#and irs not like i don't have the experience or knowledge

[catfishofoldin99colours]

*head in hands* university,,,,,,,,, whyyyy,,,,,,,

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Retiring the US debt would retire the US dollar

THIS WEDNESDAY (October 23) at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, GEORGIA, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

One of the most consequential series of investigative journalism of this decade was the Propublica series that Jesse Eisinger helmed, in which Eisinger and colleagues analyzed a trove of leaked IRS tax returns for the richest people in America:

https://www.propublica.org/series/the-secret-irs-files

The Secret IRS Files revealed the fact that many of America's oligarchs pay no tax at all. Some of them even get subsidies intended for poor families, like Jeff Bezos, whose tax affairs are so scammy that he was able to claim to be among the working poor and receive a federal Child Tax Credit, a $4,000 gift from the American public to one of the richest men who ever lived:

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

As important as the numbers revealed by the Secret IRS Files were, I found the explanations even more interesting. The 99.9999% of us who never make contact with the secretive elite wealth management and tax cheating industry know, in the abstract, that there's something scammy going on in those esoteric cults of wealth accumulation, but we're pretty vague on the details. When I pondered the "tax loopholes" that the rich were exploiting, I pictured, you know, long lists of equations salted with Greek symbols, completely beyond my ken.

But when Propublica's series laid these secret tactics out, I learned that they were incredibly stupid ruses, tricks so thin that the only way they could possibly fool the IRS is if the IRS just didn't give a shit (and they truly didn't – after decades of cuts and attacks, the IRS was far more likely to audit a family earning less than $30k/year than a billionaire).

This has become a somewhat familiar experience. If you read the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, Luxleaks, Swissleaks, or any of the other spectacular leaks from the oligarch-industrial complex, you'll have seen the same thing: the rich employ the most tissue-thin ruses, and the tax authorities gobble them up. It's like the tax collectors don't want to fight with these ultrawealthy monsters whose net worth is larger than most nations, and merely require some excuse to allow them to cheat, anything they can scribble in the box explaining why they are worth billions and paying little, or nothing, or even entitled to free public money from programs intended to lift hungry children out of poverty.

It was this experience that fueled my interest in forensic accounting, which led to my bestselling techno-crime-thriller series starring the two-fisted, scambusting forensic accountant Martin Hench, who made his debut in 2022's Red Team Blues:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

The double outrage of finding out how badly the powerful are ripping off the rest of us, and how stupid and transparent their accounting tricks are, is at the center of Chokepoint Capitalism, the book about how tech and entertainment companies steal from creative workers (and how to stop them) that Rebecca Giblin and I co-authored, which also came out in 2022:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

Now that I've written four novels and a nonfiction book about finance scams, I think I can safely call myself a oligarch ripoff hobbyist. I find this stuff endlessly fascinating, enraging, and, most importantly, energizing. So naturally, when PJ Vogt devoted two episodes of his excellent Search Engine podcast to the subject last week, I gobbled them up:

https://www.searchengine.show/listen/search-engine-1/why-is-it-so-hard-to-tax-billionaires-part-1

I love the way Vogt unpacks complex subjects. Maybe you've had the experience of following a commentator and admiring their knowledge of subjects you're unfamiliar with, only have them cover something you're an expert in and find them making a bunch of errors (this is basically the experience of using an LLM, which can give you authoritative seeming answers when the subject is one you're unfamiliar with, but which reveals itself to be a Bullshit Machine as soon as you ask it about something whose lore you know backwards and forwards).

Well, Vogt has covered many subjects that I am an expert in, and I had the opposite experience, finding that even when he covers my own specialist topics, I still learn something. I don't always agree with him, but always find those disagreements productive in that they make me clarify my own interests. (Full disclosure: I was one of Vogt's experts on his previous podcast, Reply All, talking about the inkjet printerization of everything:)

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/brho54

Vogt's series on taxing billionaires was no exception. His interview subjects (including Eisinger) were very good, and he got into a lot of great detail on the leaker himself, Charles Littlejohn, who plead guilty and was sentenced to five years:

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/charles-littlejohn-irs-whistleblower-pro-publica-tax-evasion-prosecution

Vogt also delved into the history of the federal income tax, how it was sold to the American public, and a rather hilarious story of Republican Congressional gamesmanship that backfired spectacularly. I'd never encountered this stuff before and boy was it interesting.

But then Vogt got into the nature of taxation, and its relationship to the federal debt, another subject I've written about extensively, and that's where one of those productive disagreements emerged. Yesterday, I set out to write him a brief note unpacking this objection and ended up writing a giant essay (sorry, PJ!), and this morning I found myself still thinking about it. So I thought, why not clean up the email a little and publish it here?

As much as I enjoyed these episodes, I took serious exception to one – fairly important! – aspect of your analysis: the relationship of taxes to the national debt.

There's two ways of approaching this question, which I think of as akin to classical vs quantum physics. In the orthodox, classical telling, the government taxes us to pay for programs. This is crudely true at 10,000 feet and as a rule of thumb, it's fine in many cases. But on the ground – at the quantum level, in this analogy – the opposite is actually going on.

There is only one source of US dollars: the US Treasury (you can try and make your own dollars, but they'll put you in prison for a long-ass time if they catch you.).

If dollars can only originate with the US government, then it follows that:

a) The US government doesn't need our taxes to get US dollars (for the same reason Apple doesn't need us to redeem our iTunes cards to get more iTunes gift codes);

b) All the dollars in circulation start with spending by the US government (taxes can't be paid until dollars are first spent by their issuer, the US government); and

c) That spending must happen before anyone has been taxed, because the way dollars enter circulation is through spending.

You've probably heard people say, "Government spending isn't like household spending." That is obviously true: households are currency users while governments are currency issuers.

But the implications of this are very interesting.

First, the total dollars in circulation are:

a) All the dollars the government has ever spent into existence funding programs, transferring to the states, and paying its own employees, minus

b) All the dollars that the government has taxed away from us, and subsequently annihilated.

(Because governments spend money into existence and tax money out of existence.)

The net of dollars the government spends in a given year minus the dollars the government taxes out of existence that year is called "the national deficit." The total of all those national deficits is called "the national debt." All the dollars in circulation today are the result of this national debt. If the US government didn't have a debt, there would be no dollars in circulation.

The only way to eliminate the national debt is to tax every dollar in circulation out of existence. Because the national debt is "all the dollars the government has ever spent," minus "all the dollars the government has ever taxed." In accounting terms, "The US deficit is the public's credit."

When billionaires like Warren Buffet tell Jesse Eisinger that he doesn't pay tax because "he thinks his money is better spent on charitable works rather than contributing to an insignificant reduction of the deficit," he is, at best, technically wrong about why we tax, and at worst, he's telling a self-serving lie. The US government doesn't need to eliminate its debt. Doing so would be catastrophic. "Retiring the US debt" is the same thing as "retiring the US dollar."

So if the USG isn't taxing to retire its debts, why does it tax? Because when the USG – or any other currency issuer – creates a token, that token is, on its face, useless. If I offered to sell you some "Corycoins," you would quite rightly say that Corycoins have no value and thus you don't need any of them.

For a token to be liquid – for it to be redeemable for valuable things, like labor, goods and services – there needs to be something that someone desires that can be purchased with that token. Remember when Disney issued "Disney dollars" that you could only spend at Disney theme parks? They traded more or less at face value, even outside of Disney parks, because everyone knew someone who was planning a Disney vacation and could make use of those Disney tokens.

But if you go down to a local carny and play skeeball and win a fistful of tickets, you'll find it hard to trade those with anyone outside of the skeeball counter, especially once you leave the carny. There's two reasons for this:

1) The things you can get at the skeeball counter are pretty crappy so most people don't desire them; and ' 2) Most people aren't planning on visiting the carny, so there's no way for them to redeem the skeeball tickets even if they want the stuff behind the counter (this is also why it's hard to sell your Iranian rials if you bring them back to the US – there's not much you can buy in Iran, and even someone you wanted to buy something there, it's really hard for US citizens to get to Iran).

But when a sovereign currency issuer – one with the power of the law behind it – demands a tax denominated in its own currency, they create demand for that token. Everyone desires USD because almost everyone in the USA has to pay taxes in USD to the government every year, or they will go to prison. That fact is why there is such a liquid market for USD. Far more people want USD to pay their taxes than will ever want Disney dollars to spend on Dole Whips, and even if you are hoping to buy a Dole Whip in Fantasyland, that desire is far less important to you than your desire not to go to prison for dodging your taxes.

Even if you're not paying taxes, you know someone who is. The underlying liquidity of the USD is inextricably tied to taxation, and that's the first reason we tax. By issuing a token – the USD – and then laying on a tax that can only be paid in that token (you cannot pay federal income tax in anything except USD – not crypto, not euros, not rials – only USD), the US government creates demand for that token.

