still registered as the royal magician, but hasn't been in Castletown for five years now.

Lancer:

As I mentioned in his ref sheet, Lancer is Queen's biological son in this au— which causes some issues for Lancer. For starters, he overheats very easily since his mechanical parts are already warmed from his bodyheat (he does not do well in hot weather, which is part of the reason he was so socially isolated when Kris and Susie met him.

Kaardarke has a relatively warmer climate, (the school forgot to close the heating vent in the spare classroom 😭) which makes it hard for Lancer to leave the castle.

The other reason was that most kaardarkeners hated him because he would cause disturbances frequently when he was out and about.

Lancer also can't tolerate water very well, King understood this and still made him shower excessively whenever he cursed (that last part is canon I swear I am not making this all up)

Lancer had no idea why he was so different from all of the other Tribril, but after the lighteners brought Queen and the Cybertopians to Castletown, Queen told him the truth.

Lancer nowadays is kind of untrusting of Rouxls and Queen, since both kind of coddle him and are kind of helicopter-parents— but then sgain, it's a huge jump from how neglectful King was towards him.

King would often forget to feed Lancer, which would often lead to Rouxls feeding him worms (also canon). King, if he did remember, would give him very.. for lack of a better term, insane dishes that you could barely even consider a full meal.

An example from canon being how Lancer thought that three glasses of milk was a normal dinner (poor Lancer).

King would also harshly punish Lancer over very small issues, like how I mentioned the cursing thing earlier.

King's treatment of Lancer worsened when King had a darkfountain-induced vision/nightmare that lighteners were going to return, and sent Lancer to 'dispose of them', seemingly ignoring the fact that Lancer was ten and by himself.

While Lancer knows that King is more stable now, he cannot forgive him for how he treated him when he was younger.

He is desperate to stop himself from becoming as narrow-minded & hateful as King, but in doing-so, he is adopting some of his mannerisms & has picked up his opinions on lighteners.

You can probably tell who my favorite deltarune charecter is by now...!

Also I should mention that Lancer's full name is Lancer II, his dad's Lancer I.

Noelle:

She still thinks the Cyberworld was a dream, and doesn't think any of it actually happened due to what Susie told her when they were there.

Meanwhile, her father passed away when she was a sophomore, and since then she has dedicated herself to learning medacine. She feels like she can/should help save others, since she couldn't save Rudy.

CONGRATS, YOU REACHED THE END!

I will make more posts about this au, secret bosses next since I already have ref sheets for them too. Then the actual bosses and other canon charecters. Maybe I might introduce some of my other little guys by then too. (I made some enemy ocs 🤯🤯) (theres a lot of them too) (and by 'enemy' I don't mean they are antagonists, I mean they are like, species of enemies in the game.. like rudinn and stuff)

if there are any spelling issues then my bad, I wrote this up very quickly 😭

and suselle is canon in this au, rahhh lesbian apocalypse (they are so me)

i tried to make this as adhd friendly as possible as someone w/ adhd, but it might still be hard to read just cus there so much text 💔

58 notes · View notes

reality-detective · 4 months ago

Text

It’s a Psyop. They always tell you what they’re doing

Palantir aired this commercial of drones being released from ships during the Army vs Navy game… What are the odds!!

Palantir has Government contracts including

- The U.S. Department of State

- The U.S. Army for developing next-generation intelligence ground station

- US. military branches for projects like the Maven Smart System, which extends AI targeting tools to military personnel

- They even have contracts with the NIH

- Air Force

- CDC

- Space Systems Command

Palantir has an EXTENSIVE involvement with US government agencies. What are the odds they just happen to release a drone video. 🤔

107 notes · View notes

tetsuswaifu · 10 months ago

Text

Slap Ass Friday (Haikyu! x Reader) - Pt. 1

a/n: i dont know if slap ass friday was a thing outside of the u.s. schooling system or the area i live in or not but basically a lot of people in the middle school would just participate in slapping their friends asses. or boys would do it to try and get girls attention (gross to think back about this and think its normal) but in these scenarios, these are actual couples and consent is involved except for suna’s. I thought i would make them into a highschool age type

word count: ~1k

likes, reblogs, replies, and requests are always appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read my work :)

warnings: suggestive content, spanking, kissing, sexual harassment-minimal in suna’s

Part 1, Part 2

・❥・ Bokuto Koutaro ・❥・

“KOUU!! This is the third time today! I’m pretty sure I feel welts starting to form,” you yelled and turned towards him, looking at him with playful, sad eyes. You jutted your bottom lip out in a slight pout. Your ass was stinging from the intense mark your boyfriend, Bokuto, had just left. He grabbed your hands and pulled them around his waist, just before doing the same to yours. Bokuto had rested his hands at the top curve of your butt, his thumbs giving you light traces right above your skirt’s waistline. His arms held you close, and the sandalwood and citrus aroma of his cologne smelled divine. His golden eyes held your gaze with nothing but pure love—one of the many traits about him that you gravitated toward and loved instantly.

