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angryschnauzer · 9 months

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January 11th 2024

Yeah its been a while since i updated. I haven't had the energy to if i'm honest, but here we go.

Hubby had his brain surgery end of November '23. The tumour they took out was a nasty one, somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a kiwi fruit. The wound has healed well with little to no side affects apart from some double vision, but he was checked out for that and it is a common after affect of brain trauma and was remedied with an eyepatch for a few weeks.

We met with the Neuro Oncology team at Royal Marsden Hospital in London. They are one of the best (if not the best) cancer treatment centres in the whole country, and we worked through a treatment plan.

Just before Christmas hubby was also cleared to have shoulder reconstructive surgery (he broke his shoulder bone in the original seizures back at the end of October '23). There was a really small window of time between it being enough time after the brain surgery that he could go back under general anaesthetic, but also enough time to mostly heal before he started Radiotherapy and Chemo, so just 5 days before Christmas hubby was in and out of our local hospital in a single day to have that surgery.

Christmas was a quiet and subdued affair. I also herniated a disk in my back the day Hubby had surgery (i was clearing the deep freeze out ready for grocery delivery), so it meant both he and I were dosed up to our eyeballs on strong painkillers for most of the holiday, and Little Dude spent the majority of the break either playing video games or building his new lego sets.

Two days before Christmas i also had to have emergency dental work (i had been grinding my teeth and had previously cracked a tooth) and whilst i was in the dentists office some utter idiot crashed into my car. That was the last thing i needed but i simply handed it all over to my insurance company (who are aware of my husbands situation) and they arranged a hire vehicle and sorted repairs.

Onto the start of 2024. This is the first week of Radiotherapy and Chemo for Hubby. He is getting very tired and fatigued already from the Radiotherapy, but thankfully no nausea from the chemo as yet, but that could change over time. He is scheduled for a full schedule of 6 weeks of this dual treatment, where we are having to visit Royal Marsden every day Mon - Fri for the six weeks, and then he also takes the chemo 7 days a week for the six weeks.

He'll then have 4 to 6 weeks 'off' treatment for his body to relax and recuperate, but will have scans and MRI's during that time to gauge what further treatment will be, but its likely to be just chemo but a stronger dose, but no radiotherapy. The chemo is to be 3 weeks off one week on, so a 4 weekly cycle.

The one thing we have discovered isn't done is prognosis's. When we first got to Royal Marsden we were shocked as they started talking about years, and explained that although it was a really nasty tumour, it was found very early and whilst it was still relatively small for its kind. They've discussed things like 'this years treatment plan then we'll look at next years', and also for a while Hubby was being considered for a clinical trial which candidates who have prognosis's of 12 months+ are only considered for. In the end he didn't meet the criteria (his cholesterol was too high). The Macmillian Nurses also have been talking to us about Mobility Car assistance schemes where you can get govt assistance financially and get an adapted vehicle on a 2 year rolling lease. All these timings are reassuring in one way, but worrying in another - we have no idea what the future holds and it really does cement in stone that our time is limited and could end any moment, and makes it very difficult to make any long term plans. You don't realise how much of your life is preplanned until you end up in this situation and aren't sure if you can book your kid onto the school residential trip in 5 months time.

Should anyone want the mundane daily day-to-day life updates you can follow me on my personal instagram @simone_with_an_e its generally a load of utter boring bollocks, but i try to keep it updated daily with updates when i can as its a lot easier to do 1 short paragraph than a big update.

For me my mental health is a little better now that i've had time to process Hubby's diagnosis and that he is getting treatment. There are still days or hours when i fall apart, and it could be something as simple as listening to a song on the radio as i drive back from dropping Little Dude at school and i realise the song would be lovely at his funeral. I end up having to pull over and have a cry whilst switching the radio off. I'm loosing weight and aging quickly, my hair is turning grey from stress and i realised i've aged about 15 years in the last 3 from stress. My appetite comes and goes, and things like red meat now turn my stomach and i can't digest it. But i also haven't drunk alcohol since the day before Hubby had his seizure back in October. I feel like i need to stay 'alert' in case i need to rush him to the hospital for something. I don't miss it as such, but I miss the ability to fully relax. Its hard to describe but i feel like at the moment i've lost myself and am just functioning to care for those around me, going through the motions as such.

Anyway, this has been a long update. I do still lurk here, you may see me pop up in notifications liking something, but at the moment i don't feel its right to start putting fandom stuff back on here yet. I do hope to get back to writing at some point. I miss it and the unfinished stories plague my mind as i have such lovely plans for story arc's and really want to finish them.

