#and with the PREVIOUS reform

[the-bibrarian]

“The EU average stands at 64.3 years for men and 63.5 years for women. In France, the current retirement age is 64.5 years for both men and women, according to the OECD dataset. This means that France has a slightly higher retirement age than the EU average.”

Source : euronews.com

The absolute fucking irony

[thewisestdino]

Before and After

[to-dance-beneath-the-diamond-sky]

idk why people are having such a hard time wrapping their brains around the fact that not referring to people as prisoners and instead referring to them as people in prison or incarcerated people is a really really simple thing you can do to help combat decades of the systemic dehumanization of black, brown, and poor people. in the US and a lot of other countries around the world, the term prisoner has extremely negative connotations and stigma associated with it, and invokes a whole lot of bias and stereotypes about who is in prison and what for. the idea that people who are in prison are there because they are bad awful people is deeply ingrained in almost every aspect of US society and culture. prisons systemically dehumanize people and do everything to strip away people's autonomy, individuality, identity, freedom, and human rights.

the push for person first language when discussing those who are incarcerated literally comes from people who have been systemically dehumanized from these oppressive punitive systems. this is not an ahistorical uwu sjw don't say "autistic" say "person-with-autism" thing. there are decades, fuck even centuries of significant, deeply racialized and oppressive political and historical context you have to take into account.

so please don't feed into this dehumanization by referring to people as objects in this extremely oppressive, racist, classist, harmful punitive system. use person first language y'all, it's not that fucking hard.

here's some articles if people actually care enough to educate themseves

The language of incarceration People First: The Use and Impact of Criminal Justice Labels in Media Coverage The Language Project Forget labels like ex-con and felon, realize that words matter and learn how to humanize language

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Are there any tropes you particularly enjoy in media? Just the first that come to mind

I am a sucker for “the villain/monster was redeemable and just needed a new perspective” to be honest I eat that every time.

[thisbibliomaniac]

I understand paedobaptists arguing that paedobaptism is indeed biblical when baptists claim that it's not, even if I don't agree. What I don't understand is them coming at us with "oh yeah?! Well I went to a Baptist church once that did something I consider unbiblical!" (even though in most cases it's extrabiblical at best) as if

1) I have to answer for any church other than my own (I don't)

2) one church's incorrect doctrine makes another's okay (it doesn't)

I usually respond with "You're right, you shouldn't do either of those things"

[mariocki]

New Scotland Yard: The Come Back (1.2, LWT, 1972)

"This wasn't a sudden impulse. It was deliberate and calculated. He had to break in to get at the old man, and then - well, you saw what he did to him. I don't know if he's a psycho or not, but I do know he's a sadist and I know what treatment I'd hand out."

"Yeah, I can guess."

"It's the only way."

"You've a right to your opinion, just don't try and convert me."

"I wouldn't dream of it, I know what you think."

"I think it's just as well your job ends when we catch him."

[darnianwayne]

i want to chew through glass this “we have to save damian’s soul from literal demons or else he will become the greatest evil in the world” arc is like. honestly i’m not totally against it. IF it was handled well with competent writers that actually cared for damian i think it could be an interesting story - smth smth fighting to be good against all odds, being believed evil from every corner, somehow still finding goodness and salvation at the end etc etc you get the picture. like the Themes are there yknow? i think damian (being a character who has been CONSTANTLY viewed as evil or bad by other characters and sometimes even the narrative) is a good vehicle to tell a story abt the inherent “good” or “evil” of a person’s soul and how it’s kinda bullshit and how you can save yourself and be saved and choose the path you will walk during life, gray morality and all

the problem is of course that DC does not seem to have competent writers

[fideidefenswhore]

tl; dr if Cromwell did not destroy his partner(s) IN the reformation, he certainly destroyed partners of /in the reformation.

[ponysweet]

Can you give Starlight Glimmer headcanons this like this but when she's still a villain? I'd love to see what you have

Whipped this up quickly because I don't have too many changes? I liked her with curls in her few concept arts so I gave them to her here. I also took the chance to change the scar on her flank since it bothered me oijadsf. Despite doing it to herself, she would use it to gain some sympathy

warning long text, me rambling about starlight because i wuv her !!

I think Starlight began 'Our Town' as no so evil at the beginning, she wasn't exactly out their preaching about her hatred of cutie marks out in the public square or something. But as she would tell her stories to ponies, it would hit close to home for them and they'd agree with their hatred of their cutie mark and the society based around them (and also hatred for themselves). Like unicorns who didn't have magic base talents but something like, making balloon animals, baking, kite making, who were often seen as 'not needed' seeing as earth ponies could do that stuff normally. Or pegasi without flying or speed related cute marks. Eventually word would spread about Starlight and ponies who wanted to live in a cutie mark-less based society formed around this little village Starlight had nestled into. It was nice seeing other ponies feel the same way she did and everything was nice and perfect for awhile, ponies were building amazing lives and they even decreed Starlight as their Mayor since she brought them all together here. I don't think ponies removed their cutie marks via magic, but probably just hid them or covered them up with make-up like Starlight did in canon.

But the more this 'society' grew the more frequent in fighting would become over other things. It wasn't just cutie marks that were driving wedges between ponies, it was other differences as well. So Starlight banned the usage of magic and flight in Our Town as her first rule, and when fighting still happened- some sort of punishment would be handed out. Usually it was 'being locked in your house for the day' but being stripped of your position in Our Town was another, as it was so simple that it could be filled by another pony easily. Then 'daily mantras' were introduced to help everybody stay focused on the goal of life! Everything was stale, lifeless, and joyless but ponies were still smiling..! Sort of..! They weren't fighting, and everything was normal. Haha.. yup. Starlight was obviously convincing herself everything was just a-okay! She'd give everyone the creeps by her smiling too widely and acting WAY too peppy while everyone felt the complete opposite. Though bottling up those emotions eventually lead to aggressive outbursts over the smallest out of place things, big meltdowns would be common for Starlight and others would actively avoid her or avoid angering her, and eventually that's when the Mane 6 were called in.

