#attaining power

[tomorrowusa]

Katie Stallard who is a political writer from the UK points out in The New Statesman exactly where three of the six SCOTUS votes enabling Trump immunity came from.

Many observers will also view the ruling as the logical conclusion of the former president’s efforts, along with the then Senate leader Mitch McConnell, to pack the court with conservatives, adding three such justices – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – to the bench during his four-year term. Public trust in the Supreme Court was already at an all-time low, with just 28 per cent of Americans saying that they believed Supreme Court justices would be fair and impartial in a June poll by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Along with the decision to overturn Roe vs Wade last year – which had protected the right to an abortion for half a century – this latest decision will only compound the perception among many that this is now an activist court with a conservative agenda. This is particularly concerning given the crucial role the court could play in determining the outcome of a closely contested election this year.

Rightwingers in this country have had a long term agenda which they have mostly stuck to. Almost immediately after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision they began their efforts to gain control of the Supreme Court. It took 49 years but the Court finally reversed Roe in 2022.

In that period some progressives behaved like the distracted boyfriend meme. When a politically sexy but ephemeral third party or fashionably lefty temptation appeared on the scene those distracted progressives foolishly embraced it and ended up empowering Republicans.

For gaining power and keeping power in the US it's necessary to put long term goals ahead of short term titillations. And part of that means educating folks on how government works in real life — not relying on things like simplistic stick-figure diagrams on how a bill becomes law or how presidents are elected.

Taking back SCOTUS and amending the US Constitution will take years and won't be easy. But if we don't start learning from the persistence and successes of Republicans then things will only continue to deteriorate for democracy.

[haze-of-hyperfixations]

a concept. to consider. what if. what if there was a Remember Them reprise after the Thunder Saga. "We are not to let them die in vain" except he's the only one left so it's "I am not to let them die in vain." and there's no backing chorus of his men. because. they're all dead.

and the line takes on a whole new meaning now that he's the one who chose to let them die.

(not in vain. it can't have been in vain, it can't have been for nothing. i have to see her. i have to see her, because if i don't make it home, those men died for nothing. the ends always justify the means. i can justify anything as long as it ends with Penelope and Telemachus both in my arms again. but if it doesn't-

but it will. it will. it has to.)

and our- ... -and my comrades will not die in vain...

[elspeth-tirel]

etrata -> elspeth-tirel

[skrunksthatwunk]

love like you / maternal pang

bonus under cut:

the first stephanie + the maternal pang tone destroyer i couldn't include bc it's a serious comic

[serpentface]

Can you tell us more about the Usoma-Hibitte

The Usoma-Hittibe is a sister (typically the eldest) of the Usoma, the Wardi monarch.

((IMMEDIATE LINGUISTIC TANGENT: The phrase Usoma-Hittibe could be functionally translated "king-sister"- Usoma has been the word used for Wardi monarchs for much of their history, which does not actually Translate as 'king'. The word Usoma stems from a now obsolete concept-word referring to death as a 'catalyst of the cycle' (referring to death and birth as dualistic forces that sustain life via their perpetual cycling). This gradually became closer in meaning to 'benefactor of life' or just 'benefactor', which began to be applied to kings as an epithet, and eventually became their titles as sovereign with most other uses falling into obsolescence (though it also appears in the name of the Face Kusomache). Hittibe straightforwardly translates to 'sister', though dead literally is a feminine form of a word meaning 'of the (same) womb'.))

The modern day role is largely a remnant of traditions of the oldest Wardi monarchies and their lineage structures (most significantly the Ephenni, who developed the first monarchies and TREMENDOUSLY shaped all following models of Wardi kingship). All Wardi tribes had patriarchal systems of power (though with greatly varying intensities) throughout their recorded history, but not all have been patrilineal.

The Ephenni (and a lot of the other west-southwest proto-Wardi tribes) had matrilineal kinship structures for the vast majority of their history, with kinship passing from mother to son. This translated to a system of royal inheritance where kingship was passed from a king to his sister's eldest son, rather than to his own sons. The king and king-sister would each be wed to their own consorts, but only the king-sister's children would be potential heirs under normal circumstances.

