#and some evil government folk try to capture them for study

[rayveewrites]

So who wants to hear about my extremely weird Hermitcraft AU? Anyone? Too bad, I'm talking about it anyway and y'all can't stop me.

So, you know the fantasy trope of "an ancient super-advanced civilisation that disappeared off the face of the planet/went extinct due to hubris/got wiped out by a plague/etc"? Yeah. That.

...Let me explain.

In this case, the ancient civilisation was, in fact, Players. Players came in a variety of shapes, sizes, species, etc. Humans, Mob Hybrids, Werefolk, Cyborgs, Shapeshifters, assorted Halloween monsters, full-on robots, aliens, technically-not-aliens-but-basically-aliens... the list goes on. Now, what made someone a Player was never particularly well-defined due to sheer variety, but there were a few common threads. Players could break, pick up and place blocks, they could use chests, crafting tables and their own inventories, they could respawn in non-hardcore worlds, and they had a certain level of intelligence (about on par with, say, a human).

So, anyway. One of the most common threads were that Players- all Players- had access to magic. Typically this manifested in the form of inventories, crafting, being able to break/place solid 1m³ blocks, and, of course, enchanting, with Admin and Operator powers manifesting in various worlds for specific people. There were other forms of magic, of course, but learning those typically required (at minimum) a lot of study and/or a level of attunement to that particular branch of magic.

Players lived in communities, on worlds- in this AU, all the worlds were connected, but separated by the world borders. The various Hermitcraft worlds were some of these, as were 3rd Life and Legacy SMP and Hypixel and so on.

So, that's the worldbuilding preamble out of the way.

The worlds updated every now and then, and they added, tweaked and (occasionally) removed various mobs, blocks and mechanics. But this update, the Final Update... nobody's quite sure why, but it removed magic.

Not completely, of course. It set in slowly. Villagers no longer transformed when they were slain by zombies. The monsters of the night became less and less common. Portals became unreliable, until they eventually stopped working entirely. World borders started to fail (and I feel sorry for those unlucky enough to neighbour servers like 2b2t). Enchanting became more temperamental. Still, Players were adaptable. They could manage.

Until they couldn't. See, while Players had magic running through their systems, and had since the universe had existed, all of a sudden their children...didn't. The big problem was that most species- Hybrids, Werefolk, Spaeshifters, Aliens and not-exactly-aliens... their biology meant their children physically couldn't survive without magic. The one exception? Humans.

Already in the majority, humans were the only race who could still produce living children. But these children weren't Players. They had no inventories, no ability to use a crafting table or break a block with their bare fists like their forebears. They managed though, adapting and creating new ways to craft and smelt. And as time went on... they became the only ones left.

See, while Players were all long-lived, and capable of respawn, they did eventually experience the Final Death, from which there was no coming back (ignoring the occasional ghost, resurrection, or any necromancy-related shenanigans that were frankly extremely rare to begin with). And as time wore on, Players slowly died out, until all that were left were those who were Undying, and the Humans who weren't Players (it's worth mentioning that Immortals and Undying were two different peoples. Immortality was granted by the gods; when the gods faded, their gifts faded with them. Undying, on the other hand, were those who had experienced their Final Death but kept going. Undead beings, if you will). Undying could be killed, if their body was so badly maimed their soul had no choice to fly free, but not so badly they would just respawn; as Human societies developed, many Undead succumbed to this fate, either by choice or by force, acts done by fearful Humans.

Let's go forward, now.

It's been over two thousand years since the Players died out, and longer since the Final Update. There is only one world now, the world borders long forgotten. The Players are myths, legends; a mysterious race, now long gone, their builds crumbling to ruin. Nobody has encountered a zombie or creeper for millennia; the only spiders left are small and harmless, a far cry from the creatures once large enough for a skeleton to ride.

Archeologist study the ruins Players left behind. One city, Hermiton, was originally a camping ground for people to study the various ruins in the area; the crumbling remains of a vast monument, the stump of a tree larger than should ever have been possible, a gaping hole some claim leads to the centre of the Earth.

Near Hermiton lies a vast forest, beside the footprint of what had once been an immense mansion. The forest is a mixture of different species, most likely transplanted thousands of years ago. In that forest lives... something. A ghost? A spirit? a cryptid?

Whatever it is, it's not human. The locals claim she looks like a woman, with glowing eyes and long red hair. They call her the Green Lady, for the colour of her skin. They say her teeth are sharp, and that dark claws tip her fingers. They say her cheeks are hollow, her eyes are sunken- but that her gaze holds a fire no Human could hope to match. They say she lives in the forest, and that she is its guardian. They say that anyone who tries to chop down the trees, to clear the land, will face her wrath.

Outsiders will write this off as a modern-day folk tale, an urban myth. But believe it or not, there is something- someone- who dwells in the woods. Someone who brings those lost home. Someone who intercedes if there's danger. Someone who will run through the forest with a familiarity only born from centuries, millennia, of practice.

They don't know who she is. She's a guardian spirit. She's a ghost. Se's been there since the Ancients walked the land. They're not wrong about that last one. Once, she altered a sign planted by the one responsible for the enormous tree. Once, she had her arm sewn back on by the person who'd built the immense mansion. Once, she threatened the man who dug the vast hole, the one they say leads to the centre of the Earth.

She's a Player, the last one left. She's a zombie, the only one to still walk the Earth. She's alone. Once, she had a family, a home. She dwells near the ruins of that home, even now. Her kind, her kin; they're long gone. She's the only one to remain.

She waits for the day her family will return. It's written in the stars, in the fabric of the Universe. They will return. And she will be there, ready to greet them with open arms. For the Univers is kind. The Universe loves its Players.

Alone in the forest, ZombieCleo, Master of Puppets, the Undead and Undying, the Last Player, waits. She'll be there, when her family, her hermits, return.

Even if it takes another two thousand years.

[npc-guy]

Elf Inquisitor

People change over time, and with them change their cultures. Governments must adapt or be replaced, academia is constantly evolving with new thoughts and discoveries, technology always moves forward, and beliefs and ideals shift and grow. But these things take time, and for a while it may seem like things are certain and cemented. For some, that may even mean that anything that threatens these static states needs to be destroyed. Religions across the world have had to face change, but also they have had to face those that disagree with them from the outset. And what better defender both within or without than one trained to hunt and fight against those who disagree, who try to change the long-held beliefs of the faithful, and who would be enemies of one’s eternal deity? Today’s post is on another multi-centennial religious warrior, the Elf Inquisitor.

Now, I’m sure many of you will know immediately where I’m going with this: the age thing. Yes, you’re right, that is definitely a part of it. And I’m going to draw immediate comparisons to the elf cavalier that I wrote about previously. An elf inquisitor, like their cavalier counterparts, can live long enough to see their organization or their entire religion change over time. But, unlike the cavalier, the inquisitor has a more direct connection to their deity. I mean, they literally draw magic from this entity every day. As an inquisitor, these elves are charged with protecting their faith from all enemies. But what about change? For example, the war god Gorum in Pathfinder is Chaotic Neutral. This means that his followers can be Chaotic Neutral, Good, or Evil plus True Neutral. That’s four different alignments which mean four different ways to view one god. In simple terms, Gorum only cares about fighting and conflict. He doesn’t care about defending civilization and will happily watch cities crumble if it means it’s a good war, even though he is not evil. Conversely, he doesn’t necessarily advocate for wanton slaughter or torture because they aren’t truly war either. If your enemy can’t fight back, it’s not really victory and there is no glory.

Okay, so the reason I’m going into this whole thing about Gorum and the different viewpoints his followers can have is that this is a dilemma for any god in Pathfinder or any other RPG. Gods represent varying, and sometimes not entirely cohesive concepts. One of my favorite campaign journals, Tales of Wyre, deals with the problem of a paladin’s religion spiraling into a civil war because he questions whether a demon can be redeemed. The dogma said no, but a moment of doubt made him question dogma and eventually tear down hundreds of years of orthodoxy. This is what can happen, in my mind, with an elf inquisitor to some extent. If an inquisitor of Gorum is taught their whole life from a Chaotic Evil view of the Lord in Iron then they will see Chaotic Good followers of their god as heretics. But, the proof is as easy to see as a CG cleric of Gorum. That reality, though, can be hard to accept. And if this person has lived for multiple centuries, they may have seen what happens when a religion changes too much. Sure, it starts with a little more of one direction on the alignment chart, but then you have schismatic preachers pulling followers away from the established faith and towards new ideas. Some of them may advocate changing to a new god altogether. Before you know it, the temples are empty and YOU are the heretic.

Of course, that doesn’t need to happen. This is all hypothetical stuff and there’s no reason you have to have the religion(s) in your fantasy table-top RPG be complicated or anything close to real life. And this applies to the elf inquisitor, too, and this is where I can see another way to compare them to the elf cavaliers. They can be an example that can last through several generations of other races. The elf inquisitor can be there at the founding of the first temple, or have actually met the holy figure that was the original head of the faith. They could even be the author of religious texts and a clarifier in regards to what the people at the time actually meant in their writings. “For the last time, that passage is a METAPHOR. WHY in the WORLD would our goddess of peace actually advocate for setting people on FIRE?!” Most applicable to their chosen profession, though, are the more combat-oriented duties of both defense and attack (both metaphorical and literal). An elf inquisitor’s lifespan can give them a definite edge in regards to foresight and insight. They could be able to predict when a schismatic faction is most likely to turn violent or make an exodus away from the religion’s centers of power. Perhaps they have used their many years developing contacts, giving them eyes and ears to warn of any dangerous folk or creatures. They could also study their quarry, learning the details of how their enemies operate.

In conclusion, the elf inquisitor is an excellent option for a more zealous religious character in your Pathfinder campaign. It also allows for some grey area actions when dealing with religions, as the inquisitor can (like the cleric) be a step-removed from their deity’s alignment. They can be a character for excellent lore drops/bombs, having witnessed centuries of the existence of a particular faith and possibly having fought many more foes than an PC. And don’t forget they can be quite dangerous to their enemies. So if you need a character who literally saw the first stones of the ancient temples laid, fought in that famous battle centuries ago, or is mentioned in the passages of your fantasy world’s holy books, consider the elf inquisitor.