And because the US government is the only source of dollars, the US government can purchase anything that is within its sovereign territory. Anything denominated in US dollars is available to the US government: the labor of every US-residing person, the land and resources in US territory, and the goods produced within the US borders. The US doesn't need to tax us to buy these things (remember, it makes new money by typing numbers into a spreadsheet at the Federal Reserve). But it does tax us, and if the taxes it levies don't equal the spending it's making, it also sells us T-bills to make up the shortfall.

So the US government kinda acts like classical physics is true, that is, like it is a household and thus a currency user, and not a currency issuer. If it spends more than it taxes, it "borrows" (issues T-bills) to make up the difference. Why does it do this? To fight inflation.

The US government has no monetary constraints, it can make as many dollars as it cares to (by typing numbers into a spreadsheet). But the US government is fiscally constrained, because it can only buy things that are denominated in US dollars (this is why it's such a big deal that global oil is priced in USD – it means the US government can buy oil from anywhere, not only the USA, just by typing numbers into a spreadsheet).

The supply of dollars is infinite, but the supply of labor and goods denominated in US dollars is finite, and, what's more, the people inside the USA expect to use that labor and goods for their own needs. If the US government issues so many dollars that it can outbid every private construction company for the labor of electricians, bricklayers, crane drivers, etc, and puts them all to work building federal buildings, there will be no private construction.

Indeed, every time the US government bids against the private sector for anything – labor, resources, land, finished goods – the price of that thing goes up. That's one way to get inflation (and it's why inflation hawks are so horny for slashing government spending – to get government bidders out of the auction for goods, services and labor).

But while the supply of goods for sale in US dollars is finite, it's not fixed. If the US government takes away some of the private sector's productive capacity in order to build interstates, train skilled professionals, treat sick people so they can go to work (or at least not burden their working-age relations), etc, then the supply of goods and services denominated in USD goes up, and that makes more fiscal space, meaning the government and the private sector can both consume more of those goods and services and still not bid against one another, thus creating no inflationary pressure.

Thus, taxes create liquidity for US dollars, but they do something else that's really important: they reduce the spending power of the private sector. If the US only ever spent money into existence and never taxed it out of existence, that would create incredible inflation, because the supply of dollars would go up and up and up, while the supply of goods and services you could buy with dollars would grow much more slowly, because the US government wouldn't have the looming threat of taxes with which to coerce us into doing the work to build highways, care for the sick, or teach people how to be doctors, engineers, etc.

Taxes coercively reduce the purchasing power of the private sector (they're a stick). T-bills do the same thing, but voluntarily (they the carrot).

A T-bill is a bargain offered by the US government: "Voluntarily park your money instead of spending it. That will create fiscal space for us to buy things without bidding against you, because it removes your money from circulation temporarily. That means we, the US government, can buy more stuff and use it to increase the amount of goods and services you can buy with your money when the bond matures, while keeping the supply of dollars and the supply of dollar-denominated stuff in rough equilibrium."

So a bond isn't a debt – it's more like a savings account. When you move money from your checking to your savings, you reduce its liquidity, meaning the bank can treat it as a reserve without worrying quite so much about you spending it. In exchange, the bank gives you some interest, as a carrot.

I know, I know, this is a big-ass wall of text. Congrats if you made it this far! But here's the upshot. We should tax billionaires, because it will reduce their economic power and thus their political power.

But we absolutely don't need to tax billionaires to have nice things. For example: the US government could hire every single unemployed person without creating inflationary pressure on wages, because inflation only happens when the US government tries to buy something that the private sector is also trying to buy, bidding up the price. To be "unemployed" is to have labor that the private sector isn't trying to buy. They're synonyms. By definition, the feds could put every unemployed person to work (say, training one another to be teachers, construction workers, etc – and then going out and taking care of the sick, addressing the housing crisis, etc etc) without buying any labor that the private sector is also trying to buy.

What's even more true than this is that our taxes are not going to reduce the national debt. That guest you had who said, "Even if we tax billionaires, we will never pay off the national debt,"" was 100% right, because the national debt equals all the money in circulation.

Which is why that guest was also very, very wrong when she said, "We will have to tax normal people too in order to pay off the debt." We don't have to pay off the debt. We shouldn't pay off the debt. We can't pay off the debt. Paying off the debt is another way of saying "eliminating the dollar."

Taxation isn't a way for the government to pay for things. Taxation is a way to create demand for US dollars, to convince people to sell goods and services to the US government, and to constrain private sector spending, which creates fiscal space for the US government to buy goods and services without bidding up their prices.

And in a "classical physics" sense, all of the preceding is kinda a way of saying, "Taxes pay for government spending." As a rough approximation, you can think of taxes like this and generally not get into trouble.

But when you start to make policy – when you contemplate when, whether, and how much to tax billionaires – you leave behind the crude, high-level approximation and descend into the nitty-gritty world of things as they are, and you need to jettison the convenience of the easy-to-grasp approximation.

If you're interested in learning more about this, you can tune into this TED Talk by Stephanie Kelton, formerly formerly advisor to the Senate Budget Committee chair, now back teaching and researching econ at University of Missouri at Kansas City:

https://www.ted.com/talks/stephanie_kelton_the_big_myth_of_government_deficits?subtitle=en

Stephanie has written a great book about this, The Deficit Myth:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/14/everybody-poops/#deficit-myth

There's a really good feature length doc about it too, called "Finding the Money":

https://findingmoneyfilm.com/

If you'd like to read more of my own work on this, here's a column I wrote about the nature of currency in light of Web3, crypto, etc:

https://locusmag.com/2022/09/cory-doctorow-moneylike/

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/21/we-can-have-nice-things/#public-funds-not-taxpayer-dollars

[spanishskulduggery]

How can I start learning Spanish?

If you are an absolute total beginner, my biggest recommendation is to check out www.studyspanish.com/grammar and to check out www.conjuguemos.com which are online grammar lessons

Truly what I've found is you start with the fundamentals and you just go through your language learning journey accumulating knowledge, and it always feels like an uphill battle until one day you're aware of all the things you don't know/understand yet, but you also know how to look up what you don't know - and that's how you know you've made it

I personally find that when you're starting Spanish from nothing you need to focus on conjugations and the most essential verbs; most verbs are regular so when you understand the basic rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs you can do a lot in Spanish

The most irregular verbs of all time - which tend to be irregular in multiple tenses

ser

ir

ver

dar

estar

tener

venir

decir

querer

poder

poner

hacer

caber*

haber

*caber is annoyingly irregular but not the most super common verb used; it's "to fit (into a space)" like "capacity" so it's useful when you need it, but otherwise more limited

The are other little bits of grammar knowledge that you'll learn as you go, like when to use saber vs conocer, or ser and estar... things that take practice and repetition but let me know if there are any questions you have as you go and I can help give some more insight

There are other things that are important, but less all consuming, like stem-changing verbs [E->I, E->IE, O->UE] or certain irregularities, and exceptions like conocer or little things like fingir or vencer - which are littler things though more easily understood when you have some more experience

You're also going to want to devote a lot of time to the present tense which is the very first tense you're introduced to

Also - Things You Should Know At Each Level - though for your purposes I'd say you're probably A1 and A2 and try not to focus on the rest for now; you'll get discouraged if you think of all the things you don't know, trust me I was there

Additional resources:

Recommendations for beginners

https://www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/ats/

Word Reference Conjugator

http://spanishskulduggery.tumblr.com/post/102019421622/spanishskulduggery-spanish-tenses-moods

https://conjuguemos.com/activities/spanish/verb/1

https://conjuguemos.com/tenses/spanish/

Verbs you should know as a beginner

[nadas-dirthalen]

I Saw Solas's Origin in an Achievement Icon and It Opened My Eyes on 15 Years of Lore

— PART SIX: if you haven't read previous parts, do it now! —

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]

Welcome, friends and travellers! I wanted to get some thoughts recorded before Veilguard's release so I could see if I am right about an absolute BOATLOAD of theories I have.

In short: I saw the achievement list when it was released. I have seen the backstory hints for Solas included in said list. AND MY MIND WAS BLOWN.

You have been warned: THIS COLLECTION OF THEORIES INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR EVERY DRAGON AGE GAME AND ALL PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL UP TO AND INCLUDING OCTOBER 18, 2024.

Come sit down with me. Make a nice cup of tea (and hide it from Solas). We've got a lot of unpacking to do.

(no, this photo isn't the spoiler, I just like it.)

Today's Discussion: The Tragedy of the Evanuris (2/3)

— The Many Horrors Enacted Upon the Faithful —

As ever, please please pretty please go back and read the earlier parts of this series if you haven't already! I promise, there is a mountain of context that I don't reiterate in every post that I make, and I feel it is important for everything I say here and going forward.