Everything is sort of the same? They show up and Starlight tries the best she can to convince them but eventually brings out the big guns and uses her pent up magic to actually remove their cutie marks like she did in canon in hopes that it'd do something. It didn't really do much, showing that ponies don't necessarily need to be tied to their cutie marks to be something special (because the ?? removing their cutie marks was just like taking away magic, making them useless and slow was like??). The Equalized 4 or whatever help out to return the cutie marks though and become closer friends and those 4 try to convince Starlight to come back and start over, but she felt betrayed- cutie marks were chosen over her again which always seems to be the case. Starlight escapes in the end.

[abnerkrill]

master gardener trailer is here!! it's paul schrader's latest film with joel edgerton, sigourney weaver and quintessa swindell

[chewwytwee]

Bro my Theo class is such assssssss I'm so tired of reading books that are just like "We shouldn't be racist.......... cuz of God". All of the books I've been assigned to read in class are so toothless that, even if I was a homophobic bible thumper, I could read it and nod along to every statement saying "Yeah! This is why gay people are bad and we need to get rid of welfare!". They're only radical books if you're already radicalized going into them, they don't say anything they just imply meaning for anyone to project their beliefs onto.

[oohlook-thevoid]

The way the 3 seats announced so far (last I checked) are Labour wins with Reform in second,,,,,,

[ofdinosanddais1]

I'm gonna say it:

Not wanting to live isn't a moral failing either.

[Tags for more context]

[ofswordsandpens]

actually I also wanna talk about the part where Percy convinces Bob to kill Hyperion because even though Percy never says anything outright sinister, the way he handles the entire situation with such cool ease, playing on Bob’s emotions... its so insane???

Because Annabeth’s reaction to the three of them encountering Hyperion reforming is: “oh this is bad we need to get out of here” She knows if Bob remembers himself, that it's not going to play out well for Percy and her. She also thinks about how they're being pursued and don't have a lot of time. Her solution to the problem, seemingly, is to leave.

But Percy's solution is to work the situation to his advantage. He re-affirms Bob's loyalty to him:

Percy then re-establishes Bob's moral code: "Some monsters are good. Some are bad. This Titan is bad. He tried to kill me and a lot of people. He's not good like you are."

And it ends with Percy leaving the choice of whatever to do with Hyperion to Bob but of course, is it really what Bob chose to do? Bob decides to kill Hyperion. It's not what he may have done, if Percy hadn't intervened. But it's exactly what Percy was oh-so-sweetly leading Bob to do.

And listen, I'm not claiming that it was exactly morally bankrupt of Percy to take advantage of a once-evil titan who could get him and his girlfriend through hell in one piece. Percy, Annabeth, they manipulate monsters and enemies all the time. Annabeth ended the previous book with manipulating Arachne into weaving her own web. So it's not exactly like she's against using manipulative tactics, in theory.

But Bob, at this point, is not just some monster. He is so painfully sincere in his belief in Percy and their friendship, so yes, it does feel a bit sinister whenever Percy uses Bob... and he really uses Bob.

And I think what makes the scene so unsettling, it isn't just that Percy manipulated Bob, its how well Percy manipulated him. He manipulates Bob so well that Percy doesn't even have to kill Hyperion... because Bob does it for him. He manipulates Bob so well, that Annabeth couldn't tell if Percy was purposefully trying to manipulate the situation. (Newsflash, he most definitely was). Like holy shit.

[fawcetttweets]

Please do NOT stop the pig migration storyline! I am invested in it now 😂

Things are heating up… I’m a bit rusty on my knowledge about the whole ACAB thing because my memory sucks and I can barely retain thoughts for more than few minutes but I’m gonna try my best! I’ll try not to get too serious or upsetting but some JL members are, were, or work closely with cops and won’t really agree right away. They’re gonna have some off screen and on screen talks about it and be forced to do research into it! Forcibly Acabing my blorbos. Shooting them straight in the face with my woke-beam.

THE NEXT LINES ARE NON CANON:

Batman: this is going to be a PR nightmare

Marvel: The only PR I care about is Police Reform. Or preferably, abolishment.

Nightwing: so you hate me?

Marvel: Oh! I didn’t know you were a cop, sorry!

Nightwing: Oh thank god, I thought you’d want to stop being friends with me.

Marvel: oh, I do. I meant that I’m sorry for ever treating you like a friend and stringing you along, not for the whole ACAB thing. You’re A C which also means your A B :)

Nightwing: D:

Non canon because that’s too mean for my sweet baby boy (at least in Marvel form) and Nightwing isn’t a cop anymore.

First // Previous // Next

[rivkat]

IRS reform is working

Have some good news! (Gift link.)

The IRS reported Wednesday that it has collected $1 billion in taxes and penalties owed by hundreds of wealthy households who accumulated past-due tax debts for years while IRS enforcement dwindled.

“The tax bill wasn’t even in dispute — the taxes were clearly owed by these people,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a call with reporters. “But we didn’t have the people or the resources. … It takes time and staffing to work through these cases.”

The tax agency, boosted by $60 billion in additional funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, has hired hundreds of skilled accountants over the past year and a half after years of shrinking staffing. Some of them have focused their efforts on specific groups of tax delinquents, including a group of 1,600 households with annual incomes above $1 million who were all known to owe at least $250,000 in back taxes, based on their previous tax returns. Facing understaffing in the past, IRS leaders admit, their agents simply didn’t try to collect these taxes for years.