#abolish time zones

[cuntvonkrolock]

being in a long distance relationship is so ridiculous bc when i wake up my first instinct is to go "i should say good morning to my boyfriend!" so i check my clock app to see if it's awake by now and then its like fucking 4:30 pm where hy is

[kettlefire]

Prepare for the unexpected. (DPxDC)

Everyone knew about the reign of Pariah Dark. Even those who did not dabble in those realms have heard the tale of the tyrant. A power-hungry man who ruled over the dead with an iron fist.

Following the rise of Pariah Dark, his realm had been effectively cut off from communication. Many mystics and magic users knew better than to open the door of nightmares that could arise if Pariah Dark's reach went further than his own realm.

Except, the universe had plans to bring the realm of the dead back into the cards.

A new opponent, one that had all of Earth's heroes scrambling for options. A being with powers of a god over weather, destruction was on the horizon. A world ending threat.

It's the only reason the Justice League was doing this. In a deep bunker, far from close civilization as a precaution, the heroes looked on with grim expressions.

The world was already being threatened. It would be destroyed regardless of what the league did. So it only made sense to make the last ditch effort. To summon someone strong enough to defeat the threat.

No one wanted to do it. No one wanted to be the one to pull the realm of the dead back to the living. The consequences were untold if this succeeded. If Pariah Dark was freed and defeated the threat, whose to say he won't want control?

That was a problem for later. For the aftermath. For now, the league could only watch on with bated breath as Constantine completely the summon ritual.

They watched on as the shadows in the room seemed to darken and grow. As the sigil sputtered to life with a glow that was growing increasingly brighter. A sudden gust of wind rushed through the room, the temperature began to drop with eaching ticking second.

And then it was all gone.

The room stood perfectly still. Just as it had been moments before. Nothing changed. No giant king standing before them, no sign that the ritual worked.

The room stood deadly still for another beat before the murmurs started. The team trying to make sense of the situation, figure out what went wrong.

Constantine swore up and down that this was the correct ritual, taking offense that they would even think the problem was on his end. It only made it better when it finally happened.

A loud sound ripped through the room, pulling everyone's attention back to the summoning circle. Just in time to see a tear appear in the space above the circle.

A thin tear that ran the length of eight feet. The fabric of the dimension seems to curl at the edges, pulling back to reveal a deep glowing swirl of greens. A dark gloved hand reached through, fingers curling around the edge of the tear, stretching it even further.

A portal. The ritual had worked, but there had been a delay. A delay that had every hero nerves on edge. Each team member tensed, weapons at the ready as they watched the being stretch the portal to the right size.

Then, a foot stepped out with a heavy thud. A dark boot that looked otherworldly despite its similarity to mortal clothing. A deep black that seemed never-ending. A second foot quickly followed before a full body emerged from the portal.

Not many people in the room have ever seen Pariah Dark, let alone know what to expect. Based on what Constantine and Zatara had said, this wasn't Pariah Dark.

A man had stepped out of the portal, standing at almost seven feet tall, and built like a brick house. One glance at the glowing white hair, deadly red eyes, and shard teeth was enough to know this being was not to be messed with.

But there was no giant show of armor or royal garbs. There is no large crown at the top of his head or jewelry from the infinite realms laced around his neck.

Instead, the man stood before them in combat boots, worn-in ripped jeans, a graphic t-shirt, and a spiked leather jacket. Despite his almost normal clothing choice, the man's jacket seemed to be a never-ending depth of the dark night sky. If one was to look closely enough, the cosmos could almost be made out in the sea of darkness.

None of that would have prepared them for when the man spoke. His tone sounded more bored than anything as he took a step forward.

"Oh, so now you need the help of the dead." The man had spoken, running a hand through his hair. When Batman took a step forward to speak, the man raised a hand. Immediately commanding silence in the single gesture. "I'm on babysitting duty and have yet to have a cup of coffee. I'll be right back."

Just like that, both the man and portal vanished into thin air. Leaving behind a group of stunned heroes. Not only was the man not Pariah Dark, but he was also supposedly babysitting.

"Did that just-"

The Flash had been the first voice to speak up, his eyes trained on where the man had once stood. Except he had barely made it through the first few words before the man was suddenly back.

The man that now had a child hanging off his shoulders and another teen being held up by his scruff. Unlike the man, these kids looked human.

Too human for Bruce's liking. The dark black hair and bright blue eyes had every heroes eyes flickering to Batman for just the briefest moment.