In a societal context where power is patriarchal and inheritance is matrilineal, this system is Very effective for both ensuring inheritance remains in one family AND to prevent succession crises (which the incest approach to keeping rule within a family doesn't accomplish). A child's father generally cannot Technically be completely certain in a world without genetic testing, which in patrilineal kinship opens the door to claiming illegitimacy of heirs. A matrilineal structure where kingship passes from a man to his nephew via his sister negates this- the mother the a child is unambiguous (you can see her being pregnant and giving birth), and even if the child WAS born out of adultery, the illegitimate father does not ultimately matter to the child's status as legitimate heir. The child will bear the mother (and thus the king's) family name regardless, thus keeping power securely in one family with no avenues to dispute legitimacy.

The Usoma-Hittibe thus had profound importance as the mother of kings, outranking the Usoma's actual wife in significance. A Usoma's own sons would instead live out their lives as noblemen with no claim to the throne (though technically would be 'reserve' heirs in catastrophic failures where a Usoma-Hittibe and any other king-sisters fail to birth sons).

This matrilineal kinship structure was lost over the course of history through a combination of internal societal changes, centuries of occupation, and the assimilation of the various pre-Wardi peoples into collective Wardi identity. Imperial Wardi culture now exclusively uses a patrilineal kinship structure. However, before this change could fully occur, the Usoma-Hittibe's role had extended into numerous ceremonial and political roles and was deeply entrenched into the identity of Wardi royalty, and the position was thus retained even through her reproductive obsolescence.

The most obvious shift to the role of modern Usoma-Hittibe is that they are Not Only no longer the mothers of kings, but have absorbed the cultural 'celibate woman occupying positions of power' archetype and now remain unwed and ostensibly virgins for life, as well as having slightly 'masculinized' elements of their performance (their etiquette and some of their regalia is considered masculine, though not to the same extent as Odonii). This parallels the importance of celibacy and 'de-feminization' in Odonii, partly conceptualized as allowing a woman to retain strength in bodily and spiritual integrity that is otherwise deemed only natural to men. Like Odonii, the bodies of Usoma-Hittibe are politicized into symbols, imagined here as physical representations of the health, strength, and integrity of the royal family. She will be used as a proxy for the entire royal family in rites intending to bless and protect them. She is the public female face of the royal family, and serves ceremonial functions in most rites that would normally be taken by a family's wife.

In addition, a Usoma-Hittibe has a significant degree of hard political power. She is the default regent in case of an Usoma's early demise, has the ability to take action in his stead during absences, and can freely make appointments to the lower court (but not the council), giving her potentially tremendous influence over the court. Her power is still ultimately limited- a Usoma has absolute veto over any of her actions, she is prohibited from issuing military commands (even when acting as regent, this must be in coordination with the council), and the inner council has veto power by majority vote on actions she makes in a living Usoma's stead (though the council does not have generalized veto power over regent Usoma-Hittibe).

There has also been a significant shift in recent history to the Usoma-Hittibe gaining significant control over the state priesthood of the Face Kusomache (which is Partly assigned a role as the protector and legitimatizer of royalty). The Usoma-Hittibe is currently THE person who appoints a high priest to Kusomache as an aspect of her ceremonial roles, and the past few Usoma-Hittibe have negotiated privileges to perform rites otherwise exclusive to the priests (which is unprecedented, as this priesthood (and all other core cults to the Faces save for Odonii and Galenii) is closed and all-male). This has contributed to internal fracturing among this priesthood- cult traditions surrounding Kusomache focused on this Face representing death and safe transitions to the afterlife (as well as sacred mysteries and the movements of the cosmos), and the additional 'protector of royalty' trait was rather inorganically assigned by the merging of an entirely separate tradition. Many members of Kusomache's priesthood feel the Face is being warped and defiled, resent the Usoma-Hittibe's appointments of puppet high-priests, see tremendous insult in these royal lay-women integrating themselves into the cult's structure, and fear that these king-sisters will attempt to take over as high priests. Some have even broken off to form a separate sect to Kusomache in response, which by official decree are illegitimate, but is gaining public favor as one of many symptoms of growing distrust and dissatisfaction in the royal family.