Take care all,

Schnauz

xxx

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beardedmrbean · 4 months

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The former top prosecutor in Baltimore, convicted of fraud for lying about financial hardship during the pandemic in order to buy a beach house with money from the federal government , will serve no prison time.

Marilyn Mosby, 44, was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest, 100 hours of community service and three years of supervised release Thursday, Erek Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland announced.

The ex-prosecutor was found guilty of multiple felony charges in two separate trials, one that took place this year and one last fall.

During the sentencing hearing in Prince County, U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby sentenced Mosby to home confinement with electric monitoring and also ordered forfeiture of 90% of the property Mosby bought with the fraudulently obtained mortgage.

Mosby garnered national attention in 2015 when she charged six Baltimore police officers in connection to the death of Freddie Gray. A Black man, Gray, 25, died in police custody a week after he suffered a severe spinal injury while traveling without a seatbelt in the back of a van on the way to the police station.

Prosecutors had asked for a 20-month sentence

Under the law, Mosby had faced up to 35 years in prison for her fraud and perjury convictions.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean R. Delaney and Aaron S.J. Zelinsky prosecuted the federal cases. Federal court records show they had argued for a 20-month prison sentence.

“The court agrees these are very serious offenses and that this conduct displays a pattern of dishonesty,” The Baltimore Sun reported Griggsby told Mosby in court. “This dishonesty also occurred when you held the highest office for a prosecutor in the City of Baltimore.”

While Mosby’s crimes didn’t have “victims in a traditional sense,” the outlet reported, Griggsby said Mosby "betrayed people who looked up to her in the community."

The judge went on to acknowledged the former head prosecutor's record of public service, the Sun reported, and said Mosby’s two daughters "weighed most heavily" in determining the sentence.

What was Marilyn Mosby convicted of?

In February, Mosby was convicted of making a false mortgage application when she was Baltimore City State’s Attorney, relating to the purchase of a condominium in Long Boat Key, Florida. The jury acquitted Mosby of making a false mortgage application related to her purchase of a home in Kissimmee, Florida.

Several months earlier, in November, a jury found Mosby guilty of two counts of perjury, in connection to the withdrawal of funds from the City of Baltimore’s Deferred Compensation Plan claiming "she suffered adverse financial consequences" during the pandemic while she was the city's prosecutor.

n a statement released by his office, Barron commended the FBI and IRS-CI agents for their work in the investigation and thanked the Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General for its assistance in the case.

#nunyas news #fingers crossed computer doesn't crash again

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free-and-to-none-accountable · 2 years

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Posted on September 2, 2022 by Rybyn Z.

The meeting went off the rails when I got a text and an email from one of the early elementary teachers. The managers were lying to our faces. Everyone must have gotten the same messages, because my coworkers’ voices started to rise, their tone grew angry, and they stopped respecting management’s “meeting norms.”

Our in-person school year had ended a week before, but management insisted on a virtual “follow-up” meeting. So, everyone dutifully logged on at 9:00 am. The regional director and his crony were waiting patiently. In an act worthy of Broadway, the DMV regional director, with a too-bad-so-sad tone, announced that our principal and assistant principal had “left to pursue other opportunities.” There was no one to replace them yet.

I work at a neighborhood charter school in Washington DC. Most students come from low-income or middle-income Black and Latinx families. Just a few months before I started working there, the board that owns the school switched charter management companies to a renowned national charter “turnaround” company based on the notorious Mind Trust’s model. Often credited as creating the blueprint for privatizing urban education, it helped spawn the company that now oversees my school. Mismanagement, exploitation, and hypocrisy were in the company’s DNA. Originally founded in Indianapolis (like the Mind Trust), the company grew until it spread all the way to Washington DC, where a charter market already thrives.

Staff, students, and families were already reeling from a traumatic year. So the announcement about the administration team blindsided us. While many of us did not like the principal and assistant principal—or, like myself, believe we could do without them altogether— we all agreed that they cared for the school community.

Meanwhile, the company had nearly run the school into the ground through mismanagement and financial profiteering schemes. They fired teachers while we were desperately understaffed, revoked already-earned bonuses for changing jobs, and did shady things to raise test scores. These were only the most glaring of a whole host of issues threatening to overwhelm and destroy the school.

So, we were all a little more than suspicious. The atmosphere was tense. A few staff members pressed the regional director for firm answers about our former leadership team—and received dodgy replies. One of the workers then asked, “Were they let go, or did they choose to leave?” over and over again. Eventually, the regional director paused for a few seconds, then—finally—said, “They chose to leave.”