"This isn't fair! I'm not even the king. Why do I have to be here!" The teenager had been complaining the moment the man had reappeared. Arms crossed tight over his chest and seemingly used to being held dangling. "Besides, who brings kids to a show down! Wait til I tell mom about this."

"Aw, come on, Danny. This is gonna be fun!!" The younger girl seemed in much better spirits than the teen, Danny. She had climbed up the large man, sitting on his shoulders and resting her arms on the mess of glowing hair. "It's like take your kids to work day! Ooo, Dan! Can we fight too!?"

Unlike the two kids, the man looked purely exhausted and annoyed. The man, Dan, dropped Danny like a sack of potatoes as he took a long drink from the travel cup in his hand.

It didn't take a genius to recognize the look of an exhausted parent in Dan's expression. A look many of the league members were well acquainted to. A look that even had Batman grimacing with sympathy.

"Can it, little shits. You two were grounded, remember." Dan had growled at the kids before shifting his focus back on the team of heroes before them. His glowing eyes set in a deadly glare. "Pariah Dark isn't coming, and he never will. He's been dethroned and banished. We're the best you've got."

A summoning that started with a group of on edge and scared heroes looking for the ghost king, ended in a way no one expected.

No one was even sure if it made any sense. They weren't sure if they should feel hopeful or in despair.

Because truly, what was a ghostly man with two seemingly human children against a godlike foe with the control over the weather?

The unspoken question of power and ability seemed to vanish following Dan downing the metal travel cup of coffee, and crushing it in his fist.

He tossed it to the side, straighting up his posture as he looked over the heroes. Dan might not be a hero, but he's been playing family for too long.

An almost feral, bloodhungry grin spread across the man's face, sharp fangs on full display. The look made the man suddenly look even less human. He looked closer to a demon from the pits of hell rather than the exhausted parent he looked just a few seconds ago.

"Point me in the direction of this bastard. It's been too long since I let loose and had some fun."

[otrtbs]

UK / EUROPEAN MUTUALS WAKE UP AND BLOG AT THE SAME TIME AS ME ‼️ MY NIGHT IS NOT UR NIGHT ANYMORE AND I GET THAT BUT LIKE THE LEAST U COULD DO IS BE UP AT 5 OR 6 AM TO BLOG WITH ME 🙄💔

[cowboylikesel]

i can’t go back to eras shows being at 3am again after tomorrow

[dance-world-14]

well well well its 1am uk time and im too tired to put myself through the this so heres to another year of mindlessly searching through yt for dance off videos on a random friday morning in june 😍

[brewdairymore]

coworker who calls me at 7:30 am just to ask if i know where something is on the sharedrive

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Year - 2024 Edition

Welcome to our special edition newsletter recapping the best news from the past year. I've picked one highlight from each month to give you a snapshot of 2024. No frills, just straightforward news that mattered. Let's relive the good stuff that made our year shine.

1. January - South Korea passes law banning dog meat trade

The slaughter and sale of dogs for their meat is to become illegal in South Korea after MPs backed a new law. The legislation, set to come into force by 2027, aims to end the centuries-old practice of humans eating dog meat.

2. February - Greece legalises same-sex marriage

Greece has become the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to legalise same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples will now also be legally allowed to adopt children after Thursday's 176-76 vote in parliament. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the new law would "boldly abolish a serious inequality".

3. March - Global child deaths reach historic low in 2022 – UN report

The number of children who died before their fifth birthday has reached a historic low, dropping to 4.9 million in 2022. The report reveals that more children are surviving today than ever before, with the global under-5 mortality rate declining by 51 per cent since 2000.

4. April - Restoring sight is possible now with optogenetics

Max Hodak's startup, Science, is developing gene therapy solutions to restore vision for individuals with macular degeneration and similar conditions. The Science Eye utilizes optogenetics, injecting opsins into the eye to enhance light sensitivity in retinal cells. Clinical trials and advancements in optogenetics are showing promising results, with the potential to significantly improve vision for those affected by retinal diseases.

5. May - Vaccine breakthrough means no more chasing strains

Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised.

6. June - Bill Gates-backed startup creates Lego-like brick that can store air pollution for centuries

The Washington Post detailed a "deceptively simple" procedure by Graphyte to store a ton of CO2 for around $100 a ton, a number long considered a milestone for affordably removing carbon dioxide from the air. Direct air capture technologies used in the United States and Iceland cost $600 to $1,200 per ton, per the Post.

