#from the houses of Parliament themselves

[jaskiersroyalslut]

Why does body hurt? Why physical state? Why body? :( i miss playing the witcher all day every day im in London with no play station :( however!! National history museum tomorrow :) last time i went it was very silly

[263adder]

Don't Lose Your Vote! UK Edition

Update: Tuesday 18th June 2024 is the deadline to register to vote for the general election.

A snap general election could be called any day. This will be the first general election that requires photo ID if you vote at the polls (postal votes 📫 are unaffected by the Election Act 2022).

If you don't have an approved form of identification (list here), you can apply for a FREE voter ID photo card. Find out more below or use these 5 minutes to register and get your ID sorted instead ❎ because, and this is important to know, the government really doesn't want young people to vote.

The Explanation

Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party, may call a snap election in 2023. (A snap election is a vote brought in earlier ⏱ than the one that’s scheduled 🕐) The UK’s next general election (for MPs and the PM) is meant to happen between December 2024 and January 2025.

A snap election happens in as little as 25 days 😨 between the announcement (aka the PM asking the House of Commons’ to approve the dissolution of Parliament) and the vote 🏃‍♀️

You must be registered to vote - currently over 8 million people are not. Unlike other a democratic countries, the UK doesn’t automatically register all eligible voters. You have to do this yourself. Here’s a quick reminder of how to register:

Over the past 15 years, it has gotten harder for British citizens to vote:

Families can no longer register to vote as a household 🏡 so young voters must register themselves (Cameron Govt)

Colleges and universities are barred from registering students 👨‍🎓 (Cameron Govt)

The Elections Act requires photo ID 🤳 for anyone voting in person (Johnson Govt)

Local elections (for city and town governments) in 2023 were the first votes that required VOTER ID. According to the Electoral Commission, over 14,000 people were turned away from the polls because they had not heard about the change.

The House of Lords tried to amend the Elections Act before it passed, to include more common types of ID, such as bank statements, bills, student ID, library cards and much more. This amendment was struck down in the House of Commons. A lot of the IDs included in the approved list are more likely to be owned by older voters than younger ones. For example, a 60+ Oyster Card is acceptable ID but an 18+ Oyster Card is not.

Here’s the important thing to know: voters who don’t have a driving licence or passport or other approved forms of ID, can apply for a free voter ID photo card. Watch the video below to find out how!

And finally, please, for the love of our democracy, vote.

"Democracy is not something you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles." Abbie Hoffman

[yanderenightmare]

Dabi x darling x Hawks

TW: NSFW, noncon, war, soldiers, married reader

AN: kinda inspired by when British Parliament passed the Quartering Act in 1765, and those in the American colonies were required to provide housing for British soldiers, and how they were also expected to provide food, firewood, and even beer.

fem reader

Thinking about old-timey soldiers Hawks and Dabi who knock on your door with their caps in hand, plastic smiles on both their faces when asking for a warm homecooked meal – knowing you can’t refuse by order of the King.

It’s a humble cottage more than it’s a house, but the two men make themselves at home while you slowly stir the stew you’ve whipped up for them – only halfway of your own free will. 

Hawks asks where your husband is, and you point to the love letters displayed on the mantle and tell them he’d been called away seven months ago. 

Dabi then asks if you’ve been lonely…

You try and laugh it off as though it was a charming thing of him to say – but you’ve been feeling apprehensive ever since you opened the door – seeing their hands casually resting on the weapons by their hip as though in silent threat.

You sit with your hands in your lap while they eat. They say they’ve missed the sweetness of a woman like you – that the lads back at base don’t know how to do it the same way. And you know they’re talking about the food, but still… you can’t help but feel they’re insinuating something else.

You scream when they grab you – but it’s not like they expected anything else from a married woman – of course, a good wife would give anyone who isn’t her husband some fight – but like any woman, you’re quickly subdued by the two of them. 

Their smiles are still eerily calm, even as you cry – utterly unmatched by their actions, where they squeeze into all your plush parts with unwarranted strength.

Hawks hugs you from behind, forcing your arms behind your back – his crotch planted firm against your rear, even through all the thick layers of your skirt. 

Dabi is in front of you. He ripped open your blouse in the struggle – now whistling at the pretty sight of your tits while stroking his revolver up the crane of your neck, poking it into your cheek before using it to brush a wisp of hair out of your face – pretty and riddled with tears while you snivel and whimper.

He takes your chin in a strong hand, his tone smooth while he tells you to calm down – as though he's not got his loaded fire weapon aimed at you. His nose brushes yours as he croons at you through a smile – giving your quivering lips a quick peck.

Hawks’ tone is just as suave – playful even, grinning toothily, chuckling out how they just want to thank you for the hospitality as he quickly tugs the wool of your dress up, balling it all around your waist. Petting your cunt through your bloomers with your wrists gripped firm in his other hand, pinned tightly to the small of your back.

Cutlery, plates, and cups crash to the floor when Dabi swipes to clear the table – sending you hips-first against it.

The nose of his gun jabs into your nape, forcing your head down until your cheek smudges the splintery wood.

He doesn’t bother retraining you, letting the threat of his bullets do to all the talking while he unbuckles his belt, letting his uniform drop around his ankles.

He rips a gash in the thin cotton of your bloomers. They look too cute to remove. Not frilly like rich maidens wear, like in those catalogs the men will pass around if not pictures of each other's girlfriends. Yours are worker class, probably sewn by yourself from some old curtains – not meant to be erotic, but made so erotic because of it. 

You’re just a simple farmer’s daughter making your country proud – is what he whispers in your ear when he has two fingers stuffed up your cunt.

It’s obvious you haven’t been fucked in a while – the two digits make you wince and, in turn, make him restless to give you the real thing. He can tell just by the buck of your hips it’s going to feel the same as fucking a virgin.

You’re quickly wet like one, too. Makes it easy for him to slide into your tightness despite your teary whines. 

He lets out a heavy groan when you’ve taken him to the hilt – stays nestled there for a minute – in reverence of the tight, wet warmth he hadn’t felt in a while.

Sure, he and Hawks might have done things on cold, long, lonely nights, but nothing can quite compete with the softness of a woman in his mind.

Those precious ways you tighten up and shake from the stretch, shuffling your thighs when he kneads into your womb – soaking him with wet velvet slick.

His gun goes lazy against your back, though still very much keeping you scared in place as he lolls in and out of you at a languid pace – his chin tipped up with a sigh.

But it’s only initial relief – and once it dies down and the hunger spurs anew – he’s got his lips at your ear and his gun in your mouth – crude things flying off his lips, hips thrusting against you with the same haste of a hound in his rut – saying if he were your husband, he’d never leave your cunt and cooking – that he’d pick being buried six inches deep between your thighs than six feet deep in the dirt – sucking your cheek while telling you not to fret long over your man – how he and Hawks will help you grieve when the love letters stop coming.

