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5ummit · 1 year ago

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AO3 Ship Stats: Year In Bad Data

You may have seen this AO3 Year In Review.

It hasn’t crossed my tumblr dash but it sure is circulating on twitter with 3.5M views, 10K likes, 17K retweets and counting. Normally this would be great! I love data and charts and comparisons!

Except this data is GARBAGE and belongs in the TRASH.

I first noticed something fishy when I realized that Steve/Bucky – the 5th largest ship on AO3 by total fic count – wasn’t on this Top 100 list anywhere. I know Marvel’s popularity has fallen in recent years, but not that much. Especially considering some of the other ships that made it on the list. You mean to tell me a femslash HP ship (Mary MacDonald/Lily Potter) in which one half of the pairing was so minor I had to look up her name because she was only mentioned once in a single flashback scene beat fandom juggernaut Stucky? I call bullshit.

Now obviously jumping to conclusions based on gut instinct alone is horrible practice... but it is a good place to start. So let’s look at the actual numbers and discover why this entire dataset sits on a throne of lies.

Here are the results of filtering the Steve/Bucky tag for all works created between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2023:

Not only would that place Steve/Bucky at #23 on this list, if the other counts are correct (hint: they're not), it’s also well above the 1520-new-work cutoff of the #100 spot. So how the fuck is it not on the list? Let’s check out the author’s FAQ to see if there’s some important factor we’re missing.

The first thing you’ll probably notice in the FAQ is that the data is being scraped from publicly available works. That means anything privated and only accessible to logged-in users isn’t counted. This is Sin #1. Already the data is inaccurate because we’re not actually counting all of the published fics, but the bots needed to do data collection on this scale can't easily scrape privated fics so I kinda get it. We’ll roll with this for now and see if it at least makes the numbers make more sense:

Nope. Logging out only reduced the total by a couple hundred. Even if one were to choose the most restrictive possible definition of "new works" and filter out all crossovers and incomplete fics, Steve/Bucky would still have a yearly total of 2,305. Yet the list claims their total is somewhere below 1,500? What the fuck is going on here?

Let’s look at another ship for comparison. This time one that’s very recent and popular enough to make it on the list so we have an actual reference value for comparison: Nick/Charlie (Heartstopper). According to the list, this ship sits at #34 this year with a total of 2630 new works. But what’s AO3 say?

Off by a hundred or so but the values are much closer at least!

If we dig further into the FAQ though we discover Sin #2 (and the most egregious): the counting method. The yearly fic counts are NOT determined by filtering for a certain time period, they’re determined by simply taking a snapshot of the total number of fics in a ship tag at the end of the year and subtracting the previous end-of-year total. For example, if you check a ship tag on Jan 1, 2023 and it has 10,000 fics and check it again on Jan 1, 2024 and it now has 12,000 fics, the difference (2,000) would be the number of "new works" on this chart.

At first glance this subtraction method might seem like a perfectly valid way to count fics, and it’s certainly the easiest way, but it can and did have major consequences to the point of making the entire dataset functionally meaningless. Why? If any older works are deleted or privated, every single one of those will be subtracted from the current year fic count. And to make the problem even worse, beginning at the end of last year there was a big scare about AI scraping fics from AO3, which caused hundreds, if not thousands, of users to lock down their fics or delete them.

The magnitude of this fuck up may not be immediately obvious so let’s look at an example to see how this works in practice.

Say we have two ships. Ship A is more than a decade old with a large fanbase. Ship B is only a couple years old but gaining traction. On Jan 1, 2023, Ship A had a catalog of 50,000 fics and ship B had 5,000. Both ships have 3,000 new works published in 2023. However, 4% of the older works in each fandom were either privated or deleted during that same time (this percentage is was just chosen to make the math easy but it’s close to reality).

Ship A: 50,000 x 4% = 2,000 removed works Ship B: 5,000 x 4% = 200 removed works

Ship A: 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,000 "new" works Ship B: 3,000 - 200 = 2,800 "new" works

This gives Ship A a net gain of 1,000 and Ship B a net gain of 2,800 despite both fandoms producing the exact same number of new works that year. And neither one of these reported counts are the actual new works count (3,000). THIS explains the drastic difference in ranking between a ship like Steve/Bucky and Nick/Charlie.

How is this a useful measure of anything? You can't draw any conclusions about the current size and popularity of a fandom based on this data.

With this system, not only is the reported "new works" count incorrect, the older, larger fandom will always be punished and it’s count disproportionately reduced simply for the sin of being an older, larger fandom. This example doesn’t even take into account that people are going to be way more likely to delete an old fic they're no longer proud of in a fandom they no longer care about than a fic that was just written, so the deletion percentage for the older fandom should theoretically be even larger in comparison.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the author of this "study" KNEW the data was tainted and chose to present it as meaningful anyway. You will only find this if you click through to the FAQ and read about the author’s methodology, something 99.99% of people will NOT do (and even those who do may not understand the true significance of this problem):

The author may try to argue their post states that the tags "which had the greatest gain in total public fanworks” are shown on the chart, which makes it not a lie, but a error on the viewer’s part in not interpreting their data correctly. This is bullshit. Their chart CLEARLY titles the fic count column “New Works” which it explicitly is NOT, by their own admission! It should be titled “Net Gain in Works” or something similar.

Even if it were correctly titled though, the general public would not understand the difference, would interpret the numbers as new works anyway (because net gain is functionally meaningless as we've just discovered), and would base conclusions on their incorrect assumptions. There’s no getting around that… other than doing the counts correctly in the first place. This would be a much larger task but I strongly believe you shouldn’t take on a project like this if you can’t do it right.

To sum up, just because someone put a lot of work into gathering data and making a nice color-coded chart, doesn’t mean the data is GOOD or VALUABLE.

#ao3 #ao3 stats #psa #my words #fandom #I doubt anyone is even going to read this but I needed to get it out of my system and at least try to stop this from spreading #if you know me #you know I get Big Mad about misinformation #don't take anything at face value #do your own research

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sillymommy6969 · 1 month ago

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.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝕭REAKING DISHES

Sophia Laforteza x fem!reader

summary: everyone’s obsessed with how girlfriend material sophia is, but only for a certain member of katseye. for scientific research, eyekons have made a video of moments sophia naturally acts like the gentlewoman she is

warnings: touchy!sophia, protective!sophia, fluff

pt. 2 (chatgpted the tagalog guys im so sorry!)

SOPHIA BEING THAT KINDA GIRLFRIEND FOR Y/N (FT. MEGAN ALWAYS CAUGHT AT THE SCENE)

17.2k likes | 330k views | 18th Dec, 24

*Loud technical difficulty transition* [ KATSEYE VLOG ] Day in the Life of KATSEYE | KATSEYE

Sophia was sporting a cool, black Drew jersey. The one you got her for her birthday after weeks of wanting it. Throughout the day, you’ve been growing tired of having the camera follow you around. Awoken by Megan and Sophia turning all the lights on in you, Daniela and Manon’s room, the blankets were yanked off your body and a kneeling Sophia tried nudging you awake.

Though Sophia’s soft voice motivated you to drag yourself out of bed, you already knew it was going to be a long day. Thank God for the breakfast the leader had made, or else you would never have been able to keep up with your PR training.

When dance rehearsal was over, your manager softly reminded all of you it was time to film tiktok’s for the Katseye instagram to promote the release of “Pop Star Academy: Katseye” on Netflix. Megan and Lara actually had a couple ideas to pitch this time around, but ultimately, the trend all seven of you seemed satisfied with was the water dumping on. Though you were staying on the more silent end of the discussion—your social battery draining rapidly with each moment your actions are streamed on video—you seemed to be voluntold.

[ Poor Y/N, she looks so tired… let my baby sleep please ]

“I think Y/N should do this one ‘cuz I’ve always wanted to dump water on her for fun,” Megan squealed, “Like I’ll do it to, but I definitely think Y/N should go first.”

You raised an eyebrow at the statement, your lips curving into a questioning smile. “Yeah, I mean… I don’t really mind it, but I wanted to do the ‘texting my sister’ one.”

The members began bickering which person should do which tiktok, and Sophia noticed you weren’t really engaged in the conversation. As the group discussed the pros and cons of hopping on certain tiktok trends, you remained silent, staring at the phone screens being shoved into the middle of the group. You nodded along with your lips pursed, uninterested in the brewing debate that was taking too long.

Eventually, Lara turned toward Y/N. "What do you think, Y/N? You’ve barely said anything. Would you be up for it?"

You hesitated, your head tilting in thought. "Um... I don’t know. I’m not really comfortable with getting soaked."

Manon frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Babe, you can do crazy ass splits and flips on a stage in front of hundreds and thousands of people, but you can’t get water chucked at you for a tiktok? What’s the difference?"

You opened your mouth to reply, but with the way your fingers had begun fidgeting with the hem of your tank, it was obvious to Sophia you were beginning to feel put on the spot. Before you could respond, Sophia interjected, her tone sharper than usual. "The difference is that it’s not the same. Y/N doesn’t owe anyone a tiktok performance, we can do another one."