That’s when I, and nearly everyone else, got the text message from the early elementary teacher. It was just an image thumbnail. Inside was the principal’s termination letter, sent by the director hosting the meeting.

It was too much. Under unbearable pressure, we exploded.

One of the teachers opened with a salvo about the terrible, contradictory communication and chaos. She ended with, “The 4:30 dismissal time has got to go.”

Our “offer letters” (we don’t have contracts) specified our roles and hours. We all got paid for eight hours a day while the company enforced nine-hour days—and most teachers worked longer to barely keep up with the crushing workload. All year, the workers had expressed disgust with these policies. Several times, workers took direct action against them. Most of the time, teachers just refused to do the bullshit busy work admin gave out, and the company couldn’t do much about it. Thanks, Great Resignation.

Another worker, an English Language Learner specialist, demanded to know if support staff who’d been thrown into different roles, sometimes multiple times a day, would be paid for their extra work. The director kept sidestepping our questions. He said to get paid, they needed to pull the records from the overflowing staff group chat, where people begged for classroom coverage all year. Several workers then pointed out that this group chat, owned by the former principal, was deleted. He had no answer for us, and we knew it. Even though we were on Zoom, I could feel the rage bubbling up. The school’s social worker then cut the higher-up off, “You all have come into a community dealing with immense trauma without thinking about what the community needs at all. Where is the support from this company? We only see y’all once a month!”

This had been something that agitated everyone on the shop floor all year: the company flew a couple of rich white people into DC for two days each month, then straight back home. She laid into them for five more minutes.

As she talked, and as several teachers came off mute to support her and launch into their own tirades, I realized this was an opportunity to unite the staff and build power. I’d built up a committee in the first few months of the school year that took some direct actions. But without a proper formalized structure beyond a group chat, the committee only represented my immediate coworkers, and ultimately dissipated as understaffing at our school got worse and worse. It had felt like many workers at the school were content to take it on the chin and keep moving. That was incorrect. A deep rage extended across every grade band and role.

The task I’d struggled with was building a formal committee that met outside work hours. With the help of two external organizers from the IWW’s DC, Maryland, and Virginia Education Workers Organizing Committee and the Southern Coordinating Committee throughout the year, I accumulated the knowledge and skills I needed to do that. Here was an opportunity to apply that knowledge.

I noticed that several people had replied to the email the early elementary teacher sent, expressing anger and betrayal.

I hopped into the thread and sent a message venting my own feelings and asking if anyone wanted to form a group chat to discuss how to make a change in the workplace. Along with that, I whipped up a google form asking for contact info and platform preference—about ten people filled it out.

Workers were still on the meeting yelling at the regional director, by the way. The meeting was supposed to end by 10:00 am. It was now 10:30. Our office assistant took the mic.

“The old logo is still on the building, the same color scheme from before, too. How is this company going to support rebranding?”

The director shifted a little bit, seemingly uncomfortable with giving us information about how the company works, “the operations team helps, but really it’s up to the school board.”

The worker shot back, “We need an action item here. You said operations, does that mean the school leadership, the board, or the company makes that decision? I’m leaving so someone else needs to connect those dots.”

She received vocal and written support from staff, and kept pressing her demand until management caved and agreed to weekly meetings with worker input.

Soon, staff members turned to berate management for abandoning us. No counselor, no substitutes, and a stream of overworked, underpaid staff members running for the door had taken their toll. Our social worker spoke out again, “We desperately need a counselor. Why do we not have a counselor?”

“It all depends on enrollment, I’m sorry to say. That’s where the funding comes from, and with the school in a deficit, we can’t afford to backfill positions.”

One of the teachers—a 20-plus-year teaching veteran not to be played around with—took her turn to criticize not just the company, but the invisible board who hired them.

“I see where they’re all coming from. We felt like the stepchild of the company, like we were never a part of it as a school community. And it feels like that with the board, too. I feel like they never see the work teachers are doing in the building. We need to let the community back into the building to see what’s going on. We need a commitment to a counselor.”

“It all depends on enrollment…”

Meanwhile, I was setting up our committee’s group chat and collaborating with coworkers to set up the infrastructure to keep ourselves together over the summer. I gathered non-work contacts.

The same teacher responded to the director’s vague answers: “We don’t know where any of this information comes from! Why is there no money? Are we non-profit or for-profit? I know y’all probably came into DC thinking this was a hot money-making market for you with all the charter schools. But you don’t seem to realize that these other charter companies at least offer more resources. Two Rivers, DC Prep, and Friendship do that, why not y’all?”