The blonde is busy looting the liquor cabinet while Dabi ravages your poor cunt – but he comes back to switch with him once he finds the most expensive bottle.

It was a wedding present you’d been saving, one you’d thought you’d open the day your love would return – but Hawks cares little for the etiquette and swigs it raw from the stem as he retakes his place behind you – bathing his thick shaft with the slick sheen on your inner thighs before pressing himself inside you.

He doesn’t bother to start slow – he’d been kept waiting long enough and goes straight to pounding you deep. Kicking your legs apart – a hand buried in the cake of your ass to steady you whilst the other grips the bottle.

The table is small. Meant for only you and your man – so perfect for bending you over – just intimate enough to allow Dabi to stand at the other end with his cock in your mouth.

The whole thing wobbles against the floor as the two men have their way. 

They deserted from their battalion a long time ago and have both grown pretty tired of house-hopping – and this place seems far enough removed from where anyone would bother looking for them. 

Who knows, maybe they’ll stay until the war is over. 

♡ DABI - TODOROKI TOUYA masterlist ♡ HAWKS - TAKAMI KEIGO masterlist ♡ BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA masterlist

[aheathen-conceivably]

Dearest Zelda,

First let me say what a joy it was to receive your latest letter! Truly I was so delighted upon seeing it in the mailbox that I ran straight for Isaiah. He is not one to worry, but when our latest contact to the address we had for you in New Orleans once again went unanswered, I fear even he had begun to grow concerned. 

I am delighted to read that your silence was not without good reason, and to see the wedding portrait you sent of you and Antoine as well as the photo of your daughter. How she has grown since we last saw her! She is not much younger than our eldest now, who I fear every day is so like your brother there is simply no one thing in this world that can tame her.

It does sound like your Violette is much the same, and how much joy it brings me to think that perhaps it is Florence’s spirit manifesting through them.

Our youngest have also begun to grow like weeds, much to my chagrin. Does it ever seem like sometimes you awaken and it’s as though the grass has grown a foot overnight? That is oft how I feel looking at them, and Rosalie seems to desire all the independence of her namesake. 

She wasn’t but a day over six when she began poking into Rosella’s old room, curiously pulling forth toys and books from the gathered dust like a miniature treasure hunter. Truthfully, I could not tell you why your brother and I had yet to bring the room back into the light of day. Once you took the portrait from it it was like a pall had lifted, but I feared that stirring it would upset your brother’s long-standing grief over your mother, so I daren’t say a word. 

But as children often do, Rosalie saw little of that other than a space to call her own, and we have now finally found the heart through her to give it a new life. I do hope your sister would love to see her in there, playing dolls and writing grand romantic stories for them aloud to her ever attentive twin. It is a joy to see them rediscover the beauty in the world that pain often hides, is it not?

Have you written to Virginia as well? I fear she may not be quite as conscious of the time that has gone by. With the dissolution of The Women’s Political and Social Union, her work has turned increasingly to involvement with the Women’s Labor League, eventually coming to the attention of the Labor Party themselves. 

I will admit that I am not as informed on the goings on of London as I perhaps should be, but even still it came as no surprise when the party nominated her as their candidate for Member of Parliament. As she so painstakingly explained it, the party itself has suffered great losses from their prominence in the 20s, what with the general bias of their associations with the communists and their seeming inability to stop the rampant unemployment that has taken hold even here. 

I suppose she is fully aware that this was the cause for her nomination, as she was able to run more on the merit of her charitable associations than the negative reputation the party has recently taken on. Yet if she was surprised that this platform worked, she has never let on; but her work in the House of Commons has all but taken over her life since her election in 1931. How I do miss her and Wally, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing that she keeps her seat in the upcoming election of ‘35, even if it means we will see less of them than ever.

I imagine that what little free time she has is now spent nearby at Oxford, where Wally was accepted upon his graduation from secondary school. While I’m sure being the son of a governing member of parliament was not a mark against him, I have no doubt he was accepted there on the merits of his intelligence alone. Even from the small amount of time he spent here in his teen years, it was clear to me what a bright boy he was. 

I am told he is majoring in physics there, a field that even in the briefest explanations Virginia has given me is quite beyond my comprehension. I suppose what else are we to expect with Virginia as his mother? I’m sure he’s had but the most informative, intellectual upbringing, even when it must have been colored by the high expectations that I can only imagine your sister set for him.

Despite her near constant work and best attempts to shield her vulnerability, there are moments when we speak and it seems as though Wally's departure brought forth much of the buried sentimentality within her. I suppose under it all she is but a mother like us all, proud of her child and yet sorrowful as his life grows beyond her own.

Before I sign off your brother has instructed me to ask you to include the most minute of details regarding your predicaments with the soil in your next letter. He has also asked me to attach a veritable field guide of advice, although I have told him that everything you have written points to the fact that you are in waters we could not navigate any better even if we tried.

I must admit that when I hear the word soil I think simply of the ground beneath verdant green grasses or darkened Bramblewood canopies. It makes me realize just how little of the world I have seen, but also how lucky we have been even in the throes of what seem to be such tumultuous times. I can only hope that such good fortune will last in England for many years to come, and that some of our knowledge may bring success to your efforts as well.

I must once again thank you for the photo of you and Antoine on your wedding day. We’ve placed it in our living room next to the photo of your mother and father when they were wed, as seems only right. In return I have also included a photo of all of us when we were last together to visit Wally’s new home in Oxford; although I’ll be the first to admit I do hope we spend the next high holiday together in Henford instead. Anything that close to London makes me long for the forest more than anything else.

Your mother once told me that she sent you every photo we took, and that you have been collecting them over the years. I hope this can make a welcome addition to such a tradition, and do always know that you are welcome here should you ever find need of solace in the place you once called home. 

Your sister in marriage,

 Summer Darlington

[allthecanadianpolitics]

One of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative MPs was spotted at an after-party for a far-right group that has been mobbing parliamentarians, disrupting ceremonies honouring Terry Fox and getting into altercations with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. Michael Cooper, Poilievre’s shadow minister for Democratic Reform, stopped by a party at the Red Pepper restaurant on Queen Street to pose for photos with a group that has been confronting MPs in the streets of Ottawa and accusing them of “treason.” The so-called “Wellington Street Regulars” are a convoy spin-off group that has been staging daily protests outside Parliament Hill for the last two years and are known for livestreaming videos of themselves aggressively confronting MPs. A number of the group’s regular members say they are on security lists and banned from entering the House of Commons.