Daniela being a mediator, stepped in to stop any conflict before people could take the situation out of context to fit certain narratives set during dream academy. "We’re just brainstorming, Sophia. No one’s forcing anyone."

"Good," Sophia shot back, her gaze unwavering. "Y/N can do one of the silly ones, no need to push."

[ She’s so protective of her gf it’s so AHHHHHHHHH ]

The room fell quiet for a moment, tension thick in the air. Y/N looked up at Sophia, her lips parting slightly in surprise.

"It’s fine," Y/N murmured softly. "I don’t mind doing it.”

[ She’s so cute protect her at all costs please ]

Sophia shook her head. "No, N/N, you don’t have to do it just ‘cuz eyekons want you to, okay? There’s tons of other ones we need to do, definitely no pressure."

Throughout the rest of the vlog, it was obvious Sophia had made it her mission to keep the others’—who had a significant amount more energy than you did—from walking all over you. They might not do it consciously, but the diverse personalities in this group can sometimes make things very chaotic and complicated. Sometime during the video’s dinner portion, the clip of Sophia’s hand resting on your thigh, holding you closer to her on the couch was cut into this video. The leader didn’t seem to notice, clearly actively involved in the conversations.

Megan, sitting beside you on the other side kept side-eyeing the hand on your thigh, shooting the camera a knowing look before trying to play it off like she hadn’t noticed.

[ Poor meiyok always caught third wheeling :// ]

*Loud technical difficulty transition* iheartradio Youtube video of KATSEYE’s podcast episode, where the Katz all sat around a table with the host at the head. Sat in order from eldest to youngest, you were sat between Sophia and Dani

“—That’s a very nice way to think about it, Y/N.” The host chuckled, earning a ring of soft laughter from the girls as well. Your cheeks were a little warm from the attention being pinned onto you, as the last couple questions seemed to be more directed towards you—one of the better singers who were also passionate about the songwriting.

“Yeah, it helps to stay positive, especially when we’re working late and health and morale can get really low.” you mumbled into the microphone, “But I love these girls, I try and make sure everybody’s doing okay as often as I can.”

The girls cooed, Daniela reaching over to rub the older’s shoulder with a dimpled smile. The cameras were separated into four angels, one on every two member and one on the host. The one focused on Y/N and Sophia filled the screen, Daniela’s hand peeking from the right side as the older sent her a smile. Sophia just stared, her eyes soft and her smile relaxed. Not the picture-perfect one she always sported for the cameras, and the subtle way her smile grew just a little bigger when Y/N looked down in fluster didn’t escape eyekons’ eyes.

[ THE WAY SOPHIA LOOKS AT HER OMG???? ]

“That’s amazing, the girls are lucky to have you.” The man said, “So here’s one more question, since ‘My Way’ has absolutely blown up recently, You were one of the writers credited for the song, and have gained multiple critic praises for the unique touch it added to your debut album. Can you tell us what inspired you to write the song?”

You nodded along with the question, and just as you were about to answer, soft fingertips came in contact with your temple, brushing your hair out of your face and behind your ear. There was a brief moment of silence for a second, before the girls began giggling at the abrupt pause.

“Y/N… you okay there?” Lara asked between chuckles.

“Yeah, babe, you’re looking a little red.” Daniela teased.

You caressed the strand of hair Sophia tucked back, your tongue darting across your lip as you tried steadying out your nervous breath. As the others laughed and joked about your reaction to the older woman’s habitual affection, you hid your face behind your hands. You could tell by the way heat flushed to your cheeks you were getting pink. Manon playfully shoved Sophia in the shoulder.

“Sorry, I wanted to fix Y/N’s hair.”

“Oh my God, Sophia, you broke Y/N,” the Ghanaian woman snorted, “Really did that your way, huh?”

“Mhm, stream ‘My Way’ on Soft is Strong, guys, so Sophia can keep doing things her way.” Megan added, the members humming and nodding in response to the not so subtle segway into promoting their album.

You were thankful the attention seemed to pull away from you. Running a hand through your hair and recollecting yourself.

[ THEY’RE SO CUTE IM FOAMING AT THE MOUTH ]

“Anyway, Y/N, you good to answer the question—?”

*Loud technical difficulty transition* Daniela and Manon’s Weverse live started off in their own hotel room, but after some freakouts and close-faced segments to hide their rooms from the camera, they somehow found their way to you and Sophia’s, where the other girls were hanging about

“No, wait, please! There’s no wifi!” Daniela screamed, the phone filming from under her face as she ran across the halls to another room. She pounded her fist against the door, impatiently humming before she knocked harshly again. “Guys, open up, there’s no wifi out here!”

The door clicked open to reveal a very confused Lara, who glanced between Daniela and the phone. “Wha—?”

Daniela pushes past Lara to enter the room, and as she sets it down on the TV cabinet, Megan could be seen playing roblox with Yoonchae on one bed, the two of them focused on their own phones as they bickered about the game. You and Sophia were snuggled up on the other bed, her hand over the pillow behind your head with her hood up. You laid under her arm, your phone in your hands. You were wearing some really high shorts, a lacey top and some socks, so your instinctive reaction was immediately to adjust the way you were sitting before you accidentally flashed everybody.

Sophia eyed the Latina bursting into the room, immediately catching the familiar Weverse live setup on her phone screen. The first thing she did was set her phone down, moving the blanket from under the both of you to cover your legs up. Her expression was hard, focused on protecting your body first.

The clip was edited to zoom in on the two of you in the background the split moment you were seen before Daniela moved to cover the both of you up after catching the look Lara was shooting her to the side (not that y’all could see). Sophia’s face looked murderous though.

“Daniela, you’re gonna get us doxxed.” Sophia barked from behind, still shielded away from the cameras, “Did you just run down the hall with the camera on?”

The blonde shook her head, “No, no, I had the camera up close to my face like this.” She grabbed the phone, pulling it close to her nose before setting it back down. “Manon had an emergency call, so I had to leave the room, but I made sure they couldn’t see anything other than me.”

[ Dani definitely got yelled at by Sophia after this… ]

user01 am i crazy or was laforl/n cuddling in the back jn

user02 WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABT LAFORL/N

user03 The way they immediately moved apart like they were caught red handed

user04 dani just saw her life flash before her eyes

Eventually, everybody seemed to join in on the live. And even though Sophia was reserved at first, still sporting her grey hoodie and some basketball shorts, she came to sit behind Daniela and Megan who were on the floor. After changing into some sweats, you took a seat behind Megan, wrapping your arms around the girl as you rested your cheek atop her head.

Sophia’s hand instinctively found the small of your back, running up and down your spine as she argued with Lara about which Mik Mik about was better. You joined the conversation, telling Yoonchae and Megan the milk one was better than the chocolate before you and Megan began playfully fighting.

“Whatever, I don’t like you or your taste in Mik Mik.” Megan huffed, holding a hand up to your face.

“Is this because you think I’m ugly?” you bit back, pouting.

Sophia’s head immediately snapped towards you, her hand ceasing its comforting pattern along your back.

“Who said you were ugly?” Her head turning to the girls, narrowing her eyes. “Who made her say that about herself?”

Megan’s hands flew up in defence, but the immediate reaction gave Sophia the answer she needed before she hooked an arm around the younger’s neck, leaning down so her lips were just beside Megan’s ear to whisper, “Do you think she’s ugly, Skiendiel?”

The Indian woman shook her head, “No, ma’am.”

Sophia nodded, humming. Her arm noosed around Megan’s neck tighter. “So what do you have to say to Y/N, hm?”

user05 GYATT DAMN OKAY DADDY SOPHIA

user06 Y/N pop them legs open-

user07 WHAT THE FUCK SHES SO BF???

Megan grabbed your hands, looking deep into the older member’s eyes. “Y/N, baby, you are the most beautiful and precious being I have ever laid my eyes on and I’m sorry if, even for one second, made you think anything less, that is a hundred percent my fault and I am so deeply sorry.”

With a kiss to your forehead, Megan looks back at Sophia, who nodded with a satisfied hum. Her eyebrows furrowed and her jaw clenched. She slung her arm over your shoulder.

“That’s much better.” Sophia said, leaning to whisper in your ear, “Never ever, ever call yourself ugly, you understand?”

[ Love that she’s whispering like it’s just them ]

You nod, a hand over her shorts on her thigh. Her breath tickled the curve of your ear, the two of you sitting close and personal the whole live, which the eyekons ate up.

user08 nobody talk to me please

user09 sophia for being the responsible one you’re forgetting your pr training really hard rn

user10 Get me a woman who’d choke someone out if they called me ugly

user11 THEYRE SO GLARINGLY OBVIOUS WTF

*Loud technical difficulty transition* [ WEVERSE LIVE ] Sophia’s sitting on the floor of her room and asking eyekons how she should place stickers on her laptop

“I feel like the anchor should go next to the hibiscus (your charm) like this, y’know?” Sophia propped her laptop up, holding the stickers in place with her fingers before placing it down. Her face scrunched in thought, “I don’t know though, what do you guys think?”

