#cl-51
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carbone14 · 4 months ago
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Le croiseur léger USS Atlanta (CL-51) pendant des essais en mer – Novembre 1941
©Naval History and Heritage Command - NH 57455
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cypherscript · 10 months ago
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Linchpin Part 2
"I am not familiar with this group. Batman? Superman," Wonder Woman asks the two with the most hidden knowledge of Man's world.
Hal Jordan just groans into his hands, "Not those buffoons. I used to hear jokes back when I was in the Air Force. They're almost as bad as the area 51 conspiracists. Always claiming our bases were haunted by high level ecto beings. Ghosts aren't even real!"
Batman is listening to something on his earpiece, "Ghosts are real, Lantern. One is a member of the JL Dark "
"When was anyone going to tell me?! Now I look stupid."
Red Robin mouths to batman, 'Now?'
Batman pointedly ignores that and continues, "That knowledge has always been available if you read the reports properly. Regardless, Oracle has provided me with some more information on this organization; a comparatively small G-List government group tasked with hunting down, capturing and experiment on beings of ectoplasmic origins or ghosts to civilians."
T̵̪͗h̵̬̊ē̴̤y̵̪̅ ̸͇͗h̵͙͂ẽ̸̘l̶̎͜d̸̗̃ ̵̼̆o̴̪͐ȕ̷̞r̸͚̚ ̷̗́c̸͚͐i̶̙̔ť̵̟y̷͔̚ ̷̧̒h̴͕͑o̵̼̊s̸̰̈t̷̙͝a̷̯̓ģ̶͊e̴̦͐,̴͔̋ ̸͉̒t̵̩͌ḩ̴̋r̵̜̐e̵̙͝a̷̡͋t̵̜͌e̷͉̕n̸̼̾ě̸̩d̴͎̕ ̸͖̏o̵̱͒ụ̴̑r̴͈̚ ̷̨͂p̴͓̎e̴͍͝o̸̼̍p̶͕̋l̴̛͔ȇ̵̟/
(They held our city hostage, threatened our people.)
Ť̵̹h̷̙̓e̴̯͗ ̵͎̑G̷̣̀r̷͜͠e̴̩̽ą̴̍ẗ̷̪́ ̵̜͌O̵͕̿n̸̲͒e̸̤͝ ̴͇̄t̴͈̋r̴̡̍i̶̩͊é̴͙d̷̞͋ ̶̬͌t̸̮̀ö̸̢́ ̸̯̎f̷͍̽r̸͚̿e̶̬̎e̶̯͠ ̶̡͛t̴͙͗h̴͖̓e̷̥͝i̸̞̎r̶̳͑ ̶̭͐c̷͔̀ì̵͎ẗ̶̙ỷ̴͚
(The Great One tried to free their city.)
B̵͔͆a̷͖̔b̵̑��y̶͕͒p̴̪͝o̶̰͗p̵̪͛ ̴͒͜s̸̱̊a̴͇̐c̸͍͠r̴̩̃í̸͕ḟ̶̤ǐ̷̘c̴̛̱ȇ̷͙d̵̮͆ ̴͓́h̴̙̓i̵̲͌m̵̗̌s̶̥̓ë̶͜ḻ̴̑f̶̖͝ ̵̥̆j̸̫̆u̷̮̍s̷̖̀ṯ̷̀ ̵̨͑t̴͔͛o̵̦͘ ̴̗͊g̷̠̎e̷̱͗t̶̘́ ̵͔͠t̷͎͆h̸̬̀o̷̟͆s̷̤͝e̸̹̓ ̴̮̈́j̸̛̮ê̶͓r̸̤̈́k̷̮̄s̷͎̽ ̶̨̅o̵̖̊u̴̺͑t̶͍̃ ̶̭̂ö̵̮́f̶̖̕ ̸̺̌A̶̯̋m̸̯̿i̴̲͆ẗ̵̡́y̷͕̓.̸̛̭
(Babypop sacrificed himself just to get those jerks out of Amity.)
T̴̨̉h̸̻́e̶̲̊ỳ̸͕ ̵͚̊r̴̥̔ë̶͈́ṅ̸̫e̸͓͝g̷͔̎e̷̖̕d̴͚͌ ̵̹͒ó̶̤ṉ̵͒ ̷̹̚t̷͔͌h̵̿ͅè̷͜i̴̐͜r̷̪̄ ̵̩̒d̴̛̮ě̴̠a̴̞͛l̸̻̐ ̴̹̿t̴̙̓h̴̯́ó̴͍u̷̠̾g̷̟͝ẖ̵̏ ̸̭̚a̷̤͌n̵͖̎d̷̬̔ ̴̈́ͅA̵̜͗m̵̬̕ȋ̵̠ṯ̸̓y̷̟̓ ̵̺̄P̶̥̉ä̴̫́r̸̪̂k̵͈̑ ̵̥̈́î̸͇s̸͓͂ ̴̡͒n̷̩͛o̵̰͑ ̸̠̚m̵̨̀o̴̭̔r̶̥̔e̵̼̋.̷͙̆
(They regened on their deal though and Amity Park is no more.)
Red Robin takes this new information and inputs it into the Watchtower's computers and pulls up a satellite image of Amity Park, IL and just finds a blackened hole in the ground several miles wide.
Batman's suit groans as his fist clenches before turning away from the table, "Superman with me, Red Robin contact Cyborg. We're bringing this group to justice. No organization should have the ability to wipe an entire city off the face of the earth."
"Right behind you, Batman." Superman quickly takes off after him.
"What about the rest of us," Flash yells at him as he leaves.
"Everyone else should pool their resources together and try to come up with a way to slow down, stop or even reverse the Decay Field. Technology, magic, I don't care even ask your rogues if need be but this needs to be stopped."
______________________________________________
Base Gamma-5, IL
Superman and Batman stare down on an old seemingly unused military base. Superman's eyes shimmering as he looks over the area with his x-ray vision.
"So?"
"Skeleton crew of scientists, minimal guards but there is definitely activity underground."
"Any centralized location?"
