#december 2020 contest

[warningsine]

The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in jail, the country’s prison service has said, in what is likely to be seen as a political assassination attributable to Vladimir Putin.

Navalny, 47, one of Putin’s most visible and persistent critics, was being held in a jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a “special regime”. In a video from the prison in January, he had appeared gaunt with his head shaved.

The Kremlin said it had no information on the cause of death.

In early December he had disappeared from a prison in the Vladimir region, where he was serving a 30-year sentence on extremism and fraud charges that he had called political retribution for leading the anti-Kremlin opposition of the 2010s. He did not expect to be released during Putin’s lifetime.

A former nationalist politician, Navalny helped foment the 2011-12 protests in Russia by campaigning against election fraud and government corruption, investigating Putin’s inner circle and sharing the findings in slick videos that garnered hundreds of millions of views.

The high-water mark in his political career came in 2013, when he won 27% of the vote in a Moscow mayoral contest that few believed was free or fair. He remained a thorn in the side of the Kremlin for years, identifying a palace built on the Black Sea for Putin’s personal use, mansions and yachts used by the ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, and a sex worker who linked a top foreign policy official with a well-known oligarch.

In 2020, Navalny fell into a coma after a suspected poisoning using novichok by Russia’s FSB security service and was evacuated to Germany for treatment. He recovered and returned to Russia in January 2021, where he was arrested on a parole violation charge and sentenced to his first of several jail terms that would total more than 30 years behind bars.

Putin has recently launched a presidential campaign for his fifth term in office. He is already the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin and could surpass him if he runs again for office in 2030, a possibility since he had the constitutional rules on term limits rewritten in 2020.

[mariacallous]

The target is you, voter. Russia, China, Iran, and other bad actors sought to interfere in the run-up to today’s US elections, according to research by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), which has been monitoring online trends along with statements by governments, private companies, and civil society in its Foreign Interference Attribution Tracker. As DFRLab experts detail below, this year’s malign efforts in many ways surpass previous influence campaigns in sophistication and scope, if not in impact—and they are expected to continue well after the polls close.

Tipping the scale

“By sheer volume, foreign interference in the 2024 US election has already surpassed the scale of adversarial operations in both 2016 and 2020,” Emerson says.

Dina notes that each US adversary played to its strengths. For example, Iran and China “attempted to breach presidential campaigns in hack-and-leak operations that raise concerns about their cyber capabilities during and after the elections,” she tells us.

At the same time, the United States is more prepared than it was in previous election cycles. Russian efforts in 2016 “made foreign interference a vivid fear for millions of Americans,” Emerson notes. “Eight years later, the US government is denouncing and neutralizing these efforts, sometimes in real time.”

In fact, Graham tells us, “the combined actions by the US departments of Justice, Treasury, and State against two known Russian interference efforts was the largest proactive government action taken against election influence efforts before an election.”

Doppelgangers and down-ballot races

US officials this week called Russia “the most active threat,” and it’s easy to understand why. Emerson notes Russia’s “ten-million-dollar effort to infiltrate and influence far-right American media,” alongside the “Doppelganger” network, which has spread “tens of thousands of false stories and staged videos intended to undermine election integrity in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.” Increasingly desperate, Russian actors have even sought to shut down individual polling places with fake bomb threats, he adds.

Meanwhile, China has focused on “down-ballot races instead of the presidential election to target specific anti-China politicians,” Kenton explains. Using fake American personas and generative artificial intelligence, China-linked operations have appeared across more than fifty platforms. Perhaps surprisingly, Kenton adds, “attributed campaigns appeared sparingly” on the Chinese-owned platform TikTok and far more often on Facebook and X.

Faith, fakes, and falsehoods 

“The primary aim is to erode Americans’ faith in democratic institutions and heighten chaos and social division,” Kenton explains, and thus to undermine the ability of the US government to function so it will have less bandwidth to contain adversarial powers.

“Some of the fake and already debunked narratives and footage circulating before the elections will likely continue to be amplified by foreign threat actors well after November 5,” Dina predicts. Expect to see activity around the submission of certificates of ascertainment on December 11, the December 17 meeting of the electors to formally cast their votes, and through inauguration day on January 20.

And in a post-election period where the results will likely be contested, Graham thinks there’s a “high likelihood” that foreign actors will “cross a serious threshold” from pre-election attempts to broadly influence American public opinion in service of their geopolitical interests to “direct interference” by trying to mobilize Americans to engage in protests or even violence.

Nevertheless, Graham points out that the high volume of foreign-influence efforts observed during this year’s election cycle so far does not appear to have had a significant impact in terms of changing Americans’ opinions or behavior.  

The consequences of foreign disinformation, Emerson adds, should be assessed against “the far more viral, sophisticated, and dangerous election-day falsehoods that Americans spread among themselves.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Robert Reich:

Friends, Some say if he loses, that’s the end of Trump. Wrong. We’ve been through this before. When Trump lost in 2020, most Republican insiders thought he’d be toast after January 6.

[...]

The Republican Party is more MAGA now than it was in 2020. More congressional Republicans are election deniers than they were in 2020.

If Trump loses by a small margin, he’ll almost certainly contest the outcome once again. At least this time Trump is not the incumbent president. He won’t be sitting in the Oval Office receiving recommendations from his staff to send in the military to seize voting machines and “rerun” the election, as happened in December 2020. He won’t have power to pardon anyone and won’t be able to claim presidential immunity. And instead of Trump’s vice president presiding over the counting of Electoral College votes on January 6, 2025, this time it will be Vice President Kamala Harris. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump and his lapdogs created post-election chaos at the precinct, county, and state levels, where votes are counted and the results certified. Trump loyalists in key districts will almost certainly try to manipulate the process and withhold certification.

I expect the federal courts will become involved. Some of this litigation may make its way to the Supreme Court. Raise your hand if you trust the current Supreme Court to rule impartially. Even if Trump loses these battles, there’s nothing to keep him from meddling in 2026, or even running again in 2028, when he’d be 82. I’ve heard from a few Never-Trump Republicans that they hope he wins in November so he can serve his final term now, and then disappear for good. But he won’t disappear. Trumpism will live on, regardless. But if he loses in November, he’s very likely to do some time in prison — in a special wing of a prison in New York state or a federal prison secured by the Secret Service. This will slow him down but also make him a martyr in the eyes of his loyalists.

If Trump loses in 2024 and is unable to run again due to physical or psychological decline — or a prison sentence — JD Vance will be his heir apparent for 2028. In the short time Vance has been a vice presidential candidate, he’s shown himself just as bigoted and unconstrained by facts as Trump. Trump sons Donald Jr. and Eric will also continue to fire up the Trump base. Fox News, Newsmax, and other right-wing outlets will continue to distort the truth. Trump’s billionaire backers such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk will continue to finance Trumpism’s shambolic politics.

I doubt a majority of Americans will support Trumpism after Trump, but Trump’s base will continue to be a significant force in America. They have remained remarkably loyal and resilient for eight years — consistently 42 to 44 percent of American voters. If Trump loses, some proportion of them may turn to violence. Even a relatively small portion could threaten social stability. Apart from the immediate aftereffects of a Trump loss, many of his followers will remain wedded to the isolationism, xenophobia, racism, and misogyny he has stirred up.

Robert Reich gives valuable insights on the future of Donald Trump and Trumpism should he lose the election to Kamala Harris. Trumpism will be here to stay even after he leaves the scene.

[whatdoeseverybodywant]

You're The Only Girl for Me- Chapter 6

I do NOT give permission for my work to be translated or reposted on here or any other site, even if you give me credit. DO NOT REPOST MY FICS

Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated ❤ 

All OC Characters belong to me

Series Masterlist

Taglist:  @christinabae @southerngirl41 @reci24 @jeyusos-girl @jeyusosgirl @melaninsugababy @baconeggndcheez @bemybabiibish @jstarr86 @nbanenefrmdao @purplehairgawdess @arination99 @alyyaanna @m3llowww @gomussy @jeysbae @babysyhsy @bebesobrielo  @empressdede @venusesworld @harmshake @mustafumilf @theninthwonder @badbitchcentralinc @alyyaanna

Kayla Braxton stared at the latest update from an Instagram page called TheUsos_Source.  She honestly couldn’t believe what she was reading. Josh took Airielle on a date? Airielle had willingly gone out on a date with Josh after everything Kayla had told her? 