Lachlan Moray [Domain: Water]

The flame of the elven civilization burns brightly, but that is exactly the problem. So reliant have they become on the power of fire that they have forgotten that water is the source of life. Lachlan is one of the few who still understands this, and seeks to correct the imbalance. He acts as his holy element would, with ebbs and flows to erode the overwhelming might of the fire temples. One year he will be plan and plot, allowing the sycophants of heat and light to let down their guard. The next year he will slowly flood the public consciousness with the pollution that rivers, lakes, and even the seas are suffering. Always, Lachlan knows his limits and the limits of his fellow faithful, and knows not to push too hard or fast lest he be forced to defend himself and others. But he is an elf with the patience of deepest waters, and it will take many dousings to reduce the raging inferno.

Fortunist Aysel [Domain: Luck]

In the great multiverse you might eventually find yourself in a curious demiplane called Tornach which seems to be a single enormous casino. Within can be found every game of chance ever conceived, for this is the personal plane of a demigoddess of fortune. But do not attempt to cheat unless you would bring down upon you the Fortunists: mortal servants of the demigoddess who will immediately attempt your capture should they suspect any attempt at duplicity. Chief among these is Aysel, an elf who has lived longer than most games have on the material plane. In this world-sized casino she is the greatest deducer and keenest of eye, and also is one of the few who is trained to hunt against interlopers of strangling order or intolerable chaos. Aysel knows well that her lady represents a balance of fate and skill, control and its absence. So, she has watched, judged, and punished with luck on her side to keep this place of balance from being upended.

Nergüi of the Long Game [Domain: War]

The Lords of the Pit have plans laid throughout the world to bring glory to themselves and their Infernal Emperor. The Lord of Wrath has many mortal followers who serve his ends in the material plane, but Nergüi is an unusual case. While many others are simply soldiers or trained killers, Nergüi faithfully seeks to encourage the titular aspect of their lord. By hunting peacemakers, encouraging feuds, and sowing seeds of discontent and hatred, Nergüi gives their lord greater power and influence in the mortal world. Of course, they are more than capable of relishing in a true conflict, and in fact have both been responsible for and actively participated in multiple wars over the past few centuries.

[westfallingforchaol]

Fantasy (more specifically high fantasy) is one of those genres that I can never have enough of. Whether it’s television, the big screen, or books, fantasy is the one thing I always return to when I’m feeling uninspired or slump-y. And because I’m such a big fan of such a vast genre, I obviously have favorite tropes that I always turn towards. I’m pretty much always looking for fantasy books with these tropes, and most of my favorite books utilize them brilliantly. So, let’s get into it.

Royals living away from their homes; whether it’s because they’re hiding, in exile, or leaving voluntarily, this trope results in fantastic development & characterization.

Whether it’s because of an arranged marriage they’re trying to flee, or because their parents died in suspicious circumstances so they’re running to save themselves, royals leaving their homes and luxuries behind is one of my favorite tropes. Mainly because there are a myriad of discussions that can be had if this is the case. For one, leaders living sheltered lives behind the walls of their castles can never truly be good leaders; more often than not, the trope uses the opportunity to disguise said royal as a commoner. The royal lives amongst laypeople, makes acquaintances, begins to understand the struggles that they never would have had they stayed holed up in their previous life. This trope directly results in a well-rounded character, who – if or when they take back their home – can be a leader for the people.

A good example here is Jon Snow from A Song of Ice & Fire. Despite not being a royal, he’s still lived his entire life as the child of one of the most powerful people in the kingdom. He has a nice room in a big castle, people who listen to him; he has luxuries, teachers, trainers, a family, a home. But he has a very skewed understanding of honor, responsibility and leadership until he joins the Night’s Watch and gets to know people from all over the Seven Kingdoms. He’d thought he would be surrounded by brave men full of honor, but is instead forced to call criminals his brothers. He learns about the conditions that lead poverty-stricken people to commit crimes, like stealing food or money, and comes to understand that there are different types of bravery, different types of honor. This genuine understanding of the plight of common folk, their wants, needs, and the things he saw while living away from luxury are what give him the upper hand in becoming a good ruler. He’s developed from the first book – from a kind, generous young man who was mostly sheltered and ignorant, to a kind, generous young man who knows more, who’s understood more, who can become the leader for the people instead of a leader because of blood.

E X A M P L E S

Schools. Give me all the schools in fantasy books. I don’t care if you’re studying about how fast horses decompose- just give it to me.

I love fantasy schools, and Hogwarts is obviously the greatest school of all-time, but its existence seems to be detrimental to other fantasy series with schools. Mainly because no matter how different the school is, every new fantasy series that contains one is automatically compared to Harry Potter. Which is awful, because fantasy leaves so much room for so many different types of schools.

There could be schools that teach magic, obviously, or there could be schools that teach history. What about schools that teach etiquette? Schools that teach royals how to behave royally? Law? Politics? What about assassin schools (those are always awesome, let’s be real).

A Song of Ice & Fire has the Citadel where maesters learn several crafts to become learned; The Seven Realms series has Oden’s Ford, that teaches etiquette, magic, and several other trades. Like I said, there is infinite wiggle room when it comes to schooling in fantasy. It doesn’t have to be a traditional school setting either – it could be training, or tournaments where lessons are taught, or tutoring in history. Just give me more schools in fantasy! And for the love of God – while you’re at it – stop comparing every book with a school to Harry Potter!

E X A M P L E S

Politics and civil war. Don’t know what side to root for? That’s a great fantasy.

World-building in its materialistic form is fantastic. I love maps as much as the next person; I enjoy reading about different continents, cultures, peoples, moral values, governing systems, etcetera. Magic building is wonderful, as well, but what makes a fantasy truly great? To me, it’s politics. For a fantasy to immediately capture my attention, it has to have people on all sides that I am rooting for, even if there is a clear good and bad dynamic. I want to see people lurking in the shadows, vying for power; I want to see nobles’ deceiving their lieges because they want more political influence. Politics has made and broken our world since the dawn of time, and fantasy books without a political system in place seem incomplete.

Civil war is an extension of this political aspect; when politics plays a huge role in a fantasy series, when the players of the game are well-developed and interesting, war is inevitable. But war is never pleasant. It’s confusing, and muddled, and very rarely is it as binary as “This side is good, this side is bad.” Well written war, and well-written politics has innocent people dying on both sides. There are people you can root for and understand on both sides, which is why the situation is so tense and gripping.

The series that does this best is obviously A Song of Ice & Fire. Despite there being lines within your mind about who the good guy is, and who the bad guy is, you’re still rooting for characters on both sides of the spectrum. The political aspect of hegemony, imperialism, revolution and rebellion, of monarchy, usurping, treaties and deceits and reward and punishment? That’s what makes the series so fantastic. Politics and complicated, grey dynamics are realistic and complex, and give storytelling a layer that nothing else possibly can.

E X A M P L E S

Tournaments and Competitions. Characters showcasing their skills in a fully competitive setting? Yes, please.

Tournaments have become a cliché now, but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t the biggest sucker for tournaments. There’s so many things a writer can do while writing tournaments, from showcasing characters’ skillsets, their personalities under stress and pressure, seeing them learn from their mistakes, and get up after they’ve been pushed down, to showcasing magic systems, the cultures and practices of other peoples if it’s a nationwide tournament. The tournaments could serve as a backdrop for politics and scheming, or they could just be plain old fun.

Perhaps the most legendary tournament for me is the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter, because Rowling utilized it perfectly by mixing themes of first love and coming-of-age with Harry’s first real encounter of darkness, death, war and politics. But there was a lot more to it – the world-building was expanded greatly as we got to see what was under the waters around Hogwarts, we got to encounter different species (merpeople, dragons), as well as different plants. We got to see our characters use their skills under grueling conditions, but we were also given glimpses into the properties of fame, of celebrity. The tournament tested friendships, and loyalties, and it broke relationships while it made others. For me, tournaments – apart from being a hell of a fun time – are perfect backdrops to explore world-building, politics and characterization.

E X A M P L E S

The anti-hero. They do things that are morally ambiguous, and it’s sometimes difficult to root for them, but they’re some of the best characters you’ve ever read.

Anti-heroes and anti-villains are my favorite types of characters, in any genre, period. But in fantasy, they hold a special place in my heart, simply because there’s a lot more they can experiment with and get away with in fantasy stories (using magic, honor, war, etcetera). There’s nothing quite as satisfying as reading a good anti-hero. Heroes bore me; you already know you’re supposed to root for them, no matter what they do, because they’re ultimately the good guy.

Anti-heroes make you doubt yourself, they make you doubt the author’s intentions, the story, the other characters, what’s good and what’s evil, and this quality of thought-provoking characterization is my absolute favorite thing in writing. Morally complicated characters who don’t fit neatly into boxes are the fucking best, man. They keep you on your feet, and if they ever undergo a redemption arc, you’re left amazed at how meticulously the writer built up a certain character, naturally tore them down, and built them back up – better and stronger. There’s so much literary power in anti-heroes that I will devour most every book that has one as its main character.

E X A M P L E S

That’s all for my favorite fantasy tropes! I’m thinking of making another post that talks about tropes that are less fantasy-specific, so let me know if you’d be interested in that. Also tell me – do you enjoy these tropes? What other tropes do you like? And definitely give me recommendations!

5 Fantasy Tropes I Love Fantasy (more specifically high fantasy) is one of those genres that I can never have enough of.

[howtohero]

#029 Alien Invasions

The universe is a vast and expanding place. Scientifically speaking it is actually “hella” vast (that’s the actual technical term for it, look it up). And (spoiler alert) we are not even remotely close to being alone in it. The Fraternity of Alien Activity, Reconnaissance and Telecommunications Enthusiasts (or, as the government calls them, FAART Enthusiasts) tells me there are approximately 2,872 unique alien species that have interacted with either Earth or representatives of mankind throughout the history of the world. The Federal Bureau of UFO Tracking, Transporting and Studying (or, as the Fraternity calls them, Federal BUTTS) refuses to give me, a private citizen, with a blog, an actual number, though they strongly implied that the Fraternity was vastly overestimating the number of unique species. But at least the Fraternity would give me a number, so as far as me, you, and this blog are concerned that’s the number of alien species. Now, while many of these alien species have proven to be friendly and have even entered into alliances with Earth, swapping resources, technology and entertainment, others are decidedly more jerkish. Every so often some warmongering (and/or bored) alien armada will swoop down into Earth’s atmosphere and try to conquer the whole planet! This happens like two or three times a decade so if you’re going to be a superhero that’s definitely something to be aware of. (For a brief overview of alien invasions see here.)