[ She even wants their charms together hold my tea- ]

user01 yes laforty/n should be together in every universe

user02 Put the Katseye logo in the middle!!

user03 Doesn’t Y/N have your charm in her phone case

A knock sounded through the room before Sophia could answer any of the fans’ comments. Her head snapped towards the noise, seeing a translucent figure through the door. “Yeah? Who is it?”

“It’s me. Sophia, sweetie, I have a question.”

user04 SWEETIE IS CRAZY WORK

user05 the way i could recognize y/n’s voice is criminal

user06 Their PR team sweatin rn

Sophia got up to unlock her door quickly, sitting back down with her head turned towards Y/N. You were slightly onscreen, but not fully in view for everybody. You had on one of Lara’s tops, a pair of flare y2k jeans and a bandana wrapped around your hair. Even in the side, eyekons could see you twirling and spinning in place as Sophia’s eyes raked over your figure.

“Does this outfit look stupid? Megan said I should lose the bandana and wear sunnies, but I think this gives more of my vibe, y’know?” You said, smoothing out your shirt.

Sophia’s lips slowly curled into a smile, her eyes still darting up and down to take in your whole outfit. She especially liked the hoops you were wearing, the ones you and Daniela bought to match. God, she absolutely loved being your fashion critic. “I think you look hot,” she smirked, “Why don’t you ask eyekons.”

It was only then did you catch the phone sitting before her, the hearts and likes on live spiked immediately at your arrival.

“Sophia, I look so bad right now, you could’ve given me a warning!” You yelped, jumping out of frame in surprise. Sophia chuckled, looking back at her phone before turning back to you. She scootched closer, holding an arm out. “You never look bad, bebe. Don’t be shy, come say ‘hi’ to everybody.”

user07 I HEARD TAGALOG

user08 my filipino dad just asked if someone called me baby

user09 THE FILIPINA PET NAME IM CRYING

You walked into her open arm, letting her hand rest on the other side of your hip. You waved at the camera, smiling. “Sorry to interrupt, guys, I didn’t know Sophia was on live.”

“No, no, you didn’t interrupt,” Sophia immediately interrupted, “If anything, the eyekons were probably getting bored of me.” She pointed at the view count, as it rose from 13k to now a hefty 21k, everybody’s tuning in just ‘cuz you walked in.”

user10 quick to comfort her girlfriend i see

user11 Uhm nobody talking abt how fine y/n looks rn??

user12 i want laforty/n crumbs or i’ll starve

“Sounds like everybody likes the outfit,” Sophia snorted, instinctively fixing your jeans up higher so you wouldn’t flash anything you wouldn’t want to. “I’d say trust the eyekons’s sense of fashion more than Megan’s, ‘cuz between us, the girl gets mistaken for Adam Sandler way too often.”

You nodded, adjusting the bandana on your head.

“Completely agree. You guys are always glammed up and ready for a runway whenever we see you in person. There’s so many pretty eyekons out there, I can fill a book with the amount of compliments I don’t get to say at shows.” You scanned the comments, keeping a poker face as you glanced over the amount of Laforty/n comments. “Anyways, I should go. Manon and I are getting ready to leave.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow, silently asking you where the two of you were heading. You took a step offscreen to tell her you were going to pick up some booze for the girls. She nodded.

[ Sophia’s hand placement hello? ]

You waved to the camera, blowing the live a kiss before you got up to leave. “I’ll see you soon, eyekons. I love you!”

“I’ll miss you, bebe.” Sophia called after your disappearing figure, watching you close the door off camera. “Come back home on time for dinner, Yoonchae and I are making jjigae.”

[ #DOMESTICLAFORTY/N IS MY DRUG ]

*Loud technical difficulty transition* [ KATSEYE VLOG ] Yoonchae’s Graduation Party (KATZ EDITION) | KATSEYE

Daniela and Manon were quickly put in charge of decorations for the party they were throwing for Yoonchae’s high school graduation. While Megan was out distracting their maknae, the rest of Katseye buzzed on with their respective roles for the party. Lara was asked to help set up some partitions and strings for Manon and Daniela to hang things on. Leaving you and Sophia in charge of food.

“Y/N, can you hand me the chocolate chips?” the Filipina asked, focused on mixing up the dough in her bowl. She stuck a finger in, tasting some off the tip of her pinkie. “Hm, I think Yoonchae will want these a little sweeter, can you help me grab more sugar too, bebe?”

[ I looked it up guys ‘bebe’ literally means baby—SOPHIA LAFORTEZA CALLS Y/N L/N BABY IN TAGALOG ]

You hummed, moving around the kitchen to grab whatever the leader asked for. The editors of the video added some really cute lofi music to the two of you working cohesively, adding some adorable effects and cute captions here and there.

“Is it tasting okay?” you asked, your chin on her shoulder. She was taller so you peeked over her down at the bowl.

Sophia didn’t reply, instead, she grabbed the spoon to the side, taking a big scoop of cookie dough onto the spoon nicely. She didn’t move her body, finding comfort in the warmth of you against her. Her head turned, her hand raising to carefully stick the spoon into your mouth, her other hand held under your lips to catch whatever dough didn’t make it to your lips.

You moan softly at the sweet taste, eyes fluttering shut.

“Good then?” Sophia chuckled at the way you melted into her, “You’re eating more than you’re making.” She teased softly, glancing at you with a small smile.

You shrugged, “Quality control. You want some kimbap?”

She hummed in response. You returned to your kimbap, rolling the seaweed tightly and slicing it into neat rounds. A moment later, your concentration is cut and you held up one.

“Open up,” you said, fingers coming in contact with her lips gently as you set the food into her mouth.

She nodded, a hand up to her mouth to hide her chewing from the cameras. The editors added a sparkle effect to her eyes, as she eyed your growing smile. “It’s perfect,” she complimented, the tangy and salty taste lingering in her mouth.

“Does that mean I get more cookie dough?” you asked, feeling a bit bolder. You pouted, looking at her with hopeful eyes.

Her tilted her head. “We can’t eat all the food, it’s supposed to be for Yoonchae…” It took one look at your expression for her to immediately change her mind. “I’ll give you one more bite and that’s it until these are done, okay?”

You smiled, “Yes, ma’am.”

Once you had your second spoonful of dough, Manon and Daniela came in to check on the two of you. Upon spotting the bowl of dough Sophia was setting into small scoops on a tray, she gasped, immediately jogging over to hover over the leader.

“Sophia, can I have a bite, please? Pretty please!” she begged, bouncing on her feet, “That looks so good, oh my God.”

Sophia wagged a finger, focused on setting the dough down on the tray. “No, Dani, last time you wanted a bite you finished half the bowl. Nobody touches these until they’re done.”

The blonde whined, “Come on, just one… please?”

“You’ll get one when they’re done, Daniela Avanzini.”

You eyed the camera with a guilty smile, knowing you were the only one Sophia had trouble saying ‘no’ to.

[ Sophia has a soft spot for y/n… so real ]

#katseye x reader #katseye #sophia laforteza x reader #sophia laforteza #daniela avanzini #daniela avanzini x reader #lara raj #lara raj x reader #manon bannerman #manon bannerman x reader #megan skiendiel #megan skiendiel x reader #yoonchae

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sgiandubh · 3 months ago

Note

Wonder if Sam will take his new legal American bride to Italy? He will be married, although unlike Caitriona's it will be a fake marriage, by 31 Dec. He needs the residency.

Dear Married Anon,

Three possibilities on this one: a) you watched 90 Days Fiancé for way too long and with no attention to details; b) you think I am an idiot, with no legal knowledge or experience; c) you are an idiot, with no legal knowledge or experience.

Your question comes with two strong biases, too: a) that you somehow are privy to such nonsense and b) the old & stale fake vs. organic marriage refrain, regarding C (that, by the way, proves that I did hit a nerve).

I am not very sure to whom exactly do you think you are talking, here. But if I do know one thing is that you, honey, are a Mighty Twat. If you wanted to be consistent with the crap the Gay Crowd spreads around, you could have gone for 'he needs a more solid/credible beard than that', instead of the completely inane 'he needs the residency'. What is he, Burmese? Oh, FFS. And by 'Burmese', I mean exactly this: are his life/personal safety in clear and present danger, in his home country, because of his ethnicity and/or political views? The answer is no, and he could still use his right of asylum. Does he need the US residency in order to secure a better paid job for himself? The answer is no: lots of other avenues can be explored and are routinely being used by thousands of foreign actors/performing artists, in order to legally work and reside in the US. I have even mentioned it before:

(Full October 2023 post, here: https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/729979831079649280/mordor-says-he-returned-only-for-visa-reasons)

But let's suppose even a nanoshred of what you wrote could technically be correct. When you are an US citizen and you want to bring your significant other to live with you there, you basically are offered two options:

Scenario One: you want to bring your fiancé(e) to the US and get married there. You will need the K-1 visa, as anyone even remotely familiar with that reality show I mentioned knows. That doesn't exactly click with a hastily cobbled 'new American bride' he would marry until December 31 and this is why, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) own website:

[Source, LOL: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/A2en.pdf]

'You have met each other in person within 2 years before you file this petition'. Who is it, then? The whore? She is French. The chatty influencer? She's 'so over him' (FFS, LOL). Alice 'he's mine and will never be yours'' Panikian? If you think so, you are aff yer heid on cheap gin. Hm? Ashley Hearn? Met her too late and you all know it. A secret lover? ROFLMAO. And psst: Raya girls are just for fun, they don't think homestead. Cross my heart, Anon.