Last post, we went over how the crimes/misdeeds of the Evanuris got their start: Mythal and her lyrium coffins, feeding dreams to spirits like Solas in order to turn them away from their Titans. From there, the experiments could begin: Elgar'nan with sundering the spirits that (I believe) would become Falon'Din and Dirthamen; Falon'Din then "blackening the heart" of a Titan. Crucially, all of these actions can be found symbolically represented by their corresponding vallaslin.

Bearing in mind that I don't want to guess at the specific chronology of all the Evanuris's deeds and crimes, I'm still going to sort these posts by gods, not by actions/year. This time, I want to talk about the crimes that continued from there as things began to spiral downward into incomprehensible horror.

Sylaise and the Scaled Ones

June, Architect of the Geas

Dirthamen: What Were His Secrets, and Where Is He Now?

If you're wondering where a certain very notable two Evanuris are on this list, don't worry: this post has three planned instalments. ;)

Sylaise and the Scaled Ones

Sylaise is known as the Heartkeeper in Dalish legend. She is a goddess of healing and knowledge. For a long time, I wondered what she could possibly have done to earn Solas's ire, for all the Evanuris are his mortal enemies. We know so little about her, don't we?

Let's start with what we do know.

It is Sylaise who gave us fire and taught us how to use it. It is Sylaise who showed us how to heal with herbs and with magic, and how to ease the passage of infants into this world. And again, it is Sylaise who showed us how to spin the fibers of plants into thread and rope.

Sylaise is clearly a goddess of fire and a healer and helper of the People, in Dalish legend. In this way, she gives me the same "vibes" as the Greek god Prometheus. Now, while I am no scholar on Greek mythology, I remember Prometheus as strongly associated with fire, and the creator of humans. I hadn't given much thought to the latter until now. But now, with the understanding that the Evanuris's crimes stem from the creation of the People?

I turned back to the Song to Sylaise, from the Temple of Mythal.

Sylaise, whose heat rivals Elgar'nan's light. Sylaise, whose temples rival Mythal's cities. Sylaise, whose breath rivals Andruil's spear. Sylaise, whose skill rivals June's craft. Sylaise, whose fire cannot be quenched. We give ourselves gladly to your service.

Let's draw connections between the Evanuris we have covered so far.

"whose heat rivals Elgar'nan's light" — now that we know that not only was Elgar'nan famous for his uncontrollable anger, but that he apparently sundered "the sun and the moon," I am wondering if this speaks not to Sylaise's potential anger, but her apparent affinity for forging and/or sundering spirits.

"whose temples rival Mythal's cities" — I always suspected this had to do with the population of Sylaise's temples, but before this month, before this spoilers, I had assumed those faithful had come willingly. That they were devotees who chose to live in her temples. What could be so bad about that? Well, now we know: Sylaise's temples rivaling Mythal's cities may well refer to how she created more people than Mythal.

"whose skill rivals June's craft" — we'll get to June in a moment, but I believe that June was crafting with lyrium, and that fits Sylaise in this context. Clearly she was shaping lyrium-spirits into something, and I believe this line says she did so with unparalleled mastery.

"Sylaise, whose fire cannot be quenched" — this shows me that the association with fire in Dalish legend holds true here, as well, albeit in a far more vicious light. That means, to find other references of Sylaise throughout the games and established lore, we should hunt for mentions of fire and the creation of people.

We need look no further than the Scaled Ones. Though they are chronicled as existing after the time of Ancient Elvhenan, I believe that they are Sylaise's invention: her armies stronger than Elgar'nan's, forged from something sturdier than skin; more populous than Mythal's; more well-crafted than June's (again, we'll get there).

We can also connect the Scaled Ones to the serpentine imagery present in Sylaise's vallaslin.

Torches would suddenly go out, leaving us to stumble though the dark and trip over discarded caravans. Then came the attacks, hard and fast. Father was one of the first. We heard breathing: slow and heavy, from a creature much larger than us. Father held out his arm and grabbed the front of my armor to make me stop. I saw its shadow move, darker than the darkness, and then my body jerked forward. It left Father's arm hanging, still grasping my chestplate.

The Scaled Ones had dominion over fire magic, it looks like: they could snuff out entire torches at a distance.

The Scaled Ones had set up a camp at an intersection in the Deep Roads. In the center there was a golden altar fashioned in the shape of fire. A chill swept through me. On the tip of each flame hung the corpses of those we'd lost—including Father and Drohg. They'd been drained of blood, leaving only bone wrapped in grey skin.

They also seem to worship this fire, which we know can still be associated with Sylaise outside of Dalish legend. They also seem to be harvesting the blood of those they've slain: in this case, dwarves. Blood magic, historically, is used to alter minds and to bind things. It could be that the Scaled Ones are keeping up with Sylaise's practice.

Or...

A robed Scaled One stood before the altar. Its voice was different from the others: softer, almost feminine. It chanted and raised a basin of blood towards the altar. The other Scaled Ones bowed low. The robed Scaled One produced fire from its palm and mouth and ignited the blood.

It could be that she lives on, somehow: a fire mage of unchecked power, with skin of the same scales that she forged in others. Watch for that in the post after next.

I still wish I knew more about Sylaise, and I wish I had time to go through everything I think about the Scaled Ones and their potential relationships with the kossith and/or Taash. But Sylaise's existence and the existence of the Scaled Ones do tell me that Ghilan'nain is far from the only Evanuris to have done biological experiments with her creations.

That sets a precedent for all the others, and I will continue to go on to describe why.

June, Architect of the Geas

For the little we know of Sylaise, we know even less of June. We know that he was the Dalish god of crafts, either husband or sibling to Sylaise (as much as the Dalish can even name the Evanuris's relationships accurately). The Dalish associate an unsolvable puzzle toy called "June's Knot" with him. The High Keepers of June seem to have been smiths.

I feel like this codex from the Vir Dirthara is trying to say the same thing:

The pages of this book—memory?—describe a heated argument between a group of well-dressed elves inside an elaborately arched pavilion on an island floating in a void. In the distance, haloed by a blizzard of light, thousands of elves are maintaining an elaborate magical ritual that pulls raw essence from the Fade, funneled into a sphere in the air. Through the lens of the sphere can be seen a world of indigo waterfalls and rust-red jungles, and a temple palace so frescoed and cleverly carved, it is a masterpiece in itself. The well-dressed elves' shouting grows so loud, it can be heard over the magic. One leaps at another, howling and pulling out a knife burning with prismatic flame. "Architects of the Grand Sonallium (a gift from Blessed Sylaise to Clever June as thanks for a great favor) in friendly debate over the color of the palace's roof trim."

However, he is never depicted with any of the tools that the Dalish associate with him. It's his architects who arguing here, one with a prismatic blade. Whether the blade belongs to June, there's more going on here than just common building and tool usage.

Rather than June's role changing over time, I think something else is true of June, and I see it when I look at his vallaslin.

Like the other Evanuris, he seems to have vallaslin designed reminiscent of lyrium branches. However, June's are all bent and woven very deliberately, in a more mechanical-looking fashion than Ghilan'nain's and Sylaise's. Even more important to me, though? They closely resemble Fenris's lyrium tattoos.

Considering that Fenris's slaver, Danarius, got the knowledge of how to embed lyrium beneath the skin from an "ancient treatise," it is possible that this knowledge was obtained from June's own notes. After all: in the codex with the Sonallium, has anyone made note of the thousands of slaves maintaining the magic around it?

Therefore, I believe June was the creator of the first geas, and the first vallaslin may have used geas magic to force the ancient elves into servitude.

To take it one step further and check my belief against other pieces of lore, I posit looking at one more source: the whisperings of June's archdemon.

I long wondered which archdemon might belong to June, but when I read the Chant of Light this week (again), I noticed something. The names of the archdemons' high priests are indicative, potentially, of which Evanuris they belonged to.

There is an Architect mentioned. Many of you may already be familiar with the name. The Architect is cited as the High Priest of Beauty: the old god of Beauty is cited in World of Thedas as being Urthemiel.

Per the Chant of Light:

The High Priest of Beauty, Architect of the Works of Beauty, designed Every work and wonder of the Imperium according to the plans of his god.

Remember how I mentioned that I believe the archdemons were puppeted by the Evanuris while they were imprisoned? This is no exception, and I'd like to draw attention to what the old god of Beauty whispered to his Architect.

And to him, Beauty revealed a grand plan: "Open the gates. And when you stand before me, I shall give you designs That shall rival the greatness of heaven. I will make you the First among the new gods, And you will build a paradise on earth."

To me, "designs that shall rival the greatness of heaven" should be interpreted in what the Evanuris would think of as greatness: limitless power, bending the very bounds of what should be physically possible, shattering common morality. When I read, "will make you First among the new gods," then, I cannot help but imagine the Architect of Beauty being given designs to help build an army of always-willing soldiers: ones operating under a geas. No great work would be impossible, in such an instance.