Continue Reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[city-of-ladies]

Edith Garrud - The suffragette that knew martial arts

The first British female teacher of jujutsu, Edith Garrud (1872-1971) taught the suffragettes to protect themselves.

A passion for martial arts 

Edith Margaret Williams was born in Bath in 1872 and started her career as a physical instructor for girls. She shared this passion for physical culture with her husband, William Garrud, a wrestling and boxing instructor.

They came in contact with Edward Barton-Wright who had spent three years in Japan, and studied judo and jujutsu. He elaborated his self-defense techniques known as “bartitsu” and opened his club in London in 1899.

The Bartitsu Club was notably opened to women. Edith was thus able to train alongside her husband. By 1908, Edith and William became jujutsu instructors themselves with William in charge of the men’s class and Edith teaching the women and children. 

Jujutsu specializes in speed, precision and the use of soft, flowing movements to deal with aggression rather than using just brute strength. The couple showcased their skills through demonstrations. In one of them, Edith defeated a male aggressor played by her husband. The sight of this 4ft-11inch (150cm) woman effortlessly throwing a much taller man greatly impressed the audience. 

In 1907, Edith starred in a short film Jujutsu down the footpads in which an innocent lady overpowers two ruffians. 

Vote for women

Edith took an interest in the cause of women’s suffrage. In 1909, she was invited by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) to give a demonstration in the presence of Emeline Pankhurst and other leading figures of the movement. As William was ill, Edith demonstrated alone and invited members of the audience to test her skills. This included subjecting a skeptical police officer to a powerful shoulder throw. 

In 1910, Edith also wrote a series of essays, advocating for the growing community of female martial artists and how self-defense could free women by giving them the means to protect themselves:

“You constantly read in the papers reports of dastardly attacks on helpless women by thieves and ruffians. A woman who knows jujutsu, even though she may not be physically strong, even though she may not have even an umbrella or parasol, is not helpless. I know many women personally who have tried the tricks I shall explain to you and come out on top. They have brought great burly cowards nearly twice their size to their feet and made them howl for mercy.”

The bodyguards

The suffragettes faced dangerous and violent situations. This was especially the case on Friday 18th November 1910. 300 WSPU members marched on the House of Parliament and faced police officers armed with batons. Women were subjected to six hours of beatings and arrests and there were widespread reports of sexual abuses.

Emeline Pankhurst thus asked Edith to train a group of women that would be known within the WSPU as the Bodyguard. Led by Gertrude Harding, they acted as agitators, disruptors and decoys. 

Edith trained them in hand-to-hand combat and the use of homemade concealed weapons such as wooden India clubs and the fashioning of cardboard body armor. The suffragettes took advantage of their opponent's surprise and exploited their weaknesses.

They for instance struck directly at a police officer’s helmet to knock it from his head. Policemen were held accountable for the loss of uniform items and had to pay for their replacement. They cut the suspenders so that the policeman had to hold back his pants, blinded the police with a charge of umbrellas etc.

When told by a policeman that she was making an “obstruction” during a demonstration near the House of Commons, Edith pretended to drop her handkerchief, threw the policeman over her shoulder and disappeared into the crowd. 

In prison, suffragettes went on hunger strikes and were subjected to force-feeding. The “Cat and Mouse Act” of 1913 allowed hunger-striking prisoners to be released and then re-incarcerated as soon as they had recovered their health. The Bodyguard thus protected and hid those women.

Edith for instance hid militant suffragettes in her dojo, telling the police not to disturb her lessons and leave her property. 

A quiet retirement

Edith’s contributions to the suffragist movement ended with the beginning of the First World War. Little is known of her life afterward. 

She and her husband would run the Golden Square dojo until their retirement in 1925 and retired to a quieter life. William passed away in 1960. In an interview in 1965, Edith said that her recipe for a long, happy and healthy life was: 

“Self-discipline. Of course, I had to be extremely disciplined to succeed at jujutsu and hold my own with men […] but it is the mind which really has control, not only of your muscles and your limbs and how you use them, but also your thoughts, your whole attitude to life and other people.”

She died in 1971. A plaque on the building that had been her home can be seen today: “Edith Garrud 1872–1971. The suffragette who knew jiu-jitsu lived here”.

Further reading

Dorlin Elsa, Se défendre : une philosophie de la violence  

Godfrey Emelyne, Femininity, Crime and Self-Defence in Victorian Literature and Society: From Dagger-Fans to Suffragettes

Kelly Simon, "Edith Garrud: The jujutsuffragette". In McMurray, Robert; Pullen, Allison (eds.), Power, Politics and Exclusion in Organization and Management

Ruz Camila, Parkinson Justin, ““'Suffrajitsu': How the suffragettes fought back using martial arts”

[claraameliapond]

PSA : THE INDIGENOUS VOICE REFERENDUM 14th October 2023

The Yes Vote is literally just giving indigenous Australians A SEAT AT THE TABLE to give information and advice about issues and governmental decisions that affect them.

Indigenous information and advice for indigenous issues from indigenous Australians.

That's it . It's acknowledging their existence as the first peoples of Australia and recognising that they have valuable information to contribute about their cultures, the ways they live, what their most pressing needs are and the best ways in which to help, to enable governments to effectively help them.

The government already provides "help" each year, in an effort to close the gap on education access, healthcare access, and many other pressing needs - they are already using taxpayer money to do this but crucially, these efforts have not been successful because we are missing out on crucial information.

The Voice to Parliament gives the government access to invaluable information that enables it to create and better implement aid, education, healthcare , equal opportunity.

I have been very actively involved in many Reconciliaton efforts for the vast majority of my life -

At 16 I travelled to some of the indigenous rural communities in Australia, met elders and individuals no tourist has access to meet, learnt from them, and saw what was there.

I saw the attempts, the efforts to provide access to Western education, that the rest of the country has, to provide healthcare, housing etc.

They don't work

They are based on western ways of life, ideas of community and interaction.

It's not the same.

They don't work.

Fundamentally because even if well intentioned, your efforts to help can actually harm if you don't have access to crucial information about how indigenous communities live.

We need to accommodate our help, our efforts, our aid to the specific needs and ways of life, values and dynamics of the many indigenous communities, especially rural, that exist across Australia, so that they have access to the same human rights we all do.

The human right to healthcare and education that we all have- it's not accessible in the same ways for indigenous communities.

It's provided, but on western terms- with the western expectation that children will leave their families for 6 months at a time and travel extremely far away to attend school, for example.

This is so backwards and outdated even for western sensibilities, and an incredibly outdated mode of education that is unhealthy emotionally for any child, let alone vulnerable people who have to choose between a western run school and their culture, their families - literally being a part of their community, a present member.