7. July - Stem cell therapy cures man with type 2 diabetes

A 59-year-old man had been suffering from diabetes for 25 years, needing more and more insulin every day to avoid slipping into a diabetic coma and was at risk of death. But then Chinese researchers cured his disease for the first time in the world. The patient received a cell transplant in 2021 and has not taken any medication since 2022.

8. August - Chinese drones will fly trash out of Everest slopes

Come autumn, Nepal will deploy heavy lifter drones to transport garbage from the 6,812-metre tall Ama Dablam, south of Everest. This will be the first commercial work an unmanned aerial vehicle does in Nepal’s high-altitude zone.

9. November - Tokyo to make day care free to boost birth rate

Tokyo plans to make day care free for all preschool children starting in September, the city governor has announced as part of efforts to boost Japan's low birth rate.

10. October - FTC Rule Banning Fake Product Reviews Takes Effect With Stiff Penalties

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan announced on Oct. 21 that the agency’s prohibition on fake online reviews was taking effect, imposing fines as high as $50,000 for violations. Khan encouraged followers to report the proscribed practices at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

11. November - Bumblebee population increases 116 times over in 'remarkable' Scotland rewilding project

The bumblebee population has made an impressive comeback in a developed area by increasing to 116 times what it was two years ago thanks to a nature restoration group.

12. December - Spain to enshrine gay marriage and abortion rights into its constitution so 'they cannot be undone in the future'

The left-wing PSOE leader made the announcement at an event marking the 46th anniversary of the Spanish Magna Carta.

“We believe that these are rights that we must protect in the Constitution so that no one can touch them in the future,” Sanchez said in a statement in parliament on Friday.

----------

That's it for last year :)

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

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to share this post with your friends.

[sourcreammachine]

UTC+1 is not the enemy

it is 22:30 and fucking bright outside

petition to ban summer

[capnsoapy]

I think we should not just abolish daylight savings time but time zones too. One big clock for everyone has literally no downsides.

[elcucurucho]

literally the only thing stopping phil (methodical overly cautious coordinator and cataloguer of information) from being best investigation buddies with cellbit (methodical paranoid coordinator and puzzle enthusiast) is the time zone difference. we need to abolish time zones

[mary-laib]

I stayed up until 4am the other night doing research for the human alastor fic that I've been talking about but still have yet to start on (I have a couple snippets but nothing in order yet) and now I have over a century worth in backstory for his mother's side of the family (don't worry, his father's side has done backstory as well).

So here's the timeline and general facts about his family tree in my au:

• We'll start with Hestia: Her mother, Edel was Afro-Hatian. Her side of the family fled Haiti in 1790, just before slavery was abolished. The family is full of passed down stories and this is one of them.

• An indigenous Hatian woman fell in love with a slave and they decided to run away together. They escaped just long enough for them to have several children together, but were discovered eventually and were chased out. The indigenous woman escaped overseas with her children, while the runaway slave was killed in the skirmish. Classic love story for the kids, but also a family reminder for them to be careful because of the way society treats people like them at the time.

• This Afro-Haitian family spends the early 1800's being harassed so often, they have to carry freedom papers everywhere they go. This ends up not being enough when Hestia's direct relative becomes re-enslaved regardless of their freedom papers.

• Edel, Hestia's mother, is born in 1964 and escapes slavery around 1970 with her own mother who dies shortly thereafter.

• Hestia's first daughter, Adeline's name is vaguely inspired from Edel.

• Hestia's father's name is Alastor. He dies shortly before Alastor was born and is where he got his name from.

• Alastor (the first) had a father who escaped slavery in 1963, just before slavery was abolished and hid out within the Houma tribe in what is now Baton Rougue.

• Alastor's father married into the Houma tribe and had Alastor in 1965.

• Alastor's first language was French and he lived with his father in the Houma tribe, but decided to leave after he met and fell in love with Edel. They have Hestia in 1980, when he is 15 and Edel is 16 and get married the year after she is born.

• Edel dies in 1890 at 26 years old when Hestia is only 10, but not without leaving her with a wealth of knowledge in both local and Haitian voodoo practices.

• Alastor never remarries, but decides to continue on with Edel's legacy by teaching Hestia everything he knows about both his late wife's and his parent's spirituality.

• Hestia marries Pius in 1900 (we'll get to him in a second) and her father is very cross about her (illegally) marrying a white man, but puts up with it since she's the only family he has left and because Pius has wholeheartedly dived right into their culture, even having voodoo traditions performed at their wedding and happily trying her recipes, despite them being out of his comfort zone.