Now an alien invasion is almost definitely of greater importance and urgency than whatever other superheroic nonsense you were involved with before a UFO landed on the Washington Mall (did you know that it’s not actually a mall? Like there aren’t stores there. Not even clever Washington-themed riffs on other stores like McRonald Regan’s or Washing Tons Laundromat or Thomas Jeffer-cinnabon or the Warren G. Hardware Store.) So it’s important to just derail, forget about, or hastily wrap up whatever ongoing superhero adventures you were involved with before. Alien invasions take precedence over almost everything else, with exceptions including, interdimensional invaders, a plague that you can’t even weaponize to drive off the aliens because they’re immune and it’s super inconvenient, and probably zombie grasshoppers. So you better start doing some research on warloving alien races and past alien invasions, because when the invasion comes you need to be prepared at a moment’s notice. (Zombie grasshoppers are the most dangerous kind of zombie because they’re small, so they’re hard to spot, and also they can jump really frikkin’ high so sometimes you can’t just step on them and honestly, after dying alone and the dark, zombie grasshoppers are my biggest fear.)

An alien invasion should trigger a worldwide alliance of superheroes and other para-folk who aren’t in the mood to be subjugated by other-worldly warlords. When the fate of the world is at stake you need to put aside all petty squabbles and form an alliance between anybody and everybody who could possibly hold their own against evil alien soldiers. Sometimes that even means bad guys. You’re just going to have to deal with it. You need to pool all of your resources and information into an effective invasion repelling force. It doesn’t matter if that one guy tried to rob a bank last Thursday. He has a sub-machine freeze ray. It rapidly fires capsules that emit a freezing gas when broken. This is clearly a useful thing to have when fighting aliens. Just be chill (hahahaha) let him join the team. The first thing you should do when forming this world-super-alliance is select a leader and establish a headquarters. Normally your leader should be the most high-profile superhero, probably the leader of the largest superhero team. Likewise, the headquarters of the largest superhero team should probably be used as headquarters and mission control for this veritable super-army. This alliance is basically worthless without proper leadership and organization. It would be advisable (in fact, we’re advising it now) to try to merge everyone’s support-squads to form a massive network of superhero allies and helpers across the world.

The next thing you need to do is actually fight off the invasion. Remember, you are Earth’s last line of defense, if you fall, Earth falls, so there’s no holding back here. Also, just something to keep in mind, try to nab some neat alien gear. Steal some weapons, grab some sweet body armor, really just take anything you can carry. As a superhero it’s your right to grab as much alien stuff as you can before some government swoops in and takes it all to study somewhere. Also if you take a bunch of alien stuff you can maybe infiltrate the aliens’ mothership. This only really works if both you and the aliens you’re fighting are roughly humanoid. You’d probably have trouble impersonating an alien with multiple arms, or one with no legs that just kind of floats above the ground. Or one with three heads. Or one with two heads even. There was no need for me to go to the extreme and start talking about three heads. You only have one head. Anything more than that will be hard to mimic. I mean you probably could figure something out. Use some cleverly disguised basketballs, or grape fruits, or busts. Or get a hologram projector! Yeah, anybody with a hologram projector can easily infiltrate an alien mothership. You should just do that.

Once you’ve infiltrated the mothership, the main hub and command center of the alien invasion you need to start destabilizing anything and everything you can. Just start ripping wires out of the wall. Punching aliens. Stealing stuff that looks important. Maybe plant a few timed explosives that you can detonate remotely as convenient. Then, once things have been properly destabilized you need to STEAL. AN. ALIEN. SHIP. It’s gonna be awesome.

Hop into an alien cruiser and blast the hell out of that heavily sabotaged mothershippin’ invasion command hub. It’s someone else’s problem now. Now you have a sick alien ship. Full disclosure, most of you will probably crash it immediately and die. Which is too bad. But for the rest of you, the one’s that live and have an awesome alien cruiser. Good for you! Congratulations! Fly that thing everywhere. Even places you used to just walk to. Fun traffic law fact: You can park an alien cruiser anywhere. They don’t have license plates or registration numbers. You can’t get ticketed. That’s probably the law. And it’s not like you can tow an alien cruiser. Have you seen those things? They’re maaaaad sleek and smooth and aerodynamic and just visually dynamic, and there’s nowhere to hook it up to a towing rig. Also, like, if you’ve just saved the world from an alien invasion you’re basically allowed to just do whatever you want. Now I’m not saying you should abuse that privilege. Just abuse it enough to park your alien cruiser anywhere you want. (I feel like this entire paragraph should have been in parentheses) 

Once the invasion is fought off (and you have your sick cruiser) there comes the matter of rebuilding and recovering. The planet has most likely suffered serious losses and it is important to allow each country to begin to put the pieces of their government and societies back together. Now as far as the superheroes of the world are concerned, they should go back to doing what they do best, helping people and making the world a better place. The massive superhero alliance should be disbanded so each hero can go back to where they are individually needed so they can help people move past the fact that they were recently terrorized by aliens and that they looked nothing like the big-eyed-short-grey-cow-kidnapping aliens from the movies and the televisions. It’s honestly a big shock and a lot to take in. The supervillains who came through and helped fight off the invading force should be given a five-minute head start before being arrested for being actual supervillains. Prisoners that have been captured from the invading force should be treated humanely and not experimented on. Because don’t experiment on people, even alien people. It’s mean. Honestly, just send them home, it will at the very least garner some goodwill with the guys who just tried to steal your planet. Who knows, maybe you can even be friends someday. 

[dogmapod]

04 Los Illuminados

Hey folks, welcome to the show Dogma: A Podcast About Cults I’m your host Denis Ricardo.

This show is about cults. The origins, practices and abuses of cults. So, if you are uncomfortable with descriptions of sexual, physical and mental violence and abuse, this isn’t the show for you.

I’m gonna try to keep it light and fun, but this stuff can get kind of dark… so you’ve been warned.

Our story begins in ancient Europe, in a region that would later be known as Spain on a remote island.  existed a pagan group.

It is said that this pagan group was wiped out by another group that would later be known as the First Castellan. Both hold similar worship practices, so it is unknown if these similarities were just held because of they were both in the same region, or if it was a form of dominant syncretism.

The evidence of their similar beliefs are found on cave paintings on the island, which showed a worship of a species of bug endemic to the island.

In 1478 the Spanish Inquisition was founded by the Catholic monarchs of Spain Ferdinand II and Isabella of Castile. It was founded after the ousting of the Moorish Caliphate and the reunification of a Catholic Spain. Its job was to oust any Jews, Muslims and people accused of witchcraft and paganism from Spain.

Eventually the Inquisition made its way to this remote island and seemingly eliminated our group of pagans and installed a noble family, the Salazar family, to govern the island. The Salazars had the ancient caves sealed. However, a small group of them survive and practice in secret for the next several hundred years.

Some time in the late 1990s or early 2000s the 8th Castellan, the leader of this pagan group, came to power. He and his pagan group convinced the reigning Salazar to allow him to practice openly, eventually turning the nobleman to follow their practices. Salazar felt he should atone for the sins of his ancestors and open up the ancient caves.

Doing so released a parasite that had been growing in the cave for these hundreds of years and it seemed to infect the locals. These parasites were the same bug that were worshiped so many years ago by the pagan group, so the 8th Castellan got to work on perfecting a way to reproduce an even stronger variety.

It was an act only for the clergy of this pagan group and for Salazar to willingly be infected with this enhanced parasite, which attached itself to the nervous system of the host, altering their mood and cognitive function. The newly infected laypeople began life again as normal as possible, though many were recruited by Salazar and the Castellan to create a militia, amassing arms and creating a military base on the island.

Sometime before the fall of 2004 the US president’s daughter was kidnapped by a terrorist group that was working with the island militia as part of a plot to spread their parasite around the world in an act of bioterrorism.

A single agent working for a US anti-terrorist task force was dispatched to the island with the help of police from the mainland of Spain to rescue the president’s daughter.

It was surprising this agent was chosen, he seemed to have very little background in anti-terrorist activity, though he was involved with helping to stop a bioterror attack on his first day as a police officer. His name is Leon S. Kennedy.

He was hired afterward by the US government to work with another agent  Jack Krauser to address more bioterrorist activity in South America, though he seemed to have lost Krauser along the way.

Upon arrival to the main village on the island the US agent was attacked and the local police he came with were killed by the cultists.

Leon escaped an attack by a group of locals and makes his way to the main village. The villagers all look sick and sallow, moving mindlessly like ants. In the center is an effigy with two burning bodies, the two Spanish police that Kennedy arrived with.

He is contacted by his intel-support Ingrid Hunnigan who informs his about the village.

Kennedy attempts to make his way through the village, but is spotted. He fights off an onslaught of villagers, knows as Ganados, attacking him with pitchforks and other farm equipment including a chainsaw.

Kennedy was certain this would be his demise, but the bell of the church rings, and as if under a spell, the villagers disbanded and headed toward the church.

Things are not all well for Kennedy, though. He attempted to investigate further, but is captured and incapacitated by the chief of the village Biotores Mendez. While Kennedy is unconscious, he is injected with the very parasite that has infected the village, Las Plagas.

Kennedy regains consciousness and finds himself held captive with a man named Luis Sera. Sera was formerly a researcher of Los Illuminados.

They worked together to escape and part ways after Kennedy finds out Ashley Graham is being held in the church from Hunnigan.

Kennedy finds himself attempting to fight off Mendez, but is easily overpowered. When Kennedy believed everything to be over, he is rescued by a woman in a red dress rappelling from the roof of the house they are in. Kennedy recognizes this woman as Ada Wong.

Kennedy believed he was in the clear after this encounter, but it was just the beginning.

As he arrives to the church, he realizes that the doors are locked. He sees that there is a key that is made up of Los Illuminados insignia. He realizes that he needs to retrieve these pieces.

Retrieving the pieces is not easy, as he finds himself facings all different types of obstacles, including a giant salamander, a giant man and villagers whose heads explode and reveal at monstrous squid-like being with barbed tentacles.

Kennedy returns to the church and rescues Ashley Graham. He plans their escape but not before they are met with the leader of Los Illuminados Osmund Saddler.

Saddler reveals he has infected Graham with a Plaga in order to carry out his plan of world domination. This plan includes a convoluted plot for Ashely to infect her father with a Master Plaga so he can give Los Illuminados power and money to take over the world.