I called the company out for doing nothing to cover the school’s deficit. Enrollment numbers had dropped over the pandemic, meaning less funding from the DC government while expenses rose. The higher-up and I got into an exchange where he tried to evade my questions, and I kept bringing up the same points. He fell back to the same “it’s up to the board, government, and enrollment,” line, so I went back on mute to allow others to speak.

Two more staff members aired grievances about being thrown into different positions with no warning. At that point, it was 11:00, and the regional director claimed he had another meeting he had to join. I wonder what he said about us afterward.

There are a couple of lessons to draw from this experience. One is that having a formal committee that represents the workplace is essential. Two, spontaneous direct actions by workers can win gains and catalyze a solid organizing committee.

During the 2021-2022 school year, my coworkers and I were able to win certain concessions from management through loosely coordinated direct actions. For example, our ex-principal imposed an attendance policy that collectively punished the staff for the late arrivals of only a few (and those workers were only late consistently because of terrible conditions). Throughout the next day, groups of workers would go down to the office to protest—spurred on by everyone else cheering them on. We won.

Even so, most of the tangible organizing only happened in my department—the 3-5th grade instructional team. Within our own circle, we were strongly critical of the principal. Eventually, one of the 3rd-grade teachers even lead us in writing up a formal complaint against them. But after consolidating a committee representing K-2, 3-5, para-educators, and food service staff, I discovered there was a significant minority of staff who loved our principal and assistant principal. The two of them being fired was what agitated them enough to take action and join the committee in the first place. Without a formal workplace-wide committee, we couldn’t see that. I had to readjust my perspective.

Our spontaneous actions made a difference. This year, we have an official eight-hour workday, more robust curriculum support, and a seemingly much more competent leadership team. Less concretely, management has tread a lot more lightly around us. It’s obvious they want to do more to control and discipline their human capital stock, but can’t because they know we might bite back, and hard.

Not only that, but the committee I formed survived the summer, has a meeting schedule, and is actively gathering contacts in preparation for one-on-one conversations as I write this. Summer whittled us down from ten to five, but I had my first one-on-one just the other day, and management has started to act like their old selves again, so I’m predicting that will change soon.

Contact the IWW today if you want to start organizing at your job. Click here to read more about Rybin Z., the author and organizer.

#iw #useful #organizing

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dandelionsresilience · 1 month

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Dandelion News - August 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Safari park welcomes flamingo chicks

“An animal park has said it is experiencing a "baby boom", including new flamingo chicks that have hatched. Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire has also recently welcomed rare Amur tiger cubs and an endangered cotton top tamarin monkey baby. [… Flamingos] live 15-20 years in the wild, however in captivity and safe from predators, they can reach ages of 70 years.”

2. Golf clubs fight biodiversity loss

“The project aims to help green-keepers create havens for wildlife, particularly bees and butterflies, as well as introduce mowing methods to protect rare chalk grassland and encourage wildflowers. […] “Clubs doing this are seeing significant increases in pollinators, such as butterflies, without impeding the game."”

3. ‘We’ve got baby owls again’: how farming policy is helping English wildlife

“[In Abby Allen’s] lush Devon fields native cattle graze alongside 400-year-old hedgerows, with birds and butterflies enjoying the species-rich pasture. [… The Environmental Land Management Scheme] pays farmers for things such as planting hedges, sowing wildflowers for birds to feed on and leaving corners of their land wild for nature.”

4. $440 Million to Support Pregnant and New Moms, Infants, and Children through Voluntary Home Visiting Programs

“Through this program […] trained health workers […] provide support on breastfeeding, safe sleep for babies, learning and communications practices that promote early language development, developmental screening, getting children ready to succeed in school, and connecting with key services and resources in the community – like affordable childcare or job and educational opportunities. […] In addition, the [CDC] announced a new investment of $118.5 million, over five years, to 46 states [and] six territories […] to continue building the public health infrastructure to better identify and prevent pregnancy-related deaths.”

5. Endangered leopard frogs released into the wild

“More than a hundred leopard frogs have been released into the wild at Columbia National Wildlife Refuge in Washington state. Leopard frogs are endemic to North America but have been classed as endangered since 1999.”

6. Heat-based batteries are a surprisingly versatile tool

“[T]hermal energy storage [… is] expected to be more cost-effective than conventional lithium-ion batteries for storing cheap clean electricity over longer durations[….] Thermal storage systems take up less space per unit of energy stored than lithium-ion batteries do, [… and] can also deliver their stored energy without the efficiency losses that occur in converting electricity from [AC to DC and back].”

7. Dolly Parton is sending free books to children across 21 states — and around the world

“[In 21 states,] all children under the age of 5 can enroll to have books mailed to their homes monthly. […] Since the program started, books have been sent to more than 240 million to [sic] kids in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.”