• Alastor dies in 1905 at 40, just a few months before Alastor was born.

•Pius' family is a bit less lengthy, but just as complicated.

•Pius comes from a Catholic Irish family, and a very strict one at that!

• He has an older sister and a nephew. The nephew is a bit off his rocker. Enough that people avoid him and consider him dangerous company, but not enough to warrant a visit to the looney bin.

• The older sister is bullheaded when it comes to a lot of things, but not so much when it comes to protecting her younger brother or the things he cares about. She doesn't say anything when he's persecuted for being friends with a queer or for marrying a colored woman. He resents her for it.

• In 1890, when Pius is 16 he falls in love with the altar boy at his church. They get together in secret, but the altar boy is outed as queer and imprisoned for it. Pius openly opposed it and left the church over the issue, even going so far as to cut off his family due to their arguments about the issue.

• In 1895, he meets Hestia and they start dating. As part of his distancing himself from the church and his own roots, he insists on following her traditions and is very supportive of her.

• They get married in 1900 and are a super happy and healthy family, until their 2nd daughter dies and neither of them really know how to cope with that.

Anyways! That's the backstory on his parents that I spent forever working on!

[centrally-unplanned]

If given unlimited power to dictate US domestic policy, what would be your top three projects?

(An ask from my long "things to respond to" list lol) Well this depends on what we mean by "unlimited". Like if you actually get handwave away the constraints of legitimacy and rivals to power, then in a certain sense politics is solved-by-cheat-code. If that applied I would simply become dictator for life with a democratic succession in place (since my predecessor won't have my magic) and rule amazingly, everyone would be better off, and they would not invent reasons to undermine my vision because I have "unlimited power", right?

So setting that aside, let us instead say I have a window of opportunity of a unified Congress & court system for my agenda, but within the normal constraints, will fade quickly, etc. I would primarily aim for structural changes - I would reform Congress & the Supreme Court, for one. Abolish the senate, implement voter reform (I think I keep candidate-voting over party voting, since I want to work "in the system" and I think it is fine, so stuff like rank-order ballots and multi-member districts). If I can swing it, I repeal the 10th Amendment - the default state should be the federal government has the authority to do things, times change, all state authority should derive from federal authority, not vice versa.

I pretty radically reform the Supreme Court - no more lifetime appointments ofc and all that, sure, but I also structure it to be more directly integrated into the government. If congress is debating a bill, the SC will directly consult on its legality, and when it is passed its constitutionality and major "points of debate" will already be decided. The "adversarial" legal system, while fine enough for criminal law, is awful for governance - I would do away with it for consultative approaches. But to go deeper than specific SC/Congress would, imo, but overly ambitious, and start breaking things.

Even though these are pretty radical if Congress & the governors all agreed to do it a la this magical premise, wider society wouldn't push back that. Most people either don't care about this stuff, or in fact actively don't like the current system. They would be more likely to stick, unlike "open borders" which would immediately face wide revolt.

That probably counts as three, but if not just for fun I abolish local zoning in its entirety and just copy-paste the Japanese zoning code system onto ours and have a central ministry control zoning for the entire country. Primarily for revenge.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

dave :: @roweafr

* * * * *

In the thick of the fight.

February 15, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

Reminder: I will host a Substack livestream on Saturday, February 15, at 9:00 am PST / 12:00 noon EST. There is no link; just open the Substack App at the appointed time and you will receive a notification that I am livestreaming. Click on that notification to join the conversation!

***********

Friday was another consequential day filled with twists and turns, wins and losses, courage and cowardice. That’s all good. It means that we are in the thick of the fight. The resistance is in full swing.

But the pace of events has accelerated, turning each day into a dizzying test of endurance and mental torment. That is the point of the “flood the zone” strategy—a strategy that works for short periods of time. If we can hold fast during the first weeks of the administration, the pace of events will slow as the lawless actions conform to briefing schedules and court hearings.

The focus will then shift to Congress, where the need to pass a spending bill and debt ceiling increase will be measured in weeks and months, not hours and tweets.

So, stay strong for the next few weeks. We are pushing back with a good measure of success. Still, we must do more. Embrace grassroots groups; join them; attend meetings, follow their calls for action; continue to urge our elected representatives to be bolder, more aggressive, and louder.

We are going to make it through this challenging period. As we search for leaders on the national stage, be a leader yourself—even if your area of influence is limited to family and friends. Lead by example, use words when necessary.