Thus, we have another facet in the tragedy of the Evanuris, the reason that all of them needed not just to be killed, but imprisoned, their works destroyed and never again recreated. Along with the ability to craft people with lyrium, to sunder spirits, and "blacken" the hearts of titans, the Evanuris used lyrium to create endless armies of seemingly "willing" slaves.

But even Urthemiel and his Architect were not first among the old gods or their followers. To understand the tragedy of the Evanuris and the complications in all of Solas's plans to stop them, we must look further into the Chant, and further into the Evanuris.

Silence, and his Evanuris: the Keeper of Secrets, Dirthamen.

Dirthamen: What Were His Secrets, and What Don't We Know?

I, like many others, assumed Dumat must be Elgar'nan's archdemon until a little while ago. But knowing Elgar'nan is alive and must still have his own, plus reexamining the Chant of Light and looking at DA:I with a more critical eye have shown me differently.

First among the Old Gods was Silence. His least whisper could end wars or topple Archons. A single word could turn recrimination into glory. The sacred fires of his temple burned Rare incense, and the trees of Arlathan, and lapped at the bones of slaves While his altars dripped with the blood of sacrifices that never dried.

Elgar'nan is not one to work with silence, nor whisper to topple an Archon. That doesn't seem like the way he would puppet an archdemon.

No mortal foot could tread those halls, No hand knocked upon the gate. Secrets beyond measure were the keys The Choir of Silence would need, and they had few. (7) And so the First Acolyte spoke to the High Priest And said: "We are the masters of secrets, But our god demands more.

Dirthamen is the Keeper of Secrets, and so I first looked to Dumat for clues on what, precisely, his worst deeds were. But then, the title hit me again. Keeper of Secrets.

What is a secret, I ask you, but a thought no one can know about? And in our understanding of the Evanuris, of spirits, and of Thedas itself, what is a thought but a spirit?

I dove into codices, because of course I did.

No beast is more beloved by Dirthamen than the bear. When the world was new, Dirthamen gave one secret to each creature to keep.

Let's rephrase this Dalish legend. Every time we read "secret," let us read "spirit." When we read, "gave one secret to each creature to keep," let us ask ourselves how it would sound with, "bound one spirit to each creature," therefore creating abominations.

The foxes traded their secrets to Andruil for wings. The hares shouted theirs to the treetops. The birds sold theirs for gold and silver.

It seems like this is describing what happened to each creature who gained Dirthamen's secrets. Foxes suddenly sprouted wings (sound like everyone's favourite Veilguard assassin to anyone?). The hares shouted theirs to the treetops.

Except, wait a minute, I know something about Dirthamen and trees.

He whispered into the mountains and the fallen trees of the forest gathered, shaping an immense and agile spider-like beast. It was the varterral. With lightning speed, vicious strikes, and venomous spit, it drove back the serpent. From then on, it was the guardian of the city and its people.

Whispered into the mountains sounds a lot like pulling "thoughts" from the mountains, or depositing "thoughts" into those mountains. Afterward, trees bend and warp around one another, forming the varterral.

Only the bears kept Dirthamen's gift, deep within their dens, they slept the months away in the company of their secrets and nothing else. When Dirthamen discovered what had been done with his gifts, he snatched the wings from the foxes, silenced the voices of the hares, and turned the birds into paupers. but the bears he honored for their steadfastness.

Bears, according to the wiki, can become enraged. Sounds a lot like something that might be possessed by Rage, no?

It did not stop at animals. We have the Temple of Dirthamen to look at, after all.

We few whisper here where shadow dwells. Some words remain unuttered. Truths are pushed down, down Where they shall never arise again.

Truths pushed down, down. Truths, like secrets, are based in thought. And when we think of thought with regard to Titans, spirits, and the Evanuris, we must think spirits. Spirits that are pushed down, down, never to rise again—because the priests of the Lost Temple of Dirthamen have committed to holding them.

Dirthamen is gone, he said. Our Highest One brings to us this gravest news. What shall we do? Where shall we go? What of the old secrets that burn within our hearts?

Our Highest One, he deceives us. The honeyed words that drip from his tongueWe know the despair they mask. We disciples of Dirthamen know truth, now as ever.

If we think about these priests as people who have been forced to harbor spirits, suddenly "the honeyed words that drip from his tongue / We know the despair they mask," takes on a whole new meaning. A capital-D Despair meaning.

Let's return, then, to the Conductor of Silence listening to his old god. The old god—puppeted by Dirthamen—required so many secrets that the priests did not know how to fulfill such a request. Masters of secrets, how could they possibly gain more? Well, now we know "secrets" and "spirits" to be interchangeable. The priests needed souls.

What happened next?

(2) In the Great Choir of Silence, the High Priests gathered. A hundred chosen acolytes brought lyrium Enough to drown a city in chiming silver And slaves beyond counting to the temple In accordance with the designs of their gods.

Lyrium and souls were brought to the temple. Lyrium, souls, and blood.

Only, the Magisters did not find Dirthamen, once they entered the Golden City.

(11) Above them, a river of Light, Before them the throne of Heaven, waiting, Beneath their feet The footprints of the Maker, And all around them echoed a vast Silence.

They heard him.

(12) But when they took a single step Toward the empty throne A great voice cried out Shaking the very foundations Of Heaven and earth:

We know that this is not the Maker. The Maker, by this time, probably exists in a sundered state, sleeping, as all Titans are. This has to be someone in the Golden City. Someone who, perhaps, knew the Magisters were coming.

(13) And So is the Golden City blackened With each step you take in my Hall. Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting. You have brought Sin to Heaven And doom upon all the world. (14) Violently were they cast down, For no mortal may walk bodily In the realm of dreams, Bearing the mark of their Crime: Bodies so maimed And distorted that none should see them And know them for men.

The Magisters were cast out, all of them blighted. But nothing could have attacked them, and we know from all the Dragon Age games that simply being around the blight isn't enough to get out protagonists sick with it.

Someone had to be there to inflict it upon them—someone who Corypheus, Conductor of Silence, would have been expecting to find, and dismayed to not be finding. He looked upon the throne of his god, after all, and found it empty.

Dirthamen is the only one of the Evanuris whose vallaslin has evolved over time. The first one evokes imagery of a broken gate on its forehead, surrounded by triangles: a symbol for the Veil.

The second, on Bellara, is newer—and not available to the player. Unique to her. It looks as though it features two birds on either side of a third eye. An all-seeing third eye.

We know a few things about Dirthamen, from all of this speculation. The "secrets" that Dirthamen kept were likely spirits and demons, which he bound to trees, animals, and people. His archdemon, Dumat, made demands on his behalf for endless "secrets" to get into the Golden City: endless spirits.

Dirthamen may have been the only one of the Evanuris to break free of his prison on his own, blighting the Magisters Sidereal.

But he would not be the only one to manipulate the blight, and he would not be the only one to escape his confines.

---

As ever, if you got this far, thank you!! I look forward to reading any additions or questions people might have, as ever!!

Also: I am trying my hardest not to consume full-game-review spoilers! As these reviews have just gone live today (10/28), I am not reading my notifications/replies, and am appearing here only to continue posting my theories.

But if you feel like sticking around anyway, stay tuned for: The Tragedy of the Evanuris pt. 3: Pestilent Doom Upon All the World.

[lollytea]

Unfortunately due to TOH being cut short by Disney a lot of character arcs and more storyline could not be fully fleshed out and finished as Dana had to wrap up everybody’s story in just a few episodes

I'm fully aware that Disney's intervention is responsible for a lot of the plotlines getting suffocated. Which is why I don't think it's fair to go harassing crew members with "why didn't THIS happen??" and all that, because nobody really knows what they endured working on those final episodes and how much they had to cut and rewrite. But from things Dana has said, it was likely a very stressful and exhausting experience. So I don't like to make assumptions about the crew being incompetent. Nobody knows how the season WOULD have turned out if they had been granted full creative freedom and breathing room to develop it to their hearts content.

However, me not directing personal ire towards the crew doesn't mean that I think that the show is immune to criticism. Its flawed. It might not be entirely the crew's fault but that doesn't mean we can't talk about how it's flawed. If anything, I think acknowledging and dissecting its weaknesses is a good learning opportunity for what we should consider when creating our own stories.

Season 3 is a bit of a mess. There's good stuff. There's some less than good stuff. I think ultimately, as a story about Luz, King and Eda, it knocks it out of the park. When they were left with no other option, they decided to prioritize the writing of their three protagonists and I think that was the correct choice.

But I've been thinking about the three specials and how they stand on their own, quality wise, and honestly, there's valid criticism to be said that is completely unrelated to the shortening.

Bear in mind that the crew has known since Follies that the show was getting cut short and they needed to start wrapping up loose ends. So it's not like they started writing Thanks to Them believing it was the first of 20+ more episodes. They knew that they were going to be writing a 40 minute special. So the execution had to be tight, concise and satisfying, right?