Current and official USCIS average processing time for fiancé petitions at their (logically) California Service Center is:

But it could be as long as 26 months and a half, if he decides to settle for a Vermont beauty (LOOOOOOOL).

You should also know a couple of other things, Anon. First thing is he will not be able to enter the US under the type of visa he currently more than probably holds, in order to do so - that would be a heavily punished immigration fraud:

Mhm. Restrictions on his ability to future immigration benefits/permanent residence, fine and imprisonment. I hope I do not need to further develop, on this one.

Last thing you should have taken into consideration before writing this bullshit is that the fiancé visa would restrict his ability to go back to his own home country during all the waiting time. Why would an actor refuse work opportunities in the UK or in Europe for the sake of a fake marriage, as you called it yourself? Oh, if you only had a brain!

Need I say more about the grueling in-person cross-check interviews ? You should watch a wonderful movie starring Gerard Depardieu (a pig alright, but he is perfect, in there) and Andie MacDowell: it's even called Green Card, LOL. Few things changed since 1990, and if anything, the screw got only tighter. Not to mention the fact he will be unable to work in the US during the waiting process and she will have to prove she can sponsor/provide for him! ROFLMAO.

Scenario Two: you get married abroad and want to bring your spouse to the US, afterwards. You will need to file the Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative):

[Source: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/A1en.pdf]

All this does, in reality, is put the spouse in line with thousands of other similar applicants. Residency will be granted only after extensive background checks and this is where I would like to stop for a while, Anon. You are with the Gay Crowd, right? Then how does this logically click with your long established talking point about his 'once very public gay life? Ah: he isn't gay? ROFLMAO. You see, being gay is a bit like being pregnant, Anon: you can't be 'just a little bit pregnant' and you certainly can't be 'just a little bit gay', either. Spare me the drivel 🙄. Kindly note those background checks are dead serious and could result in deportation - thought you should know, before you spew idiocies again.

Onwards with that residency thing:

If S were in Scotland/the UK when the 'legal fake bride' would file in the petition, he would not be allowed to come visit or work in the US: why would an actor be forced to turn down lucrative opportunities in Hollywood or elsewhere in the country, for the sake of bearding or circus only? And while S could technically apply for permanent resident status if he already were in the US at the time of the application for I-130, he would still not be able to work and therefore must be sponsored by the 'legal bride'. ROFLMAO, again.

I mean, this is so ridiculous I could cry. He would be invited to come to the US only after the petition is approved, which does not click with your suggested timeline and the seeming 'emergency situation' ('he NEEDS the residency', your ask shouts at the Entire Universe) . Why the haste? Just because you wanted to somehow shoehorn it in, somewhere before Inauguration Day? I have no words, but my paunch hurts with laughing right now.

Finally let's have a look at processing current times:

But it could go as long as...

I cannot stress enough that permanent residency will be granted only after the processing time is completed.

Why, oh, why would someone so inextricably complicate his entire existence in such an idiotic fashion, Anon? And finally, give me and yourself a break and read the damn political room, here, too. I will not elaborate, but I surely hope you do not live under a rock.

I rest my case, thank you, fuck off.

#anon #fandom #shitshow #legal #immigration #nonsense

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girlactionfigure · 2 months ago

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Iran is fucked. Bigly.

"if Syria falls... Israel will go into Lebanon and force its conditions. If Syria falls in their hands, Palestine will be lost."

— Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah (ret.)

Let's talk about how Iran is fucked.

After 40 years of hard work, Iran managed to create a "ring of fire" around Israel and Saudi Arabia. It was a remarkably cheap way to terrorize Iran's enemies without facing direct consequences. One of the reasons Iran chose this strategy is because in reality Iran is a poor and weak country. This was a way to project power without actually having it.

Now, Iran met real power and 40 years of hard work went down the drain in a few months. Seeing how Iran only got weaker and poorer in the last couple of decades, it won't be easy to restore what it’d lost.

So, what happened?

Gaza: After October 7, Israel really went to town on Gaza. The enclave was razed and suffered immense casualties. The majority of Hamas's trained men and nearly all their field commanders were killed. Their missile stores have been decimated. Now, the majority of Palestinians no longer support the group. They may start supporting a new bunch of terrorists soon, but it's doubtful these will be Iran's allies seeing what a poor ally Iran has been to the Palestinians this year.

Lebanon: Israel decapitated Hezbollah by destroying its entire command structure, castrated it by dismantling its missile and drone arsenal and killing thousands of its trained men, and hobbled it by signing a strange ceasefire deal that allows Israel to bomb Hezbollah but not the other way around. Evidence of the group's wretched state can be seen in it accepting this humiliating ceasefire (and abandoning Gaza), not responding to constant Israeli attacks after the ceasefire, and its total inability to aid Assad.

Syria: The collapse of the Assad regime brought fourth a plethora of diverse groups who only have one thing in common. They hate Iran. They are so busy stomping portraits of Khamenei they don't even have time to burn Israeli flags. Syria was a vital link in Iran's land bridge to Lebanon. Without Iran, it won't be able to resupply Hezbollah, which is at the lowest point in its history right now.

Iraq: Iran’s favorability rating among Iraqis has hit its lowest point in recent years, falling even below the popular support for the United States. Iran's feeble assistance to its allies is likely to bring this number even lower. Iran has shown itself to be an exploiter rather than a friend, and so it's likely to start losing friends in Iraq as well. As the Arab Spring has shown us, no Arab state is isolated, which brings us to our final station:

Yemen: The Houthis are still attacking ships in the Red Sea and have shown no signs of disloyalty to Iran. However, there are some signs that the success of the rebels in Syria will inspire Yemen's internationally recognized government to renew its war against the Houthi usurpers (people tend to forget Yemen is fighting a civil war as well). If the general drop of support for Iran in the Arab world is reflected in Yemen as well, then the Houthis have an uphill battle ahead of them.

Iran: Weakness invites aggression and the regime looks weaker than ever right now. Its leader is old and feeble. Its failures and defeats are mounting. Life is getting worse for ordinary Iranians. Tick tock.

URI KURLIANCHIK

DEC 11

#Iran #Israel

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green-socks · 1 month ago

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2024 fic reading stats / AO3 Wrapped - Reader Edition

Last April I got the idea that I wanted to, in some form, get a better understanding of how much and how often I read fic, and some other stats as well. Obviously I knew the answer was a lot and often. But you know the urge to make lists and sort things when you're stressed? Yeah, that hit, so I started up a spreadsheet starting May 1st. In my spreadsheet I logged the date I had read the fic, the fic's title, author, fandom, ship, rating, and word count. I also added the AO3 link to the fic which has proven handy in looking up recs and stuff like that!

I just wanted to share some of those stats now that I've made lil graphs to go with them and everything lol

Starting with the totals:

Last year, from 1 May to 31 Dec, I read about 3,928,191 words of fanfic. (Now, that's the logged amount, but it's not... perfect. I won't go into detail but let's just state that that amount is still very telling!)

Total of different fics I read during the logged time was 478. (There are 479 logged entries but one of them was a reread, so.)

The most amount of entries for a single day was 8, and it happened three times lol. Two of those I know I was sick but idk what that third day was, probably a wonderfully lazy sunday.

Authors:

I logged at least 141 different AO3 authors. (Some people using several pseuds may have confused my count a little but give or take a couple!)

Here I have to shout out @fuddlewuddle because if I read 478 fics, 93 of those were hers. I don't even know what to say except that I'm glad our freaks match each other <3

A fun thing to note was that I myself made it on my top 10 list of "favorite" writers based on the amount of fics logged because I reread my own stuff frequently enough! That's kind of uplifting to think about. If sorted by word count, however, I am farrr from the top, because I tend to write shorter fics :D But I'm happy to keep it that way!

Fandom:

Showing off some percentages based on the 478 logged fics. Ahem, as you can see, Top Gun continues as the ruling fandom in my life, but there were some new smaller fandoms coming in as well! And that strange, two movie fandom fusion is, of course, courtesy of Fuddle...

If I were to sort these by word count instead, the percentages would stay pretty much the same, except Other fandoms would give a tiny bit of its slice over to Ted Lasso.

Ship:

Again, this is based on the total of 478 logged fics. Quelle surprise, I'm a hangster girl and there's a lot of that on the market, so 183 out of those 478 were hangster fics. Other ships here entails multi-ship fics (where the ships are equal instead of clear main ship & background ship type of thing), poly ships with a number of varying character combinations, and ships that had less than 5 logged fics with it as the main ship.

(The tiny red dot says roykeeleyjamie and it had 6 logs in total. The purple dot with the name not fully showing is macheresin with 10 fics.)

Rating:

This is again based on the total of 478 fics.