Kayla went to Airielle’s instagram and clicked on her story, immediately feeling sick once she saw the flowers Airielle had posted. So just fuck girl code right? Kayla gritted her teeth as she rolled her eyes and threw her phone down on the bed next to her.

December 11th 2020

AIRIELLE JONES

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Airielle was on cloud nine. It had been 18 days since her first kiss with Josh while they weren’t officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet, they sure did act like it. No matter where they went, he always made sure to bring her flowers, whether they were going to the gym together or to the grocery store, he always bought flowers. She hung out with him at Trin and Jon’s house when they weren’t in Orlando for Smackdown- much to Yasmine’s dismay. He had wanted to spend Thanksgiving together but she declined. She was not ready to meet his family. She had thought that he was upset but he told her he understood and that she definitely had to come to Christmas dinner. 

Airielle groaned as she hit another dead end in the arena. The WWE had moved from the Amway center to Tropicana Field and Airielle was having a hard time finding her way, she kept getting turned around. Josh had asked her to meet him in catering for lunch but she was lost. She pulled out her phone to text him. He told her to send him her location and he would come find her. She huffed as she jumped up on one of the nearby equipment boxes and pulled out her phone so she could scroll on instagram. 

“Hi.” She jumped startled by the voice. “I aint mean to scare you.” He said smiling before holding out his hand to her. “I’m Raymond. I don’t think we’ve met.” When she didn’t shake his hand he added “I work in production, that’s probably why you never seen me before. I’m normally out in the truck.” Airielle nodded before grasping his hand and shaking it. 

“Airielle Jones.” 

“I know who you are. Talk of the town.” She frowned and arched her eyebrow at him. 

“Excuse me? He looked down at their still connected hands and grinned as she snatched her hand out of his. 

“Yo Rih, you good?” Airielle smiled over at Josh and hopped off the equipment box and walked over to him. Raymond noticed Josh’s hostile tone and raised his hands up defensively. 

“Relax, homie. I was just introducing myself.” Josh bit the inside of his cheek as he glared over at Raymond. He 100 percent didn’t like this man and Raymond knew that. Airielle glazed between the two of them before grabbing Josh’s hand, breaking their staring contest. 

“You good?” He asked again, his eyes softening once his gaze fell on her. 

“She good Uce, relax.” Josh glared back over at Raymond and sucked his teeth. 

“The fuck you still doin’ here?”  Raymond chuckled before, turning and walking away from them. When Josh turned his attention back to Airielle she was looking at him with a disappointed expression. “Sorry” he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t like him, never did” 

Airielle rolled her eyes with a grin. “Come on,” She said, grabbing his hand again. She started to walk but then stopped and turned towards him. “I don’t know where I’m going.” He laughed before leading her towards catering. 

After eating lunch with Josh and Joe, Airielle decided to go to hair and make-up to get ready for Smackdown. She smiled at Kayla who was also getting her makeup done. The smile quickly vanished off of her face when Kayla glared back at her. Airielle knew that Kayla must’ve seen the instagram posts. But honestly, Airielle didn’t care, Josh and even Kayla herself had said that they weren’t dating, just fucking around, so technically Kayla had no reason to be upset with Airielle. 

The air was tense and Kayla’s muttering wasn’t making it any better. Airielle couldn’t hear her but with how Jenny- the hairstylist kept looking at her, Airielle knew Kayla was talking mad shit. Once Kayla had left the area, Jenny turned towards Airielle. 

“What the hell happened?” Airielle shook her head, not wanting to gossip. 

“I don’t know.” Jenny scoffed.

 “I mean, we all seen the instagram account. You do know Kayla and Jey were a thing before you got here?”  Airielle took a deep breath and closed her eyes, this Jenny chick was starting to get on her nerves. 

“They both said that it was just sex between them.” Airielle shrugged, she felt like she did nothing wrong by going out on a date with Josh. 

“And you don’t feel bad?” Jenny scoffed again and Airielle narrowed her eyes at her. 

“Leave the girl alone Jen, ” Laura, the make-up artist said and Airielle gave her a small smile thinking that the older woman was on her side. “She’s young and he probably tricked her.” Airielle abruptly stood up from the chair and walked off, officially done with those ladies and that conversation. 

“Fuck her” Yasmine spat over the Facetime call. “That bitch lucky I aint there.” Yasmine continued. Airielle sighed but said nothing. That interaction had rubbed her the wrong way and she needed someone to talk to. She wanted to talk to Josh but she knew that he was busy getting ready for the show and she didn’t want to burden him with unnecessary drama. 

“You can’t fight my coworkers.” Airielle said laughing lightly. “I mean should I feel bad?” Yasmine immediately shook her head. 

“No, and I mean it, don’t go back in there trying to be her friend Airielle. She’s weird as hell.” Airielle signed and tol Yasmine that she would call her back as she was driving back to Pensacola after the show. 

Walking back into the arena, Airielle felt like everyone was staring at her, it was weird she walked past a group of girls and they immediately stopped talking, letting Airielle know they were talking about her. Rolling her eyes she went about her business, getting her script for her segment with Kevin Owens, as she was walking towards the viewing area to watch the beginning of the show, Airielle literally bumped right into Kayla,  the latter of the two rolling her eyes and grunting in annoyance.  Airielle quickly apologized before trying to walk around her but Kayla moved in the same direction she did. 

“I trusted you.” Kayla said and Airielle furrowed her eyebrows together. 

“What?”  Kayla rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“You used me to get close to Jey, I told you how i felt about him and you just said fuck me.” Airielle scoffed.

“No, I did not use you to get close to Josh. I would never do anything like that Kayla. You said y’all weren’t together. Yes, I do feel bad but, things happen, we hung out and I really like him Kayla, I’m sorry.” Kayla huffed and narrowed her eyes at Airielle before shaking her head and walking away. 

Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated ❤ 

[arofili]

Tolkien Fandom Event Calendar

Recently I’ve received some asks about events/weeks in the Tolkien fandom, so I thought I’d compile a list of those that I know about. This is not exhaustive, and dates are subject to change by the organizers of these events!

Other blogs you can check out are @tolkieneventsblog and @tolkienfandomevents, though I’m not sure how active those are. The @silmarillionwritersguild Discord also has a channel dedicated to signal boosts for all sorts of Tolkien-related & general fandom happenings, which is another excellent way to keep up with fandom goings-on.

Want to run your own event? Here’s some of my tips!

If your event is not on here and you’d like it to be, let me know and I can add it :) Note: I will only add events that have announced dates!

~

JANUARY Screw Yule My Slashy Valentine @myslashyvalentine — work time Lord of the Rings Secret Santa @lotr-sesa — reveals Thorin’s Spring Forge @thorinsspringforge — signups Second Age Week @secondageweek

FEBRUARY Hidden Paths My Slashy Valentine — reveals Thorin’s Spring Forge — claims Maedhros and Maglor Week @maedhrosmaglorweek

MARCH Back to Middle-earth Month @spring-into-arda Thorin’s Spring Forge — work time Fëanorian Week Fun with Fanon Fest Round 1 @funwithfanon

APRIL Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang @tolkienrsb — signups Silm Remix @tolkienremix — signups & assignments Thorin’s Spring Forge — reveals  Aralas Week @aralas-week Barduil Month @bi-widower-dads All of Arda is Autistic @all-of-arda-is-autistic F3: Focus on Friendship & Family, Phase I @spring-into-arda

MAY Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — claims Silm Remix — reveals Aspec Arda Week @aspecardaweek Angbang Week @angbangweek Gondolin Week @gondolinweek F3: Focus on Friendship & Family, Phase II

JUNE Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — work time Scribbles and Drabbles @fall-for-tolkien — signups Tolkien Ekphrasis Week @tolkienekphrasisweek F3: Focus on Friendship & Family, Phase III

JULY Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — work time Scribbles and Drabbles — claims Tolkien Gen Week @tolkiengenweek LotR Ladies Week @lotrladiessource Tolkien Appreciation Week @tolkienweek Tolkien Latin American & Caribbean Week @tolkienlatamandcaribbeanweek

AUGUST Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — deadlines Scribbles and Drabbles — art reveals Innumerable Stars Exchange @innumerable-stars — nominations & signups Tolkien of Colour Week @tolkienofcolourweek Silvergifting Week @silvergiftingweek Tolkien OC Week @tolkienocweek

SEPTEMBER Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang — reveals Scribbles and Drabbles — work time Innumerable Stars Exchange — signups & assignments Sindar Week @sindarweek Dor Cúarthol Week @dorcuartholweek Finwëan Ladies Week @finweanladiesweek