They escape and are faced with Mendez, now willing to show his true, centipede body. Kennedy corners him in a barn and sets it ablaze, killing Mendez. Kennedy and Graham head towards the island’s castle for refuge, but now without facing zealots with more transforming heads and a blinded man with claws for hands.

In the castle they are faced with Salazar, now fully integrated into Los Illuminados. The two are separated by Salazar’s traps, making things much easier for the player because they don’t have to worry about Ashley getting killed. I mean… Kennedy is furious and makes his way through the castle.

During all of this, Sera is searching for medication that will remove the Plagas from Kennedy and Graham. He catches up with Kennedy, pills in hand, but Saddler comes out of fucking nowhere and kills Sera with a gross barbed appendage that he then sucks back into his body and it all looks very phallic.

He makes his way through the castle, having to find more goddamn keys and is aided by Wong at some point. Kennedy is apprehensive to fully trust Wong because she was a double agent while he was attempting to escape Raccoon City. Despite this, they both def want to fuck.

He faces a shit ton of more zealots and even a goddam clockwork robot of Salazar, because that is a completely practical thing to have built just in case the castle is infiltrated by just one US agent.

Leon is then face-to-face with Salazar, who allows himself to be sucked in by this weird fleshy plant that transforms him into some gross hybrid plant thing. But it’s not big deal, because it’s an easy boss fight TBH and Kennedy moves forward to the military compound.

If you’re playing the Gamecube version, this is where you have to switch disks.

Kennedy has to make his way through a barrage of militia members who are also infected, and it ain’t easy. Seriously, how the fuck do you get past that guy with the minigun without dying once while you have to also solve a fucking light puzzle? Christ…

Kennedy moves forward through a kitchen and is attacked by a flaming Ganado hiding in an oven, which I swear to God, freaks me out every damn time even though I know it’s coming.

Leon is then faced by Jack Krauser, and clearly they know each other, but if this is the first time you’re playing you’re like “Um, who the fuck is this guy?” You don’t find out until like ten years later when Umbrella Chronicles comes out on the Wii, so real convenient Capcom.

Krauser is working with Wesker and whatever is left of Umbrella to get Las Plagas to work in tandem with T-Virus or something. It’s really not clear. Oh, and Ada’s also working to get this sample, so duh you couldn’t trust her. But you can definitely bone.

Krauser is defeated and Leon unceremoniously finds Ashley and the convenient radiotherapeutic device that removes Las Plaga. Why was this thing ever built? What purpose does it serve for Los Illuminados, I thought they wanted to infect everyone? It seems really counter intuitive, but whatever, you both are cured. Leon grabs a Plaga sample, probably to be destroyed or studied or something. That really isn’t ever made clear.

Leon finally confronts Saddler who transforms into this gross spider thing with with an eye for a head. And excuse me Saddler and everyone who wants to take over the world in Resident Evil, how are you going to do it when you transform into this mindless monster? I get that you have telepathy with the Plagas and other virus zombies, but it just doesn’t seem practical. And the US government has showed they are more than willing to nuke an entire town just to get rid of nasty monsters like you. But hey, boss fight, right?

Ada shows up out of nowhere again and throws Leon a rocket launcher, the deus ex machina of all Ressy games. Leon shoot Saddler and Ada steals the sample because surprise, she’s working for Wesker (or is she? IDK play the side game with Ada and you’ll find out she’s a triple agent!). It’s all very erotic between the two, even though she’s always just going to be a bad guy. She throws him a bone, by which I mean a jet ski key with a teddy bear keychain.

The island is set to blow up, so Leon and Ashley make their way down an annoying timed route to the jet ski. I alway hate these timed escapes, they just feel like a cheap way to build tension.

They get on said jet ski that escape. The game’s about to end but not before the 15-year-old child Ashely hits on Leon, saying they should try and fuck when they get back to the White House. Leon says no, which is honestly very surprising for a Japanese game, and they ride off back to mainland Spain, which is hopefully not too far away because jet skis can’t really go very far.

Now here comes the fun part, where I beg you for money. I come to you hat in hand, asking you to go to patreon.com/dogmapod and throw a few bucks my way to help support the podcast. I can’t offer much for tier rewards, but no matter what level you donate at, I will get the episodes out to you early and you can have access to the joke episodes like this one where I explore pop culture cults as well as unrelated, cult-esque articles and podcasts that don’t quite fit with the format. At higher donations I will take suggestions for cults and do an episode on those. Thank you so much if you decide to be ever so gracious. OK, now back to the show.

So ends Los Illuminados. But not Las Plagas because it’s mutated and used in Africa to infect the indigenous population and it is all vaguely racist because you’re a white guy killing all these black people. But that has nothing to do with a cult, so I’m not gonna talk about it.

Thanks again so much for listening. That was our episode about Los Illuminados. Hope you didn’t mind this joke episode, but I’m going to try and lighten the mood every once in a while with a fictional cult because real cults get depressing.

Next time, we’re going to look into a real cult that has actually committed an act of terrorism and used popular media to get young followers.

Until then, take care and goodbye.

Citations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4?wprov=sfti1

https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_4

https://www.ign.com/faqs/2005/biohazard-4-bonus-disc-game-script-ps2-674283

Song Credits:

“Frozen Jungle” “Qulques Rue Sombre” “Where You Hear the Prayer (McGuffin Theme)” “Battle Theme” and “My hobby, destroy the universe, why? (Evil character’s theme)” by Monplaisir under the name Komiku (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Komiku/)

All other music was composed by Senbongi Misao & Uchiyama Shusaku

[click2watch]

Resisting the Threat of Blockchain Recentralization

Chelsea Palmer is an open source educator and free agent in the cryptocurrency ecosystem who tweets (too much) at @IMmsGNU.

The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.

I think most can agree that it’s been a hell of a long year, in crypto and in general. The greatest way to reflect back on the year may be to review our expectations as we entered it; to this end, I’d highly recommend a revisitation of the “95 Crypto Theses” post by Ryan Selkis.

Selkis was wise enough to veer away from micro-predictions and focused instead on broad and conceptual observations that ring true no matter where our current prices stand. Most crucially, his theses were shaped by the core values of most crypto-decentralists: pursuit of liberation, escape from censorship and bewilderment at the success of centrally issued XRP.

As Zach Harvey has already excellently outlined in this series, these values come from the cypherpunk roots of cryptocurrency, which are crucial to keep in focus. Unfortunately, my biggest takeaway from 2018 was this: recentralist tricks were in full swing as the year kicked off, and even as opportunists fled the crashing market, we’re still surrounded by those who seek to undermine the core principles of our presumed revolution.

You Don’t Have To Care About Prices… Until You Do

My 2018 began with desperate angst at the massive throngs of scammers still HODLing on from December’s highs. As a public-facing educator at a small community commons, I was relieved when the prices dropped in February: we could breathe and take a break from telling all these noobs not to burn themselves on the stove.

For most of the year, I ignored prices – as the market dipped again in June, I was busy bringing the absurdist conference of my dreams to life, and we danced through the streets of Vancouver without a thought or word about money.

However, even my punk ass got served by the brutal spiral at the end of this year, losing both my job in the industry and a massive chunk of my savings’ worth in fiat. I’ve finally stopped fighting and embraced the bear market that I first foolishly wished for, then desperately ran from.

I’m not alone in this: Crypto Twitter got quieter, and those who are still around are resigned to keep building, and learning for what might be another long winter. This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the contemporary lessons around us if we hope to sustain the original dream of decentralizing social power.

Outgrowing Simple “Immutability”

Halfway through the year, Vlad Zamfir began to solidly document a conversation he’s instigated for quite some time: how we can define and understand blockchain governance. A vibrant community discourse arose from this, with some notable contributions coming from CleanApp, Dean Eigenmann and Matthew Prewitt and Steven McKie.

The reason I find this topic important enough to spend a huge chunk of my review summarizing it is this: “blockchain governance capture,” as Vlad Zamfir phrases it, is not merely theoretical, but already manifesting in ecosystem politics.

Zamfir is a self-professed immutability cynic, but even those of us who prize it as a core strength of this technology have to accept that blockchains cannot live on immutability alone. In fact, the most jarring example of attempted corporate capture arose just as 2018 drew to an end.

‘We Captured Your Code; Sorry Not Sorry’

Ethereum Classic (ETC), the small but dedicated community which rejected the 2016 hard fork of Ethereum following the DAO hack, is known to value the concept of immutability above almost everything else.

ETC was hit with a blatant attempt at corporate capture of protocol code last month when ETCLabs, under the control of Digital Finance Group, sweet-talked its way into owner access on the main ETC GitHub repo, then swiftly deleted all other owners to achieve sole control of the main ETC codebase.

I’ll give them shocked credit for the fact that they completely owned up to this coup d’état – heck, they essentially boasted about it. Emphasizing that nothing they did technically violated GitHub’s terms and conditions, they boldly declared that they knew better than the community at large and thus had no need to ask for their approval.

The community rallied to successfully subverted this takeover but it’s a cold lesson to close out the year. I focus on this as a case study because I fear it’s the logical conclusion to the year’s power struggles, and a sign of more struggles to come.

Are Just We Looking for New Masters?

Social revolutions often fall prey to opportunists who convince others that intermediaries are not just a necessary evil, but valuable leaders. When you look closely, these folks are making money on the back of open source protocols, straining ecosystem infrastructure and even taking credit for community-driven intellectual property.

As much as I despise the ICO model, and believe it to be responsible for the swell of get-rich-quick optimism and doom-and-gloom capitulation that defined the markets of 2018, it presented one really beautiful promise: you could raise funds free of the dirty trappings and oppressive fine print of legacy business practices.

We must scrutinize the objective value-add of private companies and power players within our industry. We have to ask who benefits from every new major financial “win,” and how each of these impacts the open commons and decentralization.

It would be easy to build a new world that looks much like the old one, but I think we have enough collective chutzpah, and diverse enough opinions, within the cryptocurrency ecosystem to push through the temptation to just elevate new leaders to rule over us in old ways.

If 2018 has shown us anything, it’s that we have tireless agitators among our ranks who will trade off the roles of leaders and whistleblowers, builders and pen testers, in an endless cycle of growth. True innovation will require vigilance, persistence, and often turbulence.

Though it’s exhausting work, it’s way more rewarding than a shiny new set of upgraded shackles.

Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.