My own writing stats:

I posted 18,687 words' worth of fic last year (though some thousands of words haven't made it to AO3 yet, but were still written last year). As you can see, I am still very much a reader rather than a writer, but it's the best of both worlds, getting to do both!

Overall, I thought this was a fun experiment, and I'm going to keep up with my spreadsheet for the new year – because what is life without spreadsheets, really.

Guess if I realized I had forgotten to log at least one longer fic after finishing up the last of those graphs!!!! Sighhh

#ask me about my spreadsheets #i'm very proud of it #this was so fun #and it's a good way to keep a library too!#talking socks #ao3 wrapped

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likeadevils · 1 year ago

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which albums do you think took the shortest amount of time to put together? i think that evermore was very quick (only two or three months?), am i right in thinking that lover and folklore were pretty quick too?

evermore was super quick! there were about five songs written from october-december, but about 12 songs were written in about a month, between mid august and mid september. which is just crazy. like that’s more songs than the standard edition of debut like that’s insane

the bulk of folklore was written in two months, between may and june, though the jack songs were mostly written between march and april, with some pre pandemic songs (my tears in dec 2019 and trying in jan/feb 2020)

midnights was a bit more spread out— high infidelity and would’ve could’ve should’ve were written in march 2021, i believe bigger than the whole sky and snow on the beach were in early 2022– but still the bulk of it came together in november/december 2021, making it a year in total but mostly done in two months.

rep took almost exactly a year— she starts writing it in september 2016 and finishes in september 2017. the bulk of the album was likely finished by july 2017 though, so it goes was just a super last minute addition.

lover was recorded in about four months— the bulk of the album was between november 2018 and february 2019. there are some exceptions, like death by a thousand cuts in late april and likely london boy in early june, and maybe a few jack songs throughout 2018, but we don’t know for sure which. she was also probably stockpiling songs a bit before jumping into the studio, but we don’t know for sure.

1989 was another stockpiling album— she did this love in 2012, a couple songs jan 2013, and then that aforementioned stockpiling period while she’s on tour, and then a big rush in oct/nov 2013, and then another rush in jan/feb 2014. it sounds like now that we don’t talk came fairly late in the process though, possibly as late as fall 2014, which would make it a two year long writing period, but as far as the original album goes, about a year and a half.

red was also about a year and a half— we have all too well being finalized in march 2011 (after being started in dec 2010), and then 22 and i knew you were trouble in june 2012. there are probably some outliers— stay stay stay might’ve been as early as summer 2010, some stuff on the vault might’ve gone up until september 2012– but that’s at most about two years of consistent writing and recording.

if we’re counting sparks fly (halloween 2006) then it took four years to write speak now, but excluding sparks fly georg the earliest song we know for sure was if this was a movie in april 2009, and then it ended with the story of us in june 2010, which is a little over a year. she was likely writing songs for speak now earlier in 2009 though, making it her standard year and a half, but we just don’t know for sure. the recording process was also spread out throughout both years— the first session for the album was in march 2009, and the orchestra sections were the last thing recorded, in july 2010.

fearless had two big recording sessions, in december 2007 and march 2008, so recording wise the album came together super quickly. that being said, if we just take the first and last songs written for the album, fearless has a pretty big stretch— she had stuff from the vault from like 2005, and then come in with the rain in september 2006, and white horse in december 2006. and then the last song is similarly up for interpretation, with forever and always in late september 2008, and mr perfectly fine in march 2009. so even though it came together very quickly once she got in the studio, counting the vault it was four years to write it, making it one of the longest timeframes, but standard edition is still a fairly long two years.

and then debut! i’m a bit more hazy on debut’s timeline, but a perfectly good heart was written sometime in 2003, and should’ve said no was the last thing written and recorded, on august 10, 2006, making it about three years.

so it’s pretty much an exercise in counting— the earlier and album came in her career, the longer it took her to make it, until we get to post pandemic where she’s busting out almost complete albums in two month periods (ts11 looks like it’s bucking that trend though, so let’s see!!)

#asks*#timeline*#sorry for taking so long to answer i had to write a bit of an essay about it

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misfitwashere · 2 months ago

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The Big Reason Why Hunter's Pardon is Justified: Kash Patel

I've listened to hundreds of interviews of Trump's FBI Director nominee

Ron Filipkowski

Dec 02, 2024

I awoke this morning after a three day unplugged trip to Montreal to learn that in the previous 24 hours, two things had happened - Trump named Kash Patel as his FBI Director and then Joe Biden pardoned his only surviving son, Hunter. Neither one of these things were especially surprising since it is clear to me the two things are connected, but I was surprised by some of the reaction from those in the media, the Never Trump (former) Republicans, and a few Democratic elected officials.

Most of the criticism has taken the form of three primary arguments: 1. Trump will now have justification to make egregious pardons because of this; 2. Joe Biden lied and Dems who support the decision are hypocrites who claim to believe in the Rule of Law but really don’t; 3. Critics of the critics who cite Trump’s previous pardons are wrong because his awfulness doesn’t justify Joe’s awfulness.

Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

None of these things address the REAL reason for the pardon - Trump’s appointment of Patel, who has ranted and raved for the past four years on every right-wing podcast in America that he was going to get Hunter Biden for things he has never been prosecuted for. Joe takes that threat seriously. Apparently, the critics either do not, or are ignorant and unaware of exactly who Patel is and what he has pledged to do specific to Hunter.

I have spent the last 4 years covering right-wing shows, channels, conferences and podcasts. Some very fringy, conspiratorial and obscure. I am aware from time to time a legacy media journalist will dip their toe into that world by spending a week watching Steve Bannon or Charlie Kirk, write an article, and give their expert analysis. That has not been me. I have been immersed in their world - day after day, week after week, year after year. One person I have watched hundreds of times at all of these places is Kash Patel.

Patel first caught the attention of Trump while serving as an aide to Devin Nunes’s staff during the 2017-18 RussiaGate investigation. That led to an appointment by Trump late in his Administration to a post that Patel has no business ever being in - interim Chief of Staff to interim DOD Secretary Chris Miller. An interim to an interim. I have also heard Patel lie about and exaggerate his resume and accomplishments on an almost daily basis to the point of absurdity.

In these hundreds of Patel interviews there was always a central theme: That Trump was going to win, Patel was likely going to be appointed CIA or FBI Director, then he was going to use that appointment to go after Trump’s enemies from the Russia investigation, members of the media who supposedly lied about Trump, eliminate thousands of career civil servants (the Deep State), and go after Hunter and Joe Biden with a new criminal investigation.

I have posted many clips over the years of some of Patel’s most outlandish threats and statements. Some of them have been resurfaced by legacy media outlets, but only the ones where Patel vows to go after them, or to clean out government agencies. They never play the clips I posted where he obsesses on Hunter Biden, and boy, was he obsessed with Hunter Biden.

This is what Patel said last year in just one of the clips I posted:

Steve Bannon to Kash: “Do you feel confident when you go back as a senior member of this Administration starting in 2025 that you will be able to deliver the goods? That we can have serious prosecutions? That the people who did evil deeds will be held accountable and prosecuted? Can you deliver this in the first couple of months so we can get rolling on criminal prosecutions?”

Kash Patel: “Yes. We will find the conspirators not just in government but in the media. We are going to come after the people in the media who helped Biden rig the presidential election - we’re putting you all on notice.”

I should also emphasize that when he is talking about media “rigging” the election, he is talking about their refusal to cover the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop - Rudy Giuliani’s October Surprise in 2020.

Patel claimed in one interview after another that Hunter had gotten away with numerous felonies in connection with his business dealings in Ukraine and China, and that Joe Biden was also guilty and complicit in those crimes. James Comer spent two years investigating those allegations. He took dozens of depositions. Held numerous hearings. It was a disaster with one touted claim after another getting debunked when people actually had to present evidence under oath rather than on the internet.

Patel also said this in a separate interview specifically about Hunter:

“Hunter Biden is guilty of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Hunter Biden was shown to have been in bed with criminals from Ukraine and China to lobby the US government through the laundering of money that Hunter Biden received and leveraging his relationship with his dad. This DOJ should charge him, but they won’t. So I think that is where we need to focus (when we get in).”

The congressional investigation was so bad that Comer refused to even bring an impeachment case to a vote in his own committee, knowing that he didn’t have the votes from members of his own party. Democrat Jared Moskowitz repeatedly taunted him to call for a vote in committee on impeachment. Comer refused. That’s because Kevin McCarthy told him not to do it. Then Mike Johnson told him the same. They knew it was nonsense, they had no case, and many Republicans would vote against it.

But Patel claimed that Comer was simply weak and incompetent, and when Trump returned to power they would take over the investigation. That means a whole new round of subpoenas, grand juries, potential indictments, where many of Joe Biden’s family members and himself - not just Hunter - would likely be prosecuted.

When Trump nominated Patel as his FBI Director, Joe Biden already knew it was coming because it had been rumored for weeks. JD Vance let the cat out of the bag in a quickly deleted tweet two weeks ago where he disclosed that they were going to fire current Director Chris Wray despite the fact that he still had three years left in his term.