There are better ways to provide access to education than this. Ways that don't disrupt their connection to community, land and culture.

And the best people to ask, to provide information that can properly inform us about these issues, and how best to navigate them, fix them, are the the indigenous Australians themselves- they are the experts.

So that our aid and help and efforts actually do - help. Actually work.

The funds are going there anyway. So we need to put it to use in effective ways.

What we have now doesn't work.

We can only make it better.

Please Vote YES for The Indigenous Voice to Parliament

It is the beginning of lasting, effective positive change for vulnerable communities, and for us all.

[wonder-worker]

Noble girls received confusingly mixed messages about the clothing they should choose. The clearest Biblical guidance came from the author of 1 Timothy who had advised that ‘women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls or expensive clothes, but with good works’. This provided justification for generations of Christian authors who associated fine clothing with sinfulness. Jean de Meun, whose Roman de la Rose was to be found in many fifteenth-century noble houses, asserted that ‘a woman who wants to be beautiful . . . wants to wage war on Chastity’. Yet devotional books routinely indicated the high status of virgin martyrs and the Virgin Mary herself by depicting them in opulent and elegant garments, like the cloth of gold dress that St Cecilia wore over her hair shirt. The upper classes believed that ‘in a well-ordered society, consumption patterns would reflect the hierarchy of status’. In 1363 parliament had even introduced sumptuary laws outlining the types of clothing permissible to those of various stations. Gentlemen whose lands were worth less than £ 100 annually were forbidden to wear silk, embroidered clothing, gold jewellery ‘or any manner of fur’, and their wives and children likewise. Knights whose land was valued at less than 200 marks annually were forbidden to wear the most expensive wools and furs or cloth of gold, and even those receiving £ 1,000 a year could only wear ermine or cloth embroidered with jewels in their headwear. Although the legislation was repealed just over a year later, as Christopher Dyer has argued, it indicates the legislators’ ‘assumption that the higher aristocracy ought to wear’ opulent apparel that distinguished them from their inferiors.

One author who tried to steer a helpful middle course was Christine de Pisan, the daughter of an Italian physician and widow of one of the secretaries of Charles V of France...In her manual, Le Trésor de la Cité des Dames, Christine advised ‘the wise princess’ to ensure that ‘the clothing and the ornaments of her women, though they be appropriately beautiful and rich, be of a modest fashion, well-fitting and seemly, neat and properly cared for. There should be no deviation from this modesty nor any immodesty in the matter of plunging necklines or other excesses.'

-J.L. Laynesmith, "Cecily Duchess of York"

[asynca]

There is a post circulating that looks like this:

and it is fucking FULL of hasbara bullshit. I don't know if the person themselves is a psyop or whether they've just been brainwashed but eh, the result is the same

I'm too fucking tired to do an essay about it, so here are some key points of bullshittery, paraphased:

The most important thing is that it omits the cruelty, brutality, theft, segregation, etc that Israelis exacted against Palestinians and continue to do now. DAILY settlers harass and steal from Palestinians in the west bank. PRE Oct 7 nearly 200 Palestinians had been killed there JSUT THIS YEAR. Gaza was under blockade by Israel, they controlled everything going in and out and killed commerce there, made them dependant on handouts. Israelis go into Palestinians' houses in East Jerusalem and just fucking steal them! Kick out the people there! The IDF and police support Israelis doing this. Any nation doing this needs to seriously ask themselves a question of "what the fuck are we doing"?

'only 15,000 people died in the nakba, the catastrophe of it is greatly exaggerated' - 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, either by force or because Israel made an example of a couple of towns by brutully, brutally torturing and killing and raping Palestinians there so people fled. They had their land, property and wealth STOLEN. A whole population of people had their wealth and land stolen. This is something that is CONTINUING TO THIS DAY.

'Arabs participate in life and parliament and this is evidence of exaggeration of the criticism' that's like saying we have a few women in government so sexism is cured

Presentation of the 1967 Palestine borders as agreed by the UN as if it's the perfect fair solution when the borders are basically around the least arable land with the least amount of water

Criticism of Israel dismissed as antisemitism which ex Mossad agents have confirmed is a deliberate tactic to silence dissent and criticism

Presenting Hamas as the enemy of Palestinians which is just not the case, Hamas is the government of Gaza and like any government, people's views and opinions sometimes align with them and sometimes don't. Some people think they are heroes, other people think they are a barrier to peace. What they definitely are are resistance fighters fighting against a violent oppressor. Israel is a violently oppressive and racist state. The enemy of Palestinians is not Hamas, it is fucking Israel.

'Palestine didn't have a government we recognize as a government before we came so that justifies us taking over'

'We have some ancestry in this place so all of us are indigenous to it and have a right to run the place' - self-explanatory. Lots of ancestral Irish folks around the world. Should we all just go take over Ireland?

God, this post. Go read it. See how mild and acceptable hasbara is? This is the shit they're peddling and it's one-sided and omits SO many important details.

The only thing I agree with is that it is cruel and unrealistic to remove the people who are living in places now (where their property wasn't directly stolen from a family with living descendants!!!) removing millions of people would be another mass cruelty that would traumatize children etc. But yeah, any solution needs to be JOINTLY AGREED WITH BY PALESTINIANS. NOT FOR THEM.

like OP talks about confirmation bias but like all these half-facts they're accepting without examination are exactly fucking that. I doubt they've listened with an open mind to a single Palestinian and they definitely aren't 'seeking out content that doesn't confirm their biases' because the Palestinian voice is COMPLETELY absent from their oh-so carefully written post.

Everything I've said here is googleable so go for your life.

[joanna-lannister]

I promised I would make a masterlist of all my favorite JC fanfictions, so here you go. Those fics aren't sorted out by Canon or AU, they are just a mix of what I loved over the years.

How My Story Ends by Millie55 Cersei and her army arrive in Winterfell to aide in the battle against the Night King. Or Cersei and Jaime reunite in Winterfell.

Casablanca by LordStannisTheGodDamnMannis666 Tywin extends Jaime’s business trip abroad at short notice with express instructions to fly directly to the next country. Jaime however rather likes the idea of a detour, and he knows the perfect person to join him. Aka As long as he gets there by Monday morning it doesn’t really matter what he does in the meantime, does it?

They Want to Make Me Their Queen by Millie55 Cersei has lost everything except 2 things: Jaime, and her Kingdom.

Until Death Do Us Part by LordStannisTheGodDamnMannis666 A new law is passed in parliament that changes Jaime and Cersei's lives for good, allowing them the opportunities, freedom, and happiness that they once could only dare to hope for.

my blood alone remains by houselannister The Austrian Princess is barely fourteen when she leaves her homeland for France. She speaks very little French, and is wilful, stubborn and capricious. She leaves Vienna with an escort of two thousand men, loyal Austrian soldiers.