If you are fearful or have lost hope, seek appropriate help and support. But do not discourage others who are still willing to fight for you. Predicting disaster or reminding others that “I told you so” will not move us forward.

We are in the thick of the fight. Given the circumstances, that is a good place to be.

Litigation overview.

We should take satisfaction and confidence from the role that the judiciary continues to play in resisting Trump's unconstitutional effort to abolish the role of Congress by ignoring its authority to appropriate funds and create laws binding on the executive.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a temporary restraining order (based on the consent of the parties) prohibiting the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau from destroying databases or terminating employees (except for cause). The temporary restraining order is here: Order | Nat'l Treasury Union Employees v. Vought.

The order was issued after the former Chief Technology Officer for the CFPB filed a declaration stating that she believed destruction of data was imminent. See Politico:

Erie Meyer, who until last week was the CFPB’s chief technologist, wrote in a court declaration earlier Friday that she believed that the Trump administration was imminently seeking to destroy agency data. “Public reporting and reports that I have received from within the Bureau reliably indicate that databases holding the CFPB's data will soon be deleted,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, a federal judge extended a restraining order blocking Musk from access to the Treasury payment system. But The Hill reports that, despite court orders to lift the “freeze” on funds, “numerous recipients are not getting their promised cash from the government.” See The Hill, Despite court orders, Trump administration freezes numerous funds

The corruption of the Eric Adams case is admitted in Fox interview

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove struggled to find an attorney willing to dismiss charges against NY City Mayor Eric Adams. The day began with a prosecutor assigned to the Adams’ case sending in a memorable resignation letter. Assistant US Attorney Hagan Scotten submitted a resignation letter that said, in part,

Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.

Emil Bove likely understood the truth of Scotten’s statement that only a “fool or coward” would sign the request for dismissal, so Bove resulted to tactics reminiscent of Stalinist Russia.

Bove told members of the Public Integrity Unit in Washington, D.C. that unless one of them signed the dismissal, all of them would be fired. @harrylitman@bsky.social wrote:

Strong rumor with credible sourcing: DOJ has put all of public integrity line attorneys in a room and told them they have an hour for someone to choose who will sign motion to dismiss and if nobody does, they will all be fired. The nastiest strong-arming in DOJ history by a long shot.

A career federal prosecutor finally agreed to sign the request for dismissal. We should await details to learn whether the prosecutor is a fool, coward, or a hero who sacrificed his distinguished career to save the jobs of junior staffers.

But in all events, US District Judge Dale Ho should hold a hearing to understand the pressure brought to bear on the prosecutor who finally signed the request for dismissal.

Hours earlier, Eric Adams appeared on a Fox interview with Tom Homan, the “immigration czar.” During the segment, Homan seemed to confirm that there was a corrupt bargain for the dismissal. See Mediaite, Trump Border Czar Threatens Mayor Adams On Fox News: ‘I’ll Be Up His Butt’ If He ‘Doesn’t Come Through’. Homan said

If he [Eric Adams] doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City. . . . And we won’t be sitting on a couch. I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying where the hell is the agreement we came to, so.

The reference to “an agreement” confirms the statement in Danielle Sassoon’s letter to Pam Bondi yesterday, which stated,

Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed

Everyone on the Fox set had a good chuckle at the expense of the rule of law.

If the charges against Adams are dismissed, it will be a public act of corruption committed in plain daylight—to the everlasting shame of the Department of Justice, which is now doing the bidding of Trump, bidding that is venal and corrupt.

Mass firings lead to mass confusion

Per reports, the DOGE hackers are turning their attention to the IRS and Pentagon. See Mediate, Trump and DOGE Will Reportedly Lay Off Thousands of IRS Workers – ‘Likely Targeting Tax Collection’

A wave of firings on Friday has imperiled the safety and security of the US nuclear arsenal. The idiots who are directing the mass layoffs apparently did not understand that an agency named the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was charged with maintaining the safety and security of the US nuclear arsenal.

On Friday, Musk laid off hundreds of employees in the NNSA, who were responsible for maintaining the security of nuclear weapons. See Defense One, Trump administration fires hundreds of nuclear-security employees, sources say.

Frantic calls from the NNSA attempted to reverse those firings and direct workers to return to work. See CNN Trump officials fired nuclear staff not realizing they oversee the country’s weapons stockpile, sources say. Per CNN, a group of panicked US Senators visited Energy Secretary Wright and alerted him to the reckless firings. CNN explains,

The agency made the about face Friday morning; during a meeting, acting NNSA administrator Teresa Robbins said the agency had received direction to rescind the termination of probationary employees.