So it is important to emphasize, as nobody in the media seems willing to do, that this pardon is much more about protecting the Biden family from a deranged, vindictive Kash Patel than it is about Hunter’s BS gun charge that he was already convicted of.

I will give the critics in the media and some Dems who have chimed in some benefit of the doubt on the grounds that I don’t think they are aware at all of the things Patel has been saying about Hunter on the right-wing podcast circuit over the past four years. But I’m not sure even if they were aware it would’ve prevented them from clutching their pearls on their moral high ground. It’s far too important to them to feel like everyone is dirty, hypocritical and corrupt except them.

I have read the summary of every single pardon Trump granted during his term. Hundreds of them. It is a horror show. It is a litany of convicted Republican politicians, Trump donors, millionaires, drug traffickers, violent criminals, fraudsters, con artists, and just generally repulsive people. Trump also refused to use DOJ’s pardon office for any input - requests for pardons were screened by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in an obvious pay-for-play scheme. To suggest that there is any equivalency or justification for these things, or Trump’s future promise to pardon J6ers or commute the sentence of drug trafficker Ross Ulbricht, because of the Hunter Pardon is utterly absurd.

Joe Biden said many months ago in response to a question that he would not pardon Hunter. But the election was still months away. The circumstances have changed dramatically since that interview. Trump was elected. He first attempted to appoint Matt Gaetz as his Attorney General. Then replaced him with Pam Bondi, who isn’t much better on substance or future intent. Then he appointed a psycho obsessed with prosecuting Hunter as his FBI Director. That would change anyone’s minds about the landscape - especially a father who has already lost a wife, son and a daughter.

But the critics don’t seem to want to take any of that into account while calling Joe Biden a “liar.”

Joe Biden doesn’t want to spend his remaining few years after five decades in public service being hauled into courtrooms by Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. That is why he did this. So many of the critics still don’t fully understand what is about to happen with these unstable, vengeful lunatics being appointed to the most senior positions of the US government. I do because I have listened to them for the past four years, and I believe them when they promise revenge and retribution.

Or maybe the critics do have a pretty good idea about what is coming, but they just don’t really care as long as what they are criticizing doesn’t directly impact them.

Either way, I’m tired of their sanctimony, false piety, and weakness. Many of them have made millions from their roles as Trump critics and become prominent on cable news shows. Now maybe they’ve decided to flip the script.

Count me out.

#Meidas+#ron filipkowski

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yourreddancer · 2 months ago

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Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more

The Big Reason Why Hunter's Pardon is Justified: Kash Patel

I've listened to hundreds of interviews of Trump's FBI Director nominee

Ron Filipkowski

Dec 2

This is what Patel said last year in just one of the clips I posted:

Patel also said this in a separate interview specifically about Hunter:

The congressional investigation was so bad that Comer refused to even bring an impeachment case to a vote in his own committee, knowing that he didn’t have the votes from members of his own party. Democrat Jared Moskowitz repeatedly taunted him to call for a vote in committee on impeachment. Comer refused. That’s because Kevin McCarthy told him not to do it. Then Mike Johnson told him the same. They new it was nonsense, they had no case, and many Republicans would vote against it.

Trump also refused to use DOJ’s pardon office for any input - requests for pardons were screened by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in an obvious pay-for-play scheme. To suggest that there is any equivalency or justification for these things, or Trump’s future promise to pardon J6ers or commute the sentence of drug trafficker Ross Ulbricht, because of the Hunter Pardon is utterly absurd.

Then he appointed a psycho obsessed with prosecuting Hunter as his FBI Director. That would change anyone’s minds about the landscape - especially a father who has already lost a wife, son and a daughter.

But the critics don’t seem to want to take any of that into account while calling Joe Biden a “liar.”

Or maybe the critics do have a pretty good idea about what is coming, but they just don’t really care as long as what they are criticizing doesn’t directly impact them.

Count me out.

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these-emo-thoughts · 1 month ago

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2024 Drama Recap

I barely remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday but I really wanted to do one of these 🥹 I was a very bad drama watcher this year but am hoping to be better in 2025!! So here's my recap! 🥹

Dramas I completed watching in 2024 that aired in 2024:

Last Twilight (Nov 23 - Jan)

Pit Babe (Nov 23 - Feb)

Playboyy (Nov 23 - Feb)

The Sign (Nov 23 - Feb)

Cherry Magic Thailand (Dec 23 - Mar)

My Stand-In (Apr - Jul)

We Are (Apr - Jul)

The Sign Special Episode (May)

OMG! Vampire (May - Jul)

Wandee Goodday (May - Jul)

Love Sea (Jun - Aug)

Sunset x Vibes (Jun - Aug)

Uranus2324 (Jul)

Love Sea Special Episode (2024)

The Paradise of Thorns (Aug)

Century of Love (Jul - Aug)

Meet You At The Blossom (Jul - Aug)

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Jul - Aug)

4 minutes (Jul - Sep)

Peaceful Property (Aug - Nov)

Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart! (Sep - Nov)

Total: 21

Dramas that started airing in 2024 that I am currently watching:

The Heart Killers (up to date)

Perfect 10 Liners (5 eps in)

Pluto (1 ep in? 2?)

Dramas I started watching in 2024 and finished:

Cupid's Last Wish (air date: 2022)

Dramas I started watching in 2024 and did NOT finish (yet):

Battle of the Writers (3 eps in)

Love in the Big City (3 eps in)

Monster Next Door (4 eps in? 5?)

The Untamed (7 eps in)

Kidnap (8 eps in)

Dramas I rewatched in 2024:

Pit Babe. Rewatched about 2 or 3 times lol help I am TRASH

A Tale of a Thousand Stars (air date: 2021)

Faves?

I don't know if it's even worth doing a faves list because it's going to essentially be a mishmash of Pit Babe, AlanJeff, and OabPlawan (look, I just LOVE Sailub and Pon together and think they can kill any role they come across)😅

But I will do this!

Favourite characters of 2024?

Jeff (Pit Babe)

Joker (Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart!)

Min (Kidnap)

Mhok (Last Twilight)

Cher (Wandee Goodday)

Favourite couples of 2024?

AlanJeff (Pit Babe) (Any surprises here? Sigh.)

OabPlawan (This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans) (LOOK I MENTIONED THE WHOLE SAILUBPON THING ABOVE IM SORRY OKAY?)

SanVee (Century of Love)

PhayaTharn (The Sign)

JackJoker (Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart)

QToey (We Are)

MhokDay (Last Twilight)

FadelStyle (The Heart Killers)

All of the couples played by Freen and Becky in Uranus2324

Most tear-jerking drama/s?

LAST TWILIGHT, I CRIED A LOT AND STILL DO TBH

Peaceful Property, I also cried at this (especially the ForceBook episode... oh god, I needed to lie down)

Most intense drama/s?

Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart!

My Stand-In

The Paradise of Thorns

The Heart Killers (we're only 6 episodes in but there's so. much. tension. everywhere.)

Most heart-wrenching?

My Stand-In... god the pain. The utter pain.

Sweet and easy watch/es?

Cherry Magic Thailand

Surprise love/s?

Meet You At The Blossom - especially the side couple!! (Que Siming and Jin Bao)

We Are - I wasn't sure how this was going to go but I really really loved it!

Hardest to finish?

Sunset x Vibes

'What the fuck is going on' drama/s:

4 Minutes lol

Playboyy

Hilarious lore?

OMG! Vampire

Most dramatic plot?

PIT BABE HELLO?????

Okay I think that's it for my wrap-up LOL I enjoyed this!!! I'm surprised at how much I remembered (thanks to My Drama List 🤣). Can't wait to do it all over again in 2025!! 🥹

EDIT!!

I forgot to add!!

Favourite villains:

Way (Pit Babe) 🥲

#the emo watches #and that's a wrap haha #2024 recap #drama recap

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 1 month ago

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By: Jake Mackey (@omni_american)

Published: Dec 21, 2024

"The hardest thing in 23 years for me to watch was the city council yesterday making their statement that in essence said every single one of us are racist by the very uniform and badge we wear. And then the news pans out, and it shows the outside of City Hall, where the city council is making their statement. And what do I seen outside? It's a mobile field force around City Hall protecting the very people that called us racist."

2020's assault on police was, as the quote above shows, pure hypocrisy on the part of elites. But it was also evil and we knew it, bc Roland Fryer proved in 2016 that its premises were false and, in 2020, that it would cause a huge increase in the deaths of black Americans.

The BLM-led assault on policing in 2020 led, according to @wil_da_beast630, to the homicides of 2,874 more black Americans in 2020 alone than would have died otherwise. Almost 3,000 black lives were therefore "unmattered" in a single year as a result of this movement.

The city council in the OP, denouncing as racist the very cops who are protecting them, and everyone who joined the "abolish"/"defund" luxury-belief frenzy, have blood on their hands. They're complicit in the deaths of thousands of black Americans who wouldn't have died without their activism. A central tenet of the "systemic racism" construct is that you don't need individuals with prejudicial attitudes, engaging in intentionally discriminatory behavior, to get outcomes that systematically harm black people. On this theory, the BLM-led "defund"/"abolish" movement is the most lethal systemically racist social phenomenon since at least the end of the Civil Rights era.