“Blockchain Angst” image courtesy of Chelsea Palmer

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '239547076708948'); fbq('track', "PageView"); This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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[jillmckenzie1]

The Angler – Local Movie Reviewer Gives Opinions on Vice

There are a lot of people extremely angry at Adam McKay’s new film Vice. It’s not surprising, considering the film a) is about some of the most well-known people in recent history and b) is political. If you’re reading this, you probably have an opinion about Vice-President Richard Cheney, whether you think he was a tough government operator who did what was necessary, or you think he was a major player in Hell’s demonic hierarchy.

The political aspects make things even trickier. We’ve talked before about how at this moment in history, virtually everything is polarized. One of the problems is, since we’re so polarized, we’re often unwilling to examine different viewpoints or arguments. What are the odds these days that a committed liberal will read David French’s columns, or that a staunch conservative will really consider what Ezra Klein has to say?

At the end of the day, I think there’s one reason above all that explains the vitriol that’s been hurled at Vice; tone. Suppose, even though we live in a time when politics are being thrown at our faces like malevolent cream pies, you decide you’re going to see a movie focused on politics. You might have an expectation that the film will either be somber and serious or confirm your biases.

But what happens when the tone of the film is arch? Aggressive? Totally unconcerned with fairness or even-handedness? What if we’re accused of culpability? Folks on both sides of the aisle love to accuse the other side of being snowflakes, but too often we’re all reflexively defensive. Vice tells the story of Dick Cheney’s political career with seething anger and sharp intelligence, and one of the parties responsible for his rise is us.

It’s 1963, and we’re introduced to Dick Cheney (Christian Bale). He’s been pulled over by a traffic cop, and Dick is drunk out of his mind. This is not uncommon for him, as he was thrown out of Yale for partying instead of studying. Instead, he works as a lineman in Wyoming, and when another lineman gets into a hideous accident, Dick doesn’t offer the man help or make a crude joke. He watches the lineman writhe in pain, and we see him filing away some unknown information for later use.

In another life, Dick might be content to fix power lines and drink cheap booze. His wife Lynne (Amy Adams) won’t have it, refuses to accept it. And so, the man whom we just saw dispassionately studying a wounded colleague, is shamed into cleaning up his life. By 1969, he’s done so swimmingly, and he’s become a White House intern. Dick sees a speech by Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell) and learns his proximity to real power is much closer than he ever thought.

From there, we see Dick steadily climbing the rungs of government. He’s always paying attention, learning anything he can, and we soon see that he’s a man who never says anything unless it’s important. During a Congressional run, he suffers the first of many heart attacks, and they seem as inconvenient to him as temporarily losing WiFi. Lynne sticks by him, and he manages to juggle his political career while they raise two daughters.

Dick is named Secretary of Defense during the Gulf War, and his daughter Mary (Alison Pill) comes out to him. He loves her, accepts her, and when Bill Clinton takes office, the Cheneys enjoy an idyllic retirement spent writing books and raising Golden Retrievers. The credits roll…then George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) decides he wants to be President. From there, it gets real.

There’s a common trap we can fall into as filmgoers, the trap of, “I disagree with this, so it’s a bad movie.” Lately, I’ve tried very hard to suss out a filmmaker’s intent and determine if they’re successful in what they’re trying to say. If I wanted something different out of a film than what I got, that’s entirely my problem, not the movie’s problem. The important detail to consider is — how effectively did the director make the film they set out to make?

In the case of Adam McKay, he made precisely the film he wanted to make. Back in 2015, he made The Big Short, a film about the 2008 economic collapse. Characters broke the fourth wall, Margot Robbie explained mortgage-backed securities while lounging in a bubble bath, and a mountain of complex financial information was delivered to the audience in a clear and cogent manner. In Vice, McKay is doing the same thing, only he’s explaining how the federal bureaucracy functions, and how a skilled operator like Dick Cheney could turn the levers of power to his own ends. I could tell you that McKay directs with creativity and verve, but it might make more sense if I just told you that McKay is like Oliver Stone without the conspiracy theories and with a vicious sense of humor.

McKay also wrote the script, and he has a mysterious narrator played by the great Jesse Plemons guiding us through the evolution of American politics like Virgil guiding Dante through Hell. Wryly, Plemons shows us as the concept of the loyal opposition in political life became slowly twisted into a mindset of winning at all costs, a mindset that tragically persists.  But McKay’s script isn’t merely a hatchet job against Dick Cheney. He humanizes Cheney, shows him as a man who loves power, loves his family, and sometimes struggles with finding a balance.

Thanks to a combination of award-winning prosthetics and an upsetting amount of pie, Christian Bale looks exactly like Cheney. He’s not simply doing an impression of the V.P., however. Watch footage of the real Cheney, and you’ll see a man at ease with stillness. His actions and words are always measured, and Bale perfectly captures that calculation. Amy Adams plays Lynne Cheney as a woman made of steel, but her character is a little bit of an enigma. I was never quite sure if she genuinely loved Dick, recognized the potential in him that could help her, or a combination of the two. Their chemistry feels real, and these two have a legitimate partnership in all senses of the word.

I liked Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld for the most part. He sells Rumsfeld’s ruthlessness and blithe indifference toward decency, but he doesn’t capture the man’s bulletproof confidence. I liked Sam Rockwell less as the buffoonish Dubya. While I suspect this is more of a script decision, it feels like portraying Bush as a gormless lackey to Cheney lets the 43rd President off the hook.*

Vice is one of the most effective political satires made in a long time. It captures the essence of a man who paid attention to the details and used ideology and bureaucracy in a sociopathic quest for absolute power. More importantly, Adam McKay’s film never says our corrupted system is due to evil Republicans or vile Democrats. In the end, the problem isn’t “them.” It’s us. It’s only ever been us.

  *Good thing the current Republican Party is filled with people of sober judgment and character.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/the-angler-local-movie-reviewer-gives-opinions-on-vice/

[melindarowens]

Diversity-Visa Jihadi Exposes Democrats’ Bluff on DACA Amnesty, Budget Talks

The diversity-visa jihadi has rolled over the Democrats’ audacious plan to win a no-strings amnesty for millions of young DACA illegals during the Christmas budget fight by using activists and skewed polls to bluff and intimidate GOP leaders.

That power-grab was first blocked by President Donald Trump’s October 8 demand that any amnesty complies with his poll-tested list of immigration principles. On Nov. 1, he dramatically stepped up the pressure, telling the media directly that he wanted a quick end to the diversity visa lottery and chain migration:

So we want to immediately work with Congress on the Diversity Lottery Program, on terminating it, getting rid of it. We want a merit-based program where people come into our country based on merit.  And we want to get rid of chain migration.

Chain-migration is also being challenged by a group of GOP Senators who are debating whether they can or should demand a reform of the nation’s chain migration system in exchange for the Democrats’ goal of an amnesty of between 690,000 and 3 million illegals. That debate is needed because any DACA amnesty will also deliver millions of additional Democratic-leaning immigrant voters into polling booths unless the chain-migration rules are changed.

On Oct 31, before Islamic acolyte Sayfullo Saipov drove his rented truck over cyclists in New York, an aide to Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford confirmed the Senator’s interest in ending the chain migration which has effectively doubled the legal immigrant population in the United States to above 30 million. The aide wrote to Breitbart News:

Senator Lankford is for prohibiting chain migration and discouraging future illegal immigration. He wants to settle this DACA issue in a way that actually helps secure our borders and make sure we’re not debating this same problem thirty years from now.

Georgia Sen. David Perdue released a statement highlighting his RAISE bill, the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act, which would eliminate the outdated diversity visa lottery and sharply cut chain migration:

President Trump is right, the Diversity Visa Lottery Program is a problem and is plagued by fraud. Given these serious concerns, Senator [Tom] Cotton and I have proposed eliminating this outdated program as part of the RAISE Act. While Senate Democrats originally created the Diversity Visa Lottery in 1990, many have supported legislation that would have eliminated it in the years since. I hope we can include this area of common ground as we work to fix our broken immigration system and strengthen our national security.

The Saipov attack shows the recklessness of federal immigration policy which accepts millions of unscreened immigrants via the visa lottery and via chain migration, said Roy Beck, founder of NumbersUSA, a pro-American immigration-reform group. The visa lottery picks new Americans by chance, while the chain-migration law allows recent immigrants to pick their relatives to become future Americans, he said.

Most of the people who come in by the [visa] lottery and chain migration are fine people who mean the best for coming to the United States, but it does remind us that not everybody who comes through these are exemplary folks …  Not one of them is screened in terms of whether they have a skill that is neeed in the United States. Not one of them is screened as to whether their presence in the labor force would be harmful to any particular group of Americans … One group is chosen by chance and by raffle, the other group is chosen by prior immigrants, not by the American people.

So far, Democrats are refusing to offer any safeguards or offsets to American voters. On November 1, Politico reported Democrats’ claims they may shut down the federal government until Americans agree to provide an amnesty to the illegals:

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a prospective 2020 presidential hopeful, raised the specter of a year-end showdown last week when she declared she wouldn’t vote for a spending bill that doesn’t help children of undocumented immigrants who came to the country as minors. Republicans will need Democratic votes — definitely in the Senate and almost certainly in the House, too — to pass legislation to keep the government funded … But a number of other Democratic senators said they aren’t willing to go there — at least not yet…

“It’d be very difficult for me to support the end-of-the-year bill, whatever that may be, if DACA has not been taken care of,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “If we can’t take care of the Dreamers, I think it jeopardizes America’s standing on our principle strength: our values.

Democratic leaders, however, are being careful, partly because the polls show the public prefers that any amnesty deal help Americans more than illegal migrants or low-wage employers.

“It is a topic which we are not raising at this point, because we hope we don’t even need to think about it,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a party leader on immigration. “But I tell you, everyone I’ve spoken to — starting with me — are very serious this has to be done this year.”

GOP leaders have the advantage in this budget-and-amnesty staring-contest, said Mark Krikorian, director the Center for Immigration Studies.

What is the issue you’re willing to shut down the government over? For the Democrats to pick an amnesty for illegal immigrants [as an issue], and to claim that they’re going to start blocking veterans’ benefits, strikes me as ludicrous. They may be talking about it now, but I find it hard to beleive they would follow through.

Some [Democrats] believe their press releases, and then there are other, including [Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer who are smarter and realize that these carefully curated public opinion polls don’t really capture the real public mood.

But there is a long way to go before GOP Senators win a showdown over chain-migration.