Well...it was....weird. Definitely fun. Good for fan service. The main hook was the witch kids navigating the human world in their dorky witchy way. And initially, that was enough. But once the novelty of that wears off and we focus on the plot of the special, what do we have left?

Thanks to Them is very guilty of lore baiting. Dropping in stuff that they know damn well that they're never going to elaborate on, leaving the audience with a feeling of intrigue that is never going to be satiated.

I personally think that is just bad writing. They knew they didn't have a full season 3 and rather than rewrite the means of which the hexsquads finds answers, they still made the choice to drop in what are most likely vague ideas from the initial draft.

I think, if they had no intention of developing it in future specials, there was no point to that scene of Masha telling the Wittebane story. It was just...filler. To stretch out the running time. Which is....kind of precious. Only 40 minutes. If you're obsessive enough about lore, you already knew the story from the Hollow Mind paintings. That scene was for casual viewers. Which is useless, because there's no point in casual viewers learning about Evelyn and Caleb because it never went anywhere.

Also. I personally think that if there was any value to learning the Wittebane lore without making it plot relevant, it would be for the sake of character development. We wanted to know how the kids would react to this knowledge.

Well how did they react?

*Shrug* They seemed a little unnerved but they kinda forgot about it the second they got off the hayride.

So what was the point of all that? What was the point?

Is it because we wanted "Goodbye, Evelyn," to be more of gut punch?

Was it worth it? Was "Goodbye, Evelyn" worth it? We know fucking nothing about Evelyn.

I think the rebus was a stupid and lazy means for the kids to discover Titan's blood. You introduce this mysterious object that was hidden under the floorboards and then you just use it as a plot device.

When the kids uncover the rebus and find the secret code inside, the viewer is not thinking about how it can be used as a means to an end (finding blood) The viewer is thinking "what the fuck is that thing and how did it get there and how did Flapjack know it was there?"

Questions that will not be answered <333

ALL IM SAYING is that I'm sure the crew could have come up with another way for the kids to have a Titan's blood treasure hunt. Maybe they could have dug a little more into the history of Gravesfield and follow leads on weird things happening on this one spot in the graveyard (which turns out to be because there's magical energy there, revealed when Luz realizes she can use glyphs)

I just think that if you're gonna leave the mystery box a mystery, you shouldn't have included it.

And I know. Its subtle storytelling. There's elements of what could have been a far more complex story and they're leaving hints of it here and there.

Well the thing about that is I think the hints are very unsatisfying and weaken the episode's plot significantly.

Also I don't think they should get to just pick and choose what parts of the lore are subtle and what parts are ham-fisted.

YES we are going to be reminded like three times that Flapjack is being secretive and hiding things from Hunter.

NO we are never going to get a payoff for that because he gets shanked and dies first.

BUT!! BUT!! If you squint, its IMPLIED that Flapjack belonged to Evelyn and blah blah blah

You don't get to rub things in the audience face and then choose to be all subtle about it at the last minute. Pick one or the other.

Anyway....I think they could have written Thanks to Them as more of an intriguing and suspenseful horror mystery where they spend forty minutes gathering clues and everything finally clicks together at the very end. That's not what we got.

We got a very weak attempt on the Hexsquad's part to be little detectives, but like a minute of screen time was devoted to them dicking around in a library, a costume shop, and a zoo.

I don't think we can blame the shortening for this.

[iren-n-ire]

Astrology Observation 3

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🚩 Take note that I'm not a professional astrologer, I just share what I experienced (or observed).

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈

Sagittarius in the money house (2nd house) spend their money for knowledge or experience. They can also gain money through foreigners? Do abroad job/s or through social media where you can have foreign fans more (if you're into entertainment industry or social media influencer)

👠 Likes to buy imported or products that is not in their country.

♦ Can have luck in money or material things even if not directly Sagittarius' ruler sits here

🟥 Loves, likes, or prefers to buy in dozens or many than little. In short, BIG SPENDERS, BIG SHOPPERS. Again, Jupiter is the ruler of ♐ that's why its big.

❤ Can be a good reviewer of products because again they buy for it for insight. The Gentlemen and Women of reviews, go open your own review channel in YouTube.

💄Rich people in your area, even if you're not literally rich. You can buy the things you want or get it for free. You might belong in the middle class hierarchy or up.

🅰️ If you belong to the low class, you are given opportunities by the people from the upper classes or other people in general who have the money to buy or give you something.

🫀You can be accepted to any job you want and a magnet of job opportunities

🌹These people can also attract generous people who have the it money, you can open a shop and you'll get customers who lives far away from your home.

⛑️ You might also see this person everywhere lol if you're the type of person who goes out frequently. They're like a cashier girl at 1pm, waiter at 3pm, & clubbing at 10pm and if you don't see them they're probably doing their otherworldly stuffs at home or the chores they are just forced to which leads to the next one.

💢 Don't force them to give you money, they rather do it themselves. They're generous but, that doesn't mean they should spoil you all the time

🍎The spend their money for themselves, if they spend their money on you, consider yourself 🍀

💔 They want to be rich or expand their money to the next level.

I have this and I spend some of my money just to try foods or things. All of the above are also my experiences. Buying is also a form of experience which gives you knowledge. To be honest, I don't want to go college (because of the course I'm forced to have because of life) but I have the college privilege from my aunt.

┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

❤️‍🔥FOLLOW ME HERE❤️‍🔥

Facebook Pages: IREN & IRE

Instagram: iren_n_ire

Pinterest: iren_n_ire

Twitter: iren_n_ire

Tiktok: iren_n_ire

Tumblr: iren_n_ire

YouTube: iren_n_ire

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

❤ Thank you! See you on my next post! ❤

💋Be you, Do you, You are You! 💋

[pureastrologywisdom]

𝔗𝔥𝔢 12 𝔰𝔦𝔤𝔫𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔱

This isn't going to be strictly informative in the typical way my posts are, however I believe this is some important information to take forward when looking at your chart.

This may seem like a bit of a rant, but it's more just to put this conversation out there.

I have seen many people hating on specific signs or elements on certain platforms. Of course yes, each sign can have a 'bad manifestation’ or as i would say a ‘less developed version’. But I would like to point out there is also good in each of the signs. 

I must also say, that if you are hating on a specific sign, you are potentially hating on/ are uncomfortable with a specific energy within yourself. This sign will rule one particular area in your chart. To truly understand your natal chart you must learn how each of the signs shows up for you and how you express them. 

I am not saying you can’t have a placement that rubs you the wrong way, or you don’t get along the best with. Maybe you see things within that placement that you don’t agree with ot can actively witness you are like or don’t want to be like. You can aknowledge the bad version of a placement someone you know or let may portray, however to pain the rest of the people with that same placement with the same brush would be unfair. 

However once again it’s the hating on a specific sign, without considering the good ‘version’ that can also be brought out with this placement, that is harmful here. 

Not everyone does this, but I have been seeing trends, more on other platforms where people have been so quick to shame certain placements ir signs because they had one or two bad experiences. 

Also in this post, I don't mean the people who do it as a joke or satire in some way, we all joke about the negative parts of the signs to some extent. This is specifically aimed at posts or videos I've seen just straight up bashing a specific sign.

Also when you look within your own chart or get a reading from other professionals, you will notice there is this ‘good’ and ‘bad’ potential energy within yourself. Now as I say, it’s up to you which archetype of the sign you portray, maybe it’s a mix depending on your mood or situation. But I know no one would want anyone else to solely pull out the bad bits and say ‘that’s you’. 

Another things that is great is understanding this potential more negative side you can portray, if once again in the wrong circumstances or undeveloped/ unaware. There shouldn’t be shame in learning these things, but appreciation, awareness and understanding. 

Astrology is supposed to be a tool for knowledge and healing. 

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think about this

Pureastrowisom <3

[alpaca-clouds]

Be Kind

Yesterday I had an experience, that reminded me of this. As I already wrote: I spend most of my day yesterday in the hospital, because I am finally going on testosterone for my transition and they wanted to do all those exams that were needed before. Now, I was not announced before yesterday, because the endocrinologist wanted to see me first. But he gave me then a ton of forms to run around at the giant hospital complex to get my checks done. For the most part it was no problem. They could fit me in somewhere. In fact I never waited more than 15 minutes at any given station. With the exception of x-rays. They were crowded. So, I waited for a while, only to be told that they were sorry, but they could not fit me (who was not an emergency) into their schedule. I just shrugged and went: "Alright. Nothing to be done about that. Don't worry." And the nurse looked at me in utter shock. Because, apparently, everyone else that day that had been sent away had thrown a hissy-fit at them. And guess what. Instead of me having to wait like 10 days for the x-rays, they ended up finding an appointment for me today.

Why am I telling you this? Because this is a thing that recently has happened a lot to me. And that looking back has probably happed throughout most of my life.

See, the German state agency workers have often the reputation to be unkind and all-too happy to treat you as badly as possible, for example when you need unemployment or disability benefits. Or when you have to pay taxes. All those things. Yet, for the most part, I rarely ever have encountered one of those unkind workers at the agencies.

I have no doubt that they do exist. But I also think the problem is blown completely out of proportion. I think that for the most part... those people are service workers. And as such they are often treatet unkind - reacting unkind in return. But if you are kind to them, 9 out of 10 will be actually nice to you, too. Many going out of their way to find a solution to whatever problem you might have.

It is why I put in Waymond above. Because it is the same with him. When they have problems with the IRS, he is kind towards Deidre, who then grants them kindness in return. Because it turns out that people are more likely to be kind to people, who themselves are kind and do not look down on them for their often not even chosen but given profession.

I know that interacting with government agencies is frustrating in many regards. Especially in a hyper-bureaucratic country like Germany. Same goes with other stuff. Be it like at the hospital. Be it with the hotline of your phone company because they somehow have booked too much from your bank account. Be it with some other companies.

Always keep on mind: The person you interact with in those scenarios often is not personally responsible for your issues, but works within a system that has been designed to work against both them and you. Chances are good, that they had to deal with at least six Karens today throwing a hissy-fit for some other thing that they were not responsible for.

So... Just be kind. Be it in the knowledge that it will make their day. Or be it for the purely egoistical reason that if you are kind to them, they are more likely to try everything to help you out with whatever problem you have.

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

Hope this isn’t somehow an offensive question, but what’s the difference between Irish travelers and Romani people? I thought ‘travelers’ was another term for Romani, and that they were essentially the same thing? I’m not European so my knowledge of Roma people is all second hand

So, first of all, although I have some traveller ancestry (which is a whole separate complicated thing), I don't consider myself part of any of the groups covered by GRT and I didn't grow up within a traveller culture. I don't, unfortunately, know any Irish travellers on Tumblr, or I would direct this ask to them.

Irish travellers (also known as Mincéirí) are a distinct ethnic group who originate in Ireland. In UK, Irish and I believe EU law, Irish travellers have protections as an ethnic group.

Irish travellers have their own language and culture. The origin of Irish Traveller culture isn't entirely clear- possibly they are an ethnic group within Ireland who have never led a settled lifestyle OR they were group displaced from their land by English colonialism. However, they are genetically distinct from the "settled Irish" and are a separate ethnic group, legally and practically.

It's worth bearing in mind their language is a closed language and their culture, to an extent, is a closed culture.

Romani people are originally from the indian subcontinent, and travelled from India, through Asia, into Europe, and other parts of the world.

Both are nomadic groups, and they do have some cultural similarities, but in the UK at least, they regard themselves as separate racial groups (in fact, within the UK, there are multiple different groups of Romani as well, who regard themselves as somewhat separate) with distinct cultures- and I think it's really important to acknowledge that.

In the UK and Ireland they experience extremely high levels of prejudice, and they are sometimes grouped together under the heading of "GRT"- gypsy and romany travellers. This also includes other groups who live traveller lifestyles, but may not be genetically distinct from the settled population.

It's worth bearing in mind that some historical examples of prejudice, such as the holocaust specifically targeted Romani people only. However, in the UK, historically laws were made against "gypsies" and this therefore targeted both groups. Current issues, like the shortage of proper traveller sites, and the new laws against using stopping places and so on, and general prejudice target both groups. Generally, the same slurs are used to target both groups.

In the UK, historically, both groups have faced issues such as having their children removed and placed with settled families due to "homelessness".

Both groups are extremely discriminated against- sometimes surveys lump them in together, but a recent survey of ethnic minorities suggested that travellers (Irish and Romany together) experience the most racially motivated assaults of any ethnic minority in the UK. Which doesn't surprise me- I hear a lot of casual racism against travellers from people who'd never consider behaving that way towards any other ethnic group. P**** is the only racial slur I've ever actually heard used in my classrooms, for example, and I've heard it multiple times. It's also used as slang for stealing.

Surveys of educational outcomes distinguish between Romani and Irish travellers. Bear in mind it's difficult for these groups to access education if they live a traditional lifestyle. Romani children have the worst educational outcomes of any ethnic group in the UK, and Irish travellers are the second worst. The next lowest group is black-carribean, and their outcomes at GCSE are double that of Romani students. Irish travellers have outcomes which are less than 50% of the highest performing ethnic groups.

We know that Romani and Irish travellers are both disproportionately represented in the prison population in the UK. In Ireland, we know Irish travellers have a much lower life expectancy than other Irish groups.

Tl;DR- in the UK, travellers is a general term for anyone who travels, and this includes Irish travellers and Romani, who are both distinct ethnic/cultural groups.

[mornington-the-crescent]

I voted FDR in the poll because of well, the everything, and I was astonished to see how many people had chosen Nixon.

I know our education system is bad, but it was genuinely horrific to see all the other options in the single digits. For most of these people, the only bad thing they know about Nixon was watergate. I remember at least being taught about the internment camps in school, even if they neglected to mention who was president at the time.

FDR fancied himself king of America, and it's disheartening to know how few people realize how genuinely evil he was.

I mean, Nixon was on there mostly to prove that tumblr as a whole does not understand or remember history. Their knowledge of history comes from half-remembered public education, and from ahistorical and hysterical tumblr posts.

Don't get me wrong, Nixon did fucking suck.

He normalized trade relations with China, which ruined American manufacturing, sending countless American jobs overseas, and the rest of the world soon followed suit; that's why 90% of what you own is cheap and low-quality and made in China. Not to mention that the massive influx of foreign money is what led to the CCP being able to continue to prop itself up, when it otherwise would have collapsed under the weight of its own incompetence and inefficiency decades ago otherwise, like every other experiment with socialism inevitably does.

Then there's his taking America off of the gold standard, which permitted the massive expansion of the money supply, which led to the inflation of the 1970's, and all subsequent inflations, since the main safeguard and deterrent to inflationary monetary policy has been removed.

And then there's the incredibly underhanded tactics that he used to to get his political opposition: See, in spite all of his hatred for hippies and the Black Panthers, you can't ban ideologies or political movements. But, both groups tended to smoke marijuana. So what do you do? You stoke latent anti-Mexican sentiment in the American populace, and paint weed as a demon drug that makes people promiscuous and a danger to society. And once it was criminalized, well, now he had all the excuse he needed to crack down on certain groups who opposed him. He wasn't throwing them in jail for their ideology; he was throwing them in jail for the reefer! Totally different! The "War on Drugs" is total bullshit, and like all attempts at prohibition in this country, it just led to a greater amount of the "banned" item in increasing potency and availability, while creating a robust criminal underclass to supply the prohibited good.

And we can't forget that he ordered the bombing and invasion of Cambodia and Laos, two countries which had the misfortune of simply being next to Vietnam. He even ran on a platform of ending the war in Vietnam, and while the peace talks were already started by the time he was elected, it took four more years for America to finally withdraw from a war it had no business being involved with in the first place.

He weaponized the FBI and IRS against political enemies, keeping tabs on anyone that he thought was against him, spying on and even illegally wiretapping opponents. He, like so many others, tried to consolidate more and more power into the Executive branch of the government, outside the normal separation of powers. His election strategy was to openly court racists who were mad about desegregation.

And, of course, I'd be remiss if I forgot to mention Tricky Dick's Wet 'n' Wild Water Heist of 1967. Leave the water in the Reflecting Pool alone, man.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

[I have a silly idea of Batman recruiting Crane when he was still a professor because Crane was the best on his field and he needed psychiatric knowledge to help with a particular rought case. Scarecrow is already a criminal but no one knows who he is]

Jonathan: Can't I at least go back to my office and check if it's locked? I let my computer logged at all times and a student may use it to change their grade.

*Bruce sends him a look*

Jonathan: What? It happens. I was on lockup so Jeremiah could change his grade on former professor Strange's old computer multiple times. Now I always told him "why take a class on criminal psychology if you have such a weak stomach for Hugo work tales, Miah" and he would go "well my family has this Asylum" and our grades came and his was down and he was soo scared of disapointing his family. It's one of my favorite memories really. So lil old Alyce god bless her soul saw Miah crying and me failing to confort him and she always had a soft spot for Miah so she said "you know I heard that Strange never locks his door and his computer is always logged on" and at first Miah wouldn't do it, he was afraid of getting caught, fear is a very strong motivator, but you already know that, don't you, Batman? Stricking fear on the hearth of the criminals. Anyway, the best way to fight fear it appeared was with more fear as being remembered of the fear of disapoiting his old man was all it took to overcome his fear of Strange's ire. Long story short Miah decided to go. I of course offered to help and he was "you will? But your grades are good?"" and I simply reminded him that his weren't and he was "Thank you, Jon" and we did. We keept doing it the whole semester. I have no idea how Hugo never noticed... What was my point again? Oh yeah, this things happe, Dark Knight, and I pride myself of being a fair teacher. I may have being permissive of cheating as a student but never as a professor, I love Miah but we all known he would be better off teaching or working at the hospital, maybe opening a pratice not in Arkham and he wouldn't be if I didn't help him cheat. I don't want a repetition of that.

Batman: That's certainly a nobble cause, Dr. Crane but I'm afraid-

Jonathan: Afraid! We are all afraid. Now tell me, Crussader what are you afraid off?

Batman: *suspicious* Excuse me?

Jonathan: uh... *internally: dammit Crane that was too obvious* uh... bonding exercise *internally: nice save*

Batman:... Bonding exercise?

Jonathan: Yes, to help inspire trust and calm the body during a stressfull situation. I suppose I started to harshly what about you favorite color?

Batman: I understand that situation might be scary for you but I would preffer if you refrain from bonding activities.

Jonathan: *whispering* social interations make him nervous interesting

Batman: I didn't hear you?

Jonathan: Sorry, I'm a little out of it, I suppose, you are right is merely a bit of fear, it is a rather unusual stiuation. It almost fells like visiting Gotham for the first time all over again.

Batman: I imagine you liked the experience the first time though?

Jonathan: And why is that?

Batman: Because you stayed.

Jonathan: To be honest I find Gotham absolutly terrifying. It's creepy atmosphere, the gothic architeture, the almost permanent fog in the sky, the constant bad weather *raising an eyebrow at Batman* the crime. Gotham is a place where all urban legends are true! There really is poison in the water mains and we truly have crocodiles in the sewers and clowns wanting to kill you.

Batman: Than why stay?

Jonathan: Maybe I just didn't had anywhere to come back to or maybe I just like the fear or maybe and there is the real answer here maybe I just find the people of Gotham truly fascinating. How brave they are in the mist of everything.

Batman: I suppose.

Jonathan: Suppose? *he laughs* Only in Gotham you would find an old lady who would stand up in front of a deranged serial killer like Victor Zsaas and order him to finish his target already cause he was stopping the traffic. Or a kid who face to face with local terrorist Edward Nygma dared him to solve his puzzle. Only in Gotham a man would dress up like a bat to fight crime. We don't have it anywhere else. Certainly not in Georgia! It's inspiring. It makes me wonder what are the gothamites afraid of.

[blackjackkent]

Oh snap, look who else is here hanging out at the Caress.

You've got a LOT of explaining to do, mister. >:|

"Nine Hells - you followed me all the way here? What could you possibly want with me now?"

First of all, don't flatter yourself - we happened to be here for other far more significant reasons than you. However...

"I found the explosive toy bears you 'donated' to the refugees."

Hector already didn't like this guy before he learned he was donating explosives to innocent children, so he's definitely back in intimidation mode and his voice is cold as ice. It's a weird contrast to the perky music playing in the Caress, the energized voices around them.

Arfur blanches. "What? How? Nine Hells..." He struggles to get a grip on himself, tries to smile placatingly. "Whatever you think you know, I'm sure some gold would help you to forget..."

Hector glares at him, offended that he would even suggest it. "Keep your gold," he says coolly. "I want answers."

"I'm just a simple toymaker," Arfur whimpers pleadingly. "An artisan. I don't know anything! They would have killed me if I refused to rig the toys." His eyes drop and he hunches his shoulders with a soft whine. "And they're definitely going to kill me now..."

"They?" Hector presses, unimpressed by the man's excuses. "Who's this 'they'?"

"I can't tell you!" Arfur yelps. "I-- *won't* tell you!"

Someone has clearly been at great pains to make Arfur very afraid of them. Unluckily for 'them', whoever 'they' are... Arfur is also pretty afraid of Hector at this point, and Hector is more than fed up with the people of this city willing to sacrifice innocents and brutalize those in need for their own gain.

[INTIMIDATION] "Tell me who 'they' are," Hector says, his voice dropping to a chilly growl, "or you'll be dead before they even get to you."

"All right, all right," Arfur squeaks, backing down at once. "Just don't hurt me." He begins to speak faster, nervous and twitchy. "The teddy bears were an experiment - my greatest invention. A clever little device in their chest allows them to speak. But there's more. Smokepowder, inside the device. I collect packages from Felogyr's Fireworks in the Lower City, and stuff the bears with it." He cowers under Hector's unblinking stare. "Not because I want to - because I have to! Otherwise they'll kill me!"

"You still haven't told me who 'they' are," Hector points out, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know who's in charge," Arfur stammers. "But it starts at the fireworks shop. That's where the packages come from. Go there, tell them Uncle Felogyr sent you, and they'll show you the smokepowder. Lots of it!" He swallows nervously. "There, I told you waht you wanted to know. Now will you let me go?"

He holds out a piece of paper from his pocket between trembling fingers and looks at Hector pleadingly.

Narrator: His plea comes with an offering - a pass, granting you access to the Lower City.

Hector hesitates. His instinct at first is to laugh harshly, reject the bribe, tell the man that for the crimes he has committed, he should go to jail.

Two things give him pause, though. First - this man is not the mastermind, but a terrified underling, and (to Hector's knowledge) no one has actually died to this plot; they got to it in time. He offered forgiveness to Madeline in the Shadowlands for something no better, and his personal dislike of Arfur should not be allowed to influence his judgment.

And second - sending someone to jail in the current state of the city is a more dangerous concept than it might be in easier times. The city is watched over by Gortash's steel automatons, and the Flaming Fist who all have tadpoles in their heads. Hector has no idea what the current state of the judicial system is here, but it is likely no better than the law enforcement.

He'll go deal with the masterminds in the Lower City - with this pass. And Arfur, hopefully, will have the sense not to draw his ire again.

"Get out of my sight," he mutters, taking the pass and pocketing it.

"Oh," Arfur gasps gratefully. "I will. Thank you! Thank you so much!" And he turns and barrels out of the room at top speed.

[cult-of-the-rizz]

more archive thoughts on chimera for those who are interested in my lamb!!!!

Leshy: "Your persistence is beginning to ANNOY me, little Lamb. You may think yourself clever. You may think yourself righteous in your service to HIM. But you should not be so trusting of the Chained One. Oh, well. It's too late for talk. One such as you deserves no absolution. This will not end well for you."

Chimera: "There is no trust between outsiders. Only exchanges of blood and power. You bishops do not understand there is no such relationships among your kind, and it did not end well for you. And it will not."

Chimera is not endlessly hostile to the bishops or narinder. Rather, they want the five to experience the despondent loneliness and fear that comes with being one of the hunted. A karmic payment to the lost lambs of the past.

"when you reach your worst and desperately raise your head to the heavens hoping something will see your suffering, I will be looking down. Depending how far you've fallen into depravity, maybe you will be saved"

Even if the bishops realize they've been manipulated and are basically being used in the cult for chimera's benefit, chimera is just going to look at them like "and does this bother you? To be used as pawns for a higher power? Do you stay awake at night in fear you may be culled when your usefulness wanes, do you abhor the structures that force you to bow to power? Hm. How comedic, yet tragic, don't you think?"

On Leshy recruitment: About chimera hunting the bishops after killing them the first time and dropping banger soliloquies with the same bug eyed expression they have 24/7. Thinking the leshy encounter goes like

Leshy: "Time to put an end to this... frivolous masquerade... time to put an end... End... this..."

Chimera: "Why still angered so? Thine ire burns for a visage of myself that does not exist, yet one remains ignorant. Bearer of the red crown I may be, but in his image not. But one cannot see with thine own eyes, is that not so? Cast your sightless gaze to my voice and I will bestow upon thee new eyes. For what the Red Crown takes it cannot return, but remake. As death claims, rebirth gives."

On Kallamar recruitment: Chimera goes to recruit kallamar first. Like not just hunt him repeatedly in limbo, but actually give him the option to put his power and knowledge to good use. They're a cult leader and can tell he's the most vulnerable of the four, given the fact his stubborn bishop pride has all but fucked off since chimera ran their third crusade through anchordeep.

They immediately clock how vulnerable and malleable he is right now, the perfect recruit for a cult. He fears the red crown and it's dominion over death and whether or not chimera can actually control that yet doesn't matter, he's still afraid of dying.

But chimera can't get a word in edgewise between kallamar fighting and literally begging to spare his immortal life and they realize, "god he's a fucking loser but that's a good thing. For me."

In order to turn kallamar's opinion on them as the new red crown bearer, chimera restores his ears and preaches to him:

"Once revered bishop of the deep, lie down one's fear and hear my voice, for this will grace my lips but once. Tie thine loyalty to me and I will protect thee from death. Thine ears are for keeps, but will do little good when death tolls and comes to reap. This offer I bestow in exclusivity, choose wisely dear bishop."

On Heket recruitment: Chimera also manipulates heket but not as underhandedly. More like "your family has moved on and your stubborn hatred is the only thing that is hurting them now. You may not feel the pain each time you're cut down but they do. Come, and join me, or doom the ones you loved to suffer watching as I tear your wretched body apart for all eternity".

Heket hits them with the "hasn't my family suffered enough!?" And chimera smacks back with a "Hasn't mine?".

On Narinder recruitment: After the final battle with narinder, faced with the option of taking him into the cult or killing him, chimera continues attacking narinder. They pull out his three eyes and leave him wounded in other ways, treating him in a nearly sadistic manner by hurting him and stepping back to leave him crawling or stumbling to attack in retaliation without his sight and failing to do so. it isn't until he's fully broken and on his knees, begging to either be killed or saved bc this is cruel torture, that chimera takes nari into the cult.

Nari remains without his eyes for some time while his stubborn uncooperativeness wears off. In time, he becomes... Neutral to his situation. No, he's not chained and trapped, but he is not the god he once was. Even if he found a way away from chimera and the cultists he doesn't have the power to really do anything but survive poorly.

Narinder is rewarded for his good behavior (ex. not trying to kill chimera or sow seeds of dissent among followers) with his eyes, but when he first opens them and realizes he's still without sight he goes full attack cat mode. Screaming at chimera that this isn't fair, while it calmly tells him "a deal with death is seldom fair" and nari is once again, reminded of the absolute monster he created and feels both disgusted and enamored with such a level of cruelty, one after his own rotted heart. Naturally he'd fucking kill himself if chimera was a lovey dovey world peace bringing type of cult leader, but realizing that they are still capable of merciless cruelty, he figures man...this might be kind of fun.

At some point after taking nari's crown and blinding him permanently, chimera and nari have a Convo where chimera tells him that none of the five were actually gods in totality. Nari gets huffy and pissed that they called his family fake gods essentially and chimera hits back with "if it weren't true, the red crown would not rest upon my brow".

Nari doesn't get what they mean and gossips to the others that chimera called them fake bitches and when one of them confronts chimera about what they actually meant, chimera just flat out tells them they had the power of gods but the heart and minds of mortals otherwise they would not have loved narinder so much as to imprison him. And narinder would have killed the four when he had the chance.

Chimera also literally points at chemach and her brothers like "do you see how there is no love lost in her imprisonment? They were born of the same clutch yet their resolve as gods is sound".

[tucsonhorse]

Right at the end of his term Trump signed an executive order that would have made thousands more federal employees considered to be political appointees. These aren't like the big cabinet positions, or even like the postmaster general, this would be like "lawyer 25 who works for the IRS checking billionaires paperwork" and "manager D in the Medicare department who oversees a couple teams that sort out issues".

This is a BIG deal because ya know how most federal services just keep going and functioning from president to president? That would be fucked. This would mean that if the random manager in the Medicare department is a Democrat and there's a Republican president, they can just fire the manager. There's 20 years of experience and knowledge gone. And if that happens with one person then yeah, it will make the other employees' lives more difficult but you probably won't notice a difference. But take that times a hundred and whole social support systems are going to collapse. And likely take another 10 years to build back to full functioning. Except that in that time the Republicans would continue to slash budgets and fire anyone who looked at them funny.

And this is a single, *small* change that barely got talked about. He made hundreds of these, they were so constant that the media couldn't even cover them all, much less your average person actually stay aware.

And THAT is why I don't give a shit how much you hate Dems, fucking vote for Harris so we don't have to go through 4 more years of Trump. He'd probably start WW3.

I really think people have forgotten just how bad things were under the Trump Administration. Literally every day there was news about some service being cut or someone terrible appointed somewhere they shouldn't be or what have you. He constantly flirted with WW3 and military dictatorship. It was such a blur of badness that there aren't big standouts for people to point to to make him "the XYZ president." it was everything. all the time. Why do we not remember this.

[nrtc]

Accounting and Tax Preparation Stone Mountain: Save Money and Reduce Stress

Accounting And Tax Preparation Stone Mountain: Don't let tax season overwhelm you. 

Accounting And Tax Preparation Stone Mountain: Our experts handle everything for a smooth, stress-free experience. 

Accounting And Tax Preparation Stone Mountain: We offer comprehensive accounting and tax services tailored to your unique needs.

Unfold the Benefits of Professional Accounting and Tax Preparation

Managing your finances can be a complex task, especially when tax season rolls around. Here at NTRC Income Tax and Accounting, we understand the challenges individuals and businesses face in Stone Mountain. That's why we offer a comprehensive suite of accounting and tax preparation services designed to save you money, reduce stress, and ensure you remain compliant with all tax regulations.

Discuss Your Options with a Knowledgeable Stone Mountain Tax Professional

Our team of experienced and qualified tax professionals in Stone Mountain is committed to providing you with the highest level of service. We take the time to understand your unique financial situation and goals, allowing us to develop a personalized tax strategy that maximizes your deductions and minimizes your tax liability.

Whether you're a business owner, an individual taxpayer, or somewhere in between, we have the expertise to handle all your accounting and tax needs. Here's a glimpse into what we can do for you:

FAQs: Your Questions Answered by Our Stone Mountain Tax Experts

What tax services do you offer in Stone Mountain? We provide a variety of tax services in Stone Mountain, including tax preparation, tax planning, tax resolution, and IRS representation.

How can I benefit from hiring a professional accountant in Stone Mountain? A professional accountant can save you time and money by ensuring your taxes are filed accurately and efficiently. They can also provide valuable tax planning advice to help you minimize your tax liability in the future.

What are the qualifications of your Stone Mountain tax preparers? Our tax preparers are all highly qualified and experienced professionals. They stay up-to-date on the latest tax laws and regulations to ensure you receive the most accurate and beneficial tax preparation services possible.

A Smooth Transition to Financial Peace of Mind

Tax season doesn't have to be a source of stress and anxiety. By partnering with a reputable accounting and tax preparation firm in Stone Mountain like NTRC Income Tax and Accounting, you can gain the peace of mind that comes with knowing your finances are in good hands.

Don't wait until the last minute to get your taxes in order. Contact NTRC Income Tax and Accounting in Stone Mountain today to schedule a free consultation. We look forward to helping you achieve your financial goals!

Call us Now! 404-298-9413

Let our experienced tax professionals in Stone Mountain handle your tax preparation Stone Mountain and tax services Stone Mountain needs. We'll ensure your tax return is filed accurately and efficiently, maximizing your deductions and minimizing your tax burden.

[annjiru]

♫

↪ 𝚂𝙴𝙽𝙳 “ ♫ ” 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝙼𝙴 𝚃𝙾 𝙻𝙸𝚂𝚃 𝟹 - 𝟻 𝚂𝙾𝙽𝙶𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙸 𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙾𝙲𝙸𝙰𝚃𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴𝚂 , * bonus points if receiver specifies lyrics

Minimal - Role Model

There's too much going on I wish the world would end But it keeps going on Think that we should keep it Minimal, minimal, let's keep it Minimal, minimal, no talking Minimal, minimal, let's keep it Minimal, minimal, let's

[ with the potential dynamic we've begun discussing, i feel like this song aptly conveys the new status quo between them. Angeal wouldn't deign to act on his feelings if he catches them and will just try to compartmentalize and move on from whatever happens, kind of just repeating to himself his same old mantra about upholding his honor as SOLDIER first and foremost. it would definitely be one of the first times he'd experience the lines potentially blurring between his sense of duty and his personal feelings, which is jarring because before this he was of the opinion he could keep those two realms separate. it sounds naive, but that's the mindset he'd likely have. still, every so often you can see the cracks start to form in his facade, say if something were to happen to Jae or if they end up pursuing something or someone else after they connect ]

What I've Done - Linkin Park

Put to rest What you thought of me While I clean this slate With the hands of uncertainty So let mercy come and wash away What I've done I'll face myself To cross out what I've become Erase myself And let go of what I've done

[ something else we've discussed is that in getting close to each other, they're essentially trying to save each other from horror (broadly defined) and in turn demonstrate it's possible to save themselves. as in, they're desperately trying to escape their past and how much they're constrained by the hands they were dealt. but ultimately they have to confront the fact that it's impossible and then try to move forward with that knowledge. neither of them can "save" the other from anything, not from their past and certainly not from themselves. they can, however, have grace for each other and hope that they can spare the same sentiment for themselves whenever they introspect }

Exit Music for a Film - Radiohead

Breathe, keep breathing Don't lose your nerve Breathe, keep breathing I can't do this alone . . . And you can laugh A spineless laugh We hope your rules and wisdom choke you Now we are one in everlasting peace We hope that you choke, that you choke

[ this song in particular reminds me of the series of events that are triggered by Angeal's desertion. as we've plotted, Angeal gives Jae almost no indication about his true intentions and doesn't even disclose that he's been in contact with Genesis. he doesn't seek them out for their opinion and just disappears without a trace in Wutai. i imagine that the second set of lyrics i quote is a manifestation of the ire and betrayal that everyone feels, but especially Jae since by then they've grown so close]