8. Biden-Harris Administration Awards $100 Million to Navigators Who Will Help Millions of Americans - Especially in Underserved Communities - Sign Up for Health Coverage

“The grants are part of a commitment of up to $500 million over five years - the longest grant period and financial commitment to date, and a critical boost for recruiting trusted local organizations to better connect with those who often face barriers to obtaining health care coverage. […] Navigators offer free assistance to people exploring health coverage options through HealthCare.gov, from reviewing available plans to assisting with eligibility and enrollment forms, and post-enrollment services such as using their coverage to get care.”

9. ‘Ultra-Accommodating’ Hotel Concept Goes Beyond ADA Accessible

“The property […] will feature wider hallways, larger guest rooms, easy access to elevators and other modifications that exceed the standards required under the [ADA]. Staff will be trained in disability etiquette, how to assist with mobility devices and provide various accommodations ranging from hearing aid loops to sensory-sensitive lighting. […] The location in San Antonio is expected to be the first — not the only one — developed under this concept.”

10. Melbourne zoo welcomes rare southern white rhino calf to the world

“Kipenzi and the new calf have been closely monitored this week, with mother and baby being kept in a secluded area accessible only to keepers while they get to know each other and bond. […] The calf has already been showing a forthright personality, snorting and stomping around his enclosure[….]”

August 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

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townpostin · 2 months

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CM Extends Jharkhand Women's Aid Scheme Enrollment

Special camps for financial assistance program to continue till August 15 Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren extends enrollment period for the Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana due to technical issues and high demand. RANCHI – Chief Minister Hemant Soren has announced that special enrollment camps for the Jharkhand Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana (JMMSY) will continue until August 15,…

#राज्य #cm hemant soren #enrollment extension #Jharkhand assembly polls #Jharkhand government initiatives #Jharkhand Mukhyamantri Maiyan Samman Yojana #Pragya Kendras #Rural Development Jharkhand #state #technical issues in government schemes #women empowerment programs #women&039;s financial assistance scheme

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hugh-lauries-bald-spot · 11 months

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If Jooster met without the social and financial implication, i.e. they're both servants, or gentlemen, do you believe they would still fall in love or is their relationship at leas partially due to their circumstances?

anon im obsessed with you. im obsessed with this.

TLDR they'd fall in love in every universe with every set of circumstances.

girlfail 4 girlboss is true no matter what social status they hold

heres what im thinking... (in mini, first meeting fic form)

Both servants AU:

Bertie and the Knight

I like to think of myself as a man of many capabilities, an iron will, a strength of character, an indomitable whatsit, a certain affability, a certain wit, irrespective of my Aunt's remarks on that matter. I may not be the most organized chap, nor the most tidy or capable of ironing, but I hardly see folding socks as being the measure of a man, what?

My employers seemed to hold a different opinion on the subject, though they often relied upon me for my quick-thinkedness, not that I had proven myself to be entirely reliable when fishing one out of the soup... I'll admit I often found myself in the reverse position, my employer pulling me out of some scheme or another gone pear-shaped...

One occasion left my employer, a Mr. Halloway, relying on his manservant, that is to say myself, to preform a scheme of his own invention, and he made it clear as... well something that is really quite clear, that it is imperative that this remain top secret. And a dashed difficult secret to keep. You see the lieu of this scheme happened to be Lady Halloway's Manor, a family reunion was to take place on the premises at the same time as this plot and well... I rather quickly found myself in somewhat soupy waters...

I had found the teapot, an ironing board, a frying pan, a box of matches and a bed-sheet, but I must have been struck by the same affliction that makes my good friend Barmy the man that he is, well you see I forgot what to do with the blasted things!

Then, in my moment of hapless peril did a Knight in black and pinstripe offer rescue, seemingly materializing out of the air itself!

"Excuse me, Mr. Wooster, I couldn't help but observe that you seem to be having some trouble tying these sheets around this teapot. Should you be requiring assistance?" he inquired, voice low and smooth and eloquent as my ears have ever heard, and I have spent my years among the noblesse, I have heard eloquence!

"Ah! Er, I mean that is to say no! That is to say no thank you Mr..." I sputtered hopelessly. You see the man was quite tall, standing a few inches above my own head, which is, you'll note, some 6-and-something feet from the ground. I'll admit I felt rather dwarfed in that moment, not that I particularly disliked the hastened pumping feeling in my chest.

"Jeeves." said Jeeves.

"Jeeves, right, yes. You need not worry yourself, Mr. Jeeves, rest assured that the Wooster brain will be able to... wrap itself around this conundrum in some way or another, what?" I assured him, not so steely in my conviction as I would have hoped...

"Indeed, Mr. Wooster... Though may I inquire as to the purpose of this... endeavour?" he asked once more, taking a hesitant glance at the ensemble of disjunctive materials I had amassed for what purpose?

I must say, feeling this man, Jeeves, broad chested and fit as he was looming over myself... I'd be hard-pressed to remember my own name at a time like this.

"Ah... ha, right... er, no, thank you, I believe I'll just... oh, well you know how these things work themselves out, hey...?" I replied, more useless and brainless as I'd ever been, which, my Aunts would say, is quite impressive.

"Indeed, Mr. Wooster." he spoke, and I couldn't help but notice the slight upward twitch of his lips and the cool, all-knowing shimmer in his dark eyes.

----

Both gentleman AU:

Where words fail, music speaks

I perused the hall upon entering it, greeting those I knew with idle pleasantries, introducing myself to those I did not. I mingled, engaged in topics of conversation far below my cognitive abilities though entertaining enough to stave off the urge to fabricate an explanation to excuse my early departure.

After some considerable time spent in placid conversation with distant acquaintances, I took notice of a man consorting among his companions by the grand piano. He appeared to be of the noblesse, although his attire denoted a certain unfamiliarity with appropriate dress for such an occasion, this demarked him from his associates who, to their credit, were composed marginally more suitably.

I parted ways with the gentleman with whom I'd been engaged in lacking conversation, on the premise of greeting an old friend who had newly arrived to the banquet. The man, chattering animatedly, took no notice of my approach as his hair, seemingly soft and almost buoyant, bounced atop his head as he spoke. His friends appeared off-put by my presence, one of them nudging him until he turned to face me.

"What ho!" the man greeted, his cheeriness alarming me somewhat as his wide eyes, the color of resplendent aventurine, seemed to beam brightly from within. "Bertram- Well, no, Bertie- yes Bertie Wooster." he added with a broad grin.

"Mr. Wooster..." I replied, temporarily at a loss for words as I met the man's extended hand with my own. His were cool, nimble, slender. I noted his fingertips on my hand, slightly calloused. I understood now why his party was huddled by the piano. "My name is Sir Reginald Jeeves."

"Oh, yes, well, good to meet you, Mr. Jeeves, rather... I say... You wouldn't happen to know who's bally shindig this would be, would you Jeeves?" he asked, leaning on the side of the pianoforte with a furrowed brow.

"I do believe the invitations were sent out on the part of a Sir Halloway, Mr. Wooster." I answered.

"And this Halloway fellow, I haven't had the pleasure as of yet, is he a... well is he a musical sort of chap?" Mr. Wooster inquired further, momentarily eyeing the instrument.

"It is my understanding that such is the case, Mr. Wooster."

"Oh, that is good news, eh, Jeeves? What is it that that Andersen johnny said about music. Something about words failing and so forth?" he asked, cheeks rosier with burgeoning excitement as his fingers seemed to play the notes on the piano's lid.

“Where words fail, music speaks.” I answered as he looked upon me with a kind of joyous gratitude I felt entirely undeserving to receive but grateful to witness.

"Truer words, what?"

"Indeed, Mr. Wooster..."

#my fic #jooster #ask #anon #sorry for the long reply youve inspired me anon #jeeves and wooster #reginald jeeves #bertie wooster #gentleman au #servant au #first meeting au

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the-badger-mole · 1 year

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I have been mulling over a Psych!AU for ATLA. I think it would be hilarious. I will probably not get around to writing it, but here's what I was thinking.

Katara in the Shawn Spencer role. She honed her skills with Pakku, her surly, not always supportive grandfather who came to live with her family when she was very young after her mother died. He saw her knack for puzzle solving and her preternaturally sharp memory. Katara has a strained relationship with him because of his deep rooted misogyny and his insistence that despite being a woman, Katara should follow his footsteps into law enforcement. It...is a weird dichotomy, and at the start of the story, it has been years since they spoke.

Sokka is her Gus. He's a tightly wound, neurotic overachiever who feels disappointed because after years of being the gifted kid, he ends up working as a pharma rep. He wanted to be an engineer or a bio-chemist, but it didn't work out (I haven't decided why just yet). He still pursues those interests in his own time, which makes him a valuable, if reluctant participant in his sister's schemes. He initially goes along with his sister's foray into psychic detecting in order to protect her, but eventually he gets just as into it as she is. Especially after he meets Suki.

Suki is our Juliette. She's a sharp junior detective who assists the sibling detective duo from time to time. She believes Katara's psychic abilities after a few times witnessing her solving cases. Well, she mostly believes it. She can't completely wrap her mind around it, but she also can't think of a rational, natural explanation for how Katara seems to know what she knows. As time goes on, she develops feelings for Sokka, the sarcastic, logical, goofy half of the detective duo. She often acts as a buffer between the siblings and her partner,

Zuko is the Carlton Lassiter of the story. He does not believe Katara's claims of psychic abilities, but like Suki, he hasn't come up with a rational explanation. Yet. Still, she gets results, he can't deny. Their relationship is rocky at first. Zuko was the best detective in the police department, until Katara started showing him up. He is a stickler for rules and procedure, and he hates how Katara and her brother just do whatever cockamamie thing pops into their head, and it works out. As they work together more, he feels like he's on the cusp of figuring her out, but he just finds himself more and more impressed with her. Eventually, they become friends, and after that, something else blossoms between them.

Toph is this story's Woody. She's a slightly unhinged ME with an attitude problem. She is probably not completely blind, but she's severely visually impaired, which makes people doubt her abilities. At first. But then they realize why she is the ME for the most prestigious police department in the area. She likes the way Katara and Sokka have shaken up the department, so she doesn't mind helping them out every so often. She knows exactly how Katara manages to solve these crimes, but she will take that secret to the grave, because she thinks it's hilarious.

Aang is McNabb, and if you've seen the show, you know I'm right.

Iroh is the chief Vic. He runs the department with efficiently and is the one who impressed the importance of the rules in his nephew, Detective Zuko. Unfortunately, he never could get the boy to be more open minded. Iroh has no trouble employing the services of a psychic detective, as long as she gets the job done. He also finds it amusing to watch his nephew trying very hard not to be in love with her.

Obviously, Pakku is the Henry. Hakoda is Hakoda. He's a good dad, but he left a lot of the work of raising his kids to his mother-in-law, Kanna and Pakku, her husband, while he worked to keep the entire household financially afloat. Now that his kids are grown and out of the house, and he works less, he is trying to keep them all connected. He's very proud of his kids, though he doesn't completely understand what exactly it is they're doing. Either that, or he occasionally fills the Gus role along with or instead of Sokka.

#atla #psych!au #sukka #zutara #this will probably never get written #it's one of those self-indulgent fics that stay on the bookshelf in my head #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

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mariacallous · 4 months

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The United States and other major countries are close to finally finding a way to turn frozen Russian state assets into financial assistance for Ukraine, with this week’s G-7 meeting of finance officials in Italy expected to lay the groundwork for a breakthrough deal worth as much as 50 billion euros.

But the U.S. push to get allies on board with large-scale financial assistance to Ukraine is undercut by the Biden administration’s reiterated limits on what Ukraine can actually do with the assistance it receives, with Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory still a no-go for Washington. Those restrictions are becoming increasingly contentious as Russia continues its bloody offensive against Kharkiv using troops and weapons staged with impunity right across the border.

The good news for Ukraine is that after weeks of U.S. prodding, key members of the G-7 seem inclined to sign off on a novel way to aid Ukraine with frozen Russian assets. The idea, which will be discussed at the meeting this week in Italy and likely further developed in meetings over the summer, is to use the approximately 3 billion euros in annual proceeds from Russia’s 300-odd billion euros in frozen state assets to underwrite a loan for Kyiv worth as much as 50 billion euros. Germany, which was reluctant to entertain previous proposals to tap frozen Russian funds, was the latest country to throw its support behind the new initiative.

“I believe it’s vital and urgent that we collectively find a way forward to unlock the value of Russian sovereign assets immobilized in our jurisdictions for the benefit of Ukraine,” said U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a speech in Germany on Tuesday. “This will be a key topic of conversation during G-7 meetings this week.”

The new plan, if it comes to fruition, would substitute a scheme that Europe just finalized this month on how to use the proceeds from Russian assets, which involved taxing the roughly 3 billion euros a year that accrue and sending the bulk of that money to Ukraine. Instead, the United States and allies in Europe and Asia would provide Ukraine with a lump sum rather than annual payments.

That would go some way toward meeting Ukraine’s huge financial burdens in the medium term, and also insulate some future assistance for Ukraine from potential political upheavals in the United States after November’s presidential election; presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has a mixed record on Ukraine and has consistently complained that the United States is doing more than Europe to support the country in its fight against Russia.

“The advantage is that you get the money for Ukraine now, and it would be partially Trump-proofed,” said Charles Lichfield, deputy director of the Geoeconomics Center at the Atlantic Council.

It’s no coincidence that Europe is just now coming around to even this watered-down way to tap frozen Russian funds, he added. Europe was reluctant to take further action to support Ukraine while U.S. assistance remained frozen. But Republican lawmakers in the United States finally unlocked billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine after months of delay, removing one possible European objection to taking a step that some countries still see as risking Russian retaliation.

Those European fears help explain why the United States and the United Kingdom have been unable to muster much support for more ambitious plans to seize the entirety of Russia’s frozen assets to aid Ukraine. The United States just passed a fresh law reaffirming its right to seize Russia’s assets, but the bulk of that money is held in Europe, making unilateral U.S. action unlikely and ineffective. Many European countries are worried that any move to seize the entirety of Russia’s frozen assets could spark tit-for-tat retaliation from Moscow, as well as threaten the euro’s attractiveness as an international reserve currency.

But Moscow isn’t waiting for an excuse to snatch Western assets in any event. In recent weeks, Russia has seized hundreds of millions of dollars in assets held by Western banks in Russia such as J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and UniCredit. Moscow has also shaken down Western businesses that left the country due to sanctions to the tune of more than $1 billion, and it continues to grab money even from companies such as IKEA that have suspended operations there.

A number of questions about the latest plan to use Russian assets remain, including the size of the loan, the timeframe of future revenues used to pay it back, and whether it would be underwritten by the entire G-7 or by the United States alone.

Perhaps the trickiest part of turning future revenues into current money is the fact that, as things stand now, the European Union needs to renew its sanctions on Russia every six months. That could cast a shadow over just how secure those future revenues meant to back a loan really are, Lichfield said. That uncertainty could increase the risk profile of any loan underwritten by the United States or other major economies.

“To lock in that revenue stream for 20 years, you’d need to change European Union law—you can’t have it subject to renewal every six months,” he said.

But the U.S.-driven progress in unlocking more aid for Ukraine remains undermined by the continued restrictions placed by the United States and some other Western allies on exactly what Ukraine can do with the military assistance it receives.

Washington has since the start of the conflict warned Ukraine that it will not allow Kyiv to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike at targets outside Ukraine itself, a prohibition that severely limits the utility of long-range weapons such as the recently supplied ATACMS, an Army missile system. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated that prohibition this week, even as Russian forces staged just outside Ukraine’s reach are sowing death and destruction in places such as Kharkiv. Washington has even sought to extend the prohibition to Ukraine’s use of its own weapons, frowning on long-range drone strikes at vital targets inside Russia, though the White House has acknowledged that “Ukraine makes its own decisions about its military operations and how it uses equipment that it manufactures.”

From Washington’s perspective, the cautious approach makes sense when dealing with a nuclear-armed state that has repeatedly threatened to escalate the war if the United States and its allies keep bolstering Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. It’s not a trivial fear: Russia did practice starting a nuclear war just this week, ostensibly in response to increased Western involvement in Ukraine’s defense. But the Biden administration’s goal of keeping Ukraine from losing while keeping the war from widening is running into a logical cul-de-sac.

“They don’t want Ukraine to fall, but they also have the priority of keeping the war contained,” said Edward Hunter Christie, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. “The mind virus that has taken hold is that you can control the war through the tap of military assistance—dial it up, dial it down—but the U.S. administration has put itself on this tightrope where it is afraid of falling on either side.”

The United Kingdom, for its part, has seemingly removed such limits. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said earlier this month that Ukraine can use British-supplied weapons as it sees fit. But U.S. limits remain.

The problem with the U.S. constraints has come into sharp relief with the Russian attack on Kharkiv, a big Ukrainian city right on the Russian border. Due to U.S. restrictions, Ukrainian forces are powerless to interdict Russian forces that stage beyond the border, leading to more destruction and more Ukrainian deaths.

That, in turn, has led a chorus of U.S. lawmakers to call on the Biden administration to relax its restrictions on Ukrainian use of U.S. arms. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers sent Austin a letter this week, echoed by a similar plea from Sen. James Risch, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. House Speaker Mike Johnson Other prominent figures, including Mike McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, have publicly questioned the continued U.S. restrictions. Even a lawmaker who held up U.S. aid for Ukraine, House Speaker Mike Johnson, is questioning the Biden administration’s limits on Ukraine’s targeting.

“The debate is live now, because of Kharkiv. Everybody can now see how absurd and damaging to Ukraine these caveats are,” said Christie, who was also formerly a NATO official. “We continue to be in a situation where Ukraine has to fight with one hand tied behind its back.”

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