The hundreds of employees had been locked out of their computers and had their security clearances revoked. It is not clear how many of them will return to work.

This is a situation that literally threatens the lives and safety of millions of Americans. The legacy press should have 32-point headline font expressing outrage and condemnation of this SNAFU.

In a separate but related debacle, the DOGE team posted classified data about the National Reconnaissance Office, a US intelligence agency focused on gathering information on adversaries by using satellites. Information about the staffing and budgets of US intelligence agencies are classified information.

Musk’s DOGE nonetheless posted information related to NRO size and staffing—information that could be helpful to an adversary trying to determine how the US is allocating its intelligence resources. See HuffPo, Elon Musk’s DOGE Posts Classified Data On Its New Website.

JD Vance insults allies, courts Nazi-friendly German party

In a foreign relations debacle of historic significance, VP Vance insulted and offended our allies during a speech at the Munich security conference. Vance met with representatives of Germany’s neo-Nazi sympathizing AfD party and snubbed the German Chancellor.

The speech was truly horrific. Headlines and stories have yet to capture the true depravity of Vance’s comments. But for a start, see The Guardian, JD Vance stuns Munich conference with blistering attack on Europe’s leaders.

Per The Guardian,

The blistering and confrontational remarks were met with shock at the conference and were later condemned by the EU and Germany, while drawing praise from Russian state television.

Putin is celebrating, indeed. He could not have written a speech more calculated to weaken the alliance that holds Russian expansionism in check.

The comments by Vance promoted a white nationalist, autocratic agenda—a point underscored by the fact that Vance met with Germany’s right-wing AfD party leader before the speech. See The Guardian, JD Vance breaks taboo by meeting with leader of Germany’s far-right party.

Vance refused to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz—a gross diplomatic insult. Vance’s staff said that the Vice President did not need to meet with Scholz because, “He won’t be Chancellor much longer,” another degrading insult.

The German Defense Minister delivered a stinging rebuke to Vance. See Mediaite, German Defense Minister Rips JD Vance At Munich Conference. (“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not acceptable! This is not acceptable! This is not the europe, not the democracy, where I live . . . . “)

Vance’s speech will continue to reverberate in the months and years ahead. It was truly a dark day for the United States. In the words sent by one reader, Vance’s comments desecrated “the soil of where so many Americans gave their lives to defeat fascism in Europe. He delivered a disgraceful speech that spat on their graves.”

National Park Service removes references to transgender people at the Stonewall National Historic Monument

The LGBTQ+ movement began in riots near the Stonewall Inn in response to police harassment of drag queens, transgender people, and gay patrons who gathered at the Inn. On Friday, the National Park Service removed references to transgender people on the Stonewall Monument website. See Erin in the Morning (Substack), Protests Erupt At Stonewall After Trump Removes Trans People From Monument Website.

Removing references to transgender people from the Stonewall Monument is similar to removing references to Black people from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN. The history of the Civil Rights Movement cannot be told without talking about the race of the people who fought for civil rights. The history of the LGBTQ movement cannot be told without talking about the leadership by transgender people in the Stonewall Riots and the national movement that followed.

As Erin Reed writes,

Stripping transgender people from Stonewall’s history is not just an act of historical revisionism—it is a calculated effort to erase an entire community from the very movement they helped ignite. Among the sweeping efforts to purge transgender identities from government records, passports, and healthcare guidance, this stands out as one of the most blatant attempts to rewrite reality.

Trump, Musk, and Vance are targeting transgender people because they believe they can get away with it.

The moral course of action is to rise to the defense of transgender people. But political imperatives also strongly counsel that we defend transgender people: Trump, Musk, and Vance are promoting white supremacy and will eventually target everyone who is not a white Christian nationalist.

That includes 100% of the people reading this newsletter. Let’s draw the line in the sand by standing up for transgender people both because it is right and necessary for the safety and security of everyone.

Concluding Thoughts

The news in this edition of the newsletter is a heavy lift for a Saturday morning. As I said at the outset, we are in the thick of the fight. We must remain united and disciplined so that we can give the courts the opportunity to catch up with Musk’s “smash and grab” approach. If we can do that, we can buy ourselves time to stop and reverse the damage being inflicted by Trump and Musk.