To be clear, I think there would have been a spike in homicides among black Americans even without any BLM activism. The spike was multifactorial in its causes. A couple of recent 🧵s can be read to suggest this. As Crémieux points out, the causes of the homicide spike include "reduced cooperation with police, reduced police activity, presence, and willingness to confront potential criminals." What's crucial to grasp is that every single one of these factors was exacerbated by BLM's activism. For example, Charles Fain Lehman's 🧵 notes "the importance of protests leading to depolicing" in the homicide spike.

Thus, BLM activism is complicit in the deaths of thousands and thousands of black Americans.

Crémieux: https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1869563321860461009 Lehman: https://x.com/CharlesFLehman/status/1869832195789205965

@coldxman to @kriegman: "The rhetoric and the environment that resulted from BLM created thousands of excess homicides that fell almost totally on black people. And so BLM, I suppose you could say indirectly, BLM caused indirectly the deaths of thousands of black people that otherwise would be alive."

youtube

To return to the shocked police of the OP, who have just learned that the city council they protect has denounced them as racists: I would submit that BLM's confrontational, maximalist approach squandered an opportunity to achieve reform that most Americans agreed in 2020 was needed. The need varies jurisdiction by jurisdiction. In some places, there are nests of overtly racist police. In big cities, the police are often majority minority and disproportionately led by black police chiefs. Reform will require a scalpel, not a bomb. Moreover, as I wrote last year: "Police reform is not well addressed through identity politics, in which one group’s grievances are pitted against another group’s perceived sins, biases, and privileges. The issue of police violence falls instead within the broader purview of American identity, which emphasizes our mutual bond and shared interests as citizens."

And here's my @FreeBlckThought colleague @mdcbowen on the grotesque overall ethos of the BLM approach to social change:

The video of the police officer in the OP comes courtesy of @mdcbowen, too. The officer goes on addressing his fellow cops: "It’s the worst thing I've seen in 23 years and I swear I hope for any time I have left on this job I never see it again. But in closing I have nothing to say the council members. I have to say to all of you, thank you."

Finally, let's recall just who was agitating for defunding/abolishing police and minimizing crime, because that's who's complicit in the avoidable, needless deaths of 1000s of black Americans in 2020 & after—"woke" whites:

By: Crémieux

Published: Oct 17, 2024

And here we have it: Weekly homicide data!

The massive increase in homicides in May of 2020 occurred in the week ending on May 30, five days after George Floyd's death.

And here we have gun murders by week, from an entirely different source (GunViolenceArchive), although I'm not sure about the end dates for weeks.

In any case, the signal is clear.

Whether aggregating to years, months, or weeks, the U.S.-specific, largely gun violence-specific, and largely race-specific increase in homicides is affirmed in the data.

The increase in automobile mortality was similarly timed, but the responsible week of May is less clear:

George Floyd wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth it.

Wokeness kills.

#Jake Mackey #Crémieux #George Floyd #BLM #Black Lives Matter #gun violence #defund the police #depolicing #Floyd Effect #Ferguson Effect #excess homicides #excess deaths #religion is a mental illness #Youtube

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strictlyfavorites · 10 months ago

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At least 59.4 percent of illegal immigrant-led homes use one or more welfare programs, compared with 39 percent of households headed by people born in the United States, according to the Dec. 19 report.

High rates of welfare use among illegal immigrants “primarily reflect their generally lower education levels and their resulting low-incomes, coupled with the large share who have U.S.-born children who are eligible for all welfare programs from birth,” the report reads.

“More than half of all illegal immigrant households have one or more U.S.-born children.”

Children born to illegal immigrants in the United States, also known as “anchor babies,‘ are considered to have automatic birthright citizenship even though the U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t explicitly ruled on the matter. Illegal immigrants can’t access most welfare programs, a restriction that eases for their children who are born in the country.

“The American welfare system is designed in large part to help low-income families with children, which describes a large share of immigrants,” CIS states in the report.

A dozen states offer Medicaid to all low-income children regardless of immigration status. Such children also have access to various government food and meal programs.

Programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program, free or subsidized lunch and breakfast for students, and Medicaid for children (Children’s Health Insurance Program) were “explicitly created for minors,” the report states.

The CIS report is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

“The reality is that illegal immigrants are included in the SIPP, a large share of them are poor, and they or their U.S.-born children have welfare eligibility; and many take advantage of this eligibility,” CIS stated.

“A very large share of immigrants come to America, have children, struggle to provide for them, and so turn to taxpayers for support. This can be seen as especially problematic given that there is already a large number of Americans who are also struggling to provide for their children.”

According to data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the total number of U.S.-born children of illegal aliens in the United States as of June stood at 5.78 million, a population more than two times that of Chicago.

FAIR estimates that “illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children impose a net annual cost of $150.6 billion on American taxpayers as of the beginning of 2023.” Over the past five years, the annual cost has risen by almost $35 billion.

“This burden will only continue to grow as a result of the Biden administration’s open-borders policies,” the organization warns.

Ending Birthright Citizenship

Multiple GOP members have taken a strong stance against birthright citizenship. In 2018, former President Donald Trump said he would remove birthright citizenship via executive order, which didn’t happen.

In his 2024 campaign, President Trump has reiterated his position on the matter. In a May video, President Trump promised to sign an executive order on day one of his second term to solve the issue.

Such an order would end the “unfair practice known as birth tourism, where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the planet squat in hotels for their last few weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain U.S. citizenship for the child, often to later exploit chain migration to jump the line and get green cards for themselves and their family members.”

“At least one parent will have to be a citizen or a legal resident in order to qualify,” President Trump stated.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called for an end to birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants during the second GOP debate, in September.

“Now, the left will howl about the Constitution and the 14th Amendment. The difference between me and them is I’ve actually read the 14th Amendment. And what it says is that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the laws and jurisdiction thereof are citizens,” Mr. Ramaswamy said.

“So nobody believes that the kid of a Mexican diplomat in this country enjoys birthright citizenship—not a judge or legal scholar in this country will disagree with me on that. Well, if the kid of a Mexican diplomat doesn’t enjoy birthright citizenship, then neither does the kid of an illegal migrant who broke the law to come here.”

In July, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced a proposal called “End Birthright Citizenship Fraud Act of 2023,” which aims to abolish automatic birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

Under the legislation, at least one parent of the child must be a U.S. national or a refugee, have lawful permanent citizenship, or be an active member of the military.

“My legislation recognizes that American citizenship is a privilege—not an automatic right to be co-opted by illegal aliens,” Mr. Gaetz said in a statement.

“This is an important step in preserving the sanctity of American citizenship and ensures that citizenship is not treated as a loophole to be exploited but rather a privilege to be earned when legally migrating to our country.”

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literaticat · 9 months ago

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Should I have any expectation of timely royalty payments? For example, my pub says an accounting period for my book ends Dec 31+ statements go out by March 31. Then does the agent look it over? (This book is with my agent’s old agency, if that makes a difference.) Is there a lot to sort out here? I’ve gotten paid bw late April and early May before. Publishing is slow, I get it, but is is it the publisher or the agency who is most likely to be slow? Both? Thank you!

Short version: Yes, you should be paid any money you are owed in a timely way. Publishers might take anywhere from a week to a month to process all the payments, though, so that's what "timely" means -- if the statement went out by March 31, it might be actually paid any time in April or even the tail end of April / first week of May; As soon as it gets to the agency and clears the bank, they should process it quickly and get it out to you. So late mid-to-late April / early May is absolutely normal, that IS "timely."

Long Version: FWIW, when we get royalties depends on the publisher. Many publishers have a schedule that is like what you describe -- two accounting periods, the first running from Jan-June (paid in Fall of that year), the second running July-December (paid in Spring of the following year). The bulk of Fall payments we get come in October (though there are some outliers that come in late September or early November!), and Spring usually comes in April (though sometimes late March or early May!)

(To be clear, this isn't THE ONLY possible schedule -- some publishers have a "rolling" schedule and different books could have different accounting periods altogether! This is just the most usual one.)

I don't know about any other agency, but at mine, we often get the statements first, and then get the money, or get them both at around the same time. In rare cases we might get a bunch of money first but no statement, in which case we do have to wait until the statements come in... because obvs we have no idea what the money is FOR. But that usually doesn't happen, and if it does, they send the statement quickly after.

Your thing said that the statements "go out by March 31"... but what that means is, they have created the statements and put them on their portal or sent them out -- that does NOT mean they have actually cut all the checks. (kinda like when you get an invoice or bill and it says "pay within 30 days" or whatever -- they have an amount of time in which they are supposed to pay). Payment itself might be fast. Or it might take a couple weeks, or 30 days, something like that. Hence why we are getting payments for the entire month, with some on either side of that month.

As soon as we get the money, we check the statements, OK, is this amount of money for this person, yes, it matches, and we pay them.

We do payments twice a week, so we pay you the same week the money comes to us, unless it comes AFTER we have already done the payments that week, in which case it would be in the following week's first batch.