OCTOBER Innumerable Stars Exchange — reveals Scribbles and Drabbles — work time Half-elven Week @halfelvenweek

NOVEMBER Tolkien Secret Santa @officialtolkiensecretsanta — signups & assignments Scribbles and Drabbles — fic reveals Nolofinwean Week @nolofinweanweek

DECEMBER Tolkien Secret Santa — advent calendar & reveals My Slashy Valentine @myslashyvalentine — signups & assignments Lord of the Rings Secret Santa — claims Khazad Week @khazadweek

MONTHLY EVENTS: These events have prompts/challenges occurring every month. Teitho Contest Tolkien Short Fanworks Silmarillion Writers’ Guild @silmarillionwritersguild

(this list was last updated 5/4/23)

LEGACY EVENTS: These events used to occur, but have not happened within the last year. Arda Needs More Pride @ardaneedsmorepride (bimonthly; last run 2020) Kiliel Week @kilielweek (timing variable; last run 2021) @oneringnet monthly events (last run 2021) Atani Week @ataniweek (January; last run 2021) Legendarium Ladies April @legendariumladiesapril (April; last run 2020) Gates of Summer Exchange @gatesofsummerexchange (May-June, last run 2022) Tolkien South Asian Week, run by @arwenindomiel (June; last run 2022) Arafinwëan Week @arafinweanweek (July; last run 2019) Fëanturi Week (August; last run 2019; no official blog and the creator has deactivated) Imladrim Week @imladrimweek (November; last run 2019) Doriath Week @doriathweek (November; last run 2020) Tolkien Family Week @tolkienfamilyweek (November; last run 2021)

[collapsedsquid]

I think the plan is to steal the Electoral College outright by getting states Trump loses to refuse to certify the results of their election. That’s because the 12th Amendment provides that the president is the person who wins the majority of the “whole number of Electors appointed.” That “whole number” is supposed to be 538. But one potential reading of the amendment is that Trump doesn’t have to win 270 Electoral College votes but just a majority of however many electors show up. Trump’s goal, I believe, is to decrease the number of electors appointed until he wins. This reading is untested. Nobody has yet tried to win an election with fewer than a majority of the Electoral College votes by decreasing the overall number of electors appointed after the election. But it’s an argument the Trump team could put forward, and it’s an argument Democratic lawyers and experts are preparing for. The first step in such a process is to get Republicans in states Trump loses to contest the certification of their own elections. In 2020, Trump and his team illegally tried to get slates of alternate electors submitted in states where Republicans control the state legislatures. They could try that again, but for this scheme to work, they don’t even have to get “fake” electors submitted but just to convince Republican state legislatures or Republican governors not to submit their valid slates of electors before statutorily imposed deadlines. All slates of electors are supposed to be certified by December 11. Those electors are then supposed to vote and submit their results by December 25. [...] If enough states refuse to certify the results of the election and submit a slate of electors—with the Supreme Court’s blessing—the math is not actually hard for Trump. Let’s say Vice President Kamala Harris wins the bare majority of Electoral College votes necessary, 270, but the Republican legislature in Wisconsin refuses to submit the state’s 10 electors by the deadline. In this scenario, the new total number of electors becomes 528, not 538—and Trump needs only 264 electoral votes to “win.” If you take Wisconsin and Nevada’s six electors out of the mix, Trump needs only 262 electoral votes to “win.” He’ll likely achieve those numbers without having to win one of the “blue wall” states.

[...]

And this is where Speaker Johnson becomes critical to the whole “secret” plan. In 2020, Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the House. If states had tried to get cute and not submit their electors by the December 11 deadline, Pelosi would just have extended the deadline. But Speaker Johnson surely won’t. If electors are not submitted by December 11, he’ll likely declare the process “over” and say that the electors appointed by that date are the only ones allowed to vote for president.

Like to consider these strategies in terms of "Is this going to cause a civil war(or honestly more realistically a 'general strike')" with the idea that if it will then he's not going to get people to go along with it. I feel just rejecting the votes outright without a pretext or just empty claims that some people may have voted illegally, you're talking something that won't be acceptable. You would have to destroy a good number of ballots or something.

[itsvivace]

— VIVACE . . THE DISCOGRAPHY . . !

VIVACE is a fictional thirteen-member girl group formed by the survival show I-Doll, where seventy contestants competed for a chance to debut in a group under the company I-Teen Media. VIVACE is split into three active sub-units, but today, we’ll be talking about the main group’s music, which has captured the hearts of fans worldwide and solidified them as one of the best Kpop acts of the current generation. VIVACE has stated that they want their music to be reminiscent of the older generations in Kpop and music for girls all around the world to feel empowered by.

— 2019 - 2020 . . ORIGINS OF A SUPERSTAR . .

After the finale of I-Doll, I-Teen Media announced that VIVACE would debut in mid-September, leaving fans in anticipation of their upcoming debut. VIVACE officially debuted on September 17, 2019, with the self-titled mini album “VIVACE” consisting of five tracks, including the title track “Gee!”. VIVACE debuted with 63K album sales and Gee! charted #22 on the global charts within the first 24 hours. Gee!’s cute sound and second-gen influence attracted even more attention to the group, and by the end of the first week, both the title track and album topped the charts at #1.

With their debut a huge success, many waited for VIVACE’s first comeback, announced to be released in December of the same year. On December 12, 2019, their first single album, “QUEENDOM,” was released consisting of three tracks, including the title track, “Royalty.” Royalty captivated fans for its themes of self-love and upbeat lyrics but wasn’t enough to get it to more success than “Gee!” with Royalty charting #48 on global charts and QUEENDOM earning 15K album sales, a lot of netizens were saying VIVACE was one-hit wonders and would end up flopping after this comeback.

VIVACE would take a small break and focus on their sub-unit releases until they came back on July 5, 2020, with their second mini album, “SUMMER VACAY,” which consists of five tracks, counting the title track “Drunk In You”. Despite the low reception of “QUEENDOM”, SUMMER VACAY instantly trended for its catchy songs and fresh sound, which earned the album 98K album sales, and the entire album charted in the top ten on the global charts. SUMMER VACAY was known as the uprising of VIVACE and the start of their international stardom.

By their next comeback, VIVACE had become one of the biggest Kpop acts of 4th Gen, especially with all of the popularity their sub-units were getting. Their third mini album, “PAPARAZZI”, was released on October 24, 2020, with the album consisting of six tracks, including their breakout title track, “RUN”. RUN was a darker, more mature sound than what VIVACE usually did, but it ended up going viral just from the teasers alone, earning the album 283K sales and 8 million views in just the first 24 hours. Fresh off RUN's success, VIVACE released their first digital single, “Ladies Night”, on December 25, 2020, as a Christmas gift to fans. The song charted #2 on Melon and went #1 on global charts.

— 2021 - 2023 . . LIVIN’ IT LIKE A STAR . .

VIVACE took an almost year long hiatus as a group to further focus on sub-unit releases until they finally made a comeback with their first full album, “CELESTE”, on September 17, 2021. CELESTE is a two year anniversary album with thirteen tracks, including the title track, “YES, YOU”. CELESTE introduces a retro theme, which, despite not having done so before, fans say sounds authentically VIVACE. CELESTE sold 1.4 million copies, a huge jump from PAPARAZZI, after gaining an insane number of fans during the group’s hiatus. The entire album charted within the top 20, and the top 5 spots on the charts were all VIVACE. Fans refer to this era as the start of VIVACE’s prime.

With VIVACE releasing only CELESTE in 2021, fans went into 2022 hoping for a release sometime soon; they got their wish when VIVACE released their second full album, “MY IMPACT”, on April 19, 2022. MY IMPACT is an album consisting of 11 tracks along with the title track, “The Boys”, where VIVACE talks about their impact on the kpop industry and also empowers women not to let gender discrimination hold them back from their dreams. MY IMPACT sold almost 9 million copies, the most copies VIVACE has sold to this day, and most of the songs off the album charted within the top 10. MY IMPACT ended up being the most successful era they had so far with them winning Song Of The Year, Artist Of The Year, and almost winning Album Of The Year for 2022.

On November 13, 2022, VIVACE released their fourth mini album, “ALL I ASK”, consisting of six tracks, including the title track, “SAVE ME”. The album has a slower, elegant sound than some of their previous releases, earning the album 7 million album sales and the title track charting #3 in Korea and #9 internationally. ALL I ASK is known as one of VIVACE’s forgotten eras, a lot of fans even think VIVACE themselves don’t remember the album.