"What, hoping for a big open room where all the bad guys can get together and start throwing hands?"
"..."
"Don't look at me like that, I blame Kon and Jon, I don't even know how that phrase became a common thing."
"Hn. I was asking for a central area to reduce any unnecessary structural damage our encounter is likely to cause."
Superman focuses as he resumes looking, freezing in place as a rictus of anger covered his face and he takes off. Explosions of steel and concrete echo through the forest as Superman flies through the base's defenses and high speed. Bruce gives a withering sigh as he fires off a grapple and follows behind Clark.
Shortly after Bruce finds Clark deep into the base, a large metal door ripped off its track and him threatening a scientist. "What is the meaning of this, who is this?!"
"What is this, you mean. It's ectoplasmic scum."
"You better pick your words carefully, that is a dead child in a TANK. I have VERY short patience for people like you."
Batman appears behind him, "I'd listen to him if I were you."
The scientist sneer at the sight of him, "Batman. I see you managed pull yourself out of that ecto-contaminated cesspool you call a city. You still reek of it."
Superman lifts him even higher and shakes him in one hand, "Don't look at him, looks at me and answer my question. WHO. IS. HE."
"P-Phantom. He was an ectoplasmic entity that breached the veil five years ago. He was the strongest power level in decades. The last time something like him was detected was in 1902 in North Carolina. Psychics all over three states surrounding it felt it appear."
"Who killed him?"
"Agent A, just over four years ago. He bagged him in a small town called Amity Park. There's records he had been there for over a year, check them."
"We can't, Amity Park has been a smoking crater for some time."
"What? Did the ghosts do it?"
"You did it, your organization did it," Superman shakes him hard to make his point.
"Superman."
Superman drops the scientist on his ass, "Fine, you deal with him. I'm likely to do something we'll both regret if he stays in my sight. I'm going to go get Phantom's body."
"Why is the Justice League even here?! You should be thanking us for purging this planet of that ectoscum!"
"That is a child."
"It's scum! It just looks like a child, there have been records putting its age at over 2 millennium in Rome where it burned-."
Batman sighs internally before giving a swift jab to one of the scientist's pressure points making him drop like a sack of potatoes. Clark mutters something as he removes the poor boy's body from the vat.
"I don't want to hear it, Kal."
"I didn't say anything, Batman."
"Hn," is all Batman says as he throws the scientist over his shoulder and plugs a USBat into a nearby server and has Oracle let off some of her rage st this organization.
______________________________________________
Flash is staring over batman's shoulder at the body on the gurney, "Is it just me or does he look familiar?"
The boys black and white hair now dry is fluffy over his face, scars litter his form in lightning strike patterns.
Batman gives him a look as he starts scanning the body.
"I mean not like I know the kid, just like I feel like I seen him around somewhere."
"I understand. I also have that feeling but it could simply be the radiation talking."
"Radiation" Flash screams before he zips across the room.
"Low levels, barely over a smoke detector's level."
"You think you're real funny don't you?"
He just raises and eyebrow, "do you have any information on our issue? Have your rogues anything to add?"
"Nah, even the ones from from the future don't know anything. Which is weird if you think about it; how can there be a future if the universe is eating itself?"
"Because time is most likely fluid right now, we're in the middle of the choices that make it set in stone and affect our future."
"Since when do you know about time travel?"
"I have some experience in it, unwanted experience but experience none the less."
"Right... so who is he?"
Batman pulls up a medical record on one of the doctors tablets that soon span into multitudes of windows, "Daniel Fenton. Son of Drs Fenton and Fenton. Saver of the critically endangered purple back gorrilas, Senior at Casper High, suspected meta but proved negative after a lab accident when he was 14. Godson and beneficiary of deceased billionaire Vladimir Masters. Lifetime ban on handling chemistry equipment..."
"Lab accidents? Lifetime ban in chemistry class? Sounds like my kind of kid."
There is a puff of thick sulfury smoke as a british voice speaks out, "Oi Batsy, I heard ya discovered the universe was ending, just came to see if- BLOODY FUCKING HELL. Why is there a dead kid on the table?!"
Batman counts to ten in his head and turns to Constantine, "What have we said about teleporting into the Watchtower?"
"Forget that! What have I said about keeping bloody dead kids out in the open?"
"You haven't."
"I shouldn't have had to, its implied!"
"Hn"
"Wait a second... this kid looks like... no couldn't be. That was ages ago."
"You too" Flash asks him as Constantine ponders on the boys face.
Constantine's face turns sharp, "what do you mean? You think you've met him as well?"
"Yeah but we just can't place it. Who does he look like to you?"
"Reminds me of a protector spirit I made a deal wit a couple decades or so ago. It was tasked to guard a rune for me. Indigenous populace referred to it as the Great One Who Breathes the Cold."
"Oh yeah? A spirit huh," Flash interjects, "What'd he ask for in return, Booberries?"
"An Astrolabe of all things, smartarse."
"He's not a spirit, we can see him so it's not like Boston and he has DNA. We were able to track his medical and public record. I've got what I need, I'm calling a meeting to collaborate ideas on how to fix this."
"Right, Bats, I'll just-"
"Mandatory meeting, Constantine."
"...Right."
__________________________________________
"What about those noxious pits one of your villains constantly uses?"
"We can't use the Lazarus Pits; they don't bring back the dead only the dying."
"Besides," Constantine interrupts, "Body doesn't have an ounce of soul tethered to it."
"What about time travel," Booster asks, "I can just pop back before these MIB wannabes kill the kid. Boom, Problem solved."
"We don't even know what changing that much will do."
"How about a localized time rewind," Raven asks, "If we just rewind him and not everything else."
"Nah, love. Decay field's already in play. The likelihood we rewind him and he doesn't know how to reverse it is to bloody high and we wasted the energy to only fail."
"Lantern, how much time do we have before the wave comes back?"
"The guardian's projected a time frame of two weeks before it returns to the earth."
"Not a lot of time but we've had shorter timeframes to save the universe."
"Hn" Batman turns to the Flash, "If need be we may need you to Flashpoint the event."
ALERT: Intruder in Medbay 1.
ALERT: Intruder in Medbay 1.
"I got it," Flash says before zipping off to the medbay, hoping to graze past the point of the Flashpoint.
"Isn't that the medbay with the body," Wonder Woman asks as Batman gets up to follow after the flash.
"Yes."
Everyone's comms went off with the Flash's voice, "You guys better get down here. I found our intruder but I can't touch him. He's just standing-"
"Flash," Superman puts a finger to his ear. "Flash do you copy?"
__________________________________________________________
Amity Park, IL 4 Years, 4 Months ago
"-Over the body of the kid... Wait where am I?" Flash frantically looking around at what was obviously not medical bay of the Watchtower and instead looks like a back alley of a moderate city frozen in time.
"Amity Park, Wallace," The old man says with a smile in his voice.
"That's not possible. Amity Park was obliterated off the face of the earth."
"Use your process of elimination, Wallace."
Thoughts zip through Wally's head as he comes to the obvious answer, "This is before the city was destroy. Do you know what you're doing?! Time travel causes nothing but problems, after the last flash point I swore I would never do it again!"
"I know more about time travel than you will know in multiple lifetimes. I am known as Clockwork here, I was once the master of time; it was my job to maintain the structure of the timelines even when you 'Flashpointed' a timeline to make sure the right outcome comes to be."
"Then why is the universe ending?!"
"I miscalculated the hatred some of my kind felt towards young Daniel. As such to betray our dimension to those that would sooner purge us. I cannot physically intervene in a past event but you can and for once I give you permission to fix the timeline and save your world. You have two weeks to save Danny Fenton."
"Wait, betrayed? I don't even know how they killed him how do I save him?!"
"You'll figure it out, you always do. By the way you may want to destroy your comm. Time in."
Flash's comm comes to life with his own voice, "I don't know who you think you are-." Flash rips his earpiece faster than could be seen and smashes it into the ground.
"Rightrightright... Right, two weeks to save some kid from bargain bin men in black... How hard can that be?" He spins in place, replacing his costume with his civilian cloths and stepping out of the alley to walk around the city.
___________________________________________________________
Thanks to @phantom-things and @a-lost-time-traveler for the Zalgo text translations. It didn't occur to me that people wouldn't be able to read it even at its lowest setting. I've learned and just parentheses'd the translations. I tried to make the two timeline but I just couldn't get the dead squared idea to flow properly so unfortunately I can only give this one. I'm gonna start working on the part three when I have time tomorrow. sorry if the quality's terrible.
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postsofbabel · 28 days ago
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penguinbabyblue · 4 months ago
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Im going to do a 5 days challenge eating 200 cl to end the year, starting 25 / 12 / 2024
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Starting weight is 51 kg.
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pinturas-sgm-marina · 2 months ago
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1942 11 13 Guadalcanal USS Atlanta CL-51 - Takeshi Kurokawa
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mariacallous · 8 months ago
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Nearly one month ago, on July 28, Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, stole an election. After a campaign period in which opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González consistently led polls, authorities quickly announced on election day that Maduro had won the race. They have yet to make official precinct-level results available for audit, as is required by Venezuelan law.
In response, the opposition gathered more than 23,000 vote tally sheets, representing nearly 80 percent of the country, and published the results online. In Venezuela, these tally sheets are normally made available to poll watchers. The opposition mobilized across Venezuela to ensure that they gathered evidence of the results, in some cases standing up to security forces and government supporters to do so.
Its planning paid off. The results gathered at polling locations indicate that González won more than twice as many votes as Maduro, rather than the narrow 51 percent victory that Maduro claimed. Independent exit surveys and media analyses support the opposition’s conclusion, and the evidence is so overwhelming that the United States and at least a dozen U.S. allies have issued statements recognizing González as the winner. On Aug. 22, however, Venezuela’s Supreme Court—stacked with Maduro loyalists—declared him the victor.
Although the election is over and Maduro remains in power, he looks weaker than at any point in recent years. He is leaning heavily on police and security forces to carry out a targeted repression campaign, which so far has resulted in more than 2,400 detentions and 24 deaths, according to Venezuelan human rights group PROVEA. Maduro is also taking his repression to the airwaves, shutting down Venezuelans’ access to X and encrypted messaging site Signal. These do not appear to be the actions of a strongman who feels safe and secure in his position.
The United States now has a crucial opportunity to push for a democratic opening in Venezuela. The Biden administration can do this by identifying key figures inside the government who may support a transition and applying pressure on them, while continuing to seek credible negotiations between figures in Maduro’s coalition and the opposition.
González and fellow opposition leader María Corina Machado appear to be working toward such a strategy. Their goal is to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power in exchange for certain guarantees or a potential amnesty for Maduro and his henchmen. They recognize that this is no easy task: “There are groups who are clearly willing to negotiate and press for that to occur, and others who are not,” Machado told reporters recently.
So far, the White House is keeping its cards close. In response to Venezuela’s stolen election, the administration has focused on carrots rather than sticks. The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington was offering to lift indictments on Maduro and other key ruling party figures if they enter talks to guide a transition. The United States is so far reticent to impose new sanctions on Venezuelan oil.
That may change if Maduro’s repression campaign continues with no sign of a transition. The White House should be taking stock of the available options to effectively press for a transition. Some in Washington are already demanding drastic action: A recently proposed bipartisan resolution co-sponsored by 30 members of the House of Representatives calls on the United States to “employ all available diplomatic and economic means to pressure the Maduro regime.”
The United States has a track record of offering sanctions relief for concessions from Maduro. Last October, the White House temporarily lifted some oil sanctions, and Maduro signed an agreement with the opposition to hold competitive elections. Although the United States partially snapped back these sanctions once it became clear that Machado would not be able to run, that deal ultimately facilitated last month’s election—which clearly demonstrated Venezuelans’ overwhelming rejection of Maduro and desire for change. It also allowed for the release of Venezuelan fugitive Alex Saab from U.S. prison in exchange for the freedom of all wrongfully detained Americans in Venezuela.
The United States continues to hold significant leverage over Venezuela. While it has provided licenses to U.S. and Western oil companies to continue operating in the country, Washington has kept a broader sanctions framework in place that limits the Venezuelan oil sector and its financial connectivity with the global economy. These licenses permit a Western footprint in the country—home to the planet’s largest oil reserves—while reducing the ease with which Maduro can divert oil proceeds through corruption.
For the Biden administration, the challenge will be to strike a balance between targeted and effective pressure on Venezuela’s elites, who back Maduro, while preventing Venezuela’s drift further into Russia and China’s orbit. Some policymakers in Washington worry that a return to the “maximum pressure” sanctions strategy of 2019 would push Maduro closer to U.S. geopolitical rivals that have recognized him as the election winner.
Individual sanctions on military, political, and economic elites may be a more attractive option than broader economic sanctions, but even they have clear limits. Punitive measures on key figures can create a rally-around-the-flag effect that often bolsters a regime’s cohesion. More than 160 individuals in the Maduro government have already been sanctioned by the United States, but many of them have been honored in public ceremonies in Venezuela rather than flipping on Maduro.
Carefully and strategically mapping out pressure points inside the regime may provide an effective path toward facilitating a democratic transition. The United States should identify and engage those most likely to support democratic reform from the inside. This means empowering moderate elements and isolating hard-liners to maximize the odds of successful transition talks.
Identifying these pressure points may be less difficult than it sounds. Although the size of Venezuela’s economy is still a fraction of what it was in the oil bonanza golden years, the opposition-led Venezuelan Finance Observatory suggests that GDP has grown quarterly by an average of 5 percent since early 2022, and other independent analysts report inflation has dropped to its lowest point in over a decade.
This growth has not been felt evenly across the country, but there is a set of economic, political, and military elites that—to put it crudely—has a good thing going and doesn’t want Maduro to derail it. Maduro is desperately working to convince these elites that he can reconnect the country with the global economy, but the fact that his post-election repression has once again put Venezuela on the path to greater isolation does not work in his favor.
Some power brokers in Maduro’s coalition may wonder if this chaos is what they signed up for, which may present the biggest loyalty test that the leader has faced in years. Many elites are weary of the prospect of Maduro assuming another illegitimate term, especially if it means six more years of repression, sanctions, and economic catastrophe. The White House has an opening to liaise with such figures, making sure that ruling party elites and the military understand the potential benefits of a democratic transition. Sanctions on individuals, if they are used, should include prudent communication of the conditions necessary for those penalties to be lifted.
Every action taken by the United States and its allies should be carefully weighed against the possibility that these actions can increase rather than decrease regime cohesion in Caracas. Here, the Biden administration can examine the Trump administration’s approach to Maduro’s regime.
After the push to recognize Juan Guaidó as interim president failed to dislodge Maduro in 2019, U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams and envoy Richard Grenell engaged in behind-the-scenes conversations with key power brokers in Maduro’s coalition. The Trump State Department’s 2020 Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela, which outlined a path for power sharing and democratic coexistence in exchange for gradually lifting sanctions, offers a potential model of how to restore democracy.
If the Biden administration chooses to build on this framework, it will require more complicated negotiations than those that led to the July election. U.S. efforts should align with the priorities of González’s campaign, given his electoral victory. Any such deal must also tackle complex issues such as institutional reforms, transitional justice, the release of political prisoners, and the terms under which both the opposition and ruling party can coexist.
The United States should also continue coordinating its response to Venezuela’s crisis with partners in Latin America, particularly Brazil and Colombia. In recent weeks, these countries have been working behind the scenes to advance an agreement that would clear the way for a democratic outcome in Venezuela. They have floated different proposals, ranging from new elections to some form of power-sharing arrangement. So far, Brazil’s and Colombia’s proposals have been rejected by both the opposition and the government, illustrating the importance of local buy-in.
Although both countries are clear that they will not legitimize Maduro’s power grab, they have given no signs that they will cut diplomatic relations with Venezuela, much less join in an international sanctions campaign. But the fact that two leftist leaders who once expressed support for Maduro’s political mentor Hugo Chávez are united in rejecting his stolen election is a major step forward.
Venezuela’s turmoil has regional implications. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans are displaced, according to the United Nations. The longer the crisis drags on, the more migrants and refugees will flee to other countries, impacting domestic politics. There is no guarantee that regional efforts to encourage a democratic opening in the country will succeed. But the fact that regional leftist leaders are using their channels with Caracas to call for change is an opportunity for all, from the Venezuelan people to the White House.
The coming weeks and months will determine the success or failure of efforts to advance a peaceful and democratic solution in Venezuela. By leveraging their influence to shape incentives among Venezuelan elites, the United States and its allies in South America have an opportunity to support the Venezuelan people in their quest for democracy and stability.
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claudiosuenaga · 12 days ago
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No Cerne da Distopia 06: Filmes Distópicos - Parte 2 | Com Sergio Beck e Claudio Suenaga | Studio17
Prepare-se para mergulhar no futuro com a sexta live da série "No Cerne da Distopia" e na segunda sobre filmes distópicos. Nesta sequência imperdível com quase 5 horas de duração, Sérgio Beck e Cláudio Suenaga continuam analisando os filmes distópicos mais preditivos e influentes de todos os tempos. Não perca essa oportunidade de explorar os limites entre a ficção e a realidade!
🍿Escolha seu Filme
🎥A Rebelião (2019) - 00:08:09 🎥Admirável Mundo Novo (1998) - 00:17:00 🎥V de Vingança (2005) - 01:06:51 🎥THX 1138 (1971) - 01:22:00 🎥Eraserhead (1977) - 01:37:51 🎥Daqui a 100 anos (1936) - 01:59:47 🎥Blade Runner (1982) - 02:18:44 🎥Laranja Mecânica (1971) - 02:52:11 🎥Oblivion (2013) - 03:15:05 🎥Eu, Robô (2004) - 03:25:33 🎥Akira (1988) - 03:48:59 🎥Wall-E (2008) - 04:03:16
🎬Considerações: 04:31:01
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✅ "Encuentros cercanos de todo tipo. El caso Villas Boas y otras abducciones íntimas", meu primeiro livro traduzido em espanhol, na Amazon: EUA: https://amzn.to/3Lh93Lb Espanha: https://amzn.to/3LlMtBn Reino Unido: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/ Alemanha: https://www.amazon.de/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1 França: https://www.amazon.fr/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/ Itália: https://www.amazon.it/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/ Japão: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/es/Cl%C3%A1udio-Tsuyoshi-Suenaga/dp/B0BW344XF1/
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judgemark45 · 1 year ago
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USS ATLANTA.
ORIGINAL HISTORIC WARTIME CAPTION.
USS Atlanta (CL 51), quarter view while steaming at 30.43 knots, off Rockland, Maine, November 26, 1941. (National Museum of U.S. Navy)
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storyshark2005 · 1 year ago
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I think that no one is more interested in the thinly veiled dislike between Jamie Carragher and Kate Abdo than me 😂
Last night on CBS CL today Jamie did this 10 seconds before cut:
(Thank you @elise-51-blog for watching live and tipping me off!)
Jamie’s reacting to this moment earlier in the show, Kate asking Thierry why he would want to go into management when punditry is relatively much easier:
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Aaaand my MNF body language analysis:
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@heyyjulien and I were talking about this. Jamie’s actually basically made the same comment himself, that management isn’t worth the stress. But I think he took exception to the way Kate said it. And I kind of get the vibes in the show that he and Micah are treated like the children and Kate and Thierry are the more serious personalities. I think it’s a dynamic that is fun and that works (Jamie and Micah have a ton of fun together) but that may be wearing thin on Jamie.
MNF had just won best Sports Programme at the Broadcast Awards, and I think as Jamie is competitive in all things, he wants acknowledgment for his hard work, he want a public image that reflects that, and the silliness of the CBS gang might be working against that image. Gary even joked on a Fan Debate special that Jamie wasn’t present for (due to CBS commitments), that the CBS show wasn’t “proper punditry”, and “a bit jokey”.
The CBS schedule also does sometimes conflict with his commitments to Sky and Gary’s projects at the Overlap, so sometimes I wonder if he’ll ever decide it’s just not worth the extra hassle. Then again, it seems like most audiences love it, including me! And maybe Jamie and Kate are playing up the dislike for the cameras, I could be totally wrong.
Anyway. WE’LL SEE if he sticks with it after his contract is up!
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lavampira · 4 months ago
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30 + 51 for spotify wrapped?
ty gigi!!
30. hello bitches - CL
51. work song - hozier
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pathfinderunlocked · 1 year ago
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Soulflicker - CR5 Undead
Stay within the candlelight. I'll show you the path...
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Artwork is an in-game model from World of Warcraft, copyright Blizzard Entertainment.
A soulflicker is an undead creature that guides other undead. Mindless undead instinctively believe that a soulflicker can lead them from undeath into the afterlife, and if not directed otherwise, they will follow the soulflicker around for as long as it leads them. Intelligent undead do not fall for the ruse, but soulflickers sometimes make deals with intelligent undead, leading them to their desires in exchange for power or protection. The power that soulflickers seek for themselves is often relatively simple - they mainly look for more mindless undead to be their followers. But if they can learn of something more valuable from a creature's corpse, they'll seek it out.
Soulflickers are constantly on the search for new treasures and secrets, either to take for themselves or to trade to other undead, and they have the ability to gather these secrets supernaturally with some of their spells. They often learn and seek out secrets and treasures that their mindless undead followers were searching for in life, or that they knew about.
Obviously, this is a support creature, and shouldn't be fought alone.
Soulflicker - CR 5
Visibly pale and waxy skin covers the shriveled arms that reach out from under this creature's robe. It's hunched over, and lit candles adorn the top of its backpack, melted into the fabric.
XP 1,600 NE Medium undead Init +4 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +12
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+4 mage armor, +2 natural) hp 51 (6d8+24) Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +9 Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2 Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 25 ft. Melee slam +3 (1d6) Special Attacks warding candles
Spell-like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +9)     Constant—detect undead, mage armor, resistance     At will—blood biography (DC 16), corpse lanterns, grave words, sentry skull     1/day—carrion compass (DC 15), create treasure map
Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +8)     2nd (2/day)—glitterdust (DC 15)     1st (3/day)—grasping corpse (CMB +8), touch of blindness (touch +3, DC 14)     0th (at will)—detect magic, ghost sound, spark
STATISTICS
Str 11, Dex 10, Con —, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 17 Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD +13 Feats Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Toughness Skills Knowledge (arcana, religion) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Perception +12, Survival +9, Spellcraft +7, Use Magic Device +9 Languages Common, Necril Gear backpack, spell component pouch, 160 candles
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Spellcasting A soulflicker casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. It is a spontaneous caster, and gains half as many spells known and spells per day as a 5th-level sorcerer. It uses Wisdom, not Charisma, as its spellcasting ability score. It does not gain a bloodline or any other sorcerer class features.
Warding Candles (Su) As a standard action, once per hour, a soulflicker can place down and light three warding candles in three different spaces it can reach. Each candle sheds light as a normal candle (increasing the light level in a 5-foot radius by one step, to a maximum of normal light) and emanates a 5-ft. radius aura that protects the soulflicker's allies within the aura. Allies protected in this way gain channel resistance +2 and take half damage from corporeal attacks. This protection does not stack with the reduced damage from actually being incorporeal, and is overcome by any effect that would allow attackers to deal full damage to an incorporeal target, such as a ghost touch weapon or being incorporeal themselves.
Each candle has 1 hit point and an AC of 13 (as a Fine-sized object). Anything that snuffs the candle out, such as even a small amount of water or wind, ends the protection from that candle.
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fiberworksoficial · 6 months ago
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justicegundam82 · 9 months ago
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3.5 to PF1e Conversion: Beholderkin, Spectator
Here I am with a new conversion... and this time, I'm about to tackle the Beholderkin from the 3.5 book Lords Of Madness. Of course, I'm going to take some liberties and try to put my own spin on them, but overall, I'll try to keep these conversions as campaign-neutral as possible. Clearly, you guys are free to adapt the lore to your own game world.
The Creature Codex and the Creature Chronicle have already written up two great PF1e conversions of the Beholder here and here. I'd really reccomend you check them out!
With that out of the way, here I give you the first of my Beholderkin conversions - the Spectator.
BEHOLDERKIN, SPECTATOR
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Image (c) Wizards Of The Coast, from Lords of Madness, author J. Nelson
This spherical creature’s leathery body is crowned with four slender eyestalks, each terminating in a small lidless eye. A fifth eye, much larger than these, is located on the front of the sphere, above a toothy maw.
SPECTATOR               CR 5
XP 1’600
LN Medium Aberration (beholderkin, extraplanar) 
Init +8; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +18
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)
hp 51 (6d8+24), planar fast healing 2
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6
OFFENSE
Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee bite +9 (1d8+1)
Ranged eye ray +9 touch (see below)
Special Attacks eye rays, spell turning
Spell-like Abilities (CL 7th, concentration +9)
     3/day - create food and water
     1/day - plane shift (self only)
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 15
Base Atk +5; CMB +6; CMD 20
Feats Alertness (B), Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Skills Diplomacy +8, Fly +14, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (planes) +12, Perception +18, Sense Motive +14, Stealth +10, Survival +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
Languages Common, Beholder; telepathy (see below).
Special Qualities beholderkin traits, guardian creature, naturally buoyant
ECOLOGY
Environment any (Axis)
Organization solitary, pair or cluster (3-6)
Treasure standard
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Beholderkin Traits (Ex/Su) Spectators are beholderkin, creatures that are distantly related to true beholders. Beholderkin have a very wide range of appearances and abilities. Not all share the xenophobia of true beholders, though most are still evil and cruel in nature.
Creatures of the beholderkin subtype share the following traits:
All-around Vision (Ex): A beholderkin sees in all directions at once and cannot be flanked.
Eye Rays (Su): All beholderkin can manifest dangerous magical effects by firing a beam from its smaller eyes. See individual beholderkin’s description for details.
Eye Rays (Su) A spectator can fire one eye ray as a standard action each round. Treat these as ranged touch attacks with a range of 60 feet and no range increment. A spectator cannot choose to use the same eye ray two rounds in a row. A creature struck must make a saving throw (DC 15) or be affected as by a spell at CL 7th, except that it only effects the target struck. The save DC is Charisma based.
- Fatigue: The target must make a Fortitude save or become fatigued. A fatigued creature that fails to save against this effect becomes exhausted.
- Inflict Moderate Wounds: This ray works like the spell, causing 2d8+7 points of damage (Will half).
- Hold Monster: The target must succeed on a Will save or be affected as though by the spell.
- Telepathy: A spectator can communicate telepathically with its target for the round. As a free action, a spectator can make a suggestion (as the spell; Will negates) to the creature it is currently telepathically speaking to.
Guardian Creature (Ex) A spectator beholderkin counts as an outsider for the purposes of summoning spells such as planar ally or planar binding.
Naturally Buoyant (Ex) A spectator's body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly at a speed of 30 ft. with good maneuvrability and grants it a permanent feather fall effect (as the spell) with personal range.
Planar Fast Healing (Ex) A spectator beholderkin's fast healing only functions when the creature is on its native plane of Axis.
Spell Turning (Su) A spectator's central eye produces a 90-foot cone. Once per round, the spectator can attempt to turn back upon the caster a single spell or spell-like ability targeting it. In order to turn back a spell, the spectator must succeed at a concentration check with a DC equal to 15 + the caster level of the original caster. If this check is successful, the original caster suffers the effects of the spell as if it had been casted by the spectator itself. Only single-target spells that explicity target the spectator may be reflected this way, and only one each round. Area effect spells may not be reflected.
Spectators are extraplanar beholderkin native to the plane of Axis, and are known to be among the most reasonable and moderate of the beholderkin. They are often summoned to the Material Plane by arcanists who need a reliable guardian that does not require a great deal of resources to protect a valuable object or place, though they are not enthusiastic of working for humanoids or other creatures of the Material Plane. However, they possess a sense of duty and a loyalty to their summoner that is unusual amongst beholderkin, and they pride themselves on their guardianship abilities.
A spectator's bizzarre behavior manifests in two different personalities that share the same consciousness. Under normal circumstances, a spectator tends to be open, if cautious, and willing to chat with those it comes across. However, they can slip into a more introverted state of mind, where they spend a long time, possibly even decades, pondering philosophical questions and contemplating mysteries. A spectator that is left in isolation for a long time guarding a charge may develop some unexpected quirk - such as talking about itself in third person, or change their voice to resemble that of its summoner.
Unusually pacifistic for beholderkin standards, spectators only fight to protect their charges or their own lives. Unless guarding something, they tend to avoid combat by flying away or using plane shift to return to Axis. If protecting an item, or if fighting becomes necessary, a spectator will typically start by using its fatigue and telepathy eye rays to incapacitate its opponents, usually throwing in a suggestion in order to convince the opponent to leave it alone. Only in the face of stubborn intruders will the spectator resort to lethal force, paralyzing its enemies and blasting them with negative energy. They will try to keep obvious spellcasters within the reflective cone from their central eye.
A spectator is about 3 feet wide and weighs about 250 pounds.
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postsofbabel · 21 days ago
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ginnyrules27 · 1 year ago
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Hey Ginny, any snippets for ToF, StoF and HaH?
And I know that you posted CL probably three or four days ago but do you have any snippets for CL?
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it though,” Hades muttered as Malinda and Benji went into another room. The door glowed once more and once the glow faded, the Beast insignia was present though, there was one added feature. 
-Truth or Fiction (chapter 106, currently 2205 words)
“Shh, shh,” Hades said gently as he comforted her, trying to ignore how his heart broke at seeing her pleading eyes. “A bottle’ll be coming soon Mali. Just another minute.” 
-Small Twists of Fate (chapter 36, currently 2515 words)
Beast bent down and picked Ben up, holding him in his arms. “I’m glad you called me but maybe next time, you could say it’s not you in need of attention first when you do?” He muttered to Ben. 
-Half and Half (chapter 35, currently 2203 words)
Mal couldn’t help but smile at that. She had been tempted to ask Bobby and Roland how they were holding up with their new additions to their families but felt it would almost be cruel to Ginny if she asked that in front of her. 
-Choosing Life (chapter 51, currently 1355 words)
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mariacallous · 4 months ago
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I don't agree with all of the points or comments here, but I do think there's some interesting stuff to think about
Editor's note: In 2024, just as in 2016 and 2020, Trump won big among working-class white evangelicals but lost majorities of blue-collar blacks, Latinos, and non-evangelical whites. A less than 1% shift in the “blue wall” states would have tipped the Electoral College to Harris, and a less than 1% shift nationally would have given her the popular vote as well. Looking ahead to 2026 and 2028, Democrats remain well-positioned to advance pro-worker/pro-family policies, appeal to diverse working-class constituencies, and win elections at all levels of government.  
The dominant post-election 2024 narrative is that Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris was delivered largely by a multiracial working-class coalition. Backed by certain numbers, this narrative has many Democrats quaking in their 2026 campaign boots. For example, the exit polls show that working-class voters, defined as voters without a college degree, split 56% for Trump to 42% for Harris. The same polls tell us that white working-class voters favored Trump over Harris by 66% to 32%, and that Trump won a larger share of working-class Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020. 
All true, but let’s put those numbers into historical context and then, starting with the white working class, dig into what the exit poll data reveal when you run cross-tabulations by education and sex.1
As I have documented elsewhere, after winning a 56% white working-class majority in 1984 with Ronald Reagan, the GOP lost the majority in the 1990s, then got back to even with George W. Bush in 2000 (50%) and again in 2004 (51%). Mitt Romney won 56% of the white working-class vote in 2012, followed by Trump with 62% in 2016, 59% in 2020, and 66% in 2024. That two-thirds share is impressive, but many other Republican candidates have done as well or better electorally with the white working class. 
For example, in 2022, working-class whites broke 66% for Republican congressional candidates—the same percentage of those voters that Trump won in 2024. And several Republican governors who were not aligned with Trump won more than two-thirds of white working-class votes. For example, in 2022, Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who would go on to challenge Trump for the GOP presidential nomination before becoming his staunch ally, won 70% of the white working-class vote; and Ohio’s Mike DeWine, who received a congratulatory call from President Joe Biden the morning after his reelection win, received 72% of it.
How they voted
The white working-class electorate consists of two distinct voting blocs: white evangelicals without college degrees and all other whites without college degrees. The latter bloc, which encompasses working-class white catholics and other non-evangelical whites without college degrees, is slightly larger than the former bloc.
As I have documented elsewhere, in 2016 and 2020, Trump won a majority of white evangelical working-class voters, but he lost a majority of white non-evangelical working-class voters. He lost them again in 2024.
Take a look at Tables 1 and 2. In 2024, Trump won 86% of white evangelical working-class voters, up from 84% in 2020, and increased his spread with those voters by 5 points (from plus-68 points versus Biden to plus 73-points versus Harris). But he still lost white non-evangelical working-class voters to Harris, 52% to 45%, even as he reduced his losing margin with this bloc by 8 points (from 15 points behind Biden to 7 points behind Harris).
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Among white non-evangelical working-class women, Trump did worse in 2024 than he did in 2020, dropping from 40% to 38% of their vote and widening the spread against him by 3 points. 
Now, take a look at Table 3 below. In 2024, Trump lost Black working-class voters by 72 points, 13% to 85% for Harris. That was slightly better than the 77-point spread (11% to 88%) he suffered against Biden in 2020. He won 22% of Black working-class males, up from the 17% he won against Biden. Meanwhile, Black working-class women gave Harris the same 91% of their vote that they gave Biden, and they reduced their Trump vote from 9% in 2020 to 7% in 2024.
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But if Democrats are determined to fret and sweat about where they stand with working-class voters, the exit poll data would justify them worrying—not about some pro-Trump or pro-GOP multiracial working-class coalition, but about Latino voters.
Take a look at Table 4 below. Although Trump lost working-class Latinos to Harris by 51% to 47%, that was 31 points fewer than he lost them to Biden in 2020. He won Latino working-class men 55% to 43%, almost exactly the same split in his favor that he had among non-evangelical white working-class males (52% to 44%). And while he again lost working-class Latino women, he lost them by 24 points fewer than he did against Biden in 2020.
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Among Latinos, the only subgroup that did not bolt from the Democratic fold was college-educated Latino women, who favored Harris 63% to 33%, a 30-point margin identical to the one they gave Biden in 2020.
But Trump’s victory in 2024, his more than 76 million votes and his swing-states sweep, is owed the most to white evangelicals. White evangelicals voted for Trump more than four to one, constituting more than a third of his 49.9% share of the popular vote. As Table 1 indicates, Trump was a landslide winner among working-class white evangelicals, but his single biggest gain in 2024 over 2020 was among white evangelical women with college degrees. 
Having suffered a double-digit drop in college-educated white evangelical women’s vote between 2016 and 2020, in 2024 he turned a 6-point spread in Trump’s favor against Biden (53% to 47%) into a 50-point spread in his favor against Harris (74% to 24%).
So, in the 2024 election, a majority of white evangelicals without college degrees once again favored Trump, but majorities of blue-collar Black, Latino, and non-evangelical whites did not. 
But why? And why did Trump do better than ever with college-educated white evangelical women? What was behind the Grand Canyon-sized gender gap in voting? More generally, how much can who voted for president and who didn’t, or who voted how for president, or both, be explained by, say, “culture” or “religion” or “ideology,” whether in conjunction with or separate and apart from each other and other variables? 
Pro-worker/pro-family Democrats
At this stage—in fact, at any stage—it’s really hard to say. As one of the pioneering scholars of American national election studies, Donald E. Stokes, and I explained three decades ago in our analysis of the 1992 presidential election results, in deciding on which candidate or party to support, most voters consult their own ideas, ideals, and interests, and then take into account both where they think the respective contenders stand on specific issues (abortion, immigration, transgender rights, etc.) and how they perceive each contender’s possession of traits that are almost universally considered to be laudable (“intelligent,” “trustworthy,” “care about people like me”) or loathsome (“incompetent,” “corrupt,” “callous”). 
Still, I believe that there are at least three things one can credibly say about the 2024 presidential election results at this stage. First, as we have already established, contrary to so much of the commentary, Trump won a vast majority of white evangelical voters without college degrees, but Harris won majorities among blue-collar Blacks, Latinos, and non-evangelical whites; second, Harris did better with the electorate as a whole than has hitherto generally been acknowledged; and, third, it would seem that, other things equal, Democrats who emphasize pro-worker/pro-family policies and messages do better with voters than otherwise comparable Democrats who don’t.
Despite being the first Black woman to run for president as the nominee of a major party; despite running in place of a highly unpopular first-term sitting president whose record she could neither easily run on nor run from; and despite running what many observers judged to be a tactically mistake-ridden campaign yoked to easy-to-attack anti-majority opinion positions on hot-button issues such as transgender women being allowed to compete on women’s teams in sports; Harris won more than 74.3 million votes, constituting 48.3% of the national popular vote to Trump’s 49.9%; and lost Pennsylvania by 1.7%, Wisconsin by 0.8%, and Michigan by 1.4%. 
So, a less than 0.8% shift her way in the national popular vote would have tied Trump’s tally, and a less than 1% shift her way in the three “blue wall” states would have added 44 electoral votes to the 226 she received and made Harris the next president. 
In addition to winning working-class majorities among non-evangelical whites, Blacks, and Latinos, Harris beat Trump among union workers 57% to 41%. As I have explained elsewhere, most Americans now see the decline in private-sector unionization (from about a third of all workers in the mid-20th century to 17% in the mid-1980s to just 6% now) as bad for America; 70% of working-class Americans approve of unions; and an estimated 60 million nonunionized workers would like to have the opportunity to join a union. 
Indeed, Americans now trust organized labor more than large technology companies and big business. Moreover, growing evidence suggests that increasing the availability of union-quality jobs—meaning presumptively secure jobs with decent wages, working conditions, health insurance, and retirement benefits—would increase birth rates and foster stable family formation.
So, as close as Harris came to winning, might she have done even better had she picked Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a popular (60% plus approval rating), pro-worker/pro-family, center-left Democrat, as her running mate? There are many reasons to think so. For one, Shapiro-allied Democrats retained control of Pennsylvania’s State House, including wins by pro-worker/pro-family, center-left candidates in counties that Trump carried.
Harris herself might have donned that pro-worker/pro-family mantle, as she was vice president in an administration that protected the U.S. steel and shipbuilding industries by tripling tariffs on Chinese imports; banned non-compete clauses that stop workers from taking a job in their same line of work if they quit; expanded eligibility for overtime pay; and pressured pension funds to invest in firms that have fair labor practices and divest from ones that treat workers poorly. 
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, though hapless as a national campaigner, championed pro-worker/pro-family laws. One such law provided workers partial pay for up to 12 weeks a year to care for a newborn baby, nurse a sick relative, or recover from a serious injury or medical malady. Another eliminated hyper-productivity requirements that certain companies inflict on warehouse workers and drivers. 
As the saying goes, the plural of anecdote is not data; but I have, in effect, 67 years’ worth of “time series data” on blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. These states are home to my predominantly working-class family members and lifelong friends, including baby boomers who became “Reagan Democrats” or changed their registration to Republican. They affectionately (for the most part) code me, “the professor,” as a “liberal,” though I consider myself to be a center-left/center-right (depending on the issue) pro-life/pro-poor Democrat in the tradition of the late, great Keystone State Governor Bob Casey. 
Most of them voted for Barack Obama in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012, and Trump in 2016. They split between Biden and Trump in 2020, but went uniformly (save one), if in many cases reluctantly, for Trump in 2024. My informal “focus group” polling suggests that Harris could have won at least a quarter of them had she spotlighted pro-worker/pro-family policies.
As the journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon has rightly noted, working-class voters hold nuanced views on most issues. For example, most working-class people would not consider getting an abortion but strongly oppose banning abortion; most don’t want to expand the welfare state but do want government-guaranteed health insurance; most favor secure borders but oppose immigration bans; and so on. And, as economist Les Leopold has argued, the median working-class voter remains ideologically center-right. Still, over the last decade, working-class views have trended to the left on many social and cultural issues, including abortion, LGBTQ rights, and taxation. 
Democrats are well-used to losing white evangelical voters but are new to losing Latino voters. It’s not clear what, if anything, Democrats could do to court white evangelical voters. Ever more of the party’s faithful profess no religious faith, are affiliated with no religion, and identify as strictly secular. But Democrats can begin to build a bridge back to the Latino voters who they lost in 2024 by promoting expressly pro-worker/pro-family candidates and policies like those favored by organizations such as the Pennsylvania Latino Convention, Esperanza, and most of the more than one million Latinos who live, work, and vote in Pennsylvania.
If confirmed, Trump’s nominee for Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican House member from Oregon, would be the most pro-union Republican to hold that position since John T. Dunlop held it under President Gerald Ford. Last July, Chavez-DeRemer, a Latina, co-sponsored a bill that called for the biggest expansion in workers’ rights since the New Deal.
Over the next two to four years, whatever else they do, will Democrats double-down on pro-worker/pro-family policies, and will Republicans launch new pro-worker/pro-family policies of their own? 
Let’s all hope so, because if the two parties compete for Latinos and other voters that way, then all Americans, most especially all working-class Americans, will stand to benefit lots.
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