In fact, I believe we are obligated to pay any money you are owed within two weeks (or 10 days? something like that?) -- like, it's the law, we CAN'T just randomly hold money.

If something looks seriously WONKY*, the amount of money they paid us does NOT match what the statement says, something has clearly gone wrong; in that case we would have to reach out to the publisher and have them reissue the money or whatever, obviously, but for the most part, this all goes smoothly, which actually is kind of surprising given that we have hundreds of clients and THOUSANDS of books, you'd think MORE things would go wrong, but hey. I guess if there IS a problem, there might be a delay, but you'd know about it!

(We also do have a royalties person who does bigger "deep dive" projects where she examines the statements to make sure that all the subsidiary rights that are supposed to be on the statement are on there, that the percentages are all what they are supposed to be, that they aren't holding an excessive amount of reserves, etc -- but those examinations are ongoing throughout the year. So if we realize at some point in February or whatever that, hello, actually it looks like they SHOULD have paid us x-amount and why didn't they, we will go back to them and ask questions about it and if there are changes to be made, they will cut another check at that point. It would absolutely NOT be feasible to do a deep dive on everyone's royalty statements during April or October when they are all coming in at once, nor would it be legal for us to hold money that has come in until that is done.)

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arthropooda · 2 years ago

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Ottawa couple Mario and Jennifer Bazinet lost their first son — Beau Paul — at three and a half months old. Mario went to get his son and found him lifeless in his crib on Dec. 13, 2020.

"Our world flipped upside down," said Mario, 31. Jennifer, 29, now volunteers for Baby's Breathe Canada, a foundation devoted to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the official cause of her son's death.

"When a baby dies unexpectedly it's just not the right order of how life goes," she said. "Your whole world falls apart."

Thousands of Canadian families face this gut-wrenching grief, and though Canada's infant mortality rates have improved over time — from about 10.9 deaths out of 1,000 births in 1980 to 4.4 deaths per 1,000 births in 2021 — the country has slipped in its ranking of infant mortality among wealthy, developed nations, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Canada went from ranking 10th out of 24 OECD countries in the 1980s to 30th out of 38 OECD nations in 2021.

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cyberbenb · 20 days ago

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'Absurd phenomenon' — The manpower issue threatening to weaken Ukraine's Air Force

Critically lacking manpower on the front lines where Russia continues to use its vast manpower advantage to make grinding advances, Ukraine has been scrambling specialists into the infantry in an effort to replenish losses.

Criticized widely by soldiers and experts for a “wasteful” use of specialist troops that have spent years honing their skills, the short-term solution has frequently led to their death or injury, according to soldiers interviewed by the Kyiv Independent over 2024.

Ukraine has been struggling with a manpower shortage — especially in the infantry — while Russia has intensified its offensive in Donetsk Oblast since the summer of 2024.

The issue of sending specialist troops to infantry units had largely been hidden in the shadows until a video surfaced online on Jan. 14, prompting responses from President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

‘A real challenge’

In the almost three-minute-long video, around a dozen Ukrainian servicemen from the Air Force stand, as one reads aloud a message about what they describe as “a real challenge” that could “destroy the very foundation of our aviation.”

“Since 2014, we have been preparing and maintaining the aircraft, ensuring combat missions in the most difficult conditions, both day and night, defending our homeland from the enemy,” the speaker of the group – all wearing masks — says.

A Ukrainian Tactical Aviation pilot poses in the cockpit of his MIG-29 fighter jet at sunset in eastern Ukraine on Aug. 1, 2023. (Libkos / Getty Images)

The aviation and technical personnel, who say that they have been fulfilling missions on Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets for over a decade, said they received an order to send “almost all technicians to the infantry, which means we will be left without technical personnel to service our aircraft.”

The Ukrainian military command was trying to transfer 218 specialists to the infantry when the video was released, and 250 were previously transferred, according to the speaker.

“The technical staff is actually being destroyed, and without us, the aviation will not be able to function,” he says.

‘40% killed’

According to the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi issued an order on Jan. 11 to transfer over 5,000 Air Force personnel to Ground Forces units.

A senior Air Force officer, speaking anonymously to the outlet, said transfers began in spring 2024 and have now reached a “critical level,” with unit staffing dropping to 50%.

An Air Force serviceman speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Kyiv Independent, painted an even grimmer picture.

He said around a couple thousand Air Force servicemen had already been transferred to the infantry since the beginning of the full-scale war, with about 40 % being killed, and 40% wounded in the first days if they were directly sent to the front, while some were still fighting.

He added that these are often people who studied for around four years, and further built their knowledge over years of service, stressing the issue dampens morale.

‘There were no plans’

In a rare example of a public outcry reaching the Ukrainian authorities, Zelensky on Jan. 14 tried to reassure that such transfers wouldn’t be made.

“There has been much concern and discussion today regarding these reassignments," he said in his evening address.

“I have instructed that everything be explained to the public and not to reduce the ranks of specialists critical to the Air Force — aviation, air defense, and mobile fire units."

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces also insisted on the same day that “there were no plans to transfer the acute shortage of specialists of the Air Force’s engineering and aviation service who maintain aircraft to infantry units.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference during the European Council Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 19, 2024. (Pier Marco Tacca / Getty Images)

“Instead, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is increasing the number of technical and flight personnel,” it added.

Acknowledging the “not easy” situation on the front, and that “many areas lack infantrymen,” the General Staff said the transfer of some personnel is “a necessary step” to strengthen defense by reinforcing combat brigades with soldiers from other branches of the Armed Forces.

But it stressed that Syrskyi prohibited the transfer of high-tech specialists and those trained abroad on foreign models of weapons and equipment.

‘It’s just a number, not people’

Understanding the complexity of the issue, some soldiers however remain pessimistic about the prospect of possible improvements going forward.

The core issue is that no one is bearing responsibility, according to the anonymous Air Force serviceman. He said that the order comes to transfer a certain number from a specialist unit, and the local commander has to pick whom to send, which he said is often difficult because “we need everyone” and there is no replenishment.

“Maybe for them (in the military leadership), it’s just a number, not people,” the Air Force serviceman said, adding there should be a “responsibility and accountability” mechanism for the generals making the decisions.

Glen Grant, a former British army lieutenant colonel who has advised the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, and closely observes military issues in Ukraine, said that resource management problems persist due to the lack of competent generals, and the inability to learn from mistakes.

“You just don’t take your technicians and put them into harm’s way because you need them as technicians,” the Latvia-based military expert told the Kyiv Independent.

A Ukrainian MiG-29 performs a combat mission in eastern Ukraine on Aug. 1, 2023. (Libkos / Getty Images)

“You may strengthen one area, but then you weaken another area, so the compensation is lost. You’re still back where you are, except you are actually twice worse off because you probably lose the technicians, dead.”

A couple of recent appointments, such as that of General Mykhailo Drapatyi as the commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces in November 2024, offers hope, according to Grant, but it is still unclear whether it will be enough to change the overall dynamics of the Ukrainian military leadership.

“The message is clear that the people don’t value soldier’s lives if they’re going to send them into the front line without being properly trained,” Grant said.

“The message is clear that the people don’t value soldier’s lives if they’re going to send them into the front line without being properly trained.”

</p>

Ukrainian military expert Mykhailo Zhyrokhov on the other hand said he was skeptical of the number of specialists that the Air Force members said were being transferred to the infantry.

He argued that the situation is “ambiguous” because there is no confirmation that such a number is thrown into the front-line trenches, and he doubts the Ukrainian military leadership would “shoot itself in the foot” and “destroy aviation” as has been claimed.

“It is typical human behavior — nobody wants to go to the front, despite the fact that they are professional soldiers, they are contract soldiers, and they have been there all this time, these last twenty years defending the sky,” Zhyrokhov told the Kyiv Independent.

He also raised questions about how the servicemen obtained the numbers when the information was “secret.”

With the Air Force gradually Westernizing its Soviet-era models of aircraft, there is a surplus of specialists who are only familiar with the older versions who would be sent to the reserves if the country was not at war, according to Zhyrokhov.

He said he believed that the surplus, such as the guards based at the airbases, would be sent to non-combat roles as a solution.

Mentioning Air Force personnel who fought in hot spots in the east in 2023, such as in the Battle of Bakhmut, Zhyrokhov argued that Air Force servicemen have to immediately get used to the grim realities of the war, just like civilian-turned-soldiers.

“In wartime, such cases exist, have existed, are present, and will continue to exist,” Zhyrokhov said.

Ukrainian open-source war monitoring website DeepState, which said that it received a hundred reports from soldiers about the issue concerning the transfer of Air Force and Air Defense specialists to the infantry after the scandal came to light, said that a large number said they received only a few days’ training before being sent into brigades and "the picture there is not the best.”

“The deliberate sending of specialists who have specific skills, knowledge and experience and their absence directly affects the work of the unit,” DeepState said in a Telegram post.

Summarizing it an “absurd phenomenon,” DeepState said the effectiveness of the transfer of specialists to infantry “has always been minimal” and also resulted in the loss of some servicemen who attained valuable skills abroad.

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