As a collaboration project with the Barbie Movie, VIVACE released “Barbie Girl”, their fifth mini album, on June 10, 2023. The album consists of five tracks, including their first English title track, “VALENTINE”. VIVACE promoted the album completely in the United States, and the album sold 7.8 million copies and charted #1 on iTunes. VALENTINE ended up being the end credits song, which attracted even more international fans to the group.

VIVACE’s most recent release, “1-800-LOVERGIRL”, is their second single album, released on December 29, 2023. It consists of three tracks, including the lead title track, “YOUNG LOVE.” 1-800-LOVERGIRL sold 6 million copies, and the title charted #2 on Korean charts and #5 on global charts. As of July 2024, VIVACE has not made any news on a comeback, including with any of their sub-units, leaving fans wondering when VIVACE will make a comeback.

[boasource]

BoA recently hinted at retirement...

[Edited on 240825 for clarity and to include information that was revealed after I initially posted this, which can better contextualize what happened]

I made a thread on Twitter explaining the context behind BoA's recent IG stories, where she hinted at retirement, so I figured that I'd write up a post on it here too.

TL;DR: This announcement was a big shock - BoA has consistently said, up until the week before she posted those IG stories, that she wanted to continue singing and performing. Fans believe that BoA likely hinted at retirement because of the relentless harassment she's faced online.

On April 6th (240406), BoA hinted that she was planning to retire from being a singer entirely. The following day, she stated the exact date her contract was expiring. A few days later, she took down all of her IG posts.

What people seem to miss is that leading up to this, BoA has also been at the receiving end of constant online harassment for months.

(More under the cut)

BoA has been the subject of huge hate trains, arguably since 2021. This isn't a comprehensive list, but the big ones include:

People disagreeing with her decisions as judge on SWF and SMF, prompting a flood of hate comments on her IG, including accusations that she was 'trying to seduce the male contestants.'

GOT the Beat opened the floodgates for a lot of ageist comments about BoA, who was the group's most senior member. There were also malicious speculations about why she wasn't present in much of the group's behind-the-scenes content; BoA swiftly addressed this via her IG story, explaining that she had to attend a family event. While this wasn't named as the reason, it may be important to note that BoA's brother passed away from cancer on September that same year.

BoA was blamed for 'delaying the solo/group comebacks of her juniors,' in favor of GOT the Beat to 'boost her own career.' Not only has BoA (who is not even the group's leader; she gave the position to Taeyeon) already explained that she did not make the group — she was asked to join it and was, in fact, initially apprehensive — it was also later revealed that comeback delays were due to internal management issues (culminating in the ousting of Lee Sooman and Hybe's acquisition of SM) and because of disagreements about lyrical content. Interestingly, out of all the members of GOT the Beat, BoA ended up being the only member who didn't have a comeback in 2023.

The most recent wave of hate came from her cameo in the drama Marry My Husband, often mocking her appearance.

Since at least February 2024, BoA has been consistently and directly addressing the harassment she's been facing, both in interviews and in her social media. This is something she has rarely done in the 24 years she's been active.

Things came to a head on the evening of March 29th, when BoA posted this on her IG story:

This IG story prompted a huge wave of hate. There were forum posts calling her an attention seeker; notably, there was also a tweet that went viral, of a 'fan' saying that they now planned to unstan BoA because she was now "a completely different person."

One week later, on April 6th, BoA posted, "It's okay for me to retire right?" with an IG story that clarified that she intended to remain a singer until her active contract expires on December 31, 2025; the implication seems to be that she would no longer be an active singer after 2025.

This came as a huge shock to fans because BoA has consistently said that she wants to keep working as a singer:

August 25, 2020 [her 20th debut anniversary]: "There'll be a 30th anniversary after my 20th. I'll do my best to make good music for a long time, so please always give me your love and support!"

April 23, 2023 [Interview with Uhm Junghwa for W Korea]: "Actually, I'm the type who doesn't look back. After I've accomplished something, I don't have time to think, 'well done' or 'good job' because I'm already thinking of the next step. With that, there's no time for me to rest on my laurels, but this drive allows me to last a long time. It might be the most difficult thing, but my one hope is that I never tire of this job [being a performer], which I love so much."

February 23, 2024 [BoA for Marie Claire Korea]: "Right now, I enjoy my job, and I want to keep doing what I can, given my age."

Most notably, on the afternoon of March 29th — shortly before BoA responded to hate comments about her looks — BoA gave an interview with Esquire Korea, where she basically said that there were still so many things she wanted to accomplish as a singer:

Q: Is there something you still want to achieve? BoA: I want to do a lot of interesting performances. I want to break away from preconceived notions/conventions, sing songs I haven't done before, and create opportunities to communicate more with my audience. Q: What don't you want to change? BoA: My passion for music. Music is where I started. It's my life.

Right after BoA posted her retirement IG stories on April 6th, her fans organized truck protests (something the fandom has never done before), demanding that SM take action to defend BoA from the deluge of online hate.

They were incensed by the fact that in 2022, SM had already promised they would take legal action over malicious comments against her (she even reposted their statement on her personal IG), but nothing happened. In fact, legal action has only been taken in defense of BoA once, in 2020 — 20 years into her career, despite the fact that she's been going through much worse harassment, especially in the early 2000s when she was barely a teenager.

Five days after BoA's retirement announcement IG stories, on April 11th, SM announced that they were going to take legal action. While the statement resembled the one they put out in 2022, they also added that BoA was going through a difficult time, suffering from "great mental pain." A follow-up statement came on April 17th, where SM mentioned specific platforms and forums they were planning to sue. Unfortunately, as of this writing, there have been no further updates.

To recap:

On March 29th (afternoon), BoA gave an interview where she said that there was so many things she still wanted to do as a singer.

On March 29th (evening), BoA responded to malicious comments about her appearance on her IG story.

Her IG story quickly went viral in Korea. On March 30th, a post from a fan who claimed to 'unstan' her because of her IG story, garnered millions of views.

On April 6th, BoA hinted at retiring after 2025 on her IG story.

On April 9th, BoA removed all of her IG posts. Fans organized truck protests to call out SM's inaction vis-a-vis the harassment she was facing, in spite of their explicit, repeated promises to act on it.

On April 11th, SM issued a statement that they were going to take legal action against malicious comments about BoA, adding that BoA was suffering "great mental anguish."

As of this writing (August 25, 2024), there has been no formal, official announcement on whether or not BoA is really going to follow through with retiring after her active contract expires. But BoA has remained inactive on social media since April. There were only a handful of times she interacted with fans online: she went on IG live for 4 minutes in May to tell fans that she has plans to hold a concert in October, and she would also sporadically post a sentence-long message on her membership-only Weverse page.

On a more personal note from me: this has just been so disheartening to watch, as someone who's been following her career closely. The idea of BoA retiring was unimaginable to me. She always talked about how she compares her own career to other older artists, how she still feels like a 'baby' with a long way still to go compared to them. Obviously, it is well within BoA's right to change her mind about her own career, and surely, there are things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about. But the news has just been so hard to take because it doesn't feel like she's retiring because she wants to - it feels like she's burnt out.

[barkingbonzo]

CAROL VORDERMAN

Carol Jean Vorderman, MBE RAFAC HonFIET (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Her career began when she joined the��Channel 4 game show Countdown, appearing with Richard Whiteley from 1982 until his death in 2005, and subsequently with Des Lynam and Des O'Connor, before leaving in 2008.

While appearing on Countdown, Vorderman began presenting other television shows, including How 2 (1990–1996), Better Homes (1999–2003) and The Pride of Britain Awards (1999–present) for ITV, as well as guest hosting shows such as Have I Got News for You (2004–2006), The Sunday Night Project (2006), and Lorraine (2011, 2018–2019, 2022). She was a presenter on the ITV talk show Loose Women from 2011 until 2014. She has also appeared as a contestant on reality television shows, including Strictly Come Dancing (2004), I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (2016) and The Great Celebrity Bake-Off (2020), winning the last. Since 2022, Vorderman has been a news-reviewer for This Morning.

Vorderman was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to broadcasting in the Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2000. She has also worked as a newspaper columnist and nominal author of educational and diet books. In 2023, Vorderman began presenting her own show for the talk radio station LBC

[svtjinny]

JUYEON :: PROFILE

BASIC INFO !