The pain of the reckless cuts by Musk and Trump will take a few weeks (at least) to work its way through the system. But it will—inexorably and inevitably. And when it does, every problem people encounter with government services will be attributed to the cruel actions of Trump and Musk.

While we cannot assume that we will defeat Musk and Trump merely because of the coming backlash, we should recognize that there will be a backlash; we should make every effort to leverage that backlash to our advantage.

Talk to you on Saturday morning!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[visual-latex]

House interior at night - Doubutsu no Mori e+ (Gamecube, 2003)

Study; pencil, colored pencil and watercolor

Original screenshot:

First couple layers:

I paint very slowly.

Doubutsu no Mori e+ is basically the North American version of the original Animal Crossing (i.e. with new American holidays), translated back to Japanese, with the Japan-exclusive furniture added back in, as well as some extra content. It is the most complete edition of the original Animal Crossing, and all combined it feels a bit like a crunchier New Leaf, which is funny.

The red text on the partitioning screen reads "Nintendo" and "software company". Except software (sofuto) is written backwards??? for some reason?????? Like, it's "tofuso", not "sofuto"......

And the green text reads "Marufuku".

(Warning: We are now entering a tangent zone)

I believe this is a reference to a real company, Marufuku (no relation to Marufuku Ramen), which was a telephone subscription rights/financial services company. This business model (I'm not explaining this) collapsed when Japan's very... particular landline system was abolished, shortly after the time of the original Doubutsu no Mori's release.

(photo source: hoshner_sigmaniax on Flickr)

Although defunct, Marufuku is still known for their abundant and iconic red-and-white signs. There's even a whole site dedicated to them, which estimates there were originally about 500,000 of such signs (although they can't estimate how many have survived). Obviously the item here has a different color scheme, maybe I'm off base here, but I can't imagine what else this could be referencing?

In the painting I tried to make it look more like the real sign font, but (being from the US) I didn't catch the reference until I had already started on it, and my handwriting is bad at any rate, so the result is a little... well, it's a bit wobbly.

I'm surprised the developers put a real company name in here, but it's so tiny, and I can't imagine Marufuku was in any financial position to file suit over this kind of thing anyway. It's weird to think about, but it's entirely possible the video game item will outlast the real-world Marufuku signs...

By the way, the version of this item in New Leaf has overwritten all of the text with what seems to be nonsense (although the Nintendo portion is still somewhat recognizable).

Anyway I hope you like my house

[rowayneau]

Hazbin Sugar Sugar Rune AU

The heart is yours to take, but you must not allow yours to be taken.

The concept of this AU is based on elements of the anime/manga Sugar Sugar Rune.

Sugar Sugar Rune is about two witches who are best friends, Chocolat and Vanilla, who compete to capture the most hearts in the human world. Whoever is victorious will become queen of the Magical World, but there's a catch. If their own hearts get stolen, then they can lose their lives.

In this AU, the two protagonists will be Charlie and Emily. Representatives of Heaven and Hell participate in a task to understand humanity proposed by God. God has returned to Heaven and seen Heaven's method for the overpopulation in Hell. 

While he can see that they believe there is no other way to curb the overpopulation problem, he could also see that they didn’t understand humanity enough to provide the alternative and just went for the extreme solution. There is also a superiority complex they have because since they are in Heaven and are angels, they would not make mistakes and when mistakes are made they just double down on it and never admit or correct it.

This is the same for Hell as well, Hell is built from sin and darkness of the world and humanity. They built a society based on selfishness and apathy, where every person for themselves. It’s a perpetual cycle, where one is hurt and the other is hurt back. Sinners forget their humanity as they try to survive the harshness of Hell, forgetting whatever good they had from their time of living. Where a single mistake will get you screwed for an eternity and a system where everything is rigged against you. It’s no wonder the idea of redemption is found ridiculous, as there is no hope for it to work when everything is against them.

Thus, God created a proposal. If both Heaven and Hell can understand the hearts of humanity, he will abolish the exterminations and allow the concept of redemption and reincarnation. Should they fail, the system will remain as it is.

The plan is one representative from each realm will travel to the human world and live among them. The two representatives will live as humans and need to keep their magic to the minimum. They must not reveal their true nature as an angel and a demon and if revealed they must either find a way to erase the humans memories or they will be dealt a penalty.

While in the human world, they are granted a power to “Pick-up Hearts”. “Hearts” are the crystallized emotions of humans and can be “Pick-up” using the magic that is granted. “Hearts” can come in a variety of colors and they can be different values based on their colors. “Hearts” also can come into two categories. Positive based “Hearts” and negative based “Hearts”. Both have their own value and color scheme for it.