---

SIDE NOTES ON THE QUEEN-CONSORT

The queen-consort's modern role is somewhat expanded in that she is now the mother of Usoma's heirs, but in few other capacities. Her powers are limited to those natural to her social status, and she has no hard political power whatsoever, even within the scope of the court (though some queens gain indirect power via personally influencing their husbands, sisters in law, and council). Imperial Wardi royal families have generally sought to display themselves as the ideal perfection of the familial sphere with the Usoma as the epitomical protective household patriarch, and thus a queen-consort typically lives in the utmost of feminine cloistering within the palace and is rarely (if ever) seen by the public (in the limited cases in which she travels outside of palace grounds, care will be taken to keep her out of sight within her carriage or litter). This functions to emphasize her privilege as the highest status wife within the domain, and by extension to show the invulnerability of the royal family as a whole by the unseeable and therefore untouchable nature of its Vulnerable wife/mother.

(The concept of a wife being able to exist in protection exclusively within the family home is considered an ideal, which isn't really attainable for nobility and is out of the goddamn question for the lower classes. You'll notice 'women's bodies being heavily politicized and abstracted' being a recurrent cultural theme here- the wife of a household is the vessel for a family's continued existence and conceptually the vulnerable representation of the family's survival, which must be controlled and protected. The social privilege of royalty allows for this to be utterly realized in the case of the queen).

The queen-consort is (apart from being known by name) functionally the abstract concept of the idealized wife and mother and the womb of kings rather than an individual person to most of the public. Attention is actively Drawn to her physical absence via a queen being represented in effigy in the vast majority of public appearances by the royal family (represented in statuary, and in abstraction in the form of the lotus sceptre held by the Usoma-Hittibe). Statues representing each current queen-consort are placed in major temples to Kusomache, Ganmache and Anaemache to gain the protection of these Faces and to be honored by the visiting public.

[transhuman-priestess]

they should invent a trauma that makes your life better

[fauvester]

still losing my nut in the lost tomb akatsuki vers.. they’re even already paired up… itachi and kisame have the most typical necro cav relationship but with added morbid courtly love.. the weird suna/obito threeway…. and the zombie combo where kakuzu is also a necromancer, but the only thing he does is regenerate his body to stay alive for 200+ years only to continue to be kicked around by life and ending up as a cavalier to the prodigy orphan priest of the dying 9th house, who’s brilliant and stupid and violent and physically strong enough to be a cav in his own right.. and INCREDIBLY annoying

[themintyone]

More character portrait wip from my pf2e game

[thecraftyninjacat]

ohohohojshkjfhjkshfk *runs into an electric fence*

[absolutely-esme]

My Headcanon for Liminals

I've been having a lot of fun posting headcanons, and I'm starting to realize just how many I've built up over the years, so here's another one.

So I've stated before that part of the reason why Danny and Vlad are so different is because Danny was inside of a portal when it turned on whereas Vlad just got a face full of energized Ectoplasm and other assorted nastiness. The still human and already ghostly halves of Danny fused into a cohesive whole in order to survive the opening of the portal and continued supporting eachother. Vlad's human half forcibly integrated his resistant ghost half as it formed in an effort to survive. Rather than a cohesive whole, Vlad is two dischordant halves.

That said, I do not consider Vlad's state the default result of humans being exposed to ectoplasm.

Part of it is because the exposure was violent and his human body was so incredibly unwell that it made sense for the part of him with less emotional attachment to it to want to escape. This illness did not stem directly from the ectoplasm. We know this much because other people exposed to ectoplasm did not get ecto-acne, and figuring out the involvement of the cola was what allowed the Fentons to cure it.

Part of it is because Vlad has a superiority complex. This means that, in any given state, Vlad considers his current way of being superior. As a human, Vlad considers humanity superior. As a ghost, Vlad considers ghosts superior. This leads to a whole lot of clash between the parts of his psyche which each consider the other half to be lesser. Combine this with the fact that each half despises the illness and associates the illness with the other half, and you get a whole lot of internal toxicity.

For the average person with ectoplasm exposure, there wouldn't be so much of a clash. They would take on some ghostly traits (more and more over time, with continued exposure) and maybe start doing some prep-work for ghosthood, but they wouldn't be trying to leave their human lives early. They probably won't have insane healing factors like Danny, but they won't be tearing themselves apart like Vlad either.

They're preparing for the afterlife, but they wouldn't be so eager to discard the human life they are still living. If you've ever had a favorite hoodie that you wore all the time until you loved it to pieces and it came apart at the seams, that's kind of the feeling. It's not the end of the world when you can't wear it anymore; you can wear other jackets when you're cold, but you want to hold onto it for as long as you can.

The more someone is exposed to ectoplasm (in terms of both frequency and amount), the more ghostly they will become over time.

A random person who just happens to live in Amity Park on the opposite side of town from Fenton Works and and was somehow never at the sight of a ghost fight, will probably just experience a slightly increased awareness of ghost-related stuff and perhaps a slightly smoother transition when their time comes.

Other kids at Casper high, who attend school with Danny every day and get caught up in ghost attacks sometimes will probably start to form the wispy beginings of their ghostly self. Sometimes you just catch a glimpse of what sort of ghost they are going to be. They may also develop some slight powers while still alive.

You look at Paulina carefully shaping and lacquering her nails into something both beautiful and dangerous, and for a split second you just know that, someday, she's going to be all claws and glittering scales and passionate pursuit of her goals. She will transcend the human form and shape herself into a work of art of her own design and a powerhouse none can deny. Then she turns to her friend and giggles over a funny story, and the moment passes; she's just another kid steadily making her way to adulthood.

She's just another kid until some jerk at the mall oggles her a little too blatantly and her jewelry flashes brighter than the lighting should allow, blinding him so that he trips into a fountain, and Paulina smugly watches him sputter before turning to walk away with a satisfied spring in her step.

Sam and Tucker, Who hang out with Danny every day and frequently explore the ghost zone with him, will start forming more of the foundation of their ghostly selves and probably develop more powers sooner. They are more likely to develop to a point of being able to take on a ghostly form while still alive.

Typically, a halfa formed through extreme, prolonged exposure like this would have a bit of separation between their human and ghostly halves, but without much discord between the two. However, with Sam and Tucker spending so much time around Danny during their formative period (and having so much less contact with any other ghost than with him), it's entirely possible that they would subconsciously learn the integrated system approach, in much the same way people pick up habits of speech from the people around them.

[himedanshicult]

the lesson i walked away with after that wave of cisfeminists praising 4B (that individual was only a small part of it) is that for many if not [or lets be real,] most cis women and people CAFAB, when they talk about feminism needing to "get mean", they mean specifically at trans women and sex workers

[whetstonefires]

i mean i am not immune to the appeal of Feanor and the idea of him maybe not fucking it up so bad if he got another go, but also one of his most iconic lines is "no other race shall oust us!"

(spoken to a crowd of armed supporters) ((soon after this they fell ass backwards into stabbing the neighbors for their stuff)) (((feanor EMPHATICALLY did not return the stuff)))

so i try to keep my expectations grounded ykwim?

[akkivee]

OUGH

[sillverstreets]

i soo wanna say i told you so

[todayisafridaynight]

What do you think Mine’s reaction to Masato / Aoki be like?

tbh they'd probably be. amicable. at the very least.

[nyaskitten]

Crazy that all Lloyd had to do to stop the end of the world was lock in real hard!