The Ribbon by Magnolie Cersei is shipped off to France by their mother to part her from Jaime. But there is no without each other for them, only together.

Oh come all ye faithful by Magnolie Jaime and Cersei have their own ways and excuses to escape the boring Christmas Parties and even if they have to stay... there is always a way to spice things up.

therefore each to other bound by copacet Having escaped Stark custody, Jaime returns to King's Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater—thus solving some of his family's problems while also creating several new ones.

of love and beauty by liesmyth “We’re lions.” Jaime’s hand clasped around her own. “Let them all choke on it.”

The Price of Love by nightingalesighs Cersei studies her sleeping twin’s face one night trying to pinpoint when Jaime’s feature’s had changed. When his hair had started going grey and what caused the wrinkles on his familiar face.

She's always been afraid of storms by vwoolf Cersei's afraid of storms and seeks out her brother's company.

you gave away what you never really had, and now your purse is empty, I can see why you're sad by houselannister It's been five years since Jaime left London. Now Tywin is dead, and business is business. Cersei flies to Paris to get what's hers.

foreshore by lutece Still, the lions linger—perhaps they are dead across the sea, but in Pentos they have flourished with their cub.

The Better Cure by corrielle After being unhorsed by Loras Tyrell on Prince Joffrey's name day, Jaime visits Cersei to soothe his wounded pride.

perihelion by houselannister London, 2020 - After Tywin Lannister's death, Jaime and Tyrion uncover their father's most precious secret: a hidden sister. Money and power intersect with family and obsession.

Prophecies & Promises by spinsterclaire When the 18-year old Lannister twins find themselves locked out of their father's townhome, they visit an old acquaintance to escape the Manhattan blizzard. There, they must confront their fears about keeping promises, accepting fate, and bringing new life into the world.

Study Me, Study You by LordStannisTheGodDamnMannis666 Jaime needs help with his homework, and who better to help than Cersei?

Take My Hand, The Night Grows Ever Colder by LordStannisTheGodDamnMannis666 Across the Narrow Sea, in a stone house on the shore of Pentos, Cersei Lannister dreams of her children.

The Loneliest Girl in Town by Millie55 Cersei fears she may have lost Jaime for good - every last piece of him.

Quiet. by frozenpapers Tywin interrupts Cersei and Jaime.

Hush. by frozenpapers A phone call interrupts Cersei and Jaime.

[aressida]

What is the Digital Identity Bill?

It's the glue that holds together the digital control agenda by which every Australian will be controlled, corralled, exploited and then gagged when they speak or act in opposition.

The government knows Digital ID will be compulsory by the device of preventing access to government services, banking services, air travel and major purchases for any Australian who does not have a Digital ID.

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"Digital ID cannot be stopped But can we cut off its balls?

In my opinion there is not much chance of stopping digital id entirely with the current ownership of the opposition party, Libs-Nats, and with so many Labor Greens and Teals in parliament.

Our best hope is to win some concessions… by politely demanding (by phone, or in person) each of our local MPs propose or support another member proposing the following amendments or they will lose your vote and a dozen of your friends and family’s votes at the next election.

Required Amendments:

(1) ensure there are strong and broad protections against any person, entity, business, government, etc making digital ID compulsory for any purpose whatsoever (be that to gain or maintain employment, be it to access a space or place, be it to purchase (or even to receive for free) any goods or services, to receive or access any payments or services from the government, etc).

(2) ensure the protections are sufficiently broad to protect from “nudging”. For example special queues for people with/without digital ID (where one group is treated with a different level of service), for example cutting back on staffing for face to face traditional ID verification processes, or any other practice which could be seen by a reasonable person to make non digital ID options less convenient.

(3) amend the Bill to ensure that no one should be able to veto the protections outlined in (1) and (2) for any reason whatsoever, not even the relevant minister.

(4) also update consumer rights laws and privacy laws to enhance and complement the above protections (especially against it becoming mandatory or mandatory adjacent or as mandatory as possible).

Read on to understand why asking your MP to simply vote against it will probably be worse….

It is not good enough to ask Lib Nats to vote against Digital ID outright. There’s not enough of them by themselves.

We also know the Greens and Teals are willing to vote FOR it in its current form. We saw that in the Senate.

Labor plus Greens in the lower house is more than enough to push it through.

Therefore we have to (a) scare the pants off labor/greens/teals backbenchers, especially any of them who only won on slim margins or saw huge swings against them last election. Make it clear they need to do what we the people in their electorates want or they are risking their future in politics.

However, Labor MPs almost never ‘cross the floor’ and vote against their party. They risk expulsion from their party, and then they will probably lose their seat at the next election. Again, they’re scared of losing their job as MP.

So option 1 (tell them to vote against Digital ID) is a non-starter. Labor MPs will not do that unless their whole party decides not to - which is highly unlikely. We will simply end up with Digital ID legislation in its current form with minimal protections from it becoming mandatory.

So we need to convince the Labor MPs to take the amendments issue to the Party room meetings to get the suggested amendments through. I.e. we need to scare them enough." - JS Digital ID. Telegram.

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[gemsofgreece]

Greek news of these days

European elections. I am so amused by the people we are sending to the European parliament. Regarding the general results of the European elections, I'd dare say we can observe some improvement compared to the horrors of recent years. Of course the results were still horrible but at least they weren't as horrible as they were previously or as horrible as they were in other European countries i.e France, Austria, Germany... But the people that were most voted lol I can't wait for us to lose the last drop of integrity we might have had in Europe. For context, amongst the elected MEPs are a) one of the two most hated, bootlicking journalists in the country, b) another journalist who started her career as edjy and denunciatory and now she's apparently the exact opposite, c) at least a couple relatives / descendants of well known politicians that have done nothing on their own, d) a gymnast and model who now claims he is against pre-marital sex but admits he is a sinner and continues sinning (lol) and now he says it still hasn't sunk in that he is an MEP, e) woman who has changed face due to 682746 plastic surgeries and her whole political rhetoric is turning against other women for not subscribing to traditional feminine roles, taking care of themselves, always shaving their body hair, being skinny etc f) a 76 year old shepherd and butcher???? that she joined the elections out of impulse and now she doesn't know how the hell she was elected?!?!?! Don't get me wrong, this woman might be decent but come on, let's be real, does she sound qualified for this position? And most of the others are like that because I heard almost everybody is ridiculous amongst the elected. But honestly well done guys, let's just go utterly destroy our already suffering image and whatever tiny political impact we might have had. I can't wait. Then again all of Europe elected pathetic MEPs this year. But I hope we can still shine as some of the most embarrassing!