Both representatives must collect “Hearts” to a certain quota to fulfill the goal of abolishing the exterminations. They will need to earn the humans love or trust by helping fulfilling a human wish or helping the human on what they need. If the human feels strong emotion towards either of the two, the strong emotions will be crystallized and can be collected.

But there is a twist in this assignment, in order for both representatives to truly understand humans, they must work outside their comfort zone. 

This means Charlie as Hell representative will have to “Pick-up” positive hearts such as joy, love, gratitude etc. She must “Pick-up” from humans who don't really remember to feel this anymore, such as people with depression, people down on their luck etc., similar to sinners in Hell. She must help these people to remember their life and joy, to keep on living and that sometimes with a little help or push they can change their life around. This will also teach her that things are not always easy and people can’t change easily. She will see that the life of a human is hard and will even realize she is quite sheltered from her people and not really knowing her subjects at all. She will need to take action instead of just positive reinforcement to incite change.

As for Emily, as Heaven representative will have to “Pick-up” negative hearts such as greed, lust, wrath etc. She must “Pick-up” from humans that are good but are pushed/abused, humans have no motivation to act because it’s “wrong” etc. The kind of people that are too nice and are taken advantage of and dying early because of it. Negative emotions are not evil, it just depends on the intention. For example, you can have righteous wrath and use it to stand up for yourself and for the people you care about or you have the greed to kick start your ambition and have the initiative to do it. It’s not a bad thing to have it, but be careful on how it’s used. After all “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, the most prime example is Lucifer’s Pride and the Apple of Eden. Emily must learn how rough the human world is and how shades of gray people need to go to survive.

The heart is yours to take, but you must not allow yours to be taken. 

That is the absolute one rule that God reinforced. You can take the hearts of humans but you must not let your heart be taken. This is to ensure that both representatives won’t pull “A Lucifer” and cause who knows what chaos to the human world. They must not fall in love with a human and let their hearts be awry. Should that happen, the representative is immediately disqualified and will be considered a failure.

Let the games begin.. How will the story unfold…Stay tuned Folks…….

================================================

Omake

Lucifer being his usual over protective self can’t stand sending Charlie to the human world by herself. She can’t bring Razzle and Dazzle along and has to leave them behind, so she’s going there with no protection. He can’t have that so he began searching his castle for a solution. There he came across a contract, a contract left behind by his wife after she disappeared.

 It’s still active and it’s contracted to a human still living in the human world. This is perfect!! With his magic, he can modify the contract to his favor and make this human watch over Charlie and also keep an eye on the angel too.

Now let’s see, it looks like the human is a radio host…….

Note: This is somewhat Human AU so a lot of characters will be living humans

[lboogie1906]

First Lieutenant Nancy Leftenant, known as “Lefty” (September 29, 1920) was to the late James and

Eunice Leftenant in Goose Creek, South Carolina. She graduated from Amityville High School, Amityville, New York.

She graduated from New York’s Lincoln School of Nursing. She tried to sign up for the Armed Forces but was informed that the military was not accepting Black nurses. She persevered and in January 1945, she volunteered and was accepted into the Army Nurse Corps as a reservist. Nurses of Color were not permitted into the regular Army at that time. She was given the rank of Second Lieutenant and her first assignment was to Lowell General Hospital, Fort Devens, Massachusetts where she treated WWII wounded. She and other Black nurses impressed the doctors due to their superior performance so they were promoted to First Lieutenant after only 11 months.

In 1946, she was assigned to the 332nd Station Medical Group, Lockbourne Army Air Base. She became the first Black woman integrated into the regular Army Nurse Corps.

She was assigned to Lockbourne Army Air Field when President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981, abolishing segregation in the military. In 1948 she applied for and received Regular Army Nurse Corps status.

The 332nd Fighter Group was deactivated at Lockbourne Air Force Base.

Once the Tuskegee Airmen were disbanded, she joined the Air Force. She served in Germany, Tokyo, Alaska, Ohio, Alabama, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. She was a Flight Nurse with the 6481st Medical Air Evacuation Group, Tachikawa, Japan. She set up hospital wards in Japan and active war zones. She was credited with saving many lives during the wars. She had to wait five years for her certification as a Flight Nurse. She returned to Amityville High School as the School Nurse.

She married Air Force Reserve Captain Bayard K. Colon after retirement. She and five of her twelve siblings served in the military. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence