#coalition leader

[lunarcovehq]

Benjamin anak Bandi is a human that currently resides in Downtown and has been a Lunar Cove resident for 15 years.

ITS THE END OF THE WORLD

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis Male, He/Him

DATE OF BIRTH: November 29, 1986

OCCUPATION: Professor

FACECLAIM: Henry Golding

AS WE KNOW IT, AND I FEEL FINE

SPECIES: Human

COALITION POSITION: Leader

WELCOME TO LUNAR COVE, BENJAMIN ANAK BANDI

Trigger Warnings: Death

It was the early 1980s in London when two university students met and fell in love. Claire Beckett was London born and bred, attending the University of London to study literature when she met Bandi anak Sadat, who was in the country for an education but stayed after falling in love. The two graduated and began their lives together in bliss, adopting the surname of Salok for the beginning of their family. Those first years were devoted to each other, travel and love, visiting each other’s families and delighting in the foundations that they were laying for themselves. By the mid-80s, their family would grow from two to three with the birth of their first and only child, Benjamin anak Bandi Salok, born in Bandi’s hometown of Dalat, Sarawak. 

With a child, it was now time to settle down once more. Claire got a job at the university in Leeds, and Bandi soon found one of his own, so it was back off to England. The child of not one but two academics, one might think that Ben might find a different path for himself, but he was studious from a young age. Just like his parents, he loved learning, and he flourished in academic environments. Bandi taught history, but Ben gravitated towards books like his mother. There was just something in words, all words, the formation of them and the study of them, that Ben loved. 

Ben wasn’t a rebel. He wasn’t. He was mild mannered and level headed, even from a young age. He was taught to talk out his problems, express his feelings when necessary, and be polite in all circumstances. There wasn’t a wild bone in his body. Which made it such a shock when he decided not to immediately attend university and instead travel for a year or so. But his parents encouraged the gap year. Ben spent it traveling, learning more about himself and the world, and, when he came back, he enrolled in the University of London, his parents’ alma mater, and started his study in the literature program, just like his mother.

But Ben was just like his father in other ways. It was happenstance that brought him to Lunar Cove midway through his degree program, a trip with a friend to some quaint Rhode Island town that they’d heard about in passing while on holiday. Ben had only been to the states once before, backpacking on the west coast during his gap year, and the invitation wouldn’t interfere with his studies. Just like his dad, though, Ben stayed because he fell in love. 

At first, it was a person. The relationship was a whirlwind, bright and brilliant and full of life. And something else, something more, as Ben found out that his love was more than human. If he left, he’d forget, and that wasn’t what Ben wanted. So he stayed. Even after the relationship ended, he still stayed because he was still in love. It was a place, it was knowledge. He’d fallen in love with Lunar Cove, with the fact that there was so much more out there. Fiction was not always fiction, and Ben couldn’t forget that. He couldn’t give that up. He finished his degree online and started helping out at the community college, looking for programs online that would give him the credentials that he needed without having to leave. 

Joining the Coalition had simply seemed like the logical move. Joining self defense classes, beginning to teach some of his own, learning about matters in the town from the former Coalition leader, all of it was taking logical moves to ensure his place in town. He started teaching at the college’s English department, becoming a favorite among the students for his dedication and engagement. He became local, and he grew to love Lunar Cove as if it was a place that he’d always been a part of.

Running for leader of the Coalition had never been a part of Ben’s plan, though. The brutal murder of Renata Lang, the former leader and a mentor to Ben, had been a shock to the entire community, even after the deaths of the supernatural leaders. The Coalition wasn’t supernatural, and yet they were being attacked because of their association to the supernatural. Ben wasn’t born in Lunar Cove, but it was his home. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing it. He ran for the position and ended up getting it, shifting his focus from being a full-time professor to a part-time one so that he could devote more time to the Council and the Coalition. Ben may just be human, but Lunar Cove is his home, too. And he’s willing to help serve it anyway that he can.

[yellow-yarrow]

funny how the students are building unstable towers out of matchboxes to prove that plasm exists when their room literally looks like this. what further proof do you need that communism holds buildings together. harry "building safety" du bois goes in here and he's like yep nothing wrong here this is a solid room

[leonardcohenofficial]

huey newton really nailed it when he said (in regard to marx) "in every discipline you find people who have distorted visions and are at a low state of consciousness who nonetheless have flashes of insight and produce ideas worth considering"; it's such an obvious and basic tenet when it comes to ways of approaching critical thought but it's a good reminder when it comes to considering the impact(s) of both theory and praxis and the ways we can critically discuss orgs and individuals without either offering uncritical total praise or flattening accomplishments for the sake of over the top criticism

[aondaneedles]

Meanwhile, in Germany, our government is collapsing. But in a hilarious way.

[transingthoseformers]

Hghhhhhgh thinking about Fiasco and, while his carrier Megatron might've sided with the autobots and humans, Fiasco's just like:

He'll be won over... Eventually.

[megumi-fm]

.

[returquoise]

Finnish votes after about 60% of votes have been counted

(Parties in order: National Coalition, Left Alliance, Social Democrats, Centre Party, Green League, Finns Party, Swedish People's Party, Christian Democrats)

The darker colored blocks and +/- beside them indicate change from 2019 European elections.

Centre Party is in Renew Europe, Christian Democrats in EPP, and everyone else matches their EU group colours. Edit// actually they don't because apparently the national broadcaster has better colour coding than official European Parliament website ahahahaha. ((Swedish People's party is also in Renew Europe, National Coalition is in EPP, Finns in ECR, red parties and Greens can be matched by names)

Current Finnish Parliament majority/government parties: National Coalition, Finns Party, Swedish People's Party and Christian Democrat. This government took power in Spring 2023.

[warrior-of-sunlight]

The exit poll of the Dutch elections is very disheartening.

[sexchangedotcom]

swedish politicians should probably kill themselves for real

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

Micheál Martin now has the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever

[cryptid-called-ash]

Let’s talk the Black Dragon Coalition.

Or, I’m tired and a little bored so it’s mhw time

Let’s meet some characters, for the sake of ease, we’re giving everyone names.

The hunter is Eltrys Nym Mulharaynd. He is 22 years old, half wyverian and from Pokke village originally. An archer by trade, Eltrys joined the guild after killing a barrioth that attacked the village, more accurately he was recruited by the guild. He can pass as human so long as he covers his ears. Eltrys is selectively mute, talking rarely and to a select few people.

The palico is Rayne. They’ve been with Eltrys since we’ll before either even thought of joining the guild. Prior to meeting Sun, Rayne was El’s main communicator.

The handler is named Sun-Rai Jessel, though Eltrys calls her Sunflower. She’s 19 when she travels to the new world. She took a liking to Eltrys very quickly, particularly after the shipwreck, and the two formed a brother-sister relationship. Sun is fluent in both common and wyverian sign, so acts as Eltrys’ translater.

The field team leader is Cambien Dalyn’Roth. Born and raised in the new world, Cambien doesn’t quite grasp certain old world concepts. 26 years old at the time of the elder crossing, what he lacks in experience, he more than makes up for with endless enthusiasm.

Excitable A-lister is Aiden Rand. A childhood friend of Eltrys, the two joined the guild around the same time. He juxtaposes Eltrys in nearly every way, cheerfully optimistic and talkative to the archer’s stoic silence. He knew Eltrys was have wyverian before the incident. He is madly in love with his handler (very much an r/the straights are okay couple).

New characters include:

Dervanin Mulharaynd, Eltrys’ father and his human parent. A guild hunter and an archer. He was wrongfully imprisoned when his wife was murdered and their home burned to the ground. He believed Eltrys, who was around 7 at the time, also died. The pair are eventually reunited, even if it is under rather shit circumstances.

Calaxco Quintyris. A wyverian originally of the third fleet, Cal got separated from the scholars during the accident that stranded the third fleet in the highlands and was presumed dead. In the time he’s been on his own, Calaxco has perfected taming monsters. He himself rides a legiana named Cryox.

Shivi, Aiden’s Palico. Objectively the goodest boy.

[im-sorry-what-ii]

not to get too political on here, but the new zealand elections are happening rn and i am truly, legitimately scared for whats going to happen to our climate, maori/pasifika and lgbtq people if the nat/act/nz1st coalition gets elected

[thepopoptic]

World leaders are aligning themselves with Russia.

[booasaur]

Something really amazing happened in France, and I think it'd help us in the US to learn about it. Forgive the long read, but I think this is genuinely great both because of what happened and how.

So as some of you might have seen, in a decision historians will debate for years (mostly to figure out just WTF he was thinking, even though he is alive right now and can be asked), the French president, Emmanuel Macron, currently in power and THREE YEARS before the scheduled election, seeing the far right rise in popularity decided to dissolve the assembly and hold snap elections.

577 seats were up for grabs. Remember that number. Since half of that is 288.5, 289 seats are needed for a majority.

The first round happened last week and boy, was it bad. The far right made HUGE gains. It won or was in first place in so many races. And Macron's party ended up third!

Overall, this is how things ended up after the first round:

Far right bloc: 33%

Left bloc: 28%

Macron's centrist party: 20%

Conservatives: 7%

The way the French system works is that if a candidate gets over 50% of the vote, they win outright, and some of the far right did manage that. But, many races went to a runoff.

Immediate projections after were that the far right bloc might win anywhere from 240 to 310 seats, a catastrophe.

A shameful swing to the far right leading to the first time they'll be in power since the 1940s? Yes, but maybe not??

This is where things get interesting.

Unusually, a lot of these runoffs are 3-way, instead of a simpler 2-way choice. And in pretty much every case, that helps the far right.

So on June 30th, the night of the first round, this is how things went down:

Immediately, the left parties put out the call: anywhere they were third, they withdrew and their voters would go over to whoever was running against the far right candidate. Their goal: form a "republican front" to block the far right. The far right cannot get 289 seats.

Macron's bloc was not so...motivated. Different people put out different instructions: in some places, if they were third, they should drop out, but only to help the center left, not far left, in other places, see how far you are, only then drop out, that kind of thing.

The conservative party simply said they won't drop out and won't give their voters instruction either way in races they're not involved in.

Late night developments:

More people in Macron's party are now beginning to realize the situation and starting to coalesce around whichever candidate can beat the far right one. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, from Macron's party, says clearly the priority is to block the far right. BUT, some Macron spokespeople on TV say they'll form a coalition only with the center left and conservatives, splitting the left bloc if needed. Some individual Macronists still saying they won't drop out, even if there's no hope of winning.

Lol.

So, now July 1st:

Only half so far. In one race, where the sister of Marine Le Pen (the far right leader and the face of their movement) was leading, the third place Macronist refused to bow out.

Excellent quote from another Macronist:

Perhaps realizing the same thing, that Macronist in the race against the Le Pen sister now drops out.

In some places, third place Macronists are dropping out DESPITE Macron bewilderingly telling them NOT to?

Halfway through the day:

Of the 311 3-way or 4-way runoffs, the number is down to 135 because of these candidates dropping out: 121 Left, 56 Macronists, 1 conservative.

Oh, there was this, in case people had any doubts about how terrible the far right are:

And to show the selflessness of the left:

July 2:

The deadline to decide if they want to stay in a runoff is today.

A dozen new third place Macronists who said they'd stay in have now dropped out. One got a call from both the PM Attal AND Macron to drop out, signalling the dawning understanding of the importance of this moment.

Even some conservative party members are now backing the left candidate who faces the far right.

A Macronist who had 30.55% of the vote in the first round and came in third to the far right's 33.11% and left's 32.73% and who would have been tempted to stay has dropped out.

The deadline to stay in or not has now passed.

Look at these far right shenanigans!

Macron still being a freaking loser:

July 3rd:

In the end, of the 311 3- or 4-way run offs, only 91 left. Some polls come out that have the far right getting between 190 to 220 seats.

July 4th:

New polls say the balance of the voting itself isn't transferring between the left and center and predictions have risen for the far right, now predicted to get between 210 and 250 seats.

July 5th:

New polls again, left voters now predicted to do better transferring vote to the centrists, decreasing the far right projections again.

However, scandalous reporting emerges: while Attal was trying to fend off the far right, Macron was not only NOT taking the far right seriously, he was undermining efforts to defeat them. His team shrugged off the first round results and celebrated a BIRTHDAY as the results were still coming in?

July 6th:

A few runoffs happened yesterday, nothing much unexpected, some left and center wins.

July 7th:

The day of reckoning. At this point, the expectations are that the far right won't come close to that 289 number but could still easily have the most seats.

GUYS.

It's over and the left are in the lead!

A LOT of cases where a leftist or centrist was 2nd in the first round and now won.

Amazing:

SO many lessons to take from this.

First, you have to vote! You have to. You can't do anything without voting. The freaking French, who'll protest for anything, are showing up to vote. If you're trying to achieve any kind of result and it's not going to happen by January 2025, you have to vote now.

But just as importantly, the left and center (and even conservative) parties made very key decisions. They were all lucky that Attal, who Macron chose, saw the big picture, bigger than indeed Macron could. A stupid selfish centrist leader could have still ruined everything if it were up to him.

TL;DR: After a disastrous first round in the national French elections where the far right was on the cusp of taking power, the left and center formed a strong coalition and through the power of voting and unity, overcame the far right AND their selfish centrist president to win.

[jettermelon]

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition is the best game the human species has invented

Are there any other board games that let you play as a sexy, lesbian space pirate and steal shit from your friends all day? Exactly, this one's the best.

[townpostin]

BJP Jamshedpur To Hold Vijay Sankalp Sabha At Dolphin Club

Event To Honor Key Contributors From Recent Lok Sabha Elections Party leaders prepare for assembly poll strategy across Kolhan region. JAMSHEDPUR – The BJP Jamshedpur unit will host an Abhinandan cum Vijay Sankalp Sabha at Dolphin Club and Resort, Danga on NH 33 tomorrow. "We’re honoring Mandal and Booth Presidents for their outstanding Lok Sabha election performance," stated Sudhanshu Ojha, BJP…