Wind energy. If you follow this blog VERY closely, you might remember that the issue of the uncontrollable expansion of wind parks has been discussed before. The way wind parks are made in Greece is extremely problematic because Greece has too little - let's say - "expendable" space for the housing of the wind turbines, so the government which pushes for them for MANY reasons starts making them inside environmentally protected areas, Natura 2000 locations, big mountains and generally regions with a lot of wildlife and traditional culturally significant destinations of high aesthetic and intrinsic value. So, after planting like a gazillion of wind turbins, civilians were notified that the electricity bills are about to become more costly. The government's explanation for this literally was "well it wasn't as windy as we hoped :( so now we have to raise the electricity bills... sorry". For real. I can't wait for tourists to finally start blacklisting Greece due to extensive deterioration of the natural landscape due to the wind farms. Come on guys. (The only reason I want this is because they will never stop for the sake of the environment, the landscapes and the protesting civilians of this country. Only loss of immediate profit could ever make them reconsider.)

BBC doctor Michael Mosley's death and the disappearance of another Dutch tourist. I have said this before, I will say it again. A lot of people seem to underestimate the challenges of the Greek environment and landscape. Greece has indeed this thing of often looking sweetly unassuming to the inexperienced eye but make no mistake. Greece has a VERY treacherous landscape and terrain. Don't go into nature unprepared, without water, mobile phone, sun protection, proper attire and shoes. Don't take athletic initiatives on your own if you are on the older side, have health issues and also in general, especially if you are not familiar with such terrains as the Greek one. I see the news. 60-70 year old people from the UK and the Netherlands embarking on their own for hiking during Greek heatwave? Recipe for disaster. I mean, I almost died once and I was with a group, next to a city, 40 years younger than them, healthier I guess and it was February! Because some of you don't have the full picture; it's not just about the scorching sun. It's not just about the air temperature being in the 30-40+ degrees. Greece's terrain is extremely rugged, uneven, complex and rocky and it causes rockfalls all the freaking time. The southern terrain is often barren especially in the summer and the rocks and land can get temperatures in the 60-70 degrees. You can not even say "oh I am probably getting a heatstroke but there's no hope for me to find shade or find my way out of here so I will at least lie down until sunset or someone finds me". You cannot even lie down because the rocks are burning more than the sun! Furthermore, Greece has a truly, unbelievably blinding sunlight. The white and lightcoloured rocks and terrain reflect all this light back, which in such conditions can hinder totally your eyesight. Mosley had sunglasses, a hat and an umbrella but as you see even these weren't enough in an afternoon during a heatwave and far from the signaled path. I am sorry for him but what on earth was Mosley thinking??? As for why his body was not found earlier, we should never rule out incompetence, however in this case I believe he just fell among all those rocks and was sort of camouflaged let alone that nobody expected him to have managed to reach so close to safety and yet not make it. They apparently were checking mostly the more remote and dangerous areas, which is so ironic! RIP. I hope the Dutch tourist is found alive and well. Greece can be entirely safe but as long as you practice common sense, like in all places.

The ancient shrine discovered in Crete. I made a small post about it here already. Some newer estimations place the date of the monument a little later in time (3000 - 2000 BC) so somewhere between proto-Minoan and palaeo-Minoan eras. However, the shrine is unique in Greece. It is a structure of off-centre circles and originally it might have had a tower/ pyramid with a conic shape. Such monuments have so far only been found in the Near East, including a very ancient one dating back to 7000 BC. This is pure hypothesis but archaeologists examine whether the shrine is associated to a very early worship of Zeus or the worship of the early proto-Indoeuropean deity that eventually led to several equivalents, amongst them Zeus. Some others wondered whether this could be the shrine for the "omphálio pedíon", the location where Zeus' umbilical cord fell as he was carried by the Kouretes. Archaeologists and historians from around the world had been searching such a location in Crete for a long time. But of course, take this with a grain of salt. It's too early and so far archaeologists only make assumptions. What's certain is that there is not another such formation in Greece and it will eventually provide a lot of information regarding either very early Mycenaean Greeks or the Minoans or maybe even pre-Greek populations.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil floods produce hundreds of thousands of climate refugees

The middle-aged couple stepped through the muddy remains of their neighborhood. For 12 days, they’d steeled themselves for this: the moment when they’d return to their house, swallowed by floodwaters, and decide whether it, and their old life, was worth saving.

Even as the waters rose, maiming this prosperous city in southern Brazil, claiming more than 160 lives and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes, Silvia and Vitor Titton had tried for hope. But the last vestiges of optimism now evaporated.

Rotting fish lay in the front yard. Sticky, foul mud lacquered everything. A lifetime’s worth of mementos — her daughter’s theater clothes, an old camera — were lost. Picking through the detritus, Silvia realized she could never return. She didn’t know where she would go. But this part of Porto Alegre, increasingly prone to cataclysmic floods, was no longer home.

“No, I can’t do this,” she said. “I can’t live with this fear of water, fear of rain.”

For years, scientists have warned that climate change would displace millions of people, reordering the world’s human presence as people searched for safety. The World Bank has estimated that more than 216 million people couldbe driven from their homes by sea level rise, flooding, desertification and other effects of warming temperatures. The Institute for Economics and Peace said the figure could reach 1.2 billion people. A future characterized by “climate refugees,” the European Parliament reported, was coming.

That future now appears to have arrived. Floods in Pakistan in 2022 displaced an estimated 8 million people. Floods inEthiopiain 2023 and Kenya this year forced hundreds of thousands more from their homes.

And now, Brazil.

“Brazil is not going to be a one-off,” said Andrew Harper, a senior official at the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. “What we are seeing is the start of something that will become more frequent and more extreme and lead to more people left vulnerable, with no choice but to move to a safer location.”

Continue reading.

[taffywabbit]

IMPORTANT PETITION FOR CANADIANS (and also non-Canadians i guess but it's specifically Canadians who can sign it)

haven't seen anyone share this on tumblr yet so i guess i'll do it myself! here's the text copied directly from the petition itself (linked below):

e-4268

Petition to the House of Commons

Whereas:

The world is becoming increasingly hostile to transgender and nonbinary individuals; Transgender and nonbinary people's rights to live as themselves are being restricted and removed in many places; This includes the so-called "Western democracies" which have historically been presumed safe; The United Kingdom is revising their Equality Act to exclude trans people from its protections; More than a dozen American states have enacted or are considering legislation eliminating or criminalizing gender-affirming care; and Canada has prided itself on being an inclusive, tolerant, and welcoming society for everyone regardless of gender identity or gender expression.

