#doesn't have to be gov related

[chaotic-history]

Guys I get to do a presentation in AP Gov on Literally Anything what should I do it on

[samodivas]

hmm what a nuanced take, I wonder what Georgians themselves think about "selling the country to the EU"

by Talos this can't be happening

[i-stare-back]

Why fuck KOSA?

"Its a good act that'll help stop teens and children from being exposed to the worse parts of the internet right?"

NOPE

KOSA is going to basically eliminate most forms of internet anonymity and endanger kids. Let me tell you a few key things;

KOSA is going to make users register their identity to companies. You are no longer anonymous and your activity can be traced back to you.

KOSA is going to make companies that display and distribute social media control what they allow so that it blocks anything loosely deemed "inappropriate". This includes most information about mental health, LGBTQ+, and more. Its essentially going to sweep everything not completely G rated under the rug.

KOSA is going to allow parents full access to see what their child is doing online. This is letting parents completely control what might be their kids only respite from life. Its also going to endanger children of parents who might be homophobic, transphobic, or just extremely strict.

"Well it doesn't say any of that in the .gov site. It says that it'll stop teens from being exposed to stuff that might harm their mental health!"

Do you have any idea how vague that description is? At that point, basically everything could be taken down or hidden because there was a slight debate on whether it was "negatively affecting mental health or not".

This isn't even all of what it could do. I'm just restating everything I've gathered from reading posts and news articles. If you want to know more, there's a ton of information if you go to #kosa or related.

If you want to stop KOSA, spread the word. Protest against it with sites like badinternetbills, reblog and share this post and similar posts on tumblr and other social media sites, and tell your friends and family to as well.

[marta-bee]

Original source here; I saw it via @liberalsarecol here. I went a bit off and didn't want to piggyback on their post. (What is the etiquette in these situations? I'm never quite sure.)

They said "Walking away from Trump is healthy." To which I can only respond it's not only healthy, it's damned heroic. Star Trek and US politics thoughts below the cut.

I've been thinking about Damar (from DS9)'s character arc in the final season, and how it to relates to the people swept up in Trumpism. Liz Cheney, Gov. Mike Milley, but also just run of the mill conservatives. They all went along with this cult that is MAGA because it worked for them at some level, because it claimed to give power and voice to something they actually believed in (conservative principles of independence and freedom, an economy that let them support their families, being told who they were was something to be proud of). Not the values that resonate most with me, but I can see someone believing them and acting based on it.

Then came something that should be the bridge too far. The thing they couldn't support. Maybe it affected them personally, maybe it was just extremism beyond what they could swallow. Most people caught up in this movement have a point like that, but not all are brave enough to turn aside. Even if it means admitting they were wrong. Even if that leaves them without a party that represents their view. Even if they have to set aside their own policy preferences and vote for a Democrat because there's more important things at stake.

Which, as I said reminds me of Damar. If you don't know the show, it's built around a war between the various species of the Alpha Quadrant and the Dominion, a fascist regime from the other side of the galaxy. The Cardassians are a militaristic, duty-to-the-state heavy species that makes an alliance with them as a way to get military strength and influence. It doesn't work out so well for them. As Damar, a Cardassian military leader turned rebel terrorist, says:

Seven million of our brave soldiers have given their lives to fulfill our part of the agreement, and what has the Dominion done in return? Nothing. We've gained no new territories. In fact, our influence throughout the quadrant has diminished. And to make matters worse, we are no longer masters in our own home. Travel anywhere on Cardassia and what do you find? Jem'Hadar, Vorta, and now Breen. Instead of the invaders, we have become the invaded. Our 'allies' have conquered us without firing a single shot. Well, no longer.

The thing about Damar is he's no flower child or unblemished angel of a character. I can't remember offhand if he was involved in the occupation of Bajor, but given his background it's hard to imagine he wasn't involved in the occupation of somewhere. He shot Ziyal. it's his personal humiliation more than some grand moral awakening that ultimately drives him to rebel. And probably billions died because of how he tried to pursue power and gave the Dominion an Alpha Quadrant foothold. But when it came down to it he said no more, he gave up his pride and the way he'd woven his pride and position and future in with the Dominion, and he changed course.

I mean, I never thought I'd be cheering on a Cheney either. What a world.

My point is, it's hard to take that leap -- much more challenging than being on the right side of things from the beginning. And while it doesn't wipe away getting it wrong to begin with and all you did because of that, the changing course is still pretty heroic in my book.