For example, Lankford is working with Sen. Thom Tillis promoting a bill, dubbed SUCCEED Act, which would allow an amnesty for up to 2 million illegals. But their bill would only impose a slight trim on chain-migration by adding ten years to the citizenship process for the illegals, barring them from sponsoring extended-family relatives until 2033. The SUCCEED bill would do nothing to reform or cut chain-migration laws.

Moreover, most of the young illegals to be amnestied by Lankford and Tillis are Mexicans. Data from after the 1986 amnesty showed that each amnestied Mexican provided sponsorship and citizenship to more than six relatives back in Mexico, helping turn California into a Democratic-run state of sharp economic and civic divides.

On Wednesday, Lankford spokesman Darrell Jordan sent an additional statement to Breitbart News saying “it’s fine for Congress to narrow the variety of relatives who can be sponsored for chain migration.”

In turn, Lankford and Tillis are working with Perdue, as well as Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, to develop some package of measures that would make a DACA amnesty palatable to Americans.

They are getting some support from the House. For example, judiciary chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte blasted the visa lottery program in a Nov. 1 statement:

For years, I have called for ending the diversity visa lottery and have sponsored legislation to do just that. Tragically, we have witnessed yet again that the visa lottery poses a threat to the safety of our citizens and the security of our nation. Under the visa lottery, each successful applicant is chosen at random and given the status of permanent resident based on pure luck.

“This flawed policy is just foolish in the age in which we live. Those in the world who wish us harm can easily engage in this statistical gamble with nothing to lose. Our immigration policy should be based primarily on our national needs, security, and economics and not in part on an arbitrary system.

Goodlatte is working with several other House Republicans to develop a potential amnesty-for-something deal in December.

But there are many potential obstacles to a chain-migration reform.

For example, Texas Sen. John Cornyn reportedly wants to exclude the diversity visas — and likely the chain migration issue — from any deal.

Sen. Lindsey Graham is also working on the immigration with Cornyn and the other GOP Senators. He is an enthusiastic support for an amnesty. He opposes the visa lottery, but he is not likely to oppose chain migration, in part, because he has repeatedly said that he wants to bring in more labor for the tourist, hospitality, and agriculture industries in his home state of South Carolina.

.@LindseyGrahamSC on Diversity Visa Program: “It makes no sense to hand out visas and green cards this way. We want merit-based immigration” pic.twitter.com/S1gxJnBusb

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 1, 2017

Moreover, Democrats expect the GOP leaders to roll over when they’re hit by media pressure in December, said Krikorian. “The Republicans have surrendered so early so often they don’t have credibility with the Democrats … it may well be the [Democrats] will go through with their [budget shutdown] threats, but I don’t see how the Republicans will cave over this, because the public will not rally on the side of amnestying illegal aliens on Schumer’s terms, as opposed to some kind of give-and-take,” he said, adding:

[GOP Senate Majority Leader] McConnell may decide to call their bluff, say ‘Go ahead shut the government, see if we care,’ especially because from the President on down on down, Republicans have said that DACA [illegals] are sympathetic people and they do want to work something out… [so] it is not even though the Democrats can say ‘The evil Republicans don’t care about these young people.’

This is an opportunity to get something done rather than to use it as  political issue…  if it were me, I really would try to work something out. If we can get  [an end to] chain migration and [mandatory] E-Verify in exchange for a narrow DACA amnesty, that would be worth it. I’d be eager for it.

Beck at NumbersUSA is also hopeful, saying “when have we heard before this year chain migration mentioned even a tenth as much in public?” He added:

It is because of [Sen. Tom] Cotton and Sen. David] Perdue introducing the RAISE Act, and because the President has embraced that act, and has started putting ‘chain’ in his tweets. There is real talk about it, and the more than Americans hear about chain migration and the visa lottery, and the more they will clamor to get rid of them.

On November 1, Trump offered a preview of the powerful and popular message that he can use to trump the Democrats’ threat to shut down the federal government, saying:

So we’re going to get rid of this lottery program as soon as possible. [Saipov] came in through the Diversity Program, as you know, and we’re going to stop that.

We’re going to as quickly as possible get rid of chain migration and go to a merit-based system.  Terrorists are constantly seeking to strike our nation, and it will require the unflinching devotion to our law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence professionals to keep America safe.  We will take all necessary steps to protect our people and our communities, and to protect our nation as a whole.

“The more the president talks about this, the more pressure there will be on Congress,” said Beck.

Four million Americans turn 18 each year and begin looking for good jobs in the free market.

But the federal government inflates the supply of new labor by annually accepting 1 million new legal immigrants, by providing almost 2 million work-permits to foreigners, by providing work-visas to roughly 500,000 temporary workers and doing little to block the employment of roughly 8 million illegal immigrants.

The Washington-imposed economic policy of mass-immigration floods the market with foreign labor, spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees. It also drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines at least 5 million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.

The cheap-labor policy has also reduced investment and job creation in many interior states because the coastal cities have a surplus of imported labor. For example, almost 27 percent of zip codes in Missouri had fewer jobs or businesses in 2015 than in 2000, according to a new report by the Economic Innovation Group. In Kansas, almost 29 percent of zip codes had fewer jobs and businesses in 2015 compared to 2000, which was a two-decade period of massive cheap-labor immigration.

Americans tell pollsters that they strongly oppose amnesties and cheap-labor immigration, even as most Americans also want to favor legal immigrants, and many sympathize with illegals. Because of the successful cheap-labor strategy, wages for men have remained flat since 1973, and a growing percentage of the nation’s annual income is shifting to investors and away from employees.

CIS: Total Immigrant Population Hits Record High of 43.7 Million in 2016 https://t.co/RX6Q9t3FQi pic.twitter.com/LO1ubh6jAY

— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) October 18, 2017

 Source link

source https://capitalisthq.com/diversity-visa-jihadi-exposes-democrats-bluff-on-daca-amnesty-budget-talks/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/11/diversity-visa-jihadi-exposes-democrats.html

[everettwilkinson]

Diversity-Visa Jihadi Exposes Democrats’ Bluff on DACA Amnesty, Budget Talks

The diversity-visa jihadi has rolled over the Democrats’ audacious plan to win a no-strings amnesty for millions of young DACA illegals during the Christmas budget fight by using activists and skewed polls to bluff and intimidate GOP leaders.

That power-grab was first blocked by President Donald Trump’s October 8 demand that any amnesty complies with his poll-tested list of immigration principles. On Nov. 1, he dramatically stepped up the pressure, telling the media directly that he wanted a quick end to the diversity visa lottery and chain migration:

So we want to immediately work with Congress on the Diversity Lottery Program, on terminating it, getting rid of it. We want a merit-based program where people come into our country based on merit.  And we want to get rid of chain migration.

Chain-migration is also being challenged by a group of GOP Senators who are debating whether they can or should demand a reform of the nation’s chain migration system in exchange for the Democrats’ goal of an amnesty of between 690,000 and 3 million illegals. That debate is needed because any DACA amnesty will also deliver millions of additional Democratic-leaning immigrant voters into polling booths unless the chain-migration rules are changed.

On Oct 31, before Islamic acolyte Sayfullo Saipov drove his rented truck over cyclists in New York, an aide to Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford confirmed the Senator’s interest in ending the chain migration which has effectively doubled the legal immigrant population in the United States to above 30 million. The aide wrote to Breitbart News:

Senator Lankford is for prohibiting chain migration and discouraging future illegal immigration. He wants to settle this DACA issue in a way that actually helps secure our borders and make sure we’re not debating this same problem thirty years from now.

Georgia Sen. David Perdue released a statement highlighting his RAISE bill, the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act, which would eliminate the outdated diversity visa lottery and sharply cut chain migration:

President Trump is right, the Diversity Visa Lottery Program is a problem and is plagued by fraud. Given these serious concerns, Senator [Tom] Cotton and I have proposed eliminating this outdated program as part of the RAISE Act. While Senate Democrats originally created the Diversity Visa Lottery in 1990, many have supported legislation that would have eliminated it in the years since. I hope we can include this area of common ground as we work to fix our broken immigration system and strengthen our national security.

The Saipov attack shows the recklessness of federal immigration policy which accepts millions of unscreened immigrants via the visa lottery and via chain migration, said Roy Beck, founder of NumbersUSA, a pro-American immigration-reform group. The visa lottery picks new Americans by chance, while the chain-migration law allows recent immigrants to pick their relatives to become future Americans, he said.

Most of the people who come in by the [visa] lottery and chain migration are fine people who mean the best for coming to the United States, but it does remind us that not everybody who comes through these are exemplary folks …  Not one of them is screened in terms of whether they have a skill that is neeed in the United States. Not one of them is screened as to whether their presence in the labor force would be harmful to any particular group of Americans … One group is chosen by chance and by raffle, the other group is chosen by prior immigrants, not by the American people.

So far, Democrats are refusing to offer any safeguards or offsets to American voters. On November 1, Politico reported Democrats’ claims they may shut down the federal government until Americans agree to provide an amnesty to the illegals:

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a prospective 2020 presidential hopeful, raised the specter of a year-end showdown last week when she declared she wouldn’t vote for a spending bill that doesn’t help children of undocumented immigrants who came to the country as minors. Republicans will need Democratic votes — definitely in the Senate and almost certainly in the House, too — to pass legislation to keep the government funded … But a number of other Democratic senators said they aren’t willing to go there — at least not yet…

“It’d be very difficult for me to support the end-of-the-year bill, whatever that may be, if DACA has not been taken care of,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “If we can’t take care of the Dreamers, I think it jeopardizes America’s standing on our principle strength: our values.

Democratic leaders, however, are being careful, partly because the polls show the public prefers that any amnesty deal help Americans more than illegal migrants or low-wage employers.

“It is a topic which we are not raising at this point, because we hope we don’t even need to think about it,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a party leader on immigration. “But I tell you, everyone I’ve spoken to — starting with me — are very serious this has to be done this year.”

GOP leaders have the advantage in this budget-and-amnesty staring-contest, said Mark Krikorian, director the Center for Immigration Studies.

What is the issue you’re willing to shut down the government over? For the Democrats to pick an amnesty for illegal immigrants [as an issue], and to claim that they’re going to start blocking veterans’ benefits, strikes me as ludicrous. They may be talking about it now, but I find it hard to beleive they would follow through.

Some [Democrats] believe their press releases, and then there are other, including [Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer who are smarter and realize that these carefully curated public opinion polls don’t really capture the real public mood.

But there is a long way to go before GOP Senators win a showdown over chain-migration.