STAGE NAME : jinny (진니)

BIRTH NAME : jennifer choi

KOREAN NAME : choi ju-yeon (최주연)

NICKNAMES : juju, jen, yeonie, chomper, seventeen's foodie, jinabi, food expert

DATE OF BIRTH : 02 december , 2000

PLACE OF BIRTH : gyeonggi-do, south korea

ETHNICITY : korean

NATIONALITY : korean

FAMILY : lim ju-yeon [ mother ], choi eun-woo [ father ], choi yeon-jun [ older brother ]

LANGUAGES : korean [ fluent], english [ fluent ], japanese [ conversational ], mandarin / chinese [ conversational ]

MBTI : enfp [ taken by herself ], esfp [ taken by the members ]

CLAIMS !

FACE : ive's yujin

VOCAL : adora [ speaking / sound ], red velvet's wendy [ talent-wise ]

RAP : le sserafim's kazuha

DANCE : fromis_9's hayoung

PHYSICAL STATS !

HEIGHT : 167 cm

WEIGHT : 49 kg

BLOOD TYPE : ab

BODY MODIFICATIONS : upper lobe piercing on her left ear, 3 different tattoos on her hand, back, and shoulder

FEATURES : dimples, heart-shaped birthmarks on her wrist and under her right eye

CAREER !

OCCUPATION : idol, m countdown host [est. 2021], songwriter, producer, composer, choreographer

POSITIONS : main vocalist, lead dancer, producer, visual

DEBUT : may 26, 2015 [svt], may 14, 2019 [solo]

YEARS ACTIVE : 2015 - present

AGENCY : pledis entertainment [2010 - present]

TRAINING PERIOD : 5 years

ASSOCIATIONS : seventeen, produce 101 [ contestant ]

REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI : 🐨

UNIT : vocal unit

INDIVIDUAL FANDOM : jewels

SOCIALS !

INSTAGRAM : 01_jin (managed by managers, solely for promoting tracks or choreography she's made.) | cjy_jinny (where she posts.)

TWITTER : 01_jin

STATS !

VOCAL : 5/5

RAP : 3/5

DANCE : 5/5

ACTING : 3/5

MODELING : 4/5

SONGWRITING : 5/5

PRODUCING : 4/5

CHOREOGRAPHING : 4/5

LEADERSHIP : 3/5

PUBLIC SPEAKING : 4/5

STAGE PRESENCE : 4/5

PERSONAL !

HABITS : nose wrinkling, sticking out tongue while thinking, rapid blinking when lying, covering mouth while chewing or laughing, grabbing / holding the closest person to her when nervous, doodling absently

HOBBIES : rollerblading, playing guitar, writing [ lyrics , poems ], baking + cooking

LIKES : pda, drawing, soft items [ blankets , jackets , etc ], fruits, hanging out / spending time with her loved ones, cuddling, music !!

DISLIKES : being taken advantage of, being disrespected, small or tight spaces, horror, manipulators, being made fun of

TRIVIA !

— jinny was originally part of the performance unit, but was moved to the vocal unit a month before debut

— ⬑ she auditioned to be a dancer, which is why she is among seventeen's best dancers

— her nicknames "chomper, svt's foodie, and food expert" come from the boys. jinny loves to eat and knows a lot about different types of food; she's one of the designated cooks of svt

— ⬑ her nicknames " juju, jen, and yeonie" also come from the members. "jinabi" is a nickname from carats / what carats call her.

— she gets frightened quite easily by cannons / fireworks on stage, which is why she was hesitant to accept the offer to be an mc

— ⬑ she was announced as m countdown's new fixed host on february 9th, 2021. later that year, she was revealed to be the third vocal master / kpop master for girls planet 999. in april of 2023, jinny made an appearance as a star master to host the finale of boys planet 999.

— she gets flustered when embarrassed

— she has a fear of heights and said that gose 2020 ep 37-38 is her least favorite because they filmed her while she was crying out of fear.

— she has two of her own shows/series; one on seventeen's official channel named "jilog" [just her vlogging] and the other on mnet's official channel named "jinny's journal", similar to eunchae's star diary [she meets other groups & they do activities together]

— jinny would've been a professional chef, dancer, or producer if she didn't debut in svt

— jinny has composed most of seventeen's songs; she's known as seventeen's composer whereas woozi is known as their producer.

— she lives on the same floor as wonwoo & mingyu

— she's known dino since middle school; around 11 years

— jinny enjoys making friends and has befriended many idols through her job as an mc

— according to the boys, jinny is incredibly clumsy and is a deep sleeper

— jinny is THE k-pop fan of svt, her favorite group is red velvet & she owns all their albums & merch, along with the albums she's helped create and svt / txt merch

— jinny is among the members who post the most on sns

— jinny has been injured twice in the time she's been with seventeen; once during ready to love era [broke her right arm] & again during super [broke her right wrist] era.

— ⬑ she tries not to put too much pressure on her right arm because of these injuries.

from xia ! : hi!!!11!1!!11! hope u like her (and me)

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng at Rolling Stone:

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift hasn’t even endorsed President Joe Biden for reelection yet. That hasn’t stopped members of MAGAland’s upper crust from plotting to declare — as one source close to Donald Trump calls it — a “holy war” on the pop mega-star, especially if she ends up publicly backing the Democrats in the 2024 election.

According to three people familiar with the matter, Trump loyalists working on or close to the former president’s campaign, longtime Trump allies in right-wing media, and an array of outside advisers to the ex-president have long taken it as a given that Swift will eventually endorse Biden (as she did in 2020). Indeed, several of these Republicans and conservative media figures have discussed the matter with Trump over the past few months, the sources say. While Swift has not yet issued an endorsement in the 2024 race, The New York Times reported Monday that Swift is a key name on Biden aides’ “wish lists of potential surrogates.” A potential Swift appearance at Super Bowl LVIII alongside her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, has already prompted the MAGA right’s culture war pugilists into a conspiracy-fueled froth about how this NFL season has been rigged to boost Biden.  Behind the scenes, Trump has reacted to the possibility of Biden and Swift teaming up against him this year not with alarm, but with an instant projection of ego. In recent weeks, the former president has told people in his orbit that no amount of A-list celebrity endorsements will save Biden. Trump has also privately claimed that he is “more popular” than Swift is and that he has more committed fans than she does, a person close to Trump and another source with knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone.

Last month, the source close to Trump adds, the ex-president commented to some confidants that it “obviously” made no sense that he was not named Time magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year — an honor that went to none other than Swift in December. In an email to Rolling Stone, Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller shrugged off the prospect of a Taylor Swift endorsement for Trump’s rival. “Joe Biden might be counting on Taylor Swift to save him, but voters are looking at these sky-high inflation rates and saying, ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,’” Miller wrote. The former president has already taken public swipes at Swift because of her endorsement of two Tennessee Democrats running during the 2018 midterms. “I like Taylor’s music about 25 percent less now,” Trump said following the pop singer’s statement. 

Swift also blasted Trump during the 2020 election, accusing him of trying to “blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk” following the Trump administration’s efforts to hinder mail-in voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  Meanwhile, as Trump has been having a popularity contest with Swift in his own head, others close to him —including GOP operatives, some of his 2024 staff, and Trumpy media figures — have been brainstorming different ways to go after Swift. Since late last year, these Trump allies have repeatedly discussed how to turn the culture-warrior dial up to 11, if she re-endorses Biden this year, the sources recount. “It would be more fuel thrown on to the culture-war fires,” says an official working on the Trump reelection efforts. “Another left-wing celebrity who is part of the Democrat elite telling you what to think.”

Publicly, members of Trump’s inner sanctum and social circle are already signaling Swift’s prominent position atop their enemies list — a situation that has reached fever pitch now that Swift’s boyfriend will once again be playing in the Super Bowl. [...] MAGA pundits have spent months fuming about Swift and her boyfriend — already a hated figure for his role as a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine spokesman. During a rant in November about the GOP’s losses across a string of state elections and abortion-related ballot initiatives, Turning Point USA founder and Trump ally Charlie Kirk warned that Swift was “going to come out in the presidential election” and “mobilize her fans,” adding that “all the Swifties want is swift abortion.” Fox News host and Trump buddy Jesse Watters declared Swift a potential “Pentagon psyop” and “a front for a covert political agenda” during a segment earlier this month. 

According to reporting from Rolling Stone, Donald Trump and his allies are plotting a "holy war" against Taylor Swift, especially if she decides to endorse Joe Biden's re-election bid, and Trump himself has delusionally claimed that he is "more popular" than Swift. Such a strategy would further alienate younger women from the GOP.