He leaned into your ear with a smirk on his face. "Oh, please, we both know you like it, baby. Don’t even bother denying it.” He gave a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching before slipping his hand under your skirt. Quickly giving you a wet neck kiss while gently grabbing the cheek he just slapped. “I love you, Bunny-chan,” he said, kissing your cheek. You slapped his ass back before he could walk to his next class, smirking at his faux-shocked face.

・❥・ Kozume Kenma ・❥・

Kenma, you, and Kuroo stood in the corner of the gym, teammates scattered across the floor. Practice had just ended, and you were all getting ready to leave. Kenma's eyes fixed on his switch. The sound of playful slaps and laughter filled the air as his teammates participated in the weekly tradition. Normally, he would not include himself, but since dating you, he’d been thinking it’d be funny to surprise you by doing so.

You were engrossed in conversation with Kuroo, not minding the loudness around you—you were used to it by now. Kenma glanced up briefly, noticing the playful atmosphere around him. Without tearing his eyes from his game, he smirked slightly and decided to join in on the fun.

In one swift motion, he reached out and gave you a playful slap on the ass. The sound could be heard from the other side of the gym. It made you jump and turn to him, eyes wide with surprise.

“Kenma! You could’ve politely asked for my attention instead,” you said, smirking at him.

Kenma’s focus was already back on his game, shrugging, “I’m participating in the weekly tradition.” A smirk formed on his face, matching your energy.

You laughed in response, shaking your head, clearly amused. “Warn me next time, will you?” you teased back.

Kenma diverted his attention from his game, locking eyes with you, his golden brown gaze unwavering. “Where’s the fun in that?”

You and Kuroo had laughed, not expecting this mischievousness from Kenma. Even with his quiet, reserved way, he could still be a part of the fun—and maybe even surprise you once in a while.

・❥・ Kuroo Tetsuro ・❥・

You and Kuroo had always had a playful relationship with each other, often teasing each other in fun, light-hearted ways. Knowing what today was, you were going to take full advantage of the tradition. Today’s mission was to catch Kuroo off guard as many times as you could.

Throughout the day, you managed to sneakily slap Kuroo’s ass in various scenarios—between classes, during lunch, even during practice. Every time, he would react with a mix of surprise and amusement. When you ended up doing it in front of his teammates, they would all chuckle at the playful exchange between their captain and you.

Kuroo, being the mischievous strategist he is, pretends to be unfazed, plotting his perfect moment for revenge. As the day progressed, you had gotten a few more slaps in, leaving Kuroo with a smirk on his face as he bided his time.

It was the end of the school day, and Kuroo and you were both packing up your things and preparing to head home for the weekend. Kuroo had walked you home like normal, laughing and chatting as always. You had felt successful and triumphant from your considered “wins” of the day. When you both reached your home, you turned to say goodbye, thinking you had gotten away with it.

In that moment, Kuroo had slapped your butt swiftly, catching you completely off guard. You gasped and then laughed, “Oh my god, Tetsu!” now realizing you underestimated his timing. He grinned at you, leaning in to whisper, “Turnabout’s a fair play, babe.” Kissing your cheek and starting the walk back to his own home.

・❥・ Suna Rintarou ・❥・

You and Suna had been dating for a while now, but one of your classmates, Kenji, made it seem like he was oblivious to the fact. He wouldn’t take the hint, and it was right in front of his face. Even after telling him that you were with him, he was still persistent with his flirting and inappropriate advances.

During a break in between classes, you had been chatting with a group of friends. Kenji had seen you talking to them, thinking it would be the perfect moment to try his luck again and smack your rear. You were visibly uncomfortable and annoyed. Unbeknownst to Kenji, Suna and his teammates had observed the incident.

Suna, known for his calm demeanor but sharp tongue when provoked, had stepped in. He calmly walks over with his teammates behind him, walking tall and intimidating. With a piercing gaze, Suna firmly tells Kenji to back off and to respect your boundaries. Kenji was taken aback by your boyfriend’s assertiveness. He tried stuttering off excuses before Suna’s teammates reinforced his warning with their presence.

Kenji closed his mouth, realizing he crossed a line he shouldn’t have. His face was turning red from embarrassment and humiliation. “I’m sorry, Y/N,” he said, walking away quickly with his head down. You were grateful for Suna’s intervention, you thanked him with a relieved smile. Suna reassured you that he would always have your back, no matter what.

tetsuswaifu © do not modify, repost, translate, copy or use my post in any way. all that is included in this post, aside from the fictional characters and universes, belong to @tetsuswaifu

321 notes · View notes