For example, Lankford is working with Sen. Thom Tillis promoting a bill, dubbed SUCCEED Act, which would allow an amnesty for up to 2 million illegals. But their bill would only impose a slight trim on chain-migration by adding ten years to the citizenship process for the illegals, barring them from sponsoring extended-family relatives until 2033. The SUCCEED bill would do nothing to reform or cut chain-migration laws.

Moreover, most of the young illegals to be amnestied by Lankford and Tillis are Mexicans. Data from after the 1986 amnesty showed that each amnestied Mexican provided sponsorship and citizenship to more than six relatives back in Mexico, helping turn California into a Democratic-run state of sharp economic and civic divides.

On Wednesday, Lankford spokesman Darrell Jordan sent an additional statement to Breitbart News saying “it’s fine for Congress to narrow the variety of relatives who can be sponsored for chain migration.”

In turn, Lankford and Tillis are working with Perdue, as well as Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, to develop some package of measures that would make a DACA amnesty palatable to Americans.

They are getting some support from the House. For example, judiciary chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte blasted the visa lottery program in a Nov. 1 statement:

For years, I have called for ending the diversity visa lottery and have sponsored legislation to do just that. Tragically, we have witnessed yet again that the visa lottery poses a threat to the safety of our citizens and the security of our nation. Under the visa lottery, each successful applicant is chosen at random and given the status of permanent resident based on pure luck.

“This flawed policy is just foolish in the age in which we live. Those in the world who wish us harm can easily engage in this statistical gamble with nothing to lose. Our immigration policy should be based primarily on our national needs, security, and economics and not in part on an arbitrary system.

Goodlatte is working with several other House Republicans to develop a potential amnesty-for-something deal in December.

But there are many potential obstacles to a chain-migration reform.

For example, Texas Sen. John Cornyn reportedly wants to exclude the diversity visas — and likely the chain migration issue — from any deal.

Sen. Lindsey Graham is also working on the immigration with Cornyn and the other GOP Senators. He is an enthusiastic support for an amnesty. He opposes the visa lottery, but he is not likely to oppose chain migration, in part, because he has repeatedly said that he wants to bring in more labor for the tourist, hospitality, and agriculture industries in his home state of South Carolina.

.@LindseyGrahamSC on Diversity Visa Program: “It makes no sense to hand out visas and green cards this way. We want merit-based immigration” pic.twitter.com/S1gxJnBusb

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 1, 2017

Moreover, Democrats expect the GOP leaders to roll over when they’re hit by media pressure in December, said Krikorian. “The Republicans have surrendered so early so often they don’t have credibility with the Democrats … it may well be the [Democrats] will go through with their [budget shutdown] threats, but I don’t see how the Republicans will cave over this, because the public will not rally on the side of amnestying illegal aliens on Schumer’s terms, as opposed to some kind of give-and-take,” he said, adding:

[GOP Senate Majority Leader] McConnell may decide to call their bluff, say ‘Go ahead shut the government, see if we care,’ especially because from the President on down on down, Republicans have said that DACA [illegals] are sympathetic people and they do want to work something out… [so] it is not even though the Democrats can say ‘The evil Republicans don’t care about these young people.’

This is an opportunity to get something done rather than to use it as  political issue…  if it were me, I really would try to work something out. If we can get  [an end to] chain migration and [mandatory] E-Verify in exchange for a narrow DACA amnesty, that would be worth it. I’d be eager for it.

Beck at NumbersUSA is also hopeful, saying “when have we heard before this year chain migration mentioned even a tenth as much in public?” He added:

It is because of [Sen. Tom] Cotton and Sen. David] Perdue introducing the RAISE Act, and because the President has embraced that act, and has started putting ‘chain’ in his tweets. There is real talk about it, and the more than Americans hear about chain migration and the visa lottery, and the more they will clamor to get rid of them.

On November 1, Trump offered a preview of the powerful and popular message that he can use to trump the Democrats’ threat to shut down the federal government, saying:

So we’re going to get rid of this lottery program as soon as possible. [Saipov] came in through the Diversity Program, as you know, and we’re going to stop that.

We’re going to as quickly as possible get rid of chain migration and go to a merit-based system.  Terrorists are constantly seeking to strike our nation, and it will require the unflinching devotion to our law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence professionals to keep America safe.  We will take all necessary steps to protect our people and our communities, and to protect our nation as a whole.

“The more the president talks about this, the more pressure there will be on Congress,” said Beck.

Four million Americans turn 18 each year and begin looking for good jobs in the free market.

But the federal government inflates the supply of new labor by annually accepting 1 million new legal immigrants, by providing almost 2 million work-permits to foreigners, by providing work-visas to roughly 500,000 temporary workers and doing little to block the employment of roughly 8 million illegal immigrants.

The Washington-imposed economic policy of mass-immigration floods the market with foreign labor, spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees. It also drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines at least 5 million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.

The cheap-labor policy has also reduced investment and job creation in many interior states because the coastal cities have a surplus of imported labor. For example, almost 27 percent of zip codes in Missouri had fewer jobs or businesses in 2015 than in 2000, according to a new report by the Economic Innovation Group. In Kansas, almost 29 percent of zip codes had fewer jobs and businesses in 2015 compared to 2000, which was a two-decade period of massive cheap-labor immigration.

Americans tell pollsters that they strongly oppose amnesties and cheap-labor immigration, even as most Americans also want to favor legal immigrants, and many sympathize with illegals. Because of the successful cheap-labor strategy, wages for men have remained flat since 1973, and a growing percentage of the nation’s annual income is shifting to investors and away from employees.

CIS: Total Immigrant Population Hits Record High of 43.7 Million in 2016 https://t.co/RX6Q9t3FQi pic.twitter.com/LO1ubh6jAY

— NumbersUSA (@NumbersUSA) October 18, 2017

  Source link

from CapitalistHQ.com https://capitalisthq.com/diversity-visa-jihadi-exposes-democrats-bluff-on-daca-amnesty-budget-talks/

[click2watch]

Resisting the Threat of Blockchain Recentralization

Chelsea Palmer is an open source educator and free agent in the cryptocurrency ecosystem who tweets (too much) at @IMmsGNU.

The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.

I think most can agree that it’s been a hell of a long year, in crypto and in general. The greatest way to reflect back on the year may be to review our expectations as we entered it; to this end, I’d highly recommend a revisitation of the “95 Crypto Theses” post by Ryan Selkis.

Selkis was wise enough to veer away from micro-predictions and focused instead on broad and conceptual observations that ring true no matter where our current prices stand. Most crucially, his theses were shaped by the core values of most crypto-decentralists: pursuit of liberation, escape from censorship and bewilderment at the success of centrally issued XRP.

As Zach Harvey has already excellently outlined in this series, these values come from the cypherpunk roots of cryptocurrency, which are crucial to keep in focus. Unfortunately, my biggest takeaway from 2018 was this: recentralist tricks were in full swing as the year kicked off, and even as opportunists fled the crashing market, we’re still surrounded by those who seek to undermine the core principles of our presumed revolution.

You Don’t Have To Care About Prices… Until You Do

My 2018 began with desperate angst at the massive throngs of scammers still HODLing on from December’s highs. As a public-facing educator at a small community commons, I was relieved when the prices dropped in February: we could breathe and take a break from telling all these noobs not to burn themselves on the stove.

For most of the year, I ignored prices – as the market dipped again in June, I was busy bringing the absurdist conference of my dreams to life, and we danced through the streets of Vancouver without a thought or word about money.

However, even my punk ass got served by the brutal spiral at the end of this year, losing both my job in the industry and a massive chunk of my savings’ worth in fiat. I’ve finally stopped fighting and embraced the bear market that I first foolishly wished for, then desperately ran from.

I’m not alone in this: Crypto Twitter got quieter, and those who are still around are resigned to keep building, and learning for what might be another long winter. This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the contemporary lessons around us if we hope to sustain the original dream of decentralizing social power.

Outgrowing Simple “Immutability”

Halfway through the year, Vlad Zamfir began to solidly document a conversation he’s instigated for quite some time: how we can define and understand blockchain governance. A vibrant community discourse arose from this, with some notable contributions coming from CleanApp, Dean Eigenmann and Matthew Prewitt and Steven McKie.

The reason I find this topic important enough to spend a huge chunk of my review summarizing it is this: “blockchain governance capture,” as Vlad Zamfir phrases it, is not merely theoretical, but already manifesting in ecosystem politics.

Zamfir is a self-professed immutability cynic, but even those of us who prize it as a core strength of this technology have to accept that blockchains cannot live on immutability alone. In fact, the most jarring example of attempted corporate capture arose just as 2018 drew to an end.

‘We Captured Your Code; Sorry Not Sorry’

Ethereum Classic (ETC), the small but dedicated community which rejected the 2016 hard fork of Ethereum following the DAO hack, is known to value the concept of immutability above almost everything else.

ETC was hit with a blatant attempt at corporate capture of protocol code last month when ETCLabs, under the control of Digital Finance Group, sweet-talked its way into owner access on the main ETC GitHub repo, then swiftly deleted all other owners to achieve sole control of the main ETC codebase.

I’ll give them shocked credit for the fact that they completely owned up to this coup d’état – heck, they essentially boasted about it. Emphasizing that nothing they did technically violated GitHub’s terms and conditions, they boldly declared that they knew better than the community at large and thus had no need to ask for their approval.

The community rallied to successfully subverted this takeover but it’s a cold lesson to close out the year. I focus on this as a case study because I fear it’s the logical conclusion to the year’s power struggles, and a sign of more struggles to come.

Are Just We Looking for New Masters?

Social revolutions often fall prey to opportunists who convince others that intermediaries are not just a necessary evil, but valuable leaders. When you look closely, these folks are making money on the back of open source protocols, straining ecosystem infrastructure and even taking credit for community-driven intellectual property.

As much as I despise the ICO model, and believe it to be responsible for the swell of get-rich-quick optimism and doom-and-gloom capitulation that defined the markets of 2018, it presented one really beautiful promise: you could raise funds free of the dirty trappings and oppressive fine print of legacy business practices.

We must scrutinize the objective value-add of private companies and power players within our industry. We have to ask who benefits from every new major financial “win,” and how each of these impacts the open commons and decentralization.

It would be easy to build a new world that looks much like the old one, but I think we have enough collective chutzpah, and diverse enough opinions, within the cryptocurrency ecosystem to push through the temptation to just elevate new leaders to rule over us in old ways.