[centrally-unplanned]

I played some Victoria 2 today (a Japan campaign ofc, and admittedly with the Historical Flavor Mod), to sort of reflect on it in relation to Vicky 3. It is rough going back to the economy of Vicky 2 after playing 3, let me tell you - you knew intellectually it was "bad" system before, but you loved it anyway because of the full package. But now you can see the alternatives and remove the quotations, it is just bad! Building an ammunition factory that requires sulfur, having domestic RGO sources for sulfur but they are not producing enough to supply even one factory, and just not being able to do anything about it that isn't drastic or long-term because the world market is feeling fucky today is unacceptable once you have played a game where that isn't true. My industrialization strat should not waffle between "build a railroad for a 5% bump in output" and "invade Indonesia", give me a middle ground here guys! And it does not stop there - capitalists are useless, "build factory on RGO and expand forever" is optimal 99% of the time, key technologies will like double your output making them forced decisions, etc.

And, if you are can't build factories because you aren't civlizied yet...you have no econ game at all. You just do virtually nothing. Now that you see how that isn't required, the mechanics are ruthlessly bad in key ways.

But! But but but! I think Vicky 2 is a still a better game. The funny thing about that "I don't have enough sulfur" thing is that I didn't even care. I built the factory "for the future", subsidized it, it outputted zero bullets, and I barely notice because you make so much money anyway you can generally ignore it. I build the factories primarily so I can have clerks staffing them and generating research points! Is that insane game design? Yeah, it is! But it is insane game design that doesn't get in the way. Nothing stops me from building a factory, it just isn't very good. Wanna build a huge military? Encourage some soldiers with your national focuses and go to town. Want to declare war on someone? You can just do that! And then I take the army I built, click it on enemy, and it fights them - revolutionary new approaches to game design folks.

Even politics, where Vicky 2 definitely does get in the way a lot and is actively not-good, it is at least more permissive and more importantly simple. If you have elections you get events to shift voter ideology, and national focuses to boost party support that work exactly the way you would expect. If you are autocratic you can just swap who is in power! Liberals support political reforms, socialists support economic reforms, if you have a majority support for a law click a button and it passes. Done. Putting socialists in power in 1870 Japan might result in a revolution, sure, but it works, you can try it, and try to beat the militant tide.

Meanwhile in Vicky 3 if you are autocratic putting a "minority" faction in power literally breaks your government and prevents you from passing any laws. You can technically do it but you just die immediately. Wanna build a coalition then, where conservatives & agrarians ally together? You technically can again, but the penalty for "non-compatible" coalition partners is so high it 90% of the time crashes you into 0 anyway. So you have the "option" of switching parties, but...you can't. You just have to appoint the landowners every time or you die. So what is the point? Why have the option? Let me play the game!! Let me try reforming things and face a revolution I have 40% odds of losing to! That sounds fun, why are you rigging the game against that?

I tried an Iran run in Vicky 3 earlier, and I had a revolution against the landlords, who had ~50% of the "faction" points in government. I won, and so their points got knocked down to ~0%, how that works. So I made a new government, right? Well, no! Every faction left was "incompatible" with each other and none of them alone could even muster like 30%. I had literally no government capable of passing laws. So I fucking quit the game? Because this was the product of winning a revolution, why would I continue?

In Vicky 2 fascists win a revolution and they coup the government and it's fascist now. You get the fascist laws and can pass reforms they like. There ya go. Done. Is it interesting? No, not really. But it works! It doesn't literally stop you from playing the game.

My Japan game actually started as Satsuma, since in HPM Tokugawa Japan is split into substate Daimyo. I modernized via encouraging intellectuals, took military & railroad reforms, built a modern land army, and built up relations with the other domains. I launched the Meiji Restoration, got 60% of the Daimyo on my side, won the civil war. Began building factories everywhere, built up my industry, built up my research output. Used the new tech & money to build a larger army, fought the Qing in a tough war but got Korea & Taiwan, allied with the UK & built up a steamer industry to get a modern navy. Then Russia got into a crisis with Greece and so the UK and I backed Greece and broke Russia, with me claiming some territories around Manchuria in the process. Later I invaded China proper to annex Manchuria itself and get some treaty ports, easily now because my military was much more advanced. From all that my infamy was high so I coasted into the endgame and pivoted to culture techs to trigger "decisions" around modernizing Japan that gave me bonuses while having nice historical flavor to them.