This is part of the MAGA Cult's tantrum-throwing war against the popular pop (and formerly country) singer, partially due to the fact that she is a vocal LGBTQ+ rights supporter and is currently dating Chiefs TE Travis Kelce (who is appearing in Pfizer commercials, further angering the anti-COVID vaxxer extremists).

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Donald Trump gripes he has more fans than Taylor Swift as GOP panics over her massive influence

HuffPost: Donald Trump Reportedly Tells People Close To Him That He's Bigger Than Taylor Swift

Vox: Why conservatives are melting down over Taylor Swift

[fatehbaz]

My [work] [...] traces the history of the emergence of the “slum” as a category of stigmatization in colonial Bombay, and locates it in broader histories of colonialism [...] in South Asia. [...] [E]verything counts, not just colonial archives. [...] These archival sources, like the rest of them, do not tell us the past, but mediate a reality for us. What does such an image tell us about how poverty relief changed over time in the subcontinent? In fact, by the late nineteenth century, a debate emerges among colonial officials as to whether the municipality should be doing poor relief at all, and wondering what to do about famine victims. If you took the British colonial archives and maps at face value, you would be missing a great deal. They should be read as documents meant to legitimize a regime. If one is not critical about archives, one falls into the tropes of those who wrote these archives. [...]

Aside from Maharashtra state archives and Bombay municipal records, I also used native language biographies of the city. I found this tiny little book, something akin to a Lonely Planet guide from the time, for people who wanted to visit Bombay.

By the early twentieth century, the city had become a character.

The city - this abstract idea - was becoming what you were coming to visit, rather than its people. [...]

---

In the 1860s, there is a Marathi biography of the city which actually deploys the tropes of an older colonial anthropology of Bombay from 1835. [...] I was [...] interested in the tension between on the one hand those colonial and native elites who wanted to turn the city into a place for revenue collection and commerce, and on the other the large majority of workers and migrants that shaped Bombay differently.

---

The question of tropes around urban development is always fodder in my mind, as I ask myself why certain representations of space become both so powerful and so contested in colonial India. The concern with the city in India is a relatively new one, as Gyan Prakash argued in a 2002 article on the “urban turn” in South Asian social sciences.

The East India Company and the British Crown settled India primarily as an agrarian colony, with people stationed all across India to collect revenue. For long it was thought India was de-urbanized and peasantized, so the urban perspective was in the background.

Tropes surrounding the tensions between the urban and the rural are at the heart of modernism broadly, and at the heart of India’s nationalist project.

What we call “city space” is always associated with modernity, whereas all the rest is traditional.

If you showed a map of Bombay to an urban planner, they would tell you certain parts of Bombay are more urban than others, and such qualifications would map onto caste separation. Low-caste areas would be seen as “not-fully-urban”, not city-like. [...]

[T]he racialization of labor functions at the same time as the racialization of space. The internally-differentiated city comes to index a specific racialization of labor, in order to make it invisible.

---

All text above, the words of Sheetal Chhabria. As told to Ayan Meer. A transcript published as “The Archive Box #3: Building Colonial Capitalism in Bombay.” Global Urban History. 11 December 2020. [Some paragraph breaks and contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[mariacallous]

U.S. adversaries are likely to try to undermine confidence in the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, stoke unrest, and boost their preferred candidates even after polls close on Nov. 5, according to a newly declassified assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on Tuesday.

“Iran and Russia are probably willing to at least consider tactics that could foment or contribute to violent protests, and may threaten, or amplify threats of, physical violence,” according to the assessment, which was prepared on Oct. 8. 

The seven-page memorandum also says Tehran’s efforts to assassinate former President Donald Trump and other former U.S. officials are likely to persist after Election Day regardless of the result.  

Foreign governments, most notably China, Iran, and Russia, are better positioned now than in previous elections to exploit opportunities to sow chaos in the days and weeks after the vote, having drawn important lessons from the 2020 presidential election, which was marked by a drawn-out count and efforts by Trump and his allies to challenge the results. 

“Many of these countries did not have a full appreciation for the various election processes that happen after polls close, and now that they have greater awareness of the significance, they have greater ability to attempt to disrupt them,” an ODNI official said in a call with reporters on Tuesday. 

In December 2020, Iranian cyberactors were believed to have been behind the creation of a website called “Enemies of the People” that contained death threats against U.S. election officials, according to previous notices released by the FBI. Iranian actors also published personally identifiable information about U.S. officials in a bid to incite violence.

According to the ODNI memo, foreign adversaries are likely to use well-honed tools such as online influence operations, including “potentially physical threats or violence” in the wake of what is expected to be one of the most closely contested U.S. elections in living memory. 

Intelligence officials have issued routine warnings in recent months that Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran are working to sow division and undermine confidence in the integrity of the election—efforts that are likely to accelerate in the waning days of the campaign, particularly on social media, the ODNI official said. 

The official noted that recent intelligence indicated that Moscow was likely behind a recent unevidenced claim circulating on social media and amplified by conservative influencers that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz assaulted a former student earlier in his career. 

U.S. intelligence believes that while foreign adversaries likely have the technical capability to access some U.S. election-related networks and systems, they are unlikely to try to interfere with the tallying of votes out of concern that it could prompt Washington to retaliate. 

An official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the highly decentralized nature of the election system as well as the widespread use of paper ballots and the fact that voting machines are not connected to the internet made it highly unlikely that a foreign power could manipulate the vote at scale without being detected. 

Intelligence officials have long singled out China, Iran, and Russia as most actively engaged in efforts to sway U.S. elections, but the countries have different intentions in doing so. With both Democrats and Republicans in Washington staking out a hawkish line on China, Beijing has sought to focus its efforts on down-ballot races at the state and local levels that it perceives to be in its interests. 

Tehran has sought to undermine the Trump campaign, with three Iranians recently indicted by the Justice Department for hacking into the email accounts of campaign officials. 

Russia presents the most active foreign influence threat to the election, the ODNI official said, and is likely to be “more aggressive” in its efforts to sow chaos should Vice President Kamala Harris win, noting Moscow’s preference for a second Trump presidency.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Igor Bobic and Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

Donald Trump is telling supporters he already has November’s election in the bag and that the only way he can lose is if the Democrats “cheat,” raising alarms about the prospect of another Jan. 6-like event fueled by election subversion. “Our primary focus is not to get out the vote. It’s to make sure they don’t cheat. Because we have all the votes we need,” Trump claimed Wednesday at a rally in the battleground state of Arizona, whose electoral results he sought to toss out in 2020 based on false claims of widespread fraud. If the thought of another insurrection sounds alarmist, consider what happened four years ago. Months before the 2020 election, Trump warned that it would be “rigged.” In December, days after the Electoral College cast its ballots for Democrat Joe Biden, Trump announced a “wild” protest on Jan. 6, and his allies launched the “Stop the Steal” movement, promoting false claims and conspiracy theories asserting the election was stolen by means of rigged voting machines and fraudulent ballot-stuffing.

Washington officials and law enforcement will be on high alert this time around, so another deadly riot breaking out at the U.S. Capitol doesn’t seem likely. But that doesn’t mean the threat of more violence is zero. Trump and his GOP allies have been preemptively blaming an election loss on undocumented immigrants — and suggesting the only thing that can stop them from throwing the election to Democrats is new legislation restricting noncitizen voting, even though it’s already illegal and rarely happens, and even though there is no chance of such legislation becoming law. “There is currently an unprecedented and a clear and present danger to the integrity of our election system, and that is the threat of noncitizens and illegal aliens voting in our elections,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in May at a press conference in front of the House steps that had been stormed by Trump’s mob.

[...] For one, nearly 1,500 Trump supporters have been charged with crimes for attacking the Capitol, and hundreds of them are already in prison, so they won’t be available for a trip to Washington. And the mere fact that so many Trump supporters faced consequences for Jan. 6 has already been a deterrence to others. When Trump demanded protests outside his Manhattan criminal trial last year, few heeded the call, and several prominent right-wingers warned against participating in a mass demonstration. Another obstacle to a second Jan. 6 riot is that Congress made changes to the Electoral Count Act, the law governing the presidential election certification process. It would take more lawmakers to initiate a formal challenge, and the procedures for states submitting their slates of electors have been tightened up to prevent rogue Republicans from smuggling fake electors into the Capitol.