We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to extend to transgender and nonbinary people the right to claim asylum in Canada by reason of eliminationist laws in their home countries, whatever country that may be.

basically this petition, posted by MP Mike Morrice of the Green Party of Canada, proposes to expand asylum rights to transgender people/families who are fleeing transphobic policies and legislation in their home countries. this would be a pretty big fuckin deal if it goes through!!

if you're a Canadian citizen, please take a moment to sign this petition and then share the link with any other Canadians you know! if you're not Canadian, sharing it would still be a big help to ensure as many people see it and sign it as possible. if this gets brought into parliament and is passed, it'll allow Canada to become a safe haven for trans people who need to escape dangerous situations and persecution around the world.

this may be a Canadian petition, but its benefits would extend to everyone if we can make it happen!

[thetruearchmagos]

Democracy Manifest

Elected Government In The United Commonwealth

Well, thank you @theprissythumbelina for giving me the kick I needed to get started on this topic, I hope you enjoy what's to come! Otherwise, I'll Tag @athenswrites @caxycreations @hessdalen-globe @nerdexer @the-ellia-west @avrablake @coffeewritesfiction @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling

A/N: This took... so long... But I can't say I'm not happy with it!

The House

The Parliament of the United Commonwealth is the highest legislative body of the UC, comprised of 5,227 elected Members representing the over four billion citizens of that polity. From its seat in Parliament House on the Weslich island of Sudpulau, this body, the single largest legislature in the 12 Worlds, passes the laws of the Commonwealth.

The Vote

Elections to Parliament are held every four years, with the exception of by-elections which occur to satisfy vacancies. They occur on a one-person-one-vote, secret-ballot basis using a 'Single Transferable Vote', and are open to all adult (>18) citizens who have been citizens for at least two months. Elections are overseen by the Electoral Activities Bureau, an independent public body, which manages the continents spanning infrastructure required for elections and draws the term's electoral map prior to every election.

The Member

Seats are open to any adult citizen who wishes to run regardless of any demographic, with the only restriction being if one is currently under a criminal trial or is incarcerated. Members are not bound by any term limits, and the only barrier to their Seat is the vote of their constituency.

The Three

Three individual Members dominate the House.

Firstly is the Chief Minister, Head of State and Government of the United Commonwealth and voted in by a simple majority of members.

Next is the Leader of the Opposition, bestowed with a simple majority of non-Government Members. Their lot is to hold the Government to account at every turn, patiently awaiting their turn on the opposite Bench.

Finally, is the Speaker of the House, approved with a simple majority and presiding over the business and conduct of Parliament in its frequently lively discourse.

No term limits apply on any of these offices, and all can be revoked with a vote of no confidence from the whole House, or the Opposition alone in the LoO's case.

The Benches

The vast majority of Members are, however, not seated in a formally recognised office; Unlike many national Parliamentary systems, at present no further formal Cabinet exists beyond the CM, a state of affairs viewed with increasing skepticism.

Instead, backbenchers on either side are as a rule 'organised' on a highly ad hoc basis, shifting with Party and Coalition tastes and the wider circumstances of the Commonwealth.

First and foremost among these organisations are the Parties.

Parliament's Members are nearly all affiliated with any of numerous political parties, though parties themselves are not recognised organisations in the eyes of the government de jure. They may range in size from a thousand or more members spread across member states, to a dozen or so, and have been founded and internally organised along an infinite number of ideals.

Both the LoO and CM are almost always the 'leaders' of their respective party, though the way appointments to either office are decided on is at every party's discretion. Party leaders outside either office are nonetheless still key elements of the political ecosystem, guiding their members into and between Coalitions.

A universal feature of all major parties are Party Whips, Members appointed within their party's ranks and charged with ensuring that their colleagues cast their vote precisely as their Leader wishes. Though not imbued with any unique power within the House, beyond its chambers they can hold the life and death of any politician's career in their hands, and are commonly seen as the right hands of their respective leaders.

Aside from these two positions, the actual make up and structure of political parties is highly diverse, and often highly fluid, reliant as much on circumstances outside the House as in it. The criteria for membership, its exclusivity, and internal Party appointments differ greatly between Parties, which form, merge, die off, or reform themselves in an unending state of change. One could at any point found a Party of their own for any reason if it suited them, and the only restriction they'd need worry about is the will of their constituents.

However, no Party in history has ever achieved a unilateral majority in the House, and thus forming a government is an exercise in Coalition building and breaking above anything else. Coalitions, like the parties that make them, are not bound or recognised by any rule of Parliament, and so the rules and dynamics that define them change with every government and election. Chief Ministers as a rule come from the largest Party in the largest Coalition who can agree to vote for them, but ultimately no law dictates that a minority Leader could not hold that office.

Finally, comes Committees. As above, Committees themselves are not strictly recognised bodies, but are formed and governed on an as needs basis according to long established precedents and expectations. Typically, Government, Opposition, and House Committees exist simultaneously on any range of subjects, with the latter including Members from both groups. While Committees are never necessary for relevant legislation to pass, deference to their existence and decisions is a political inevitability.

Though Independent Members exist, they are a rare occurrence outside of the most 'recently democratic' member states. Where they do appear, however, they usually rely on a combination of their own extremely great charisma, some specifically and highly localised appeal, and Party apathy to gain and hold their Seats. Still, unseating such Members is often an uphill and unpopular struggle. Once in the House, Independents typically have a very difficult time intruding themselves into the business of Parliament, and where they do tend to make their case on issues distinctly relevant to their constituencies.

In summary, while the Charter of Parliament never established any further positions beyond the Speaker, Chief Minister, and Leader of the Opposition, the House has in the century since built for itself a long and deep institution of customs and traditions with which its internal business is regulated and managed. Such a 'laissez faire' approach to politics mirrors well the UC's generally fluid approach to government at large, and very much conforms with the original intentions of the earliest theorists and politicians who had established the Commonwealth long before. While at times these institutions have faltered in the face of politicial crises in the past, they have survived, and seem set to continue to survive.

The Legislative Process

While Parliament has an absolute and final say on the passing of Bills into Acts of Parliament and thus the law of the land, it is not the only body involved in the legislative process.

The first step in this process is the introduction of a Bill into Parliament. Any Member can introduce any Bill they wish at any time, but this right is also held by both the Commission of the UC, its independent executive body, and the Council of Ministers, comprised of member states governments' cabinet executives.

After this, Bills may legally be immediately passed into law if a majority of Members vote in agreement. Such an event is, however, exceedingly rare, and no Member of any affiliation is likely to cast their vote before a Bill undergoes an intensive debate.

The Bill in question is first submitted to the most relevant House Committee for initial investigation and debate. This might involve summoning and interrogating government or private individuals, alter and negotiate over the details of Bills, or even introducing their own Bills with a complete background onto the floor.

This begins an occasionally recursive loop of Bill debates, failed votes to pass, and returns to Committee for further alterations. Considering the sheer number of Bills on the floor at any given time, most such debate takes place in the numerous sub-chambers housed within Parliament House's vast structure, returning to the main chamber only for final votes.

Assuming a majority of Members vote in favour of it, the Bill passes into the Council of Ministers for a final check. Effectively acting as a 'semi-Upper House', the CoM only rarely invokes its right to dismiss a Bill for further debate with their own recommendations, a power which can only be used on any given Bill once. Typically, though, the Council will have made its intentions known well before this stage, and so Bills which are handed to it usually sail through without alteration.

Thus, as far as 'speed' is concerned, the time it takes for a Bill to pass ranges from days, to years, to, of course, never. The lack of a 2/3rds supermajority requirement for any action at all at least limits that angle, and the intensity of debate and diversity of potential views that exists leads to a long but undeniably thorough and expansive legislative process.

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Further Details...

On Members

The equity of Parliament's ranks under the law is for the most part well established in reality. Sheer wealth at either a personal or party level is rarely corroborated with electoral success, especially given the UC's wide reaching and strict financial transparency laws. Nonetheless, a number of factors can serve to shape the electability of a candidate beyond how skill and ideological appeal.

More specifically, the tendency to favour candidates based on race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, or gender is more common in regions and their societies which are relatively new to the United Commonwealth and its own brand of social and cultural 'liberalism'. In societies where the UC's social and political culture have become more entrenched, such influences hold less influence than individual charisma, oratorical skill, and of course how they align with the political movements and issues of the day.

On Committees

The fluidity of Committes has at times been both a strength and a weakness, and is always bound by prior traditions more than anything else.

For all intents and purposes, the notion of any Committee's 'legitimacy' relies on the mutual consent of the House at large. The size, partisan diversity, and proportionality of a Committee are never set in stone, and in truth any specific Committee lives and dies within the term it was made in, becoming unrecognisable as changes in the make up of the wider House lead to renegotiations of its status.

In order to prevent the endless expansion of the number of Committees that this anarchic system often threatens to cause, many political Parties have reached agreements outside the House on a list of issues for which House Committees, are to be established on a long term basis. These include those on the Armed Forces, Security and Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs, among other significant issues of government. The size and authority of such 'Standing Committees' is thus largely guaranteed between governments, giving a much needed sense of order and continuity to the whole affair.

Every House Standing Committee is mirrored by Government and Opposition Committees on the same issue, and inter-party negotiations are dominated by the allocation of Committee seats to each represented Party. The latter two represent the interests of their respective halves of the House, and all three have their membership apportioned according to each Party's size.

In addition to these Standing Committees are an ever changing number of Provisional Committees, referring to those which lack the 'official' agreed recognition of the Parties 'in writing' but which nonetheless function with their consent and participation. These may come into and out of existence with time as issues surface or die out, and those of particular longevity may find themselves on the list to become Standing Committees in full. Provisional Committees might include Inquiry Committees, or Regional Committees aligned to areas suddenly facing crises.

Once the proportions of Committee membership have been parceled out, how Parties hand out their Members across roles is left to their discretion, unless the negotiation process prior had specified some limited requirements. Seniority, expertise, and a Member's constituency and its concerns are all regular considerations, amongst others, and of course the internal politics of that Party.

Aside from this, however, Parties and Members are free to associate with each other in whatever groups they wish to. It is, however, generally considered 'bad form', or political suicide, for anyone to declare that any already agreed upon Committee is irrelevant or not recognised, or to attempt to usurp their legitimacy by convincing others to join their cause. The agreements mentioned above universally condemn such activity, and any Party looking to engage in it is liable to find itself ostracised from the business of the House and evicted by their voters, who often are informed enough of political culture to express displeasure at spoiling 'their' vote.

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And that's a wrap! Depending on if anyone has any further questions, my own actual motivation and time, and whether I get any further ideas, I might write a second part to this post. If I do, it'll either go into the history of how this system formed over time, or maybe a specific case study on some political ideologies, movements, and parties. Or I won't. Who knows.

[izzyvanizzy]

A note, this post really just applies to Americans, sorry if you came across this on a tag and were hoping otherwise

Hey i know a lot of Tumblr dems say you need to participate in local voting, and I'mma keep it 100 i do agree. I know times suck rn, i know black people are dying left and right, i know queer rights are fading, i know Israel's IOF bombed rafah and are likely planning another safe area strike as i type, and i know it feels like voting isn't gonna do shit because it's not direct action.

But voting locally is gonna help way more than voting for a president

Lemme keep it real w/ you, you want to vote for a president because a president is who staffs the supreme court (those guys that just made presidents lawless and gave themselves the power to handle all regulation ever?) if you're gonna see crimes committed in the officials, may as well see em be crimes in your court. On top of that the presidential cabinet (the leadership of all the big three letter agencies) is chosen by the president and is referred to as the president's administration. The Biden admin has done better for everyone on this website than Obama did, and i don't say that lightly. So you really do wanna vote, esp because trump said he's gonna cut off Palestinians aid.

But past that, you have the power to make real change in your day to day life easily by using much, much more important votes. Protests are gonna help with pressure, but your vote can help you put people in the office that you can pressure easier.

These will let you determine your state's supreme court (the lower courts that the federal one defers to for non-hot button topics), senators, county clerks and house representatives.

These are positions so impactful that they are considerable as the parliament to your states royalty. These are positions that if all filled with candidates you like, can drastically overhaul your state in a year.

"But izzy that's rich, how do I actually... Do that? Where do i go? Is there a schedule or a list of all the elections?" I'll be real, I don't know. I don't know where you go, or if your local government keeps a list of everything, or who all your candidates are and why you should pick them, this is the hard part is the research portion, But. I have a tool that can help. I use an app called activote, i installed it on a whim and it's listed every single election (local and national) near me, tells me where i vote, and helps me determine the rough politics lean of the people on the list with a little graph thingy that it puts you on based on a quiz type deal it's got going on. It's not a full replacement for research, but it'll do for a start. I recommend it, and the links are here

https://www.activote.net/

Past that.. protest, be a member of your community, help people out. You'll see real change, and you'll be a part of it. I promise.

I'm gonna shamelessly beg for reblogs from people i follow now

@b0tster @cryptotheism @pukicho @prozdvoices uhh.. god who else do i follow that's based enough to maybe reblog this to help

Mutuals i could def use your help here, tag people that would help a post like this? I realized I don't know the political leanings of a lot of people i follow lmao