If 2018 has shown us anything, it’s that we have tireless agitators among our ranks who will trade off the roles of leaders and whistleblowers, builders and pen testers, in an endless cycle of growth. True innovation will require vigilance, persistence, and often turbulence.

Though it’s exhausting work, it’s way more rewarding than a shiny new set of upgraded shackles.

Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.

“Blockchain Angst” image courtesy of Chelsea Palmer

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '239547076708948'); fbq('track', "PageView"); This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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Resisting the Threat of Blockchain Recentralization

Chelsea Palmer is an open source educator and free agent in the cryptocurrency ecosystem who tweets (too much) at @IMmsGNU.

The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.

I think most can agree that it’s been a hell of a long year, in crypto and in general. The greatest way to reflect back on the year may be to review our expectations as we entered it; to this end, I’d highly recommend a revisitation of the “95 Crypto Theses” post by Ryan Selkis.

Selkis was wise enough to veer away from micro-predictions and focused instead on broad and conceptual observations that ring true no matter where our current prices stand. Most crucially, his theses were shaped by the core values of most crypto-decentralists: pursuit of liberation, escape from censorship and bewilderment at the success of centrally issued XRP.

As Zach Harvey has already excellently outlined in this series, these values come from the cypherpunk roots of cryptocurrency, which are crucial to keep in focus. Unfortunately, my biggest takeaway from 2018 was this: recentralist tricks were in full swing as the year kicked off, and even as opportunists fled the crashing market, we’re still surrounded by those who seek to undermine the core principles of our presumed revolution.

You Don’t Have To Care About Prices… Until You Do

My 2018 began with desperate angst at the massive throngs of scammers still HODLing on from December’s highs. As a public-facing educator at a small community commons, I was relieved when the prices dropped in February: we could breathe and take a break from telling all these noobs not to burn themselves on the stove.

For most of the year, I ignored prices – as the market dipped again in June, I was busy bringing the absurdist conference of my dreams to life, and we danced through the streets of Vancouver without a thought or word about money.

However, even my punk ass got served by the brutal spiral at the end of this year, losing both my job in the industry and a massive chunk of my savings’ worth in fiat. I’ve finally stopped fighting and embraced the bear market that I first foolishly wished for, then desperately ran from.

I’m not alone in this: Crypto Twitter got quieter, and those who are still around are resigned to keep building, and learning for what might be another long winter. This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the contemporary lessons around us if we hope to sustain the original dream of decentralizing social power.

Outgrowing Simple “Immutability”

Halfway through the year, Vlad Zamfir began to solidly document a conversation he’s instigated for quite some time: how we can define and understand blockchain governance. A vibrant community discourse arose from this, with some notable contributions coming from CleanApp, Dean Eigenmann and Matthew Prewitt and Steven McKie.

The reason I find this topic important enough to spend a huge chunk of my review summarizing it is this: “blockchain governance capture,” as Vlad Zamfir phrases it, is not merely theoretical, but already manifesting in ecosystem politics.

Zamfir is a self-professed immutability cynic, but even those of us who prize it as a core strength of this technology have to accept that blockchains cannot live on immutability alone. In fact, the most jarring example of attempted corporate capture arose just as 2018 drew to an end.

‘We Captured Your Code; Sorry Not Sorry’

Ethereum Classic (ETC), the small but dedicated community which rejected the 2016 hard fork of Ethereum following the DAO hack, is known to value the concept of immutability above almost everything else.

ETC was hit with a blatant attempt at corporate capture of protocol code last month when ETCLabs, under the control of Digital Finance Group, sweet-talked its way into owner access on the main ETC GitHub repo, then swiftly deleted all other owners to achieve sole control of the main ETC codebase.

I’ll give them shocked credit for the fact that they completely owned up to this coup d’état – heck, they essentially boasted about it. Emphasizing that nothing they did technically violated GitHub’s terms and conditions, they boldly declared that they knew better than the community at large and thus had no need to ask for their approval.

The community rallied to successfully subverted this takeover but it’s a cold lesson to close out the year. I focus on this as a case study because I fear it’s the logical conclusion to the year’s power struggles, and a sign of more struggles to come.

Are Just We Looking for New Masters?

Social revolutions often fall prey to opportunists who convince others that intermediaries are not just a necessary evil, but valuable leaders. When you look closely, these folks are making money on the back of open source protocols, straining ecosystem infrastructure and even taking credit for community-driven intellectual property.

As much as I despise the ICO model, and believe it to be responsible for the swell of get-rich-quick optimism and doom-and-gloom capitulation that defined the markets of 2018, it presented one really beautiful promise: you could raise funds free of the dirty trappings and oppressive fine print of legacy business practices.

We must scrutinize the objective value-add of private companies and power players within our industry. We have to ask who benefits from every new major financial “win,” and how each of these impacts the open commons and decentralization.

It would be easy to build a new world that looks much like the old one, but I think we have enough collective chutzpah, and diverse enough opinions, within the cryptocurrency ecosystem to push through the temptation to just elevate new leaders to rule over us in old ways.

If 2018 has shown us anything, it’s that we have tireless agitators among our ranks who will trade off the roles of leaders and whistleblowers, builders and pen testers, in an endless cycle of growth. True innovation will require vigilance, persistence, and often turbulence.

Though it’s exhausting work, it’s way more rewarding than a shiny new set of upgraded shackles.

Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.

“Blockchain Angst” image courtesy of Chelsea Palmer

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '239547076708948'); fbq('track', "PageView"); This news post is collected from CoinDesk

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The post Resisting the Threat of Blockchain Recentralization appeared first on Click 2 Watch.

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[click2watch]

Resisting the Threat of Blockchain Recentralization

Chelsea Palmer is an open source educator and free agent in the cryptocurrency ecosystem who tweets (too much) at @IMmsGNU.

The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.

I think most can agree that it’s been a hell of a long year, in crypto and in general. The greatest way to reflect back on the year may be to review our expectations as we entered it; to this end, I’d highly recommend a revisitation of the “95 Crypto Theses” post by Ryan Selkis.

Selkis was wise enough to veer away from micro-predictions and focused instead on broad and conceptual observations that ring true no matter where our current prices stand. Most crucially, his theses were shaped by the core values of most crypto-decentralists: pursuit of liberation, escape from censorship and bewilderment at the success of centrally issued XRP.

As Zach Harvey has already excellently outlined in this series, these values come from the cypherpunk roots of cryptocurrency, which are crucial to keep in focus. Unfortunately, my biggest takeaway from 2018 was this: recentralist tricks were in full swing as the year kicked off, and even as opportunists fled the crashing market, we’re still surrounded by those who seek to undermine the core principles of our presumed revolution.

You Don’t Have To Care About Prices… Until You Do

My 2018 began with desperate angst at the massive throngs of scammers still HODLing on from December’s highs. As a public-facing educator at a small community commons, I was relieved when the prices dropped in February: we could breathe and take a break from telling all these noobs not to burn themselves on the stove.

For most of the year, I ignored prices – as the market dipped again in June, I was busy bringing the absurdist conference of my dreams to life, and we danced through the streets of Vancouver without a thought or word about money.

However, even my punk ass got served by the brutal spiral at the end of this year, losing both my job in the industry and a massive chunk of my savings’ worth in fiat. I’ve finally stopped fighting and embraced the bear market that I first foolishly wished for, then desperately ran from.

I’m not alone in this: Crypto Twitter got quieter, and those who are still around are resigned to keep building, and learning for what might be another long winter. This is a perfect opportunity to reflect on the contemporary lessons around us if we hope to sustain the original dream of decentralizing social power.

Outgrowing Simple “Immutability”

Halfway through the year, Vlad Zamfir began to solidly document a conversation he’s instigated for quite some time: how we can define and understand blockchain governance. A vibrant community discourse arose from this, with some notable contributions coming from CleanApp, Dean Eigenmann and Matthew Prewitt and Steven McKie.

The reason I find this topic important enough to spend a huge chunk of my review summarizing it is this: “blockchain governance capture,” as Vlad Zamfir phrases it, is not merely theoretical, but already manifesting in ecosystem politics.

Zamfir is a self-professed immutability cynic, but even those of us who prize it as a core strength of this technology have to accept that blockchains cannot live on immutability alone. In fact, the most jarring example of attempted corporate capture arose just as 2018 drew to an end.

‘We Captured Your Code; Sorry Not Sorry’

Ethereum Classic (ETC), the small but dedicated community which rejected the 2016 hard fork of Ethereum following the DAO hack, is known to value the concept of immutability above almost everything else.

ETC was hit with a blatant attempt at corporate capture of protocol code last month when ETCLabs, under the control of Digital Finance Group, sweet-talked its way into owner access on the main ETC GitHub repo, then swiftly deleted all other owners to achieve sole control of the main ETC codebase.

I’ll give them shocked credit for the fact that they completely owned up to this coup d’état – heck, they essentially boasted about it. Emphasizing that nothing they did technically violated GitHub’s terms and conditions, they boldly declared that they knew better than the community at large and thus had no need to ask for their approval.

The community rallied to successfully subverted this takeover but it’s a cold lesson to close out the year. I focus on this as a case study because I fear it’s the logical conclusion to the year’s power struggles, and a sign of more struggles to come.

Are Just We Looking for New Masters?

Social revolutions often fall prey to opportunists who convince others that intermediaries are not just a necessary evil, but valuable leaders. When you look closely, these folks are making money on the back of open source protocols, straining ecosystem infrastructure and even taking credit for community-driven intellectual property.

As much as I despise the ICO model, and believe it to be responsible for the swell of get-rich-quick optimism and doom-and-gloom capitulation that defined the markets of 2018, it presented one really beautiful promise: you could raise funds free of the dirty trappings and oppressive fine print of legacy business practices.

We must scrutinize the objective value-add of private companies and power players within our industry. We have to ask who benefits from every new major financial “win,” and how each of these impacts the open commons and decentralization.

It would be easy to build a new world that looks much like the old one, but I think we have enough collective chutzpah, and diverse enough opinions, within the cryptocurrency ecosystem to push through the temptation to just elevate new leaders to rule over us in old ways.

If 2018 has shown us anything, it’s that we have tireless agitators among our ranks who will trade off the roles of leaders and whistleblowers, builders and pen testers, in an endless cycle of growth. True innovation will require vigilance, persistence, and often turbulence.

Though it’s exhausting work, it’s way more rewarding than a shiny new set of upgraded shackles.

Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.

“Blockchain Angst” image courtesy of Chelsea Palmer

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