[...] Regardless, Trump will have less power to affect the process for the simple reason that he’s not currently president. After he lost in 2020, he and his underlings tried to bully state legislatures into falsifying results, and he tried to use lackeys in the Justice Department to announce bogus fraud findings. He won’t have any official power to do such things this time around. Still, Trump could appeal to his elected allies in Congress and in the states to contest the election results on his behalf, and also look to the conservative majority he helped appoint to the Supreme Court to intervene if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris. It would ultimately be some version of a scheme his allies tried before: create enough chaos and uncertainty to deny his opponent 270 electoral votes and send the matter to the House of Representatives.

Donald Trump is laying the groundwork for January 6th 2.0 by pushing nonsense claims that the Democrats will “cheat” to win the election.

[hyeahgaku]

JUMP GIGA Winter 2023 Special Interview with Yūto Suzuki-sensei!!

First JUMP GIGA 2023 cover to commemorate SAKAMOTO DAYS reaching its 100th chapter milestone since its serialization!!

In-depth discussion with Suzuki-sensei about his life and work, so on and so forth!!

Please tell us the things that you paid particular attention to when drawing the cover illustration of this GIGA issue.

Suzuki-sensei: The chosen pose is stationary, but I also wanted it to look intricate so I made the silhouette not too thin! I wanted to draw attention to his eyes, so I placed the gun next to his face and chose a strong colour (to create contrast)! I drew the texture more firmly than usual to give off a more powerful effect! I wanted to highlight his skin complexion so I deliberately chose cold colours for his shirt, hair, etc. but later I thought it looked a bit dull so I added the red light for the barcode scanner as an accent colour.

—

A must-see exclusive interview for readers of SAKAMOTO DAYS, and aspiring manga artists!

Suzuki-sensei Profile

Birthday: July 6

Hobbies: Basketball

Special skill: Handicraft

Favourite manga: Hunter x Hunter (Note: This is additional, known info from the one-shot.)

First debuted in April 2019: Published Garaku (骸区) on Jump Plus.

September 2019: Published Locker Room (ロッカールーム) on Jump Plus. In November of the following year, it received a live-action drama.

December 2019: SAKAMOTO •坂本• (SAKAMOTO -サカモト-) was published on Jump GIGA 2020 Winter. (Note: FYI, this was kinda a prototype of SAKAMOTO DAYS.)

SAKAMOTO DAYS serialization commenced in Weekly Shonen Jump 2020, Issue No. 51. It has become a popular serialization today!!!

Suzuki-sensei, you were once featured in GIGA. Please tell us if you have any memories from that time.

Suzuki-sensei: There was that one time when I tried using Clip Studio Paint, I realized that there were many missing tones when I pasted the image. [Turns out that] I did not display the tone area. I remember the person-in-charge told me, “Full analog is better.”

—

Top Column: Suzuki-sensei published SAKAMOTO•坂本• (above photos) in Jump GIGA 2020 Winter after being published in Jump+ twice!! The main character Sakamoto, his family, Shin and other characters have appeared in the series since then. The concept of the story is the same as the serialization version, but there are several differences such as Sakamoto being a supermarket store clerk, and he [and Shin] even killed robbers, so it’s interesting to see the difference!!

*Shin’s comment: This version of Sakamoto-san is so cool~*

Please tell us what’s the biggest growth or change you’ve experienced between when you were drawing one-shots and now.

Suzuki-sensei: When I was drawing one-shots, my stance was that I would just draw whatever I thought was interesting, so the readers could see what I wanted them to see. But now, I always think about how I could entertain the readers, and how I could make everyone find [the story] interesting. As for [my] growth, I’ve been able to use Clip Studio Paint much better now.

Do you have any advice for the new and upcoming aspiring manga artists on how to create a good one-shot?

Suzuki-sensei: I think that “attention-grabbing” and “page-turning” are key elements in a one-shot! It is important to have this thought in mind while you’re drawing - “This one’s interesting!” - and whether you can really draw that or not. It’s also very important that the reader is able to get on board with the story just because it interests them. Readers will tend to notice if you are focused only on making everything nice and neat or if you’re just summarizing things up. After all, these elements are intended to reduce the “stress of reading.” It might sound weird to make [your story] more exciting just for the sake of attracting people to read, but I think that is one good tactic for competing in a one-shot contest!

*On the next page, we will learn more about Suzuki-sensei!*

Top Column: You can tell from reading Suzuki-sensei’s debut work Garaku, that he’s a mangaka who loves manga and movies! The carefully-drawn backgrounds and elaborate camera work are one of Suzuki-sensei’s strong points!

Please tell us how you became interested in drawing manga and how you chose to pursue this career.

Suzuki-sensei: I was worried about my future career path when I was graduating from my graduate school. But then I came across Katsuhiro Ōtomo-sensei’s manga, Dōmu, which helped develop my interest to become a manga artist.

Are there any other creators or works that you feel have influenced you as a writer?

Suzuki-sensei: I really like the manga written by Katsuhiro Ōtomo-sensei, Takehiko Inoue-sensei and Hiroya Oku-sensei. As for movies, I love the director Christopher Nolan.

I heard that you studied Japanese painting. Does the knowledge you acquired turn out to be of use when drawing your manga?

Suzuki-sensei: I think that it is mainly useful when it comes to composition and form. Japanese painting focuses on the concept of creating a beautiful arrangement of shapes within beautiful compositions, and I always keep that in mind with my work. In the near future, I wish to draw more Japanese-style illustrations.

Please tell us about your manga work process and the tools you use.

Suzuki-sensei: I use an analog pen for drawing the characters. The solid colours, sound effects, effect lines, and backgrounds are digitally drawn by my assistants. I use a Zebra hard G Pen for pen work and inking, and also a digital software, Clip Studio Paint!

Bottom Column: The Ferris wheel scene [Sakamoto vs Boiled], which ranked 3rd in the “Spread Campaign” poll, and the coloured single-page illustrations also portray the balance of the margins, cool silhouettes and compositions!

—

Top Column: The world of SAKAMOTO DAYS features characters with many gaps! From the strongest old man, Takamura, to the handsome but merciless Nagumo… The intense gaps are important to highlight the character’s individuality!

(T/n: “Gap” -also known as gap moe- refers to the contrast between one’s appearance and personality, or the difference between someone's actual personality and from first impression you had of them.)

How did you come up with the idea of a “retired assassin”?

Suzuki-sensei: First of all, I thought the idea of fat people being insanely strong is fascinating. So I asked myself, why are they fat? → Because they retired. Why? → Perhaps they got married or something? And that’s how I ended up making it.

Retired Sakamoto’s plump figure is cute, but it is an unusual character design for the protagonist of a shōnen manga. Please tell us the story behind this “fat assassin.”

Suzuki-sensei: I like characters with strong gaps, so I combined some elements from the two extreme opposites, such as the strongest old man and the strongest fat guy. And the result is that I found it more exciting to draw the strongest fat guy. Back then, I wanted to do a one-shot anyway, so I was focused on the story to make an impact. I truly never expected for it to get a serialization. I never modeled my character after anyone but later on when I learned about the movie “Enter the Fat Dragon”, I thought to myself that they are rather similar.

In SAKAMOTO DAYS, there seems to be many unique action ideas, such as Sakamoto repelled with a cough drop and fights inside the trains. How do you come up with such ideas?

Suzuki-sensei: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of absurd action [sequences]. Even in movies, one could wonder how they'd never think about doing this kind of action sequence or direction, and they may even ask themselves, “Do battles even occur in a situation like that?!” I like the kind of direction which would take the audience by surprise!

Bottom Column: One of the major attractions of this work is the depiction of powerful battles! It’s because the locations are familiar to the readers, and the battles are realistic and powerful beyond one’s imagination. It’s important to narrow down the situation in order to bring out the intensity of the battles!

—

Many attractive side characters appear in your series, such as Shin and Lu. How did you come up with such characters?

Suzuki-sensei: Sakamoto is fat and a man of little words, so I figured he needed a handsome sidekick. During a conversation between the two of them, there was this stuff, “killing in [your] imagination.” I wished to portray that and that’s the reason why I made Shin a clairvoyant. He gets along well with the quiet Sakamoto and they surprisingly made a good team. As for Lu, I initially wanted to draw a battle with a Chinese assassin, and in the course of that, she would show up as a pitiable heroine. [I guess] in my case, I often have a “I want to draw this kind of development!” or “This is how I want the story to unfold!” goal in mind, so the characters are born in the process due to that.

*Lu’s comment: So that’s how I was born, huh~*

Among the characters in your work, is there any character that is particularly easy or the most difficult to draw?

Suzuki-sensei: I don’t have many characters that I find difficult to draw but there are times where they do look alike. So I tend to be careful with that. Gaku is a character that I can draw easily among all the characters. He is someone who doesn’t depend on others and pushes forward on his own path, and I admire people like that, so I enjoy drawing him.

*Gaku’s comment: Ahhh, I see.*

Please tell us your favourite scene from Volume 1 of the manga.

Suzuki-sensei: I like the scene where Shin jumps off the roller coaster in Volume 1. I drew it in such a way so that the readers would be able feel the floating feeling during that scene whilst they're reading. When I drew that scene, I thought to myself that I might be good with drawing action scenes! I remember getting a positive feeling [from it].

Bottom Column: A scene that captures the moment Shin jumped off from the roller coaster – from various camera [angles]! It is important to capture the cool moments in powerful action scenes, such as when Sakamoto tried to punch while disassembling a gun, or when Sakamoto approached the enemy from behind!!

—

Top Column: One of the charms of the work is that it will always make you laugh!! In order to make the reader want to meet the characters and experience their world, it is important to make the story “easy” to read! Despite being a world where assassins are rampant, it still seems like a fun world [to be in] and that’s the charm of this work!

Your one-shots Garaku and Locker Room both have a darker worldview, whereas your serialized SAKAMOTO DAYS is a shōnen manga with comedy and action elements. Is there a reason why you decided to go with this genre?

Suzuki-sensei: It’s easier to make a dark story if it’s a one-shot. But with serialization, I thought it might become potentially harder, so I decided to make the most stress-free manga that I could draw and read, and that’s how this kind of setting came about.

Do you already have the ending of the story in mind, or have you not decided it yet?

Suzuki-sensei: Yes, I have already planned a definite conclusion in mind.

Finally, SAKAMOTO DAYS has reached its 100th chapter. Could you give a final message to our readers who are reading the story?

Suzuki-sensei: The series is only able to continue into a serialization all thanks to the readers! I cannot thank you enough. Thank you very much! I’m also very happy with the fan letters that I’ve received. Please keep sending them. Please continue to support SAKAMOTO DAYS!

*Sakamoto’s comment: Thanks for reading this far. I appreciate it.*

*Over 2.3 million copies sold!! Volumes 1 to 9 are on sale now!!*

fin.

[misfitwashere]

The future of Trump if he loses the election 

And the future of Trumpism

ROBERT REICH

SEP 10

Friends,

Some say if he loses, that’s the end of Trump. 

Wrong. 

We’ve been through this before. When Trump lost in 2020, most Republican insiders thought he’d be toast after January 6. 

Yet here we are, 55 days to Election Day 2024, and Trump is virtually tied with Kamala Harris. 

Tonight’s debate could make a difference, but don’t count on it. 

(By the way, Heather and I will be hosting a watch-along here on this Substack, starting at 5:45 pm PT, 8:45 pm ET, and every time zone in between.)

The Republican Party is more MAGA now than it was in 2020. More congressional Republicans are election deniers than they were in 2020. 

If Trump loses by a small margin, he’ll almost certainly contest the outcome once again. 

At least this time Trump is not the incumbent president. He won’t be sitting in the Oval Office receiving recommendations from his staff to send in the military to seize voting machines and “rerun” the election, as happened in December 2020. 

He won’t have power to pardon anyone and won’t be able to claim presidential immunity. And instead of Trump’s vice president presiding over the counting of Electoral College votes on January 6, 2025, this time it will be Vice President Kamala Harris. 

But I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump and his lapdogs created post-election chaos at the precinct, county, and state levels, where votes are counted and the results certified. Trump loyalists in key districts will almost certainly try to manipulate the process and withhold certification. 

I expect the federal courts will become involved. Some of this litigation may make its way to the Supreme Court. Raise your hand if you trust the current Supreme Court to rule impartially. 

Even if Trump loses these battles, there’s nothing to keep him from meddling in 2026, or even running again in 2028, when he’d be 82. 

I’ve heard from a few Never-Trump Republicans that they hope he wins in November so he can serve his final term now, and then disappear for good. But he won’t disappear. Trumpism will live on, regardless. 

But if he loses in November, he’s very likely to do some time in prison — in a special wing of a prison in New York state or a federal prison secured by the Secret Service. This will slow him down but also make him a martyr in the eyes of his loyalists. 

***

If Trump loses in 2024 and is unable to run again due to physical or psychological decline — or a prison sentence — JD Vance will be his heir apparent for 2028. 

In the short time Vance has been a vice presidential candidate, he’s shown himself just as bigoted and unconstrained by facts as Trump. 

Trump sons Donald Jr. and Eric will also continue to fire up the Trump base. Fox News, Newsmax, and other right-wing outlets will continue to distort the truth. Trump’s billionaire backers such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk will continue to finance Trumpism’s shambolic politics. 

I doubt a majority of Americans will support Trumpism after Trump, but Trump’s base will continue to be a significant force in America. They have remained remarkably loyal and resilient for eight years — consistently 42 to 44 percent of American voters. 

If Trump loses, some proportion of them may turn to violence. Even a relatively small portion could threaten social stability. 

Apart from the immediate aftereffects of a Trump loss, many of his followers will remain wedded to the isolationism, xenophobia, racism, and misogyny he has stirred up. 

Why? Because they’re angry. They distrust the system. They feel disrespected by the “coastal elites” who appear to run it. And they’re stuck, economically. 

They are mostly white men without college degrees, many without even high school degrees — men who used to have good manufacturing jobs but who are now working for low pay in jobs they consider women’s work. 

They are ready to follow the next Trump, even if he disdains democracy, even if — and partly because — he’s an authoritarian strongman. 

Trumpism will remain after Trump because it’s rooted in changes in the structure of the economy over the last 40 years. 

Consider that, in 1979, a man with a college education earned about 60 percent more per week than someone who had dropped out of high school. By 2016, the “college-wage premium” was 170 percent (see chart, below). 

The Biden-Harris administration has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into job-creation efforts in the Rust Belt and beyond — into semiconductors, “green” sources of energy, electric vehicles, and the supply chains they require. 

Chart: The Economist

Partly as a result, wage growth among poorer Americans has been outpacing wage growth of richer Americans. A man without a high-school degree who is in full-time work now earns an average of about $40,000 per year. 

Labor-force participation is near an all-time high. In 2022 and 2023, just 5.1 percent of men without a high-school education were jobless — among the lowest rates of unemployment among those with no high school degree since records on this began in the early 1990s. 

This good news isn’t due to permanent changes in the structure of the economy, however. It’s because the labor market has been unusually tight, which has increased the demand for all workers, including those with limited education. 

Yet the labor market has loosened since the Fed went to war against inflation and hoisted interest rates, reducing the demand for less-educated workers. 

In fact, the share of Americans employed in manufacturing has fallen since 2016 (see chart, above), and the wages in America’s manufacturing sector have fallen relative to the overall average. 

Corporations have continued to substitute software for jobs that were once available to people with poor qualifications. Artificial Intelligence will hasten this trend. If jobs can’t be done by software, corporations are outsourcing them to countries where wages are lower. 

Wall Street is demanding ever-higher share values, fueled by ever-higher profits and bigger stock buybacks. CEOs — whose generous compensation packages are tied to share values — are happy to oblige. 

Even new manufacturing jobs are going to those with more education. Since 2016, the number of male PhDs working in American manufacturing has risen by over 50 percent. Manufacturing today is more about coding computers and maintaining complex equipment than about assembling pieces of metal.

***

Stopping Trumpism and its politics of resentment will take far more than a revival of traditional manufacturing. It will require wholesale changes in the structure of the American economy.

At the least, it will necessitate raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for better education of all young people, starting with early childhood; controlling the appetite of Wall Street for ever-higher stock market returns; attacking monopolies; strengthening labor unions; running a tight labor market; and getting good, higher-paying jobs to areas of the country that have been effectively abandoned. 

It will also require getting big money out of American politics so large corporations and the wealthy can’t bribe their way to high profits based on low wages. 

All of this will take time and political will. 

Hence, even if Trump is defeated in November, the dark shadow of Trumpism may remain for years. 

Which is no reason not to do everything in our power to keep Trump out of power now. 

Rather, it’s a reason to be patient and keep fighting even if Kamala Harris wins.