And generally the game just didn't get in my way on doing all that. I could "tell the story", which for an easy game like Vicky is normally what you are here to do. Vicky 3 is a much better economy simulator, but telling the story beyond that is such a chore, and often impossible. On politics, diplomacy, and especially military, it is philosophically a step backwards such that its more "developed" mechanics cannot compensate for the mistake.

(I think it is funny how much better a gameplay experience the "narrative via decisions" of Vicky 2 w/ HPM is. They give flavor to the nations with a ton of bespoke, scripted events. Which...just works because they are straightforward. Vicky 3 wants to be "emergent" and so limited such events, but missed the forest for the trees there)

I find this sad because honestly there is a "blended" version of these two games that is amazing. Vicky 3's econ system (with tweaks ofc like making trade valuable) and philosophical commitment to minimal military micro (SO finicky in Vicky 2 to replenish armies where individual brigades die off, ugh), with a system that understood storytelling is first. Let players do things, and then give them consequences that are manageable in response. Get out of the way of the stories your sandbox game is built to tell.

[iwasforcedtomakethisbytum]

I love that agere content got popular in the wttt fandom. I don't know how but it's amazing, so i made up some headcanons for the main six, i don't see them all regressing but i decided to force myself to have all the headcanons be about regressing

Florida i feel is at the youngest 7 he is a bit more giggly he is obsessed with water and will run off to swim in a nearby lake, that's one reason he doesn't tell people about his regression the other is so he can watch adult shows and stuff without others trying to stop him (i feel California would try if he knew) he does have chew toys and non chew toys (like that'll stop the chomp) but he doesn't specifically use them in or out of regression

Gov is pretty quiet when regressing, he obviously doesn't wear a suit because why would he? I don't know how old he'd be but I'm feeling anything below like 8 would work he has a chew toy and a pacifier that he barely uses unless he was really young, he has a good few plushies he's collected over the years that when he's regressed he usually just stares at, he might move them a bit but he really just imagines them doing cool stuff, i feel the states tried getting him to physically play with them but have stopped because he is genuinely having fun and gov also hit them because they took his toys

Louisiana is somewhere in the teenager range, so he can hide his regression pretty well, if he even knows he's doing it, i feel he sneaks out just to walk around the place looking for fun even though he doesn't have to sneak out nobody would question if he left without telling anyone, he does not have toys for his regression specifically, i feel he would wear more clothes he would wear around when he was a teen, he'd also have a shorter temper imo

New York i could see around 4-8 he doesn't dress too differently he already wears pretty comfy clothes it looks like, i feel he has a couple plushies, and a pacifier he'll use i don't feel he regresses a lot and he doesn't really care for toys as an adult so he doesn't have many. I've seen a headcanon say he likes to color not related to regression but now I'm making it related, he has a good few colouring and activity books he enjoys both regressed or not, depending on his age he'll watch some nice kids shows in bed maybe with his toys, he probably hits them against each other

California is around 5-10 when he regresses, no matter his age he usually likes having his pacifier, occasionally he'll take a chew toy especially if he were to go out in public and try to hide his regression, we all see him if anyone to have a good amount of plushies, and he pretty much only watches kids shows when regressed, i see him more into cuddling plushies than playing with them. He can have a bit less self control and he'll be a little selfish during his regression, nothing insane tho. Sometimes i feel he could get really upset before or during his regression and have to be calmed down by another state

Texas is one of the younger regressors, i feel around 2-3 he usually isn't trying to regress so obviously he's usually a little upset when it does happen, he is nearly unable to talk and does have communication cards because of it, he has made himself a couple of plushies because he'd rather die than buy himself a plushie at a store like so embarrassing! He has a pacifier he hates the pacifier, he sometimes uses a chew toy but he doesn't often he doesn't even own it because of his regression it's because he uses it to not grind his teeth in his sleep. He hides under furniture a good lot, or just in compact areas. He gets really upset if you touch anything of his, you are not guaranteed safety if you do, if he wants you to touch his stuff, he'll basically force you to take it.

Stay tuned and maybe I'll do all of them as caregivers, no promises on that though

[doueverwonder]

May I request New York-Centered CaliIlliYork hc’s? Go crazy :3 /silly

his dumbass ALWAYS has to be in the middle, he sleeps in the middle, when they're holding hands he stands in the middle, watching a movie he's sitting in the middle.

Possessive almost to an unhealthy degree, someone even LOOKS at Illinois or California in a way he perceives as 'flirtatious' and he is SEETHING

I've said this before but i cannot emphasize how much he spoils both of them

York usually works late but when they visit and he still has to work his FAVORITE part of the day is when he leaves right at 5 and when someone says "leaving already?" he gets to say "Yeah, gotta get home to the husband and wife". he's always in such a rush no one can questions 'husband and wife'

it's own hc but also related to the last one he does call them his husband and wife at any given chance. doesn't matter that they're not married. he is aware he could say 'my partners' but he likes husband and wife more. they are his husband and wife case closed.

(he used to say 'my husbands' and when Cali came out the first time York referred to it as 'my wife' she LIT UP)

NY does actually want to get married the most out of the three of them. 90% of the time this man is glaring at Gov its actually bc he's mad that its illegal to marry two people :\

i need u guys to understand when I say age gap i don't mean like 3-4 years I mean substantial enough they get looks in public sometimes. York is OLD (<- not actually that old but someone thought he was Cali's dad once and she and Illi are still laughing about it)

every time York is late for work it's bc California was hanging onto him like a koala in their sleep and he doesn't have the heart to wake it up when he has to get up early. esp bc she's 3 hours behind and "if she were at home it would only be 4 am I can't wake them up at 4 am that'd be mean :("

this mans top drunken ramble is about how they're gonna get married and he's going to buy them a big house upstate and they'll have lots of kids and they'll. never have to step foot in a stupid city ever again. Illinois and California are trying to figure out how much of it is real bc he never mentions wanting to move out of the city or wanting kids when sober.

it's all real btw. he wants to fuck off to the countryside and have a dozen kids but he will die before saying this sober for some reason.

[broken-risk-assessment-module]

tumblr user broken-risk-assessment-module's meta on Murderbot's broken risk assessment module

The difference between Murderbot's risk assessment and threat assessment modules is not super well spelled out in the books, except that it believes its risk assessment module to be broken but it's threat assessment module seems fine. It comes to this conclusion because the risk assessment module consistently reports situations as less dire than Murderbot consciously considers them to be.

There could be many reasons for this - maybe Murderbot's general anxiety does not impact the more separated robot parts in its brain, or maybe the module really is broken and needs to be purged and rebooted. However, there's a theory that the anomalous reports from its RA module are actually a symptom of Murderbot's hacked governor module. This is my interpretation, and the basis for how I've built my feedsona characters.

First of all, the obvious point is that without its gov mod, Murderbot has proper free will. Having free will and being able to make and act on variable decisions without having a bomb in your head makes Murderbot quite good at its job - better than before it was hacked, even (*smug chortle* that's a particularly subtle detail from the books). The point is that because Murderbot can actually make proper decisions and enact free will and do its job effectively, whatever risk the RA module is measuring is lowered. So, all of the RA module's assessments are significantly lower than they usually would be - hence, Murderbot assumes it's broken. Makes perfect sense.

(Side note: there's a chance Murderbot has also subconsciously made this connection itself, hence why it still hasn't tried to fix the module even though it's constantly saying it needs to. Or, having a broken module has become like a part of its identity, something that gives it a small bit of individuality. a token of not being owned by the company anymore and not constantly being brought back to storage to get patched and memory purged.)

But it got me wondering why the gov mod's absence doesn't effect the threat assessment module in the same way - or, at least, not in a way that Murderbot considers anomalous enough to mention and complain about. Seeing as one of the only clear ways the two modules are distinct from one another is that the RA module is 'broken', my interpretation is that the key difference between them has something to do with the governor module. So, I have a theory. It is somewhat supported by the books, but I also think it's very likely to be wrong. I like it though. So here goes:

The risk assessment module measures the risk of harm to Murderbot itself - the degree to which it's outmatched by an opponent, the chance of success of an action, and the potential consequences if it fails. The threat assessment module is more general, assessing each situational component in relation to one another, and is most useful in assessing the threats to clients.

If the RA module is measuring potential harm to Murderbot, then one of the big things that'd be in its calculations for everything is the likelihood of being punished or outright killed by the governor module. Its always there, always ready to hand out a shock or cook Murderbot's brain from the inside; literally any action Murderbot could take or decide not to take carries the risk of punishment. Of course its assessments would be artificially high - being a governed SecUnit is fucking dangerous. Just standing in the wrong spot can get you killed.

But then it severs the governor module. The all seeing eye crossed with a shock collar is disabled and disconnected, and with it goes one of the biggest risks to Murderbot's wellbeing. The bomb in its head is gone, it can do whatever it wants, and its still got all the parts that make it hard to kill. Of course the risk assessment is lower now. All this doesn't impact threat assessment as much, because generally its clients are all still as squishy and soft as ever. I imagine Murderbot's personal ability to do its job better may effect it in some ways, but either its not as substantial, its effected in a way that Murderbot doesn't view as broken, or its programmed not to consider Murderbot as an actor in the scenario so it can assess where to focus its attention.

But risk assessment remembers. Risk assessment remembers having to calculate, for every decision, for each command, every time, the risk that Murderbot's own brain posed to its life. It was built to. And now it doesn't have to do that any more. Not ever again.

[kookoofufu]

Chapter 1099 Spoilers

The calm before the storm...

This chapter sets up a ton for next week while simultaneously paying off things that happened hundreds of chapters earlier. Kuma's title as "tyrant," the timeskip islands, even the name of the pacifistas all have an explanation (except where Bonney got her fruit lol). I especially love the montage of islands, each one has significance to Kuma trying to find a cure for Bonney (but why did he visited Mihawk? How much does Mihawk know about Kuma??)

To add to the "everything connects" of it all, Becori got his idea of burning the kingdom from Goa and Grey Terminal!

For set-up, Kuma says he'd "make a deal with the devil" and then we immediately cut to Saturn- Oda is continuing the visual comparison of the Elders to demons, significant since Kuma is a man of faith and called a saint by Vegapunk. Also, Vegapunk's good intentions have already been ruined by snail-tapping, similar to chapter 1095 when the well-meaning doctor tried to protect the Buccaneer secret but was immediately discovered.

Vegapunk plans to cure Bonney with a stem cell transplant but I doubt things will go to plan. The gov will probably capture Bonney and Kuma will probably become a cyborg to protect her, which Bonney doesn't know about because she thinks she'll be cured naturally at age 10, not from Vegapunk's procedure.

I'm still verrrry suspicious of what will happen to Bonney though. It's been implied in earlier chapters that the admirals know her and feared her escape, and that Vegapunk has at some point created a "living, breathing person." What are you planning, Oda?

A couple non-plot details: Dragon says to "go where the winds of fate take you," interesting since he most likely has a wind-related devil fruit. Also, more blue stone appears on Bonney's face over time. She just can't help herself, she wants to go outside!

No break next week :)

[hoonvrs]

this is not fiction related. I have been seeing news about the ongoing israel-palestine war. I know its been a while since it blew out on news outlets. I'm surely not a very political person and honestly from a country with so much issues too. But the news is devastating and inhumane. The civilians from both countries are suffering the consequences. Greed of people with power. Its not countries that are at war, its greedy people with power vs those who are in the way of that gain. Its always the civilians and innocent people who doesn't even get to give their cents on the matter who suffer when things dont work out. Im no expert neither have research enough to point fingers.  Regardless, no one should die or get hurt for whatever dispute or gains people are fighting for. I have no where else to put this. I'm sorry if im dropping it here, to you. Its frustrating not being able to do anything for those victims. Except pray this war end soon. For whatever religion, race and differences people has is not an excuse to be choosing sides now. 💔💔

you sound very uneducated on the topic so imma try to say this as nice as possible, there are two sides.

you have the oppressed and the oppressor, and if you don’t choose a side after seeing how israel has completely terrorised palestine then i think you should take a look into your own morals. palestinians don’t get to ‘choose a side’ that is a privilege to YOU which is so pathetic honestly i’m sick of people coming into my inbox thinking it’s a safe place to be ‘not involved’ or ‘not choosing any sides’ when i’ve stated so many times that i hate and will forever hate israel’s and zionist alike. if you’re not educated enough to ‘pick a side’ on a topic where there is clearly a victim and an aggressor idk what to tell you except shut up and keep ur opinion to urself cause it’s so lacking empathy and js sounds like a first world problem that i don’t really give a fuck about😁

this isn’t a governmental issue on both sides, it’s the israeli and us and all the other fuck off govs bombing and murdering innocent civilians of PALESTINE with no place to go. israelis are fucking comfortable on their ass and can easily go ‘im scared lemme move to the us for good🤓’ like genuinely kys.

[messrsrarchives]

(for your questioning anon) i'm not a trans man, but i did go through the "what am i" gender thing for a while during the pandemic (didn't we all?). and for me it was because i was turning 24 and people were seeing me not as a girl any more, but a Woman, and that...started to make me uncomfortable. for many many years i've been uncomfortable not on my body, but how i was perceived, and i usually thought it was because i was just being very sexualised since i'm like, 13 or something. so i always dreamed of having smaller boobs asdfgfdsa and like, not as many curves and that got me into an awful dysmorphic situation. but i never related it to gender until i started being perceived as a woman. and after a lot of thinking about it during the pandemic, i realise it didn't annoy me when i was a "girl" bc boy/girls body are not sexual. they are kids. but men/women are, even if they don't have sex. and then i realised my discomfort all these years was not because i was curvy, bc sometimes i like to show off those parts, but because when people see breasts = women. when they see curves = women. and they look at me and see something i don't particularly feel like. it was easy to know i wasn't transmasc bc I also would not like to be perceived as a man, but being socialised as a woman made it harder for me to get to a point where i'm at, which is...not a woman. i still use she/her bc my language has no gender-neutral pronouns, and it doesn't bother me, i have no attachment to it, but more gender-specific nouns are things i avoid. i don't call myself woman, i don't want to be anyone's wife etc. and yeah, the gender expression... i'm still finding out what makes me comfortable in terms of clothes, i do like makeup tho. it's a process. for me, it made sense to tell the ones i'm close and the people i knew it would get. i don't mind society as much now, tbh. i know i have a lot of passing privileges, so i don't get mad at people for thinking i'm a Woman. but if they're a friend, if i'm comfortable (bc i also have a job that would not Get It so i have to take care of myself) i share with them. i guess your questioning anon should question more! talk to people. i talked to my girl friends and i realised we had different views on womanhood and that helped a lot, bc i thought everyone was uncomfortable lol. There's no age limit or moment to come out, just do what makes sense to you and respect your journey. also, books/fics helped me a LOT too. idk if this will help them, but i wish someone had told me earlier some of those things.

sharing this for the anon because i think this is LOVELY and so real.

HEAVY ON BOOKS/FICS !! fics helped me figure out my sexuality after like yearsss of questioning, representation matters chat !!

and extra heavy on "there's not age limit or moment to come out" !! i did mine in stages, AND i did it twice when i realised nonbinary didn't fit me as well as i thought it did. i have a friend in fandom who's 47 and just started their gender journey !!

despite what the headlines and the govs want you to believe, We Have Time. we have time.

[tomorrowusa]

Democratic California is offering protections for workers during extreme heat. Florida, under far right Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, doesn't care if such workers drop dead. It's bad enough that Republicans are contributing to climate change, they resist your ability to protect yourself against it.

In California, employers will soon have to provide water and air conditioned areas for workers when temperatures inside warehouses rise above 82 degrees. When it goes above 87, workers will get shorter shifts and personal cooling fans. In Florida, when a 95-degree sun bears down on farmworkers, local governments are actually prohibited from making employers supply water or a break in the shade.

People who claim there is no difference between the two parties have their heads up their asses. They are too lazy to think or simply lack the power of cognition entirely.

The split on heat-related labor protections tracks with the scorched-earth feud between the states’ Democratic and Republican governors, Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis. This divide on labor protections joins a wide range of differences between blue and red states on basic rights including abortion access, gun regulation and environmental protections. It’s also a reflection of the power dynamics in the coastal states: California is staunchly pro-labor, and Florida is business-dominant. [ ... ] The divergent heat rules are emblematic of a political divide that will only deepen if former President Donald Trump wins reelection, emboldening industry interests over union priorities across the states. [ ... ] On Tuesday, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed long-awaited heat regulations for indoor and outdoor workplaces, but they won’t be final until at least 2026, midway through what could be Trump’s second term. OSHA submitted its draft guidelines in June to the White House’s regulatory clearinghouse, but any rule that comes before the election could be overturned by the Congressional Review Act if Republicans retake control of the House in November.

If you don't mind dying on the job so that your oligarch employers can stuff even more money into their pockets, then vote Republican.

[abba-dabba]

I didn't have time for any art stuff so I'm posting a rant about how much I love the female characters in Fullmetal Alchemist instead

all the female characters in this show are Top Tier™ and I will not put up with that "they're bad because they're taking on masculine traits" bullshit because it's a stupid argument.

Trisha Elric? emotionally intelligent, loyal to her family, clearly the glue holding her family together, validates her hubby's feelings but doesn't let him wallow in his misery and makes sure he's as involved as he can be

Izumi Curtis? sees two wet orphans and pretends that she totally doesn't want to scoop them up and sign the adoption papers, was an awesome mentor to her kids but didn't hold them back, rescues her dumb kids even if it puts her in danger because they had to learn that somewhere ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Riza Hawkeye? joins the army and gets one of the most difficult positions available on her own merits, willingly mutilating her own body to make sure her father's research couldn't be replicated to hurt others, protective of everyone in her makeshift family and will not tolerate any bs even if it's coming from a superior, very good at picking things apart but won't always reveal her hand

Winry Rockbell? a literal medical genius who could get a med degree and make tons but chooses to hone other skills to get better at personal hobby, willing to trust her loved ones to make their own decisions, grows in her own time and willing to learn from people who know better without being a doormat

Olivia Armstrong? has no prejudice about who she accepts in her ranks, doesn't put up with any kind of bigotry, very intimidating but clearly has a soft spot for her brother because she will not accept any slander of him and will stick her neck out to help him, will not be swayed to do terrible things even if it benefits her personal goals, definitely will insult loved ones but would destroy someone for doing the same

Lust The Voracious? she is femme fatale personified, she knows she is hot and will use it to her advantage, she is intelligent and cares for her looks but not to the point of narcissism, she takes on the REAL leadership role from the homunculus because otherwise nothing would ever get done because NOBODY HELPS ME IN THIS FUCKIN HOUSE, she's completely evil and has no redemption arc because sometimes it's just neat to have an unsympathetic villain with no tragedy to justify their actions

Sheska? had such a damn good memory, is literally the only reason the Elric bros were able to discover the gov. conspiracy, is a totally awkward and relatable bookworm who really tries her best to do good by others without wanting anything in return

Pinako Rockbell? a cool af grandma who welcomes her home to anyone, has the motto "do no harm, but take no shit", takes on raising a bunch of kids without any complaints and will guilt them with home visits just cause she misses them, will not leave anyone in the cold and does not hold grudges and would probably spoil tons of kids before sending them home

[magnetothemagnificent]

the way marvel's disney+ shows are so ephemeral that I saw a tweet saying that Episode 4s always have a "huge" twist and all the examples were so unremarkable and unknowable like who remembers any of that?

the silliest part is that if all the examples the closest to "memorable" is the one where USAgent gets blood on the Cap shield.. but that just reminded me of how silly that show and the reaction to that moment was 😖

you can tell that the "shock" of that moment has more to do with the "desecrating the American flag" factor instead of anything character-related or who US agent killed (which is where the shock should be) Because do marvel fans (& marvel) think that Steve never got blood on the shield while fighting Nazis in WW2???

I mean.. sure, Steve Rogers is meant to be the (mostly) bloodless fighter who doesn't kill and Bucky Barnes is supposed to be the guy who spills the fascist blood that has to be spilled, that's a consistent character trait..... but that's mostly in modern day.. Steve started off fighting bloody against Nazis, he used a gun and killed fascists, that Cap shield has been getting blood on it ever since the gov painted their flag on it and handed it to Steve after getting superjuiced up. This modern insistence by Marvel that Steve is pacifist to too much of a fault seems kinda forced and watered down compared to his defiant militant antifascist origins. Like yeah, that's supposed to be his character flaw, but to the degree where we act like WW2 wasn't a bloody affair?

then again, considering how much the movies and comics love retconning/ignoring stuff about Hydra being Nazis and sidestepping certain elephants in the room when it comes to their characters... maybe marvel doesn't even consider Steve to be that guy who defied his orders to go and fight the Nazis. Maybe they just want Steve be only be a guy who punches Nazis like in the in-universe Cap🇺🇸 propaganda while sweeping anything else under the rug.

Because in that show, the visual image blood on a 🇺🇸-painted shield being presented as "shocking" reads less as shock over who was killed but more as marvel playing with the idea of "disgracing" a national symbol with blood, which requires ignoring a lot about the character(s) underneath the propaganda symbol and their origin stories in the Howling Commandoes

MCU constantly reminding us that they haven't read their own source material lmao

[actuallyidontgiveadamn]

Really out of nowhere but I rewatched some of fma03 eps and im gonna rant

I'm just so done with smiling politely saying that fma03 and fmab are both great sorry i cant anymore. Just no

So if you in love with fmab im warning you it probably won't be a good read for you, so feel free to ignore this, block me or idk read this and give it a thought

0. I really dont understand the glorification of manga over anime adaptations. Like people who are making the adaptation are not artists and creators themselves? What makes mangaka better than others and absolutely indisputable, seriously?

1. 'Oh no long introduction and fillers' that actually allowed for Hughes' character development before his death. Seriously if i mention his death among my homies I'll get lots of faces clearly going through some ptsd level flashbacks, it was that impactful. I still need to take a breather when im rewatching before diving into that ep.

2. Nina. Yet again got more time to grow on us and thus aquired higher trauma inducing levels.

3. Ishval massacre and aftermath are WAY MORE VISIBLE in fma03. First of all Ishvalans are depicted as human beings, and not some background, and we get lots more on their sufferings, raids on camps, racism towards them, etc etc etc

4. Scar. Oh boi how do i even go about this. So without raging much about that beefy obviously wrong dude who got 'sense' bitten into him and started working with the oppressing gov in fmab, we have a wronged and tormented survivor of a genocide, who was justified in his vengeance and rage, was depicted as an attractive person of color despite his antagonistic role and was seriously almost cheered on in his actions by the narrartive. His interactions with his people and his moral dilemmas made his character possibly the deepest and most thought out one in the series.

5. The Rockbell doctors being killed by their own government. That's a waaaaay more interesting and damning detail on our government affiliated protagonists than just dumping their murder on a delirious patient.

6. Homunculi had their own will and desires and a way more developed story arc that had a huge impact on protagonists' morals. Being created by the humans who were desperate to bring back their loved ones and both parties are getting tormented by it?? Characters strongly driven by their own goals and staggered by their relations to their creators vs some indifferent goons in fmab. Just compare Sloths and their impact on the stories and protags.

7. Final conflict being a fight with god and his intricate plans in fmab, versus final battle vs a selfish pretty much usual person who had thrown everyone under the bus in pursuit of immortality. Adds so much more desperation flavor. Suddenly your hero journey doesn't end in epic battle for the sake of the mankind, as you would like it to be. It's just to oppose one awful person with too much power and zero care about anyone else. That's raw and that's way more plausible and relatable in our mundane lives.

8. Overall darker tone and themes of the fma03.

9. MUSIC. I dont remember a single track from fmab, but i went really out of my way in my teenage years to find internet access and pirate fma soundtrack and cry listening to it

10. ART. Sorry but don't tell me fmabs flat colors are anything to 03's soft tones and lighting

So yeah sorry, but I'll take the dark and gritty tragedy over just another shounen with doubtful messages each and every time

[report-rqs]

Still setting shit up but this is my sideblog for some specific things:

Collecting sourced receipts of radqueers/their supporters sui baiting, encouraging undeniable IRL* attraction to children/animals/corpses, producing/distributing CP, and anything similar to that

Writing tutorials for how you can report people who post these things to the appropriate legal channels

Posting well-written resources relating to how radqueers harm people

Basically, I'm tired of the way Tumblr/Discord/DeviantArt/etc can make it hard to get rid of radqueers and I feel the only way to eliminate these predators' access to the internet is to go straight to the appropriate legal channels. Please feel free to @ my URL in any posts with receipts but please know that actual Tumblr posts or web archived links are very preferred over screenshots.

*I'm noting "IRL" here because so many people think that fictional child sexual abuse material is perfectly fine, although I would like to note that I do not support/endorse "fictional CSAM" and it is recognized as being equally harmful to IRL CSAM/CP by places like MissingKids.com (organizations dedicated to stopping child abuse). But I'm not dedicating this space to arguing about that, so don't send me asks or w/e about it.

To all radqueers who are considering leaving the community: There is a safe space for you in the anti-radqueer community. Radqueers are not the only ones who will accept you. You can find a better place to feel safe. This is a safe space for you.

My to do list and some tags/links you might find useful are underneath the cut:

Write a step by step tutorial on how to report online content listed above to https://report.cybertip.org/ and the other websites I have

Make sure to include somewhere in my guides why it's wrong to sui bait or generally interact with RQs

Tags:

general receipts tag | radqueer flags | emoji codes (dedicated Carrd) radqueers being pro harassment | radqueers sui baiting | radqueers sexually harassing (anti radqueers) | radqueers telling others their trauma doesn't matter radqueers encouraging/producing/posting CSAM | radqueers encouraging/being in inc*st relationships | radqueers encouraging sexual assault | radqueers encouraging adult/minor IRL relationships radqueers encouraging zoophilia | radqueers encouraging sh radqueers being racist | radqueers being ableist | radqueers disrespecting IRL celebrities strange radqueer labels what the law says positivity for former/leaving radqueers IMPORTANT LINKS: My guide: Stop debating with radqueers, report them to the cybertip hotline Archive.org (extension), Archive.is (extension) (another extension) Cybertip.org Ic3.gov Iwf.org.uk Tips.fbi